Project National Dex OU: Magic Matchmaking (Round 9: Mega Diancie)

Ineros

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Hello everyone and welcome to Magic Matchmaking—the project in which we aim to create magic pairings that help to pull out a Pokémon's full potential and explore all the creative cores and options National Dex has to offer!

Every week, the host (me) will nominate a Pokémon and set, and you then need to post a partner along with a brief explanation of what makes them a solid teammate for the nominated Pokémon. At the end of each submission phase, I will archive the partners that I think are the best and will highlight any posts that I found to be particularly good before moving onto public voting for the best.

Rules and Notes
  • Submissions phases will last 5 days and voting will last 2 days. Feel free to DM me if I've not posted the next phase in time.
  • When you reserve a Pokémon, please state what set you are reserving.
  • Reservations expire 24 hours after they're posted. If you do not post in that time frame, someone else may take it. I'd delete expired nominations but I'm not an NDOU forum mod so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (if you are a mod and you see an expired reservation feel free to delete it in my stead if you feel like it )
  • Please only nominate OU viable Pokémon. This generally means Pokémon on the viability rankings, although I will make exceptions if an unranked Pokémon is well explained. Some Pokemon can work best with more niche options and that is fine, just give good reasoning as to what, but please make it so the partner Pokemon has a niche in NDOU.
  • An explanation is mandatory. It doesn't need to be very long—two or three concise sentences should suffice—but make sure it's there.
  • You may nominate a different set for a Pokémon that has already been submitted. However, it's important that the set is distinct from the other submission—I won't accept submissions where the only difference is something simple like 1 move or an EV spread unless the change substantially alters how the core functions.
  • I understand that a little theorymonning is inevitable in a project like this, but please try to post based on your experience using and/or facing the Pokémon in question rather than just listing something you have no experience using and/or facing.
  • It's completely fine (encouraged, in fact) to give feedback on other people's submissions, but please be nice!
  • During voting phase, you CANNOT vote for yourself.
Posting Tips
I recommend using the following format when posting:
Example
:sv/excadrill:
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower / Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin

Excadrill is an excellent partner for Hippowdon and Tyranitar as it can take advantage of Sand Stream with Sand Rush. It can also threaten Pokémon like Kyurem that can take advantage of Hippowdon's passivity and lacking special bulk. In exchange, Hippowdon acts as a hard response to Cinderace and Zeraora if Sandstorm expires while Excadrill is active. It's worth noting, however, that this core is largely shut down by Rotom-A, Corviknight, Skarmory, Tangrowth, and Slowbro, so I recommend pairing it with attackers that can take advantage of such Pokémon, such as Rotom-A, Keldeo, Hydreigon, and/or Kyurem.

(this explanation is only relevant to some regular OU formats and not NDOU, but an explanation should be formatted similar to this.)

No specific types of detail are mandatory, but things that are worth considering when writing your explanation include:
  • How the Pokémon listed is useful to the nominated partner and vice versa
  • Why the set listed is chosen over other variants, if applicable
  • Strengths and/or weaknesses of the core in question
  • Potential options for additional partners when using the core
  • Replays that show off the core in full force (not mandatory but is definitely good to have
Try and avoid using superfluous formatting (it's usually very ugly) and try to cut out any fluff in your paragraphs if you can (Give details on why you have something, not literally what it does. "Sand Rush doubles Speed" for example isn't useful info, but giving a couple relevant mons that Sand Rush allows you to outspeed is.).

If you want to remove colour formatting, please use the eraser icon in the top left of the rich text editor or in the bottom right of the colour picker instead of changing the text colour to black. This is to ensure that it's readable for people using dark mode.

If you have ideas for a certain Pokemon to be featured in a week, feel free to DM me and I’ll credit you! Week 1 starts this Wednesday!
 
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Round 1: Mega Scizor
:ss/scizor-Mega:

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 120 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

Mega Scizor is a weird Pokemon in current National Dex. Although its traits such as being a consistent check to popular threats like Weavile and Tapu Lele, along with being a stellar bulky wincon for BO and even some fatter teams make it seem like it would always be consistently one of the best Pokemon around, it has had this weird cycle of people being prepped for it with Pokemon like Rocky Helmet Landorus-T and Gouging Fire so they eventually forget about it thinking they are naturally prepared and it’s not that big of a threat, but then the metal bug always comes back stronger than ever and the cycle repeats. That being said, what partners can you find that will help bring Mega Scizor out of its lowest point in the cycle?

