So, time for an overview of the latest edition of Sunshine Cup. I started this as a full “Nifty Or Thrifty” meta/budget analysis, but then realized that most of what I really wanted to talk about was “thrifty” anyway, with one of the largest percentage of 10,000 dust second move Pokémon we’ve had in a Limited meta in a while. Seriously, if you look at the rankings, half of the Top 10 and over a third of the Top 25 (and Top 50) are all 10k Pokémon. So while I started this with the familiar Nifty Or Thrifty structure, after I get through the 10ks you’ll see I switch to more of a “Tips & Tricks” type format for the rest.
So bear with me and let’s see what thrifty tips we can glean from the GBL Season 27 version of this meta. There are enough odd moveset recommendations to surprise even me, and some picks you may not have considered that are VERY potent here. And cheap! Pay close attention, and let’s go!
A quick reminder of what Sunshine Cup is (and isn’t):
- Great League, 1500 CP Limit.
- Only Grass-, Fire-, Ground-, and Normal-type Pokémon are allowed.
- Charizard is still the only ban.
Okay, enough intro. Let’s dive in!
NIFTY AND THRIFTY (10,000 Dust/25 Candy)
PIDGEOT
Pidgeot
Normal
Wing Attackᴸ | Feather Dance & Brave Bird
Formerly ranked quite low, it’s amazing what a couple little tweaks can do: Pidgeot is now solidly inside the Top 10. You can run the revamped Gust, but it’s still better with Wing Attack, which can add on stuff like Cradily, Fearow, Shadow Ninetales, Shadow Swampert, Quagsire, and Drampa. That said, Gust is legit, and catches up in other even shield scenarios. And there are was to work in the reworked Hurricane (and avoid having Brave Bird slash your Defense) and/or the new Twister if you prefer, or even Air Cutter if you like it. However you want to trick it out, get your OG Bird Jesus out and profit, my friends!
TOUCANNON
Toucannon
Normal
Peck | Drill Peck & Beak Blastᴸ
While Pidgeot remains a bastion of the old school best Flying had to offer, Toucannon is here as a shining example of all Flying types’ best in the here and now, with Peck and Drill Peck as the hottest Flying moveset in today’s meta, and exclusive Beak Blast as arguably the best overall Flying charge move in the game. Put it all together and you really do get an inspiring performance that is well deserving of Toucannon’s high ranking, particularly Shadow Toucannon which is ranked in the Top 3! “Follow your nose”, as the old commercials say… expect Toucan Sam to be everywhere… it certainly was last time in Sunshine Cup (per the always awesome GO Battle Log).
FEAROW
Fearow
Normal
Peck | Drill Run & Fly/Drill Peck
Flexing that same Peck/Drill Peck moveset on a slightly bulkier frame (bulkier than Toucannon, at least!) and running it with Drill Run for intriguing coverage ends up with a decent performance, though not as impressive on the surface. Where Fearow shines is where Drill Run gets special wins that elude other Flyers, like Clodsire and Galarian Stunfisk, but it’s not on the same level otherwise, if I’m being honest. (Still good enough for a Top 25 ranking, just showing how dominant Flyers can be in this meta.) However, there’s another moveset to consider now: Drill Run and Fly, which can overpower fellow Flyers Gligar and Pidgeot. Maybe give that a spin, eh?
DARTRIX
Dartrix
Grass
Peck | Seed Bomb & Brave Bird
Honestly, there’s little reason not to build a Dartrix since the Peck buff. It’s even pretty good in Open play, and especially in metas like Sunshine. Honestly though, other than advantages over things like (Bullet Seed) Cradily and occasional Mud Boys, thanks to its Grass typing and coverage, it’s a bit inferior to the other Flyers above in this meta. Fun, though! (And no, despite buffs to Energy Ball, Seed Bomb is still better here.)
VENUSAUR
Venusaur
GrassPoison
Vine Whip | Sludge & Frenzy Plantᴸ
The addition of Sludge has brought Venusaur back a bit, and despite this being a hostile environment of Flying and Fire types, Venusaur has a place in this meta, holding down most of the (grounded) Normals while also shredding Water types and most Grasses.
CHESNAUGHT
Chesnaught
GrassFighting
Low Kick | Frenzy Plantᴸ & Superpower
It’s a whole new ballgame with the Low Kick buff, now having the same stats as Vine Whip. And to keep it simple: Low Kick is better in this meta, beating all the same things as Vine Whip plus rocky Cradily, Magcargo, and Coalossal, punching through for super effective damage rather than just neutral as with Vine Whip. It might be time to switch up your Chesnaught’s fast move, folks.
TORTERRA
Torterra
GrassGround
Mud Slap | Frenzy Plantᴸ & Sand Tomb/Stone Edge
And now for something completely different among Grass starters. Mud Slap turns Torterra into a Tortterror for many Fire types (Magcargo, Coalossal, Blaziken, and with great IVs, Ninetales too), all while it can still beat ALL Water types in the meta (even Seismitoad with its new double effective Icy Wind), as well as all notable Rocks except the Shadow version of Cradily. Oh, and of course the small handful of (non-Grass) Poison and Steel types that sneak into Sunshine Cup.
