Igniizard
formerly denger
Introduction
So I was working on this team for my wcop game. Wanted to try some sort of Samurott+Gholdengo hazard stack because it is something that looked appealing on paper and I had not tried it yet. I managed to win my game using it and even used this to hit 2k+ elo on ladder. Mid June. I understand that there has been a metagame shift recently. The plan was always to RMT the team once our wcop season was over. But as the metagame is still new, it changes fast. I made a further tweak to my original wcop team to help it break down various balance structures.
The Setup
The first piece of the team is a lead Hisuian-Samurott. I am running adamant over jolly nature because I feel sacrificing the additional power to win speedties vs opposing Hisuian-Samurott isn’t that great. Usually in a lead samurott vs samurott sequence you would rather set up hazards anyway than clicking sacred sword. The rest of it is pretty self explanatory. It’s ev’d to take a dragon darts from banded Dragapult. If they tera to take it out, so be it. Opponent burning Tera early is good for me anyway.
Next we have Gholdengo. Blocks hazard removal. With Tera Flying it gives me a better shot to deal with Zamacenta in case that mon ever gets out of control. The ev spread may seem a bit confusing. But I wanted my Gholdengo to be able to take hits from Zapdos not named heatwave/thunder as well because the mons that will follow don’t do that role too well. Nasty plot makes up for it’s lack of immediate power by allowing to set up and take advantage of fat teams.
The next mon I included was a Kingambit. Offers ghost resists for Gholdengo while Gholdengo provides fighting immunity for gambit. I feel the two mons have good chemistty together as Gholdengo often manages to get important chip on common Gambit answers as well as being able to come in on them. Gambit also likes setting on mons that Gholdengo may invite. Tera Fairy is a pretty balanced tera typing on it. Allows it to take fighting type moves without being weak to Zapdos electric type moves.
The next mon I added was a Baxcalibur. I love SD Baxcalibur. Adds important priority for an offensive set up which are usually weak to stuff like dragon dance flying moon. I think Baxcalibur+Dark types is wonderful in practice because it invites mons like gholdengo to revenge kill it. Something like Kingambit can then take advantage of those mons getting a kill by setting up on them. Until my WCoP game the tera on Baxcalibur was Fairy. Tera Fairy is just really useful defensively. Specially when dealing with other dragons and when you have to live sucker punches. Prefer the power of adamant over the additional speed that jolly provides. Found the power loss in Jolly damaging in practice. The major change I made after my Wcop game was making the Baxcalibur life orb Tera Dragon. This helps me break down balance teams much easier which are becoming more and more common due to Metagame shifts.
The team was lacking speed and was looking somewhat weak to opposing kingambits. What better way to deal with that other than to fit in a Great Tusk in your team. Booster energy speed boosting Tusk is usually great vs opposing HO teams. With a large focus on the team prioritizing power or bulk over speed, Tusk provides natural speed on It’s entry and maintains offensive pressure. Checking Gambit is the best part about this mon.
Lastly, I was still aware of the risk of losing to Zamacenta and my team still looked weak vs rain. So enter tera water Zapdos. Now, I know Zapdos doesn’t usually fit on this sort of structure. This is why I run u-turn over volt switch to ensure I can retain momentum whenever I want to instead of second guessing myself because of a ground type. Helps me adjust gameplan vs certain leads. Being able to spread paralysis helps my otherwise slow offensive team. Let’s be honest. It’s a cheap mon and can always get you out of a tough situation with a static proc.
Threats
Ditto Stall: Beating non-ditto stall shouldn’t be a problem with the sheer breaking power of life orb Baxcalibur and Kingambit. They pressure each others checks and Bax in particular going strong early can ensure a gambit clean up late game. Ditto however causes a lot of problems. It can come in on my set up mons and break my team down. I basically have to get every turn right to stand a chance at winning.
