[OU]Mad Toy Box

[Amethyst]

If you've ever battled me ever, you know this team. But, I'll make one of these for the lulz.

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Mad Toy Box

(Gen 5 OU Drizzle)

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If you're curious about the name, it's from This Song, which, in a discussion about personal battle themes, was decided to be mine, and a few people followed suit in agreeing that it suited my team and playstyle. But let's get started.

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The Line Up

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The first thing you have to realise, if you don't already know, is that I'm not like most people in the sense that I make a new team every week and use whatever I feel like. Well, I do use whatever I feel like, but 99% of the time, THIS is what I feel like. Unlike most simulator trainers, I have one team that I stick to, and use forever.

Those who knew me back then will remember that I've been using this team since Gen 5 came out. What they don't know is that its creation didn't start there. So,

Let's take a look at the team I used in Gen 4. Again, I only ever used one team in Gen 4- and a rain team as well. After all, my name, "Ame," is Japanese for Rain~

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The Process

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My team at the end of Gen 4 was as follows:

This team, titled after a very, very old ex-member of Reborn named Black Haze was in name a reference to its concept: A rain dance team centralising the occult types (Dark/Psychic/Ghost), which are among my favorites. Kingdra and Crobat don't apply, but I liked them enough on their own to include anyway.

A brief explanation:

- My weather lead; quick rain dance on the first turn, and for the rest of the battle was my clean up for grass types.

- Swift Swimmer; was using the old Double Dance set, so also a second weather-setter

- Choiced- I... can't remember if it was specs or scarf, but featured that along with Trick to shut down stall.

- Priority. Choice Banded. Coverage. Cool things.

- Bulky weather-setter/rocks/other support

- Another generic abuser/rapid spinner/weather setter #4

Then Gen 5 came. I was ecstatic that Drizzle was coming to an OU near you, so one of the first things I did was try it out. Of course, this meant I didn't have so much of a need for my two dedicated weather-setters, so they went bye-bye.

Now, if we're going to use Drizzle, there's one obvious thing I need.

Mhm, done. I wasn't really sure what to do with Politoed at first- it was one of those Pokemon that I had always kinda liked, but due to not having any real strengths, never gave it a second look before. Speaking of strengths however, I was really excited about Vaporeon's new ability, Hydration, so I decided I definitely wanted to try that out.

Among the other changes I was excited about was Sharpedo getting Speed Boost, earning it a permanent place among my ranks. One change I was not so happy about, however, was that Rotom's alternate forms were no longer part ghost- when I had been using it for its Ghost type all along. I now had six water types, and I wasn't even going for a monoteam. So, I replaced it with something. What lead me to that something, I don't remember, and that something worked fantastically.

Ferrothorn. It's so gross. I hate it now and I hated it then and I can't for the life of me recall whatever inspired me to put it on my bloody team but it worked. And I used this version of the team for a long time. Ferrothorn was great- it was my entire team's synergy in one Pokemon. Five water types. Grass and Electric Pokemon come in? Switch to Ferrothorn; walled. No fucks given. So, one day I decided I was done with being gross, so I found something else to use instead.

Whimsicott! Oh my god, it's so cute! To tell the truth, what inspired me to try this was finding out about the new move Hurricane- I wanted to *puts on sunglasses* give it a whirl. Now, at first, I didn't like Whimsicott- not because of the reason most people hate it though. When new information was just being leaked out from the JP release of Black and White, I was reading the Smogon forums for their take on some of the new Pokemon. One of those was the ever-adorable Liepard, and it got this really cool new ability called Prankster. I also saw that they were talking about how Liepard got priority Encore, which I realised how powerful that was, and I hoped to myself, oh my god, Liepard, you're a Pokemon I like, and you could actually be amazing- like, OU amazing, instead of LU like all my other favorites (QQ).

Then some other user busts in from the Whimsicott thread, gathers all the Liepard-fangasmers around, and is like, "Um, yeah, Liepard's cool and all, but Whimsicott's where it's at. Whimsicott also has priority Encore, but, it also has Leech Seed and Substitute, and is bulkier than Liepard. Whimscott just tears through teams; Whimsicott wrecks everything; and whimsicott's so cool and liepards not and people who like liepard are losers and blahblahblah QQQ"

^ Just like that. And so I decided, without ever giving Whimsicott a second glance, that it was a jerk and I wanted nothing to do with it.

