Hey, UU community! I was wanting to understand if there is any viability in coreless teams. I know they would not have as great synergy in certain pairs, but what if it was a whole team with synergy that can't be achieved with a core?
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Viability of coreless?
- Thread starter irtehmrepic
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Tbh, a "coreless team" like what you described is basically a six-pokemon core. The advantage of pairs and trios is that they can either cover a lot of threats (defensive) or defeat a lot of threats (offensive) using as few teamslots as possible, which frees up Pokemon to do other stuff like set hazards or pass Wishes without having to worry as much about covering a certain threat. Overall, your team should have some synergy between the members, but cores are generally a better way to start teambuilding.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong or I missed something
Someone correct me if I'm wrong or I missed something
That actually is exactly what I am thinking. The only trouble I see is if you lose a switch-in, like if you lose a tanking Shuckle, for example, then your team falls apart. But if you can do smart switching, then the entire team benefits. Maybe cores would be more important in higher tiers, but the mid-to-low tiers could benefit from coreless play, in my opinion, anyways.
If your team falls apart when you lose a shuckle then you've got a lot of problems.
The reason I said that is because it's part of the team synergy, which is kind of the point of this post. A discussion of a team without any real cores, where each pokemon is invaluable to the team's overall strength. This shows that you didn't understand the meaning of "coreless".
If each Pokemon is invaluable, then wouldn't losing one of them weaken you anyways? Or am I misunderstanding?
No, you have it right. In my team, for example, (Phione, Cincinno, Dragalge, Zoroark, Shuckle, and Mega Beedril) I have 2 sweepers, 1 bulky attacker, 2 stallers, and a Hydrest Phione. While there is no specific core, the beauty is that any one of my pokemon can be taken out and my team isn't absolutely crippled. You take out a part of a core, your opponent's strategy crumbles.
The thing is that any good team will inevitably end up with a core whether or not you begin building with one. Let's say you're making a team designed to sweep with Curselax. One of the Pokemon you add is something to deal with Ghost types, say Pursuit Aerodactyl. This a core whether you intended it or not.
That took a little while to pop up. This actually is a phenomenon I like to call 'pseudo-core'. It creates a check/balance. That's the nature of teambuilding. You need to cover your weaknesses that you present with your base. So, a 'pseudo-core' is created due to the dynamics of teambuilding. But I don't think of it as a true core because I never say, "Hey, my team will be based on this pairing!" It's like a ditto. The start is weak, but it can be so much more because it can change to fit a situation.
So your problem isn't really with the core itself, its with why its called a core...?
The thing is, no Pokemon can sweep the entire metagame on its own. That right there is criteria for banning. It's going to need something to support it. That's the foundation of a core, whether you call it a core or not. Now these two Pokemon will probably have Pokemon that beat them both. If we're using LeoLancaster's example of Snorlax and a Pursuiter (Aerodactyl), you're going to have a problem with Scarfed Mienshao, because it can come in on any non-attacking move Snorlax uses, and Stone Edge from M-Aero or after a kill, and threaten. So you add a third Pokemon, something that can check Scarf Mienshao, like CM Cresselia. Cresselia also dislikes Ghost-types, which Mega Aero can handle, and certain Pokemon that Snorlax can handle. That can make it part of a three-Pokemon core. Like it or not, you're ending up with a core of either 2 or 3 Pokemon + 4/6 supporting mons that help the trio do their job.
I'm not entirely sure this is the same format for stall as I'm not much of a stall player anyways, but yeah.
Um, no. I really just am wondering what if we didn't have a solid core? Would that be viable? The thing with a team with a core is, if you want to switch up your team, you can't swap out a member of your core with anything. You have to replace it with another pokemon that fits that position. My coreless team, on the other hand, has no true core, so if I want to replace, say, Phione, I just have to think what checks and balances it fills, and replace based on that. There is no true core, letting my team be fluid. That's the root of this discussion: Can a team have that fluidity and still be strong enough to face up against a more niche-based team?
I can answer this. The answer is no. You cannot build a viable "accidental" core because of the pressence of meta. Meta prevents teams from being all the same because certain pokemon cannot be walled by a general defensive pokemon. Lets take P2 and cresselia for example. P2 is your special wall and cress is your physical. Together with defensces and typing they look like the purfect duo. Well a little Lord called Heracross exists in UU. Heracross can break through cress with stab megahorn and p2 dies to cc. If you know meta then youll probably put something like nidoqueen or doublade on your team to deal with hera. You cant just put stuff on a team that looks good because you will get swept by common threats. On my new team, I have a defensive wall Tangrowth. Due to salamence being a threat i put hp ice on tangrowth. Now that makes me pretty susceptible to fire moves as a physical wall. Im in fear of stuff like entei, darmanitan, and infernape. So now i need something that can take a fire move from these things. I chose arcanine offensive because i can still be offensive and take physical fire moves with intimidate. But wait, entei has stone edge. So i need a nice middle ground in case he tries to predict. I chose calm mind slowking. You have got to build in mind of the current meta otherwise you will stay low ladder.
I hope this helps lol. If you take anything from this, let it be that considering meta is key to a great team.
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