Tales from Battle Spot Singles blog #3 — FiniSaur
This month, I made an original team and played a bunch of games with it. While this team, with its crippling weakness to Heatran and Rotom-W/H, should not be taken as anything more than a bit of horseplay, it did hit 1689 with a 65% win rate within the first few days of the season—an okay result, methinks:
QR code: https://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/rentalteam/usum/BT-2C2C-42B2
Relevant blogs: This one? D:
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/ea64d11cc67c3ef8
1) Team overview:
Please refer to the pokepaste above for a full sample team.
Venusaur:
Hidden Power Fire lets Venusaur consistently beat Ferrothorn, Celesteela, Mega-Scizor and non-Zen Headbutt Mega-Metagross (approx. 34% usage). Mega-Mawile and Aegislash, while still hit super-effectively, need around 30% and 40% pre-existing damage, respectively, to be 2HKO'd.
While fully defense-invested Venusaur lacks a meaningful offensive presence, it has the tendency to just pick up free wins against teams that tend toward a balanced defense style, provided you can play around their chosen wallbreaking options, but in a meta replete with such degeneracy as Mega-Salamence and Mega-Gengar, that can be a tall order indeed. That being said, Venusaur can still take a hit from some of the hardest-hitting threats in the format, meaning it can actually beat some of them through Stealth Rock+Leech Seed+Synthesis attrition, as demonstrated by the calculations below:
252+ Atk Mega Blaziken Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 84-98 (44.9 - 52.4%) -- 18% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Metagross Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Venusaur: 81-96 (43.3 - 51.3%) -- 5.5% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Mega Venusaur: 85-102 (45.4 - 54.5%) -- 51.6% chance to 2HKO
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Ice Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 80-96 (42.7 - 51.3%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 90-107 (48.1 - 57.2%) -- 91.4% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Mimikyu Let's Snuggle Forever vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 87-102 (46.5 - 54.5%) -- 62.9% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Mimikyu Never-Ending Nightmare (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 129-153 (68.9 - 81.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Thick Fat Mega Venusaur: 186-218 (99.4 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 184-217 (98.3 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
...and most hilariously:
252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 186-218 (99.4 - 116.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
Venusaur is also solid enough on the special side to consistently switch in on the likes of Greninja and Tapu Koko, who you can be sure will be pivoting out through U-turn, Volt Switch or a plain old double-switch, driving home the usefulness of Stealth Rock for this team.
Tapu Fini:
If you look at this set and what you see is a worse Scarf Greninja, you'd be right. For one, this set does nothing to patch-up the giant, Salamence-sized hole in a Venusaur compositions' defenses, not being able to outspeed a +1 Mega-Salamence, or anything relevant at +1, for that matter. The coverage is also markedly worse, relying almost entirely on the grossly overtuned Moonblast to surprise things like suicide lead Landorus hoping to lay Stealth Rock on turn 1.
So what are we doing with this, then? Well, there is the obvious upside of hitting the fabled 201 speed stat while still having enough of that sweet native Fini bulk to actually live a hit from most things, not that the aforementioned Greninja would ever even have to, but bulk on a water type lets you get some much-needed longevity in a team composition that can bring both Leech Seed and Stealth Rock.
Now, of course, Trick is obviously the main attaraction here. Since it is all to often the right play to bring as your team composition a mega and a Z-move user, you tend to get left with only one target for Trick. However, such kinds of lineups tend to tilt towards the hyper aggression spectrum of things anyway, so Trick mileage wouldn't be a thing against them regardless, whereas outspeeding and Moonblasting a bunch of frail sweepers will net far better results, making Fini still a solid bring against aggro and defensive play.
Where Trick is good is where it is great: against defensive teams that are built for hazard and status attrition. Things like Ferrothorn, Chansey, Snorlax, Porygon2, Celesteela and Toxapex typically do not enjoy having their item be replaced with Choice Scarf while coming in to seize momentum.
Taunt Z-Nature's Madness Fini combined with Brine is another fringe way of dispatching some of the pokemon listed above, with the addition of also destroying Aegislash, which often carries an immunity to Trick in the form of a Z-crystal, but, is, alas, a tale for another day and another blog post. ;)
Mimikyu:
Bulky Snuggle Mimikyu has been done to death. And the reason it has been done to death is because it itself does things to death so consistently. Its role is to be able to deal with set-up threats after they have already gained momentum. Living a Blaziken Flare Blitz, rain Swampert Waterfall or Salamence Frustration/Return after your Disguise is busted or a +1 Gyarados Waterfall through Mold Breaker are common examples of Mimikyu's power.
Since this team is using an Adaptability Hyper Beam Porygon Z nuke, Mimikyu is a necessary pairing outside the complementary typing to recover your footing in the game against just such threats as they come in seeking to close out the game off the back of Porygon Z's recharge turn.
Charizard X:
Flame Charge + Swords Dance is the wallbreaker setup for Charizard X. It also has the benefit of, alongside Mimikyu, having a threat level so high it forces out the likes of Cresselia and Porygon 2, as well as virtually guaranteeing the opponent's Stealth Rock setter coming out, if any.
Charizard + Venusaur also threatens a Cholorophyll sweeper game plan, which, while admittedly exceedingly rare in the meta, adds another layer of complexity to the preview screen in a best-of-one format.
