SM LC Nothing 2 Lose (Peaked #1 @ 1744 Elo)

Scottie

formerly Osh
is a Tiering Contributoris a Two-Time Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Nothing 2 Lose


INTRODUCTION:


Hello, my name is Osh and I'll be doing my first ever RMT. I never had any real intention of ever doing an RMT, but I really wanted to showcase this team that I made in particular. Me and SpaceWorm were having a general discussion about LC the other day and he was showing me the effectiveness of the Snivy + Magnemite core. After looking at some replays of this core, I knew I wanted to build a team around it and after laddering with this team for some time the past few days, I am really in love with how the team plays. At the time of this post I have peaked #1 with 1701 Elo on the ladder.



TEAMBUILDING PROCESS:

So the general idea of the team was to build around Snivy and Magnemite. The idea is to lure in Ferroseed with Snivy giving you a free opportunity to trap with magnet pull Magnemite making Snivy flourish for the duration of the game. The Choice Scarf on Snivy allows you to out-speed mons like Abra, Diglett, Gastly, Staryu, Mienfoo, Elekid etc making this mon very threatening if unprepared for.

Mareanie was added for two reasons, to help vs the Torchic matchup and being able to offer t-spikes further enhancing the effectiveness of Snivy. Excluding Torchic, Mareanie can also take on a plethora of mons including Timburr, Spritzee, Ponyta, Croagunk, Corphish, Pawniard and many more. This is in my opinion a very underrated mon in the current meta and deserves more respect than it is currently getting, also mentioning the fact that it gets access to regenerator, forming a nice regen core with Mienfoo.

So with that said I then went and added Mienfoo. Mienfoo forms a fabulous regen core with Mareanie and offers knock off support for Snivy. I typically like to use acrobatics foo as in my opinion, it is the best set but I went for fake out to add a bit of priority which the team lacked. This can help with the shellder matchup and breaking Abra sashes while also being able to use it against the onix lead then having a chance to speed tie it and knock it out with hjk. Mienfoo for me is the best Mon in the tier as it can take on an extensive amount of roles and brings great general support for the team.

Onix was added for rocks. I went for the weak armour set over the Sturdy-Juice set because I found out when using the Sturdy-Juice set, you're basically allowing vullaby to U-turn on you while you switch allowing them to get a free switch, immediately losing momentum. Weak Armor prevents this scenario from occurring and acts as a better bird check overall. Explosion is also extremely helpful as it can prevent the spin from Staryu and or Drilbur if Onix is at +2.

Snubbull was my initial choice in this case as I felt I had a difficult matchup vs fights but really I didn't, and Snubbull was practically a wasted choice. I then decided that Vullaby fit quite nicely in this spot for several reasons. 1) It helped a lot vs the Abra matchup and provided me a Ground/Psychic immunity. 2) Acts as a secondary fight check. 3) Further encourages the knock off spam game with Mienfoo and also provides a U-turn core with Mienfoo 4) Lures in mons like Onix, allowing Snivy to start spamming Leaf Storm.

THE TEAM




snivy @ choice scarf | contrary
hasty | 236spa / 252spe
leaf storm / hidden power ice / knock off / glare


Snivy is a mon that I haven't played around with too much up until these past few days. Whenever I had used this mon in the past it never really seemed to shine and was quite inconsistent as a whole, but after experimenting this mon with Magnemite, my opnion of this mon changed quite drastically. Like I mentioned earlier, Choice Scarf Snivy is insane as a sweeper as it gets to outspeed the whole tier (excluding 18+ speed scarfers which aren't too common other than Doduo) and gets access to an insane nuke move in Leaf Storm. Of course Snivy is unable to muscle through mons like Ferroseed and Pawniard but Magnemite takes care of those both trapping and killing with HP Fire or Z thunderbolt respectively. Once these mons are removed, assuming your opponent opted Ferroseed as their primary Snivy check, they are left flat footed and once you find an opportunity to get in your Snivy, you are granted the opportunity to sweep with this mon. To be honest, I don't see myself clicking the filler moves too often but Knock Off is nice because you can catch something like a Vullaby, Pumpkaboo or Ponyta on switch making Leaf storm much more of an issue than it already is. Glare is nice for similar reasons knock off is useful, catching something with a glare on switch making it less of a issue for the remainder of the game examples could include A-Grimer and the aforementioned Ponyta. That's practically all there is to say on this mon but the matter of the fact is you have to treat this mon as win-con at all times as removing the counters to this mon can be easily accomplished with the aid of Magnemite.



magnemite @ electrium z | magnet pull
modest | 240spa / 240spe
thunderbolt / volt switch / hidden power fire / flash cannon

