Project Secret Santa 2025: SV NU

[Midwest Emo Band]

Got paired with someone I thought I didn't know but when I checked the profile I suddenly remembered.

My man famously lost to a scarf Servine... You've geussed it it's

.

Wappy.kBs

My match wanted a Glowbro+Chandelure Balance team no Incineroar.

So I took that personally by pairing it with one of my favourite anti Incineroar sets. Adrenaline Orb Milotic.


Team revolves around hazard stacking and then cleaning with pawmot or 1vs6'ing with glowbro.

Slowbro-G is a wincon machine with ID-press, toxic provides progress when you're not going for the win yet.

Chandelure is kinda standard. Pain Split over Trick because I have pressed trick exactly once in testing and it wasn't that productive into knock spam. Pain split actually helped a lot more by clutching up lategame when you'd be dead to hazards next time you would switch in. Baits an Incin switch in, if they don't have an Incin this mon sometimes just wins at preview.

Lola-Slash, honestly, more usable than I initially thought it would be. Spikes+Spin+Knock means you're always making progress. Baits an Incin switch in too.

Mandibuzz Jr. Bombirdier is legit a cornerstone of the team. I couldn't believe how well this mon performs. Having phasing/rocks/knock AND recovery on a mon is INSANE role compression. Give this mon a try if you haven't before. Main Incin answer if you didn't double to Milotic.

The idea with Milotic is simple. Switch in Chandelure, double to Milotic on the switch to Incin, get +2 from competitive and +1 speed making you 1 point faster than Kilowattrel. Also punishes defog and is overall pretty good.

Pawmot is for speed control and cleaning lategame. It was a Subseed Whimsi initially which also worked well but honestly sound based moves are kinda hard to deal with and having a volt absorber is really usefull.

Had a lot of fun testing and building the team! Hope you guys have fun trying it out.

Merry Christmas people and enjoy the holidays.

 

[Tuthur]

​

Despite the huge disrespect to Kobo and myself in this very thread. I put my best efforts into building a team around some unviable Pokémon that only milliongatejumpguy and Django would use. I'm of course talking about Delphox.

So as a starter, I knew I had to make the team an offense as I didn't really see any way to make use of it in a balance team. Django proved very well why using on grassy terrain is not a good idea, which is why I decided to go with some more standard offense team.


Django (Delphox) @ Eject Pack
Ability: Magician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot
- Nasty Plot

Eject Pack + Magician is kinda funny, even if it doesn't trigger on the eject pack hit. It lets Delphox fire off a powerful Overheat and pivot into a teammate.


The main answers to Delphox being bulky Fire-resists like Incineroar, Vaporeon, and Goodra; Tatsugiri seemed like a perfect partner, that could also keep hazards off.


Staraptor is also a great partner that can take advantage of special walls, or that Intimidate from Incineroar / Tauros is not available anymore. With Tatsugiri already providing removal, it does help a ton, and also they can somehow help with chandelure with the Fire quad resist + Shadow Ball immunity.


I added hazards so the team can break a bit better. Rhyp and Klefki have great bulk and great utility, respectively, and staples of bulky offense.


Lastly, I wanted one more heavy physical hitter, and some better Speed control. So Flamigo fit perfectly there.

Overall the team is not so great, because well there is a Delphox, but it's more than usable. Merry Christmas and enjoy the team!

some replays of shadow getting owned

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504037850-9x8ft43ni2hlaer41x5e788iiijrfohpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504047527-5f9vxfk0lhylhhsa22pn1yf1hbx8n5mpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504053953-3i3thceb0bkqoguowkukcq8d1s29doxpw

 

[Waldorf]

Of course I got the most unviable NU Mod, NUs biggest John, the man with the most wcop eligibilities on smogon, who also hasn't played a game of mons in at least 6 months. It's the Limber Ditto Lover himself Pokeslice

with the brief being there was only one real option: Trick Room. Taking heavy inspiration from PU we have the Trick Room fire:

- - - - -

With Trick Room and Eject Pack and two stat dropping moves, Eggy can operate both as an early game TR setter + pivot, or late game still being really threatening under TR.

