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OU ORAS OU Secret Santa 2025
- Thread starter MahTheBot
- Start date
thanks very much, can't wait to try these out when I get the chance!
in return, I spent some time workshopping your subhex gengar set. I won't lie, this was super tough (for me), mainly because I sign up for too many secret santas in tiers I don't know all that well. regardless, let's dig in.
I also started with a few different drafts which you can see here:
(this clef feels troll)
which eventually led me to building something that looks straight out of one of my favorite gens/formats, and one I grew up (competitively) on: gen 8/national dex.
SubHex Gengar
teambuilding process:
started out with what looked like a perfect partner for subhex gengar with plume/toxic standard spdef heatran (feel free to use a more up to date/custom spread, of course). rocks since we ended up going scarf on...
landorus-therian, the goat. I ended up needing a knock after cycling through this team a bit, as well as scarf since gengar wasn't playing that role, which is just good enough speed control for a lot of threats (mgyara, mgross, mlop, mgallade, and so on -- plus punishes excadrill heavily of course).
needed a fat water and some anti-dragon tech since phys sweepers were looking pretty nasty with lum berry/dd/outrage mence/dnite options, or gyara/mgyara. keep this guy healthy for those MUs for sure. colbur for weavile matchup which doesn't get a whole lot better with the next two picks. I really wish bro had counter or body press this gen :sob:
rocks remover, para spreader. honestly not sure if spdef zap is better than a physdef static set here, but it's worked well in practice. hpice kind of needed for the aforementioned dragons.
with 5 strong supports for a subhex gar lategame wincon, I was looking for a blanket check for, well, the rest of the tier: things like keldeo, serp, mana, diancie-mega, scizor/mega, ferrothorn, and opposing fat waters (especially washtom), etc.
major threats include dragon dance sweepers despite the tech slotted in for that, weavile if you can't status it properly, char-mega-y and frankly the AV kyu-b set you built for me looks really hard for this team LOL.
char-y in particular is nearly impossible to swap into (classic). you will basically lose a mon every time if you bluff scarf lando right away and heatran can get 2hko'd by focus blast. thankfully, once it's statused, it's toast and venusaur can at least spam sludge bomb on it if it's healthy.
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Thick Fat Venusaur-Mega in Sun: 236-282 (65 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I'm not sure if my difficulties were just me, or slotting in the set on teams, because despite how powerful this set is vs fat teams and groundspam, I definitely struggled with building around it. I think this cast does a decent job, and hopefully I've at least inspired you to build with it yourself. ideally, you'll also enjoy the team! happy holidays o7 it was a really cool idea to build around and I've never built around a non-status-boosting wincon so thanks for the opportunity.
Merry Christmas to magma_man . https://pokepast.es/e27da15ac3131b8e
For your bulky offense Zard-X team, I made a sand variation consisting of defensive T-Tar for your Weavile checks, along with an offense Lifeorb Excadrill set to maintain momentum. Thundurus has a bit of an odd set here, since while I appreciate the value that focus blast has to offer, taunt + twave feels more reliant in this setup to prevent opposing hazards from getting setup, while still threatening mons like spdef Lando-T, and Garchomp (you can still op to swap taunt for focus/knock off as well if it gives you better success). Taunt Thundurus also helps more vs the chansey stall matchups as well, although you unfortunately miss out on removing eviolite, and since some chansey variations are paired with Quagsire, those matchups tend to be less favorable. Also a note to consider when facing opposing Drill, if you think Drill is being doubled in (since many variations are spdef), either doubling to Zard-X, double to glare with Serp, or doubling to Slowbro/T-Tar for scald/eq damage can help. If sand is already up, then an aggressive drill switch works too.
For the Zard-X set, I opted for SD, Flame Charge, D-Claw, and T-Punch, in order to threaten opposing slowbro more effectively upon switchin. if rocks are up and you've already toxic'd/burn opposing Slowbro prior, +2 Ada t-punch should always KO, since max def slowbro recieves 80.2 - 94.9%, which is already a 50% to KO after rocks.
