SASHA the master

I see, it's great to know that the team has actually been working well for you

I just suggested making an RMT of it in case someone else does so and takes credit for our hard work, but your reasoning for not making the RMT works too.

Also, I'm glad you like the nicknames Philosophy is actually one of my two majors for my Bachelor of Arts degree, the other being Film Studies. I used to like Philosophy a lot during my first year, hence why I chose as it as a major, though having studied it a bit more thoroughly, then for reasons I don't really think would be appropriate to go into, I don't like it that much anymore. Although, I'll obviously complete my major anyway since I have already chosen it, and don't really mind it anyway...

Also, nice suggestions for nicknames, but keep in mind that Excadrill and Cloyster are never in the same version of the team. How about this?

Smeargle - Plato
Cloyster - The Cave
Groudon - The Fire
Dialga - The Stone Figure
Kyurem-W - The Prisoner
Arceus-Ghost - The Shadow

I gave Cloyster the nickname "The Cave" as its shell could be a metaphor for a cave, and I gave Kyurem-W the name "The Prisoner" as Reshiram is literally imprisoned inside of Kyurem's body.

Speaking of Philosophy though, I have a 3000 word essay on Epistemology due in two days's time and I just started it today, so I won't be on Pokémon Online or Pokémon Showdown! this weekend

Sasha, look at this (Hyourinmaru is Anikrahman, by the way): http://www.pokemonshowdown.com/replay/uberssuspecttest-14516485

By the way, I have come up with a different set of nicknames, themed after the Allegory of the Cave (a fitting theme for a team named Shadow of Illusion in my opinion):

Smeargle - The Prisoner
Cloyster - The Cave
Groudon - The Fire
Dialga - The Stone Figure
Kyurem-W - The Truth
Arceus-Ghost - The Shadow

Sasha,

I don't know how Emily Zhang knows your name.

I said "right" to him or her, but I was being sarcastic. It was another way of saying "OK" or "I see." I really do not know how he/she knows our team.

I have no intentions of using Shadow of Illusion anymore for quite a while, so relax

We may need to work together to make an RMT of Shadow of Illusion in order prevent others from taking credit for our hard work. Are you willing to walk alongside me on this task?

Also, don't worry about CloudyWeather at all. He's not Cloudy19, he's Anikrahman

As for Shadow of Illusion, you may try to use the version that I just posted before. It worked amazingly well for me on Pokémon Showdown!, as evident from the replays I showed you.

By the way, what do you think of these nicknames?

Smeargle - Shadow Artist
Cloyster - Shadow Shell
Groudon - Shadow Sun
Dialga - Shadow Time
Kyurem-W - Shadow Freezer
Arceus-Ghost - Shadow Lord

I see, that's unfortunate.

I have never given Shadow of Illusion to anyone, and will never, ever do so until you are fine with it, but do note that Anikrahman, Imma Fly and Hack He Must can actually view the complete team by looking at our conversation here, since they have Serebii accounts (one cannot view a conversation I am part of on this site unless they are registered here). Anikrahman and Imma Fly already know the team as a result, but I am confident that they will not give it out to anyone else (I specifically told them not to do so).

Anyway, I have already gained requirements for the Moody suspect test, so I will stop laddering for a while now.

On a related note, I would like to draw your attention to this replay. Do you know anything about Emily Zhang?

As you can see, I have solved both the Darkrai problem and the Dialga problem by putting Earth Plate and Sleep Talk on Groudon.

As for the document you sent me, I'll read it soon

I have continued to use Cloyster, and am currently #2 on Pokémon Showdown!'s Übers ladder with a win-loss record of 26-4 using the following version of our team (you can see many of the replays I have saved here. Just as I thought, this team is extremely awesome with a Moody Smeargle!):

Shadow of Illusion [Moody Version]



Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Moody
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Protect
- Shell Smash
- Spore

[IMG]

Cloyster (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rapid Spin
- Shell Smash
- Spikes

[IMG]

Groudon @ Earth Plate
Trait: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk
- Stone Edge

[IMG]

Dialga @ White Herb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- AncientPower
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunder

[IMG]

Kyurem (Kyurem-W) @ White Herb
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 80 Def / 212 SAtk / 216 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- AncientPower
- Dragon Pulse
- Fusion Flare
- Ice Beam

