u/chillyking23

Hey guys! I found that this team, or at least the some part of it, is spreading pretty fast in ladder and in tournaments as well. Marcus Dion took it to 2nd place at VR October Challenge #1 (October 3-4), going 10-1 in Swiss out of 384 players and only losing in the final to Michael Kelsch. Carson Confer also brought the exact same six and finished 6th, again 10-1 in Swiss. So I decided to try to break down the team a bit, hopefully it can be helpful for the community.

The core of this team comes from Japan. At Global Challenge I (September 26), Ko Tsukide finished 40th with Mega Golisopod, Female Basculegion, Sneasler, Archaludon and Pelipper, with Mega Swampert in the last slot. Marcus and Carson swapped Swampert for Mega Floette.

Why it works

Pelipper holds Damp Rock, so the rain lasts eight turns. Charizard is barely being used right now, and against teams without it, Archaludon can keep firing Electro Shot for eight turns, which can become pretty annoying.

Female Basculegion is the particular pick. With Swift Swim it doubles its speed in rain, and Ice Beam lets it outspeed and pick off Salamence and Garchomp. Garchomp has to mega evolve right away just to avoid the OHKO. Focus Sash means it survives a lot of things it should not, and from there it just keeps throwing Muddy Waters and Shadow Balls.

Why the female one and not the male? Intimidate + Rillaboom is everywhere right now, and this in general makes the physical male hard to play. The female is special, so Intimidate does nothing to it, and with Sash it can take a Grassy Glide. Ice beam into Rillaboom it's a two hit KO.
Additionally, Muddy Water being a spread move allows you the combo Helping Hand - Muddy Water under rain, which does huge damage. Helping Hand Ice Beam does not quite knock out mega Garchomp Z (it's 25% roll if it's not invested in sp.Def or HP), but it's a big hit nevertheless.

Sneasler runs White Herb with Unburden, to discourage Incineroars and other Intimidate. Close Combat does huge damage, Dire Claw hits Fairy types, and Rock Slide covers Volcarona and Charizard.

Golisopod despite 4x to Fire, in rain it still takes at least one Fire move, like Incineroar's Flare Blitz (not sure if it's adamant though) or Volcarona's Heat Wave. Leech Life heals so much that it becomes very hard to remove, and Iron Head is its strongest STAB.

That Iron Head is the key. In Regulation M-B, the main problem for rain was losing badly to Fairy types like Floette and Sylveon. Golisopod wrecks them. Since Golisopod already has the Steel move, Archaludon can drop Flash Cannon for Aura Sphere and hit the Steel types that would normally give it trouble.

Floette is the other mega. When you cannot or do not want to bring Golisopod, you have the laser cannon we are all familiar with.

No speed control

There is no Tailwind. Pelipper runs Helping Hand instead. In a fairly slow meta, Pelipper can deal a lot of damage itself and put things in range for Basculegion, Archaludon or Sneasler to finish later in the game.

Couple of peculiarities

• Rillaboom is a matchup to watch: Grassy Glide is one of the opponent's main answer to Basculegion. Protect his sash**,** and get rid of him doubling him in one turn. Helping Hand + Ice Beam should do the job most of the time.
• Golisopod lead into Trick Room: against a Farigiraf team, Golisopod is a good lead because Leech Life threatens Farigiraf on turn one.
• Damp Rock catches people out: opponents play for the rain ending, and it doesn't.
• Muddy Water misses: brace yourself, Helping hand + Muddy Water double miss is gonna happen.

The game plan is usually to hunt down the few things that check Golisopod, Floette or Archaludon, using Basculegion and trades. Once those are gone, Golisopod can win the game even 2v1. Opponents also lead Rillaboom a lot, and a Golisopod lead is a good idea.

About the spreads

I could not find Marcus spreads (if someone has them, feel free to leave a comment and integrate this post), and the Italian player Francesco Pardini rebuilt the team and shared his own spreads. The Pelipper spread comes from Samuele Pavan and is built to survive Rillaboom's Wood Hammer.

Full sets and additional info: https://pokefeed.app/teams/mgolisopod-mfloette-dion-s-2nd-vroad

Last points

• No speed control sometimes can feel punishing.
• Wide Guard on Pelipper or Protect, I'm still wondering what I personally prefer. Having Protect against other weather teams can give you an hedge in the weather war, allowing your Pelipper to survive more and reset the rain if needed.

Let me know if you want to try this one or if you have any opinion about it!

Hey guys, after Two Regionals into Regulation M-C, I put together a full tier list for doubles, from S to D plus a Cheese tier for the tricky and cheesy stuff that works if you want to...ehm... "enjoy someone else's struggle" (scam cough cough).

It is built on the official usage from Baltimore and Frankfurt, day one and day two, and on the teams that finished at the top of both events. I then checked it against the tier lists of some of the best players around, and yes, some personal taste went into it too. Hopefully it can be useful!