Greninja Rain: While Tera Water Zapdos+Priorities provide some sort of counter play vs Rain, Battle Gond Greninja in rain can absolutely blow this team away. Offensively it can destroy the team after battle bond activation in rain. Life Orb Water Shuriken ensures that sucker even sucker punch chip never becomes free for Gambit.
Opposing Hazard Stack: With no HDB on Baxcalibur, team looks much weaker to hazard stack. The goal has to be to pressure opponents into making sure you can punish each turn they decide to set up hazard on. But with multiple layers up, you’d face difficulties as a lot of mons will lose their defensive utility and it becomes harder for you to make aggressive doubles to preserve momentum.
Replays
I’ll share a few interesting replays. Some games were not played perfectly but you can still get an idea about how this team wins games.
Vs Offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1889692378-kc51fvmuokcqsiqczystfuhd5iz9bh4pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1888329492-c6wv1pwxkqs0u5rlsvmtfhafx7r54ulpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1887782853-ynqq8m7ojmqpkncpli19f7az3oxyqqkpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1887235009-d5u8evh5ifqlp7lvb2r2c79cif4muarpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1887865440-mdw0esvhpixmzb9lamp3jzv78k986n2pw
Vs Sticky Webs Offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1889691514-hwhlgmy30cl41rfmzwksdfqzehmk1xlpw
Vs Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1888327761-02xj5wo6r2d9fhbnewbsg7ncnfzhij8pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1888322445-mgxkq04zkk8g6r8rlun9998y4pi0f89pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1903440083-1044tom3jbdsokhkycporqs0hl4va4fpw
Vs Trick Room
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1887695459-1cl15yplv2ssywoanmc23osz2ww02knpw
Vs Stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1905404823-4f7x6jbssw28e730ru3ljy33w8ctc4qpw
My Wcop game
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-698764
Wrapping Up
Thanks to my teammates SKC44 and Kaif for providing their input as I built this team.
Summary
1. Hisuian-Samurott (Lead) - Adamant Nature
- Role: Lead hazard setter
- The choice of Adamant over Jolly is to prioritize power over winning speed ties against opposing Hisuian-Samurott.
- EV’d to survive a Dragon Darts from banded Dragapult.
2. Gholdengo
- Role: Blocks hazard removal, Fairy resist, Soft switch in vs Special attackers, Can Soft Check common Zamacenta after Tera.
- Tera Flying allows it to softcheck non stone edge Zamacenta.
- The EV spread aims to withstand hits from Zapdos that don’t use Heat Wave/Thunder.
- Nasty Plot compensates for its lack of immediate power by enabling it to set up and exploit bulkier teams.
3. Kingambit
- Role: Ghost resist, consistent wincon.
- Works well with Gholdengo, as it can take advantage of the chip damage inflicted by Gholdengo on common Kingambit answers.
- Tera Fairy typing provides balance, allowing it to absorb fighting-type moves without being weak to Zapdos’ electric-type attacks.
4. Baxcalibur
- Role: Wallbreaker, Provides additional priority.
- Offers important priority moves which help dealing with threats like Roaring Moon.
- Kingambit’s Dark typing synergizes with Baxcalibur, as it tempts revenge-killing mons like Gholdengo, enabling Kingambit to set up on them.
- Tera Fairy typing is valuable defensively, especially when dealing with other Baxcaliburs. However, Tera Dragon life orb variant is more optimal to deal with balance because of the metagame shift.
5. Great Tusk
- Role: Provides speed and checks opposing Kingambits
- Boosted Energy speed boosts make it effective against hyper-offense (HO) teams.
- With the team focusing on power and bulk rather than speed, Great Tusk brings natural speed and maintains offensive pressure.
- Its ability to check Kingambit is a significant advantage.
6. Zapdos
- Role: Addresses weaknesses against common physical attackers and rain teams
- While Zapdos is atypical for this team structure, U-turn ensures momentum retention against ground-types, helping to adjust the game plan.
- The ability to spread paralysis aids the team’s otherwise slow offensive playstyle.
