[Cherub Agent]

I'm so happy that Cresselia's gone!

Well, I've been experimenting a bit, and wanted to share some Pokemon that I think are some true gems in the current metagame. First and foremost is Gallade. Gallade was already a brilliant check to hail, as it had the special bulk to be able to take unboosted blizzards and KO the Ice-types with Drain Punch (I've been using the bulky SD set and it's truly amazing in this meta). It's biggest counter was Cresselia, which is now obviously no longer an issue. Moltres is still a dick though.

Gallade got me thinking. What are some other Pokemon that do really well against hail and yet are not dead weight when the opponent doesn't run hail? Well, considering the face of hail is probably Frotom, I was looking at some BoltBeam resists that we have here. I've never been a big fan of Lanturn, Piloswine seems really interesting (still have to test this though, but it doesn't help that Frotom also resists Piloswine's STAB -.-). What I settled on was Magneton. Specially Defensive Magneton. Don't laugh, with Eviolite and a Calm nature, Magneton essentially has 304 / 339 /393 defenses. LO Frotom can only 4HKO Magneton with Blizzard counting Hail damage (Scarf is obviously less) and Magneton can strike back at Frotom with an Analytic boosted Flash Cannon, which despite being neutral, often OHKOs after SR or Substitute damage, and always after Frotom takes LO damage. Analytic is the real beauty of this set, as it essentially allows Magneton to have an effective SpA of 360, which isn't bad at all considering no SpA investment. The loss of Magnet Pull actually isn't so dramatic, as Steelix, Aggron and Durant beat Magneton regardless, and it can still happily counter/force out Klinklang and Escavalier. Here's the set I use:

Magneton @ Eviolite
Trait: Analytic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

ResTalk obviously isn't the most reliable strategy, but it's certainly good enough for Magneton. Having the most resistances of any Pokemon allows our pal to force multiple switches, freeing up turns. Cleric support is pretty easy to provide in RU (I'm using bulky QD lilligant with aromatherapy, a really underrated set) and it works like a charm. But of course there are many other options such as Roselia, Lickilicky, Uxie, etc.

SubDisable Haunter is also another amazing Pokemon in this meta, and has brilliant synergy with Magneton, both offensively (especially if Magneton is running Magnet Pull, as only Steel-types and Drapion resist Haunter's STAB iirc) and defensively, as Haunter is immune to two of Magneton's weaknesses and Magneton resists all of Haunter's. Molk has a bit more experience with Haunter though, It'd be cool if he could share it :)