Metagame Tag Team Singles

[Urfgurgle]

(approved by UT and drampa's grandpa)​

art by greenandgrey77
​

Welcome to Tag Team Singles (TTS), the unholy blending of 1v1 and 2v2! Like 2v2 Doubles, this is a bring-4-pick-2 metagame. Unlike 2v2 Doubles and similarly to 1v1, however, battles take place in singles format. And unlike either of those formats, Tag Team Singles includes switching, a mechanic oft-forgotten by 1v1 and 2v2 mains. Battles are short but often very strategic, with players having to carefully consider which mons their opponent will pick and how to play around possible combos.


Rules
Mechanic: Bring 4 Pokémon at Team Preview, pick 2 to battle; Singles.
Ruleset: Picked Team Size = 2, Max Team Size = 4, Standard*, Dynamax Clause, Sleep Moves Clause
Bans:

Pokémon

Calyrex-Ice
Calyrex-Shadow
Cinderace
Dialga
Eternatus
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Kyogre
Kyurem-Black
Kyurem-White
Lugia
Lunala
Magearna
Marshadow
Melmetal
Mewtwo
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Palkia
Rayquaza
Reshiram
Solgaleo
Spectrier
Xerneas
Yveltal
Zacian
Zacian-Crowned
Zamazenta
Zamazenta-Crowned
Zekrom

Abilities, Items, and Moves

Moody
Power Construct
Sand Veil
Snow Cloak
Bright Powder
King's Rock
Lax Incense
Focus Sash
Final Gambit

*"Standard" covers Smogon-wide clauses such as Species and Evasion.

Strategy
In TTS, all successful strategies employ synergistic 2-mon cores. Pokémon whose typings and stats complement each other are commonly paired, and Pokémon whose abilities complement each other are especially effective. For example, Alolan Ninetales and Arctozolt make for a powerful combination - even more so than in OU, since a player only has two mons to try and stop a speed-boosted Arctozolt instead of a 6-mon team with which to pivot around Arctozolt’s moves. Strategies, moves, and items rarely seen in other formats are able to shine here due to the short-form nature of the meta. For example, Eject Pack is a highly effective item on users of moves like Overheat and Draco Meteor.

+ + Weather abusers are very powerful and can easily overwhelm unprepared teams.

Strong, speedy mons are usually quite effective, especially when they carry pivoting moves like Volt Switch and U-turn.

Abilities that let a mon take an extra hit are huge in TTS, since a 1-mon advantage is far more significant here than it is in a meta like OU. In the same vein, bulky offense is quite strong.


Q&A
Q: Tag Team? Does that mean you team up with another player and face 2 other players?
A: No, that would be a multi battle. "Tag Team" just refers to two mons teaming up against another 2-mon team, like in wrestling.
Q: Can I still switch?
A: Yep! That's what makes TTS different from 1v1 and 2v2.
Q: Do I know what my opponent's second Pokémon is once the battle starts?
A: Nope, you won't know what Pokémon your opponent has selected until they are sent out.

Council

Urfgurgle (Tier Leader)
LRXC
swag god

Resources
VR Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...arzrgBWBavu2Ol33M6yu8pLR3Fc/edit?usp=drivesdk
Sets Compendium: https://pokepast.es/000f364c9c680175
Sample Teams: none yet :(

