with permission from Nyx
With the second annual Draft USUM Cup ready to go and many new players signing up, now seems like a good time to give an introduction/guide to my personal favorite of the old gen draft tiers!
The defining trait of the generation is the fast pace at which games are often played, with USUM being the final generation to include the entire National Dex at full power creep. Bolstering this is USUM’s generational mechanic: Z-Moves. In a metagame so centered around finding the upper hand early and keeping it, these serve a plentitude of purposes ranging from destructive early game breaking tools, to unexpected baits, to being the clincher on a set-up sweeper and everything inbetween.
Another difference I think is important to mention is the presence of “Superberries”, a set of 5 berries that only in USUM restore 50% HP to the user when at ¼ of their HP or less. These are very frequent and useful in the fast-paced metagame, and if you aren’t already familiar with them, I will list them here.
Figy: do not use with -Atk Natures
Iapapa: do not use with -Def Natures
Wiki: do not use with -SpA Natures
Aguav: do not use with -SpDef Natures
Mago: do not use with -Speed Natures
General rulings for the tournament are listed below, along with a highlight of rules that pertain specifically toward Z-Crystals.
The remainder of this post will be used to highlight some of the common Round 1 Picks and give an overview on them for newer players.
Tapu Koko
The de-facto number 1 pick in any SM draft — not that this is mandatory, but Koko has cemented itself as THE go-to top mon for the generation. It is the undefeated king of offense in a tier dominated by the playstyle, and its positive traits are as plentiful as they are overwhelming. Its foremost traits are its 130 Speed and Electric Surge ability, which in gen 7 gives all electric moves a staggering 1.5x boost. Immediately, this makes Tapu Koko one of the strongest and fastest mons in the entire tier. Further bolstering it is the incredible Fairy secondary typing, which gives it a reliable secondary stab in the form of Dazzling Gleam. Other coverage moves like HP Ice and Grass Knot, access to setup in the form of Calm Mind, and the always-reliable U-turn leave Koko with more than enough options to play around its checks. Lastly, it can run a strong physical set with a higher base ATK stat, but this is usually less preferred due its physical movepool being weaker into grounds and the fact Wild Charge and Brave Bird both cause significant recoil.
Its place as top dog also has to do with its prowess as a pivot, with Electric/Fairy typing providing it useful resistances to types like Flying and Fighting, which it immediately forces out and can use as an opportunity to roost. In addition, its Electric Terrain can be used as an advantage by teammates to give a boost to their electric type coverage and directly open up more niche teammates like those with Unburden or Alolan Raichu. All in all a pick with no weaknesses and very little if any room to go wrong with.
Common Items: Fairium Z, Electrium Z, Shuca Berry, Life Orb, Choice Specs
Draft Partners: Offense. Pivots. Little need to get creative with this one.
Landorus-Therian
SM OU’s resident kingpin finds himself right near the top of SM Draft’s hierarchy as well. With its immediate power, Intimidate, and the ability to run pretty much any role imaginable with ease, he’s another bona fide can’t miss pick. Offensively, Lando T’s 145 Atk stat attached to the most spammable stab in the game with Earthquake speaks for itself. His options in how it wishes to deal it out, however, are very flexible. For starters, Lando T is one of the most reliable and consistent Z users in the entire game; Z Fly, Z Stone edge, and many other options are all incredibly powerful and force immediate progress. Lando often chooses to use these to scare opponents and punish hazard removers, making it one of the very best hazard setters in the game. On top of this, it is perhaps the single most reliable Choice Scarf user in the entire tier, pivoting around with U-Turn and setting up Earthquake sweeps with ease. Essentially, he functions as the ultimate offensive Swiss Army Knife with a blade more akin to a sword.
Defensively it warrants more praise, but also a warning. Landorus-Therian’s intimidate and resistance to Fighting and immunity to Ground type attacks leave it with a formidable physically defensive profile. However, the special side is his primary weakness. A 4x weakness to HP Ice and middling speed in particular force users build, draft, and play with more caution than other top tiers will. For this reason, it is recommended that drafting Landorus-Therian should also include drafting a Grass type or another ground without a 4x weakness to ice to assist in checking the broken electric types of the format.
Common Items: Rockium Z, Flyinium Z, Choice Scarf, Yache Berry, Iapapa Berry
Draft Partners: Ice resistances, another bulky ground/grass, pivot offense
Zeraora
Speaking of broken electric types, Zeraora is up next. It has sustained a longtime rivalry in draft with Tapu Koko in the competition for which fast electric type is the greatest, and while popular opinion currently is firmly in the court of Koko, Zeraora nonetheless has firmly planted itself as one of SM Draft’s finest. Its standout trait is its blinding 143 base speed, making it faster than every other relevant mon (besides Mega Aerodactyl, depending on your definition of relevant :p). The other defining thing is its access to perhaps the only good physical electric move in the entire game this side of Zekrom, the 100 BP no drawback Plasma Fists. It uses this speed in conjunction with its very respectable mixed offenses to clean up teams as reliably as anything else you will find and also force significant prep from your opponent in the form of Rocky Helmets, resist berries, and choice scarfs. What makes Zeraora so lethal in spite of these forms of counterplay is its offensive flexibility with access to Z moves. On the physical side it has Z Close Combat, Z Plasma Fists and Z Giga Impact, while on the special side it has Z Thunderbolt, Z Focus Blast, and Z Grass Knot. Any of these aimed well in conjunction with Bulk Up or Calm Mind respectively will do massive damage if not outright OHKO defensive switchins and easily threaten a sweep, and even without Z, Knock Off is a very reliable and spammable method of making progress against its checks. There may be no better pure offensive mon than Zera in the dex.
