As much as I love Pokémon, my run in the Video Game Championship circuit had completely stalled after my last regional appearance back in March 2020.

Eventually, the itch to compete returned, and Regulation H felt like the perfect format to shake off the ring rust and dive back in!

I decided to build a team that felt well within my comfort zone; a hyper offense team (breaking away from the Incineroar/Rillaboom balance which was dominating the meta) centering around my favourite strategy: Unburden/Psyspam!

Ever since terrain mechanics were introduced in Sun & Moon at the back end of 2016, I rarely entered a tournament without some form of Psyspam duo.

EUIC 2016? Alolan Raichu and Tapu Lele
VGC 17 – 19? Accelgor/Drifblim & Tapu Lele
Sword & Shield? Hawlucha/Slurpuff & Indeedee

The strategy was straightforward: set Psychic Terrain to boost your STAB Psychic-type attacks. Unburden users would consume their Psychic Seeds, doubling their speed and raising their Special Defense by one stage, while supporting Tapu Lele and Indeedee in sweeping teams through multiple win conditions.

Accelgor could eliminate a threat to Tapu Lele immediately with a Final Gambit, lower an opponents Special Defence with Acid Spray, increase Lele’s staying power by decreasing opponents Special Attack with Struggle Bug or lock opponents into passive moves with Encore.

Drifblim would make Tapu Lele outspeed your opponents by setting Tailwind and lower the damage output of opposing physical threats with Will-O-Wisp.

Slurpuff could provide similar support to Accelgor for Indeedee, using Fake Tears to lower opponents Special Defence and String Shot to lower their Speed Stat whilst Indeedee would Dynamax to pick up easy KOs.

Hawlucha was an interesting one, Dynamaxing to increase Indeedee’s Speed and Special Attack stats with Max Airstream & Max Ooze respectively.

Fast forward to Scarlet and Violet, Drifblim provides similar support for Male Indeedee, although Indeedee’s substantially lower Special Attack stat makes this a slightly less potent combination.

The First Draft

Having a soft spot for both Unburden and Prankster Pokémon, Grafaiai is a Pokémon which interested me as soon as it was released in Scarlet and Violet.

Boasting a wide range of attacks to support Indeedee, I quickly settled on an initial build of Doodle (to copy opposing Swift Swim/Chlorophyll), Acid Spray (to break Focus Sash and lower Special Defence by two stages) and Pounce (to break Focus Sash and lower Speed by one stage). The final move combined with the tera type of choice. Dark Tera Knock Off. This would allow me to KO the more frail Gholdengo builds with Knock Off + Expanding Force 100% of the time, whilst against the bulkier variants would come down to a damage roll. Knock Off would also let me remove Archaludon’s Assault Vest allowing Indeedee to finish it off with a Fighting type Tera Blast.

For the rest of the team, I tacked on a Sun mode with scarf Hisuian Typhlosion & Torkoal, rounding the squad off with a Trick Room mode featuring Sinistcha & Ursaluna.

The team was fun but felt like it was lacking the consistency to compete. The paste can be found by following this link or by scanning the QR code above.

With the final Grand Challenge of Regulation H fast approaching, I asked my good friend Baz Anderson for some suggestions on mons to try out. Whilst messing around with a ridiculous stall team on ladder, Baz mentioned he’d once tried an exploding Metagross; I promptly added it to the stall team and started… winning? And climbing the ladder. I went as high as the 1600s then started losing spectacularly dropping into the 1300s as quickly as I’d climbed. The stall team can be found here but with the suggestion of Choice Band Metagross, the new team finally started to take shape.

The Final Team

When Teambuilding, I like to build in duos, test the composition then find ways to knit the entire squad together. It’s important to note that this team was prepared for the Global Challenge – a closed team sheet, best of one format. It definitely can succeed in a best of three setting but would need a few tweaks for sure.

The Psyspam Duo

Alright alright, yes. I’m using Sneasler. I know. Put the pitch forks down! After testing other unburden users whose sole purpose was to support Indeedee & help increase his damage output, I realised that with the rest of the mons in the team, Indeedee didn’t actually need to be the one getting OHKO’s on everything. I wanted this mode to hit hard and fast.

