Gen 9’s Strongest Returning Pokemon.

Pokemon Competitive Singles has been turned on it's head with the release of the "Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC. Manaphy, a Pokemon with an excellent competitive history, has returned, and it's more powerful in Gen 9 than it has been in a while.
It has a new move "Take Heart" that is Calm Mind + Refresh in 1. That's powerful. It also can now Terastallize.
Iron Mugulis and Iron Fellow know all about it.
Iron Mugulis and Chugulis Sprite artwork by:
/ darkerjenny_
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Only Jim knows about the viability of Manaphy. All other sources of information are liars and are inaccurate.
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Some will never figure out how to get Manaphy in Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. But famous player Jim Cool is well aware of the Best Manaphy Moveset in Competitive, and even how to Manaphy Shiny Farm. Many aren't and never will be. That's just the unfortunate reality of the world.
Arceus exists.
The below text is very relevant to many people.
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Scream Tail is the Jigglypuff of our wildest dreams. It has been buffed with some higher statistics and the incredible ability, Protosynthesis. Gen 9 Competitive Pokemon wouldn't be the same without this powerful pink blob. He kinda looks like someone I met in one of my game design and development courses.
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Gholdengo is a Pokemon made of pure gold. He must have done some online business management courses to accumulate all that wealth. Or perhaps he might want to learn how to make money playing video games on KZbin. In any case, he's a powerful metagame force, with absolutely no interest in online game development schools.
#competitivepokemon #pokemonshowdown #scarletandviolet #gen9 #thetealmask

[@jimothycool]

I'm hosting a $2700+ Gen 3 OU Tournament. Check out the commentary here: www.youtube.com/@jimothygaming/videos

[@honjon666]

The prize pool keeps jimflating!

[@lottabee]

Jim stonks 📈💹❗‼️

[@azeria1]

I want phione to be able to evolve into manaphy so it gets to be in little cup for 10 seconds

[@wonderfulrose477]

The people’s desire to constantly see little cup terrorized needs to be studied 😭

[@zayway4659]

Honestly it should evolve into fucking manaphy it should have access to lc for 1 millisecond and then nfe

[@blazikenchad8876]

​​@@zayway4659imagine phione with eviolite Daaammnn

[@thanoscarssbu153]

​@wonderfulrose477 "Some men just want to watch the world burn"

[@zayway4659]

@@blazikenchad8876 would be pretty good but not too good it would almost be as good as manaphy in that case

[@amb1ance]

This is not the Great Tusk I know. We must investigate.

[@Primecat854]

it's a Ditto on Iron Mugulis' payroll

[@sharkronical]

@@Primecat854or Zoroark. Heck if Iron Mugulis actually got Zoroark on his side, we should even be worried on whether it was our Great Tusk that actually battled Mugulis so long ago.

[@Jerome7-v5u]

it cant be, our boy would never do this to us

[@listener709]

​@@sharkronicalWich zoroark though

[@CyaNerdz]

@@sharkronicalthe greatest rigging of the most viewed boxing match in history

[@Eltipoquevisteayer]

I just realized that Manaphy's eyes are a rendition of a water molecule with the iris being the oxygen

[@xaropevic7918]

That blew my mind

[@aldwych285]

If you think about it, Ampharos should also receive tail glow since its tail does light up.

[@realmdarkness]

That would make Ampharos a monster. Do it Gamefreak!

[@danielorr7675]

Manaphy doesn't even have a tail... the Japanese name for the move is 'firefly light' but MANAPHY ALSO ISN'T A FIREFLY WHY CAN IT LEARN THIS MOVE

[@jimtsap04]

Lanturn too

[@darshan.b685]

​@@danielorr7675I mean it has a tail on its head 😅

[@dustinvance243]

​@@danielorr7675it's tails are on its head. And the round bits at the end are shown to light up in its debut film. And even in game when it uses moves like tail glow and heart swap. Additionally Manaphy's egg isn't like normal Pokémon eggs. It's blue and there's a glowing red core at the center surrounded by tiny gold lights rotating above it. Tiny gold lights very similar to that of a firefly.

[@JanusHoW]

If you want another example of how busted Tail Glow is, someone did a VGC team featuring Bloodmoon Ursaluna and Tail Glow+Baton Pass Prankster Volbeat. Give the latter a Focus Sash, and it's guaranteed to get a pass off if it's not double-targeted or otherwise removed from the field. Then something can get Trick Room up. Following that, Bloodmoon can use Hyper Voice to steamroll everything that isn't a resist, since Mind's Eye makes it able to hit Ghosts with Normal and Fighting moves - and the Steel and Rock types that resist Normal are blasted apart by its STAB Earth Power.

