Battle Stadium Singles blog — Double Gambit (Season 2; Series 1)
As Series 1 is defunct as a ruleset by the time this entry is public, I'll try to keep things brief. The initial idea I had to close out Series 1 was to pilot some variant of dedicated Drifblim Minimize Baton Pass, which ultimately proved to be a bit too inconsistent and simply too tedious to sit through, despite Blunder Policy Skeledirge being a sight to behold.
After this, I played around 20 games with various Dual Screens Dragapult builds. The results were fine enough, and Calm Mind Espathra really does feel like a kind of mini-Xerneas, but I could not walk away with anything other than the impression that telegraphed screens shouldn't really work past a certain level of play because of the various ways it can be disrupted or simply out-greeded. So I decided against featuring that, too.
In the end, I arrived at another face-to-face construction. The twist? Turning 3v3 singles into 2v2 singles through Final Gambit Annihilape.
From a 3v3 to a 2v2 thanks to that meaty 110 Base HP.
Stealth Rock was a fly in the ointment of Dragonite in Series 1. And you know it dominated when—putting aside the obvious fact that it was in virtually every game—even the rogue king Sigma gave in.
Hey, I can't Mud Shot that!
The 5% Mud Shot whiff.
Avoiding a turn one loss: instead of being abused by a probable Tera-Steel Substitute Hydreigon opener as Glimmora, the Annihilape lead can opt to Final Gambit or U-turn on it.
Popular early on, Garganacl is, perhaps alongside Azumarill, in contention for the pokemon whose usage has since seen the biggest dip.
0-3'd by Garganacl-Clodsire from here.
Because it was Tera-Flying and it Terastallized immediately after Annihilape switched in on the Dragon Dance opener, I assume it was bulky Tera Blast/Encore/Dragon Dance/Roost.
In the final mon Low Kick Kingambit 1v1, the side that still has Terastallize up should win by removing its 4x weakness to Fighting.
Here, the above scenario reversed.
Glimmora/Annihilape-Baxcalibur-Kingambit can't break the standard defensive Tera-Fairy Skeledirge, but whenever you see Screens or Baton Pass stuff (Espathra) on the opposing six, Skeledirge could easily be running Sing/Hex/Torch Song Blunder Policy with Tera-Normal to prevent being manhandled by Choice Scarf Gholdengo.
Tera-Normal Dragonite is going to be taking around 75%+ (252 HP Dragonite) even without Supreme Overlord boosts.
On the receiving end of the boot.
Last one, I promise.
I gambled, and lost.
Sucker Punished.
As a yearslong Fling-enthusiast, this pleases me.
Fling-i-kyu.
Chople Berry seems to have been among the more standard picks on on Series 1 crippler Kingambit (Thunder Wave + Stealth Rock).
Here's to three more years of the Tera-type arms race (Assault Vest Kingambit).
Annihilape's bully set (Taunt + Bulk Up).
"- - - Dead, for a ducat, dead!" (Me, that is).
Whenever I saw Dodonzo, I assumed it was either Rest/Sleep Talk/Fissure/Wave Crash, or a Yawn + Protect set. But whatever the set, Tera Blast shouldn't have any business 2HKOing even if Dodonzo chooses to cut a decent amount of Defense-investment. I guess this was Choice Band or Assault Vest Dodonzo?
Loaded Dice? No, it's just another case of perfectly acceptable variance for an ostensibly competitive game.
Definitely no dice.
"Who's that pokemon?"
1) Team overview
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/fcbf98e68748e21c
Rental: defunct
Glimmora
Glimmora @ Focus Sash
Ability: Toxic Debris
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Mortal Spin
- Mud Shot
- Dazzling Gleam
- Stealth Rock
Lead Glimmora is so telegraphed that it is perhaps the most eminently counterleadable pokemon besides something like Palafin. Now, of course, not all teams have the tools to fully abuse a Glimmora opener (i.e. Tera-Steel Substitute Hydreigon). But most teams do at least have Gholdengo, which will 1v1 Glimmora without triggering Toxic Debris irrespective of its set, be it bulky Choice Specs/Scarf, fully defensive, or offensive Choice Scarf.
What all this amounts to is that Glimmora can still be rewarding whenever there does not seem to be much in the way of an immediate punish, or when Mud Shot is enough to secure momentum if the opposing opener is likely to be Gholdengo, or an opposing hazard setter like bulky Dragon Tail Garchomp.
Now, as for the moveset, for the standard Focus Sash Glimmora, I consider Mud Shot and Stealth Rock to be mandatory. This ensures that Glimmora can, at the very least, perform its role as a crippler lead: Speed control against faster targets, such as Garchomp, and Stealth Rock to break an opposing Focus Sash, and, more importantly, Multiscale.
The remaining two move slots represent a design space that should reward the player for metagame knowledge by letting them prepare for specific scenarios.