I gave Indeedee the Choice Scarf with enough investment in speed to outspeed the fastest threat in the regulation – Dragapult. I moved 28 EVs into the HP stat to ensure I’d survive a Life Orb Make it Rain from Gholdengo 100% of the time. Expanding Force is the obvious attack of choice, whilst Tera Blast gave me a single target STAB for respectable damage or could combine with the Ground Tera to give me a way to land huge damage on Incineroar, Gholdengo and Archaludon. I added Trick to annoy opposing Trick Room setters/sweepers though in a couple of games, tricking scarf onto one of my other Pokémon was a super helpful tech to close out some matches. I also gave Indeedee After You for the option to lead Indeedee/Torkoal & sweep with Tera Fire, Choice Specs Eruption but this never came into play.

Sneasler’s set was initially pretty standard – Tera Dark, Throat Chop, Close Combat, Dire Claw & Protect. However, when testing, I found I was almost never clicking Dire Claw. I experimented with Acid Spray but equally found myself never clicking Acid Spray + Expanding Force. It was only when I completed the rest of the team I noticed a glaring weakness. I had absolutely nothing to stop a Lilligant Torkoal lead from ripping through me… or sun teams in general come to think of it. This was a big issue as Sun teams were super common in this regulation, many finishing very highly at regional level events.

I theoried different lines but couldn’t come up with a sure fire answer to this duo. Dire Claw Lilligant? I need the slim chance of a paralyses or sleep to prevent it from either putting my Indeedee to sleep or clicking After You to make Torkoal move next. Target down Torkoal with Close Combat? Too many variables. Torkoal could protect whilst Lilligant puts Sneasler to sleep then clicks After You Eruption the next turn. Lilligant could just sleep powder Indeedee whilst Torkoal still wipes through this duo with Heat Wave/Weather Ball.

As I wasn’t really clicking the poison move I combed through Sneasler’s movepool. Reminding myself I was building for closed teamsheet and best of one, Rain Dance seemed like the perfect option to turn an unwinnable matchup into one of my easiest matchups. Sneasler could outspeed opposing Lilligant, set the rain which would allow Indeedee to then also outspeed Lilligant and fire off an Expanding Force into both targets. Torkoal would be left doing no damage and Lilligant would be vulnerable to a KO the next turn. It sounds janky but… what can I say? It works!

In terms of EVs, I gave Sneasler just enough to outspeed Lilligant by a point, maxed out the attack stat and threw the rest into HP. The 116 HP EVs allowed Sneasler to survive an Earth Power or a Tera Boosted Blood Moon from Ursaluna-Bloodmoon 100% of the time after the Psychic Seed boost.

The Trick Room Duo

As I was running a Choice Scarf Indeedee, my team didn’t have the most sure fire way to deal with opposing Trick Room… So why not add my own Trick Room mode? After all, Torkoal is the slowest threat in Regulation H and acts as a Trick Room Deterrent just by existing on a team whilst Sinistcha is one of my favourite Pokémon to have been introduced in Scarlet and Violet – it also just so happens to synergise perfectly with my third duo…

Like many VGC players, I’ve had a love hate relationship with Torkoal over the years. Ridiculously powerful – but only when he lands his attacks. I decided to ensure this resumption of my relationship with Torkoal would be nothing but love. Taking him shopping, I picked out a snazzy pair of Choice Specs and taught him only 100% accurate moves. Eruption as the main move for Torkoal to lock into. Weather Ball was added to provide a powerful single target Fire attack in Sun whilst also ensuring Torkoal wouldn’t be completely useless should Rain be set up. In fact… should I be daft enough to use Rain Dance with Sneasler whilst Torkoal is on the field, Weather Ball would be enough to OHKO most opposing Incineroar, or pick up surprise KO’s on Volcarona or Tera Fire Annihilape. For the last move, I was torn between Solar Beam/Body Press for further coverage or Overheat as a one time nuke. Eventually, I opted for neither. Realising I had no way of removing Stat Boosts from opposing Dondozo, I added Clear Smog. It may not be optimal to lock into a choice specs Clear Smog, but in fairness it’s about as optimal as locking into Overheat or Solar Beam. I left Torkoal with a max attack IV on purpose. I wasn’t bothered about taking the additional Foul Play/Confusion damage, especially considering how unlikely it would be for this to come up. Instead, the extra attack would maximise the healing of self Strength Sap with Sinistcha. The EVs are pretty simple, Max Special Attack whilst moving 8 EVs from HP to Special Defence would positively effect damage rolls from the likes of Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball.

