Metagame USUM Pure Hackmons

[Rain]

DUO DEOA PSYSURGE HO

https://pokepast.es/561886f42876cd39


It started with the scarf hp deoa. I was thinking about how can I actually bait in the impostor and get rid of it permantly. You might know about how I loved defensive atrap users but the main job for it which it actually does good for is to get rid of the impostors for good. But given that defensive plays are inconsistent and annoying especially on ladder where losing feel extra bad, the defensive atrappers don't really find themselves a good reason to be used. So I was thinking how to offensively get rid of the impostors. And by staring at the /ds mod=gen7,weak dark, attack desc, we have our ghost on the very top. After running the calc I immediately started to hate this mon. (252+ Atk Huge Power Deoxys-Attack Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-X: 363-427 (87.2 - 102.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock) Yet I decided to save this set from being thrown into the trash can, and psysurge automatically pairs well with deoa. And the team is here.


Deoxys-speed can take control over the game as the lead thank to its speed tier, the only problmatic match up would be against opposing deos, which you have to go for a speed tie and if you lose that you're gonna lose a lot. But luckily deos is not appearing so much, and if you really hate them so much and is confident of your playing skills use mcoat over defog on chansey to counter them.


Deoxys-attack with scarf is the star of the show. This set is absolutely great when paired up with psychic surge. Scared fire is mainly for kart and the neat little 50% burn chance so that I have a chance to break over sash and not let them just come up and setup and sweep. Photon is the spammable stab, no need for explaining this, and uturn is a good neutral click while being a helpful coverage as well.


And now that we have 2 deoxyses, why not add another? The setup deoa is the late game cleaner, as well as an emergency game saver. Shell smash grants a nearly unreachable speed in the tier, thanks to its natural high speed tier, making sure that it can win the speed war when setting up infront of the setted up guys. the rest is pretty simple, huge power +2 light that burns the sky in psychic terrain is something more fun than hp kart sss. Just let the mmy solve the dark types if possible. Sunsteel can still hit a lot of them if needed. The reason huge power is here instead of magic guard is because I don't want it to lose to common prank haze users like zygarde, as well as letting it to be able to do sth without actually setting up, for 150 base speed is still very fast and can get a good bunch of chance of firing.


After that we have the support team. Innards mmy is always one of my favorite sets. Ring target trick are usually referred as a cscl type technique, aka random bullsht that only works when your name is cscl, but I still have some success with it, as long as I'm not on my main and people don't recognize this team. So ring target trick can solve the dark types for the whole team, if not they kill it and get bursted because dark type mguard with pursuit is still a strong thing. this is the best representation of offensive innards, which is forcing your opponments to kill you or you will do great damage to their teams. under psychic terrain this set is even better not only because of the boost to photon and ltbts, but also stopped it from getting huge chip from fake outs so you are garenteed to die in one hit in most cases.


Now its giratina. viewing it back now in 2026 I feel like its pretty awful but the depressing fact is that ts still works. Moongeist is for kart and some psychic types. Uturn is to maintain momentum and break sash which both are despreate needs of the team. shore up and defog are pretty normal. Figy berry can punish those who wanna chip it before killing and use uturn after to bring up its teammates safely when needed.


And finally we have out chansey. This is pretty normal outside of darkium z. dark z pshot is here instead of googgles/shed shell+uturn is becuase letting deos come up twice is not a easy job, and with both of them will lead to the problem of losing momentum into wg(gira have moongeist and offensive stat to threat them) and the fear for trick trapper/uturn imprison trapper. Either way its gonna ruin the team but the latter one is not appearing a lot nowadays, and the former one can be escaped by uturn so not really that big of a problem on ladder. It's not primally a ladder team but with 3 innards and psysurge you can't go too bad anyways.


Common threat list
the dark types will easily be a problem for this team, especially for those who aren't weak to bug. usually you're supposed to use mmy to try to burst them down or trick out your ring targets, but you have only one chance for that and if failed you are gonna have a hard time
although I have been trying pretty hard to counter them by alting evs or movesets, mguard pursuit is still a pretty big problem, especially when they are usually all dark types. try to get to know who should you sac and who can change flip the matchup.
mlix/msableye/mlix+msableye
both are hard to get rid of especially when they have support from innards and each other in the worst case.
prank bond utility sets
I hate and I love this thing. psy terrain sadly can't deny prank hazards, meaning its a bad matchup for deos to have against, not to mention the prank bond is nearly unsolvable for the team. Some people overrate it and some people underrate it but its there and its gonna annoy this team really bad
I think mentioning specifc things it lose to is not really informational or helpful I think that'll be it for now, Ill add things later if needed

 

[PenultimateToast]

some vr noms, originally was gonna do this earlier but decided to wait until the vr got updated first

-> A-
general consensus seems to be this mon's a- or lower and i agree. doesn't really check stuff that well anymore due to cfzs/no guard being more popular and mostly only fits on bulkier non-stall teams which idt are it

-> B+/B
kinda whatever. doesn't check mmx that well due to leppa ltbts being more common and having a ton of weaknesses mean you don't wall stuff all that well. not great and should drop imo

-> B-
this mon is so bad. wg sweeper sets are beyond horrible (fimp weak is awful and you don't have much defensive utility which you really want as a wg sweeper, i do think stuff like akira's scarf mmm hoopa are cool though not great), other sets are okay but not enough to rank it much higher

-> B
mmy victim

-> B+
not better than scizor enough to warrant being an entire subrank above it

-> B
used this guy a fair amount and idt he's that bad. hidden power water with leppa ltbts is honestly quite nice and other sets aren't too bad either, plus you wall most sunsteel/geist mons which is extremely valuable nowadays due to people spamming it. fissure weak/speed issues/slight power issues do hurt, i do think the draws make him justifiable enough though

-> C
4x sunsteel resist and it can't even check kart LMAO this mon is horrible

-> C
ransei's rambled about why he thinks this mon is b before but i really don't think his defenses are that good. the type of improofs pika preys on aren't as common nowadays, and most teams have innards/prio they can throw at pika and due to pika's horrible base hp it's tanking absolutely 0 priority. sash is also very troublesome for pika, even on the ash ketchum team rocks are still avoidable as mmx is slow enough to be exploited pretty easily and the team has multiple mons defoggers can come in on to remove rocks (pika transformed into a passive mon, gren cause he's breaking nothing, mlix, and maud). far too much effort to support and not really worth running over imp chans/bliss

-> UR
literally why is this ranked? when i asked ransei his arguments were "when i fought it it wasn't that bad" and "it doesn't drag the team down unlike most of the mons in d", both of which are very questionable arguments to me. first, just saying "it wasn't that bad when i played against it" isn't enough justification to rank something imo (especially in ph when anything can run anything), for example while something like drapion might do well in game it's straight up outclassed by muk so it shouldn't be ranked, tina has a similar story by being outclassed by tina-o. the second argument of "it doesn't drag the team down unlike d rank mons" is also very questionable to me. innards tina-a is definitely dragging your team down these calcs are sad man

calcs

252 Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Giratina: 466-550 (92.4 - 109.1%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Giratina: 342-403 (67.8 - 79.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Mewtwo-Mega-Y Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 379-447 (75.1 - 88.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Mewtwo-Mega-Y Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 480-566 (95.2 - 112.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Parental Bond Gengar-Mega Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 466-554 (92.4 - 109.9%) -- 59.4% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Groudon-Primal Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Giratina: 299-352 (59.3 - 69.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Diancie-Mega Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 342-404 (67.8 - 80.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Diancie-Mega Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Giratina: 478-564 (94.8 - 111.9%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

won't put more calcs i'm sure you get the point, this mon is way too tanky for an innards. not sure what reasoning you'd realistically have to use this over another innards mon

-> C/D
ransei likely forgot about this mon when updating the vr and i can see why though he should probably be ranked. like mdoom you beat most sunsteel/geist mons and you have more bulk so you can function as a defensive mon better. unsure if he should go in c or d

-> blacklist
cmon

 

[Child of Night]

In defense of Zeus HO
(RMT)


https://pokepast.es/d8793b63b09f8d7b​

---

Just to clarify before I begin, this team has never been used or was made by Zeus the Ruin, but it was heavily based on many variations of their teams so in honor of that, the teams name is Zeus HO (Hyper Offense).

This "Zues style" of teams has been dunked on for a very long time, but I feel like there is a lot to take away from this team and how it works. By todays standards, it is pretty weird looking, as it has no Innards Out, no hazard removal, no No Guard and no Wonder Guard. Despite all this, it has performed quite well over a long period of time, without really seeing drops in viability. And its viablity is decently high, managing to beat several notable players, such as Eyeos, Lycan, Aidan Amoongus, Guysmash, Resolaris, Splodge, Ptoast, Yourself, lag=bad and more. It has also hit no. 1 on ladder.

---

Groudon-Primal @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 SpD
- V-create
- Oceanic Operetta
- Searing Sunraze Smash
- Stealth Rock

Starting off with the usual lead of the team, Pdon has the very important job of setting and preventing hazards, while also hitting hard as hell. It is a Pdon over other common offensive bouncers due to its ability to selfproof with Oceanic Operetta, and having the hardest hitting V create in the game, which is nice to have. This means it can set up rocks while also threatening a lot of offensive (and some defensive) Pokemon, forcing them to choose to either set up, and then tank a massive V Create or SSS, and then probably get R killed by the prio users or 2HKO Pdon (if possible). Naive nature with min spd is its nature as power isn't the sets main focus, and so that it can always OHKO eviolite imp.

Possible replacements for this set

Groudon-Primal @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- V-create
- Thousand Arrows

Kyurem-Black @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- Freeze-Dry
- Sacred Fire

Heracross-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: Parental Bond
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Storm Throw
- First Impression
- Sunsteel Strike
- Spectral Thief

Heracross is the second potential lead since it can OHKO many bug weak mons with a Fimp through Focus Sash. When Heracross isn't a lead, it is the teams primary revenge killer. With STAB Fimp, Storm Throw and strong Spectral Thief, it can revenge kill a lot of offensive Pokemon. Sunsteel is in the back just so it does not get completely walled by popular WGs and gives it a chance to possibly reverse sweep after a spectral boost. Heracross is also the improof to a lot of the mons on this team.



Meloetta @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Genesis Supernova
- Shell Smash
- Boomburst

Meloetta has a lot of roles on the team but it is primarily a revenge killer/reverse sweeper for mons that Heracross can't deal with, such as WG setup sweepers. It can do this due to having Mold Breaker Spectral Thief. Due to there not being any Nomal+Ghost type Pokemon in gen 7, this allows Hera and Melo to Revenge kill basically every mon in the game. Besides this, Meloetta can: break (Boomburst + Genesis), block priority (Genesis), tank special hits, and block Spectral Thief. Melo brings some insane role compression into the team, and even though it started as a Pbond MMY improof, I realized that the set works surprisingly fine on its own. Imposter turning into Melo can be a problem if it sets up Psychic Terrain but it is not unmanegable. Also, to note, Genesis might seem weird to some as half the team has priority moves, but from experience this isn't really an issue. If you feel like it is, feel free to change it to some other CFZ move.



Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Extreme Speed/ Pursuit
- Spectral Thief
- Storm Throw
- Photon Geyser

The teams third revenge killer/reverse sweeper. Yes you heard that right, we are stealing ALL the boosts from the opposing team! Jokes aside, MMX is here in the possibility that hazards go up, or Melo and Hera can't do their jobs for 1 reason or another. Not much else to say except MMX was chosen for STAB Storm Throw and pretty good speed.

Possible replacements for this set

Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Focus Sash
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Close Combat

Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Focus Sash
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Moongeist Beam
- Moonblast
- Photon Geyser

MMY is the teams Special Sweeper and much needed priority blocker. MMY is very fast so Dazzling suits it very well, and can cheese out some kills since Dazzling isn't all that common. Moonblast, Mgeist and Photon give MMY decent options for a lot of mons. Not much else to say here, the set is pretty standard. If you will be using the team without a hazard setter, I recommend chaning the ability to Parental Bond as it can sweep a crap load of offensive teams if they don't have priority.




Slaking @ Lum Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Evoboost
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Sunsteel Strike

Slaking is the teams primary Physical sweeper with strong priority STAB Espeed and Sacred Fire for the pesky Steel types. It also acts as one of the teams revenge killers, but that isn't its usual role. Not much else to say, pretty standard set and the only set not really changed from the OG Zeus the Ruin team.

---

In conclusion, I think the team is really cool and works decently well. Cool, because it doesn't comform to the usual style of building HO teams. Of course, it does have some major weaknesses, such as Imposter (if it manages to get in many times), Mold Breaker hazards setters, and possibly Normal type/WG Evoboost Spam.

Notable replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2516090568-ofcxtqibh5471gwe441r9bo4jlt4ofmpw?p2 Winning despite the opponent having ways of getting Imp on the field many times.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2516063762 One of the many Eyeos games

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2446520183?p2 Lag=bad game

 

[Electra102]

Regigigas is used over Slaking on this team so MMX and Heracross can kill it easier if Imposer becomes it. Not much else to say, pretty standard set and the set that was least changed from the original Zeus team (only change is Slaking to Regi).

Believe it or not, Imposter turned into Slaking would actually be easier to kill than Imposter turned into Regigigas. Slaking is physically bulkier than Regigigas, but this is due to having much more HP, not base defense (Regigigas actually has base 10 Defense more than Slaking). As for why this matters, Imposter will copy every stat, other than HP, which is how Slaking is normally physically bulkier than Regigigas.

To make this not too short of a post, I wanted to post a few cool sets I’ve found. I don’t really play USUM PH anymore, but maybe someone else will find these interesting.

Meloetta @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk
- Extreme Evoboost
- Light That Burns the Sky
- Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom
- Recover

This is probably one of my favorite USUM sets. With this, you get a hard-to-stop special Harvest sweeper that is immune to Spectral Thief (while most other Harvest sweepers are not). You do need to pair this with a Shadow Tag trapper to handle Dark-types (I personally used Beedrill-Mega), but that generally hasn’t been that much of an issue in practice.

Rayquaza-Mega @ Focus Sash / Leppa Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk
- Clangorous Soulblaze
- Clanging Scales
- Blue Flare
- Shell Smash

If I had to give you my set for PH All-Stars, this would be mine. It is nearly impossible to improof without a blob (unless you really like Tapu Fini or Altaria-Mega), but as long as you use Clangorous Soulblaze reasonably well (or in other words, don’t waste it on a Fairy-type, although most of them are bad), you should be decently hard to stop. I don’t really have much else to say on this one.

Other thoughts on the metagame​

Not really going to order these

• Audino-Mega is no longer the best Wonder Guard, although I would argue it is probably the best defensive Wonder Guard.​
• Top Wonder Guards right now are probably Kartana and Slaking, maybe Arceus (although I honestly don’t like Arceus that much, due to its flaws).​
• Houndoom-Mega is seriously underrated. Give him a try.​
• PHPL II is going to either be a peak for stall, or will be its demise. I personally think this stall hype will see its end after it fails under true tournament play, but I’m willing to have my mind be changed about stall.​

 

[TheCreatorOfBullsht]

Aight it's my 2nd post now, probably.

Triple Innards + MG Slak(GOAT)

- This team has cooked so many innards spam (Only 27% of the high ladders that have encountered with this team) despite the minor issues that i eventually ran into.


The Gambler @ Lum Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Def
- Shell Smash
- Photon Geyser
- Sticky Web
- Lovely Kiss

MMY THE GAMBLER The lead of the team, i first thought of this that having an versatile innards is much better (imo.)
PROs: Has an important role to slow down any fast setters and sweepers and status them with sleep as much as possible, while avoiding MGpursuits and MBncers and MCoats. Although while against Impostors, a 50/50 for them to choose either web/sleep to counter back against a faster mon(Maerodactyl)
CONs: Can be overlooked and checked by well-known high ladders, BAD MUs against MGpursuits(goggles) MBncers MCoats on lead.

To your answer: I choose lovely kiss instead of spore cus i like to gamble and yes, for kart and ferro.



The Lamb (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def
- Defog
- Baton Pass
- Magic Coat
- Shore Up

ORIGINALLY: It was Solgaleo, an offense bulky innards with defog to deal with hazards.


BLISSEY THE LAMB The sacrificial mon for any setup sweepers that you want to eliminate to avoid any further damages.
PROs: Not much to say, a common setup for an innards.
CONs: Having to rely on bliss on what to eliminate, whilst having hazards to deal with, and getting stag and taunted could be annoying. it could also be a waste if left unchecked against MG mons/w pursuit.



The Fool @ Lunalium Z
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def
- Shell Smash
- Light That Burns the Sky
- Moongeist Beam
- Stoked Sparksurfer

LUNALA THE FOOL A special sweeper innards while tanking most of the special attacks except ghost/dark moves.
PROs: Cannot be tricked/switch item due to Z-Item while setting up for a counter attack, it can be a really good sweep.
CONs: Can be left unchecked if up against MGs, potentially wasted. Can be walled against most of the WGs and could get predict switch and waste a Zmove.


The Omega @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sunsteel Strike
- Pursuit
- Extreme Speed

SLAK THE OMEGA A priority revenge killer with STAB normal moves that can easily deal with most of sweepers that can't deal with prior moves.
PROs: With the silk scarf, it can 2HKO any mon with fake+espeed unless its furcoat.
CONs: This mon apparently i didn't know until now, had alot of issues. It can get trapped by any mon that can tank its stab moves, gets walled easily by Steel types, could get left unchecked when dealing with Innards, Pranksters and WGs that has burn status/moves.



The GOAT @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Evoboost
- Sunsteel Strike
- Recycle
- Recover

SLAKING THE GOAT The Late Game Changer, an absolute menace during the epic fight against Sussy in HPL Week2
Honorable Mention: https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/ba...-2422690532-dv509q84jxf22v723yndjuld3jrtxwapw
PROs: Most of the match that i played that have innards in their team would switch while i get boost stats for free, easily sweeping most of the mons.
CONs: Despite being the goat, it has many weaknesses after a lot of matches, it gets forced switched out with whirl/roar/cthrow or gets trapped/stag by a mon with a specific move with Psong/Ssap while tanking with 2x/3x/4x boostats sunsteel. MMX with sash+adamant can one tap Slak with Sacred Sword, and with no hazards on the opponent side, can get you OHKO with NGs+sash and possibly worst luck of all, is getting crit by an Impostor while having boostats 2x/3x/4x...

The Pterror (Aerodactyl-Mega) @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sing
- Sheer Cold
- Gastro Acid
- Spikes

ORIGINALLY: I replaced sheer for fissure because it was supposed to be selfproofed for Impostor but then i realized it can't deal with Mrays. (specifically MBnce)

AERO THE PTERROR A versatile NGuard with hazard setup that can be a potential threat to late game.
PROs: With a lot of knowledge and gameplay to the ladders, you can easily setup hazards whilst dealing Gastro Acid to WGs that has defog/mcoat while asleep.
CONs: Can be left unchecked when dealing with BAD MUs against MCoats or Impostor/NG(scarf). Gets walled by Mbncers Ice Types and most WGs.

IN CONCLUSION: After throughout analysis, this team is overall good and decent, even though the majority of the teams weaknesses, can be overlooked now at this point. but nonetheless, here's some notable replays;

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2425699416-ofukd9ey4x1xycr7pbsm11r2f525q01pw
Vs Resolaris

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515925950-0j6g3m3b5qew7fitwutwv39gm76tbmspw
Vs WindSnivy

 

[Rain]

In defense of Zeus HO
(RMT)


https://pokepast.es/d8793b63b09f8d7b​

---

Just to clarify before I begin, this team has never been used or was made by Zeus the Ruin, but it was heavily based on many variations of their teams so in honor of that, the teams name is Zeus HO (Hyper Offense).

This "Zues style" of teams has been dunked on for a very long time, but I feel like there is a lot to take away from this team and how it works. By todays standards, it is pretty weird looking, as it has no Innards Out, no hazard removal, no No Guard and no Wonder Guard. Despite all this, it has performed quite well over a long period of time, without really seeing drops in viability. And its viablity is decently high, managing to beat several notable players, such as Eyeos, Lycan, Aidan Amoongus, Guysmash, Resolaris, Splodge, Ptoast, Yourself, lag=bad and more. It has also hit no. 1 on ladder.

---

Groudon-Primal @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 SpD
- V-create
- Oceanic Operetta
- Searing Sunraze Smash
- Stealth Rock

Starting off with the usual lead of the team, Pdon has the very important job of setting and preventing hazards, while also hitting hard as hell. It is a Pdon over other common offensive bouncers due to its ability to selfproof with Oceanic Operetta, and having the hardest hitting V create in the game, which is nice to have. This means it can set up rocks while also threatening a lot of offensive (and some defensive) Pokemon, forcing them to choose to either set up, and then tank a massive V Create or SSS, and then probably get R killed by the prio users or 2HKO Pdon (if possible). Naive nature with min spd is its nature as power isn't the sets main focus, and so that it can always OHKO eviolite imp.

