Ash Borer
I've heard they're short of room in hell
[SET]
Name: Offensive Trick Room
Move 1: Trick Room
Move 2: Fleur Cannon
Move 3: Flash Cannon
Move 4: Focus Blast / Aura Sphere
Item: Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
Nature: Quiet
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Trick Room is used as a pseudo-Agility, allowing Magearna to outspeed everything offensive in just one turn, though only temporarily. It can also act as team support for other slow teammates.
* Fleur Cannon in combination with Soul-Heart and Farium Z give Magearna a few ludicrously powerful attacks to throw around, and considering the short-lived nature of Trick Room, it has little practical drawbacks.
* Flash Cannon is a good secondary STAB move that does not suffer from Special Attack drops and gets a strong hit on some Poison-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoongus.
* Focus Blast is used to deal with various Steel-types like Ferrothorn, Magnezone, Skarmory, and Heatran.
* Aura Sphere may be used in Focus Blast's stead, but it requires your team to put a considerably higher amount of wear on its targets. This is a matter of weighing the miss chance against the chance of achieving the needed wear on the opponent's team.
* Thunderbolt is an option if you're running mono STAB on Magearna. It's used to deal serious damage to Toxapex, Celesteela, Skarmory, and Mega Charizard Y, which can otherwise be a problem.
* Shadow Ball is also a decent coverage option, letting Magearna be capable of getting past Mega Metagross, Jirachi, Alolan Marowak, and Bronzong without too much trouble.
Set Details
========
* 252 Special Attack EVs maximize damage output, which is obligatory for a sweeper.
* 252 HP EVs give Magearna some very nice bulk to play with and is one of the main perks of running Trick Room.
* The remaining 4 EVs are dumped into Defense, as the primary attack used to check Magearna is Earthquake.
* Fairium Z is the primary Z-crystal that Magearna will use, as it has by far the most power and works very well with Soul-Heart.
* Steelium Z is an option; Corkscrew Crash is not as strong as Twinkle Tackle, but it's still very powerful and lets Magearna run a coverage move instead of dual STAB without having to worry about Special Attack drops. It's particularly recommended if your team struggles against Flash Cannon's best targets; Amoongus and Venusaur.
* A Quiet nature is ideal to minimize Speed and move first in the Trick Room against nearly anything.
* Make sure to run 0 Speed IVs to underspeed 0 Speed Alolan Marowak.
Usage Tips
========
* This set is primarily a sweeper, saving Magearna's HP for the late-game and using the rest of the team to inflict crucial chip damage on the opponent's defensive checks is an effective tactic. If you intend to sweep with Magearna, avoid all damage until it is ready to set up.
* However, this set is a bit of a role compressor. Thanks to its HP investment and typing it does have some pretty good defensive utility. While it is poor teambuilding to rely on it as your sole switch-in to certain threats, in a pinch it's not a poor idea to use it defensively. Big threats like Tapu Lele, Hoopa-U, and Greninja can conceivably be checked or countered by Magearna.
* In the case that it cannot execute a successful sweep, Trick Room support is another card Magearna can play. Using Trick Room as fast offensive Magearna counters such as Mega Metagross and Volcarona switch in can swing momentum in your favor if you have strong slower attackers in the back.
Team Options
========
* Swords Dance Alolan Marowak is a very strong wallbreaker that benefits heavily from Trick Room support, and it takes care of Magearna's Mega Scizor weakness. While Magearna is not a support Pokemon, Alolan Marowak is a good attacker in its own right, and should you be able to give it a few turns in the Trick Room, it becomes an offensive team's worst nightmare.
* Magearna's late-game nature means that one of the most effective means of supporting it is softening up the opposing team with entry hazards. Greninja, Garchomp, Heatran, and Landorus-T are among the most consistent and effective entry hazard setters in the tier.
* General special attackers and wallbreakers that can pull in and put serious wear onto the opponent's specially defensive Pokemon are good partners. Hoopa-U, Greninja, Tapu Lele, Mega Charizard Y, and Choice Specs Pheromosa take on this role quite well.
* In particular Greninja is an effective partner to Magearna. With Extrasensory it can lure in and weaken or outright beat Toxapex, a large thorn in Magearna's side. Assault Vest Magearna is another answer to Greninja that troubles Trick Room Magearna. While Greninja's Hydro Pump won't exactly destroy opposing Magearna, it will put good wear into it that can prove sufficient later in the match. Greninja is also quite decent at drawing in Celesteela, and it can inflict massive damage with Low Kick. Finally, Greninja's offensive Spikes setting talents are very much appreciated for Magearna's late-game sweeping attempts.
* While Magearna does not necessarily belong on a full Trick Room team, this strategy is viable and it is right at home there. Bronzong is another good Trick Room user, as is Mimikyu. Strong slow attackers like Alolan Marowak and Tapu Bulu do the heavy lifting in this archetype.
* Defensive type redundancy is necessary in teambuilding if you intend to sweep with Magearna. You should only be forced to use Magearna defensively in a pinch, otherwise it won't be healthy enough to sweep. Good Steel-types that can be used to switch into the likes of Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and other strong attackers that Steel-types fair well against are good choices here. Metagross and Celesteela fill this niche well.
