Monotype Suspect Coverage: Magearna

By Eien.
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Art by Bummer

Art by Bummer.

Introduction

Throughout Pokémon Sun and Moon, Magearna was one of the most controversial new releases in Monotype. While it wasn't quite as powerful as Pokémon like Ash-Greninja and Thousand Arrows Zygarde, which both got banned very quickly, Magearna's incredible base stats, typing, and movepool kept it at the forefront of the community's watchlist from the very beginning. While it was clear that Magearna was perhaps the best Pokémon in the metagame, it was much less clear whether it was truly broken and banworthy. As a result, half a year after the last set of council quickbans, Magearna was given a public suspect test to finally decide whether it was in fact too good for the SM Monotype metagame.

Magearna in SM Monotype

Early in SM, Magearna looked a lot different from how it did right before its suspect test. Its most popular sets were originally Shift Gear + 3 Attacks, Assault Vest, and Choice Specs. However, as the metagame settled down, its most influential sets were popularized.

Magearna Steel

For Steel teams, offensive Trick Room became the most used and perhaps best set. The SM Monotype metagame was very offensive, and Trick Room has always been a powerful anti-offense strategy. Magearna takes it a step further with Twinkle Tackle to gain a +1 Special Attack boost almost immediately. With its great bulk and typing, setting Trick Room was not very difficult. Once Trick Room was set, most offense teams would lose multiple members, and even bulkier balance teams couldn't handle the firepower of Twinkle Tackle. This set was so effective that Steel teams didn't bother building around Trick Room, be it by using other sweepers or setters, as Magearna was often able to close out the game on its own.

Magearna Fairy

Fairy teams took a different approach, where Magearna was built almost solely to take on two of Fairy's least reliable matchups. Poison teams with an almost unbreakable defensive core of Mega Venusaur + Toxapex might have even overtaken Steel as Fairy's worst matchup. This set was specifically used to almost definitely beat Poison. After a Shift Gear, nothing could reliably revenge kill Magearna. Magearna's Steel typing gave it many opportunities, as Crobat, Nihilego, and Alolan Muk were prime setup fodder for it to take advantage of. Calm Mind gave it the power to beat Mega Venusaur with Corkscrew Crash and Toxapex with Thunderbolt. This set also completely changed the Fairy mirror matchup, as this set could effortlessly sweep after just using Shift Gear. Teams that used a different Magearna set would find it very difficult to win mirror matchups against those with this set.

Magearna Fairy

Because Fairy teams also often used Z-Belly Drum Azumarill as their Z-Move user, Assault Vest Magearna was also a very popular set. Its typing let it check Steel- and Poison-types, and its great damage output made it a fantastic defensive pivot. While this set couldn't sweep, it proved to be almost as powerful as the Double Dance set by virtue of being very difficult to break. Thanks to Klefki supplying dual screens and Tapu Bulu's Grassy Terrain halving Earthquake damage, even those with super effective STAB moves could fail to drop Magearna in a single hit only to catch an OHKO from Fleur Cannon in return.

The Suspect

For two weeks, Monotype ran a suspect ladder with Magearna banned, as SM Monotype had never seen a metagame without Magearna's influence. The ban argument was that Magearna's sweeping potential was too powerful for many types to handle, as very little could take an unresisted Twinkle Tackle or boosted Corkscrew Crash. While Magearna's base Speed isn't fantastic, its bulk makes up for it in spades, so Choice Scarf users without super effective STAB moves aren't able to revenge kill Shift Gear Magearna in most cases, and priority moves are much too weak to do anything but chip at it. To make checking it even harder, Magearna's older sets were still being used; a switch-in to Trick Room Magearna might not be able to handle a Choice Specs-boosted attack, and an offensive check might fail to break through Assault Vest. With Soul-Heart, not predicting Magearna's set could easily open the door for a game-winning sweep.

On the other hand, the anti-ban argument focused on the fact that Magearna almost always used the same kinds of moves: Fleur Cannon, Thunderbolt or Volt Switch, Aura Sphere or Focus Blast, and Flash Cannon. As a result, disregarding the Choice Specs's power boost, multiple sets could sometimes be defensively handled by the same Pokémon without the need for too much prediction. Furthermore, while it has a wide range of viable moves, it suffers from four-moveslot syndrome in that Double Dance lacked coverage and offensive Trick Room couldn't boost to break past certain walls. Magearna was also very much vulnerable to common Fire- and Ground-type coverage moves and lacked any form of reliable recovery, so even types like Dragon, which are gravely weak to Fleur Cannon, were able to keep it at bay with offensive pressure. Any damage it took would make its late-game sweep all the more difficult to pull off.

The Verdict and Impact

The suspect ended with 68.57% of the voters in favor of banning Magearna. Having lost their best offensive threat, long-time top-tier Steel teams have dropped far down the type rankings. Fairy teams, on the other hand, happened to be blessed with the release of Mega Diancie, which is similarly capable of dismantling Poison with its powerful Psychic and Diamond Storm and has managed to maintain Fairy's place at the top of the rankings. With Magearna's departure, other bulkier teams, such as Flying, that struggled with Magearna's wallbreaking power and offensive teams, such as Dragon, that were naturally weak to Trick Room have become more popular.

Many sets have also changed as a result of Magearna's ban. Alolan Muk on Dark teams, which previously ran Fire Blast almost exclusively to hit Magearna, is free to carry other useful moves, such as Rock Slide. Mega Heracross had to run Jolly to outspeed Timid Magearna but can now use Adamant for more wallbreaking power.

While it was quite difficult to definitively say whether Magearna was in fact broken for a very long time, the post-ban SM Monotype metagame does seem to be headed to a much brighter future without the Artificial Pokémon.

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