Possible replacements for this set

Groudon-Primal @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- V-create
- Thousand Arrows

Kyurem-Black @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- Freeze-Dry
- Sacred Fire

Heracross-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: Parental Bond
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Storm Throw
- First Impression
- Sunsteel Strike
- Spectral Thief

Heracross is the second potential lead since it can OHKO many bug weak mons with a Fimp through Focus Sash. When Heracross isn't a lead, it is the teams primary revenge killer. With STAB Fimp, Storm Throw and strong Spectral Thief, it can revenge kill a lot of offensive Pokemon. Sunsteel is in the back just so it does not get completely walled by popular WGs and gives it a chance to possibly reverse sweep after a spectral boost. Heracross is also the improof to a lot of the mons on this team.



Meloetta @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Genesis Supernova
- Shell Smash
- Boomburst

Meloetta has a lot of roles on the team but it is primarily a revenge killer/reverse sweeper for mons that Heracross can't deal with, such as WG setup sweepers. It can do this due to having Mold Breaker Spectral Thief. Due to there not being any Nomal+Ghost type Pokemon in gen 7, this allows Hera and Melo to Revenge kill basically every mon in the game. Besides this, Meloetta can: break (Boomburst + Genesis), block priority (Genesis), tank special hits, and block Spectral Thief. Melo brings some insane role compression into the team, and even though it started as a Pbond MMY improof, I realized that the set works surprisingly fine on its own. Imposter turning into Melo can be a problem if it sets up Psychic Terrain but it is not unmanegable. Also, to note, Genesis might seem weird to some as half the team has priority moves, but from experience this isn't really an issue. If you feel like it is, feel free to change it to some other CFZ move.



Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Extreme Speed/ Pursuit
- Spectral Thief
- Storm Throw
- Photon Geyser

The teams third revenge killer/reverse sweeper. Yes you heard that right, we are stealing ALL the boosts from the opposing team! Jokes aside, MMX is here in the possibility that hazards go up, or Melo and Hera can't do their jobs for 1 reason or another. Not much else to say except MMX was chosen for STAB Storm Throw and pretty good speed.

Possible replacements for this set

Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Focus Sash
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Close Combat

Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Focus Sash
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Moongeist Beam
- Moonblast
- Photon Geyser

MMY is the teams Special Sweeper and much needed priority blocker. MMY is very fast so Dazzling suits it very well, and can cheese out some kills since Dazzling isn't all that common. Moonblast, Mgeist and Photon give MMY decent options for a lot of mons. Not much else to say here, the set is pretty standard. If you will be using the team without a hazard setter, I recommend chaning the ability to Parental Bond as it can sweep a crap load of offensive teams if they don't have priority.




Regigigas @ Lum Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Evoboost
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Sunsteel Strike

Regigigas is the teams primary Physical sweeper with strong priority STAB Espeed and Sacred Fire for the pesky Steel types. It also acts as one of the teams revenge killers, but that isn't its usual role. Regigias is used over Slaking on this team so MMX and Heracross can kill it easier if Imposer becomes it. Not much else to say, pretty standard set and the set that was least changed from the original Zeus team (only change is Slaking to Regi).

---

In conclusion, I think the team is really cool and works decently well. Cool, because it doesn't comform to the usual style of building HO teams. Of course, it does have some major weaknesses, such as Imposter (if it manages to get in many times), Mold Breaker hazards setters, and possibly Normal type/WG Evoboost Spam.

Notable replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2516090568-ofcxtqibh5471gwe441r9bo4jlt4ofmpw?p2 Winning despite the opponent having ways of getting Imp on the field many times.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2516063762 One of the many Eyeos games

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2446520183?p2 Lag=bad game

This team is bad, non of the mons outside of groudon selfproofs and you dont have a single stag rkiller so the impostor can just come in, grab a kill and get away like that.

To make this not too short as a post because I already have too many one liners I'll post some sets I either like or find underrated asw and give quick analysis on them. hopefully most of you guys will hate those.

Greninja-Ash (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- King's Shield
- Spore / Lovely Kiss

Yea I know "holy fuk Anson is posting the random sht sets again" but this time I'll give it to you, that's what I thought when I saw it. But I found it better than it seems to be on the first glance. The moldy move resistances are letting it to be able to find a chance to come in, notably photon immunity, and in the mmy's case you can still use King's shield to scout for coverage moves although it might cause in lose of momentum and I don't think any of the mmy's will try to setup infront of a random greninja that's switching in to it. Magic Bounce also provides great ultiliy and further provides chances for it to switch in. King's shield is primally for lowering the attack of the defensive uturn pivots as well as taking free leftovers heal, and can make it to be able to annoy non setup mmx by alternatively using shield and sub before finally pivoting out with baton pass and let the defensive staggers on the back to sht on it or the setup sweepers to get a free chance to sweep. This can be paired with tspikes and work pretty well.

Pheromosa / Beedrill-Mega @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Sunsteel Strike
- Choose two from U-turn / First Impression / Spore / Lovely Kiss

Yea yea "Anson is now posting another sht mon omg" this is not really popular and easy to fit but it does do sth. Life orb vcreate ohkos mmx for both. Idk what to say this is pretty good into offense and fishy stalls if they should get a mention.

 

[Yourself]

who is mamoswine better than?
​

S Rank​

S
Chansey (Imposter, Innards Out)

no

Blissey (Imposter, Innards Out)

no

S-
Mewtwo-Mega-X (Huge Power, Magic Bounce, Magic Guard)

no though i actully use mamoswine more than this guy

Kartana (Huge Power, Wonder Guard, Magic
Guard)

no

Mewtwo-Mega-Y (Psychic Surge, No Guard, Protean)

no

A Rank
A+
Slaking (Huge Power, Harvest)

no

Gengar-Mega (Parental Bond, No Guard)

no

Zygarde-Complete (Prankster, Magic Bounce)

prank is like a balance exclusive thing which is already a negative, and on stall the main thing bounce does is give you back up into wg arc and non ng/hp kart as well as switching into stuff to scout (which imp already does) and imo mamo's niche is more valuable if it works (which as of writing this it typically does, no guards aren't varied and stag isn't common at all) so right now mamoswine is MAYBE better imo.

A Rank
Audino-Mega (Wonder Guard)

no

Groudon-Primal (Magic Bounce, Shadow Tag, Huge Power)

no

Regigigas (Huge Power)

no

Meloetta (Wonder Guard)

no

A- Rank
Arceus (Wonder Guard, Harvest)

no

Gyarados-Mega (Wonder Guard, Magic Guard, Shadow Tag)

offensive mgyara is not great and i could never see myself using defensive mgyara but i don't feel like this justifies me saying that mamo is better.

Slowbro-Mega (Wonder Guard, Prankster, Fur Coat)

prob no

Celesteela (Wonder Guard, Prankster)

no

Ferrothorn (Wonder Guard)

no

Kyogre-Primal (Wonder Guard)

no

Rayquaza-Mega (Triage, Mold Breaker, Shadow Tag)

no

Alphabetical Order: B+ to E

B Rank
B+
Deoxys-Attack (Magic Guard, Huge Power, Psychic Surge)

no

Deoxys-Speed (No Guard, Mold Breaker)

no

Diancie-Mega (Pixilate, Magic Guard)

i can't remember the last time i saw a diancie but prob no

Ho-Oh (Wonder Guard, Prankster)

mamo is probably more splashable on stall so pretend i sent a gas pump emoji

Hoopa-Unbound (Wonder Guard)

4x bug weak is so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so bad so maybe

Lopunny-Mega (No Guard)

eh maybe

Muk-Alola (Wonder Guard, Mold Breaker)

prob no

Pheromosa (Huge Power, No Guard, Comatose)

i've never used phero but im not based enough for such a mon so im just gonna say no

Scizor-Mega (Wonder Guard)

no

Steelix-Mega (Prankster, Fur Coat, Magic Bounce)

im leaning more towards yes this guy is pretty ass and i feel like other guys like doublade, maybe darmanitan zen, mbro and registeel do its job (prank sunsteel resist) better

Yveltal (Magic Bounce, Magic Guard, Harvest)

prob no

B
Aerodactyl-Mega (No Guard, Shadow Tag)

no

Doublade (Fur Coat, Magic Bounce, Sturdy)

prob no

Giratina-Origin (Innards Out, Harvest)

no

Greninja-Ash (Wonder Guard, No Guard, Comatose)

when's the last time this guy did anything

Lunala (Innards Out, No Guard, Adaptability)

maybe, non innards lunala is forced and with innards it's pretty hard to justify over gira o due to the photon resist and weaker sss

Heatran (Wonder Guard)

leaning towards no

Sableye-Mega (Wonder Guard)

no, sableye is actually really fucking cool

Swampert-Mega (Wonder Guard)

prob no, this guy is underated i think

Umbreon (Wonder Guard, Magic Bounce)

it's basically just what i said with mgyara

Volcanion (Wonder Guard)

imo mamo is better. the main reason you run this over other sunsteel resists is the 4x sunsteel resist but you don't even wall kart that well anyways because it can run tarrows, pfists, bolt strike, or fissure and after hazards you get goobed by sss so i don't think i could ever justify using this.

B-

Aggron-Mega (Prankster, Fur Coat, Magic Bounce)

same as mlix

Alakazam-Mega (Psychic Surge, Harvest)

the answer should be no but like nobody uses this

Banette-Mega (Huge Power)

mamo probably better because needing cb is really chopped, i can't remember the last time i saw this guy, and idk what it does over slaking

Houndoom-Mega (Wonder Guard)

no

Kyurem-White (Magic Bounce)

no

Necrozma-Dawn-Wings (Wonder Guard)

maybe yes

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane (Huge Power, Magic Bounce)

what does it do over kart? when was the last time anyone used it? i'd say mamo is better

Necrozma-Ultra (Huge Power, Neuroforce*) *from Ultranecrozium Z Necrozma Dusk Mane or Necrozma Dawn Wings

what does it do over mmx or mmy? when was the last time anyone used it? i'd say mamo is better

Pikachu (Imposter)

pikachu was used on like on team ever, it's pretty replacable there and arguably not even the best choice there so i would say maao i better.

Sceptile-Mega (No Guard)

idk

Solgaleo (Prankster, No Guard, Sturdy)

idk i've never used solg and i hardly ever face it

C Rank
Articuno (Magic Bounce)

mamo is better. balloon is rarely an inconvenience for mamo, stag is extremely rare, and zap cannon weak is ass.

Dialga (Wonder Guard)

i accidently deleted the embed thing or whatever it's called and i cba to add it back so sorry. anyways im gonna say no because aerobee talked about some evoboost shore up stoked sparksurfer sss selfproof harvest set once and when i'm not sure on things i steal aerobee's opinion.

