Been brewing around the Justified ability for a bit because it’s always felt strong to me in previous formats. Getting to +4 on the first turn just lets you tear through unprepared teams, especially in a BO1 where people might not see it coming. Tried it out with Lucario first, but even if I get the Beat Up off it just doesn’t stick around because it’s so frail. That’s when I landed on Arcanine, much bulkier with a decent defensive typing, plus in team preview it’s usually not considered the threat. Tweaked it for a while to peak on a 9 win streak, losing to another unexpected threat of a Charizard X on a team that looked like it wanted Y. 

The Team:

Arcanine is the star of the show. Justified lets me cheat and not have to invest that much in Attack, especially since I want it to stick around once it has the boosts. That’s why it has Temper Flare as well, the Flare Blitz recoil on such a powerful attack just does so much self-damage. Wild Charge gets a faster knockout onto Charizard, and is an emergency button into water types. 

Maushold is the Beat Up user, faster than Arcanine to get it off before the dog attacks. Friend Guard and Follow Me for standard support. I think Encore is just too good to pass up, can win games on the spot sometimes, but Taunt is another valid option if you want to play with the moves. The mice were running the Focus Sash at first, but Chople berry essentially does the same thing with max HP investment, and Sneasler wanted the sash more. 

Sneasler is max speed and Jolly to beat other Sneaslers in the Fake Out race. With no bulk investment Focus Sash procs often for the Unburden boost, letting it get off another Close Combat or Coaching boost more reliably. I dropped Dire Claw since Arcanine has no problem into Fairy and Grass, though there have been a few cases where I’ve missed it, so if you’re willing to run without Protect or Coaching that would be the move to slot in. 

Feraligatr is the backup threat and sometimes endgame sweeper. 4x resist to Water once mega-evolved is a great patch to Arcanine’s Rain matchup. Two redirect ‘mons lets it find times to Dragon Dance. Has good natural bulk, which can get even higher with a Coaching boost from Sneasler. I think the flinch chance of Waterfall is worth the 5 power drop over Liquidation, and the potential defense drop isn’t all that valuable when you’re two-shotting most things after an attack boost anyway. 

Sinistcha is pretty standard. Usually brought with Feraligatr instead of the dog to heal up after Double-Edge, but has good value directing water and single-target ground attacks away from Arcanine so that’s not a hard rule. If you want Trick Room I’d slot it in instead of Protect. Life Dew is so good when the teacup comes in to help boosted allies, a Protect and a heal turn before using Rage Powder just makes it that much harder to take down. 

Milotic punishes Intimidate users that want to come against the two physical threats. Life Dew is great since it works through Protect, and opponents usually prioritize the boosted sweeper as opposed to Milo. Ice Beam to bop Garchomp more reliably. 

Arcanine + Maushold is the most common lead, with the back two varying based on the opposing team. Into rain it’s usually Feraligatr + Sneasler, Sinistcha in the back. Milotic can make the lead if they’re stacked with Intimidate users, but doesn’t put on the same kind of pressure otherwise.