Preamble: I started this RMT in July, forgot about it for two months, a Miraidon suspect test was announced, I scrambled to finish writing this before Miraidon potentially gets banned which would render this post obsolete, and here we are. I think the team can still function well in the current metagame’s landscape.
Preamble ova
art by DonBoneJones
My name is DonBoneJones, and as much as I dislike SV Ubers, I saw potential in Crowned Zamazenta in the tier given its new tools this generation. I felt the best supporting cast would be a screens team, since Zamazenta doesn’t take much advantage of Toxic Spikes, nor does it fit the pace of Bulky Offense/Balance. Not to mention, Screens Offense is broken, which itself is reason enough.
The nickname theme I went for here was White Dad names. Yeah that’s it, no hidden meaning or anything like that. Stop reading further into it. Here’s the paste as well! I’m such a good guy for letting you have the team so early into the post aren’t I? However I would absolutely suggest reading the full post if you want to steal the team and use it shamelessly on ladder. There are some important details I’d hate for you to miss for not having read. https://pokepast.es/ea3dc387a55c622e
Team Breakdown
Koraidon serves as both the first mandatory and least interesting mon on the team, and its role on screens is fairly self explanatory. The set choices are made in accordance with my personal preference, so due to the incredible power of Koraidon in the tier, you can make minor changes to this set and still find great success with it. No nonsense here; Swords Dance + 3 Attacks to make sure you get the most out of all 3 of Koraidon’s STABs. I was recommended to run an Adamant nature, which I’ve both used and seen used to some success, but I set aside my hatred for setting myself up for speed ties because it’s never worth it to make yourself worse into either of the bikes. While this team isn’t short of ways to deal with e-killer, there’s also no downside to losing an Ice or Dragon weakness behind any potential screens. Tera Fire is a very viable option in this case, however I, like many others who play this tier, was never left wanting for power at +2 given that it threatens an OHKO on most of the tier at that point. Not a ton for me to explain in detail just yet, we all know how stupid Koraidon is.
Getting into the mildly interesting sets, I’ve always been a fan of Electric Seed Miraidon on Screens. I especially like this set because the 4 Speed EV’s allow you to outrun Iron Bundle under Electric Terrain after an Agility, and the HP investment allows Miraidon to leverage its already great bulk to become nearly unstoppable when positioned well. I’ve been recommended a set that speed creeps Therian Landorus and any Arceus sets that EV themselves to outrun Landorus, however I don’t see that as necessary for a couple of reasons. For one, the only Arceus form that poses any particular threat to this set is Physically Offensive Ground Arceus, which I never plan to bring Miraidon into anyway; if Ground Arceus switches into Miraidon, I’ll likely be boosted and/or behind a screen to begin with. Therian Landorus isn’t much trouble for Miraidon either considering that most Landorus are fully Physically Defensive to give Bulky Offense teams better recourse against Koraidon and Crowned Zacian, and while Landorus boasts a very impressive Attack stat, it won’t be doing much to Miraidon behind a Reflect without investment.
An Agility + 3 Attacks + Life Orb set could also be considered for this slot, but I both dislike that set and think that Calm Mind is incredible for smashing through bulkier checks such as various Arceus forms or Dusk Mane Necrozma, especially when paired with Tera Electric in order to both become practically immortal with Parabolic Charge healing 3/4 of the damage dealt and lose otherwise burdensome weaknesses.
Preamble ova
art by DonBoneJones
My name is DonBoneJones, and as much as I dislike SV Ubers, I saw potential in Crowned Zamazenta in the tier given its new tools this generation. I felt the best supporting cast would be a screens team, since Zamazenta doesn’t take much advantage of Toxic Spikes, nor does it fit the pace of Bulky Offense/Balance. Not to mention, Screens Offense is broken, which itself is reason enough.