Submissions end Monday!
 
:sv/heatran:
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Toxic / Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Mega Scizor lacking both Close Combat and U-turn results in it struggling a ton vs opposing Steel-types. Heatran solves this issue since it can effectively dispatch most of Mega Scizor's checks such as Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and non-steels such as Toxapex. Heatran also having Flash Fire grants it the ability to deal with threats like Gouging Fire (without EQ / if you Tera), opposing Heatran, and Volcarona. Progress can still be forced against a team even if Heatran's targets switch out thanks to chip from Magma Storm or Stealth Rock. Mega Scizor in return secures the matchup against Iron Valiant, Tapu Lele, Iron Crown, and Kyurem to take pressure off Heatran. Mega Scizor also can support Heatran by punishing its checks with Knock Off, thereby making Heatran's job easier long term. This core struggles hard into offensive threats like Waterpon and SD Kartana, so pairing it with a reliable revenge killer such as Urshifu-RS in addition to some other midground defensive options like Raging Bolt and Lando-T will make them less of a burden to handle.

https://pokepast.es/e72889bc4fdde26d
 
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Have to give my stoney boy some time in the spotlight.

:garganacl:
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Recover

This set is an absolutely underrated yet incredible partner for mega scizor. Salt cure obviously eliminates the water and steel types that are walling mega scizor and if you play well then you can have a salt cure on the opponent at all times. This allows you to easily weaken the checks to mega scizor such as corviknight, landorus, and toxapex while at the same time potentially sweeping with iron defense.

This leads to the next layer of synergy with garganacl, which is the incredible defensive core that they form. Iron defense garganacl can wall almost any physical attacker in the game with the appropriate positioning and tera, leaving only strong special attackers such as Serperior, Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko being able to threaten it. These pokemon are all threatened by mega scizor to a good degree defensively and with the right EVs - offensively as well. I do think that Heatran is obviously a good partner for this core as it helps be more consistent into other things that threaten garg such as yard, specs koko and hp fire serperior, however that's not the mon that i'm focusing on so I won't get too into it.

Essentially, Mega Scizor and Garganacl help eachother out immensely. Whether it's by forming a strong defensive core, providing knock off support to beat regenerator cores that garg struggles with or removing waters and steels for mega scizor to sweep - this core always finds a way to break through the opponents team with time while also being strong defensively.
 
:sv/raging-bolt:
Raging Bolt @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 76 HP / 48 Def / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
IVs: 20 Atk
Modest Nature
- Thunderclap
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor

Raging Bolt is able to take advantage of the Water-types that would switch into Mega Scizor such as Toxapex, Dondozo and Ogerpon-W and either take them out with Thunderbolt, or use them as setup fodder with Calm Mind. It's able to switch into the Fire-type attacks that threaten Mega Scizor from Heatran or Mega Charizard Y, directly threatening the latter with Thunderclap. In return, Mega Scizor is able to switch into the Ice- and Fairy-type attacks from Weavile and Tapu Lele, while being able to offensively check Kyurem and Iron Valiant for Raging Bolt. Knock Off support from Mega Scizor is able to give Raging Bolt important damage thresholds with hazards, such as OHKOing Galarian Slowking with +1 Devastating Drake after Stealth Rock. Overall these two bulky boosters synergise well being able to offensively and defensively cover their checks, especially with Mega Scizor's increased longevity via Roost, and form a potent offensive core between the Dragon/Electric/Steel STABs, limiting checks into Ferrothorn and the more niche Iron Treads, who are prone to being overwhelmed by Calm Mind boosted Draco Meteors and Swords Dance boosted Knock Offs, all combined with hazard support.
 
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:sv/Landorus-Therian:
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy / Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock / Defog
- Taunt / Toxic

Don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone but here's Lando. I chose Lando as a partner to Scizor because it can help pivot Scizor in and set rocks or keep hazards off depending on the set. It also checks many of Scizor's threats such as Gouging Fire and Raging Bolt. Mega Scizor in return helps deal with ice types such as Kyurem and Weavile, as well as strong special threats like Tapu Lele, Ival, and Latios.

Set desc:
Speeds evs let you outspeed modest bolt while being as physically bulky as possible. A bulkier ev spread can be run instead but this is prefered to more reliably answer bolt.
 
