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I like how all three of these teams were added, and then removed at the next possible chance. (Honestly I am unsure on how Clockup Flowers even made it to being a sample but whatever.)
Also, I have to ask, what is going on with the Pikachu sample? Pikachu has more or less always been not very good, because it is a worse Chansey with zero surprise factor that can only do anything if:
- Whatever the Impostor target is is Paralyzed, or Tailwind is up
- If not, then you have to win a speed tie, which if you lose Pikachu is gonna die because they are frail as sandpaper that has been marinating in a Dark Souls poison swamp since DS2
- If you have the speed control, or just win the speed tie, then you can only gain a real benefit of running Pika over Chansey if the only Improof they have is soft as hell
- Any hard Improof completely shuts it down in a way that Chansey doesn't care as much about because Chansey is bulky enough to keep coming in, Pikachu is not
- Due to needing to run Light Ball, Pikachu is also extremely predictable, unlike Chansey who can run Scarf, Eviolite, (Sash and Leppa?)
- Literally any competent Innards Out mon annihilates Pikachu, and I mean ANY competent Innards Out mon. Even shit like Guzzlord can easily 1v1 Pikachu
Anyway, moving past Pikachu, lets look at the other mons, shall we?
Ash Gren: Is stuck in the sad spot of having to press Non-STaB Special Photon into a MAud as the only way of doing anything, also isn't all that strong seeing as how it is a Special attacker with the strongest neutral hit being Dark Pulse (Also Mega Houndoom walls it but that doesn't matter)
MMX #1: That is some of the tastiest MLix/MAgg food of all time. Prankster MLix/MAgg eats it alive, and you do not have anywhere close to the power on your other mons to compensate for your main breaker being so cockblocked by a common Prankhaze mon
Steelix: Standard PrankHaze, but it has to sacrifice a moveslot to try and enable Pikachu (Also it seems like the main way of getting Pikachu in while Tailwind is up is to sacrifice something after the Steelix presses Tailwind, and seeing as you only have 4 turns to get the clip, it feels like even getting Pikachu to work on a team that tries to enable it is a pain in the ass)
MMX #2: HO lead? The only Mon with any hazards, which is a problem because guess what? Another easy way to beat Pikachu is just to have a sash! And seeing as how this team doesn't really have all that much instant offensive pressure, getting rid of the rocks is not that big of a issue, and with rocks gone the best Pikachu can do into quite a lot of normally juicy Impostor targets is sacrifice itself to get a sash gone, which is not the best use of a Mon like Pikachu. This set feels weird here, maybe I am missing something, but I just don't see it.
MAud: MAud is very passive. This is OK, most if not all MAud are passive. But when you have a team that really needs to keep rocks up, having such a passive Mon is a momentum sink that a lot of the time you probably can't afford.
As well, remember that samples are meant to be somewhat easy to use, to guide new players into the format. A team like this is extremely hard to pilot, because if not played perfectly Pika is just a worse Chansey, and the other mons on the team are not good enough to compensate for Pika's existence.
In conclusion, this team is out of place. Maybe, with the right pilot, this team could be good. But it is way to hard to use, and honestly does not seem that good to begin with, even with a good pilot. It seems like this sample kinda just showed up, and it might be a good idea for it to go the way of the Clockup Flower and not be in the main sample area.
(BTW Ransei this is not a personal attack, I just don't see this team being in the Samples.)
SAMPLE SUBMISSION https://pokepast.es/c207893b07b864d8
MMX hyper Offence with kart as a 2nd option very simple improof with a mmx lead then turn 1 switch into blissey to bait mmx to use Sunsteel, Photon or CC.
Sunsteel on mmx is to shutdown the worst wg to fight (alolan muk)
Earth judgement on pdon is self improof
Ice beam on mgar is a yaveltal counter (hoping for no sucker punch but that seems less common)
SSS on kart is a nuke to shutdown setups and same for spore
https://pokepast.es/d2ada83732e16e98
MMX hyper Offence with kart as a 2nd option very simple improof with a mmx lead then turn 1 switch into blissey to bait mmx to use Sunsteel, Photon or CC.
Sunsteel on mmx is to
shutdown the worst wg to fight (alolan muk)
Tri attack on pdon is self improof/stab.
Ice beam on mgar is a yaveltal counter (hoping for no sucker punch but that seems less viable"
SSS on kart is a nuke to shutdown setups and same for spore
I was so ready to write a 10 page essay on why Tri-Attack PDon is complete dogshit, but then I saw you meant Multi-Attack.
Anyway, lets look at this team:
Kartana: I'm gonna dock points for using Pure Power over Huge Power, but other then that it is a mostly standard HP Kart. Not much to say.
MMX: I am starting to notice that your team might have a Slowbro problem. Also, I am starting to notice a Impostor problem as well. Like, if the Innards Out Blissey dies, what the hell do you do if MMX or Kart is Impostored? It just kinda feels like you lose in that situation, which is not a good Improof at all. Improofing with Innards in general is very shaky, as it forces you to use it if the opponent has Impostor, which means that if they have a later Mon that also sweeps you, you don't have the Innards to counter it.
Blissey: Standard Innards, maybe a Healing Berry over Lum, but I would like to use this slot to mention that you have a team with two Sashes and zero hazard removal, no Magic Bounce, and the only rocks you have are on a Innards Mon who dies on the switch half the time. Hazards are a big problem, as it doesn't matter if your +2 Kart does 1987 damage to a MMX if that MMX has a Sash and just kills you after.
Yveltal:
252+ SpA Parental Bond Gengar-Mega Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Yveltal: 264-312 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
...Uh...not so sure about being a Yveltal counter, as you need to catch it on the switch anyway, but ok I guess.
Regigigas: First off, good job not using Slacking, you get the points back for using Pure Power from earlier. Normalium Z seems like a counter to Zygarde, because +2 Z-Espeed OHKOs Zygarde, but Steelix/Aggron still eat it alive, and once again, Slowbro shows up and consumes the set.
PDon: Extreme Evoboost again with zero priority to stop PrankHaze. Zygarde eats this, as expected. Slowbro walls this, because Slowbro walls everything on this team other then Moongeist MGar and a +2 Kart SSS, which they can only do once. Oh yeah, also fun fact:
+2 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Multi-Attack (Ground) vs. +2 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 156-186 (22.1 - 26.4%) -- 11.2% chance to 4HKO
+2 252 SpA Chansey Mind Blown vs. +2 252 HP / 252- SpD Groudon-Primal: 128-151 (31.6 - 37.3%) -- 86.3% chance to 3HKO
Ah yes, a "Improof"
(This does not Improof at all, and if the Chansey just Evoboosts again:
+2 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Multi-Attack (Ground) vs. +4 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 104-126 (14.7 - 17.8%) -- possible 6HKO
+4 252 SpA Chansey Mind Blown vs. +2 252 HP / 252- SpD Groudon-Primal: 192-226 (47.5 - 55.9%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO
LMAO
TLDR: If a Impostor gets to Impostor the PDon once it has pressed Evoboost, you seemingly just lose. Like completely lose. Idk what the hell you can even do to stop a +4 Impostored PDon with Magic Guard.
In conclusion, the PDon set is a trap that lets your opponent just win. Very funny.
I was so ready to write a 10 page essay on why Tri-Attack PDon is complete dogshit, but then I saw you meant Multi-Attack.
Anyway, lets look at this team:
Kartana: I'm gonna dock points for using Pure Power over Huge Power, but other then that it is a mostly standard HP Kart. Not much to say.
MMX: I am starting to notice that your team might have a Slowbro problem. Also, I am starting to notice a Impostor problem as well. Like, if the Innards Out Blissey dies, what the hell do you do if MMX or Kart is Impostored? It just kinda feels like you lose in that situation, which is not a good Improof at all. Improofing with Innards in general is very shaky, as it forces you to use it if the opponent has Impostor, which means that if they have a later Mon that also sweeps you, you don't have the Innards to counter it.
Blissey: Standard Innards, maybe a Healing Berry over Lum, but I would like to use this slot to mention that you have a team with two Sashes and zero hazard removal, no Magic Bounce, and the only rocks you have are on a Innards Mon who dies on the switch half the time. Hazards are a big problem, as it doesn't matter if your +2 Kart does 1987 damage to a MMX if that MMX has a Sash and just kills you after.
Yveltal:
252+ SpA Parental Bond Gengar-Mega Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Yveltal: 264-312 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
...Uh...not so sure about being a Yveltal counter, as you need to catch it on the switch anyway, but ok I guess.