Speed Tiers

(thanks Tom1535)
40: min speed ferrothorn
56: min speed hatterene
58: min speed slowbro, min speed snorlax
76: bulky ferrothorn
94: bulky hatterene, bulky chansey
96: bulky slowbro, bulky snorlax
112: min speed clefable
136: bulky chansey
156: bulky clefable
177: min speed mimikyu
190: bulky heatran
196: bulky dragonite
206: bulky tapu fini, bulky rillaboom
209: fast arctozolt
226: bulky tapu lele
229: max speed arctozolt
230: bulky urshifu r/s
236: bulky victini, bulky mew, bulky jirachi
239: fast metagross, fast cloyster
240: bulky garchomp
249: fast dracozolt, fast dracovish
253: fast heatran
259: fast dragonite, fast blaziken
262: max speed metagross, max speed cloyster
269: fast tapu fini, fast rillaboom
272: bulky hawlucha
273: max speed dracozolt, max speed dracovish
275: fast excadrill
278: max speed heatran
284: max speed dragonite, max speed blaziken
289: fast darmanitan-g, fast tapu lele
293: fast urshifu r/s
295: max speed tapu fini, max speed rillaboom
299: fast victini, fast mew, fast jirachi
302: max speed excadrill
303: fast garchomp
317: fast ninetales-a, fast kartana, max speed darmanitan-g, max speed tapu lele
320: bulky dragapult
322: max speed urshifu r/s, bulky zeraora
328: max speed victini, max speed mew, max speed jirachi
333: max speed garchomp
335: fast hawlucha
348: max speed ninetales-a, max speed kartana
359: fast tapu koko
368: max speed hawlucha
373: fast scarf dracovish
379: fast scarf heatran
383: fast dragapult
385: fast zeraora
388: fast scarf dragonite, +1 fast blaziken
max speed tapu koko
401: fast pheromosa
403: fast scarf tapu fini
409: max speed scarf dracovish
417: max speed scarf heatran
418: +2 fast arctozolt
421: max speed dragapult
423: max speed zeraora
426: max speed scarf dragonite, +1 max speed blaziken
433: fast scarf darmanitan-g, fast scarf tapu lele
436: bulky regieleki
439: fast scarf urshifu r/s
441: max speed pheromosa
442: max speed scarf tapu fini
448: fast scarf victini, fast scarf jirachi
458: +2 max speed arctozolt
475: fast scarf kartana, max speed scarf darmanitan-g, max speed scarf tapu lele
478: +2 fast metagross, +2 fast cloyster
483: max speed scarf urshifu r/s
492: max speed scarf victini, max speed scarf jirachi
498: +2 fast dracozolt
499: fast regieleki
518: +2 fast blaziken
522: max speed scarf kartana
524: +2 max speed metagross, +2 max speed cloyster
544: 2+ bulky hawlucha
546: +2 max speed dracozolt
548: max speed regieleki
550: +2 fast excadrill
568: +2 max speed blaziken
604: +2 max speed excadrill
670: +2 fast hawlucha
736: +2 max speed hawlucha

Discord Server: https://discord.gg/z8TbA2rH3b

How to Play

Challenge Code

The text below is the challenge code, which you will have to use to challenge other players in this format unless and until TTS becomes challenge-able on Pokémon Showdown. In order to challenge someone, simply paste the code into a private message directed to the user you wish to challenge on Pokémon Showdown. Important: DO NOT click "rematch" when playing multiple games against the same user. Clicking "rematch" will challenge your opponent to OU instead of TTS, so you will instead need to enter the challenge code for each game (you can do this quickly by hitting the up arrow on your keyboard after clicking the private message text box).

/chall gen8ou@@@ Max Team Size = 4, Picked Team Size = 2, +Dracovish, +Darmanitan-Galar, +Landorus, +Kyurem, +Genesect, +Urshifu, +Pheromosa, +Naganadel, +Zygarde, +Arena Trap, +Shadow Tag, +Baton Pass, -Melmetal, -Final Gambit, -Power Construct, -Focus Sash, -Hypnosis, -Lovely Kiss, -Sing, -Sleep Powder, -Spore, -Yawn​

If you have the power to start room tournaments anywhere, you can use the following code to create a TTS tournament:

/tour new gen8ou, elim​

/tour rules maxteamsize=4,pickedteamsize=2,+Dracovish,+Darmanitan-Galar,+Landorus,+Kyurem,+Genesect,+Urshifu,+Pheromosa,+Naganadel,+Zygarde,+Arena Trap,+Shadow Tag,+Baton Pass,-Melmetal,-Final Gambit,-Power Construct,-Focus Sash,-Hypnosis, -Lovely Kiss, -Sing, -Sleep Powder, -Spore, -Yawn​

/tour name [Gen 8] Tag Team Singles​

 

[Urfgurgle]

reserved

 

[Urfgurgle]

reserved

 

[Keem]

