Other Metagames Trick up my Sleeve [Mono Psychic Team]

[Zap]

Introduction:​

Hey, Zap here, I came up with a team that has had success breaking down cores that would usually be difficult to break down, and it offers a different take on some common mons, which I am all up for because I get tired of the same exact sets over and over again. That being said, this team isn't perfect, it is my first psychic team, and I would love some feedback on how to make it better, or general comments are appreciated as well.

Teambuilding Process:​

I started this team when I realized I wanted to make a psychic team that dwells away from the norm. A Trick Room team was a quick answer, but seeing the Bronzong or Claydol with Cresselia got really boring for me. So I decided I would create a TR team that looked exactly like a regular psychic team, but when TR would be revealed, it would surprise and throw off the opponent. And so far, this team does exactly that.

Meet the Team!

Deoxys-Speed @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen

The first pokemon I chose was deoxys-speed. You would be wondering, why speed? Well, it accomplished 2 things, it outspeeds nearly everything in the meta, and can taunt/set-up on scarfed mons as well. And secondly, who would expect a deoxys-speed on a TR team? Anyways, this is my lead 90% of the time, and I taunt incoming rocks, or set-up screens and switch out to my wall. (Slowbro behind either screen is scary). Screens also allow me to setup Trick Room easily with any one of my trick room setters, and allows me switch between mons knowing that I wont be taking much damage. Deoxys also plays a major role in beating flying mono's with its setup of rocks and prevention of defog with taunt.

Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet / Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Scald
- Trick Room
- Slack Off

The second mon I knew I needed was slowbro, Slowbro is the mvp, it easily sets up trick room, and takes physical hits so well, and along with rocky helmet, prevents scarfed physical mons from completely destroying this team (scarf rachi). The EV's are pretty standard, as well as the ability, fire blast is needed however to kill major threats, also known as bisharp,scizor, and doublade. Behind screens, slowbro is a tank to even special moves, and because of that, it can freely setup a trick room and either slack off the damage or regenerate it with its ability.

Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
- Trick Room

Let's go Wall Breaker of pretty much everything! Mega gardevoir man, with its special bulk, and great special attack, this thing is an absolute monster. Specially with max spatk, this thing packs quite a punch. Standard ev's on gard for a trick room team. The thing you have to watch out for though is that pre mega, its slower than skarm, but after mega, it is faster. Which can be quite a pain to work around, but its something you gotta deal with. My favorite part about TR gard is that when people expect to 1hk0 you with a move, only to find out you are max hp, and also when they expect you to kill them, so they use a weak priority move, but you end up using trick room. These are the things I live for. Anyways, gard basically takes care of so many threats, most notably mega sharpedo, mega gyarados, hoopa, bisharp (50/50s with this one) and more! Moveset is basically standard, you can opt for sub instead of focus blast, but that would require giving up damage to heatran and friends.

Victini @ Custap Berry
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Will-O-Wisp / Substitute
- Trick Room

Okay, looking at this set, you must think its straight up a gimmick. It is, but it's one that works. Can't even tell you the amount of times custap berry has saved me in a battle, and literally has gotten me the win. Also since victini is weak to stealth rocks, you can play around them to get it weaker to the 25% range, and have it use the custap berry to its advantage! Anyways, victini helps tremendously with steel types, its resistance to fairy moves and checking other fairies, as well as just being an amazing wall breaker. Having max attack, V-Create hits REALLY hard, and with Trick Room up, and the -speed you get after using it, you are free to keep using it. Even if the opponent has priority, you will usually have screens up to aid your bulk, as well as the max hp. Ev's are standard for TR victini, however the moveslot is kinda weird. Will-o-wisp is pretty much needed in order to beat bisharp, or weaken threats that use dragon dance or the like. (Edit: sub can also be used to dodge the sucker punch and then proceed with the attack, can also come in handy to set up more trick rooms or dodge priority). Bisharp is a HUGE threat to this team, specially if it gets up a SD. So will-o-wisp is there to cripple it.

