Prelude:
https://pokepast.es/2aefc795b50e9a34 <-- The Team, if you just want to skip all the boring monologue and just play :).
FIRST THINGS FIRST... Did I actually peak at #1 with an ELO of 2052? No. But did I SHAMELESSLY clickbait my RMT with a fake peak to attract more viewers and attention? YES, YES I DID. But did you still click on it, also Yes. BUT WAIT, before you click off this page or drop some hate comment, just know it was for very good reason. My actual peak was at #3 with an ELO of 2003, and I was initially holding off making this RMT to try and get to #1. HOWEVER, the fucking IDIOTS who were #1 and #2 on the ladder HAVEN'T GOTTEN A BATTLE IN FUCKING 4 DAYS CUNT. And they're just sitting at #1 and #2 idling they're fucking alts like LOSERS and just slowly, slowly decaying, not doing shit. Like imagine playing a fucking children's game and being so pressed and down bad that you have to gatekeep top ladder by just not fucking playing, making it basically impossible for anybody with a real life with real things to do to actually make it to #1. Like BROTHER, I have a REAL JOB to work, and REAL WEIGHTS TO LIFT, I can't be wasting my life playing fucking gen 9 OU all day just to try and get to #1 on ladder just to make an RMT. To make it fucking worse as well, it's basically the same story for the top 20, NOBODY IS FUCKING BATTLING. So I'm literally just constantly versing 16 and 1700s gaining 8 points per win, just to inevitably run into a bad matchup, or hax, or both, and lose 30 fucking points. So basically I had TWO options. Either I just bite the fucking bullet, go no-life for like 3 days and grind out the #1, and in the process go mentally insane and neglect all other responsibilities in my life, OR, clickbait THE SHIT out of my RMT and sack the #1, meanwhile also reducing the amount of money I have to spend on my psychologist visits to only about $2000 extra dollars than I already have to spend if I just never started playing this god forsaken game again...
And to those people that are saying, "just get good", fair, but also FUCK YOU. I just started playing the game again after an almost 1 year hiatus after I made my last RMT which I actually made it to #1, so allow me. And to the other people who are saying, "copium", you're 100% right. And what...
But anyway I digress, I just had to get that out of the way. But I think it also sets the tone for what this RMT is going to be. This is more than just an RMT. This is therapy for me. This is hopefully mildly amusing for you reading this. And as a nice little bonus, this is a nice, HONEST, team (I cannot express enough how honest this team is; it literally only has 2 OUs) that you guys can use to crush on the ladder.
So after all that, I think it's finally time we get into the meat of this RMT, aka the actual fucking team
.
The Team:
https://pokepast.es/2aefc795b50e9a34
So, a bit about the team. I built this because I was PERSONALLY OFFENDED that the fucking GOAT, Torn-T was in UU. Like what the fuck, how is that even possible. Like I said before, I only just starting playing again basically right when Gliscor got banned, so idk if it's because it only just got knock off before or something and the tier shifts just haven't happened yet. BUT STILL, IT IS DISGUSTING THAT THIS ABSOLUTE CHAD MON IS IN UU. So if by next shift this thing isn't in OU, I'm taking it upon myself to BLOW UP the Smogon headquarters. Yes, that's a threat.
Another reason I built the team I did, was because I was and still am CONVINCED that Gholdengo is and has been completely and utterly overpowered. Or at the very least, unhealthy in the metagame. So I basically came back with the plan to make a team, go #1 with it, make an RMT and go on a full rant about why Gholdengo should be bad and that anybody that thinks otherwise is fully delusional (more to come regarding said rant). And so I initially made a team around specs Gholdengo + Hazards, which I did have success with, but the problem I often ran into is that while I could always get up my hazards, even though I had a pretty reliable knock off user in Clefable, it was still hard to get rid of all the boots spam in the metagame, and so I was often getting out chipped in the balance vs balance matchups. AND SO, this team happened.
The team is fully made around torn-t spamming knock off, and taunt to keep the hazards on and walls such as clefable, clod, ting-lu and many more, all pressured so that my Gholdengo or Meow or even Tornadus itself can just clean late game. So to complement tornadus' knock off, we have Meow with knock off, AND Mandibuzz with knock off. You may think it's overkill to have knock on half my guys, but trust me, the fact that you have 3 guys to click the move with not only gives you a lot of versatility and options for removing the opposing teams items, but also it gives you contingencies in case torn-t goes down early, or get knocked itself and then struggles to stay healthy and effectively do its job (knocking off every single item that ever existed).
Next we have the Cat which basically just does what Torn-T does but in the late game. It also has sucker punch just for some extra insurance against offence.
Naturally, we have our hazard setter, big Chomp, which basically get's them up, and then just exists for the rest of the game to take hits and rack up rough skin + helmet damage.
Then obviously we have Gholdengo for the speed control, and also just to block defog and spin. It's Gholdengo, nothing much really needs to be said, it's almost mandatory on any hazard-centric team.
Mandibuzz is the next guy I added. Just another check to things like Dragapult, Dragonite, Gambit (kind of), or any other physical attacker basically. Oh and it also has knock off lol.
And finally, the only other kind of cringe mon on the team, Slowking-G, affectionally named 'SlowBoob' (thanks Blunder for the fire name, I most definitely stole that), which forms the other part of the double-regen defensive core, and basically checks every single special attacker in the game. Again, nothing more really needs to be said.
FUN FACT: I initially had Ogerpon-W in over Meow, but I found that while it hit very, very hard and was probably better against stall and helped A LOT against rain and sun, it had one big problem: it had it's dogs out... IT WASN'T WEARING ANY SHOES, it couldn't even wear shoes if it wanted to. Basically in the balance vs balance matchup, which in this generation basically means hazards vs hazards, I found out that I was losing a lot because Ogerpon-W was basically deadweight because it took way too much damage from entry hazards. And while this problem was most definitely most profound when versing opposing balances or bulky offences, because this team has no form of hazard control, Ogerpon-W was not really doing as much as it should have been in really all matchups. And so I found a replacement: The MEOW.
But now that that's out of the way, we can get stuck IN to all the nitty gritty fun stuff:
The Sets:
Tornadus-Therian:
Daddy (Tornadus-Therian) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Bleakwind Storm
Summary: So, as the name suggest, this guy is most definitely Daddy. He is basically the crux of the team and is almost always the MVP of every game (he only isn't the MVP when you lead him turn 1 into a CB Zamazenta and get stone edged into oblivion; yes this happened multiple times). He's fast and cripples offence with knock off, he rolls you for your TNs against opposing balances (the boots collector), and against stall he's literally your only hope. Basically, if you aren't kneeling at the fucking feet of Tornadus-Therian-Formation and doing other explicit things I will not mention in this post, I really have no idea what yous' are doing, because if anybody does deserve that kind of special treatment, it's this guy.
Details: EV-wise, this is really nothing special. 240 speed is let's you just out speed Cinderace, and running max speed is not really that important (it also could be preferred because it gives you slow U-turns against other max speed Torn-Ts). The remaining EVs all go into defence because those r the main attacks you're pivoting into. The only other set I think you could run is 216 speed so that you speed creep Iron Valiant, allowing you to go 40 EVs into defence to make you just that a little bit bulkier. But I personally prefer being able to out speed Cinderace, and so this is the spread I'm suggesting is best. For the tera-type I have chosen to go for steel. This is because there is no fairy type on the team so in can be nice to be able to tera-steel against dragon moves in a pinch. It also means you can tera against ice moves (tera-ice ice spinner tusk especially) as well as rock moves (stone edge Zamazenta for example). The only other teras I would consider would be ground (helps against electric moves obviously and still resists rock), or water, which again helps against ice moves, and is probably very useful in the rain and sun matchups (I haven't actually tested this but considering both are pretty terrible matchups, it could be something to consider using if you are facing a lot of weather).
1.
Taunt is the first move of note on Mr. Tornadus. And I guess it's the only move which you really have some freedom to change, considering the other three are basically mandatory. But taunt is very, VERY useful. It completely shuts down Ting-Lu and defensive Lando-T, you pressure Clefable heavily and prevent any thunder waves or recovers from it. You can taunt Dragonite so it cannot dd and then u-turn out to break multiscale. You pressure Corviknight and stop it from healing which is really important in this matchup because it's a big menace otherwise. And like I eluded too earlier, it's really the only way to force progress against stall since there is not really a dedicated wall breaker on this team. The only other moves you could probably run would be defog or heat wave. The former being kind of stupid considering this is a team built around getting up hazards, so defogging your own away would be kind of counter productive. Still though it would have it's uses if a bunch of your boots get knocked off and you just want all hazards gone. And the latter, I'm not even going to talk about. Just don't run heat wave in this meta, there's basically no point. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THOUGH, if you do NOT want to run taunt, I would genuinely consider running fucking Sandstorm in it's place, just because then against weather you can get rid of the Sun or Rain, which would most definitely be very useful.
2.
U-turn is kind of mandatory I would say. Very good for momentum obviously and useful chip as well. Not much more to say.
3.
Knock off...
4.
Now, if you really think you're that guy, if you're really HIM, use Hurricane. Just then do not complain ever if you miss. The fact that it confuses it most definitely useful as an out, but realistically what's more likely, you confusing somebody from hurricane and winning the game because they hit themselves, or you missing and not even getting the chance to confuse. I rest my case.
