SM PU Pancakes (Alolan Raichu Balance)

[Mango Smoothie]

"Even Pokémon researchers don’t know why Raichu’s form changed in the Alola region... maybe it ate too many sweet and fluffy round pancakes!"

Introduction
Hi Smogon, I'm back with another RMT. I initially wanted to post this a few weeks ago during the Magmortar suspect, but then finals started. And then I took a week off and Archeops got banned during that time. I tested the team a bit in the new meta and it seemed to preform mostly the same, so I figured it was still appropriate to RMT it. I don't really have much of a backstory for this team; I've always liked Psyshock as a move since it bypasses most special walls, and Alolan Raichu learns it (not to mention its just so adorable).

Teambuilding Process

Started with NP Alolan Raichu, and big red flag went off for Scarfers, Skuntank, and Archeops. Gastrodon felt like a good first step, since it takes on all these Pokemon fairly well. Next up was Gurdurr, since a secondary win condition is always appreciated and Gurrdur is stupidly bulky. Both of my main offensive Pokemon like extra hazards to let them break their bulkier resists, and Weezing fit the bill. It also synergized well with Gastrodon, acting as a secondary physical wall. I had two slots left for Rocks, Hazard Control, and Revenge killing (I often find myself in this situation for my last 2 mons). I went with Alolan Sandslash for a combination of Rocks/Spin, as it also handles physical Skuntank really well (upon writing this I realize I effectively used 4 slots to deal with Skuntank). Final slot was a real hassle to find; I couldn't go with Primeape, Mesprit, or Togedemaru because I already had pokemon of that type, and then it hit me: Prankster Copycat is kind of like a scarf. So I went with Copycat Liepard. Probably not my best idea, but it gets the job done.

In-depth Analysis

Pancake (Raichu-Alola) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Thunderbolt | Psyshock | Focus Blast | Nasty Plot
The myth, the legend, the rodent with more cavities than people who want Magmortar Archeops Aurorus(?) banned (probably), Alolan Raichu. But behind those soulless beady eyes is a heartless killer ready to destroy anything and everything that isn't named Gastrodon or Golurk, or carries Sucker Punch. Thunderbolt and Psyshock are chosen as Dual-STAB, with Thunderbolt as the main attack and Psyshock to hit specially defensive pokemon like AV Hitmonchan and Lanturn. Focus Blast here to get coverage on bulky steel and normal-types. Fightinium Z gives me a one-time nuke, or more often a way to not have to rely on Focus Blast's shaky accuracy. Nasty Plot is the boosting move, granting immediate power. I like Alolan Raichu, except I always mess up the Sucker Punch/Pursuit mindgames, so I imagine it could be more effective.

Escargot (Gastrodon-East) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Relaxed Nature
Scald | Earthquake | Toxic | Recover
First part of my defensive measures, Gastrodon. EVs maximize physical defense, with a Relaxed nature + Earthquake to hit stuff like AV Hitmonchan, although Earth Power is an option there. Scald is here for hax, and Toxic gets residual damage on grass-types that like to switch in. Recover keeps Gastrodon healthy throughout the match. I really like Gastrodon; I wish its ability was Water Absorb not Storm Drain but hey beggars can't be choosers.

Protein Shake (Gurdurr) @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 8 Def / 236 SpD
Adamant Nature
Drain Punch | Knock Off | Mach Punch | Bulk Up
In the words of someone I played, "Is that SpDef Gurdurr?". To which I say, yes. I opted for more special defense investment since its already boosting its defense with Bulk Up, so I figured more special defense to take on stuff like Psychic Spiritomb (given EVs have Psychic as a 4HKO) wasn't that bad of an idea. It also made a passable switch-in to Magmortar when it was still around. EVs maximize bulk while getting to the jump point in attack. Other than that the moveset is pretty standard: Drain Punch for damage and recovery, Knock Off to actually hit ghost-types, and Mach Punch for juicy priority. Bulk Up lets it act as a win condition in the right matchups, or just punch things hard. After just 1 Bulk up you're stupidly bulky on the physical side, which is nice.