What it has in offense though, it lacks in defensive utility. While Koko runs around with roost and its fairy type, Zera’s entire defensive utility is its electric immunity due to Volt Absorb and resistance to flying. There has been a recent trend of people running very bulky sets with less offensive investment, but these are still all geared towards enabling a sweep via setup opportunities.
Common Items: Many different Z-Moves, Shuca Berry, Life Orb, Expert Belt
Draft Partners: Reliable hazard setters, wallbreakers, and pivots
Celesteela
Another verified staple of the SM draft metagame, Celesteela continues to defy all expectations. What was originally looked at as “Skarmory without roost or hazards” has carved an impressive place for itself was one of SM Draft’s top picks. While it made its name in standard as a defensive wall with Leech Seed and Protect, its claim to fame in draft mostly lies in its Autotomize sets. With solid mixed offensive stats and an extremely strong Heavy Slam on top of its coverage, it can be customized to sweep a majority of teams with relative ease. While its offensive stats are fine, they are not spectacular though; its power comes through picking this coverage and the incredible Beast Boost ability which allows it to snowball out of control very quickly upon picking up a kill. In addition, its strong defensive profile comes frequently into play in finding it chances to set up and find this kill without being KOd.
Defensively, it is still very above average in draft. It can wall mons on either side of the physical/special split and with the aforementioned leech tect combo (often also featuring toxic), it can become a nuisance very quickly if disregarded in prep. However, defensive Celesteela has a couple major downsides. The first and biggest one is how it is crippled by Knock Off removing its leftovers, due to it having only passive recovery to heal. The second one isn’t a downside in the traditional sense, but places more emphasis on your drafting: it lacks any sort of hazards while being a bulky Steel type. This often requires drafters to search for alternative rocks setters beyond their ground type, and as a result Pokemon like Uxie and Mesprit see frequent usage as partners with it.
Common Items: Z-Moves, Leftovers, Weakness Policy, Resist Berries
Common Partners: Electric/Fire type attack sponges, alternative Stealth Rock setters, Knock off absorbers
Garchomp
Coming as a surprise to no one, the landshark’s reign as a landmark of consistency stretches into Gen 7 draft as well. You know what it does, I know what it does, it knows what it does, and it WILL do it. “It”, of course, is be the best stealth rock + kill mon in the entire dex. A set of Earthquake, Stone Edge/Outrage, Swords Dance and Stealth Rock with a Z crystal will have a viable matchup in just about every matchup in existence. But, while this is how Garchomp puts the bread on the table, its not quite a one-trick. It can run other items like resist berries (Yache and Haban specifically), Choice Scarf, or Life Orb with Fire Blast to great effect as well.
Defensively, it suffers the main big issue that can hold Lando-T back: it is 4x weak to Ice. This makes it inconsistent at best vs special attackers, and like Lando it appreciates teammates to help vs Electric types as a result. In comparison to Lando too, it is worse at switching into physical attackers due to no Intimidate and less important resistances, though Rough Skin is neat for racking up residual damage on physical attackers. In addition, while it is maybe the single best rocks setter in the format, it does also greatly appreciate another teammate who can do that job in a matchup where it may want to run Choice Scarf or Substitute (often with a Salac Berry as a lategame cleaner). All in all, no nonsense, strong, and as consistent as they come.
Common Items: Dragonium Z, Rockium Z, Yache Berry, Choice Scarf, Life Orb
Common Partners: Faster offensive threat(s), help with electric types. Very flexible
Kyurem-Black
A top contender for the strongest breaker in the entire tier; it’s as scary as it looks. While I compared Lando to a Swiss army knife, Kyurem-B would be best compared to a sledgehammer. 170 Atk and 120 SpA with the ever-frightening Ice STAB makes this thing a monster to switch into, often plowing right through walls, even ones that resist it. It’s tool of choice is Freeze Shock in combination with Icium Z, giving it a 200 BP nuke that serves as maybe the strongest single hit attack in the entirety of SM draft. Complementing it is the fact that it also has a rare very strong no drawback Electric move in Fusion Bolt to do massive damage to Waters that resist its Ice attacks. In addition, Kyurem-B’s status as a box legendary gives it similarly out of this world bulk – 125/100/90 to be specific. Kyurem often uses this bulk to set up formidable substitutes or otherwise eat strong hits a mon of its power has no business staying in on (this can be accentuated even more by resist berries!)
Kyurem-Black thus stands as one of the strongest mons in the tier, but is burdened by more than any other top choice. Primarily, it is not fast (95 Speed), it has strong moves but its movepool at large is pretty limited (especially on the physical side), and worst of all, it is weak to Stealth Rock — something you should expect to be set up vs you early every game. Many often choose to use it as a lead due to the combination of its bulk, power, and weakness to SR as a result. One of the highest ceilings of any mon, but one that often requires more discipline in drafting and prep to get the most out of.
