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With RUPL reaching its last legs and being the last 'major' tour for the tier until the fall, this seems as good a time as any to ask players to share their experiences with the tier and whatever might come from it. Feel free to use this thread not only to bring attention to sets and / or teams you feel are deserving of attention, but trends in the metagames played as well. Don't feel obligated to do so (though again, no major tours on the horizon, what's there to hold out for), but all input is greatly appreciated from players and spectators alike, it's all in the name of pushing the tier(s) forward so anything and everything helps. I'll be sure to tag players and we advance into finals, but for the time being:
Glad to contribute to this thread as one of the elite RUPL players
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Block
- Rest
This set traps, poisons, then stalls out Alomomola. Alomomola usually fails to 3HKO this set with Scald. Beware of Waterfall Alomomola, Knock Off Alomomola, or any player that has some cognitive ability.
Hi, I'm Durza, and as RUPL was my first real team tour experience, I really wanted to contribute to my team, and my greatest strength is building. I made countless teams this RUPL, and here are 13 of my favorite specifically for RUPL, most of which got used. I won't really go into the teambuilding processes and stuff because I really don't remember what went through my head lol. You can see for yourself the cool stuff and hopefully you can see that I wasn't complete dead weight on my team :P
Virizion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
This was the first team I built for RUPL, it is extremely solid and you can see more about it in my RMT, Lucid Dreams. The replay where Teddeh won with this team can be found here.
Medicham @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Trick
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
This team was made for a generally good backup squad if anybody needed a team suddenly, polished up nicely with the team. I wanted to use Medicham because this is right before the Medicham hype started because of cyanize, and it is an extremely cool mon that is speed control that can also break things like Milotic.
Week 2:
Steelix @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Curse
This team originally had a Gatr on it when TDK used it, as well as Dragonium Dragalge, I believe after the game FlamingVictini and I made some edits for another tournament game and this was the final product. Both Gatr and Zydog love Tspikes support to help with getting KOs, and Taunt + Toxic Mandibuzz is a great fat breaker in the current metagame. Steelix is a reliable rocks setter, and can act as a secondary wincon with Curse, as another Toxic user isn't needed that much on this team. The replay where TDK was unfortunately hax'd by a freeze can be found here.
This team was around the cool idea of a "normal spam" where the rest of the team could solely deal with the Normal-resists in the tier, Escav for Zong + ghosts, and the last 3 all dealt with certain Steel and Rock-types in the tier. It was also cool how Swellow got a sun-boosted Heat Wave to help dent things like Bronzong. Here's the replay where Teddeh wins with this team. I used this team myself versus BelmontGabriel in the USUM RU Cup and won, the replay can be found here.
Barbaracle @ Rockium Z
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Liquidation
- Shell Smash
- Substitute
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
Nidoqueen @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 64 SpA / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave
I originally had another team built for my first RUPL game, but I ended up going with my most comfortable team as I was extremely nervous for the game !! I changed up sets and this actually ended up winning me the game. The replay for this really stressful game can be found here!
ivy (Virizion) @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
thinking bout u (Noivern) @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 232 HP / 68 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Super Fang
- Hurricane
- Roost
moon river (Blastoise-Mega) @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Rapid Spin
This is the original team I built for my game against BelmontGabriel, but ended up going with the above team. Maybe thats a good thing, because I played Belmont again and he crushed me when I used this team lol.
THIS TEAM WAS ACTUALLY had a ton of holes in it, I honestly don't know how I got away with using this. Shoutout to Aeroblacktyl for the cool sets though, particularly Noivern. Heres the replay of me winning with this team, with the aid of some luck.
Rhyperior @ Choice Band
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Megahorn
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Psywave
- Toxic
- Protect
This team is really cool!!!! I wanted to use Choice Band Pursuit Rhyperior but it has legality issues with Solid Rock, which makes me really sad :(. Grassium Z Roserade with Sleep Powder is super cool as it can nuke with Bloom Doom or clean with the +1 speed and sleep. Please, somebody, use this set!! I used this team week 7 vs Pohjis here, and while I lost I stand by my 50/50s at the end :).
Rotom-Mow @ Grassium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
- Leaf Storm
- Volt Switch
This team was the final team I built for RUPL, and it was so. fun. to. build. SCARF GOODRA!! This was a classic team for Teddeh that he liked and he really played it well, as can be seen here. Goodra was used because Teddeh really wanted a good fire resist.
special shoutouts to FlamingVictini for letting me have an opportunity to show myself and Teddeh for literally winning with every team I gave him lol, mans a beast. also obii im not european
as a disclaimer i had little to no experience with oras ru before this tour, but getting more into it was much more fun that i would have ever anticipated and it's defo a tier that needs more exposure in a good way
this is prob my favourite team i used this rupl, i didn't have much experience in oras ru like at all at this point so i asked aldo if he could whip up something with torterra since i've used it before and was v cool against a lot of standard regi / mag / alo / gon balance and i liked his idea of tort + jelli a lot. the original build he gave me was standard jelli with sd drap + scarf gon but i changed to scarf drap + band gon bc i just like band gon much better :*, i alsoo decided to go with dazzling gleam jelli as i was fearing basically any dark-type; absol, sneasel, houndoom, and spiritomb are v annoying and mostly scrafty, which sets up on uxie, suit-locked drap and standard jelli w ease, so i went w dazzle jelli and funnily enough it worked out against bushtush who brought sneasel. so yea fun team and thanks aldo for being a genius
Braviary @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 92 SpD / 164 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Roost
Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
kinda similar to the team above, but more so centred around sub bu braviary, when me n aldo were brainstoriming some good ideas vs typical ajna esque balance brav came into consideration, and we kinda just rolled with it since going through all the mudsdales replays their flying resists were mainly like tbolt regi, offensive diancie and choiced magents, so we thought this would have decent mu against him. aldo originally gave me a different team but i wanted to change it up just a bit ~
Braviary @ Leftovers
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 HP / 92 SpD / 164 Spe
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Roost
the vixen aka delphox team. this team is honestly really matchup dependant from experience, scrafty, venu + trapper, sigi can all be super annoying for this, buut when delphox works it works really well, but like consdiering a good 1/5 of teams have scarf drap and then any other trapper faster like sneas or aero, they'll probably still need to sack a mon to let it in. you can also mess around w sub lefties or colbur 4 attacks w dazzle can be neat as well.
