Battle Stadium Singles blog #8 — Memento Gastrodon-Gothitelle (S6)

Memento slug into Gothitelle? Check. Pre-Libero Gunk Shot Cinderace? Aye. Fire Blast Gyarados? Hot.

The best questionable decisions are the ones with some thought behind them: before arriving at the final line up below, know that all of this is the product of something like 40-45 games of iteration across four different versions of the team. The result? A painfully slow, Pyro Ball-miss laden climb to triple digits. But such inconsistency is the price of fun in this disaster of a metagame.

Flashbacks to Greninja vs Tapu Fini.

Rental code: A big fat nope on this. Just play hyper offense to spare yourself a bunch of headache.

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/df4103495a597d2a

1) Team overview:

Gastrodon

Sitrus Berry lets Gastrodon hard switch on Lapras' Max Resonance and Recover off all of its Gmax turns. Similarly, fully Defense-invested Gastrodon can Recover off unboosted, non-Dynamax physical attacks (how's that for situational) despite being a bit of a disaster in terms of the set otherwise. This, of course, is because this particular slug doubles as an insertion tool for Mimikyu and Gothitelle.

   Spamming Yawn on a fat mon is a tried and true BSS tradition whose most prominent exponent historically has to be Hippowdon. And while Gastrodon can't bring its own Stealth Rocks like the hippo does, the hyper offense mode this team has contains Excadrill, who needs to carry both Speed control and Stealth Rock for Gyarados to punch through, so that rocks attrition with Yawn + Recover can be an option for Gastrodon here as well.

   Whirlpool is intended to leverage Gastrodon's ease of switching in to maneuver something on the slow and fat side of things like Ferrothorn or Snorlax into a Yawn + Memento trap for Mimikyu or Gothitelle to set up on. Having Whirlpool as your only offensive move can be a questionable proposition against Corviknight, whose sets can fit in Taunt. Fortunately, though, Iron Defense sets — the ones that, given momentum, can potentially wall everything you have — seldom have space for it to block Yawn. Mono-attacking Brave Bird + Taunt + Bulk Up sets (both Maranga and Weakness Policy variants) are more of a problem, because while Cinderace can still contest a +1 Def Corviknight, it does not enjoy switching into a Brave Bird, let alone Max Airstream.

Gothitelle

I had some success earlier with a greedy set that forgoes Substitute over the Quagsire-and- Tyranitar/Dark type-contesting Energy Ball, but for this team, I opted for the pure checkmating variant employed by vivanpoke, among others.

   Whether to bring Gothitelle against anything other than dedicated defensive play is always risky, perhaps unacceptably so, given that its successful deployment tends to rely on the Gastrodon pairing to successfully Yawn/Memento into checkmate position against common defensive backbones like Snorlax and Ferrothorn.

   However, compared to the risks of navigating a metagame replete with self-sufficient offensive threats, the momentum drain of not being able to touch Dark-types becomes less of a problem when things like Toxapex have to play one of the bigger-stakes team preview screen mindgames in the format if they want to wall Cinderace and check Mimikyu — this is something that can actually warrant a team slot for Gothitelle.

   Indeed, of the most common Dark-types around, only Tyranitar and Hydreigon risk outright snowballing out of control after Gothitelle has target-killed a defensive pokemon (and needing specific sets in Dragon Dance and Substitute/Nasty Plot to do so), with Grimmsnarl resigned more or less to a Screens and Trick/Taunt support role, Incineroar seldom carrying any stat-boosting (not to mention being slower than Gyarados, Cinderace, and Excadrill), and Umbreon being timer-stallable if ahead on tie-breaker mechanics.

   All things considered, the vast, overwhelming amount of games Gothitelle is just not a viable bring unless running some kind of Trick set. It is therefore best to let it just do its thing in the team preview screen, and hope the guy at the other end respects it. That didn't stop me from repeatedly throwing multiple perfectly Max Airstreamable games trying to set it up, though.

Cinderace

This is a secondary Dynamax option as a lure set targeting Primarina that also wants to surprise lead Darmanitan hoping to Scarf U-turn out to break a likely Sash. Primarina with 252 HP get felled by a successful Gunk Shot almost 70% of the time, but with the sewer mermaid so heavily incentivized to Speed creep thanks to its 60 base stat, less HP-investment feels like the norm rather than the exception.

