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Resource NUCL III - Team Dump
- Thread starter Django
- Start date
okay.
Week 1 | Pawmot ScarfGuno Balance. I really wanted to use a Pawmot team, as I got addicted to it around that time. Volt Absorb for Elec immunity. This team also made me realize how fat Goodra can be, and I used an annoying ToxTect set with full SpDef to make Chandy miserable.
The team is rounded off with a Physdef core of Vapo-Tsar (with U-Turn over KOff, I found the pivoting to be really good for Pawmot entrances), Copperajah (mandatory Steel) and Scarf Articuno (as opposed to Scarf Munki, mainly for the Ground immunity).
Week 2 | Double Monkey Balance?. Originally, this was Normal Gem Thief Ambipom, a set I saw on ladder and thought of it as cool. I also wanted to use FireBull (also with Eject Pack and Thief for stealing items), as I felt it was underutilized, but I ended up switching it for the faster and scarier Infernape. I also had an HO version of the team with CM stored power Vaporeon, but that was OD.
Week 3 | Drifblim Infernape GTerrain HO. I wanted to use GTerrain to diversify my scout and switch my play up a bit, as I had brought two balances the weeks before. This originally had Delphox, Scream Tail, and Hitmonlee on it, but I replaced each with Infernape (yet again), Drifblim, and Overqwil respectively. Qwilliam gave me a much needed Munkidori check, and Drifblim was also very scary in testing. Grass Knot on Ape has a nice synergy with Terrain, OHKOing most Rhyperior. Also, Mixed Ape is the best Ape.
Week 4 I reused the team from Week 1, with slightly edited EVs on some. Not much else to add there.
Week 5 | GlisLoom Milotic Shithousery. From this week onwards my building started to slack, as I was running out of ideas/getting busy with irl. Thus, Sirwings gave me this, which resulted in a great game vs Gondra (despite me losing).
Week 6 | SubCM Raikou no Scarf. I got blown up T1 by Pixilate Specs Hyper Beam Sylveon. God bless.
Jokes aside, I wanted to use Raikou, as I hadn't brought it at all until then. I had found it difficult to include a Scarfer, so I just didn't put one in, and instead rounded off the team with some relatively standard picks. Again, nothing to write home about.
Week 7 I had slacked and again, not built anything.
Semifinals | AV Munki Fat. This is what feen was supposed to bring, just an annoying team with SpDef Vapo and Decidueye-Hisui for Hazard Control. Meant to outlast Danny.
All in all, this was a very fun tour, and special thanks to Kiyo for drafting me (also special shoutouts to Brick, Sirwings, and Kaboom for being well-off lads). I think going 3-3 as a rookie with a 3k price tag is #Not Bad. If you're already planning for NUPL, and you want to draft me, PLEASE DONT FORGET TO TELL ME THAT I NEED A VOLT AND/OR GHOST IMMUNE ON MY TEAMS PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Week 1 | Pawmot ScarfGuno Balance. I really wanted to use a Pawmot team, as I got addicted to it around that time. Volt Absorb for Elec immunity. This team also made me realize how fat Goodra can be, and I used an annoying ToxTect set with full SpDef to make Chandy miserable.
The team is rounded off with a Physdef core of Vapo-Tsar (with U-Turn over KOff, I found the pivoting to be really good for Pawmot entrances), Copperajah (mandatory Steel) and Scarf Articuno (as opposed to Scarf Munki, mainly for the Ground immunity).
Week 2 | Double Monkey Balance?. Originally, this was Normal Gem Thief Ambipom, a set I saw on ladder and thought of it as cool. I also wanted to use FireBull (also with Eject Pack and Thief for stealing items), as I felt it was underutilized, but I ended up switching it for the faster and scarier Infernape. I also had an HO version of the team with CM stored power Vaporeon, but that was OD.
Week 3 | Drifblim Infernape GTerrain HO. I wanted to use GTerrain to diversify my scout and switch my play up a bit, as I had brought two balances the weeks before. This originally had Delphox, Scream Tail, and Hitmonlee on it, but I replaced each with Infernape (yet again), Drifblim, and Overqwil respectively. Qwilliam gave me a much needed Munkidori check, and Drifblim was also very scary in testing. Grass Knot on Ape has a nice synergy with Terrain, OHKOing most Rhyperior. Also, Mixed Ape is the best Ape.
Week 4 I reused the team from Week 1, with slightly edited EVs on some. Not much else to add there.
Week 5 | GlisLoom Milotic Shithousery. From this week onwards my building started to slack, as I was running out of ideas/getting busy with irl. Thus, Sirwings gave me this, which resulted in a great game vs Gondra (despite me losing).
Week 6 | SubCM Raikou no Scarf. I got blown up T1 by Pixilate Specs Hyper Beam Sylveon. God bless.
Jokes aside, I wanted to use Raikou, as I hadn't brought it at all until then. I had found it difficult to include a Scarfer, so I just didn't put one in, and instead rounded off the team with some relatively standard picks. Again, nothing to write home about.
