Hello again, fellow PvPers, and welcome to another edition of Core Meltdown!
It’s been well over a year since the last part in this series, so completely understandable if you have no idea what I’m talking about. 😅 In short, this was a series I ran for a while focused on some key “cores” of teams players could run in various formats to try and find success. There were “stable cores” which were some of the best and most popular, “overloaded cores” (basically your ABB teams) overloaded with a pair of similar Pokémon and a “pivot” intended to handle their hard counters, and then “cores gone critical” with your spicier stuff that could work really well but had a decent chance to blow up in your face. At the end I would usually throw in some core-breaker in an “eject the core!” segment. Anyway, the series never really took off like I hoped, and took a decent amount of time to prep in addition to all the other stuff I was working on, and so it just kind of fell off.
But today it makes sense to return to… sort of, at least. For one major factor, I am short on time and remaining mental capacity after writing three FULL size analysis articles over the last week to cover the most expansive PvP update we’ve ever seen coming with Season 20. But even if I had the time, I’m not sure this format merits the standard “Nifty Or Thrifty” full meta analysis. Why do I say that? Well, blame it on two meta-defining Little League Pokemon BOTH being in this format together: BRONZOR and SHUCKLE. Both are incredibly tanky (#1 and #2 in total stat product in the entire format), both have a favorable type combination, and as a result both just hang in there forever and grind down even things that resist their moves. And perhaps even worse, there is NO move in the entire game that deals super effective damage to both. In short, they are a nigh-perfect core in Little Galar Cup, and anyone with the budget to have build both will surely be wanted to run both together. This IS the Little Galar Cup core.
So today, I am going to focus on how to beat them. Because I can count on one hand the number of Pokemon that can pretty reliably beat both, and on two hands the number of things that have even a realistic chance to take them both out. Those are the things you are going to want on your team to have the best chance at success in this format. That’s right.. the entire article today will basically be about core-breakers!
But first… what makes the Shuckle/Bronzor core so good? IS it really THAT good?
SOLID CORE
So in answer to the question I just posed… yes, yes it really IS that good. The coveted AAAA rating, and only a single Pokemon on that meta list that beats both. More on Pawniard in a bit, because even THAT is not quite perfect. Here, I’ll show what I mean.
Check out this:
See? You have to consider Shadow Shuckle too. They ARE out there, despite the ridiculous investment… I’ve faced them myself in the past! And Shadow adds a new wrinkle to all of this, as things that seemingly beat Bronzor and Shuckle otherwise (like Pawniard) cannot necessarily keep that success going versus Shadow Shuckle.
So if we scan that list, we see there are actually only three things that can beat Bronzor, Shucke, AND Shadow Shuckle. Let’s focus on them first, and then dig for some others that are not as apparent.
EJECT THE CORE!


- The first thing that can beat Bronzor and both Shuckles is… your own BRONZOR! It makes for a pretty hard loss for Shuckle too! It’s true that Shuckie (yes, I spelled it that way on purpose!) resists Bronzor’s Tackle damage, but Bronzor resists all of Shuckle’s Rock type damage, so it’s only a matter of time before Shuckie falters (even if Bronzor is not running any super effective Steel moves). The fuzzy part is Bronzor vs Bronzor. Obviously much of this comes down to timing, but it also comes down to whether or not you’re running Dark type move Payback. Without it, you WILL lose to any Bronzor that does have Payback. It’s just a matter of time. Uh… again, since I apparently just used that phrase twice in one paragraph. Dangit, I told you my brain was mush after that last week! 😛 Anyway, Bronzor obviously does pretty well elsewhere too, but it’s a bit easier to deal with on its own than in Little Cups of the past. While you were mostly limited to a small handful of Fire and Ground types to do the job in Little League metas of the past, here you have a ton of viable Dark and Ghost types that all do a fine job too. Of them, Ghosts are more reliable, with nearly all of them taking Bronzor out, while Darks are more iffy, with less than a third of them able to actually finish off Bronzor before Tackle and Steel (usually Heavy Slam) turn the tables. (For quick reference, here are all the Darks that reliably beat Bronzor with the Tackle/Heavy Slam/Psyshock moveset I recommend… everything under 500 is a loss for Bronzor.) The trick, of course, is which of those Darks and/or Ghosts ALSO takes down Shuckle, and the answer is… not many. We’ll cover them, starting with the next ‘mon on our list….

