Hello Smogon! After a long time of not playing any LC, I've recently come back to play it again. Actually it's nice to take some breaks away from playing the game, as you can come back with fresh plays and ideas. Since the last RMT I've done with DarkAleX, many things happened into the tier, most notably the Home and DLC releases, that freed a number of good mons such as Mienfoo, Abra, Staryu, while other mons rose from the shadows (as I hope to do someday) such as Grookey.
So let me ask you a question: are you tired of U-turning first in your Mienfoo wars, possibly getting your Fightcheck knocked off by turn 2, which can be decisive on a game as they are notably more frail (and prone to trapping) with no Eviolite? Do you want to immediatly get the upper hand given by God Momentum on combat on the lead turn? Well, that team is (hopefully) for you! With no further ado, let me present you, ladies and gentlemen...
(or Toxic Spikes FlySpam + Really Slow Mienfoo)
(thanks to Moisiks for the art, you can follow him on his Twitter here (I promised it to him))
(Click into the box to open it and get the export!)
And yeah, I RMT'd this instead of that Webs that just carries me through so bad and has a better win rate, and to add more, just before DLC2. I have no sense of priorities, what'cha gon' do?
All in all, I wanted to share the concept of min speed Mienfoo as it is a bit slept on, to my mind. It has the potential to really support offensive staples (I'm considering a min speed Mienfoo + Abra team) and get them in really easily, which can prove painful for an opponent. I know however that the team I just presented could be far from perfect, so advice is more than welcome.
Thanks for reading this. I hope to see you there in Crown Tundra!
I wasn't particularly inspired for a song, sorry for that. You can play whatever you want in the back, while reading this.
So let me ask you a question: are you tired of U-turning first in your Mienfoo wars, possibly getting your Fightcheck knocked off by turn 2, which can be decisive on a game as they are notably more frail (and prone to trapping) with no Eviolite? Do you want to immediatly get the upper hand given by God Momentum on combat on the lead turn? Well, that team is (hopefully) for you! With no further ado, let me present you, ladies and gentlemen...
(or Toxic Spikes FlySpam + Really Slow Mienfoo)
(thanks to Moisiks for the art, you can follow him on his Twitter here (I promised it to him))
(Click into the box to open it and get the export!)
And yeah, I RMT'd this instead of that Webs that just carries me through so bad and has a better win rate, and to add more, just before DLC2. I have no sense of priorities, what'cha gon' do?
Teambuilding Process
The idea of this team is pretty straightforward. I wanted to make a team that focuses on pressuring the opponent by turn 2 instead of getting pressured. While experimenting for a very little teamtour that got me back into the game after a serveral months-long absence, I got a funny idea: 9 speed Mienfoo. The idea was to underspeed every other fighter on turn 1 (even uninvested Timburr) and essentially giving me a free in on Wingull to begin pressuring the opponent, or to underspeed Mareanie to then U-turn into Diglett and trap it for Wingull.
I then decided to add my Fightcheck. I chose to test Mareanie as it was said to be really good at the moment. Plus, it could provide some more pressure to help Wingull break with Knock Off or Toxic Spikes. I opted for the latter as it helps Wingull to break through Spritzee easier. Ferroseed was an immediate pick afterwards : the Mareanie - Ferroseed core is pretty solid, with Mareanie soaking up the fighters' and Ponyta's hits, and Ferroseed sponging Foongus', Abra's, Onix's and Mareanie's moves while kind of soft checking Flying-types in tandem, by working together. Also, Ferroseed could provide Speed Control in the form of Thunder Wave, Knock Off support, as well as the ever-so-needed Stealth Rocks. This core also makes the team nigh-unbreakable for Shellder, between Mareanie, Ferroseed, and Bulky Mienfoo (that underspeeds Shellder with this spread and can hit it with a strong High Jump Kick while it tries to Shell Smash).
