NDOM Matchmaking [on indefinite hiatus]

[zastra]

[banner placeholder]
hosted by me and NeonJolteonWasUsed | approved by R8 | format credit goes to TheDragonMaster's OM version

NDOM MATCHMAKING

Welcome to NDOM Matchmaking! This is a project designed to pick the best partner(s) for a Pokemon! Every week I will post a Pokemon, and you will need to post a partner with a short description of how the two form the perfect match!​

How this works:
Each week, I will submit a Pokemon and set, and people will have about a week to submit their best partner to the sample set, with a short explanation on why the two form a good core. After the submission period, I will choose the top 3 (subject to change depending on quality of submissions) submissions and they will be archived in the Hall of Fame (and may be added to the good cores project!). This project will rotate weekly between National Dex Almost Any Ability, National Dex Balanced Hackmons, National Dex Convergence, National Dex Godly Gift, National Dex Mix and Mega, National Dex NFE, and National Dex STABmons each cycle!

Rules:

• When you reserve a Pokémon, please state what set you are reserving
• Reservations expire 24 hours after they're posted. If you do not post in that time frame, someone else may take it.
• An explanation is mandatory. It doesn't need to be very long—two or three concise sentences should suffice—but make sure it's there.
• You may nominate a different set for a Pokémon that has already been submitted. However, it's important that the set is distinct from the other submission—Submissions where the only difference is something simple like 1 move or an EV spread unless the change substantially alters how the core functions, will not be accepted
• A little theorymonning is inevitable in a project like this, but please try to post based on your experience using and/or facing the Pokémon in question rather than just listing something you have no experience using and/or facing.
• It's completely fine (encouraged, in fact) to give feedback on other people's submissions, but please be nice!

Posting Tips:
I recommend using the following format when posting:

Example submission

[For: ND NFE Nasty plot Misdreavus ] *exclude this

Gabite @ Eviolite
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Gabite acts as a good Misdreavus partner thanks to its ability to deal with one of Misdreavus's greatest checks: Qwilfish-Hisui. Moreover, it provides stealth rock support to help misdreavus break better. In return, Misdreavus deals with commonly used Gabite checks, such as physically defensive Tangela. The two appreciate (slow) pivoting from the likes of mons like golbat and wartortle as they may sometimes find difficulty in finding safe switch-in opportunities.

No specific types of detail are mandatory, but things that are worth considering when writing your explanation include:

• How the Pokémon listed is useful to the nominated partner and vice versa
• Why the set listed is chosen over other variants, if applicable
• Strengths and/or weaknesses of the core in question
• Potential threats to the core mentioned
• Potential options for additional partners when using the core
• Replays are appreciated

Happy Posting!

 

[zastra]

Hall of Fame
*click on the sprites of the pokemon to see their submission post (with sets, explanations, etc!)
​

Week​	Winning partner(s)​	Winner(s)​
Week 1 ND AAA SFLO Victini​	​	Giyu | Velcroc​
Week 2 ND BH Protean Mega Mewtwo Y​	​	anaconja | LOrd Fernado | Chessking345​
Week 3 ND Conv Mega Gardevoir​	​	Orangex | Velcroc​
Week 4 ND GG Dragon Dance Necrozma Dusk Mane​	​	NeonJolteonWasUsed | LOrd Fernado​
Week 5 ND MnM Curse Ho-Oh​	​	LOrd Fernado | zastra​
Week 6 ND NFE Waterium Z Qwilfish-Hisui​	​	Velcroc​
Week 7 ND STAB SD Ogerpon Hearthflame​	​	LOrd Fernado | Velcroc​

 

[zastra]

Week 1: ND AAA SFLO Victini

Victini @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Shadow Ball / Focus Blast
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Energy Ball / Glaciate​

Broken in the eyes of some, SFLO Victini, thanks to its access to a 180 BP STAB move in V-create, and also an amazing coverage in Bolt Strike, Glaciate, etc, distinguishes itself as an insane breaker capable of muscling past teams lacking a "proper" switch-in, which is to say, already extremely scarce. However, it's held back by its speed, further worsened by V-create drops, its weakness to Stealth Rock, etc. How will you effectively support this tini monster?

