MAMP
MAMP!
A couple of things:
1. Imposter Pikachu is terrible. Please stop submitting it, and please stop voting for it. The main draw of Imposter Pikachu is its ability to blow past the opponents Imposter counters through the sheer power it gains from Light Ball. Problem is, Lucky Punch Chansey can achieve basically the same thing, except that it can actually take hits. Pikachu can't switch into anything, it has to win a speed tie to beat the thing that its Impostering because it'll almost always get OHKO'd by any offensive mon, and it can easily be checked by any priority user, or just anything thats faster than it. Imposter Pikachu can be quite effective when it works, but its just so unreliable and inconsistent that it's really not worth running over other variants of Imposter; if you really want that kind of set on the team, nominate Lucky Punch Chansey, its superior in basically every way.
2. Our Registeel set doesn't reliably counter the Protean Ray:
200 Atk Protean Mega Rayquaza Bolt Strike vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Registeel: 144-169 (39.6 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
With only a little bit (read: 10-15%) of prior damage, that can 2HKO, meaning that to not lose to Imposter we have to play extremely conservatively with our Registeel, overall limiting its effectiveness greatly, and restricting its ability to come in against opposing -ates and the like. The Protean Ray set is designed to be walled by a Giratina (which does so flawlessly), so I'm not sure why we need to run something suboptimal like FF Registeel on this team. The justification is that FF Registeel walls both of our Rays, but the same can be achieved far more effectively with a Giratina + a more useful Registeel set, like Magic Bounce or Prankster. Which leads me onto my nomination:
Giratina @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 180 Def / 80 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Parting Shot / U-turn
- Slack Off
- Metal Burst
- Will-O-Wisp / Whirlwind
Poison Heal Giratina serves as a reliable counter to our Protean Ray should it be Impostered, as well as a very solid check to a variety of offensive Pokemon in the tier, including many variants of Mega Mewtwo X, any Contrary that lacks Draco Meteor, PH Kyogre, Red Orb Groudon and various other miscellaneous threats. It can very safely pivot into about half of the metagame, and with its slow U-turn/Parting Shot give free switches into our Rays, providing them with more opportunities to wreak havoc on the opponents team. The 80 SpDef EV's allow Giratina to always survive Protean M2Y's Spooky Plate Judgment, and the rest go into Def, allowing Giratina to take a +1 Knock Off from Mega TTar and more reliably take on things like M2X. -Speed nature and 0 Speed IV's allow for a very slow pivot. The last two moveslots are very open; Topsy Turvy, Knock Off, Shadow Ball, Stealth Rock, Defog, Leech Seed etc. are all solid options, it really depends how the team turns out and what role we need Giratina to play.
1. Imposter Pikachu is terrible. Please stop submitting it, and please stop voting for it. The main draw of Imposter Pikachu is its ability to blow past the opponents Imposter counters through the sheer power it gains from Light Ball. Problem is, Lucky Punch Chansey can achieve basically the same thing, except that it can actually take hits. Pikachu can't switch into anything, it has to win a speed tie to beat the thing that its Impostering because it'll almost always get OHKO'd by any offensive mon, and it can easily be checked by any priority user, or just anything thats faster than it. Imposter Pikachu can be quite effective when it works, but its just so unreliable and inconsistent that it's really not worth running over other variants of Imposter; if you really want that kind of set on the team, nominate Lucky Punch Chansey, its superior in basically every way.
2. Our Registeel set doesn't reliably counter the Protean Ray:
200 Atk Protean Mega Rayquaza Bolt Strike vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Registeel: 144-169 (39.6 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
With only a little bit (read: 10-15%) of prior damage, that can 2HKO, meaning that to not lose to Imposter we have to play extremely conservatively with our Registeel, overall limiting its effectiveness greatly, and restricting its ability to come in against opposing -ates and the like. The Protean Ray set is designed to be walled by a Giratina (which does so flawlessly), so I'm not sure why we need to run something suboptimal like FF Registeel on this team. The justification is that FF Registeel walls both of our Rays, but the same can be achieved far more effectively with a Giratina + a more useful Registeel set, like Magic Bounce or Prankster. Which leads me onto my nomination:
Giratina @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 180 Def / 80 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Parting Shot / U-turn
- Slack Off
- Metal Burst
- Will-O-Wisp / Whirlwind
Poison Heal Giratina serves as a reliable counter to our Protean Ray should it be Impostered, as well as a very solid check to a variety of offensive Pokemon in the tier, including many variants of Mega Mewtwo X, any Contrary that lacks Draco Meteor, PH Kyogre, Red Orb Groudon and various other miscellaneous threats. It can very safely pivot into about half of the metagame, and with its slow U-turn/Parting Shot give free switches into our Rays, providing them with more opportunities to wreak havoc on the opponents team. The 80 SpDef EV's allow Giratina to always survive Protean M2Y's Spooky Plate Judgment, and the rest go into Def, allowing Giratina to take a +1 Knock Off from Mega TTar and more reliably take on things like M2X. -Speed nature and 0 Speed IV's allow for a very slow pivot. The last two moveslots are very open; Topsy Turvy, Knock Off, Shadow Ball, Stealth Rock, Defog, Leech Seed etc. are all solid options, it really depends how the team turns out and what role we need Giratina to play.
