Gen 6 Archive Index
OverUsed
Valentine's team showcases the threat that Mega Charizard Y poses. With Aegislash removing the Lati twins, Charizard Y's most common checks, it makes it very easy for it to fire off attacks that will tear down even the bulkiest Pokemon. It also makes sure that Stealth Rock is almost never in play by supporting the team's Defogger using a solid Bisharp check. Hippowdon acts as a failsafe against dangerous offensive threats that would otherwise sweep the team easily. The combination of Keldeo + Charizard Y makes this team unique, and while it may seem odd at first, it has become a very popular combo in the XY OU metagame.
DeoSharp - Sinclair [March 2014]
This team demonstrates the power of Deoxys-D and Bisharp. It takes a classic archetype from older gens and updates it to the current metagame. With Defog being the most popular way to get rid of entry hazards, Bisharp's role is to make sure that its use is punished and discourages immediate use. This team features the dominant metagame threat at the time, Mega Lucario, that can just sweep teams in an instant if it gets a Nasty Plot boost. It is the perfect example of hyper offense teams in XY OU.
If you were part of the fun during Smogon Tour season 17, it's very likely that you encountered this team at least once. Great players like Bloo and paquito98 to name a few used this team to grab points here and there with relative ease. According to its builder, this team "innovated" SubToxic Aegislash and spearheaded the movement leading to Ferrothorn's popularity. That's a pretty bold statement, but we'll let it slide just this once because the team was definitely a pivotal one (and also because it's still a funny read one year later).
Joking aside, this team truly played a key role in popularizing SubToxic Aegislash and bringing Mega Gyarados into the spotlight. The defensive core consisting of Ferrothorn, Clefable, Latias and Hippowdon is arguably the most important aspect of the team, allowing its wielder to reliably cover an impressive amount of threats that were common back then. In a metagame where sand offense was dominant and Thundurus-I's Prankster Thunder Wave was the most common method of checking Dragon Dancers, it's no surprise Mega Gyarados backed by Heal Bell support was able to find so much success. Many players had to adapt their builds in order to break the defensive core showcased in this RMT, which quickly deteriorated its ability to obtain easy match-ups. Nevertheless, it was one of the very first staple balanced teams to really impact a metagame where offense reigned the scene.
This RMT by FLCL is responsible for popularizing XY's main Hyper Offense archetype, centered around Latias' support to a Stealth Rock weak Mega Pokémon, paired with several dangerous physical threats. The team's backbone is incredibly solid and autonomous and features your classic chain of sweepers. Back then though, the team definitely innovated a couple of things. Breloom was widely considered as barely viable in the tier due to the new mechanics introduced by XY in regards to Spore and Overcoat. This lead to Breloom being shunned by the general playerbase until FLCL went ahead and gave the mushroom a chance, a decision which definitely paid off.
The other main thing that this team features is the abuse of Focus Sash in a metagame where, at the time, people started to be way less focused on laying down Stealth Rock and Spikes due to the ubiquity of Defog. Combine the staggering pressure of threats like Focus Sash Bisharp with a formidable offensive duo consisting of Charizard-X and Belly Drum Azumarill and you have a deadly Hyper Offense that took by storm some of the earliest big tournaments of the post Genesect XY era, such as the very first XY ST and OST. If your team was not well prepared to deal with FLCL's Hyper Offense back then, you were probably better off scrapping it and starting again from scratch.
Surfing on the wave of the new anti-metagame threat Breloom described in FLCL's RMT, here we have another Hyper Offense counting on Spore to provide an early tempo advantage should the opponent lack a way to absorb it. Written in a delicious pedantic style forgoing punctuation for ultimate sw4G, this team showcases what was at the time a pretty basic Deoxys-S Hyper Offense. Deoxys-S was the definition of a threat: blazing speed, good coverage options specially and physically, and the nail in the coffin: access to Stealth Rock, Spikes and Screens. What more could Hyper Offense possibly ask for?
