Battle Spot The Haunted Tower

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Hi everyone! In commemoration of what was a very successful year of Battle Spot Singles both on cart and in tournaments, I wanted to share one of my bread and butter teams that has helped me through all sorts of scenarios. This team has gone over 2000 in two different cartridge seasons and derivatives of it have helped carry me to many of my victories in tournament sets.

This team came about as one of my first forays into USM. The team had an interesting building process, so I will cover that briefly before we get into the more current version of the team itself. In mid-to-late SM I had started using Gengar more successfully, especially alongside the BuluTran core that is popular even now in BSS. However, the BuluTran team, which consisted of Gengar, Bulu, Azumarill, Heatran, P2, and Salamence, despite getting me to 1900 repeatedly in the last few seasons of SM, became much less viable in the transition to USM as despite having Heatran the rest of the team had extreme issues with Naganadel and also did not handle some of the other meta developments very effectively. However, I had really taken to using Gengar as a lead mega and wanted to make a team that utilized its strengths effectively.

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Smogon Small Sprite Gengar.png


I started by pairing back down to three three mons that I definitely wanted to keep from the previous team: Gengar, Porygon2, and Salamence. I had used the three in concert quite a bit before, especially in ORAS, and their synergy is excellent.

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I added Mimikyu as I had used it effectively through much of SM, especially in concert with ZardGross. However, it is also an interesting partner for the others, as Gengar can trap to open a sweep, Salamence can punch holes in opposing cores, and it provides another strong switch option to get out of fighting attacks targeted at P2, with an extra buffer in Disguise to help out all of the above objectives.

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Smogon Small Sprite Mimikyu.png
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The last two Pokemon in the first version of the retooled team for USM were Greninja and Buzzwole. Greninja gave a strong offensive option that could be customized effectively to fit the team, while Buzzwole was an interesting check to opposing Normal types like P2 that would want to come against Salamence while also providing extra insurance against a variety of other threats like sand or weaker Electric or Ground types, especially given its surprising overall bulk with Assault Vest.

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Smogon Small Sprite Mimikyu.png
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Smogon Small Sprite Gengar.png


The lack of an electric immunity caused the team problems here, and Greninja meant that the team just didn’t have a lot of switch-ins other than P2 since Buzzwole was easily worn down, so Landorus-T moved to the Greninja slot.

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Smogon Small Sprite Mimikyu.png
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Smogon Small Sprite Lando-T.png
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The team in this form was quite weak to HP Ice Blaziken, which was common enough in early USM to be a major problem. While I was hesistant to let Salamence go, Gyarados was a strong fit in its slot that put significantly more pressure on opposing Fire types that roasted though much of this team otherwise, especially ones like Volcarona that often carry HP Ice for Salamence and Landorus. Not having two quad ice weaknesses anymore also helped from a more general perspective.

Small Sprite Gyarados.png
Smogon Small Sprite Mimikyu.png
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Smogon Small Sprite Lando-T.png
Smogon Small Sprite Gengar.png


The other effect of the switch from Greninja to Landorus-T above is that I still had no effective Psychic switch-in. (Greninja hardly counted anyway given that Scarf Lele was not easily dealt with by any one member of the team and taking a Moonblast to the face hurts). This team was pretty soft against Psychic welding threats to begin with and also had only middling defensive partners for P2, so to better combat a variety of threats Buzzwole was subbed out for Celesteela, creating the solid defensive synergy shared by P2 + Cele and bringing us to the current team of six.

Small Sprite Gyarados.png
Smogon Small Sprite Mimikyu.png
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Smogon Small Sprite Celesteela.png
Smogon Small Sprite Lando-T.png
Smogon Small Sprite Gengar.png


Before starting on specific sets, I should note that I have fiddled with certain moveslots and EVs throughout this team’s tenure, so in appropriate places I will slash moves or at least discuss different options that I have used in the explanation of the sets. Importables for several different versions are at the end.