:ss/iron_moth:
Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Sludge Wave
- Tera Blast
- U-turn

Iron Moth serves as a more offensive partner to Mega-Scizor. Mega Scizor appreciates Iron Moth being able to dispatch bulky Steel types like Corviknight and Ferrothorn that can hardwall Scizor, alongside being able to effectively bait other walls like Heatran, Toxapex, and Gouging Fire with Tera Blast Ground(as Scizor cannot Terastallize) which all give Mega-Scizor a lot of trouble. Iron Moth, on high-momentum offense, can also act as a risky one-time switch in to Fire types such as Charizard-Mega-Y and Heatran. Boasting a high 140 Special Attack stat, Iron Moth can also fire off strong STAB that deals considerable damage to Scizor's other checks such as Lando-T and Zapdos, being able to chip them down for Scizor in the late game. U-turn is a great pivoting move for Iron Moth that allows it to get out of its own bad matchups like Gliscor, Slowking-Galar, and Alomomola, which Mega-Scizor can greatly take advantage of, threatening Slowking-Galar immediately with Knock Off and using the other two as simple setup fodder.
 
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:sv/zapdos:
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Hidden Power: Ice
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Zapdos has the ability to offensively pressure would be checks to mciz such as corviknight and skarmory. Zap can also Help pivot into Mciz which can allow it chances to set up. Zap can also form a good switchin to some mons that force mciz out, such as mons like lando. Mciz also provides a switchin to ice types and mons that can threaten it specially such as lele.
 
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one of the consistently best scizor partners is pecharunt
:sv/pecharunt:
Seth x Gengar (Pecharunt) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Poison Puppeteer
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 148 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Malignant Chain
- Recover

Being able to make progress vs almost any structure and consistently power through fat steel types while also having similar longevity to scizor through its great natural bulk and access to recover, pecharunt makes a great offensive team mate to help open up wincons for scizor, on the opposite end scizor is a great switchin to the few mons that annoy pecharunt such as tapu lele, clodsire and mega tyranitar (which rarely runs fire punch), making an exceptional BO core.
 
:ogerpon-wellspring:
Ogerpon-Wellspring @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Water
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ivy Cudgel
- Power Whip
- Superpower

I chose Waterpon because well, first off it’s waterpon, and secondly because it and scizors typings pair really well together. Scizor can check those pesky psychic users like lele and then either set up on them or use knock off, giving waterpon a better chance to sweep. While waterpon’s fire resistance is neutral, it’s tera water makes it into a resistance, not to mention you get an extra spdef boost, which helps check Scizor’s crippling fire type weakness.
 
:sv/Magnezone:
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Hidden Power: Fire
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Tera Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
:scizor-mega: lacking close combat gives it a rough time against steel types like :kartana: or :heatran:. :Magnezone: helps deal with the steel types that outspeed :scizor-mega:by trapping and killing them with hp fire or tera ground blast or tbolt. it is a little prediction reliant like how they could double as you switch into :magnezone: but it makes a fantastic parter to 2a :scizor-mega:.
 
:sv/Garchomp:
Garchomp @ Dragonium-Z / Rockium-Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage / Stone-edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

All relevant scizor checks/ counters will be listed down so lets see how many garchomp helps with .

:Volcarona: : Gets forced to terastalize to eat earthquake comfortably , never kills chomp ( from full or even like 80 ) at +1 unless its like tera dragon terablast , even if it terastalizes this means tht it usually no longer resists bullet punch and in general just forces it into an awkward spot .

:Charizard mega-Y: : Garchomp does not hard counter this or anything but it does come in on it twice or atleast once and forces it while laying up rocks and if Yard stays in u can always blow it up with Z.

:Landorus therian:: Defensive landorus-therian appears to check both pokemon , which is a big reason I would recommend running both of them together as Garchomp can always bait it in with its mere presence , sword dance as it enters the feild and blow it up with a Z-move , or even set rocks as it switches in , SD as it defogs or toxics or whatever and kill it after . End of the day it can atleast weaken lando-T down to a point where it doesn't help against scizor anymore , if not eliminate it entirely with the Z .

