[b]Intro[/b] <- Size 5

Hi everyone, this is blarajan bringing you an RMT that I've cowritten with

soviet (or Ban Nattorei on the server). Soviet approached me to build a team

as soon as he saw that Murkrow, Gligar, and Misdreavus were being moved back

into Little Cup. He really wanted to get into the Little Cup meta , and the

introduction of these monsters interested him enough to make that attempt. I

had also been a  bit out of the Little Cup scene, since to be quite frank, it

was boring as hell before. This was all of the motivation I needed to get

back in, so I happily worked on a team with him. What came from our

teambuilding was a variety of great EV spreads, a cool offensive pair, and a

team that's sitting pretty at number one on the ladder. Many users can attest

to the team's effectiveness.I personally think this is one of the best teams

I've ever built, and it's been really solid when handling the rest of the

meta. It's been a lot of fun to play and to try out. However, it's also

gotten a bit stale—because almost all of the Little Cuppers have SEEN it, and

because I've used it so much. So here we are, showing off team “TEAM NAME.”

[b]Glance:[/b] <- Size 5

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First, we began with Gligar. This was the Pokemon that soviet chose

originally, due to its bulk, speed, and offensive prowess. We decided to use

a Flight Gem Acrobatics set, because the offense that gave was too good to

pass up. After Earthquake / Acrobatics / Roost, we were unsure how to

proceed. We initially used U-Turn, for the offensive momentum. However, that

was underwhelming, so we tried Swords Dance. Finally, we  decided to make it

SubRoost, in order for it to handle Sucker Punch from Murkrow better, and to

be more threatening defensively. We haven't looked back since.

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As amazing as Gligar is, it does have some issues with a lot of Pokemon in

the metagame. After thinking about it, we decided an amazing Gligar partner

was Scraggy. It was able to beat a lot of Gligar's checks (Bronzor, Staryu,

Misdreavus, etc), and is an amazing sweeper in its own right. They

complemented each other perfectly, so we decided here that we would make this

our main offensive duo.

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The next Pokemon we chose was Bronzor. We needed our own Gligar check,

because we thought it would be the dominating force of the metagame. Bronzor

hard counters Bronzor, while being an excellent check to Murkrow, Drilbur,

Hippopotas, and really, like 80% of the metagame. It tanks pretty much

everything it needs to. It also gives us Stealth Rock, which helps a lot,

especially with Murkrow and Misdreavus, who hate passive damage. It's an

excellent defensive pivot, and we felt it helped our team the best at this

point.

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We took a look at our team and went...well, we don't really like fast

Pokemon. +1 Scraggy, Houndour, Omanyte post smash, Scarf Snover...none of it.

We thought about Mienfoo, but threw that idea away because we all know

Mienfoo is a shitty Pokemon. We decided on Croagunk. Access to Vacuum Wave

gave us a solid check to those Pokemon, and its own special bulk let us tank

Misdreavus really well. Croagunk brought a lot to the table, and we realized

we couldn't do without it.

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To be honest we're not really sure why we chose Misdreavus, but we did.

Misdreavus fell into that “too good not to use” category. It blocked spin,

was offensively powerful, was bulky, tanked random hits, etc. We tried Nasty

Plot Misdreavus, but that wasn't really that good. We then moved to

Substitute, which worked better, but Misdreavus died too quickly using it.

Finally, we tried Will-o-Wisp, and fell in love.

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Honestly at this point we didn't really know what to do. We pretty much

covered everything with these Pokemon so the last slot was mainly...filler?