You knew it was coming next. Vullaby is still one of Little Cup's ultimate staples : a mixture of offense and bulk able to spread Knock Off and to Defog to its heart's content while packing a strong punch with Brave Bird and an option to keep the momentum with U-turn was what I needed as Wingull hates Rocks and Mienfoo hates Toxic Spikes. Plus, it turned the team into a sort of Flying Spam, and I was happy with how it turned out to look. It served the role of overall glue, sponging Psychic-type hits notably while forcing out a number of Pokémon, and was another Speed Control option thanks to Weak Armor.
I then shuffled the team a bit, as I usually tend to do (it only ended up in shifting Vullaby's and Wingull's place, somehow, a sign that I'm not really good at shuffling I guess). However, it soon became apparent I still had some serious problems with checking birds as my softchecks combination wasn't sturdy enough to take on the threats they wanted to check AND a speed-boosted Vullaby. I tried Iron Defense on Mareanie to try to mitigate this, but aside from very specific scenarios, it was much more useless than Knock Off or Toxic Spikes for me.
That is why I decided to change the most useless member of the team, who was paradoxically Diglett, for a much more dedicated Flying check! I had the choice between Onix and Pawniard, and while I understand some people would've picked the former, I went wth the latter, as it provided me extra insurance against Vullaby, Wingull, Abra, Ponyta-Galar, Shellder, the newly-surfacing Grookey (if it hasn't got Drain Punch) as well as strong Sucker Punch priority and Knock Offs, while Onix really only provided more Speed Control and extra insurance against Ponyta, since Volt Switch is almost non-existent at the moment. I also chose it for Defiant as my opponent can't simply Defog to remove my Hazards! Pawniard also was chosen as a mean to weaken the opponent's team or clean it with strong Swords Dance-boosted attacks. Oh, and it doesn't mind Toxic Spikes, unlike Onix, which means I basically made a team with 5 mons that aren't bothered by Toxic Spikes, which is a good thing, considering how strong they are right now. Speaking of Toxic Spikes, this is also when I finally made my choice between Toxic Spikes and Knock Off on Mareanie, and the former was picked to help Wingull breaking through its bulkier checks, notably Spritzee and Porygon.
The team now had a speed problem, with only Wingull really being over 17 speed. I decided to mitigate this with by changing Vullaby's set to a fast Scarfed Vullaby that helps revenge killing annoying mons such as +1 Speed Scraggy and punishing Diglett, notably, and it can provide more momentum than Ferroseed on Foongus thanks to Overcoat, as well as another strong cleaner with its Brave Birds. Also, it can somewhat form a nice Dark-spam core with Pawniard as they both have strong STABbed Knock Offs. It can also act as a Woobat revenge killer, seeing as how this thing gained usage as Grookey's partner in crime.
Then, Magnemite happened. The thing just fucked the team over and I had very minimal counterplay against it, which only really consisted of surprising it with a Scarfed Vullaby, setting Substitutes with Wingull to hopefully burn Berry Juice variants, or using Pawniard's Sucker Punches. Thus, I felt I still needed to have that Ground-type that could help against Magnemite. I quickly settled for a Pokémon I had never tried: Mudbray. With Ferroseed, it can soft-check Flying-types (with Mareanie too as a last resort), Fire Punch Abra, while alone it can quickly wreck havoc on slower teams. With Mareanie and Wingull it can help check Vulpix and Ponyta (all the more as since I'm bad and scared to double, I often let Mareanie get trapped). It also makes the team respect the idea of slow-pivoting into a threatening Ground-type again, and Mudbray can take advantage of this to ensure Rocks on the opposing field, freeing up a slot for Ferroseed, in which I settled for Spikes. I then shuffled the team again, but when I am writing this, I have already done most of the RMT and am only revising some things, so I am too lazy to reorder all things again.
In-Depth Analysis.