Assault Vest Azumarill acts like your classic punching bag, designed to be thrown into an attack without losing tempo. M-Tyranitar is an interesting choice for a Mega, capable of surprising opponents should they assumes it's running a Choice Scarf or Smooth Rock to support Excadrill. Regardless, it was incredibly easier to set-up at the time, given how common Pokémon like Choice Band Talonflame and Aegislash were. Teams like this one were really common back then, because most defensive and balanced teams could simply not deal with Aegislash or M-Mawile.
dice took advantage of this by creating a team so ridiculously well-geared towards beating offense, cashing in decent amounts of wins for dice 'n friends...unless they ran into stall or any defensively inclined team.
boudouche's Absolutely Haram captures the essence of post-Deoxys ban hyper offense and showcases the power of Swords Dance Mega Mawile. It uses lead Terrakion to quickly set up Stealth Rock and start breaking the opponent's team with its boosted STABs and the now-common double genie core of Landorus and Thundurus, which has the ability to wallbreak, provide ever-useful paralysis support, and check opposing set-up sweepers, traits which boudouche clearly exploits. It also utilized the now-banned Aegislash's 4 Attacks wallbreaker set, which gave his team a pivot that doubled as a powerful wallbreaker. Greninja sees use in this team as a revenge killer and check to many threats for offense in general. All 5 of these Pokemon are there to help ensure a Swords Dance Mega Mawile sweep, with all of them being fully capable of sweeping the opponent's team themselves.
Crystalised - cbb & Unbirthday [July 2014]
This team has been a common sight during XY (even making an appearance during the last OST's finals!) and really represents how many bulky offensive teams were structured at the time.
It is one of the very first teams built around offensive M-Venusaur, which was a pretty unique set originally given how the majority of people were using it as a wall more than anything. As a result, the team is really not lacking in terms of raw power, with threats such as Choice Specs Keldeo and Landorus to pressure slower teams. Choice Scarf Heatran was also fairly uncommon and definitely threw a lot of people off guard when this team was first played since you'd usually assume that it carried Stealth Rock at team preview. Having a speedy fire Pokémon significantly eased the match-up this team had versus faster teams overall. Mandibuzz is the wall and Defogger of choice over the more common Lati@s due to its ability to handle the infamous Aegislash while being hard to take down in general. Just by looking at it, it's easy to see how comprehensive this RMT is, making it an excellent read to understand what the metagame was like back then and how it shifted across the year. This could be have been archived solely for its cuteness n_n, but don't forget guys, never trust a "girl" on the internet. Let this be a good reminder to all of you.
After the Aegislash ban, many Pokémon started to come out from under the safety of their rocks to experience the world of OU. M-Gardevoir, a Pokémon severely hindered by the presence of Aegislash, was by far the main winner of this metagame shift. M-Gardevoir's ability to threaten defensive builds is really a breath of fresh air for bulky offensive teams and this particular quality forms the basis for this archived team.
Pair M-Gardevoir with Keldeo and you have an impressive wallbreaker along with a Pokémon possessing a very useful set of resistances against many of the priority moves the Hyper Voicing fairy attracts, such as Bullet Punch from M-Scizor or Sucker Punch from Bisharp. Latios and Ferrothorn form your solid two-man utility core that was very standard during XY, providing a ton of key resistances. Finally, to cover the relative lack of speed, you have the ever so classic sand offensive couple: Excadrill and Tyranitar, which even provides the team with a Pursuiter to create a super wombo-combo with Keldeo. OMG. Like many M-Gardevoir teams, this team is in for an uphill battle against opposing Gengar; however, the concept of pairing a powerhouse such as M-Gardevoir with a Sand Offense core makes the team really functional.
Avante Palestra - Destiny Device [October 2014]
Remember when we described how popular M-Gardevoir became after Aegislash's ban? Well, this is another team that tried to capitalize on the direction the metagame was taking. Once again, the M-Gardevoir and Keldeo combo makes an appearance, nothing new. But let's see how Destiny Device tried to escort these two bad boys.
