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I was going to make a dump after TPP, but since i forgot (I'm lazy) I will just post the favourite teams I have built (press the pokemon for the paste)
Won't really comment on the team, just on possible changes and/or background
TPP vs Zoe
The idea for this week was to avoid getting cheesed at all costs.
I just built around and, after some versions, ended with this.
Notes:
Both iron hands and amoonguss carry protect due to finding themselves often with volcanion on the field. It would be possible to run clear smog on amoonguss, whatever on hands and whatever on volcanion; however, I think haze is a lot better and more versatile than clear smog
This team was made pre-DLC, but I still find it awesome whenever I'm playing with Hizo, although a little tweaking here and there would make it very good
Thundurus would probably enjoy a different set, but I haven't found a way to fit everything I want to (most of the time it will be used to pair with or
TPP vs Clas
I was going to build Sand Force Landorus
Notes:
This team was also made pre-DLC
A good worm team is composed of: worm + prankster + regenerator (Hizo :tm:)
Tinkaton has 5 less base SPA than base ATT and I think the special set would fit much more here (even though 80% of the time the objective is to press fake out or abuse mold breaker)
Tornadus could theoretically run Rain Dance to guarentee 100% on Bleakind or Sandsear Storm (which are boosted by Sheer Force)
TAILROOM HO(Europe's semifinals and finals)
Notes:
This 6 is a sample now
Sneasler
Notes:
This team was made for Hizo to play Hugo and is a bit untested
Sneasler + Moon are very good at creating pressure on the opponent because moon will outspeed everything (even if the opp has tw)
The team in general can be improved, the idea is there, but the fit still isn't
TPP vs Xrn
This team is insanely fun to play (skymin is banned and it needs adjustments regardless)
I'm mostly sharing because it's fun
I don't think it would be fair for me to make a PiC post and not give a special mention to Instruct, who most certainly the sole reason of the ungodly amount of time that I have dedicated to playing this. Thank you for all the games we played and all the support/help you have game me, you're truly a great friend!
With the release of The Indigo Disk, it's time to announce Partners in Crime's new set of quickbans!
First and foremost, the expected Doubles Ubers Pokemon have been banned, these are: Ho-Oh, Kyurem-White, Lugia, Lunala, Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Reshiram, Solgaleo, Zekrom
Kyurem-B
Kyurem-Black will start as legal. Kyurem-B was an everpresent part of the Gen 8 Partners in Crime metagame thanks to its great stats and Teravolt - but never verging on broken at any point. This generation it feels a little more contentious, with Tera giving it plenty more options both offensively and defensively, as well as Loaded Dice giving it access to consistently good STAB moves in Scale Shot and Icicle Spear. Teravolt has taken a slight hit with the introduction of Ability Shield, as well.
Terapagos
We initially decided to wait on Terapagos to see what was happening with regards to Terapagos-Stellar. It seems that there isn't a clause to just ban Terapagos-Stellar, and thus in line with Tiering Policy, we are going to ban Terapagos. Terapagos-Terastal, while slightly annoying, only really benefited itself with a free turn while not having the ability to Tera (in a world where Terapagos-Stellar doesn't exist). This made it perhaps just a slightly better than average legendary. Terapagos-Stellar is where things get too crazy, unfortunately. The additional bulk, the higher base stats, unlimited boosts from Tera Stellar and spread Tera Starstorm make it just an absolute menace to deal with.
Contrary
Initially, we just banned Enamorus back in DLC 1 as it was definitely the overwhelming force among Contrary Pokemon. With Serperior now in the game, Stellar Tera Blast giving some extra access to readily available stat drops, and even stronger stat-dropping nuke options such as Deoxys' Psycho Boost, Contrary has reached critical mass with the amount of annoying, broken things it can do. This same trend happened in Gen 8, and it's clear that it needs to be stopped now before it's inevitably deemed as far to broken to handle. This does also mean that Enamorus is once again legal, however it will only have access to Cute Charm.
Smeargle
Remember the last time we had a redirector with access to Shell Smash? This is a recipe for absolute disaster in and of itself, but Smeargle does more than just pass these two moves. It passes every single move in the game. This means every single game where a Smeargle is present turns into a guessing game of "What does this thing have?" Will it have Fake Out? Will it have Follow Me + Shell Smash/Tail Glow? Will it be passing the Gholdengo Astral Barrage? Will it be passing the Chien-Pao Glacial Lance? With seemingly unlimited options of setup + redirection, broken moves, and endless supportive options, this is far too volatile for the meta.
