Singles 3v3 Singles (BSS) Discussion

[SecretT]

Hello again :) there is a Series 10 BSS friendly competition! If you want, you can join!

View attachment 361745

It starts July 31st 5 am EST! :(

I missed it... Is it possible to see the competition results somewhere (for example top used pokemon) if I had not registered?

 

[Kiby]

I missed it... Is it possible to see the competition results somewhere (for example top used pokemon) if I had not registered?

10. Heatran

20. Dragonite

 

[Kiby]

Pythagoras' stall team :(

 

[DerpySuX]

Surprised there’s not as much offensive Tern, super potent from my experience, does decently well around top 500 on PS and around 3-5k on cart. My team is a tiny bit weak to Xerneas but even then, I got tools against it. I’d say a well played offensive Eternatus can be one of stalls toughest MU’s

 

[SecretT]

I looked at the top teams from August listed on pokemoem - https://pokemoem.com/utility/articlesearch
and created translations (as pokepaste) for 8 of them. Rental codes are included as well.

Team info

1) https://sakku-poke.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/09/02/142850
https://pokepast.es/781ca7b23cc4ecbd
Eternatus, Aegislash, Suicune, Landorus, Mandibuzz, Darmanitan-Galar
0000 0003 RC71 KN

2) https://coropoke.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/09/01/215522
https://pokepast.es/b6dd91e76e0d1f52
Zacian-Crowned, Polteageist, Tapu Fini, Landorus, Kommo-o, Zapdos
0000 0002 FB19 VJ

3) https://rokuro0303.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/09/01/110541
https://pokepast.es/c016db1f2ace0506
Zacian-Crowned, Porygon2, Urshifu, Zapdos, Dracovish, Hippowdon
0000 0002 K76K T6

4) https://northevol0704.hatenablog.co...97.2101155185.1630457847-143073850.1630457847
Kyogre, Ditto, Rillaboom, Darmanitan-Galar, Dragonite, Thundurus
0000 0005 C6TV B6

5) https://oniyan0916.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/09/01/204038
https://pokepast.es/c1beadd9cd762f74
Kyogre, Grimmsnarl, Zapdos, Landorus, Gothitelle, Ditto
000 0006 N826 VN

6) https://harubrog16878.hatenadiary.jp/entry/2021/09/02/161944
https://pokepast.es/3e92f8731b1505cc
Yveltal, Hippowdon, Ferrothorn, Volcarona, Dracovish, Slowking-Galar
0000 0008 0B0J GH

7) https://apollo-k-4.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/09/01/205138
https://pokepast.es/84ba39d1279cb95a
Eternatus, Blissey, Quagsire, Tyranitar, Skarmory, Mimikyu
0000 0007 YBLX 79

8) https://rei-poke0728new.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/08/30/225352
https://pokepast.es/a3224497adb08d69
Calyrex-Shadow, Ferrothorn, Mamoswine, Zapdos, Urshifu-RS, Tyranitar
0000 0006 GD80 GF

If there's interest I can translate a few more.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I forgot to mention, TA did a BSS Workshop about 2 and a Half weeks ago. Essentially we built two teams that were pretty cookie cutter without any really wild techs so people newer can use them if they want to get into the tier and be solidish up until the point where you can build your own teams. Those were a Zacian-C team and a Xerneas Team. I'll link the B101 Post here:

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/trainer-academy-workshops.3675841/post-8978046

I've spoilered the chat itself as well incase anyone was interested in the discussion around the build.