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Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake / Taunt
- Dragon Dance


Gyarados is one of two megas on the team but was actually the second to last member to make it on the team only to Celesteela. This Gyarados set is fairly standard, but it is very effective. Dragon Dance Gyarados is always a threat in BSS due to solid pre and post-mega abilities, a good enough speed tier to be extremely dangerous after a boost, and solid coverage that threatens a lot of the metagame. I had originally tried out Salamence in this spot, and sometimes in tournaments (including when I brought variations of this team in this year’s Invitational) I have gone back to running Mence here for a variety of reasons, but in early USM HP Ice Blaziken was a common sight that I ran into on the ladder, and this team with Salamence had some problems with Blaziken and some other Fire types. Gyarados took over the role and brought a typing that was arguably more useful to this particular team, easing the above matchups along with others such as bulky Volcarona, with the downside that it can only switch in on threats like Blaziken a limited number of times due to the lack of recovery.

While I mostly stopped running into HP Ice Blaziken after awhile, Gyarados in general makes an interesting partner for Gengar and also puts pressure on several different common types of teams, perhaps most notably that it can run through much of the Mence-Hippo-Koko-Aegi cores depending on the moves it decides to run; the pressure this provides against those types of teams has proved invaluable, most notably when it helped me to cement my BSLT win by being able to bring it on Chemcoop’s team of that archetype on Game 5 when Gyarados combined with Mimikyu helped me finish off the set despite a misplay with Hippowdon during the game. Teams that like are often forced into bringing something like Kartana from preview just to deal with the threat since otherwise Gyarados getting up a Dragon Dance against these types of teams can spell doom for them, which can ease my own selection in preview and can sometimes open up holes for Gengar or Mimikyu to sweep since opponents have to respect the threat this poses.

The choice for the third move on Mega Gyarados is always very difficult. Earthquake and Taunt each provide unique advantages, and I have moved back and forth between them depending on the season, with Earthquake being the move I used in Season 10 during the first 2k run and Taunt being the move I used during Season 12’s hyper efficient march to 2k. Earthquake really helps provide a nice bit of extra coverage to help Gyarados sweep, helping it more easily get through Aegislash and bulkier Tapu Koko, as well as being more reliable against some other threats like Mega Charizard X and Mega Metagross while also ensuring that Gyarados isn’t helpless against threats like Tapu Fini or Suicune, but Taunt provides significant utility in a variety of situations. While Taunt obviously makes things difficult for walls like P2 or especially Hippowdon due to blocking off their recovery and stopping stuff like Yawn/Roar/Rocks shenanigans, it also eases certain matchups tremendously: Celesteela is one example of a mon that can be tremendously annoying with Leech Seed that often has trouble taking down Gyarados with its common sets once Leech Seed is blocked.

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Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw / Curse


Arguably the most broken Pokemon on Battle Spot (in a fight with Mega Mence over the honor) needs little introduction. Mimikyu’s ability to 1v1 opposing threats makes it a nightmare, especially when paired with a Pokemon like Gengar that can trap to try to assassinate specific obstacles to Mimikyu’s goal of a late game sweep. This Mimikyu is a sweeper variety, so naturally it tends to let teammates like Gengar, P2, or Celesteela tackle the brunt of early game action to try to chip away at the opponent’s team and maneuver the attention hungry ghost into a position where it can sweep.

The choice of last move can be a tough one: Shadow Claw provides extra power, which can be very useful against certain middling speed steel types like Celesteela and Heatran that are often used as Mimikyu switch-ins and can often be picked off if they have been chipped down during the match, and it also provides a way to deal heavy damage to opposing Tapu Lele and fast Mimikyu without having to burn the Z move. Shadow Claw has more often than not been my move of choice on cartridge, but I started leaning more towards Curse in tournament situations as USM went on, actually bringing a Curse Mimikyu to all six of my BSPL sets as a teamlock solution to random cheese that my opponent might try to bring that might be hard to play around since I couldn’t just switch to another team in the next game. Curse provides some solid utility on this team as well, providing a more reliable Glalie answer as well as giving a potential solution to certain niche choices that the team is weak to, most notably Vivillon.

