3v3 Singles Metagame Discussion Thread [The Pentagon is back!!]

Hulavuta

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Hypnosis Gengars are becoming a trend right now. Not liking the sound of that.
Hypnosis sounds pretty good with the Hex set, since it still gives the Hex boost while also preventing your opponent from breaking your Substitute. It also lets you have the stronger Hex against Fire-types so you can actually trap Heatrans now. 60 accuracy is just terrible though, I don't know if I could ever get myself to use that.
 

DragonWhale

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Hypnosis sounds pretty good with the Hex set, since it still gives the Hex boost while also preventing your opponent from breaking your Substitute. It also lets you have the stronger Hex against Fire-types so you can actually trap Heatrans now. 60 accuracy is just terrible though, I don't know if I could ever get myself to use that.
It's pretty much super high-risk-high-return, and usually sent out on a favorable matchup to hypnosis on the switch and get another if Gengar's faster, giving it a 84% success rate. With Destiny Bond, it's either a 1 for 1 if hypnosis fails, or you get even more opportunities to hypnotize if the opponent doesn't attack. If hypnosis succeeds, you're looking at a 2 for 1 or even a sweep if you're lucky enough.
 
It's pretty much super high-risk-high-return, and usually sent out on a favorable matchup to hypnosis on the switch and get another if Gengar's faster, giving it a 84% success rate. With Destiny Bond, it's either a 1 for 1 if hypnosis fails, or you get even more opportunities to hypnotize if the opponent doesn't attack. If hypnosis succeeds, you're looking at a 2 for 1 or even a sweep if you're lucky enough.
Yeah i also see hypnosis gengar more frequently. I in particular dont like it cause my team has low speed, and its worse than spore from breloom in some cases cause some items and abilities and of course grass typing is immune to it. I wear safety goggles on my florges for it, lol xd. I know its weird but thats also because i have sand and hail inducers on my team and i already have leftovers on another pokemon.
 
I hate everything that beats me.
I hate things like Hypnosis which sometimes beat me and sometimes make my wins chores. And on that note, I hate things that sometimes win and sometimes don't due to the nature of the strategy.
Utterly. Completely. Disgusting.

Anyway, my true purpose to post is to mention something that might be obvious to a killer like Jibaku and some of you other players already but wasn't to me at the time I faced an otherwise ingame looking team, and bit the dust. Extreme Speed Linoone is legal in bs since it was a jpn event in December. and Belly Drum Linoone with espeed is legal since it is a level up move. I faced a sub1500 team that was going to get 3-0d by my lead Swampert before I switched out on linoone fearing seed bomb and ...the rest is that which you can already imagine.

I have 2 requests. My first request is I wanna know how Jibaku went 25-5 last season. I know 25-5 isn't too crazy but it's better than I ever do in my first 30 games and I wanna know really really badly and think it'd be great for us other players to know too!

NOW, my request is: Can someone PLEASE trade me such a Linoone?!?!?! I reallly really want it!! I love linoone!!! My favorite starter rodent thing and I doubt anyone even knows about this other than the few japanese players here who might be aware of japanese events because maybe you read about em on japanese pokemon blogs/etc.
 
hmm in terms of those predictions you made, can you mention what they were if you remember? Like sometimes it's easy to predict but honestly as of late, I find more and more players who don't make the obvious plays and actually read my prediction like next level predictions and again this is all low ladder nothing special so while in the past I'd agree with anyone saying low ladder players make obvious plays, I'm not feeling that as of late. and I've played my fair share of low ladder games throughout xy and oras.
 

Jibaku

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This might not be the best example but it's one that happened to me.

Example:

I have Azumarill. My opponent has Charizard Y and will probably have Hippowdon on his squad because the combination can give my team huge issues. Let's also assume that he does not have a solid Azu counter. Let's also assume that Hippowdon is his main answer to my Blaziken.

On turn 1, my Azumarill faces off against Charizard Y, who Solarbeams Azu. Azu, designed to take the Solarbeam barely survives and deals 70% damage back, but it's at the risk of dying to Rocky Helmet + Sandstorm.

