Metagame [Gen 9] Modern Gen 2

[anique]

Nog Blog #13: A Complete Beginners Guide to Understanding Modern Gen 2
Hi. This thread will give you all the information, and probably much more than you would like, that you can learn about MG2. We are planning on holding a tournament hopefully sometime soon, and this is mainly a resource for new and returning players to understand the mechanics and the metagame. Most of this "nog blog" will be in relation to how the mechanics work: even the teambuilding section will outline how to build teams in relations to the mechanics of the meta. This will be broken into several sections, and I'll put a brief table of contents here if there's sections you are only interested in reading. If there is one section you read, I would suggest reading the part on the mg2 specific mechanics. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in our discord or dm me.

Table of Contents (I cannot believe I am writing a table of contents for a smogon post)
1. MG2 Resources
2. A brief introduction to Modern Gen 2
3. Important mechanics to understand in Modern Gen 2
3a. gen 2 mechanics
3b. mg2 specific mechanics (IMPORTANT)
4. The current state of the Modern Gen 2 metagame
4a. How the current mechanics play into the metagame, ways of making progress, etc.
4b. Teambuilding and team structures as a result of the mechanics
4c. Understanding the VR as a result of those mechanics. Why are those Pokemon ranked so highly/lowly?
4d. Is anything broken? Things to watch out for?
5. Conclusion

1. Modern Gen 2 Resources
Discord Link: HERE
Challenge Command: Because we are not an official metagame, we don't have a nice button to click on the main Showdown server to send challenges. This also makes teambuilding more difficult but I will go into that later. However, you can play a game of MG2 by just copy and pasting the challenge command below in a DM to your opponent.

Challenge Command

/challenge gen2customgame @@@ -Alakazite, -Baton Pass, -Fake Out, -Last Respects, -Shell Smash, -Soul Dew, -Annihilape, -Arceus, -Calyrex-Ice, -Calyrex-Shadow, -Darkrai, -Deoxys-Base, -Deoxys-Attack, -Deoxys-Speed, -Dialga, -Dragapult, -Eternatus, -Giratina, -Groudon, -Ho-oh, -Iron Bundle, -Iron Valiant, -Koraidon, -Kyogre, -Kyurem-White, -Lugia, -Lunala, -Magearna, -Manaphy, -Marshadow, -Mewtwo, -Miraidon, -Naganadel, -Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, -Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, -Palkia, -Pheromosa, -Rayquaza, -Regigigas, -Reshiram, -Slaking, -Solgaleo, -Tapu Koko, -Volcarona, -Xerneas-*, -Yveltal, -Zacian, -Zamazenta, -Zekrom, -Zeraora, -Zygarde, +Deoxys-Defense, +Zygarde 10%, -all abilities, +No Ability, Sleep Clause Mod, Evasion Clause, OHKO Clause, Endless Battle Clause, !! Max Move Count = 4, !! Max Level = 100, !! Max Team Size = 6, Obtainable Formes

Dragon Haven Link: HERE. On the Dragon Heaven side server, we do have a builder and button you can click to challenge someone.

Modern Gen 2 Unique Mechanics Google Doc: HERE.

Sample Teams:
Volcanion HO by R8 -
Slowking Balance by anique -
Talonflame Balance (OUTDATED) by Noglastica -
zap jelli by qsns -

Damage Calculator Resources:
Blank Calc Set Import - Paste this into the normal damage calc. This option is not perfect as damage as calculated slightly differently in gen 2 as it is in gen 9, so you can get marginally different results, though nothing notable. You also do need to make manual changes for move power, however, like changing fire blast from 120bp to 110. An alternative, but longer, method that will give slightly more precise results is using the Gen 2 damage calc and changing typing/base stats.

The easiest option is using HelloDex found here. This is super convenient for mg2 but also has a few issues. The worst, and most notable one, is that fairy typing just does not work. Offensive fairy moves and defensive fairy typing will just not show a result, so that needs to be done in the normal calc. A way around this is just manually removing the offending mon's fairy typing in the Hellodex calculator. Another thing to note is that some of the calcs may be wrong. They are 99% of the time correct, but I have seen it get Foul Play calcs wrong before, so I can't guarantee it's success.

2. A Brief Introduction to Modern Gen 2
Modern Generation 2 is essentially just Generation 9 National Dex played in Generation 2. The main differences are a lack of abilities, no 508 EV cap, and the physical special split. These will be discussed in the upcoming mechanics section, you can envision MG2 as a blend between Gen 2 OU and Nat Dex. There are some unique quirks that arise when important newer generation moves and items into Generation 2, but we believe these are all healthy and enjoyable aspects of the metagame.

3. Important Modern Gen 2 Mechanics
a. Generation 2 Mechanics:
If you have a solid understanding of the GSC OU Mechanics, you can skip this section and just read the important Modern Gen 2 specific mechanics. If not, welcome to your introduction of basic GSC mechanics!

An important note: any move or item that exists in GSC works the same way in Modern Gen 2. Things only get funky when they come from the later gens and get important into Gen 2.

Probably the most important thing to know about Generation 2 (GSC) is that there are no abilities! For better or worse, this makes it easier to understand every Pokemon. In Modern Gen 2, this can be good or bad. Take Tyranitar for example: it no longer has sand stream, which makes it much less useful for teams. On the other hand, something like Archeops loses its horrible ability in defeatist, making it much more viable in MG2. It's important to remember this when team building, but it's very easy to forget. If you want to use Aegislash, you need to remember it's always going to be stuck in its shield form.

The second most important thing to know about GSC is there is a physical special split. In Generation 4-9, moves can be physical or special. Flame Charge is a physical fire type attack, while Flamethrower is a special fire type attack. In Generation 1-3, this is not the case. For MG2, every single fire type is a special type attack.

Physical: Ground, Rock, Flying, Steel, Ghost, Normal, Fighting, Poison, Bug, Fairy (there is no Fairy in standard GSC)
Special: Fire, Water, Grass, Psychic, Dark, Electric, Ice, Dragon

Don't be overwhelmed! It's very easy to remember which is which. If you can remember all the eevolution types, and then add dragon, those are all special types, with fairy being the exception. If it does not have an eevolution (with dragon as the exception), then it's a physical type attack. Just like having no abilities, this makes certain Pokemon stronger or weaker. Walking Wake has a higher special attack stat, so it benefits from getting a special flip turn, rather than a physical flip turn. Weavile has a very high attack stat, but it is horrible in MG2 because both of its STAB dark and ice attacks are special.

The final very important Gen 2 mechanic is that there is no 508 EV cap. This means every Pokemon can, and should, bring 252 EVs in every stat. You don't actually have to EV your Pokemon, leaving them at 0 EVs in every stat automatically sets them to 252 when you enter battle.

Those are the main three mechanics, and if you can remember those, you're in a good spot with understanding the tier. But, I've included some others which are important below, and I have an even less important section below that if you're curious.

Other Important GSC Mechanics:
- GSC has only one layer of spikes maximum, which deals 1/8 (12.5%) of the Pokemon's health when they switch in
- Defog does not remove hazards in MG2
- 999 Stat Limit: In Generation 2, Pokemon cannot boost past the 999 stat limit. For example, Latias can boost up to +5 speed at 1113, but it cannot boost to +6 as the 1113 is past the 999 threshold.
- Sleep talk can use rest. This is one of the reasons that sleep talk is used so much in GSC OU. However, it does reset your rest counter back to 0. If you are put to sleep through a move like hypnosis or sing, and use sleep talk which pulls rest, it will work and then reset your rest counter.
- Roar and Whirlwind fail if they are not the last move used on the turn. Unlike in new generations, if two Pokemon use roar, the slower roar will actually force out the faster roar. An important thing to note is that Roar and Whirlwind have -1 priority, while later phasing moves like Dragon Tail have -6 priority, so Roar will always fail when used against a -2 or lower priority move.
- Badly poison and normal poison mechanics work differently. A poisoned Pokemon will take 1/8 damage every turn. A badly poisoned Pokemon will take 1/16 damage every turn, and then add 1/16 every following turn. However, if that Pokemon switches out and switches back in, it will become normal poison and deal damage accordingly.
- Pertaining to critical hits: If the attackers Attack / Special Attack stat is equal to or less than the opponent's Defense / Special Defense, any attack or defense boosts will be ignored on a critical hit, as well as reflect / light screen and burn. If the Attack / Special Attack stat is higher than the opponents Defense / Special Defense stat, nothing is ignored. ex. Machamp landing a +0 Crit against a Starmie behind Reflect does more damage than if Machamp was at +1 attack.
- Explosion and Self-Destruct halve their opponents defense (you can treat them as 2x power for a nearly identical damage prediction)
- Electric types can be paralyzed through Thunder Wave and secondary effects off electric moves like Thunder.
- Steel resists both ghost and dark type moves.

Less Important GSC Mechanics:
Most of these following examples, and the previous critical hit description, were taken from this thread as I am not an expert on every single GSC intricacy. However, I have organized them on most to least important, so once you get to a mechanic that you say "I don't need to know this" then feel free to move on to the MG2 mechanics as they will only get less relevant.

- Hidden Powers are physical / special based on their typing. Hidden Power fire is special, while Hidden Power rock is physical. However, because Hidden Power itself is a normal move that gets modified, so if you use counter against any special Hidden Power, it will still be countered.
- Residual damage is dealt immediately after moving, but it is not dealt if the affected Pokemon KO's the opposing Pokemon. The exception to this is sandstorm. If I have a burned Pokemon but I kill their Pokemon, I do not take burned damage. However, if I attack them while burned and do not KO them, I immediately take the burn damage before they move (assuming I am faster.) This is important because if I die to residual damage, the turn immediately ends, even if you used a recovery move or something else.
- Sandstorm does 1/8th damage per turn instead of 1/16th. It also does not give a spdf boost to rock types.
- Morning Sun restores to full HP always in sun.
- Sleep lasts from 1-6 turns, rest is two turns.
- Taunt lasts for 2 turns
- Encore lasts for 3-6 turns. Encore also does not work against sleep talk.
- Frozen Pokemon can't move on the turn they thaw out.
- You cannot use protect from behind a substitute.
- There is an overflow mechanic where if stats go over 999 they will overflow back around and give you 13 attack or something horrible. This is just something you have to worry about with Marowak (who is bad) and using reflect / light screen while boosting that defense / special defense stat (not very relevant).

Snorlax Double-Edge vs. +1 Skarmory: 36-43 (10.8 - 12.9%)
Snorlax Double-Edge vs. +1 Skarmory through Reflect: 188-222 (56.4 - 66.6%)

- IVs are instead called DVs and range from 1-15 instead of 1-31.
- Mean Look goes through Substitute
- Absorbing moves like Giga Drain and Leech seed fail against substitute.
- If you use Belly Drum below 50% HP, it will say it fails, but will still raise your Attack to +2.
- Quick Claw gives your Pokemon a 23.4375% (60 / 256) chance of ignoring Speed and going first within your speed bracket.

b. Modern Gen 2 Specific Mechanics
Well now that all the Generation 2 exclusive mechanics are out of the way, now it's time to learn what is different between Gen 2 and Modern Gen 2. The most important thing to know about Modern Gen 2 is that moves and items are imported to MG2 in their earliest form. In Generation 4, the grass move Energy Ball was introduced with 80bp. In Generation 6-9, it was increased to 90bp. However, in Modern Gen 2, it still is 80bp because that is its earliest form. If you can remember this, you know how 99% of all moves work in MG2. Moves that already exist in Gen 2 like Fire Blast are the exact same in MG2 as GSC OU.

There are a few other very important differences though. The most important difference is that Air Balloon does not pop. What?? We were shocked to find this out, but it's true! Air Balloon works the exact same as it does in the current gen, except it does not pop when hit normally. It can be knocked or stolen as normal, but there are only two other ways to remove Air Balloon. If the Pokemon with Air Balloon uses Substitute, and the Substitute is hit, then the Air Balloon will be popped. The two moves in the entire game that actually do pop Air Balloon are future sight and doom desire, though neither get STAB and both have a chance of missing. This is our weird mechanic.

My favorite mechanic of the tier is that Heavy-Duty Boots do NOT ignore spikes and toxic spikes. In my opinion, current generation boots are way too strong and getting to completely ignore all hazards completely removes an entire aspect of the game which is hazard stacking and hazard removal. In Modern Gen 2, Heavy-Duty Boots ignore rocks and webs, but still get hit by spikes and toxic spikes. Rock weak Pokemon are still viable as they can run boots, but they don't get to ignore spikes as well. Pokemon that don't care about taking rock damage (mainly steel types) benefit greatly from Balloon as they can ignore spikes, toxic spikes, and webs, while also maintaining a ground attack immunity.

These are the main two mechanics you need to know. We have a google doc with additional mechanic changes linked here. I will include a few more of the other important mechanics here.
- Choice Items do NOT work. Life Orb also does not give a damage boost, but it does still give recoil.
- Fairy type is physical, as mentioned in the GSC mechanic section. Fire types also do NOT resist fairy.
- Mega Evolutions serve as a one type boost, and are NOT visual. Stat changes work as normal, as do type changes, but if you switch out, you will lose both the stat and type changes for the rest of the battle. Megas also work under the Generation 6 mega speed mechanic.
- Everyone's favorite mechanic: scald will not burn water types! You finally have a scald switch in. Secondary effects that apply status will not work against Pokemon of the same type. Scald will not burn vs waters, flamethrower will not burn vs fire, and ice beam will not freeze vs ice.
- Everyone's least favorite mechanic: Status moves that inflict status conditions will not be blocked by Pokemon of the same type. Thunder wave will hit electric types and Wisp will hit fire types.
- Psychic Noise works as in DPP: it lasts for 5 turns where heal moves cannot be selected. It does not block rest called from sleep talk, and it does not block leftovers recovery.
- If a pivot move KO's an opponent's Pokemon, instead of having to select your Pokemon first, you actually both have to send your Pokemon out at the same time.
- Flame Charge does not give a speed boost if you KO the Pokemon with it
- Foul Play is now a special type move, so it deals damage off the opponents special attack instead of attack
- Ivy-Cudgel is always a grass type move (bad)
- First Impression can be used every turn, not just the first turn you switch in on, and it always keeps its priority.

4. Current State of the Modern Gen 2 Metagame
a. How the mechanics play into the metagame
That's quite a lot of mechanics. Now, how do these GSC and MG2 mechanics change the tier from just being NatDex with different sprites?

Well, as mentioned during the GSC section, the physical/special split makes certain Pokemon much less viable if their STABs do not match their own stats, e.g., Weavile. It also can end up changing the roles of Pokemon as well. The prime example of this is Gholdengo. Like Weavile, Gholdengo's stats do not match its typing at all. Both steel and ghost are physical, while Gholdengo has only 60atk and 133spa. Normally this would sentence Gholdengo to MG2 NU, but it is actually still very strong due to a combination of GSC and MG2 mechanics. The most important is that Air Balloon cannot be popped, meaning that it loses its ground immunity forever. It also benefits from Gen 2 steel typing mechanics where steel resists dark and ghost, making Gholdengo neutral to them. If Gholdengo still has its Air Balloon, it has 4 immunities, 9 resists, 4 neutrals, and only 1 weakness, fire. Combined with a 32 pp recovery, electric types getting hit by its thunder wave, and a max EV meta where it can run 252 HP, 252 Def, and 252 Spdf, Gholdengo goes from an incredibly powerful sweeper in SV and Gen9 ND into the best defensive wall in MG2, even if it still has a poor movepool.

The maximum EV bulk meta of Modern Gen 2, combined with its unique mechanics, ends up blending the tier into an incredibly balanced format. While you might at first think stall would be too powerful with high pp recovery moves, sleep talk pulling rests, wisp and twave hitting both fire and electric types respectively, combined with maximum EV bulk and boots no longer ignoring spikes, it might be too difficult for offensive teams to break through in a timely manner. However, offensive teams ALSO have maximum EV bulk, giving them more opportunities to set up and sweep. Teams that are too passive are unable to deal with bulky setup sweepers, or meaningfully punish offensive Pokemon. Pivot moves are also present, and maintaining constant pressure prevents fatter teams from ever getting to click their recovery moves. The prominence of explosion dealing 2x the damage also gives offensive teams an incredibly reliable way to break through stall.

The next section will talk more in depth about the different team structures and how they each seek to use the generation mechanics to their own advantage.

b. Teambuilding and Team Structures
The first issue to tackle is how to actually make a team! Lots of new players don't actually know where to build a team for MG2. The easiest way in my experience is just building in National Dex Ubers. It will automatically change your EVs to all maximum 252 when you load these teams into games. REMEMBER: THERE ARE NO ABILITIES IN MG2. In order for your team to validate, you must manually change each Pokemon's ability to "no ability." I literally played no other tier but Modern Gen 2 for two years and when I tried to play other tiers I kept instinctively changing abilities to "no ability." If you want to avoid being like me, you can also just build in a GSC builder so you don't have to manually enter "no ability." I would not suggest this because it says every move and Pokemon is illegal and you can very easily be disqualified by bringing an illegal moveset. People still make fun of me for bringing earthquake + ice beam Dragapult ONE TIME. Just build in ND Ubers.

Now, onto the actual team structures. I wrote a more in-depth guide on teambuilding several months ago so it might be a little bit dated, but for the most part its still true. You can find it here.

I won't really go into teambuilding and cores, but just give an overview of many of the same playstyles and thinks you need to watch out for with each playstyle.

Hyper Offense
None of these structures are "unique" to MG2 for the most part. Hyper Offense here is like Hyper Offense in other tiers. However, as there is no choice items or life orb to boost your power with. In fact, our only boosting items are the 1.1x items like charcoal and the 1.5x boosted Normal Gem (the other gems are banned.) Hazards are still important for Hyper Offense, as with every team. Building up chip damage combined with pivot moves is a great way to keep up momentum and eventually break through fat cores. Explosion is not a "must-bring" on hyper offense, but it is incredibly useful. Don't forget, if you use explosion on an opponent, even if you don't get to KO them that turn, they don't get to recover as the turn ends before they use their move. Setting up is also great because you're abusing the maximum EV bulk you get to give you more opportunities to set up, and make it harder for opponents to revenge you.

Notable Pokemon on Hyper Offense: Blacephalon, Iron Boulder, Shaymin-Sky.
Blacephalon: Incredibly powerful mixed attacker that has strong physical shadow ball and strong special fire blast. It also has explosion!
Iron Boulder: One of the most threatening sweepers in the tier as not much can wall it and even less can revenge it.
Shaymin-Sky: Its speed tier allows it to be one of the few Pokemon in the tier that can outspeed and revenge Iron Boulder. It also is one of the few options offense can run to more reliably deal with Walking Wake.

Fire Spam
This is another form of Hyper Offense but it's notable enough to deserve its own category. Though it's definitely fallen off, Fire Spam is by far the easiest team to build. Due to the prominence of steels who abuse air balloon and have their additional two resistances in ghost and dark, fire spam teams just look to overwhelm the fire type checks on a team and capitalize on a now fire-weak team. Just make sure you're not too weak defensively.

Notable Pokemon on Fire Spam: Heatran, Iron Moth, Volcanion
Heatran: One of the best options for fire spam as it gets to set rocks, have respectable defensive utility with its air balloon, trap a Pokemon with magma storm, and then boom.
Iron Moth: Iron Moth is incredibly powerful, and its most common set runs sunny day which gives good synergy for your teammates (Morning Sun restores to full HP in sun + Solar Beam.)
Volcanion: An explosion fire type that doesn't let rock types switch in and resist its explosion.

Bulky Offense
What used to be the most common playstyle but has now fallen out of favor a bit, bulky offense attempts to have more of a defensive core than Hyper Offense while still exerting offensive pressure. This style sacrifices usually some speed for more bulk. In matchups against more offensive teams, Bulky Offense will try to use its superior bulk to outlast and out-trade the opposing team. Against bulkier teams, bulky offense will attempt to end games earlier by breaking through cores, though usually not by using explosion in contrast to hyper offense.

Notable Pokemon on Bulky Offense: Melmetal, Slither Wing, Walking Wake
Melmetal: What I have always called the quintessential Bulky Offense mon, Melmetal combines great bulk (air balloon with rest talk) and offensive pressure (double iron bash + thunder wave).
Slither Wing: Solid bulk, good offensive STAB typing, setup potential, and priority First Impression to help revenge for slower teams.
Walking Wake: I want it to be known I am fighting the urge to put Walking Wake for every notable Pokemon. However, Wake is especially great on bulky offense because it has respectable bulk, while also providing a good speed tier and immense offensive pressure through STABs + Flip Turn.

Balance
I hear this is what all the smart and handsome people use. Balance tries to combine the best of both worlds: maintaining offensive pressure while also having an incredibly solid defensive core. I think balance is the hardest to build as you need to have a very strong defensive core using less mons than stall, while also covering all your bases offensively and ensure progress while using less mons than pure offense. Balance is where we start seeing much more status, psychic noise, hazards, and knock off. This is also where teams start caring more about hazard removal.

Notable Pokemon on Balance: Empoleon, Iron Treads, Mew
Empoleon: I know I'm going to get clowned for this because I'm one of the few Empoleon believers, but Empoleon fits the bill (pun intended (it's a penguin)) for balance. It has great defensive utility with roost, haze, roar, and knock off, while also providing some offensive presence through flip turn, hydro pump/scald, and ice beam.
Iron Treads: Another great option that provides solid defensive utility through its typing while also getting to spin. Knock + Earthquake can also be very annoying to switch into.
Mew: I said I was giong to avoid putting Wake for every teamstyle, but Mew actually can fit in every style. It's the best mon in the tier and gets almost every move, so I can't describe everything it does. That being said, its main set is Psychic Noise + Wisp for offensive pressure while also cripping physical attackers defensively, Soft-Boiled for longevity, and its last is flexible, usually using spikes as there are not that many good spikers in the tier.

Fat/Stall
What people think of when they think of GSC. Stall is good, I'm not going to lie and say it's bad, but just like in GSC OU, it's not as consistent as people think. It's strength is that there are plenty of options to build with on stall, though its weakness is that it's the most "checklist" style of building. On stall, you need both spikes and rocks, that much is non-negotiable. Rapid spin is very useful, as is spinblocking an opposing rapid spin. Applying status (wisp or poison) is important for applying some offensive pressure as well. Denying setup is needed, so something like haze or phasing is important as well (phasing still loses to lastmon scenarios.)
Notable Pokemon on Stall: Gholdengo, Gliscor, and Starmie
The glisc-mie-gho core is pretty infamous on stall as of late and I wanted to briefly mention that.
Gholdengo: As mentioned previously, this is the best defensive wall in the game. It's great against physical attackers, and you can pair it with blissey for all your special attacking needs. Its only physical weakness is getting knocked and hit by earthquake, something its teammate can deal with reliably.
Gliscor: Provides hazards and knock for more progress, while also switching into the knock + earthquakes that gholdengo can't.
Starmie: Though it has only mediocre bulk and a middling spa stat, it can spin and apply status. Its also annoying with its 32pp recover.

c. Understanding the VR
So those are the types of teams and some of the Pokemon that they have on them. Now when we look at the VR with our understanding of not only teambuilding, but also MG2 mechanics, it makes much more sense as to why certain Pokemon are being ranked where they are. I'm going to link the most recent VR 4.0 here if you want to look. This might be outdated when you're reading it, but for now it's all we got. Looking at the highest ranked Pokemon, I've already mentioned most of them during the previous team structure section, so I won't go into those. Certain Pokemon like Latios are naturally good due to their stats, but work well in MG2 because of their flexibility on sets and team composition, but also work well into some of the team comps. Latios has the option to pivot with Flip Turn, apply status in Thunder Wave, has powerful STABs and a very useful Psychic Noise to restrict fatter teams, not to mention a good speed tier.

You'll also notice lots of typing trends. There's lots of steel types who abuse air balloon, and as a result, there's lots of fire types who try to punish that. To combat that, there's lots of water types as well to protect the fires. Outside of garchomp who is present on the VR because they have spikes, the only other highly ranked ground types all have knock off in order to deal with air balloon.

d. What is Broken?
Well... the only two Pokemon that have any real discussion are Mew and Walking Wake. While Mew is better, I think Wake has the stronger argument to be banned. Very little can check it, it's 4x resist against fire + water STAB + speed tier makes it great against offensive teams. Offense's only real defensive check for it has recently been Skymin, but that is much less reliable than people think. Against fat teams, you can apply pressure and break witih knock + flip turn. This is a mon that I am actually on the fence about. Mew on the other hand, while it is better, I don't think deserves a ban. It's incredibly annoying to deal with both offensively and defensively, but there feels like more outplay. Even if on paper it's awful to deal with, in practice it gets chipped and status'd much more easily than Wake.

5. Conclusion
My main conclusion is that Massimo Ranieri is the greatest singer of all time. My other conclusion is that Modern Gen 2 is an incredibly balanced tier that YOU should play. I'll be honest, in ten minutes I'm hitting hour four of writing this, so my brain is more fried than usual. That's why section 4 was so short. I even had a section 5 planned but said nope. My real conclusion? This tier is so awesome. I'm not even kidding every other tier just feels so much worse to me now. I think it's so balanced in terms of viability and playstyle, it has its own unique mechanics that keep it different and fresh from other tiers, but its also still similar enough to other tiers that it's not that difficult to pick up. Some of the most annoying and pointless mechanics in other tiers (namely Heavy-Duty Boots and Regenerator) are no longer present. MG2 to me is the perfect blend of "old-school" oldgen mons while still having the 1000+ Pokemon that is the main appeal of the newer generations.

As a newbie to the modern generation 2 metagame, I will keep this wall of text in mind!

Current State of the Modern Gen 2 Metagame

dead

Anyways obvious facts aside, I want to share my thoughts on this metagame after the esteemed tour smpl. I will admit that this meta has gotten better after pult but there are still some issues that should be looked at (corruption, bad management and questionable council(3mm has not played a game of mg2 since ss) but that will be in another post
Removal
it’s been known by everyone who played this meta that the removal options in this tier is dogshit especially before pult was banned. Even after pult was banned people found new options for spinblocking such as ghold and sinis but mostly ghold. Spinning is nearly almost impossible in this meta with few exceptions
Let me demonstrate all the spinner options in this tier
:starmieStarmie: this mon has been fraud since pult and after pult meta, it can’t reliably spin on any ghost types and struggles to check even stuff like melmetal, gliscor and etc..
Tentacruel: same issue as Starmie, it is awful at spinning into the ghosts the only upside it has over Starmie is that it has better bulk but even then it gets withered down throughout the game with it being reliant on black sludge for recovery
Iron Treads: one of the spinners that is “decent” as it can hold its ground vs ghold, it still has its issues though firstly ghold is the only ghost that it can spin on with it needing knock off it still can’t spin past the other ghosts like sinis and grass ghost spinner guy( I forgot his name).
Eleki:
Dhelmise: This thing is awful into ghold + it’s bulk leaves more to be desired
Great tusk: same issue as treads, needs knock to spin on ghold but u still get stonewalled by the grass ghosts
Any other spinners not mentioned are considered ass/not explored
Solution
Freeing pheromosa: pheromosa would save this metagame by providing a great speed control option and pivot after pults departure while also providing utility with rapid spin. It has a lot of checks like the aforementioned ghold, moltres, zapdos and more.
TLDR: all the spinners ass free pheromosa

 

[Noglastica]

Nog Blog #14: Typing Tier List
This is the first nog blog where I begin to notice my slow, spiraling decent into madness. Key word, "notice."

That's right. I decided to finally sell-out and do one of those "tier lists" in order to get more views. I hear there's big money in MG2. This is a combination of offensive and defensive typing in MG2, mainly using the mons that have these typings to evaluate them. Yes, the tiers are also categorized with left on the best and worst of the tier being on the right.

S Tier: Broken types on every team
Steel - Probably no big surprise here, the broken typing is #1. It's stupidly good defensively. Yes there is not any good offensive steel moves to click BUT it literally does not matter. Gen 2 having steel resist ghost and dark makes steel broken, then give it a ground immunity with air balloon. Ban steel types?
Water - Really strong offensively and defensively. Its main strength does come from its ability to check broken fire (the next type), but it also takes advantage of the fact its other defensive weaknesses aren't that popular (electrics get banned and grass is bad).
Fire - Broken offensive typing, the one consistent way to hit steel types provided you don't miss fire blast. The reason it's behind water is honestly because it has less defensive value, albeit it's better offensively.
Psychic - Man I did not think I was going to put psychic in S tier but looking at the VR there's so many psychic mons on it who just like to click psychic noise. It's not so much that psychic is good, but the psychic type mons in the tier are really good (Lati twins, mew, boulder, starmie, slowbro)... and even if psychic for all of them (except Mew) is their "secondary type" it's still a pretty notable consistency. Even looking at replays, there's a shockingly high percentage of teams that have a psychic type on them, though I don't think it's intentionally saying (I want a psychic type).

A Tier: Very strong types, just less consistent, and less options
Dragon - The only thing better than Dragon in A tier is when I'm "Dragon these nuts." Dragon is a good type because it gets to check the water and fire types seen above. It is checked by the everpresent steel type, and has an additional weakness not seen in the S tier types. Dragon suffers from the physical special split where there's plenty of good physical attacking dragon types who don't get to click a physical dragon move. This is unlike steel who the majority are physical attackers anyway, while the majority of water, fire, and psychic types are all special attackers anyway, so they don't suffer from the physical special split. The good news for dragon, there's still some good special attacking dragon types.

Electric - I think this is the most annoying type in the tier in terms of balancing. At least with steel types you can hit them with fire or fighting moves (usually) but with electric your only way of hitting it super effectively is through ground, and to hit them with a ground move, you need to pop their balloon they're always running. The good electrics (koko and zera) have both been banned, because their ability to set-up rather freely. This leaves the less broken electrics (zap and raging bolt) who are still solid options but lacking the same speed/setup.

Fairy - The type that suffers the most from both MG2 mega mechanics and the physical special split. Every fairy type wants to run special moonblast, but it can't. Fairy is still a really good type as just one of two dragon resists/immunities, not to mention that fire does not resist it. If it had good mons to use it, it would be broken, but it doesn't, so it's not. Ya know what I'm sayin?

B Tier: Good types
Ground - Ground gets clowned by those who, how do I politely say, "are bad at the game." Ground is really good. Ignoring that spikes are broken (otherwise rock type would also be higher), ground is great offensively when paired with knock. The REASON it's not in A tier is because it needs to be paired with knock to be good. I believe 3 of the 4 ground types (Tusk + Gliscor + Treads) in B rank on the VR have knock, while the 4th (Garchomp) just has spikes + mega. And even then, it's probably the worst of the 4. Ground is gooooood.

