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hello friends! with lcpl coming to an end it's that time of year for ya'll to spill your dirty secrets. post your fire-ass sets or teams all the way from sm to coinflip dpp.
I might include other teams later but for now here's a cool team I built for finals against mambo. The idea of the team is to attempt to overload trappers on the opposing team by providing multiple targets that they might want to trap and then punishing them with the remaining Pokemon after countertrapping with scarf diglett. Scarf gothita wants to be trapping archen, croagunk and abra while diglett wants to be trapping croagunk, magnemite and abra. Abra in particular can be hard for many ORAS teams to deal with without resorting to their trappers.
To ensure a good matchup against fat balance and webs I included snivy, which can break the teams that skip trapping altogether with mirror coat and magnet pull from magnemite. The team also handles cheese and smash teams fairly well with the exception of shellder teams which can be a bit obnoxious (you can change the croagunk set to berry juice if you want to ensure a better matchup against those if wanted). You can also change the diglett to 19 speed with an extra HP point, as with that final gambit + vacuum wave will kill bellsprout which can be pretty nice against sun. Archen is probably the most annoying Pokemon for this team, but you can usually play around it with your own rock tomb archen, mag and abra.
Diglett @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Final Gambit
- Pursuit
- Rock Slide
Archen @ Berry Juice
Ability: Defeatist
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 20 Atk / 76 Def / 76 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Acrobatics
- Rock Tomb
- Earthquake
now it's time for everyone's favorite gen: bw! I hear all the time about how shit bw is and how team building is dead, but I took it upon myself to make sure to not just reuse teams this lcpl. ghostspam, dwebble ho, and bad stall teams have pervaded most of what everyone uses right now, but hopefully some of these squads show that you can deviate from that quite a bit and still win.
started out the bw season with this gem. I wanted a really solid bulky offense that could let myself play through most matchups, as well as have ample checks to most of the common threats. as I mentioned before a lot of bw near the beginning of the tourney were either pure ho or really defensive and im just not about that wave so bam. I have np vullaby + the omnipresent np missy to provide me with bulk and power, letting me play offensively or defensively as needed. tirtouga helps to add another breaker as well as a really solid check to asshole drifloon. the amount of teams that lack proper flying resists in a meta where drifloon has grown so popular really perplexes me. magnemite and dril round it out by giving me a fast pivot / revenger killer (the best one in the tier in fact) and rocks + spin, respectively. I decided to start using this spd drilbur because you rarely ever need max speed on dril to do what you want, and its much better to be able to actually check magnemite and handle missy easier. happened to use this in week 7 as well because I was kind of in a building rutt of what to bring vs flcl. lost that matchup but idt it had anything to do w/ the team, more with minor luck and misplays on my part near the beginning.
I actually built this during lcwc and I still haven't lost with it (of course there isn't many mediums through which to play bw but I digress). I did, however, change croagunk from np to bu before this match because I feel like it fits the squad better. anyways, this is my bastard version of a spikestack w/ lickitung slapped on the back. ferroseed + carvahna is the basis of any good spikestack in bw imo (not a fan of one trick pony dwebble), archen lays rocks, helps to lure ferro so I can run zhb on carv, and is actually an amazing offensive presence with that killer head smash into acro. missy is obligatory and croagunk helps to patch a lot of weaknesses such as fighters, porygon, and hp fire carv. lickitung might seem weird but damn it works well. it can check pretty much any strong threat in a pinch just by dtailing out, it helps to spread toxic vs fat teams, and damn those wishes are sexy, making people deal with your own missy as long as you want.
my take on a bw twave spam. cottonee is a really underutilized mon in bw and I felt like this was the best build to make use of it. it allows you to pseudo check essentially any powerful threat with stun spore, but also provides a semi solid switch into the grounds and waters of the tier. being able to fit knock into its moveset is also massive plus. from there slowpoke provides a great secondary twave spreader and is generally a huge pain for teams to actually beat. the rest of the squad was tailored to abuse paraspam through offensive presence while also giving checking the majority of the tier.
Hippopotas @ Eviolite
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 5
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Atk / 132 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
- Slack Off
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 196 Def / 196 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- U-turn
ah the broken. I didn't want to use sand all year because I was planning on bringing in playoffs if we made it. hippo + lileep allows you to run an actual defensive core, something other bw arcs just don't allow you to do. that combined with the chip from sand makes it hard for a lot of bw offenses to keep up even without sand rush. I've never been a fan of the traditional sands you've seen around though (the shitty stalls basically), and I wanted to give my sand a more offensive flair. enter the obvious choice of carv. with sand chip + ts + knock off spread, I have a great defensive backbone and just enough offensive pressure in missy + carv to make it a cohesive unit. if you play this team right I think you'd have a really tough time finding a negative matchup unless you're fighting a snover.
Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
Level: 5
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Bullet Seed
- Thunder Wave
didn't actually get to bring this but this is probably what I was gonna bring in finals vs fran. it combines the easy mode of spikes in bw + my favorite defensive pivot in poke + lots of threats. actually pretty sad I didn't get to bring because I think it's super cool and combines a lot of my favorite aspects of bw currently.
