Battle Stadium Singles blog — Mythical Melee (Special Edition)
This was going to happen eventually: a weekender tournament with both restricted and mythical pokemon in it, and with the added complication of the generational gimmick of Dynamax to boot.
The entirety of my preparation for this event consisted of nine games in a 144-person friendly competition with this ruleset. This was mostly to get access to usage stats (Dusk-Mane #10; Zeraora #20), but also to test the main mode flowchart on my team.
252 SpA Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 140 HP / 252+ SpD Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk Mane: 126-148 (66.3 - 77.8%).
252 SpA Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 140 HP / 252+ SpD Necrozma-Dusk Mane in Rain: 145-172 (76.3 - 90.5%).
Another baller. Despite not even being listed among the top 10 most used moves on Groudon in this event, there were at least three Fling Groudon among the top 10 finishing teams (1, 2, 3).
Looks like Screens + Steel Beam is the only way to use Zamazenta that makes even a lick of sense.
Bailed out by hail after a low-roll: +1 252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 153-181 (91 - 107.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock.
Announcement: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000112/en
Thread: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/mythical-melee.3689825/#post-8958463
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/cede869691a5b62c
1) Team overview
Necrozma Dusk-Mane
This is the main attraction on the team. And it's all about the combination of surprise factor and some rather impressive defensive calculations.
Now, granted, when you are resorting to running support sets on formidable offensive threats like this, you are resigning yourself to the fact that you may very well end up in a 2v3 if the opponent is on the ball. This is especially true for Dusk-Mane, being the only thing in this that can switch into a Behemoth Blade and not get immediately bussed to death's door in doing so.
Still, whenever Marshadow or Calyrex-S are on the opposing team, there is plenty of incentive to play for Focus Sash breaking.
Moreover, when the Fling does go off, Stealth Rock is down, and Rock Tomb is being spammed out until Dusk-Mane keels over, there's momentum aplenty.
The defensive calculations in the Calyrex-S lead match-up extend to surviving a hit from up to Timid Life Orb Astral Barrage (6.3% chance to 1HKO), whereas Kyogre Water Spout is livable from both Modest and Timid Choice Scarf sets.
Calyrex-S is also the reasoning behind the real Spd stat of 112 both this set and the Kyogre below go for, that being outspeeding a paralyzed Calyrex-S after living an Astral Barrage to get a Stealth Rock off.
As nice as all this is, Dusk-Mane still gets bopped by turn 1 Dynamax from Calyrex, and the same is true with Choice Specs Kyogre, not to mention Yveltal's Max Darkness.
Kyogre
Bulky Assault Vest Kyogre should beat the Kyogre mirror, Yveltal, and is just hard to 1HKO in general, making it an excellent Dynamax user. Indeed, in the practice tournament I played in, albeit a small sample size, Assault Vest was, in fact, Kyogre's most used item (45% Assault Vest, 40% Choice Scarf).
Aside from Melmetal and perhaps Groudon, Trick Room sweepers tend to also be special attackers (Magearna, Dialga, Kyogre), another point in Assault Vest Kyogre's favor.
I suppose the only other thing really worth mentioning here is Scald as the secondary Water STAB over Origin Pulse. This is another corner I've cut to give Kyogre the burn proc as an out against Focus Sash Marshadow. In practice, Kyogre should be either clicking Water Spout against a paralyzed opponent, or making trades with Dynamax moves anyway.
Zacian-Crowned
Following up on the bulky cushion EV-ing philosophy seen with Kyogre above, I pursued a similar line of thinking here: Zacian already natively outspeeds anything unboosted barring other Zacian, so the only relevant downside for going this route I can name off hand is being outsped by Marshadow, and that's it.
And let's face it, if the best you can hope for in the standard Zacian mirror is the coin flip, I'd rather be guaranteed to live a faster Behemoth Blade, and take the 50% to 1HKO back that way (80%+ after Stealth Rock damage; Stealth Rock damage also makes Timid Water Spout need the absolute highest roll to 1HKO [6.3%] this Zacian from full).
In terms of coverage, Wild Charge was designed for Ho-Oh, and I opted for Swords Dance over the more consistent Quick Attack to break through Eternatus.
The Speed creep here is not really optimized, intended mainly for a hypothetical bulky Zacian mirror, while also getting a point over +252 Spd Nihilego's 170, for what little that's worth in a Zacian format.
Defensively, Zacian's bulk gives it good odds to live some fairly relevant hits, such as 252 SpAtt Life Orb Yveltal Max Flare (25% to 1HKO), +1 252 SpAtt Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage (82.7 - 97.9%), and 252 Att Choice Scarf Landorus Earthquake (6.3% to 1HKO).