Delphox @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Grass Knot
- Psychic
- Fire Blast
i prob spent the most time on this team just not completely not use it lol, gallade is rlly fun to use in general and breaks through a lot of fat / hyperbalance really well which is always fun, paired it band gon bc it's amazing and pressuring stuff like drap and venu is nice. tbh i've ran through so many editions of this team it would take too long for me to go through them all, but some things i had were rhyp > diance | sd absol > scarf drap and mowtom scarfed | sd / av escav > drap then scarf mowtom | rhyp > diancie then some dark resist in last 2, rhyp / absol / jelli is fun and effective as well, could run scarf absol if ur feeling brazy, kinda fun w ice beam as well.
Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Moonblast
Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Heavy Slam
Virizion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Zen Headbutt
even though i'm really not a fan of these more bulkier "basic" builds, there's some thing about this that i like a lot, cm resttalk diancie is really fun against more defensive teams which use alo as their main check and don't have too much offensive presence on the team, sub pup toad kinda lures / dentes some of diancie's typical checks like venu, viriz, magnets etc. ig you ignore the spd steelix as the ice resist i like this team
Diancie @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 36 SpA / 216 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Diamond Storm
Rotom-Mow @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Flying]
this was originally shiloh's, and when i was scrolling through oras ru threads i saw specs hoopa + evio scy + dd scrafty being used by him in slam, and i really liked the idea of it bc in tests scrafty was perfoming surpsing well paired w scyther. this was also the team i used week 1 which got me my 1st win (mainly thanks to eball hoopa and him having scarf medi as his scrafty check), but nonetheless i still love this team a lot :*
Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 104 HP / 180 Def / 224 SpD
Impish Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Scald
- Knock Off
Granbull @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Atk / 184 Def / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heal Bell
- Play Rough
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
Registeel @ Shed Shell
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 72 HP / 32 Def / 152 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
pretty sure this is a variant of col's team, but don't quote me on that, specs aurorus is super fun and actually very hard to deal with against some builds and if played well
Archeops @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Endeavor
- Head Smash
Absol @ Black Glasses
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
pretty sure this is also shiloh's which i take no credit for, but i used this vs diogo and actually played pretty well with it lol, just loset some 50/50 w sucker absol w garb and aero at end .3.
anyways this is probably the longest think i've written on smogon, so major thanks to MrAldo for spending so much time helping and building w / for me, and thanks to eren, Hot N Cold, Trace, lighthouses, EviGaro, Nat, Eternally and passion for helping me a lot, as well as shiloh for letting me use ur teams lol, appreciate it!
Glad to contribute to this thread as one of the elite RUPL players
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Block
- Rest
This set traps, poisons, then stalls out Alomomola. Alomomola usually fails to 3HKO this set with Scald. Beware of Waterfall Alomomola, Knock Off Alomomola, or any player that has some cognitive ability.
Delphox @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
everyone brings good delphox counters now, and grass knot is just generally not that useful because it doesn't beat mola, it doesn't beat diancie, it doesn't beat av slowking, and jellicent with special defense investment is garbage. rhyperior and seismitoad can be problems but whos leaving them in on a delphox? no one. wisp lets you get important chip vs the many many things you don't beat. it also means that defensive flygon sets can no longer ohko you.
i hate to use colbur on a mon that likes LO for damage rolls this much, but literally every team has a pursuit trapper. this lets delphox lure the trapper pretty well. i don't think it's actually a lure bc anyone would realize what you're doing, but you know. cool set.
shoutout to phantom for building all the teams i won with and shoutouts to me for building all the ones i lost with.
sacri used this w2 vs feen, and while metronome didn't rlly do anything, moltres switching moves helped. metronome gives u a way to beat stall/fat without wasting a z move. you still get the boost when you miss, so you can pressure milo, cress, p2, etc. rlly well.
Diancie @ Leftovers/Shuca Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 208 SpA / 48 Spe or EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 212 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Power Gem/Diamond Storm/Toxic
- Earth Power
another fun set that's really customizable. first ev spread with power gem outspeeds so that it has one less mon to come in on, second spread is a slower one that gets the guaranteed ko on ninetales. If you don't need to ko tales/tres/yanmega/etc. then toxic is a great choice to put bulky stuff on a timer. sacri vs feen and teal vs evi are good examples of it puttin' in work.
Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Refresh
a different take on stoise. this is used for teams that need to keep rocks off vs zong teams. it comes in on zong's toxic and refreshes as zong tects. it's then pretty free to spin, but if it's more beneficial you can just fire off an attack. it helps vs regi, and milo as well. same concept vs regi, but regi needs to be weakened (and you're just fishing for a burn), and for milo you are super free to fish for dark pulse flinches. no games to showcase this one, but it's been fire in tests. oh and speed is for jolly bewear.
z poison has more targets than you think, but i started using it to muscle past mandibuzz. I think defog mandibuzz is super wack, but people use it, so i made this to take advantage of it. regular sludge into z sludge kills phys def mandi, and if you get the poison you kill spdef as well. synth/spikes depends on your team, synth gives you a more reliable stoise/milo switchin, but spikes is great support, especially if you lure mandi. metronome is the same idea, you just keep sludging mandi so you can keep up spikes. blunder vs tdk- metronome once again doesn't come into play, but rose gets up a spike, and gets a kill despite there being a drapion. teal vs pohjis- teal is able to use the rose vs drap mu to his advantage by making some aggressive doubles early game. z poison catches pohjis off guard, and it kills virizion from 70 despite being at -2.
Gigalith @ Groundium Z
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Throat Chop
this set is super cool and put in work in tests, but unfortunately didn't get to shine in it's game. It did switch in to salazzle 3x and get a kill though. the set is made to support the scarf garde/scarf t rex clean. i don't rb what the evs are tbh, look up speed tiers :]. eq into z eq kills mega lix most of the time, and throat chop 2hkos non tect zong. it's made for offensive teams, and just gets big chip off on the opposing teams switchins to rex/garde. teal vs obii
honorable mentions:
-scarf croak
-gastrodon
-spdef waterium z slowking
-dual dance z ttrum (started using dd over hone claws)
-hypnosis zong
-z rock necrozma
-special z fight viriz
-crunch lix
used this vs fv in case of fat, but it didn't get the chance to work. throw this is a p niche set since stoise only fits on rhyperior/lix teams, but it disguises really well on them. with this you kinda forgo hazard control, unless you wanted to use it with choiced gon ig, but it's worth it. you trap regi, mola, non boosting slowking, and other random fat mons. trapping is broken, trust.
Magneton @ Iron Plate/Eviolite/Zap Plate
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Water]/Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
from the same game, my only loss vs evi, and some of rau's games during his cup run. plate/evio depends on what hp you use, but this set put in a ton of work pretty consistently. evio gets the sub up super reliably, but plate's can bluff specs. slow analytic rips through a bunch of teams, especially when the main switch in on every team for this is gon. if you have something that loves gon gone(scarf drap, band/scarf gon, every spiker, etc) then this is a super dope set.
took this from Many a long time ago, and it's been super good. regular defensive spread might be better (what i used vs gama), but idk tbh lol. ask him about the evs, p sure it's like for mola or something idk. colbur is better vs offense/balance, lefties is better vs fat. mon is great in general, but near unkillable for fat with heal bell support. replays: vs nacl and vs hantsuki.
went 3-0 in rupl between me n rau, and p sure he got some dubs with it in cup. super cool set stolen from col49 that isolates things on opposing fat. it's great with mola cuz it gives a reliable medi switchin, and it's like unkillable. rau vs hikari lol.
Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 244 HP / 84 SpA / 168 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Heal Bell
Kushalos is an absolute nerd and helped me optimize evs with jump points and a lefties number, but this mon gives a reliable sleep talk esca switch in, a cleric, and a rocker in one slot. great role compression for fat, example here vs tsr.
this was before the rise of regi, but before that it was super fun. one of the few teams successful teams i've had with nidoqueen lately. focus blast neutrally hits a lot of shit, but it was mostly for snorlax. pretty standard bulky offense, nothing in depth needed.
one of my fav teams ever, was really sad sacri goat lost with this. i didn't particularly like how he played with it, but he had p shitty mu. Eternally you're mega bad for bringing puff in this meta, but i will forgive you. team functions by not letting the opponent get rocks and volting all over them. it's volt volt turn into cb wear with tox. if you can keep rocks off you basically win. scarf croak gives you a viriz switch in, a milo switch in, and a stoise check. scarf croak is super cool cuz it's the only scarfer that can reliably come into milo and force it out without getting chipped quickly. it's not as good anymore, but it was super fun at the time. here's an up do date croak team that sacri won with later on.
used it twice bop (gotta leave for class, might edit in if y'all are lucky)
Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Earthquake
rushed to write this, but i used this twice and won easily both times just cuz of how good this team is. this was my go-to team in 2017 oras as well, but emboar > mag. specs trapper mag gives you a solid brav check so that you can run eq on regi to not get trapped, and it traps opposing esca. you can run giga on venu to have a better mu vs sub toad, but that mon is terrible, and you can still beat it with good play between slowking and flygon. i'm prolly gonna end up making slowking max def, but we'll see. both variations of this team have a stupid w/l, it's prob my fav ru tier across all gens. triple trapping is balanced btw MrAldo
thanks for reading. this year was fun, outcome wasn't what i wanted, but who cares 'cuz i enjoyed the season. i built bw as well, but not as much, and i'm just too lazy to post about it. thanks for hosting atomicllamas, and thanks to everyone who watched, and played in games (not Sir Isaac Mewton tho, you're still wack as shit). thanks for making the tier i play enjoyable y'all :]
Scarf drap isn't anything new, but Ice Fang isn't something you see very often. I figured with how common and dominant Flygon is this gen and how it usually isn't afraid of Drap, that this would make a good lure to take the pressure off of slower wallbreakers and set up sweepers that Flygon holds down. I'm not sure why I used that on this team in particular, but I think I just wanted to limit the damage Band Flygon could do.
