[Metagame] Shitmons

[gvmgvm40]

Banner by gvmgvm40. Graphic design is my passion!



While browsing Smogon dot com on a depressing Monday night, I came upon a haunting realization: almost all major Smogon dot com subforums have their own metagame. OverUsed has OU, UnderUsed has UU, Ubers has Ubers, Create-A-Pokemon Project has CAP, Battle-by-Post has Battle-by-Post, etc. And yet, my favorite subforum, Smogoff, has no metagame to call its own! And who else might be a more worthy user to fill this lacuna than yours truly, an esteemed Smogoff poster and a successful tournament player (2021 THUNDERDOME finalist, described by the mighty xzern as “…lives and breathes the ideals of the thunderdome. constantly seeking out strong opponents, striking fear into those matched against him, and feasting on the rotting corpses of his foes…”)? And so, I took upon myself to create an authentic Smogoff metagame, studying the blade day and night in pursuit of a Pokemon format worthy of this subforum.

The breakthrough in my efforts came when I realized what all other boring metagames have in common, and what we can do in Smogoff for a truly authentic and enjoyable metagame. All other metagames run the same old boring moves: elemental moves like Surf/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Flamethrower, strong physical moves like EQ/Stone Edge/Brick Break, as well as universal TM moves like Substitute/Protect/Toxic/Return. What to make of this then?

As a red-blooded American poem has it: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” What else is Smogoff if not the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of Smogon dot com? And is not a metagame truly worthy of this subforum of liberty one that embraces the tired, the poor and the tempest-tossed of all other metagames, in other words, Pokemon belittled and tossed aside because they don’t learn all the shiny TM moves all others do? Just like how America the beautiful embraced the wretched and the downtrodden of the Old World, we in Smogoff can embrace the wretched and the downtrodden of conventional metagames and create a dynamic metagame putting their potential to full use!

Putting my careful thought into action, I decided to compile a list of Pokemon that don’t learn universal TMs. There are a total of 24 unique Pokemon that fulfill such criteria - 53 if we include the Unown and Burmy forms. Excluding Smeargle, Wynaut and Wobbuffet for obvious reasons, and counting all Burmy and Unown as one, this gives us 21 Pokemon to work with. Here is a comprehensive list of Pokemon allowed in the Shitmons metagame, along with their base stats, typings, abilities and full movepools:

*The underlined moves are Gen 1 and 2 event moves for Magikarp. To allow Magikarp to unleash its full potential, they will be allowed in this metagame.

Now, without further ado, let us have a look at the premier threats of the Shitmons metagame! Prospective viability tier list:

Beldum is one of the metagame-defining Pokemon in Shitmons. With amazing 40/80/60 defenses backed up by plenty of resistances, it can be a blanket check for most of the metagame. Furthermore, 55 base attack is functionally the highest in the metagame (tied with Tynamo), and Beldum has two great STAB moves to put it to full use. However, not everything is spotless for Beldum. The greatest nemesis of Beldum is opposing Beldum, as Beldum resists all its offensive moves. Furthermore, with no recovery, Beldum is prone to getting worn down through the course of the game. Its Psychic typing is especially worrying, as Beldum does not resist Bug in a metagame dominated by Bug types. The high power level of the metagame, with attacks such as Hustle-boosted Bug Bites from Combee, Specs Hydro Pumps from Magikarp and Draco Meteors from Applin, limit its repeated switch-in opportunities despite its bulk. In its item choice, Beldum has to choose between power (Choice Band), speed (Choice Scarf), bulk (Eviolite) or long-term survivability (Leftovers), and no matter which item it chooses, it will miss the other ones. Nonetheless, Beldum is a dominant force in the metagame, and it looks like one of the key paths to victory will be wearing down the opposing Beldum while keeping your own healthy for a victorious end-game.

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a Combee should bee able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The Combee, of course, flies anyway, because Combees don't care what humans think is impossible.

