The Monotype Core Laddering Challenge

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Introduction

The Monotype subforum features many fun and exciting projects. Among those, Monotype's Core Laddering Challenge is one of the longest-running and most successful. For those of you unfamiliar with Monotype, it is an Other Metagame where everyone is required to use a team of Pokémon that share a type. The Core Laddering Challenge has been one of the most popular projects, running since January 2015 (more than a year and a half) and just now hitting eight Cycles. The way this project works is simple; each week two different cores are given (at rare times three at once), and the goal is to figure out how to incorporate (one of) them on a Monotype team. Once you do, you ladder as high as you can to win! The project in itself is very unique because it tends to explore certain Pokémon or cores that are not always the first things you'd consider when building a team and at some points proves that some Pokémon are very underrated and could be a prevalent part of the metagame! This really allows people to think outside the box when it comes to teambuilding and how to take on each challenge, which is really cool to watch. I have a few cores in particular to showcase as examples (by virtue of popularity or the amazing success of the person who won), and I hope you enjoy this article!

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Challenge #13 - Mega Camerupt + Landorus-T

 

Won By: Dece1t

This was the first Core Challenge I won before I took on the role as administrator of the project. At a glance, this core features two Pokémon that were very underrated on Ground teams, and I was excited to give it a whirl! Mega Camerupt at the time was regarded as inferior to Mega Garchomp, but the additional Fire typing proved to be incredibly useful, and along with Sheer Force + base 145 Special Attack, it proved to be a fearsome special wallbreaker! Landorus-T was the required partner, and it was often considered to be of too high an opportunity cost to run because Landorus is one of the best wallbreakers. Landorus-T, however, does provide some neat niches that its counterpart lacks: a great Attack stat, an awesome ability in Intimidate (which proved to be very helpful, allowing it to be a reliable pivot), and a handy movepool along with that. Additionally, it provides a nice Ground immunity for Mega Camerupt, while at the same time, Mega Camerupt can absorb Will-O-Wisp, plus they form an amazing offensive core. Not only that, but Landorus is able to U-turn out of a defensive threat and switch Mega Camerupt in, allowing it to quickly gain some momentum and deal loads of damage to the foe. These were the two I had to build around, which in the end got me to 1653 ELO (at the time this was #6 on the ladder).

When building, having established how I wanted to use the given core, I started with the usual sand core of Hippowdon and Excadrill. Hippowdon acted as my Stealth Rock setter and a reliable defensive pivot, having strong mixed defenses, and Excadrill was my secondary late-game sweeper, being an amazing means of, as the name implies, sweeping late-game and providing much-needed coverage against Ice especially. Next, I added Gastrodon as my Water absorber and my general Keldeo check (especially to Substitute + Calm Mind, which was very popular at the time), and I gave it Yawn as a semi-reliable way for it to phaze the foe. Lastly I put in Mamoswine to give me an Ice-resistant Pokémon, priority user, and physical wallbreaker.

Since then I still use a team very similar to this, with small changes regarding metagame trends, and I consider it to be my main team to this day! Here is the remainder of the original team if you wish to use it yourself:

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Challenge #20 - Mega Charizard Y + Dragonite

 

Won By: Sky Might Fall

Looking at this core now, it almost seems silly, since now Mega Charizard Y is one of the only viable Mega options to run on a Flying team. It's good to know that at the time of this challenge, Mega Charizard X was still around (which was the best Mega to run on Flying). This challenge was done to explore the other viable Mega options you could run, since Flying is a type that's incredibly versatile when it comes to teams. Mega Charizard Y's ability in Drought not only cancels out the current weather (such as sand or rain, allowing it to threaten weather teams), but it also boosts its already absurdly powerful Fire-type attacks. Its part Fire typing also lets it act as a nice check to Ice-types. Dragonite on the other hand is arguably one of the best physical wallbreakers to run, with a strong Dragon STAB move and a wide array of coverage including priority. It's even blessed with an amazing ability in Multiscale, which halves the damage it takes at full health. The two of them make a very strong offensive core that's incredibly hard to wall, and they complement each other well by checking certain walls the other one can't (for example: Charizard is able to take out defensive threats Dragonite otherwise would have a difficult time with, such as Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Alomomola, while in turn Dragonite is able to check Tyranitar, check Zapdos, and revenge kill various faster threats for Charizard).

