I’d love your paste for this team!Here to rant while I wait for viability rankings :)
&
are a GOATED duo,
with Flamethrower,
with Flamethrower... its just Flamethrower)
as Prima in TW and rain is incredibly hard to stop, especially if prima has Throat Spray, and outspeeds incin and can 2 shot with Hyper Voice, effectively making incin useless (most prima run protect, so fake out is useless since it cant hit pult.) Knock Off is a bit scary, but if your banded your probably not staying in anyways. they also pair well with
, as it completes the fairy, steel, dragon core, and has strong spread damage with MIR, and can counter opposing primas, and pult with tera. it also counters other Gholdengo.
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★ VGC 2024 Regulation H Metagame Discussion
- Thread starter Flarefox_7
- Start date
Do you think Tsareena is viable together with Amoonguss, or having two grass-types might not be cool?
Thank you! I’m gonna try it out I’m a bit new to the scene. This team caught my eye
You can probably try and slot it on a team with Amoonguss, Incineroar, Archaludon, Pelipper and Palafin/Basculegion since it helps the Water types against Grassy Glide while also hitting Grass-types hard with Triple Axel (makes it a good rain Pokémon in general). Tbh a lot of stuff has viability right now, and I’d say this is the time to try an make niche Pokemon work.
I'll test it out and come back to report the results. Thank you!
I had an idea for a team that revolves around loaded dice sd 
. I've had my share of rain, playing with and against it, and wanted to try another weather. As a singles player, my mind immediately went to bax when reg h was announced. It has a phenomenal attack stat, setup options, ability, and the recent buff to hail makes this mon a threat. This is the set I thought of.
Baxcalibur @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Level: 50
Tera Type: Electric/Steel/Grass/Fairy
- Scale Shot
- Icicle Spear
- Swords Dance
- Protect
You now have a pseudo legend with 100 base power moves and the ability to boost them. Pair this mon with
and your bulk goes through the roof. Setting up veil turn 1 means Bax can get up to +3 +2 defensively. Other support moves like encore, helping hand, or snowscape are great options. With the bulk under veil I'd prefer to tera into something with almost zero weaknesses, that being electric (also immune to para). Your biggest thing to worry about end up just being spore. Offensively through bax has to deal with the dreaded steel types. , 
, and most importantly 
, that completely stop bax sweeps in their tracks. Not to mention the intimidate + fake out from 
loves to be a complete nuisance. We can remedy this with a mon that has had somewhat of previous success in gen 9, that being 
.
Gallade @ Life Orb/Focus Sash/Clear Amulet
Ability: Sharpness
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fighting/Ghost/Dark/Anything
- Psycho Cut
- Sacred Sword
- Trick Room/Night Slash
- Wide Guard/Protect/Trick Room
Gallade has many unique traits that I believe make it a perfect partner for the ice godzilla. Sacred sword is unique in that it ignores stamina boosts and deals huge damage from sharpness + life orb. Gallade's special bulk plus its resistance to body press make it an offensive oriented team member that can take hits from arch. Kingambit is obviously not a problem. But that leaves one mon. Pesky gholdengo. This is where wide guard comes in handy. Golds will run make it rain 100% of the time, which means that your bax can remain untouched and potentially setup even more. Night slash can also be used alongside tera dark to insta delete most gholdengo sets. Trick room is still super helpful because bax's typing doesn't exactly allow it to take hits from threats like
and the strong expanding force users. The most stifling mons in the format, 
and , get disintegrated by our good friend Gallade of course.
Here's an idea of the power of this combo.
Gallade can easily finish off low health opponents, even resists. However the trick room matchup could be a little shaky due to relying on predicts. Bax's typing isn't the best and giving it veil + snow + tera is a big investment. I'm still super excited to experiment with this core and see if bax can become the next fearsome psuedo like the tyranitars and hydreigons of the past.