Deoxys
All Deoxys formes will be starting as legal. It's quite clear that with Expanding Force, Deoxys is going to be immensely good. Psyspam has the avenue to be a great archetype once again, but we feel at this point despite its strength, there is still sufficient counterplay to the Deoxys formes. Attack and Base are the two main formes to look at here as they are boasting the highest attacking stats of the group. That being said, they are made of paper, and will faint to the slightest breeze. Any decently strong spread move will pick them up, and there's very little that its partner Indeedee-F can actually do about that. Additionally, Rillaboom is still going to be exceptionally strong in DLC2, giving some additional counterplay to Psyspam in general. Lastly, there are still enough relevant Dark-types in the meta that can put up more than enough of a fight into Psyspam such as Ting-Lu, Incineroar, and Kingambit.
They literally prevent me to use this succesfully more than one time The idea is Easy, pass Supersweet Syrup to the foe and gain +2 in Evasion
Hydrapple @ Black Sludge
Ability: Supersweet Syrup
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Draco Meteor
- Tera Blast
- Pollen Puff
Malamar @ Expert Belt
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Skill Swap
- Superpower
- Stored Power
- Knock Off
Armarouge @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Overheat
- Trick Room
- Armor Cannon
They literally prevent me to use this succesfully more than one time The idea is Easy, pass Supersweet Syrup to the foe and gain +2 in Evasion
Hydrapple @ Black Sludge
Ability: Supersweet Syrup
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Draco Meteor
- Tera Blast
- Pollen Puff
Malamar @ Expert Belt
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Skill Swap
- Superpower
- Stored Power
- Knock Off
Armarouge @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stored Power
- Overheat
- Trick Room
- Armor Cannon
Got to number 2 on the ladder with my funny extremely bad gimmick team (and coulda made it further if people were playing while I'm awake, darn time zones). Set up TR, Skill Swap Intimidate, get to +4, nuke stuff with Expanding Force. Even if you can't get the gimmick off psyspam is just plain good.
Memes aside gotta say that Hitmontop is the unsung support hero of DLC2. So many mons rely on spread (the genies' signature moves, Expanding Force, self proc Discharge/Surf/Lava Plume, Eruption, Make it Rain) and forcing them into 50/50s on top of double Intimidate for physical sweepers and access to Fake Out, Feint, Coaching, Helping Hand, and Quick Guard is so good. Truly the little beyblade that could
Been sitting at #1 since last week with a psyspam team I built during Gen 8 PiC and I wanted to share it!
Couple notes on the team:
- I use a really bulky spread on Articuno-G because it increases odds that I'm able to get the skill swap intimidate combo off and that once its off, I can stay on the field for really long. Moreover, there are diminishing returns on running SpA investment because at +4, STAB expanding force in terrain OHKOs almost everything with 0 EV's.
- Psych Up on Indeedee is really good. When a +4 Articuno and +0 Indeedee are sitting on the field, the opponent almost always doubles into the +4 Articuno, allowing you to safely protect and psych up because psych up will go through the protect. Similarly, if Articuno is already OHKO'ing everything, the best way to maintain pressure is to pass the stat buffs over to Indeedee as well, who can pass the +4 SpA to the rest of the team when Articuno goes down.
- Prankster Tornadus gives another dimension to the team and lets it operate outside of Trick Room. Also, switching in Tornadus while Articuno clicks Recover allows you to extend the game.
- Moltres-G functions as a self-sustaining partner who synergizes with anyone on the board. Switching into the field if you expect Berserk to proc is a great way to get extra damage, and I've taken a number of KO's with Nasty Plot + Fiery Wrath Incineroar.
- Thundurus Therian helps shore up the glaring electric weakness on the team and functions as a wallbreaker that doesn't need stat buffs to take knockouts. In particular, it is very effective against Clefable and Dondozo
Considerations:
- I picked all of the tera types really quickly, and for the most part, it's been fine
- Might use Tera Blast instead of Recover on Articuno so I can hit dark types without having to switch another mon in (I'm using Recover just because that's what I used last gen and there are a lot of scenarios where I can outstall an opponent with Recover because of how much bulk I have)
We've had a little bit of time to play around with the new toys introduced in The Indigo Disk, and we think it's time to evaluate some of the options that we think are going to be good moving forward - as well as some of the winners and losers from DLC 1.
Psyspam
Clearly one of the biggest winners of DLC 2 is Psyspam, with Expanding Force finally returning with some decent distribution. Despite Indeedee-F not regaining access to it, newcomers Hoopa-U and Deoxys-A sport the strongest Expanding Forces in the game, while Necrozma has returned as a decently strong option with far superior bulk. Past the Expanding Force users, the rest of the Psyspam team looks fairly standard with options in Incineroar, Landorus-T, Amoonguss, Sinistcha and such remaining as good bulky options to fill out the rest of the team. Any team featuring Indeedee-F also become prime candidates to run big setup attackers such as Kyurem-B and Gholdengo fairly easily, making teams not as one dimensional.
