After watching the Replays, the main culprit instead seems to be the prohibitively high opportunity cost of running Bulky Offense since Caly-I is banned, and seems like a Psychic Surge unrestriction will worsen the situation by reducing counterplays to Speed Control instead.
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This is objectively false. Psychic Surge had existed for a long time with priority spam in the past, and, in the latest survey, only 27.3% of users wanted Psychic Surge to be banned or restricted, compared to 31.8% wanting it to not have action taken upon it and the rest of the users being fine with either option. Psychic Surge was viewed as fairly healthy and balanced by the community before it was restricted. In fact, why was Psychic Surge banned in the first place with such low support? Is only about 1/4 of the playerbase saying something is broken enough to make the council decide on a vote for it?
If the council wants to maintain the position of restricting Psychic Surge, then I propose banning all offensive priority moves besides Fake Out, First Impression, Upper Hand, Sucker Punch, and Thunderclap. Priority spam can use Technician, Guts, Toxic Boost, Tough Claws/Long Reach, Adaptability, Moxie, Hustle, and No Guard/Compound Eyes. That's a whopping 8 team slots, so even if the council bans Technician, the most unique ability for priority spam, Guts or Toxic Boost or Moxie will simply replace it. Furthermore, it is impossible to decide which ability is enabling priority spam the most, because ALL of the abilities almost equally enable priority spam since they all mostly give 1.5x boosts or 1.3x boosts.
I do agree with Inky, the counterplay to psychic terrain was forcing HO teams to drop a slot to run rillaboom or pincurchin if you running Quark Drive (which should be restricted). Now they don't need to run a counterplay ability and can ramp up the damage output. I think some of the replays showed weren't too good examples as I think some of those teams lose to good stall team or my gimmick misty surge team.
Another week, another round of adjustments for the post Psychic Surge format, these are the changes we decided on:
Technician is getting restricted, Conkeldurr, Palafin and Rillaboom banned!
Technician is the main enabler for priority moves on top of turning multi hit moves into nukes helping these HO teams have an easy workaround fluffy stall without having to go for Long Reach thanks to most of these moves being non-contact. While this should impact all the priority users to a degree, Comfey should be the most affected, as it doesn't have that many other choices to keep up with the damage needed. Scizor will stay banned as it would still be a crazy priority abuser by itself, unless the situation improves enough to believe it would work.
Conkeldurr is both an abuser of priority and a possible enabler, while there are possible replacements for it, they aren't as good mons so it should limit the kind of builds you can make as few Guts mons have all of good stats, utility like Defog and a stab priority move.
Palafin was a great mon already despite being limited by Psychic Surge and water immunities, and with just one of these there isn't enough counterplay that isn't extremely restricting, with its massive stats, stronger priority move than the average mon, compatibility with Punching Gloves to get around contact restricting is just too limiting to play against.
This is similar to Conkeldurr, as it was both a great abuser and enabler, the only direct replacement is Thwackey who is a lot weaker, meaning grass spams builds will should have a wincon less against fatter teams on top of having zero defensive utility unless you want to give up on the extra power from LO for an Eviolite.
These changes should make all the priority spam builds a lot weaker, but still allow them to exist to some degree, ideally the next change should be more focused on bringing back stuff for other playstyles, but there is a possibility of a final nerf to priority spam if this isnt enough.
Technician is getting restricted, Conkeldurr, Palafin and Rillaboom banned!
Technician is the main enabler for priority moves on top of turning multi hit moves into nukes helping these HO teams have an easy workaround fluffy stall without having to go for Long Reach thanks to most of these moves being non-contact. While this should impact all the priority users to a degree, Comfey should be the most affected, as it doesn't have that many other choices to keep up with the damage needed. Scizor will stay banned as it would still be a crazy priority abuser by itself, unless the situation improves enough to believe it would work.
Conkeldurr is both an abuser of priority and a possible enabler, while there are possible replacements for it, they aren't as good mons so it should limit the kind of builds you can make as few Guts mons have all of good stats, utility like Defog and a stab priority move.
Palafin was a great mon already despite being limited by Psychic Surge and water immunities, and with just one of these there isn't enough counterplay that isn't extremely restricting, with its massive stats, stronger priority move than the average mon, compatibility with Punching Gloves to get around contact restricting is just too limiting to play against.
This is similar to Conkeldurr, as it was both a great abuser and enabler, the only direct replacement is Thwackey who is a lot weaker, meaning grass spams builds will should have a wincon less against fatter teams on top of having zero defensive utility unless you want to give up on the extra power from LO for an Eviolite.
These changes should make all the priority spam builds a lot weaker, but still allow them to exist to some degree, ideally the next change should be more focused on bringing back stuff for other playstyles, but there is a possibility of a final nerf to priority spam if this isnt enough.
Holy molyAnother week, another round of adjustments for the post Psychic Surge format, these are the changes we decided on:
Technician is getting restricted, Conkeldurr, Palafin and Rillaboom banned!
Technician is the main enabler for priority moves on top of turning multi hit moves into nukes helping these HO teams have an easy workaround fluffy stall without having to go for Long Reach thanks to most of these moves being non-contact. While this should impact all the priority users to a degree, Comfey should be the most affected, as it doesn't have that many other choices to keep up with the damage needed. Scizor will stay banned as it would still be a crazy priority abuser by itself, unless the situation improves enough to believe it would work.
Conkeldurr is both an abuser of priority and a possible enabler, while there are possible replacements for it, they aren't as good mons so it should limit the kind of builds you can make as few Guts mons have all of good stats, utility like Defog and a stab priority move.
Palafin was a great mon already despite being limited by Psychic Surge and water immunities, and with just one of these there isn't enough counterplay that isn't extremely restricting, with its massive stats, stronger priority move than the average mon, compatibility with Punching Gloves to get around contact restricting is just too limiting to play against.
This is similar to Conkeldurr, as it was both a great abuser and enabler, the only direct replacement is Thwackey who is a lot weaker, meaning grass spams builds will should have a wincon less against fatter teams on top of having zero defensive utility unless you want to give up on the extra power from LO for an Eviolite.