. I've had my share of rain, playing with and against it, and wanted to try another weather. As a singles player, my mind immediately went to bax when reg h was announced. It has a phenomenal attack stat, setup options, ability, and the recent buff to hail makes this mon a threat. This is the set I thought of. Baxcalibur @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Level: 50
Tera Type: Electric/Steel/Grass/Fairy
- Scale Shot
- Icicle Spear
- Swords Dance
- Protect
You now have a pseudo legend with 100 base power moves and the ability to boost them. Pair this mon with
and your bulk goes through the roof. Setting up veil turn 1 means Bax can get up to +3 +2 defensively. Other support moves like encore, helping hand, or snowscape are great options. With the bulk under veil I'd prefer to tera into something with almost zero weaknesses, that being electric (also immune to para). Your biggest thing to worry about end up just being spore. Offensively through bax has to deal with the dreaded steel types. , , and most importantly , that completely stop bax sweeps in their tracks. Not to mention the intimidate + fake out from loves to be a complete nuisance. We can remedy this with a mon that has had somewhat of previous success in gen 9, that being .Gallade @ Life Orb/Focus Sash/Clear Amulet
Ability: Sharpness
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fighting/Ghost/Dark/Anything
- Psycho Cut
- Sacred Sword
- Trick Room/Night Slash
- Wide Guard/Protect/Trick Room
Gallade has many unique traits that I believe make it a perfect partner for the ice godzilla. Sacred sword is unique in that it ignores stamina boosts and deals huge damage from sharpness + life orb. Gallade's special bulk plus its resistance to body press make it an offensive oriented team member that can take hits from arch. Kingambit is obviously not a problem. But that leaves one mon. Pesky gholdengo. This is where wide guard comes in handy. Golds will run make it rain 100% of the time, which means that your bax can remain untouched and potentially setup even more. Night slash can also be used alongside tera dark to insta delete most gholdengo sets. Trick room is still super helpful because bax's typing doesn't exactly allow it to take hits from threats like
and the strong expanding force users. The most stifling mons in the format, and , get disintegrated by our good friend Gallade of course.Here's an idea of the power of this combo.
164+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Amoonguss: 200-240 (90.9 - 109%) -- approx. 37.5% chance to OHKO
164+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Amoonguss: 250-300 (113.6 - 136.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 164+ Atk Baxcalibur Scale Shot (5 hits) vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Tera Water Amoonguss: 240-285 (109 - 129.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140+ Atk Life Orb Sharpness Gallade Psycho Cut vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Amoonguss: 221-265 (100.4 - 120.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140+ Atk Sharpness Gallade Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Archaludon: 180-212 (91.3 - 107.6%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
140+ Atk Sharpness Tera Dark Gallade Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Gholdengo: 176-210 (90.7 - 108.2%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
164+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Amoonguss: 250-300 (113.6 - 136.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 164+ Atk Baxcalibur Scale Shot (5 hits) vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Tera Water Amoonguss: 240-285 (109 - 129.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140+ Atk Life Orb Sharpness Gallade Psycho Cut vs. 244 HP / 180+ Def Amoonguss: 221-265 (100.4 - 120.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
140+ Atk Sharpness Gallade Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 28 Def Archaludon: 180-212 (91.3 - 107.6%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
140+ Atk Sharpness Tera Dark Gallade Night Slash vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Gholdengo: 176-210 (90.7 - 108.2%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
Gallade can easily finish off low health opponents, even resists. However the trick room matchup could be a little shaky due to relying on predicts. Bax's typing isn't the best and giving it veil + snow + tera is a big investment. I'm still super excited to experiment with this core and see if bax can become the next fearsome psuedo like the tyranitars and hydreigons of the past.
mb havent been active here for a bit <3 Pult Prima TW balance 2 (pokepast.es)
Thanks a ton!
Some more underrated mons I want to talk about:
This thing can be such a tricky little SOB. While it is quite hard to use, as you do have to think very carefully about what you want to disguise it as, the results can be devastating. I ran it on a Psyspam Trick Room team, and it was brilliant (I also saw someone running it on a Snow team disguised as a Baxcalibur). I'd pair it up with Indeedee disguised as Hatterene, and lure and blow up Specs Gholdengo, Archaludon and even Incineroar with Tera and Helping Hand. I also paired it with Torkoal disguised as H-Lilligant, with the main goal of drawing and eliminating opposing weather setters. I even sometimes disguised it as Araquanid, again paired up with Indeedee, mainly to mess with teams running H-Typhlosion + Whimsicott. But Team Preview and open team sheets, I hear you say. That actually makes it harder to deal with, because your opponent's always wondering if it's really there or not, and they know if they guess wrong that could cost them at least one mon.