The nickname theme I went for here was White Dad names. Yeah that’s it, no hidden meaning or anything like that. Stop reading further into it. Here’s the paste as well! I’m such a good guy for letting you have the team so early into the post aren’t I? However I would absolutely suggest reading the full post if you want to steal the team and use it shamelessly on ladder. There are some important details I’d hate for you to miss for not having read. https://pokepast.es/ea3dc387a55c622e
Team Breakdown
Koraidon serves as both the first mandatory and least interesting mon on the team, and its role on screens is fairly self explanatory. The set choices are made in accordance with my personal preference, so due to the incredible power of Koraidon in the tier, you can make minor changes to this set and still find great success with it. No nonsense here; Swords Dance + 3 Attacks to make sure you get the most out of all 3 of Koraidon’s STABs. I was recommended to run an Adamant nature, which I’ve both used and seen used to some success, but I set aside my hatred for setting myself up for speed ties because it’s never worth it to make yourself worse into either of the bikes. While this team isn’t short of ways to deal with e-killer, there’s also no downside to losing an Ice or Dragon weakness behind any potential screens. Tera Fire is a very viable option in this case, however I, like many others who play this tier, was never left wanting for power at +2 given that it threatens an OHKO on most of the tier at that point. Not a ton for me to explain in detail just yet, we all know how stupid Koraidon is.
Getting into the mildly interesting sets, I’ve always been a fan of Electric Seed Miraidon on Screens. I especially like this set because the 4 Speed EV’s allow you to outrun Iron Bundle under Electric Terrain after an Agility, and the HP investment allows Miraidon to leverage its already great bulk to become nearly unstoppable when positioned well. I’ve been recommended a set that speed creeps Therian Landorus and any Arceus sets that EV themselves to outrun Landorus, however I don’t see that as necessary for a couple of reasons. For one, the only Arceus form that poses any particular threat to this set is Physically Offensive Ground Arceus, which I never plan to bring Miraidon into anyway; if Ground Arceus switches into Miraidon, I’ll likely be boosted and/or behind a screen to begin with. Therian Landorus isn’t much trouble for Miraidon either considering that most Landorus are fully Physically Defensive to give Bulky Offense teams better recourse against Koraidon and Crowned Zacian, and while Landorus boasts a very impressive Attack stat, it won’t be doing much to Miraidon behind a Reflect without investment.
An Agility + 3 Attacks + Life Orb set could also be considered for this slot, but I both dislike that set and think that Calm Mind is incredible for smashing through bulkier checks such as various Arceus forms or Dusk Mane Necrozma, especially when paired with Tera Electric in order to both become practically immortal with Parabolic Charge healing 3/4 of the damage dealt and lose otherwise burdensome weaknesses.
252+ Atk Earth Plate Arceus-Ground Earthquake vs. +1 248 HP / 4 Def Miraidon through Reflect: 135-160 (33.4 - 39.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
8 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +1 248 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 200-236 (49.6 - 58.5%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 252-297 (66.1 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Electric Terrain: 195-229 (48.9 - 57.5%) -- 95.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Earthquake vs. +1 248 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 184-218 (45.6 - 54%) -- 45.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Tera Electric Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy in Electric Terrain: 238-282 (53.9 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy in Electric Terrain: 268-316 (60.7 - 71.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tera Electric Miraidon: 135-159 (33.4 - 39.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. +1 248 HP / 0 SpD Miraidon: 180-212 (44.6 - 52.6%) -- 20.7% chance to 2HKO
8 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +1 248 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 200-236 (49.6 - 58.5%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 252-297 (66.1 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Electric Terrain: 195-229 (48.9 - 57.5%) -- 95.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Earthquake vs. +1 248 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 184-218 (45.6 - 54%) -- 45.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Hadron Engine Tera Electric Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy in Electric Terrain: 238-282 (53.9 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Parabolic Charge vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Fairy in Electric Terrain: 268-316 (60.7 - 71.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tera Electric Miraidon: 135-159 (33.4 - 39.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. +1 248 HP / 0 SpD Miraidon: 180-212 (44.6 - 52.6%) -- 20.7% chance to 2HKO
You didn’t forget to take your schizophrenia medicine, I used Crowned Zamazenta in SV Ubers. Burn me at the steak already. In all seriousness, I saw a genuine niche for this pokemon, and that’s saying a lot considering the absolute state of this tier. The innate quality of countering the likes of Dusk Mane Necrozma, Ice Rider Calyrex, Extreme Killer Arceus, Kingambit, and even Crowned Zacian in some instances is very unique, especially given Intimidate is almost a non-factor when Screens are active. Most notable is its resilience against physical attackers, a phenomenal trait in a metagame with preference to Physical Offense. Most people consider this pokemon borderline unviable, but I determined to realize my vision with it.
