mega mawhat dat noise be? (mega mawile + noivern BO)
I know what you're thinking: that is a Noivern. And, yes, your eyes do not deceive you; there is a Noivern being used in SM OU, the most powercrept Past Gen OU. Let me enlighten you a bit as to my thought process:
Mega Mawile as a Pokemon has no true switch-in, and while its speed is horrendous, it's all about giving it the opportunity to do its thing in the first place. Its bad speed makes it fairly difficult to let it find those breaking opportunities, so pivoting support against its best targets would let its breaking power really shine on a game-to-game basis. This is why I chose Noivern; in addition to providing a helpful scout against things like Kartana and Heatran with Frisk, its Dragon-type, higher speed tier than Tornadus-T (eclipsing base Greninja and Tornadus-T itself), and access to Super Fang allow for it to carve a miniscule niche as an offensive pivot which U-turns against Fairy-types and spreads Super Fang damage. Z-Hurricane lets it have a nuclear Z-Move for reliable revenge killing purposes, or safely finishing off bulkier foes after Super Fang, in order to maintain a reliably threatening presence against offensive structures. Super Fang is great because it safely applies chip to Steel-types like Heatran and Magearna that often switch into it, which can be immense in opening up Greninja Dark Pulse spam in the late game. Since Noivern's power is generally middling and it lacks powerful coverage, it's a good lure to things like Tapu Fini, Heatran, Magearna, and Clefable which may be otherwise more apprehensive to pivot into Tornadus-T's Z-Hurricane. Mawile can find effective breaking opportunities against bulkier Magearna variants thanks to Fire Fang, nearly every Clefable variant, and most Tapu Fini variants.
Mawile itself can be mixed and matched with a variety of options. Thunder Punch I've found is still a pretty great option as Toxapex can be otherwise very annoying for this team, as well as 4 attacks, but I've liked the immediate power of Fire Fang to take direct advantage of Magearna. Intimidate is also a very reasonable ability to run, especially as it can reinforce the team's backbone against threats like Mega Lopunny in a pinch, and it may in fact be better in most cases, but I just like the added assurance of Hyper Cutter so my Play Rough can then generally one-two punch Landorus-Therian in tandem with Sucker Punch, which can be annoying to pivot around otherwise.
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Ash Greninja: Ash Greninja benefits greatly from the breaking abilities of Mawile to more cleanly get it into its Battle Bond form, as well as Noivern's ability to spread Super Fang chip damage. Furthermore, it's a great beneficiary of Noivern's U-turn against Heatran and loves that its Z-Hurricane is a decent lure to force damage against Tapu Fini and other Dark Pulse checks. As an offensive Pokemon it greatly benefits from the structure and gameplan of this team.
Jirachi: Jirachi takes the heat off of Mawile to pivot into things like Mega Alakazam, Mega Lopunny, and Kartana, while providing the team with Healing Wish support, more U-turn, and Stealth Rock. It generally fills that role of bulky Steel-type that Mawile isn't always as willing to take on, which in general is important as Mawile generally likes to be healthy to more safely dispense damage and not be as pidgeonholed into Sucker Punch. Mawile also synergizes solidly with it as a Steel-type since Mawile doesn't give a rat's ass about Knock Off, whereas Jirachi is very weak to it.
Tangrowth: Essentially acts as the team's bulky Regenerator pivot which blanket checks a wide range of the tier, between things like Ash Greninja, Mega Lopunny, Mega Swampert, Kartana, Landorus-Therian, Tapu Koko, Garchomp, and similar Pokemon. Its ability to dispense easy Knock Off spam against most archetypes can be very nifty for helping to open up Mawile and Ash Greninja, and thanks to Regenerator it can keep up the pressure while continuously staying healthy. Furthermore, Noivern's access to Frisk lets Tangrowth play a lot more deliberately around Kartana, in case of random Z-moves.
Landorus-Therian: The classic god of OU himself, Landorus-T provides me with pinch speed control, a fast win condition with costs not too demanding, emergency removal, another Ground-type immunity, an Electric-type immunity, and an offensive midground against Heatran and Magearna. It is also great at keeping up the momentum and also enables my main offensive core.
If you're interested in trying out the team, feel free to check the paste
here!