Other Metagames (Gen8 STAB) The Everlasting Guilty Crown

pannu

THE GONG OF KNOCKOUT
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Introduction; Welcome to the *fam!

Hey everyone! Now that generation 8 has passed us and with the year coming to a close I wanted to highlight one of my favourite teams I built from the tier I spent most of the year playing; STABmons. Ever since the STAB open where I made a pretty deep run, I've had lots of fun playing this tier, its a metagame which i find incredibly fun, as the tier has deep pools of viable defensive and offensive options, its incredibly fun to build and invent in.

This team is one I created during OMPL, specifically to C-team a dear friend of mine, who happens to love HO, what else is better against HO than a team with two Sand Rush sweepers? While the Cteam was successful, the team has been performing solidly ever since, as it's not entirely fishy and features some interesting techs and sets, and is overall a very sound team comp. Just to be clear, these arent the original 6 sets i used for the initial OMPL game, as in the 8 months since that happened I've gained alot of experience not with the STAB metagame but also as a player, so some spreads and sets have been optimized (read: changed to my liking); Furthermore the metagame has shifted quite a bit and these changes are to help with that. Lastly, I would like to credit Lyss who I roughly based my formatting on.


in-depth look; Extra Terrestrial Biological Entities.
:ss/tyranitar:
PLANETES
Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 172 HP / 224 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Diamond Storm
- Shore Up
- Stealth Rock

Starting off the team as any sand-based team in the meta should be, I've got Tyranitar. While being the king of the tier, it's also an essential piece to any sand-based team. On this team i opt for a mix of a defensive and offensive Ttar, as its offensive capabilities help the rest of the team break more efficiently while defensively it glues and shores up a bunch of the teams' weak spots, notably being the teams' sole entry hazard setter.

The moves are for the most part pretty self-explanatory so i won't dwell too much on them. However, if you feel like you can play without hazards i recommend you to try Parting Shot over Stealth Rock, the momentum you gain can be huge on a team like this. I choose to run Smooth Rock here as both Dracozolt and Excadrill rely quite heavily on Sand to function, as such i wouldn't recommend you swap this out for Lefties, Boots, or any other item. The EV spread is quite interesting, I wanted to run some bulk to help Tyranitar handle breakers like Latios, Gengar, and Thundurus-T. However, unlike your standard SpDef tar in the tier i wanted to be able to pressure opposing teams offensively, the Attack investment isn't for any specific KO, just a benchmark. The Speed investment lets me outspeed regular Seismitoads, which can be huge for potentially being able to KO them, as well as being able to outspeed the things you usually wanna outspeed with a Tyranitar like Clefable and Corviknight.

:ss/excadrill:
(THE EVERLASTING) GUILTY CROWN
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Toxic
- Thousand Waves
- Iron Head
- Shore Up

The first of the two Sand abusers on this team, Excadrill plays critical roles. Firstly, its able to pressure set-up sweepers quite well, and its great at pressuring some of the tiers defensive staples like Tornadus-T, Toxapex, and Clefable. Secondly it also brings some defensive utility, being the teams sole Steel-type its our best answer to both Latios and Clefable, two beasts which you absolutely need to make certain you're safe against.

One of the main things that lead me to using Excadrill was the fact that its able to pressure most Pokemon without needing to boost its Attack, quite frankly i believe that Swords Dance on Excadrill is bad. Instead, I chose to take advantage of Thousand Waves trapping property and pair it up with Toxic to wear down or even remove opposing walls like Rotom-W, Buzzwole and Seismitoad, all mons which the rest of the teams offensive core and even Excadrill itself struggle against.

:ss/dracozolt:
GOLD
Dracozolt @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 48 HP / 236 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Bolt Beak
- Dragon Darts
- Dragon Dance

as the second and last Sand Abuser on the team, Dracozolt is a key piece to getting wins with this team. Sub+DD Dracozolt is able to easily steal games thanks to how absurdly strong it is once it gets an opportunity to set up, which i find happens quite frequently. It has quite a nice synergy with the rest of the team, as I've built it around luring ground-types and other Pokemon that might hinder Dracozolt.

