Metagame Sketchmons

I totally didnt just make that suspect tour so I could get reqs without laddering, im not that corrupt
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Anyways, thought as this was my first suspect test that I created as TL, I should get reqs before voting, so yeah I vote BAN. All the points I woulda brought up have already been brought up, so I wont bore you by repeating them.

The suspect test ends tonight, so tomorrow I shall be announcing the results, along with a few other council decisions.
 
OK, well as promised, here is my announcement post-suspect test. Despite the incredibly rocky start, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of votes. As for the result, well as im sure most of you are aware of, BAN won 11-3, which is more than 60%, so ash-greninja is officially banned. Tagging The Immortal

Furthermore, while the suspect test was ongoing, the council had the chance to see how the meta had progressed following the initial quickbans (pz and qd), and we were thus able to vote on a few other mons/moves. Following this discussion, the council have decided to BAN Kartana. Points for why it should be banned have already been brought up quite numerously during this suspect test, so I wont elaborate much. Essentially, on the one hand you have monstrous coverage in vcreate/bolt strike/pblades etc, that blow past usual counters. On the other hand you have dragon dance, which boosts its speed tier past p much everything in the meta barring weather, while also boosting its already high attack even more, giving it unbelievable sweeping potential if you dont have something like mimikyu. Then you factor in the fact that it has 181 attack, and 109 speed, with in addition other viable sets such as sunsteel and espeed, which can catch you off guard and really kinda ruin you. So yeah, kartana is banned, tagging The Immortal.
 

drampa's grandpa

cannonball
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new mons whooo


Stakataka @ Rockium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Lonely Nature
IVs: 15 Def / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Head Smash / Diamond Storm / Stone Edge
- Earthquake / Superpower / V-Create

This is basically c+p from the OU analysis, with Head Smash > Stone Edge. You might think that Head Smash is a terrible idea on something with base 61 HP, but since Stakataka can invest in its HP it hits a decent 326.
For reference this is how much its moves do against a blank 100/100 mon.
252+ Atk Stakataka Continental Crush (200 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 361-426 (105.8 - 124.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Stakataka Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 271-319 (79.4 - 93.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
If you don't want to run Head Smash you can either go for Diamond Storm or just run Stone Edge and run V-Create to nail Steel types (mostly Ferrothorn now that Kart is gone) without lowering your Attack.


Blacephalon @ Firium Z / Ghostium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Tail Glow
- Taunt

Blacephalon @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick / Explosion / Will-O-Wisp
- Secret Sword

Blacephalon @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Claw
- V-create
- Explosion
- Trick

Blacephalon @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature / Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast / V-Create
- Secret Sword / Knock Off / Whatever
- Explosion / Taunt / Will-O-Wisp / Pain Split / Whatever

this set is a bit messy


Blacephalon has a ton of possible sets. It can use all three choice items, Tail Glow, go AoA, etc. It has a pretty interesting base movepool outside of being pretty barren coverage-wise, sporting Taunt, Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, Trick, Calm Mind, Magic Coat, and Explosion. I'm sure I didn't cover all the possibilities. It's been dominating in STABmons, but I don't see it being quite as good here.

EDIT:
How could I forget my good friend!

rot in hell you op mosquito thing
 
Well, since nobody seems to have mentioned is so far, how about this monster?


Lycanroc-Dusk (Papa Verlis) @ Choice Band
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Drill Run
- Accelerock
- Fire Fang

110 Spe, 117 Atk + Tough Claws and STAB Head Smash? Aw, hell yeah. Here are some calcs:
Landorus-T:
Defensive:
-1 252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Landorus-Therian: 235-277 (61.5 - 72.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Offensive:
-1 252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 322-379 (100.9 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
1 252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 87-103 (27.2 - 32.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

Ferrothorn:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 148-175 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 2 layers of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 88+ Def Ferrothorn: 348-412 (98.8 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

Skarmory:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 252-297 (75.6 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Tapu Fini:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Tapu Fini: 390-459 (113.7 - 133.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Toxapex:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 246-289 (80.9 - 95%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Drill Run vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 176-208 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Celesteela:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 346-408 (86.9 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO / 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Garchomp:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 231-272 (64.5 - 75.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Garchomp: 165-194 (39.2 - 46.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 2 layers of Spikes