Yama is almost unwallable with Guts, and obviously underspeeds everything.

Golurk similarly is almost unwallable, and with Life Orb gets enough power while still being able to change moves. No Guard DynamicPunch will certainly suit Pokeslice.

Slowbro is a standalone setter and sweeper with max modest and Life Orb, while the three moves give it almost full coverage.

Finally we need Rocks and Healing Wish - Mesprit is perfect for this. Bringing back Golurk or Hariyama for round 2 is terrifying. Setting TR and potentially pivoting is a bonus.

Porygon2 is the last TR setter who can also hit surprisingly hard. The real value here is just avoiding being reverse swept by a lot of stuff with enough bulk and getting up another TR.

Enjoy!

 

[Dead by Daylight]

Merry Christmas to Heatraneater. You requested a Glowbro + Breloom team (unless Bernardo lied to me thinking Diplomacy was still going on), so I created this Specs Ribombee + Band Breloom jig and got it up to the 1400s on ladder. Have fun with it.



Specs Ribombee is an insane wallbreaker into many builds. Even "Fairy resistances" usually crumble when hazards come into the equation, and its access to U-turn to get away from the Steel-types it can't break is invaluable.

Breloom's role is to take care of those Steel-types, as well as Water-types like Swampert, for Flygon to clean late-game. Banded Close Combat always hits like a truck, and Bullet Seed is deadly if inconsistent.

This Glowbro set is the physically defensive spread, but it has Thunder Wave and Ice Beam over Calm Mind and Slack Off. My rationale was that it had enough recovery through Regenerator and Calm Mind was unnecessary as we had a cleaner already; after running into issues with DD Flygon boosting in front of me and running away, I added Ice Beam to snipe those as well as unsuspecting Gligar spotting Thunder Wave.

I added Altaria here because Ribombee hates Rocks, Glowbro dislikes having Regenerator negated especially since it lacks Slack Off, and Breloom's already poor longevity suffers even more without removal. Other than that, it serves as a solid sponge into Incineroar and Vaporeon among others, spreads burns well and offers a great quasi-status immunity.

Scarf Flygon was added here because I needed speed control, a Ground-type, and pivoting, and Flygon filled all 3 boxes. It's just a standard Scarf Flygon, able to bring in either Ribombee or Breloom to beat down its checks and win late-game.

Copperajah is the Rocker here, but it also works as a great specially defensive sponge and Knock spreader. Being able to wear things down so fast with Knock + Whirlwind allows Mach Punch from Breloom to work as yet another great lategame win condition.

Some replays from ladder and tests:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2503719445-oitukrcwrvh0dxtcm9fcb9ac599wr41pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504085803-1fd961enkfod7illwq752lmuli96rdvpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504099331-cwu8v0q9hgq51jagt76q5ygrbtl30gypw

 

[Shengineer]

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through NU
Dragons Danced o'er the ladder, their Scale Shots hit true...

I was delighted to learn who I would be building for in this NU Secret Santa. He's a newer face to the community but one we all love, and he made it onto the big stage as a starter in this NUCL! It's none other than...

Drumroll, please...

bricknermon!

I admit I was a bit less enthused when I learned the request was to use Medicham... like what does this mon even do? It's not that fast and has poor bulk, which is not really a recipe for success. However, Medicham is immensely powerful. I set out to make a team that:

1. Is able to pivot Medicham into favorable matchups
2. Takes advantage of the holes broken in the enemy's defenses
3. Supports Medicham's middling speed tier by spreading Paralysis

Here is the result!

Medicham Paraspam Offense by Shengineer

Break it down!

