1) What can Gyarados set up on?
For this question, i will assume Mega Gyarados's best and most consistent set, three attacks with Ice Fang, and little to no risk for Gyarados to set up. Also, i will assume Gyarados will be in its regular forme when facing those Pokemon, to take advantage of Intimidate (which is what happens most of the time in practice anyway). Finally, i will assume no SR being up, as Gyarados's set up chances drastically decrease with SR on the field.
- Choice Band Azumarill locked into anything except from Play Rough
- Landorus
- Keldeo locked into anything except from Hidden Power Electric / Scald
- Excadrill outside of sand
- Landorus-T
- Garchomp
- Greninja
- Mega Scizor and regular Scizor
- Choiced Fire-types (Choice Band Talonflame locked into Flare Blitz, Scarf Heatran, Scarf and Band Victini locked to anything other than Bolt Strike)
- Hippowdon without phazing
- Gliscor that lacks Toxic and is not faster than Mega Gyarados + Taunt (EQ + Knock Off SpD Gliscor, SR + Taunt + U-turn Gliscor)
- Dragon Dance Dragonite
- Mamoswine
- Starmie without Thunderbolt
- Weavile
- Rhyperior without Toxic / Roar
- Assault Vest Tornadus-T
- Tyranitar and Mega Tyranitar (except from CB Stone Edge, which does over half)
2) Which of these does the CAP not necessarily beat via typing?
Keldeo (Specs Hydro Pump could OHKO depending on bulk), Landorus, Excadrill, Landorus-T, Garchomp, Greninja (Extrasensory could OHKO us), Mega Scizor, Heatran, Victini, Choice Band Talonflame (Flare Blitz could OHKO, depending on our bulk), Starmie, Gliscor, Mamoswine, Weavile, Dragonite, Rhyperior, Tyranitar, and Mega Tyranitar. Basically, all of the Pokemon in the list except from Azumarill, which gets outsped and OHKOed, and Tornadus-T, which is walled and OHKO / 2HKOed.
3) What Pokemon do Mega Gyarados teams have trouble with?
Hard checks or counters to Mega Gyarados that are not easy to weaken or lure. For example, an offensive team with Keldeo can easily check Mega Gyarados as long as the opponent hasn't paired Mega Gyarados with Pokemon that only Keldeo can handle (Choice Band Scizor, Bisharp, Choiced Tyranitar). Such Pokemon are: Keldeo, Ferrothorn, Slowbro, physically defensive Amoonguss, and Alomomola. Some Pokemon that can check Mega Gyarados but are easy to wear down are: Azumarill (usually needed to handle a lot of different threats, and is so slow that it almost always needs to take a hit before dishing one), Mega Venusaur (expected to handle a lot of Pokemon, many of which can cripple it with burns, making it easy to wear down, such as Rotom-W and Keldeo), and Kyurem-B (Stealth Rock weak, making it very easy to wear down with double switches). Also Mega Gyarados teams have troubles with fast revenge killers (scarf Keldeo, Scarf Terrakion, Scarf Garchomp, Mega Manectric, Mega Aerodactyl), Thunder Wave Thundurus, and Breloom, because those Pokemon will be kept alive throughout the game to check Mega Gyarados. The CAP should either help lure and cripple those Pokemon or take advantage of their presence, with whatever way we find to be the best.
4) What team roles could a pokemon on a Mega Gyarados team fill? (with respect to our typing; despite our best efforts a poison/electric will probably never be a physically defensive Spikes user)
Healing Wish user would be one of the most interesting roles for this CAP, to mitigate the issue of Mega Gyarados getting revenge killed easily, while simultaneously giving a free switch in to Mega Gyarados. For example, Mega Gyarados sets up once, the opponent sacrifices something, and then brings in Thundurus to Thunder Wave Mega Gyarados, while dying to +1 Waterfall. Then, the CAP heals Mega Gyarados which is now free to sweep. This also works well against teams that rely on multiple priority users to check Mega Gyarados, slowly putting it to KO range, something that Healing Wish mitigates (KO first priority user with +1 Mega Gyarados, switch out of the second priority user that wants to finish off Gyarados, use Healing Wish with CAP and Mega Gyarados is free to sweep). Other than this, the CAP could obviously be a good pivot with Volt Switch to help bring Gyarados in safely (or with double switches if we expect a Ground-type to come in), a cleric (Wish + Heal Bell / Aromatherapy are very beneficial to Mega Gyarados, as many of its offensive checks lack recovery or rely on status to deal with it, eg. Thundurus), a wallbreaker that takes advantage of the Pokemon that Mega Gyarados has troubles with, a late-game cleaner that sets up on Mega Gyarados's revenge killers, and an utility check to dangerous Pokemon such as Breloom, Thundurus, Azumarill, Talonflame, Mega Scizor, etc. Regardless, this is not a discussion we should be having now imo.
So, to sum things up:
- The CAP should be checked or countered by most Ground-types
- The CAP should be checked or at least lose 1 v 1 against most physical attackers that Mega Gyarados can set up on, as long as it doesn't have a typing advantage against them (so we shouldn't lose to Mega Scizor) such as Dragonite, Weavile, and Tyranitar
- The CAP should be able to either lure and cripple or take advantage of (which most likely translates to check or counter) Pokemon such as Keldeo, Ferrothorn, Slowbro, physically defensive Amoonguss, Alomomola, Scarf Terrakion, Mega Manectric, Mega Aerodactyl, Thundurus, and Breloom
