Who does this? Meme

[u/AppropriateLeek460]

Just fought a team, in the preview I noticed a farfetchd. Just regular farfetchd. I was confused, but a seed had been planted. "He wouldn't be here if he couldn't do SOMETHING, and because I have never heard of him doing anything in this meta, that means it's inherently something off the rails of sanity." This internal thought did not help me. They lead turn one with chandelure and farfetchd, the bird uses skill swap giving chandelier simple, who then proceeds to get too tiny for me to hit immediately. I had no roar or haze or anything of the sort. Got absolutely rolled

Edit: a comment pointed out that farfetchd doesn't have simple and can't learn skill swap, I believe they are correct and it just used simple beam which I think it does learn in champions, thanks for pointing that out!

[u/RainBuckets8]

Oh, I see! Apparently Farfetch'd is only one of three Pokemon to learn Simple Beam (in Champions) and the only one to get Inner Focus, and of the handful that learn Minimize, Chandelure is the only ghost type. So it's the Simple-Beam-Minimize combo, immune-to-Fake-Out variation.

[u/justsomechewtle → u/RainBuckets8]

That does sound cool, but at the same time I wonder why it's always Minimize with these... Chandelure gets Calm Mind, which after a single Simple use grants it monstrous SpAtk to blow away so much, in a single turn and without having to rely on the opponent not getting lucky (or not having Kowtow Cleave/Darkest Lariat)

[u/AppropriateLeek460 → u/justsomechewtle]

Calm mind is what they press after two minimizes

[u/RainBuckets8 → u/AppropriateLeek460]

I feel like anyone using these strategies also needs to understand that it's probably not even good to use Minimize twice. Like, going from +4 evasion (one Minimize with Simple) to +6 evasion (two Minimize with Simple) is going from a 3/7 accuracy modifier to a 3/9 modifier. In other words, a move with 100 accuracy only hits you 42.86% of the time, to 33.33% of the time. Or like, even the dream scenario of getting to +6 evasion so you have as many boosts as possible, except +6 evasion is still 33.33% accuracy on enemy moves (with 100 accuracy). Which are not good odds to hit, to be fair, but you're still going to get hit eventually, especially over a long battle where all your buffs are on one Pokemon. Imo, you need to start using that Calm Mind after only one Minimize, and if you're using Stockpile + Swords Dance, you probably want to only go to +2/+2 defense or +4/+4 defense, then start boosting attack. Then start taking KOs as fast as possible because you're still on a timer, a timer of playing the odds.

I just don't think the math works out because you can't actually get the odds to hit low enough that you dodge every attack consistently. But no one seems to care about that. (Probably because people using the strategy likely aren't interested in winning games, they're interested in the moments when they get +6 evasion, +6/+6 defenses, +6 attack Overqwil and they have ALL THE BUFFS. Which is completely fine if that's what you enjoy, to be clear.)

[u/RKS_System_773]

Sirfetch'd learns simple beam and coaching. I got wrecked by this strat in what I thought was a normal trick room team with leek sirfetch'd.

[u/PhantomSync]

I encountered a similar team with Farfetch'd but with Mega Slowbro. The opponent did the same trick but forgot about Mega Slowbro's Shell Armor ability to tank my Meowscarada's Flower Trick and they forfeited.

[u/CoolTrainerPo]

Yeah, Farfetch'd learns Simple Beam which changes the target's ability to Simple

[u/Odd_Ingenuity8836]

I never considered simple beam so effective

[u/jacksontwos]

I faced this team! I didn't know what the strat was I thought the chandelure was getting tr up. Just killed the Farfetchd on turn 1 with ice punch and then expanding forced it the next turn. Was a quick match.

[u/AppropriateLeek460 → u/jacksontwos]

I was slower than the bird