   Contrary to what one would perhaps expect, Scarf Cinderace also has a generally favorable lead match up against Dragapult for when Excadrill is benched or brought in the back: offensive variants risk getting 2HKO'd by Pyro Ball after triggering Blaze with Dragon Darts/Draco Meteor (Life Orb hits are still survivable, Choice Band/Specs are not however), and Will-o-Wisp/Hex and/or Screens variants are more or less a wash.

Excadrill

More good news on the Dragapult front: with the prominence of screens play, Infiltrator is the preferred ability choice over Clear Body even on physical variants these days. This means that Excadrill can now opt to Rock Tomb + Stealth Rock lead against non-Choice Scarf variants of Dragapult with an additional level of confidence.

Gyarados

Jolly Life Orb Gyarados without a Max Guard option is not only one of the most braindead of threats in the format, but also one that people specifically prepare a check for already in the team building phase. This means that, in a vacuum, every halfway competent team will have the option to bring a sufficiently fat Max Lightning or fast Electric-move, a form of reverse Speed control like Trick Room (Mimikyu) mode, or Prankster support (Whimsicott/Grimmsnarl), in order to either revenge or otherwise overcome it, to name but a few possible Max Airstream mode answers.

   Indeed, if I ever revisit this, I am open to the possibility of dropping Power Whip for experimenting with something like Bulldoze for the post-Dynamax offensive Mimikyu mirrors (to make things even more situational), and just try to bench Gyarados and force Excadrill against Rotom-W/C at the slightest whiff of Scarf play. Outrage is also interesting on Jolly Life Orb sets because Max Wyrmwind lets Gyarados survive a revenging physical Max Lightning from things like Assault Vest Snorlax.

   In any case, Fire Blast is very much the odd man out here, and is employed for Ferrothorn and nothing else. Whether straight blindly throwing it into a fully Defense-invested Ferrothorn switching in (62.9 – 77.3% Fire Blast) from a would-be sweeping position, or following up on its insertion into a Max Airstream opener (47.5 - 55.8% Max Airstream + Max Flare 80.6 – 97.7%), it does the job...with, again, the severe drawback of cutting Max Guard for actually trading with opposing Dynamax when down in momentum, a distinct possibility when inserted through means other than suicide leading Excadrill.

Mimikyu

It says a lot about how, thanks to the Dynamax mechanic, degenerate and fundamentally irredeemable a format is when — six full months in — most EV-spreads even at the top level are still 252/252, there is a painful drought of variance in top-performing teams aside the occasional lure set, top content creators who have been around for years are dropping out, and even items like Sharp Beak, Mystic Water, and Spell Tag continue to enjoy a degree of viability.

   Be that as it may, Mimikyu here does its trading thing again, and has an easier time justifying actually clicking the Dynamax button given the, at times, expendable and lure-ish approach this team can have to Gyarados deployment.

2) Usage notes:

As far as specifics go, the occasional Corsola (outside the top 30 usage as of April) is a massive problem since it is immune to Shadow Tag, which means the lack of any potent special attacking, boosting or Substitute/Taunt threat translates to Mimikyu as the only out.

   Because Hippowdon so thoroughly destroys both Cinderace and Excadrill in the lead match up, Gyarados is occasionally a decent lead choice.

   Alongside Gyarados, Gastrodon, too, despite being a massive potential momentum drain, is something Cinderace really appreciates as a partner if it intends to click U-turn because of the simple fact that neither Mimikyu nor Excadrill tend to really enjoy coming in off a fast pivot.

Oh, you're trying to have fun? Get the HECK out of my game!

I imagine this is what hitting an Occa Berry Ferrothorn would be like.

Having arrested the slide to perdition, there you have it...a win rate over 10% lower than when climbing with boring old "goodstuffs" compositions.

2.1 — Usual team compositions

Excadrill-Gyarados-

Excadrill-Gastrodon-

Cinderace/Excadrill-Gastrodon-Gothitelle/Mimikyu

Cinderace-Gyarados-Excadrill/Mimikyu

2.2 — Most brought, by rate/member (descending)

At the end of the day, if winning is on the agenda, most games just come down to getting a good lead match up + Dynamax + Mimikyu momentum gambling like always.