We debated between a lot of things here, like Scarf Snover, Houndour, and a

bunch of other stuff. We noticed that our team was pretty slow at that point

(nothing outsped the 19 speed tier), so we wanted a revenger. We also noticed

a bit of a weakness to SubKrow. We put two and two together...and the legend

of Scarf Shellder was born.[/HIDE]

[b]In Depth[/b] <- Size 5

[img]http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab45/skglbrt/croagunk.jpg[/img]
[b]Croagunk[/b] (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 212 HP / 28 Atk / 36 Def / 108 SAtk / 116 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Vacuum Wave
- Dark Pulse

Despite the team being based around Gligar, Croagunk is the star of the

show.This poke is just so good. When we were teambuilding, we really needed a

mon to stop all of the faster threats of the meta, and Croagunk really

delivered. The combination of Fake Out + Vacuum Wave does a number to any

shell smasher, Scraggy, Houndour; you name it. One of the reasons we decided

to use Croagunk is, using this spread I created, it is a great counter to

Misdreavus. It recieves 50% max from a Shadow Ball while 2HKOing after rocks

with Dark Pulse / Sucker Punch. On top of being a great offensive asset to

this team, the typing coupled with the resistances and immunity to water make

it an incredible defensive force as well. The reason I chose these EVs is

becasue I needed to create a very bulky set to switch in and out of fighting

moves to check the things it needed to while still having great offensive

presense. The analysis spreads really weren't good at all, because they were

unnecessarily offensive; aswell, the LO set dies so fast, because what

Croagunk mainly does is use Fake Out + Vacuum Wave. That's an extra 20% HP

that will never be gotten back on a pokemon this team does not function

without. This knowledge in hand, we decided to use an Eviolite set designed

at taking lots of abuse while still hitting hard. I remembered from my

experience of playing before The Big 3 were banned, that Croagunk is actually

a decent check to all kinds of Misdreavus, so I decided to use that as a

baseline. The spread ensures that Misdreavus Shadow Ball does 50% max (which

is actually a very rare damage roll), so that really covers just about any

other special attacker in the tier. Something else I was experimenting with,

was a spread of 132 HP / 36 Def / 108 SAtk / 116 SDef / 116 Spd Modest

(+Satk, -Atk) utilizing Icy Wind instead of Sucker Punch. This really

transforms Croagunk from a bulky priority abuse, to a late game cleaner. Icy

Wind enables all base 19 Pokemon to be outsped as well as hitting Gligar

switchins.

Using this Croagunk has been absolutely amazing, let me tell you that. It's

my go to mon for a lot of current threats in the metagame. The moves we chose

were Fake Out / Vacuum Wave / Dark Pulse > Drain Punch / Sucker Punch. Fake

Out provides free damage that allows us to obtain many KOes we wouldn't have.

Generally, Fake Out + Vacuum wave takes out a -1 Omanyte. Likewise, Fake Out

helps us stall out an extra turn to accumulate Toxic damage from Bronzor. I

can't even describe how many instances this has saved me. If I land a toxic

on a Murkrow, or a Scraggy (and Shed Skin decides to be reasonable), Mienfoo,

or anything, Fake Out lets me let them accumulate more damage for free. But

really, Vacuum Wave is the best part of using Croagunk. Many of the current

threats in the meta are weak to fighting, plain and simple. Houndour,

Scraggy, Snover, Omanyte, are all hit by Vacuum Wave for super effective

damage, making Croagunk a really good check to a lot of faster Pokemon that

give me a hard time. Sucker Punch / Dark Pulse complement this nicely. The

main thing that I love about this Croagunk is how much it beats Misdreavus.

Generally, Misdreavus thinks I'll use Sucker Punch, so it Will-o-Wisps,

Substitutes, or Nasty Plots. Using Dark Pulse allows me to get about 50% on

it for free. Then, Sucker Punch lets me finish it off as it is scared of Dark

Pulse. Dark Pulse is cool as well as it allows me to hit Slowpoke for a lot

of damage. Croagunk's fighting resistance makes it a great check to Mienfoo

and Scraggy, while its ability to absorb Toxic Spikes have made it an

invaluable asset to stall. The given spread makes it really bulky, and makes

its Vacuum Wave really powerful. Overall, it's definitely the star of the

show.

[img]http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/cuteguardian/PoKeMoN/Byron/His

%20Pokemon/Bronzor/036.jpg[/img]
[b]Bronzor[/b] @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 228 HP / 4 Atk / 148 Def / 4 SAtk / 68 SDef / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I think Bronzor is the most replacable Pokemon on this team, because it

doesn't provide much offensive pressure and has no reliable recovery. This

lets multiple threatening Pokemon, such as Scraggy, have an essentially free

switchin to set up, and this can be very devastating if our checks are dead.