TALONFLAME
Talonflame
Fire
Peck/Incinerateᴸ | Fly & Brave Bird
While I do think it would be okay to unleash Charizard on this meta, you can kind of see why it’s banned… Dragon damage is a bit too much. So it’s not that big a shock that while traditional Incinerate Talonflame works fine, Peck Talonflame (either regular or the Shadow version) is overall better in Sunshine Cup. While Incinerate can overpower things like Piloswine and Miltank, Peck has a wider breadth of unique wins like Swampert, Turtonator, and Shadow Pidgeot. Go against the norm and give Peck some serious consideration in this meta. And while you’re at it, consider the newly buffed Hurricane as a less risky alternative to Brave Bird, being just as good (or even slightly better) in 1- and 2-shield matchups, and even right on Brave Bird‘s heels even with shields down. HMMMM. 🤔
Fletchinder
Fire
If you have one, you can even run FLETCHINDER effectively. And you can actually build a hundo and save a ton of resources and get an even better performance out of it with extra wins over Gligar and sometimes Turtonator. If you’re feeling spicy, give it a whirl!
MAGCARGO
Magcargo
FireRock
Ember/Incinerate | Rock Tomb & Overheat
Okay, maybe old JRE is losing it. Now TWO Fire types that have Incinerate where JRE is recommending a different fast move? I’m as surprised as you are, but the numbers don’t lie: Ember simply does a bit more than Incinerate in Sunshine Cup, outracing Galarian Stunfisk, Gligar, Shadow Blaziken, and opposing Magcargos. Other even shield scenarios are in Ember’s favor as well, with Cradily and Fearow in 0shield, and Furret, Oranguru, and then Blaze and G-Fisk again in 2shield. I’m not saying Ember is the new way to go in Open or elsewhere, but here? Those wins — and particularly the likelihood of running up against Magcargo on the opponent’s team — matter.
COALOSSAL
Coalossal
RockFire
Smack Down/Fire Spin | Rock Slide & Flame Charge
The other Rocky Fire type now, and while it’s ranked higher (much higher, in fact), Coalossal is good but not as good. I like it fine enough, but there’s just not much it can do that Ember Mags can’t do better.
BLAZIKEN
Blaziken
FireFighting
Ember | Aura Sphere & Blast Burnᴸ
Yes, Shadow Blaze is overall “better”, but perhaps not as much as expected. Shadow can outrace things like Cradily, Lickilicky, Dunsparce, Gligar, Swampert, and Shadow Ninetales, but non-Shadow is able to instead outlast stuff like Magcargo, Fearow, Shadow Gligar, and non-Shadow Ninetales. Which version are you thinking of running, dear reader?
FURRET (and other Normals)
Furret
Normal
Sucker Punch | Swift & Trailblaze
I’m using Furret as the representative, and it is easily among the best (and best ranked), but there are a number of other perfectly viable thrifty Normal types…. BIBAREL could be a lot of fun here, with Rollout to keep Flyers on their toes and some nice resistances and coverage thanks to its Watery side…. OINKOLOGNE sports the same Mud Slap that was so interesting on Torterra, getting things that burn or freeze Torterror like Ninetales, Turtonator, Piloswine, and Miltank (Ice Beam) while Tort instead takes out Cradily, Oranguru, Dubwool, and Shadow Swampert…. DUBWOOL itself is most interesting to me not with Payback (as ranked), but instead Wild Charge which can take down Flyers like Toucannon and Shadow Pidgeot, as well as blowing through Ninetales…. There’s nothing at all wrong with others like ALOLAN RATICATE (one of my recommendations, actually, as a nice neutral damage sponge), GREEDENT, LINOONE, or even MUNCHLAX, it’s just that they don’t really stand out in any truly meaningful way…. WIGGLYTUFF obviously stands out in meaningful ways, but Charm ain’t what it used to be. It’s also in the “viable but kinda meh” category.
DIGGERSBY
Diggersby
NormalGround
Quick Attack | Scorching Sands & Hyper Beam
It would have been unfair to lump it in with the other Normal types, even though the moveset I’m recommending deals primarily Normal-type damage. You’ll see several different varieties of Diggersby, most of them revolving around Mud Shot and/or Fire Punch. And while those are fine enough, at least in this meta, I think you can unleash maximum damage potential with Hyper Beam, as well as Quick Attack for wide neutral coverage, and forgo Fire in favor of Scorching Sands instead. Sands in particular does a lot more for you in this meta (quenching Fires like Ninetales, Magcargo, Coalossal, and Blaziken) than Fire Punch, and Hyper Beam is great for surprising things like Furret, Dubwool, Oranguru, and Gligar that Diggs has trouble with otherwise.