Week 7 I had slacked and again, not built anything.
Semifinals | AV Munki Fat. This is what feen was supposed to bring, just an annoying team with SpDef Vapo and Decidueye-Hisui for Hazard Control. Meant to outlast Danny.
All in all, this was a very fun tour, and special thanks to Kiyo for drafting me (also special shoutouts to Brick, Sirwings, and Kaboom for being well-off lads). I think going 3-3 as a rookie with a 3k price tag is #Not Bad. If you're already planning for NUPL, and you want to draft me, PLEASE DONT FORGET TO TELL ME THAT I NEED A VOLT AND/OR GHOST IMMUNE ON MY TEAMS PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
unfortunately i only had the opportunity to really play the 1 sv game but i really liked playing that one game and i got to click hyper beam in big 2025 so gdi you will listen to big sylveon propaganda
https://pokepast.es/75a09680ad6969fb - game
I was playing matt this week (who also coincidentally posted above hi matt) and during prep like the first thing, really the only thing, that we called out was his predilection for fake steels aka dura (UNLESS UR US REAL STEEL BABYYYYY), and then also 0 fairy usage so the original suggestion was to use a specs dragalge team (which i think did eventually get retooled and lbn brought to w7) but throughout testing it was pretty annoying having to lock a move with dragalge and then sometimes get a kill but most of the time being forced out immediately afterwards because literally every useful move the guy gets, including flip turn, have good mons that are immune to them.
So then I went back to the drawing board looking for POWER hitters to abuse the lack of steels and whatnot and landed on sylv. Although slightly weaker than dragalge, fairy is just such a superior offensive typing to be locked into with a much better movepool to choose from, sylv is way faster than drag which was convenient, and the two guys have like similar bulk and stuff so I was like alright we're doing this now. I WAS vaguely irked ab the slight power diff though so to comp for that i threw on hyper beam (which outdamages anything drag can even DREAM of) bc it has terrific calcs vs guys who would normally be able to switch in once/stay in once on a hyper voice and with roar dura in the wings I wasn't really super concerned ab giving up a free turn to recharge. Guys like toxtricity, incin, chandy, all have decent rolls for hyper beam to ohko without burning tera and outright super overkill with tera in consideration, munkidori is also on this list but only consistently dies to hyper beam with tera in consideration.
Originally I had a flamigo as a scarfer over munki and the fogger was an altaria but then I was talking to Shengineer and he suggested I look at fog scyther to be a more offensively minded fogger and kinda fill in for migo as a "fast" flying pivot, which then opened up my scarfer slot where I could slot munki who had good synergy with sylv who could break steels for him to go ham in the late game. Scythers also tground and tblast bc I didn't have a ground beyond that and vOlt IMMunEs.
Beyond that the rest of the team is filled with some regular looking glue pieces with rotom-heat being the only super unusual guy. I don't really even know why that is though, with meta how it is rn i feel like a lot of teams would appreciate a fat burn bot who also is a faster pivot and can get his own HP back, on TOP of the ground and double status immunity he provides, all characteristics which this team specifically appreciated and came up during the game itself. I will note the duraludon set being roar > dtail as well, originally it was dragon tail but then loocas13 mentioned dura got roar too which did the most important thing, phazing, without needing to be scared of misses or tfairies which also turned out to be a very impactful change during the actual game which was cool to see. There is actually nothing interesting ab the vapo, everyone knows the set, everyone knows the set is good, i regret not having like 8 speed evs or smth bc i lost a tie with the mon during the actual game which didn't matter but did annoy me.
Overall I had a lot of fun building this team and even more fun testing it, there is a special sort of rush when sylv hyper beam does the things that it shouldnt, and all the techs went and popped off during the game so u always love to see that. i hope u enjoyed my 5 paragraph essay on one team that is all good night.
https://pokepast.es/75a09680ad6969fb - game
I was playing matt this week (who also coincidentally posted above hi matt) and during prep like the first thing, really the only thing, that we called out was his predilection for fake steels aka dura (UNLESS UR US REAL STEEL BABYYYYY), and then also 0 fairy usage so the original suggestion was to use a specs dragalge team (which i think did eventually get retooled and lbn brought to w7) but throughout testing it was pretty annoying having to lock a move with dragalge and then sometimes get a kill but most of the time being forced out immediately afterwards because literally every useful move the guy gets, including flip turn, have good mons that are immune to them.
So then I went back to the drawing board looking for POWER hitters to abuse the lack of steels and whatnot and landed on sylv. Although slightly weaker than dragalge, fairy is just such a superior offensive typing to be locked into with a much better movepool to choose from, sylv is way faster than drag which was convenient, and the two guys have like similar bulk and stuff so I was like alright we're doing this now. I WAS vaguely irked ab the slight power diff though so to comp for that i threw on hyper beam (which outdamages anything drag can even DREAM of) bc it has terrific calcs vs guys who would normally be able to switch in once/stay in once on a hyper voice and with roar dura in the wings I wasn't really super concerned ab giving up a free turn to recharge. Guys like toxtricity, incin, chandy, all have decent rolls for hyper beam to ohko without burning tera and outright super overkill with tera in consideration, munkidori is also on this list but only consistently dies to hyper beam with tera in consideration.