Now some time later I actually found a really cool set for Liepard, so I decided I could stop hating Whimsicott. Then when I saw, not only was it one of the few pokemon to learn Hurricane, but it also was a grass type filling Ferrothorn's role, and pretty damn well at that, it was a welcome new (cute) addition to the team.

Again, I used this variation of the team for a long time. It was equally fantastic as with Ferrothorn- again, despite have 5 water types. Watch out, Amy. As cool as it was forever, one day, for no particular reason, I woke up and remembered that there was this thing called Espeon, and that this gen it had this new thing called Magic Mirror, and then I beat myself over the head for not giving the newly buffed Espeon a single thought since Gen 5 released, being that Espeon is like one of my favorite Pokemon ever.

And this is where we are today. What, you're wondering what happened to my Starmie...? No, we don't... we don't talk about that...

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Emerald (Politoed)

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Emerald (Politoed) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Drizzle

EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Scald

- Perish Song

- Protect

- Toxic

An obvious lead for the weather. But as I said before, I wasn't really quite sure what to do with Politoed at first- for a while, I ran it as a Belly Drum Sweeper! Great for the occasional jump on noobs, or the enemy Politoed who would try Hypnosis or Toxic. Not so great for when it came down to Weather Wars. So this became Emerald's new set- designed to switch in and out and all about through any weather.

Scald's my main attacking move, the chance of burn is always nice and works great with the rest of my team. However, I reserve toxic mostly for water walls such as Jellicent, Cradily, Gastrodon, etc. Perish Song is my counter to Baton Pass, Evasion, and a temporary solution for things I just don't want to deal with yet (Chansey, Reuniclus, enemy Resdration). It's also a cruel way to put an end to an enemy's last Pokemon, especially in combination with Protect. Protect! It's simple, but there's nothing Emerald does that doens't benefit from it. Toxic'd? Kill a turn with protect; let them die. Burned? Kill a turn, let them take more damage. Perish Song'd? Protect, switch out, switch back in, protect once more, boom they're dead. It also works great for switching into Ninetales and blocking its Solar Beams~ In fact, just the leftovers gain from Protect is enough of a difference between surviving an attack, or not (or especially if Whimsicott's Leech Seed happens to be left on something~). Albeit a weaker opponent, I have swept teams with Emerald alone simply by alternating attacks with Protect to get the most out the recovery.

These EVs make Emerald ridiculously tanky- I mean, it's no Porygon2, but she takes Excadrill Earthquakes, Haxorus Outrages, Scizor Bug Bites and hits back quite nicely still. For this reason, she's generally my go-to girl if I need to absorb a quick physical hit.I've been considering EVing her more physically defensive for this reason, but this seems to be a pretty good balance for me so far.

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Aquamarine (Kingdra)

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Aquamarine (Kingdra) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Swift Swim

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Substitute

- Dragon Dance

- Waterfall

- Outrage

Swift Swim, giving no mind to Smogon's treachery! Any problems with my team's speed are solved by this and Sharpedo. As I mentioned before, originally Kingdra was done as a Double Dancer, but with Drizzle, I had no need for Rain Dance any more- so Substitute was thrown on instead. Meanwhile, Waterfall and Outrage, both reaching 120 Power + STAB let Kingdra be its own monster just fine. Dragon Dance is just icing on the cake.

Typically Kingdra is my last-ditch Pokemon if I need to take an Electric or Grass move. I especially use it for the Electrics, since most of them are pretty frail, and Kingdra can reliably survive the average Thunder (gotta watch out for that Paralysis though...) and get a quick KO back even on their high speed with Swift Swim and Rain-boosted Waterfall. In these cases, as well as against most Dragons (Haxorus excepted) I habitually drop a sub first just to scout the enemy switch- if they switch, then it's a free Dance for Kingdra~ If not, they die anyway.

