Sun & Moon Overused through SPL - Part Two
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Art by Tikitik.
Introduction
The 8th edition of the Smogon Premier League is now over. After the midseason break, all the teams were prepared to fight five weeks in a row to get a chance to access to the coveted playoffs, and we have seen many high-quality matches. This article is the sequel to the previous one and will showcase the matches and teams that contributed to the basis of the new Sun & Moon OverUsed metagame. But let's move on the main subject: what did we see during those intense weeks of fight that led to the victory of the Circus Maximus Tigers?
Week 5
The match between njnp and KratosMana was one of the most entertaining games to watch during Week 5. The matchup looked even, as njnp brought rain, a rarely used archetype since the beginning of the tournament despite a new rain inducer in Pelipper, and KratosMana brought a bulkier team, with a solid defensive backbone in Toxapex and Rocky Helmet Tangrowth, as well as a sand inducer in Tyranitar and the famous stallbreaker Mew. The lead matchup seemed to be in KratosMana's favor, but unfortunately his Mew missed Will-O-Wisp, and Landorus-T was able to use a slow U-turn in order to bring Pelipper and set up rain. Another U-turn sent Tapu Lele in on the incoming Toxapex, which allowed njnp's Tapu Lele to use Focus Blast and almost OHKO one of KratosMana's few Tapu Lele switch-ins, Heatran. njnp doubled twice to set up a Quiver Dance with his Pheromosa and cripple the Toxapex with an impressive All-Out Pummeling, despite its resistance. KratosMana had to play around the Bug-type Pokémon, forcing it to switch out after sacrificing his Heatran. After winning a duel between Pelipper and Toxapex and crippling njnp's Landorus-T with a Scald, KratosMana was forced to Defog away the Toxic Spikes he set against njnp in order to remove the Stealth Rock on his side of the field. A few turns later, njnp's Pelipper was able to provide another slow U-turn on the opposing Mew, sending his Tapu Lele. KratosMana switched to Tangrowth but took a huge amount of damage from Moonblast and had to let his Toxapex get KOed in order to bring Mew back. But Tapu Lele revealed its last move and Taunted Mew, forcing KratosMana to sac his Tyranitar in order to revenge kill the Psychic Tapu. At that point, kratosmana's team was too weakened to endure a spam of Water type moves under the rain, and when njnp was able to send his Pelipper in one last time and click U-turn, Kingdra ended this fight.
While it may still be the omnipresent bulky offense playstyle that has been dominating the tier since the beginning of the tournament, the team PDC used against Cicada demonstrates some slight evolutions of the metagame. It showcased a strong offensive core in Mega Metagross, Gengar, and Pheromosa, paired with two utility Pokemon in Landorus-T and Ferrothorn, and also has a good revenge killer with Keldeo. Mega Metagross is using a set of Meteor Mash, Bullet Punch, Thunder Punch, and Earthquake, which can hit most of the metagame for at least neutral damage, and is supported by a Hidden Power Ice Landorus-T. Even with Cursed Body, Gengar is still one of the best ways to take advantage of the lack of Pokemon that resist Ghost in OverUsed and can 2HKO most of the Pokémon that are commonly used on offense. PDC is using Hidden Power Fire in order to get 100% accuracy super effective hits against Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, preventing them from annoying Pheromosa, Keldeo, or Mega Metagross. Keldeo is, as said before, a revenge killer of choice and benefits from the layers of Spikes and Stealth Rock that Ferrothorn can set up to slowly weaken the opposing team to turn into a very annoying late-game sweeper. If this strategy may looks like it is countered by Tapu Fini, which can Defog the hazards while having an easy time against Keldeo, PDC's Pheromosa is using the Poison Z-Move, Acid Downpour, to lure and eliminate it. The whole team is a succession of fast and powerful attackers with an excellent offensive synergy that enjoy Ferrothorn’s hazard support while having an excellent matchup against classic offensive teams.
