Garrett
Banned deucer.
This is a really toxic way of putting it. The meta is inherently devoid of new playstyles/cores and there's only so much "innovating" that can still happen until suspect tests (presumably) ban things. The three mon core everyone sees isn't a sign of laziness as much as it is an indication that there's a greater problem with Ubers. Don't get burned cooking with fire. I'm not saying you can't build, but it's very suspect to claim serious hidden treasures remain in the tier/builder.i also encourage everyone, not testing jokler's sets, sadly (even if i think wp zekrom is a cool idea), but to try and be a little more creative in your building. using yveltal + dm + eternatus is good, but it's incredibly boring, and we're jumping into the same kind of shitty meta like in usm, where you could pdon + mag + yveltal and win any kind of matchup you wanted. i wont give any ideas, as i'm still in ssnl and i'm cooking some fire, but please, innovate.
I really like this set on paper and it could probably be optimized further with Defense investment--I recognize the current speed is for +3 to outpace Calyrex-Shadow but the defensive capability is something of note. My main complaint is that it's a Groudon check that doesn't pack the speed or defense or moves to check a Swords Dance set--for that reason you sort of lose a mon to build a defensive core... that doesn't do any single defensive job on its own. Might have to optimize for when KingBillu plays FE finals next year.
Trick Room is essentially worse Screens HO unfortunately. The sole fact that Grimmsnarl can get them up with priority at least once makes it considerably better. The analytics you mentioned are a little misleading because it's of those that use it conditionally. Calyrex-Ice is an underrated mon that's battered by hazards and competes with Zacian/Zekrom as a breaker, and has to decide on Boots/Sash/Band depending on the team. A lot of its problems are also seen in Specs Ogre: nets a kill if played right, but is a liability depending on the speed control you're more or less obligated to provide it. It's not bad at all, though. I would just contend that Caly-Ice's best role is in non-TR settings and ladder statistics fail to reflect on that positively.Now, this is just plain wrong. TR is DEFINITELY not "sadly useless". It is the easily the most common Calyrex Ice set used (76% according to Pikalytics), and for good reason. Offence is know to run rampant in Ubers and Ditto has fair usage too and having a tool this powerful to turn the tables on them is invaluable. TR, while niche, is also a difficult matchup for offence, again improved by Calyrex. You say that it requires many turns to set up for it to sweep but it only requires the one to set up TR against something it can get policy activated into chilling neigh or maximum two if it plans on SDing into TR. With it's near Giratina level bulk, that scenario is not exactly difficult to come by either. As to it not being in a correct position to sweep and the mons you mentioned, there are always going to be checks to every mon. You don't expect to sweep with Zygarde until their Buzzwole is alive. Calyrex is not supposed to sweep turn 1. It is supposed to clean up offence or break open a team depending on what you require from it. Calyrex at the very LEAST can create dangerous pins for your opponents, one of their mons falls so Calyrex's teammates are that much more closer to overwhelming them and it usually does a lot more. Secondly, even the mons that you mentioned are fundamentally flawed in checking Calyrex Ice.
Also, Azelf gets Magic Coat! So it actually has a possible, albeit strange niche against Slurpuff/Shuckle:
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 96 Atk / 160 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Magic Coat
- Explosion / Knock Off / Thunder Wave / Trick / Fire Blast / Remember to do your March Madness brackets
252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Rapid Spin vs. 0 HP / 160 Def Azelf: 62-73 (21.3 - 25%) -- 0% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 160 Def Azelf: 184-217 (63.2 - 74.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
and maybe Excadrill if you're lucky as the sum of these two calcs never hits 100%.
The Zekrom set is fine under Screens, the real test is whether it can afford the severe drop in attack when a good player removes/stalls out the screens. That's the kicker to me.