Common Items – Icium Z, Life Orb, Resist Berry, Choice Scarf, Choice Band
Draft Partners – Hazard Control and some faster offensive threats are pretty much mandatory (Mega Diancie is a frequent partner for these reasons.)
Mega Gallade
One of the premier megas in SM Draft. Despite it’s mediocre performances in standard OU, Mega Gallade stands firmly atop the other choices due to its incredible movepool and strong STABs coming off 165 Atk and 110 Speed. This guy has some of the best coverage in the tier from a mon not named Mew: elemental punches, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Poison Jab, Knock Off, and Leaf Blade just to name some of them. These alone would be very threatening on a Pokemon this strong and fast, but Mega Gallade has access to both Swords Dance and Bulk Up to get even more out of them. SD speaks for itself, and BU is extremely good in its own right in conjunction with Drain Punch vs teams that may try to revenge kill it with frailer, faster mons. Substitute is another good option on the latter. In the rare cases it can’t flat out beat its checks down with raw power, Mega Lade also boasts a variety of utility options to defeat checks such as Taunt, Will-o-Wisp and even lesser used options like Thunder Wave to cripple opponents.
Mega Gallade’s primary weakness is one shared with most megas – no item flexibility. This often leaves its checks more consistent than other top mons with greater variance who may pack things like resist berries or choice items to bait the counter. Additionally, it suffers from the plethora of viable bulky Psychic types in a metagame that doesn’t feature much bulk overall. Regardless, a proven solid top pick with extremely diverse movepool flexibility and plenty of firepower.
Common Items: take a guess
Draft Partners: Nothing in particular beyond partners that punish Psychics and Fairy types
Mega Mawile
678. That is the number that matters discussing Mega Mawile, and it is its Atk stat after Huge Power at full investment. It is, put simply, quite possibly the strongest unboosted Pokemon in the entire game. Also, Steel/Fairy type is one of the best in the game. Surely Mega Maw is broken, right?
Not quite. It stands as a top wallbreaker and one of the best Megas in the format, with access to Swords Dance to reach a nightmarish Atk stat of nearly 1400 at +2, and Sucker Punch as strong priority, with a moveset rounded out with strong STABs, Knock Off, Elemental Punches, and Stone Edge. There is just about nothing that demands your attention as a player more than staring this thing down, and it threatens a KO every time it comes in if not a sweep.
However, using Mega Maw can be extremely tricky. It is extremely slow at only base 50 Speed, and still weak to Fire and Ground (the former of which also resists both of its STABs). It does have Intimidate to soften the physical blows before it Mega Evolves, but strong special moves from these types will have not too much trouble KOing it provided they live a sucker punch. A word of warning for Mawile users is to always be vigilant of Substitute users – it's very frequently used as counterplay to it by leveraging Sucker Punch mindgames in the opponents favor. At the same time though, Mawile can also find chances to Substitute on slow/forced out opposing mons and wreak its own havoc if timed well. Perhaps the highest skill ceiling required of any 1st round contender, but downright deadly if played correctly.
Common Items: use your head
Draft Partners: Slow Pivot move users (Uxie, Rotom, etc), Water types, Toxic Spikes
Tornadus-Therian
Tornadus-Therian walks (flies?) a tightrope between absolute consistency and nightmarish variance. Let’s start with the good: 121 Speed and Regenerator. Torn-T is one of the most solid pivots in the entire game due to its solid bulk, great speed and incredible Regenerator ability that makes it essentially resist Stealth Rock and become a massive nuisance without them being set up. Speaking of Stealth Rock, Torn is also one of the tier’s best and most consistent defoggers by nature of its speed and access to taunt and a variety of coverage moves like Heat Wave, Focus Blast, and Sludge Wave and Knock off with the potential of utilizing Z moves to hard punish the opposing team’s hazard setters. Flyinium Z is the most common Z move for it by a wide margin, turning its Hurricane into a difficult to resist strong move that functions equally well for revenge killing an opposing threat or as a “get-off-me” button vs its switchins.
However, Torn-T flies in with an elephant in the room on its back. Hurricane, by far its best attack, is only 70% accurate. This can lead to nailbiters and heartbreakers if forced to land in an important scenario, with the paltry Air Slash not serving particularly well as a safer option due to its low damage. On the bright side, having Hurricane at all is still a significant buff over Air Slash, and I think most players have experienced a Hurricane confusion pulling victory from the jaws of near-certain defeat. Besides, until that crucial scenario comes up, Torn-T will provide you with one-of-a-kind utility and pivoting that comes with a potent offensive punch too.
Common Items: Flyinium Z, Fightinium Z, Rocky Helmet, Resist Berries, Life Orb
Draft Partners: Strong offense for it to work as support for. Solid rock/ice/electric resists.
