Battle Stadium Singles blog #14 — "LegoSteela" with semi-Trick Room (S12)

The past month saw the unveiling of what I think we can assume will be the final state of generation 8 BSS in the release of the Crown Tundra. I think I managed to play something like 60+ games within the first two days of the season with a bunch of the new toys, before taking a break for few weeks to let things settle down, and coming back to do a climb with what you will find below — Substitute + Leech Seed torture.

Behold the Substitute Leech Seed Celesteela mirror.

One down, one to cripple.

Stored Power was a great addition to Cresselia's already impressive kit. Too bad it can't get through the Substitute + Protect cycle before Moonlight runs out of PP.

Nihilego-Celesteela-Raikou 3-0'd by Sap Sipper Chesto Rest Earthquake Flamethrower Goodra on hard stall (Skarmory/Porygon2/Toxapex) from the lead. I got out of there so fast I didn't even stop to take a proper screenshot, such was the extent of the humiliation.

252 HP +252 SpAtt Sitrus Berry Rotom-H.

(+2 252+ SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Dynamax Glastrier: 390-458 (94.2 - 110.6%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO [56.25% chance to OHKO after accuracy])

The elusive Articuno-G.

Rental code: 0000 0007 6KLH T4

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/4e405c8012e300a9

1) Team overview:

Nihilego

Cutting the poison-coverage with Tapu Fini and Tapu Rilla (Rillaboom) around is a bizarre omission, but one done knowingly. First, this set needs both Stealth Rock and Thunder Wave to empower Celesteela; and, second, Grass Knot as the secondary coverage move gives Nihilego a move to click especially against Hippowdon and Swampert to put them into Cinderace range, particularly in the lead match up, which Nihilego can be forced into anyway to protect its Focus Sash from Stealth Rock. Though a lesser conderation, Grass Knot is also preferred against other Thunder Wave immune things that also resist Power Gem (Garchomp, Excadrill, Rhyperior, Gastrodon/Quagsire).

   It also helps that, as it stands, Nihilego's profile in the team preview screen is overwhelmingly that of a Power Herb Meteor Beam sweeper (80% usage), so full offensive coverage tends to be assumed — this also makes clicking Stealth Rock, something that should almost always be hard to justify in a format as fast as BSS, easier if the opponent is scrambling to answer an incoming +1 Meteor Beam.

   The EVs are, of course, to ensure Beast Boost hits Speed. I've found this to be especially relevant in lead match ups, which Nihilego sometimes just wins even with limited coverage, ensuring that Thunder Wave is still a threat.

Celesteela

Based on a full month of play now, the verdict on Celesteela thus far is that it is even more bananas than it was in Gen7 BSS. This is because of the Dynamax mechanic and the addition of the Power Herb Meteor Beam and Weakness Policy/Life Orb sets, which add a whole new offensive dimension of unpredictability to an erstwhile mostly defensive powerhouse.

   For this team's main mode, though, Celesteela brings its fast Substitute + Leech Seed set, which seeks to attrition out balanced bulky offense teams and hard stall alike via Leech Seed and Nihilego support.

   As such, the EVs are firstly geared towards Speed, so that it beats the mirror, bulky sets from normally natively faster pokemon like Heatran, and won't get crippled by Taunt Tapu Fini (unless it's running 156 Spd-investment to outspeed) before getting its Leech Seed off.

   The rest of the EV-investment is still experimental, but hits some interesting benchmarks, such as not being Substitute-broken by Ferrothorn Knock Off, 252 Att Landorus Rock Tomb or Rock Slide (22.5 - 27.1% for the latter), uninvested Swampert Flip Turn, with barely enough bulk to take 252 SpAtt Life Orb Fire Blast from Naganadel if need be (82.4 – 98.3%), and even 252 Att Life Orb Cinderace G-Max Fireball in the Dynamax mirror (79.9 – 94.6%), trading into all three of opposing Cinderace's Dynamax turns if need be.

   Beast Boost is geared towards getting a boost into Defense, a choice which, likewise, is still at an experimental stage, and I can see getting optimized further.