Magnemite is arguably the most important mon in this team for the reasons that I have already mentioned. It does a very consistent job of trapping and with that it can also oppose as a threat to a lot of teams with it's absurd Sp.Atk stat. The set itself is pretty standard in Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Flash Cannon, and HP Fire. Thunderbolt + Flash Cannon is just generic stab and volt switch is useful in certain scenarios and is an amazzing way to gain momentum. Z thunderbolt allows us to knock out a series of mons that thunderbolt would not, here are some calcs:


236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 116 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 21-25 (100 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Timburr: 25-30 (104.1 - 125%) -- guaranteed OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 36 HP / 36 SpD Eviolite Grimer-Alola: 21-25 (84 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 52 HP / 116 SpD Eviolite Croagunk: 21-25 (95.4 - 113.6%) -- 75% chance to OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 116 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Vullaby: 36-44 (144 - 176%) -- guaranteed OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 132 HP / 28 SpD Zigzagoon: 33-40 (150 - 181.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 0 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Ponyta: 18-22 (85.7 - 104.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 156 HP / 0 SpD Wynaut: 33-40 (117.8 - 142.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

236+ SpA Magnemite Gigavolt Havoc (175 BP) vs. 236 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Frillish: 32-38 (128 - 152%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Some of these calcs you would expect to kill but some of them are really surprising including the Pawniard and grimer calc. Do remember that the Timburr calc is only against the non spdef variant but after the necessary amount of chip it will easily wipe out the Sp.Def variant. Magnemite offers a lot the team and has no replacement. It serves a key role to this team and in that it serves many, acting as an offensive threat and trapping. Being able to Volt Switch around and adding to the Volt Turn core with Mienfoo and Vullaby is insanely useful for the momentum game and it's typing also allows it to soft check mons like Abra, Elekid and most if not all fairies.



mareanie @ eviolite | regenerator
bold| 116hp / 180def / 12spa / 180 spd
toxic spikes / scald / haze / recover

Mareanie acts as a superb wall for the team being able to check a plethora of mons. The Sp.Def variant allows it to easily wall Torchic even when knocked off. I originally had this mon as it's sole purpose to be able to wall Torchic but it also acts as the teams initial fight switch in. The set is pretty standard but you can change it around to suit your needs, for example if you want to be able to beat croagunk HP Psychic is something I have seen popping up on walls like Foongus and Mareanie respectively although I don't think tunnel visioning into certain mons is necessary as scald is overall gonna be a better fit since it is easily more consistent in the long run.

T-Spikes is super neat for being able to pressure spinners like Staryu and being able to chip grounded mons for like 12% each turn is helpful for Snivy to later clean up in the late game. Recover is an asset so no debate in that. Haze is incredibly handy for situations where opposing timburrs may be setting up or when Torchic attempt to speed pass.
Fantastic Mon overall and like I mentioned earlier it deserves way more credit and usage than it is currently getting



mienfoo @ eviolite | regenerator
jolly | 236atk / 36def / 236spe
fake out / high jump kick / knock off / u-turn

Mienfoo is one of the best mons in SM in my personal opinion. The versatility that this mon provides is insane. You can run moves like P-Jab for fairies, Stone Edge for birds, Acrobatics for foongus and opposing Mienfoo + Timburr and many other sets. I have not had too much experience with the defensive set and I'm not at all a big fan of it, as I believe it's a wasted set. 17 speed Mienfoo offers a lot like when you lead off with foo you are able to have a shot at removing onix from the field or the same with opposing foo by knocking off then following up with a HJK. As I have already stated, acrobatics Mienfoo is my personal favourite set without a doubt but I went for Fake Out in this case as it adds priority which the team lacks and is nice for being able to break Abra Sashes and Onix sturdies respectively. Knock off U turn is standard and should never be replaced. This team provides both elements of U Turn and Knock Off widely throughout the team again, enhancing the chances of a Snivy sweep. Not the biggest fan of drain punch and I personally think HJK outclasses it in many ways. I feel like the recovery you receive from drain punch is almost pointless in a sense that you're just gaining the health back from Regen. I just feel like the base power you get from HJK is just too good to pass up. Going to end this Mienfoo analysis on 1 last point. Mienfoo takes huge advantage of opposing Pawniard which can allow for a free U-turn into whatever mon in the back creating a nice U turn core with Vull which I have mentioned like 5 times now but I really need to emphasize on how good this core really is.



onix @ eviolite | weak armor
jolly | 236atk / 76spd / 196spe
stealth rock / earthquake / rock blast / explosion

