I love Gyara Mag, but I especially like how unpredictable it can be.
Here is a showcase of how I have built back when I was having trouble against all the agility pass teams. I still think it's a nice team to use.
I knew that I wanted to build around this core. But I've been so stuck with this team that I have often struggled keeping up with the meta using an old version of my team that I had.
Gyarados and Magneton do an excellent job at checking each other's checks, especially with Piloswine and Gligar surpassing Nidoqueen's in usage. Gyarados can effectively switch in on many earthquakes and threaten a 2HKO with Hydro Pump against them and Magneton can be slow at the start but become an unstoppable threat if you take care of its checks in the late game. It's also really good against the likes of Hypno, Mr.Mime Kadabra and Bellossom which are very annoying for Gyarados.
Hypno felt like a natural addition to the team. I am quite the Hypno enthusiast and while there certainly is nothing wrong with having Mr.Mime over Hypno, I prefer Hypno's defensive capabilities. It's an additional check to electrics (sort of) and with the right moveset can offer great support against the likes of Lanturn and Slowbro as well as Nidoqueen.
It should go without saying that Water+Electric spam or Mag's pseudo Bolt+Beam spam banks on the presence of Spikes, without which it becomes a total drag. I'm not a fan of Curse Qwilfish that much because its matchup against Blastoise is very execution based. However, it could be the only way to make spikes count.
Personally I didn't want to make the N-th Piloswine team but this thing is fat and at the time I was building this, it had a much better matchup vs Baton Pass teams in the mid early game.
It's also strong af vs Scyther. I may end up changing to Nidoqueen, not sure.
Here is the idea. Gligar is just a pokemon that would enable me to make a lot of progress. Thief is great and its a great check to Scyther. Counter allows me to ultimately punish HP Ground setup pokemon like Granbull (Gligar can survive +1 Return or +6 Return from Politoed) if I am in the back footing and Wing Attack can punish going to Bellossom or Jumpluff as well as hurt Pinsir, which is a big problem for this team. There is room for lots of tweaking.
Movesets
Magneton @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The whole idea behind this set and this mon in particular is to check one specific pokemon, and that's Hypno (and I guess also Mr.mime). The whole reasoning behind this is that Magneton isn't the greatest out of the Normal resisting pokemon in this tier, but the one thing it has over all the other normal resists is the ability to wall and threaten Psychics. A while back, in an offence vs offence matchup, people used to send in their own Pscychic type against opposing Psychics, Hypno on Mime, Mime on Hypno, Slowbro on Slowking etc. While this seemed really stale, the fact is that in time people got better at making the most out of this by having more and more mixed attackers and special attackers, essentially overloading these naturally good specially defensive walls. With Thunder, Magneton can OHKO the Slowtwins, 2HKO Kadabra and Mime and 3HKO Hypno, which it outspeeds. If you can incapacitate or KO Hypno, you can essentially break through all psychics and open up your opponent's team to your own Psychic type or mixed attacker like Nidoqueen or Gyarados. Now in some scenarios I would be all on board with using Hidden Power Water with all the Piloswines running rampant, but Hidden Power Ice is better for certain other grounds and grass types. This and the fact that I more easily invite Piloswine in means I give a good entry point for...
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: none
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk / 26 Def
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Roar
This guy. Gyarados coming in every time Piloswine is in, or even pivotting on other ground types, all of which it outspeeds barring Gligar, makes it a huge progress maker. Though the offensive stats aren't phenomenal, Gyarados's 2 STABs are still really good at hurting some of the most prevalent things out there. HP Flying hurts Hypno and Chansey (though I would advise against keeping it in on Chansey) and Hydro Pump hurts all the Ground types that check Magneton of course. I wasn't sure about Roar or Double Edge, because personally I've snagged quite a few nice KO's by having 2 physical attacks and 2 special attacks (not to mention it hurts Lanturn). Having no phazing element whatsoever though is pretty much suicide in certain matchups (especially since Magneton can get very easily baited into clicking Thunder on a Girafarig BPing to Quagsire)
Hypno @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Honestly the lead position for this set is very much underrated. Unlike with Light Screen Hypno lead which is super exploitable turn 1, you can actually use this set of Hypno to great success. You can put on the pressure against Girafarig by spamming the hell out of Seismic toss, and even get a guaranteed scout of Scyther's Hidden Power with it (30.5% aganist HP Ground, 29.1% against HP Bug which never should round up). This move can look like a death sentence and just might be, but it's a great improvement compared to any other Hypno vs Scyther lead scenario. The main attraction behind this whole thing is that it can force Lanturn into wasting a lot of Rest or Thunder PP or just weakening it through Psychic. And though the damage is fixed it's important to remember that paired with Psychic, Seismic Toss will guarantee that in any scenario against opposing pokemon, it will always deal at least neutral damage which comes in really handy in the mid-to-late game.