Week 6
ABR vs Leftiez was pretty much a fratricidal match: both players are friends, used to build together, and perfectly know each other. That being said, both sides brought a classic offense based on Mega Metagross, but one with a rarely seen Zygarde-10% for Leftiez and a solid bulky offense with heavy hitters in Gengar and Keldeo and more defensive Pokémons such as Mega Scizor or Tangrowth for ABR. Leftiez straight lead with his Azumarill, which could be a potential threat, depending on its set, while the new OverUsed Council member went for Keldeo. ABR probably expected Leftiez to go right for the Water move in order to damage Mega Scizor, which was a reliable switch-in, and switched out to his Zygarde, but the Frenchman just went for the safe play and obliterated the Dragon-type Pokémon with a Play Rough, revealing Azumarill to be Band. Therefore, ABR was able to threaten a revenge kill on the killer rabbit with his Gengar, dealing 54% on Zygarde-10% instead with Sludge Wave. He then switched out to Tangrowth while Leftiez went for Metagross, which had nothing to fear from a Specs Gengar's Sludge Wave. Both players brought in their Landorus-T, setting Stealth Rock on both sides of the field and eventually dooming each other with a double Supersonic Strike, as ABR's Landorus-T would barely live with not enough health to survive another switch into Stealth Rock. Leftiez started pressuring his opponent with Azumarill and Greninja, playing around Keldeo and Mega Scizor to start setting up Spikes and get chip damage on the opposing team. Azumarill was able to KO ABR's Tangrowth on Turn 21 and was immediately KOed by Gengar one turn later. After a Landorus-T sacrifice and a Zygarde-10% elimination by Keldeo, the situation was as follows: ABR had a 42% Scarf Keldeo, a healthy Mega Scizor, and a 75% Specs Gengar with Stealth Rock and Spikes set up against him, meaning switching will cause each Pokemon to take a decent amount of damage when coming in, while Leftiez had a full-life Kartana out against Keldeo, and a 75% Mega Metagross as well as a half-alive Greninja. He started using Swords Dance with the Grass-type Ultra Beast, but Kartana did little damage to ABR's Mega Scizor and was KOed by Gengar, which safely came in with U-turn. However, this allowed Leftiez to threaten a revenge kill with Mega Metagross, but ABR was able to bring its Mega Scizor on a Bullet Punch and heal as Leftiez sent out Greninja. Leftiez then doubled on Mega Metagross to catch Gengar another time and clicked four Meteor Mash on Mega Scizor before getting the Attack boost. However, even with it, Earthquake was not able to 2HKO the Bug-type Pokémon, so Leftiez just clicked Meteor Mash another time to get another Attack boost (★choco boni♱a: yep). However, ABR answered by revealing Defog on its Mega Scizor to remove the Spikes and Stealth Rock and letting it die in order to be able to clean up with Keldeo and win this suspenseful game.
The team Sweepage used for the sixth week against OverUsed Tiering Leader blunder is very similar to a squad craing used previously but showcased the same archetype that revolves around Dugtrio. The team's skeleton includes Mega Charizard Y, a powerful wallbreaker that has few switch-ins in the common bulky offense teams that dominate the tournament; Dugtrio, the controversial trapper; and Tapu Lele. The idea behind this core is quite simple to guess: Dugtrio is able to trap and KO Pokemon such as Heatran and Tyranitar, which leaves Charizard free to run another move on the Focus Blast slot, while Tapu Fini is a good defensive user of Defog that keeps the Stealth Rock away for Charizard and provides its defensive utility to the team. Bronzong is, on the fourth slot, another utility Pokémon able to check many threats in the metagame, including but not limited to Mega Metagross and Landorus-T. As an additional support Pokemon, Amoonguss is still totally viable as a Spore user and a good switch-in to Ash-Greninja, Pheromosa, Keldeo, and Mimikyu. Finally, Pheromosa improves the team's matchup against offense and can gain momentum with U-turn for Charizard as well as act as a good late-game sweeper.