For this team, I went with Dazzling Gleam as a general source of immediate damage and an offensive option for Garchomp, Hydreigon, Dragonite, and Dragapult, the idea also being to double down on Tera-Fairy, which itself is only really an attempt to avoid being counterled by Choice Band Tera-Dragon Dragon Darts on turn one.
The other choice, Mortal Spin, is not exactly something I would call great compared to other available options that would play more to the commitment to offensive EV-investments here, namely Power Gem or Sludge Wave/Bomb.
Simply put, Mortal Spin's main target is, of course, Dragonite, whose bulky Roost sets (Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers, Rocky Helmet) don't necessarily care about opposing Stealth Rock, and are bulky enough to Roost off Dazzling Gleam and Mud Shot after they have Terastallized into Normal, using Glimmora as set-up bait.
With Mortal Spin, opposing Dragonite loses its Multiscale for good, and occasionally, 1 HP Glimmora even gets to KO itself into Rocky Helmet while doing so! Mortal Spin also has the effect of removing opposing Stealth Rock when the opponent elects to lead their own hazards, but the only real beneficiary of this effect is Baxcalibur.
Annihilape
Annihilape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Vital Spirit
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rage Fist
- Final Gambit
- Close Combat
- U-turn
First of all, for what it's worth, my experience of reading opposing Annihilape in the team preview screen has been as follows: the popular sets were indeed initially the Taunt + Bulk Up variants, but by Season 2, Fling Light Ball is what I assume I am seeing most games when none of the more telegraphed Stealth Rock setters are present. For opponents looking at the six on this team, however, Glimmora should rule out the crippler set.
Nevertheless, Glimmora being as easy to abuse as it is, Annihilape is decent into many of the things that would seek to do just so. The most notable of these threats are Choice Scarf Gholdengo (2HKO without procing Glimmora's Ability), Substitute Hydreigon, Encore Tinkaton (Air Balloon), fast Taunt users (Grimmsnarl, Focus Sash Meowscarada), Trick cripplers (Rotom-W/Gholdengo), and Garganacl. Having to Tera-Fairy against an opposing Dragapult lead to live a possible Choice Band Dragon Darts (+252 Att or Tera-Dragon) is also off the table when leading Annihilape.
Now, to reiterate once more, the idea with this set is to force a 2v2 with Kingambit likely in the back. Therefore, having to click anything other than Final Gambit as a turn one Annihilape already means your chances of winning have gone down markedly, whether through getting the worst possible opposing lead (e.g. a faster Choice Scarf pokemon), or having an immune pokemon switch in (e.g. Skeledirge or Gholdengo), regaining momentum not really being a thing for face-to-face constructions like this—the idea being to win three 1v1 with a positive trade somewhere in there.
Although doing so feels quite awful while locking it in, bringing Annihilape in the back does have a use case worth noting in checking opposing Dragonite momentum—being immune to Dragonite's Extremespeed, outspeeding even the fastest possible variants after a Dragon Dance.
Tera-Fire found its way onto the set because it has a legitimate niche against Tera-Fairy Skeledirge and Volcarona, whose combination of Torch Song/Fiery Dance and Tera Blast are resisted. This is wholly theoretical, as I don't think I had a single game where I went Tera with Annihilape, though.
Regarding the moveset, because this set is Attack-uninvested, Rock Tomb would be a perfectly usable choice over Close Combat, I think.
Dragonite
Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Low Kick
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
Dragonite is the Series-defining pokemon that demands respect in the team preview screen. It was also my least selected pokemon, but one could often tell opponents tunnelvisioned into trying to check or counter it.
This is a purely offensive set intended to get a positive trade against other offensive teams in a hypothetical 2v2 scenario or due to Glimmora momentum—Heavy-Duty Boots ensures that Dragonite's Multiscale remains intact.
This set lacks bulk and recovery, opting instead for three attacks + Dragon Dance, with Low Kick rounding out the set intended as someting with which to trade into opposing Tera-Normal Dragonite, its secondary target being Kingambit.
The EVs are relatively straight-forward, as well. The goal is simply to hit a Base 110 (178) beating tier after a single Dragon Dance (180) with maximum investments into Attack.
Gholdengo
Gholdengo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Good as Gold
Level: 50
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 212 HP / 4 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 156 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Tera Blast
- Trick
When your intended follow-up to Glimmora/Annihilape should be Baxcalibur or Dragonite into Kingambit, you need answers to prohibitively defensive pokemon that will wall most attempts at breaking through them from the physical side.
To this end, Choice Specs Gholdengo not only answers Dodonzo, Skeledirge, and Taunt + Bulk Up Annihilape, but it also cripples an opposing pokemon on hard stall through Trick.
The main defensive benchmark is opposing Choice Scarf Gholdengo's Shadow Ball, which is survivable from full, with Stealth Rock damage only giving it a single roll to 1HKO (6.3%).
With these investments, Gengar's 252 SpAtt Shadow Ball and Hydreigon's 252 SpAtt Dark Pulse are also survivable even after Stealth Rock damage, further enabling Gholdengo's 1v1 prospects. Likewise livable from full is Dragonite's +252 Att +1 Earthquake—ideally after switching into Roost, Dragon Dance, or Extreme Speed—threatening the mighty Dragonite with direct damage or a Trick cripple.
