Project Teams of the Week - Week 53 ft. Palafin and Darkrai

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 48


Choice Band Gouging Fire Sun by Chicos ​

With a Choice Band and an EV spread that allows Protosynthesis to boost its Speed when Sun is up, Gouging Fire becomes a scary wallbreaker in Sun. Add to this Tera Fire and the high base power moves in Flare Blitz and Raging Fury. Hatterene's Magic Bounce allows the field to stay clear of hazards, with Tera Water helping against Volcarona and opposing Walking Wake, being able to Nuzzle them. Jolly Kingambit outspeeds most Skarmory and Corviknight, and with Tera Dark and Black Glasses it is able to break pass bulkier teams. More details in Chicos's RMT.

Mirror Herb Zamazenta Grassy Terrain by leng loi​

Description by leng loi: Mirror Herb Zamazenta is a very cool set that lets you revenge setup Pokemon like Dragon Dance Roaring Moon and break through Iron Defense Skarmory with some chip. Non-Leftovers Zamazenta always makes me want to run Grassy Terrain, so I started with Assault Vest Rillaboom (to act as a Dragapult and Gholdengo switch-in) and two Grassy Seed abusers. The Gholdengo spread deals with Dragapult and the Gouging Fire outspeeds Weavile at +1 while maximizing bulk. With Breaking Swipe, it can PP stall Dondozo depending on the set. Finally, Landorus-T and Focus Sash Dragapult round out the team with important immunities, utility, and speed control.

Reuniclus + AV Tornadus-T BO by Foufakirby ​

With its good physical bulk and access to Magic Guard, Reuniclus can stand up to physical attackers like Great Tusk and Iron Boulder, while also dealing with bulkier Pokemon like Garganacl and Dondozo. Shadow Ball lets Reuniclus hit Gholdengo, while Focus Blast is another option to hit Dark-types like Kingambit. Assault Vest Tornadus-T can deal with the likes of Iron Valiant, Enamorus, and Dragapult

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 49


Ditto + Ceruledge BO by VigilanteV8 ​

Ditto is used due to the high amount of offensive threats in the tier like Raging Bolt, Archaludon Rain, Roaring Moon and all other extremely powerful setup sweepers. Furthermore, Ditto can actually benefit a lot from copying defensive Pokemon. As an example it is extremely useful against Trick Sticky Barb Clefable as it can completely distrupt it with good plays. Ditto in general is extremely versatile but again it is mainly used to prevent getting sweeped. Ceruledge and Clodsire have an incredibly good synergy as the latter has a great matchup into Rain, while the former does against Sun, two very popular archetypes at the moment. Great Tusk can keep the field clean of entry hazards for Ceruledge that is extremely weak to them. Furthermore it has good power, with Tera Ground allowing it to find more KOs. Temper Flare lets it hit Corviknight, Skarmory, and Air Balloon Gholdengo.

Cinccino + Magnezone Offense by lockjaw ​

Magnezone puts pressure on Cinccino checks/counters like Skarmory, Corviknight, and Kingambit, which it turn also helps Meowscarada. Primarina matchups weel into Pokemon that outspeed Cinccino like Cinderace, Darkrai, Weavile, and Dragapult. Gourging Fire rounds out the team as a secondary check againist Steel-types and for a strong wallbreaker

Double Dance Gliscor HO by SDK03 ​

Double Dance Gliscor thrives thanks to its surprise element and good STAB moves in Earthquake and Dual Wingbeat. With 192 Speed EVs, it can outspeed Booster Energy Iron Valiant after an Agility boost. With Taunt, Iron Bulder improves its matchup against Iron Defense Skarmory and Corviknight, and can chip at Dondozo for Kingambit to clean up.

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 50


Speed Booster Energy Gouging Fire HO by leng loi ​

With the combination of Speed Booster Energy and Burning Bulwark, Gouging Fire is able to beat several Zamazenta variants, with Tera Blast Fairy allowing it to further threaten Zamazenta, as well as Great Tusk, Samurott-Hisui, and Dragon-types like Kyurem and Dragapult. Iron Treads provides hazard control for the team with Rapid Spin and opts for an Adamant nature and Attack Booster Energy to threaten Corviknight, Skarmory, Alomomola, and Dondozo with Supercell Slam, and Gliscor and Landorus-Therian with Ice Spinner. Ogerpon complements Deoxys-S's Stealth Rock with its own Spikes, while its access to Knock Off complements Roaring Moon's and Deoxys-S's to remove Heavy-Duty Boots from opposing Pokemon. Primarina rounds out the team as an answer to Iron Valiant, Walking Wake, and Dragapult.