Giratina (Innards Out)

WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT EVEN DO OF COURSE MAMO IS BETTER

Guzzlord (Innards Out)

same as gira-a except it's less egrigous or whatever the word is

Heracross-Mega (Huge Power)

why do we need fimp stab? mamo probably better. i do remember having a lot of fun with cb mhera back in the balance era though.

Kyurem-Black (Magic Bounce, Refrigerate)

maybe mamo better idk. it's like kyurem white but you have worse calcs into offensive mons and in exchange you can be an innards sack vs stall if you have the right coverage. +2 huge power icicle spear also kills everyone through sash but i have yet to see someone take advantage of this fact.

Marowak-Alola (Huge Power)

why aren't we slaking

Metagross-Mega (Harvest, Huge Power, Magnet Pull)

who is metagross and why is magnet pull even ranked

Type: Null (Wonder Guard, Magic Bounce)

what does it do? nobody has ran this since 2024 either. mamoswine is better.

Xerneas (Innards Out)

prob no

D Rank

Bisharp (Wonder Guard)

what does bisharp do? you resist every moldy move but you are weak to every coverage move ever and are also fissure weak. the only positive thing is that it walls sunsteel geist fairy/elec but like incin and houndoom are right there. mamo is better.

Beedrill-Mega (Huge Power)

oh my god bruh

Darmanitan-Zen (Wonder Guard)

prob mamo

Froslass (Magic Bounce)

mamo is better because zap cannon is 10x more common than horn drill and as i have already mentioned like 2 or 3 times stag fell off a cliff.

Excadrill (Innards Out)

what does blud do

Gardevoir-Mega (Wonder Guard, Magic Guard)

i'd say mamo is better because fairy stab is extremely unlikely to justify the speed loss and i can't remember the last time i saw anyone use it.

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite (Wonder Guard, Illusion)

mamo better

Magearna (Wonder Guard)

mamo better

Mamoswine (Magic Bounce)

this was probably the most difficult decision on the list, so difficult i'm going to say it's a tie

Mawile @ Mawilite (Simple)

kart is right there

E Rank
Everyone Else - Because really, this is USUM Pure Hackmons.

you know if you're going to make a claim like this you should have actually remembered to add everyone. off the top of my head registeel, lando-t, and zeroara should have been included but there's probably more. also include piloswine for the funnys, you slow pivot and don't really lose much bulk and gloomstalker also topped ladder with it.


conclusion

the fact i was able to say yes this many times about a mon who is ranked in d tier is pretty insane, though mamo could really easily just fall off due to prep so maybe this means nothing. idk why i posted this, this is like the easiest way i could farm wow and haha reactions but anyways bye gas pump emoji.

 

[ANinjaDude]

The GOAT @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Extreme Evoboost
- Sunsteel Strike
- Recycle
- Recover

SLAKING THE GOAT The Late Game Changer, an absolute menace during the epic fight against Sussy in HPL Week2
Honorable Mention: https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/ba...-2422690532-dv509q84jxf22v723yndjuld3jrtxwapw
PROs: Most of the match that i played that have innards in their team would switch while i get boost stats for free, easily sweeping most of the mons.
CONs: Despite being the goat, it has many weaknesses after a lot of matches, it gets forced switched out with whirl/roar/cthrow or gets trapped/stag by a mon with a specific move with Psong/Ssap while tanking with 2x/3x/4x boostats sunsteel. MMX with sash+adamant can one tap Slak with Sacred Sword, and with no hazards on the opponent side, can get you OHKO with NGs+sash and possibly worst luck of all, is getting crit by an Impostor while having boostats 2x/3x/4x...

Real gamers know that the best MG Slak set is Mind Blown+Sparksurfer+Oceanic+Pursuit smh. Anyways, I do very much appreciate seeing more usage of Slaking that isn't just "oh STAB HP fakespeed" or "oh HarvSlak," because I've seen some people saying that Slaking is only good with HP/Harvest, and all the other sets are much worse, and I cannot tolerate this slander.

 

[Mewtwo's Greatest Soldier]

you know if you're going to make a claim like this you should have actually remembered to add everyone. off the top of my head registeel, lando-t, and zeroara should have been included but there's probably more. also include piloswine for the funnys, you slow pivot and don't really lose much bulk and gloomstalker also topped ladder with it.


conclusion

the fact i was able to say yes this many times about a mon who is ranked in d tier is pretty insane, though mamo could really easily just fall off due to prep so maybe this means nothing. idk why i posted this, this is like the easiest way i could farm wow and haha reactions but anyways bye gas pump emoji.

KIND OF A JOKE GUIDE BUT IT WORKED LUL LMAO LADDER MOMENT

Guide to building ladder topping teams with random shitmon

step one make sure the random shitmon has some semblance of a niche like it beats no guard or harvslak or some other scary guy for stall
step two add a ho oh (good check to random ass) and 2-4 chanseys
step three add some other stuff that beats things you dont beat easily like a sunsteel check other than hooh or a stag guy or your own harvest
step four congratulations! you just peaked ladder with imp+innards spam + shitmon.

Anyways, I'm posting here today to avoid posting a real RMT about the surprisingly good team I recently topped ladder with after the stallers stopped gatekeeping it.

THE TEAM

There are actually two variations of the team, the groudon version and the swampert version. The team peaked rank one with 1714 elo and 88.6 GXE but I don't have access to the screenshots as I'm writing this so you'll have to trust me for now. The record was not extremely impressive, going 49-6 although I did lose multiple games before "finalizing" the team. I was undefeated except for one game versus PenultimateToast past 1500 iirc though.

The team itself is quite simple. I shuffled the mons around for aesthetic, but I started with the gengar after running the basic taunt+tspikes gar, getting annoyed about arceus, and adding focus blast for it and then sludge bomb for Audino-Mega. The only real improofs for this are Meloetta or Yveltal, and I was tired of using Yveltal because I was spamming it quite a lot, so I opted for Meloetta. Melo's set was really easy to figure out, and I now needed a way of killing opposing Meloetta and checking offense so Slaking was an easy add. Fake Out + Extreme Speed annihilates nearly any non-resists that aren't boosted defense and Pursuit not only snipes Melo for Gengar but also breaks sash and heavily damages offensive mons who want to avoid dying to fakespeed. For example, leading Slaking versus Deoxys-Speed allows for either instantly removing it if they dare stay in or nukes it down to sash on the swap. Importantly, Pursuit puts MMX into range of Extreme Speed, meaning it's no longer able to switch in on Slaking and force it out. This can also be used to OHKO innards blobs, as they will rarely be left in to baton pass versus slaking as extreme speed would kill. A Jolly nature ensures that pursuit will always kill chansey even with scarf but makes your revenge killing significantly less reliable- I would not recommend it.

With Slaking, Sashgar and coat Melo providing at least a decent matchup into offense, my weak Balance+Stall matchups needed work. Slaking being available to kill Innards on stall meant that I wanted to opt for an electric type attacker with a decent matchup into Sableye to annihilate CoN stall, and then they told me they were additionally opting for Scizor over Celesteela to beat electric attackers. A huge power mon with Sunsteel, Plasma Fists, and V-Create would provide an amazing matchup into this after innards dies, and Ice Shard for Zygc balance or other random mons like stag rayquaza or chipped attackers would be a good last move. Therefore, I added the Yourself MMX. A second sash mon is good utility into offense, and the stall samples obviously lack options for counterplay. On the groudon version, it can even go Petal Blizzard to occasionally goob Swampert if it's being used as a cteam but missing Ho-Oh is really bad.

I started with Groudon as the MMX improof, giving it Lava Plume to OHKO Kartana or potentially burn it to cheese through sash while also making non-wgs not want to switch in. Stealth rock was another easy choice as the team lacked hazards at this point, and healing + pivoting are extremely standard. Improofing this set would require a bouncer, which I already wanted to preserve sashes, that didn't care about Lava Plume which is a difficult ask due to how powerful Groudon is. Ho-Oh is immune to burn and easily soaks Lava Plume. It received defog, as nothing else could really fit it, circle throw to stop Arceus and generically shuffle things, healing and pivoting.

The team was doing really well until around mid 1600s, when I ran into penultimatetoast loading a bolt strike fissure Kartana that fried my entire defensive core and lost. I then swapped groudon for Swampert without any other modification and proceeded to go undefeated all the way up to rank one.

ANALYSIS OF MUS COMING LATER

I'll start this section now by saying that mmx is a weak matchup that needs you to outplay with slaking or gengar or trade with your own mewtwo. You also struggle with evoboosters or smash steels because your rkillers are gengar (needs sash) mmx (ice shard/needs sash) and fakespeed slaking. Fortunately, most steels are easy because you have a lot of anti-steel utility.


BATTLING THE SAMPLES


mmx spam ho (https://pokepast.es/2e6f87e4bc3ac038): Slaking never ever breaks groudon or swampert barring crit if you just swap in and press healing move until it's pp stalled. If you're max you can risk going for lava plume or an attack but if it attacks there is a very strong chance it 2hkos swampert. It never 2hkos groudon, however. Swampert also walls 2/3 mmx (you die to LTBTS) but groudon only walls 1 (you die to fissure). The no guard is also walled by ho-oh, but good luck preserving ho-oh's HP as you do really need to swap it into deoxys. If hazards aren't up you can use your own mmx to rkill something, gengar to rkill something, and try to pop one of them to innards. Slaking lead is really solid, as no one would leave deoxys in normally. You can then go for pursuit or double to MMX to try to pick off innards. The team lacks swaps for your mmx. You can also double gengar into slaking's fake out or extreme speed and force it out, which threatens to pick up a kill with fissure. Overall it's favorable for you because you can conditionally wall all the mmx except the one that reveals itself, melo is a strong sack to scout the set, slaking and gengar threaten to slaughter everything and your own mmx is either a great trade into anything, a great fake lure for gengar to get in, or a great option to click into innards. If you get outplayed or accidentally sack melo to the wrong thing/the wrong thing to mmx you might just lose though. You also have to outplay around deoxys and innards.

gold ho (https://pokepast.es/38172ec8d2e1bb9d): is a weird matchup, to say the least. Psysurge is really really bad for you because it shuts down slaking but if slaking is actually in on mmy you brutalize it like (political comment here) so it doesn't want to switch in. Lopunny is theoretically really bad but you have bounce and coat wg so it definitely isn't unplayable. It also gets pursuited by slaking pretty efficiently. Innards is a huge bounce victim but it lets in mmx who is a huge threat, so this is another weird matchup. MMX threatens to kill everything but the team is actually pretty used to that so slaking and gengar can both put out a huge threat on it. Neither Kartana is really threatening because you have multiple fast priority users and council took off bond so both pert and pdon nuke them. Overall I'd call the MU even as psysurge + mmx is really bad but you have outs and while psysurge is up they can't remove so it's quite awkward. Psysurge also cannot go up versus slaking as although you may not die you will take a lot of damage and struggle to just attack as melo is also annoying. People also consistently spore into berry as Ransei popularized leppa evoboost which is a really bad fakespeed set (you don't break sunsteel walls, and you mostly just force innards/sash + ng versus offense; fakespeed setup is so fake.)

