Metagame 1v1 Metagame Discussion

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Suspect Test

We are testing Blaziken as it has won in the last pre-suspect with a 93% percentage. The test will run for 2 weeks until Tuesday the 23rd at 23:59 PM GMT and the requirements are 2600 COIL on the 1v1 ladder. You are not required to make a fresh alt because there will be a new ladder with Blaziken allowed. Once you've achieved your requirements create a Smogon conversation with me with a screenshot of your /rank and your vote just like the pre-suspect, that way we can keep the thread clean and the vote private. Make sure to abuse Blaziken on the ladder while you can! Polite discussion is highly encouraged, please do not talk about the Pokemon unless you have tested to not plague the thread with fake-statements. Blaziken will need a 60% majority to get unbanned.

Justifications: "Blaziken has strong and powerful Fire/Fighting STAB in Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick, or if Special Overheat. Blaziken would always run Protect just like how Gyarados-mega always runs Dragon Dance. It's fourth move slot option was very debatable with coverage options like Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, HP Ice, and Swords Dance. It could even potentially run Sub/Reversal.

Furthermore, it had the markings of an S-rank pokemon. Beating many deal of lower ranked pokemon and required always bringing a check like Slowbro-Mega, Deoxys-D, or Dragonite, as well as numerous sets to power through other pokemon. So, what pushed it over the edge? What made it too good for 15 people to vote no unban? From what I can gather, it's raw power practically guaranteeing it a slot in the S rank as well as the many 50/50s caused by it. Will it go for protect or for HJK or maybe Swords Dance?"

"Furthermore, it gives more variety to the metagame. So many top-tier pokemon are bulky offensive pokemon like Gyarados, and CharX. Blaziken is a simple, straightforward attacker which are sorely lacking as of now, and definitely would have a place in the metagame. It is by no means broken and doesn't cause many 50/50s in-game especially with the introduction of Z-moves which damage past protect. Because of all this, I would at least like to have a Blaziken suspect test later this month preferably" By lost heros, advocate for Blaziken.


Blaziken @ Fightinium Z / Firium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- High Jump Kick
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge / Thunder Punch / Earthquake


The B value for this test is 20. To figure out how many battles you'll need to have in order to achieve reqs, first determine your GXE (shown on the ladder and when you type /rank) and plug that into the following formula:

N=20/log2(40*GXE/2600)

(Google calculator is awesome for this kind of thing)

Happy suspect and discussion!
Join the 1v1 room for live discussion!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

lost heros

Meme Master
Well whaddya know. As the person who introduced the possibility of suspecting Blaziken back in February, I figured I should post some more stuff now that we're going in to Blaziken's suspect test.


Blaziken
I feel like the first thing to talk about is why I proposed suspecting Blaziken in the first place and of course why we're suspecting anything at all.

Why a suspect? As many players know already, 1v1 has become sort of bland, and has been so for a long time. Meta dominating threats like Mega Charizard X, Kyurem-Black, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Mawile find themselves on almost every team especially at high ladder play. Even with the introduction of Z moves and new Alolan Pokemon such as Ultra Beasts and Alolan Guardians these pokemon have been extremely dominant. with some other pokemon like Tapu Koko, Crustle, and Donphan rising to take them on. The problem is, most people don't see these pokemon as broken, rather they're just very good and it just makes sense to use them over other pokemon. Because of this many members of the community feel like it's important that we change something, that we break the status-quo we're in now.

Why Blaziken? Blaziken seems like an odd choice at first if we're trying to target current metagame threats. It's strong. It's fast. It's got great dual STAB. So why did I suggest Blaziken? The answer is quite simple. Blaziken is good, but it's not meta-breaking. While it can tackle many pokemon, it can't dominate the majority of the metagame. Blaziken encourages the use of different threats not only as its foes, but also as its teammates. Furthermore, Blaziken isn't like the other top tier pokemon. 1v1 is heavily leaning towards a Bulky Offense style, even typically straight offense pokemon are leaning in Bulky Offense instead. Blaziken isn't like that. Blaziken is all about speed and power primarily. It's not like Mega Gyarados using Intimidate and natural bulk to set up Dragon Dances first. It's not like Kyurem-B, first investing in bulk to make sure it lives to get off its Subzero Slammer.

What happened last generation? I feel like this is important to address because this is not the first time 1v1 is suspecting Blaziken. Last generation, Blaziken was suspected and voted to remain banned by a 50%/50% split. Because of Blaziken's then standing as a banned pokemon, the unban threshold of 60% was not met. If instead, Blaziken was considered a regular unbanned pokemon it would have not been banned. Furthermore, it was tested alongside Mega Salamence and Mega Blaziken, both of which horribly overshadowed standard Blaziken and made it very difficult to get a good assessment of Blaziken. Because of those two reasons, I thought it was important to look at Blaziken again.

Now let's move on to a simple analysis of Blaziken.

Stats:
Blaziken stats.PNG


A 120 Attack and 110 Special attack are both quite impressive meaning Blaziken can make for a good mixed pokemon, although it will probably lean towards being Physical.
It's bulk is actually pretty meh. 80/70/70 isn't much and Blaziken will surely not be surviving too many strong attacks.It even faints to Mimikyu's Never-Ending Nightmare + Shadow Sneak combo. 80 Speed is good, but we'll get more in to that in a bit. For comparison to some known 1v1 pokemon: Hitmonlee and Donphan have the same attack stat and the same special attack stat as Latias. As for bulk there's no direct comparison, but it's similar to Ludicolo, base Glalie, and Seaking.

Speed tier:
Now an 80 base speed isn't all that good. However, Blaziken's main selling point is that it can trade off a move slot for a free Speed Boost. Effectively giving it a Pseudo-Choice Scarf.
This puts Blaziken with Scarf Togekiss, +1 Dragonite, and right under +1 Mega Gyarados when it runs a neutral speed nature. It's slower than all Base 130 speed pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Mega Gengar. With a positive speed nature, however, it outpaces Adamant Scarf Sawk, Shell Smash Crustle at +2, and those pesky Base 130s. It is still slower than Scarf Porygon Z, Scarf Kyurem-B, Scarf Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam, and Pheromosa. So yes, after 1 speed boost it's fast, but not too fast. What's important to note, is that Speed Boost accumulates over time with the most important one being the first and second. Against a naturally faster foe, Blaziken will probably protect to try and OHKO the next turn. Against a naturally slower foe, Speed Boost becomes useless. Against a naturally faster foe at +1, Blaziken will probably try to protect twice to get the +2 speed and OHKO on turn 3. This is a 1/3 chance.

