From Chaos to Infinity

[Chaos Jackal]

It's been a long time since my last RMT. Heck, it's been a long time since I last played competitively seriously. Kinda weird, but I suddenly got the urge to play. So I made one or two new teams and well... I decided to share this one. People who happened to read my older RMTs know that when it comes to playstyle I'm generally boring and predictable... and that's still the case. This team is once again focused on offense, with the niche of Gothitelle, which I wanted to use ever since I saw PG24's Arabic Nights. Presenting From Chaos to Infinity.

Gothitelle (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Shadow Tag is the most powerful ability in the game, and Gothitelle is its only viable OU user. With Modest Nature and Choice Specs, Gothitelle can pick any counter of the team's sweepers that her coverage can handle and remove it without fail. Pokemon like Quagsire, Hippowdon and Mega Venusaur stand no chance if Gothitelle successfully switches into them. With Trick, it can also cripple walls like Chansey, rendering them useless for the rest of the match. Gothitelle plays a very important role in paving the path for the appropriate attacker to come in and sweep.

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake

This is a standard DD Megazard. It has the simple purpose of setting up DD and sweeping with its STABs. With Gothitelle, this gets a lot more easy, thanks to it removing many Zard counters, like Quagsire and Azumarill. Heatran is taken care of with Earthquake, meaning that Charizard is free to sweep entire teams once Gothitelle takes care of its potential counters.

Manaphy @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball
- Tail Glow

Manaphy plays the role of Special Sweeper. This isn't CM; this is straightforward Tail Glow wrecking Ball. With Gothitelle around, Manaphy doesn't have to care about Mega Venusaur and can safely run Energy Ball instead of Psychic. Gothitelle also takes care of Chansey, leaving few Pokemon that can stop Manaphy. Between its STAB Surf and coverage, Manaphy can wreak havoc in opposing teams.

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect

This is the first of the team's defensive Pokemon. More or less a classic Specially Defensive Heatran with Stealth Rock over Roar. Heatran is here to sponge special attacks as well as set hazards, protecting the team's sweepers and making their job easier. Alongside that, it can easily cripple physical and special attackers alike with its Burn or Poison shenanigans and outlast them with Protect and Leftovers, as well as scouting. Thanks to its great bulk and typing, Heatran does a spectacular job in the aforementioned fields.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

This is the team's physical tank. Rotom-W can deal with many physical attackers easily thanks to its Will-O-Wisp and EV distribution. It can also heal itself with Lefties and Pain Split, and carries the all-important Volt Switch. Keeping momentum, switching into Gothitelle to take care of an important opponent, or into a sweeper for a chance to setup, all this is made possible by Rotom, which once again shows its utility in my RMTs.

Excadrill (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

Excadrill is the team's Spinner. As much as the sweepers love hazards on the opposing field, they hate them on their own. Excadrill removes those pesky hazards with its Rapid Spin. To add to that, Excadrill can function as a powerful revenge killer with its Choice Scarf and solid Attack, proving to be a lethal surprise to many enemies.


The team has problems with Greninja, which can't be easily defeated. Keldeo is close, though it finds things more difficult when pitted against Manaphy. The other problem is lack of a good lead-Heatran can work, but not as often as desired, and same goes for Rotom. Apart from that, the team is solid and can deal with most situations.​

 

[Scattered mind]

Great team!
The Pokemon seems to have great synergy and the Gothitelle strategy is really great to let Charizard and Manaphy feel safe to set up and sweep.
Good thing for Manaphy for not using Psychic since Energy Ball is viable IMO in order to face Mega Gyarados which after a boost can sweep a lot of this team thanks to its Mold Breaker EQ.

I tried this team on Showdown and these are my in depth thoughts:

I think the main issue this team faces is that it has 2 set up sweepers and a lack of any revenge killer since Excadrill's job is to clear hazards and even with Choice Scarf is not considered a good revenge killer having him most of the time locked into EQ and let easy switch ins.
Lots of cores can abuse this and wear this team down very quickly into the point you cannot spend time on setting up.
By battling with this team on Showdown I had a really nasty problem with this core for example:
Landorus-T & Mega Manectric:
Landorus-T beats Charizard and your Gothitelle cannot help him due to not having any strong move against it and even if you uses Trick and somehow it didn't use U-Turn that means you lost Choice Specs, ate another move like EQ or Stone Edge and about to get KO'ed if you won't switch the hell out.
While Manaphy can switch in on it, Landorus-T can switch out for Mega Manectric which can almost KO it with T-Bolt or Volt Switch and all the opponent has to do is to pick it of later with priority user.
Rotom-W might help against Landorus-T but still I found myself a lot of time in to many situations were the opponents manages to wear down this team. Maybe this is just me not controlling the team in the right way but If thats happening to you or you can relate to my points then I do have an idea:
a Wish/ Healing Wish passer.
This can give another chance to weakened Charizard or Manaphy to set up and sweep.
Pokemon such as Latias or Clefable. the first can also use defog and the former can use its ability Unaware to shut down set up opposing Pokemon attempting to sweep on your weakened team.
The other option is to get a revenge killer but I am still not sure who
Also not sure who I would replace from the team.

 

[Cinesra]

Mega Heracross, Mold Breaker Excadrill, Landorus-I, Megacham, and Keldeo look like major threats to me. You could replace something with a Lati@s or Talonflame. I feel like Gothitelle or Manaphy would be the best to drop as Gothitelle is generally dead-weight against offense teams and Manaphy's speed leaves it pretty open to revengekilling. If you go with Defog Lati@s, you may want to replace Excadrill with a Scarf Lando-T to abuse Intimidate and help you further against physical attackers like Megacham or Zard X. Speaking of which, your Zard could be replaced instead if you're dead-set on using Manaphy. Really the best thing to do would be run Azumarill instead of a Lati@s as it's a pretty good check for all of these threats, but I know you have an irrational hatred of it. Slowbro could also help you with all of the threats I listed except for Heracross and maybe Lando.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Thanks for the advice. I made this team in order to test Gothitelle and see what you guys could suggest. I've already made a new team based on this one, and I've already implemented changes you guys suggested (like Latias and Lando) and Healing Wish. Your advice is always welcome.

Also, my hatred of Azumarill isn't irrational.