:Gouging fire:: While consiously letting Gouging fire set up does have the same risk of playing with fire ( literally ) , you do also essentially force it to terastalize . And the two tera types that you see on it regularly are fairy and ground . Fairy on one hand completely blocks dragonium-Z , it does make it weak to bullet punch for scizor and with chip in addition to the rough skin chip u should be able to get it in tht range . As for ground tera it does not block Dragonium ( it does live tho ) and likely does not run recovery as these opt for STAB earthquake so its basically pickings. But if it does run DD morning sun Eq then u just outdamage morning sun with outrage and proceed that way
252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Ground Gouging Fire: 262-310 (74.6 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Technician Scizor-Mega Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Ground Gouging Fire: 78-93 (22.2 - 26.4%) -- 13% chance to 4HKO

:Zapdos:: Tricky matchup as you have entry into Heatwave but u essentially get 2 shot by hp ice . However if you somehow get the pivot right u often force zapdos out of the feild and if you have confirmation that its a defog zapdos without hp ice ( defog with hp ice usually don't count as scizor checks anyway ) then you hard wall it . Lastly if it takes stealth rock damage then its 100% flynium-Z so make sure to blow it up with u Z-move before they get the jump on you .

:Moltres:: Folds to Rockium-Z . But Dragonium-Z garchomps don't have it that straight forward into moltres bcuz of wisp and what not ( for which you need other pivots ) . However there are situations where similar to Lando-T , Moltres can get pressured into being a garchomp switch in if it somehow sword dances on something and starts throwing around boosted earthquakes , which is an opportunity for it to nab it with the Z or even just leave lasting marks with boosted outrages .

:Heatran:: Self explanatory ( there's also close combat scizor )

:Toxapex:: gets forced out

:Dondozo:: Garchomp doesn't really help all that much unless you somehow bring it down to 40% range
252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 204-240 (40.4 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

So yeah , these are the reasons I feel garchomp makes for a good partner .
 
Hello sorry for being late, voting is up! Lots of submissions, so great thanks for that. I’ll get up the highlighted posts / winner archives once voting is over for this round.

Option A
:sv/heatran:
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Toxic / Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Mega Scizor lacking both Close Combat and U-turn results in it struggling a ton vs opposing Steel-types. Heatran solves this issue since it can effectively dispatch most of Mega Scizor's checks such as Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and non-steels such as Toxapex. Heatran also having Flash Fire grants it the ability to deal with threats like Gouging Fire (without EQ / if you Tera), opposing Heatran, and Volcarona. Progress can still be forced against a team even if Heatran's targets switch out thanks to chip from Magma Storm or Stealth Rock. Mega Scizor in return secures the matchup against Iron Valiant, Tapu Lele, Iron Crown, and Kyurem to take pressure off Heatran. Mega Scizor also can support Heatran by punishing its checks with Knock Off, thereby making Heatran's job easier long term. This core struggles hard into offensive threats like Waterpon and SD Kartana, so pairing it with a reliable revenge killer such as Urshifu-RS in addition to some other midground defensive options like Raging Bolt and Lando-T will make them less of a burden to handle.

https://pokepast.es/e72889bc4fdde26d
Option B
Have to give my stoney boy some time in the spotlight.

:garganacl:
Garganacl @ Leftovers
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Recover

This set is an absolutely underrated yet incredible partner for mega scizor. Salt cure obviously eliminates the water and steel types that are walling mega scizor and if you play well then you can have a salt cure on the opponent at all times. This allows you to easily weaken the checks to mega scizor such as corviknight, landorus, and toxapex while at the same time potentially sweeping with iron defense.

This leads to the next layer of synergy with garganacl, which is the incredible defensive core that they form. Iron defense garganacl can wall almost any physical attacker in the game with the appropriate positioning and tera, leaving only strong special attackers such as Serperior, Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko being able to threaten it. These pokemon are all threatened by mega scizor to a good degree defensively and with the right EVs - offensively as well. I do think that Heatran is obviously a good partner for this core as it helps be more consistent into other things that threaten garg such as yard, specs koko and hp fire serperior, however that's not the mon that i'm focusing on so I won't get too into it.

Essentially, Mega Scizor and Garganacl help eachother out immensely. Whether it's by forming a strong defensive core, providing knock off support to beat regenerator cores that garg struggles with or removing waters and steels for mega scizor to sweep - this core always finds a way to break through the opponents team with time while also being strong defensively.
Option C
:sv/raging-bolt:
Raging Bolt @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 76 HP / 48 Def / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
IVs: 20 Atk
Modest Nature
- Thunderclap
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Draco Meteor