One of the most notable meta trends in the shift to USM was that many Mimikyu started running less speed and more bulk. There were a variety of reasons for this, but I think the most prevalent one was that not only did it allow Mimikyu to live important hits from critical threats, especially mons like Gyarados and even Salamence depending on the specific spread, but I think people realized that there weren’t really a ton of threats in the same range as Mimikyu that it really needed to outspeed--in some rare cases, such as against Cloyster, the extra speed was actually a disadvantage since underspeeding a Shell Smash with Let’s Snuggle Forever could make the difference between OHKOing and getting swept. The main advantage of speed for Mimikyu was often in the mirror. For this team I followed this trend, especially with Naganadel on the prowl and with the slowly but surely rising tide of Kommo-O throughout the USM meta demanding a Fairy as a counter.

The EVs aren’t designed to survive any one thing in particular, but they do hit some important benchmarks, allowing Mimikyu to survive a Specs Koko Thunderbolt in terrain from full without a critical, as well as surviving a +1 Waterfall from Mega Gyarados over 80% of the time to fire back and kill with Let’s Snuggle Forever, and the extra bulk also means that Analytic P2 only has about a 37% chance to kill +2 Mimikyu with Foul Play, while the increasingly common Trace variants miss the KO completely. Metagross also fails to kill with Bullet Punch, which can save a game against it if it is at low health. In an emergency it also has a chance to survive a +2 Sludge Wave from Naga or a Z-Thunderbolt from 252 SpA Thundurus-T, though the rolls are not in Mimikyu’s favor. I have also sometimes run 196 HP/52 Def in tournaments to ensure the survival from full against +1 Gyarados Waterfall, although Rocks ruin the calc.

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Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Discharge / Foul Play
- Toxic
- Recover


P2 is probably, for my money, the hardest Pokemon to just kill in the Battle Spot metagame. This thing just doesn’t die to very much. With one weakness, reliable recovery, and obscene bulk, Porygon2 requires every team to have a gameplan against it lest it just sit out there, chip some damage, maybe Toxic the opponent, and Recover off damage until sundown. Being able to wall two of the three most common BSS Pokemon (Landorus and Greninja, though Z-Torrent sets can be a pain)--and forcing the third to get to a +3 or higher exclusive Z-move to kill (Mimkyu) helps a lot with minimizing their pressure from team preview, and P2 puts a lot of defensive pressure on the opponent in its own right.

But just as important as the general idea of what P2 does is the synergy it provides with this team. Gengar works incredibly well with P2, eliminating a lot of the threats that can credibly break P2 and also providing one of the two immunities to Fighting on this team that can make even launching super effective attacks into the duck an annoying guessing game. Toxic and Discharge spread status, which not only debilitates opponents but works incredibly well with Gengar’s moveset that sports both Substitute and Hex.

Trace is the ability of choice and has been my preferred ability for defensive P2 throughout 7th gen despite Analytic being more popular (and arguably better) especially in late SM and early USM. Trace has a variety of interesting applications: the most notable of these is tracing Intimidate off of threats that P2 is supposed to be able to switch in on and win against such as Salamence, Gyarados, and Landorus-T, but there are plenty of other possibilities as well, such as tracing Cursed Body or Shadow Tag off of Gengar to make dealing with it or its teammates easier, or tracing Lightning Rod off of a Manectric that has yet to mega evolve to wall it to death while boosting P2’s special attack. While Trace generally provides more utility, there are occasionally times where Analytic is missed, probably most commonly against Naganadel since the boost on Ice Beam makes it far more difficult for Naga to try to set up on P2.

