Battle Stadium Singles blog #21 — Eject Button Thundurus + Xerneas (Season 21; Series 10)
Series 10 is live until the start of November, so for my first effort, I wanted to feature the team I played most of my 80 games on my main account, and which got me a 1900 Elo finish.
This team doesn't have any of the three most popular and format-warping restricted pokemon (Zacian, Calyrex-S, and Kyogre), opting instead for Xerneas. But what it does have, and why I think it merits featuring, is some rather neat Thundurus tech with Eject Button, based on warbler-p's Series 8 team.
Thundurus-Ditto-Xerneas vs. Calyrex-Moltres-Rillaboom.
Plowing the depths of Ditto-degeneracy: "Imposter will not activate if the opponent is transformed (...)".
Thundurus-Volcarona-Rillaboom vs. Eternatus-Shedinja-Mandibuzz.
Eject Button vs. Eject Pack.
Added PP Ups, switched to a sweeter native language name, and realized Wishing Ribbon is the play over that lame old shiny Thundurus above.
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 124 HP / 52 Def Xerneas in Grassy Terrain: 124-147 (57.1 - 67.7%).
(124, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147).
Bring the dog, get the blob. Thundurus-Volcarona-Ditto vs. Zacian-Hippowdon-Thundurus-I.
3-0'd from the lead by Power Herb Eternatus.
Outspeed Adamant Choice Scarf Cinderace, click Substitute until Gunk Shot misses, and get this victory screen.
(+2 252+ SpA Xerneas Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Cinderace: 141-167 [90.9 - 107.7%] -- 50% chance to OHKO).
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/7123945ca8756675
Rental: 0000 0001 67CD 11
1) Team overview
Xerneas
Now is a surprisingly good time for Xerneas. Because of how oppressive the big three are, competent teams have to carry answers for them, and many of those answers tend to be set-up bait for Xerneas — and after Geomancy, Calyrex and Kyogre can no longer touch Xerneas. Better still, a substantial amount of teams will simply not have any counterplay to Xerneas whatsoever.
The main idea here is to cripple something with Thundurus, and Eject Button out into Xerneas, after which Geomancy and Substitute should be free. Not quite a cheese in my book, but, at the very least, something akin to a 'strat', perhaps?
My original starting point was this: 51 HP Substitutes for Seismic Toss, with a Speed tier high enough to beat up to +252 Spd Choice Scarf Cinderace (282) after Geomancy. But failing to see any meaningful amount of Cinderace, I ended up settling for the next benchmark down, which is 252 Spd Choice Scarf Cinderace (256). To be honest, I would not consider it greedy at all to go even lower — +252 Spd Choice Scarf Urshifu's 244 and Darmanitan's 241 being the two major benchmarks left requiring any investment.
Concerning the Thunderbolt slot, it could just as easily be Moonblast for actually getting some clean 1HKOs after a Geomancy boost, Hippowdon being the first one that comes to mind.
Similarly, Quagsire is also potentially painful because it basically forces a timer stall due to Draining Kiss' measly 16 PP and inability to 2HKO (uninvested Quagsire Earthquake has less than a 50% chance to break Xerneas' Substitute). Fortunately, in a vacuum, Quagsire should not really be a good bring against this team. Well, except for Zacian-teams with Quagsire as their Zacian/Ditto check, of course — and that's two bad slots against Volcarona momentum.
The upside of Draining Kiss is that Xerneas can't be revenge killed by Ditto, and Rillaboom has a significantly harder time finding Xerneas at below the 70% health threshold necessary for Choice Band (28% usage) Grassy Glide to pull through.
It should be noted that Shedinja, of course, hard walls this set outright, but is not nearly common enough to warrant teching for, although Night Slash is sometimes found even outside Choice Band Xerneas on regular special attacker sets with Geomancy + three attacks just to catch it. And besides, teams with Shedinja on them tend to be Volcarona games anyway.
As obnoxious as Shedinja is, Ferrothorn is far and away the bigger problem. This, too, is something that has its remedy in Focus Blast, but because it simply does not hit anything other than Ferrothorn, I decided I would rather take another trash match-up — especially against something that finds itself competing with Rillaboom.
