Breaking the Ice: SV Monotype Suspect Coverage: Baxcalibur

By Neko. Released: 2023/11/06.
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Art by Ciran.

At the beginning of the SV Monotype metagame, Baxcalibur's ability to cut through most types with its excellent STAB moves and Earthquake coverage was widely recognized. However, its main weakness lay in its poor Speed tier, making it vulnerable to quick revenge killing by opposing Choice Scarf users even after a Dragon Dance boost. Additionally, Dragon and Ice were deemed less favorable types due to Dragon teams being decimated by the near-ubiquitous Chien-Pao, Kingambit, and Flutter Mane and the type's lack of defensive utility, and Ice's support options were notably lacking. Baxcalibur also often found itself torn between wallbreaking with Swords Dance or outspeeding potential revenge killers like Iron Valiant with a Dragon Dance set, though both sets would still be threatening in their own ways. Because of these reasons, the Monotype community did not view Baxcalibur as unhealthy pre-Teal Mask. So, what changed?

The introduction of the Teal Mask DLC brought back valuable teammates like Alolan Ninetales, Mamoswine, and Alolan Sandslash, effectively addressing most of the weaknesses that Ice teams faced by providing the type with a great Aurora Veil setter, a competent entry hazard setter, and a decent entry hazard remover, which significantly enhances the type's viability and threat level. Dragon teams also received a potent sweeper in Kommo-o, capable of handling Steel- and Ice-types such as Kingambit and Chien-Pao, which revenge kill Baxcalibur. Dragon teams also have access to Cyclizar, which can pass a Shed Tail to these setup sweepers to massively mitigate the difficulty of setting up. Alongside this newfound team support, Baxcalibur gained Scale Shot, allowing it to run Swords Dance sets while simultaneously boosting its Speed and breaking down walls. These additions pushed Baxcalibur to a point where it was considered excessively dominant in the Monotype metagame.

Before outright testing Baxcalibur, however, the Monotype council sent out a survey to determine the best way to tier Ice's unique situation— by restricting either Icy Rock, Light Clay, or Baxcalibur. Testing Baxcalibur gained the most support, with 53% in favor of this option. Additionally, Baxcalibur received the highest number of votes from individuals supporting tiering action, at 61.9%. As a result, this suspect test was initiated.

Shattering Limits: Main Sets

baxcalibur

Baxcalibur shatters even the bulkiest Pokémon, including Quagsire, Corviknight, and Iron Hands, with a Swords Dance set. With Loaded Dice, Icicle Spear transforms into an attack capable of OHKOing Corviknight after a Swords Dance and 2HKOing Unaware Quagsire. Scale Shot makes this set much more potent, allowing it to outspeed would-be revenge killers like both Urshifu formes, Dragapult, and Ogerpon-H. Earthquake rounds out the set, allowing Baxcalibur to deal with Toxapex to and fully threaten Poison teams while also dealing with Steel-type Pokémon like Iron Treads, Kingambit, and Gholdengo, which can be difficult to handle with its STAB coverage alone.

baxcalibur

On the other hand, Dragon-types already struggle against Fairy-types, and with limited entry hazard removal options accessible, the Loaded Dice set becomes impractical. Nevertheless, Baxcalibur remains a formidable force on Dragon teams, crashing down on types such as Flying, Ground, and Poison late-game. Without Icicle Spear, Baxcalibur relies on Glaive Rush to break through Quagsire, 2HKOing it with minimal chip damage when using an Adamant nature. While Earthquake can still be used to handle Steel-types like Gholdengo, Baxcalibur loses a significant amount of its breaking power without Glaive Rush. Ice Shard compensates for Baxcalibur's inability to boost its Speed, securing OHKOs against Choice Scarf users like Meowscarada and Enamorus-T as well as faster but frail threats like Flutter Mane, Landorus, and Dragapult.

