[Monotype/Rock] Magcargo [QC: 0/3][GP: 0/2]

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[Monotype / Rock] Magcargo (W.I.P)

[OVERVIEW]

+Completely counters/checks Iron Head and Bullet Punch sweepers
+Excellent defence
+Unique type combination provides useful neutrality to Grass and Steel
+The physical moves with Water, Fighting and Steel type, which are supereffective against Rock, all activate Flame Body
+Learns a variety of utility moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Stealth Rocks, Memento, Light Screen, Reflect, Infestation and Clear Smog
+Cores exeptionally well with Cradily.
-Extremely frail to special attacks, even with the boost from Sandstorm
-Has two x4 weaknesses to Water and Ground
-Weak to Stealth Rocks and the non-contact moves Rock Slide/Stone Edge
-Terrible attack stat, making the best rock STAB Ancient Power
-Speed is particularly low, being outsped by nearly all viable pokemon even after Sticky Webs
-Faces competition as a Will-O-Wisp utility pokemon in Solrock and as a Steel stopper from Omastar, though both lack reliable recovery(Morning Sun deacreasing the hp recovered in Sandstorm and very low pp for Solrock) and Flame Body

  • Overall, a very niche pokemon that handles a handfull of threats other Rock pokemon have a lot of trouble with, but suffers drastically from extremely poor stats, exept for defence, and two x4 weaknesses to Ground and Water

[SET]
name: Montgolfière (Air Baloon)
move 1: Recover
move 2: Lava Plume
move 3: Infestation/Earth Power
move 4: Will-O-Wisp/Stealth Rock
item: Air Balloon
ability: Flame Body
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
  • Recover heals 50% Hp on use and is crucial for any bulky support pokemon that can run it, and here is no exception.
  • Lava Plume is prefered over other STAB fire moves here due to its higher chance to burn while still dealing decent damage.
  • Infestation serves a variety of purposes. Trapping opponents to die of Burn-Infestation attrition, creating safe swiches by preventing double swiching and breaking Sashes/Balloons, most notably Balloon Heatran wich would otherwise wall this set entirely.
  • Earth Power gives you more bang for your buck, making Magcargo more useful in Steel matchups and providing coverage. Be wary though that this set is debilitating when up against Balloon Heatran, So Infestation is generally preferred
  • Will-O-Wisp is basically your insurance policy. Even after Flame Body and Lava Plume at the end of the day it is a 30% chance, wich are not good odds. Additionally, you need a way to Burn pokemon capable of popping your Balloon with non-contact moves.
  • Stealth Rock gives some extra utility to Magcargo while making the Steel matchup even move advantageous, giving headaches to Skarmory, and if you dont mind the baloon being popped, potential burn on Rapid Spin pokemon.

Set Details
========
  • Maximum Hit Points and Defense investments are a given, seeing as Magcargo is a physical wall.
  • Flame Body is the only viable ability on a bulky Magcargo as Magma Armor is useless considering it is unlikeley your opponent will select Ice Beam against a Fire type, and Weak Armor hurts much more than it helps.
  • Air Balloon is a bit more nuanced then it may seem at first. Not only does it make Magcargo immune to Ground type attacks but you can also force a contact move to break the Balloon, possibly activating Flame Body and debilitating the offensive capabilities of the opposing pokemon.

Usage Tips
========
  • Magcargo is less specially bulky than you think. In most situations, you want to swich out Magcargo if its up aigainst a special attacker.
  • Magcargo is more physically bulky than you think. In most cases a x2 supereffective non stab move will not OHKO at full Hp
  • If you are in a difficult situation, use Magcargo as a martyr. This is basically your only hope against Water setup sweepers or just Water type physical attackers.
  • Prediction is key to maximise the usefulness of Flame Body. You want to maximise the amount of contact moves a threat uses on Magcargo to really get the most out of Flame Body

Team Options
========
  • Cradily is a given for Rock teams in general, but here cores extremely well with Magcargo. Cradily provides immunity to Water and neutrality to Ground, but here Magcargo's typing shines, resisiting Bug and Ice and being neutral to Steel, three out of Cradily's four weaknesses. While both share a weakness to Fighting type, most physical Fighting type moves make contact and thus activate Flame Body(or can burnt with Will-O-Wisp). You would be hard pressed to find another Rock type that cores this well with Cradily.
  • Protect Mega Diancie is going to love being with Magcargo. While Iron Head, and more importantly, Bullet Punch are death sentences to Mega Diancie, Magcargo is engineered to make them regret using those moves. Not only will they do laughable damage, but they risk the possibility of receiving a Burn. Meanwhile, Mega Diancie can be swiched into status users that are tring to take advantage of Magcargo's low speed, sending their status right back at them. Protect is specified as choice scarf iron head sweepers are often used to try and kill Mega Diancie before it gets a chance to mega, so scouting is key.
  • Something to handle Earthquake while Cradily is neutral to ground, its more specially defencive leanings makes it easy to kill with one or two Earthquakes. This is bad as when the Magcargo's Balloon pops you are vulnerable to an Earthquake sweep. To prevent this, here are some options: Mega Aggron, Solrock, Lunatone, Aerodactyl, Archeops and possibly Rhyperior

