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Monday 22 July 2024

The Miraidon Anti-Meta Squad: A VGC Regulation G Team

 


Ever since I started dabbling into VGC my interest was always to find some unique anti meta tech that can carry me. Already being trash at the game way back then, most, if not all of my teams were quite hot garbage. My teambuilding journey for the last two teams was relatively standard, given a few unique sets and a Maushold but I still had the itch to use something anti meta that I built from scratch. This was surely going to be taught in a format with such a high power level, however to my advantage I did have a lot of knowledge on what the team compositions were and how I can possibly answer them.

I needed somewhere to start and my mind immediately went to Miraidon. idea I thought that miraidon was a strong contender to build a nice and easy anti meta squad around. There are a few reasons for thinking of Miraidon as my restricted of choice:

Choice of Restricted:

·   The most offensive Pokémon are already a stable part of the metagame, cue all the monstrous restricted legendries that deal the most damage of all and then Pokémon the likes of Urshifus and blood moon Ursaluna in the metagame.

·         Of these Pokemon, the highest offensive output has to be owed to Miraidon, a Pokemon that can help carry less than stellar squad members when speaking of off meta picks. Miraidon also checks Amoonguss’ or Smeargle’s spore meaning that I won’t have to dedicate a full few slots to safety goggles, grass types and effective taunts to neutralize it.

·         Miraidon teams are limited in their compositions alongside following a simple formula. First iteration was Rajan Bal’s team and then he was one again the person to innovate on the composition. I can surely replicate the slots as the roles of each member are self explanatory.

·         What I observed was that Miraidon teams follow the formula of: A tailwind setter, a fast attacker, a trick room setter (almost always or basically always Farigaraf), a trick room attacker and a redirection user or a fake out user to assist.

With the aforementioned observations I set out to carve my own anti meta squad out. I know I was trying to explore the Sceptile idea but then I quickly realized that it was basically not that often that I would ever consider clicking dragon cheer towards the side from testing things very early in the format, also it helped that I learned very quick that playing Miraidon does requite some amounts of switching to get the terrain back in your favor, where its offensive output peaks.

Drafting the Team:

Sketching together a quick squad via the substitution method, I tried for Sneasler to be my fast attacker, get Iron Jugulis (with dragon cheer and electric terrain) as my tailwind setter, the last three were a Bruxish for its dazzling ability as farigaraf carries miraidon far with its armor tail (something I wanted to replicate), A pachirisu and lastly… a torterra as it gets wide guard and electric immunity so that I can fire off strong discharges on the side. Moreover I gave this torterra a body press iron defense set so I can maximize its survivability all the while letting it fire off strong body presses.

In testing torterra was the obvious weak link alongside 3x ground weaknesses that had completely went over my head. Sifting through the dex again I found a long lost friend, Orthworm the Worm. I was quite fond of this Pokemon way back in the start of regulation G format when I had been using Reshiram as Orthworm allowed me to wall the Groudon variants of Protospam teams quite well. Its earth eater ability was the clear star here.

After testing this variant the first thing I noticed was how well Miraidon and Orthworm really paired up well. Of course the base typing of steel and dragon in tandem works for each other well, but Miraidon provides the spore immunity all the while Orthworm heals through ground moves. This combined with the fact that Orthworm walls both blood moon Ursaluna and Calyrex ice completely between earth eater and steel typing and also handily takes out the biggest fairy type of the format in Flutter mane, it was quite a match to proceed with. Testing proved how this one pokemon was the clear answer to an entire calyrex ice matchup. Not to mention Orthworm also walls Rillaboom, the premier threat for any miraidon team.

The other changes I had made to the squad were replacing Bruxish for Tsareena as I basically never clicked trick room and it also turned out to be quite a great answer. Tsareena works as a niche only on Kyogre teams where it helps them handle Rillaboom and other grass types, here Tsareena again was quite a fitting match. Tsareena also was fitting in neutralizing the ground weakness. Tsareena’s best set being that of a wide lens one means that the premier items are still freed up for other slots. In testing Tsareena was promising. Not to mention Sneasler who with its speedy fake outs and very good coverage felt a good partner for miraidon.