The King of LC (and Vullaby is the Queen) is a pretty straightforward Pokémon. High Jump Kick is a strong Fighting-type STAB that can almost beyond repair chip Pokémon that don't resist it, as well as beat the Onix lead play ladder people tend to do. Not running a dedicated Flying-check makes High Jump Kick mandatory to revenge kill a Weak Armor-boosted Vullaby that has gone out of hand if I don't have anything else anymore, and thus, options like Drain Punch can't be considered. Knock Off is like bread and butter on this Pokémon. Knock Off can cripple opposing Pokémon, which proves to be perfect to bolster Mudbray's, Wingull's and Vullaby's offensive capabilities. Fake Out provides a nice priority that can help weaken Weak Armor Vullabies by dropping their Defense down a stage or scout non-Eviolite Mienfoo sets if you get paired up against a Banded or Scarved Mienfoo. This Mienfoo tanks a Vullaby Brave Bird from almost full, and a High Jump Kick from banded Mienfoo amongst other things, which can prove handful to revenge kill these in a pinch if no other choice is available. U-turn was intentionally skipped until now, since it's part of the highlight of the set. With the 0- Speed EV Spread, this Mienfoo practically underspeeds every mon that is a little bit offensive, topping at a low 9 on Speed. It can notably underspeed Mareanie and the Fighters to eat their Knock Offs and prevent anything else from being crippled, Shellder to critically chip it after it Shell Smashes. U-turn works wonders with this spread, as this min speed Mienfoo can regain momentum easily! I haven't tested much options on the set, but I'd say Fake Out is easily replaceable as a min Speed Mienfoo, since it's practically almost never going first. Acrobatics, Poison Jab, Feint (a less strong but more reliable priority that can revenge Abra through Protect, though it is not needed as the team is more than solid against it) or even Protect seem like funny options, but Fake Out's priority is still good enough not to pass it up. The only bad thing with running 9 instead of 10 speed is that you tie with Spritzee, but I don't feel like tying with Timburr because Mudbray or Mareanie would end up being weakened for little reason, and Spritzee is bad at the moment anyway. 10 speed can still be considered though.
Mudbray is the team's primary answer to Magnemite (in conjuction with Ferroseed to try and scout how the opponent tends to play with his Magnemite on the early-game) and a soft-Vullaby- and fire-check. It likes to set Rocks up early unless it has to weaken something. People tend to send their Vullaby in to prevent Mudbray from keeping the Rocks (and Ferroseed's Spikes) up on the field and to try to weaken it. It is good for the team as Wingull likes a weakened Vullaby that can't switch in. The other moves are straightforward: High Horsepower is used instead of Earthquake to still pack a punch on Grookey's Grassy Terrain. It still hits quite hard Pokémon up to the bulky Mienfoo and Foongus for a clean 2HKO. Rock Slide notably hits Vullaby and prevents Wingull from subbing on you if you feel ballsy. I click Heavy Slam whenever I don't really know if the opponent is staying in with a Rock Slide resist or switching into Vullaby, predicting another Horsepower. It generally hits hard too, due to Mudbray's astonishing Attack and its weight. Of course, Stamina is the Ability of Choice that actually helps Mudbray be a soft-check against a number of physical threats. This Ability makes it "partially Knock Off immune", as the gain in Defense matches the one of the Eviolite.
Vullaby is the team's only real surprise option, as from preview a Berry Juice set can be assumed most of the time. Scarved Vullaby outspeeds the whole unboosted tier, and sits at a respectable speed for a Scarfer as a 16 Speed Scarfer. This speed tier allows it to notably outspeed Scraggy and Corphish after a Dragon Dance, and Scarfers not named Mienfoo or Vulpix. Brave Bird is a strong Flying STAB whose presence is immediatly threatening to most Pokémon, but it should be clicked moderately, as this Vullaby is not packing a Berry Juice and can thus be prone to being worn down throughout the game. Knock Off does Knock Off things, being crippling opposing mons by making them less resilient for teammates and being a strong STAB option or mindless click most of the time. Unlike Mienfoo's U-turn, which takes advantage of it being slow, Vullaby's U-turn takes advantage of forcing switches and being very fast. It can thus maintain offensive pressure and offer switches to whatever is needed in the terrain. Rock Smash was chosen over Heat Wave not to miss out on important Brave Bird rolls to clean late game, and hits Pawniard pretty hard without risking a miss that would reveal the entire strategy for naught. Overcoat eases both prediction and momentum regain, as the Vullaby can switch into Foongus doubling into Mienfoo pretty comfortably against better players who don't want to give Ferroseed opportunities to setup Stealth Rocks. Overcoat also makes Vullaby non-susceptible to Weak Armor Defense drops, which makes it quite bulky and harder to take out or revenge kill, while still retaining a respectable Speed thanks to the Choice Scarf.