Originally I had a flamigo as a scarfer over munki and the fogger was an altaria but then I was talking to Shengineer and he suggested I look at fog scyther to be a more offensively minded fogger and kinda fill in for migo as a "fast" flying pivot, which then opened up my scarfer slot where I could slot munki who had good synergy with sylv who could break steels for him to go ham in the late game. Scythers also tground and tblast bc I didn't have a ground beyond that and vOlt IMMunEs.
Beyond that the rest of the team is filled with some regular looking glue pieces with rotom-heat being the only super unusual guy. I don't really even know why that is though, with meta how it is rn i feel like a lot of teams would appreciate a fat burn bot who also is a faster pivot and can get his own HP back, on TOP of the ground and double status immunity he provides, all characteristics which this team specifically appreciated and came up during the game itself. I will note the duraludon set being roar > dtail as well, originally it was dragon tail but then loocas13 mentioned dura got roar too which did the most important thing, phazing, without needing to be scared of misses or tfairies which also turned out to be a very impactful change during the actual game which was cool to see. There is actually nothing interesting ab the vapo, everyone knows the set, everyone knows the set is good, i regret not having like 8 speed evs or smth bc i lost a tie with the mon during the actual game which didn't matter but did annoy me.
Overall I had a lot of fun building this team and even more fun testing it, there is a special sort of rush when sylv hyper beam does the things that it shouldnt, and all the techs went and popped off during the game so u always love to see that. i hope u enjoyed my 5 paragraph essay on one team that is all good night.
Thank you so much Django I didn't wanna ping Slice for the millionth time considering he's in an unviable timezone but wooo let's get posting!
GSC
Week 3 vs Feen -- WeezGong + Dugtrio Spikes
https://pokepast.es/04a488cb0c0312b5 --
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-890981?p2
I only had one GSC game the whole tour because we had the goat MrSoup to be our permanent GSC slot and he cooked. Unfortunately couldn't help him much because of his unviable timezone but it happens I guess.
Anyways we saw Feen's scout and noticed 3/3 Octillery + whatever christmas ass team he brought vs me in GSCPL. His teams also seemed quite slow and reliant on sleep talk + hp electric mons (oct/ xatu mainly) so MrSoup suggested Dugtrio to me. We did get two more versions which I'll share later in the post. The game went surprisingly well except for the Cross Chop crit on his Chinchou which made things much easier for me though I think I won that off matchup alone if I didn't fumble too bad (I kinda did late into the game but teehee). I quite like the team in general and I was a big hater of WeezGong structures prior to this NUCL but the flexibility I got in builder and in game using different variants of WeezGong Spikes(less) made me like them. Don't have much more to say except a shout out to MrSoup for being the goat and sorry for not helping much if at all.
SS
Week 1 vsTier Shiloh -- Curse Lax Balance
https://pokepast.es/2c25c30646f6c4b3
(ground)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-887545?p2
Going into this week I didn't know what to load. I was very excited to build (and perhaps play) SS for the tour and I did build a lot (even if a bunch ended up being shit). I expected Leni to be the player here but that was not the case. The basic idea of the team was using Curse Lax and having one mon to remove it's common checks (steels here since I'm Darkest Lariat) and what better mon to remove pesky Steel-types than Vileplume! The Plume spread is very specific and was changed multiple times from Growth STABs Sap to Growth Leech Sap Sludge to Leech Infest to Growth STABs Leech but I finally landed on Leech Infest. It also has speed and special attack investment paired with a Poison Barb which allows it to beat other Vileplume without any problems. Vaporeon Staka G-Vally Talon is just a standard four you cannot go wrong with especially when you have a good second special sponge like Snorlax or the inferior one in Scrafty.
Either way the game turned out to be a good one as Shiloh loaded shitty smtg HO and Stareal won.
Week 2 vs turtledoggo1 -- Double SD Glastrier Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-888984
I didn't build this week cuz I was lazy + Turt wanted to play early which Stareal agreed to so I just gave him a slightly edited version of Meri's SubDance Glastrier team. He clocked turt tho which was great!!
Week 3 vs OranBerryBlissey10 -- CB Lurk + Salazzle
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-891044
If last week I couldn't build cuz lazy + too little ideas, this week I couldn't build cuz I was lazy + too many ideas. OBB looked very weak to multiple different ghosts because Guzzlord loses to them all bar like the Grass Ghosts and even then Decid can be a pain. In the end Stareal decided to load a CB Lurk team (Meri's) and won. Another great week for him and another week I needed to get my crap together!