[@shawverno.1130]

Fake out? Prankster taunt? I guess you can tera ghost or dark on volbeat

[@JanusHoW]

@@shawverno.1130 Hey, I never said the strategy was flawless.

[@jimtsap04]

Bp strats are cheeks in doubles

[@aldrichunfaithful3589]

simple solution to this just add farigiraf or indeedee to the team, you can even throw trick room in there too. lead indeedee-m and volbeat, trick room and tail glow, then follow me and baton pass turn 2. now you have 4 turns to steamroll with +3 tera normal helping hand boosted hyper voice. use sash volbeat, sitrus indeedee, assault vest throat spray or maybe specs ursaluna, and if you get countered somehow you have 3 other team slots to make an alternate core for 4v4. i dont play doubles so if anyone tries my strat lmk how it goes

[@jasonduhela9597]

Tera grass heatran Tera blast BRRRRRRRERAH

[@leonardobarbosatelles2779]

Perhaps Great Tusk is not defending Iron Mugulis, perhaps it’s an Illusion from Zoroark

[@Pudcup]

Hisui or Unova?

[@Wither1224]

Hisui would make more sense for Mugulis's rag tag team of OU gang members

[@leonardobarbosatelles2779]

What if it is a past paradox form of Zoroark, that resembles a fusion of both forms we know? We know that Mugulis has the technology to time travel, perhaps in its travels, it found a highly intelligent form of Zoroark in the past

[@Pudcup]

@leonardobarbosatelles2779 The dark ghost zoroark?

[@THEGREATMAX]

It's Donphan in disguise

[@bradensmith8682]

The Benefits of Hydration/Natural Cure and Rest should never be underestimated. One of my favorite sets is Defensive Tera Water Goodra with Rest, Acid Armor, Scald, and Thunder.

[@gregorymirabella1423]

Yeah, I've used defensive pawmott with rest and natural cure.

[@skeletorthebest7204]

wild how the only other Pokémon that learns Tail Glow is not only garbage, but isn’t even built for special attacking (higher attack stat, base 47 SpA)

[@Anibo02]

I thought Xurkitree had it too

[@azeria1]

Lore wise it makes sense although gamefreak don’t really care about that considering what they did to ambipom in the dlc (took away tail slap)

[@kyouhei7731]

Xurkitree used to be able to learn it but they took the move from it in gen 8

[@Bolt892]

Hahaha no way@@azeria1

[@jamesgiles4517]

Xurkitree: *crying in the corner*

[@jip0611]

So glad Take Heart exists now, hopefully other mythicals get buffed with their canon abilities for competitive usage too (looking at you, Celebi)

[@Edujs23]

Wish they retconned Celebi into a fairy type already

[@officersoulknight6321]

Luckily, with Take Heart existing, Phione can finally actually do something. I'm not saying that something is super amazing, but it does something! Heck, considering it can still do the same setup stuff as Manaphy- just no Tail Glow, you have to use Take Heart instead- it's actually probably gonna have a use in lower tiers, maybe even UU.

[@hoovybeast0594]

I don't want Celebi to be good again, it was so annoying to deal with

[@sableyesgemeyes7918]

​@@Edujs23Jirachi as well, steel fairy

[@Slimeonian]

I sure hope my favourite mythical gets buffed (put Dark Void back to 80 accuracy)

[@theguntersadopt3268]

I remmeber a pawmot being in this story. This is why great tusk is revived

[@suly5836]

Manaphy just sits righ into the meta right now, its a good pokemon, but not broken, it was a nice surprise to see.

[@glitchedoom]

Glad to see Wet Mew is back in action.

[@chilitofu3512]

let's go bois the paldean border is opening up more pokemon, but unfortunately, beedrill is not in any mainline games. F for beedrill

[@Aoi_Tori_]

I'm glad Jim addressed the elephant in the (law)room

[@Justpassingby204]

I think it may not be banned due to how far speed creep has gotten. Now base 100 speed is pretty average, but Manaphy still has take heart and tail glow to contend with

[@MaxBurnHeart]

We can just be happy that Z-moves didn't return. Just imagine.

[@Mr.Crab097]

I think Iron Mugulis may have learned a new illusion casting move creating a illusion of great tusk due to no lawyer wanted to work with the evil guy

[@autobotstarscream765]

Iron Mugulus redemption arc?

