SM OU Victory Star All-Stars (Semi-Trick Room 1800 ELO)

[dnites]

Introduction:​

When I began working on this team, I was thinking of how Stakataka is like a late game winning condition. Granted, you want to remove its counters, but if it’s your last Pokemon standing against 3 to your opponent, it can often steal momentum and secure the win. With that in mind, my first step was to go to the Competitive Tutoring room and ask for suggestions on how other players would begin to build around it. What followed was the obvious answer, Trick Room, before discussion quickly devolved into an argument of whether or not Stakataka was even any good. Well, I thought it was a fantastic Pokemon and decided to continue forward on my own. What I've come up with may not be the best team I could make, but I'll tell you, it's certainly a lot of fun to play with.

(Also)
Caution: I'm a huge basketball nut so proceed at own risk ;)​

Team Building Process​

Stakataka. Trick Room. Yes. What now?​

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The truth is, I toyed with several ideas, and was losing more games than I won. That is, until I went to my favorite two Pokemon core: Tapu Bulu and Heatran. Some days, I’ll build several teams in a single day, only to scratch it and start again with these two. I don’t want to say it’s an underrated combo, but it’s certainly under-utilized for how effective the pairing is. Defensively, they cover each other perfectly. Grassy Terrain even cuts the ever present power of Earthquake in half. Heatran definitely benefits. And for that matter, so does Stakataka. Great.

Remember when I said I tried multiple line-ups around Stakataka, but that they proved unsuccessful? This is where I admit it was because it was too Trick Room-y. The team depended on it. I’m brought to mind of the basketball expression, “Live by the jumpshot, die by the jumpshot”, remarking on how teams that rely on shooting can get blown out as soon as the shots stop falling. Well, Trick Room is kind of like that. You’ve got to have a more well rounded game to be successful. You can see from the addition of Tapu Bulu and Heatran that I had already diverged from the standard Trick Room assembly. But, I still wanted something else that could set up Trick Room and provide value for the rest of the team.

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That’s why Cresselia was a no-brainer. She’s bulky as hell, has a wide variety of support options, and Psychic typing combined with her ability in Levitate give her resistance or immunity to the two offensive types that most threaten Stakataka and Heatran: Fighting and Ground. Really, these four Pokemon complement one another quite well defensively.

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But with another Trick Room user, I needed something even more fearsome. A Trick Room abuser. For this role I chose none other than Mega Mawile. For one, it’s a Trick Room staple, and insanely powerful. Also, I really dislike building a team and not having a Mega Evolution on it. It’s like being told you can have a head start in a race, but whether you accept it or not, that option is also being given to each of the other competitors. Not taking it only puts you at a disadvantage. The great thing about her is that a lot of the checks for Stakataka have to be employed to stop Mega Mawile. And let’s admit it, how many of those can really stop her? So yeah, Mega Mawile.

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The last spot on the team was definitely the hardest place to fill. From playing I discovered that my team really had no answer for Mega Venusaur. Leech Seed was forcing me to make constant switches. My attacks weren’t strong enough to dispose of Venusaur before it just used Synthesis to restore its health. It was to the point that if I saw Venusaur on the opposing team, I’d consider resigning from the get-go. I tried so many Pokemon here, but nothing really seemed to work. I might have one Pokemon that could beat Venusaur, but my options never had synergy, and I’d end up losing to something else. I had a thought, though, and have found success with a quirky set in Trick Room Victini.

Rookie of the Year

Stakataka @ Shuca Berry
Beast Boost
Lonely
248 HP / 252 Att / 8 Sp Def
IVs: 14 Def / 0 Spe
~Trick Room
~Gyro Ball
~Stone Edge
~Superpower
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Rookies aren’t supposed to be good. They’re not supposed to make the All-Star team, but damn if this one isn’t a difference maker. USUM has only been out a short time and Stakataka has already found its niche. I think by now the nature and IVs given have become standard, but just to explain, 0 Speed makes it as slow as possible to maximize Gyro Ball’s power, while Lonely with 14 Defense IVs ensures that Beast Boost raises Stakataka’s Attack after a kill. Kudos to you Game Freak-- stack attack, indeed.