These changes should make all the priority spam builds a lot weaker, but still allow them to exist to some degree, ideally the next change should be more focused on bringing back stuff for other playstyles, but there is a possibility of a final nerf to priority spam if this isnt enough.
I actually like these changes (forgot palafin was even legal) glad we're able to see a common denominator in prio spam was technician. Ironically I used a max phys def quark drive conk to tank some hits on prio spam/pixie spam if i tera'd. Don't really like the remaining choices for sheer force Pokémon but let's see how this goes.
These changes are not enough. While special priority is now nuked, physical priority still can use Guts with Sqwuakabilly (or whatever its called) and Gurdurr, as well as simply replacing Technician with Guts, Toxic Boost, Steely Spirit (Metagross), Hustle with No Guard/Compound Eyes, Moxie, or Mind’s Eye.
Question, do you ever try to adapt even a little bit to the meta in question?
Also Gurdurr lmao
Yes? That's why I added Archaludon to my team to try and counter the priority spam.
had to tap back in when i noticed my glorious Caly-Ice and Scizor was banned, i believe psychic-surge shouldn't be unrestricted whatsoever. Maybe before when a ton of broken abilitys and mons were running around it was broken, but nowadays i feel like psychic surge wasn't oppressive at the slightest. It was like a glue holding the metagame together, since its ban i can see why priority spam just rose up so fast because what are you supposed to do agaisnt a conkeldurr thats toxic boosted, guts boosted with a technician boost staring you down. Thats very unfun to fight agaisnt, nobody wants to run houndstone all the time and even then long reach would invalidate it.
but at the same time restricting technician just kills so many playstyles, the reason i loved this metagame so much was because of how unique and expansive team building was, you could get really creative here and cook up some masterpieces. The restriction of psychic surge and technician limits how creative you can be and just puts the metagame in a far more stale state.
Though, perhaps with those two abilities gone it might breed some more creativity, we'll see what happens, i seen some previously banned pokemon get unbanned so maybe we can have fun with that. limitation also breeds creativity as well. (also caly-i was 100% broken and beat like most playstyles lmfao)
but at the same time restricting technician just kills so many playstyles, the reason i loved this metagame so much was because of how unique and expansive team building was, you could get really creative here and cook up some masterpieces. The restriction of psychic surge and technician limits how creative you can be and just puts the metagame in a far more stale state.
Though, perhaps with those two abilities gone it might breed some more creativity, we'll see what happens, i seen some previously banned pokemon get unbanned so maybe we can have fun with that. limitation also breeds creativity as well. (also caly-i was 100% broken and beat like most playstyles lmfao)
New slate, we made some new changes in response to the previous ones:
Landorus-I and Terapagos are now unbanned, Regenerator and Unburden are now restricted (previously banned)!
The lack of Psychic Surge has made teams that just try to stack special attackers less effective, and without that playstyle Landorus-I shouldn't have an easy time finding a home.
Seems like as a good times as ever to finally give a chance to Terapagos, with Tera being legal it may end up being a quite dangerous set up sweeper so we will keep a close on eye on it.
Regenerator would most likely be too much if it was fully legal, so we will try it restricted to see its impact, it should somewhat help stall and balance without causing that much trouble if at all.
Without Psychic Surge it should be way less effective as a form of speed control, so there should be no need for it to stay banned, but doubling the speed of every team member that easily would be too much so it will be restricted.
Landorus-I and Terapagos are now unbanned, Regenerator and Unburden are now restricted (previously banned)!
The lack of Psychic Surge has made teams that just try to stack special attackers less effective, and without that playstyle Landorus-I shouldn't have an easy time finding a home.
Seems like as a good times as ever to finally give a chance to Terapagos, with Tera being legal it may end up being a quite dangerous set up sweeper so we will keep a close on eye on it.
Regenerator would most likely be too much if it was fully legal, so we will try it restricted to see its impact, it should somewhat help stall and balance without causing that much trouble if at all.
Without Psychic Surge it should be way less effective as a form of speed control, so there should be no need for it to stay banned, but doubling the speed of every team member that easily would be too much so it will be restricted.
Quark Drive should be restricted to be consistent with Protosynthesis’s restriction, as Rillaboom is banned, Psychic Surge is restricted, and Misty Surge is unviable, similar to how Drizzle is banned and Snow Warning and Sand Stream are mostly unviable.
Drizzle isn’t banned tho.
Bans go case by case either way, consistency isn’t as big of a factor as the individual impact of the element.
Anyone know if Solar Power + Protosynthesis works together? I wanted to try a Drought + Protosynthesis Walking Wake if it were ever possible.
It works, but it's not very good. It gets murdered by priority and any combination of Water immunity ability + Fire immunity ability + Fairy-type walls it completely.
On another subject, since the Technician nerf and Calyrex-Ice ban, and the addition of Flutter Mane, Spectrier, and Landorus, I've added a new member to my team - Bulletproof Chesnaught
Bulletproof is pretty niche but it stops a whole bunch of moves, most notably Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, and Focus Blast. Also Bullet Seed if Breloom shows up and Sludge Bomb in case I decide to Fairy-tera Cress. Chesnaught isn't dead weight either as it can support the team with Knock Off, Leech Seed, Spikes, Taunt, or even Super Fang.
Overall, a good insurance against special teams. Of course, you can bypass it with something like Ghost-tera or Fighting-tera, but I have ways to play around that too. :)
Carbink
Carbink @ Oran Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
Tera Type: Fire
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 HP
- Endeavor
- Endure
- Sand Tomb
- Gravity
If you've been playing the last couple of days, I'm sure you've noticed this set, either because it was infuriating or gave a laughably easy win to you. It's probably the most toxic set since the Prankster Destiny Bond strat, which I was fortunate enough to never play against. With support, this sturdy rock can only be KO'd by an (admittedly common) subset of moves. Carbink can also make reliable progress, killing anything outside of Orthoworm (in theory only, no guarantees). Endeavor brings opponents down to 1%. Sand Tomb secures kills over Leftovers and traps so that the opponent can't switch around Endeavor. Gravity lets Sand Tomb hit everything and fixes the accuracy problem. Endure buys time for Harvest to proc. Endure is better than Protect because Endure lets Carbink come in on hazards, take a hit, trigger the berry, and heal back to full. Tera Fire blocks burns and was chosen over Tera Steel/Poison because some teams run Corrosion and you just get poisoned anyway.