Week 7
reyscarface, who has been at the edge of teambuilding innovation since the beginning of the tournament, is paired with the German top player Get This Money, promising an interesting match. Both players used bulky offense, with a defensive Mega Evolution in Mega Sableye for reyscarface and in Mega Venusaur for GTM, paired with a defensive Celesteela. Both also have Stealth Rock users in Landorus-T and Ferrothorn and Water Pokémon to complement their Grass-types in Keldeo and Ash-Greninja. reyscarface brought a Tapu Lele as a stallbreaker while GTM's Psychic-type appeared to be Latios, which is commonly used as a Z-Move or Choice Scarf user, and finally both players also have some wallbreakers in Choice Band Zygarde and Alolan Marowak. reyscarface sent Tapu Lele as his lead while GTM went for Greninja. Both players switched out into their Celesteela in order to check a Scarf Tapu Lele and a Protean Gunk Shot Greninja, and reyscarface was able to Leech Seed the incoming Alolan Marowak; however, his Zygarde took a huge 60% on Shadow Bone, meaning that Marowak-A would quicky overwhelm it. GTM went for a hard switch to Latios, taking 87% on Thousand Arrows and confirming the Zygarde was holding a Choice Band. reyscarface then predicted the Trick and went into Tapu Lele, freely clicking his Z-Move to hit GTM's Celesteela with a Guardian of Alola, weakening it, though it was able to recover some life on reyscarface's Mega Sableye. A few turns later GTM's Mega Venusaur appeared to be problematic for reyscarface's team, since Zygarde failed to 2HKO it while Mega Sableye got poisoned by a Sludge Bomb. On Turn 20, reyscarface was able to KO Latios with his Tapu Lele, leaving his Guardian at low health, but was forced to sack his Keldeo a few turns later to Alolan Marowak. Zygarde came to revenge kill the Fire-type Pokémon instead but removed Landorus-T instead. At that point, they also traded Alolan Marowak and Ferrothorn, but as the game seemed to finish in a Celesteela mirror, reyscarface revealed Calm Mind on his Sableye, and despite the poison, started to set up on Mega Venusaur. He was eventually able to KO Celesteela and to cripple Mega Venusaur with Shadow Ball and Will-O-Wisp, which allowed reyscarface to finish up with Zygarde by hitting Venusaur with a Thousand Arrows and Greninja with a clean Extreme Speed.
We have rarely seen pure hyper offense since the start of the tournament, but njnp was able to build a good and powerful team that Poek used successfully against blunder during the Week 7. The squad is using the rarely-seen Smeargle as a lead, which was completely outclassed by Azelf during ORAS but has a unique asset in Sticky Web (and Spore). Having Sticky Web on the field is very annoying in a tier in which speed is crucial, and the rest of the team is built to take advantage of it as much as possible. The rest of the team basically consists of physical setup sweepers and a Flyinium Z Celesteela, which put an enormous pressure on the opposing squad. A +2 Mega Pinsir is terrifying to deal with if the Sticky Web is up, since you basically won't have anything to outspeed it (bar a non Mega-Evolved Metagross) and it can damage physical walls such as Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Skarmory for its teammates or just win on its own, especially if the opponent does not have a form of hazard control. Bisharp has a very low usage in Sun & Moon, but it enjoys Mega Pinsir's ability to remove common checks, as does Mimikyu. The fourth setup sweeper is not a Swords Dancer this time, but a Double Dancer: this team is the first one to showcase the Sitrus Berry Zygarde with Coil, Dragon Dance, Thousand Arrows and ExtremeSpeed, a set that is annoying to deal with for both stall and offense. Finally, the last slot is taken by an Autotomize Celesteela with Giga Drain and Fire Blast coupled with Air Slash to shut down offensive teams. The whole team has an insane matchup against offensive teams but will quickly struggle against stall, since it has nothing to break through.
