> Never Gonna Peter Out - VGC17 RMT <
![[Image: 142.png]](http://www.serebii.net/xy/pokemon/142.png)
|![[Image: 786.png]](http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/pokemon/786.png)
|
![[Image: 785.png]](http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/pokemon/785.png)
|![[Image: 553.png]](http://www.serebii.net/xy/pokemon/553.png)
|![[Image: 105-a.png]](http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/pokemon/105-a.png)
|![[Image: 797.png]](http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/pokemon/797.png)
Introduction
Hey guys, after having seen the metagame evolve quite a bit since my last RMT after the London Internationals and San Jose regionals, I thought I would make an RMT for my newest team. The initial core that I had behind this team was Aerodactyl + Specs Tapu Lele while attempting to have a good combination of power and bulk which I feel Tailwind support allows me to afford, while also allowing me to take advantage of the general lack of speed control in the format.
The Team
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard
- Sky Drop
Aerodactyl provides really solid utility that no other mon in the format can provide. It is tied for the second fastest unboosted mon in the meta and with its access to Tailwind, it is one of the only reliable forms of speed control available really (though people are experimenting with some of the lesser used Tailwind setters like Mandibuzz and Braviary and doing quite well with them). Really the main attraction of Aerodactyl for this team in particular is Sky Drop. The ability to remove a Pokemon from play for a turn, whilst simulateounsly unsuring they won't switch or Protect the next turn is invaluable when paired with such a hard hitter like specs Tapu Lele, while also breaking potential sashes and bringing them into KO range (a max attack STAB Sky Drop is nothing to scoff at). Wide Guard is predominantly used to protect members like Krookodile from Dazzling Gleam, Blizzards and Muddy Waters (from the seemingly common specs Tapu Fini from Sejun's team), as well as EQ's for Marowak. Rock Slide is mostly to break sashes, but it can also take advantage of Aerodactyl's speed by fishing for flinches before my opponent can move, as well as just generally making Aerodactyl less Taunt bait. In terms of a sash user, the fact that it is immune to sand definitely aids in preserving the sash, meaning Aerodactyl is pretty much guaranteed to survive a hit. Synergy wise, steels don't really care about Aerodactyl and many are immune to Sky Drop (Celesteela and Metagross), so Marowak, Krook and Koko definitely help in that regard.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt
After seeing JackTheBattler peak no.2 on the showdown ladder using this thing, I knew I had to try Specs Lele out. It’s a monster. Psychic really is the only move you ever need to click regardless of typing for the most part. It just blasts through so many walls and nothing appreciates switching in. Most things calc to live Scarfed or Life Orb Psychic just to get blown away by specs and naturally picking up surprise KOs aids in my Perish Song win condition. This set also allows me to invest much more into bulk, allowing me to survive certain attacks that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise, such as 2 -1 Poison Jabs from Garchomp. The set is very basic, the moves are for the most part not important other than Psychic. The spread is adapted slightly from Jack’s, as I have invested enough speed to outspeed Modest Pelipper and Adamant Sandslash outside of Hail, and as a result enough to outspeed Sandslash in hail with Tailwind and Pelipper when we both have TW up, as well as simply speedcreeping the 4 EV Tapu Leles and Arcanines. This thing just 2HKOs the entire format seemingly and picks up some very nice OHKOs with Psychic + Sky Drop. The following calcs in many cases are the worst case scenario and will often be doing more damage
Tapu Koko @ Assault Vest
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 140 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nature's Madness
Ripped this set entirely from Markus Stadter’s London International team and man this thing is crazy specially bulky. Tapu Koko provides the team with another answer to opposing Celesteela while also dealing with bulky waters for my Marowak. I feel like I almost don’t need to justify Koko’s presence on the team, it’s just ridiculously fast and hits incredibly hard with the terrain advantage. An AV set gives me with more options for defensive switching, while at the same time freeing up moveslots. Having room for Volt Switch is incredible at times, allowing me to gain switch initiative and reset my terrain while getting off very respectable damage. The rest of the moves are self explanatory for the most part. Nature’s Madness is great for bringing things into KO range and works incredibly well against Pokemon that think they hard wall you. A long with Specs Tapu Lele, Nature’s Madness + Psychic in Psychic terrain KOs 252+ sp.def Porygon-2, providing me another option vs TR. The EVs to my knowledge allow Koko to survive a Modest Z-Hydro Pump from Golduck in the Rain and a max attack Poison Jab from Muk, while outspeeding base 110s. The first defensive calc alone is very confincing considering how bad my double duck matchup is otherwise. Here are some calcs that I ran, some more relevant than others.