S tier

• Mega Salamence: It won Baltimore next to Mega Tyranitar. It lost ground at Frankfurt, from 37.2% to 25.5% on day one, but it still made two top 13 teams and I am not ready to drop it.
• Mega Raichu Y: The most used Mega on day one at Frankfurt at 29.7%, ahead of Salamence, and one of the two Megas on Eric Rios's 17-0 winning team. Five of the top 13 teams brought it.
• Rillaboom: Most used Pokémon at both events, 56.4% on day two at Frankfurt.
• Sneasler: 37.1% on day one at Frankfurt and on six of the top 13 teams.

Things from Frankfurt that surprised me

• Incineroar was on eight of the top 13 teams, more than anything else, and went from 28.2% to 35.0% between day one and day two.
• Kommo-o, a B tier pick, showed up on three of the top 13 teams.
• The sand core that won Baltimore, Mega Tyranitar, Mega Salamence and Excadrill, reached the top 13 again.
• Garchomp came back: 25.2% on day two, and its Mega Z form was the second Mega on the winning team.

Where I expect to be wrong

I still think Mega Charizard Y and Mega Floette are the two strongest Megas in raw power. No doubt about it. Their usage is down because Salamence, Hisuian Arcanine and Gholdengo are everywhere, and I expect both to climb back once that changes. Floette still made fourth and eighth at Frankfurt with only 11.7% usage, so it might happen sooner than people think.

The list will be updated after every Regional. If you think something is in the wrong tier, tell me which one and why. Let's have a nice conversation about it.

Full list with the reasoning for every S and A pick: https://pokefeed.app/blog/pokemon-champions-tier-list-regulation-m-c

The last breakdown I posted was really well received, so here is another one. This is one of the teams from Worlds that I was most curious about.

Filip Woźniak went 8-3 and finished Top 16 with Blaziken-Mega, Torkoal, Venusaur, Farigiraf, Kingambit and Primarina. Speed Boost and Trick Room on the same team.

I went back through his round 7 game to work out how the structure holds, and these are the notes from it. Corrections welcome, especially from anyone who has played it or against it.

Mega Blaziken as a trade

First thing first: Speed Boost only fights Trick Room if you plan on having Blaziken in play once the room is up, and this team does not.

It mega evolves turn one and usually Protects, so the boost ticks. From turn two it is at +1 and attacking, and in round 7 that was enough for a Close Combat one shot on a Mega Aerodactyl without a critical hit. Probably it was 45 - 50% roll, but still.
Take as many kills as you can, and once it has done its job, you get a free switch, and Farigiraf comes in on it to set Trick Room without spending a turn exposed on an open slot.

The rule underneath it, as far as I can tell, is that Blaziken has to take at least one Pokemon with it, and preferably two. One for one is not enough, because you have committed your mega and the slow half cannot make the difference back by itself.

The weather role

The obvious objection is that a sun team should not want to be slow. The sun here is doing four things and three of them survive into the slow phase.

It raises Blaziken's Fire damage and cuts the Water damage aimed back at it. It doubles Venusaur's Speed for the turns before the room and obviously it feeds Eruption off a full HP Torkoal with Charcoal. So one slot covers both phases.

The Primarina set

Primarina has almost no usage in this format, and the set explains why it is here. It is on Liquid Voice with a Life Orb and a Quiet nature.

Quiet means it is slow on purpose and moves early under the room. Liquid Voice turns Hyper Voice into a Water spread move and the Life Orb pushes the damage up, while Moonblast is the option that does not interact with your own Torkoal.

Aqua Jet is physical on a special attacker, which only makes sense for the turns after the TR ends. You have handed the speed advantage back, something is on low HP, and priority is the only way to close it. In game two the sun had expired and the room was over, and Aqua Jet took the last knockout on a Mega Charizard Y.

What beats it

• Stalling the room out. Four turns goes fast against two Protects and the slow half never gets a turn that matters.
• Opposing weather, which removes the Eruption damage and Venusaur's Speed in one move.
• Fast Fire and Flying answers to Venusaur.

On the spreads

The spreads were not published, so anything going around is a reconstruction off the calc. Two Speed benchmarks for this archetype that I worked out, in case they are useful.

• Blaziken at 29 Speed points with a neutral nature is 149, which becomes 223 after one Speed Boost. The tier you want is 222, where a full investment Timid Mega Aerodactyl sits. 28 points gets you 222 exactly and ties, so 29 is the first number that beats it and anything past that is wasted. In round 7 that is what happened: Blaziken moved first on the Mega Aerodactyl and removed it in one Close Combat.
• Venusaur at full Speed with a boosting nature is 145, past a full investment Timid Basculegion at 143. That is the case it is needed for, since with the sun up Chlorophyll takes it to 290 and nothing in the comparison matters any more.

I found this team really fun to watch, even if it's definitely not the best out there. But still, happy to give some coverage to a Mega Blaziken team, and seeing someone trying something really different at Worlds was amazing.

As I said I have not piloted this team yet, so it is a reading of games rather than practice.