Meowscarada:
Meow (Meowscarada) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Flower Trick
- Sucker Punch
Summary: There is not much to talk about here, it's basically a standard offensive pivot Meowscarda. I chose to go overgrow instead of protean just because U-turn doesn't even hit that much harder with stab, and overgrow flower trick goes BRAZY. In terms of tera, it's tera dark for slightly stronger revenge killing with sucker punch, and stronger knock offs (useful against Gholdengo which lives regular knock). However, I would strongly consider using tera grass for the strong flower tricks. Flower trick already hits decently hard, and in combination with overgrow it would go hamburger. Also because most guys are already knocked off by the time you really want to tera dark and kill something, I'm not really sure if tera dark is the way to go. That being said I haven't tested with tera grass, so if you guys want to do that for me and drop a comment below and tell me what's better, please be my guest lmao. But usually I'm not really tera-ing Meow anyway, so it shouldn't matter all too much.
Details: There's not much to really talk about here regarding EVs, it's just your standard max max jolly.
1.
U-turn. Momentum. It's an offensive pivot...
2.
Knock Off...
3.
Flower Trick is this guy's signature move. It also always crits which is nice against screens and against Curse Dondozo or Garganacl when they tera water for your Gholdengo.
4.
I have sucker punch here just to revenge kill, and for stuff like Dragapult or scarf Gholdengo. This being said, King Gambit is a massive issue for the team. So I would most definitely consider using Brick Break (useful to break screens) or Low Kick. And if you are going to use those moves, I would also consider using protean, because Gambit is a bulky mf. You could also run Toxic Spikes or Spikes if you wanted. But I find that Garchomp gets spikes up pretty well, and Tspikes aren't really that useful when there are so many poison types in the tier.
Garchomp:
IHateGambit (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
Summary: Again, as the name suggests, this is the team's designated KingGambit check. It is also the hazard setter for the team, and like I've said many times, this is a hazards team, so Mr. Garchomp plays a pretty important role. I tried running Heavy Duty Boots on Chomp, but because it resists rocks, hazards are not the biggest issue for the big Chomp, and also not having rocky helmet makes KingGambit an even bigger problem than he already is. So I like helmet on this Chomp.
Details: In regards to EVs, once again there is not really much to talk about here, it's just your standard max max impish physical wall. I guess I did choose to not run any speed on this Chomp because I think the bulk is really really important when it comes to longevity and getting the most out of your rough skin and rocky helmet chip. You could run speed to outrun Heatran, but really you shouldn't be switching this into Heatran anyway, especially because these days they are running will-o-wisp, so you have to be doubly careful. Also I think tera-grass Heatran can actually trap you if you switch into a Magma and then go for Earthquake as they tera grass. But anyway, just don't switch this into Heatran, or if you are to do it, do it once and no more. And, the 4 speed I do have is to creep the base 100s. The tera I chose for Chomp was tera fight, purely for KingGambit in a pinch. Gambit is really such a problem that unless your Chomp is at full HP, he can so easily sweep your team, because between Mandibuzz's foul play, rough skin+ helmet, minus leftover recovery, Gambit is left at like 50-60%, which is most definitely out of range of every other attack on the team, which is absolutely fantastic. So, this is why tera fight can come in clutch biggly. Otherwise if you are confident against Gambit teams, or more appropriately, willing to forgo a little extra insurance against Gambit in favour for trying to not have as terrible a matchup against weather, tera water is probably the way to go. Against rain, tera water Garchomp is probably the only thing that will save you against Barraskewda, otherwise it will literally kill everything on the team, especially if it teras itself. Tera water also has the obvious added benefit of resisting ice, which is also pretty useful with all the Ice Spinner Great Tusks running around. So I would definitely strongly consider running tera water, however at the moment rain is not very popular, so I have tera fighting, but if you for some reason are running into a lot of rain, or just don't want to insta-lose against rain, definitely go for tera water Chomp.
1.
Spikes is spikes. And in this metagame it's most definitely more important to get up than rocks, since everything weak to rocks has boots, and all the mons that don't have boots resist rocks (Tusk and Gambit specifically). So spikes is a mandatory move on Mr. Chomp.
2.
Stealth Rocks... This is Pokemon singles THE MOVE, every team has it. And so does this one. Let's not try and reinvent the wheel here. Use Rocks.
3.
Earthquake. If Stealth Rocks was Pokemon singles THE MOVE, then Earthquake is probably Pokemon THE MOVE.
4.
Dragon Tail is very useful to phase out threats such as Dragonite, or tera flying KingGambit. It's also nice to rack up chip damage on Pokemon like Great Tusk coming in. You could run Whirlwind over Dragon Tail if you wanted too I guess, personally, I think Dragon Tail is better in this meta (there are less fairy types for one), but Whirlwind definitely has it's merits, especially against setup guys with Substitute, like Zamazenta. You could also run Stone Edge if you REALLY wanted to, but again I would advise against it. You don't really need to hit the birds. And finally, Endure is something I considered, it would especially be nice against Gambit or really any physical attacker for some guaranteed chip, but I think you kind of need Dragon Tail to actually pressure Zapdos and flying types in general on the switch (especially useful when they have their boots knocked off).
Gholdengo:
VeryBalancedMon (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Trick
- Recover
Summary: Nothing ground breaking here. Just a regular ass scarf Gholdengo. I'm choosing to go tera steel though instead of tera fighting, because I don't have focus blast on this set, so even if I tera fight for Gambit, I'm doing like 20% in return, so it doesn't really make sense for me to have tera fight. Instead, tera steel not only super charges Make It Rain, but unlike tera ghost, you still resist Stealth Rocks, which is actually pretty important considering if Gholdengo takes a hit it usually is left at like 30-40%, so having a lot of extra leeway when you want to switch in is very nice. You also become not weak to ghost and dark anymore, which is can be useful in a pinch to just hold on against unboosted Gambit, or Crunch Zamazenta.
Details: Once more, the EVs are nothing special, just max max timid.
1.
Shadow Ball is the one of it's stab moves. Mandatory.
2.
Make It Rain is very broken. Mandatory.
3.
Trick can be very useful in matchups where you don't want your choice scarf and instead would rather cripple something like Clodsire, or Blissey. This also allows you to actually Recover freely because you aren't locked in anymore. Trick is also useful if you want to lock something into a set-up move such as Dragonite.
4.
Instead of Recover you could run Focus Blast, and then potentially use tera fight. However, I personally much prefer Recover because being able to actually keep Gholdengo throughout the course of a battle against slower games vs balance/semi-stall/stall is very important. This way you can actually block defogs from Corviknight for example over the course of a battle, instead of switching into rocks/spikes, taking a Brave Bird, and then being at like 60% and only being able to switch in one more time. You don't even have to Trick away your scarf in some cases if you deem that it's more important to have than not. You can just double Gholdengo in for example, threaten something out, Recover, and then switch out the following turn. Also without Recover, Zapdos becomes even more of an issue than it already is, so I think Recover is almost mandatory for Gholdengo on this team.
Mandibuzz:
I<3Boots (Mandibuzz) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Roost
Summary: This guy is here to kind of just patch up a bunch of holes the team would otherwise have. The dark, flying typing is very good defensively giving the team some much needed resistances, and in combination with foul play, it is a good check to most physical set-up sweepers. The tera I chose is fairy because like I've mentioned previously, this team does not have a fairy type, meaning the dragon resist is a scarf Gholdengo, aka doesn't really exist. This means that strong physical dragon moves are kind of a problem for the team, specifically CB Dragapult. So, I'm running tera fairy to patch up that weakness in the team. It's also just a good type to tera to in general, so there's that as well.
Details: For the most part the EVs are pretty standard, just another pretty regular physically defnesive max max Impish wall. The 20 speed I invested is used to creep Adamant, max speed KingGambit, and anybody who has the same idea (Gambit hits 199 speed, so I'm hitting 201).
1.
U-turn is very nice for gaining momentum on things like Ogerpon-W, Meowscarada, Dragapult etc.
2.
I like having Knock Off on Mandibuzz just for some added insurance when it comes to getting rid of opponents items. This being said, it very much could be overkill, but I haven't really tested anything else. So, again, if you guys want to try running one of the following moves instead of Knock Off, please do, and let me know what you find works best. But in terms of alternatives, you can run toxic for a slightly better matchup against Zapdos, Tornadus-Ts or sub-less Zamazentas. You could run Iron Defence for a much better matchup against KingGambit. This might actually be the way to go considering Gambit is such a problem for the team, so definitely consider running Iron Defence. Finally I think you could get away with running Whirlwind potentially just for more phasing. Or again, if you really want to get kinky with it, you can run Sandstorm to help against the weather matchups, and to 'abuse' Overcoat, if that is something you want to do for some reason.
3.
Foul Play is practically mandatory on all Mandibuzz's I believe. What is the point of having a physical wall like Mandibuzz if the second a physical Pokemon you are supposed to wall, boosts up, and the best you can do is hit it with Knock Off for 20%, or U-turn out to your other mons who are going to die. TLDR, use Foul Play.
4.
Roost. This isn't some funny CB Mandibuzz. And even then I think Roost would probably still fit on the set.