Sand Core in general has always been reliant in gen-6 ou and poses problems for various offensive matchups. Volcarona, Clef, Manaphy, and even Zapdos doesn't appreciate lifeorb Excadrill's return on switchins, and return threatens opposing Rotom-W as well. Tyranitar's set allows you to threaten Skarmory + Heatran cores, and also giving you some value vs opposing Ferrothorn matchups. Slowbro with rocky helmet is reliable for the physical threats like Adamant Lopunny, and you have Future Sight to threaten other offensive matchups. You could also replace Future Sight with Psyshock as well if you're less comfortable with it.
In regards to Serperiors set, I initially ran HP-Rock to threaten Volcarona/Zard-Y/Thundy-T more effectively, however HP-Ground is also effective for threatening opposing Heatran, which can sometimes give you problems when its paired with Lopunny, as your toxic switchin to Heatran is either Slowbro, or Tyranitar.
For the 2nd team, I opted for the standard Torn-T + Defensive Drill with double regen and Magnezone. This team is a bit interesting, since Slowbro has eject button to keep opposing Scizor in check, since if you're ever hit (including U-Turn), Scizor is denied switching out. This interaction allows for you to bring in Zone freely, securing HP-Fire damage, which if enough chip, HP-Fire should secure the KO. Zone also offers value against opposing Serperior, denying glare when opposing Serp may click freely into a Torn-T prediction. In those situations, you could force yourself in to 50-50 turn scenarios depending on your opponents team structure. They may predict a volt turn and double to Drill, or even stay in for an aggressive glare into your Torn. Toxic is pretty fun if you make aggressive predictions into mons like Gastrodon/Quagsire, forcing them to recover later on. This is pretty helpful since Crawdaunt with D-Dance plows through stall teams with ease. It also punishes defensive Rotom-W and Zapdos when stealthrocks are up, since:
+1 252+ Atk Dread Plate Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Rotom-Wash: 272-322 (89.4 - 105.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
And
+1 252+ Atk Dread Plate Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 228+ Def 30 IVs Zapdos: 326-384 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
Lastly defensive drill allows for you to survive opposing Jolly drill's EQ (outside of lifeorb/Adamant). You also threaten Mega Metagross since Hammer Arm doesn't KO from full.
For your bulky offense Zard-X team, I made a sand variation consisting of defensive T-Tar for your Weavile checks, along with an offense Lifeorb Excadrill set to maintain momentum. Thundurus has a bit of an odd set here, since while I appreciate the value that focus blast has to offer, taunt + twave feels more reliant in this setup to prevent opposing hazards from getting setup, while still threatening mons like spdef Lando-T, and Garchomp (you can still op to swap taunt for focus/knock off as well if it gives you better success). Taunt Thundurus also helps more vs the chansey stall matchups as well, although you unfortunately miss out on removing eviolite, and since some chansey variations are paired with Quagsire, those matchups tend to be less favorable. Also a note to consider when facing opposing Drill, if you think Drill is being doubled in (since many variations are spdef), either doubling to Zard-X, double to glare with Serp, or doubling to Slowbro/T-Tar for scald/eq damage can help. If sand is already up, then an aggressive drill switch works too.
For the Zard-X set, I opted for SD, Flame Charge, D-Claw, and T-Punch, in order to threaten opposing slowbro more effectively upon switchin. if rocks are up and you've already toxic'd/burn opposing Slowbro prior, +2 Ada t-punch should always KO, since max def slowbro recieves 80.2 - 94.9%, which is already a 50% to KO after rocks.
Sand Core in general has always been reliant in gen-6 ou and poses problems for various offensive matchups. Volcarona, Clef, Manaphy, and even Zapdos doesn't appreciate lifeorb Excadrill's return on switchins, and return threatens opposing Rotom-W as well. Tyranitar's set allows you to threaten Skarmory + Heatran cores, and also giving you some value vs opposing Ferrothorn matchups. Slowbro with rocky helmet is reliable for the physical threats like Adamant Lopunny, and you have Future Sight to threaten other offensive matchups. You could also replace Future Sight with Psyshock as well if you're less comfortable with it.