 

[Giyu]

Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Atk / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit

Kingambit is an exceptional teammate for Victini due to its ability to trap faster Ghost-types like Gengar and Hisuian Zoroark with Pursuit, as well as just generally walling them with Bulletproof. In return, Victini threatens out Corviknight and Ferrothorn not using Well-Baked Body, Great Tusk, and Gliscor. This core is practically unwallable, mostly because of Victini's limitless coverage, however, depending on what options Victini is using, it can be walled by Swampert, Gliscor, and Well-Baked Body Ferrothorn, all troublesome Pokemon for Kingambit as well. Faster threats such as Barraskewda, Choice Scarf Terrakion, and Zygarde-10 are also very threatening due to the core's shared weakness of Ground-type moves and general frailty. Ground-type resistant or immune Pokemon like Corviknight, Buzzwole, and Gliscor are appreciated, especially the last two as they can wall Zygarde-10. Pivoting from the aforementioned Corviknight and Gliscor as well as Swampert, Tapu Koko, and Galarian Zapdos is also heavily valued to bring in Victini against hard-hitters.

 

[Runo]

Zapdos-Galar @ Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Thunderous Kick

Handles the annoying ass Fire immune Steels and Grasses that might pop up such as Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and Kingambit as well as the random special walls such as Chansey for Victini, meaning it doesn't have to run V-create to beat them and instead can just nuke stuff with Blue Flare. Overall it forms an incredibly deadly offensive core because both mons are borderline unwallable while beating able to pressure each others checks.

 

[LOrd Fernado]

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- U-turn
- Defog

Ok so I took the boring route, but ran it with a wacky ability. This specific set is your standard Corv with Water Absorb so that Pokemon like Barraskewda don't come in on you can knock you out with a single Liquidation. This also helps with SF Victini's problems of unable to switch-in because of its rocks weakness so Defog is there and U-turn with 0 Speed IVs to pivot into Victini.

 

[Velcroc]

Zarude @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
- Darkest Lariat / Close Combat

Looking at this Victini, the first thing I'm concerned about is my inability to hit either bulky waters with solid mixed defences (think regen-vest pert) or bulky ground types depending on whether I go with Energy Ball and Glaciate. Grassy Surge Zarude makes that decision easier on the builder regardless of which option you go for (win-win!). U-turn provides pivoting support for Victini while Darkest Lariat helps against things like Meloetta. Close Combat is a slash over Darkest Lariat to hit Ferrothorn harder, but I reccomend Darkest Lariat to hit Ghold. Grassy Surge helps mitigate Life Orb recoil for Victini and can help it stay on a weaker ground attack but these perks are more situational. Zarude has enough bulk to tank hits from Ghost and Water types that can scare out Victini and threatens in response with CB Grassy Glides.

 

[zastra]

Thanks to all great submissions, and congratulations to Giyu (Kingambit) and Velcroc (Zarude) for their winning submissions!

Week 2: ND BH Protean Mega Mewtwo Y

Mewtwo-Mega-Y @ Leftovers
Ability: Protean
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Lumina Crash
- Ice Beam
- Headlong Rush
- Volt Switch​

Protean MMY is an interesting breaker and offensive pivot. lumina crash+protean allows you to enjoy your opponent's stat drop (if they are not running covert cloak) and extra STAB coverage at the same time. however, it's not without its flaws. it lacks immediate power, is outsped by stuff like zacian-crowned, may get shut down by certain cloak mons, etc. how will you support MMY? [NOTE: This may include offensive partners and improofs]

Submissions will end in a week from now! ​

 

[anaconja]

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Toxic Debris
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Strength Sap
- Tail Glow
- Secret Sword / Teleport

sorry i had to do it. mmy is currently easily walled by fat spd grounds like regenvest/scales swampert and groundceus. the solution i came up with is to overload them through a second special mon who sets up while setting tspikes, supporting mmy who easily forces switches and prevents poisons from coming in to remove the hazards. in turn, mmy softens up mons ghostceus usually has trouble with, such as spd zygc and scales/regenvest dia-o.

both these mons are pressured hard by strong ghost-types as well as zacian-c so the next idea for the team would be to add checks to those such as ting-lu/spd zygc for ghostceus/gengar-mega and dondozo/fc zygc for zacian-c.