Raikou

Scald was present in the Home TM/TR datamine for Raikou for the better part of a year before Crown Tundra went live, and I very much count myself among those who were genuinely surprised and impressed it didn't go the way of things like High Horsepower Azumarill, also teased by the aforementioned datamine, but failing to materialize.

   So then, having access to Scald helps quite a bit, but what really puts Raikou over the top in my book is its good matchups against most variants of Tapu Fini, Celesteela, Porygon2, and Zapdos. In the case of Tapu Fini and Porygon2 in particular, Raikou can even come in down momentum and still trade into them at the very least.

   As seen with Tapu Fini and Cresselia, Calm Mind sets really benefit from Leftovers recovery. Because that is not on the table here, Shuca Berry was elected, letting Raikou fire off a Scald on Landorus and Hippowdon without keeling over, and letting it take a a pop at Dynamax leading for Mimikyu-Glastrier in the back.

   The third coverage move is a matter of personal preference, with Shadow Ball (Dragapult) and Aura Sphere (Ferrothorn) being perfectly serviceable in the Extrasensory slot. Nevertheless, I have opted for Extrasensory for because of its ability to hit Nihilego and Naganadel, being marginally better against Rillaboom, as well as for its ability to prevent getting revenged by Mimikyu's Shadow Sneak. Rising Voltage over Thunderbolt is full on greed, I fully admit.

   The EVs represent an early stage of iteration, but because of Nihilego (170), Raikou is essentially forced into Timid, with the next somewhat relevant benchmark being Gengar's 178. This does not leave much room for anything other than an EV dump for the remaining EVs, which is what you see here, unless substantially cutting SpAtt.

Cinderace

When you bring Cinderace, you to force the opponent to respect Cinderace, even if the real plan is elsewhere. When this respect takes the form of fat Intimidate users like Landorus, and really any other plan that relies on defensively cushioning G-Max Cinderace through counter-Dynamax or sheer bulk (Hippowdon, Toxapex), Celesteela is almost invariably the beneficiary, reliably inserting and asserting itself on such defensive tools.

   Offensively, Cinderace brings a potent direct follow-up to Nihilego in its Max Airstream mode, cleans up after Celesteela attrition with the reach of Life Orb Sucker Punch even outside Dynamax, and can opt to Dynamax lead for Mimikyu-Glastrier.

   And let's be honest, when the team has multiple questionable or experimental things on it like this one does, the universal carry to the triple digit ranks that Cinderace is is in order.

Glastrier

Reverse-speed control with Glastrier is the mode elected against anything resembling hyper offense (especially Zapdos-mode), including things like Tailwind-offense or weather-based Speed manipulation (Arctozolt, Kingdra/Seismitoad, Excadrill).

   The major other options for this role I would have considered in the past are things like Choice Band Dracovish and Choice Specs Torkoal. Unfortunately, Glastrier feels simply better than both, especially in Dynamax, and doesn't require outplaying the opponent as hard when somehow faced with defensive stuff due to Swords Dance. Still, Torkoal in particular has great potential with its unique sun-boosted Choice Specs Eruption under Trick Room, and shouldn't be slept on.

Mimikyu

As far as the team's Trick Room mode goes, Cresselia has a number of upsides on Mimikyu, namely Lunar Dance and the ability to actually do its thing in front of Cinderace, but the reason I have opted for Mimikyu here is because of Curse. This is as much for stylistic reasons as it is for competitive viability; I simply choose not to lose to things like Baton Pass, even if it comes at the cost of not being able to double-dip on Glastrier by leading it as a bruiser and Lunar Dancing it back up to close it out, or having a dodgy at best Cinderace match up that relies on outplaying it.

   On the topic of standard 252 Att Life Orb Cinderace, the larger-than-usual defensive investments on Mimikyu are geared towards hard switching into Max Airstream, so that it gets the Kee Berry boost, and lives the subsequent hit — so long as it's not Max Steelspike — to actually get to set Trick Room even in that match up.

