Online Competition GALAR NEWCOMERS (playable on Showdown!)

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edit: the competition has been officially announced:

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original:

Despite no official announcement yet; it turns out the next Online Competition has been added to the Battle Stadium servers! This website was found by viewing the Galar Beginnings rules within Battle Stadium's "Download Rules" section. Pressing 'X' on the Galar Beginnings rules opens the Switch Browser, and you can find that page's URL by pressing + on that page. Galar Begginings' URL was https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000101/en, and simply changing it to https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000102/en gave us this new site for the upcoming format!


This means we can discover future Online Competitions before they are officially announced and prepare accordingly. No mention of competition date is found though.

RULES:
  • Double Battles
    • Bring 6, pick 4
  • NEW Pokemon only. This includes Galarian formes but not other regions. Legends are banned.
  • All Gigantamax Pokemon are ALLOWED.
  • Item clause
  • Timer:
    • 90 Second team preview
    • 10 Minutes game timer
    • 60 second turn timer

What Pokemon or strategies do you think will be popular in this limited banlist?
 
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So obviosly, Dragapult is going to be god damn everywhere, and I imagine Corviknight, Duraludon, Dracovish will also be very, very common. This being galar mons only also notably makes Hatterene one of the onkly good Trick Room mons.

So since I just woke up, I wanna focus on Dracovish in particular: the only 4x Water resist I see is Appletun (whose weak to Dragon too), and there's no Storm Drain Gastrodon to redirect its water attacks (in fact, the only form of redirection I see here is Female Indeedee and Lighting Rod Pincurchin, more on that in a moment). So yeah, Dracovish sounds god damn terrifying, with basically its best check being just slamming it with Dragapult before it starts going on a murder-spree!

Something that does help against it is that unlike VGC, the fastest Tailwinder is... Corvisquire lol. I'm sure Tailwind Corviknight will be around, but otherwise your only other option is Frosmoth lol.

So I love TR in doubles, that's no secret, and seeing Dracovish's terror made me think of a strange idea to use...

ARCTOVISH!

Arctovish
Brave Nature
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
IVs: 0 Spe
- Fishious Rend
- Icicle Crash
- Freeze-Dry
- Protect

Yeah that's right, I want to try out Dracovish's inbred cousin! There's a reason for this beyond just "lol it has Water Absorb": It isn't weak to Dragon-types, and with only 4 Special Attack EVs, Freeze Dry actually OHKOs Dracovish! Icicle Crash does 96% minimum to Dragapult as well, so that's pretty cool. Just watch out for Corviknight and Duraludon, who I assume will still be everywhere.

I'm sure there's plenty of other cool ideas too, I just wanted to get the idea of Arctovish out there lol. But yeah, I imagine VGC standards like Dragapult, Duraludon, Dracovish, Hatterene, Indeedee Female, Galarian Darmanitan, and Corviknight will see plenty of usage here, so I imagine if you're going to use some of the more unsual mons, its best to have a gameplan against those!
 
Coalossal + surf dragapult seems strong. Just needs to watch out for anything faster than dragapult...

I expect to see Duraludon on most teams, especially with indeedee+hatt still existing in this format for TR teams.
 
Now that snorlax isn't allowed, i like to introduce yall to snorlax at home aka the king Greedent
Greedent @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Cheek Pouch
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Facade
- Stomping Tantrum
- Fire Fang
- Belly Drum
With its base 20 speed, it is one of the slowest new pokemon that speed ties with applin (who is gonna use an applin) and the only pokemon slower than greedent that could have relevence in trick room is pincurchin, and greedent is pretty tanky on the physical side. EV spread and general set could be more optimized but this is just the basics of greedent showing its power beating down as many pokemon in this format with this coverage. I really see much potential with this rodent in this competition being paired with trick room due to these traits.
 
I’ve had my eyes on some mons that weren’t as relevant as well and I’ve been tinkering with how to play them (Sorry Stonjourner, I don’t know exactly how to build you).

Eldegoss @ Sitrus Berry / Aguav Berry
Ability: Cotton Down
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Helping Hand
- Giga Drain / Energy Ball
- Sleep Powder / Leech Seed
- Protect

I kinda wanted to do something fun with the new bulky Grass type and when we’re missing Supports, no time but the present to try it, right? Cotton Down annoys everyone and everything on the field when it gets hit alongside with pretty normal supportive moves, it could probably do well this time around.