Week 8
Both ben gay and FlamingVictini are known for their teambuilding skills, but they are also high-level players who have succeeded in many tournaments. FlamingVictini's team is a classic offense based on the Rotom-W + Pheromosa VoltTurn, which can bring Mega Charizard Y or Tapu Lele in safely, two good wallbreakers (or stallbreakers for the latter, depending on its set) that can pressure the opposing team. Scarf Garchomp is a good Pokémon to use against offensive squads in general, while Ferrothorn can set up multiple hazards and provides a defensive backbone. ben gay's team will be featured below in the team of the week. Both players started to play around each other’s Pokémon, scouting sets, for the beginning of the game. Both had forms of hazard control in Mantine and Pheromosa; the Water-type Pokémon, whereas rarely seen after the original hype at the beginning of the generation, is one of the rare Mega Charizard Y switch-ins outside of stall, preventing FV from doing as much work with his Mega Evolution as he would have liked. At Turn 25, ben gay made a good prediction and was able to KO the opposing Scarf Garchomp with a Draco Meteor, but then he was forced to sack his own Garchomp to the opposing Tapu Lele in order to revenge kill it with his burned Magearna. After some failed 50-50s at the beginning of the game, ben gay's Amoonguss was also able to put the opposing Mega Charizard Y to sleep at Turn 30, allowing him to set up Stealth Rock again with Hippowdon and forcing FlamingVictini to sack his Pheromosa, weakened after a good Amoonguss prediction, in order to remove them. FlamingVictini revenge killed the Ground-type Pokémon with Tapu Lele but clicked Hidden Power Fire, expecting a Magearna instead of craing to stay in with Hippowdon, but still KOing it after the damage from Garchomp. At that point, Flaming Victini could not break the Amoonguss + Mantine core, and the game pretty much ended after Ferrothorn's death.
This team of the week is a bit more original (as expected from ben gay) and featured a sand core backed by a very solid defensive core. Mega Garchomp is an annoying Pokémon to switch into for every single archetype, and Hippowdon is a better teammate than Tyranitar in this metagame, playing the role of a sand setter able to check strong physical sweepers such as Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile, punishing them with its Rocky Helmet, and also has access to the mandatory Stealth Rock. Magearna is a good defensive pivot and runs Leftovers and Pain Split to increase its longevity, which is always good when facing other bulky teams. It forms a VoltTurn core with Tornadus-T, which is quite hard to break for special attackers and can also pivot in Garchomp as well. Amoonguss forms another Regenerator duo with Tornadus-T, being able to check Ash-Greninja, Pheromosa, and many other threats while also having access to a free Spore. Last but not least, though Mantine is not used often, it still performs very well as a Defogger and a check to Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, Mega Scizor and many others, and despite it being quite passive, Haze prevents any setup sweeper to use it to its advantage.
Week 9
Week 9 was the last step before the playoffs, and every single player was determined to do their best to allowed their team to have a chance to get the trophy. Smogon Tour finalist Posho fought the already-known Frenchman Leftiez in a fun and anticipated game. Both players brought bulky offense teams based on Mega Mawile this time. Posho had a solid defensive backbone in Toxapex, Celesteela, Tangrowth and Landorus-T. His team was supported by a Scarf Garchomp to give to the team some speed control, while Leftiez had a more offensively inclined team, with Pheromosa, Greninja, Thundurus (which has been rarely seen since the beginning of the generation, being outclassed by Tapu Koko), and Garchomp to support his Mega Mawile, as well as a utility Pokémon in Amoonguss. Posho won the lead matchup by sending his Toxapex against Leftiez's Pheromosa, which quickly U-turned out to Garchomp, letting Toxapex use Toxic Spikes in order to set up his Stealth Rock as Landorus-T came in. The dog set up its own Stealth Rock while Leftiez sent in his Thundurus. Posho went for Toxapex in order to absorb the Hidden Power Ice, but then Leftiez was able to get some damage on Tangrowth with the same attack when Posho sent it out in order to tank the predicted Electric-type move. However, the Thundurus still had a trick up its sleeve and used Supersonic Skystrike, KOing Tangrowth, which thought it was safe. Posho was able to revenge kill Thundurus with his Scarf Garchomp, but Leftiez just switched out into his Amoonguss in order to remove the annoying Toxic Spikes and to get a free Spore on Celesteela. Posho then switched out to Garchomp, perhaps