Hide

[12:02] @Ika Ika Musume: Im just going to set up a few things first and then we'll get started
[12:03] @Ika Ika Musume: BTW if anyone has any questions throughout all this, feel free to ask AM or any of the guys and they'll post it here and Ill do my best to answer it
[12:03] +Galarian Birds OU: Isn’t that a perk of being PW they are above Voice tbf
[12:03] %AM: yes I'll hopefully be here for most if not
[12:03] %AM: prize winner technically isnt above voice
[12:03] %AM: it just shows up like that on the authlist
[12:03] @Ika Ika Musume: My cobuilder has gotten stuck in a pregnancy seminar so you'll just have to deal with me for now
[12:03] %AM: lol
[12:04] @Ika Ika Musume: Ill get started anyways
[12:04] @Ika Ika Musume: So this session will be on Battle Stadium Singles, specifically the current format which is Series 10
[12:04] @Ika Ika Musume: Ill kind of introduce what BSS is about as I suspect a lot of people might not know the format very well
[12:04] @Ika Ika Musume: So whenever you go and play a ranked battle on the Switch, which is what the majority of the playerbase do, there is a specific set of rules you go by
[12:05] @Ika Ika Musume: this is the BSS Format
[12:05] @Ika Ika Musume: At least for singles, in doubles it is VGC
[12:05] +Galarian Birds OU: Yeah, but for chat that’s probably how PW works
[12:06] @Ika Ika Musume: The unique thing about BSS is that it is a 3v3 battle, you both have teams of 6 but each player selects 3 pokemon
[12:06] +Galarian Birds OU: Anyways, I’ll let Ika speak.
[12:06] %AM: Ika I'll be here to put together import for now unless I have to suddenly go (I dont think I will)
[12:07] @Ika Ika Musume: The rules of BSS are slightly different overall than standard smogon rules, there is a pretty limited banlist to only cover legendaries and mythicals
[12:07] @Ika Ika Musume: so asides from that you can use every pokemon and every strategy, so stuff like evasion, baton pass, shadow tag, no sleep clause etc.
[12:07] @Ika Ika Musume: exist in BSS
[12:07] @Ika Ika Musume: So, lets talk about the format we will be building for today, Series 10
[12:08] @Ika Ika Musume: Every few months there is a different series with different rules, the rules of Series 10 is that each team is allowed one pokemon that would normally be banned
[12:08] @Ika Ika Musume: ie. a cover legendary/mythical pokemon
[12:09] @Ika Ika Musume: So now everyone should have a good idea of what the format is about, Ill get onto putting a poll up for teambuilding
[12:09] @Katy: if there are any questions, etc you can ask the staff members here and we answer these
[12:10] @Ika Ika Musume: What we will do is build two teams, each around a different restricted pokemon and then after that have a tour
[12:10] %AM: dope
[12:10] %AM: Ika Ika Musume is restrictd just the box bans usually?
[12:10] @Ika Ika Musume: The best four restricteds in the format are Zacian-C, Calyrex-S, Eternatus and Kyogre, but Im open to suggestions
[12:11] %AM: we could probably just poll those for now
[12:11] %AM: what are the other restricteds people use?
[12:11] %AM: I can run the poll for those 4 if you want ika
[12:11] @Ika Ika Musume: Yes generally box legendaries and mythicals, the reason for the latter is you cant get them ingame
[12:11] @Ika Ika Musume: the box legends are generally made to be broken on purpose hence they are generally not allowed
[12:12] @Ika Ika Musume: I think after that, you can use pokemon like ho-oh, yveltal, xernease
[12:12] @Ika Ika Musume: these would be the next restricteds down if you were to make a tier list
[12:12] (The announcement was ended by AM.)
[12:12] AM used /poll create Which Restricted would you like to build on for today's workshop?, Zacian-Crowned, Calyrex-Shadow, Eternatus, Kyogre
[12:12] A poll was started by AM.
[12:13] %AM: /announce Voting for BBS Workshop Team 1 to build around
[12:13] ^Haail: Is there a series 10 vr Ika?
[12:13] +Galarian Birds OU: I’ll look.
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/series-8-sword-shield-bss-viability-rankings.3679374/
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: it is similar to series 8
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: the only difference I should say as well, I forgot to mention this
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: is Dynamax is banned also
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: very important thing
[12:13] @Ika Ika Musume: but the list of allowed pokemon is the same
[12:14] %AM: /announce I'll leave poll open for about 2 more minutes. Get votes in for which team to base first team on
[12:14] #Yellow Paint: max being banned makes shadow rider stronger right
[12:15] ^Haail: Maybe a top tier/great legendary for team 1 and good/niche for team 2?
[12:15] @Ika Ika Musume: oh the mythicals are also banned, that was just me slipping up there, its just due to distribution
[12:15] @Ika Ika Musume: yea sounds good to me
[12:15] %AM: so things like mew, celebi right?
[12:15] @Ika Ika Musume: yea Yellow Paint calyrex is a bit stronger without dynamax
[12:15] @Ika Ika Musume: yea since you can only get these pokemon from events and the like
[12:15] %AM: makes sense
[12:15] #Yellow Paint: item clause, level 50
[12:15] %AM: that seems like a cool ruleset
[12:15] #Yellow Paint: at level 50 generally things do a bit more damage
[12:16] %AM: easy to understand to me at least
[12:16] #Yellow Paint: also some speed tiers are different
[12:16] %AM: the rolls are different yeah
[12:16] @Ika Ika Musume: Ill get into the specifics as we build
[12:16] @Katy: AM yea its due to restricted access some countries have for mythicals and the likes
[12:16] @Katy: so they made that ruleset
[12:16] @Ika Ika Musume: but there are some specifics to the ruleset, but the main gist Ive said above
[12:16] (The poll was ended by AM.)
Poll ended 12 votes Which Restricted would you like to build on for today's workshop?
1. Zacian-Crowned (5 votes)
42%
2. Calyrex-Shadow (2 votes)
17%
3. Eternatus (2 votes)
17%
4. Kyogre (3 votes)
25%
[12:16] %AM: big doggo
[12:16] @Ika Ika Musume: okay, we can build a zacian-c team sounds good
[12:16] #Yellow Paint: looks like it's zac
[12:16] @Ika Ika Musume: So first lets talk a bit about zacian-c
[12:17] @Ika Ika Musume: To put it bluntly, it is the best restricted in the format, it hits ridiculously hard and only has relatively few checks
[12:18] @Ika Ika Musume: of course a lot of this applies to other restricted pokemon, but each restricted has a different set of checks so hence you get different teams based on which restricted you build around
[12:18] #Yellow Paint: what coverage does it normally run?
[12:18] #Yellow Paint: or is it variable
[12:18] @Ika Ika Musume: The main checks to Zacian-C are Quagsire, Ditto, Calyrex-S, Scarf Kyogre and very defensive stuff that can trade with it like defensive lando, hippo etc
[12:19] @Ika Ika Musume: So there are two kinda common zacian-cs
[12:19] @Ika Ika Musume: the fast one and the bulky one
[12:20] @Ika Ika Musume: you can run a variety of moves, but for the most part you will have behemoth blade, close combat and then play rough, quick attack, thunder fang, ice fang, swords dance
[12:20] @Ika Ika Musume: Id say like 70% of zacian run behemoth blade, cc, play rough + 1
[12:20] 1_TrickPhony was promoted to Room Whitelist by Ika Ika Musume.
[12:20] %AM: 1_TrickPhony test speak
[12:20] %AM: just in case
[12:21] @Ika Ika Musume: we've just started, the tiers been introduced, we're just building around Zacian-C
[12:21] 1_TrickPhony: hey im good ty!
[12:21] %AM: okay jsut checking excellent
[12:22] %AM: my building is usually slotting stuff first and then adding the extra optional moves then spreads
[12:22] %AM: I guess it changes if you build around one version of zac over the other right?
[12:22] @Ika Ika Musume: We can do it this way, how it works in bss at least in this format
[12:22] @Ika Ika Musume: is that you have your main win condition which is always your restricted
[12:22] @Ika Ika Musume: you then have to have checks to the other restricteds
[12:23] @Ika Ika Musume: otherwise its gg in team preview
[12:23] %AM: hm okay
[12:23] %AM: you think fast or bulky zac is better?
[12:23] 1_TrickPhony: yup, especially with the metagame being so heavily emphasized on legends, its very RPS. So if you bring something like yveltal, you need to have clear checks to zacian / xern
[12:23] %AM: as a starting point at least
[12:23] @Ika Ika Musume: some restricteds beat other restricteds so you dont have to deal with them, say zacian-c beats eternatus, xernias etc.
[12:23] @Ika Ika Musume: I think atm bulky is more common
[12:23] %AM: makes sense
[12:24] %AM: word what does that look like
[12:24] 1_TrickPhony: bulky is more common in higher level play, fast in general/lower level play
[12:24] #Yellow Paint: what speed tier does bulky hit then?
[12:24] @Ika Ika Musume: the reason you want bulky, it helps you live certain moves, like specs astral barrage from calyrex-s, it is better in the mirror and can help in certain cases vs. ditto
[12:25] 1_TrickPhony: +1 252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 153-181 (91.6 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO (50% chance to OHKO after accuracy)
[12:25] @Ika Ika Musume: speed tiers for bulky you are generally looking at outspeeding adamant cinderace by 1 point or you can also outspeed base 110s
[12:25] 1_TrickPhony: vs +1 252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 139-165 (83.2 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (100.00% chance to 2HKO after accuracy)
[12:25] #Yellow Paint: ty
[12:25] 1_TrickPhony: with the first role (adamant because bulky) you can always kill after behemoth blade into quick attack
[12:25] 1_TrickPhony: roll*
[12:25] 1_TrickPhony: if you face a non-bulky zacian-c
[12:26] @Ika Ika Musume: yea fat zacian beats non fat zacian
[12:26] @Ika Ika Musume: hence most high level zacians have to be fat
[12:26] %AM: spread?
[12:27] %AM: I assume max attack but idk these speed/defensive benchmarks
[12:27] 1_TrickPhony: im not updated on spreads for new series so ill let ika cover that
[12:27] %AM: especially for lv.50 it looks so weird after playing lv.100 formats lol
[12:27] @Ika Ika Musume: Im just getting a spread sorted
[12:27] 1_TrickPhony: but another reason to run bulky: 252 Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 168-198 (100.5 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO (100.00% after accuracy) you can ev to live all jolly max EQs
[12:27] #Yellow Paint: and I'm assuming being bulky puts it into range of other scarfers/fast mons that fast doesn't?
[12:28] @Ika Ika Musume: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[12:28] 1_TrickPhony: most scarfers in the metagame are going to do their best to outspeed jolly zacian-c anyways
[12:28] @Ika Ika Musume: if we decide we need bulkier, we can take some out of speed and put into most likely spdef later
[12:28] 1_TrickPhony: there are very few that outspeed only adamant iirc
[12:29] @Ika Ika Musume: a scarfer that doesnt outspeed calyrex-s
[12:29] %AM: ok ika sounds good
[12:29] #Yellow Paint: ah true
[12:29] @Ika Ika Musume: is hard to justify and calyrex-s will always outspeed zacian-c
[12:29] #Yellow Paint: shadow rider is the upper bound
[12:29] #Yellow Paint: ok, what partners go well with zac then?
[12:29] %AM: ok so we need to slot other mons to check the other restricteds
[12:29] #Yellow Paint: since you've covered checks
[12:30] @Ika Ika Musume: there are a few very common zacian-c partners
[12:30] @Ika Ika Musume: Id say lando, zapdos, rillaboom and urshifu are probably the four most common
[12:31] #Yellow Paint: dark?
[12:31] @Ika Ika Musume: yea it would be the single strike urshifu
[12:31] %AM: I would assume dark to help caly matchup
[12:31] %AM: [12:31:32] Batatas21: if I'm running bulky, is it necessary to run sd? sorry for bothering
[12:32] @Ika Ika Musume: you can run swords dance on Zacian-C, but it really depends on your team itself
[12:32] #Yellow Paint: nah feel free to ask questions, chat
[12:32] @Ika Ika Musume: the risk is, if you run SD and the opponent has a ditto, then they can use you to wipe your team
[12:32] #Yellow Paint: pm one of us and we'll repeat it
[12:32] @Ika Ika Musume: there are cases where it is fine though to run SD, you have to just be careful
[12:33] 1_TrickPhony: %AM: I would assume dark to help caly matchup: my personal thoughts on this is you can run both fine, water does things like take on lando-t pretty well, but if you arent running dark you need an answer to caly outside of urshifu
[12:33] %AM: ic ty
[12:33] @Ika Ika Musume: say if you have zacian-c + quagsire, then even if they copy your zacian-c then you can just go into quag
[12:33] @Ika Ika Musume: you need to have a gameplan around it
[12:34] @Ika Ika Musume: I think when it comes to urshifu-ss, a lot of it is also the fact that wicked blow is really difficult to switch into
[12:34] @Ika Ika Musume: anyways 1tp you got a preference for a second mon
[12:35] 1_TrickPhony: I need to look at the metagame real quick scanning noth real fast haha, but thinking about dealing with the main thorns to zacian is the first step
[12:36] @Ika Ika Musume: well a good way to dent calyrex-s and kyogre in one slot
[12:36] @Ika Ika Musume: is rillaboom
[12:36] @Ika Ika Musume: it also helps weaken EQ for Zacian-C
[12:36] %AM: does it run band normally?
[12:36] 1_TrickPhony: yup bulky grounds in general like pert/hippo/lando have trouble with rilla
[12:36] @Ika Ika Musume: the most common is Assault vest
[12:37] %AM: I see AV on some teams you posted
[12:37] 1_TrickPhony: and it got even better with no max airstream
[12:37] %AM: !code
Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
[12:37] @Ika Ika Musume: you can run band though
[12:37] %AM: uh missing evs whoops
[12:37] #Yellow Paint: av helps specifically for shadow rider kyube?
[12:37] @Ika Ika Musume: AV allows you to switch into stuff better rather than having to revenge
[12:37] 1_TrickPhony: kyogre is omnipresent too
[12:37] %AM: ok I put rilla on for now
[12:38] 1_TrickPhony: you need switch ins for that
[12:38] %AM: just to have a foundation
[12:38] @Ika Ika Musume: also switching into water moves from ogre or even ice beam on predict
[12:38] 1_TrickPhony: band doesnt like taking full hp spout
[12:38] %AM: word good points
[12:38] 1_TrickPhony: and almost forces you to use grass glide (and get locked right after)
[12:38] 1_TrickPhony: losing momentum if guessing wrong
[12:38] 1_TrickPhony: u-turn is super powerful in this meta and AV also abuses it better
[12:39] @Ika Ika Musume: but yea, the move slots for rillaboom, they are basically locked which makes things easier
[12:39] %AM: word
[12:39] %AM: so zacian/rilla
[12:39] #Yellow Paint: is ho oh a thing?
[12:39] #Yellow Paint: or I guess celest