THUG 4 LIFE (Hippopotas) (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 20 Atk / 52 Def / 180 SpD / 20 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Slack Off
this was the team i was going to use in finals, just posting because it wouldve been an interesting match againist fatty
i wanted to build double smash but i found scarf shellder way more useful, chipping decently the touga's checks, with hippo/lileep and missy as a defensive core and drifloon as a mid game breaker+gave the opportunity to setup
This is the team I was gonna use the first time I played this lcpl but ended up using something more standard. The idea behind it was basically using Pancham to break any type of Ferrospritz core with dp + gunk while still having huge presence if webs are up. I also love the spinarak set as it lures Onix with giga drain and also breaks Abra's sash with sneak. Spinarak is the web setter I chose for this team just to have a decent check to snivy because most times Pawn alone isn't enough (and also because I just wanted to use this set, seemed fun). The rest is a pretty standard webs team, LO Abra is just too good under webs as it cant be trapped by diglett or scarf pawn (you just sub to see what move they use in case they have sucker and then play accordingly). Maybe hp fire could be used over ground because ferroseed can be annoying but ground makes playing around grimer really easy.
My deep LC Open run finally ended at round 1 Thanks to Plas ;-; So Ig I can post a few teams I used or wanted to use during lcpl. Wont give much explanations b/c most of the times just checking stuff ended up becoming a team
Tirtouga @ Eviolite
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 5
EVs: 164 HP / 52 Atk / 92 Def / 156 SpD / 20 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
Fille is unpredictable with his teams. But Scarf Mudbray was looking really good vs his recent builds so I started from there. needed a solid water switchin so added foongus which also was fight "check". Tirtouga over onix as a bird check just because I had mudbray and would have been good mind games as to which one is rocks. Timburr as my fighter, it had tpunch just b/c Fille loves Mareanie. Added gastly with sucker punch for some fire power. Spdef Vull for checking Abra / Gastly + I had 3 priorities just so im not weak to that. In the end I lost, didnt expect Counter Mudbray but thats Fille \_('-')_/
Onix @ Eviolite
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Explosion
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 196 Def / 196 SpD
Impish Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Corphish @ Waterium Z
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 Def / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
I really wanted to use Corphish. I ran some calcs and the found out +2 z corp kos foongus and mareanie after rocks so that tempted me to start with Corphish + Snivy. Picked foo over timburr just for U-turn support. Bird check + rock setter Onix, Fight check Spritzee. Now I needed really good check for gastbra so I went with a-grimer. Was lacking a spore switchin hence sleep talk a-grimer. Basically plan was use corphish to lure stuff and kill so that snivy can clean.
Geodude-Alola @ Eviolite
Ability: Magnet Pull
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 116 Atk / 116 Def / 196 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Fire Punch
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
Vullaby @ Berry Juice
Ability: Overcoat
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 76 Def / 156 SpD / 116 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog
I built this team to use vs TDK but was vetoed by almost everyone . Idea was trap ferro and go ahead with corphish. Or lure foongus / Mareanie with corp and clean with foo. Other stuff was standard. This was not a good team to use in lcpl when we needed wins, I was just messing around with a-dude hoping it would become something good but it didnt. Still fun team to use.
Despite my way better record, this LCPL for me was WAY less fun in game cause I just don't like the state of the tier since pinch left. I think most of it to me is just z moves are fucking broken. Vullaby is also definitely unhealthy no shit, once Open ends if there's not a suspect announcement within a week or 2 I'd be shocked and confused. The shellos team was super great though so shoutout to them. Glad me and fatty got the runback together after both going like 2-6 or something abysmal last year in particular, mambo and shrug were funny as fuck, trace and hsow tits put up amazing records despite their cheap prices, teeno sacrificed and was kind enough to hit the bench despite paying a hefty amount for himself and definitely wanted to play and was a great manager. Luthier had ridiculous plot armor but was super fun to watch and chat with. Bench and homies in there that supported were dope too. Thanks for picking me up.
Most of the stuff I used was passed the day before cause I got ridiculously busy w/ life and I really disliked the tier so it didn't appeal to sit in builder and make something for an hour to have it auto lose to vullaby set x and y. Or I saw a team I thought looked cool/good as fuck and changed a mon or 2 and a set or 2. (What I used vs chillshadow was just burntzebra's bulky fat shit he should have beat luthier with but I made gastly a vullaby. I got horrendous matchup with it but it's solid and I lucked out). Most of the teams I thought looked the best came from tazz and Lily as they're my favorite builders by far rn and they're super dope to watch play. Just gonna drop the teams that looked bad as fuck, but I had a lot of fun with.
dogshit bird spam webs
I made this 30 ish minutes before the game cause I'd come off playing bird spam w/ no bird resist so I just wanted to have some fun w/ this week cause I only had that in the game vs luthier so far. His scout showed he had a hard on for onix and he didn't use snivy at all or something like that so I wanted to web. Onix spam I guess I said fuck it and said put HP grass on literally every pokemon. I played this like garbage as well but bulky NP vull saved my ass. The doduo is some Lily set I think that like its a 94% ohko on evio onix or something dumb. Also has no priority, just wanted to use some crazy shit and I was 100% sure he was bringing onix and wasn't bringing snivy.
rat
The undefeated rat. This team is also undefeated in open so if you use this you have to win. Funny enough this was probably like the 2nd best game I played this LCPL. This team is another bad but fun team but we'd already guaranteed playoffs and won the week so it wasn't as stupid as rolling up w/ those webs. Bulk Up Croagunk is actually kinda dope w/ a pursuiter and something to chip/kill diglett. The rat should definitely be flame wheel>u-turn or literally just a taillow but regardless this team is stupid bad but stupid fun.