SWAMPERT
Swampert
WaterGround
Mud Shot | Hydro Cannonᴸ & Earthquake
Shadow or no Shadow? They’re really straight sidegrades of each other. The former overpowers Furret, Dubwool, Oranguru, and Toucannon, while the latter outlasts Blaziken, Seismitoad, Miltank, and Lickilicky instead. Sludge doesn’t do much for you in this meta. Next?
WHISCASH
Whiscash
WaterGround
Water Gun/Mud Shot | Scald/Mud Bomb & Blizzard
While it doesn’t work very well on Swampert, Water Gun is a nice upgrade over the standard Mud Shot on Whiscash here, powering out key wins over Gligar and Gliscor. Alternatively, Blizzard may have some life here, being a bit too slow to beat Quagsire or Seismitoad, but gaining Pidgeot, Fearow, and Miltank.
TIPS AT 50,000 AND UP
As I said, now we go into just some spotlight review of Pokémon with a second move cost of 50k dust or more. There are quite a few that are little changed — Cradily (now ranked #1!), Clodsire, Claydol (including Shadow!), Marowak, Gastrodon (despite the Mud Slap nerf), Quagsire, Miltank, Drampa, Oranguru, Turtonator, Flygon, Ferrothorn, and the list goes on! — but the below I felt important enough to highlight different movesets and some… well, tips and tricks!
This season’s big buff to Energy Ball has some ripples in Sunshine Cup for sure. While Jumpluff remains a bit tricky to use in this meta, ABOMASNOW definitely appreciates the buff, as both it and ShadowBama are improved with new wins like Galarian Stunfisk, and variants of Piloswine and Quagsire…. CASTFORM has the ability to threaten Flyers (and Ice types) with Weather Ball (Rock and Grasses and Grounds with Energy Ball. It’s certainly viable, though Hex unfortunately holds it back a little here with some many Ghost-resistant Normal types around…. LUDICOLO can now run Energy Ball as a legit alternative to Leaf Storm, just note the importance of going with Bubble as the fast move rather than the also-resisted-by-Normals Astonish…. I’m having kind of a hard time trusting it, especially when Chesnaught is right there too, but HISUIAN DECIDUEYE deserves at least a quick mention…. And then, of course, we have NINETALES. You can potentially go double nukes, double Ball, or just stick with all Fire, but at least Energy Ball makes all those Water and Ground types have to tread lightly now. I suspect Ninetales will be quite popular this go-round.
Gligar
Ground
GLIGAR was #1 last time, and now it’s barely clinging to the Top 10. It’s not suddenly worse, there’s just a bit more on the rise to contend with. If you still run it, I might actually recommend Fury Cutter over Wing Attack, because while the latter has more utility versus Flyers (showing most clearly with a potential win over Ninetales), the former can slice through Drampa and, importantly, Cradily instead. And then same story for GLISCOR, which I think is quite underrated. Shadow with Fury Cutter looks pretty scary, actually, with extra wins versus Seismitoad, Pidgeot, and the mirror (whereas Wing Attack gets only Blaziken as a unique win).
Seismitoad
WaterGround
We actually need to take a moment to spotlight SEISMITOAD, since it’s come up a few times. A completely different Pokémon now with Earth Power buffed and, most importantly, Icy Wind added, it torments double-weak-to-Ice Glscor and Gligar (as well as Jumpluff) and is adept at freezing opposing Ground types not named Piloswine (neutral to Ice) or Swampert (which just outpaces Toad). It is uniquely potent among the Mud Boys now, standing tall in their midst.
Kecleon
Normal
And speaking of new threats this season, been using KECLEON in NAIC Championship Cup these first couple weeks of the season? Just replace Thunder Punch with Ice Beam for this week and continue profiting.
Vigoroth
Normal
Look, I’m not saying VIGOROTH is back. But uh… Vigoroth may be back! At least for a week. Hide the children!
Camerupt
GroundFire
Remember when CAMERUPT used to be a laughingstock? Well no more! The Eruption Pokémon comes in hot with cheaper Earth Power (and still-good Rock Tomb) for unique coverage that can handle Steel, Ice, Grass, Poison, and Rock types (as well as Rock chuckers like Miltank and Lickilicky, as well as most opposing Fire types as a handy bonus. Just keep it FAR away from Water.
Blacephalon
FireGhost
While we’re on the topic of funky Fire types, consider BLACEPHALON, if you have a Great League sized one. It’s obviously a glass cannon, but its Ghost typing still allows it to stand up to punishment from Poison, Fighting, and especially Normal moves that litter the meta. If you like your spice, this one is like… well… a ghost pepper! 🌶️
And that’s it for now… the format has arrived! Until next time (our next Community Day), you can always find me on Twitter for near-daily PvP analysis nuggets, or Patreon. And please, feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I’ll try to get back to you!
Thank you for taking the time to read. I sincerely hope this helps you master the latest version of Sunshine Cup, and in the most affordable way possible. Best of luck, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!