Fullroom
Sequel to Psyspam, Fullroom has a lot of promise in DLC 2 thanks to the return of Porygon2. Download is one of the truly great abilities in Partners in Crime, thanks to reactivating for the partner each time Porygon2 switches in. It's also exceptionally synergistic with one of Trick Room's exciting new toys, Hydrapple. Porygon2 loves to pivot to get more uses of Download for the team after setting Trick Room, and having a big attacker that both appreciates free Special Attack boosts and access to Regenerator is a massive boon for the playstyle. Past this, Hatterene regaining Expanding Force makes it a viable slower option for Psyspam TRs, as well as Diancie and Indeedee-F remaining as fairly viable TR setters themselves. Iron Hands, Ursaluna and such remain as exceptionally strong attackers, with the former able to run Clear Amulet Swords Dance thanks to the prominence of Indeedee-F as a partner.
Rain
Rain appears to be at its most promising point of the whole generation. Kingdra seems to be the preferred Swift Swimmer, as it is the only special Swift Swimmer that can outspeed the likes of Booster Energy Iron Boulder. Additionally, Muddy Water returning as a TM is also huge for Rain, as it finally has a decent spread move, helpful for taking down Deoxys-A even when Indeedee-F is on the field. Archaludon is perhaps the most exciting new addition, with a really nice Steel/Dragon-typing as well as Electro Shot as good coverage and a nice boosting move for the team. With the team also requiring a Mold Breaker-like effect to get through the like of Volcanion and Ogerpon-W's Water Absorb, Triple Dragon is totally justified with Kyurem-B being an extra option for the team - potentially leading to ideas such as Dragon Cheer Archaludon long term. Rain's only real drawback seems to be the competition in the weather department, with the next two archetypes both giving it some stiff competition.
Sun
Sun appears to have gained the least of the weathers, but it was already by far the best of the bunch. The only real difference between DLC 1 and 2 Sun is that it has access to a few new Protosynthesis users, as well as regaining Kyurem-B itself to break through the likes of Heatran and Armarouge's Flash Fire. Raging Bolt is perhaps the most exciting new tool for the team, with its Electric-typing being helpful in taking down otherwise problematic foes such as Volcanion and Manaphy.
Sand
Sand might finally have some viability this generation, without having to resort to Serene Grace as a bad gimmick. Excadrill is by and away the best Sand Rusher available, as was the case in Generation 8. Tyranitar is still in a weird position of viability, with it only really being amazing at providing the Sand for Excadrill and Iron Boulder. Iron Boulder is a fun new toy for Sand, with it being a very fast, pretty strong, and exceptionally bulky attacker in Sand. Mighty Cleave is a great new addition for the team, letting it bypass Protect and gain value from its limited Sand turns. This team does show a few notable weaknesses, however. Notably, its weakness to Fighting-, Water- and Ground-types such as Iron Hands, Kingdra, and Landorus-T leaves it with a fairly big hole to fill. As well as this, it is naturally a very physical team, meaning Intimidate-deterrents are very valuable. The most natural option for this appears to be Ogerpon-Teal, with its Defiant providing an effective deterrent to Incineroar and Landorus-T while also giving the team a much needed Water and Ground resist.
Stall
When the metagame starts to focus around big attacking archetypes, you can be sure that the few really good defensive Pokemon will be around to slow things down a bit. Garganacl seems to be in a really nice patch of viability, despite the presence of Rain, Ogerpon and Gholdengo in the metagame. Wide Guard is very helpful for this team to shut down the likes of Gholdengo's Make It Rain and any Expanding Force. Salt Cure is also exceptionally forcing, giving the team better odds into Rain as it forces it onto a really heavy clock. Deoxys-D is not exactly a replacement for Cresselia due to its lack of Lunar Blessing, however Cosmic Power is particularly useful for this team to set up nigh on impenetrable walls. This archetype also has no issue pivoting into Hazardstack, with Roar Volcanion being a natural addition to the team, as well as multiple users of Stealth Rock or Spikes allowing the main hazards to fit onto the team easily.
Skill Swap Competitive
This is by far the most popular team I have seen on the ladder, and I personally don't understand it. As we saw in Generation 8, there are better ideas to use overall than this. This team sports a particularly negative matchup into Sand, which can just outspeed and ruin the main pieces of the idea. Additionally, Skill Swap gimmicks have become increasingly more difficult to even use this generation, with Gholdengo's Good as Gold, Ability Shield, Protosynthesis, and Quark Drive completely blocking the move from succeeding, leading to wasted turns. I think this team can be a bit of fun to use, but when facing some of the absolute top archetypes (in our opinions), it tends to fall flat as better players on better teams just don't let this combo work freely.