Mareanie is a really straightforward Pokémon as well. Scald is the Water STAB that can threaten to insanely cripple Pokémon with a Burn, halving their Attack. This can apply to Pokémon like Pawniard, Vullaby, fighters, Diglett, and Burn provides good chip to other mons if it is landed. Sludge Bomb is the Poison-type STAB that is a bit stronger, and can threaten to Poison opposing Pokémon, greatly limiting their Staying Power, especially when you have Wingull in the back. It can alternatively be used not to give Foongus a free switchin. Recover lets Mareanie be able to sustain itself and repeatedly check Pokémon, especially when coupled with Regenerator, that increases the amount of health regained when you switch Mareanie out. Toxic Spikes are pretty important for the team, as they can let Wingull break through Spritzee, something it can't usually do by itself, or Mudbray wreck havoc, eases Vullaby's cleaning a lot, and can force plays from your opponent if they don't want anything to be Poisoned. Knock Off can also be chosen over Toxic Spikes, but it's less efficient in this team. Mareanie also checks Ponyta, in tandem with Mudbray and Wingull, which is immune to High Horsepower. It also deals with Shellder, and serves as one of the global checks with its resilience and regenerative capabilities.
It's the first time I am this successful when I use Ferroseed, may be a result of me playing Eviolite instead of the usual Berry Juice, haha. Ferroseed is a strong Pokémon in this meta, that can compress a lot of roles for the team. It is a Water, Foongus, and Abra in all at once, especially since Abra can't bypass it with Hidden Power Fire anymore, as it's a Gen7oomer thing, but the rare Fire Punch Abra is checked with Mudbray, and you still have to be wary of this potential move. It also soft checks birds with Mudbray and Mareanie, notably forcing Wingull into 50/50's. The Spikes are used in conjuction with Mudbray's Stealth Rocks and are also set whenever Ferroseed can come in freely on Pokémon such as Foongus. These help further rack damage up on bulky Pokémon Wingull or Vullaby need to break through. Knock Off is always too good to pass up, and Ferroseed coming in on Foongus basically has a free Knock Off, Stealth Rock, or Thunder Wave, which cripples faster mons by slowing them down to under Mudbray's Speed tier, and can sometimes make the opposing mon spend a turn doing nothing because of Paralysis RNG. It is also my in to Staryu, as it can chip it with Iron Barbs on a Flip Turn or on a Rapid Spin while still having free Spikes the following turn.
Last but far from the least, one of the team's means of pressure. Berry Juice Wingull sits at a respectable 19 Speed tier, notably creeping 17 Speed LC Staples such as Mienfoo and Onix. Scald can spread Burns just like Mareanie, and it deals respectable damage when coming from Wingull. Hurricane is a powerful and spammable Flying STAB against most teams, dealing huge damage to Pokémon that don't resist it, and the mons that do usually don't outspeed it and get bopped / burned by Scald. Substitute allows me to play some nifty 50/50s against Pawniards, as well as essentially getting one free on Foongus' Spore or Ferroseed's Thunder Wave's faces, or on a predicted switch. You can also use it against the rare Vullabies that get spammy with Brave Bird to weaken them into Hurricane range, but they will more often use Knock Off. I made the decision to let Wingull pack Defog as Scarfed Vullaby really hates locking itself into the move and thus has very little room to do so. Wingull however takes advantage of its ability to force switches to get Defogs off. Out of all the situational abilities Wingull has to offer, Rain Dish was chosen to be able to regain HP if the opponent is playing a Rain Team (which, you know, won't often happen), it is still better than Keen Eye or Hydration to my mind, as Wingull will never really get crippled by an annoying status and Keen Eye is outright useless. Wingull can essentially come in on predicted Ground attacks such as Ponyta's High Horsepower (Flare Blitz still does a ton, but Wingull tanks it from full), or Onix's Earthquake / High Horsepower if you're particularly suicidal, and on Drain Punches from Timburr and High Jump Kicks from Mienfoo (even if this one still does big damage). It also, and most importantly, comes in after the super SlowTurn Mienfoo gives it to deal big damage with little drawbacks.