In most of my games, Stakataka is the last Pokemon to enter the field. I don’t want to play him too early and get him killed unnecessarily, and he’s more effective once his counters have been dealt with anyway. No, I think of him as my primary win condition. Wait until my opponent has exhausted his answers for him, set up Trick Room, and proceed to sweep with ultra slow speed and a rising attack. As for Shuca Berry, this really is the way to go for my team. Sure, I don’t have a Z-item anywhere else, but Shuca Berry makes sure I don’t get OHKO’d before I get to have my fun. While ideally, I’d like to eradicate any Ground time attackers earlier in the game, other players aren’t stupid. If I’m obviously saving Stakataka, smarter players try to save something to combat it. Without Shuca Berry, Stakataka isn’t a winning condition. Furthermore, I choose to use Superpower over options like Earthquake, because one, if Grassy Terrain is up it’s not even that effective, and two, it nails some of the Pokemon that are often remaining like Greninja and Kartana.

Defensive Player of the Year

Cresselia @ Light Clay
Levitate
Relaxed
248 HP / 168 Def / 92 Sp Def
~Trick Room
~Reflect
~Light Screen
~Lunar Dance
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It ought to be clear why Cresselia runs away with Defensive Player of the Year honors. She tanks, she supports the team, she’s invaluable. Before taking the dual screens route, I had tried the standard Trick Room, Ice Beam, Moonlight, Lunar Dance set, but it isn’t that great, and offers nowhere near the sort of team support that this set does. All Ice Beam is doing is wasting a turn of Trick Room. So… dual screens! I’m not gonna lie, I pulled these EVs out of my ass, but they’re working. That said; if there’s a spread I ought to be using instead, please let me know. Because of her natural bulk, Cresselia not easily threatened and has ample opportunity to set up Reflect and Light Screen, especially if my opponent is concerned with laying down Stealth Rock. The goal is to set screens first, Trick Room if appropriate, and make a smart switch. Of course, every Pokemon on my team benefits from what she provides. Most of the time, she survives to set up screens twice a game. Fourteen turns of doubled defenses is a huge security. This may not be the Pokemon to land the killer blow, but she gives my team second chance opportunities and is the oil that keeps this team running. And right when you thought you had nearly dispatched of another of my team’s threats, the soul sinker, Lunar Dance restores it to power. I imagine it’s pretty demoralizing, especially when Mega Mawile is the most common recipient.

Most Valuable Player

Tapu Bulu @ Choice Band
Grassy Surge
Adamant
252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def
~Wood Hammer
~Horn Leech
~Superpower
~Stone Edge
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A true MVP makes the players around him better, but should also be a beast in his own right. On this team, Tapu Bulu is my Most Valuable Player. Grassy Surge halves damage taken from Earthquake, among a few other moves. Heatran, Stakataka, Victini, and even Mega Mawile are all benefactors of this. He enables them to do what they each do best. But man, this Pokemon can really give a beating on its own. I don’t know what other players run on Tapu Bulu, but can say it doesn’t seem like many people are prepared for a Choice Band set. About half the time I begin the game with Cresselia; the other half this guy leads the charge. Wood Hammer, compounded with the boosts from Grassy Terrain and Choice Band, is a force to be reckoned with. Knowing that I have Horn Leech and Grassy Terrain to restore health, as well as screen support later in the game (and Lunar Dance if necessary), allows me to be aggressive early in the game. Even after Intimidate, Wood Hammer pounds defensive Landorus-Therian for nearly 70% of its health. Not bad for Turn 1. And that’s what an MVP should do: lead the way and set the tone for the rest of the team. Now, I tend to think of myself as a pretty heady player. Most people aren’t going to keep in a Pokemon if it’s outsped and KO’d by something. It makes predicting switches incredibly easy. 4 out of five times, I know when my opponent is switching to either Heatran or Ferrothorn, and then it’s Superpower laying down the hammer. Horn Leech becomes my main weapon later in games when foes are already weakened and I’m on a killing spree. Stone Edge doesn’t get much use purely because of the power of Wood Hammer, even if resisted, but is a situational option should the need arise. Ferrothorn dead, but opponent has a Zapdos to switch in? Stone Edge, gone.