Yet again, Ferrothorn makes an appearance as your "easy-to-slap-onto-every-single-team" steel Pokémon that carries Stealth Rock and can switch into Greninja lacking Hidden Power Fire. Unfortunately for its builder, there is a universal rule in XY that said "If you play Mew, the opposing Greninja will have Dark Pulse, if you play Venusaur, it's gonna have Extrasensory, and if you play Ferrothorn, be prepared to eat a Hidden Power Fire". Talking about Mew, this team played a large role in popularizing the Pokémon in the OU tier. Its presence on this team is important and proved to be an overall very annoying Pokémon to take down, as even Heatran would have to be wary of Knock Off. The rise of Mew is the main reason why SubCM Keldeo and Dark Pulse Greninja became the main sets used by those two Pokémon respectively towards the end of XY. One can argue that Mew right here opens to an ominous Charizard-Y weakness, but who used that thing at the time anyway? Rotom-W is here to bring in the team's powerhouses with Volt Switch and lessen the threat bird spam posed to this team. It's not everyday that you see a team manage to make exceptional use of Landorus-T, though. Despite being thrown onto teams nowadays without a second thought, Landorus-T fits this team like a glove, providing some much need speed while acting acting like your usual poor man's answer to Charizard-X. I have still no idea what the theme of this RMT is about, but it surely has nice colors so check it out.
Here we have arguably the most played and hated Hyper Offense of the XY OU tier.
This team was literally everywhere in the competitive scene, making countless appearances in the Smogon Tour, the Official Ladder Tournament and [yan]sogeking's back pocket. Basically, the ladder pretty much consisted of four groups of people: The ones playing the CBB Hyper Offense, the ones playing the Pinsir + Magnezone + Diggersby Hyper Offense, the ones dirty/bad enough to play dEnIsSsS' obnoxious Baton Pass team...and then, *gasp*, stall. This team performed fairly well against most of these teams, explaining its popularity on a tele-infested ladder.
That aside, this team was one of the very first Hyper Offenses to make use of Spikes Greninja, a set that completely shifted the metagame. This Greninja variant was the name of the game back then, applying ridiculous amounts of pressure on its opponents and forcing every player to reconsider their builds. How do you even deal with something so fast and absurdly powerful? The only possible option is usually to switch to a counter, but guess what: those hardly existed in the first place and if your opponent was fortunate enough carry one of the few Pokémon capable of switching in on the frog, the Greninja user could simply punish the switch by laying entry hazards. The other important set that this team features is Offensive M-Scizor, a previously very rare sight that started to gain a tremendous amount of popularity after the creation of this team. If you ever wondered why your Heatran is full speed when you would rather want to invest all these crispy EVs into special defense, now you know which RMT is to blame.
This team is a great example of a typical Landorus balanced team, which was an extremely popular team archetype during the latest OST. Its structure is very classic, and while it did not revolutionize the metagame, it is by far the most representative team of the Landorus era. This team heavily emphasizes the importance of entry hazard control. Pretty much every single member of this team has the capability to lay down entry hazards, protect them, remove them, or abuse them. A lot of new players believe that playing the hazard game is all about having Stealth Rock, Spikes and Toxic Spikes, a Spinner and a Ghost. This is obviously a very dangerous misconception. Hazard control is all about pressure, and this is what the team demonstrates.
Wonder Trio - Branflakes325 [June 2015]
This team saw its very first use during the SPL6 game between Honus and Kevin Garrett. At the time, the tier was fresh and new, and a lot of battlers were still toying around with the Mega Evolutions exclusive to ORAS. M-Sableye was the new tool that aroused by far the most the curiosity, and the anxiety of the builders. Imagine one of the most broken abilities, previously only held by terribly frail Pokémon such as Xatu, Espeon, and M-Absol, being granted to a Pokémon like Sableye, along with drastic defense boosts and a nearly flawless typing. Needless to say, every single player made sure to be prepared for what appeared to be at the time one of the most restrictive Pokémon in terms of building ever allowed in OU.
That's exactly what this team was trying to capitalize on. As most people would be prepared against the infamous Calm Mind set, the original idea behind this build was to focus on making the most of M-Sableye as a support Pokémon. Knock Off would lure Pokémon such as Heatran and Clefable, which were very popular to deal with M-Sableye. Most of the other classic answers to M-Sableye were either Pokémon unwilling to switch into Will-O-Wisp or very prone to being worn down by entry hazards. Building a team able to switch around most of these threats, while providing options to lay down as many hazards as possible, seemed like the most obvious, and the safest choice to make use of M-Sableye's fantastic traits. The rest of the team members offer additional options to close out the game and exploit the removal of key items.
