VGC Carbink is back!

[thundershock1234]

Hello all! A while back I posted a team based around Carbink for VGC. Since then I have participated in both the May and June Internationals, doing pretty well in both. Carbink is one of the best trick room setters in the game, mainly because people underestimate it. Because of this, it can set Trick Room without a care about the opponent attacking it since they'll target the other slot. Even if they do attack it, Carbink can survive because it has sturdy, an ability that no other who learns trick room has. Although I find the team incredible, I think there could be a few improvements. I hope you find the RMT interesting and that you find yourself enlightened on the powers of Carbink.

Quick Glance at the team:

Carbink @ Leftovers
Quiet - Sturdy - 252 HP/ 252 sp. atk / 4 sp. def
- Power Gem
- Moonblast
- Trick Room
- Protect
Carbink. The Pokemon this team revolves around. It may be 4x weak to steel but because it is so underused, people never target it, giving me a free turn to set up Trick Room. Once in trick room, Carbink can go on to help my other pokemon pick off opposing pokemon or even better go on to one shot Talonflame, Charizard, Scrafty and other pokemon.

Some Important calculations:
252+ SpA Carbink Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Scrafty: 336-400 (100.5 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Carbink Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 218-258 (60.8 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Carbink: 170-204 (55.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Carbink Power Gem vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 288-340 (96.6 - 114%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Carbink Power Gem vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 436-516 (146.3 - 173.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Brave - Sand Stream - 252 HP/ 252 atk / 4 def
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Tyranitar is my mega of choice. It has incredible bulk and also has an outstanding attack to go with it. Its terrible speed stat is the only thing that gets it down. With trick room in play it becomes the fastest thing alive! Sand Stream was the final deal that made me put it over Mega Mawile on this team. With Sand Stream both Carbink and itself gain a strong sp. def boost, both able to survive a Hydro Pump from Greninja. With Tyranitar on my team, it gains more coverage, which is really needed. For that reason I run Earthquake over Crunch since Bisharp can provide all the dark type coverage if need be.

Bisharp @ Dread Plate
Brave - Defiant - 252 HP/ 252 atk / 4 def
- Sucker Punch
- Night Slash
- Iron Head
- Protect
Bisharp provides all the dark and steel type coverage that my team needs. Bisharp's ability is also pretty neat, especially with all the intimidate users running around in VGC. With Defiant, Bisharp can get +1 or +2 when a Mawile switches in, then proceed to 1HKO it with Iron Head. When under trick room, a +2 Bisharp can be pretty intimidating to face. Other then coverage, thats pretty much all Bisharp has to offer for this team.

Meowstic @ Mental Herb
Bold - Prankster - 252 HP/ 252 def / 4 sp. def
- Protect
- Trick Room
- Safeguard
- Swagger
Your average Meowstic set. I usually start off with a Meowstic /Tyranitar lead. Turn 1 safeguard is crucial for my team so it isnt susceptible to spore spam from Amoonguss. swagger is used next turn so I can sweep with my Tyranitar. Kind of a win/win situation for me. Meowstic also has Trick Room if Carbink isnt suited to the current situation (e.g. Scizor/Bisharp lead - ouch!).

Amoonguss @ Sitrus Berry
Sassy - Regenerator - 252 HP / 252 sp. def / 4 def
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Protect
- Rage Powder
Again just your everyday Amoonguss set. Rage Powder is used turn 1 if I start off with a Carbink/ Amoonguss lead so I can guarantee a Trick Room. Once in Trick Room, Amoonguss outspeeds everything and can get off a spore before opposing pokemon can wreck my team. Giga Drain is coverage over water types and Protect is used to... well you know, Protect.