Since its inception in Gen 4, Combee has always been pushed aside, made fun of and discriminated against. Despite beeing a fully-evolved Pokemon on its own right, male Combee is to my knowledge the only fully-evolved Pokemon that has never gotten a Smogon analysis, laying bare the melissophobia of Smogon leadership. Not anymore! Shitmons provides an ideal environment for Combee, where it can bee one of the dominant threats in the metagame. With a total of 14 moves, Combee has the widest movepool in the Shitmons metagame, giving it plenty of offensive and support options. Its dual stabs, Bug and Flying, are unresisted in the metagame. With 70 base speed, it is the second-fastest Pokemon after the fearsome Magikarp. Its balanced offensive stats allow it to bee both a physical, special and mixed attacker, and it does all three exceptionally well. Hustle-boosted Bug Bites sting everything in the metagame, and Dual Wingbeat deserves a mention for beeing the only multi-hit move to break Focus Sashes. Its special sets trade raw power for reliable accuracy with Bug Buzz and Air Cutter, and it also gets Ominous Wind to hit Beldum marginally harder and fish for buzzsts. If this is not enough, Tailwind and a fast Endeavor can bee great support options for your team. One thing is certain: unless you prepare well and play carefully, you risk beeing swarmed by this terrifying beast! And if you use your own Combee well, victory will bee as sweet as honey.

Magikarp is another oft-denigrated Pokemon that finds its home in the Shitmons metagame. With blustering 80 base speed and STAB Hydro Pump in a metagame characterized by the lack of high-powered moves, Magikarp is a menace. Do not be fooled by its 15 base SpAtk: Choice Specs Magikarp always OHKOs 4/0 Combee, and threatens to 2HKO all but the most specially defensive Beldum sets if it foregoes Eviolite. It is only the low PP and shaky accuracy of Hydro Pump, plus the existence of Applin, that keeps Magikarp from being broken. Even after running out of Hydro Pump PP, Magikarp keeps its utility: Dragon Rage allows it to finish off weakened enemies and chip opposing Pokemon, and in a metagame where status moves are rare to come by, threatening paralysis with Bounce can be a gamechanger. Underestimate Magikarp at your own peril!

Despite getting only 4 useful moves, Tynamo is a metagame staple and a versatile beast. Tynamo combines a typing with no weaknesses, decent bulk, dazzling 60 base speed (third highest in the metagame after Magikarp and Combee), one of the few reliable status moves in the metagame, the ability to set up, and hitting hard from both sides of the spectrum. STAB Spark from 55 base attack petrifies most of the metagame, while Charge Beam is the only offensive boosting move in the metagame and allows Tynamo to quickly snowball out of control if not quickly checked. The dilemma Tynamo finds itself in is similar to Beldum: in its EV spread and item choice, it has to choose between bulk, speed, power and recovery, and no matter what it foregoes, it will not play as successfully as it wants to. Similar to Beldum, Tynamo is also checked by itself. But unlike Beldum, Tynamo faces another insurmountable obstacle – Applin.

As an ancient Galar proverb goes: an Applin a day, keeps the Tynamo and Magikarp away. By virtue of its unique Grass/Dragon typing, Applin checks two of the most fearsome attackers in the metagame. But defensive utility is not the only thing Applin brings to the table: its STAB Specs Draco Meteor is the strongest special move in the metagame, reducing everything not called Beldum to cider and pulp. Applin is also the only Pokemon that can incapacitate enemies with Attract, and has the only priority move in the metagame with Sucker Punch. It can also run berry sets with Gluttony/Ripen and Recycle. Being the slowest usable Pokemon in the metagame, coupled with exploitable Bug and Flying weaknesses and a hard check in Beldum, keeps it from being overwhelming. Nonetheless, with a well-played Applin, you can worm your way to victory in no time!

Much belittled and made fun of for generations, Unown finds a loving home in Shitmons. With solid 48/48/48 bulk, the highest SpAtk in the metagame and customizable coverage (a rarity in the metagame), Unown is a solid pick. Choice Scarf Unown outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame, making it a great revenge-killer and cleaner, patching any weaknesses your team might have. On the other hand, Choice Specs has serious wallbreaking power, OHKO/2HKOing most of the metagame with the appropriate Hidden Power. HP Psychic enjoys STAB, but HP Fire seems to be the ideal choice for most teams, incinerating Beldum and the Bug types. HP Ice is another alternative, disposing of Applin while still killing Combee, with the downside of being walled by Beldum. Finally, HP Ghost/Dark allow it to hit Beldum while giving it a great match-up against opposing Unown. Do not doubt Unown: the wisdom of the ancients will bring you success and glory.