Ironically, both joris and his opponent brought the same kinda set, although neither were used. This one is cooler, though. The idea here was to use something that can exploit mola and break bulky teams, but I didn't just want to use random sub cheese garbage that was good against mola but kinda meh everywhere else, so I went with Salac Berry to let it get the jump on stuff like Scarf Drap, Virizion, and opposing Flygon.
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Block
Saw this used by 49 in snake, but I figured it'd be a lot cooler in ORAS. LDM and I both liked the concept, but it never really came of use in that match. So anyway, the initial response to a CM King is something fat with Toxic, so this set comes in and can trap all kinds of shit like Registeel, Zong, Mola, etc. I don't like using shit that has a good matchup vs one kind of team only, but given that it has a much wider range of targets it can trap, exceptions could be made.
BW:
Aerodactyl @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Fire Blast
- Roost
Used these specific combination of moves every time my team used aero. I think Aqua Tail is mostly better than EQ aside from hitting Lanturn. The ability to dunk Golurk and Rhydon is just so good, not just because those normally check aero, but because it keeps the pressure on and makes it difficult for them to find something to click rocks on. The only issue is that it doesn't have a single accurate attack, which became more of an annoyance as the season went on...
I wanted to use this guy once my team made it to playoffs, but that never happened so rip. Clefable is pretty underexplored. There was no way that a mon with magic guard and a movepool that ridiculous could only be useful on stall, so I came up with this. It's pretty specially bulky and can take Specs Sceptile Leaf Storms, check rotoms, sigi, moltres, etc. The meta is pretty fast, so anything bulky that can spreads Twaves is automatically good. I went with Ice Beam as coverage just because it deals best with Twave immune mons and the chip on stuff like drudd is always useful. The idea here is to sponge special hits, spread around twaves for some slow breaker, then use Healing Wish when you're done with it. Pairs pretty nicely with Band Drudd.
Uxie @ Tanga Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 Spe
Bold Nature
- Psychic
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
I remember way back in an SPL 5 dump thread I saw Hot N Cold post a tanga pixie set, and I thought that was one of the coolest techs. Fast forward to this RUPL, and I knew right away that I wanted it on a team. When building that team with The Kyle, the idea was to use a voltturn core with Uxie and Lanturn to bring in breakers like Specs Tang, CB Ant, and CB Drudd. We came across a problem where our Durant counter was Durant, so I figured this would be a nice way to circumvent that issue without compromising the structure of the team. It ended up working out nicely.
This isn't a new set per se, but it's pretty underrated. It woulda won this game, but he derped and forgot it had sub. The EVs let its substitute withstand a mola scald and give it the right hp numbers to activate salac. The combination of swarm + salac + sd can make this thing as scary as Durant. Its speed tier is awesome and it gets free turns off of stuff like Specs Sceptile and Mola.
Kinda like the drap I posted earlier, this isn't new set, but a slight twist on it. Normally, riolu isn't going to start shuffling on a mola because of the threat of Toxic, so what this set does is that it creates more opportunities for Riolu to get going. Before Swagger's untimely demise, I enjoyed using it on Riolu because it was a great way to force free turns to start shuffling or get that last bit of chip to win the match. Now, there's not really much that's useful here, so I just made this a female and went with attract in hopes it could potentially replicate the free turns swagger could give. (I'm half serious). Sdef gave it a chance to take a specs sceptile leaf storm and get a roar off if need be, physical is probably better so that priority doesn't sting, but it didn't up mattering.
Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Seed Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes
Garbodor is awesome in BW. Soft checks both sceptile sets, dunks kabu/cryo, and sets spikes. Doesn't get any better than that. Decided to go with HP Fire > Tspikes on the team posted above to help deal with Durant. Normally, Durant gets free turns on this thing, so I figured given how the team was kinda weak to it, that this would make a good lure. I didn't like having to use a -spe nature, but none of the moves could afford a drop in power.
Don't really have much to post for SM. My sm players were pretty self-sufficient and only needed tests and some teambuilding advice every now and then, and I mostly stick to standard shit anyway.
Had fun this RUPL, some pretty bizarre weeks all things considered, but I was happy to help my teammates and relearn some of these tiers.
One day i came to the realization that registeel should be a physical wall(tyrantrum, golisopod, escavalier) and milotic should be the special wall(moltres, salazzle, yanmega, blastoise). you guys have been doing it wrong all along.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 24 Def / 216 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast - Metal Burst
Moltres @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Hurricane
- Roost - Will-O-Wisp
Not particularly creative, but due to the rise of Tyrantrum and Rhyperior as Moltres checks, I figured surprising them with Will-O-Wisp on the switch in could be helpful in the long run. Lycans demonstrated the usefulness of this here in the team I built for him vs. lighthouses in our recent tiebreaker.
Despite Kushalos's deep hatred for Scarfed Grass-types, I found Shaymin to work particularly well with the item due to having access to Healing Wish and Natural Cure. The slight difference to this set is Rest, which allows Shaymin to switch in multiple times and be fully healed while forcing the opponent to switch. Hidden Power coverage is rather weak on non-LO variants, so I figured why not put a recovery move that synergizes with Scarf Shaymin's tendency to switch frequently. While I don't think anyone actually put Rest into action, the set in theory is pretty decent.