[12:39] @Ika Ika Musume: ho-oh can be seen for sure, its less common
[12:40] @Ika Ika Musume: generally you are running more bulky comps with ho-oh like even stall
[12:40] +T3ch Thieves: is ndm a thing in bss as a zace answer
[12:40] @Ika Ika Musume: ho-oh and eternatus these are the stall teams restricted generally
[12:40] @Ika Ika Musume: dusk mane can be used yea, Id say its in the second tier of restricteds somewhere
[12:41] @Ika Ika Musume: it does have issues with calyrex-s in particular and with no dynamax
[12:41] @Ika Ika Musume: the dynamax + weakness policy is less viable so you see it less, more common for defensive rocky helmet sets
[12:41] @Ika Ika Musume: So what I see straight away with rillaboom + zacian
[12:41] @Ika Ika Musume: is fire type moves
[12:41] %AM: so with zacian/rilla you need a second etern counterplay right?
[12:42] %AM: or is zac enough?
[12:42] @Ika Ika Musume: zacian-c is generally enough so long as the rest of the team doesnt completely fall over to it
[12:42] %AM: word whats 3rd options then
[12:42] 1_TrickPhony: i think somewhere in the 6 it could be helpful to have another pokemon that matches well
[12:42] @Ika Ika Musume: really the fire types you have to worry about
[12:42] 1_TrickPhony: but not necessary to answer as the main core w/ zacian
[12:42] #Yellow Paint: what about for opposing zacian?
[12:43] #Yellow Paint: ah go ahead first
[12:43] @Ika Ika Musume: yea we will need something for opposing zacian-c for sure
[12:43] %AM: pool of options and what you guys think would be best to slot
[12:43] %AM: I guess the pool is pretty dire lol
[12:44] 1_TrickPhony: I like as generalists helmet zapdos or lando-t, they are pretty solid starts
[12:44] @Ika Ika Musume: well to be precise, it wont be something that beats zacian-c most likely
[12:44] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[12:44] #Yellow Paint: nah you get all the base 600 non mythics etc
[12:44] @Ika Ika Musume: it will just chip and annoy zacian-c
[12:44] 1_TrickPhony: but zacian is one of those mons you still need to guess the SD 50/50 to not lose
[12:44] 1_TrickPhony: hard to counter unless you wanna go quag
[12:45] @Ika Ika Musume: so stuff like hippo, lando, arcanine, volcarona, zapdos
[12:45] %AM: hm
[12:45] #Yellow Paint: maybe lando?
[12:46] #Yellow Paint: just cause it's the most generally applicable mon
[12:46] %AM: does that work with rilla though?
[12:46] %AM: or does it run like epower?
[12:46] #Yellow Paint: oh true
[12:46] @Ika Ika Musume: fat waters like suicune can generally work or on the offensive end darm-g and cinderace
[12:46] @Ika Ika Musume: its fine with rillaboom, it is up to the player skill level
[12:46] %AM: maybe something more offensive?
[12:46] @Ika Ika Musume: to manage grassy terrain
[12:47] %AM: guess we can try lando
[12:47] @Ika Ika Musume: lando is generally put in battle before rillaboom
[12:47] %AM: keep it simple
[12:47] @Ika Ika Musume: and you dont have to select them together
[12:47] 1_TrickPhony: e-power is very much a VGC tech i dont see it like anywhere in bss
[12:47] @Ika Ika Musume: generally matchups that lando is good in such as vs zacian-c
[12:47] #Yellow Paint: oh you covered bring 6 pick 3 right
[12:47] @Ika Ika Musume: rillaboom is less good in
[12:47] %AM: yes Yellow Paint
[12:47] #Yellow Paint: cool
[12:47] %AM: so what are we running with lando here?
[12:48] @Ika Ika Musume: whereas lando is a liability vs. kyogre
[12:48] @Ika Ika Musume: where rillaboom would be used
[12:48] @Ika Ika Musume: well we have a few options with lando
[12:49] @Ika Ika Musume: but it comes down to A: Bulky lando, B: Scarf Lando C: Something else like Band Lando
[12:49] @Ika Ika Musume: bulky lando would be either rocky helmet or sitrus
[12:49] @Ika Ika Musume: literally the job of this lando would be, switch into zacian-c and click eq
[12:49] %AM: bulky would make more sense
[12:50] @Ika Ika Musume: we can deal with speed later on in the team, I think helmet lando is fine
[12:50] @Ika Ika Musume: it also gives us stealth rock
[12:50] #Yellow Paint: cool
[12:50] %AM: eq, uturn, sr?
[12:51] %AM: tomb?
[12:51] 1_TrickPhony: first three for sure
[12:51] 1_TrickPhony: last can depend
[12:51] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[12:51] @Ika Ika Musume: stealth rock really good for breaking sash of Calyrex-s, urshifu, and chipping zapdos/volc if they dont have boots
[12:51] %AM: what we have so far
[12:51] 1_TrickPhony: we could hold off till later and see what could be helpful
[12:51] %AM: yeah that's fine I agree
[12:51] @Ika Ika Musume: evs are almost certainly bold
[12:52] #Yellow Paint: yeah let's get a move on
[12:52] @Ika Ika Musume: max max, you might want a little bit of speed but I think thats fine as a placeholder
[12:52] #Yellow Paint: decide mons first
[12:52] 1_TrickPhony: in a lot of these kinds of build starts I am a big fan of choosing only 3 moves or so and not committing to an item unless we are getting to mon 4/5/6
[12:52] 1_TrickPhony: and filling in when we get ideas of all the partners
[12:52] %AM: word so let's get othe mons first
[12:52] @Ika Ika Musume: we need calyrex-s hard check
[12:52] @Ika Ika Musume: and we need fire check
[12:52] #Yellow Paint: ttar?
[12:52] @Ika Ika Musume: these are the two most important things
[12:53] %AM: p2?
[12:53] %AM: for caly
[12:53] %AM: !code
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Analytic
Level: 50
[12:53] @Ika Ika Musume: Id be ok with P2, I think with tar
[12:53] @Ika Ika Musume: we already have an AV holder
[12:53] #Yellow Paint: oh true
[12:53] @Ika Ika Musume: essentially item clause would give it a bad item
[12:54] 1_TrickPhony: mimikyu could also be a potential option here
[12:54] #Yellow Paint: and band rilla + av ttar would make ogre very difficult
[12:54] 1_TrickPhony: and is one of the easiest mons to slot in the game
[12:54] @Ika Ika Musume: well we can also add mimikyu on top of p2
[12:55] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[12:55] @Ika Ika Musume: as P2 can soak hits from lando or zapdos who want to switch into zacian-c
[12:55] %AM: all placeholder stuff
[12:55] 1_TrickPhony: also an option, make selecting caly-s very uncomfortable
[12:55] #Yellow Paint: that sounds the most reliable to me
[12:55] #Yellow Paint: I wouldn't feel safe with just mimik but both sounds strong
[12:55] %AM: p2 normally runs analytic?
[12:55] #Yellow Paint: is that enough for fires then?
[12:55] %AM: in bss?
[12:56] 1_TrickPhony: also allows us to get a lil funky for mimikyu set, we could run support moves + sneak potentially
[12:56] @Ika Ika Musume: all three abilities can be used, analytic is most common
[12:56] %AM: word
[12:56] %AM: what would be last slot?
[12:56] @Ika Ika Musume: the reason is for analytic being the most common is metagaming
[12:57] @Ika Ika Musume: since many pokemon run specific evs for download boosts
[12:57] %AM: interesting
[12:57] @Ika Ika Musume: so you cannot reliably get spa boost
[12:57] %AM: never thought about it like that
[12:57] @Ika Ika Musume: tho there have been some physical/mixed p2 sets at times in dynamax meta
[12:57] #Yellow Paint: not having genesect makes sense for that yeah
[12:58] @Ika Ika Musume: let me look back up at the team
[12:58] %AM: zacian, rilla, lando, p2, mimikyu
[12:58] %AM: last slot maybe a win condition?
[12:58] %AM: or additional one?
[12:58] @Ika Ika Musume: first thing I see, we need rock tomb on lando-t
[12:58] @Ika Ika Musume: or a rock move
[12:58] @Ika Ika Musume: the reason is volcarona
[12:59] %AM: ok I added that
[12:59] @Ika Ika Musume: asides from that, we probably need some way of dealing with darm-g lead
[12:59] @Ika Ika Musume: in the last slot
[12:59] %AM: bulky water?
[12:59] 1_TrickPhony: faster scarfer or bulky water
[12:59] 1_TrickPhony: were my first thoughts
[12:59] @Ika Ika Musume: sd mimikyu will be our secondary win condition most likely
[12:59] #Yellow Paint: how good is eleki?
[13:00] 1_TrickPhony: situational but gets worse by the day
[13:00] @Ika Ika Musume: not good outside of dual screens cores
[13:00] 1_TrickPhony: imo
[13:00] #Yellow Paint: lol ok
[13:00] @Ika Ika Musume: essentially every team has a ground
[13:00] #Yellow Paint: in my mind it sounds cool with all the speedy mons but
[13:00] #Yellow Paint: yeah that
[13:00] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[13:01] %AM: we can figure out spreads later I dont want it to linger too long
[13:01] #Yellow Paint: what options for water then?
[13:01] %AM: if we plan on making second team
[13:01] #Yellow Paint: yeah we can speed through it a bit on sets
[13:01] #Yellow Paint: let's just get a last mon and do a sanity check
[13:02] @Ika Ika Musume: ok last slot
[13:02] 1_TrickPhony: fini, urshifu (could also go scarf on this), pex if we wanted to get really defensive, azu
[13:02] 1_TrickPhony: all solid water choices
[13:02] 1_TrickPhony: and ofc quag is fine
[13:03] @Ika Ika Musume: I think urshifu-rs is good
[13:03] %AM: ok I slotted that in
[13:04] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[13:04] %AM: we can put together sets/spread quick
[13:04] @Ika Ika Musume: ok lemme fill in the evs
[13:04] %AM: sure thing
[13:04] %AM: if you guys have any questions let us know
[13:04] #Yellow Paint: yup, or suggestions
[13:04] %AM: just moving things along for now
[13:05] %AM: [13:05:13] Batatas21: They said we need bulky water why is urshifu rs here then
[13:05] #Yellow Paint: I think urshi pretty much walls darm?
[13:05] 1_TrickPhony: so i was thinking scarf OR bulky water
[13:05] 1_TrickPhony: im not sure what item we are going with urshifu but if we went scarf
[13:05] 1_TrickPhony: that deals with darm perfectly
[13:06] @Ika Ika Musume: Im assuming its scarf urshifu here
[13:06] 1_TrickPhony: and also water is good coverage for the team here
[13:06] %AM: going with scarf
[13:06] #Yellow Paint: yeah and a scarfer might be helpful
[13:06] @Ika Ika Musume: also darm can be chipped in range for rillaboom
[13:06] %AM: since it patches up couple of issues
[13:06] 1_TrickPhony: AND always crit moves are broken af
[13:06] #Yellow Paint: for opposing zac/shadow rider
[13:06] #Yellow Paint: anyways
[13:06] #Yellow Paint: also sounds good for volcarona
[13:06] @Ika Ika Musume: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[13:06] @Ika Ika Musume: what I have is this
[13:07] @Ika Ika Musume: I think life orb is logical on mimikyu
[13:07] %AM: missing some 4 evs
[13:07] @Ika Ika Musume: yea I see them
[13:07] @Ika Ika Musume: we just need to figure out
[13:07] @Ika Ika Musume: the zacian-c set
[13:08] %AM: I dont think we can run SD
[13:08] %AM: makes us too weak to ditto matchup
[13:08] @Ika Ika Musume: I think it will be 4 attacks
[13:08] %AM: yeah
[13:08] %AM: behemoth, play rough, cc
[13:08] %AM: and uh
[13:08] %AM: is sub a valid option or just use another attack
[13:09] @Ika Ika Musume: I think the last might be quick attack
[13:09] %AM: is pex common enough to go with wild charge?
[13:09] %AM: I'll go with quick attack for now
[13:09] 1_TrickPhony: honestly team doesnt have a pex answer
[13:09] 1_TrickPhony: you have a point w/ wild charge
[13:09] 1_TrickPhony: lando is tentative
[13:09] @Ika Ika Musume: we could use thunder fang over wild charge
[13:10] 1_TrickPhony: do we get enough power with fang to handle pex well? since no SD?
[13:10] @Ika Ika Musume: but yea wild charge
[13:10] @Ika Ika Musume: is probably bettr
[13:10] %AM: ill leave it as wild charge
[13:10] @Ika Ika Musume: I think wild charge is good as 4th
[13:10] %AM: nice to not miss against ogre too lol
[13:10] 1_TrickPhony: we have prio in rillaboom and urshifu also
[13:10] %AM: yeah
[13:10] 1_TrickPhony: (and mimikyu)
[13:10] 1_TrickPhony: so not starved for priority
[13:10] %AM: does it matter where the 4 evs go where they're missing?
[13:11] %AM: on ursh and mimi?
[13:11] #Yellow Paint: not really
[13:11] @Ika Ika Musume: nah it doesnt matter
[13:11] %AM: !code
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
[13:11] 1_TrickPhony: rarely matters. Mimi tends to be 4 SpD, urshi 4 def
[13:11] %AM: ok ill do that then
[13:11] 1_TrickPhony: but ive seen it other ways too
[13:11] %AM: https://pokepast.es/3fa17434e5a904e4
[13:12] %AM: I think we're good for team 1 for now
[13:12] @Ika Ika Musume: yea I think that team looks fine
[13:12] %AM: we do test runs later and talk about it later if things need to be changed
[13:12] %AM: Ika Ika Musume what do you want to poll for team 2?
[13:12] @Ika Ika Musume: the thing is, you will never get a team that wins all matchups or is safe vs. all pokemon
[13:13] @Ika Ika Musume: a lot of it is you look, what is good, how do I best deal with that and there will always be those 5% of matchups you cant win but on aggregate I think this team can do things in the vast majority of matchups
[13:13] @Ika Ika Musume: hmmm so we were thinking something less common
[13:13] %AM: less common but practical
[13:13] %AM: how about groudon?
[13:14] %AM: we can include the common stuff too just with no zacian
[13:14] %AM: Ika Ika Musume thoughts?
[13:14] %AM: or 1_TrickPhony
[13:15] @Ika Ika Musume: groudon, yveltal, xerneas, dusk mane, calyrex-ice,
[13:15] #Yellow Paint: maybe ho oh or etern?
[13:15] @Ika Ika Musume: I think these are niche
[13:15] @Ika Ika Musume: I would say ho-oh but I dont want to build stall
[13:15] %AM: ok
[13:15] %AM: i'll poll these
[13:16] AM used /poll create What would you guys like to build on for second BSS Workshop team?, Groudon, Yveltal, Xernease, Necrozma Dusk Mane, Calyrex-Ice
[13:16] A poll was started by AM.
[13:16] @Ika Ika Musume: we'll run through this team a bit quicker now the basics of how to build have kinda been gone through
[13:16] %AM: /announce Vote for team 2 build for BSS Workshop
[13:16] %AM: ill leave poll up for like 4 minutes
[13:16] %AM: if you guys got questions feel free to ask
[13:16] %AM: gonna make a bagel lol
[13:17] @Ika Ika Musume: yea Im getting myself a drink
[13:18] 1_TrickPhony: just so ppl have an idea of what teams we will probably lean toward depending on the legend, groudon is like sun stuff/fire sweeper or venu enabling, yvetal is more standard, xern/ndm are generally setup sweeper oriented, and caly-ice is very TR oriented
[13:18] 1_TrickPhony: so keep that in mind when you vote
[13:19] @Ika Ika Musume: yea the pokemon generally change based on what restricted you are using just due to what needs checking and what best compliments the restricted
[13:20] @Ika Ika Musume: for example you probably wouldnt see klefki outside of xerneas teams or venusaur/charizard outside of groudon teams
[13:21] (The poll was ended by AM.)
Poll ended 13 votes What would you guys like to build on for second BSS Workshop team?
1. Groudon (3 votes)
23%
2. Yveltal (0 votes)
0%
3. Xernease (4 votes)
31%
4. Necrozma Dusk Mane (2 votes)
15%