Typing: Fire/Fighting typing is practically unknown in 1v1. Emboar is barely ever used as a reckless user, and Infernape usually runs mixed Fake Out. But Fire/Fighting is a great typing,
Blaziken typing.PNG

No STAB resists and 7 types hit for SE damage is pretty sweet for an offensive pokemon. But with just 1 moveslot left for coverage, there's no way to hit all 11 of those typings easily. And of course there is many dual typings that do resist STABs as well, such as Fire/Flying, Water/Psychic, Water/Fairy, Dragon/Flying and more. Defensively it's alright. Being weak to EQ is painful, but besides that there's not much to say.

Moves: Blaziken has a good movepool to do its job. For STABs it'll run High Jump Kick and Flare Blitz/Overheat/Blast Burn. For coverage it can run Brave Bird, Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, and Earthquake. Utility options are obviously Protect, Endure, and Substitute, but it may also run Swords Dance to surprise walls and Will-o-Wisp to try and surprise physical attackers. Some other nice movepool options are Reversal, Poison Jab, and Hidden Power. Hidden Power Ice was common in the first suspect test to try and beat the dreaded Mega Salamence.

Alright, now that's taken care of what kind of sets should you be running, should you expect to see.

Blaziken @ Life Orb / Firium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge / Thunder Punch / Earthquake

This is the most basic set, and I'd be tempted to argue its best. Z moves are an option but they really hurt your secondary STAB and coverage options, so I recommend using Life Orb. Jolly gives a great speed tier, though Adamant can be used as well. For your coverage option, I recommend Stone Edge to hit Charizard Y, but you can use Thunder Punch to hit Mega Gyarados or Earthquake to hit Tapu Koko.

Blaziken @ Life Orb / Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Protect
- Overheat
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge / Thunder Punch / Earthquake

Overall very similar to the first set, but is a bit more reliant on HJK than Overheat, so Fightinium Z may be preferred. The same choices about Hasty vs Lonely and Stone Edge vs Thunder Punch vs Earthquake are the same as with the first set.


Blaziken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Protect
- Blast Burn
- High Jump Kick
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Again, similar to the previous to sets, but this one relies on Z-Blast Burn to nuke the opposing threats. Hasty or Mild will be your options for +speed or neutral speed. Really any hidden power of your choice can be used, HP Ice is here to beat Landorus-T and Garchomp.


Blaziken @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge / High Jump Kick

Probably the most different set you may face. This set tries to use a Liechi Berry + Endure set to get a very powerful Reversal to hit the next turn. It's great for luring in Porygon-Z Hyper Beams and ok at doing everything else.


Now that that's out of the way. Here's what not to run

Blaziken @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Filler
- Filler

With Choice Band you miss out on protect and are too slow to do anything meaningful.


Blaziken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Protect
- Focus Blast
- Blast Burn
- Filler

Full special is a mistake, Focus Blast has horrible accuracy and HJK from a less invested attack stat is better.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Flare Blitz / High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Punch / Earthquake

Not running Dual STAB is a bad idea. Blaziken's Fire/Fighting STAB has great coverage and BP already that doubling down on non-STAB coverage is a waste.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Endure
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick

I'm going to stop this mistake before it happens. While it seems like a great idea to get that +2 speed boost rather than +1 to outspeed every other pokemon in the metagame, it actually doesn't work. Endure only has a 1/3 chance of working after a protect, just like how protect only has a 1/3 chance of working after a protect.


Now, let's talk a bit about Checks and Counters. The thing about Blaziken is that you probably already have a check or counter on your team already.

Sturdy Pokemon: Blaziken can't touch any Sturdy Pokemon. It's best bet is against Crustle, predicting the z-rock, predicting the rock wrecker, and using protect and substitute or just using substitute on a predicted Shell Smash. Either way, it's hard for Blaziken.

Choice Scarf Pokemon: Most Choice Scarf Pokemon like Porygon-Z and Kyurem-B (and Greninja!) can outspeed Blaziken even after its +1 boost. Blaziken is forced to rely on a 1/3 chance for a double protect.

Super Effective Z: Because Z-moves go past Protect, a very strong SE attack can KO Blaziken. Tapu Lele for example can ruin a Blaziken's day. Landorus-T and Tapu Koko can deal a devastating amount of damage even after a protect.

Strong Walls/Resistant Pokemon: Pokemon like Mega Venusaur, Mega Slowbro, and Deoxys-D aren't scared off by Blaziken. Or resistant pokemon like Tapu Fini and Primarina can shrug off resisted attacks and just deal a ton of damage back.

Finally, let's talk about some good teammates.

Sturdy-Busters: Mega Gyarados may seem like a good partner pokemon, but both are scared of Sawk and Porygon-Z which are two of the most dangerous checks. So Pokemon like Charm Mega Venusuar, Mega Slowbro, Mega Sableye, Mega Medicham, and Mega Blastoise will all be good partners.

Wallbreakers: SubSwords Dance Kartana and Choice Specs Porygon-Z will damage even the bulkiest of walls that your opponent may throw at you.

Really Fast Pokemon: Let the race begin! If you don't want to gamble on beating Choice Scarf Pokemon that beat Blaziken, just go faster. I'm talking about Choice Scarf Greninja, Shell Smash Minior, Choice Scarf Victini. There is no such thing as too fast.

Final thoughts: I've done my best to outline everything you need to know going in to this suspect test. But it's inevitable that I have missed something or even I don't know something! Be creative! Be daring! Learn as much as you can about what Blaziken can do and what it can't do. Try and build several good teams with Blaziken and without Blaziken. When you're laddering try to really understand Blaziken does well and what it doesn't, and ultimately if you think it belongs!