Raging Bolt is able to take advantage of the Water-types that would switch into Mega Scizor such as Toxapex, Dondozo and Ogerpon-W and either take them out with Thunderbolt, or use them as setup fodder with Calm Mind. It's able to switch into the Fire-type attacks that threaten Mega Scizor from Heatran or Mega Charizard Y, directly threatening the latter with Thunderclap. In return, Mega Scizor is able to switch into the Ice- and Fairy-type attacks from Weavile and Tapu Lele, while being able to offensively check Kyurem and Iron Valiant for Raging Bolt. Knock Off support from Mega Scizor is able to give Raging Bolt important damage thresholds with hazards, such as OHKOing Galarian Slowking with +1 Devastating Drake after Stealth Rock. Overall these two bulky boosters synergise well being able to offensively and defensively cover their checks, especially with Mega Scizor's increased longevity via Roost, and form a potent offensive core between the Dragon/Electric/Steel STABs, limiting checks into Ferrothorn and the more niche Iron Treads, who are prone to being overwhelmed by Calm Mind boosted Draco Meteors and Swords Dance boosted Knock Offs, all combined with hazard support.
Option D
:sv/Landorus-Therian:
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy / Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock / Defog
- Taunt / Toxic

Don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone but here's Lando. I chose Lando as a partner to Scizor because it can help pivot Scizor in and set rocks or keep hazards off depending on the set. It also checks many of Scizor's threats such as Gouging Fire and Raging Bolt. Mega Scizor in return helps deal with ice types such as Kyurem and Weavile, as well as strong special threats like Tapu Lele, Ival, and Latios.

Set desc:
Speeds evs let you outspeed modest bolt while being as physically bulky as possible. A bulkier ev spread can be run instead but this is prefered to more reliably answer bolt.
Option E
:ss/iron_moth:
Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fiery Dance
- Sludge Wave
- Tera Blast
- U-turn

Iron Moth serves as a more offensive partner to Mega-Scizor. Mega Scizor appreciates Iron Moth being able to dispatch bulky Steel types like Corviknight and Ferrothorn that can hardwall Scizor, alongside being able to effectively bait other walls like Heatran, Toxapex, and Gouging Fire with Tera Blast Ground(as Scizor cannot Terastallize) which all give Mega-Scizor a lot of trouble. Iron Moth, on high-momentum offense, can also act as a risky one-time switch in to Fire types such as Charizard-Mega-Y and Heatran. Boasting a high 140 Special Attack stat, Iron Moth can also fire off strong STAB that deals considerable damage to Scizor's other checks such as Lando-T and Zapdos, being able to chip them down for Scizor in the late game. U-turn is a great pivoting move for Iron Moth that allows it to get out of its own bad matchups like Gliscor, Slowking-Galar, and Alomomola, which Mega-Scizor can greatly take advantage of, threatening Slowking-Galar immediately with Knock Off and using the other two as simple setup fodder.
Option F
:sv/zapdos:
Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Hidden Power: Ice
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost

Zapdos has the ability to offensively pressure would be checks to mciz such as corviknight and skarmory. Zap can also Help pivot into Mciz which can allow it chances to set up. Zap can also form a good switchin to some mons that force mciz out, such as mons like lando. Mciz also provides a switchin to ice types and mons that can threaten it specially such as lele.
Option G
one of the consistently best scizor partners is pecharunt
:sv/pecharunt:
Seth x Gengar (Pecharunt) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Poison Puppeteer
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 148 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Malignant Chain
- Recover

Being able to make progress vs almost any structure and consistently power through fat steel types while also having similar longevity to scizor through its great natural bulk and access to recover, pecharunt makes a great offensive team mate to help open up wincons for scizor, on the opposite end scizor is a great switchin to the few mons that annoy pecharunt such as tapu lele, clodsire and mega tyranitar (which rarely runs fire punch), making an exceptional BO core.
Option H
:ogerpon-wellspring:
Ogerpon-Wellspring @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Water
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ivy Cudgel
- Power Whip
- Superpower

I chose Waterpon because well, first off it’s waterpon, and secondly because it and scizors typings pair really well together. Scizor can check those pesky psychic users like lele and then either set up on them or use knock off, giving waterpon a better chance to sweep. While waterpon’s fire resistance is neutral, it’s tera water makes it into a resistance, not to mention you get an extra spdef boost, which helps check Scizor’s crippling fire type weakness.
Option I
:sv/Magnezone:
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Hidden Power: Fire
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Tera Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
:scizor-mega: lacking close combat gives it a rough time against steel types like :kartana: or :heatran:. :Magnezone: helps deal with the steel types that outspeed :scizor-mega:by trapping and killing them with hp fire or tera ground blast or tbolt. it is a little prediction reliant like how they could double as you switch into :magnezone: but it makes a fantastic parter to 2a :scizor-mega:.
Option J
:sv/Garchomp:
Garchomp @ Dragonium-Z / Rockium-Z
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage / Stone-edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

All relevant scizor checks/ counters will be listed down so lets see how many garchomp helps with .