Despite these flaws it really is crucial to the success of this team. It is

the only purely defensive pokemon on this team, and as such is the initial

switch for so many mons. On top of being a great pivot, Bronzor has a useful

movepool in Toxic and Stealth Rock. Both of these moves are really important,

as they provide passive damage that breaks opposing cores easier. Stealth

Rock checks multiple mons, such as Larvesta and LO Murkrow, as well as really

helping Shellder. Stealth Rocks turns mulitple crucial 3HKOs (Misdreavus,

Staryu) into 2HKOs, and that really ties the offense of this team together.

The EVs for Bronzor aren't really that flexible to be honest, so there will

more than likely not be any variation between the EVs of this Bronzor and

that of others. Basically, we maximize HP to tank the hits better, as well as

mixing the defenses to provide an optimal balance, putting the rest (4 EVs)

into each offense to make it hit slightly harder.

Bronzor is way too fucking good, seriously. It is the Pokemon that soviet

thinks is the most expendable on our team, but I have to disagree. I have

never gone a match without using Bronzor's amazing typing and defenses to

tank something, or at least to get SR up. Bronzor is our Gligar counter, and

honestly gives zero shits whatsoever about what it does. Checks Hippopotas,

Drilbur, Misdreavus, Croagunk, tanks hits from Scraggy all day if it has to,

smashes Shellder, beats Murkrow without Heat Wave, etc. The reason Bronzor is

so good is because we decided that Psychic sucked and gave it Toxic. Toxic

allows Bronzor to at least threaten everything it cannot hit (and there are a

lot of things it cannot hit). Toxic means it can whittle down the

aforementioned Pokemon even if it can't really do anything to them. Likewise,

I can't even tell you how many times I have Toxiced a Scraggy in a pinch and

lucked their Shed Skin until they died...Bronzor has been an invaluable tank

and honestly this team can't function without it. Since one of the biggest

threats of my team, Mienfoo, loves to come in on Bronzor, getting the toxic

off on it really helps whittle it down. Same with...everything, like Cradily

and Hippopotas. Plus it hits what it needs to hard enough. It always breaks

Murkrow's Substitute with HP Ice and 2HKOes Gligar, which is all that's

really for. Earthquake hits Croagunk and helps whittle thins down with Toxic

damage. But honestly, Bronzor just sits on its ass. It doesn't even need

attacks and I'd still use it.

[img]

http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/cuteguardian/PoKeMoN/Marilyn/Her

%20Pokemon/410.jpg[/img]
[b]Shellder[/b] (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 36 HP / 156 Atk / 36 Def / 76 SDef / 196 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell
- Ice Shard

Blarajan is always telling me how Shellder is probably the most replacable

Pokemon on the team, but that just isn't the case. Since most offensive teams

are fairly frail, they can be potentially swept by fast, hard hitters. To

rememdy this, a scarfer is fairly necessary on an offensive team. As you can

see, this team isn't "fast" persay, with nothing outspeeding the important 19

speed tier. When teambuilding, we noticed a trend; we are actually very weak

to fast things that were basically un-revengable by our team, as well as a

weakness to various Pokemon with substitute (Murkrow, Gligar, etc.) so we

added the Legend, the B0SS, Scarf Shellder. This thing really is a monster,

revenging half the tier as well as hitting deceptively hard with it's STAB

moves. The main boon of this though, is it can revenge almost anything in the

tier, as well as being somewhat hard to switch into when it choses the

correct move. Max Satk / Speed Misdreavus is 2HKO'd after Stealth Rock with

Rock Blast. The EV's were chosen so Shellder would hit 21 Speed after the

Scarf boost, enabling it to outspeed any non-Scarfed Pokemon in the tier. The

HP/Def EVs are to maximize Physical Defense with the amount of EVs left over,

while the SDef EVs are to allow it to take various special hits better, such

as Croagunk Vacuum Wave or Snover Blizzard / Ice Shard. When looking at this

spread you'll notice the Atk isn't max, but when you go through and run the

Calcs, it actually doesn't matter; The damage is exactly the same.

