Introduction
As mentioned in my Godly Gift RMT here, I have set out to learn as much as I can about all of the different OM's available - next on the list was Mix and Mega, which ended up being a ton of fun both building and playing. I went through many iterations of bulky offense and balance squads because the general consensus was that stall was pretty unviable in the tier; this makes sense given the plethora of absurd wallbreakers like Lucarionite Raging Bolt, Metagrossite WaterShifu, and Life Orb Eternatus, to name a few. I did however have a real soft spot for a few defensive pieces like Gyaradosite Pecharunt and Whirlwind Ho-Oh, two mons that fit on bulky offense exceptionally well and also have merits on stall if you squint real hard. So, after getting to high ladder with an Entei team that I still hold near and dear to my heart, I figured I should try building stall, which helped push me to number one and way ahead of the pack.
Proof of Peak
Teambuilding Process
Teambuilding Process
Starting out with a standard MolaBliss core to check most of the physical and special attackers in the tier, namely WaterShifu and Raging Bolt. The real tricky part in building stall is deciding what item everything holds, since you can only run one of each Mega Stone and the best stall stone is without a doubt the Sablenite; while Garganacl usually wields this with ease, I wanted to run it on Blissey for the Magic Bounce ability, which let me toss back hazards and Taunts from stuff like Magearna, opposing Garganacl, and Waterceus. This left Garganacl with a few other options like Pinsirite, Latiasite, and Tyranitarite, the latter I ended up using to rack up sand chip to work in conjunction with Salt Cure to really wear the opposition down. I went with Rocky Helmet on Alomomola instead of a Mega Stone since it wanted to retain Regenerator and punish pivots and attacks from the likes of WaterShifu and Altarianite users like Dragonite and Entei.
The next two picks shored up our hazard control, with Pinsirite Great Tusk providing unblockable Rapid Spin's and another great physical wall, and gave us another Regenerator mon to partner with Alomomola in Ho-Oh, which doubles as a natural Ground-immune that can also phaze problematic foes like IronPress Aggronite Zamazenta and CM Magearna. The status spreading of both Body Slam and Sacred Fire is also nice to have in a pinch, though stall doesn't really bank on this.
Last but not least is one of my favorite mons to use on any team comp, Pecharunt. This mon wields a Gyaradosite to really great effect, flipping its weaknesses to Psychic and Ghost into immunities and resists while providing unstoppable Parting Shot's and giant Foul Play's to hinder any setup attempts. On top of this, Malignant Chain is used to do enormous damage to Altarianite users and has a high rate of spreading Toxic, always a nice tool to have on stall.
Team Breakdown
Alomomola @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
Pretty standard set, fully invested in physical defense to provide the best chance to take hits from stuff like Altarianite Dragonite and Metagrossite WaterShifu. We go as slow as possible for the slow pivot into WishPass, but you have to be mindful that without a -Spe Mega Stone you'll likely pivot first against stuff like Sablenite Swampert.
Blissey (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
Big Blissey with Sablenite has an effective statline of 255/60/185, absolutely incredible for taking hits on the special side but also quite effective at eating a neutral physical hit here and there. With Magic Bounce you can stop attempts at disruption, such as Toxic from non-Mold Breaker mons and Taunt from opposing CM users like different Arceus-formes. I went with Heal Bell to help my team not get worn down from status since Garganacl will lose its Purifying Salt, opting to run mono-Ice Beam since that hits just about everything pretty well. After one or two CMs this set effectively takes zero damage from every special breaker.
Garganacl @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Purifying Salt
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Salt Cure
- Earthquake / Curse
- Recover
Garganacl is such a tremendous threat in a tier with a plethora of strong breakers lacking recovery, like Raging Bolt and Great Tusk. I opted for a fully physically defensive set since you get a good boost on the special side in sand (and we've got a whole Blissey). I am going to say that Earthquake is my default second attack but a lot of Garg run Curse instead, becoming reliant on Salt Cure chip to get through foes; this isn't a bad idea of course, but Earthquake does hit stuff like Hearthflame Great Tusk and opposing Garganacl pretty nicely.
Pecharunt @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Poison Puppeteer
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Parting Shot
- Malignant Chain / Toxic
- Foul Play
- Recover
With an outstanding statline of 88/190/118 after using its Mega, combined with an immunity to Psychic-type attacks and resistances to common types like Ghost, Dark, and Poison, Pecharunt becomes nigh unkillable. Mold Breaker Parting Shot allows for reliable pivoting while also making whatever is in front of you easier to wall for your incoming teammate. Similarly, Foul Play takes advantage of whatever is trying to set up and break through, such as WaterShifu and even stuff like CM Ghostceus. Malignant Chain is a less reliable form of spreading status than Toxic would be but provides upside in the form of not being able to be Taunted by the aforementioned CM Ghostceus and also being really potent at blowing up Altarianite foes like Dragonite and Entei - either option works, but I default to Malignant Chain. The Speed investment helps make sure you outpace stuff like Ho-Oh and things that may want to also outpace Ho-Oh like bulky Hearthflame Great Tusk and Aerodactylite Kingambit.
Great Tusk @ Pinsirite
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Close Combat
- Headlong Rush
- Body Slam
Some people say building in MnM without Great Tusk is a huge liability - I don't disagree. It is an ultra effective Rapid Spin user in conjunction with many different Mega Stone's, with Pinsirite being really nice to provide an additional Ground immunity on the team and neutrality to Fairy. Although this is a stall team, I opted to go quite fast with this set to catch a really problematic mon by surprise in Lucarionite Raging Bolt; if you can position yourself in front of a Raging Bolt you can threaten to blow it up immediately to stop it from spamming Volt Switch against the rest of the team. This comes with the caution that switching into a Draco Meteor will delete your entire Great Tusk, of course, but being able to punish that rhythm is really nice and prevents it from even coming in on you after a sac. I went with four attacks, having CC and Headlong to just maximize damage output against stuff like Kingambit and Pecharunt where needed.
Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Recover
- Whirlwind
One of my favorite mons in general and a really welcome addition to the squad, Ho-Oh uses its Regenerator and access to Whirlwind really well in the meta. I went with a lot of physical defense here to help shore up one particularly problematic matchup in IronPress Aggronite Zamazenta. While this set can opt to use Roar and beat us to the phaze, it usually just clicks Body Press to start wearing us down and we can mitigate the problem fairly well. Otherwise this set is pretty straightforward, it is a really great partner with Alomomola and can even click Sacred Fire a few times pretty safely on stuff like Regieleki expecting them to Volt out for minimal damage.
Replays and Summary
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All in all, this team was a lot of fun to build and play with - I don't know my exact record but would guess it was upwards of 35-3 or better between ladder and tests. Some real threats to the squad are the strong breakers like Lucarionite Raging Bolt, which requires a lot of careful maneuvering against with Blissey + Garganacl + Great Tusk, and the occasional Diancite setup mons like Iron Crown and Pecharunt. Outside of those, the rare SD WaterShifu also poses a problem since we don't have an Unaware mon like Dondozo to help keep it in check, but at that point you just trade Alomomola and most of your Pecharunt generally.