Replay proof of current peak
I wanted to build around two birds that bring in similar checks. Dragonite has some level of defensive utility and allows for some great tech so I paired it with Pinsir-M, the face of flyspam.
Immediately, I am reminded that my beloved Koko is known for giving flyspam cores a very tough time. Flyspam is also a highly offensive core in general, so I added Excadrill to give me a great hyper offensive lead that also acts as a solid check to Koko.
Mimikyu makes for a great member of hyper offense, spinblocking while also acting as an emergency check to a plethora of threats. Lele in particular is highly threatening, especially the rare scarfed variant, towards this team. Mimikyu provides me with a check to that.
Magnezone fits like a glove here, as it greatly weakens or removes checks to its teammates. Removing Scizor-M or Ferrothorn is amazing for Mimikyu, while breaking Celesteela and Skarmory is very important for the bird core to wreak havoc. It also acts as a secondary Koko and Lele check, both of which heavily threaten the archetype in general.
Ash Greninja is very, very dangerous to face when using HO. Araquanid has great synergy with the teammates, acting as a check to this monster while also setting webs for our flyspam core. Being a web setter that threatens Diancie is very nice, especially when paired with Flyspam to remove a major obstacle from play.
The Sets
Standard HO lead set, Excadrill reliably gets the rocks up, keeps them off with rapid spin, and cripples things in the process with toxic. The toxic chip in tandem with rocks damage is very crucial to ensure some 2hko's or ohko's on key threats like Lando-T. Don't let the sash fool you, Excadrill is not a dedicated suicide lead. While in some games it's fine to use up Excadrill quickly, it also provides key defensive utility, notably in the Koko or Tspikes matchup. If you see a Koko or Tspike user on their side, keeping Exca healthy is incredibly important so your team doesn't get volt switched or poisoned to death.
This set deviates from the smogondex set to better tailor this team. I never found much use for Magic Coat because it's already very risky to taunt in front of a powerhouse like Araquanid, so the set skips it. HP Fire is also not needed on this set because the team destroys Kartana and even sets up on it to win, so Toxic is used to cripple key threats like Zapdos or Rotom-W that may try to defog the hazards away. Double toxic in tandem with Excadrill is great early game, as it pressures the opposing defoggers and softens them up for a late game sweep. Leech Life is very important as this is the team's sturdiest Ash Greninja check, the other being Dragonite. Max hp is given for maximized mixed bulk (ensuring we survive a fake -> return from Lopunny), and the 8 remaining ev's go into speed to creep opposing Araquanids. In matchups with an Ash Greninja, do not waste Araquanid recklessly. Its bulk and power can be useful throughout a game.
A very unique Dragonite set made specifically to alleviate the previous matchup issues Flyspam had. +1 Z-Outrage cleanly ohko's the likes of Zapdos and Rotom-W along with other walls/tanks, and lets you use your dragon STAB once without locking into Outrage. Fire Punch targets steel types that don't take as much from Earthquake, and Earthquake hits the other steel types, along with some other walls like Toxapex. Jolly nature is used to outspeed Koko at +1. This Dragonite is used more as a setup wallbreaker as opposed to a sweeper, so Extremespeed is forgone to maximize coverage.
Pinsir is arguably the best mega evolution of USUM OU, and it's not hard to see why. A destructive SD set that few can wall and can also clean teams up with webs or wallbreaker support, makes it extremely dangerous to all archetypes. Earthquake is chosen over Close Combat because we have Magnezone support to faint CC targets.
Standard SD Mimikyu with dual stabs and ghost priority, Life Orb is the item of choice because Dragonite is our Z-move user. Jolly nature is needed because scarf Lele must be outsped under webs by as much as possible. Mimikyu is a great emergency check to a variety of threats too thanks to disguise, so play it carefully.
Classic Magnezone traps and removes targets that are very threatening to the bird core, or Mimikyu. The scarf set is chosen to also provide us with an opposing bird check, which we lacked aside from Mimikyu (but you don't want to put a lot of pressure on Mimikyu to do its job). Magnezone is also a second sturdy Koko check when used alongside Excadrill, which is great because Koko heavily threatens the flyspam archetype.
Lele teams are typically weak to webs. Get em down, keep your resists healthy, and you should win.
Araquanid can eat a dark pulse and ohko back, Dragonite can set up if multiscale is intact.
+ shed shell. This matchup is very bleak, comes down to the Skarmory's set. You may have to sacrifice one breaker to get Skarmory low, and then outplay it hard to keep it low.
+ sand rush. The classic flyspam sweeper still outspeeds the team even under webs if the sand is up. Hope the iron head doesn't flinch your Mimikyu, and try to revenge it outside of sand. Thank goodness the sand archetype is rare.