Honestly, I don't have much to say about the king. He, not Bronzor, is

definitely our most expendable member of the team. We needed something to

beat Sub Murkrow, and it takes out Gligar just fine, which is cool. It

outspeeds all non scarfed Pokemon with 21 speed, meeting the minimum

requirement of a revenge killer. It can OHKO Hippopotas and Crustle through

Oran with Icicle Spear and Rock Blast respectively, assuming one critical hit

or max damage roll of the five (which is really useful...one of the only

Pokemon that can stop Crustle from setting up entirely). Outside of that, I

really just hit things with Icicle Spear and let it die. It does what it has

to, and that's about it.

[img]http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv284/cuteguardian/PoKeMoN/Ash/His

%20Pokemon/Scraggy/063.jpg[/img]
[b]Scraggy[/b] (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 236 Atk / 40 SDef / 212 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
- Ice Punch

This thing is easily the best sweeper in the tier; the combined bulk as well

as the incredible attacking prowess really push this thing over the edge.

This mon forms the main offensive core of the team, together with Gligar. The

synergy they have together is they each remove each others checks, with

Gligar taking care of the fighting types, while Scraggy takes care of the

bulkier mons like Bronzor, Slowpoke and Hippopotas. This thing is just so

bulky, it really has amazing set up opportunities, and due to the small

amount of checks, it sweeps incredibly easily. Something I occasionally think

about is using Zen Headbutt over Crunch due to the recent spike in Croagunk

usage. The leftover EVs were put into Sdef because most of the things Scraggy

has opportunities to set up on attack from the Special side.

There's so much that can be said for Scraggy, it's ridiculous. It is without

a doubt the best set-up sweeper in the tier, unquestionably so. The sheer

amount of teams that are Scraggy weak is ridiculous. At +1, Scraggy is only

really beat by Croagunk and Mienfoo. Anything else (including the big 3) is

pretty much just decimated by the appropriate move. Ice Punch smashes Gligar

and Murkrow, while Crunch decimates Misdreavus. The greatest part about

Scraggy is the sheer amount of Pokemon it can set up on. One of the most

common defensive pivots in the current metagame, Bronzor, is pure set-up

bait. Misdreavus, Chinchou, Staryu, and many other threats are set-up on just

as well. By running the 36 evs in Special Defense instead of Defense, Scraggy

is able to tank hits from these behemoths incredibly easily, and set up on

them accordingly. It is one of my main Misdreavus checks, as well, and kind

of just destroys the entire tier. If my opponents have Croagunk, then I just

use Ice Punch when I bring in Scraggy early game. If they have Mienfoo, I

make a lot of double switches to Gligar, or use Drain Punch. When these two

are eliminated, Scraggy WILL sweep you...no questions asked.

[img]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn293/yinyang199551/Glenda%20oc/My%20Pokemon/Misdreavus/misdreavuslooking.jpg[/img]
[b]Misdreavus[/b] (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 SAtk / 240 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Thunderbolt

Misdreavus is just a really great Pokemon to help push our offense. It has an amazing typing to abuse in that, it gets a good spammable STAB on top of an immunity to fighting really tie Misdreavus together as a solid pokemon. We have debated what the last slot should be, and it was really never set in stone. We started with Nasty Plot so Misdreavus could function as a 3rd set up sweeper, but that never really worked out so we moved to Sub, and likewise, it didn't work either. Then Rajan tried Will-o-Wisp and it has been the best so far. It really lets us cripple a physical attacker, as well as avoid annoying Sucker Punches from Croagunk. Another boon from its typing is that it functions as our teams spinblocker. Even though we don't have spikes on this team, Stealth Rock is amazing. The Extra damage it provides helps us wear down key threats like Murkrow and Larvesta as well as breaking sashes and Sturdy. Due to the good defenses Misdreavus boasts when utilizing Eviolite, it is often our first switchin to things such as Mienfoo, to scout for Hidden Power Ice, or Chinchou, if we don't want to predict too hard about it's move. The EV spread was chosen to increase the offensive power as well as hitting the crucial 19 speed tier.

