Every time I come back here it looks like another episode of "let's ban all the stuff I cannot safely switch mienfoo into"
Big lc love mienfoo and hate the Counters :/Every time I come back here it looks like another episode of "let's ban all the stuff I cannot safely switch mienfoo into"
get creative!!!!! have fun!!!!! and please do not ban knock, that would be crazy[SET]
name: Sub Snub (Substitute)
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Play Rough
move 3: Thief
move 4: Fire Punch / Earthquake
item: Berry Juice
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 196 Atk / 116 Def / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Substitute is a powerful tool that allows Snubbull to gain momentum off of switches it forces against Fighting-type Pokemon and take advantage of its checks. Play Rough is Snubbull's best STAB attack, and it comes with the added bonus of potentially lowering the foe's Attack. Thief allows Snubbull to steal a foe's item after using its Berry Juice via Substitute or from taking attacks; this benefits the player both by giving Snubbull a new item and by removing key items from foe Pokemon. Fire Punch is able to consistently 2HKO both Ferroseed and Foongus—both common switch-ins to Snubbull—after Stealth Rock damage; this allows Snubbull to lure and KO them from behind a Substitute. Earthquake, on the other hand, is able to 2HKO many of Snubbull's other Poison-type switch-ins, such as Croagunk and Alolan Grimer. It also hits most Steel-type Pokemon harder than Fire Punch while also taking care of threatening Fire-types, and it handles Onix well, which otherwise renders Snubbull mostly helpless.
Set Details
========
Intimidate is Snubbull's calling card, lowering the Attack of foes into which Snubbull switches by one stage. Berry Juice gives Snubbull useful recovery and allows it to take advantage of Substitute more freely. The choice between an Adamant or Jolly nature is entirely based on whether or not you want to outspeed standard Timburr sets. Without Adamant, however, Snubbull cannot 2HKO Eviolite Foongus from full HP with Fire Punch, nor can it OHKO Eviolite Timburr with Play Rough. Thus, Adamant is the recommended nature. The given EVs maximize Snubbull's Attack and Speed, allowing it to take advantage of slower foes with ease. 116 Defense EVs allow Snubbull's Substitute to avoid being broken by Timburr's Knock Off or Mach Punch and by Mienfoo's Drain Punch, Knock Off, or U-turn at -1 Attack.
Usage Tips
========
Switch Snubbull into Fighting-type Pokemon as often as possible. This set is designed to create momentum specifically against Mienfoo and Timburr, so take advantage of them as much as possible. To this end, don't be timid in your use of Substitute! Creating a Substitute allows Snubbull to block status, take weak or resisted hits, and pressure the opponent. For example, bringing Snubbull in on a Timburr will often cause your opponent to switch out their Timburr for a Pokemon better equipped to take Snubbull's powerful Play Rough, such as Ferroseed or Foongus. If you use Substitute on the switch turn, Snubbull will now be safe from status moves and will be able to 2HKO them with the appropriate coverage move.
252+ Atk Snubbull Fire Punch vs. 44 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Foongus: 10-12 (41.6 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKOLet's also not forget that Foongus baits have been around since I was a relevant player; though obviously SM-pilled, this example was one of which I was quite proud:
get creative!!!!! have fun!!!!! and please do not ban knock, that would be crazy
ive made my case on sleep ftmp, but as an aside, i believe that the variance from sleep talk is a form of skill expression as weaponised RNG. there are many situations where being unpredictable "on demand" is actually an advantage and is an expression of positioning and relies on the expressive interaction of choosing a sleep sack.Sleep talk. I talked about this, but I don't even count this as counterplay really. You just add more variance that has no skill expression
how is it on demand if your opponent is the one in control of when you fall asleep and you have zero control of what move you call or when you wake up. Sleep Talk is complete copeive made my case on sleep ftmp, but as an aside, i believe that the variance from sleep talk is a form of skill expression as weaponised RNG. there are many situations where being unpredictable "on demand" is actually an advantage and is an expression of positioning and relies on the expressive interaction of choosing a sleep sack.
you make a lot of fair points and i respect that. but then you say things that amount to a hasty and biased conclusion. paraphrasing here: "there is no skill expression in sleep talk" is an inarguable phrase that is disproven by actually playing sleep talk and noticing that it requires skill to use.