Zygarde-50%
The first of the Uber pokemon allowed in SM Draft, Zygarde 50% holds a unique spot among the hierarchy. It’s offensive stats are mediocre, and its defenses massive, but its strong suit is its breaking and sweeping. This is done with its access to Thousand Arrows, a contender for the best STAB move in the entire game which is only resisted by opposing Grass types and less commonly by Bugs. It’s able to freely spam this with a Choice Band and many teams will simply not have a resist, and those that do can be beaten by toxic, Outrage or a double switch. Extreme Speed rounds out this set perfectly as a lategame cleanup option. Zygarde’s other main set is the infamous Dragon Dance sets that got it banned from OU in conjunction with screens. These mostly use Z-Outrage to smite grass types, but other items like 50% Berries (Iapapa,Figy, etc., resist berries (yache, haban), and Weakness Policy are also very threatening in their own right. These are also often featured on Coil sets, and alternative setup set that makes Zygarde nigh-unkillable on the physical side. Coil sets often feature Substitute or Rest to prolong its chances, and can even be used alongside Dragon Dance with the moveslots afforded by the singularly all-encompassing Thousand Arrows.
Defensively Zygarde is also odd. As mentioned previously, its 108/121/95 Bulk is well above average, but it shares the common 4x Ice weakness with Landorus-Therian and Garchomp that makes it shaky vs special/mixed attackers. It is noticeably bulkier than either of those on the special side though, so outside of ice coverage it can be used to solid effect on neutral hits if need be. Its defensive movepool is carried by Glare, an uncommon but frankly overpowered status move that inflicts Paralysis on the opponent with 100% accuracy, and unlike Thunder Wave, paralyzes other Ground types like itself too. Lastly, like Celesteela, its position as an expensive ground type without stealth rock increases the urgency with which you must find other options to fill that role. An oddball mon, but one of the very most threatening in the game with chances to set up and a variety of options to do so.
Common Items: Choice Band, Dragonium Z, Leftovers, Weakness Policy, Super Berries, Yache Berry
Draft Partners: Alternative SR setters, teammates that punish Grass types, Offensive support
Mew
Lastly for the Mons I’ll be discussing today, we have Mew. Mew is controversial, with many thinking its incredible due to its inherent versatility, and many being put off by its “Jack of all trades, master of none” reputation. Regardless, the fact is that Mew has the best movepool out of anything in the pool, and has no weak stats with a flat 100 in all of them. Offensively, it can feasibly run just about every setup move from Calm Mind to Swords Dance, to Nasty Plot and Rock Polish. NP + RP is the most common sweeper set, as mew has access to a unique and very powerful Z-Move in Genesis Supernova which uses Mewnium Z to power up Mew’s Psychic into a 185 BP Move that sets up the 1.5x Psychic Terrain for 5 turns after. Other offensive sets that are seen range from Bulk Up Leech Life, to Flame Charge Swords Dance, to Calm Mind Taunt Roost 1 Attack. Do note however that its movepool is different than in gen 8/9 for those used to using it there, with moves like Stored Power and Spikes not being learned by it yet.
Defensively, Mew is very solid on both sides of the physical special split with access to a plethora of status inducing moves, Stealth Rock, Defog, reliable recovery and much much more. Though this applies to all defensive mons in USUM, do note that relying on it as a crutch defensively can leave you open to being swept by an unexpected strong Z Move from a breaker. In terms of resistances, Psychic and Fighting are both solid ones to have, but weaknesses to the ever common U-Turn and Knock Off can give it grief as well. Ultimately a mon whose theoretical ceiling and floor are as high or low as the user is able to personally get out of it.
Common Items: Mewnium Z, Leftovers, Colbur Berry, + anything really
Draft Partners: Other immediate firepower, other hazard removers to take pressure off Mew to do so. Very flexible if unspectacular in team options.
Conclusion
Lastly I’d like to say there are various other mons that can be taken r1, with the likes of Landorus-Incarnate, Latios, Necrozma, Mega Diancie and even rarely Greninja going around the r1-r2 wheel. Good luck on drafting and hope you enjoy!
A Beginner's Guide to USUM Draft
With the second annual Draft USUM Cup ready to go and many new players signing up, now seems like a good time to give an introduction/guide to my personal favorite of the old gen draft tiers!
The defining trait of the generation is the fast pace at which games are often played, with USUM being the final generation to include the entire National Dex at full power creep. Bolstering this is USUM’s generational mechanic: Z-Moves. In a metagame so centered around finding the upper hand early and keeping it, these serve a plentitude of purposes ranging from destructive early game breaking tools, to unexpected baits, to being the clincher on a set-up sweeper and everything inbetween.
Another difference I think is important to mention is the presence of “Superberries”, a set of 5 berries that only in USUM restore 50% HP to the user when at ¼ of their HP or less. These are very frequent and useful in the fast-paced metagame, and if you aren’t already familiar with them, I will list them here.
Figy: do not use with -Atk NaturesIapapa: do not use with -Def NaturesWiki: do not use with -SpA NaturesAguav: do not use with -SpDef NaturesMago: do not use with -Speed NaturesGeneral rulings for the tournament are listed below, along with a highlight of rules that pertain specifically toward Z-Crystals.
- Every draft is permitted to have 2 Z-Captains, which are the only Pokémon allowed to run Z-Crystals. These are chosen at the end of a pool’s drafting period.
- Z-Crystals may be held by any mon (for the purpose of blocking trick), under the condition they cannot be used unless they are a designated Z-Captain.