We begin with the star breaker of the team. Few things are able to wall this mon provided it's able to hit the field in a good matchup. I opted for an all-out attacker set with Life Orb and an Adamant nature to maximize this breaking power without locking it into one move as a choiced set would. I chose psycho cut over Zen Headbutt primarily for the fact that it avoids contact which is huge for the Houndstone and Bellibolt Matchups. Ice Punch smashes the increasingly common Gligar and can be a nice midground click, while Tera Steel Bullet Punch is a surprisingly strong STAB move doing upwards of 50% to common revenge killers like Munkidori and Flamigo.


Wetbull accomplishes two of the goals of the team at once, serving as both a setup sweeper that appreciate's Medicham's ability to break physical walls like Houndstone and Galarian Slowbro, and also a pivot with Eject Pack that gets Medicham in versus common Wetbull checks like Cramorant, Altaria, and Amoonguss.


You know him, you love him, It's Duraludon: the premier steel type for Offensive teams. Duraludon covers our critical weaknesses to both Flying- and Psychic-types, provides Thunder Wave support, and also uses Roar to stop any potential sweeps while also annoying Vaporeon.


Munkidori is the perfect pivot to facilitate our physical breaking core, pivoting them in versus Steels and special walls. Its resistance to Fairy-type attacks is also appreciated by Duraludon, which is one potential weak spot he introduces to a team.


Our second part of the Para-spreading core is a Throat Spray Dudunsparce. This unique Offensive support set with Glare and Stealth Rock is an excellent lead, and its damage output with a maximum SpA Boomburst is quite baffling - in many ladder games this mon just wins on its own! It also gives us quite the handy Ghost resist.


Finally, Flygon serves as another excellent late-game cleaner that easily sweeps through teams that have been torn apart by our powerful breakers. I opted for a Substitute + DD set to scout Tera turns while also synergizing with our paralysis spreading core; a free turn from full paralysis is potentially game-ending.

I hope you enjoy using this team as much as I have, brick. I had a lot of fun on ladder testing it out, and I've gotta say, it's got my stamp of approval. If you replace the Medicham with another breaker, it's probably a better team, but I still believe I've brought out the best of this mon. Merry Christmas everyone!

Some Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504253032
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504255964
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504260492-6mets57hwhnppkk3tj7cffxuetcqsbqpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504261752-3lyy1o3sr8lqumc16ay43tc35dl0k8spw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504263509-xlolwnwlrs2up1oawys7jsufj9dyl24pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504280055-f6epkpa9fpwd0mp31jhg3mlih50bsuvpw

 

[rule]

Merry Christmas Midwest Emo Band, you requested me to use a Dipplin team which is funny because I requested for shadow to use Appletun.

At first, I tried building a hazard stack dragon tail Dipplin team but it was not working out too well. So after I decided to use a growth set on a sun team and it worked quite well. https://pokepast.es/0f6136aca67b3924

I laddered up a good amount and had some good matches. Dipplin is so bulky with eviolite and when you pair it with growth + double recovery (giga drain and recover) it is almost unkillable. Tera steel is also great for a lot of the weaknesses it has. The rest of the team is pretty much a normal sun team build. I hope you have fun w/ it!

Replays:
6-0 DIPPLIN (low ladder ik): https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504680260?p2
Dipplin Endgame Comeback: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504692069-f70vnqbhnshkj51q622mvk9oi2mgpbvpw
Close Game vs MillionGateJumpGuy: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504708550-q3lw4ardspdhv3sbu62688jets2tioepw

Merry Christmas friends!

 

[big tony 2014]

Secret Santa time WOOO my secret Santa plays bad tiers, has an even worse timezone and if you asked them "how old are you" you'd be shocked because they are the youngest person EVER. That's right my secret Santa is...

.