Sets
Pairs well with:
Two words: role compression. What Salamence brings to the table compared to other Intimidators is its high Speed (ties with P-Tauros as 2nd fastest, unless someone wants to use regular Tauros for...some reason), respectable offensive presence, and access to tools like Tailwind, Breaking Swipe and Dragon Cheer. Since Fairy types are much rarer in this meta, with the most common ones being Whimsicott, Primarina and the Clefable line, Dragon types are a lot better. I would never say it's better than Incineroar, the defacto Intimiator, but it has enough of its own unique tools to be worth considering - it also works well on Rain teams, since it obliterates the Grass types that give sweepers like Basculegion a hard time, and running Tailwind frees up Pelipper to run Wide Guard. Hell, you could always run both of them, and they even pair up quite well together - Salamence can take the Ground and Fighting attacks aimed at Incin, while Incin can take the Ice moves aimed at Salamence.
Sets
Pairs well with:
We all love Ursaluna, right? Now imagine an Ursaluna that didn't need Trick Room. Its STABs let it threaten a huge amount of Pokemon, Gholdengo, Archaludon, Sinistcha, Amoonguss, Rillaboom, Incineroar, Whimsicott etc. Base 80 Speed doesn't seem like anything special, but it lets it fit in on both Tailwind and Trick Room teams. It also has STAB priority in Ice Shard, so even if hasn't got the Speed advantage it's not game over. Not a huge amount to say about it really, it just hits like an asbolute truck.
Set
Pairs well with:
And another hot take...
I don't think Amoonguss is that good anymore. Trick Room is a more niche playstyle than when Calyrex-Ice was around, and the most common Trick Room style is Psyspam which Amoongus wants nothing to do with. Rain has Pelipper which blows it to pieces with STAB Hurricane, Archaludon often runs Tera Grass, Hisuian Typhlosion is picking up in usage (yes it can tera, but it usually prefers to leave that to its teammates), Maushold usually runs Safety Goggles and can just outrun and taunt the Mushroom, rendering it useless, so it can't check Mauseape reliably. Gholdengo is much more common now Flutter Mane is gone. It also faces major competition for the role of redirector: Maushold (Friend Guard, Beat Up shenaningans), Indeedee-f (sets Terrain), Clefairy (Friend Guard), Clefable (Skill Swap + Unaware lets it check Dongiri) and Smeargle (muchfaster Spore and Decorate) all have Follow Me, which can't be blocked by tera or item (I've never seen Stalwart Archaludon) while Sinistcha heals its partner, can set up Trick Room and has respectable offensive presence. When the VR comes, I would nomintate it for B rank.
This thing can be such a tricky little SOB. While it is quite hard to use, as you do have to think very carefully about what you want to disguise it as, the results can be devastating. I ran it on a Psyspam Trick Room team, and it was brilliant (I also saw someone running it on a Snow team disguised as a Baxcalibur). I'd pair it up with Indeedee disguised as Hatterene, and lure and blow up Specs Gholdengo, Archaludon and even Incineroar with Tera and Helping Hand. I also paired it with Torkoal disguised as H-Lilligant, with the main goal of drawing and eliminating opposing weather setters. I even sometimes disguised it as Araquanid, again paired up with Indeedee, mainly to mess with teams running H-Typhlosion + Whimsicott. But Team Preview and open team sheets, I hear you say. That actually makes it harder to deal with, because your opponent's always wondering if it's really there or not, and they know if they guess wrong that could cost them at least one mon.
I lead with Torkoal and Lilligant. My opponent leads with Gholdengo and Murkrow. They think Lilligant is really Zoroark (not an unreasonable assumption) and clicks Tailwind on Murkrow, Tera Steels to blast Make It Rain...only to be outrun, Torkoal to be After You'd and both mons taken out by a Tera Fire Charcoal Eruption.
I lead with Indeedee and Zoroark disguised as Hatterene. My opponent leads with Farigaraf and Blood Moon Ursaluna. My opponent goes for Helping Hand and Teras Ursaluna, no doubt expecting me to click Protect + Trick Room. But instead, I click Helping Hand on Indeedee and Hyper Voice. Ursaluna gets OHKOed, Farig is taken down to about 40%.