LETS FUCKINGGOOO BABY!!!!!!
Anyway here's a team dump,I'll put this into 2 sections "Somewhat Legit N Legit Team's" And then "Experiments/Fun"

LEGIT N SOMEWHAT LEGIT TEAMS:
https://pokepast.es/f82e0de73b15d955
https://pokepast.es/27af46b2896ab5f2 ( This team has a sash but is goated I swear you can probably replace blazikens sash with LO)
https://pokepast.es/35a762824169e3bf
https://pokepast.es/b16fb0619c1c83c0
https://pokepast.es/33af3d6f0bd8e12e
https://pokepast.es/bfec31caf712c02a
https://pokepast.es/61d12a490e08d59c (also sash team but can replace with LO)
https://pokepast.es/cb1e5b51987f9081
https://pokepast.es/4bc55e3287411295
https://pokepast.es/62aeedf238d3668e


FUN/EXPERIMENTS:
https://pokepast.es/675314d0694ee9df
https://pokepast.es/6e99f6d028dde28a
https://pokepast.es/97fd573966185415 (also a sash team but can be replaced with sitrus/scarf/band or whatever victini runs nowadays
https://pokepast.es/0ba5c9fb00dfbff6 ( also sash but can replace with thick club)
https://pokepast.es/702d4dabd9ffc85b
https://pokepast.es/af99161f3790b058
https://pokepast.es/fa0215a8dae74a03
https://pokepast.es/b9f3c99ad985affa s/o to relicanthuseddig for the koko set
https://pokepast.es/e1e0324d8a387ae3

Ok that's all for now I have way more teams but they are either outdated or unfinished or I didn't want to out them here. Enjoy.

 

[Evie]

some teams i’ve built, will update with more as i build more, no guarantee on quality




click on sprites for pokepaste

 

[SwordIsBored]

https://pokepast.es/debb69e6b24c5926

The shifus are incredibly powerful in TTS, this is mainly due to how difficult they are to switch into but this team prevents that. Tyranitar can counter CC from Urshifus to secure a KO.

Dracozolt serves as the team’s abuser of sandstorm and can outspeed Pokemon and get a stab + attack boost due to out speeding on bolt beak. Fire fang is to beat Sect +Ferro.

Kartana exists on this team to beat fairies and ground types which threaten Tyranitar and Dracozolt.

Snorlax can whirlpool and lock enemies into using moves which do nothing repeatedly, these can include trick rooms and toxic. You run protect to last longer. TR setter Mimikyu dies to Tyran.

 

[SwordIsBored]

SwordIsBored smol team dump.
https://pokepast.es/9d0228d0594b4627
https://pokepast.es/568ab8417f30d50d
https://pokepast.es/c6f5dd6bf149ee55 - This is a personal favourite

 

[fake tom numbers]

Tag Team Singles Speed Tiers
Speed tiers are a combination of all the speed benchmarks relevant to that metagame. They are made so that building specific speed benchmarks are easier to make, and to show the fastest possible speed a pokemon will realistically get. This is especially true for a meta like tts, where teambuilding is vital to winning.
Important stuff:
-This is outdated for the 1 sash meta instead of the sashless meta currently Bring back the old meta you cowards
-Minimum speed=-Speed nature+0 speed IVs+0 speed evs
-Bulky=0 Speed evs+31 speed IVs
-Fast=252 Speed evs+31 speed IVs
-Max speed=+Speed nature+252 speed evs+31 speed IVs
-This is technically unofficial

