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Tournament Smogon Premier League IX: Team / Set Dump
- Thread starter col49
- Start date
- Status
I guess I'll post some sets now since i've been looking forward to it, and maybe some general thoughts on the current meta afterwards. This season was obviously very kind to me and I'm excited to see what happens in the future. Anyway here we go:
home turf (Shaymin) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Air Slash
- Synthesis
I invented this set for my RMT originally but ended up using it vs Ajna in my first week of spl. It was more or less the MVP of the game and I feel it's the best shaymin around atm. It hits just about everything except some steels and synth makes it better than ever vs milo. Z-Flare ohkos a good number of offensive threats in the metagame and you can bluff scarf easily with this set as well. HP Rock OHKOs yanmega and does an average of 85% to offensive moltres which I valued a lot. You could arguably replace air slash with psychic or dazzling gleam or earth power but i found the ability to hit other grass types across the board with one move (especially virizion) very appealing.
it takes an expert (Golisopod) @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
- First Impression
- Leech Life
This mon is an animal and I'll never understand why it's C- on the RU VR atm. To me it's a top 10 mon in the current meta and i'm happy it did very well in SPL, often being an MVP of the games it won, which was over half of my games. I can't imagine why "banded fake out xD" or a very manageable ability would turn people off so much, but I'm glad a few people have changed their minds about this incredible mon. It was cool to see feen and TDK use it as well. Omfuga realized it before anyone else but I know he's happy to see goli shine now n_n
Blastoise-Mega (F) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
I used this on a sun team vs Silentverse and fortunately for me it had an incredible matchup vs his bulky team. I figured dropping stab-water was ok on sun and generally people wouldn't expect ice beam+aura sphere on a set so that can easily be a neat surprise in any game.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
I can't take credit for psychic zong since Diogo used it a week or two before I did I believe, though I think heatproof has a real place in our meta atm. For starters, nobody clicks EQ on a zong unless there's definitive proof of it lacking levitate, like spikes or webs hitting it. 1v1ing salazzle and toxicing moltres while taking less than 40% are very cool things, as well as being able to hit a plethora of mons you otherwise couldn't like gardevoir/roserade with just psywave. You can't even beat m-lix with this set so I also don't see a giant point to levitate here. I brought this ability both times I used bronzong and neither time did I end up regretting it, especially since it put me in a win/win situation vs Ajna in the middle of the game vs rotom-heat.
As for general thoughts on the meta, I said it on discord but I think gardevoir and tyrantrum are the best two mons in the meta atm and that opinion definitely wasn't changed by the RU SPL games we saw. I still think gardevoir is the #1 mon atm but tyrantrum is very close. Also, as some have noticed Milotic drastically dipped off halfway through the season and that to me was in large part to people just overprepping for it every week to the point of it often hurting more than helping to bring to a game. As another random thought, I think grass and water are the best two types in the meta atm, with probably grass being the best. Viriz Rose and Shaymin are all top 10 mons atm and it showed imo throughout the weeks. Defog rotom-mow w/ iapapa also seems to be gaining traction. Also, the meta atm definitely seems more enjoyable than RU has in a very long time. I think the bans we've made so far in USUM worked out incredibly well, and I feel like the quality of games increased halfway through this season of SPL because of it. One of the only things I'm surprised by this season is how poorly salazzle has done, as I feel it's one of our best sweepers.
I'm looking forward to seeing what others post, and especially to see some cool new stuffs in the remaining four RU matches in playoffs. It's been a very fun tour for me and I couldn't have asked for much more :3
home turf (Shaymin) @ Grassium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Air Slash
- Synthesis
I invented this set for my RMT originally but ended up using it vs Ajna in my first week of spl. It was more or less the MVP of the game and I feel it's the best shaymin around atm. It hits just about everything except some steels and synth makes it better than ever vs milo. Z-Flare ohkos a good number of offensive threats in the metagame and you can bluff scarf easily with this set as well. HP Rock OHKOs yanmega and does an average of 85% to offensive moltres which I valued a lot. You could arguably replace air slash with psychic or dazzling gleam or earth power but i found the ability to hit other grass types across the board with one move (especially virizion) very appealing.
it takes an expert (Golisopod) @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
- First Impression
- Leech Life
This mon is an animal and I'll never understand why it's C- on the RU VR atm. To me it's a top 10 mon in the current meta and i'm happy it did very well in SPL, often being an MVP of the games it won, which was over half of my games. I can't imagine why "banded fake out xD" or a very manageable ability would turn people off so much, but I'm glad a few people have changed their minds about this incredible mon. It was cool to see feen and TDK use it as well. Omfuga realized it before anyone else but I know he's happy to see goli shine now n_n
Blastoise-Mega (F) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
I used this on a sun team vs Silentverse and fortunately for me it had an incredible matchup vs his bulky team. I figured dropping stab-water was ok on sun and generally people wouldn't expect ice beam+aura sphere on a set so that can easily be a neat surprise in any game.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
I can't take credit for psychic zong since Diogo used it a week or two before I did I believe, though I think heatproof has a real place in our meta atm. For starters, nobody clicks EQ on a zong unless there's definitive proof of it lacking levitate, like spikes or webs hitting it. 1v1ing salazzle and toxicing moltres while taking less than 40% are very cool things, as well as being able to hit a plethora of mons you otherwise couldn't like gardevoir/roserade with just psywave. You can't even beat m-lix with this set so I also don't see a giant point to levitate here. I brought this ability both times I used bronzong and neither time did I end up regretting it, especially since it put me in a win/win situation vs Ajna in the middle of the game vs rotom-heat.
As for general thoughts on the meta, I said it on discord but I think gardevoir and tyrantrum are the best two mons in the meta atm and that opinion definitely wasn't changed by the RU SPL games we saw. I still think gardevoir is the #1 mon atm but tyrantrum is very close. Also, as some have noticed Milotic drastically dipped off halfway through the season and that to me was in large part to people just overprepping for it every week to the point of it often hurting more than helping to bring to a game. As another random thought, I think grass and water are the best two types in the meta atm, with probably grass being the best. Viriz Rose and Shaymin are all top 10 mons atm and it showed imo throughout the weeks. Defog rotom-mow w/ iapapa also seems to be gaining traction. Also, the meta atm definitely seems more enjoyable than RU has in a very long time. I think the bans we've made so far in USUM worked out incredibly well, and I feel like the quality of games increased halfway through this season of SPL because of it. One of the only things I'm surprised by this season is how poorly salazzle has done, as I feel it's one of our best sweepers.
I'm looking forward to seeing what others post, and especially to see some cool new stuffs in the remaining four RU matches in playoffs. It's been a very fun tour for me and I couldn't have asked for much more :3
Ok I'm gonna start by dropping and explaining the teams I built:
vs New Breed
vs soulgazer
vs Ajna
vs Chill Shadow
vs lighthouses
I'm not gonna lie, incredibly disappointed with how I played the first half of this tour. Lots of games I could have won easily ruined cause I just couldn't get in the right mindset. But oh well, I feel like I managed to get past that and don't really regret how I played the games where I actually knew what I was doing lmao. Definitely a learning experience and with the help of my team I managed to improve as a player, so I'm thankful at the Scooters even tho I let them down a lot.
Major shoutouts to: Ajna , lighthouses , Arifeen , EviGaro and Nat for helping me with tests or just taking a look at my teams and shit, and obviously for being good friends.