predicting Leftiez to go to Thundurus again, but the Frenchman instead went to Pheromosa, which may have been running Choice Scarf, and got a free Rapid Spin. Leftiez was able to send in his Thundurus again by double switching at Turn 12 and started pressuring Posho with the pseudo-BoltBeam combo, KOing Landorus-T in the process. Unfortunately, Garchomp revenge killed it and got the Rock Slide flinch, forcing Thundurus to switch out to Mawile as Posho doubled out on his own Mawile. But Leftiez's Mawile won because Thundurus was slower than the Scarf Garchomp, allowing Leftiez's Mawile to avoid Posho's Mawile's Intimidate while delivering its own, winning the mirror matchup by taking 85% of the other Mawile's life with Iron Head. Then, Posho expected a Sucker Punch, so he switched to Garchomp on what turned out to be a Swords Dance. Both players started to play around each other's defensive Pokémon (Amoonguss for Posho and Toxapex for Leftiez) but the game did not really advance until Turn 34, in which Leftiez sacked his Pheromosa in order to get a chance to set up his Mawile at +4, which he did, basically forcing Posho to forfeit.
The team Poek used in Week 9 is another heavy offense team based on Mega Mawile, which succeeded in defeating p2 in 20 turns. It is based on the Mawile + Magnezone core, the latter removing annoying Steel-types such as Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn, leaving the newly reintroduced Mega free to use its extremely high sheer power to weaken the opposing team. The rest of the squad includes the classic Landorus-T as a Stealth Rock setter and as a pivot to bring its teammates into play safely. Ash-Greninja also enjoys Magnezone ability's to remove Ferrothorn and, with pivot switches provided by Landorus-T, can spam powerful STAB attacks. Note that Landorus-T is using Knock Off, preventing the likes of Tapu Fini from checking Greninja all the game and removing items such as Skarmory's Shed Shell, making it easier for the squad to break stall. Mimikyu is another setup sweeper that can cripple the opponent's physical tanks for Mega Mawile or can sweep on its own if Mawile already did its job. Its use of Never-Ending Nightmare was crucial in the match, since it allowed Poek to put the opposing Mega Charizard Y in KO range for everything, turning a huge threat into death fodder for p2. Finally, Choice Scarf Latios improves the team matchup against offense and gives a nice form of speed control as well as the ability to remove multiple hazards from the field if needed.
Semi-Finals
There are only two steps left for either of the four teams that qualified for the playoffs to win the tournament, and the competition became even harder for the semi-finals. At my right, Nedor, sometimes called the "mini-TDK", but a big player who always has new sets to use in official tournaments—and they often work. At my left, Eternal Spirit, winners bracket finalist of the last Official Ladder Tournament. Nedor's team is a DragMag team based on Magnezone, Mega Mawile, and two Dragons in Garchomp and Latios supported by Tangrowth and Alolan Marowak, while Eternal Spirit brought two Bug-type Pokémon, Pheromosa and Mega Scizor, which gives him the possibility to safely U-turn into the monster known as Kyurem-B. Landorus-T + Tapu Fini + Heatran lastly is a classic core of bulky offense, able to perform well for about most of the archetypes. Nedor went for Garchomp as his lead while Eternal Spirit sent out Pheromosa. Eternal Spirit immediately switched out to his Landorus-T in order to cover both a potential Scarf Garchomp and the Marowak switch-in, which allowed him to safely set up Stealth Rock by Turn 2. He then foddered Scizor to the Sleep Powder and sent out Kyurem-B while Nedor switched to Garchomp. Unfortunately for Eternal Spirit, it was Nedor's brand new Garchomp set (which Nedor himself describes in this post), and the legendary Dragon was KOed by a Devastating Drake. However, Nedor was forced to sack Magnezone on Pheromosa's revenge kill, which revealed itself to be specially offensive. At Turn 11, he brought in his Latios against Eternal Spirit’s Pheromosa and was able to Defog the Stealth Rock away from his field. The OLT finalist dealt some chip damage on the opposing Mawile with his Tapu Fini, though the Mega Evolution's Pure Power enabled it to KO his Landorus-T with the help of a crit. Tapu Fini was able to finish its job a few turns later by KOing Mawile with the Moonblast + Whirlpool combination, losing most of its life in the process. This allowed Nedor to start pressuring its opponent with his Garchomp, which KOed the sleeping Scizor and set Stealth Rock up again; at that point, Tapu Fini was at 20%, so Marowak was an enormous threat for Eternal Spirit's team, KOing Heatran and Tapu Fini, letting the Scarf Latios finish the game.
