One dark winter night, you can hear the faintest of explosions in the distance..
As the night goes on, they grow closer and closer...
Pretty soon, you look out your window and all you can see is bright flashes...
IT'S HERE...
The long-awaited BOMB SQUAD rate my team is finally here. I'll be diving into the lore behind this impactful and influential team I created, including: how it came to be, how it was initially received, its journey to becoming a sample, the suspect test it unofficially caused, tournament usage, and how the BH community receives it in the current day. But first...THE TEAM!!!
As the night goes on, they grow closer and closer...
Pretty soon, you look out your window and all you can see is bright flashes...
IT'S HERE...
The long-awaited BOMB SQUAD rate my team is finally here. I'll be diving into the lore behind this impactful and influential team I created, including: how it came to be, how it was initially received, its journey to becoming a sample, the suspect test it unofficially caused, tournament usage, and how the BH community receives it in the current day. But first...THE TEAM!!!
1. How it came to be..
To discuss where BOMB SQUAD first came from, we must go back to the end of the first HPL. I had just come off a solid showing in my first-ever real BH tour aside from the seasonal prior, where I made it all the way to finals. (somehow) I had built with the heavy help of Akira and felt I had finally found my groove within the meta after the experience. I had 3 teams I was proud of from HPL. The first two were a double mold breaker choice band team, and the second was a mold breaker choice band blaziken build. While I liked both of these teams, they were both quite inconsistent, clunky, and bad. Unlike these previous two teams, this next team I quite liked and was seeing results with on the ladder post-HPL...
As stated above, BOMB SQUAD is heavily inspired by the team Akira and I made together; however, that doesn't mean it was a simple building process at all.
Contrary to what some may think, BOMB SQUAD was initially meant to show off the threat that I believe Mega-Alakazam to be and not Mega-Blaziken. Considering this, after scrapping the initial team I was left with simply Mega-Alakazam and Ting-Lu for the improof and a start to a backbone. From here, I wanted to first figure out what the absolute best offensive physical breaker/setup sweeper to pair with Mega-Alakazam was, as I knew this would decide the course I take with the rest of my building process.
After continuously looking over the strong physical attackers in the meta, Mega-Blaziken caught my eye. I had used Choice Band previously and was wowed by the utter extremity of the damage output it can potentially have, but had not seen anyone try to use it as a setup sweeper. I began to look into several +1 Life Orb Desolate Land boosted V-Create calcs into things such as Fur Coat Arceus, Magic Guard Eternatus, Koraidon, and Miraidon, along with many more. What I was shown was killing Fur Coat Arc forms at +1 after Stealth Rocks, killing Magic Guard Dragons RAW, and overall doing freakishly large amounts of damage even without having the +1 boost. This was exactly what I was looking for so I slapped it on the tem without hesitation. From here I just needed two more moves and at the time decided on Close Combat + Headlong Rush as the last two but have come to find that Electro Drift + Headlong Rush also works amazingly as Close Combat is specifically for fire immunity Celesteela which has decreased in usage a lot as it's is generally considered bad at doing what a fire immune steel is meant to do and is still taking 80+ from Electro Drift. With this decided, I had to figure out how on Earth I was meant to improof this thing.
For the improof of Mega-Blaziken, I landed on Prankster Morning Sun Haze Giratina to safely come in even on +1 V-Creates and either abuse Sun to heal 66% off Morning Sun or Haze first, then proceed to heal with Morning Sun. This also acted as another way to bait in Ting-Lu to block a parting shot and pivot into Mega-Blaziken and Mega-Alakazam, depending on what they switch in. I put tidy up on Giratina last, as I was worried about how I'd handle Superman structures, so I wanted some last-ditch hazard clearing and it ended up working quite well. This also acted as a good blanket physical hit taker for the most part against anything not named Mega-Garchomp or Pixilate Zacian/Iron Valiant. I wanted to use my next slot to help cover those and maybe even give me a Stone Axe user if possible.
