Meowscarada

Last updated: 2026-06-03

Meowscarada Overview

Meowscarada is a Grass/Dark-type Pokemon introduced in Generation 9 in the Paldea region. It evolves from Floragato starting at level 36, which evolves from Sprigatito, the Grass-type starter of Paldea. Meowscarada is known as the Magician Pokemon, and its design is based on a magician or illusionist combined with a cat — it wears a cape-like fur pattern and creates flower props for its trick attacks.

Meowscarada's signature move is Flower Trick, a 70-base-power Grass-type physical move that never misses and always results in a critical hit. This makes Flower Trick one of the most reliable attacking moves in the game — it bypasses the opponent's defensive boosts, Intimidate, and evasion. Combined with its Hidden Ability Protean (prior to the Generation 9 nerf), Meowscarada was a top-tier threat that could adapt its typing to any situation.

Battle Strategy

Meowscarada's competitive strategy revolves around its high base 123 Speed and reliable Flower Trick. With Protean (nerfed in Gen 9 to activate once per switch-in), Meowscarada gains STAB on every move it uses, making its coverage moves hit significantly harder. A standard set runs Flower Trick as the primary Grass STAB, Knock Off for Dark STAB and item removal, U-turn for momentum, and either Play Rough for Fighting and Dark-types or Triple Axel for Dragon, Flying, and Grass-types.

Meowscarada typically holds a Focus Sash to survive one hit, a Life Orb for extra power, or a Choice Band/Scarf depending on the set. Its base 123 Speed outspeeds most unboosted threats including Greninja (122), Tornadus (121), and Garchomp (102). A Jolly nature with maximum Speed EVs lets Meowscarada Speed tie with Pokemon like Dragapult (142) and Iron Valiant (116) depending on investment.

Meowscarada's main weaknesses are its poor bulk (76/70/70) and its typing. Grass/Dark is weak to Bug, Fighting, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison, and Fairy — seven weaknesses, which is among the highest in the game. Without Protean's type adaptation, Meowscarada struggles to find safe switch-in opportunities. Tera Fire, Tera Flying, or Tera Ghost are common tera types to flip its many weaknesses. Despite these issues, Meowscarada's Speed and Flower Trick reliability make it a dangerous offensive threat.

Evolution Chain

Competitive Usage

Meowscarada has been a top-tier threat in Smogon OU since its introduction in Generation 9. Its Speed tier combined with Protean and Flower Trick made it one of the most dangerous offensive Pokemon in the generation. The main counters to Meowscarada include physically-defensive Pokemon like Corviknight, Skarmory, and Toxapex, which can withstand its attacks and retaliate. Priority users like Kingambit's Sucker Punch and Dragonite's Extreme Speed threaten to pick off a weakened Meowscarada.

In VGC, Meowscarada has seen consistent usage as a fast physical attacker. Its access to Flower Trick (guaranteed crit) makes it excellent for breaking through Intimidate cycling from Incineroar and Landorus-T. Meowscarada pairs well with Indeedee-F for Psychic Terrain support that blocks priority moves. Tera Dark boosts Knock Off to threatening levels, while Tera Grass boosts Flower Trick. Common checks include Flutter Mane, who resists Grass and is immune to Dark, and Gholdengo, whose Steel typing resists both STABs.

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