Thoughts on a Meowstic based team?

[NevDev]

I'm only now starting to get into competitive pokemon, and I suppose that any tips could be useful! Meowstic is my favorite pokemon, and I would really love hearing about how they can be used. Doesn't matter if it's male or female. All suggestions are appreciated.

 

[gimmepie]

What format are you looking to play? VGC or a Smogon tier, and if so, what tier?

 

[NevDev]

What format are you looking to play? VGC or a Smogon tier, and if so, what tier?

Smogon, unsure about what tier tho. Probably Whatever tier Meowstic is in usually.

 

[Nah]

According to their Smogon pages, both Meowstics are currently registered in the PU tier.

If I had to hazard a recommendation, it would probably be to use the male Mewostic instead of the female one, as the female one is more offensively oriented but seems like an underwhelming choice for an offensive 'mon to me. The male is more Prankster support oriented, and while there's probably better choices for a support 'mon, it might be a comparitively less underwhelming option.

but like I'm not an expert on Meowstic or PU so take that with a grain of salt

 

[gimmepie]

Smogon, unsure about what tier tho. Probably Whatever tier Meowstic is in usually.

Yeah, both are PU and if you're really set on Meowstic, you definitely want to go with the male over the female. The female one is definitely a more offensively oriented mon but it absolutely lacks the power for that role and is way outclassed by other Psychic types in the tier for that role.

Meowstic male is not without it issues either, being weak to prevalent Dark types like Skuntank and Absol (which are also immune to Prankster). It's got a great support movepool though, with priority thanks to Prankster. It's good for setting up Screens for your setup sweepers to abuse or for crippling opposing threats with T-Wave or forcing them out with Yawn (I'd take T-wave personally). Overall there might be better support Pokemon to choose from but it's a solid option thanks to its movepool and Prankster.

 

[NevDev]

Yeah, both are PU and if you're really set on Meowstic, you definitely want to go with the male over the female. The female one is definitely a more offensively oriented mon but it absolutely lacks the power for that role and is way outclassed by other Psychic types in the tier for that role.

Meowstic male is not without it issues either, being weak to prevalent Dark types like Skuntank and Absol (which are also immune to Prankster). It's got a great support movepool though, with priority thanks to Prankster. It's good for setting up Screens for your setup sweepers to abuse or for crippling opposing threats with T-Wave or forcing them out with Yawn (I'd take T-wave personally). Overall there might be better support Pokemon to choose from but it's a solid option thanks to its movepool and Prankster.

I am aware there are better pokemon, but I'm willing to just go along with meowstic either way. ^^; Also, I guess I'll go with male Pranksterthen, thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with screens and thunderwave as his moves, and maybe also put psychic just so that I have 1 damaging STAB move. Are there any other pokemon in PU tier that are recommended to be on the team with Meowstics or does it not matter too much?

 

[NevDev]

According to their Smogon pages, both Meowstics are currently registered in the PU tier.

If I had to hazard a recommendation, it would probably be to use the male Mewostic instead of the female one, as the female one is more offensively oriented but seems like an underwhelming choice for an offensive 'mon to me. The male is more Prankster support oriented, and while there's probably better choices for a support 'mon, it might be a comparitively less underwhelming option.

but like I'm not an expert on Meowstic or PU so take that with a grain of salt

Well, alright, still thanks! Seems pretty clear I'll be going with the prankster ability then.

 

[gimmepie]

I am aware there are better pokemon, but I'm willing to just go along with meowstic either way. ^^; Also, I guess I'll go with male Pranksterthen, thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with screens and thunderwave as his moves, and maybe also put psychic just so that I have 1 damaging STAB move. Are there any other pokemon in PU tier that are recommended to be on the team with Meowstics or does it not matter too much?

Meowstic pairs well with setup sweepers who can take advantage of the longevity provided by Screens or having their threats slowed by T-Wave. Zangoose, Alolan-Raichu, Omastar and the like. Stuff that appreciates having the enemy slowed down and/or the damage they'd take while setting up being halved since they tend to lack recovery. Fighting types like Gurdurr, Combusken or Primeape are also great partners since they tend to pack a lot of power and can check the crippling Dark type weakness Meowstic has - some of them would also appreciate screens/t-wave support. A fairy can also possibly fill the role, like Silvally-Fairy.