Since Crowned Zamazenta has little precedent in either gen 8 or 9 whatsoever, I had to thoroughly weigh my options for a moveset, and I decided a 3 Attacks set would be best to maximize the amount of turns I get from Screens. Additionally, you might notice that there’s a rather important pokemon who easily blanks Zamazenta’s STABs, which will be covered shortly. It was EV’d with enough speed to outrun Max Speed Jolly Arceus, with Max HP investment and everything else put into Defense. It’s a pretty simply spread that got the job done, but nothing too innovative. Body Press and Behemoth Bash hit most relevant mons neutrally, with Screens support providing plenty of opportunities to use Iron Defense and start tearing though physical attackers.
However, for all of these great qualities, there exists a suspiciously Ho-Oh-shaped pokemon that blanks everything Zamazenta wishes to do (it’s Ho-Oh). This is where Stone Edge comes into play: even an uninvested Stone Edge has a 64% chance to 2HKO a fully Physically Defensive Ho-Oh every time. This patches up the one blind spot in Zamazenta’s offensive coverage quite well, in addition to serving as a potential middle-ground play into pokemon such as Ice Rider Calyrex and mons that have tera’d into the Flying type. Supplementary to this Rock coverage is Tera Fire to nullify the possibility of Sacred Fire burns, which can also be useful in the Zacian matchup should you not have a Reflect active. However, this set wasn’t quite up to my standards, so we’ll come back to this later.
0 Atk Zamazenta-Crowned Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 260-308 (62.6 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 64 Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 160-190 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice High Horsepower vs. +1 252 HP / 64 Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 130-154 (33.5 - 39.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 362-428 (83.9 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 64 Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 160-190 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice High Horsepower vs. +1 252 HP / 64 Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 130-154 (33.5 - 39.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 362-428 (83.9 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
With the feature mon, two mandatory bikes, and obligatory Grimmsnarl on the team, I was tasked with giving Zamazenta the proper support to truly let it shine. The current state of the team had a rather striking weakness: Stall. Although I personally don’t see the archetype as particularly strong into the current metagame as some do, I needed a way to break through pokemon such as Clodsire and Dondozo without having to burn my Miraidon’s Electric Seed. Dusk Mane Necrozma (NDM) is the prime candidate for this role, thanks to its fantastic stats and movepool. Black Kyurem can be considered as an alternative, but I didn’t think the team was so weak to stall as to need the de facto Stallbreaker in the tier, and NDM is a great addition to most teams anyway.
A simple 3 Attacks set is once again the best option for this set; no sense wasting Screens turns healing off what little damage NDM takes to begin with. Dual STABs do just fine here, and I don’t see any point in committing something like Tera Fire just to beat a prospecting Skarmory or Corviknight. Tera Ground works well to catch Miraidon off guard and threaten an OHKO with a beefed up Earthquake, as well as threaten a 2HKO against most other NDM sets. EVs were quite simple here: enough speed to outrun Crowned Zacian after two Dragon Dances and always outrun defensive Ho-Oh, max Attack, rest into HP, Bob’s your uncle. If you really want to play it safe, you can speed creep for the Therian Landorus matchup, but that’s more so up to the player’s preference. Do note that choosing to invest 4 more EVs into speed either gives Koraidon’s Flare Blitz a roll to kill from full or sacrifices 2 attack stat points.
A large flaw with the team thus far was that if another team was able to match its pace in offense, it was lights out. I needed something with both solid bulk and a trump card for speed control in case things got out of hand: an Emergency Button of sorts. Fortunately, I knew of a set that my friend innovated with a while back when he and I made a Kingambit HO team, and I saw it as a great fit for this team. It’s a unique take on the standard E-Killer set, known as BU-Killer, and it offers many advantages to the Swords Dance set.
