Hey there my dudes! Most of you may already know me in the Monotype community, but for those who don't, my name is Havens and I'm here to present my first official RMT, simply pronounced, Taboo. I'd like to consider this team as anti-meta, as I utilize my favorite typing in Dragon (to which I feel is criminally underrated) and mix them with niche picks which stray away from the norm of a traditional Dragon HO. What started out completely as a meme team turned out has been one of my favorite teams to play with, competitively and for fun for the past few months now, and I've even used variants of this team in tournament settings to surprising success, and hopefully ya'll will give it a try to be successful all the same~
~The Circus~
HELLO B (Druddigon) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Glare
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Yup. This was the meme pick. I got the idea of using Druddigon sometime in December just as Monotype Winter Premier was wrapping up and Smogon Exhibition was starting up again for a second iteration. I had just been in this slump of teambuilding and found that the teams I had were really stale, and the current meta had a ton of Balance heavy teams that I feel just didn't really fit my passive-aggressive playstyle. While I kinda scoffed at the idea of using this first, after playing with this on ladder and in some other high level games, I thought, "Damn, this actually isn't bad." The combination of Glare, Stealth Rock and Mold Breaker sounded like a very good change of pace from the standard Focus Sash Garchomp sets, which were very much blockable by Magic Bounce users and abusable by setup users such as Mega Latias and Volcarona. Now that I passed that lead role to Druddigon, I was able to pressure those foes with ease and permit Garchomp with the opportunity to undertake what I believe is a better role.
MAD 1 GOT 1T (Kommo-o) @ Kommonium Z
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Clanging Scales
- Flamethrower
- Drain Punch
- Taunt
It's really hard to build a proper Dragon team without this absolute monster known as Kommo-o. With an incredibly strong offensive and defensive statline, it could easily use its custom Z-move, Clangorous Soulblaze, to attain an omniboost and transform itself into undoubtedly the best sweeper Dragon teams have available. This moveset is optimized to better handle a wide variety of matchups, most notably Steel as the combination of Flamethrower and Drain Punch is virtually unresisted by Steel teams. It's also a godsend against Normal teams by virtue of its typing, especially as Dragon teams lack a reliable Knock Off user to hinder Chansey and Porygon2 effectively. Take this omniboosted Pokemon, add Taunt to prevent opponent recovery or Haze / phasing and you have arguably the best setup sweeper currently in the Monotype tier.
ZWITCH 1T UP (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Iron Head
Since I had given the role of a lead towards Druddigon, this team finally gave me a reason to use Choice Scarf Garchomp. While it's plastered with its two strongest STAB moves, I also elected to use both Poison Jab and Iron Head to grant Garchomp the near perfect coverage against pesky Fairy teams. Why this? Often I found that Dragon teams hardly had any conventional checks to Fairy teams. More times often than not did I find that Dragon teams were willing to use supbar options such as Hidden Power Steel on Choice Scarf Latios, and only for Mega Diancie. Granted, Mega Diancie is the single biggest threat to Dragon teams, and often times the only carrier of Moonblast on Fairy teams, but just having one move for one purpose helps with only that one instance, assuming it works. With this Garchomp set, you have various options against Fairy teams, such being able to safely fire off an Iron Head to force out Mega Diancie, Poison Jab for Tapu Bulu and Tapu Koko, and Earthquake for Klefki. Besides this, it also just plays the role of a revenge killer in place of Choice Scarf Latios; it is to a lesser extent because of the difference in Garchomp and Latios's speed tiers, but it still has a solid enough speed stat to threaten foes such as Quiver Dance Volcarona and Expert Belt Greninja.
V3NG3ANC3 (Latios-Mega) @ Latiosite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Psychic
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Mega Latios is naturally a very powerful Pokemon, but it rarely makes an appearance on Dragon teams as many of them often utilize Mega Latias or Mega Altaria instead. While both Altaria and Latias are fine Megas, they struggle in this current metagame, as Mega Altaria suffers against common, bulky sights such as Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Toxapex and is forced into utilizing a utility role, while Mega Latias often relies on Calm Mind and Stored Power to effectively shut down teams, which may take time that it simply doesn't have. With Mega Latios, you don't really need the time to setup as its raw power can overwhelm entire types with the proper support, especially Poison teams. Psychic is virtually spammable against many unresisted types, while Hidden Power Fire is used to OHKO / 2HKO foes such as Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn. Earthquake is used against Heatran and to threaten one of its biggest checks in Pinch Berry Alolan Muk.