Priority Spam
Priority Spam is probably the biggest loser overall in the transition from DLC 1 to DLC 2. Psyspam is at its absolute peak, making this team an absolute nightmare to face. In addition, it requires absolutely precise positioning in order to have Rillaboom coming in at the right times to take Psychic Terrain down, as well as having Dragonite (or a Defiant user) in when Incineroar is likely to switch in. There is likely still some room in the meta to see a more balance-oriented version of this archetype exist, with Incineroar Rillabom being a good core overall, and Chien-Pao being a great beneficiary of the introduction of Tera Stellar. It's by no means completely unviable, but the meta seems to be fairly against it at this stage, and it'll likely just require a little more creativity in order to get going
Balance
By far my favourite archetype to use since the launch of Indigo Disk, a really standard Balance idea feels like it finally has all of the necessary tools to be an amazing pick in the meta. Beforehand, Intimidate was somewhat complicated to have on these teams, with Landorus-T having to act as an Intimidate pivot with Stealth Rock in order to get by. Incineroar is a direct upgrade, with Fake Out, Knock Off, and Parting Shot all proving to be amazing tools to allow the common setup Pokemon on the team such as Dragon Dance Kyurem-B, Nasty Plot Gholdengo, and Swords Dance Iron Hand to all thrive. Mew has proven itself to be a great utility Pokemon for these teams with access to Tailwind or Trick Room as speed control, Stealth Rock, and Coaching. Rillaboom is an option that loves to receive Coaching boosts, as well as disrupting Psyspam very well, where Amoonguss provides Regenerator healing, redirection, and the ever-annoying Spore. This team also appreciates any immediately good bulky attackers, such as Raging Bolt, that can draw attention to itself while the rest of the team positions itself or sets up.
...And because it's Christmas, I feel it would be in the spirit of the season to reveal the team I have been using since the DLC released. (Click the Pokemon for the Pokepaste!)
Kyurem-Black returned to this generation with a vengeance! While it was healthy in Generation 8, this generation's new tools have made it too much to handle. Loaded Dice gives it reliably strong STAB moves in Icicle Spear and Scale Shot, while Clear Amulet gives it the massive buff of being able to ignore Intimidate. Not to mention Terastal, which allowed it to flip matchups on its head exchanging its current weaknesses for a better defensive typing. While more supportive or mixed sets exist, Dragon Dance sets have been incredibly dangerous to face due to Dragon + Electric coverage 2HKOing everything in sight with enough setup. Typical checks in Intimidate fail due to Clear Amulet forgoing the need of other Intimidate blockers on the team, burns being negated by either Good as Gold or Tera Fire, and stat resetting moves such as Haze and Clear Smog hard to fit on certain teamstyles. Overall, this Pokemon has started to warp the tier around it in a way that isn't healthy, and is therefore banned.
Decent sun that requires the user to play aggressively. Used vs. Frixel in Doubles USA vs. World to success. Won a few games in majors too.
Blastoise is back and that means shell smash useable too. Screens is always pretty funny and combined with other new techs like Dragon Cheer makes this team super fun to play. Won in majors to some effect.
Triage is super fun, but the team is not in the best place vs Psyspam so I want to remake this eventually. It plays like a semiroom but feels more like a balance.
Shed Tail is one of my favorite playstyles and honestly Raging Bolt really fits here considering Orthworm. I should remake this as the team has hard time recovering.
I don't know what it does but it works at least.
ty to dexhidinMaybca☆〜ゝ。∂TTTechpannu for letting me feed teams for their majors run and for trying to learn to play the tier. Hope y'all keep playing.
This is a sand team ive been using a lot, and i feel its very good. Its based off of the current Sand Sample team.
I changed it to make it more of a bulkier offense, which really gives a lot of control in positioning.
I feel Sand is a very strong archtype right now, as is just such a threat. Steel/Ground is an amazing amazing typing rn and very hard to resist and also very hard to effectively hit. If you can get up one SD, it will claim a kill every turn for a lategame sweep. Especially if you spam protect with it and switch in your supporting mons to keep it alive. Just having it on your team threathens swapping it in on any given turn and doubling speed of your partner, forcing the opponent to play wary of it.
Tyranitar is also a very respectable threat in its own right right now, having an extremely good matchup vs PsySpam and Trick Room teams and fending off weather. Sand is the weather that needs it the least, unlike the very all in Sun and Rain teams which gives you an advantage in the weather war. Dragon Tail is goated for bulky or setup teams like those Kommo-o / Gholdengo type of balances. Can really mess with peoples gameplans.
Galarian-Zapdos is here as a replacement for Tornadus, as a source of flying type damage for the grass types in the tier. I didnt like how fast Tornadus died with the rocks weakness and such on this bulky offense kind of team. I think its an underrated mon in general. Even if Excadrill has a clear amulet as to not be dependent on support, this enables Tyranitar and even Incineroar to be offensive threats. Its a mon capable of getting a lot of ohkos which i like, or very close to it between Rocks + Sand chip and works great with Sand Rush.
is here as another bulky attacker thats just meant to take sponge hits and hit them back. Im thinking it may need earth power right now to hit dragon types, probably over Haze. Any team with Exca + TTar is naturally going to be weak to water moves no matter how many other resists you have so having the Water Absorb support is nice.
