MAGNUS MAG NUSS
hello everyone and welcome to my RMT. i always liked lurking in this section, whether it was to collect some team building ideas or just to have a nice read, so i would love to have this section as active as it used to be, even if the team sharing culture on smogon changed.
after missing most of SM and not caring much about SS, i found fun in playing mons again, and i was looking for a team to not just spam on the ladder, but to get back with into the current metagame too. while it doesn't mean as much as it used to, the team was the main reason why my friend peaked on the ladder, on top off that i saw some success in early rounds of smogon tour, which means the team can't be too bad.
here's a classic tune and a favorite song of mine, and without further ado let's get to the main part, the team
a detailed building-process wouldn't make too much sense as i tried many ideas before i finally got comfortable with something. it was important for me to not end up with something passive, i wanted to avoid the standard ss ou pex + clef core, even if it might be the best thing to use right now.
this was one of the first squad i experienced around with, featuring a block tyranitar to get rid of toxapex for safeguard volcarona. while ttar indeed trapped pex, it wouldn't do too much in other matchups and i was looking for more offensive pressure, so i added urshifu-rapid-strike, as it was a good fit and it’s pretty good
CLOSER LOOK
@ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- U-turn
- Knock Off
a ridiculous strong pokemon which just easily breaks teams down. pretty self explanatory set, the few checks rillaboom actually has usually don't wanna switch into knock off, while skarmory / corviknight always have to be aware of a possible zone switch-in. vs offense a late game grassy glide sweep is often a possibility, checks like rotom-heat and dragapult can usually worn down pretty easily. u-turn allows rillaboom to get momentum easily, and get dragapult or urshifu for free in usually. 180 spd on rillaboom to outspeed modest toxtricity, some people prefer more speed but most of the time you just click grassy glide which has priority anyway. max attack adamant to be as strong as possible.
@ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- U-turn
another physical breaker w/ urshifu-rapid-strike. really not used often enough outside of rain, but urshifu is a really good partner for rillaboom as they have similar checks in bulky grass types, who don't like to come into rocks + uturn either. as it is natural to expect surging strikes most people forget how strong close combat is. okhoing opposing rillaboom from full. 2hkoing full phy def tangrowth. it is annoying how common rocky helmet is in the current but it is not the end of the world as you can usually knock them before. a jolly nature is an option here, as it helps with specs kyurem, which is otherwise a big threat, but i chose to go with power again here.
@ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
there's a reason why clefable is the best mon in the metagame right now. whether it's dragapult, urshifu, zerora or alakazam etc you can throw clefable in almost everything. clefable provides paralysis, can set rocks and wait for the right opportunity to bring a breaker back in. it would be nice to have teleport on clef, but thunder wave is too important against offensive teams to leave it out. in most of the games it's important to keep clefable as healthy as possible but you don't want to play too passive too.
@ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Def / 168 SpA / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Body Press
- Thunderbolt
- Iron Defense
magnezone, or MAGNUS, is amazing. too often the mvp in the team, even if this set is quite known now, many teams are still not prepared against it. you get a sub quite easy against defensive teams and the chances against reuniclus / clefable with full paras aren't too bad either. zone synergizes quite well with grassy terrain too, as excadrill can't kill you on +2 under terrain. hippowdon being a full counter to zone is annoying however. 88 speed to outspeed corviknight and skarmory, and full def bold to make body press as strong as possible. if you haven't used this set, you've missed out. it's fun to play with too.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Quiver Dance
- Safeguard
- Roost
bulky volcarona with enough speed to outspeed alakazam at +1. volcarona serves as a grass check, makes clefable a little bit less annoying, and is another win-con. nowadays many teams are prepared for safeguard volcarona, so another move might be used as well. whether that's psychic, toxic or even defog, as hazard stack can be annoying although it barely is still a thing. although i hate boots they are too good not to use especially on a mon like volc. flame body being quite reliable with a 30% burn chance is nice too, as many people click u-turn mindlessly.
@ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave
- Draco Meteor
as the team is pretty slow, dragapult is an important part of the team at the offensive and defensive side. will-o-wisp cripples excadrill, as well as other annoying things like hippowdon and mandibuzz for example. double status is needed to para volcarona, clefable and zam for example, as they'd be big threats otherwise. hex is standard, makes it hard for clefable to switch in once it's parad as it can't really risk a para. pult is still an offensive threat with 252 spatk and a modest nature, and you can suprise a rotom-heat or even an urshifu, who often like to think they can come in freely.
threatlist:
- well, specs kyurem is a problem. keep rocks up, urshifu forces it out and pult can threaten it too.
- this team has no ghost resist, so specs dragapult can click shadow ball freely. again you can play around it but it isn't easy.
- comes into rillaboom and urshifu, knock it, try to catch it with a close combat, very annoying.
replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521304 - good showcase how to use the team in stour
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521246 - not prepared vs urshifu-rapid-strike and zone in stour
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521712 - vs stall matchup in stour, lol
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521768 - leru for german pl, got a bit lucky there against zarude
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200612536-dwpmlb0zmsqv32pdpdo87uh6ha6zl5upw - hit #1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200602404-kro41kgtdy3vxy9a18l2h2a8m3j0x1wpw - rain matchup
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200578302-nzxbm6ug5ai37603il32imcq5uqi1m3pw - ladder
conclusion
over the years i forgot how much fun i had with this game and how much fun this game still can be, if you're not too stressful about it. shoutout to my people for making the time here good, and thank you for reading this, because it's way too long.
