Hiya Everyone! ARandomPerson / ASnomPlaysShowdown / IndigoRewrite Here! I contribute a lot towards the VGC and MNM side formats of M4A, so in addition to the standard format, I'll be giving some insight and sets for those too! So, Let's Get Started!!!
Standard M4A: The Devilbeast Awakens
I was a participant in the M4a Premier League, on the team named the Sea Star Spirits Den, coached by BlueRay
(Also tied for the best win record let's go me). One of my teammates, JosJet, who I'm collabing with for this portion of the sub, Participated mostly in the format "Restricted", where 5 mega pokemon were randomly picked by a third party, and only those 5 megas could be used. During week 2 (I believe it was week 2), one of the megas was Clefable, which JosJet Chose. JosJet was up against Bolivia, and if
it weren't for some misplays, we would have won the match (and the week). The particular Clefable set used, Bolivia actually referenced in his Premier League experience post, describing it as " one of the most devastating and underexplored sets". Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you,
JetClef! (For Those of you Unaware
(haha clefable pun), Mega Clefable can be found here:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...telle-conkeldurr.3666825/page-14#post-8560501)
JetClef (Clefable) @ Clefabite
Ability: Magic Guard/Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cosmic Power
- Soft Boiled
- Nasty Plot / Stored Power
- Moonblast / Shadow Ball / Stored Power
Anyone remember the annoying Cosmic/Stored power Clefable Set? Well, this is that but on steroids and 4 Gallons of Energy Drink. I'll explain what makes this set so great. Firstly, The surprise factor. Clefable isn't as obvious of a mega as, lets say, Dhelmise or Bibarel, as clefable is an amazing mon even without a mega. This means you can bluff a different mega on team preview, causing your opponent to prioritize keeping checks for your bluffed mega alive over Clefable, who they'll assume is a standard pivot/wall. This particular bluffing strategy works best on balance or bulky offense, as stall would prefer using other megas, or at least other clefable sets, and regular clefable just looks odd on Hyper Offense. However, Surprise isn't everything to this set, like Linoone in gen 3 OU. Instead of free sweeps, clefable works as an amazing cleaner, akin to Pre-Nerf Mega Lycanroc Dusk, and sweeping is still an option, as prankster means you can set up on pokemon that would otherwise ko you. JosJet first ran the set with one attacking move, a choice between moonblast and shadow ball as stab, or stored power for more damage when set up, as well as ignoring blissey and unaware users, in exchange for needing heavy anti-dark support and less immediate damage. Your Pre-Mega Ability is Also a big decision, As magic guard means you're unaffected by hazards that could be detrimental to the sweep, and means you can actually set up or even sweep in non-mega form to take no damage from toxic. Unaware means you can switch in and set up on setup pokemon.
Stored power is the most linear move to pick, as dark types wall you completely, which also means you likely need more than one dark counter. Fully powered stored power can deal with other resists and blissey, aside from certain steel and ghost types that immediately threaten you. Shadow ball means you're also walled by dark types momentarily, but your main worry are normal types. fortunately, only Blissey/ Chansey, Diggersby and Mega Exploud are common in my experiences. Moonblast has no immunities, so it's just a matter of setting up to a point where you can't be threatened out. For stored power and shadow ball, Fighting types are going to be your top choice. Those include Keldeo, Terrakion, Urshifu-Rapid, Buzzwole and Kommoo. The tapus deal with darks well, however they stack types with clefable. Other, more specific checks for each common dark type may be used as well. Moonblast means that you're especially vulnerable to certain steels, such as Heatran, Magnezone, Kartana, Scizor, Aegislash and Mega Dhelmise. fighting types work here as well,, however ground must be mentioned, as they deal with annoying poison types such as toxapex, amoonguss, nidoqueen and mega, glowking, dragalge and mega, drapion and mega, and mega garbodor. However, something every version of this set is weak to is toxic, especially toxic from blissey and toxapex, as clefable doesn't immediately threaten them (another reason why fighting and ground types are great partners). Cleric support is appreciated if a sweep attempt is halted, but not manditory. This is most commonly filled by blissey, which also fits on stall and balance. Really though, you should only attempt to sweep with clefable when it's checks are eliminated.