Speed Tiers

40: Minimum speed
56: Minimum speed
58: Minimum speed
76: Bulky
94: Bulky
96: Bulky
112: Minimum speed
136: Bulky
156: Bulky
177: Minimum speed
190: Bulky
196: Bulky
206: Bulky
209: Fast
226: Bulky
229: Max speed
230: Bulky
236: Bulky
239: Fast
240: Bulky
249: Fast
253: Fast
259: Fast
262: Max speed
269: Fast
272: Bulky
273: Max speed
275: Fast
278: Max speed
284: Max speed
289: Fast
293: Fast
295: Max speed
299: Fast
302: Max speed
303: Fast
317: Fast Max speed
320: Bulky
322: Max speed Bulky
328: Max speed
333: Max speed
335: Fast
348: Max speed
359: Fast
368: Max speed
373: Fast scarf
379: Fast scarf
383: Fast
385: Fast
388: Fast scarf +1 Fast
394: Max speed
401: Fast
403: Fast scarf
409: Max speed scarf
417: Max speed scarf
418: +2 Fast
421: Max speed
423: Max speed
426: Max speed scarf +1 Max speed
433: Fast scarf
436: Bulky
439: Fast scarf
441: Max speed
442: Max speed scarf
448: Fast scarf
458: +2 Max speed
475: Fast scarf Max speed scarf
478: +2 Fast
483: Max speed scarf
492: Max speed scarf
498: +2 Fast
499: Fast
518: +2 Fast
522: Max speed scarf
524: +2 Max speed
544: 2+ Bulky
546: +2 Max speed
548: Max speed
550: +2 Fast
568: +2 Max speed
604: +2 Max speed
670: +2 Fast
736: +2 Max speed

Regarding submitting a speed tier:
-PM me on discord (Tom1535#3617) or DM me in the official tts discord
-I'm only taking Min speed/Bulky/Fast/Max speed mons, I will not accept specific benchmarks
-I'll be only taking relevant mons/benchmarks, so don't whine when I don't add obstagoon or max speed clefable
-You should probably not submit it here to not clog up the thread, although if you have 50+ submissions somehow you could do it here ig
-I'm open to suggestions (on discord), so if there's a typo/irrelevant mon in there then just DM/PM me

 

[fake tom numbers]

Also can we ban sleep? Sleep is uncompetitive and can rig entire matchup, even if the opponent brought the right mons. There's basically zero counterplay apart from misty terrain from tapu fini. There are other niche things, like substitute (which has barely seen any usage) or lum berry, but apart from that you just hope you get t1 wakeup. Additionally, sleep gets good amount of usage, being on 3/14 sample teams (of course this is for the 1 sash meta, but it would probably be even more broken in the sashless meta). Sleep does not take skill and has minimal counterplay, please ban this

 

[Urfgurgle]

Sleep Moves are now banned from TTS, as per a council vote.

Sleep is considered too strong in a format where putting a mon to sleep means putting half your opponent's team out of commission and enabling nigh-uncounterable setup opportunites.

The following moves are included in this ban:
Hypnosis, Lovely Kiss, Sing, Sleep Powder, Spore, Yawn

Votes

Urfgurgle: Abstain
LRXC: Ban
Bopher: Ban
swag god: Ban
luser: Ban

 

[SwordIsBored]

Since people haven't talked here in a while, I'm deciding to drop some thoughts on the metagame as it stands. Especially with the removal of sash clause.

Hazards are something I don't see many people talk about, it was originally a great option for breaking sashes but even without them in the tier anymore I still feel like having a Pokémon to set up hazards is a valuable option. On the topic of hazards, I believe Sticky Web is underrated and should be looked into as Pokémon such as Slurpuff and Ribombee each have niches in the Sticky Web setter department and can still provide utility that isn't just Sticky Webs. They are both suicide leads and Slurpuff has access to Misty Explosion and Ribombee has access to U-Turn and Baton Pass. Admittedly, no Focus Sash has limited these Pokémon's potential but the lack of Heavy-Duty-Boots, Rapid Spin and Defog can definitely make it a viable tool.

Weather is also a crucial part to the tier, it can be easily abused by a lot of Pokémon but the lack of variation confuses me. Victini under the Sun is an absolute monster and I haven't seen anything with Rain but this is probably because the only user with a pivoting option is Pelipper and it's not a valuable teammate, I do recommend Regieleki with Rain Dance and Explosion but that is mainly good with Focus Sash.

These are just observations from watching the most recent tournament and something to ramble about because I'm bored, I love this tier and wish to start up more conversation about it. Especially with mechanics like these which makes TTS differ so much compared to other tiers.


Also Trick Room is insane, most fun teams too.

