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So just a disclaimer. I'm kinda new to this, so team dynamics and synergy will probably be broken in a few places. Any suggestions as to how to increase it would be very welcome. Any suggestions on descriptions or how to present this topic better would be great as well. Without further ado, here is my team. --------------------------------------------- First off, my favorite pokemon that has ever existed has got to be Gyarados. With DP, it became a lot better after the Physical/Special changes. It's usage is near 20%, and I believe it deserves it. It's a beast of a pokemon, and a staple of all my teams. As such, it was an easy choice for my first member. So what counters Gyarados? Tangrowth, Metagross, Forretress, Suicune, Skarmory, and Rotom. Out of those, I don't usually see a Metagross who has Thunderpunch. Tangrowth I have seen once or twice, but I believe it isn't around enough to warrant as much a threat as Forrestres and Suicune. I've heard Skarmory is a great pokemon and commonly used, but believe it or not -- I've never encountered one, so I'm dropping it as well. So what counters Suicune and Forretress? I've had a lot of success running a Tyranitar on a Suicune. Tyranitar is also a beast of a pokemon, another one that sees high play rates. He's a great pokemon. I mean, if you eat mountains, you have to be pretty beastly. So, he happens to be countered by a lot of things, like Scizor - the most used pokemon in OU if I heard correctly. Guess what? Gyarados can counter that, so we're covered there as long as I don't throw him away too early. Swampert can effectively deal with Tyranitar, but I'm not too worried about that possibility. Usually by the time Tyranitar comes out, Swampert will have been crippled. So I don't have to stress out finding a good pokemon to cover weaknesses (I'm guessing I'm horribly wrong on this point. Please enlighten me?) So now, we have to find a third pokemon. Obvious choice being Scizor, because he's simply that good. So what counters Scizor? Heatran and Rotom-H are the most used. Tyranitar covers Rotom-H, so Heatran is my main worry. Gyarados can serve as a counter occasionally, but I don't want to stretch it that thin. So, Vaporean, Suicune, Empoleon, or Swampert will be the next pokemon. Each is pretty similar in terms of weaknesses, so I don't have much to go on there. Suicune is more of an inbetween pokemon I belive in terms of offensive and defensive, and I really dislike any legendary pokemon used in OU, so I'm going to nix it. That leaves me with Empoleon, Vaporeon and Swampert. Vaporeon can serve as a team healer, Empoleon as a wall, while Swampert could be my leader. It's a tough choice. In the end, I decided Swampert as I need a lead. So the most used counter to Swampert I see used regularly is Latias. I don't need to worry much about that because of my Tyranitar. I'm not gonna worry too much about covering in that regard -- rather at this point, I need to address how I have four physical pokemon and no serious contenders as a special. So, what is one of the best special pokemon? Gengar. Gengar is unfortunately very frail and pretty easy to counter. Scizor, Tyranitar, and Blissey each make great counters. Again, Scizor can be countered by Gyarados. So Tyranitar and Blissey are the big problems. Tyranitar is countered by Scizor, so now we have to deal with Blissey. If I'm careful, Scizor can counter her, so yet again I'm not too worried about weakness covering. However, as mentioned Gengar is very frail, and will have to be played carefully and well in order to be effective. So that's five out of six pokemon chosen. I still only have one special -- so adding another special pokemon would be great. Lucario and Togekiss each have great special attack. Togekiss works great with flinching, while Lucario is just a beast in general, and his counters are covered by my other pokemon. I like Lucario as a pokemon more than Togekiss, so it killed me when I tested this set. Togekiss easily outpaced Lucario as a more reliable pokemon, so it will fill in my final set. So that will be my final set. Time for stats and specifics! ----------------------------------------- Swampert @ Leftovers Ability: Torrent EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd) - Earthquake - Roar - Stealth Rock - Ice Beam Standard Swampert lead set. I chose Roar over Surf/Protect because I might be able to get a good look at the opposing team after setting up a Stealth Rock, and then will be able to plan accordingly how I move.The rest is pretty standard. I haven't tested this guy out as fully as I'd like, because of four guys competing for this slot. So while I don't have as great a feel as I'd like, he's still served pretty well. Gyarados @ Life Orb Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Dragon Dance - Waterfall - Ice Fang - Stone Edge Another standard set, this is a beast of a Gyarados. Very rarely does this guy ever disappoint me. I mentioned above I loved Gyarados since RBY, and he just keeps getting better. I'll send him out in order to counter, or deal with an annoying pokemon. He'll probably come out after Tyranitar and try to finish up after the rest of my team has done their job. However, he's really flexible -- I've sent him out early too, and he's performed just as well. Scizor @ Life Orb Ability: Technician EVs: 246 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Bullet Punch - U-turn - Superpower - Swords Dance This guy sees over 30% usage for a reason. He's that good. Another pokemon who never, ever disappoints. I've done massive damage each time I use him, even though opponents at this point have to know he's coming. Life Orb over Choice Band because I like to have the ability to change quickly, and use U-Turn to it's fullest. This also lets me use Swords Dance if I get the chance, which is pretty much overkill. I may want to switch U-Turn to Roost, but at this point the set has been working really well, so I don't think I will just yet. Tyranitar @ Choice Band Ability: Sand Stream EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Crunch - Aqua Tail - Outrage - Earthquake Standard Choice Band set, but with Outrage instead of Pursuit. I never got Pursuit working as well as I'd have liked, so I switched in Outrage, and it's been working pretty well. It throws something new in there, and it's working fine right now. I may swap it in the future, but for now... it stays. Helps me counter Latias too, although I've never actually tested that theory. It mows down teams not expecting it though, and has brought me back from a two pokemon deficit once. Togekiss @ Leftovers Ability: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Aura Sphere - Air Slash - Roost - Nasty Plot I choose Aura Sphere over Thunder Wave because the attack never worked for me -- I'd always end up dead before I could take advantage of it. In a sense, this has become a hybrid of the Flinch and Sweeper set. It's worked great for me, and usually can do some serious damage before falling. Roost helps it just keep going, and I can switch in to some non-threats and use a Nasty Plot, which just results in pain. I wanted Lucario, but... this guy just works better for me. Not as frail, which is good considering my next guy. Gengar @ Leftovers Ability: Levitate EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Shadow Ball - Substitute - Focus Blast - Hypnosis Standard Substitute set. I switch in, use Substitute or Hypnosis then substitute, and then just Focus Blast and Shadow Ball my way into oblivion. Very frail, but does his job well. It's had mixed results in my tests, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him just yet. -------------------------------------------- So that's it. Any feedback is welcome -- again, I'm kinda newb to all this, so detailed analysis descriptions (especially focusing on why) would be much welcomed. Thanks guys! Yes, this was named after Microsoft Azure. I'm a fanboy . Also, for those who care, here is a picture of weaknesses from Marriland: http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj127/desche_weyard/azure.png

Arent you able to get the Azure flute in Pokemon Coliseum? If so can you give it to a pokemon to carry over to Ruby/Saphire and then D/P/Plat?