- Omniboosting moves are BANNED. (These include the likes of Clangorous Soulblaze, Z-Conversion, Z-Celebrate and any other Z-move which grants the user a stat boost to all stats.)
- You have up to 90 points with which to draft 8 Pokémon. Costs are listed on your pool’s tab on the drafting spreadsheet.
- You may only draft 1 Mega Evolution and the non-Mega variants of Pokémon may not Mega Evolve.
- If a Pokémon is picked by someone else, you may not pick it.
- For the first round, there is a 12 hour timer. After the first round ends, there will be a continuous 6 hour timer within which you must pick, or you will be skipped, and will be required to make-up your pick when you are next online. All timers are off between 10pm-7am local time (check your pool's pinned message for local time).
- Your timer will halve every time you are skipped. It is recommended to leave picks (with backups) with your pool moderator to avoid this.
- At the end of the draft you must declare 2 Z-Captains, these are the only Pokémon that will be able to use Z-Moves on your draft.
- The following complex bans are in place:
- Blaziken may not have the ability Speed Boost.
- Greninja may not have the ability Protean nor Battle Bond.
- Zygarde-50% and Zygarde-10% may not have the ability Power Construct. - The following Pokémon have access to all of their forms (although you may only bring up to 1 to each battle):
- Pikachu
- Wormadam
- Basculin
- Meowstic
- Pumpkaboo
- Gourgeist
- Oricorio
- Silvally - Smogon’s Species Clause applies to your draft.
- All games must be played in the [Gen 7] Draft tier on smogtours.psim.us or psim.us. Be aware that each game on smogtours starts a timer automatically and cannot be turned off.
- USUM cartridge win conditions are in place; there are no ties.
- Each set is a best-of-one set.
- The following clauses apply:
- Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokémon with the same National Pokédex number on a team.
- Sleep Clause: If a player has already put a Pokémon on their opponent's side to sleep and it is still sleeping, another one can't be put to sleep.
- Evasion Clause: A Pokémon may not hold an item, use a move or possess an ability that can increase their evasion stat. This includes the move Acupressure.
- OHKO Clause: A Pokémon may not have the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold in its moveset.
- Moody Clause: A team cannot have a Pokémon with the ability Moody.
- Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot intentionally prevent an opponent from being able to end the game without forfeiting.
- Baton Pass Clause: A Pokémon may not have Baton Pass in its moveset. - Quick Claw, King's Rock and Razor Claw are banned.
- Any items unreleased in USUM are banned.
The remainder of this post will be used to highlight some of the common Round 1 Picks and give an overview on them for newer players.
Tapu Koko
The de-facto number 1 pick in any SM draft — not that this is mandatory, but Koko has cemented itself as THE go-to top mon for the generation. It is the undefeated king of offense in a tier dominated by the playstyle, and its positive traits are as plentiful as they are overwhelming. Its foremost traits are its 130 Speed and Electric Surge ability, which in gen 7 gives all electric moves a staggering 1.5x boost. Immediately, this makes Tapu Koko one of the strongest and fastest mons in the entire tier. Further bolstering it is the incredible Fairy secondary typing, which gives it a reliable secondary stab in the form of Dazzling Gleam. Other coverage moves like HP Ice and Grass Knot, access to setup in the form of Calm Mind, and the always-reliable U-turn leave Koko with more than enough options to play around its checks. Lastly, it can run a strong physical set with a higher base ATK stat, but this is usually less preferred due its physical movepool being weaker into grounds and the fact Wild Charge and Brave Bird both cause significant recoil.
Its place as top dog also has to do with its prowess as a pivot, with Electric/Fairy typing providing it useful resistances to types like Flying and Fighting, which it immediately forces out and can use as an opportunity to roost. In addition, its Electric Terrain can be used as an advantage by teammates to give a boost to their electric type coverage and directly open up more niche teammates like those with Unburden or Alolan Raichu. All in all a pick with no weaknesses and very little if any room to go wrong with.
Common Items: Fairium Z, Electrium Z, Shuca Berry, Life Orb, Choice Specs
Draft Partners: Offense. Pivots. Little need to get creative with this one.
Landorus-Therian
SM OU’s resident kingpin finds himself right near the top of SM Draft’s hierarchy as well. With its immediate power, Intimidate, and the ability to run pretty much any role imaginable with ease, he’s another bona fide can’t miss pick. Offensively, Lando T’s 145 Atk stat attached to the most spammable stab in the game with Earthquake speaks for itself. His options in how it wishes to deal it out, however, are very flexible. For starters, Lando T is one of the most reliable and consistent Z users in the entire game; Z Fly, Z Stone edge, and many other options are all incredibly powerful and force immediate progress. Lando often chooses to use these to scare opponents and punish hazard removers, making it one of the very best hazard setters in the game. On top of this, it is perhaps the single most reliable Choice Scarf user in the entire tier, pivoting around with U-Turn and setting up Earthquake sweeps with ease. Essentially, he functions as the ultimate offensive Swiss Army Knife with a blade more akin to a sword.