Also, remember when I stated that it doesn't fit on Hyper Offense? Well, it definitely loses it's surprise factor, but it still rips teams apart regardless. Plus, the momentum-based nature of HO means you most likely won't have to worry about status, unless you really mess up, or you're against the most hardcore of hardcore stall. Screens HO is where it fits best IMO, as you can stomach more hits (even those from the likes of kartana!) and set up faster, and with the recent unbanning of deoxys speed, we might start seeing more clefables on Hyper Offense.
As a final note for this section, I recently thought of a version of the set where you drop nasty plot for another attacking move, namely moonblast, to pair with stored power to hit pesky darks. The tradeoff for the coverage is the fact that your stored power does much less damage since you aren't boosting your attacking stat, and as such may fail to ohko certain targets, allowing them to halt your sweep. You also lose the ability to threaten steels completely until you've set up stored powers.
Mix N' Mega M4A: A Glimpse into Insanity
Alright, so the Mix and Mega portion of M4a is still heavily under renovations. The meta is extremely powercrept compared to normal mnm, since the mega stones were specifically designed for certain pokemon to use, and can be extremely broken otherwise, such as lurantisite or meowsticite (Since some pokemon share a stone name, the format will only use the ones shown in the spreadsheet. Link to the spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...lC-3X_npmwLNn-HqjIn5tKcEw10/edit#gid=89278669 still a work in progress)
However, We do have a few consistent meta threats, so I'd like to highlight 3 sets in particular.
Firstly, The king of Atespeed:
Entei @ Typhlosionite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Double Edge / Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
So basically, 186 Atk stab extreme speed, and a meaty double edge too. What's even more surprising is that THIS IS CONSIDERED BALANCED . Without it, threats like Samurite Kartana, Inteleonite Dragapult, Garbodorite/Mimikyunite Jirachi, And almost every variant of scolipede and genesect (however, genesect runs flygonite with dgales for an opposing espeed counter, and while it doesn't outspeed immediately, after a shift gear there's almost nothing you can do aside from letting dgales run out.) Sawsbuckite and Dhelmite are used to coutneract it, and are quite good stones on their own, however their matchup against this set is a reason why Dhelmite is Rated so high, and why Sawsbuckite isn't outclassed. Defensive pokemon Like alolomola and to a lesser extext toxapex since it has earthquake are great checks,
Next, Zacian's Sister steps out of the shadows:
Zamazenta @ Kricketite
Ability: Dauntless Shield
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Play Rough
- Crunch
- Iron Head
Yeahhhhh this is pretty crazy. The same atk as kartana and higher speed than regieleki. Dauntless shield premega provides it with defensive utility, and it hits pretty much everything for a lot of damage, as it has more than enough coverage for everything. It's defensive checks include the next set on the list, as well as Mimikyunite (everything wants mimikyunite) Sylveon, Alomomola, Toxapex, Reuniclus, and Magearna, plus Sawsbuckite Jirachi. It's offensive checks include the previous Entei set as well as Inteleonite Dragapult, Variants of Scolipede, Bulky variants of Altarianite Toxtricity, Bibarelite Gyarados if not carrying wild charge, Trevenite Kommoo and Samurite Kartana.
Finally, A Taste of absolute Defensive Behemoth:
Alomomola @ Mimikyunite / Odd Keystone / Floatzelite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic / Calm Mind
yeah, uh, 165 / 145 / 90 Bulk with mimikyunite is Insane. It can support it's teammates with wish passing, giving everything a second shot at a sweep. Often used in one of my self-named "Deathwish" Cores with 2 wish passers supporting each other and the rest of the team. Even then, ff mimikyunite is taken, it can viably run Odd keystone, Garbodorite or Floatzelite as well, the latter of which supports Typhlosionite Entei greatly, and slows down a rising new threat, shell smash dhelmite blastoise. Calm mind allows it to sweep and makes it unkillable of the special side, and toxic provides reliable damage against pokemon that aren't immune. Setup sweepers that are immune to toxic are this pokemon's biggest problem, which include latiasite magearna and Cosmic power/ Calm mind Jirachi.
M4A VGC: New Contenders
After the recent Kalos Dex Tournament and numerous games between me and BlueRay (greentastic) testing different megas:
I've come to report on 3 Different Megas, As well as suggesting tiers for pokemon I have tested.