Chansey:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 586-691 (83.3 - 98.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Quagsire:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 177-209 (44.9 - 53%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

Tangrowth:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 212+ Def Tangrowth: 280-331 (69.4 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Tyranitar:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 408-481 (100.9 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Zygarde:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Zygarde: 188-222 (45 - 53.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

Magearna:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Magearna: 196-231 (55.8 - 65.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Drill Run vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Magearna: 280-330 (79.7 - 94%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and 2 layers of Spikes

So long as you can hit your Head Smashes, the only things that can switch into this thing are Ferro, Impish Chomp (the classic) and Quag - but they fall as well if you can setup your hazards. Even resists such as Kartana (guaranteed 2HKO), Excadrill (0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 166-195 (45.9 - 54%) -- 80.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock) aren't safe, and all are slower. This thing SHREDS stall and pretty much all sensible defensive mons - unless you run some of the less common Head Smash counters, such as the below.

Aggron-Mega:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Aggron-Mega: 105-124 (30.6 - 36.1%) -- 53.8% chance to 3HKO
(Thanks to Filter, Head Smash does more than Drill Run and Fire Fang)

Steelix-Mega:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Drill Run vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Steelix-Mega: 150-178 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
(Head Smash does 17% max)

Cobalion:
(Not a common set, but demonstrates how even a 4x Rock-resist with 129 base defence drops to Lycanroc's coverage moves.)
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Drill Run vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cobalion: 192-226 (49.7 - 58.5%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

Conkeldurr:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Conkeldurr: 231-272 (55.7 - 65.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Groudon-Primal:
LOL - just a demonstration of this thing's power.
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Groudon-Primal: 228-268 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Yanma:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Yanma: 1348-1588 (403.5 - 475.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

As you can see, this thing is monstrously destructive. SD is, of course, also an option, but this is useful for the fact that it doesn't need to set up (this is quite a struggle with its crappy defences), and with its great speed, can immediately start hammering away at everything. Choice Band is a great item for it, because most of the time it only has to click Head Smash. NOTHING commonly used in OU is a healthy switch-in. And it's not just defensive teams it can annihilate - don't forget the power of its STAB Accelerock:

Latios:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 144-169 (47.8 - 56.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Tapu Koko:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 135-160 (48 - 56.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Alakazam-Mega:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Alakazam-Mega: 168-198 (66.9 - 78.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Greninja:
252 Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Greninja: 163-193 (57.1 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

You get the idea.
 
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Mega Sceptile to B:
Electrify Mega Sceptile is able to redirect any Attack from a slower Pokémon into a Special Attack boost due to lightning rod. It struggles heavily against priority due to it not being able to make it electric type but can make most non-priority moves electric because of its high speed.
 

Fissure

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Hello Everyone~ Sorry it took me so long to respond. I've been swamped as of late but I finally got some free time again!
I'll try to keep it brief. So basically, everything is out of date from the sample teams, to the VR, to even the resources. This will take some time to get updated as I'm pretty sure no one has played enough post ash-gren and kartana ban, as well as with the introduction of four new mons (lycanroc-dusk, stakataka, blacephalon, and Zeraora) to give accurate responses on. Of course the council and I will strive to get everything completed, but if it is just us, the changes will come slow and might not be indicative of the actual meta. In other words, the more participation there is, the faster these things can accurately be updated. Oh, I also created a discord server for Sketchmons (cause everything has a discord server). https://discord.gg/Z3F69Rp
If you see me on and I'm not busy, I'll happily battle you.
Aight that's it.
 
Lookin like this is gonna need some page 1 updates, probably getting OMotm. Sample teams with banned mons and such.
I'm pleasantly surprised; 2v2 was well in the lead for a while, and I have been hoping for Sketchmons to win, and it managed to pull an upset.

Just so there's some substance to this post, what are everyone's thoughts on lele? Ought it be banned for reasons similar to why it was banned in Stabmons?
 
I'm pleasantly surprised; 2v2 was well in the lead for a while, and I have been hoping for Sketchmons to win, and it managed to pull an upset.