This was my favorite team to use during its time, I didnt know what to expect from kev so I decided I'd use a powerful core of Specs Espeon paired w/ the super scary DD Kommo-o. Yanmega was starting to become a top tier threat so I ended up adding a Snorlax as a prime check to it, this mon also helps checking almost every special attacker in the tier, standard hazard core of MegaLix and Gligar, and finally scarf shay to revenge kill almost every threat that could get out of hand and hwish either Snorlax, Kommo-o or Espeon later in the game.
I checked all the teams sg used in snake + his past week team and saw a notable Abomasnow weakness so I decided to roll w/ it and pair it with z Durant, aka the most broken mon at the time, to form a powerful offensive core. This was a somewhat awkward team to make cause using Aboma really isn't that easy, especially when Durant was rampaging in the tier, I had to use Gligar + Milotic to soft check that monster. Added Scaf Flygon to let me U-turn into either of the beasts in the tier, and Diancie as a rocker and check to Moltres and Yanmega.
I made this team a lot fatter than my usual builds cause I play Ajna like 50 times a day every day, so I knew I was gonna expect either a dumb offense or a normal balance / bulky offense type of team. I really wanted to use Toxicroak, but the main point of this team was in sub seed Shaymin to force lots of switches and chip everything and Rindo Berry Slowbro which couldn't reveal the tech in the end, but this mon was used to lure in SD Virizion and Scarf Roserad, the latter was a mon Ajna liked to use.
This was a different version of a team I had saved before, except this one had Ninetales over Salazzle, I made the change cause my team was out and I wanted to use a fun mon. It's a volt turn core in Scarf Flygon and Defog Rotom-Mow to get switches into Specs Espeon and NP Ninetales easier. Nothing much to add really, I feel like I could have tried and use techs that CS was weak to, but I figured that since he had col in his team then I'd rather not try and counter style two people and just roll w/ something easy to use.
Now I'm ashamed to admit this, but at this point I just couldn't bother and build a new team. This was a skeleton I made one day but never really worked on it. So to play Diogo I thought I'd give it some finishing touches and use it. Sub Seed Shaymin in these types of teams isn't really something you see a lot but on the same principle as the Ajna team, Diogo liked Bronzong and Dragalge so I figured it'd help scout Drag moves way easier and chip Bronzong or lure it into attacking Shaymin to break the sub and trap it with Band Escavalier. Then Scarf Garde to work as a fighting check and give Hwish support to DD Flygon. Then Taunt rocks Nidoqueen and the usual Mega Blastoise as a spinner.
I'm not gonna lie, incredibly disappointed with how I played the first half of this tour. Lots of games I could have won easily ruined cause I just couldn't get in the right mindset. But oh well, I feel like I managed to get past that and don't really regret how I played the games where I actually knew what I was doing lmao. Definitely a learning experience and with the help of my team I managed to improve as a player, so I'm thankful at the Scooters even tho I let them down a lot.
Major shoutouts to: Ajna , lighthouses , Arifeen , EviGaro and Nat for helping me with tests or just taking a look at my teams and shit, and obviously for being good friends.
Stuffs
Virizion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain
- Substitute
Came up with this after rewatching my game versus SG and being very upset that the fucking virizion was being beaten by milotic simply staying in and clicking toxic as i was forced to cc, this set takes advantage of the fact that doublade isnt really seen anymore and primary virizon counter measures at the time were basically scarfers(more often than not scarf grasses like air slash shayming or rose) and having sub on this really helps alleviate that issue, also sets up on a lot of shit like the obvious bulky waters, rotom mow, some gligar variants and even beng able to muscle through some fighting checks like cress and florges. Desperately wants pursuit trapping though, id recommend aero for this.
Drapion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
Didnt get to face a SINGLE cresselia which is frustrating but this set was made as a way of realibly trapping that, seeing as how cb drap usually just gets recovered on and then dealt with this set can catch a lot of people off guard. Its also nice for pressuring fatter builds that rely on status. Needs something to come into/take advantage of mega steelix though.
Jellicent (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Scald
This came to life when i needed something to check both salazzle and gatr at the same time, pretty solid mon overall, i feel like getting the burn on your usual drapions and the like can be very helpful for a potential offensive psychic paired with this(in my case it was sigil). Add some offensive grass checks tho cos u will be giving out a lot of free turns to those.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Protect
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Good blastoise check for fatter teams and a nice alternative to spdef milotic that can provide wish support for fatter builds. More specifically i think this should be paired with curse lix or lax teams as those desperately want some cleric support and having a guaranteed stoise switch in on your steelix teams is always very nice.
Very shallow descriptions because im pretty lazy, will get to posting teams maybe on a later date.
Overall i think my spl experience was mostly negative, but thats honestly due to me not having the best mindset for the tournament given some irl circumstances and the admittedly very high standards i set for team tours after my amazing snake draft experience, wish i played better when it counted but also wish i wasnt so hard on myself.
Also congrats to Nat for going 5-0, very impressive stuff.
Virizion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain
- Substitute
Came up with this after rewatching my game versus SG and being very upset that the fucking virizion was being beaten by milotic simply staying in and clicking toxic as i was forced to cc, this set takes advantage of the fact that doublade isnt really seen anymore and primary virizon counter measures at the time were basically scarfers(more often than not scarf grasses like air slash shayming or rose) and having sub on this really helps alleviate that issue, also sets up on a lot of shit like the obvious bulky waters, rotom mow, some gligar variants and even beng able to muscle through some fighting checks like cress and florges. Desperately wants pursuit trapping though, id recommend aero for this.
Drapion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
Didnt get to face a SINGLE cresselia which is frustrating but this set was made as a way of realibly trapping that, seeing as how cb drap usually just gets recovered on and then dealt with this set can catch a lot of people off guard. Its also nice for pressuring fatter builds that rely on status. Needs something to come into/take advantage of mega steelix though.
Jellicent (M) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Scald
This came to life when i needed something to check both salazzle and gatr at the same time, pretty solid mon overall, i feel like getting the burn on your usual drapions and the like can be very helpful for a potential offensive psychic paired with this(in my case it was sigil). Add some offensive grass checks tho cos u will be giving out a lot of free turns to those.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Protect
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Good blastoise check for fatter teams and a nice alternative to spdef milotic that can provide wish support for fatter builds. More specifically i think this should be paired with curse lix or lax teams as those desperately want some cleric support and having a guaranteed stoise switch in on your steelix teams is always very nice.
Very shallow descriptions because im pretty lazy, will get to posting teams maybe on a later date.
Overall i think my spl experience was mostly negative, but thats honestly due to me not having the best mindset for the tournament given some irl circumstances and the admittedly very high standards i set for team tours after my amazing snake draft experience, wish i played better when it counted but also wish i wasnt so hard on myself.
Also congrats to Nat for going 5-0, very impressive stuff.
Slowking @ Psychium Z
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Nasty Plot
- Scald
- Psyshock
I came with this set when i needed to start in RU for the second week vs New Breed, his bulky offensive style was perfect to abuse of OTR things (shoutouts llamas for the suggestion) so i figured that slowking would be a good call. We were in a moment where milotic was literally everywhere and i was also p sure i was gonna face it so i chose psychium to abuse of a possible try to check it and actually worked perfectly since he had no way to stop it.
I didnt really build after those first two weeks in RU so i dont have any other tect to show rn, i had some weird scarf mons to lure Kommo-O/Durant back then like Goodra/Mystic Fire Mismagius, as well Colbur + HP Fire Bronzong (which i brought in that same Slowking team) but only it. I also came with a Electrium Durant to lure milo when people started to use full def on that but we dont have It anymore so actually w/e hehe.
Last edited:
Since my team its out from SPL I want to share some of my teams that I made during that time, I had lot of fun with my team, thanks specially to Windsong and SilentVerse for all the metagame talk and fun time during SPL period.
Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Parting Shot
- Defog
- Ice Beam
Also I wanted to share this pokemon with everyone else, Silvally-Steel its a decent pivot + defogger user which its a great Gardevoir check, and fits well as "steel-pivot-defog" user, niche but its really cool.
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Refresh
- Haze
- Recover
Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Defog
Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Trick
- Healing Wish
Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 72 SpD / 188 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Toxic
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Refresh
- Haze
- Recover
Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Defog
Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Trick
- Healing Wish
Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 72 SpD / 188 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Foul Play
- Toxic
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Synthesis
- Taunt
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
Meloetta @ Electrium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Drain Punch
- Spikes
- Synthesis
- Taunt
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
Meloetta @ Electrium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
Ninetales @ Firium Z
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Psyshock
Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- U-turn
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
- Dark Pulse
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Psyshock
Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- U-turn
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin
- Dark Pulse
the poison sky (Archeops) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Head Smash
- Endeavor
new earth (Glalie-Mega) @ Glalitite
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Ice Shard
- Spikes
- Explosion
a golden crown (Klinklang) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Wild Charge
- Magnet Rise
jezebels (Gardevoir) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Trick
kissed by fire (Salazzle) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Substitute
garden of bones (Honchkrow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Roost
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Head Smash
- Endeavor
new earth (Glalie-Mega) @ Glalitite
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Ice Shard
- Spikes
- Explosion
a golden crown (Klinklang) @ Electrium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Wild Charge
- Magnet Rise
jezebels (Gardevoir) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Trick
kissed by fire (Salazzle) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Substitute
garden of bones (Honchkrow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Roost
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Houndoom @ Power Herb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Solar Beam
Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Aura Sphere
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Houndoom @ Power Herb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Nasty Plot
- Solar Beam
Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Aura Sphere
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Virizion @ Grassium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic
Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Aura Sphere
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Roserade @ Grassium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Protect
Zygarde-10% @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Toxic
Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Aura Sphere
Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
Roserade @ Grassium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Silvally-Steel @ Steel Memory
Ability: RKS System
EVs: 248 HP / 124 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Multi-Attack
- Parting Shot
- Defog
- Ice Beam
Also I wanted to share this pokemon with everyone else, Silvally-Steel its a decent pivot + defogger user which its a great Gardevoir check, and fits well as "steel-pivot-defog" user, niche but its really cool.
ayte, guess i'm bumping this after the unprecedented double semis tie with some of my own. similarly, i'd like to go ahead and invite Chill Shadow to share his experiences (as well as the other players once the second tie break has been resolved), thoughts, and ofc. sets / dumps that they might feel comfortable divulging.
personally, i had fun this season, even if it came at the 'expense' of not playing this one; for as chill as it can be playing the non-affiliated helper as i was doing for the first half of the season, there is some merit to stepping past that and pursuing a bit more (would have been fine to get carried too ig). i'll opt out of making general comments on the meta, since i'm making two big boy posts atm and i figure one can divulge a fair amount from the details on sets and the like i'll get into, but on the whole i feel it's in a pretty good way rn, and in spite of some trends i'd deem a bit foolhardy i think it's one of the better sm tiers. i was feeling mildly inspired, but what i'm going to discuss vary from entirely fresh and simple edits on the standard, so hopefully i can provide enough reason for each that it all feels valid. in no particular order:
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 232 HP / 124 Atk / 144 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Toxic / Screech
this was born out of a reasonable distaste for the application of curse + sr lix. while i won't dismiss the validity of the set, i have felt the ability to ensure sr in the long term is greatly exaggerated, beating ~2 defoggers in gligar + buzz in the reasonably short term in exchange for being incapable of pressuring moltres, rotom formes, bulky waters and more in any significant way. to a lesser extent i was also put off by the often noted french benefit of checking a lax, as oftentimes the pace set by a curselax team allowed for it to fairly easily outlast this set (with notable exceptions, such as the one showcased by diogo in the addition of vaporeon). this edit strives to maximize its positive match-ups, opting out of heavy slam as a move i would ultimately deem a luxury in favour of ice fang, which here 2hkos both 0 / 4 and 248 / 0 rotom-c w/o triggering iapapa and continues to pressure gligar, effectively stalling out roost pp in a vacuum. tox is obviously the more broad utility move here, but screech replicates that coverage of snorlax while also ensuring steelix's performance against the most obscenely pdef invested of gligar.
Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Dragon Tail
- Ice Beam
as it's always been, the ev spread is very malleable so i won't bother with the specifics there, but the core concept of this is pretty nice and generally unexplored at this time. i find many balances tend to strike a somewhat off balance in their attempts to remain defensively sound and incorporate tools to push through opposing, slightly defensive builds. oftentimes i feel players get bogged down by defensive core + type cohesive beater, when minute techs such as this can push advantage rather effectively as well. the notion here is obviously to pair it with spikes, with the roserade stand-by being validated nicely here at a time where mandibuzz has rather thoroughly cut its usage. the boost in power you pick up passively through opposing defogs really make milo a hassle to navigate for the opponent, since the usual type-neutrals are being belted in a way they never tended to and the usual grass pivots are thrashed by a +2 ib (as far as traditional rotom-c being ohkoed outright, with rose barely fairing any better). i touched upon it in brief elsewhere, but i felt the stark leap away from milo in the second half of this season was a bit of an over-correction on the part of players, as it to me is as strong as ever, and continues to be on of the most self-sufficient and curmudgeonly waters.
Jynx @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 200 HP / 96 Def / 28 SpA / 48 SpD / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Mean Look
- Protect / Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
i was never quite able to convince anybody to pursue this particular set, but i do firmly stand by its potency in this meta and especially the more milo-dense one. after tinkering w/upteen ways to cheese any circulating milo set, i finally landed on this gem; jynx is capable of pretty consistently hitting its defensive targets due to the potency of a solid ice stab at this time, and between that and a decent speed stat + special bulk it doesn't totally dead itself in non-optimal match-ups. traditional bulky waters and bronzong can both pretty consistently be trapped here, and even the more iffy switches have their outs (esca switches into psong, protect to scout, mean look and live if it locks pursuit, trade / jynx is ev'ed to live +1 bslam from lax). it also is ev'ed to live m-toise dark pulse, buzz's knock off, and 2 stab foul plays ~93% of the time.
Exeggutor-Alola @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 128 HP / 80 Atk / 216 SpA / 84 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Draco Meteor
- Wood Hammer
- Flamethrower
mind, this was far more vicious at the first stages of the tour, but i feel it is still a very usable and even good pokemon atm. i was drawn to alolan egg for its ability to exploit the various grass locks that were forced by balances at the time of, specifically advocating for its use by soulgazer in his game v.new breed. while this is perhaps less common now, eggy is still rather difficult to work around, especially when propped against a beater that can effectively syphon advantage off the trick room it can set (i paired it w/cb pangoro to account for the concessions made to zong and buzz). having the leniency to go mixed is really great in preventing pokemon like av king and garde from buffering one out for the team while still allowing for the more versatile nuke in devasting drake. the spread here ensures the ohko on standard av king after sr (plus garde after 2 sr switches ~94% of the time) and the ability to live 2 timid m-toise dark pulses from full.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 144 HP / 16 Def / 148 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
bastiontoise, the fisherman's apprentice. the inspiration for this one comes from the various issues i felt plague a 'standard' diancie balance at this time: gligar defogs for free every time, scarf rose balances nab layers too easily, and nine times of ten you're losing out in the chip game b.c your cleric doesn't afford itself wish. this blastoise allows you leeway on almost all fronts, providing a reliable spinner that can punish a gligar free turn well w/o sacrificing sustainability in the face of a long-term game vs.something like a buzz balance. while you do have to engage in lengthier cycles, this blastoise allows you the liberty to play the long game v.a variety of pokemon, fishing for the burn and thereafter a flinch v.a milo in such a manner that statistically favours you in all situations beyond mirror coat, while attaining secondary value in sitting in on stallbreak buzz and loosely functioning as one might hope for in a bulky water.