5. Calyrex-Ice (4 votes)
31%
[13:21] @Ika Ika Musume: ok we got a tie
[13:21] @Ika Ika Musume: Im gonna !pick
[13:21] %AM: !pick Xern, Caly-Ice
We randomly picked: Xern
[13:21] 1_TrickPhony: do a !pick for the 3/5
[13:21] 1_TrickPhony: yeah
[13:21] @Ika Ika Musume: oh there ya go
[13:21] @Ika Ika Musume: too late as usual
[13:21] %AM: my bad this bagel is unfortunately a brick need to use a real knife lol
[13:22] @Ika Ika Musume: So Xerneas, what we are going to be doing most likey
[13:22] @Ika Ika Musume: likely
[13:22] @Ika Ika Musume: is some sort of hyper offence
[13:22] ^Haail: Rip dialga :<
[13:23] @Ika Ika Musume: Id say this can range anywhere from just sash lead into full dual screens
[13:23] %AM: i like screens
[13:24] @Ika Ika Musume: Ill get xerneas set out of the way straight away, its gonna be power herb geomancy, moonblast, focus blast + 1
[13:24] #Yellow Paint: makes sense
[13:24] #Yellow Paint: I'd assume a big issue is zac?
[13:24] 1_TrickPhony: 100%
[13:25] @Ika Ika Musume: yea it is
[13:25] @Ika Ika Musume: Im just getting a spread
[13:26] @Ika Ika Musume: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:26] @Ika Ika Musume: the ev spread is to live one zacian-c behemoth blade under dual screens
[13:26] @Ika Ika Musume: the speed outspeeds dracovish
[13:27] @Ika Ika Musume: the rest is in Special attack, I guess it could be distributed better but its an 11n-1 number
[13:27] @Ika Ika Musume: ie the special attack jumps up by 2 at that number
[13:27] @Ika Ika Musume: when you put 4evs in it
[13:27] @Ika Ika Musume: instead of 1
[13:27] @Ika Ika Musume: so first thing we will need is a screener
[13:28] @Ika Ika Musume: there are two
[13:28] @Ika Ika Musume: Klefki and Grimmsnarl
[13:28] #Yellow Paint: is the difference just what they resist?
[13:28] %AM: what about eleki?
[13:28] %AM: i like grimmsnarl more anyways
[13:28] @Ika Ika Musume: I guess you could run regieleki too
[13:28] @Ika Ika Musume: you really want prankster generally
[13:29] 1_TrickPhony: you could but things like scarf ace still outspeed
[13:29] @Ika Ika Musume: for example if the opponent leads zacian-c
[13:29] %AM: scarf ace
[13:29] %AM: like cinderace :^
[13:29] %AM: bss wild
[13:29] 1_TrickPhony: ya
[13:29] @Ika Ika Musume: its an arms race
[13:29] 1_TrickPhony: i mean we dont need to run 6x boots in our format haha
[13:29] #Yellow Paint: hey ou used scarf gren for ages
[13:29] %AM: true
[13:30] @Ika Ika Musume: some people start running scarfers and its like, ok Ill just run a faster scarfer to beat your scarfer
[13:30] %AM: ok i added grimm
[13:30] #Yellow Paint: xern grimm
[13:30] #Yellow Paint: so screens done
[13:30] 1_TrickPhony: ace is like uncomfortably fast and makes lead MU when you have scarf very annoying
[13:30] #Yellow Paint: other moves are taunt and twave?
[13:30] 1_TrickPhony: scarf ogre, darm, urshis, dont have a free ride then
[13:31] #Yellow Paint: or something else
[13:31] 1_TrickPhony: generally taunt OR twave, and spirit break
[13:31] 1_TrickPhony: you can run both but risky
[13:31] %AM: i would keep spirit break
[13:31] %AM: helps xern a bit too
[13:31] @Ika Ika Musume: you want 252 hp, 204 def, 52 spdef
[13:31] @Ika Ika Musume: impish nature
[13:31] @Ika Ika Musume: this allows you to live a behemoth blade from zacian-c after screens
[13:32] @Ika Ika Musume: you will see a theme with this team, you need to be hyper aware
[13:32] @Ika Ika Musume: of what your restricted mon
[13:32] @Ika Ika Musume: loses to
[13:32] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:32] @Ika Ika Musume: especially if it is zacian-c, calyrex-s, eternatus or kyogre
[13:33] 1_TrickPhony: yup
[13:33] %AM: ok we need team members to supplement check other restricted perhaps supplemented with screens
[13:33] 1_TrickPhony: and since we arent still nearly at the answer to zacian yet
[13:33] @Ika Ika Musume: so what we will need
[13:33] 1_TrickPhony: I would like to suggest volcarona
[13:33] %AM: since we're already dedicate to offense pool will be much smaller
[13:33] #Yellow Paint: volcarona sounds nice
[13:33] @Ika Ika Musume: is a pokemon that can beat zacian under screens
[13:33] @Ika Ika Musume: volc is fine
[13:33] #Yellow Paint: also a second wincon right
[13:34] 1_TrickPhony: yeah, to keep it as simple as possible for selection
[13:34] @Ika Ika Musume: you always want flame body on volc even if you are running bug move for hax chance
[13:35] %AM: got it
[13:35] %AM: spread/moves?
[13:35] @Ika Ika Musume: I am thinking quiver dance, flamethrower, giga drain, psychic
[13:35] @Ika Ika Musume: psychic here is for toxapex
[13:35] %AM: do you ever need bug move for anything?
[13:35] %AM: in this format?
[13:36] @Ika Ika Musume: its not that useful, youd only use it for like maybe hitting ttar
[13:36] @Ika Ika Musume: but we have a xerneas
[13:36] @Ika Ika Musume: ttar isnt coming to battle
[13:36] %AM: okie dokie
[13:36] 1_TrickPhony: nope, especially with swarm not having enablers anymore like z-bug move. Bug has always had crappy coverage
[13:36] #Yellow Paint: giga sounds better
[13:36] #Yellow Paint: hits ogre and ttar anyways
[13:37] %AM: excellent
[13:37] %AM: is there a specific spread
[13:37] %AM: and item
[13:37] %AM: Idk the defensive benchmarks of anything lol
[13:37] 1_TrickPhony: item might depend on what we use for xern, for example, if xern isnt sub, lum berry can be helpful
[13:37] 1_TrickPhony: we can get a spread now tho
[13:37] @Ika Ika Musume: boots, sitrus, life orb, lum
[13:38] 1_TrickPhony: boots helpful as well because we dont have taunt grim
[13:38] @Ika Ika Musume: I think max max is fine
[13:38] 1_TrickPhony: so if they lead defensive lando which is common, we have to respect it
[13:38] @Ika Ika Musume: for now
[13:38] %AM: I like boots here
[13:39] @Ika Ika Musume: there are some bulkier spreads if need be, but I think just timid max is ok
[13:39] %AM: word
[13:39] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:39] %AM: was thinking sub for xern for ditto matchups on that last slot but we can figure it out later
[13:39] @Ika Ika Musume: we'll see later if we want to use something anti-status and then a bulkier spread will come in
[13:39] %AM: sounds good
[13:40] %AM: something for ogre?
[13:41] @Ika Ika Musume: in terms of switching in, our probably main thing will be to screen and geo with xerneas, but if we want to actually have a switch in
[13:41] @Ika Ika Musume: the main ones would be rillaboom and dracovish
[13:42] #Yellow Paint: maybe vish just for varietys' sake?
[13:42] @Ika Ika Musume: yea we can dracovish here
[13:42] #Yellow Paint: also it beats fires
[13:42] 1_TrickPhony: vish is really sold
[13:42] 1_TrickPhony: absolutely nukes slower kyogres
[13:42] %AM: !code
Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
[13:42] %AM: is it this?
[13:42] %AM: I just pulled this from one of the other teams you showed us
[13:42] %AM: er
[13:43] %AM: should be strong jaw
[13:43] 1_TrickPhony: check this calc out i learned literally yesterday: 252 Atk Choice Band Strong Jaw Dracovish Fishious Rend (Doubled) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kyogre in Rain: 208-246 (118.8 - 140.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO (100.00% after accuracy)
[13:43] #Yellow Paint: I think non sand rush is scarfed?
[13:43] #Yellow Paint: or no
[13:43] @Ika Ika Musume: both can be band
[13:43] @Ika Ika Musume: ideally youd have
[13:43] @Ika Ika Musume: hippo + dracovish
[13:43] %AM: oh yeah the dracovish was on a hippowdon team
[13:43] %AM: that makes sense
[13:44] #Yellow Paint: ah, that works regardless right
[13:44] @Ika Ika Musume: hippo doesnt really generally fit onto screens teams though you can run it as a secondary mod
[13:44] #Yellow Paint: ah
[13:44] %AM: yeah I just noticed where I pulled it from
[13:44] @Ika Ika Musume: dragon rush I think is a bit of a meme
[13:44] #Yellow Paint: still sounds good for zac?
[13:44] @Ika Ika Musume: but dracovish only really has 3 moves
[13:44] @Ika Ika Musume: well it only has 1, but it has two moves at least youd select
[13:44] #Yellow Paint: sleep talk gaming
[13:45] @Ika Ika Musume: yea we could hippo + dracovish
[13:45] %AM: not sure if im being on sand with xern/volcarona
[13:45] %AM: *big on
[13:45] %AM: but whatever you guys want let me know just adding to import
[13:45] 1_TrickPhony: we dont really need to enable vish much, if it has an opening it takes a mile
[13:46] 1_TrickPhony: and if not it just sits back on the selection screen
[13:46] @Ika Ika Musume: Its more of a case of, you choose who you bring to the battle based on team preview
[13:46] 1_TrickPhony: with these linear setup teams, its usually just 3/4 mons and the others are for very situational things
[13:46] @Ika Ika Musume: 90% of the time you are bringing xerneas and grimmsnarl
[13:46] %AM: word
[13:46] @Ika Ika Musume: its more for that 10% of the time when you know you are gonna lose if you bring that
[13:46] %AM: !code
Hippowdon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
[13:46] @Ika Ika Musume: then perhaps you go hippo dracovish xerneas
[13:47] @Ika Ika Musume: it gives another dimension your opponent has to think about in team preview
[13:47] %AM: so you want to keep sand rush on draco then?
[13:47] @Ika Ika Musume: yea
[13:47] %AM: sounds good
[13:47] @Ika Ika Musume: that hippo spread is fine
[13:47] %AM: we need a last slot then I can code and finalize everything
[13:48] %AM: since Xern needs an extra move
[13:48] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:48] %AM: it should be sand rush
[13:48] @Ika Ika Musume: sand rush vish also can generally just be faster than stuff like calyrex-s as well
[13:48] @Ika Ika Musume: its just generally a good mon for these things
[13:49] %AM: maybe something additional caly? idk what we need to cover on last slot
[13:49] @Ika Ika Musume: let me have a look
[13:49] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:50] @Ika Ika Musume: So yea the last will probably be a very situational pick
[13:50] @Ika Ika Musume: a good general pokemon to put there
[13:50] @Ika Ika Musume: is sash ditto
[13:51] @Ika Ika Musume: again you do have to manage around the sand, but you dont have to bring hippo at the same time as ditto
[13:51] %AM: is there any merit to scarf?
[13:52] @Ika Ika Musume: scarf is fine but switching up moves is nice
[13:52] @Ika Ika Musume: also the main reason isnt even for it to neccessarily be brought to battle
[13:52] @Ika Ika Musume: its to discourage zacian-c from clicking swords dance
[13:52] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:52] @Ika Ika Musume: and opposing xerneas
[13:52] @Ika Ika Musume: from just setting up out of control in the mirror
[13:53] 1_TrickPhony: or ndm
[13:53] @Ika Ika Musume: any rampant setup sweeper
[13:53] %AM: idk why it put 30 atk evs lol
[13:53] 1_TrickPhony: that your core cant deal with well yeah
[13:53] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:54] @Ika Ika Musume: yea the EVs asides from the HP on ditto and minus speed are so niche tehy dont matter
[13:54] @Ika Ika Musume: tho there are debates for sassy and even adamant for the ditto vs ditto struggle war
[13:54] @Ika Ika Musume: very important things
[13:54] @Ika Ika Musume: I mean brave lol
[13:54] %AM: yeah I put for relaxed for that
[13:54] @Ika Ika Musume: yea you want transformation activation to go off as late as possible
[13:54] %AM: what do you want for last move on xern?
[13:55] @Ika Ika Musume: so we have a few options
[13:55] @Ika Ika Musume: draining kiss, sub, tbolt and psyshock
[13:55] 1_TrickPhony: I think sub just cause of lack of status avoidance so far
[13:55] %AM: I like sub
[13:55] 1_TrickPhony: in fact, if someone leads hippo/pert, we just get yawn cycled to hell
[13:56] %AM: yeah
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: we could replace twave on grimm
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: for taunt
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: in fact I think taunt overall is better
[13:56] %AM: I put twave there for matchup against faster stuff
[13:56] 1_TrickPhony: oh another option we could do
[13:56] 1_TrickPhony: if we scrap ditto
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: xerneas at +2 is faster than everything as is vish in sand
[13:56] #Yellow Paint: looks good to me
[13:56] 1_TrickPhony: is twave thundy-i
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: we could run thund-i
[13:56] @Ika Ika Musume: double prankster
[13:57] #Yellow Paint: isn't grimm better role compression?
[13:57] 1_TrickPhony: i know greil likes that a lot
[13:57] %AM: !code
Thundurus (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
[13:57] %AM: is it this?
[13:57] @Ika Ika Musume: oh the sludge bomb is not needed on this team since we have volc, youd run
[13:58] 1_TrickPhony: it was just food for thought though, I think we just slap sub on xern
[13:58] 1_TrickPhony: and keep ditto
[13:58] 1_TrickPhony: dont overcomplicate it
[13:58] %AM: let's do that for now
[13:58] @Ika Ika Musume: yea I think thats fine
[13:58] 1_TrickPhony: or lum on volc, to really screw over yawn, and go coverage on xern
[13:58] %AM: !code
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
Level: 50
[13:58] 1_TrickPhony: either or
[13:59] @Ika Ika Musume: I think that leaves us too weak to pex
[13:59] @Ika Ika Musume: cause there is potential for like qd + resto chesto or qd lum
[13:59] %AM: https://pokepast.es/9b3be1726127af16
[13:59] @Ika Ika Musume: but as the team stands cannot be done, youd need at least psyshock on xerneas and very careful positioning in stall matchup
[14:00] %AM: just need to finalize
[14:00] %AM: and think we'll be good thanks ika and 1tp
[14:00] +Coolcodename: Rest volc damn
[14:00] %AM: ccn I already did it dont try it in ou it sucks
[14:00] +Coolcodename: lmao
[14:00] @Ika Ika Musume: under screens with lots of boosts you can do many a thing, in OU where everything actually has checks I do imagine it would suck
[14:00] @Ika Ika Musume: its not the most common set
[14:01] %AM: Ika Ika Musume paste look fine
[14:01] +Galarian Birds OU: Free Jungle Healing Volc
[14:01] +Coolcodename: Yea rest volc sucks in ou prolly just roost is better lol
[14:01] @Ika Ika Musume: looks alright to me
[14:01] 1_TrickPhony: alright I have to go now, good luck with the rest of the session everyone!
[14:01] %AM: okay I think we're good
[14:01] 1_TrickPhony: was fun to participate again :)
[14:01] %AM: that should wrap it up Yellow Paint
[14:01] %AM: tyvm 1_TrickPhony
[14:01] @Ika Ika Musume: yup that sounds good
[14:02] @Ika Ika Musume: thanks 1_TrickPhony
[14:02] 1_TrickPhony: oh was that it?
[14:02] %AM: if you got any question feel free to ask
[14:02] 1_TrickPhony: perfect
Moderated chat was disabled!
Anyone may talk now.
[14:02] (AM set modchat to off)
[14:02] @Ika Ika Musume: We're just gonna do a tour

