An Introduction to the NFE Metagame

By BloodAce0107 and Crystalites. Released: 2019/11/01.
« Previous Article Next Article »
cressNFE

By Cresselia92.

Introduction

NFE, which stands for Not Fully Evolved, is a metagame where only Pokémon that can evolve are usable. Unlike the Unofficial Metagame with a similar premise, Middle Cup, Pokémon that aren't middle evolutions are also allowed. This gives NFE a much wider pool of available Pokémon, which, when coupled with the fact that Eviolite is not banned like it is in Middle Cup, creates a very distinct and different metagame.

Key Threats

Offensive Threats

NFE is a very bulky offense-centric metagame, due to Eviolite being able to augment every Pokémon's defensive capabilities. As a result, the offensive threats in the tier tend to be extremely strong or make use of Knock Off and setup options to bypass the additional bulk of their checks.

Electabuzz

Electabuzz
  • HP65
  • ATK83
  • DEF57
  • SPA95
  • SPD85
  • SPE105

Electabuzz's great Speed, solid Special Attack, and access to Volt Switch make it one of NFE's premier pivots on VoltTurn offense. Electabuzz is most commonly paired with other offensive pivots, including the likes of Monferno and Frogadier, as they cover its weakness to Grass- and Ground-types. Choice Specs allows Electabuzz to even 2HKO specially defensive Roselia with Psychic after Stealth Rock. Other coverage moves such as Focus Blast and Hidden Power Grass allow it to threaten would-be checks such as Ferroseed, Krokorok, and Marshtomp.

Monferno

Monferno
  • HP64
  • ATK78
  • DEF52
  • SPA78
  • SPD52
  • SPE81

Monferno is one of NFE's most versatile Pokémon, capable of running a variety of sets, including Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, and even defensive Stealth Rock. However, Swords Dance edges the others out in terms of its sheer power. Access to two high-Base Power moves in Flare Blitz and Close Combat along with priority in Mach Punch makes Monferno a force to be reckoned with against both more offensively and defensively inclined teams. Firium Z is used to blast through Fighting-resistant Pokémon such as Togetic and Clefairy, while Fightinium Z can be used to take out Fire-resistant Pokémon such as Marshtomp and Sliggoo after they are chipped.

Servine

Servine
  • HP60
  • ATK60
  • DEF75
  • SPA60
  • SPD75
  • SPE83

Servine is NFE's best bulky setup sweeper thanks to STAB Contrary Leaf Storm along with a comfortable Speed tier. Leaf Storm can let Servine quickly snowball, dealing massive damage even to Grass-resistant Pokémon such as Monferno, Pawniard, and Magmar after one or two boosts. Servine is able to use the likes of Marshtomp, Mareanie, and Clefairy as setup bait and cripple would-be switch-ins such as Roselia and Ferroseed with Knock Off and Staravia and Monferno with Glare. Servine is also capable of running Hidden Power Fire to directly threaten Leaf Storm switch-ins such as Ferroseed, Roselia, Klang, and opposing Servine.

Machoke

Machoke
  • HP80
  • ATK100
  • DEF70
  • SPA50
  • SPD60
  • SPE45

Machoke is one of NFE's scariest bulky attackers thanks to its access to Knock Off and amazing coverage capable of hitting the entire metagame for at least neutral damage, which enable it to cripple and rip apart defensive cores consisting of Pokémon such as Roselia, Clefairy, and Mareanie. Machoke's bulk allows it to take even unboosted super effective attacks such as Clefairy's Moonblast, Metang's Zen Headbutt, and Staravia's Brave Bird and retaliate with one of its one attacks.

Kadabra

Kadabra
  • HP40
  • ATK35
  • DEF30
  • SPA120
  • SPD70
  • SPE105

Kadabra is NFE's most consistent revenge killer on hyper offensive teams, as it is almost guaranteed to pick up a KO in the right hands. Magic Guard and Counter in tandem with a Focus Sash allow it to check a variety of offensive threats such as Machoke and Fraxure. This combination also makes many of its defensive checks such as Metang and Alolan Grimer think twice about attacking it, as they fear being taken out themselves. Additionally, Kadabra can utilize Encore to force setup sweepers such as Pawniard to be locked into their non-attacking moves. Alternatively, Kadabra can utilize a Life Orb to boost its offenses, with Magic Guard allowing it to bluff its Focus Sash set and scare off physical attackers. These traits paired with its incredibly high Special Attack and greatest unboosted Speed stat in the metagame alongside Electabuzz make Kadabra a solid revenge killer.