Hoopa-Unbound @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Hyperspace Fury
- Hyperspace Hole / Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch

My third wall-breaker, the almighty Hoopa-U. This thing is a special tank and hard hitter all in one. behind screens, its basically unstoppable, and with LO boosting its damage, its just a monster. The ev's for it are standard, and the moveset is to cover holes in the team. Hyperspace fury for obvious reason, being able to punch through sub & protect and hit hard af. Drain punch is for normal mons, most notably chansey and porygon, normal teams are a pain to this team, because the core is hard to break down. I chose hyperspace hole for the last move, but I honestly feel like I could put anything there, like hp fire to help with bug and steel teams, or knock off, or thunderbolt to deal with the likes of skarm, which otherwise wall this set.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Trick
- Defog

Lastly, I have latios for my scarf mon. Latios is my defogger, and my trick user. You might be thinking, why would you not go for life orb or the like. Well, the thing with trick room is, it lacks a lot against scarf mons or +1 mons that threaten it with super effective attacks like crunch and what not. So I chose latios to be my speed control, as well as a mon that can provide utility. Draco for obvious reasons, and ice beam because f*** flying and gliscor is a pain to deal with. I opted for trick over psyshock because being able to destroy a stall mon, such as chansey, cradily, porygon, skarmory, togekiss, and etc with the scarf is an amazing trick to have up your sleeve. (see what i did there ;^)? ) Also, for this team's most potent threat, bisharp, latios can come in and trick it a scarf, and cripple it a little by locking it into one move, and having a scarf vs a TR team thats already slower than it is great. Lati also helps with mega gyara and sharpedo, along with the likes of any flying+dragon/ground type. And having a base 110 scarf is a great speed tier and check to many other scarf mons.




The best thing about trick room is not being too worried about para, and the best thing about this team in particular is you can basically bluff that you are a regular team until you really need Trick Room. Your opponent will use priority moves on mons that are "supposed" to be faster than them, but little do they know you are actually slower. Having this niche has saved me quite a few times, and this team really does do well. Ill post some replays down below to show some success this team has had and what its like.

Also this is my first time doing a RMT so let me know if i effed up! Hopefully i posted in the right place with the right format!

Replays w/ mini explanations

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/origin-monotype-257829
this proves how custap berry victini actually comes clutch (last turn too)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-351417520
beating a very HO dark with mega houndoom

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/origin-monotype-256731
beating a sort of standard bug

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-351264634
beating a bug with a volcarona that was at +3 QD, and +4 spatk

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/origin-monotype-252356
beating rock, which is more of a threat than usual because tyranitar outspeeds everything, and so do a bunch of other threats on rock.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-347569226
beating steel in like 7 turns xD, shows the power of this team's look on how it doesnt look like TR, and throws people off

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-347419221
vs flying, again, custap showing its power!

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-347103835
vs flying, against a user that is frequently doing well on ladder

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-347098724
vs flying, and winning despite major hax from mega gyarados >.>

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-347090388
beating normal

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-354957939
vs flying, the look of the team prevailing again

Threatlist

Mega Diancie: Man, does this thing rek my team, with no real answer, im left trying to bluff my opponent or relying on weakening it. My one official answer to it is bring in a healthy slowbro, survive a moonblast, setup trick room, and either kill it with scald or scare it off with scald. Overall, it isnt that big of a deal, but it still is a threat.

Bisharp: oh boi, without colburr berry on slowbro, this thing can be a real pain. Usually i can take care of it with tricking it a scarf or using will o wisp, but sometimes if the opponent realizes im a trick room team, it can be bad. However, having trick room up really helps me win against this thing, but its still scary.

Mega-Scizor: Man, even with victini, this thing is scary, it reks everything on my team if its allowed to setup properly and if my victini is low. bug bite can destroy slowbro with a SD boost, and it can destroy everything else with BP. However, it can be easily taken care of if TR is up and fireblast 1hkos it with slowbro.