Here is a guide to building a team with Carbink.
Part I: The Necessary Abilities
These abilities make up the core of the strategy.
- Harvest: Harvest refreshes the Oran Berry, healing most of Carbink's HP.
- Cheek Pouch: Oran Berry leaves Carbink one HP short of full, so Cheek Pouch is necessary to top off and reactivate Sturdy. Grassy Surge is an alternative, but as it fades after 5 turns, Cheek Pouch is much better. Maushold is a good Cheek Pouch user. Taunt can keep hazards off, and Tidy Up can remove them, allowing Carbink to switch in freely.
Part 2: Limiting Counterplay
These abilities mitigate common ways to defeat Carbink. You cannot bring all of them but must pick and choose what threats you want to answer.
2a: The Very Good Abilities
These abilities are very good, and while not strictly necessary, are probably worth running most of the time.
-Mind's Eye: Scrappy/Mind's Eye allows Endeavor to hit Ghosts, which otherwise keep Carbink from making progress. Mind's Eye is a great choice because Ursaluna-BM's natural bulk and power fit well on Berry teams. Vacuum Wave helps finish off anything that Carbink used Endeavor on but could not kill with Sand Tomb.
-Sticky Hold: Sticky Hold prevents Knock Off from removing the Oran Berry. Gastrodon can provide hazards, but Muk brings a key resistance to Lilligant-H, which is a tough opponent with Triple Axel.
2b: The Counterpicks
These abilities are good but will not be helpful every game. Here is where you start to choose what you want to beat and what you're okay losing to.
-Flash Fire: Flash Fire blocks burns from Will-o-Wisp and keeps Heatran from using Magma Storm to break Sturdy.
-Infiltrator: Infiltrator bypasses Substitute, which is otherwise a good way to stall out Endeavor's PP.
-Immunity: Immunity beats Toxic Spikes and prevents Toxic from breaking Carbink's Sturdy. I have soured on this ability since Corrosion/Merciless teams often run multi-hit moves.
-Stamina: Archaludon discourages multi-hit moves, especially from Maushold. The targets are Maushold, various Triple Axels, Salamence's Dual Wingbeat, and maybe Icicle Spear from Cloyster or Baxcalibur. Fortunately, Carbink is already immune to Scale Shot.
-Long Reach: Long Reach avoids Rocky Helmets. Skipping Rough Skin is nice but not very relevant.
-Guard Dog: Guard Dog blocks the opponent from pulling Carbink onto the field with hazards to break Sturdy.
-Pressure: Pressure allows Carbink to be useful even in matchups where it cannot take KOs. By stalling out powerful moves, Carbink can free up its teammates to set up later.
Obviously you can only bring three of those, and if you bring Mind's Eye and Sticky Hold, you can only pick one from that last list. I have tried dropping Sticky Hold in favor of Infiltrator, and it improves the HO matchup while weakening the stall matchup.
So far with this team I've peaked at #3 on the ladder at 1570ish. I do not believe this is consistent enough to chase down #1, but it has been very funny.
Harvest is inconsistent, and bringing Carbink is just like entering the casino. Ultimately, I think Carbink is no better than other matchup-fishing cheese mons like Regidrago. I have had a lot of fun with this team, though, and I hope you will too.
Carbink @ Oran Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
Tera Type: Fire
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 HP
- Endeavor
- Endure
- Sand Tomb
- Gravity
If you've been playing the last couple of days, I'm sure you've noticed this set, either because it was infuriating or gave a laughably easy win to you. It's probably the most toxic set since the Prankster Destiny Bond strat, which I was fortunate enough to never play against. With support, this sturdy rock can only be KO'd by an (admittedly common) subset of moves. Carbink can also make reliable progress, killing anything outside of Orthoworm (in theory only, no guarantees). Endeavor brings opponents down to 1%. Sand Tomb secures kills over Leftovers and traps so that the opponent can't switch around Endeavor. Gravity lets Sand Tomb hit everything and fixes the accuracy problem. Endure buys time for Harvest to proc. Endure is better than Protect because Endure lets Carbink come in on hazards, take a hit, trigger the berry, and heal back to full. Tera Fire blocks burns and was chosen over Tera Steel/Poison because some teams run Corrosion and you just get poisoned anyway.
Here is a guide to building a team with Carbink.
Part I: The Necessary Abilities
These abilities make up the core of the strategy.
- Harvest: Harvest refreshes the Oran Berry, healing most of Carbink's HP.
- Cheek Pouch: Oran Berry leaves Carbink one HP short of full, so Cheek Pouch is necessary to top off and reactivate Sturdy. Grassy Surge is an alternative, but as it fades after 5 turns, Cheek Pouch is much better. Maushold is a good Cheek Pouch user. Taunt can keep hazards off, and Tidy Up can remove them, allowing Carbink to switch in freely.
Part 2: Limiting Counterplay
These abilities mitigate common ways to defeat Carbink. You cannot bring all of them but must pick and choose what threats you want to answer.
2a: The Very Good Abilities
These abilities are very good, and while not strictly necessary, are probably worth running most of the time.
-Mind's Eye: Scrappy/Mind's Eye allows Endeavor to hit Ghosts, which otherwise keep Carbink from making progress. Mind's Eye is a great choice because Ursaluna-BM's natural bulk and power fit well on Berry teams. Vacuum Wave helps finish off anything that Carbink used Endeavor on but could not kill with Sand Tomb.
-Sticky Hold: Sticky Hold prevents Knock Off from removing the Oran Berry. Gastrodon can provide hazards, but Muk brings a key resistance to Lilligant-H, which is a tough opponent with Triple Axel.
2b: The Counterpicks
These abilities are good but will not be helpful every game. Here is where you start to choose what you want to beat and what you're okay losing to.