Slowking-Galar:
SlowBoob (Slowking-Galar) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Chilly Reception
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
Summary: I actually have stuff to talk about this time because this is for some reason not a regular Slowking-G set (I just checked it's Smogon page and it actually is, but I'm still taking credit for inventing this because I thought of it myself). This is basically your dedicated special wall for the team. Meaning that you can literally pivot this thing into every single special attack the game can throw at you, survive it, and then pivot out or play accordingly. Basically Slowking-G does Slowking-G things. Specifically I chose to use Boots instead of AV because of how much of an impact hazards has on Slowking-G's longevity otherwise. So because I'm running boots it means I have to fully invest into special defence, which means no strong Future Sights or anything like that (well really no Future Sights at all because I don't have it, but more on that in a second). The tera I chose for Mr. SlowBoob is water, because of the lack of a good water resist on the team. Fortunately in this meta for some reason there are no real solid offensive special water types besides Walking Wake, however, if you do run into Walking Wake, specifically under Sun, this can be a big big problem, so tera water is really important for that. Also this unfortunately is the team's pseudo-Heatran check. And I say pseudo because I'm not running AV and I have no special attack investment so my surfs hit for about 25% and I take a shit tonne from Magma's and Earth Powers, meaning that more often than not if the opponent has a Heatran you either have to sack your Slowking-G to it, or force the tera water, to power-up your Surfs, and survive their attacks. Tera water is also very useful against Iron Moth, which can most definitely become scary if it is Booster Energy Speed, which it more often than not is. Tera water is also useful against Great Tusk to powerup your Surfs so you can survive their attacks and OHKO them back.
Details: Like I eluded to above, you have to run max max Sassy basically to ensure that you actually function as a special wall, because we aren't running AV on this set in favour of Boots. I also found out that the reason Slowking-G runs 16 defence is to guaranteed survive two Iron Valiant Psyshocks, so there is that as well. We are also running Sassy instead of Calm on this set so that Chilly Reception has the highest chance to go last so you get the initiative on the switch.
1.
Toxic. I recently changed Future Sight to Toxic because I was struggling against Zapdos' a lot. While Sludge Bomb poisons definitely do the job basically just as well, the fact that you are are getting chunked by Hurricane on the switch in, and then they are more often than not Volt Switching out, means that you are getting chipped very heavily by Zapdos most of the time. This means that you will not get a lot of opportunities to actually hit Zapdos with a Sludge Bomb, meaning you are not too likely to actually poison it. So, the solution then is Toxic which is a GUARANTEED poison on it, which basically means that your Mandibuzz, Gholdengo and kind of Slowking-G as well all beat it. I cannot stress how important it is to try and get a status off on Zapdos. Furthermore, the alternative move, Future Sight, is kind of useless to run when not only do I not really have any breakers to actually pivot into to force a kill with the Future Sight, but I also do not have any special attack investment, which you think wouldn't really matter because it is such a high base power move, but you really notice the difference between AV 120+ special attack invested Slowking-G and my pitiful Slowking-G. And also usually when I have a free turn with Slowking-G I prefer to just Chilly out into something else anyway, instead of just going for Future Sight and losing initiative. You could also run Psychic I guess instead of Future Sight which would be useful against Pex which is decently hard to break for the team. Or you could also run Flamethrower which would be useful against tera steel Zamazenta.
2.
Chilly Reception is very, very nice to have. I wouldn't necessarily say it is mandatory on Slowking-G because you can always just double switch, but it is always a nice crutch to rely on instead of using your actual brain to predict them, you can just Chilly out and see what they go into and react accordingly, basically gifting you initiative for free. A pretty decent alternative to Chilly Reception would be Slack Off actually, this would make the Zapdos matchup a lot better as well as just giving you a little buit extra longevity in general.
3.
Sludge Bomb, definitely mandatory. A very good move as well because of the 30% to poison.
4.
Surf, while usually not mandatory on Slowking-G, for the purpose of this team is most definitely is because it allows you to actually check Iron Moth, Heatran, and hit Great Tusk etc.
Threats:
We have quite a few to list off:
1. KingGambit: Like I've constantly mentioned throughout this entire RMT. KingGambit is a big threat for the team. Not that there aren't ways to outplay it, but because it's so popular, the fact that it is such a threat to the team is most definitely a problem. However do not fear, so long as you keep your Garchomp decently healthy you should be good. Plus, if you somehow manage to save the tera the whole game, you can tera fight Garchomp and then you definitely will not lose to it. Also Foul Play from Mandibuzz chunks KingGambit. So you should be good when facing it if you are careful. However it can easily win outright if you let your walls get low.
2. Weavile: If you verse a Weavile, brother I do not know what to tell you. You better hope it's not Boots otherwise that thing is literally never going to die. Or if it's CB tera dark I think you are doubly fucked, because then you cannot even tera steel Torn-T because you'll just die to the CB Knock Off they won't even have to go for an ice move. But if it is Boots, I genuinely think you might just have to blow the tera on Torn-T and Knock the Boots, and then get up hazards ASAP. Otherwise Weavile will most definitely run through this team.
3. Sub, Iron Defence Zamazenta: Another big threat, most of the time you have to get something to break the sub, which will usually be Slowking-G's job, just so you can sack it to Crunch, and then pray that Bleakwind Storm hits with Tornadus-T, and revenge kill it. The problem is if you lose Tornadus-T or if it or Slowking-G are low, then you'll have to do a bunch of sacking to get their health back up with Regenerator in order to be able to survive their attacks and kill it back.
4. Sun Walking Wake: Walking Wake in Sun hits like a truck so it 100% forces your tera on Slowking-G, and even then it still does a shit tonne of damage, so you have to be super careful verse it and play very aggressively in order to mitigate the turns it has in.
5. Barraskewda: If you run into rain, this guy will probably be the sole reason you lose, if you don't end up losing to Zapdos first. I think tera water CB Barraskewda in rain literally OHKOs every single pokemon on the team. So basically the only counter play is getting your hazards up asap, and rough skin + rocky helmet chipping it down. And then maybe they'll let you revenge kill it with Meowscarada. Fortunately rain is super not popular at the moment, so you shouldn't run into too many Barraskewda's, but if you do, you better start praying because it'll be a miracle if you manage to win the game.
6. Zapdos: This guy is defensively a big threat. While it doesn't really threaten too many KOs straight out, he basically is just a huge nuisance for the team to deal with. Basically what you HAVE to do against Zapdos, is Knock Off its boost asap, and get up rocks, and keep them up. That way you are at least forcing Zapdos to Roost constantly, so you're Slowking-G is not getting chunked everytime it switches in by Hurricanes and then Volt Switches. Once you have Rocks up though you can play pretty aggressively and double into Slowking-G as Zapdos comes in to force a Roost, allowing you to get a Toxic off before it Volt Switches. Once you have a Toxic on Zapdos, for the most part its threat neutralised, as then Gholdengo walls it, especially if you Trick away the scarf, you can easily beat it with Recover. Even Mandibuzz beats it then if you tera, or if you just spam Roost on the Volt Switch (if it's defensive).
7. Tera Ice Great Tusk: Another pretty big threat, especially if they manage to get off a Rapid Spin, because then you cannot even revenge kill it with Gholdengo. Fortunately, tera ice Ice Spinner doesn't kill Tornadus-T from full and does about half to Mandibuzz, so there are still ways to kill it, but it can still definitely dent the team heavily.
8. Nasty Plot Gholdengo: While you always have your scarf Gholdengo to revenge kill as well as Torn-T and Meowscarada which are faster, because Gholdengo is so tanky, if you are not careful, and if they predict correctly around your pivoting, it can most definitely get out of hand. And while it probably will not win a game outright, it might be too little too late when you finally revenge kill it. So just be pretty careful of Nasty Plot Gholdengo.
Advice in Battle:
Okayyyy, now that we're done with all that nerd shit (the actual RMT portion of the post) I can finally actually start to have some fun. This part is especially important for any new players who want to pick up this team and aren't really experienced with a lot of gen 9 OU.
The thing with this team like I mentioned previous, is that it's an honest team. Now that doesn't mean that it is a bad team by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it is quite a good team (obviously, otherwise why the fuck would I be making an RMT of it). But what it does mean is that you aren't going to be winning games by mindlessly clicking SD with your Gambit, or Sub, into Fiery Dance into a million boosts with your Iron Moth, or DDing up with your Dragonite and tera normal Espeeding everything into oblivion...
This team basically has no breaker, but that definitely does not mean you cannot kill things, you just have to kill Pokemon in different ways to what you may be used to. The main win condition of this team, is Knock Off + Hazards. The reason I specify Knock Off is because everything now has Boots so to make progress you have to Knock Off a bunch of items first, and then set up your Hazards. Against offence this is not really so relevant, because you are just trying to survive, and have your defensive walls kill the offensive guys before they kill you. But in the balance vs balance matchup, Knock Off is most definitely the priority.
In terms of your lead, I don't think I have made another team in all my 7-8 years of playing competitive Pokemon which has a better lead than this. In gen 9 OU there is a distinct lack of offensive electric types, specifically fast electric types. The only electric types really at all are Zapdos and Rotom-W. What this means is that Tornadus-Therian-Formation literally gets a free Knock Off at the start of the game basically guaranteed. I genuinely think that you can't really go wrong with leading with Tornadus-T basically every single game and just, clicking, Knock Off. Both the aforementioned electric types cannot kill you from full, so you can basically Knock them Off, switch out, and pivot in at different times throughout the game to recover HP with your Torn-T. This is especially important against Zapdos. You NEED to Knock Off its boots and get up Rocks, otherwise unless you Toxic it, you will lose. If this means getting your Tornadus-T paralyzed, than so be it. And remember if you think you're him, you can always predict Thunder Wave and go for Taunt, and then Knock Off against Clefable, Zapdos, Slowking-G and Rotom-W.
