ORAS ZU Suspect Coverage: Regigigas
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Art by Breadboy.
Introduction
Amid the XY competitive scene, several prominent Smogon community members had grown interested in the prospect of a metagame below the newly recognized PU. This metagame would be known as Forget to Use, or FU for short. Between 2014 and 2015, FU would see increased interest, from establishing a metagame discussion thread, to inclusion in the first PUPL, to even becoming Other Metagame of the Month in January 2015. After the departure of its leadership in November of that year, a group of players dedicated to the format quietly continued tiering activity. Much of the tier was reworked, including a name change to ZeroUsed that would bring ORAS ZU to where it is today. The metagame still sees occasional room tournaments and forum event inclusion through ZU Classic and ZUPL and despite the many years it has been played, has seen little major tiering activity apart from the retroactive Arena Trap ban. Enter Regigigas, an ORAS ZU mainstay that has been seen recently as a questionable presence. Regigigas uses its immense bulk in tandem with support moves such as Substitute and Confuse Ray to stall out Slow Start turns, and also utilizes Knock Off and Thunder Wave to cripple defensive and offensive answers alike. Claims of its Substitute being difficult to break, a lack of viable Fighting-types, and its ability to stall out Slow Start have made it a point of contention. Conversely, others in the community have pointed to popular choices such as Encore Politoed, Infiltrator Jumpluff, and Rocky Helmet Swalot as counterplay that sacrifices little in teambuilding. This article will dive into the Regigigas debate with arguments for and against its ban to help shed light on this nuanced issue.
Regigigas Tournament History
It’s important to note that XY FU was a very different landscape than the modern incarnation of ORAS ZU. For starters, powerful wallbreakers such as Fraxure, Kingler, and Rampardos littered the metagame. This meant not only that Regigigas faced serious competition offensively, but it also that it had a much harder time finding turns to stall out Slow Start. On top of this, various metagame trends such as Intimidate, Sticky Web, and status condition spreaders greatly diminished the potential offensive Power-Up Punch sets had to sweep. Defensive Regigigas sets were also experimented with at this time due to its good support moves but found little success due to their general passiveness.
Many tier changes had occurred up to and during June 2015, including the rise of wallbreaker competition and the banning of several prominent Pokémon such as Machoke, Stoutland, Ursaring, and Vigoroth. This would help Regigigas immensely; it also benefited from the rise of Baton Pass chains, until Baton Pass was later banned. Regigigas’s last major tournament showing was in the ORAS FU slot of week three of PUPL, where it lost to a Superpower roll. Late 2016 would prove to be another time period where Regigigas suffered from negative metagame trends. In what is now ORAS ZU, Lickilicky had dropped into the tier and became a centric force. Thanks to its well-rounded stats, expansive movepool, and usable abilities, it was used on a number of team archetypes from stall to bulky offense. This would push Regigigas to the wayside until Lickilicky’s eventual ban at the tail end of the generation. Even after ZU’s recognition as an Other Metagame in March 2018, Regigigas would only be sparingly used in tournament games. That would change, however, upon the arrival of ZUPL III, culminating in seven uses and a positive win rate. Afterward, the Colossal Pokémon would start getting recognition in the community as a prominent metagame presence.
Pro-Ban Arguments
Those in support of banning Regigigas noted how the metagame has shifted within the last two years in favor of bulky offense teams and how teams have overall considerably slowed down. This allows Regigigas to invest less into Speed and more into bulk, making its Substitute considerably harder to break and Slow Start easier to stall out. Regigigas is also customizable and has all the tools it needs to break through its potential checks, depending on what best supports its team. For example, when paired with Toxic Spikes support from Frogadier, Trubbish, or Whirlipede, Regigigas doesn’t have to fear Gourgeist-L and can therefore drop Toxic in favor of Power-Up Punch to beat Carbink. Another example is utilizing paralysis support from Sawsbuck, Servine, or Gothitelle so that Regigigas can drop Thunder Wave for a third attacking option and invest further into its bulk. This level of customization is perceived by pro-ban advocates as a severe constraint on teambuilding, since no one Pokémon is guaranteed to defensively beat Regigigas one-on-one.
