https://pokepast.es/19235d841c07226e
Introduction
Hi everybody, I wanted to share this SS Monotype team i have been spamming on the Ladder and in Tournaments for the last months. This team was originally created by Hurtadoo for MPL and it's probably the team i enjoy playing the most, and I think this can get you almost always a playable matchup altho some of those require accurate plays to be able to win them. I made a couple of changes from the original team cause i think those are generally more useful, especially for laddering, but I will talk about those in the Pokemons sections. This team is a standard Rain that runs Scarf Tapu Fini and Crawdaunt, which along with Barraskewda are able to take down every type in the tier.
The Team
ALIBI (Pelipper) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
A rain team surely needs his rain setter, but on this team we have Specs Pelipper. Some people might dislike it, but this team is really offensive and I don't think Defensive Pelipper is better here. We have Eject Button Toxapex which always allows us to put rain for free the first time, while you then can at least get Pelipper another time on the field and if you proceed releading after a sack, you already have rain 3 times. So in the worst and usual scenario, you will be able to put rain 3 times which is almost always enough, while having the Specs power. Specs can be really helpful, it is really strong vs Poison which can be really annoying for Water in general (Amoonguss+Toxapex) while if you can pivot it in on a Tyranitar against Dark teams, you will just claim a kill as Weather Ball under rain with Specs does just crazy damages. Specs Hurricane can be very helpful against Ferrothorn in Steel and can be a hope to beat Grass. Ice Beam is cool for Dragon teams to directly kill mons such as Garchomp and Dragonite. Hydro Pump over Weather Ball could be an option but Weather Ball's power is more than enough and it just destroys annoying walls such as Celesteela.
COLPISCIMI (Toxapex) @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Haze
- Sludge Bomb
- Recover
- Knock Off / Scald
Stay Away (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 15 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
FISH (Barraskewda) @ Mystic Water
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Liquidation
- Poison Jab
- Close Combat
Barraskewda is one of our 2 Rain Abusers. Flip Turn and Liquidation are our STABs that just destroy anything when under rain with Flip Turn providing a pivotting option, while Close Combat hits Steel-types and creates holes in Steel teams. Poison Jab helps a lot Agaisnt Fairy, hitting mons such as Tapu Bulu and Azumarill. It also can help against Grass but Grass is one of the matchups you probably will only win if the opponents chokes. Mystic Water is a cool item that Hurtado used because it avoids you being locked and eventually 5050s / mind games against types such as Steel + Still allows you to hit hard and then pivot with Flip Turn. Band is surely not a bad choice but i have tried it and I prefer Mystic Water as the Damage you do with Move + Flip turn is stronger than just the Banded move itself, while Banded Flip Turn surely does more damage but in case you aren't ohkoing with M.Water Flip Turn you can just click Liquidation or pivot into a pex-pert.
Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam / Trick
- Defog
Fini is our Special Attacker as I probably prefer Scarf Urshifu but Fini's utility can be really valuable. Defog can save us from hazard stacks / Webs altho the types that run those usually just lose to Crawdaunt, while Trick can help against annoying walls such as Steela, Pex or Slowbro. I prefer Ice Beam over trick as I don't really click Trick too much as when Fini comes in is usually to get kills, it easily destroys Dragon and Dark teams and Ice beam can also be very helpful for Flying.
Hydro Pump with Rain can claim some kills and clean up some times such as Flying and Steel once Thorn is dead. The misty terrain can also be very cool to prevent our breakers to get paralyzed or burned.
Crab God (Crawdaunt) @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Crunch
And now the main character, the Crab God. There isn't much to say about him, he just snowballs every team as he destroys walls and deals massive damage to faster threads with Aqua Jet. This mon can snowball Electric teams after Washtom has been worned down or can destroy Poison teams but clicking the STABs. I don't run Close Combat cause the only real threat that it can hit is probably Ferrothorn in a 1v1 / lead situation as Koff does a lot. Aqua Jet under Rain can OHKO mons such as Koko after Rocks damage, while Crabhammer+Koff are just destroying walls such as Pex and Celesteela. Crunch is very good as it 2HKO's mons such as Amoonguss after they got their item knocked off.
Matchups
Flying: Arguably the best type in SS, this mu should be really playable, especially when they run Dnite>Mantine which is very popular. One of the most standard leads i get is Pelipper vs Thundy-T/Dos where I just go Pex on the Volt Switch to just pivot into Skewda and get a free Flip Turn which usually leads into a kill. Dragonite and Mantine are really annoying, if Craw can pivot into those then you should be fine and with Misty Terrain you can usually just go hard Craw on Mantine. Besides that, Steela and Corvi are easily manageable by pivotting into Craw / Peli. Fini handles Gapdos and Gmolt while Hydro Pump can also clean up some games.
Replays: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1642380194 | https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8monotype-635439
Poison: This matchup is pretty easy if you can pilot it correctly. Crawdaunt usually kinda claims a kill every time it comes in (the first time might be a 50-50 but still) and there isn't much that can go wrong. Nido gets walled by Pert which gets free momentum and 1-2 kills if it can Flip Turn on it, while Peli with Rocks up is also really strong with Hurricane or eventually Weather Ball (for Nihilego)
Poison replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1655198922
Electric: I would easily say that Electric is a okay matchup for you. You basically just need to chip a bit Washtom and eventually trade Skewda / Fini / Craw for it to allow the other 2 to win (usually u keep Craw + 1) Scarf Fini is really strong against Koko and Eventually Zeraora. Specs Zapdos can be annoying but usually if u get rocks up then they are almost forced to try and Defog and then u can chip Washtom down and he won't be able to switch in on Rocks a couple of times + killing Skewda / Fini without getting almost killed. Band Aqua Jet + Rain just cleans up in Rain by doing 84-99% to Koko, 82-96% to Zeraora and killing Alolachu and Regieleki.