Throughout the game you need to make sure you are being at least somewhat aggressive with your double switching to allow Tornadus-T and Slowking-G to remain healthy and allow them to actually defensively check the things they need to. This is very important against teams that have Great Tusk, Rillaboom, Walking Wake, Dragapult etc. Slowking-G and Torn-T will take a lot of damage throughout the course of a game, and to allow them to do that, and still come out on top of the things that they in theory beat, you need to make sure you're doubling them in to abuse their Regenerator.
Against Rain you need to prioritise getting your hazards up at basically all costs, but you also need to make sure that your Garchomp is not just taking random Hurricanes or Surfs from Pelipper, because you need it somewhat healthy to be able to take 2 hits from Barraskewda to chip it into range for Sucker Punch for kill. You also again need to prioritise Knocking Off Zapdos, because otherwise it will literally kill everything with Hurricane and Thunder. Rain is definitely the hardest matchup to overcome, but it is still doable if you play perfect.
Against Gambit, it is very important to try and chip it down over the course of the game so that when it does come time for it to SD up, it doesn't have enough HP to actually sweep your team. This also means keeping your team healthy enough to where even if it is low, it can't just one hit all your guys with Sucker Punch to get the win. Ways you can chip it is Knocking it Off to remove it's leftovers, Make It Rain on the switch with Gholdengo, rough skin + helmet, and of course hazards.
If a team has Heatran and Iron Moth, you have to be very, VERY careful when tera-ing your Slowking-G. Even though it may seem like a good idea to tera-water your Slowking-G to kill the Heatran, if the Iron Moth is Booster Energy Speed tera-grass energy ball which most of them are, you can easily lose the game if it gets like 2 boosts from fiery dance, meaning your water Slowking-G will die to energy ball from full, if it even is at full to begin with which it usually won't be.
Stall is another pretty tough matchup. You have to try and prevent them from getting their spikes up for as long as possible, because otherwise getting your hazards up with Garchomp will be a lot harder because Garchomp will have limited switch-ins. Similarly, you cannot let Garchomp get statused, because then it'll similarly struggle to get hazards up consistently throughout the game. You also CANNOT let Tornadus-T get poisoned, because then it will not be able to effectively recover hp with Regenerator and stay in and taunt things. Tornadus-T is your best friend in the stall matchup, and you have to play very, very aggressively to keep things low, keep your hazards on, and make sure things do not recover. You also obviously have to try and get rid of everybody's boots to allow your hazards to start racking up chip damage. If they have Cyclizar to spin, it is going to be really difficult for you to block the spin, because it has Knock Off for your Gholdengo, but if you predict right (yes, I understand this is very hard to do), it is still possible to win even if they do have Cyclizar.
Also, against Great Tusk, please do not always go into your Gholdengo the second they try and spin, because more often than not they will Knock Off because it is a no draw back play for the most part, or even just Headlong Rush. Yes sometimes they can Ice Spinner midground to hit your Garchomp or Tornadus-T, in which case going into your scarf Gholdengo could be a smart play, but unless you have that read on your opponent, more often than not, they will just predict your Gholdengo to come in and block the spin. Once your Gholdengo is Knocked or just dead, their Great Tusk can spin forever, and your main way to clean at the end of the game is dead. However, if they do spin as you go into Torn-T, for example, and then you U-turn as they switch into Heatran, go back into Garchomp, you can just get up your hazards again. Basically, going into Gholdengo to block the spin is a high risk high reward play, so be careful when deciding to try and block the spin.
Apart from that, I don't think there are too many other team specific tips I can give you. The only other one I think would be don't be afraid to pivot your Meowscarada into things like Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel. Even though you take a load of damage, you in return get the initiative because you can then U-turn out, and plus you getting weak can also sometimes be a good thing because you get closer to your Overgrowth HP, which can come in clutch at the end of the game.
Proof of Rank + Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1999906349 (vs. Tera Fairy Garchomp offence)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2000147316-wpvq9w4h2zg0u60oe4614mkha1p7tefpw?p2 (vs. StormZone, Gambit Offence) [worst played game ever]
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2000028865-wjrfhq16zsm5immhsw6f5glajjccr50pw?p2 (vs. Tera Ghost Dragapult Balance)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1999503577-0hmc117cg004ss77769vdut0pkkktnapw (vs. LO Stone Edge Zamazenta Bulky Offence)
Rant Time (Gholdengo Edition):
Now time for the really fun part. Obviously this is not really part of the RMT, but I'm adding this in anyway for the sake of my own sanity (this is was the self-therapy part of the post I was eluding to at the very beginning of the post). WHY THE FUCK HAS GHOLDENGO NOT EVEN BEEN SUSPECTED YET. What delusional fucking idiot in the council decided to suspect fucking roostless Gliscor before Gholdengo. Like do yous not realise that without Gholdengo, Gliscor would be literally cucked by Corviknight every single game? The whole reason Corviknight is so bad in this meta is solely because Gholdengo shits on every possible Corviknight set. The whole reaosn Gliscor was so good (or most of it at least) is because it's so difficult to remove hazards in this metagame. And the only reason that is the case is because of Gholdengo. Like I love the council for the most part, yous are all great guys (probably), but brother COME ON. GLISCOR caught the ban hammer before GHOLDENGO. IS THIS REAL LIFE??
At its core, hazards is like THE single biggest, most dominating mechanic in every single single's metagame. I even said single 3 times in that sentence just to emphasise how important hazards are in every generation. This means that it's removal is also incredibly fucking important. And the fact that all defoggers get SHIT ON by Gholdengo, means that even if the pokemon itself isn't broken, or overpowered, or whatever, it means that it's presence in the metagame must be unhealthy by default, just because it disrupts a CORE mechanic of the game so well. Like how can one pokemon, block defog and rapid spin at the same time. It used to be you had spin blockers, or pursuit trappers for defog. Now you have both in the one fucking pokemon, and the pokemon itself is still OVERPOWERED.
Choice specs Gholdengo with Shadow Ball, Make It Rain, Psyshock and Focus Blast/Thunderbolt literally has full perfect coverage in this metagame. It can literally 2hitKO everything that doesn't get OHKOd. It's fucking insanity. But that's not it, at least pokemon such as Lele which did a similar thing was frail physically. Not Gholdengo, it also has a better defensive typing than Lele. It also can not only run scarf sets, specs sets, but also Nasty Plot. And how you play against each different variation of Gholdengo is completely different. If you start trying to pivot around scarf Gholdengo, just to find out that it's actually nasty plot, then you're basically forced to sack a mon.
Like this guy is simply role compression, the pokemon. The only guy I think that does role compression better is Landorus-T, or in this generation a better example would be Great Tusk. But the thing with those guys is that least they still allow the game to work how it should do.
And that's my whole stance. If you think that a metagame can be healthy with a pokemon like Gholdengo in it which blocks all forms of hazard removal, then cool, don't ban Gholdengo. But I hold the opinion that it most definitely is not healthy, and while Gholdengo the pokemon may or may not be overpowered, its properties make the metagame better off without it than with it.
Choice Specs Gholdengo genuinely blows up everything it touches, meanwhile Toxic, Spikes Gliscor without Roost was too much for the metagame to handle. Yeah okay, sick dude. It's like, you can ban all the hazard setters in the tier, and make Gholdengo not really an issue just because there are no good hazard setters anymore. Or you could just ban Gholdengo and solve the problem from its root, rather than solving it backwards, the other way round. Gliscor was most definitely a good pokemon, but it was only oppressive because it was the best hazard setter in the tier, and pressured the only good hazard removal in the tier, Great Tusk. And the only reason it is the only good hazard removal in the tier is because of our favourite ghost type, Mr. Gholdengo.
Anybody that thinks otherwise must be fully, completely delusional, and definitely needs to build a team around Choice Specs Gholdengo and play like 5 games with it, because then you will see. Even against offence it's still decent just because it's so tanky, it can usually at least get a kill. It's just obscene. Stall teams are now literally forced to run Cyclizar to remove hazards consistently, that's how oppressive Gholdengo is. It's completely metagame centralising, and it's fully obvious to see, I have no idea how it has lasted so long in the tier with not even a suspect against it. Just completely bonkers to me.
But anyway, I digress, TLDR: Gholdengo is unhealthy for the metagame, if you think otherwise your delusional and a pawn of the Smogon council.
Final Thoughts:
Thank you for reading my RMT, I hope you liked the team and I hope you somewhat enjoyed the read too. I doubt yous read all of it because I actually wrote so much but either way, thank you. And in all seriousness, while I do think Gholdengo is unhealthy it's whatever, it's Pokemon at the end of the day, so it's not really that deep and I don't mean any of the things I said about the current #1 and #2 players as well as the Smogon council lmao.
Of course let me know what you think about the team as well as the RMT, I did put a lot of effort into writing this whole thing, so any and all feedback or comments are much appreciated.
But anyway, I guess I'll see you guys in another years time when I come back to the game, build a team and make another annual RMT :).
https://pokepast.es/2aefc795b50e9a34 <-- The Team, if you just want to skip all the boring monologue and just play :).