[14:06] lost heros: Say something humorous about how excited you are about this Blaziken Suspect test
[14:06] +Dream Eater Gengar: very chicken
 
You can't compare running Meloetta (which is like the most over-rated mon in the meta) to running a second Metagross, which runs really only one set and you know what to expect. It also beats completely different things than metagross.

Also, besides the fact that Metagross can run sets that beat Zard Y and Vicinti (also who runs Vicinti?!?) and you have to play everything differently depending on those sets. Also, you usually know what set you are going against if you see a metagross that has a melo on its team, and you DON'T know which Metagross set you are going against when you go against a metagross with 2 other Metagross on their team. What you said is kinda unbacked up and doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm assuming Item clause is a joke. Please don't even say that.

Like
+1
Re-fucking-tweet
This is the first time I've ever been told Meloetta is actually over-rated. I'm shocked. Anyways, I run a completely different Meloetta set than the standard in order to beat the threats I want it to. A MegaGross partner should "beat completely different things than metagross" in order for you to have a balanced team, right? Also, Anti-Zard Megagross relies on Substitute gimmicks, which doesn't work 100% of the time. Thing is, you don't know my MegaGross set and you don't know my Meloetta set, meaning you don't know if they can beat Gyarados-Mega and Charizard-Mega-X/Y.

Onto Lost Hero's great post.
Well whaddya know. As the person who introduced the possibility of suspecting Blaziken back in February, I figured I should post some more stuff now that we're going in to Blaziken's suspect test.


Blaziken
I feel like the first thing to talk about is why I proposed suspecting Blaziken in the first place and of course why we're suspecting anything at all.

Why a suspect? As many players know already, 1v1 has become sort of bland, and has been so for a long time. Meta dominating threats like Mega Charizard X, Kyurem-Black, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Mawile find themselves on almost every team especially at high ladder play. Even with the introduction of Z moves and new Alolan Pokemon such as Ultra Beasts and Alolan Guardians these pokemon have been extremely dominant. with some other pokemon like Tapu Koko, Crustle, and Donphan rising to take them on. The problem is, most people don't see these pokemon as broken, rather they're just very good and it just makes sense to use them over other pokemon. Because of this many members of the community feel like it's important that we change something, that we break the status-quo we're in now.

Why Blaziken? Blaziken seems like an odd choice at first if we're trying to target current metagame threats. It's strong. It's fast. It's got great dual STAB. So why did I suggest Blaziken? The answer is quite simple. Blaziken is good, but it's not meta-breaking. While it can tackle many pokemon, it can't dominate the majority of the metagame. Blaziken encourages the use of different threats not only as its foes, but also as its teammates. Furthermore, Blaziken isn't like the other top tier pokemon. 1v1 is heavily leaning towards a Bulky Offense style, even typically straight offense pokemon are leaning in Bulky Offense instead. Blaziken isn't like that. Blaziken is all about speed and power primarily. It's not like Mega Gyarados using Intimidate and natural bulk to set up Dragon Dances first. It's not like Kyurem-B, first investing in bulk to make sure it lives to get off its Subzero Slammer.

What happened last generation? I feel like this is important to address because this is not the first time 1v1 is suspecting Blaziken. Last generation, Blaziken was suspected and voted to remain banned by a 50%/50% split. Because of Blaziken's then standing as a banned pokemon, the unban threshold of 60% was not met. If instead, Blaziken was considered a regular unbanned pokemon it would have not been banned. Furthermore, it was tested alongside Mega Salamence and Mega Blaziken, both of which horribly overshadowed standard Blaziken and made it very difficult to get a good assessment of Blaziken. Because of those two reasons, I thought it was important to look at Blaziken again.

Now let's move on to a simple analysis of Blaziken.

Stats: View attachment 81841

A 120 Attack and 110 Special attack are both quite impressive meaning Blaziken can make for a good mixed pokemon, although it will probably lean towards being Physical.
It's bulk is actually pretty meh. 80/70/70 isn't much and Blaziken will surely not be surviving too many strong attacks.It even faints to Mimikyu's Never-Ending Nightmare + Shadow Sneak combo. 80 Speed is good, but we'll get more in to that in a bit. For comparison to some known 1v1 pokemon: Hitmonlee and Donphan have the same attack stat and the same special attack stat as Latias. As for bulk there's no direct comparison, but it's similar to Ludicolo, base Glalie, and Seaking.

Speed tier:
Now an 80 base speed isn't all that good. However, Blaziken's main selling point is that it can trade off a move slot for a free Speed Boost. Effectively giving it a Pseudo-Choice Scarf.
This puts Blaziken with Scarf Togekiss, +1 Dragonite, and right under +1 Mega Gyarados when it runs a neutral speed nature. It's slower than all Base 130 speed pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Mega Gengar. With a positive speed nature, however, it outpaces Adamant Scarf Sawk, Shell Smash Crustle at +2, and those pesky Base 130s. It is still slower than Scarf Porygon Z, Scarf Kyurem-B, Scarf Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam, and Pheromosa. So yes, after 1 speed boost it's fast, but not too fast. What's important to note, is that Speed Boost accumulates over time with the most important one being the first and second. Against a naturally faster foe, Blaziken will probably protect to try and OHKO the next turn. Against a naturally slower foe, Speed Boost becomes useless. Against a naturally faster foe at +1, Blaziken will probably try to protect twice to get the +2 speed and OHKO on turn 3. This is a 1/3 chance.

Typing: Fire/Fighting typing is practically unknown in 1v1. Emboar is barely ever used as a reckless user, and Infernape usually runs mixed Fake Out. But Fire/Fighting is a great typing, View attachment 81842

No STAB resists and 7 types hit for SE damage is pretty sweet for an offensive pokemon. But with just 1 moveslot left for coverage, there's no way to hit all 11 of those typings easily. And of course there is many dual typings that do resist STABs as well, such as Fire/Flying, Water/Psychic, Water/Fairy, Dragon/Flying and more. Defensively it's alright. Being weak to EQ is painful, but besides that there's not much to say.

Moves: Blaziken has a good movepool to do its job. For STABs it'll run High Jump Kick and Flare Blitz/Overheat/Blast Burn. For coverage it can run Brave Bird, Stone Edge, Thunder Punch, and Earthquake. Utility options are obviously Protect, Endure, and Substitute, but it may also run Swords Dance to surprise walls and Will-o-Wisp to try and surprise physical attackers. Some other nice movepool options are Reversal, Poison Jab, and Hidden Power. Hidden Power Ice was common in the first suspect test to try and beat the dreaded Mega Salamence.

