VGC 2024 Regulation G Metagame Discussion

[fyfyy]

Ok so its time for some Fyfyy Sauce.
First of all, Kyogre is pretty decent in the meta. I saw the previous discussion and no one actually discussed about how Landorus-I pairs so well with it. Sandsear Storm is amazing, checking Miraidon and Sludge Bomb checking mons that Terastalize into Fairy is insane. Great synergy with Farigiraf and enabling Urshifu-R is so good. A lot of teams have started utilising Grimmsnarl to set up screens and Urshifu-R with Tera Water Surging Strikes in Rain is a great way to handle such cores. It was pretty early ladder but hit 1st and Top 10 in BO3 earlier as well and the team did put in some work.

A few Pokemon (asides Restricteds) which I feel would be really good in this meta -
Tornadus - Tornadus has become such an important piece in the meta, providing Tailwind, Weather Control, Taunt and good STAB in Bleakwind Storm which does good chip damage and becomes really consistent with Rain. Still does the same job but its importance seems to have increased a lot, fueling the early meta HO teams to great success.

Kingambit - I cannot stress how insane Kingambit matches up well into the metagame. Assault Vest Set with Tera Fairy Tera Blast, Iron Head is such great coverage. It brilliantly checks both Calyrex forms, Koraidon , Miraidon after it Terastalizes and has a great matchup into Raging Bolt and Lunala as well. I can see it becoming a mainstream set soon. Overall in a brilliant position in the metagame and is set for success.

Farigiraf - The giraffe strikes back, one of the top Trick Room Setters, immunity to Calyrex-S Astral Barrage is insane.
Stopping Fake Out from the most prominent Pokemon in Incineroar and RIllaboom is pretty important, has a good movepool that helps it do well. Imprison is something niche which I can see becoming mainstream, a good way for HO teams to check Calyrex-I Trick Room Cores.

 

[wholesomeisland]

Ok so its time for some Fyfyy Sauce.
First of all, Kyogre is pretty decent in the meta. I saw the previous discussion and no one actually discussed about how Landorus-I pairs so well with it. Sandsear Storm is amazing, checking Miraidon and Sludge Bomb checking mons that Terastalize into Fairy is insane. Great synergy with Farigiraf and enabling Urshifu-R is so good. A lot of teams have started utilising Grimmsnarl to set up screens and Urshifu-R with Tera Water Surging Strikes in Rain is a great way to handle such cores. It was pretty early ladder but hit 1st and Top 10 in BO3 earlier as well and the team did put in some work.

A few Pokemon (asides Restricteds) which I feel would be really good in this meta -
Tornadus - Tornadus has become such an important piece in the meta, providing Tailwind, Weather Control, Taunt and good STAB in Bleakwind Storm which does good chip damage and becomes really consistent with Rain. Still does the same job but its importance seems to have increased a lot, fueling the early meta HO teams to great success.

Kingambit - I cannot stress how insane Kingambit matches up well into the metagame. Assault Vest Set with Tera Fairy Tera Blast, Iron Head is such great coverage. It brilliantly checks both Calyrex forms, Koraidon , Miraidon after it Terastalizes and has a great matchup into Raging Bolt and Lunala as well. I can see it becoming a mainstream set soon. Overall in a brilliant position in the metagame and is set for success.

Farigiraf - The giraffe strikes back, one of the top Trick Room Setters, immunity to Calyrex-S Astral Barrage is insane.
Stopping Fake Out from the most prominent Pokemon in Incineroar and RIllaboom is pretty important, has a good movepool that helps it do well. Imprison is something niche which I can see becoming mainstream, a good way for HO teams to check Calyrex-I Trick Room Cores.

ive theorized with kyogre a bit, going on ladder a bit with this team https://pokepast.es/79ea259182f6f7ed thats basically the archaludon rain team that picked up around charlotte with kyogre over pelipper, and it feels fairly decent

one thing i will mention tho, i expect wide guard to be pretty common this format. we have mons like kyogre, groudon, the calyrexes being introduced along with still seen spread moves like flutter manes dazzling gleam and the genies signature moves, i expect mons like gallade, hitmontop, and some restricteds like solgaleo might see a bit higher usage.

 

[Eichigo19]

I've had a little bit of success with Ditto shenanigans despite it only being single restricted.

https://pokepast.es/a24133506965e7b4

Mostly just Kyo/Urshifu-R core with a bunch of generically good mons and then there's Ditto.