Noivern @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 168 HP / 40 Def / 88 SpA / 4 SpD / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Super Fang / U-turn
- Hurricane
as i might've mentioned, i'm very pro-noivern rn; while it isn't quite the crobat facsimile i would've liked, this is a pokemon that is supremely versatile in play and fills such a crucial niche that i can't help but feel it should see a large uptick in play. this particular set was in the initial draft of the webs team that chillshadow brought v.nat, though there are a few good permutations that can incorporate lo, z fly, and so forth. this one in particular is ev'ed to ohko bewear from full and switch into 'mons like virizion and rising meta threat cb goli well (252+ Atk Choice Band Golisopod Leech Life vs. 168 HP / 40 Def Noivern: 120-141 [33.9 - 39.9%] -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery), even granting the freedom to live mixed aboma ice shard + the proceeding hail turn should it become necessary.
Araquanid @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 212 HP / 148 Atk / 148 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Magic Coat
- Mirror Coat
tweaking the webs formula has been something of a recurring pet project for me over this season, as i do feel it is really potent atm and underperforms largely on the merit of poor compartmentalization. while i had felt that perhaps one of the most consistent picks in terms of maintaining its own webs and providing ulterior purpose had been webs + qd ribombee, a set i was tweaking with Ban Manaphy at the time, our particular variation was in need of something will a bit more midgame presence. this set was my shot at optimizing araquanid's performance as a hazards setter and i'm fairly satisfied with it; it's ev'ed to ohko espeon and 2hko even max / max gligar, magic coat prevents a buzz from trying to cheese it via taunt, and w/the given spread it ko's 4 / 0 blastoise through the combination of mirror coating dark pulse + liquidation, obviously living two. while sash is ultimately superfluous in many cases with this iteration, it is not gainful to the point where i wouldn't want to utility of it vs., say, a tyrantrum lead. give it custap when we get it though, for sure.
Gigalith @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP / 216 Atk / 80 SpD / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
- Superpower / Rock Blast
- Earthquake / Rock Blast
this one got used against feliburn in one of the later weeks. i really enjoy the utility this set offers in the current metagame, buffering out hits from many beaters of choice and offering up a cool 1-2 punch alongside stoutland (mine originally touting 3 atk howl, later opted out for band). in addition, gigalith has utility of being able to ko milotic outright via explosion + sand damage, an option its main competition in rhyperior can only attempt to reciprocate w/rock wrecker (which does fall short w/o sr support, but i would generally encourage b.c its one of the better final moveslot picks), setting up all sorts of partners, contextually blastoise and moltres. the spd investment seeks specifically to live two specs yanmega bug buzzes.
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 180 HP / 40 Def / 184 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Psychic
this one pulls from part of a longer conversation i had w/hotncold discussing the merits of gama's otr king (which i did rip almost wholesale for our week 9, so shouts him haha). while we both agreed it was a good pick for the game, both of us shared some hang-ups with its tendency to just get weathered down by your average haze milo, which got me experimenting. mind, this set like the blastoise before it does operate in some small amount of odds fishing, but it does so in a way that strives to maximize those odds. twave allows slowking to not only improve its general utility, being able to paralyze a mid-tier pokemon to effectively pressure it thereafter, but also gives it the ability to strong-arm through that milo by outpacing and 2hkoing w/+2 psychic. this forces even the most un-cheesable variant of haze + refresh into cycles where it is almost entirely disallowed from attacking the king at any point, allowing you leniency in grabbing that one key fp turn. decent para support also improves the performances of our slew of strong beaters circling the 235-284 speed range, which is all the better.
Minior @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Shields Down
EVs: 172 HP / 164 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Substitute
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
dredged this one up from early-ish sm with a couple tweaks, pulling it out for our game v.the sharks. earnestly a pretty devastating pokemon, though in this current environment i can totally understand the hang-ups folks might have about a pokemon that has to so fully commit to a sweep. basically, this is one of the most dangerous pokemon to exploit a gligar with, and in a post-milo meta that we seemed to experience at the time of its use i felt it to be a perfect fit. meant to be paired with a capable pursuit user to help remove or greatly weaken zong (contextually cb drap, which also helped chip lix / knock waters), you're basically striving to open up that free turn v.gligar or a normal / ground lock to set up and go in. the spread provided i feel open up as many opportunities as possible for this, surviving even a +2 acidic downpour via salazzle from full (as well as various other common scenarios, ex: scarfgon outrage after sr) and outpacing both scarf ttrum in +2 shields up form and everything past yanmega in shields down unboosted. while it didn't quite hit the match-up we were looking for, perhaps due in part to dodmen picking up building that week, i do stand by it as a very worthwhile pokemon.
Shaymin @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 176 HP / 72 Def / 152 SpA / 108 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
hardly a fresh take on the pokemon, but conceptually i think there's enough there and in light of the manner this meta has been trending i figured it would be alright to talk about. bulkier shaymin should 100% be getting more play at a time when running max speed has never been less essential and the benefits of being able to play liberally into buzz, blastoise, etc. is great. this spread in particular hones in on viriz a bit, always living 2 cc's after sr and ko'ing a -1 one w/air slash after sr, but a lot can be done with this pokemon that i feel gets unexplored. leech + tect is also particularly nice atm, punishing the choice-heavy trends set rn in addition to allowing a buffer of sorts for pokemon to sneak into the escavalier and bronzong (more important for something like a non-drap pursuiter, since it removes the option of tect + attack chipping againt the pursuit lock). great pokemon for pushing an offensive agenda and ofc it is another great fisherman for those looking to optimize odds.
e:
Gardevoir @ Metronome
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Taunt
totally slipped my mind when initially drafting this up, apologies. this is a set i feel does compete pretty heavily with the specs variant, since most of the conventional checks and counters aren't too reliant upon exploiting a lock, the flexibility of it in conditioning certain responses is pretty unique. ostensibly this set looks to achieve something similar to specs, using speed tier and natural bluff to bear in on common cores, dropping some immediacy for the ability to encourage certain responses off the expectation of a scarf set. this can manifest in a few key ways, the most notable of which being the pursuit turn from an esca or drap, the recover from a milo or similar all-purpose defensive lynchpin, or even the rose / queen looking to make use of a free turn in the presumed moonblast lock.
s.o the ruiners for having me, as well as the other teams that hosted me beforehand. appreciate y'all
personally, i had fun this season, even if it came at the 'expense' of not playing this one; for as chill as it can be playing the non-affiliated helper as i was doing for the first half of the season, there is some merit to stepping past that and pursuing a bit more (would have been fine to get carried too ig). i'll opt out of making general comments on the meta, since i'm making two big boy posts atm and i figure one can divulge a fair amount from the details on sets and the like i'll get into, but on the whole i feel it's in a pretty good way rn, and in spite of some trends i'd deem a bit foolhardy i think it's one of the better sm tiers. i was feeling mildly inspired, but what i'm going to discuss vary from entirely fresh and simple edits on the standard, so hopefully i can provide enough reason for each that it all feels valid. in no particular order:
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 232 HP / 124 Atk / 144 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Toxic / Screech
this was born out of a reasonable distaste for the application of curse + sr lix. while i won't dismiss the validity of the set, i have felt the ability to ensure sr in the long term is greatly exaggerated, beating ~2 defoggers in gligar + buzz in the reasonably short term in exchange for being incapable of pressuring moltres, rotom formes, bulky waters and more in any significant way. to a lesser extent i was also put off by the often noted french benefit of checking a lax, as oftentimes the pace set by a curselax team allowed for it to fairly easily outlast this set (with notable exceptions, such as the one showcased by diogo in the addition of vaporeon). this edit strives to maximize its positive match-ups, opting out of heavy slam as a move i would ultimately deem a luxury in favour of ice fang, which here 2hkos both 0 / 4 and 248 / 0 rotom-c w/o triggering iapapa and continues to pressure gligar, effectively stalling out roost pp in a vacuum. tox is obviously the more broad utility move here, but screech replicates that coverage of snorlax while also ensuring steelix's performance against the most obscenely pdef invested of gligar.
Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Dragon Tail
- Ice Beam
as it's always been, the ev spread is very malleable so i won't bother with the specifics there, but the core concept of this is pretty nice and generally unexplored at this time. i find many balances tend to strike a somewhat off balance in their attempts to remain defensively sound and incorporate tools to push through opposing, slightly defensive builds. oftentimes i feel players get bogged down by defensive core + type cohesive beater, when minute techs such as this can push advantage rather effectively as well. the notion here is obviously to pair it with spikes, with the roserade stand-by being validated nicely here at a time where mandibuzz has rather thoroughly cut its usage. the boost in power you pick up passively through opposing defogs really make milo a hassle to navigate for the opponent, since the usual type-neutrals are being belted in a way they never tended to and the usual grass pivots are thrashed by a +2 ib (as far as traditional rotom-c being ohkoed outright, with rose barely fairing any better). i touched upon it in brief elsewhere, but i felt the stark leap away from milo in the second half of this season was a bit of an over-correction on the part of players, as it to me is as strong as ever, and continues to be on of the most self-sufficient and curmudgeonly waters.
Jynx @ Leftovers
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 200 HP / 96 Def / 28 SpA / 48 SpD / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Mean Look
- Protect / Lovely Kiss
- Ice Beam
i was never quite able to convince anybody to pursue this particular set, but i do firmly stand by its potency in this meta and especially the more milo-dense one. after tinkering w/upteen ways to cheese any circulating milo set, i finally landed on this gem; jynx is capable of pretty consistently hitting its defensive targets due to the potency of a solid ice stab at this time, and between that and a decent speed stat + special bulk it doesn't totally dead itself in non-optimal match-ups. traditional bulky waters and bronzong can both pretty consistently be trapped here, and even the more iffy switches have their outs (esca switches into psong, protect to scout, mean look and live if it locks pursuit, trade / jynx is ev'ed to live +1 bslam from lax). it also is ev'ed to live m-toise dark pulse, buzz's knock off, and 2 stab foul plays ~93% of the time.
Exeggutor-Alola @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 128 HP / 80 Atk / 216 SpA / 84 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Draco Meteor
- Wood Hammer
- Flamethrower
mind, this was far more vicious at the first stages of the tour, but i feel it is still a very usable and even good pokemon atm. i was drawn to alolan egg for its ability to exploit the various grass locks that were forced by balances at the time of, specifically advocating for its use by soulgazer in his game v.new breed. while this is perhaps less common now, eggy is still rather difficult to work around, especially when propped against a beater that can effectively syphon advantage off the trick room it can set (i paired it w/cb pangoro to account for the concessions made to zong and buzz). having the leniency to go mixed is really great in preventing pokemon like av king and garde from buffering one out for the team while still allowing for the more versatile nuke in devasting drake. the spread here ensures the ohko on standard av king after sr (plus garde after 2 sr switches ~94% of the time) and the ability to live 2 timid m-toise dark pulses from full.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 144 HP / 16 Def / 148 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
bastiontoise, the fisherman's apprentice. the inspiration for this one comes from the various issues i felt plague a 'standard' diancie balance at this time: gligar defogs for free every time, scarf rose balances nab layers too easily, and nine times of ten you're losing out in the chip game b.c your cleric doesn't afford itself wish. this blastoise allows you leeway on almost all fronts, providing a reliable spinner that can punish a gligar free turn well w/o sacrificing sustainability in the face of a long-term game vs.something like a buzz balance. while you do have to engage in lengthier cycles, this blastoise allows you the liberty to play the long game v.a variety of pokemon, fishing for the burn and thereafter a flinch v.a milo in such a manner that statistically favours you in all situations beyond mirror coat, while attaining secondary value in sitting in on stallbreak buzz and loosely functioning as one might hope for in a bulky water.
Noivern @ Leftovers
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 168 HP / 40 Def / 88 SpA / 4 SpD / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Roost
- Super Fang / U-turn
- Hurricane
as i might've mentioned, i'm very pro-noivern rn; while it isn't quite the crobat facsimile i would've liked, this is a pokemon that is supremely versatile in play and fills such a crucial niche that i can't help but feel it should see a large uptick in play. this particular set was in the initial draft of the webs team that chillshadow brought v.nat, though there are a few good permutations that can incorporate lo, z fly, and so forth. this one in particular is ev'ed to ohko bewear from full and switch into 'mons like virizion and rising meta threat cb goli well (252+ Atk Choice Band Golisopod Leech Life vs. 168 HP / 40 Def Noivern: 120-141 [33.9 - 39.9%] -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery), even granting the freedom to live mixed aboma ice shard + the proceeding hail turn should it become necessary.
Araquanid @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 212 HP / 148 Atk / 148 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sticky Web
- Liquidation
- Magic Coat
- Mirror Coat
tweaking the webs formula has been something of a recurring pet project for me over this season, as i do feel it is really potent atm and underperforms largely on the merit of poor compartmentalization. while i had felt that perhaps one of the most consistent picks in terms of maintaining its own webs and providing ulterior purpose had been webs + qd ribombee, a set i was tweaking with Ban Manaphy at the time, our particular variation was in need of something will a bit more midgame presence. this set was my shot at optimizing araquanid's performance as a hazards setter and i'm fairly satisfied with it; it's ev'ed to ohko espeon and 2hko even max / max gligar, magic coat prevents a buzz from trying to cheese it via taunt, and w/the given spread it ko's 4 / 0 blastoise through the combination of mirror coating dark pulse + liquidation, obviously living two. while sash is ultimately superfluous in many cases with this iteration, it is not gainful to the point where i wouldn't want to utility of it vs., say, a tyrantrum lead. give it custap when we get it though, for sure.
Gigalith @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 160 HP / 216 Atk / 80 SpD / 52 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
- Superpower / Rock Blast
- Earthquake / Rock Blast
this one got used against feliburn in one of the later weeks. i really enjoy the utility this set offers in the current metagame, buffering out hits from many beaters of choice and offering up a cool 1-2 punch alongside stoutland (mine originally touting 3 atk howl, later opted out for band). in addition, gigalith has utility of being able to ko milotic outright via explosion + sand damage, an option its main competition in rhyperior can only attempt to reciprocate w/rock wrecker (which does fall short w/o sr support, but i would generally encourage b.c its one of the better final moveslot picks), setting up all sorts of partners, contextually blastoise and moltres. the spd investment seeks specifically to live two specs yanmega bug buzzes.