Defensively it warrants more praise, but also a warning. Landorus-Therian’s intimidate and resistance to Fighting and immunity to Ground type attacks leave it with a formidable physically defensive profile. However, the special side is his primary weakness. A 4x weakness to HP Ice and middling speed in particular force users build, draft, and play with more caution than other top tiers will. For this reason, it is recommended that drafting Landorus-Therian should also include drafting a Grass type or another ground without a 4x weakness to ice to assist in checking the broken electric types of the format.
Common Items: Rockium Z, Flyinium Z, Choice Scarf, Yache Berry, Iapapa Berry
Draft Partners: Ice resistances, another bulky ground/grass, pivot offense
Zeraora
Speaking of broken electric types, Zeraora is up next. It has sustained a longtime rivalry in draft with Tapu Koko in the competition for which fast electric type is the greatest, and while popular opinion currently is firmly in the court of Koko, Zeraora nonetheless has firmly planted itself as one of SM Draft’s finest. Its standout trait is its blinding 143 base speed, making it faster than every other relevant mon (besides Mega Aerodactyl, depending on your definition of relevant :p). The other defining thing is its access to perhaps the only good physical electric move in the entire game this side of Zekrom, the 100 BP no drawback Plasma Fists. It uses this speed in conjunction with its very respectable mixed offenses to clean up teams as reliably as anything else you will find and also force significant prep from your opponent in the form of Rocky Helmets, resist berries, and choice scarfs. What makes Zeraora so lethal in spite of these forms of counterplay is its offensive flexibility with access to Z moves. On the physical side it has Z Close Combat, Z Plasma Fists and Z Giga Impact, while on the special side it has Z Thunderbolt, Z Focus Blast, and Z Grass Knot. Any of these aimed well in conjunction with Bulk Up or Calm Mind respectively will do massive damage if not outright OHKO defensive switchins and easily threaten a sweep, and even without Z, Knock Off is a very reliable and spammable method of making progress against its checks. There may be no better pure offensive mon than Zera in the dex.
What it has in offense though, it lacks in defensive utility. While Koko runs around with roost and its fairy type, Zera’s entire defensive utility is its electric immunity due to Volt Absorb and resistance to flying. There has been a recent trend of people running very bulky sets with less offensive investment, but these are still all geared towards enabling a sweep via setup opportunities.
Common Items: Many different Z-Moves, Shuca Berry, Life Orb, Expert Belt
Draft Partners: Reliable hazard setters, wallbreakers, and pivots
Celesteela
Another verified staple of the SM draft metagame, Celesteela continues to defy all expectations. What was originally looked at as “Skarmory without roost or hazards” has carved an impressive place for itself was one of SM Draft’s top picks. While it made its name in standard as a defensive wall with Leech Seed and Protect, its claim to fame in draft mostly lies in its Autotomize sets. With solid mixed offensive stats and an extremely strong Heavy Slam on top of its coverage, it can be customized to sweep a majority of teams with relative ease. While its offensive stats are fine, they are not spectacular though; its power comes through picking this coverage and the incredible Beast Boost ability which allows it to snowball out of control very quickly upon picking up a kill. In addition, its strong defensive profile comes frequently into play in finding it chances to set up and find this kill without being KOd.
Defensively, it is still very above average in draft. It can wall mons on either side of the physical/special split and with the aforementioned leech tect combo (often also featuring toxic), it can become a nuisance very quickly if disregarded in prep. However, defensive Celesteela has a couple major downsides. The first and biggest one is how it is crippled by Knock Off removing its leftovers, due to it having only passive recovery to heal. The second one isn’t a downside in the traditional sense, but places more emphasis on your drafting: it lacks any sort of hazards while being a bulky Steel type. This often requires drafters to search for alternative rocks setters beyond their ground type, and as a result Pokemon like Uxie and Mesprit see frequent usage as partners with it.
Common Items: Z-Moves, Leftovers, Weakness Policy, Resist Berries
Common Partners: Electric/Fire type attack sponges, alternative Stealth Rock setters, Knock off absorbers
Garchomp
Coming as a surprise to no one, the landshark’s reign as a landmark of consistency stretches into Gen 7 draft as well. You know what it does, I know what it does, it knows what it does, and it WILL do it. “It”, of course, is be the best stealth rock + kill mon in the entire dex. A set of Earthquake, Stone Edge/Outrage, Swords Dance and Stealth Rock with a Z crystal will have a viable matchup in just about every matchup in existence. But, while this is how Garchomp puts the bread on the table, its not quite a one-trick. It can run other items like resist berries (Yache and Haban specifically), Choice Scarf, or Life Orb with Fire Blast to great effect as well.
Defensively, it suffers the main big issue that can hold Lando-T back: it is 4x weak to Ice. This makes it inconsistent at best vs special attackers, and like Lando it appreciates teammates to help vs Electric types as a result. In comparison to Lando too, it is worse at switching into physical attackers due to no Intimidate and less important resistances, though Rough Skin is neat for racking up residual damage on physical attackers. In addition, while it is maybe the single best rocks setter in the format, it does also greatly appreciate another teammate who can do that job in a matchup where it may want to run Choice Scarf or Substitute (often with a Salac Berry as a lategame cleaner). All in all, no nonsense, strong, and as consistent as they come.
