WHITE AMERICA
I Could Be One Of Your Kids...
I Could Be One Of Your Kids...
Yes, another PDC RMT has finally arrived. Just in time for the holidays too. This team is your standard UU Hail Team. A rather common sight these days. However this team still relies on Hail Stall rather than the more offensive varients you see these days much more often. Most people get annoyed by this team especially because it has the one and only Froslass combined with hail, thunder wave, and hazards. This team mainly relies on this annoyance factor. The constant replay of hail paired with paralysis wears down most teams before they manage to break my core. Offensive teams generally can't stand the constant repetitive hail damage paired with hazard recoil everytime they switch in. The slowing down turns them into a very easy variation to handle. While stall can generally handle hail slightly better, the repetitive damage for them also hurts their chances quite a bit. With Hippowdon gone, hail rains supreme once again over almost any playstyle. I was able to get to number 30# on the UU leaderboard with this team, but after constant hax in matches and horrible odds in general, I decided to take a break for a while. Although this team is rather standard, it is my favorite (and really only) UU team I have ever really tried to use. Regardless to the claims teams like this are basically labeled "no skill involved" that is terribly false. You have to be careful almost every team you play to be able to win with it consistenly.
Back to the matter at hand of the teams background, I soon realized I needed a new team to use on the ladder. Shortly after Negative 3, I couldn't make the same kind of effective team. I had very few ideas left and was basically dead in the water. As soon as I got banned from Smogon I lost most of my competitive will. I took a long break from Pokemon. Throughout that time I built many team samples that I used on the ladder under various alts. But no matter how hard I tried my teams just weren't what they used to be when I was in practice. I looked around for trends or cores that I could experiment with, but none worked very good. I was able to get top 50 in OU, but I felt the teams were very boring and not worth consistently playing with. I just wanted a new fresh outlook. I had no idea what I could build at this point. The metagame changed greatly from when I last played. OU was to different for me to play successfully. So I ended my playing time for quite awhile. In this time I basically ended going on Pokebeach for about a week. Then I came back to the game. I needed a new outlet to try, but no playstyle was really what I wanted to do. I figured I would just quit now while I was still in solid shape. I kept trying to consult my old friends that have experience in Ou to the general ladder that may have an idea on what to play around with. Nothing seemed to completly turn up in the metagame outside of the regular answer I have heard constantly before. Sun teams, Rain Stall, Deoxys-S and Dragonite were all on top of the game. No weather teams were also coming on the rise coming from the trend Bloo and Tab set back about 2 months prior. So contining my search for good topics and teams to make in OU I decided this could possibly be it for me. With no real basis to get a team off of, ideas to use, playstyles that would be unique and original, and still fit me rather well. Finally I decided this was it. i had no real current up to date information left. I went on IRC less and less. I decided maybe I could get some information off of there, but I couldn't get much to keep me completly up to date. The metagame had changed so much and I was playing a different one entirely. I went to talk to my friends for a couple last memories to get some possible ideas to bring me back. Maybe I could try a new tier and that would refresh my thoughts a little. This is where the real story began behind this team. I knew this would be my ticket back in if anything could be. There on IRC I realized what I could use to get my skills back in the game.
After talking to friends on Smogon mIRC chat in the UU catagory I realized UU would probably be my only ticket back to the top. OU was to unfamilar for me to master again. I figured I should just try an entirely new metagame to practice in. I selected the single most popular UU style to date. Hail teams were all over the metagame at the exact time I built this team. Although many people were building teams extremly similar to mine at the time, I don't think it would hurt that much to build a basic team to get back into the game. I figured i'd do decent, but I actually was able to use the team rather well. I soon got used to the UU metagame rather well and decided this team deserved to be RMT'd because of it's very solid preformance. Although similar to WhiteQueen's hail team, this team shows different Pokemon on the scene. Although still mine is inferior at least I am still able to build a semi affective hail team. This marked my return to Pokemon which although many may hate, you just can't stop the obvious. Although I am not completly back in my place I was before I left off, I have a new team to use in an all new tier. This team turned into finally a defensive stall team that handles the metagame with virtully no trouble at all. I present you, my favorite hail team, named after my favorite song yet, WHITE AMERICA.