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Shell Smash simply is not viable. Magcargo is too slow, even after Weak Armor, and is vastly outclassed by Omastar.
  • Dual Screens would require holding light clay, wich would make the Ground weakness unmanagable. Outclassed by Solrock as well.

Checks and Counters
===================
  • All special attackers no really, if there is a special attacker on the field, switch out.
  • Guts while not only wanting to be burnt, these pokemon are usually of the Fighting type or have some kind of Fighting type move, which is not good.
  • Darmanitan/Infernape are both here for the same reason. Cant be burnt, can deal huge amounts of damage to Magcargo.
  • Superpower Scizor cannot OHKO Magcargo before Swords Dance, but still are close to fainting. After Swords Dance though, Magcargo will die to Superpower.
  • Water Setup Sweepers most dangerously Gyarados, as it can run Substitute, making it harder to kill and swich into. But all of them pose huge threats.
 
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I know this is your first analysis and I'll talk with the QC team about this (nvm), but Magcargo really shouldn't have an analysis. I revamped the Monotype Reservation Index recently and this was one of the Pokemon I deemed not worth it. I know you already reserved it at the time when it was in the index, so I'll give your hard work the fair attention it deserves, but I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

Overview:
- Saying Magcargo checks Bullet Punch isn't particularly true because many Bullet Punch users have Fighting-type coverage. Mega Medicham OHKOes with High Jump Kick, Mega Scizor OHKOes with +2 Superpower, Lucario OHKOes with Close Combat, and even the incredibly rare Metagross has Earthquake.
- As for Iron Head, this is also not true. +2 Adamant LO Bisharp has a roll to OHKO with Knock Off and always does after Stealth Rock damage. Similarly, +2 Doublade can OHKO after Stealth Rock damage with Sacred Sword and will be able to 2HKO without it naturally, without being OHKOed by Lava Plume. The rare Durant has access to Superpower, with Choice Band always OHKOing and Life Orb almost always OHKOing. Basically the only Pokemon it can check is I guess Jirachi.
- Utility moves that you don't talk about again should not be mentioned here. Clear Smog and Memento, for example. I'd keep Memento because I think it should be mentioned later. For Dual Screens, you clearly say it's not a good idea and outclassed, so you shouldn't bring it up either. And really, Stealth Rock is pointless on Magcargo with so many other good setters, and Infestation isn't a good move in the first place. The only viable move in this list is Will-O-Wisp.
- You don't need to say that its bad Attack stat is why Ancient Power is its best Rock-type STAB attack, just say it.
- Also, I'm not sure why Ancient Power is brought up when it's never talked about again.
- You should also mention that its Special Attack isn't good at all either.
- Also, its HP stat is really low, something that lessens its overall bulk and makes it harder for it to take full advantage of its great Defense.
- Lacking Flame Body is really not a big deal when it's not even that good in the first place.
- Furthermore, Omastar isn't a Steel check when all Steel threats beat it 1v1. For the same reason as why Magcargo isn't really good at checking Steel-types, they all carry coverage that beats Omastar.
- In fact, you should mention that. The main Pokemon Magcargo would in theory check carry coverage that beat it, meaning it's really not that good at all.
- Add that it's generally just outclassed by Cradily. Cradily can set up Stealth Rock more reliably if Shuckle isn't on the team, can use STAB Giga Drain alongside its Storm Drain ability to beat Water-types, has a neutrality to Grass-type attacks and cannot be Spored by Breloom, has better defenses, and the list really goes on.
- As another problem, it takes 25% from Stealth Rock damage. As a wall, this means it has a very difficult time walling what it's supposed to. This is further problematic because Rock has no viable Rapid Spinners (Armaldo is not viable).
- You should also mention that Magcargo has huge competition from the likes of Mega Aggron and Rhyperior. Mega Aggron takes Steel- and Grass-type attacks perfectly just like Magcargo does, but it's far bulkier and less useless. Rhyperior can also lure Mega Medicham with its Weakness Policy into Earthquake OHKO while also beating the likes of Mega Scizor with Fire Punch.