Flying - Think ground but not. Flying type is the one type in the game that actually does get to ignore all hazards with boots. That's kinda it. That's why it's good. The few good flying types kinda prefer special flying moves so they suffer from the physical special split but even then, it's mainly a defensive utility type.

Ghost - It spinblocks. I'd say outside of fire and dragon, ghost has probably the most "somewhat-usable" D rank mons in the tier. Ghost can block spins. That's kinda all you need. Getting to be one of the three types to hit psychic super effectively is really nice too. There's also a reason that 2 of the roughly 7 mons banned from this tier were ghosts. That's right. MG2 type racism.

(corruption)

Fighting - Super great offensive typing. Gets to hit the steel types. That's... kinda it... BUT it technically can also hit dark, rock, normal, and ice! Four of the WORST types in the tier. But that doesn't matter, because it hits broken steel types. That's it. That's the bit.

C Tier: Mid Types/Niche Types
Dark - This is not even really the "psychic type cope" but more of a "mew cope." Dark is kinda the only answer to wisp + psychic noise. Not only do you have the option to actually rest wisp off, but you don't even need to as the only super effective type against psychic types that is special. If dark type were physical, I think it would be worse. It's still not good though. All the mons are pretty doodoo. Who at gamefreak decided to make dark a special type? And then make all the mons physical? It doesn't even make sense.

Grass - Spell grass but replace "gr" with "among." Grass is not good! It's only real benefit is being the best non-water check to Wake. And even then, they're still shaky at best. While the physical special split is kind to grass types, early generation grass moves are pretty horrible. There's a reason they've all been buffed by at least 10bp in the following generations. Also walled by steel? Comeonson.

Comeonson

Bug - If you thought grass was bad, wait until you hear about bug. Bug is also bad. Think grass but bugs instead of grass. Now you're caught up. Bug has none of the redeming defensive qualities quality of grass, BUT it does get to hit psychic types super effectively and THAT is all you need in this god forsaken tier. Also broken mon SLITHER WING my beloved is a bug type. And I will NOT be giving Slither the D.

Rock - Think bug but also bad, and instead of bug it's a rock. Now you're caught up. Rock is actually horrible. No, I am not considering stealth rocks. Thank you for asking though. The one (1) redeemable quality that rock has is that it gets to check fire while not dying to boom. That's literally all it has going for it. Unironically carried by garganacl. And when garg is your peak standard of success, it's not a good sign.

D Rank - Doodoo

Poison - Poison is bad. Doodoo even. There are no real good poison types that click poison moves. Poison might suffer from the physical special split more than any other type in the tier. The one mon that actually clicks poison moves is sneasler and he's in hell right now having to go against gliscor (checks him) starmie (checks him) and gholdengo (guess what.)

Normal - AWFUL. TRULY AWFUL. I'm not sure I've ever brought a team that had a normal type on it unless I was joking. Or running Ursaluna. So no, never on a serious team. Normal types just don't do anything. That's kinda their schtick I know, but even then, they're pretty bad. They have three good moves. The first two are explosion and self-destruct. Basically the same move. And while they're good being clicked by normal types, they're BETTER WHEN BEING CLICKED BY NON-NORMAL TYPES. The third good offensive move fits nicely in the "worst" type in the game explanation.

Ice - Think awful but then cold themed. And no, I am not talking about Wyoming. It gets hot there too. Did you know much of the land is classified as an arid desert? It's awful. NO. Ice has absolutely no good defensive utility, and it's best move is Hidden Power Ice, which isn't even ICE BECAUSE IT'S A NORMAL TYPE MOVE. YEP. I'M PULLING THAT CARD. If HP Ice was an ice type move, then why can it be countered? Curious liberals, can't wait to see you explain that one. Ice does get to click ice moves vs dragon types. I'll admit, this is GREAT because ice types are all pretty much all special attackers anyway (weavile you will not be missed.) However, it does not help when the one non-horrible ice type is Kyurem who is already slower and getting killed by Dragons. Also walled by steel?? What are we doing.

Conclusion: Steel is sooo broken. I just realized steel resists or is immune to the C-D ranks. That's not really notable though because basically every type in the game is either resisted by steel or hits it super effectively. Steel remains the most centralizing type in the game.

Conclusion the Sequel (MG2TS: JTB Reference): If you thought poison and normal were doodoo, this summarizes my thoughts on ice even better: ip grabber. I'll be honest, the ice type slander does hurt me. It used to be my favorite type, and Glaceon was always my favorite. I even wanted to be an ice type gym leader on my favorite Pixelmon server... How the days run together...

Conclusion the Threequel? What is it even called? Sequel to the sequel?

It began with the forging of the great gems. Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest, bulkiest of all sleep talk users. Seven to the Dwarf Lords: great knock + earthquake users of the mg2 meta. And nine... nine gems were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desired will-o-wisp. For within these gems was bound the strength and the will to govern the mg2 meta. But they were all of them deceived... for another gem was made. In the land of Modern Gen 2, deep in the larping of the council chat, tier leader Noglastica forged in secret a Master Gem to control all others. And into this gem he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. One gem to rule them all... One by one the Free lands of Modern Gen 2 fell to the power of the normal gem boosted boom.. But there were some who resisted... A last alliance of steels and rocks marched against the armies of boomspam ho. On the slopes of solopl, they fought for the freedom of Modern Gen 2. Victory was near, but the power of the normal gem could not be undone. It was in this moment... when all hope had faded, that Melmetal, balloon steel teambuilding staple, paraflinched the normal gem boomers. Noglastica, the enemy of the Free Peoples of Modern Gen 2, was defeated. The normal gem passed to Melmetal, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever. But the hearts of balloon steels are easily corrupted. And the normal gem has a will of its own. It betrayed Melmetal to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten... were lost. Thus, a Third Meta of Modern Gen 2 began. History became legend... legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the normal gem passed out of all knowledge.

Le Finale

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/9db37897-81a7-40e9-a95f-461700592d63

 

[Charliezard7]

b-but Snorlax is the king of Gen 2 and it's a normal type :(

 

[Copen]

I dont usually do one liners but this may be the worst post I have ever read on this site. What the fuck is Fire and Water S rank and one day Noglastica will learn Sneasler is not checked by Starmie (its slower and this mon does not run fucking psychic) and it cripples one of Ghold (broke mon but cant check Sneasler really it needs its item) and Gliscor (not that good tbh).

 

[Noglastica]

I dont usually do one liners but this may be the worst post I have ever read on this site. What the fuck is Fire and Water S rank and one day Noglastica will learn Sneasler is not checked by Starmie (its slower and this mon does not run fucking psychic) and it cripples one of Ghold (broke mon but cant check Sneasler really it needs its item) and Gliscor (not that good tbh).

NOOOOOOO incredibly smart and knowledgeable MG2 player Copen is criticizing me!!! (For context, this makes me feel the same as when anique criticizes me) (for more context, anique just made a genuine post about how Pheromosa should be unbanned). If you think water and fire are not S tier then you are insane. Fire types are cracked. Water is the best check for that. And also it has Walking Wake (broken mon.) Water types are also one of the only checks for Wake. (Broken mon).

Sneasler is not checked by Starmie (its slower and this mon does not run fucking psychic) and it cripples one of Ghold (broke mon but cant check Sneasler really it needs its item) and Gliscor (not that good tbh).

Ignoring the fact that Starmie has on occasion run psychic before, and the fact it has Twave and chance to scald burn, you're right. Starmie was not a great example. I humbly apologize for a take I made on a shitpost I wrote at 12 in the morning. (Keep in mind, Copen is triggered at a post that also has a Deedee Megadoodoo reference in it and a LOTR MG2 shitpost.)

Saying Sneasler is in fact not checked by Gholdengo is absolutely insane to me. Both STABs are ignored. You have one way of hitting this mon and it's through SD + Shadow Claw (which you can't run if you want either U-Turn or Switcheroo). Even at +2

+2 Sneasler Shadow Claw vs. Gholdengo: 143-169 (37.9 - 44.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO.

And to help you save face even more here, coming after me for "fake calcs" as you tend to do, I am once again informing you that this was done in the GSC calc with corrected stats + typing. But yes! You're absolutely right Copen, Gholdengo DOES want to keep its item. Switcheroo Sneasler DOES annoying Gho. But to say that losing your air balloon makes you not check something you absolutely check is just wrong! Copen also in the discord was complaining about how "oh man I couldn't run switcheroo Sneasler because the DH wasn't working."

Unrelated, here's Copen hating on me saying "I'm fixing DH" (you know, the thing we use for our tours) because it's not needed.

Hater

As for Gliscor, not checking Sneasler

+2 Machamp Close Combat vs. Gliscor: 132-156 (37.3 - 44.1%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

And you know I get that .01% roll. But Noglastica! You can switcheroo Gliscor as well! Wow great point, If only teams occasionally ran both Gliscor and Gholdengo. And also oh no I'm being switcheroo'd! Yeah that's annoying to deal with absolutely, and especially when you consider Dire Claw can sleep as well, but why are we pretending like it still cannot be checked by Gliscor. I know petmod players are infamous for not being great at mons (which is why I play it) but let's remember: the word "check" does not mean "hard counter that you will never lose with."

Finally, I have seen plenty of worse posts on this site, so to say it's the worst post you've ever seen is rich. For one, the Snak30pra Peoples Smogoff Champion post, as well as the MG3 creation post.

But you're right Copen, after reading your discord message I will relent and submit to your objectively correct opinion. "Sneasler does not own these mons".

Thank you for your thoughts, and I would love to read your own MG2 type tier list as well.

Signing off,
Noglastica. 1x Solomodpl champion and Modern Gen 2 tier leader

 

[Copen]

didnt ask but ok

 

[teamo]

i think copen and noglastica should kiss and make up

 

[Noglastica]

Nog Blog #15: Current Meta and Tour Teams + Replay Review

Meta Thoughts
No matter how much qsns tries to convince me, I don't think this meta as of right now is too enjoyable. I like it more than when everyone kept trying to bring gliscor + gho, but there still feels like too many offensive threats to actually have great matchups with your own offense. Feels like DPP mu fish with offense v offense as of now. Running random offensive mons feels nice not because these random mons are good, but because you're less likely to get mu fished by your opponent.

Flutter is incredibly annoying to deal with with great defensive typing + cm spdf bulk. Obviously does a ton cause of its spa stat with tbolt + mystical fire. Very little feels like it can deal with it over a longer game. Main weaknesses are lack of recovery so you can hazard stack it pretty effectively, and obviously its 55 55 def. Even still, not a ton can check it. The best mons that check it are the ground/dragons but it can still run bad ice move instead of taunt which isn't a good move anyway.

I found myself bringing latios a ton for its defensive value. I think every single latios I brought with the exception of my sun team mlatios was Draco + Psychic Noise + Recover + either CM or Flip Turn depending on the team. Flip Turn is decent but I do think it's a bit overrated in terms of how strong latios is anyway. Psychic noise is an equally great click imo against most checks. Getting to slap latios on to provide speed coverage against wake is great, lets you switch in to the good ground spinners, and just having another fire resist is always good too. It's stupid to deal with. I have tried psycho shift in the past for anti-mew strats but it a) has a chance to miss and b) if you psycho shift wisp, they can wisp you again and you can't get rid of that 2nd wisp burn so.

Mew is still stupid. I'm at the point of some teams where it's just like "this team loses to mew" and "this team kinda loses to mew." I think the best way to deal with it is to force it out T1 with some dark type and to set up hazards. It's much less effective when coming in on hazards. If you don't have something that can switch into a Mew and force it out, you will lose 95% of games against Mew lead. That's another issue I have with offense. Outside of Meow or some sub/taunt whatever jank leads, offense can't really just brute force through Mew effectively without setting up and even then that's hard to do vs wisp + psychic noise mon. Wake which is one of the most threatening, if not the most threatening unboosted mon in the tier, does I think 40 on pump. I don't even have to switch out to anything. Only real form of counterplay feels like a) force out T1 with dark type and get hazards up or b) wisp + psychic noise with your own Mew. It is much less threatening when wisped as well, but fat teams with spin + heal bell can get around both strategies decently enough.

Shed tail exists. That was a sort of revelation I had pre-tour and tested a game I think with it and it won. It's more of a "shock value" thing more than anything. Your choices are orthoworm, cyclizar, and sceptile. I haven't used orthoworm though that was the one I initially tried to build around. Sceptile is less obvious of a "shed tail user" which is why I brought it in combination with sun. 100% synthesis in sun + shed tail could be decent against certain teams. I don't think shed tail is really that good though. It's just for the bulky setup mons who really want a sub but can't afford the slot like mchomp and psychic/taunt boulder which is what my team had. Cyclizar is probably the best on pure HO because you get to click another dragon move and can revenge some stuff like wake I guess. Again, I don't think any are great.

Disrespected mons: Slither I still think is good. Moth sucks for it, gho sucks for it OBVIOUSLY, but it's now taking even more of a hit because of flutter. qsns might be right, wisp could just be better than bulk up but I'm dug in and refuse to change. Empoleon is still good too. Rocks mon + wake check. That being said, less good than I would have said a few months ago. Psychic noise is so annoying. Mbro aka orangesodapop mon is still good. I think it grabbed a win or two this tour. It's incredibly bulky and even physical supereffective STABs do 50% max. Yes you're begging to be crit and can status + opposing psychic noise can be awful, as can just getting boomed on and revenged before you can heal. It's still solid as a lastmon option. Htrode is not good but it should get slightly more usage. Really difficult to switch into its STABs outside of latios and even then you can get volted on + boomed + if you can fit para that is also viable. Final mon that isn't really disrespected, if anything I was the one disrespecting it pre-tour, but tusk is really nice right now. I threw it on a ton of mons as a rare offensive boulder check outside of slither but has the benefit of actually being able to do damage to flutter which is a rare option. STABs can still be tough to switch into (shoutout latios)

Overrated mons: Treads is the main one I think is slightly overrated, and like tusk, I was "part of the problem." I think pre-flutter that treads was definitely better because when you're going up against the same gho + glisc core it did really well, but now tusk and its ability to beat flutter is just so much more valuable. I also don't even run spin on tusk anymore it feels so bad to click. Spin on treads is good but on tusk I think its just STABs + knock + whatever you want last whether its rocks or I like roar too if you have rocks. Lots of stuff likes to sub on it so you can drop defensive stats. Means you can get away with running headlong and not eq. Skymin is another slightly overrated mon. Yes its fast but I think gone are the days of using it as a wake check. Flamethrower just does too much and vs knock sets you don't really switch in that well after knock + rocks. You don't even get to punish it as you're just a momentum sink because you're forced to synthesis otherwise you don't really get to switch back in lol. I'm also running earth power on every skymin set as getting to hit non-balloon heatrans and moths is SUPER nice. Also gives you a physical option I suppose for touching a cm boosted flutter for 35-40%. What I was most wrong about though is when I said that Waiting Room by Phoebe Bridgers was not good.

Tour Team Dump
I ended up "having" to build for not only myself, but also Runo, Boomenheimer, pannu, and the goat of MG2, Lialiabeast. I'll be honest, I didn't put a ton of time into most of these teams, not even myself, as I was kinda burnt out from mons even at the beginning of the tour and building for 5 people didn't really interest me too much. I ended up building stuff for the four of them and reusing the ones I liked for some of my games. In typical NogBlog fashion, these will be way more in depth than anyone could ever want. I'll probably do a tour usage stats post later. Click mons for the pastes.

Noglastica Week 1

Replay : Wanted to build a team around mega gengar and also reflect type latias, but couldn't fit them together, then I found out mega gengar has reflect type so I just ran with that. It's super mu fish and only helps win against a few things, so boom is probably better. I played perfectly first few turns for a massive lead but my team kinda gets rolled by cm latios so if I didn't land boom on it I might've still just lost. Mamo lead is also not good, I don't think it hits anything outside of gliscor. Probs better in the back when you don't get forced out by 90% of leads. Even then, idt it would be good enough to use over something like tusk/treads.

Noglastica Week 1

Replay : I actually really liked this team and think it's really solid. It screams "Nog Team" with treads + empoleon + wake + zapdos + mew + 1. Unfortunately, I realized it's 6-0d by CM Flutter so. I knew I could only really bring it week 1 because other people started bringing flutter themselves. If flutter ever becomes so broken it gets banned (doubtful) then this team would be solid. Or you could probably make it better with tusk > treads but idk. The unique gimmick with this team was roar wake which I didn't even get to click. Idea behind roar wake is that normally you deal with wake pivots through flip turn, but I realized that you're also taking hazards and wake gets super chipped on hazards, frequently more-so than your check. So getting to stay in with lefties and roar them out, only for them to NEED to come back in otherwise risk whatever mon that gets roared in dying, can be really threatening. In practice, it's not as great because a) you are now missing a 100% water STAB move with no flip turn and b) doesn't do as much vs offensive teams that rely on skymin as a check because you're doing 0 hazard damage to a boots flying mon. Back to the team, opponent had no zapdos switch-in really. Game was pretty much over unless I got robbed but getting empoleon crit + tbolt para guaranteed a win. Daily reminder Hydro Steam does 1/2 damage in sun. It doesn't work like you think.

Lialiabeast Week 1 Games

Game 1 Replay :
Game 2 Replay : I don't have much to say on either replay. Uh this team isn't great. I experimented a bunch with Hoodra because I was lazy and could say "hey it technically checks moth and flutter and I think wake so enjoy idk." The only reason I included a flutter check on this was because it was originally built for pannu against fellow flutter abuser qsns but pannu didn't get the chance to bring it.

Runo Week 1 Games (vs Lialiabeast)

See above Game 1 for replay. I kinda like this team, interesting core, though I don't think it's that great of a team in general, could use more speed as it's a little fat for my liking. Also can rely on gho too much to check too many things. Genesect is a cool mon though. I built a similar variation pre-tour and forgot a wake check so this is the edited version. Still loses to flutter. Replay of old team pre-tour: replay.


See above Game 2 for replay. I do like this team as well. All of the teams I passed Runo were teams I had built a week or two before when playing "test" games vs qsns. Replay of that game: here. Pretty basic. Get up hazards and boom down to final mon which mmence usually can win. Or just kill mons without booming if you can. Boomspam is good because if you get 1 mon without booming you basically win as you can 1 for 1 trade down after that. Even if you CAN'T you can still force basically a 50/50 chance to win in a lastmon. You'll see the sex boom team later which refuses to lose and will only tie. This team had kinda a tough matchup I think but also wasn't played well. I'll get over it.

Pannu Week 1 Games

Replay : Funnily enough, someone who never touched this tier before almost 2-0d MG2's third best player OAT. Team is basically just like the above, boom down and hope you win an endgame. Game came down to hitting 1 hurricane and it missed so oh well. Even though it missed, this is still why you should never run hone claws mmence because you're hitting your hurricanes but you're too slow to ever get to click them. DD is imperitive. 70% of the time this team wins I guess. Fini is wake cope, melm can probably decently switch into flutter with mence 1 or 2 times so.


Replay : This game also was 100% winnable if pannu cilcked dd with ttar a second time it won. Toedscruel isn't great but you get to sleep something which, against some offensive teams, can be good. However, it is pretty mu fishy. You still have a spiker + knock + earth power user after spore which isn't bad though. Not even a horrible switch-in for non-ice treads as well. Mttar isn't that good imo but I know qsns doesn't run gholdengo so it's much more reliable if you know your opp isn't running its hard counter. Hoodra is cope mon, and then it's just pretty normal double boom + boulder stuff.

Boomenheimer Week 1 Games

Replay : Pretty much an unwinnable MU. Team isn't bad but it's like all HO where it's got some miserable matchups or some impossible to lose matchups. This game is a good example why being able to put at least 1 explosion is super valuable for offense as you can damage cores. Unable to do that with this team, this was unwinnable pretty much. It's basically just 4 good mons + toed + mchomp.


GAME 3 REPLAY : Going straight to game 3 and not showing the game 2 team because that team gets brought a bunch more so I'll probably give it it's own little section later. Spoiler alert, this set goes to a game 3. This team isn't good either but I think Boomen played this incredibly well against a not ideal matchup. Game kinda lost from builder but boomer brought it back and only lost on a full para which is kinda unlucky. Slither shows it can still do work, and gholdengo shows that it cannot run mono-physical. Again people, You pretty much need at least 1 of tbolt or night shade, both if you can afford it. Rest of the team is basic, volcanion, camel, and blacephalon pretty much just break holes for each other so the surviving one can wreck havoc. Tusk and hoodra try to provide some defensive core with slither who can also provide some offensive sweep threat.

Noglastica Week 2

Replay : We rfn'd so I didn't actually get to build anything new for this week. I built this for charliezard week 1 but didn't get to bring it. Not a horrible team but it's not great. Weak to opposing flutter. Twave latios is ok in theory (didn't click it) but not so much on this team. Maybe something with a slower breaker like victini to pair with it would make it better. Even that mon can run glaciate though. This game shows how stupid mew can be if you are unable to force it out. It only dies on turn 16 without switching and that's after getting spikes up and taking 2 with it. This is also why gliscor might genuinely be the worst lead in the game.


Replay : A decently close game but I actually misplayed dealing with Mew but so did Jump so I wasn't punished. Thought about clicking SD a second time on the second to last turn because last was unrevealed but doing so is kinda a throw against an unrevealed as I just lose if chomp hits 4 scale shots. I probably would've done it if I didn't get crit the turn before but I probably deserved to lose anyway. This was actually a 4th team built for Boomen week 1 so again, not a new team. Does decently against opposing flutter. Zapdos is weird on HO kinda as its more of a balance mon but it can probably still work. Doesn't provide a ton of defensive utility. If Jump brought wake out sooner this would've been over alot earlier I think. Skipping G3 because I brought Kyu-B team which now has its own section at the end. God bless Kyu-B team.

Lialiabeast Week 2

Replay : This is the infamous "sex boom tie bait" team. 6 boom users, if you aren't gonna win you can just boom and its a tie. That's kinda the whole thought process. Melmetal can provide enough of a defensive wall and you have some fast boomers as well to actually make it work. Obviously going against ghosts is not good, but you have enough physical attackers that aren't too afraid of flutter. Gho could be more of an issue, as could opposing blacephalon. At the end of turn 17 it was quite literally unlosable and turn 18 somehow MG2's GOAT chokes and has to play for a tie. Genius. Game 1 is a draw. Don't bring this team. Basically gets 6-0d by flamethrower Wake but was fortunate to face a stalk set.

Replay : Game 2 MG2's Finest decides to bring it again and shockingly it loses. Unironically the scald burns did actually matter because it made it so boom did 1/2 damage which obviously is important for the sex boom tie bait team. Team isn't good, not much to say after game 1.


Replay : The G1 and G2 team had a gimmick of "6 explosion users" and I wanted to follow it up with an incredibly based sequel of "6 pivot move users." Meow is mew cope, thorns is flutter cope, empoleon is wake cope, and latios is everything else cope. Tini + Wake can break enough on their own, but the rest now have turn moves too. Hazards is obviously important. Tried to fit a ghost spinblocker on here but couldn't manage. This team actually is better than I thought but I don't think it's good. Onto game 4 in a bo3. Ok just kidding lialiabeast brought the Kyu-B team so see it in the below section.

Lialiabeast Week 3 Losers
Replay : G1 yaya actually brought Kyu-B team (you know where to look) and G2 brought the turn spam team from above. Some weird sets from jking made this an easy-ish matchup and a 6-0. Funnily enough, jking and I had a test game with the exact same teams before which I'll link here.

Lialiabeast Week 4 Losers

Replay : This team sucks. I wanted to try a shed tail team because I don't think anyone brought it in this tour yet. Sceptile seemed cool for the surprise factor, and as previously mentioned in meta thoughts, 100% heal synthesis works with sun pretty well. The Mlatios set isn't bad, I got it from Copen (or at least a similar set) a few months ago and it can do some work.


Replay : Thought process for this team is just bring the good brokens, tusk and slowking can check enough of the brokens together, and dreigon is mew cope. I don't have anything else to really say, rocks dreigon isn't good as it wants more moveslots anyway but didn't want to put it on tusk. Came down to flutter being broken and having a good mu for it.


Replay : The goat just went back to the well and brought this turnspam team again. Victini had no real switch-ins on this team and fyi immediately sacking your only wake check usually does not bode well for the rest of the game. Delphox did nothing this game but that's more cause bad mu NOT because it sucks :(

Noglastica Week 4 Winners

Replay : I end up getting paired against my kryptonite who I have played in probably over a dozen tours and won exactly one set against. I did think I had a a good chance to win and this was my final round of actually building and my only real round of "prep." My prep consisted of "wow 3mm brings Mew and either tusk or treads. I proceeded to then build a very Mew weak team with skarm + latios which go well into the tusk/treads. I thought sneasler would be cool, 3mm doesn't like gho or gliscor (nog mon) so I thought I could get a decent mu, which I did. Should be shadow ball > shadow claw. I think I pulled the trigger too early on sneasler, but I didn't really do much to zoro-h anyway even if I did kill/crit the mew. I thought it was a tough mu but certainly winnable. Grimm seems kinda doodoo. I was also ready for lefties tran instead of balloon cause 3mm likes to cheat on that, and I probably would've won if he brought that as ep skymin ripped through this team.


Replay : This originally started as a CRAZY mu fish as vikavolt + mchomp webs but I kept replacing stuff and it has 0 of the original mons on it outside of Latios and Slither I think. Chien Pao is super mu fish as well, what's funny is it would've done well in the first game, so I can maybe tell myself that after seeing it's 0-3 all time or something. Got the idea from qsns pre-tour for it (it was bad in that game too) and I think geko brought that same team earlier. I didn't think 3mm was building so I thought flutter would just win, and I didn't think 3mm would bring flutter so I didn't pack a check. You can see how well that worked. This was completely unwinnable from t2, zard put in work but I think it's just a worse molt for 10 more speed but I'm not sure what that actually matters against. Another game wisp slither would've been better but again it didn't matter. Empoleon my beloved. I think we both wanted 3mm to win this game anyway because neither of us had built a 3rd team so we were hoping for a bo2.

Noglastica Week 5 Losers

Replay : I was watching football all day and didn't want to build so I just brought old teams. I built this I think week 1 or week 2 for pannu and it SUCKS. I wanted a sleep mon that wasn't spinny boy so I went with jynx cause it can do well in GSC and ADV but shockingly a Gen 8 ZU mon did not do very much this game. I thought a) it was faster b) would get psychic noise (it doesn't) c) would get freeze-dry (it doesn't.) Now a normal person would see it is slow, doesn't have psychic noise, and doesn't have freeze-dry, and would naturally not bring it, but I didn't care and built this anyway. Gameplan is to sleep and win a 5v5 after that because god knows Jynx isn't doing anything. Funnily enough, it didn't even get to click a button but it will forever be immortalized in MG2 history as a 1-0 mon. For the game itself, red card mew was actually annoying af because my plan was pump into flip into jynx but uhhh yeah that didn't work. I truly thought Jynx was minimum 100 speed so I was shocked I just got boomed on. T3 opponent has hazards up and I have done nothing but reveal 3 mons on my team and let one get boomed on. My only real consolation prize is that mew and jynx went 1 for 1 which is definitely worth even with hazards cause that mon is broken. Ibeam fini is crazy mu fish as well but whatever, I think surely my slowbro just wins here but it's taunt so I'm kinda screwed, I still might win it eventually because they do nothing to me, but I speed up the process with a crit. I actually thought I might eat htrode tbolt after that but didn't. It has less spdf than I thought. qsns kinda choked I think by sacking tusk. I know they were expecting a flip turn but still idk. I get a crit so they don't have the option of a 50/50 boom so yeah. Lucky game. Jynx 1-0.


Replay : This is a team I built for Lialiabeast in week 2 that just never got brought. Aero is a super old school lead, like early-mid Gen 8 MG2 lead but it does well against mew because you can taunt + sub and stuff. I'm not even sure you win but nothing does really so. Golisopod was kinda scary cause I didn't know if it had water move so I just subbed t1 instead of clicking anything else as that felt like the safe play. Sub fmane is pretty crazy mu fish but valid because I think I've only brought tusk for it. I'm also not going to lie, I would've 100% said aero outspeeds flutter. Power creep goes insane. Kommo pretty much just won at this point so I go into it here. It set up pretty much for free against anything but it ends up being icy wind fmane which has been discussed before but never brought. So yeah, my mon that 6-0d is now slow as balls and did literally nothing. I don't even get to touch steela because I never got the chance to drum which is bad because steela is annoying from here on out. From there on out my only real option to win is through malt. I made the mistake of mega evolving turn 1 and then not really having the option to predict the obvious boom from tran. Don't know what last was but at that point golisopod ibeam was 4x so. Chi-Yu is bad, but I don't know why I've let these morons in the tier convince me that salac > boots is real. It's so horrible. I brought it g1 and it just sucked.


Replay : I'll be completely honest I did not want to win this game at all. Obviously I tried but ended up completely throwing an 85% win chance at the end but whatever. qsns was the raid boss so beating Lialiabeast (MG2's goat) and 3MM (ehh) was super doable if I won this, but I was super burnt out at this point and ready to pack it up. Naturally, I brought a completely horrible team that sucked against Snak so surely it's good against qsns right? I did actually make two changes right before the game, which was giving boulder balloon and replacing fini with kyu-b. While that basically makes wake unwinnable, it does do better against flutter which I thought I was more likely to see. I did get another lucky crit against fini early on, and I'd have to do the calcs, but I think even at +1 I would've potentially 2HKOd after the first CM. And even if not, I get a free revenge kill with anything on my team. It doesn't happen though and they're forced to boom, so now I'm up massively T9. Qsns has to go tusk as that's their only real way to deal with Heatran at this point, so my sceptile gets a free scout and shed tail. Kyu B gets a free dd and I say gg because i literally just need to hit this one attack and I win. Oh well. I miss sedge won on the spot but if that happened to me I'd say "shoulda ran HP Rock" so I will not be complaining that much. This is where I make my first misplay at this point. It's not really a misplay because my thinking was valid but I think I could've been able to play more optimally. I go sceptile here because I just wanted to see what he was going to go into and from there I could win based on that. In hindsight, I think the best play was to go heatran. I wanted to preserve heatran so if I got it in vs htrode I could just boom and take one with me and I should be able to win against the remaining mon, especially if I kept sceptile alive. But instead, I just sack the sceptile, and here I should've gone heatran and done my strategy of booming because then I think I do win. If he stays in with trode then my plan is just SD with boulder in tusk's face, and I get to chip it into fire blast range if qsns either knocks + 2 eq, or 2 cc drops them enough as well, and then it comes down to moth fire blast. For whatever reason, I was too worried about setting up sun at this point so I could use moth to guarantee win but I also had to worry about boom so idk. I go boulder for some unknown reason and SD up in the face of leaf storm. I then misclick SD a second time while qsns miscalcs so a sahki moment for sure on both ends. I'm realizing now my heatran was lower than I thought from hazards because I was heat rock and not balloon like the original team so yeah. Tbolt would've been a roll at -0. Idk. It was definitely still winnable, especially after the qsns miscalc but whatever. Should brought hp rock ig. Pumped I didn't have to play more ngl.

