Introduction
Physical attackers in Doubles OU tend to have a hard time breaking opposing teams because of the omnipresence of Intimidate. Many teams rely heavily on Intimidate to check strong physical attackers, but common users like Landorus-T and Incineroar can't spread Intimidate if they're already on the field. This team takes two of the most threatening such attackers in DOU (Kartana and Choice Band Zygarde) and combines them with three strong pivoting options. The gameplan is generally simple: lure in the opponent's Intimidate users, pivot into one of your physical breakers, and go to town.
Team Members
Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
It's not controversial to say that CB Zygarde is the most consistent physical breaker in DOU. Many teams (including this one) forgo a resistance to Thousand Arrows entirely, counting on Intimidate, Fake Out, and outspeeding with offensive threats to keep Zygarde at bay. With the right support to get past these countermeasures, Zygarde can tear holes in enemy teams, so that makes it a good choice to build a team around. Bring Zygarde in on the opponent's Intimidate user, click Thousand Arrows a few times until it's forced out by Intimidate cycling or a threatened by a potential KO, and repeat. In the meantime, the enemy team has probably taken a combined 250% damage.
Kartana @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute
- Protect
Zygarde's partner in crime was almost chosen by accident, but the two synergize excellently. Substitute allows Kartana to take advantage of the team's ability to force switches; once set up, Intimidate cycling and Fake Out (two of Zygarde's main weaknesses) have no effect on Kartana. From there, Grassium Z makes it easy to pick up a KO and take advantage of Beast Boost. With Fake Out support to keep the Substitute intact, a Kartana sweep is nearly inevitable. Kartana's Grass STAB and good matchup against common Fairy-types complement Zygarde well. That said, the handful of boosting Pokemon that aren't covered by this pair are real nuisances for this team, since the remaining members struggle with dealing damage.
Mew @ Mago Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 24 SpD / 220 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Tailwind
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
This is the Pokemon that makes it all come together. Mew's ability to customize its set really comes through for the team here. Stealth Rock heavily punishes Incineroar cycling and puts a lot of Pokemon into KO range for Kartana; for example, standard bulky Landorus-T takes a minimum of 86% from +0 Bloom Doom. Ice Beam can trash Landorus-T and Salamence outright. Tailwind prevents the opponent from outspeeding Zygarde or Kartana, leaving them with no choice but to tank their hits (poorly). Mew is too fast to provide slow pivoting most of the time, so U-turn is primarily used for Gothitelle insurance, but it also punishes hard switches.
Incineroar @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
Speaking of slow pivots, the man himself. Incineroar is critical for a team built around Substitute Kartana and Choice Band Zygarde for a few reasons. First, you need Intimidate for opposing threats like Mega Metagross, Zygarde, and Kartana. Two, Fake Out helps Kartana's Substitute stay intact and can stall out unfavorable speed control. Three, an extremely slow U-turn helps you bring in your powerhouses unscathed, even in Tailwind. That's actually the main function of the 0 Speed IV here -- Incineroar is too fast to underspeed Trick Room threats (aside from Tapu Bulu) even with a minimized IV, but hitting a very low Speed stat of 112 lets it pivot out after most bulky Landorus-T even under Tailwind, for example. This means that Incineroar is taking Landorus-T's Earth Power instead of Kartana, whose health is much more important. The teambuilder, stax, wisely opts for a fully defensive EV spread here because Incineroar's main function is never attacking.
Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 132 HP / 124 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Snarl
- Protect
At this point, the team is still weak to Mega Metagross, Kartana, and Tapu Koko, so Mega Manectric fits right in to finish up the pivot core and round out the team. A second Intimidate user with very fast Snarl also gives Grassium Z Kartana the illusion of actual bulk. There's not too much to say about such a standard set on a relatively standard Pokemon, but Manectric's ability to slip in and out of battle with ease works perfectly here.
Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 168 SpA / 32 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Calm Mind Tapu Fini doesn't directly play into the gameplan, but it provides the team's unique ability to actually take special hits and provide an answer for Dragon-types, Hypnosis Bronzong, and others, and it also acts as another win condition that greatly appreciates double Intimidate. If Tapu Fini can use Calm Mind before it's hit by a special attack—and Tailwind helps with this—it can beast through the mid-game just as well as the big boys. This is generally your best answer to double Intimidate teams with a comfortable Kartana matchup, and most of the entries on the threatlist are best handled by Tapu Fini as well. Tapu Fini also benefits from being less dependent on the positional game than the team's physical attackers; generally, as long as it can set Calm Mind once (and the opponent isn't carrying, say, Tapu Bulu), it's set. Using Protect and switching into Incineroar or Manectric can handle the rest.
Threatlist
In general, there's nothing this team can't beat. That's why I've used it in probably over 200 games, including many tournament sets—and other top players have done the same. That being said, there are some things it has a lot of trouble with.
Trick Room: If Trick Room isn't set, the team does a good job piling damage on common setters and abusers. Unfortunately, under Trick Room you're in for a bad time—and the team has no way to stop it from going up aside from damage and an unreliable Fake Out. The team is fast with only moderate bulk and three Protect users, and even a minimum speed Incineroar has a higher Speed stat than 5 of the 6 mons on the archetypal Trick Room. You can try to set up a Substitute with Kartana before Trick Room is set to burn turns alternating between Protect and Substitute / Fake Out, and you can take advantage of slow pivots with Mew (your most expendable Pokemon in this matchup) under Trick Room to keep your other Pokemon healthy, but there really isn't that much you can do. Once Trick Room wears off, try to have an active Fake Out and either Zygarde or Kartana on the field to prevent a second set, or it gets even harder.
Volcarona: This team lacks a reliable way to damage Volcarona. If it gets in without taking Stealth Rock damage you will probably struggle to kill it before it shreds most of your team. You can delay it with Calm Mind, Fake Out, and Snarl, but you are going to need to smack it with Zygarde and Incineroar repeatedly until it dies, and neither of those Pokemon really like taking its boosted Bug-type attacks. This is a really awful matchup and if Volcarona was more common, I probably wouldn't use the stax sample much.
Kommo-o: Tapu Fini is the team's entire matchup—you lose if it dies early. You might still be able to win if you have a boosted Kartana, or by setting Tailwind with Mew and making some miracle happen, but it'll be rough. Fortunately, unlike Volcarona, this only has one shot at boosting and Clanging Scales makes it more susceptible to Extreme Speed from Zygarde; if you can keep it off the field for long enough, it probably can't reverse sweep.
Strong Fairies: I'm mostly referring to Gardevoir here, and to a lesser extent Tapu Lele. The team has the general bulk to shrug off weak Fairy-type hits from the likes of Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini, but the only actual resistance to these attacks is Kartana. This will quickly prove insufficient when you're faced with Mega Gardevoir's powerful Hyper Voice. Bloom Doom can beat it in a neutral speed situation, and an undamaged Tapu Fini with Fake Out support can boost past it. But Gardevoir has partners too, and you will generally have a tough time of it. Tapu Lele is similar, but at least it typically only carries a single-target Fairy move.Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-834033866 stax vs Ezrael (DLT II -- Semifinals)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-925402757 Stratos vs Tman (DOU Spring Seasonal 2019 -- Round 6)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7doublesou-403874 stax vs Biosci (SSD II -- Phase 2 Week 4)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesou-933727276 Stratos vs poseidonTHEking (DOU Grand Prix -- SM Cup Round 1)
Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 132 HP / 124 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Snarl
- Protect
Incineroar @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 168 SpA / 32 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Kartana @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute
- Protect
Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
Mew @ Mago Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 24 SpD / 220 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Tailwind
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 132 HP / 124 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Snarl
- Protect
Incineroar @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
Tapu Fini @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 168 SpA / 32 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect
Kartana @ Grassium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 64 HP / 252 SpD / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Substitute
- Protect
Zygarde @ Choice Band
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Extreme Speed
- Superpower
Mew @ Mago Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 24 SpD / 220 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Tailwind
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
Created by: stax
Written by: Stratos
Grammar checked by: talkingtree
Art by: Image by Ticken & Text by TPP