The Return of Mr Jackson

[Tbird]

Edits in red

So I'm starting to get the hang of this whole OU business and starting to do well. This team is based loosely on my in game team. Though some unfortunates didn't make the cut (Noctowl Typhosion ). The team is also designed to play in OU thoughh there are a lot of UU pokemon in the team. They do serve a purpose and do work exceptionally well .

Lead

[sHINYSPRITE]407[/sHINYSPRITE]

Erika (Roserade) (F) @ Focus Sash

Ability: Natural Cure

EVs: 152 Spd/252 SAtk/100 SDef

Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Sleep Powder

- Leaf Storm

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Toxic Spikes

After a bit of thought and the suggestion from Randomspot I've decided to put Roserade as the lead. I did have my worries due to it being quite frail and a lot slower than some common leads. However, those worries have been lifted as of a bit of testing. She is working really well and I can understand why she was nce quite a popular lead. The idea is to put things to sleep then use Tspikes. Hidden power fire and Leaf storm are solid attacks with fairly decent coverage and help to take out taunt leads and such like. The EV's are so she can come back in late game should she need to be, and the evs allow her to be able to come in on a non boosted special attack.

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Physical Sweeper

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Xuanlong (Gyarados) (M) @ Wacan Berry

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 156 HP/152 Atk/200 Spd

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Dragon Dance

- Waterfall

- Stone Edge

- Taunt

Xuanlong the gyarados has been my favourite OU sweeper since I started playing OU. I've opted for a more bulky set so that I can come in on rocks and take an electric hit .. and then get the OHKO in return. Taunt is to stop me being p/hazed, and stops status AND other setting up on me. Stone edge had to come over ice fang on this set however, due to the lose of a third move. Water fall for stab, stone edge for other dragons and gyarados.

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Revenge Killer

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Al (Heracross) (M) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Guts

EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Megahorn

- Close Combat

- Stone Edge

- Night Slash

Gets rid of blissey and other things that need to be gotten rid of. As the title suggests he is my revenge killer, and also works effectively as a late game cleaner upper should it need be. Megahorn + close combat = Dual 120 STAB attcks = oblitaration (to weakened foe . Stone edge is for the dragons and night slash if for a predicted ghost switch in. The idea is to come in after one of my guys has died and get the revenge kill . Similarly coming in on a status move (preferably tocix or burn) can grant me choice scarf w/ +1. In general a potent killer on my team

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End game Sweeper

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Mr Jackson (Ambipom) (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Technician

EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd

Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

- Fake Out

- Return

- Low Kick

- Payback

Mr Jackson Returns .. and with a vengeance! Because I do have a love for Ambipom the aim of the whole team is to set him up for a late game sweep. Though he does step in occasionally to finish off things that other wise can't be so easilly finished off. Fake it is your standard, return rips holes in most things. Payback with good prediction owns most ghost and low kick provides nice damage to steels

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Special Wall

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Annata (Lanturn) (F) @ Leftovers

Ability: Volt Absorb

EVs: 40 HP/216 Def/252 SDef

Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Confuse Ray

- Discharge

- Substitute

- Surf

Annata is my parafusing special wall. She also here to take the electric hits that gyarados can't take. She dispenses of a lot of special threats as well as any special wall I've ever played and is constantly being thrown in and out of battle to generally wind the oponant up. People might call parafusion cheap ... but hell atleast it's not a serenegrace iron header . (she also takes care of both of our serenegracing friends

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Physical Wall/Defensive Support

Courtland (Rotom-s) @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 248 HP/168 Def/92 Spd

Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Discharge/Charge Beam

- Air Slash

- Will-o-wisp

- Reflect

Thanks to Randomspot for recommending rotom . Works really well as a physical wall and destroys anything that decides to attack this thing physically. He is also happy to take the earthquakes aimed at annata should need be, and eliminates fake out leads quite handily.

Undecided between discharge and charge beam. Though I am opting for charge beam over discharge atm as the +1 granted me an OHKO on a Gengar switching in :D . Plus, with a plethora of status painting a rainbow of pain all over the oposition more paralysis is kind of over kill... but hey Overkill is good .