Misdreavus is a pretty cool Pokemon. Even with a fully offensive spread such as ours, its defenses with Eviolite are fantastic, and allow it to tank pretty much any neutral hit. It is also incredibly strong, able to almost always smash something with its attacks. We opted for Thunderbolt because we considered hitting Staryu and Shellder and such more important than having Nasty Plot or Calm Mind or Pain Split or something like that. This comes in handy due to Misdreavus's Ghost typing. As a Ghost-type Pokemon, Misdreavus has the ability to block Rapid Spin. The common Rapid Spinners, Staryu and Tentacool, both fall prey to Misdreavus's Thunderbolt. Also, after going between a lot of moves, such as Nasty Plot and Substitute, we settled on Will-o-Wisp for our final move. Will-o-Wisp allows us to burn irritating attackers that might switch in and we can't really hurt, such as Hippopotas or Gligar. Likewise, it lets us get around Croagunk's Sucker Punch, which is its main usage. I also tend to burn Scraggy in a pinch instead of HP Fighting it, as HP Fighting doesn't OHKO at all. Misdreavus's combination of incredible bulk and ridiculous offensive prowess makes it an incredibly valuable slot on our team. Also, it's really cool, because a LO Shadow Claw from Drilbur only does like 60%!!

[img]http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z347/ScreenieCollector/Pokemon/Gligar.jpg[/img]
[b]Gligar[/b] (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 236 Atk / 236 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Swords Dance

The boss this team was made around. Gligar is an amazing Pokemon that has incredible versatility. It has good speed, great bulk combined with an excellent typing and great attacking stats. The main thing we use Gligar for is the amazing virtue it has as a sweeper, but it is also an amazing pivot, coming in on a plethora of threats in LC, such as HP Ice-less Mienfoo, Chinchou using Volt Switch or even Croagunk. This thing just has so many opportunities to come in and set up a substitute it is not funny. Another major boon is there are perhaps only 4 Gligar counters in the entire tier, Porygon, Slowpoke, Bronzor and Hippopotas, all of which are efficiently taken out by Scraggy. The reason this team works is because the duo of Scraggy and Gligar is just amazing, the only thing in the tier that can beat both of them is Scarf Mienfoo with HP Ice, which is handled perfectly by Misdreavus. Despite being one of the best offensive mons in the tier, it is also one of the best defensive as well, even without the help of Eviolite. This really brings it together as a Pokemon no team can go without. The spread is basically to make it the most efficient sweeper, maximizing Attack and Speed so it hits the crucial 19 Speed tier.

Gligar is a boss, end of story. He's the Pokemon we wanted to base our team on, and boy he did not disappoint. We immediately knew that we wanted to use a Flight Gem Acrobatics set, meaning Acrobatics and Earthquake were locked in stone. The issue, then, was finding the best final two moves. Due to Gligar's incredible defensive stats and typing, we knew we wanted it to last, so we threw on Roost. I didn't think Swords Dance was that great because of Bronzor, so I decided to use Substitute and fell in love. SubRoost Gligar is the perfect combination of offensive and defensive prowess. I can't even explain how many times this thing has brought me back from a bad game. Using Substitute gives me a safety net when I predict a switch, meaning Gligar can do heavy damage to like everything that isn't Bronzor or Hippopotas. Substitute also serves the important function of acting as a buffer against speed ties. The 19 Speed tier defines the metagame, and using Substitute means I don't necessarily die if I lose the speed tie. Gligar is my main out against Mienfoo, who gives my team a hard time. Likewise, it cleans up end game realllllly well due to its speed. If the opposing team is weakened, and their Bronzor is dead...and you're behind a Substitute? You're golden. In fact, the fear of SubGligar and SubKrow is the reason we have a Shellder on our team. It's just such a good Pokemon, and pairs really well with Scraggy. The pair eliminate each other's counters and sweep so well it's ridiculous.