 

[UT]

Tag Team Singles is Leader's Choice for October! It's (almost) ladder time!

 

[KarpeChan]

My suggested changes to the set compendium: https://pokepast.es/45a92385d092c47f
add:


/
Sand setter
Sturdy
/
/
/ Rain dance
/ Sun setter
/
Trick room

/
/ /
Lv 1 Endeavour
Max defense with Body Press
Endure HYPER BEAM


change:
(special) slash Energy Ball and Dark Pulse with U-turn, slashed life orb
slash Life Orb
combined Scarf and Band
unslashed yawn
slashed giga drain and roost
slashed cb
slashed eject button and light clay, unslashed hypnosis
ummm akshually bold is better than impish :nerd:
unslashed hdb on everything
:urshifu-rapid: slashed poison jab


you can probably slap a surprise band/specs/scarf on everything so i'm not gonna list them all

edit: i originally copy pasted some sash sets over from my tts startup tour teams which allowed sash, they're gone now.
edit2: i'll slap more and more sets and changes on here until it gets officially adopted

 

[DeepFriedMagikarp]

Fun meta! Heres the team i used to ladder up with, its very solid imo: https://pokepast.es/6facaa8789c950bd

Explanations behind team

is the centerpiece of the team, its an insanely good offensive mon. Scarf is amazing on it, it allows it to get the jump on a lot of the faster mons in the tier that would usually be tasked with handling it, and it can very easily "checkmate" a lot of team comps. Its particularly great as it solo's almost every setter and outspeeds almost all the abusers. The remaining 3 of the team all can abuse its answers (steels, victini, ttar, etc.) U-turn is great for breaking study/multiscale. Specs/LO/etc i feel is un-needed power and doesn't net you nearly as many positive mu's as scarf does

These next 2 are 2 of the best offensive/defensive mons in the tier , and they can pivot in on mons that beat Naga.
Both have great natural typing + bulk. These MU great into steels/victini/ttar if Naganadel u-turns out of a bad lead MU.

Rounds out the team well, is more useful backbone. The typing synergizes really well. Sd boom helps the stall matchup too.

is because these sets i feel provide the most utility to Urshifu/Fini in thier offensive/defensive roles. Explained above for Naga. Its very hard for some strategies to get around all the sheer speed + power + bulk. Also sometimes you just get got because "no way everybody is scarfed right"

 

[SwordIsBored]

https://pokepast.es/980e1d1f3e6eb8ed

I would like to put this team up as a sample of sorts, this team feels like it singlehandedly can take on most of the metagame. The only iffy matchup I can think of off the top of my head is probably Naganadel.

Firstly, Genesect is an insane Pokémon as of now due to it countering many of the top mons and not having much counters. The only thing it ever needs to worry about is being outsped but even then it has decent defenses. If they do have a fire move you can usually switch out to Garchomp or Tapu Fini depending on which you have. Mimikyu is also a great teammate, I see it as an incredibly underrated Pokémon despite it's history in 1v1.

After Genesect has easily killed their first Pokémon Mimikyu can handle anything they have last if picked right. I'm flattering Genesect a lot but of course you have to predict switch-ins and such but it can be seen as high-risk, high-reward.

This team has single-handedly been carrying me in tournaments and ladder, this is why I recommend that people should try it.

 

[Sandy_Storm57]

Heres my team:https://pokepast.es/fa104f6b0ffd2b2f
(yes I know the barraskewda is a water repeat, but it is very good so i left it there.)

 

[SE01]

Super fun meta, wish it got more traction. Got up to 1300 by throwing 4 broken mons together: https://pokepast.es/286977b67916ea26

Since every mon is slow, I put custap tailwind on naganadel to bait out and destroy fast mons and weather. At least one of the remaining 3 mons usually cleans 2-0 after the tailwind. Tailwind seems extremely strong, I want to try skarm or whimsicott or something in the future.

Seems like all the fun teams lose 100-0 LOL. Only matchups that felt a little rough were trick room and any team with a special wall, since urshifu is the only physical attacker. And you do need to make plays vs stall.

 

[bird poop]

Where is Gen 9 Tag Team Singles?