ORAS NU all my friends

[Evan.]

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Introduction​

With NU Open ending and Grand Slam in general heading into the final stages, i thought that now would be a good time to share the team that's been giving me the most success for the past couple months. The story of how this team was formed comes from my (attempted) return to playing NU after a bit of a break over the summer. I knew that I needed to make some new teams for the upcoming NU Open since my past teams were either outdated or inconsistent at best.

After coming back about 2 or 3 months ago, i was surprised to find out that a set that i had made in spl: specs mesprit had caught on and was really starting to become a big player in the late ORAS metagame. I started w/ scyther + mesprit since i wanted a way to get mesprit in on fatter stuff while also having something that did better against the kinds of offensive teams that mesprit usually only gets a kill against. As much as i hate to say it, the next 3 mons kinda added themselves. lanturn added another mon that helped get mesprit in as well as checking like all the fire mons, skunk was hazard removal + another mon that is just splashable and checks a bunch of shit, and rhydon is just your generic normal / bird resist + overall metagame check, i use it on like every fucking team anyways. For the last slot, i've recently become a believer in having priority on pretty much every team since it just gives you a lot more options in game when it comes to playing around threats then you would have if you just ran a scarfer to try and revenge kill stuff. That being said, i went with kangaskhan as my last since its easily the best abuser of priority in the tier and having something else that can wear down scyther's checks is always good as well (plus it lets this team follow a philosophy of mine: any team w/ kangaskhan can win on the NU ladder).

The team ended up performing much better than i had originally expected at first glance. This team hasn't really seen any ladder time (maybe one of you nu young'ns can snag it for the ladder tour !_!) but it's something like 16 or 17-1 exclusively in NU Open / NUL games which i'd call pretty successful (as much as cased hates on it, but sorry dude not everyone can run mono normal!). I've also noticed that it's been spawning some different variations so i thought it'd be better to get the original version out there, and with that here it is. song choice is just smth that i found on spotify that ive enjoyed listening to recently.

Scyther @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bug Bite
- U-Turn
- Aerial Ace
- Knock Off

Scyther's role on the team is pretty simple: pick off weaker threats early and (hopefully) clean late game with bug bite or aerial ace. It does a great job of getting me momentum early game and baiting in stuff like steelix / rhydon / ferroseed for me to either u-turn on or knock their item off which goes a long way in letting mesprit or kanga break them (also catching scarf rotom t1 w/ knock off is my new favourite thing to do in NU). I run bug bite over something like brick break or pursuit since its actually pretty strong and usually a better move to lock yourself into late game than aerial ace.

Mesprit @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 24 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpAtk / 30 Spe
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

my baby <3. Specs Mesprit is honestly such a nuke and i love using it more than any set in the metagame right now (except maybe wisp zard @_@). The mon itself is pretty straightforward: click strong moves and watch pokemon die and it does wonders since even smth like steelix takes a hefty 34-37 from Psychic and is 2HKOd by ice beam. Its my main breaker, but it also has a fair bit of defensive utility through its natural speed / bulk / typing which lets it act as a check to stuff like SD otter and offensive rhydon variants (it basically prevents rhydon from getting both dances).

The two main differences from normal specs mesprit here are the EVs and the 4th slot. I went with HP Fire since this team really hates ferroseed and removing it usually opens up holes for kangaskhan to bust through. The EVs are a result of having hp fire; since im going to lose the tie to other specs mesprits i thought it would be better just to catch adamant hitmonchan and get a little bit of bulk since it might come in handy.

Lanturn @ Assault Vest
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 136 SpD / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

AV lanturn is just here to act as sort of a catch all for most of the threatening balance and bulky offense breakers, basically mag / pyroar / special otter / floatzel etc. I'm using a more offensive variant since the team really does a really good job of keeping up offensive pressure with every mon and having a more defensive toxic set kinda defeats that purpose. EVs and moves are all pretty standard, i'm not running sucker punch on this one b/c i dont need to get that extra 20% off on sceptile Kappa

Skuntank @ Black Sludge
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Defog

I was never a very big advocate of special skuntank before making this team, I always thought it got worn down way too easily (because everyone always runs shuca on it) and i just thought that pursuit was way too good of a move to pass up on it. What inspired me to put it on this team was actually watching some of Realistic Waters play and being astounded at how his skuntank never seemed to get worn down at all. I decided to try out Black Sludge defog skunk and i haven't looked back, the difference in survivability is just absolutely massive and it lets skunk come in alot more to defog compared to shuca variants.

I know that my skunk doesn't have dark STAB, I didn't just forget, there's actually reasoning behind this. One of the weaknesses of this team is to fighting types, it's a very playable weakness and it's not very difficult to overcome if you play well but it still exists. Sludge gives me something to hit gurdurr with as well as fish for poisons against the other fighters (hitmonchan / yama). everything runs colbur anyways so you arent going to get a huge hit off w/ dark pulse, idk it just kinda works on this team.

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance

Another catch-all mon (notice a trend?) this time on the physical side, Rhydon is just so good in the current metagame. My main switch in / check to really threatening stuff like tauros / archeops / kangaskhan / pretty much any physical attacker, Rhydon does it's job pretty remarkably. I opted to go with Swords Dance in the last slot over the more commonly seen Megahorn (or metal burst but nobody ever uses that one :[) since my team deals with malamar pretty well already and swords dance gives me an answer to stuff like CM Audino / Musharna since nothing else on my team can really break them.

Kangaskhan @ Silk Scarf
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake

Kangaskhan rounds out the bunch here and it performs its role to perfection. Kangaskhan provides me with a much needed safety button against opposing offensive teams, since alot of my team sits in kind of a middling offensive speed tier. Not having to bring in scyther to revenge offensive pokemon is a godsend since it takes the pressure off of skunk to come in and defog in order to keep scyther healthy. It also does a pretty nice job of opening up the common normal / bird switch ins so that scyther can clean in the late game.

Conclusion + Threatlist​

While this team has been really successful, it does have it's flaws. The biggest one is probably that it has an incredibly hard matchup against stall (luckily only a select few people actually use it), like as long as your opponent makes the safe play, they should win. I mentioned it earlier, but the other problem matchup is fighters since my 2 resists are both offensive choiced pokes. It's definitely a very playable /winnable matchup (especially w/ how predictably people play their hariyamas / hitmonchans), but it's just something to watch out for. Overall, I really enjoyed using this team and I think it really does a good job of showing how effective Specs Mesprit can be in the current metagame. I'm not sure how much NU i'll be playing in the future w/ ORAS kind of dying down and it's presence in SPL being questionable at best. That being said, i'm not gonna do a huge shoutouts post, but I want to thank everyone that I interacted with during this gen of NU and making it super enjoyable / giving me a reason to stay around the community. I feel like this is the perfect way for me to kind of turn the page and finish off until SM NU, so until then i'll catch you all later.

import

Scyther @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace
- Knock Off
- Bug Bite

Mesprit @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 24 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Skuntank @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SpA / 148 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Sludge Bomb
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Defog

Lanturn @ Assault Vest
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 136 SpD / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Kangaskhan @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake

 

[ryan]

solid team, kinda dicked on by piloswine try grass coverage over signal on mesprit or replace skuntank with a good mon