Honestly, this team proves absolutely nothing in terms of Latias tier status. All it says really is that TAY is a better battler than the hundred other people using a direct varient of this on the suspect ladder (and if you've been there, you will know what I'm talking about). In no way does this 3 dragon + 3 steel team make other teams less viable, as I am not the only one who has been able to use a standard Platinum team on the Suspect Ladder with no problems. Well guess what, TAY has a Gyarados weakness. TAY has a horrid Salamence weakness. TAY has a Weavile weakness.
I have already said I have a gyarados weakness, and suggestions were made to help take care of that. And it isn't like it's as simple as "if kingdra is KO'd I lose to gyarados." The rest of my team is far from useless even if it has a DD (and especially if it holds life orb, as so many are bound to do these days). I am well aware that the team does not do well against DD / DClaw Salamence, but again, I have ways to beat it...I wouldn't say I have a "horrid" weakness when probably 90+% of the salamences on the suspect ladder do not run Dragon Claw, and I am obviously prepared to deal with those. Regarding what you seem to think is a massively terrible weavile weakness: I don't see it. Weavile fails to OHKO Heatran, Kingdra, Scizor, and Magnezone, and is OHKO'd in return by all of them. Even if it gets a swords dance, one intimidate will stop it from OHKOing both Kingdra and Magnezone (unless it runs Life Orb in the latter case). You're ignoring the fact that weavile cannot set up against most of my team - and even if Latias is out there is a decent chance I would just stay in and attack since (ignoring useless prediction arguments) Latias is not OHKOd by Weavile's Ice Punch if it doesn't have LO or Band. There's always the chance that I will just assume it is using pursuit and attack it anyway. Long story short: the suspect ladder has been packed with weaviles in response to Latias; trust me: I can deal with it. Weavile's destruction of my team is a lot more situational than you imply.
And regarding Latias making other teams "less viable", that was never my argument. I argued that it creates a massive incentive to use Dragon and Steel types; it makes this type of team
more viable than a standard Platinum team. Also:
RaikouLover said:
Right now, it seeps Scizor is the only thing keeping your team together, and its gonna fall to Magnezone as they are everywhere.
Isn't this evidence in my favor?
RaikouLover said:
Also, this team is far from perfect and probably won't be as successful on a standard ladder.
I'm not sure how that is relevant since I am not playing on the standard ladder. And if I somehow was able to I doubt I would do badly in an environment where no one prepares for Latias.
Duck Tape Son said:
The only reason Scarf Magnezone should even be used in my opinion is if you have a team weak to Lucario. Other than that Magnezones should really be Sub Magnet Rise ones, with the rise of Salamence I don't know why I'm seeing a lack of Bronzong use (Heatproof Zong being the best switch-in to MixMence). I just don't get why Scarf Zone is viable besides trapping Lucario and maybe outspeeding Ape and Gengar which both have seen less use. Ape because of Latias and Gengar because of Scizor.
Well I probably should have gone into more detail in my original descriptions. The only steels I
really need magnezone to beat are Lucario, Scizor, Skarmory, and other Magnezones. Beating Bronzong and Metagross would be nice, but they aren't the major offensive or defensive threats that the others are (except for agilitygross which is a huge pain, but which a mag rise zone couldn't beat anyway).
Legacy Rider said:
TAY, just one other thing. I was playing around with your Latias' EV spread, and I was thinking maybe 148 HP, 108 SpA, 252 Spe would be more useful.
This is a really good idea and I will probably do it.
In response to the most recent discussion about magnezone: It really, really needs to stay scarf. If I switched to another item then Lucario would probably be a bigger threat than Gyarados. All I could really do would be to intimidate it or try to force a CC or two so I could ping it with Latias or Scizor, but if they see my plan and SD again it wouldn't even matter.