Back to top

Sample Teams

Machoke Bulky Offense by Frisoeva

KadabraHaunterMachokeServineClefAGrimer

This bulky offense team's goal is to whittle down the opposing team with consistent offensive pressure from Kadabra, Haunter, and Machoke, creating openings for Servine late-game. Clefairy provides role compression as both a Stealth Rock user and a secondary bulky wincon by utilizing Calm Mind. The duo of Kadabra and Haunter pair well with Machoke, as it is able to deal with Pokémon such as Pawniard and Alolan Grimer, while Kadabra and Haunter can wear down Fighting-type checks such as Mareanie and Clefairy. In return, Alolan Grimer is able to trap Pokémon such as Roselia and Haunter for Servine as well as opposing Servine for Calm Mind Clefairy.

Pawniard Offense by BloodAce0107

PawniardRoseMarshFrogMonfernoVullaby

This team is built around Pawniard, a threatening sweeper, and revolves around weakening the opponent's team with Spikes and sweeping late-game with Pawniard. The combination of physically defensive Marshtomp and specially defensive Roselia provides the team with a solid defensive backbone and entry hazard support with Stealth Rock and Spikes. Pawniard’s Defiant deters Defoggers such as Servine and Vullaby from removing hazards. Nasty Plot Monferno can break mid- to late-game, opening holes in the opposing team for Pawniard later. Vullaby provides the team with hazard removal and utility with Knock Off, as well as a defensive check to Servine, Haunter, and Kadabra. Frogadier can revenge kill the likes of Kadabra and Haunter.

Metagame Discussion

In this section, we'll take a brief look at the changes in the NFE metagame over the past few months and a suspect test for one of the biggest threats in the tier.

Fall of Clefairy

Clefairy

After the banning of the former best two Pokémon in Gurdurr and Piloswine in February, Clefairy became the most prominent Pokémon due to its insane utility in Stealth Rock, Knock Off, and Thunder Wave, ability to set up with Calm Mind, and ability to wall a good portion of threats in the tier with its above average defenses and reliable recovery in Soft-Boiled. However, its usage and win rate have been slowly decreasing since then. Over the last few months, NFE has shifted towards a more offensive metagame in which immediate threats, such as Servine and Machoke, have become a lot more popular. Its Calm Mind set currently suffers from being too passive due to its lack of immediate power when compared to other setup sweepers, while its other sets are too passive, being easily switched into and set up on. Pokémon that Clefairy would have checked in the past, such as Fraxure and Monferno, now run Steelium Z and Firium Z to break past it. Clefairy also dislikes the increasing usage of the many Poison-types such as Roselia, Alolan Grimer, and Haunter that are able to wall it and/or threaten it out. Overall, while Clefairy still remains a solid and versatile Pokémon in NFE, the rise of some of its checks and counters has led it to be harder to use on teams and less effective as a defensive threat.

Rise of Servine

Servine

Servine also benefited greatly from the banning of Gurdurr and Piloswine, as they both made it difficult for Servine to set up. Sliggoo's falling usage also helped Servine, as it was one of its best counters. It became the best setup sweeper because of the ability to boost while spamming a strong STAB move in Leaf Storm thanks to Contrary. Servine is also unique because it could support itself with Glare and Knock Off. It brought immediate power, which is something Clefairy lacked, and it also could use Clefairy as setup bait. This matchup was a large reason for the downfall of Clefairy and why Servine became the biggest threat in NFE. It also had solid defenses and reliable recovery in Synthesis, which made it quite difficult to revenge kill and meant it could switch in and set up on a plethora of Pokémon. This was particularly the case with its most commonly used set, which also functioned as a specially defensive wall and was able to reliably beat common offensive special attackers, such as Kadabra and Electabuzz. It also has entry hazard removal in Defog, which is extremely beneficial in a tier where hazard stacking is very effective and common and few Pokémon with hazard removal are actually viable. Servine is just as versatile as Clefairy without being as passive, and its amazing kit was finally fully realized after a couple months of the new metagame, when its usage began to skyrocket. Recently, a Servine suspect test was held which will be elaborated on below.