-Flash Fire: Flash Fire blocks burns from Will-o-Wisp and keeps Heatran from using Magma Storm to break Sturdy.
-Infiltrator: Infiltrator bypasses Substitute, which is otherwise a good way to stall out Endeavor's PP.
-Immunity: Immunity beats Toxic Spikes and prevents Toxic from breaking Carbink's Sturdy. I have soured on this ability since Corrosion/Merciless teams often run multi-hit moves.
-Stamina: Archaludon discourages multi-hit moves, especially from Maushold. The targets are Maushold, various Triple Axels, Salamence's Dual Wingbeat, and maybe Icicle Spear from Cloyster or Baxcalibur. Fortunately, Carbink is already immune to Scale Shot.
-Long Reach: Long Reach avoids Rocky Helmets. Skipping Rough Skin is nice but not very relevant.
-Guard Dog: Guard Dog blocks the opponent from pulling Carbink onto the field with hazards to break Sturdy.
-Pressure: Pressure allows Carbink to be useful even in matchups where it cannot take KOs. By stalling out powerful moves, Carbink can free up its teammates to set up later.
Obviously you can only bring three of those, and if you bring Mind's Eye and Sticky Hold, you can only pick one from that last list. I have tried dropping Sticky Hold in favor of Infiltrator, and it improves the HO matchup while weakening the stall matchup.
So far with this team I've peaked at #3 on the ladder at 1570ish. I do not believe this is consistent enough to chase down #1, but it has been very funny.
This strat is really off the wall so I feel the need to prove it works.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2221180347?p2 Probably the best replay. Shows how simple it is to close games with Carbink against certain teams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220314302 Vs another electric terrain HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220481258?p2 yet another electric terrain - Carbink has a great ETerrain matchup
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220298535 Vs other berries
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220965800?p2 Long game against Inky's double regen stall. The interesting thing is that Carbink could basically pick one Pokemon to KO, and there wasn't much to be done about it. Not sure who would have won in the end, but Carbink was able to break up the double regen core.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2221180347?p2 Probably the best replay. Shows how simple it is to close games with Carbink against certain teams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220314302 Vs another electric terrain HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220481258?p2 yet another electric terrain - Carbink has a great ETerrain matchup
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220298535 Vs other berries
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220965800?p2 Long game against Inky's double regen stall. The interesting thing is that Carbink could basically pick one Pokemon to KO, and there wasn't much to be done about it. Not sure who would have won in the end, but Carbink was able to break up the double regen core.
Carbink is the best tool I've seen for sniping specific people on the ladder. If you know someone runs Toxic and Heatran but not Knock Off or Substitute, you can drop Sticky Hold and Infiltrator to run Trevenant/Maushold/Carbink/Heatran/Snorlax/Ursaluna-BM and leave them with limited Carbink counterplay. I haven't sniped anyone, I just play for fun, but I can see a lot of sniping potential when you are just sick of losing to one person over and over. Heck, maybe that person is me and I'll get Carbonked.
Harvest is inconsistent, and bringing Carbink is just like entering the casino. Ultimately, I think Carbink is no better than other matchup-fishing cheese mons like Regidrago. I have had a lot of fun with this team, though, and I hope you will too.
Last edited:
First of all go to jail for such an evil creation. Secondly wouldn't shell bell be more consistent freeing up two ability slots ditching harvest and cheek pouch?Carbink
Carbink @ Oran Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 1
Tera Type: Fire
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 HP
- Endeavor
- Endure
- Sand Tomb
- Gravity
If you've been playing the last couple of days, I'm sure you've noticed this set, either because it was infuriating or gave a laughably easy win to you. It's probably the most toxic set since the Prankster Destiny Bond strat, which I was fortunate enough to never play against. With support, this sturdy rock can only be KO'd by an (admittedly common) subset of moves. Carbink can also make reliable progress, killing anything outside of Orthoworm (in theory only, no guarantees). Endeavor brings opponents down to 1%. Sand Tomb secures kills over Leftovers and traps so that the opponent can't switch around Endeavor. Gravity lets Sand Tomb hit everything and fixes the accuracy problem. Endure buys time for Harvest to proc. Endure is better than Protect because Endure lets Carbink come in on hazards, take a hit, trigger the berry, and heal back to full. Tera Fire blocks burns and was chosen over Tera Steel/Poison because some teams run Corrosion and you just get poisoned anyway.
Here is a guide to building a team with Carbink.
Part I: The Necessary Abilities
These abilities make up the core of the strategy.
- Harvest: Harvest refreshes the Oran Berry, healing most of Carbink's HP.
- Cheek Pouch: Oran Berry leaves Carbink one HP short of full, so Cheek Pouch is necessary to top off and reactivate Sturdy. Grassy Surge is an alternative, but as it fades after 5 turns, Cheek Pouch is much better. Maushold is a good Cheek Pouch user. Taunt can keep hazards off, and Tidy Up can remove them, allowing Carbink to switch in freely.
Part 2: Limiting Counterplay
These abilities mitigate common ways to defeat Carbink. You cannot bring all of them but must pick and choose what threats you want to answer.
2a: The Very Good Abilities
These abilities are very good, and while not strictly necessary, are probably worth running most of the time.
-Mind's Eye: Scrappy/Mind's Eye allows Endeavor to hit Ghosts, which otherwise keep Carbink from making progress. Mind's Eye is a great choice because Ursaluna-BM's natural bulk and power fit well on Berry teams. Vacuum Wave helps finish off anything that Carbink used Endeavor on but could not kill with Sand Tomb.
-Sticky Hold: Sticky Hold prevents Knock Off from removing the Oran Berry. Gastrodon can provide hazards, but Muk brings a key resistance to Lilligant-H, which is a tough opponent with Triple Axel.
2b: The Counterpicks
These abilities are good but will not be helpful every game. Here is where you start to choose what you want to beat and what you're okay losing to.
-Flash Fire: Flash Fire blocks burns from Will-o-Wisp and keeps Heatran from using Magma Storm to break Sturdy.
-Infiltrator: Infiltrator bypasses Substitute, which is otherwise a good way to stall out Endeavor's PP.