The team p2 used in semi-finals against reyscarface is a revamp of the squad used by ABR the previous week against KratosMana and features a bulkier kind of Magnezone team, designed to have a decent match-up against all kinds of teams. Mega Pinsir + Magnezone is an old yet still excellent core that can exert huge pressure on bulky teams but also on classic offense thanks to Pinsir's Speed tier and Magnezone's sheer power and defensive abilities that allow it to check the likes of Tapu Lele, Greninja, and Mega Mawile if it is at full. While ABR uses Bronzong and Toxapex, p2 went for Ferrothorn and Slowbro instead, giving him another kind of solid defensive backbone that can handle and help playing around many offensive threats (and even lure and remove potentially annoying Pokémon such as Pheromosa with Chople Berry Ferrothorn). Choice Scarf Latios is a good form of speed control in general and is even better when paired with Magnezone. It has access to two good utility moves, Defog and Thunder Wave; the first is mandatory when you are running Mega Pinsir outside of bulky offenses, and the second one is perfect to make fast threats slower than Mega Pinsir or Mamoswine. Last but not least, Mamoswine is a rarely seen Pokémon since the Pokebank's release, but it can pressure opposing team with its strong STAB attacks, priority Ice Shard, and Knock Off, which allows it to remove Tapu Fini's Leftovers, putting it in Earthquake 2HKO range, or, more important in facing stall (which reyscarface used a lot in the early stages of the tournament), Skarmory's Shed Shell.
Finals
The #2 SM OU spot match was a typical offense match that you can find at this point of the SM metagame's development. Both Eternal Spirit and Tricking are solid players who were very close to getting the red trophy. They were using classic offense, with three frequently used Pokemon in Landorus-T, Mega Metagross, and Tapu Lele; Tricking had a Volcarona and a Tapu Lele as his special attackers while Eternal Spirit went for the Hoopa-U + Gengar duo with Pheromosa as a strong physical attacker to bring them in while Tricking had another strong wallbreaker in Choice Band Zygarde. The last two Pokémon—Pheromosa and Zygarde—were sent first, and Tricking stayed in with his Zygarde to cripple Pheromosa with a boosted Extreme Speed, putting it in everything's KO range (including a Metagross's Bullet Punch), while Eternal Spirit U-turned out and safely went for Landorus-T in order to set up his Stealth Rock on the incoming Tapu Fini. He then switched out to Gengar, which had no switch-ins on the opposing team, and forced Tricking to sack his Tapu Fini in order to remove Stealth Rock as well as damaging Gengar with Nature Madness. That allowed Tricking to revenge kill Gengar with Metagross, and threatening with a potential Bullet Punch, he went for Pursuit instead, KOing one of the biggest threats to its team. Eternal Spirit sent Landorus-T out, but despite its Yache Berry, which allowed it to tank an Ice Punch even if weakened, it was frozen and became useless. Eternal Spirit was forced to switch to his Mega Metagross, which killed the opposing one after a Pursuit duel but lost 84% of its life in the proccess. This allowed Tricking to start pressuring his opponent with his Scarf Tapu Lele, forcing Eternal Spirit to sack both Pheromosa and Landorus-T in order to revenge kill it with his Tapu Fini, which started boosting itself with Calm Mind; however, it was weakened by the Moonblast spam and was put in the range of Landorus-T's Earthquake, which let Choice Band Zygarde finish the game after starting it.
