Battle Spot Special Season 13: No Mega Doubles!

[Theorymon]

Surprised there isn't a thread on this yet!

This season is pretty simple: its VGC, but megas are banned! This is obviously gonna have a big effect on the metagame, since that means no Mega Kangaskhan!

I imagine a lot of VGC staples such as Landorus-T, Thundurus, Amoonguss, and Cresselia will still be around, but I'm curious to see just how the metagame will change with no Megas.

The season doesn't start till late Monday EST, so let's discuss some potential strategies to get us ready for next season!

 

[ProjectTitan313]

> No MegaZard-Y
> Isn't an obscure meta like Spooky Cup where Arbok is actually quite good

Probably not even going to touch this, especially since VGC15 rules are back on BS Doubles.
But I might also get bored and throw 6 goons together and see if I can hax someone else's rating down a bit.

 

[tofucocoa]

latios is probably good again, since it doesn't have mega kang/mega garde/mega mence breathing down its neck. greninja too, since things might be overly offensive for a little bit since people are tempted to run less bulky EVs since they don't have to live in fear of kangaskhan. bit of a shame i can't have both kang banned and camerupt/mawile/venusaur legal :////

e: oh yeah, and we can use focus sash again, everyone!!! maybe i should pull gallade out again..........

 

[ProjectTitan313]

latios is probably good again, since it doesn't have mega kang/mega garde/mega mence breathing down its neck. greninja too, since things might be overly offensive for a little bit since people are tempted to run less bulky EVs since they don't have to live in fear of kangaskhan. bit of a shame i can't have both kang banned and camerupt/mawile/venusaur legal :////

e: oh yeah, and we can use focus sash again, everyone!!! maybe i should pull gallade out again..........

Why could we not use Sash? I've seen Mega Mence / Gardevoir more than Khan lol.
And is it bad I forgot Latios even existed in doubles, I haven't seen it since ORAS release. Not sure why.

 

[tofucocoa]

clearly someone hasn't been on battle spot because khan has been hovering at 1st place since the last season and probably more before that (also, worlds and high-placing teams these past regionals)

and i predict slightly less landorus-t now that it's basically not a requirement on teams because again NO KANG!!!!!!!!!!!(and charizard-y)!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) but only slightly less landogs, because it's still a little hard to OHKO it at -1 with the relatively weaker ice beams and HP ices compared to VGC13. also, scarf rock slide=spread fake out

 

[ProjectTitan313]

clearly someone hasn't been on battle spot because khan has been hovering at 1st place since the last season and probably more before that (also, worlds and high-placing teams these past regionals)

and i predict slightly less landorus-t now that it's basically not a requirement on teams because again NO KANG!!!!!!!!!!!(and charizard-y)!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) but only slightly less landogs, because it's still a little hard to OHKO it at -1 with the relatively weaker ice beams and HP ices compared to VGC13. also, scarf rock slide=spread fake out

Oh I know, it's #1 in every Meta it exists within lol.
That's why it's weird to me, I've quite seriously seen Mega Mence and/or Mega Gardevoir on almost every team, with only a handful of Khan/Char-Y.

Also note I'm never above 1600 ranking on Battle Spot so that's probably a factor :P

 

[Theorymon]

Hmm... I wonder what's gonna be the most common Fake Out mon now that Mega Kangaskhan is banished? I'm personally predicting Ludicolo, since with Megazard Y gone, I can see a lot of people driving towards rain teams (and honestly Ive seen quite a few of them in battle spot doubles already lol). I wonder if Hitmontop will see some usage again as well...

 

[Psynergy]

I don't know, I mean rain is picking up a little bit of popularity at the moment in VGC if I'm not mistaken so it's not like rain isn't used as is. I don't think Charizard Y being gone changes too much for rain since Charizard Y isn't really used for weather control or anything (the only thing that really pairs up with it to take advantage of sun is Venusaur). It's also easier for Politoed to switch in when Charizard Y is out than the other way around so I wouldn't say rain is screwed over too much by Charizard Y. It seems more like a convenience for rain to not have to worry about Charizard Y, but it doesn't seem too game-changing. Amoonguss and Ferrothorn are still around to to give rain a tough time and Thundurus is still around to cripple rain abusers so I don't think rain has it as easy as it does in Scrappy Skirmish. That being said the lack of powerful Megas probably makes something like rain more appealing.

I'm still going to agree with Latios as a cool stand-out though, he was never exactly bad before but removing some huge heavy hitters that gave it rough competition makes him a cool option I feel. Also Tailwind, Tailwind is always cool.

 

[GroudonEmpire]

Well more than anything, I really want to know the power of Flygon. Clearly Nintendo hasn't graced it with a Mega Evolution. And now it's even the mascot of doubles No mega!

Let's discuss this shall we?