Alright, now that's taken care of what kind of sets should you be running, should you expect to see.

Blaziken @ Life Orb / Firium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge / Thunder Punch / Earthquake

This is the most basic set, and I'd be tempted to argue its best. Z moves are an option but they really hurt your secondary STAB and coverage options, so I recommend using Life Orb. Jolly gives a great speed tier, though Adamant can be used as well. For your coverage option, I recommend Stone Edge to hit Charizard Y, but you can use Thunder Punch to hit Mega Gyarados or Earthquake to hit Tapu Koko.

Blaziken @ Life Orb / Fightinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Protect
- Overheat
- High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge / Thunder Punch / Earthquake

Overall very similar to the first set, but is a bit more reliant on HJK than Overheat, so Fightinium Z may be preferred. The same choices about Hasty vs Lonely and Stone Edge vs Thunder Punch vs Earthquake are the same as with the first set.


Blaziken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Protect
- Blast Burn
- High Jump Kick
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Again, similar to the previous to sets, but this one relies on Z-Blast Burn to nuke the opposing threats. Hasty or Mild will be your options for +speed or neutral speed. Really any hidden power of your choice can be used, HP Ice is here to beat Landorus-T and Garchomp.


Blaziken @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge / High Jump Kick

Probably the most different set you may face. This set tries to use a Liechi Berry + Endure set to get a very powerful Reversal to hit the next turn. It's great for luring in Porygon-Z Hyper Beams and ok at doing everything else.


Now that that's out of the way. Here's what not to run

Blaziken @ Choice Band
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Filler
- Filler

With Choice Band you miss out on protect and are too slow to do anything meaningful.


Blaziken @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Protect
- Focus Blast
- Blast Burn
- Filler

Full special is a mistake, Focus Blast has horrible accuracy and HJK from a less invested attack stat is better.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Flare Blitz / High Jump Kick
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Punch / Earthquake

Not running Dual STAB is a bad idea. Blaziken's Fire/Fighting STAB has great coverage and BP already that doubling down on non-STAB coverage is a waste.


Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Endure
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick

I'm going to stop this mistake before it happens. While it seems like a great idea to get that +2 speed boost rather than +1 to outspeed every other pokemon in the metagame, it actually doesn't work. Endure only has a 1/3 chance of working after a protect, just like how protect only has a 1/3 chance of working after a protect.


Now, let's talk a bit about Checks and Counters. The thing about Blaziken is that you probably already have a check or counter on your team already.

Sturdy Pokemon: Blaziken can't touch any Sturdy Pokemon. It's best bet is against Crustle, predicting the z-rock, predicting the rock wrecker, and using protect and substitute or just using substitute on a predicted Shell Smash. Either way, it's hard for Blaziken.

Choice Scarf Pokemon: Most Choice Scarf Pokemon like Porygon-Z and Kyurem-B (and Greninja!) can outspeed Blaziken even after its +1 boost. Blaziken is forced to rely on a 1/3 chance for a double protect.

Super Effective Z: Because Z-moves go past Protect, a very strong SE attack can KO Blaziken. Tapu Lele for example can ruin a Blaziken's day. Landorus-T and Tapu Koko can deal a devastating amount of damage even after a protect.

Strong Walls/Resistant Pokemon: Pokemon like Mega Venusaur, Mega Slowbro, and Deoxys-D aren't scared off by Blaziken. Or resistant pokemon like Tapu Fini and Primarina can shrug off resisted attacks and just deal a ton of damage back.

Finally, let's talk about some good teammates.

Sturdy-Busters: Mega Gyarados may seem like a good partner pokemon, but both are scared of Sawk and Porygon-Z which are two of the most dangerous checks. So Pokemon like Charm Mega Venusuar, Mega Slowbro, Mega Sableye, Mega Medicham, and Mega Blastoise will all be good partners.

Wallbreakers: SubSwords Dance Kartana and Choice Specs Porygon-Z will damage even the bulkiest of walls that your opponent may throw at you.

Really Fast Pokemon: Let the race begin! If you don't want to gamble on beating Choice Scarf Pokemon that beat Blaziken, just go faster. I'm talking about Choice Scarf Greninja, Shell Smash Minior, Choice Scarf Victini. There is no such thing as too fast.

Final thoughts: I've done my best to outline everything you need to know going in to this suspect test. But it's inevitable that I have missed something or even I don't know something! Be creative! Be daring! Learn as much as you can about what Blaziken can do and what it can't do. Try and build several good teams with Blaziken and without Blaziken. When you're laddering try to really understand Blaziken does well and what it doesn't, and ultimately if you think it belongs!

[14:06] lost heros: Say something humorous about how excited you are about this Blaziken Suspect test
[14:06] +Dream Eater Gengar: very chicken
Blaze Blaziken is really bad but might be worth mentioning due to Endure + Salac Berry and Blaze Flare Blitz + Reversal.

Also don't run Hasty or Lonely Blaziken because it increases Pinsir-Mega's chance of beating you with Quick Attack. Just a random tip :)

I'd also consider walls like Deoxys-Defense and Chansey as great partners for Blaziken due to their ability to often beat Sturdy mons and Scarf mons.

Can't really think of anything else...

Good luck too all, and lets see how many Blaziken named KFC we can ladder with kappa
 
Endure Liechi berry does the same thing with speed boost except it gives a bigger boost
Thats exactly why its really bad ;D

A mixed Blaze attacker might be a weird set, but still bad.

Either way, I guess this is a good reference for another set like Protect + Endure you shouldn't use~
 
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Thats exactly why its really bad ;D
Then don't mention it.

Period.

A mixed Blaze attacker might be a weird set, but still bad.

Either way, I guess this is a good reference for another set like Protect + Endure you shouldn't use~
Since you edited your post I might as well too

A mixed Blaze attacker isn't really bad either... Have you even looked at Blaziken's stats? 120 Atk and 110 SpA is not bad mixed by any means, especially with a decent movepool.
 