The moves are mostly self explanatory, Substitute lets Dracozolt set up on passive foes like Toxapex and Rotom-W, while also protecting it against priority from the likes of Weavile, Tyranitar, and Aerodactyl. The EV spread ensures that Off-Torn U-turn never breaks Sub, outspeeds Scarf Urshifu in the Sand, you outspeed everything else you need to outspeed after a Dragon Dance.
:ss/toxapex:

DEPARTURES (ANATA NI OKURU AI NO UTA)
Toxapex @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 12 Spe
- Scald
- Recover
- Flip Turn
- Haze

Starting off the teams defensive core I've got the pex, ill be frank and say that this is the least interesting member of the team, its basically a standard Toxapex. However, it is crucial in handling weaknesses against the likes of Tyranitar, Keldeo, and Ferrothorn while being able to pivot in but generally it's a necessary evil for the team to function. The EV spread lets it avoid the 2HKO from Keldeos Water Spout and the speed IVs let it outspeed most Ferrothorn so that it can Scald or Haze on it.

:ss/tornadus-therian:
FALLEN
Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

Tornadus-T might quite possibly be my most used Pokemon in STAB, all of the different sets it can run are all amazing and its quite possibly the best defogger (defogger not rapid spinner, nobody beats the clef). On this team, Tornadus is the secondary defensive piece, notably helping against the likes of Buzzwole, Latios, and Gengar. The EV spread makes it always live Specs Latios' Clanging Scales from full, while putting the rest in attack to help it be less passive. Torn can even act as a wincon in certain games, as between Rotom-W, Excadrills' Toxic, and Dracozolts breaking prowess its quite easy for people to forget to keep their checks to it alive.
:ss/rotom-wash:
BANG!!!
Rotom-Wash @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 200 HP / 136 SpA / 172 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Apple Acid
- Volt Switch
- Roost

Last, but not least we've got Rotom-W. This last slot i wanted to fix a few weaknesses. Notably opposing Excadrill are quite scary, i dont have that many pivots, and Ground-types are still a massive issue if i cannot get a Toxic off with Excadrill. Offensive Rotom-W is a personal favourite set of mine and it fits perfectly here. Between keeping up momentum, being able to pressure and annoy opposing defensive cores thanks to Apple Acid, and also having great defensive utility there's so many good qualities this set brings to the table. The EV spread lets it outspeed Adamant Excadrill outside of the sand, and OHKO Seismitoad with Apple Acid thanks to the Expert Belt Boost.

Threatlist; Namae no nai Kaibutsu:

:ferrothorn: Ferrothorn is a massive issue against all of the breakers on this team, especially Cotton Guard variants. The best you can do against it is lower the tempo of the game and play more slowly, trying to get it burnt with one of the Water-types and then just winning the war of attrition.

:latios: Man, this thing is a beast. This team was built before Latios truly came into the meta as a breaker and it just so happens to be exactly the team that Latios preys on. The best you can do is limit its switch-in opportunities with aggressive reads and doubles, as well as get Hazards up against it to weaken Dragon Energy. Funnily enough, against this team Scarf Tios is more of an issue as it can revenge kill Dracozolt behind sub unless you get a Dragon Dance up.


:mudsdale: Mudsdale and other ground types like Seismitoad and Hippowdon are massively irritating to deal with if you cant Toxic them with Excadrill. Thankfully, they cant really do much in return other than maybe Toxic your Torn or set up a Spike or Two. Knocking them off with Torn or Ttar also helps wear them down.

Replays; Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
all of these replays are with previous versions of the team

Me against Clementine, OMPL Week 4;
1670298308456.png

Clementine vs Fc, OMWC Week 1;
1670298371071.png
Crying vs LBDC; also from OMWC Week 1.
1670298403163.png


Conclusion and importable; all alone with you

Thank you for reading my RMT, i found gen 8 STAB very fun and i am very happy that i play it. Also, all of the nicknames and the different parts of the RMT are named after different Egoist songs, do go check them out! I dunno how involved with oms and mons in general for the future as, from the little of it I've played, i find SV insanely unfun to play ATM, so ill probably step away from the game in some regard, though hopefully the DLC or when home releases ill find the gen fun. I would like to thank all of my OM friends and the community as a whole for being so fun to be with and play against.
RMT paste
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ay yuh cotta out​
 

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