Then the core of + because theyre broken and resist everything and do everything. Amoonguss in particular has such good synergy with the other partners and heals up your entire team. You can also pass off super fast Spores with Sand Rush.
double boomburst that doesn't hurt your allies and hits ghosts
+
with aurora veil on and hail, frosmoth can arrive to x6 defense, x4 spd. With such bulk (even uninvested), weakness policy can turn its multiple weakness into an advantage
Deoxys-Attack and Dragon Cheer are now banned from Partners in Crime!
So, it was revealed that Deoxys-A is super duper broken, you know, the one with 180 offenses and 150 speed? Who would've thought! Well, on top of it, the innate nature of the format makes explosive threats even more explosive. You can compound Deoxys-A with other threats, specifically those that can beat would be checks. Furthermore, PiC is no stranger to insane speed tiers, and while it is possible to outspeed it, it is equally possible for Deoxys-A to outspeed everything and OHKO them with Expanding Force. Combine this with an innate Psysurge immunity to priority as well as common tricks like ImprisonRoom to prevent the opponent from trying to get into an advantageous position, we simply have to ban it.
Dragon Cheer, on the other hand, is a weirder ban. There is no one abuser of Dragon Cheer, as any good Dragon-type with a useable offensive stat can abuse Scope Lens + Dragon Cheer. The current metagame has a fundamental lack of good, splashable, fairy types, which makes it all the easier to enable Dragon Cheer strategies. These kinds of teams also put a chokehold on bulkier setup, because any attempt to setup defensively would just get a guaranteed crit by a super duper strong Draco Meteor. While it wasn't as broken as Deoxys-Attack, it does feel rather stifling in terms of checking by forcing a (tera) fairy and/or dragon resist on every team.
After some discussion with the council, we realized that current metagame is currently quite explosive, but also very oriented to strong offensive teams. These two bans should give slower and bulkier teams more of a fighting chance. We hope everyone participating in open continues to enjoy the tier!
In other news, YoBuddy retired from council. Thank you for your service!
Nomming this guy to A+, it hits really hard and has some super good synergies. The main pairing is with Tornadus, where it can fix Landorus's middling Speed tier and give Landorus a Sheer Force boosted, spread Flying STAB. It has good matchups into top threats such as Gholdengo, Incineroar, Iron Hands, Heatran, Raging Bolt, and Volcanion, and Ogerpon-W and Rillaboom with Tera Poison. Earth Power and Sludge Bomb is great coverage, and it can run a multitude of different third moves such as Sandsear Storm for a spread option, Substitute for Amoonguss and to take advantage of Protects, and even Imprison to stop Fake Out and Trick Room attempts alongside teammates like Incineroar and Sinistcha. Sheer Force boosts plenty of common moves in the metagame, such as Incineroar's Flare Blitz, Chien Pao's STAB moves, Raging Bolt's Thunderbolt, and a lot more; most Pokemon have at least one move that is Sheer Force boosted.
Following the Pic Open which i (sadly) just got second in, its time to make a post!
First of, huge shoutout to HiZo for helping me test, build, annoy him, and call my ideas bad when they were. But like really this persons the goat always super helpful and the one who originally got me into gen9 Pic, by being helpful and providing real quality games.
(click sprite for teams) R1 x2 (g1)(g2)
With the tour starting off and me unsure of where im at, i started off with my classic sand team. Now you're gonna be seeing this a lot. Its an extremely solid team, and archtype. Possibly the best weather right now, as its the most consistent and safest. Least reliant on your own weather, least hyper offensive, does not lose to screens, does not lose to trick room, does not lose to fat. Levitate is rare and the most common user (latios/latias) of it loses to Excadrill. For these reasons i think it counters the other weather teams, along with naturally good matchups into psyspam and regular offense. Tyranitar and the bulky core beat the Porygon2 fatter teams very well. See the post a few posts up R2 x2 (g1)(g2)(g3)
This round i did not have much time to prepare, but i knew i wanted to use rain because it looked cool. So i took the sample rain team, changed the archaludon set randomly since dragon cheer was banned, and went with it. Luckily it was a solid enough team still and clutched it out.
For the other 2 games, i brought my sand again. Over the tournament there was slight variations on my team every round, which i dont believe i saved. Small things such as various speed benchmarks on tyranitar, and tera typings switchs. Starting from this round on i believe, i put tailwind over coaching on Zapdos-Galar for better speed control. R3 x2
(g1)(g2)(g3)
Following last week, i was very impressed by rain and set out to make my own version. Archaludon is a beast, and under the right conditions simply unfair. I went with Politoed as my setter, as its better stats and mono water typing allowed it to take hits better, especially electric attacks unlike pelliper, along with not having a stealth rocks weakness. Basculegion-F was chosen over Kingdra and other options like Ludicolo, as it had the best bulk, ghost typing to stop fakeout/extreme speed, and soak. Tornadus because Tornadus. Gholdengo and Farigiraf were chosen to have a better trick room matchup, as rain otherwise really struggles with that. The star of the show Archaludon, has 232 special attack ev's to synergize with soak.
