Introduction ft. 
This is just a little presentation on the double dog core, a fun and balanced pairing of cute Pokemon. Stoutland and Lycanroc are both top tier, A+ Pokemon in the current PU metagame, but this concept and team have been around for a long time before that. It's about as simple of a core as you can imagine, Stoutland is your strong wallbreaker that breaks down physical walls and gets Fighting-types chipped so that Lycanroc, the strong physical sweeper, can sweep. Fortunately, simplicity doesn't really have an impact on how fun and effective this core is, plus there's a lot of freedom with the last 4 slots. I've had some form of a double dog team in my teambuilder since really early USUM PU and I think I was the first one to really start spamming it a good amount in tournaments and popularizing it recently, but there's almost certainly someone who used the core before I did. Other top PU players have also used various different teams with the core lately so I can't really call this the "definitive version" of what double dog should look like or anything. If you're into the PU meta then I think this is an interesting look at a core that only looks to be picking up steam as we move closer towards circuit playoffs. Then again my tastes are professionally certified as trash so take everything said here with a grain of salt.
The real reason I decided to make this RMT is basically just to say fuck Lance. He's an egotistical maniac and the only good thing about this recent string of doxxing is that his RMT is all but guaranteed to be garbage (outside of the illegal harassment bit) so there's no good excuse to try to talk about the rest of the contents. I mean doxxing is one thing but he's a really crappy author and relies on redefining what success means in order to make himself look good. Simply having a better team to share with less obnoxious presentation before his goes up feels mighty nice. Besides, a preemptive fuck you to a homophobic, transphobic, racist, nazi thug attacking people on Smogon can't ever really be a bad thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Teambuilding Process
I already went into what I think makes double dog really good, it starts the team off with a solid wincon and an easy-bake wallbreaker which is pretty nice.
Ok so back when I made this team, the tier didn't have Jellicent or Quagsire, and Froslass wasn't as dominant. In those distant pre-tier shift times, Fighting-types were actually good and, obviously, the main weakness of this core. I decided to go all-in on the hazards core of Mesprit and Qwilfish in order to hard check those Fighting-types and really solidify the offensive nature of the team, you'll see I don't even bother with hazard removal.
This is version 1.0 of the team, and definitely its most mediocre rendition. My best solution for covering up its slew of weaknesses was Substitute+Toxic Poliwrath and Choice Scarf Togedemaru, which technically mostly shored up defensive options versus Lilligant, birds, most Waters, Electrics, etc. but left the team super lacking offensively. Poliwrath invites Defogs and in general is a Pokemon I needed to really start using a lot less of as soon as Kingler got banned. This version didn't last long, but I felt like including it as a stop on where this team would eventually go.
This version is the one I was using until very recently, as Jellicent is just way better than Poliwrath. It still checks Water-types, but also it's a much better balance annoyer than Poliwrath which wallbreaks really well in tandem with Stoutland and has the side bonus of spinblocking. However, while Jellicent+Stoutland is an incredibly stupid wallbreaking core, I eventually had to mess with the team some more. Any Bellossom or well played (or Z-Sleep Powder) Lilligant were hugely tough matchups, and Jellicent's Dark weakness and Pursuit susceptibility were also pretty annoying.
Alolan Exeggutor's arrival is what really convinced me that this could be RMT-worthy, it's just a much better slot. No worrying about playing around Pursuit, no getting 6-0d by Grass-types, the same stupid strong wallbreaking with only slightly more prediction required, just lots of fun. You don't get to spinblock or trade with Froslass (unless they don't have Ice Beam), but those are small potatoes. It's also more RMT-worthy because if Alolan Exeggutor quickrises in a couple weeks it'll already be annoyingly outdated.