 

[Bright Size]

I kind of wanted to go over my experience with Zacian so far since I don't think I've seen it been discussed much:

I've been having fun with Zacian + Ting-Lu/Dondozo stuff these first two days. Ting-Lu/Dondozo sounded appealing with Dondozo being able to handle Calyrex-Ice very well and Ting-Lu is able to sit in front of Calyrex-Shadow. Zacian looked appealing on paper on first glance with it being able to outspeed and threaten all of Chien-Pao, Flutter Mane, Koraidon, and Miraidon for super effective damage. I figured I could adapt the common Regulation F Ting-Lu/Dozo to Regulation G to include Zacian since the typing synergy worked well enough, Ting-Lu/Dondozo usually struggled with Flutter Mane that Zacian could easily deal with and was buffed by Chien-Pao and Gouging Fire that is paired with Ting-Lu/Dondozo.

https://pokepast.es/9aefa81f787bedf9

Dondozo on these Ting-Lu/Dondozo teams in Regulation F were Heavy Slam, but I took it off because I never feel the need to press it with Zacian, so Fissure is a filler move. I think there's a better move for that slot, but I don't know what it is. I wasn't playing vs. enough Rapid-Strike Urshifu, so I added a Sitrus Berry over the usual Rocky Helmet. I opted for Crunch on Chien-Pao over Sacred Sword as I already had Sacred Sword on Zacian, having it on both seemed unnecessary. Crunch felt better in a lot of board states anyway in times like playing vs a Tera Fire'd Groudon. I haven't settled on the Tera type for Zacian.

I haven't played vs. any real Dondozo teams but this team should pretty much autolose to them like Ting-Lu/Dondozo teams in Regulation F did. Anything that Tera Fires is also annoying, as Zacian/Chien-Pao are both fire weak. I would usually look to spam Ruination or something with Ting-Lu to heavily chip the Pokemon that would Tera Fire, but this isn't really reliable. Tera Fire Groudon is an absolute nightmare with Gouging Fire and Zacian being weak to Ground that this team needs to be adjusted in some way to handle better.

I've though about dropping Play Rough on the Zacian, as I virtually never click the move (nor do I trust its 90% accuracy) in favor of something like Substitute or Quick Attack but I haven't done that yet.

 

[4Kuser]

A restricted Pokemon I'd like to discuss about is Zamazenta . During Generation 8's competitive scene, Zamazenta has always lived under Zacian's shadow, being that other member of the Darkest Day trio. But now having access to Terastilization, receiving a buff (Body Press), and Zacian being heavily nerfed, Zamazenta could have potential as a decent set-up sweeper.

I've been building around Zamazenta with Rillaboom and possibly Amoonguss. Rillaboom having access to Fake Out and Grassy Terrain, and Amoonguss helping it set-up even further with Spore and Pollen Puff.

Another Pokemon I think would fit nicely with is Ting-Lu, because of Vessel of Ruin, Zamazenta becomes a tank on both physical defense and special defense.

 

[Meme Guy 924]

I'll start.

I'd like to talk about Rayquaza , a Pokemon that I think has been severely overlooked and not properly considered, but who I think has a ton of potential, which I'll go through below.
I think theres 3 main characteristics that define Ray for me; total weather canceling, being a bulky swords dance user, and having access to excellent coverage and type. Lets go through each one-by-one

Total weather canceling is a much bigger deal than it looks like on first glance. In a weather war, the constant pivoting is a huge factor. In my experience a lot of the game is just pivoting your setter in and out, which burns a lot of turns. It also leaves your partner switching in vulnerable to pretty predictable attacks, as your not exactly likely to keep a Groudon in front of a Rain boosted Kyogre . Late games are also kinda annoying if two of your mons are dead, or when you only have one option to pivot into. Ray completely bypasses these issues, allowing it to completely neutralize both the dons, especially so thanks to its typing completely walling both, and to an extent Koraidon too with resisting CC. In most single restricteds online tournaments Groudon or Kyogre have either outright won the event or had the highest usage out of the restricteds, so this is a pretty big deal. Its also nice in blocking both weathers, so you dont have to deal with say a Rain team mirror if you were instead say running to deal with Sun. Finally blocking weathers is huge in one last way, enabling teamates. I'll give one example here, Urshifu-R . With Choice Scarf its able to outspeed many natural threats to Ray such as Flutter or Calyrex-S , and Urshifu-R appreciates the weather blocking ability immensely. I've seen Sunny Day Tornadus being used on a lot of teams as their Urshifu-R counter, and most pure Sun teams have literally no ways outside of a stray Bolt to handle the fast Water-type coverage. I'll talk more about partners later tho

