CM Sylv 2/3

shaian

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[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Calm Mind
move 3: Substitute / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Pixilate
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 88 SpA / 8 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hyper Voice is a powerful STAB move which does heavy damage to every non-resisted Pokemon in the metagame. Calm Mind turns Sylveon in to a a very threatening presence on the Special side. Substitute is used in order to avoid pesky status moves whilst setting up, as well as to provide Sylveon some room in order to setup easier. Hidden Power Ground can be used instead of Substitute in order to deal decent amounts of damage to threatening Steel-types such as Heatran, Aegislash, and Jirachi. Protect lets Sylveon shield itself from attacks while a partner takes out a threat, stall out opposing field conditions, recover HP safely, and punish double targets.

Set Details
========
The HP and Defense EVs allow Sylveon to survive 2 Earthquakes from Landorus-T, and also prevents Landorus-T's Rock Slide from breaking Sylveon's Substitutes, and the HP and Special Defense investment allows Sylveon to always survive a Flash Cannon from Life Orb Aegislash. Leftovers is the chosen item in order to recover HP passively behind a Substitute. Sylveon can also make use of a Pixie Plate in order to bluff a Choice Specs set, however that is not recommended as Calm Mind Sylveon really appreciates the healing and even with a boosting item the damage output at +0 is mediocre at best.

Usage Tips
========
This set functions best on more balanced, semi-Trick Room team compositions, whereas more immediate offensive oriented teams prefer to use the Choice Specs set. The key to making full use of Calm Sylveon is to find an opportunity to come in on a non-threatening foe such as Hydreigon and proceed to setup. Sylveon should take care to avoid being statused, most notably burns, as that hinders it as it setups. Due to the high base power of Hyper Voice, Sylveon becomes incredibly threatening at even +1 or +2 meaning that setting up to +6 is often unnecessary, often being more of a mistake as Sylveon should begin to provide offensive support as soon as possible.

Team Options
========
Calm Mind Sylveon is best used with some form of redirection, an Intimidate user, and a Fake Out user. Fake Out and redirection provide Sylveon with safe turns to setup, and Intimidate helps to mitigate Sylveons Defense deficiency. Effective partners for Fake Out include Scrafty, who comes with Intimidate, Mega Kangaskhan who is an imposing offensive presence that tends to attract the opponents attention away from Sylveon, and more offensively inclined teams can make use of Infernape who can deal with various threats to Sylveon thanks to its useful Fire- and Fighting-type coverage. Other Intimidate users such as Landorus-T and Gyarados also work well as partners, both being able to deal with Fire-types easily, and Landorus-T also working well as a Steel-type check. Steel-type checks in general are very much appreciated by Syveon, Pokemon such as Heatran, Charizard, Keldeo, and Terrakion all being good candidates for this position. The ideal redirection options for Sylveon are Jirachi and Amoonguss, both of which can provide safety from threatening physical attacks in order to safely setup. Calm Mind Sylveon works well when used in conjunction with a Trick Room user, with partners such as Cresselia, Hoopa-U, and Jellicent being good partners for the job. Hoopa-U in particular works excellently due to the ease in which it handles opposing Aegislash and Jirachi which can easily deal with Sylveon otherwise.
 
Last edited:

Checkmater

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I would say one of the biggest things cm sylv brings over noncm is its ability to beat heatran rather handily.

Against Tran without cm you're going to have some trouble dealing with awkward hp grounding into sub and tran just heat wave chipping you every time it gets a chance but when you see tran with cm sylv you just click cm and since you have lefties you (for the most part) just get to murder its partner indiscriminately while hpgrounding tran whenever you have to
 

talkingtree

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  • [Moves] Talk about EPower
  • [Set] Slash Pixie Plate (not Earth, you typo'd that in Set Details) behind Lefties
  • [Usage Tips] "Avoid unnecessary statuses like sleep or twind" you got your TWs mixed up oops
  • [Usage Tips] Maybe discuss when you should use CM instead of Hyper Voice, like what teams it fits better on? If it doesn't flow well feel free to leave it out
  • [Team Options] Kang checks are needed, since it breaks your sub but still does a lot on second hit
Take this halfway to letting you write it up QC 1/3
 

Idyll

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checkmate
  • Pixie Plate is a no-slash, Set Details mention thing
  • Mention that Hidden Ground hits a good number of Steels as a whole too, Aegislash and Jirachi etc.
  • You should probs reorder the fourth Usage Tip in order; emphasize where this set fits first before mentioning where Specs is better. This should also probs be first lol.
  • Remember to mention examples of attack drop things and kang checks
2/3
 

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