Common Items: Dragonium Z, Rockium Z, Yache Berry, Choice Scarf, Life Orb
Common Partners: Faster offensive threat(s), help with electric types. Very flexible
Kyurem-Black
A top contender for the strongest breaker in the entire tier; it’s as scary as it looks. While I compared Lando to a Swiss army knife, Kyurem-B would be best compared to a sledgehammer. 170 Atk and 120 SpA with the ever-frightening Ice STAB makes this thing a monster to switch into, often plowing right through walls, even ones that resist it. It’s tool of choice is Freeze Shock in combination with Icium Z, giving it a 200 BP nuke that serves as maybe the strongest single hit attack in the entirety of SM draft. Complementing it is the fact that it also has a rare very strong no drawback Electric move in Fusion Bolt to do massive damage to Waters that resist its Ice attacks. In addition, Kyurem-B’s status as a box legendary gives it similarly out of this world bulk – 125/100/90 to be specific. Kyurem often uses this bulk to set up formidable substitutes or otherwise eat strong hits a mon of its power has no business staying in on (this can be accentuated even more by resist berries!)
Kyurem-Black thus stands as one of the strongest mons in the tier, but is burdened by more than any other top choice. Primarily, it is not fast (95 Speed), it has strong moves but its movepool at large is pretty limited (especially on the physical side), and worst of all, it is weak to Stealth Rock — something you should expect to be set up vs you early every game. Many often choose to use it as a lead due to the combination of its bulk, power, and weakness to SR as a result. One of the highest ceilings of any mon, but one that often requires more discipline in drafting and prep to get the most out of.
Common Items – Icium Z, Life Orb, Resist Berry, Choice Scarf, Choice Band
Draft Partners – Hazard Control and some faster offensive threats are pretty much mandatory (Mega Diancie is a frequent partner for these reasons.)
Mega Gallade
One of the premier megas in SM Draft. Despite it’s mediocre performances in standard OU, Mega Gallade stands firmly atop the other choices due to its incredible movepool and strong STABs coming off 165 Atk and 110 Speed. This guy has some of the best coverage in the tier from a mon not named Mew: elemental punches, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Poison Jab, Knock Off, and Leaf Blade just to name some of them. These alone would be very threatening on a Pokemon this strong and fast, but Mega Gallade has access to both Swords Dance and Bulk Up to get even more out of them. SD speaks for itself, and BU is extremely good in its own right in conjunction with Drain Punch vs teams that may try to revenge kill it with frailer, faster mons. Substitute is another good option on the latter. In the rare cases it can’t flat out beat its checks down with raw power, Mega Lade also boasts a variety of utility options to defeat checks such as Taunt, Will-o-Wisp and even lesser used options like Thunder Wave to cripple opponents.
Mega Gallade’s primary weakness is one shared with most megas – no item flexibility. This often leaves its checks more consistent than other top mons with greater variance who may pack things like resist berries or choice items to bait the counter. Additionally, it suffers from the plethora of viable bulky Psychic types in a metagame that doesn’t feature much bulk overall. Regardless, a proven solid top pick with extremely diverse movepool flexibility and plenty of firepower.
Common Items: take a guess
Draft Partners: Nothing in particular beyond partners that punish Psychics and Fairy types
Mega Mawile
678. That is the number that matters discussing Mega Mawile, and it is its Atk stat after Huge Power at full investment. It is, put simply, quite possibly the strongest unboosted Pokemon in the entire game. Also, Steel/Fairy type is one of the best in the game. Surely Mega Maw is broken, right?
Not quite. It stands as a top wallbreaker and one of the best Megas in the format, with access to Swords Dance to reach a nightmarish Atk stat of nearly 1400 at +2, and Sucker Punch as strong priority, with a moveset rounded out with strong STABs, Knock Off, Elemental Punches, and Stone Edge. There is just about nothing that demands your attention as a player more than staring this thing down, and it threatens a KO every time it comes in if not a sweep.
However, using Mega Maw can be extremely tricky. It is extremely slow at only base 50 Speed, and still weak to Fire and Ground (the former of which also resists both of its STABs). It does have Intimidate to soften the physical blows before it Mega Evolves, but strong special moves from these types will have not too much trouble KOing it provided they live a sucker punch. A word of warning for Mawile users is to always be vigilant of Substitute users – it's very frequently used as counterplay to it by leveraging Sucker Punch mindgames in the opponents favor. At the same time though, Mawile can also find chances to Substitute on slow/forced out opposing mons and wreak its own havoc if timed well. Perhaps the highest skill ceiling required of any 1st round contender, but downright deadly if played correctly.
Common Items: use your head
Draft Partners: Slow Pivot move users (Uxie, Rotom, etc), Water types, Toxic Spikes
Tornadus-Therian
Tornadus-Therian walks (flies?) a tightrope between absolute consistency and nightmarish variance. Let’s start with the good: 121 Speed and Regenerator. Torn-T is one of the most solid pivots in the entire game due to its solid bulk, great speed and incredible Regenerator ability that makes it essentially resist Stealth Rock and become a massive nuisance without them being set up. Speaking of Stealth Rock, Torn is also one of the tier’s best and most consistent defoggers by nature of its speed and access to taunt and a variety of coverage moves like Heat Wave, Focus Blast, and Sludge Wave and Knock off with the potential of utilizing Z moves to hard punish the opposing team’s hazard setters. Flyinium Z is the most common Z move for it by a wide margin, turning its Hurricane into a difficult to resist strong move that functions equally well for revenge killing an opposing threat or as a “get-off-me” button vs its switchins.
