GSC OU Vaporeon offense

Im new to GSC so thought i'd post my team and get some feedback. Basic premise is using Light Screen to help support Machamp and Vaporeon. Suicune acts as an electric lure to help Vaporeon as well. Golem and Lax lure in and dent Skarmory badly to help Machamp. Perhaps some paralysis support could be much appreciated but cant seem to fit it in anywhere?

Heres a replay: [Gen 2] OU replay: CasedVictory vs. smurfer - Pokmon Showdown

Zapdos @ Leftovers
- Thunder
- Light Screen
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Suicune @ Leftovers
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Mirror Coat

Golem (M) @ Leftovers
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
- Rapid Spin

Machamp (M) @ Leftovers
- Curse
- Cross Chop
- Rock Slide
- Light Screen

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
- Growth
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Acid Armor

Snorlax (M) @ Leftovers
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Thunder
- Self-Destruct

 

It's a very cool concept, hard for me to accurately gauge here as this is polar opposite to my play style. Firstly abilities don't exist in gen 2, so I would double check all stats are maxed if you have it structured from a newer gen. Secondly I'm not sure if you knew your opponent or not but wouldn't take too much notice of the chirping, this game seems to be full of bigots with big mouths and small balls, we get it all the time I notice the Zapdos you used in your match was a sleep talker rather than the light screener, I think sleep talk is better on this team as it's your only buffer for status's and light screen Zapdos still can't beat Raikou which is its primay check. The light screen Machamp seemed to work pretty nice though. There's no phazer for Lax's which is a big problem, obviously Machamp and Golem are your checks there, but a good player with a curse earthquake lax will figure it out and get you on the switches, you might want to consider reflect somewhere to help you as this is the theme of the team. Overall it's lacking speed, recovery and much of a plan for status's, in gen 2 recovery is a big thing because you can use it so effectively, especially with bulky pokes, something like this has the potential to just lack durability. The overall speed I see as a bit of an issue as you're weak to some key things: Raikou, especially with roar and spikes, gengar, zapdos. Jumpluff with sleep powder, encore, leech seed would give you hell, encore alakazam could mess with ya a little too. Overall it's a really cool concept, I like the light screen on machamp a lot I think that could catch a lot of good players out but in gen 2 the pokes you need to focus on beating are zapdos, raikou and snorlax and I think they could just outpace this in the hands of a good player. Nidoking with lovely kiss, earthquake, thunder, ice beam could mess with you a bit, especially if your zapdos isn't a sleep talker. I think you should put cloyster or exeggutor over suicune, they work as widcards with their explosions and would probably be better for the role you have suicune on there for. Also you'll get spikes or sleep powder by picking one of them and that will help your team massively. I can't help but feel steelix might be better than golem in that slot too, it will help you more with the legendary electrics plus it'll mean your defense poke can't get poisoned by skarms and forretresses. But really cool concept mate, keep evolving it around the light screen machamp, I feel that is the key piece to this team.

 

And vaporeon responds very well to opponents paralysis, so maybe body slam somewhere?

 

One other huge problem I can see here is mean look, baton pass umbreon, it can decimate this entire roster as you have no roar or baton pass. I would say you need roar somewhere, personally I'd scrap golem for steelix with: earthquake, roar, explosion, curse/body slam.

 

The first thing that sticks out is that Vaporeon set- it needs Rest somewhere, probably over IB, otherwise it just gets worn down and kinda dies, as well as it needing Rest to use AA effectively. While AA is fine, another option that you might want to consider is Sleep Talk- allows Vap to use its bulk to be a bit more threatening. It also frees up Zap to run something other than Sleep Talk. Alternatively dropping AA and keeping IB could work, it's just I feel that's a bit limited since it only really nails Egg and Zap.

Secondly, as James says phazing is 100% mandatory in GSC. Cune and your Ground type (whatever it ends up being) are the most obvious choices for phazing.

Beyond that, it feels like this team is trying to do too much- in trying to support Champ and Vap you've neglected Spikes and I feel like your Lax coverage is weak. I mean in theory running Champ+Golem is fine, but that's if your team is particularly aggressive, otherwise they both get worn down in a hurry. I feel like part of your team fits this (Champ/Gol/Lax, maybe Vap), but Cune, Tbolt Zap and the lack of Spikes mean your team just doesn't do a good enough job of limiting Lax. I'm not sure what to suggest because I'm not sure what direction you want to go with this team, and especially because when I think of what would help Vap out I tend to end up with a Borat boom team which is boring, idk

 

Golem generally isn't going to lure Skarmory except from a clueless noob because a) Fire Blast is fairly common on Golem (it hits Egg as well) and b) Skarmory can't actually do anything to Golem unless it runs Toxic (theoretically it can try to set up Curses but that's pointless if your Electric's alive). Most people will send a Water if they have one; if Golem doesn't Explode on the switch, then it doesn't matter what it has, and if it does, it's 1 for 1.

Ortheore and James are right that your team's rather weak to Electrics; you simply don't have anything you can switch into them except Lax and it gets worn down in a hurry. Roar Raikou + Spikes is a particularly big issue. They're also right that you need a phazer of your own lest you get obliterated by Umbreon and Misdreavus.

 

I like this.

I'd say Machamp would much rather have Hidden Power than Light Screen. The reason being that, although he can sweep, he can most reliably be called upon to go 1-for-1 with something important like Zapdos or Egg, much like an Exploder. In this sense, HP Bug is crucial to be able to knock out Egg.

Vap should probably Rest (over Ice Beam) because once you've boomed, mirror coated, and champ'd your way through walls, you want a mon that can set up on a bunch of stuff in the endgame. Without Rest, you can't really pull that off.

Not having a Phazer probably means sad times for you against MLpass Umb. Especially with Charm. Suicune seems like a natural mon to slap Roar onto. This also helps you out against opposing Vaps. Alternatively, you could use Roar instead of Rapid Spin on Golem, which might actually be better as you kinda want IB on Cune to force Zapper to Thunder you. I think with a team like this, you're shooting for an essentially won game by turn 30 or so. Thus, Rapid Spin probably isn't the most important move you could have. Plus, having your Normal resist be your Phazer is generally going to be most useful, as you'll probably need your Phazer to come in and stop Curselax at least once in a match.

Maybe Egg > Cune could help you out. Being able to blow up on Electrics is a little more reliable than asking them to Thunder into an MC, especially as MC Cune isn't exactly the most unexpected "surprise" in the world (experienced players will always scout for MC or wait for you to be in OHKO range before Thundering). Not to mention that MC Cune doesn't exactly mix well with LS.

Alternatively, Cloy could go well over Cune. It also baits Elecs into booms (sort of... Gengar's pretty annoying though), offers Spikes which is always nice, and most importantly, baits Starmie into taking Toxic/Explosion so Machamp can actually do something useful. Main problem with Cloy, though, is it makes opposing Machamps pretty dang scary.

With LS Zap, Golem, Lax, and Machamp, I'm not sure this team is really that electric-weak. It's a super fast-paced team, and the way it handles Electrics is nonconventional, but it definitely has play.