Taking the honor of posting what
submenceisop and I think is a pretty good attempt at a full-Pressure meme stall/setup, after some nights of discussion. It was a nice experience to finally build something acceptable for this archetype, and half the credit goes to submence of course.
If played patiently, I think it can go pretty far. It features my two favorite blue Pokemon:
View attachment 325625
Dusclops (F)
Impish Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
- Torment
- Protect
- Thief
- Icy Wind
Dusclops leads with Protect usually to scout the set if there's no possibility of the opponent setting up. Electric-types, which the team is weak to, can't OHKO Dusclops even with a critical hit, so they usually have plenty of opportunity to get Icy Winded and/or Tormented. Thief is for Quick Claw, especially the physicals like Rhydon and Ursaring. Dusclops' ability to soak up PP right from the start by spamming Protect in between the "real moves" greatly helps if the strategy doesn't fully develop as wished.
The EVs bless Dusclops with these calcs. You can tweak what you want, but you simply can't guarantee everything. I chose to never die to Electric assaults, since these are the most threatening in my opinion:
170+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255 Atk Metagross Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 125-148 (85 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
255+ Atk Rhydon Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 127-150 (86.3 - 102%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255+ SpA Latios Psychic vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Dusclops on a critical hit: 124-147 (84.3 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
255+ Atk Snorlax Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Dusclops on a critical hit: 122-144 (82.9 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
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Articuno @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 220 HP / 60 SpD / 228 Spe
- Haze
- Substitute
- Protect
- Toxic
Articuno, a slightly improved Delibird, stalls what it can and prevents setup with Haze, which is a very nice, spammable move even if it does nothing because of its large base PP. Toxic is ideally never used, but is essential to remove Water Absorb threats from the field even if Suicune has setup already. It also gives Articuno a way to fight back, should something completely go the wrong way. The EVs let it outspeed even Jolteon-4 after Icy Wind and Articuno is pretty bulky on the special side:
255+ SpA Gengar Psychic vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 41-49 (21.2 - 25.3%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
55+ SpA Alakazam Thunder Punch vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 71-84 (36.7 - 43.5%) -- 99.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Walrein Ice Beam vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 38-45 (19.6 - 23.3%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Swampert Surf vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 35-42 (18.1 - 21.7%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
-2 255 SpA Blaziken Thunder Punch vs. 220 HP / 60+ SpD Articuno: 28-34 (14.5 - 17.6%) -- possible 9HKO after Leftovers recovery
Note that this Articuno is way different from the Articuno on Mono Ice since it's faster, has Leftovers, and doesn't need to wall physicals as well since Dusclops can Thief and/or Torment them (and stall way more PP on its own than Jynx, lol). It's less bulky, but provides a lot of utility and usually leaves the field pretty healthy to help Suicune later in the game if it gets stuck.
View attachment 325627
Suicune @ Salac Berry
Bold Nature
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 60 HP / 212 Def / 4 SpA / 4 SpD / 228 Spe
- Surf
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Rest
We all know how easily Suicune sets up, but now it's against unboosted Struggles. We consider the other dogs as well, but Suicune is the only one that has its counters wallable by Articuno and it's by far the easiest to setup against Struggles. The strongest unboosted Struggle in the game:
255 Atk Pure Power Medicham Struggle vs. 60 HP / 212+ Def Suicune: 24-29 (13.1 - 15.8%) -- possible 7HKO
It spams Calm Mind, Substitutes into Salac Berry and Rests up. After it wakes up, it finishes boosting up and Substitutes yet again only before Resting up. Finally, it Substitutes and sweeps after waking up, usually sweeping in the range of 50% to 60% of its health where it still survives plenty of moves even if its Substitute would be broken. Then it cleans with a net speed of 201, outspeeding even Jolteon-4 and preventing the Substitute break against many other fast threats such as Espeon, Aerodactyl, Gengar and Sceptile (against the latter, Suicune can just make another Sub if it's at high enough health). The Salac Berry also prevents the Substitute from getting broken by a faster Pokemon's crit Struggle when clicking Surf for the first time.
So yeah, the Water Absorbers and Double Team Water-type walls Suicune gets stuck against are all Toxic bait for Articuno.
Problems? A lot of things are a bit shaky, but worth mentioning are the following:
Water Absorb or bulky water OHKOers with quite some luck, the Rhydon crit 18%, and incredible Thunderbolt parahax from the start. Other than that, it's a matter of patience, careful play and good scouting/looking up sets to keep winning consistently.
In the end, I think this team is about as good as the Christmas Special Stantler + Suicune + Delibird team, with a better filler over Delibird such as Steelix.