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 180 HP / 40 Def / 184 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Psychic
this one pulls from part of a longer conversation i had w/hotncold discussing the merits of gama's otr king (which i did rip almost wholesale for our week 9, so shouts him haha). while we both agreed it was a good pick for the game, both of us shared some hang-ups with its tendency to just get weathered down by your average haze milo, which got me experimenting. mind, this set like the blastoise before it does operate in some small amount of odds fishing, but it does so in a way that strives to maximize those odds. twave allows slowking to not only improve its general utility, being able to paralyze a mid-tier pokemon to effectively pressure it thereafter, but also gives it the ability to strong-arm through that milo by outpacing and 2hkoing w/+2 psychic. this forces even the most un-cheesable variant of haze + refresh into cycles where it is almost entirely disallowed from attacking the king at any point, allowing you leniency in grabbing that one key fp turn. decent para support also improves the performances of our slew of strong beaters circling the 235-284 speed range, which is all the better.
Minior @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Shields Down
EVs: 172 HP / 164 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Substitute
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
dredged this one up from early-ish sm with a couple tweaks, pulling it out for our game v.the sharks. earnestly a pretty devastating pokemon, though in this current environment i can totally understand the hang-ups folks might have about a pokemon that has to so fully commit to a sweep. basically, this is one of the most dangerous pokemon to exploit a gligar with, and in a post-milo meta that we seemed to experience at the time of its use i felt it to be a perfect fit. meant to be paired with a capable pursuit user to help remove or greatly weaken zong (contextually cb drap, which also helped chip lix / knock waters), you're basically striving to open up that free turn v.gligar or a normal / ground lock to set up and go in. the spread provided i feel open up as many opportunities as possible for this, surviving even a +2 acidic downpour via salazzle from full (as well as various other common scenarios, ex: scarfgon outrage after sr) and outpacing both scarf ttrum in +2 shields up form and everything past yanmega in shields down unboosted. while it didn't quite hit the match-up we were looking for, perhaps due in part to dodmen picking up building that week, i do stand by it as a very worthwhile pokemon.
Shaymin @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 176 HP / 72 Def / 152 SpA / 108 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
hardly a fresh take on the pokemon, but conceptually i think there's enough there and in light of the manner this meta has been trending i figured it would be alright to talk about. bulkier shaymin should 100% be getting more play at a time when running max speed has never been less essential and the benefits of being able to play liberally into buzz, blastoise, etc. is great. this spread in particular hones in on viriz a bit, always living 2 cc's after sr and ko'ing a -1 one w/air slash after sr, but a lot can be done with this pokemon that i feel gets unexplored. leech + tect is also particularly nice atm, punishing the choice-heavy trends set rn in addition to allowing a buffer of sorts for pokemon to sneak into the escavalier and bronzong (more important for something like a non-drap pursuiter, since it removes the option of tect + attack chipping againt the pursuit lock). great pokemon for pushing an offensive agenda and ofc it is another great fisherman for those looking to optimize odds.
e:
Gardevoir @ Metronome
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Taunt
totally slipped my mind when initially drafting this up, apologies. this is a set i feel does compete pretty heavily with the specs variant, since most of the conventional checks and counters aren't too reliant upon exploiting a lock, the flexibility of it in conditioning certain responses is pretty unique. ostensibly this set looks to achieve something similar to specs, using speed tier and natural bluff to bear in on common cores, dropping some immediacy for the ability to encourage certain responses off the expectation of a scarf set. this can manifest in a few key ways, the most notable of which being the pursuit turn from an esca or drap, the recover from a milo or similar all-purpose defensive lynchpin, or even the rose / queen looking to make use of a free turn in the presumed moonblast lock.
s.o the ruiners for having me, as well as the other teams that hosted me beforehand. appreciate y'all
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i was contemplating when a good time would be to break out this post, but i have time tonight so i figure i can cover it. most of these sets werent used in the tournament but i either used them in seasonals, or i just theorymonned them and figured they were worth sharing. ill start chronologically from back right after auction though it will be a lazy read
Slowking @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Dragon Tail / Ice Beam / Thunder Wave
this set had come about during the first few weeks when durant was super dominant. i figure i can still work in this metagame though given escavalier is gaining traction again. tanga was used to tank an x-scissor, and subsequently fuck it up with fire coverage. fthrower was more than enough back then because durant has piss poor spd obviously, but fire blast may be more worthwhile to punish grasses tryna come in. at this point kommo-o was still around as well so dragon tail seemed nice to ruin its boosts, but ice beam can be used to punish dragons, or you can just run thunder wave to support a nuke teammate like yanmega.
Rotom-Frost @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-o-Wisp / Defog
- Blizzard
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
had seen rotom-mow and heat gettin love with the defog wave, so i figured building with the freezer could be an interesting twist. not much to say about this one, but "boltbeam" coverage is super good in ru, especially with blizzard as a move just being a fucking pain to switch into. of course being rocks weaks suck, and unlike heat its defensive typing isnt the best either to somewhat make up for it, but i think this is a neat anti meta poke anyhow, because really your best ways to switch into it are trying to get the prediction correctly, and like the other rotom formes its annoying as fuck to try to do so because volt switch is just a move thats difficult to punish right now given how the non-gligar volt immunes are pretty easy to wear down, and the prospect of blizzard in itself just shifts the momentum in your favor provided you can keep hazards off.
Cresselia @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 48 SpA / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Moonblast / Toxic / Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
this follows a similar premise of the slowking set, cress works a bit differently though because its not as susceptible to hazards....you know, the usual cress shit. i honestly cant remember what the fuck the evs do here but i know they were for something.
Ribombee @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Pollen Puff
- U-turn
- Psychic / Hidden Power [Fire]
a bit of an unexplored mon - usually if you'd see this it'd probably be something of a sash webs variant (underrated as fuck btw), but this is a cool thing to use as well because while gardevoir can also do the whole fairy specs shbang, ribombee has a wayyyyy better speed tier and uturn to boot. admittedly it takes a bit more support to use than garde, being rocks weak and having literally no bulk, but for those looking for a fast nuke this is a good pick for some teams, preferably with something to break steels like bewear.
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy / Soundproof (for yanmega because ghosts are nonexistent, just be careful about garde trace shenanigans)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overheat
- Surf
- Shadow Ball / Ice Beam / Any other move because it doesnt matter youre fucking clicking boomburst
honestly this mon is really underrated but its also inconsistent at the same time, i just love this thing so fucking much, because it just breaks everything. 235 isnt a good speed tier by any means but its enough to outrun milotic, gligar, cresselia, the usual goons and just invalidate them. it does 35-42 to standard megalix which doesnt sound like much but then you remember that lix is a mon thats gonna be chipped constantly throughout the game because its just hard pressed to take on so many things, which makes it much more important to beat down. obviously this thing has its flaws but if you can bring it in safely it is such a fucking menace
FANETO (Medicham) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch
- Psycho Cut
hey look its yet another mon to break balance, who wouldve guessed. like exploud this thing is annoying as shit to switch into, however you have the added bonus of bp which means after a decent amount of chip gardevoir drops. psycho cut is here over zen headbutt because of bewear (a little unimportant given that hjk always ohkoes, but its nice to not need to risk stuff u know?)
LAUGHIN TO THE BNK (Gardevoir) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Destiny Bond
always found gardevoirs last move slot on scarf to be kind of irrelevant, as in you will literally never click it, ever. destiny bond isnt exactly a hard fix to that, but it means that you can potentially trade off with a steelix or an escav which paves the way for other shit to clean. so really its like a move you'll use maybe 2/10 times instead of 0/10 times but it still works!