 

[LOrd Fernado]

Deoxys-Attack @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Astral Barrage
- Fishious Rend
- Seed Flare
- Volt Switch

So this set is specifically built for the things that wall this specific mmy set. fishious rend and glacial lance are for scales groudceus and ting-lu, while seed flare is for mega pert. this can be easily improofed by regenvest dialga, or regenvest zygod, who gets countered by the mmy set

 

[zastra]

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean [/ Sword of Ruin / Tough Claws]
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip / Flower Trick
- Gigaton Hammer
- V-create
- Diamond Storm

double protean again lawl. mmy loses to any fat ground, so kart can function as a check to them. 252+ Atk Kartana Gigaton Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Zacian: 530-626 (136.5 - 161.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO also checks zacc ig lol cuz no one (i hope) expects a scarf. problem is it's pretty weak though.

 

[Chessking345]

Diancie-Mega @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Boomburst
- Extreme Speed
- Blue Flare
- Volt Switch

MMY is soft checked by Zac-C, Blue Flare Diancie threatens to OHKO non PSea Zac-C (PSea faces more pressure from MMY).
Specs Diancie also pressures the Ice Scales mons and Imposter that generally wants to check MMY, heavily chipping them and forcing recovery every time. Also exploits any SpD Dark-types looking to check MMY.
Volt Switch also cool for Volt core.

 

[zastra]

Thanks to all great submissions, congratulations to anaconja (Ghostceus), LOrd Fernado (Deoxys-Attack) and Chessking345 (Diancie-Mega) on winning! [i lost only because I felt generous]

Week 3: ND Convergence Mega Gardevoir!

Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Psyshock
- Nasty Plot

A threatening sweeper with Nasty Plot, MGarde is held back by its frailty and mid speed tier, making it prone to being revenge killed easily. How will you support her?

You have a week's time to decide!​

 

[LOrd Fernado]

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Mystic Water
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Step
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat

So this is used to counter special walls like Chansey and Pokemon that wall MGarde's STAB, like Heatran, all while setting up and boosting it's Speed and Attack to snowball teams. Since Urshifu-R struggles against Toxapex and Celesteela, MGarde hits it with Psyshock and Fire Blast respectively. Or sets up against them switching out.

(Oh yea, zastra, MGarde is meant to have Hyper Voice > Moonblast) (I think)

 

[Evie]

Kingambit @ Choice Band
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

Choice Band Kingambit forms a powerful offensive core with Gardevoir, Pursuit trapping one of the only good defensive checks to Mega Gardevoir in Cresselia, and Sucker Punching the frail, powerful things that outspeed Mega Gardevoir like Kartana and Electric Surge users (like Jolteon, Zeraora). Kingambit also provides a threatening Knock Off that can remove crucial items like Landorus-T's Toxic Orb, Toxapex's Assault Vest, and Celesteela's Leftovers. Mega Gardevoir beats Fighting-types that Kingambit struggles with and can heavily pressure the best Kingambit checks in Body Press Celesteela and Regirock as well as doing good damage to Landorus-T.

 

[Velcroc]

Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Whip
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Spikes / Iron Head

CB Kartana and Mega Gardevoir synergise beautifully together because they are both low key broken lol. Kartana can muscle through a lot of the special blobs and heatran that check M-Garde, and can 1v1 Cress in a pinch. Furthermore, they also help each other (and the team) weaken Regirock regardless of whether it is phys def or spdf. The biggest role Kartana plays in this relationship, however, is laying down spikes which wears down a lot of balance teams dominating the meta atm and paves the way for Mega Gardevoir to clean up late game.

In exchange, Gardevoir-Mega helps dissuade common Kartana answers like GaG Aegislash (and Doublade) and Celesteela (or Skarm for all my Skarmheads) from freely switching in.

 

[zastra]

Thanks to all great submissions, congratulations to Orangex (Kingambit) and Velcroc (Kartana) for their winning submissions!

Week 4: ND GG Dragon Dance Necrozma Dusk Mane

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge / Photon Geyser

As a God, Necrozma Dusk Mane donates stats as follows:

Outside of the speed, these stats are very good and makes NDM an amazing God. Dragon Dance allows it to be a threatening sweeper at times, with Weakness Policy further bolstering its offensive potential.

