SM RU Freezer

[HypnoEmpire]

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Hello and welcome to my very first RMT this gen! This is a SM RU stall team that I built and used to get reqs for the current Zoroark suspect test. I got reqs twice using this team with my accounts HypnoEmpire and DrowzeeEmpire. Articuno is my favorite Pokemon, so I'm happy I found an opportunity to use it successfully. Who am I? I'm just a random who plays RU. teachable helped me polish the team out a bit, so some credit goes to her. Alright, lets look at the team.

- Quick Look -

I knew I wanted to build stall, so I immediately picked Cresselia as it's basically a stall staple for its ability to wall the hel out of everything. I am and was convinced that Drapion could work solidly as a stall mon for its Pursuit capabilities, but I never actually built a stall team with it to prove it, at least not until now.

I was trying to find a Defogger that could switch into Nidoqueen and wall it while, of course, Defogging its rocks. Thus, Articuno was born! Little did I realize, Articuno is more amazing than I realized... I needed another Defogger that could beat Rock-types and I still needed something for Salazzle, so I picked up Flygon.

Setup users are a pain, so Quagsire was an obvious choice. I needed a Pokemon that can wall Ice-types and set Stealth Rock, and I don't like how vulnerable Registeel is to Mega Abomasnow, so I picked Bronzong. I almost chose Mega Camerupt instead to help check Durant and Escavalier a bit better, but Mega Abomasnow was just too threatening and Mega Camerupt lacking recovery made it a mediocre answer to threats.

- In-Depth -

Item: Psychium Z

| Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spe | Bold Nature
Moves: Psyshock / Moonblast / Moonlight / Calm Mind or Toxic​

Moon duck was the first Pokemon I chose for this team and for good reason. Its immense bulk and being one of the only reliable answers to the various Fighting-types in the tier makes it invaluable to builds like these. I gave it enough speed to outpace Jolly Bewear while speed creeping Pokemon like Gligar that can afford to run enough speed to outpace Jolly Bewear. Shattered Psyche OHKOes Bewear, which could otherwise tank an attack and OHKO with a +2 Breakneck Blitz. I use Psyshock over Psychic so I can 2HKO Virizion. Moonblast hits Dark-types like Pangoro, but keep in mind that Moonblast doesn't OHKO without some chip damage. Toxic is Toxic, it badly poisons bulky stuff except Steel-types like Registeel and Doublade, which do freely switch into Cresselia, but being able to scare out stuff like Milotic (depends if they are running a Heal Bell Pokemon or not) is very nice. However, while Toxic is always nice, Calm Mind puts more offensive pressure on the opponent, which is especially useful vs more offensive teams. It also benefits from Articuno PP stalling Registeel and Bronzong, as those two would otherwise be reliable stops to Cresselia. +1 Shattered Psyche can take out Gligar after its Eviolite is removed (which is likely if Gligar is their answer to Drapion) and a bit of chip, which can be pretty useful as you outspeed your average Gligar.

Item: Choice Band

| Ability: Sniper
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe | Jolly Nature
Moves: Knock Off / Pursuit / Poison Jab / Night Slash
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Drapion is extremely useful for its ability to swiftly remove threats like Decidueye, Hoopa, Bruxish, Meloetta, and Roserade. It does this well with Pursuit, which OHKOes all of them except Roserade if they try to switch out. The strong Pursuit also does a lot to Doublade, Cresselia, Bronzong, and Dhelmise. If you catch Gardevoir or Espeon locked into an unfavorable move, you can Pursuit trap those two as well. 8 HP EVs ensures that it can live an attack from Choice Band Durant from full. Knock Off is strong STAB which is very useful for removing items, especially Leftovers and stuff like Gligar's Eviolite. Poison Jab is necessary to hit boosting Fairy-types as, while they are uncommon, they can prove to be very threatening. It also poisons stuff and smacks Chesnaught. Night Slash is hax. It boosts your crit chance and Choice Band Sniper boosted hits hurt a lot. It cheeses through bulky stuff, especially when they've been chipped by Stealth Rock or Knock Offs or anything else.

Night Slash calcs

These are all after a Knock Off:
252 Atk Choice Band Sniper Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gligar on a critical hit: 211-249 (63.1 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gligar: 93-111 (27.8 - 33.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

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252 Atk Choice Band Sniper Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic on a critical hit: 253-298 (64.2 - 75.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic: 112-133 (28.4 - 33.7%) -- 0.7% chance to 3HKO

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252 Atk Choice Band Sniper Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel on a critical hit: 211-249 (57.9 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Registeel: 93-111 (25.5 - 30.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

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252 Atk Choice Band Sniper Drapion Night Slash vs. 188 HP / 128 Def Snorlax on a critical hit: 360-424 (70.8 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Drapion Night Slash vs. 188 HP / 128 Def Snorlax: 160-189 (31.4 - 37.2%) -- 81.8% chance to 3HKO