In this first week from ZUPL II, Haund faced off against Thiago Nunes using a very well constructed semi-stall team built by former council member Kushalos. Very early on, Haund’s Krokorok sets Stealth Rock and successfully pulls off a double switch into TNunes’s predicted Regigigas switch-in, Hippopotas. Using Taunt not only prevents Hippopotas from setting Stealth Rock of its own, but also forces TNunes into a situation where nothing wants to take the incoming STAB Knock Off. While Jumpluff would be the best switch-in due to its lack of an item, it would take not only Knock Off damage, but Stealth Rock and Sandstorm chip as well. This particular Jumpluff set is Swords Dance, not a utility set; while he has other outs such as Encore Politoed and wallbreaking Lairon, lacking Synthesis means TNunes needs to keep Jumpluff healthy if it wants to check Haund’s Regigigas later in the game. Haund’s Taunt shenanigans continue with another fantastic teambuilding pick in Quilladin, denying Dustox Defog and Toxic. A bit further on, Haund catches a lucky break when TNunes misses Sleep Powder versus Regigigas, which results in Jumpluff getting paralyzed. After trading hits and Regigigas finally getting its act together, TNunes sacrifices Hippopotas and risks everything on Regigigas having Knock Off and not Drain Punch. While this is a fair assumption as to not make Regigigas walled by Ghost-types, it was an extremely risky play that could’ve spelled game over for TNunes much earlier on. With entry hazards still up, TNunes’s only counterplay left against Haund’s Electabuzz is his specially defensive Scraggy, which Haund lures and permanently cripples with Trick Choice Band Gourgeist-L. Gourgeist-L then picks off all of TNunes’s remaining Pokémon.
Anti-Ban Arguments
Because Regigigas is quite slow prior to Slow Start wearing off, it can be easily offensively pressured into switching out or be used as setup fodder by Pokémon such as Carbink and Gogoat. Even with a lack of viable Fighting-types in ZU, its lack of reliable recovery options and the prominence of Fighting-type coverage moves from Pokémon such as Electabuzz, Simisage, Politoed, and Heatmor undermine its good bulk. Toxic Spikes from Tentacool, Frogadier, and Trubbish also completely ruins Regigigas, since it will likely faint by the time Slow Start has worn off. Due to how easily it can be overwhelmed and its less immediate utility, Regigigas is harder to fit on teams than other Normal-types such as Purugly and Furfrou. Lastly, Regigigas can get walled if it doesn’t sport the proper coverage move; Rock- and Steel-types like Lairon, Gigalith, and Carbink wall it without Power-Up Punch, while Gourgeist-L can wear it down without Toxic. These factors lead to Regigigas demanding more team support compared to other Normal-types like Purugly and Furfrou, which offer immediate Speed and power to threaten the opposition.
In this Round 2 game from ORAS Cup III, SSJ faces off against 5Dots with a very nuanced balance team made by former ZU tier leader 5gen. Despite SSJ not having any dedicated checks to 5Dots's Regigigas, Toxic from Electabuzz nevertheless crippled its usefulness to the point where it was fodder for Meganium. Even with Calm Mind Carbink and Swords Dance Jumpluff in the back, the remaining members of 5Dots's team hardly have any wallbreaking power for Psywave Bronzor, while Synthesis Meganium is a guaranteed switch-in to Krokorok. This is one of many tournament games that show Regigigas rarely automatically wins games and is heavily dependent on its teammates for support.
Conclusion
A collection of qualified voters consisting of former multi-game ZUPL players, ORAS Cup finalists and semifinalists, and the ORAS ZU Council privately submitted their blind votes. In an 8-5 (62%) decision with one abstention, Regigigas was officially banned from ORAS ZU. This result was met with some mild contention, which was to be expected from a metagame that has drastically changed for the first time in over five years. The implications of Regigigas’s departure from ORAS ZU will surely affect upcoming tournaments. Be sure to sign up for the fourth iteration of ZUPL starting June 27th to give the post-Regigigas metagame a try!
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