Remember to keep your teambuilding basics in mind though - win conditions, cores, hazards and hazard removal etc.

 

[Venheart]

As a Prankster user, M-Meowstic can technically function in any tier, though the higher you go, the more creative you'll want to be. The big reason why he's PU is mainly that there are better Prankster users, so there's nothing he specifically does that other mons can't theoretically do better, but that doesn't mean it won't work. Biggest thing is that duel screens are a lot less helpful now that A-Ninetales can set up both in 1 turn. Even in PU, Aurorus can do the same.

Snatch is fun to play with and let's you do things like steal your opponent's turn efficiency by stealing their stat boosts. You could maybe do something like...
- Protect/Skill Swap
- Toxic
- Snatch
- Mean Look
This is specifically to trap mons like Chansey/Clefable/etc that try to stall you out. Use Mean Look, then Toxic so they can't swap out, then just Snatch up all their attempts to recover with Heal Bell/Soft-boiled and watch them suffer. It's unnecessary, overly specific, and could be accomplished way more easily in other ways, but it's also sadistic and fun. Skill Swap is an option to neuter Magic Guard/Magic Bounce mons.

F-Meowstic could work as a poor man's Milotic in doubles with Competitive using Skill Swap Stantler support to bounce Intimidate back and forth across the enemy team, causing you to keep losing attack and triggering Competitive. Milotic does it way better, but Meowstic does have Psyshock, so you're slightly less walled by Special Walls.

 

[gimmepie]

As a Prankster user, M-Meowstic can technically function in any tier, though the higher you go, the more creative you'll want to be. The big reason why he's PU is mainly that there are better Prankster users, so there's nothing he specifically does that other mons can't theoretically do better, but that doesn't mean it won't work. Biggest thing is that duel screens are a lot less helpful now that A-Ninetales can set up both in 1 turn. Even in PU, Aurorus can do the same.

This isn't entirely accurate. Meowstic also has a meh defensive type, poor bulk and no real offensive power. Also Aurorus, for some weird reason, does not learn Aurora Veil.

 

[Venheart]

This isn't entirely accurate. Meowstic also has a meh defensive type, poor bulk and no real offensive power. Also Aurorus, for some weird reason, does not learn Aurora Veil.

Oh, that is right about Aurorus. I forgot about that one. And what I mean about being able to function in any tier means that Prankster Pokemon can typically still do things with the right switch-in. M Meowstic can dismantle a lot of Pokemon reliably with Trick and Skill Swap, Steal boosts with Snatch, setup Trick Room without negatively impacting himself, Thunder Wave any non-electric or ground type without fear of being out-sped, or use Psych Up on a Pokemon who's been setting up on you. You can get things done without needing support from other Pokemon, unlike say Rapidash who struggles to OHKO a lot of threats not weak to Fire and typically KOs herself with recoil and low HP. There is a reason why he's untiered for sure, but there are Pokemon in lower tiers, even untiered Pokemon, who can still put in work. You typically just need to be creative, unless you're literally going to tournaments with people who will be just as skilled, if not more skilled, than yourself.

 

[gimmepie]

Oh, that is right about Aurorus. I forgot about that one. And what I mean about being able to function in any tier means that Prankster Pokemon can typically still do things with the right switch-in. M Meowstic can dismantle a lot of Pokemon reliably with Trick and Skill Swap, Steal boosts with Snatch, setup Trick Room without negatively impacting himself, Thunder Wave any non-electric or ground type without fear of being out-sped, or use Psych Up on a Pokemon who's been setting up on you. You can get things done without needing support from other Pokemon, unlike say Rapidash who struggles to OHKO a lot of threats not weak to Fire and typically KOs herself with recoil and low HP. There is a reason why he's untiered for sure, but there are Pokemon in lower tiers, even untiered Pokemon, who can still put in work. You typically just need to be creative, unless you're literally going to tournaments with people who will be just as skilled, if not more skilled, than yourself.