Next is my Fur Coat and Stone Axe user of the team, Celesteela. Celesteela pairs exceptionally well with Giratina, as it doesn't mind eating a knock-off and helps to deal with strong physical fairies and dragons that Giratina can't handle. Celesteela also benefits from Giratina Haze being able to check setup sweepers Celesteela may struggle with handling. Additionally, teleport aids in allowing me to come in on Regenerator Pokemon and get the slow pivot, either allowing Mega-Blaziken entry on the Regenerator Pokemon or Mega-Alakazam to come in and force switches while Volt-Switching around, ultimately aiding in getting Mega-Blaziken in. For my last Pokémon, I had realized my only form of Sapblocking currently was Mega-Alakazam, and I still felt my offensive pieces simply got outlasted by bulkier teams. My last Pokémon had to fix both these issues.
Chansey is the perfect Pokémon to fill the holes my team needs filled; it's a tremendous sapblocker, it checks Take Heart Arceus forms and annoys them with Ruination, it gives me another special hit taker alongside Ting-Lu, and it gives my offensive pieces some much-needed longevity through the form of wish passing.
This is the final team, and I was very happy with how it turned out. Some small things I didn't mention: (such as improofs)
- Celesteela was also chosen as a Fur Coat Mega-Blaziken and Mega-Alakazam can both deal hefty damage for offensive improofing, alongside Chansey being able to sapblock and not caring about either of its attacks
- Chansey's movepool was also decided so that I can Teleport on imposter into Mega-Blaziken and use it as either a free button to click or a free Shift Gear
- Giratina is improofed by Ting-Lu
- Ting-Lu is offensively improofed by Mega-Blaziken if chipped and Imposter isn't holding Eviolite, but is otherwise checked by Celesteela
- Alakazam is improofed by Ting-Lu + Chansey
- Blaziken is improofed by Giratina or simply being better and winning imp speed ties :)
Now, while personally I think this team has the tools to simply outplay any bad matchup that isn't just a complete cteam (and even then I've done it in the past), I will admit this team struggles with a few things...
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- Gardevoir-Mega is by far the biggest offensive threat to the team simply due to just not having a Sp. Def resist or Ice Scales. This is still very much playable however as MZam forces it out very easily, and Chansey can stomach Boombursts. This coupled with the fact that Ting-Lu can constantly spam U-Turn so as not to become an easy entry point, and Giratina being able to parting shot it before it can threaten it, means that Gardevoir can struggle to find good entries against the team, but if it can, it gets rough.
- Read above :/
+ 
+ 
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+ + - Shore Up Leftovers Arceus-Water, when paired with these two AV Regenerator options, is a little tricky to navigate, but if you can catch Ting-Lu with a Fleur Cannon and get Rocks up, you can attempt to make smart switches and meaningfully pressure them to the point of forcing your way through with MZam. You just need to play really well. Luckily, the most common variation of these three pairing together has Strength Sap on Arceus, so you can simply be better with Chansey.This concludes the team description section of the RMT.
Now onto the lore and brag sheet for BOMB SQUAD.
LORE DROP...
3. Initial Community Reaction...Now onto the lore and brag sheet for BOMB SQUAD.
LORE DROP...
When I first started using the team and discussing it in the BH channel on Discord with friends, it wasn't anything crazy, and I was still on the lower end of the ladder at that point with the team, so no serious discussions were being had just yet regarding its achievements. This all ended when I started continuously climbing the ladder without a single loss outside of my uni's shoddy wifi crashing on me. I got all the way up to 1709 with only 4 losses, all due to wifi issues, even with several games against respected players. This sparked BOMB SQUAD being genuinely discussed as a strong team in the meta and even being brought up for a potential sample team by several individuals, such as Onyx Onix 7, Rex, Akira, and GhastlyPixie. Due to this, I decided I would submit it for a sample team, expecting it to be at least considered given its success on the ladder, and I along with many others were quite confident it would be accepted. Sadly, it didn't get accepted...yet. Seeing BOMB SQUAD was excluded from the updated sample teams, I was very confused and lost as to why. I tried discussing with certain council members why it wasn't accepted and no one I spoke to really gave me much of an answer aside from "it's lacking an imposter and an Arceus, seems too inconsistent and hard to pick up to be a sample." Given this information, I decided I would cement the simplicity of BOMB SQUAD into history by giving the team to a few friends who had never touched BH before and watching as they continually see success with the team winning game after game, climbing the ladder slowly but surely. I then resubmitted BOMB SQUAD with a new ladder peak and detailing this newfound success of my friends. I also had several people speak out in favor of BOMB SQUAD being accepted and reconsidered, as they felt it was unfairly rejected. After much time, BOMB SQUAD finally got accepted as a sample and cemented itself into the meta as a generally acknowledged sample level team, which I was very happy with and proud of, as it was my first solo team I made that wasn't utter trash.
