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Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Underused Pokemon Matchmaking Phase 2 [Week 29 - Nasty Plot Infernape]
- Thread starter nv
- Start date
With 5 votes, Cactrune wins again! Congratulations! n_n
Now onto the main reason I wanted to end this week early...
Ok guys so first off, I want to thank you all immensely for keeping this project alive for a year like just wow! I am absolutely stunned that my first ever project is still going strong and how this has been the stepping stone to my major contributions to not just Underused, but Smogon as a whole. This project is and always will be my baby and I am happy that after this last year, most of the newer posters in this thread have grown to be a big part of thread, the subforum, and the Underused tier. The steady flow of posters has allowed this thread to continue to thrive and I hope that everyone can stick around with the upcoming ideas I have for this project.
Speaking of, let's get to the "surprise" I have for you guys. Starting this week, we are going to be doing a six week cycle where every third week is going to be a special week of sorts. I have been sort of doing this with having a Mega "victim" ever six weeks, but now I am introducing a new "category": Core Matchmaking.
Core Matchmaking
Basically every sixth week, opposite to Mega weeks, I will introduce a core that is tried and true in Underused and have you guys come up with a partner for the core. Then of course we vote on the best one to win. The six week cycle will now be:
Normal --> Normal --> Core --> Normal --> Normal --> Mega
The other surprise I have for you guys is I am hitting the reset button on the archive. This means old victims can re-apply to get a new winning partner as the metagame has most likely changed since the last time they had been showcased. This doesn't mean the Hall of Fame will be reset, but rather I will put it into hide tags as that is the Hall of Fame from Cycle 1.
Overall, I am hoping this new year breathes more life into an already amazingly successfully project and that this can continue to grow and be one of the longer projects Smogon has ever seen. I love you guys and I hope you know that I will keep this project going as long as I possibly can and I hope you guys continue to contribute just as long.
I also went ahead and wanted to pose a question before this new Cycle begins and that is: Should UU Matchmaking become set-specific meaning that each week I will not only provide a Pokemon, but a specific set as well. I made a strawpoll here: http://strawpoll.me/7332685 so you guys can vote and I will give you guys 24 hours before I collect the votes and start this new cycle tomorrow so it is back to the regular schedule.
Again, thank you guys so much for sticking around and let's make history as the longest running thread on Smogon. (A year is a pretty long time to be honest)
Now onto the main reason I wanted to end this week early...
Ok guys so first off, I want to thank you all immensely for keeping this project alive for a year like just wow! I am absolutely stunned that my first ever project is still going strong and how this has been the stepping stone to my major contributions to not just Underused, but Smogon as a whole. This project is and always will be my baby and I am happy that after this last year, most of the newer posters in this thread have grown to be a big part of thread, the subforum, and the Underused tier. The steady flow of posters has allowed this thread to continue to thrive and I hope that everyone can stick around with the upcoming ideas I have for this project.
Speaking of, let's get to the "surprise" I have for you guys. Starting this week, we are going to be doing a six week cycle where every third week is going to be a special week of sorts. I have been sort of doing this with having a Mega "victim" ever six weeks, but now I am introducing a new "category": Core Matchmaking.
Core Matchmaking
Basically every sixth week, opposite to Mega weeks, I will introduce a core that is tried and true in Underused and have you guys come up with a partner for the core. Then of course we vote on the best one to win. The six week cycle will now be:
Normal --> Normal --> Core --> Normal --> Normal --> Mega
The other surprise I have for you guys is I am hitting the reset button on the archive. This means old victims can re-apply to get a new winning partner as the metagame has most likely changed since the last time they had been showcased. This doesn't mean the Hall of Fame will be reset, but rather I will put it into hide tags as that is the Hall of Fame from Cycle 1.
Overall, I am hoping this new year breathes more life into an already amazingly successfully project and that this can continue to grow and be one of the longer projects Smogon has ever seen. I love you guys and I hope you know that I will keep this project going as long as I possibly can and I hope you guys continue to contribute just as long.