The second thing is having SD and a great stat spread. I've seen a lot of people say its just worse Dragonite , which is just not really true imo, they both play very differently and I think Ray has the edge here. Dragonite is kinda locked into Choice Band and being paired with Chien-Pao to have any sort of bite, and even then its pretty easily handled by say a Steel- or Ghost-type. After a single Swords Dance, Ray is matching a Banded Tera boosted Extreme Speed from Dragonite , and its higher attack stat means its almost matching the same damage as if SoR active. With its very respectable bulk and support from teamates, Ray can set up a Swords Dance really easily, and Extreme Speed allows it to dodge a huge problem with many set up sweepers, in lacking Speed to properly utilize the boost. Another thing I've seen is that Inner Focus makes Dragonite superior, which I also disagree with. While Inner Focus is great, it doesen't actually apply to Ray as much. Thanks to not needing a Choice Band, it can run Camulet (Or another useful item) to gain the Intim immunity and more, as well as being able to Protect to dodge Fake Out. The flexibility is really nice, and not being Choice Locked is way more useful that you would think. Which (Kinda) leads me to my next point, in its coverage and typing.

I cannot really stress how useful having an actually good Flying-type move is. Flying is such a good stab option, it hits most relevant types for neutral as well as handling another big problem for set up sweepers, in Amoonguss . The Rock-type resistant is kinda irrelevant as theres not many good ones out there (I love you Glim but your like the only good Rock ;-;) , and while not hitting Electric- or Steel-type Pokemon is kinda annoying, it comes up a lot less than you might think, and you also have access Earthquake to hit all of the Flying-type resistances. Flying/Dragon is also a really solid defensive typing, resisting the Dons is super useful, and is a great switch in to a lot of mons.

I've been having great success with it so far on a variant of the classic Gouging Fire team, and honestly speaking Gouging deserves a whole post on its own but thats for later. Im not even running Howl with it, the damage output is already there from Ray and Urshifu-R , instead opting for a Snarl/Breaking Swipe combo. Being a fast de-buffer that bypasses redirection is really nice, and also slows down so many prevalent threats (Stuff like Caly-S just get so bodied by a single Snarl, losing out on all that momentum early is crazy bad for it). I've already talked about Urshifu-R already but yeah its just generally really solid. I was also told to talk about Caly-I , I dont really know what to say I have answers for that on my team too, the existence of a single bad match-up doesen't auto mean the mon is bad lmao, you got 3 other Pokemon to bring for a reason!

Anyways thats my rant on Rayquaza , this was way longer than it had any right to be but whatever. TLDR; Mon is good, Swords Dance + Extreme Speed is broken and blocking weather is really valuable, I even got a figure of it cuz its neat.

Would you mind sharing this team? I am interested in using Rayquaza in this format but have been struggling with building around it

 

[Sugarbear]

Trying to build a team with Terapagos. Going for 3 attacks + Protect atm. What teammates would be good for it. Right now I have Tornadus to set Tailwind and Ogerpon to deter Snarl and Incineroar.

 

[Shaymin Sky]

Trying to build a team with Terapagos. Going for 3 attacks + Protect atm. What teammates would be good for it. Right now I have Tornadus to set Tailwind and Ogerpon to deter Snarl and Incineroar.

Hello chrystal this thread isn't really the place for team building advice advice, you'd be better off asking for help in the VGC Room or the VGC Discord.

Since you're already here though, Terapagos without Calm Mind is really gonna need some sort of damage boost via ally so something like Chi-Yu could work, or maybe Farigiraf with helping hand. Farigiraf specifically gives you a Trick Room and Tailwind mode for your team, which can help give u pick whatever speed control is needed depending on the matchup.

 

[godlyreal]

I've found Choice band Ogerpon Teal to actually be quite strong into the meta. Embody Aspect speed allows it to out speed and OHKO mons such as Calyrex Shadow, Groudon, Kyogre and bonking the majority of the metagame for insane damage unless they resist you.
Its main weaknesses are tornadus (Tailwind + Bleakwind Storm) and Miraidon and Koraidon, since they resist your stab.
Im using it on a team with answers to these weaknesses:
https://pokepast.es/7550a2769afa70af

I also think unaware dondozo is a strong mon in the meta. Using a spdef set, you can comfortably deal with both Calyrexes, Zacian, Terapagos and more using Yawn, protect, heavy slam wave crash. I also experimented with a fissure set, which was quite funny to use.