Lyra

He requested a team with tera water florges which turned out to be a lot harder to build around because I wanted to be classy and not just load budget sylveon but first the most important thing was finding out which florges i would be building with. Luckily I was able to dig up some information on my secret Santa

Tony leaks the team chat

So with that I built the a team so awful that I was losing games in the 1000s elo

This screenshot is the only remaining proof of its existence as I've deleted it from my builder. anyways as the old nu saying goes "if it don't work throw it on ho"


(Click the sprites for the paste)
Yes that's right you're playing white elephant for those who are unaware of the rules let me break it down for you
white elephant is a game where everyone brings a gift, people pick one by one to grab a random gift or steal and that's exactly what this florg does by either tricking a horrible gift onto a steel type or playing into duraludon and spamming moonblast to its heart's content
the premier special breaker this mon is just blantly broken especially if florg locks a steel type into a steel move
HO rat is the main removal for scyther and ape that also has triple axel for gligar who's a bit annoying for the rest of the squad
main physical breaker as always working in tandem with ho rat to break thru any defensive core that isn't named houndstone
the goofy monkey is your 1 for 1 but with blaze fire blast and blantly bluffing scarf into munkidori he can usually get a bit more then that so long are your opponent doesnt load chandelure

The Elephant

Anyways here are some replays of cinccino missing fucking everything seriously I hate this thing AHHHHHH (also sorry you cant play the game vs chandelure oopsies)

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505087103-aq4bs4rw8a1re0aa6wqwebt71icuwb2pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505083858-n07xrtnfjx46lr71e656fb05wiojen8pw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505080902-f2p5lujvo20t9glrcdyae6a5l7k5dispw

Hope you enjoy the team and have a happy holidays!!

 

[zause]

my secret santa is french, played in scl, was a p*ko in zupl and got fed teams by yo ch*, and fried me in ru circuit

you wanted a team with mixed lo nape (the dpp set ig) so i just copy pasted that. the first roadblock to the set from my perspective was altaria, so i added a kilo bc i figured that mon abuses it pretty well (wtf is the goofy ahh analysis set tho) while keeping the volturn core going, and then i added a swampert cuz hes also pretty auraful if i dare say so myself, while he also has rocks and more pivoting. then i added scarf munkidori for a speed control and like a 6th or 7th volturn mon. for the last two slots i went ice punch rhyperior so i could deal with gligar and dd scrafty bc i figured you could bait alty with that and tera steel to create kind of a fightspammy idea. anyway heres the paste https://pokepast.es/92230f99bc66bbf6
Happy Holidays Esteb4n

also heres a replay of me frying uberfiend (i made the rhyperior spdef after ts)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505255415-erleradq2iac7pi9wjil7vihygxmk30pw
nape forced a tera from the dudun so that was flowkirkenuinely pretty noice

 

[turtledoggo1]

hey zause !!

you requested an SD rhyperior team, and here it is :)




The goal of this team is physical attacking spam. Rhyperior and Incineroar can poke holes into opposing teams, while Tauros, Flygon, or even Brambleghast can help along the way. The speed investment on Rhyperior ensures you can outspeed vaporeon/scrafty/etc, but it can also be reinvested into SpDef if you want more overall team bulk.

SD incineroar pairs quite nicely with rhyperior, since their checks are relatively similar and can be easily overwhelmed between the two. The two are also nice semi-chandelure checks, and can honestly trade with anything. You're bound to make some good progress with them.

Flygon appreciates dead ground types (that incineroar/rhyperior can do) to cleanup lategame, and it generally just provides an amazing glue for this team. If you would like more special attacking prowess, Munki could be used too. Bronzong is generally just nice role compression, and a much more sturdy steel wall than its counterparts, which I think is useful on this team.

For the last two slots: Tauros further weakens physical walls for the team, while also being a solid wincon. It also provides much needed defensive utility, with tera steel adding tremendous defensive utility for the team. Brambleghast provides hazard control, while also checking opposing Tauros/water types/ etc...