The idea of this team is pretty straightforward. I wanted to make a team that focuses on pressuring the opponent by turn 2 instead of getting pressured. While experimenting for a very little teamtour that got me back into the game after a serveral months-long absence, I got a funny idea: 9 speed Mienfoo. The idea was to underspeed every other fighter on turn 1 (even uninvested Timburr) and essentially giving me a free in on Wingull to begin pressuring the opponent, or to underspeed Mareanie to then U-turn into Diglett and trap it for Wingull.
I then decided to add my Fightcheck. I chose to test Mareanie as it was said to be really good at the moment. Plus, it could provide some more pressure to help Wingull break with Knock Off or Toxic Spikes. I opted for the latter as it helps Wingull to break through Spritzee easier. Ferroseed was an immediate pick afterwards : the Mareanie - Ferroseed core is pretty solid, with Mareanie soaking up the fighters' and Ponyta's hits, and Ferroseed sponging Foongus', Abra's, Onix's and Mareanie's moves while kind of soft checking Flying-types in tandem, by working together. Also, Ferroseed could provide Speed Control in the form of Thunder Wave, Knock Off support, as well as the ever-so-needed Stealth Rocks. This core also makes the team nigh-unbreakable for Shellder, between Mareanie, Ferroseed, and Bulky Mienfoo (that underspeeds Shellder with this spread and can hit it with a strong High Jump Kick while it tries to Shell Smash).
You knew it was coming next. Vullaby is still one of Little Cup's ultimate staples : a mixture of offense and bulk able to spread Knock Off and to Defog to its heart's content while packing a strong punch with Brave Bird and an option to keep the momentum with U-turn was what I needed as Wingull hates Rocks and Mienfoo hates Toxic Spikes. Plus, it turned the team into a sort of Flying Spam, and I was happy with how it turned out to look. It served the role of overall glue, sponging Psychic-type hits notably while forcing out a number of Pokémon, and was another Speed Control option thanks to Weak Armor.
I then shuffled the team a bit, as I usually tend to do (it only ended up in shifting Vullaby's and Wingull's place, somehow, a sign that I'm not really good at shuffling I guess). However, it soon became apparent I still had some serious problems with checking birds as my softchecks combination wasn't sturdy enough to take on the threats they wanted to check AND a speed-boosted Vullaby. I tried Iron Defense on Mareanie to try to mitigate this, but aside from very specific scenarios, it was much more useless than Knock Off or Toxic Spikes for me.
That is why I decided to change the most useless member of the team, who was paradoxically Diglett, for a much more dedicated Flying check! I had the choice between Onix and Pawniard, and while I understand some people would've picked the former, I went wth the latter, as it provided me extra insurance against Vullaby, Wingull, Abra, Ponyta-Galar, Shellder, the newly-surfacing Grookey (if it hasn't got Drain Punch) as well as strong Sucker Punch priority and Knock Offs, while Onix really only provided more Speed Control and extra insurance against Ponyta, since Volt Switch is almost non-existent at the moment. I also chose it for Defiant as my opponent can't simply Defog to remove my Hazards! Pawniard also was chosen as a mean to weaken the opponent's team or clean it with strong Swords Dance-boosted attacks. Oh, and it doesn't mind Toxic Spikes, unlike Onix, which means I basically made a team with 5 mons that aren't bothered by Toxic Spikes, which is a good thing, considering how strong they are right now. Speaking of Toxic Spikes, this is also when I finally made my choice between Toxic Spikes and Knock Off on Mareanie, and the former was picked to help Wingull breaking through its bulkier checks, notably Spritzee and Porygon.