Genesect Volt-Turn - Bloo & GaryTheGengar [October 2015]
When ORAS kicked in, it was pretty clear that we lacked a Genesect team to show off. That is quite the pity, as Genesect totally shaped the first official XY tournaments such as SPL and OST. We looked back at the replays from this era and then collected a bunch of teams in order to select which Genesect team would be best to archive. An overwhelming majority of raters voted for this VoltTurn Genesect team that had been built by GaryTheGengar and used by Bloo in Week 3 of SPL5.
Besides the obvious presence of Genesect, this team has quite a few interesting things for itself. Mega Mawile was vastly underused back then, mainly because Mega Lucario and the Mega Charizard formes were very popular due to their ability to deal with Aegislash, in addition to their sheer brokeness. The defensive backbone of the team was present in a lot of balanced Volt-Turn teams and still holds up fairly well today. Anyway, it's time for the throwback, and for the younger audience, this team will give you a taste of what early XY looked like when the armored bug was in two teams out of three!
Ubers
BeNNs - PROBLEMS [April 2014]
Problems' team showcases sand + hyper offense, which was an extremly popular archetype back in the late XY Ubers metagame. The team structure is pretty clear. Mega Gengar traps threatening Pokemon which the team struggles against, which opens the door for an Excadrill or Arceus sweep. Yveltal provides a check to the dangerous Extremekiller Arceus, while Palkia takes up the role of Kyogre check. The team is really well-built as its weaknesses are suitably covered by the sheer offensive pressure it exerts, and it's no surprise that the team has had great success in the past.
Caelus - Edgar [December 2014]
Caelus by Edgar features Mega Salamence, one of the best sweepers in ORAS Ubers. Groudon and Xerneas form the defensive core, which checks dangerous Pokemon such as Xerneas, Mega-Salamence and Arceus. Latias supports the team with Defog and Genesect allow Edgar to retain momentum and switch his sweepers in safely via U-turn. Refresh Arceus and Mega Salamence build a strong offensive core which gives him a very good matchup against all playstyles.
dice's team demonstrates how effective Sand Offense can be. The team features Wobbuffet, which traps the counters of the offensive core consisting of Mega Salamence, Arceus, and Excadrill. dice covers his weaknesses in an offensive way and because of the huge offensive pressure he can beat every playstyle by breaking the defensive cores by spamming attacks and trapping troublesome Pokemon with Wobbuffet.
Lord Outrage's team is based around keeping hazards off the field with Sableye-Mega and Water Arceus in order to abuse the offensive power and awesome coverage of Ho-Oh. And unlike other teams based around Sableye-Mega and Lugia, this one is not weak to Mega Gengar and is not passive, while still maintaining a strong defensive backbone. It is the ideal representation of Ubers balance in ORAS, with the offensive power provided by Ho-Oh ably supported by its teammates' ability to check all of the important threats in the Ubers metagame.
UnderUsed
Empire - kokoloko [May 2014]
kokoloko's Empire demonstrates how effective the core of Froslass, Sableye, and Swampert can be with enough support. It utilizes the effectiveness of Froslass, which can set up Spikes reliably at the beginning of the match, and then keeps hazards from being cleared thanks to the number of Taunt users on the team and dual-Ghost core of Froslass and Sableye. Crobat and Hydreigon both keep offensive teams in check, utilizing their high Speed stat to weaken threats for Sharpedo, which serves as the late game cleaner of the team. Swampert serves as a primary Fire-resist, as well as a SR setter and a phazer, which also helps in wearing down Pokemon for Sharpedo. It is one of the most influential teams of the XY metagame and serves as a basis for spikestacking teams.
This team showcases the famous Pink Core, which deals with hazard cleaning, wish passing, and cleric support while also being to switch into a large portion of the tier. Dual Hazard Nidoqueen attempts to keep up hazards for as long as possible with Choice Band Dugtrio trapping Poison-types that normally absorb Toxic Spikes, as well as handling a good amount of offensive threats for the team, while Sableye serves as the glue, spinblocking and breaking through opposing stall teams. The team sets a standard for balance teams throughout the middle of the XY metagame.