How will you support this God? Please do not forget to mention how NDM's <insert stat> benefits your submission!

You have 1 week!​

 

[Clas]

reserving polyamorus relationship with koko and victini

 

[NeonJolteonWasUsed]

Howl Electrium-Z Zamazenta

Zamazenta @ Electrium Z
Ability: Dauntless Shield
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
- Ice Fang
- Howl

Howl Zamanzeta is already a terrific sweeper due to its incredible base Speed Tier, respectable attack stat and colorful coverage. Now what happens when you take an already potent sweeper and give it power equivilent to that of an Atom Bomb? Well...you get this thing.
With an absolutely towering 157 Attack to its name thanks to Necrozma Dusk Mane, Zamazenta's attacks go from powerful, to outright explosive. Letting Zamazenta achieve such ridiculous feats as OHKOing Max Defense Ho-Oh with +1 Gigavolt Havoc.
OHKOing Ho-Oh is the main trait in favor of this set, as it opens up NDM to more freely run Photon Geyser to better its stallbreaking potential, and overall being harder to dance around. Zamazenta also helps to switch in on and set up on Arceus Dark, who normally tends to check Necrozma Dusk Mane, all while Necrozma Dusk Mane can come in on and freely set up on the Psychic and Flying types that check Zamazenta.
These two much more heavily lean into Hyper Offense structures, making these two all the more potent. As throwing one in right after the other in such a manner makes it very hard to find chances to stop either of them once one gets going because of how well they crush each other's checks.​

 

[LOrd Fernado]

Zeraora @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Volt Switch
- Close Combat

So since NDM cant break through defensive gods and receivers like Ho-Oh and Corviknight, a strong pivot such as Zeraora can help with that. This is also better than Zamazenta as a receiver and matchmaking partner due it not using up an item slot to break through, a better speed tier, Electric STAB, and the ability to pivot out. (Attack receiver)​

 

[zastra]

only 2 submissions, but congratulations to NeonJolteonWasUsed (zamazenta) and LOrd Fernado (zeraora) for their winning submissions!

Week 5: ND MnM Curse Ho-Oh

Ho-Oh @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 128 Def / 100 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire / Earthquake
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Curse

curse ho-oh can prove itself to be a threatening sweeper. it packs a decent coverage and its naturally high bulk+access to regenerator gives it a lot of setup opportunities, and can also act as a blanket check to certain metagame threats like kartana, magearna, solgaleo, etc. however, due to its typing, it has difficulty vs tier staples like stone edge primal groudon, stone edge entei, terrakion, toxapex, etc.
how will you support da birb?

1 week!​

 

[LOrd Fernado]

Kyogre-Primal @ Blue Orb
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
So Primal Kyogre pairs well with Ho-Oh, as both are bulky set-up sweepers, and Kyogre takes care of Pokemon like Primal Groudon on switch-in, Toxapex with Thunder, and Entei and Terrakion are taken care of with Water Spout. This team is very weak to Electric-types however, so Pokemon like Primal Groudon or Arceus-Ground would be good partners​

 

[zastra]

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Pinsirite / Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Return
-Explosion

lando is an interesting partner to curse ho-oh. it reliably deals with the common problems mentioned above: primal groudon, stone edge entei, terrakion. toxapex if it gets into +2 or booms. it's better than great tusk here because:
-faster, stronger. tusk lacks return
-pre mega intim makes mu against terrak (i hope) and pdon better
-cab switch into entei espeed w/o relying on mega unlike tusk (pretend it lost inner focus)
-sd helps break lati pex and many more mins better
-most importantly, boom

 

[zastra]

gz to LOrd Fernado (kyogre) and me (Lando-T) for winning last week. (totally didn't rig it) (tagging Clas to confirm the same) (don't betray me dude)

next up: everyone's fav...

WEEK 6: ND NFE Waterium Z Qwilfish-hisui!

Qwilfish-Hisui @ Waterium Z
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Crunch / Spikes
- Waterfall / Liquidation
- Gunk Shot / Poison jab / Spikes

I wrote an essay on it here, go read it and don't forget to like share and subscribe.

1 week!
​

 

[Velcroc]

Reserving Shell Smash Wartortle