Background: After Dynamax was banned I thought about the fact that outside of Darm-G and Dracovish, there were very few powerful attackers in the meta that could actually disrupt a team with screens. So I wanted to make a team where you set up screens and go out to something that can take w/e is in front of it and win.
Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Drain Punch
The screens choice was easy, Grimmsnarl is easily the best screens mon with priority taunt and great defensive typing which also disallows Prankster against it. The attacking move I settled on after testing and seeing that Bisharp and Tyranitar would come in for free and if I Reflect first on lead Excadrill and they Stealth Rock instead of attacking I beat it w/o hax. It gets a lot of surprise kills with it and sometimes can even be decent to give it longevity it shouldn't have if the opponent chooses to volt/turn around to wear out the screens.
My thought process on picking the sweepers was getting a decent amount of immunities and having a fairly even spread of SpA and Att sweepers so I wasn't just walled by like Pex or something.
Dragapult (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Phantom Force
- Dragon Darts
Cloyster (M) @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash
The Att sweepers were fairly easy to choose. I continuously saw DD Dragapult destroying teams on the ladder and I wanted in on the action. It also gave a solid fighting immunity to play with. It is also useful for revenge killing anything thanks to its speed tier.
Cloyster has always been the "noob trap" sweeper that is always more effective than what it is in theory. Screens allow it to run King's Rock pretty safely which can give it a full sweep against its stops in Pex, Corsola-G, and Rotom-W. It is also the easiest mon to setup on any physical attacker lacking fighting moves. I haven't tested Liquidation yet but I do like Ice Shard. It ensures sometimes I win versus some choice scarf or priority, can revenge kill in a pinch, and works to play mind games against sucker punch.
Bisharp (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Throat Chop
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
Bisharp came in as the perfect glue for the team although it is probably one of the more replaceable mons from the team (I've tested Excadrill instead to mixed results). It has two immunities to play with and can't be priority taunted. It wall breaks a lot of the stuff the rest of the team can't touch easily and has emergency priority in case things get dicey. It also is the perfect play for anything defogging screens or if the enemy manages to set up sticky webs as I'm not running any hazard clearance.
Sylveon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Mystical Fire
- Draining Kiss
- Hyper Voice
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Agility
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
The SpA sweepers were harder to figure out but are probably the most "innovative" part of the team. There really aren't many good SpA sweepers out there but Sylveon did come to mind as one to use to beat Trick Room teams and have as a pivot for strong special attackers. Plus I needed a fairy that wasn't Grimmsnarl so I could proper revenge kill an obvious dragon move. It was originally the more standard Wish/Protect set but I was finding I was getting walled too easily by like Aegislash and some others. Plus I hated that Soundproof Koomo'o could somehow win so I wanted Draining Kiss. This set does work well but its biggest issue is it being slower than Corviknight.
Mew is the big standout from the team in my opinion. I was trying to find some SpA user that could raise its speed as well as that was pretty much an assured win con in todays meta. Unfortunately, the best example of that is like Frosmoth or something. But I thought to try double dance. I mean after all, I have screens and usually with a DD type move you need at least 2 to really pop off anyway.
Well Mew fit that bill and it's all the more amazing for it. 100 across the board is ridiculous statwise in today's meta. It basically guarantees it lives against anything not named Aegislash, Dragapult, and Hydreigon. Mew also obviously has the most coverage options of any pokemon but it is very limited with only 2 slots. I considered bolt/beam but wanted to have something that killed on one nasty plot in most cases so I chose Psychic and at first I tried out Fire Blast to kill off Corv and Aegislash which you could still run but I found I liked it better to be able to kill off Darks like Tyranitar, Obstagoon, and Hydreigon. I figured out most of those don't really need a full Focus Blast to kill or I at least live something by them with screens so I chose the more (or most) accurate route with Aura Sphere.
Weaknesses: One of the mons that just makes me want to die on the enemy team is Toxapex. Despite having an ostensible out to Mew, I can't switch in on it due to Toxic and Mew generally has at least one counter the enemy can switch to easily if I don't have screens up. Haze is obviously the biggest issue. I've had Dragapult on 5 DD's before and it did not die which cost me the game. I mean what in the world is that. I can beat it with Bisharp sometimes if it doesn't burn me on the first scald. The issue is that it can always just switch out and get health until I can't beat it anymore since I don't have hazards.
Corviknight is not terrible but can be annoying with Bulk Up since then I can't beat it with Dragapult and Mew is on a timer to kill it. It almost always can 2HKO Sylveon is the issue and Mystical Fire usually needs to be at like +2 to actually kill.
Aegislash is maybe the worst lead to encounter outside of a true counter like Brick Break Drapion (which yes I've seen). You don't really know whether it is physical or special attacking or if it's choiced or not. So I just reflect and generally I live non-specs Flash Cannon with Grimmsnarl but it does suck to throw him out turn 2. It has shadow sneak usually even on SpA sets to stop my sweepers sometimes which is especially bad with two ghost weaknesses in Drag and Mew.
Enemy Grimmsnarls are annoying since I have no one immune to Twave and opposing screens are just a problem in general although I can stall them.
Enemy Dragapults are always interesting to deal with although Sylveon should be comfortable with it and if Grimmsnarl is alive they can't really do anything. The dumb thing with them is that +2 ice shard is a roll out of favor to OHKO so if they're scarf it stops cloyster.
Any team with a solid Normal/Fairy core wall Dragapult from a sweep which can suck.
Overall, I think the team can outplay most other teams. I've only encountered a few that truly are monstrous for it (I mean Brick Break Drapion...what a man). It can lose to hax and sometimes can only win through hax but that's just Pokemon. Usually that comes in the form of para or crit against me and usually that comes in the form of flinching with Cloyster for my opponent.
Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Drain Punch
The screens choice was easy, Grimmsnarl is easily the best screens mon with priority taunt and great defensive typing which also disallows Prankster against it. The attacking move I settled on after testing and seeing that Bisharp and Tyranitar would come in for free and if I Reflect first on lead Excadrill and they Stealth Rock instead of attacking I beat it w/o hax. It gets a lot of surprise kills with it and sometimes can even be decent to give it longevity it shouldn't have if the opponent chooses to volt/turn around to wear out the screens.
My thought process on picking the sweepers was getting a decent amount of immunities and having a fairly even spread of SpA and Att sweepers so I wasn't just walled by like Pex or something.
Dragapult (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Phantom Force
- Dragon Darts
Cloyster (M) @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash
The Att sweepers were fairly easy to choose. I continuously saw DD Dragapult destroying teams on the ladder and I wanted in on the action. It also gave a solid fighting immunity to play with. It is also useful for revenge killing anything thanks to its speed tier.
Cloyster has always been the "noob trap" sweeper that is always more effective than what it is in theory. Screens allow it to run King's Rock pretty safely which can give it a full sweep against its stops in Pex, Corsola-G, and Rotom-W. It is also the easiest mon to setup on any physical attacker lacking fighting moves. I haven't tested Liquidation yet but I do like Ice Shard. It ensures sometimes I win versus some choice scarf or priority, can revenge kill in a pinch, and works to play mind games against sucker punch.
Bisharp (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Throat Chop
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
Bisharp came in as the perfect glue for the team although it is probably one of the more replaceable mons from the team (I've tested Excadrill instead to mixed results). It has two immunities to play with and can't be priority taunted. It wall breaks a lot of the stuff the rest of the team can't touch easily and has emergency priority in case things get dicey. It also is the perfect play for anything defogging screens or if the enemy manages to set up sticky webs as I'm not running any hazard clearance.
Sylveon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Mystical Fire
- Draining Kiss
- Hyper Voice
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
Happiness: 160
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Agility
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
The SpA sweepers were harder to figure out but are probably the most "innovative" part of the team. There really aren't many good SpA sweepers out there but Sylveon did come to mind as one to use to beat Trick Room teams and have as a pivot for strong special attackers. Plus I needed a fairy that wasn't Grimmsnarl so I could proper revenge kill an obvious dragon move. It was originally the more standard Wish/Protect set but I was finding I was getting walled too easily by like Aegislash and some others. Plus I hated that Soundproof Koomo'o could somehow win so I wanted Draining Kiss. This set does work well but its biggest issue is it being slower than Corviknight.
Mew is the big standout from the team in my opinion. I was trying to find some SpA user that could raise its speed as well as that was pretty much an assured win con in todays meta. Unfortunately, the best example of that is like Frosmoth or something. But I thought to try double dance. I mean after all, I have screens and usually with a DD type move you need at least 2 to really pop off anyway.
Well Mew fit that bill and it's all the more amazing for it. 100 across the board is ridiculous statwise in today's meta. It basically guarantees it lives against anything not named Aegislash, Dragapult, and Hydreigon. Mew also obviously has the most coverage options of any pokemon but it is very limited with only 2 slots. I considered bolt/beam but wanted to have something that killed on one nasty plot in most cases so I chose Psychic and at first I tried out Fire Blast to kill off Corv and Aegislash which you could still run but I found I liked it better to be able to kill off Darks like Tyranitar, Obstagoon, and Hydreigon. I figured out most of those don't really need a full Focus Blast to kill or I at least live something by them with screens so I chose the more (or most) accurate route with Aura Sphere.
Weaknesses: One of the mons that just makes me want to die on the enemy team is Toxapex. Despite having an ostensible out to Mew, I can't switch in on it due to Toxic and Mew generally has at least one counter the enemy can switch to easily if I don't have screens up. Haze is obviously the biggest issue. I've had Dragapult on 5 DD's before and it did not die which cost me the game. I mean what in the world is that. I can beat it with Bisharp sometimes if it doesn't burn me on the first scald. The issue is that it can always just switch out and get health until I can't beat it anymore since I don't have hazards.
Corviknight is not terrible but can be annoying with Bulk Up since then I can't beat it with Dragapult and Mew is on a timer to kill it. It almost always can 2HKO Sylveon is the issue and Mystical Fire usually needs to be at like +2 to actually kill.
Aegislash is maybe the worst lead to encounter outside of a true counter like Brick Break Drapion (which yes I've seen). You don't really know whether it is physical or special attacking or if it's choiced or not. So I just reflect and generally I live non-specs Flash Cannon with Grimmsnarl but it does suck to throw him out turn 2. It has shadow sneak usually even on SpA sets to stop my sweepers sometimes which is especially bad with two ghost weaknesses in Drag and Mew.
Enemy Grimmsnarls are annoying since I have no one immune to Twave and opposing screens are just a problem in general although I can stall them.
Enemy Dragapults are always interesting to deal with although Sylveon should be comfortable with it and if Grimmsnarl is alive they can't really do anything. The dumb thing with them is that +2 ice shard is a roll out of favor to OHKO so if they're scarf it stops cloyster.
Any team with a solid Normal/Fairy core wall Dragapult from a sweep which can suck.
Overall, I think the team can outplay most other teams. I've only encountered a few that truly are monstrous for it (I mean Brick Break Drapion...what a man). It can lose to hax and sometimes can only win through hax but that's just Pokemon. Usually that comes in the form of para or crit against me and usually that comes in the form of flinching with Cloyster for my opponent.
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