Mega Metagross Rain
I've been messing with this team for a little while, and it has been excellent for practising with rain and has demonstrated how strong rain can be in the current metagame when unchecked, or its counters are played around effectively.
This team was inspired by a a team I faced in the first round of a Brisbane Bisharps tournament in August used by Paulo, which featured Mega Metagross and Politoed. His team also had Defiant Braviary, but I decided against using that on my team :^)
Generally the focus for this team is dealing a lot of damage with my offensive pokemon, and if I still have three or four of my pokemon left against their two I set up perish song with Politoed. I usually close up the game by using Amoonguss and Politoed to rage powder + perish song, double protect, double switch and double protect.
Mega Metagross
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Protect
Mega Metagross is the Pokemon this team was built around, and has ironically been brought to the least games of any of them. He's mainly useful when dealing with poison types such as Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur, and deals major damage to opposing weather setters such as Tyranitar and Mega Charizard Y. He's also the main Gardevoir and Sylveon counter for the team, although many Sylveon spreads now invest EVs into HP and Def in order to take an Iron Head from jolly Metagross. Because of this, when I am given the opportunity I generally helping hand + Iron Head in order to Garuantee the KO. Against most teams that don't involve Gardevoir or Sylveon, the other members of the team are more important to the game than Mega Metagross.
Politoed
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Perish Song
- Protect
My rain setter and the main member of the perish core, this Pokemon is mainly used as a bulky switch-in to resisted attacks and helping hand supporter for my offensive Pokemon. Scald is a rarely used offensive move, but is placed on the moveset to prevent him from becoming taunt bait, and to give him the ability to thaw out if he were to be frozen. I usually try to prevent him from taking too much damage early game where possible, so he can be used to set up perish song late game and survive long enough for the opposing pokemon to be fainted. His low speed investment means that in most situations, he is the slowest Pokemon on the field and faints last to perish song when I have no options to switch. The EV spread is Wolfe Glick's perish trap Politoed spread, for which I opted to use Helping Hand over encore as it provides greater support for my attacking Pokemon in Metagross, Talonflame and Kingdra.
Kingdra
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Kingdra acts as one of my main offensive Pokemon, and provides coverage against common Pokemon such as Landorus, Heatran, Talonflame and Salamence. Dragon pulse was chosen over draco meteor as I felt that I needed a reliable STAB move, given that I already have a 90% accuracy STAB move in Muddy Water. Lum berry was chosen as the item because Kingdra's strong offensive pressure and speed means that it attracts a lot of status conditions, and this item prevents them from afflicting him for at least one turn. It also helps me deal with void cats and dark void smeargle. EV spread is simple, and was designed to hit as hard and fast as possible.
Scrafty
Scrafty @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SpD
Brave Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Protect
The second member of the perish core, I opted for a more offensive Scrafty variant in part because I felt that I needed a strong fighting type physical attacker on my team, as well as me being simply too lazy to design an actual bulky Scrafty set. He hits many normal and steel type pokemon hard such as Kangaskhan Heatran and Aegislash, as well as hitting most common trick room setters for Super Effective damage such as Cresselia, Chandelure and Reuniclus. He has minimum speed in order to serve as a counter to trick room, as most of my team is very fast. In addition to this, his slow speed means that usually dies last under perish song. Safety goggles was chosen as the item as lum berry was already taken by Kingdra, and it prevents him from being afflicted by sand / hail damage or being affected by spore or rage powder. This has been incredibly useful in many games, where my opponent has attempted to spore my Scrafty under trick room and Safety Goggles has prevented this from happening.
Talonflame
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Evs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Quick Guard
- Protect
Due to the lack of fake out on this team apart from Scrafty, Quick Guard was chosen to provide another way around prankster users such as Thundurus and Sableye, as well as common Fake Out users such as Mega Kangaskhan. It also allows me to prevent opposing Talonflame from using Brave Bird on my Pokemon. Naughty was chosen with Overheat to be able to hit hard without damage being reduced by intimidate, as well as being able to hit Ferrothorn without doing insane amounts of damage to myself through rocky helmet and iron barbs damage. brave bird provides offensive pressure against fighting and grass types such as Conkeldurr and Amoonguss, and has powerful priority to clean up my opponent's weakened Pokemon late game.
Amoonguss
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Protect
Standard Amoonguss spread, provides another counter to trick room teams through fast spores and redirects attacks away from my frailer Pokemon such as Talonflame and Kingdra. Giga Drain was chosen as the offensive option as my team has very few other options for dealing with Water / Ground types, and without Amoonguss they have the potential to wall my entire team. Amoonguss also provides another way to deal with Fairy Types defensively, as he can switch into fairy attacks easily without taking too much damage. However, he is easily susceptible to psychic type attacks from Mega Gardevoir, and generally requires support from Metagross in order to operate effectively against it. Amoonguss also functions as a member of my perish core, as he allows me to redirect an attack away from my Politoed in order to set up perish song, and in most cases can take attacks long enough for perish song to faint my opponent's pokemon easily.
Team in Plain Text:
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 220 HP / 172 Def / 4 SpA / 92 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Helping Hand
- Perish Song
- Protect
Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Protect
Metagross @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Protect
Scrafty @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SpD
Brave Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
- Protect
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Evs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Brave Bird
- Overheat
- Quick Guard
- Protect
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
IVs: 0 Spe
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Protect