So while this set never saw the light of day in rupl, I did some testing with it and it's a fun lure set to bait Flygon and Tyrantrum, as Choice Specs Dragon Pulse OHKOs both. The appeal of this set is its ability to hit most of its switch ins like Flygon and Tyrantrum with Dragon Pulse, and also Rhyperior with HP Grass. Most Nasty Plot sets are forced to run either HP Grass or HP Ice, which means they lose out on one or two of the aforementioned targets. Salazzle's high speed allows it to hit hard off the bat with Choice Specs and also gives you the freedom to use your Z-move elsewhere. Incidentally you can also bluff Z-move Salazzle and surprise with a different Z-move user.
This is another set that didn't get used, but I theorymonned this to better deal with Ice Beam variants of Milotic and Blastoise, as well as bluffing a Choice or Z-move item. It also helps with DD Gatr, although that mon is pretty rare these days.
Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch
I used this set vs. eifo, and although I didn't win, I really liked the idea of Sucker Punch over Accelerock due to the ability to OHKO Flygon at +2, while maintaining KOs on things like Scarf Gardevoir etc. Life Orb is infinitely better than Lycanium Z imo due to the ability to gain certain KOs like on Noivern after rocks with Accelerock and the ones mentioned above. It also frees up your Z-move to be used on something else.
Although I was supposed to play BW RU, I realized I was a bit too rusty and let CS and ZV take over. I spent the majority of my time on the team building SM for the rest of my teammates, and it worked out well, as my teams were successful in most attempts. I had a lot of fun this rupl, and despite us not clinching the second finals spot, I think we had a great run and a great team. Shoutouts to Arifeen for being a great motivated leader, Lycans for using my teams half the time and being unbeatable, Sam I Yam for testing with me constantly, Chill Shadow for being a BW goat and making up for my derpiness in BW, all my other teammates whom I might've missed for being awesome cheerleaders when they weren't playing, and SilentVerse for bein cute af and laughing at my bad plays with me.
Huge shoutouts to TheWall and EviGaro for providing me with several of my teams this tour. Also to col49 for unwittingly providing me with the team (that I modified for the worse) that I used in semis.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
Saw a lot of people shitting on Slowbro for some reason, but not sure why. It's obviously not /better/ than Milotic, but fits well on offensive teams that don't want to give the free switches into dangerous breakers that Milotic tends to, and because of Regen, isn't always forced to recover after taking hits from stuff like Entei. It can honestly pick any three of Scald / Toxic / Fire Blast / Psychic / Ice Beam. I had it on a team with Specs Ninetales, so I figured I could get away with no water STAB. The biggest reason to use Toxic is to punish Blastoise and Milotic on the switch. Could also use Psyshock for Virizion, but Psychic hits basically everything harder (Bewear, Golisopod, Gatr). You can also use a Z move if you have one available, but no Lefties makes it much harder to switch into stuff like Scarf Tyrantrum. It also counters Medicham without TPunch, although I do prefer running TPunch over Zen Headbutt personally.
+1 252+ Atk Zygarde Devastating Drake (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 288-339 (73 - 86%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Zygarde-10% Thousand Arrows vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 136-162 (34.5 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 157-186 (39.8 - 47.2%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Shaymin @ Normalium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Seed Flare
- Hidden Power Rock
- Air Slash
I brought this twice, and although it didn't do anything either time, I think this is a ridiculously powerful threat that just hasn't caught on yet. Its very easy to pair this with something that weakens Steel types - non scarf Gardevoir and Tyrantrum, SD Escavalier, Pursuit, etc - so Earth Power and HP Fire aren't needed. HP Rock and Air Slash give you great coverage otherwise so there are only a few non Steel Pokemon you need to chip in order to OHKO or at least 1v1 (stuff like Florges and Lax is 1v1d by full health Shaymin easily). Even if you can't set up to sweep (for example if there's a Golisopod or an Entei that you won't be able to KO in time), you can just setup midgame, get a kill, and switch out, and you still have a Shaymin in the back lol. Really disappointed it didn't do anything in the two games I brought it cause it really puts in a ton of work in like 90% of games. Oh, and I theorymonned a bulky set with Modest, but decided the unboosted revenge kill on Moltres and Yanmega was too valuable for my teams. Despite how averse this community is to that kind of spread, I am confident it can work on teams more dedicated to supporting it (hyper offense maybe?).
Here's my favorite team that I built for this tour:
Escavalier @ Choice Band
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
Team built around Klinklang, offensive Diancie to wear down steels (3HKOes lix) and prevent stuff like Gatr from setting up comfortably, and it checks birds and fire types fine with no additional bulk investment (for this offensive of a team). Leech Tect Shaymin because it's ridiculous in every game, more pressure on Steels, eases switchins, etc. As I've said before, Blastoise works much better with bulk + modest than max speed because you don't just drop to specs/band/z boosted hits and hit hard as fuck. Escav to trap Zong + usual steel things, although now that I think about it, an identical set with Occa for HP Fire Grasses or some other item would probably be better momentum-wise and get the job done just fine. And Scarf Flygon to compress roles in momentum/speed/resists as it usually does. No fighting resist on this team (I probably used like 5 fighting resists in the whole tour combined?); i don't care much for forcing a fight resist on my team when it does another job worse (and when it will probably lose to LO Pure Power / +2 Z move / etc anyway). You can use Doublade over escav if you want but I personally prefer the stronger Pursuit. This team won the game I brought it to and got me reqs too (even though Diancie dies to Stomping Tantrum, Blastoise cant switch into 8 Sacred Fires, Flygon is crippled by burn o_o)
I don't think I did anything really innovative in BW RU this RUPL, but it's a fun tier and not many people have posted about it, so I might as well share a couple of the teams I liked. I actually built a ton of stuff, but most of it is untested and may or may not be worth posting about. I guess I can add some of the unused teams if there's any interest.