Name: Offensive Trick Room
Move 1: Trick Room
Move 2: Fleur Cannon
Move 3: Flash Cannon
Move 4: Focus Blast / Aura Sphere
Item: Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def
Nature: Quiet
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Trick Room is used as a pseudo-Agility, allowing Magearna to outspeed everything offensive in just one turn, though only temporarily. It can also act as team support for other slow teammates.
* Fleur Cannon in combination with Soul-Heart and Farium Z give Magearna a few ludicrously powerful attacks to throw around, and considering the short-lived nature of Trick Room, it has little practical drawbacks.
* Flash Cannon is a good secondary STAB move that does not suffer from Special Attack drops and gets a strong hit on some Poison-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoongus.
* Focus Blast is used to deal with various Steel-types like Ferrothorn, Magnezone, Skarmory, and Heatran.
* Aura Sphere may be used in Focus Blast's stead, but it requires your team to put a considerably higher amount of wear on its targets. This is a matter of weighing the miss chance against the chance of achieving the needed wear on the opponent's team.
* Thunderbolt is an option if you're running mono STAB on Magearna. It's used to deal serious damage to Toxapex, Celesteela, Skarmory, and Mega Charizard Y, which can otherwise be a problem.
* Shadow Ball is also a decent coverage option, letting Magearna be capable of getting past Mega Metagross, Jirachi, Alolan Marowak, and Bronzong without too much trouble.
Set Details
========
* 252 Special Attack EVs maximize damage output, which is obligatory for a sweeper.
* 252 HP EVs give Magearna some very nice bulk to play with and is one of the main perks of running Trick Room.
* The remaining 4 EVs are dumped into Defense, as the primary attack used to check Magearna is Earthquake.
* Fairium Z is the primary Z-crystal that Magearna will use, as it has by far the most power and works very well with Soul-Heart.
* Steelium Z is an option; Corkscrew Crash is not as strong as Twinkle Tackle, but it's still very powerful and lets Magearna run a coverage move instead of dual STAB without having to worry about Special Attack drops. It's particularly recommended if your team struggles against Flash Cannon's best targets; Amoongus and Venusaur.
* A Quiet nature is ideal to minimize Speed and move first in the Trick Room against nearly anything.
* Make sure to run 0 Speed IVs to underspeed 0 Speed Alolan Marowak.
Usage Tips
========
* This set is primarily a sweeper, saving Magearna's HP for the late-game and using the rest of the team to inflict crucial chip damage on the opponent's defensive checks is an effective tactic. If you intend to sweep with Magearna, avoid all damage until it is ready to set up.
* However, this set is a bit of a role compressor. Thanks to its HP investment and typing it does have some pretty good defensive utility. While it is poor teambuilding to rely on it as your sole switch-in to certain threats, in a pinch it's not a poor idea to use it defensively. Big threats like Tapu Lele, Hoopa-U, and Greninja can conceivably be checked or countered by Magearna.
* In the case that it cannot execute a successful sweep, Trick Room support is another card Magearna can play. Using Trick Room as fast offensive Magearna counters such as Mega Metagross and Volcarona switch in can swing momentum in your favor if you have strong slower attackers in the back.
Team Options
========
* Swords Dance Alolan Marowak is a very strong wallbreaker that benefits heavily from Trick Room support, and it takes care of Magearna's Mega Scizor weakness. While Magearna is not a support Pokemon, Alolan Marowak is a good attacker in its own right, and should you be able to give it a few turns in the Trick Room, it becomes an offensive team's worst nightmare.
* Magearna's late-game nature means that one of the most effective means of supporting it is softening up the opposing team with entry hazards. Greninja, Garchomp, Heatran, and Landorus-T are among the most consistent and effective entry hazard setters in the tier.
* General special attackers and wallbreakers that can pull in and put serious wear onto the opponent's specially defensive Pokemon are good partners. Hoopa-U, Greninja, Tapu Lele, Mega Charizard Y, and Choice Specs Pheromosa take on this role quite well.
* In particular Greninja is an effective partner to Magearna. With Extrasensory it can lure in and weaken or outright beat Toxapex, a large thorn in Magearna's side. Assault Vest Magearna is another answer to Greninja that troubles Trick Room Magearna. While Greninja's Hydro Pump won't exactly destroy opposing Magearna, it will put good wear into it that can prove sufficient later in the match. Greninja is also quite decent at drawing in Celesteela, and it can inflict massive damage with Low Kick. Finally, Greninja's offensive Spikes setting talents are very much appreciated for Magearna's late-game sweeping attempts.
* While Magearna does not necessarily belong on a full Trick Room team, this strategy is viable and it is right at home there. Bronzong is another good Trick Room user, as is Mimikyu. Strong slow attackers like Alolan Marowak and Tapu Bulu do the heavy lifting in this archetype.
* Defensive type redundancy is necessary in teambuilding if you intend to sweep with Magearna. You should only be forced to use Magearna defensively in a pinch, otherwise it won't be healthy enough to sweep. Good Steel-types that can be used to switch into the likes of Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and other strong attackers that Steel-types fair well against are good choices here. Metagross and Celesteela fill this niche well.
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