Tsareena + Zard X Anti-Meta Team Help

I thought about running Whimsicott to add Tailwind for the team, but Whimsicott and Tsareena seems a little not great and I'm kinda set on using Tsareena currently (I do know Whimsicott is better than Tsareena). I never thought about Mamoswine instead of Alakazam for Sneasler, that's a really cool idea for a Pokemon, I could also maybe try Scarf Hydreigon, but right now Tsareena has scarf because idk what other item to give it. Arch does seem weird, but tbh I changed it's EV spread and now it's moreso bulky with it's main purpose to weaken special attackers and thunder wave for speed control. I was wondering if maybe Aerodactyl would fit on this team for tailwind maybe, and I do like the idea of Mammoswine as well potentially.

I appreciate it. I know the main problem I have is mostly Whimsicott actually lol. Everything else I just kinda need to play better or learn what to prioritize better.

Unfortunately it does not stop Prankster tailwind, as it's not an offensive Prankster move. It stops stuff like Fake Out, Prankster Taunt, etc

It can OHKO things like Aero and I think I remember it OHKO's Whimsicott, but it'll have Tailwind around still

But I've discovered a few things while labbing this team on Showdown and doing a few games in Champions before that

https://pokepast.es/cc38dc504b74c7c7

I only made some small changes to the team, replacing Outrage with Breaking Swipe for Zard, and I'm debating changing Scald for Muddy Water on Milotic, maybe giving Arch Thunderbolt over Thunder Wave because I don't have a super strong answer against Peliper (but it's not super inportant). I finally found Arch's place on the team. It deals with Expanding Force spam with Snarl spam, a lot of people on Showdown ladder that were running Oranguru and Farigiraf, or at least one of those with someone else that uses Expanding Force (like Alakazam). Sneasler goes down hard against Alakazam like I thought, but I've also thrown it into matchups where I feel like having big SpA was needed (after using Helping Hand with Maus). I don't really know what matches I have an issue with, I feel like a lot of my matches that I lost were to situations I could have avoided honestly. I don't know how Whimsicott does against this team because every time I ran into it, nobody used it.

Side note: It's kinda cool to see more diversity in the Showdown ladder than in Champions. Also I should have saved more replays against my opponents.

Maybe that's all I needed to do, just play Showdown and learn what to use for specific interactions. I do feel like I learned a lot tbh

I guess since "I'm not really sure what I'm losing to" isn't very helpful, I'm going to jot down what I think I'm good against (if anything as personal notes).

While it's hard to find a situation to OHKO Peliper, I do feel like I get good chip on it and I am pretty solid against Basculegion using Tsareena. I also do pretty well against Aero, like I mentioned because nobody is ever ready for Scarf'd Triple Axel (unless it only hits ONCE). Every sun team I fought was under Trick Room. I think the random Pokemon I wasn't able to immediately figure out was H-Typhlosion Eruption spam, but I think if I got the early Snarl with Arch it can stop that pretty early (I learned that with Friend Guard it lives it, I may also change it's nature to a SpDef nature).

Okay, so now without the wall of text, I realize that my biggest matchups that I have issues with are against Mega Scovillain and Blastoise, 2 matchups I did not think would be very common, at least in Showdown.

Hey bud. Thanks for still checking out the team. I’m putting this team on hold until the next season starts because I wanna climb to Master, so I’m using an actual good team. I have a few answers for ya though.

I run Life Dew on Milotic instead of recover solely just to help keep my other Pokémon up, but I have considered Recover at one point. It’s just extra support for the team. Arch is kinda okay because it’s just snarl spam, or Flash Cannon on fairies. I’m thinking of dropping him though, he still feels weird. I’m also looking to give Tsareena Power Whip instead of Trop, but I worry about the accuracy. Typhlosion or even any other Eruption Team (especially against Torkal) I do think I need to play a bit better against it. I’ll probably replace Arch with Aerodactyl. Blastoise also feels like a “git gud” matchup, and maybe Power Whip is better against that. I’ve thought about using Sneasler, but this is supposed to be something Anti Meta that I’m cooking, so we’ll see.

Maushold has helped me set up and let me live some moves because of Friend Guard, however it’s role on the team is literally to go in, make sure my mons can set up, then die. It’s kinda 50/50, but Friend Guard does feel super helpful. I wouldn’t be against changing that too though. Like I said though, I’ll come back to this team when the current season ends.

It’s crazy though how nobody is running Scovillain on ladder, but there was so many on Showdown. Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing there. Also you said I could still run Rage Powder, on what? Tsareena? Or are you saying I should run Sinistcha instead?

It feels like only 3 Pokémon on this team do anything (maybe 4? I feel like Alakazam is still good, just kinda weird). I am seeing the weak links you are talking about.

Okay, so I'm back to this, and I've taken the advice that I was given whilst also trying to cook a little. Mostly everyone is the same, with the exception of Tsareena being changed a ton, Charizard being changed slightly EV wise, Maushold going from Scarf to Chople to live CC, and the addition of Hydreigon and Aerodactyl, which for both of them are mainly their standard Scarf'd Hydreigon and Sash Aero sets.

Tsareena was the big one I changed. Before I made it so that way she was just able to outspeed Basculegion and kill with Trop Kick (and at one point Power Whip), now her EV spread has been changed drastically. Tsareena went from Choiced fast Physical Sweeper to something more bulky. I calc'd the EVs so that way Trop kick will still guarantee OHKO Basc while still being able to survive max Last Respects as well, I gave her Zen Headbutt to kill Sneasler, which she would still live against Dire Claw (debating giving her Lum Berry to play around those statuses), and I also thought Knock Off would be good for Tsareena to now be, essentially, a bulky mix of a sweeper and/or a distruptive force, lowering Atk with Trop Kick while also stopping items from being a problem with Knock Off. Charizard gives up more HP for more Atk so that way he can be a dominant force with Breaking Swipe or Flare Blitz, with or without DD. I've also thought about teaching him EQ as well instead of Protect, but that potentially seems greedy so tbd. I added Hydreigon because since my answer for Sneasler changed, I didn't need Alakazam anymore (sadge) and I wanted a fast pokemon that would be good in general, while also dealing with Archaludon because every other Pokemon doesn't deal with Arch very effectively. Max SpAtk Draco OHKO's him unless it's an intentionally Special Bulky Arch. With Aero it's standard stuff, I'm also thinking of replacing Protect with Wide guard just in case too.

Image available on Discord
Image available on Discord

Oh, and even with all of the numbers I crunched together, none of this plays around crits, so if I get goobed then my opponent is better than me 🙂 I'm still fine tuning some of this team, but I think it balances some of my previous weaknesses as well. I am realizing that my only flaw with this team is it doesn't deal with Fairy really well, which the only major Fairy I'm worried about is either Sylveon or Hatterene. Other than that I think I'll be okay.

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