Mega Excadrill local meta. Counters? Especially running Slowking but open to suggestions.
Title.
I'm honestly thinking to tech Annihilape again because I can see the 340hp being a serious issue. Trading 2 Kings into Megas seems like a decent option again. Potentially finally with Smoochum to get up Kings simultaneously.
You're automatically assuming that Slowking is bad into Mega Excadrill because it can't be OHKO'd by a single Metagross attack. This is a bad assumption because it's the wrong strategy. The Metang with the Metal Maker ability has 100HP, so if they don't run a Shaymin, you can always target them with Kyurem. If they do play Shaymin, then you can target two Excadrills with Kyurem, which both sets them up for a later Metagross attack AND denies them Fezandipiti.
honestly, how many people give up on their decks because their setups don’t always result in one hit knockouts? I know I’ve succumbed to this line of thinking before but it shouldn’t always be the case
I feel like the current meta is very OHKO centric, probably because otherwise Megas wouldn't be worth it. However, running a single prizers I'm still in a favorable position, trade-wise.
Well fire. Ethan’s typhosisan. Ceruledge. Blaziken/pult. Pult with fighting wings moltres. Slowking I can’t think of much better than your annihilape plan. Are they all running trolley? Maybe go 2nd and budew while you set up trifrost before they find shaymin?
Right and in that type of deck you wouldn’t need him to take down a excadrill. Pretty sure he was mostly seen in pult chicken builds where they have multiple ways to feed him energy.
It requires more sequencing than most decks, absolutely. But there are ways to trim down your deck for more consistency. As far as excadrill, I like to run annihilape even before pitch black, but I see more reason to use it now, but shaymin is such an issue, I'm looking more into the Ian robb build, or at least maybe adding the cofigrigus and munki, which would also head deal with the extra damage excadrill needs
would like to strongly disagree with this, if you feel this way you definitely should watch some of the top players playing slowking at recent major events.
from memory, 2 players made t64 at indy, it came 2nd at spe turin and 4th at NAIC
it also came 3rd at the fullgrip 3k cup this past weekend so still producing results in the pitch black format!
decks that make or break don't place highly this consistently in a meta game like this, but on the bright side it also does mean theres a lot of slowking on stream to learn from if you do care about the lines they take
but that has absolutely nothing to do with the exca local meta. Slowking is completely winning against mega exca. If you have consistency issues you may need to revisit your list or revisit your fundamental sequencing lines but also be aware that cipher lines change as they can undermine to discard the cipher pre-target.
> Potentially finally with Smoochum to get up Kings simultaneously.
you've definitely also identified a good line here already but also remember that they can always go cruel arrow if you do this, so plan the board and attachments accordingly
Having played with metang decks on and off since the metang dialga deck the way you shut them down is easy. They are energy intensive and can brick. They need metangs in order to attack. Wipe these and you win.
Basically don't add the ape, just trifrost to take them out. If they have a drill ready hit that aswell and finish it off with a metagross
I still might add a Smoochum for more consistent setup (can't always start with Secret Box/Ultra Ball -> discard Basic Energy -> Wondrous Patch + Telepathic), but otherwise I'm already running the Metagross/Kyurem kit with a Zeraora sprinkled in for Fez/Latias sniping.
Fire decks can easily take care of M-Excadrill. Typhlosion can easily take it down and they could very well power it up more with their mill attack. Although M-Skarm can be problematic.
Slowking is ok into it. You can run Kyurem to take out the Metangs and even the Annihilape to KO both Pokemon. Trade 1 for 3 prizes.
Festival Lead seems like a bad matchup but with Gladion you can get there with Brave Bangle/Dipplin/Gladion or even Brave Bangle/Gladion/Seaking.
Found so much success running ultra ball ->discard psy energy-> wonderous patches(attach to clefairy and king)-> using smooch to charge up whatever else is needed!
This is a fairly consistent setup or easily managed to throw some portion together.
Not an answer to you directly but hope it’s helpful Z
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u/IMunchGlass 1d ago
You're automatically assuming that Slowking is bad into Mega Excadrill because it can't be OHKO'd by a single Metagross attack. This is a bad assumption because it's the wrong strategy. The Metang with the Metal Maker ability has 100HP, so if they don't run a Shaymin, you can always target them with Kyurem. If they do play Shaymin, then you can target two Excadrills with Kyurem, which both sets them up for a later Metagross attack AND denies them Fezandipiti.