Project Pokémon Matchmaking (SM Edition) - Current round: Hawlucha (SUBMITTING TAPUS IS BANNED)

[Riddikulusness]

Reserving Mega Mawile

Sets

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Thunder Punch / Swords Dance
- Fire Fang / Knock Off

-----or-----

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Thunder Punch / Swords Dance
- Fire Fang / Knock Off

This is a core that I have plenty of experience with. Mega Mawile is a great wallbreaker that can benefit from Magearna's trick room thanks to it's low speed. Mega Mawile also forms a deadly fairy-spam core with Magearna, as they can wear down or straight up beat each other's shared checks/counters depending on the set. If Magearna decides not to run Electrium-Z, Mawile can run Thunder Punch to blast through Celesteela and Toxapex for Magearna. Magearna can severely weaken/kill Heatran for Mawile with a Focus Blast or Electrium-Z Thunderbolt. Mawile in general can use its great wallbreaking power to soften things up for a Magearna sweep late game. The first spread allows Mawile to outspeed everything up to min speed Skarmory outside of Trick Room. The second spread takes full advantage of Magearna's Trick Room by making Mawile as slow as possible and improving it's overall bulk, at the cost of being slower than stuff like Celesteela outside of Trick Room. Really any mawile set or spread can be run, those are just the two I'd run. Overall, Mawile makes for a great partner for OTR Mage thanks to their ability to wear down/kill each others checks, and that Mawile benefits from Magearna's Trick Room thanks to it's middling speed.

 

[Kutscher]

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock/Swords Dance/Will-o-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
This mon is almost perfect for OTR magearna, it can switch against a lot of problematic mons magearna, including Mega scizor, sp.def celesteela, ferrothorn, chansey, sp.def heatran and amoongus, while checking another trouble mons, including volc, Chary, AV Tangrowth, offensive heatran, Mew(stall TR turns), toxapex, other magearnas and mantine. SR is used if you need a setter, since maro causes a lot of switches you will have a lot of opportunities to set up, and the chip damage helps magearna's sweep, SD helps wallbreaking, specially against stall, WoW can burn "counters" and checks like lando-t and mawile(both threats to magearna too), and of course if needed, a-maro really apreciares the TR turns to sweep.

 

[Random Passerby]

Hydreigon @ Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Roost / U-turn

Hydreigon pairs nicely with Magearna because it can come in freely and threaten Pokemon that Magearna forces in such as Ferrothorn, Jirachi, Celesteela and Alolan Marowak. Hydreigon is also a pain for Pokemon such as Garchomp, Landorus-T and Zygarde because Garchomp needs to lock itself into Outrage (or use up its Z move) while Hydreigon outspeeds the other two and threaten with Draco Meteor. Finally, Hydreigon is a magnet for Fairy types which Magearna can set up on.

 

[Gross Sweep]

Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick
​

Greninja is a really cool partner for Shift Gear Magearna as it's able to lure in many of Magearna's checks, as well as, wear down opposing teams extremely fast with spikes allowing a Magearna sweep to take form. I've decided to submit a mainly physical set since it helps lure some of Magearna's biggest checks such as AV Tangrowth (Gunk Shot) and Chansey (Low Kick). Versus Chansey Greninja needs a little bit of chip (hazard damage will do) so you can spike up on the initial Chansey switch in. Then later on in the game predict the Chansey switch in versus Greninja, that they feel is safe, and 2hko with Low Kick with your spikes proving the essential chip needed allowing you to get rid of one of the biggest stops to a Magearna sweep - as Focus Blast from Magearna only does about 20-25% to Chansey. Ice Beam was the final move chosen as it helps vs mons like Zygarde who can be troublesome to Electrium Z sets without Fleur Cannon who can't net the initial KO with Flash Cannon. Overall Greninja is a great partner for Magearna as it does a solid job at luring in Mage's checks, and has the ability to set spikes wearing down teams making a Magearna sweep much easier as chip is always appreciated.

 

[nameless90]

Hoopa-U

Hoopa-Unbound @ Choice Band
Ability: Magician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hyperspace Fury
- Drain Punch/Fire Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Zen Headbutt

Hoopa-U is a very good wallbreaker with absurd offensive stats that allow it to OHKO or 2HKO nearly the entire metagame. It can deal well with many Steels and has only Spe issues with that overcrowded 80 base tier.
Trick Room coming from Magearna allows Hoopa-U to deal otherwise unexpected hits.

 

[16BR]

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Will-O-Wisp

A 'tran set I really like atm since Grassium Z is less common due to a drop in Fini and Rotom usage

Paired with a sturdy ground resist, Heatran becomes a great offensive partner for OTR Magearna as it can easily eliminate Mag's usual checks in Tangrowth, Scizor, Celesteela, AV Gear and even Toxapex and Chansey if played well (and Magma hits, lol). Wisp is to hit bulky grounds like chomp and zyg on the switch and neuter them.

