last minute
a 1v1 team
Hello! For the first time in what seems like several millennia, with the release of Sun and Moon drawing ever nearer (hence the title), I have decided at long last to make an RMT. Though this team is fairly recent, each of its members is emblematic of an era of my 1v1 teambuilding. When I first began to get into the meta seriously early in Generation VI, Whimsicott was the Pokemon I relied on most; Mega Tyranitar, perhaps my favorite Pokemon I've ever utilized in the metagame, was a frequent subject as I began to employ other teambuilding methods; and Talonflame was a product of some of my recent, often truly horrendous experimentation with a variety of odd Pokemon. The strange combination, though not without its share of weaknesses, managed to get me third on the ladder, which, while not terrifically impressive, was the best I had managed in quite a while.
Without further ado, here's the team!
***
teambuilding process
an exercise in not using meloetta
Without going into too much detail, this team began as a truly awful attempt to create a new Meloetta set. Blinded by the success of Mega Diancie, Aegislash, and other Pokemon that can transition from a more defensive to a more powerful form, I attempted to transfer this concept to Meloetta and its Pirouette form with a rather ineffective mixed Relic Song set. Knowing I had a tendency to dismiss gimmicks after setting them up for failure by surrounding them with horrible teammates, I decided, in vain, to set Meloetta up for success.
Bulky Talonflame was a recent discovery of mine that proved to be an excellent means of dispatching many of the metagame's more powerful physical attackers, some of whom would give the set trouble, including Mega Heracross, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Mawile.
Whimsicott has been reliable throughout the sixth generation of Pokemon. Realizing I had an issue with stallers capable of boosting their own defenses such as Mega Slowbro and Deoxys-Defense, and in general looking for a reliable way of defeating boring old Choice attackers, I decided to employ it again here. In addition, many of Whimsicott's weaknesses — Grass-types, Fairy-type sound move attackers, for instance — are covered well by Talonflame.
Even with such a great degree of support, the Pirouetta was not working out, but I had come to love the aforementioned Talon-Whimsi synergy. I realized that another one of my old standbys, Bulky Mega Tyranitar, covered many of the same Pokemon Meloetta had been designed to take on, and more, including Pokemon like Dragon Dance Charizard X that trouble my other two Pokemon. The team was complete.
***
the team
and a whole lot of agonizing over EV spreads
Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite | Unnerve
252 HP / 84 Atk / 168 SpD / 4 Spe | Adamant
Stone Edge | Crunch | Taunt | Dragon Dance
What is there to say about Mega Tyranitar in 1v1 that I haven't already said? To reiterate: it is an incredibly effective counter for some of the most effective and common Pokemon in the 1v1 meta, including the ubiquitous Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, Deoxys-Defense (non-Taunt), Dragonite, Porygon-Z, Mega Slowbro, Togekiss, Magnezone, and Whimsicott. Taunt, as I'm sure you'll note by its dual presence on this team, is one of my favorite moves in 1v1 to shut down dumb boosters, FEAR strategies, etc. The other moves are self-explanatory.
The Special Defense is the key, allowing it to live any Hydro Cannon from Choice Specs Greninja, as well as random Focus Blasts from assorted special attackers. Perhaps the best part is that it's bulky enough to avoid losing to uncommon variants of many of the above Pokemon, like Weakness Policy Kyurem-B and bulky Mega Charizard X (hence the effectiveness of this Pokemon against classic RMTs like DEG's Hotel Books team). Unnerve is fun on the off chance you find yourself facing a berry-reliant Pokemon that it wouldn't be easier to beat with the sand-induced Special Defense boost (Custap Berry Magnezone is generally beatable in sand, for instance), but usually irrelevant.
Keep this away from anything with a physical Fighting-type move. Ground-types like Garchomp and Rhyperior are a problem too (for this team in general, as well...). Always pick this first against an opponent with a Greninja because this team looks like it loses automatically to Greninja. Also, Scald burns can be crippling.
replays: one (lame, I know. wait for the other Pokemon)
Talonflame @ Liechi Berry | Gale Wings
248 HP / 156 Atk / 104 Def | Impish
Will-O-Wisp | Brave Bird | Swords Dance | Roost
This bizarre set is a recent development, but it's carved out a place on my team in a role I often used to use Charm Togekiss for: Fighting-type killer (this helps Tyranitar considerably). Talonflame has the added bonus of defeating Mega Mawile (yes, even without Flare Blitz). It's able to successfully burn and stall out, with the assistance of Brave Bird, things like that, Kyurem-Black, Dragonite, and Mega Metagross. The EVs are for a +1 Mega Charizard X Outrage; most people don't expect to lose to Talonflame with Charizards, but if everything goes according to plan Talonflame can handle them pretty well, at least the first time around. Just avoid Ancient Power.
The Liechi Berry is one of the things I would be most willing to change on the team, but it has its uses, like netting KOs on bulky attackers that I might miss thanks to my low Attack, as well as providing a passive means of boosting while Roosting. You can Roost enough to get yourself below the 25% threshold and win with the boost. Give it a try!