Sixth Man of the Year

Heatran @ Iapapa Berry
Flash Fire
Timid
252 Sp Att / 252 Spe / 4 Def
~Magma Storm
~Earth Power
~Nature Power
~Taunt
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Your “Sixth Man” is typically the first guy off the bench, someone who can hang in there and light it up at a moment’s notice. Heatran does just that. Often times, players will bring in something that would threaten him… if he weren’t faster… and if he didn’t KO them first. Magma Storm has shaky accuracy, but I love it anyway. Trapping switch-ins and racking up residual damage is essential to weakening my opponent and even taking out would-be hard counters. Heatran is also my option for dismantling stall teams. For example, Heatran will force out Ferrothorn or Mega Scizor, opponent switches in Toxapex and gets caught in Magma Storm. I can Taunt or Earth Power, depending on whether I feel it’ll go for Scald or Toxic Spikes, and render it trapped and useless. The same applies with Chansey. I can trap and Taunt her, then whittle her down with Earth Power. Of course, Chansey does carry Seismic Toss, but that’s the beauty of Iapapa Berry. It ensures that Chansey cannot KO me in time as my health will be recovered as soon as it drops below 25%. By the way, this is also the case with Scald from Toxapex.

Now, you might be looking at Nature Power and thinking it’s a bit gimmicky. I prefer to think of it as a novelty. Truth is, it works beautifully. In early SM days, I was a fan of using Grassium Z with Solar Beam to unleash Bloom Doom, but it had two flaws: one, it prevented me from using a Z move on another Pokemon; and two, it only works once, so it requires careful prediction. This led me to using Power Herb with Solarbeam to free up a Z attack for something else, but again, it required prediction, and also left Heatran vulnerable with no form of recovery. Which is how this Swiss Army knife of a set came to be. Really, it’s the best of both worlds. Partnered with Tapu Bulu, Nature Power becomes Energy Ball raised to 135 Base Power from Grassy Terrain. It also frees me up to use Iapapa Berry for recovery. I’ve already gone over trapping Chansey and Toxapex, but now you can see how I deal with Quagsire, too. And if my opponent runs Tapu Koko, then I have the choice of allowing Electric Terrain to stay up and fire off boosted Thunderbolts. Oh, hi Gyarados! This set is splendidly anti-metagame and really, this team demands that Heatran be as useful as it is. It holds my team together, and that’s why it’s deserving of the Sixth Man title.

Scoring Champion

Mawile @ Mawilite
Hyper Cutter (Huge Power)
Brave
248 HP / 252 Att / 8 Sp Def
IVs: 30 Speed
~Swords Dance
~Play Rough
~Suckerpunch
~Fire Fang
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Why is Mega Mawile my scoring champion? Because she has the potential to cause the most damage on the offensive end. As is, she stands with a whopping 678 Attack Stat.. Generally, she only comes in after Cresselia has screened and set up Trick Room for her. Depending on the defensive/offensive balance of my opponent’s team, I can either boost up with Swords Dance, or start firing away with Play Rough. Like Tapu Bulu, I can afford to play aggressively with Mega Mawile, and in fact it’s often necessary if I’m to pound away at Stakataka’s checks. Suckerpunch can be obvious at times, but often the Pokemon that are vulnerable to it have no other option accept to attack. If I expect a switch, well then I can either choose to nail the switch with Play Rough or to boost with Swords Dance. And Fire Fang, even with its lowly base power, is still capable of OHKOing most Steel Pokemon, with tanks like Skarmory and Celesteela being taken out after two Fire Fangs (or a Swords Dance). Also, even though she usually only gets 3 turns of Trick Room, she has plenty more benefitting from screen support. For this reason I often let her play even after Trick Room has worn off and is outsped on the court. 303/576/452 defenses (under screens) aren’t to be scoffed at. And the best part is? Usually I get to play her twice via Lunar Dance recovery. In true Scoring Champion fashion, just when you think the shots stop dropping and she’s finished, she bounces back and trounces your team. Oh, and if you’re wondering about the 30 Speed IVs it’s because I don’t need everything to be ultra slow. 121 puts me slower than Tangrowth in Trick Room, and faster than Toxapex out of it. I don’t think it really matters what specific number it falls on, but it’s just useful to know my Speed tiers to know when I outspeed and when I don’t.