Finally, we come to Thunderbolt. I offer no excuses here: Moonblast is strictly speaking better in most situations, its +2 SpAtt 95BP STAB Fairy Aura-boosted burst cutting through most type-resistances with ease. What Thunderbolt does here, then, is provide offensive coverage primarily against Toxapex, with Heatran, anti-Zacian Aegislash, the conspicuously absent Celesteela, and Nihilego being merely secondary considerations.
Likewise, when it comes to Slowking-G, as part of Yveltal teams, for example, I have found Assault Vest variants to be breakable in the 1v1 with Xerneas momentum, but Calm Mind + Slack Off ones far less so.
As for Toxapex, having a move in Thunderbolt that does something even while unboosted to click from behind a Substitute prevents Xerneas from being checked by Haze variants, especially the admittedly rare SpDef-invested ones, which prevent the Xerneas snowball by switching in on Geomancy, living even +2 +252 Thunderbolt, and clicking Haze.
Thundurus-Incarnate
This is the star of the show: Prankster Taunt + Thunder Wave with Eject Button for sweeper insertion.
Not only does Thundurus lead well into all of the big three, crippling them with Thunder Wave, it also protects Volcarona from Stealth Rock (Hippowdon, Landorus, Swampert), and benefits from the rather counter-intuitive — but very much welcome — mechanic of Eject Button not procing the switch-out on pivot moves, letting Xerneas and Volcarona insert into something like an Eerie Impulse'd defensive Zapdos that failed to Volt Switch/U-Turn out.
As for the downsides, well, Eject Button is of course eminently abusable by priority moves if read by the opponent (around 1% usage at the time of writing) — especially by Speed-invested Rillaboom Grassy Glide (212 Spd EV to go to real Spd stat of 132, above Thundurus' 131) — but, more importantly, it makes Thundurus impossible to actually switch in on things defensively when brought in the back, unless intentionally resetting Ditto's Imposter with Eject Button. This, in turn, leads to very flowcharty gameplay, a prospect relished by both Focus Sash Urshifu and Ditto.
Eerie Impulse is the flex slot, which could also be occupied by an actual pivot move (Volt Switch/U-Turn), something like Discharge/Electroweb to prevent getting stuck clicking Foul Play whenever Prankster is immuned (Tyranitar and Yveltal being the scariest in this regard), with Substitute or even Scary Face as playable options.
Nevertheless, I am personally partial to Eerie Impulse in the 4th slot, as it lets Thundurus live a Water Spout from Kyogre in the lead to Eject Button Xerneas in.
Going forward, the EVs on this set could use some further optimization: currently, Calyrex-S Astral Barrage is survivable so long as it is not Choice Specs, Life Orb, or +252 SpAtt (12.5% to 1HKO) damage.
Finally, although whether to click Eerie Impulse or Thunder Wave on turn one can be inferred from the opposing Calyrex-S's most likely item of choice — based on the rest of the opposing six — some randomness could be eliminated by investing in SpDef, depending on which of the 1HKOs one wants to avoid. For example, +252 SpAtt Astral Barrage from Choice Scarf variants would only require relatively minor investments.
Urshifu-Single-Strike
The lack of pure wall-breaking burst provided by Choice Band makes Urshifu hard to bring against the big three and their Roost + slow pivot + Rocky Helmet/Static/Flame Body attrition.
Despite this, Focus Sash Urshifu does have relevant niches, chief among them being the ability to Wicked Blow through clearly telegraphed screens play, as well as being just good overall against more off-meta restricted strategies, like ones involving the Dragon Dancers.
And, of course, just because this Urshifu does not carry Choice Band, nor Counter, that doesn't mean the opponent has this information — although having Ditto as part of the six should rule out Choice Scarf sets, and therefore Urshifu-RS, as well.
For the fourth moveslot, Stone Edge is what I found the most interesting over Counter, U-Turn, Poison Jab, and Taunt. This is because it makes Urshifu bringable across slightly more match-ups, not being as easy to Roost off for the defensive Zapdos alluded to above, not to mention Moltres and Ho-Oh.
