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Pokémon Champions - releasing April 8, 2026

Definitely can see regular Raichu and Meowstic stocks rising. Iirc they alongside Kangaskhan and Blastoise are the premier fake out users. Plus with the number of potential targets for YChu and electric weak Pokemon (Charizard, Aero, Raptor, Gyarados potentially, Blastoise) lightning rod could see a lot of use
 
Flamestorm6 said:
Definitely can see regular Raichu and Meowstic stocks rising. Iirc they alongside Kangaskhan and Blastoise are the premier fake out users. Plus with the number of potential targets for YChu and electric weak Pokemon (Charizard, Aero, Raptor, Gyarados potentially, Blastoise) lightning rod could see a lot of use
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I'd also throw Sableye in there. It sometimes runs Fake Out, but more importantly, it and Meowstic are the two available Prankster weather setters. I don't see proper rain teams being made with this, but having Prankster Rain Dance can be nice to disrupt Sun, Sand, and Snow.
 
Vengeance417 said:
Zard Y is a mega-hog, as well, and it's still going to be a top contender in this meta. Venusaur is legal alongside it, and no Drizzle means one less opposing auto-weather, just having to deal with T-Tar and Lass (ig Abomasnow too LOL), with Venu dealing with T-Tar and Lass not wanting to take Heat Waves even outside of sun. Floette is similarly relaint on its Mega to deal high damage and take hits better.

AbZol's not just bad because its base form's no good, it's bad because its Mega is only good against a handful of mons, and wishes it dealt more damage overall. It's glass without the cannon.
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That is what I was getting at and missed to explicitly say.

Zard Y is a mega good enough to justify building the team around it and dedicating the mega slot to it. Zard Y also has the benefit that you can fake it and bring Zard X instead, which in this format is actually relevant.

I was going to say I expect a extremely centralizing meta with very samey teams, but then I went actually looking at the pool, and I think there's potential for a few archetype. Trick room can definitely work for one, has both strong setters AND abusers.
Sand, Snow and Sun all have solid setters and abusers, meanwhile poor Swampert is left with nothing (Funny that we still don't have a Drizzle mega huh, they did Drampa dirty...)
 
Turns out that Hawlucha is legal, so Electric Terrain with Mega Raichu X and Hawlucha is quite reasonable (we can get Electric Seed Unburden Hawlucha to outspeed Sand Rush Excadrill and Chlorophyll Venusaur, then maul them both with super-effective STAB and even punch out Tyranitar to boot). Now whether this should be the anti-Sand plan with a Mega Zard Y + Venu core or whether Garchomp can cover all bases (any Prankster Psychic Terrain setters besides Meowstic-M so Mega Gardevoir slays Venusaur and smashes Garchomp?)…

Worldie said:
Something that may go under the radar is Clefable. It's the only redirector, conveniently walls Garchomp (both forms if you have the mega stone!), and it is one of those Pokemon that doesn't "really" need a item so can just run the megastone and not megaevolve (kinda like Aerodactyl). And there's no Sneasler to bully it!
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Mega Scovillain is also a legal redirector and looks like it can raise hell against some teams (Sand escapes with a burn, E. Terrain with Hawlucha gets crippled, Mega Froslass gets melted down with Fire STAB, shame about Zard Y Sun).
 
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Something also worth noting is anti-Intimidate Pokemon are severely lacking. We don't have :Kingambit: and :Milotic: to deter Intimidate spam, so what we're left with is:

Contrary:
:Staraptor-Mega:
:Malamar: / :Malamar-Mega:

Defiant:
:Falinks: / :Falinks-Mega:

Competitive:
:Meowstic-F:

Out of these, Mega Staraptor's the most viable, and while it's really good, that takes up a Mega slot. You'll need to build Mega Raptor teams if you want to ward off Intimidate, and even then, you have to Mega to get Contrary.

This is great news for the following Intimidaters, although viability may vary:

:Salamence:
:Gyarados:
:Scrafty: / :Scrafty-Mega:
:Manectric-Mega:
:Staraptor:
:Mawile:
 
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So I think I found part of the reason why I haven't been doing so hot in game. Turns out using a team the creator himself says sucks and has a lot of weaknesses doesn't do so well. Makes sense. Maybe I should be more open to using multiple teams or just switching them up every now and then.
 
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