The last two on the second iteration of this team were Illumise as I felt prankster tailwind was better than competing or speculating mid game for who was faster. And I still kept the Pachirisu that would give a matchup into the opposing Miraidon and raging bolt matchups. Upon testing I found both of these to be a dud. Pachirisu and illumise were too passive. If I lose the big player of Miraidon early on in the game it was basically curtains as these two couldn’t provide much or any offense on the field. However knowing the roles these two played guided me to modify the next versions of the team:

I tried a Clefairy and Kingambit combination as it completed the fairy/steel/dragon core and another iteration with Chi Yu and a water type I was either considering to be a Toxapex or a Alomomola both of which could provide the fire water and grass core to the team. Toxapex would add to the ground weaknesses but have toxic strategies whereas Alomomola would get a slow pivot in flip turn, both ideas were never really tested. Chi Yu with its choice scarf and tera ground was now the Miraidon counter for the team. Clefairy was also tested and proved itself to be a solid candidate for the team. I was happy as can be with the first four of the squad and wanted to hypothesize matchups and see what I missed out on and needed to cover up.

While going through the teams of Road to Honolulu Hawaii tournament’s results I came across a Miraidon and Orthworm team by a Japanese player which felt quite validating that I indeed can come up with some new idea that others would agree with. This team had its own trick room setter in farigaraf but no tailwind which again was validating in terms of me not having both on the final squad. With this added bit of knowledge, I went ahead with exploring the missing links of matchups.

While making the mu calls, I realized it needed:

Help against Terapagos and calyrex shadow, Tera electric booster energy raging bolt can also wreck through my team easily. Tera ghost chien pao also looks like trouble. For stuff like Calyrex shadow, providing myself a Miraidon matchup and walling the stab options for Chien pao, the aforementioned Choice Scarf Chi yu, with tera ground and tera blast is something I need to look more seriously into. Terapagos can be further neutralized by a wide guard user. Most if not all the miraidon teams have a single or 2 normal types. Adding on another astral barrage resist seems to be in my best interest as well.

I narrowed down to a few candidates. Regigigas was the only one that was a normal type carrying wide guard, but slow start hinders it a ton. On the other hand I had, and what I decided to test was Garganacl. Getting the unique ability to halve ghost damage and the move salt cure pairing well with orthworm was something desirable to look into. Toxapex also fills the role, arguably better due to its water typing however both the ladder add on a quad ground weakness to my team which is obviously extremely undesirable. Ditto could also work out here, in addition to teaching on all the support I need onto a Smeargle. Grafaiai and muk both also block off calyrex shadow rider with their typing and could make a case but would add to the quad ground weakness again. I can see ditto working, especially as in the initiation of this build I realized I wouldn’t be able to get as significant of offense as the other teams have.

Getting there:

For the last two of the team, I did start to feel the cracks slip through in testing. Chi yu is the clear answer to my Miraidon matchups which it does indeed improve by a mile, however the limiting pivot potential of this team in tandem with chi yu being locked into a bad move slot greatly hinders it. For being an offensive powerhouse, its EVs are clearly more focused on offenses and speed which means giving up this glass cannon of a Chi Yu often means curtains for the squad.

Smeargle was here because it provides exactly what I felt like the team needed on paper. When I was exploring the mons, as I mentioned above, Regigigas was the only normal type with the move wide guard, fake out mons were abundant but not many effective ones had fake out, the options for using follow me were also not really fitting in with my vision for the team. I was also previously considering using dittio on the squad but that meant having to give up choice scarf on Chi Yu, or giving the ditto a focus sash which would mean mirrors would be quite painful. Smeargle checks all the aforementioned boxes, the sash item was the perfect fit and it did help me improve the Terapagos and Calyrex Matchups by a whole lot.

An effective mode for this team was utilizing the lead of Miraidon and Sneasler. Miraidon. Sneasler uses fake out and Miraidon uses Volt switch to land sticking damage onto the team or alternatively Sneasler attacks and volt switch picks off the weakened mon. this allows me to go back into Smeargle and now Smeargle can use its own fake out, follow me and wide guard to support Sneasler.

The Challenges and the Resolution:

Chien pao was the clear big hurdle for this team. Additionally the team felt a bit frail where I could lose matchups within turns. My initial ideas for improvements were testing Iron Moth with Alomomola or Swampert as a substitute for the last two slots on this team, this will allow me to complete the fire water and grass core also adding to the defensive synergy and covering chien pao. Alternatively I thought about adding on a clefable with rocky helmet to neuter opposing Chien Pao completing the fairy/ steel/ dragon core for the team and a last Pokemon to cover for the rest of the matchups.

