Special Season 11: Mythical BSS

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus

We're getting another 3v3 Singles format with some normally-banned Pokémon being legal, however this time all the big hitting cover legends remain banned, potentially allowing some interesting strategies to form!

The banned Pokemon are Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Arceus, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Solgaleo, Lunala, Dusk Mane Necrozma, and Dawn Wings Necrozma.

This means things like Marshadow, Zygarde, and Ash-Greninja are legal, which will likely dominate usage. However, not needing to keep Rayquaza and Ultra Necrozma in check means teambuilding will be much more flexible!

Rules:
  • 3v3 Singles (6v6 team preview)
  • Everything is forced to be level 100
  • Species clause
  • Item clause
  • Banned Pokémon:
    • Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Arceus, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Solgaleo, Lunala, Dusk Mane Necrozma, and Dawn Wings Necrozma.
  • starts in a week from now!


What do you think will be good??


Tagging The Immortal Marty LegoFigure11 to try and get this up asap since it looks fun!
:psyglad:


 
Last edited:

ethan06

⋖(☼┆☼)⋗
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
oh my god yes. i've been wanting a format like this since xy ^_^ a lot of interesting stuff to look at here. i'm a little sad that diancie is basically useless here thanks to magearna and ash-gren but a rock polish set might surprise some of the faster threats and score some sweeps. shaymin-sky looks like an interesting thing to explore because of its ability to check marshadow with superior speed and air slash, as well as being able to set leech seed on virtually anything by threatening opposing grass-types. keldeo gives us the fast offensive water-type of our dreams for whatever that's worth (probably not much with ash-gren running around as well). jirachi will be popular because the scarf set is cheesy as hell and everyone loves cheese.

i couldn't find anything on the pgl page about pentagon, but i'm assuming it's out to allow for mythicals from old games so sheer force landorus is 99% likely to be a thing as well ;)
 

Smuckem

Resident Facility Bot Wannabe
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
. i'm a little sad that diancie is basically useless here thanks to magearna and ash-gren but a rock polish set might surprise some of the faster threats and score some sweeps.
Any chance one can squeeze an extra utility move in there, or is 3 attacks + polish going to be absolute necessity?

Thx PS Setup Team Guys--I haven't been on PS in ages, but this might be the thing to get me back on. Good to see all of those 20th Anniversary Mythicals I still have sitting in my OR cart might finally have a purpose...
 

ethan06

⋖(☼┆☼)⋗
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Any chance one can squeeze an extra utility move in there, or is 3 attacks + polish going to be absolute necessity?
what kind of utility move were you thinking of? heal bell isn't that useful here as you only bring three pokémon in any given match and it isn't worth the slot to clear poison off of those three pokemon unless you're running hard stall, in which case you're better off with something that isn't rp diancie lol. running rock polish/moonblast/earth power/diamond storm is probably the most consistent set imo unless you want a tech hidden power like fire or ice for ferrothorn or landorus.

perhaps substitute endeavour diancie would catch some people off guard here?
 

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
So this has a lot of similarities to 2017's No Holds Barred with the Necrozma formes being banned, but this is a bit more different than some people think, since unlike that, we have traditional clauses like species clause and item clause. What does this mean?

While I'd still personally run Stealth Rock because Focus Sash Marshadow is scary, the fact that people can't use multi-Marshadow teams anymore means that set up sweepers are quite a bit easier to use! Also, sash teams are a thing of the past too so that makes setting up hazards also less urgent.

what kind of utility move were you thinking of? heal bell isn't that useful here as you only bring three pokémon in any given match and it isn't worth the slot to clear poison off of those three pokemon unless you're running hard stall, in which case you're better off with something that isn't rp diancie lol. running rock polish/moonblast/earth power/diamond storm is probably the most consistent set imo unless you want a tech hidden power like fire or ice for ferrothorn or landorus.

perhaps substitute endeavour diancie would catch some people off guard here?
I had some success with Substitute Endeavor Mega Diancie on a showdown team for this year's No Holds Barred. Granted, I used a weird defensive spread that was designed to survive two Marshadow Close Combats before mega evolving, but outspeed Zygarde after Mega Evolving (I believe it was Bold 244 HP / 124 Def / 136 Spe). I also actually used Stealth Rock over Diamond Storm. Idea was I was pairing it with Focus Sash Marshadow to try to mess with SR setters.

Oh yeah speaking of Magerna, with Dusk Mane Necrozma gone again, I expect Trick Room Magerna to be a HUGE threat in this metagame! I mean, it was this year, but it'll be especially true for this metagame imo. I imagine Volcanion will be extra nice again because of this too, since AV Volcanion can beat Trick Room Magearna pretty well.
 
Awesome, I didn't get to play ultra no hold's barred because PGL's password recovery system broke before I could register, so I'd been hoping to have a chance to use the team I built for that, even in a special season. It'll need some tweaks since no Dusk Mane, but I'm super looking forward to using it.

If there end up being giveaways of cloned legit Zeraora (like Marshadow for the first NHB) before the season's end, I definitely want to try that too.
 