Week 4 vs Kushalos -- CB Grimmsnarl
https://pokepast.es/436729dd65ef8a0a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-892261
This week was a major mess up on my part because I had named the team not to be loaded as CB Grimms NUCL w4 vs Kushalos because I realized after tests it wasnt as good as it could've been. As expected it kinda flopped and Stareal lost. This week was very much my fault and I hoped to make up for it in the weeks that followed. Kushalos has an interesting scout and Band Trick Grimmsnarl is most certainly good into it I just failed to prove it.
Week 5 vs C0nfiden1 0yster -- Some sad Heliolisk bullSHIT
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-893195
I had prepared two versions of Nasty Plot Croak with Shadow Ball for playing Oyster because I was well aware of his awful Doublade teams held together by duct tape but Stareal found a Helio Quag team in his builder (probably Meri's LMAO) and I was not averse to it since Oyster also loved Jellicent. Sylveon sadly got met with a roll Hydro Pump from Modest Starmie and it all went downhill from there but hey we won as fuck if we loaded either version of the Croak team!
Week 6 vs Seed -- Pokeslice SneasCroak Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-894136
Knowing Seed had talked quite a bit about ss nu with me and also was good friends with Oyster I decided either an offense or a stall would be a good load. Stareal went behind my back and loaded a Slice team and I've not talked to him since.
Week 7 vs Tko -- A very very bad team that I DID NOT build.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-895368
I was gonna load something fun and good but my brain betrayed me and I set up the alarm an hour later than when the game was. Yeah this team is hot ass hopefully I don't have to see this ever again.
Semis vs Leni -- Bulk Up Scrafty + Toxic Vaporeon
https://pokepast.es/f8a43c900fda0b09
(Steel)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-895983
I really wanted Stareal to win this week and knowing the Glastrier's used SS teams from the prehistoric era, I passed Stareal a team with Toxic Vaporeon and Scrafty paired with a Nasty Plot Salazzle, a mon we had successfully only brought once the whole season. Stareal made the team worse by making the Vaporeon Heal Bell and the Salazzle Toxic and Flame (yuck). Made the Steelvally Psyfangs after Ninja pointed out the Croak weakness and since all good Croaks are neutral speed nature it worked fine. Can be Toxic > Ice Beam on Steelvally but I enjoyed the pressure on Eggy. Can also be Flame for steels, particularly Escav.
Teams I built that were not used:
https://pokepast.es/1b9ddf71b409fd7a -- A Nasty Plot Salazzle + Pixie Plate Sylveon team that I enjoy despite it's flaws (Decid).
https://pokepast.es/f7e1d9166038f381 -- A TauntTox Talon that bullies standard Mudsdale, clocks cocky sd escav and Rotom-Mow paired with Pixie Plate Sylveon.
https://pokepast.es/85c7a146e262c826 -- My first preference into Oyster, was itemless Dhelm but remembered his Starmie obsession and made it Yache.
https://pokepast.es/039fcc40ca759e00 -- Second preference into Oyster, I really enjoy Eldegoss + NP Croak.
https://pokepast.es/bd2a76cf2564bcb3 -- Just a good team I built for Seed I believe.
https://pokepast.es/1546ff8c258d6094 -- Another option for vs Seed
https://pokepast.es/d203fbfa1934bdec -- My first attempt at Stall in this tier ever since Machamp left.
https://pokepast.es/10883ebd3599f0f9 -- What I was gonna load into TKO
https://pokepast.es/afec7d8570089714 -- Second option into TKO
https://pokepast.es/94376d2cacb54ae2 -- What I wanted Stareal to load into Kushalos
GSC
Week 3 vs Feen -- WeezGong + Dugtrio Spikes
https://pokepast.es/04a488cb0c0312b5 --
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-890981?p2
I only had one GSC game the whole tour because we had the goat MrSoup to be our permanent GSC slot and he cooked. Unfortunately couldn't help him much because of his unviable timezone but it happens I guess.
Anyways we saw Feen's scout and noticed 3/3 Octillery + whatever christmas ass team he brought vs me in GSCPL. His teams also seemed quite slow and reliant on sleep talk + hp electric mons (oct/ xatu mainly) so MrSoup suggested Dugtrio to me. We did get two more versions which I'll share later in the post. The game went surprisingly well except for the Cross Chop crit on his Chinchou which made things much easier for me though I think I won that off matchup alone if I didn't fumble too bad (I kinda did late into the game but teehee). I quite like the team in general and I was a big hater of WeezGong structures prior to this NUCL but the flexibility I got in builder and in game using different variants of WeezGong Spikes(less) made me like them. Don't have much more to say except a shout out to MrSoup for being the goat and sorry for not helping much if at all.
