Pet Mod - VGC 20XX [Slate 3: Evolution, 500 BST limit, Partners in Crime] (2024)

The general theme here was just to use secondary typings that no other non-Mega Starter Pokemon have ever had (Normal, Bug, Dragon, Electric, Ice, Rock)

Name: Deermint (Deer + Spearmint)
Type:

Abilities: Overgrow / Slush Rush
Base stats: 102 / 80 / 81 / 103 / 70 / 94
Useful moves:

Horn Leech, Seed Bomb, Petal Blizzard, Bullet Seed, Icicle Spear, Icicle Crash, Ice Shard, Earthquake, Body Press, Megahorn, Brick Break, High Horsepower, Grassy Glide

Blizzard, Ice Beam, Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Water Pulse, Grass Pledge, Frenzy Plant, Hyper Voice, Icy Wind, Grass Knot, Minty Breath*, Solar Beam, Weather Ball

Aurora Veil, Snowscape, Leech Seed, Swords Dance, Grassy Terrain, Worry Seed, Helping Hand, Synthesis, Haze, Rain Dance
(Universal Moves: Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest, Substitute, Facade, Take Down, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact)

Weight: 180 kg
Gender: Both (87.5% Male, 12.5% Female)
Competitive use: Game Freak has been very careful to make every Slush Rush user primarily a physical attacker, since the getting spam to Blizzards at doubled Speed is inherently a very scary prospect. They dared to give Arctozolt a usable 90 SpA and it started tearing through things in singles with Blizzard, for example. right here looks to push that boundary, sporting a good 103 SpA and great 102/81 physical bulk in Snow, even uninvested. Its typical plan will always be to just spam Blizzard in Snow, with its main other positive trait being its signature move Minty Breath providing some counterplay to redirection by both ignoring itself to net chip damage and letting your opponent bypass it as well.
Is it broken?: Deermint is heavily reliant on Snow to be effective, since all of its stats are pretty average and Grass/Ice is an awful defensive typing in spite of its pretty good bulk. Additionally, Deermint is pretty helpless against Fire and Steel-types since it lacks any Special coverage for them, making it fairly easy to wall, especially since for at least one turn it'll need to be next to another Ice-type to activate Slush Rush, which can put its side of field in an awkward bind against them.
Size: 1.8 m
Egg Group: Field

Name: Scinchilla (Scintilla (spark in Latin) + Chinchilla)
Type:

Abilities: Blaze / Electric Surge
Base stats: 81 / 101 / 72 / 84 / 76 / 116
Useful moves:

Wild Charge, Supercell Slam, Flare Blitz, Fire Fang, Stomping Tantrum, Brick Break, Thunder Fang, Knock Off, Quick Attack, Upper Hand, Temper Flare, Feint, Crunch, Psychic Fangs, U-Turn, Gunk Shot, Super Fang, Chewing Wire*

Volt Switch, Electroweb, Heat Wave, Fire Pledge, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Electro Ball, Solar Beam, Overheat, Blast Burn

Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Taunt, Electric Terrain, Light Screen, Encore, Eerie Impulse, Work Up, Sunny Day
(Universal Moves: Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest, Substitute, Facade, Take Down, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact)

Weight: 8 kg
Gender: Both (87.5% Male, 12.5% Female)
Competitive use: Fairly simple fast attacking Fire-type that can threaten Waters with STAB Terrain-boosted Chewing Wires, while naturally providing utility in Electric Terrain blocking Sleep. Also comes packed with a lot of good utility, including Electroweb for Speed control, TWave and Wisp for status, pivoting in U-Turn, the underrated Super Fang, the always good fast Taunt and Encore, and the niche Feint.
Is it broken?: 81/72/76 isn't the absolute worst bulk in the world, but still low enough that this thing will be lucky to survive a turn without a Focus Sash, and if you do have Focus Sash then you can't run Flare Blitz. Plus, while massively helped by terrain, 101 Attack isn't very hard, so it's not the strongest offensive Pokemon ever. Plus, while its typing giving it both a burn and paralysis immunity is great, Fire/Electric is pretty bad defensively, making its meh bulk even worse. Also has serious 4MSS since it has so many utility moves it might want to use but can only fit 1-2 alongside its STABs.
Size: 0.5 m
Egg Group: Field

Name: Delphynan (Delphinidae (Dolphin) + Synanceia (Stonefish); This is a dolphin with a pet rock on its head, but it's a mind controlling Stonefish)
Type:

Abilities: Torrent / Poison Point
Base stats: 91 / 70 / 70 / 123 / 100 / 76
Useful moves:

Flip Turn, Liquidation, Waterfall, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Poison Jab, Avalanche, Aqua Tail, Ice Spinner, Zen Headbutt, Body Press, Whirlpool, Rock Tomb

Hydro Pump, Surf, Muddy Water, Weather Ball, Meteor Beam, Power Gem, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Psychic, Extrasensory, Psyshock, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Icy Wind, Water Pledge, Hydro Cannon, Venoshock, Stored Power, Ancient Power

Hidden Wall*, Rock Polish, Wide Guard, Rain Dance, Snowscape, Sandstorm, Recover, Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, Iron Defense, Amnesia, Yawn
(Universal Moves: Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest, Substitute, Facade, Take Down, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact)

Weight: 90 kg
Gender: Both (87.5% Male, 12.5% Female)
Competitive use: Click Meteor Beam in Tailwind or Trick Room and then get as many KOes as you can before you die, very simple. Water/Rock is a great offensive typing, backed by Sludge Bomb or Ice Beam for Grass-types, making Delphynan a scary wallbreaker with its great 123 Special Attack and high powered STABs. Not too much else to it, though utility in Wide Guard is nice.
Is it broken?: Water/Rock isn't a great defensive typing and 91/70/100 bulk is pretty mid, so it'll be pretty hard for Delphynan to contribute sometimes as it's not the hardest thing to get off the field quickly, even with the threat of SpD drops from Hidden Wall. Plus, its Speed tier does allow it to function in both Trick Room and Tailwind, but it's not the best at either, putting it in a pretty awkward position sometimes.
Size: 1.5 m
Egg Group: Field, Water 2

Should Bug-types be buffed?
I'm definitely not opposed to buffing the Bug-type as a whole, but I do think it might be more effective to make stronger Bug-types and/or directly buff specific past gen Bug-types. Bug is definitely the worst type in the game, but its situation isn't quite as dire in VGC as it is in singles since hazards don't matter, so Bug's poor defensive profile matters a bit less and they actually get an item slot, with its main flaws being its Rock Slide and Heat Wave weaknesses. Bug also sucks offensively, but the existence of U-turn makes buffing the type offensively something I'm weary of, even with the move being weaker in doubles. Thus, I think would likely be easier and more effective to make stronger Bug-types rather than buffing the type itself, since the vast majority of Bug-types having awful stats really holds back their potential and, even with Snow being a fairly major buff, the biggest buff Gen 9 gave to Ice-types was making good Ice-types like Chien-Pao and Iron Bundle (and Glastrier and Calyrex-Ice in Gen 8).

If we do buff Bug-types as a whole however, my suggestion, based on one of the suggestions in Moxie Boosted's video on Bug-types, would be to make Bug-types immune to powder moves like Grass-types are. In the video, Moxie suggests making Bug-types immune to all kinds of redirection, which would work but might be a bit too strong, while making them immune to powder moves still provides counterplay to Rage Powder while giving Bugs that coveted Spore immunity that Grass-types enjoy so much, while also fitting flavor pretty well.