 

[FrozenCold]

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Crawdaunt pairs well becuz Mag is TR. Also mag loves craw sppreading knock off.

 

[Martin]

Winners: Alolan Marowak by Kutscher and Greninja by Gross Sweep (just a note, but you said Shift Gear in ur post rather than OTR, but it's a good partner for both anyway). I have deliberately set this up as 1 which appreciates TR support and one which helps pave the way for an individual Magearna sweep.

Anyway I'm going to take this opportunity to explain my plans for the archive after my exams finish. In case you haven't noticed somehow, the archive is very outdated, and the formatting is fiddly to the point that I feel like making it up to date and then adding to it every time I update the thread will be immensely frustrating in the future, and the same goes for Know Your Niche. I am hoping to change the format so that, instead of just archiving winners, it instead acts as an archive for what I perceive to be the very best posts in the thread. I want it to function as something that people can reference to see the types of things which make up a great post in the hopes that there will be more posts like it. This is also going to happen in Know Your Niche, and I'm going to spend a few hours reading through every post in both of those threads in detail to compile the two archives.

With that out of the week, onto the next round:

Round 20: Calm Mind + Thunder Wave Clefable

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Softboiled

 

[Random Passerby]

Magearna @ Fightinium Z / Electrium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shift Gear
- Flash Cannon
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt

While nobody is going to switch in their Steel-types in against Magearna without scouting, the same cannot be said for Clefable who can either hit them with Flamethrower, remove their held item with Knock Off or cripple them with Thunder Wave. Magearna takes advantage of this by being able to blast away a crippled Heatran, Ferrothorn, Toxapex or Celesteela (depending on its choice of Z move). Bold Clefable can also switch into Zygarde, defensive Landorus and Mega Medicham.

 

[nameless90]

Heatran

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Heatran can handle many Steel-types for Clefable (such as Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Mega Scizor), it can even set up Stealth Rock for Clefable, opening up room for Clefable to run Calm Mind.
Thunder Wave allows Heatran to outspeed many threats and regain more HP thanks to the additional turns of Leftovers.
Defensively speaking, Heatran covers well Clefable's weaknesses to Poison and Steel, whereas the latter pokemon helps to absorb Fighting moves.

 

[Martin]

This was open for ages and only three submissions *sigh*

All three are good so they all win i guess...

Round 21: Flyinium Z Landorus-T

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Smack Down
- Stealth Rock / Swords Dance

 

[nameless90]

Ash-Greninja

Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Ice Beam


Ash Greninja loves bulky Grass and Water-types gone or weakened in order to spam freely Specs'ed Hydro Pumps. Just in case, both Landorus-T and Ash-Greninja can overload Grass types with their coverage move; Ice Beam is particularly good with many 4x weaknesses to Ice running around the OU environment.
This Greninja appreciates a lot SR support to net more KOs and 2HKOs, considering that Greninja itself forces free switches because the opponent always try to avoid the activation of Battle Bond.

 

[Gross Sweep]

Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Toxic
​

CB Zygarde is one the greatest threats in SM OU. Banded Zygarde for the most part simply clicks Thousand Arrows and doesn’t care about what’s in front of it basically spamming Banded Arrows as things die, aside from the usual 1-2 check(s)/counter(s) per squad most teams pack. A few notable check(s)/counter(s) are Tangrowth, Tapu Bulu, and Landorus-T. Fly-Z Landorus-T is a great teammate for Zygarde as it similarly draws in mons like Tangrowth, Tapu Bulu, and Landorus-T, but thanks to Z-Fly Landorus-T can eliminate them allowing Zygarde to click Thousand Arrows freely. So, on top of Landorus-T eliminating common ground checks, these two also form a formidable ground spam core that can put a lot of stress on an opponent when they're forced to play against one mon beating common ground resists, and another ignoring the always precious ground immunity. So, while the pairing may not be perfect, as it desperately needs to be paired with strong water and ice resists, it does form a strong offensive pair. One that can be devastating with just a tad of team support (basically add on any solid defensive back bone, and you're set).

 

[Martin]

Yeah no I'm not picking a winner when there are only two submissions 'cause that's just dumb.

Round 22: Utility Mew

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronise
EVs: 240 HP / 156 Def / 112 Spe OR 240 HP / 72 Def / 140 SpD / 56 Spe
Timid / Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam / Psychic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Softboiled

 

[nameless90]

AV Magearna

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Fire
- Volt Switch

Since Mew struggles with strong attackers with Dark or Ghost-type moves (i.e. Alolan Marowak, Ash-Greninja and Gengar) AV Magearna is a good teammate for its nice defensive synergy.
Mew provides Ice coverage or WoW towards the Grounds that run in the OU environment.

