UU Tournament Spotlight: Scizor

By Shiba.
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Art by HotFuzzBall

Art by HotFuzzBall.

Scizor's History

With the introduction of the Johto region also came the evolution of Scyther, a fan favorite, by the name of Scizor. For the most part, Scizor has stayed on top of almost every Smogon OverUsed metagame due to its ability to be a two-way Pokémon, meaning that it can be an exceptional offensive AND defensive threat. For the most part in the GSC and ADV metagames, Scizor was a BL Pokémon usually used as a rather mediocre Swords Dance sweeper or Baton Passer due to its lacking movepool in those generations. Though the competitive impact of this powerful Bug / Steel Pokémon started out low, its place in the OU metagame completely changed in the latter part of DPP (Platinum and HGSS), where it gained access to exceptional moves such as priority Bullet Punch, Superpower, Bug Bite, U-turn, and Roost, giving it reliable recovery, and its most beneficial ability: Technician. This turned Scizor into a devastating Pokémon to account for with its already great natural power and bulk. Throughout the rest of DPP and then later on in BW and ORAS, regular Scizor's role within the OverUsed metagame stayed mostly the same. But with the introduction of SM, power creep finally got to the regular form of Scizor and it dropped to UnderUsed, where it has essentially become the face of the tier.

With the drop to UU, Scizor has found its home for the 7th generation. For the most part, it has performed the same role it has in OU for the past 3 generations as one of the best offensive and defensive sweepers in the tier. Its individual sets, however, have been popular at different times. When Scizor first dropped during UU beta and throughout UUPL, its most prominent set was the bulky one. Though as time progressed near Snake Draft and Majors, offensive Scizor started to gain steam and became the new thing to expect. Even though its Mega Evolution, with increased bulk and Speed, isn't in the tier, Scizor still finds a way to check some of the tier's most prominent threats while also being one as well.

What Keeps Scizor at the Top of the UU Metagame?

Just off of Scizor's stats alone, with overall bulk of 70 / 100 / 80 and an Attack stat of 130, one can pretty easily see that Scizor is already a good Pokémon. But then, put those stats with its fantastic typing in Bug / Steel, its deep movepool with priority and momentum, and the ability Technician, and Scizor's prowess in UU skyrockets. With 3 main and very different sets, Scizor can fit on almost every type of team: offense, bulky offense, balance, stall; you name it. Fitting on a team is just one thing, but being able to perform the role with ease like Scizor does is another; and that's what keeps this powerful bug on the top of the UU world.

Scizor in Tournaments

Offensive Swords Dance

Scizor

Scizor's offensive Swords Dance set is mostly used on offensive teams due to its extremely effective cleaning ability through strong priority and fantastic natural power when invested in Attack. In this very quick replay of a Snake Draft game between McMeghan and Tesung, McMeghan's Scizor is able to clean up Tesung's team effectively without even boosting because Tesung sacks Moltres, one of his only Scizor checks, earlier in the game to McMeghan's Latias. In this UU Open replay between Sacri and Level 56, Scizor proves to be effective against Level 56's rather Scizor-weak team by setting up in the face of Altaria and cleaning up the remaining 5 members with the help of an Occa Berry Amoonguss and Nihilego crippling Level 56's Empoleon earlier in the game.

Bulky Swords Dance/Defog

Scizor

Scizor's bulky set is mostly used on more defensive archetypes such as balance and stall. It has the fantastic ability to consistently check top threats such as Latias, Altaria, Aerodactyl, and more while also remaining a threat by potentially becoming a sweeper or hazard cleaner if it's running Defog. Regarding usage in tournaments, you can find this type of set in a large portion of high-level games. In this UUPL replay between TSR and Lord Esche, TSR allows his only checks to Scizor in Tentacruel and Primarina die off early, allowing Lord Esche's Scizor to then boost up to +6 and sweep TSR's team from there. In this Snake Draft game between bugzinator and Lcans, Lcans is able to take out one of the stall team's only checks to Scizor in Quagsire early and then proceed to dominate the rest of the game (even while Scizor is burned) by stalling Alomomola out of Wish.

Choice Band

Scizor

Scizor's Choice Band is set is mostly used on bulky offense and hyper offense as a high-powered wallbreaker and cleaner. With a Choice Band, Scizor is able to consistently put dents in bulkier teams with the use of its STAB moves and very good coverage in Superpower and Knock Off. With very few drawbacks to this set as a wallbreaker, Scizor becomes a very low risk-high reward Pokémon in high-level games. In this this Snake Draft game between HT and Lcans, Lcans is able to eliminate two out of HT's three Scizor checks in Magneton and Mantine and then uses Scizor to preserve momentum later in the game by U-turning on Hippowdon for Starmie to get rid of Scizor's last check. Scizor is then used to clean up by picking off the weakened Jirachi and Hydreigon. In this this UU Championship replay between Sacri and Christo, Sacri's Choice Band Scizor, with the help of Mega Altaria to eliminate Christo's only check in Gliscor, proves to be too much. Scizor is able to clean up near the end by eliminating Latias, Alolan Muk, and Serperior.

Get Out There!

Try some of these Scizor sets yourself, and hopefully we'll see you participate in some of these tournaments as well!

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