SM OU (Peaked #7, 1950+ ELO) Reservoir Mons (Tana/Gyara BO)



Introduction

First off, if you don't get the reference to the team name or any of the nicknames, they all come from Quentin Tarantino movies because he is the GOAT. I was rewatching Reservoir Dogs the other day so I guess it was just kind of on my mind. I decided to RMT this because it was the first team that I have made in a while that I really enjoyed and had a lot of success with. For the past couple of months I have just been snatching most of my teams by watching Dokkerich's unparalleled tournament coverage on YouTube. With this team I reached #7 on the showdown ladder with an ELO of 1959. After that, I lost to a scarf Serperior and some AV Bisharp stall and decided someone must be telling me number seven was good enough. Even though the team is definitely weak to certain things, lets be honest it is impossible not to be with all there is to cover in the current meta, it is still able to beat pretty much anything if played correctly. After explaining the team choices and sets I'll try and explain how to best play around the bigger threats.

Proof of Peak




Teambuilding Process


The team started with SD Kartana. This was a mon I had been wanting to use for a while since it has seen a lot of success on ladder as well as in tournament games. Tana can break through almost everything with z moves making it extremely hard to switch into.

Next, I decided to add scarf Lele to the team. This was originally because I was debating running timid Tana and psychic terrain provides a bunch of support for that set but then I remembered timid Kartana is dog ass. Scarf Lele stayed however and works as a great revenge killer and cleaner. Kartana helps with this as it is able to muscle through a lot of the mons that Lele has trouble killing.

From here, I decided to move on to the defensive core of the team starting with defensive Lando. I still needed a rocker and momentum to get in the two above offensive threats, since both struggle to take hits, so Lando made the most sense.

The second part of the defensive core is AV magearna. This also provides momentum with volt switch and is a great blanket check to most every special attacker in the meta. AV gear is a great defensive partner to lando and both still provide decent offensive pressure as well due to their naturally high attacking stats.

Next mon is tha pex. Up to this point the team still lacked a water and fire resist. Pex also is able to handle a lot of the mons that threaten the lando/gear defensive core such as Charizard Y, SD Scizor, and non-Psychic Z Volcarona. I also felt like tspikes support was greatly appreciated (that move is so broken). While Pex might seem odd on a more bulky offensive type team like this, it doesn't really sap momentum because with regen you don't have to waste turns clicking recover like most other fat walls do. Between this 3 mon defensive core you have resistances to every typing in the game other than ghost.

Originally the last mon on this team was a specs Hydreigon, which did work well (I think I peaked like 14 or so with this version). Hydra gave me a secondary breaker and more importantly something that can switch in once or twice to magma tran since pex just dies to taunt + epower. Hydra gave the team a ghost resist as well as a secondary ground and dark resist which was greatly appreciated in addition to its offensive presence.

After having trouble versus stall, Hydreigon was eventually replaced with a Mega Gyarados. Gyara gives similar defensive utility as Hydreigon did (ground immunity prior to evo/dark and ghost resist after), but it also provides the team with a solid win condition in addition to its ability to break stall with mold breaker + taunt. Sweeping is made easier with psychic terrain support and with Kartana being able to lure many of the things that annoy Gyara.

Team Analysis


Beatrix Kiddo (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock/Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tapu Lele is probably my favorite scarfer to use at the moment because unlike other scarfers it still hits really hard with the psychic terrain boost. It is able to revenge kill a lot of big threats to this team including Tapu Koko, Mega Pinsir, and Tapu Bulu to name a few. The only problem with using Tapu Lele as your scarfer is the need to have other counter measures to Volcarona, which this does between Pex and Gyarados (Pex walls unless psychic-z and Gyara can eat a boosted hit from full and KO) The spread is pretty obvious, max power and max speed. 3 of the moves are standard on scarf Lele, being Psychic, Moonblast, and HP Fire for Scizor and Ferro. The fourth move keeps changing between Psyshock and Tbolt. Psyshock gives Lele the ability to wear down its most common switch in being AV Magearna as well as ignoring Calm Mind boosts from various mons making revenging easier. For example, one game I was facing a Calm Mind Alakazam which was at 50% and +1 spdef while using tbolt, which meant I couldn't revenge kill it. There were also times in testing where Psyshock was nice to pressure Chansey on stall late game when it had been weakened or if tspikes were up as well as other spdef walls such as Gastrodon. Thunderbolt is the other option to hit Celesteela mainly. Celesteela is annoying to the team but one Tbolt is enough to put it in range of a boosted Kartana.