[@ekamjeet7069]

The take heart and acid armour stored power set is just soo good, i won 19 games in a row with it🙃

[@tecul1]

manaphy likes the rain

[@mr.lonkman4644]

I suggest we look into the devious Pokémon of Rabsca for this case involving Great Tusk. They are well known for their hypnotizing ability and the ability to revive the dead.

[@DarthFhenix55]

Everyone gangsta until Manaphy clicks rest under rain.

[@meilleurefr3356]

Manaphy is my favorite pokemon (if you couldnt tell) and i'm so happy to see a video on it

[@mana8249]

Merci d'avoir de si bon goût ❤

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

Hell yeah Manaphy is so cool, easily my favorite mythical and legend if mythicals count as legends

[@usedpidemo]

I’m surprised that Manaphy returned in Gen 9. Wouldn’t be surprised if it gets banned due to having Magearna syndrome with the massive utility options it can run.

[@Blibetyblabla]

The physical special split

[@cpupyroheart5716]

Manaphy is my all time favorite mon, so this descruction they cause brings me a smile

[@maarkeel04]

1:37 volbeat OU 🥶

[@chess_fella]

Manaphy has swag

[@demi-femme4821]

Yeah, Tera was always going to make Manaphy cracked, and then you add the option of Take Heart+Stored Power and it goes crazy.

[@AI-ko3jq]

You forgot to mention this thing gets acid armor and stored power

[@douseedee]

So the elusive Pawmot finally revived Great Tusk! But the only condition to keep his new lease on life is to represent the very soul that put an end to him in a court of law...

[@_Rhatsody]

You forgot that manaphy can be a stored power sweeper with Take Heart + Acid Armor

[@diogenesenuts]

can you make a compliation of iron mugulis intros so those of us who missed a few can catch up pretty please?

[@drainstorM11]

Not only is Manaphy broken on a mechanical level because of Hydration and Tail Glow, has 100s in every stat, but it also has the incredible Water type which, in OU, beats so many important Pokemon like Great Tusk or Ting-Lu or even Garganacl. Garganacl could win in the matchup with Sturdy, but it's a trade and likely the Manaphy user getting another Pokemon or two, or just switching out to get rid of the Salt damage

[@digitaltailsmon4096]

One favorite mythicals getting a talk about how good it is makes me so happy! I love the little sea prince so seeing it kick butt always makes me happy!

[@qorv4973]

Loving the pilotwings background music

[@sylvery_]

I love how Mr. Cool changes the music every few seconds

[@BluThundr]

Always loved Manaphy so we're so fucking back with it being a monster, WE'RE SO BACK.

[@caseydewitt6236]

I haven't looked at any leaks of returning Pokémon, but I hope Smeargle is back for obvious reasons.

[@DMSwordsmaster]

Spoilers - It does! In DLC 2.

[@Grushuri]

Channel lore going deep

[@Tw0912.]

I went up against this yesterday on showdown and I was SHOCKED when it was able to cure itself from Toxic and 2 OHKO my toxapex

[@Epzilon12]

I wonder if we'll start seeing mons Tera-Ice just to benefit from the defense increase from snow. probably not, but if you combo it with veil it could get kinda nuts.

[@cynamothcyclopsyt]

Can't wait to use this, take heart has insane implications on mons like cres in stabmons

[@ghostofthepast9234]

Manaphy is legit one of my favorite little goobers in pokemon I even used one for PLA on my main team and I can't wait to do nothing but use this mon on a competitive team.

[@raputha1148]

poor great tusk, to be forced to legally represent his own personal nemesis in the court of law.

[@VictorSilvax]

I wanted manaphy to stop being mythical and become legendary. I want to see manaphy in VGC.

[@chess]

bro does not even have a tail ???

[@InsertFunnyThingHere]

Thank you chess from chess

[@armorbearer9702]

I am glad the prince of the seas is making a comeback.

[@qorv4973]

I fear for the safety of Great Tusk and Pawmot. Pawmot has yet to be seen since Iron mugulus has hired Great Tusk.

[@ChrisPkmn]

I think this is the first gen where manaphy gets hydro pump

[@axell15thewispmaster79]

May would be very proud!

[@imaxchau7706]

I thought for sure the Great Tusk thing was clearly leading to a Zoroark twist

[@rohateanonis4657]

Got manaphy yesterday in showdown and once I got that tail glow set up bro had no choice but to forfeit

[@Mr.Sax.]