+1 232+ SpA Archaludon Electro Shot vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Tera Water Iron Hands: 450-530 (100.2 - 118%) -- guaranteed OHKO
among other things
R4 x2 (g1)(g2)(g3)
I was even more impressed with Rain at this point. I swapped Gholdengo for Landorus as i needed more immediate damage, and to make them respect a double genie mode (broken combo, can win very easily if not prepped for). Gholdengo felt lackluster even in trick room, and did not properly handle electric types like Raging Bolt or Iron Hands. I realized that this team actually has an incredibly good trick room mode, to beat other offensive teams. Trick room in the start, and clean up with tailwind/swift swim. So i built further for it, with Archaludon made to underspeed Gholdengo in trick room, greatly improving the MU. The combination of Archaludon + Farigiraf also handles raging bolt, with imprison on thier dragon pulse & calm mind, which otherwise is a nightmare MU with tera fairy. Farigiraf also gets to do the funny beatup tech, with an immediate +6 body press OHKO'ing most Porygon2's, and dominating physical based teams.
In g2, i ended up getting crushed by volcarona, as the team is incredibly weak to special based setup mons hence the imprison calm mind to try and prevent most of it, but quiver dance is unaffected. Volcarona is also uniquely strong, as it resists body press (my other main mechanism for beating specially bulky mons), and has redirection + flame body.
Closed out the set with good ol reliable Sand, never lets me down. R5 Finals (g1) (g2)
For g1, i brought this admittedly pretty gimmicky and fishy hyper offense team centered around technician choice band Dragapult. Its meant to catch off guard, as most people wont expect tera dragon, choice band, and Adamant nature. So much damage gets dropped every turn, and double genies is always a threat. I felt confident Evie would not bring weather teams considering how well prepped my sand and rain are for weather mirrors, which are this styles main weakness. This style of team also does poorly into fat teams, but not the the Volcarona Tinglu style, where you simply output too much unresisted damage; which i was confident would be the style of fat Evie would bring. However, the team is very very fun, very ignorant, and Dragapult hits some truly ridiculous numbers with all the boosts. Sadly, i lost on an incredibly crucial icicle crash miss which is my fault for opting out of crunch Chien-Pao at the last minute. I shouldve listened when Hizo told me this was bad team
For g2, i had to go with my classic sand again, its simply too good and what i rely on to clutch things out. I swapped out Volcanion for Latios, as otherwise the team had a very unfavorable matchup into Landorus-Incarnate, which Evie loves to spam. Volcanion also felt lackluster at times into dragons, tera dragon gholdengo, and water types. Latios also adds some much needed speed to have a better time vs tailwind teams and good general firepower. This was a very winnable game, and i even started off with an incredibly strong lead. However, they played better than me and got more micro turns right overall along with an incredibly good U-turn Tera callout in the endgame. Sand still goated, im the one who let it down.
Still very close game, but gg's.
This was a team i had prepared for g3, built with HiZo, as i wanted to build around Skeledirge + Rotom-Wash to beat both the Volcarona Fat, and Genie Spam teams i was expecting to face. Both seemed like interesting mons with solid niches, like Rotom-Wash also doing very well into Chien-Pao teams, burning Iron Hands, etc. Its a pretty funny and effective squad that can be very difficult to beat. Gholdengo stops phasing, Grimmsnarl + Ampharos + Burns provides insane bulk to everyone, and Skeledirge prevents people from setting up alongside me. Theres also tons of applications with prankster + spore/will-o-wisp.
Shoutouts to Evie for being a good sport and fun person to talk to, and being a strong opponent in the finals
And again another shoutout to HiZo
Was fun, we'll get em next time, very cool meta, very cool metagame, see you in OMPL
For the first round of the tour I was facing pannu, so i knew I should bring something solid and comfy and rely on my ability to outplay a non-doubles player. Both teams I had built before the tour and were adapted DOU teams that I had played with a lot. The first team is quite literally the old DOU klifog sample but with Tornadus over Flutter Mane. It's a pretty basic balance team that uses the strength and synergy of the Pokemon rather than the moves and abilities they can share with each other (as would be expected of a DOU team). I ended up loading into sun psyspam, so I had to play very carefully around the strong sweepers like Torkoal and Deoxys-A. Rain Dance Tornadus ends up coming in clutch as it dampens the Torkoal's Eruption, allowing Ogerpon-W to take it out and Kingambit to clean up the endgame.
