Rare Article: CTMs

I'm sure that there is a name for what I'm going to describe. Am I going to actively look to see what that is? No. I call them CTMs, or Common Threat Managers, Pokemon that, on their own, aren't fantastic but are able to take out a large number of the metagame's most common players, and especially threats that give the rest of your team trouble. I think people call those "techs." That's a dumb word. I'm going to call them CTMs. Wanna fight about it?

Didn't think so. First, when choosing a CTM for your team you want to find out what your team is having trouble with. I'm not going to be able to find this for you, as I don't know your team. What I can do is present a few examples of good CTMs on a few situations. Without further ado, here's our first example.

Let's say you can't beat Dragon Dance Gyarados and Blissey. What you are going to want is something fast enough to outspeed Gyarados with one speed boost from Dragon Dance, and KO both Blissey and Gyarados quickly. That brings us to...

Chapter 1: Aerodactyl, Or: Lulz @ Extinct

Aerodactyl used to be an extremely common lead, due to its speed access to both taunt and stealth rocks. Unfortunately, Pokemon like Ferrothorn and auto-weather leads have made Aerodactyl a bit obsolete. He does, however, fit our niche of being able to take out Blissey and Gyarados pretty well. Let's look at Gyarados first.

Using either Thunder Fang or Stone Edge with a Life Orb, Aerodactyl can take Gyarados out in one hit, and still outspeed him after one Dragon Dance boost. This is assuming your nature is adamant, have EVs in attack and speed, and Gyarados has the usual EV spread for a Dragon Dance set.

The way Aerodactyl can take out Blissey is a little different. Because Blissey is such a massive wall, hardly anything fast enough to outspeed Dragon Dance'd Gyarados can also OHKO Blissey, so I had to get a little more clever with this scenario. Aerodactyl has access to taunt, forcing Blissey to use only attacking moves, which usually means Seismic Toss. You can take Seismic Tosses until the cows come home while you take out Blissey with the move of your choice. Your opponent will probably switch out, but you can switch out as well and wait for Blissey to be the last Pokemon.

~

That was fun. How about another example? Let's say you are playing in a Black and White only match and you are having trouble with the Genies. That brings us to, and you know it was coming...

Chapter 2: Vanilluxe, Or: VA-NILL-UXE, VA-NILL-UXE, VA-NILL-UXE, WOOOOO!

If you are new to the show/my articles and don't get the joke, I love Vanilluxe. I think he is hilarious.

But most importantly, he's useful. Back in the VGC, he was the only worthwhile ice type, and tons of threats were weak to ice. That includes the Genies!

Using a modest nature, you can OHKO all the genies with Ice Beam. It's that simple (Fine, it's not that simple, because you only OHKO Tornadus and Thundurus 87% of the time, because moves don't only do the same amount of damage every time, but you probably already have hurt them a little with entry hazards.) That's why I love Vanilluxe. 

~

I can't give you examples for every scenario, but I hope I've given you the idea as to what a CTM is. Instead of building your team of only the most powerfull pokes, put a few Pokemon in there to cover your common weaknesses. I'm out. Later.