|
| 
Introduction
So Mega Gardevoir is back, and gen 7 has been odd to our favourite fan fiction star. For one thing, it wasn't nice to it for reducing pixilates damage modifier from 1.3% to a noticeably weaker 1.2%, slightly limiting its wallbreaking potential. However, due to how mega pokemon's speed is now calculated in gen 7, the original G gets that lovely base 100 speed on the turn that it mega evolves, allowing it to outspeed noticable threats such as Landorus-t, Rotom-w, Mimikyu, Tapu Fini and Tapu Lele, along with any other pokemon trapped within the base 80-99 speed tier, on the trun it mega evolves, a feat it couldn't achieve in gen 6. I decided to build a relatively balanced team around this pokemon reborn, and you can see the results for yourself.
The Team
So obviously, we will start with the centrepiece of the team, Mega Gardevoir itself.
Tapu Loli (Gardevoir-Mega) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Hyper Voice
- Taunt
- Focus Blast/Hidden Power Fire/Thunderbolt
To the untrained eye, its easy to say that Mega Gardevoir is simply a "worse lele", hence my creative nickname, however the majority of people reading this are not untrained. Mega Gardevoir wins over Lele in two major factors. Firstly it does not need to carry one of those pesky choice items to raise its stats to be good, locking itself into a move to be good. Also Mega Gardevoir carries a 90 base power move (hyper voice) that gets boosted by its ability, and then stab. I know we all know this but I am repeating it to the masses for effect, hyper voice is an excellent move, pixilate nerf or no.
Now to my set. This is bog standard, but it is what SM ou has been begging for, a mon to take on stall. Mega Sableye hates this mon as it carries a powerful stab fairy move to ruin its day. Toxapex despises stab psyshock or psychic. Skarmory (phys def) does not like hyper voice in the slightest, or hidden power fire/thunderbolt (whichever you prefer) due to its lower spdef. Chansey does not like getting taunted, allowing us to usually 1v1 it with psyshock after Chansey has taken some damage. Clefable is a difficult one, where it can be run spdef or phys def, so that is another reason why I like psyshock over psychic, as you can adapt to the opponents celfable spread. Psyshock and hypervoice need no other explanation, they are powerful stab moves that do what they say on the tin.
A lot of people like to run calm mind or willo-wisp over taunt, but with the abundance of stall and phys def mew, I enjoy taunting mons as they try recover health, only to destroy their hopes and dreams with a powerful stab/coverage move. However, adapt the set how you please.
I tend more towards focus blast, as heatran and other steel types like excadrill, can be a problem. Hidden power fire can be used to better deal with scizor and ferrothorn however, and thunderbolt can be used to make use of the ever popular Tapu Koko's electric terrain.
Swampsire (Gastrodon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic
Gatsrodon is not a common pick in SM OU, I will be the first to admit that. But The idea behind it is this: Mega Gardevoir cannot breakthrough magearna, a top threat in ou rn, so what hard counters it? Gastrodon. Magearna cannot ohko Gastrodon at neutral, and the most common set on magearna is currently Bolt-Beam, which gastrodon takes like a champ. It also gives us a water immunity, taking on suicune and helping against the ever common rain teams.
So the moves, scald is just an excellent move altogether, 80 bp with a 30% chance to burn is laughably good, and it also lets us make use of our storm drain ability. The burn chance also lets us take on physical pokemon that may try make use of our lower defences to beat us or set up on us. Its amazing when you burn a mimikyu as it sword dances, crippling the thing.
I chose earthquake over earth power because calm mind and assualt vests exist, so earthquake 9 times out of 10 will do more damage, so its there to stay. If you want to use Earth power instead to make further use of our ability, then so be it.
Recover increases our longetivity in games, as Gastrodon can counter a lot of common mons, sometimes lots on the same team, having that extra staying power is useful. Gastrodon cant counter/check nihilego, tapu koko, magearna,, toxapex pelliper or ash greninja if its at low Hp, so maintaining a high HP stat is always useful.
Toxic helps gastrodon take on pokemon it normally couldn't due to its lower defensive or offensive stats compared to those in OU, such as mega slowbro or mega gardevoir itself. If played corectly it also allows the team to slowly wear down huge oddensive threats if they switch in on gatsro.