Team Building Process
Like hail teams, I started off with Abomasnow. I was wondering which type of hail team I would use however. A more offensive type of team, or a defensive version. Most of the team is based off of the type of weather setter it is using. A more defensive version, or an offensive kind. I was convinced I would try hail stall, so naturally I tried a defensive Leech Seed version.
I added Froslass as my spike setter and anti spinner of the team. Froslass is used on almost every hail team offensive or not. Froslass is also used as a partial revenge killer when needed. It's solid Thunder Wave use also increases the teams overall preformance. Slowing down the opponent combined with constant hazard and hail damage would easily make my team do better all in all. This was a common style in hail teams at the time. Giving the slower teams a chance to strike first against faster threats. Although toxic is more in style now, I still use Thunder Wave because of personal preference. I just feel like it would fit better.
I knew I would need something to handle the strong fire types, fighting types, and physical threats in general of the metagame. I was weak to just about every single one of them, and I needed a quick fix before I went any further on with the team. I thought of Suicune at first, but I didn't like the fact it lacked realiable recovery. Especially with Rest now being toned down. I thought of Milotic, but it couldn't take the strong fighting types that Froslass could not handle. Even though it did have the reliable recovery, I had to turn it down sadly. I settled on Slowbro, a Pokemon I have used before on previous OU teams. It's Regeneration ability paired with Slack Off made it a constant top health part of my team. It could single handedly beat most of the new physical threats on UU.
I needed a rock resist and a spinner fast. I was very weak to hazards like every hail team is. Hitmontop was the perfect Pokemon to seal that away. Despite it lacking reliable recovery. Hitmontop counters on of the teams biggest problems, Snorlax. Cobalion also fears it's strong Close Combats it hits off at it's enimies. Hitmontop was a sure spot for the team which was hard to fill. Hitmontop was an amazong addition to the team. There is no replacement that I could possibly think of.
I was weak to a large amount of special threats in the metagame and had no counter. I needed something to handle them all, so at first I thought Chansey would do a fine job, but I also realized I needed a bit of offensive presense on this team to be used as a Mismagious counter, a large threat at the time. I also liked that Snorlax could still deal with strong Blizzards and Fire Blasts thanks to Thick Fat. Snorlax was sure a Pokemon that proved a fine team member. Snorlax also is a solid stall breaker when needed, something this team appreciates.
This was arguably the hardest phase of the entire team. I was wondering what could possibly fill this spot, if anything. I knew I needed a bit of a solider counter to Jolteon and Raikou. I also wanted Stealth Rock and possibly Toxic Spikes is a I could fit it in there somehow. I was looking through the tier list and found a perfect choice, Nidoqueen. I knew this would proably be my best option. It also could handle Escalivier and Heracross, two large threats that this team had to deal with. At first I thought Nidoqueen would not end out well with it's current spot. I was constantly looking for a possible replacement. After awhile though I realized Nidoqueen would probably be the best possible choice I could choose. This was the final phase of the team. It worked amazingly for the current metagame. Although the building was rather straight foward, this team was rather obvious to be completly honest. The art of hail isn't exactly an original style, as most hail teams follow a similar and regular building process.
Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 216 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Blizzard
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Protect
100% staple on on practically every hail team ever made (unless you use Snover nowadays). Abomasnow's main role in the team is obviously to set weather up. However it does depend on what the opposing team is when I sent Abomasnow out there. If they have no weather changer at all, I will automatically send him out to get an instant advantage. If the enemy team has a changer I will send him out later on most of the time. I will sometimes send him out first because most of the time I am rather capable of winning the weather wars. Besides setting up weather, I can use him to annoy stall with Leech Seed / Substitue, use it as a bulky water absorber, or a typical Blizzspammer. Now with Hippowdon gone I almost always get my weather up no matter what in the end. There honestly isn't much to say about Abomasnow as it is rather self explanatory. I take the defensive route to handle the majority of the metagame rather easily.
Some history about Abomasnow previously is how it shaped the early UU metagame almsot entirely. Many people remember the early suspect testing days when literally every team was some type of hail or sun. Hail was the prime choice for most because of Kyurem which was in UU at the current time. When Kyurem was banned hail died down a bit from being exceedingly popular to a more simply common appearence. From day to day hail became less and less popular. Regular F/W/G stall was what you would almost always see on the ladder. Pure offense wouldn't work well because of the messy metagame at that time. Slowly, after WhiteQueens success with hail stall, hail became more popular. Again returning as a prime style of play in the metagame. Hail was back on the ladder, both in offensive and defensive ways. To this day hail is still a popular style. With that, different forms of Abomasnow began being created. Both offensive and defensive versions were becoming popular. From hail offense to defense Abomasnow was once again almost at the top of the ladder. Most hail teams started getting better and better. This one RMT sparked many hail teams to be created, including mine partially.
Froslass (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Blizzard
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
Froslass is one of the most annoying Pokemon in the entire tier. Under hail it is practically unstopable. Froslass is a staple on offensive and defensive hail teams. It's decent offensive capabilities paired with it's solid hazard setting ability make it a rather solid choice for virtually any hail team. The main job for this Froslass is to set up hazards, paralyze everything in sight, get behind a substitue, and then Blizzard spam everything in sight. With Snow Clock as it's ability it is like a Garchomp in it's own setting. When the enemy is paralyzed it already has a small chance of breaking out of it succesfully. Pair that with Snow Clock and substitue it is extremly hard to land a hit consistently. Hail taking away 6% every turn and Blizzard doing an additional amount makes it an amazing staller. Frosslass is also an amazing revenge killer because of it's solid speed. Most of the time I don't even need to use Blizzard to srike the enemy out. Thunder Wave cripples it to usually mess it up rather badly. Even with the recent growth in Toxic being used over Thunder Wave, I still stick to it for it's great revenging and general slowing down on the enimies team.
Froslass also can act as a default against Heracross If I really need it. Being immune to Close Combat it can simply take it then hide behind a substitue. This works with basically every fighting move in the game. Machamp also can be fooled around with this tactic too. Both Dynamic Punch and the occasional Ice Punch can be absorbed. Froslass has been used on virtually every successful hail team as of yet because it's many hail-bound qualities help it. Snow Clock boosts it's evasion, when paired with Substitue and paralysis turns it into an extremly deadly force. With hail constantly chipping whatever the foes HP is slowly away. Blizzard turns into a 100% accurate solid STAB move that can do a solid amount on most UU threats. While Froslass in general becomes the perfect Spiker. No other Pokemon in UU, or in any tier for that matter can do what Froslass can do under hail. Froslass in conclusion is a fantastic member to every hail team. This team appreciates it's spike setting and Thunder Wave tactics the most.
Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Scald
- Psychic
- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
Slowbro is a bulky water that this team needs. This is what made the team rather succesfull. This Pokemon, in my opinion, is the best bulky water out there at this point. Regeneration turns it into an amazing wall against the newly introduced threats. Machamp, Darmatarian, and Hippowdon previously. It also helps against Flygon, Aerodactyl, Rhyperior, Victini, and offensive Hitmontop. All large threats to hail teams with their hard hitting moves. Slowbro also helps paralyze the enemy team with Thunder Wave. Slowbro's instant revovery combined with Regeneration always keep it at tip top health through the entire match. Nobody can match his amazing defensive capabilites in UU but Suicune, who lacks this type of recovery. It also lacks a key fighting resistance which is extremly important to this team. One of the biggest critisims I get is that Slowbro can't handle everything physical. Although true in some cases, Slowbro in the end can stay in at least an ok state throught the entire game if I am able to play well enough.