Blipbug is an interesting Pokemon. On one hand, its stats are absolutely abysmal even for Shitmons. On the other hand, it has the only entry hazard in the metagame (Sticky Web), the only trapping move (Infestation), the only confusion move (Supersonic), and more importantly the only reliable recovery move (Recover). Can bulky Eviolite Blipbug with Infestation + Recover be an effective trapper despite its low stats, disposing of opposing walls? Is it worth running Sash (or even Scarf) Blipbug as a suicide lead? How effective are webs as an entry hazard in Shitmons? Try it out and let us know!

Eat your heart out, Kakuna: Spewpa is the cocoon of choice in Shitmons. 45/60 physical bulk is very solid, and Spewpa can take advantage of multiple support options to pull its weight. It has access to the elusive Protect, making Protect + Leftovers a worthwhile option for recovery and scouting. Iron Defense, coupled with Leftovers + Protect, allows it to hard wall opposing physical attackers barring unlucky critical hits. Spewpa’s Poison Powder is one of the two guaranteed poison moves in the metagame (along with its pre-evo Scatterbug), and double powder sets are very good in crippling the opposing team. While Spewpa doesn’t have the immediate power of the “Big 6” (Beldum, Combee, Magikarp, Tynamo, Applin, Unown), a well-played Spewpa can throw your opponent off-balance and pull off its weight.

Cosmoem is another interesting pick. On one hand, with 43/131/131 bulk plus Eviolite, it just doesn’t take damage from anything (except maybe CB/Specs Combee). It can switch into everything countless times and pivot out with a slow Teleport, gaining momentum back at any point and allow you to bring your checks in without getting chipped. In a metagame where recovery is scant and there’s a strong trade-off between bulk from Eviolite and longevity from Leftovers, this is a potentially valuable niche. On the other hand, it cannot actually do anything itself. If you’re a horrible person you can run Leftovers Cosmoem with Cosmic Power as a last mon wincon I guess.

Ditto is what Ditto always does. Normally Ditto is useful for scouting opponents’ movesets, but since Pokemon in Shitmons don’t really have particularly great movepools, its utility remains limited in this regard. I guess you can scout whether Combee is special or physical, threaten to revenge-kill Combee and Applin with a Scarf set, set up your own Webs against Blipbug or use it to double up on Beldum and Tynamo checks?

I’m putting these together, since they play similarly as Bug Biters. While these are all outclassed by Combee, they are useful to chip and overload Combee’s checks, especially non-Leftovers Beldum. Wurmple is the strongest with 45 base Attack, while Weedle is the fastest with 50 base Speed. Both of these can also threaten to poison non-steels with Poison Sting. Scatterbug combines decent offensive pressure off 35 Attack with double powder, but is outclassed by Weedle otherwise. Caterpie combines decent bulk and speed, but has the lowest attack and no niches that differentiate it from the other three. It looks to me like Wurmple and Weedle are tied for the best choices, with Scatterbug coming third and Caterpie at a distant fourth, but maybe the bright minds of Smogoff will have other judgements!

Burmy isn’t too bad, but it seems outclassed by Spewpa. Just like Spewpa, it is a defensive Bug type with Protect for recovery and scouting. Spewpa has notably better physical bulk (45/60 vs 40/45), double powder to make up for its passivity and Iron Defense to 1v1 Bug Biters and non-Steel Beam Beldum, while Burmy has marginally better special bulk (40/45 vs 45/30) and Hidden Power to specialize its coverage off an otherwise mediocre uninvested 29 base SpAtk. While your team’s needs will determine which bulky Bug you prefer, Spewpa seems more useful overall.

Kricketot looks even more outclassed as a defensive Bug. Since it doesn’t have Protect, it cannot use Leftovers effectively. It gets Growl, Struggle Bug and Mud Slap as stopgap measures, and Bide or Endeavor might be sort of funny when it works, but probably not worth it.