Set:
- This set has some weird slashes but has most of the correct ideas.
- First, it's a horrible Stealth Rock setter so it shouldn't even be slashed.
- Second, Infestation is completely useless, as Magcargo can't really beat anything with it anyway.
- I also moved Will-O-Wisp to the third move, since it's more important for being able to check physical attackers sort of.
- The HP should not be 252 because that puts Magcargo at 304 HP, meaning it takes a full 1/4 of its health from Stealth Rock and loses one chance to switch in.

name: Montgolfière (Air Balloon)
move 1: Recover
move 2: Lava Plume
move 3: Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Earth Power
item: Air Balloon
ability: Flame Body
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD

Moves:
- Infestation won't stop Heatran from beating this set. Offensive Heatran will break the Air Balloon then Earth Power for the KO. Defensive Heatran will Toxic Magcargo. Either way, this won't help.
- At least Earth Power can sort of hit Heatran on the switch, but it can't even OHKO offensive spreads.
- Remove Stealth Rock, it's not a good setter. There are many better options for Rock.

Set Details:
- It needs to not have 252 HP in order to take less Stealth Rock damage.
- I think Leftovers should at least be mentioned as a way to give Magcargo more healing. Air Balloon isn't particularly reliable anyway, especially on a Rock team.

Usage Tips:
- I don't understand what the martyr thing is. I mean, Magcargo is just going to be outsped and OHKOed by every Water-type in the metagame?
- Also, Flame Body is pretty unreliable, I wouldn't base your strategy around it when it's pretty bad.
- You should mention that Magcargo wants to spread burns as much as possible to support its team and make physical attackers weaker, so that means using Will-O-Wisp often throughout the game.
- Magcargo also wants to be as healthy as possible, since it needs to be able to switch into Stealth Rock damage. Thus, it should use Recover whenever it can.
- It should be mentioned that Magcargo hates Taunt and Toxic, both of which make it pretty useless and incapable of doing anything.
- Magcargo should not try to beat most walls 1v1, as they often carry Toxic, which will beat Magcargo pretty easily.

Team Options:
- Rhyperior should have a special mention for its ability to take on many physical attackers in the same way that Magcargo can. It can help beat Mega Medicham with its Weakness Policy and it can beat Mega Scizor and Doublade much more easily thanks to Solid Rock.
- For a similar reason, Mega Aggron should be mentioned as a teammate that can take on Steel-types and take some pressure off of Magcargo, allowing them to share the burden.
- AV Tyranitar is a good teammate as a special wall. It can switch into most special attackers pretty easily to support Magcargo, for example it can take on Mega Camerupt. Tyranitar also sets up sand to boost Magcargo's pitiful Special Defense. This might not make a huge difference, but it might let Magcargo live a hit it wouldn't normally, such as usually surviving one Focus Blast from Thundurus.
- Shuckle is a great Stealth Rock setter that allows Magcargo to have an extra moveslot for utility such as Will-O-Wisp.

Other Options:
- I feel like you really could just mention Memento or something here. At least when Magcargo goes down it's opening up a potential sweep for Omastar.

Checks and Counters:
- Water-types all in general beat Magcargo, regardless of whether they're setup sweepers or not.
- Ground-types, in spite of the one time use of Air Balloon, will beat Magcargo in the end once it's popped.
- Status is a huge problem for Magcargo. If it gets inflicted with Toxic poison, it won't be able to wall anything properly due to the damage.
- Stealth Rock is a great check to Magcargo, as being forced to take 25% every switch makes Magcargo way too low health to really function properly.

As you can see, there's a huge amount of work. I have no doubt I'm missing some things because there's just so much to do. This combined with the fact that a Magcargo analysis is just pretty much useless and unnecessary means I really can't give this my approval and force the other QC members to work on this. Sorry, but this is just not good enough. I don't want to discourage you from trying again when analyses come back, the problem was mainyl with the Pokemon, not with your work.

QC 1/3 Rejected
 

DEG

The night belongs to you
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idk if making a comment allowed ;w;
i'd be 100% fine with this if it wasn't for the emoticon - bacon
omg my post was edited by bacon *fangirls* - deg


Eien is the type of guy that writes a second analysis about a Pokemon then rejects the QC.
 
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scpinion

Life > Monotype... unfortunately :)
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Since the generation is winding down, this received a QC rejection, and Macargo is such a low priority Pokemon I'm just going to close this.

For future reference, you should also check out this Google doc for some help with what to consider in each section.

edit: will move later today so they have a chance to see the messages left here.
 
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