Steelix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Toxic
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 216 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Fire Blast
- Slack Off
I built this for my week 1 game vs. Accelgor. I didn't know much about BW RU at that point, so I kept things simple in most respects. My initial assessment of the tier suggested that strong Electric-type breakers, with their ability to pressure common Pokemon like Moltres, Slowking, Kabutops, and others, could be effective. As a result, that concept showed up in most of the teams I built during RUPL. I looked at Accelgor's old builds and felt that he was somewhat weak to Galvantula, so I decided to build around that. Druddigon, Slowking, and Steelix give me something of a defensive core to at least play around most of the meta and come out ahead in 1v1 situations even if they don't necessarily hard counter everything. Druddigon in particular is good at winning 1v1 matchups and coming out ahead in trades, so I can rely on it to remove things that I can't necessarily switch into in a pinch. Even with the reduced bulk (the spread lets it outspeed Clefable and gives me a bit more presence vs. stall and other Druddigon), Druddigon still serves the team's defensive needs. Sceptile gives me some speed and another Water-type check and also takes advantage of Galvantula's ability to pressure stuff like Tangrowth. Entei rounds out the Fire/Water/Grass core and gives me some priority to deal with stuff that's getting out of hand. I considered another variation of this team with Aerodactyl over Entei for more speed, which may be more effective.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Shadow Punch
- Drain Punch
Ferroseed @ Eviolite
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Def / 116 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Moltres @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Roost
Manectric @ Expert Belt
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Volt Switch
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
I used this team vs. Chill Shadow. I built around the concept of Moltres + Manectric. I intended to have Manectric lure stuff like Rhydon and Lanturn for Moltres, as well as generally threatening a bunch of common Pokemon with correct prediction. This Manectric set can 2HKO a huge chunk of the tier and is great at opening holes for something else. Golurk, Ferroseed, and Slowking form a defensive core that can switch into most of the tier at least once while also spreading status and setting up hazards for Manectric to abuse with Volt Switch. Cryogonal is the obligatory Rapid Spinner, since using Moltres without some form of hazard control is almost setting yourself up for failure (seriously, Stealth Rock is the only reason Moltres is even close to balanced in this tier). I had a version with Kabutops and Druddigon, but ultimately went with this.
The game itself got off to a bit of a rough start, but the Manectric set did more or less what it was supposed to, chunking Slowking and removing Steelix. Overall, I had fun playing BW RU and would definitely enjoy exploring it more in the future. BW lower tiers are probably my favorite old gen lower tiers (despite these awful-looking sprites), and I wish that they (and old gen lower tiers in general) had more presence in Smogon's tournament circuits. As someone who started playing Pokemon in ORAS, I always find it interesting to analyze how my approach to old gens contrasts with those of people who are more well-known for playing them and who played old gens when they were the active metas. I'm very grateful to EviGaro for giving me the chance to play BW RU and to my team in general for being a great, supportive group of players who never gave up and managed to come from behind to win it all, even if no one ever let me use Electivire.
Since finals are over its my turn to post some of the things I used!
Absol @ Black Glasses
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Tail
In week 1 I was set on using this boy! I wanted to make sure I could beat the Disgusting core of RegiMola in one mon and Swords Dance Absol could abuse them as set up fodder even if it got toxiced it would leave such a devastation behind there would be a big enough hole to break through the rest of the team. The set is quite standard but honestly its usage is criminally low in my opinion. If this mon manages to get an opportunity to set up not much will be able to stop it. At +2 most faster threats get killed by sucker punch. Even mons who resist it cant afford to be chipped down too much. The best offensive checks were probably drapion and virizion but both cant afford to get lower than respectively 60% and 70%. This chip is relatively easy to grab if you dont allow the clerics to wish pass freely into these mons. Sadly in the game itself Absol wasnt able to do much on the field but it kept my opponent on his toes near the end game and was a decent back up win-con
some calcs which showed why I felt this mon was too good not to use!
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 120 HP / 136+ Def Alomomola: 391-462 (78 - 92.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Registeel: 295-348 (81 - 95.6%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 204+ Def Venusaur: 357-420 (98.3 - 115.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Drapion: 158-186 (56.2 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Emboar: 243-286 (67.3 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Black Glasses Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Virizion: 225-264 (69.6 - 81.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
This is probably the most fun team I build for the entire RUPL. It started out with the idea of being able to smash things hard by clicking a move. the first mon that came to my mind that fits that description was banded rhyperior but I wasnt really feeling using that mon so I picked the much better option in Banded Aggron!! This mon needs no explenation it just clicks either Head Smash, Heavy Slam and sometimes a tactical Low Kick to grab a kill or dent a team heavily. Rock tomb was a tech to handle my worst nightmare, Sub Bulk Up Braviary. To support this mon I went with Alo just to give it multiple lives. Because Aggron needs more than just wish support from the fattest fish alive I paired it with scarf Mesprit due to some key imunities and resists. They complement eachother very well while mesprit can healing wish Aggron back alive if it got burned and or low on health. Aggron was the star of the team but there is one mon that can wall it, seismitoad. To fix this problem i went with a Lure of Liechi SD Natural gift Drapion. Natural gift Turns into a grass move and also hits mons like Rhyperior, Diancie, Water types especially Colbur Jellicent.