A second magnificent antic about Slowbro is that it seems to almost never die. It can aid in practically every situation because of Regeneration. Although already adressed before, Slowbro puts this ability to it's most up most use possible. Even in higher tiers like OU Slowbro still preforms at it's best. In Negative 3 I used Slowbro to an even higher feat by acheiving #1. This proves Slowbro has a multi tier affect on any metagame it plays in. In conclusion Slowbro can handle the various threats this metagame throws at it. Only a few can completly oppose it. Luckily Slowbro isn't the only one that handles everything though, I have enough back up plans to handle the enemies the metagame throws at me. That episode will come up next.
Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight / Mach Punch
- Toxic
Part two of the defensive backbone of the team for physical threats. Hitmontop brings intimidate to this table which is very important to aid Slowbro in times of crisis. Intimidate can help keep strong offensive moves toned down. So if Slowbro is lower, Hitmontop can soften the blows by quite a bit. Hitmontop also is a very important Rock Resist for this team. Although rock isn't exactly the most common type, it is still increasingly dangerous for my team. Hitmontop is also my main Rapid Spinner. Hazards are possibly the biggest threat above all to this team single easily. No doubt in my mind it can cause the worst trouble of all. Hitmontop blows them away with pride. It is possibly one of the most important members of the entire team. Hitmontop also is one of my defences against Escaliver and Heracross. Two of the teams other biggest threats. Although I can handle them eventually through playing around with them through Nidoqueen mainly, Intimidate play, hazard setting, constant hard hitting, and hail repetitive damage, I still have some trouble with them both. Hitmontop is one of my main defences against them. The intimidate can weaken them so Nidoqueen can handle them more freely. Hitmontop is one of the best Pokemon in UU I feel. Although not as noticed as it first was, it is still an amazing option for this team. No possible replacement for him that I could even dream of.
Hitmontop also supports the teams more fragile physically defensive backbone, while still have a solid special defense. However there is one shining aspect of Hitmontop that I forgot to mention. Hitmontop brings a little offensive force into the team just like Snorlax does. It uses it to defeat Snorlax and Cobalion primarily. Some of the teams larger threats ( although Cobalion can usually be killed off rather easily ). Hitmontop I feel has dropped slightly in popularity as well. In the starting days of BW Hitmontop was on virtually every team thanks to it's aid to the strongest gerne of teams back then : Strong Kyurem Hail. This was at the very start of UU. Months ago. Hitmontop has dropped in popularity since them for other Rapid Spinners like Cryognal and Donphan ( although Donphan dropped too). Cryognal had it's first big brek on WQ's first Gen 5 UU RMT. It performed as a fabulous spinner for that hail team. I selected Hitmontop because I needed a stronger physical backbone. Although the automatic recovery would be nice, Hitmontop is here to stay.
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Crunch
Snorlax is the main special wall of this team. It handles the biggest special threats of this game, along with being my biggst offensive threat of this team. It's huge special defense and HP combined help me greatly. A special thing about Snorlax is that in jeapordy, it can handle stall rathr well. It's also my main defense against Mismagious. A gigantic threat to this team. Snorlax handles Raikou, Jolteon, Alakazam (occasionally), Zoroark, Chandelure, Cresselia, Rotom-H, and the list goes on. Although some can pose a constant threat, I can usually come out on top. Especially If I have a curse up already. Thick Fat is the key to quite a few of these threats. Rotom-H and Chandelure both can easily get smashed by Snorlax because their strongest moves do nothing to him. At first I was puzzled on what to put in his place. I was thinking if Chansey would be sufficent, but then I couldn't handle half these threats even if I tried. Mismagious completly shuts Chansey down behind a Substitute or by simply taunting it. Snorlax was the best option I could find. So I figured I would use him in the end. Thats just why he has a permanent spot on this team.
