ZU Suspect Coverage: Silvally-Ground

By Jett. Released: 2021/09/01.
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ZU Suspect Coverage: Silvally-Ground artwork

Art by Albatross.

Introduction

Ever since the banning of Silvally-Dragon back in March this year, Silvally-Ground had gradually cemented itself as the best Silvally forme and one of the best offensive threats in the metagame. However, over the past few months, more and more of the community started to believe that Silvally-Ground's consistency as a wallbreaker, setup sweeper, pivot, cleaner, and revenge killer caused too much strain in teambuilding and its offensive presence was generally undesirable in the metagame. Even with the rising concerns, Silvally-Ground still had to wait its turn, but with Grassy Seed being quickbanned, the conclusion of the Centiskorch suspect, and ZUPL right around the corner, it was finally time for Silvally-Ground to be suspect tested.

Sets

Swords Dance was Silvally-Ground's most common set, and for good reason; its great defensive typing and solid bulk allowed it to reliably set up, and Multi-Attack was an incredibly potent STAB attack capable of breaking past neutral targets such as Miltank and Wishiwashi after a single boost. Rock Slide offered complementary coverage nailing Flying-types such as Altaria and Articuno, as well as foiling status attempts from Levitate users such as bulky Rotom formes and Uxie with its flinch chance. U-turn provided Silvally-Ground with its hit-and-run playstyle, which let it reliably chip its expected switch-ins such as Tangela and Pyukumuku, as well as gaining momentum off them. U-turn also heavily damaged non-Tangela Grass-types like Choice Band Thwackey, Flapple, and Lurantis, making them situational checks at best. Flame Charge let Silvally-Ground outspeed would-be offensive checks such as Cinccino, Alolan Persian, and Choice Scarf Sawk.

Mixed Silvally-Ground was less common but was an effective lure that rose up to combat some of its most common answers. Ice Beam reliably 2HKOed the two most splashable and common Grass-types in the metagame, Tangela and Gourgeist-S. Ice Beam Silvally-Ground was slightly more inconsistent, as the moveslot would be useless against teams where a Grass-type wasn't present, but the threat of a potential Ice Beam would sometimes be enough to buy its standard physical set an extra turn of setup. Additionally, having to choose between U-turn and Swords Dance was less than ideal, as it would have to give up the ability to pivot on physical walls or the ability to break past walls such as Alcremie and Uxie.

Ban Reasoning

Silvally-Ground's access to Swords Dance and near perfect coverage in Multi-Attack and Rock Slide meant that there were very few Pokémon that could consider themselves counters to its main set. Bulkier teams would often have to rely on having multiple soft checks if they did not resort to using Tangela, or Pyukumuku, which is only found on stall teams. Offensive checks also had their flaws, as, with the exception of Gourgeist-S and Alolan Persian, they would require slow pivots to be brought in safely, and these slow pivots like Uxie and Wishiwashi were often only short term checks to Silvally-Ground. Silvally-Ground was also incredible at generating momentum, as it could force a lot of switches with its coverage and had U-turn to wear down incoming physical walls. Since most teams had become reliant on a bulky Grass-type as part of their defensive core in order to contain Silvally-Ground, preparing for them was easy, and diverse special wallbreakers such as Jynx, Skuntank, and Ninetales could be pivoted in safely with Silvally-Ground's U-turn to use the Grass-types as setup fodder. Lastly, Tangela, a once-believed hard counter, could now lose to Silvally-Ground because of the rise of Ice Beam sets.

Anti-Ban Reasoning

Silvally-Ground wasn't without its checks or counters; faster Pokémon such as Cinccino, Basculin, and Choice Scarf Sawk and priority users like Thwackey, Kangaskhan, and Piloswine were capable of revenge killing it. Grass-types such as Tangela, Gourgeist-S, Appletun, Eldegoss, and Lurantis also were great defensive answers to Silvally-Ground. Silvally-Ground had some, if fewer dedicated soft checks such as Wishiwashi and Poliwrath, which could beat it one-on-one given that they were at full health and Silvally-Ground hadn't been given an opportunity to set up. Pokémon with Will-O-Wisp like Rotom, Rotom-S, and Sableye could neuter Silvally-Ground, although none of them could reliably switch in safely. Additionally, most of Silvally-Ground's checks such as Tangela, Thwackey, and Rotom were inherently good and viable, so they were not just being used because of Silvally-Ground's presence. Silvally-Ground was also vulnerable to chip damage from entry hazards and its lack of reliable recovery meant that, despite its solid bulk, setting up was not always easy.

Conclusion

Silvally-Ground has been banned from ZU with 66.7% of voters voting to ban it. Some of the Pokémon expected to rise in viability include Skuntank and Rotom, and other Ground-types such as Rhydon and Stunfisk will be needed to help check the aforementioned threats. It remains to be seen whether or not Alcremie, which was the other Pokémon that was up for debate, will be deserving of any tiering action in this new metagame. Be sure to check out the SS ZU games in ZUPL to find out how the metagame continues to develop.

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