However, Torn-T flies in with an elephant in the room on its back. Hurricane, by far its best attack, is only 70% accurate. This can lead to nailbiters and heartbreakers if forced to land in an important scenario, with the paltry Air Slash not serving particularly well as a safer option due to its low damage. On the bright side, having Hurricane at all is still a significant buff over Air Slash, and I think most players have experienced a Hurricane confusion pulling victory from the jaws of near-certain defeat. Besides, until that crucial scenario comes up, Torn-T will provide you with one-of-a-kind utility and pivoting that comes with a potent offensive punch too.
Common Items: Flyinium Z, Fightinium Z, Rocky Helmet, Resist Berries, Life Orb
Draft Partners: Strong offense for it to work as support for. Solid rock/ice/electric resists.
Zygarde-50%
The first of the Uber pokemon allowed in SM Draft, Zygarde 50% holds a unique spot among the hierarchy. It’s offensive stats are mediocre, and its defenses massive, but its strong suit is its breaking and sweeping. This is done with its access to Thousand Arrows, a contender for the best STAB move in the entire game which is only resisted by opposing Grass types and less commonly by Bugs. It’s able to freely spam this with a Choice Band and many teams will simply not have a resist, and those that do can be beaten by toxic, Outrage or a double switch. Extreme Speed rounds out this set perfectly as a lategame cleanup option. Zygarde’s other main set is the infamous Dragon Dance sets that got it banned from OU in conjunction with screens. These mostly use Z-Outrage to smite grass types, but other items like 50% Berries (Iapapa,Figy, etc., resist berries (yache, haban), and Weakness Policy are also very threatening in their own right. These are also often featured on Coil sets, and alternative setup set that makes Zygarde nigh-unkillable on the physical side. Coil sets often feature Substitute or Rest to prolong its chances, and can even be used alongside Dragon Dance with the moveslots afforded by the singularly all-encompassing Thousand Arrows.
Defensively Zygarde is also odd. As mentioned previously, its 108/121/95 Bulk is well above average, but it shares the common 4x Ice weakness with Landorus-Therian and Garchomp that makes it shaky vs special/mixed attackers. It is noticeably bulkier than either of those on the special side though, so outside of ice coverage it can be used to solid effect on neutral hits if need be. Its defensive movepool is carried by Glare, an uncommon but frankly overpowered status move that inflicts Paralysis on the opponent with 100% accuracy, and unlike Thunder Wave, paralyzes other Ground types like itself too. Lastly, like Celesteela, its position as an expensive ground type without stealth rock increases the urgency with which you must find other options to fill that role. An oddball mon, but one of the very most threatening in the game with chances to set up and a variety of options to do so.
Common Items: Choice Band, Dragonium Z, Leftovers, Weakness Policy, Super Berries, Yache Berry
Draft Partners: Alternative SR setters, teammates that punish Grass types, Offensive support
Mew
Lastly for the Mons I’ll be discussing today, we have Mew. Mew is controversial, with many thinking its incredible due to its inherent versatility, and many being put off by its “Jack of all trades, master of none” reputation. Regardless, the fact is that Mew has the best movepool out of anything in the pool, and has no weak stats with a flat 100 in all of them. Offensively, it can feasibly run just about every setup move from Calm Mind to Swords Dance, to Nasty Plot and Rock Polish. NP + RP is the most common sweeper set, as mew has access to a unique and very powerful Z-Move in Genesis Supernova which uses Mewnium Z to power up Mew’s Psychic into a 185 BP Move that sets up the 1.5x Psychic Terrain for 5 turns after. Other offensive sets that are seen range from Bulk Up Leech Life, to Flame Charge Swords Dance, to Calm Mind Taunt Roost 1 Attack. Do note however that its movepool is different than in gen 8/9 for those used to using it there, with moves like Stored Power and Spikes not being learned by it yet.
Defensively, Mew is very solid on both sides of the physical special split with access to a plethora of status inducing moves, Stealth Rock, Defog, reliable recovery and much much more. Though this applies to all defensive mons in USUM, do note that relying on it as a crutch defensively can leave you open to being swept by an unexpected strong Z Move from a breaker. In terms of resistances, Psychic and Fighting are both solid ones to have, but weaknesses to the ever common U-Turn and Knock Off can give it grief as well. Ultimately a mon whose theoretical ceiling and floor are as high or low as the user is able to personally get out of it.
Common Items: Mewnium Z, Leftovers, Colbur Berry, + anything really
Draft Partners: Other immediate firepower, other hazard removers to take pressure off Mew to do so. Very flexible if unspectacular in team options.
Conclusion
Lastly I’d like to say there are various other mons that can be taken r1, with the likes of Landorus-Incarnate, Latios, Necrozma, Mega Diancie and even rarely Greninja going around the r1-r2 wheel. Good luck on drafting and hope you enjoy!
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