   In other words, go ahead and build towards Cresselia-Glastrier if additional consistency if called for.

2) Usage notes:

Mercifully, getting the lead right is not as important so long as Nihilego's Focus Sash in the back remains intact to cripple any kind of offensive Dynamax momentum (Zapdos, Cinderace). As mentioned above, protecting Nihilego's Sash, however, tends to necessitate leading it when the opposing side brings Stealth Rock setters like Hippowdon or Swampert.

   Shuca Berry lets Raikou be greedy and opt to lead quite often, but care needs to be taken not to lose it if wall-breaking is on the agenda, lest Celesteela gets timer stalled.

   Urshifu-Rapid-Strike is major threat to lead Nihilego and Cinderace. As if being able to discern which Urshifu form the opposing team preview screen has is not hard enough (the heuristic I use is to more or less assume Single-Strike when the rest of the team looks like it has some problems with defensive cycles), its choice of item — with Choice Scarf and Focus Sash being the scariest — adds another layer unpredictability to the equation, and can result in some abnormal team compositions, like suicide leading Glastrier, for example.

Triple digits.

When you waste Raikou and the opponent brings three pokemon with Recover (16PP), you get timer stalled no matter what — and deserve it. At least I got spared the indignity of being seeded by my own move by conceding before the opponent got the chance to click Magic Coat.

I guess the reason for Tricking Ring Target onto Nihilego on turn 1 was because of an assumed Power Herb Meteor Beam? But since Ring Target does literally nothing against this team, why even bring that gambit in the first place? Sad!

Two turns of Dynamax and Trick Room with +1 Att Glastrier against Blaziken in the endgame turned into defeat by two successful consecutive Max Guards. Go for the only winning line, and you get rewarded every now and then.

2.1 — Usual team compositions

Nihilego-Celesteela-Cinderace

Raikou-Cinderace-

-Mimikyu-Glastrier

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

1. Nihilego

2. Cinderace

3. Celesteela

4. Raikou

5. Glastrier

6. Mimikyu

2.3 — VS Team Select Screen (in order of frequency)

Complete revamp below based on my season 12 (Series 7) games of ranked BSS on console.

Bulky Offense or Balance

- Purely defensive anti-Dynamax checks: Swampert, Hippowdon, Trace Porygon2, Intimidate Gyarados/Landorus.

- Mainly reactive Dynamax options: Porygon2, Celesteela, Landorus, Tapu Fini, Ferrothorn, Rillaboom.

- Likely offensive options: Nihilego, Cinderace, Zapdos, Swords Dance Landorus, Dracovish, Dragapult.

Nihilego-Celesteela-Cinderace

Raikou-Nihilego-Cinderace

Celesteela-Nihilego-Cinderace/Raikou

Celesteela attrition is an option so long as the opposing Cinderace can be played around (Nihilego), but any kind of potential Zapdos play alongside it pushes the team preview screen game into Raikou's direction.

Hyper Offense

- Usually comes in the form of Focus Sash user + dedicated Dynamax sweeper + Mimikyu.

- Landorus, Garchomp, Dragapult, Urshifu, Naganadel, Pheromosa, Nihilego, Cinderace + Zapdos, Mimikyu, Moxie Gyarados/Salamence, Trick Room Download Porygon2.

Cinderace/Nihilego/Raikou-Mimikyu-Glastrier

-Nihilego-Cinderace

Raikou-Nihilego-Glastrier/Cinderace

If the opponent flat out does not bring any slower mode, Mimikyu-Glastrier is free. Alternatively, Nihilego with its Focus Sash intact will either — barring Lum Berry — cripple whatever the snowball sweeper is, or exhaust two turns of Dynamax, and brings Stealth Rock with which to undo the opposing Focus Sash user, if it's in the back.

Screens Mode

- Explosion Regieleki, Taunt + Nature's Madness Tapu Koko, Grimmsnarl as the three most common Light Clay screens setters.

- Common offensive pairings include Moltres-G, Landorus, Celesteela, Dragon Dance users.