Broadly, the set is designed to live Crowned Zacian’s Close Combat from full, with enough speed to outrun non-scarfed Therian Landorus as well as most other Arceus sets. Additionally, the 196 HP EVs give it favorable odds to live two consecutive Draco Meteors from Miraidon, giving the team additional options for pivoting into the Tesla Bike. Bulk Up helps take advantage of the Screens support, turning some of Arceus’ otherwise poor matchups onto their heads, such as NDM and even Koraidon in some cases. Taunt is a similarly fantastic tool that hinders teams relying on Toxic users such as Gliscor or Phazers like Ting-Lu. 136 Attack EV’s are more than enough to get the job done against things like Miraidon at +1 and some less bulky Kingambit variants. Tera Fire also helps against the scourge of this team in Ho-Oh to further yet block Sacred Fire burns while also allowing Arceus to check Crowned Zacian more effectively.
+1 252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. 196 HP / 36 Def Arceus: 362-426 (84.1 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 276-326 (84.9 - 100.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 373-441 (86.7 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 206-244 (60.4 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 124-147 (36.3 - 43.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: 190-225 (47.7 - 56.5%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. +1 196 HP / 36 Def Arceus: 229-270 (53.2 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 60 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 178-210 (50 - 58.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 276-326 (84.9 - 100.3%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 373-441 (86.7 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 206-244 (60.4 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 124-147 (36.3 - 43.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: 190-225 (47.7 - 56.5%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Sunsteel Strike vs. +1 196 HP / 36 Def Arceus: 229-270 (53.2 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
136+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 60 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 178-210 (50 - 58.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The hardest part of this RMT is finding 3 sentences to write about Grimmsnarl. Screens Offense has proven time and time again to be at the top of the food chain in SV Ubers, and it helps to have such a great setter. Now that Grimmsnarl has Parting Shot it can seamlessly pivot to one of five set-up sweepers, debuffing the target even further after having the nerve to half incoming damage already. Taunt is great for not giving Miraidon a chance to stop screens freely, and full Special bulk investment lets it put up screens in the face of Electro Drift. Yeah we all know what this does, come on now.
Team Revisions
I generally liked the shell of this team, but something that every decent teambuilder must accept is that there is and will never be a definitely finished iteration of a team. The process is cyclical, blind spots will be found, and changes will be made, lest the team reach a stagnant state of mediocrity. Through testing I found a number of problems, some major some not, and while I didn’t make any drastic changes with pokemon or moves, I moved quite a few EV spreads around; getting the little things right is important with such volatile matchups like these.
Here's the more refined iteration of the team. Yeah the first one is an old version and definitely not the finished product. Shame on the people who didn’t bother to read the post and took the first importable they saw.
I felt the Bikes’ sets were perfectly fine as they were, so the first member subject to this renovation was Zamazenta, and I wanted some more precise EVs to snag a few extra secure calcs. For one, I wisened up and decided that speed creeping for the 372 speed tier is an absolute waste of 192 EVs, instead making the nature Impish for reasons to be revealed and shooting for the 317 speed tier to prevent pokemon like Black Kyurem and 99% of Arceus from tearing Zamazenta up before it can boost. There really isn’t much between the 95s and 135s of the metagame, so this change ultimately concedes very little. Next, I’d need some generous Attack investment in order to deal with a threat the original version of the team struggled with in Ice Rider Calyrex. NDM only works so well for so long, so I needed a more consistent method to not get run over. 116 Attack EVs give a very favorable roll to 2HKO it, which is never enough time to break through a healthy Zamazenta. Fixing the matchup against the markedly offense-killing Crowned Zacian was tough because it both required enough HP investment to tank Close Combats while needing enough Defense investment for Body Press to threaten it in return. 140 HP / 148+ Def was the most consisten balance that I found; Zamazenta is still 2HKOd by Close Combat without a boost or Reflect but with any help the matchup is significantly more in Zamazenta’s favor, having good odds to OHKO after an Iron Defense.
