link to previous thread
Spicy Meme II : Trick Room Ground / "Weird" Ground
Introduction
Another off-meta/gimmicky team that was tried with relative success on the Mono ladder and should be usable competitively.
Like the first one, the main goal of this team is to be unexpected and enjoyable to play.
Unless mentioned otherwise, it will thrive more in lower ladder ranks than in a top 50 or MPL environnement, so it's fit for most players' level. For simplicity's sake, we consider a team usable once they can safely beat someone with a "high" Elo, whether on the ladder or in tournaments.
Again, the main objectives when building this team were as follow:
Being straight-forward - Not a lot of stall mons or complicated strategy and synergies here.
Abusing Trick Room - TR would probably be pretty scary if it got a 5-turn item, but it's still great, and we've seen TR teams of other types peak at #3 or 4 on the ladder very recently. The current meta being extremely offensive, it's a nice time to reverse everybody's speed. Here we're especially going to sweep with the positively hilarious Thick Bone Bonemerang, currently stuck on a very slow and very fragile pokémon.
Being fun to play - Sometimes, playing the ladder gets frustrating and you just want to have some fun dropping a meta list for a meme one. Embrace it.
Being unexpected - In a relatively rigid meta filled with staple threats and sets, it's nice to bring something surprising, as it tends to throw your opponent off their game. This specific tactical tool sometimes seems underused on showdown.
Being competitive - This list went through a arduous process of trial and error and should satisfyingly hold its own on the ladder.
Being memorable - The team already looks interesting visually in the team preview, and its gimmicks will make for some quirky matches. Surely your opponent will appreciate facing something a bit different.
Teambuilding Process
As another total meme of a pokémon and a fun Trick Room abuser, Marowak is an immediate pick.
Our first TR setter is a Claydol.
Since Marowak is dead weight without Trick Room, we need another TR setter to let it sweep as much as possible. Runerigus will also double as our physical tank.
We'll use Krookodile as a basic suicide lead with Taunt. Even if the current meta has a bit less hazard than it used to, we want to preserve Claydol sash to make sure we'll get a TR up.
Following the same logic, Flygon is our defogger but also kind of a meme with a special offensive set.
Water is everywhere, so Gastrodon will be our Storm Drain special tank to round up the team.
The Team
Marowak @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Bonemerang
- Stone Edge / Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge
Marowak will be the heart and soul of our meme team. Never seen outside of its own meta (PU), we'll make it our goal to sweep with it.
Thanks to its signature item Thick Bone, an Attack-natured Marowak enters the field with 568 Attack. For comparison, an Adamant Azumarill with Huge Power has 436.
Its 45 base speed will be perfect for our TR plan (85 speed with the nature nerf and 0 IV).
This moveset is made to abuse both Trick Room and Thick Bone as much as possible:
Stab Bonemerang is our sweep button of choice and will be reminiscent of Dragon Dart, Double Iron Bash and others.
As a no-brainer, Stone Edge is immediately added for the Edgequake coverage. As always, Rock Slide is a safer alternative.
Since our main damaging moves are super swingy with 90 and 80% accuracy respectively, Knock Off's coverage and BP are used to abuse Marowak's Bone some more.
Likewise, Rock Head Double-Edge will do an absurd amount of damage for free and is only resisted by Rock (rare) and Steel mons (very common but weak to Bonemerang as well as neutral to Knock Off).
The bulky EV spread also surprisingly allows Marowak to take a hit or two in order to get another sweep out of it.
Claydol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Scorching Sands
Our first Trick Room setter won't be a headache to use.
Most of the time it will only use one TR and then Explode so Marowak can switch in ASAP to start throwing bones and optimally get two kills.
We still give it a Quiet nature so it can use its two stab moves in TR if needed.
Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Earthquake / Shadow Claw
- Toxic Spikes / Earthquake
- Curse
Runerigus will be a pretty versatile mon on our team:
It is our physical wall (427 Def with Relaxed but only 319 HP).
It will set up TR for itself or Marowak.
It can throw Toxic Spikes (only Ground TSpikes outside of the Nido family).
(Ghost) Curse will help it make room for Marowak.
Considering Flying is currently on top of an Hyper Offensive meta, it's probably safe to drop Spikes or Earthquake to get something that hits them, like stab Shadow Claw.
Krookodile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Krookodile will be our least meme-y set, as we need its old school "suicide lead" set to make sure hazards won't break Claydol's sash.
You'll lead with it most of the time, unless the team preview indicates your opponent isn't bringing hazards, which is more common than it used to be.
Taunt will be your first move in most of the team's matches. Stealth Rock combines with Toxic Spikes for a pretty strong set of our own hazards.
Other than that, stab Knock Off and stab Earthquake have excellent coverage and damage, to the point that Krookodile is itself a potential sweeper if you have not led with it. With 311 Speed, many mons will be faster than it, and therefore slower than it with Trick Room support.