This team showcases the famous Volt-Turn core of Victini and Mega Ampharos, which can wear down each other's checks with little trouble with their great offensive typing and power, with Forretress added into the mix to serve as a pivot that can check defensive Pokemon with Toxic while clearing and setting up hazards. The other half of the team serves to tank both physical and special attacks, filling roles that are commonly found on Balance teams, particularly SR, Wish, and Heal Bell support. The last slot is an interesting case, with Scarf Crobat being used to serve as a back up hazard cleaner and a revenge killer for the team.
This team set the standard for bulky offensive teams during the period of time dominated by the likes of Heracross, Slowbro, and Victini. It keeps up offensive pressure constantly with a total of 4 U-turn users, while having two nukes in CBTini and CBHera, with Mega Blastoise serving as a reliable check to Fire-type Pokemon and a hazard cleaner. While the team has no set win condition, it aims to break down opposing offense teams with its hard hitters, and the team does well against stall as well, with Heracross absorbing status and Crobat preventing set up with Taunt.
dodmen's team is a great example of what an effective offensive team looked like during the rise of Feraligatr in UU. With the gift of Sheer Force in ORAS, Feraligatr went from being a rather average sweeper in RU to one of the most feared offensive threats in UU. dodmen uses the Swords Dance set which turns Feraligatr into a terrifying wallbreaker that is capable of destroying slower teams whole. The team utilises its raw power, along with other wallbreakers in Adaptibility Dragalge and Choice Band Entei, to punch massive holes in the opposing team in order to pave the way for Mega Sharpedo, one of the best late-game sweepers in UU, to clean up. Crobat and Krookodile provide important team support by breaking stall and setting up Stealth Rock, respectively.
YABO's Cupcake Offense set a new standard for hyper offensive teams in UU. It popularized Belly Drum Slurpuff as an effective sweeper in UU, and utilised other Pokemon that were rising in popularity such as Rain Dance Mega Swampert and the monstrous Choice Band Tyrantrum. It also showcased the rise of lead Azelf, which was an ideal lead for hyper offensive teams with its blazing Speed, great Special Attack, and access to Stealth Rock and Explosion. Choice Scarf Chandelure provides YABO's team with a great revenge killer, while also providing Slurpuff with setup opportunities with its ability to lure in Choice Scarf Hydreigon. Swords Dance Lucario makes an appearance here, but this one comes with a twist. Earthquake enables Lucario to lure in and defeat its common checks, such as Doublade and Nidoqueen, which are Pokemon also commonly used as Slurpuff counters. Lucario can also take advantage of Slurpuff in the same way, as an early game set up with Slurpuff can clear the way for Lucario by weakening Pokemon like Suicune.
Acquiesce - IronBullet [May 2015]
IronBullet's team set the standard for balance in early ORAS. Hone Claws Mega Aerodactyl is one of the best late-game sweepers in the tier with its great Attack, incredible Speed stat, and good neutral coverage. The rest of the team is built to support it through powerful wallbreakers and entry hazards to weaken its common checks. He utilises Bronzong and Specs Heliolisk, two Pokemon that were rising in popularity at the time. Tentacruel provides Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin support, both of which help Aerodactyl tremendously, while CB Krookodile breaks down walls with its powerful Knock Off to make it easier for Mega Aerodactyl to defeat them later. Whimsicott acts as the team's glue, providing a useful check to setup sweepers with Encore and to the various Fighting- and Dark-types in UU.
Omfuga's team was selected for the archive due to its success in UUPL III and showcase of an important Pokemon in the development of ORAS UU, Porygon2. Considering the massive number of offensive threats in UU, including Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Pidgeot, Mega Sharpedo, Hydreigon, Salamence, and Chandelure, as well as the overall development of UU into a more offensive metagame, Porygon2 finds a solid niche in being able to provide teams with an answer to many of these threats. Omfuga's team gave rise to an interesting playstyle, "Porygon2 Offense", which usually features the duck paired with a reliable check to Fighting-types alongside four heavy hitters or sweepers. This team puts huge pressure on opposing teams with a combination of VoltTurn offense and two excellent sweepers, and is still able to fall back on its defensive core when under threat.