FIRST THINGS FIRST... Did I actually peak at #1 with an ELO of 2052? No. But did I SHAMELESSLY clickbait my RMT with a fake peak to attract more viewers and attention? YES, YES I DID. But did you still click on it, also Yes. BUT WAIT, before you click off this page or drop some hate comment, just know it was for very good reason. My actual peak was at #3 with an ELO of 2003, and I was initially holding off making this RMT to try and get to #1. HOWEVER, the fucking IDIOTS who were #1 and #2 on the ladder HAVEN'T GOTTEN A BATTLE IN FUCKING 4 DAYS CUNT. And they're just sitting at #1 and #2 idling they're fucking alts like LOSERS and just slowly, slowly decaying, not doing shit. Like imagine playing a fucking children's game and being so pressed and down bad that you have to gatekeep top ladder by just not fucking playing, making it basically impossible for anybody with a real life with real things to do to actually make it to #1. Like BROTHER, I have a REAL JOB to work, and REAL WEIGHTS TO LIFT, I can't be wasting my life playing fucking gen 9 OU all day just to try and get to #1 on ladder just to make an RMT. To make it fucking worse as well, it's basically the same story for the top 20, NOBODY IS FUCKING BATTLING. So I'm literally just constantly versing 16 and 1700s gaining 8 points per win, just to inevitably run into a bad matchup, or hax, or both, and lose 30 fucking points. So basically I had TWO options. Either I just bite the fucking bullet, go no-life for like 3 days and grind out the #1, and in the process go mentally insane and neglect all other responsibilities in my life, OR, clickbait THE SHIT out of my RMT and sack the #1, meanwhile also reducing the amount of money I have to spend on my psychologist visits to only about $2000 extra dollars than I already have to spend if I just never started playing this god forsaken game again...
And to those people that are saying, "just get good", fair, but also FUCK YOU. I just started playing the game again after an almost 1 year hiatus after I made my last RMT which I actually made it to #1, so allow me. And to the other people who are saying, "copium", you're 100% right. And what...
But anyway I digress, I just had to get that out of the way. But I think it also sets the tone for what this RMT is going to be. This is more than just an RMT. This is therapy for me. This is hopefully mildly amusing for you reading this. And as a nice little bonus, this is a nice, HONEST, team (I cannot express enough how honest this team is; it literally only has 2 OUs) that you guys can use to crush on the ladder.
So after all that, I think it's finally time we get into the meat of this RMT, aka the actual fucking team
.The Team:
https://pokepast.es/2aefc795b50e9a34
So, a bit about the team. I built this because I was PERSONALLY OFFENDED that the fucking GOAT, Torn-T was in UU. Like what the fuck, how is that even possible. Like I said before, I only just starting playing again basically right when Gliscor got banned, so idk if it's because it only just got knock off before or something and the tier shifts just haven't happened yet. BUT STILL, IT IS DISGUSTING THAT THIS ABSOLUTE CHAD MON IS IN UU. So if by next shift this thing isn't in OU, I'm taking it upon myself to BLOW UP the Smogon headquarters. Yes, that's a threat.
Another reason I built the team I did, was because I was and still am CONVINCED that Gholdengo is and has been completely and utterly overpowered. Or at the very least, unhealthy in the metagame. So I basically came back with the plan to make a team, go #1 with it, make an RMT and go on a full rant about why Gholdengo should be bad and that anybody that thinks otherwise is fully delusional (more to come regarding said rant). And so I initially made a team around specs Gholdengo + Hazards, which I did have success with, but the problem I often ran into is that while I could always get up my hazards, even though I had a pretty reliable knock off user in Clefable, it was still hard to get rid of all the boots spam in the metagame, and so I was often getting out chipped in the balance vs balance matchups. AND SO, this team happened.
The team is fully made around torn-t spamming knock off, and taunt to keep the hazards on and walls such as clefable, clod, ting-lu and many more, all pressured so that my Gholdengo or Meow or even Tornadus itself can just clean late game. So to complement tornadus' knock off, we have Meow with knock off, AND Mandibuzz with knock off. You may think it's overkill to have knock on half my guys, but trust me, the fact that you have 3 guys to click the move with not only gives you a lot of versatility and options for removing the opposing teams items, but also it gives you contingencies in case torn-t goes down early, or get knocked itself and then struggles to stay healthy and effectively do its job (knocking off every single item that ever existed).
Next we have the Cat which basically just does what Torn-T does but in the late game. It also has sucker punch just for some extra insurance against offence.
Naturally, we have our hazard setter, big Chomp, which basically get's them up, and then just exists for the rest of the game to take hits and rack up rough skin + helmet damage.
Then obviously we have Gholdengo for the speed control, and also just to block defog and spin. It's Gholdengo, nothing much really needs to be said, it's almost mandatory on any hazard-centric team.
Mandibuzz is the next guy I added. Just another check to things like Dragapult, Dragonite, Gambit (kind of), or any other physical attacker basically. Oh and it also has knock off lol.
And finally, the only other kind of cringe mon on the team, Slowking-G, affectionally named 'SlowBoob' (thanks Blunder for the fire name, I most definitely stole that), which forms the other part of the double-regen defensive core, and basically checks every single special attacker in the game. Again, nothing more really needs to be said.
FUN FACT: I initially had Ogerpon-W in over Meow, but I found that while it hit very, very hard and was probably better against stall and helped A LOT against rain and sun, it had one big problem: it had it's dogs out... IT WASN'T WEARING ANY SHOES, it couldn't even wear shoes if it wanted to. Basically in the balance vs balance matchup, which in this generation basically means hazards vs hazards, I found out that I was losing a lot because Ogerpon-W was basically deadweight because it took way too much damage from entry hazards. And while this problem was most definitely most profound when versing opposing balances or bulky offences, because this team has no form of hazard control, Ogerpon-W was not really doing as much as it should have been in really all matchups. And so I found a replacement: The MEOW.
But now that that's out of the way, we can get stuck IN to all the nitty gritty fun stuff:
The Sets:
Tornadus-Therian:
Daddy (Tornadus-Therian) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Bleakwind Storm
Summary: So, as the name suggest, this guy is most definitely Daddy. He is basically the crux of the team and is almost always the MVP of every game (he only isn't the MVP when you lead him turn 1 into a CB Zamazenta and get stone edged into oblivion; yes this happened multiple times). He's fast and cripples offence with knock off, he rolls you for your TNs against opposing balances (the boots collector), and against stall he's literally your only hope. Basically, if you aren't kneeling at the fucking feet of Tornadus-Therian-Formation and doing other explicit things I will not mention in this post, I really have no idea what yous' are doing, because if anybody does deserve that kind of special treatment, it's this guy.
Details: EV-wise, this is really nothing special. 240 speed is let's you just out speed Cinderace, and running max speed is not really that important (it also could be preferred because it gives you slow U-turns against other max speed Torn-Ts). The remaining EVs all go into defence because those r the main attacks you're pivoting into. The only other set I think you could run is 216 speed so that you speed creep Iron Valiant, allowing you to go 40 EVs into defence to make you just that a little bit bulkier. But I personally prefer being able to out speed Cinderace, and so this is the spread I'm suggesting is best. For the tera-type I have chosen to go for steel. This is because there is no fairy type on the team so in can be nice to be able to tera-steel against dragon moves in a pinch. It also means you can tera against ice moves (tera-ice ice spinner tusk especially) as well as rock moves (stone edge Zamazenta for example). The only other teras I would consider would be ground (helps against electric moves obviously and still resists rock), or water, which again helps against ice moves, and is probably very useful in the rain and sun matchups (I haven't actually tested this but considering both are pretty terrible matchups, it could be something to consider using if you are facing a lot of weather).
1.
Taunt is the first move of note on Mr. Tornadus. And I guess it's the only move which you really have some freedom to change, considering the other three are basically mandatory. But taunt is very, VERY useful. It completely shuts down Ting-Lu and defensive Lando-T, you pressure Clefable heavily and prevent any thunder waves or recovers from it. You can taunt Dragonite so it cannot dd and then u-turn out to break multiscale. You pressure Corviknight and stop it from healing which is really important in this matchup because it's a big menace otherwise. And like I eluded too earlier, it's really the only way to force progress against stall since there is not really a dedicated wall breaker on this team. The only other moves you could probably run would be defog or heat wave. The former being kind of stupid considering this is a team built around getting up hazards, so defogging your own away would be kind of counter productive. Still though it would have it's uses if a bunch of your boots get knocked off and you just want all hazards gone. And the latter, I'm not even going to talk about. Just don't run heat wave in this meta, there's basically no point. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THOUGH, if you do NOT want to run taunt, I would genuinely consider running fucking Sandstorm in it's place, just because then against weather you can get rid of the Sun or Rain, which would most definitely be very useful.
2.
U-turn is kind of mandatory I would say. Very good for momentum obviously and useful chip as well. Not much more to say.
3.
Knock off...
4.
Now, if you really think you're that guy, if you're really HIM, use Hurricane. Just then do not complain ever if you miss. The fact that it confuses it most definitely useful as an out, but realistically what's more likely, you confusing somebody from hurricane and winning the game because they hit themselves, or you missing and not even getting the chance to confuse. I rest my case.