My opponent leads their Scarf H-Typhlosion and Whimsicott against Indeedee and Zoroark disguised as Araquanid. My opponent clicks Sunny Day, Teras Fire and goes for Overheat into Zoroark, predicting Wide Guard. Zoroark dies, but Indeedee set up Trick Room and Hatterene can now come in for free. Even in matches where it dies immediately, it can still be useful.
I lead with Indeedee and Zoroark disguised as Hatterene. My opponent leads with Farigaraf and Blood Moon Ursaluna. My opponent goes for Helping Hand and Teras Ursaluna, no doubt expecting me to click Protect + Trick Room. But instead, I click Helping Hand on Indeedee and Hyper Voice. Ursaluna gets OHKOed, Farig is taken down to about 40%.
My opponent leads their Scarf H-Typhlosion and Whimsicott against Indeedee and Zoroark disguised as Araquanid. My opponent clicks Sunny Day, Teras Fire and goes for Overheat into Zoroark, predicting Wide Guard. Zoroark dies, but Indeedee set up Trick Room and Hatterene can now come in for free. Even in matches where it dies immediately, it can still be useful.
Pairs well with:
Two words: role compression. What Salamence brings to the table compared to other Intimidators is its high Speed (ties with P-Tauros as 2nd fastest, unless someone wants to use regular Tauros for...some reason), respectable offensive presence, and access to tools like Tailwind, Breaking Swipe and Dragon Cheer. Since Fairy types are much rarer in this meta, with the most common ones being Whimsicott, Primarina and the Clefable line, Dragon types are a lot better. I would never say it's better than Incineroar, the defacto Intimiator, but it has enough of its own unique tools to be worth considering - it also works well on Rain teams, since it obliterates the Grass types that give sweepers like Basculegion a hard time, and running Tailwind frees up Pelipper to run Wide Guard. Hell, you could always run both of them, and they even pair up quite well together - Salamence can take the Ground and Fighting attacks aimed at Incin, while Incin can take the Ice moves aimed at Salamence.
Sets
Pairs well with:
We all love Ursaluna, right? Now imagine an Ursaluna that didn't need Trick Room. Its STABs let it threaten a huge amount of Pokemon, Gholdengo, Archaludon, Sinistcha, Amoonguss, Rillaboom, Incineroar, Whimsicott etc. Base 80 Speed doesn't seem like anything special, but it lets it fit in on both Tailwind and Trick Room teams. It also has STAB priority in Ice Shard, so even if hasn't got the Speed advantage it's not game over. Not a huge amount to say about it really, it just hits like an asbolute truck.
Set
Pairs well with:
And another hot take...
I don't think Amoonguss is that good anymore. Trick Room is a more niche playstyle than when Calyrex-Ice was around, and the most common Trick Room style is Psyspam which Amoongus wants nothing to do with. Rain has Pelipper which blows it to pieces with STAB Hurricane, Archaludon often runs Tera Grass, Hisuian Typhlosion is picking up in usage (yes it can tera, but it usually prefers to leave that to its teammates), Maushold usually runs Safety Goggles and can just outrun and taunt the Mushroom, rendering it useless, so it can't check Mauseape reliably. Gholdengo is much more common now Flutter Mane is gone. It also faces major competition for the role of redirector: Maushold (Friend Guard, Beat Up shenaningans), Indeedee-f (sets Terrain), Clefairy (Friend Guard), Clefable (Skill Swap + Unaware lets it check Dongiri) and Smeargle (muchfaster Spore and Decorate) all have Follow Me, which can't be blocked by tera or item (I've never seen Stalwart Archaludon) while Sinistcha heals its partner, can set up Trick Room and has respectable offensive presence. When the VR comes, I would nomintate it for B rank.