-Immunity: Immunity beats Toxic Spikes and prevents Toxic from breaking Carbink's Sturdy. I have soured on this ability since Corrosion/Merciless teams often run multi-hit moves.
-Stamina: Archaludon discourages multi-hit moves, especially from Maushold. The targets are Maushold, various Triple Axels, Salamence's Dual Wingbeat, and maybe Icicle Spear from Cloyster or Baxcalibur. Fortunately, Carbink is already immune to Scale Shot.
-Long Reach: Long Reach avoids Rocky Helmets. Skipping Rough Skin is nice but not very relevant.
-Guard Dog: Guard Dog blocks the opponent from pulling Carbink onto the field with hazards to break Sturdy.
-Pressure: Pressure allows Carbink to be useful even in matchups where it cannot take KOs. By stalling out powerful moves, Carbink can free up its teammates to set up later.
Obviously you can only bring three of those, and if you bring Mind's Eye and Sticky Hold, you can only pick one from that last list. I have tried dropping Sticky Hold in favor of Infiltrator, and it improves the HO matchup while weakening the stall matchup.
So far with this team I've peaked at #3 on the ladder at 1570ish. I do not believe this is consistent enough to chase down #1, but it has been very funny.
This strat is really off the wall so I feel the need to prove it works.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2221180347?p2 Probably the best replay. Shows how simple it is to close games with Carbink against certain teams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220314302 Vs another electric terrain HO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220481258?p2 yet another electric terrain - Carbink has a great ETerrain matchup
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220298535 Vs other berries
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220965800?p2 Long game against Inky's double regen stall. The interesting thing is that Carbink could basically pick one Pokemon to KO, and there wasn't much to be done about it. Not sure who would have won in the end, but Carbink was able to break up the double regen core.
Carbink is the best tool I've seen for sniping specific people on the ladder. If you know someone runs Toxic and Heatran but not Knock Off or Substitute, you can drop Sticky Hold and Infiltrator to run Trevenant/Maushold/Carbink/Heatran/Snorlax/Ursaluna-BM and leave them with limited Carbink counterplay. I haven't sniped anyone, I just play for fun, but I can see a lot of sniping potential when you are just sick of losing to one person over and over. Heck, maybe that person is me and I'll get Carbonked.
Harvest is inconsistent, and bringing Carbink is just like entering the casino. Ultimately, I think Carbink is no better than other matchup-fishing cheese mons like Regidrago. I have had a lot of fun with this team, though, and I hope you will too.
Shell Bell makes it more difficult to set up Gravity, worsens its matchup versus Knock Off, and reduces Carbink's longevity as it is forced to spam Endeavor to recover HP and becomes useless without it.
Meanwhile, an Oran Berry allows Carbink to continue to use Sand Tomb even after it loses all of its Endeavor PP.
It certainly could be better, not sure. Shell Bell is limited to picking up one kill since you can’t recover much on the Sand Tomb turn. Carbink would be worse, but the team might be better I guess because two ability slots is a pretty huge difference. Agreed on everything Inky said.
This is my cursed double Regenerator Intimidate stall team. I peaked at #3 on ladder, and am currently #4.
https://pokepast.es/c656a6db4b4b6690
Ho-Oh has a ridiculous defensive profile, resisting both of Iron Valiant's STABs, one of Flutter Mane's STABs, and resisting Gurdurr. Brave Bird is for eliminating Iron Valiant and Sneasler, Recover is to restore HP against Pokemon such as Belly Drum Snorlax on berry spam, Whirlwind is to stop setup sweepers, and Protect is to drain PP (I could run Dual Wingbeat but idk). Tera Ground is to prevent Thunder from Flutter Mane, Thunderbolt from Iron Valiant, and Rock Slide from Sneasler. I don't run Will-O-Wisp or Sacred Fire due to how common the Houndstone-Heatran core is.
Note that I only added Recover very late into the teambuilding process, so none of the games shown have Ho-Oh using Recover.
Toxapex has a generic set, except it has Rocky Helmet to annoy Guts spam teams. It mainly serves as my Knock Off absorber anyways, so Heavy Duty Boots wouldn't be that valuable on it.
Ting-Lu also has a generic set, except it has Rest to synergize with Blissey's Natural Cure. Vessel of Ruin is the only ability to slow down special attackers.
Houndstone also has a generic set, except it has Psychic Fangs to eliminate Sneasler. It serves as an emergency measure in case a dangerous sweeper Pokemon such as Raichu-Alola with Calm Mind Psyshock is being used.
Blissey also has a generic Calm Mind set to stop special attackers from setting up.
Finally, we get to Tauros-Paldea-Aqua. With Regenerator unrestricted, I decided to exploit the fact that almost no one runs Defiant or Competitive in mid/highladder (Scrappy and Clear Body make it useless but those are rare too). It also serves as an emergency measure, but unlike Houndstone, using a Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed many Pokemon and OHKO them. Furthermore, Tauros-Paldea-Aqua is the only Intimidate Pokemon with a high attack stat and a STAB priority move. Tera Water is for boosting Aqua Jet or Wave Crash.
Counters to my team:
Galvantula has Bug/Electric STABs that hit my entire team supereffectively besides Blissey and Houndstone, which is problematic.
Sneasler has Swords Dance and Rock Slide to outpace the Intimdation it receives and OHKO Ho-Oh, forcing me to run Infestation on Toxapex. Taunt can easily destroy Toxapex as well by preventing Haze.
Iron Valiant hits Blissey supereffectively with Focus Blast and can 2HKO it or use Calm Mind when Blissey is recovering HP.
Not being immune to Fire means that Ho-Oh and Toxapex both take neutral hits from Magma Storm, which, when paired with Taunt and Body Press, can eliminate Ho-Oh, Blissey, and Toxapex. Luckily, nobody runs Taunt Heatran in highladder.
Hazard spam and Knock Off absolutely terrify me.
Snorlax with Belly Drum is scary and can 3HKO Fluffy Ho-Oh, which wouldn't be that big of a deal if Toxapex could actually deal with hazards.