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RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
I was not able to vote in BJK Pre-suspect test due to me succc being busy, but I have seen some stuff from suckspect ladder so far and I would like to share some infos:



Typing: Fire / Fighting

Q:
* Does this chicken bring another despair to already-trash-level-pokes in the metagame?
* Is this another god squad that is going to torment the rest of the metagame?

A:
* No
* No

Opponent 1:

or


Gyarados (assuming semi-defensive 248 HP / 44 Def set)

Blaziken -> Gyarados
-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken High Jump Kick vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Gyarados-Mega: 343-406 (87.2 - 103.3%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Blaziken High Jump Kick vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Gyarados-Mega: 392-464 (99.7 - 118%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO = assuming Endure + Liechi which I love to use
252+ Atk Blaziken Reversal (200 BP) vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Gyarados-Mega: 602-710 (153.1 - 180.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO = assuming sub Liechi set
-1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Thunder Punch vs. 248 HP / 44 Def Gyarados: 343-406 (87.2 - 103.3%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO


Gyarados -> Blaziken
252 Atk Mold Breaker Gyarados-Mega Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 398-470 (132.2 - 156.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Mold Breaker Gyarados-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 332-392 (110.2 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Gyarados-Mega Outrage vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 298-351 (99 - 116.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO


Opponent 2:
to most likely
or possibly


Blaziken -> Charizard X
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken High Jump Kick vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-X: 261-308 (87.8 - 103.7%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-X: 268-317 (90.2 - 106.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Blaziken Reversal (200 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-X: 309-364 (104 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Blaziken -> Charizard Y
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Thunder Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 270-320 (90.9 - 107.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Rock Tomb vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 437-515 (147.1 - 173.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 541-640 (182.1 - 215.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Charizard-Mega-Y: 717-847 (241.4 - 285.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Guaranteed win if Blaziken outspeeds MCY with right prediction, I guess.


Charizard X -> Blaziken
252 Atk Tough Claws Charizard-Mega-X Outrage vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 339-400 (112.6 - 132.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Or any failed OHKO from Blaziken will result in Outrage or even Counter which will automatically kill Blaziken.


Charizard Y -> Blaziken
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken in Sun: 210-247 (69.7 - 82%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Blast Burn vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken in Sun: 286-337 (95 - 111.9%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken: 384-452 (127.5 - 150.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO >>> Who even runs this?


Opponent 3:

to


Blaziken -> Metagross
252+ Atk Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 288-338 (95.6 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Metagross-Mega: 374-439 (124.2 - 145.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

But when it comes to Kentari's Metagross spread that lives +1 Crunch from Mega Gyarados...

252+ Atk Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Metagross-Mega: 230-272 (63.1 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Metagross-Mega: 299-354 (82.1 - 97.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Metagross-Mega: 342-404 (93.9 - 110.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

Special sets:

252+ SpA Blaziken Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 324-384 (89 - 105.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Blaziken Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 421-499 (115.6 - 137%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Blaziken Blast Burn vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 440-522 (120.8 - 143.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Blaziken Blast Burn vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross-Mega: 572-678 (157.1 - 186.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Metagross -> Blaziken
252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 492-578 (163.4 - 192%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Metagross-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 316-372 (104.9 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even if the Metagross uses Kentari's spread that has significantly lower Attack EVS:

64 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 432-510 (143.5 - 169.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
64 Atk Metagross-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Blaziken: 278-328 (92.3 - 108.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
Chance to live is irrelevant because bulky set will live at least 1 hit in most occasions and also because of Bullet Punch.


Opponent 4:



Tapu Lele

Blaziken -> Tapu Lele
upload_2017-5-9_22-31-19.png


Tapu Lele -> Blaziken
upload_2017-5-9_22-29-50.png


252 SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken in Psychic Terrain: 594-702 (197.3 - 233.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Tapu Lele Shattered Psyche (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken in Psychic Terrain: 1148-1352 (381.3 - 449.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Tapu Lele Shattered Psyche (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD protected Blaziken in Psychic Terrain: 287-338 (95.3 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO


So that's about it. There are plenty of threats already lurking in the metagame. Even against opponents with typing advantage, it is very prediction-reliant, and the movepool decides the most outcome. It is not like Mega Charizard X or Mega Gyarados that presses Dragon Dance and just kills the opponent.

I hope this chicken will come alive soon. Happy laddering everyone!
 
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The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
BLAZIKEN

After laddering for some time in the new suspect ladder, I've noticed a common trend in that 1v1 is changing from just being a 50/50 meta into a 50/50 + 33/66 meta. This doesn't pertain specifically to Blaziken, but instead to mons who rely on consecutive protects to win overall, though Blaziken is absolutely the main offender here.

So let's talk about Blaziken in specific. Why is Blaziken banned from 1v1? Because it is in the Uber tier and most Uber mons have to be considered and tested heavily in order to be legalized into what we would consider the "OU" of 1v1. In actual OU, Blaziken was deemed too powerful, due to having pretty solid offensive stats, excellent offensive typing and coverage, and the ability to pass its speed stage off to an ally with Baton Pass, all being tied together by its ability Speed Boost. Naturally, Baton Pass is useless in 1v1 scenarios, but is that one detail enough for us to unban it? Though we do allow multiple Uber-Tiered mons, they're all mostly weaker OU bans and/or mons that rely heavily on being a utility to its team rather than a standalone good mon, hence why Shaymin-Sky hasn't even been considered for unbans, despite being allowed in numerous other metas, yet Blaziken is allowed into so few, if any. Just something to think about.

Moving on to my own thoughts on the mon, this is where the 33/66 I mentioned above comes into play. Blaziken's most used move easily is and will be Protect, and Endure to a lesser extent. The main reason why we didn't allow Mega Blaziken into 1v1 in the prior suspect was because it outsped/speed tied many of its would-be checks after a single protect, which, if the highly polarized votes have anything to say about it, was evidently enough to keep it from being allowed. Regular Blaziken on the other hand, does not. It is still slower than Scarfed Porygon-Z and Kyurem-Black, as well as Charizard-X after a Dragon Dance, after a turn of Protect, which made it a lot more appealing to people looking to unban it, since it didn't really appear to be very broken at all, especially when competing with its Mega evolution as well as the terror known as Mega Salamence. So now we're left with just Blaziken, in addition to the fact that it has Z-Moves to use. The main problem people had, and still have, with it is that it forces people into the 50/50 scenario of figuring out whether they'll use Protect or not.
Personally, I don't have much of a problem with this, since I branch anything that's a 75-80% chance or higher of winning as being a counter/check to something, while things from 30-70% is something I'd consider uncertain, and anything below 30% being something that gets countered/checked by the opponent.

