SM OU Elysium ♛ Peaked #1






My fascination with Pokémon started when I was four years old. It was at that time that I had tricked myself into believing that these creatures truly existed, and that on my 10th birthday, I too, would embark on a journey and live out my dreams of becoming a Pokémon master. This RMT is a homage to the franchise that filled my childhood paradise with both wonder and enchantment.

With that being said, I welcome you to one of my better teams, which has helped me live out what still remained of that youthful fantasy to become the strongest trainer in the world. I welcome you all to my "Elysium".





Greetings, fellow Pokémon lovers.

Some of you may remember me from my first RMT, “Ignite the Desert”. At that time, I never spent more than 10 minutes building a team and often liked to incorporate ‘innovation’, potentially at the expense of practicality.

However, when I saw Lycon’s RMT, my perspectives were revolutionised. I was captivated by the amount of thought that he had incorporated into this game. The gravity of that team’s conception, along with Lycon’s passages on the structuring of battles according to the archetype/mons in team preview, reminded me that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than I often care to remember.
I also found my aversion towards ‘standard’ teams as being misguided. As I realised that Lycon's team was more interesting and clever than any 'innovative' team I had produced. Because it wasn’t a matter of combining the most powerful mons with their most common sets. Every member, every move, and every EV in that team was selected with a purpose. Every element was thoroughly deliberated on so that the final composition of six mons unified into the most effective team. Changing any detail would require a complete reconfiguration, and it is this delicacy that made it special.

I had discovered the beauty of supreme functionality.

However, supreme functionality does not reject creativity, but rather thrives off it. In Lycon’s pursuit of upmost effectiveness, he selected several unconventional options like Max HP Tyranitar, Knock Off Scizor etc. This was because these generally substandard sets were superior in the context of his personal team’s situation. Lycon did not compromise the ability of his team to be more creative, but rather required creativity to be most effective.

It was also in a very brief conversation with Lycon, that he touched upon something that resonated with me. He spoke about how everyone has their own unique style, and I couldn’t agree more. When you open up a fresh page on teambuilder, you have the liberty to create anything that your imagination desires. Art is a difficult word to define, but let’s take the one provided by Google: “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.” Using this criterion, I believe that one can deem teambuilding as a form of art.

This game is not just a matter of who is the best fighter. Without the right weapon, you will not secure victory. I believe that many people overlook the beauty of this. The freedom to imagine, forge and sharpen a sword tailored to your own unique way of combat is as much significant as it is artistic.

In my appreciation for Lycon’s post, I became inspired to build teams that embodied the critical analysis that is required to play above the rest of the crowd. I also made a commitment to employ rigorous thought behind every turn I played. During this period, I was able to create a number of highly successful teams, one of which I will be sharing today.

Unfortunately, I have only a limited amount of time available to write this, so I will not be able to detail this team to the degree of Lycon’s. Although I do hope that you’ll appreciate my efforts anyway.


There were a couple of inspirations for this team’s creation. The first came from a match on the ladder a few months ago in which I was rendered completely useless and subsequently 6-0ed by a Cosmic Power Clefable. The second of which may surprise you, being Wish Killer’s timeless set of six. However, I am neither referring to its members or their sets, but rather I wished to emulate one of its fundamental elements. This was to create a spike stacking balance that did not require defog. With a vague plan and an initial mon that appeared to synergize well at the outset, I was ready to conceptualize something out of this vision.

The second member to be added to this team was Zapdos who acts as the perfect guardian to our focal mon. Issues that can plague Clefable include:
- Haze users (Toxapex, Mantine)
- Taunt users (Tapu Fini, Mega Gyarados)
- Steel types (Scizor, Bisharp, Kartana, Celesteela)
Zapdos is able to neutralise all these threats while also adding a useful ground immunity.

With an initial core developed, I now needed three significant holes to be patched up. These were a check to rain, something to resist an onslaught of the ever popular Lele+Zam and Lele+Diancie cores, and finally those spikes that I wanted. With these factors at play, my best option was Ferrothorn.

The next batch of weaknesses in my army pertained to offensive fire types and the ever-dreaded stall. After pondering for quite some time, Mega Latias was deemed most suitable. This also forms a nice Stored Power duo with Clefable.

Heatran immediately came to mind when deciding my stealth rocker for his all-around functionality and balance/stall breaking prowess. One steel type is not enough to deal with those broken psychic spam teams, so Heatran also acts as an added line of defence in those matches.

Finally, and probably inevitably, Toxapex was chosen. With little more to cover in terms of overall weaknesses, I just simply couldn’t pass up on one of the most metagame defining mons. A blanket check to a multitude of threats, Toxapex not only alleviates a ton of the defensive workload that my army must endure, but also contributes to the hazard war that her team primarily functions around. This gut feeling turned out to be fruitful, as I believe the team wouldn’t have been nearly as effective in her absence.