On turn 2, I anticipated Charizard expecting the Aqua Jet. He brings in Hippowdon to hopefully take the weak Aqua Jet and finish me off with residual damage. I however decide to Waterfall it, dealing 55%+ damage or so before getting knocked out by the passive damage. Severely weakened, Hippowdon is no longer able to wall Blaziken, allowing me to pick it off with Blaziken itself and subsequently the rest of the team.

Again, not the best example, but in here I was able to predict his team composition and his course of actions based on the flaws on my own team and his need to keep certain win conditions alive, and took the risks to outplay him.
 
Jibaku Good example! I was also thinking a lot about prediction. Maybe we need to discuss a lot more about it! Maybe our community is far behind the japanese community about things like prediction while we keep talking about the pokemon.

An example of prediction that almost allways works with me is this:

I lead with my mega-ampharos and my opponent leads with a water pokemon like suicune or rotom-wash. I know he has a garchomp in back and predict the switch so instead of thunderbolt i go for the dragon pulse. He switches and his garchomp is gone. This can be used with all immunities, so the trick is:

Know the immunities of your opponent. (Ground/steel/levitating pokemon) And which pokemon they are!
Know when your opponent thinks you will use the type of move that he has an immunity for and predict the switch.
Choose the coverage move that most damages the pokemon he switches into.
 

Theorymon

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So since offensive Porygon2 has been going up lately, quite a few Pokemon such as Aegislash have started to put their extra EV points into Special Defense to screw with Download.

Because of this, I'm starting to get tempted to try out Analytic Porygon2 (whenever I can breed Offensive Porygon2 that is). Download is better when you KNOW you can get the boost, but Analytic sounds nice because Porygon2 is pretty slow anyways, and it does still work on the switch!

Of course, I'm not going to bother trying Analytic on Trick Room Porygon2!
 

cant say

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So since offensive Porygon2 has been going up lately, quite a few Pokemon such as Aegislash have started to put their extra EV points into Special Defense to screw with Download.

Because of this, I'm starting to get tempted to try out Analytic Porygon2 (whenever I can breed Offensive Porygon2 that is). Download is better when you KNOW you can get the boost, but Analytic sounds nice because Porygon2 is pretty slow anyways, and it does still work on the switch!

Of course, I'm not going to bother trying Analytic on Trick Room Porygon2!
I remember when we were working on the P2 Pokemon of the Week Facebook post and I tried to explain that Download was good and Analytic would also work for a more consistent boost, but nah you wanted to post a defensive Trace set :P I mean, you can think of Analytic as being able to hold a Life Orb while also getting the supreme bulk from Evilolite. Sure, the power isn't as good as a +1 from Download, but now that like you said; people are starting to EV to specifically avoid it, I think Analytic deserves a try! (not to mention that it warrants a Quiet nature with 0 speed, which speed ties Aegislash, meaning you then have a chance to underspeed it and OHKO with Shadow Ball!)
 

Hulavuta

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Another thing that is annoyingly catching on is Glalie. Not even Mega Glalie, just regular Glalie. The set is Moody with Sub / Protect / Sheer Cold / Something else. Unfortunately for me, he was able to get a sharp accuracy boost and OHKO my Tyranitar. I won in the end thankfully, but this set seems like it can be absolutely devastating to an unprepared team. Sturdy Pokemon do completely counter it though. Skarmory can get a Whirlwind off no matter how many evasion boosts it gets, and Avalugg shouldn't mind anything it does either.

EDIT: turns out accuracy boosts don't matter
 
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ethan06

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Another thing that is annoyingly catching on is Glalie. Not even Mega Glalie, just regular Glalie. The set is Moody with Sub / Protect / Sheer Cold / Something else. Unfortunately for me, he was able to get a sharp accuracy boost and OHKO my Tyranitar. I won in the end thankfully, but this set seems like it can be absolutely devastating to an unprepared team. Sturdy Pokemon do completely counter it though. Skarmory can get a Whirlwind off no matter how many evasion boosts it gets, and Avalugg shouldn't mind anything it does either.
Keep in mind that some of them run Frost Breath instead of Sheer Cold (or even both, with Frost Breath in the last slot), so even Sturdy doesn't help sometimes. Also, it cuts through opposing Calm Minders and other defensive boosters.
 