 

[Riddikulusness]

Reserving Zard Y

Set

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Focus Blast

Zard Y and Mew are great together. Zard Y needs defog support, and Mew is the best user of the move in OU, and it just so happens to have good synergy with Zard y. Mew can deal with some things that can annoy Zard Y like Zygarde (if zard doesnt have hp ice), Latios, and Mega Lop. In return, Zard takes care of Fini (can taunt and natures madness mew), Celesteela, and Clef for Mew. Mew and Zard Y are a pretty common core that has seen a good amount of usage in tour play. blunder vs. Reyscarface is a great example of these two at work. Mew keeps rocks off the field as well as keeping Zygarde in check which allows Zard to pretty much win the game. Overall, Mew + Zard Y is a great pairing in the current meta.

 

[Deleted User 400951]

I reserve volcarona
Volcarona @ Firium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ground
Mew is the best defogger in the meta, and Volcarona needs that support to be able to sweep. Mew with Psychic can gain valuable chip on Toxapex. The Timid Mew set can also outspeed and proceed to burn Zygarde, while also living Garchomp's hits and burning it too. Keldeo locked into Secret Sword can also be forced out. With these threats covered by Mew, Volcarona can proceed to set up and win.

 

[FrozenCold]

Reserving Dugtrio

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
IVs: 21 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Screech
- Stealth Rocks

Duggy traps tar, heatran, magearna, chansey, etc whatever mons dat annoy mew. It also appreciates mew's defog to preserve its focus sash. Also appreciates Ice Beam from mew against Lando-T since duggy does nothing to it.

 

[Hicron]

Tapu Bulu

Tapu Bulu @ Grassium Z
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe // 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Hide

Tapu Bulu is an awesome partner to fast mew due to the Grassy Terrain and the great sinergy they have together. Bulu checks Greninja Ash which is a Mew switch in and puts the grassy terrain. The grassy terrain helps Mew because the recovery and Mew can check Landorus better due to EQ is powerless on Grassy Terrain. Also mew check Protean Greninja if it doesn't runs Dark Pulse, and Mew runs Psychic it can check MVenu and Toxapex. This core has some problems with SubToxic Heatran, Greninja Protean with Dark Pulse and Zard Y. Tapu Bulu enough speed to outspeed defensive Mew, it could be change to Adamant max speed. This core has been used a lot in wcop's Round 1.

 

[Martin]

Only five subs this week, so only one winner:

by Riddikulusness (although I really don't like non-Focus Blast Zard Y)

========================

Round 23: Alolan Ninetales

Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe OR 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze Dry
- Hail
- Hypnosis

 

[nameless90]

DD Zygarde 50%

Zygarde @ Figy Berry
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Coil
- Dragon Dance

Under Aurora Veil, Zygarde can easily set up two Dragon Dances or Coils (thanks to its increased bulk that is normally already good) and start to sweep from there. Simple, but effective. Running 2 boosting moves allows you to have a flexibility in the match-up you are facing.
Alola-Ninetales is able to get rid of the Rain inducer (Pelipper) and some random stuff with Hypnosis. Defensively speaking, they don't stack annoying weaknesses (i.e. Steel).

Thanks for the suggested moveset and spread. Figy Berry is a better choice than Sitrus Berry here with Aurora Veil support.

 

[imsosorrylol]

Zygarde 50%

Zygarde @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance

Under Aurora Veil, Zygarde can easily set up two Dragon Dances (thanks to its increased bulk that is normally already good) and start to sweep from there. Simple, but effective.
Alola-Ninetales is able to get rid of the Rain inducer (Pelipper) and some random stuff with Hypnosis.

i just gotta say that this set is cool but like under veil it's kind of inferior, ill just post what njnp and i used and imo the best set for zyg on veil, evs are to outspeed and set up on bulu, coil is dope under veil cuz it turns half the tier into setup fodder and figy lets you set up on even more mons and can't get revenged cuz you just heal back up. You can see the set in a vid aim uploaded using a team i made and njnp edited.

Zygarde @ Figy Berry
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Coil
- Dragon Dance

 

[Stephenyc]

Great defensive typing, awesome abilities, and a solid movepool. Combine it with a Swords Dance under Aurora Veil and Mega-Mawile becomes very troublesome to deal with - a nightmare with supporting Terrains up. What Mega Mawile brings to the table is its ability to break down the offensive and defensive checks that hinders the many Alolan-Ninetales sets out there.