Most Improved Player

Victini @ Life Orb
Victory Star
Brave
252 Att / 252 Sp Att / 4 Sp Def
IVs: 0 Spe
~Trick Room
~V-Create
~Bolt Strike
~Glaciate
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Finding the right Pokemon to use here was quite the process. I tried dozens of different Pokemon in Victini’s spot with varying levels of success. Originally, this team was very vulnerable to Mega Venusaur. The rest of my team just doesn’t have the power or type effectiveness to match up against it. So I played with a few things, and while I might have an answer for Mega Venusaur, Mega Pinsir and and Medicham were tearing me up in the meantime. Well, at the cost of making my team weaker to Specs Greninja, Victini has patched up most of those other weaknesses, and really has been the best option I’ve tried out here, which is why I’ve named it Most Improved Player. So, how does this set work? I’m sure most of you are pretty familiar with ScarfTini, but the Speed drop from V-Create really makes its effectiveness worse as you use it. But there’s a way to turn this into an advantage—with Trick Room. Before using V-Create, Victini stands at 183 Speed. Certainly not fast, but not in the lowest Speed tiers, either. As you fire away, though, you’re getting slower and slower, which under Trick Room, means “outspeeding” everything. Plus, in not requiring a Choice Scarf to outrun things, it allows Victini to get an additional 30% more damage using Life Orb, and also means you’re not locked into a particular move. Bolt Strike is another great attack, and offers powerful coverage against Water types like Toxapex, and decent neutral damage against foes like Heatran. Speaking of which, Victini vs. Heatran isn’t exactly the greatest matchup, so I tried options like Brick Break and Power Up Punch, neither of which was really effective as the Base Powers weren’t high enough. One of the ways that players try to neutralize Victini, is by switching in Landorus-Therian to lower Victini’s Attack stat and absorb the lowered damage from V-Create. Since I wasn’t KOing Heatran anyway, I decided to run with Glaciate. The rare (only?) Fire type Pokemon that has an Ice type move. Sure, Glaciate’s 65 Base Power is only 5 more than that of Hidden Power Ice, but I’ll take it anyway. With the power from Life Orb, it is a reliable option against both defensive Landorus-Therian and Zygarde.




Damage Calculations:
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian in Grassy Terrain: 256-303 (67 - 79.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery or OHKO without Intimidate
252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Zapdos in Grassy Terrain: 196-231 (51.1 - 60.3%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gyarados in Grassy Terrain: 393-463 (99.7 - 117.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Superpower vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 410-484 (106.4 - 125.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Superpower vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 290-342 (82.3 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery (I don’t know if this is the standard set anymore because most of the time it’s an OHKO)
252+ Atk Choice Band Tapu Bulu Horn Leech vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blacephalon in Grassy Terrain: 252-297 (102 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 360-428 (102.2 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 418-494 (105 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 160-189 (52.6 - 62.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (another Pokemon where I feel like is more often Specially Defensive than this spread)
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Zapdos: 450-529 (117.4 - 138.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blacephalon: 238-282 (96.3 - 114.1%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Victini Bolt Strike vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 190-224 (62.5 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Victini V-create vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 185-218 (48.4 - 57%) -- 40.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Victini Glaciate vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 359-426 (93.9 - 111.5%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Victini Glaciate vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Zygarde: 322-385 (89.9 - 107.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Victini V-create vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 464-546 (66 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And on the receiving end:
252+ Atk Choice Band Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Shuca Berry Stakataka: 240-284 (73.6 - 87.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Shuca Berry Stakataka: 234-276 (71.7 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
* 252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Shuca Berry Stakataka in Grassy Terrain: 102-120 (31.2 - 36.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu through Reflect: 118-141 (41.9 - 50.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
252+ Atk Zygarde Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mawile-Mega through Reflect: 111-132 (36.5 - 43.4%) -- 98.2% chance to 3HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery
+2 252 SpA Alakazam-Mega Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega through Light Screen: 170-201 (55.9 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery


Highlight Reel:
Against opposing Trick Room https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-675497623
Toxapex trap and Victini effectiveness https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-675934749
Lunar Dancing to frozen Victini https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-676166830
Againt Stall https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-679031102
Opponent says GG too early! (Shuca Berry FTW) https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-676169489

Please, comments, questions, and suggestions are appreciated!​

 

[Gross Sweep]

Hey just a quick little note since I don't really play a lot of TR aside from super standard variants, so I can't offer any huge suggestions/comments on a TR team like yours, but Stakataka can run 15 Def IVs and still get the attack raise. It's not really a big deal if any at all, but giving yourself one extra Def point could help with some role down the line, which in a game of numbers like mons could very well come into play. Once again sorry if this is more of a inconvenience than a rate, just little nitpicks like this bug me a fair amount - gotta optimize.

Also the reason 15 works is because in the case of a tie it goes in stat order, and because Atk comes before Def that stat always gets the rise.

 

[Ken Kirihara]

Yo btw remember to leave an import of your team.Anyways nice team bro, i like the idea of Bulu and Tran on trick room.