Sinistcha + Thundurus BO by 658Greninja ​

Sinistcha functions as a spinblocker able to check Zamazenta, Ogerpon-W, Ursaluna, Gouging Fire, and Primarina, with Calm Mind letting it act as a potential wincon, specially as Tera Poison grants it with an immunity to Toxic from Slowking-Galar and Gliscor. Thundurus acts as an anti-lead against offense able to cripple faster Pokemon such as Dragapult, Cinderace, and Iron Valiant with Prankster Thunder Wave. Its Speed EVs let it outspeed Landorus-Therian, with Tera Blast Ice letting it lure and KO it and Gliscor, opening up the path for Zamazenta to win late-game. Knock Off and Thunder Wave can cripple Slowking-Galar, making it easier for Primarina to sweep. Special Defense investment allows Landorus-Therian to tank 2 Moonblasts from Iron Valiant and a Surf from Primarina, while its Speed EVs let it outspeed Modest Raging Bolt. Rock Tomb is used to hit Tera Flying Roaring Moon and Volcarona, while Tera Poison lets it absorb Toxic Spikes in an emergency, as well as letting it check Rillaboom and Iron Valiant if needed.

Protect Bulky Dragapult BO by georgiethefirst and Fusien ​

With heavy Defense investment and Will-O-Wisp, Dragapult is able to check physical attackers such as Ogerpon-W. Protect lets it recover more HP thanks to Leftovers and wrack up burn damage on the opponent. Its naturally high Speed lets it outspeed Ogerpon-W without any investment. Sucker Punch can be used over Will-O-Wisp on Cinderace to hit Terastallized Roaring Moon. Level 97 Corviknight can be an option to underspeed Alomomola, thus allowing Corviknight to U-turn after Alomomola Flip Turns.

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 51


Swords Dance Gliscor + Dragapult Hazard Stack by Pinkacross ​

With hazards support, Swords Dance + Knock Off Gliscor threatens the vast majority of the tier, either dealing heavy damage or removing Heavy-Duty Boots from the likes of Dondozo. Though Iron Defense Skarmory and Corviknight can deal with Gliscor, this gives free entry to Dragapult to come in and start breaking itself.

Ogerpon-W + Primarina Sand Hazard Stack by Storm Zone ​

Stealth Rock Tyranitar and Spikes Skarmory form the hazard stacking core, the latter of which has enough Speed EVs to outspeed Joly Kingambit. Excadrill provides hazard removal with Rapid Spin, and can act as a wincon with Swords Dance. Ogerpon-W and Primarina aid the team against the likes of Dondozo, Gliscor, Ting-Lu, and have enough power to usually break through troublesome matchups.

Trick Cresselia Screens by Skip The Drip ​

Setup spam team that utilizes Screens Serperior and Trick Cresselia. Main idea is to break checks under Screens then restoring back to full with Cresselia's Lunar Dance. You want to get Screens up as soon as possible and try to keep hazards off the field. Use Trick Cresselia as a way stop problematic setup sweepers like Primarina, Kingambit, Gouging Fire, and Raging Bolt.

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 52​

Teams of the Week is back! You can submit your team by sending a pm my way in Smogon, PS! at SetsuStsna, or Discord also at SetsuStsna. With the generation slowing down a bit teams might only be featured every couple weeks. More "for fun" teams may also be featured.

Rockless Landorus-T Offense by leng loi​

Stone Edge Landorus-T and Dragonite can lure Moltres to help out Cinderace and Kingambit. Thanks to Slowking's Chilli-Reception, Landorus-T can use Weather Ball to lure Gliscor and opposing Landorus-T. Check out other of leng loi's teams here.

TR Hatterene + Roaring Moon Psyspam by Storm Zone​

Trick Room and Focus Sash allow Hatterene to clean late game if needed, and can be an emergency answer to Raging Bolt and Hawlucha, the former getting hit by Tera Blast Ground. Bulky Roaring Moon outpaces Kyurem and denies attempts to chip it thanks to Roost.

Garchomp + Enamorus-T Offense by georgiethefirst​

With an Adamant nature and Life Orb, Garchomp can anti lead Hisuian Samurott, preventing it from setting up spikes, while Liquidation lets it hit Great Tusk and Landorus-T. Greninja's Gunk Shot lets it nail Ogerpon-W and Primarina.

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

Teams for Week 53
Looking for Palafin submissions for the upcoming days, please feel free to share if you have any!


Palafin Webs by Light DN ​

Bulk Up Palafin is given enough Speed EVs to outpace Modest Raging Bolt, Gliscors trying to outpace said Raging Bolts, as well as Iron Valiant after Webs. With some Defense investment Ribombee attempts to tank Weavile's Triple Axel.

Darkrai + 4 Attacks Iron Moth by FFK ​

Roar Ninetales helps against opposing sweepers since the team lacks an Encore user. Darkrai opts for Tera Poison and Psyshock, while Tera Ghost and Sludge Bomb being other options.