SS
Week 1 vs
https://pokepast.es/2c25c30646f6c4b3
(ground)https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-887545?p2
Going into this week I didn't know what to load. I was very excited to build (and perhaps play) SS for the tour and I did build a lot (even if a bunch ended up being shit). I expected Leni to be the player here but that was not the case. The basic idea of the team was using Curse Lax and having one mon to remove it's common checks (steels here since I'm Darkest Lariat) and what better mon to remove pesky Steel-types than Vileplume! The Plume spread is very specific and was changed multiple times from Growth STABs Sap to Growth Leech Sap Sludge to Leech Infest to Growth STABs Leech but I finally landed on Leech Infest. It also has speed and special attack investment paired with a Poison Barb which allows it to beat other Vileplume without any problems. Vaporeon Staka G-Vally Talon is just a standard four you cannot go wrong with especially when you have a good second special sponge like Snorlax or the inferior one in Scrafty.
Either way the game turned out to be a good one as Shiloh loaded shitty smtg HO and Stareal won.
Week 2 vs turtledoggo1 -- Double SD Glastrier Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-888984
I didn't build this week cuz I was lazy + Turt wanted to play early which Stareal agreed to so I just gave him a slightly edited version of Meri's SubDance Glastrier team. He clocked turt tho which was great!!
Week 3 vs OranBerryBlissey10 -- CB Lurk + Salazzle
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-891044
If last week I couldn't build cuz lazy + too little ideas, this week I couldn't build cuz I was lazy + too many ideas. OBB looked very weak to multiple different ghosts because Guzzlord loses to them all bar like the Grass Ghosts and even then Decid can be a pain. In the end Stareal decided to load a CB Lurk team (Meri's) and won. Another great week for him and another week I needed to get my crap together!
Week 4 vs Kushalos -- CB Grimmsnarl
https://pokepast.es/436729dd65ef8a0a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-892261
This week was a major mess up on my part because I had named the team not to be loaded as CB Grimms NUCL w4 vs Kushalos because I realized after tests it wasnt as good as it could've been. As expected it kinda flopped and Stareal lost. This week was very much my fault and I hoped to make up for it in the weeks that followed. Kushalos has an interesting scout and Band Trick Grimmsnarl is most certainly good into it I just failed to prove it.
Week 5 vs C0nfiden1 0yster -- Some sad Heliolisk bullSHIT
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-893195
I had prepared two versions of Nasty Plot Croak with Shadow Ball for playing Oyster because I was well aware of his awful Doublade teams held together by duct tape but Stareal found a Helio Quag team in his builder (probably Meri's LMAO) and I was not averse to it since Oyster also loved Jellicent. Sylveon sadly got met with a roll Hydro Pump from Modest Starmie and it all went downhill from there but hey we won as fuck if we loaded either version of the Croak team!
Week 6 vs Seed -- Pokeslice SneasCroak Balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-894136
Knowing Seed had talked quite a bit about ss nu with me and also was good friends with Oyster I decided either an offense or a stall would be a good load. Stareal went behind my back and loaded a Slice team and I've not talked to him since.
Week 7 vs Tko -- A very very bad team that I DID NOT build.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-895368
I was gonna load something fun and good but my brain betrayed me and I set up the alarm an hour later than when the game was. Yeah this team is hot ass hopefully I don't have to see this ever again.
Semis vs Leni -- Bulk Up Scrafty + Toxic Vaporeon
https://pokepast.es/f8a43c900fda0b09
(Steel)https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-895983
I really wanted Stareal to win this week and knowing the Glastrier's used SS teams from the prehistoric era, I passed Stareal a team with Toxic Vaporeon and Scrafty paired with a Nasty Plot Salazzle, a mon we had successfully only brought once the whole season. Stareal made the team worse by making the Vaporeon Heal Bell and the Salazzle Toxic and Flame (yuck). Made the Steelvally Psyfangs after Ninja pointed out the Croak weakness and since all good Croaks are neutral speed nature it worked fine. Can be Toxic > Ice Beam on Steelvally but I enjoyed the pressure on Eggy. Can also be Flame for steels, particularly Escav.
Teams I built that were not used:
https://pokepast.es/1b9ddf71b409fd7a -- A Nasty Plot Salazzle + Pixie Plate Sylveon team that I enjoy despite it's flaws (Decid).
https://pokepast.es/f7e1d9166038f381 -- A TauntTox Talon that bullies standard Mudsdale, clocks cocky sd escav and Rotom-Mow paired with Pixie Plate Sylveon.
https://pokepast.es/85c7a146e262c826 -- My first preference into Oyster, was itemless Dhelm but remembered his Starmie obsession and made it Yache.
https://pokepast.es/039fcc40ca759e00 -- Second preference into Oyster, I really enjoy Eldegoss + NP Croak.
https://pokepast.es/bd2a76cf2564bcb3 -- Just a good team I built for Seed I believe.
https://pokepast.es/1546ff8c258d6094 -- Another option for vs Seed
https://pokepast.es/d203fbfa1934bdec -- My first attempt at Stall in this tier ever since Machamp left.