In regards to Serperiors set, I initially ran HP-Rock to threaten Volcarona/Zard-Y/Thundy-T more effectively, however HP-Ground is also effective for threatening opposing Heatran, which can sometimes give you problems when its paired with Lopunny, as your toxic switchin to Heatran is either Slowbro, or Tyranitar.
For the 2nd team, I opted for the standard Torn-T + Defensive Drill with double regen and Magnezone. This team is a bit interesting, since Slowbro has eject button to keep opposing Scizor in check, since if you're ever hit (including U-Turn), Scizor is denied switching out. This interaction allows for you to bring in Zone freely, securing HP-Fire damage, which if enough chip, HP-Fire should secure the KO. Zone also offers value against opposing Serperior, denying glare when opposing Serp may click freely into a Torn-T prediction. In those situations, you could force yourself in to 50-50 turn scenarios depending on your opponents team structure. They may predict a volt turn and double to Drill, or even stay in for an aggressive glare into your Torn. Toxic is pretty fun if you make aggressive predictions into mons like Gastrodon/Quagsire, forcing them to recover later on. This is pretty helpful since Crawdaunt with D-Dance plows through stall teams with ease. It also punishes defensive Rotom-W and Zapdos when stealthrocks are up, since:
+1 252+ Atk Dread Plate Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Rotom-Wash: 272-322 (89.4 - 105.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
And
+1 252+ Atk Dread Plate Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 228+ Def 30 IVs Zapdos: 326-384 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
Lastly defensive drill allows for you to survive opposing Jolly drill's EQ (outside of lifeorb/Adamant). You also threaten Mega Metagross since Hammer Arm doesn't KO from full.
merry christmas Fated Keys , I have been busy lately so I didn't have much time to build but here is your mega latias reuniclus team: https://pokepast.es/092237c124cff154
-Mega latias is your primary win con and set up sweeper and also works as a check to keldeo, zard y, etc. psyshock is used to win cm wars while ice beam functions to smack, gliscor, lando, and chomp
-Heatran functions as a check to mega gardevoir as well as providing utility with stealth rock and spreading potential burns with lava plume.
-Reuniclus is a great check to mega medicham and decent against mega metagross that is not pup. focus blasts helps with those pesky dark types like tyranitar, weavile, and bisharp which they can all carry pursuit.
-Clefable is your second cm sweeper as well as functioning as a speed control in the form of twave.
-Scizor is your main response to pursuit users like weavile, and tyranitar.
-Gliscor functions as an electric/ground immune as well as shutting down stall with taunt+knock.
-Mega latias is your primary win con and set up sweeper and also works as a check to keldeo, zard y, etc. psyshock is used to win cm wars while ice beam functions to smack, gliscor, lando, and chomp
-Heatran functions as a check to mega gardevoir as well as providing utility with stealth rock and spreading potential burns with lava plume.
-Reuniclus is a great check to mega medicham and decent against mega metagross that is not pup. focus blasts helps with those pesky dark types like tyranitar, weavile, and bisharp which they can all carry pursuit.
-Clefable is your second cm sweeper as well as functioning as a speed control in the form of twave.
-Scizor is your main response to pursuit users like weavile, and tyranitar.
-Gliscor functions as an electric/ground immune as well as shutting down stall with taunt+knock.
Merry Christmas ImperialH, for whom I owe an entirely new team because I have been way to busy and exhausted to make good team building decisions. I also just don't know what the f homegirl Mandibuzz does which is a great way to segue into my attempt at funny bird & bird adjacent team.
I should have signed up for a format I'm actually knowledgeable in I'm so sorry big dog I hope that if nothing else there is at least comedic value for my gift
I should have signed up for a format I'm actually knowledgeable in I'm so sorry big dog I hope that if nothing else there is at least comedic value for my gift