FWG Core Discussion

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Ace Emerald

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Those following regional results have probably noticed that Fire/Water and Fire/Water/Grass cores are big at the moment. For those who haven't been following the results and discussion, this essentially boils down to: Fire's good resistance to Fairy and offensive match up against Steel, Water's good match up against Fire, Landorus, Dragon w/ Ice coverage, support options both have (Burns, Icy Wind, etc), and the natural synergy they have with each other and with Grass. There are probably some more reasons the core has skyrocketed in popularity, so feel free to discuss those itt. However, the results show that the combination works in the current environment, and I'd really like to discuss implementation and counter strategy. Some simple leading questions:

How do you handle Fire/Water/Grass cores?

Cyclical Rock-Paper-Scissor cores like FWG can counter themselves, but the core far from impenetrable. Most notably, Kangaskhan can run through the FWG cores that don't include a Normal resist through secondary typing.

How do you supplement your Fire/Water/Grass core?

What teammates do you bring to support and flesh out teams utilizing this core? I've seen lots of Terrakion, most likely for its match up against Kangaskhan, Charizard, and Hydregeion.

What Fire-, Water-, and Grass- types are you using? What combinations?

A large number of bulky water types have cut in regionals over the past month, and players are experimenting with different Fire- and Grass-types.


You can respond to these questions, or discuss anything relating to this classic typing core!
 
Honestly, I feel that this core has fallen off in favor of the new trio of Dragon/Steel/ Fairy. FWG is still nice but DSF works better against prominent threats at this point in time.
 

Ace Emerald

Cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Honestly, I feel that this core has fallen off in favor of the new trio of Dragon/Steel/ Fairy. FWG is still nice but DSF works better against prominent threats at this point in time.
Dragon/Steel/Fairy is still good, but FWG is leagues better now that it has more viable Fire- and Grass-types, as well as even more great Water-types. The results back this up too: in the recent Florida regionals, 3 of the Top 4 has a FWG core, the 4th had a Fire/Water core. Expanding to the top 8, we see another 3 Fire/Water combos. The Fantasy core had a much lower turnout, with just 2 complete combos and a few partial combos. I understand that this is one regional, but Fire/Water/Grass has been back since Cybertron won apex with it, and Fire/Water types are found on a large number of teams across regionals. It makes sense in theory too: A good Fire-type takes on 2/3 of the Fantasy core by itself, and the Ice coverage on bulky Water-types make life painful for Dragon-types.
 
Well, I'm actually running Charizard-Y + (mega) Chlorosaur + Swampert. Char-Y and Chlorosaur is a simple, obvious, but still effective combo of "spam Sleep Powder like an asshole and Heat Wave everything to death". Char-Y pairs very well with nearly any decent Ground type, and Swampy is no exception. Wide guard says "lolno" to Terrakion, Ice Beam smashes many Dragons, and Earth Power is an ally-friendly Ground STAB to kill Heatran/Fire types. Venusaur is good at killing Water types, namely Rotom-W, Suicune, and Milotic.

Dragon/Fairy/Steel, yeah, you have Fire laughing at Fairy/Steel and <insert Ice beam here> laughing at Dragons. Fire/Water/Grass, Gyarados is rather annoying due to walling Water/Fire and not caring much about Grass or Ice. Goodra is in the same boat, but nobody uses Goodra.
 
Azumarill + Ferrothorn + Zard-X... FWG and DSF cores all wrapped into one. :P

But for serious, ProjectTitan313 mentioned Swampert, and I was using him alongside Ferro and Talonflame without giving much thought to FWG. Even though Ferro and Talonflame are often used for their support functions it still provides a lot of flexibility and switching opportunities. Just to protect Talonflame alone, Ferro can give bulky waters headaches and Swamp can threaten most Rock Sliders.
 
I've seen Arcanine, Milotic, Mega Venusaur work really well. The Snarl/Intimidate and Icy Wind from the former two deplete the stats of the opponent, and both have reliable bulk in either physical or special defense respectively. Mega Venusaur itself is incredibly anti-meta, and helps trample what could be a problematic opposing sweeper, as well as being immune to Spore, resistant to fairy and sporting incredibly defenses. Milotic helps fend off Intimidate users, while Arcanine scares off special sweepers and Snarl threatens common psychic types that give Venusaur some problems. Milotic and Arcanine both scare Mega Mence off, who is mega-Venusaur's worst nightmare, and their mediocre speed can be easily complemented by Tailwind to outspeed almost all of the meta, or stay low enough to scare off Trick Room teams. Almost any poke works alongside the core, with special note going to Gengar, Thundurus and Terrakion, who all pose incredible offensive pressure, and can even be added onto the one team with minimal adjustment.
 
You cant run FWG without a fighting-type or a steel. It's important you can still check Mega Salamence and Mega Kangaskhan imo
 
You cant run FWG without a fighting-type or a steel. It's important you can still check Mega Salamence and Mega Kangaskhan imo
The water type generally checks Mence since 90% of them get a decent Ice move. Swampert, Milotic, Suicune, Tentacruel, SF Gatr, etc. all have a good Ice move. Seismitoad and Rotom-W are the only ones lacking an Ice move really.
MegaKhan, absolutely, she flat out stomps on a FWG core.
 
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