My time messing around with an atrocious stall team at least demonstrated one thing to me. Sinistcha is really, really, really good! With its excellent typing, Sitrus Berry, Strength Sap & Matcha Gotcha, Sinistcha reminded me of Ferrothorn from previous years. An insanely bulky grass type which could sit on a field, supporting the team by chipping away with Matcha Gotcha, lowering opponents Attack stat with Strength Sap or set Trick Room for Torkoal to sweep. It could also potentially 1v4 if needed in the right situation. As a little surprise, I swapped Rage Powder for Shadow Ball. In testing, I didn’t find myself clicking Rage Powder at all; Shadow Ball actually does super surprising damage to Gholdengo and Basculegion so, for this team at least, ended up being the best option for the final move. I’ll confess, I don’t actually know what the EV spread was designed to do… it’s just the standard bulky spread from the nerd of now damage calc. I did find myself in a couple of my games wishing I had a bit more investment in Special Attack but overall, it performed brilliantly.

The Explosive Duo

And Finally, the stars of the show. Metagross feels supremely underrated. It may be sat at an awkward speed Tier but with the right support it can definitely shine. Metagross boasts a ridiculously high base 135 Attack Stat. Combine that with the Choice Band and Stellar Tera, Metagross has the ability to OHKO all the most used Pokémon in Regulation H.

Incineroar? Click Explosion or Stomping Tantrum.
Rillaboom? Click Explosion, Heavy Slam or Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs.
Gholdengo? Stomping Tantrum.
Ursaluna Blood Moon? Explosion.
Volcarona? Explosion or Terrain boosted Psychic Fangs.
Annihilape? Psychic Fangs or Heavy Slam.
Basculegion? Terrain Boosted Psychic Fangs.
Sneasler? Anything.

If you want some additional damage under Psychic Terrain, you could replace Psychic Fangs with Zen Headbutt, though I feel the 100% accuracy and ability to break Light Screen, Reflect and Aurora Veil

But what if you want to save Tera for something else? What if one of these threats outspeed you? What if you just take a Fake Out Turn one? Well, this is where Zoroark comes in. Zoroark is one of the quickest Pokémon in the game and can support Metagross by using Leer to reduce opponents defences or Icy Wind to chip and lower opponents speed. Often, I would disguise Zoroark as Sinistcha; this forces my opponent to make a really rough call on the first turn. Remember, this is closed team sheet and I also have a Torkoal in my team. A Metagross/Sinistcha lead looks like the most obvious Protect/Trick Room play going and is a consideration which NEEDS to be respected by opponents. I’ve played hundreds of games with this team across Ladder and the Global Challenge; not once has an opponent failed to respect the potential of a Trick Room/Protect play. I don’t even think Metagross has taken a single Fake Out from Incineroar or Rillaboom in these games. After a Leer or Icy Wind, Metagross can OHKO pretty much anything it chooses.

To round out the Zoroark set, I added Bitter Malice and Protect. As a final surprise, I gave Zoroark the Ice Tera type. A tera Ice Icy Wind can OHKO a Garchomp and Even an Inner Focus Dragonite depending on its EV spread. An option I was initially considering was adding Memento instead of Protect – this would allow me to lead Zoroark next to Sinistcha, assist Sinistcha in setting up Trick Room by lowering the biggest threat’s offensive stats by two stages and giving me a safe switch into Torkoal to take advantage of the full four turns of Trick Room. This is a change I’d make to Zoroark if I was turning this into a Best of Three team, but for Best of One it may be one trick too many.

The Outcome

Unfortunately, I was only able to play 20 of the 45 games due to IRL time constraints. However, I went 16-4 and, once all the results were tallied my standing was enough for Top 128 in my region, earning me 7 Championship Points… my first points since pre pandemic.

Feel free to give this team a try by following this link to the paste!

If you want to watch my Global Challenge games, they can be found on Youtube by following this link… or just below!