[IMG]

Arceus (Arceus-Ghost) @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- ExtremeSpeed
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

To be honest, I think Cloyster was much better than Excadrill just because of its ability to threaten both Formes of Giratina with Icicle Spear, as well as its ability to do the same to Arceus-Ghost after a Shell Smash (whereas even with its Mold Breaker Earthquake, Excadrill cannot deal too significant damage to all three of the primary Spin-blockers, while said Spin-blockers can easily either cut down the power of Excadrill's Earthquake even more with Will-O-Wisp, or heavily threaten it with moves such as Earthquake, Hidden Power [Fire], Focus Blast, Flamethrower and Brick Break). Furthermore, Cloyster can threaten Groudon, one of the most common Stealth Rock users ever far more effectively than Excadrill ever can, and on top of that, Rapid Spin is far, far less expected on Cloyster than it is on Excadrill, which greatly decreases the likelihood of the opponent sending out a Ghost-type Pokémon to block our Rapid Spin, especially given the immanent threat of Cloyster Shell Smashing on the switch.

Sasha, guess what? The Ability Moody is now, at least temporarily, unbanned from Pokémon Showdown!'s Übers ladder. Give me your upgraded version of Shadow of Illusion so we can use it with a Moody Smeargle on Pokémon Showdown!'s Übers ladder Quick, remember that the suspect testing ends in two weeks, so if Moody remains banned, we may not get the chance to use it on the ladder again!

Ah, awesome! I'll be looking forward to seeing the new team

Anyway, I did think that having 4 HP on Smeargle would be better than 4 Special Defense, but I just left the Special Defense EVs there as they were already there when you first proposed the team to me, and I thought you may have had something in mind... But I'll note what you said about Smeargle and Kyurem-W.

As for the team, I won't be able to test it (or participate in Pokémon battles in general, at least that much) in the next few days as I have three essays of 1000, 1500 and 3000 word length due very soon (and I have only started the first one so far...), so I'll be busy working on them until later. But yeah, for the reasons you mentioned, our team seems awesome right now both competitively and aesthetically I am also very happy to get the chance to work together with the best SmashPass trainer in the Übers tier to make the ultimate SmashPass team

You could say that "we can easily set up sr if we need it," but we cannot "easily set up Stealth Rock" while at the same time not running the risk of allowing the opponent to set up just that one layer of entry hazard on our field to ruin Smeargle's Focus Sash. Remember that normally, all we have to do to sweep the opponent's team is lead with Cloyster, set up one or two layers of Spikes while using Cloyster's "immense offensive presence" (remember that although our Cloyster does not have Shell Smash, the opponent does not know that, so they will panic and not do anything rash such as switching to their Giratina against it) and Rapid Spin to prevent/remove any hazards on our field, and then sacrifice Cloyster before immediately going to Smeargle to Shell Smash. But if we are intent on setting up Stealth Rock, then after Cloyster has fainted, we then have to send out Groudon, get Stealth Rock up, and find an opportunity to get Smeargle in safely - during that time, we give ample opportunity for the opponent to set up the single layer of entry hazard needed to break Smeargle's Focus Sash. Of course, we could always predict the turn when the opponent sets up their first layer of hazard and switch to Smeargle on that very turn, but if the opponent's entry hazard setter is Dialga, Groudon, Forretress or Tentacruel, then we are forced to Spore first or run the risk of getting either Dragon Tailed as we Shell Smash, or have Forretress or Tentacruel Rapid Spin on us on that turn (and thus defeating the point of setting up Stealth Rock earlier), and if we do Spore first, who knows what the opponent could switch to in and use to hit our recipients hard on the switch?

The main reason to use Jolly on Arceus-Ghost is to outrun Latias and Latios, as especially the former with Substitute tends to be very problematic for SmashPass teams.

That rap you linked to was awesome! I really liked it, and Shizzy Sixx and shofu must be really talented to do this!

Anyway, against Kyogre, Dragon Pulse has an effective base power of 135, while Hidden Power [Electric] has an effective base power of 140, after factoring in Same Type Attack Bonus and super effectiveness respectively, so the different isn't much.