These are really bad, even by Shitmons standards. Sorry, The Great Kakuna Man :(



Finally, for reference, here are the relevant speed tiers in Shitmons:

Speed	Pokemon	EV, IV, nature	Stat boost
357​	Combee	252​	+1
327​	Tynamo	252​	+1
321​	Unown	252+	+1
309​	Blipbug	252+	+1
292​	Unown	252​	+1
284​	Magikarp	252+
282​	Blipbug	252​	+1
262​	Combee	252+
261​	Beldum	252+	+1
259​	Magikarp	252​
240​	Tynamo	252+
239​	Combee	252​
237​	Beldum	252​	+1
228​	Wurmple/Applin	252+	+1
219​	Tynamo	252​
218​	Weedle	252+
214​	Unown	252+
207​	Caterpie/Blipbug	252+
207​	Wurmple/Applin	252​	+1
199​	Weedle	252​
195​	Unown	252​
189​	Caterpie/Blipbug	252​
185​	Scatterbug	252+
174​	Beldum	252+
169​	Scatterbug	252​
163​	Kricketot	252+
159​	Beldum	252​
156​	Tynamo	0​
152​	Wurmple/Applin	252+
149​	Kricketot	252​
139​	Wurmple/Applin	252​
132​	Unown	0​
126​	Caterpie/Blipbug	0​
108​	Burmy	0​
106​	Scatterbug	0​
96​	Beldum	0​
94​	Spewpa	0​
86​	Kricketot	0​
76​	Wurmple/Applin	0​
71​	Cosmoem	0, 0IV

Feel free to discuss this brand-new metagame, and post sets, replays and unfunny one-liners now. I hope you enjoy Shitmons as a metagame!



-gvmgvm40, creator of Shitmons, esteemed Smogoff poster and 2021 THUNDERDOME finalist

 

[xzern]

im a caterpie main. ama

 

[Voltage]

im a caterpie main. ama

can you do my taxes please?

 

[Adeleine]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/attention-male-combee.3547902/

 

[Low-Key]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/attention-male-combee.3547902/

good statement

but what about ledyba

 

[faint]

glad some light is being shed upon this metagame instead of garbage ones like PU. recently, i have been having a lot of fun with gluttony + recycle applin. it has great defensive synergy alongside tynamo and beldum, and nothing wants to come in on a dmeteor off of its disgusting base 40 satk. priority sucker punch is also great to pick off weak beldums and other bugs in the late game.

Applin @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 96 Def / 28 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Draco Meteor
- Sucker Punch
- Recycle

on lower ladder, i have seen some folks toying with a similar set but with defense curl + rollout as its primary attacks. while i get where they're coming from (rock is a great type in shitmons), applin just lacks the speed to effectively spam rollout and will find itself worn down by bug bite spam teams even with a couple defense boosts.

 

[LordThemberchaud]

Can anyone tell me where I could play Shitmons?

 

[sb879]

*The underlined moves are Gen 1 and 2 event moves for Magikarp. To allow Magikarp to unleash its full potential, they will be allowed in this metagame.

This is blatant favoritism for what's already a meta-defining mon. Yeah, why don't we just have Unown send all the other mons to another dimension cause it does in Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown: Entei, a Pokemon property just as relevant to a modern game as a Gen 2 event move. Utterly ridiculous.

 

[Low-Key]

add feebas you utter being

 

[xzern]

 

[xzern]

playtested this metagame. combee and beldum are easily the strongest guys.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351540852 xz vs phoops
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351543393 faint vs az
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351547486 xz vs city
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351553120 city vs faint

expect a meta review soon.

 

[faint]

Currently in a call with cityscapes, phoopes, az, and xzern and we are calling for the following -

Magikarp: A to B
Blipbug: B to A
Weedle: B to C
Wurmple: B to C
Cosmoem: B to C

Scarf Tailwind Combee is pretty broken but ultimately we would recommend you evolve all of these Pokemon to their final forms.

 

[az]

Currently in a call with cityscapes, phoopes, az, and xzern and we are calling for the following -

Magikarp: A to B
Blipbug: B to A
Weedle: B to C
Wurmple: B to C
Cosmoem: B to C

Scarf Tailwind Combee is pretty broken but ultimately we would recommend you evolve all of these Pokemon to their final forms.

 

[gvmgvm40]

glad some light is being shed upon this metagame instead of garbage ones like PU. recently, i have been having a lot of fun with gluttony + recycle applin. it has great defensive synergy alongside tynamo and beldum, and nothing wants to come in on a dmeteor off of its disgusting base 40 satk. priority sucker punch is also great to pick off weak beldums and other bugs in the late game.