You could also use Thunder wave over Seismic Toss which helps Piloswine outspeed pokemon like Lanturn and Qwilfish.
Qwilfish @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Spikes
- Hydro Pump
- Sludge Bomb
- Curse
There isn't much to say besides that if you have special attackers or 2 or more mixed attackers (SToss Hypno in this case is sort of like a mixed attacker) then you really need spikes. This stems from me watching GSC OU and ADV OU and I think it holds true in this tier. Luckily, Qwilfish also helps in regards to its wide spread of pokemon it can threaten with Hydro Pump and Sludge Bomb. I really see great benefits with it being on the team, even though it's the second fastest mon on the team. Curse goes here and I wouldn't rely on setting up on Blastoise early in the game, because you can use Blastoise coming in to your advantage with Magneton or Gyarados.
Piloswine @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
With all thse mons mentioned, we still need another pokemon that can handle psychics and Haunter in case Magneton is too preoccupied. Also having an electric check is vital. Piloswine is just amazing glue and can take care of Ice Beam Nidoqueen, Scyther, Hypno and can dish out lots of damage while tanking some on its own. This thing is really hard to kill even if you do have a pokemon with setup or with super effective coverage. Its slowness can be a liability and it will struggle vs a stray Fire Blast (or Fire Punch Mime) which is why our second Ground type is...
Gligar
Ability: No Ability
- Thief
- Wing Attack
- Counter
- Earthquake
This mon does an excellent job alongside Piloswine. The dynamic duo means they will work wonders together and are good at cleaning up whatever piece might have been left behind. Together they can successfully check all variations of Nidoqueen (Ice Beam and Fire Blast are never seen on the same set). It should go without saying that Piloswine can take care of the majority of flying types, enabling Gligar and itself to spam earthquake more, but if in any case, it were to find itself against a Scyther, it can hurt it with Wing Attack and even respond with Counter. Counter is a godsend because it means that every HP Ground user is forced to go in on gligar at full force with a very predictable Double Edge or Return (Pinsir, Granbull, Politoed). The STAB flying type move isn't nearly as strong as Gyarados's Hidden Power, but it's enough to punish Pinsir and Scyther trying to boost a second time. Alternatively you could have Screech over Thief, as this forces switches and can create huge sweeping scenarios, but I hate its imperfect accuracy. Anyways the fact that Gligar can take +6 Return from Politoed means I can have a much easier time responding to full baton pass teams without the worry that I miss time Roar or another attack.
Main threats
Granbull is S tier for a reason and while this team definitely has solutions for most varieties of Granbull, a carefully played one can mean great trouble. Luckily though there aren't too many entry points for it and I think that with the other pokemon you have in the back, you don't have to worry too much if your Magneton goes down to HP Ground as long as you successfully manage to land Thunder and then revenge kill it.
Granbull as a wall breaker does mean that you can end up vulnerable to Wigglytuff in the back though.
Somehow I forgot to mention this threat, which is possibly the worst matchup ever. If you face this thing pray that Hypno lives. You might have to sacrifice a pokemon just to be able to switch Hypno in. But if your team is somehow weakened, welp, Pikcahu outspeeds everything and can easily OHKO half of the team and 2HKO the rest. Light Ball Thunder is strong af sand Surf also gets boosted. It is the main reason why double grounds are threatened by this core so you need Mag or Hypno to be healthy. The DamageCalc is your friend.
