Sableye- An Odd Pokemon With a CAP Niche

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Hi, I'm EpicUmbreon29. You may recognize me from CAP as the person who uses Pokémon that nobody or nearly nobody uses. I felt like this strategy for Sableye that I use would be worthwhile sharing, as it counters several CAP threats and is overall a great team supporter.
Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 168 SDef / 88 Def
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt
- Night Shade
This Sableye utilizes Prankster for several purposes.
1- To Taunt lead-ins (like Fidget) that could otherwise get a head-start on your team.
2- To cripple entire teams (especially offensive components) by giving burns. Physical Pokémon are drastically less useful after a burn, and all Pokémon suffer the consequences at number 3.
3- To stall. Recover with extra effort in HP and Special Defense allows Sableye to cause significant burn damage while keeping itself just alive.
Throughout these attacks, Night Shade is used where opportunity exists to inflict extra damage in order to truly disassemble offensive teams.
Specific Uses
Taunt is able to destroy Fidget, status-based Krilowatt, and varying lead-ins and set-up Pokémon where they exist.
This Sableye is Cawmodore's worst nightmare. Taunt can be used to prevent a Belly Drum, while Will-o-Wisp can allow a team member to survive its first turn and revenge-kill Cawmodore if Belly Drum was already used.
Other uses include burning Rebound Colossoil (if you ever see one, I feel like most have Guts now) and burning likely Focus Sash users (like Syclant) or Night-Shading a suspected Aurumoth.
Finally, Ferrothorn is crippled by the limitations placed on it by Sableye, forcing a switch-out, Leech Seed Pyroak has a difficult time with no Leech Seed and a Night Shade barrage, and Necturna with set-up moves like Geomancy are forced to switch out after their usefulness wears away.
Well, what do you think of this strategy? Is it genius, or completely insane?
(I'll add a picture of Sableye later)
 

HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
is an Artistis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Especially with Cawmodore running around CAP, I think Sableye is a very useful Pokemon to have and one that a team should also be prepared to see. It seems that both of my showdown accounts/teams (HeaLnDeaL and Eli the Eel) have fought a fair number of Sableye. Then again, EpicUmbreon29, you are probably one of my most common opponents on such a small ladder, so I can't say for certain how many others actually utilize all of the benefits of this Pokemon that you have listed above. Priority burn cripples physical sweepers, and taunt destroys setup mons.

Personally, I find the best counter to CAP Sableye is Charizard, and I use Charizard X on all of my current CAP teams. He can absorb an incoming Will-o-Wisp and either set up on a predicted switch out or go for a powerful Flare Blitz off the bat and cause some severe damage (at the cost of losing HP himself, of course). In theory, Charizard Y could do just as well with a sun-boosted flamethrower of his own. You mentioned Sableye besting status Krilowatt, but offensive or semi-offensive variants do quite well at taking hits from Night Shade and overtime Discharge can get a paralysis. Not the most reliable way to get Sableye out of your way, but I've done it a few times and it works well enough.

I think that prankster status mons themselves are an interesting thing in the metagames, even outside of CAP. With the introduction of Klefki in 6th gen, prankster only becomes more relevant today than it was is the past. Interestingly enough, however, changes to the electric type have made it immune to paralysis and changes to the grass type have made it immune to spore moves, which include the most reliable/common sleep inducing moves. As a result, status inflicting and status absorbing has achieved a new dynamic this generation.

Back specifically to Sableye, I will certainly agree that he is viable in CAP. Since fire types have long since been immune to burns, Sableye hasn't changed much moving into sixth gen, but a lot of things have changed around him for sure. He certainly can pull his weight on a team if used correctly, and I think the majority of us, whether inside or outside of the CAP ladder, have faced the crippling effects of his priority Will-o-Wisp, the set-up disaster of his taunt, and the sheer annoyance of his stalling abilities via priority recover.
 
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