Hans Landa (Kartana) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash
Kartana is the main breaker of the team. 48 HP EVs allow you to live two Zygarde Thousand Arrows after rocks. Max Speed is mandatory and then the rest is thrown into attack. Darkinium-Z is 100% needed on this team over Fightinium-Z due to its ability to lure and kill Zapdos. Zap is a huge problem for the team and this makes it much easier to deal with. In addition to Zapdos, +2 Dark Z is able to kill standard Venusaur after rocks which aids Gyarados since both of these mons are able to switch in and beat it easily. Two other targets Dark Z is important for is Mew and Reuniclus. Mew can wall the whole squad outside of Tana and Gyara and this is especially problematic since Gyarados is slower than Mew and just gets wisped. Reuni is scary for the team if it boosts, but between Haze on Pex and Dark Z Kartana it is able to be dealt with without too much problem. Swords Dance and Leaf Blade should be expected on every Kartana set (outside of SD on scarf of course). The final move is defog. Kartana is a very solid defogger due to its good speed stat and ability to force switches. The team doesn't care about stealth rocks too much but it is spikes weak and Tana is able to switch in and defog on one of the most common spikers in the tier, Ferro.


Calvin Candie (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt
Mega-Gyarados finds its place on this team mainly as a way to deal with stall. Of course, Mold Breaker is able to go through Unaware to pressure mons like Clefable and Quagsire after a Dragon Dance as well as Sturdy in the case of Skarmory. The pre-mega ability is Intimidate making Gyara a good check to mons like Mega-Swampert prior to evolution. Between Pex and Gyara, the rain matchup is pretty autowin if played correctly. This is also the best initial switch in the team has to Heatran since Toxapex has to be weary of being trapped and taunted. The 24 HP EVs allow you to avoid a 2HKO from Tangrowth's Giga Drain. As was the case with Kartana, max speed is mostly necessary to outspeed Mon's like Hoopa before boosting and faster revenge killers like Mega-Lop and Mega-Mane after a boost. The rest is put into attack investment to hit as hard as possible. Taunt is used in the fourth moveslot to improve Gyara's role as a stallbreaker allowing it to prevent opposing mons from healing or throwing out a status. Even in other matchups, Gyara is able to clean through many weakened teams after a boost. This is aided by Tapu Lele's Physic Terrain as well as Kartana's ability to lure and kill many of Gyara's checks such as Venusaur and Zapdos with a boosted Dark-Z.


Mr. Orange (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
I don't think I have to go into too much detail about this Landorus because it is pretty standard. The 248 HP and 220+ Def EVs allow you to live 3 banded T Arrows from Zygarde after rocks. Even though banded isn't as common at the moment, it is still important to have a sturdy Zygarde check. The rest is put into speed to try and speed creep other defensive Landos allowing you to hit them with HP Ice first. Stealth Rocks because they are mandatory, EQ still hits decently hard due to Lando's natural attack, HP Ice to check opposing Lando and Zygarde, and U-turn for momentum into the offensive threats. Leftovers is the preferred item as this allows you to take the 3 arrows from Zygarde as mentioned before. In general, I've been a big fan of lefties all gen as it gives your Landorus a lot more staying power.



Mia Wallace (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
This AV Magearna moveset is pretty standard for the most part apart from the EV spread. 248 HP with 52 Defense investment allows Gear to always live two specs Psyshocks from Tapu Lele after rocks and a spike. The rest is put into Spdef to take special hits as well as possible. Iron Head is used over Flash Cannon in order to check opposing double dance Magearna as they otherwise just use you as set-up bait. Because of this, a Sassy nature is used in order to not lose power on any of your attacks. Also 21 Speed IV's allow you to underspeed Celesteela which is a cool tech. This allows you to volt out after the Steela attempts to leech seed meaning whatever you bring out gets to come in for free and prevents the Celesteela from recovering. Of course, be aware this usually only works once and afterwards you need to fear taking heavy slams. Even then, sometimes this can be worth it to get a threat like Gyarados in safely. HP Fire is used over Ice Beam in the free slot to hit Ferrothorn mainly. Scizor is well checked by Pex but having another Ferro lure is key to help Gyarados clean late game since Kartana can't afford to run Fight-z as was explained above. Fluer Cannon still hits anything that doesn't resist it hard and Volt Switch is needed for the momentum. If you haven't realized yet this team is most bothered by Tapu Koko, so if your opponent has a special Koko it is important to preserve this to take hits from that monster. I'll talk about how to best deal with Koko in the threats section.


