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Project NU Matchmaking Reinvigorated (Again) [Week 11 - Swords Dance Shiftry] VOTING

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Ok so there was a tie between Dr Ciel and Jarii so naturally I used my one vote to break it and congrats to Dr Ciel for winning this week! :)

This week I decided to go with a mon that became even better in my opinion with the drops. I am talking about...

magmortar.gif

Magmortar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Earthquake / Flame Charge

This monster has always been a staple on many teams and for good reason thanks to its ability, its decent special bulk, and its amazing coverage. Submissions end Friday so have fun! :)
 
Gimme Samurott.

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Me and the Devil (Samurott) @ Lum Berry / Wave Incense
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Megahorn

Swords Dance is the perfect partner for Magmortar as it can easily set up an SD or eliminate most of Magmortar's counters such as Archeops & especially bulky Rock types such as Rhydon and Regirock. In return, Magmortar eliminates Grass types with a STAB Fire Blast, while weakening physical walls, most notably Weezing and Quagsire.
 
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Reserving Shiftry
shiftry.gif

Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Defog
- Leaf Storm

Magmortar enjoy the way how Shiftry deal with water-type such as Lanturn & cie. Shiftry also help Magmortar to deal with Rhydon, while Magmortar help Shiftry to deal with bug-type and fire-type(Earthquake). Shiftry help a lot Magmortar with removing the entry hazard from the flour, who are a pain for our Mag. Also, with his priority, Shiftry can easily revenge kill some mons who can annoy Magmortar, and with Knock, he can remove eventual scarf/av to help Magmortar
 
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Reserving God Sceptile
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Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power Ice
- Earthquake
- Focus Blast / Giga Drain
Sceptile is a great partner for AV Magmortar as it beats Water types like Lanturn who can wall Magmortar, and Mortar can beat a lot of stuff that can wall Sceptile, like Weezing. Sceptile also has a great 120 speed stat that helps the pair out against offensive teams. Overall Sceptile is a great partner for Assault Vest Magmortar!
 
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mesprit.gif

Mesprit @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Healing Wish

Offensive Mesprit is a great partner for Mortar, setting up rocks to weaken its checks, handling Hariyama rather well with Psyshock, and frying mons such as Rhydon and Quag with Energy Ball. Mesprit's ability also helps against common EQ mons and can result in a few free switches. Healing Wish is nice for when Mesprit has done what it needs to do and can help cure Mortar of any random T-wave's (which as we know are everywhere D:), and aid it in sweeping.​
 
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Kabutops @ Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall / Sword Dance

As arguably the best offensive spinner in the metagame, Kabutops can cover up for Magmortar's vulnerability to entry hazards, allowing it to take full advantage of its great special bulk and useful defensive typing. Access to strong priority in Aqua Jet allows it to deal with faster physical Pokemon such as Archeops and Swellow, as well as weakened sweepers, which can usually give Magmortar trouble. Waterfall gives the core a way to hit defensive Rock and Ground types (Piloswine, Rhydon, Regirock) for major damage, though both of them have to watch out for strong Ground type attacks. With Sword Dance, Kabutops can also break through bulkier (special) walls which stop Magmortar, such as Mega Audino.

In return, Magmortar can reliably switch into many Grass, Ice, and Electric types which threaten Kabutops, especially Lilligant, Vileplume, and Jynx, and deal with them with its powerful STAB and good coverage. An immunity to both Sleep and Burn status also makes it a great switch-in against the common status moves aimed at Kabutops.

However, both Kabutops and Magmortar still share a couple of weaknesses that would have to be covered by other teammates. As mentioned before, defensive Rock and Ground types can usually take a super-effective attack from either of them, and threaten back with their powerful Ground attacks. Physical Fighting types such as Sawk and Haryama can also do major damage with their powerful STAB attacks, the latter of which being an especially solid counter due to its Thick Fat ability and respecable bulk. Last but not least, Lanturn is a good defensive check to both Kabutops and Magmortar, and can in turn threaten them with a respective STAB attack.
For these reasons, a Grass type such as Lilligant or Vileplume complements both Kabutops and Magmortar rather well, covering up the aforementioned weaknesses and forming a solid FGW-core.
 