The Kyu-B Team

Now we're onto the Kyu-B team section just because it got brought a bunch. This was first built for Boomenheimer week 1 and from there I just passed it to Yaya who brought it twice and I used it once myself. The team itself isn't super complicated. Azelf is one of my favorite, and one of the most underrated leads out there I think. Red card is nice because you don't really get OHKO'd by anything, but you get 2HKOd by a ton of stuff, so forcing stuff out is super nice. Basically you can just click rocks t1 always, if they click some stupid move like substitute or wisp or rocks (really good moves to click t1) then you get a free encore, then a free double OR fire blast OR explosion. So you have alot to play around with. Psychic isn't horrible as a super effective STAB but fire blast is more of a deterrent for the steels who want to eat your booms, and it hits the common ghost Gholdengo. Wake + Volcanion works really nicely together on this team and others as neither Wake nor Volcanion have a ton of checks, and most of them are overlapping, so getting to boom on them with volcanion and abuse the fact they most likely have nothing for wake. Melmetal provides SOME defensive core, albeit not a good one. I wouldn't go stalk here just because it's too much of a momentum sink and having another boom is great. Basically after your booms, your wincon is slowbro or kyurem black. Kyu-B is also not horrible into flutter and neither is melm even if you get 2HKOd at +1 I believe. Super basic team, not that great into Wake but you have enough of your own offensive pressure to make it work. Even if you don't really have a switch-in for it, azelf is a faster boom, wake is a speed tie, at +1 your kyu-b OHKOs after rocks, volcanion and melm are slower booms, and bro obviously just wins with CM. Something like Latios is probably more annoying just because it's faster, but you have melm and still some other booms. With boom, pretty much no mu is "unwinnable."

Boomenheimer Week 1 Kyu-B Debut
Replay : Azelf lead works to perfection, forced out the threat and spike setter with red card, get up rocks, and then go 1 for 1 with a lead in hazards and revealed mons. Melm T3 is probably not ideal, I think even into the meow you're better off going wake and clicking flame/draco. We see melm with his lefties treads getting punished by eq. Very lucky crit preserves alot of HP on melm here. The latios mu is alot tougher if melm can't deal with it, but now twave is MASSIVE because there's no twave absorb. Wake and Latios get boomed on, and now both your own wake and kyu-b win.

Noglastica Week 2 Game 3
Replay : I bring it in deciding G3 because nobody other than me is watching replays I'm sure and knows about it. Again, really scary lead here for me, sub + sd might just win on the spot but I say whatever and greed for rocks, and red card once again comes in clutch. I'm super paranoid about my opponent just going back to Zoroark and I know I'll do good damage vs bulu here with Fire Blast so even if I die it's a good midground play, + it lets me item scout. I'm not scared of bulu either because my entire team is either faster or doesn't care about its damage. Like I said earlier, I think wake is a pretty ideal mon to go into blind after a boom. They end up going toedscruel and spinning, and I sack the melm to sleep because I can still bluff stalk. I dodge leaf storm but idt that really mattered as it doesn't do a ton, same with the flip turn crit, but it's still very nice to get. Poltergeist actually does good damage here but still gets banished. Kyu-B gets to come in very nicely on gliscor because if there's a knock I don't care as I'm not switching out most likely, and there's no rocks up. DD is super free at this point and in comes heatran. I just need to hit 1/2 focus blasts here and it's a wrap. Unironically the spdf drop on focus blast did matter because it lets me OHKO with freeze dry which I think was a roll without the drop. I also learned this game focus blast can drop spdf. Lava plume burn wouldn't have mattered as I just click freeze dry until the end of time. Wake actually avoids the 75% OHKO from freeze-dry here but it doesn't matter because they're -2 and I can win with anything. I go mbro because I want it to show up on the wr% stats.

Yaya vs Geko Week 2 Game 4
Replay : Lialiabeast overthinks t1 and assumes there's a spike getting clicked and encore with a red card mon in. Always rock here, don't try predicting the encores. T1 I always rock and if they attack me then I can boom t2, and if they don't attack I can pretty safely click encore or fire blast depending on what they clicked and who is faster. Instead we give up a mon for just rocks which isn't ideal. T3 we go wake which is the correct play imo, and for some reason geko goes treads. Even if you end up gaining momentum, it's kinda fishy and I know he wants the spin but you're now giving up another revealed mon. Meow is definitely the right thing to go into because even if you're forced out you then can go into whatever you need to, and only then do you have 3 mons revealed. Instead, we get to see their wake check, its slowking, we now know its a balance team we're up against, and we have revealed 4 mons to 2. We go into the volcanion and immediately boom, and now we can see why they work well together. Skip a few turns and we've done some good damage, wake looks super strong here, and we end up getting a crit on gliscor though it was a roll anyway, albeit not a favorable roll for the melm. We save the melm and end up going mbro on the shifu which is nice, a nice double scald gets the meow out of the way, and forces geko to show their last which is zapdos. We boom with melm which is ehhh, I would've gone wake and seen if I could've done some more damage elsewhere first, but it ends up being a fine play as we get wake in. We miss pump which would have 100% won the game if we hit, but it's still super winnable from here on out. Getting rid of rocks actually sucks as you'll see in a second. We hit the second pump, they go zap, and we flip into slowbro which is the perfect play. Kyu-B is again the perfect play and we now wall the shit out of zapdos. I think DD here was the right play because we're slower and freeze-dry only does like 50% to zapdos, so if they keep roosting we'll eventually want to just dd and stone edge. Instead, we freeze dry here which is again, a fine play on the shifu and it lives on 2% (remember the missed pump which let them spin off the rocks?). We are slower, so we have two plays here technically. The important thing to know here is that wake does NOT beat zapdos 1 on 1 without a crit or flamethrower burn + hitting 8 straight pumps idk. However, we have two plays we can make that win unless they crit this turn. The first is to just dd here so we're faster next turn AND faster than zapdos after that and we just keep clicking freeze dry until they attack us, then depending on zapdos HP we can flamethrower or draco (still a chance to miss draco.) You can also try to stone edge the zapdos, miss, and then lose. The other option is to go hard wake on the Shifu CC which we eat, then you can literally just click anything and be winning. The best click is flip turn so you can KO shifu and avoid miss chance, then just dd with Kyu and win. Yon can also just pump into draco if they go zap or anything, it doesn't matter. Instead, we don't do any of that and lose the kyu-b and therefore the game as we don't get draco crit.

Yaya vs Jking Week 3 Game 1
Replay : T1 we actually get our red card knocked which isn't great, but we then know it's most likely not double dark move and can still stay in and boom T2. Funnily enough, clicking encore T1 this game would've actually been good. They go empoleon on wake, we don't actually have a super great empoleon answer and both sides end up flip turning out eventually. Twave on Blacephalon is HUGE because it now loses to everything on our team. Booming on blissey with volcanion is fine because it makes wake a little scarier even if they still have empoleon. It's also annoying because of twave for kyurem. For some reason Yaya freeze-dry's instead of DD against dhelm. Doesn't matter in the end as boulder is scary for us after they sack the blacephalon. At first I didn't get why they went for +4 instead of just taking the 2HKO at +2 but then they'd need a crit on wake and a crit or full para on melm to win. If they also double, the mbro still can put in some work even against dhelm as you take 41% max roll. Then we kill the dhelm and the games comes down to hitting 1 of 3 focus blasts though yaya decides to do 25% with freeze dry instead.. Even on a focus blast miss we still had melm twave + boom in the back which might be able to full para through with wake as I have seen before.

Ok. the end. i want to make out with whomever updated the preview fixture.

 

[anique]

I like how you’ve built everyone’s team in this tour because no one actually wants to play this tier

 

[Noglastica]

TOUR USAGE STATS

anyway. ill probably do another post later with more information but i mainly just need to beat 3mm's post

TOUR USAGE STATS

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Mew                |   42 |  43.75% |  58.33% |
| 2    | Walking Wake       |   36 |  37.50% |  51.39% |
| 3    | Iron Treads        |   20 |  20.83% |  65.00% |
| 3    | Blacephalon        |   20 |  20.83% |  42.50% |
| 5    | Empoleon           |   19 |  19.79% |  68.42% |
| 5    | Gliscor            |   19 |  19.79% |  47.37% |
| 5    | Latios             |   19 |  19.79% |  31.58% |
| 5    | Iron Boulder       |   19 |  19.79% |  21.05% |
| 5    | Shaymin-Sky        |   19 |  19.79% |  18.42% |
| 10   | Iron Moth          |   18 |  18.75% |  36.11% |
| 11   | Tapu Fini          |   17 |  17.71% |  70.59% |
| 12   | Flutter Mane       |   16 |  16.67% |  75.00% |
| 12   | Melmetal           |   16 |  16.67% |  40.62% |
| 14   | Great Tusk         |   15 |  15.62% |  60.00% |
| 14   | Meowscarada        |   15 |  15.62% |  60.00% |
| 14   | Heatran            |   15 |  15.62% |  43.33% |
| 17   | Zapdos             |   13 |  13.54% |  69.23% |
| 18   | Gholdengo          |   11 |  11.46% |  45.45% |
| 18   | Volcanion          |   11 |  11.46% |  36.36% |
| 20   | Starmie            |   10 |  10.42% |  40.00% |
| 21   | Slither Wing       |    9 |   9.38% |  55.56% |
| 21   | Chi-Yu             |    9 |   9.38% |  33.33% |
| 23   | Kyurem-Black       |    8 |   8.33% |  50.00% |
| 24   | Urshifu            |    7 |   7.29% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Azelf              |    7 |   7.29% |  71.43% |
| 24   | Garchomp           |    7 |   7.29% |  71.43% |
| 24   | Electrode-Hisui    |    7 |   7.29% |  64.29% |
| 24   | Slowking           |    7 |   7.29% |  42.86% |
| 24   | Sneasler           |    7 |   7.29% |  28.57% |
| 24   | Diancie            |    7 |   7.29% |  14.29% |
| 31   | Garganacl          |    6 |   6.25% |  50.00% |
| 31   | Toedscruel         |    6 |   6.25% |  33.33% |
| 31   | Landorus-Therian   |    6 |   6.25% |  16.67% |
| 34   | Slowbro            |    5 |   5.21% |  60.00% |
| 34   | Goodra-Hisui       |    5 |   5.21% |  40.00% |
| 36   | Zoroark-Hisui      |    4 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 37   | Victini            |    3 |   3.12% |  66.67% |
| 37   | Iron Thorns        |    3 |   3.12% |  66.67% |
| 37   | Talonflame         |    3 |   3.12% |  66.67% |
| 37   | Dhelmise           |    3 |   3.12% |  33.33% |
| 37   | Salamence          |    3 |   3.12% |  33.33% |
| 37   | Genesect           |    3 |   3.12% |  16.67% |
| 37   | Chien-Pao          |    3 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Sceptile           |    3 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Kommo-o            |    3 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Delphox            |    3 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Hydreigon          |    2 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 47   | Dragonite          |    2 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 47   | Umbreon            |    2 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 47   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    2 |   2.08% |  75.00% |
| 47   | Jellicent          |    2 |   2.08% |  50.00% |
| 47   | Latias             |    2 |   2.08% |  50.00% |
| 47   | Tapu Bulu          |    2 |   2.08% |  50.00% |
| 47   | Gengar             |    2 |   2.08% |  50.00% |
| 47   | Metagross          |    2 |   2.08% |  25.00% |
| 47   | Kyurem             |    2 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Blissey            |    2 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Tyranitar          |    2 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Greninja           |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Primarina          |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Lucario            |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Golisopod          |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Celesteela         |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Jynx               |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Kingambit          |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Charizard          |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Grimmsnarl         |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Thundurus-Therian  |    1 |   1.04% |  50.00% |
| 59   | Aerodactyl         |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Altaria            |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Skarmory           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Clodsire           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Muk-Alola          |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Camerupt           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Tinkaton           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Landorus           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Articuno           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Cyclizar           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Mamoswine          |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Togekiss           |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |

TOUR LEAD STATS

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Mew                     |   26 |  27.08% |  55.77% |
| 2    | Meowscarada             |   13 |  13.54% |  53.85% |
| 3    | Walking Wake            |    8 |   8.33% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Azelf                   |    7 |   7.29% |  71.43% |
| 5    | Gliscor                 |    6 |   6.25% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Zoroark-Hisui           |    4 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Heatran                 |    4 |   4.17% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Talonflame              |    3 |   3.12% |  66.67% |
| 8    | Blacephalon             |    3 |   3.12% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Sneasler                |    3 |   3.12% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Toedscruel              |    3 |   3.12% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Chien-Pao               |    3 |   3.12% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Flutter Mane            |    2 |   2.08% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Greninja                |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Slither Wing            |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Golisopod               |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Kingambit               |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Hydreigon               |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Urshifu                 |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Gholdengo               |    1 |   1.04% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Hoopa-Unbound           |    1 |   1.04% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Aerodactyl              |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Starmie                 |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Mamoswine               |    1 |   1.04% |   0.00% |

TL;DR

| 59 | Jynx | 1 | 1.04% | 100.00% |

 

[3MoreMinutes]

3MM Blog #1: Typing Tier List + Tournament Team Dump

I told Nog that his type tier list sucked ass and was wrong and he told me to make one. I said I would once I lost the tour which unfortunately did not happen but I'm here regardless. This will be the final 3MM blog post, I am never doing this again.

gg

This list is ordered within tiers.

S Tier:
- Fire
The best offensive type in MG2. Fire has well distributed, powerful STAB moves on competent offensive pokemon. It beats Steel 1v1, making it better than Steel (I am only half joking, Steel is so good that Fire having a good MU vs it is a significant portion of its strength). It seems like every Fire-type has crazy base special attack (Blacephalon, Chi-Yu, Heatran, Iron Moth, etc), so it is a type which is barely harmed by the physical/special split. What makes Fire special is its association with Will-O-Wisp. While wisp is not exclusive to Fire-types and its mechanics have no relation to the Fire typing, its distribution is heavily focused towards Fire-types and I see it as the reason that they are so good. Every Fire-type with access to it can run wisp (foreshadowing to team dump), and it necessitates sturdy Fire resists on every team since they must be able to take fire moves while wisped.
- Steel
This is just the god type according to the type chart. It resists everything and has only 3 weaknesses. It also has synergy with MG2 mechanics through Air Balloon. Air Balloon obviously completely removes 1 of Steel's 3 weaknesses, but I don't find this to be too important. The main attraction is that it provides an immunity to all non Stealth Rock hazards, which along with Steel's resistance to rocks make Steel-types some of the most hazard resistant pokemon in the meta. In a tier dominated by hazards, having the best raw defensive type be also incredibly resistant to hazards is a huge win. The reason the ground immunity is somewhat insignificant to me is that the existance of Air Balloon has essentially forced every pokemon with a Ground move to also have Knock Off, and even ignoring the Ground move coming out next turn most Steels hate having to take Spikes.

A+ Tier:
- Water
Water not being S tier may be controversial, but I don't mean it as a slight to the Water type. I just feel like there are only 2 types with an argument to be the best type in the tier, and therefore Water cannot be in the same tier as them. I am more open to an argument that Water is better than Fire or Steel than I am to putting it in the S tier, because there is no criteria in which Water can be ranked above both Fire and Steel, only one or the other. Water is another great defensive type, having favourable matchups into both Fire and Steel along with an immunity to Scald which would otherwise terrorize this tier. Like Nog said it is hard to remove Water-types due to Electric and Grass-types being uncommon, but I think it is notable to say that while there aren't many Electric-types, Electric-types are good. The thing is, both Grass and Electric are special types, so with a few Calm Mind boosts Water types become very difficult to kill. This is the thing that makes Water so good.
- Psychic
Psychic used to be arguably the best type in MG2, we would spam every CM Psychic-type and win with them all. The days of this are basically over thanks to the discovery of Foul Play and then the discovery of Simply Getting Up Hazards and Putting On Pressure. In gen 9 Psychic got rescued by the introduction of Psychic Noise. Wacky MG2 mechanics make Psychic Noise last more than 2 turns here, and that makes basically every Psychic-type that gets it run it. Psychic also still has the same CM related strengths of course, Mega Slowbro is somehow still good and you can pull off random CM Mew or Latis. Latios is the only Psychic-type that feels like it is actually just straight up good apart from CM or Psychic Noise, running Latios I feel like it would be good even without Psychic Noise. The elephant in the room is obviously Mew, the best pokemon in the tier thanks to an insane movepool which seems to always include Psychic Noise. I think Mew carries this type, since its combination of bulk and speed make it fine with being neutral to stuff, and Psychic is weirdly good at being neutral since Dark is fake (details later), Bug is uncommon, and both Bug and Ghost are neutralized by Wisp. Mew would be amazing with any type in the S, A, and even B tier. Except Fire would be weirdly bad but that doesn't support my narrative.

A Tier:
- Ghost
Ghost gets absolutely fucked by the fact that it is a Physical type, so it may be weird to see it so high. I like Ghost for a few reasons. Firstly, it is the only good type that threatens Mew. Mew is broken. This makes Ghost good. Secondly, while spin isn't on every team and isn't the main focus of most games, it is still useful to at least be able to threaten to block spin, in a tier where hazards are so important. Third, I like Blacephalon. Blacephalon is the only "real" good Ghost type since it can actually run Shadow Ball in a threatening manner. Ghost also exists on broken mon Flutter Mane, which certainly cannot run a ghost move but still enjoys an immunity to spin and the other immunities/resistances it provides. My idea of an A tier type is a type that I use on a team because "I want an x-type on my team", and I often find myself wanting a Ghost-type.
- Flying
I'm a big fan of Flying in MG2, although I still don't always use it. For me, the main attraction is that Flying-types are the only pokemon which can be fully immune to hazards, with Boots for rocks and the typing granting an immunity to every other type. Along with a resistance to U-turn, this makes them very easy to switch in without momentum at low risk. Rock resists running Air Balloon achieve a similar effect, but nothing feels the same as taking 0 damage. Flying types which aren't weak to rocks are also able to run Leftovers without getting fucked by hazards which is cool. Offensively, literally nothing ever wants to run a Flying move. Flying-types always choose to run their other STAB, with the exception of my goat Salemence which sucked fat dick the 1 time I used it (yall I swear Ice Spinner treads isn't worth it stop running it).
- Electric
Electric is nice because it clicks Electric moves and they do damage and that's about it really. All the mons that abused its broken synergy with Air Balloon. Except one. That's right baby Regieleki still has no weaknesses and outspeeds the entire metagame. It has spin boom and volt switch which is all you need to make progress. Regieleki is actually even more ass than usual rn because its actual good moves are Normal and Flutter Mane blanks them, while having enough special bulk to not really care about Volt Switch. Iron Treads also walls it without the spinblocking part, and Regieleki doesn't do damage in general. Zapdos is really good though, and hurting Water-types is a big attraction to the Electric typing. Thunderbolt just feels good to click in a Balloon meta, and favourable matchups into 2 of the top 3 types is solid.
- Dragon
Great defensive typing since Fire is jesus and Water/Electric are good. Being special as a Fire resist is good because it means Wisp isn't as big of a deal. Draco Meteor is a great move. There are lots of strong Dragon types (Walking Wake, Latios, Kyurem-Black). Dragon has lots of great traits, but it is held back by the fact that it's a generally weak offensive type thanks to its lack of super-effective damage and possession of a resistance from Steel. It is still used offensively because Draco Meteor is strong enough that it is useful on neutral targets, but it is not a type you seek to have an attacker of. The defensive prowess puts it in the A-tier, but it is not complete enough to compete with the true elite.

B Tier:
- Fighting:
Fighting has bad/neutral matchups with every A tier or higher type except Steel. Its niche is that it hits Steel, doesn't care about physical/special split, and has strong mons that click Close Combat. You never really need a Fighting-type defensively, and it's not needed offensively either (if you're running a mon to beat Steels you run a Fire-type), but clicking a 100% accuracy 120bp STAB is never bad in the offense heavy hazard tier.
- Ground:
Ground is a great type in every competitive gen ever, but in this one Balloon doesn't pop so it's mid. There are a couple things that make the type still pretty decent. The first is that you can run Knock on your ground type. Pokemon like Iron Treads, Great Tusk, Gliscor, and even Landorus can do this, allowing them to not be eternally walled by every Steel-type with a Balloon. The second is that Fire-types usually prefer to run Boots since they are crippled by rocks, so they can't afford to have the Spike + Ground immunity from Balloon. Targeting the 2 best types in the game is huge, but you don't resist them and die to wisp and need to have knock and the 3rd best (water) destroys you so mediocrity it is.
- Dark:
This type is stupid and dumb but I can't justify putting it anywhere else. Being immune to Psychic Noise, being the only viable type to resist Ghost (apart from Steel which is weak to Blacephalon), and having epic move Knock Off means that Dark should be really good, but being special in combination with the fact that every good dark ever is physical means this shit sucks. I think it is realistically a C tier type, but I also find myself wanting a Dark-type on teams which was my definition of A tier, meaning I put it in the middle. I still hate dark, but it is somewhat needed in this meta. Meowscarada is a legitimately good pokemon, I have some belief in Hoopa-Unbound and Greninja as well. Chien-Pao is definitely ass and Kingambit is a bit of a meme but that's alright.

C Tier:
- Fairy:
It's probably crazy to put Fairy this low but I don't think much really takes advantage of it existing. Flutter Mane is obviously a good pokemon and Tapu Fini has had quite a bit of success at this point, but neither is made by the Fairy typing in the same way that they are in current gens. Flutter Mane is a fast Ghost-type which doesn't even use STABs, where the only thing Fairy provides is a convenient immunity to Draco Meteor. Tapu Fini likes the Fighting/Bug/Dark/Dragon resistances but the true strength is in it being a CM water. Rest talk Tapu Fini is somehow the only Moonblast user in the tier, and I would say the only "real" Fairy-type, but even then it isn't a special pokemon in any way, it does a specific job but it certainly doesn't make the type good.
- Rock:
It's hard to place such a glorious type so low but Rock isn't actually that good. It's nice offensively in that it pairs quite well with Fighting, previously in Terrakion and now in Iron Boulder. It's always been awful defensively but does resist Fire at least. It's bad into Steel and Water though, so it is never going to be a truly meta typing. Rock puts in work offensively with the right coverage, but that's about it. Notable that Balloon makes edgequake absolutely awful.
- Grass:
Grass is pretty miserably mid. It's not awful, and is one of only 2 types that threatens Water, and takes some electric moves, but it loses to basically every other good type. Fire/Steel/Flying/Dragon all resist it, Psychic-types can CM to tank Grass which is special, and Ghost is half Blacephalon which cooks Grass (Flutter Mane also runs Fire coverage). Shaymin-Sky is pretty fast at least!

D Tier:
- Poison:
Known noob Noglastica thinks this is overrating it but I don't think Poison is purely awful. It just sucks. Toxic spikes are not completely irredeemable in my eyes, MG2 always cycles between items: Balloon is better -> Rocks are better -> Boots are better -> Spikes are better -> Balloon is better, but people tend to trend towards rocks being better due to Knock and Social Pressure. This means that Toxic Spikes have some value (vs teams with no Poison or suitable spinner), which brings up the value of both Poison-types setting the Toxic Spikes and Poison-types to fend them off. Sneasler is also a good pokemon in general, Dire Claw is broken but it also somewhat enjoys the Fighting resistance and Toxic immunity from being a Poison-type. qsns also switcheroo Black Sludge'd me today which is nice and unique to poisons. Iron Moth is technically a good Poison-type but it might as well be pure Fire so I'm ignoring it.
- Bug:
Bug kinda sucks, it hits Psychic which is cool but Mew gets Will-O-Wisp which makes it Not Hit Mew. First Impression is insane in this tier of course though, and U-turn is one of the best moves in the tier thanks to hazards being crazy and there being no contact punishing. The problem is that U-turn isn't used by Bug-types and First Impression has bad distribution. Slither Wing is pretty decent though Bug has enough strengths to keep it out of the F tier.

F Tier:
- Ice
This shit ass fr, but Kyurem-Black is good at least! Ice is irredeemably awful without Freeze-Dry, because it sucks vs literally every good type except Flying which is basically only in the upper tiers because I like it. Freeze Dry means it beats Water which is cool, but it's still special so nothing unique over Electric/Grass. Kyurem uses Freeze Dry but it's not what makes it good so how much credit should Ice really get? Shit's ass.
- Normal
This is weird because Explosion is glorious in this tier and Rapid Spin is a nice asset. Unfortunately, there are 0 good normal types. The typing as a whole got a grand total of 8 uses in the tournament, half of which were Zoroark-H (which I didn't even run a Normal move on). Not a single normal type can be claimed as good. This type sucks.


I also said I would do a teamdump so I'll go through my rounds:

Round 1: 3MoreMinutes vs Boomenheimer
G1:

game link
This was my first game in ages, I knew that I was of the opinion that setup was broken in this tier because max evs means stuff is unkillable and I can just spam setup. MMence insta 6-0s except it's lefties ice spinner treads and I have refresh over eq. I win after a few boosts anyway if I hit a few hurricanes in a row but unfortunately don't and this ends up ending the long way.

G2:

game link
Made some funky offense with wisp Chi-Yu (this was the foreshadowing), got absolutely rinsed by Melmetal after it crit my Treads (probably a greedy spin), and then Kyurem-Black which would have won anyway since I never keep Latios on full there.

G3:

game link
This game showed how little clue I had about the tier. I had an amazing matchup which was exactly what I prepared for, but the Slither Wing was Bulk Up and my Gholdengo set was completely awful. Got bailed by a full para on my opponent predicting correctly. Should have lost this game.


Round 2: 3MoreMinutes vs Concept
G1:

game link
After getting cooked last week I decided to actually try to be not bad and brought Self Destruct Melmetal since I lost to it. My prep was noticing the Gliscor lead + stall team and trying to figure out how to abuse it. I landed on this wonderful Urshifu set. I noticed that they run Hex + Night Shade Gholdengo, so my idea was that I could work up on the Gliscor switch to Dengo, then sub on the Thunder Wave, and then nuke everything. Starmie was always Scald + Ice Beam so walled by Urshifu. The only real check was Mew, which was neutral to Surging Strikes so not an answer after all these plays. Technically Urshifu was supposed to also have its Substitute live Night Shade since it's base 100 HP, but I don't think that works thanks to EVS being 248 instead of 252. Them going Starmie instead of Gholdengo doesn't matter because Scald can't burn Water-types. Urshifu gets 2 kills and the game is won.

G2:

game link
This is the exact same as the Chi-Yu team from last week but this time I put Wake as the lead because of the constant lead Gliscor. Joke's on me because they lead Starmie this time and Meowscarada would have been better. I get somewhat unlucky with all the Poison Fangs from Sleep Talk but Chi Yu manages to avoid both Poisons and then flinch the Latias on the 2nd attempt. Pretty dumb way to win but I doubt the Latias would have beaten Chi-Yu anyway and spamming recovery vs flinch move is silly.


Round 4: 3MoreMinutes vs Noglastica
G1:

game link
Fortunately I got an easy mu this week so I wanted to just bring some silly stuff. I did unironically think Zoroark looked decent, Ghost STAB + Fighting coverage is nice + fast Wisp and scaring lead Mew. I got lucky with the Wisp battle keeping my Heatran to check the Skymin. Grimmsnarl was entirely awful I don't know what I was thinking, it beats CM Psychics I guess but it's so slow. I was actually trying this week btw I'm just dumb. I ran Heatran purely because I was hard prepping for Flutter Mane and it can tank a few hits, that's why I was Heavy Slam.

G2:

game link
This team is one of my greatest creations. I wanted to run Kingambit because its typing was nice defensively, but I should the old rest talk set was stupidly passive. I decided to run Knock + Rocks on mine, and slot it as a lead to get up rocks on Mew. I should have been Fighting move over Iron Head for sure but I'll pretend it was so I could 1v1 Flutter Mane. Garchomp was because I was terrified of Flutter Mane and to finish the hazard stack, and then I had some free slots in the rest of the team. I was scared of known Nog mon Slither Wing after Round 1 and always think Wisp is broken, so I put a Charizard. The only reason to run it over Moltres is for the hype, the speed does nothing and you are weaker and frailer. It was funny though, and it did the job. I added a Flutter Mane because all this building for it started to make me feel like it was broken, and then I won with Flutter Mane.


Round 6: 3MoreMinutes vs Gekokeso
G1:

game link
I have a lead Flutter Mane because it has base 135 speed how can it be a bad lead? It's psyshock because I'm hoping to snipe a lead Sneasler, and it helps vs the expected Iron Moth matchup. I don't get Sneasler but eventually do get a Moth. Unfortunately they end up going Kyurem-Black, which misses a Stone Edge and then dies to a crit Psyshock (which was maybe a roll without crit idk). This hasn't been revealed until now but I had an unrevealed Iron Boulder which ate the hit from Kyurem-Black and revenge killed.

G2:
:
game link
This team is weird but Nog suggested a Hydreigon on it which I thought was great so I ran with it. This game I actully get the lead Sneasler but it's too late for the snipe. I run into the Blacephalon I was worried about so it's good I have Hydreigon. I spend the entire game playing weird because I'm terrified of Kyurem subbing and being unkillable. Eventually I realize that Psychic Noise goes through Substitute anyway so it doesn't even matter. Now I know that it actually doesn't which is wild but whatever. I get the burn on Kyurem and the game is an easy win from there.


Round 8: 3MoreMinutes vs qsns

G1:

game link
I bring the lead Flutter Mane team again but this time it's Taunt, I am trying to have a good lead vs Explosion Mew which I am terrified of. I fish for the para vs Walking Wake but never lucky (Foreshadowing). I make stupid plays not realizing my Heatran being burned halves its Attack stat, but then play decently to get Iron Boulder a chance to deal damage. Unfortunately my hazards are gone, and when I get an SD on Boulder they go hard Wake. I win off 1 pump miss if I attack here, but I switch and the pump misses. Then when I go back into Boulder I kill Zapdos and end up in the same situation, except no SD boost. I dodge 2 more pumps and then get hit and lose.

G2:

game link
This is an HO I built for last week, but Azelf outspeeds Mew so here we are. It actually is lead Mew which is cool. I get my rocks up, and then switch out of a Blacephalon speed tie only to Flip Turn back into it, but Blacephalon Shadow Ball is a roll vs itself so I get better odds. I win the tie which puts me in a great spot, but I do slightly misplay the end game causing it to be riskier than it had to be. I should always click Shadow Ball vs the Fini since if it Scalds, I can just go Kyurem-Black and Freeze-Dry, and Lucario can clean up without having to risk a miss. Either way, as long as I hit 1/2 Mashes Kyurem-Black should have it safely.