Daisy Domergue (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 140 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
Toxapex rounds out this team as a defensive utility mon that can deal with a lot of the common threats to Landorus and Magearna. This includes Mega Charizard Y, SD Scizor, non Psychic-Z Volcarona, Keldeo, Ice Punch Mega Lopunny, opposing Gyarados, Kingdra, and Vincune to name a few. The moveset is pretty standard. Tspikes are great (and broken) to assist Lele or Gyara in cleaning late game. Haze is pretty much mandatory on this team or you are just begging to lose to Hawlucha (and Scizor to an extent although you do have Lele for that as well). Toxic can be considered over T Spikes to help with the Zapdos matchup, but the overall benefits of Toxic Spikes are too good to pass up. Scald and Recover don't need an explanation. The 104 Defense EV's allow you to avoid the 2HKO from Mega-Lopunny after rocks if you are burned or knocked. 16 Speed is used to ensure you are faster than speed creeping Reuniclus, allowing you to haze their boosts as a last line of defense. This should also ensure you are faster than Mega-Camel since most run speed for Pex. The hype around that mon died down in the last couple of months but still is worth noting. The rest is thrown into Spdef with a Calm Nature to better check most of the threats listed above. I love this mon by the way #ThaPex

THREAT LIST

#1:
: Okay, so this is for sure the biggest issue to the team but can be played around without too much problem as you get more of a feel for the team. The first step in beating this mon is figuring out the set. Normally you can do this by leading Lando since Koko is a really common lead. Next step is pivoting to Magearna. You never want to stay in on the Koko since you die to HP Ice if it is specs. Normally this set of plays will give you a lot of information on the set without much risk to Gear since they aren't going to click Wild Charge on the Lando. If it's physical it is much less of an issue because both Lando and Kartana are able to deal with it well enough. If its special, AV Gear is the "check" and I put that in quotations because it doesn't appreciate specs hits at all. If its not specs then its a fine switch in but that is the hot set on the block right now. Also, don't let Koko in for free, meaning try catching it with scalds from Pex on the switch in because that is the only mon it can really come in on. Since specs Koko has no form of recovery you can wear it down pretty easily by doing this and keeping up hazards.

#2:
: Bulu is a pain to deal with as well but isn't going to run through your 6 like Koko can because of its speed. If you play correctly it won't find its way into the battle too often. Abuse your intimidates and normally you can prevent losing a mon by going to lando/gear and voltturning out to something like Lele. Also, Kartana can come in on predicted grass moves or SDs and scare Bulu out since they don't know you lack Smart Strike. Normally this is fine the first time it comes out since they are much more likely to expect your defensive Lando to pivot in then going hard Tana. And leaf blade in terrain does a million to Bulu (and everything else) anyways.

#3:
: If Kartana wasn't Dark Z this thing would be unkillable. Ideally, they pivot in to check Kartana and it just dies. If Zapdos comes in on another mon, the best play is usually to pivot into Gear and volt into Lele. Lele always threaten out Zapdos but you never want to switch it in and risk the discharge para because Zap gets it 80% of the time and it is going to be a fat L for you.

#4:
: Defensively this is probably the biggest threat to the team. The one bright side is that it is complete set up bait for Gyarados since you have taunt. If you are using Tbolt on Lele over Psyshock this becomes much easier to kill since the mixed defense spread that is most common right now is threatened by a 2HKO after rocks. If you get this one hit off, Steela gets in range of all of your other threats. Use the speed IV's on Gear to your advantage by blocking the leech seed recovery. Otherwise a relatively safe play is always go to Pex and fish for burn and lay up tspikes. Like Steela is a pain to kill but as long as you keep Pex alive it can never do anything back to you. And then whenever you finally catch the Steela and burn it it might as well be dead.