Regigigas: First off, good job not using Slacking, you get the points back for using Pure Power from earlier. Normalium Z seems like a counter to Zygarde, because +2 Z-Espeed OHKOs Zygarde, but Steelix/Aggron still eat it alive, and once again, Slowbro shows up and consumes the set.
PDon: Extreme Evoboost again with zero priority to stop PrankHaze. Zygarde eats this, as expected. Slowbro walls this, because Slowbro walls everything on this team other then Moongeist MGar and a +2 Kart SSS, which they can only do once. Oh yeah, also fun fact:
+2 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Multi-Attack (Ground) vs. +2 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 156-186 (22.1 - 26.4%) -- 11.2% chance to 4HKO
+2 252 SpA Chansey Mind Blown vs. +2 252 HP / 252- SpD Groudon-Primal: 128-151 (31.6 - 37.3%) -- 86.3% chance to 3HKO
Ah yes, a "Improof"
(This does not Improof at all, and if the Chansey just Evoboosts again:
+2 252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Multi-Attack (Ground) vs. +4 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Chansey: 104-126 (14.7 - 17.8%) -- possible 6HKO
+4 252 SpA Chansey Mind Blown vs. +2 252 HP / 252- SpD Groudon-Primal: 192-226 (47.5 - 55.9%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO
LMAO
TLDR: If a Impostor gets to Impostor the PDon once it has pressed Evoboost, you seemingly just lose. Like completely lose. Idk what the hell you can even do to stop a +4 Impostored PDon with Magic Guard.
In conclusion, the PDon set is a trap that lets your opponent just win. Very funny.
SAMPLE SUBMISSION https://pokepast.es/d2ada83732e16e98
MMX hyper Offence with kart as a 2nd option very simple improof with a mmx lead then turn 1 switch into blissey to bait mmx to use Sunsteel, Photon or CC.
Sunsteel on mmx is to shutdown the worst wg to fight (alolan muk)
Multi-attack on pdon is self improof/stab.
Ice beam on mgar is a yaveltal counter (hoping for no sucker punch but that seems less common)
SSS on kart is a nuke to shutdown setups and same for spore
team looks mostly standard, though there are some weird things i'd change about it
- mmx set is mostly fine though your team doesn't like megabro at all so i think i'd go geist/beat up over shadow sneak (if you do beat up adjust your team order for beat up numbers click the spoiler to see how to do that), i'd go moongeist to make the mmx improof more reliable though it's up to you
beat up does damage based on the base attack stat of everyone in your team, the way it's calculated is the base power of each hit is (base attack stat/10)+5 rounding down whenever there's a decimal, for example kartana's beat up number is 23, open up the damage calc and change the numbers to whatever's on your team until it hits innards chans/bliss hard enough to almost ko but not quite, kinda tedious but it's pretty worth it imo
- normalium z on regigigas is pretty weird to me i think i'd go lum/iapapa/sash over it, maybe plasma fists > fake out to fix your megabro problem though without a reliable hazard guy i'm not sure if i like that too much
- make blissey max spdef +spdef nature you are not dying to any special hits whatsoever even with minimum special defense.
- pdon's wack it doesn't really improof itself at all and nothing else can revenge kill. if you want to keep magic guard i'd just go the standard smash sunsteel mind blown freeze dry set with either sash or life orb (if you go sash go rash nature if you go life orb go naughty), gigas should revenge kill? though check the calcs for yourself i'm not 100% sure, if you want to self improof i'd go wg smash sunsteel ground judgment filler, ground judgment over multi attack ground to hit the fat physdef steels harder.
- make mmx female if you're real
SAMPLE SUBMISSION https://pokepast.es/946a8b1eb3b4938d
MMX hyper Offence with kart as a 2nd option very simple improof with a mmx lead then turn 1 switch into blissey to bait mmx to use Sunsteel, Photon or CC.
Sunsteel on mmx is to shutdown the worst wg to fight (alolan muk)
Earth judgement on pdon is self improof
Ice beam on mgar is a yaveltal counter (hoping for no sucker punch but that seems less common)
SSS on kart is a nuke to shutdown setups and same for spore
I have edited my original post to be better because I realised that the team was not meeting it's potential and so thats why it's edited with a better version of the team
I like how all three of these teams were added, and then removed at the next possible chance. (Honestly I am unsure on how Clockup Flowers even made it to being a sample but whatever.)
Also, I have to ask, what is going on with the Pikachu sample? Pikachu has more or less always been not very good, because it is a worse Chansey with zero surprise factor that can only do anything if:
- Whatever the Impostor target is is Paralyzed, or Tailwind is up
- If not, then you have to win a speed tie, which if you lose Pikachu is gonna die because they are frail as sandpaper that has been marinating in a Dark Souls poison swamp since DS2
- If you have the speed control, or just win the speed tie, then you can only gain a real benefit of running Pika over Chansey if the only Improof they have is soft as hell
- Any hard Improof completely shuts it down in a way that Chansey doesn't care as much about because Chansey is bulky enough to keep coming in, Pikachu is not
- Due to needing to run Light Ball, Pikachu is also extremely predictable, unlike Chansey who can run Scarf, Eviolite, (Sash and Leppa?)
- Literally any competent Innards Out mon annihilates Pikachu, and I mean ANY competent Innards Out mon. Even shit like Guzzlord can easily 1v1 Pikachu
Anyway, moving past Pikachu, lets look at the other mons, shall we?
Ash Gren: Is stuck in the sad spot of having to press Non-STaB Special Photon into a MAud as the only way of doing anything, also isn't all that strong seeing as how it is a Special attacker with the strongest neutral hit being Dark Pulse (Also Mega Houndoom walls it but that doesn't matter)
MMX #1: That is some of the tastiest MLix/MAgg food of all time. Prankster MLix/MAgg eats it alive, and you do not have anywhere close to the power on your other mons to compensate for your main breaker being so cockblocked by a common Prankhaze mon
Steelix: Standard PrankHaze, but it has to sacrifice a moveslot to try and enable Pikachu (Also it seems like the main way of getting Pikachu in while Tailwind is up is to sacrifice something after the Steelix presses Tailwind, and seeing as you only have 4 turns to get the clip, it feels like even getting Pikachu to work on a team that tries to enable it is a pain in the ass)
MMX #2: HO lead? The only Mon with any hazards, which is a problem because guess what? Another easy way to beat Pikachu is just to have a sash! And seeing as how this team doesn't really have all that much instant offensive pressure, getting rid of the rocks is not that big of a issue, and with rocks gone the best Pikachu can do into quite a lot of normally juicy Impostor targets is sacrifice itself to get a sash gone, which is not the best use of a Mon like Pikachu. This set feels weird here, maybe I am missing something, but I just don't see it.
MAud: MAud is very passive. This is OK, most if not all MAud are passive. But when you have a team that really needs to keep rocks up, having such a passive Mon is a momentum sink that a lot of the time you probably can't afford.
As well, remember that samples are meant to be somewhat easy to use, to guide new players into the format. A team like this is extremely hard to pilot, because if not played perfectly Pika is just a worse Chansey, and the other mons on the team are not good enough to compensate for Pika's existence.
In conclusion, this team is out of place. Maybe, with the right pilot, this team could be good. But it is way to hard to use, and honestly does not seem that good to begin with, even with a good pilot. It seems like this sample kinda just showed up, and it might be a good idea for it to go the way of the Clockup Flower and not be in the main sample area.
(BTW Ransei this is not a personal attack, I just don't see this team being in the Samples.)
Gonna address each of these concerns. It's a lot of words and honestly kinda sloppy since I've tried to not make this much longer than it likely needed to be, and I'm a bit tired.
Regarding Pikachu, this team was tailor-made around putting Pikachu into good use. From testing it throughout many times, I've personally found it works very fine here. Most of the time it acts similar to Chansey, but unlike Chansey its aim is to act a lot more aggressive. Pikachu isn't very bad when given proper support as it can punish plenty of resisted improof switchin Pokemon in ways Chansey cannot otherwise.
Here's some examples of this
(MMX) 252+ Atk Light Ball Huge Power Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Celesteela: 336-396 (84.6 - 99.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (OHKO if evoboosted or shell smashed) (MMX) 252+ Atk Light Ball Huge Power Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 271-319 (78.7 - 92.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (OHKO if evoboosted or shell smashed) (MMX) 252+ Atk Light Ball Huge Power Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Steelix-Mega: 183-216 (51.6 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (OHKO if evoboosted or shell smashed)
(MMY) +2 252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gyarados-Mega: 177-208 (44.9 - 52.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (MMY) +2 252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Muk-Alola: 212-250 (51.2 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (MMY) +2 252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Meloetta: 267-315 (66 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
These guys not being able to switch in is huge since it pretty much means Pikachu guarantees at least 1 KO and could sweep the entire team if they try to go for their conventional Chansey switch-in.
