For a while, this was the only team I'd ever use. It's probably one of my best- far from perfect, but certainly better than what I usually throw together, and certainly better than any other offense team I've tried my hand with. Sadly Agastya saw how effective it was and decided that it must be punished, so the key member was henceforth banned from Shoddy.
(note: the above may be an embellishment)
Futo (F) @ Special Bloomers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 116 HP/252 Atk/140 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Aqua Jet
- Fire Punch
- Sacred Fire
- Waterfall
Futo is probably not the best lead in the game, but she's still fairly good at her job. Special Bloomers means her Sacred Fire hits *very* hard, and Aqua Jet can pick off anything weak to it. The HP EVs ensure she lives Brave Bird from Banded Speed Aya exactly once while still outspeeding all Technical Toyohimes. Fire Punch provides coverage against Medicines- in hindsight Zen Headbutt would have been a better choice, as it gives coverage against Defense Hina and Byakurens as well, but I never got the chance to change it.
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Yumeko (F) @ Lum (All) Berry
Ability: Guard Armor
EVs: 160 HP/252 Atk/96 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Sculpture
- Swords Dance
Yumeko is here to provide her famed Pursuit support, and has surprisingly good synergy with Futo. Her typing lets her come in on Reason and Miasma attacks, while baiting Fire and Heart attackers for Futo to absorb. The moves are somewhat unusual and really shouldn't work, but manage to anyway. Sculpture is used over Blade Flash as it's her strongest reliable attack, and lets her poke large holes in things like cheeky Hatates. Pursuit is obligatory- trapping Reasons that scare Futo makes her much more effective. Swords Dance is where things get a little strange- while Yumeko's speed is not terribly suited to sweeping, she becomes quite terrifying if she can pick up a boost from Speed Aya. Furthermore, it allows her to be surprisingly effective against defensive teams when combined with her investment. Poison Jab helps by dispatching Stars and Kaguyas, which threaten a lot of my mons- while it's not as good for coverage as Superpower, it lets me keep on sweeping, and eliminating those thorns is more important than smacking Steels (most of which are heckled by Rin). Lum is essential for this to work- Yumeko hates every status but Toxic, and being on a team with a passing Speed Aya means she's very likely to take it. EVs allow her to outrun Mimi-chan at +2 while maintaining most of her power and bulk.
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Speed Wriggle (M) @ Petaya (Spa) Berry
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Timid nature (+Spd,-Atk)
- Aeroblast
- Heat Wave
- Nature Sound
- Substitute
I don't like this set. It's very predictable, blatantly obvious, and generally inclined to be sweepy. It's also the only thing Speed Wriggle can realistically run with her limited movepool (besides perhaps favoring Poison Bomb or Sonicboom for coverage). That said, it fills two very important roles for the team- it provides STAB Nature coverage, which is essential in a meta-game with Sendai (and very useful in general), and it gives me a fast revenge killer. In a pinch (har har), she can also function as an emergency sweeper with Petaya Overgrow, but this is extremely unlikely to work unless the foe is heavily weakened. As this team is more about blowing holes in things than weakening them (no spikes!), that doesn't happen often.
I ran a 4 Attacks Yuyuko in this slot for a while, hoping to make more use of Speed Aya's passing, but I found her much less useful as it deprived me of options against faster threats.
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Scumbag Aya (Speed Aya) (F) @ Airline Uniform (Flying)
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Brave Bird
- Detect
- High Jump Kick
Speed Aya is the unintended crux of the team. Her insane speed lets her threaten most of the game, and she serves as a secondary revenge killer of sorts. Of course, she this isn't all she does- Baton Pass means that when push comes to shove, somebody else on the team gets a free +1 or +2 to speed. This can be rather terrifying- Futo, Yumeko, and Technical Toyohime area all capable of steamrolling teams unprepared for their terrible might when they're suddenly outspeeding everything. The set has undergone several revisions- normally I advise running just 252 Atk, enough speed to outrun Advent Marisa and putting the rest in HP to soften Brave Birds, but without Shoddy's bugged Speed Boost mechanics Detect becomes much more useful for snagging boosts. It should be noted that Speed Aya is rather fragile, especially with speed investment- while she may resist most of, say, Aki Sisters' attacks, she won't appreciate coming in on them too often. If playing on Shoddy, I advise running Spikes over Detect to gain an edge against slower, more defensive teams.
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Rin (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
Impish nature (+Def,-SpAtk)
- Crunch
- Extremespeed
- Will-o-wisp
- Wish
I don't like Rin. I think she's a boring character, and bad as a puppet, but she's here and still manages to work. Most of the time. Rin serves as a physically defensive pivot- Intimidate lets her soften things up so other mons can come in, perhaps with oft-appreciated Wish support. Crunch allows her to mangle Youki and Speed Youmu, who would otherwise be prominent threats. Extremespeed allows her to kill SubSalac and Endure abusers, while Will-o-wisp lets her
break Lum Berries miss burn stubborn physical attackers and rack up residual damage against special switch-ins. Take care with Rin- while she is a useful pivot, she is not a wall, and many prominent physical threats such as
Sendai, Technical Byakuren, and Attack Reimu (who you shouldn't come in on anyway) are immune to Intimidate. If playing on cart, this list grows to include Attack Yuugi and Kasen, who can do a number on Rin if she tries switching in on them.
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Technical Toyohime (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 88 HP/168 Spd/252 SpAtk
Modest nature (+SpAtk,-Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Earth Power
- Shadow Ball
- Surf
Technical Toyohime is easily one of the best puppets in the game. Fully invested 130 Special Attack means her attacks leave a mark in everything but dedicated special walls, and she comes with Calm Mind to break through those. She also has fantastic 90/90/110 bulk, and enough speed to be dangerous when passed boosts. EVs enable her to outspeed uninvested base 85s at +0 and plenty of other things when given boosts- most stuff fast enough to outrun a boosted Toyohime can't hit her hard enough to break past her defenses faster than her potentially CM-Boosted Surfs wash them away. Shadow Ball is chosen as the coverage move to heckle Hatate and Yuyuko- I find it generally superior to Mana Burst.
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