#5:
: Specifically only the Calm Mind set is a threat, and luckily it isn't seen as much as what it was when Latias was first released. The only mons this thing can set up on though, luckily, is Kartana and Lele locked into Psychic move since Lando has U-turn and Pex has Haze. If it is the most popular set which is Stored Power and Tbolt, Kartana actually lives a hit at +1 and kills after rocks with the Z. So most times its probably worth it to stay in if they switch into you and click that. If you don't and they can CM twice you lose unless you crit. Also, Kartana somehow lives an unboosted ice beam so even if they aren't CM you can afford to click the Z in most situations.



CONCLUSION

This team was very fun to build and play with. Despite being weak to certain threats most matchups are winnable with aggressive and smart play. I used to hate Kartana so much but I've learned now that this mon is actually unbeatable. Shout outs to scarf Serperior for stopping my ladder climb. Also, I've been messing around on YouTube so feel free to check me out. Here's the link if anyone cares :]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbBlTlQYiWgLDLG7PInhoQ

Beatrix Kiddo (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock/Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hans Landa (Kartana) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash

Calvin Candie (Gyarados-Mega) (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt

Mr. Orange (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Lax Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Mia Wallace (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

Daisy Domergue (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 140 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover


 
Last edited:


Introduction

First off, if you don't get the reference to the team name or any of the nicknames, they all come from Quentin Tarantino movies because he is the GOAT. I was rewatching Reservoir Dogs the other day so I guess it was just kind of on my mind. I decided to RMT this because it was the first team that I have made in a while that I really enjoyed and had a lot of success with. For the past couple of months I have just been snatching most of my teams by watching Dokkerich's unparalleled tournament coverage on YouTube. With this team I reached #7 on the showdown ladder with an ELO of 1959. After that, I lost to a scarf Serperior and some AV Bisharp stall and decided someone must be telling me number seven was good enough. Even though the team is definitely weak to certain things, lets be honest it is impossible not to be with all there is to cover in the current meta, it is still able to beat pretty much anything if played correctly. After explaining the team choices and sets I'll try and explain how to best play around the bigger threats.

Proof of Peak




Teambuilding Process


The team started with SD Kartana. This was a mon I had been wanting to use for a while since it has seen a lot of success on ladder as well as in tournament games. Tana can break through almost everything with z moves making it extremely hard to switch into.

Next, I decided to add scarf Lele to the team. This was originally because I was debating running timid Tana and psychic terrain provides a bunch of support for that set but then I remembered timid Kartana is dog ass. Scarf Lele stayed however and works as a great revenge killer and cleaner. Kartana helps with this as it is able to muscle through a lot of the mons that Lele has trouble killing.

From here, I decided to move on to the defensive core of the team starting with defensive Lando. I still needed a rocker and momentum to get in the two above offensive threats, since both struggle to take hits, so Lando made the most sense.

The second part of the defensive core is AV magearna. This also provides momentum with volt switch and is a great blanket check to most every special attacker in the meta. AV gear is a great defensive partner to lando and both still provide decent offensive pressure as well due to their naturally high attacking stats.

Next mon is tha pex. Up to this point the team still lacked a water and fire resist. Pex also is able to handle a lot of the mons that threaten the lando/gear defensive core such as Charizard Y, SD Scizor, and non-Psychic Z Volcarona. I also felt like tspikes support was greatly appreciated (that move is so broken). While Pex might seem odd on a more bulky offensive type team like this, it doesn't really sap momentum because with regen you don't have to waste turns clicking recover like most other fat walls do. Between this 3 mon defensive core you have resistances to every typing in the game other than ghost.

Originally the last mon on this team was a specs Hydreigon, which did work well (I think I peaked like 14 or so with this version). Hydra gave me a secondary breaker and more importantly something that can switch in once or twice to magma tran since pex just dies to taunt + epower. Hydra gave the team a ghost resist as well as a secondary ground and dark resist which was greatly appreciated in addition to its offensive presence.