Set Analysis
Stoutland @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Facade
Lycanroc @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Drill Run
- Sucker Punch
Exeggutor-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
Ok now we can have some fun. Choice Specs Alolan Exeggutor is a weird choice in
the current meta simply because there are so many stupid wallbreakers it's hard to
justify the more niche ones like eggy. Still, the defensive utility is really what sells him
on this team. No hazard control cripples a lot of the good special wallbreakers, not
being allowed to use a Z-move cuts out a lot more, and the need to check Lilligant
rounds out the trifecta of things it can do. Oh yeah, and it also just murders everything
with barely any need for predictions, trades with practically the entire metagame since
it's really hard to OHKO without an Ice move, and forces people to play extra careful
just in case you're OTR. I love this mon, but I really won't be all that disappointed
when it ends up rising to NU, just clicking Draco Meteor and killing things is super safe.
The Speed beats Drampa, 0 Speed Lanturn and Roselia, and all the random base 50's.
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- Encore
Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Waterfall
- Destiny Bond
Weaknesses
The main weakness is that this isn't Teddeh's version of double dog offense, he's a better teambuilder so I'll assume his build is superior to mine. Aside from that,
and
are easily the biggest threats here, being able to OHKO most of the team and outspeed Togedemaru under the right conditions. I just couldn't justify any way to change the structure to handle these better, you've got to deal a lot of damage as they set up Smash or Rain Dance, have Spikes out beforehand, and either play Togedemaru or somehow get them into Sucker Punch range. Also play Stoutland extremely carefully when facing Omastar because Weak Armor is a threat.
can pretty much always get up 2 Spikes or 1 kill in any match due to how much it threatens most of the team, but is a lot easier to shut down with offensive play and good predictions.
,
and
all break the team pretty well too, but slide even further down the scale of "can be totally neutralized if you play really aggressively".
+
should be even worse for the team than the Water sweepers in theory, but in practice I've somehow never really had an issue with them. I don't have any replays of the team versus Hail to show off and perhaps it's just been good fortune, but smart offensive play can really minimize the risk Hail presents to the team. Overall though, this kind of team just isn't going to switch into a solid chunk of the tier very well at all which is why I don't like using it on ladder. It's far better in those sanitized tour settings where you can expect relatively less completely random jank and probably won't be running into obscure breaker after obscure breaker, but it's just too offensive to make consistently outplaying random threats the team was never prepared to handle a reasonable goal.
Replays
I had no plans to RMT this until about 4 days ago when Lance started his advertising so unfortunately some of the best stuff didn't get saved even though I've been using the team for several months, and what I do have is mostly with the Jellicent version. At least what I do have is mostly from seasonals except for the game vs beefdreams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-826193522 vs jmash, this pretty effectively shows off what Lycanroc not being your win condition looks like. Keep squeezing out random KOs until their structure can't handle Togedemaru or unboosted Lycanroc cleaning up just by virtue of being fast. Jmash324 you're a lad
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-825038138 vs beefdreams, this shows off how weird the Froslass matchup can be as well as the general gameplan when you know you can't stop the opponent from getting up 2-3 layers of Spikes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-836664973 vs skipkan, it's a notable seasonal win but honestly I lost if he was running Timid Ludicolo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-827191422 vs decem, only included because it's from a tournament
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-821794471 vs espionage, same as decem but also kind of shows off how nice Taunt+Dbond is
Importable
Conclusion
It's simply not possible or reasonable for me to tag all the people I know and like on this site. Still, PU is in a really amazing place right now both metagame and community wise and it's because of people like Taskr, Akir, allstarapology, yogi, HJAD, fuck that's already too many abort abort. And also all the AG people who have to deal with this doxxing, lads like Chloe and Pigeons and Zenithial and everyone else, here's some positive reinforcement for a change n_n
FREE PU SLAM 2019
This is just a little presentation on the double dog core, a fun and balanced pairing of cute Pokemon. Stoutland and Lycanroc are both top tier, A+ Pokemon in the current PU metagame, but this concept and team have been around for a long time before that. It's about as simple of a core as you can imagine, Stoutland is your strong wallbreaker that breaks down physical walls and gets Fighting-types chipped so that Lycanroc, the strong physical sweeper, can sweep. Fortunately, simplicity doesn't really have an impact on how fun and effective this core is, plus there's a lot of freedom with the last 4 slots. I've had some form of a double dog team in my teambuilder since really early USUM PU and I think I was the first one to really start spamming it a good amount in tournaments and popularizing it recently, but there's almost certainly someone who used the core before I did. Other top PU players have also used various different teams with the core lately so I can't really call this the "definitive version" of what double dog should look like or anything. If you're into the PU meta then I think this is an interesting look at a core that only looks to be picking up steam as we move closer towards circuit playoffs. Then again my tastes are professionally certified as trash so take everything said here with a grain of salt.