Now that we have covered the inspiration and building of this team, I feel this is an appropriate time to mention a funny anecdote that inspired the writing of this RMT itself. To preface, I never expected to write up one of these again. It was my intention to keep my teams to myself, but the following encounter changed my mind.
It involved a random match on the ladder in which my opponent was using a copy of my team (imo a bad variation, where some of the moves were altered like putting Defog on Zapdos etc.). After winning a turn one speed tie between our Heatrans, I eventually lost, but not before being told the following (and a lot more):
☆OhMyKatyPerry: the original build was okay but there were some real problems
☆OhMyKatyPerry: once it got passed around to strong battlers the team improved a bunch
While I was able to appreciate the humor, it did make me want to claim the team as originally my creation while showcasing the rationale behind some of my “bad” choices. This compounded with the uncertainty of viability once the upcoming games are released, is why I am writing this today.



Illuminated Hearts (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Charge Beam

Unlike in most teams, Clefable acts as one of "Elysium's" primary win conditions. Functioning as a predominately offensive presence, I have ensured in team design that the need for its defensive utilities are minimal. This set with Cosmic+Stored Power is very effective in the current meta, capable of singlehandedly abolishing most of the balance and bulky offense teams that dominate the ladder. Cosmic Power allows for Clefable to theoretically set up against most of its usual counters including Celesteela, and if given just a single free boost, it can invalidate a large portion of the tier. I stress the “theoretically” part though, because Clefable is extremely vulnerable to critical hits due to the time it takes to load up ammunition into its Stored Power. With this in mind, Clefable is far more capable of sweeping late game when the amount of hits it needs to pull off are minimised. However, if opportunities for it to strike are restricted, it is advised to proactively exploit certain positions during the early and mid-games in order to avoid wasting a potential sweep. A perfect example of what I’m talking about is in matchups against the Z-Victini HO from the sample teams thread. As you can gather, Clefable is extremely hard pressed to set up against the majority of those mons if they have any momentum. Which is why I have had hilarious matches where I lead Clefable on the lead drill allowing me to boost away and subsequently win games outright. Additionally, Clefable is a great antidote to Chansey Offenses thanks to its ability to take advantage of that aforementioned mon.



Born by the Wind (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Three attack Zapdos with static is an absolute nightmare for offensively inclined teams. As outlined in the first chapter, Zapdos is a great soldier for Clefable’s needs. However, Zapdos is also a capable threat in its own right. Blessed with impressive coverage, typing, and stats, Zapdos can steal a lot of momentum if you manage to pick out the correct super effective attack from its arsenal. But even if your foresight is off, spamming Discharge can be a very lucrative course of action for obvious reasons. Static is an essential component of this team because of the lack of speed control. It also allows Zapdos to function as a chance last resort sacrifice against physical threats gone wild.




Heaven's Blossoms (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes

Despite its tendency to avoid the spotlight, Ferrothorn is possibly the centre of "Elysium". After adjusting to the initial shocks of a new generation, Spikes eventually became an integral part of the OU meta. Although they are often an apathetic addition to most squads, I wanted to build a team that lived and breathed spikes, and could fully exploit their capabilities. With only two mons that feel their full strength (pex’s regenerator essentially negates their impact), in the case of all out spike warfare, this team’s chances of victory soars. But I also bring to your awareness that this team is far from helpless without them. Returning to Ferrothorn, a maxed-out spread allows it not to become overwhelmed by the psychic and fairy spam that infects the tier. Usage of Tapu Lele and Diancie has surged recently, particularly with the former’s tendency to hold Specs and Z-Psychic, which blows back most common steels. Protect is further insurance against these threats as coverage attacks can still cause annihilation. It is also beneficial in rain matchups as stalling weather turns from Mega Swampert is vital. Protect also promotes the effectiveness of leech seed which in turn increases switching, something that I have capitalized on. Spikes also alleviates Ferrothorn’s issue with being passive, because every free turn can be put to productive use.




Angel's Symphonies (Latias-Mega) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Surf
- Recover

To my surprise, Mega Latias ended up wearing the royal crown in “Elysium.” An already very underprepared for threat, its Stored Power set elevates Latias to unprecedented heights of potency. This effect is also magnified in tandem with Clefable, as one can usually devastate enough for the other to flourish. An important fact to also keep in mind is that Mega Latias can abuse Stored Power far quicker and more powerfully than its compatriot. Stored Power is also a venom that can shut down the immune systems of most stalls. I used Thunderbolt during my climb to #1, but upon further testing, I have concluded that commanding the ocean is superior. This change helped remedy my weaknesses to boosting Ground Types such as Landorus, Excadrill, and Garchomp while improving matchups against Banded Tyranitar.