Aerobee HO (https://pokepast.es/41aaa410ec71be40): Requires outplay but this is a really strong matchup. Ho-Oh should be able to beat gengar if you're healing berry and don't get haxxed too hard, or if you just don't get haxxed at all if you aren't. Slaking forces vile 50/50s with every member of the team and also has this silly thing where it 1v1s every mon on the team. Ho-Oh beats almost everything, actually. MMX can be a good sack to Giratina, or you can try to outplay their Z-moves with swampert + melo. Melo beats kyurem and mmy. There is no swap for mmx except Arceus (who you heavily damage with sunsteel anyways). The game can be a little bit of a tossup if they play really well (so if they're aerobee) but the matchup is really weighted in your favor thanks to having a grounded poison, loads of prio, fissure, and Child of Night 's goat BIG BIRB.

Pikachu (https://pokepast.es/607542bade1f8a78): Why is this still samples real talk... This should be the rare good matchup for the team so let me teach you how to butterfly and rectify it. Gengar can beat everything on the team except for Greninja who outspeeds and breaks the sash you so desperately need. Moldy mmx can only do one thing out of either get rocks or break your sash because it's a bad lead. Click sludge bomb or focus blast versus it turn two to try and catch Greninja or Audino coming in- It's usually audino if they broke your sash and greninja if they got rocks, sometimes they just sack it though. Gengar is a great utility piece in the matchup because it is a roll for 2 hit +2 icicle spear to kill and mmx needs a 4hit for that roll without boost. Slaking should be clicking pursuit versus unboosted, as it always wants to go to steelix. Ho-Oh can be sacked to click circle throw to maybe deny setup once you no longer need to remove as Greninja isn't really a threat even at +2 if mmx has sash. Get ho-oh in versus steelix if you can to click defog. Pikachu cannot break groudon with either sunsteel mon but threatens to break swampert with both. It needs mmx sash broken though, and needs to outplay slaking but threatens to kill it with pursuit. Generally, gengar lead leaves them on the back foot enough that you can remove rocks, click off a Z-Shot to heal things up, and outplay pikachu with pursuit. You are softproofed balance without a good steel prank or innards, so the matchup is only even as you can both deal heavy damage with certain breakers- but can be dominant easily if you outplay. Going for V-create to ohko their mmx is always a funny moment if you win speed tie. Tailwind is always a momentum sink, just don't kill steelix with offensive guys and get in hooh or melo or swampert to click your utility.

Diamancie Revamped (https://pokepast.es/9369a50fd0e3775e): Suspiciously close to a free 6/0 with the only thing holding you back being the fact that MMX is a garbage matchup. The counterpoint is look at your own mmx. Gengar is a fraud because they have melo who is your improof so rely on it as an occasionally sack to mmx's click right up until you double slaking into melo and demolish it with pursuit. After that v-create mmx is a free click and the game basically ends. Outplay their mmx with pursuit and fakespeed as well and the game will quickly swing in your favor. Just keep up momentum and don't give them a second free and you easily halt Diancie''s progress and instantly win once the mewtwo dies.

Stag Gyara Stall (https://pokepast.es/f23859ee81b76c77) lol they forfeit on preview look at ur mmx and look at their 6. Not only does shed shell ho-oh stop them from burning or setting any hazard ever but you also just have perfect coverage and they don't have a single innards. Tspikes would be really terrifying if there wasn't a gengar... You can maybe lose to getting stagged on Swampert and then taunted and pp stalled but guess what! they can't stop ho-oh from slow pivoting out of their gyarados so they can't even try to stag swampert unless they get innards in versus mmx which also requires mmx having been in and since it's easy to slow pivot in... you get the point. The matchup is really dominant although technically losable to pert getting stagged. Try to only bring in mewtwo when it's going to score kills and maybe try to outplay stag swapping in if you still have sash active versus imp and you win.

Kyogre Stall (https://pokepast.es/8424993b9a3f5643) This is like the same thing but instead of needing to play around stag you need to play around one singular innards. This means that you need to go hard slaking and outplay the baton/hardswap (it has in my experience always been hardswap) and then Mewtwo kills everything plus ho-oh walls all the hazards ever and you post "nothing ever happens" for 50 turns and then Zygarde gets chipped for about 40% and now mewtwo has no walls and ice shard eats the entire team. Aromatherapy lasts for a very short time relative to how many lava plumes and self-toxics you may have to eat, and ho-oh's health is hardly in risk if you come in to click defog unless kyogre is doubled. Rocks never even go up, so that isn't a concern.

LOADS OF REPLAYS + SHORT ANALYSIS COMING LATER

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515317265 versus Binderpaper's Kyuw+Raticate+Nihilego offense,1567 elo. They lack switchins for gengar as Focus Blast OHKOs Raticate-Alolan and Fissure OHKOs both Nihelego and Kyurem-White. I avoid Nihelego baiting with innards, survive Kyurem's moongiest with sash and gengar sweeps the team.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515384138-j1xh6khdnfuv6j19hr0eyf60jjk67cnpw versus Dessembered's innards zygc+marshededinja balance, 1281 elo. Ho-Oh+Maud bounce back spite and toxic spam and Gengar kills Ultra Necrozma and threatens to clean the rest of the team. They forfeit after Toxic is bounced onto zygarde.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515389787-0880r0eqdvrtr1lyr2nvopknb98lpojpw versus Cresujist's Stag Arc and Tina + NG Deos offense, 1459 elo. Slaking's Fakespeed avoids getting locked into a move before being tricked a scarf, and sunsteel threatens to kill Giratina before it can get up more than one spike. Ho-Oh gets caught by the fissure+sheer cold deoxys before coat melo blocks sleep and forces it out. Both Melo and Swampert are toxicked by muk, but rocks go up and muk gets hit with parting shot so I risk leaving in Gengar to moongiest and pop balloon to OHKO it with fissure. Gengar then would clean up the team but they forfeit before it happens.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515396747 Versus sussymonkey300's dual deos + triple arc offense, 1339 elo. I misplay around a spore + max hazards Arceus, assuming it would swap and giving it max layers. I then switch around a bit and get in Ho-Oh, who bounces back spore and defogs. NG arceus comes in but gets circle thrown and I clean up the Arcs with gengar before Comaphase deos is revealed and is incapable of winning due to hazards being removed. They forfeit before slaking or mmx can win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515407820-b4t3lrlbyc9o0w8f9992c6mrtdx15ikpw versus Captainaustria's quadruple shuckle balance, 1294 elo. MMX threatens an OHKO on even max bulk shuckle, meaning it can clean up the entire game. They forfeit after the first KO.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515400270 versus Plaguey Platypus's houndoom + ng deos + traige ray HO, 1440 elo. I eliminate MMX with slaking, go into ho-oh to block fissure from deos, and after some pivoting kill Houndoom with gengar's fissure. Melo and Ho-Oh combine to force out Rayquaza and bounce rocks onto their side, eventually landing circle throw on slaking for some minor chip, walling it with swampert, and removing it and Giratina with Gengar. With Rayquaza and Deoxys hardwalled by Meloetta and Ho-Oh respectively, they forfeit.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515414520 versus LegitamatePotato loading outdated Ransei balance but with melo, 1436 elo. Reminds me of a sample, actually... Anyways, MMX is an unwallable threat and they have enough of a core to fall back on that Slaking can't reliably out-offense. Slaking picks off Necrozma early and I sack gengar's sash to force out MMX. I then get goobed by melo being sap, rocks, defog, and uturn all at once meaning it's not possible to pursuit trap, it forces in ho-oh, it removes my hazards, and can go out to MMX on ho-oh reliably. I end up forced to sack the useless Gengar and outplay the MMX, clicking Fake Out for chip as it reads pursuit. I unfortunately do not pursuit and instead go for extreme speed, landing minor chip on the Zygarde. After some pivoting, mmx gets hit with Circle Throw, leaving it in in 100% kill range from Extreme Speed. Mewtwo gets in again and I choke and sack Swampert instead of Meloetta. Slaking gets fried and doesn't pursuit again, and I switch around until Greninja enters and forces chip on melo. MMX gets in and heavily damages zygarde, but I get forced out again by Greninja and then end up clicking sunsteel as zygarde heals. Fortunately, I crit Greninja with Ice Shard leaving it in range of Slaking. Mewtwo scores a massive 75% on Melo as I read it to u-turn, and Chansey enters and reads the Ho-Oh swap with Plasma Fists. I get in my own melo versus the choice-locked Imposter, and Z-Parting shot restores Mewtwo's sash and it kills Zygarde with Ice Shard. I trade V-create for Sunsteel vs imposter, get some chip with Ice Shard before going down, and they sack imposter to Slaking Fake Out presumably reading it to Pursuit. Fortunately, everything is in range of Slaking and slower at this point, so it cleans up the game with a Sunsteel and some extreme speeds. Easily the most challenging game of these despite the team being really old due to lacking innards or any mmx check.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2514629004 versus BinderPaper's ScarfDon + Recycle Leppa MMX Offense, 1529 elo. Gengar goes to sash t1 to fissure pdon and then dies to Maud's U-turn turn 2 for 62% sludge bomb chip. MMX comes in and I choke predicting it to swap out of slaking and die instantly to SSS while pursuiting. Groudon forces it out and lands a Lava Plume on Doublade, dealing over 80% and crippling it for the rest of the game. I get rocks as gyarados enters and baton pass out as it defogs, letting in MMX who kills it instantly with pfists. I go into Groudon on MMX Let's Snuggle Forever and baton pass out to melo on NDW and parting shot out as maud enters, bringing in MMX to sunsteel and kill it. Doublade is sacked to v-create right after and MMX reveals sss+recycle as Groudon forces it out with Lava Plume. NDW enters again but I bring in meloetta and start spamming spectral thief to chip down MMX and get 60% chip on Necrozma. Groudon should comfortably wall it, but a crit SSS leaves me low enough that I have to go into Ho-Oh and heal, giving Necrozma free entry to greed up a smash and then get 40% chip on Meloetta as spectral kills. Mewtwo tries to Recycle to get through Groudon but another spectral thief ends the game.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2514696179 versus PenultimateToast's Dual Regigigas + Stag Dialga offense, 1680 elo. Ptoast's Kartana has bolt strike + fissure meaning it can break my entire defensive core. I lead Gengar versus Regigigas and land two moongiests into Kyurem-White, taking 65% from innards. Swampert scares Gengar out and Circle Throw crits for a third of Dialga's health, bringing in Regigigas. Regi doubles to swampert on my Baton Pass to MMX, who I have recently updated with Petal Blizzard to cteam ptoast after I saw them laddering this and lost. Cry about it. MMX OHKOs swampert cleanly and tanks Dialga's MMM on sash, killing it as well with V-create. It finally lands ice shard versus Regigigas, dealing a quarter of it's health and goes down to Pursuit. Gengar comes back in as Ptoast copes and seethes in chat, killing Regigigas with Fissure. Kartana comes in and lands bolt strike on Ho-Oh, killing it even through Wiki Berry. Slaking crits fake out versus it, and I double into Meloetta on the expected Fissure but instead Regigigas enters. Melo would likely die to an attack, but if Regigigas chooses to set up I may lose. However, I instead used Z-Parting shot, allowing me to restore Gengar's broken sash and rkill the Regigigas with Fissure. Ptoast forfeits before Gengar can kill kartana, malding so hard in chat they forget what year it is.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2514726731 Versus Dessembered's Blaziken-Mega + Mold Unecro Offense, 1356 elo. Slaking kills Blaziken early and swaps out as Unecro presses Clangorus Soulblaze twice and kills meloetta. Gengar comes in to revenge kill with sash fissure before swapping out of Sableye-Mega's spectral thief. Ho-Oh uses heal order as Zygarde comes in and clicks toxic, which gets bounced back. It baton passes to Gengar and comes back to bounce a tspike and circle throw Steelix out to Shedinja as it enters, killing Shedinja
and causing Dessembered to forfeit.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2515325319-5opq7p7fjd3ibxa99fdip3t63rtf3kdpw Versus AbsoluteBullsht's triage ray + diancie + slaking priospam HO, 1518 elo. Slaking leads versus Deos and lands pursuit as it goes to innards, forcing it down to sash. It goes out to Ho-Oh, who gets tricked innard's scarf, and Bullsht goes hard out to slaking on ho-oh's baton pass to Gengar. Gengar's fissure flubs into Mega Rayquaza, who clicks Owing on the Melo swap and goes into innards on my penultimateshot. I trade mmx for innards and go swampert on the slaking, easily getting rocks and baton passing into Gengar who kills it with Fissure, costing sash in the process. Deoxys comes back in and dies to rocks before Rayquaza enters and reveals Leech Life, dealing massive damage to Meloetta. I try to sack gengar but Bullsht goes for a tail glow, forcing me into Ho-Oh to circle throw it out. With Ho-Oh at 32 percent, I wall Diancie with Swampert and land a lava plume on Rayquaza as it goes for tail glow. Rayquaza is threatening to sweep my entire team but I double around it to pp stall moongiest beam. Swampert survives a 50/50 roll to land Lava Plume on Rayquaza and I barely manage to chip it enough that it dies to it's own life orb recoil taking out Ho-Oh and Swampert. Meloetta blocks trick from Gengar although strictly speaking getting tricked was fine as Sunsteel would win. Melo parting shots out, lowering Diancie's attacking stats so Slaking can force it out with Sunsteel Strike. Even with it's stats reset, Diancie wouldn't be capable of KOing Slaking so Bullsht forfeits after sacking Gengar. The game was very close and could have easily gone differently if Swampert didn't survive the attack, although considering I failed a few reads and got teched for by leech life it's definitely quite impressive that I managed to clutch the game anyways.