Even in this TR team, we favor Jolly over Adamant for its use as a Taunt lead.
Flygon @ Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Scorching Sands
- Defog
- Fire Blast
This Special Flygon is both fun and a meme, inspired by the signature set of a Mono user who was active a year ago.
The original set is Specs and can sweep by surprise pretty consistently with its strong Meteor.
However, since we're boarding Flygon for Defog (once again to protect our Claydol's sash for instance), we're going with LO, which allows for more flexibility.
Fire Blast gives the team its needed coverage for Ferrothorn and its Flying/Steel associates, Steel being currently over-represented.
Flygon is also a solid lead with this set, especially considering how surprising it will probably be, so we give it a Timid nature.
Gastrodon @ Assault Vest / Choice Specs
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
This here is another fun unset.
On a basic level, it is a slow, specially bulky, offensive pivot.
However, Gastrodon will always try to switch into a water move.
Being mono-Ground in a meta where Rain is always around the corner, Water moves are not a matter of "if" as much as a matter of "when", so it will usually get the Storm Drain SpAttack boost. From there, it reaches 465 with Quiet, which nobody will expect.
With that boost and Trick Room support (being at 74 Speed one of the slowest mons available to us), Gastrodon will turn into a pretty nasty sweeper with excellent coverage.
Since we will most probably use it as a special sweeper during any given match, Specs can be considered over the special bulk for the crazy meme factor (over 600 SpAttack once Storm Drain procs).
Want to abuse Sand instead of TR? Here is some more spice:
Hippowdon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Scorching Sands
- Weather Ball
- Water Pulse / Hyper Beam
Marowak switches out and Hippowdon comes in as our Sandstorm setter and biggest meme of the team.
Despite being the spiciest meme in our collection, Hippowdon works surprisingly well as a bulky Specs sweeper, with 387 SpAttack.
Even if its movepool is pretty limited (these are the only 4 decent moves it gets), it has nice EdgeQuake coverage with Rock Weather Ball and stab Scorching Sands (also known as the only good Scorching Sands). Once again, the main goal of this set is to KO things that don't expect it (here they will probably never expect it at all, since it is virtually never used).
As you might know, Water/Rock/Ground coverage is only less than neutrally effective on Grass/Fighting: three mons that aren't played in Mono as of now (Breloom, Virizion, Chestnaught).
Excadrill @ Choice Band / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Excadrill comes in alongside Hippowdon to replace Claydol since he's still the best Sand abuser with its Sand Rush.
This set has no meme flavor so there isn't much to say about it. It's Sand Rush Excadrill.
Perhaps a Sandslash with a similar set can be considered if Specs Hippowdon isn't enough of a meme for your taste.
Rhyperior @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Counter
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Heat Crash
As we can lose the physical tanking ability of Runerigus that was mostly there for Trick Room, we go with a slightly off-meta Rhyperior set, abusing Solid Rock combined with Rocky Helmet to turn it into a fearsome Counter tank. If nothing decides to hit it directly, it can spam his stab EdgeQuake coverage. Rock Blast is favored to break Substitutes. Heat Crash is there to take care of the usual Flying/Steel mons you'll likely encounter.
Since it's so slow, this Rhyperior can also be considered as a bulky physical sweeper on the TR version of the team.
Conclusion
The team's goal is to set up enough Trick Rooms to sweep with Marowak or one of its friends. The main trouble the team will have is keeping up its 3 turns of Trick Room often enough for its slow sweepers to work their magic.
Type-wise, it won't struggle against anything that isn't Grass or Ice (which are rare or even absent).
You might also find that a Sandstorm is missing if you run into Rain Water a lot. Trick Room and Storm Drain should still be able to counter their Swift Swim.
As of the original version of this post, Flying and Steel are dominating the meta ; the team can hit some Flying mons with its Rock moves, while Steel shouldn't be an issue at all if Fire Blast is saved for Ferro and Celesteela or Corviknight. Sweeping Steel with Bonemerang feels really nice, but Power Whip Ferro might be an issue since it can abuse our own TR as well.
Since it basically gets free hits with TR support, EdgeQuake coverage actually helps the team a lot despite our otherwise meme status. As mentioned before, an Hyper Offensive meta is a nice time to pull out a Trick Room team.
Obviously, there are a few other meta picks from OU that would help the team become more competitive and less meme-y.
Try them at your own discretion. It is worth mentioning that Specs Garchomp, another meme set, has given pretty solid results before.
Spicy Meme II : Trick Room Ground / "Weird" Ground
Introduction
Another off-meta/gimmicky team that was tried with relative success on the Mono ladder and should be usable competitively.
Like the first one, the main goal of this team is to be unexpected and enjoyable to play.