Obstagoon @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Obstruct

Well this is a cleaner version of what I actually have thought out so far (see spoiler), since I’m actually not too sure what I think this needs to cover. It has alright coverage all around and access to fun stuff like Knock Off and Guts make it a thing to be feared. Its Attack is a bit lackluster, but it can definitely dish out quite a bit of damage. A Scarfed version of this could probably punch some holes into the enemy too, but there aren’t any Intimidate mons to take advantage of Defiant, unfortunately. It could be funny if you pair up Full Bulk Obstagoon with Defiant with Eldegoss though, idk, I thought it’d be fun to play with though.

Note about the Speed stuff in here, I think the most important thing to decide is if you’d rather speed tie Base 95s, beat Indeedee-F (Base 85s), or think if you’ll really need to beat Base 75s (Dracozolt and Dracovish).
Obstagoon @ Flame Orb / Life Orb / Choice Band / Choice Scarf / Assault Vest
Ability: Guts / Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade / Double-Edge / Body Slam
- Knock Off
- Close Combat / Gunk Shot / Seed Bomb
- Obstruct / Gunk Shot / Seed Bomb

Base 88 (Obstagoon)
Level: 50
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature

Base 85 (Obstagoon)
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature

Base 75 (Obstagoon)
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
 
So I played a couple of games with legendofmother , and jesus christ Gmax Hatterene is frightening. So at first, its G-move, G-max Smite, might not seem like its special: it confuses the foe. Most of us have talked about it as "well it doesn't get rid of your Psychic Terrain", but after testing it against him, good lord confusing both your foes at once is actually really nasty, its like putting a flinch chance on your foes head!

Since Corviknight and Frosmoth are the only Tailwinders, I'd expect a LOT of Trick Room here, like really I expect most teams will have a Trick Room element in them somehow. And with that, Gmax Hatterene is the most obvious setter of it, so watch out for that! Some other stuff to mention though:

-Lom used Indeedee Male. Unlike Indeedee Female (who I expect to be everywhere because of Follow Me), Indeedee Male can actually set up Trick Room with a twist: its decently fast and gets Imprison! This can screw up other Trick Room teams, and is pretty much the only way to really stop Hatterene in particular from setting it up!

-Runerigus gets Trick Room. I don't really expect it to be good... but hey its there and bulky!

-So turns out, Galarian Slowpoke IS in fact allowed! 1_TrickPhony had an idea thats a variant of the old Slowpoke + Torkoal stragegy: Slowpoke + Duraludon! Idea is to use Bulldoze to activate Duraludon's Weakness Policy, potentially letting it sweep! Also, sorta neat that Slowpoke gets Own Tempo since confusion actually matters here lol. I'm thinking Galarian Slowpoke should use max HP / max Defense with Bold so it can have a 75% chance to survive Dragapult's LO Max Phantasm (yes, Eviolite does work on Galarian Slowpoke!)

Now as for Trick Room abusers...

-I agree with legendofmother here that Greedent is a huge threat. It plays pretty much like Snorlax from VGC, except theres even less checks for it here! Any time that thing set up Belly Drum, walling it was useless, it'd just smash anything it wants to pieces lol. This in fact, is another great reason to run Trick Room: So you can get rid of it before Greedent kicks your ass!

-I do sorta want to try Pincurchin, because Greedent seems so threatening that honestly underspeeding it under Trick Room sounds pretty nice, even if you aren't going to OHKO it!

Despite all these mons I mentioned... I'm predicting that Duraludon is going to be the best Pokemon in the format. This thing is a bastard to OHKO, especially bulky Assault Vest ones. To give you a picture: I'm currently running Choice Band Galarian Darmanitan just so I can do 80% min to Dynamax max HP Duraludon rofl. And not only that, but it hits really damn hard too, notably having a Steel STAB for Hatterene AND blasting Dragapult. It's coverage is pretty much perfect in this format!

Oh yeah, I think Galarian Darmanitan is gonna be really damn good here too, since it's got a pretty good speed tier for this format and hits insanely hard!
 