These two pokemon are able to nearly 2HKO Magneton, can survive Thunder, and annoy the hell out of Gyarados and Hypno, your only two "safe" switch ins. Hope for a crit and make sure spikes are on the ground. They are safer to stay in on when sleeping but you can also get a false sense of security by staying in on them for too long. I recommend using Hypno on the Twave variants.
Lovely Kiss users that boast Ground coverage or STAB can punish Gligar which is the best way to counter setup sweepers. S/O to Celebii who is using Swords Dance + Giga Drain Vic. That thing can really get on your nerves if you expect Sludgebomb+ HP Ground instead. Nidoqueen can seek many opportunities to break the team open by coming in on Magneton. It has enough bulk to take a super effective Hidden Power Water or Ice and nullify the progress made against it by using Moonlight. There are lots of pokemon that threaten it but Nidoqueen does have the potential to capitalize off of the defensive play and fish for para's on Gyarados or crits on Hypno.
Positioning is the key here and if you play better than your opponent when using Hypno, you shouldn't worry. You can also outstall Lanturn as long as you aren't being stupid with your Rest and Sleep Talk PP. Still, Lanturn can crit right through a Hypno and suddenly you are going to get real hurt.
These two pokes can just shift the momentum. You don't have Haze on Qwilfish and Pinsir speedties gligar so its a tossup. Spamming the hell out of attacks is your key to not letting the opponent take more out of you than you out of them. Scyther also can be unpredictable, especially late game. IF you face Scyther I strongly suggest you find out which Hidden Power they are using as soon as possible (see the strategy in BOLD in my Hypno description).
These two can learn Fire Punch and that can potentially net an unexpected KO if you aren't cautious. Scout their moves with Hypno or Mag whenever possible. Kadabra can be a threat in general with the right setup.
Teams with this core
Quagsire can be very annoying to face with a team that is slow paced since it, itself enjoys having all the time in the world to click Belly Drum and force you to react. The lack of a definitive spikes presence is also the main thing that will be holding you back so you have to make sure not to throw away Qwilfish in this matchup.
Other Team Options
I will include a more indepth and modern version of this team in the future. For now I can recommend other options
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Here is a showcase of how I have built back when I was having trouble against all the agility pass teams. I still think it's a nice team to use.
(REST IN PEACE DAVID CROSBY. May you continue to sing alongside the angels in heaven.)
I knew that I wanted to build around this core. But I've been so stuck with this team that I have often struggled keeping up with the meta using an old version of my team that I had.
Gyarados and Magneton do an excellent job at checking each other's checks, especially with Piloswine and Gligar surpassing Nidoqueen's in usage. Gyarados can effectively switch in on many earthquakes and threaten a 2HKO with Hydro Pump against them and Magneton can be slow at the start but become an unstoppable threat if you take care of its checks in the late game. It's also really good against the likes of Hypno, Mr.Mime Kadabra and Bellossom which are very annoying for Gyarados.
Hypno felt like a natural addition to the team. I am quite the Hypno enthusiast and while there certainly is nothing wrong with having Mr.Mime over Hypno, I prefer Hypno's defensive capabilities. It's an additional check to electrics (sort of) and with the right moveset can offer great support against the likes of Lanturn and Slowbro as well as Nidoqueen.
It should go without saying that Water+Electric spam or Mag's pseudo Bolt+Beam spam banks on the presence of Spikes, without which it becomes a total drag. I'm not a fan of Curse Qwilfish that much because its matchup against Blastoise is very execution based. However, it could be the only way to make spikes count.
Personally I didn't want to make the N-th Piloswine team but this thing is fat and at the time I was building this, it had a much better matchup vs Baton Pass teams in the mid early game.
It's also strong af vs Scyther. I may end up changing to Nidoqueen, not sure.
Here is the idea. Gligar is just a pokemon that would enable me to make a lot of progress. Thief is great and its a great check to Scyther. Counter allows me to ultimately punish HP Ground setup pokemon like Granbull (Gligar can survive +1 Return or +6 Return from Politoed) if I am in the back footing and Wing Attack can punish going to Bellossom or Jumpluff as well as hurt Pinsir, which is a big problem for this team. There is room for lots of tweaking.