more replays when I find where I saved them


RANDOM DUMP MAYBE COMING LATER

please update samples half the teams are outdated (diamancie) and the other teams were never good (pikachu) there's like one good sample rn.

 

[ANinjaDude]

I would like to second the call for updated samples, because a lot of them are shit.

MMX Spam: Nothing inherently wrong with this, but currently there's just too much stuff thats prepped for mmx spam, so the team just isn't good rn.

Gold's team: Decent team, but you get a 30% debuff if you aren't Gold, because you don't have godlike sleep RNG.

Aerobee Kyu-W: Don't have anything really on this, but I personally don't vibe with it and can't explain why. If I had to guess, it's probably because your only way to stop opposing offense is Innards Tina.

Ash Offense: This team is fundamentally flawed and unredeemable. This should never have been a sample, but was made one because it was made by Ransei and because "it'll bring in new players," ignoring that the average new player that would be enticed to play probably doesn't know the sample team thread exists. There is no reason for this team to be a sample, other than the equivalent of nepotism for teams.

Diamancie: Just straight not good in the current meta. Your only threatening mon is a banded MMX, so it will either get innards sacked on, or pursuit trapped, etc. After that, any Sunsteel resistant WG prevents Dia from making any progress ever, and your defensive core doesn't have the capability to force progress either.

Both stalls: I don't think that stall should be a ph sample in general, because it is primarily built around just countering whatever is most popular at the moment, and is just not the sort of thing that a new player is going to be good at.

 

[Yeetoos]

utility prank bond have always been decent but on the other hand its not THAT good, people do used to underrate it but like I said its not that reliable. Kart is not particularly a good user of it outside of the benefit from the spore immunity. Still you can have sub or stuff to prevent those. On the other hand idt its that good as a hazards setter for it surely can set hazards up because you have priority but you dont have enough offensive pressure to stop your opponent from clearing them.

I feel as if the best utility prankbonder is Goggles Mlop, being immune to 1/3 moldy moves and spore is too valuable to say no to (i see why gold uses it for ng) while I can see kart being good (spore immunity without needing an item thus leaving room for sash) mlop is just so good.

 

[aidan amoongus]

I feel as if the best utility prankbonder is Goggles Mlop, being immune to 1/3 moldy moves and spore is too valuable to say no to (i see why gold uses it for ng) while I can see kart being good (spore immunity without needing an item thus leaving room for sash) mlop is just so good.

goggles mlop is definitely not the best prank dbonder.

#1, it's goggles

i am not saying that goggles is not a good item. it is good. using it on mlop however doesn't work well because mlop is very frail. 64/94/96 defenses make this thing effectively a glass cannon. most mons would want a sash, and especially since you're prank dbond. you probably want sash anyways to tank a hit, do something, and then dbond them.

#2, it's mlop

mlop is a mon that normally is mmy food. i like the mon a lot myself mlop isnt really suited for this. your one moldy move immunity is moongeist, which i will give to you. however, you are supereffective weak to photon, and even with a sunsteel resist, you end up dying to most sunsteelers (hp kart, hp mmx, hp anything tbf) i will say i guess you are prank dbond so this doesnt really mean anything, but i will then ask you this: why mlop?
you could have chose something like kartana, mmy, xerneas, so i dont really know why
you also mention spore immunity is good, and kart does it without needing an item and can run sash, why dont you just run that? you also dont elaborate on "mlop is just so good"

the only "niche" i see for this mon is IF you are sash and IF your opponent has mmy and IF you just so happen to catch them by surprise with a dbond

 

[Yourself]

SAMPLE KILLER6700


do you dislike the samples? do you think that ransei is a dicatator? look no further than the sample killer 6700! with this team you will instantly win upon facing any of the samples, hax aren't real. no shade towards the council and this also says absolutely nothing about the quality of the samples i just thought it would be fun.


the team members


Mamoswine @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Baton Pass
- Shore Up
- Spikes
- Aromatherapy / Pursuit

mamoswine was the first member i included on this team, and it was kind of a no brainer to add it. no guard appears 3 times on the samples, and i couldn't just slap on mcoat maud and call it a day because you get goobed if you're switching in and even if you are in you have to play mindgames which could lead to you losing. i originally had espeed and pursuit on this guy so it could trade itself with innards against child of night stall, however i later realised i could just do this on stag. aromatherapy is nice for the scald mbro on eyeos stall, because it can tank a hit from sthief, but you can also go pursuit to trap mgar on kyurem white offense.


Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Level: 99
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shore Up
- Topsy-Turvy
- Baton Pass

bounce celesteela is how i was able to make this team work, but it's also the team's biggest flaw. defensive bouncer is very important here because it allows you to sit on defensive mons and pivot on them to get mmx in, but unfortunately mamoswine just doesn't cut it due to its lack of bulk and weakness to water and anchor shot. i tried cteaming the samples a while ago, and at the time i was using bounce zygarde and then a prankster steel, and because that takes up 2 slots i wasn't able to make the team work. upon re-attempting i realised steela could compress the role of a prankster steel and defensive bouncer (and arceus answer) into one slot, but unfortunately this comes at the cost at being vunerable into flinches from ash gren and crits from surge mmy, hence why i said it's the team's biggest weakness.



Sableye-Mega @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 151 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom
- Searing Sunraze Smash
- Extreme Speed
- Rapid Spin

this guy looks stupid at first, but once you realise what it does you'll understand that it's vital for this team to work. a stag ghost is vital on this team because it allows you to trap mold mmx and then use rapid spin to make sure rocks are off, and it offers much off what innards would do (killing diancie on diamancie and an mmx on mmx spam). sableye was chosen because of the bup jolly mmx on mmx spam, and because cfzs are broken you can still kill what you want it to. 151 special attack evs is so you don't kill mmx, which i did so you can rapid spin against mold mmx after mmm though now that i think about it it doesn't matter because you can just kill it with rapid spin.. another thing i forgot to mention when talking about why this guy is so important is that you can force the opponent to trade it for innards on child of night stall, mamo could also do this but it takes up more move slots and you'd be playing a 50 50 between espeed and pursuit.



Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Expert Belt
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Photon Geyser
- Spectral Thief
- Play Rough
- V-create

there isn't much to say about this guy. you break every single fat sample, you have steela pivotting you in, and sableye removes innards for you. against mmx spam you will also sack this guy to get stag in on an mmx, and because of this i changed pfists to sthief so they can't just innards you. idk if expert belt is the correct choice of item, but you don't actually need an item so who cares.