 

[SecretT]

Pokepastes and rental codes for some of the top teams from the September ladder (season 22), based on Pokemoem

I wasn't sure if it's better to post it here or in the Top Rated Singles Teams (aka English-translated Nouthuca database) thread?

Let me know if you notice any mistakes

Team info

5) https://shimoken0128.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/112336
0000 0005 N066 35
https://pokepast.es/00185442db34baa4
Eternatus, Tyranitar, Celesteela, Aegislash, Rotom-Wash, Rillaboom

10) http://aimaru4218.livedoor.blog/archives/27374695.html
0000 0005 L18C MH
https://pokepast.es/893f1a25d603a231
Eternatus, Celesteela, Quagsire, Tyranitar, Tapu Lele, Pheromosa

13) https://koharubipoke.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/191751
0000 0008 D173 8W
https://pokepast.es/ef688b8f41251ae7
Ho-Oh, Tapu Bulu, Toxapex, Quagsire, Ditto, Slowking-Galar

15) https://chibenpoke.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/124634
0000 0004 1619 5M
https://pokepast.es/2251888a541de855
Calyrex-Shadow, Mienshao, Skarmory, Heliolisk, Garchomp, Clefable

29) https://mushikorori.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/120108
0000 0004 LPB3 R4
https://pokepast.es/7c219191a37e7a3e
Zacian-Crowned, Hippowdon, Zapdos, Dracovish, Chandelure, Slowking-Galar

30) https://mega-salamance.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/115002
0000 0005 D5GG TK
https://pokepast.es/72f90acc48759b62
Yveltal, Garchomp, Toxapex, Heatran, Ditto, Shedinja

39) https://csunny.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/02/000000
0000 0005 6B0Y 7T
https://pokepast.es/8c043e38213397cd
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Tapu Fini, Landorus-I, Moltres-Galar, Dragonite, Volcarona

63) https://hipoke.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/152833
0000 0000 MKMH DF
https://pokepast.es/412325c87eeef208
Kyogre, Tapu Fini, Urshifu, Hippowdon, Ditto, Scizor

69) https://ki-tashika.hatenablog.com/entry/2021/10/01/184323
0000 0008 74PX XG
https://pokepast.es/62a508c0ef557142
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Ninetales-Alola, Thundurus-I, Volcarona, Landorus, Ditto

77) mawile-nagi
0000 0006 V4XY LY
https://pokepast.es/5a235c9880f3fba6
Xerneas, Zapdos, Landorus, Urshifu, Pheromosa, Toxapex

 

[Kiby]

Hello! My friend is hosting a friendly competition for Series 11. ;)

If you want to try Series 11 before the season starts, you can participate.

The competition starts at 11 pm on October 22 (EST). ;$

The code: 18WPG9HC

 

[DragonWhale]

I haven't posted here in a while but the quality of this match I will be talking about was so high that it was a waste not to showcase it to the English community.

For those of you who want to watch the match yourselves even in Japanese, you can see it here (team preview starts around 50 minutes in):

Preface:

The match is part of a tournament set up by the Japanese singles community called "Pokeleague", where the top 4 players of the previous season face off against the 4 strongest players of all time known as the "Elite Four". The other matches of the video are the three other matches between the challengers and the Elite Four. The game I want to breakdown is the third match between Elite Four member and past season champion "Kuroko" and past season runner-up and challenger "Ito".

Kuroko is the only person to have 5 seasonal championships in this generation and also the only person to get the top 2 finish in a single season in season 16, pretty much unanimously solidifying his position as the strongest singles player in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Kuroko goes over his thought process in this match in a youtube video here, which provided a lot of additional insights for this post. Ito started this generation rather recently but was a top player in the previous generaion, and that skill clearly transferred over well when they got the second place finish last season. Before the tournament, Kuroko has stated publicly on Twitter that the two faced off against each other at the final hour of the season and Kuroko haxed Ito to overcome a difficult matchup, quite possibly costing Ito the championship. Therefore, the pairing for the tournament ended up becoming a revenge match of the highest caliber.

Team preview: Kuroko ( ) vs Ito ( )

As stated above, both players have already faced off against each other during the final day, so they were already aware of each others' playstyles. In fact, both of them decided to use what they were familiar with and only made minor modifications to the team that they used during the season. Ito swapped mixed Dragapult over Porygon2 to improve the Zacian-Gastrodon-Skarmory matchup (likely what Kuroko was using during the season, it is currently not publicly available) and Kuroko likely switched out Skarmory for specs Zapdos after he got really lucky to win against Ito's NecrozmaDM-UrshifuRS-TapuFini during the season game.

Kuroko got the upper hand in terms of adjustments with Zapdos, as Zacian-Gastrodon-Zapdos is still an extremely effective and popular core on par with Zacian-Gastrodon-Skarmory, and he avoided Ito's counterteam attempt by not having Skarmory. NecrozmaDM-UrshifuRS-TapuFini was no longer an option for Ito with Zapdos, and losing P2 made the team incredibly weak to Calyrex-Shadow. This was only a worthwhile risk because players like Kuroko are known to not really like Calyrex-Shadow due to its coinflip nature, so the likelihood of facing it was very low.

The game:

vs

Kuroko leads off with Zapdos against Ito's NecrozmaDM. Zapdos has the upper hand here, so specs Volt Switch becomes a safe option as it lets Kuroko maintain momentum, or see if Ito brought Garchomp in the back in which case Gastrodon can safely switch in the following turn and regain momentum with Yawn. Necrozma stays in and takes the Volt Switch as Gastrodon comes in, and Morning Suns the damage away, which was the safest option from the Necrozma side.

() vs

Necrozma has no reason to stay in against Gastrodon and waste Morning Sun PP and Yawn positioning, so it switches out into Urshifu. Kuroko knows this and expects either Urshifu or Tapu Fini to come in, and doubles out into Zapdos. At this point as a spectator you think about the amount of damage Volt Switch did to Necrozma, the fact that Garchomp didn't come in on turn 1, and the Zapdos getting a free turn means that specs Thunderbolt is going to be devastating. Urshifu is also likely not sash because otherwise it wouldn't be hard switching into Gastrodon, so Ito has no choice but to let something take a specs thunderbolt.

() vs ()

Urshifu is too important to sack when it's necessary to kill Gastrodon, so Ito switches into Dragapult. Unfortunately for Ito, due to the Dragapult being mixed with a -SpDef nature, it takes over half from Thunderbolt. Basically, Ito can no longer afford to let Zapdos have a free turn. At this point, Kuroko saw all three of Ito's Pokemon and doesn't need to take unnecessary damage on Zapdos and put it in range of Urshifu's Aqua Jet, so Kuroko plays it safe and switches into Zacian which isn't as important to keep healthy and has the potential to come in for free against a Dragon Darts. Ito has fallen very far behind in the past two turns and so makes a hard prediction, accurately sniping the Zacian with a Fire Blast and dealing over half its health.

( ) 40% vs 35% ( )

While the Fire Blast was a correct read, Ito was still nowhere close to even with Kuroko at this point. Kuroko keeps making the safe play and doubles into Gastrodon, as the Dragapult will either switch out into Necrozma or stay in and click Fire Blast again hoping Zacian was slower. Ito makes the safe play and goes into Rocky Helmet Necrozma, but is again faced with a bad matchup in front of Gastrodon.

( 40% ) vs ( 35%)

Kuroko is still ahead and continues to apply pressure by making the safest and best option: Yawn. While Earth Power hits everything on Ito's side, it allows Urshifu to come in and threaten Kuroko with a banded attack. Just like Ito has no switchins to the specs Zapdos, Kuroko does not have a safe switchin against the banded Urshifu with Zacian below half health. As Kuroko expected, Ito switches in Urshifu hoping Kuroko will leave any opening for a comeback to be possible. Urshifu is drowsy and Gastrodon is bulky enough to live a Close Combat. Ito's struggle continues.

( 40% ) vs YWN ( 35%)

At this point Earth Power becomes the best play for Kuroko, and of course that what he does. Ito cannot afford to let Urshifu go to sleep before it takes out Gastrodon so he has to switch to Necrozma. The Earth Power chip is enough to put Necrozma in range of +2 Zacian's Fire Fang, so Kuroko's win conditions continue to increase as Ito is forced to keep up. On the other hand, Ito's win condition requires Urshifu to knock out Gastrodon, but if he ever succeeds then Trick Room Necrozma will be able to break through Zacian and Zapdos. Of course, it is imperative that Necrozma has enough health to set TR in the first place, so after Earth Power chip Necrozma is forced to manage its HP with Morning Sun.

( 40% ) vs 65% ( 35%)

Kuroko knows about Necrozma's Trick Room and knows about the need to keep Necrozma healthy, so he continues to click Earth Power to keep Necrozma in range of +2 Fire Fang and Thunderbolt. On top of all of that, Morning Sun only has 8 PP, meaning Gastrodon has enough Earth Powers to overcome Necrozma by itself. Kuroko gets lucky with the Earth Power critical special defense drop combo, pushing Ito further back in the game.

After the special defense drop, Ito has the possible option to go into Urshifu on the Earth Power to start forcing Kuroko's hand, which when flipped around gives Kuroko the thought of predicting this and going for Yawn. Ito therefore stays in another turn predicting a Yawn to come out, which would've let Necrozma regain enough health to potentially set up Trick Room late game. However, Kuroko still had a massive advantage so he decided to keep playing safe and continued to click Earth Power, even though in the video he says he was really tempted to click Yawn. If you were wondering why Necrozma Morning Sun'd that turn when it takes more than half from Earth Power at -1, that's why.

The following turn, Ito finally gives up trying to regain health on Necrozma and switches in Urshifu on Earth Power, predicting Kuroko to go the safe route and keep clicking Earth Power.

( 45% ) vs 65% ( 40% 35%)

Ito is really running out of options, as the Urshifu faces the full health Gastrodon yet again. As mentioned above, Kuroko has limited switchins against the banded Urshifu, but makes the right call going to Zapdos on the Close Combat, seeing as Ice Punch and Surging Strikes was way too risky to use against the Gastrodon. The tables turn and now Ito is forced to choose a Pokemon to sack. It wasn't all for nothing, however, as Close Combat did 70% to the Zapdos and put it in Aqua Jet range, which Urshifu can threaten after sacking the next Pokemon and coming back in.

Unsurprisingly, Ito sacks the Dragapult the next turn and sends Urshifu back in to threaten the Zapdos with Aqua Jet.