Applin @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 96 Def / 28 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Draco Meteor
- Sucker Punch
- Recycle

on lower ladder, i have seen some folks toying with a similar set but with defense curl + rollout as its primary attacks. while i get where they're coming from (rock is a great type in shitmons), applin just lacks the speed to effectively spam rollout and will find itself worn down by bug bite spam teams even with a couple defense boosts.

thank you faint. what do you think about astonish? iron defense beldum has a good matchup against sucker punch applin, so astonish might be a more reliable way of getting damage on beldum. worth trying out imo. if you're using physical applin, is it worth dropping draco meteor?

Can anyone tell me where I could play Shitmons?

maybe someone should create a room where people can ask for battles......

This is blatant favoritism for what's already a meta-defining mon. Yeah, why don't we just have Unown send all the other mons to another dimension cause it does in Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown: Entei, a Pokemon property just as relevant to a modern game as a Gen 2 event move. Utterly ridiculous.

does unown learn "send all the other mons to another dimension" through an official nintendo event? no? yeah I thought so

add feebas you utter being

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Feebas_(Pokémon)#By_TM.2FTR

no

playtested this metagame. combee and beldum are easily the strongest guys.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351540852 xz vs phoops
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351543393 faint vs az
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351547486 xz vs city
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1351553120 city vs faint

expect a meta review soon.

thank you xzern, I am looking forward to your meta review.

Currently in a call with cityscapes, phoopes, az, and xzern and we are calling for the following -

Magikarp: A to B
Blipbug: B to A
Weedle: B to C
Wurmple: B to C
Cosmoem: B to C

Scarf Tailwind Combee is pretty broken but ultimately we would recommend you evolve all of these Pokemon to their final forms.

thank you, I will take this into account for the next VR update.

 

[Bog Monster]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/micro-metagames-general-thread.3493055/#post-4993218

 

[A Golden Waddle Dee]

https://pokepast.es/2cf87268490e3c63 fresh team I made, check it out.

also i am I’m not the Impostor on showdown please fight me

 

[gvmgvm40]

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/micro-metagames-general-thread.3493055/#post-4993218

shit, someone came up with this before then. which name should we keep, fail cup or shitmons? I also didn't think about wynaut, but I think it'd be just too good (and I don't think an eviolite clause is necessary if we don't have wynaut)

 

[Low-Key]

shit, someone came up with this before then. which name should we keep, fail cup or shitmons? I also didn't think about wynaut, but I think it'd be just too good (and I don't think an eviolite clause is necessary if we don't have wynaut)

well there's shitmons in rmt (i'll link it later)

 

[cityscapes]

yooo here are my thoughts

beldum is like the rby tauros of this meta, most of the time this dude is my wincon and it can just own everyone assuming you don't let it take status or too much chip. bulky with 252 hp/252 atk is my favorite set as it makes you more resistant to fast guys like combee and karp. i wouldn't bother with scarf-- band and eviolite are the best sets by far. pretty annoying to break thru opposing beldum but iron defense can help you win the 1v1 if it comes to that.

im a fan of specs karp + specs combee. don't really like the hustle combee set as much cause you miss all your moves and bug bite doesnt kill beldum enough (specs air cutter will do more than enough to bugs). i think specs karp is the best set cause you aren't breaking apple regardless without, like, power herb + atk investment. hydro will do a pretty good chunk to everything including beldum.

cosmoem is stupid but is not that bad. it's basically like 6-7 slow teleports and can let your revenge killer in for free vs beldum if you run physdef (i didn't) which is pretty awesome.

u n owen. hp fire sees few to no solid resists though you have issues with unown taking 0 hits from anything ever. pretty good cleaning tool with webs if you have applin sufficiently covered.

i didn't use ditto but think it has some solid potential. leftovers ditto + blipbug will help you outstall opposing blipbugs, and it provides a great countermeasure against beldum. no need to run scarf, the meta is far too slow for that.

kakuna is kind of cool. basically it's one of 2 bug resists in the meta besides combee, meaning you have fun coming in on all the b tier bugs and can shrug off powders from spewpa while threatening to poison in return. only problem is you do like 10% to beldum

you have recover and webs. first of all, webs don't really do anything in this meta besides hit magikarp and help your slow guys beat other slow guys, but infest + struggle bug + recover is surprisingly good, imo this guy goes pretty well with beldum as you can deal with karp and recover on passive beldum checks.