Yes I have encountered (and lost to) 4 moody Glalies now, they all had sheer cold though. I did manage to beat one with my gengar, when I got a sub up, but it took a loooong time (glalie was his last, protect/sub/sheer cold/rest. It was quite evil, really just a waste of time for both of us. It had already ohko'd my other two with sheer cold.
 

Theorymon

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So I messed around a bit with a Wobbuffet team. Not exactly a work of art (the team being Wobbuffet / Mega Gengar / Breloom / Charizard-X / Porygon2 / Garchomp), bu man Wobbuffet + Mega Gengar is a really nasty combination for sure. I actually saw some other people running it, and turned out I didn't do too well in mirror matches lol.

I got to 1600, but went down to like 1520 after some unfortunate hax + the flaws of my team revealing itself.

Interesingly enough though, giving this team a test drive and facing some of the Pokemon that give this team trouble (like Choice Scarf Hydreigon) is making me wonder something: I wonder if I should try a totally different approach to Wobbuffet in 3v3.

See, in other metagames, the standard Wobbuffet team is usually very focused on offense. However, in 3v3, that can be sorta risky since Wobbuffet usually wants Mega Gengar around to screw over defensive Pokemon. I'm thinking of taking a bulkier approach to the team, trying to make Wobbuffet + Mega Gengar deal with most defensive mons, and then have a sort of stronger defensive backbone than I'm used to compared to tradtional Wobbuffet teams. What do you guys think?
 
The team Theorymon just mentioned sounds way too close to a team I faced in the 1900s before. But Yeah I'd think that your team would benefit from having an Azu over Chomp since you already have the ZardX and Azu deals with the Hydreigon issue flawlessly.
 

Hulavuta

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Played a bit with the Choice Band Ferrothorn team today, and it didn't really go so well in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I won, but it wasn't really due to Ferrothorn. He just kinda kills momentum and doesn't seem to have much utility; I'd much rather use Choice Band Scizor instead. Didn't help that I put it on an offensive team either, although I'm not sure what kinda team it'd fit on.

On another note, Defensive Gyarados with Intimidate seems really popular nowadays and it's incredibly good. Just checked over at the PGL 'cause I've been noticing the trend and it looks like Impish is now actually the main nature, rather than Adamant.

Garchomp has been the #1 used Pokemon for like ever and I've always wondered what made it so reliable. I used Garchomp on the Ferrothorn team and it was quite reliable, it kind of has a decent matchup against a lot of Pokemon, especially with Swords Dance. I was surprised to find out that Outrage is used pretty much exclusively over Dragon Claw, Dragon Claw is pretty much used less than Dual Chop and not even in the top 10. I've always been a bit wary about using Outrage 'cause of the whole locking in thing, but I guess that just means I'll have to play a little differently. I'm sure it'll be worth it just 'cause Outrage has so much raw power.

Also, Focus Sash on Garchomp is so useful, especially in those situations where it's your last Pokemon. Garchomp can take down most things in two turns so it's a great last resort. Although, having the Sash makes me not switch him in so much, 'cause I don't wanna lose it ;__;

Next team I am gonna do is probably gonna be Garchomp and Scizor based as I haven't used either in a while (and as you can tell I've recently taken a liking to Garchomp).

List of other teams I still wanna use:
Specs Aegislash
Hippowdon + Mega Lucario
Skarmory stall
Clefable + Tyranitar maybe? Don't know if this is a good combination lol
 

Theorymon

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Funny you mention Sash Garchomp Hulavuta . I love that thing (though I tend to use mixed Life Orb more), but it alerted me to how cool Icicle Spear Mamoswine can be.

A lot of people like to lead with Sash Garchomp, and Icicle Spear Mamoswine owns the thing. Sash Mamoswine also owns Breloom too thanks to Icicle Spear, since you break through its sash. Endeavor is also really nice against stuff like fast Rotom-W too. I should go breed a Jolly Mamoswine later (mine is Adamant since I was using a weird bulky Mamoswine last year for VGC, and admitly I'm a speed freak lol), but its certainly a cool, underrated mon.

Also: Garchomp + Scizor isn't a bad idea. Getting Sash Garchomp in with U-turn is really, really nice. Speaking of Focus Sash...