Krookodile @ Groundium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Protect
Here’s a member I’m not totally sold on. Krookodile provides the team with an electric immunity, Intimidate, a single target Ground move, a dark type STAB for good neutral coverage and good damage versus Oranguru, a Psychic immunity for Lele and the occasional Metagross and a Taunt user. It also provides another decent answer to Marowak as well as slower Arcanine, as well as Magnezone for my Celesteela and Muk for my Tapus. The moveset choice is fairly straightforward, I felt Taunt provided the most utility over any of the alternatives. Groundium Z is important for picking up KOs to support my perish song win condition as well as KOing things hoping to live an EQ. Initially I was testing Adamant Krook for added bulk and damage, but being outsped by a lot of Lele’s really sucked, as well as those trying to speed creep it. This spread is very straightforward, it is just enough to outspeed things hoping to speed creep Modest Tapu Lele, as well as max speed neutral Mimikyu and Arcanine, as well as Timid max speed Xurkitree, with the rest in Attack and HP. I felt max speed was unnecessary considering it doesn’t really hit any important benchmarks, considering neutral Salamence and Garchomp aren’t common and most Timid Arcanine are running max speed to guarantee the outspeed on Krook anyway. No real calcs here since it doesn't really hit any specific offensive or defensive benchmarks.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 92 Atk / 4 Def / 84 SpD / 84 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Perish Song
- Protect
So here’s my fairly interesting Marowak set. The Marowak + Celesteela core is very common and the synergy is fairly obvious. Other than to protect my potential win condition from electrics, Marowak provides the team with another answer to Celesteela and Magnezone and an answer to opposing Marowaks. I chose to forgo Bonemarang mostly for the fact that I just generally find the move rather underwhelming. It didn’t really hit all that much that my STAB options didn’t already do decent enough damage to besides Incineroar, Muk and I suppose Gigalith, though Incineroar isn’t all that common and I still don’t 1 shot Muk with Bonemarang after Figy berry recovery and I still deal decent damage with Flare Blitz. I’m still iffy about Perish Song, but it does provide me with a very cool win condition after I have taken 2 KOs. In practice it has only secured a handful of games which I would have likely won anyway, but I feel it is still a fairly strong option. The EV spread is an adapted version of Till Bohmer’s Marowak from his London International team. The defensive calculations are the exact same, being 2HKO’d by -1 EQ from Garchomp and living a Modest unboosted Psychic from Tapu Lele, while the speed is essentially to outspeed the fastest Marowaks I have seen other than the Jolly ones, which speed creep the 68 speed Marowaks hoping to outspeed Modest Tapu Lele in Tailwind. This assurance that I will usually have the fastest Marowak even if I don’t have Tailwind up allows me to play a lot more aggresively versus opposing Marowak. I’m not aware of any KOs that are too important that I miss out on by running little attack investment.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 180 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Protect
Celesteela is just such a great mon in this format really functions well as a Tapu Lele check/counter (depending on whether or not they are running Tbolt) and a general win condition once its checks are dealt with by other members. Celesteela provides another partner for Krookodile to EQ beside, great defensive typing and stats for defensive switching and just a difficult Pokemon to take down playing well into my Perish Song win condition. The moveset is standard and the spread was basically stolen from Till Bohmer’s team report. It was the spread that I had been playing with for a while and what I am comfortable with, even though he doesn’t mention the exact benchmarks. These are some of the calcs I have ran for it, again some more relevant than others.
Conclusion
And there we have it! By no means do I believe this team is perfect, but I have been having a lot of fun using it and have had some success. On a somewhat fresh alt I wanted to see how quickly I could reach the 1500s with this team from the 1100s. I got there roughly with a record of 30-5 (I'm not quite sure exactly, it was about a week ago and I'm not sure what my record was before using this team) in roughly an hour. The losses were mostly down to misplays, poor calls or just poor luck in some cases, but there weren't too many matchups that I felt I just auto lost against. Double duck is a bit of a scary matchup since before Tailwind Golduck outspeeds my entire team and I don't have a water resist, but the fact that Koko should live a z-Hydro Pump does somewhat mitigate this issue, though certainly not entirely. Let me know what you guys think!