Calyrex-Shadow
The Substitute tech here lets Calyrex leverage the paralysis from Fling, especially against turn 1 Dynamax users, but is mainly here as a Max Guard move, and for completely telegraphed cripple leads like Uxie and Groudon.
I didn't see the Psychic STAB being worth anything in this format, so I opted instead for Nasty Plot, which lets Calyrex muscle through the only actually decent defensive pokemon in the format, Cosmic Power Eternatus. I suppose Nasty Plot boosted Max Starfall is also an option against Yveltal, but because of the existential threat posed by Sucker Punch, bringing Kyogre or Yveltal as the designated Dynamax users against opposing Yveltal teams makes far more sense.
Yveltal
It wouldn't be a Dynamax format with at least some Max Airstreaming going on, now would it?
On a slightly more serious note, Yveltal is nothing short of mandatory on every team to prevent being snowballed by opposing Calyrex-S, unless relying entirely on Focus Sash intact Calyrex/Marshadow or Choice Scarf play to revenge kill it. That, or bringing something silly like Type: Null to hope to cushion it.
With Choice Scarf Marshadow, Focus Sash Calyrex-S, and Assault Vest Kyogre on this team — all of which contest opposing Calyrex-S — I went ahead and cut Sucker Punch for Roost for a Max Guard move, and for the many, many assumed Yveltal mirrors.
Marshadow
This is the filler slot that betrays how lazy I was going into this — this set being a copy of the one fortune_36 employed in a practice tournament for this event.
In going over possible openings in this ruleset, I concluded that offensive Regieleki is competely free against this team: no Volt Switch immunity, and no resistance to Max Lightning. It would therefore stand to reason that I would run either Landorus or Cosmic Power Eternatus in the last slot — I didn't like Groudon in this outside its cripple lead role.
But I ended up going with Marshadow as a secondary Dynamax user, and as a form of counterplay to dedicated boosting strategies involving Dragon Dance in particular.
With the benefit of hindsight, the aforementioned Eternatus or even something like Trick Room Dialga would have been vastly preferable to this. But that's lack of testing for you.
2) Tournament
In keeping with tradition, I will again try to make excuses for document my losses below, like the glutton for punishment in an overdesigned children's video game I am.
Because of my reservations about Marshadow, I figured it would be not altogether unappealing to keep track of just how often it got some play, and how it ended up doing when it did, so that data will be presented below alongside everything else.
In the past few tournaments like this, I have also tried to include a screenshot of both teams for all of my losses, so know that whenever one is missing, it likely means I felt some emotions that got in the way of taking the time to snap one. But that's not going to happen this time around, right?
Day 1
Win / Loss: 13 – 2
Marshadow brought (win - loss): 1 - 0
Loss 1: Necrozma-Yveltal-Zacian vs. Kyogre-Marshadow-Zacian
Low-rolled the 80%+ 1HKO Behemoth Blade in the final mon 1v1 Zacian mirror against a 1477 pts. player.
Loss 1.
+1 252+ Atk Zacian-Crowned Behemoth Blade vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 153-181 (91 - 107.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock.
Loss 2: Necrozma-Zacian-Kyogre vs. Dialga-Yveltal-Marshadow
Basically 3-0'd from the lead by 252 HP 252 SpAtt Life Orb Dynamax Dialga. Had a total of four turns to try to turn it around with a paralysis proc, but couldn't get one.
Still winnable after that, but because Yveltal was Assault Vest, it avoided the Max Geyser 1HKO, putting Dynamax Kyogre into Marshadow range with two Sucker Punches to seal the deal.
Loss 2.
It took a full 12 games to break 1600 after those two losses within the first four games.
Rating after day one.
To sum up the first day of play: I only had to play two Regieleki teams, both of which were, mercifully, Screens variants, so they never even had the option getting a 2-for-1 trade due to my dubious team-building decisions.
Day 2
Win / Loss: 6 - 0
Marshadow brought (win - loss): 0 - 0
Quite fortunate so far, continuing to dodge every offensive Regieleki out there (3/3 Screens).
This, too, is survivable on turn 1: 252+ Atk (yes, it was Adamant Focus Sash) Marshadow Max Phantasm (130 BP) vs. 140 HP / 0 Def Prism Armor Necrozma-Dusk Mane: 145-172 (76.3 - 90.5%).
Rating after day two's games.
I got comfortably above 1700 so I decided to sit on my rating until the inevitable day three collapse. The major takeaway so far for me is an ever-growing respect for Dialga — it can seemingly do everything, which is insane in a best-of-one format.
Day 3
Win / Loss: 10 – 9
Marshadow brought (win - loss): 0 - 0
Loss 3: Necrozma-Yveltal-Zacian vs. Mewtwo-Victini-Yveltal
Had to trade Dynamax Yveltal into Trick Room Victini in order to get to the final mon 1v1 with Zacian. Got crit by Life Orb Yveltal Max Flare from a 1512 rated player. -29 points.