A Pirouette on Ice: Other Sets

baxcalibur

Despite Baxcalibur's middling Speed, even after a Dragon Dance boost, a Dragon Dance set proves to be threatening if used as a late-game cleaner. After a Dragon Dance, Baxcalibur can take out weakened walls such as Corviknight and Iron Treads, and its Speed allows it to deal with threats like Chien-Pao, non-Choice Scarf Sneasler, and Flutter Mane. On Ice teams, Baxcalibur can even make use of Substitute, leveraging the Defense boost from snow and Aurora Veil support to enhance its bulk to ludicrous levels while also capitalizing on its ability Ice Body. This leads to scenarios where Corviknight and Quagsire are unable to break the Substitute with Body Press and Earthquake, respectively.

baxcalibur

Baxcalibur's typing isn't particularly great, as it leaves it vulnerable to nearly every common priority move, making setup not so free. Furthermore, since Glaive Rush isn't guaranteed to 2HKO Quagsire or Dondozo, and both have the ability to counter Ice and Dragon teams that don't utilize Choice Band Chien-Pao or Hex Dragapult, a Choice Band set becomes "viable", though very rarely used. With a Choice Band, Baxcalibur lures in its counters, like Iron Defense Corviknight, Quagsire, and Dondozo, to open up opportunities for one of its teammates to sweep. Choice Band Glaive Rush, in particular, is extremely low risk against teams like Water and Ground, which do not have the luxury of running a Fairy-type. Additionally, Choice Band-boosted Ice Shard proves to be devastating for Flying teams if Corviknight is successfully taken out.

An Arsenal Clad in Frost and Scales

ninetales-alola chien-pao mamoswine sandslash-alola froslass cetitan frosmoth

On Ice teams, Baxcalibur enjoys Alolan Ninetales's snow and Aurora Veil support, mitigating Scale Shot's Defense drop or allowing it to use a Substitute set to turn defensive threats such as Iron Hands and Corviknight into setup fodder. The combined support also makes Baxcalibur extremely hard to revenge kill. Chien-Pao forms a wallbreaking core with Baxcalibur, as its blistering Speed lets it deal with Flutter Mane and Gholdengo, which threaten Baxcalibur. This icy cat can be very threatening against Steel and Ghost teams when using a Swords Dance set, and it works together with Baxcalibur to shatter traditionally bad matchups like Fire and Steel. Mamoswine helps in dealing with Steel- and Poison-types, especially Gholdengo and Okidogi. It also sets up Stealth Rock and has Ice Shard to clean up what's left in the wake of Baxcalibur's wallbreaking. Alolan Sandslash takes care of the Fairy matchup, dealing with threats like Flutter Mane, which Baxcalibur despises. It also removes entry hazards with Rapid Spin and has Knock Off to deter spinblockers like Brambleghast and Gholdengo. Froslass provides even more entry hazards, allowing Baxcalibur to 2HKO Quagsire holding Leftovers after a layer of Spikes. Additionally, miscellaneous setup sweepers like Belly Drum Cetitan and Quiver Dance Frosmoth work in tandem with Baxcalibur to overpower opposing defensive cores.

cyclizar dragapult kommo-o goodra-hisui garchomp roaring-moon dragonite

Alternatively, Dragon teams thrive on and excel in offense, burning down opposing teams into a crisp. Cyclizar heavily enables offense by passing a Substitute through Shed Tail to protect Baxcalibur from being revenge killed or statused. This nifty lizard also clears entry hazards for Baxcalibur, allowing it to run a Loaded Dice set if it wants to. This Substitute may seem trivial due to Cyclizar's relatively low HP, and Baxcalibur having many weaknesses means that any remotely decent neutral attack breaks the Substitute in one hit, such as Quagsire's Earthquake. Unfortunately, Dragon has access to Dragapult, which can provide dual screens or spread burns with its Hex set. Dragapult can also deal with would-be revenge killers like Flutter Mane, which makes things very complicated for Baxcalibur. Aside from these two, Dragon teams have a myriad of offensive threats, including Kommo-o, which breaks down Chien-Pao and most Steel teams with ease using its Clangorous Soul or Iron Defense set. Garchomp aids the aforementioned sweepers by setting up entry hazards and shuffling the opposing team with Dragon Tail to maximize chip damage and is also fast enough to deal with threats like Mimikyu, Jirachi, and Gholdengo, which pose a threat to Baxcalibur. Roaring Moon provides speed control and deals with revenge killers like Flutter Mane and Choice Scarf Iron Valiant with its Choice Scarf set, while Dragonite is a niche setup sweeper that deals with types such as Steel and Water and is a decent Shed Tail recipient too.