Satan's Sympathies (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock
- Substitute
- Earth Power

Heatran can reliably set stealth rocks under almost any conditions and this was the quality that I found most attractive about her. Credit to this team’s sturdy defensive battalion, Heatran is not under constant pressure from the rest of “Elysium” to cover for them. By eliminating all the unnecessary chip that Heatran often has to suffer through, she can reward you with power that you wouldn’t recognize. Although it is not always possible, Heatran is far more effective if it isn’t burdened with the task of being a primary check to more than a handful of threats. With a body composition of flame and metal, Heatran resists 10 out of the 17 types which makes it OU’s greatest backup and the best form of secondary defence thanks to its catch-all nature. This was the way that Heatran was incorporated into “Elysium”, making it such a strident force. When I climbed the ladder, I used the above set but have now discovered that I cannot justify the use of Substitute. If you are actually reading what I have wrote and not just skimming, here is a hidden gem for you to show my appreciation. Change Substitute to Taunt as it is quite redundant upon reflection and now you have a better means to conquering Calm Mind Reuniclus. Although my previous tactic to paralyze it and boost up alongside was quite successful. The only thing that I can say about Substitute is that it made wasting Sableye’s recovers a little easier so that it could not PP stall Clefable later. Apart from that I hope I haven’t cursed you by forgetting something that it was essential for. Maximum speed is because I have to at least outrun Jolly Bisharp so why not just go all out. Something that I never got around to experimenting with was the migration of some EVs from HP to SpA, so if you manage to concoct up something nice, do let me know.




Tears in the Rain (Toxapex) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Baneful Bunker
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald

My divine intuition to invite Toxapex to my forces was one of my best decisions. For this team, Baneful Bunker is the most productive use of a redundant move slot. Haze and Toxic can both be forgone due to this team’s ability to handle everything that they annoy. But despite the fact that they serve almost no benefit, I want to demonstrate why I believe Baneful Bunker deserves more credit than being labelled as just a filler. The most obvious things are scouting for choice-locked moves, exposing potential double switches, poisoning unsuspecting mons who make contact, stalling weather turns, and facilitating more residual toxic spikes damage. However, the most dominant reason relates to getting clutch turns of leftovers recovery. For the magnitude of this fact to be understood, you have to consider that the more times I can throw out my Toxapex in the absence of other members, the more of an advantage I can obtain. Baneful Bunker contributes to making this possible as trying to slaughter this mon with 12% recovery becomes twice as difficult as before. If you would like a testimonial with that, I will assure you that during my own experiences I required the move to win countless matches and was able to steal massive momentum from most opponents. The above spread allows for Toxapex to adequately take on both Earth Power M-Diancie and PuP M-Lopunny simultaneously.


When I built this team, I understood that it would be impossible and foolish to try and cover every threat in the metagame. I used to make unnecessary sacrifices so that I wasn’t weak to certain individual mons, but if you do this too much, you spread yourself thin and end up vulnerable to everything. So I made a compromise and decided that I would focus on having a great matchup against the majority of common teams and rely on my own skill to overcome those games in the minority, playing differently to accommodate for the disadvantage. I have not encountered any game that was impossible to win but below are some enemies to look out for:
-
(EQ)
-
(Sub Seed)
-
(Boost EQ)
-
(Band)
Do not allow insignificant things like “matchup” or “hax” stop you from dominating every person you set your eyes on. Allow the desire for victory to consume your entire being.

Satan's Sympathies (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock
- Substitute
- Earth Power

Angel's Symphonies (Latias-Mega) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Surf
- Recover

Illuminated Hearts (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Charge Beam

Born by the Wind (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Heaven's Blossoms (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes

Tears in the Rain (Toxapex) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Baneful Bunker
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald

I am at a stage in my life where I am beginning to see that my time playing this game is likely coming to a close.

Although a large amount of this community, including prominent players, like to ridicule this game as RNG garbage, I don’t like to take that perspective. As you all know, Pokémon battles are purely a game of strategy with no hand-eye coordination required. There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn with another pure strategy game: chess. However, a stark difference between the two is the involvement of luck. While this does detract from being able to accurately determine one’s skill on a micro scale, it allows this game to be dynamic rather than mundane. I say on a micro scale because luck becomes almost irrelevant when evaluating skill over the course of multiple matches. This is because of a basic mathematical theorem called the “Law of Large Numbers”. I have elaborated on this in the following:
Definition: The law of large numbers is a principle of probability according to which the frequencies of events with the same likelihood of occurrence even out, given enough trials or instances. As the number of experiments increases, the actual ratio of outcomes will converge on the theoretical, or expected, ratio of outcomes.

Example involving coin flipping:

If you watch this through a couple of times, you will notice that the proportion varies significantly at first but approaches 50% with increasing trials. I found the following extract which should further clarify:
If you flip a coin 10 times, the odds of you flipping 4 or 6 heads is 26%, and the odds of you flipping 3 or 7 heads is 10%. Now, let’s say you flipped a coin 100 times. The odds of getting exactly 50% heads is still 50%. But, do you think the odds of getting 60 heads is also 26%? It’s actually only 2%. It’s much easier to get 6 out of 10 heads, than it is to get 60 out of 100 heads. What are the odds of flipping 600 heads out of 1000 flips? It’s 0.00000001%.