The real reason I decided to make this RMT is basically just to say fuck Lance. He's an egotistical maniac and the only good thing about this recent string of doxxing is that his RMT is all but guaranteed to be garbage (outside of the illegal harassment bit) so there's no good excuse to try to talk about the rest of the contents. I mean doxxing is one thing but he's a really crappy author and relies on redefining what success means in order to make himself look good. Simply having a better team to share with less obnoxious presentation before his goes up feels mighty nice. Besides, a preemptive fuck you to a homophobic, transphobic, racist, nazi thug attacking people on Smogon can't ever really be a bad thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Teambuilding Process
I already went into what I think makes double dog really good, it starts the team off with a solid wincon and an easy-bake wallbreaker which is pretty nice.
Ok so back when I made this team, the tier didn't have Jellicent or Quagsire, and Froslass wasn't as dominant. In those distant pre-tier shift times, Fighting-types were actually good and, obviously, the main weakness of this core. I decided to go all-in on the hazards core of Mesprit and Qwilfish in order to hard check those Fighting-types and really solidify the offensive nature of the team, you'll see I don't even bother with hazard removal.
This is version 1.0 of the team, and definitely its most mediocre rendition. My best solution for covering up its slew of weaknesses was Substitute+Toxic Poliwrath and Choice Scarf Togedemaru, which technically mostly shored up defensive options versus Lilligant, birds, most Waters, Electrics, etc. but left the team super lacking offensively. Poliwrath invites Defogs and in general is a Pokemon I needed to really start using a lot less of as soon as Kingler got banned. This version didn't last long, but I felt like including it as a stop on where this team would eventually go.
This version is the one I was using until very recently, as Jellicent is just way better than Poliwrath. It still checks Water-types, but also it's a much better balance annoyer than Poliwrath which wallbreaks really well in tandem with Stoutland and has the side bonus of spinblocking. However, while Jellicent+Stoutland is an incredibly stupid wallbreaking core, I eventually had to mess with the team some more. Any Bellossom or well played (or Z-Sleep Powder) Lilligant were hugely tough matchups, and Jellicent's Dark weakness and Pursuit susceptibility were also pretty annoying.
Alolan Exeggutor's arrival is what really convinced me that this could be RMT-worthy, it's just a much better slot. No worrying about playing around Pursuit, no getting 6-0d by Grass-types, the same stupid strong wallbreaking with only slightly more prediction required, just lots of fun. You don't get to spinblock or trade with Froslass (unless they don't have Ice Beam), but those are small potatoes. It's also more RMT-worthy because if Alolan Exeggutor quickrises in a couple weeks it'll already be annoyingly outdated.
Set Analysis
Stoutland @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Facade
Stoutland plays fast and aggressive, and should always be picking up at least
one kill per match. Fat Normal-resists can get played around in a variety of
ways depending on the matchup, correct predictions can wildly swing the game
in your favor, and Pursuit is a broken and stupid move. Seriously, why can my
slowish banded Normal-type wallbreaker remove Togedemaru? No customization
on the moveset, dropping Facade is something I've contemplated a lot since the
team has Healing Wish but I'm hard pressed to think of a better move that isn't
some random, surprise factor-oriented gimmick.
one kill per match. Fat Normal-resists can get played around in a variety of
ways depending on the matchup, correct predictions can wildly swing the game
in your favor, and Pursuit is a broken and stupid move. Seriously, why can my
slowish banded Normal-type wallbreaker remove Togedemaru? No customization
on the moveset, dropping Facade is something I've contemplated a lot since the
team has Healing Wish but I'm hard pressed to think of a better move that isn't
some random, surprise factor-oriented gimmick.