Necrozma @ Rockium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Power Gem
- Heat Wave
cm necrozma is a fun wincon to use on more offensive teams, but of course that pesky piece of shit mandibuzz comes around to ruin your day. thats where z power gem comes in, because you nuke that bitch. yeah thats pretty much it.
thanks to everyone who helped me in building, there are a few more where this came from but i figure its better to keep it under wraps for now
Slowking @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Dragon Tail / Ice Beam / Thunder Wave
this set had come about during the first few weeks when durant was super dominant. i figure i can still work in this metagame though given escavalier is gaining traction again. tanga was used to tank an x-scissor, and subsequently fuck it up with fire coverage. fthrower was more than enough back then because durant has piss poor spd obviously, but fire blast may be more worthwhile to punish grasses tryna come in. at this point kommo-o was still around as well so dragon tail seemed nice to ruin its boosts, but ice beam can be used to punish dragons, or you can just run thunder wave to support a nuke teammate like yanmega.
Rotom-Frost @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-o-Wisp / Defog
- Blizzard
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
had seen rotom-mow and heat gettin love with the defog wave, so i figured building with the freezer could be an interesting twist. not much to say about this one, but "boltbeam" coverage is super good in ru, especially with blizzard as a move just being a fucking pain to switch into. of course being rocks weaks suck, and unlike heat its defensive typing isnt the best either to somewhat make up for it, but i think this is a neat anti meta poke anyhow, because really your best ways to switch into it are trying to get the prediction correctly, and like the other rotom formes its annoying as fuck to try to do so because volt switch is just a move thats difficult to punish right now given how the non-gligar volt immunes are pretty easy to wear down, and the prospect of blizzard in itself just shifts the momentum in your favor provided you can keep hazards off.
Cresselia @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 48 SpA / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Moonblast / Toxic / Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
this follows a similar premise of the slowking set, cress works a bit differently though because its not as susceptible to hazards....you know, the usual cress shit. i honestly cant remember what the fuck the evs do here but i know they were for something.
Ribombee @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Pollen Puff
- U-turn
- Psychic / Hidden Power [Fire]
a bit of an unexplored mon - usually if you'd see this it'd probably be something of a sash webs variant (underrated as fuck btw), but this is a cool thing to use as well because while gardevoir can also do the whole fairy specs shbang, ribombee has a wayyyyy better speed tier and uturn to boot. admittedly it takes a bit more support to use than garde, being rocks weak and having literally no bulk, but for those looking for a fast nuke this is a good pick for some teams, preferably with something to break steels like bewear.
Exploud @ Choice Specs
Ability: Scrappy / Soundproof (for yanmega because ghosts are nonexistent, just be careful about garde trace shenanigans)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Overheat
- Surf
- Shadow Ball / Ice Beam / Any other move because it doesnt matter youre fucking clicking boomburst
honestly this mon is really underrated but its also inconsistent at the same time, i just love this thing so fucking much, because it just breaks everything. 235 isnt a good speed tier by any means but its enough to outrun milotic, gligar, cresselia, the usual goons and just invalidate them. it does 35-42 to standard megalix which doesnt sound like much but then you remember that lix is a mon thats gonna be chipped constantly throughout the game because its just hard pressed to take on so many things, which makes it much more important to beat down. obviously this thing has its flaws but if you can bring it in safely it is such a fucking menace
FANETO (Medicham) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch
- Psycho Cut
hey look its yet another mon to break balance, who wouldve guessed. like exploud this thing is annoying as shit to switch into, however you have the added bonus of bp which means after a decent amount of chip gardevoir drops. psycho cut is here over zen headbutt because of bewear (a little unimportant given that hjk always ohkoes, but its nice to not need to risk stuff u know?)
LAUGHIN TO THE BNK (Gardevoir) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Destiny Bond
always found gardevoirs last move slot on scarf to be kind of irrelevant, as in you will literally never click it, ever. destiny bond isnt exactly a hard fix to that, but it means that you can potentially trade off with a steelix or an escav which paves the way for other shit to clean. so really its like a move you'll use maybe 2/10 times instead of 0/10 times but it still works!
Necrozma @ Rockium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Power Gem
- Heat Wave
cm necrozma is a fun wincon to use on more offensive teams, but of course that pesky piece of shit mandibuzz comes around to ruin your day. thats where z power gem comes in, because you nuke that bitch. yeah thats pretty much it.
thanks to everyone who helped me in building, there are a few more where this came from but i figure its better to keep it under wraps for now
Well, SPL is over and while I "technically" wasnt part of a team roster I have been an outside helper for the wolfpack since before week 1 and boy, it has been quite the enjoyable ride. Having soulgazer as the recipient of all the info I provided and having the support of ABR and TonyFlygon to help me point out a direction on what sg would like to use was really helpful. Really appreciate the Wolfpack welcoming me to help throughout the season and help me realize the Magnum Opus of my pokemon career. Helping a team reach the so precious red trophy is really satisfying, it was an honor.
Anyways, with that being I said I built a ton of different things and theorized many different sets with the help of everybody so I will share some of the notable things I remember, in no particular order.
Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Impish Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Roost
The EVs are super dependant but in general the purpose of the set is the same. It is the classic taunt toxic gligar with a slight twist. Total credit to ABR for the idea, he nailed it 100%. This was used on week 1 vs ChillShadow and ended putting a lot of work vs the stall he brought. Functions similarly to gliscor in a sense bar the poison heal. Can do a ton of work on hazard centric balances or bulky offenses stopping zong on its tracks and annoying the living existence of Mega Steelix.
Mismagius @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Trick / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Destiny Bond / Trick
This set makes its appearance on SPL Week 2 against Feliburn, and it effectively surprised the Durant. The set was really different back then since it had a bunch of options like dazzling gleam, power gem, mystical fire... so I boiled it down to the choice I find the most practical in this meta. I love wack scarfers but it revenge killed kommo-o and durant while providing a ground immunity and a mean to avoid getting destroyed by dd flygon and outspeeding the general population of opposing scarfers back in the day. Wouldnt recommend generally but it has some uses for very specific teams since it has trick or destiny bond. Shoutouts to ABR once more.
Heliolisk @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hyper Voice
Week 3 was somewhat dry to me since we went with a standard Virizion Mandibuzz Diancie type of BO so it was pretty straightforward and conservative. Didnt had the balls to use something more wicked. Anyways, Tony really has faith in this mon and on paper it is hard to see how but in the end I believe this mon still has some good merit despite the stigma. Dry Skin mons are on big demand since they ease the issue with opposing scald users move that we all hate, has the coverage to destroy pretty much all volt blockers and can kill and outspeed Moltres and Yanmega. I believe it can put some work given the right support. On a team with SD Virizion it provides the nice scald immunity withou adding more flying weaknesses so thats cool. HP Flying if real.
Pangoro @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature / Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
Really smacked myself for not bringing this over Pangoro against Tricking on Week 6 given that it actually cleaned Tricking team easily with a SD up mid to late game but oh well. Really have fate on this mon. Iron Fist Bullet Punch gives it a neat advantage over fighters like bewear and toxicroak since it gives it a mean of revenge kill Gardevoir and weakened tyrantrums while heavily taking advantage of these trendy mandi zong builds, and it takes advantages of banded pursuits. Cool mon that I believe should see more usage given that Cress is nowhere to be seen now.
Flygon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Credit to lighthouses for the original concept of this set, it is pretty much his patented idea since I havent anyone else use it. Personally I prefer having a 3rd attack like Stone Edge but more utility during early game and not be walled by Gardevoir but this set given the right support is cool. Sub takes advantage of Gligar. You need to pair with Escavalier preferably since it can switch into Scarf Gardevoir pretty freely. Snorlax can potentially do the same thing. Ended up being the defining factor against Bouff on Week 7 so I treasure this set even though I dont like it much.