( 45% ) 30% vs 65% ( 40% FNT)

Finally the first Pokemon is taken down, and given how the match has been going it was no surprise Kuroko was ahead. The key point of this turn from Kuroko's perspective was whether Urshifu was going to Aqua Jet to take Zapdos out or Close Combat predicting the switch, to which he makes the safe route and sacks Zacian. Losing Zapdos to Aqua Jet will put Kuroko in a tough position, as Necrozma is not in range of Earth Power and can come in on Gastrodon next turn and regain health provided no special defense drops. Funnily enough, the Fire Blast damage on Zacian from several turns ago also impacted this turn, since if the Zacian was healthy then the guaranteed win was to sack Zapdos on the Aqua Jet and Swords Dance with Zacian the following turn. The lack of HP on Zacian meant that Zacian cannot SD in front of Urshifu, and removed that win condition. Going Gastrodon on a Close Combat is also bad, as the Gastrodon is forced to Recover and Necrozma can come in next turn and heal back up out of range of Zacian and Zapdos, and Gastrodon is necessary to stop Necrozma from sweeping under Trick Room. Zacian sack covers both options because if Urshifu CCs or Jets, Zapdos or Gastrodon respectively comes back in and takes out one of Urshifu or Necrozma, which cannot beat both Zapdos and Gastrodon by itself.

This is when Ito makes the play of the game. Ito knew Zacian guarantees the win against both Urshifu options, and knew Kuroko would therefore make that play, so Ito goes for neither of the above and dobules into Necrozma on the Zacian. This is a fantastic play and the fact that Ito recognized this option is extremely impressive.

( 30%) 45% vs 40% ( 65% FNT)

Up until now, Kuroko was ahead the entire game, but that one play turned everything around. The main significance of the Necrozma play on the Zacian is that Zacian cannot kill Necrozma this turn, letting Ito heal Necrozma up again and nullifying all the progress Kuroko made against the Necrozma with the Gastrodon. Kuroko is forced to switch out into Gastrodon as Necrozma regains HP with Morning Sun.

( 40% 30%) vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

Ito finally has breathing room and isn't playing every turn with a noose around their neck. Here they have the option to switch in Urshifu on a Earth Power to take something out with banded Close Combat, or chip away at the Gastrodon to put it in range of Urshifu CC and therefore push Kuroko to take a turn healing Gastrodon. Ito goes with the latter, clicking Photon Geyser as it is able to put Gastrodon in Close Combat range, kill Zapdos, and put Zacian into one Aqua Jet range, which further increases the number of Ito's win conditions. From Kuroko's perspective, giving Urshifu a turn to fire a banded CC was the worst case scenario, so Gastrodon goes for the Yawn. Yawn prevents the Urshifu from attacking if it does come in this turn, and if Necrozma stays in Kuroko still has a lot of options to put the game back in his favor. Necrozma becomes drowsy.

( 40% 30%) 75% vs 90% YWN ( 65% FNT)

Necrozma is too important for Ito to let fall asleep, so it was a simple read from Kuroko to switch into Zapdos on the Urshifu switch. If for whatever reason Necrozma clicks Photon again and takes out Zapdos, Zacian can come in and click SD and win as it was out of range of two Rocky Helmet damage and Urshifu cannot beat both Zacian and Gastrodon. Kuroko didn't Yawn stall Leftovers recovery so that Gastrodon was out of Close Combat, since if the Urshifu decided to go for the Close Combat to sack Urshifu to sleep, Gastrodon is removed and Necrozma has enough HP to set up Trick Room and win from there, making it a losing play. Kuroko therefore goes for the Zapdos.

( 45% 75%) 30% vs 65% ( 90% FNT)

We are back to the same situation as 4 turns ago, except Ito has one less sack with Dragapult gone but more health on Necrozma. Kuroko goes for the same play as before with the Zacian switch, but the main difference is that Zacian is no longer threatening the Necrozma because of the extra health. In the previous situation, if the Zacian switched into Urshifu, it had the option to go for SD on the incoming Helmet Necrozma to go for the double down with +2 Fire Fang or sack to a second Jet to bring in the Gastrodon and still be in the winning position. Now, Zacian switching in doesn't threaten the Necrozma coming in after, but Kuroko doesn't have a choice as sacking Zapdos or Gastrodon would put him in an even worse position.

Ito finally has the option to go for the safer plays having the upper hand, and therefore doesn't need to risk the possibility of Zapdos staying in predicting a Close Combat or the same insane double into Necrozma like the last situation. As mentioned above, even if Zacian comes in on Aqua Jet Ito still has a lot of options, and risking Gastrodon over Zacian makes no sense. So Urshifu goes for the Aqua Jet on the Zacian.

( 30% 75%) 15% vs 65% ( 90% FNT)

As mentioned above, Necrozma being healthy makes all the difference. Kuroko is no longer able to go for the SD to win in this position, whereas he could have done so if the Urshifu Aqua Jetted previously or if the Dragapult didn't go for Fire Blast. Kuroko has no reason to stay in with Zacian, seeing as Ito can quite literally only go for Aqua Jet or switch to Necrozma, and Gastrodon prefectly covers both options. Ito therefore has no reason to Aqua Jet, as it becomes a losing play. This is all according to Kuroko's plan, as it lets Gastrodon gain 2 turns of Leftovers without risking losing it to a drowsy Urshifu. In addition, Kuroko keeps the Zacian sack so that he can go for the same Zacian play if the Zapdos vs Urshifu matchup comes up later in the game.

( 15% 30%) 80% vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

While Kuroko lost a ton of progress with the Necrozma heal, he's also making the best plays possible to prevent Ito's Urshifu from making too much progress as well. Zacian is no longer able to take an Aqua Jet but Gastrodon was able to gain 2 turns of Leftovers recovery without risking the Urshifu, effectively moving it closer out of Close Combat range. Necrozma doesn't have a lot to do against the Gastrodon and switches out, and Kuroko makes sure the Urshifu cannot come in for free and clicks Yawn.

( 15% 30%) 85% vs 65% YWN ( 90% FNT)

Like previous times, Urshifu does have the option to trade itself to sleep in exchange of taking out Gastrodon, and at 80% Close Combat was a damage roll. Kuroko could not risk losing Gastrodon because of the Trick Room win condition, and switches out to Zacian. Ito likewise couldn't afford to risk sleeping Urshifu on something other than Gastrodon taking the Close Combat. Usually when you successfully Yawn an opponent, you don't switch out and take advantage of forcing the opponent to switch, especially when the opponent's switchin (Necrozma) has a good matchup against yours (Zacian). Therefore, normally you'll see Gastrodon stay in and Earth Power in this situation, but Kuroko knowing about Trick Room and the importance of Gastrodon and Ito knowing that Kuroko is aware and will keep Gastrodon safe lead to this result; mindgames only made possible with the acknowledgement of each other's high level of play.

( 85% 30%) 15% vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

Kuroko is in a difficult spot as Gastrodon wasn't able to get more leftovers recovery to safely switch into Necrozma's Photon Geyser this turn. From Kuroko's perspective, Ito either doubles predicting the Gastrodon or stays in to chip/KO something with Photon Geyser, meaning his best play was to either Fire Fang chip the Necrozma or Play Rough predicting the Urshifu. He goes for the former and Necrozma stays in to Photon Geyser, putting Necrozma at 60% and Zacian down to Rocky Helmet. Obviously in hindsight Morning Sun was the best outcome play for Ito, but it is way too passive considering the possibility of Gastrodon coming in and Necrozma was still in a good spot regardless. Kuroko sends out Zapdos.

( 85% FNT) 30% vs 60% ( 65% FNT)

Kuroko is facing an uphill battle as it doesn't seem like Necrozma is in Thunderbolt range. Zapdos also has Heat Wave, but given the negligible difference in power and the chance to miss, Thunderbolt would be the option if Kuroko decides to take Necrozma out. The other option was to Volt Switch, but in the event Necrozma uses Morning Sun, it will make it even more difficult for Kuroko to win the game. Kuroko predicts Ito to go for the recovery option and goes for Thunderbolt, barely missing out on the KO, and gets retaliated with a Photon Geyser. Ito predicted correctly, leaving only Gastrodon on Kuroko's side.

( FNT FNT) 85% vs 5% ( 65% FNT)

At this point, Gastrodon has no way of defeating Urshifu, leaving Kuroko with only two win conditions:
- If the Gastrodon takes out Necrozma on the final turn of the timer while being healthier than the Urshifu, Kuroko can win the game on timer.
- If the Gastrodon puts Necrozma to sleep, heals out of Close Combat range, knocks Necrozma out, and knocks Urshifu out with a crit after surviving CC

However, both win conditions are easily preventable by switching to Urshifu at any turn Gastrodon tries to Recover, and obviously a top player like Ito would do just that. Ito pokes the Gastrodon with Photon Geyser hoping Kuroko gave up and attacked the Necrozma, therefore letting Urshifu Close Combat and seal the game the following turn, but Kuroko decides to go for the win conditions, clicking Recover.

( FNT FNT) vs 5% ( 65% FNT)

Gastrodon is at full health so it doesn't have to Recover this turn, and clicks Yawn in case Urshifu comes in. Necrozma doesn't need to switch until Gastrodon is forced to Recover, so it stays in to Photon Geyser. Ito doesn't leave any openings for Kuroko to break through.

Gastrodon has to Recover and Urshifu comes in, sealing the game, as Urshifu can Close Combat Gastrodon into Photon Geyser range even if Earth Power manages to take out Urshifu. Kuroko forfeits.

Thoughts:

I mean obviously I thought this game was amazing, otherwise I wouldn't have spent so much time writing a turn by turn analysis. The incredible skill level of Kuroko pretty much making no mistakes throughout the game, pushing the opponent close to a checkmate position from multiple angles, while simultaneously making sure that Trick Room reverse sweep wasn't possible from Ito at every turn, is simply remarkable. If Kuroko didn't know about Trick Room and sacked Gastrodon earlier, the game wouldn't have been as close as it was. Ito's ability to weigh risk vs safe options against such odds, going through every difficult turn imposed by the strongest player by understanding how the opponent plays, making every turn count and eventually coming out on top is nothing short of amazing. The challenger did everything possible to overcome a tremendous wall. GG.

 

[Photon]

I haven't posted here in a while but the quality of this match I will be talking about was so high that it was a waste not to showcase it to the English community.

For those of you who want to watch the match yourselves even in Japanese, you can see it here (team preview starts around 50 minutes in):

Preface:

The match is part of a tournament set up by the Japanese singles community called "Pokeleague", where the top 4 players of the previous season face off against the 4 strongest players of all time known as the "Elite Four". The other matches of the video are the three other matches between the challengers and the Elite Four. The game I want to breakdown is the third match between Elite Four member and past season champion "Kuroko" and past season runner-up and challenger "Ito".

Kuroko is the only person to have 5 seasonal championships in this generation and also the only person to get the top 2 finish in a single season in season 16, pretty much unanimously solidifying his position as the strongest singles player in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Kuroko goes over his thought process in this match in a youtube video here, which provided a lot of additional insights for this post. Ito started this generation rather recently but was a top player in the previous generaion, and that skill clearly transferred over well when they got the second place finish last season. Before the tournament, Kuroko has stated publicly on Twitter that the two faced off against each other at the final hour of the season and Kuroko haxed Ito to overcome a difficult matchup, quite possibly costing Ito the championship. Therefore, the pairing for the tournament ended up becoming a revenge match of the highest caliber.

Team preview: Kuroko ( ) vs Ito ( )

As stated above, both players have already faced off against each other during the final day, so they were already aware of each others' playstyles. In fact, both of them decided to use what they were familiar with and only made minor modifications to the team that they used during the season. Ito swapped mixed Dragapult over Porygon2 to improve the Zacian-Gastrodon-Skarmory matchup (likely what Kuroko was using during the season, it is currently not publicly available) and Kuroko likely switched out Skarmory for specs Zapdos after he got really lucky to win against Ito's NecrozmaDM-UrshifuRS-TapuFini during the season game.

Kuroko got the upper hand in terms of adjustments with Zapdos, as Zacian-Gastrodon-Zapdos is still an extremely effective and popular core on par with Zacian-Gastrodon-Skarmory, and he avoided Ito's counterteam attempt by not having Skarmory. NecrozmaDM-UrshifuRS-TapuFini was no longer an option for Ito with Zapdos, and losing P2 made the team incredibly weak to Calyrex-Shadow. This was only a worthwhile risk because players like Kuroko are known to not really like Calyrex-Shadow due to its coinflip nature, so the likelihood of facing it was very low.