After having trouble versus stall, Hydreigon was eventually replaced with a Mega Gyarados. Gyara gives similar defensive utility as Hydreigon did (ground immunity prior to evo/dark and ghost resist after), but it also provides the team with a solid win condition in addition to its ability to break stall with mold breaker + taunt. Sweeping is made easier with psychic terrain support and with Kartana being able to lure many of the things that annoy Gyara.

Team Analysis


Beatrix Kiddo (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock/Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tapu Lele is probably my favorite scarfer to use at the moment because unlike other scarfers it still hits really hard with the psychic terrain boost. It is able to revenge kill a lot of big threats to this team including Tapu Koko, Mega Pinsir, and Tapu Bulu to name a few. The only problem with using Tapu Lele as your scarfer is the need to have other counter measures to Volcarona, which this does between Pex and Gyarados (Pex walls unless psychic-z and Gyara can eat a boosted hit from full and KO) The spread is pretty obvious, max power and max speed. 3 of the moves are standard on scarf Lele, being Psychic, Moonblast, and HP Fire for Scizor and Ferro. The fourth move keeps changing between Psyshock and Tbolt. Psyshock gives Lele the ability to wear down its most common switch in being AV Magearna as well as ignoring Calm Mind boosts from various mons making revenging easier. For example, one game I was facing a Calm Mind Alakazam which was at 50% and +1 spdef while using tbolt, which meant I couldn't revenge kill it. There were also times in testing where Psyshock was nice to pressure Chansey on stall late game when it had been weakened or if tspikes were up as well as other spdef walls such as Gastrodon. Thunderbolt is the other option to hit Celesteela mainly. Celesteela is annoying to the team but one Tbolt is enough to put it in range of a boosted Kartana.



Hans Landa (Kartana) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash
Kartana is the main breaker of the team. 48 HP EVs allow you to live two Zygarde Thousand Arrows after rocks. Max Speed is mandatory and then the rest is thrown into attack. Darkinium-Z is 100% needed on this team over Fightinium-Z due to its ability to lure and kill Zapdos. Zap is a huge problem for the team and this makes it much easier to deal with. In addition to Zapdos, +2 Dark Z is able to kill standard Venusaur after rocks which aids Gyarados since both of these mons are able to switch in and beat it easily. Two other targets Dark Z is important for is Mew and Reuniclus. Mew can wall the whole squad outside of Tana and Gyara and this is especially problematic since Gyarados is slower than Mew and just gets wisped. Reuni is scary for the team if it boosts, but between Haze on Pex and Dark Z Kartana it is able to be dealt with without too much problem. Swords Dance and Leaf Blade should be expected on every Kartana set (outside of SD on scarf of course). The final move is defog. Kartana is a very solid defogger due to its good speed stat and ability to force switches. The team doesn't care about stealth rocks too much but it is spikes weak and Tana is able to switch in and defog on one of the most common spikers in the tier, Ferro.


Calvin Candie (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt
Mega-Gyarados finds its place on this team mainly as a way to deal with stall. Of course, Mold Breaker is able to go through Unaware to pressure mons like Clefable and Quagsire after a Dragon Dance as well as Sturdy in the case of Skarmory. The pre-mega ability is Intimidate making Gyara a good check to mons like Mega-Swampert prior to evolution. Between Pex and Gyara, the rain matchup is pretty autowin if played correctly. This is also the best initial switch in the team has to Heatran since Toxapex has to be weary of being trapped and taunted. The 24 HP EVs allow you to avoid a 2HKO from Tangrowth's Giga Drain. As was the case with Kartana, max speed is mostly necessary to outspeed Mon's like Hoopa before boosting and faster revenge killers like Mega-Lop and Mega-Mane after a boost. The rest is put into attack investment to hit as hard as possible. Taunt is used in the fourth moveslot to improve Gyara's role as a stallbreaker allowing it to prevent opposing mons from healing or throwing out a status. Even in other matchups, Gyara is able to clean through many weakened teams after a boost. This is aided by Tapu Lele's Physic Terrain as well as Kartana's ability to lure and kill many of Gyara's checks such as Venusaur and Zapdos with a boosted Dark-Z.