Talonflame @ Life Orb
Adamant - Gale Wings - 252 Atk / 252 spd / 4 HP
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Quick Guard
- Protect
Has to be my favourite sweeper of all time, Talonflame is here! You may be thinking that I'm mad to run speed investment in Trick Room. No, the speed investment is for outside of trick room, so Talonflame can speed tie against other Talonflames and KO before they KO my Amoonguss and then their Mega Kangaskhan KO's me. The speed investment is also handy in Trick Room so Meowstic can swagger boost Talonflame's attack and go on to KO things. Overall just an amazing pokemon that I wish to stay in OU singles forever.

So there you have it. My team. It needs a bit of work on the coverage side of things but I still love it. Hope you enjoy it too!

Honourable Mentions:
Pinoy Pwnage - You really helped me out with this team a lot. I wouldn't be where I am now without your help so thank you so much!
Hailshine - Thank you for the rate! Abomasnow is awesome!
tlyee61 - thanks for stating the plainly obvious lol. No you helped me realise that physical sweepers aren't always the best pokemon to use in every situation. Thanks!

 

[thundershock1234]

Bump...

 

[tlyee61]

you do have somewhat of a fighting and zapdos weakness. also, your main attackers are physical so the ever present WoW and Intimidate cripple you pretty well. Also, your pokemon are relatively slow, so you're pretty reliant on Trick Room. i honestly dont think both meowstic and carbink are required on the same team. they fit a very similar role. you might want to consider something faster like garchomp to have something faster that can live something from zapdos and dent fighting types.

 

[Hailshine]

There are quite a few things I noticed that I think you should change, but bear with me:

Since you are running a partial TR team, give Bisharp an Iron Ball. This will allow it to outspeed any anti-Trick Roomers at Base 50 or so, such as Azumarill and Tyranitar. It's not really going to outspeed anything else outside of Trick Room anyways, so the Speed drop is more good than bad.

In order to avoid SwaggerPlay, run 0 Atk IVs on Amoonguss, Carbink, and Meowstic. This will minimize the damage taken from both the Foul Play move and the 'hitting yourself in confusion.'

If you're running Amoonguss for a "speedy" Pokemon under Trick Room, then you should change its Calm nature to a Sassy nature. This allows for Amoonguss to become even slower, furthering its viability under Trick Room.

Your Talonflame is basically guaranteed to lose to other Talonflames because 99% of Talonflames run a Jolly nature. If you'd like for there to even be a tie to win, you need to change the nature.

Since your team is (as has been mentioned) extremely weak to Will-O-Wisp and Intimidate due to The many physical attackers, I suggest that you replace Mega-Tyranitar with a mixed Mega-Abomasnow. This allows you to take full advantage of Trick Room by providing the slowest Mega possible, while also easing your weakness to physical walls. A 100% accurate Blizzard from Mega-Snow is nothing to take lightly, and takes good care of many important threats, for example:

Calculations

• 252+ SpA Mega Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T: 720-852 (225 - 266.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 684-808 (191 - 225.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 276-326 (91.3 - 107.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Mega Abomasnow Blizzard vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 171-202 (57.3 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after hail damage

If you like the idea, here's a set that I use on my Semi-TR team:

Set

Abomasnow @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Blizzard
- Wood Hammer
- Protect
- Ice Shard

Mega-Snow may not be a super great fit for your team, but the option is there to try.

Overall, I like the synergy that your team has, and I think you'll be able to bring out its potential a bit better with these changes.

That'll be all!

 

[thundershock1234]

Hey Hailshine! Thanks for the rate! I will certainly try the mega abomasnow idea. I mean how do you know if something is bad if you haven't tried it?
I don't know why I wrote calm nature in the team review above because I run a sassy nature Amoonguss in VGC. Thanks for alerting me of the typo!
Finally, thanks for the Iron Ball idea for Bisharp. It is really frustrating when a Tyranitar OHKOs my Bisharp in trick room before I can do anything so I'm really looking forward to whacking them in the face with a giant hammer trying it out!
Thanks again! Really appreciate the rate!
*EDIT* tlyee61 - didn't see your post sorry! Which pokemon would you recommend to a. Replace and b. replace it with? Thank you!