The stall used by Tamahome for the tiebreak is another form of defensive team, which is intended to not lose rather than directly win with entry hazards or the like. It is very similar to the team that was used by Tele during the sixth generation, with the Zapdos + Skarmory double Defog core, capable of removing the annoying hazards against most of the metagame. Zapdos gets special mention for actually having a good matchup against offense and being very annoying to deal with. Dugtrio is the trapper of choice, and it can be sent in through Alomomola's Eject Button on Magma Storm Heatran and the like while also being able to revenge kill powerful stallbreakers such as Hoopa-U and Tapu Lele. Alomomola can also Knock Off a potential Shed Shell, which is annoying for the classic stall. The Water Pokémon and Clefable form a good Wish passing duo, which can heal Zapdos or Skarmory if they are too pressured. Clefable is the mandatory Unaware user to take care of setup sweepers, and to remove status for the rest of the team. Last but not least, the (in)famous Chansey can take care of every conventional special attacker, such as Tapu Koko or Greninja, which would be otherwise problematic to play around.
SPL Spotlight: Pheromosa
Pheromosa was one of the most anticipated Pokémon of the generation since its stats were discovered a short time before the game's release. Until its ban, it had the best Speed in OverUsed without an item, as well as better-than-average 137/137 offenses, which allowed it to be a versatile sweeper. Whereas its Bug / Fighting typing was good but not excellent, its movepool was just amazing: it had access to perfect STAB options both physically and specially, with Focus Blast, High Jump Kick, Bug Buzz, and U-turn, as well as good coverage moves such as Ice Beam, which hit Landorus-T and Garchomp; Rapid Spin; Poison Jab to hit Fairies; and Hyper Beam, which could be fully exploited thanks to Z-Moves; and finally a perfect way to boost its stats with Quiver Dance. Its Beast Boost ability was another way to make its offensive stats even more terrifying. Though its defenses made it very frail, its numerous advantages lead it to be suspected and banned from OverUsed. Pheromosa was also very affected by Smogon Premier League, with players experimenting with new sets, such as the Quiver Dance one, and influenced the tournament itself. For example, Toxapex, one of its rare reliable switch-ins, gained in usage on offensive teams, which really struggled to handle the Ultra Beast.
Pheromosa @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
If I picked Pheromosa's Quiver Dance set instead of the others, it is first because it is so terrifying that other Pheromosa can bluff it and get KOs with it, and also because it gained a lot in popularity during SPL and can sweep offense teams with an impressive ease. After a Quiver Dance, Pheromosa will be able to outspeed everything that does not have priority, Choice Scarf users included, and to dismantle offense with boosted STAB attacks. The Special Defense boost is still useful, as it can endure some attacks such as Ash-Greninja's Water Shuriken, a common form of priority in OverUsed. The combination of Bug Buzz and Focus Blast is quite hard to handle at normal Speed, but at +1 with the possibility of a Z-Move, it is a real pain to find one thing that can switch in or even revenge kill it on offense without being cleanly OHKOed. That's why Toxapex gained in usage a lot on this kind of teams, even though it takes huge damage from the Fighting Z-Move. Pheromosa can also run Hyper Beam and a Normalium Z set to pass the annoying Pokémon; and each time it gets a KO, it becomes even stronger thanks to Beast Boost. Finally, Ice Beam is the classic coverage move used even on the physical sets, but this time it can also catch the likes of Scarf Garchomp, which would otherwise revenge kill Pheromosa, thanks to Quiver Dance's boost.
Conclusion
Smogon Premier League 8 ended in a victory of the Circus Maximus Tigers after an impressive run. It largely helped put the basis of the new Sun & Moon OverUsed tier and allowed the website's top players to show their skills and fight at the highest level. Anyway, the Official Smogon Tournament continues in SM OU, while the Smogon Classic is getting underway for old generations, so there are still plenty of things to do in the Tournaments section. See you later!
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