The game:

vs

Kuroko leads off with Zapdos against Ito's NecrozmaDM. Zapdos has the upper hand here, so specs Volt Switch becomes a safe option as it lets Kuroko maintain momentum, or see if Ito brought Garchomp in the back in which case Gastrodon can safely switch in the following turn and regain momentum with Yawn. Necrozma stays in and takes the Volt Switch as Gastrodon comes in, and Morning Suns the damage away, which was the safest option from the Necrozma side.

() vs

Necrozma has no reason to stay in against Gastrodon and waste Morning Sun PP and Yawn positioning, so it switches out into Urshifu. Kuroko knows this and expects either Urshifu or Tapu Fini to come in, and doubles out into Zapdos. At this point as a spectator you think about the amount of damage Volt Switch did to Necrozma, the fact that Garchomp didn't come in on turn 1, and the Zapdos getting a free turn means that specs Thunderbolt is going to be devastating. Urshifu is also likely not sash because otherwise it wouldn't be hard switching into Gastrodon, so Ito has no choice but to let something take a specs thunderbolt.

() vs ()

Urshifu is too important to sack when it's necessary to kill Gastrodon, so Ito switches into Dragapult. Unfortunately for Ito, due to the Dragapult being mixed with a -SpDef nature, it takes over half from Thunderbolt. Basically, Ito can no longer afford to let Zapdos have a free turn. At this point, Kuroko saw all three of Ito's Pokemon and doesn't need to take unnecessary damage on Zapdos and put it in range of Urshifu's Aqua Jet, so Kuroko plays it safe and switches into Zacian which isn't as important to keep healthy and has the potential to come in for free against a Dragon Darts. Ito has fallen very far behind in the past two turns and so makes a hard prediction, accurately sniping the Zacian with a Fire Blast and dealing over half its health.

( ) 40% vs 35% ( )

While the Fire Blast was a correct read, Ito was still nowhere close to even with Kuroko at this point. Kuroko keeps making the safe play and doubles into Gastrodon, as the Dragapult will either switch out into Necrozma or stay in and click Fire Blast again hoping Zacian was slower. Ito makes the safe play and goes into Rocky Helmet Necrozma, but is again faced with a bad matchup in front of Gastrodon.

( 40% ) vs ( 35%)

Kuroko is still ahead and continues to apply pressure by making the safest and best option: Yawn. While Earth Power hits everything on Ito's side, it allows Urshifu to come in and threaten Kuroko with a banded attack. Just like Ito has no switchins to the specs Zapdos, Kuroko does not have a safe switchin against the banded Urshifu with Zacian below half health. As Kuroko expected, Ito switches in Urshifu hoping Kuroko will leave any opening for a comeback to be possible. Urshifu is drowsy and Gastrodon is bulky enough to live a Close Combat. Ito's struggle continues.

( 40% ) vs YWN ( 35%)

At this point Earth Power becomes the best play for Kuroko, and of course that what he does. Ito cannot afford to let Urshifu go to sleep before it takes out Gastrodon so he has to switch to Necrozma. The Earth Power chip is enough to put Necrozma in range of +2 Zacian's Fire Fang, so Kuroko's win conditions continue to increase as Ito is forced to keep up. On the other hand, Ito's win condition requires Urshifu to knock out Gastrodon, but if he ever succeeds then Trick Room Necrozma will be able to break through Zacian and Zapdos. Of course, it is imperative that Necrozma has enough health to set TR in the first place, so after Earth Power chip Necrozma is forced to manage its HP with Morning Sun.

( 40% ) vs 65% ( 35%)

Kuroko knows about Necrozma's Trick Room and knows about the need to keep Necrozma healthy, so he continues to click Earth Power to keep Necrozma in range of +2 Fire Fang and Thunderbolt. On top of all of that, Morning Sun only has 8 PP, meaning Gastrodon has enough Earth Powers to overcome Necrozma by itself. Kuroko gets lucky with the Earth Power critical special defense drop combo, pushing Ito further back in the game.

After the special defense drop, Ito has the possible option to go into Urshifu on the Earth Power to start forcing Kuroko's hand, which when flipped around gives Kuroko the thought of predicting this and going for Yawn. Ito therefore stays in another turn predicting a Yawn to come out, which would've let Necrozma regain enough health to potentially set up Trick Room late game. However, Kuroko still had a massive advantage so he decided to keep playing safe and continued to click Earth Power, even though in the video he says he was really tempted to click Yawn. If you were wondering why Necrozma Morning Sun'd that turn when it takes more than half from Earth Power at -1, that's why.

The following turn, Ito finally gives up trying to regain health on Necrozma and switches in Urshifu on Earth Power, predicting Kuroko to go the safe route and keep clicking Earth Power.

( 45% ) vs 65% ( 40% 35%)

Ito is really running out of options, as the Urshifu faces the full health Gastrodon yet again. As mentioned above, Kuroko has limited switchins against the banded Urshifu, but makes the right call going to Zapdos on the Close Combat, seeing as Ice Punch and Surging Strikes was way too risky to use against the Gastrodon. The tables turn and now Ito is forced to choose a Pokemon to sack. It wasn't all for nothing, however, as Close Combat did 70% to the Zapdos and put it in Aqua Jet range, which Urshifu can threaten after sacking the next Pokemon and coming back in.

Unsurprisingly, Ito sacks the Dragapult the next turn and sends Urshifu back in to threaten the Zapdos with Aqua Jet.

( 45% ) 30% vs 65% ( 40% FNT)

Finally the first Pokemon is taken down, and given how the match has been going it was no surprise Kuroko was ahead. The key point of this turn from Kuroko's perspective was whether Urshifu was going to Aqua Jet to take Zapdos out or Close Combat predicting the switch, to which he makes the safe route and sacks Zacian. Losing Zapdos to Aqua Jet will put Kuroko in a tough position, as Necrozma is not in range of Earth Power and can come in on Gastrodon next turn and regain health provided no special defense drops. Funnily enough, the Fire Blast damage on Zacian from several turns ago also impacted this turn, since if the Zacian was healthy then the guaranteed win was to sack Zapdos on the Aqua Jet and Swords Dance with Zacian the following turn. The lack of HP on Zacian meant that Zacian cannot SD in front of Urshifu, and removed that win condition. Going Gastrodon on a Close Combat is also bad, as the Gastrodon is forced to Recover and Necrozma can come in next turn and heal back up out of range of Zacian and Zapdos, and Gastrodon is necessary to stop Necrozma from sweeping under Trick Room. Zacian sack covers both options because if Urshifu CCs or Jets, Zapdos or Gastrodon respectively comes back in and takes out one of Urshifu or Necrozma, which cannot beat both Zapdos and Gastrodon by itself.

This is when Ito makes the play of the game. Ito knew Zacian guarantees the win against both Urshifu options, and knew Kuroko would therefore make that play, so Ito goes for neither of the above and dobules into Necrozma on the Zacian. This is a fantastic play and the fact that Ito recognized this option is extremely impressive.

( 30%) 45% vs 40% ( 65% FNT)

Up until now, Kuroko was ahead the entire game, but that one play turned everything around. The main significance of the Necrozma play on the Zacian is that Zacian cannot kill Necrozma this turn, letting Ito heal Necrozma up again and nullifying all the progress Kuroko made against the Necrozma with the Gastrodon. Kuroko is forced to switch out into Gastrodon as Necrozma regains HP with Morning Sun.

( 40% 30%) vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

Ito finally has breathing room and isn't playing every turn with a noose around their neck. Here they have the option to switch in Urshifu on a Earth Power to take something out with banded Close Combat, or chip away at the Gastrodon to put it in range of Urshifu CC and therefore push Kuroko to take a turn healing Gastrodon. Ito goes with the latter, clicking Photon Geyser as it is able to put Gastrodon in Close Combat range, kill Zapdos, and put Zacian into one Aqua Jet range, which further increases the number of Ito's win conditions. From Kuroko's perspective, giving Urshifu a turn to fire a banded CC was the worst case scenario, so Gastrodon goes for the Yawn. Yawn prevents the Urshifu from attacking if it does come in this turn, and if Necrozma stays in Kuroko still has a lot of options to put the game back in his favor. Necrozma becomes drowsy.

( 40% 30%) 75% vs 90% YWN ( 65% FNT)

Necrozma is too important for Ito to let fall asleep, so it was a simple read from Kuroko to switch into Zapdos on the Urshifu switch. If for whatever reason Necrozma clicks Photon again and takes out Zapdos, Zacian can come in and click SD and win as it was out of range of two Rocky Helmet damage and Urshifu cannot beat both Zacian and Gastrodon. Kuroko didn't Yawn stall Leftovers recovery so that Gastrodon was out of Close Combat, since if the Urshifu decided to go for the Close Combat to sack Urshifu to sleep, Gastrodon is removed and Necrozma has enough HP to set up Trick Room and win from there, making it a losing play. Kuroko therefore goes for the Zapdos.

( 45% 75%) 30% vs 65% ( 90% FNT)

We are back to the same situation as 4 turns ago, except Ito has one less sack with Dragapult gone but more health on Necrozma. Kuroko goes for the same play as before with the Zacian switch, but the main difference is that Zacian is no longer threatening the Necrozma because of the extra health. In the previous situation, if the Zacian switched into Urshifu, it had the option to go for SD on the incoming Helmet Necrozma to go for the double down with +2 Fire Fang or sack to a second Jet to bring in the Gastrodon and still be in the winning position. Now, Zacian switching in doesn't threaten the Necrozma coming in after, but Kuroko doesn't have a choice as sacking Zapdos or Gastrodon would put him in an even worse position.

Ito finally has the option to go for the safer plays having the upper hand, and therefore doesn't need to risk the possibility of Zapdos staying in predicting a Close Combat or the same insane double into Necrozma like the last situation. As mentioned above, even if Zacian comes in on Aqua Jet Ito still has a lot of options, and risking Gastrodon over Zacian makes no sense. So Urshifu goes for the Aqua Jet on the Zacian.

( 30% 75%) 15% vs 65% ( 90% FNT)

As mentioned above, Necrozma being healthy makes all the difference. Kuroko is no longer able to go for the SD to win in this position, whereas he could have done so if the Urshifu Aqua Jetted previously or if the Dragapult didn't go for Fire Blast. Kuroko has no reason to stay in with Zacian, seeing as Ito can quite literally only go for Aqua Jet or switch to Necrozma, and Gastrodon prefectly covers both options. Ito therefore has no reason to Aqua Jet, as it becomes a losing play. This is all according to Kuroko's plan, as it lets Gastrodon gain 2 turns of Leftovers without risking losing it to a drowsy Urshifu. In addition, Kuroko keeps the Zacian sack so that he can go for the same Zacian play if the Zapdos vs Urshifu matchup comes up later in the game.

( 15% 30%) 80% vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

While Kuroko lost a ton of progress with the Necrozma heal, he's also making the best plays possible to prevent Ito's Urshifu from making too much progress as well. Zacian is no longer able to take an Aqua Jet but Gastrodon was able to gain 2 turns of Leftovers recovery without risking the Urshifu, effectively moving it closer out of Close Combat range. Necrozma doesn't have a lot to do against the Gastrodon and switches out, and Kuroko makes sure the Urshifu cannot come in for free and clicks Yawn.

( 15% 30%) 85% vs 65% YWN ( 90% FNT)

Like previous times, Urshifu does have the option to trade itself to sleep in exchange of taking out Gastrodon, and at 80% Close Combat was a damage roll. Kuroko could not risk losing Gastrodon because of the Trick Room win condition, and switches out to Zacian. Ito likewise couldn't afford to risk sleeping Urshifu on something other than Gastrodon taking the Close Combat. Usually when you successfully Yawn an opponent, you don't switch out and take advantage of forcing the opponent to switch, especially when the opponent's switchin (Necrozma) has a good matchup against yours (Zacian). Therefore, normally you'll see Gastrodon stay in and Earth Power in this situation, but Kuroko knowing about Trick Room and the importance of Gastrodon and Ito knowing that Kuroko is aware and will keep Gastrodon safe lead to this result; mindgames only made possible with the acknowledgement of each other's high level of play.