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Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect


Celesteela taking over for Buzzwole brought this team to a new level. Perhaps the most obvious reason for this is that the Buzzwole version of this team had no effective Psychic switch-in at a time when Scarf Lele was running all over the place, to the point that I briefly ran more SpDef on P2 to compensate. But in the long run forcing P2 to win that matchup wasn’t a winning formula. Adding a strong defensive Steel type was what took this team from consistently 1900 to consistently approaching 2000 on the cartridge ladder. The addition of Celesteela isn’t perfect--it does make me noticeably weaker to electric types such as Tapu Koko that Buzzwole was often able to surprise with its bulk and kill in return. But it does make the strong P2 + Cele defensive core and gives this team the option to field an extremely sturdy core that can borderline wall some teams or at least force them to bring a specific mon that they must have to break the core which in turn makes team preview easier for me to play.

Since P2 is physically defensive, Celesteela goes the specially defensive route. Celesteela’s primary role of stopping Tapu Lele also suggested that specially defensive was the way to go, although foregoing physical bulk does make the team somewhat weaker to certain Fighting types like Mega Lopunny and some Mega Lucario since P2 cannot hope to take them on without help.

The set is pretty much standard but does what it needs to do for this team. Flamethrower is critical to have since Celesteela is the main reliable answer this team has for Scizor and Ferrothorn despite the lack of physical defensive investment. Leech Seed plus Protect is common enough on Celesteela, and with its immense special bulk it can surprise some things that normally expect to beat it and either 1v1 them or at least stall long enough to cripple them for one of the other mons to finish the job. Leech Seed also synergizes well with Substitute on Gengar, since against some bulkier threats like Chansey or Toxapex that either have tons of HP or can’t hit Gengar very hard the possibility of coming in while the opponent is seeded and just Subbing for basically no health cost while the opponent whittles down applies intolerable pressure.

But in general Celesteela is just a solid, strong, sturdy Pokemon. With apologies to Buzzwole, there’s a reason Celesteela is A+ in the viability rankings while Buzzwole is stuck in C.

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Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb / Smack Down / Gravity
- Fly
- Swords Dance


If the team has been too boring or standard until now, this is the set that can perhaps be the one to spice things up a bit. Landorus-T is probably the Pokemon I bring the least of the six, but it helps out in a variety of matchups regardless. Swords Dance Landorus-T is not the most expected set in the world, so this set has tremendous surprise value, and while stall has been continuing to diminish in both commonality and impact on the meta, it is worth noting that this Landorus build in concert with Gengar and Celesteela makes stall borderline unplayable against this team without very specific techs.

The most useful aspect of Flyinium Landorus-T though is that it turns some relatively annoying matchups around. Venusaur, especially with Earthquake to hit Gengar, can be quite a nuisance for most of the rest of this team to deal with, but Supersonic Skystrike atomizes the plant and also brutalizes most defensive cores that revolve around Tapu Bulu since they usually rely on Bulu to be the Landorus answer. Heracross, Amoonguss, Kommo-O and Scoliopede also get a nasty surprise, and defensive Tapu Fini that try to switch in on an Earthquake from full to threaten are also picked off with a combination of Earthquake + Supersonic Skystrike. Lando also can still take an unboosted HP Ice from Koko from full, meaning that if it can get in for free it can eliminate it unless it has a boosting item. More generally, if Landorus-T does get up a Swords Dance, something is probably dying. A +2 Supersonic Skystrike has enough power to delete even physically defensive Hippowdon and Cresselia (though the latter does have a 1/16 chance to survive from full if 252/252+), and Earthquake is excellent complementary coverage that shreds almost everything else.

The EVs may look a little bit weird but they do have a specific purpose: 244 speed gives Adamant Lando enough pace to outrun max speed Heatran--a must for this team given that the defensive core has major problems with it--but it also underspeeds other high speed Landorus-T, which can be helpful in some situations to nail a predicted switch-in on a U-Turn that the other person expects is a speed tie. Not having the speed tie option isn't really a problem since this set matches up well against opposing Landorus-T in a 1v1, and the team as a whole performs so well against Landorus-T anyway that teammates can usually cover if needed anyway. Not maxing speed also allows me a couple of extra defense points, though given that this Landorus-T is all-out offensive these are largely irrelevant.