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252 Atk Choice Band Sniper Drapion Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Cresselia on a critical hit: 387-459 (87.1 - 103.3%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Drapion Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Cresselia: 162-192 (36.4 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

However, there are some alternatives to Night Slash if you don't want to rely on hax. Earthquake can be used to hit Registeel, Gigalith, Toxicroak, Nidoqueen, etc. Aqua Tail 2HKOes Gligar after its Eviolite is removed and it hits Pokemon like Nidoqueen, Gigalith, and Moltres. I suppose even Ice Fang could be used if you want to hit Gligar harder. While Band Drapion can be nice for its power, you could opt to run Scarf Drapion, which not only helps with the Durant and Virizion weakness, but also aids in trapping targets like Espeon and Mismagius. However, this leaves you more vulnerable to Pokemon like Araquanid and SubCM Cresselia. I gave it enough Speed to outpace Scarf Gardevoir, max Attack EVs, and the rest into HP. Fire Fang hits Durant, though Toxic is another very nice move as it hits various Pokemon that wall it such as Milotic and Umbreon. You could also run Earthquake here to hit Toxicroak and Nidoqueen harder. Here's the set (credit to avocado):​

Scarf Drapion

Drapion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Fire Fang / Toxic

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Item: Leftovers

| Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 40 SpD / 200 Spe | Timid Nature
Moves: Freeze-Dry / Defog / Roost / Heal Bell
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Articuno is a really nice Pokemon right now, especially in a meta where Nidoqueen dominates and hazards are everywhere. It hard switches into hazard setters such as Registeel, Nidoqueen, Bronzong, Chesnaught, Dragalge, Gligar, and Qwilfish and it usually comes out on top while keeping hazards away. It beats Registeel and Bronzong thanks to Pressure, which enables Articuno to PP stall the moves of these two. They can't keep Toxic on Articuno because with Pressure, its Toxic PP is equivalent to 8, which is the same as Heal Bell. Toxic can also miss and be baited, so some Heal Bell PP can be saved for something else. If Bronzong happens to be running Gyro Ball, it gets PP stalled fast enough to the point where it can't even KO Articuno before it runs out of PP. Freeze-Dry is Ice-type STAB, which is important to have vs Gligar and Nidoqueen, and it also has the benefit of hitting Feraligatr and Milotic decently hard. This Articuno spread runs enough Speed to outpace +0 Feraligatr and, by extension, Timid Nidoqueen. The HP and Def enables you to live a +0 Supersonic Skystrike from Honchkrow, the rest is put into SpD to take special hits better, notably avoiding a 2HKO from Modest Nidoqueen's Sludge Wave. You also beat stuff like Shaymin, Milotic, Quagsire, and Porygon-2. Neat Pokemon, I recommend giving it a shot.

Item: Leftovers

| Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 116 SpD / 80 Spe | Jolly Nature
Moves: Earthquake / Defog / Roost / Toxic
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I needed a Defogger that put pressure on Gigalith and I needed a counter to HP Grass Salazzle, so I decided to use bulky Flygon. The HP and Def prevent it from being 2HKOed by Chesnaught after Stealth Rock, so it can freely switch into Chesnaught and Defog without being forced to Roost. I gave it enough Speed to outpace +0 Feraligatr and, by extension, Timid Nidoqueen. The rest is put into SpD so it takes as little damage as possible from Salazzle. +2 Inferno Overdrive from Salazzle does 91.4% max, so Flygon tanks the hit even after Stealth Rock damage and you OHKO back with Earthquake. If the Salazzle is HP Ice or Dragon Pulse then you wall it with Quagsire, easy. Some things like Rhyperior and Diancie can get Stealth Rock up and scare away both Flygon and Articuno, so Flygon's resistance to Stealth Rock is nice for after they get rocks up and you need them removed later. Flygon's fast Toxic is very nice and also unexpected. It hits a lot of Flygon's typical switch-ins aside from Bronzong and Immunity Gligar I guess. It hits various things like Cresselia, Milotic, Mega Abomasnow, etc., and you can even Toxic Feraligatr if you need to.

Item: Leftovers

| Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe | Impish Nature
Moves: Curse / Earthquake / Scald / Recover
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Quagsire patches up the weakness to various setup sweepers. It walls Feraligatr, Flygon after using its Dragonium Z, Snorlax, Doublade, Hone Claws Durant, Swords Dance Escavalier, Honchkrow after using its Z-Crystal, physical Zoroark, and Linoone, though you need to get a safe switch into Linoone to reliably beat it, Toxicroak, Tyrantrum, and various other Pokemon. Curse enables Quagsire to actually beat Snorlax and you beat Linoone and Choice Band Durant 1v1 with it, which is nice. A few setup Pokemon Quagsire is vulnerable to like Decidueye and Hoopa are Pursuit trapped by Drapion. Scald is nice because it burns stuff. Quagsire can work as a wincon late-game, but considering how people like using Toxic on random stuff right now, it has a hard time functioning as such.

