SS ZU Suspect Coverage: Malamar
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Art by Kaiju Bunny.
Introduction
If you asked any ZU player at the start of the year what their thoughts on Malamar were, they would have probably replied with "decent for matchup fishing." However, the April tier shifts resulted in the loss of several metagame staples. After Basculin was quickbanned and the initial worry of Jynx being broken subsided, the metagame centralized around three setup sweepers: Alcremie, Klinklang, and Malamar. Malamar's success was directly related to the departure of Cinccino, Eldegoss, Perrserker, and Wishiwashi from the tier. All of these Pokémon were metagame staples that frequently ran Bug moves, which left little room for Malamar to shine. After the April shifts, however, only a few Pokémon left could both switch into Malamar and threaten it out, such as Alcremie, Pyukumuku, and Swords Dance Silvally-Poison. Other Pokémon that could switch into Malamar like Tangela and Altaria were often setup fodder. The latest ladder tour further proved Malamar's dominance in the tier as teams would have to pick whether to fold to it or bring one of the few Pokémon that would consistently shut it down, usually Alcremie. Ultimately, it was decided that Malamar's restrictions on teambuilding were enough to warrant it a suspect test.
Set
Malamar @ Leftovers- Ability: Contrary
- EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
- Careful Nature
- - Superpower
- - Knock Off
- - Rest
- - Sleep Talk
Those who've played ORAS NU will know this set far too well, and Malamar yet again found success with it here in SS ZU. Superpower allowed Malamar to simultaneously break past walls and acquire stat boosts thanks to Contrary. Contrary also deterred Defog attempts and Qwilfish from switching into it. Knock Off crippled item-dependent Pokémon such as Tangela and Clefairy and targeted frail Ghost-types such as Rotom and Froslass that would otherwise impede its ability to boost. Rest let Malamar set up on status reliant-walls such as Stunfisk and Altaria, while Sleep Talk not only removed potential passivity issues but could also roll Superpower after it was PP stalled.
Other options
Malamar would typically only run the above set, but it could viably use Acupressure and Block. This would similarly take advantage of passive Pokémon and use them as set up fodder but was a far more gimmicky strategy.
Ban Reasoning
The pool of Pokémon that could deal with Malamar was quite narrow; most special attackers like Skuntank and Thievul were far too weak to break past Malamar's naturally solid special bulk, while physical attackers like Sawk and Rapidash would also struggle if Malamar ever got a couple of boosts. It was also difficult to get physical attackers in on Malamar, as they could not switch in directly and still win one-on-one. Unlike other setup sweepers, Rest allowed Malamar to shrug off status, which limited its defensive counterplay. In short, Malamar demanded specific answers, otherwise you would almost always lose to it. With the exception of Alcremie, reliable defensive counters to Malamar such as Pyukumuku and Golbat did not fit easily onto most teams, which resulted in many defensive teams just defaulting to Alcremie. However, Alcremie was a poor fit on bulky offense teams, and those teams usually resorted to the small pool of unreliable Malamar answers such as Swords Dance Silvally-Poison and Worry Seed Tangela to keep them afloat.
Anti-Ban Reasoning
Defensive teams had several sturdy Malamar answers to choose from such as Alcremie, Golbat, Spiritomb, and Pyukumuku. It was extremely unlikely you would lose to Malamar as long as you brought one of its hard counters, as it lacked immediate power and would be unable to make any progress aside from removing an item from the designated counter. Meanwhile, offensive teams relied on checks such as Silvally-Poison, Thwackey, and Accelgor in order to revenge kill Malamar; U-turn cores featuring one of the first two would often be able to limit Malamar's setup opportunities. Common defensive walls such as Rhydon and Tangela, which were usually setup fodder for Malamar, would sometimes opt for Megahorn and Worry Seed, respectively, which made them less susceptible to being set up on.
Conclusion
Malamar was banned with a 71% majority. Pokémon such as Spiritomb, Gourgeist-XL, and Shiinotic will likely see a decline in viability, although they may still have a niche due to their great matchup into Sawk. Alcremie and Klinklang are expected to remain top threats, and the council will continue to monitor them in the post-Malamar metagame. Be sure to check out the upcoming ZUPL to see how the metagame progresses.
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