The second slot is probably the most frustrating decision to make with regard to moves. Rock Tomb is the most reliable way to avoid allowing some dangerous threats that aren’t afraid of Landorus-T set up speed boosts on it, which can be very important if something like Gengar that needs the speed advantage is in the back, and it also eases the Mimikyu matchup significantly since the speed drop can sometimes help Lando get off the Z move (or EQ with some chip) to finish them off before they can eliminate Lando. However, this team is well equipped against Salamence and Gyarados and slower Mimikyu have become the norm, so I’ve tried out other moves in this slot as well. I ran Smack Down in Season 12 en route to my most efficient 2k season yet, but I had also started toying with the idea of Gravity in my head for awhile enough to the point that I was willing to pull out a Focus Sash Landorus-T with that same theme against Psynergy in Game 5 of our semifinal set in this year’s Invitational with basically this same team (except with Mence over Gyarados--see below for this replay). So while Gravity hasn’t really had its full look on cart for this team, that may be coming in the near future and may be the logical pairing with the last, and signature, mon of the team.

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Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Hypnosis


Here it is: the set I’ve become known for probably even more than being known for my Heracross TR team. The legendary--and legendarily annoying--Hypnosis Gengar. Gengar is one of the best megas in USM with its ability to trap and its fair matchup against many of the other prominent Pokemon, most notably the Tapus. Shadow Tag is a broken ability: it isn’t quite on the level of Disguise especially in a 3v3 format, but the ability to limit switching and target specific threats for elimination helps to control as many variables as possible in what often proves to be a somewhat volatile format.

Gengar’s utility in trapping the Tapus is important for this team, especially since Koko in particular can give the rest of the team trouble. While Koko can of course win a speed tie (or be Scarfed) to nix this plan, Koko needs boosting items to OHKO Gengar with special moves while Gengar needs no such help in return (and even has a 30% chance to not leave a second turn against super rare Sash variants), so Gengar generally gets the better of this matchup in the long term. The other Tapus have even more trouble, especially since the only other one that can hope to reliably take Gengar (Scarf/Sash Lele) on is stopped comfortably by Celesteela and just generally doesn’t do very well against much of the rest of this team without lots of previous chip.

Sludge Bomb versus Sludge Wave is an interesting choice, but for a variety of reasons I almost always choose to go Sludge Bomb. Usually the main roll that matters much that this affects is against Tapu Fini, who is bulky enough to take either once with 252 HP but obviously has a much better chance of surviving Bomb than Wave. But the poison utility is normally too great to ignore, especially against common sash Pokemon, most notably Breloom. For its part, Substitute is really the true star move on the set and consistently is underrated. When paired with support from Leech Seed, poison or paralysis from P2, or even Curse from Mimikyu, Gengar can use Substitute to either buy time or to get in strong position to be able to assassinate the key target that you need to get rid of to win the game. Substitute is also just uncommon enough on Gengar that there’s usually a good chance to surprise status users with it: this Gengar is a tremendous counter to Glare Serperior and also gives Breloom and lead Mimikyu (which are often running Thunder Wave to help Glalie or something else set up) huge headaches.