(MMY) +2 252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Meloetta in Psychic Terrain: 402-473 (99.5 - 117%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock (MMY) +2 252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey in Psychic Terrain: 774-912 (108.4 - 127.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Kartana) +2 252+ Atk Huge Power Pikachu Searing Sunraze Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Heatran: 318-374 (82.3 - 96.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (Gengar-Mega) 252+ SpA Light Ball Parental Bond Pikachu Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Meloetta: 396-470 (98 - 116.3%) -- 96.1% chance to OHKO (Shell Smash Fake Out Slaking) +2 252+ Atk Light Ball Huge Power Pikachu Fake Out vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Slaking: 793-934 (157.3 - 185.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO - If Slaking does not have Fake Out, it's threatened by Pikachu after Tailwind.
These OHKOs are huge because they invalidate typical switchins for some of the best offensive Pokemon in the metagame.
=============================================================================================
252 SpA Mewtwo-Mega-Y Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Pikachu: 206-244 (75.1 - 89%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 412-486 (99 - 116.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
Pikachu can even solo Mega Mewtwo Y in a 1v1 under great conditions.
252+ Atk Groudon-Primal Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Pikachu: 234-276 (85.4 - 100.7%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Groudon-Primal: 464-548 (114.8 - 135.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
There's possibly plenty more examples to pull from but this is enough, since it covers all of the best offense Pokemon in the metagame.
For speed-tie situations, I'd argue it's in favor of the Pikachu user, because if you lose, you've lost a Pikachu, but if your opponent loses, there's a pretty decent chance their whole team is swept unless they carry hard improofs.
Regarding hard-improofs, Balance falling off has made hard-improofs more difficult to truly justify into a team imo, as this tends to require full immunity to all attacks of an offensive Pokemon and sacrifice of significant coverage moves for the respective offense Pokemon. For example, you'd need to forego Sunsteel Strike on Slaking, could have to forego dual moldy moves on Mega Mewtwo Y, as well as super effective coverage for Dark-type or Steel-type Pokemon it may struggle against, forego either a lot of coverage or Sunsteel Strike on Mega Mewtwo X, etc. Stuff offensive teams arguably don't like. Teams these days are sticking more to either resistances like Mega Scizor, Celesteela, Meloetta (for Photon), or Mega Gyarados, or are eitherwise sticking with soft-improofs like Focus Sash Kartana and Mega Mewtwo X.
Additionally, if a hard-improof is around, Chansey is going to be useless for much of the game and the opposing team likely has plenty of ways to let Pikachu recover, as them switching to their improof gives Pikachu a free opportunity to switch out and come back in later. There isn't much of a point in comparing this scenario with Pikachu.
Regarding Light Ball as a surprise factor: To be real Chansey in offense teams these days really love Choice Scarf because opposing hyper offense or offense teams could run sets such as V-Create Kartana or Life Orb/Mind Plate/Choice Band Light That Burns The Sky Mega Mewtwo X in order to fully decimate opposing Chansey's HP out of nowhere. If these Pokemon are set up, they don't have to utilize such extreme moves either in order to accomplish this. Mega Mewtwo X having Shell Smash up threatens Eviolite Chansey with a speed-tie, leaving Chansey in much of the same spot. The other items Chansey holds aren't great enough to be worth mentioning as it either winning speed ties or having the additional bulk needed to defeat hard offense Pokemon has become more critical over the past several months. Leppa Berry, Plate, Shed Shell, etc may have niches in like 1 tour game or so but they aren't items that should be ran prominently.
As for Innards Out, Innards Out Pokemon can defeat Pikachu, yes, but the right piloting on Innards Out Blissey can defeat Imposter Chansey, and an opposing team using Innards Out to defeat Pikachu ends up having less counterplay for this team's Huge Power Evoboost Mega Mewtwo X who could sweep them later. Lots of teams don't usually carry more than 1 Innards Out Pokemon, and in this case, using Innards Out for Pikachu could become a detrimental play if the Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X is still around.
Now for other team members:
Ash Greninja's presence compliments for what this team could struggle against. Mega Steelix and especially Doublade could give this team a hard time when they're used, but Ash Gren could be able to pressure or devour Mega Steelix and completely destroy Doublade with proper set up. Otherwise it's fine for dealing with Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y with the right positioning that gets it to x2 SpA and Speed. As long as the opposing Mega Mewtwo X doesn't carry Mach Punch or First Impression, Ash Gren should be fine against them after setting up. Also beats Mega Gengar and Imposter Chansey/Blissey, leaving it able to fight off most of the top tiers in the game on its own.
- While Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X is walled by Mega Steelix and Mega Aggron, Ash Greninja can help pressure the former, Mega Aggron rarely exists in the metagame, and the former has been falling off over the past several months in favor of more offense and hyper offense strategies, making it become less of an issue than usual for this team.
- Mega Steelix does need Tailwind to help support Pikachu but it handles this really well and can even help Evoboost Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X easily snag wins by avoiding speed ties against Mega Gengar/opposing Mega Mewtwo X or just outright outspeeding faster Pokemon, such as Mega Mewtwo Y and Deoxys-Speed. It's also important to note that I usually sack Mega Steelix during Tailwind's presence if the opponent has used Shell Smash or Extreme Evoboost, allowing Pikachu to only worry about defeating the Pokemon in front of it, since the rest may be taken care of afterwards. It's a great move for this team that's helped out a ton. Doesn't feel like much of a sacrifice and certainly isn't a pain when timed well.
- This Mold Breaker Mega Mewtwo X is really good at getting hazards up and keeping them up with Taunt. Taunt prevents Defoggers from using it on the right turn. You can also punish some of them by chucking Light That Burns The Sky and then Extreme Speed. Aside from that, from my experience this Mega Mewtwo X lead tends to be good at lasting long enough to keep forcing hazards in if they do end up gone at some point, as it's bulky enough to not get KOed by things in front of it unless they go absolutely nuclear with their own CFZ + priority. On top of that, the rest of this team is also extremely anti-sash, with Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X carrying Icicle Spear, Mega Audino having U-Turn to build momentum around offensive switchins (many tend to have Sash), and even Mega Steelix punishing offense Pokemon with Thousand Waves, trapping them in and breaking their sash, ensuring Pikachu can revenge them if Mega Steelix goes down to a following move.
- Maud is very fine here as it helps block No Guard, has great synergy with Ash Gren, Mega Steelix, Pikachu and Mega Mewtwo X for various reasons, and if an offense mon is predicted to switch in, in order to take advantage of it, Mega Audino can U-Turn on that turn. If there's a Wonder Guard with Defog coming in instead, Mega Aud can hardswitch into either Mega Mewtwo X or Ash Gren, depending on the situation. Its passivity isn't much of a concern as you can punish the opponent with momentum.
Anyway, pointing out the flaws of a sample team and Pokemon who beat it is kinda futile in this meta, as at the end of the day, this is Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon Pure Hackmons. Every single team in this metagame is going to have easy to point out flaws and countermeasures. What truly matters is how well it performs in spite of that. If a team can prove to show success in this metagame despite the flaws that can easily be point out, it is a good team for this meta.
Here are the reasons I've chosen this team to be put on samples:
1) It's a team seen proven successful over the course of time, making great w/l rates on ladder, beating numerous high level players, and even witnessing multiple other players make 1600s+ with the team, including another player reaching top 2. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2361985429 (this player used the team mostly from 1500s all the way up to late 1740s)
2) When this team was not a sample, this team was used more frequently by players relatively newish to the game than the majority of our existing samples, while still doing quite well. I even lost to a newer player who was using this team.
3) The reason why I kept the Pikachu version specifically is because Pikachu can hold up quite well in this team and sticking with the Ash Ketchum team would allow more players to be drawn towards samples. If newer players prefer using this team over existing sample teams while still being successful, it gives a signal that this team could work.
I'd also like to add as a bonus that this team is highly flexible and can be adjusted in many ways that can work. One example is here: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pure-hackmons-ash-ketchum-90-0-gxe.3757154/#post-10571318 where Ash Greninja was replaced by Arceus and other minor adjustments were made. I've tested versions with Chansey over Pikachu as well, with Arceus and with Primal Kyogre. I've personally haven't seen much difference in effectiveness between them and the team having Pikachu, as they both play similar functions for this team most of the time and Pikachu really isn't as bad as what's being made out to be.