I've noticed Orthworm is quite nicely suited in the metagame, perhaps on kyogre teams as a niche, as it can comfortably sit infront of: Calyrex Ice, Terapagos, Lando I, Ogerpon Wellspring, Rillaboom, Raging Bolt, Groudon ( on rain),etc. I feel like shed tail also has potential since you can set up with your restricted to break holes through teams.

I personally think Roaring Moon is well suited into the meta.This is mainly because of its strength into FWG matchups, aswell as the Shadowrex matchups. Roaring Moon also compliments teammate Shadowrexes by being able to throat chop snarls and parting shots from incins, ting lus etc, and set up tailwind.
It can also just do roaring moon stuff.

Some other niche mons i found are: rotom wash,wo chien, bronzong and regigigas.

I've also made an entire restricted 'album' with GBVGC members, linked here

 

[TheLoanRanger]

Hello chrystal this thread isn't really the place for team building advice advice, you'd be better off asking for help in the VGC Room or the VGC Discord.

Since you're already here though, Terapagos without Calm Mind is really gonna need some sort of damage boost via ally so something like Chi-Yu could work, or maybe Farigiraf with helping hand. Farigiraf specifically gives you a Trick Room and Tailwind mode for your team, which can help give u pick whatever speed control is needed depending on the matchup.

If they're running 3 atks, they could go power herb meteor beam to boost the damage output + starstorm + earth power, almost like a little lunala without the ability to set its own trick room

 

[Jesuuuus]

If they're running 3 atks, they could go power herb meteor beam to boost the damage output + starstorm + earth power, almost like a little lunala without the ability to set its own trick room

then.... just use lunala... unless im missing something.

 

[Vinc2612]

I tried a bit of Terapagos and had some success. My favourite being a choice specs version: you cannot really switch with anything but if you let your Miraidon/Koraidon/Groudon/Kyogre on the field, you might not be able to bring back your field effect either.

But my main qualm is how Terapagos is the biggest Tera-Sink ever. If I don't Tera it, I feel like I'm playing without any restricted. If I Tera it, I lose a lot of flexibility with the rest of the team

 

[Shaymin Sky]

I tried a bit of Terapagos and had some success. My favourite being a choice specs version: you cannot really switch with anything but if you let your Miraidon/Koraidon/Groudon/Kyogre on the field, you might not be able to bring back your field effect either.

But my main qualm is how Terapagos is the biggest Tera-Sink ever. If I don't Tera it, I feel like I'm playing without any restricted. If I Tera it, I lose a lot of flexibility with the rest of the team

Yeah I don't think of Terapagos very favorably in the metagame for very similar reasons, and a few others. For 1 Terapagos is definitely a Tera-Sink, for it to fill the role as a restricted slot it HAS to Tera. This makes for very limited game plans and lines since you can only Tera Terapagos 99% of the time. The other issue with Terapagos being a Tera-Sink is that you have to over support Terapagos in builder, because if Terapagos isn't sweeping then you aren't winning. These two things lead to a very limiting game plan and teambuilding structure for Terapagos.


However lets say you are able to support Terapagos well in a battle, the issues don't end there in my opinion. In matches it's very easy even to just target the other slots and threaten kills since they cannot Tera, and usually aren't very offensively threatening as they have to support Terapagos. Another problem for Terapagos teammates is that Terapagos isn't threatening unless it gets two Calm Minds off, which gives ample enough time to beat multiple Pokemon and even chip down Terapagos. You are even incentivized to use your Tera early against Terapagos (since soon it'll hit for super effective so might as well Tera during its base form) which expedites the process of beating the other allies and pressuring Terapagos defensive too.


But even if you DO get the two Calm Minds needed to be offensively threatening, for one you have no super effective moves (besides Tera). This means anything that has above average special defensive bulk so long as two Pokemon are out, will survive Startstorm without too much issues. In addition Terapagos is not fast, so you usually have to take two or more hits in order to pull off the sweep to begin with. Another thing is I have seen people note the bulk on Terapagos-Area-Zero-Form but hot take I think the bulk is overrated for one major reason. It's a normal type. You don't have resistances lol. Anything above average in power thats physical (which isn't hard to come by in Reg G) will do good damage to it, I'd argue Pokemon like Ho-Oh and Zacian-Crowned are bulkier than it just off of them having actual resistances.