Aerolyn - Christo The Gr8 [September 2015]
Arguably the best representation of UU balance over the course of UU Open IV, Christo's Aerolyn showcases Mandibuzz at its most devastating with its infamous Taunt + Toxic set. It was also responsible for the rise of Calm Mind Florges as a popular win condition for balanced teams. The Mandibuzz + Florges duo, which defensive teams struggle heavily against thanks to their stallbreaking and sweeping capabilities respectively, is made even more difficult to face with a triple hazard core of Swampert, Roserade, and Forretress. These three also provide the team with a strong defensive backbone, covering each other's weaknesses incredibly well and making the team very difficult for any offensive team to break through. Mega Aerodactyl rounds off the team perfectly with its incredible Speed and typing by providing a failsafe against many fast sweepers such as Mega Beedrill, Crobat, and Infernape. It also contributes defensively with its important resistance to Fire and its Ground immunity, and has the ability to sweep teams itself thanks to its access to Hone Claws.
teal's Fortune Favors the Brave is a very well-built hyper offense team that played a big part in his run to the finals of UU Open IV. It has wonderful offensive synergy between its sweepers and showcases Salamence and Mamoswine at their most dangerous. It also played a huge role in popularising Double Dance Cobalion. Azelf sets up Stealth Rock and packs a punch with its Life Orb-boosted attacks, Mamoswine takes up the main wallbreaking duties, while NP Infernape, Cobalion, and Moxie DD Salamence make up a devastating core of setup sweepers, of which more often than not at least one finds a way to sweep thanks to the others weakening or eliminating its counters. Mega Sharpedo rounds off the team as one of the best late-game cleaners in UU. With hyper offense being a popular playstyle during this era, the team is an accurate reflection of the state of the metagame in light of Mamoswine's drop and Salamence's return to UU.
RarelyUsed
Molk's team showcases some extremely common threats in the XY RU metagame, like Doublade, Moltres, and Slowking, as well as underrated Pokemon like Gurdurr and Shiftry. The team aims to have a reliable switch in to most common threats in the metagame while utilizing LO Moltres's wallbreaking power to let Shiftry and Gurdurr clean late game. Gurdurr is used as the team's main win condition, and also as a switch in to Zoroark. It also takes advantage of Shiftry being one of the few offensive Defoggers, checking the likes of Slowking, Alomomola, and Cresselia. It definitely popularized a few threats before the ZoroYan suspect, and is a prime example of a standard team during that time.
HAND GRENADE - New Breed [August 2014]
New Breed's hyper offense team was arguably the most popular team during the Zoroark and Yanmega suspect tests, and for good reason. It popularized the Omastar hyper offense teams seen until the end of XY, as it grabbed early-game momentum with little trouble thanks to its ability to pressure out common Defoggers and set up hazards. It also abused the core of Dugtrio, Meloetta, and Yanmega, with the former trapping and KO'ing the other two's switch ins, letting both of them plow through offensive and defensive teams alike. This offensive core was backed up by a spinblocker in Doublade, as well as a Rapid Spinner and mid-game breaker in Hitmonlee.
49's team looks fairly standard from a glance, but has some uncommon sets, like Rock Polish Tyrantrum, Choice Band Drapion, and Focus Sash Sigilyph, which generally focus on Swords Dance Virizion and Tyrantrum breaking down defensive cores for the other. The team also has a potent defensive core of Seismitoad and Doublade, giving the team a good defensive backbone that can deal some damage of its own, as well as Choice Band Drapion trapping Pokemon like Doublade and Cresselia, who stop 49's win conditions from sweeping if left healthy, as well as absorbing Toxic Spikes and providing immediate power for 49's team. The team is a great example of how bulky offensive teams were when the team was made, and takes a different approach on common Pokemon used at that point.