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So that's the team. I under stand there are a few holes in the team, but if it's played slow and thoughtfully it is usually really effective . It seems to be when I start rushing the pace I get my ass handed to me ... and there's nothing that can really remedy that, but other than my impatience if you can see anythign obvious let me know .

Edited April 26, 2010 by Tbird

[crimson assassin]

I like how you like tobe creative but honestly choice scarfed leads are not good unless the sole purpose of it being scarfed is to

1.trick it off to another lead and give you time to do your own work

2. it is made to demolish other leads in one hit

because the truth of the matter is if they want rocks a simple switch in on something that cant taunt them will do it and then your lead has completly failed it's job.

and rotom if it has reflect already it is a waste of a slot to have will-o-wisp if i were you I'd throw Thunder wave into that slot and get you some para flinch going on

and i dont know if you have hg/ss but heal bell is mas better than sub for lanturn if you want a status healing or preventing move and if you dont have SS but want to try it just pm me and i'll tutor it for you. and please be careful when saying something checks something that it doesn't i feel it give the wrong impression to new players it doesnt check scarf rachi because now alot run zen headbutt and iron head. don't worry i have like 4 flawless shiny ones so i have no intention of keeping it same goes for anyone else i'll SS tutor your pokes for free

i do it on smogon so why not help out here as well

all around good idea but placing the entire game on a poke who can only use three attacks after its first turn is not a good. it's fine if ambipom aids in the sweep but it shouldn't be the main sweeper that just isn't viable especially in OU where so many thing have such good typing and such bulk. you may pull this off 45 times out of 100 but i just dont see ambipom pulling off a sweep not even with reflect and all this other support it just doesnt have the ability to get the job done. I love ambipom but im sorry he shouldnt be the focus of any team in OU unless it is a double battle

[randomspot555]

First we have to deal with your lead. First, it's just a poor lead. Choice-leads really are for scouting purposes (IE U-Turn) and Trick users. It's attack stat is too low for most leads to care, and it doesn't stop anyone from setting up SR. It only prevents it.

You'd have to, for example, attack twice to KO Aerodactyl with Close Combat, and hope he Taunts you first. Otherwise it still gets SR.

Same goes with most suicide leads. And if you Taunt them, then you both switch out. Having Taunt on a Choiced-Poke will also hinder you later in the game.

Move Roserade up to your first slot. It is a great lead and only really worries about Scarf Jirachi and, to a lesser extent, Azelf and Aerodactyl.

Replace Scarf Primeape with Heracross. It, with Megahorn, gets dual STAB, and has a higher attack base stat, with better defenses, and only 10 points less in speed.

Ditch Ambipom for someone who can lay down Stealth Rock. If you don't mind waiting until mid game to lay down SR, take your pick of any Metagross sets except Agility-Metagross and put Stealth Rock on one of them. Ambipom is useful in OU, but really, only as a lead. The other option is to ditch Roserade, but that makes Rotom slightly less useful because it isn't spin blocking anything.

Disagreeing with CA above. Rotom forms with will o wisp and Reflect can stall out CB Scizor when it's trying to scare you away with Pursuit. You risk Flash Fire activation in some cases, but with Lanturn on the team, I doubt that'll be too much of a problem.

Even with non-poison and steep types getting poisoned by Toxic Spikes, Will O Wisp helps out in the many Steel types that attempt to switch into Rotom.

However, not much point in carrying Discharge if non-poison/steel will be poisoned, and steels will be burned. Toss on Thunderbolt for extra damage. Or Charge Beam if you want to go gimmicky and boost your Special Attack. Same goes for Lanturn, though you might want to ditch electric attacks completely and go for Ice Beam.

[Tbird]

@Crimson Assassin

I like how you like tobe creative but honestly choice scarfed leads are not good unless the sole purpose of it being scarfed is to

1.trick it off to another lead and give you time to do your own work

2. it is made to demolish other leads in one hit

because the truth of the matter is if they want rocks a simple switch in on something that cant taunt them will do it and then your lead has completly failed it's job. [/Quote]

Yeah I have changed the taunt part .

and rotom if it has reflect already it is a waste of a slot to have will-o-wisp if i were you I'd throw Thunder wave into that slot and get you some para flinch going on[/Quote]