In my opinion, I believe Onix is the Primal Groudon of LC, it does its job of getting rocks up almost every game and it does it the best out of any other mon in the tier. You could argue that Kabuto is a better fit for this team as it provides both spin and rocks but Onix is honestly too good to pass up. A mon that I have had a lot of success in tournament play and ladder is HP Grass Vull and Kabuto's speed tier can not cope with this particular set and plays a big reason as to why I prefer Onix as it can force out the Vull almost every time and proceed to go for either SR or Rock Blast on that same turn. A massive percentage of my teams have sturdy juice over Weak Armor but for reasons I have mentioned earlier, Weak Armor does a better job at checking common birds like Vullaby, Doduo and Rufflet, while also being able to take advantage of the U-turn that the opposing Vullaby throw out and getting rocks up almost every time in this situation. If they then opt go out into their respective spinner you can get the rocks up and pressure out with Snivy (Common spinners involve Kabuto, Staryu, Drilbur which Snivy takes advantage of all 3). Earthquake and Rock Blast act as generic coverage.



vullaby @ eviolite | overcoat
impish | 116hp / 76atk / 236def / 76spd
brave bird / u-turn / knock off / roost

Vullaby acts as the teams ground and psychic type wall. At last Vullaby completes our infamous U-turn core with Mienfoo and adds to the Knock off spam that the team provides. Vullaby does a good job at forcing out common Fighting and Grass type mons like Timburr, Croagunk, Mienfoo, Opposing Snivy, Foongus and several more. Vullaby completes the defensive core with Mareanie, both mons making it so that we can almost never lose to annoying mons like Croagunk and Timburr. No Defog on this set as I don't feel it's at all needed as nothing really takes a hefty amount from rocks although hazards stack could always be an issue, Defog is always an option and can be replaced with Knock off if needed. Be careful against shell smashers as Vullaby basically allows these mons to set up with no problems. This can easily be dealt with with fake out foo and the defense that Mareanie provides in the back. One last point to mention is that your opponent may be hesitant to attack your Vullaby as there is always the chance of it being Weak Armor, this can be very helpful in certain scenarios. Also Roost adds longevity to this mon, keeping it in the game for longer stages. E: Also forgot to mention that Vullaby was really nice for sponging Foongus' spores as having Snivy as your main way of dealing with Foongus is never good as the Sludge Bomb follow up is almost bound to happen.

THREAT LIST.

Abra:- having Vullaby as your main way to deal with this mon is never safe, all it takes is for one predict with dazzling gleam and Abra becomes a real problem.

Magnemite:- Kind of ironic, but this can definitely be a threat if not looked at closely.

Staryu:- Not all staryus are a problem in fact you will most likely never encounter this mon causing any harm to the team as you can scout to see whether it's filler move is thunderbolt, ice beam or pyschic, but 3 attacks Staryu can always propose as an issue not just to this team, but to all.






This list'll be short but special thanks to:

SpaceWorm for giving me the concept and showing me how good the core is also Heysup for creating it
SANJAY for helping me with the formatting
Sharp Ladder UU for the banner


Overall, I have not had too many problems with any other mons in particular so I'll leave it at that, I've really enjoyed using this team so far and I think it really proposes how useful the Snivy + Magnemite core can be. Thanks for taking the time to read my RMT and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Hi, I like this team. Actually, Snivy and Magnemite are two mons that I've wanted to exploit for some time but it didn't occur to me to combine them this way. I personally would run Vullaby as: Impish/116HP/76Att/76Def/236SpD to check Foongus better, as rocks+sludge bomb on the switch+30% chance to poison can wear it down fast. I've got quite some doubts on the ability of Magnemite to trap kill Pawniard, as: 156 Atk Pawniard Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Magnemite: 9-12 (47.3 - 63.1%) -- 96.5% chance to 2HKO. This basically means that any Pawniard set can 2HKO Magnemite. If I see it correctly, Pawniard enters on Snivy, then either Snivy or Magnemite get the Knock Off on the face. While I was writing this it occured to me that Pawn can't endure that much Leaf Storms, so you can wear the guy down with Mienfoo, Mareanie or Uturn-Vullaby and then threaten him with Leaf Storm and eventually trap it with Magnemite by entering on a Sucker Punch, so I see this team as having good synergy.
 

Scottie

formerly Osh
is a Tiering Contributoris a Two-Time Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Hi, I like this team. Actually, Snivy and Magnemite are two mons that I've wanted to exploit for some time but it didn't occur to me to combine them this way. I personally would run Vullaby as: Impish/116HP/76Att/76Def/236SpD to check Foongus better, as rocks+sludge bomb on the switch+30% chance to poison can wear it down fast. I've got quite some doubts on the ability of Magnemite to trap kill Pawniard, as: 156 Atk Pawniard Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Magnemite: 9-12 (47.3 - 63.1%) -- 96.5% chance to 2HKO. This basically means that any Pawniard set can 2HKO Magnemite. If I see it correctly, Pawniard enters on Snivy, then either Snivy or Magnemite get the Knock Off on the face. While I was writing this it occured to me that Pawn can't endure that much Leaf Storms, so you can wear the guy down with Mienfoo, Mareanie or Uturn-Vullaby and then threaten him with Leaf Storm and eventually trap it with Magnemite by entering on a Sucker Punch, so I see this team as having good synergy.
Yeah Magnemite can't necessarily directly switch into Pawniard but you can find an opportunity to get it in either with a sack or a U-Turn from Vullaby and proceed to trap and kill with the Z-Move. The Vullaby spread you suggested could definitely work but the heavy investment in Defense is really nice for being able to take on the general physical attackers a lot better when making a direct switch, but I won't shy away from this spread as you did mention, Foongus can take advantage of Sludge Bomb better if I do proceed with the normal spread. The overall difference in rolls isn't massive, only by like 6% I believe but I will take it into consideration and see what spread preforms better.
 