Tapu Fini's terrain has antisynergy with Outrage, but if you're bringing Charizard, you're playing for momentum, so it's usually a case of Flame Charging into a switch or a weakened opposing pokemon, at which point—chances are—you are met with something that terrain is unaffected by, namely Intimidate users (Landorus, Salamence, Gyarados) or something you wouldn't Outrage anyway (Mimikyu, Porygon2).
Heatran:
Specially defensive Heatran is excellent against most Naganadel and Volcarona that would set up all over Venusaur, as well against as the omnipresent Scarf Tapu Lele, whose Psychic is otherwise especially annoying to deal with for a Venusaur team. When leading Fini, Aegislash is a common switch-in after Choice Scarf has been revealed, so Heatran is also valuable in being a consistent check to that, not to mention things like Ferrothorn, Celesteela and Porygon2 even when not bringing Venusaur.
Substitute+Roar is invaluable against some forms of dedicated Baton Pass like Eeveepass. Dedicated Glalie teams need to be running Earthquake or catch Heatran outside of Substitute with a Sheer Cold (+6 Freeze Dry isn't even guaranteed to two-shot Substitute) not to get stalled out by Heatran due to the PP disparity Roar and Stealth Rock bring.
Porygon Z:
When bringing Porygon Z, special attention needs to be paid on opposing speed tiers and the viability of Focus Sash in general. You are also heavily incentivized to bring Mimikyu because of the momentum loss from Hyper Beam. In any case, the idea against balanced/aggressive teams is to trade 1-for-1 against something that threatens your true win condition of choice, and Nasty Plot to at least +4 against hard stall or balanced/defensive lineups.
Here are some notable damage ranges for boosted Hyper Beam and Shadow Ball:
252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Hippowdon: 226-268 (105.1 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Swampert: 162-192 (92 - 109%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Porygon-Z Shadow Ball vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mimikyu: 90-108 (68.7 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Porygon-Z Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Shield: 132-156 (79 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Porygon-Z Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Metagross: 174-206 (112.2 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Metagross: 162-191 (104.5 - 123.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Celesteela: 125-148 (61.2 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 212 HP / 156+ SpD Heatran: 132-156 (68.3 - 80.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn: 154-182 (85 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 244 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Porygon2: 242-286 (126.7 - 149.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+4 252 SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 44 HP / 212 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 278-328 (83.9 - 99%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
2) Notes based on 40+ games on cart:
Usual team composition:
Tapu Fini / Venusaur / Heatran
Draft (rate/member, descending)
1. Tapu Fini
2. Heatran
3. Venusaur
4. Mimikyu
5. Porygon Z
6. Charizard X
How to draft against...
Format:
"Archetype"
Draft
Brief explanation
"Lizzagross / Kabarizza" (Charizard/Metagross, often with Hippowdon & Greninja
Tapu Fini - Venusaur - Heatran
"KABAMANDA" (Salamence/Hippowdon/Smogonsword/Tapu Koko)
Porygon Z - Mimikyu - Tapu Fini
Heatran - Venusaur - Mimikyu
Porygon Z is the preferred lead against everything except Koko. If you hit Hippowdon in the lead matchup, Hyper Beam threatens the OHKO if they try to Yawn/Whirlwind an possible Z-Conversion, but pulling the trigger on it with Substitute Salamence in the back means that Mimikyu loses the heads up against it.
Incase leading with Fini into Koko, your Scarf gets given away immediately due to terrain mechanics, but you still live a Volt Switch from 252 Koko while doing 62.3 - 73.9% with Moonblast, likely forcing out Aegislash, which you can answer with Heatran or even Charizard/Venusaur. Also worth noting that Substitute+Toxic Aegislash typically doesn't have a move that hits Porygon Z in Misty Terrain.
Running the Venusaur composition risks getting blown out by Salamence momentum, but Heatran is amazing against defensive Aegislash + Sub/DD/Roost Salamence.
"Landorus momentum" / Sash suicide lead Landorus + Naganadel, Salamence, Charizard X, Gyarados, Scizor, mixed HP Ice Blaziken, Greninja etc.
Tapu Fini - Heatran - Mimikyu
If Landorus goes for Stealth Rock+Explosion instead of Rock Tomb on turn 1, it dies to two Moonblasts without touching Fini.
"suropoke" (Trick Room Mimikyu, Porygon2, Mawile, Breloom)
Venusaur-Heatran-Mimikyu
"Dedicated stall" (Skarmory, Chansey, Toxapex, Mega-Sableye, Mega-Slowbro, Gliscor, Celesteela etc.)
Heatran-Tapu Fini/Porygon Z/Mega
Heatran-Venusaur can't stop Gliscor from firing off Guillotines and Protect will scout Fini's Trick. Leading Fini can punish a greedy Stealth Rock Chansey lead.
Dedicated Baton Pass (Eeveepass, Screens lead, Scolipede, Koko+Drifblim etc.)
Heatran-Mimikyu-Tapu Fini
In Conclusion:
If you thought this team was bad, I started off season 13 by experimenting with things like Pancake Snorlax+Mega-Ampharos Trick Room, Mega-Gengar+Eject Button Golisopod and mono-bug with Z-Encore Illumisepass. Next month's blog post will still most likely be about a meta team and the climb to 1800+.
- Tox