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Ok so that Amoonguss section is a hot take but I have some notes to take here:
Ok, well it's still a great Trick Room Pokemon, but just not nearly as useful as it was in Regulation G. This is greatly because of the lack of priority moves as of now. Here's a list:
Sucker Punch Pao - gone
Thunderclap Raging Bolt - gone
Fake Out Iron Hands - gone
Grassy Glide Ogerpon - gone
Aqua Jet Urshifu-R - gone
Sucker Punch Urshifu-S - gone
There are probably more, but that's just to list some. There just aren't as many priority moves for Farigiraf to deny. While it is still a amazing Pokemon, it just isn't as good as it was in Regulation G.
Your actually missing two Pokemon here, both being Psyspam staples! Those two being Ursaluna and Armarouge. I also don't really know why the last two Pokemon are there, they just feel kinda random tbh. But, Araquanid can also be an option here.Pairs well with:
I've got three things to note here, one is the lack of respect for Sylveon, which can be a game sealing cleaner under TR or Tailwind, especially on BO, as well as the disrespect to Hatterene, a very powerful Fairy-type right now. Disregarding the Steel-type here is also kinda odd, as Pokemon like Gholdengo, Kingambit and Archaludon are top Pokemon as of now, especially with the latter being able to nuke Dragon-types with Draco Meteor, while Gholdengo and Kingambit can set up and just nuke the Dragons you mentioned. Finally, Ice-types, while not super prevalent, are an issue for the Dragon-types, with Baxcalibur and A9 being able to hit hard into opposing Dragon-types.
So the sets are kinda iffy, especially while not noticing Choice Scarf Mence, which is one of the better if not the best set ever IMO. Also the disregard to Hydro Pump in any sets is crazy. The supportive set is also something I don't think many have seen before, idk if it deserves a mention. Down to the partners, you mention Incineroar being nice, which you didn't address here. Also, Pokemon like Dragonite and Hydreigon I would argue aren't great partners for Salamence, especially Dnite, as that stacks the Dragon typing. The thing about Archaludon, though, is that the Steel-type resists all of the Dragon weaknesses. Hecidueye is also just, really random. Not a great Pokemon tbh, kinda overhyped, doesn't deserve a mention.
Well, you actually lose to Gholdengo if it Terastilizes, even if you use Tera. While I do agree that Mamoswine has potential, out speeding Modest Max Speed Gholdengo is a good idea for the spread. But I like that you brought light to this Pokemon, I think it's a very cool Pokemon ^-^.
B Rank is VERY low. I'd say A or A+ tier for the shoom. Smeargle isn't good at all right now, so that isn't a great mention. Aside from that, the mentions you have either don't have Spore or can't heal allies, two things that keep Amoonguss a amazing supporter in every game it's legal in. You mention Tera Grass Archaludon, but forcing Tera is actually amazing, as it allows partners to deal immense damage, like the Psyspam teams it finds itself on occasionally. It can also comfortably redirect Electro Shot and Drain Punch from Annihilape and Archaludon, respectively. Amoonguss is amazing, but a Pokemon that I don't think is good any more is Farigiraf.And another hot take...
I don't think Amoonguss is that good anymore. Trick Room is a more niche playstyle than when Calyrex-Ice was around, and the most common Trick Room style is Psyspam which Amoongus wants nothing to do with. Rain has Pelipper which blows it to pieces with STAB Hurricane, Archaludon often runs Tera Grass, Hisuian Typhlosion is picking up in usage (yes it can tera, but it usually prefers to leave that to its teammates), Maushold usually runs Safety Goggles and can just outrun and taunt the Mushroom, rendering it useless, so it can't check Mauseape reliably. Gholdengo is much more common now Flutter Mane is gone. It also faces major competition for the role of redirector: Maushold (Friend Guard, Beat Up shenaningans), Indeedee-f (sets Terrain), Clefairy (Friend Guard), Clefable (Skill Swap + Unaware lets it check Dongiri) and Smeargle (muchfaster Spore and Decorate) all have Follow Me, which can't be blocked by tera or item (I've never seen Stalwart Archaludon) while Sinistcha heals its partner, can set up Trick Room and has respectable offensive presence. When the VR comes, I would nomintate it for B rank.