the recycle set on this guy is kinda cool though i used eviolite. has a hard time coming in vs several mons but stops several more in their tracks. sucker does a great job dealing with unown, draco will generally kill things unless you face spdef cosmoem.

cool ideas:
firespam!!! specs burmy is extremely silly but can dispose of unown's main obstacles (specs electroweb fries karp, bug bite scares away apple) so you can do some really funny things there. might be strong with leftovers beldum to deal with slower teams.
slower defensive core built more for outlasting foes using spewpa's powders. teleport + lefties ditto looks super strong. this basically puts your opponent on a timer to do something before they lose due to having less recovers.
if firespam is too inconsistent for you, these guys have you covered. combee can act as a powerful wallbreaker while applin holds off the more efficient offensive guys (besides beldum). specs bug buzz will win you games.

my tier list would probably look something like:

beldum tier:
beldum

s tier:
applin
combee

a tier:
blipbug
cosmoem
ditto
unown

b tier:
magikarp
spewpa
tynamo

c tier:
burmy
kakuna

don't bother:
everything else

 

[gvmgvm40]

yooo here are my thoughts

beldum is like the rby tauros of this meta, most of the time this dude is my wincon and it can just own everyone assuming you don't let it take status or too much chip. bulky with 252 hp/252 atk is my favorite set as it makes you more resistant to fast guys like combee and karp. i wouldn't bother with scarf-- band and eviolite are the best sets by far. pretty annoying to break thru opposing beldum but iron defense can help you win the 1v1 if it comes to that.

im a fan of specs karp + specs combee. don't really like the hustle combee set as much cause you miss all your moves and bug bite doesnt kill beldum enough (specs air cutter will do more than enough to bugs). i think specs karp is the best set cause you aren't breaking apple regardless without, like, power herb + atk investment. hydro will do a pretty good chunk to everything including beldum.

cosmoem is stupid but is not that bad. it's basically like 6-7 slow teleports and can let your revenge killer in for free vs beldum if you run physdef (i didn't) which is pretty awesome.

u n owen. hp fire sees few to no solid resists though you have issues with unown taking 0 hits from anything ever. pretty good cleaning tool with webs if you have applin sufficiently covered.

i didn't use ditto but think it has some solid potential. leftovers ditto + blipbug will help you outstall opposing blipbugs, and it provides a great countermeasure against beldum. no need to run scarf, the meta is far too slow for that.

kakuna is kind of cool. basically it's one of 2 bug resists in the meta besides combee, meaning you have fun coming in on all the b tier bugs and can shrug off powders from spewpa while threatening to poison in return. only problem is you do like 10% to beldum

you have recover and webs. first of all, webs don't really do anything in this meta besides hit magikarp and help your slow guys beat other slow guys, but infest + struggle bug + recover is surprisingly good, imo this guy goes pretty well with beldum as you can deal with karp and recover on passive beldum checks.

the recycle set on this guy is kinda cool though i used eviolite. has a hard time coming in vs several mons but stops several more in their tracks. sucker does a great job dealing with unown, draco will generally kill things unless you face spdef cosmoem.

cool ideas:
firespam!!! specs burmy is extremely silly but can dispose of unown's main obstacles (specs electroweb fries karp, bug bite scares away apple) so you can do some really funny things there. might be strong with leftovers beldum to deal with slower teams.
slower defensive core built more for outlasting foes using spewpa's powders. teleport + lefties ditto looks super strong. this basically puts your opponent on a timer to do something before they lose due to having less recovers.
if firespam is too inconsistent for you, these guys have you covered. combee can act as a powerful wallbreaker while applin holds off the more efficient offensive guys (besides beldum). specs bug buzz will win you games.

my tier list would probably look something like:

beldum tier:
beldum

s tier:
applin
combee

a tier:
blipbug
cosmoem
ditto
unown

b tier:
magikarp
spewpa
tynamo

c tier:
burmy
kakuna

don't bother:
everything else

cool! I haven't been able to playtest it but I've been thinking about beldumless special spam with cosmoem to pivot + 5 special attackers to overwhelm beldum and applin. once those two are eliminated/chipped enough, charge beam tynamo looks like a cool wincon (scarf to get the jump on combee and magikarp). just a quick team I put together: https://pokepast.es/476e8a169a688426 . I guess replacing one of the special attackers with burmy to double up on fire spam or beldum to give the team more of a backbone are other options, but this looks like a solid archetype to me.