Substitute also makes it ideal for dealing with the likes of Chansey, some Jellicents, SubDisable Gengar, and if I get it up in time, enemy Prankster Pokemon. On the note of Prankster, one of my favorite things to do is set up Leech Seed with Whimsicott, and then when the enemy tries to go after her with a fire move (in Rain, really...?) switch to Aquamarine. Tank the fire attack, and then suddenly, we have a Sub-Seeding Kingdra! Not only that, but it often forces a switch, which again puts Aquamarine in a nice place to set up. Another thing I often do is Baton Pass defense boosts from Turquoise. In conjunction with Substitutes, and the fact that most Special Attackers are generally pretty physically frail, Aquamarine becomes a nightmare to try to kill~

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Turquoise (Vaporeon)

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Turquoise (Vaporeon) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Hydration

EVs: 16 HP / 240 Def / 252 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Rest

- Acid Armor

- Scald

- Baton Pass

Oh my god, Turquoise! <3 I say it alot, but she is basically my entire team- or at least, the keystone to it. There are very few things that will OHKO her after an Acid Armor and without set up, and all of them involve STAB Thunder (or a crit...). Nonetheless, I can always count on her to deal with physical Dragonite, Conkledurr, Starmie/Gengar (Thunderbolt? Doesn't even 2HKO. Hah!), Hydreigon, Cloyster, Gyarados a truckload of other things, and if she gets one Acid Armor up ahead of time, then the likes of Scizor, Haxorus, Machamp- well, basically everything.

The few things that do threaten her out, she plays tag-team with Whimsicott. Dragonite, Gyarados, Scrafty, Slowbro, etc, setting up? Baton Pass! Whimsicott comes out, Encores the set up move and renders it forever_useless.jpg, and then Whimsicott has all the momentum she needs to get her stall on. All Turquoise has to do is score a burn on Dragonite and it's a free kill for Aquamarine. Turquoise has great compatibility with the entirity of my team, and as such is the entire core of my stall~

PS, Turquoise has a total of 168 PP. In other words, she doesn't lose stall wars.

Of course, her stall isn't so possible without...

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Topaz (Whimsicott)

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Topaz (Whimsicott) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Prankster

EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef / 4 Spd

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Encore

- Leech Seed

- Substitute

- Hurricane

Topaz is very friendly! She's always quick to cheer even the enemies on, and encourages them to do their best, especially when it comes to, I dunno, set up? <3 Priority Encore is amazing, and stops all set up and sometimes even stallers in their tracks. Throw Leech Seed and Sub onto that equation, and Topaz is one fluffy wrecking ball! Hurricane has synchronicity in rain- that extra chance of confusion certainly doesn't hurt, and it tears apart any grass types that try to come in and stop her fun. Particuarlly Breloom- Even with no speed investment, Whimsicott is faster than a max speed Breloom- I can Sub to block the Spore, or just go for a quick 4x kill.

Leech Seed is a great support for the rest of the girls- letting Emerald recover precious health, or allowing Aquamarine to SubSeed herself. In Vaporeon and Espeon's cases, it makes for some easy set up, too~ As I mentioned before, Topaz and Turquoise really tag-team in stalling. Together, they're enough to wear down most any team I face. Through Emerald in for a Toxic or to take a few physical hits, and we're golden. They're the stall-half of my team, and that's all I need.

One particuarly fun... Well, fun-for-me thing, is to Baton Pass from Turquoise to Topaz- It's tactical in letting Turquoise tank and scout the enemy's next move, Encoring it as necessary, but what some people don't realise, or others do with a bitter horror, is suddenly they're dealing with a +6 Defense Whimsicott! That's good game for enough people~ And if something comes in that's actually a threat to Topaz, likewise, switch back to Turquoise, preferably with a new Leech Seed in place, and let her deal with it. They're beautiful friends, really. <3

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Opal (Espeon)

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Opal (Espeon) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Magic Bounce

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Psyshock

- Wish

- Hidden Power [Fighting]

- Calm Mind

Espeon is so pretty... Her special ability is be-beautiful: the entire enemy team faints from how pretty Espeon is.

...Oh, wait, what? No, seriously, Magic Mirror (such a better name than Bounce, ick) is brilliant. Stealth Rocks? No thank you, but you can have them! Toxic Spikes? All yours, my friend~ Spore? Well, I'm okay, but you look pretty tired. Espeon's mere presence shuts down leads, walls and trolls anyone who might feel like trying to Taunt Turquoise or Topaz.

The question for me was what to do with it beyond its presence. And I've found my answer. Psyshock gives it the power to take out the likes of Chansey and Tentacruel, while still reliably murdering things like Breloom- I was afraid without Life Orb, it wouldn't be enough, but it is, quite. Leftovers is preferred for survivability in sand, in Stall wars, and to help out with Wish. Calm Mind and Wish give frail little Espeon some staying power against special threats, or even things like Chansey. On that note, I've been considering pulling some of her Sp. Atk EVs just enough to push her HP over 300 to make Chansey's Seismic Tosses not half a problem anymore... And with +1, from full health, Espeon can survive a standard Chandelure's Shadow Ball and KO back with Psyshock~ It's kind of a kick to the face, really. <3Anyway, Hidden Power Fighting is obviously there to hit Ferrothorn Tyranitar Dark types.