What this means in the case of Pokémon, is do not be concerned if an inferior player overcomes you. Your true skill will always shine through at the end of the day.

I play this game for the freedom of manifesting fragments of my imagination into teams, for the thrills of psychological warfare on the battlefield, and to engulf myself into the roaring flames of competition. But almost more importantly, I play because I still have a lot more to learn. Even if I were to invest years more into this game, I would never reach the end. There are so many more undiscovered approaches to playing this game, so many more ways to account for and inhibit hax, so many more ways to structure game plans start to finish. No one here will ever build that one perfect team, much less be capable of wielding it to its absolute most limitless potential, and that is what makes this game so appealing.

I think it is such a beautiful thing that a community exists to share the love of Pokémon. I'm sure many of us still treasure the memories of trading members of our party with our friends. Or maybe you recall that instance of euphoria when you collected all eight gym badges in your first game. These are the moments that have brought us all together on this site today.

I’ve also had the privilege to witness this first hand with my two younger brothers who are 3 and 5. To watch them get excited at Ash and Pikachu taking on the world is truly a blessing. Although it may be impossible to remember these times, I am fairly sure that many of us experienced their same emotions when we were younger. How blessed we were.

So, thank you to everyone who makes playing Pokémon possible. Whether you still engage in battles on the ladder, or just post funny memes on Smogon, you have all contributed to making mine, and everyone else’s, time here both possible and memorable.

Good luck on your own journey to become a Pokémon master, I hope you remember to find the joys in this game for as long as your heart stays young.

 
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Hi Essence, I just wanna say this is an amazing rmt and your creativity, knowledge, and passion really shows. When I saw this the first word that came to my mind was 'beautiful'. Your artwork, color scheme, design, and writing made this a pleasure to read. I also made one and wanted to get to #1 but I ended up peaking at about 20 points below top 10 before I tilted again. I feel that I could get to #1 if I keep playing since my peak has been gradually increasing, from 1800, to 1850, to 1900, to 1950, so I would just need to continue this sort of climb. However, its time for me to step away from the game so I won't be doing that. I just have 1 question, how does the team do against trick room, veil, and most importantly, stall (my question mark key is broken). It looks like you can easily handle a lot of ho's like gondra, birdspam, and general BO and balance builds. I feel like you could beat webs too, but bisharp could be scary. Anyway, good bye :)
I was originally going to rate this team by hanging the clefable set, but then I realized it is very important for this team, as otherwise the team auto loses to stall. The stored power set is a great stallbreaker, (though not infalliable, as you do need to play around toxapex).
I wouldn’t worry about AV offense as it is an extremly niche playstyle atm and she can play around it with Ferrothorn, so it’s not like she auto loses to AV.
TR is frankly, almost irrelevant in the upper ladder and sees very little usage in general, as well as Bisharp.
Anyways, amazing team Essence. Love it!
 
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This Rmt is really beatiful, everything on it is perfect, great name, amazing music, a beatiful story and of course an amazing well constructed team.
Congratulations!
About the team like everyone already said, is kinda weak to some stallbreakers like Banded Tyranitar, Bisharp, Hoopa, even Lele.
I would add some kind of speed control, i think it wouldnt matter that much to replace a pokemon because the team is pretty bulky by itself, but that only to change it up a little bit, the team is already perfect like it is.
 

pilica12

Buriallusion: Phantomic Killer in Night Mist
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Lovely RMT, thank you so much for it. As a competitive player best labelled as only really "starting out", it is very inspiring to read experienced players' thoughts on teambuilding and competitive play. I especially loved the philosophical elements you incorporated into the discussion and your appraisal of competitive as more than just a game of luck. As someone who prefers consistency as much as possible rather than throwing the dice with a prayer, I am glad to know that this is a viewpoint shared by players who can truly be called great.

Once again, thank you so much for this inspiring RMT!
 
Thank you xKnight for taking the time out of your day to send me such kind words. Addressing the points you have raised, BladeofFriendship was correct in that Aurora Veil and Trick Room are currently both rare playstyles. The only match I had against Trick Room was in the attached replay against Feeling Good. As it was my first encounter, I experimented with leading Clefable. But even after that course of action failed, I was still able to comfortably dictate the rest of the match.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-652588310

In terms of Veil, the only match I had was the following:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-656345328
Although this player was low on the ladder, I still don’t believe that more mainstream Veil teams would be an issue.

In regard to stall, my team really enjoys feasting upon their fat and juicy bodies. I believe my success against this style is about 80%. Unfortunately, it would take me too long to write an entire guide to playing stall with this team. But I will say that there are generally two objectives to work towards: get Latias burnt and waste Sableye’s recovers. In addition to the ones attached, here are some more stall replays:

Bisharp is a danger to watch out for, but most run adamant which allows my Zapdos to send it fainted back into its Pokeball. However, if they are Jolly and escape from Static’s clutches, you still have Heatran to take it on. It is always advised to maintain hazard pressure against Bisharps.