-Mimikyu-Glastrier

Glastrier-Nihilego-

Glastrier is decent as a lead against Regieleki and Grimmsnarl (not caring about Lagging Tail or Thunder Wave, though Taunt is annoying), and as the Mimikyu follow-up thanks to the semi-Trick Room duo's ability to exhaust Dynamax and screens turns.

   Tapu Koko is the trickiest screens lead because of its fast Taunt, and will probably require the Raikou lead to slowly chip it down while running out the timer on the screens and threatening Calm Mind. Raikou can also somewhat hilariously opt to Max Geyser turn 1 on Ninetales-A Aurora Veil.

Hard Stall

- Toxapex, Chansey/Blissey, Quagsire/Clefable, Gastrodon, Celesteela, Zapdos, Porygon2, Cresselia, Ferrothorn.

- Offensive punch likely made up of Cinderace/Zapdos/Dragapult.

Nihilego-Celesteela-Raikou/Cinderace

Glastrier/Raikou-Celesteela-Raikou/Cinderace

Cinderace-Celesteela-Raikou/Glastrier

Without Stealth Rock, Toxapex can easily timer stall Celesteela if paired with something else that has a recovery move whose max PP is above 8 (Rest, Recover). More crucial is the proper timing of when to pull the trigger on the elected wall-breaking option (Raikou or Max Knuckle Cinderace).

Trick Room mode (semi-Trick Room)

- Semi-Trick Room as a form of reverse-speed control has the advantage of forcing a secondary mode coin-flip in the team preview screen from teams that rely on snowballing with a sweeper as the main mode.

- Cresselia, Mimikyu, Porygon2 as the most universally viable setters when paired with slow sweepers. Uxie is potentially spooky for its ability to surprise with either a Stealth Rock + Memento + Yawn + U-turn, screens, or Trick Room set.

- Notable sweepers that usually give away the game: Glastrier, Dracovish, or even Torkoal and Stakataka.

- If more than one setter and/or slow sweeper is present, it's dedicated Trick Room, which is bad, and anyone losing to it should feel bad.

-Mimikyu-Glastrier
Nihilego-Cinderace-

Nihilego, Mimikyu, and Glastrier should all be viable due to their ability to waste Trick Room and Dynamax turns. Nihilego, Cinderace, and Raikou are likely the best lead options depending on what the opposing aggressive lead options are.

Baton Pass

- Only any good because Scolipede is good (#119 in usage as of late Nov-2020), likely passing Iron Defense and Speed to a set-up sweeper (for example, Swords Dance users).

- New recipients include Cresselia (Stored Power) and Celesteelchanseya, but Clefable remains a standout thanks to Stored Power + Unaware/Magic Guard, with something like Porygon2 able to grind out almost anything, especially if passed to from Dynamax Weakness Policy Scolipede.

- Either straight lead Scolipede/Baton Passer (Blaziken, Polteageist), or have dedicated set up in the form of a cripple lead, especially the case for Blaziken.

- Depending on how dedicated the team is, a non-Baton Pass mode likely has some straightforward powerful stuff like Cinderace, Tapu Fini, and Landorus.

Cinderace-Mimikyu-
Nihilego-Mimikyu-

Celesteela-Mimikyu-

Nihilego is a good lead against Scolipede, so good, in fact, it has to be careful not to be counterled. In any case, Curse Mimikyu is probably the go-to for any kind of Baton Pass play, because Celesteela will likely have problems connecting its Leech Seed through Substitute play. Either way, if there's a Magic Guard pokemon as the Baton Pass recipient, the best option is to play for offensive momentum (lead Raikou, Glastrier, Cinderace).

3) In Conclusion:

The next post will cover my participation in mid-December's online competition, Dragon King Cup, after which I'll see how far I can push with Scope Lens Inteleon (another thing Cinderace does better, no doubt). Ideally I can get triple digits with a decent win-rate with what I have planned right now, so I don't have to resort to Arctozolt or Throat Spray Round Regieleki, also on my list of fun stuff to fire up before generation's end.

- Tox

SW-0021-9848-8999