In the end; Teambuilding is extremely restrained, Gameplay lines are quite limited due to Tera on Terapagos, you're going to need a good matchup if you want any chance at all to get wins with Terapagos, the setup takes too long in comparison to the actual value you get, and the traits of Terapagos regarding it's speed and defensive typing really hinder it's capabilities as a sweeper. I think if people are beating Terapagos without much issue, as well as realizing it's major weaknesses just 5 days into the Regulation...then I believe it's only down hill for the turtle from there.

 

[Sugarbear]

Yeah…after desperately trying to make Terapagos work, I have to conclude it just isn’t good in single restricted. It takes too much support to make it work, and it’s just not consistent. I think it’ll be better in double restricted, where it can partner up with non tera reliant ubers like Zacian and Icerex.

 

[ValiantValerie]

Yeah…after desperately trying to make Terapagos work, I have to conclude it just isn’t good in single restricted. It takes too much support to make it work, and it’s just not consistent. I think it’ll be better in double restricted, where it can partner up with non tera reliant ubers like Zacian and Icerex.

Terapagos is a top 5 restricted imo, and will be next to unviable in double restricted. Primarily due to the rise in Zamazenta/Lunala and Another legendary demanding Tera. Happy to go into detail on Terapagos in a bit.

 

[ValiantValerie]

Teraoagos : The Ultimate win condition.

Tera Shell and Terapagos-Stellar 's fantastic bulk alone usually allows Terapagos to set up at least two Calm Minds, if you don't set up at least two you're respectfully throwing. When you build to support Teraoagos instead of build a regular team + Terapagos , you utilize supportive Pokemon that don't care as much about Tera like Incineroar , Sinistcha , Amoonguss , Grimmsnarl , Scream Tail , etc. These Pokemon also allow for key interactions; suddenly, your physical attacker isn't outdamaging Terapagos, just use Urshifu ? Let's hope they don't use their Sinistcha, Amoonguss , or just OHKO you lol.

+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Tera Starstorm vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 202-238 (114.7 - 135.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Your CC is doing at most 60 at -1 once it Terastallizes anyway, their Grass-type makes recovery free. God forbid they have screens set up or Disabled the move you're locked into! Terapagos can't take on a lot of Pokemon 1v1 sure, but with the given support, it can take on almost everything. Go ahead and try using your own set up sweeper, see if you can out set up Terapagos when they have 3 support Pokemon and you probably have like 1.

I personally don't think targeting the support Pokemon while it sets up is nearly as simple either, the same way someone can pivot with Incineroar and Amoonguss on a balance composition, they can do to minimize the KOs you pick up, how do you expect to remove those bulky support pieces before Terapagos sets up to +3 and starts sweeping already? Especially considering the two have never been highly reliant on Terastallization. Does your strategy still work under Screens or against Encore Disable Scream Tail ? Terapagos feels like its about positioning and if you lose, it is often because you got outplayed rather than because Terapagos is a bad restricted.

Of course, Teraoagos isn't the only offensive Pokemon you use, easy to slot in an Urshifu and a Trick Gholdengo or Flutter Mane in the last slots to make quick work of the few Terapagos counters.

I'd also like to highlight Choice Specs Terapagos while I'm at it, and say..I don't get the hype? Just as I previously mentioned, getting up Calm Minds is the easiest thing in the world and will grant you more value than Choice Specs would. Terapagos is slow and that makes it that much harder for it to trade damage as a Choice Specs Pokemon byitself, you'll also have to build around it as it requires Tera without using too many support Pokemon which is asking for a lot. Not to mention Fake Out makes Tera Shell go poof. Miraidon and Calyrex-Shadow feel like much better Choice Specs users with far less need for support and having excellent abilities that allow them to bypass past resists through the power of bullshit anyway.

 

[Brian Geniouse]

I’ve been having a good amount of fun with Terapagos. Some miscellaneous notes / IMOs:

• I think Meteor Beam is better than Calm Mind; it’s much less of a momentum sink, and you rarely need more than one boost anyway.

• Terapagos definitely requires more team support than other restricteds, but also benefits more from team support than other restricteds; Normal typing (only 1 weakness) + unresisted Tera Starstorm + its abilities mean it doesn’t really lose to anything outright, and thus can blanket defeat pretty much whatever you need it to if you position it right.