1. Excadrill

2. Mimikyu

3. Gyarados

4. Cinderace

5. Gastrodon

6. Gothitelle

2.3 — VS Team Select Screen

Note: The last time I saw hard stall in playing games in the top 0.6%-1.0% of the ladder was over 150 games ago, so that match up is not covered below. Not that there would be anything much to talk about, given Gothitelle's obvious potential there.

Balanced or Momentum Offense (goodstuffs compositions)

Excadrill, Aegislash, Mimikyu, Darmanitan-Toxapex/Rotom/Ferrothorn, Dragapult, Togekiss/Gyarados, Rotom-H/W, Yawn Hippowdon/Snorlax. At first glance, almost everything bar 1-2 defensive anchors is potentially an offensive threat, likely with a solid defensive backbone in something like Hippowdon, Ferrothron or Snorlax. With multiple threats like this, something might also have an unexpected support set like Sash/Stealth Rock + Rock Tomb Excadrill or Yawn or even Trick Togekiss in order to get an edge over everyone else slapping together teams of the most impactful pokemon in the format like this.

Excadrill-Gyarados/Gastrodon-Mimikyu

Cinderace-Gyarados/Gastrodon-Mimikyu/Excadrill

Excadrill-Gyarados is the most consistent option overall, but Excadrill-Gastrodon can pull off Stealth Rock + Yawn attrition provided the opponent is somehow sufficiently passive or if the defensive type combinations allow for it (Snorlax, Lapras).

Screens or Tailwind Offense

Grimmsnarl or other Light Clay Dual Screens as leads or as follow-ups to (Dynamax) damage leads à la Trick Room offense builds. Alternatively, dedicated suicide/cripple leads like Tailwind/Memento/Switcheroo Whimsicott (Sash, Eject Button, Flame Orb) or Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave/Curse Dragapult/Mimikyu. Win conditions consist of Dragon Dancers (Haxorus is a dead giveaway), Choice Band Darmanitan under Tailwind, Max Airstream (mainly Togekiss) mode etc.

Excadrill-Mimikyu-Gyarados/Gastrodon

Cinderace-Excadrill-Mimikyu/Gyarados

Mimikyu in the back is mandatory, with Excadrill and Gastrodon also decent because of Speed control (Rock Tomb) and fat Yawn spam. As always, Whimsicott and Grimmsnarl are scary for Gyarados mode.

Trick Room Mode

Curse Mimikyu typically paired with Rhyperior, Snorlax, Dracovish, or even something like Primarina/Lapras. Likely partners include Sash/Dynamax leading a sweeper like Cloyster, Durant, Sash Cinderace etc. to trade 1-for-1 at a minimum so that Trick Room Mimikyu and its partner can clean up. The other, conventional mode may consist of Ferrothorn, Dracozolt, and even Gyarados and/or Togekiss play.

Excadrill-Mimikyu-

Gastrodon-Mimikyu-

Against Trick Room mode, overcoming the opposing (likely Dynamax) lead is key. To this end, lead Excadrill can waste two of its turns Rock Tombing, whereas lead Gastrodon's — a potentially really bad lead against the opponent's conventional mode, but having Gyarados should incentivize bringing reverse Speed control — Yawn + Recover is hard for unboosted physical Dynamax options to break, with Gastrodon not particularly minding going against Trick Room + Curse Mimikyu either. Keeping Mimikyu intact in the back with Dynamax up against the opponent's Trick Room partner is usually a win.

3) In Conclusion:

So yeah, this was clearly another one of my more dim-witted original efforts, and I'm afraid there is more to come. The reason for this is simple: unfortunately, with a format as shallow as this, there just isn't that much interesting team-building going on for me to amuse myself with the work of others as I did in USUM.

   Anyway, as I was writing this entry, I looked at a bunch of the stuff I have played so far this generation, and it occurred to me that I haven't seriously looked at Rotom in a bit. I guess this means I'll be finally doing something with Choice Band Darmanitan, too, then, huh. That, or some sneaky Screens Inteleon play. No promises.

- Tox

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