Further, Tera-Fighting with Tera Blast targets Kingambit and Tera-Steel Hydreigon, also turning the Dark-weakness into a resistance, obviously also letting Gholdengo survive two Shadow Balls from the aforementioned opposing 252 SpAtt Choice Scarf Gholdengo.
Finally, the real Speed stat of 124 was chosen to beat out Adamant Breloom (122), and, ideally, some of the bulky attackers choosing to creep past it, as well.
For an even bulkier Choice Specs spread, something like 228 HP / 116 Def / 164 SpAtt would add Garchomp's 252 Att Earthquake to the list of survivable attacks at the expense of the Speed creep of this set.
Kingambit
Kingambit @ Black Glasses
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Kowtow Cleave
- Low Kick
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
When it comes to Kingambit whose moves are fully juiced-up on Supreme Overlord, the comparison to Mega-Mawile from gen7 is inescapable—the resistances of a Steel-type, the ridiculous damage output, and Sucker Punch, whose mindgames remain as obnoxious as ever, patching up an otherwise poor Speed.
The real curiosity here is Jolly with full Speed-investment, which is not really seen on Kingambit because of the tendecy to go all out on the combination of bulk (Assault Vest sets) or firepower (Adamant Swords Dance) to ensure Kowtow Cleave + Sucker Punch wins most endgames.
The justification for max Speed investment is the primary Low Kick target, opposing Kingambit. Following up on Mud Shot makes Kingambit also have an effective Speed of 168, faster than things up to +252 Speed Base 100. Corviknight is also a consideration, letting Kingambit potentially break through it if it switches in on a Swords Dance.
Speaking of Swords Dance, besides anchoring a potent endgame, Kingambit is valuable against the occasional hard stall line-up. There, it can switch in without caring about Stealth Rock or Toxic Spikes (Toxapex) to try to muscle through everything other than Avalugg—a match-up where it kind of needs the opponent to commit their Tera on something else to avoid being walled by Tera-Fighting Iron Defense.
Of course, without Iron Head, Kingambit is left helpless trying to 1v1 bulky Tera-Fairy users such as standard Skeledirge and defensive Dragonite.
Baxcalibur
Baxcalibur @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Level: 50
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Tera Blast
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Spear
Assault Vest Baxcalibur excels at dueling Volcarona and Hydreigon, with Dragonite also a playable match-up—especially against Encore/Fire Spin variants, as well as the mono Tera-Flying attacker set.
Tera-Electric was elected because it hits Dodonzo (and Corviknight) harder on the switch than Tera-Ground does, slightly improving Baxcalibur's Rotom-W match-up, as well as not only immuning Gholdengo's Thunder Wave, but also making its Make It Rain a resisted move—unlike Tera-Ground.
Tera-Electric over Ground is, however, significantly inferior against Garchomp, with Tera-Dragon/Ground Choice Band sets being especially scary because of the lowered reach of Ice Shard. Opposing Baxcalibur can also be a very poor match-up.
Indeed, although the goal is max bulk and attack, some more Speed creep here, beyond the current benchmark of uninvested Rotom-W, would let Baxcalibur potentially outspeed opposing Assault Vest Baxcalibur—Tera-Ground being the most popular variant thereof.
The issue with lack of Speed-investment can also be true for when defensive Gholdengo switches in on Ice Shard, although those sets will get muscled through eventually regardless, so long as Baxcalibur still has access to its Tera-button to immune Thunder Wave, that is.
2) Usage notes
Whenever Hydreigon was present on the opposing six, I tried to force Annihilape instead of Glimmora out of respect for the Tera-Steel sets.
Opposing Dragapult is also always a spooky encounter for Glimmora because of the possibility of Choice Band or +252 Att Life Orb Tera-Dragon Dragon Darts, and Clear Body + Dragon Dance avoiding its attempt at Speed control.
Umbreon deserves a special mention as something that can wall both the physical attackers and Gholdengo (non-Tera), and is therefore among the very few cases where playing for Toxic Debris is something more than a mere afterthought.
Dropped out of triple digits after having a miserable time of it on the final day of the season.
Elo ranks for Seasons 1 & 2. HOME Battle Data was finally added on 01-Feb-2023.
3) In conclusion
Regarding Series 2, I have played precisely 0 games with the Paradox pokemon, and haven't even looked at what they do yet. As such, I make no promises as to what the next entry might entail, but I should have something by the end of the month.
To anyone else in a similar situation, I suggest checking out my first compilation of resources for ranked singles in SV for a list of players and organizations to follow for inspiration.
Finally, now that HOME Battle Data has finally arrived, we sholdn't be too far away from seeing the first official online competitions, something I tend to get especially tingly about! Perhaps we'll know more after patch 1.2.0 slated for late February?
- Tox
SW-0021-9848-8999
