Monotype psychic - Pls help.

Hello there. On the 7th of February I'm going to attend a monotype tournament and I'm going to be using a psychic team (big surprise, eh?).

I have a monotype psychic team that I've been using with quite a lot of success on showdown in the monotype tier. However, I made that team before ORAS so it's a bit outdated, and anyway the tournament doesn't have the same rules as Showdown. Sooooo I need to tweak my team a little, but as you probably all know, tweaking a team that you've been using successfully for a long time is really hard because you don't really want to change anything so I need an outside perspective.

tl;dr: pls help.

Here are the rules of the tournament:

- 6v6 singles
- Monotype + 1 wildcard allowed. Megas that acquire a type don't count (i.e. no Mega Gyarados in dark team, etc.)
- Same banlist as the Battle Maison
- No 2 pokemon with the same item
- Obvious species clause, sleep clause, OHKO clause, no endless battle clause...

Here is my team:

Meowstic (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Calm
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Yawn
- Psyshock

Pretty self explanatory. Sets up screens and causes sleep or forces switch with Yawn to allow the next pokemon to switch in safely. Really useful to help Malamar set up.

Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

This thing is my MVP in most matches on Showdown. Bulky as hell.

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Bullet Punch
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt

Until recently I actually ran Pursuit instead of Zen Headbutt... I'm still not sure which one I prefer. Anyway the 2 main moves are Meteor Mash and Bullet Punch. I use Bullet Punch to revenge kill or I use Meteor Mash to deal massive damage if I expect a switch.

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spd
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Destiny Bond
- Healing Wish

This is basically my "please save my ass" pokemon in tight situations. Scarf allows to outspeed a lot of stuff and hopefully kill it with a damaging move, or if I can't kill it and I'm desperate I can bring it down with Destiny Bond, or if I need one of my other pokes to be healthy again I can resort to Healing Wish.

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard -> Trace
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spd
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Dazzling Gleam

Alakazam because I'm me. Modest mega is faster and hits harder than regular timid with life orb.

Slowbro @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off

Self explanatory set. I need Leftovers on Malamar so I have to settle with Sitrus Berry on Slowbro.


Now that is the original team I've been using. However, considering the new megas and the banlist which allows for Lati@s, plus the wildcard allowed, well I just have too many options and I can't choose.

Here are some sets I've been thinking about using:

Delphox @ Wide Lens
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spd
- Hypnosis
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Grass Knot

Delphox is underrated. I tried that set for a few matches and it's really cool. Delphox is pretty fast and fire is useful against my bug weakness and against steel types. Even with Wide Lens, Hypnosis still misses a lot but Fire Blast is pretty reliable.
I was also thinking about using a scarf or specs set with Switcheroo instead of Hypnosis.

Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Roost

It could replace Slowbro, and then my Alakazam could be timid with focus sash. I'm not sure how good it could take Earthquakes and fire hits for Metagross even better than Slowbro can but I would probably miss the Scald burn.

There's also the possibility of Mega Metagross which is ridiculously OP. Or even Mega Gardevoir or Mega Slowbro. So many options.

As for the wildcard, well, I'm not a sissy so I'm thinking about not having one, but if I do, Talonflame would cover my weaknesses really well (I hate that bird so it pains me to say that). Or Mega Charizard Y but then that takes my mega slot... Or Mega Salamence just because it's OP as hell. Or Mega Mawile because that thing is so damn good and covers my weaknesses pretty well too... *sigh* HEEELP!

Meowstic (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Calm
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Yawn
- Psyshock

Minor nitpick but this spread is a bit inefficient on the use of EVs with that nature.

The above spread gives you 351 HP 251 Def and 220 SpD

A Bold 248 HP 168 Def 92 SpD gives you 351 HP 253 Def and 221 SpD. So you get a bit of extra bulk. Just a nitpick but worth noting.

I like Trace, especially on a monotype team, so I'd keep Mega Zam. But Mega Bro is broken as can be, especially with the Rest set. Personally I like the team. You have two setup sweepers, and you could cycle Latias in there, but idk.

Bunsel, I'm a bit disappointed, I was counting on you for a huge analysis about the threats I might face and the synergy of my team and the new ORAS stuff that would affect the effectiveness of the team

And Blue, the Meowstic I had was Calm and I didn't want to breed it and honestly such a small difference doesn't really make it less effective. I'm looking for ideas for entire new Pokemon or entire new sets more than just minor EV tweaks like that.

I'm sure I'm going to see a lot of dragon dance Mega Salamence so... any idea how I should handle that ridiculously OP thing? >.>

Hey, give me a minute, I'm looking it over here. I didn't want to leave you empty handed though.

Just a few more ideas I had:

Wobbuffet
Gallade / Mega Gallade

Also I need a status absorber or something. Possibly Espeon but that thing is so useless outside of Magic Bounce

I'll be honest, I haven't battled Smogon style in a long time. But I think I know the threats pretty well.

The reason I like Trace is because these teams are going to have to synergize very well with each other. When you handicap yourself with typing, that means that these Pokemon are going to have to have their sets and abilities work off of each other. For that reason, Trace could really interrupt a weather team or a water type with Water Absorb or something like that.

Upon inspection of the team members, I see some stuff.

Get with the times, Malamar needs Knock Off. He is your win condition against Ghost teams, because everything else is going to fall.

Every time I've used Metagross, as much as I like it, it is just underwhelming. I don't know why, but I just don't like it, despite my many efforts to try.

I can't think of anything that gets you past those three weaknesses that Psychic has. But what I would consider is a Bold Calm Mind Clefable as your wildcard. I wouldn't like using a wildcard any more than you would, but it plugs that Dark/Bug hole and stops any setup sweeper (including mence) in its tracks with Unaware.

I would also consider the possiblity of including Cresselia on the team. But it's mono Psychic, so you'd probably have to drop something like Slowbro, which may not be a good idea. But I'd drop CM on Slowbro and make it more of a support set in any case.

For a Status absorber, why not grab Starmie? You could swap out one of your immediate offense types or even Slowbro.