Should be self-explanatory.
Other games:
https://pokepast.es/c656a6db4b4b6690
Ho-Oh has a ridiculous defensive profile, resisting both of Iron Valiant's STABs, one of Flutter Mane's STABs, and resisting Gurdurr. Brave Bird is for eliminating Iron Valiant and Sneasler, Recover is to restore HP against Pokemon such as Belly Drum Snorlax on berry spam, Whirlwind is to stop setup sweepers, and Protect is to drain PP (I could run Dual Wingbeat but idk). Tera Ground is to prevent Thunder from Flutter Mane, Thunderbolt from Iron Valiant, and Rock Slide from Sneasler. I don't run Will-O-Wisp or Sacred Fire due to how common the Houndstone-Heatran core is.
Note that I only added Recover very late into the teambuilding process, so none of the games shown have Ho-Oh using Recover.
Toxapex has a generic set, except it has Rocky Helmet to annoy Guts spam teams. It mainly serves as my Knock Off absorber anyways, so Heavy Duty Boots wouldn't be that valuable on it.
Ting-Lu also has a generic set, except it has Rest to synergize with Blissey's Natural Cure. Vessel of Ruin is the only ability to slow down special attackers.
Houndstone also has a generic set, except it has Psychic Fangs to eliminate Sneasler. It serves as an emergency measure in case a dangerous sweeper Pokemon such as Raichu-Alola with Calm Mind Psyshock is being used.
Blissey also has a generic Calm Mind set to stop special attackers from setting up.
Finally, we get to Tauros-Paldea-Aqua. With Regenerator unrestricted, I decided to exploit the fact that almost no one runs Defiant or Competitive in mid/highladder (Scrappy and Clear Body make it useless but those are rare too). It also serves as an emergency measure, but unlike Houndstone, using a Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed many Pokemon and OHKO them. Furthermore, Tauros-Paldea-Aqua is the only Intimidate Pokemon with a high attack stat and a STAB priority move. Tera Water is for boosting Aqua Jet or Wave Crash.
Counters to my team:
Galvantula has Bug/Electric STABs that hit my entire team supereffectively besides Blissey and Houndstone, which is problematic.Sneasler has Swords Dance and Rock Slide to outpace the Intimdation it receives and OHKO Ho-Oh, forcing me to run Infestation on Toxapex. Taunt can easily destroy Toxapex as well by preventing Haze. Iron Valiant hits Blissey supereffectively with Focus Blast and can 2HKO it or use Calm Mind when Blissey is recovering HP. Not being immune to Fire means that Ho-Oh and Toxapex both take neutral hits from Magma Storm, which, when paired with Taunt and Body Press, can eliminate Ho-Oh, Blissey, and Toxapex. Luckily, nobody runs Taunt Heatran in highladder.Hazard spam and Knock Off absolutely terrify me.
Snorlax with Belly Drum is scary and can 3HKO Fluffy Ho-Oh, which wouldn't be that big of a deal if Toxapex could actually deal with hazards. Should be self-explanatory.Other games:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2220965800 (vnmmv berry spam draw)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2218982380 (vnmmv berry spam loss due to impatience)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2218953894 (Guts spam)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2216491122 (berry spam)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215908930 (balance?)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215310547 (Dragons and crits)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215275603?p2 (stall vs stall)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215147600 (special spam loss due to crit)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2218982380 (vnmmv berry spam loss due to impatience)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2218953894 (Guts spam)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2216491122 (berry spam)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215908930 (balance?)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215310547 (Dragons and crits)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215275603?p2 (stall vs stall)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9sharedpower-2215147600 (special spam loss due to crit)
hello everyone 
i came here to share a cool team i thought about and share some thoughts as well about the meta, im curious to see what other people think about them hehe
team: https://pokepast.es/5c76f09f1bbbffa4 (updated october 22)
results:
neutral karma:
fixed the team a bit to deal better vs some matchups
some thoughts:
i think spectrier is totally busted and should be banned back, its insane how its very fast, can sub on mons that cant hit it directly and can even take care of a blissey with adaptability support and nasty plot + tera fight, ive never lost to a stall team thanks to it, it can even deal with sucker punches thanks to tera support which makes it broken, people starting to run bulletproof mons like kommo-o or ursaluna because of this so it doesnt really sound healthy
quark drive should be restricted, the only way to deal vs an electric surge team is by spamming priorities because you cannot beat it in a speed contest as bundle is 408 speed, spectrier is 394 speed and you can use raichu as well which hit over 1000k+ speed and they all get that +1 speed from quark drive, its not healthy for the meta
this is a hot take but i think scrappy/mind's eye should be restricted, sounds crazy right? but lets think about it for a second, the reason spam teams work is because scrappy makes it so zangoose and stuff like breloom etc can hit so consistently without worrying about some tera ghost, houndstone doesnt help too much either vs those teams because you can just run decidueye for long reach and instead of running dog lycan you just need to run wolf lycan + hustle lilligant, the only way to deal with a team like this is to run iron defense zamazenta otherwise chances are you will be getting blasted by all the boosted priorities which also doesnt sound healthy
these are the most troublesome things i noticed in the meta what do yall think?
i came here to share a cool team i thought about and share some thoughts as well about the meta, im curious to see what other people think about them heheteam: https://pokepast.es/5c76f09f1bbbffa4 (updated october 22)
results:
neutral karma:
fixed the team a bit to deal better vs some matchups
some thoughts:
i think spectrier is totally busted and should be banned back, its insane how its very fast, can sub on mons that cant hit it directly and can even take care of a blissey with adaptability support and nasty plot + tera fight, ive never lost to a stall team thanks to it, it can even deal with sucker punches thanks to tera support which makes it broken, people starting to run bulletproof mons like kommo-o or ursaluna because of this so it doesnt really sound healthy
quark drive should be restricted, the only way to deal vs an electric surge team is by spamming priorities because you cannot beat it in a speed contest as bundle is 408 speed, spectrier is 394 speed and you can use raichu as well which hit over 1000k+ speed and they all get that +1 speed from quark drive, its not healthy for the meta
this is a hot take but i think scrappy/mind's eye should be restricted, sounds crazy right? but lets think about it for a second, the reason spam teams work is because scrappy makes it so zangoose and stuff like breloom etc can hit so consistently without worrying about some tera ghost, houndstone doesnt help too much either vs those teams because you can just run decidueye for long reach and instead of running dog lycan you just need to run wolf lycan + hustle lilligant, the only way to deal with a team like this is to run iron defense zamazenta otherwise chances are you will be getting blasted by all the boosted priorities which also doesnt sound healthy
these are the most troublesome things i noticed in the meta what do yall think?
