Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Sup fam, team dump lets get it wooooo omg yayyyyy!
Only people who played in MFPL post in here. Post teams that you used and/or teams you were thinking about using during the tour.
- Pokepaste would be cute for formatting purposes, sprites are a plus
- Descriptions of the teams would be cute to see so I encourage you to do so! Use the spoiler tag if it will be long as hell <3
And like always thank everyone who participated in the tour, stay blessed and happy gaming. RAHHHHH
I've been wanting to do this for a while but I guess there's no better time than now. Not all of these teams were considered to use in mfpl (some of these were used in other tours like mpl and blt) but a majority of them were. Not all of these were used / are good, so you've been warned. My biggest issue when it comes to teambuilding is it always feels like my teams are a piece or two away from being really good, so I genuinely do believe there are some really good foundations in here that a player better than me can solve. A majority of these were made pre-kingambit ban so yea. Have a boatload of fun (oldest to newest)
I wanted to share a few teams. I enjoyed playing because I didn't take myself or the tournament too seriously. I didn't build every week because I was busy, so here are the teams I built for ORAS.
Week 1 - https://pokepast.es/2bcd90d77d15f6a7
Week 1, I thought my opponent would use Psychic and wanted to bring water despite the fact that post-Keldeo-ban water was not as great. The main goal was to beat Psychic, and I accomplished that goal. I do like the idea of T Spikes + Cune + Sharpedo.
With this team, I honestly think Hawlucha is underrated and is good with the rise of Dark and Normal, but the team ran into Dragon. I would run Mega Charizard-Y or Mega Aero and test different team variations; feel free to modify and have fun.
Electric team vs Feen - https://pokepast.es/2c53faa22ec92285
I anticipated the Psychic matchup. Hence, the Raikou set, but the team didn't do well, given that Fire is difficult to win without Rotom-W. I had other versions but didn't like anything.
Congrats to the Chimchars for the win! This tour didn't end up going the way I hoped it would, but I had a great time nonetheless.
Going to drop a few of the more audacious teams I cooked up this tournament. Week 2 (Ghost): https://pokepast.es/714bca1b12cf4455 [L]
The idea behind this team was to use a Pecharunt as a bulky pivot for Specs Flutter and Band Pult. Skeledirge was used as a Gambit answer (ev'd to 200 Spe) and as a more specially bulky wall compared to Pecharunt. I had Scarf Hyper Beam H-Zoro to nuke the most dangerous opposing mons (e.g. scarfers). However, not including a Sinistcha would prove to be quite costly against Ground. Well played to my opponent.
Week 3 (Dragon): https://pokepast.es/269daf4d25d07fbd [W]
Recover is used on anti-Flying Latios to stay healthy throughout the match against bulkier teams. The far sneakier component of this team is the Def investment on Hydreigon, which is specifically chosen so that Clodsire's Poison Jab will never break the sub - a little trick that paid huge dividends during this game.
Week 4 (Fighting): https://pokepast.es/1f105bca5567f2fc [W]
Ok so... Chesnaught. I had wanted to build a team with Chesnaught due to its ability to set Spikes. It is also a decent physical wall with reliable recovery. The original team had a Zapdos-Galar with the idea to activate Defiant off of Defog. However, this left the team quite weak to Psychic (Fairy has always been a lost cause), so I substituted Scrafty in instead. Neither of these Pokemon would play a huge role in the actual game; instead, it was Scarf Tusk that carried the day. Overall, this is not a team that I would use again but I'm happy I used it once.
Week 6 and Week 7 (Fez Fairy) [W]
This team will be shared at a later time. I'm just glad to have had the opportunity to showcase Fez Fairy on the tournament stage as part of my ongoing petition to get Fezandipiti to C rank on Fairy.
Also wanted to give a few thank yous.
adjustmentssasha At the beginning of the tour, I told you that you vastly overpaid for me. 20k?? That's an insane price for someone whose only team tour experience was going 0-2 in MPL. Nonetheless, you took a chance on me and from that point it became my responsibility to make your investment worthwhile. An early hiccup aside, it was looking up for a long time. There was hope and there was expectation. So it weighs heavily on me that I faltered where it mattered most. Regardless, I have greatly enjoyed my time with the Dreamchasers. You made the tournament a memorable one.
Shucklegigas What a run! You gave an incredible performance this tour, and as a 3k player! I certainly hope to see you in more Monotype tours in the future; you were a great teammate.
Ninja You were awesome this entire tour, in battle, in testing, and in general. We would not have made it as far as have without you. Keep looking up!