However upon testing I thought I needed to think of things more systematically than this approach:

Chien pao, No calyrex shadow resitances, no type cores, Ursaluna becomes a threat with speed control, tera electric raging bolt can run through with offense, scarf or tailwind chi yu becomes unwinnable if Sneasler is out. Lack of ability to use spread damage sashed mons or redirection mons become a trouble. These were the weaknesses I enlisted after practicing. Following were my solutions:

·         Chien pao: Volcarona or, fire ghost types (but weak to sucker punch)  

·         Calyrex Shadow: Entei with tera normal and assault vest, normal types, Wide guard: Garganacl, Swampert, Alolan Golem can be answers. Mimikyu can an interesting answer to providing good survivability and offensive prowess.

·         Raging Bolt: Krookodile covers for calyrex as well, Standard golem covers for elec immunity with wide guard. Pilowine or mamoswine cover for them alongside ice resist.

A really strange solution I came up with was using golem and Oranguru or Indeedee female. The latter provides me a much needed speed control mode on my own team.

As absurd as it would sound, this combination actually worked in a few games. Yes even I have to call this absurd because Oranguru is a pokemon I would always consider when in the conceptualization phase of a team, not to choose it as the final member. Then again Golem is the last pokemon something I would ever even consider glossing over for a pokemon team. Given its study ability, earthquake spamming, rock blast and wide guard, it checked a lot of the boxes I needed at the moment.

The big decision here came because of the fact of wanted to sometimes go outright for the discharge which I couldn’t not having spread moves this format limits my playability for the team. Oranguru and Golem can both provide immunity to discharge. Oranguru setting up trick room allows golem to spam earthquakes partnered with Oranguru or in helping Orthworm heal. Oranguru was still having a hard time setting up the trick room given no real support. The only viable option I could see was leading it alongside miraidon to threaten a KO, they play defensive as I switch back to golem or with sneasler which I would awkwardly have to switch out again. This method was something that still stuck out like a sore thumb in the end.

I was still itching to test more, like I have done in the past teams to good success and go through the pokedex once more to see what I could need.

The Final squad:


Mitochondria (Miraidon) @ Choice Specs  
Ability: Hadron Engine  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Electric  
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe  
Timid Nature  
- Volt Switch  
- Discharge  
- Electro Drift  
- Draco Meteor

Miraidon is just here to simply do Miraidon things. Even with its pivot move in volt switch you can land very significant damage onto the field. This team operates a bit different from the standard Miraidon compositions meaning that you can usually pick off an opposing team member turn one via combining Miraidon’s amazing natural speed in tandem with Sneasler’s doubled speed as these two lead. The EVs are standard as can be and I never really calced for anything. Miraidon for me was almost a vibes based delete button of sorts and it never disappointed. Its dragon and electric typing is the best answer this team has to rapid strike Urshifu and tornadus/pelliper.

Wolveglick (Sneasler) @ Electric Seed  

Ability: Unburden  

Level: 50  

Tera Type: Stellar  

EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 116 Spe  

Adamant Nature  

- Fake Out  

- Throat Chop  

- Close Combat  

- Dire Claw

Sneasler surprised me with how effective it became on the field. Having the fastest fake out, 2 stab options that can hit the likes of Rillaboom, Incineroar, Flutter Mane, Chi Yu and Terapagos for super effective damage is insanely effective paired with the doubled speed. I was initially using the acrobatics/ tera flying set, however I switched it up with throat chop which gives me an excellent option to take out opposing Indeedee, neutralize Farigaraf and have 2 strong OHKO options for opposing Calyrex Shadow Riders. Tera stellar feels really the ideal option here as it allows me to fire off potentially 3 tera boosted hits, given that my damage output in more likely to suffer from opposing intimidate pivots and I cannot switch out as I will be bound to lose my speed boost. Speaking of speed, the EVs allow it to outpace a max speed timid booster energy Iron Bundle.

252 SpA Tornadus Bleakwind Storm vs. 128 HP / 4 SpD Sneasler: 150-176 (87.7 - 102.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Life Orb Calyrex-Shadow Rider Astral Barrage vs. 128 HP / 4 SpD Sneasler: 142-168 (83 - 98.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Sneasler Throat Chop vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Calyrex-Shadow Rider: 208-248 (100.4 - 119.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Sneasler Throat Chop vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Farigiraf: 62-74 (27.3 - 32.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

-1 252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 228 HP / 188+ Def Incineroar: 122-146 (61.3 - 73.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 164-194 (79.2 - 93.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

-1 252+ Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 110-132 (53.1 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