- Time to dive into PAWNIARD. This was one of the first things I came across that could handle Bronzor AND Shuckle… it helps that it resists every single move they have (except Shuckle’s Struggle Bug, which it will never use anyway). That all being said, both wins are uncomfortably close, particularly against Shuckle. 😬 But it DOES generally do the job, as well as picking off many of the Darks and Ghosts that give Bronzor problems, and Shadow Barboach that counters Shuckle. This is a good anti-meta and anti-anti-meta pick overall. But it has obvious flaws too, falling rapidly to anything Fire brought in to face Bronzor and most things Ground brough to bear against ‘Zor and Shuckle. And watch your IVs… too high an Attack (and thus less bulk) and Shuckle can slip away, and too low means other things like Barboach can instead… though it then becomes realistic for Pawnie to take down Shadow Shuckle, so if you have to veer into one extreme or the other, go for maximum bulk!
- There actually aren’t any other Darks that can really take on Shuckle and expect to walk (limp?) away, but there ARE other Steels that can do the job and also handle Bronzor. One that’s way under the radar so far (partly because it’s been difficult to get one in Little League at all outside of certain limited spawn events) is LUCARIO. But it IS possible… I even have one myself! (Rare JRE humblebrag. 😁) And if you do, then specifically when running Power-Up Punch and Blaze Kick (and Force Palm, now that Counter has been nerfed), Lucario can be a beast in this meta, knocking aside Shuckie, Bronzor, Darks that plague Bronzor, and several of the big-name Ground types that trouble Bronzor and Shuckle as well (G-Fisk, Excadrill, Diggersby, Whiscash). Relying as it does on PuP, it might be best as a lead, but wherever you choose to place it, it DOES seem to be worth running if you have one at the ready. And believe it or not, fellow Fighter PANGORO, who would seem to have similar advantages (resisting Dark, Psychic, and Rock) does manage to best Zorro (a.k.a. Bronzor) and quite a bit else, but it sadly falls to Shuckle anyway. Probably still worth using if you have it, just know that unlike Lucario, Shuckle will normally be out of reach, so plan accordingly!
- The other Steels with the most potential are also Ground types. Steelix handles Shuckle decently well but struggles otherwise and somehow loses rather consistently to Bronzor, even with tricks like Earthquake and/or Thunder Fang. Diglett is in but it seems likely the Alolan version is not, which is a shame as it would have been a fun anti-meta pick with the buff this season to Mud Slap. That leaves us with EXCADRILL as the closest replacement. The Mud side chews through Shuckle (including Shadow) and Bronzor without much issue, as well as Pawniard, Galarian Stunfisk, Drapion and others, and it even gets to Rock Slide enough to take down Flyers like Vullaby and Togetic. But GALARIAN STUNFISK is just a little better IMO, losing to Vullaby and the head-to-head with Ezcadrill and its Mud Slapping, but beating things Drillboy cannot like Mandibuzz, Cottonee, and thanks specifically to Muddy Water (useless elsewhere but pretty decent coverage and 35-energy spam in Little League), Ninetales and Vulpix, a popular Little League pick in general. Again, though, both capably handle Shuckle and Bronzor more reliably than just about anything else in Little Galar Cup. Just avoid most other Grounds, Waters, Fighters, most Grasses….

- In theory, Ground/Ghost types should be able to find success as well, but that just doesn’t really hold up. Yes, they tend to bury Zorro, but Shuckie escapes them all except for one: GALARIAN YAMASK. Now granted, this is a niche pick, but taking down Bronzor and Shuckle, perpetually popular Cottonee, and eating up Fighters like Lucario is a pretty nice niche. But there’s a catch… it seems you have to have really high rank IVs AND play things in exactly the right order with your charge moves to beat Shadow Shuckle, but at least it’s possible!

- One of the better Grounds beyond those is Shadow RHYHORN, taking out Bronzor and Shuckle AND a good amount of other nasties, particularly with good PvP IVs. Got one like that? This is a great spot to break it out. Unfortunately Shadow Shuckle tends to fend it off though.

- DIGGERSBY is another that benefits greatly from high rank IVs, with either Quick Attack or Mud Shot, and I felt like it was worth pointing out even though it struggles (and usually fails) to overcome Shuckie.
- Back to things that CAN beat both, SHADOW WHISCASH can with no muss, no fuss. And that even goes (barely!) for Shadow Shuckle too! Its pre-evolution BARBOACH is pretty good at slaying Shuckle (regular and Shadow) as well thanks to super spammy Aqua Tail, but that trick doesn’t work so well on Bronzor. It CAN win out, but only if it calls the shielding decisions just right. Whiscash is a bit more reliable.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Obviously, this was nowhere near as comprehensive as I usually get with these meta analyses. Seeing as how we get this format for two weeks, I’ll try and put some more together later in the week if I can. But for now, I’m giving you what I have left, to be frank. Sorry, but even I have my limits. And I still have to push out some analysis on the new Galarian starters and the long-awaited Dragapult! That’ll be next, but for now, I need to wrap this up with a bow, hope it gives you some good ideas on how to combat the nastiest stuff in Little Galar Cup, and wish you all the best in your early season battles. Go get ’em!
Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular PvP analysis nuggets, or on Patreon if you’re into that!
Good luck out there as we enter this wild new season, Pokéfriends. Hope this helps! Catch you next time.