G3:

game link
The idea here is that I haven't seen many Poison-types from qsns, although there was one in G1 in Sneasler. Greninja can set up Toxic Spikes, and nuke Iron Treads or Great Tusk trying to spin. Tspike will ruin whichever of Tapu Fini and Flutter Mane comes since there is always 1, and limit some other qsns classics like Blacephalon and Walking Wake. Greninja also doubles as a pretty decent Blacephalon switch in, since it's faster and can take its entries as chances to set up more hazards. I actually get a Blacephalon lead into the Greninja, so I get up Toxic Spikes and fend off the Tapu Fini. I run into another Sneasler which messes up my Toxic Spikes making Fini scary, but I have Sub Blacephalon here specifically because it improves the reliability of emergency Explosion. I show Substitute which almost forces Tapu Fini to stay in (switching on a Substitute loses a mon for free), and safely trade for the Fini. I get a Thunderbolt para on Chi-Yu as I sack my Flutter Mane which is fortunate, not sure if this mattered given that my Greninja is full HP. Unmon Greninja somehow closes this out and I have successfully robbed qsns.

 

[Noglastica]

NOG BLOG #16: MG2 OU VR 4.5 UPDATE

If you want to look at a VR unmarred by my comments, here's a link to the official MG2 VR!

S+ Rank:
:Powder From Arcane: Powder From Arcane was unanimously voted S+, the only mon to ever receive such a high ranking, and to do so unanimously is quite impressive. Powder From Arcane is easily the best thing to ever happen to MG2.

S Rank:
Mew: Second to only Powder from Arcane, Mew is once again the only mon in the top rank. This mon has an unofficial "I Could Be Banned" tag on it. Super broke. Wisp still has no immunities and psychic noise still blocks for 5 turns. BANNED. POWDER REMAINS #1

A+ Rank:
Latios: Holy moly. This guy keeps climbing the ranks. Though Latios does have great offensive pressure with psychic noise + flip, and outspeeding Wake is incredibly useful, it feels like one of the best defensive options in the tier as well for offensive teams. Resisting fire + water is super nice (on top of several other resistances), and you only have to worry about ghost (who clicks ghost moves), dark (they're all bad), and dragon (you're faster than most of them.)
Walking Wake: Yeah Wake is still really good. Only a few mons in the tier can reliably check it. Counterplay breaks down to usually either bringing one of those said checks or having plenty of options to revenge it and win before it does any real damage.

A Rank:
Blacephalon: Yeah Blacephalon is still really good. Who would've thought that a mixed attacker with insanely high base offensive stats would be good? Also boom.
Iron Boulder: The physical sweeper of the tier. Like wake, only so many solid defensive checks to it, but you can still build a team around mons that are not OHKO'd at +2 to deal with it as well.
Iron Moth: Part of the reason I bring Latios so much. It's still good, sunny day is no longer a surprise factor though. I expect some more u-turn sets coming.
Zapdos: Perhaps ranked higher than it should be, Zapdos is still solid as a midgame cleaner. With tbolt + coverage and options to run status or phazing, it has plenty of solid options to choose from. Its good bulk is also made even better by the fact that the ground types in the tier can't touch it.

A- Rank:
Flutter Mane: The terror of the tournament. Fmane is super fact and an incredibly scary sweeper with CM. Taunt prevents plenty of options of counterplay, or you can flex icy wind to pretty much cut its number of checks in half. 55 55 physbulk is the only real weakness.
Great Tusk: He hit things hard. Super nice to bring on offense as a boulder + fmane answer.
Iron Treads: Best spinner + best knocker in the tier. Super nice guy too.
Melmetal: Stalk set has fallen off a bit, though it's still certainly an option. Feels like treads is just better on fatter teams. Melm still can provide some defensive backbone on offense with boom.
Tapu Fini: A fini resurgence spurred on by qsns spamming CM Fini. This mon is alot less scary when you just crit it t2 every time I've discovered.

B+ Rank:
Empoleon: Nog Mon at the top of B. Clicks like 80 different moves and is the only good wake check.
Garchomp: Non-icy-wind-flutter check. Spikes is nice. Great stats as well, and don't forget it can run mega.
Heatran: Rocks + boom + fire on offense.

B Rank:
Blissey: Checks special attackers! Very good at it, especially when nobody has psychic noise.
Garganacl: Best and arguably only real Blacephalon check in the tier. Salt cure still can farm??
Gholdengo: Blissey but physical mons!
Gliscor: Knock + spikes is awesome! Also good phys check.
Kyurem-Black: Huh. 170atk mon hits hard. DD + Freeze-Dry + Stone Edge + Focus Blast. Can fiddle with the set too.
Meowscarada: Only good dark type + spikes + turn + knock + 2x crit signature move.
Shaymin-Sky: Fastmon that can run a bunch of stuff. You really just like clicking seed flare except for the fact it hits 60% of the time and you have 8 pp.
Sneasler: 50% status and also switcheroo and also uturn and also sd.
Starmie: Spin + scald

B- Rank:
Chi-Yu: Matchup Fish.
Kommo-o: Same guy, drum salac or omniboost. We did see a stalk set in the tournament though.
Raging-Bolt: Electric types are good.
Slither-Wing: The fip mon. Can run some other options like bu and wisp.
Slowbro-Mega: CM.
Volcanion: Make them go into their dragon and then you explode on it.

C+ Rank:
Azelf: Fast rocks + explosion.
Electrode-Hisui: Make them go into their dragon and then you explode on it. And also you're fast.
Greninja: Dark type with spikes and turn
Moltres: Chill defensive guy. Click wisp!

C Rank:
Celesteela: Ill be honest I totally forgot what this guy does. Seed I think but also you can run setup.
Dhelmise: Spinblocker and spinner! Except walled by the one good spinblocker.
Genesect: Uturn and boom
Hoopa-Unbound: Dark type click dark move. Can also click plot. Sub fpunch though my beloved.
Hydreigon: Dark type with recovery (rare)
Latias: Latios if it were worse BUT got reflect type :fire:
Metagross: Rocks + boom and mega set can do things
Raikou: No weaknesses. Clicks CM and roar and stuff
Skarmory: Gliscor alternative. Surely nobody in this tier preps for steels that are not weak to ground right?
Suicune: Clicks CM and gets crit.
Tyranitar: Bad as a dark type and mediocre as a mega.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: Chi-Yu matchup fish. Nice defensive typing.
Victini: Spam Vcreate and Uturn. Super slow though vs offense.
Zoroark-Hisui: Mew lead mu fish
Toedscruel: Spore + spin + knock
Dragonite: Heal bell and other shenannigans
Aerodactyl: Suicide lead or mega which is decent.
Landorus-Incarnate: Knock + ground is good + boom for flying types!
Cyclizar: Shed Tail simulator.

C- Tier:
Archeops: No defeatist.
Camerupt-Mega: They go into their dragon type and you boom.
Diancie: Mdia is still decent provided nobody brings steel ghosts anymore? oops. Hbell + balloon on normal though can be used.
Gastrodon: Fmane check. Also spikes!
Glimmora: Suicide lead for if you don't want to get counter led by bringing mew.
Goodra-Hisui: The guy who checks the most top tiers in the game. But he sucks!
Kingambit: Dark type with rocks!
Scream Tail: Fairy type that is also fast? Can run setup too.
Sinistcha: Mu fish spinblocker and also setup option + status distributor
Slowking: Wake check that is just worse than empoleon in pretty much every way. You do check fire types though (other than the clown)
Toxapex: The uhhhhhh
Primarina: Clicks the water moves and sometimes the ice or grass move
Lucario: clicks the STABs and SD
Golisopod: FIP!

Old VR 4.0

S1
Mew

S2
Walking Wake

A1
Iron Moth

A2
Blacephalon
Iron Boulder
Latios
Melmetal
Shaymin-Sky
Iron Treads

B1
Gholdengo
Gliscor
Heatran
Great Tusk
Zapdos

B2
Blissey
Chi Yu
Empoleon
Garchomp
Kommo-o
Latias
Meowscarada
Raging Bolt
Slither Wing
Slowbro
Starmie
Suicune
Tyranitar
Volcanion

C1
Celebi
Dhelmise
Garganacl
Genesect
Hydreigon
Metagross
Raikou
Sinistcha
Slowking
Tapu Fini
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike
Victini

C2
Archaludon
Archeops
Arctozolt
Azelf
Camerupt
Celesteela
Clodsire
Diancie
Electrode-Hisui
Ferrothorn
Flutter Mane
Gastrodon
Glimmora
Goodra-Hisui
Greninja
Heracross
Hippowdon
Hoopa-Unbound
Houndoom
Infernape
Jellicent
Kingambit
Kyurem
Kyurem-Black
Moltres
Regieleki
Roaring Moon
Salamence
Samurott-Hisui
Scream Tail
Skarmory
Sneasler
Talonflame
Terrakion
Toxapex
Urshifu
Zapdos-Galar

 

[Noglastica]

IT IS WITH GREAT PRIDE AND PLEASURE THAT I CAN ANNOUNCE MEW IS BANNED.

Noglastica: BAN
qsns: BAN
3MoreMinutes: "I mean I will probably ban mew"

Why does Mew need to go?
Well, if you've played this tier for even a game or two, you'd see why Mew can be kinda ridiculous. The combination of fire types not being immune to wisp and psychic noise lasting for five turns, it makes the number of Mew switch-ins pretty limited. As a pure psychic, it's only weak to bug, ghost, and dark. The first two are physical and therefore limited heavily by the threat of wisp, and while dark is effective at dealing with Mew offensively (and being immune to psychic noise), there is a limited number of good options. In addition to wisp + psychic noise, it has recovery, great bulk and speed, hazards, and the largest movepool in the entire game if you get bored running the same sets over and over. Setup Mew has proven to be an effective option, and suicide lead (Arcane reference) Mew has proven to be as good if not better than any other suicide lead in the game. Though counterplay of course exists, it is still incredibly oppressive despite being the most prepped for mon in the tier. While yes, a status'd Mew struggles to come in once hazards have been set up, moves like rapid spin and heal bell still exist. While yes, FIP is a fantastic way of revenging Mew, you still only do around 65 max roll with Slither. The most commonly used dark type move to hit Mew is foul play which, if desired, can be made to avoid a 2HKO by reducing your special attack enough.

In conclusion, Mew is gone. Hopefully this opens up the door for more options in teambuilding. Not only is it one less mon to worry about in the tier, but it forces teams to look elsewhere, instead of just throwing a lead mew with spikes on every team.

THE REAL REASON MEW GOT BANNED

 

[Noglastica]

Solopl II MG2 Week 1:
I didn't know for sure if I was going to do this again this year, but we were treated to a Bo3 and a cool last game so whatever.

SEA vs R8- g1 g2 g3
G1: This set was the best and worst of what I expected with SEA. The good news, it’s week 1 so it only gets better, and I think she’s the kind of player who will have things figured out by week 2. Immediately into game 1 we get two novelty sets in offensive goodra and uxie. I’ve looked at Uxie before but a lack of recovery turned me off to it, and Azelf is obviously better on HO, but knock + rocks + turn is always good. Offensive Hoodra also hasn’t been considered before. It’s incredibly solid defensively where nothing is breaking through with special attacks, and you really need CC or knock + eq to make progress against it. Or maybe sun boosted fire blasts. However, dragon pulse was incredibly threatening, made even more so by R8 somehow removing the spdf evs from Spectrier. Hoodra dodging two wisps didn’t seem important at the time as I was under the assumption it was rest, but considering that it wasn’t, hoodra had much more longevity than it probably should have had. This was, however, won on T1 as there was no phasing from SEA that could stop latias from setting up. Uxie might’ve been boom, but it was already in range of dragon pulse and slower by the time it had a chance to boom.

248 SpA Goodra-Hisui Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Spectrier: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock. NOT the 45% or whatever it was.

G2: SEA brought a very weak flutter team but didn’t really pay the price for it. Special hyperspace fury makes HoopU much less threatening against flutter, and getting taunted meant they couldn’t plot even if they wanted to. We see (nog set) focus punch later, so it was most likely sub > plot. While focus is fine, i think plot + fire punch is usually more consistent, although both are fairly dated sets. I also think suspect that treads was not ev’d because it should not be taking 92% from +1 mystical fire, I think it’s about 55% at +1. If the calc is correct, this very easily could’ve been another win for R8 as the rest of the team is flutter weak as well and relied on treads to finish it off.

+1 248 SpA Flutter Mane Mystical Fire vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Iron Treads: 294-346 (91.5 - 107.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

However, flutter does die, and for whatever reason R8 decides to sack Iron Moth, the only thing that doesn’t just die to the already revealed Slither Wing, in order to setup another mon that also dies to slither wing. Stun Spore + U-Turn slither was pretty cool because often the main issue with U-Turn slither is you’re slower than alot of stuff that pressures you offensively and makes you want to switch anyway. I hope it was CC last as non CC slither has been mentioned but I don’t think is very promising. Overall, this SEA team was much cooler I thought, though was very weak to opposing wake and opposing flutter. That being said, the flutters that like to switch in on Slither can’t really do that with stun spore. Super cool tech.

G3: We are blessed with a G3 and it was pretty much a stomping. I thought endeavor minor was pretty sick and that there was just an unlucky roll but I am only now realizing that first moonblast was from regular diancie and second was from mega. With no balloon steel, mdia kinda farms here and the only thing that doesnt really immediately die is sneasler which dies to boom. R8 goes into Blace and SEA goes into Latios, doesn’t get the draco roll, and dies. I think the better click might’ve been mega houndoom because it’s not a good mon, and also because you resist both STABs and force a boom on you. Tios is just a much better mon to keep alive imo. Obviously hindsight bias.

248 SpA Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Blacephalon: 211-249 (68.2 - 80.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Mdoom gets chip on CM fini, then thundy gets crit. Thundy is a mon that I think is super cool and super good and I want it on the record that I came up with it over a month ago and it only looks like SEA invented it but guys I promise it’s a nog mon. Alot of stuff just dies at +2 if you can setup and previously I’ve only used Thundy-T because you get 20 extra spa but the 10 extra speed from Thundy I is so nice as now you’re outspeed alot of the scary stuff in the 102-110 range that are so popular in MG2 like the latis, wake, moth, blace... Speaking of how stuff dies at +2, funnily enough, it was actually a roll to kill the +1 fini from that range

+2 248 SpA Thundurus Thunderbolt vs. +1 248 HP / 248 SpD Tapu Fini: 266-314 (77.5 - 91.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

Obviously if you get that kill, things become much more different because Kommo can just clean house, but we also don’t know what R8 had in the back. Thundy also could’ve swept at that point while at +2.

3MoreMinutes vs qsns - g1
You know you’re probably in for a good matchup when you lead blissey and your opponent says ☆3MoreMinutes: noooooooooo
This game sucked. Mega boring, 3mm brought an ok team. Lati is nice, melm is nice, garg is nice, volcanion is nice, flutter is nice, dhelm is not nice but 3mm brought it. It got to click knock which is cool except theres no earthquake users and theres no spikes so it just hits lefties which is much less tempting. Not so much an issue with 3mm’s team, just had an unwinnable mu. Qsns never really looked in doubt so. Good for them. You’ve won but at what cost.

Orangesodapop vs pannu - g1
Actually a very cool team from OSP. Cryogonal is something that was really only used once or twice during the bundle meta and it can serve as an ok wake check now. While I don’t think it’s very good, OSP had a really neat tech which was pairing knock cryo (which will always bait in gholdengo) with eq boulder which really isn’t seen much. Knocking it allowed boulder to take out gho which would have otherwise could have won the game. Outside of that, kind of a somewhat normal team with glisc/gho as a defensive core with meow and wake for pivot/offensive pressure. All in all, really solid team with a really cool tech. On the other side, we kinda just brought a standardish team. I’ve been waiting to use thundurus-i since the tour ended because i think its really solid. Didn’t have a good matchup with boulder + cryo + fplay meow but I still like it.

In hindsight, osp didn't really get luck this game. In fact, osp got somewhat unlucky. The dengo 1v1 was just a 50/50 so I wouldn't really say that is unlucky especially considering he clicked suboptimally, but after he went boulder he a) dengo didn't get full parad in either of the two turns b) got full parad in the 1 turn he didn't want to get parad. Without getting fp'd, he doesn't take the dengo MIR which mattered because Skymin can't revenge from 88. Even if he didn't crit thundy, the endgame is technically not over yet anyway. Both mons drop to 40 and you can get funky by going Meow and outspeeding with foul play which easily kills, gets revenged by hp ice skymin, and then it comes down to hitting seed flare on cryo. Or you can stay in, sack the cryo, revenge, and then hope you crit foul play on skymin.


WEEK 1 USAGE STATS

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |    5 |  50.00% |  20.00% |
| 2    | Gholdengo          |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 3    | Thundurus          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Zapdos             |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Slither Wing       |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Flutter Mane       |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Melmetal           |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Volcanion          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 9    | Empoleon           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Starmie            |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Heatran            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Iron Thorns        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Meowscarada        |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 15   | Cryogonal          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Gliscor            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Iron Boulder       |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Walking Wake       |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Houndoom           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Kommo-o            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Sneasler           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 23   | Diancie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Blacephalon        |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Tapu Fini          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Gastrodon-East     |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 28   | Iron Treads        |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Celebi             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Iron Moth          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Uxie               |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 34   | Great Tusk         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Spectrier          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Gastrodon          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Latias             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 38   | Blissey            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Clodsire           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Kingambit          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 41   | Sinistcha          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 42   | Dhelmise           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Garganacl          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

WEEK 1 LEAD STATS

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Meowscarada        |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 3    | Minior-Blue        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Diancie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Zapdos             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Flutter Mane       |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Uxie               |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Spectrier          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Blissey            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |

 

[Noglastica]

Solopl II MG2 Week 2:

Orangesodapop vs SEA - LINK

The good news, it’s week 1 so it only gets better, and I think she’s the kind of player who will have things figured out by week 2

Chat I'm starting to think SEA might have figured things out. Starting off, I loved the team from SEA much more this week. Very solid core of gastro, fmane, meow, treads, and lati. Maybe a little weak against iron boulder and flutter, but what teams aren't. In the back is a very cool sub stored power scream tail set. Though we’ve seen cm stored power scream tail before, I don’t think we’ve seen sub, and I don’t think we’ve seen flamethrower. Really good stuff from SEA already, but their lack of experience in petmods still reared its ugly head in this game when they acknowledged osp complaining about mu fish as he does in every single loss. I frequently show calcs/statistics in these sort of reviews and my main statistic for this game is:

 In the four discord servers I share with Orangesodapop, he has used the phrase "mu fish" exactly 86 times.

Speaking of mu fish, the ABR of petmods brought lead Jolteon. All in all, not a particularly great team this week from osp. Dengo garg tusk is a fine core, sandstorm garg could've been cool here. I think it was a tough matchup for osp, but also booming immediately with what I assume is his only rocker was maybe not a perfect idea. I also don’t know if plot gholdengo is the team's fmane check, but if so, you think psyshock is needed. However, that would result in you no longer farming tusk quite as hard. All in all, I think a fine core that was made worse with jolt and kommo. I know kommo was the wincon and can be good, but I feel like something else could’ve been better on this team. And a non-jolt would’ve also been better. Certainly more proof that osp is getting tanked by having [REDACTED] as a builder.

3MoreMinutes vs R8 - LINK
I thought this was a very cool game. If osp v. pannu was my game of the week last time, this would be my game of the week this time. Two VERY similar ideas between the two teams. Both team meow leading which wasn't necessarily a surprise, but both teams also had jellicent which is a very niche UR pick. The main appeal to jellicent is you can somewhat reliably spinblock starmie and almost reliably spinblock treads/tusk.

248 SpA Starmie Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Jellicent: 134-158 (33.2 - 39.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

248 Atk Iron Treads Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Jellicent: 145-172 (35.9 - 42.6%) -- 19.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

248 Atk Iron Treads Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Jellicent: 145-172 (35.9 - 42.6%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

The bad news for both sides is that nobody brought Starmie, though that might've been good news for the spectator. Even without starmie, you still get good wisp application. R8's Scald Wisp Taunt Recover is good, you can also run something like night shade/strength sap over taunt as well. Another interesting parallel is that both SEA and R8 brought gastrodon which is a nice way to resist non-energy ball and non-balloon flutter mane. Main innovation from the team was light screen gholdengo which wasn't bad. We've previously only seen reflect gho as a way to stay in on tusk/treads but that's never been particular appealing. Light screen is nice because it helps the fire type switchins that you need more than a tusk/treads switchin. Not to mention the other turns that light screen is up, light screen really helps because gho is already going to check most physical attackers and it doesn't need the reflect typing boost. That being said, if I've learned anything from GSC OU, it's that bringing screens on your broken mon (zapdos) is usually just worse than bringing a broken move on your broken mon (hp grass for the quag :fire:).

After getting stomped last week by qsns, 3MoreMinutes realized the best chance he had to win was to copy a qsns team from last solopl (he gave permission to leak boulder last.)

pannu vs qsns - LINK
Not a particularly close game mainly due to my building. I really struggled to come up with anything I liked this week vs qsns. This is what I had for several days:

NOG. NOG. DONT BRING CRADILY NOG. NOG ITS 2HKOD BY EVERYTHING NOG.

Once again, I am convinced that flutter is incredibly stupid. Psyshock I think I've seen qsns run before and it's great as you will guaranteed win the flutter 1v1 which is a nice feature to have. Obviously it also will do well vs other cm users, but doesn't hit a ton of other stuff. Sneasler I guess? Moth but you already do well enough against moth. Out of curiosity I wanted to see how well it would do against the SEA Scream Tail set and it doesn't win (stat capped at +4).

+4 248 SpA Flutter Mane Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Scream Tail: 107-126 (24.7 - 29%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO

+6 248 SpA Scream Tail Stored Power (260 BP) vs. +4 248 HP / 248 SpD Flutter Mane: 231-273 (73.8 - 87.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I guess optimal play is to spam sub and cm until they reach +4, and by then you win. I don't really have much to say on this game, the main thought process was that qsns brings alot of treads/tusk so we brought sinistcha to block spin, and they bring alot of fini/flutter, so we brought tspikes to help that. Moth unfortunately did really well into not just this but most my teams. This was another team with the same core of tspikes (on Meow) + sinistcha + deod. Title says it all, though the mu wouldn't have been awful, it just gets 6-0d by sunny day moth.

Pecharunt isn't good but it felt kinda necessary for boulder + flutter. I also thought it got toxic spikes which is originally why I put it in, but you can get around it having no hazards by doing rocks empo, tspike meow, spike deod.

Conclusion:
4 toxic spikes teams is kinda nuts. I wont speak for others but I wouldn't be shocked if everyone was a bit worried of the cm setup users from week 1 and looked at tspikes as a way to help out that matchup. I think the strength of this pool is really starting to show. Not a huge surprise when you see three players with 20k+ price tags, and two players who went 4-1 and 5-2 in solopl1. The quality of play is really evident when a player of SEA's caliber is forced to bring mu fish just to beat osp, the ABR of petmods...

WEEK 2 USAGE STATS

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |    7 |  43.75% |  42.86% |
| 2    | Flutter Mane       |    6 |  37.50% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Gholdengo          |    5 |  31.25% |  40.00% |
| 4    | Heatran            |    4 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Meowscarada        |    4 |  25.00% |  75.00% |
| 6    | Garganacl          |    3 |  18.75% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Iron Treads        |    3 |  18.75% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Zapdos             |    3 |  18.75% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Iron Moth          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Sinistcha          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Gastrodon          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Iron Thorns        |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Jellicent          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Great Tusk         |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 15   | Kommo-o            |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Walking Wake       |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Gastrodon-East     |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Thundurus          |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Slither Wing       |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Melmetal           |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Volcanion          |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Empoleon           |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 23   | Starmie            |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Toxapex            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Jolteon            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Scream Tail        |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Cryogonal          |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 31   | Gliscor            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 32   | Iron Boulder       |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 34   | Houndoom           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Sneasler           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Diancie            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Blacephalon        |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 38   | Tapu Fini          |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Celebi             |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 41   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 42   | Uxie               |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 44   | Spectrier          |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Latias             |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Blissey            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 47   | Clodsire           |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 48   | Kingambit          |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 49   | Dhelmise           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |

WEEK 2 LEAD STATS

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Meowscarada        |    4 |  25.00% |  75.00% |
| 2    | Latios             |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 3    | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 5    | Jolteon            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 6    | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Diancie            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Zapdos             |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Flutter Mane       |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 10   | Uxie               |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Spectrier          |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Blissey            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |

 

[R8]

The main appeal to jellicent is you can somewhat reliably spinblock starmie and almost reliably spinblock treads/tusk.

Just wanted to add that it can also be a threat on its own: 32 recover pps (or strenght sap), wisp, and being a water type (cracked defensive typing in MG2) immune to explosion can make it very difficult to threaten in some circumstances. Its access to Taunt alongside its decent speed for a defensive Pokemon makes it threatening to defensive teams as well. To be honest i think it has the potential to be at least B rank, it has too much traits that are very valuable in MG2 to be any lower and wisp (freeest click in the tier) means it will almost never face a dead matchup with the right support.

Gastrodon is an other Pokemon that is similarly hard to force out, and while it had a great matchup here i unfortunately piloted it very badly lol, as it otherwise could have won once 3mm's meowscarada got cooked by tspikes. It's also a great way to fit hazards on balance teams since it does not mind running just a water move + toxic (earthquake is kinda useless), has access to both rocks and spikes, and has a positive matchup against the three most common spinners. It's just a great defensive pokemon in general to be honest: water type that resists stealth rocks, decent blacephalon answer, and a steel resist that is not afraid of twave from melmetal.

I am also quite surprised we have seen so much tspikes this week. I think this move might have a lot more depth and uses than given credit for, and i suspect it doesn't necessarily have to fish for certain matchups. I'll save the explanation behind my teambuilding choices for after the tour. To be honest i'm not even sure if we can confidently say everyone brought tspikes for the same reasons, maybe it was a different idea each time?

 

[Noglastica]

SEA vs qsns
My reaction when I find out SEA and qsns agreed to bo3

G1: the greatest series in mg2 history? T1 obviously qsns is gets bailed out by a 16% sleep chance here, otherwise they go down a mon first turn. T3 qsns shows how not great they are by clicking dire claw again on a pretty obvious switch instead of clicking cc which would have basically won the game on the heatran switch, and still secured the ko on toed if they stay.

Nog Click: 248 Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Heatran: 300-354 (77.9 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Qsns Click: Sneasler Dire Claw vs. Heatran: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- possibly the worst move ever

Very important calcs...

T7 we see dragon pulse heatran which I swear I was just talking to someone about last week and I’m like “why would you ever bring it” and while it was a good bring cause dragons like to come in on tran, it's still only doing 44 to chomp. I'm probably being too harsh on it. I feel like wisp is just better but what do I know. We get to see the beauty of flutter mane because as a balloon mon it kinda walls most garchomp sets which are STABs + spikes + 1, usually fire blast. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more people bringing stone edge/toxic > fire blast to combat flutter more. Sneasler kinda just does work against SEAs team, we see that pretty early on when the counterplay is heatran on the dire claw and then flutter on the cc just to force it out. Sure latios walls pretty well in a lastmon situation but you get fast unturned on for 40 which obviously is bad the entire game. We also then see goodmon slither from SEA, which unfortunately has to deal with several mons it does absolutely nothing against. Both of them also brought flutter (shocking) + a cm water because flutter does plenty of work and then the cm water can usually clean up, or vice versa. The streets will tell me that all this flutter usage is a good state for the meta. Haters will say that it came down to t1 which might be true, but at the same time, once heatran got wisped and heavily chipped down, theres nothing that really stopped qsns from winning with flutter, ESPECIALLY because its psyshock and just sweeps the other 5 mons quite easily.

G2: I think qsns is just copying SEA at this point because game 2 we get a toed lead from qsns. Funnily enough, both games it did not get to sleep a mon! I will also confirm that before the game qsns said “I’m going to bring archeops” so it’s kinda unfortunate we didn’t get another game with similar teams. Maybe not. Maybe it's for the best. Taunt archeops is a neat lead with rocks, and it really does bait in the steels/grounds. Unfortunately, while the lure worked, aqua tail (which actually is kinda mu fish) missed. I didn't think it mattered that much at the time, assuming it did around 30%, but this guy has 112spa when I would've guessed 80spa max.

248 SpA Archeops Aqua Tail vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Iron Treads: 176-208 (45.9 - 54.3%) -- CHIP

Qsns then reveals STEEL BEAM IRON TREADS. Which is not real. BUT I must stop hating on qsns for the first and last time in this review because it actually did do work. When I saw steel beam get clicked, before it showed the recoil, I went through the first four stages of grief (obviously not acceptance) because I thought steel beam was modded like in mg1 and I truly believed the mg2 experience in solopl 2 was officially ruined. Thankfully, it’s just another insane coping mechanism for the perfectly balanced flutter mane. It actually does really nice damage and is a great way to output pressure while getting treads to spin + have defensive utility on an HO team. All in all, cool tech. Shame you lose 50% of your health though clicking it lol! Lum latios from SEA is cool, and this is a brief disclaimer that miracle berry is technically an illegal item to bring and shouldn’t be legal in the builder, but it also doesn’t matter at all and I’m too lazy to fix it because it’s completely identical to lum. This is the end of the set as qsns wins 2-0 due to SEA's disqualification.

SEA also reveals ceruledge which is something I have looked at in the past because it has really cool STABs + wisp but I’m then like “why am I not just running blacephalon” and have then never actually brought it. While shadow sneak doesn’t OHKO flutter at +2 in this instance, it is a 50/50 roll.

+2 248 Atk Ceruledge Shadow Sneak vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 288-342 (92 - 109.2%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

Mmence comes in next and doesn’t really get the chance to safely dd/hone here. Though +1 mence is much scarier and might just win the game depending on what is in the back, you do have to worry about ceruledge clicking wisp here so it's hard to blame qsns for not clicking a boosting move. Either SEA wasn’t aware it was mega mence which is possible, or they had nothing else to really deal with it. In the end, doesn’t matter cause hurricane missed. I wanted to briefly say how much better I think dd mmence is than hone claws because, while hone is still good as you don't miss your shit, you get revenged by so many things like hp ice skymin, flutter (icy wind in particular) and the big one is iron boulder. There's also some other stuff that doesn't hit you for a ton like Meow, but if you're slower and in range (because you're taking rocks and stuff too) then you can still get revenged.

