Introduction
Hello, CantMeltThese here. This is my first RMT and post here but I have been lurking on smogon for a while. I made this team about a week ago and found myself winning most of my games but still not being able to break past the 1650 point. I'm not sure how much of this reflects the strength of my team or my skill level, but I still would love some feedback on my team. I feel like all of my games with this team could've been won had I played better, so that's a good sign I guess.
This team is based around VinCune, which is a set that many teams are very unprepared for. The goal of this team is to lure in and cripple some of Suicune's counters to help set up the sweep. This team is designed to be able to take on Xtra Chirps as well as Wonder Trio, which are very common and annoying teams to face.
The Team
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Suicune is the designated sweeper on this team. This set allows Suicune to take advantage of many of its supposed counters by PP stalling or simply just setting up on them. Variants of common answers to Suicune such as Serperior, Rotom-W, Amoonguss, Tangrowth, Chansey and Volcanion soon become set-up fodder if they try to switch in thanks to being PP stalled or just being unable to break Suicune's Substitute reliably.
The Spread:
Leftovers are used because recovery is crucial for this set to be able to do its job. Maximum investment in HP gives Suicune 404 HP, which allows Suicune to Sub on Chansey's Seismic Toss and proceed to stall them out and set up freely, since the substitute will have 101 HP. The 40 SpD prevents Rotom-W's Volt Switch and Amoonguss's Giga Drain from breaking substitute at +1. 216 Speed with a Timid nature allows Suicune to outspeed base 80 pokemon such as Dragonite as well as several Landorus-T variants and most importantly, Rotom-W and Heatran to be able to Substitute on Rotom's Volt Switch and Substitute before Heatran Taunts, allowing you to get free Scalds off.
The Moves:
Scald: Top 3 move in the game, of course. This is Suicune's most reliable attacking move and has the ability to burn physical attackers who try to stop this monster.
Substitute: This allows Suicune to avoid status and take advantage of non-attacking moves coming from the opponent. Substitute is also very crucial to help take advantage of Suicune's ability, Pressure, to PP stall the opponent as it can be difficult for opponents to break Suicune's substitute.
Calm Mind: Very good boosting move which empowers Suicune's Scald and gives it survivability vs. Special Attackers and allows Suicune to sweep against defensive teams.
Protect: Gives Suicune extra Leftovers recovery as well as PP stall the opponent more. Also can surprise High Jump Kick Pokemon such as M-Lopunny and M-Medicham.
Doublade @ Eviolite
Ability: No Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
Doublade is on this team to function as a reliable Pursuit Trapper to deal with Latios, which can reliably break Suicune's substitute with Psyshock. It also helps Anti-Lead the Azelf and can revenge kill a weakened Alakazam and Gengar. Doublade can also wall physical threats like Mega Pinsir, Mega Medicham, Breloom, and Mega Heracross as well as threaten Fairy type Pokmeon like Clefable and Mega Gardevoir, both of which are problematic to this team.
The Spread:
Eviolite is to improve Doublade's bulk and let it sponge up resisted Special Attacks, although its Special Defense is still pitiful enough that it should not switch into neutral special hits. Doublade already has base 35 speed to there is no point in investing in speed, although you could run enough speed to outspeed Clefable. 176 HP and 80 SpD allow Doublade to avoid the 2HKO from Clefable's Flamethrower. 252 Attack with an Adamant nature maximizes Doublade's Attack and allows it to 2HKO Latios with Shadow Sneak.
The Moves:
Swords Dance: Allows Doublade to set up on the mons that it walls.
Shadow Sneak: Gives Doublade priority and the ability to threaten out Latios, Gengar, and Alakazam
Iron Head: Doublade's strongest attacking move anything reasonably hard.
Pursuit: Traps Ghost types and Lati@s, removing them from the game.
Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Thundurus is a very good special wallbreaker with excellent utility, acting as an emergency sweeper stopper and crippling common switchins such as Heatran, Chansey, and Clefable with Knock Off, making Suicune's job easier.
The Spread:
Standard max speed max spa with 4 attack and a negative spdef nature so that Knock Off can hit just a little bit harder. Life Orb could be switched out for Leftovers to alleviate longevity issues but I prefer power on a team that doesn't have very hard hitters.
The Moves:
Thunder Wave: Allows Thundurus to be an emergency check to fast sweeping mons such as Charizard X, Dragonite, Mega Lopunny, Scarf Keldeo, and other mons that would just run through this team because of their speed tier.
Thunderbolt: Thundurus's main STAB attacking move (no real flying stab rip)
Knock Off: Removes an item from very common Thundurus switchins, such as Heatran Leftovers, Clefable Leftovers, Chansey Eviolite, Excadrill choice scarf, and so on.
Hidden Power Ice: Hits common electric immunities like Landorus and Garchomp.
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Return
- Toxic
My other priority user and main cleaner on the team. Need a fast mon given that I have no scarfers or strong priority attacks otherwise. Lopunny is a good check to many of the dark types that threaten Doublade and its strong Fake Out is very helpful vs. Offensive teams. Toxic Lopunny cripples many common switchins like Tangrowth, Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Slowbro and I have found it to be very useful while playtesting
The Spread:
Standard Jolly Max Speed Max Attack. Didn't bother running adamant because Doublade is my designated Azelf anti-lead.
The Moves:
Fake Out: Allows Lopunny to get crucial damage on faster pokemon and soften up targets for itself.
High Jump Kick: Powerful Fighting STAB to hit darks and steels
Return: Hits anything HJK doesn't hit neutrally
Toxic: In place of Ice Punch. Puts mons like Tangrowth, Garchomp, and Landorus on a timer but leaves mons like Defensive Landorus and Defensive Garchomp alive as possible set up fodder for Suicune.
The next two are super standard so I won't go fully in depth into them because I'm tired.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
My designated Stealth Rocker and Excadrill Check. Landorus-T is arguably the best mon in the game and punishes voltturn. Swords Dance is used to power through Mega Scizor, which can be very problematic to this team, as well as Clefable and Amoonguss. Landorus can check some electric mons too and pivot into Clefable to tank the incoming ice coverage.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 80 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
Clefable is here to be pink and annoying as fuck. It sponges up special hits from threats such as Thundurus and Manectric and also is able to absorb Toxic aimed at Suicune as well as Will-O-Wisp aimed at Doublade and Landorus. Flamethrower is used to catch mons like Scizor, Magnezone, and Skarmory, instead of TWave since I have TWave on Thundurus.
Threatlist:
Sand Excadrill (I have Landorus and Protect on Suicune to stall out some turns but it usually ends up sweeping)
Mega Scizor
Thundurus (need to keep Clef healthy or I just get destroyed)
Amoonguss (nothing to guard from Spore so picking a sleep fodder is hard)
Magnezone
Volcanion
Heatran (Only safe plume switchin is Clef)
Keldeo
Klefki (no hazard removal on team)
Mega Charizard X
Mega Charizard Y
There are definitely more but I can't think of all of them right now.
So there's my team! One apparent weakness that you may have noticed are that I do not have a scarf pokemon so 438 is my highest speed. I feel like I gave myself enough room to play around that with two priority moves + priority thunder wave but it is definitely something I can improve on. The other weakness is that I do not have any Hazard Removal. Spikes stackers like Skarmory and Klefki can freely set up on mons such as Clefable and Doublade. My team is not overly hazards weak, though the damage does rack up and makes games quite difficult.
The team is definitely built around beating some bulkier builds with Suicune, but I feel like the team is more than capable of getting around very offensive teams with correct play. Thank you for reading this RMT! I'd love some feedback as this is my first serious teambuilding effort.
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