If I am out against the right pokemon discharge's shakey paralysis rate isn't much of a bother anyway .. especially when I am hidden behind both a burn and reflect. If I ran Twave then yes I'd get rid of reflect, but what I can do with the given set, to me, is so much better than +Twave - Reflect. Give it a try sometime, I garuntee you'll fall in love .

and i dont know if you have hg/ss but heal bell is mas better than sub for lanturn if you want a status healing or preventing move and if you dont have SS but want to try it just pm me and i'll tutor it for you. and please be careful when saying something checks something that it doesn't i feel it give the wrong impression to new players it doesnt check scarf rachi because now alot run zen headbutt and iron head. don't worry i have like 4 flawless shiny ones so i have no intention of keeping it same goes for anyone else i'll SS tutor your pokes for free

i do it on smogon so why not help out here as well [/Quote]

I do have SS . And I know about heal bell. I ran that Lanturn a while back, for the time being however she covers Twave weakness, Primeape won't fall asleep and roserade eats toxic spikes and doesn't get poisoned. the only problem I do have is burn, though Rotom doesn't mind a little burn, and neither does Lanturn. Thanks for the offer though .

all around good idea but placing the entire game on a poke who can only use three attacks after its first turn is not a good. it's fine if ambipom aids in the sweep but it shouldn't be the main sweeper that just isn't viable especially in OU where so many thing have such good typing and such bulk. you may pull this off 45 times out of 100 but i just dont see ambipom pulling off a sweep not even with reflect and all this other support it just doesnt have the ability to get the job done. I love ambipom but im sorry he shouldnt be the focus of any team in OU unless it is a double battle

When a team is down to their last 3 pokemon, all at 75%- health, crippled by some status or another then there isn't much that they can do to stop the ambipom sweep. Though yes, as is with any team that bases their strategy on a gimmick, it does fail from time to time. But the idea of the team is to be in for the long haul, drag it out for as long as possible and send in ambipom to claim the glory. He also adequately fills the roll of revenge killer. A predicted switch has killed some many ghost that could have other wise proved to be difficult that it's unreal. After that they're weary about the switch and stay in to get 2HKOd by fake out + _move_.

@ randomspot555

First we have to deal with your lead. First, it's just a poor lead. Choice-leads really are for scouting purposes (IE U-Turn) and Trick users. It's attack stat is too low for most leads to care, and it doesn't stop anyone from setting up SR. It only prevents it.

You'd have to, for example, attack twice to KO Aerodactyl with Close Combat, and hope he Taunts you first. Otherwise it still gets SR.

Same goes with most suicide leads. And if you Taunt them, then you both switch out. Having Taunt on a Choiced-Poke will also hinder you later in the game. [/Quote]

Yup Full understand you there. I have taken Taunt off .. though it worked a couple of times and saved me having to worry about a lot of things .. it was only like 20% successful in the long run (though did save me when I miss-clicked taunt on someone trying to toxic me ). Replaced it with stone Edge. I've also noticed that Primeape has access to Outrage ... But hell I'm not gunna be stupid .

Move Roserade up to your first slot. It is a great lead and only really worries about Scarf Jirachi and, to a lesser extent, Azelf and Aerodactyl. [/Quote]

The problem with that is I hate every single one of those leads ... Though I have already pondered the idea and may actually try it out.. see what happens.

Replace Scarf Primeape with Heracross. It, with Megahorn, gets dual STAB, and has a higher attack base stat, with better defenses, and only 10 points less in speed. [/Quote]

This I will do.

Ditch Ambipom for someone who can lay down Stealth Rock. If you don't mind waiting until mid game to lay down SR, take your pick of any Metagross sets except Agility-Metagross and put Stealth Rock on one of them. Ambipom is useful in OU, but really, only as a lead. The other option is to ditch Roserade, but that makes Rotom slightly less useful because it isn't spin blocking anything.[/Quote]

Though metagross would fit very nicely (as would heatran - covering roserade's fire weakness) I do have my reservations about him. So I will look for someone else who can fill a similar role.