Immortal (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Drill Peck
- Defog
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
Skaromory forms an excellent core with gastrdon, switching into most physical attacks and grass type attacks, as gastrodon switches into most special attacks for skarm. And the fact both have excellent recovery also helps this defensive core. I chose drill peck over brave bird because I don't like the recoil but still wanted to KO lopunny, however you can use brave bird as you please. Skarmory also acts as both our hazard setter, and remover. It does this effectively as it can switch in on a lot of pokemon without fear of being knocked out, and does what you need it to. Rocks are important on any high ladder team I feel, and the removal of such is also vital, whether you are weak to hazards or not. Skarmory is such a consistent mon that I don't feel like I have to justify it any further, its an OU staple for a reason and we can all accept that, so I won't bore you.
Peek at you (Mimikyu) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Swords Dance
This is also bog standard, but it is here for a reason. Mimikyu is one of the best revenge killers in the tier thanks to disguise, and its ability to take on Mega Medicham, mega Gardevoir and Mega gallade is so vital, as they are extremely common rn. The set is well known among sm veterans, so I won't bore you. Rather than discuss the move set, I will discuss what it does for the team. Set up mon are terrified of this little ragamuffin, and being a balanced team, that is very appreciated. Our team is pretty weak to charizard, and this is the only pokemon that can take two hits from either Zard - Y or Zard - X, and do good damage back to it. Mimikyu is excellent, it takes on psychic types, it as priority, it has set up and with ghostium - z, it can nuke things when times are tough. It has an okay speed tier, outspeeding landorus and tapu lele, just to name a few, however is outspeed severly by most threats in the meta, such as the aforementioed Zards. Theres not much else to say about this lovable rascal.
angery reacts (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is another mon that needs little introduction. The steelkiller itself. This mon is the sole reason I run focus blast over hp fire, as it doesnt get hurt by scizor's bullet punch like mega gardevoir will. I will explain the evs. 252 SpAtk modest, with choice specs maximises our damage output, ohkoing all but Spdef celesteelas with thunderbolt, ohkoing ferrothorn and scizor with hp fire, and 2hkoing skarmory with any electric move (It would ohko but sturdy). The fun part is, they cant switch, because our cute little ability. The speed evs allow us to always outspeed things such as mega mawile and scizor. Mainly scizor, as what is the point in trapping the mon if it's just going to outspeed us and superpower/uturn? Another simple mon I don't need to explain too much, but the removal of these steel types obviously helps Mega Gardevoir clean up, but also our super strong electric stabs help the team against water types, notably tapu fini and toxapex. Volt switch also allows us to form a volt-turn core with our 6th pokemon, as you will see
Gren-in-ou (Greninja) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam
Our last mon, and the hardest to explain I feel. Greninja is sort of here for a multitude of reasons. I wanted a way to beat volcarona, which beats our team if it sets up, so rock slide OHKOs (if it hits) and we always outspeed the fella at +1 thanks to our choice scarf. I also wanted a way to deal with DDance zygarde, and ice coverage is always appreciated due to the popularity of Lando and Garchomp. Uturn allows us to form the aforementioned Volt-Turn core, which is always appreciated in OU. And Dark pulse is there because offensively, the team needed for dark coverage. Originally this was Ash-Greninja with specs, but I felt the lower speed and water coverage didn't help the team as much as this scarf ninja does. However I will wholeheartedly say, do what you like with this pokemon slot. I put this mon here because it worked best for me, that doesn't mean to say it will do great for you. This is a great pokemon, but also the most replacable on the team as the other 5 form an excellent core on their own.
Conclusion
All in all, Mega Gardevoir is different from how it was in Gen 6, but not necessarily bad. And I think this team lets it do what it does best, beat stall and cope okay against anything that isn't offence.
I hope you enjoyed the team and this RMT, please feel free to offer help or suggestions on things you would like to fix, and have fun with the team as much as you like.
Replays
VS Mega Charizard-Y Offence: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601324946
VS Zygarde Bulky Offence: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601320967
VS Stall: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601317997
VS Hawlucha Lele Squad: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601316218
VS Trick Room: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601313041
VS Rain: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-601310662
Importable
Tapu Loli (Gardevoir-Mega) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Hyper Voice
- Taunt
- Focus Blast
Swampsire (Gastrodon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Toxic
Immortal (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Drill Peck
- Defog
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
Peek at you (Mimikyu) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Swords Dance
angery reacts (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Gren-in-ou (Greninja) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Rock Slide
- Ice Beam