Item: Leftovers

| Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD | Calm Nature
Moves: Psywave / Stealth Rock / Toxic / Protect
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Bronzong patches up the Ice-type weakness and is the bulky Toxic inducer on the team. It spreads Toxic pretty easily and Toxic + Protect is really annoying for people to handle. It also gets Stealth Rock, which the team also needs. It's an alternative Registeel that isn't weak to Ground. It is equipped to deal with threats like Mega Abomasnow, Mega Glalie, and Flygon. Its immunity to Toxic is key when dealing with Pokemon like Cresselia, Rhyperior, Milotic, Diancie, Gigalith, etc. Protect is useful for scouting the moves of Pokemon like Gardevoir, Espeon, Kommo-o, Swellow, etc. so you can deal with them accordingly. EV spread isn't too important, it just takes a little less damage from physical attacks like Mega Abomasnow's Wood Hammer and Mega Glalie's Double Edge than the standard max / max spread does. HP Fire could be used over Protect to swiftly eliminate Durant and it's definitely threatening enough to consider it.

- Threats -
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Stealth Rock setters like Diancie, Mega Steelix, and Ice Punch Rhyperior can break right through Articuno and Flygon, ensuring that they get rocks up. They are not overly threatening otherwise and rocks can be defogged away later by Flygon. Stealth Rock setters with Toxic that beat Articuno are annoying as well; just force them out with something else, probably Bronzong, and Defog rocks later.

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Spider Web Araquanid is very threatening as it can trap and kill a Pokemon if I predict wrong. Choice Band just clicks Liquidation and kills stuff. My counterplay vs Araquanid is keeping rocks up and keeping pressure on it with Articuno and Drapion. If I get a chance to weaken Araquanid enough then I can Pursuit trap it.

Swords Dance Grassium-Z Virizion is extremely threatening to the team as it KOes Cresselia with +2 Leaf Blade into +2 Bloom Doom. My counterplay vs this is keeping Bronzong healthy enough to Toxic it or baiting out the Bloom Doom.

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Choice Band Durant and Choice Band Escavalier are huge threats. A lot of the time, I just have to hope that Durant misses and everything is peachy. However, I do have some limited counterplay vs Choice Band Durant outside of hax. Drapion can survive one hit from full and remove Durant's Choice Band, making Durant a much less significant threat. If Durant is in vs Quagsire then I can Scald Burn it or Curse on it and live the second hit. Bronzong can use HP Fire on it if you decide to run that. Escavalier is a bit different because it's very slow but it doesn't miss nearly as often. Drapion can remove its Choice Band and Quagsire can burn it, and if Escavalier isn't running a ton of Speed EVs, Quagsire can outspeed it and Curse on it, almost guaranteeing that it will live two Megahorns.

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When I laddered and got reqs with this team, I encountered some awesome techs that were very threatening to this team like HP Grass + Dragon Pulse Salazzle and Calm Mind Z-Dazzling Gleam Espeon, but they are not very common and I doubt you'll find sets like these all too often. Some sets like Choice Band Pangoro and Toxic on random Pokemon like Salazzle and Doublade can be annoying to play around as well.

- Replays -
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Note: I used SubCM Cresselia and Groundium-Z Flygon for a while, so some replays will feature those.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-652373651
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-654924513
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-655451173
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-655453636
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-655457425
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7rususpecttest-655500445

- Importable -

Hide

Cresselia @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight

Drapion @ Choice Band
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
- Night Slash

Articuno @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 40 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Roost
- Defog
- Heal Bell

Flygon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 120 SpD / 80 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Roost
- Defog

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Psywave
- Toxic
- Protect

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Recover
- Curse

 

[teachable]

Love how expertly EV'd all your mons are and overall like how unique your team is, especially given that its Stall in RU which most people think is incredibly cookie cutter. Think you covered the threat list pretty well, matches up with what I've seen you vs on ladder. Good job :p.

 

[aVocado]

Really like your team and enjoyed reading through this RMT and watching you use it a few times because Articuno has always been a favourite for me ever since I was a kid :3 glad you somehow made it work. I've got an idea that could maybe help though:

Drapion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Fire Fang

I know Scarf Drapion is really weak in general but it's just an idea to bounce around to help alleviate the Durant weakness somewhat. Fire Fang has a solid chance of OHKOing after rocks:

252+ Atk Drapion Fire Fang vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Durant: 224-264 (87.1 - 102.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

It also helps with your Virizion weakness.

 

[mikekap]

I love your team. Using it feels so good! Articuno is one of my most favorite pokemon design-wise, and you made it incredibly useful. Cresselia is one of my favs, too, and I try to use teams that utilise her in every tier. Shattered Psyche is so good on her killing those offensive threats in tandem on Calm Mind boosting. Just some small nitpicks, you got to correct the movesets on the importable, change Substitute on Cress, the Iron Head and the nature of Bronzong.