Meowscarada:
Meow (Meowscarada) @ Heavy-Duty BootsAbility: Overgrow
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Flower Trick
- Sucker Punch
Summary: There is not much to talk about here, it's basically a standard offensive pivot Meowscarda. I chose to go overgrow instead of protean just because U-turn doesn't even hit that much harder with stab, and overgrow flower trick goes BRAZY. In terms of tera, it's tera dark for slightly stronger revenge killing with sucker punch, and stronger knock offs (useful against Gholdengo which lives regular knock). However, I would strongly consider using tera grass for the strong flower tricks. Flower trick already hits decently hard, and in combination with overgrow it would go hamburger. Also because most guys are already knocked off by the time you really want to tera dark and kill something, I'm not really sure if tera dark is the way to go. That being said I haven't tested with tera grass, so if you guys want to do that for me and drop a comment below and tell me what's better, please be my guest lmao. But usually I'm not really tera-ing Meow anyway, so it shouldn't matter all too much.
Details: There's not much to really talk about here regarding EVs, it's just your standard max max jolly.
1.
U-turn. Momentum. It's an offensive pivot...
2.
Knock Off...
3.
Flower Trick is this guy's signature move. It also always crits which is nice against screens and against Curse Dondozo or Garganacl when they tera water for your Gholdengo.
4.
I have sucker punch here just to revenge kill, and for stuff like Dragapult or scarf Gholdengo. This being said, King Gambit is a massive issue for the team. So I would most definitely consider using Brick Break (useful to break screens) or Low Kick. And if you are going to use those moves, I would also consider using protean, because Gambit is a bulky mf. You could also run Toxic Spikes or Spikes if you wanted. But I find that Garchomp gets spikes up pretty well, and Tspikes aren't really that useful when there are so many poison types in the tier.
Garchomp:
IHateGambit (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
Summary: Again, as the name suggests, this is the team's designated KingGambit check. It is also the hazard setter for the team, and like I've said many times, this is a hazards team, so Mr. Garchomp plays a pretty important role. I tried running Heavy Duty Boots on Chomp, but because it resists rocks, hazards are not the biggest issue for the big Chomp, and also not having rocky helmet makes KingGambit an even bigger problem than he already is. So I like helmet on this Chomp.
Details: In regards to EVs, once again there is not really much to talk about here, it's just your standard max max impish physical wall. I guess I did choose to not run any speed on this Chomp because I think the bulk is really really important when it comes to longevity and getting the most out of your rough skin and rocky helmet chip. You could run speed to outrun Heatran, but really you shouldn't be switching this into Heatran anyway, especially because these days they are running will-o-wisp, so you have to be doubly careful. Also I think tera-grass Heatran can actually trap you if you switch into a Magma and then go for Earthquake as they tera grass. But anyway, just don't switch this into Heatran, or if you are to do it, do it once and no more. And, the 4 speed I do have is to creep the base 100s. The tera I chose for Chomp was tera fight, purely for KingGambit in a pinch. Gambit is really such a problem that unless your Chomp is at full HP, he can so easily sweep your team, because between Mandibuzz's foul play, rough skin+ helmet, minus leftover recovery, Gambit is left at like 50-60%, which is most definitely out of range of every other attack on the team, which is absolutely fantastic. So, this is why tera fight can come in clutch biggly. Otherwise if you are confident against Gambit teams, or more appropriately, willing to forgo a little extra insurance against Gambit in favour for trying to not have as terrible a matchup against weather, tera water is probably the way to go. Against rain, tera water Garchomp is probably the only thing that will save you against Barraskewda, otherwise it will literally kill everything on the team, especially if it teras itself. Tera water also has the obvious added benefit of resisting ice, which is also pretty useful with all the Ice Spinner Great Tusks running around. So I would definitely strongly consider running tera water, however at the moment rain is not very popular, so I have tera fighting, but if you for some reason are running into a lot of rain, or just don't want to insta-lose against rain, definitely go for tera water Chomp.
1.
Spikes is spikes. And in this metagame it's most definitely more important to get up than rocks, since everything weak to rocks has boots, and all the mons that don't have boots resist rocks (Tusk and Gambit specifically). So spikes is a mandatory move on Mr. Chomp.
2.
Stealth Rocks... This is Pokemon singles THE MOVE, every team has it. And so does this one. Let's not try and reinvent the wheel here. Use Rocks.
3.
Earthquake. If Stealth Rocks was Pokemon singles THE MOVE, then Earthquake is probably Pokemon THE MOVE.
4.
Dragon Tail is very useful to phase out threats such as Dragonite, or tera flying KingGambit. It's also nice to rack up chip damage on Pokemon like Great Tusk coming in. You could run Whirlwind over Dragon Tail if you wanted too I guess, personally, I think Dragon Tail is better in this meta (there are less fairy types for one), but Whirlwind definitely has it's merits, especially against setup guys with Substitute, like Zamazenta. You could also run Stone Edge if you REALLY wanted to, but again I would advise against it. You don't really need to hit the birds. And finally, Endure is something I considered, it would especially be nice against Gambit or really any physical attacker for some guaranteed chip, but I think you kind of need Dragon Tail to actually pressure Zapdos and flying types in general on the switch (especially useful when they have their boots knocked off).
Gholdengo:
VeryBalancedMon (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Trick
- Recover
Summary: Nothing ground breaking here. Just a regular ass scarf Gholdengo. I'm choosing to go tera steel though instead of tera fighting, because I don't have focus blast on this set, so even if I tera fight for Gambit, I'm doing like 20% in return, so it doesn't really make sense for me to have tera fight. Instead, tera steel not only super charges Make It Rain, but unlike tera ghost, you still resist Stealth Rocks, which is actually pretty important considering if Gholdengo takes a hit it usually is left at like 30-40%, so having a lot of extra leeway when you want to switch in is very nice. You also become not weak to ghost and dark anymore, which is can be useful in a pinch to just hold on against unboosted Gambit, or Crunch Zamazenta.
Details: Once more, the EVs are nothing special, just max max timid.
1.
Shadow Ball is the one of it's stab moves. Mandatory.
2.
Make It Rain is very broken. Mandatory.
3.
Trick can be very useful in matchups where you don't want your choice scarf and instead would rather cripple something like Clodsire, or Blissey. This also allows you to actually Recover freely because you aren't locked in anymore. Trick is also useful if you want to lock something into a set-up move such as Dragonite.
4.
Instead of Recover you could run Focus Blast, and then potentially use tera fight. However, I personally much prefer Recover because being able to actually keep Gholdengo throughout the course of a battle against slower games vs balance/semi-stall/stall is very important. This way you can actually block defogs from Corviknight for example over the course of a battle, instead of switching into rocks/spikes, taking a Brave Bird, and then being at like 60% and only being able to switch in one more time. You don't even have to Trick away your scarf in some cases if you deem that it's more important to have than not. You can just double Gholdengo in for example, threaten something out, Recover, and then switch out the following turn. Also without Recover, Zapdos becomes even more of an issue than it already is, so I think Recover is almost mandatory for Gholdengo on this team.
Mandibuzz:
I<3Boots (Mandibuzz) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Foul Play
- Roost
Summary: This guy is here to kind of just patch up a bunch of holes the team would otherwise have. The dark, flying typing is very good defensively giving the team some much needed resistances, and in combination with foul play, it is a good check to most physical set-up sweepers. The tera I chose is fairy because like I've mentioned previously, this team does not have a fairy type, meaning the dragon resist is a scarf Gholdengo, aka doesn't really exist. This means that strong physical dragon moves are kind of a problem for the team, specifically CB Dragapult. So, I'm running tera fairy to patch up that weakness in the team. It's also just a good type to tera to in general, so there's that as well.
Details: For the most part the EVs are pretty standard, just another pretty regular physically defnesive max max Impish wall. The 20 speed I invested is used to creep Adamant, max speed KingGambit, and anybody who has the same idea (Gambit hits 199 speed, so I'm hitting 201).
1.
U-turn is very nice for gaining momentum on things like Ogerpon-W, Meowscarada, Dragapult etc.
2.
I like having Knock Off on Mandibuzz just for some added insurance when it comes to getting rid of opponents items. This being said, it very much could be overkill, but I haven't really tested anything else. So, again, if you guys want to try running one of the following moves instead of Knock Off, please do, and let me know what you find works best. But in terms of alternatives, you can run toxic for a slightly better matchup against Zapdos, Tornadus-Ts or sub-less Zamazentas. You could run Iron Defence for a much better matchup against KingGambit. This might actually be the way to go considering Gambit is such a problem for the team, so definitely consider running Iron Defence. Finally I think you could get away with running Whirlwind potentially just for more phasing. Or again, if you really want to get kinky with it, you can run Sandstorm to help against the weather matchups, and to 'abuse' Overcoat, if that is something you want to do for some reason.
3.
Foul Play is practically mandatory on all Mandibuzz's I believe. What is the point of having a physical wall like Mandibuzz if the second a physical Pokemon you are supposed to wall, boosts up, and the best you can do is hit it with Knock Off for 20%, or U-turn out to your other mons who are going to die. TLDR, use Foul Play.
4.
Roost. This isn't some funny CB Mandibuzz. And even then I think Roost would probably still fit on the set.