https://pokepast.es/10883ebd3599f0f9 -- What I was gonna load into TKO
https://pokepast.es/afec7d8570089714 -- Second option into TKO
https://pokepast.es/94376d2cacb54ae2 -- What I wanted Stareal to load into Kushalos
Back from the "boomer 3k" aisle checking out some teams. (Opponent link is the replay, team name is paste)
W1 - Hubriz | Haunted Swamp (W)
Expected a solid, fundamentals first balance that anchored around threats such as Regirock + Ghost type + Grass type. That combination of threats had a huge issue with hazard stack, Substitute, Encore, and tempo. Rain entered my thought process briefly before realizing I didn't need it exclusively and other ideas held better. Cacturne + Floatzel + Nidoqueen + Skuntank all came quickly from replay analysis. Dusclops was the only thing I trusted to spinblock for this team while Poliwrath was the best breaker I saw left that could complement Nidoqueen in the lead spot. Floatzel was redundant with Poliwrath, so I swapped it for a Choice Band Tauros to patch Dragonair after Hubriz won with it before.
For sets themselves: Nidoqueen's EV spread was there to handle lead Charizard on both the physical and special side. Cacturne was Life Orb mostly because its job was done after hazards went up and damage mattered more than lasting the entire match. Curse on Dusclops was there in case of emergency as a technique I saw in some ancient hail stall RMTs that I adapted.
The end result surpassed my wildest expectations and meant I was going to play DPP the rest of the season. My sense was I didn't know if I was going to play DPP for this tour at all and would likely stay on the bench as a backup. This match let me play other matches during the season.
W2 - Spell | Slitherclaw (L)
Spell is a solid clicker, but I didn't think Spell would build their own team. It was a different prep style from Hubriz as for Spell my focus was over prepping for top threats in the VR considering how thin the tier is of actual threats. The plan then was to use Wisp / Memento on Gardevoir to set up a Double Dance Rhydon sweep. Only regret during the battle is I probably didn't need to Swords Dance on Turn 21 because Floatzel had enough to clean up if Rhydon clicks Earthquake there regardless of the roll.
W5 - Jam | Midnight Jam (W)
Saw a penchant for Electric spam so I build around Quagsire to derp around and say not so fast my friend like the old Lee Corso. This team's philosophy was to stay in, chip as much as possible, and simplify options at the endgame. As the chat guessed, Floatzel was Adamant and Waterfall was a YOLO play. I have no regrets.
W6 - BeatsBlack | Pitch Black Bar Fight (L)
BeatsBlack's style focuses on trading with Explosion with multiple mons in a match to collapse the endgame. The Muk EV spread was derived from an ancient DPP UU analysis set with some speed creep for Dusclops and enough SpD to handle Drifblim in the back. The Misdreavus freeze from Ice Punch was unfortunate, but the end result was still in play until the end.
W7 - Expulso | Expulso Patronum (L)
The trickiest to prep for on this list only because playoffs were locked for the Fujins and I was paranoid of Linoone style cheese. Probably played too conservatively with Magmortar and needed to click full send on the Focus Miss on Regirock.
Overall I had a blast and I give a huge thanks to watashi for having the guts to draft me after an 0-3 NUFL season and not a lot of tape playing DPP NU beyond that.
W1 - Hubriz | Haunted Swamp (W)
Expected a solid, fundamentals first balance that anchored around threats such as Regirock + Ghost type + Grass type. That combination of threats had a huge issue with hazard stack, Substitute, Encore, and tempo. Rain entered my thought process briefly before realizing I didn't need it exclusively and other ideas held better. Cacturne + Floatzel + Nidoqueen + Skuntank all came quickly from replay analysis. Dusclops was the only thing I trusted to spinblock for this team while Poliwrath was the best breaker I saw left that could complement Nidoqueen in the lead spot. Floatzel was redundant with Poliwrath, so I swapped it for a Choice Band Tauros to patch Dragonair after Hubriz won with it before.
For sets themselves: Nidoqueen's EV spread was there to handle lead Charizard on both the physical and special side. Cacturne was Life Orb mostly because its job was done after hazards went up and damage mattered more than lasting the entire match. Curse on Dusclops was there in case of emergency as a technique I saw in some ancient hail stall RMTs that I adapted.
The end result surpassed my wildest expectations and meant I was going to play DPP the rest of the season. My sense was I didn't know if I was going to play DPP for this tour at all and would likely stay on the bench as a backup. This match let me play other matches during the season.
W2 - Spell | Slitherclaw (L)
Spell is a solid clicker, but I didn't think Spell would build their own team. It was a different prep style from Hubriz as for Spell my focus was over prepping for top threats in the VR considering how thin the tier is of actual threats. The plan then was to use Wisp / Memento on Gardevoir to set up a Double Dance Rhydon sweep. Only regret during the battle is I probably didn't need to Swords Dance on Turn 21 because Floatzel had enough to clean up if Rhydon clicks Earthquake there regardless of the roll.