This is the Kyogre version with Chansey: https://pokepast.es/9c36427d882f517e. I've swapped between Photon Geyser and Moongeist Beam. One handles Arceus, the other handles Mewtwos better. For Arceus, Spikes over Stealth Rock on Mega Mewtwo X is preferred to help with Arceus's damage rolls against opposing Mega Mewtwo X.
tl;dr: This team is one that has actively proven to be successful throughout the course of time in USUM Pure Hackmons, against the ladder and against notable players, whether it's the base version of the team or other iterations made. In practice, very few teams have ever made as much of a showing as this one, at least to me, and the number one issue we've been having with samples lately imo is nobody wanting to use them. The Ash Ketchum team is effective, while providing a fun theme that draws people in and serves as a great intro to the metagame. It can sneak wins against prominent players or just boost them several hundred elo up on the ladder before they start to get a feel on what to build. Difficulty-wise? While not the easiest, it's not very hard to eventually figure out. Stealth Rock MMX is a blatant lead, Mega Aud and Ash Gren are general wg switchins for such, Tailwind is almost obviously for either Pikachu or Mega Mewtwo X and to be used as a last or near last resort for when Mega Steelix is about to faint, etc. It's also a great representation of the metagame as it promotes creative freedom in teambuilding. Pikachu isn't a Pokemon teams would normally run but this one is tailor-made to support it, and the Mold Breaker Mega Mewtwo X set originated here. It's quite an immensely scary set especially against more passive Pokemon but no other team has really used it yet as far as I'm aware. USUM is all about what you can do by building a team, so eventually once a player becomes more experienced, they'd want to prioritize using their own teams much of the time. Giving people a great start with a team holding an interesting theme, while having a good showing in practice over the course of time is great.
This team ticks all the boxes for what a sample team should be like. It's an old team built in February 2024, but despite its age, I've found it still holds up decently. If you want to use Chansey, that's fine. You can replace Pikachu with Chansey. If you want to replace Ash Greninja, that's also fine. Part of the point should be for a sample to be easily adjustable while still doing well without any adjustments. The best samples we've had in the history of this meta have all helped players learn what changes fit for them, which ultimately helped them thrive on the ladder. In the tours, samples don't generally get used very often and there isn't much room to consistently use them, as it leads to them being counterteamed more easily due to the nature of this meta. It beating players who participate in these tours, should leave a great impression however.
I hate almost all of these samples so I’m going to go over why I think they are bad and why we should get different samples (is this really the best y’all could do?)
Starting off with the MMX spam: https://pokepast.es/2e6f87e4bc3ac038
To start off, this team really wants webs up but the deos can’t do anything to de-incentivize mbounce KyuW or Cuno from coming in, if webs ever get bounced then you straight up lose to ng unless you sacc innards to it which then leaves you with no improof besides relying on sashes which is inconsistent with no major way to prevent hazards. I will give this team some grace with the fact that the surprise factor from triple mmx makes it hard to accurately predict what will be used against you but later in the game as things take damage it becomes easier to figure out what mmx is the right one. Slak is standard, struggled into any wg that resist sunsteel and one of the mmx’s also can’t touch wg pdon.
I’m not gonna dive too deep into this team as it is already known I’m not an mmx spam fan and I feel it is just here cuz spam looks cool.
Starting off, innards Chansey is a bad improof because it loses to imp bliss and the mg kart has no imrpoof so every time imp comes in on it, it just claims free damage (innards Blissy can really make this team struggle tho unless spikes can go up and are maintained) You can also just never let opposing hazards stay up otherwise you can easily lose to other breakers and be forced to sacc innards which leaves you unimproofed and now imp hp kart can wipe the floor with you.
I will say that Gold has seen good results with this team and I think they have beat me with it at least once but I think it is poorly structured and relies on sleep turns a lot.
Aerobee team: https://pokepast.es/41aaa410ec71be40
This team is probably the best team on samples atm, the arc set pairs really well with mgar tspikes. My issues with this team come from the faulty improofing. KyuW and Mgar are poorly imrpoofed by Tina-O which means you cannot take any chip against imrposter, it also struggles into slaking because if your opponent can get up hazards with a mon that threatens KyuW then Tina can no longer threaten slaking and if it takes chip it also struggles to threaten a lot of other high hp breakers. Deos is improofed by KyuW so I understand it being a bit more passive.
With that being said, I do actually respect this team and think it is sample worthy.
Ransei team: https://pokepast.es/607542bade1f8a78
Imp Pikachu is just kinda outclassed by evio or scarf imp in most cases imo, gren is walled by wg maud, mscizor, kartana to an extent, pdon to an extent, arceus to an extent and I’m not even sure how well it threatens zygod. This team has a common problem of not having enough breaking potential once your opponent saccs innards to the hp mmx, the mold breaker mmx seems mostly larp to guarantee hazards and is just kinda bad.
I don’t think this team benefits from tailwin mlix that much, dbond would be better. Maud is ok I guess, it is a Ransei team so of course maud is on it. This team is obviously bad but it is a sample because “theme teams lure players in”.
Another team with limited breaking potential. Innards is always sacced to mmx and then you rely on imp and mdia to break but if your opponent actually improofs then imp can’t do a whole lot and mdia loses to wg msciz, kart, pdon, slowbro, prank mlix/maggron and it even loses to non wg pdon sets as well as loses to wg mdoom. The defensive core is mostly fine but does have some glaring weaknesses like mg sets, most pdon sets, certain karts sets (like fire memory wg kart) as well as struggles into mmx sets that actually use cfz moves.
This team is bad and I think it should be swapped out.
I have no idea why this was added, Idt Eyeos making it to 1700 with a bad team justifies it becoming a sample. Any sheer cold ng faster than yvel clears this team or forces innards to be sacced enabling mmx to sweep, sunsteel is already a good move in mmx as well as Kart being able to clear this team (hp mainly) I suppose beak blast gives you an out into kart but even then it is pretty sketchy since kart can just spore you. Wg slak also has a bad moveset and imp is really the main saving grace to this team.
Here is a replay of me against this team (msciz over steela tho) which showcases how hard it loses to HO. This stall team has no major outs into cfzs and really just seems prepped to beat balance while having little to no outs into more aggressive teams. I’ve faced this team on ladder a lot and have never been impressed by it, not a whole lot to say, stall is just not that amazing into a strong offensive team imo.
I do think this should be a sample tho just so new players have the option to play stall.
team name: Annihilation in F# Minor (click on sprite for team)
synopsis: mono rock hyper offense ft. prankster encore/dbond
how to play: use the unpredictable power of 4 diancies and the speed of no guard aerodactyl/prank ttar to cheese every game vs offense. its the same principle as mmx spam except its better equipped vs some offense meta trends. also it looks funnier so it will attract players to the meta ala pdon spam
fakespeed diancie kills deoxys-s/aerodactyl/sceptile/and mmx and 50% to zygarde
other options: literally any coverage on the diancies can be switched around - mind blown on mg diancie, v-create on no guard diancie, etc
weaknesses: parental bond users (particularly guys that can boost) are a pain, stall is really hard if you keep the team as is, wg swampert in a similar vein. although the latter 2 can be remedied by running different coverage. setup pdon is nearly unwinnable
effectiveness: Yes.
got to 1600 on ladder fairly easily, does very well in test games
Sample submission https://pokepast.es/5729aec8bd2b4417
Arceus and Pogre based balance team with 2 lead options,
option 1 is an arceus lead which can go into the teams semistall mode,
and after stealing the opponents boosts (arceus walls setup sweepers) you can baton Pass into kyogre or mmy for the more offensive mode,
Option 2 is Leading with mega audino and goes into a more defensive game through the battle as maud is meant to stop hazards from devouring sashes
This team is made mostly by xX__sn3ps__Xx I only had a small part in its creation
Gonna address each of these concerns. It's a lot of ARTICUNO and honestly kinda sloppy since I've tried to not make this much longer than it likely needed to be, and I'm a bit (ticked off at these current samples what is triple yve no progressmaking doing here).
Regarding ARTICUNO, this team was tailor-made around putting ARTICUNO into good use. From testing it FOR LIKE 5 LADDER GAMES, I've personally found it works very fine here. Most of the time it acts similar to NORMAL STAG USERS, but unlike NORMAL STAG USERS its aim is to act a lot more FUNNY. ARTICUNO isn't very bad when given proper support as it can punish plenty of NO GUARDED Pokemon in ways NORMAL STAG USERS cannot otherwise.
Here's some examples of this 252 Atk Articuno U-turn vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eternatus-Eternamax: 151-178 (15100 - 17800%) -- guaranteed OHKO
There's possibly plenty more examples to pull from but this is enough, since it covers all of the
Pokemon in the metagame.