Other notes:
- it "technically" has no flamigo answer. However, everything on this team has a move that does minimum like 70% + to it, so it has to be extremely careful as well (not to mention you can trade with it).
- the tera on rhyperior is extremely customizable, was not sure the best option tbh
- sometimes you just gotta play aggressive with this team but #worth

replays (i swear i had more)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505431232-l1p02r8vat4t3ytaxn2uq9qsm4uxsewpw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2504803153-mamg8ayo1x09p7ac30fd0ccfmxbbyuxpw

 

[bricknermon]

My secret Santa basically lives in the North Pole, so I thought maybe he was one of Santa's helpers, but come to find out he actually must be the Grinch because of the garbage set he made me try to build with! Just kidding big tony 2014, but not really.

https://pokepast.es/a8709610ba5d56df

I couldn't think of any way to use this thing outside of HO, so I tried using it in a way to flip the team's rough matchup into bellibolt since Scyther and Cinccino want that thing gone. The problem is, if they switch the belli in before you're low, you just take helmet then die to volt, so we're really clicking agility and endeavoring whatever fast mon comes in next. Hopefully they don't have priority! I also couldn't get any replays because of how busy the holidays are and no one above 1200 wanted to play me on the ladder. Apologies if the team is hot garbage.

Maybe I'm the real Grinch.

 

[milliongatejumpguy]

Greetings mr. Toshi. I have been assigned as your secret santa for the year. Tooth made fun of me for requesting Delphox (awesome team by the way, thank you!) but check out the type of christmas request I get:


Dedenne @ Assault Vest
Ability: Cheek Pouch
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 92 SpA / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draining Kiss
- Nuzzle
- Super Fang
- U-Turn

So uh...Dedenne huh?
After running a couple tests with Dedenne, I figured the assault vest is a decorative item and you can't really rely on the rat for a defensive role. However, nuzzle + super fang + u-turn is an interesting combination and I figured the easiest way to make use of it would be in a para-spam team.


: Featured mon and first para spreader. Nuzzle lets us cripple fast attackers with paralysis, while super fang chips away at tanks for our sweepers. We round things off with u-turn to safely bring our threats into a crippled enemy, and I'm sure draining kiss has an application somewhere.
: Offensive paralysis spreader that doubles as a sweeper. Glare is a broken 100% accuracy paralysis only ignored by electric types, and +1 boomburst nukes anything that doesn't resist the hit, on top of being a blob that trades well with a lot of the tier. I'm running max HP max SPA because I don't care to outspeed anything in particular, but you could add some EVs to speed if you wish to outspeed something after a Glare.
: Rocks setter and paralysis spreader #3. We run a custom spread that hits 450 defense because multiples of 50 are aesthetic. No special investment because spdef Dura is fake and we already have an assault vest user anyway. Otherwise a very standard set, sets rocks, nukes removal, trades well with all sorts of threats. Thunder wave has 10% accuracy.
: Offensive removal that can threaten steel setters unlike a certain rat. I tested every offensive removal option here, Brav performed best by a landslide, Cramo second. Not an Altaria team, Cinc feels miserable outside of dedicated steel overwhelm. The last move after Brave Bird/CC/Defog is filler, so we run body slam just in case we need to spread MORE paralysis. You could tailwind, alternatively, but this isn't a team that particularly rewards a tailwind click.
: Endgame threat #1 that enjoys its checks being paralyzed to get all the boosts it needs. I figured it would be really funny to run 130bp Hex last to jumpscare resists like Bramble, Golurk and Palo, but instead I run into tera normal Bastiodon.
: Endgame threat #2, scarf Hera is a solid cleaner that enjoys all the faster enemies being paralyzed and can proc paralysis on slower tanks to break through if needed. You cooould make it guts flame orb but I do appreciate having a revenge killer in the middlegame.