with skill expressionhow is it on demand
do you know what that means or are you just living up to your usernamewith skill expression
do you know what that means?do you know what that means or are you just living up to your username
Agree with a lot of your response, just wanted to point out a couple calc issues:252+ Atk Snubbull Fire Punch vs. 44 HP / 236+ Def Eviolite Foongus: 10-12 (41.6 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 12)
Even if it did 2HKO, Foongus would just Giga Drain to heal back up out of range. Obviously, this isn't saying that you specifically had to use a set similar to this. However, Foongus counterplay is very known and theres a reason we don't see a ton of variance in top level play. In week 1 of LCPL, 70% of teams have Foongus. The primary reason behind that is that Foongus is the best counter to itself, alongside with sleep in general being a broken mechanic in the first place as evident by the mod we use to limit it. Lets evaluate stuff that can switch into Foongus anyways though
ghost said:
I've been a bit surprised by the big upsurge of anti-Sleep sentiment lately. This is mostly because I haven't felt that Sleep was any more problematic than usual in the current meta. While the absence of Ferroseed all generation has made it harder to block Foongus's Spore, we've seen a huge number of adaptations to Foongus that prey on its weaknesses. Fire-types (the dominant offensive mons in the meta), Sandshrew-A (sometimes with Safety Goggles), Steel Substitute Mienfoo, Substitute Stunky, even Steel Substitute Mudbray and Chespin -- all of these are offensive adaptations to Foongus that create serious matchup advantage. While one could argue that some of these things, especially the Sub sets, show Foongus's overcentralizing effect, in my mind they're just matchup-fishing attackers in a meta with a strong Foongus, hardly an unusual status quo for LC. It's not as though you automatically lose to Foongus without those techs, either, even if you don't bring your own Foongus. Mareanie has gone through multiple ebbs and surges this generation, and it's currently in the midst of a surge. No level of Foongus grousing can keep its main competitor down.
I am sympathetic to the technical argument against Sleep Clause, which is that it can't be recreated on cartridge. From a pure balancing perspective, though, I don't think Sleep is particularly unbalanced. I certainly wouldn't argue that it's too strong on Toedscool, either. Like most people, I don't find the the random 1-3 turn variance very fun, but I wouldn't find ubiquitous Stun Spore very fun either, so that subjective point isn't very persuasive to me. Council has discussed this issue, and while I can't speak for everybody, most of us don't feel a lot of urgency to act.
I agree with most of these opinions, but I have the opposite opinion regarding Magby and Torchic. to me, Magby is definitely better but Torchic is more broken. this is because I can generally depend on speed control to work vs Magby but I cannot depend on any to work vs Torchic. Torchic really wants to tera, but with Vullaby in the tier I feel this trait is overblown some, considering Vullaby targets glimmet and chinchou, and can tech most Mudbray with Adamant nature and/or Steel types with Heat Wave. This makes it very practical to force damage on the most common fire resists for torchic, who is very likely to at least force a tera and damage/status because of that considering that it cannot be out offensed if it gets in.Council member kythr reporting for duty
Here are my metagame opinions, ordered from what I feel strongest about to least:
Magby![]()
This guy is not healthy for the metagame whatsoever, and needs to go ASAP. It's one of the fastest viable mons in the tier, hits too hard, and has too viable many offensive sets — of which I find most problematic to be fire blast/psychic/tera blast grass/(sub or protect). With these three coverage moves Magby can hit all of Mienfoo, Mudbray, Foongus, Glimmet, Mareanie, Dig-A, Tink, Toed, Chou, Snowshrew, etc. for super effective damage. These mons typically encompass 4-5 slots on a standard balance team, and incude every mon on the viability rankings listed A- and up, save itself, Vullaby and Stunky. These latter two obviously don't appreciate a fire blast to the face either, but can also be dealt with Magby's second set, will-o-wisp. Tera psychic can also be used for a quick kill on Foo, Glimm and Mare without the need for knocking evio, and can prevent Goth from revenging it. In the recent LCBC weeks I've seen people even resort to (otherwise terrible mons in my opinion) Shellos, and Slowpoke to switch into fire blasts and psychics. Both these guys still get obliterated by tera grass. The only true viable counterplay to special Magby is running spdef tera dragon on mons like Bray or Foo... but we all remember the last mon that necessitated this type of defensive reaction, and look at what happened to him.
This is all to say that Magby is running a special attacking set. I don't think people have caught on as much yet, but I can very clearly foresee a future in which Magby gets a free turn in on Foongus, and you switch to your max spdef tera dragon Mudbray, only for the Magby to tera ghost belly drum... I know oran berry isn't berry juice, but there's a reason Magby is banned in SS.
I'd also like to share a few quick stats from the first 3 weeks of LCBC to help substantiate my arguments, but firstly thank you Eseque for compiling all this data for public use.
- Through 3 weeks Magby has been using 22 times, 7th most.
- Magby has a 68% (15/22) winrate. The next highest of any mon in the top 10 usage wise is 61% (Tink).
- There were exactly 2 instances of Magby vs Magby games. Discounting these 4 uses, Magby's winrate increases to 72% (13/18).
- This means there were only 5 out of 18 times in which a team not using Magby beat a Magby using team.
Obviously usage stats and winrates are not the whole story, but they are at least part of the story. In my opinion an adjusted 72% winrate is pretty absurd, and demonstrates that the risk vs reward benefit for using this mon is greater than what should be healthy for a metagame. The reward obviously being you get to hit >2/3rds of the viable meta for super effective damage by just clicking what's in front of you, and the risk really only being missing a fire blast.