Let me know your thoughts guys, and if a lot of you are interested I can provide you with a Rental Code. I'll upload it on PokeFeed in that case, as for now I haven't created the team on Champions yet.

Hyungwoo Shin won Victory Road to San Francisco with Blastoise + Delphox, the last big event before Worlds.

I spent a while going through it, and I wanted to understand what it is actually doing rather than just looking at the spreads on paper. These are my notes. Corrections welcome, especially from anyone who has piloted it.

How it wins

Obviously three Pokemon can set up: Shell Smash on Blastoise, Nasty Plot on Delphox, Swords Dance on Kingambit. Double Fake Out from Incineroar and Sneasler plus Rage Powder from Sinistcha buy the turn and pull the attacks that were meant for the attacker.

The kind of "unsaid" rule is: whichever one you set up needs at least three knockouts. The first one trades three for one, then whatever is left, usually Kingambit late or one of the support Pokemon, takes the last one.

The part that took me longest to accept is that you do not always have to click the setup move. Fake Out into Water Spout at full HP already does huge damage, Kowtow Cleave hurts without a boost, and Helping Hand from Incineroar covers the rest.

The other half of it is that the team forces 50-50s. Even a prepared opponent ends up guessing on a turn, and the pilot has the same job in reverse: knowing when to attack, when to Protect, when to switch and when to stay in. It is a reading team more than a linear one, which probably explains why the same six get very different results depending on who is holding them.

Leads and mega choice

Lead a Fake Out user with a setup Pokemon. Sneasler if you want offensive pressure, since it also hits hard on its own. Incineroar if the opponent is physical, Garchomp and Aerodactyl especially, because you get Intimidate and can Parting Shot out into what you actually want. That pivot seems to be the standard play into Charizard teams.

For the mega, the question is which one the opponent has fewer resistances to. Delphox into Floette and Charizard, Blastoise into rain. Leading Kingambit with a Fake Out user also works when the opponent has few answers to Dark damage: set up, take early knockouts, bring the mega afterwards to clean.

Where the versions differ

Compared to the rank 1 ladder version, the changes are small and always in the same places.

• Psychic or Psyshock on Delphox. Psyshock hits Floette and Charizard harder, Psychic is better into Garchomp. Most tournament versions right now are Psychic.
• Life Orb or Black Glasses on Kingambit.
• Sinistcha's berry. Colbur for Dark moves, which includes the opposing Kingambit, Occa for Fire, Kasib for Ghost. Those three are what people run.
• Incineroar's fourth move. Helping Hand here, but a Dark STAB or Throat Chop are both reasonable.
• Sneasler. This one runs Unburden with Dire Claw. The ladder version runs Poison Touch with Poison Jab, which stacks poison chances and wears down bulky Floette.
• Delphox nature. Timid here, Modest on the ladder version. Modest gets more one hit knockouts after Nasty Plot, Timid keeps up with the faster Pokemon in the format.

Quick Guard is doing a lot of work

Sneasler runs Quick Guard instead of Protect. Delphox is very weak to Sucker Punch, so blocking a Sucker Punch aimed at it is always good, and it also stops the opposing Fake Outs. The cost is that Sneasler has no Protect of its own.

What beats it

• Dark types against Delphox. Incineroar and Tyranitar, immune to the Psychic move and not bothered much by Heat Wave.
• Rock Slide from Mega Aerodactyl or Excadrill, for damage and for flinches.
• Water and Grass types against Blastoise: Rotom Wash, Mega Venusaur.
• Wide Guard, which stops Water Spout being spammed.
• Late game priority, Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet, and Focus Sash Basculegion.
• Priority block from Farigiraf, Tailwind to cancel Shell Smash, Trick Room to neutralise Delphox.

On the spreads

The OTS is public spreads are hidden, so every spread going around is somebody's reconstruction. Worth keeping in mind before treating any number as the real one.

A few Speed benchmarks I worked out for this archetype:

• Delphox 29 speed points to hit 201.  The tier you are trying to beat is 200, which is where Mega Gengar, Mega Raichu Y, Jolteon and non mega Aerodactyl all land at full investment. Going to the full 32 gets you 204 and beats nothing extra, so three points are free to go elsewhere. This is also the argument for Timid over Modest: past that tier, Delphox is only losing to Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Alakazam at 222, which no amount of investment fixes.
• Blastoise needs 14 points to be relevant after Shell Smash. Base 78 with a neutral Speed nature is 98, so a Blastoise with nothing in Speed is 196 after the boost, still under that same 200 tier. 13 points ties Mega Aerodactyl at 222, 14 gets you 224 and past it.
• Incineroar at 23 points sits at 103, one above an Adamant max Speed Kingambit at 102, so Fake Out into Flare Blitz removes it before it moves. This is the one benchmark I have seen quoted for the archetype rather than calculated.

Things I am still unsure about

• Psychic or Psyshock.
• Colbur, Occa or Kasib on Sinistcha.
• Unburden or Poison Touch on Sneasler.

Let me know your thoughts guys, especially if you have played it or against it. I still need to give it a try.