( 85% 30%) 15% vs 90% ( 65% FNT)

Kuroko is in a difficult spot as Gastrodon wasn't able to get more leftovers recovery to safely switch into Necrozma's Photon Geyser this turn. From Kuroko's perspective, Ito either doubles predicting the Gastrodon or stays in to chip/KO something with Photon Geyser, meaning his best play was to either Fire Fang chip the Necrozma or Play Rough predicting the Urshifu. He goes for the former and Necrozma stays in to Photon Geyser, putting Necrozma at 60% and Zacian down to Rocky Helmet. Obviously in hindsight Morning Sun was the best outcome play for Ito, but it is way too passive considering the possibility of Gastrodon coming in and Necrozma was still in a good spot regardless. Kuroko sends out Zapdos.

( 85% FNT) 30% vs 60% ( 65% FNT)

Kuroko is facing an uphill battle as it doesn't seem like Necrozma is in Thunderbolt range. Zapdos also has Heat Wave, but given the negligible difference in power and the chance to miss, Thunderbolt would be the option if Kuroko decides to take Necrozma out. The other option was to Volt Switch, but in the event Necrozma uses Morning Sun, it will make it even more difficult for Kuroko to win the game. Kuroko predicts Ito to go for the recovery option and goes for Thunderbolt, barely missing out on the KO, and gets retaliated with a Photon Geyser. Ito predicted correctly, leaving only Gastrodon on Kuroko's side.

( FNT FNT) 85% vs 5% ( 65% FNT)

At this point, Gastrodon has no way of defeating Urshifu, leaving Kuroko with only two win conditions:
- If the Gastrodon takes out Necrozma on the final turn of the timer while being healthier than the Urshifu, Kuroko can win the game on timer.
- If the Gastrodon puts Necrozma to sleep, heals out of Close Combat range, knocks Necrozma out, and knocks Urshifu out with a crit after surviving CC

However, both win conditions are easily preventable by switching to Urshifu at any turn Gastrodon tries to Recover, and obviously a top player like Ito would do just that. Ito pokes the Gastrodon with Photon Geyser hoping Kuroko gave up and attacked the Necrozma, therefore letting Urshifu Close Combat and seal the game the following turn, but Kuroko decides to go for the win conditions, clicking Recover.

( FNT FNT) vs 5% ( 65% FNT)

Gastrodon is at full health so it doesn't have to Recover this turn, and clicks Yawn in case Urshifu comes in. Necrozma doesn't need to switch until Gastrodon is forced to Recover, so it stays in to Photon Geyser. Ito doesn't leave any openings for Kuroko to break through.

Gastrodon has to Recover and Urshifu comes in, sealing the game, as Urshifu can Close Combat Gastrodon into Photon Geyser range even if Earth Power manages to take out Urshifu. Kuroko forfeits.

Thoughts:

I mean obviously I thought this game was amazing, otherwise I wouldn't have spent so much time writing a turn by turn analysis. The incredible skill level of Kuroko pretty much making no mistakes throughout the game, pushing the opponent close to a checkmate position from multiple angles, while simultaneously making sure that Trick Room reverse sweep wasn't possible from Ito at every turn, is simply remarkable. If Kuroko didn't know about Trick Room and sacked Gastrodon earlier, the game wouldn't have been as close as it was. Ito's ability to weigh risk vs safe options against such odds, going through every difficult turn imposed by the strongest player by understanding how the opponent plays, making every turn count and eventually coming out on top is nothing short of amazing. The challenger did everything possible to overcome a tremendous wall. GG.

Really insightful writeup. Don't really have much else to say other than thank you for posting this... and that I've always thought it would be cool for there to be a real-life Elite Four competition. Cool to see that the idea has, in fact, been done.

 

[Ryuna]

https://pokemoem.com/samples

Introducing Pokémoem Competitive Sets!
Pokémoem has more than thousand BSS sample sets uploaded by Korean players. I updated "Advanced Filters" so that English players can easily find their favorite EV spreads and movesets. Please give it a try!

How to use

<Basic Filters>
Date range is mainly for filtering seasons/series. If you want to find sets uploaded from Series 8(Restricted series), try checking from 2021-02-01.
You can also search by Pokemon, Held item. Default sorting is by upload date, but you can also sort by 'Favorites'.

<Advanced Filters>
Filter by Pokemon Type, or Restricted and Non-restricted, Ability, Move.
You may also filter by Natures and Stats! So, for example, if you want to find a Zacian set that is Adamant and has 236 or more Atk EVs, just use the advanced filter!

Then you can find 13 Zacian sets by Korean players.

If you click one that has 7 Likes, a popup will appear.

If you find the set useful, hit the 'Copy Showdown Text' button and then you can instantly use it at PS!
Also most of the sets have descriptions written in Korean, so you might use some translator to get additional information.

 

[DerpySuX]

https://pokemoem.com/samples

Introducing Pokémoem Competitive Sets!
Pokémoem has more than thousand BSS sample sets uploaded by Korean players. I updated "Advanced Filters" so that English players can easily find their favorite EV spreads and movesets. Please give it a try!

How to use

View attachment 409096
<Basic Filters>
Date range is mainly for filtering seasons/series. If you want to find sets uploaded from Series 8(Restricted series), try checking from 2021-02-01.
You can also search by Pokemon, Held item. Default sorting is by upload date, but you can also sort by 'Favorites'.

<Advanced Filters>
Filter by Pokemon Type, or Restricted and Non-restricted, Ability, Move.
You may also filter by Natures and Stats! So, for example, if you want to find a Zacian set that is Adamant and has 236 or more Atk EVs, just use the advanced filter!
View attachment 409097
Then you can find 13 Zacian sets by Korean players.
View attachment 409098
If you click one that has 7 Likes, a popup will appear.
View attachment 409099
If you find the set useful, hit the 'Copy Showdown Text' button and then you can instantly use it at PS!
Also most of the sets have descriptions written in Korean, so you might use some translator to get additional information.

This is hella nice dude. Thanks a lot!

 

[ultracslewisjr]

Hey folks, been piloting Dual Screens Xern Lando to great effect!! Than people started teching against it. Gonna use the top sample team for now, but, what can I do to counter Taunters, Whirlwind, Brick Break etc

 

[DerpySuX]

Hey folks, been piloting Dual Screens Xern Lando to great effect!! Than people started teching against it. Gonna use the top sample team for now, but, what can I do to counter Taunters, Whirlwind, Brick Break etc

A problem I see with a lot of screen teams is that they over commit to the idea of screen sweepers. Screens should augment your offensive capabilities, not enable them entirely. It’s a wise idea to have a threat or 2 that don’t absolutely need screens to function, this way you aren’t completely out of it if your opponent prevents your ideal opening.

Though I’m not gonna complain if you feel like using my sample 8)

 

[ultracslewisjr]

A problem I see with a lot of screen teams is that they over commit to the idea of screen sweepers. Screens should augment your offensive capabilities, not enable them entirely. It’s a wise idea to have a threat or 2 that don’t absolutely need screens to function, this way you aren’t completely out of it if your opponent prevents your ideal opening.

Though I’m not gonna complain if you feel like using my sample 8)

Thank you! that helped me a lot! You're very careful and analytical. I like it!

 

[Omastar68]

Hey folks, been piloting Dual Screens Xern Lando to great effect!! Than people started teching against it. Gonna use the top sample team for now, but, what can I do to counter Taunters, Whirlwind, Brick Break etc

Isn't Whirlwind helpful if they use it vs. the Screener? That said you can always max on it. You don't want to stay in after setting up both, typically. Taunt Mental Herb or a faster Taunt are your options. Brick Break/ Psychic Fangs have mons that are immune to them so that would be the main thing. And ofc I agree, you're not always able to set screens so you can't 100% count on them being up like was said.

 

[ultracslewisjr]

I think we need more sample teams for BSS season 12. I'm currently working on a FWG core right now. Maybe someone else can complete it? https://pokepast.es/3a3e81d1f9d45377

 

[DerpySuX]

I think we need more sample teams for BSS season 12. I'm currently working on a FWG core right now. Maybe someone else can complete it? https://pokepast.es/3a3e81d1f9d45377

The format is still pretty young. I’m sure with time we’ll get more samples, but I’d rather wait and ensure the samples are good, quality teams.

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

I've been using this to decent success.

https://pokepast.es/3a32b4b397c4c7d6

It's a variant of a team I watched on a Japanese stream. I do think stall/semi-stall is the way to go. Since your opponent can have two restricted it just means even more centralisation.

I've also been enjoying using this at least so far today. It's the Rank 5 Placing team from S27.

https://mamesora00.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/03/01/191907

https://pokepast.es/7ff562e70f05f77a

Similar structure really, though I do like this one perhaps more, I've been thinking of using Blissey/Quag instead of Chansey/Quag.

 

[ultracslewisjr]

Let;s get fired up! My team is totally hot, woo!

https://pokepast.es/892ff9c280acb456

I'll write a more thorough analysis later, but for now, just know that the two main things: Sweep with screens Groudon, or use Cinder, Reshi and Eggy for immediate wallbreaking.

 

[DerpySuX]

Let;s get fired up! My team is totally hot, woo!

https://pokepast.es/892ff9c280acb456

I'll write a more thorough analysis later, but for now, just know that the two main things: Sweep with screens Groudon, or use Cinder, Reshi and Eggy for immediate wallbreaking.

I recommend Charizard over Exxegutor for a wallbreaker. Solar power + STAB on fire moves as well as access to max airstream makes it far more threatening. You can still do the eject pack thing with overheat. I think you’ll find more success with that setup. Other than that the team seems pretty cool!

 

[Omastar68]

You actually seem to cover Exeggutor's many weaknesses type-wise, which is rare, but I agree. Don't run it.

 

[ultracslewisjr]

Yo! Figured I'd help me fellow poors out. Here's a yt series for BSS series 12. Ya know, research!

 

[DerpySuX]

Yo! Figured I'd help me fellow poors out. Here's a yt series for BSS series 12. Ya know, research!

iirc only staff members are allowed to promote content here. I’d ask them about this kinda thing before posting it to avoid getting in trouble

 

[Omastar68]

I've been using Centiskorch as a sort of Zacian counter(I say counter cause, w/ Flame Body and resists to the top 3 moves, it is meant to switch in. That's not to say it's a perfect counter like Quag, but it's fun and does other stuff too.) I have only seen 1 on cart and 1 on Showdown, so it's obviously not common or even close, but I think it's good. I did reach top 3k w/ it, though I've since fallen a lot(not its fault, possibly a move choice problem.)

Does anyone think anything about it? It'd be great if it got some hype. The set I've been using is max HP/Def(for Zacian) Power Whip/ Mystical Fire/ Endure/ Rollout(! to at least try to hurt Ho-oh mainly. Ho-oh often ruins Centiskorch. Also you can basically assume it'll switch in so the move does something.) I gave up Will-o-wisp for Rollout, is this reasonable? Flame Body is already a good burn chance for Zacian, but it won't ever burn Dynamaxed mons so do I need Wisp? Centiskorch has fairly good 100/65/90 bulk and high Atk w/ ok SpA. Kinda slow, but faster than TTar, Steela, and below(Not mine, it's mixed so needs -Spe nature cause I obviously can't use Lax.)

Besides Zacian Cent tends to beat Rilla very well. W/ Knock Off it can go after Caly-S, or it can run the very poorly distributed Fire Lash for P2 and stuff. Power Whip is great for(potentially) surprising 4x weaks, cause even though Cent LOOKS like it'd learn Power Whip, a mon so rare isn't obvious in what it may run. This mon also has a few other options, even Scald though it's fire type.

I wanted to make a whole thread for it like some old ones for certain mons, but was redirected here why I'm posting. It'd be really neat to have this mon gain some usage, esp. cause of me. I'd also like discussion to happen on what set is best(for instance, my set gives up huge damage on Caly-S and breaking P2 for the best possible Zacian match-up-for Cent that is.) Idk if this mon would be much good in a Zapdos/Ace meta like before legends, but at least while Zacian roams freely and Rilla is huge on usage(few run Acrobatics I'm sure,) it seems to have good use.