At the end of the day, Urshifu's best match-up is against hyper offense, where it seeks to get a 1-for-1 trade, or suicide into something like a Ditto follow-up.
Volcarona
So far this generation, Volcarona has never managed to get even close to the lofty heights it occupied in USUM — largely due to Max Airstream and a loss of offensive power (Psychium/Normalium-Z and Hidden Power: Ice/Ground) compounded by difficulty of breaking through offensive Dynamax bulk. Being a victim of the format-wide Roost-culling has also been a massive blow to any kind of bulky sets, as has been the case with Charizard, and, most painfully, with poor old Salamence.
So while offensive coverage remains an issue — not being able to punish Heatran with Hidden Power: Ground, or having to rely on the underwhelming Psychic for things like Dragonite — this series at least gives Volcarona a relevant niche as something capable of breaking through a number of Eternatus and/or Toxapex-based defensive cycles.
Quad-resisting Grassy Glide also helps nudge Volcarona closer to usable territory, as does being able to outspeed and oneshot Zacian after a Quiver Dance boost.
On this team, Volcarona serves as second fiddle to Xerneas, especially notable for being able to boost in front of Xerneas' worst non-Shedninja match-up, Ferrothorn.
Outside this role, going for Psychic + Lum Berry over the more immediate burst of Bug Buzz + Life Orb, which still falls well short of 1HKOing SpDef-invested anti-Calyrex Tyranitar-sets, means Volcarona is able to fulfill the role of breaking through the defensive cycles referred to above. In addition, I simply do not think Heavy-Duty Boots, albeit making Volcarona more consistent in the back, entirely makes sense with Prankster Taunt on the team.
As far as the choice of Timid over Modest goes, Choice Scarf Darmanitan is the major benchmark here, without forgetting the fact that both Choice Scarf Urshifu and Kyogre would also outspeed Modest Volcarona for no gain whatsoever.
Rillaboom
We did it. Tapu Rilla rose to the top of the usage chart for the first time, although getting edged out by Landorus by the end of the season. This is in no small part due to Grassy Glide's ability to slap down Calyrex-S and Kyogre, two of the big three, and having access to U-Turn really helps getting one's own restricted threat into attacking position.
This Rillaboom set does something more than check the aforementioned two format-distorting threats, though. Especially against Kyogre teams, Rillaboom can click Swords Dance on a Ferrothorn switch (or lead) and 1v1 it, or, alternatively, likely delete something with +2 Superpower into +1 Grassy Glide.
Swords Dance is also what empowers Rillaboom against defensive match-ups, especially hard stall, against which Ditto and Urshifu are basically unpickable, its native bulk letting it live things like uninvested Eternatus Mystical Fire.
The experimental EVs here are to allow Rillaboom to safely lead against Zacian without being 1HKO'd by even +252 Behemoth Blade, High Horsepower putting even defensively invested variants into KO range for +2 Thunderbolt from Xerneas further down the line (Rillaboom-Xerneas-Ditto/Volcarona/Urshifu).
Ditto
Although it did eventually drop out of the top 10 of usage by the final month of Series 8, the previous restricted format, I think most people agree that the maxim of "Whenever Ditto is good, the format is not" was borne out by every relevant metric in that ruleset.
For Series 10, Ditto makes its triumphant return as a major out for Calyrex, and especially for Zacian, against which it ends up with +2 Att and an unchallengeable Speed tier.
2) Usage notes
A defining feature of gameplay in this ruleset is managing the opposing Zacian's health. To this end, this team has two move combinations to consistently enough take on defensively uninvested variants when Ditto and Volcarona are benched for whatever reason: +2 Xerneas Thunderbolt combined with either Rillaboom Grassy Glide or Urshifu Close Combat. In other words, you either try to bruise Zacian into +2 Thunderbolt range (60.4 - 71.2% damage) to sweep, or sacrifice Xerneas because you can clean up with Rillaboom or something else (paralysis).
Despite having multiple things that actually hit Shedinja, teams with Shedinja tend to be so bulky, they are difficult to break even with Volcarona and Urshifu. Anyone seeking to make the team more forgiving would be well-advised to run something like Slack Off Hippowdon over Ditto, which would provide repeat switches into non-Swords Dance Zacian, and shoo away Shedinja with a combination of Stealth Rock and sandstorm.
