Gen 7 [USM OU] Clouds Across the Moon - SFLO Nidoking + SubSeed Loom BO

[Clementine]

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Hey everyone! As stated in my previous RMT, I got drafted in French Community League back in September, and this was one of the best teamtours I've been part of. I played USM OU every week of this tournament and built a lot of teams, which is probably my favorite aspect of competitive Pokémon.
I'm gonna share today an edit of one of my absolute favorite teams that I built to face Dflo on the 7th week of this tournament. We were guaranteed to make playoffs at this point, I didn't feel like building a standard team and I just wanted to use Nidoking, since it's one of my favorite Pokémon to use competitively. I ended up losing this game because of something really dumb (that's foreshadowing, you'll see what I'm talking about), but I really liked the team so I edited it and improved it a bit.

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Substitute​

As stated in the introduction, Nidoking is one of my favorite mons to use competitively and a criminally underrated threat in USM OU. Its coverage boosted by the Sheer Force ability makes it extremely difficult to switch into without Chansey or Gastrodon, and the prediction factor is easily removed thanks to Substitute, allowing Nidoking to Sub on forced switches to almost guarantee a KO. Nidoking is a very high-risk, high-reward kind of Pokémon, especially if you're not using Substitute often to keep as much HP as possible to better switch into the likes of Tapu Koko and Zapdos. It is safer to bring Nidoking in with moves such as U-Turn, and Scizor is a very nice partner in that regard, often forcing in Heatran, offering a very safe Nidoking and perhaps even a KO.

Chapignon (Breloom) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 176 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch​

Another great partner for Nidoking is another really underrated Pokémon in this metagame: Breloom. The best Nidoking switch ins being Chansey and Gastrodon, Breloom makes for a terrific partner, being able to safely switch into both of these Pokémon once its Toxic Orb has been activated. Additionally, since Breloom struggles to set-up against Pokémon such as Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko and Gliscor, Nidoking being able to deal with all of these threats makes it an even better partner. Utilizing an infuriating SubSeed + Poison Heal set, Breloom is extremely difficult to chip because it gets so much passive recovery. Focus Punch is its STAB move of choice, hitting a lot of opposing Pokémon for a lot of damage even without investment, being a very low risk move to click if behind a Sub, or after putting an opponent to sleep with Spore. Breloom is the dedicated Ash-Greninja switch in, resisting both of its STABs. However, Greninja still hits extremely hard and you'll want to keep Breloom as healthy as possible.

Boréas (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Icium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 124 Def / 176 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Icy Wind
- Defog
- U-turn​

The next member of the team is a very special Tornadus-Therian. This team being overall really weak to Garchomp and somewhat weak to Gliscor, I wanted to be able to lure in and smack Garchomp before it sets up Stealth Rock or unleash a Continental Crush. Icy Wind Tornadus-T felt like a perfect match, having that nuke that can KO Garchomp in one hit.
Originally, this Tornadus was much more defensive, using an EV spread of 136 HP / 180 Def / 192 Spe with a Timid Nature, but without an investment of 4 EVs in SpA, Tornadus only has a 93.8% chance of OHKOing bulkless Garchomp. And as you can imagine, I learned this the hard way.

As a comparison, a Supersonic Skystrike based on Hurricane from 252 SpA Tornadus-T only has a 12.5% chance of OHKOing Garchomp (85.7 - 101.1%)
With this EV spread however, Tornadus-T is guaranteed to live Fake Out + Return/Frustration from Lopunny-Mega, always OHKOs Garchomp no matter what its EV spread is, and OHKOs Specially Defensive Gliscor (176 SpA Tornadus-Therian Subzero Slammer (100 BP) vs. 244 HP / 244 SpD Gliscor: 352-416 (100 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO). The Speed allows it to reach 363, speed creeping other Tornadus-T while outspeeding Scarf Magnezone.

Amphinobi (Greninja-Ash) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 8 Def / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes​

Greninja-Ash is the next member of the team, providing Nidoking with Spikes support. It works once again really well with Breloom and Nidoking as partners, since it forces in Pokémon such as Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, Chansey, Gastrodon, Toxapex and Ferrothorn. It also provides the team with much needed prority, making it able to check and revenge kill faster threats. It also pressures a lot Latias-Mega, being able to switch into non-TWave and non-TBolt variants and forcing it out with its powerful Dark Pulse. The 8 EVs in Defense allow it to survive an Earthquake from Scarf Landorus-Therian from full (232 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 8 Def Greninja: 240-283 (84.2 - 99.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO).

Cizayox (Scizor-Mega) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn​

Scizor-Mega is probably my favorite Mega to use in offense and bulky offense teams. It is a terrific Psychic-Type switch in, being able to stuff non-HP Fire variants of Tapu Lele thanks to its investment in Special Defense. It is also the dedicated Kartana switch in on the team, since Tornadus-T doesn't come with a lot of bulk to deal with SD and Band variants of Kart. The 16 EVs in Defense allow Scizor to eat 2 Sacred Swords from Banded Kartana. Scizor is also a potent late-game sweeper, threatening most offensive teams with its powerful Bullet Punch, boosted to scary levels of power thanks to Swords Dance. Pursuit is an option on this set to trap the likes of Alakazam and Tapu Lele, but U-Turn allows Scizor to take advantage of Pokémon like Heatran to bring in Nidoking.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpD / 80 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stone Edge / Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock​

Last but not least, I wanted to get a sturdier Fire-resist as well as a way to deal with Volcarona. Specially Defensive Heatran is the perfect Pokémon for this, and Stone Edge is an underutilized option on Heatran that allows it to destroy Volcarona in one hit, rather than having to Toxic stall it. Heatran is able to easily eat a +1 Hidden Power Ground from offensive Volcarona. Heatran is our dedicated Stealth Rocker for the team, as hazards make its teammates Nidoking and Greninja even more difficult to switch into. Heatran is a somewhat decent check to Specs Lele if the latter doesn't click Focus Blast, but Psyshock is extremely strong and will severly dent Heatran.

Threatlist:

With Breloom as a sole switch in to this beast, Greninja-Ash can easily run past your defensive core and wreck havoc. However, this mon will struggle to switch into most of your offensive threats, be careful with how you play around it and don't let it switch into Heatran for free.

Heatran is pretty difficult to switch into with this team, as our own Heatran doesn't want to eat an Earth Power from offensive variants of it. Similarly to Greninja, it will struggle to switch into most of your team members, but is still a threat in its own right.

Lele is broken.

Importable

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Substitute

Chapignon (Breloom) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 176 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch

Boréas (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Icium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 124 Def / 176 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Icy Wind
- Defog
- U-turn

Amphinobi (Greninja) (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

Cizayox (Scizor-Mega) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpD / 80 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stone Edge
- Protect
- Stealth Rock