Shoutouts...
to the good people of my university's Pokemon League, how the heck did so many good players get together in one league by chance. You guys don't know this, but y'all make me learn a ton about this game <3
to you, Dondyxd. Always keeping me wanting to improve myself every time I see you build fresh heat and go up high on ladder with it.
to Waszap for casually joining our league and being a champion twice. Miss me with that matchup shit, I'll get you in the comp season you scrub.
to the people of good saturdays. You're all really cool people, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
to all the top players that drive me to reach your level one day. I'm pretty done with the ladder now lol, so perhaps now is the time to give the tour scene a shot.
especially to the innovative KtutGOAT! Your medicham-slaking team is a work of art, I wasn't sure what to suggest without breaking all that gorgeous synergy. I don't think I'll ever get to that level of creativity that inspired me to get into this game seriously, but I sure as hell can try in my own way. Stay awesome <3
Concluding Thoughts
When using this team, every slot must be carefully used. Nothing here is truly just death fodder like a suicide Azelf, for example. Every teammate has a role to fulfill. It's much less braindead than it would seem and requires thinking many turns ahead to see the outcome, so don't play it like a 123456 sort of team. I hope you enjoy this resurrection of two fallen playstyles as much as I did, and I hope you see that even past formulas can be revamped to their former glory again!
“Who cares about tomorrow, if today we are free?”
Until next time~
The Dark Angel
ORAS had a wild flyspam team that smashed the meta, until Zapdos and Magnezone usage skyrocketed. It resurged in SM during the OLT era, where HO was everywhere, until taunt Koko usage shot up...
Webs offense was running through SM OU, until Diancie got released and the diamond queen got overhyped for a long while...
But what if flyspam could beat Koko, Magnezone, and Zapdos? What if webs could beat Diancie? Those would be amazing, right?
This RMT is the result of what happens when you put the two of those, together.
Webs offense was running through SM OU, until Diancie got released and the diamond queen got overhyped for a long while...
But what if flyspam could beat Koko, Magnezone, and Zapdos? What if webs could beat Diancie? Those would be amazing, right?
This RMT is the result of what happens when you put the two of those, together.
I wanted to build around two birds that bring in similar checks. Dragonite has some level of defensive utility and allows for some great tech so I paired it with Pinsir-M, the face of flyspam.
Immediately, I am reminded that my beloved Koko is known for giving flyspam cores a very tough time. Flyspam is also a highly offensive core in general, so I added Excadrill to give me a great hyper offensive lead that also acts as a solid check to Koko.
Mimikyu makes for a great member of hyper offense, spinblocking while also acting as an emergency check to a plethora of threats. Lele in particular is highly threatening, especially the rare scarfed variant, towards this team. Mimikyu provides me with a check to that.
Magnezone fits like a glove here, as it greatly weakens or removes checks to its teammates. Removing Scizor-M or Ferrothorn is amazing for Mimikyu, while breaking Celesteela and Skarmory is very important for the bird core to wreak havoc. It also acts as a secondary Koko and Lele check, both of which heavily threaten the archetype in general.
Ash Greninja is very, very dangerous to face when using HO. Araquanid has great synergy with the teammates, acting as a check to this monster while also setting webs for our flyspam core. Being a web setter that threatens Diancie is very nice, especially when paired with Flyspam to remove a major obstacle from play.
The Sets
Sandsatsu (Excadrill) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Standard HO lead set, Excadrill reliably gets the rocks up, keeps them off with rapid spin, and cripples things in the process with toxic. The toxic chip in tandem with rocks damage is very crucial to ensure some 2hko's or ohko's on key threats like Lando-T. Don't let the sash fool you, Excadrill is not a dedicated suicide lead. While in some games it's fine to use up Excadrill quickly, it also provides key defensive utility, notably in the Koko or Tspikes matchup. If you see a Koko or Tspike user on their side, keeping Exca healthy is incredibly important so your team doesn't get volt switched or poisoned to death.
Bubbles! (Araquanid) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Toxic
- Leech Life
Ability: Water Bubble
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Toxic
- Leech Life
This set deviates from the smogondex set to better tailor this team. I never found much use for Magic Coat because it's already very risky to taunt in front of a powerhouse like Araquanid, so the set skips it. HP Fire is also not needed on this set because the team destroys Kartana and even sets up on it to win, so Toxic is used to cripple key threats like Zapdos or Rotom-W that may try to defog the hazards away. Double toxic in tandem with Excadrill is great early game, as it pressures the opposing defoggers and softens them up for a late game sweep. Leech Life is very important as this is the team's sturdiest Ash Greninja check, the other being Dragonite. Max hp is given for maximized mixed bulk (ensuring we survive a fake -> return from Lopunny), and the 8 remaining ev's go into speed to creep opposing Araquanids. In matchups with an Ash Greninja, do not waste Araquanid recklessly. Its bulk and power can be useful throughout a game.