Nails's team is a prime example of how versatile Reuniclus was during the time before it got banned, notably using a Calm Mind Thunder Wave set which crippling common switch-ins to it. It also showcases the standard balance core of Mega Steelix and Slowking, which was extremely popular at the time, as it gave most teams legroom against other offensive teams, as well as showcasing uncommon sets, like LO Punishment Skuntank and and physically defensive Tangrowth. The team is finally rounded off with Scarf Emboar which serves as a revenge killer while also providing an offensive switch-in to threats like Houndoom for the team.
NeverUsed
XY NU Beta was a crazy metagame filled with tons of terrifying Pokemon such as Durant, Doublade, Sigilyph, and Virizion, and because of how new the metagame was, everybody was trying out tons of different crazy builds. Even so, Zebraiken's Gamma Squadron was one of the most consistent offensive teams around. The team did a spectacular job of keeping up offensive momentum with Encore Liepard, U-turn Swellow, and Taunt Archeops, and it still had answers to the most common threats to offense in the tier with a defensive backbone of Seismitoad and Doublade. It also helped bring light to Specs Swellow.
Soulgazer's team is the picture of XY NU hyper offense. Crustle and Omastar lead offense was pretty much the only playstyle in NU for a very long time because of how difficult it was to cover all of the many offensive powerhouses of the tier. This particular team has a pretty great matchup against every other team archetype of the time. Healing Wish Mesprit with Nasty Plot Mismagius and Swords Dance Feraligatr makes it supremely easy to break down slower, bulkier teams, while Quiver Dance Lilligant and dual priority Kangaskhan are fantastic against offense. Many teams from this era of NU looks almost exactly like this build.
This team by Soulgazer helped to unleash the monster that was Specs Typhlosion unto the late XY NU metagame. While it is incredibly standard outside of Nasty Plot Liepard, it is also incredibly effective. The defensive core is very common of the time, with Seismitoad and Hariyama to cover Fire-types and Garbodor to cover Fighting-types. Meanwhile, Specs Typhlosion broke down entire teams and wore down Hariyama to help give Liepard an easier time cleaning later on.
Montego Bay - GaryTheGengar [February 2015]
During the Mega Steelix metagame of early ORAS NU, most teams were structured around Steelix and Hariyama as a backbone for strong offensive teammates. Montego Bay by GaryTheGengar is the perfect example of this archetype. Mega Steelix and Hariyama cover each others' weaknesses well while still hitting very hard, and Typhlosion and Heliolisk were both able to wallbreak and clean late-game thanks to their incredible power and Speed. While this team was certainly not original, it was incredibly effective.
;O; - ium [April 2015]
;O; by ium is a perfect snapshot of the post-Heliolisk/Mega Steelix NU metagame, where almost every team was balanced with a solid defensive core backed by a few offensive Pokemon to help keep certain threats in check. Specifically, ium uses Choice Band Sneasel to help with Scyther, Archeops, and Calm Mind Psychic-types, all of which the team would otherwise struggle to beat. This team also helped to popularize two very common sets in offensive Calm Mind Uxie and Choice Band Sneasel.
cold - hollywood [June 2015]
After the popularization of Choice Band Sneasel, it became a staple on most NU teams thanks to its ability to revenge kill nearly every offensive Pokemon and Pursuit trap problematic Pokemon. hollywood's cold puts Sneasel to fantastic use, fully utilizing its ability to trap fast Ghost-types that can revenge kill Gallade and Haunter and bulky Psychic-types that can beat Gallade. It also uses the now ubiquitous defensive core of Mawile, Lanturn, and Xatu that easily keeps up momentum and checks the majority of the tier.
Doubles
Stratos's team showcases one of the most balanced and well built versions of the Semi-Trick room style in XY. It had a solid matchup versus almost all common team builds by using complimentary Pokemon that were able to adapt to and play around most of the common threats of the metagame at the time. A combination of Scarf Landorus-T, Rotom-W, and Substitute Heatran allows this team to wear down opposing teams, affording Mega Scizor opportunities to pick off opponents with Bullet Punch. A Trick Room half of Amoonguss and offensive Cresselia gives this team a counterplay option that suits the slower, bulkier nature of this team in a metagame that was predominantly fast and frail. The Cresselia build, an offensive Expert Belt set, was a very unique set at the time but became more popular during the XY era, being able to secure a surprise 2HKO against Heatran.