Thankyou BladeofFriendship for the compliment at the end. I am glad you gave the Clefable set a chance, I really meant what I said about it invalidating almost the entire tier after a single boost.

Azure Nights, your words have brought such fulfillment to me and for that I can only say thank you. In terms of your inquiries, despite the archetypal limitation, I have a few ways to play around these threats:

Banded Tyranitar has the potential to make my team bleed, but it has to pick the correct stab move against the incoming Ferrothorn or Clefable. This is made even easier with Protect on Ferro, Baneful Bunker, Sub on Heatran and even Roost on Zapdos (who can also switch in and spam roost until you get the para, provided that you have scouted a locked in crunch). Pursuit on Latias is certainly an annoying factor to deal with when you are formulating your game plan. However, after taking a few rounds of hazards, Tyranitar is killed by two surfs, meaning it cannot come in directly. It is also a 50-50 between Crunch and Pursuit, as the latter is only doing 50-60%. I also wish to reiterate that I was still able to deal with Tyranitar when I was dropping bolts of thunder from the sky during my ladder climb.

There will never be a balance team that can fully deal with Hoopa, but this team comes close. A tendency of Hoopa players, is to spam the dark move first, which means that you can generally afford to initially switch in Clefable. This will then allow you to scout whether its physical or special and its item. Depending on what you discover, it is now up to your powers of perception:
Specs – Latias can take every move beside dark pulse which is covered by Clefable
Band – Heatran can take every move besides hyperspace fury and drain punch which is covered by Clefable
Orb – Although its attacks will be doing less, this is the hardest set to deal with. In this situation though, it is best advised to trade something 1v1 like Ferrothorn so that its impact will be minimal.

Heatran is not that big of an issue because there is a member on my team that can hold strong against each of its sets. Those lacking toxic cannot hurt Latias, while without Taunt they are helpless against Toxapex and Clefable. If they are the rare Wish Killer Heatran with Taunt/Toxic/Fire Move/Rocks, then our own Heatran is permitted to say hello. Generally, your initial switch in will be Latias and from there you can double into Clefable.

Dark Elegy, to see that you appreciate the effort I have put into the minor details makes it all worth it, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have spoken about some of your points already, but you have also added two great extra areas for discussion:

First up, Tapu Lele is similar to Tyranitar in the sense that they have to predict between Ferrothorn, Heatran and Latias. No Lele is ever clicking Moonblast against my team initially, so you can usually go to Latias on the Psychic or coverage move when it first comes in. Interestingly enough, you can actually set up from there because after Latias calms its mind, Lele’s moonblast doesn’t 2hko without specs. The fact that you went into Latias the first time will also put a little paranoia into their mind for the rest of the match, meaning that our soldiers of iron can sometimes get free switches in on moonblasts as the opponent will be less likely to go for Focus Blast. In all honesty, this is practically a Lele counter team and it should never cause too much of an issue.

Speed control isn’t really needed because of my team’s strong defensive network. Everything that I would want to revenge kill falls under 110 speed anyway for Latias. I have also ensured that speed boosting mons have little leeway to commit murders. Although I never really found myself wanting any, it would obviously be more beneficial to have speed or priority. But in order to do that I would have to sacrifice something more important, which you have correctly noticed.

I can only express my sincerest gratitude for your heart warming words, Pilica12. To see that you find my RMT inspiring is truly the most rewarding feeling.

Although showcasing the team itself is great, I especially wanted to use this opportunity for a celebration of the game I love.

I am proud of what I have done, but when I show it to my brothers when they grow up in ten years, or potentially my future kids in twenty, they’re not going to comprehend half of it. However, what they will understand are all these beautiful comments and this makes them all the more special for me.

So, to everyone that has liked, commented, and sent private messages, I let you know that your kind gestures will be treasured for years to come.

Thank you.

 
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Hi Everyone,
I couldn't resist the urge to give Ultra SM a try a few days ago and I love it! I tried playing with some Naganadel HO I whipped up, but everyone is counter teaming the poor thing which has made it ironically terrible. So I decided to borrow a team off the forums and ended up at 1900 after a few hours. From there I decided to revamp "Elysium" for the new meta and won about 10 straight games with no losses on the ladder so far. The pastebin below includes all my updated sets/spreads as well as a new member:

Roar in the Rain (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 220 SpD
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald

Alomomola patches up a few of the team's prior weak spots while also being superior to Toxapex in this meta. I'm not going to write anything about her but here is a replay of an Alomomola 6-0 tsunami.

I'm reasonably high right now so I'll try for the top, but if I tilt even the slightest then I'm not going to bother.



Satan's Sympathies (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earth Power

Angel's Symphonies (Latias-Mega) @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Illuminated Hearts (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Cosmic Power
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast

Heaven's Blossoms (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes

Born by the Wind (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Roar in the Rain (Alomomola) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 220 SpD
Bold Nature
- Knock Off
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald

I also want to say that coming back to PS has been unbelievable. I've had so many incredible interactions with people who have seen and enjoyed my RMT. If you do see me online on one of my accounts from the peak pictures, please say hello!

