Dabbling into 2v2 teams. [rmt]

[Spinarak-Man]

OK well I've recently been inspired to play some 2v2 as of late... and I'm having a blast with it so far. It's a totally different environment with less Blissey... which makes me happy. :D

Salamence @Leftovers &Intimidate
Timid, 6/0/0/252/252/0
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
- Grass Power

Jumpluff @Lum Berry &Chlorophyll
Timid, 248/0/10/252/0/0
- Sleep Powder
- Encore
- Leech Seed
- Helping Hand

I open with Salamence and Jumpluff. This duo by far has been the most successful element of my team. It literally kicks the shit out of the standard double intimidate openers. Special Salamence rapes the Dragon Dancing alternate while Jumpluff sleeps Gyarados. It also kicks opening ghost/exploders in the ass with a Helping Hand Crunch or a nice Sleep Powder. Same goes for Skill Swap with Slaking. Helping Hand is seriously under-rated and works beautifully on Jumpy. This combo I won't change.

From here on in my team seems to meld a little bit... all four of these guys can work with each other fairly well which is a must in 2v2 in case you lose control of the battle. I'm going to explain them all in one lump I guess.

Clefable (F) @Leftovers &Cute Charm
Bold, 252/0/128/124/6/0
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Follow Me
- Softboiled

Quagsire @Leftovers &Water Absorb
Brave, 252/68/18/0/0/172
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Seismic Toss/Ice Beam
- Rock Power

Dusclops @Leftovers &Pressure
Impish, 252/0/78/4/0/176
- Will-O-Wisp
- Seismic Toss
- Imprison
- Earthquake

Metagross @Liechi Berry &Clear Body
Adamant, 208/252/0/12/0/38
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Rock Power
- Explosion

First off let me say I love Clefable. Follow Me is a great setup move for Metagross as well as anyone else who is low on HP and needs to get in a hit. Calm Mind + Will-O-Wisp is a mini combo that keeps Clefable alive but also gives it sweeping power... something Cosmic Power doesn't do. Ice Beam is a solid move in 2v2... it's SE on a lot of common stuff. After being raped by a Zapdos/Kindgra Rain Dance combo, I added in Water Absorb Quagsire. Most people with explode teams won't attempt an explode on it right off which is a nice bluff and Zapdos + Kingdra can't touch it. Dusclops says no to the Double Quakers which is fun but I'm thinking I can ditch that for a Swift Swim Ludicolo with Leech Seed/Protect/S-Toss/I-BeamorWaterfall set so I'm not screwed versus Rain Dance teams... (they hurt me big time). I still need Zapdos protection so no switch on Quagy. Metagross owns because of its immunity to Intimidate.

Still in the early phases, IMO, but it's a decent start I'd say. Comments and such are welcome. I'd like KKM to take a look at this since he loves 2v2 now and I can see why. ;D

[Kari and Mewtwo]

Sal + Jumpluff- nice combo. I'd probably make sal a mixed sweeper just so it can take advantage of Helping Hand Earthquake, but thats just me. I always liked Jumpluff as a HH poke.

Clefable- I also use Fable for Follow Me. The calm mind set can work, since it'll sooner or later become a special tank, then use follow me and have special attacks do almost nothing. Then it pretty much rapes sal with ice beam, which is a plus. I kinda like thunderwave/stoss, but calm beam works.

Quagy- Heheheh. I like the bluff. Make them think it has damp, then later find out it has water absorb. I like it. Just watch out for Kingdra's that might have Grass power, though.

Dusclops- Oooh Imprison. And earthquake, too. Nice for dealing with pesky Sal/Gyarados.

Meta- Good old agilitygross. I like earthquake on him, but since flyers/levitate are so common in 2vs2, i say keep HP rock.

Not a bad team.

[Spinarak-Man]

Well some new things have come to light.

I did not realize that Imprison works as long as Dusclops is on the field which is a major plus in Dusclop's direction. I also saw Massa's Dusclops which uses the set: Protect/Imprison/Earthquake/Hidden Power with the power being ghost. That thing screws over most standard pokemon since HP and Quake are by far the 2 most used and abused moves and Protect is a fairly common move in 2v2.

On the other hand, I've been testing Ludicolo and it works alright. Still it doesn't own nearly as much as I'd like it to in a Rain Dance environment. It still gets mowed down by Ice Beams. Leech stalling works.. but not effectively enough to call it a true counter.

My next idea is to grab a Lanturn instead. Volt Absorb... electric attacks... resistance against Ice and Water attacks... it seems like a good fit. I could add T-Wave for my slow team as well. I'd probably use Thunderbolt/Thunder Wave/Waterfall/Protect or something similar. This could replace Quagsire since it has been a major disappointment so far and works very similar in owning Rain Dancers... T-Wave hurts Swift Swim and gives me some slightly better odds for the team overall. Thinking about it more... if I had another Thunderbolter I would probably keep Quagy and Lanturn just to play around with attack-healing myself through Volt/Water Absorb. That's something Ludicolo can potentially do with Quagy right now...

Well right now I'm 8-3 with this team on Netbattle... not a horrible record... but the 3 loses were to people who had decent teams and could battle.. so yeah...

</end random rambling>