Mr. Orange (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
I don't think I have to go into too much detail about this Landorus because it is pretty standard. The 248 HP and 220+ Def EVs allow you to live 3 banded T Arrows from Zygarde after rocks. Even though banded isn't as common at the moment, it is still important to have a sturdy Zygarde check. The rest is put into speed to try and speed creep other defensive Landos allowing you to hit them with HP Ice first. Stealth Rocks because they are mandatory, EQ still hits decently hard due to Lando's natural attack, HP Ice to check opposing Lando and Zygarde, and U-turn for momentum into the offensive threats. Leftovers is the preferred item as this allows you to take the 3 arrows from Zygarde as mentioned before. In general, I've been a big fan of lefties all gen as it gives your Landorus a lot more staying power.



Mia Wallace (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
This AV Magearna moveset is pretty standard for the most part apart from the EV spread. 248 HP with 52 Defense investment allows Gear to always live two specs Psyshocks from Tapu Lele after rocks and a spike. The rest is put into Spdef to take special hits as well as possible. Iron Head is used over Flash Cannon in order to check opposing double dance Magearna as they otherwise just use you as set-up bait. Because of this, a Sassy nature is used in order to not lose power on any of your attacks. Also 21 Speed IV's allow you to underspeed Celesteela which is a cool tech. This allows you to volt out after the Steela attempts to leech seed meaning whatever you bring out gets to come in for free and prevents the Celesteela from recovering. Of course, be aware this usually only works once and afterwards you need to fear taking heavy slams. Even then, sometimes this can be worth it to get a threat like Gyarados in safely. HP Fire is used over Ice Beam in the free slot to hit Ferrothorn mainly. Scizor is well checked by Pex but having another Ferro lure is key to help Gyarados clean late game since Kartana can't afford to run Fight-z as was explained above. Fluer Cannon still hits anything that doesn't resist it hard and Volt Switch is needed for the momentum. If you haven't realized yet this team is most bothered by Tapu Koko, so if your opponent has a special Koko it is important to preserve this to take hits from that monster. I'll talk about how to best deal with Koko in the threats section.


Daisy Domergue (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 140 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover
Toxapex rounds out this team as a defensive utility mon that can deal with a lot of the common threats to Landorus and Magearna. This includes Mega Charizard Y, SD Scizor, non Psychic-Z Volcarona, Keldeo, Ice Punch Mega Lopunny, opposing Gyarados, Kingdra, and Vincune to name a few. The moveset is pretty standard. Tspikes are great (and broken) to assist Lele or Gyara in cleaning late game. Haze is pretty much mandatory on this team or you are just begging to lose to Hawlucha (and Scizor to an extent although you do have Lele for that as well). Toxic can be considered over T Spikes to help with the Zapdos matchup, but the overall benefits of Toxic Spikes are too good to pass up. Scald and Recover don't need an explanation. The 104 Defense EV's allow you to avoid the 2HKO from Mega-Lopunny after rocks if you are burned or knocked. 16 Speed is used to ensure you are faster than speed creeping Reuniclus, allowing you to haze their boosts as a last line of defense. This should also ensure you are faster than Mega-Camel since most run speed for Pex. The hype around that mon died down in the last couple of months but still is worth noting. The rest is thrown into Spdef with a Calm Nature to better check most of the threats listed above. I love this mon by the way #ThaPex

THREAT LIST

#1:
: Okay, so this is for sure the biggest issue to the team but can be played around without too much problem as you get more of a feel for the team. The first step in beating this mon is figuring out the set. Normally you can do this by leading Lando since Koko is a really common lead. Next step is pivoting to Magearna. You never want to stay in on the Koko since you die to HP Ice if it is specs. Normally this set of plays will give you a lot of information on the set without much risk to Gear since they aren't going to click Wild Charge on the Lando. If it's physical it is much less of an issue because both Lando and Kartana are able to deal with it well enough. If its special, AV Gear is the "check" and I put that in quotations because it doesn't appreciate specs hits at all. If its not specs then its a fine switch in but that is the hot set on the block right now. Also, don't let Koko in for free, meaning try catching it with scalds from Pex on the switch in because that is the only mon it can really come in on. Since specs Koko has no form of recovery you can wear it down pretty easily by doing this and keeping up hazards.