Disagreeing with CA above. Rotom forms with will o wisp and Reflect can stall out CB Scizor when it's trying to scare you away with Pursuit. You risk Flash Fire activation in some cases, but with Lanturn on the team, I doubt that'll be too much of a problem. [/Quote]

Best physical wall I've ever played and complements Lanturn nicely. Similarly if I can get tyranitar with a burn, endure a crunch and set up a reflect, tyranitar becomes easy pickings for Lanturn. I did this earlier and the crunch took about ~50% w/ burn and when I outsped with reflect it took 36% ... granted it was a big chunk but after I got lucky with a flinch Lanturn easily picked it off.

However, not much point in carrying Discharge if non-poison/steel will be poisoned, and steels will be burned. Toss on Thunderbolt for extra damage. Or Charge Beam if you want to go gimmicky and boost your Special Attack. Same goes for Lanturn, though you might want to ditch electric attacks completely and go for Ice Beam.

I may throw charge beam on Rotom for a bit more power behind Air slash. I'll see how that goes. However as far as Lanturn is concerned, she is, at the moment perfect for the team and I like to be throwing around a lot of status and discharge, though not as reliable as Twave helps in taking down the likes of moltres, whilst still allowing me to paralys other people. Similarly, whilst I am behind a sub it doesn't matter if I hit a few bum attempts at paralysis ... The won't be hitting me anyway, especially if they are confused to . And say rotom falls, and Tspikes get spun away I'm lost for Paralysis support.

You both seem to not like the idea of me having an ambipom as the end game sweeper. I must say that it really does work well if I play the team right. There's occasionally a few hicks but it's nothing to deter me from him. And the idea is to sweep at the end with something that isn't expected. Feel free to suggest gimmicky replacements and I'll happily try them out, but I don't want to sweep with something as simple as a DDmence or CB Scizor. I'm newish to shoddy and I wanna learn the hard way lol.

[crimson assassin]

I've played around with rotom alot I'll try your idea only of you try mine:) trust me it works great and i'm sorry in OU no one has any reason to fear ambipom (barring tyranitar) its to many ghot that can 1 shot ambipom and even the steel types dont take alot of damage from low kick because while they are heavy their defence is to good and there are to many bulky ghost who will eat payback and burn you. i even know gengar is running will-o-wisp. it's not the team i don't like its sweeper that it is focusing on i mean i love ambipom but it sweeping will be far to difficult.

i just read this

Best physical wall I've ever played and complements Lanturn nicely. Similarly if I can get tyranitar with a burn, endure a crunch and set up a reflect, tyranitar becomes easy pickings for Lanturn. I did this earlier and the crunch took about ~50% w/ burn and when I outsped with reflect it took 36% ... granted it was a big chunk but after I got lucky with a flinch Lanturn easily picked it off

.

why waste rotom doing this if it was burned go out to gyarados and DD up dont let rotom die i like rotom.

and lanturn that sub is not good your burning off hp you can only recover 6% back at a time for a sub that might easily be broken. you should watch out for aggron and rampardos also they will smash through this team rampardos with eq and mold breaker hits even rotom and head smash pretty much rapes everything else

well thats all i have to say nice team but just the wrong sweeper gets you an 8/10

drop by and rate my team

[memjee]

Nice team, a stealth rock could help your late game sweeper Ambipom big time though.

I'll think of some threats

Aerodactyl - He can be problem as a lead if your sleep powder misses, your rotom is the answer for him, but your other pokemon will have trouble with him.

Swampert - If your roserade is gone, you will have troubles with this bad boy, scarfhera can't beat it 1on1. Your best bet is your gyarados.

Gengar - He can be a big issue for you, with his unpredictability and many equally effective sets. Becareful for sludge bomb and C. scarf variants.

Empoleon - Fear the subpetaya variants, the ones with grass knot with be a big problem for you.

Latias - Calm mind with either lum berry or substitute is piss you off. I don't think gyarados with wacan berry, SR damage can survive a 1cm thunderbolt.

good luck on your team, I like the team, it's very creative yet good enough to play standard OU.

Btw I'm stealing your Ambipom set =)

[Tbird]

@ Memjee

Nice team, a stealth rock could help your late game sweeper Ambipom big time though.

[/Quote]

Possibly, though it would really have to fill roserade's boots... and I really like the Sleep support + Tspikes.

I'll think of some threats

Aerodactyl - He can be problem as a lead if your sleep powder misses, your rotom is the answer for him, but your other pokemon will have trouble with him.