And you know my trolling, one of my favorite things to do lately, especially against more inexperienced players is Baton Pass +6 Defense to Opal. This is the reason I keep her speed maximised- at +6, she's no longer physical frail, and can survive for a long time with Wish. She's got her Special side covered with Calm Mind, and all the speed she needs to sweep after just +2. The best part is, it basically requires a Dragon Tail to stop her, because no normal phazer will be able to do a thing about it~

Another change I've been considering lately though is putting Baton Pass somewhere on Espeon too- this way Turquoise and Vaporeon could actually ricochet each others boosts between them, and Vaporeon would become twice the threat! Or even passing Calm Mind to Politoed, or Whimsicott... Wish Passing is a second option, not that I can't do that already- and in fact, do so often to help Emerald recover her health and pull through weather wars. Anyway, I'm not sure what I would lose for Baton Pass, being that I wouldn't dare go without HP Fighting when I already have trouble with Ferrothorn. Ah well~

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Sapphire (Sharpedo)

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Sapphire (Sharpedo) (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Speed Boost

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Aqua Jet

- Earthquake

- Ice Fang

- Crunch

Sapphire is kind of my team's black sheep- and I treat him as such too (yes, he's the only male on my team. >>)

Unless I need a quick revenge kill (or to deal with Jellicent/Reuniclus), I always save Sharpedo for the late-game, usually not bringing him in at all (thanks to its frailness) until anything that might survive his fantastic range of attacks is dead or stalled down to HP low enough for a sweep.

Naturally Speed Boost makes this easy, but Sharpedo does not simply Speed Boost into Mordor. Every other Speed Booster gets its first raise from protect- Sapphire gets it from a revenge kill with Aqua Jet. Funny thing about Sharpedo's Aqua Jet- in Rain it has 60 Power, and with Sharpedo's fantastic Attack stat, it's basically the equivallent of Technician Scizor's Bullet Punch. ...Only a much better typing~

After that, the strong STAB on Crunch, and the great Ice + Ground coverage (how can a shark cause an Earthquake? I don't know, but I'm not complaining) really surprises a lot of people into a sweep. I can't tell you how many times Gliscor gets sent in against Sapphire only to meet an icey grave~

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Sapphire is realy what lets my team get the momentum to shift gears into my end game. It works like this: Turquoise and Topaz stall most of the enemy team for the early game, supported by Emerald and Opal when necessary. Aquamarine switches into and picks off whatever has a chance of breaking my stall, and then when there's an opening, or if Turquoise finally goes down, Sapphire comes in and sweeps up the weakened enemy team. Sapphire's a suicide sweeper thanks to Life Orb and the fact that Sharpedo won't survive a Cleffa's double slap, so just in case something goes wrong, there's still Opal and Aquamarine for some quick clean-up. Worst case scenario, the game drags out forever, and hopefully I'm left with Turquoise as my last Pokemon and can stall out the rest of their team- or if it's just one Pokemon, PP Stall, which Turquoise is nearly guaranteed to win~

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Threat List

(Based off of current OU usage stats)

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Scizor- Bullet Punch isn't a problem half as much as Bug Bite or U-Turn, being that half of my team is weak to Bug... However, Emerald can seriously dent it, or if Turquoise gets Acid Armor, it's not a problem at all. It can be finished off easily by any of my water types.

Dragonite- Physical Dragonite is walled completely by Turquoise. Special Rain can be a little annoying, but Aquamarine can tank a hit and counter KO once I break Multiscale.

Politoed- Can't touch Turquoise

Gengar- Sapphire, Aquamarine, walled by Turquoise

Tyranitar- Not a physical threat so much as its sand- 5/6ths of my team hit it super effectively, and at least three of them can take a hit in return.

Ferrothorn- GOD, this thing is my nightmare. HP Fighting only does about 30% damage to it. Earthquake and Hurricane can wittle it down more, but usually my best bet is hoping Scald burns it, then Acid Armoring with Turquoise, passing a Leech Seed to Opal, suriving Gyro Balls with Wish, and setting up Calm Mind to KO it. Ferrothorn is the bane of my team, however...