For BOLSTERING YOUR EGO, I'd argue it's in favor of the ARTICUNO user, because if you lose, youR OPPONENTS A TRYHARD, but if your opponent loses, there's a pretty decent chance theY HAVE A SKILL ISSUE.
Regarding hard-improofs, Balance falling off has made PIKACHU more difficult to truly justify into ANYTHING imo, as OFFENSE tends to require INNARDS OR PLATES FOR IMPROOFING INSTEAD OF WALLS. For example, you'd need to forego Sunsteel Strike on Slaking, could have to forego dual moldy moves on Mega Mewtwo Y, as well as super effective coverage for Dark-type or Steel-type Pokemon it may struggle against, forego either a lot of coverage or Sunsteel Strike on Mega Mewtwo X, OR JUST USE INNARDS/SASH INSTEAD LMAO. Stuff offensive teams arguably don't like. Teams these days are sticking to either resistances like Mega Scizor, Celesteela, Meloetta (for Photon), or Mega Gyarados AS IF THEY DIDNT DO THIS MORE OFTEN IN THE PAST, or are eitherwise sticking with soft-improofs like Focus Sash Kartana and Mega Mewtwo X WHICH DO BETTER INTO PIKACHU ANYWAYS DUE TO STRAIGHT OHKOING THE GUY.
Additionally, if a hard-improof is around, Chansey is going to be useless for much of the game and the opposing team likely has plenty of ways to let Pikachu recover, as them switching to their improof gives Pikachu a free opportunity to switch out and BE USELESS FOR MOST OF THE GAME. There isn't much of a point in comparing this scenario with Pikachu BECAUSE PIKA LOSES TO ALL THE STUFF CHANSEY DOES ANYWAYS AND MORE.
Regarding PIKACHU as a surprise factor: To be real USERS OF offense teams these days really love ANTI SWEEPERS because opposing hyper offense or offense teams could run sets such as SHELL SMASH OR EVOBOOST ON ANYTHING in order to fully decimate YOUR ENTIRE TEAM. If these Pokemon are set up, they don't have to utilize such extreme moves either in order to accomplish this. Mega Mewtwo X having Shell Smash up threatens MOST TEAMS, leaving OFTEN MORE THAN ONE INNARDS OUT/MGUARD SASH/STRONG PRIORITY/FAST MULTIHIT USER ON MOST TEAMS. PIKACHUS JUST REVENGE KILLED BY THESE, IT AINT SWEEPING TEAMS... THIS GUY IS NOT MAKING ANY MORE PROGRESS THAN A SHELL SMASH SWEEPER AND IT REQUIRES WAY MORE SETUP TO EFFECTIVELY USE
Now for other team members: DEALS DRUGS (toxic ord)
if you want an actually sane argument for why i ranked pikachu in the "mostly univable garbage" tier on my personal vr (below stuff like weavile) its because like i said, its only niche over blobs as an imp user is the ability to pull off a reverse sweep after revenge killing another mon. however, there are so many obstacles to pulling off said sweep it really just isn't worth it. ofc hard improofs stop it, but having 35 hp means a lot more than requiring a speedtie/niche support like tailwind to revenge something-you also can get revenge killed by priority/mguard sash users a lot easier, and you lose to innards users that chansey normally can tank like mmy and lunala. teams in general rely a lot more on stuff like sash, priority, and innards to stop sweeps as opposed to raw bulk so pikachu kinda just runs into too many obstacles for the setup and team support required to make it work. even if mmx can be threatening with innards removed, pikachu doesn't need innards to be removed-oftentimes, an intact sash is all that is needed, which is a problem when this team's only form of hazard setting is a suicide lead mmx that can be antileaded by common mons such as pbond gar, fakespeed slak, and sleep move ng. also pika (and the sample in general) is really weak into stall too but offense/ho is just way more common at the moment
While I am actually willing to see my team on the samples, and for the sake of eyeos, I wanted to remind everyone what a sample team should be like, and I genuinely request a pause in the massive submission of the random bullsht. Disclaimer: I am not part of the council or any organization. I take full responsibility for what I am saying, and if you find sth that seems to be personal, then it probably is. The main purpose of this post is to rage bait and let the actual top players have a new thread to criticize my post and tell us what are actually good sample submissions.
So first, as some of you here might criticize, you have to admit that in Gen 7 pure hackmons, checklist building is a useful way for beginners like me to follow a path to build a good team, and the thing at the very top of your checklist should ALWAYS be impostor eviolite chansey. So STOP SUBMITTING A TEAM OF FULL 6 OUT OF 6 UNPROOFED BULLSHT. AT LEAST GET A SOFT IMPROOF OK?
Second, as a sample team always should be, I kindly request you to make a little bit of analysis on the team, like how you do it in an RMT. And although this part is not necessary, you should probably ask yourself how you can prove that a team is good? Some records on the team will be helpful for everyone to evaluate the consistency of your team. Although I will hardly say so in most cases, a ladder record will be somewhat good proof, as samples are mostly designed for new players, and the main place where they go and find games is the ladder. (counter example: Bird Council)
Third, your team should be a good tool for a new player to get familiar with this meta. That is to say, you shall not have a team with a lot of sets with weak single combat power(e.g. Darmaniten-Zen in clock up flowers, nearly everything in aerobee full pass(full pass shall be a special case if this archetype is actually good), nearly all of the Bird Council, and I'm questioning about the support kart in gold psy terrain ho). And shall be a somewhat good representation of a team type, like a common no guard + huge power + priority offense core, or a psy surge psy spam HO, or a hazard stack spore trap balance, or even an innards spam stall(/HO? What is this classified as ).(counter example: Bird Council) And last but not least, you shall make sure that your team has an overall strong matchup against the random low ladder bullsht, by that I mean 6 ng deos or 5 evoboost or such teams that have a super extreme matchup that I will classify as bad. (counter example: Bird Council)
While I am actually willing to see my team on the samples, and for the sake of eyeos, I wanted to remind everyone what a sample team should be like, and I genuinely request a pause in the massive submission of the random bullsht. Disclaimer: I am not part of the council or any organization. I take full responsibility for what I am saying, and if you find sth that seems to be personal, then it probably is. The main purpose of this post is to rage bait and let the actual top players have a new thread to criticize my post and tell us what are actually good sample submissions.
So first, as some of you here might criticize, you have to admit that in Gen 7 pure hackmons, checklist building is a useful way for beginners like me to follow a path to build a good team, and the thing at the very top of your checklist should ALWAYS be impostor eviolite chansey. So STOP SUBMITTING A TEAM OF FULL 6 OUT OF 6 UNPROOFED BULLSHT. AT LEAST GET A SOFT IMPROOF OK?
Second, as a sample team always should be, I kindly request you to make a little bit of analysis on the team, like how you do it in an RMT. And although this part is not necessary, you should probably ask yourself how you can prove that a team is good? Some records on the team will be helpful for everyone to evaluate the consistency of your team. Although I will hardly say so in most cases, a ladder record will be somewhat good proof, as samples are mostly designed for new players, and the main place where they go and find games is the ladder. (counter example: Bird Council)
Third, your team should be a good tool for a new player to get familiar with this meta. That is to say, you shall not have a team with a lot of sets with weak single combat power(e.g. Darmaniten-Zen in clock up flowers, nearly everything in aerobee full pass(full pass shall be a special case if this archetype is actually good), nearly all of the Bird Council, and I'm questioning about the support kart in gold psy terrain ho). And shall be a somewhat good representation of a team type, like a common no guard + huge power + priority offense core, or a psy surge psy spam HO, or a hazard stack spore trap balance, or even an innards spam stall(/HO? What is this classified as ).(counter example: Bird Council) And last but not least, you shall make sure that your team has an overall strong matchup against the random low ladder bullsht, by that I mean 6 ng deos or 5 evoboost or such teams that have a super extreme matchup that I will classify as bad. (counter example: Bird Council)
I feel like this is directed at me and if it is then no the submissions aren't jokes I genuinely find the teams I submit very good and if I don't give enough of a synopsis then I apologise
ATTENTION USUM PH PLAYERS
Do you SUCK? Can you NEVER BREAK A CERTAIN RATING? Then boy, oh boy do I have the right team for you! (You may have remembered this team from the listed tournament replays)
May 2025
This is when I first started experimenting with STag based teams. The first STag teams I build this month (ish) can be found in my failed teamdump.