It just keeps missing.
Swords Dance on the Eternatus that switched in to take a hit for Tyranitar on turn one. Rillaboom-Xerneas-Thundurus vs. Tyranitar-Eternatus-Chansey.
Rating before having to call it a night, with just over seven hours of play in the season. These trips weren't going to hold, but at least I got 1900 Elo, right?
...right! Final rating.
2.1 Usual team compositions
Thundurus-Xerneas-Volcarona/Ditto
Rillaboom/Urshifu-Ditto-
-Thundurus-Xerneas
2.2 VS Team Select Screen
A new series means a complete rewrite of prominent archetypes as I see them, especially now that we are dealing with restricted pokemon again. True enough, the groupings below should in large part be understood in terms restricted pokemon, because that is what teams are, for better or worse, mostly built around.
Bulky Offense or Balance
- Gameplay can be boiled down to slow pivoting in one's own restricted pokemon while barely checking or wearing down the opposing restricted pokemon.
- Defensive checks/pivots: Hippowdon, Swampert, Zapdos, Landorus, Porygon2, Mandibuzz, Umbreon, Aegislash, Moltres.
- Offensive threats/pivots: Zapdos, Landorus, Darmanitan, Urshifu, Rillaboom, Cinderace, Dracovish, Nihilego, Ditto.
- Restricted pokemon: Zacian, Calyrex-S, Kyogre, Yveltal.
- Teams with a slightly more defensive framework tend to like the utility provided by Quagsire, Ferrothorn, Tapu Fini, or Tyranitar.
Thundurus-Xerneas-Volcarona
Rillaboom-Thundurus/Ditto-
Urshifu is good on paper against Calyrex-S teams, so long as its Urshifu check is Hippowdon, Swampert (or Landorus), or Tapu Fini, and not Zapdos, whose combination of Rocky Helmet damage, Static, and a slow Volt Switch/U-Turn offer free insertion for any of the big three.
Leading Urshifu against Kyogre teams is more palatable, because getting Wicked Blow or Close Combat to connect on it even just once puts bulk-uninvested variants into Giga Drain range for +1 Volcarona. And if Kyogre stays in to click a move on it on turn one, and saves itself from Sucker Punch by switching out into something defensive after triggering Focus Sash, chances are, Quiver Dance or Geomancy are clickable against whatever ends up KOing Urshifu (Urshifu-Xerneas/Volcarona-Rillaboom/Thundurus).
Like Urshifu, Rillaboom risks getting similarly abused by Zapdos, but can at least click Swords Dance on Volt Switch/U-Turn, and if Zapdos stays in to KO Rillaboom instead, that, again, just means a free Quiver Dance or Geomancy.
Successfully employing Ditto against Zacian teams depends, in no small part, on what the Zacian team's answer to +2 Zacian is. If it's Quagsire, something like Thundurus-Rillaboom-Volcarona will likely end up being preferable to Ditto or Xerneas play.
Hard Stall
- Toxapex, Chansey, Quagsire, Blissey, Chansey, Skarmory, Tyranitar, Clefable, Umbreon, Shedinja.
- Usual restricted pokemon: Eternatus, Ho-Oh, Zygarde-C.
- Because of the inherent power of restricted pokemon, hard stall has a significantly larger offensive presence than in previous rulesets.
Thundurus-Volcarona-Xerneas/Rillaboom
Volcarona-Xerneas-
Rillaboom-Volcarona-Xerneas
Ditto is obviously completely dead against stall, even against this slightly more offensively menacing Series 10 iteration of it, with non-Choice Band Urshifu typically already finding itself woefully lacking in firepower even against physical checks on bulky offense (Zapdos, Moltres), not to mention the horrors stall tends to bring to bear.
The Thundurus lead shuts down any hazard leads barring Tyranitar — an existential threat to the Volcarona plan, essentially forcing a Xerneas or Rillaboom lead — spreading paralysis until Eject Button triggers, letting Xerneas or Volcarona be inserted into something that, even if not paralyzed, likely poses almost no offensive threat to begin with.