I also went ahead and wanted to pose a question before this new Cycle begins and that is: Should UU Matchmaking become set-specific meaning that each week I will not only provide a Pokemon, but a specific set as well. I made a strawpoll here: http://strawpoll.me/7332685 so you guys can vote and I will give you guys 24 hours before I collect the votes and start this new cycle tomorrow so it is back to the regular schedule.
Again, thank you guys so much for sticking around and let's make history as the longest running thread on Smogon. (A year is a pretty long time to be honest)
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Ok guys time to kick off Cycle 2 of Underused Matchmaking! You guys voted on whether or not this Cycle should be set specific and it was a very close vote, but the winner is...
So from now on, I will not only be providing a Pokemon for you guys to match, but a specific viable set, making its partners more specified. Anyways, Week 1 is going to be an oldie from Cycle 1, but it didn't get much love the first time around and that mon is...
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off / Superpower / Stealth Rock
Submissions will end on Friday. Good luck, have fun, and thank you guys for sticking around this far and keep on doing what you guys are doing :)
So from now on, I will not only be providing a Pokemon for you guys to match, but a specific viable set, making its partners more specified. Anyways, Week 1 is going to be an oldie from Cycle 1, but it didn't get much love the first time around and that mon is...
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off / Superpower / Stealth Rock
Submissions will end on Friday. Good luck, have fun, and thank you guys for sticking around this far and keep on doing what you guys are doing :)
Dr Ciel
Banned deucer.
nv, thank you so much for bringing this back. ^.^
Reserving Crobat.
Papercut (Crobat) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird / Acrobatics (Don't run an item if you choose this option)
- U-turn / Toxic / Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Support Crobat is a fantastic partner to Life Orb Mamoswine for a myriad of reasons. First and most importantly, Crobat can eliminate the Fighting types that Mamoswine is weak to with a STAB Brave Bird or Acrobatics. Second, since Mamoswine is vulnerable to all three entry hazards, Crobat can make use of Defog to remove the hazards from the field, allowing Mamoswine to do its job much more easily. On other side of things, Mamoswine can eliminate Electric types (barring Rotom-H) and Steel types while also eliminating Rock types as well, most notably Aerodactyl-Mega and Rhyperior.
Papercut (Crobat) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird / Acrobatics (Don't run an item if you choose this option)
- U-turn / Toxic / Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Support Crobat is a fantastic partner to Life Orb Mamoswine for a myriad of reasons. First and most importantly, Crobat can eliminate the Fighting types that Mamoswine is weak to with a STAB Brave Bird or Acrobatics. Second, since Mamoswine is vulnerable to all three entry hazards, Crobat can make use of Defog to remove the hazards from the field, allowing Mamoswine to do its job much more easily. On other side of things, Mamoswine can eliminate Electric types (barring Rotom-H) and Steel types while also eliminating Rock types as well, most notably Aerodactyl-Mega and Rhyperior.
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Reserving Jellicent
Chandelure @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
Albeit for selfish reasons, Chandelure lends itself as a good battle partner to Mamoswine on teams with offense in mind. With immunities and two resistances to Mamoswine's weaknesses Chandelure has a safe switch-in and can begin setting up and taking out 'mons who threaten Mamoswine's onslaught. On the reverse side, Mamoswine deals handily with opposing Ground types with its STAB Ice moves as well as Ghost types and common wielders of Shadow Ball with a Boosted Knock Off.
Unfortunately this partnership isn't perfect. While Chandelure and Mamoswine enjoy eachothers presence on the battlefield they share a common weakness to Water and both are on the frail side of the spectrum. For that reason, a bulky water type such as Alomamola would be a nice addition to a team containing this partnership because of it's ability to combat other bulky water types and pass wishes to Chandelure and Mamoswine as well as giving the two pokemon switch-opportunities.