Early July 2025
After dropping to a concerning low, I came up with a team that beat random mid ladders most of the time, although it had some flaws. ----- This team took advantage of Psychic Surge's priority blocking effect, making triple Moldy Move Deo-A almost unbeatable. Notably, it lost against PrankHaze, since it couldn't run priority moves itself. Additionally, the Deo-S set wasn't self-improofed, and my team didn't really feel good against PBond MGar.
Mid July 2025
I then made a second version of the team, improofing the Deo-A and addressing the PBond MGar issue using a fast Mega Lopunny set to shut it down. ----- Still, this team couldn't beat PrankHaze, which greatly annoyed me, until
Late July 2025
The third version of the team took a massive turn. ----- Now, instead of using Psysurge MMY+ MG Deo-A, I could use the superior MG Kart, finally giving me an answer to PrankHaze and I would be able to free up an extra teamslot. However, the second Zygod wasn't really pulling its weight. At this point, I was tired of playing STag and felt like the next edit would be the last. And that edit would happen in
August 2025
On this version of the team, I added a second Zygod that would help by allowing me to run SSap on the first one, drastically increasing its longevity. ----- This allowed me to also have two Accupressuring Zygods to sustain tougher Accupressure streaks. I also changed Floral Healing to Heal Pulse, before later realizing that both rounded down in USUM. It doesn't really matter, though, as no one uses Grassy Terrain. After this team, I said farewell to STag and proceeded to build Dual Scarf Offense. But that's not what this is about, isn't it?
October 2025
Two months passed since I last played STag, and after reaching an embarrassing rating barrier, I decided to try my hand one last time. And by some miracle, it worked. I revised the team to be the team at the top of the post. This team was designed to beat every other team imaginable.* So, without further ado, let's dive into the team.
Team Roles
This mon was one of the most important pieces of the team in practice. No Guard? Blissey it. Random garbage that cteams you? Blissey it. Encore and Spectral Thief opened up some windows to nastier Baton Passes, too.
Without this team member, the team would easily be broken by coverage spammers. Deo-S's Choice Scarf Trick insured that none of those darn Ice Beams would get anywhere close to the two towering Zygods. Deo-S also held the albeit controversial role of being the Rocks user of the team, which greatly annoyed me, as Flying types were a bit of a nuisance after Deo-S went down. You can swap Spikes and Rocks with each other if you would like to have a safer experience. I also swapped out Soak for Heal Pulse on this version, as I already had a Soaker in Arceus.
I'm grouping these two together because they basically do the same thing: be unkillable. However, since last version, I added Core Enforcer to the second one to beat those random Magic Bouncers I couldn't beat otherwise. Also, I moved Heal Pulse and Accupressure closer together so that I didn't have to do a full-body workout to get max Accupressure boosts. Again, if you would like to, you could move them closer to the left of the screen so you can more easily click "Skip turn," but it's up to you.
After a long while, I finally realized that I didn't actually need Speed if I was Tricking Choice Scarfs onto my opponents (crazy, right?) and swapped to Arceus. Arceus was there to deal with those annoying Ghost types that couldn't be Shadow Tagged, as well as Flying types who refused to be Arena Trapped, although that was more niche. Arceus was also a decent Improof to Kart if the Sub Zygod was put out of commission. As a bonus, it was the perfect bulky Spiker for the team, as it didn't have a dedicated role, no 4x weakness, and a good switch-in to Moldy Moves.
Kartana was the sweeper of the team (and the only one with more than one form of damage). With Sunsteel, Life Orb, and Magic Guard, it could tear through most common checks. With Bonemerang to kill opposing Magic Guards, Shadow Sneak to beat Bobsican's Prankster MBro (although I never ran into the matchup) and Ice Shard to decimate the somehow still popular Zygarde-Complete, this thing was almost unbeatable if it had +6 Atk and a Sub.
Matchup Spread (best at the top, worst at the bottom)
Good Matchups Pretty much everything :P
Bad Matchups Any team with Magic Bounce Giratina: As someone whose first decent teams featured Magic Bounce Giratina, I can assure you that this guy SUCKS. I played it twice, and even though I won a game, it was still extremely close and ended with half of my team dead and a poisoned Zygod about to take its last breath.
Shed Shell Spam: An archetype I played three times. I lost 2 and won 1. Shed Shell spam was particularly terrible because as long as they wisely chose their switches, there was no way I could win. Imposter was especially an ordeal on these teams.
BONUS
Thanks for reading. Here's a calc extension bonus. Goodbye.
C Rank (Not in order of viability from this point on) Bee Mega Charjer Ageist Blade Registeal yo man Bird Mega Rat Alola Bishsharp We Vile Gardenvoirfare Mega I am the Guzzler Artik Uno Frooslass Chair Mega Y Gigatina
F Rank Shedinja Shuckle Burn up Fire type Most WG Electrics
C Rank (Not in order of viability from this point on) Bee Mega Ageist Blade Registeal yo man Bird Mega Rat Alola Bishsharp We Vile Gardenvoirfare Mega I am the Guzzler Artik Uno Frooslass Chair Mega Y Gigatina
F Rank Shedinja Shuckle Burn up Fire type Most WG Electrics
I pretty much agree with this cool VR except 3 things : I think Exca should be higher in B- (yh I'm still an Exca enjoyer) even if it being in B- and not C is pretty cool
The BEEg seems way too low, I'd rank it bottem B Tier, its MG set is cool, it can ohko MMY with FImp after Stealth Rocks (252+ Atk Beedrill-Mega First Impression vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 356-420 (85.5 - 100.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock) and TSpikes Absorbing is underrated
I feel MGar could be A+ and Kart too, they do lack set variety tho so idk
I pretty much agree with this cool VR except 3 things : I think Exca should be higher in B- (yh I'm still an Exca enjoyer) even if it being in B- and not C is pretty cool
The BEEg seems way too low, I'd rank it bottem B Tier, its MG set is cool, it can ohko MMY with FImp after Stealth Rocks (252+ Atk Beedrill-Mega First Impression vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 356-420 (85.5 - 100.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock) and TSpikes Absorbing is underrated
I feel MGar could be A+ and Kart too, they do lack set variety tho so idk
excadrill is b- or somewhere in c honestly, any slight chip means you no longer ko mewtwos with innards and your typing blows for an innards, idt the draws are worth it enough over other innards mons
ohkoing mmy with fimp after rocks seems like an awkward niche for mguard bee, you have to be ada for this calc to work which loses you on a ton of speed which seems like a pretty major draw for beedrill (you no longer outspeed +speed mmx/gar and anything faster than them), huge power is maybe justifiable though c rank is fair for it
ohkoing mmy with fimp after rocks seems like an awkward niche for mguard bee, you have to be ada for this calc to work which loses you on a ton of speed which seems like a pretty major draw for beedrill (you no longer outspeed +speed mmx/gar and anything faster than them), huge power is maybe justifiable though c rank is fair for it
Blissey (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 Spe
- Shore Up
- Whirlwind
- Parting Shot
- Magic Coat
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS :
Uhh nothing complicated really, just wanted to build with a classic FakeSpeed Slaking, so I hoped on my builder and add Slaking to a new team.
As you are aware Ghost types are Immune to Normal (ok, I actually say this for a reason, please don’t leave ;-;) and MGar is the most popular Ghost type, and since I love it I decided to run certainly its worst MU, PBond Scarf MMY. It also gives pretty good Speed control to the team.
As you surely noticed by now, this team is an Hyper Offense, so I'm running the best offensive mon, naming MMX, it’s a classic HP set, I'll dive deeper into it later.
As you see, this team would currently have 2 mons dying to innards blob and the 3rd not hitting them so I need something to beat it. I first thought of running the classic MG Kart but in fine it turned out I had no TSpikes absorber so I decide to go MBee, it has enough attack to get these calcs :
Against Innards Lunala : 252 Atk Beedrill-Mega Spectral Thief vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Lunala: 628-740 (131.3 - 154.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Beedrill-Mega switching boosted Pursuit (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Lunala: 560-660 (117.1 - 138%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Against Innards Blissey : 252 Atk Beedrill-Mega U-turn vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Blissey: 1360-1602 (190.4 - 224.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Beedrill-Mega switching boosted Pursuit (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Blissey: 1037-1220 (145.2 - 170.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Against Innards Chansey 252 Atk Beedrill-Mega Pursuit (40 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0- Def 0 IVs Chansey: 878-1033 (124.7 - 146.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Plus MBee is pretty fast, sadly it doesn't have a MoldySTAB.
Since I hate Imposter I'm running the big whale POgre to improof both Mewtwos, MBee and kinda Slak (will be explained later)
And uh, it’s an HO meaning it has Innards Blob, Blissey here cause Imp Blissey exists (even if it shouldn't, that’s so annoying).