[/Quote]

Too true . But you can't get past every lead. And yes I do usually switch to rotom anyway .

Swampert - If your roserade is gone, you will have troubles with this bad boy, scarfhera can't beat it 1on1. Your best bet is your gyarados.

[/Quote]

I've not see many played outside of leads and I usually keep roserade in play at the start, so she does come back to hurt him. Outside of that Rotom can burn him while I shuffle switch between Rotom and Lanturn confuses, burning/poisoning, stallin'!. (<<< Strategy for most pokes )

Gengar - He can be a big issue for you, with his unpredictability and many equally effective sets. Becareful for sludge bomb and C. scarf variants.

[/Quote]

Gengar usually comes in on ambipoms fake out and usually gets owned by pay back. Similarly, he likes to cover blissey's fighting weakness, so scarf hera usually finishes him before he even gets the chance to move.

Empoleon - Fear the subpetaya variants, the ones with grass knot with be a big problem for you.

[/Quote] Not actually came across one of those yet .. other than yours and I believe you destroyed me anyway lol. I don't really know what I'd do should the situation arise though my best guess would be lanturn parafusion until I take grassknot then rotom for some paraflinchusion!

Latias - Calm mind with either lum berry or substitute is piss you off. I don't think gyarados with wacan berry, SR damage can survive a 1cm thunderbolt.

[/Quote]

This is why I originally had ice fang on gyarados ... I may go back to the old set this bulky set isn't really doing me many favours and seems to take hits just about as well as the old one did ... in which case DD Ice fang would be my answer to this.

good luck on your team, I like the team, it's very creative yet good enough to play standard OU.

Btw I'm stealing your Ambipom set =)

Thanks that was the aim :D. And be my guest It's a nifty little thing .

@Crimson Assassin

I've played around with rotom alot I'll try your idea only of you try mine:) trust me it works great and i'm sorry in OU no one has any reason to fear ambipom (barring tyranitar) its to many ghot that can 1 shot ambipom and even the steel types dont take alot of damage from low kick because while they are heavy their defence is to good and there are to many bulky ghost who will eat payback and burn you. i even know gengar is running will-o-wisp. it's not the team i don't like its sweeper that it is focusing on i mean i love ambipom but it sweeping will be far to difficult.

[/Quote]

I know, I know ... and that's why the team is devised to see what the opponent is packing .. sleep causes switches, confusion causes switches, reflect + Burn Causes Switches, intimidate causes switches, scarf hera in itself causes a lot of ghost switch ins who are readily 2HKO or even 1HKOd - less trouble for Ambipom, with all the support tht is given Ambipom really can sweep. It takes a lot of good timings and grinding but it works. The only time he struggled is when someone had hidden a defensive scizor set, luckily rotom was still alive to get the win.

i just read this

.

why waste rotom doing this if it was burned go out to gyarados and DD up dont let rotom die i like rotom.

[/Quote]

You know... I hadn't even thought of this, thanks for the idea.

and lanturn that sub is not good your burning off hp you can only recover 6% back at a time for a sub that might easily be broken. you should watch out for aggron and rampardos also they will smash through this team rampardos with eq and mold breaker hits even rotom and head smash pretty much rapes everything else

[/Quote]

As for lanturn the sub is crucial to this set. Honestly. The strategy is almost to divide and conquer. Parafusion + a sub is so annoying it's unreal, I'm causing a lot of switches and I'm seeing what needs to be taken out and thinking of how I'm going to take it out. And when I'm threatened I'm switching to my next in line - Rotom. In regards to the sub loss of health business - I have Tbolt bait in gyarados - a special wall in lanturn who packs volt absorb - that's health replenished. Similarly when the opponant is only attacking 6/8 times (roughly) the 25% is more than accounted for.

Ummmm I have seen one ramporados and it couldn't get past confusion and fell to surf. Though maybe if I hadn't had the sub I might not have had the chance to do that . Aggron ... I've not seen one outside of UU play.

well thats all i have to say nice team but just the wrong sweeper gets you an 8/10

drop by and rate my team

8/10 ... It's better than I expected if I'm honest. So thanks . I've tried rating your teams but a lot of the time I can't improve on it, but I'll take a look.