But now it’s time for the controversial move: Hypnosis. I often get asked how I have used this set with quite a bit of success, and one of the first things I always have to note is that Hypnosis is by far the most situational move on the set and should be by far the least clicked. One of the things about using teams on the cartridge ladder in particular is that you will eventually find teams that have very good matchups against yours, and you need to at least provide yourself outs against them as much as possible. And that is the first goal of Hypnosis: much like when I first started using this set while helping test the ORAS CCAT, the first goal of Hypnosis is to have realistic outs even against very rough matchups (derived from cant say’s old line that CasinoGar made the ORAS CCAT matchup “60% better against stall”). But Hypnosis also almost serves as Gengar’s setup move--NOVED has even likened a Hypnosis hit to being like Gengar’s version of an OHKO move, and there is some truth to that--and it pairs well with the rest of the set both in emergencies but also in situations where you can set up multiple bites at the apple, much like how moves like Horn Drill on Excadrill are best when you can set up a situation where you are almost certainly getting two or three shots at success. Depending on risk tolerance or matchup, leading with Gengar and using Hypnosis on certain specific targets on Turn 1 can also be viable, since hitting can often grant you marvelous position going forward, but it is admittedly a risky play most of the time since this team has enough bulk to play safer against most opposing leads that Gengar can do this against. In any case, this team has its struggles with certain Steel types, so being able to predict a switch to one that thinks it can take on a more standard Gengar set effectively and eliminating it can often be the main hurdle to clear to open up the rest of the team--often Mimikyu in particular--to finish off a game.

If Hypnosis just isn't to one's taste, there are other moves here that I have sometimes run in tournaments when I felt Hypnosis wouldn't be especially effective versus a particular opponent. Destiny Bond eases the Blaziken matchup significantly in concert with Substitute, since as long as you get in first you can pretty much trade one-for-one, and it can be a more reliable way to get rid of the one key threat like Ferrothorn, Celesteela, or Heatran threatening or walling your other two Pokemon. Substitute + Three Attacks Gengar is also very solid, so Icy Wind for Landorus-T and Salamence or Focus Blast for Steels and Tyranitar are also solid options, though these should be probably used with Shadow Ball over Hex. Will-O-Wisp is a more reliable way to get up status that can also help Gengar survive and is effective against DD sweepers in particular. Taunt is usually not necessary on this team given the already tremendously favorable stall matchup and that the Season 12 and 14 versions of the team are already packing Taunt Gyarados.

Key Threats:

Like with any team by this point in Pokemon’s history, it’s difficult to cover everything. Thus, there are some potential threats that this team has some problems with, although the team does have a decent plan against almost all of them:

Vivillon: It may be niche, but it gives this team a ton of trouble. Even with the SpDef Celesteela, only Gengar or a boosted Gyarados outspeed this thing, so if it manages to get in a favorable position the danger is critical for this team. On the ladder I can count on the meta to ensure that the other team wants nothing to do with even having this 99% of the time since it’s dead weight against almost any Koko or Fini, but on the rare occasions I do run into it I know that I am required to play extremely aggressively from the outset (often requiring a Hypno hit) to try to make sure that this doesn’t set up. In an emergency Celesteela can try to take it on if it can get a boost, as even +6 Hurricane has a lot of trouble damaging +1 SpDef Cele, but if it gets set up while still healthy it’s likely a losing battle. In tournaments this has sometimes been one reason for running either or both of Mence or Jolly Landorus, which I did against 11oyd in Game 2 of the Invitational Finals since I knew he had used an interesting Vivillon team in BSPL. I’ve even considered using Goggles Celesteela in tournaments as a tech for the same reason since otherwise Celesteela comfortably beats most of the powder using mons.

Fire-type boosting sweepers: Special fire type boosters--or Blaziken with its Fighting type STAB--bust through the P2 + Cele defensive core when allowed to set up from a good position, so they must be dealt with aggressively. Having Gyarados as an option helps tremendously against many of these and is one reason for its use over Mence on this team, but without reliable recovery it can usually only switch in once, or perhaps twice at most. As such, it is critical to try to get off as much damage as possible either through Toxic or otherwise predicting switches into them if possible. Getting up a Pokemon early can also help since it makes it easier to sac something to get back momentum in an emergency. But Flame Charge ZardY, Quiver Dance Volcarona, and Blaziken all present this team a fair number of problems since even though some stuff on the team can 1v1 them they put intolerable pressure on my defensive core. ZardX doesn’t really count as much here, as physically defensive P2 + Mimi makes it very difficult for ZardX to get more than one kill without taking itself out as well.