#2:
: Bulu is a pain to deal with as well but isn't going to run through your 6 like Koko can because of its speed. If you play correctly it won't find its way into the battle too often. Abuse your intimidates and normally you can prevent losing a mon by going to lando/gear and voltturning out to something like Lele. Also, Kartana can come in on predicted grass moves or SDs and scare Bulu out since they don't know you lack Smart Strike. Normally this is fine the first time it comes out since they are much more likely to expect your defensive Lando to pivot in then going hard Tana. And leaf blade in terrain does a million to Bulu (and everything else) anyways.

#3:
: If Kartana wasn't Dark Z this thing would be unkillable. Ideally, they pivot in to check Kartana and it just dies. If Zapdos comes in on another mon, the best play is usually to pivot into Gear and volt into Lele. Lele always threaten out Zapdos but you never want to switch it in and risk the discharge para because Zap gets it 80% of the time and it is going to be a fat L for you.

#4:
: Defensively this is probably the biggest threat to the team. The one bright side is that it is complete set up bait for Gyarados since you have taunt. If you are using Tbolt on Lele over Psyshock this becomes much easier to kill since the mixed defense spread that is most common right now is threatened by a 2HKO after rocks. If you get this one hit off, Steela gets in range of all of your other threats. Use the speed IV's on Gear to your advantage by blocking the leech seed recovery. Otherwise a relatively safe play is always go to Pex and fish for burn and lay up tspikes. Like Steela is a pain to kill but as long as you keep Pex alive it can never do anything back to you. And then whenever you finally catch the Steela and burn it it might as well be dead.

#5:
: Specifically only the Calm Mind set is a threat, and luckily it isn't seen as much as what it was when Latias was first released. The only mons this thing can set up on though, luckily, is Kartana and Lele locked into Psychic move since Lando has U-turn and Pex has Haze. If it is the most popular set which is Stored Power and Tbolt, Kartana actually lives a hit at +1 and kills after rocks with the Z. So most times its probably worth it to stay in if they switch into you and click that. If you don't and they can CM twice you lose unless you crit. Also, Kartana somehow lives an unboosted ice beam so even if they aren't CM you can afford to click the Z in most situations.



CONCLUSION

This team was very fun to build and play with. Despite being weak to certain threats most matchups are winnable with aggressive and smart play. I used to hate Kartana so much but I've learned now that this mon is actually unbeatable. Shout outs to scarf Serperior for stopping my ladder climb. Also, I've been messing around on YouTube so feel free to check me out. Here's the link if anyone cares :]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbBlTlQYiWgLDLG7PInhoQ

Beatrix Kiddo (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock/Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hans Landa (Kartana) @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash

Calvin Candie (Gyarados-Mega) (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt

Mr. Orange (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Lax Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Mia Wallace (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

Daisy Domergue (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 140 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Toxic Spikes
- Recover


They aren't loading for me right now, I'll update this when I can
Hey ur threat list has both bulu and koko on it, so why not use slidge bomb av tang, who p easily walls either and can ohko bulu, do a ton to koko.it doesnt help ur matchup v zap, but def doesnt hurt it v offensive zap, and is overall better for the team because of these reasons
 
Hey ur threat list has both bulu and koko on it, so why not use slidge bomb av tang, who p easily walls either and can ohko bulu, do a ton to koko.it doesnt help ur matchup v zap, but def doesnt hurt it v offensive zap, and is overall better for the team because of these reasons
I do like the idea but the problem is what are you putting Tang over? Over Gear means you have no answers to Lele and over Pex means you have no counterplay to Zard/Volc/Hawlucha. So its kind of a decision of what to be weak to haha. Tang would for sure be nice though to patch up a couple of these weaknesses
 
Last edited:
The problem is what are you putting that over? over Gear means you have zero counterplay to Lele and over Pex means you have no counterplay to Zard/Volc/Hawlucha. So its kind of a decision of what to be weak to haha. Tang would for sure be nice though to patch up a couple of these weaknesses
I meant toxapex sorry lol, lando t should beat lucha and zard x, volc will be a bit of a ptoblem yeah but mega gyara should live a plus one giga
 
Hello Ultraballz (nice nickname tho), I really enjoy your teambuilding. I've also checked your youtube channel and, as you seem to produce good content, you earned a sub ;)

Although I probably don't have your level in pokémon, I've thought of a change in your team: as your electric weaknesses make it pretty hard for this team to deal with mons such as koko or zapdos, why not changing toxapex into latios ? It looked like t-spikes are really important for you but, as well as still checking decently well mons like Charizard-Y or keldeo, latios brings you an electric resistance and avoid your team being destroyed by psychium z volcarona if you lose gyarados. Latios also benfits from lele’s psychic surge.