Bolt (Jolteon) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 208 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
The week I dreaded the most! The dutch derby vs Kushalos.. I wont forget the moment I suggested a team with Nasty Plot Chatot to Evigaro;
[17:55] The Welsh Wall♪: now dont scream when you scroll down
[17:57] EviGaro: WHAT THE FUCK
[17:57] The Welsh Wall♪: I TOLD YOU DONT SCREAM
The idea was that this little mon was a fast bugger that would be able to dismantle any RegiMola- Diancie, Venu, Alo- cores just by plotting something nasty and go ham. I went with a simple venu, Twave registeel and jellicent core but what really destroys this team is expert belt magneton... the team also needed a more offensive answer to fletch so I went full lowladderhero-mode and came up with this somewhat genius set; Assault Vest Jolteon! Now before you start hating. I hate people using random AV's but I'm an advocate of assault vest being used with a good purpose to the team. This set is one of the latter. AV made sure jolteon could jump in multiple times in to a magneton with no fear while doing solid damage in return. It also gave me a better shot against Regular Rotom especially with shadow ball. The one thing i didnt expect either was the fact that i didnt go max speed and only hit enough to outspeed scarf Jolly Emboar. This gave me a little amount of ev's i could invest in hp wich ended up playing a big part in living a +2 Acro from Fletchinder after having switched twice into rocks.
+2 252 SpA Silk Scarf Chatot Boomburst vs. 120 HP / 252 SpD Alomomola: 540-636 (107.7 - 126.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Chatot Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 232+ SpD Registeel: 180-212 (49.4 - 58.2%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 SpA Chatot Hidden Power Steel vs. 252 HP / 220+ SpD Diancie: 228-272 (75 - 89.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Analytic Magneton Flash Cannon vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Jolteon: 84-99 (29.6 - 34.9%) -- 11.8% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Analytic Magneton Flash Cannon vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Jolteon: 56-66 (19.7 - 23.3%) -- possible 5HKO
Might as well post stuff too, mostly oras things cause it's really where I stuck for most of this tour and where I tried new things, after ssnls the burnout from SM was real:
Gallade (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
Drapion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Toxic Spikes
Flygon @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Defog
Slowking @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Toxic
- Slack Off
Camerupt-Mega @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 92 HP / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Escavalier @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 112 SpD / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Swords Dance
So that was always gonna be a tricky matchup, because at that point Ajna and I had tested so much together it was basically impossible to really have a surprise factor. Hence the absolutely nonsensical Gallade that ended up doing most of the work lol. Reasoning was to use something that could shield it from Mola, while gaining defence to prevent the standard pursuit trappers from coming in, and break through Venusaur because I know how much Ajna love that mon. It also ended up being decent as a Magneton check too, as Camerupt isn't overly reliable and Esca didn't have a move to hit it. I lose a lot of coverage on something like Slowking with that set but almost everything else on that team had ways to deal with it so I wasn't overly worried.
I actually built that team for Hantsuki first, but then decided on something else because I didn't test that team enough. I'm saving that other one because I need to hype Omastar in the Old Gens Hub. The only change I made was Mold Breaker Drudd instead of Rough Skin to guarantee hazards on Xatu, because it was much more likely to be brought by Arifeen than in a week were Aldo was the probable builder. My idea with the Drudd set was have a mon that could keep hazards up relatively easily, as Flygon either has to switch or lock into Outrage, both of which guarantees rocks up since Glalie just picks it up after in the latter scenario. Coverage is wonky and I hated having to pick, but Taunt was in my head a good way of blocking something like Regi/Slowking from becoming really annoying, and coverage allowed me to pick up Flygon and steel types, especially Escavalier here. Musharna was put on there because I was so dead certain Hantsuki would bring Gurdurr against me, but I kept it because in testing it just did so much work against threats like Virizion / Sneasel, and Synchronize + cleric is lowkey fire in the current oras meta. Rotom was speed control, don't ask about Foul Play I legit said it was for Scarf Hoopa which probably means I was drunk. Samurott / Glalie is the breaking core, and ftr this Samurott set is actually super threatening, needs more love.
Barbaracle @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Razor Shell
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick
- Shell Smash
Virizion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Calm Mind
- Roost
My idea here was to use a fairly standard SM core in Barb/Viriz, but because of the way oras cores work I thought it was probably workable to use one to break for the other. Steelix's set is wack but was supposed to force Bronzong / Xatu into tough situations. Banette sucks, but if I could get it mega'd and burn threats I could more reliably sweep with one of the three setup mons. I played that game horribly though, got puzzled by the Xatu set, pursuited instead of Knocking and just misclicked on the Virizion. Bad game there, but I think the idea had promise.
Not gonna talk about the garay oak team I used in finals, except that Glalie is honestly really dumb in oras RU, bulky waters are an extremely unreliable answer, the speed tier is crazy good and it wrecks hazard control by itself. It's stupid overwhelming to work around because it will always break something in half. Escavalier is pretty dumb too, you can't really guarantee the set anymore, its coverage is super good, and lures are getting more and more obvious in play because standard type advantage doesn't really cut it.
For SM I honestly didn't do much building, except on that one where Gama called me an abortion - love you too fam - and the team dodmen used and finished in Finals. My one take from that is that Swellow probably needs more love. Yeah it failed to kill Virizion - by 1% though and really my fault for not giving a flying stab oops - but looking at common speed tiers now, Swellow really sits in a nice place, which I think was noticeable in dodmen's game.
Better late than never they say (like hella late but w/e, gonna do it anyways)
Since some of the teams in this were from many metas ago or just are buttfucked by Entei (god damn it) Id share the sprites in some cases and give a general idea of the team at hand, and some of my favorite sets. I will share updated version of some of the teams in the future, I promise (if Entei gets tested and banned, for damn sure!)