The team now had a speed problem, with only Wingull really being over 17 speed. I decided to mitigate this with by changing Vullaby's set to a fast Scarfed Vullaby that helps revenge killing annoying mons such as +1 Speed Scraggy and punishing Diglett, notably, and it can provide more momentum than Ferroseed on Foongus thanks to Overcoat, as well as another strong cleaner with its Brave Birds. Also, it can somewhat form a nice Dark-spam core with Pawniard as they both have strong STABbed Knock Offs. It can also act as a Woobat revenge killer, seeing as how this thing gained usage as Grookey's partner in crime.
Then, Magnemite happened. The thing just fucked the team over and I had very minimal counterplay against it, which only really consisted of surprising it with a Scarfed Vullaby, setting Substitutes with Wingull to hopefully burn Berry Juice variants, or using Pawniard's Sucker Punches. Thus, I felt I still needed to have that Ground-type that could help against Magnemite. I quickly settled for a Pokémon I had never tried: Mudbray. With Ferroseed, it can soft-check Flying-types (with Mareanie too as a last resort), Fire Punch Abra, while alone it can quickly wreck havoc on slower teams. With Mareanie and Wingull it can help check Vulpix and Ponyta (all the more as since I'm bad and scared to double, I often let Mareanie get trapped). It also makes the team respect the idea of slow-pivoting into a threatening Ground-type again, and Mudbray can take advantage of this to ensure Rocks on the opposing field, freeing up a slot for Ferroseed, in which I settled for Spikes. I then shuffled the team again, but when I am writing this, I have already done most of the RMT and am only revising some things, so I am too lazy to reorder all things again.
In-Depth Analysis.
King Nothing (Mienfoo) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 36 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out
The King of LC (and Vullaby is the Queen) is a pretty straightforward Pokémon. High Jump Kick is a strong Fighting-type STAB that can almost beyond repair chip Pokémon that don't resist it, as well as beat the Onix lead play ladder people tend to do. Not running a dedicated Flying-check makes High Jump Kick mandatory to revenge kill a Weak Armor-boosted Vullaby that has gone out of hand if I don't have anything else anymore, and thus, options like Drain Punch can't be considered. Knock Off is like bread and butter on this Pokémon. Knock Off can cripple opposing Pokémon, which proves to be perfect to bolster Mudbray's, Wingull's and Vullaby's offensive capabilities. Fake Out provides a nice priority that can help weaken Weak Armor Vullabies by dropping their Defense down a stage or scout non-Eviolite Mienfoo sets if you get paired up against a Banded or Scarved Mienfoo. This Mienfoo tanks a Vullaby Brave Bird from almost full, and a High Jump Kick from banded Mienfoo amongst other things, which can prove handful to revenge kill these in a pinch if no other choice is available. U-turn was intentionally skipped until now, since it's part of the highlight of the set. With the 0- Speed EV Spread, this Mienfoo practically underspeeds every mon that is a little bit offensive, topping at a low 9 on Speed. It can notably underspeed Mareanie and the Fighters to eat their Knock Offs and prevent anything else from being crippled, Shellder to critically chip it after it Shell Smashes. U-turn works wonders with this spread, as this min speed Mienfoo can regain momentum easily! I haven't tested much options on the set, but I'd say Fake Out is easily replaceable as a min Speed Mienfoo, since it's practically almost never going first. Acrobatics, Poison Jab, Feint (a less strong but more reliable priority that can revenge Abra through Protect, though it is not needed as the team is more than solid against it) or even Protect seem like funny options, but Fake Out's priority is still good enough not to pass it up. The only bad thing with running 9 instead of 10 speed is that you tie with Spritzee, but I don't feel like tying with Timburr because Mudbray or Mareanie would end up being weakened for little reason, and Spritzee is bad at the moment anyway. 10 speed can still be considered though.