For game 2 I brought a Howl Gouging Fire-centric offense that I had been really liking in DOU. Iron Hands is super strong when it can receive free Attack boosts, and it can get Trick Room support as well as reliable recovery from Porygon 2. Kingambit provides anti-Intimidate, something that would otherwise be very annoying for this team. Ogerpon-W can provide Follow Me support for all the sweepers, as well as being very threatening when given boosts. Pannu ended up bringing a Comfey Balance that was relatively weak to Iron Hands + Gouging Fire, so I lead with that and ended up breaking holes that lead to Kingambit cleaning up once again.
This week I was playing Smudge, who's a strong doubles player but not a PiC main. Since R1 replays weren't posted I had nothing to work with, so I built two new teams and then loaded one comfy. The first team was a fat that was first built around IDBP Archaludon, which I then dropped Iron Defense as you can get the boosts from Stamina anyway. Sinistcha provides Trick Room support as well as extra longevity with Hospitality and Strength Sap. Incineroar provides damage reduction and a Gholdengo counter, while Landorus helps with passivity and provides some damage amplification to the rest of the team. Latias is crucial to deal with Landorus, and Dondozo is good for anti-setup. In the game I got outplayed and the opposing Latias and Archaludon were too hard to play around.
You may notice the paste for this team is missing, and that's cause I'm planning on making an RMT on it so stay tuned :3. This is one of my favourite teams I've ever built in this tier. I'm gonna save the building process and reasonings till then, so I'll just talk about the game. Both of us brought much more offensive teams, trying to avoid another 39 turn game. In the early-game I made a ton of progress with Tornadus + Landorus, but ended up falling behind to the combination of Entei and Ogerpon-H. Luckily, Landorus lives a double up and the pairing goes down, leaving a sole Ursaluna to be cleaned up by Kyurem.
For G3 I brought the same klifog team as R1, and load into the same Comfey team as R1. Tera Poison Landorus + Meteor Beam Glimmora has an incredible matchup here, with there being three Poison-weaks and two Ground-weaks. Tornadus sets up Tailwind and denies Trick Room, and then Landorus and Glimmora sweep, not much else to say.
Round 3 (g1)(g2)(g3)
This was an interesting week, as my opponent had loaded the exact same fat for all 5 of his previous games, so I was hard cteaming fat. Kyurem has no real answers next to Landorus, and with Substitute it completely walls his team, as shown in the game. Super good matchup, shoutouts to DeepFriedMagikarp for the Substitute suggestion.
In G2 I built a physical offense that aimed to use Ursaluna to tear through his team. Entei provides anti-Intimidate and Fake Out with Inner Focus, as well as Extreme Speed for Entei to abuse. Ogerpon-W was for Dondozo and also just being a strong offensive redirector. Chien Pao is core to physical offense, providing a universal damage amplification. Mew provides Coaching, Stealth Rocks, and Tailwind, while Iron Hands is a strong setup option, checking Pokemon like Chien Pao and Incineroar. I ended up playing badly and letting Entei go down too early, letting Incineroar Intimidate all over the place. It was a very winnable matchup, I just misplayed.
The G3 team was a WhimsTerrak HO team that HiZo passed me. I can't really speak on any of the team choices, but it ended up working really well. Terrakion got to +6 and Tera Watered, and broke through Dondozo with the help of Mold Breaker Ogerpon-H. Even once Terrakion lost it's boosts, the damage was done and Ogerpon-H + Terrakion cleaned up.
Semifinals (g1)(g2)
Coming into this, I knew my opponent was a singles player, who also has exclusively loaded samples, so i had a small sample size of teams to be good against. For the first team I built an incredibly basic BO around the combination of Tornadus + Landorus that I love to spam; Landorus with speed control and a spread Flying-type move is broken. Ogerpon-W serves its normal role as an offensive redirector and helps with opposing Landorus. Incineroar is an incredible glue mon that just does basic Incineroar things. Gholdengo provides a Steel-typing and Spore-Immunity, while Iron Hands does stuff I've outlined earlier in the post. Les2BG does in fact end up loading the psyspam sample, and Gholdengo is super hard to take down with the help of Ogerpon-W and Tera Dragon. It sits on the field for the whole game and does a ton of damage, winning the game.
The insipiration for this team came from when yuki was talking about how no one builds sun, so I decided to build my own version. This is a very offensive take on sun, with little thought put into defensive utility. Torkoal, Walking Wake, and Hisuian Lilligant is the standard sun core, with Tornadus providing Speed Control and a second sun setting option. Raging Bolt is a second Protosynthesis user, and a good check to Volcanion. Ogerpon-H does this: +1 252 Atk Hearthflame Mask Protosynthesis Tera Fire Ogerpon-Hearthflame-Tera Ivy Cudgel vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def Eviolite Porygon2 in Sun: 402-474 (107.4 - 126.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO. In the game Walking Wake cleaves massive holes in the opposing team, and Torkoal sweeps after the opponent sets Trick Room.