Silverubyjackuzzler Both of you were extremely active and immensely helpful in preparation. I hope this has been a good team tour experience for you, because I definitely want to see you guys again in the future.
Jojenfeen We didn't interact too much (mostly because I knew nothing about the gens you played) but you both did extremely well and I'm happy to have teamed with you.
boompSificon Thanks for hosting! This tournament was a great experience; I'm glad to have participated in it.
So I built teams during this premiere league. Shocking people that I could not only play types that weren't Poison but also build them as well by myself. I know, its scary times for us all, I'm on my way to be Monotype's new best player and nobody can stop me. (Except for me and my own need to load Poison because I really like Poison, did I mention that already?)
This is going to be a lot of waffling on from me about thoughts and shit. To the point where I did consider trying to just record my thoughts but turns out, can type like I'm trying to wash the dishes in 5 minutes but the second I try to ramble with my own words I become as stable as jelly, struggling a lot to really talk about the teams and the experience and it felt like I was just trying to ramble to get it over with. So I'm putting them on a text document instead. If you the full spoiler things will be my inner thoughts for each week and a get a bit more in depth for the team and personal thoughts but each team will also have a brief overview if you just want that.
WEEK 1: Flying https://pokepast.es/c4f08599c948a968
My personal flying build, I wasn't sure what to load overall so I just went with something safe into most things that deal with Poison. Offensive Moltres is my personal enjoyment and does well into Steel and Zapdos was to deal with opposing Flying teams.
Okay so going further in depth, I think Offensive Moltres is great since it still has respectable enough bulk and since its slowish it can afford to not run max speed and invest a bit into bulk, notably going its current spread is just enough to outspeed every Gholdengo Variant except for Scarf which is good enough for me in this situation (I usually run it to Outspeed Glimmora as a big ol fuck you.) With Zapdos I calced it to take a Gliscor Knock off and have a good chance of not losing Sub while still remaining faster than Excadrill which I don't remember why I did that, I should of calced it differently but oh well, hindsight is 20/20. The rest of this is standard Pengairxan Flying, notably I really like running Defogless since you get a hazard stacking and they also kind of do but your flying so it doesn't matter since you've got two knock absorbers and Torn-T on my personal build.
Going into the game though my confidence was at fucking Rock bottom and I was having a lot of self dobut about my ability since I was just doing shit in basically every tour and 7500 put a bit of pressure on me to do well. Throughout this tour I set myself small sub goals as I felt like they became appropriate so I'll let you know when I've accomplished them and what they where.
Don't be a complete burden and win a game. Accomplished.
WEEK 2: Poison? https://pokepast.es/d074075f53d11c48
I was going to load this Poison as a dual catch into Steel which Blob mains and Water which Blob both loaded last week and did well into Flying but as you all know I chickened out and went for:
WEEK 2 FOR REAL: Ground https://pokepast.es/db3971cc9e38f348
Mild concern into Fire so I pivoted to dual Scarf Ground to outspeed Sun Boosted Gouger along with having good Speed Control against anything Blob would load. Got 4 Balloon which I popped in 5 turns instead.
In reality I'm not sure why Blob would load Water, they lost with it last week and knew I main Poison which has a good matchup into Water so that being a load is super stupid in hindsight and I should of just focused on beating Steel. Luckily this was the first week where trolley collection thoughts took over (Yes that is my job, I push trolleys back into trolley bays to make a living, its certainly a job) since I'm usually bored out of my mind while on the Job and thinking about Pokemon helped me see the light of loading Ground, even if it was also for a stupid reason but hey. It worked so I'll take it. Confidence was starting to rise here and I was getting a bit more sure of my ability as a player. Going Double Scarf was to help with the Fire load I became scared of but I also really like the speed control it gives me and it leads to a really strong pivot core which I like.
New goal: Do better than Neko did in MPL. Accomplished.
WEEK 3: Poison https://pokepast.es/19db72fbb1d7094d
Current main Poison at the time, EBelt Moth was to deal with Stall Water in case Cee gave that away to beat me with Toxic as just a good slot filler to help into bad matchups like Dragon.
I don't remember much else about this team other than what I've mentioned there. This was my standard Poison build at the time which I felt comfortable with. With Toxic on Moth I've explained it in Defensive Moth in the bazaar but the TL:DR is that I think Specs/Scarfless Moth's final move is super flexible and can realistically be a lot of things but Toxic is just the best since it helps deal with the Dragon and Fire-types that otherwise just blanket wall Iron Moth and can serve as a hail merry if necessary.
I did not play this game well though, I fucked up with Okidogi right at the start and was kind of just fumbling hoping for a Toxic which I did get and if they brought Sub Sinistcha or a more defensive Ghold this game was fucking over and I was goobed.