Hikari Tenshi (Dragonite) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake
A very unique Dragonite set made specifically to alleviate the previous matchup issues Flyspam had. +1 Z-Outrage cleanly ohko's the likes of Zapdos and Rotom-W along with other walls/tanks, and lets you use your dragon STAB once without locking into Outrage. Fire Punch targets steel types that don't take as much from Earthquake, and Earthquake hits the other steel types, along with some other walls like Toxapex. Jolly nature is used to outspeed Koko at +1. This Dragonite is used more as a setup wallbreaker as opposed to a sweeper, so Extremespeed is forgone to maximize coverage.
Decim -ate (Pinsir-Mega) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack
Pinsir is arguably the best mega evolution of USUM OU, and it's not hard to see why. A destructive SD set that few can wall and can also clean teams up with webs or wallbreaker support, makes it extremely dangerous to all archetypes. Earthquake is chosen over Close Combat because we have Magnezone support to faint CC targets.
=) (Mimikyu) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Standard SD Mimikyu with dual stabs and ghost priority, Life Orb is the item of choice because Dragonite is our Z-move user. Jolly nature is needed because scarf Lele must be outsped under webs by as much as possible. Mimikyu is a great emergency check to a variety of threats too thanks to disguise, so play it carefully.
Polic (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Classic Magnezone traps and removes targets that are very threatening to the bird core, or Mimikyu. The scarf set is chosen to also provide us with an opposing bird check, which we lacked aside from Mimikyu (but you don't want to put a lot of pressure on Mimikyu to do its job). Magnezone is also a second sturdy Koko check when used alongside Excadrill, which is great because Koko heavily threatens the flyspam archetype.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-681816749 vs zapdos offense. Good showcase of Z-Outrage doing its thing
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682062977 vs some garbage sableye stall that gets 6-0'd by koko
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682332665 vs zapdos/fini + scizor bulky offense, which is supposed to be a bad matchup but BAN FLYSPAM
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682499673 vs koko-medicham, which is supposed to fuck me up. Good showcase of Araquanid's webs coming in clutch
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682598938 vs hippo + skarm-bliss stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682607548 vs blace + latios-m offense. Araquanid is incredibly important here to check Ash Gren and Latios-M
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682062977 vs some garbage sableye stall that gets 6-0'd by koko
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682332665 vs zapdos/fini + scizor bulky offense, which is supposed to be a bad matchup but BAN FLYSPAM
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682499673 vs koko-medicham, which is supposed to fuck me up. Good showcase of Araquanid's webs coming in clutch
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682598938 vs hippo + skarm-bliss stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-682607548 vs blace + latios-m offense. Araquanid is incredibly important here to check Ash Gren and Latios-M
Shoutouts...
to the good people of my university's Pokemon League, how the heck did so many good players get together in one league by chance. You guys don't know this, but y'all make me learn a ton about this game <3
to you, Dondyxd. Always keeping me wanting to improve myself every time I see you build fresh heat and go up high on ladder with it.
to Waszap for casually joining our league and being a champion twice. Miss me with that matchup shit, I'll get you in the comp season you scrub.
to the people of good saturdays. You're all really cool people, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
to all the top players that drive me to reach your level one day. I'm pretty done with the ladder now lol, so perhaps now is the time to give the tour scene a shot.
especially to the innovative KtutGOAT! Your medicham-slaking team is a work of art, I wasn't sure what to suggest without breaking all that gorgeous synergy. I don't think I'll ever get to that level of creativity that inspired me to get into this game seriously, but I sure as hell can try in my own way. Stay awesome <3
Concluding Thoughts
When using this team, every slot must be carefully used. Nothing here is truly just death fodder like a suicide Azelf, for example. Every teammate has a role to fulfill. It's much less braindead than it would seem and requires thinking many turns ahead to see the outcome, so don't play it like a 123456 sort of team. I hope you enjoy this resurrection of two fallen playstyles as much as I did, and I hope you see that even past formulas can be revamped to their former glory again!
“Who cares about tomorrow, if today we are free?”
Until next time~
The Dark Angel
Sandsatsu (Excadrill) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Bubbles! (Araquanid) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Toxic
- Leech Life
Hikari Tenshi (Dragonite) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Decim -ate (Pinsir-Mega) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack
=) (Mimikyu) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Polic (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin
Bubbles! (Araquanid) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Toxic
- Leech Life
Hikari Tenshi (Dragonite) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Decim -ate (Pinsir-Mega) (M) @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Frustration
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack
=) (Mimikyu) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
Polic (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
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