SM OU All Hail Aurora Veil (First SM OU Team)

[Elijah P]

After taking a year-long break from Showdown, I decided to come back to see how Gen 7 changed the metagame, and I have to say, there are quite a few cool new things. But none of them are cooler than the new move that hail teams have received: Aurora Veil. I decided to build a team around this, and here is what I've come up with.

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Moonblast
- Encore

The star of the show, A-Ninetails will most likely be the star of any hail team thanks to its ability Snow Warning (which activates hail upon entry), and it's access to Aurora Veil, which sets up Light Screen and Reflect on the SAME TURN if it's hailing. Combined with its amazing speed, it can set up double screens against anything on the first turn not named M-Scizor, Magnezone, or Pelliper (due to it being slower an having Drizzle now). Light Clay is held to maximize the number of turns they're up, and EV's and Nature are spread to maximize it's Speed. We also have Moonblast for STAB, Encore to prevent it from being Set-Up bait, and Freeze-Dry to counter those bulky water types (Quagsire, Mantine, Pelliper, especially Pelliper). There is nothing better than watching Pelliper try to cancel my screens only to get OHKO'd by Freeze-Dry :)

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Scald
- Baneful Bunker
- Haze

Toxapex is a prime example of a Pokemon that can take advantage of AV, it is essentially the Gen 7 Ferrothorn. It has amazing Defenses, an exclusive move in Baneful Bunker (which protects+poisons on contact), and Regenerator, which makes it the premier staller of Gen 7. Combined with Haze to prevent set ups, Scald to cripple physical attackers, and Recover to extend it's longevity, this thing can take any move (excluding T-Bolt, Earth Power, and Psychic) without dying, and when it's out with AV up, it becomes virtually unkillable. EV's are spread to maximize Physical Bulk, along with Bold Nature.

Sandslash-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Slush Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin

A-Sandslash is another Pokemon that takes advantage of AV. This thing has the brand new ability Slush Rush, which doubles speed in hail. So by running SD on it, you can double attack from SD, double speed from Hail, and double Defense and Special Defense with AV, All. At. Once. In addition, it hold life orb to maximize it's attack, icicle crash for STAB, and with Earthquake, it has excellent coverage. The last move slot is for Rapid Spin, to eliminate the Rocks that cripple A-Ninetails if you wish to re-set up hail and AV. EV's and Nature are geared towards max attack and speed. Note that this thing doesn't survive very long but does a crap ton of damage in the short time it's out.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Slide
- Sludge Wave

With Landorus being unbanned I saw this as an opportunity to pair with Toxapex. These two are fantastic partners due to the fact that Toxapex can brush off the Ice and Water attacks with ease, and Landorus won't even be phased by the Electric and Ground attacks that cripple Toxapex thanks to its immunities, not to mention it's already decent bulk is even better in AV. EV's and Nature should be obvious, with life orb used to maximize the already boosted attack thanks to sheer force. Earth Power and Stone Edge are it's main coverage moves, while HP Ice is used to check other Lando's along with other Ground, Flying, and Dragon types. Finally, Sludge Wave is used to counter Tapu Bulu, which would otherwise run through this team (thank god for the 4x poison Weakness)

Garchomp @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw

This is my second set up sweeper, in the event that A-Sandslash fails to produce results. Similar in the fact that they both use Life Orb, have Adament Natures, and run almost identical EV spreads, but Garchomp has slightly better typing and coverage, the trade off being the lack of speed AS offers. Dragon Claw and Earthquake for STAB, Fire fang for the Ice and Steel types that would otherwise wall him.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Tapu Lele is a fantastic late game sweeper, thanks to Psychic Terrain, which blocks priority moves (There have been many times where I have foiled M-Scizors BP to OHKO Ninetails) and gives a boost to Psychic moves. So you can imagine what a max spA, psychic terrain boosted, choice specs boosted psyshock can do your opponent. Moonblast, Focus Blast and HP Fire round out coverage for the various scenarios.

Note: Icy Rock can be run held by Ninetails instead of Light Clay. This gives Sandslash more time to sweep at the cost of less time for the other members to take advantage of AV.

 

[Kevin Lee]

For prebank, what would you replace landorus with?

 

[Elijah P]

That's a tough question. Maybe Vanilluxe cuz it has Snow Warning, could give Sandslash a second chance to wreak havoc if Ninetails dies, but there might be better options

 

[Ashrynn]

I've been using AV Ninetales on my team and I do see a couple of similarities with strategy, but I can promise you Sandslash isn't worth running. Ice/Steel is just too easy to break past and Sandslash lacks the raw power to break through walls even @ +2. Not to mention that if you find a sly player who can just stall out your Hail you're done. If Ninetales drops Sandlslash becomes a pure liability in most situations. Remember, you aren't running Icy Rock so you really only have three turns after switching Sandslash in and then 2 after you get your Swords Dance up before a speed drop.

Unless I'm overlooking something your team just needs a strong, bulky(ish) set-up sweeper. M-Gyara(which I do use) was one of the absolute best partners since AV makes him incredibly bulky and capable of easily getting to +2 on a physical attacker(thanks to Intimidate). M-Charizard X would also do this and I feel would work really well with your team. Hitting +2 behind AV is easy and these two come in on quite a few pokemon without much worry. Once you're +2 DD it's kind of GG. A lot of my matches end with a 3+ sweeps or the opponent DCing using that strategy and I feel you do need a stronger set-up sweeper that isn't completely dead-weight outside of Hail.