Importable
|||||Introduction
Hey guys, after having seen the metagame evolve quite a bit since my last RMT after the London Internationals and San Jose regionals, I thought I would make an RMT for my newest team. The initial core that I had behind this team was Aerodactyl + Specs Tapu Lele while attempting to have a good combination of power and bulk which I feel Tailwind support allows me to afford, while also allowing me to take advantage of the general lack of speed control in the format.
The Team
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Tailwind
- Wide Guard
- Sky Drop
Aerodactyl provides really solid utility that no other mon in the format can provide. It is tied for the second fastest unboosted mon in the meta and with its access to Tailwind, it is one of the only reliable forms of speed control available really (though people are experimenting with some of the lesser used Tailwind setters like Mandibuzz and Braviary and doing quite well with them). Really the main attraction of Aerodactyl for this team in particular is Sky Drop. The ability to remove a Pokemon from play for a turn, whilst simulateounsly unsuring they won't switch or Protect the next turn is invaluable when paired with such a hard hitter like specs Tapu Lele, while also breaking potential sashes and bringing them into KO range (a max attack STAB Sky Drop is nothing to scoff at). Wide Guard is predominantly used to protect members like Krookodile from Dazzling Gleam, Blizzards and Muddy Waters (from the seemingly common specs Tapu Fini from Sejun's team), as well as EQ's for Marowak. Rock Slide is mostly to break sashes, but it can also take advantage of Aerodactyl's speed by fishing for flinches before my opponent can move, as well as just generally making Aerodactyl less Taunt bait. In terms of a sash user, the fact that it is immune to sand definitely aids in preserving the sash, meaning Aerodactyl is pretty much guaranteed to survive a hit. Synergy wise, steels don't really care about Aerodactyl and many are immune to Sky Drop (Celesteela and Metagross), so Marowak, Krook and Koko definitely help in that regard.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunderbolt
After seeing JackTheBattler peak no.2 on the showdown ladder using this thing, I knew I had to try Specs Lele out. It’s a monster. Psychic really is the only move you ever need to click regardless of typing for the most part. It just blasts through so many walls and nothing appreciates switching in. Most things calc to live Scarfed or Life Orb Psychic just to get blown away by specs and naturally picking up surprise KOs aids in my Perish Song win condition. This set also allows me to invest much more into bulk, allowing me to survive certain attacks that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise, such as 2 -1 Poison Jabs from Garchomp. The set is very basic, the moves are for the most part not important other than Psychic. The spread is adapted slightly from Jack’s, as I have invested enough speed to outspeed Modest Pelipper and Adamant Sandslash outside of Hail, and as a result enough to outspeed Sandslash in hail with Tailwind and Pelipper when we both have TW up, as well as simply speedcreeping the 4 EV Tapu Leles and Arcanines. This thing just 2HKOs the entire format seemingly and picks up some very nice OHKOs with Psychic + Sky Drop. The following calcs in many cases are the worst case scenario and will often be doing more damage
Tapu Koko @ Assault Vest
Ability: Electric Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 140 SpD / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nature's Madness
Ripped this set entirely from Markus Stadter’s London International team and man this thing is crazy specially bulky. Tapu Koko provides the team with another answer to opposing Celesteela while also dealing with bulky waters for my Marowak. I feel like I almost don’t need to justify Koko’s presence on the team, it’s just ridiculously fast and hits incredibly hard with the terrain advantage. An AV set gives me with more options for defensive switching, while at the same time freeing up moveslots. Having room for Volt Switch is incredible at times, allowing me to gain switch initiative and reset my terrain while getting off very respectable damage. The rest of the moves are self explanatory for the most part. Nature’s Madness is great for bringing things into KO range and works incredibly well against Pokemon that think they hard wall you. A long with Specs Tapu Lele, Nature’s Madness + Psychic in Psychic terrain KOs 252+ sp.def Porygon-2, providing me another option vs TR. The EVs to my knowledge allow Koko to survive a Modest Z-Hydro Pump from Golduck in the Rain and a max attack Poison Jab from Muk, while outspeeding base 110s. The first defensive calc alone is very confincing considering how bad my double duck matchup is otherwise. Here are some calcs that I ran, some more relevant than others.