Mega-Mawile

Capabilities

Abilities: Hyper Cutter & Intimidate; Huge Power
Immune to: Dragon, Poison
Strongly resists: Bug
Resists: Dark, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock
Coverage: Play Rough; Sucker Punch; Thunder Punch; Fire Fang; Knock Off

Calcs

252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 360-428 (102.2 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Magearna: 238-282 (79 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 248 HP / 124+ Def Scizor: 432-512 (125.9 - 149.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 260-308 (65.3 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 0 HP / 16 Def Tyranitar-Mega: 386-456 (113.1 - 133.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Magearna All-Out Pummeling (190 BP) vs. 128 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 216-255 (79.1 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Sets

Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang/Knock Off/Thunder Punch

- Max Attack because Aurora Veil helps alleviate all damage taken.
- 128 Speed Evs speed creeps past uninvested base 65 mons like Bulky Magearna
- Swords Dance helps Mawile break walls and/or set u a late game sweep with Sucker Punch

!

Zygarde @ Leftovers/Groundium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 188 HP / 160 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Toxic​

I recommend everyone trying this Zygarde set under Veil as it can set up on, and toxic stall quite a few things.

With Veil up
0- SpA Landorus-Therian Hidden Power Ice vs. 188 HP / 0 SpD Zygarde with an ally's Aurora Veil: 86-102 (21.2 - 25.2%)
252+ Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 188 HP / 0 Def Zygarde with an ally's Aurora Veil: 83-98 (20.5 - 24.2%)
252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 188 HP / 0 SpD Zygarde with an ally's Aurora Veil: 51-61 (12.6 - 15%)
252+ Atk Tapu Bulu Horn Leech vs. 188 HP / 0 Def Zygarde in Grassy Terrain with an ally's Aurora Veil: 86-102 (21.2 - 25.2%)

Without
0 Atk Celesteela Heavy Slam (80 BP) vs. 188 HP / 0 Def Zygarde: 75-88 (18.5 - 21.7%)
Chansey Seismic Toss vs. 188 HP Zygarde: 100-100 (24.7 - 24.7%) <- Doesn't break Substitute
252 SpA Xurkitree Hidden Power Ice vs. 188 HP / 0 SpD Zygarde: 340-404 (84.1 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

... and the list could go. 160 Speed insures that Zygarde outspeeds Scarf Lati and Gengar after two Dragon Dances. A third one and it out-speeds the entire meta, as well as OHKO'ing most of it.

 

[Martin]

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch / Earthquake

Mega Tyranitar can take advantage of its monstrous bulk in conjunction with the buff from Aurora Veil to very easily set up to +1 or maybe even +2 in a good matchup and proceed to just click attacks vs its opponent to completely rip holes in their team (if not outright sweep). Standard moveset is standard; Ice Punch hits Lando, Chomp, Zyggy etc. whereas Fire Punch nails Ferro and Zor etc. while providing an accurate option for Skarm and Celesteela. Earthquake is also an option that allows it to beat Scarf Keldeo if it gets to +1 safely before it switches in and Aurora Veil is active.

Key benefits of Aurora Veil to Mega Tyranitar

• Allows it to set up from +1 to +2 versus Keldeo while healthy, allowing it to outrun and OHKO it after a little prior damage if Tyranitar carries Earthquake.
• Beats Scarf Low Kick Gren
• Doesn't lose to post-transformation Ash Greninja.
• Helps fend off rare Mach Punches and Aqua Jets.
• Boosts to +2 with way more ease.
• Renders things like Scarf Chomp moot without severe prior weakening.
• Loads of other stuff too; srs, this is a rlly solid mon under veil.

In exchange, Mega Tyranitar resets the weather for Alolan Ninetales, meaning that it doesn't have to worry about the turn counter of Hail in rare cases where it needs to stomach something under veil and resets the hail counter.

 

[Aurinko]

Volcarona @ Firium-Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 64 HP/ 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 188 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ground
- Quiver Dance

Volcarona sets up on all the Steel types Ninetales-A is scared of, while Ninetales-A in turn keeps rain at bay.
The speed EVs guarantee that Choice Scarf Greninja is outsped at +2, while the slight defensive investment decreases the chance to be OHKOd by that Greninja's Rock Slide to 6.3 % when behind the veil, alas, Keldeo's Stone Edge is only a 2HKO and so is Nihilego's Power Gem.
You can also go Fiery Dance/Psychic/Roost/QD, with status blocking support, this variant is better at breaking stall since you overwhelm Toxapex with ease and Chansey if you're a bit lucky with the boosts from Fiery Dance - I've been playing both variants, but the second one is more niche, so I figured I'll use the set detailed above for this matchmaking.