https://pokepast.es/2cf87268490e3c63 fresh team I made, check it out.

also i am I’m not the Impostor on showdown please fight me

this team reminds me: I always keep forgetting about z-moves, but since this is a natdex format I guess they should be available? since most attacks are low power to begin with and most mons don't really have coverage moves, I don't think it'll be worth running offensive z-moves too much. I had a quick look to see what new options are available from support moves:

-a bunch of stuff get z-string shot for a +1 boost to speed and z-iron defense/z-protect to reset lowered stats

magikarp gets z-celebrate/z-happy hour for +1 to all stats, or z-splash for +3 attack. z-splash/flail/reversal/bounce could be cool in theory, but magikarp has no way of consistently getting to low hp, and just dies to all special attacks. as for z-celebrate/z-happy hour, I'm not sure it's worth it - you outspeed all non-scarfers anyway so the speed is a bit redundant, and you just get +1 spatk anyway, so why not use specs to begin with?

z-transform gives it full recovery, but you can't really switch into stuff without impostor. just use leftovers.

z-tailwind gives it +2 critical hit ratio, and z-sweet scent raises accuracy (on hustle sets?). probably also not worth it.

z-magnet rise gives it +1 evasion. dunno what to do with this - z-magnet rise + charge beam could be annoying if you pull it off but I'm not sure whether a one-off +1 evasion boost at the cost of your item slot would be broken

z-teleport gives it a one-off full hp recovery

z-attract resets its stats to allow it to DM once again, while z-recycle gives it +2 speed. both are probably too situational, though.

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

this team reminds me: I always keep forgetting about z-moves, but since this is a natdex format I guess they should be available? since most attacks are low power to begin with and most mons don't really have coverage moves, I don't think it'll be worth running offensive z-moves too much. I had a quick look to see what new options are available from support moves

i haven't run any calcs so idk if it's worthwhile but here are a couple of potential z-move users i've thought about:

can run rockium z + rollout to (presumably) annihilate the tier's many bugs. combee especially hates the quad weakness. could maybe also run dragonium z to fire off a big dragon hit w/o the spatk drop? or even ghostium/darkinium (astonish/sucker punch, respectively) for beldum

& everything else that gets electroweb could run electrium if you're not quite hitting combee hard enough

z-bounce might be good for bug-swatting, & doesn't give your opp a free switch to beldum like normal bounce. z-splash sounds funny too but karp's physical movepool is p shit even for thie tier. z-celebrate, as suggested above, proabably isn't worth it.

aside from buginium/flyinium to give you an even bigger hit, combee gets ominous wind - ghostium presumably gives you the extra oomph to take out beldum.

total gimmick, but you could waste your z-slot on this if you feel your prediction skills are up to it. ig the most useful might be flyinium to smack your opp's combee? but you might as well just run your own z-combee tbh. a stupid, stupid idea that was too funny not to include

tl;dr power up your random coverage moves to hit one of the big guns. as i say, cba calcing so no idea how useful any of these are in practice, but it's fun to theorymon.

 

[Regic Boat]

man, i kinda wish we could use certain NFE mons that dont seem much use or just arent really good in NFE (heres an example: )
nvm im silly and didnt notice the wall of text lmao. anyways yeah this seems really cool

 

[Low-Key]

let's talk about beldum. yup, this little guy:


this guy's bulkiness in this meta is currently insane. you're allowed to run eviolite with 252 hp evs with it, which for this little guy is super bulky madness. paired with a lot of god damn resistances you're allowed to go haywire, even though you don't resist bug types and all of that stuff.

what catches my eye though is its flinching moves. most of its moves are legit flinching (including its stabs of zen headbutt and iron head) which allows it to be a flinch abuser. zen headbutt / iron head / headbutt are its only reliable flinch options though, so pairing it with king's rock is essentially useless and very outclassed by other useful items, specifically eviolite.

thanks for coming to my ted talk, cya

 

[Regic Boat]

https://pokepast.es/fb9e28a96139865a
wow would you look at that a shitmons team made by the funny man himself

 

[Snessy!]

how viable is solosis, this is very important information