4. Discussion is Sparked...
The rise of BOMB SQUAD and the pressure it applied to the typical structures of the time caused many meta shifts, such as people being forced to respect Mega-Blaziken as it was previously seen as a one-trick pony Tinted Lens Choice Band Sun button clicker. This new exploration of Mega-Blaziken led to people discovering the sheer breaking power it has, and as such, people were forced to figure out how to possibly handle this newfound power in the breaker slot that even Mega-Garchomp cannot match. Because of this, Arceus-Water with Fur Coat started popping up alongside Fur Coat Eternatus and Koraidon specifically to deal with Mega-Blaziken. We also saw a rise in WBB Flutter Mane and even people going so far as to run Air Balloon WBB Flutter Mane to counter the typical V-Create Close Combat Headlong Rush Blaziken. All these meta shifts caused by one singular Pokémon sparked talk of a suspect test. Soon this talk turned into reality with the Mega-Blaziken suspect test being put into action, evidently leading to a final DNB result.
5. Current Day BOMB SQUAD...
Current-day BOMB SQUAD is still a well-respected team in the SVBH meta, even if some may dislike its usage and success in tournaments due to people being awarded for being "too lazy to build their own team and be creative." BOMB SQUAD saw plenty of usage in OMPL and succeeded in winning even very tough, damn near counter team matchups. I also saw success with BOMB SQUAD in HPL II, and my teammate Treeko928 did too, both claiming one win with it. Overall, BOMB SQUAD remains a force to be reckoned with, even with its extremely public pokepaste seeing as it is indeed a sample team.
MY FINAL MOMENTS...
I'm beyond happy with the success BOMB SQUAD has achieved and the impact it has had on the meta and playerbase as I never imagined I'd make any sort of meaningful impact on a meta that up until about a year ago was completely unknown to me outside of horror stories of stall-wars. I'd also just like to say thank you to all the wonderful people in the BH community who welcomed me and helped me learn the format. This meta and the community attached to it is the most fun I've had in playing Pokémon in a long time, helping me to enjoy my favorite pastime after having it feel like a chore for so long. With all this said, below I'll be attaching a spoiler filled with a bunch of replays I could find of BOMB SQUAD putting in the work and proof of my old ladder peak with the team. Thank you to anyone who sat down and read this giant wall of text <3
I'm beyond happy with the success BOMB SQUAD has achieved and the impact it has had on the meta and playerbase as I never imagined I'd make any sort of meaningful impact on a meta that up until about a year ago was completely unknown to me outside of horror stories of stall-wars. I'd also just like to say thank you to all the wonderful people in the BH community who welcomed me and helped me learn the format. This meta and the community attached to it is the most fun I've had in playing Pokémon in a long time, helping me to enjoy my favorite pastime after having it feel like a chore for so long. With all this said, below I'll be attaching a spoiler filled with a bunch of replays I could find of BOMB SQUAD putting in the work and proof of my old ladder peak with the team. Thank you to anyone who sat down and read this giant wall of text <3
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2256787638 vs cirno HO piloted by Akira 153
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2250805242-ejdd4exw0egdmn9rwlzgce2vk67z5yppw against st*rm ea*le
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2242546143-pq7ddw8udogofg54rmd1ffy6sbkw2x5pw also st*rm ea*le
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2242444851-wj4egzxqbt6bj9k4ff57e2c17cvhrfdpw st*rm ea*le again
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/...41414237-d7j7mwkr5utti8a3kqk64opjgrgxzq1pw?p2 not st*rm ea*le (forgot who this was so if you see this lmk and ill credit you)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2239466674 Game 1 against GhastlyPixie
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2239476941 Game 2 against GhastlyPixie
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9balancedhackmons-2238765672 against cityscapes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-872793 Treeko928 winning in finals of HPLII
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-862896 me winning week 1 of HPL II
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-847858 fififlutters winning with it in tour
i could find more but I'm lazy so I may edit this later with more :)