WHAT THE TEAM IS WEAK AGAINST :
- The team is kinda weak agains WG SmashCeus (the Taunt FightingJudg MGeist Smash set) but it’s manageable cause Blissey has MCoat to counter Taunt and Mewtwos (can) tank MGeist then do good damage : +2 252+ SpA Arceus Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 316-372 (75.9 - 89.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Mewtwo-Mega-Y Photon Geyser vs. -1 252 HP / 252 SpD Arceus: 255-300 (57.4 - 67.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Arceus Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mewtwo-Mega-X: 358-422 (86 - 101.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Sunsteel Strike vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Arceus: 334-393 (75.2 - 88.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Like all good HOs, the team struggles a little against the Bullshit of the low ladder because it's complicated to anticipate the sets.
SETS’ EXPLANATIONS :
Slaking @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 HP
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- Extreme Evoboost
- Sunsteel Strike
That’s a classic FakeSpeed Slak set, not much to say about
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Electric Memory
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 HP
- Sunsteel Strike
- V-create
- Ice Shard
- Multi-Attack
That sets servs as a breaker, Sunsteel is preferred over Photon to OHKO MAud, be careful against MPert tho, because only MMY is capable of doing decent damage quickly
VCreate is a classic nuke button against steel types thinking they can check
Ice Shard help the MRay MU that could be akward after a Smash, it’s a good prio and 2HKO Zygod which is pretty cool.
Finally Multi Elec is used over PFists to improof with POgre and deal with Water Types. Be careful, FCoat MBro is standard and easily tanks it, you'd need MMY Bug Buzz.
This lil' buddy is the fastest thing on earth (if the oppo is not boosted ofc), it will outspeed Scarf 130 Base Speed mons, mainly PBond MGar, and will OHKO it with Photon Geyser. If the opposing MGar is Sash it will be obliterated by PBond (Timid Scarf MGar outspeeds this set but MGeist will never OHKO : 252 SpA Parental Bond Gengar-Mega Moongeist Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 344-410 (82.6 - 98.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
Photon is the moldy STAB that kills many things
Searing Shot is cool to deal with Steel mons aware of MMX's VCreate and nukes Sash Karts.
Bug Buzz hits many Dark and Psychic mons resisting/being immune to Photon
Finally Freeze Dry deals cool damzge to Zygod, OHKOs MRay and MSceptile, it alos has this cool calc : 252+ SpA Parental Bond Mewtwo-Mega-Y Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Swampert-Mega: 424-500 (104.9 - 123.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
(The MPert can’t be +SpD if you're aiming at clean OHKO).
IK THAT BOTH MEWTWOS HAVE FIRE AND ICE MOVES BUT LET ME COOK, THIS TEAM IS GOOD !
It’s time for the great Bee to shine, it’s a classic MG set, I'm running UTurn over Moldy Moves because I won’t often need it, Pursuit is for Innards trap, and 50/50, Spec Thief can save games and defog to keep POgre and Blissey HPs high enough for them to be useful. I already explained why MBee>Kart and already gave really important calcs, go check them if needed.
Here's our favourite improofing sea being, it runs WG to improof and NG MU. Its very good bulk and typing allows POgre to improof both Mewtwos :
252+ SpA Parental Bond Mewtwo-Mega-Y Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Kyogre-Primal: 157-185 (38.8 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Kyogre-Primal: 135-159 (33.4 - 39.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(POgre will tank at least twice the strongest move from both Mewtwos)
It can also tank some Sunsteel from Slak but won’t rly check it since POgre can’t deal damage to Slak, Blissey is preferred as an improof here. Or just don’t switch on Slak while they have an Imposter alive (if you can).
Safety Goggles because I hate Spore
Aromatherapy because I hate Spore AND Glare AND WoW (not the game duh)
Shore Up to keep it healthy, Spec Thief to deal dmg to Mewtwos and help some games (will be shown in the replays), Baton Pass to switch and give SpecThief’s boosts. SpecThief is pretty useful here for these
calcs :
Against PDon : +2 252+ Atk Huge Power Groudon-Primal Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Kyogre-Primal: 258-304 (63.8 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Kyogre-Primal Spectral Thief vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Groudon-Primal: 185-218 (45.7 - 53.9%) -- 46.9% chance to 2HKO
Against MMX : +2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Sunsteel Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Kyogre-Primal: 269-317 (66.5 - 78.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Photon OHKOs, event without boost (252+ Atk Huge Power Mewtwo-Mega-X Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Kyogre-Primal: 405-477 (100.2 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO) so be careful, some MMX run both Sunsteel and Photon)
+2 252 Atk Kyogre-Primal Spectral Thief vs. -1 252 HP / 252- Def Mewtwo-Mega-X: 576-678 (138.4 - 162.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Against MMY+2 252+ SpA Mewtwo-Mega-Y Photon Geyser vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Kyogre-Primal: 250-295 (61.8 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Kyogre-Primal Spectral Thief vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Mewtwo-Mega-Y: 646-762 (155.2 - 183.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Also this POGre has 252/30 in Spe so it is fast while being outsped by things like PDon to help stealing there Smash boosts.
I make it fast so it can pass before being taunted or whatever.
Blissey (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 Spe
- Shore Up
- Whirlwind
- Parting Shot
- Magic Coat
That’s a classic Blissey Innards set, Whirlwind to remove the oppo, Shore Up to heal, Parting Shot for Pivot and allowing the following mon to be more safe, finally MCoat and Lum Berry to switch on a Sing from NG into MCoat and to help de WGCeus MU.
Nothing more to say bout it.
Why I think this team should be added as a Sample :
- It can easily put pressure on many teams.
- It is easy to use as an HO and has no strange strats or Z-Move that you need to use at the correct time or any important ressource to manage outised of Slak's Evoboost and Blissey and POgre HPs
Thank you very much for reading this far, the replays are available just below, so thanks in advance for your feedback and I hope this will be accepted as a Sample, I know I didn’t peak ladder with this team but recently I was more focused on other tiers and usum challs over ladder.
EDIT : Huge thanks to Spamton to make me think of Freeze Dry to help the MPert MU, I was to dumb to think of it, sadly it makes every current Replay outdated, but it shouldn't change much, I believe ?
Also, once again ty Spamton for pointing small IVs under optimisations
Ah yes, a "Blissey" (Why is my Blissey shaped like a moon?)
Anyway, this looks like a actually good Sample team. Seems to require not much skill to pilot, while being made up by actually good mons unlike some sample teams (Cough Cough Pikachu Cough). As well, the people generally like Beedrill, so a team with a Beedrill is somewhat cool, and, unlike some teams (COUGH COUGH) the slightly off-meta Mon is actually good in the role it is in. I do feel like you might want to put something for Pert somewhere, like changing Ice Beam to Freeze Dry on MMY or something, but other then that, pretty good.
I do feel like you might want to put something for Pert somewhere, like changing Ice Beam to Freeze Dry on MMY or something, but other then that, pretty good.
Yh I didn’t thought of using Freeze Dry, but it would surely help a lot, if I'm mentally doing the calcs right super effective Freeze Dry should be 140 on POgre where STAB Photon is 150 so it should be ok anw.
I'm going to calc things to see if it’s worth using but I rly think it is tysm.
And also ty for the kind answer :)
The point of this team is to put all the mons in one team and make a standard HO. I haven't reached like ladder #1 or sth because I haven't ladder with it yet.
So it begins with the deos. I was laddering anything goes with a deos lead HO, and I found that suiside lead is the kind of strat I love. So I moved it to ph. Mold breaker ensures it to do all the things it should have done. And the importance of a unstopable knock off is actually underrated. Then I have to utilize the unstopable knock, so I added a spore user and a stag one. wg Kart is my late game sweeper in this team, and mmx is actually a good stag revenge killer. Oceanic Opera and ice beam are targeting for steelix, pdon and zygarde. As they can be stopping zygarde from sweeping. Vacuum wave can stop another kart and the impostor kart if somehow they killed ours. Innards is always holding my back. No need to say how great it is. And at this point I just decided to add a ng mmy-yvetal core, because I want to. So yvetal can totally stop the impostors mmy and still does a great job with stab knock and pursuit. And Im feeling like mbounce yvetal is a bit too passive as they cant hit hard enough using pursuit and mbounce still cant be improof for my mold deos, so I chose huge power. Although its not actually a perfect answer to mmy, but I dont want to give it googles and give mmy a freaking spore. But we can let mmy stay and try to win the speed tie. If not we can switch yvetal in predicting a shell smash, or after our mmy has died.