248 SpA Meowscarada Foul Play vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Salamence-Mega: 126-148 (32 - 37.6%) -- 93.5% chance to 3HKO

If you're not running a special move/didn't forget to take off your evs...
0 SpA Meowscarada Foul Play vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Salamence-Mega: 102-121 (25.9 - 30.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

Qsns goes into scale shot tios which can be nice against teams without many steel types (usually just opposing HO). I’m not a huge fan of lefties scale shot as I like mega/balloon more, but I don’t think there’s a notable difference. I just like to complain. SEA goes mega luc which I’m just now realizing only did so much because lati was at -1 but whatever, it’s still such a solid mon. You get +2 STABs with SD which is nice, and for your last spot you can do something like shadow ball or substitute, both of which work. The main detriment to mluc is the existence of dengo (and annoying fast stuff like boulder to revenge), BUT I like blaze kick which, if you catch it on the switch, will 2hko (barely)

248 SpA Lucario-Mega Blaze Kick vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Gholdengo: 166-196 (44 - 51.9%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

It turns out it’s stone edge which is HUGE in this matchup because Blace otherwise gets to claim and depending on what’s in the back, latios and blace could theoretically still win.

All in all, some neat HO teams with mmence + steel beam treads on one side, and ceruledge + archeops + mluc on the other. Steel beam treads and ceruldge... chat when are we voting ban on flutter?

G3: I may not be religious but I might convert now because only a merciful god would give us a game three in this series. If these two weren’t in sync with each other in the first two, we get a meow mirror lead g3. I was super excited to see this because the first two games were more HO which is fine, but Meow you usually see more on some bulkier offense stuff which I think is more exciting to watch than HO which can just end up being more mu reliant. SEA wins speed tie u-turn t1 which, I just have to say, both of them staying in for it is kinda crazy. I remember thinking “god I hope the game doesn’t come down to that.” The good news about taking 88% turn 1 is you get the slow uturn though so that’s called momentum! Qsns makes a nice play coming in on the chomp spikes in order to get their own spikes up in exchange for their life. This hints that there is most likely not a spinner on their team, but you can’t really bank on that because it’s a fine play even if there is a spinner. Qsns also is a top 2 fan in the tier of spinning so you’re betting against the house here, even if it turns out there was no spinner in the back. Instead of a treads/tusk, qsns brings sunny day moth which is cool and all but it’s not really effective when your opponent brings latios 3/3 games. We also see the funny interaction of scald burning a fire type (and doing 21% lol), and the even funnier interaction:

The opposing Latios used Psychic Noise!
It's not very effective...
(Gholdengo lost 13% of its health!)
(In Gen 2, moves with a 100% secondary effect chance will not trigger in 1/256 uses.)

I completely forgot this was a thing as the only other time I’ve seen it is on salt cure. I’m also going to be honest, I didn’t know that if you KO a mon, you still take the salt cure damage after, unlike poison/burn damage.

Basically mega gallade wraps things up, 0 usage mon in mg2 history I believe, so that’s another SEA mon we get in addition to ceruledge. All in all, super cool sets on both sides. I did not know mgallade was that fast (lati speed tie). Curious what the set is, I hope we get a team dump after tour ends. Sball stone edge revealed, presumably with CC + SD last. I was going to say could be 4atk with psychic STAB but it turns out this guy has 65spa so maybe not! The main takeaway for this game is that SEA has now passed qsns on the mg2 all time GOAT leaderboard to 4th place.

Orangesodapop vs R8 - link
TALON LEAD (nog mon...). That was kinda the only interesting thing this game I thought. This is more of what I've been expecting from osp in terms of team composition: more than one fire type on offense. The other interesting osp mon/set was rockless empoleon. Empo is a fine mon defensively that's mainly used as being a) the best wake check b) pivot/roar c) rocks with recovery. Nothing else really does that with the exception of celebi who is just much worse of a wake check than empo is. Also empo gets to resist rocks! Celebi is worse of a wake check, and if you do rocks + uturn + recover, you are clicking a much worse offensive move than scald so empo is usually just better imo. Because no rocks on empo, it was scald flip knock and an unrevealed roost last. I think that's an ok set, it just doesn't make a ton of sense on this team when you're missing spikes and can go rocks on empo and spikes on gliscor for double hazards. It also took like 25 turns for osp to get any hazards up. CM lati did work here and tbolt was an ok tech, I don't think it's bad, but I would probably bring tbolt + dragon move, not tbolt + psychic noise. Getting forced out by opposing latios isn't great, and to me, tbolt is breaking through less stuff than psychic noise, BUT it's a good lure for stuff like Empoleon that does come in on the psychic noise.

Tbolt para on t15 is unfortunate but I don't think it mattered at all at this point. Boulder's a threat but even without the para and gets to kill latios, but it immediately gets forced out and dies to hazards by flutter the following turn. Because of the boulder fp, we get a full health latios which makes it still pretty much unwinnable for osp. Once tspikes go down its basically over barring (another) r8 choke. Pretty much the only way to deal with tapu fini is by booming on it with blacephalon, but then flutter presumably sweeps, and if not, mmeta in the back will.

3moreminutes vs pannu - link
I'll be honest, I don't think I've seen a lead slither before, or maybe I'm just forgetting. It doesn't help that previously mew would be leading 50% of the time and you lose your slither t1 75% of the time to wisp. Right now though, you get to fip on so much good stuff like latios and meow. There's an occasional steel lead like we see here with empo, sometimes its a heatran, and you outspeed both + threaten with cc. One of the main reasons latios/meow are so popular is that, even in losing lead mu's, they still get to flip for chip/scout, but they can't risk that with fip. It's also something that shows up a bunch throughout the game that you're not shy on revealing, unlike something like flutter lead where it's nice to keep it in the back. CC doing 33 to moth is kinda crazy though. Protect fini also did really well against sunny day moth to get to stall it out + get lefties heal, and cm fini in general kinda won. Pannu dodging flutter wisp on t10 was important though I'm not sure how much. They don't really have an alternative that wants to get wisped on the team either. Once 3mm gives up his moth to get wisped, it's largely useless as it takes hazards + wisp every time it comes in and is forced to just constantly heal.

Another important part of the game is 3mm didn't get hazards up until turn 19 which is obviously not great for progress, 10 turns later than pannu. Turn 22 we see 3mm's secret weapon, hydreigon. It's always a pretty scary mon whenever it comes in because you don't really no what set it has. 3mm and I built a team during the seasonal where we needed something that could kinda deal with flutter (not really) and Mew, while also helping out against fire types, so we put dreigon on that (flash cannon I think?) In this game, rocks are already up from empoleon so we can assume it's not going to be a utility set. In the past we have seen 2atk plot, 3atk plot, and 3atk plot from 3mm. The revealed moves we see are fire blast and earthquake at the end of the game. Fire blast obviously for steels, + has good synergy with sun, and earthquake to help against the fire types you check like moth, blace, tran (granted you beat them already with just roost.) I'm assuming it did have roost, so it was most likely dpulse/draco last. I find 4atk hard to believe even if it's probably still viable. Having it come in on tran is a pretty good indicator that it is earthquake as well. Turn 26 you can see me realize that pannu is completely unaware scald doesn't burn water types and I begin messaging Geko and asking what the rules are on "mechanic checks." T29 I thought initially was super greedy from pannu but I'm realizing now it was 63% chance to paraflinch, and there isn't a great wisp switchin anyway. If you do get wisped, you still ko it the following turn, and if you get cc'd, it's a roll (presumably you die to fip if they don't fp that turn), and then everything kills it so it's practically dead (though it can still be threatening para'd because of fip priority).

248 Atk Slither Wing Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Melmetal: 248-294 (52.4 - 62.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

From then on, cm fini just wins and flutter cleans up the rest. The main takeaway from this game is that Hydreigon is, in fact, not better than Latias, contrary to what certain usernames might tell you.
WEEK 3 USAGE STATS SOLOPL2

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |   14 |  53.85% |  42.86% |
| 2    | Flutter Mane       |   12 |  46.15% |  41.67% |
| 3    | Heatran            |    8 |  30.77% |  62.50% |
| 4    | Meowscarada        |    7 |  26.92% |  71.43% |
| 5    | Gholdengo          |    6 |  23.08% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Slither Wing       |    5 |  19.23% |  60.00% |
| 7    | Tapu Fini          |    5 |  19.23% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Iron Moth          |    5 |  19.23% |  40.00% |
| 9    | Empoleon           |    4 |  15.38% |  25.00% |
| 10   | Garganacl          |    4 |  15.38% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Iron Treads        |    4 |  15.38% |  75.00% |
| 12   | Zapdos             |    4 |  15.38% |  75.00% |
| 13   | Melmetal           |    3 |  11.54% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Iron Boulder       |    3 |  11.54% |  33.33% |
| 15   | Garchomp           |    3 |  11.54% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Blacephalon        |    3 |  11.54% |  33.33% |
| 17   | Gliscor            |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 18   | Toedscruel         |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Sneasler           |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Sinistcha          |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Jellicent          |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 22   | Gastrodon          |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 23   | Iron Thorns        |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Great Tusk         |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Kommo-o            |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Walking Wake       |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 27   | Gastrodon-East     |    2 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 28   | Thundurus          |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Volcanion          |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Starmie            |    2 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 31   | Hydreigon          |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Metagross          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Talonflame         |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 34   | Gallade            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Primarina          |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Archeops           |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Ceruledge          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 38   | Lucario            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Salamence          |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Suicune            |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 41   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 42   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Toxapex            |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 44   | Jolteon            |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Scream Tail        |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Cryogonal          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 48   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 49   | Houndoom           |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 50   | Diancie            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 51   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Celebi             |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Uxie               |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 56   | Spectrier          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 57   | Latias             |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 58   | Blissey            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Clodsire           |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 60   | Kingambit          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 61   | Dhelmise           |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |

WEEK 3 LEAD STATS SOLOPL2

 + ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Meowscarada        |    6 |  23.08% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Flutter Mane       |    2 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Toedscruel         |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Latios             |    2 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 5    | Slither Wing       |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Empoleon           |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Talonflame         |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Archeops           |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Sneasler           |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 10   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Jolteon            |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Diancie            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 15   | Zapdos             |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Uxie               |    1 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Spectrier          |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Blissey            |    1 |   3.85% | 100.00% |

 

[Noglastica]

Solopl II MG2 Week 4:

SEA vs pannu - Link
Despite both Jinx Arcane and Powder from Arcane clearly on the side of pannu, SEA still managed to pull out a win. I'm starting to think they're not bad at mons. Might have to put them higher than Orangesodapop on my rankings.

I do like Gren as a mon and I find myself looking at it frequently. It has good typing obviously into the many fire types in the tier and the many psychic types as well. It's certainly less attractive right now with lots more Meow usage (getting outsped by one) but it fills a somewhat similar role of fast spiker that can turn out of bad mu's/taunt to deny enemy hazards. Draco is a favorable 2HKO roll here, though miss chance so actually maybe not, but you can honestly make a valid argument (after you watch the ensuing turns) that missing the 2HKO is more advantageous. You get to flip turn out and as both sides select at the same time, you have no real repercussion as you're not a -4 wake and they don't have momentum. That being said, the only person I've ever seen complain about a with advantageous rng is (unsurprisingly) osp. The roll becomes guaranteed when the second draco crits.

248 SpA Walking Wake Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Greninja: 328-388 (94.5 - 111.8%) -- 68.8% chance to 2HKO

Known Nog Mon (trademark pending) Mega Gengar comes in who honestly doesn't even do a ton to wake but it's also a -4 wake so they're currently in a battle of who can do less to each other. Interestingly, melm is the immediate switchin which on occasion will eat +2 fire punch.

+2 248 SpA Gengar-Mega Fire Punch vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Melmetal: 414-488 (87.5 - 103.1%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

To reference what a wise man once said, "The roll becomes guaranteed when the second draco fire punch crits. Melmetal was also probably not the switchin as we see Kyurem-B come in later. You can come in on the plot and just dd. I would guess that SEA already mega'd by this point, gar gets such a big speed boost and jumps so many important things that really hit you hard, so you can't often afford to wait to see what comes in, then mega. Like if Latios comes in it's a speed tie, meow, boulder, gren even.

+2 248 SpA Gengar-Mega Fire Punch vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Kyurem-Black: 170-200 (37.5 - 44.1%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Something something roll becomes guaranteed after a crit (you also have burn/freeze chance depending on the punch).

+1 248 Atk Kyurem-Black Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gengar-Mega: 182-215 (56.3 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Stone edge obviously mauls back but you have to hit both (something something increased crit chance move idk). Honestly it does way less than I would've guessed, I thought it would be around 75%. This is also another reason that, if you can fit it, roost Kyub can be super real. Whether or not that's dd roost + 2 (I think you have to stay stone edge + focus blast), or if that's dropping dd and just doing roost + whatever. I honestly just like kyub more right now than kyurem in general. I know nobody is really running regular kyu right now, but I think dropping 10spa and getting 40atk, 10def, AND getting to bluff you're dd is really nice. Non-dd Kyub can still be real as a flutter check as well because you kinda eat everything really well and do good damage back.

248 Atk Kyurem-Black Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 151-178 (48.2 - 56.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Random monologue over, Melm gets crit and dies. Twaving with melm is obviously the play because you catch a switch nicely if they haven't mega'd/don't want to eat a twave on their fastmon, but also because bash does 0? I think I'm just way off on my gar headcalcs but this mon eats bash for breakfast.

248 Atk Melmetal Double Iron Bash (2 hits) vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gengar-Mega: 194-230 (60 - 71.2%) -- approx. 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Granted I didn't know it got 20def after mega evolving but whatever. Even regular form takes 80 max. Melm dies so zap has to come in and trade its life for a twave. It does force a switch so now gengar is basically useless and just serves as a sack because it can't mega and it's twaved. Thundy-I comes in which is bad for me as now SEA has used it twice to my once so I'm inclined to say it might be a SEA mon. Zap trades a bit and meow gets to revenge. Uncontested SEA mon ceruledge comes in ON Meow which I thought was weird and I thought "surely it's just clicking fire blast right chat" but then it SD's while Meow clicks spikes. Spikes might not be a great click but it literally doesn't matter as it turns out that Ceru just wins barring a polt miss. The teams only counterplay would have been just getting rocks up which lets you kill it with basically everything without allowing it to get into salac range, or just twaving it. I'm not super sold as it also can't really set up on anything OTHER than Meow, but the good news for SEA is that Meow is currently in. Foul Play only does 45 which is kinda crazy, so you do beat it after either spikes/rocks are up, but you can also still kinda safely just come in on Meow while it spikes. Even if they fplay you get +2 and outspeed into OHKO. The only thing you lose to is switching in on Flower Trick as it then two subsequent foul plays is a high chance to kill, but it also won't drop you into salac range. Long story short, Ceru comes in, clicks SD multiple times, and claims with CC + Polt as everything dies at +4. I initially thought it was a throw by clicking spike instead of uturning into the full health Walking Wake that was right there, but pump doesn't even OHKO which is kinda crazy. Polt also doesn't OHKO at +2 but it very much does at +4, and you have the option to Polt into Sneak as well in whatever situation you need to do that.

248 SpA Walking Wake Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Ceruledge: 302-356 (85.5 - 100.8%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
248 SpA Walking Wake Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Ceruledge: 302-356 (85.5 - 100.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

+2 248 Atk Ceruledge Poltergeist vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Walking Wake: 294-346 (73.3 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Going back I thought maybe Zapdos had a chance to live at +4, no idea why I thought this because it gets absolutely bounced.

+4 248 Atk Ceruledge Poltergeist vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Zapdos: 459-541 (119.8 - 141.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Orangesodapop vs 3MoreMinutes - Link

3mm realized that he couldn't outskill osp so just tried to win in builder with stall which didn't work. Kinda funny seeing Coalossal here from osp. This is now the second spinner that osp has brought back from the dead after his success with cryogonal in week 1. Coal isn't bad as a spinner because you get to spin on dengo and the plethora of ghost/grass spinblockers people like to bring when they actively want to spinblock. You still don't beat jellicent but I think that's something you're willing to be ok with shockingly enough. It also serves as a backup check to flutter!

248 Atk Coalossal Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 135-159 (43.1 - 50.7%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
+1 248 SpA Flutter Mane Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Coalossal: 136-160 (32.1 - 37.8%) -- 94.3% chance to 3HKO

Not the guy you want as your only flutter check, but you get the picture. It also gets to run boom/wisp/something else last which gives it nice coverage/utility. I genuinely think we haven't seen coalossal since the beginning of MG2 when Volcarona was legal. Other Volcarona meta staple in this game is Gastrodon (dies to grass move obviously) who did not quite have the same level of success.

osp brings Slither this game who didn't do a ton, but wisp slither would've really been impossible for 3mm to deal with as nothing wants to get wisped. The only real switchin is rest tusk but even that doesn't actually beat it, you kinda just look at each other for a few turns before someone switches. Turn 12 is kinda a turning point in the game. osp had been making nice progress, and I know 3mm didn't want his blissey to get uturned on, but it felt a little early to try to make a read and stay in. Clearly doesn't pay off as osp just clicks flower trick and claims gastrodon. Now, metagross and coalossal are more annoying to try to switch in to. osp kinda gives one back on t23 by just giving up slither for no reason. Not only did osp have a spinner against a team that can't spinblock him, but at the very least you can use it later to end a turn and get a guaranteed good switch.

I'm kinda lazy and don't feel like looking at all the possibilities but I'm not so sure the crit on T38 mattered a ton. There is still another turn of psychic noise stopping dengo from healing, so even if you don't get the crit on this turn, you kill the following with mash. You can also hard fini, and outspeed + ko from that range. Yes you can also full para with metagross. If it was taunt fini, I don't think it mattered either. If anything, it was was the early attack raise that mattered more than the crit at the end.

My big takeaway from this game is that bp hates me because he said to shut up in the middle of the game which is completely fair but I'm still taking it to heart. I think it's because I farmed him in his own solomod. Enjoy week 5 on the bench buddy.

R8 vs qsns
Game 1 - Game 1 was somewhat of a stomping. R8 did their best osp impression and qsns did their best SEA impression. Unsurprisingly, the osp team beat the SEA team. What's funny is ceruledge comes in on ice beam, but if it didn't actually do that, it unironically just won immediately. Assuming r8 goes hard chomp on SD, roll provided, you eat the eq and then just win at +4 +1. So while some might just say "☆qsns: sea this mon sucks," a smarter user like Noglastica knows better.

248 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Ceruledge: 300-354 (84.9 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

That being said, R8 revealed it was a non-lefties chomp, and it's not visibly a balloon and obviously not boots. The only guess I have for it is either lum or mega, and mega would obviously KO you while regular chomp would not. Mega is less likely as it showed spikes, but mega spikes could still be a thing. We then see xurkitree (who I originally tried to spell xircutree) who, I'll be honest, I think someone has used before but I don't remember who. I've looked at it because setup electric type, but then I remember tail glow is just +2 and I think "only an idiot would bring this." It does still have really nice defensive typing + spa, but it's annoyingly slow and perhaps a different plot user/cm electric is the move. It's kinda over as boulder just wins with mmence in the back, but mlatios gets to dodge a few hurricanes and win on its own. 1-0 R8.

Game 2: The Greatest MG2 Game of All Time? - Meow vs. Meow lead again which is maybe the funny lead matchup as once again both sides put the game up to fate by seeing who wins the speed tie. For whatever reason, R8 decides to stay in but also click spikes, so trading 82% for spikes is funny. But then we see T2 it does NOT uturn out, so it's most likely a uturnless Meow. Both sides just trade max hazards, and t5 we get ibeam empo which isn't really used but I've heard previously it's one of many viable moves you can run on Empoleon. The next tech we get to see is fucking bRAVE BIRD ZAPDOS. It's nice getting to hit the grasses obviously, but you also get to hit plenty of other stuff as well for good damage, especially when they are twaved/toxic'd. Previously I've only looked at ice/heat wave, so this is pretty neat and pretty unexpected.

248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Blissey: 304-358 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Celebi: 242-288 (60 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Meowscarada: 302-356 (85 - 100.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock INSANE
248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 172-204 (54.9 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Great Tusk: 200-236 (46.1 - 54.5%) -- 55.5% chance to 2HKO
248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Slither Wing: 564-664 (151.2 - 178%) -- guaranteed OHKO

You already beat meow, tusk, slither, and most grasses with just hp ice anyway, but getting to break through Blissey freely which previously you needed to roar spam against, celebi (same situation), and getting to smash flutter mane is all really nice. You can still twave/toxic/roar non-taunt flutter as nobody is really running taunt anymore, but actually being able to 2HKO it is nice. I think it's a really cool move and I'll certainly be trying it in the future, but I do want to stop complimenting it because I know r8 is reading this right now and I have a policy where I try to put them down whenever possible. Hi r8. Funnily enough, brave bird didn't really do anything special against this qsns team. In fact, ice would've actually been slightly better, but zap basically 6-0d anyway. It comes in on turn 15 and only dies on turn 44. I genuinely think that might be the longest time a mon has stayed in excluding all the examples of just rest looping / pp stall / whatever. Zapdos ko'd 3 mons and did 60% to another before it died.

Not a good debut performance from Iron Jugulis. It's tempted me in the past (mew meta) but I lose interest when I remember it doesn't actually get roost or real setup. Being a flying type is really nice to ignore hazards, but no roost no nasty plot is meh. Because it's qsns I'm positive it has uturn on it, probably fire blast + dark pulse as well. No idea on last, can run knock, dragon move, ground move, flying move, fighting move... I don't know. None are super appealing to me. You can also run flash cannon or something if you want it to do damage against non tbolt flutter. Maybe if you have good spin on your team you can do meteor beam but that sounds not great.

Even though this is R8 we're talking about, surely this game is unlosable after the work zapdos did. For some reason, after zapdos dies, R8 goes Latios instead of Tusk which we see was in the back later. This just gives a free 40% uturn and now you have to recover with Latios. Tusk gets to freely knock here because it's unboosted sneasler who you take 10% from on dire claw and 30% on cc. Knock means fini is much less threatening as we've already seen it's stalk, so it could either be the classic STABs or cm water move. You can also just spin but that's a somewhat risky play as if you spin on a sneasler SD, you do lose. Instead, latios gets turned on, fini takes 0, and reveals moonblast so we know it's just stalk. This the point where psychic noise looks a whole lot nicer than psyshock. But, because we know it's not setup, Empo walls this set for all eternity, and gets to set up permanent rocks. However, sneasler now comes in and gets to claim one. You can't really risk going hard tusk otherwise you might not be able to switch in to sneasler later, so meow gets sacked, though you would like to keep it for fini if needed later. Now r8 gets to spin as we know it's uturn sneasler and surely nobody pairs uturn sneasler with swords dance right? At this point in the game I thought it was over because hazards are down and I don't think qsns can get them back up, and its uturn sneasler so I didn't think it would be SD. However, because it's air balloon, you don't know what the last was. Non-balloon you can usually guess is switcheroo sludge, but with balloon you know its not switcheroo.

Fast forward to turn 59 and sneasler gets +2 while tusk comes in. sneasler clicks cc while tusk clicks knock. R8 said later this might've been a choke and I'm somewhat inclined to agree. Clicking CC obviously is the safer play because not only is your spiker dead, but you can assume they are going to CC in order to 2HKO and will be at -1.

248 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. -1 248 HP / 248 Def Sneasler: 160-189 (44 - 52%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO

Theoretically the sneasler player can try to read this and SD a second time

+4 248 Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Great Tusk: 384-453 (88.6 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

While taking very little as you are not at -1

248 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Sneasler: 106-126 (29.2 - 34.7%) -- 7.3% chance to 3HKO

But with an unrevealed in the back, you probably want to play it safe and just trade cc damage. Tusk dies and r8 reveals empoleon so I think it's surely over, BUT then the tactic is shown. R8's gameplan is to try and pp stall close combat so empoleon walls + wins. A few turns later, R8 sacks the latios which means it comes down to, most likely, pp stalling the sneasler because it makes the fini endgame harder. Where it gets funny is that R8 then goes into flutter again, and you think it's more pp stalling shenanigans, but bizarrely they both end making somewhat surprising plays. So because latios died and the close combat actually hit something, it ends up making sneasler -3 at 86%. However, that still doesn't kill, and it's safe to assume that if flutter had psyshock, it would have clicked it already.

248 SpA Flutter Mane Thunderbolt vs. -3 248 HP / 248 SpD Sneasler: 243-287 (66.9 - 79%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Instead, it seemingly comes down to a crit or tbolt para, not unheard of from R8 clicking tbolt vs enemy wincons this solopl. Instead, R8 reveals DARK PULSE which, because its -3 sneasler, DOES do enough with tbolt to KO sneasler with a 20% flinch.

248 SpA Flutter Mane Dark Pulse vs. -3 248 HP / 248 SpD Sneasler: 102-121 (28 - 33.3%) -- 0.1% chance to 3HKO

It's also important to know that Sneasler doesn't even guarantee OHKO flutter at this range.

+2 248 Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 297-349 (94.8 - 111.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

Because there's no hazards, it's coming in for free, so even if it doesn't get the flinch/para/crit, it still can live. HOWEVER, it's also a dire claw getting clicked, and getting just one of the 3 will do enough to KO it, so it's more like a 84.4% chance you kill. Even if you get the para/sleep and are afraid of them switching and continuing to pp stall, you just uturn and set up rocks on empo if they also switch, so flutter cant pp stall, and you can just click cc on empo.

R8 decides that the flinch chance + the chance to live dire claw (32.5%, excluding dire claw crit %) is good enough, and stays in to dark pulse. qsns was evidently not happy with the 67.5% chance and decided to SWITCH despite being at +2. Obviously you go into tran here if you decide to switch, which again is fine into an opposing empo switch because it lets you click rocks/boom/wisp or something for free. It dies, and then back in comes sneasler.
From 86%, Sneasler can still eat tbolts here and make it a 4HKO:

248 SpA Flutter Mane Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Sneasler: 97-115 (26.7 - 31.6%) -- 73.7% chance to 3HKO

Sneasler can also get high rolls for a chance to 2HKO flutter

248 Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 148-175 (47.2 - 55.9%) -- 22.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

You ALSO have the option, as Sneasler to just SD here which is kinda a crazy play, but once again, you have the same chance from above to KO from full at +2, 84.4% if you count the chance for a status condition and exclude crit chance. I'm now doing WAY too much work for this endgame but, all in all, factoring in the chance either dire claw status' them (I treat that as a win), you don't get 3HKOd, and the chance you 2HKO, you actually have an 85.757475% chance to win this endgame with Sneasler which is higher than I expected. This is the funniest outcome in my opinion because it lets qsns say they calculated this all in their head to realize that this was the highest chance of winning (higher than staying in at +2 by 18%, and higher than clicking SD by 1.35%).

There's other very small % factors that might change by a few decimal points, like if you avoid getting 3HKOd by tbolt, there is the chance on their 3rd tbolt you get para'd and then die to empo. There's the chance either side crits, there's the chance you can get the sleep on the first dire claw, then they wake and crit/para after 1 turn...

Just to wrap this up quickly because I've now spent way too much time on just this game alone, sneasler gets the full para, R8 almost successfully stalls out the remaining close combat pp, and then dies.

Game 3 - Immediately its spectrier lead so I think "is this that week 1 team" and sure enough it was. Apparently qsns also knew, but it didn't matter. Toed doesn't care about lead matchups unless its a taunt lead because you're just clicking wisp t1 anyway. It's almost surely taunt spectrier in the lead spot so I feel like you can pretty happily just knock here. They dance around each other for a few turns, its quite obviously rest spectrier as seen by the playstyle and because that is what it was in Week 1. Blace comes in on the rest and this actually can be a bit scary for Blace because you don't want to risk getting wisped which makes your shadow ball and boom much less useful. It turns out it is osp set eject pack blacephalon (TONS of osp mons in this week, clearly the most influential player in mg2's history imo) and hits the gastro for 30. Once the gastro is shown, you think it's almost SURELY the same team as week 1 as that also had a gastro on it. Going toedscruel is kinda weird here because you can't spore the already sleeping spectrier (it hasn't revealed stalk yet so even putting an awake spectrier can be somewhat promising) but it turns out qsns has really nothing that beats gastro. Some more dancing around each other before blace just booms on gastro which is huge for qsns as they don't beat it otherwise. Flutter comes in on spectrier and this is where I learned that spectrier is somehow slower. I said "that's nice for R8 you can just taunt it." Starmie is shown to be the flutter swtichin so I thought it was a gg, especially looking at mons on the week 1 r8 team, but it's no tbolt no energy ball flutter, so it doesn't actually win. If this was either tbolt, energy ball, or lefties, this game is pretty much a wrap. Even taunt probably wins here. Flutter eventually crits which is honestly bound to happen so I wouldn't say it was really luck, but then fucking heavy slam flutter came in with the, quite literal, steel chair. Full set was just slam > cc which is kinda ass having to drop cc but ends up working here. Something like 3atk bulk up could be funny which flutter likes to come in and set up on normally. Raging bolt comes in and does some stuff, wisping it is actually massive because otherwise its a real problem. Spectrier gets sacked so it puts bolt into fip range. BU ursaluna comes in which is funny because why is that a slither switchin. No hazards are up so we can most likely assume its lum if it's deciding to come in on a wisp mon. It shows to be bulk up which is maybe ok but I feel like the power from SD is just better. qsns then clicks the normal move into the steel type, gets surfed, shows LEFTIES, then dies. The dedge was to allow ttar to set up on empo, eating a surf and a fip, and relying on this roll:

+1 248 Atk Tyranitar-Mega Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Slither Wing: 268-316 (71.8 - 84.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

to kill slither, and whatever mon was in the back. But then I'm not sure why toed came in after luna died, so I really don't know what to say. Lati I think just won anyway even if ttar got the roll on slither, unless you then get a crit on latios or a draco miss. Oddly enough, I don't feel like calcing another endgame. Thank you for playing a bo3. You two are my favorite council members.

REAL!