WEEK 4: Fairy (Ver 1) https://pokepast.es/3879a0f820a231f5
Don't remember exactly why I loaded everything I did here but I felt like this would be solid and thought Tink + Enam would be better into Flying. Guzzles did yell at me for not running Azu.
I kind of don't remember this week at all. I know prior to me locking Fairy Ashbala did give me their Flying team which was what Pas loaded into Showl. I think I thought of Fairy at work and I remember having a conversation with Guzzles with this team where she was adamant that I should bring Azu + Klef as it would be better into Fairy which is what I expected I think. And in reality she was right but I really like Tinkaton, its my personal favourite new mon from SV so I wanted to give it a shot and two of my personal goals with this tour was showing that I could be a bit of a creative builder and wasn't a Poison one trick which is why I stuck to it in reality. And hey it did work, Klef + Azu would of probably still been better but it did function.
New goal: Break even at least. Accomplished
WEEK 5, 6, and 7: Fairy (Ver 2) https://pokepast.es/fbf057d8e7356d1c
I did it, I stopped being creative and became a basic boy. Guzzles thought I would run into Dragon, was correct twice and then I beat a normal team with it and this has no become my go to good team load because it just works.
Is there really much else to add, I kind of just lost the drive for building here. Guzzles did call out the Dragon team so I stuck to Fairy, or well Memo did for week 5 since I became ill, everyone else in my family had caught something (Dad had Covid, Mum did as well and Big sis was just sick) so I was the last to fall and Memo did a fine job with this team and I'm greatful for it. Week 6 and 7 I don't remember anything other than us joking about the Fairy Load again. Guzzles did try to put Twave on my Klefki which might of helped with Gouging in week 6 but thats kind of it. Also we probably would of lost week 7 if Terapagos had Rapid spin because I played that poorly. Same with week 6 but dumb luck saved me there.
WEEK 8: Ground? https://pokepast.es/88e0c373122f749d
Was expecting Fire or Poison so I built this same theory as the week 2 team but now with Rocks on Chomp. Then Guzzles vision saw the Water Load and my need to have Poison had a 50% winrate (espessically after 3 loads of the same bad Clodsire + Sneasler Poison team) I decided to cook really hard.
WEEK 8: REVENGE OF POISON! https://pokepast.es/9ce94dcc9c7862a4
Occa Berry Amoonguss was to live Ogerpon-H and Ceruledge's boosted attacks and deal massive damage with Foul Play (teehee) with Sitrus berry on Toxapex to also handle Ceruledge and PGem on Glow to hit Fire-types. Okidogi was to win the Poison mirror (yes I was really only expecting Poison and Fire loads into me and I got a Water instead which I would win because I always win against Water with Poison)
With the Ground team expecting a load to beat Fairy makes sense, going of Spaniard being a know abuser of Fire since its such a stupid type and them loading Poison the prior week I tunnel visioned hard on those two. Luckily Guzzles did spot the possible water load and was able to make my mind piovt to Poison which is um, certainly an upgrade of typing. I did keep the Double scarf Idea of the first Ground team as I did enjoy it and with Chomp being traded in for Treads I would certainly need it more.
With Poison that Image I showed of Neko in my winpost wasn't a joke, I geniunelly did send this to Neko and she was mortified. ikiarihS was the only one that commented on it in the Discord and I remember them saying "I cooked too hard for them" after being wilded by the decision to load Poison to beat Poison. Fun fact about me: when I think I'm the best at something I'm going to try and actually prove it and my bias towards Poison is that which coupled with Quiet litteral 6AM I'm about to go to bed thoughts, Work thoughts AND shower thoughts lead me to pivot towards this.
That Occa Berry Amoonguss bit also isn't a lie, in Sun it lives a CB Gouging Fire Flare Raging Fury, has a good chance to live a +2 Ogerpon-H Ivy Cudgel and always lives both an Ivy Cudgel and +2 Ceruledge Bitter Blade after Rocks outside of Sun. Siturs on Toxapex was for a more sensible answer into Ceruledge and could help damage taking since it gives me a boost that is nice in case of emergency (it probably did matter in the actual game) Okidogi was Taunt to beat the standard Defensive Backbone with Psychic Fangs + DPunch as my two offensive tools to beat it since nothing of the standard core can do anything then, if it was Pecharunt I might be a bit fucked but I would worry about that situation if I saw Pecharunt. And if I'm being honest, I was going to load Trick Ring Target Galarian Slowking to beat Alolan Muk but it being useless into anything else was the only thing that stopped me and good thing to as Rain + Specs Primarina Water was what I loaded into and man that was a shocker. Guzzles did call Water out at least which at least was able to give me some prep and I had a weird feeling of all mons Hatterene walling me which is why I switched AMuk's DPunch to Poison Jab litterally seconds before we went and that ended up being a good change overall.