Fighting-type Megas: Blaziken has already been mentioned above, but other Fighting-type megas put pressure on this team given that my best defensive mons don’t do very well against them. Mega Lucario hits hard enough to pressure basically everything here, and while several of my mons can 1v1 it they aren’t the ones that enjoy having to switch in on it. Physical Luke does a ton to Cele with Close Combat as well, so Celesteela is a shaky check especially over repeated encounters, though it can survive a hit and fire back a super effective Flamethrower. Mega Lopunny is arguably an even bigger problem for the team since it both has Scrappy and outspeeds Gengar, but with High Jump Kick as its main Fighting STAB it has significantly more trouble against Celesteela since the threat of Protect chopping off half on an HJK while its other moves do very little to Cele is a serious problem. In addition to the megas, Pheromosa also pressures the defensive core heavily, but Gyarados, Mimikyu, and Celesteela all check it, and Gengar does as well if it isn't running either Drill Run or Throat Chop. Running Gravity more consistently might also help with this, since the Fighting types that rely on HJK have the tables turned on them by P2 and Celesteela while Gravity is up since HJK is unusable.

Z-Hypnosis Xurkitree: Xurkitree with Hypnosis, Thunderbolt, HP Ice, and Tail Glow is problematic since it runs through my defensive core, outspeeds Gengar at +1, and has Hypnosis to try to debilitate Mimikyu from revenge killing. I definitely have outs against it, especially with Gengar on the field since then I can get off the first hit, but I really need to play aggressively against it to stop it from doing untenable damage to my three.

Double Steel Cores: While this team doesn’t usually have a ton of trouble with any one Steel type thanks to the combination of Landorus and Celesteela (and Gyarados against Heatran and Celesteela specifically), it can have some trouble with double Steel cores, especially Ultra Terry’s well known “God’s Plan” core that features both Heatran and Ferrothorn. Without a Fighting type move at my disposal to punch through the core, I basically have two main outs: hit a Hypnosis with Gengar and eliminate one of the Steel types that way (which I have actually done against Terry himself before on cart--see below for a replay), or alternatively get an SD up with Landorus without taking too much damage in return so that something is almost certainly dying to a Z or an Earthquake.

Replays:

Part A: Cartridge Replays
These replays are probably the best encapsulation of how the team plays since it is as above with basically no alterations in these games. Most of the replays are from the second half of the year so the sets in these tend towards the Season 12 variations.

Game 1: JJ2W-WWWW-WWWU-52CH
In this game I got the better of well known Korean player Snow Party, with P2 making great use of stealing Greninja’s Protean ability to get the necessary chip to put Mimikyu in a good position to gash a huge hole in his team.

Game 2: UW6W-WWWW-WWXX-72QX
This game put me over 2000 in Season 12, so it’s one of my favorite. I manage to get Kommo-O to waste its Z through mind games, which puts me in a strong enough position that I manage to win despite the Kommo getting repeated flinch hax with Iron Head to survive its encounter with Mimikyu.

Game 3: WCVW-WWWW-WWXX-73LM
I just keep picking on Snow Party for some reason. But here the P2 + Cele core comfortably outlasts his rain team.

Game 4: NTHG-WWWW-WWXX-73RY
I go up against Ultra Terry’s “God’s Plan” Double Steel core, but a risky Turn 1 prediction on a Hypnosis comes up roses when I manage to assassinate his Celesteela answer as a result. The P2 + Cele core takes it from there and shows why it’s such a pain to break.

Game 5: UWZW-WWWW-WWXX-748L
The game that got me over 2k in Season 10. I definitely had some luck on my side, with Excadrill misfiring on a couple of Horn Drills and, more notably, Mimikyu getting a clutch immediate thaw in a critical moment. But this is one of the better examples I could find of even the threat of pseudo-SubSeed (stalling the seeds with Gengar instead of Cele) helping to eliminate a key threat in Scarf Greninja to open the path to victory for Mimikyu and Gengar. I also like that Mimikyu survived the univested Iron Head at the end just to make sure that Gengar had more than enough chip on the SpDef Excadrill--Hex probably still killed there but unless I was misreading the pixels there might have been an outside chance of Excadrill surviving a minimum roll.