• Team Preview is strange with Terapagos on your side. You don’t really need to consider type matchups anymore; it’s more about their general team structure.

• Terapagos isn’t quite as big a tera-hog as others have made it out to be. Having any way(s) to help preserve Tera Shell (eg Pollen Puff, Hospitality, Shed Tail, etc) goes a long way towards making it less tera-reliant. Also, keep in mind that non-tera Tera Starstorm has effectively 180 BP – as much as a super-effective Earth Power!

• Symbiosis is funny. And Cyclizar is heat?? Much more than a Shed Tail bot.

 

[Plushtoy]

And Cyclizar is heat?? Much more than a Shed Tail bot.

Could you unpack this a bit more? Has anything changed re: Cyclizar's viability?
Never played VGC but would def be keen to give the ol' Bikelizard a try!

 

[Shaymin Sky]

Could you unpack this a bit more? Has anything changed re: Cyclizar's viability?
Never played VGC but would def be keen to give the ol' Bikelizard a try!

Not exactly sure the experiences Brian has had with Cyclizar but I have yet to see it in any of my testing BO3's or ladder matches in Regulation G thus far. I don't see how Shed Tail is good enough to give Cyclizar a niche in the meta now of all times, since breaking Substitute is easier with restricteds and spread moves are even more common now. Besides Shed Tail Cyclizar offers very little, and is definitely not better now in restricteds meta and it already was nonexistant in regulation F/D. Most of the viable restricteds also don't need a substitute, Pokemon like Zacian or Groudon and Calyrex-Ice have amazing natural bulk. Those are just my thoughts but if there's some new tech Cyclizar has that could be useful at all, would like to hear what Brian has to say about Cyclizar.

 

[Plushtoy]

Those are just my thoughts but if there's some new tech Cyclizar has that could be useful at all, would like to hear what Brian has to say about Cyclizar.

I have heard that Cyclizar + Terapagos is silly in UUbers singles (Shed Tail + Tera Shell go brrrr). It feels like this would be harder to do in doubles (would need some kind of re-direction to make sure the sub doesn't get broken right off the bat) and in VGC singles it would mean 2 of your three would have to be committed to the combo (seems kinda like a big investment)

Keeping an eye on this thread for Brian's response! Might play around in casual ladder when I have time and take a squiz as well!

 

[Brian Geniouse]

Could you unpack this a bit more? Has anything changed re: Cyclizar's viability?

Cyclizar gained one significant thing in the transition to regulation G: a friend ()

Shed Tail + Tera Shell do indeed go brrr. Starting a turn with full-health Terapagos behind a substitute is IME enough to reliably get multiple KOs, if not end the game outright. And this is not a profoundly difficult situation to set up, with supporting pressure from Fake Out, redirection, or even just a strong offensive mon.

What really stood out to me, though, is that Cyclizar isn’t useless outside of Shed Tail. Its speed is incredibly useful, with a Life Orb it deals some respectable damage, and it has coverage to hit a lot of common targets. My favorite atm is Power Whip, which easily 2HKOs Kyogre, but you also have Knock Off for Calyrex-Shadow, Iron Head for fairies, dragon moves for dragons, Overheat for ???, etc.

Overall, I’ve found it reliably able to deal Necessary Chip to important targets in critical situations, which is more than I asked for when shopping for a Shed Tail bot. I wouldn’t say I’ve optimized it, either, and think there’s some more exploration to be done with it.

TLDR, Cyclizar probably C rank in viability, certified Not Terrible when run specifically with Terapagos.

 

[Jesuuuus]

Cyclizar gained one significant thing in the transition to regulation G: a friend ()

Shed Tail + Tera Shell do indeed go brrr. Starting a turn with full-health Terapagos behind a substitute is IME enough to reliably get multiple KOs, if not end the game outright. And this is not a profoundly difficult situation to set up, with supporting pressure from Fake Out, redirection, or even just a strong offensive mon.

What really stood out to me, though, is that Cyclizar isn’t useless outside of Shed Tail. Its speed is incredibly useful, with a Life Orb it deals some respectable damage, and it has coverage to hit a lot of common targets. My favorite atm is Power Whip, which easily 2HKOs Kyogre, but you also have Knock Off for Calyrex-Shadow, Iron Head for fairies, dragon moves for dragons, Overheat for ???, etc.