Slowking-Galar:
SlowBoob (Slowking-Galar) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Chilly Reception
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
Summary: I actually have stuff to talk about this time because this is for some reason not a regular Slowking-G set (I just checked it's Smogon page and it actually is, but I'm still taking credit for inventing this because I thought of it myself). This is basically your dedicated special wall for the team. Meaning that you can literally pivot this thing into every single special attack the game can throw at you, survive it, and then pivot out or play accordingly. Basically Slowking-G does Slowking-G things. Specifically I chose to use Boots instead of AV because of how much of an impact hazards has on Slowking-G's longevity otherwise. So because I'm running boots it means I have to fully invest into special defence, which means no strong Future Sights or anything like that (well really no Future Sights at all because I don't have it, but more on that in a second). The tera I chose for Mr. SlowBoob is water, because of the lack of a good water resist on the team. Fortunately in this meta for some reason there are no real solid offensive special water types besides Walking Wake, however, if you do run into Walking Wake, specifically under Sun, this can be a big big problem, so tera water is really important for that. Also this unfortunately is the team's pseudo-Heatran check. And I say pseudo because I'm not running AV and I have no special attack investment so my surfs hit for about 25% and I take a shit tonne from Magma's and Earth Powers, meaning that more often than not if the opponent has a Heatran you either have to sack your Slowking-G to it, or force the tera water, to power-up your Surfs, and survive their attacks. Tera water is also very useful against Iron Moth, which can most definitely become scary if it is Booster Energy Speed, which it more often than not is. Tera water is also useful against Great Tusk to powerup your Surfs so you can survive their attacks and OHKO them back.
Details: Like I eluded to above, you have to run max max Sassy basically to ensure that you actually function as a special wall, because we aren't running AV on this set in favour of Boots. I also found out that the reason Slowking-G runs 16 defence is to guaranteed survive two Iron Valiant Psyshocks, so there is that as well. We are also running Sassy instead of Calm on this set so that Chilly Reception has the highest chance to go last so you get the initiative on the switch.
1.
Toxic. I recently changed Future Sight to Toxic because I was struggling against Zapdos' a lot. While Sludge Bomb poisons definitely do the job basically just as well, the fact that you are are getting chunked by Hurricane on the switch in, and then they are more often than not Volt Switching out, means that you are getting chipped very heavily by Zapdos most of the time. This means that you will not get a lot of opportunities to actually hit Zapdos with a Sludge Bomb, meaning you are not too likely to actually poison it. So, the solution then is Toxic which is a GUARANTEED poison on it, which basically means that your Mandibuzz, Gholdengo and kind of Slowking-G as well all beat it. I cannot stress how important it is to try and get a status off on Zapdos. Furthermore, the alternative move, Future Sight, is kind of useless to run when not only do I not really have any breakers to actually pivot into to force a kill with the Future Sight, but I also do not have any special attack investment, which you think wouldn't really matter because it is such a high base power move, but you really notice the difference between AV 120+ special attack invested Slowking-G and my pitiful Slowking-G. And also usually when I have a free turn with Slowking-G I prefer to just Chilly out into something else anyway, instead of just going for Future Sight and losing initiative. You could also run Psychic I guess instead of Future Sight which would be useful against Pex which is decently hard to break for the team. Or you could also run Flamethrower which would be useful against tera steel Zamazenta.
2.
Chilly Reception is very, very nice to have. I wouldn't necessarily say it is mandatory on Slowking-G because you can always just double switch, but it is always a nice crutch to rely on instead of using your actual brain to predict them, you can just Chilly out and see what they go into and react accordingly, basically gifting you initiative for free. A pretty decent alternative to Chilly Reception would be Slack Off actually, this would make the Zapdos matchup a lot better as well as just giving you a little buit extra longevity in general.
3.
Sludge Bomb, definitely mandatory. A very good move as well because of the 30% to poison.
4.
Surf, while usually not mandatory on Slowking-G, for the purpose of this team is most definitely is because it allows you to actually check Iron Moth, Heatran, and hit Great Tusk etc.
Threats:
We have quite a few to list off:
1. KingGambit: Like I've constantly mentioned throughout this entire RMT. KingGambit is a big threat for the team. Not that there aren't ways to outplay it, but because it's so popular, the fact that it is such a threat to the team is most definitely a problem. However do not fear, so long as you keep your Garchomp decently healthy you should be good. Plus, if you somehow manage to save the tera the whole game, you can tera fight Garchomp and then you definitely will not lose to it. Also Foul Play from Mandibuzz chunks KingGambit. So you should be good when facing it if you are careful. However it can easily win outright if you let your walls get low.
2. Weavile: If you verse a Weavile, brother I do not know what to tell you. You better hope it's not Boots otherwise that thing is literally never going to die. Or if it's CB tera dark I think you are doubly fucked, because then you cannot even tera steel Torn-T because you'll just die to the CB Knock Off they won't even have to go for an ice move. But if it is Boots, I genuinely think you might just have to blow the tera on Torn-T and Knock the Boots, and then get up hazards ASAP. Otherwise Weavile will most definitely run through this team.
3. Sub, Iron Defence Zamazenta: Another big threat, most of the time you have to get something to break the sub, which will usually be Slowking-G's job, just so you can sack it to Crunch, and then pray that Bleakwind Storm hits with Tornadus-T, and revenge kill it. The problem is if you lose Tornadus-T or if it or Slowking-G are low, then you'll have to do a bunch of sacking to get their health back up with Regenerator in order to be able to survive their attacks and kill it back.
4. Sun Walking Wake: Walking Wake in Sun hits like a truck so it 100% forces your tera on Slowking-G, and even then it still does a shit tonne of damage, so you have to be super careful verse it and play very aggressively in order to mitigate the turns it has in.
5. Barraskewda: If you run into rain, this guy will probably be the sole reason you lose, if you don't end up losing to Zapdos first. I think tera water CB Barraskewda in rain literally OHKOs every single pokemon on the team. So basically the only counter play is getting your hazards up asap, and rough skin + rocky helmet chipping it down. And then maybe they'll let you revenge kill it with Meowscarada. Fortunately rain is super not popular at the moment, so you shouldn't run into too many Barraskewda's, but if you do, you better start praying because it'll be a miracle if you manage to win the game.
6. Zapdos: This guy is defensively a big threat. While it doesn't really threaten too many KOs straight out, he basically is just a huge nuisance for the team to deal with. Basically what you HAVE to do against Zapdos, is Knock Off its boost asap, and get up rocks, and keep them up. That way you are at least forcing Zapdos to Roost constantly, so you're Slowking-G is not getting chunked everytime it switches in by Hurricanes and then Volt Switches. Once you have Rocks up though you can play pretty aggressively and double into Slowking-G as Zapdos comes in to force a Roost, allowing you to get a Toxic off before it Volt Switches. Once you have a Toxic on Zapdos, for the most part its threat neutralised, as then Gholdengo walls it, especially if you Trick away the scarf, you can easily beat it with Recover. Even Mandibuzz beats it then if you tera, or if you just spam Roost on the Volt Switch (if it's defensive).
7. Tera Ice Great Tusk: Another pretty big threat, especially if they manage to get off a Rapid Spin, because then you cannot even revenge kill it with Gholdengo. Fortunately, tera ice Ice Spinner doesn't kill Tornadus-T from full and does about half to Mandibuzz, so there are still ways to kill it, but it can still definitely dent the team heavily.
8. Nasty Plot Gholdengo: While you always have your scarf Gholdengo to revenge kill as well as Torn-T and Meowscarada which are faster, because Gholdengo is so tanky, if you are not careful, and if they predict correctly around your pivoting, it can most definitely get out of hand. And while it probably will not win a game outright, it might be too little too late when you finally revenge kill it. So just be pretty careful of Nasty Plot Gholdengo.
Advice in Battle:
Okayyyy, now that we're done with all that nerd shit (the actual RMT portion of the post) I can finally actually start to have some fun. This part is especially important for any new players who want to pick up this team and aren't really experienced with a lot of gen 9 OU.
The thing with this team like I mentioned previous, is that it's an honest team. Now that doesn't mean that it is a bad team by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it is quite a good team (obviously, otherwise why the fuck would I be making an RMT of it). But what it does mean is that you aren't going to be winning games by mindlessly clicking SD with your Gambit, or Sub, into Fiery Dance into a million boosts with your Iron Moth, or DDing up with your Dragonite and tera normal Espeeding everything into oblivion...
This team basically has no breaker, but that definitely does not mean you cannot kill things, you just have to kill Pokemon in different ways to what you may be used to. The main win condition of this team, is Knock Off + Hazards. The reason I specify Knock Off is because everything now has Boots so to make progress you have to Knock Off a bunch of items first, and then set up your Hazards. Against offence this is not really so relevant, because you are just trying to survive, and have your defensive walls kill the offensive guys before they kill you. But in the balance vs balance matchup, Knock Off is most definitely the priority.
In terms of your lead, I don't think I have made another team in all my 7-8 years of playing competitive Pokemon which has a better lead than this. In gen 9 OU there is a distinct lack of offensive electric types, specifically fast electric types. The only electric types really at all are Zapdos and Rotom-W. What this means is that Tornadus-Therian-Formation literally gets a free Knock Off at the start of the game basically guaranteed. I genuinely think that you can't really go wrong with leading with Tornadus-T basically every single game and just, clicking, Knock Off. Both the aforementioned electric types cannot kill you from full, so you can basically Knock them Off, switch out, and pivot in at different times throughout the game to recover HP with your Torn-T. This is especially important against Zapdos. You NEED to Knock Off its boots and get up Rocks, otherwise unless you Toxic it, you will lose. If this means getting your Tornadus-T paralyzed, than so be it. And remember if you think you're him, you can always predict Thunder Wave and go for Taunt, and then Knock Off against Clefable, Zapdos, Slowking-G and Rotom-W.