That aside, though. There are two main reasons why I dislike the thought of Blaziken being allowed into 1v1:
1. It's insanely versatile. It has good enough in all stats for it to put each of them to use in some way, it's basically a sweeper equivalent of Kyurem-Black. And just like Kyurem-Black, once people get past the "only" set that most people would think it has, they'd realize it's probably a banworthy threat. Here's a few examples you can feel free to use for yourselves: Assault Vest Blaziken, physically defensive Fightinium Blaziken, Endure Salac Berry Blaziken, and even some meme-ish sets that are still semi-viable, like Z-Mirror Move, and UOP's King's Rock Fling. And these are just a few I came up with off the top of my head! Imagine if we didn't have species clause active. We'd basically have to have a Slowbro/Primarina/Tapu Fini on every team in order to safely stop a team of three Blaziken.
jk this is where I get into the 33/66 thing
2. Speed Boost + consecutive Protect is basically Swagger. This one might be a bit hard to swallow. As you know from above, there are matchups it can force to uncertain levels of win chance just because of its most important move, Protect, which gets further compounded to even more chances when the factor of using Protect twice in a row comes into play. The chance of Protect working twice in a row is 1/3, which is already a level that I'd personally consider an uncertain matchup, but that's when you realize that it becomes a lesser equivalent to Swagger, where you have only a 1/3 chance of the opponent wasting their turn while you capitalize on it, yet this move is banned even from Ubers. Swagger is at least something you can switch out to solve in 6v6 circumstances, but such a solution is not possible in 1v1.

Looking towards the future, if Blaziken were to be unbanned, I could definitely imagine it rising to the S ranks, as long as people approach it in the way of being as versatile as Kyurem-Black. But if people choose to use only one set, it will likely never even go above B+.
So the question I submit to you, the reader: Is this enough to keep it from being allowed into 1v1? In regards to the Swagger case, we DO have things that are banned from Ubers but not from 1v1, in the form of Hypnosis Mega Gengar, but at the same time, Blaziken would be one of the only Ubers we allow into 1v1 that's more of an actual Uber than it is just a simple OU ban or trapper like our other Ubers.

Edit: Apparently Swagger is allowed in OU but not Ubers? I'm very confused.
 
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Felucia

Robot Empress
is a Battle Simulator Moderator
The Official Glyx pointed out there's a lot of possibilities for blaziken and because I have nothing better to do I totally don't have homework I decided to start gathering some sets.

I do admit not all of these are good, that's why I'm going to put them in order of how good I think the sets could be, with the best set last of course.
Also note I made all of these sets myself, although Glyx helped me with the bulky spread

Blaziken sets

Normally 2 identical gifs on the same page sync up, but luckily Blaziken has a female sprite that has different timing

7. Counter Blaziken
Counter I guess (Blaziken) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpA
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Overheat
- Feint
- Focus Blast


Not saying this is a bad concept, I just completely failed the execution... At least this beats donphan...

6. Endure Reversal
Endure (Blaziken) @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Reversal
- Endure
- Flare Blitz
- Acrobatics


This isn't a bad set at all, just kinda gets destroyed by setup, status, weak moves and priority. That's a long list of things that can go wrong, but go ahead and use it.

5. Mirror Move
Thank Glyx (Blaziken) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Mirror Move
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick


4. Weakness Policy
UOPgraded (Blaziken) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Endure
- Thunder Punch
- Blast Burn
- High Jump Kick


A last-minute submission I thought of when someone said WP (Well Played), just kinda threw some moves on it and copied an aforementioned spread that tanks a waterfall from mega gyarados, loads of fun.
Because of blaziken's nice movepool it can pull of policy in lots of ways, you can also add reversal just because you have endure anyway.

3. Meme Chicken (fling)
Meme chicken (Blaziken) @ King's Rock
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Fling
- Blast Burn
- Focus Blast
- Protect


The first Very Good set on this list, although it looks like a meme, it works. It's surprisingly scary to battle and doesn't lose to many things you'd expect to lose to with an "inferior" set like this one. Break sturdy and beat all sturdies except for one, that one being Shuckle No, carbink is not in this metagame We might be able to beat shuckle with it, but not reliably.

2. Life Orb
Orb set (Blaziken) @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Protect
- High Jump Kick
- Blast Burn
- Stone Edge


Generic orb set, nothing to say about it other than UOP why do you like mixed blaziken so much

1. Firium-Z
Enthur (Blaziken) @ Firium Z
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Punch / Protect
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick


Firium-Z set, featuring:
- A powerful Z-Move
- A good secondary option in Z-Will-O-Wisp, which boosts your attack by one, and also burns the target
- Thunder Punch Because a burned gyarados can't KO us anyway

The reason I love this set so much is because you can pretty safely burn anything if you don't plan on using a fire move, and then gain a free attack bonus. If you do plan on using a fire move, click the Z-Flare Blitz and kill something. Damage output is the same as Z-EQ Donphan and Golem, meaning you 2HKO Aegislash even if it protects on your Z-Move. Wonder why I found that worth mentioning

That's all
I'm out of sets for today, but if you feel like I missed a set, PM me on Showdown (UnleashOurPassion) or Discord (just find me in the 1v1 discord). I'll take a look at it and remember it, possibly edit this post to add it assuming I'm not lazy.