Sealing the (Ex)calibur: Pro-Ban reasoning

The combination of Baxcalibur's near-unresisted coverage and support it gets from Ice and Dragon teams makes its many different sets unreasonable to account for at the same time when teambuilding, as most teams require slightly different counterplay from one another, and one wrong Baxcalibur set prediction could easily turn the tide in the Baxcalibur user's favor; moreover, it is nigh impossible to make a set prediction solely based on the rest of the team most of the time. The snow + Aurora Veil support on Ice-type teams cannot be understated, as Great Tusk and Choice Band Infernape deal only slightly more than half of Baxcalibur's health with STAB Close Combat, Dragapult's Dragon Darts fails to OHKO it even if it bypasses Aurora Veil with Infiltrator, and Kingambit is unable to revenge kill it with the combination of Iron Head and Sucker Punch. On Dragon teams, a timely Shed Tail against bulkier archetypes like Poison, rainless Water, and Ground can end games almost instantly.

Clearing away Winter's Mirage: Anti-Ban reasoning

Checks do exist for Baxcalibur, including Iron Defense Corviknight, Unaware Dondozo, Intimidate Paldean Tauros, Orthworm, Iron Defense Iron Treads, and Zamazenta. Iron Defense + Body Press, in particular, is extremely meta defining right now due to the immense number of physical attackers in the tier. Furthermore, both Ice and Dragon teams struggle when an Iron Defense Pokémon, especially Zamazenta, gets going. Although Baxcalibur cannot be burned, Encore can be used to put it in an uncomfortable position, which is a common move due to the prevalence of setup. Vacuum Wave's distribution has also greatly increased, allowing Iron Valiant, Ursaluna-B, and Kommo-o to pick it off even after a boost. Baxcalibur also has only one item at a time, and without Loaded Dice, it is liable to lose to Iron Defense Corviknight and Quagsire. Without Heavy-Duty Boots, it's vulnerable to entry hazards, which are plentiful in Monotype. Without a Choice Band, it is always walled by Dondozo. In a similar vein, Baxcalibur also only has four moves, and without Ice Shard, it's easily revenge killed by special attackers like Enamorus, Landorus, and Walking Wake. Without Glaive Rush or Icicle Spear, it's walled by Quagsire; without Earthquake, it's unable to threaten Steel-types; and if using Swords Dance + Scale Shot, boosting its Speed in matchups against a Fairy-type can prove to be tricky. Scale Shot and Substitute also have downsides, as Scale Shot makes it easily revenge killed, while Baxcalibur is unable to find a time to utilize Substitute against faster-paced teams. And, even if all of these conditions are fulfilled and Baxcalibur does set up, its middling Speed means that most Choice Scarf users should still be able to outspeed it. Baxcalibur also finds difficulty in setting up without taking substantial damage against more offensive types. This difficulty backs up the notion of opposing Choice Scarf users being able to deal with it afterwards.

On a different note, although one can argue that Baxcalibur is broken with Shed Tail support and is bannable due to this, sweepers such as Encore + Dragon Dance Dragonite, Kommo-o, and Loaded Dice Garchomp, can all be seen as broken once the opposing team is unable to break the Substitute with relative haste. Similarly, even if Baxcalibur gets banned, snow and Aurora Veil support bolsters other sweepers like Belly Drum Cetitan, Swords Dance Chien-Pao, Shell Smash Cloyster, and Quiver Dance Frosmoth, which would all still be doing unspeakable things to the types that hate Baxcalibur. Chien-Pao, in particular, has been on the hot seat for the Monotype community since the start of Generation 9 and could be looked at instead due to its sheer Speed, incredible power, and ability to warp the metagame.

Suspect Results

With at least 19 Do not Ban votes out of 38 of the Qualified voters, Baxcalibur remains legal in Monotype. As with the first suspect test, people thought that, even though Baxcalibur is an extremely strong offensive setup sweeper, it was not strong enough to the point of being banned from the Monotype metagame.

What happens next? Perhaps Baxcalibur's presence alongside strong physical attackers would increase the frequency of Iron Defense and Bulk Up sets being used to answer these Pokémon. Ice being used could make Flying, Poison, and Water teams slightly unfavorable, but it would make types such as Fighting and Fire being more popular, which would act as a counterbalance to Ice teams. This actually happened in the ladder during the suspect too, though it remains to be seen if this trajectory is retained.

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