When the Pokemon are maxed out and the games get tough, beating the box becomes a valuable strategy. Having a counter for the top Pokemon in the meta is what beating the box is all about. In the past couple of weeks, we have covered beating the boxes of the other leagues in part one and part two. Check out pvpoke to help you understand the details of all the matchups and look at the rankings for all the leagues. Shout out to Zyonik over on Youtube who is the person who taught me about this strategy.
Master League is where the absolute monsters of Pokemon Go do battle. It's where the best of the best are put to the test, which is why Master League was dominated by legendary Pokemon when it was first introduced. The arrival of the Premier Cup was a breath of fresh air and allowed a greater variety of Pokemon to see play. Traditional Master League has seen some changes in the past couple of months with Mamoswine rising to number five in the ranks and Groudon getting Fire Punch to put it at number one. Mamoswine is exciting but Master League is still dominated by legendary and mythical Pokemon with the top four Pokemon being Groudon, Giratina (origin), Mewtwo, and Melmetal; with Dialga and Zekrom not far behind.
Today we will be focusing on just Premier Cup teams. I'll showcase some staple teams for players who are new to the league as well as some spicy picks for more experienced players looking to experiment. The teams that are considered "meta" are teams that for the most part consist of a combination of the top four Pokemon.
The Box
This box isn't an exact representation of the rankings, but rather more of a simplification. Garchomp for example is ranked slightly higher than Dragonite and has different coverage, but Dragonite is the more available Pokemon. Dragonite is expressing the threat that dragon types pose on the meta because multiple of them are dominant. Dragonbreath is one of the best fast moves in the game and Dragon Claw spam is always solid.
Snorlax is in a similar position as Swampert was in my Ultra League article. Shadow Snorlax is ranked higher (number one in fact) but shadow Pokemon are rare and expensive to power up, while regular Snorlax is a Pokemon most people have. Snorlax is very powerful and actually has a super diverse moveset. Lick is its best fast move, generating energy quickly and dealing neutral damage to almost everything. For charge moves, it has access to Body Slam as it's staple move and then Superpower, Outrage, and Earthquake depending on the coverage you want. It also has Skull Bash and Heavy Slam if you're feeling extra spicy. Body Slam, as I said, is the staple charge move of Snorlax but the second charge move can catch people by surprise. A typical play pattern I've seen is to spam Body Slam to do chip damage or get shields and then hit back to back Superpower in the mirror or against steels. Earthquake is popular enough so that a Metagross will usually block the first charge move you throw but Outrage will usually catch people off guard especially on the safe switch. This will allow you to one-shot those dragons and flip the match. If you desire to take your spice to absolute scorching levels you could Heavy Slam some poor unsuspecting Togekiss right out of the game.
Togekiss is the best charmer in the league and is the hardest counter to the dragons. Charm is in most cases, the only move this Pokemon needs. It shreds anything that is neutral to it and deletes anything that is weak to it. Flamethrower is some nice coverage and gives you something to throw at the Metagross that is going to come in. The dynamic of Togekiss, Metagross, and Dragonite is the core of the Premier Cup. Fairy beats dragon, Steel beats Fairy, and for the most part, Dragons beat Metagross.
Metagross in my eyes is the king of the Premier Cup. Steel types in general have been dominant in regular Master League, and Meteor Mash is an extremely powerful move. It deals a hundred damage for only fifty energy and Bullet punch charges to it pretty quickly. Metagross can be one of, if not the most oppressive Pokemon in the Premier Cup if you don't have a spot on your team to counter it.
Meta Picks
Mamoswine Lead Team
The reason Mamoswine is on the lead is to catch those dragons. It also has good matchups against Metagross if we get ahead on energy and hit a Bulldoze and it can do work against Snorlax. Snorlax is our true shot at beating a Metagross that might be in the back, so we need to get shields early and navigate properly through the mid-game.
Dragonite Lead Team
In my opinion, this is one of the best teams I've seen other content creators use. Dragonite and Metagross very well together has a core with Metagross being that cover against Fairy and Ice types. Snorlax is one of the best safe switches in the league and on this team you could run Superpower over Earthquake for the better Snorlax mirror. This strategy is fine but you run the risk of relying on Dragonite to win the Metagross fight or a well-timed Earthquake for your own.
Spicy Picks
Gyarados Lead Team
Gyarados isn't the spiciest pick but it is a pet favorite of mine. Aqua Tail charges fast and hits hard and Crunch is excellent coverage. Rhyperior is pretty spicy and covers Gyarados well by taking out Magnezone and does damage to Togekiss and Dragonite with Rock Wrecker. Surf drenches opposing Ground Types and Mud Slap shreds Metagross. Snorlax is here to round out the team and we're running it with Outrage to try and one-shot those Dragon types.
Scizor Cover Team
This team is similar to the Dragonite lead team we mentioned earlier. Scizor and Metagross both completely stain Togekiss and play the same role on their teams. Scizor is able to throw multiple Night Slashes after farming down Togekiss and if you get the attack buff, you could go on a rampage and get plenty of shields from the opponent. We also have Outrage on this Snorlax to help against other dragons. Garchomp is more useful on this team than Dragonite would be since we don't have Earthquake on Snorlax and we need a hard counter for Metagross.
Ampharos Safe Switch Team
This team is more about the spice than the other teams with Ampharos is the back. Electric type moves, in general, aren't considered "safe" in Premier Cup because there's a bunch of Pokemon carrying Ground as a secondary typing such as Garchomp, Mamoswine, and Swampert. However, Volt Switch charge moves very quickly and deals so much damage, Thunder Punch is fantastic shield bait, and Focus Blast can one-shot basically everything once shields are down. Garchomp and Metagross are our core such has been the case for some of our other teams. Having Metagross and Ampharos does leave us vulnerable to Ground types; especially Garchomp even though we have solid Dragonite coverage.
With that, we have come to the end of this three-part series on beating the box. I sincerely hope you have gotten something out of these articles and that at the very least they were fun to read. Next week we'll be looking for the best budget Pokemon in terms of raid attackers as well as the Go Battle League. So if you're a player with not a lot of Stardust or a perhaps a new player looking to start taking down raids or get on the grind for season four of Go Battle League make sure to stay tuned for next week's article. The best way to do that is to join the Fellowship by following us on our socials. If you're looking for some vlog content, check out what Sue Ann has been doing on our Youtube channel. Thanks for reading and have a great day.
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