116 Atk Zamazenta-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Calyrex-Ice: 198-234 (49.1 - 58%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO
+3 252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. +1 140 HP / 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned through Reflect: 147-174 (40.8 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+3 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 313-370 (96.3 - 113.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
+3 252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Close Combat vs. +1 140 HP / 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned through Reflect: 147-174 (40.8 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+3 148+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 313-370 (96.3 - 113.8%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
Next up was NDM, and my changelog for this set is far smaller than with Zamazenta. For as much as I tried to arm the team well enough to deal with Koraidon, the mon yet bore its teeth against this team, and I needed a way to be able to reliably take it on given that my only mon that wasn’t hit super effectively by Koraidon’s 3 STABs didn’t have any way to do damage in return. Every mon on the team required to either use its Tera or win a speed tie in order to keep up with opposing Koraidon, and sometimes even that wasn’t enough. As it turns out, NDM doesn’t need too much more bulk to survive Koraidon’s Flare Blitz, only needing to spend an extra 56 EVs to never die to Koraidon’s Flare Blitz from full health. Granted, any hazard damage makes the roll scarier than I’d like, however I’m confident enough in this team to either limit the hazard pressure that can be leveraged as well as the ability to maintain reflect, turning Flare Blitz into almost trivial damage should I get enough Dragon Dances. NDM is already very threatening when paired with screens but this slight tweak takes it to the next level.
252 Atk Orichalcum Pulse Koraidon Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 36 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Sun: 318-375 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Orichalcum Pulse Koraidon Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 36 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Sun: 318-375 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Orichalcum Pulse Koraidon Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 36 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Sun: 318-375 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
252 Atk Orichalcum Pulse Koraidon Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 36 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Sun: 318-375 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Orichalcum Pulse Koraidon Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 36 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk-Mane in Sun: 318-375 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
Not surprisingly, Miraidon is still a threat to this Ground type-lacking team, and while there were ample switch-ins for either Dragon moves or Electric moves, nothing did both effectively. I knew I wouldn’t be consistently beating Miraidon with permissible bulk, so I decided to learn far more into the offensive potency of the team to do so; seems obvious now, but my smooth brain was struggling to grasp the idea of giving up bulk on a screens team. The main issue of dealing with Mirai was that the roll to kill it with Earthquake into Extreme Speed simply wasn’t consistent enough. I don’t know the exact mathematical way to determine the odds of killing, but if I get a minimum damage roll with Extreme Speed, I won’t kill Miraidon if I got one of the five lowest rolls with Earthquake. Likewise, if I get the minimum roll with Earthquake, Extreme Speed has a 56.25% chance to finish it off, and this is all assuming a bulkless Miraidon, so I needed a bit more firepower here. An extra 40 Attack EVs did the trick here, both being a jump point for the Attack stat and guaranteeing that Earthquake into Extreme Speed kills a bulkless Miraidon, with those 40 EVs being taken out of HP for reasons previously stated.
176+ Atk Arceus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 214-252 (62.7 - 73.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
176+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 127-151 (37.2 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Draco Meteor vs. 156 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 249-294 (59.2 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
176+ Atk Arceus Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Miraidon: 127-151 (37.2 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Draco Meteor vs. 156 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 249-294 (59.2 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Grimmsnarl also needed a quick change, and that was simply giving it enough bulk to always survive Crowned Zacian’s Behemoth Blade behind a Reflect. Zacian is generally good into Offense, so having this added safety against it is always appreciated.
+1 252 Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 252 HP / 108 Def Grimmsnarl through Reflect: 333-393 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
Difficult Matchups
For as well as I believe this team turned out, it still has its share of rough matchups to navigate, just as every team that’s ever existed does. The first one is unfortunately Ho-Oh, even with all of the measures I took to limit the damage it does to this team. The options for dealing with it are quite narrow, being to either commit a Tera Fire, switch into NDM and pray you don’t get burned by Sacred Fire, or go into Miraidon and, again, pray you don’t get burned since even Miraidon doesn’t appreciate taking that. Even the idea of having your pivot plays go well is volatile in the long-term perspective since if your opponent is running Ho-Oh, they likely have a switch-in for Miraidon and NDM.
The second of the unfavorable matchups is Therian Landorus, and you can probably see a pattern here: the pokemon that limit physical attackers are quite good in a metagame with sparse options for special attackers. The best way through Lando-T is brute force. If you really want to, you can add an extra 4 Speed EVs to NDM to get a jump on a speedless Lando-T’s taunt, guaranteeing at least one Dragon Dance, not to mention that you can easily absorb Earthquakes, with or without a Reflect, and kill back with Photon Geyser.