Just so there's some substance to this post, what are everyone's thoughts on lele? Ought it be banned for reasons similar to why it was banned in Stabmons?
psycho boost and psystrike seem scary in terrain too
 
So, I see Slowbro is pretty high on the new VR; is there anything in particular that makes it so good in Sketchmons? What do you sketch? Steam Eruption comes to mind, since it already has great coverage.

Edit: volt switch, duh
 
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MZ

And now for something completely different
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e-speed belly drum snorlax completely wipes out teams if not prepared
my poor full hp terrakion got 1-banged
Priority is definitely something you need to prepare for in this metagame. Opposing Espeed users, Tapu Lele, and several ghost types like Gengar, alolan marowak, mega sableye, etc. can help check lax
So, I see Slowbro is pretty high on the new VR; is there anything in particular that makes it so good in Sketchmons? What do you sketch? Steam Eruption comes to mind, since it already has great coverage.
AV regen sets with U-turn or Volt Switch make for an excellent slow pivot, it blanket checks a ton of special attackers quite well. I wouldn't waste my sketch on Steam Eruption, it just isn't a huge buff and Bro isn't as notable for its offensive presence, more its defensive capabilities.
 
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Hey what's the current Meta's thoughts on Metal Burst?
I haven't found much use of it outside of stall teams, but it's fairly good there. metal burst chansey isn't really as good as transform, generally speaking, but it's still quite effective. I've also had some fun with Quagsire using metal burst, since it can handle offensive Pokemon like Thundurus-T that it would otherwise flat out fail to stop the sweep of. It's a solid but fairly niche sketchable move, IMO.
 
Hey, there is a glitch, I try to give my Clefable soft-boiled which it learns naturally but its saying that its a Sketch move so I cannot give it an actual sketch move
 

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Hey, there is a glitch, I try to give my Clefable soft-boiled which it learns naturally but its saying that its a Sketch move so I cannot give it an actual sketch move
If i had to guess, the game is treating softboiled as a sketch move for clefable because the other moves/ability you have are making softboiled incompatible on a normal set. If your clefable is unaware, then you can't have both unaware and softboiled on a normal set, and if it's not that then just run the other two moves and softboiled (not your other sketched move) through the teambuilding validator in ou, and it should tell you what doesn't work
 
If i had to guess, the game is treating softboiled as a sketch move for clefable because the other moves/ability you have are making softboiled incompatible on a normal set. If your clefable is unaware, then you can't have both unaware and softboiled on a normal set, and if it's not that then just run the other two moves and softboiled (not your other sketched move) through the teambuilding validator in ou, and it should tell you what doesn't work
I see, yeah it was unaware, thanks, thats why he treated it as a sketch move
 
Hi, new to the thread.

What are your guy's thoughts on huge power mons with extreme speed? seems like a bit much.
 

Funbot28

Banned deucer.
Extreme Speed in general is a very potent option on not only threats such as Mega Mawile and Mega Medicham, but also most notably stuff like Snorlax, Mega Lopunny, Alolan Marowak, and Mega Pinsir. This is something I want to highlight however, as I feel the use of Espeed does indeed impede on the effectiveness of offensive teams in the current metagame when the aforementioned mons can just clean through weakened teams without dedicated answers such as Ghost types and bulky steels (the former which are pretty rare besides Mimikyu and Blacephalon). I woudn't mind possibly taking a look in suspecting Extreme Speed as a whole due to it elevating the potency of so many threats to a potentially overbearing degree.

Edit: also Tail Glow is pretty dumb plz ban
 
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Some sets I want to share.

The ultimate unaware / whatever breaker. Optionally swap something for icium-z + freeze shock if you prefere it.

Kyurem-Black @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Fusion Bolt
- Iron Head
- Dragon Dance

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Origin Pulse
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin

Optionally EQ instead of U-Turn in which case you can also run more speed if you want to.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect

I also use Parting Shot + Veil ninetails and chansey with rocks and defog, tho, this is nothing exciting. Also the obligatory contrary v-create serp that does well in this wish veil parting shot team.

Edit: I agree tho that Tail Glow is really frustrating. I also tried it with max modest max hp comfey to sweep with triage and orb. However, there are a lot of stupid set up mons, just like the leech sub v-create serp. I started to use unaware clef with whirwind. I also saw a pyuk with block and perish song which might be probably better as it handles magic bounce aswell. Haze might do it, too, alternatively with prankster.
 
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