:Volcarona: : Gets forced to terastalize to eat earthquake comfortably , never kills chomp ( from full or even like 80 ) at +1 unless its like tera dragon terablast , even if it terastalizes this means tht it usually no longer resists bullet punch and in general just forces it into an awkward spot .

:Charizard mega-Y: : Garchomp does not hard counter this or anything but it does come in on it twice or atleast once and forces it while laying up rocks and if Yard stays in u can always blow it up with Z.

:Landorus therian:: Defensive landorus-therian appears to check both pokemon , which is a big reason I would recommend running both of them together as Garchomp can always bait it in with its mere presence , sword dance as it enters the feild and blow it up with a Z-move , or even set rocks as it switches in , SD as it defogs or toxics or whatever and kill it after . End of the day it can atleast weaken lando-T down to a point where it doesn't help against scizor anymore , if not eliminate it entirely with the Z .

:Gouging fire:: While consiously letting Gouging fire set up does have the same risk of playing with fire ( literally ) , you do also essentially force it to terastalize . And the two tera types that you see on it regularly are fairy and ground . Fairy on one hand completely blocks dragonium-Z , it does make it weak to bullet punch for scizor and with chip in addition to the rough skin chip u should be able to get it in tht range . As for ground tera it does not block Dragonium ( it does live tho ) and likely does not run recovery as these opt for STAB earthquake so its basically pickings. But if it does run DD morning sun Eq then u just outdamage morning sun with outrage and proceed that way
252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Ground Gouging Fire: 262-310 (74.6 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Technician Scizor-Mega Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Ground Gouging Fire: 78-93 (22.2 - 26.4%) -- 13% chance to 4HKO

:Zapdos:: Tricky matchup as you have entry into Heatwave but u essentially get 2 shot by hp ice . However if you somehow get the pivot right u often force zapdos out of the feild and if you have confirmation that its a defog zapdos without hp ice ( defog with hp ice usually don't count as scizor checks anyway ) then you hard wall it . Lastly if it takes stealth rock damage then its 100% flynium-Z so make sure to blow it up with u Z-move before they get the jump on you .

:Moltres:: Folds to Rockium-Z . But Dragonium-Z garchomps don't have it that straight forward into moltres bcuz of wisp and what not ( for which you need other pivots ) . However there are situations where similar to Lando-T , Moltres can get pressured into being a garchomp switch in if it somehow sword dances on something and starts throwing around boosted earthquakes , which is an opportunity for it to nab it with the Z or even just leave lasting marks with boosted outrages .

:Heatran:: Self explanatory ( there's also close combat scizor )

:Toxapex:: gets forced out

:Dondozo:: Garchomp doesn't really help all that much unless you somehow bring it down to 40% range
252 Atk Garchomp Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 204-240 (40.4 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

So yeah , these are the reasons I feel garchomp makes for a good partner .

Voting ends Thursday!
 
Torn between A and C. I really like double steel cores and I think Tran and Scizor make a solid one. Bolt is having the tiniest bit of synergy with anything will perform well, this Mon is so good and effective at what it can do. Gonna be completely bias and vote A
 
Ok, voting is over; congrats to boppydop! for winning this cycle! I’ll update the archives later I promise. Anyway…

Round 2: Alomomola
:ss/alomomola:

Alomomola @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dragon / Fairy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Wish
- Toxic
- Protect

What a fitting Pokemon for this project! Remember the days when Alomomola used to fit on very specific stall teams before it got flip turn? Yeah, it’s kind of wild to see the mon go from zero to hero in the span of one move change and a few metagame developments around it, at least when DLC 1 came out. Although one of the biggest deterrents to using Alomomola, Zamazenta, is gone, it still has a variety of issues against Pokemon that can take advantage of it like Ogerpon-W and Raging Bolt, which makes some of the balances it’s seen on worse off against offense. Because of this, Alomomola has a good place on Bulky Offense teams as a good defensive backbone and enabler and is also functional on fat and Stall teams as a way to counteract otherwise unfavorable matchups against rain and Gouging Fire, respectively. How will you fix the wish fish’s exploitability?

Submissions end Tuesday!
 
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