To sum up, Magby is too strong and fast of a mon for LC to handle right now. Because of its set variability and coverage options, defensive counter is near non-existent, and the risk vs reward benefit is so great that it's hard to justify not using it on most teams. Magby needs to be suspect tested ASAP and I will be voting ban.
Foongus![]()
Agree with everything ghost said here, no point in reiterating. Not sure what our tier leader is on about regarding the technical sleep clause argument though. I know it's not going to happen, but I cringe at the thought of us turning into VGC and running safety goggles on every other mon lol.
Chespin![]()
My favorite mon in the meta right now! If you know me as a player then you know that I don't typically use mons just for fun, or just because they're funny — I genuinely think this guy is more than viable and if I was still on VR coucil I'd probably rank him around B+. Some people might call using Chespin a fish, but I'd counter by asking if it's really a fish if almost every balance team currently has either a Foongus or Mudbray on it, if not both? He's got some cool 4th more tech options too that I've explored more after my little super fang fiasco, such as drain punch to goob Snowshrews. I will admit he's pretty restrictive in the builder, but I think Chespin's a great anti-meta pick that deserves to be explored more.
Torchic![]()
I don't think Torchic is broken right now, but could be convinced in the future if Magby gets banned and people start spamming it on broken structures. The difference I find between Magby and Torchic is Torchic's reliance on tera. For Torchic to break through any of its checks (ie. Chou, Glimm, Mare) it needs to tera, while Magby can hit these for big damage with a raw psychic. Furthermore, Chic is fully checked by well played pure water teras (Foo, Bray, Foongus), whereas Magby can break through these with tera grass, as discussed earlier.
Shellder![]()
I've been praying on this mon's banishment to the shadow realm for the better part of two years now, but at the moment it's towards the bottom of my agenda. Even moreso than Magby, it has too many offensive sets (physical/special, protect/sub, tera ghost/fairy/water/rock/ice/electric/stellar, liquidation/rock blast/icicle spear/ice shard) for it to be healthy. Shellder turns matches into guessing games and can sweep your entire team with the correct tera/move combination without you being able to do anything about it. If this thing picks up in usage again perhaps I'll make another post.
Sun
I have no opinion on sun at the moment. I have neither played with or against sun enough to lean one way or the other. Looking forward to reading more opinions on sun if this becomes a more potent topic of discussion.
ghost you owe me a smooch now.
It should also be noted that Snivy is probably balanced if Tera Blast goes as that pokemon heavily relied on it for any sort of coverage. It genuinely does not get a single good non grass special moveSo, today I want to make a post sharing some thoughts about the current problems of the metagame and how they can be solved in my opinion.
Firstly, I wanna talk about the 2 biggest offensive threats of the metagame right now.
Magbyis too threatening with its Fire Blast + Psychic moveset, which
and
can switch into, but even then both will lose to Will-o-Wisp, Tera Grass, or even Tera Psychic with a little bit of chip damage. Magby has almost none defensive counterplay, while also being faster than almost all of the metagame, besides a random Elekid and scarfers, that besides Foo and Goth, aren't in a good spot in the metagame.
Torchicis also an offensive Fire-Type, but unlike Magby, it doesn't have coverage to hit Water-Types, having to rely on Tera Blast, but with Speed Boost, Torchic is almost impossible to revenge kill, due to its strong 17 SpA stat + Life Orb, a boosted Speed stat and Protect to scout a possible tera/outspeed a scarfer.
Those two are great users of Tera, and also are also good at forcing and opposing Tera. Knowing that, it's clear that Tera helps both of these Pokémon to be stronger than they should in the metagame, while being used offensively or even defensively, like in this game https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9lc-813915
But, banning Tera isn't an option due to various reasons that are too complicated/I'm not smart enough, so my proposal is:
Suspecting Tera Blast.
With Tera Blast possibly being banned, Torchic will be irrelevant, since it wouldn't have coverage anymore, Magby wont be able to hit water types like chinchou and shellos - or tera water.
Also, with a potential tera blast ban, there's 2 pokemon that could potentially be healthy to the metagame, and would help against the common threats and should be retested.
Voltorb-Hisuiwithout tera, this mon isn't that scary, and even though it forces weird interactions with Mienfoo, it cant tera psychic blast to KO it, neither Tera Ice to KO toedscool or Foongus. Also being a 20 Speed Pokémon, it would limit a lot the Magby interactions.
Porygonlost access to tri attack, and with tera blast banned it wouldnt have a STAB, which is terrible for the offensive set, which was the one that got it banned. Defensive Porygon would be a good addition to the metagame and possibly healthy, but needs to be tested since without pawniard being relevant, steel types are Rare.
These are my thoughts about the current state of the meta and thats why I think a Tera Blast suspect should be discussed and its ban would be really healthy.