 

[ethan06]

Well, I can't imagine it has that much use when Garchomp (and to a lesser extent Lando-T) are still in the meta. I guess it can deal with Lando-T itself, but if it's not going to be as ubiquitous as in standard Doubles then I'm sure there isn't much of a point... also it fails pretty hard against rain and faster Dragons like Latios. If you can make it work then go right ahead but I'm not optimistic :/

 

[tofucocoa]

Hmm... I wonder what's gonna be the most common Fake Out mon now that Mega Kangaskhan is banished? I'm personally predicting Ludicolo, since with Megazard Y gone, I can see a lot of people driving towards rain teams (and honestly Ive seen quite a few of them in battle spot doubles already lol). I wonder if Hitmontop will see some usage again as well...

nah, hitmontop's still bad with no fighting gem unless you really want wide guard. scrafty does better against cress, thund/landorus because of knock off, and it has better bulk all around except for the x4 fairy weakness, which hasn't stopped it from being a somewhat popular pick in the current '15 meta.

as for other fake out users... we've always got hariyama for offensive trick room. raichu is a niche but good pick for lightningrod+encore+fake out support. infernape can stand some usage by merit of being a cool overheat user with sash+blaze, though its offensive stats are still a lot lower than they should be. idk, scrafty's still your best bet for good fake out, with hitmontop in a distant second place. seriously, do some calcs on hitmontop's close combat and ask yourself why you'd use that over a reliable healing option in drain punch for future intimidate/FO spam... (hint: it can't even OHKO kang reliably in standard '15 without choice band... and even then not 100% i don't think)

 

[Theorymon]

nah, hitmontop's still bad with no fighting gem unless you really want wide guard. scrafty does better against cress, thund/landorus because of knock off, and it has better bulk all around except for the x4 fairy weakness, which hasn't stopped it from being a somewhat popular pick in the current '15 meta.

as for other fake out users... we've always got hariyama for offensive trick room. raichu is a niche but good pick for lightningrod+encore+fake out support. infernape can stand some usage by merit of being a cool overheat user with sash+blaze, though its offensive stats are still a lot lower than they should be. idk, scrafty's still your best bet for good fake out, with hitmontop in a distant second place. seriously, do some calcs on hitmontop's close combat and ask yourself why you'd use that over a reliable healing option in drain punch for future intimidate/FO spam... (hint: it can't even OHKO kang reliably in standard '15 without choice band... and even then not 100% i don't think)

Man I feel like an idiot, I basically forgot Scrafty existed. Shows how much I played VGC lately lol

Btw I'm curious, what are you planning for Gallade? I was sorta thinking about it beause I like the idea of a Fighting-type that can smash Amoonguss in the rain, but I'm not sure if thats what you have planned for it.

 

[ProjectTitan313]

Uh for Fake Out, we do still have this thing called Mienshao. It's like Hitmontop, but with much better Speed, an absurdly powerful Fighting STAB, and Wide + Quick Guard too.
Actually, fun fact: Since the only unboosted physical attacks stronger than Mienshao's Reckless HJK are Mega Medicham's HJK and Mega Mawile's Play Rough, it's also literally the most powerful physical attack in the meta right at turn 1. OHKO's shit like Garchomp with a neutral hit. Very fun, highly reccomend. Only faster Fake Out is what, Infernape and Weavile?

It's basically a metagame like BW2, but with 6th gen additions like Greninja.
That said, if it degenerates into Sand/Rain wars, Sunny Day Suicune was an absolute gem in those days for anyone who wants to just plain kick Rain in the nads. All I did after that was stick a Virizion out there for Quick Guard and an Electric resist. Sand also really, really hates the pair. Especially without Mega Salamence.

 

[a0161613]

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Exploud @ Life Orb
Ability: Scrappy
Level: 50
EVs: 156 HP / 252 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
- Boomburst
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Noivern @ Yache Berry
Ability: Telepathy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Tailwind
- Super Fang
- Roost

Clefairy @ Eviolite
Ability: Friend Guard
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 SpD
Bold Nature
- Follow Me
- Thunder Wave
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Arcanine @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 36 SpA / 68 SpD / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Snarl
- Protect / Morning Sun / Solar Beam

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Protect
- Spore
- Mach Punch

Suicune @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 76 SpA / 4 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Tailwind / Icy Wind
- Scald
- Ice Beam / Snarl
- Protect

So I've just put this team together in my mind with Pokemon that I know I have on my carts and I'm wanting some advice on well it works before I start EV training (or giving up on eggs that I haven't sorted out SV hatches on).

I pulled the sets from the VGC section and the analyses. It's designed to work around Scrappy Exploud. Although I've put Life Orb in I believe an all-out-attack set with Specs is more than likely what I will go for. From there, I want to support Exploud with an offensive outlook and some speed control and other team support. FWG core is present, correct and should be functional but I believe to be Noivern to be the crucial teammate on-field for Exploud.

It's all too tempting to put Sp Def Tflame here and I don't doubt that it would be great but I believe ever member of the team is changeable because you can guarantee there are great alternates. I'd be willing to take on any changes which I can accommodate where necessary as I'm fortunate enough to have a great range of stuff in my games. I have my own questions about the make up of the squad but I want to check what feedback I get first.

This would be my first attempt at any BS meta and it seems really interesting to me. I'd mistimed my efforts to get ready for Scrappy Skirmish but this would have had a similar make up with Exploud at the heart.