GSC OU An Espeon Team

I'm bored, so I'll post this team. The idea is Espeon is pretty cool, so why not build a team with it (in addition to another gimmick I like)?

Zapdos @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-HP Ice
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

Can take Growths from Espeon to be really scary. Other than that it's Zapdos, it does a little of everything. Checks scary threats, dishes out damage, paralyzes Raikous, it's all good.


Espeon @ Leftovers
-Psychic
-Growth
-Morning Sun
-Baton Pass

Ostensibly the star of the show, although realistically, its consistency is suspect. However, Espy is actually pretty good at checking some annoying threats like Gengar, Machamp, and Nidoking (and even Egg if you don't mind using Espy as fodder), so it's still pretty nice to have around. BP is weird, because Espy can be a great attacker in its own right, so you might think coverage would be better. However, BP forces opponents to respect the possibility of a boosted Zapdos instead of just trying to wail Espy with Thunders or something, thereby enabling its attacking prowess. Plus the HP drop from the good Hidden Powers is actually pretty annoying.


Gengar @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-Ice Punch
-Explosion
-Destiny Bond

Explodes on Raikou for Zapdos. Dbonds on Ttar for Espeon. Can check Snorlax if need be.


Snorlax @ Leftovers
-Double-Edge
-Lovely Kiss
-Curse
-Rest

LK is just such a good move, and tends to catch Ttar and Steel Phazers that otherwise are pretty annoying for Espeon.


Suicune @ Leftovers
-Surf
-Mirror Coat
-Rest
-Roar

I needed a Ground counter. I also needed a Phazer and something with at least a chance to make Zapdos' life hard. This Suicune set mish-mashes things in its movepool to try to accomplish all that. I normally don't like doing something like this because I feel like Suicune needs RestTalk to do its main duty (tanking Grounds) and ideally Toxic so it can actually punish Snorlax switch-ins somewhat. But here I am not using either of those on this team.


Donphan @ Leftovers
-Earthquake
-Encore
-Toxic
-Rapid Spin

This is the other gimmick. Keeps Spikes off with Spin, it deals with most Physical threats nicely (most are weak to EQ, and it's actually not a terrible second look to Marowak, especially with Zapdos drawing Rock Slides and Swords Dances), and Encore is so handy for so many things. It stops some Curselaxes, some Cursechamps, maybe locks Zapdos into Hidden Power if you think you can afford to tank the damage, and helps with Misdreavus (an Encore'd Missy gets 2HKOed by EQ). Toxic gets Cloyster to die, and is used over Rest because a pure Ground isn't going to get a ton of time to snooze anyway.

 

Ah, something worth talking about. Espeon is one of my personal favorite pokemon and I have like 5 teams with Espy. I'll just make some general comments about playing with Espeon.

Psychic/Growth/BP/MSun Espeon will do absolutely nothing in 90% of games. You have to give up Morning Sun to get things done on Espeon consistently imo. Sub or HP Water is well worth. You just have to pick critical turns to play Espeon is all. You can't just say oh hey this is my defensive machamp switch in, cause starmie would just do that better.

The idea of Gengar taking out Raikou and T-Tar is good, cause those are both enormous obstacles, however it's not uncommon at all for those two to be on the same team. Gengar can't kill both.

Big problem that tends to exist on any Espeon team is Snorlax. Teambuilding with Espeon means you want to have stuff to pass to but stuff Espeon passes to doesn't tend to check snorlax reliably. I have actually gotten off sweeps with +1/+2 Suicune very rarely. Anyway, your team lets Snorlax in freely in a lot of places and doesn't switch into lax well at all.

I think Self-Destruct lax is the best lax on an espeon team. Self-destruct Lax is the most reliable thing in the game at killing something very important (OPPOSING SNORLAX).

Trying to toxic T-Tar is a really good way to free up Espeon. Toxic on Gengar, or Toxic + Fblast Snorlax can open the door surprisingly well. In Gengar's case, hitting Raikou with toxic and forcing a rest can be very useful as well.

In fact, Toxic on Espeon itself isn't that bad. Psychic/Toxic/Growth/Morning Sun gives you a mixed tempo, where you are forcing the issue by having a growth threat that needs to be dealt with, while threatening common walls (t-tar, egg) with devastating but slower paced deaths.

Here's a decent team:

Forretress @ Leftovers
-spikes
-rapid spin
-toxic
-explosion

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
-earthquake
-rock slide
-curse
-roar

Snorlax @ Leftovers
-Double-Edge
-Fire Blast
-Toxic
-Self-destruct

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
-Hydro Pump
-AA
-Growth
-Rest

Espeon @ Leftovers
-psychic
-growth
-baton pass
-substitute

Zapdos @ Leftovers
-thunder
-hp ice
-sleep talk
-rest

Again, not solidly checking Lax is an issue so I go AA on Vaporeon. On a non-roaring T-tar passing Vap a +1 can be the head start vap needs to now be a giant problem if it is hitting an electric with a +1 hpump on the ttar switch out. Can easily go for Raikou instead of Zapdos if uncomfortable with the lack of electric defense (Self-D Lax + Zapdos is pretty thin).

 

Forry and Ttar seem like weak links on that team. You could probably play with those slots to fix the Electrics weakness without going Raikou > Zapdos, as that basically insta-loses to Ground types.

 

*Shrug* Forre and Ttar are generally always useful. The weak links are Espeon and Vaporeon, but the whole point is to use Espeon somewhat effectively consistently lol.

Basically, on any Espeon team...you're just going to need Snorlax switch ins no matter what. You could go Skarm over Forre, but then you lose spikes and an explosion. Your pace ends up being too slow for a team without spikes AND without spin. The problem with Espeon on slow paced teams is that it rarely ends up breaking things open with growth passing and ends up playing the defensive role Starmie would play (but you don't have spin or stab Surf and you really wish you just had starmie).