Week 4 Usage Stats Solopl2

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |   17 |  47.22% |  47.06% |
| 2    | Flutter Mane       |   16 |  44.44% |  37.50% |
| 3    | Meowscarada        |   12 |  33.33% |  58.33% |
| 4    | Heatran            |   10 |  27.78% |  70.00% |
| 5    | Tapu Fini          |    9 |  25.00% |  77.78% |
| 6    | Empoleon           |    7 |  19.44% |  28.57% |
| 7    | Slither Wing       |    7 |  19.44% |  71.43% |
| 8    | Gholdengo          |    7 |  19.44% |  28.57% |
| 9    | Zapdos             |    6 |  16.67% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Iron Treads        |    5 |  13.89% |  80.00% |
| 11   | Iron Moth          |    5 |  13.89% |  40.00% |
| 12   | Gastrodon          |    4 |  11.11% |  50.00% |
| 13   | Blacephalon        |    4 |  11.11% |  25.00% |
| 14   | Great Tusk         |    4 |  11.11% |   0.00% |
| 15   | Garchomp           |    4 |  11.11% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Iron Boulder       |    4 |  11.11% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Melmetal           |    4 |  11.11% |  25.00% |
| 18   | Garganacl          |    4 |  11.11% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Starmie            |    3 |   8.33% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Toedscruel         |    3 |   8.33% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Sneasler           |    3 |   8.33% |  66.67% |
| 22   | Ceruledge          |    3 |   8.33% |  66.67% |
| 23   | Thundurus          |    3 |   8.33% |  33.33% |
| 24   | Walking Wake       |    3 |   8.33% |  33.33% |
| 25   | Spectrier          |    2 |   5.56% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Salamence          |    2 |   5.56% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Cryogonal          |    2 |   5.56% | 100.00% |
| 28   | Blissey            |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 29   | Kingambit          |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Metagross          |    2 |   5.56% | 100.00% |
| 31   | Gliscor            |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Sinistcha          |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 33   | Jellicent          |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Iron Thorns        |    2 |   5.56% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Kommo-o            |    2 |   5.56% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Gastrodon-East     |    2 |   5.56% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Volcanion          |    2 |   5.56% |   0.00% |
| 38   | Raging Bolt        |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Tyranitar          |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Ursaluna           |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 41   | Iron Jugulis       |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 42   | Xurkitree          |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Coalossal          |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 44   | Greninja           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Gengar             |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Kyurem-Black       |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Hydreigon          |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 48   | Talonflame         |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 49   | Primarina          |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 50   | Gallade            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 51   | Archeops           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Lucario            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Suicune            |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Toxapex            |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 56   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 57   | Jolteon            |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 58   | Scream Tail        |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 60   | Diancie            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 61   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Houndoom           |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 63   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 64   | Celebi             |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 66   | Uxie               |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 67   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Latias             |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 69   | Clodsire           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 70   | Dhelmise           |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |

Week 4 Lead Usage

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Meowscarada        |    9 |  25.00% |  55.56% |
| 2    | Toedscruel         |    3 |   8.33% |   0.00% |
| 3    | Spectrier          |    2 |   5.56% | 100.00% |
| 4    | Blissey            |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Flutter Mane       |    2 |   5.56% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Latios             |    2 |   5.56% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Cryogonal          |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Metagross          |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Greninja           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 10   | Walking Wake       |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Empoleon           |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Slither Wing       |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Talonflame         |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Archeops           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 15   | Sneasler           |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Jolteon            |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Diancie            |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Zapdos             |    1 |   2.78% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Uxie               |    1 |   2.78% |   0.00% |

 

[R8]

What's funny is ceruledge comes in on ice beam, but if it didn't actually do that, it unironically just won immediately. Assuming r8 goes hard chomp on SD, roll provided, you eat the eq and then just win at +4 +1. So while some might just say "☆qsns: sea this mon sucks," a smarter user like Noglastica knows better.

The correct play would probably have been ice beaming or knocking off with cryo in this scenario (or just trying to chip it in a way or in an other) since directly eqing means an instaloss, sacking heatran to cc would work as well if things are dire, all of this granted it's not endure (and it didn't get knocked off) which I think would have won the game in this situation since it's not a dtail chomp

That being said, R8 revealed it was a non-lefties chomp, and it's not visibly a balloon and obviously not boots. The only guess I have for it is either lum or mega, and mega would obviously KO you while regular chomp would not.

If I told you what it actually it would be more r8 hating material I fear

It's kinda over as boulder just wins with mmence in the back, but mlatios gets to dodge a few hurricanes and win on its own.

Looking back I think not clicking Draco immediately was a mistake? I was afraid of a Draco miss but I didn't realize psyshock does so little, and dd/hone claw from qsns here into crit/confusion/draco miss from me if I didn't get the psyshock crit could have cooked the game in qsns' favor as my last was a flutter with no icy wind

But then we see T2 it does NOT uturn out, so it's most likely a uturnless Meow.

Ngl tbh I saw non air balloon heatran so I assumed it is lefties so I thought I had no reasons to reveal u-turn. It was in fact u-turn meow!

bRAVE BIRD ZAPDOS

it also does good damages into latios! most notably gets the 3hko which hp ice cannot do vs lefties! very nice w/ twave

Something very interesting about Zapdos in general is that it seems that once you make sure Latios cannot answer you properly, lot of teams' best answer to Zapdos are their Flutter check, and I think this game was a good example of it: there was an iron treads and a heatran, and even tough I assume only the heatran was meant to be the flutter check here (since treads isn't slam), zapdos worn down both pretty well although with the help of a very nasty crit on Heatran. I think I should have sacked Zapdos to Jugulis tough so I could set up the flutter, so that was an other mistake that cost me the game I think

Hi r8

Hi nog

For some reason, after zapdos dies, R8 goes Latios instead of Tusk which we see was in the back later.

I thought CM latios won but didn't consider the possibility of moonblast fini, and I wanted to get the opportunity to cm asap so I wouldn't have to deal with boosted CM fini in any other situation as my meow and my zap were both gone. I could have went flutter here tbh? But What If they clicked dire claw multiple times?
Maybe I indeed should have went tusk even in the cm fini scenario tbh because knock and headlong rush do probably enough for flutter to finish it off, or like to cm on it and win the game. Sorry nog, we lost an opportunity to get cracked flutter footage!

If this was either tbolt, energy ball, or lefties, this game is pretty much a wrap. Even taunt probably wins here.

TECHNICALLY. Starmie does live even +1 bolt but yeah the flutter mu of this team is kinda ass lol <@_@>

Flutter eventually crits which is honestly bound to happen so I wouldn't say it was really luck, but then fucking heavy slam flutter came in with the, quite literal, steel chair. Full set was just slam > cc which is kinda ass having to drop cc but ends up working here.

I agree, although tbh to avoid the crit I could have spammed recover to stay at full and tank the crit psyshock, as soon as it was parad and in heavy slam range the flutter was basically dealt with.

I think no cc slither is fine here because I have good answers to steels and generally what it wants to click CC on. Even without CC slither can just spam Wisp, and having a move that also do ok damages vs fini can be useful on top of hitting flutter, which is the main thing this move is trying to do.

On an other note: I think Slither is an excellent alternative to Gholdengo on fat as even though it isn't as sturdy of a check to physical attackers, it's a lot less passive and wisp + first impression are SO useful in so many situations. I'll go more in detail on it once I make my VR post but I think the fat/stall teams built with Gholdengo are too passive, too reliant on hazards and often too annoyed by lot of random things and going w/ a more proactive route with Slither makes them a lot better in my opinion. I don't think Gholdengo is bad though, I think the best teams with that mon are the ones that actively stack on very threatening fire resists (latios, a wide variety of bulky waters, iron moth, garganacl are some examples of mons we have seen paired with ghold) and a solid plan for the great tusk/iron treads matchup. While it is true that lot of teams that aren't super fast paced should have 2+ fire answers anyway, the idea here is to push it even further and turn the opposing fires as an opportunity to fuck the opposing team up as much as possible

DARK PULSE

Oh yeah I think Dark Pulse Flutter is cool and people should look into that more. It hits Boulder, Latios and Blacephalon (which can be used as a flutter soft check sometimes) and other ghosts and psychics, and as a bonus it has a 20% bullshit factor which you can upgrade by spamming twave. With tbolt + myst fire you have decent neutral coverage asw, although it's probably not the only valid move combination alongside dark pulse, rly just depends on what you team is good at wearing down I think

 

[Noglastica]

SEA vs 3MoreMinutes - link
FINAL WEEK FINAL WEEK FINAL WEEK. Feast your eyes on the line above because this is the only time in history will you ever see 3MoreMinutes bolded against SEA for the rest of your life. Meow lead is the new Mew lead where it feels like everything is either Meow or something that does well into Meow. I thought Sneasler was a really cool anti-lead because you get a free T1 Uturn until I learned immediately that Sneasler is slower. You can kinda pick if you want to just fish for a dire claw or uturn, turn might be better T1 because you don't want to be clicking claw into a dengo, but it is sludge so we can assume its switcheroo. Even still, it's probably not worth trading twave for sludge. Pert comes in on the dire claw and doesn't get status'd (foreshadowing). Swampert gets great typing and rocks and flip turn and also apparently knock but you're also grounded and have no recovery so it's pretty mid. Gastro is probably just better on most teams, its just if you need gastro typing on an offensive team + rocks which is a super weird niche. I also hate to say it but technically Swampert is also a nog mon but I don't really lay claim to it. I am contractually obligated to state when a mon is a nog mon. HOROARK comes in on the part and takes a ton from flip turn because it has literally no bulk, it's also pretty crazy mu fish (that I was also looking at) against SEA because it does wall the ceru ghost + fight typing (foreshadowing). Blah blah, turn 5 roaring moon comes in which is kinda scary because you don't really know what it's running. Previously we've seen qsns run knock + eq + taunt + roost which was pretty bad but it turns out a mon with 139 attack and 119 speed can actually hit hard and be fast. BB does damage against treads who can't really touch it (even if you're the rare ice spinner), flutter comes in on the second bb, tries to setup, and then gets shadow claw'd. Then HOROARK comes in because you're immune to both STABs, SEA pretty much has to taunt (or go pert) to stop a potential wisp, and gets focus blasted. I assumed that it was roost last which can make this 1v1 interesting because you can pp stall the focus blast doing 50, but you also have a 50/50 every turn on taunting the potential wisp which also pretty much kills your roaring moon. Both sides double, we get sneasler into meow, meow turns, sneasler clicks CC which does kill the roaring moon (uturn did not from 47%).

248 Atk Sneasler U-turn vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Roaring Moon: 150-178 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

SEA's team is clearly sneasler weak as they're forced to go latios which gets turned on for 40 every single time, flips on the horoark who is becoming heavily chipped, and therefore sacked to the meow. I probably wouldn't have sacked it here because your best click is probably focus blast (70% best case scenario) if they stay in and spike or uturn (doesn't kill), not to mention 3mm has two great switchins: Heatran and Sneasler. Instead, sacked, and we get another Sneasler meow turn. Sneasler gets good chip and reveals slither in the back which TREADS comes in on the uturn. Some more posturing, treads gets a spin, etc etc then new SEA mon tapu lele comes in. Certainly a cool choice, it's a tempting mon to bring due to its typing and stats. I've looked at some CM sets before because it does get other options over fairy, but it's actually revealed to be natures madness. I don't think it's a bad set, especially because many of the steels that want to switch in don't have a perfect form of recovery outside of dengo. Even Dengo can be 2hkod by CM sets as well.

+1 248 SpA Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Gholdengo: 192-228 (50.9 - 60.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Relevant calc: 248 Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Tapu Lele: 252-296 (73.4 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I also learned that Tapu Lele has a fucking wheel below it like what I have literally no idea what it is supposed to be. Koko is a chicken, Lele is a something lady, Bulu I don't know, and Tapu Lele is a unicycle or something. Now that we've seen the whole team, we again see that Sneasler is terrifying for SEA to deal with. Tran gets up rocks and gets to wisp tios so it's looking somewhat rough. Btw slither would be so much worse if tran were faster, and tran would be slightly better. Sneasler comes in on slither's morning sun and immediately gets a crit sleep dire claw which ends the game on the spot. While this is the game we will point to and say "this is the game that got dire claw banned," the game was still very favored for 3MoreMinutes.

248 Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Slither Wing: 120-142 (32.1 - 38%) -- 95.7% chance to 3HKO

SEA said it was eq slither which would have smacked sneasler:

248 Atk Slither Wing Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Sneasler: 242-286 (66.6 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

BUT it's also balloon slither and switcheroo sneasler, so sneasler can still switcheroo the Slither, avoid the eq while doing good damage. CC would have been a roll after sludge, but it also was not CC as revealed by the morning, eq, uturn, and the unrevealed was fip as we see it move first while asleep against sneasler. UTurn and FIP do pretty much nothing

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Sneasler: 40-48 (11 - 13.2%) -- possible 8HKO

Which is a 3HKO even if you get max rolls on eq + FIPs after sludge heal on the eq turn. Dire claw + sludge damage will beat slither, there's no rocks so you don't take any hazards, and sneasler can pretty confidently win from here. Polt flutter + tran, while low, will also most likely win from here.

R8 vs pannu - link
Shocking double brave bird zap game. That set is clearly very good on an already very good mon. Ok less than I thought but triple hazard zap??? Could be the move...

248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gastrodon: 153-181 (36 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, Leftovers recovery, and poison damage

Early hazards on both sides this game, 3MM didn't get up rocks until turn 22 I think it was, and by turn 11 both sides have spikes and pannu has rocks as well. R8 wins every single zapdos speed tie and wins the para'd zap 1v1. Makes me think I'm watching another MG2 OM. Boulder comes in and chips gastro very well. Good players sub here but pannu does not click sub. Gastro also died from this range as well as we were fist plate.

+2 248 Atk Fist Plate Iron Boulder Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gastrodon: 298-351 (70.1 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Instead, Meow gets toxic'd, and because it get's toxic'd, Empoleon actually 1v1s because you take nothing from flower trick. Normally you don't really want to stay in on this and burn all your roosts but because it's toxic'd you can.

248 SpA Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Empoleon: 130-154 (35 - 41.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

(Mega) Metagross comes in a flutter cope mon but also a guy who can click bullet punch against Boulder. It is shown to most likely not have mega'd yet (because why would you and also look at the roll)

248 Atk Metagross Bullet Punch vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Reuniclus: 64-76 (15.1 - 17.9%) -- possible 6HKO

Nog Mon reuniclus comes in and gets to click twave. It's not as bulky as it should be with bold or something but it does take attacks well, can click knock (so maybe bringing it in on a mega that 4x resists your only attack isn't the best play @ pannu). Tran comes in hard and dies to earthquake. Pannu's team is kinda mmeta weak so it needs to get chip before being able to finish it. Meow then gets sacked to Zapdos which I think is a mistake because you can pretty confidently go into reuniclus and play for a full para there and beat it with psychic noise. If you get the full para, I do think reuni + meow + 10% boulder might just win against the remaining stuff. Pannu also misplayed the reuniclus endgame a little which does somewhat rely on critting flutter, BUT if you knock turn 1, it would've cut out on 8 turns of leftovers recovery that it got, which would have killed it the turn before. Endgame still didn't look good even keeping meow alive, but when it became reuni vs latios, you basically just need to get several crits and several full para's / dodge literally every draco. Conclusion: Reuni did work so I'm kinda happy about that. Mon has 32pp recovery and 5 turn psychic noise and 1/4 para so you literally outspeed everything. I mean you look at what twave switchins exist and its like tusk (does 2hko with headlong but gets smacked by psychic noise) and treads (overrated mid mon) who gets knocked. Reuni :drool:

Orangesodapop vs qsns - link
A win here by osp I believe would have knocked the slugma's out with a Washi win, instead, qsns keeps them in it to maybe send them to a tiebreak (at the time of posting this, it's still undecided.) T1 empoleon dodges stone edge (I'm sure that orangesodapop will not use this as an excuse for losing later). Empo does not click rocks T3, it almost certainly has them as there is no other rocker on the team, BUT osp can very realistically click knock here and you don't really want to have to decide what to do with a knocked empo in on what is presumably an eq archeops (if it has knock).

248 SpA Empoleon Flip Turn vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Archeops: 182-216 (51.5 - 61.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

248 Atk Archeops Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Empoleon: 198-234 (53.3 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (and it's not been knocked yet)

anaconja: zap arch emp
anaconja: is this a jtb gamd

REAL BTW!

Tini (Jubilife Jinx mon) is super scary to switch-in to already, something like Latios doesn't mind until you get u-turned on, but I also always forget it can run wisp which makes something like boulder much less happy to switch in. +2 CC crits and kills empo (not deserved). My biggest fan osp clearly read last weeks solopl review when I said:

This is also another reason that, if you can fit it, roost Kyub can be super real. Whether or not that's dd roost + 2 (I think you have to stay stone edge + focus blast), or if that's dropping dd and just doing roost + whatever.

It comes in on gastrodon which screams "I am freeze-dry" obviously and while it sucks qsns missed the toxic, the team is not the best to deal with normal dd kyub as well. It's revealed to be draco freeze-dry which is neat, and it also suggest it's most likely not dd and it is in fact roost + 1. Stone edge again feels super undroppable in order to beat flutter. If people are running heavy slam on 30 mons, I think running stone edge on your 170atk mon is fine.

Skipping forward, I think turn 17 is a somewhat weird play giving up the archeops because all of qsns' team has been revealed and nothing really switches into a stone edge other than latios and even that dies if rocks ever get up.

248 Atk Archeops Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 159-187 (43.8 - 51.5%) -- 9% chance to 2HKO

I know it's a speed tie but it feels not really worth the risk. Boulder gets sacked and kyub shows its longevity as a catch-all check to Flutter Mane with roost. It beats flutter 1v1, and then again archeops gets sacked when I don't really know why. You're doing good damage vs everything and at the very worst you have a speed tie vs latios. Flutter comes in and surely wins this endgame, assuming that it can beat latios, but it's revealed to be shadow ball victini which is a very cool anti-flutter tech. Flutter trades 1 for 1 and does good damage to zap before it goes (another brave bird zap lol). Treads comes in against the zapdos which is not a good sign and in hindsight probably a mistake. CM Fini clearly has a shot as we see later, so letting zapdos get to full here is probably a mistake. qsns I think does make the mistake of switching out. Clearly whatever is last does not really want to deal with zapdos, and you still have uturn in the back so getting a (most likely) clean switch into Latios is assured + some amount of chip. But, because it's latios first, Fini gets a free cm so discharge does 32. Is this the last time qsns runs discharge? Maybe.

248 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. +1 248 HP / 248 SpD Tapu Fini: 134-158 (39 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

248 SpA Zapdos Discharge vs. +1 248 HP / 248 SpD Tapu Fini: 114-134 (33.2 - 39%) -- 8.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Game comes down to stalk rolls + crits + discharge para chance into fp. I am NOT doing the math this week obviously because I'm lazy and also would not do it right most likely (something something boom uxie.) It also is not a guaranteed win for osp even if he kills the zapdos. Instead of getting the sleep rolls, if he pulls surf at +2 and kills the zap, it's not over.

He still has to avoid a psychic noise crit from latios (which granted doesn't do a ton)

248 SpA Latios Psychic Noise vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Tapu Fini on a critical hit: 162-192 (47.2 - 55.9%) -- 79.3% chance to 2HKO

But he also still needs to get to +6 spa (+5 spdf I believe) just to break latios. Even at +5 you're not getting the 2HKO against the 32pp recover.
+5 248 SpA Tapu Fini Surf vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Latios: 153-180 (42.1 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

I think you can get to +6 spa with fini but I'm not positive. You can only get to +5 spdf though I'm sure about that. Osp also does want to stay asleep for a while though, because under resttalk, even while psychic noised, you can still pull and use rest, keeping him healthy and letting him potentially setup more cm's. All in all, definitely not over, arguably even qsns favored at the endgame but I don't care enough to figure it out. If you bring a stalk cm water mon, you deserve to get crit, and should expect it.

HOLY MOLY FMANE TIED LATIOS

WEEK 5 USAGE STATS MG2 SOLOPL2

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Flutter Mane       |   20 |  47.62% |  45.00% |
| 2    | Latios             |   20 |  47.62% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Meowscarada        |   14 |  33.33% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Heatran            |   12 |  28.57% |  66.67% |
| 5    | Tapu Fini          |   10 |  23.81% |  70.00% |
| 6    | Zapdos             |    9 |  21.43% |  55.56% |
| 7    | Empoleon           |    9 |  21.43% |  44.44% |
| 8    | Slither Wing       |    9 |  21.43% |  55.56% |
| 9    | Iron Treads        |    7 |  16.67% |  71.43% |
| 10   | Gholdengo          |    7 |  16.67% |  28.57% |
| 11   | Iron Boulder       |    6 |  14.29% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Gastrodon          |    6 |  14.29% |  66.67% |
| 13   | Iron Moth          |    5 |  11.90% |  40.00% |
| 14   | Sneasler           |    4 |   9.52% |  75.00% |
| 15   | Blacephalon        |    4 |   9.52% |  25.00% |
| 16   | Great Tusk         |    4 |   9.52% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Garchomp           |    4 |   9.52% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Melmetal           |    4 |   9.52% |  25.00% |
| 19   | Garganacl          |    4 |   9.52% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Metagross          |    3 |   7.14% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Toedscruel         |    3 |   7.14% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Starmie            |    3 |   7.14% | 100.00% |
| 23   | Ceruledge          |    3 |   7.14% |  66.67% |
| 24   | Thundurus          |    3 |   7.14% |  33.33% |
| 25   | Walking Wake       |    3 |   7.14% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Archeops           |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 27   | Kyurem-Black       |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Spectrier          |    2 |   4.76% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Cryogonal          |    2 |   4.76% | 100.00% |
| 30   | Salamence          |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Blissey            |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Kingambit          |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 33   | Gliscor            |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Sinistcha          |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Jellicent          |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Iron Thorns        |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Gastrodon-East     |    2 |   4.76% | 100.00% |
| 38   | Kommo-o            |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Volcanion          |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Victini            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 41   | Reuniclus          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 42   | Roaring Moon       |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Swampert           |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 44   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Zoroark-Hisui      |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Raging Bolt        |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Tyranitar          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 48   | Ursaluna           |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 49   | Iron Jugulis       |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 50   | Xurkitree          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 51   | Coalossal          |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Greninja           |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Gengar             |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 54   | Hydreigon          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Talonflame         |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 56   | Gallade            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 57   | Primarina          |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 58   | Lucario            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Suicune            |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 60   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 61   | Toxapex            |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 63   | Scream Tail        |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 64   | Jolteon            |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 66   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 67   | Houndoom           |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Diancie            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 69   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 70   | Celebi             |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 71   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 72   | Uxie               |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 73   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 74   | Latias             |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 75   | Clodsire           |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Dhelmise           |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |

Lead Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Meowscarada        |   10 |  23.81% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Zapdos             |    3 |   7.14% | 100.00% |
| 3    | Toedscruel         |    3 |   7.14% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Archeops           |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Slither Wing       |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Sneasler           |    2 |   4.76% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Spectrier          |    2 |   4.76% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Blissey            |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Flutter Mane       |    2 |   4.76% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Latios             |    2 |   4.76% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Cryogonal          |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Metagross          |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Greninja           |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Walking Wake       |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 15   | Empoleon           |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Talonflame         |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 18   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Jolteon            |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Diancie            |    1 |   2.38% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Uxie               |    1 |   2.38% |   0.00% |

When the tour ends, I'll send a pastebin of all the replays if you want to look. I'll also probably include some other cool stats if I can. Some are glitched like air balloon doesn't actually save in the replay, it says 8 uses so far, so I would guess that is how many times it was knocked? Lefties shows boots don't show. It says lefties have 83% usage so that is clearly not right. There's also move statistics (rocks 1, spikes/cm tied 2nd), and there's two mons paired combo (latios + flutter and latios + fini are the two top used and both at like 67% wr, healthy!)

 

[Noglastica]

Dire Claw has been BANNED from MG2. This will be in effect for solopl playoffs.

Noglastica: Ban
qsns: Ban
r8: Ban
3MoreMinutes: Ban

I think the first unanimous ban in a very long time, Dire Claw doesn't really have any argument as to why you should keep it. It's already stupid enough in Gen9, but when para is 1/4 speed and sleep can last for 7 turns, dire claw becomes extremely annoying to deal with. The main reason it hadn't been banned yet is because sneasler had less usage previously (with more dengo + gliscor) and the only person getting lucked by it was me: and I think we can all agree, Noglastica losing is good for the tier.

There's been two main instances of annoyance with it in solopl: week 1 and week 5. It's been clicked several other times but there hasn't been any huge game changing plays as a result of it. Sneasler now has to run sludge bomb (or even gunk shot I suppose) which is not only better for the tier not having to worry about a stupid 50% secondary effect move, but it also means you're guaranteed to 2HKO flutter even after leftovers recovery. Now people are forced to run the good move instead of the stupid move. Tier saved.

248 Atk Sneasler Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Flutter Mane: 168-198 (53.6 - 63.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[anaconja]

where is Orangesodapop vote

and pannu

 

[R8]

I don’t think I ever posted an mg2 vr on this thread, and part because I wasn’t too sure to get how this tier actually works - even though I played MG2 for a while, I felt like I was never satisfied of how I built in this tier. This time around I felt like my teams made a lot more of sense in general - took me long enough to get to this point lol, although I guess stopping to be addicted to ghold glisc mie stuff like I was last year helps quite a lot.

To preface, the way I make my VRs are pretty much an evaluation of how likely it is that you should bring a team with said Pokemon if your goal is to win (in my opinion ofc). I don’t really take how warping a threat is when ranking it, as I don’t think it really indicates how good it actually is to use. Gholdengo is probably the most notable example as while it forces a lot of adaptation from physical attackers, it is still a flawed pokemon that needs a lot of help to actually fit into a team and actually doesn’t do that much besides being a wall and clicking twave.

I love mg2. I'll delve more into tiering talk when i make my teamdump but in a nutshell: i think we gotta ban one of flutter or latios - maybe both - and keep an eye on zapdos and sneasler (yes sneasler, i'm not kidding). There can be an argument for sleep, wisp, twave asw although i think sleep is the only one that can probably get enough pple on board - personally wisp is the only of the three i feel super opposed to ban. I think the upcoming survey should ask about all of these barring sneasler. I think the tier is in a really decent place, it's just that flutt + latios overshadows the rest a bit too much in my opinion. Whats nice is that if we ban latios we still would have latias which i doubt would be broken without flip/psynoise/potentially flutter.

Other than that stuff, as much as people like to complain i don't think there are much of anything that are outright unfair in the tier right now - and that includes rng: yes missing stone edge or whatever sucks but the mons that run inaccurate moves (barring draco meteor) are often either flawed beyond the inaccuracy thing (kyu-b, mttar) or have viable alternatives (if u dont want to connect mashes melm is fine over metagross lot of the time) - point is: i think a decent proportion of the rng we have seen in solopl was either avoidable or didn't matter *that* much, although there were of course notable exceptions. Sleep in general is probably p stupid. Also yeah missing wisp sucks but it's also one of the most free clicks in the tier so i think as long as your team have resorts in the cases it doesn't cooperate you'll be fine. The thing is just that you shouldn't rely on it hitting every time.

Tiers are NOT ordered. Those are like the less set in stone opinions ever honestly lol it feels like there is still so much to be explored and tried out. The metagame shifts that happened since the last time i played mg2 are kinda insane lmao and it feels like it's still not settled yet.

Some comments, aside from Latios & Flutter (and i guess zapdos) i'll mostly address the rankings i think are either the most interesting or the most contentious


I don't know what to tell you about this mon even. I haven't been able to make a team without latios that feels good, either CM, the classic flip/psynoise/draco/reco set or some random other shit that probably exists because it has a very good movepool. Its typing is very nice, and if it use the right set for your team it pretty much guarantees progress - barring CM vs stall depending on the coverage i suppose.


Actually so cracked but i'm lazy to write about it, pls someone do it. It's just impossible to force out, brave bird + twave or discharge + uturn sets are both a pain in the ass to check defensively. It's only A rank because i don't think you can slap it on team that easily as it's not something that can switch for free on much at all, and you need to build around it.


Empoleon just kinda feels necessary at times not gonna lie lol, having something to switch into Latios is just so nice especially if u can get the momentum back with flip turn. A nice way to fit hazards as well, and general soft checks a lot. It does get owned by tbolt though. Walking Wake is a mon we don’t see much anymore but still can be tough to switch into so that’s also a reason to run Empoleon since “Walky Wake” doesn’t have many safe switches otherwise. If pple start to use tbolt latios more it probably should be lower on the VR, but otherwise the defensive security it provides is just amazing imo.


I unironically considered Flutter for A, because I feel like it needs quite a good amount of support to get the most out of it due to its slight 4mss, vulnerability to twave and need to get chip on the right mons, but honestly when u give it the support it needs u get the most reliable kind of team in the entire tier in my opinion - more precisely i think Latios + Flutter double CM balance might be the most consistent archetype in the tier. The speed is incredible both for speed control and cleaning purposes, and its customisability makes it super easy to support. It gets the coverage to hit almost the entire tier for very good damages, so u just basically pick what u are walled by and have a plan for those walls with the rest of your team. Dark Pulse is underrated, Zap Plate probably deserves some exploration?


Being able to threaten a kill on a lot of annoying things including CMers is very cool, and it get access to spikes and tspikes. That being said it gives turns to a lot of mons i think u def shouldn't give free turns to - Zap, Slither, Iron Moth, Sneasler in particular - which is what makes me rank in A instead of A+. I think Copycat is unironically probably viable and should be explored: steals utility moves, disallow flutter from trying to 1v1 u for too free, and just is a move w/ a ton of applications in general.

()
Metagross is cool u should use metagross :3
I think the actual good set is Knock Off + Meteor Mash + Earthquake + Bullet Punch/Explosion/Refresh/(Stealth Rocks). It helps soft checking a lot of things, it help vs some forms of physical setup in particular (Boulder, Kyu-B, TTar, Mega Mence) but also is generally a good mon imo. Balloon is probably OK but what sells the deal is its mega which is an insane ball of stats: it has bulk and power similar to Melmetal but off a 110 speed stat. Even though Bullet Punch isn't very strong, super effective priority vs flutter is honestly amazing to have and it does help a bit vs boulder as well. Boom is boom and refresh helps vs gholdengo. Metagross is generally harder to switch into than Melmetal which is one of the reasons why i prefer it over Melm. It does have its flaws though, sometimes the choice between balloon and the mega is a bit difficult, and choosing the right moment to mega is often Not Easy since the mega goes away when u switch out in mg2.

There is a very old cosmic power + rest + stored power + body press set that existed a long time ago but probably sucks considering u are running the only metagross in the world walled by flutter and latios. Maybe throwing mash in there or something could be the play.


While it is true it's not a very reliable sweeper i still think it's a decent breaker in non-ghold mus (which is the most exploitable mon of all times anyway) and getting to shit on CM Latios is very nice. I think Iron Defense (on SD) sets definitively deserve more exploration as a way to fuck with steels and slither although choosing between lum and balloon is kinda tough on these i feel like. Could even run rest id but i think missing CC kinda sucks as the point is kinda punishing Latios by smacking something with a big +2 move. I think i could have put it in A-.


Sunny Day sets are pretty much knocked out from the tier because being walled by Latios kinda makes u unviable. I think tspikes uturn sets are still good though. Tspikes in general are goated and even when u don't get a great mu w/ those the mon is still fine: the defensive utility vs meow/slither/sneasler/blace and being able to threaten steels with flame is like enough utility on its own to be worth a slot to be honest, especially since u can just uturn vs latios.
Tspikes are not fish by the way. There is not a lot of poisons, and even if they have one they actually have to go to it to absorb them which u can punish if you are proactive enough. Sometimes u load vs a team that is spamming balloons but that is nice too because it means they aren't running lefties or boots which is something you can capitalise on.