Azumarill: Oh man, if this thing gets up a belly drum, say your prayers, theres really nothing to be done about it, the annoying part is that its teamed with mega diancie and togekiss, like literally always, and my only way of defeating this is with victini's bolt strike, or getting the burn off with scald or preventing it from even BD in the first place.

Other threats would be in general teams that have slow stall mons. Normal, grass, and rock can be quite troublesome. But the key is playing Trick Room right, or bluffing the opponent works too when they think you are just a regular team.

Importable

Gardevoir @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
- Trick Room

Hoopa-Unbound @ Life Orb
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Hyperspace Fury
- Hyperspace Hole
- Drain Punch

Victini @ Custap Berry
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick Room

Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Scald
- Trick Room
- Slack Off

Deoxys-Speed @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Ice Beam
- Trick
- Defog

Shoutout

The Llama , he is my lowkey hype man, and even though when I asked for posting help and he didnt help, lowkey shoutout still.

EienSeiryuu for denying my first request to get help, but then eventually helping me figure out forums, and also shoutout to him for shutting down my first post ever, awawiting my next shutdown

 

[Mega-Serperior-Z]

some quick things

Special Aegislash does do damage to your team. If the screens are not set up and you use Will-o on the King's Shield , it only 2HKOs, which leaves you vulnerable to a incoming Shadow Ball. Also, Weakness Policy Aegislash does DAMAGE to your team. If it manages to get boosts on your Victini or Slowbro, it will do work, especially if Hoopa-U is gone.

Also Fairy Teams have an advantage against this team. Nothing much can deal with it besides neutral hits but thats it. I suggest Gunk Shot > Hyperspace Hole on Hoopa-U so you can hit hard against those fairies You can also uh.. move those 8 EVs to something else?. If Klefki gets those screens up, it becomes a pain to take down. IMO, don't do this automatically, but could you consider going Blue Flare / Searing Shot > Will-o-Wisp? I would like to know anyone else's thoughts but the mixed set is for those Steel checks that can usually be 2hko'd. Blue Flare / Searing Shot provide a mix-up, being able to catch people off guard. You shouldn't really do this unless you think the situations I stated earlier actually affect your team then in that case you can change it.

I might do some more later, but I'll probably forget :V

 

[Zap]

some quick things

Special Aegislash does do damage to your team. If the screens are not set up and you use Will-o on the King's Shield , it only 2HKOs, which leaves you vulnerable to a incoming Shadow Ball. Also, Weakness Policy Aegislash does DAMAGE to your team. If it manages to get boosts on your Victini or Slowbro, it will do work, especially if Hoopa-U is gone.

Also Fairy Teams have an advantage against this team. Nothing much can deal with it besides neutral hits but thats it. I suggest Gunk Shot > Hyperspace Hole on Hoopa-U so you can hit hard against those fairies You can also uh.. move those 8 EVs to something else?. If Klefki gets those screens up, it becomes a pain to take down. IMO, don't do this automatically, but could you consider going Blue Flare / Searing Shot > Will-o-Wisp? I would like to know anyone else's thoughts but the mixed set is for those Steel checks that can usually be 2hko'd. Blue Flare / Searing Shot provide a mix-up, being able to catch people off guard. You shouldn't really do this unless you think the situations I stated earlier actually affect your team then in that case you can change it.

I might do some more later, but I'll probably forget :V

Hey thanks for the rate, but correct me if im wrong, isnt Aegislash going to be banned from mono anyway, so I dont think I'll have to worry about that anytime soon.

As for replacing hyperspace hole with gunk shot, tbh doesnt seem like a bad idea, would take care of clefable and togekiss, and do a hefty chunk to diancie as well. Ill give it a shot!

However for the victini move change, I feel like having will-o-wisp is really required to deal with bisharp and its sucker punch, having a strong fire move that wont reduce my defense would be great, but i dont think itll be worth the drop in a check to a threat.

Thanks for the Rate :)!

