A Mon For All Seasons

[Blazing Mewtwo]

This is probably the most conventional team I've ever assembled. Very few surprises here, but I like to think some of my choices are a tiny bit off the beaten path.

The team is built for two things:

A. Coverage. Not just type-coverage, but also role coverage. Special tanks, physical sweepers, all around walls. My team is meant to be able to deal with anything you throw at it. The downside of this is that the team doesn't have very much interpersonal synergy, but I think it's worth the trade off.

B. Switching. 3 of my pokemon have full on immunities, one of my pokemon has immense hp and good spec def, and one of them has the best defenses in the game. My team is built to for a player who can predict the opponent's next move and capitalize because there is always a pokemon that can switch in for minimal, or no, damage. Here's where I do drive some synergy, as it gives me the ability to save my more squishy pokemon and possibly force a switch myself.

Shuckle (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Infestation
- Toxic
- Protect
- Knock Off

Shuckle is my secondary lead. The set works around his inability to do any decent direct damage by capitalizing on his longevity. It strips the opponent's pokemon of their item and then starts doing varying degrees of indirect damage. I keep it at the top of my party, despite being the secondary lead, because it baits opponents into throwing out their magic guard pokemon first in anticipation. Good for switching into spore, since it can weather the beating. If only it could learn rapid spin...

Alakazam (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Energy Ball

The second most basic idea here, just your standard special sweeper. I don't like high damage, low accuracy moves and given the new vulnerability to ghost type moves that Steel types now have, I figure I can switch it out for something else, but I don't know what yet. The fact that the team can switch out so freely gives me the confidence to go with choice specs. And Magic Guard means even he can switch in on things on the occasions I can predict a toxic/WoW/what have you incoming.

Goodra (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Gooey
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Wave
- Muddy Water
- Dragon Pulse

So I'm debating between Assault Vest or sticking with Leftovers here. Either way, Goodra's my lead. Pretty decent coverage good enough special attack to 2HKO on a lot of things with neutral damage. enough HP to get those 2 hits on physical attackers most of the time. Enough Spec Def to almost always survive special attacks. This is the thing that scares that magic guarder away, or just outright kills it. Also able to switch in on a special attack.

Mawile (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Hyper Cutter/Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Brick Break
- Iron Head
- Play Rough

MegaMawile has served me pretty well thus far. If I get it out on something slower than it, it becomes a massive pain in the ass to deal with hiding behind that substitute. Basically two pokemon dead if I call the switch right with a possible third. Has trouble dealing with things with high defense that take NE from both Iron Head and Play Rough and neutral damage from Brick Break, but otherwise it's pretty lethal

Gengar @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Confuse Ray

Special attacking Gengar. Thinking that perhaps Bolt should be replaced with Dazzling Gleam. Wise Glasses for the extra little oomph in the attack. Confuse ray has been a pretty effective as either a method of stalling an opponent long enough to get that last necessary extra hit on it, or allowing the next pokemon to do so on those occasions I find myself unable to switch.

Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Iron Head

I don't understand why nothing with Rock Head learns recoil moves that are actually worth it. Anyways, I really don't want to have Iron Head on there, but it was the only move left with a BP worth anything. Might replace it with Aerial Ace, however. Anyways, it serves the same purpose as Alakazam, except physical. Focus Sash means the times when it can't OHKO, it will get a second shot, as long as it didn't switch into rocks. Probably the least switch-inable of the team, as it's there to deal with ground moves and Gengar can already do that (most of the time) as well as normal, fighting, and toxic.

Opinions and Advice appreciated

 

[Blazing Mewtwo]

It's been almost two weeks, so I think it's fair to give it its one bump.

 

[Alcarinque]

You'd better max the hp EVs of Shuckle,I think.

 

[iQs__]

This is what I think about your team from the first glance.

Your team focuses too much on raw power. No boost, no support moves like entry hazards, like burn to cripple physical attackers, like healing abilities to deal with long battles. There is no Reflect or Light Screen whatsoever. I mean the only reliable thing that you rely on is the base/raw power/defense of your pokemons.

Your team don't have any phazers or anyway to deal with a boosted sweeper. You don't have support status moves, like I just said, besides Toxic which is nulified by Steel type. Confuse Ray is not reliable compared to Twave because it doesn't lower the target's speed, and they can snap out of their confusions pretty quickly and it is still 50/50 like Twave. You don't have any priorities either. Now you should imagine in your head, what are you going to do if you have a +6 Scizor/Dragonite/Volcarona in your opponent's side of the field? It sounds unpractical but it actually happens quite a lot. With no phazers and status moves, you are basically inviting your opponent to setup on you. A Baton Passer combo can ruin your game completely and I don't know how you recover from that. Alakazam and Gengar both rely on their high speeds and great offensive movepools to destroy the opponent and score 1HKO/2HKO as much as possible before going down, but their speeds are no match to a +1/+2 mediocre base speed sweeper. Your most valuable asset, Mega-mawile, does not have a Sucker Punch. It means that its slow speed with no investment can get it killed once your opponent knows about that information. And again, no Sucker Punch = no priority = you can't stop a boosted sweeper.

So that was my thoughts on your weaknesses. I will suggest some changes here and hope it will help.
- Alakazam in my opinion is better off with Focus Sash. Specs Ala is good but you are forced to switch around quite a bit and basically giving your opponent free turns. I'm running Alakazam myself and I find out that Ala is so good with Focus Sash. You can't be damaged by hazards, you can't be damaged by Toxic or Burn which means you don't have to worry about losing your item effectiveness. And since Alakazam is so fast compared to most of the current metagame, even with 1% HP, it can still sweep like no tomorrow.
- To be honest, don't use Wise Glasses. 10% boost is not that much. Most common items are Life Orb and Lefties. I met people who use Scarfed Gengar but it is rare.
- Sucker Punch is a must imo with Mawile. It forces your opponent to think twice before attacking. Personally I find M-Mawile with SD is scarier than the one that does not have.

One last thing, I think synergy betweens team members is very important and you should put it before anything else. Synergy is the thing which makes low-stats pokemons become relevant in the higher tier and good pokemons become the best in a team.

That's all for now. Hope your team gets better.