Gen 7 Doubles OU: Untitled Scizor-Mega Team

[Veecy]

A Foreword​

In my prime, I reached #3 on ladder with The Ultimate Scizdown, a team I constructed back in 2022. The team was constructed entirely on a whim, and with extremely limited knowledge of the metagame. As I continued winning, my fascination with the metagame deepened, and I grew interested in building more teams. Through hundreds of hours of making spreadsheets, writing code, and just playing the game, my approach to teambuilding would grow steadily more analytical. Through this process, I would continue to find new ways in which Scizdown was deeply flawed in its construction, and yet, I was never able to replicate the success I found with that team.
A few weeks ago, I decided to dive fully back into the rabbit hole of building around Scizor-Mega specifically. Not only has Scizdown given me the most success I've seen in this game, but its particular characteristics synergize well with my strengths as a player, especially those revolving around Scizor's many complex interactions with pinch berries (which I won't go into here). I originally intended to wait until I reached a position of #10 or higher on the ladder to post an RMT, but after an extremely tumultuous grind and long waits for matches, I've realized that such a goal may simply be outside of my current capabilities as a player. Thus, I'd like to metaphorically hand this team over to the community for use and refinement by posting it now.

Methodology for Construction​

After constructing many teams myself, and looking back at teams used on ladder and in tours throughout the modern history of SM, I was generally able to break down successful Scizor-Mega teams into two archetypes: Trap teams with Tapu Koko + Gothitelle () and offense teams with Tapu Fini + Zygarde + Incineroar ().
For both of these archetypes, I created as many teams as I possible which fulfilled all or most of the roles I have in my personal list of teambuilder roles for this metagame, restricting myself to only use Pokémon that I have either used successfully with Scizor in the past, or are often seen paired with Scizor in tournaments. Then, I sorted these teams based on the integrity of their defensive profile. From this, a clear trend emerged: with a few exceptions, the most successful teams were those which started with the Tapu Fini + Zygarde + Incineroar () core, and appended Zapdos () as the fifth member.
With the most defensively sound teams of those teams, I then selected for the sixth member who is most individually successful alongside Scizor, which unsurprisingly ended up being Gothitelle (). I also tested several of the teams that scored highly, and similarly found this particular arrangement to give me the best results.

The Team

Scizor-Mega (F) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Atk / 124 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Protect​

Scizor-Mega is obviously the centerpiece of this team. 132 Attack with an Adamant nature allows it to OHKO standard Tapu Lele with Bullet Punch outside of Psychic Terrain. The remaining EVs are put into HP and then Special Defense. Bug Bite can perform a wide variety of "shenanigans" involving berries, typically stealing them off of opponents, but also sometimes your own teammates in a pinch. Scizor is micro-optimized to be female in the incredibly unlikely scenario that it needs to avoid Attract or Cute Charm, both of which would prefer their users to be female because, of the gender-locked Pokémon that appear in this metagame, the male-locked Landorus-Therian makes for the best Attract target due to its viability and not being affected by the status-blocking Misty Terrain. Light Metal as the pre-Mega ability trades reduced damage from Tyranitar's Low Kick for increased damage from Celesteela's Heavy Slam, which is generally a favorable trade as Scizor is not inclined to switch into Celesteela regardless. Scizor is given zero Speed EVs due to the presence of Trick Room on this team, but keeps 31 IVs and a neutral nature in order to outspeed max speed Kartana under Tailwind.

Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 132 SpA / 96 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect​

This Tapu Fini is extremely standard. 248 / 32+ physical bulk allows Tapu Fini to survive two Metagross-Mega Iron Heads, while 132 Special Attack allows it to OHKO Kommo-o with Moonblast. Calm Mind and Muddy Water are used over Heal Pulse and Nature's Madness primarily to allow Tapu Fini to boost in front of Gastrodon and threaten Swampert-Mega with rain-boosted Muddy Waters, as both would otherwise be problematic matchups for this team. Tapu Fini deals with Fire-types (barring Volcanion and Charizard-Y) for Scizor, and its Misty Terrain prevents Scizor from being confused when stealing a Wiki Berry. In return, Scizor-Mega helps deal with Kartana, Tapu Bulu, and Ferrothorn, and shakily checks Metagross-Mega and Tapu Koko.