Throughout the game you need to make sure you are being at least somewhat aggressive with your double switching to allow Tornadus-T and Slowking-G to remain healthy and allow them to actually defensively check the things they need to. This is very important against teams that have Great Tusk, Rillaboom, Walking Wake, Dragapult etc. Slowking-G and Torn-T will take a lot of damage throughout the course of a game, and to allow them to do that, and still come out on top of the things that they in theory beat, you need to make sure you're doubling them in to abuse their Regenerator.
Against Rain you need to prioritise getting your hazards up at basically all costs, but you also need to make sure that your Garchomp is not just taking random Hurricanes or Surfs from Pelipper, because you need it somewhat healthy to be able to take 2 hits from Barraskewda to chip it into range for Sucker Punch for kill. You also again need to prioritise Knocking Off Zapdos, because otherwise it will literally kill everything with Hurricane and Thunder. Rain is definitely the hardest matchup to overcome, but it is still doable if you play perfect.
Against Gambit, it is very important to try and chip it down over the course of the game so that when it does come time for it to SD up, it doesn't have enough HP to actually sweep your team. This also means keeping your team healthy enough to where even if it is low, it can't just one hit all your guys with Sucker Punch to get the win. Ways you can chip it is Knocking it Off to remove it's leftovers, Make It Rain on the switch with Gholdengo, rough skin + helmet, and of course hazards.
If a team has Heatran and Iron Moth, you have to be very, VERY careful when tera-ing your Slowking-G. Even though it may seem like a good idea to tera-water your Slowking-G to kill the Heatran, if the Iron Moth is Booster Energy Speed tera-grass energy ball which most of them are, you can easily lose the game if it gets like 2 boosts from fiery dance, meaning your water Slowking-G will die to energy ball from full, if it even is at full to begin with which it usually won't be.
Stall is another pretty tough matchup. You have to try and prevent them from getting their spikes up for as long as possible, because otherwise getting your hazards up with Garchomp will be a lot harder because Garchomp will have limited switch-ins. Similarly, you cannot let Garchomp get statused, because then it'll similarly struggle to get hazards up consistently throughout the game. You also CANNOT let Tornadus-T get poisoned, because then it will not be able to effectively recover hp with Regenerator and stay in and taunt things. Tornadus-T is your best friend in the stall matchup, and you have to play very, very aggressively to keep things low, keep your hazards on, and make sure things do not recover. You also obviously have to try and get rid of everybody's boots to allow your hazards to start racking up chip damage. If they have Cyclizar to spin, it is going to be really difficult for you to block the spin, because it has Knock Off for your Gholdengo, but if you predict right (yes, I understand this is very hard to do), it is still possible to win even if they do have Cyclizar.
Also, against Great Tusk, please do not always go into your Gholdengo the second they try and spin, because more often than not they will Knock Off because it is a no draw back play for the most part, or even just Headlong Rush. Yes sometimes they can Ice Spinner midground to hit your Garchomp or Tornadus-T, in which case going into your scarf Gholdengo could be a smart play, but unless you have that read on your opponent, more often than not, they will just predict your Gholdengo to come in and block the spin. Once your Gholdengo is Knocked or just dead, their Great Tusk can spin forever, and your main way to clean at the end of the game is dead. However, if they do spin as you go into Torn-T, for example, and then you U-turn as they switch into Heatran, go back into Garchomp, you can just get up your hazards again. Basically, going into Gholdengo to block the spin is a high risk high reward play, so be careful when deciding to try and block the spin.
Apart from that, I don't think there are too many other team specific tips I can give you. The only other one I think would be don't be afraid to pivot your Meowscarada into things like Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel. Even though you take a load of damage, you in return get the initiative because you can then U-turn out, and plus you getting weak can also sometimes be a good thing because you get closer to your Overgrowth HP, which can come in clutch at the end of the game.
Proof of Rank + Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1999906349 (vs. Tera Fairy Garchomp offence)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2000147316-wpvq9w4h2zg0u60oe4614mkha1p7tefpw?p2 (vs. StormZone, Gambit Offence) [worst played game ever]
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2000028865-wjrfhq16zsm5immhsw6f5glajjccr50pw?p2 (vs. Tera Ghost Dragapult Balance)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1999503577-0hmc117cg004ss77769vdut0pkkktnapw (vs. LO Stone Edge Zamazenta Bulky Offence)
Rant Time (Gholdengo Edition):
Now time for the really fun part. Obviously this is not really part of the RMT, but I'm adding this in anyway for the sake of my own sanity (this is was the self-therapy part of the post I was eluding to at the very beginning of the post). WHY THE FUCK HAS GHOLDENGO NOT EVEN BEEN SUSPECTED YET. What delusional fucking idiot in the council decided to suspect fucking roostless Gliscor before Gholdengo. Like do yous not realise that without Gholdengo, Gliscor would be literally cucked by Corviknight every single game? The whole reason Corviknight is so bad in this meta is solely because Gholdengo shits on every possible Corviknight set. The whole reaosn Gliscor was so good (or most of it at least) is because it's so difficult to remove hazards in this metagame. And the only reason that is the case is because of Gholdengo. Like I love the council for the most part, yous are all great guys (probably), but brother COME ON. GLISCOR caught the ban hammer before GHOLDENGO. IS THIS REAL LIFE??
At its core, hazards is like THE single biggest, most dominating mechanic in every single single's metagame. I even said single 3 times in that sentence just to emphasise how important hazards are in every generation. This means that it's removal is also incredibly fucking important. And the fact that all defoggers get SHIT ON by Gholdengo, means that even if the pokemon itself isn't broken, or overpowered, or whatever, it means that it's presence in the metagame must be unhealthy by default, just because it disrupts a CORE mechanic of the game so well. Like how can one pokemon, block defog and rapid spin at the same time. It used to be you had spin blockers, or pursuit trappers for defog. Now you have both in the one fucking pokemon, and the pokemon itself is still OVERPOWERED.
Choice specs Gholdengo with Shadow Ball, Make It Rain, Psyshock and Focus Blast/Thunderbolt literally has full perfect coverage in this metagame. It can literally 2hitKO everything that doesn't get OHKOd. It's fucking insanity. But that's not it, at least pokemon such as Lele which did a similar thing was frail physically. Not Gholdengo, it also has a better defensive typing than Lele. It also can not only run scarf sets, specs sets, but also Nasty Plot. And how you play against each different variation of Gholdengo is completely different. If you start trying to pivot around scarf Gholdengo, just to find out that it's actually nasty plot, then you're basically forced to sack a mon.
Like this guy is simply role compression, the pokemon. The only guy I think that does role compression better is Landorus-T, or in this generation a better example would be Great Tusk. But the thing with those guys is that least they still allow the game to work how it should do.
And that's my whole stance. If you think that a metagame can be healthy with a pokemon like Gholdengo in it which blocks all forms of hazard removal, then cool, don't ban Gholdengo. But I hold the opinion that it most definitely is not healthy, and while Gholdengo the pokemon may or may not be overpowered, its properties make the metagame better off without it than with it.
Choice Specs Gholdengo genuinely blows up everything it touches, meanwhile Toxic, Spikes Gliscor without Roost was too much for the metagame to handle. Yeah okay, sick dude. It's like, you can ban all the hazard setters in the tier, and make Gholdengo not really an issue just because there are no good hazard setters anymore. Or you could just ban Gholdengo and solve the problem from its root, rather than solving it backwards, the other way round. Gliscor was most definitely a good pokemon, but it was only oppressive because it was the best hazard setter in the tier, and pressured the only good hazard removal in the tier, Great Tusk. And the only reason it is the only good hazard removal in the tier is because of our favourite ghost type, Mr. Gholdengo.
Anybody that thinks otherwise must be fully, completely delusional, and definitely needs to build a team around Choice Specs Gholdengo and play like 5 games with it, because then you will see. Even against offence it's still decent just because it's so tanky, it can usually at least get a kill. It's just obscene. Stall teams are now literally forced to run Cyclizar to remove hazards consistently, that's how oppressive Gholdengo is. It's completely metagame centralising, and it's fully obvious to see, I have no idea how it has lasted so long in the tier with not even a suspect against it. Just completely bonkers to me.
But anyway, I digress, TLDR: Gholdengo is unhealthy for the metagame, if you think otherwise your delusional and a pawn of the Smogon council.
Final Thoughts:
Thank you for reading my RMT, I hope you liked the team and I hope you somewhat enjoyed the read too. I doubt yous read all of it because I actually wrote so much but either way, thank you. And in all seriousness, while I do think Gholdengo is unhealthy it's whatever, it's Pokemon at the end of the day, so it's not really that deep and I don't mean any of the things I said about the current #1 and #2 players as well as the Smogon council lmao.
Of course let me know what you think about the team as well as the RMT, I did put a lot of effort into writing this whole thing, so any and all feedback or comments are much appreciated.
But anyway, I guess I'll see you guys in another years time when I come back to the game, build a team and make another annual RMT :).
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