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And with that, Holiano is our winner this week! Congratulations :)

This week's mon, I decided to do the bug that is always buzzing around in everyone's face...

scyther.gif

Scyther @ Eviolite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Aerial Ace
- U-turn

Also pre-warning but since Friday is Christmas Day, I will start voting on Thursday hopefully. Anyways, see you guys then.
 
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Pyroar @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Wild Charge
- Hyper Voice

Pyroar + Scyther is a great offensive core. Pyroar is annoyed by bulky psychics and water-types to a lesser extent. Scyther can easily switch in and set-up on those things (especially Musharna etc). SD Scyther is hard-walled by Steelix tho, which is why Pyroar is on the core. it threatens Steelix out and can cause some serious damage to 'checks'/'counters' to Scyther.
 
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#ShotsFired (Magmortar) @ Life Orb
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Earthquake

Magmortar forms a good core with Scyther thanks to it's ability to just crush walls, especially Steel types that threaten Scyther. It can also threaten Rhydon, a big counter to Scyther, with Life Orb Focus Blast. SD Scyther can also sweep easier thanks to Magmortar's wallbreaking, so that's another pro.
 
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sawk.gif

Sawk (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
- Zen Headbutt

Sawk forms a pretty nice offensive core with Scyther for multiple reasons. Scyther lures in things like Rhydon, Piloswine, and Steelix which allows Sawk to exert its wall breaking power effectively. Scyther in return deals with psychics that Sawk tends to struggle with. Basically if you can keep up offensive momentum with this core you can tear teams apart like tissue paper. There are definitely a few things this core struggles with and it's definitely not perfect but it has proven itself effective in many metas.
 
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mantine.gif

Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Scald
- Air Slash
- Toxic

Personally I think Mantine is an excellent partner for Scyther. Right now, Scyther is a super strong threat against teams, since it can switch into non Rock Slide Sceptile and Sawk, arguably two of the most common and powerful threats right now. However, it certainly struggles to face Steel-types and Rock-types, specifically Steelix. Mantine offers a defensive backbone that can easily beat Steelix, among other Rock or Steel-types. Things like Klinklang can be a bitch to fight, but I think it can be handled well enough with other team members. I think that Fire-spam teams will end up being super strong in this meta, since the rise of Steelix and Sceptile means that things like Magmortar and Pyroar will be super powerful as offensive checks. I chose the more specially defensive inclined spread to better check Fire spam teams, since the 16 Speed isn't really worth it anymore since Steelix largely outclasses Rhydon. Lastly, Mantine's ability to instantly get rid of hazards is a huge boon to Scyther, since this gives it much easier chances to set up and sweep, as well as give it the ability to check powerful mons easily.
 
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Samurott @ Life Orb
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Aqua Jet

Hi, Scyther is a Pokemon that definitely got affected by the drops with things like Steelix, Rotom and faster threats like Sceptile and Swellow getting more common. SD Scyther in particular doesn't do as well, but its ability to gain momentum with U-turn so easily still makes it pretty worthwhile to fit on a team when possible. Special attacking Samurott is something I've been trying out a lot lately, and I think its one of the better partners for Scyther right now. It's ability to crush things like Steelix and Rhydon that flat out wall Scyther is pretty damn good. Samurott's coverage moves in Ice Beam and Hidden Power Electric makes it pretty hard for typical water resists that partner well with Steelix to switch in safely. Pokemon like most grass types and water types like Pelipper and Mantine just get destroyed if you predict correctly. Lanturn being a lot less common also helps Scyther and this particular Samurott set out a lot. Scyther, on the other hand, is able to handle things like Musharna which can be annoying. Being able to outspeed most of the meta is useful as well since Samurott doesn't have the greatest speed and its priority isnt exactly the strongest.
 
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rotom.gif

Rotom @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch

I love me some bulky rotom, and scyther is one of the best partners to it. rotom is a great switch-in to a lot of the main scyther switch-ins (steelix / klinklang / rhydon), as well as switching in to stuff like archeops pretty easily. They also form a nice little volt-turn core with each other, as well as act as 2 solid fighting switch-ins which is nice for balance teams. this core is still weak to faster stuff like pyroar and swellow, but its a nice base that provides key supporting roles for balance squadrons while still providing a bit of offensive punch.
 
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