Movesets
Magneton @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The whole idea behind this set and this mon in particular is to check one specific pokemon, and that's Hypno (and I guess also Mr.mime). The whole reasoning behind this is that Magneton isn't the greatest out of the Normal resisting pokemon in this tier, but the one thing it has over all the other normal resists is the ability to wall and threaten Psychics. A while back, in an offence vs offence matchup, people used to send in their own Pscychic type against opposing Psychics, Hypno on Mime, Mime on Hypno, Slowbro on Slowking etc. While this seemed really stale, the fact is that in time people got better at making the most out of this by having more and more mixed attackers and special attackers, essentially overloading these naturally good specially defensive walls. With Thunder, Magneton can OHKO the Slowtwins, 2HKO Kadabra and Mime and 3HKO Hypno, which it outspeeds. If you can incapacitate or KO Hypno, you can essentially break through all psychics and open up your opponent's team to your own Psychic type or mixed attacker like Nidoqueen or Gyarados. Now in some scenarios I would be all on board with using Hidden Power Water with all the Piloswines running rampant, but Hidden Power Ice is better for certain other grounds and grass types. This and the fact that I more easily invite Piloswine in means I give a good entry point for...
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: none
IVs: 14 HP / 24 Atk / 26 Def
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Roar
This guy. Gyarados coming in every time Piloswine is in, or even pivotting on other ground types, all of which it outspeeds barring Gligar, makes it a huge progress maker. Though the offensive stats aren't phenomenal, Gyarados's 2 STABs are still really good at hurting some of the most prevalent things out there. HP Flying hurts Hypno and Chansey (though I would advise against keeping it in on Chansey) and Hydro Pump hurts all the Ground types that check Magneton of course. I wasn't sure about Roar or Double Edge, because personally I've snagged quite a few nice KO's by having 2 physical attacks and 2 special attacks (not to mention it hurts Lanturn). Having no phazing element whatsoever though is pretty much suicide in certain matchups (especially since Magneton can get very easily baited into clicking Thunder on a Girafarig BPing to Quagsire)
Hypno @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Psychic
- Seismic Toss
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Honestly the lead position for this set is very much underrated. Unlike with Light Screen Hypno lead which is super exploitable turn 1, you can actually use this set of Hypno to great success. You can put on the pressure against Girafarig by spamming the hell out of Seismic toss, and even get a guaranteed scout of Scyther's Hidden Power with it (30.5% aganist HP Ground, 29.1% against HP Bug which never should round up). This move can look like a death sentence and just might be, but it's a great improvement compared to any other Hypno vs Scyther lead scenario. The main attraction behind this whole thing is that it can force Lanturn into wasting a lot of Rest or Thunder PP or just weakening it through Psychic. And though the damage is fixed it's important to remember that paired with Psychic, Seismic Toss will guarantee that in any scenario against opposing pokemon, it will always deal at least neutral damage which comes in really handy in the mid-to-late game.
You could also use Thunder wave over Seismic Toss which helps Piloswine outspeed pokemon like Lanturn and Qwilfish.
Qwilfish @ Leftovers
Ability: none
- Spikes
- Hydro Pump
- Sludge Bomb
- Curse
There isn't much to say besides that if you have special attackers or 2 or more mixed attackers (SToss Hypno in this case is sort of like a mixed attacker) then you really need spikes. This stems from me watching GSC OU and ADV OU and I think it holds true in this tier. Luckily, Qwilfish also helps in regards to its wide spread of pokemon it can threaten with Hydro Pump and Sludge Bomb. I really see great benefits with it being on the team, even though it's the second fastest mon on the team. Curse goes here and I wouldn't rely on setting up on Blastoise early in the game, because you can use Blastoise coming in to your advantage with Magneton or Gyarados.
Piloswine @ Leftovers
Ability: No Ability
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
With all thse mons mentioned, we still need another pokemon that can handle psychics and Haunter in case Magneton is too preoccupied. Also having an electric check is vital. Piloswine is just amazing glue and can take care of Ice Beam Nidoqueen, Scyther, Hypno and can dish out lots of damage while tanking some on its own. This thing is really hard to kill even if you do have a pokemon with setup or with super effective coverage. Its slowness can be a liability and it will struggle vs a stray Fire Blast (or Fire Punch Mime) which is why our second Ground type is...