W5 - Jam | Midnight Jam (W)
Saw a penchant for Electric spam so I build around Quagsire to derp around and say not so fast my friend like the old Lee Corso. This team's philosophy was to stay in, chip as much as possible, and simplify options at the endgame. As the chat guessed, Floatzel was Adamant and Waterfall was a YOLO play. I have no regrets.
W6 - BeatsBlack | Pitch Black Bar Fight (L)
BeatsBlack's style focuses on trading with Explosion with multiple mons in a match to collapse the endgame. The Muk EV spread was derived from an ancient DPP UU analysis set with some speed creep for Dusclops and enough SpD to handle Drifblim in the back. The Misdreavus freeze from Ice Punch was unfortunate, but the end result was still in play until the end.
W7 - Expulso | Expulso Patronum (L)
The trickiest to prep for on this list only because playoffs were locked for the Fujins and I was paranoid of Linoone style cheese. Probably played too conservatively with Magmortar and needed to click full send on the Focus Miss on Regirock.
Overall I had a blast and I give a huge thanks to watashi for having the guts to draft me after an 0-3 NUFL season and not a lot of tape playing DPP NU beyond that.
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Krabs and friends team dump
I've done a few tours playing in dpp nu now and i feel like it's only fair to do a team dump since i played and built everything for myself.
I really enjoy nu and liked playing with the krabs since season and managing when it was needed. I ended with a pretty nice record for myself (6-2) and the teams i built/shared with my teammates and spellcaster (3-5). I ended up invested into SM, ORAS, BW, DPP and ADV more or less heavily depending of the weeks and tier. This made the experience even more enjoyable that way and i really like that the format rewards players that are able to be versatile. On another note, i hope i won't get snobbed this nupl for mid dpp players !!!
My season
DPP prepI've done a few tours playing in dpp nu now and i feel like it's only fair to do a team dump since i played and built everything for myself.
I really enjoy nu and liked playing with the krabs since season and managing when it was needed. I ended with a pretty nice record for myself (6-2) and the teams i built/shared with my teammates and spellcaster (3-5). I ended up invested into SM, ORAS, BW, DPP and ADV more or less heavily depending of the weeks and tier. This made the experience even more enjoyable that way and i really like that the format rewards players that are able to be versatile. On another note, i hope i won't get snobbed this nupl for mid dpp players !!!
My season
W1 vs elodin https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-887321 (W)
-
-
-
-
-There was nothing really interesting in elodin's scout, some weird stuff,
everywhere and one stall. I decided to play some basic stuff with double water to have a team ready to try to play monday (i did not succed once in doing so). I faced some tspikes fat and struggled a bit to break but i managed to put dusclops low enough to be able to set up chan last and win. the only really good match i did all tour i thinkW2 vs void https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-889119 (W)
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-
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this one was easier for me, i really wanted to bring something offensive against all the slow teams void had used during nupl. My main idea was insurance against magneton late/mid game, break with
+ double explosion + np to have or cleanW4 vs beatsblack https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-891485 (L)
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-
-
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-i wanted my lead to put sr while being able to have some offensive pressure and to handle a possible shark/water lead so i landed on
pasho. The rest of the squad just was fitting roles, and i felt like scarf had a pretty good mu into most of his stuff.W5 vs lax https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-892682 (W)
-----
nothing to scout, just knew lax had already played the tier. i threw out a few team but i wanted something funny with either non locked
and/or . I ended up just with the latter and that worked nicely. I ended up being convinced to roll with it since kiyo likes ! lolW6 vs hubriz https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-893899 (W)
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-I was a bit stuck here, fantos had suggested screen ho but i'm not a huge believer so i went for a revamp of a team me and ninja made for last nucl. off
is really a great mon into hubriz, like void, he tends to build slow teams with a scarfer and poor spD walls when there is no (you're more prone to see a 
than any other water anyway when facing him)W7 vs spellcaster https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-895010 (W)
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--
-i really wanted to play the bad bad snake
against smelly since we were likely to get in but i decided not to troll since she was also playing her qualification for PO. Since i had made her team the week before, i knew how she thought about her prep. I ended up being too busy to reinvent the wheel so i just went for a scarf hp rock team as i expected a possible zard lead. I also wanted to be really good into shark and elecs so spD and was the obvious choiceSemi final vs beatsblack https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-895849 (L)
-----I was pretty burnt out by then and just went for a comfort with some exotic picks from me. Lovely kiss
as a lead seemed like a great choice so i paired with double water since physical seemed to be really good. I didn't really try to win after the flinch on jynx, i knew tauros was a huge threat and that i could hardly handle it. end of season on thatADV prep
W3 vs plague https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3nu-890435 (W)
