After some deliberation, I narrowed the competitive format count down to 36 by excluding formats that do not, or cannot, have any competitive analyses. Thankfully, no rerolls were necessary, but…
Number 2 corresponds to 2v2 Doubles (how fitting), a competitive format that I had never even known by name until the date in the random.org screenshot above. At least it’s easy enough to understand: a cross between 1v1 and Doubles. I gave the overview and analyses a once-over that led to selecting 17 of the 18 provided (because Whimsicott was banned some time after its analysis), alongside Incineroar and a few more weather/terrain setters (paired with abusers, if possible), resulting in the following overall roster:
- Cinderace
- Genesect
- Incineroar
- Indeedee-Female
- Kyurem-Black
- Naganadel
- Nihilego
- Ninetales (Drought) + Venusaur
- Ninetales-Alola (Snow Warning) + Sandslash-Alola
- Pelipper (Drizzle) + Barraskewda
- Pheromosa
- Pincurchin (Electric Surge) + Raichu-Alola
- Regieleki
- Rillaboom
- Tapu Fini
- Togekiss
- Torkoal (Drought) + Venusaur
- Tyranitar (+ Excadrill)
- Urshifu-Rapid-Strike
- Victini
- Zapdos
- Zeraora
- Zygarde-50%
With that, here’s a rundown of how the dice rolled.
Ninetales @ Iron Ball
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Fire Blast
– Scorching Sands
– Protect
– Imprison
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Leaf Storm
– Sludge Bomb
– Weather Ball
– Protect
Ninetales is an unfortunately fast weather setter, with the only faster one being its Alolan counterpart, meaning that it doesn’t take much for an opposing weather setter such as Tyranitar to have its Ability activate second and override Drought. Such is the reasoning for minimal Speed, Iron Ball and all. Fire Blast is a given, Scorching Sands is potent for coverage and spreading burns, Protect is the most common move in the metagame, and Imprison rounds off the set with utility in that exact vein.
Venusaur, obviously, is the butter for the bread that is Ninetales’s sun. It’s all about power, and its moveset exemplifies that. …Well, almost. Going Timid is the only way for it to outspeed non-Scarf Regieleki under the sun.
Incineroar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 188 SpD
Careful Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Knock Off
– Fake Out
– Drain Punch
One of the few Pokémon with Intimidate and Fake Out, as well as the only Fire-type one. Its Flare Blitz hits rather hard under the sun, even with the bare minimum investment required to OHKO Dragapult with Knock Off. (This is derived from the Doubles Pivot set.) Since neither U-turn nor Parting Shot does much of anything meaningful in this metagame, Assault Vest with Drain Punch is a better way to go. The latter also ravages Tyranitar, which makes for a whole lot of healing.
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– V-create
– Zen Headbutt
– Bolt Strike
– Trick
An alternative to Venusaur that’s more physically oriented and not as weather-dependent, but certainly not one for type synergy. Granted, V-create obviously hits like a truck and Bolt Strike is the only anti-Flying coverage on the entire team. Zen Headbutt wrecks Nihilego and gets its shaky accuracy boosted to 99% thanks to Victory Star (which also makes Ninetales’s Fire Blast 93% accurate). Trick throws a wrench into the plans of more defensively oriented / redirection users like Female Indeedee and Togekiss. A Speed-boosting nature is preferred because 50% Zygarde prefers it too. (Also, the 4 goes into Special Defense because the strongest attack Genesect has against it is Bug Buzz.)
Importable: https://pokepast.es/fb36acd0e9326c7e
What went wrong?
2.2/10 Too much fire. I also randomly generated 22 and 13 (Zeraora and Regieleki) after the three numbers above, but I didn’t know until after hitting the “Validate” button in Pokémon Showdown (which honestly I should have been doing the whole time, but it only just occurred to me) that only four party members are allowed. (There’s also a little fine print under the “Composition” header, and obviously I overlooked it.) Still wouldn’t have increased the type variety by much, but it’s something. I also came up with the name “Burning Sunder Bolts,” which I thought was clever, but alas. (For clarification, it’s a portmanteau of “burning sun” and “thunder bolts,” and the inner words combine to form “sunder,” a fresh and poignant verb that sounds strikingly close (no pun intended) to “thunder.”)
Ranting aside, this is a fine example of how not to make a team of four. Only one of the members is not Fire-type, and it goes without saying which teammate would accompany it. There’s just nowhere near as much mix-and-match potential as there ought to be. Guess I’ll call that the bottom line.
Top 6 Watchlist
(The change from 5 to 6 is just a measure to account for the weather pairs.)
The team has no Ice, Dragon, or Fairy moves (Victini could run Glaciate, but it’s not a very potent option, especially with the spread penalty), let alone any Ground or Dragon resistances, giving 50% Zygarde free rein to wreak havoc with Thousand Arrows. At best, Venusaur outspeeds under the sun (even in the face of a Choice Scarf or Dragon Dance) and does neutral damage with Leaf Storm, which barely manages a 2HKO on variants with minimal investment in bulk.
In a similar vein, Black Kyurem is only hit super-effectively by Incineroar’s Drain Punch, which is non-STAB with not much BP. It also tends to run special attacks (despite its new access to Dragon Dance and Icicle Spear that gave it the final push to the Uber tier), so it wouldn’t be all too bothered if Ninetales were to burn it with Scorching Sands. In return, Ice STAB hits Venusaur super-effectively, and everything else is covered by Earth Power.
If Tyranitar is holding an Iron Ball itself, then it wins the weather war, allowing its best buddy Excadrill to go wild in a similar vein to Zygarde, but with blistering Speed and significantly higher Attack despite its lesser coverage. (Keep in mind that this counts as two, so the next two are the last.)
In a similar vein, if Pelipper is holding an Iron Ball, then Barraskewda can get scary with Liquidation and Psychic Fangs to cover the entire team. (An alternative partner for Pelipper is Ludicolo, which functions similarly with Ice Beam for coverage and has considerably more backbone, but packs less raw power and lacks the benefit of outspeeding Scarf Regieleki (let alone the regular type, which has to have less investment to be slower) in the rain.)
Afterword
“Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo. Here comes the sun! It’s all WRONG.”
“IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII’m gonna soak up the suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun! …Probably.”
“Don’t. you. be. intimidated.”
“V for victory! …Or perhaps vacuous.”
Vouiv-review 