-1 252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Terapagos-Terastal: 140-168 (69.3 - 83.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Terapagos-Terastal: 210-248 (103.9 - 122.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar: 210-248 (78.6 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Sneasler Dire Claw vs. 212 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane: 99-117 (63 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Dire Claw (1st Use) vs. 212 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar: 280-332 (104.8 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

-1 252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Close Combat (1st Use) vs. 228 HP / 188+ Def Incineroar: 164-196 (82.4 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tera-Stellar Sneasler Dire Claw (1st Use) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 220-260 (106.2 - 125.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO


 Mysthiqee (Tsareena) @ Wide Lens  

Ability: Queenly Majesty  

Level: 50  

Tera Type: Ice  

EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 140 Spe  

Adamant Nature  

- Power Whip  

- Triple Axel  

- Protect  

- Helping Hand

Tsareena feels like a fair replacement for Farigaraf for an anti meta take on a Miraidon formula. Tsareena has already established itself for being a great niche pick on certain Kyogre team variants and it works here well too. Tsareena is the perfect counter to opposing Rillaboom, Ursaluna and Amoonguss; all the mons which can become a hurdle in the way of Miraidon’s sweeping. The type synergy between Miraidon and Tsareena is also quite nice synergy vise. Albeit I have to admit it feels a bit awkward to position Tsareena right in. It is in this really strange place where it is not the fastest mon and then it is also not having stellar bulk or skyrocketing offenses. With wide lens being its ideal item, you cannot work it up that well too. Helping hand felt like a great move of choice as often I found myself slipping Tsareena onto the field to catch opponents off guard and then use helping hand to boost either Miraidon or Sneasler’s attacks.

252 SpA Tornadus Bleakwind Storm vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Tsareena: 128-152 (83.6 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Kyogre Ice Beam vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Tsareena: 128-152 (83.6 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Mystic Water Tera-Water Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 48 HP / 0 Def Tsareena in Rain on a critical hit: 123-147 (80.3 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar Tera Starstorm vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Tsareena: 103-122 (67.3 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar Tera Starstorm vs. 76 HP / 36 SpD Tsareena: 132-156 (84 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

252+ Atk Tsareena Power Whip vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tera-Water Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 216-254 (122.7 - 144.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tera-Grass Kyogre: 156-186 (75.3 - 89.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tsareena Power Whip vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kyogre: 230-272 (131.4 - 155.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Tera-Ice Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 236 HP / 156+ Def Amoonguss: 216-258 (98.6 - 117.8%) -- 95.6% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Tera-Ice Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 188 HP / 132 Def Raging Bolt: 200-242 (89.2 - 108%) -- 32.1% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Tsareena Power Whip vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 216-254 (122.7 - 144.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

-1 252+ Atk Tsareena Power Whip vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 144-170 (81.8 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Whimsicott: 166-198 (122 - 145.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 188 HP / 132 Def Raging Bolt: 134-162 (59.8 - 72.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Tera-Ice Tsareena Triple Axel (3 hits) vs. 188 HP / 132 Def Raging Bolt: 200-242 (89.2 - 108%) -- 32.1% chance to OHKO

 THE WORM!!! (Orthworm) @ Leftovers  

Ability: Earth Eater  

Level: 50  

Tera Type: Ghost  

EVs: 188 HP / 4 Atk / 52 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe  

Careful Nature  

- Body Press  

- Iron Defense  

- Heavy Slam  

- Protect

Orthworm again, works really well in tandem with Miraidon as well. Miraidon covers for its fire weakness and Orthworm covers for the former’s dragon, fairy and ground weakness. Miraidon setting up the electric terrain provides Orthworm with spore immunity meaning that it has a clear upper hand in most if not all Calyrex Matchups. Tera ghost feels like the ideal one for this mon given the Chien pao and Zamazenta matchups. Especially for Zamazenta matchups the game plan often becomes deleting the big special attackers and then taking out mons one by one with my Orthworm. With tera ghost and especially an Iron defense or two set up, Zamazenta is completely blocked off from landing any sort of damage.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar Hyper Beam vs. 188 HP / 252+ SpD Orthworm: 145-171 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Normal Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 188 HP / 252+ SpD Orthworm: 120-142 (71 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Normal Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 188 HP / 252+ SpD Orthworm: 120-142 (71 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 52 Def Orthworm Body Press vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Incineroar: 184-218 (92 - 109%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO


Doggie <3 (Entei) @ Assault Vest  

Ability: Inner Focus  

Level: 50  

Tera Type: Ground  

EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SpD / 164 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