I had three Goals this week one which I did accomplish but I would of prefered it to be the other way around.
Goal: Go undefeated. Accomplished by sadly
Goal: Beat Chimchars in Semis. Failed.
Goal: Win MFPL. Failed.
This is sad but apart of me is really happy that we did lose because it means I went undefeated and I'm disgusted at that part of myself but not at the same time. Like I'm happy I went undefeated, that was fucking amazing and a major boost to my Ego which it has done a lot for, I feel like I've started acting more toxic which is a bit of a problem and I need to be humbled at somepoint. But it came at the cost of my team not being able to win the entire thing which is sad since I did believe we had the talent and the resources, we just didn't do enough. I know I didn't do enough, I should of done more to help with prep but thats all leading back into my big ramble in commencement.
Honestly a rather standard Flying team, not much innovation going on here. SD Gliscor destroys fat, while LO Lando trivializes the Poison and Steel (to a degree) matchups alongside it. Scarf Enamorus is here as speed control and helps vs the Dragon MU, while Corv keeps hazards off for Choice Band Dragonite to come in and wreak havoc. Gyarados is here as a buffer against stuff like Kingambit which otherwise threaten the team. Unfortunately, I ended up loading into a Ice-filled Fighting team and made a few misplays to lose the week.
Week 3 vs. TDR (Dark - L) team paste (team is no longer legal post-Kingambit ban)
Decided to go with a fairly comfortable load in this Dark team, really it operates by getting Spikes up and going to town with your CB Meowscarada and Specs Gren with Kingambit and Choice Scarf Darkrai to clean up whatever's left. Mandibuzz helps vs. bulkier teams that can withstand the offensive onslaught by getting rid of any hazard layers to get your breakers a lot more switch-ins. Fire was a matchup I didn't really like, but it was definitely winnable until the Raging Fury crit on Ting-Lu.
I had originally built a Normal team (won't reveal it here but it was essentially a basic Normal team) and loaded into the mirror, the game went well until PS crashed and forced us to remake with different teams. I loaded this Fire as it was good into a ton of types and seth isn't a mainer, so I expected some top type but got Walking Wake Water. I won after throwing thanks to a misclick, but a win's a win.
Week 5 vs. Otak'out [Dragon - used but lost] team paste
I decided to build around Specs Hydreigon because it's quite a good wallbreaker against neutral types (realistically against anything but Fairy, it can click its STABs or Fire Blast to force great progress or be a U-turn bot even if it can't do that), and built the team around it. Double Steel helps with Hydrei's worst MU in Fairy, while Scarf Latias provides Healing Wish support for Hydrei as well as speed control. The rest of the team chips down Hydreigon's checks. I misconverted the time and accidentally thought the game was an hour later than what it was, which meant Lizzie had to sub in. I really liked the MU because their Hisuian Goodra would be getting worn down very easily thanks to Rocks + Dark Pulse doing roughly 33% every time it came in, but unfortunately it was able to stop us for long enough for the rest of the team to get whittled down and lose to Kingambit in the endgame.
Pretty standard Steel with the exception of Specs Gholdengo, I'm addicted to breakers that put up insane numbers on defensive sponges (as you can see, we are out here 2HKOing Black Sludge Pex after Rocks with this thing). Hazard stack + Gholdengo forces hazards to stay up and keep making progress, and Specs Ghold easily takes advantage of Corviknight and the like to come in and fire off a Shadow Ball / Make it Rain. The team worked perfectly, with Archaludon staving off Barraskewda and Gambit winning late-game.
Very simple team to understand, SD Hands does well into bulkier teams like Water and the like that CB Zama / Specs Valiant can't instantly break while PhysDef Tusk and AV Gallade provide some sort of defensive backbone. Choice Scarf Zapdos is the main difference here; it was chosen since it deals with Ground-types far better than Sneasler ever could. The team worked well again, everything was worn down in range of a Brave Bird and Zapdos broke enough things to win handily.
Shoutouts to Lustre and Royal for picking me up, it was a great team experience and overall despite our low final placing I believe we were very capable of going far into, if not winning, the tour. Thanks to all my teammates for making the server a fun place to be in, and thanks to the supporters (Murphy and AhmedxWaleed) for helping me with testing quite a few of these teams. Cheers.