Overall, I’ve found it reliably able to deal Necessary Chip to important targets in critical situations, which is more than I asked for when shopping for a Shed Tail bot. I wouldn’t say I’ve optimized it, either, and think there’s some more exploration to be done with it.

TLDR, Cyclizar probably C rank in viability, certified Not Terrible when run specifically with Terapagos.

I get the idea, but with cyclizar this seems a little gimmicky, especially since cyclizar won’t be able to contribute much to the battle outside of shed tail, and since I’m not sure it gains you massive ground like it would need to for me to think is good. Sub with tera shell buys you about two hits before it’s broken, so roughly a calm mind. Compare this to something like fake out and I’m unsure you are gaining massive ground. Fake out users like incin and rillaboom have other things they can do and can pivot to get numerous fake outs off in a game, and although cyclizar does get some alright moves like endeavour and taunt I’m still unsure that I’m a battle it’s going to be able to contribute enough to make it worth. This all being said, I’m just theory crafting so feel free to prove me wrong.

 

[Plushtoy]

Cyclizar gained one significant thing in the transition to regulation G: a friend ()

Shed Tail + Tera Shell do indeed go brrr. Starting a turn with full-health Terapagos behind a substitute is IME enough to reliably get multiple KOs, if not end the game outright. And this is not a profoundly difficult situation to set up, with supporting pressure from Fake Out, redirection, or even just a strong offensive mon.

What really stood out to me, though, is that Cyclizar isn’t useless outside of Shed Tail. Its speed is incredibly useful, with a Life Orb it deals some respectable damage, and it has coverage to hit a lot of common targets. My favorite atm is Power Whip, which easily 2HKOs Kyogre, but you also have Knock Off for Calyrex-Shadow, Iron Head for fairies, dragon moves for dragons, Overheat for ???, etc.

Overall, I’ve found it reliably able to deal Necessary Chip to important targets in critical situations, which is more than I asked for when shopping for a Shed Tail bot. I wouldn’t say I’ve optimized it, either, and think there’s some more exploration to be done with it.

TLDR, Cyclizar probably C rank in viability, certified Not Terrible when run specifically with Terapagos.

Definitely keen to try this later; are you mainly playing doubles or singles?
Do you just build an alt win-con and leave out the Shed Tail shenanigans if they run Flutter?

 

[HeartlessAngel1993]

Has anyone found any success with Ho-Oh? Started testing a Ho-Oh team with mixed results, would love to compare and contrast notes.

 

[flutterfan]

Today I wanna talk about a Pokémon that I think received a HUGE buff by getting Miraidon, and that is Iron Leaves. Iron Leaves in Reg F.. sucks. It’s just not good into the Reg F meta. However, while it’s still not getting that much usage in Reg G, I think it has incredible amounts of potential.

If you want to run Iron Leaves in Reg G, I suggest running this set:

Iron Leaves @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Psyblade
- Close Combat
- Tera Blast
- Protect

Psyblade is there for general stab damage if you don’t wanna use anything else. Close Combat is there for Dark coverage and by the way, an Iron Leaves CC with the Quark Drive boost is still doing absolutely insane damage even to a neutral target(And CC on Leaves isn’t even stab by the way) Finally, you have kind of the wild card move pick on this set, Tera Dark Tera Blast. And it’s simply to hit Caly-S as you probably figured. And of course Protect because its Protect.

I recommend those EVs specifically because going Jolly is valuable for out speeding things that you normally wouldnt outspeed if you went Adamant. And by the way, you’re basically Adamant already thanks to Life Orb and Quark Drive boosts. You also have a little bit of bulk investment which is nice if you want things to do a little less damage.

Of course Iron Leaves does have its flaws. It’s pretty frail and its typing is pretty bad. It can also be sort of a Tera hog in front of Caly-S. I’m personally fine with this as none of the other mons on my team that I’m using Leaves on necessarily need to tera in most scenarios. Plus Miraidon with Snarl can lower opposing Special Attackers damage and Flutter with Icy Wind is also very helpful in case you want to outspeed and deal massive damage to targets.

In conclusion, I recommend running Iron Leaves with Miraidon specifically. As the two make a great duo and Miraidon as well can do absolutely insane damage. I’d also recommend running Fire and Water members of the FWG core to compensate for Leaves weaknesses.

(Feel free to disagree, in my experience I’m kinda the boyt of the VGC room with my teambuilding lol)