1v1 Suspect Coverage: Mimikyu and Jirachi

By DEG and Mubs Released: 2020/06/18.
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1v1 Suspect Coverage: Mimikyu and Jirachi Art

Art by tiki.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to 1v1’s second suspect coverage, featuring both Mimikyu and Jirachi. As the fourth iteration of the 1v1 Premier League concluded, the 1v1 community wanted to fix its metagame before its upcoming ladder tournament. This led to both Mimikyu and Jirachi being put on the chopping block, the former by a public suspect and the latter through a quickban.

Mimikyu

Mimikyu was actually banned last generation due to its unique ability Disguise allowing it to use powerful Z-Moves like Let's Snuggle Forever and Z-Curse after free setup. With the removal of Z-Moves, Mimikyu was unbanned at the beginning of the generation. Still, even without Z-Moves, Disguise allowed it to run a plethora of different sets, ranging from hyper offense to pure stall, making it hard to predict at Team Preview, and allowing it to effectively choose its counters depending on its teammates. These sets were discovered and optimized over a long period of time, giving Mimikyu more and more potential to beat more and more of the metagame. This, along with the overwhelming pressure it had on teambuilding, pushed it over the edge in the eyes of many players, leading to its suspect test.

Sets

Mimikyu

One of Mimikyu's first sets, this imitated last generation's Z-Move set with Life Orb, utilizing Mimikyu's STAB combination along with setup in Swords Dance to break past bulkier threats such as Galarian Corsola and Sylveon.

Mimikyu

Choice Band Mimikyu utilized its STAB attacks due to its relative lack of power, along with Wood Hammer for bulky Water-types such as Primarina and Gastrodon, to beat an array of threats. The choice between Shadow Sneak, Drain Punch, and Trick depended on whether you wanted to beat Choice Scarf Jirachi, cover Galarian Darmanitan, or cripple status users such as Galarian Corsola.

Mimikyu

You might remember it from last generation if you played, but the feared Curse Mimikyu set was back for this generation, setting up Curse and stalling the opposing Pokémon with the combination of Substitute + Protect. This set took a while to catch on, with sets using Shadow Sneak over Phantom Force to pick off an opposing Pokémon after Curse brought down their HP; however, it was not powerful enough, along with the Disguise nerf costing one use of Substitute. Salac Berry + Phantom Force solved the issues of the early Curse sets by allowing Mimikyu to both outspeed faster foes such as Choice Scarf Dracovish after a Curse was used and deal more damage with Phantom Force, which also gave one extra turn of Curse damage.

Mimikyu

Kee Berry + Charm Mimikyu is a set that developed late into 1v1PL IV, which trades many of Mimikyu's usual matchups for matchups against Pokémon it would lose to, such as Avalugg, Choice Scarf Haxorus, and Steelix. Many perceived the popularization of this set in the tournament scene as the final straw, creating a fourth reliable Mimikyu set that also lured in traditional answers for Mimikyu, and would put too much strain on both teambuilding and prediction.

Choice Scarf Mimikyu was a set used earlier in the generation to punish opponents who misplayed early, thinking they were facing a Life Orb set. It stopped being useful when Choice Band started to overshadow it.

Arguments

Ban

Mimikyu's set versatility forces mind games at Team Preview if the set cannot be predicted, as every set of Mimikyu's is very good. A good number of Pokémon used to beat Mimikyu fail to beat one of its other sets, narrowing the number of “True Counters” significantly and making it a menace to pick and teambuild against.

Do Not Ban

Although Mimikyu's set versatility is nigh unrivaled, the type of teams running Mimikyu can give an idea as to what set it is. For example, Wood Hammer Mimikyu is likely the set being run if they would otherwise be weak to a common Pokémon such as Primarina. Furthermore, although the best Pokémon in the metagame by far, Mimikyu still has counters in Corviknight and Excadrill.

Verdict

Mimikyu was banned with a 70% supermajority.

Jirachi

Shortly after the ban of Mimikyu, the community raised concerns over Jirachi. Being introduced with Pokémon Home, it primarily used its traditional hax set, but in the recent 1v1 Premier League, where teambuilding was heavily emphasized, a multitude of Jirachi sets began to be experimented with, which made it intolerable in the metagame.

Sets

Jirachi

Jirachi's infamous Choice Scarf set found great use in this metagame comparatively lacking in strong attackers, utilizing its amazing Steel / Psychic typing to beat metagame threats such as Aromatisse, Sylveon, and Galarian Darmanitan. Along with its great 100/100/100 bulk and, most importantly, the combination of Serene Grace and Iron Head, this allowed it to also beat the likes of Dragapult, Haxorus, and Snorlax, as it could take even their super effective attacks. Trick, in conjunction with Rest, allowed it to beat notable stall Pokémon such as Galarian Corsola and Milotic. In the last generation, stall Pokémon were a quite reliable counter to Choice Scarf Jirachi, as they were able to PP stall the flincher and were not usually vulnerable to Trick due to the common use of Z-Crystals and Mega Stones.

Jirachi

Stall Jirachi made it into a reliable high-base stat Pokémon with several resistances rather than a roll-of-the-dice RNG Pokémon; the extra layer of unpredictability made unreliable flinching matchups into wins, such as against Gastrodon and stall Arcanine, along with keeping positive matchups against Pokémon that it could previously beat with its Choice Scarf set.

Calm Mind + 3 Attacks Jirachi was also a set used in 1v1PL IV to some success, utilizing its amazing coverage to round out a core.

Verdict and Reasoning

Jirachi's quickban became a widely talked-about subject during the Mimikyu suspect, due to techs invented in 1v1 PL, such as Calm Mind + 3 Attacks, that proved to be highly effective. An On The Radar thread was created to demonstrate formal community support for the quickban, as an immediate public suspect after Mimikyu was not preferable, and Jirachi was banned after a 3-1 council vote, with one abstention.

Conclusion

With two of the metagame's biggest threats removed, trends are bound to change. Already, threats such as Galarian Darmanitan, Sylveon, and Primarina have risen to the top. Want to join in on the action? Catch a game on the 1v1 ladder!

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