Rise of Roselia

Roselia

The rise of Servine meant that its checks and counters had to be used more often. The best of these is Roselia. Roselia's solid defensive typing along with its reliable recovery in Synthesis and high Special Defense lets it switch into Servine and threaten it out with Sludge Bomb, but it can also check other common offensive special attackers such as Electabuzz and Frogadier. It also does well against Clefairy, as long as Clefairy has not gotten multiple Calm Mind boosts prior to Roselia switching in. Unlike many of Servine's other switch-ins, such as Sliggoo and Vullaby, Roselia is able to perform a large role outside of just checking Servine. It is the tier's premier Spiker, as it can easily force switches and create free opportunities to set up entry hazards. Because of these attributes, Roselia is by far the most popular Servine switch-in. Roselia and Servine are first and second in usage stats for NFEPL 3, further showing the ServRose metagame in full effect.

Rise of Machoke

Machoke

Machoke was in the shadow of Gurdurr during the time the latter was around, and despite Gurdurr's ban being 8 months ago, it wasn’t until around the start of NFEPL that Machoke's popularity started to increase. One reason why Machoke became more popular was because it fits very well in the ServRose metagame. As a physical wallbreaker, it benefited from the fact that both Servine and Roselia run maximum Special Defense investment for their main sets as well as many of Servine's and Roselia's checks also having to run Special Defense investment. People also started to use Machoke because they realized it had a very limited amount of switch-ins due to its very high Attack, strong STAB attack in Close Combat, and access to very good coverage moves. Heavy Slam allows Machoke to hit Fairy-types, and Earthquake helps it take on Poison-types, essentially eliminating the standard checks to Fighting-types. Machoke is also somewhat difficult to revenge kill due to its solid natural bulk, which was overlooked by many players before NFEPL.

Servine Suspect Test

Servine

Due to Servine's amazing offensive and defensive presence, community outcry, and its performance in NFEPL, the NFE Council decided to hold a suspect test for Servine post-NFEPL. With no ladder, 15 tours were held in order to determine which players got voting requirements along with the council members. Below, both sides of the argument will be explained.

Pro-Ban Reasoning

One of the main arguments from the pro-ban side was that Servine was unhealthily centralizing. It mandated the usage of defensive checks, such as Roselia, Alolan Grimer, and Monferno, on bulky offense and balanced teams and even forced very niche checks such as Sliggoo and Marill to be used, which are not very viable outside of checking Servine. Servine's amazing natural bulk alongside maximum investment in Special Defense on its most common set makes it difficult to revenge kill with special attacks, with only super effective STAB Z-Moves from strong, invested special attackers, such as Haunter, being able to OHKO it. Its offensive presence is unrivaled when compared to other setup sweepers because of Contrary and Leaf Storm meaning it doesn’t have to sacrifice turns to set up. Glare can cause coinflip scenarios and let Servine break past some of its defensive and offensive checks with some luck as well as give it more setup opportunities. Servine can also run a more offensive and faster set, which has slightly different checks, making it more difficult to build against.

Anti-Ban Reasoning

Servine's checks are very easy to fit on teams; Poison-types such as Roselia, Alolan Grimer, and Haunter are very common, and Fire-types such as Monferno, Combusken, and Magmar all remain popular choices. There have been many adaptations made by Flying-types to combat Servine just in NFEPL alone, with Choice Scarf Staravia being able to revenge kill it, Toxic becoming more common on Togetic, and Vullaby rising in usage as another check. Recently, Servine has been using Glare over Hidden Power Fire as a filler move, which leaves it more susceptible to Steel-types such as Klang and Pawniard as well as Grass-types like Roselia. Servine also relies heavily on an 8 PP move in Leaf Storm, which means specially defensive Pokémon are sometimes able to stall Servine out despite it being at +6. Pokémon that Servine often switches into such as Mareanie, Krokorok, Marshtomp, and Prinplup have ways of crippling it, with the first two being able to remove its Eviolite and make it a lot easier to revenge kill and the latter two being able to put it on a timer with Toxic. The anti-ban side argued that this was enough counterplay to keep Servine in check.

Results

Servine remains unbanned in NFE with only half the votes being ban, missing out on the required 60% majority. Servine will continue to be a top-tier threat in NFE.

Conclusion

If you are interested in getting involved with the NFE community, check out the official NFE metagame thread. In the NFE PS! Room, you will find players participating in many different activities, whether it be building teams, battling, or discussing the metagame. Also, check out the official NFE discord for additional discussion.

HTML by Jho | Script by HoeenHero.
« Previous Article Next Article »