Chandelure- The only one of my Pokemon threatened by it is Opal- who can survive Shadow Ball at +1. Topaz might also have a problem, but Rain makes it okay~

Infernape- Hi, half of my team is water.

Ninetales- Emerald, Turquoise, Opal are plenty to deal with it.

Gliscor- Emerald, Turquoise, Sapphire

Espeon- Walled by Turquoise, KO'd by Aquamarine and Sapphire

Breloom- Topaz, Opal

Kingdra- Special Kingdra is walled by Turquoise- same with Physical if she already has Acid Armor. Otherwise, Emerald can take a hit, or, more often than not, Aquamarine is faster.

Haxorus- Topaz blocks set up, Emerald can tank a hit, Turquoise can wall if AA is up already, Kingdra can outspeed/OHKO and Opal can outspeed and hit hard (if nothing else)

Skarmory- My special waters do just fine; Opal blocks its utility.

Volcarona- Topaz blocks set up; Aquamarine and Sapphire murder

Vaporeon- Water Absorb gets toxic'd. Hydration is annoying, but can be Perish Song'd or Outrage'd if it's not using Acid Armor. If it is, Topaz can get it.

Alakazam- Walled by Turquoise, KO'd by Sapphire and Aquamarine

Conkledurr- Walled by Topaz/Turquoise

Hydreigon- Walled by Turquoise; KO'd by Aquamarine

Reuniclus- A defensive Reuniclus can give me some problems. If Sapphire can't KO it, it's difficult. However, Topaz blocks its set up and can let Aquamarine set up in return. Alternatively, Perish Song can force it out.

Blaziken- Emerald can take a Hi Jump Kick; Turquoise can wall it if AA is up; Aquamarine at +1 requires Blaziken at +4 to be outsped, and Sapphire ends the whole discussion with Aqua Jet

Electivire- Walled by Turquoise if AA is up; otherwise killed by Aquamarine or with Opal/Sapphire's help

Garchomp- Walled by Turquoise; killed by Aquamarine/Sapphire. Emerald can tank an Outrage.

Heatran- lol.

Gyarados- Walled by Topaz/Turquoise. Stall Gyarados can be annoying, but isn't really a threat for me, perse.

Salamence- Walled by Topaz/Turquoise; KO'd by Aquamarine

Cloyster- Walled by Turquoise, set up blocked by Topaz- can be an easy KO after Shell Smash for Emerald or Turquoise, or if weakened, Sapphire

Venusaur- Murdered by Psyshock

Rotom-W- Can be a problem, but is usually walled by Turquoise, Topaz, or KO'd by Aquamarine. In the right hands, this Rotom could be dangerous, however.

Metagross- Walled by Turquoise.

Tentacruel- Walled by Turquoise; blocked by Opal, killed by Opal, Aquamarine or Sapphire.

Excadrill- Walled by Turquoise/Topaz; murdered by Sapphire/Aquamarine; Emerald can tank and KO back

Jirachi- Walled by Turquoise, flinchhax excepted. Worst case scenario clean up with Sapphire/Aquamarine

Starmie- Walled by Turquoise

Serperior- Like Ferrothorn, Serperior is a problem for me. Leaf Storm 2 will KO Turquoise- my best bet is catching the first one with Topaz, and Substalling the rest with Topaz/Aquamarine- alternatively, Outraging with Aquamarine, letting her die, and cleaning up with Opal. However, if the Serperior is EV'd in Speed, Opal will be useless, and it's a sweep. The PP stall won't work either if the Serperior chooses to use Hidden Power on Whimsicott, or has Giga Drain...

Jolteon- Walled by Topaz; murdered by Sapphire/Aquamarine

Whimsicott- Shut down by Opal or Topaz

Jellicent- Toxic on Emerald, Sapphire or Aquamarine can dent if not KO it; Opal can block it.

Toxicroak- Can be tricky. Either out-predict Sucker Punch with Opal, or leave it to Earthquake. Alternatively, set up Turquoise, and pass to Aquamarine, let her set up too. Annoying, but seldom game-breaking for me.

Latios- Walled by Turquoise; killed by Aquamarine/Sapphire

Mienshao- Walled by Turquoise

Scrafty- Walled by Turquoise/Topaz

Lucario- Walled by Turquoise/Topaz

Togekiss- Walled by Turquoise/Topaz, flinchax forgiving. Failing that, Opal/Aquamarine.