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Theorymon said:
Despite all these mons I mentioned... I'm predicting that Duraludon is going to be the best Pokemon in the format.
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Agreeing here. Haven't played a lot of games of the format proper (got a mix of games using the actual format and playing vs bsd teams on the ladder lol), but it just seems so dominant. There are so precious few resistances to Steel and Dragon out there right now. Most of them fall over from Thunderbolt. Currently running a team of Duraludon, three pokemon that support Duraludon, and a Pokemon that kills Duraludon and it's doing pretty well. Interested to see where it goes from here on after such strong Day 1 impressions.
 
legendofmother said:
Jan 30 - Feb 2
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Oh dear, I better start getting ready in-game.

Anyway, I found another very dangerous combo: Behold, Indeedee + Thievul!

Thievul @ Psychic Seed
Ability: Unburden
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Psychic
- Protect

Indeedee-F (F) @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Psychic Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 195 Def / 61 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Ally Switch
- Helping Hand
- Psychic

Follow Me and Sweep. Thanks to Unburden, Thievul already has an Agillity boost, and with a single Nasty Plot, you already have a Double Dance. Consider that top Pokemon, Duraludon, Dragapault, Hatterene don't resist Dark, and you got a Pokemon that can deal major damage to top threats. Thievul has surprisingly good special defense so it can set up against Specially Offensive threats, such as Dragapault and Duraludon. Psychic is just coverage cause because Thievul has bad coverage, while Ally Switch causes guessing shenanigans.

Replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8galarnewcomers-1046415243
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8galarnewcomers-1046421827
 
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Gallazard said:
So I’ve been playing a few games on showdown and just to let everyone know, in case anyone isn’t aware, but it seems like Duraladons ability stalwart is redirected by ally switch on showdown while stalwart ignores ally switch in game.
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Oh wow, I didn’t know that Ally Switch was considered redirection on cartridge.
 
Gallazard said:
So I’ve been playing a few games on showdown and just to let everyone know, in case anyone isn’t aware, but it seems like Duraladons ability stalwart is redirected by ally switch on showdown while stalwart ignores ally switch in game.
Click to expand...

There are a few things that are yet to be implemented properly on showdown as it is on cartridge. From what I am aware of, it includes some Dragon Darts mechanics, Stalwart mechanics, and Neutralizing Gas mechanics, including some clearly bug-like interactions that makes Stalwart attack your own partner.

Pokemon Showdown staff are doing their best to sort out these bugs in timely manner, and some of these are a huge headache (and seemingly so broken it is possible that they will fix some of these interactions, like the Sucker Punch glitch that got partially fixed on patch 1.1) Please understand.
 
Propeller Tail Barraskewda looks like fun. I’m assuming Jolly nature and no boosting item for the calcs below. It does 67% minimum to pre-Dynamax Hatterene with Max Geyser; pair with Helping Hand, Duraludon, or a decently strong spread move for the KO. Max Darkness is a clean OHKO on no bulk Dragapult, again with no boosting item. Or, pair with Choice Scarf and Helping Hand to outspeed and get the OHKO with just Crunch, assuming no Dynamax. Close Combat does 66% min to 252 HP/0 Def Duraludon, so a Max Phantasm drop, Choice Band, Helping Hand almost guarantees the OHKO (93%ish chance). A couple cons are 4MSS, fraility, and inability to effectively deal with Dracovish in most situations (it barely underspeeds Jolly Scarf; Barraskewda’s Max Mindstorm in Psychic Terrain with a Helping Hand boost can usually OHKO, though.

I’ve been wanting to try the Steam Engine Coalossal gimmick, so I’m going to use Choice Scarf + Surf on a 0 SpA Barraskewda; it’s actually weaker than Dragapult’s Surf by a smidge (26ish% max), though the damage rolls mostly overlap.
 
Leader Wallace said:
Thievul
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I think that theivul is a legitimate Pokemon for this format, but I'm more of the opinion that it's better off doing supportive stuff. I still feel that Duraludon is the best Pokemon in the format after playing a reasonable amount on the ladder (~70ish games) and it has two of the best tools for getting rid of Duraludon: Snarl and Fake Tears. Snarl punishes greedy early dynamaxes very well and turns Duraludon into a big awkward pile of barely doing anything. Fake Tears just lets you nuke ones without super heavy SpDef investment immediately with your own faster Dynamax Duraludon or some other Dynamax special attacker.