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Another point to add on to restricting Quark Drive is with the Electric Surge synergy with Unburden, which can be extremely devastating with Sneasler, who can invest in max Atk and destroy most walls.
Sneasler also learns Upper Hand to kill priority spam if it ever needs to.
Sneasler also learns Upper Hand to kill priority spam if it ever needs to.
hello again everyone i just thought of an insane idea for a team and after making another account and see how it goes i got a record of 30-1 which is pretty neat, the only loss i got was to an annoying stall team i wasnt too prepared for but i fixed my team to also deal vs a stall and i didnt lose a single game after that so im ready to share the team, here is my result proof:
and heres the team: https://pokepast.es/389623d1ffe3317f
concept explaination: kyogre might have been banned but i thought that dry skin is still quite a good ability since it gives everyone 12% and immunity to water moves so i was thinking about how can i abuse it, fluffy ofc helps the team not taking alot of damage and rain lets us take less damage from fire moves so thats fine then kommo-o is there for bulletproof + stealth rocks mainly, i had an archaludon at the start but i figured id like shadow ball and focus blast immunity so zama and terapagos have an easier time to setup and sweep special teams as well, zamazenta not only destroy physical oriented teams but also give the rest of the team a defense boost which helps not losing to some threats or helps terapagos setup even better with calm mind + fluffy and dauntless shield and then dry skin gives it 12% each turn and when its at full its ability keep activating making it an insane sweeper, boots spam because i dont have hazards control and we get dry skin for recovery anyway so i dont need any other items, zamazenta and terapagos are the main sweepers, not gonna lie i believe terapagos shouldnt be allowed
sets explaination: specs pelipper makes it a great special hitter under rain and dry skin + fluffy gives it longevity as well, tera fairy with tera blast to deal vs dragon spam teams if needed
toxicroak is mainly a dry skin giver but it can turn into a sweeper with fluffy and sword dance, leftovers over sludge because if i tera i dont want to take damage instead
houndstone is just a threat blocker with roar and will-o-wisp support and fluffy
zamazenta is the setup sweeper with iron defense + body press with roar in case of other zamazentas or stuff like roar houndstone, whirlwind ting lu etc, crunch is for ghosts and tera dark in case i fight vs espathras they can be very annoying with opportunist so if needed i can tera dark on stored power and just roar it out
terapagos is running a standard setup sweeper set but i got substitute in case i load up vs teams with like toxapex running toxic or other annoying things, i get a free sub and +12 from dry skin then next turn i get free setup and its an easy win from there
kommo-o is a rocks setter with taunt and dragon tail in case i get in weird situations, drain punch is a good STAB recovery move for longevity
and heres the team: https://pokepast.es/389623d1ffe3317f
concept explaination: kyogre might have been banned but i thought that dry skin is still quite a good ability since it gives everyone 12% and immunity to water moves so i was thinking about how can i abuse it, fluffy ofc helps the team not taking alot of damage and rain lets us take less damage from fire moves so thats fine then kommo-o is there for bulletproof + stealth rocks mainly, i had an archaludon at the start but i figured id like shadow ball and focus blast immunity so zama and terapagos have an easier time to setup and sweep special teams as well, zamazenta not only destroy physical oriented teams but also give the rest of the team a defense boost which helps not losing to some threats or helps terapagos setup even better with calm mind + fluffy and dauntless shield and then dry skin gives it 12% each turn and when its at full its ability keep activating making it an insane sweeper, boots spam because i dont have hazards control and we get dry skin for recovery anyway so i dont need any other items, zamazenta and terapagos are the main sweepers, not gonna lie i believe terapagos shouldnt be allowed
sets explaination: specs pelipper makes it a great special hitter under rain and dry skin + fluffy gives it longevity as well, tera fairy with tera blast to deal vs dragon spam teams if needed
toxicroak is mainly a dry skin giver but it can turn into a sweeper with fluffy and sword dance, leftovers over sludge because if i tera i dont want to take damage instead
houndstone is just a threat blocker with roar and will-o-wisp support and fluffy
zamazenta is the setup sweeper with iron defense + body press with roar in case of other zamazentas or stuff like roar houndstone, whirlwind ting lu etc, crunch is for ghosts and tera dark in case i fight vs espathras they can be very annoying with opportunist so if needed i can tera dark on stored power and just roar it out
terapagos is running a standard setup sweeper set but i got substitute in case i load up vs teams with like toxapex running toxic or other annoying things, i get a free sub and +12 from dry skin then next turn i get free setup and its an easy win from there
kommo-o is a rocks setter with taunt and dragon tail in case i get in weird situations, drain punch is a good STAB recovery move for longevity
At the end of its time in the tier, I disliked Psychic Surge because it squashed creativity in the builder and in games. Psychic Terrain's main utility was in drastically cutting methods for revenge killing sweepers. That's what all of those Weak Armor + Klawf or Pixilate + Scarf Maushold teams were all about: removing counterplay. Around half of a PsySurge team would be dedicated to bypassing the main sweepers' blockers, with abilities like Scrappy, Pixilate, Long Reach, and of course Psychic Surge. There's nothing wrong with synergistic building, but to me it seemed that Psychic Terrain teams could pick what they would win and lose against too easily and brought an unhealthy matchup fish element to the tier. These teams also led games to look very similar to each other. In many cases, the winner was simply decided by whether the opponent could handle the final sweeper after all of the abilities are activated. I played a lot of fun games with and against Psychic Surge, but many times, I felt that neither team had many routes to play on except for preparing for an obvious final sweeper. Finally, I think that Psychic Surge required the rest of the tier to reach unreasonable speed tiers to prepare for the terrain matchup. Scarf Dragapult was a staple of my building back then, along with Agility Zamazenta and other scarfers that were faster than Maushold.