Speed King (Mudbray) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Stamina
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Heavy Slam
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
Ability: Stamina
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Heavy Slam
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
Mudbray is the team's primary answer to Magnemite (in conjuction with Ferroseed to try and scout how the opponent tends to play with his Magnemite on the early-game) and a soft-Vullaby- and fire-check. It likes to set Rocks up early unless it has to weaken something. People tend to send their Vullaby in to prevent Mudbray from keeping the Rocks (and Ferroseed's Spikes) up on the field and to try to weaken it. It is good for the team as Wingull likes a weakened Vullaby that can't switch in. The other moves are straightforward: High Horsepower is used instead of Earthquake to still pack a punch on Grookey's Grassy Terrain. It still hits quite hard Pokémon up to the bulky Mienfoo and Foongus for a clean 2HKO. Rock Slide notably hits Vullaby and prevents Wingull from subbing on you if you feel ballsy. I click Heavy Slam whenever I don't really know if the opponent is staying in with a Rock Slide resist or switching into Vullaby, predicting another Horsepower. It generally hits hard too, due to Mudbray's astonishing Attack and its weight. Of course, Stamina is the Ability of Choice that actually helps Mudbray be a soft-check against a number of physical threats. This Ability makes it "partially Knock Off immune", as the gain in Defense matches the one of the Eviolite.
Walking Heart (Vullaby) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Rock Smash
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Rock Smash
Vullaby is the team's only real surprise option, as from preview a Berry Juice set can be assumed most of the time. Scarved Vullaby outspeeds the whole unboosted tier, and sits at a respectable speed for a Scarfer as a 16 Speed Scarfer. This speed tier allows it to notably outspeed Scraggy and Corphish after a Dragon Dance, and Scarfers not named Mienfoo or Vulpix. Brave Bird is a strong Flying STAB whose presence is immediatly threatening to most Pokémon, but it should be clicked moderately, as this Vullaby is not packing a Berry Juice and can thus be prone to being worn down throughout the game. Knock Off does Knock Off things, being crippling opposing mons by making them less resilient for teammates and being a strong STAB option or mindless click most of the time. Unlike Mienfoo's U-turn, which takes advantage of it being slow, Vullaby's U-turn takes advantage of forcing switches and being very fast. It can thus maintain offensive pressure and offer switches to whatever is needed in the terrain. Rock Smash was chosen over Heat Wave not to miss out on important Brave Bird rolls to clean late game, and hits Pawniard pretty hard without risking a miss that would reveal the entire strategy for naught. Overcoat eases both prediction and momentum regain, as the Vullaby can switch into Foongus doubling into Mienfoo pretty comfortably against better players who don't want to give Ferroseed opportunities to setup Stealth Rocks. Overcoat also makes Vullaby non-susceptible to Weak Armor Defense drops, which makes it quite bulky and harder to take out or revenge kill, while still retaining a respectable Speed thanks to the Choice Scarf.
Awaking III Leaves (Mareanie) @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 20 Def / 92 SpA / 180 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 20 Def / 92 SpA / 180 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Sludge Bomb
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
Mareanie is a really straightforward Pokémon as well. Scald is the Water STAB that can threaten to insanely cripple Pokémon with a Burn, halving their Attack. This can apply to Pokémon like Pawniard, Vullaby, fighters, Diglett, and Burn provides good chip to other mons if it is landed. Sludge Bomb is the Poison-type STAB that is a bit stronger, and can threaten to Poison opposing Pokémon, greatly limiting their Staying Power, especially when you have Wingull in the back. It can alternatively be used not to give Foongus a free switchin. Recover lets Mareanie be able to sustain itself and repeatedly check Pokémon, especially when coupled with Regenerator, that increases the amount of health regained when you switch Mareanie out. Toxic Spikes are pretty important for the team, as they can let Wingull break through Spritzee, something it can't usually do by itself, or Mudbray wreck havoc, eases Vullaby's cleaning a lot, and can force plays from your opponent if they don't want anything to be Poisoned. Knock Off can also be chosen over Toxic Spikes, but it's less efficient in this team. Mareanie also checks Ponyta, in tandem with Mudbray and Wingull, which is immune to High Horsepower. It also deals with Shellder, and serves as one of the global checks with its resilience and regenerative capabilities.