My reasoning for having Ancientpower on both recipients is because of the possibility that the opponent may have a Ho-Oh and a Lugia, or a specially-defensive Groudon or something else that Dialga cannot take out at +2 (coincidentally, one of my best teams actually has Ho-Oh + Lugia, while the other has Ho-Oh + specially-defensive Groudon). For example, if Kyurem-W doesn't have Ancientpower and the opponent has both Ho-Oh and Lugia, do we Baton Pass to Dialga or Kyurem-W? The sweep of our Shell Smash recipient will be stopped either way, so do remember that although we have two Shell Smash recipients in our team, it is still very important to ensure that each recipient can KO as many Pokémon as possible in one hit while at +2, even if they may be far from able to handle every possible combination.

I gave Kyurem-W EVs sufficient to outrun Pokémon with base 90 Speed, 252 EVs in Speed as well as a neutral Nature for Speed, and replaced Hidden Power [Electric] with AncientPower to KO Ho-Oh at +2 even without Stealth Rock (and the 10% chance to boost all stats is also sweet - Dialga's Power Gem was also replaced with AncientPower for the same reason), since Hidden Power [Electric] did negligibly more damage to Kyogre than Dragon Pulse anyway. What do you think?

Shadow of Illusion is going great! I got to #2 on Pokémon Showdown! with a 22-1 win-loss record using that team today, under the name "Butterfly Aizen." You can see most of the replays I have saved here.

Here is the current version of the team as I used it:



Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baton Pass
- Magic Coat
- Shell Smash
- Spore

[IMG]

Cloyster (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes

[IMG]

Groudon @ Lum Berry
Trait: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

[IMG]

Dialga @ White Herb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- AncientPower
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunder

[IMG]

Kyurem (Kyurem-W) @ White Herb
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 80 Def / 212 SAtk / 216 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- AncientPower
- Dragon Pulse
- Fusion Flare
- Ice Beam

[IMG]

Arceus (Arceus-Ghost) @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- ExtremeSpeed
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

hey Lance.....
About the team...how can i explain....it's simply the perfect smashpass team for sure....it needs tiny modifications though
for example electric HP may be replaced by grass...we have to study this
and i'm still not sure about the magic coat...especially against the whirlwinders or chansey and blissey...we already have big proplems...also losing against a magic coater doesn't prove that it's better...my experience says taunt is better...at least for now...we still have the sleep talkers....about Kyurem at + 2 ....this is really an awesome reveiver...the only problem would be for example a palkia waking up at first turn and spacial rend me....or any other big damaging moves from other pokemon with a chain of extreme speeds...u can consider a 34 % damage for extreme speeds and 23% damage for shadow sneaks
the only real pain in the team is the lack of ice shard on cloyster...which was a very big advantage for me....i might replace shell smash with it...this way i can gain 252 EVs for a bonus and put'em on def for example...this way it can counter arceus very well....or just put'em on s.def ...idk just ideas...this way closyter would be a better spinner...ice shard is really important for darkrais aswell...since earthquack can't OHKO darkrais...

Hey SASHA,

Just saying Magic Coat may be better than Taunt on Smeargle, as aside from being able to prevent it from being pseudo-Hazed away by Roar and Whirlwind (just like Taunt), it also stops the Taunt of fast Pokémon such as Deoxys-S. With Magic Coat, Smeargle can do this incredible thing: Switch into Deoxys-S on the turn it sets up Stealth Rock/Spikes, reflect Deoxys-S's Taunt with Magic Coat, and then Shell Smash (beware of ExtremeSpeed), which I find to be incredibly helpful. Magic Coat can also reflect Espeon's Yawn, which is a great plus.

amazing! It's truly nice to get many chances to chat then

Comnpared to most other SmashPass recipients, I'd say Mewtwo is good in respect to its access to Taunt, which is especially useful for its ability to get past Lugia.

Congratulations on your victory

Anyway, yeah, I forgot about Cloyster's Spikes... but regarding Arceus-Ghost, Mewtwo needs 252 HP EVs and 136 Special Defense EVs to survive a Judgment from a 252 Special Attack Arceus-Ghost, leaving it with only 122 EVs for Special Attack. Would that be worth it? Also, don't forget Arceus-Ghost like mine that have Shadow Claw + ExtremeSpeed...