Switcheroo Black Sludge being almost guaranteed progress was already super cool, but qsns also rocked me w/ sd u-turn which was incredibly threatening. Also, this mon hits like a freight train: did u know that Gunk Shot has a chance to ohko zapdos at +2… Well you might just want to chip it w/ uturn and just use sludge bomb instead but still it’s funny. Just the combination of speed/power/cool typing makes it incredibly appealing to me and I’m curious to see more sneasler action in the future.


It's not a mon that is going to do amazing things, i just like its typing to get into steels and fires early in the game and click hazards. It's not like a great Zapdos answer either but it's a nice way to have something to switch into it. I like Stone Edge + Fire Blast + Dtail + a hazard, dropping eq is fine. The mega is prob funny but i've never tried it.


Azelf is a bit too underrated as a lead imo, and so is its versatility. It has the movepool to fuck with the entire tier, and you definitively do not have to run Explosion which your opponent still have to respect until they know you don't have it, so azelf can really fuck them over if they guess your set wrong. Twave for ex is super giga evil. Honestly even dropping rocks could be possible, although maybe i'm being way too ambitious here lol. The Slither and Meowscarada matchup is a bit unfortunate though, although it does have a 95% ish chance to live foul play barring a crit. Lum Ice Punch is a nice way to fuck over Toedscruel. Def a mon that deserves to be explored more, lot of room for creativity here i think.


Banger. Sea made the world a better place by inventing ceruledge before it could get cursed with the “nog mon” curse. The set is sd salac sd poltergeist close combat, endure or sub last i think? and the idea is just that it eats most hits so u just get pushed into salac range at at +2 atk +1 speed you kinda immediately win vs some teams lol. That being said it does feel quite hard to use to me, generally I’m not too sure how you can build those kind of “pure sweepers” without getting too fishy, but honestly i think i'm just biased by my own playstyles preferences as i tend to favor uh less explosives stuff. There is a big amount of faster knock offs/twaves in the tier which holds it back and i don't know if u can rly do much about that.


fraud mon on a fraud playstyle. I don't think it's unviable but... yea i dont think making chip damages ur gameplan when setup is so strong & so reliable is the play. Stall can definitively be incredibly threatening in the right hands, it's just that there is better to use imo. On blissey in particular even on fat i dont rly like it cuz if you are running bell you get some nasty 4mss as no matter what u run you'll be exploited by something annoying and if u aren't bell well tbh just run empoleon + lati.


The point of this mon is to be a fake check to Wake which isn't a mon we see that much anymore anyway. U can just use empo or fini for that. Outspeeding Boulder is cool at least. Grass w is stupid but probably viable lol.



Can we see light clay + aurora veil at least once pls :3 To be clear: yes, light clay only works with aurora veil, and aurora veil also only works under hail - not snow.

 

[R8]

DISCLAIMER: i wrote most of this post before solomodpl playoffs, except the last paragraph which is why there is some anachronisms at times.
DISCLAIMER 2: Run heavy slam on Metagross if u are stealing my teams i'm too lazy to change it but it's just better than mash u won't miss and it's stronger.


Hello, it's teamdump time. As always it was super fun to play this tier again and watching new stuff getting explored was epic too. I felt like the difference between now and last year in terms of how much MG2 is explored was noticeable since there were more mons/archetypes that were consistently brought by different people whereas last year people just stuck with Their Own Things a lot more. That being said the tier starting to centralize itself more and more didn't prevent people to innovate and i thought we saw a lot of really cool ideas too and i'm super curious to see what we are going to see in playoffs or even in the next tour and see where the metagame heads next, especially to see if we get to see some ideas get optimised or tweaked (I think Zapdos and Sneasler in particular are super super promising, and there are a TON of more niche things i hope we start to see more: roost Kyu-B, Victini, Ceruledge, Metagross, Thundurus, Roaring Moon, Jellicent, Celebi, Azelf, Volcanion... are some examples of mons we only saw a tiny bit i think have a ton of room for exploration and improvement, or just more use, and could do amazing things). I'm hoping we get qsns vs sea again so we get an other bo3 with crackhead teams and now with 100% less Dire Claw gameplay

I love mg2!!!! I think building was super super interesting this season, even though at the end ngl i started to have a hard time finding new ideas i was satisfied of since using stuff centred around breaking or winning with Latios just felt better than anything else in most circumstances to me. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing (strong centralisation can make a good metagame imo!), in this case i think Latios is just broken, maybe even more than Flutter Mane.
Click sprites to get the pokepaste to the team

Week 1 - vs SEA
BO3 time cool
Facing SEA first week was a bit awkward. Facing an SPL player will always be scary - especially when they are known to be very creative - however this was also the first time we have seen SEA play MG2 so i had some advantage since i played this tier before. However i myself didn't play in a long time so i felt very rusty. Regardless i was very excited for this game because she is one of my favourite players to watch and facing her in non other than one of my favourite tiers ever is just NUTS. I did wish we were paired with each other a bit later though. My prep was mostly just trying to make sure i had good ways out vs offense in general.

G1 - Win

No paste for this one because i edited the team eventually: skip to my set vs qsns to get the V2 (week 4 game 3)
Defensively leaning teams are the things I feel the most comfortable piloting and building, and i thought starting to prep with that would be a nice way to get back into MG2 while minimising the odds for me to throw, get outplayed, or just losing because i built garbage. However i also wanted to stray away from Gholdengo, which is usually the standard on defensive teams to take on Iron Boulder and more generally physical setup, because even though it indeed is the best physical wall in the game it is also very passive and inviting Iron Treads for free which can threaten to knock off or spin is the worst thing ever. It also gives free entry to Heatran which can be very annoying to switch into. Trying to patch the Iron Treads weakness often results in teams w/ a grass-ghost which i think rely too much on nothing going wrong for them and don't have a lot of outs when things go sour.

I settled on Slither Wing as an alternative to Gholdengo, as while it doesn't have the same broken defensive profile the combination of First Impression + Close Combat helps a lot vs the physical setup i was worried about (Iron Boulder, MTTar, Kyurem-B...) while never being truly walled thanks to its access to Will-O-Wisp. First Impression is generally amazing to pick off things, in a tier that doesn't have a ton of options when it comes to priority. I also included Latias because even though we aren't in gen8 mg2 anymore it's still probably a great win condition on fat (although probably outclassed by Latios), and more fire resists are nice. Then i filled the gaps to try to handle the metagame as a whole while still having a solid hazard game. Spectrier is a cool anti hazard lead that is a decent spinblocker thanks to its speed and has the wisp free click button. I think Empoleon is just better and less passive than Blissey especially when you have ways out vs status spreaders. The team is terribly weak to Flutter which is something i tried to fix in the V2 of the team although it is still weak to it.

Some interesting things happened in the game but ultimately CM Latias had a 6-0 matchup so /shrug. I forgot that removing your SpA evs in gen2 removed your SpD EVs which is why spectrier took one million from the snail dragon.

G2 - Loss

I was kinda grasping for ideas. The way i like to build is often just looking at the persons' scouter/replays and treat it like a puzzle to solve, but here there was nothing to scout. Knowing SEA is an offense gamer i decided to scout qsns instead who is our local MG2 offense gamer to get some ideas, and i thought: hey. If in a way or in an other you manage to delete latios sunny day iron moth actually just wins. Unfortunately that leaves the question: how the fuck do you delete latios? I considered pursuit stuff but nothing hits Latios for much damages at all unfortunately. Darkrai would actually be a mon decent at doing that lol but this guy is probably broken i think, unless maybe we ban sleep but even then this thing gets np & wisp so IDK if flutter is already kinda nuts this guy is probably beyond nuts even though it's weak to first impression.
The plan here was to delete latios with boom volcanion, and if volcanion happens to boom on an other fire resist else i also have chi-yu which happens to be a fire sweeper that trashes latios. I thought Celebi was cool cuz it's a rocker that matchups decently vs the popular spinners (Iron Treads, Great Tusk, and the now deceased Starmie) and i don't remember why flutter is there maybe it was some hazard game paranoia obsession i sometimes have. Melmetal is there cuz it soft checks everything and that's cool. I don't know how to build offense please help.

The game was a bit chaotic. Eating stun spore turn 10 made me think i really should click boom immediately to catch a fire resist as playing boom mindgames later once SEA realizes what the team is about while risking fpara turns felt like it could really go super wrong + super early booms like that are very rarely predicted. Then i went moth, then i had the biggest brain fart ever thinking a moth sack here could pave the way for a chi-yu sweep but instead chi-yu ate rocks and draco meteor and then died to first impression. Moth was my slither check so slither just won afterwards. RIP.

G3 - Win

Looking at qsns' scouter i found this 6 (with a mew over diancie) and i thought fini + boulder + electrode-hisui was probably nice to have vs offensive stuff i expected SEA to bring. It seemed to be a very cool team too with 3 boom users which can always be useful and cracked cm fini which i saw in some qsns replays from the tour. I thought mega diancie was probably a cool lead with rocks, big moonblast and boom although i didn't realize at the time this makes the team atrocious into Meowscarada.

I got quite lucky in this game, although the crit on Thundy probably didn't change anything cuz i don't think the Kommo-O could have went through boulder + tusk (as it cannot KO them even at +2) unless it was Aqua Tail in which case i doubt it is Flamethrower last slot which is the only move that KOes the electrode. The Draco roll on the Blacephalon probably was more significant actually, although if i got to setup Boulder in this position vs the +2 latios is could have gone sour maybe? Who knows, I think it also depends on SEA's sets. I expect Latios to run CM or Flip on that kind of teams but i think twave was not impossible.

Week 2 - vs 3MoreMinutes
Game - Loss

I played this game HORRIBLY, but at least i think the concept of the team was OK. That week i wanted to build a Gholdengo team that didn't suck gigaballs, although i don't remember if something in particular motivated me to look into that. Gholdengo shuts down physical setup SO hard but it also lets in horribly annoying things like the Back From The Future donphan siblings or fires. So here is a team with 3 ghosts (spinblockers, although the only Real spinblocker here is jellicent tbh) and 3 fire resists. If i remember correctly the Meow is tspikes because 3MM's scouter is full of teams that do not respect tspikes at all, and also because Jelli + Gastro are probably a lot more difficult to deal with if mons get automatically poisoned, and if you are facing 46 balloon users it means your wisps and your toxics will not be toned down by Leftovers. The presence of a poison in the opposing team is just one more target for Flutter which is packing Psyshock (although the idea w/ psyshock flutter is mostly to prevent poisons to eat your tspikes for free). In retrospect i think maybe the Iron Moth mu isn't very satisfying. Iron Thorns is there to compress rocks, blacephalon (and generally a fire resist) and flutter mane answer. Not sure if i'm actually convinced by the mon though.

I don't think the game was super interesting, i thought the team concept had an excellent mu but neurons didn't connect and the game that should have been a Gastrodon ownage was lost.

Week 3 - vs Orangesodapop
Game - Win

Idea is basically: 3 cm users (broken) + tspikes iron moth (we tspikes to own the cm spam mirror mu + if tspikes end up being useless iron moth is still a decent Pokemon, and the latios is psyshock for the cm mirror so it's prob fine + we get something to absorb opposing tspikes which allows lefties on my cm guys) + chomp vomits hazards + mega-metagross is the goat and checks everything

The Flutter is mystfire eball icy wind but i don't remember why. Maybe w/ chomp + 2 fire resist cmers i thought being walled by fires is ok and i should maximise the coverage vs the rest? IDK.

I clicked TBolt on boulder cuz i wanted to push it into EBall range from flutter after a chomp sack. From there i think the combination of tspikes + the three cmers would have won the game in a way or in an other especially with that Fini matchup. It's interesting to note that OSP's Iron Boulder seemed to not have spdef evs, probably the same foul play mistake i made week 1 vs SEA lol.

Week 4 - vs qsns
An other BO3 enjoyer, we love to see it. qsns is cracked and brings cracked+crackhead teams so prepping for them was incredibly stimulating and i think this was the week i enjoyed the most building. As expected their scouter leaned into offense a lot, but qsns also can bring whatever they want so i wanted to build stuff that had outs vs the general tier as well. Also an opportunity to make some experiments to test my knowledge of the tier and an hypothesis i started to form about MG2: is clicking Calm Mind the best strategy in MG2?

G1 - Win

Orangesodapop brought cryogonal week 1 and lured a Gholdengo with it, which enables earthquake iron boulder. I took inspiration from that and wanted to see how far we could push the concept. This Cryogonal runs Normal Gem Explosion over Rapid Spin, with the purpose of luring and damaging not only Gholdengo but also steels in general with the combination of Knock Off + Explosion:

+1 248 Atk Cryogonal Explosion vs. -2 248 HP / 248 Def Heatran: 171-202 (44.4 - 52.4%) -- 18.4% chance to 2HKO
+1 248 Atk Cryogonal Explosion vs. -2 248 HP / 248 Def Melmetal: 138-163 (29.1 - 34.4%) -- 5.3% chance to 3HKO

Which you can immediately follow up with a layer of hazards with your Garchomp or Heatran, making late game Flutter+Latios a lot more threatening. On top of that, Ice Beam from Cryogonal has a 90% ish chance to OHKO Toedscruel which is a lead qsns seem to like to use. Ice Beam is also a nice button to click in general. Part of what interested me in Cryogonal as a lead is that it directly tries to do big damages instead of playing the hazard game, which is a kind of lead that may be a bit underexplored in MG2. Unfort Cryo comes with a difficult early game Blacephalon matchup which i try to patch with chilan berry Garchomp to eat boom xd. One may be wary of Flutter that could try to block the spin you don't have or even the boom if they expect it.

What i found interesting is that the Cryo didn't even end up fulfilling its intended purpose and instead boomed a CM fini which otherwise can be a very threatening Pokemon. When that happened my opinion of Cryogonal went up a good bit lol, although this also might mean i should use Explosion more. The Fini vs Cryo trade was super positive for me as Fini is otherwise usually super reliable at trading huge damages which is appreciated by HO teams like this. With Fini out of the picture, qsns couldn't break through and i won the game, although i probably should have draco'd this mega mence. I think dd + iron defense + hurricane + roost is a viable mega salamence set and it could definitively have won the game in the unlikely scenario where mence clicked dd and then confused the latios. Or if it just haxxed through boulder if it didn't have iron defense.

Rest of the team is kinda straightforward: rocks+spin follow up for cryo, then boulder+latios+flutter that can check/revenge stuff and take advantage of cryogonal's work. I'm glad to see how that team turned out (both in this game and in testing) since i usually just never use that kind of very aggressive lures.

G2 - Loss

While looking at qsns' scouter i realized that zapdos seemed cracked. An other thing i noticed is that their teams only real outs vs twave zapdos if latios is neutered is trading zapdos with their flutter check. So i just went twave brave bird zapdos to make sure latios isn't a reliable answer with a flutter mane.

As expected, Zapdos parked in front of their team, was a pain in the ass, took down three pokemon and pushed Heatran to 23% (although with the help of a very lucky crit) before finally deciding to die. Unfortunately i think i played the rest of the game way too passively and qsns pulled off quite an insane comeback thanks to Sneasler. This goes to show that having the advantage isn't an excuse to stop trying to put the pressure on. I thought this was a very interesting game and i'll probably rewatch it again in the future, lot of room for improvement here for me i think. I also threw by clicking knock off instead of close combat vs the Sneasler. qsns said sorry about the dire claw nonsense but if it was Sludge Bomb it would have very good odds to 2hko Flutter anyway so to be honest i think the rng here was the consequence of me playing too passively as the game definitively didn't have to come to this. One thing i was thinking about was maybe trying to setup my Flutter vs the jugulis instead of ko-ing it with Zapdos.

U-Turn SD Sneasler is actually incredibly cool and insanely threatening. I'm starting to really be a big fan of sneasler (and qsns (although how can one not be a qsns fan anyway?)) as trick black sludge is also an other very cool set it can run.

G3 - Win

A remake of the team i brought vs SEA week 1, with latios over latias and trying to make it a bit less shit vs flutter mane with twave starmie + heavy slam slither wing. I thought the team is cool and i felt like the underlying concept was solid and i was confident in my ability to pilot it, so i decided to bring it again. I felt like the team was good enough into what slither needs close combat for to drop it, and heavy slam hitting fini for OK damages is a nice bonus as well. Turns out team definitively is still way too weak to flutter and should be rebuilt, in this game it was still a huge threat and in less favorable circumstances the team would probably definitively get mauled.

qsns brought a HO team from an other dimension, it was nuts, i can't believe the nogblog didn't acknowledge it. I was actually quite lucky that it was not tbolt flutter, although starmie would have had quite a good chance at living the +1 Thunderbolt anyway. The Raging Bolt was actually very scary as things could have quickly went sour if i missed that wisp, but i fortunately didn't. Maybe it should immediately have clicked CM? I thought the bulk up Ursaluna was very cool as i assume it is meant to be a form of physical setup that walls most gholdengo sets as you own Make It Rain. I imagine it is stabs + shadow claws, which actually makes it a very cool Flutter answer as well. I would never be brave enough to run focus blast ttar.

Week 5 - vs Pannu
I thought this is basically prepping vs Nog xd. I didn't expect to see reuniclus though i thought the set it ran was very interesting. I think boom on it could maybe be possible on it as well?
The more i built and played the more i started to struggle with finding anything i like that didn't include CM Latios. Anything else just felt worse although i still don't know if i'm just getting tunnel visioned or if it's actually that good. I think this is probably a mixt of the two. In any cases i never got punished for bringing it, in the tour or in test games, and i don't know if actually consistently punishing cm Latios is even possible when it is built right.

Game - Win

Not actually intended but this is actually just a variant of the archetype i brought in my second game vs qsns. I brought a Gastrodon since it is a good way to punish Noglastica's high melmetal usage and because i felt like prepping more for Zapdos after seeing how broken that pokemon is lol. By dropping meow i got a lot more scared of CM setup which is why the Flutter is imprison, although maybe this is a bit too overkill as it's not like the team is actually 6-0d by them otherwise. Maybe i could have considered Roar on Empoleon. I thought about Gastro Acid on Gastrodon but i really don't like that set to be honest, i think it's too passive.


Conclusion
MG2 is goated. I think i learned a lot about the game, the tier but also myself as a player and where i could improve - to me Pokemon metagames are incredibly interesting things to learn about and explore, and so is trying to figure out what is good and what is not, and why. In any cases, it was so fun to build in this tier again and see what people brought, and i'm very curious to see how the tier is going to evolve in the future.

I was originally split about Latios - and fyi the rest of the post was wrote while i still was undecided - but frankly the more i build the more i am wondering How The Fuck do you handle it defensively? I've been spamming Empo kinda just for that and even then u can just lose to tbolt, and Empo doesn't even actually threaten it back so you need something that can pretend to be an offensive check. Besides Slither (which doesn't even ohko from full btw) and Meowscarada (loses to the cm + draco combination) and explosion clickers i feel like we don't have much ways to actually kill it as well. Checking it just feels like a super pain in the ass, and the more i build in the tier and the more i feel like trying to handle Latios just makes teambuilding kinda stupid at times. The mon already can make guaranteed progress just w/ the combination of stab psynoise + flip turn but on top of that it has a 140 bp stab and coverage to hit p much anything you'd like it to hit, and i think cm sets are just a very broken in how reliable they are at forcing progress.

Interested to hear what other people think!

 

[Noglastica]

Tiebreak, Semfinals, and Finals Solopl2 MG2 Review
Lots of yapping in this one. I already have issues scrolling to the bottom of the page due to how long my posts are, so I'll try putting them in spoilers from now on. Even if I LOVE the yap.

Tiebreaker: 3MoreMinutes vs qsns

3MoreMinutes vs qsns - link

3mm leads broken slither into archeops. Switching is the safe play for sure but i think you can convince me to click wisp here. Ferro comes in and immediately ohkos with gyro ball so not really a great start but I also don’t think qsns cares that much as the main thing is denying rocks. SEA mon ceru comes in for free and gets chipped by gyro which importantly means treads can outspeed and revenge it as it’s now at 75.

248 Atk Iron Treads Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Ceruledge: 270-318 (76.4 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Gastro gets sacked here and treads comes in as planned, but I, and maybe 3mm, completely forgot that endure exists. I’m not sure there’s really another play even if you know it’s endure, but it means ceru gets to claim treads with +2 cc. Theoretically you enter a 50/50 with knock vs eq where if you knock salac then obviously you can kill it for free next turn, but it could also just NOT be endure and you're giving up your treads for free.

+2 248 Atk Ceruledge Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Iron Treads: 354-418 (92.4 - 109.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Qsns unfortunately doesn’t get the roll and dies. It didn’t matter a ton because slither just fips to revenge, but 3mm now gets to volt switch out with treads and cancel any momentum qsns might have had generated off of slither. 3mm also gets to preserve a sac for later. Ferro gets up rocks and gives its life so slither can revenge it, and then out comes jirachi. Gouging has to come in because it’s balloon so treads can’t do anything to it, and 3mm has to dtail it out because he didn’t get t1 burn and is still getting psychic noised for big damage. I personally thought it was basically over as I thought qsns surely had a flutter in the back and now 3mm looked like he was in trouble against that set. Few turns later, qsns trades bolt for slither chip and goes into mluc. 3mm gets to go into treads because he avoided the roll earlier. Mluc clicks cc on gouging and we see from the damage (39%) that is has in fact mega evolved.

248 Atk Lucario Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gouging Fire: 121-144 (29.2 - 34.8%) -- 11.1% chance to 3HKO

3mm gets to morning sun here, and the following turn, dtails out mluc. Theoretically you have three clicks here with gouging. It’s a -1 luc so you can click plume for big damage.

248 SpA Gouging Fire Lava Plume vs. -1 248 HP / 248 SpD Lucario: 248-294 (72.3 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. -1 248 HP / 248 Def Lucario: 56-66 (16.3 - 19.2%) -- possible 6HKO

You also have 30% burn chance which puts them in fip range guaranteed, and without it, it’s a roll. There’s also the chance that they miss mash on the following turn, or if qsns cc’s, then are again in fip range guaranteed. And, even if they kill you and see you go slither while at -2, you also 2hko rachi with fip at this range.

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Jirachi: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

The argument against clicking plume here is that if qsns clicks SD then it is “lost” if you don’t get the burn which is kinda true but that is only if qsns hits two mashes in a row.

+2 248 Atk Lucario-Mega Meteor Mash vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 322-381 (88.7 - 104.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Again, not good odds for 3mm, but its still a 28% chance you win. And again, that’s a 28% chance you win if you don’t get the 30% burn and get a low roll on the plume, and you win if they do anything other than click SD basically just on the spot because then latios doesn’t die to mash and it wins, probably on its own, but definitely with the aid of your slither. All in all, I think this might’ve been the best play.

You can also morning sun again which is maybe better because qsns is risking a miss on mash or stone edge, and can’t really cc because then they are down -2 and then loses to plume. Even if they SD they’re not killing cause you’re at full and it comes down to the same exact situation as before where you need to plume or dtail.

+2 248 Atk Lucario-Mega Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gouging Fire: 295-348 (71.4 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Instead, 3mm clicks dtail which is maybe not the best but it also could be fine. I’m just not smart enough to know. Best case is qsns does sd and you get to dtail it out, and now it should be gg because you’re at a good enough hp level with gouging, and luc can’t mega again so latios can always revenge it. Qsns stone edges for 40% and 3mm (thankfully) hits his dtail, and back in comes jirachi. 3mm gets flip turn chip with latios, sacks the gouging, and in comes slither. Fip into lati flip is theoretically a roll to kill rachi at 42, I think with crit chance its around a 50% roll, but 3mm gets minrolled on the fip so it comes down to lati crit.

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Jirachi: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.2%) -- 22.6% chance to 3HKO

248 SpA Latios Flip Turn vs. +1 248 HP / 248 SpD Jirachi: 35-42 (8.6 - 10.4%) -- possibly the worst move ever

Slither min rolls, latios doens’t crit, then gets smacked by a +1 ice punch. It’s still not over because you can kill jirachi whenever you want here with flip. If you flip turn now, you kill jirachi, and it turns into a psuedo 50/50. Because lucario can't mega, you will always be faster.

If you psychic noise mluc first turn (you’re at 20%), and qsns clicks sd, then you have a roll to kill with two psychic noises.

248 SpA Latios Psychic Noise vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Lucario: 121-144 (35.2 - 41.9%) -- 55.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

You also have a chance that qsns misses mash or something. However, they can also click cc here to avoid miss chance if you don’t get the roll. Theoretically you can recover which is a crazy click because even after recovery you die to +2 mash, but if they click cc in order to avoid missing, you guarantee kill with psynoise as they are -1. This is kinda an absurd line because clicking recovery there when you die to mash is a horrid click. I guess if you minroll the first psychic noise and have no chance to get the roll, you CAN just hope they cc and recover there, or miss mash.

If qsns doesn’t click sd on the first turn and you click psychic noise, you die to them hitting mash. Alternatively, if you recover on their sd, you will die to +2 mash and your only out is to hope for a mash miss and you get the two psychic noises, or you crit psychic noise.

+2 248 Atk Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 265-313 (73 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If you recover on their t1 mash, and recover again on their sd, it’s now a roll for their +2 mash to ko you (see above calc). So on this line, you have your roll to 2HKO which is dependent on them either missing mash or missing their roll.

248 Atk Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 133-157 (36.6 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

But instead, 3mm does not immediately click flip on the Jirachi in order to get to the magic number of 36.3%. Once 3mm gets to 36.3% he can flip on the jirachi to ko it, and then recover in front of the lucario. Even on the lucario SD, he will be at 86.3%, just outside of the max roll on +2 mash from base lucario. He will then win with this advantage unless he misses the roll on the psychic noises and gets crit by +2 lucario who should click stone edge for increased crit chance.

So, 3mm wants to get to 36.3%. Starting at 20%, he’s faced with this roll

+1 248 SpA Jirachi Ice Punch vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Latios: 152-180 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

If qsns gets the average roll every time, and 3mm clicks recover every turn, he’s getting around 4% of recovery per turn, so he only needs to, in theory, click recover 4 separate times before he gets to 36.3%. However, qsns gets a few high rolls so it looks much worse than that, and it doesn’t really matter because the 4th ice punch does crit. 3mm also had to avoid the freeze chance, so while it might’ve been in his favor, it was (obviously) far from assured.

Semifinals

Orangesodapop vs pannu - link

Osp brings out his arguably signature aero lead and pannu leads with moth. It gets up rocks and shows taunt on chompers to deny opposing rocks. I do think that chomp revealing stealth rock and not spikes does hint that it’s a more offensive team. Frequently, chomp exists in part to run spikes on balance teams, so showing rocks means that there is either another spiker like meow who doesn’t get rocks, or it’s something more offensive that doesn’t want to bring spikes. Melm comes in on the stone edge which I’m not sure is a great play because yes you eat it but you don’t do a ton to chomp and you’re just letting it shrug off taunt and get up rocks. It also hasn’t shown balloon so unless it’s mega (and it’s shown rocks so it’s probably not mega!) then it is most likely lefties so again, you’re not doing a ton to it with melm. Mash does 38% after lefties on rocks, and then osp clicks twave expecting a switch. Honestly, this is a pretty understandable click because stone edge + fire blast is pretty uncommon. Usually it’s hazards, dragon move, eq, and one of stone edge or fire blast. Instead, it gets fire blasted and something needs to switch into chomp. Latios comes in and takes 20% on a fire blast crit instead of 10% so osp has officially been robbed.

☆Orangesodapop: game is now blamed on hax

Latios clicks draco on the incoming fini and then switches out hard into melm in order to sack it which suggests that it is cm or 3atk lati, and not flip. Fini clicks scald expecting the switch and picks up the ko. I think osp thought it was either cm ibeam fini or just mono water because he comes back in with latios and clicks cm only to die to moonblast. If it had been ibeam and not moonblast, this is an ok play because you take nothing from fini ibeam and you can theoretically win this. It’s not perfect because they’re lefties and you have to click recover a good # of times and can get crit / frozen, but it’s still favorable.

248 SpA Tapu Fini Ice Beam vs. +1 248 HP / 248 SpD Latios: 78-94 (21.4 - 25.8%) -- 2% chance to 4HKO

It’s also a bit early to be trying to set this up because even if pannu isn’t moonblast, you’re at 50% and +1 so I think it’s safe to assume teams are prepared for this situation on just turn 9. Clicking recovery was almost certainly the better play as it lets you scout moonblast.

248 Atk Tapu Fini Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 198-234 (54.5 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Aero comes back in which isn’t a good sign for how difficult fini might be to deal with, but it does ok damage before it goes. Mega luc comes in which is always a scary mon and if pannu gets scald burn its gg. Instead, just gets the chip and then dies to +2 mash. Zap comes in and immediately dies which I thought might’ve been a roll because it’s broken zap but it turns out no it is very much not.

+2 248 Atk Lucario-Mega Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Zapdos: 416-490 (108.6 - 127.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So with zapdos sacked for nothing, in comes mmeta who doesn’t technically have to mega but you basically do because otherwise you’re just slower than whatever is coming in and will never get a chance to do anything for the rest of the game other than be a sack. I

+2 248 Atk Lucario-Mega Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Metagross: 280-330 (77.1 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

+2 248 Atk Lucario-Mega Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Metagross-Mega: 252-297 (69.4 - 81.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Eq easily kills here but I was wondering if fini chip was necessary at this point and it turns out kinda.

248 Atk Metagross-Mega Earthquake vs. -1 248 HP / 248 Def Lucario-Mega: 306-362 (89.2 - 105.5%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Kommo comes in as the fodder pokemon on mmeta which is kinda a giga throw by osp because we know its mega and boom isn’t necessarily a guarantee but it’s something you need to expect, and flutter outspeeds and ko’s at this range with tbolt so maybe a choke. Kommo wins against everything, including the unrevealed, so this is just a choke imo. Flutter 1v1 ensues which should be basically a guaranteed win for pannu at this point because he just needs chip and can keep clicking mystical fire freely to prevent setup as chomp will win with stone edge, and moth can do some damage to it as well. Had it been lefties flutter, this might’ve ended differently.