 
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Well someone told me my posts got deleted, oh well. I would like to just credit Xtrath1cc and look up his replays for proof, but it's ok. Anyway, the twist on using ferro and zapdos is pretty nice since the original team had tangrowth and lando which was pretty weak to lele and hawlucha and such. However, I advise you to put clef's last 4 evs to speed to let it win against opposing clefs, which Xtrath1cc did. In addition, the use of toxic on toxapex/tran prevents this team from losing to opposing latias. In addition, defog on zapdos may be nice now too
 

Ktütverde

of course
is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Hey Essence! Just read again the RMT during my free time and this time clicked the play button of the Abandoned Ship song... That was (and still is because i'm writing while listening to it) magical. Everything in this RMT is lovely, magical. I want to say you congrats, I think this is the most enjoyable RMT I've ever seen and will ever see, and it's as if I could tell exactly who you are now by looking at it. Some people will say "that Ktut is so romantic who cares he peaked1 that's the only thing that's worth it". But I fully agree with your way of playing pokemon and the importance of having some unique, solid, consistent build able to survive to metagame changes and that reflects your personality. Lycon and you have done it like masters.

So obviously this is supposed to be a rating thread so, even if your team is showcase, any suggestion can't cause any harm, besides you never know what can happen in the coming months of USM^^

First of all I want to ask you why is ferro full spdef? I know it has such an insane bulk that it works even without evs but wouldn't more def evs help vs ground types? Or just mimikyu? I feel your team focuses too much on spdef, with that heatran, toxapex and ferro. It leaves it very weak to bisharp, mimikyu, gravity lando, SD chomp.. So i really want to suggest to either :

Scarf Utility
-keep fullspdef ferro and make heatran scarf, because ferro would deal with psychics and eventually faint but then scarf heatran gets the free kills after with the spikes. SD Kartana is super popular with tyranitar and the latter has a free trap on latias+zapdos so I thought that you could take advantage of that to wear down the biggest counter to scarf heatran which becomes able to safely RK/switch on kartana and click a lava burn or fire blast. I also thought of rest on it for the stall matchup (sableye) and stealth rock since it has so many resists that it is easy ti get rocks up (clicking lava when toxa is obvious, let's not waste time :/)


Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earthpower
- Flash Cannon
- Lavaplume
- Stealth rock/Rest/HP Ice



Physical
-keep spdef heatran and go physical ferro. I know you have no ground type and that specs koko is a super dangerous threat, but with 1 tspikes and 1 spikes it's almost like "ok koko enjoy the few minutes you have before you die of switching".

Here is a set I designed for your team due to the threat alakzam is, since he is 2hkoing anyway, i tweaked the ferro spread to help against gyara, lando etc.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect

252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 120 SpD Ferrothorn: 260-306 (73.8 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery


Toxapex is incredibly good now, toxic spikes maybe even better than toxapex itself, and u can use it as a great magearna pivot/ wall (if it's offensive), it has access to knock off now allowing you to do alomo's job. Even spdef ferro and heatran can lose to Z fight magearna so I though keeping toxa with haze and scald would be great.

Also wanted to highlight how a timid 252speed zapdos would be good vs focus sash leads that won't be able to toxic( exca) and boom (lando). It can also threaten mimikyu and frens much more easily. And yeah I used sub tran with rocks a lot, idk why I feel it's good vs sableye leads to ppstall them, but keep it, your team needs ppstall to win those battles:)


I really hope I brought useful ideas, and again, congratulations Essence and thank you for bringing such a peaceful breathe into the harsh pokemon world^^ If ever you do another RMT, put another magical song into it please:) See you!
 
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Tokyo Sonata

formerly Toanyone
Hi, Essence
Cool team, man.
It is not stall at all, but it fulfills the role of wearing out the rival with status, protect and leech. But it is not so passive since you have that MLatias and the Clefable surprise factor. No doubt well thought that set, is not expected. It is a team so solid that anyone can give the victory. I must say that I really like the idea of the Zapdos Static, since it is a simple detail that can stop in a dry threats like MPinsir, although you have good control over this mon. I have seen in some replays that you throw as a resource the wear to eliminate things and the Regenerator Mola + Ferro to damage a little more. It's fine, in the end it's your own style and strategy. I've given you a like because I've never seen such a good RMT presentation before. I hope it ends in showcase. It complies with everything, has its history in ladder and has a good base. But it is not bad to put a kind of list of threats and how to fit them. Name what you would do with what you have. I can think of the first ZardX / ZardY. Both are, but not all is power and I think the special is more dangerous since it has the support of the skill + FBlast and Focus Blast / EQ coverage. The set of Tapu Bulu sub + SD with z move can be a problem, but if you have Zapdos it is easier to face. Hawlucha with cover poison a bit the same, but the same applies and you have to play very well. Gengar / Tapu Koko specs. More the first for the ghost spam, the other is controllable but with Ferro security. But Gengar if it also has pressure SR etc. costs more to find an answer. But you have several things like Heatran to keep it out.Good replays, I like to see in action a team so well thought out and worked. That's why that top is reflected. Congratulations.
 