So, my suggestion is to switch toxapex into scarf latios and make tapu lele a specs user. Lele specs hits like a nuke and it would make it easier to break through defensive walls like zapdos, celesteela (for which you can defintely run thunderbolt) or cm mega-latias. As your team obviously doesn't need 2 defoggers, it lets a free space for kartana or latios. Indeed, you can either put sacred sword on kartana in order to hit ferro and heatran harder or you can put surf on latios so heatran can’t freely come on it.

Keeping scarf lele and puting soul dew on latios might be an option, but you lose latios’ RK power.

Tell me if my idea(s) might be viable or if it would comprise the team’s objectives. See ya !

Import (I've kept your spreads):

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Kartana @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog / Sacred Sword / Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash

Gyarados-Mega (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Lax Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf /Defog
- Trick
 
Hello Ultraballz (nice nickname tho), I really enjoy your teambuilding. I've also checked your youtube channel and, as you seem to produce good content, you earned a sub ;)

Although I probably don't have your level in pokémon, I've thought of a change in your team: as your electric weaknesses make it pretty hard for this team to deal with mons such as koko or zapdos, why not changing toxapex into latios ? It looked like t-spikes are really important for you but, as well as still checking decently well mons like Charizard-Y or keldeo, latios brings you an electric resistance and avoid your team being destroyed by psychium z volcarona if you lose gyarados. Latios also benfits from lele’s psychic surge.

So, my suggestion is to switch toxapex into scarf latios and make tapu lele a specs user. Lele specs hits like a nuke and it would make it easier to break through defensive walls like zapdos, celesteela (for which you can defintely run thunderbolt) or cm mega-latias. As your team obviously doesn't need 2 defoggers, it lets a free space for kartana or latios. Indeed, you can either put sacred sword on kartana in order to hit ferro and heatran harder or you can put surf on latios so heatran can’t freely come on it.

Keeping scarf lele and puting soul dew on latios might be an option, but you lose latios’ RK power.

Tell me if my idea(s) might be viable or if it would comprise the team’s objectives. See ya !

Import (I've kept your spreads):

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Kartana @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog / Sacred Sword / Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Night Slash

Gyarados-Mega (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 40 Spe
Lax Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 21 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf /Defog
- Trick
I really like this idea and plan to test it out! Although it doesn't completely solve specs koko because d gleam is still an issue for Latios, it gives you another mon to sponge the electric attacks. The more appealing part to me is being able to run defog on Lati opening up a 3rd attacking move on Kartana as you mentioned. Thanks for the input and the sub :]
 
I just got an illumination: you could put a yache berry on lando, so you can always tank an hp ice from specs koko (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian: 212-250 (55.4 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO), even a crit (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian on a critical hit: 316-374 (82.7 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) and ohko it in return with earthquake.
 
I just got an illumination: you could put a yache berry on lando, so you can always tank an hp ice from specs koko (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian: 212-250 (55.4 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO), even a crit (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian on a critical hit: 316-374 (82.7 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) and ohko it in return with earthquake.
Yeah that's hot. I actually think that would work amazing on this team. also helps vs opposing lando
 
I just got an illumination: you could put a yache berry on lando, so you can always tank an hp ice from specs koko (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian: 212-250 (55.4 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO), even a crit (252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Koko Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 0- SpD Yache Berry Landorus-Therian on a critical hit: 316-374 (82.7 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) and ohko it in return with earthquake.
Just wanted to say I tested this a lot today and it worked really well so it's definitely a good option. You can normally nab koko turn one and it makes the rest of the game pretty easy
 
Just wanted to say I tested this a lot today and it worked really well so it's definitely a good option. You can normally nab koko turn one and it makes the rest of the game pretty easy
Glad to here that. I guess it can also help lando setting up his rocks fearless, against an ice beam magearna for exemple.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top