Type: Grass / Ghost
Abilities: Hospitality | Heatproof (HA)
Stats:
HP: 71
Attack: 60
Defense: 106
Special Attack: 121
Special Defense: 80
Speed: 70
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Notable STAB moves:
- Energy Ball
- Giga Drain
- Hex
- Leaf Storm
- Matcha Gotcha
- Solar Beam
Notable coverage moves:
- Scald
Notable utility moves:
- Curse
- Foul Play
- Imprison
- Memento
- Night Shade
- Pain Split
- Reflect
- Strength Sap
- Stun Spore
- Trick Room
Notable setup moves:
- Calm Mind
- Iron Defense
- Nasty Plot
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Pros and Cons
+ Best Defensive Spinblocker: Nearly all Rapid Spin users most poised to be OU-viable - namely Excadrill, Starmie, and their Megas - struggle against Sinistcha and its Grass typing. Competing Ghost-types are all much more flawed spinblockers - Aegislash and Skeledirge have Ground weaknesses that leave them vulnerable to Excadrill, Mimikyu is vulnerable to Mold Breaker + Iron Head Excadrill, and most other Ghost-types lack recovery moves. Even spinners with niche potential like Quaquaval, Avalugg, and Tsareena struggle against Sinistcha's typing, bulk, and longevity.
+ Amazing Ground Counterplay: Basically restating the above, but Excadrill is sure to be a major feature in this format. The trickle-down effects of eliminating of its competitors, Great Tusk and Iron Treads, open the door for Sinistcha to bring its excellent matchup against Excadrill in SV UU to the forefront of this format. Sinistcha also helpfully answers the returning Gliscor, a renewed Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Diggersby.
+ Recovery: Not only does Sinistcha have reliable recovery, but Strength Sap inflicts a useful debuff on top of more PP than all other recovery moves in the game. Matcha Gotcha tops off Sinistcha's already amazing lonegevity.
+ Power-boosting Item Cuts: Choice Band and Choice Specs being currently unavailable makes Sinistcha even more difficult for offensive Pokemon to break through.
- Bad Speed: Although 70 Speed isn't awful, Sinistcha gets outsped by most offensive Pokemon. Sacrificing bulk investment to outspeed slower Pokemon like Azumarill is a tough trade-off for a wall like Sinistcha.
- Weaknesses to Common Offensive Types: While Heatproof helps Sinistcha not to melt in the face of Fire-types, it does still carry unfortunate weaknesses to strong offensive types like Dark, Ghost, Ice, and Flying in this metagame. Sinistcha's Ice weakness is a pain point in its matchups against spinners that have Ice-type attacks, a group which includes Starmie, Quaquaval, and Avalugg formes.
- Passivity: Limited offensive coverage and a common reliance on status can make Sinistcha fairly inoffensive.
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Potential sets
Calm Mind
Sinistcha @ Leftovers / Colbur Berry / No Item
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Matcha Gotcha / Stun Spore
- Strength Sap
The tea on Sinistcha is that there's really just the one bulky Calm Mind set, but there's some different flavors and nuances to it. Shadow Ball is a reliable and immediately threatening STAB move, but Hex synergizes with Sinistcha's status-inflicting moves and punishes status absorbers like Gliscor and Clefable. Matcha Gotcha keeps Grass-weak Pokemon like Greninja and Tyranitar from switching in against Sinistcha freely, but Stun Spore can provide some alternative utility through speed control and compensating for Sinistcha's own poor Speed. While Sinistcha can get away with running Leftovers, its access to recovery moves opens it up to run alternatives. A Colbur Berry can be instrumental for helping Sinistcha to absorb big Dark-type attacks, often Knock Off, so that it can try to debuff physical attackers like Tyranitar and Kingambit. Running without any item lets Sinistcha dodge Poltergeist from Ceruledge and Aegislash right off the bat, which can make for a nasty surprise for them.
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Potential Teammates
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Spikes and Toxic Spikes Setters: Sinistcha's ability to spinblock so reliably is especially appreciated by Spikes and Toxic Spikes setters. The poison inflicted by Toxic Spikes helps power up Hex, and Sinsitcha's ability to answer Excadrill is especially helpful in keeping Toxic Spikes up.
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Checks to Dark-types: Tinkaton can handle Dark-types like Hydreigon and Weavile for Sinistcha, and it appreciates Sinistcha's own capacity to deal with Ground-types. Both it and Clefable make great Knock Off absorbers for Sinistcha.
Garganacl: Resistances to Ghost and Flying distinguish Garganacl as a rocker partner for Sinistcha, and Sinistcha's Fighting immunity and Ground resistance nicely complement Garganacl's own weaknesses to said types.
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Checks & Counters
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Dark-types: Champions has a lot of Dark-types to start, and many of them can put pressure on Sinistcha with their super effective STAB moves. Hydreigon is arguably the best of any Dark-type at switching into Sinistcha's attacks since it doesn't mind burns or Strength Sap as much as physical attackers like Kingambit or Weavile. Grass-weak Dark-types like Greninja formes, Hisuian Samurott, and Tyranitar formes will have to watch out for Matcha Gotcha, but they can still threaten Sinistcha for major damage.
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Ghost-types: Although Sinistcha doesn't let most of them switch in safely thanks to its own super effective Ghost-type STAB moves, its poor Speed renders it vulnerable to its frequently faster fellow Ghost-types. Hisuian Zoroark gets a special mention as a Ghost-type with a Ghost immunity, but it dislikes switching into Stun Spore or any attack that would make it more difficult to leverage Illusion. Skeledirge also deserves a mention thanks to Unaware, but Shadow Ball can 2HKO it.
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Faster Ice-types and Ice-type Coverage Moves: Alolan Ninetales can set up Aurora Veil or Nasty Plot in front of Sinistcha with little fear thanks to its ability to scare it out with Blizzard. Mamoswine can't really switch into Strength Sap or Matcha Gotcha, but it can overwhelm Sinistcha with STAB Icicle Crash.
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Sinistcha is just on the cusp of being quality in SV OU, so the cut of Gholdengo in Champions really lets it stand out as a spinblocker. Few Pokemon answer Ground- and Fighting-types like Sinistcha can, and Excadrill is almost certainly going to be a common face early on in this format. I can easily see it making a splash early on as a spinblocker, bulky setup sweeper, and wall to common Ground-types.