Snorlax was never really a gigantic force this generation in OU thanks to the new fighting type additions to ruin it's streak. Snorlax still had a great chance to flourish in UU. This was it's chance to be what is was in Gen 4. Snorlax however wasn't exactly that popular in the start of UU. Even though it should've been with all the giant special threats running around at that time. Celebi, Kyurem ( to an exstent ), Abomasnow, NP Mew, some types of Suicune, almost every ghost in the tier, and various others. Snorlax is something different from Chansey. Although not as much of a special wall with it's lesser special defense, it still domintes by using it's stellar defenses paired with solid offensive prowness. This was why I needed it over Chansey. It could beat Mismagious and other threats that Chansey would simply be set up bait for.
Nidoqueen (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Speed)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Toxic Spikes
Nidoqueen is an extremly important member to this team. Although at first she was basically filler for the team, I soon realized she would be an amazing spot for this team. At the end of team building I knew I wanted a few extra hazards besides just Spikes. I wanted a Stealth Rocker but I couldn't find exactly who. While looking through tier lists I figured Nidoqueen would make an ok filler. I add Toxic Spikes on there to simply add a bit of insurance against Shaymin, an annoying threat to the team. Soon after I added him, I realized how valuable he she truly is to this team. She is my main insurance against Escaliver and Heracross. Both can't touch her significantly. While she can hurt them hard with a solid Fire Blast to scare them away. She is also a rather important fighter against the fighting types of this metagame. She can occasionally handle Machamp and Hitmontop if needed. I am quite surprised why Nidoqueen isn't more popular. It is an amazing Pokemon from my exsperience using it. I almost was surprised when it actually ended up dealing well with the metagame. It also gives me an important Rock resist, which this team craves.
However, there is something I did forget to mention. Nidoqueen was not my first choice for this team. I actually theoryed Rhyperior previous to this. But I didn't think it could work nearly as well as Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen had a valuable fighting resist. With Staraptor gone a team like this didn't have much need for Rhyperior. I knew this would be one of the better choices I could make. So I selected Nidoqueen. Although it has not be seeing very much action lately on the UU ladder, I hope that will change very soon with the success I had with it on this team. Despite Nidoqueen being overshadowed most of the time, especially on hail teams, he in my opinion is one of the very best choices you could make.
Conclusion
This is the end of me for now. I feel this team was one of the very best UU ones I have ever made. Although this may be as well the only one I have ever used for a long period of time. However, despite my new found love for this team, I don't think I will be using it for a little while. Despite this team having a even larger advantage now that Hippowdon has left the tier, I feel hail is increasingly predictable and can be boring at times if it turns into a stall war or simply a very slow win. Hail is a rather solid playstyle in this metagame and problem will always be until it is either banned or something else randomly drops into UU and tries to stop it altogether. This is my only problem with this playstyle, although of course I can always just switch to a more offensive version of hail to compromise. But hail will go on, a new style can always be created with the Pokemon at it's fingertips that can easily stop any threats that come it's way. I appreaciate hail especially because of the fact that it can even bring new players in UU to a high part of the ladder. If you are able to play well, you can usually use your natural skills to climb up high on the UU ladder. This marks my return to Pokemon, although you probably won't see a RMT from me for quite awhile. Not until I get a team like "Negative 3" or "Thunder and Storms". I'll be coming back to OU very soon. These metagames change very often now, but with the new suspect type implamented, the metagame will surely look better soon.
The Teams Threats
Despite the list being longer than a team like this should have, I can handle every single one of these threats. As you will notice quite a few of them are simply labeled as more annoyances than actual true threats to my team. Pokemon like Sableye annoy every team, so I labeled it as more of a passing threat. Some like Alakazam also are damaging to almost every UU team in sight. Few can withstand it's constant strong attacking thanks to it's new dream world ability. This is only a list for Pokemon that threaten this team specifically.
Importable
Code:
Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Blizzard
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Protect
Froslass (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Blizzard
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
Slowbro (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Scald
- Psychic
- Slack Off
- Thunder Wave
Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Mach Punch
- Toxic
Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Rest
- Crunch
Nidoqueen (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Toxic Spikes