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Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
Mega Sceptile probably the best partners for Mamoswine, as it just offers so much for Mega Sceptile it's insane. It beats opposing Dragon-types, and the two most prominent Dragon-types in the tier Salamence and Hydreigon, happen to have methods of increasing their speed through Dragon Dance / Scarf and solely Scarf respectively. This leaves you guessing with risky predicition games and being forced to scout if they're choice locked and Mega Sceptile is hopelessly outsped by Salamence easily after a Dragon Dance. Mega Sceptile also hates facing Whimsicott since it resists both of it's STABs and can easily OHKO it back with a Moonblast or lock it into an unfavorable move to create free turns for it's teammates. Finally it doesn't exactly appreciate facing Flying-types, specifically Mega Aerodactyl, Crobat, and again, Salamence. As you guess Mamoswine can reliably take on nearly every threat to Mega Sceptile very easy and make room for it to clean up after it has finished breaking walls. If you're wondering, Mega Sceptile breaks Water-types for Mamoswine and a great source of raw speed for faster threats, which is literally the only support Mamoswine needs to function at it's absolute best.
Ah the good old Spider-Pig core a great core as they work together so good. Mamoswine is the insane wallbreaker that can destroy some of the massive threats in UU with it's STAB moves such as Earthquake and Icicle Crash with Ice Shard as the icing at the top and in this core Knock Off. Galvantula however poses the Support role for Mamoswine as it can lay down it's very great hazard that can slow down threats that being Sticky Web. This also poses support with it's moves like Thunder and Bug Buzz and Energy Ball to pester annoying Swampert leads that like to setup Stealth Rocks
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
Galvantula @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Energy Ball
Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power Grass
- U-Turn
Scarf Zapdos with U-Turn is one of the best partners for Mamoswine because of its ability to not only check fighting types by switching in on them at least once per game but it also attracts special walls and bulky ground types who wanna be cheeky and U-Turns on them bringing Mamoswine safely to destroy them.
It also hits all bulky waters that give Mamoswine trouble for super effective damage, be it with STAB Tbolt or HP Grass.
(Static could also help by getting a mon that usually outpseeds Mamoswine paralyzed, but you gotta trust your luck to try that)
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Mamoswine's main obstacles are bulky Water-types, Psychic-types, and a couple of other miscellaneous Pokemon (Bronzong, Mega Aggron, etc.), and Toxicroak can help it out with these issues. The obvious Dry Skin ability is stupidly good for this core, giving Toxicroak the ability to punish Mamoswine's checks pretty often, especially if you double-switch at the right time. It can also manage to help against bulky Psychics more often than expected if you choose to run Knock Off (or just don't get greedy with setup), and checks like Cresselia, Bronzong, and Reuniclus will get worn down by Mamoswine and Toxicroak over time.
In return, Mamoswine can wield its powerful Ice STAB, which threatens Toxicroak's Flying-type checks, such as Zapdos, Crobat, and Salamence. It also helps greatly with Ground-types like Donphan (lol), Nidoqueen, and Krookodile, which are pretty great at stopping Toxicroak. As previously mentioned, Knock Off can smash Psychic-types, but it also cripples a lot of Ghost-types, which annoy Toxicroak just as much at times. Ice Shard can help revenge-kill even more Croak checks, like Mega Aerodactyl and even Alakazam. There are many benefits here, folks.
Good partners for this core can handle or at least check Fire-types, which bother both of these Pokemon despite Mamoswine's Thick Fat ability. Dragon-types like Salamence and Hydreigon work well with this core, and they can often provide more wallbreaking or even sweep on their own. Grass-types like Whimsicott can help relieve some pressure from Toxicroak's role as a Water check, while typical glue 'mons like Porygon2, Suicune, and Florges can help check a bunch of miscellaneous threats.
Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
Toxicroak @ Life Orb / Lum Berry
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off / Sucker Punch
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
Toxicroak @ Life Orb / Lum Berry
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off / Sucker Punch
Ok it's voting time (rip all those reservations D:)
We got Dr Ciel's Crobat, Bad_Vegan's Chandelure, -Magic-'s Mega Sceptile, Incognito Style's Galvantula, DaKakz's Zapdos, and Cactrune's Toxicroak.
Voting ends on Monday.
We got Dr Ciel's Crobat, Bad_Vegan's Chandelure, -Magic-'s Mega Sceptile, Incognito Style's Galvantula, DaKakz's Zapdos, and Cactrune's Toxicroak.
Voting ends on Monday.
InfernapeTropius11
get on my level
cactrune's toxicroak