It's certainly possible to use low-tiered mon in higher tiers with the right team, but there's no niche for Meowstic to fill that isn't already done better by something like Klefki, Whimsicott or Sableye which are all better Prankster abusers. Especially Klefki.

So you combine how outclassed it is with it's litany of other weaknesses and the only way you're going to fit it on a higher-tiered team is if there's a specific Pokemon that it needs to counter for you that the others somehow don't Also Psych Up and Snatch are way too gimmicky and situational to be considered viable options.

 

[Venheart]

It's certainly possible to use low-tiered mon in higher tiers with the right team, but there's no niche for Meowstic to fill that isn't already done better by something like Klefki, Whimsicott or Sableye which are all better Prankster abusers. Especially Klefki.

So you combine how outclassed it is with it's litany of other weaknesses and the only way you're going to fit it on a higher-tiered team is if there's a specific Pokemon that it needs to counter for you that the others somehow don't Also Psych Up and Snatch are way too gimmicky and situational to be considered viable options.

But the point of this thread is to talk about what we CAN do with Meowstic. We know Meowstic is weak. We don't need to beat that dead Ponyta. Being outclassed in every way doesn't mean you can't be used, and that's what we're talking about. Just because there are clearly better options doesn't mean someone who loves Meowstic can't make something work, and luckily, Prankster allows for even the worst Prankster-users to be able to do things without that big a difficulty unlike a lot of untiered Pokemon who you really need to bend over backwards to get to accomplish anything.

I realize I'm promoting sets that could be done a lot better by Pokemon like Klefki, but that's not the point.

 

[gimmepie]

But the point of this thread is to talk about what we CAN do with Meowstic. We know Meowstic is weak. We don't need to beat that dead Ponyta. Being outclassed in every way doesn't mean you can't be used, and that's what we're talking about. Just because there are clearly better options doesn't mean someone who loves Meowstic can't make something work, and luckily, Prankster allows for even the worst Prankster-users to be able to do things without that big a difficulty unlike a lot of untiered Pokemon who you really need to bend over backwards to get to accomplish anything.

I realize I'm promoting sets that could be done a lot better by Pokemon like Klefki, but that's not the point.

You're largely promoting sets that are situational and bad on Meowstic too. Psych Up and Snatch just aren't good on anything.

I'm not saying they shouldn't use Meowstic. I'm advising them that if they do, the best place to do it would be PU because the higher up the tier list they go, the less and less usable Mewostic is.

Wherever they plan to use it, the set they said earlier - screens, T-wave and Psychic - is the best one.

Meowstic-M @Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic

 

[Venheart]

Psych Up and Snatch aren't bad, people just don't know how to use them correctly because they require you to play proactively. You need to pay attention to what your opponent is doing and outsmart them. There are a lot of predictable mons that you can easily take advantage of. If you're confident in your ability to predict your opponent, then they're powerful tools. If you aren't confident in your ability to do that, then they'll likely not get used properly.

 

[gimmepie]

Psych Up and Snatch aren't bad, people just don't know how to use them correctly because they require you to play proactively. You need to pay attention to what your opponent is doing and outsmart them. There are a lot of predictable mons that you can easily take advantage of. If you're confident in your ability to predict your opponent, then they're powerful tools. If you aren't confident in your ability to do that, then they'll likely not get used properly.

They're situational, which makes them bad. Especially on already weak Pokemon.
You're better off running something that can boost itself or heal (or both) reliably. Otherwise Snatch and Psych Up, while really cool concepts, are slots that can be much better filled in a moveset. The only real advantage I can see to Psych Up or Snatch is that nobody will see it coming because it's so far outside the meta - and after you do it once that's an advantage that they'll know to play around.

 

[NevDev]

Just to kind of finish this discussion up, thank you both for your opinions. I think what I'm going to do is make a team the way I've said I would and gimmepie recommended and try it out in PU. I might also experiment with Psych Up or snatch a little just for fun, but screens, T-wave and Psychic will be my go-to's probably.

Anyways, I'm happy with advice I've got so far, and I'm gonna try my luck with it now!