SEA vs qsns

G1 - T1 zard into zap so SEA has to switch out. We see later its yard which is an ok enough lead, you can probably stay in if you want against latios, beat meow and slither, and just have to switch out of wake and zap. The other most commonly used lead is toedscruel which gets ohko’d if you win the speed tie. Hands comes in on zapdos which hasn’t really been used since terrak was in the meta. It serves as a nice zapdos check here as its best attack against you is bb

248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Iron Hands: 115-136 (22.5 - 26.6%) -- possible 5HKO

Zap shows uturn out and gliscor comes in to most likely absorb knock but it turns out it is sd iron hands. Zard comes in on spikes then zapdos switches into yard fire blast which instead of doing this:

248 SpA Charizard Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Zapdos: 147-174 (38.3 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Does this:

248 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Zapdos: 193-228 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Lati comes in on the second fire blast, then immediately switches out, either expecting a switch or scouting for dragon pulse. Zapdos comes back in on the dragon pulse and very importantly ends up winning speed tie. If zard won the tie, nothing really comes in for qsns other than latios who doesn’t revenge yard at 72.

248 SpA Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Charizard-Mega-Y: 165-195 (45.9 - 54.3%) -- 50.8% chance to 2HKO

Dragon pulse also doesn’t kill back even with burn so you can just psynoise into draco and be ok, but you’re still trading zap and 90% of your hp on latios to get rid of yard.

248 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Latios: 170-200 (46.8 - 55%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO

SEA gets hazards up and we get a bunch of super exciting uturns. Hands comes in on dengo getting twaved and gets full para’d like 6 times. SEA said it mattered because glisc got 2hkod but I don't know if this is true because I personally frequently lie in order to make my opponents feel guilty. That's probably just a me thing, though.

+2 248 Atk Iron Hands Double-Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gliscor: 187-220 (52.9 - 62.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I’m curious what the other moves are, I feel like if it were knock we would’ve seen knock get clicked already instead of hard sd the first turn it came in on zapdos, so I think it would’ve been walled by dengo as well, though knock eq is real.

I just like watched the next 30 turns and forgot to write anything so I’m just gonna own it. On turn 48 sinistcha comes in and gets to cm up against latios recovery, so it gets +2 when slither comes in. I lost exclusively because of dual wingbeat slither in a test game vs SEA before this and once again, slither won because it was dual wingbeat.

248 Atk Slither Wing Dual Wingbeat (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Sinistcha: 136-164 (39.3 - 47.3%) -- approx. 41.4% chance to 2HKO

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Sinistcha: 115-136 (33.2 - 39.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Obviously the roll here mattered because even though scald (with burn chance) might not 2hko, qsns can go dengo and take out slither who will die to hazards if it switches out and back in, and qsns just needs to hit a draco on opposing latios to win. Instead, slither kills, some more turns go by, and slither + lati secure the win in a kinda cool endgame 2v2.

G2 - T1 is goodmon slither lead vs known god awful dogshit lead gliscor who gets wisped and cant do anything for the rest of the game. This should be an incredibly familiar experience for people who lead gliscor though! Slither gets knocked and is shown to be BUG plate which has nice calcs in the lead slot. And no, I will never call it insect plate.

248 Atk Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Toedscruel: 314-372 (86.5 - 102.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

vs. plate

248 Atk Insect Plate Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Toedscruel: 374-444 (103 - 122.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

and

248 Atk Insect Plate Slither Wing First Impression vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Latios: 332-392 (91.4 - 107.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

Bug plate is more of a convenience item and something r8 suggested and brought on pannu’s semifinal team. Now that it’s “leaked,” I think people will be more aware of it when they don’t see your balloon, and especially if you take rocks and don’t show lefties. In a game like this, balloon is obviously better because you want to avoid taking tspikes, but it also got knocked t2 so it didn’t matter anyway. T5 zap shows brave bird which is just a stupidly good move on a stupidly good mon.

248 Atk Zapdos Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Gastrodon: 153-181 (36 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

I yearn to see the first hp grass zapdos killing gastrodon, though. But this is already really good damage. With uturn zapdos, which I’m personally not a huge fan of, bb + turn really helps because it does good damage against gastro and with rocks + 15% on u-turn you do threaten a 2HKO with brave bird on a switchin when normally gastro can just recover on every brave bird and be fine. It’s also another ferro game which 3mm used the week before in tiebreaker as a nice hazard user that has boom, twave, a powerful gyro ball, and the ability to resist the common latios flip turn or thunderbolt sets. T12 SEA opts to get up a spike making it really tough for qsns who has a turnspam team. While spiking here means gastro cant switchin to zapdos anymore, there’s been no sign of a spinner yet on the side of qsns, and that spike is going to do work against the knocked slither, empoleon, and lum latios.

Zapdos takes down ferro, and latios takes down gliscor. We get a latios vs latias turn here and to be honest I felt qsns should’ve stayed in and clicked draco here because it’s really hard for latios to switch out and do anything for the rest of the game once you take 37% on your switchin. You also don’t take your poison damage if you win the tie, or when SEA doubled here, you kill the gastro for free. Instead, both sides switch, gastro gets to heal, and in comes tusk. Now a team like SEA’s surely has a ghost type on it, and indeed, in comes decidueye. Earlier in the season SEA mentioned Decidueye with this set, and I’m guessing it was the same in this game.

Decidueye @ Air Balloon
Ability: none

• U-turn
• Spirit Shackle
• Leaf Storm
• Roost

Needless to say, hazards are staying up for the foreseeable future. This is another reason that I think balloon tusk is probably better than lefties on spin because coming in to spin on tspikes/spikes sucks, ESPECIALLY if you get spinblocked. With decidueye, zapdos, and empoleon all in this game, it really felt like I was watching a Modern Gen 2 the Sequel: Just the Birds game.

Next few turns are just qsns clicking stuff with latios and getting turned on. Latias comes in as sub cm before getting roar’d out, a commonly used empoleon set since 2008. Skipping ahead again, latias is dead so empo does literally nothing but pp stall decidueye. The game winning play here is to always roar because you stop a potential sd and even if you get cc’d you still win with zapdos who is at 44% and eats sludge unboosted.

248 Atk Sneasler Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Zapdos: 129-153 (33.6 - 39.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Instead, qsns roosts, sneasler clicks sd and wins the game. 26.5k mg2 slot my ass. Clearly carried by their builder last pl. America loses because we didn’t get a game 3.

Finals: SEA vs Pannu

SEA vs pannu - link
Lando into sneasler lead. Sneasler is a nice lead because no matter what they lead you just uturn. Lando is also a fine lead, it doesn’t have any “great” lead matchups but it also doesn’t really have any bad matchups. It clicks what I thought was hp ice and I thought (wtf is that damage) but it turns out it was hp flying (idk what else it could be doing that much damage).

248 Atk Landorus-Therian Hidden Power Flying vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Walking Wake: 105-124 (26.1 - 30.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

I thought it was a fine click as hp ice because sneasler shouldn’t ever really stay in, but hp flying makes more sense because you smack it when it thinks its safe with balloon. It also hits the very obvious slither wing which I’ve made pannu run alot, and normally I’d come in on landorus with slither in a situation like this if I had it because normally it can’t threaten you.

248 Atk Landorus-Therian Hidden Power Flying vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Sneasler: 270-318 (74.3 - 87.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

HP Flying also doesn’t cost you a TON of dv’s, but you do lose a good amount of hp, a little attack, and a little defense.

Pannu goes hard wake because this team doesn’t really have a single switchin for ground type moves outside of balloon on 4/6 mons. We also see its lefties which says “hey this probably isn’t a suicide lead boom set.” This is also strongly suggested by the fact it didn’t rock t1 and instead clicked hp flying. I think because of that, pannu can safely flip or draco, assuming that lando isn’t going to stay in. Instead, pannu pumps which misses the incoming meow and this should say “wake is going to be good this game” if meow is the switchin. Not only does it take a ton from draco, it also doesn’t even 2HKO back.

248 SpA Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Walking Wake: 148-175 (36.9 - 43.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

248 SpA Walking Wake Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Meowscarada: 220-259 (61.9 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Meow gets spikes and in comes sneasler who is pretty much as good of a counter for meow as you get. This is where SEA kinda gets put into the bullshit pivot move cycle where you get to keep flip turning and uturning between wake and sneasler because meow dies to sneasler and lando dies to wake. If rocks are up, this doesn’t really work super well for pannu, and it’s not as productive as it could be because pannu also has no hazards up as well. Tran comes in on sneasler turn, and in comes treads. Treads is in an alright spot here because it is the best spinner but also every single heatran is running lefties now for flutter so it gets to come in on heatran when it previously wouldn’t get to that much due to balloon. Treads makes a safe play of clicking eq into heatran and in comes slither. This also screams that there is no spinblocking mon on SEA’s team. We see 4 and can assume latios is in there as well. In comes shitmon and mu fish mon rotom wash to just wall slither for all eternity, and this mon gets to click wisp a ton this game. Heatran comes in and gets wisped for rocks, and back in comes wake. Now spin is super important here for pannu as wake is basically on a timer. Pannu pumps which is a pretty great play, though crit actually DOES matter (I thought it might’ve been a roll).

248 SpA Walking Wake Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Heatran: 290-344 (75.3 - 89.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

We don’t know what heatran was for its slots. Fire move, rocks, probably heavy slam as the team isn’t super great against flutter, and probably something like wisp/toxic last. It could’ve been boom which made this an extremely important crit as you now have a 74% wake instead of a 0% wake, but I bet it was something like toxic which still sucks getting crit, but isn’t as game changing as if it were boom. Tran dies, in comes the obvious Latios who gets to flip turn and scout out the tapu fini coming in. Meow comes in and also gets to freely flip turn uturn, but it’s not super great because sneasler is the switchin and you don’t really have anything to threaten it that badly. Lando is the pick as you get to slow uturn out into whatever comes in, and it’s treads coming in for pannu and latios for SEA. Flip does a nice 40 but also says “hey my lastmon doesn’t outspeed and threaten treads so I have to go latios here.” Pannu definitely takes this trade for spin. Slither comes in but it’s eternally walled by rwash and presumably stalk fini depending on the slither set. Sneasler also kinda walls and can SD on you if you’re not wisp which it’s safe to assume SEA isn’t. A few uturns later and lando shows to be gravity last, a callback to the FIRST broken set in MG2 history (that was sub bu gravity eq) so that was super cool to see. Treads comes in because it’s ice spinner and trades a very important 66% for its life. Wake also gets to come in and flip for free which slither eats and back in comes rwash. Now, wash gets to click a free wisp here and ends up hitting meow which is definitely the right mon to sack to wisp. It also obviously threatens out rwash with foul play.

248 SpA Meowscarada Foul Play vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Rotom-Wash: 204-240 (67.3 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This is also a friendly reminder that rwash is still ghost/electric type. Once again, sneasler comes in and uturns out on lando, back in comes wake and SEA correctly clicks hp flying for the needed chip. Rocks are up, treads is dead, and there still isn’t a great wake switchin, so limiting the number of times wake can come in is huge and could win the game. SEA sacks meow which is probably fine as it’s been hard walled this entire game and everything basically has balloon on pannu’s side so spikes aren’t super important. It would be nice to keep it for fini and rwash, but basically something claims here. I think maybe going slither here was better because it doesn’t do anything to the 4 revealed mons on pannu’s side. It also eats 2 dracos, but doens’t eat pump + draco, so I would say it’s somewhat of a pump vs draco 50/50 here. Instead, meow dies, latios gets big psychic noise chip here on fini, and stops it from resting and flips to cancel lefties. Then in comes fucking big boy ursaluna. Fini outspeeds and has a chance to 2HKO with scald + there’s the burn chance, so it’s very much in pannu’s favor to kill, but then latios kinda just goes in a rampage and there’s clearly no real switchins for fini anyway so they have to keep it alive.

248 SpA Tapu Fini Scald vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Ursaluna: 194-230 (41.9 - 49.6%) -- 31.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

248 Atk Ursaluna Double-Edge vs. 248 HP / 248 Def Tapu Fini: 150-177 (43.7 - 51.6%) -- 8.2% chance to 2HKO

Ursa would also die to recoil damage unless it’s SD and clicks that t1 and tries to avoid the burn + roll. Instead, it does just double edge, on the incoming heatran which in my opinion was a good play by pannu as heatran doesn’t really beat anything right now. It does hit wisp on ursaluna which is huge for damage and for chipping it into wake pump range. It hits it on the first so now it lives and gets to click rocks on the following turn which makes this game look pretty much over to me. Wake comes in and ursaluna doesn’t look worth preserving because it’s wisped. Pump kills on a literal max roll which again ends up being huge for pannu.

248 SpA Walking Wake Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 248 SpD Ursaluna: 348-410 (75.1 - 88.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Yes it would just die to burn at the end of the turn, but getting the double edge crit would put wake in psychic noise range. Now, SEA still has to go latios, but then psychic noises on the expected tapu fini. Instead, wake stays in and kills latios with draco. This psychic noise would’ve claimed the wake had ursaluna gotten the chip. You could also go slither instead of latios if ursa got the chip but that doesn’t sound as good because it’s still perma walled and isn’t uturn, all you get is 2 turns of lefties + taking rocks out of it. Now slither does have to come in, as lando dies to pump, and clicks morning sun. The game is basically over but I’m not entirely sure why on this click. I guess you can live pump + draco now switching in, but I feel like that’s probably not super relevant here. It also makes two moonblasts a 2hko roll with lefties from full, but even that isn’t super enticing. Because it’s leftovers, it makes me wonder if it’s bulk up which is a really good set still and something I actually wanted to bring this week myself. However, the team looks really weak to opposing slither wing as literally your only switchin is slither and lando and while lando is hp flying, it dies to wisp, as does your own slither if it’s not also dual wingbeat. If it were bulk up, I think you’d have to just bulk up this turn and hope your lefties gives you enough recovery by the time that you need it. Anyway, at this point, fini wins the game, even if its bulk up I had this exact scenario in testing and pannu just scald burned me pretty early on. It’s also stalk fini so it’s super hard to win this as flutter, and even if you do avoid a burn on scald, rotom also has wisp and is stalk so, very tough matchup for slither to win even if it’s bulk up. All in all, I thought SEA brought a nice idea for a team, it might not be super great but it’s one you’re probably comfortable bringing vs the 2-4 mg2 slot when your team is up 3-0.

MG2 Solopl2 Usage Stats Final (26 games)

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |   27 |  51.92% |  44.44% |
| 2    | Flutter Mane       |   22 |  42.31% |  45.45% |
| 3    | Heatran            |   15 |  28.85% |  60.00% |
| 4    | Meowscarada        |   15 |  28.85% |  46.67% |
| 5    | Slither Wing       |   13 |  25.00% |  46.15% |
| 6    | Tapu Fini          |   12 |  23.08% |  75.00% |
| 7    | Zapdos             |   12 |  23.08% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Empoleon           |   10 |  19.23% |  40.00% |
| 9    | Iron Treads        |    9 |  17.31% |  66.67% |
| 10   | Gastrodon          |    8 |  15.38% |  62.50% |
| 11   | Gholdengo          |    8 |  15.38% |  25.00% |
| 12   | Sneasler           |    6 |  11.54% |  83.33% |
| 13   | Iron Moth          |    6 |  11.54% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Iron Boulder       |    6 |  11.54% |  33.33% |
| 15   | Walking Wake       |    5 |   9.62% |  40.00% |
| 16   | Great Tusk         |    5 |   9.62% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Garchomp           |    5 |   9.62% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Melmetal           |    5 |   9.62% |  20.00% |
| 19   | Gliscor            |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Metagross          |    4 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Ceruledge          |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 22   | Blacephalon        |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 23   | Garganacl          |    4 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Sinistcha          |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 25   | Kommo-o            |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Lucario            |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 27   | Archeops           |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 28   | Starmie            |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Toedscruel         |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Thundurus          |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 31   | Landorus-Therian   |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Ursaluna           |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Ferrothorn         |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Latias             |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Scream Tail        |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Raging Bolt        |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 37   | Kyurem-Black       |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 38   | Spectrier          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Salamence          |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Cryogonal          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 41   | Blissey            |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 42   | Kingambit          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 43   | Jellicent          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 44   | Iron Thorns        |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Gastrodon-East     |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Volcanion          |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Rotom-Wash         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 48   | Decidueye          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 49   | Charizard          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 50   | Iron Hands         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 51   | Aerodactyl         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 52   | Jirachi            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 53   | Gouging Fire       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Victini            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 55   | Reuniclus          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 56   | Roaring Moon       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Swampert           |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 58   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Zoroark-Hisui      |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 60   | Tyranitar          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 61   | Iron Jugulis       |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 62   | Xurkitree          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 63   | Coalossal          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 64   | Greninja           |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 65   | Gengar             |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 66   | Hydreigon          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 67   | Talonflame         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Gallade            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 69   | Primarina          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 70   | Suicune            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 71   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 72   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 73   | Toxapex            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 74   | Jolteon            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 75   | Shaymin-Sky        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 76   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 77   | Houndoom           |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 78   | Diancie            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 79   | Celebi             |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 80   | Chi-Yu             |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 81   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 82   | Uxie               |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 83   | Goodra-Hisui       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 84   | Clodsire           |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 85   | Dhelmise           |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |

MG2 Solopl2 Lead Stats Final

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Lead               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Meowscarada        |   10 |  19.23% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Slither Wing       |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Zapdos             |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 4    | Sneasler           |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Archeops           |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 6    | Toedscruel         |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Spectrier          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Blissey            |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Flutter Mane       |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Latios             |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Landorus-Therian   |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Gliscor            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Charizard          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Iron Moth          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 15   | Aerodactyl         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Cryogonal          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Metagross          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Greninja           |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Walking Wake       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Empoleon           |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Talonflame         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Ting-Lu            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 23   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Jolteon            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Minior-Blue        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Diancie            |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Uxie               |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |

Additional Statistics

Ok so I'm just going to throw this here. This is a pastebin of all the replays from solopl2, so if you want to look at the stuff on your own, you can. I used this replay scouter for the analysis. Just to cut down on how long this post takes on the page because I end up having to scroll forever, I'm putting these in a spoiler. The first is "Combos of 2" Pokemon and their winrates. I don't really have a ton of analysis for these, just wanted to point out how noteworthy it is that flutter mane + latios and flutter mane + fini are 1st and 3rd in usage and both have good winrates. Yes I know small sample size and winrate isn't a perfect statistic, but I think the concept of just bringing multiple cm users is really strong right now. Of course, some of the fini usage is also stalk 2atk so that doesn't fit this argument.

I did have to cut it after the top 100 because it goes to 500 and I hit a character limit on smogon. Oops.

+ ---- + ------------------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Combos of 2                     | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Flutter Mane / Latios           |    9 |  17.31% |  55.56% |
| 2    | Empoleon / Latios               |    7 |  13.46% |  42.86% |
| 3    | Flutter Mane / Tapu Fini        |    7 |  13.46% |  71.43% |
| 4    | Heatran / Latios                |    6 |  11.54% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Latios / Slither Wing           |    6 |  11.54% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Flutter Mane / Heatran          |    6 |  11.54% |  66.67% |
| 7    | Heatran / Tapu Fini             |    5 |   9.62% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Meowscarada / Latios            |    5 |   9.62% |  40.00% |
| 9    | Meowscarada / Tapu Fini         |    5 |   9.62% |  80.00% |
| 10   | Heatran / Iron Treads           |    4 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Empoleon / Zapdos               |    4 |   7.69% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Zapdos / Latios                 |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 13   | Garchomp / Tapu Fini            |    4 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Flutter Mane / Melmetal         |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 15   | Gastrodon / Latios              |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 16   | Iron Treads / Latios            |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Flutter Mane / Iron Treads      |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 18   | Empoleon / Flutter Mane         |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Empoleon / Gastrodon            |    4 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Meowscarada / Zapdos            |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Meowscarada / Flutter Mane      |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 22   | Flutter Mane / Iron Moth        |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 23   | Sneasler / Heatran              |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Sneasler / Tapu Fini            |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Iron Treads / Tapu Fini         |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Heatran / Meowscarada           |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 27   | Meowscarada / Slither Wing      |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 28   | Empoleon / Great Tusk           |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Great Tusk / Latios             |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Great Tusk / Zapdos             |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Latios / Zapdos                 |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Flutter Mane / Garchomp         |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Flutter Mane / Metagross        |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 34   | Metagross / Tapu Fini           |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Flutter Mane / Zapdos           |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 36   | Latios / Lucario                |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 37   | Flutter Mane / Gastrodon        |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 38   | Heatran / Zapdos                |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 39   | Empoleon / Slither Wing         |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 40   | Toedscruel / Flutter Mane       |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 41   | Meowscarada / Heatran           |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 42   | Meowscarada / Iron Treads       |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Garchomp / Heatran              |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 44   | Garchomp / Latios               |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Flutter Mane / Slither Wing     |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 46   | Iron Moth / Latios              |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 47   | Meowscarada / Gholdengo         |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 48   | Sneasler / Iron Treads          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 49   | Landorus-Therian / Latios       |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 50   | Landorus-Therian / Slither Wing |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 51   | Heatran / Slither Wing          |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 52   | Slither Wing / Latios           |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Great Tusk / Walking Wake       |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Slither Wing / Zapdos           |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Walking Wake / Zapdos           |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 56   | Ferrothorn / Gastrodon          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 57   | Gastrodon / Latias              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 58   | Latios / Scream Tail            |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 59   | Gholdengo / Gliscor             |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 60   | Gholdengo / Heatran             |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 61   | Gholdengo / Latios              |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Gliscor / Latios                |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 63   | Gholdengo / Sinistcha           |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 64   | Heatran / Sinistcha             |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Iron Moth / Metagross           |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 66   | Garchomp / Metagross            |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 67   | Iron Moth / Tapu Fini           |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 68   | Garchomp / Zapdos               |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 69   | Tapu Fini / Zapdos              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 70   | Kommo-o / Latios                |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 71   | Latios / Melmetal               |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 72   | Archeops / Ceruledge            |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 73   | Archeops / Latios               |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 74   | Ceruledge / Latios              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 75   | Archeops / Lucario              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Ceruledge / Lucario             |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 77   | Flutter Mane / Iron Boulder     |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 78   | Zapdos / Empoleon               |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 79   | Zapdos / Flutter Mane           |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 80   | Zapdos / Gastrodon              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 81   | Slither Wing / Heatran          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 82   | Heatran / Iron Boulder          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 83   | Slither Wing / Meowscarada      |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 84   | Latios / Metagross              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 85   | Sneasler / Flutter Mane         |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 86   | Spectrier / Empoleon            |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 87   | Spectrier / Gastrodon           |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 88   | Spectrier / Slither Wing        |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 89   | Gastrodon / Slither Wing        |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 90   | Spectrier / Starmie             |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 91   | Empoleon / Starmie              |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 92   | Gastrodon / Starmie             |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 93   | Slither Wing / Starmie          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 94   | Toedscruel / Blacephalon        |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 95   | Blacephalon / Flutter Mane      |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 96   | Flutter Mane / Salamence        |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 97   | Cryogonal / Iron Boulder        |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 98   | Iron Boulder / Latios           |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 99   | Blissey / Gholdengo             |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 100  | Gastrodon / Gholdengo           |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |

The other thing that really shows the "strength" of bringing cm is actually just something that tracks every move clicked. CM is the second most clicked move in the game, getting clicked on average just over once a game. Of course, sometimes you're clicking it two or three or four times in a row, but at the same time, you're also usually clicking uturn multiple times. Another thing I noticed was that I looked I think in week 5 and spikes was number 2 in usage, so that has changed as well, albeit there's only 2 clicks of diifference now. Spikes is in exactly 50% of games, recover unsurprisingly has alot of clicks because latios and there's just other good mons who click it. Knock off is good, again wr is not a good statistic to use but surprisingly low winrate. The one winrate I am curious about is flip turn because 21 uses and 28% winrate is kinda bizarre. I think the only three mons who have clicked it this tour have been latios, wake (5 uses with 40% winrate), and swampert (1 use 0% winrate). So looking at this I'm thinking the main mon taking this winrate is flip turn latios which has been the most commonly used set. I'll include the latios usage below the "all moves" usage.

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Move               | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Stealth Rock       |   41 |  78.85% |  53.66% |
| 2    | Calm Mind          |   28 |  53.85% |  60.71% |
| 3    | U-turn             |   27 |  51.92% |  55.56% |
| 4    | Spikes             |   26 |  50.00% |  53.85% |
| 5    | Recover            |   26 |  50.00% |  42.31% |
| 6    | Knock Off          |   23 |  44.23% |  39.13% |
| 7    | Thunderbolt        |   23 |  44.23% |  43.48% |
| 8    | Flip Turn          |   21 |  40.38% |  28.57% |
| 9    | Draco Meteor       |   19 |  36.54% |  36.84% |
| 10   | Close Combat       |   19 |  36.54% |  57.89% |
| 11   | Thunder Wave       |   18 |  34.62% |  38.89% |
| 12   | Earthquake         |   16 |  30.77% |  56.25% |
| 13   | Scald              |   16 |  30.77% |  68.75% |
| 14   | Will-O-Wisp        |   15 |  28.85% |  60.00% |
| 15   | Roost              |   15 |  28.85% |  46.67% |
| 16   | Psychic Noise      |   14 |  26.92% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Mystical Fire      |   13 |  25.00% |  61.54% |
| 18   | Rapid Spin         |   12 |  23.08% |  58.33% |
| 19   | Swords Dance       |   12 |  23.08% |  50.00% |
| 20   | Psyshock           |   10 |  19.23% |  60.00% |
| 21   | Explosion          |    9 |  17.31% |  44.44% |
| 22   | Taunt              |    9 |  17.31% |  44.44% |
| 23   | Morning Sun        |    8 |  15.38% |  25.00% |
| 24   | Stone Edge         |    8 |  15.38% |  62.50% |
| 25   | Ice Beam           |    8 |  15.38% |  75.00% |
| 26   | Toxic Spikes       |    7 |  13.46% |  71.43% |
| 27   | Flamethrower       |    7 |  13.46% |  57.14% |
| 28   | Heavy Slam         |    7 |  13.46% |  71.43% |
| 29   | Rest               |    7 |  13.46% |  57.14% |
| 30   | Surf               |    7 |  13.46% |  57.14% |
| 31   | Foul Play          |    7 |  13.46% |  28.57% |
| 32   | First Impression   |    6 |  11.54% |  50.00% |
| 33   | Fire Blast         |    6 |  11.54% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Meteor Mash        |    6 |  11.54% |  83.33% |
| 35   | Sleep Talk         |    6 |  11.54% |  66.67% |
| 36   | Moonblast          |    5 |   9.62% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Hidden Power       |    5 |   9.62% |  20.00% |
| 38   | Brave Bird         |    5 |   9.62% |  40.00% |
| 39   | Dragon Pulse       |    5 |   9.62% |  60.00% |
| 40   | Night Shade        |    5 |   9.62% |  40.00% |
| 41   | Lava Plume         |    5 |   9.62% |  40.00% |
| 42   | Mighty Cleave      |    5 |   9.62% |  20.00% |
| 43   | Flower Trick       |    5 |   9.62% |  60.00% |
| 44   | Energy Ball        |    5 |   9.62% |  60.00% |
| 45   | Magma Storm        |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 46   | Double Iron Bash   |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 47   | Poltergeist        |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 48   | Toxic              |    4 |   7.69% |  75.00% |
| 49   | Shadow Ball        |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 50   | Protect            |    4 |   7.69% |  50.00% |
| 51   | Nasty Plot         |    4 |   7.69% |  25.00% |
| 52   | Substitute         |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 53   | Make It Rain       |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 54   | Hurricane          |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Volt Switch        |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 56   | Psychic            |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Dire Claw          |    3 |   5.77% | 100.00% |
| 58   | Focus Blast        |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 59   | Dark Pulse         |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 60   | Sunny Day          |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 61   | Salt Cure          |    3 |   5.77% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Hydro Pump         |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 63   | Double-Edge        |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 64   | Roar               |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 65   | Gyro Ball          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 66   | Sludge Bomb        |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 67   | Discharge          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 68   | Ice Punch          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 69   | Dragon Tail        |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 70   | Freeze-Dry         |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 71   | Leaf Storm         |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 72   | Spore              |    2 |   3.85% |   0.00% |
| 73   | Overheat           |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 74   | Heal Bell          |    2 |   3.85% |  50.00% |
| 75   | Whirlwind          |    2 |   3.85% | 100.00% |
| 76   | Ice Spinner        |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 77   | Gravity            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 78   | Dual Wingbeat      |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 79   | Endure             |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 80   | Dragon Hammer      |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 81   | V-create           |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 82   | Bullet Punch       |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 83   | Brick Break        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 84   | Shadow Claw        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 85   | Nature's Madness   |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 86   | Dragon Dance       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 87   | Bulk Up            |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 88   | Tail Glow          |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 89   | Seismic Toss       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 90   | Soft-Boiled        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 91   | Headlong Rush      |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 92   | Fire Punch         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 93   | Solar Beam         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 94   | Fiery Dance        |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 95   | Aqua Tail          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 96   | Shadow Sneak       |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 97   | Steel Beam         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 98   | Scale Shot         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 99   | Switcheroo         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 100  | Heat Wave          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 101  | Ruination          |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 102  | Light Screen       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 103  | Stored Power       |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 104  | Seed Flare         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 105  | Acrobatics         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 106  | Endeavor           |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 107  | Trailblaze         |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 108  | Clangorous Soul    |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 109  | Thunder Punch      |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 110  | Flame Charge       |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 111  | Self-Destruct      |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |
| 112  | Hyperspace Fury    |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 113  | Stun Spore         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 114  | Poison Jab         |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 115  | Haze               |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 116  | Matcha Gotcha      |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 117  | Strength Sap       |    1 |   1.92% | 100.00% |
| 118  | Steam Eruption     |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |

Latios Move Usage

 + ---- + --------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Moves By Pokémon      | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + --------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios: Draco Meteor  |   15 |  28.85% |  40.00% |
| 2    | Latios: Flip Turn     |   14 |  26.92% |  21.43% |
| 3    | Latios: Psychic Noise |   12 |  23.08% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Latios: Recover       |   12 |  23.08% |  41.67% |
| 5    | Latios: Calm Mind     |    7 |  13.46% |  71.43% |
| 6    | Latios: Mystical Fire |    4 |   7.69% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Latios: Thunderbolt   |    3 |   5.77% |  66.67% |
| 8    | Latios: Psyshock      |    3 |   5.77% |  33.33% |
| 9    | Latios: Scale Shot    |    1 |   1.92% |   0.00% |

So when I'm looking at this my first thought is "holy shit flip turn is ass" and honestly that might be right. Yes Calm Mind is good and obviously Flip Turn is also still good because it's latios at the end of the day, but is just running something like twave or thunderbolt or mystical fire instead of flip turn just better? You already have very few checks, so if instead of trying to pivot on your checks who almost all resist flip turn anwyay, what if you just run something to kill them? Thunderbolt is scary for the empoleon and fini checks, mystical fire for all steels and especially ferrothorn. I don't know. Just some food for thought.