Unless mentioned otherwise, it will thrive more in lower ladder ranks than in a top 50 or MPL environnement, so it's fit for most players' level. For simplicity's sake, we consider a team usable once they can safely beat someone with a "high" Elo, whether on the ladder or in tournaments.
Again, the main objectives when building this team were as follow:
Being straight-forward - Not a lot of stall mons or complicated strategy and synergies here.
Abusing Trick Room - TR would probably be pretty scary if it got a 5-turn item, but it's still great, and we've seen TR teams of other types peak at #3 or 4 on the ladder very recently. The current meta being extremely offensive, it's a nice time to reverse everybody's speed. Here we're especially going to sweep with the positively hilarious Thick Bone Bonemerang, currently stuck on a very slow and very fragile pokémon.
Being fun to play - Sometimes, playing the ladder gets frustrating and you just want to have some fun dropping a meta list for a meme one. Embrace it.
Being unexpected - In a relatively rigid meta filled with staple threats and sets, it's nice to bring something surprising, as it tends to throw your opponent off their game. This specific tactical tool sometimes seems underused on showdown.
Being competitive - This list went through a arduous process of trial and error and should satisfyingly hold its own on the ladder.
Being memorable - The team already looks interesting visually in the team preview, and its gimmicks will make for some quirky matches. Surely your opponent will appreciate facing something a bit different.
Teambuilding Process
As another total meme of a pokémon and a fun Trick Room abuser, Marowak is an immediate pick.
Our first TR setter is a Claydol.
Since Marowak is dead weight without Trick Room, we need another TR setter to let it sweep as much as possible. Runerigus will also double as our physical tank.
We'll use Krookodile as a basic suicide lead with Taunt. Even if the current meta has a bit less hazard than it used to, we want to preserve Claydol sash to make sure we'll get a TR up.
Following the same logic, Flygon is our defogger but also kind of a meme with a special offensive set.
Water is everywhere, so Gastrodon will be our Storm Drain special tank to round up the team.
Marowak @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Bonemerang
- Stone Edge / Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge
Marowak will be the heart and soul of our meme team. Never seen outside of its own meta (PU), we'll make it our goal to sweep with it.
Thanks to its signature item Thick Bone, an Attack-natured Marowak enters the field with 568 Attack. For comparison, an Adamant Azumarill with Huge Power has 436.
Its 45 base speed will be perfect for our TR plan (85 speed with the nature nerf and 0 IV).
This moveset is made to abuse both Trick Room and Thick Bone as much as possible:
Stab Bonemerang is our sweep button of choice and will be reminiscent of Dragon Dart, Double Iron Bash and others.
As a no-brainer, Stone Edge is immediately added for the Edgequake coverage. As always, Rock Slide is a safer alternative.
Since our main damaging moves are super swingy with 90 and 80% accuracy respectively, Knock Off's coverage and BP are used to abuse Marowak's Bone some more.
Likewise, Rock Head Double-Edge will do an absurd amount of damage for free and is only resisted by Rock (rare) and Steel mons (very common but weak to Bonemerang as well as neutral to Knock Off).
The bulky EV spread also surprisingly allows Marowak to take a hit or two in order to get another sweep out of it.
Claydol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Scorching Sands
Our first Trick Room setter won't be a headache to use.
Most of the time it will only use one TR and then Explode so Marowak can switch in ASAP to start throwing bones and optimally get two kills.
We still give it a Quiet nature so it can use its two stab moves in TR if needed.
Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Earthquake / Shadow Claw
- Toxic Spikes / Earthquake
- Curse
Runerigus will be a pretty versatile mon on our team:
It is our physical wall (427 Def with Relaxed but only 319 HP).
It will set up TR for itself or Marowak.
It can throw Toxic Spikes (only Ground TSpikes outside of the Nido family).
(Ghost) Curse will help it make room for Marowak.
Considering Flying is currently on top of an Hyper Offensive meta, it's probably safe to drop Spikes or Earthquake to get something that hits them, like stab Shadow Claw.
Krookodile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Krookodile will be our least meme-y set, as we need its old school "suicide lead" set to make sure hazards won't break Claydol's sash.
You'll lead with it most of the time, unless the team preview indicates your opponent isn't bringing hazards, which is more common than it used to be.
Taunt will be your first move in most of the team's matches. Stealth Rock combines with Toxic Spikes for a pretty strong set of our own hazards.
Other than that, stab Knock Off and stab Earthquake have excellent coverage and damage, to the point that Krookodile is itself a potential sweeper if you have not led with it. With 311 Speed, many mons will be faster than it, and therefore slower than it with Trick Room support.
Even in this TR team, we favor Jolly over Adamant for its use as a Taunt lead.