 

[Vid]

Cool Team couple minor changes

Victini Flame Plate>Custap Berry because mainly you will be spamming V-create under Trick Room and it will be very appreciated. This allows Victini to be very dangerous to most cores with its STAB V-create. One problematic change is Substitute>Wil-O-Wisp to handle Lum Berry Bisharp and Other Sucker Punch users but Wil-O-Wisp is fine just a small change.

>

Similar set to Deoxys-S expect Magic Coat>Taunt. This is because Deoxys-D is slower than S and being able to bounce back hazard and other effects (ex:Stealth Rocks, Spikes and Taunts) This change is because the structure of your team being Trick Room and Deoxys-D can fulfill the same role and it just fits a lot better with the slow nature of the team although you lose the ability to taunt defogs, but Victini already breaks flying teams with ease with the Flame Plate item.

Evs 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD> Evs 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA this because the 24 SpeDef allows you to have a better chance to live Charizard-Y and successfully set up a Trick Room and gives you a better chance vs Flying and Fire matchups. Also Calm Mind or Toxic>Fire Blast I'm not as picky about this change but I think it makes your team better because CM bro is a threat especially with screens. Toxic is other option so stall out slower and bulkier teams that can give you issues.

General change make all of your special attackers have 0 attack IVs this is because taking less damage from Foul Play is nice especially on a Psyshic Team

Sets

Victini @ Flame Plate
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Trick Room
- Substitute

Deoxys-Defense @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat

Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Calm Mind/Toxic
- Trick Room
- Slack Off

Good Luck!

 

[Zap]

Cool Team couple minor changes

Victini Flame Plate>Custap Berry because mainly you will be spamming V-create under Trick Room and it will be very appreciated. This allows Victini to be very dangerous to most cores with its STAB V-create. One problematic change is Substitute>Wil-O-Wisp to handle Lum Berry Bisharp and Other Sucker Punch users but Wil-O-Wisp is fine just a small change.

>

Similar set to Deoxys-S expect Magic Coat>Taunt. This is because Deoxys-D is slower than S and being able to bounce back hazard and other effects (ex:Stealth Rocks, Spikes and Taunts) This change is because the structure of your team being Trick Room and Deoxys-D can fulfill the same role and it just fits a lot better with the slow nature of the team although you lose the ability to taunt defogs, but Victini already breaks flying teams with ease with the Flame Plate item.

Evs 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD> Evs 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA this because the 24 SpeDef allows you to have a better chance to live Charizard-Y and successfully set up a Trick Room and gives you a better chance vs Flying and Fire matchups. Also Calm Mind or Toxic>Fire Blast I'm not as picky about this change but I think it makes your team better because CM bro is a threat especially with screens. Toxic is other option so stall out slower and bulkier teams that can give you issues.

General change make all of your special attackers have 0 attack IVs this is because taking less damage from Foul Play is nice especially on a Psyshic Team

Sets

Victini @ Flame Plate
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Trick Room
- Substitute

Deoxys-Defense @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat

Slowbro @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Calm Mind/Toxic
- Trick Room
- Slack Off

Good Luck!

Hey, thanks for the rate!

For victini, ill definitely give flame plate a try to see how it would benefit me, but I dont think the power will be worth it since I cant think of anything I need the extra power on, usually I dont use V create more than twice, because it requires switching out (Trick room lasts for such a short amount of time) and theres a lot of priority moves. The custap gives me a niche where the opponent is caught completely off guard when they think they can setup or kill with a wincon. However I do like the sub idea, and will give it a go!

Deoxys defense was a little too stally for this HO for me, but i think ill give it a try again since a lot of people recommended it. But I cant say i wont miss the speed.

Slowbro ev's thanks for that, dont know much about it so will definitely implement them rn. As for CM/toxic, i feel like CM is pointless since the point for slowbro is to setup TR and leave for a sweeper, and toxic is nice but then id be helpless against scizor and bisharp.

Thanks for the rate! I'll fix the ev's and add the suggests :)