As awful as Tyranitar potentially is against what essentially already amounts to a four pokemon squad in this match-up, the one silver lining with opposing Tyranitar is the difficulty of running it in tandem with Shedinja (forced into Safety Goggles), the hardest Xerneas counter there is.
Hyper Offense
- Restricted pokemon: Zacian, Calyrex-S, Kyogre, Dragon Dancers (Kyurem, Reshiram, Zekrom, Dusk-Mane).
- Focus Sash users: Urshifu, Pheromosa, Garchomp, Cinderace.
- Alternative mode may be something like Trick Room, especially if Mimikyu is present.
Thundurus-Urshifu/Ditto-
Urshifu-Thundurus-
Thundurus and Urshifu should be good leads against both dedicated suicide leads and openers with the restricted pokemon trying to get early trades for a Mimikyu-based endgame.
Baton Pass / Minimize
- Without the perfect accuracy of Dynamax-moves around, Minimize cheeses are the easiest to execute they have ever been this generation.
- Evasion strategies are also helped by the fact that Mimikyu is down is usage due to Mold Breaker effects across multiple restricted pokemon, and its general inability to offensively break the bulky and defensive things that seek to check restricted pokemon. This makes Curse + Pain Split (zero attacks) sets better by comparison, but those are generally considered less splashable and harder to execute than Swords Dance sets.
- Stand-alone Minimize users: Chansey, Clefable, Chandelure.
- Dedicated set-up/Baton Pass: Blaziken, Scolipede, Drifblim, Clefable.
Volcarona/Xerneas-Thundurus-
Thundurus-
Urshifu-Thundurus-
Usually against anything relying on one or two dedicated set-up pokemon, the smart play tends to be to lead as greedily as possible (Volcarona, Xerneas) whenever the opposing suicide/cripple lead allows for it, with Thundurus reserved for the Baton Passer to prevent any boosts from being passed onto whatever the receiver is, be it a restricted pokemon or a Stored Power user.
An alternative line of play exists against dedicated set-up strategies involving Baton Pass, whereby Ditto is inserted on the Baton Passer, and passes copied boosts onto a sweeper.
Being proactive here is especially important, because this team does not have access to Perish Song, Haze, Whirlwind/Roar, or Ghost-type Curse.
Screens Mode
- Screens users: Regieleki, Dragapult, Grimmsnarl, Tapu Koko, Klefki, Ninetales-A.
- Restricted pokemon: Xerneas, Dragon Dancers (Kyurem, Reshiram, Zekrom, Dusk-Mane).
- Dragapult sets need to be inferred from the rest of the opposing line-up, usually not that difficult if it's just Dragapult with a bunch of sweepers, one of them likely being something slightly weird like a Shell Smash user or Swords Dance Rapid Spin Excadrill.
Rillaboom-Thundurus-
Thundurus-
Xerneas/Volcarona-Thundurus-Urshifu
After the first month of play, it seems quite clear that screens is not nearly as good as in previous rulesets: not only do Zacian, Calyrex-S and Kyogre not benefit from them enough to warrant running screens, the offensive pressure of the big three themselves is what has pushed teams to run multiple specific defensive checks that make bringing a screens user a rather pointless endeavor to undertake for most teams with one of them as the restricted pokemon of choice, when you will be running into things like Rocky Helmet Roost all day anyway.
Against telegraphed screens-play, Rillaboom is usually a good opener for Regieleki, Tapu Koko, and Grimmsnarl; Thundurus can stop screens from ever coming down if it's Klefki or Dragapult.
The Xerneas/Volcarona lead is preferred, but being crippled by Thunder Wave or Trick Lagging Tail from Klefki and Grimmsnarl is not exactly ideal.
3) In Conclusion
Another one in the bag. I'll probably start off next month playing some Kyurem-W, with an eye on doing some runs with both mixed Zekrom and some kind of fat Kyogre.
Lastly, during the upcoming month, aside from my usual write-up, I will also be playing in the Mythical Melee competition taking place 10-12 September, with my customary battle report to follow soon after.
- Tox
SW-0021-9848-8999