The really cool thing about these challenges is that you have the leverage to build whatever you want around that core, and the person who managed to win was no exception. She made a team completely out of the norm and used a lot of Pokémon and sets that were seldom used, including not using the ever so prevalent Skarmory + Zapdos core. As you can probably assume looking at her team, she added a rather interesting VoltTurn core with Scarf Landorus-T and Assault Vest Thundurus, giving her two reliable defensive pivots with respectable utility. Next, Mandibuzz was added to give her a reliable defensive wall and Defogger (which on a Flying team is very important to have, considering almost everything is weak to Stealth Rock), and it also was included to take care of boosting sweepers and strong physical attackers thanks to Foul Play. To finish things off, she used a fast anti-lead Archeops set that takes advantage of Endeavor as a means to weaken the foe's lead. Here's what Neski had to say about the experience:

"I laddered during OLT, and all the good Mono players went to play OU, so ladder was free and I peaked it! For teambuilding, I made sure I could beat the SkarmDos core and beat the Psychic core, since those were very popular at the time on ladder. In short, I tailored my team to beat the top types. As for weaknesses, once you pass into high ladder there's no more Ice or Rock, so the only weakness was Dragon, for which I had Scarf Landorus-T with Outrage. For the most part, I played tailored games to make sure Landorus-T was in the win condition role; it was all kind of easy."

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Challenge #25 - Ferrothorn + Cradily

 

Won By: ArkenCiel

While this core actually slightly borders on generic, Grass was, and is to this day still is, a hard type to ladder with, especially with Flying, Psychic, and Bug being common to see on the ladder. To break it down, though, this is meant to be a defensive core, with Ferrothorn being neutral to Bug-, Flying-, and Ice-type attacks, and Cradily being neutral to Fire and being considered one of the few checks to Pokémon such as Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona, which would otherwise single-handedly 6-0 Grass teams. The person that managed to win had had immense success prior to this challenge and even after and is regarded as one of the best players in Monotype. This was probably his best win, peaking at 1692 ELO, which at that time was #4 on the ladder (this is amazing considering he also won the Fighting core that came along with this one, peaking at #5 just behind his alt for the Grass core). Here's what Arken had to say about his experience:

"By the time I got around to doing this core challenge, I'd already had my fair share of wins from previous seasons. Fortunately for me, these two Pokémon are practically staples in a balanced Grass team, making it quite a pleasant experience to find the right Pokémon to finish the team with. Many can agree with that statement, but in how Ferrothorn should be used is where the controversy lies. I swear by using both Pokémon as specially defensive walls, though, checking different specially oriented Pokémon. As partners, I used the premier Mega for balanced Grass, Venusaur, and then paired it with SD Breloom and Serperior for offense and Scarf Rotom-C for some much needed speed and momentum.

With the teambuilding portion easily out of the way, I moved onto the real challenge... That is, putting Grass into high ladder. Grass is seldom seen up there in the ladder because the most popular types at the time, Flying, Steel, Psychic, and Bug, are usually very hard to beat. One could say that a normal Grass team should rarely win against those types when used by a competent player. Mega Charizard X and Genesect's presence in the metagame back then was very frustrating, but with enough patience, Grass pulled through in the ladder and claimed a score in the high 1600s; number one was just less than 50 ELO away. It wasn't number one, but it was good enough and a victory for a suboptimal and an underused type. For someone who seldom played the type, it was gratifying."

And here's the team he used:

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Challenge #32 - Mega Houndoom + Tyranitar

 

Won By: Dream Eater Gengar

This was another core for which the purpose was to bring to light a Mega on Dark that was actually very underrated at the time. Mega Houndoom had a couple really nice niches that set it apart from the other options; it was fast, its part Fire typing made it a great check to Bug and Fairy teams, and it was able to run Nasty Plot, allowing it to double as a wallbreaker. It's good to note as well that Dark has pretty limited options when it comes to special attackers in general, so it's appreciated that Mega Houndoom fills that role as well as it does. Tyranitar on the other hand is a staple on Dark teams, being the most viable Stealth Rock setter and having access to Thunder Wave to cripple opposing Pokémon. They make a great pair for the fact that Mega Houndoom is able to threaten Bug, Steel, and Fairy teams (of which at this point in time the latter two were very common and Dark has a very difficult time against Fairy as is), while at the same time Tyranitar supports Houndoom by setting up Stealth Rock early in the match, slowing down threats that would otherwise be able to revenge kill Houndoom, and sponging special attacks directed towards Houndoom. The person who won this is actually a moderator in the Monotype room, and to this day from this challenge he's been using Houndoom in a lot of his teams. The Pokémon in general is now considered a force to be reckoned with in the metagame after that challenge.

In terms of how he built around that core, its interesting to know that he added the additional impediment that he refused to use Sableye, which definitely added a challenge, since he now lacked a Fighting immunity. Aside from that, he gave Tyranitar the Chople Berry as a way to soft check fast Fighting-types that Hoopa-U would have trouble revenge killing otherwise. He also made the decision to use Lum Berry Bisharp to check Mega Sableye, which otherwise he would have a difficult time against, and Fairy types in general. Next, he added Mandibuzz as a reliable defensive pivot and Defogger to make sure hazards stay off his side of the field, and it also provides additional utility in Taunt. After that, he incorporated Crawdaunt to have access to a physical wallbreaker and as a general check to Ground, as he was very weak to it otherwise. As the icing on the cake, he finally added Scarf Hoopa-U as a late-game sweeper and a reliable check to most Fighting-type Pokémon.