Loss 3. Crit through the calcs, assuming it was Timid: 252 SpA Life Orb Yveltal Max Flare (130 BP) vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Zacian-Crowned: 174-205 (88.3 - 104%) -- 25% chance to OHKO.
Loss 4: Necrozma-Kyogre-Zacian vs Kyogre-Zacian-
1747 ranked opponent. Dusk-Mane got oneshotted by Life Orb Kyogre Max Geyser, putting me too behind to recover. Managed to miss the 50/50 in the Zacian mirror so I didn't even get to see their last pokemon. This felt like a real game where I got right and proper outplayed. GG.
Loss 4.
Loss 5: Necrozma-Zacian-Kyogre vs. Kyogre-Marshadow-Yveltal
Lost to Assault Vest Yveltal in the final mon 1v1 as Kyogre. GG.
Loss 5.
Rating peak.
No...
...that's more like it.
Loss 6: Necrozma-Kyogre-Zacian vs. Yveltal-Zacian-Marshadow
Lost to a combination of 0 Spd Zacian with Wild Charge and Quick Attack, and Marshadow with its Focus Sash in the back intact, after I couldn't get Stealth Rock down for the Marshadow because Yveltal, rightly, Dynamax oneshotted Necrozma on turn 1.
This would have been a win if the opponent's Zacian had respected Kyogre's possible Choice Scarf and had gone for Quick Attack instead of Wild Charge when I Dynamaxed on it after it 1v1'd my Zacian.
Dropped below 1700 for the first time.
Loss 6.
Loss 7: Necrozma-Zacian-Kyogre vs. Kyurem-W-Necrozma-Marshadow
Paralyzed Kyurem-W got off three straight Freeze Dry against -1 Spd Kyogre in the final mon 1v1, the first one of which was a crit into Kyogre's final turn of Dynamax. -25 pts.
Loss 7.
Loss 8: Necrozma-Kyogre-Zacian vs. Groudon-Yveltal-Xerneas
I straight up threw a free win by staying in to Max Geyser Xerneas in a 2v1 on its Geomancy turn instead of going straight Zacian, letting it set Electric Terrain to 1HKO Zacian, when even +2 +SpAtt Max Lightning (Thunder) would have needed the highest of high rolls otherwise: +2 252+ SpA Xerneas Max Lightning (140 BP) vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Zacian-Crowned: 157-185 (79.6 - 93.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock.
Nothing short of being the most humiliating loss in months.
Loss 8.
Loss 9: Necrozma-Kyogre-Zacian vs. Groudon-Marshadow-Zekrom
A badly bruised Kyogre somehow lived a Life Orb Zekrom Max Airstream, which meant Zekrom was able to set Electric Terrain on the next turn in order to oneshot Zacian, whose Play Rough would have had almost a 90% to 1HKO after Stealth Rock damage and a single tick of Life Orb damage otherwise.
Dipped below 1700 again after that.
Despite my best efforts, there does not seem to exist a single screenshot for loss 9. I wonder how that could have happened?
Loss 10: Necrozma-Zacian-Kyogre vs. Marshadow-Reshiram-Kyogre
After Choice Scarf Reshiram killed Zacian, the opponent's Assault Vest Kyogre had more Speed investment in the final mon Kyogre mirror. GG.
Loss 10.
Loss 11: Necrozma-Zacian-Kyogre vs. Kyogre-Yveltal-Zacian
Opponent's bulky Zacian was faster in the final mon Zacian mirror. GG.
Loss 11.
With five games left, I figured I'd call it at 1700. Not only was I not making any progress, I was starting to feel the RNG swinging disproportionally the wrong way (losses 3, 7, and 9), and worse still, I was starting to make game-losing mistakes (loss 8).
Final ranking.
3) In Conclusion
This was a fun format — for a weekend. I can certainly appreciate a ruleset where games get decided in the team select screen to an alarming degree, and there is very little actual outplaying going on once ingame, the mapping out of the lead game being one of my favorite things about regular old BSS. But, on the other hand, I can understand why there was virtually no hype for this tournament.
As for that Marshadow, well, when you only bring something once out of 40 games, and even that one time you did, the opponent died before it ever even got onto the field, you are sitting on something fairly useless. Turns out Spectral Thief without Focus Sash + Shadow Sneak for the Zacian match-up in a Dynamax metagame is completely dead with no real boosting going on; just a bunch of restricted and mythical pokemon smashing their heads together in some kind of...melee. Uh.
I'll be back first thing next month with another BSS team write-up, likely involving either Sticky Webs into Power Herb Eternatus, or some Kyurem-W/Zekrom stuff.
- Tox
SW-0021-9848-8999