Team mainly relies on blob bulk to cripple and trade with opposing threats, quickly ending things before the enemy manages to chip you down. It's not a build I would call consistent because, well, it's paraspam, but we did make 1400s in tests so it can't be that bad. Here, have some replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505803830-jt7xagm9tvn29np543xsqnaab7h5yvtpw (vs a mysterious gift receiver)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505767310-5x49ikjkt3fp7kwqycs8wrsvtarn4y1pw?p2 (Draining kiss gets clicked!)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505793077-6s3y8hmocy7fpkcsm1hfh2gt4h7ajkupw?p2 (vs trick room somehow)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505656761-x9xe4pyd6v5wwb3jmch8sdaqds1ht7vpw?p2 (vs Uberfiend Tailwind)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nu-2505660819-44sltd9uvtv3x5ibmlm7t6gromj038ipw (vs the Uberfiend 6)
PLACEHOLDER

Probably not what you had in mind when you requested AV Dedenne but I hope you enjoy the team nonetheless. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

 

[toshimelonhead]

Watching the replays that set did more work than it ever deserved to do. Well done! The inspiration came for that after watching it do work in Randbats at higher levels and theorymonning a few Flamigo calcs. My team to give is still in Santa's shop and will be ready probably tomorrow.

 

[Shengineer]

My secret Santa is late, Christmas is ruined….. merry Christmas to everyone else though!

 

[Pokeslice]

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through my brain,
Not a team was assembled, just worry and strain.
An offensive Porygon2 was requested with care,
But I'd left the whole building to last minute despair.

I'd procrastinated as always through December with glee,
Thought "I'll knock this out easy, what's the worst that could be?"
Then I checked the deadline and nearly fell flat
A Secret Santa gift? I'd forgotten all that.

But panic breeds focus, or so goes the tale,
So I theorycrafted through the late hours of the night without fail.
I thought of the one who had asked for this quest,
A man who loves Vanilluxe more than the rest.

So I built and I tested, the hours flew past,
A Porygon2 core that would finally last.
With the team coming together in the Christmas Day dawn,
I realized exactly who I'd built this upon.

It's you, turtledoggo1! Your Secret Santa's arrived,
With a team full of purpose to help you survive.
So here is my gift, built with care and some fright:
A Porygon2 Webs team for a Merry Christmas tonight :)


​

I hope that poem helps summarize a bit of my journey to make this for you. It was a long long process of procrastination, but we got there eventually. You asked for an offensive P2 which got me thinking about potential directions that I could go in. I knew that LO Hyper Beam could be a funny concept or running it on a Trick Room team or both, but the direction that felt fun to me was to try and replicate what PZ was doing on offenses with that bulky Nasty Plot set so I set out in that direction. I then opened up the builder to learn that P2 does NOT learn Nasty Plot nor does it really have any sort of ways to be an offensive piece for HO, but after some brainstorming I then stumbled on something fun.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 Spe
Bold Nature
- Charge Beam
- Tera Blast
- Recover
- Substitute​

Sub Charge Beam Tera Blast P2. A great Steel overwhelm partner for a lot of these offenses while providing a more defensive backbone to boot. The set here gives P2 the bulk to sub up on nearly all the tiers defensive mons including Bronzong before Tera and Copper after one with speed to get a sub up on things like no speed bulky Dura, Crams, and Alts. Trace also gives some fun opportunities to do creative ability things with Levitate or Intimidate (Flare Blitz no longer breaks sub from Incin for example). Overall, a very interesting set on a funny mon.

Rest of the team is pretty straight forward Webs HO. I thought 1) HO is still the best playstyle imo even if people don't use it as much 2) the extra speed will help out P2 to do P2 things and 3) if this mon has the potential to be really strong at breaking down Steel-types and defensive cores if it gets rolling, why not throw it on a team alongside things like Toxtricity or DD Flygon? So I threw it together alongside some of my favorite HO mons and techs and boom, we had a team.

Some notes: Ribombee set can be Scarf or Tera Blast Ground>Psy Noise; Flygon is Ada and can be Tera Fairy; Encore SG Tox is broken love that set

Enjoy Turt and Happy Holidays!