Congrats to Luirromen and thanks for the submissions! Next up, we have:
Starmie
Starmie has been known as an offense shredder throughout generations of competitive Pokemon, and continues to perform excellently in that role in current UU. In particular, Starmie is excellent at taking advantage of the many slower Steel-types with poor Special Defense that dominate the current metagame, such as Cobalion, Skarmory, and Scizor, blasting them with Surfs, Psychics, Ice Beams, and Thunderbolts, while resisting their Steel- and Fighting-type attacks. Starmie is also notable as an offensive Pokemon for having access to Recover, which allows it to perform its role multiple times throughout a game where other offensive Pokemon could be more easily worn down. Additionally, Starmie has an excelent Speed tier of Base 115, outspeeding other offensive Pokemon like Thundurus-Therian and Keldeo and Speed tying Zygarde-10%, Azelf, and Raikou. As well, Starmie has incredible coverage options for an offensive Pokemon, being able to make good use of both its STAB moves as well as running BoltBeam coverage. Finally, Starmie is not entirely beholden to running an offensive set - while on the rarer side, bulky Starmie variants making use of Rapid Spin to clear hazards are also possible. As great as all these advantages are, Starmie has numerous downsides that do hold it back as well. Starmie notoriously struggles with 4 Moveslot Syndrome, always having to give up on an important coverage move when running its offensive sets. Starmie is also quite frail and cannot be brought onto the field easily. In addition, Starmie struggles heavily to break Chansey, and can struggle with other specially bulky Pokemon should it lack a super effective coverage option for them. Finally, Starmie lacks a Special Attack boosting move, meaning it faces competition from Azelf as a special sweeper. Azelf possesses Knock Off as well, making it harder to justify Starmie over it. All that said, Starmie is still an excellent choice in the current meta, and I'm eager to see what teams are shared this week!
Teambuilding Restrictions:
Starmie has been known as an offense shredder throughout generations of competitive Pokemon, and continues to perform excellently in that role in current UU. In particular, Starmie is excellent at taking advantage of the many slower Steel-types with poor Special Defense that dominate the current metagame, such as Cobalion, Skarmory, and Scizor, blasting them with Surfs, Psychics, Ice Beams, and Thunderbolts, while resisting their Steel- and Fighting-type attacks. Starmie is also notable as an offensive Pokemon for having access to Recover, which allows it to perform its role multiple times throughout a game where other offensive Pokemon could be more easily worn down. Additionally, Starmie has an excelent Speed tier of Base 115, outspeeding other offensive Pokemon like Thundurus-Therian and Keldeo and Speed tying Zygarde-10%, Azelf, and Raikou. As well, Starmie has incredible coverage options for an offensive Pokemon, being able to make good use of both its STAB moves as well as running BoltBeam coverage. Finally, Starmie is not entirely beholden to running an offensive set - while on the rarer side, bulky Starmie variants making use of Rapid Spin to clear hazards are also possible. As great as all these advantages are, Starmie has numerous downsides that do hold it back as well. Starmie notoriously struggles with 4 Moveslot Syndrome, always having to give up on an important coverage move when running its offensive sets. Starmie is also quite frail and cannot be brought onto the field easily. In addition, Starmie struggles heavily to break Chansey, and can struggle with other specially bulky Pokemon should it lack a super effective coverage option for them. Finally, Starmie lacks a Special Attack boosting move, meaning it faces competition from Azelf as a special sweeper. Azelf possesses Knock Off as well, making it harder to justify Starmie over it. All that said, Starmie is still an excellent choice in the current meta, and I'm eager to see what teams are shared this week!
Teambuilding Restrictions:
- The team should be built in the Sword and Shield UnderUsed format.
- The team must include Starmie.
- Sunday, August 7, 2022 @ 11:59 PM EST (GMT-4).