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpD / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
- Dragon Tail​

Zygarde here is the same as the Strategy Dex Choice Band set, except with 4 Special Defense EVs shifted to Defense, as they are not needed to avoid the OHKO from Choice Scarf Tapu Lele's Moonblast. Typically I run Thousand Waves on Zygarde, but since Gothitelle also appears on this team, I decided to opt for the standard moveset. Zygarde helps Scizor and Tapu Fini by dealing with Volcanion, Charizard-Y, Electric-types, and Steel-types. In return, Tapu Fini weakens incoming Dragon-type attacks and takes on Kingdra, while Scizor-Mega checks opposing Fairy-types and Kyurem-Black. Zygarde also provides a solid Rock resist, which Scizor notably lacks.

Incineroar (F) @ Mago Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 96 Def / 124 SpD / 40 Spe
Careful Nature
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- U-turn​

Completing the initial core is Incineroar. 248 / 96 physical bulk allows Incineroar to survive two -1 Jolly Kartana Sacred Swords, while 248 / 124+ special bulk allows it to survive two standard Gastrodon Earth Powers. The remaining EVs are placed into Speed to outspeed as many opposing Incineroar as possible. This allows Incineroar to Fake Out first and, under Gothitelle's Trick Room, U-turn last. Mago Berry is used in order to confuse Brave Scizor or Araquanid clicking Bug Bite, and a female gender is selected for the same reason given for Scizor. Incineroar takes on Steel-types that Zygarde can't hit supereffectively, such as the aforementioned Kartana and Ferrothorn, as well as Genesect and Scizor-Mega.

Zapdos @ Misty Seed
Ability: Static
EVs: 244 HP / 80 Def / 16 SpA / 104 SpD / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind
- Roost​

Zapdos is selected as the fifth member in order to offer speed control and the benefits of an Electric-type. This set is taken directly from the Strategy Dex. The given bulk allows Zapdos to survive Metagross-Mega Ice Punch or Charizard-Y Overheat in Sun after Stealth Rock. 64 Speed allows Zapdos to outrun Pelipper, and the remaining EVs go into Special Attack. Static is the preferred ability due to the fast pace of Doubles battles. I briefly considered using Hidden Power Ice over Heat Wave, but due to its low base powers, it does underwhelming damage even to 4x supereffective targets like Landorus-Therian and Zygarde, and is basically unusable against any other targets. Misty Seed is selected over Wiki Berry because Zapdos does not like switching in multiple times thanks to its Stealth Rock weakness, is unafraid of being Intimidate cycled due to being a special attacker, and has a healing move in Roost. Zapdos provides a valuable Ground immunity to the team, and serves as a backup check to Volcanion and Charizard-Y, who are otherwise problematic if Zygarde is eliminated, and helps Tapu Fini deal with rain threats against which it would otherwise be on its own. It also helps out defensively against Salamence-Mega, who is a threat to all of the other members of the team. It synergizes well with Tapu Fini, as together they can neutralize threats like Landorus-Therian and Swampert-Mega, while Misty Terrain activates Zapdos's Misty Seed.

Gothitelle (M) @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 12 SpA / 160 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Psychic
- Heal Pulse
- Trick Room
- Protect​

As the final member of the team, Gothitelle provides utility mainly through Shadow Tag. 252 / 84 physical bulk allows Gothitelle to survive two +1 Zygarde Thousand Arrows, and 252 / 160+ special bulk allows it to avoid the OHKO from Kingdra's Hydro Pump-based Hydro Vortex in Rain. The remaining EVs are placed into Special Attack. Heal Pulse is used over Helping Hand because of the defensive benefit it offers to Scizor. Most setup sweepers, like Tyranitar-Mega, Zygarde, and Kommo-o, target both opponents, meaning Helping Hand can offer defensive utility by ensuring KOs and preventing the sweeper from taking damage. Scizor, on the other hand, only targets one opponent, so Helping Hand does not have this extra defensive utility. Gothitelle is Male to avoid any Attracts aimed at the female-locked Cresselia, who fulfills a very similar niche due to its typing and Trick Room.

Problematic Matchups

Rain ()​

Rain can pose a challenge for this team, especially those rain teams which carry both Swampert-Mega and a second Swift Swim user. Ludicolo also provides particular difficulty due to matching up positively into Tapu Fini. My typical strategy against rain teams is to trap Pelipper or Politoed early with Gothitelle, and eliminate it with Zapdos, then set up Trick Room to waste rain turns. Tapu Fini and Zapdos tend to match up best into Swampert-Mega and Kingdra, and under Trick Room, Scizor can make short work of Ludicolo.

Conclusion​

Most of what I want to say about this team has already been said, so I'll keep this brief. Despite not finding as much success as I initially hoped, I have still greatly enjoyed using this team, and I hope others will as well. If you have any suggestions, I would be more than happy to hear them!

https://pokepast.es/294c954e49b268d1​