Porygon2- Walled by Turquoise; Block/walled by Opal; blocked by Sub on Aquamarine

Slowbro- Toxic on Emerald; Sapphire; walled by Turquoise

Hippowdon- Blocked by Opal; walled by Turquoise

Sableye- Troll'd by Opal; walled by Turquoise

Ambipom- Walled by Turquoise with AA, otherwise killed by Sapphire/Aquamarine

Ludicolo- Another like Rotom-W; if in the right hands, deadly to my team. Otherwise not a problem. Usually dealt with by Aquamarine.

Zapdos- One of those things that can KO Turquoise; can be dealt with with some casualty by Sapphire/Aquamarine/Opal

Machamp- Walled by Turquoise if AA is up- otherwise, Opal/Topaz. However, Lead Machamps are horrible for me thanks to the confusion hax- if Opal hurts herself, it's a sorry story

Genesect- Whittle'd by Emerald/Turquoise; finished off by Aquamarine/Sapphire

Abomasnow- Opal/Topaz/Aquamarine/Sapphire- but switching in is always a risk

Chansey- Opal/Turquoise/Aquamarine

Yanmega- Walled by Turquoise

Celebi- Can be a problem- usually dealt with by Aquamarine/Sapphire

Thunduruss- The last real threat to my team- can tear it apart if used correctly; otherwise brought down by Opal/Aquamarine/Sapphire

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Importable

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Emerald (Politoed) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Drizzle

EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Scald

- Perish Song

- Protect

- Toxic

Aquamarine (Kingdra) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Swift Swim

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Substitute

- Dragon Dance

- Waterfall

- Outrage

Turquoise (Vaporeon) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Hydration

EVs: 16 HP / 240 Def / 252 SDef

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Rest

- Acid Armor

- Scald

- Baton Pass

Topaz (Whimsicott) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Prankster

EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef / 4 Spd

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Encore

- Leech Seed

- Substitute

- Hurricane

Sapphire (Sharpedo) (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Speed Boost

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Aqua Jet

- Earthquake

- Ice Fang

- Crunch

Opal (Espeon) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Magic Bounce

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Psyshock

- Wish

- Hidden Power [Fighting]

- Calm Mind

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And that, my friends, is a wrap! If I didn't mention it before, I'm not realllllly looking to change much here, with the exception of those couple possible edits to Opal. I'd appreciate thoughts on those, and maybe other ideas on how to deal with my main issues (Ferrothorn/Serperior/Thundurus/Zapdos). For instance, I tried Focus Blast on Emerald to help with Ferrothorn, but found Toxic to be more useful over all. Mostly, however, this was just posted for everyone to have an in-depth look at my team~

[Voctrode]

So.. I don't really have anything to say on this team, cause I've seen first hand how hard it is to deal with. [Though to be fair a lot of my teams have this focal rain weakness QQQQQ]

The only reason I'm really posting is to say that I'm totally reading the title as "Oh you mad; Toy Box!"

[Amethyst]

We don't... talk about that.

[Noivy]

...Team of evil.

grrrrrr....

[Phazer]

Sapphire (Sapphire)

[Zen]

I do like your team - only possible issue I see with it is ferrothorn/scizor/serperior, but those can be handled with careful play

Hmm, and those cloyster/conkeldurr can be deadly if whimsicott/espeon don't set up on time.

[Amethyst]

@Phazer: Herp, fixed.

I am painfully aware of the Ferrothorn/Serperior problem. :x Scizor usually isn't a big problem... Actually Ikaru trolled me once with a Pursuit Scizor, but that was it.

Cloyster, again, not so much. Crits excepted, Turquoise can live through +2 attacks and mess Cloyster's lowered Sp.Def up with Scald. Conkledurr, similarly, since Turquoise outspeeds, I can always get an Acid Armor up and surive Drain Punches even at +1. That is, Conkle comes out. It bulks as I switch to Turquoise, and Turqoiuse AA's before it can do anything else. Except Mach Punch, which, lol.

[Zen]

I am painfully aware of the Ferrothorn/Serperior problem. :x Scizor usually isn't a big problem... Actually Ikaru trolled me once with a Pursuit Scizor, but that was it.