DEG managed to peak at ~1600, which for someone who didn't normally ladder was really good! Here's DEG's team if you're interested in trying it out:

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Challenge #47 - Mega Sharpedo + Honchkrow

 

Won By: Jo'Z

This core I remember in particular was pretty popular, because not only did it encourage building towards a more offensive archetype (which is considered a bit uncommon compared to balance), but it also featured two Pokémon that were pretty uncommon to come across when it came to teambuilding. Mega Sharpedo is a pretty fun Mega, with a pre-Mega ability in Speed Boost allowing it to perform well as a late-game sweeper, and Honchkrow was considered an underrated mixed wallbreaker. These two made a pretty solid combination in terms of synergy; Honchkrow helps tremendously with the Grass- and Steel-types that Sharpedo would often struggle with, as well as breaking walls that would commonly wall Sharpedo and revenge killing with Sucker Punch, and Sharpedo in return usually finished off weakened teams towards the end of the game. The person that won was well known for being a Dark user who spammed the ladder very often, but even he admitted hyper offense was a first for him. Here's what he had to say about the challenge:

"Well, it was a pretty offensive core that really opened my eyes to how threatening Dark HO can actually be. The synergy between them can be very dangerous, as Moxie Sucker Punch can heavily threaten and weaken a team for Sharpedo to later clean up."

As for teambuilding, as he mentioned above, he took the hyper offensive route to fully take advantage of the core he had to use. To start, he added Sableye to provide utility and a general Fighting immunity. Next he added Krookodile as his lead, with access to Taunt to double as an anti-lead, and Intimidate to weaken the opposing Pokémon's Attack. Once that was done and dusted, he put in Scarf Hoopa-U and Weavile for additional fast sweepers alongside Mega Sharpedo and to give him some leverage against Ground, Flying, and Fighting teams.

You can probably tell he did exceptionally well for using such an underused archetype, nailing the #3 spot on the ladder around that time! Here's the importable of the team he used:

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Challenge #59 - Mega Blastoise + Crawdaunt

 

Won By: Ultra Love

This core is probably one of the more difficult ones we've had to offer as time went on, because it featured two Pokémon that are barely seen on Water teams as it is. These two made a rather interesting yet effective offensive core, with Mega Blastoise supplying a wide array of coverage moves (typically further boosted by Mega Launcher) and Rapid Spin, while Crawdaunt is an extremely dangerous physical wallbreaker with its STABs further boosted by Adaptability (and access to an absurdly strong Knock Off). In terms of coverage between the two of them, Blastoise is able to carry Aura Sphere for bulky Steel-types, Dragon Pulse or Ice Beam to hit Dragon-types, and Flash Cannon to help cover for Crawdaunt's trouble with Fairy-types. In turn, despite Crawdaunt not needing coverage generally besides Superpower occasionally, it can break a lot of common specially defensive walls that oftentimes give Mega Blastoise trouble, including Chansey, Lanturn, Gastrodon, and Assault Vest Meloetta.

In terms of how she further went to build her team, you can tell she opted to take a more defensive route given she already had a good enough offensive core. Azumarill was added for its immunity to Grass and Dragon attacks, doubling as a rather nifty defensive wall with access to Perish Song to force Pokémon out. Next she added Swampert for its Electric immunity and as a general hazards setter with access to Roar to shuffle. Once she had that, she added Rotom-W since she wanted to have something carrying Will-O-Wisp to weaken physical attackers further and a nice Ground-immune Pokémon. This also helps to grab her some slow momentum to give her a handy advantage upon the next coming turn. To finish things off, she decided on Calm Mind Slowbro as not only a nice tank but also a rather threatening booster to provide herself with a nice late-game sweeper.

In the end, the person who managed to win peaked within the high 1600s, having gotten into Monotype as recently as the cycle this challenge was introduced in, which really goes to show how fun of a project this is for newer players learning how to teambuild! Here's the team she used in the duration of that challenge:

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Conclusion

The Monotype Core Laddering Challenge tends to also be seen as one of Monotype's most influential projects, attracting lots of new players interested in learning about teambuilding or getting into the metagame and veteran players alike! It can often make a lot of Pokémon that are often seen as not worth using into some of the best tools a type is able to use. This project provides a considerable amount of challenge, knowing that once you build your team, you have to ladder with it to win, but it's also regarded as one of the most fun! The 8th Cycle of the Core Laddering Challenge recently started, so head over to the Monotype Forum and give one of the community's most popular projects a try!

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