Glalie-Mega @ Glalitite
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Taunt
- Double-Edge
- Super Fang
I know, I know. Glalie should be running but the premise behind this set is tempting and pretty effective on its own right. Taunt + Super Fang let it pressure traditional ice resists really well while having the nice speed tier to get the jump on Moltres and Yanmega unlike Vanilluxe so thats dope. Made an appearance on RUPL but couldnt win the speed tie against Shaymin, sad. The Glalie idea appeared from Semis to Finals of SPL but it was shelved pretty quickly.
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Heat Wave
- Roost
Preparing for ChillShadow on SPL semi-finals was a scary though cause col49 is someone I find really difficult to prepare for given the extensive knowledge and how he has the balls to bring the things and stick to it (just look at the week 9 ChillShadow brought!) so yeah. In the end, it ended up in a team draft but then Mandibuzz was a problem so in consensus we ended up like "Hey, why not just use Toxic to lure that problematic bird?" And this set was born. Pretty cool set in practice, many people use Darks like Umbreon and Mandibuzz expecting calm mind and given magic guard Umbreon cant do anything, and spdef general sponges like p2 are annoyed by Toxic too. So we wanted to use Calm Mind but then we couldnt cause Mandibuzz so FUCK that thing, omg.
Escavalier @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpD / 124 Spe
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
A pretty cool set. Takes advantage of Zong and given its coverage and how strong Megahorn is this really puts a lot of teams in problems if it given a setup opportunity. Provides a cool blastoise soft check too which are to come by. No fire will safely switch with the combination of Knock Off + Drill Run and the most relevant fairy is Gardevoir which is neutral to Megahorn. Should be able to beat most standards Florges (Specs Florges is bad).
Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Receiver
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake / Rock Slide
- Close Combat
And finally this. I have always wondered if there is a Fighter that had potential as a scarfer here and tbh, the research was rough. Scarf Medi on paper seems like the most ideal but with stuff like Doublade gaining more traction and HJK being a super risky move (and LO being better tbh) it wasnt that appealing. Then I though about this boy and yeah, it was the option to go if I needed one. People say banded is better but I disagree. Did really well during tests and the access to U-turn made middle ground plays against fighting resists so much easier to pull off. Cool mon that can be a solid option for many teams.
Thanks once again to the Wolfpack for giving me the opportunity to help, and Im super glad I helped in winning the SPL trophy.
Cheers!!
Anyways, with that being I said I built a ton of different things and theorized many different sets with the help of everybody so I will share some of the notable things I remember, in no particular order.
Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Impish Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Roost
The EVs are super dependant but in general the purpose of the set is the same. It is the classic taunt toxic gligar with a slight twist. Total credit to ABR for the idea, he nailed it 100%. This was used on week 1 vs ChillShadow and ended putting a lot of work vs the stall he brought. Functions similarly to gliscor in a sense bar the poison heal. Can do a ton of work on hazard centric balances or bulky offenses stopping zong on its tracks and annoying the living existence of Mega Steelix.
Mismagius @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Trick / Hidden Power [Ice]
- Destiny Bond / Trick
This set makes its appearance on SPL Week 2 against Feliburn, and it effectively surprised the Durant. The set was really different back then since it had a bunch of options like dazzling gleam, power gem, mystical fire... so I boiled it down to the choice I find the most practical in this meta. I love wack scarfers but it revenge killed kommo-o and durant while providing a ground immunity and a mean to avoid getting destroyed by dd flygon and outspeeding the general population of opposing scarfers back in the day. Wouldnt recommend generally but it has some uses for very specific teams since it has trick or destiny bond. Shoutouts to ABR once more.
Heliolisk @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Hyper Voice
Week 3 was somewhat dry to me since we went with a standard Virizion Mandibuzz Diancie type of BO so it was pretty straightforward and conservative. Didnt had the balls to use something more wicked. Anyways, Tony really has faith in this mon and on paper it is hard to see how but in the end I believe this mon still has some good merit despite the stigma. Dry Skin mons are on big demand since they ease the issue with opposing scald users move that we all hate, has the coverage to destroy pretty much all volt blockers and can kill and outspeed Moltres and Yanmega. I believe it can put some work given the right support. On a team with SD Virizion it provides the nice scald immunity withou adding more flying weaknesses so thats cool. HP Flying if real.
Pangoro @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature / Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
Really smacked myself for not bringing this over Pangoro against Tricking on Week 6 given that it actually cleaned Tricking team easily with a SD up mid to late game but oh well. Really have fate on this mon. Iron Fist Bullet Punch gives it a neat advantage over fighters like bewear and toxicroak since it gives it a mean of revenge kill Gardevoir and weakened tyrantrums while heavily taking advantage of these trendy mandi zong builds, and it takes advantages of banded pursuits. Cool mon that I believe should see more usage given that Cress is nowhere to be seen now.
Flygon @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Credit to lighthouses for the original concept of this set, it is pretty much his patented idea since I havent anyone else use it. Personally I prefer having a 3rd attack like Stone Edge but more utility during early game and not be walled by Gardevoir but this set given the right support is cool. Sub takes advantage of Gligar. You need to pair with Escavalier preferably since it can switch into Scarf Gardevoir pretty freely. Snorlax can potentially do the same thing. Ended up being the defining factor against Bouff on Week 7 so I treasure this set even though I dont like it much.
Glalie-Mega @ Glalitite
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Taunt
- Double-Edge
- Super Fang
I know, I know. Glalie should be running but the premise behind this set is tempting and pretty effective on its own right. Taunt + Super Fang let it pressure traditional ice resists really well while having the nice speed tier to get the jump on Moltres and Yanmega unlike Vanilluxe so thats dope. Made an appearance on RUPL but couldnt win the speed tie against Shaymin, sad. The Glalie idea appeared from Semis to Finals of SPL but it was shelved pretty quickly.
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Toxic
- Heat Wave
- Roost
Preparing for ChillShadow on SPL semi-finals was a scary though cause col49 is someone I find really difficult to prepare for given the extensive knowledge and how he has the balls to bring the things and stick to it (just look at the week 9 ChillShadow brought!) so yeah. In the end, it ended up in a team draft but then Mandibuzz was a problem so in consensus we ended up like "Hey, why not just use Toxic to lure that problematic bird?" And this set was born. Pretty cool set in practice, many people use Darks like Umbreon and Mandibuzz expecting calm mind and given magic guard Umbreon cant do anything, and spdef general sponges like p2 are annoyed by Toxic too. So we wanted to use Calm Mind but then we couldnt cause Mandibuzz so FUCK that thing, omg.
Escavalier @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpD / 124 Spe
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
A pretty cool set. Takes advantage of Zong and given its coverage and how strong Megahorn is this really puts a lot of teams in problems if it given a setup opportunity. Provides a cool blastoise soft check too which are to come by. No fire will safely switch with the combination of Knock Off + Drill Run and the most relevant fairy is Gardevoir which is neutral to Megahorn. Should be able to beat most standards Florges (Specs Florges is bad).
Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Receiver
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake / Rock Slide
- Close Combat
And finally this. I have always wondered if there is a Fighter that had potential as a scarfer here and tbh, the research was rough. Scarf Medi on paper seems like the most ideal but with stuff like Doublade gaining more traction and HJK being a super risky move (and LO being better tbh) it wasnt that appealing. Then I though about this boy and yeah, it was the option to go if I needed one. People say banded is better but I disagree. Did really well during tests and the access to U-turn made middle ground plays against fighting resists so much easier to pull off. Cool mon that can be a solid option for many teams.
Thanks once again to the Wolfpack for giving me the opportunity to help, and Im super glad I helped in winning the SPL trophy.
Cheers!!
- Status