shoutouts to gang
patlop2307 Liones Lord_Enz Leru Stay Modal Mazar Zuchtrest Padox AdvanceShip come back baby Freestylerking u 2 oreokekse squinn :)
bonus
hello everyone and welcome to my RMT. i always liked lurking in this section, whether it was to collect some team building ideas or just to have a nice read, so i would love to have this section as active as it used to be, even if the team sharing culture on smogon changed.
after missing most of SM and not caring much about SS, i found fun in playing mons again, and i was looking for a team to not just spam on the ladder, but to get back with into the current metagame too. while it doesn't mean as much as it used to, the team was the main reason why my friend peaked on the ladder, on top off that i saw some success in early rounds of smogon tour, which means the team can't be too bad.
here's a classic tune and a favorite song of mine, and without further ado let's get to the main part, the team
a detailed building-process wouldn't make too much sense as i tried many ideas before i finally got comfortable with something. it was important for me to not end up with something passive, i wanted to avoid the standard ss ou pex + clef core, even if it might be the best thing to use right now.
this was one of the first squad i experienced around with, featuring a block tyranitar to get rid of toxapex for safeguard volcarona. while ttar indeed trapped pex, it wouldn't do too much in other matchups and i was looking for more offensive pressure, so i added urshifu-rapid-strike, as it was a good fit and it’s pretty good
CLOSER LOOK
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- U-turn
- Knock Off
a ridiculous strong pokemon which just easily breaks teams down. pretty self explanatory set, the few checks rillaboom actually has usually don't wanna switch into knock off, while skarmory / corviknight always have to be aware of a possible zone switch-in. vs offense a late game grassy glide sweep is often a possibility, checks like rotom-heat and dragapult can usually worn down pretty easily. u-turn allows rillaboom to get momentum easily, and get dragapult or urshifu for free in usually. 180 spd on rillaboom to outspeed modest toxtricity, some people prefer more speed but most of the time you just click grassy glide which has priority anyway. max attack adamant to be as strong as possible.
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- U-turn
another physical breaker w/ urshifu-rapid-strike. really not used often enough outside of rain, but urshifu is a really good partner for rillaboom as they have similar checks in bulky grass types, who don't like to come into rocks + uturn either. as it is natural to expect surging strikes most people forget how strong close combat is. okhoing opposing rillaboom from full. 2hkoing full phy def tangrowth. it is annoying how common rocky helmet is in the current but it is not the end of the world as you can usually knock them before. a jolly nature is an option here, as it helps with specs kyurem, which is otherwise a big threat, but i chose to go with power again here.
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Soft-Boiled
there's a reason why clefable is the best mon in the metagame right now. whether it's dragapult, urshifu, zerora or alakazam etc you can throw clefable in almost everything. clefable provides paralysis, can set rocks and wait for the right opportunity to bring a breaker back in. it would be nice to have teleport on clef, but thunder wave is too important against offensive teams to leave it out. in most of the games it's important to keep clefable as healthy as possible but you don't want to play too passive too.
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Def / 168 SpA / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Body Press
- Thunderbolt
- Iron Defense
magnezone, or MAGNUS, is amazing. too often the mvp in the team, even if this set is quite known now, many teams are still not prepared against it. you get a sub quite easy against defensive teams and the chances against reuniclus / clefable with full paras aren't too bad either. zone synergizes quite well with grassy terrain too, as excadrill can't kill you on +2 under terrain. hippowdon being a full counter to zone is annoying however. 88 speed to outspeed corviknight and skarmory, and full def bold to make body press as strong as possible. if you haven't used this set, you've missed out. it's fun to play with too.
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Quiver Dance
- Safeguard
- Roost
bulky volcarona with enough speed to outspeed alakazam at +1. volcarona serves as a grass check, makes clefable a little bit less annoying, and is another win-con. nowadays many teams are prepared for safeguard volcarona, so another move might be used as well. whether that's psychic, toxic or even defog, as hazard stack can be annoying although it barely is still a thing. although i hate boots they are too good not to use especially on a mon like volc. flame body being quite reliable with a 30% burn chance is nice too, as many people click u-turn mindlessly.
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave
- Draco Meteor
as the team is pretty slow, dragapult is an important part of the team at the offensive and defensive side. will-o-wisp cripples excadrill, as well as other annoying things like hippowdon and mandibuzz for example. double status is needed to para volcarona, clefable and zam for example, as they'd be big threats otherwise. hex is standard, makes it hard for clefable to switch in once it's parad as it can't really risk a para. pult is still an offensive threat with 252 spatk and a modest nature, and you can suprise a rotom-heat or even an urshifu, who often like to think they can come in freely.
threatlist:
replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521304 - good showcase how to use the team in stour
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521246 - not prepared vs urshifu-rapid-strike and zone in stour
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521712 - vs stall matchup in stour, lol
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-521768 - leru for german pl, got a bit lucky there against zarude
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200612536-dwpmlb0zmsqv32pdpdo87uh6ha6zl5upw - hit #1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200602404-kro41kgtdy3vxy9a18l2h2a8m3j0x1wpw - rain matchup
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1200578302-nzxbm6ug5ai37603il32imcq5uqi1m3pw - ladder
conclusion
over the years i forgot how much fun i had with this game and how much fun this game still can be, if you're not too stressful about it. shoutout to my people for making the time here good, and thank you for reading this, because it's way too long.
shoutouts to gang
patlop2307 Liones Lord_Enz Leru Stay Modal Mazar Zuchtrest Padox AdvanceShip come back baby Freestylerking u 2 oreokekse squinn :)
bonus