Blissey (F) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shore Up
- Stealth Rock
- Topsy-Turvy



Blissey (F) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shore Up
- Baton Pass
- Spectral Thief

they're innards what can i even say. vs mmx spam you will throw both at the first mmx you see, vs gold's team you will throw one at mmx and the other at hp kartana once it sets up, vs kyurem white offense you ill throw the topsy one at gira o and the other at kyw, vs ash ketchum offense you will throw one at pika and the other at mmx, vs diamancie you will throw one at imp and the other at mmx, vs stag mgyara stall you will throw the shed shell one at imp, and vs child of night dtall you will throw one at imp again. innards is broken. the sets are also larp but they do their job so who cares.


what to do vs each team + replays
ignoring hax you should always win into all of these if you don't misplay, however these match ups aren't so one sided to the point where you can just do anything, and you'll have to follow my instructions below though you could probably figure out what to do in these match ups by yourself.
mmx spam:

mamoswine walls deo s, and steela walls slaker. you will use both innards on an mmx, and kill the third one with stag. to get stag infront of the third mmx, you need to sack your own mmx and make sure you don't kill innards with it (by clicking sthief). steela walls one of the mmx but unless you have chipped it so you know which one it is you shouldn't be trying to wall any mmx with steela.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521338059-xn8ly6ce033nt82lh0hu76iibtavbtipw

you basically see this gameplan here however my opponent lead an mmx whilst i lead stag after something died so i didn't have to sack my own mmx.


gold's team:

mamo answers bunny. throw shed shell innards at mmx. for kartana switch to steela, if they clicked anything other than spore you will know whether they are huge power or mg. if it's mg, stay in or baton into mmx. if it's huge power, you can stay in until they set up, and once they set up you want to go to an innards or stay in if they're burned. for mmy, go steela and pray you don't get crit, or if you have burned hp kart you can wall mmy with innards. if the mmy crits your innards, try wall it with steela or the other innards if it's still alive (and pray you don't get crit) and save the innards who got crit as a sack for mmx if you haven't already killed it so you can then switch stag into it. if you don't need stag for mmx, getting it infront of innards is also a possibility.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521351702-h5njovr11j7vfyh8w8ms9n6739e2f5vpw
i played this kinda wrong by not keeping steela on full health but who cares


kyurem white offense:

mgar and deo s are walled by mamo. arc is walled by steela. throw safety goggles innards at gira-o and shed shell innards at kyuw. coma mmy is walled by steela. mmx infront of arc also means you get to kill it, or gira o comes in meaning you can save an innards for someone else i guess. getting mmx infront of non set up sash broken kyuw can also have the same effect.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521268198-s4halwqwhhueguxcb8mcmhg7g18yoqnpw


pika team:

if mold mmx comes in switch to sableye. if it still has sash click mmm and finish it off with rapid spin, if its sash is broken just kill it with rapid spin otherwise you're risking killing it with an mmm crit which would leave rocks up. you're always going to kill pika with shed shell innards. from that point, either try wall mmx with steela and wall gren with topsy innards, or do it the other way around using innards on mmx and walling gren with topsy steela. both methods can lose to hax in their own way. if you wall mmx with steela you can risk getting goobed by icicle spear turns, but this only matters if you're switching into it. as for gren, trying to wall it with steela means you can get goobed by a dark pulse flinch. i cba to figure out whoch one is statistically better. anyways you want to be in on steela most of the time because it scares gren and mmx coming in, and you can also baton on stuff to try get your own mmx in (who they can't wall).

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521274578-d7iga5uhtasp352filuamdqbwvxpa2jpw
got a game against ransei himself


diamancie:

throw innards at mmx and imp, sack mamo into diancie and then kill it with sableye, sit on defensive mons with bounce, get mmx in whenever possible, ggwp.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521340851-au7tq3lb4jmeg7aatme2k0qsrnq013npw


stag mgyara stall:
sit on defensive mons with bounce, pivot mmx in to click buttons, and when imp comes in throw shed shell innards at it. mbro is kinda annoying because it has scald, and it can tank a hit from mmx to scald or rocks but eh you should be fine.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521347184-w1wi1jgke55xx61b7kav4fysbvq5badpw

game against eyeos himself. i forgot to add aroma when i played this but it's fine because he didn't get the burn.


child of night stall:
sit on all the defensive mons with bounce and pivot mmx in. because of innards, you need to be very mindful with mmx, and you need to get sableye infront of innards to click espeed and force a trade so mmx is free to win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521255643-6vxqllsux4vaerw76t4lvfgp3ddn7ywpw


paste and conclusion
https://pokepast.es/4d681d6873ea1b88

paste is above, not like you will ever use it because there is no way to consistently face the samples. making this was a lot of fun, though the only thing i have proven is how bad the format is wilted rose emoji. anyways thank you for reading, i will leave some replays of my cteaming well known teams with 2 mons as a bonus + the pastes for those cteams.


bonus
zenith mode:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2520763729-tsikitdb4if11ukutsg13x5awo72t0dpw

https://pokepast.es/e1cb11f0762d7045

bounce doublade walls everyone and pidgeot is selfproof whilst havng no walls. harvest slak would also work. this one was way too easy LMAO.


pika team:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521133059-v44e6j9hn3jff8he5t1dfp52et7ojampw

https://pokepast.es/c163d6bda2b857c5

this team is really weak to steels, which this cteam puts on full display. lunala was chosen over anoher ghost because ransei dislikes it gas pump emoji.


diamancie:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2521172204-d0og9x4g9ct4r77ndy67vyhbvyofgmgpw

https://pokepast.es/ba4acf38fd9dda13

resolaris unfortunately didn't play this out but you get the idea. this heatran walls and eventually kills literally everyone except mmx, and you just throw innards at mmx.​

 

[WindySnivy_]

some replies I wanted to get out of the way

Real gamers know that the best MG Slak set is Mind Blown+Sparksurfer+Oceanic+Pursuit smh. Anyways, I do very much appreciate seeing more usage of Slaking that isn't just "oh STAB HP fakespeed" or "oh HarvSlak," because I've seen some people saying that Slaking is only good with HP/Harvest, and all the other sets are much worse, and I cannot tolerate this slander.

innards and wg are worth consideration

I feel as if the best utility prankbonder is Goggles Mlop, being immune to 1/3 moldy moves and spore is too valuable to say no to (i see why gold uses it for ng) while I can see kart being good (spore immunity without needing an item thus leaving room for sash) mlop is just so good.

arceus and sawsbuck are right there dude

 

[HartetheWooper]

https://pokepast.es/eb2a1fa357b7c6bf: updated favorite set of high ladder box
eyeos said "meloetta" and refused to elaborate or send a pokepaste, so thats what i put
if you reached 1500 and want to share a set, send it to HartetheWooperIII on showdown

 

[IReallyDontKnowlol2]

I've been writing some analysis semi-recently for hackmons.com but that site doesn't have the best reach so I thought I'd just leave some here.
These are kinda for beginners but there's probably some good nuggets for others too. TXT files available. Everyone who helped me with qc and editing on these are rad.

---

Deoxys-Speed No Guard Lead
Deoxys-Speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sheer Cold
- Sing
- Stealth Rock
- Entrainment

Flex Slots:
Sheer Cold can be switched for Fissure
Entrainment can be switched for Sticky Web, Baton Pass, Magic Coat, Trick, Gastro Acid or Taunt
Focus Sash can be switched for Choice Scarf

Credits:
epictoastokay and ansonisthebest on Discord


Description:
Deoxys-Speed is the premier No Guard suicide lead currently and is extremely useful on Offense and Hyper-Offense teams to force hazards up, break sashes or bring down non-sashed offensive Mons or non-WG defensive Mons. However, it is near-useless against bulky teams without variation in the set as it is easily beaten by 2 non-OHKO-move weak Wonder Guards and is threatened by Magic Bounce users in general (provided the opponent plays well). It is also susceptible to priority due to its frailty as well as being threatened by opposing scarfed attackers, particularly Parental Bond attackers.


Usage Tips:
Most of the time you will be leading with Deoxys-Speed if you have it. The exceptions are against stall teams and opposing teams with Deoxys-Speed in which case you will prefer bringing in a counter to Deoxys-Speed. Deoxys-Speed is extremely easy to play as it follows an extremely simple flow-chart.

If your opponent has an offensive Mon on the field (which you are certain isn't Choice Scarf) just click Sing, then hazards. If they are still asleep click your OHKO move to hopefully break their sash or kill them. There is practically never a reason to sacrifice something to keep Deoxys-Speed safe as it is preferred that it dies quickly to maintain momentum. The exception to this is against offensive teams where you may want to save Deoxys-Speed to use as a late-game cleaner.

If your opponent has a defensive Mon in you must play slightly more carefully. This is because many Wonder Guards carry Magic Coat which, worse-case scenario, will allow them to bounce back your hazards then put you to sleep which is extremely unideal. Rest assured however, this situation is unlikely unless you play quite poorly. Note that against bulkier teams you are more likely to run into Magic Bounce which is similarly unideal. This is circumvented by Entrainment/Gastro Acid which will allow Deoxys-Speed to threaten WG's with Sheer Cold and force them out. Entrainment is generally preferred as it fares better against Magic Bouncers and Magic Coat WG's as you will just gain their ability instead of only losing your own.

A very common interaction with Deoxys-Speed is the infinite switch game when the opponent has 2 WG's. This is another reason why hazards are so valuable on this set as you can continually threaten them out with Entrainment forcing them to switch and thus, take hazard damage. Note that the opponent has the ability to make you use all your OHKO-move PP if you play badly enough.

The customization available on Deoxys-Speed is extremely wide as it can changed to fit basically any offensive team. Sticky Web can aid greatly as it basically prevents your opponent from making offensive progress without using a turn setting up or using priority. Baton Pass allows you to scout if your opponent switches (I.e you can use it if you are against Kyurem-White to see if they double switch) as well as providing a neutral move against WG if your set lacks an ability nullifying move. Magic Coat helps against bulkier teams and in No Guard lead mirror matches. Gastro Acid just acts as an alternative to Entrainment which persists after a Baton Pass and doesn't give the opponent a potentially useful ability in certain edge cases. Taunt is another tool against bulkier teams as it forces WG's out and is a more reliable way to shut down most common hazard removal or attempts to heal. Fissure can be used in place of Sheer Cold to hit Ice types (mainly Kyurem-White) and Ground-weak WG's as well as having the slight benefit of being 10% more accurate when your ability is removed.

Focus Sash can be swapped for Choice Scarf which will allow Deoxys-Speed to outspeed many setup sweepers even after they Shell Smash . This is extremely useful as you can just put them to sleep, OHKO them etc. Choice Scarf is especially strong in tandem with Trick as you can use it to neuter WG's and effectively become a regular Deoxys-Speed afterwards. Finally, it is not recommended but you can swap your ability from No Guard to Mold Breaker to guarantee hazards against even Magic Bouncers, only being stopped by Magic Coat WG's.

There are certain teammates that Deoxys-Speed loves having as they cover it's weaknesses well. Most importantly, you want teammates that can cover your crippling weakness to Parental Bond. Notably, Yveltal resists Moongeist Beam and can Pursuit trap or Knock Off Parental Bond Gengar. However, this is still not foolproof as they could predict your switch and ruin your day with Ice Beam. Other examples include Normal types that can switch in on Moongeist Beam very safely and use the free turn to setup (Arceus, Slaking etc.). Again, there is still a possibility that they predict such a switch and use Sacred Sword or Focus Blast on the switch.