----

There's also another cool Pokemon with Snarl (and fake tears but I'm ignoring that for now) that's faster and has way more bulk I want to recommend some people. Your snarls do less damage, but you get to do some physical damage instead.

:obstagoon:
Obstagoon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 148 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Snarl
- Brick Break
- Body Slam

Duraludon can hardly touch Assault Vest Obstagoon. You're faster than all of them outside of TR and power down their Dynamax moves before the first one is even fired off. The EVs are admittedly pretty arbitrary. I wanted some bulk so I just upped HP to some chunky-esc value I liked, made my SpDef an even number, and called it a day. Defiant is also great for scaring people when they max wyrmwind into something. Fun little bit of technology: You can snarl into corviknight, activate its Mirror Armor, and get a Defiant boost from your own snarl (I'm fairly certain this is accurate to cart, I remember a max darkness on a corviknight doing something similar).

You mostly just click Knock Off and Snarl. Body Slam is just secondary stab; might be worth using Double Edge or even Mega Kick for the lack of recoil. Brick Break helps kill Duraludon faster and screens are fairly common with all the Grimmsnarls around. I think this might be the first time in 13 years of playing competitive pokemon I'm actually using Brick Break primarily for its function of destorying screens instead of just being essentially a fighting-type elemental punch lol.

Stuff like Obstruct, Fake Tears, Icy Wind also seem pretty cool but I didn't use them extensively or like them that much on a first impression.

Edit: Also, I had one wacky interaction on the ladder that tickled me enough to share.

QwveHSA.png

Don't let a Darmanitan U-turn your Runerigus on the turn you're trick rooming
 
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Who's that stud running Runerigus :psysly:

On the real, Farfetch'd has proven to be a notable threat to just about everything on the newcomer ladder.

Sirfetch'd @ Leek
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Detect
- Meteor Assault
- Steel Wing

Ideally you will be dmaxing your fetch every time. Critical hits ignore enemy buffs, negative atk stages, and screens. With Leek providing +2 stat stages, you give yourself a 50% chance to completely ignore your opponents setup.

Knockoff will 1 shot Dragapult and gives max darkness. Max darkness 1 shots indeedeeF without a crit.

Meteor Assault provides a 100bp Max Knuckle, enough to KO uninvested Duraludon without a crit, and kill +1 Duraludon with a crit. Additionally, it returns your dropped attack stat after Max Wyrmwind. Meteor Assault raw provides a fantastic parting gift from Fetch and will one shot just about everything, especially after investment. Scrappy means a Dragapult swap in is still getting smacked.

Detect is run because protect can be imprisoned. No other reason. Max guard is nice to stall out opponent dmax turns, and to keep you safe waiting for TR.

Steel Wing is for max steelspike to hit Hatt, Grimm, Alcremie. The +def can be useful, but that's not why we run it.
 
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Does anyone have a rental team I could use for this one? I haven't really had time to make my own team but I'd still like to participate with something more than just grabbing some random Galar mons I have. Tried searching on Google but the only code I found didn't work.
 
JebusChrist said:
Does anyone have a rental team I could use for this one? I haven't really had time to make my own team but I'd still like to participate with something more than just grabbing some random Galar mons I have. Tried searching on Google but the only code I found didn't work.
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you can not use rental teams in the online competitions
 
JebusChrist said:
Really? Serebii says otherwise: https://www.serebii.net/swordshield/rental.shtml
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In the "Galar Beginnings" thread someone wrote that rental teams don't work, also I remember in the past gen rental teams were not allowed in online competitions ... so I assumed its still the same, but sorry I haven't tested it myself.

edit:
i checked ingame, you can not select rental teams for the team check ... I will check again when the competition starts, but so far it seems rentals are not allowed
 
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Day 1 was okay and I ended it 10:5 with 1573 points. Day 2 was better and I finished 12:3 with 1685 points (in total 22:8, currently 234th place). Thats okay for me as I haven't tested my team.

The most annoying thing for me was Galarian Corsola, as you have to handle it before it can setup and that leaves you open for attacks (as I don't have Taunt on my team).

The funniest thing was that many players don't seem to know that Propeller Tail and Stalwart ignore Ally Switch. So from their point of view I probably look like a master predicter ;)

The craziest thing I've seen was "fast Trick Room" - a speed invested Indeedee using After You on a Trick Room setter ... Trick Room was up before I could act.
 
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