Water: Quite hard to say here as there are many Water archetypes. Stallish Waters usually lose to Craw+Peli but so do also other balanced / rain teams as usually Pex is really strong against Water, but we have both Craw and Peli which don't have many switch-ins. Washtom can surely be annoying but it shouldn't be too bad as Pex can just eat a Volt Switch and then switch out, while Seismi in rain is a major problem but those games will probably came down in a sacking War where you sack mons to relead with Skewda Flip Turn + Craw and he will relead with Seismi.
Replays: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1610864586-pmj09l5916likf739t9a0qlykihujiipw
Steel: This is a nice matchup where i usually lead Pelipper as they almost always will lead Ferrothorn. Other leads such as Aegi, Corvi, Heatran are just bad while Melm can be annoying as you don't OHKO it but he can do with Thunder Punch, altho they won't lead Melm many times as they can expect Swampert as a lead. Skewda and Craw just dominate as always.
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1607276303-0dwj95kqo19qnwpz84060e0cc5ufwcvpw
Grass: Probably the worse matchup. There isn't much I can say as it's just a losing game but if the opponents plays this badly you still get chances to win, which can happen many times in Ladder. Ice Beam Fini is quite helpful here, especially as it can revenge Rillaboom. Pelipper will always claim some Kills while Skewda with Poison Jab can do well altho the Main problem is just Rillaboom as they might run SD / Band Wood Hammer and kill your Pex.
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1638360802
Fairy: Another matchup i enjoy playing, Bulu gets walled by Pex which is really strong with Sludge Bomb being very annoying, while we shouldn't allow Klefki to setup spikes and pressure it immediately with Craw / Peli and allow it to put screens once. Even with Screens there isn't much they can do, you can just stall them out with Pert+Pex switches while Clef and Azumarill won't be able to setup properly and to win. Skewda cleans up very well here.
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1617158039-u8tiu19r916e0sl4wh01joeizoniimlpw
Ice: This is another tough matchup which is based on weather wars. You can easily win with Skewda + Craw but you just have to manage good Pelipper. If you kill Cloyster then Craw can eventually be able clean up very easily, and this isn't always that hard as they usually go Cloy on Skewda, especially if they know you won't risk a CC and indeeded there is no need to as we are Mystic Water.
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1650366466
Dark, Dragon, Fighting: Those matchups are pretty easily won by Fini. I like to load Fini against Dragon just to avoid Kyurem getting free subs or kills, altho Swampert can be also fine as it could scout the set by spamming EQ -> OHKO is usually Specs so you can go Skewda while Sub and Scarf are also easily scoutable, altho I dislike this as you can get unlucky and get a 6% roll while sacking a mon for nothing, when Swampert is really important to keep for Dragalge.
For Dark, Zarude can be annoying but Pex handles it well and overall Skewda + Fini are just unstoppable and it is really hard to lose. If you don't allow Hydre to sub on Pert and get free NP's it should be okay altho Fini can always hardly switch on Hydre and it becomes a problem only if it runs sub + np + Earth Power which usually it doesn't. Pelipper is also faster than Tyranitar so when pivotting Peli just gets free kills when switching against a Ttar.
Dragon replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1651146988-9bqyhscpfd6p30wolmhkejls6w2azpqpw
Dark replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1656035028
Psychic: This can be hard to win sometimes as Lati*s + Slowbro and Lele can create trouble, but with correct play you should win most of those games as you just have to pivot into Crawdaunt and claim kills, altho sometimes this can be hard.
Replays: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1646983078-sn2md6nsvka6gy7i3ptlbozqr11x0yopw | https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1648631726-g5n4anmr891ezms2hp8way699em4by7pw
Rock, Ground, Fire, Bug, Normal: I won't say much as I really don't think there is much that can go wrong here. Only Ground could potentially be though and losing with the Sub-Pwhip Seismitoad set but for the rest you just win even if you make some mistakes. Those types don't have real Water resists and Craw/Fini can dominate, while Peli can also claim some kills by itself.
Rock Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1694662055-80zupcrjybx8qqus2dmp9zul5quirm1pw
Ghost Quite a hard mu to win. The main threats here are Polteageist and Dragapult, but Pult shouldn't be able to win as you have Fini+Pex. Besides that, Spikes + Offensive pressure can overwhelm you, i usually just lead Peli/Pert to pivot into Skewda to avoid too many Spikes from Froslass but Polteageist is still very annoying, especially if you activate its Weak Armor, but the main problem is that Sash is hard to revenge kill as to chip it down you have to sack Fini / Pex which create other holes. Leading with Peli and having Rain should help a lot tho.
Shoutouts
Mihowk Dorron Ryuji mushamu paolode99 Pissog sasha -> Good players but better friends which I talk often with
Azick maroon Neko roxie Aqua Jet ken_ Trichotomy -> Cool mono guys that i enjoy talking with (Aqua Jet is the imposter)
Just italiano / Mono / TA people + everyone i talk frequently with that makes this site funny to play
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