And the mons are not showing up in the order that I added them is because I made this team on my casio calculator during my math class and imported it manually
The Team
Deoxys-speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Destiny Bond
This thing is unstopable. Especially for the balances. Knock+Spore can usually at least put your opponments mon into sleep. Mold breaker also allow it to set hazards up against mbounce users. Dbond is self explainable. The main thing its afraid of is the mcoat users and grass types and setup sweepers. But you can still sac it against kartana or some psychic type setup sweepers (mmy deoa) after breaking the potential sashs as we have innards, vacumm wave and first impression mmx and sucker punch yveltal.
This is our late game sweeper. Spore can offset the lack of its power. This is prettey self explainable. Remember it can take advantage of uturn users
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Life Orb
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Vacuum Wave
- Oceanic Operetta
- Ice Beam
- First Impression
This is the revenge killer and the trapper. Vacuum wave can OHKO impostors kartana with one time shell smash and other kartanas after stealth rock chip. Oceanic Operetta can OHKO steelix after sr and pdon without sr ofc. Ice beam cant do a sure ohko on zygarde but 2hko should be fine given the offensive stat of zygarde and the bulk of mmx. First Impression is doing a sure OHKO on -1def mmy and a 56% to OHKO on normal mmy with rock chip. Mixed mmx is inspired by cscl. (acutally this set is just copied form him)
the three special moves can be changed to close combat, sunsteel strike, menacing moonraze maelstrom, ice hammer(with band and positive atk ev.) shadow sneak, Let's Snuggle Forever, targeting for different things.
Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Sing
- Shell Smash
- Fissure
- Photon Geyser
Another late game sweeper. I love set up no guard set. Fissure can take care of amuk although they aren't as common these days. Can do nothing to yvetal.
Yveltal @ Lum Berry
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- Sunsteel Strike
- Knock Off
A mbounce one here would actually be better, but I am a ho lover, and I am already forced to put a wg kart instead of a hp one in this team, so I wont betray my honorable ideal and place mbounce yvetal here, no. So this set is pretty bad but still viable. Sucker Punch is here is because idk what to give it. It work sometimes but Im not sure. Knock off can take advantage of wgs like slowbro and remove items for the non wg walls. Pursuit can trap can kill meloetta and the psy types(mmy deoa) and pave the way for mmy. Dont over estimate how much damage can it deal.
Chansey @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Whirlwind
- Shore Up
- Parting Shot
Holy blob. Improof everything.
Checks and Counters
prank spore, prank bond, prank defog, mguard defog, stall teams, hazard stack, psy terrain, Priority users(slaking regigigas marowak espe mmx), other yvltal, gyarados, gren-ash(if not cc mmx), slowbro(if not not mmm mmx), darknium z, mguard
Stuff you would like to see
most mmy, egg spam(if you understand what mon you need and what what you dont), Audino, meloetta(depends), google spam, all those your mmx can cover.
Possible modifications to You might not really need that high speed. If you use deoa you can switch dbond to pscho boost.
huge power yveltal can be replaced to defensive set with magic guard or magic bounce. actually those two might be better on this team but huge power yveltal is the reason I am writing this rmt.
MMX can be replaced to other Stag users and with other sets, just make sure they are doing the things you want it to do. I use mmx is because I like to. to Innards zygarde and prank dbond zygarde usually do the same job as chansey do but they are less reliable.
2025/8/10 edit:
new team here: https://pokepast.es/4c80ab7a91c4cc97
the most important change is the yvetal, it cant hit hard enough even with hazard support, so I have changed it to a Mguard one, doing a better job at improofing mmy while being able to punish the innards out users. I've thinked about the whole thing and decided to switch Deoxys-Speed into Deoxys-attack, not only because of my personal favoring, but also because it is less passive to the setup sweepers like kartana (psycho boost 2hko). And adding the spikes let it go better against balance and stalls, as wonder guard kartana and no guard setup mmy is already doing a good job anti offensing. Chansey can be changed into a impostor one as the only unimproofed thing is mmx and deoa. You can lead with yveltal if they are having a chansey and you think it might be a impostor.
So it begins with the deos. I was laddering anything goes with a deos lead HO, and I found that suiside lead is the kind of strat I love. So I moved it to ph. Mold breaker ensures it to do all the things it should have done. And the importance of a unstopable knock off is actually underrated. Then I have to utilize the unstopable knock, so I added a spore user and a stag one. wg Kart is my late game sweeper in this team, and mmx is actually a good stag revenge killer. Oceanic Opera and ice beam are targeting for steelix, pdon and zygarde. As they can be stopping zygarde from sweeping. Vacuum wave can stop another kart and the impostor kart if somehow they killed ours. Innards is always holding my back. No need to say how great it is. And at this point I just decided to add a ng mmy-yvetal core, because I want to. So yvetal can totally stop the impostors mmy and still does a great job with stab knock and pursuit. And Im feeling like mbounce yvetal is a bit too passive as they cant hit hard enough using pursuit and mbounce still cant be improof for my mold deos, so I chose huge power. Although its not actually a perfect answer to mmy, but I dont want to give it googles and give mmy a freaking spore. But we can let mmy stay and try to win the speed tie. If not we can switch yvetal in predicting a shell smash, or after our mmy has died.
And after that I realized yveltal cant hit hard enough, and we already have fimp stag mmx for mmy revenge killing, so at this point i decided to change it into a torb mguard one for its ability to absorb status, punish innards and immunity to hazards. And I like deoa so much that i decided to abandon the deos.
And the mons are not showing up in the order that I added them is because I made this team on my casio calculator during my math class and imported it manually.
The Team
Deoxys-Attack @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Def
- Spore
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Psycho Boost
This mon is my favorite. Especially against the balances. Knock+Spore can usually at least put your opponments mon into sleep. Psycho boost 2HKOs Kartana and can punish those that dares to setup infront of deoa. Mold breaker also allow it to set hazards up against mbounce users. minium def is for mmx to improof. it is bad into the google spam and mcoat users, so on turn 1 I will probably click knock off. Its improofed by the Yveltal only after toxic orb is activated, so in most cases its not improofed. Psycho boost can be changed into destiny bond.
This is our sweeper. Spore can offset the lack of its power. This is pretty good into offense once it get a chance to setup. Remember it can take advantage of uturn users. I forgot why I had it minium SpD but it must have some reason. Improofed by itself
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Life Orb
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Vacuum Wave
- Oceanic Operetta
- Ice Beam
- First Impression
This is the revenge killer and the trapper. Vacuum wave can OHKO impostors kartana with one time shell smash and other kartanas after stealth rock chip. Oceanic Operetta can OHKO steelix after sr and pdon without sr ofc. Ice beam cant do a sure ohko on zygarde but 2hko should be fine given the lack offensive stat of zygarde and the unignorable bulk of mmx. First Impression is doing a sure OHKO on -1def mmy and a 56% to OHKO on normal mmy with rock chip. Credit to cscl for life orb stag mixed mmx. The three special moves can be changed to close combat, sunsteel strike, menacing moonraze maelstrom, ice hammer(with band and positive atk ev.) shadow sneak, Let's Snuggle Forever, targeting for different things. not really improofed as the sets can vary, but for this one its improofed by innards/impostor chansey especially after first turn.
Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Sing
- Shell Smash
- Fissure
- Photon Geyser
Second sweeper. I love set up no guard set. Fissure can take care of amuk although they aren't as common these days. Can do nothing to opposing yveltal. improofed by our yveltal
A mbounce one here would actually be better, but I am a ho lover, and I am already forced to put a wg kart instead of a hp one in this team, so I wont betray my honorable ideal and place mbounce yvetal here, no. Sorry I betrayed myself and my glorious ho members. Anyway this one is our wincoin against the balances and stalls. Thank to mguard it gains immunity to rocks, ability to run toxic orb to be a status absorber, and let this team to have a better way to handle the innards. Pretty self explainable sets, spikes can let kart sweep easier. Spore can be changed into taunt if you want consistency. Improofed by itself
Chansey @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Whirlwind
- Shore Up
- Parting Shot
Holy blob. Improof everything. can be changed into impostor, improofed by itself.
Checks and Counters
prank spore, prank bond, prank defog, mguard defog, stall teams, hazard stack, psy terrain, Priority users(especially when with fighting coverage)(slaking regigigas marowak espe/fimp mmx), other yvltal, gyarados, gren-ash(if not cc mmx), slowbro(if not not mmm mmx), darknium z, mguard
Stuff you would like to see
bulky offense and balance team, most mmy, egg spam, Audino, meloetta(depends on team), all those your mmx can cover.