Nut King Call (Ferroseed) @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
EVs: 84 HP / 36 Atk / 188 Def / 4 SpA / 148 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
EVs: 84 HP / 36 Atk / 188 Def / 4 SpA / 148 SpD / 36 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
It's the first time I am this successful when I use Ferroseed, may be a result of me playing Eviolite instead of the usual Berry Juice, haha. Ferroseed is a strong Pokémon in this meta, that can compress a lot of roles for the team. It is a Water, Foongus, and Abra in all at once, especially since Abra can't bypass it with Hidden Power Fire anymore, as it's a Gen7oomer thing, but the rare Fire Punch Abra is checked with Mudbray, and you still have to be wary of this potential move. It also soft checks birds with Mudbray and Mareanie, notably forcing Wingull into 50/50's. The Spikes are used in conjuction with Mudbray's Stealth Rocks and are also set whenever Ferroseed can come in freely on Pokémon such as Foongus. These help further rack damage up on bulky Pokémon Wingull or Vullaby need to break through. Knock Off is always too good to pass up, and Ferroseed coming in on Foongus basically has a free Knock Off, Stealth Rock, or Thunder Wave, which cripples faster mons by slowing them down to under Mudbray's Speed tier, and can sometimes make the opposing mon spend a turn doing nothing because of Paralysis RNG. It is also my in to Staryu, as it can chip it with Iron Barbs on a Flip Turn or on a Rapid Spin while still having free Spikes the following turn.
Paper Moon King (Wingull) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Rain Dish
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 236 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Scald
- Substitute
- Defog
Ability: Rain Dish
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 236 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Scald
- Substitute
- Defog
Last but far from the least, one of the team's means of pressure. Berry Juice Wingull sits at a respectable 19 Speed tier, notably creeping 17 Speed LC Staples such as Mienfoo and Onix. Scald can spread Burns just like Mareanie, and it deals respectable damage when coming from Wingull. Hurricane is a powerful and spammable Flying STAB against most teams, dealing huge damage to Pokémon that don't resist it, and the mons that do usually don't outspeed it and get bopped / burned by Scald. Substitute allows me to play some nifty 50/50s against Pawniards, as well as essentially getting one free on Foongus' Spore or Ferroseed's Thunder Wave's faces, or on a predicted switch. You can also use it against the rare Vullabies that get spammy with Brave Bird to weaken them into Hurricane range, but they will more often use Knock Off. I made the decision to let Wingull pack Defog as Scarfed Vullaby really hates locking itself into the move and thus has very little room to do so. Wingull however takes advantage of its ability to force switches to get Defogs off. Out of all the situational abilities Wingull has to offer, Rain Dish was chosen to be able to regain HP if the opponent is playing a Rain Team (which, you know, won't often happen), it is still better than Keen Eye or Hydration to my mind, as Wingull will never really get crippled by an annoying status and Keen Eye is outright useless. Wingull can essentially come in on predicted Ground attacks such as Ponyta's High Horsepower (Flare Blitz still does a ton, but Wingull tanks it from full), or Onix's Earthquake / High Horsepower if you're particularly suicidal, and on Drain Punches from Timburr and High Jump Kicks from Mienfoo (even if this one still does big damage). It also, and most importantly, comes in after the super SlowTurn Mienfoo gives it to deal big damage with little drawbacks.
All in all, I wanted to share the concept of min speed Mienfoo as it is a bit slept on, to my mind. It has the potential to really support offensive staples (I'm considering a min speed Mienfoo + Abra team) and get them in really easily, which can prove painful for an opponent. I know however that the team I just presented could be far from perfect, so advice is more than welcome.
Thanks for reading this. I hope to see you there in Crown Tundra!
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- The current EV spread is a little weird since slow foo is best suited for pairing with a trapper. I recommend change the spread to 76 HP / 196 Def / 196 SpD with a Bold Nature. The Special Defense EVs are helpful against Vulpix, a Pokemon this team can potentially struggle against.