SM:
Lycanroc-dusk had some steam going for week 1 and makes sense since it was a new toy and all of that. Really wanted to make a double dog offense of some sort since Zydog and Lycandog-Dusk share pretty capable offensive synergy. This version had Choice Band Zydog, Lycanium Z SD Lycanrock, Life Orb Roserade, Spin Toise, SR SpDef Gligar and Scarf Moltres which was rather nice with Durant and Kommo-O in the metagame. Will certainly retake this one day, learned that spikes + 2 of these dogs is extremely restricting so maybe with just 1 dog (DD Zydog perhaps?) it could be more relaxing.
Toxicroak @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Dark Pulse
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
Used this a good amount of times this season and it is honestly a rather cool set with pretty different counterplay. This was just the set I preferred at the time but it is pretty customizable for whatever since HP Ice is mainly for Gligar. Can run Dark Pulse to donk Cress with some prior damage and Doublade. Neat set that surprises many switch-ins to the most common physical one.
Banette-Mega @ Banettite
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off / Shadow Claw
- Gunk Shot
- Destiny Bond
It technically has a bunch of slashes since it can run will-o-wisp or whatever. Cool mon on its own right, especially against offense. Works well for hazard offense that want to keep the hazard pressure and trade with the omnipresent mega blastoise (it wasnt here at this point of the meta but point still stands). Used by robjr on week 2 with toxic spikes nidoqueen and sub calm mind virizion, cool concept but felt short to a bad matchup (funnily enough the team it faced was destroyed by snorlax, and I had a snorlax on a previous draft. Unfortunate). Another concept Id like to retake.
Used by lax on week 4 vs Eternal Spirit. Rather depressing week tbh but the team was cool. Darkinium Z Croak + Sub Seed Shaymin is a neat duo that is pretty annoying for more bulky teams. Jellicent still a rather niche pick but offers a nice bug resistance that comes pretty handy in this metagame with Golisopod on the rise, and helped to deal with Croak at the time. SR Necrozma is cool no matter what people say. It just needs Toxic (which in fact it had on this build) CB Escav and Scarf Flygon round up the team pretty nicely. This team can be pretty viable for this meta tbh, just retouches here and there. May share something similar retouched soon.
Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Scald
- Toxic / Pain Split / Haze
Qwilly! Cool mon and pretty underrated (especially on the current meta with Entei). I prefer Toxic cause it let punish Virizion and Blastoise switch-ins without relying on RNG, and can help wear down Milotic which can be pretty convenient when you other water answers are shaky (it was for the team in question so). Pretty neat mon imo. Here is the team where it was featured on:
Used by Robjr on week 6 vs Blundini. Weak to Virizion so using SD Pursuit Doublade is an option to support Flygon too! (Click the image for the import)
Trace had the most unfortunate RUPL to me. Some hax and some indecisions from my part or not noticing some mistakes from my part kind of screwed him over cause a good amount of his games were close. This team was cool despite me being rather indecisive about some things. Kingdra! Sub Kingdra takes advantage of bulky waters like Milotic so that let you run scarf shaymin. SD Bewear and NP Salazzle as breakers and Bronzong Gligar for defensive backbone. Needs to be retouched to be 100% viable but Kingdra can thrive on a metagame with Entei. Used vs Ren-chon on week 5. Was a pretty close one with a tough end game.
One of the most fun teams I built. I really like QD Ribombee in this metagame. Speedy Fairy with no scarf that can outspeed noivern is pretty dope. The team was totally tailored to weaken QD Bee checks. LO Shaymin, Crunch Lix, SD Lum Berry Drapion with Aqua Tail, Trick Medicham. It is super weak to fire sadly (LOL ENTEI) but bee is a blast. Will rebuild this. (Click the image for the import)
And many more. Im flabbergasted that I cant built this much on the Entei Meta. Fuck that mon entirely AAAAAAAAAAAAA. Will share more up to date teams someday in the future I promise.
ORAS:
Used by HANTSUKI vs EviGaro on week 4. Using Rotom-N has lowkey been my obsession and I believe it is really good but every team with it ends up with a notable shortcoming one way or another. It is somewhat funny. Status Spam team used to annoy bulky teams so nasty plot slowking can go to town with the paralysis rotom-N can spread with discharge. Doing 2 dark weak mons is a really fun tech. Rhyperior over Steelix work for an extra fire resist.
Used by HANTSUKI vs Feliburn on week 2. Rather haxy game but doesnt change the fact that it is very fun. One of my favorite teams, super straightforward with some cool neat techs. When people see Uxie they immediately expect CB Rhyperior so you can 1-up the protect registeel and setup on it for free and really punish choice electrics like Magneton. Fletchinder is the thing I miss the most of ORAS, RIP Linda :( I believe the most optimal way to run this is to lure houndoom checks with fletch with some natural gift nonsense but this is the one that was used.
Was a fun season despite ending last (At least I won 1 week, more than I expected!). Some lessons are really tough so Im hoping to return as a better manager sometime in the future. Huge thanks robjrPohjisRandomnickNailsWe Three KingsStan SoojungTraceEmpoHANTSUKI for getting your games done despite the super dire situation and for always sticking with the team. Really appreciate the gesture and commitment. Wish you guys the best in future tours and stuff. Huge thanks to Hot N Cold even though he was super busy every time he was online always did his best to contribute something. Thanks, means a lot!