Ok, well it's still a great Trick Room Pokemon, but just not nearly as useful as it was in Regulation G. This is greatly because of the lack of priority moves as of now. Here's a list:
Sucker Punch Pao - gone
Thunderclap Raging Bolt - gone
Fake Out Iron Hands - gone
Grassy Glide Ogerpon - gone
Aqua Jet Urshifu-R - gone
Sucker Punch Urshifu-S - gone
There are probably more, but that's just to list some. There just aren't as many priority moves for Farigiraf to deny. While it is still a amazing Pokemon, it just isn't as good as it was in Regulation G.
Two words: role compression. What Salamence brings to the table compared to other Intimidators is its high Speed (ties with P-Tauros as 2nd fastest, unless someone wants to use regular Tauros for...some reason), respectable offensive presence, and access to tools like Tailwind, Breaking Swipe and Dragon Cheer. Since Fairy types are much rarer in this meta, with the most common ones being Whimsicott, Primarina and the Clefable line, Dragon types are a lot better. I would never say it's better than Incineroar, the defacto Intimiator, but it has enough of its own unique tools to be worth considering - it also works well on Rain teams, since it obliterates the Grass types that give sweepers like Basculegion a hard time, and running Tailwind frees up Pelipper to run Wide Guard. Hell, you could always run both of them, and they even pair up quite well together - Salamence can take the Ground and Fighting attacks aimed at Incin, while Incin can take the Ice moves aimed at Salamence.
I LOVE the crossiant lizard in this meta. I like running covert cloak and rocky helmet the most to punish fake out users and get up tailwind. Not much can really one shot this mon when it has a good amount of defensive investment. I prefer running special moves on it including flamethrower so you won't worry about opposing intimidate or having nothing to hit
late game.Noticed people like taking teams from this thread so this is the sand team I used with Salamence.
https://pokepast.es/98c379733a3b6007
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I'm fairly new to VGC (and just to comp pokemon in general, really), but I've messed around and scraped together a Weezing offense team that I quite like. I mostly see people use Weezing as part of slower teams, so I thought I'd post it since the team feels quite nice and I'm a bit proud of managing to build it more or less by myself:
https://pokepast.es/c094bfbf30882b6a
The idea here is essentially to use Weezing to sit on the field and be a huge nuisance while almost everything else hits things really hard and really fast, since Weezing doesn't really do much actual damage by itself. Neutralizing Gas just shuts down so many defensive abilities, and getting tailwind going to match my speed is very hard for a lot of teams when I have something speedy next to Weezing and they don't have prankster. Attempting to set up against this team through redirection or similar can also be met with Ghold+pult/talon openers which can realistically end games on turn 1, and AV Kingambit is a solid backup plan against a lot of trick room stuff and does well against Archaludons that won't get rain or stamina boosts down.
I'd love some feedback on overall EV sets and move choices though. Talonflame's 4th move could be a number of things, Weezing EVs can probably be optimized (I just went for max HP max SpD since I get will-o and ability shielded intimidates to help physical bulk, but there are probably a few useful speed benchmarks for taunt?), same with Kingambit.
https://pokepast.es/c094bfbf30882b6a
The idea here is essentially to use Weezing to sit on the field and be a huge nuisance while almost everything else hits things really hard and really fast, since Weezing doesn't really do much actual damage by itself. Neutralizing Gas just shuts down so many defensive abilities, and getting tailwind going to match my speed is very hard for a lot of teams when I have something speedy next to Weezing and they don't have prankster. Attempting to set up against this team through redirection or similar can also be met with Ghold+pult/talon openers which can realistically end games on turn 1, and AV Kingambit is a solid backup plan against a lot of trick room stuff and does well against Archaludons that won't get rain or stamina boosts down.
I'd love some feedback on overall EV sets and move choices though. Talonflame's 4th move could be a number of things, Weezing EVs can probably be optimized (I just went for max HP max SpD since I get will-o and ability shielded intimidates to help physical bulk, but there are probably a few useful speed benchmarks for taunt?), same with Kingambit.
About the king of VGC, it's time for it to return to its 2017 roots:
Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Parting Shot in a meta filled with Kingambit, Gholdengo, and Annihilape is a recipe for disaster. While U-turn does have a worse matchup into Archaludon, Incineroar as a whole never did well into Archaludon anyways. The benefits of AV far outweigh the downsides of losing Parting Shot (at least, in my opinion). It checks all variants of Gholdengo, Specs or not, as well as checking Primarina and H-Typhlosion (you otherwise take >50% from Specs Tera Fire in Sun without AV). Tera Grass is there for the Spore immunity as well as resisting Prim / Basculegion, though could be replaced by Ghost.
Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
Tera Type: Grass
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Parting Shot in a meta filled with Kingambit, Gholdengo, and Annihilape is a recipe for disaster. While U-turn does have a worse matchup into Archaludon, Incineroar as a whole never did well into Archaludon anyways. The benefits of AV far outweigh the downsides of losing Parting Shot (at least, in my opinion). It checks all variants of Gholdengo, Specs or not, as well as checking Primarina and H-Typhlosion (you otherwise take >50% from Specs Tera Fire in Sun without AV). Tera Grass is there for the Spore immunity as well as resisting Prim / Basculegion, though could be replaced by Ghost.
Here are some of my hot takes from this reg of VGC so far:
- Trick room isn't as bad as people say it is. Both ursaluna forms, specs/nasty plot hydrapple, expanding force users, and conkeldurr are all really strong.
- The best mons are Gholdengo, Archaludon, and Primarina. They all are at a perfectly reasonable speed tier, don't need to run amulet, feel unkillable, and are so easy to fit on teams (for arch on rain teams). Incin, Rilla, and Amoonguss are all overrated and less suited to this meta in my opinion. They helped to stifle mons of the past like urshifu, oger, and to an extent flutter mane and iron hands, all of which aren't around anymore.
- It's really frackin fun. I mean you can take any of your favorite mons with an above average base state total and make it work. Go ahead and cry that you have to face rain for the 10th time in a row. Use t-tar or ninetales damnit!
Baltimore Predictions
- Either Swords Dance Kingambit with Rillaboom, Talonflame with Dozo Giri and Gholdengo, or Archaludon Rain will win the regional. In a meta where a lot is viable, I think that teams that are inherently strong will perform the best, and these 3 teams have struck me as the most consistent and strongest in the early meta. Until we see the meta converge more, I struggle to see any anti-meta teams doing well. I do see the best performing of these teams not being "standard" as people will have plenty of practice against them, and changes in item, move pool and 6th mon will be important to get an edge.
- Assault Vest Incineroar will emerge as the premier support Pokemon. Although Rillaboom and Clefable have been commonly used to support teams so far, I think it is only a matter of time before Incineroar gets a stronger grip on the meta. Specifically, Assault Vest helps against the vast amount of strong special attackers that are in the meta, such as Typhlosion-H (especially in sun), Armarouge, Volcarona, and Ursaluna-BM.
- One Psyspam/Hard Trick Room Team in top cut. I think psyspam teams will be used extensively, but unless they are being piloted by an incredibly strong player, I don't think that they will be successful on the top tables. I think many players will have extensively practiced against psyspam teams prior to Baltimore, and without much room for innovation in the archetype, I only see one player being able to top cut with it in the shiny new asymmetrical top cut.
- Rillaboom will be the most used Pokemon, for BOTH day 1 and day 2. So solid, so spashable, always provides solid support with Fake Out and always hits HARD when you need it to. A key player in keeping a number of otherwise scary matchups in check, such as Basculegion, Ursaluna-BM and psyspam matchups.
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Trigger warning: language and swearing.
Okay, what the HELL is up with Porygon-2!?!?
I checked the usage stats of Pokemon on Pikalytics about a week before Baltimore Regionals, and Porygon-2 was no where near the top of the charts. It was landing under 5% usage. I remember this because I had the dumb idea of bringing a team comprised of only Pokemon with low usage to the event. Now even though I didn't manage to go to the event due to life shenanigans, it seems like Porygon-2 STILL would have succeeded even where the rest of my dumb team would have failed. This is because FIVE of the top eight teams at the event were using the duck. It seems to be the new premier Trick Room setter, and it was ALWAYS partnered with Gholdengo, Incineroar, and Ursaluna, with two exceptions to both of Incineroar and Ursaluna. I think the reason Porygon-2 shot up so much was that just before the event, people realized that it was actually better than Farigiraf, the "better" trick room setter in previous formats. The reason PG2 is better now than before is because of the lack of Urshifu, or any good fighting type outside of Annhilape.