Finals (g1)(g2)
For the finals, I was playing DeepFriedMagikarp, someone who I'd tested with throughout the tour, so I knew his teams pretty well. As shown by his teamdump, he really likes to spam a sand and a rain, so I kept those in mind when teambuilding. The first team was a team passed to me by yuki. Psyspam Trick Room is pretty underutilised at the moment, and this is a really cool take on it. Magic Powder Hatterene allows for Hoopa-U to OHKO Incineroar, which is a really cool tech. I can't really speak on most of the team choices, but it's a very cool team; it has a good matchup into the sort of teams he likes to bring. The team works out like it's supposed to, with the breakers doing big damage under Trick Room, assisted by a fortunate Steam Eruption burn and Icicle Crash miss.
I have also not posted this paste as I am planning on making a second RMT on this team, as I really like it. Primarina is a Pokemon that is super underutilized; it's a great wincon with Calm Mind. It's supported by Gholdengo for a Spore immunity, Porygon 2 for Trick Room, and double Intimidate for many opportunites to setup. This was such a tense and complex game, so I'm gonna break down the important turns and the thought process behind them.
Turn 1: This was a huge misplay on my part (as well as a good lead and play from my opponent). Primarina is super good in this matchup and letting go down for nothing is super unideal. I could've risked a Close Combat on Porygon 2 and Protected with Primarina, or just attack with both and guarantee progress.
Turn 7: I dedicate my Tera to Gholdengo, gaining a neutrality to Tyranitar and Excadrill, at the cost of losing a resistance to Latios and Galarian Zapdos.
Turn 9: Raging Bolt comes in, any other Pokemon wouldn't have threatened Galarian Zapdos after its Defiant boost. A Thunderclap is bluffed, and losing Galarian Zapdos would be very bad, so I expect it to either Protect or switch out while Latios Draco Meteors the Raging Bolt. I Protect Raging Bolt expecting this and U-turn the Latios with Landorus-T. This turn goes exactly how I expect, with Amoonguss switching in for Galarian Zapdos. A more risk-less play would be to Draco Meteor the Landorus-T, as the chip would be super impactful long term.
Turn 10: Amoonguss isn't really a threat with Gholdengo on the field, so I decide to ignore it. Landorus-T comes in for Raging Bolt to cover for Excadrill attacking that slot. I reveal Roar on Raging Bolt, phazing out Excadrill as it Swords Dances, as I know DeepFriedMagikarp likes setting up Swords Dance with Excadrill and sweeping.
Turn 15: Incineroar comes in to land an Intimidate on the Tyranitar, and Landorus-T U-turns on the Excadrill, expecting a Tera Grass. Excadrill does in fact Tera Grass and Porygon 2 comes in to threaten a Fake Out KO on Excadrill.
Turn 16: I know that Excadrill will either Protect or switch out, so Fake Outing it and using Parting Shot on the Tyranitar guarantees a favourable position. Excadrill indeed Protects and Amoonguss comes in for Tyranitar. Landorus-T comes in to threaten Excadrill and Amoonguss.
Turn 17: A Rage Powder is obviously coming so I Ice Beam and Stomping Tantrum to pick up the KO on Amoonguss.
Turn 18: I choose to Protect Landorus-T and Trick Room with Porygon 2, as if Porygon 2 gets Trick Room up I am in a very good position and if Porygon 2 goes down I can bring in Incineroar, Intimidate the Tyranitar, and force Excadrill to Protect. If Excadrill is forced to Protect then Landorus-T can threaten Tyranitar with a Stomping Tantrum, putting me in a spot to win the endgame. Unfortunately the worst outcome happens and Porygon 2 is left alive with a Rock Slide and flinches, stopping Trick Room from being set up.
Turn 19: I go to Raging Bolt as I need to keep Landorus-T alive for Tyranitar, and Porygon 2 will definitely go down this turn, allowing me to force Excadrill to Protect with Thunderclap, letting me hit Tyranitar with a Stomping Tantrum. Excadrill goes down to Thunderclap, and a dodge from Landorus seals the game for me.
Shoutouts
Huge shoutout to yuki for looking over pretty much every team I built and passing some teams for finals, you're such a huge help with building and it's always fun to talk about the meta with you
DeepFriedMagikarp thanks for the test games in the rounds before finals, and for being very fun to play against in finals. Similar to yuki, I always enjoy talking about the meta with you
zoe thanks for the test games in finals, glad it paid off
Shoutout to HiZo for all the test games pre-finals, and for passing the Terrakion team for round 3
Final shoutout to everyone else who supported me along the way, you know who you are :3. Im super excited for OMPL, whether im playing, managing, or even both.
this pink blob is underrated. it can heal pulse. it's teammates can abuse natural cure. it can thunderwave. it can helping hand. abuse this.
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Deoxys-Attack and Dragon Cheer are now banned from Partners in Crime! 