Been a pleasure writing this
~Mez
 
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Gross Sweep

Plan Ahead
is a CAP Contributoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus



Blaziken is an interesting Pokemon that has always seemed a bit to powerful for the 1v1 metagame, evidenced by its failure to gain entrance into the tier in Gen 6 when it was tested alongside M-Salamence and its Mega form. However, with the beginning of this new generation allowing for many more mons to enter the fret I feel that this chicken no longer deserves to be deemed broken. Blaziken has always been feared due to its ability to run multiple sets, and turn should be losses into wins with its ability Speed Boost making it a truly great threat. Now Blaziken is great, but with the heavy influx of fairies and the fact this test it isn't overshadowed by a pair of amazing mega Pokemon leads me to lean towards a vote to Unban Blaziken. If after reading this you disagree or feel I missed something feel free to let me know in the thread - the main purpose of this post is to spark discussion anyway.

Before I go any further I want to say that Blaziken is not a Pokemon that will enter the tier, and do nothing. If Blaziken enters the tier, and the ladder effectively uses its versatility it will quickly become one of the best Pokemon in the meta. Those who achieve reqs should be encouraged to think about the meta overall, and if they're ok with a KFC model atop the Viability Rank when making their decision.

Great Qualities:
  • Blaziken has the ability Speed Boost essentially giving it a Choice Scarf turn 2. When combined with Protect Blaziken is effectively able to shield itself from danger, get to +1 speed, use that speed boost in conjecture with another item such as a Life Orb that boosts its attacking power.
  • Blaziken has great versatility, so much so, that it has drawn comparisons to Kyurem-B. It has the ability to run a physical or special set, with several utility moves. Physical Moves: Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, Stone Edge, High Jump Kick, Thunder Punch, Poison Jab, Reversal, Earthquake, and Knock Off. Special Moves: Blast Burn, Fire Blast, HP Ice, Focus Blast, and Hyper Beam. Utility Moves: Protect, Substitute, Endure, Swords Dance, and Will-O-Wisp. It also has several options for an item: Life Orb, Liechi Berry, Weakness Policy, Firium Z, and Fightinium Z. All of these options keep your opponents guessing giving Blaziken a continuous advantage as it can change up its set.
  • Blaziken was recently endorsed by newly promoted Global Driver E4 Flint, which should be enough to justify freeing the chicken honestly.
%E4 Flint: blaziken is fine
%E4 Flint: so unban blazikenite too
%E4 Flint: i think i should post that in 1v1 thread

Hindrances:
  • Most Sturdy mons are able to take on Blaziken as they don't really care about Blaziken's speed since they're almost guaranteed an attack. With premiere Sturdy users mainly being Ground and Rock types they also have a very good match up versus Blaziken type wise.
  • The rise of powerful new fairy types like Tapu Fini, Tapu Lele, and Primarina have given the meta new ways of handling the Kung Fu Chicken.
  • It's still a pretty frail Pokemon. 80/70/70 bulk has never been anything to write home about, so any mon that has just enough bulk to take one hit from Blaziken has a decent chance to revenge in return.
Pokemon Blaziken beats Most of the time:


Pokemon Blaziken loses to Most of the time:

I just want to say that obviously more Pokemon beat/lose to Blaziken, and that the purpose of this portion was just to show a few quick examples.

Blaziken is an interesting mon when it comes to 1v1. I personally believe that Blaziken is powerful and will have a strong influence on the game, but I don't believe it is broken. With the new fairies, Z moves, and rise of Sturdy mons I believe enough counter play has been implemented into the tier to justify it's presence. Also if it helps make my opinion easier to hear I did vote Do Not Unban last gen, so I understand it's a great, possibly broken, mon - I just feel the meta has progressed enough to keep that greatness in check.

However you vote I just ask you think about Blaziken, and all of its qualities, to decide if you feel the 1v1 tier would be more/less enjoyable with Blaziken in the tier. Take the time, read other posts, and make your own decision - if everyone does this I'm sure we can make 1v1 the best it can be.
 
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I was gonna make a long elaborate post about Blaziken and whether or not its broken... but its not even that good IMO.

The real question however.... is it worth to go for reqs? :|
 
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Felucia

Robot Empress
is a Battle Simulator Moderator
I was gonna make a long elaborate post about Blaziken and whether or not its broken... but its not even that good IMO.

The real question however.... is it worth to go for reqs? :|
if you want it in the meta I'd say yes, atm it's looking like it'll get removed
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1vI
Quite a few of us have wanted something NEW for this metagame, and we finally got it. BTW, I'm not talking about Blaziken.

Mega-Heracross (and Mega-Houndoom as well, but thats lame) recently became usable on PS! This means Gyarados-Mega, Sturdies, and a lot other mons like Slowbro, Deoxys-Defense, Jumpluff, and non-Fairium Z Mimikyu are going to have a lot of trouble once it reaches higher usage.

Prepare your Fire mons, and watch Heracross-Mega heat up the metagame!
 
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dom

Banned deucer.

KEITH APE (Heracross-Mega) @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 52 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Rock Tomb / Swords Dance / Counter / Bullet Seed / Whatever the fuck

hi guys, i cooked up this super fat mega hera that i think is rly good and should be shown off. it lives a kyub zmove and something else i don't remember, timid scarf pz hyper beam and it hits a cool speed tier for a fat mon. this mon's super anti-meta. i also built a team with it, which you can find here.
 

Nalei

strong, wild garbage
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
So much serious discussion with the Blaziken suspect and Heracronite release. That stuff's good, but it's been a week since anyone posted, so I thought I'd give the thread a kick in the ass. So here I am, bringing you the freshest sets in this meme report.


Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Outrage
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Dance
This shouldn't even classify as a meme, honestly. It's a pretty sweet stallbreaker that takes on Slowbro and Deo-D really well.


Togekiss @ Fairium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Charm
Once again, not so much of a meme, but rather something that's really uncommon. I noticed Togekiss was B rank on the VR, but I'd seen about 2 times the whole gen, so I figured I'd try it for myself. Was pleasantly surprised at how well this performs.


Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Giga Impact
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch/Low Kick
Ambipom is what happens when you miss Mega Lopunny. It actually hits pretty hard, outright KOing both Charizards with Fake Out+Giga Impact. Fire Punch hits Durant, Kartana and Genesect, Ice Punch hits Landorus-T and Dragonite.