This wasn't the only discrepancy in the usage stats. Archaludon and Rillaboom were both considered to be top threats going into the event, to the point where most teams were running at least one of them. The only reason you weren't running both was because both want the Assault Vest item. However, only one Archaludon broke the top eight and NO Rillaboom were present. Toadscruel and Vivillion placed higher than a Pokemon that WolfeyVGC literally ranked number one in a ranking video that came out Day 1 of competition (see "Who is the 2nd best starter Pokemon of all time). The funny thing is, that Toadscruel was piloted by Wolfe Glick himself, who placed 9th. Using possibly the weirdest team he's used since 2013 Worlds, Wolfe used an all-star line up of Weezing, Pawmot, and fuckin Corviknight. The only Pokemon on his team that could even be considered viable were Garchomp and Hisuian Typhlosion, but he wasn't even running a Whimsicott, the default speed control partner for both Pokemon. And he wasn't the only one running a wackass team. As mentioned earlier, a god damn Vivillion was on the big screen in top 8. Used by player Zee Costagliola (Vani), and right along side a Primarina and one of those gosh darn Porygon-2. Other weirdo mons I didn't expect to see on any kind of live stream include Clefable (Lorenzo Arce, 8th place), Electabuzz (Justin Tang, 10th), Delphox (Ben Grissmer, 18th) and, perhaps most outrageous of them all, a mother-FUCKING VOLBEAT, used by Alex Imbufe of Canada, because of COURSE it's a Canadian using a Bug type Pokemon with the stats of an actual firefly.
All in all, this first Regionals of the format was most exemplified by picks that make you wonder "WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUU-"
Okay, what the HELL is up with Porygon-2!?!?
I checked the usage stats of Pokemon on Pikalytics about a week before Baltimore Regionals, and Porygon-2 was no where near the top of the charts. It was landing under 5% usage. I remember this because I had the dumb idea of bringing a team comprised of only Pokemon with low usage to the event. Now even though I didn't manage to go to the event due to life shenanigans, it seems like Porygon-2 STILL would have succeeded even where the rest of my dumb team would have failed. This is because FIVE of the top eight teams at the event were using the duck. It seems to be the new premier Trick Room setter, and it was ALWAYS partnered with Gholdengo, Incineroar, and Ursaluna, with two exceptions to both of Incineroar and Ursaluna. I think the reason Porygon-2 shot up so much was that just before the event, people realized that it was actually better than Farigiraf, the "better" trick room setter in previous formats. The reason PG2 is better now than before is because of the lack of Urshifu, or any good fighting type outside of Annhilape.
This wasn't the only discrepancy in the usage stats. Archaludon and Rillaboom were both considered to be top threats going into the event, to the point where most teams were running at least one of them. The only reason you weren't running both was because both want the Assault Vest item. However, only one Archaludon broke the top eight and NO Rillaboom were present. Toadscruel and Vivillion placed higher than a Pokemon that WolfeyVGC literally ranked number one in a ranking video that came out Day 1 of competition (see "Who is the 2nd best starter Pokemon of all time). The funny thing is, that Toadscruel was piloted by Wolfe Glick himself, who placed 9th. Using possibly the weirdest team he's used since 2013 Worlds, Wolfe used an all-star line up of Weezing, Pawmot, and fuckin Corviknight. The only Pokemon on his team that could even be considered viable were Garchomp and Hisuian Typhlosion, but he wasn't even running a Whimsicott, the default speed control partner for both Pokemon. And he wasn't the only one running a wackass team. As mentioned earlier, a god damn Vivillion was on the big screen in top 8. Used by player Zee Costagliola (Vani), and right along side a Primarina and one of those gosh darn Porygon-2. Other weirdo mons I didn't expect to see on any kind of live stream include Clefable (Lorenzo Arce, 8th place), Electabuzz (Justin Tang, 10th), Delphox (Ben Grissmer, 18th) and, perhaps most outrageous of them all, a mother-FUCKING VOLBEAT, used by Alex Imbufe of Canada, because of COURSE it's a Canadian using a Bug type Pokemon with the stats of an actual firefly.
All in all, this first Regionals of the format was most exemplified by picks that make you wonder "WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUU-"
