Talkin' trouble, walkin' trouble
Double trouble, big trouble's gonna follow you
Team Rocket's rockin'
Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!
Welcome to the first DOU suspect since the Teal Mask DLC! This time, we are going to be doing something a little different; testing two Pokémon at once! Since according to the recent survey players would like to see action taken on both Basculegion & Flutter Mane by a large margin, the council has decided to test both of these offensive Ghost types at the same time. This way we can more rapidly tier and potentially focus on other metagame threats in the coming weeks.
The way this will work is that players will ladder for suspect requirements, same as always (more info at the bottom of this post). Qualified players will be able to vote in two separate votes for each Pokemon. So a vote on Basculegion has no bearing on your vote on Flutter Mane, and vice versa. You may vote to ban both, neither, or one or the other. This vote will count as just one vote towards a tiering contributor badge.
Basculegion has been a hotly debated Pokémon since it was freed via a council vote after the Teal Mask DLC. Its powerful late game move in Last Respects, when combined with its ability Adaptability to power up STAB moves and its 112 base Attack allow it to OHKO most Pokémon after a few allies have fainted. Since the Teal Mask DLC, Basculegion has also gained Flip Turn, which allows it to have more of a presence in the early game, before it wants to just use Last Respects in the late game. Basculegion primarily uses a choice scarf to outspeed most Pokémon, allowing it to either Flip Turn or do impressive damage with Last Respects before it can get hit.
Basculegion is not without counters, however. There are many priority attacks that are able to hit Basculegion super effectively before it is able to get off powerful Last Respects, such as Grassy Glide from Rillaboom & the Ogerpon forms, and Sucker Punch from the likes of Chien-Pao & Kingambit. There are even Pokémon that can outspeed a Choice Scarfed Basculegion and KO it, such as Dragapult, a Protosynthesis boosted Flutter Mane, or other Choice Scarfed Pokémon like Chi-Yu and Gholdengo. As Basculegion’s longevity often relies on hitting opponents first, speed control; both Trick Room & Tailwind, can also be used to help neuter Basculegion.
Similar to Basculegion, Flutter Mane was also banned in a previous version of the metagame, before Pokémon Home was released, but was unbanned afterwards. While Flutter Mane is also an offensive Ghost type, it functions very differently than Basculegion. While it does not get nearly as many OHKOs, Flutter Mane is able to use its exceptional Special Attack and Speed stats combined with its great typing combo in Ghost & Fairy, to outspeed and outdamage much of the metagame. Its ability, Protosynthesis, allows it to further boost these stats either in sun or by using a Booster Energy. None-Booster energy sets often run Choice Specs to maximize its damage output. Because it has such optimized stats, Flutter Mane is often able to invest its EVs in HP and Defense, allowing it to reach respectable bulk while still hitting quite hard.
Flutter Mane does not quite have the same clear cut counters as Basculegion, but that does not mean it is without checks. Because of Flutter Mane’s combination of high Special Attack and low Defense stats, it struggles into bulky Assault Vest physical attackers, such as Rillaboom. Priority attackers like Chien-Pao, Palafin, and the aforementioned Rillaboom can take advantage of its low Defence stat can KO it before it’s able to get off powerful attacks. Also as Flutter Mane is often choice locked into using Fairy moves, it can also be beaten by Fire & Steel types, such as Heatran, Volcanion, Kingambit, and Ogerpon-Fire. Similar to Basculegion, as Flutter Mane often relies on attacking first, it can be decimated by opposing speed control of Trick Room & Tailwind.
As usual, 60% of the vote must be in favor to ban Basculegion & Flutter Mane.
Important: For this suspect, there will be two ways to qualify. The first is the typical laddering period, where players must reach the minimum GXE. The second is by winning a live suspect tournament, to be held in the Smogon Doubles Room. You may compete in the suspect tournament on any account, and will need to post proof of you winning the suspect tournament on the voter ID thread.
There will be two live suspect tournaments:
Suspect Tournament Times
Saturday, October 7th at 12:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
Sunday, October 8th at 4:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
The laddering period will last for a total of nine days.
Laddering Period
Start: Friday, October 7th at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
End: Sunday, October 15th at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! Doubles OU ladder on a fresh alt with the prefix DOUFB [name]. For example, I might register "DOUFB Actuarily” to ladder with. You must follow this format to qualify.
To qualify to vote, you must achieve a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may subtract 1 game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. As always, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE is fine.
If anyone would like a sample team with both Basculegion & Flutter Mane, look no further:
Priority Offense by eragon11145 & Toxinalpaca
GXE | minimum games |
80 | 50 |
80.2 | 49 |
80.4 | 48 |
80.6 | 47 |
80.8 | 46 |
81 | 45 |
81.2 | 44 |
81.4 | 43 |
81.6 | 42 |
81.8 | 41 |
82 | 40 |
82.2 | 39 |
82.4 | 38 |
82.6 | 37 |
82.8 | 36 |
83 | 35 |
83.2 | 34 |
83.4 | 33 |
83.6 | 32 |
83.8 | 31 |
84 | 30 |
Basculegion & Flutter Mane will be legal during this suspect.
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