PREDESTINATION
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predestination: the belief that everything that will happen has already been decided by god or fate and cannot be changed - merriam-webster
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PREFACE
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this is a drifloon-meta team i built around the core of drifloon and trapinch. seeing as our favorite ghastly balloon is banned now, i figured i'd share it with you guys. thanks to FellFromtheSky for the art.
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TEAM_DEVELOPMENT
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i knew that drifloon and diglett formed a really lethal core, but i wanted to see how well trapinch would pair with drifloon. i'd recently been introduced to trapinch by my lcpl teammates Corporal Levi and Star., and i'd been wanting to try it out.
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porygon is a great pokemon to use when you don't know what pokemon to use. it beats chinchou, which trapinch has trouble beating on its own.
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ponyta seemed like a nice pokemon to go with here because of how well it checks the physical side of the metagame. it can cripple mienfoo, pawniard, and fletchling, and it helps bail me out when i play badly.
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i really hate being stealth rock weak, although i don't generally use them myself. staryu fit really nicely on the team.
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finally, i needed a solid fighting check. cottonee fit the bill and helps a lot with the momentum it generates.
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THE_TEAM
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DETAILED_ANALYSIS
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timid | 36 / 0 / 120 / 64 / 40 / 232
- encore | used to cripple set-up sweepers. also great for general utility
- giga drain | stab and a great move for recovery. hits water-type threats hard
- dazzling gleam | stab that hits the omnipresent fighting-types for great damage
- hidden power fighting | helps the team beat pawniard, which would otherwise be a pain
cottonee's purpose on this team is to take fighting- and water-type attacks and prevent sweeps. the ev spread is fast offensive cottonee, which does everything normal cottonee does while having increased offensive presence.
.alternative options:
you can use knock off instead of hidden power fighting if you're not worried about pawniard. alternatively, if you want to have more yellow magic, you can use stun spore instead of hidden power fighting.
timid | 0 / 0 / 156 / 116 / 0 / 236
- thunder wave | cripples switchins not named chinchou
- scald | stab and general utility
- rapid spin | helps me keep the field nice and tidy
- recover | ensures that staryu stays healthy for the whole game
staryu is a very important pokemon for this team because it makes ensures that my pokemon are unharmed by sneaky pebbles. it's also a backup water check and has great utility with thunder wave. the ev spread is standard, giving staryu considerable speed and fair defense and special attack stats.
.alternative options:
you can use psychic instead of thunder wave if you really want to hit fighting-types, especially croagunk.
impish | 0 / 0 / 236 / 0 / 76 / 196
- will-o-wisp | chip damage and utility
- flame charge | beats diglett if you play well
- flare blitz | stab and great offensive presence
- morning sun | keeps the pony happy and healthy
ponyta is a great little pokemon. it blanket checks the physical side of the metagame, most importantly mienfoo, pawniard, and fletchling. it also serves as a great snivy check, which is something very important in this metagame. the ev spread is standard bulky ponyta, which lets it take physical attacks better than 19 speed ponyta.
.alternative options:
if you're feeling like a wild child you can use toxic over flame charge, but beware that it leaves you vulnerable to a sneaky little mole. you can also use wild charge or double-edge to hit water-types and chinchou specifically. if you're worried about stuff like gastly and other 18 speeders, you can use a spread of 0 / 76 / 156 / 0 / 76 / 196 with a jolly nature.
modest | 0 / 0 / 196 / 156 / 156 / 0
- tri attack | powerful stab, hits chinchou
- thunder wave | cripples switchins
- psychic | hits fighting-types
- recover | healthy ducks are the best ducks
porygon is, hands down, the best glue in the metagame right now, and it was when i was building this squadron as well. it checks porygon, abra, gastly, chinchou, diglett... it's a fantastic little duck. if your team needs a sixth pokemon and doesn't mind if it's fighting-weak, use porygon. the ev spread lets porygon hit very hard and live attacks while minimizing chip damage from stuff like stealth rock or burn.
.alternative options:
you can use ice beam or thunderbolt to pop the balloon. if you're feeling fabulous, try hidden power fighting to lure pawniard (you'll have to change the evs though).
jolly | 36 / 36 / 84 / 0 / 84 / 196
- recycle | helps keep my balloon from popping
- acrobatics | gives the balloon some offensive presence
- substitute | great for activating berry juice and racking up burn damage on the foe
- will-o-wisp | cripples physical attackers and gets chip damage
oh, drifloon, how i miss thee. i don't think this pocket monster should have been banned, but there's not a whole lot i can do about that outside of bitching on an internet forum. anyway, drifloon beats a very healthy chunk of the metagame with this set; you can stall them out with recycle and feel like a wonderfully terrible person while doing it. the ev spread is standard, letting drifloon outspeed a lot of pokemon before unburden while staying bulky.
.alternative options:
don't change the set, it's the reason drifloon was banned.
adamant | 156 / 36 / 236 / 0 / 76 / 0
- earthquake | stab that hits stuff like ponyta, pawniard, and magnemite
- rock slide | great coverage in tandem with earthquake
- superpower | hits porygon hard
- feint | lets trapinch revenge kill pokemon like fletchling
trapinch is definitely top 3 all time cuteness. look at that cheery little face. anyway, trapinch's role on the squadron is to trap fearsome foes and rend them limb from limb, all while maintaining a joyous demeanor. fearsome foes to be rend include, but are not limited to, ponyta, magnemite, and pawniard. the ev spread is standard- it gives trapinch considerable bulk and lets it hit very hard. trapinch is used instead of diglett because its increased bulk lets it trap pokemon like pawniard and chinchou, with which diglett struggles. trapinch also consistently 2hkos ponyta even when burnt.
.alternative options:
if you're not worried about porygon, you can use toxic instead of superpower to wear down spritzee.
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SPECIAL_THANKS
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thanks to:
.- Vubon for being a great friend and building squads with me
- Corporal Levi for drafting me this lcpl and being a cool dude
- tcr for turning me into a weeb
- all of my friends for being super supportive and great people
- FellFromtheSky for making the fantastic art for this rmt
POSTFACE
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i hope you like this team. it was one of my best (and favorite) teams to use during drifloon-meta, and hopefully you can have fun using it with your friends.