I bring up these points not because I want to re-litigate the Psychic Surge restriction, but because I see the same traits in Quark Drive today. Building is restricted by the speed tiers, and games are formulaic. With the release of Spectrier and Landorus, the best Quark Drive builds have quickly become special hyper offense teams. These teams often include a serious speed demon, like the Raichu-A on neutral karma's team or Gimlaf's Sneasler pick. With priority nerfed and largely absent outside of Zangoose teams, Electric Terrain holds a dominance over the speed tiers that is unmatched. There's no incentive to run other non-priority offense since they lose the speed battle so hard to ETerrain. The top of the ladder is basically all Electric Terrain versus bulky stuff that is seven different flavors of Houndstone + Ting-Lu or Bulletproof. Beyond teambuilding, the games tend to play out pretty similarly, too: Activate Quark Drive, break with Lando, break with Spectrier, try to sweep with the Quark Drive mon, try to sweep with the speed demon. The order is switched sometimes but still, the games often play out as just sending in one mon after the next and letting it do its job. I get that that's how HO works a lot of the time, but these teams feel especially uninteractive to me.
I am not thrilled to write this up. I used to be Quark Drive's biggest fan. It was so flexible, and I really valued that trait in a meta where teams are often straightforward. Shared Power will probably always have some element of rock paper scissors to it, but these terrain teams are more of a matchup fish than I am happy to see.
I bring up these points not because I want to re-litigate the Psychic Surge restriction, but because I see the same traits in Quark Drive today. Building is restricted by the speed tiers, and games are formulaic. With the release of Spectrier and Landorus, the best Quark Drive builds have quickly become special hyper offense teams. These teams often include a serious speed demon, like the Raichu-A on neutral karma's team or Gimlaf's Sneasler pick. With priority nerfed and largely absent outside of Zangoose teams, Electric Terrain holds a dominance over the speed tiers that is unmatched. There's no incentive to run other non-priority offense since they lose the speed battle so hard to ETerrain. The top of the ladder is basically all Electric Terrain versus bulky stuff that is seven different flavors of Houndstone + Ting-Lu or Bulletproof. Beyond teambuilding, the games tend to play out pretty similarly, too: Activate Quark Drive, break with Lando, break with Spectrier, try to sweep with the Quark Drive mon, try to sweep with the speed demon. The order is switched sometimes but still, the games often play out as just sending in one mon after the next and letting it do its job. I get that that's how HO works a lot of the time, but these teams feel especially uninteractive to me.
I am not thrilled to write this up. I used to be Quark Drive's biggest fan. It was so flexible, and I really valued that trait in a meta where teams are often straightforward. Shared Power will probably always have some element of rock paper scissors to it, but these terrain teams are more of a matchup fish than I am happy to see.
I think Spectrier is too much, too. With Tera Fighting it is so hard to keep it from doing big damage every time it gets in safely. The best way to deal with its many sets seems to be offensive pressure. Defensively, it's very had to answer without a Ghost + Bulletproof... and then it turns out to have Dark Pulse and you lose anyway. On the other hand, it's super fun to click buttons with. I think the best sets run Shadow Ball/Tera Blast/Nasty Plot/Substitute like neutral karma posted. Taunt is also super oppressive though and wins some fat matchups that sub doesn't. I am not that impressed by Tera Fairy Draining Kiss. Maybe a janky Tough Claws team would be good though like with Comfey.
I am loving Ho-oh. When Regenerator was freed into restriction, my first thoughts were of the OU fat stuff like Amoonguss, Toxapex, and Alomamola. Pex is really good, but Ho-oh might be the best of the bunch. Just when Iron Valiant received some of the best partners it has ever had, we received a great Valiant check. Ho-oh is a great alternative to Ting-Lu as a specially bulky mon with more offensive presence. I'm still not sure what sets are best, probably the stall sets like InkyDarkBird runs, but the offensive stuff is super fun and feels like a live wire in this specially-oriented meta.
Speaking of which, where is all the stall? Outside of Inky's team I've hardly seen anything. Is Spectrier keeping all the bulky teams down? Seems like the perfect time to run Wo-Chien + Ting-Lu + Chansey.
Where is Deoxys? Is Deoxys even good? I've tried Specs, Life Orb with Lando, and Webs but found all of the teams to be lacking. The mon is hard to get in, very fragile, doesn't donate a useful ability, and as odd as this is to say, might not hit hard enough to justify the slot. Maybe Scarf would be better.
Berries are in a pretty nice spot right now as a bulky style that doesn't completely give up momentum to Spectrier. Besides my Carbink team, I've been running Amnesia Snorlax or Rowap Berry Blissey to beat Spectrier... oof. Berries have given me decent success on ladder, but the climb is frustrating. After you beat people a couple times, they'll sometimes slap a random Unnerve onto their team. That random Galvantula usually compromises their matchup with literally everything else, but I can't say it doesn't work, because they're about to take 35 Elo off of me.
It's pretty interesting the Wo-Chien has disappeared from the meta overnight. You'd think that a specially-bulky mon with a defensive ability could find a place. It has been passed over in favor of Houndstone and Zamazenta. Without multi-hit moves from Calyrex, there's no top physical threat that bypasses Fluffy easily. Poltergeist users like Giratina have fallen off, too, as special offense runs the tier. I think that this special boom is the reason for Zamazenta's usage over Wo-Chien. With special threats to account for, fewer slots can be dedicated to physically bulky mons or abilities. The defensive mons have more hats to wear. Zama's offensive presence is evidently more useful than Wo-Chien's ability to sit there and be bulky.
Dry Skin Toxicroak... Fluffy in the rain... A bulky Uber setting up Calm Minds... I think I've seen this movie before.
We are working on them, as there have been a lot of changes recently on the format and things are being figured out.
And speaking of that, we are planning to suspect test Quark Drive again, so expect news soon.