Cloyster, again, not so much. Crits excepted, Turquoise can live through +2 attacks and mess Cloyster's lowered Sp.Def up with Scald. Conkledurr, similarly, since Turquoise outspeeds, I can always get an Acid Armor up and surive Drain Punches even at +1. That is, Conkle comes out. It bulks as I switch to Turquoise, and Turqoiuse AA's before it can do anything else. Except Mach Punch, which, lol.

Hmm, fair enough, though cloyster doesn't even need to setup to be a pain if you're not packing water and/or steel XD

Conkeldurr basically trolls almost everyone once it sets up XD

[Phazer]

For Topaz you can try a leech/sub/cotton guard/hurricane.

[Amethyst]

It might be viable elsewise, but I already easily get defense boosts from Turquoise, plus priority Encore shuts down so many things~

[Count]

how do you stop rotom-w + scizor cores?

[Phazer]

Vap, Whis core.

[Guest]

U Turn and Volt Switch >_>

[Ikaru]

I know for a fact he hates Scizor (only when it crits trolololo), but I'm pretty sure he's capable of the prediction necessary to deal with that, Winter...

Alternatively, sub on the U-turn and he's forced to switch out, then he sets up on whatever comes in? I dunno, I'm not him

[Aero]

The largest threat to this team is arguably the Scizor and Rotom-W offensive core, both being able to take what the other is incapable of taking. Keep in mind teams like this usually use some form of hazards (commonly Stealth Rock) to wear you down as you continuously switch to avoid being torn apart by their respective moves. A substantial amount of hazards render the Vaporeon/Whimsicott core ineffective, especially when in tandem with Ferrothorn, as Ferrothron sets up on the majority of this team and Espeon is hit decently hard with Gyro Ball, not to mention Power Whip. If not Ferrothorn, many of the Rotom/Scizor teams carry a grass type like Celebi, who has plenty of bulk to survive an Ice Fang or Crunch from Sharpedo and KO back with Leaf Storm/Giga Drain/whatever. Arguably the worst kind of Celebi you can face is the Tinkerbell set with Thunderwave, or the standard Nasty Plot set. Thunderwave cripples a Sharpedo switch in (which, already, Sharpedo is not a very good switch in to Celebi because of the risk of a grass attack), and it also severely cripples a Whimsicott switch in. To be completely honest... this can be so much of a threat that I'm not sure how to fix it.

Another omnipresent Pokemon that decimates this team is Thundurus. Thunderwave Thundurus is the most dangerous, and as said before, Thunderwave cripples the main sweepers of your team. Unless Kingdra has already made its way into battle, you are forced to sacrifice atleast one Pokemon and have Kingdra revenge. However, honestly, there are certainly not many teams that don't carry a Kingdra counter, as Reborn's tiers are still mostly what they are in early Gen 5, making Drizzle and Sand predominant in the metagame. Sharpedo can revenge, but it's counter is the same as Kingdra's counter, usually Ferrothorn. Even if you find a way to defeat Ferrothron (which, at this point, is unlikely), Thundurus can Thunderwave Kingdra or Sharpedo, rendering it almost useless. My suggestion to fix this issue is to put Lum Berry > Leftovers on Kingdra, allowing you to safely revenge Thundurus without risking a Para. This may also help allow you to use Outrage more than a few times, as the Lum Berry with stop the confusion and many, many, more statuses that can cripple Kingdra.

Last but not least... Serperior. Serperior was pretty dominant in the early says of Gen 5, as no one could figure out how to counter it and it was everywhere. Unfortunately for Reborn, it's still here. It can pull of a Leaf Storm on almost everything on your team, severely hurting it and then starts the destruction. Kingdra is your best bet at stopping it, but Serperior (at pretty decent health) can survive an Outrage and continue destroying with Leaf Storm. I really don't know what say to help you stop this 'mon, but you better hope you can Perish Song and/or Toxic. However, though, Choice Specs Kingdra, if I recall correctly, can OHKO Serperior with Draco Meteor.

Overall, interesting team, but not the best. It has alot of potential. Good luck~ And don't mind any spelling errors I may of made, typing fast has its disadvantages >_>

Edited March 11, 2012 by Aero

[Bullet]

I still doubt you can deal with Ferrothorn. Comign from lots of experience, of course.

[Reque]

This team is very well balanced though i dont see how you resist bulky electric types such as Zapdos or Jolteon.

I feel like you need a safe switch in.