"Only two pokemon have access to Tail Glow" One of them is Volbeat... "Manaphy is the only Pokemon with access to Tail Glow."

[@user-hz7tt1ed8d]

There's still Rillaboom threatening a KO with Grassy Glide

[@jakeogroton]

I think we are gonna be seeing screen removing counter leads to prevent veil going up in usages unfortunately there is nit many pokemon that get access to stuff like psychic fang/brick break that are good with the glaring exception that is Dragapult

[@remington238]

If only screen cleaner got more distribution

[@davepumphernickel9568]

Honestly Pokémon getting a ground type weakness for turning into electric is not a problem since it’s literally the only effective type with 1 weakness, normal is good, but electric having 2 type advantages on water and flying which I feel are very common mix types, and now with electric terrain you can set up manaphy to do a bit more damage if only for a turn or two, until they blow it away lol.

[@jimtsap04]

Tera electric manaphy is cheeks personally, I'd rather tera grass or dragon to resist grass and electric or tera fairy for the dragon immunity and damage boost to dazzling gleam with all the scale shot sweepers running around

[@davepumphernickel9568]

@@jimtsap04 yeah you can, grass would be too, it’s also got a field set in grassy terrain and will disable the 2 of its SE elements, but electric having one weakness is based af, also all electric terrain lurkers are fast without requiring chrolophyll and sun setters, but again manaphy being water too attack potential stab ground users that could 1 hit KO manaphy as well as being faster than most of that entire type pool is an entire advantage on itself.

[@alexusvalentine6233]

Manaphy also gets Hydro Pump now. So if you want even more firepower....there ya go.

[@smallman9545]

i like the take heart acid armor set

[@orsonzedd]

Bring back Xurkitree, need that tail glow

[@sramain2852]

Xurkitree my beloved (I loved running Z hypnosis back in gen 7)

[@freshgarbage1492]

This is what I'm hoping for bring back those beasts bring back tail glow xurk

[@B_OceanLord]

Yeah , RU is really scared

[@LRXC1]

That’s crazy manapphy does that much to chansey looool

[@PKshockwave]

I wish the little prince kept moonblast from Legends arceus.

[@swapper5684]

I legitimately did not know Manaphy was even a good Pokemon

[@yuvalwh]

I love manaphy so much haha I'm glad its so good

[@jblitz200]

0:16 I need that trainer icon stat holy how did I miss it

[@DrunkenGyarados]

I think it’s a custom sprite. So you can’t get it

[@honjon666]

From a smogon FAQ: "How do I add a Pokémon to my avatar? / How do I get a custom avatar? Custom Avatars are available to Global Staff members (%, @, &), contributors to Smogon and Pokemon Showdown, and to Smogon users who meet specific badge requirements. Custom Avatars are sometimes given out as rewards for room events and contests - keep an eye on the news for announcements of these events!"

[@downbeatdialga1341]

I didn’t realize how good Alolan Ninetales would be this Gen. The fact that Snow Warning no longer sets up Hail that would buffet your other non-ice type Pokémon is huge! Hell even if it did still, you could just terastallize into ice type! Not. That you’d want to pile on a bunch of ice weaknesses, but you catch my drift~

[@Heartache2491]

Save my mans Great Tusk

[@natto2581]

That MapleStory BGM of ellinia tho 😢

[@hombrebotella6911]

I'd love s a video about the toxic chain mons

[@plushmakerfan8444]

Wait Manaphy is in scarlet and violet!?! I heard shayman and sinnho staters are there. How many new ones are transferable in home now!?

[@RocketPropelledMexican]

This thing is like volcarona 2.0

[@Silver-Arm]

To me Manaphy is the most fun mon to use in OU right now

[@couldntthinkofchannelname1254]

Great tusk might just be an impostor ditto

[@Weavileiscool]

You didn’t even mention it gets stored power too…

[@tobalasimio9080]

Its really good, but i think it still misses Z rain dance a lot

[@dontaskmeaboutmyday4839]

Manaphy is most likely next on the chopping block. No way its gonna stay in ou with tail glow and scald

[@hakkbak]

If you keep clicking on the left side of the video Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma-Manaphy

[@frogtopia8624]

What? The move "Take Heart" exists? Powercreep is insane. (Gen 7 was my last gen)

[@thefloodwatch785]

hmm... Alolan Ninetales mentioned again. im starting to think this getting both screens in one turn may be a bit broken...