Just avoid Rock-type attacks. They're not as common as one might think, but are a serious, serious problem, perhaps the most serious for this team, as I'll explain soon.
replays: one | two | three | four | five
a 1v1 team
Hello! For the first time in what seems like several millennia, with the release of Sun and Moon drawing ever nearer (hence the title), I have decided at long last to make an RMT. Though this team is fairly recent, each of its members is emblematic of an era of my 1v1 teambuilding. When I first began to get into the meta seriously early in Generation VI, Whimsicott was the Pokemon I relied on most; Mega Tyranitar, perhaps my favorite Pokemon I've ever utilized in the metagame, was a frequent subject as I began to employ other teambuilding methods; and Talonflame was a product of some of my recent, often truly horrendous experimentation with a variety of odd Pokemon. The strange combination, though not without its share of weaknesses, managed to get me third on the ladder, which, while not terrifically impressive, was the best I had managed in quite a while.
Without further ado, here's the team!
***
teambuilding process
an exercise in not using meloetta
Without going into too much detail, this team began as a truly awful attempt to create a new Meloetta set. Blinded by the success of Mega Diancie, Aegislash, and other Pokemon that can transition from a more defensive to a more powerful form, I attempted to transfer this concept to Meloetta and its Pirouette form with a rather ineffective mixed Relic Song set. Knowing I had a tendency to dismiss gimmicks after setting them up for failure by surrounding them with horrible teammates, I decided, in vain, to set Meloetta up for success.
Bulky Talonflame was a recent discovery of mine that proved to be an excellent means of dispatching many of the metagame's more powerful physical attackers, some of whom would give the set trouble, including Mega Heracross, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Mawile.
Whimsicott has been reliable throughout the sixth generation of Pokemon. Realizing I had an issue with stallers capable of boosting their own defenses such as Mega Slowbro and Deoxys-Defense, and in general looking for a reliable way of defeating boring old Choice attackers, I decided to employ it again here. In addition, many of Whimsicott's weaknesses — Grass-types, Fairy-type sound move attackers, for instance — are covered well by Talonflame.
Even with such a great degree of support, the Pirouetta was not working out, but I had come to love the aforementioned Talon-Whimsi synergy. I realized that another one of my old standbys, Bulky Mega Tyranitar, covered many of the same Pokemon Meloetta had been designed to take on, and more, including Pokemon like Dragon Dance Charizard X that trouble my other two Pokemon. The team was complete.
***
the team
and a whole lot of agonizing over EV spreads
Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite | Unnerve
252 HP / 84 Atk / 168 SpD / 4 Spe | Adamant
Stone Edge | Crunch | Taunt | Dragon Dance
What is there to say about Mega Tyranitar in 1v1 that I haven't already said? To reiterate: it is an incredibly effective counter for some of the most effective and common Pokemon in the 1v1 meta, including the ubiquitous Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, Deoxys-Defense (non-Taunt), Dragonite, Porygon-Z, Mega Slowbro, Togekiss, Magnezone, and Whimsicott. Taunt, as I'm sure you'll note by its dual presence on this team, is one of my favorite moves in 1v1 to shut down dumb boosters, FEAR strategies, etc. The other moves are self-explanatory.
The Special Defense is the key, allowing it to live any Hydro Cannon from Choice Specs Greninja, as well as random Focus Blasts from assorted special attackers. Perhaps the best part is that it's bulky enough to avoid losing to uncommon variants of many of the above Pokemon, like Weakness Policy Kyurem-B and bulky Mega Charizard X (hence the effectiveness of this Pokemon against classic RMTs like DEG's Hotel Books team). Unnerve is fun on the off chance you find yourself facing a berry-reliant Pokemon that it wouldn't be easier to beat with the sand-induced Special Defense boost (Custap Berry Magnezone is generally beatable in sand, for instance), but usually irrelevant.
Keep this away from anything with a physical Fighting-type move. Ground-types like Garchomp and Rhyperior are a problem too (for this team in general, as well...). Always pick this first against an opponent with a Greninja because this team looks like it loses automatically to Greninja. Also, Scald burns can be crippling.
replays: one (lame, I know. wait for the other Pokemon)
Talonflame @ Liechi Berry | Gale Wings
248 HP / 156 Atk / 104 Def | Impish
Will-O-Wisp | Brave Bird | Swords Dance | Roost
This bizarre set is a recent development, but it's carved out a place on my team in a role I often used to use Charm Togekiss for: Fighting-type killer (this helps Tyranitar considerably). Talonflame has the added bonus of defeating Mega Mawile (yes, even without Flare Blitz). It's able to successfully burn and stall out, with the assistance of Brave Bird, things like that, Kyurem-Black, Dragonite, and Mega Metagross. The EVs are for a +1 Mega Charizard X Outrage; most people don't expect to lose to Talonflame with Charizards, but if everything goes according to plan Talonflame can handle them pretty well, at least the first time around. Just avoid Ancient Power.