Part B: Tournament Replays
These are a little bit less true to the above team since almost all of them involve either a one mon alteration to the team, moveset changes, or both. But some of them still do a good job of showcasing how some of the mons can work together well, so I am including them below.

Game 1: Game 5 of 2018 BSSC Invitational Quarters vs. Mishimono
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-832024253
The alteration here is Hippowdon over Landorus, which shores up a few of the team’s weaknesses to Blaziken and certain electric types that run HP Ice at the cost of losing the most direct wallbreaker and Venusaur check. But the Gengar-P2-Mimi pairing works admirably and has enough juice on the calcs to get the critical KO on Thundurus-T.

Game 2: Game 5 of 2018 BSSC Invitational Semis vs. Psynergy
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-834337199
The most obvious alteration here is DD Mence over DD Gyarados, but Lando is also Sash Jolly with Gravity over Rocks compared to a normal Sash set. Gravity Landorus comes in clutch, eliminating the dangerous Hydreigon and setting Gravity before dying so that HypnoGar can do the rest.

Game 3: Game 2 of 2018 BSSC Invitational Finals vs. 11oyd
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-839333745
This time the alterations were DD Mence over DD Gyarados and HP Fire on P2 as a tech for a potential Ferrothorn or Mawile. P2 + Cele can be a hard core to break, especially when your main fighting move is High Jump Kick. These are the kind of mind games that P2 + double Ghost can cause and take advantage of: with two possible Ghosts in the back not using HJK against P2 the first time made sense, but by the second time it both seemed safe and almost necessary to try to get the HJK off. But Mimikyu had other ideas.

Game 4: Game 2 of 2018 BSLT Round of 16 vs. Megazard
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-734871695
This is a game with the old Buzzwole version of the team. P2 + Mimi + Gyarados is a solid group of three to bring in a lot of matchups, and here the virtues of Toxic P2 come into play as it handles MZ’s P2 to allow Mimikyu to finish things. Haxduck being Haxduck didn’t hurt either.

Game 5: Vs. Jmal on Ladder During BSLT
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-720449771
Another game from the Buzzwole era of the team. I met Jmal on the ladder during BSLT and we had a strong game here, with Flyinium Lando showing its worth.

Closing Thoughts:

This team is an interesting take on bulky offense (or even tending towards balanced) in USM BSS, and I think it has the tools to take on most of the metagame fairly effectively. The team certainly isn’t perfect: the lack of a more consistent status sponge is a problem at times and in certain specific matchups, and while the defensive core of the team is extremely solid it is by no means invincible. But it has fairly good matchups against a lot of common BSS archetypes, and it has a plan for outs even in the tough matchups that can bring reasonable success even when team preview shows an uncomfortable look for the team.

In any case, I have really enjoyed using this team, and while I will likely still pull variations of it out in tournaments from time to time, this team totally deserves semi-retirement sipping pina coladas or something given its incredible success. It’s been a fun ride, and the thousands of games that I have played with this unit and its variations have helped me to understand the meta and the format as a whole better, as well as really delving into the specific capabilities of each individual mon in the confines of a BSS format. If any of you decide to use the team in your own games, I wish you the same success and fun that it has brought me.

Importables:

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Recover

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Fly
- Swords Dance

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance

Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Recover

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Smack Down
- Fly
- Swords Dance

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance

Mimikyu @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Curse
- Swords Dance

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Recover

Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Flamethrower
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Gravity
- Fly
- Swords Dance

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

Mimikyu-Totem @ Mimikium Z
Ability: Disguise
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Foul Play
- Toxic
- Recover

Buzzwole @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 8 HP / 252 Atk / 248 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Fly
- Swords Dance

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Level: 50
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Sludge Bomb
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
 

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