Debate has always been something that I have wanted to get involved in. However, due to the nature of current contentious topics, debating is often marred with intense polarization and hostility. Particularly regarding anything political, many people have the tendency to combine ideas with their identity. Compromise or understanding then becomes out of the question for obvious reasons. It is also the case that most debates are plagued with a sense of negativity, as the areas of argument are real issues affecting real lives.

This is one reason why I like Smogon. This website offers a unique opportunity to engage in intellectual discussion within an environment where the stakes are not high. You do not need to struggle with the moral ramifications of your position when debating how a team should function, or what the metagame would look like without Toxapex. Not only are these topics far more enjoyable for us Pokemon fans, but they also healthily stimulate the brain much like any other debate. It’s a refreshing break from “should abortion be outlawed?”, or “whether the United States should continue to use drone strikes abroad?”, and it is my hope that many more kinds of discussion threads can be opened for the OU forum.

I have never found the chance to partake in any discussion threads here before. However, I have now been blessed with this perfect opportunity to speak with people who are interested in something that I created and holds such special value to me. Unfortunately, my time right now is restricted, hence why I didn’t log on for two weeks. I really would have enjoyed being able to fully capitalise on this opportunity, but I will just have to settle with whatever I can do in the time I have available.

Before I begin, I would like to outline a fundamental concept of team construction that will hold central value to all my responses. When engineering a team, every decision you make contains both benefits and drawbacks. This, by definition, is imperfection. Every time you accommodate for the threats of your team, you consequently make it susceptible to new problems. However, it is important to clarify that this process is imperative to the success of any team. It is the job of the team designer to critically analyse their team, adapt it multiple times, and eventually find the best edition amidst a potentially infinite cycle. To find the version that limits the total amount of issues as much as possible.

Another distinction that I wish to make is I believe it is in everyone’s best interests for me not to agree with suggestions lightly. I will be scrutinizing every detail and providing my very honest opinion. Whether I am right or wrong is not certain, but I will certainly try to employ as much reason to each of my assessments as I am capable of doing.

Wadam, it is pleasing to see that you are trying to improve my creation.

Firstly, I don’t think there is any need to move the four EVs from Sp.Def to Speed. My Clefable already beats every other Clefable, except for those with the exact same set in which we are equal. But regardless, it is not in my best interest to set up alongside any boosting Clefable, even if they are just the basic CM + Moonblast set. Because even though I should technically win this exchange, there is always the possibility for them to get a critical hit which would be catastrophic. Therefore, it is much more practical to go to Heatran and Taunt, or if they are the same set as me, to switch in Latias and use it as setup fodder. I know that four EVs are as insignificant as it gets, but even if they are reducing the damage on all special attacks by something as little as half a percent then that is far more beneficial in my opinion. This is not a matter of avoiding 2HKOs or 3HKOs, but just softening all impacts, big or small, by a hair. If Clefable has to endure five special attacks in a match and the extra EV reduces the total damage by 1-2% then you never know if that could prove crucial later.

Toxic on Toxapex is something that I did consider. You are right that M-Latias is a big threat but if you keep Ferrothorn healthy, then you can always nullify it with leach seed. This compiled with the fact that Toxic is fairly redundant for most other match ups is why I didn’t think that it justified taking the slot. This is more about personal preference as I understand it is hard to get around the stigma of Baneful Bunker. You can read why I selected it in Toxapex’s paragraph, but I will also highlight the most important line for your convenience – “trying to slaughter this mon with 12% recovery becomes twice as difficult as before”. I’m not saying you are objectively wrong though and can understand why some players might not like Baneful Bunker and prefer your suggestion.

Regarding Zapdos, defog would be counter intuitive to the whole concept of this team. As I outlined, the way that this team wins matches is with the hazard war. That is why I only have one mon weak to rocks, only two properly affected by spikes, and none affected by t-spikes. Even if I only have one spike up and the opponent has three, I usually feel that this is still advantageous for me. Not to mention that this would sacrifice one of Zapdos’ coverage moves which I desperately need for threats such as Garchomp and Bisharp.

You have been a great inspiration for me Ktutverde, and I want you to know that your contributions towards making Smogon a special place are appreciated by many. I still remember when I was stuck in the 1500s, and I could not comprehend that someone could reach 1900 with a Pachirisu. What you wrote was heart-warming and it’s also good that you played the music, without it the RMT is not the same.