The Liechi Berry is one of the things I would be most willing to change on the team, but it has its uses, like netting KOs on bulky attackers that I might miss thanks to my low Attack, as well as providing a passive means of boosting while Roosting. You can Roost enough to get yourself below the 25% threshold and win with the boost. Give it a try!
Just avoid Rock-type attacks. They're not as common as one might think, but are a serious, serious problem, perhaps the most serious for this team, as I'll explain soon.
replays: one | two | three | four | five
Whimsicott @ Babiri Berry OR Occa Berry | Prankster
248 HP / 100 Def / 160 SpD | Calm OR 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD | Bold
Leech Seed | Protect | Substitute | Taunt
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
In all seriousness, Whimsicott is, has been, and always will be, one of my favorite 1v1 Pokemon. Its ability to have a virtually guaranteed victory over anything that can't kill it one hit, isn't Grass-type, and doesn't have a sound-based move has granted it a place on almost all of my best and favorite teams of the generation. On this team in particular, its principal responsibility is to beat pesky Mega Gyarados (one of my least favorite Pokemon, now and forever), Suicune, Mega Blastoise, and Manaphy (see a pattern?) as well as a variety of stallish things that I truly despise like Taunt Deoxys-Defense. I've found Taunt to be the most effective fourth move, even in a post-Perish Song metagame, that move being the original reason why I gave Whimsicott Taunt. It primarily helps against stuff with recovery.
The EV spreads might be suboptimal, I'm not entirely sure. I used to go with max/max on the physically defensive side before realizing I could catch people off guard with a more specially defensive spread. The given EVs allow Whimsicott to survive a Mega Charizard Y Air Slash, putting the foe in an untenable position if their only Fire-type attack is Blast Burn, as well as a regular Kyurem-Black Ice Beam and some other stuff like Togekiss' Air Slash.
They go well with Occa Berry because the combination effectively allows Whimsicott to lure out and kill any relevant Fire-type (bar non-Blast Burn Mega Charizard Y, which I detest). Babiri Berry is perhaps better suited for the second set of EVs, which make it significantly easier to defeat low-HP Mega Mawile. I don't think it matters which EVs are used on this team, since Talonflame and Mega Tyranitar cover both sets of things rather well, so I usually use the item slot for counterteaming. (Yache also works for Greninja, but I prefer to use Tyranitar to draw that out, and Kebia is an amusing gimmick if your opponent has a Landorus and you are absolutely sure they will use Sludge Wave.)
The synergy is excellent here. Grass-types like Mega Venusaur and Ferrothorn are typically taken out by Talonflame. Sound-move users of the Fairy-type persuasion fall to Talonflame typically as well, while Meloetta and Porygon-Z lose to Tyranitar. Mega Heracross loses to Talonflame. Cinccino can be annoying with Wake-Up Slap, but who uses that? In general, the other two members of the team make Whimsicott feel right at home.
replays: one | two | three
***
threatlist
publishing this means the end of my 1v1 career (just kidding but there is also a grain of truth to this joke)
I hate when people run Poison Jab on these stupid things. Typically, Talonflame can stall them out with Will-o-Wisp + Roost + an eventual Brave Bird, but not if they run Rock-type moves. Watch out.
I haven't seen this very often recently, which is probably why it didn't immediately come to mind, but yeah, the team probably loses to this given that it has Rock Blast to beat Whimsicott (and not just Rock Wrecker). If you see one of these, it would be best to switch Taunt to Cotton Guard on Whimsicott and try using that as a mediocre counterteam.
Chloe bested me with this delightful Pokemon. It gets taken out by Whimsicott without Bullet Punch or Talonflame without a Rock-type move, though, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I have never really adapted to the introduction of this Pokemon. Mega Tyranitar can usually deal with it, but the burn chance from Steam Eruption is a huge pain. Occa Berry Whimsicott can take on non-Sludge Wave variants.
Not a big fan of this Pokemon for obvious reasons.
Here's an incomplete list of things that the team is vulnerable to (e.g. two members lose to it) but not necessarily threatened by to the same degree as the other ones: Greninja, Mega Sableye, Mega Heracross, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Aggron, Mega Diancie
***
importable
a.k.a. cue for people to start running charti berry volcanion on the 1v1 ladder
Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 168 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance
Talonflame @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Atk / 104 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Brave Bird
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Whimsicott @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Substitute
- Taunt
***
final thoughts
more appropriately referred to as "protection in case people eviscerate this team in their replies"
I hope everyone enjoyed. This team is far from perfect — the Talonflame item and Whimsicott EV spread being examples of things I think might need fixing — so I would appreciate any feedback, though this might be the end of me playing 1v1 until the Sun/Moon metagame makes its debut. It's also very possible that, given how eager I was to get this out, I made some mistakes in saying what beats what and so on.
I don't typically share teams, but this seemed like a nice way to send off the generation. After all, when a Lugarugan with Fighting- and Poison-type moves meets this team, I think we can all pretty easily discern who will come out on top. No shoutouts for now as I feel like I just did those, but here's to a fun 1v1 metagame come Sun and Moon, and thanks for reading.
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