Gumshoos-Mega > Suggested Tier: C (Too specially frail, prone to intimidate, outclassed by Durant)
Nidoqueen-Mega > Suggested Tier: B (Hates Intimidate, Rain, Hail and Mega Slowking. However, Almost perfect coverage for the meta, Winning matchup versus Mega Dhelmise itself, Can deal with almost every physical attacker, Body press can be very powerful.)
Zapdos-Galar > Suggested Rerank: C --> B+ (Deters Intimidators, Packs Taunt for TR setters, quick guard for priority such as fake out or grassy glide. Can run many items, Such as focus sash, life orb, or a z crystal.)
Murkrow > Suggested Tier: A- (Amazing Support Pokemon, prankster tailwind, prankster quash, new addition of parting shot, foul play hits a surprising amount of opponents well, reliable recovery, taunt for opposing tr/screens/wind, plus same tier as comfey.)
Rotom-Wash > Suggested Tier: A- (One of the only pokemon to resist Ice/Water/Ground, as such does amazing against Glastrier Slowking duo. Many support options including ally switch, will o wisp, eerie impulse and helping hand, as well as nasty plot for sweeping. Loses to almost every grass and dragon)
Gigalith Mega > Suggested Tier: A+ (With the addition of TR, sun teams are much more viable, and gigalith is the reason for that. Dominates Glastrier and Incineroar, Has earth power for rock resists, torkoal hits everything else hard, and venu deals with waters and sand)
Torkoal and Venu should both rise to B+ In relation to Gigalith.
Whimsicott should drop to A-, in lieu of it's other support pokemon. It hasn't been seeing much usage, and the meta is quite hostile to it with the abundance of glastrier, mega dhelmise, mega aurorus, aegislash, amoonguss and kartana right now.
Alright, Now for the 3 megas I want to report on in a more detailed fashion. First up:
Mega Falinks is an amazing attacker with many viable sets on both sides of the attacking spectrum. Steel/Fighting coverage is great, and Fighting pairs well with ghost pokemon like spectrier for perfect neutral coverage, and to deal with the likes to mega dhelm, Chandelure and it's mega, and aegislash. It has access to defiant pre mega to deter intimidators like incineroar, which also threaten spectrier. It's setup options are numerous, including no retreat, swords dance and bulk up. It's form changing means it can be used semi-effectively in trick room as well, but also gives your opponent a means to play around falinks. It fits well with the afformentioned ghost types, as well as incneroar and rotom-w. Overall a solid
A tier mega.
Next, we have Mega Lycanroc Midnight, which just shreds everything not super bulky or a fighting type with stab reckless 155 atk head smash, god forbid you get a swords dance up. It's dark stab lets it effectively deal with metagross, aegislash and mega dhelm. it also has access to sucker punch, which is extremely powerful priority and can help vs mega slowking since tr gets set up. However, you're weak to almost every relevant type and not super bulky like tyranitar. In particular to fightings, fairies, waters and grasses. Examples of common pokemon include Tapu Fini, Urshifu, Rillaboom, Kartana and rain abusers not named zapdos. Also, Intimidate really cuts down your maximum damage output. As such, partners may include Zapdos-G (best offensive partner), Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, Rillaboom, Comfey (which also has healing to offset head smash recoil), Regieleki, Tapu koko and Zapdos. It's burst damage cannot be ignored, and as such I rate it
A-.
Finally, me and Blue have decided to
Rerank Mega Rillaboom to A+. After some tester games, With redirection support, it does insanely well against many teams and archetypes. Hail seems to be it's worst matchup, however this can be fixed with the addition of a steel type, such as heatran or aegislash, the latter which has wide guard to protect against spread moves. Since it has a negative matchup against incineroar and glastrier, redirectors such as blastoise or starmie (since it gets follow me) are preferred. To further deter intimidators, Zapdos-G may be used, and it's coverage partners well with rilla, able to deal with opposing grass types such as venusaur and kartana. Rillaboom functions well under screens, so regieleki ro tapu koko may be good partners too, as they also deal with galarian moltres. Finally, a trick room mode may be nice, as Glastrier's ice stab deals with annoying flying and grass types, while rillaboom still spams it's best move without drawbacks.
Aaaand that's all, folks! This was the longer post I've made so far, and this took me a few hours to make. I wish everyone who reads this a great day/night, and I hope this is a good Kickstarter to the discussion phase!