Flygon @ Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Scorching Sands
- Defog
- Fire Blast
This Special Flygon is both fun and a meme, inspired by the signature set of a Mono user who was active a year ago.
The original set is Specs and can sweep by surprise pretty consistently with its strong Meteor.
However, since we're boarding Flygon for Defog (once again to protect our Claydol's sash for instance), we're going with LO, which allows for more flexibility.
Fire Blast gives the team its needed coverage for Ferrothorn and its Flying/Steel associates, Steel being currently over-represented.
Flygon is also a solid lead with this set, especially considering how surprising it will probably be, so we give it a Timid nature.
Gastrodon @ Assault Vest / Choice Specs
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
This here is another fun unset.
On a basic level, it is a slow, specially bulky, offensive pivot.
However, Gastrodon will always try to switch into a water move.
Being mono-Ground in a meta where Rain is always around the corner, Water moves are not a matter of "if" as much as a matter of "when", so it will usually get the Storm Drain SpAttack boost. From there, it reaches 465 with Quiet, which nobody will expect.
With that boost and Trick Room support (being at 74 Speed one of the slowest mons available to us), Gastrodon will turn into a pretty nasty sweeper with excellent coverage.
Since we will most probably use it as a special sweeper during any given match, Specs can be considered over the special bulk for the crazy meme factor (over 600 SpAttack once Storm Drain procs).
Want to abuse Sand instead of TR? Here is some more spice:
Hippowdon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Muddy Water
- Scorching Sands
- Weather Ball
- Water Pulse / Hyper Beam
Marowak switches out and Hippowdon comes in as our Sandstorm setter and biggest meme of the team.
Despite being the spiciest meme in our collection, Hippowdon works surprisingly well as a bulky Specs sweeper, with 387 SpAttack.
Even if its movepool is pretty limited (these are the only 4 decent moves it gets), it has nice EdgeQuake coverage with Rock Weather Ball and stab Scorching Sands (also known as the only good Scorching Sands). Once again, the main goal of this set is to KO things that don't expect it (here they will probably never expect it at all, since it is virtually never used).
As you might know, Water/Rock/Ground coverage is only less than neutrally effective on Grass/Fighting: three mons that aren't played in Mono as of now (Breloom, Virizion, Chestnaught).
Excadrill @ Choice Band / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Excadrill comes in alongside Hippowdon to replace Claydol since he's still the best Sand abuser with its Sand Rush.
This set has no meme flavor so there isn't much to say about it. It's Sand Rush Excadrill.
Perhaps a Sandslash with a similar set can be considered if Specs Hippowdon isn't enough of a meme for your taste.
Rhyperior @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Counter
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Heat Crash
As we can lose the physical tanking ability of Runerigus that was mostly there for Trick Room, we go with a slightly off-meta Rhyperior set, abusing Solid Rock combined with Rocky Helmet to turn it into a fearsome Counter tank. If nothing decides to hit it directly, it can spam his stab EdgeQuake coverage. Rock Blast is favored to break Substitutes. Heat Crash is there to take care of the usual Flying/Steel mons you'll likely encounter.
Since it's so slow, this Rhyperior can also be considered as a bulky physical sweeper on the TR version of the team.
Conclusion
The team's goal is to set up enough Trick Rooms to sweep with Marowak or one of its friends. The main trouble the team will have is keeping up its 3 turns of Trick Room often enough for its slow sweepers to work their magic.
Type-wise, it won't struggle against anything that isn't Grass or Ice (which are rare or even absent).
You might also find that a Sandstorm is missing if you run into Rain Water a lot. Trick Room and Storm Drain should still be able to counter their Swift Swim.
As of the original version of this post, Flying and Steel are dominating the meta ; the team can hit some Flying mons with its Rock moves, while Steel shouldn't be an issue at all if Fire Blast is saved for Ferro and Celesteela or Corviknight. Sweeping Steel with Bonemerang feels really nice, but Power Whip Ferro might be an issue since it can abuse our own TR as well.
Since it basically gets free hits with TR support, EdgeQuake coverage actually helps the team a lot despite our otherwise meme status. As mentioned before, an Hyper Offensive meta is a nice time to pull out a Trick Room team.
Obviously, there are a few other meta picks from OU that would help the team become more competitive and less meme-y.
Try them at your own discretion. It is worth mentioning that Specs Garchomp, another meme set, has given pretty solid results before.
Gastrodon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Flygon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Scorching Sands
- Defog
- Fire Blast
Krookodile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Marowak @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Bonemerang
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge
Claydol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Scorching Sands
Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Earthquake
- Toxic Spikes
- Curse
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
Flygon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Scorching Sands
- Defog
- Fire Blast
Krookodile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Marowak @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Bonemerang
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Double-Edge
Claydol @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Scorching Sands
Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Earthquake
- Toxic Spikes
- Curse
Attachments
Last edited: