GSC OU Pretty Standard GSC Team

Figured I'd kick off the teams forum here with a very standard sort of team. This team was used to great success by gene80 in SPL a few years back and it's about as standard as you can get, really. I made a couple tweaks to his version, though.


Nidoking @ Leftovers
-Earthquake
-Thunder
-Ice Beam
-Lovely Kiss

Nidoking leads the team off. Earthquake + Boltbeam is great coverage, and LK screws with the things that can tank it. Nidoking provides a much-needed Electric immunity and mixed offensive threat to the team. This set in particular is walled by Heracross, but it's not used all that often. Thunder can 3HKO Suicunes and 2HKO Starmies, which is why we don't just Tbolt here.


Zapdos @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

Thunder Zap will pose a real threat to Snorlaxen. Zapdos is just such a good sleep talker and general-purpose matchup machine for you to stick in against almost everything and be able to pray for some good luck. You could use Raikou over Zap in this slot, you become weaker against Grounds but gain the ability to fight Gengars and opposing Zapdos better.


Miltank @ Leftovers
-Seismic Toss
-Growl
-Milk Drink
-Heal Bell

Growltank stalls your standard Curselax sets. Heal Bell keeps you status-free, which allows you to be more reckless with Drumlax and Nidoking. I like SToss to prevent Skarmory with 2 sleep turns from just burning them on my Miltank as I Heal Bell. Body Slam is nice for the paralysis, though.


Snorlax @ Leftovers
-Double-Edge
-Earthquake
-Belly Drum
-Rest

Drumlax can smash other stalls like no other, though its utility is more limited against offensive teams. Still, it can afford to be a little reckless with Nidoking backing it up on offense, not to mention Heal Bell support. Double-Edge 2HKOs Skarm after setup, which might be a little reckless (most people prefer Body Slam because of this), but at the same time, Skarm (especially Curse Skarm) can really eat at your PP without DE, and Skarm is on every stall team that Drumlax is supposed to match up well against. DE makes you offensively useful without a drum, too.


Starmie @ Leftovers
-Surf
-Light Screen
-Rapid Spin
-Recover

Starmie spins. It's as simple as that. You want Spikes off the field to let Lax come in and heal up after a rampage. The fourth move can be one of many things. I choose Light Screen here because it lets Snorlax set up drums against Electrics and also stalls out Vaporeon nicely. Plus it's nice to buffer Skarm from Fire Blasts against Curselax switch-ins. Reflect is also a useful screen to toss out, but I think LS is better for letting Lax actually recklessly switch into Special moves and set up, whereas Reflect is more prophylactic by nature. There's also Psychic if Gengar Spinblock and Machamp really scare you, although Surf is easily a 3HKO on the former, and this team doesn't really struggle too much with the latter. Twave is also an option.


Skarmory @ Leftovers
-Drill Peck
-Toxic
-Whirlwind
-Rest

Skarm protects you against other Laxen, and also acts as the team Phazer. I use Toxic instead of Curse because the latter is only good for stalling out opposing non-FB Snorlax in the endgame (which Miltank should already be able to do, even against FB Curselax), whereas the former can mess up Roar Raikous and Tyranitars that might otherwise love to switch in on Skarm and wreak havoc. If you're afraid of Gengar, then Steelix and Ttar are viable alternatives here, but then your ability to take on Marowak and Machamp is greatly diminished.


And there's the team. The idea is to play defensively, but every now and then aggressively bring in Nido or Lax when you see the opportunity to do so. Nido should be wearing the foe down initially, then later in the game Lax should be coming in to set up and wreck things. With 2 offensive mons, you can afford to be more reckless with those sources of offense, unlike other stalls that might need to baby their Drumlax or fight hard to preserve their Spikes.

That said, this team has a couple weak points. First of all, opposing Zapdos loves having Nidoking + Drumlax as the only real checks to it (you could always go for the Zapdos ditto or try to waste Thunders with Miltank, though). Gengar can also be a problem, with Snorlax the only thing capable of damaging it while also avoiding being 3HKOed. LK Drumlax can also be a pain to deal with, as once Skarmory is LK'd, there's really nothing on this team capable of stopping it. CurseDrum Snorlax can also be a problem, especially as a last mon. However, that set is pretty gimmicky, and if you're really worried about it you can always run Curse Skarm to stall it out. Misdreavus, particularly Thunder Misdreavus, can also be a huge problem, as Skarmory is your only Phazer. Overall, though, this is a solid team.