Ways to Beat '15 Muk

(From late VGC 15 season)

Using and defeating "offensive" Muk teams (Whimsicott / Audino lead, Muk + Sableye in the back). Example of a standard teambuild: http://pastebin.com/nr49pcz9. Other variations include Mental Herb / Safety Goggles on Audino, Infestation + Binding Band + Rest Muk, and Mega Sableye with or without Foul Play. In theory, the standard way to play with Muk is as follows:

1. Taunt any immediate threats (other Taunt, Spore, Follow Me) with Whimsicott while Audino uses Protect, if Audino is threatened. Otherwise, use Memento + Trick Room. If Taunt + Trick Room is used, it will almost certainly be followed by Memento + Protect. Double Protecting to stop turn 1 Fake Out (and threaten with Encore) is also possible.

2. Simple Beam Muk, then Minimize. Depending on the situation, Minimize again or use Stockpile.
	a) If your opponent is targeting Muk, use Heal Pulse (has sure-hit accuracy). If Muk is paralyzed / asleep / frozen, conserve
	   Audino to potentially activate Healer (use Protect a lot).
	b) Simple Beam appropriate targets, e.g. Thundurus to remove Prankster (for Sableye later on), Kangaskhan to remove Parental
	   Bond (yes, it boosts faster with PuP; no, it doesn't help Kangaskhan), Breloom to remove Technician, etc.

3. Keep Audino around as long as possible to set up boosts. Once Audino goes down, immediately Psych Up.

4) Proceed to burn, Recover, boost, and Psych Up as necessary. Eventually, start using Power-Up Punch, then deal massive damage with boosted Knock Off / Muk's filler move.

Knowing this order is critical for playing with or against Muk. Here are ways to always beat Muk:

1) Timer stalling. Most Muk games last 12-15 turns, so make sure you're using appropriate timer stall strategies, rather than just Protecting every other turn.
2) Perish Trap.
3) Roar.
4) Insane offensive pressure on Audino (e.g. Beat Up on Terrakion, sun-boosted Overheat, etc.), though both teammates need to be able to break through Memento + Sitrus Berry. Much easier to do on non-Sitrus Audino.
5) Topsy-Turvy / Psych Up / Haze / other moves that you shouldn't be running on a regular team.

Here are ways to beat the majority of Muk teams:

1) Switch in a Prankster Taunt user (e.g. Thundurus, Sableye, etc.) on turn one while making it seem optimal for the Muk player to use Memento. Taunt Muk turn two.

Doesn't work when: Muk uses Protect; however, that means Muk lacks an offensive move outside of Power-Up Punch

2) Switch in a Rage Powder / Follow Me user (e.g. Clefairy, Amoonguss, Togekiss, etc.) on turn one while making it seem optimal for the Muk player to use Memento. Follow Me away Simple Beam, KO Audino. Follow Me away Sableye's Psych Up, KO Sableye.

Doesn't work when: you lack offensive pressure to KO Audino and Sableye (though that's not that hard...), you have 0 ways of beating Muk afterwards

3) Use an unexpected Taunt to prevent Audino from moving.

Doesn't work when: your opponent knows Taunt is coming, or Audino is using Mental Herb.

4) Burn / Leech Seed Muk. If it lacks recovery outside of Black Sludge, it will slowly die. However, this does not beat Sableye and takes an awfully long time to work on Muk, by which time boosts will be set up and it'll be too late.

5) If Sableye is Mega and Muk has only gained a few boosts, you have greater odds to defeat Mega Sableye because it uses Recover and Psych Up too slowly.

Here are less effective ways to beat Muk teams:

1) Hoping you attack through Minimize early on, then hoping you attack through Minimize and land a critical hit. At +4, a 100% accurate move has only 300/7 (~42.87%) chance of hitting. At +6, it's 33.33%. Combine with a critical hit, and you have a very small chance of succeeding with such a gameplan. However, it is sometimes the best option.

2) Inform your opponent that they suck, the strategy wouldn't work in-game (if playing Showdown), and rage quit.

In conclusion, Muk should not be lost to in-game (heck, you can still timer stall the 60 minute clock in friendlies if you really want to), especially in tournament. However, it is not impossible to beat it in usual fashion.