While none of them come close to the dominance of Deoxys-Speed it is still worth while to note the alternatives to Deoxys-Speed (note that these are alternatives for Deoxys-Speed's role as a suicide lead, not as its role as a No Guard user). Pheromosa can be used for it's strong U-Turn which can deal valuable chip to opposing offensive Mons. Mega Aerodactyl can be used as it is Fissure immune, resists Normal and Aerilate FakeSpeed and similarly fast, however it is Stealth Rock weak meaning you can't bring it in too often. Mega Lopunny was extremely popular for a period of time as it acts as a Moongeist Beam (and thus Parental Bond Gengar) switch-in while still being relatively fast. Still, in the current meta it is just slightly too slow, being outsped by MMY which is extremely common. Finally, Mega Sceptile is Spore-immune and fast enough but is weak to even more common priority moves (Ice Shard, Pixilate FakeSpeed, Triage Mega Rayquaza) and thus isn't ideal. Despite these flaws, each of these No Guards are worth considering in place of Deoxys-Speed.


Counters and Checks:
Because of Deoxys-Speed's important place in the meta, most teams will have at least a soft answer to it. First and foremost is having 2 Wonder Guards with one of them having Magic Coat. As mentioned previously, this shuts down Deoxys-Speed as you can't make any progress and they can drain your PP. Also mentioned is Magic Bounce which is similarly annoying. However, your opponent needs to predict practically every turn quite well to fully beat you with only a Magic Bouncer and a WG as you do have the option of clicking your OHKO and eliminating the Magic Bouncer.

Next are the offensive threats to Deoxys-Speed which take advantage of it's minimal bulk. The most common of which is Scarfed Parental Bond Mega Gengar which will outspeed you with the scarf and KO you with Moongeist Beam. Nicher Parental Bond threats include MMY and Deoxys-Attack both of which require more careful play on your part. These threats can be circumvented with using the Choice Scarf set and OHKO'ing them outright. What can't be circumvented is priority coming from strong attack stats. The most mainstream of which is Slaking's FakeSpeed set which will KO you easily, Shadow Sneak's coming from MMX and Huge Power Ghosts like Marowak-Alola and First Impressions coming from MMX, Mega Heracross and Pheromosa.

One particular counter worth noting is Magic Bounce Mons which resist one of the two main OHKO moves (Kyurem-White/Black, Yveltal etc.) which are sets made specifically to beat most Deoxys-Speed sets. They are immune to your Sheer Cold and will bounce back your hazards, ability nullification etc. These can be beaten by running the other OHKO move. The exception to this is Articuno which you will not be able to beat without Horn Drill which we heavily advise against running.

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FakeSpeed RKiller Slaking
Slaking @ Lum Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- Sunsteel Strike
- Extreme Evoboost

Flex Slots:
Extreme Evoboost can be swapped for any of the following: Shell Smash, Pursuit, V-Create or Plasma Fists
Nature is interchangeable, either Jolly or Adamant is fine
Item can be Focus Sash, Leppa Berry or Chople Berry

Credits:
gloomstalker and pito1 on Discord for contributions to variants and other editorial things.

Description:
Slaking is the premier Priority user in the meta, able to Revenge Kill practically all non-WG sweepers after they Shell Smash. Left unchecked, Slaking will Extreme Evoboost and will easily blow past opposing Offense teams. However, it still has issues breaking bulkier teams as it usually doesn't carry any notable coverage and is thus walled by all common physical walls.

Usage Tips:
Slaking can be utilized in a multitude of ways. First and foremost is as a priority clicker, being able to easily pick off most frail Mons with ease by utilizing its monstrous 160 Attack and STAB FakeSpeed. This is extremely useful against common No Guard's and fast but frail attackers like Deoxys-Speed, Deoxys-Attack, Pheromosa and more. Secondly, as mentioned in the description it can be used as a physical sweeper by simply clicking Shell Smash or Evoboost and killing things. Due to the nature of Slaking it is quite easy to find opportunities to setup with it as you can click your setup on the turn your opponent switches out their offensive Mon (because they are afraid of getting FakeSpeeded).

One of the biggest strengths of Slaking is just its sheer threat level. If you predict just a single switch (i.e switching Slaking in while they switch in their MMX), your opponent will be practically forced to switch because of how strong Slaking can be. This means you can very easily get clean double switches while using Slaking. If you don't think your opponent is mind-gaming on that level you can affirm their fears by clicking FakeSpeed against them and either killing them or bringing them to low enough HP that hazards will finish the job on their next switch in.

Slaking also has decent set variability as its item and half of its moves are relatively customizable. The general consensus for its item is Lum Berry to prevent WG's that wall it burning it and thus neutering it but there are other options. Focus Sash guarantees setup if your team has good enough hazard control, Leppa Berry lets you muscle through even the bulkiest of Wonder Guards and Chople Berry can aid greatly in the Arceus matchup. Note that if you choose to run Leppa Berry you will have to eliminate Imposter before setting up with Slaking as if Imposter gets to +6 no Improof except Innards can save you. While Evoboost is generally preferred, Shell Smash can also be useful as you have a better Imposter matchup and its much harder for your opponent to mind-game you into wasting your setup potential. Finally, while Slaking's main role is clicking FakeSpeed, you can run a multitude of things instead of Fake Out to improve your matchup into whatever Mon you want.

There is a world of customization available with Slaking's coverage as it can run practically any physical move with a decent enough Base Power. The most coverage attainable is on 4-Attack sets which forgo setup in exchange for more utility or coverage. The most notable moves are as follows; Plasma Fists to hit bulky Waters and Flyings (MBro, Celesteela, POgre, Yveltal etc.), Pursuit to catch offensive Mons on the switch out as well as Meloetta which is becoming more and more popular, V-Create or Sacred Fire to hit Steels which otherwise wall Slaking and finally, Close Combat to hit the aforementioned Steels as well as having a better Arceus matchup.

Finally, it is pertinent to mention that Regigigas acts as a pretty 1-1 sidegrade for Slaking, trading 40 Base HP for 10 extra defense points and a huge 45 point boost in Special Defense. While the decision may seem lopsided towards Regigigas as their offensive stats are identical, the HP difference plays quite a large factor as it enables Slaking to safely OHKO most mid-tier Innards (Xerneas, Giratina-Origin, Lunala, Kyurem-White etc.) safely. Consider the choice wisely as there is no definitive correct choice.

Checks and Counters:
As mentioned previously, with the correct play your opponent can waste your Evoboost use and Slaking will be unable to do much against basically all Sunsteel walls for the rest of the game. Next, although Slaking has an insane Attack stat, there are still random offensive Mons which will live either its FakeSpeed combo or its Sunsteel. The most notable of this is that Jolly Slaking will not KO MMX with FakeSpeed and will then get KO'd back. While Adamant fares slightly better it is still far from a guaranteed kill. For this reason, you will need to apply some sort of chip on MMX's and other similarly bulky offensive Mons.

While Slaking physical defense is good its special defense leaves something to be desired at a meager 65, meaning if you aren't FakeSpeed you will lose to most MMY sets and you have a tough matchup against Triage MRay which out-priorities you and deals heavy damage with Oblivion Wing back. On the topic of MMY, PsySurge teams will mostly stop Slaking in its tracks as it is unable to use FakeSpeed under Psychic Terrain which means it is mostly neutered unless it manages to setup. As well as this, PsySurge typically carries many strong special attackers, which as mentioned previously, Slaking does not deal especially well with. It goes without saying but you also must play around Innards as you are strong enough that any move you use will OHKO minimum defense Innards.

As with all Mons you should never assume Slaking can OHKO everything at +2. For example, a +2 Jolly Slaking will never OHKO Wonder Guard Arceus sans hazards and will either a) die if Slaking is Shell Smash as Arceus outspeeds after a Shell Smash and will OHKO with Fighting Judgment or b) take 50% if Slaking is Evoboost which will leave it susceptible to dying to other streams of damage. Ghost types (specifically Gengar) are an issue because they can't be FakeSpeeded and may hit back with either a strong special Fighting move like Secret Sword or Focus Blast or an OHKO move.

Finally, as mentioned in the opening statement, Slaking generally has a lot of trouble breaking bulky teams as it basically only has 2 moves it can change to coverage unless you forgo ESpeed or Sunsteel which is not advised (though this barely matters as non-STAB random coverage won't break bulky teams unless you bring the exact coverage required). The most utility you will get out of Slaking is potentially killing a Steel like Celesteela with surprise factor. Still, this is unlikely as they will likely scout you with Imposter first.

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Bonus: SelfProof Marshadow
Marshadow @ Ghost Memory
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Close Combat
- Shell Smash
- Multi-Attack

Description:
This Marshadow is relatively niche as it lacks both the speed and power to break into the mainstream. However, it fulfills a very specialized role of being a Self-Proof sweeper that has the capability to hit basically everything in the game. Still, one must carefully consider if this Marshadow set is the best fit on any given team.

Usage Tips:
You can use this Marshadow the same as most other sweepers, try find a way in by switching it in on something passive or predicting a switch. From there, Spore everything (except Kartana) and hope for decent sleep turns. Due to its phenomenal STAB's there is little that resists both of its attacking moves. Like with most niche offensive Mons, Marshadow really prefers having rocks or other hazards up as it will miss crucial damage thresholds without them.

Do not expect Marshadow to consistently OHKO any defensive Mons at just +2, you must be prepared to setup to +4 or in some extreme scenarios, +6. Marshadow is not susceptible to the most common priority (FakeSpeed Slaking), but does not deal well with random SSneak and Aeri/Pixilate FakeSpeed. Still, if those threats are taken care of, Marshadow has the capability to fully sweep a team as it can't be stopped by even Imposter. Thus, if you want to use Marshadow, consider using it on a team which desperately needs a Wallbreaker but also can't fit an Improof for one.

Counters and Checks:
As mentioned previously Marshadow has serious power issues meaning that you will lose to almost every common Wonder Guard 1-on-1 if your sleep luck isn't good enough. This problem is exemplified with the rise of Magic Coat and Spectral Thief on Wonder Guards, both of which will immediately neuter Marshadow. Finally, as is the case with all offensive Mons, you must play carefully around Innards.

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[ANinjaDude]

I would like to say that Imo, Fake Out+Extreme Evoobost Slaking is turbo dogshit because you're essentially combining two decent sets into one mid to ass set, and making you into fodder for any defensive team ever. Secondly, coverage moves on Slaking are very strong because HP Slak's coverage will just kill whatever you're targeting, making it very effective at targeting specific weaknesses for your team.