Krookodile @ Groundium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Protect
Here’s a member I’m not totally sold on. Krookodile provides the team with an electric immunity, Intimidate, a single target Ground move, a dark type STAB for good neutral coverage and good damage versus Oranguru, a Psychic immunity for Lele and the occasional Metagross and a Taunt user. It also provides another decent answer to Marowak as well as slower Arcanine, as well as Magnezone for my Celesteela and Muk for my Tapus. The moveset choice is fairly straightforward, I felt Taunt provided the most utility over any of the alternatives. Groundium Z is important for picking up KOs to support my perish song win condition as well as KOing things hoping to live an EQ. Initially I was testing Adamant Krook for added bulk and damage, but being outsped by a lot of Lele’s really sucked, as well as those trying to speed creep it. This spread is very straightforward, it is just enough to outspeed things hoping to speed creep Modest Tapu Lele, as well as max speed neutral Mimikyu and Arcanine, as well as Timid max speed Xurkitree, with the rest in Attack and HP. I felt max speed was unnecessary considering it doesn’t really hit any important benchmarks, considering neutral Salamence and Garchomp aren’t common and most Timid Arcanine are running max speed to guarantee the outspeed on Krook anyway. No real calcs here since it doesn't really hit any specific offensive or defensive benchmarks.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 92 Atk / 4 Def / 84 SpD / 84 Spe
Impish Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Perish Song
- Protect
So here’s my fairly interesting Marowak set. The Marowak + Celesteela core is very common and the synergy is fairly obvious. Other than to protect my potential win condition from electrics, Marowak provides the team with another answer to Celesteela and Magnezone and an answer to opposing Marowaks. I chose to forgo Bonemarang mostly for the fact that I just generally find the move rather underwhelming. It didn’t really hit all that much that my STAB options didn’t already do decent enough damage to besides Incineroar, Muk and I suppose Gigalith, though Incineroar isn’t all that common and I still don’t 1 shot Muk with Bonemarang after Figy berry recovery and I still deal decent damage with Flare Blitz. I’m still iffy about Perish Song, but it does provide me with a very cool win condition after I have taken 2 KOs. In practice it has only secured a handful of games which I would have likely won anyway, but I feel it is still a fairly strong option. The EV spread is an adapted version of Till Bohmer’s Marowak from his London International team. The defensive calculations are the exact same, being 2HKO’d by -1 EQ from Garchomp and living a Modest unboosted Psychic from Tapu Lele, while the speed is essentially to outspeed the fastest Marowaks I have seen other than the Jolly ones, which speed creep the 68 speed Marowaks hoping to outspeed Modest Tapu Lele in Tailwind. This assurance that I will usually have the fastest Marowak even if I don’t have Tailwind up allows me to play a lot more aggresively versus opposing Marowak. I’m not aware of any KOs that are too important that I miss out on by running little attack investment.
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 180 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Protect
Celesteela is just such a great mon in this format really functions well as a Tapu Lele check/counter (depending on whether or not they are running Tbolt) and a general win condition once its checks are dealt with by other members. Celesteela provides another partner for Krookodile to EQ beside, great defensive typing and stats for defensive switching and just a difficult Pokemon to take down playing well into my Perish Song win condition. The moveset is standard and the spread was basically stolen from Till Bohmer’s team report. It was the spread that I had been playing with for a while and what I am comfortable with, even though he doesn’t mention the exact benchmarks. These are some of the calcs I have ran for it, again some more relevant than others.
And there we have it! By no means do I believe this team is perfect, but I have been having a lot of fun using it and have had some success. On a somewhat fresh alt I wanted to see how quickly I could reach the 1500s with this team from the 1100s. I got there roughly with a record of 30-5 (I'm not quite sure exactly, it was about a week ago and I'm not sure what my record was before using this team) in roughly an hour. The losses were mostly down to misplays, poor calls or just poor luck in some cases, but there weren't too many matchups that I felt I just auto lost against. Double duck is a bit of a scary matchup since before Tailwind Golduck outspeeds my entire team and I don't have a water resist, but the fact that Koko should live a z-Hydro Pump does somewhat mitigate this issue, though certainly not entirely. Let me know what you guys think!
Importable
