UU Tournament Spotlight: Mega Manectric

By Shiba.
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Tour Spotlight Mega Manectric

Art by HotFuzzBall.

Manectric's History

With Ruby and Sapphire's introduction to the Pokémon world came a canine-like Electric-type Pokémon named Manectric. Manectric, for the most part, has fit into the lower tiers for most of its existence, being UU in ADV and DPP, and RU in BW. This is mostly just due to it being outclassed by most other Electric types such as Zapdos, Raikou, Magnezone, and Rotom throughout the generations. But in the 6th Generation, Mega Evolution was introduced, and so was Manectric's Mega Stone, Manectite, which gave it significant boosts to its Special Attack, its Speed, and both its defenses. For most of the Generation 6 metagames and the majority of the still-young Generation 7 metagames, Mega Manectric stayed in OU. This was until Manectric dropped to UU in September 2017. During its small amount of time in UU, it has truly become a defining threat in the offensive-minded metagame.

Manectric's Qualities

When Manectric Mega Evolves, its offensive stats gain significant boosts, putting it at 135 Special Attack and 135 Speed, making it one of the fastest and strongest Pokémon in the UU metagame. Couple these stats with its access to Fire-type as well as Ice- or Grass-type coverage and Manectric has perfect coverage across the board for an Electric-type. As for its STAB moves, it has the very useful Volt Switch, which allows it to gain momentum for any type of offensive squad, as well as the obvious Thunderbolt. It also heavily outclasses the other Electric-types in the tier, Raikou and Magneton, through its fantastic Speed, power, coverage, and ability, Intimidate, making it seem bulkier than it actually is as an offensive pivot. Even though Manectric is a relatively one-dimensional Pokémon, it's definitely one of the most impactful ones in the metagame, as it is one of the most used Mega Evolutions due to its ability to create momentum with its power and Speed.

Manectric In Tournaments

Mega Manectric

Playing With Manectric

Mega Manectric is one of the easiest Mega Evolutions to fit on a team, so you should have no trouble building around it. As for teammates it works well with, it definitely loves to be around wallbreakers that get free switches, such as Azumarill and Nidoking, as well as U-turn users to create a VoltTurn offensive core with, such as Scizor, Infernape, and Hydreigon. It also loves the presence of Pursuit users such as Krookodile and Alolan Muk that can get rid of the most common Dragon-type in the tier (as well as Manectric check): Latias. Lastly, Manectric appreciates the Grass-types in the tier such as Amoonguss and Serperior, which help check bulky Ground-types in Hippowdon and Swampert.

As for its tournament presence, it hasn't come up short often. In this UU Championship game between Rodriblutar and Christo, Christo's Manectric is able to create opportunities for Choice Band Azumarill and Hydreigon to break Rodriblutar's team by utilizing Volt Switch. Then, once the team was fully worn down, Manectric is able to pick off Alolan Muk and Altaria to seal the victory. Next, in this Snake Draft game between Manipulative and McMeghan, McMeghan is able to create an opportunity for his own Heracross early-game to wallbreak by Volt Switching into it, thus leading to a early KO on Manipulative's Mega Latias, a huge threat in that metagame. Then, in a tough late-game, Manectric is able to ease prediction with the use of Volt Switch with its teammates Klefki, Scizor, and Starmie to take out Manipulative's last two bulky team members: Sylveon and Empoleon.

Playing Against Manectric

Being only an Electric-type, Manectric can be pretty easy to play against, even with its fantastic coverage. For one, faster Pokémon and common Choice Scarf users such as Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Beedrill, and Choice Scarf Latias and Hydreigon can eliminate Manectric with ease. Electric-immune and -resistant Pokémon such as Hippowdon, Swampert, Latias, and Mega Altaria can also get the job done against Manectric. Lastly, naturally specially bulky Pokémon such as Alolan Muk, Sylveon, and Blissey completely wall and beat Manectric. Overall, there's a myriad of options to combat this massive threat.

As for Mega Manectric's SPL season, it has been relatively tough for the Pokémon. In this SPL game between Pak and Manipulative, Pak is able to utilize Substitute Aerodactyl (not particularly common), which blocks Mega Manectric's Intimidate and allows Pak to seal the game. Then, in this SPL game between HT and A Hero's Destiny, A Hero's Destiny is able to keep HT's Mega Manectric from performing its role for the majority of the game by keeping Spikes and Stealth Rock up as well as his Gliscor healthy to tank one Hidden Power Ice and threaten it back with Earthquake.

Overall, Manectric's performance in high-level games just hasn't lived up to the hype, but this is because most teams have included multiple ways of counterplay to it, rendering it relatively ineffective.

Get Out There!

Try one of the UU metagame's best Mega Evolutions for yourself, I guarantee you'll have a great time playing with it!

HTML by Naziel.
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