Lycanroc @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Drill Run
- Sucker Punch
Also completely lacking in novelty or customization, Lycanroc is going to be the
wincon in approximately 75% of games. This can vary if they have very particular team
structures, usually involving pivot Alolan Persian or Mudsdale + another really fat Stoutland
resist, but it's kinda rare. It is, however, really good at coming in to pop the Z-move early
to grab a random kill versus non-Mudsdale having teams. Weirdly enough I feel like Accelerock
is a legitimate option here over Sucker Punch since the team chips away at Togedemaru pretty
well, especially if this team's Togedemaru was swapped to Iron Barbs, but aside from that it's just
your basic, run-of-the-mill, store-brand rock doggo.
wincon in approximately 75% of games. This can vary if they have very particular team
structures, usually involving pivot Alolan Persian or Mudsdale + another really fat Stoutland
resist, but it's kinda rare. It is, however, really good at coming in to pop the Z-move early
to grab a random kill versus non-Mudsdale having teams. Weirdly enough I feel like Accelerock
is a legitimate option here over Sucker Punch since the team chips away at Togedemaru pretty
well, especially if this team's Togedemaru was swapped to Iron Barbs, but aside from that it's just
your basic, run-of-the-mill, store-brand rock doggo.
Exeggutor-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
Ok now we can have some fun. Choice Specs Alolan Exeggutor is a weird choice in
the current meta simply because there are so many stupid wallbreakers it's hard to
justify the more niche ones like eggy. Still, the defensive utility is really what sells him
on this team. No hazard control cripples a lot of the good special wallbreakers, not
being allowed to use a Z-move cuts out a lot more, and the need to check Lilligant
rounds out the trifecta of things it can do. Oh yeah, and it also just murders everything
with barely any need for predictions, trades with practically the entire metagame since
it's really hard to OHKO without an Ice move, and forces people to play extra careful
just in case you're OTR. I love this mon, but I really won't be all that disappointed
when it ends up rising to NU, just clicking Draco Meteor and killing things is super safe.
The Speed beats Drampa, 0 Speed Lanturn and Roselia, and all the random base 50's.
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
Look I never claimed this team was built around innovative sets or Pokemon. Rocks, pivoting, and Healing
Wish are all incredibly good and everyone knows exactly what it does for a reason. Mesprit is very
easy to play extremely aggressively and often gets sacked without even getting off a Healing
Wish, but that's ok because you're pretty much never going to fail to at least get off Stealth Rock
and get one or two free wallbreaking opportunities for Stoutland or Alolan Exeggutor. No customization
or random lures in the last slot or anything, it just plays the same it does on most every other offense team.
Wish are all incredibly good and everyone knows exactly what it does for a reason. Mesprit is very
easy to play extremely aggressively and often gets sacked without even getting off a Healing
Wish, but that's ok because you're pretty much never going to fail to at least get off Stealth Rock
and get one or two free wallbreaking opportunities for Stoutland or Alolan Exeggutor. No customization
or random lures in the last slot or anything, it just plays the same it does on most every other offense team.