Fiend

someguy
is a Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
LC Leader
Hey Osh, I'm glad you made an rmt and I'm going to go out of my way to tell you that this team is good but it has a lot of weird choices that I think are simply nonoptimal. Nevertheless, you've made quite the impact in our LC ssnls and simply put you're genuinely a solid player. I hope you stick around!

In my experiance, Choice Scarf Snivy really cannot use a Hidden Power effectively, and with Magnemite around you have even less to try using one. Instead, Giga Drain makes a superior option to Hidden Power Ice as you actually can use it and the recovery it provides in tandem with its accuracy does make all the difference in some instances. Moreover, I don't see why you need Knock Off to have a boost in its power with Hasty, as you don't gain an OHKO on anything with it. Therefore, a Timid nature gives Scarf Snivy some additional bulk to help fend off some priority users trying to end its sweep. Yet if you are inclined to disagree, I think a Naive nature is better than an Hasty nature if the boost in Knock Off's power is important enough for you. But I strongly suggest running Timid.

Mareanie has a weird spread. The speed does little for it, and generally speaking it takes more from SR than it needs to, and it has less bulk than it needs. A spread of EVs: 116 HP / 180 Def / 12 SpA / 180 SpD and a Bold Nature for Mareanie end ups taking 1 less from SR than your spread, while regening 1 HP less too, so you end up with a net 0 in gains here. However, you now have 16 Defense and 14 Special Defense which takes so much less from physical attackers. Now, for instance, it actually counters Shellder well.

Your Vullaby spread is interesting; I would typically aim for 16/16 bulk over what you have but you have okay reasoning for keeping it, so do. I personally would prefer a spread with EVs: 156 Atk / 116 Def / 236 Spe with a Jolly Nature for Mienfoo as the added defense adds a lot for you defensively while the drop in attack is not substantial.

Anyway, cheers!
 

Scottie

formerly Osh
is a Tiering Contributoris a Two-Time Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Hey Osh, I'm glad you made an rmt and I'm going to go out of my way to tell you that this team is good but it has a lot of weird choices that I think are simply nonoptimal. Nevertheless, you've made quite the impact in our LC ssnls and simply put you're genuinely a solid player. I hope you stick around!

In my experiance, Choice Scarf Snivy really cannot use a Hidden Power effectively, and with Magnemite around you have even less to try using one. Instead, Giga Drain makes a superior option to Hidden Power Ice as you actually can use it and the recovery it provides in tandem with its accuracy does make all the difference in some instances. Moreover, I don't see why you need Knock Off to have a boost in its power with Hasty, as you don't gain an OHKO on anything with it. Therefore, a Timid nature gives Scarf Snivy some additional bulk to help fend off some priority users trying to end its sweep. Yet if you are inclined to disagree, I think a Naive nature is better than an Hasty nature if the boost in Knock Off's power is important enough for you. But I strongly suggest running Timid.

Mareanie has a weird spread. The speed does little for it, and generally speaking it takes more from SR than it needs to, and it has less bulk than it needs. A spread of EVs: 116 HP / 180 Def / 12 SpA / 180 SpD and a Bold Nature for Mareanie end ups taking 1 less from SR than your spread, while regening 1 HP less too, so you end up with a net 0 in gains here. However, you now have 16 Defense and 14 Special Defense which takes so much less from physical attackers. Now, for instance, it actually counters Shellder well.

Your Vullaby spread is interesting; I would typically aim for 16/16 bulk over what you have but you have okay reasoning for keeping it, so do. I personally would prefer a spread with EVs: 156 Atk / 116 Def / 236 Spe with a Jolly Nature for Mienfoo as the added defense adds a lot for you defensively while the drop in attack is not substantial.

Anyway, cheers!
Yeah, everything you said makes sense, can't really disagree with you on this, the Mareanie spread you suggested is all round better infact I had never really played around with Mareanie's ev spread too much so i'm glad you told about this and I guess the Hasty Nature on Snivy was something I never even noticed.
Thanks for the rate, appreciate it!
 
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