BMT (Kyurem-Black) @ Life Orb
Ability: Teravolt
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Toxic
- Roost
This Pokemon hardly needs any introduction; Kyurem-B is an absolute behemoth with its unbridled power, which includes the best BoltBeam coverage in the tier and recovery to boot. Though this set is relatively standard, Toxic is opted for over Earth Power in order to apply pressure to its defensive checks in Porygon2 and Mega Sableye. Earth Power can still be utilized over Toxic as coverage, but I didn't feel as if it was necessary when considering that Kommo-o, Garchomp, and Mega Latios already deal with Steel just fine. A Naive nature can also be replaced with a Timid nature to amplify its Fusion Bolt, but Kyurem-B is so naturally strong already that even a Timid LO Fusion Bolt is damn near a 2HKO on Physically Defensive Celesteela, bar Leftovers.
ZUMO (Dragonite) @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
- Defog / Iron Head
Last but not least we have the almighty, all-powerful Dragonite. It's another classic for Dragon teams that I've taken my own spin on, using a Jolly nature over Adamant just so that I can outspeed foes such as 263 speed Mew and Jolly Diggersby at the cost of some additional power. Additionally, I've taken the liberty of using Dragonite as my impromptu Defog user, in which clearing hazards on my side of the field can permit teammates such as Kommo-o to heavily damage foes without taking unnecessary chip damage. Iron Head can also be substituted over Defog to be used against Fairy-types such as Mega Diancie, as it can be a backup check to them if Garchomp does fall.
~Threatlist~
Fairy-types
Despite my best efforts to have this team counterplay Fairy teams as much as possible, a well played and preserved Fairy team can always pressure it. There's no solid check on Dragon teams to Mega Diancie's Moonblast, or to a lesser extent Mimikyu's Play Rough without forcing a sack. Additionally, Kommo-o is virtually useless in the Fairy matchup as they block it from utilizing its custom Z-move, Clangorous Soulblaze. In situations like this, try to keep Druddigon at full health to Glare Mega Diancie to minimize the damage, otherwise the best option is to bring in Garchomp on a sack to threaten it out.
Dragon-types
Surprisingly, this team doesn't exactly have the best counterplay towards itself either. The lack of a Mega Altaria and Choice Scarf Latios means that opposing Dragon teams with either foe or both are more likely to prevail in the ditto. That's not also mentioning that they also have access to Kyurem-B and Kommo-o that are so prominent against their own type. Choosing what to sack and what to save is no easy task, and in any case, will result in a bloodbath. Play this matchup wisely.
Taunt
This team doesn't necessarily struggle versus these individual Pokemon persay, but Druddigon will always struggle against Taunt users; its very low base speed makes it susceptible to other leads such as Aerodactyl and Tapu Koko, as well as stallbreakers such as Gliscor, Keldeo, and Mew. Druddigon being a predictable lead doesn't help its case either, as this particular set is hardly offensive, and being taunted forces it out causing this team to lose momentum and creates opportunities for the opponent to exploit it. That is, unless you have Mental Herb, but why would you use that on a frail lead?
~Importable~
#1kpost #worthit 
~Threatlist~
Despite my best efforts to have this team counterplay Fairy teams as much as possible, a well played and preserved Fairy team can always pressure it. There's no solid check on Dragon teams to Mega Diancie's Moonblast, or to a lesser extent Mimikyu's Play Rough without forcing a sack. Additionally, Kommo-o is virtually useless in the Fairy matchup as they block it from utilizing its custom Z-move, Clangorous Soulblaze. In situations like this, try to keep Druddigon at full health to Glare Mega Diancie to minimize the damage, otherwise the best option is to bring in Garchomp on a sack to threaten it out.
Surprisingly, this team doesn't exactly have the best counterplay towards itself either. The lack of a Mega Altaria and Choice Scarf Latios means that opposing Dragon teams with either foe or both are more likely to prevail in the ditto. That's not also mentioning that they also have access to Kyurem-B and Kommo-o that are so prominent against their own type. Choosing what to sack and what to save is no easy task, and in any case, will result in a bloodbath. Play this matchup wisely.
This team doesn't necessarily struggle versus these individual Pokemon persay, but Druddigon will always struggle against Taunt users; its very low base speed makes it susceptible to other leads such as Aerodactyl and Tapu Koko, as well as stallbreakers such as Gliscor, Keldeo, and Mew. Druddigon being a predictable lead doesn't help its case either, as this particular set is hardly offensive, and being taunted forces it out causing this team to lose momentum and creates opportunities for the opponent to exploit it. That is, unless you have Mental Herb, but why would you use that on a frail lead?
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~Importable~
Well uh, never thought I'd get this far. I'm not really super amazing with words and stuff so I'll just keep it short and sweet. I'd like to thank the Monotype community for being an absolute blast to be a part of; I've been around ya'll for literally the longest time (like, all the way back; like 2012 Frost) and its been real; hope to stick around for as much as I can before my crippling depression and facade of an actual life take me away from this game. There's also a ton of people I've met on my journey, and many more that I still have yet to meet, so I'd like to say thank you for putting up with my bs, whether it be in advance or not~
#1kpost #worthit 