Gligar
Ability: No Ability
- Thief
- Wing Attack
- Counter
- Earthquake
This mon does an excellent job alongside Piloswine. The dynamic duo means they will work wonders together and are good at cleaning up whatever piece might have been left behind. Together they can successfully check all variations of Nidoqueen (Ice Beam and Fire Blast are never seen on the same set). It should go without saying that Piloswine can take care of the majority of flying types, enabling Gligar and itself to spam earthquake more, but if in any case, it were to find itself against a Scyther, it can hurt it with Wing Attack and even respond with Counter. Counter is a godsend because it means that every HP Ground user is forced to go in on gligar at full force with a very predictable Double Edge or Return (Pinsir, Granbull, Politoed). The STAB flying type move isn't nearly as strong as Gyarados's Hidden Power, but it's enough to punish Pinsir and Scyther trying to boost a second time. Alternatively you could have Screech over Thief, as this forces switches and can create huge sweeping scenarios, but I hate its imperfect accuracy. Anyways the fact that Gligar can take +6 Return from Politoed means I can have a much easier time responding to full baton pass teams without the worry that I miss time Roar or another attack.
Main threats
Granbull is S tier for a reason and while this team definitely has solutions for most varieties of Granbull, a carefully played one can mean great trouble. Luckily though there aren't too many entry points for it and I think that with the other pokemon you have in the back, you don't have to worry too much if your Magneton goes down to HP Ground as long as you successfully manage to land Thunder and then revenge kill it.
Granbull as a wall breaker does mean that you can end up vulnerable to Wigglytuff in the back though.
Somehow I forgot to mention this threat, which is possibly the worst matchup ever. If you face this thing pray that Hypno lives. You might have to sacrifice a pokemon just to be able to switch Hypno in. But if your team is somehow weakened, welp, Pikcahu outspeeds everything and can easily OHKO half of the team and 2HKO the rest. Light Ball Thunder is strong af sand Surf also gets boosted. It is the main reason why double grounds are threatened by this core so you need Mag or Hypno to be healthy. The DamageCalc is your friend.
These two pokemon are able to nearly 2HKO Magneton, can survive Thunder, and annoy the hell out of Gyarados and Hypno, your only two "safe" switch ins. Hope for a crit and make sure spikes are on the ground. They are safer to stay in on when sleeping but you can also get a false sense of security by staying in on them for too long. I recommend using Hypno on the Twave variants.
Lovely Kiss users that boast Ground coverage or STAB can punish Gligar which is the best way to counter setup sweepers. S/O to Celebii who is using Swords Dance + Giga Drain Vic. That thing can really get on your nerves if you expect Sludgebomb+ HP Ground instead. Nidoqueen can seek many opportunities to break the team open by coming in on Magneton. It has enough bulk to take a super effective Hidden Power Water or Ice and nullify the progress made against it by using Moonlight. There are lots of pokemon that threaten it but Nidoqueen does have the potential to capitalize off of the defensive play and fish for para's on Gyarados or crits on Hypno.
Positioning is the key here and if you play better than your opponent when using Hypno, you shouldn't worry. You can also outstall Lanturn as long as you aren't being stupid with your Rest and Sleep Talk PP. Still, Lanturn can crit right through a Hypno and suddenly you are going to get real hurt.
These two pokes can just shift the momentum. You don't have Haze on Qwilfish and Pinsir speedties gligar so its a tossup. Spamming the hell out of attacks is your key to not letting the opponent take more out of you than you out of them. Scyther also can be unpredictable, especially late game. IF you face Scyther I strongly suggest you find out which Hidden Power they are using as soon as possible (see the strategy in BOLD in my Hypno description).
These two can learn Fire Punch and that can potentially net an unexpected KO if you aren't cautious. Scout their moves with Hypno or Mag whenever possible. Kadabra can be a threat in general with the right setup.
Teams with this core
Quagsire can be very annoying to face with a team that is slow paced since it, itself enjoys having all the time in the world to click Belly Drum and force you to react. The lack of a definitive spikes presence is also the main thing that will be holding you back so you have to make sure not to throw away Qwilfish in this matchup.
Other Team Options
I will include a more indepth and modern version of this team in the future. For now I can recommend other options
> > > >
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