Puff Pastry (Weezing) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
Sludge Bomb | Toxic Spikes | Will-O-Wisp | Taunt
Complimentary piece to Gastrodon, we have Weezing. The EVs (taken from the analysis) let you beat out Carracosta and Taunt it before it smashes. Sludge Bomb was chosen as STAB to be able to hit stuff like Gurdurr for meaningful damage. Toxic Spikes+WoW lets it spread status to wear down the opposing team. Toxic Spikes in particular are incredibly helpful to wear down stuff like Gastrodon for Raichu. Taunt is here to prevent Ferroseed from setting Spikes on you, and also stops slower defoggers like Lurantis (watch out for mindgames though).

Rock Candy (Sandslash-Alola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
Adamant Nature
Icicle Crash | Iron Head | Rapid Spin | Stealth Rock
This is the point where teambuilding got a bit weird, so please bear with me. Alolan Sandslash serves a couple vital roles on this team, including but not limited to: Hazard Control, an Aurorus check, and a way to handle Clefairy, Mesprit, Jynx (kind of) and Skuntank. Pretty sure the speed investment is enough to outspeed the standard Mesprit set (hits 216 Speed), while maximizing attack and putting the rest in HP for marginally better bulk. Dual-Stabs are here because of Flinch Hax. Rapid Spin + Rocks lets it both set and remove hazards. It actually has a reasonable match up against most hazard setters/removers in the tier, which is nice. Another variant of this could be switching the Attack EVs to HP and Special Defense, but I haven't tried that out yet.

Cat Food (Liepard) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
Knock Off | Copycat | Protect | Thunder Wave
This set exists out of pure desperation innovation™. Knock Off is the main (and only) attack on the set, and hits reasonably hard. EVs maximize power and speed, with a Naive nature chosen to not compromise the special attack, and also not take as much from Mesprit's U-turn. Copycat allows Liepard to act as a cleaner since it'll be able to spam priority Knock Offs against non dark-types. Protect+Copycat hearkens to Z-Mirror Move Murkrow, and is particularly useful against Primeape. You can get an extra 17ish% chip on a U-turn, which combined with the extra turn of poison damage gets to ~30%, which wears it down really quickly. Last move is a toss-up, I went with Thunder Wave to paralyze faster threats who are immune to Toxic Spikes, or in the event I don't get to put Toxic Spikes down and I need to stop a scarfer/boosting sweeper. Other options include Sucker Punch to have real priority, Encore to add to the Protect mind games, or Play Rough to have a shaky way to stop CroTomb from running through this team like hot butter. In that case the nature should probably be switched to Hasty to better take the Dark Pulses.

Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pususpecttest-734898414
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pususpecttest-735276875
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pususpecttest-738135301
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pususpecttest-738246208

Threatlist

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- Common theme here is strong special attackers, the specially defensive presence on this team is somewhat lacking. Can still be played around with Liepard and the rest of the team, but generally annoying to face.

- If this gets 2 Bulk ups off then its all over. Psychic > Psyshock helps, and its not the hardest to wear down, but generally pretty annoying.

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- Common theme is Pursuit/Sucker Punch users (also CroTomb). It really comes down to mindgames and the rest of the team can handle them (for the most part), so there's that. CroTomb is obnoxious if Gurrdur is weakened.

- While I don't have many switch-ins, it can really only come in for free VS Gastrodon and Weezing. Still annoying to face though.

Conclusion
All in all a fun team that I've enjoyed playing with. Since I've been somewhat in panic mode preparing for work and other misc real life things, playing Pokemon was a refreshing break from it all. On the whole, while I still prefer ORAS PU, I like how PU is shaping up this generation. The tier has a much more diverse pool of usable Pokemon, which has its pros and cons. Anyways here is a link to the importable.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!​