I’d also watch out for Glimmora Offense teams, not necessarily because of the Toxic Spikes, but because Spikes put a lot of the team into range of many 2HKOs, so caution is advised in the event that the opponent gets too many hazards up. However, the worst overall matchup, by far, is Balance. Ho-Oh and Lando-T have already been explained, but other pokemon like Gliscor and Fairy Arceus can give anyone using this team a rough time. It’s not unwinnable, but you need to execute very well in order to win the matchup. Fortunately, Balance is far from common in SV Ubers, but it’s something most screens teams struggle to break past.
In the months since making this team, I’ve seen a recent uptick in Ghost Arceus use, and unless there have been other metagame innovations that I’m simply out of the loop on, there haven’t been any changes that would drastically affect the team’s efficacy.
Epic Swag Replays
While the aim of this post is to discuss the team itself, thus rendering any ladder stats more or less irrelevant, the practicality of a given team is naturally vital to its success, and it worked quite well for me in most situations.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2166895745-rb2px39rfopvnuzz5m2egzva67mvrmjpw
Went up against a standard six with some not-so-standard sets. Koraidon was definitely the star of the show here, with Arceus bringing the game back with a Tera callout after having to concede my NDM. Despite a misplay with my Zamazenta (and debatably my Miraidon) as well as an untimely Thunder critical hit, Koraidon proved why it’s the best mon in the tier.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2165063226-424s1rp0qm601wfbgfqcwo0v6vrewfmpw
BUKiller sets up a fantastic endgame situation for Zamazenta here, with NDM removing the limiting factors of Lando-T and Zacian. No clue what I was cooking with all those NDM Earthquakes but it ended up working out.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2164563954-exs22e0tm4w2qi8ky83mwu8fpx917nqpw
BUKiller once again being an amzazing sweeper, with the bulked out Miraidon set snagging a win despite Sticky Web being active. I honestly thought Webs would be a worse matchup for this team, but turns out having Arceus and a bulky Miraidon makes it not so bad. Nice way to get 34 points for winning.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2163445082-ayvdj4wnquv5prscffz9gbpf1s4mu56pw
Running into ladder hero JerryCarry was an inevitability, and this was a test of beating opposing screens teams, which I was pretty confident in. The BUKiller sweep + Zamazenta win conidition combo once again proving rather potent, even if I did fumble a little bit in the late game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2163433017-ka2naydm9j4m60wbs9uz4v5p5rnh2k3pw
Second notable match against JerryCarry, this time with a Trick Room matchup. Zamazenta’s great natural bulk was on display, living a Life Orb Origin Pulse. This replay is my favorite example of the team’s synergy and ability to play off each other’s strengths to take on most threats handily.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ubers-2167359872-cyqxo8zrag0gdi1zdv4j7owsdzq46i4pw?p2
Ho-Oh + Origin Giratina matchup is surprisingly tricky here, especially when the Ho-Oh reveals speed investment. Fortunately, Koraidon is absolutely insane and getting a Tera callout won me the game on the spot.
Conclusion
I don’t think Crowned Zamazenta is great in SV Ubers. I never have, and convincing you of that is not the goal of this post. What I unwaveringly believe, after trial, error, and wasted time laddering, is that, with the right support, Zamazenta can put in a significant amount of work. The parameters for such support are quite specific, but I feel a good player can make Zamazenta’s good traits worth its price of admission. Despite my vitriol for this tier, using this team was genuinely fun at times. I seriously hope any of you reading can take from this that even in an unsavory metagame, there is innovation and enjoyment to be found if you look hard enough and haven’t put enough time into Gen 9 to be sick of Tera yet. While I have no plans to continue to evolve this team or play much SV Ubers at all, I’m satisfied with what I’ve done thus far.
This post was a labor of love for me, and despite not even thinking about it for two straight months, I like the way my little project turned out. If you gave enough of your time and attention to read this massive post, it means a lot to me and I’m truly grateful. Any comments and/or suggestions are more than welcome, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day :)
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