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I streamed a bunch of this today and had a lot of fun! watch it here

I also QRed the team I'm using so people can give Zeraora a try: https://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/rentalteam/usum/BT-B48B-4F27

Zeraora QR Team.png


pokepaste: http://pokepast.es/6c1d8a66f14b8185

I've gone with Klefki over Mega DIancie for the time being, but I might swap back in the future. The reason for Klefki is dual screens for aiding set up with Zeraora or Zygarde, and Spikes helps guarantee kills for Zeraora that Stealth Rock doesn't, such as against max HP Zygarde. Klefki is a little too passive though, so Mega Diancie for the power and Magic Bounce seems really nice.
+1 252 SpA Zeraora Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Zygarde: 344-408 (81.9 - 97.1%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 SpA Zeraora Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Zygarde: 344-408 (81.9 - 97.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
+1 252 SpA Zeraora Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Zygarde: 344-408 (81.9 - 97.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after 2 layers of Spikes
+1 252 SpA Zeraora Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Zygarde: 344-408 (81.9 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 3 layers of Spikes
Hidden Power Ice on Marsh is crap though. I will change it to either Ice Punch, Endeavor, or Swagger. It might be worth dropping a fire move on Volcanion as well for Earth Power or even Will-O-Wisp. Having both Flamethrower and Fire Blast is nice though, you need Fire Blast for Magearna and fatter Steela, but reliable accuracy is really good.... Zygarde's berry stopped Power Contruct activating a couple times but it was really helpful for when you are already in Complete-forme and need health. It used to be Leftovers on the 2017NHB team.

This was pretty fun so far though so I'm looking forward to streaming more

11oyd has also been streaming this, so check him out too!
 
Last edited:

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
cant say hows Zeraora been doing? It did pull some neat stunts when I tried a Calm Mind set on Showdown, but I think I'd rather use Tapu Koko in most cases for Calm Mind. Main thing CM Zeraora had was setting up on opposing Tapu Koko (which was actually very handy believe it or not lol), and +1 LO HP Ice nuking most Zygarde. Work Up at least differentates itself more from Tapu Koko though hmm...
 

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
cant say hows Zeraora been doing? It did pull some neat stunts when I tried a Calm Mind set on Showdown, but I think I'd rather use Tapu Koko in most cases for Calm Mind. Main thing CM Zeraora had was setting up on opposing Tapu Koko (which was actually very handy believe it or not lol), and +1 LO HP Ice nuking most Zygarde.
I honestly think it's okay! I think the mixed Z-Work Up set is its best one, I tried a bunch of stuff on PS (and in my head while calcing) like Band, Elec Z, Life Orb/Expert Belt, but none actually achieved anything, and were all hard stopped a lot of the time. I know just about any sweeper is good with screens + hazard support, but if you get the boost off it sweeps anything not named Magearna. The speed stat is the best bit, being able to revenge Ash-Greninja and Mega Lopunny is really nice, and going to +2 atk / +1 spa and not having to worry about Marshadow stealing the boosts is nice too (worst part about using SD boosters in this, if you're not boosting speed somehow you're at the mercy of Marsh lol).
Work Up at least differentates itself more from Tapu Koko though hmm...
Koko gets Work Up :psyduck:
 
I've not had much chance to play so far, but gone 5-2. Been running with my Ultra No Holds Barred team, switching out Ultra Necrozma for Tapu Koko and Ash-Greninja for Protean Greninja. So far, the main lifters have been Charizard and Zygarde - I've come across a lot of Steel types. Despite being a key player in the previous tournament, Magearna has sat on the sidelines so far and I've also had very little use out of Aegislash (or budget Marshadow as I like to think of him).

1531864936516.png
 
For the purposes of research, I'm happy to provide clones of my Marshadow and Zeraora (Injected) RNGs if there is any interest. Unfortunately, IRL dictates that my time is limited for trading, otherwise i would post this in the giveaways section.

PM/VM me if this helps, details in my RNG sheet (link in my sig).

Best of luck with your battling.
 
I borrowed a Marshadow off a friend promptly went 0/3. Think I need to practice with it in the Battlespot before going back to ratings.
 
This was a fun season! Ended at 1625 points, which got me 6th in US and 216 overall. Seeing as how I only started playing the battle spot seasons recently, I'll consider that a success. (At some point I think I was higher in the 1600's, but then took 2 L's and had to claw my way back up a bit.)

At the start I was running a trick room team based the one I planned to use for Ultra No Holds Barred, but I was going ~50:50 with it. Typical plan was to get trick room off with mental herb Uxie, memento, and go in to Alolan Marowak or Magearna and run through things, but the team/plan didn't seem to adapt well to the current format. Maybe it was better suited to a meta with lots of Dusk Mane running around.

I eventually switched to the following team, which I had much more success and fun with:
Screen Shot 2018-09-04 at 8.43.04 PM.png


Got the Zeraora with cantsay's set from Blueforce's giveaway thread. Scarf lele to outspeed & threaten opposing Marshadow & Zygarde, life orb marshadow because I found sash lacked the power I wanted, defensive sub coil Zygarde with glare to provide a wall and more speed control (and to have something not too fast in case trick room went up), and of course webs Shuckle for additional speed control. I tried a few different things in the last spot, Zapdos was the one I used a couple of times and worked well. However, I didn't have the greatest Magearna match up, so I also tried AV Volcanion, but it turned out to not work out so well (including one match where steam eruption missed mega diancie and it was downhill from there). Would have tried Megazard X too, but didn't end up having time to test it out before the season ended.

Had a number of really fun matches with this team, most often using Zygarde, Marsh, and Zeraora. One of my favourite battles was this one: 99MW-WWWW-WWWS-MU5G
We both lead Zygarde, but their's was faster and got up sub while I glared, so I let them coil a couple of times while I broke the sub and then switched to Marshadow while they subbed again. Suffice to say, if they didn't know that spectral thief goes through subs, they sure do now.

Other highlights included spectral thiefing a sub moody glalie and a really close match (that I incorrectly recalled losing) against a team with a super bulky manaphy that even 2 close combats from marshadow couldn't ko. Bunch of switching between Marshadow, Zygarde, & Lele managed to eke out a win. Had a really odd match that I lost against a team of slowpoke, ditto, and Mega Pinsir. Lost to the mega pinsir because it was running aerialate feint and so out-prioritized Marshadow's sneak to secure the win!

Here's hoping we get more seasons that allow mythicals in the future! A doubles season would be neat.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top