I've also been tempted to try out Mega Sableye with Sash Breloom or Garchomp. The idea is: Using Rapid Spin and Defog usually isn't worh it in 3v3, but Magic Bounce is something I can do passively to screw with Stealth Rock, and Mega Sableye with Will-O-Wisp can screw with common leads like Garchomp and Breloom. I've also thought about a Sash Espeon lead, but I'm not quite sure that's going to be worth it. It does have 110 base Speed and 130 base SpA though, so I might give it a shot (plus I did breed one for the eevee tournament last year lol)
 
http://youpoke.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/04/02/202131?_ga=1.151274879.730595452.1427350459

This appears to be about common Pokemon combinations

First section is for standard stuff
Second section is more gimmicky stuff
Not sure what the third section is for. I'm guessing trending cycles.
Some those combos are really interesting. I myself have never seen Gyarados + Lanturn and Mega Lop + Gothitelle. Also, some of the second section combos don't seem that gimmicky to me, like M-Hera + Thundurus or Cress. I feel like it should be in the first section. According to the third section, it seems like boosting sweepers are becoming more of a trend then they already were in Battle Spot, if what Jibaku claims it might be is true. Makes me think about bringing more phazers along on my team.
 

Hulavuta

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Some those combos are really interesting. I myself have never seen Gyarados + Lanturn and Mega Lop + Gothitelle. Also, some of the second section combos don't seem that gimmicky to me, like M-Hera + Thundurus or Cress. I feel like it should be in the first section. According to the third section, it seems like boosting sweepers are becoming more of a trend then they already were in Battle Spot, if what Jibaku claims it might be is true. Makes me think about bringing more phazers along on my team.
Mega Hera plus Thundurus sounds like an interesting combination I'd want to add to my already long list of teams I wanna use. I haven't used Thundurus much (I did but never really used it well) and I just bred a Heracross so I've been wanting to use that too. How does this combo work? Guessing the Thunder Wave support lets Mega Heracross sorta sweep. Thundurus can also take Flying moves, and take down Flying-types like Skarmory. Although, I wonder what advantage it has defensively over Zapdos. Cress can take pretty much anything too, especially Psychic attacks, which admittedly are not all that common.
 

Hulavuta

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Double posting~

I got wrecked last night by a Lopunny and Rotom-W combo, it's pretty good. Rotom can switch in on Lopunny's main checks which are Talonflame and Blaziken (more so Talonflame than Blaziken) and on Thunder Waves. Lopunny obviously outspeeds pretty much everything and kills it, and Sashes don't work thanks to Fake Out. Any tips on how to beat this core?
 
Double posting~

I got wrecked last night by a Lopunny and Rotom-W combo, it's pretty good. Rotom can switch in on Lopunny's main checks which are Talonflame and Blaziken (more so Talonflame than Blaziken) and on Thunder Waves. Lopunny obviously outspeeds pretty much everything and kills it, and Sashes don't work thanks to Fake Out. Any tips on how to beat this core?
Total theory but Celebi, Breloom and Amoongus could be a start. Maybe M-Aggron?
 

ethan06

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Double posting~

I got wrecked last night by a Lopunny and Rotom-W combo, it's pretty good. Rotom can switch in on Lopunny's main checks which are Talonflame and Blaziken (more so Talonflame than Blaziken) and on Thunder Waves. Lopunny obviously outspeeds pretty much everything and kills it, and Sashes don't work thanks to Fake Out. Any tips on how to beat this core?
This one's tough because a lot of physically bulky Rocky Helmet Pokémon that could be used to check Lopunny are knocked around a bit by Rotom-W (I'm thinking along the lines of Hippo, Slowbro, Suicune etc) - stall mons in general struggle with Rotom due to the threat of Will-o-Wisp. Cresselia seems like a decent bet as it can switch in on anything Lopunny wants to do and just sit there; it has a fairly neutral matchup to Rotom as well as long as it isn't a mono-attacking Ice Beam set. SubProtect Gliscor obviously walls non-Ice Punch Lopunny into the ground and can Toxic stall Rotom, but that's a pretty slow and annoying solution. Physically Defensive Mega Venusaur also tears this core apart but it isn't as viable as it once was, what with the advent of Mega Salamence and the continued popularity of Pokémon like Cress and Talonflame. On the niche side of things, Energy Ball Mega Alakazam could be fun to try out - beating Aegislash with Scrappy Focus Blast sounds like a good time :]
 

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