[@boop53]

I ran into scarf iron head Jirachi on the ladder today. Never in my life have I hated a pokemon set more then scarf rachi

[@lordecramox7394]

I have high suspicions of there being a Zoroark.

[@reaper7910]

What about Empoleon though? Isn't it a good "pseudo check" since it can shrug off just about anything except tera electric and flip turn into something that destroys Manaphy?

[@breloommaster12]

It is a good pivot yes, but your Empoleon should also have Haze to stop Manaphy from simply boosting further on your Empoleon pivoting and make itself harder to revenge kill. Wellspring Ogerpon is by far the best answer to Manaphy though since it can be invested to outrun it, and Encore means that Wellspring will never be at risk of taking a boosted attack from Manaphy should the latter use Tera to try and cheese the matchup.

[@jimtsap04]

Emloleon is mid and is still free setup fodder, heck with a tail glow or two you can probably ohko, wayer absorb or unaware mons are better checks

[@CyberDork34]

"except tera electric" is a huge asterisk because tera electric manaphy is extremely common

[@TheOtherNeutrino]

It's an okay switch-in but not much else. It doesn't threaten Manaphy in any way even if it kept Toxic. Tail Glow means it no longer resists its Water STAB and doesn't even resist Energy Ball in the first place.

[@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8]

Manaphy uses tail glow and energy balls it twice on the switch, or sits on it and spams tail glow, then smashes through it. Or tera electrics and irreversibly wrecks empoleon

[@williamebf444]

Having more problems with Ogerpun atm

[@A.R_69]

Time to start running watet absorb clodsire

[@alainali6010]

I thought Tail Glow as a move was deleted???

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

I honestly think putting volcarona back in ou would be fine now, it has more than enough counterplay now, plus manaphy will likely get banned at some point and volc can finally take its role back

[@LoDart210]

I think the real problem with gen 9 is as follows: - defog is nowhere to be found: defog coupled with a viable pokemon is a nearly impossible combination to be found in OU, or just in general in the game. I think if we had more options to deal with screens spam, it wouldn't be so prevalent. - Dark, Fairy, and Ghost offense: I think these types are due for some kind of typing nerf. They have insanely spammable moves on very powerful pokemon, and the worst part is they keep giving mons of those types brutal coverage so that not only is it hard to counter them defensively via typing, most mons that are strong walls get overwhelmed by their coverage and massive options. Ceaseless Edge, Kowtow Cleave, Sucker Punch, Moonblast, and Shadow Ball are on some of the heaviest hitters in the game that also have superb coverage and moveset variety. In general we're reaching a point where mons are getting optimized stat spreads, massive movepools, very powerful abilities, and nothing to hold them back, meaning they usually get all three instead of just one or two of these qualities. In a gen that introduced terastilization, I think chopping down certain mon's movepools, or at least, their offensive coverage, would have been a great idea. Imagine if Great Tusk had to Tera Ice to beat dragonite, which would be risky for the rest of the game, or if Kingambit had to tera fighting to beat opposing Kingambit? It would make things interesting still as tera has already done, but it would be with a legitimate risk factor that would keep matches exciting throughout as Terastilizing would be a more meaningful and risky play. I think that's why people defend tera while others hate it so much. It's an easy culprit to blame because it's always happening but the real problem is actually something a little more complicated. I still enjoy gen 9's meta but I definitely think there are clear paths for improvement, and I don't think another set of stat optimized mons with insane typing and coverage with also a busted ability is the correct answer.

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

Can someone tell me if Clefable is still any good in OU? I loved that thing

[@jop3249]

Still broken

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

@@jop3249I know I’m the only person to say it, but THANK GOD YES I LOVE CLEFABLE (really sorry guys)

[@Angelofdeth20]

Manaphy can’t boost speed and lacks priority so I haven’t had an issue revenging it. Haven’t tried it on sticky web though.

[@boobaboo6197]

Manaphy and Phione are so cute 🥰

[@hoovybeast0594]

Will great tusk be okay??

[@mwhite4764]

will never be able to use it as it is a bad matchup against Iron Mugulis. It doesn't stand a chance.

[@hailsaturn]

Manaphy doesn't even have a tail.

[@worldofmonterra]

May should have kept manaphy

[@hectorgarciamarin9736]

you mean water celebi xd

[@DarthNoshitam]

Light clay 4 ubers

[@waterwallets]

Horn Leech XD

[@Syogren]

I think Manaphy should be allowed to remain in OU, solely because it's funny

[@hoovybeast0594]

Stored power should be banned. It takes one mistake and it's over