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- Encore
Real talk I almost never see other Choice Scarf Togedemaru actually clicking Encore and it just
baffles me, it's an awesome move that has a bunch of random utility in situations you'd never
expect but I can't recall watching another person's game and seeing them use it well. Togedemaru
is just so good, free Speed control with the ability to clean teams and check half the meta while never
being useless, even versus full stall teams. In the rare cases Lycanroc can't be your win condition,
trying to win with Spikes + Togedemaru is weirdly effective. This Pokemon just scares me, it's
somehow on just about every good team and never worthless. You can play it highly aggressively by
pivoting into strong stuff like Dodrio and using Encore a lot, you can play it safe and save it
for a sweep, you can just save it to revenge kill one specific threat like Nasty Plot
Alolan Persian, it really doesn't matter. More suspect-worthy than Jellicent imotbh
baffles me, it's an awesome move that has a bunch of random utility in situations you'd never
expect but I can't recall watching another person's game and seeing them use it well. Togedemaru
is just so good, free Speed control with the ability to clean teams and check half the meta while never
being useless, even versus full stall teams. In the rare cases Lycanroc can't be your win condition,
trying to win with Spikes + Togedemaru is weirdly effective. This Pokemon just scares me, it's
somehow on just about every good team and never worthless. You can play it highly aggressively by
pivoting into strong stuff like Dodrio and using Encore a lot, you can play it safe and save it
for a sweep, you can just save it to revenge kill one specific threat like Nasty Plot
Alolan Persian, it really doesn't matter. More suspect-worthy than Jellicent imotbh
Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Waterfall
- Destiny Bond
God this Shuffle sprite is messed up. Qwilfish rounds out the team doing its general "check
everything, get helmet + Spikes chip and die" routine except with the occasional
ability to actual kill things because Taunt + Destiny Bond is a great combo for pressuring
teams. You could legit run this with 0 attacks and it would barely make a difference
for Qwilfish's damage output, it's just so good at constantly chipping and checking
and annoying everything. The offensive nature of the team means you can
afford to literally sack this for just 2 rounds of Rocky Helmet versus something like
Kangaskhan and it'll be completely worth it, which is really where this Pokemon is
at its most effective
everything, get helmet + Spikes chip and die" routine except with the occasional
ability to actual kill things because Taunt + Destiny Bond is a great combo for pressuring
teams. You could legit run this with 0 attacks and it would barely make a difference
for Qwilfish's damage output, it's just so good at constantly chipping and checking
and annoying everything. The offensive nature of the team means you can
afford to literally sack this for just 2 rounds of Rocky Helmet versus something like
Kangaskhan and it'll be completely worth it, which is really where this Pokemon is
at its most effective
Weaknesses
The main weakness is that this isn't Teddeh's version of double dog offense, he's a better teambuilder so I'll assume his build is superior to mine. Aside from that,
Replays
I had no plans to RMT this until about 4 days ago when Lance started his advertising so unfortunately some of the best stuff didn't get saved even though I've been using the team for several months, and what I do have is mostly with the Jellicent version. At least what I do have is mostly from seasonals except for the game vs beefdreams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-826193522 vs jmash, this pretty effectively shows off what Lycanroc not being your win condition looks like. Keep squeezing out random KOs until their structure can't handle Togedemaru or unboosted Lycanroc cleaning up just by virtue of being fast. Jmash324 you're a lad
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-825038138 vs beefdreams, this shows off how weird the Froslass matchup can be as well as the general gameplan when you know you can't stop the opponent from getting up 2-3 layers of Spikes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-836664973 vs skipkan, it's a notable seasonal win but honestly I lost if he was running Timid Ludicolo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-827191422 vs decem, only included because it's from a tournament
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pu-821794471 vs espionage, same as decem but also kind of shows off how nice Taunt+Dbond is
Importable
Stoutland @ Choice Band
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Facade
Lycanroc @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Drill Run
- Sucker Punch
Exeggutor-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- Encore
Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Waterfall
- Destiny Bond
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Frustration
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Facade
Lycanroc @ Lycanium Z
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Drill Run
- Sucker Punch
Exeggutor-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
Togedemaru @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head
- Encore
Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Waterfall
- Destiny Bond
Conclusion
It's simply not possible or reasonable for me to tag all the people I know and like on this site. Still, PU is in a really amazing place right now both metagame and community wise and it's because of people like Taskr, Akir, allstarapology, yogi, HJAD, fuck that's already too many abort abort. And also all the AG people who have to deal with this doxxing, lads like Chloe and Pigeons and Zenithial and everyone else, here's some positive reinforcement for a change n_n
FREE PU SLAM 2019