- Sacred Fire  

- Stomping Tantrum  

- Bulldoze  

- Extreme Speed

The idea of Entei and completing a fire/water/grass core was still lingering in my head and knowing that the trick room dimension was not really turning out well in the previous versions of the team. I could explore it, given Entei does check Chien pao really well, actually better than a lot of Pokemon, Rillaboom and Incineroar both cower in fear looking at it and having high special defense means I can take Astral Barrages really well!. I immediately thought to give Entei the tera ground typing turning it into an instant raging bolt and Miraidon counter drawing from both the idea of a tera ground chi Yu and testing Golem previously and gave it a go; HURRAH! The idea works. In my head had that initial core of four and going ahead from testing Entei, I thought of the squad as a core of 5 that needed a final member to fill in.

252 SpA Calyrex-Shadow Rider Astral Barrage vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Entei: 76-91 (39.7 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

+2 252 SpA Calyrex-Shadow Rider Astral Barrage vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Entei: 154-183 (80.6 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Terapagos-Terastal Tera Starstorm vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Entei: 123-145 (64.3 - 75.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera-Stellar Terapagos-Stellar Tera Starstorm vs. 20 HP / 36 SpD Assault Vest Entei: 82-96 (42.4 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Pelipper Weather Ball (100 BP Water) vs. 20 HP / 68 SpD Assault Vest Entei in Rain: 176-210 (91.1 - 108.8%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider High Horsepower vs. 20 HP / 4 Def Entei: 160-190 (82.9 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Rider Glacial Lance vs. 20 HP / 4 Def Tera-Ground Entei: 228-270 (118.1 - 139.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Draco Meteor vs. 20 HP / 68 SpD Assault Vest Tera-Ground Entei: 193-228 (100 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

252 Atk Entei Sacred Fire vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Calyrex-Ice Rider: 114-134 (55 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Entei Sacred Fire vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 170-204 (82.1 - 98.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

252 Atk Entei Sacred Fire vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Whimsicott: 180-212 (132.3 - 155.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Tera-Ground Entei Stomping Tantrum vs. 236 HP / 20 Def Incineroar: 126-150 (63 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

252 Atk Tera-Ground Entei Stomping Tantrum vs. 188 HP / 132 Def Raging Bolt: 114-134 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Tera-Ground Entei Sacred Fire vs. 236 HP / 156+ Def Amoonguss: 156-186 (71.2 - 84.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

 

 

InTheGarden (Flamigo) @ Focus Sash  

Ability: Scrappy  

Level: 50  

Tera Type: Ghost  

EVs: 68 HP / 220 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 212 Spe  

Jolly Nature  

- Close Combat  

- Wide Guard  

- Feint  

- Tailwind

The final member I had settled on was the oddball that is Flamigo. Not a lot of people know that this scrawny looking Pokemon also gets wide guard. Given Entei had added another ground weakness, boarding another immunity would do me favors. I can also bring it to my Calyrex Shadow matchups and almost force the calyrex to go for a tera, given that scrappy allows it to hit ghost types. Flamigo also brought forth the tailwind aspect to the team giving a much needed buff to especially Tsareena’s speed stat. Again Flamigo doesn’t fit the team like a glove and other mons like Frosmoth or even Wingull could perform this function (saying Wingull as Pelliper’s rain would disadvantage in the Urshifu and Entei heavy matchups), Flamigo fits well for the occasion at hand and I am not complaining.

The EVs are put together to maximize its odds against Urshifu rapid strike’s variants. It out speeds 252 speed adamant urshifus and lives the 252+ adamant surging strikes from one as well. It felt more convenient to EV it this way as close combat is not going to be a guaranteed OHKO on either incineroar or Ursaluna even with 252+ EVs.

252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Flamigo on a critical hit: 138-165 (83.1 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

220 Atk Flamigo Close Combat vs. 228 HP / 188+ Def Incineroar: 152-180 (76.3 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

220 Atk Flamigo Close Combat vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 158-188 (72.1 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Overall I would say I am pretty happy with how this venture turned out. I made an alt o pokemon showdown to lay the team with and broke barely into the 1700s on the best of one ladder, most of these battles were closed team sheet, however alongside with the different versions of this team I was able to rack up 3 room tour wins where the stipulations are of forced open team sheets.

Of course this doesn’t really mean much as many of the close team sheet battles were won on the surprise element from my team’s anti meta nature and there is no proper method to ensure the quality of opponents in the battles that were forced open team sheets, but still making it on the top 260s of Pokémon showdown made me feel quite good about the team.

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