The Official Glyx
Banned deucer.
Very well-made post! Although there is one thing that jumped out at me for Mega-Pinsir's bio;
After the last round of suspect Mega Salamence was banned and Blaziken wasn't allowed to stay in the 1v1 territory, on another note we might see an illegality in the standard Charm+Seismic Toss Chansey set (This hasn't been confirmed 100% yet). That sends us to a new world of 1v1, removing an offensive threat from the metagame freeing a team slot and we could see the fall of a defensive wall, that opens spots to new 1v1 heros. Which Pokemon do you think will arise and envelop itself with a cape? Is the metagame in a healthy state or are there more holes? Do you think we will call another ascended Pokemon to lend us a hand?
New heroes are born everyday implicitly, it is our duty to find them. I packed up my stuff and went on a journey disguised as a 1v1 schoolgirl to study the comportment of Pokemon in the 1v1 land. I was welcomed by a mass of new Pokemon trying to make up a name for themselves in the area now that others are gone. I walked through the city took notes on my notebook then sat on the back of a my Kyurem-Black and organized my information, this is what I've come to:
The disappearing of Mega Salamence made a lot of offensive threats more viable, I mean they weren't bad before but they just got better! What I have noticed in my exploration is that we got a rise in Mega Pinsir. It was shadowed by Mega Salamence thanks to a better typing and move pool yet sharing the same ability. Let's stop for a moment at Mega Pinsir.
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Target Name: Mega Pinsir
Ability: Aerilate
Useful acquired moves: Endure, Protect, Giga Impact, Flail, Feint, Quick Attack, Close Combat, Sword Dance, Return, Earthquake
Threat Rank: A
After collecting these information about Mega Pinsir, I started noting common sets it can toy with to prey on the foe's Pokemon, it uses its wings to fly around and cause damage, steel Pokemon tries to break it but they are sent back home with a Close Combat or an Earthquake. What are the most effective Pinsir sets you say? I'll show you!
Set name: Can you endure the wind?
Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter/Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Flail
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake / Close Combat
Thanks to its capability of learning Endure, Pinsir can utilize a powerful flail set. Endure allows Pinsir to concentrate its force in its body shielding it from strong attacks making it live with 1 HP, that's not bad because Flail has more power when the user has less HP left which makes reducing Pinsir HP to as minimal as possible to trump card behind this set. Well, in case Flail doesn't OHKO Quick attack is here to save the day, let's not forget that both of them gains STAB and are boosted by Aerilate! Earthquake is present to take on pesky steel types, (Even though it doesn't beat them most of the time) or you can opt for the alternative Close Combat which doesn't care about air balloons (Yes you heatran). It can toy with two abilities before Mega Evolving, hyper cutter or mold breaker. While Mold breaker is better at defeating sturdy users it doesn't really need it because Hyper Cutter has more advantages. How so? Intimidate! The use of Intimidate has become redundant from Mega Gyarados to Mega Mawile they are able to check Mega Pinsir easier with Intimidate but worry not Hyper Cutter allows it to not feel intimidated and keeps it composure so it can defeat them!
Set name: Salamence 2.0
Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Protect / Sword Dance
- Giga Impact
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake / Close Combat
Hmm, what's better than a good ol' Mega Salamence set incarnated in Mega Pinsir? Well there's nothing to add here except the fact that protect is used to outspeed Charizard after Mega Evolving, or you can opt for Sword Dance for better wall breaking capabilities.
Pokemon that it can beat: Charizard-Mega-Y, Gardevoir-Mega, Meloetta, Sylveon, Gyarados, Venusaur-Mega
Pokemon that it loses to: Bulky fire types, Kyurem-Black, Heatran, Aggron, Dragonite, Garchomp
Possibility of beating: Charizard-Mega-X, Porygon-Z, Lopunny-Mega
Good Teamates: Mega Pinsir likes to pair with Pokemon that can take on steel types and other problematic Pokemon; Kyurem-Black, Charizard-Mega-X, Porygon-Z, Mawile Mega, Heatran.
Other offensive threat will see more usage such as Mega Gyarados, Dragonite, Garchomp now that Mega Salamence left the metagame adding to that the lack of Chansey also gives offensive threats a Pokemon less to worry about, head over Playstyle archetype to know such physical offensive threats. Noting that I will be needing help to complete the guide if you want to help hmu with a PM.
As for a solid defensive backbone, Mega Slowbro has proved itself to be the one. Indeed, it has high defensive stats which paired with a physically offensive metagame pays off. It has the ability to keep in check a lot of viable Pokemon such as Kyurem-Black, Mega Mawile, Mega Charizard X (Now only if it had charm!). However Mega Slowbro doesn't have specially defensive stats to mix with its defensive stats but that doesn't make it a defensive threat! Let's not forget it's movepool and typing that works well together.
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Target Name: Mega Slowbro
Ability: Shell Armor
Useful acquired moves: Iron Defense, Amnesia, Rest, Slack Off, Scald, Thunder Wave, Flame Thrower, Foul Play.
Threat Rank: A
Set Name: How do I die again?
Slowbro @ Slowbronite
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Amnesia
- Rest / Slack Off
- Scald
Thanks to Iron Defense, it can boost its defenses faster than most setup sweepers can boost their offensive stats and proceed to burn its foes with Scald and slowly whittle them down or PP stall them if they have recovery. While normally this tactic would be thwarted by a single crit, Mega Slowbro's ability comes in handy here, giving it an immunity to them. Like the offensive Pokemon, it has a number of options: Rest allows it to beat status users and PP stall a lot of other common stall Pokemon, while Slack Off allows it to do better against offensive Pokemon, such as allowing it to beat Mega Mawile without having to fish for a burn. It can run Calm Mind over Amnesia to bolster its offensive presence, and it can even run Counter to catch physical attackers by surprise.
Thanks Articuno I for that.
Pokemon it beats: Most physical attackers notably Mega Mawile, Kyurem-Black, Mega Charizard X, Sawk, Mega Pinsir
Pokemon it loses to: Most special attackers notably Porygon-Z, Meloetta, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Venusaur
Good Team mates: Meloetta, Kyurem-Black, Latios, Deoxys-Defense.
Minimal changes were brought to the metagame after Mega Salamence's ban, Greninja can now run Modest as it no longer needs to outspeed a specific Pokemon, random ice beam users can now opens a spot for a better move, Kyurem-Black can now go full physical oriented without worrying about packing Ice Beam.
That's all thanks for reading. Which Pokemon do you think got better? Anything worth banning? Share your opinion!
I'd write more but I got too lazy...
"Pokemon that it loses to: Kyurem-Black"
It would seem that Pinsir would lose to something with distinct type advantages such as that, BUT;
252 Atk Teravolt Kyurem-B Fusion Bolt vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 228-270 (84.1 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Now that Physical Kyube, the most common Kyube, is no longer limited to needing Ice Beam all too much, a general Scarf Kyurem-B simply cannot OHKO Pinsir without resorting to either using Ice Beam, going Adamant/Lonely/Naughty, or using Rock coverage, but even then, the Pinsir could simply not Mega Evolve to tank the Ice Beam/Fusion Bolt, hit hard with Close Combat, and then Mega Evolve to have a relatively solid chance of finishing off the Kyurem with Quick Attack, or a guaranteed chance of finishing it off, if the Pinsir happens to be Adamant.