This team demonstrates an effective use of bulky offense in XY Doubles, highlighting the effectiveness of a Kangaskhan offense that exploits the ability to tank hits and deal heavy damage back, as opposed to the commonly seen fast and frail builds that littered the metagame at the time. This team made effective use of the then uncommon Substitute Kyurem set that has seen become a standard build, as well as an early example of an offensive Ferrothorn build which also became a commonly seen set in XY. Other than that, the team utilizes standard Aegislash, Talonflame, and Landorus-T sets and is an excellent example of bulky offense in the XY metagame.
Mizuhime's Dancing in the Rain team was a major turning point in the development of Rain Offense in XY Doubles, popularizing the use of Assault Vest Ludicolo, as well as Choice Specs Thundurus-T. This team helped define the standard XY Rain build, with the use of a Grass, Steel, Electric, and Intimidate user to help cover all of the traditional failings of Rain in Doubles.
Knights of the Sun was one of the most successful teams of the late XY Doubles era, and proved itself effective going into early ORAS. This team is notable for it's use of a faster Aegislash set, Assault Vest Rhyperior, and mixed Scarf Kyurem-B, each of which was an invaluable complimentary piece to the hyper offensive core of Charizard-Y, Shaymin-S, and Keldeo. The use of Rhyperiors Lightning Rod to lure away Electric type moves from Shaymin-S, Keldeo, and Charizard afforded this team amazing flexibility versus Thundurus and the hyper offense teams that commonly relied on it to be their only form of speed control. Scarf Kyurem-B proved to be an excellent choice as well, helping against the most commonly seen pivot in the metagame, Scarf Landorus-T, but also being able to break past bulky Water-types thanks to the use of Fusion Bolt.
Easily the most infamous XY Doubles team in tournament games, this team spawned a million variants of ladder teams utilizing the same core concept, which is the use of Kangaskhan to pressure the opposing team, giving Azumarill the ability to setup Belly Drum and sweep the opposing team with Aqua Jet. This team took that idea and pushed the envelope even further through the use of Transform Mew to copy the stat boosts of either Kangaskhan or Azumarill, and proceeding to rampage past the opposing teams checks simply by overwhelming them due to the sheer power of two boosted Kangaskhans or Azumarills.
Little Cup
Kaleidoscope - GlassGlaceon [October 2014]
GlassGlaceon's team was based around Swords Dance Pawniard, an excellent win condition in the meta due to the Dark-Type and Knock Off changes from BW to XY. This team tries to abuse Pawniard's ability, Defiant, and bait a Defog from the opponent's team in order to gain an easy +2 Attack boost on Pawniard. It achieves this by having dependable entry hazard layers Ferroseed and Hippopotas, that can repeatedly set up entry hazards if need be. Spritzee is thrown onto the team as an excellent partner to Ferroseed, passing Wishes and keeping the team over healthy and free of status. While at first glance Vullaby as a Defogger seems bad on a team centered around entry hazards, it is extremely easy for Glassglaceon's team to set up entry hazards repeatedly throughout the match. Vullaby also acts as an Abra check and a lure for other Pawniard, as well as spreading Knock Offs to make a Pawniard sweep really easy. Lastly, Mienfoo was chosen to act as a pivot and to lure in common Pawniard switchins, such as Larvesta and Ponyta, and KO them with Stone Edge.
mad0ka's team was the first successful team that ventured far away from the standards of the meta at the time, getting to 1st on the ladder and staying there for most of the metagame. mad0ka centered the team around a Bellsprout sweep, an underrated threat that almost no one prepared for. As such, the team turned into a Sun based team, using a Pokemon that hadn't seen usage since Tangela was still allowed: Vulpix. The team uses other threats, such as Scarf Pawniard, Snubbull, and Defog Archen to support Bellsprout in its endeavors. This team threw the Little Cup community for a loop, as it dominated wherever it went, and even sparked tons of votes to ban Drought / Chlorophyll in the next suspect test (to which Misdreavus was banned).