Defensive Ferrothorn is a change that I can get behind. Obviously, nothing comes for free and this would leave me more vulnerable to a batch of special attackers. But I believe the threats you identified, being Mimikyu, Garchomp, Lando, and Bisharp, warrant this course of action. In an ideal world I would have enjoyed implementing this change to see if it can flourish on the battlefield. But as I can’t do this, I will just have to analyse the reward to cost ratio in theory, and say that I am 60-40 in favour of this set over the old one.

As I stated in Heatran’s analysis, I have ensured that she has been relieved of most of the defensive duties that her specie usually suffers through. Heatran’s job was to function as a catch-all backup to whatever managed to break through my primary forces. With this in mind, Scarf Heatran is a match made in heaven for this role. As it stands, the introduction of Blacephalon with its CM Never-Ending Nightmare set currently invalidates my team’s viability. I have not been keeping up with the meta, but if this new trend of Kartana+Tyranitar has rose to prominence, then that sounds extremely lethal as well. Therefore, I feel that if this team where to have any future, Scarf Heatran is the necessary adaption. The good news is I believe this change has the genuine possibility to elevate this team’s success to far greater heights than before. However, I would just like to discuss its only shortcoming and how this is crucial to operations.

As you know, this team has been based around utilizing the hazard war to collect white flags. My persistent attempts to layer spikes, rocks and t-spikes, forces a lot of defogs/rapid spins. This means that I must place a heavy emphasis on having hazard setters that can reliability and continually load up my opponent. My concern with Scarf Heatran is it would be far too difficult to set up rocks more than once or twice per game. For this reason, I will have to rip apart the delicate interlacing’s of this team and reconfigure it to suit. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time anymore to do justice to this improvement and will have to leave it up to you guys. Perhaps changing Clefable to Rocks/CM/Moonblast could work, but of course that is only a guess.

I am not against the idea of Haze on Toxapex for Magearna. I initially wrote an entire guide to playing against all the different Magearna sets with this team, however, I’ve decided not to include it because the writing was not up to standard and was too convoluted. Basically, you will just have to trust me that Magearna is not nearly as big of an issue in practice as it appears on paper. Still, having Haze as an extra safety net isn’t a bad idea by any means, but I can’t help but feel I have more overall to gain from Baneful Bunker.

Regarding fast Zapdos, I unfortunately require the defensive investment to deal with a host of physical threats. The most prominent of which is Mega Swampert which would literally 6-0 my team without it. Also, on teams with a lead Landorus or Excadrill, I usually just start with Ferrothorn and leech seed them immediately, so it’s not that big of an issue anyway.

I want to thank you once again Ktutverde for being such a positive presence that shares my love for this game. I still remember when I tried to get reqs for the first time for the Dugtrio suspect test. I just assumed it would be easy and didn’t realise you should probably delete your alt if you have a bad start and go 20-5. By the time I realised it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, I had already invested too much time into this bad account and it became a stressful roller coaster to the end. Managing to bring it back to 49-20, I can still remember the terrifying fear of clicking the battle button for that final deciding match. Sure enough, I face you, and despite not knowing me, you took pity on my poor soul and forfeited.

1513616529729.png


Ktut, please continue to fill the ladder with your snow!

Thank you Toanyone for your high praise, it’s incredible how much kind words like yours are still putting such a huge smile on my face.

It is getting quite late now so I can only briefly discuss your points. However, before that, I just want to answer your query about creating a more comprehensive threat list. This was purposefully avoided, because not only does it stifle discussion, but it makes playing the team too formulaic. It is not only during building where you must think outside the box. On the battlefield it is also important to utilize flares of creativity in order to overcome tricky situations.
About the threats you have raised, see below:
  • Charizard Y is completely walled by Toxapex so have no fear there.
  • Tapu Bulu is walled by both Latias and Zapdos while Heatran can come in on grass moves or revenge kill.
  • Poison Jab Hawlucha isn’t really the problem, it is the stone edge variants that pose the biggest threat. But this is one of those situations where you just have to accept that you can’t cover every set of every mon. Adding another measure for Hawlucha would probably just be overkill, but if you can find one that doesn’t compromise the rest of the team then I will be all for it.
  • Gengar is hard walled by Toxapex, while Ferrothorn and Heatran can act as soft checks.



Well, this is it.

At the end of my first post, I wrote that my time playing this game was likely coming to a close. I’ve realised that time has now come. This will be the last time I come on Smogon.

Since the release of my RMT, I’ve discovered that this website is filled with people who love this game as much as I do. Through many interactions with the community since, I feel reassured that I am leaving Smogon in the most capable of hands. I am certain that for years to come, people who grow up with Pokémon will continue to discover and find enjoyment in this community with all of you, just as I have. It is for this reason that I am content with saying goodbye.

I can’t think of a community that is bound together for a more happy or innocent reason than the shared childhood joy for Pokemon. No matter where you look, each and every user here fits that description whether they admit to it or not. Although on a surface level all we do is battle against one another, from a grander perspective you can see that we are actually team mates, together in this experience.

With that being said, I sincerely wish all of you the best in life.

~Sayonara
 
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