USUM PSYSPAM OFFENSE
Introduction
I wasn't planning to do an RMT for a while because these things take so long to do but I was convinced to do this by my man BHARATH_THEBEST after him and Ayevon peaked number one with this yesterday. They were looking for a good team to ladder with and I passed them this Psychic Spam which I made a while back but adjusted recently for the new metagame along with the new tutor moves that USUM gave us. This team has worked well for me ever since I made it and still holds up in the current metagame. In general, I feel like Mega Zam is often an underrated threat that can do extremely well given proper support, which this team does.
Proof of Peak
Teambuilding Process
Teambuilding Process
Any good psyspam team will of course start with these two mons. Alakazam is a huge threat, and like I mentioned before, is often underrated and overlooked in teambuilding. This leads to a lot of builds being extremely weak to him with the only reliable answer being revenge killing with a scarfer (or dodging focus miss). The problem I think a lot of psyspams have is using Lele as a scarfer to complement Zam when in reality it is much better to use Lele as a breaker since it is able to muscle through pretty much every psychic resist in the game. This is why I decided to use a CM Z-move Lele which helps against fatter builds and is able to weaken Zam's checks for late game cleaning. Of course Lele's psychic terrain is amazing for this team protecting zam from being revenged by priority and turning its Psychic into a nuke.
The next pokemon added was scarf Kartana, which to me is the best scarfer in the tier currently. It is still able to hit really hard because of its natural attack stat and becomes incredibly threatening late game with beast boost. This fit particularly well here as it revenge kills most threats to the team reliably including Tapu Koko and is protected from dangerous priority like Ash Gren's Water Shuriken with terrain support. Also, it shares many of the same checks as Zam and Lele so collectively they are able to wear down the things each other hate. The addition of Knock Off to this mon's movepool helps neuter psychic checks like Celesteela on the switch. Scarf Kart also gives the team fast defog support which is appreciated on any offense.
The final offensive mon on this team is Ash Greninja. It was added mainly to give the team a strong form of priority as well as spikes support which specifically helps Zam clean late game. In addition, Ash-Gren is able to invite in Toxapex which gives the team pretty much free switch ins to both Psychic types. Gren acts as the teams fire resist, which while not ideal, gives the team a semi-switch in to Heatran before Zam is able to mega and trace Flash Fire. Also, Gren will usually force in AV Magearna and is able to chunk it with Hydro, helping Lele and Zam break it later in the game.
From here, I decided to move on to the small defensive core of the team starting with defensive Lando. I still needed a rocker and momentum to get in the offensive threats, since I wouldn't call any of them bulky by any stretch, and Lando does this better than any mon in OU. It is able to chip down most of the mons that really threaten this team with Rocky Helmet putting them in range to be revenged by the other team members. This includes threatening Megas like Lopunny, Pinsir, and Medicham and also is able to handle every Zygarde apart from D-Drake.
The final member of the team is another defensive pivot in AV magearna. This also provides momentum with volt switch and is a great blanket check to most every special attacker in the meta. AV gear is a great defensive partner to Lando-T and both still provide decent offensive pressure as well due to their naturally high attacking stats. AV Magnezone was also considered and tested here since it of course has incredible synergy with Zam Lele and Tana but the problem was it made the team much too weak to many common threats currently in OU. A couple that come to mind are Greninja, special Hoopa, set up Gear with fighting move etc.
Set Analysis
Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Dazzling Gleam
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Defog
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Water Shuriken
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 20 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
How to Deal With Problematic Mons/Matchups
1. Celesteela- I want to talk about this first because it seems very difficult to break, but in reality if you understand the way the team works it is very beatable. Step one to beating Steela is knocking it off with Kartana on the switch. This makes the game 10x easier. Secondly, use Magearna's speed to your advantage; slow volt out to prevent it from getting leech seed recover. Thirdly, nuke it with +1 Z from Lele. Even if this doesn't kill it is almost always worth it to chunk the Steela with the Z after it has lost its lefties. After this it won't be able to switch into either Zam or Kartana and cleaning with both mons becomes very easy.
2. Stall- The stall matchup is not the best but depending on the build it is certainly beatable, especially on ladder when most stall players will beat themselves if you give them long enough. The idea here is to lead Lele and CM on Sabelye's Protect and then again on the switch out. Now +2 Psyshock will do 80ish to Chansey and it is pretty much forced to Toxic you. Now you either get to kill the Chansey or something else but either way they lose their main switch in to Ash-Gren which means it is going to run through the six. Like I said though, this doesn't work against some other stall variants that use things like Alolan Muk for Lele. Those matchups are extremely difficult and generally relies on you outplaying pursuits which is not ideal by any means.
3. Big Breakers (like Pinsir for example)- Pretty much the idea here is you will lose a mon when these things come in but use Psychic terrain to your advantage as well as helmet chip from Landorus. This will make revenging from Zam very easy and because of the offensive nature of the team you are normally able to keep mons like this from coming in freely.
4. AV Bulu- This mon is so good omg. I love AV Bulu and it is for sure a threat to this team because it is the one thing that is hard to wear down with Lele. If you leave it in Bulu is just going to Horn Leech all of its health back. The bright spot is Psyshock still is doing a lot and you can keep it relatively low with helmet damage to eventually put it in range of +1 Z-move which does about 80. But yeah don't CM the first time or you won't kill and just lose Lele for nothing.
Replays
So if you want to see this team in action I recommend checking out the YouTube content by Smogon's very own Dokkerich since pretty much all of this peak was uploaded by him. I'll link some of the vids here just be aware that BTB is the king of shittalk so if you were in one of the games don't take it personal :]
Conclusion
This team is a very fun Psychic Spam that really does a good job of showcasing Mega Alakazam. Thanks to BTB and Ayevon for peaking with this and let me know if there is anything you would change to help improve the team. Shoutouts to Sealette, Insult, Suapah, and DenisTheMenace who helped with the peak as well and to the Den Of Thieves which is the best mons discord around :]. Also, I did this on my last RMT as well, but I do have a YouTube channel of my own so if anyone is feeling generous stop by and leave a sub. The import for the team is down below. Thanks for checking this out!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbBlTlQYiWgLDLG7PInhoQ.
Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Defog
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Water Shuriken
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 20 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tapu Lele @ Psychium Z
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Defog
Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Water Shuriken
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 20 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
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