Roserade @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Petal Dance
- Toxic
- Sludge Bomb
I've found Roserade to be pretty good. It can take on pokemon like Mega Gyarados, Magearna, Mega Slowbro, Tapu Koko, Magnezone, Deoxys-D (for the most part) and Greninja very nicely. HP Rock is an option too, but I just couldn't get it to work. Besides, HP Fire hits Magnezone, Magearna, Durant, Kartana, Genesect and Ferrothorn as compared to the 2 things HP Rock hits.


Murkrow @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Feather Dance
- Taunt
- Roost
- Dark Pulse
Now we get into the really deep memes. Murkrows Prankster Feather Dance and Taunt are very useful, allowing it to function as a counter to many of 1v1's physical attackers (anything not named Mawile or Gyarados, even Crustle) and stallers.


Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 124 HP / 232 Def / 152 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
Better than drugs. This set really is an abomination and I have no excuses. I'm sorry.

 
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Felucia

Robot Empress
is a Battle Simulator Moderator
Hello everyone this is UnleashOurPassion and I'm happy to announce I can't keep quiet any longer!

You might have noticed ladder has been doing weird stuff, I'm not going to explain what weird stuff I'm referring to but I can tell you it's my doing.

5 days ago I got a good idea, picked it up with charizard8888 and optimized it as much as possible. I immediately started testing on ladder and found it was good. Not only I thought so! Ladder is now using this set more than you'd have ever expected.

When I first saw this Pokémon used against me all I could think was "Low ladder wtf are you doing!?" but it turns out it's really good.

As you know my biggest set is Domination the Kyurem-Black, this Pokémon too has a nickname. It has taken up the name Serenity to contrast its vicious nature.

Serenity (Garchomp-Mega) @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 176 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Swords Dance


That's right! I took a liking to something like that. Before you complain about this being bad in any way, I want to give you a couple accomplishments:
- This set is now probably 40% of the Garchomp sets, if not more
- I beat an OM tour without effort, blasting through people like Kentari in the process (Ken, stop complaining about that roll)
- Serenity got me to 2600 COIL which was something I hadn't been able to do yet.

The reason I posted now is because I'm proud of this, and with the amount I'm seeing on ladder I figured nobody is gonna believe me if I don't take credit for it now.

Have fun!
~Mez
 

DEG

The night belongs to you
is a Community Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus

Welcome to the introduction of our first 1v1 room project: 1v1 Championship. This project will start every month and like its name indicates it's going to be a leaderboard points based championship. Points will be given out depending on how many peoples are in the tour and how many games you win in the tour, those are calculated by *Scrappie. There's going to be a series of single elimination tournaments, since the bot cannot count double eliminations or round robin. We will include a pool of metagames that will be played.

Metagames: SM 1v1, ORAS 1v1, UU 1v1, Monotype 1v1, AG 1v1, AAA 1v1, Sketchmons 1v1. More will be added as they will be out of developmental mode.

Rules:
-Single Elimination.
-We will start with hosting 2 tours per day separated by 12 hours and increase to 4 per day separated by 6 hours if needed. The time will be 4 AM and 4 PM EDT, so like 8 and 8 PM UTC.
-Winner gets included in the hall of fame for now, maybe there will be more prizes.


Samples teams are HIGHLY appreciated from now on, also rules about the 1v1 OMs will be out soon, stay tuned!

Starting June the 1st.
June: charizard8888
July: DEG
August: Blazikin
 
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DEG

The night belongs to you
is a Community Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
im reserving this for 1v1 OMs so it can be glued to this ^ sorry for triple posting.
 

Welcome to the introduction of our first 1v1 room project: 1v1 Championship. This project will start every month and like its name indicates it's going to be a leaderboard points based championship. Points will be given out depending on how many peoples are in the tour and how many games you win in the tour, those are calculated by *Scrappie. There's going to be a series of single elimination tournaments, since the bot cannot count double eliminations or round robin. We will include a pool of metagames that will be played.

Metagames: SM 1v1, ORAS 1v1, UU 1v1, Monotype 1v1, AG 1v1, AAA 1v1, Sketchmons 1v1. More will be added as they will be out of developmental mode.

Rules:
-Single Elimination.
-We will start with hosting 2 tours per day separated by 12 hours and increase to 4 per day separated by 6 hours if needed. The time will be 4 AM and 4 PM EDT, so like 8 and 8 PM UTC.
-Winner gets included in the hall of fame for now, maybe there will be more prizes.


Schedule:


Samples teams are HIGHLY appreciated from now on, also rules about the 1v1 OMs will be out soon, stay tuned!

Starting June the 1st.
ofc the only om im actually decent at (mix and mega) isn't here. thanks deg

also does sketchmons 1v1 actually work? I know we tried it at least once but the teambuilder spewed out a lot of errors and we couldn't actually play it.
 
ofc the only om im actually decent at (mix and mega) isn't here. thanks deg

also does sketchmons 1v1 actually work? I know we tried it at least once but the teambuilder spewed out a lot of errors and we couldn't actually play it.
DEG and I made a tournament and I was able to use Prismatic Laser on Latias, so in theory it should be working now. If all else fails, we can switch to another format or just do another double-SM day.

By the way, I realize that certain OMs are inaccessible for certain timezones with the current schedule, so we are considering flipping the times midway through the month depending on the feedback.
 

lost heros

Meme Master
DEG and I made a tournament and I was able to use Prismatic Laser on Latias, so in theory it should be working now. If all else fails, we can switch to another format or just do another double-SM day.

By the way, I realize that certain OMs are inaccessible for certain timezones with the current schedule, so we are considering flipping the times midway through the month depending on the feedback.
Wouldn't a not-time dependent schedule be better?
Like
SM then ORAS then Sketch then SM then UU then AG then SM then Mono then AAA then repeat. That should randomize the OM order with the timezone.
 
Wouldn't a not-time dependent schedule be better?
Like
SM then ORAS then Sketch then SM then UU then AG then SM then Mono then AAA then repeat. That should randomize the OM order with the timezone.
I think this would get supremely confusing with tournaments that aren't part of the monthly championship at all, unless you're proposing getting rid of those altogether.
 

lost heros

Meme Master
I think this would get supremely confusing with tournaments that aren't part of the monthly championship at all, unless you're proposing getting rid of those altogether.
I imagine anyone making an official tour would have access to what the previous official tour was. Either through modlog or just a shared google doc.
 
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