https://pokepast.es/2ec7c58a3dbcd24d
i had no scout nor selfscout to base myself on so i just loaded spikes +
. in hindsight, 
might be a better spiker with pikaKrabs and friend
W7 indulge in dream vs django https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-895265 (L)
https://pokepast.es/d81d69a139ffb544
i think my idea was to play a really dumb team that was pretty straight forward so that indulge could be fine never switching any mon and still cleaning with
or . Sadly it did not work but i still think that's a good team. The ev's on were for lead since no water meant the team could get blown up quite easily by itW6 spellcaster vs void https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4nu-894678 (L)
https://pokepast.es/fc934d7fb16f52f9
just delivered what spell wanted, team is decent but
is a pain in mid game if you let gard die earlyADV prep
W7 fantos vs the chungler https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3nu-895475 (W)
https://pokepast.es/830681d0ccd4d570
the call was
sub toxic, so i delivered a decent looking team with it. Some changed were made for the final past ev wise, just sharing what i did. Protect cm 
seem to have a good value to me since you can scout moves from locked mons, explosion and self destruct while getting some hp backORAS prep
W5 ampha vs abejas https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6nu-894494 (L)
https://pokepast.es/836e76fe8d0b8adf
the call was wow sd
. i tried multiple variation based on that and we ended up going with that one. i'm pretty sure the team sucks a fair bit bc zard is very fishy but the core is fine in itself and makes sense.SV prep
W5 matthew vs gondra https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-892962 (L)
https://pokepast.es/c4c483c39b46d073
i hate sv, nuke the gen. good match tho
W7 feen vs tony https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-895431 (W)
https://pokepast.es/2dde23ad4f3a76ec
fun team i did for ptpl, we didn't really know what to use and linked it last second. i haven't figured out how to build properly in this tier and our team struggled to build solid teams that matched into the scouts of our opponents
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I am probably more known for bringing more balanced or fatter teams (and I did do that a few weeks this tour and mostly lost with them lol) so by the end of the tour, I wanted to branch out and build more offense and type spam things which isn't my norm. I got at least some luck in all of these games below and these teams are pretty untested so no idea if they're actually good but they were more fun to make than what I normally make at least!
ADV (week 7)
Normal Spam Crack w Pursuit Metang (W)
https://pokepast.es/779a72d40fdfe070
Click aggressively. The team lacks numerous key resists and switches, but it's pretty fast and offensively threatening. Some of the EVs here were pretty cool but I didn't write all of it down and I forget what a lot of them were for.
BW (Semis and Finals)
Electric Spam Balance (W)
https://pokepast.es/d7fc8c0c755ce012
The most labbed out of the 3 teams I'm posting and I think it's pretty solid overall. Some movesets and spreads were specifically picked for the scout/my counterscout, so I wouldn't be afraid to tweak some of it for general use.
Fight Spam Offense (W)
https://pokepast.es/f2585c99382483ca
AcroGem Primeape is probably a meme but it was for luring Vileplume which is not common but which had been used by Glasts (and me) and was dominant in both its showings and seemed good to me paired w Gurdurr. It has a few other niche uses like for Misdreavus. For general purpose use I would probably make it ground gem and replace acrobatics with Taunt, Encore, or Thief.
ADV (week 7)
Normal Spam Crack w Pursuit Metang (W)
https://pokepast.es/779a72d40fdfe070
Click aggressively. The team lacks numerous key resists and switches, but it's pretty fast and offensively threatening. Some of the EVs here were pretty cool but I didn't write all of it down and I forget what a lot of them were for.
BW (Semis and Finals)
Electric Spam Balance (W)
https://pokepast.es/d7fc8c0c755ce012
The most labbed out of the 3 teams I'm posting and I think it's pretty solid overall. Some movesets and spreads were specifically picked for the scout/my counterscout, so I wouldn't be afraid to tweak some of it for general use.
Fight Spam Offense (W)
https://pokepast.es/f2585c99382483ca
AcroGem Primeape is probably a meme but it was for luring Vileplume which is not common but which had been used by Glasts (and me) and was dominant in both its showings and seemed good to me paired w Gurdurr. It has a few other niche uses like for Misdreavus. For general purpose use I would probably make it ground gem and replace acrobatics with Taunt, Encore, or Thief.
(Click on sprites for the pastes)
Week 1 vs Django (Loss)
I don't remember much about what went into building that team. My preparation channel mentions Django using a lot of Wo-Chien and Flygon, so wanted to try Technician Breloom. Unfortunately, that idea died because Danny kept beating me with nonsense like Specs Tera Blast Fairy Wo-Chien. So instead, I decided to bring Fairy Blast Raikou which shits on Flygon and Wo-Chien while being less prediction reliant than Breloom. I also believed I could outplay Django, which happened when he decided to Tera Toxtricity instead of keeping it for Scyther, but I hadn't predicted I'd choke back. Also got surprised by Toxtricity 2HKOing my HP invested Duraludon. Kids, respect the elderly, because it hurts to lose to them.
Week 2 vs Shadow079 (Win)
Not my team, so no paste. Prep this week went into saying Shadow will either bring offense or play bad, so some anti-HO balance would do the job. The team Danny had just used against FLCL in SCL fit that criteria and wasn't very similar to stuffs I had been using recently, so I rolled with it. Prediction worked just fine, as despite having a terrible match-up, we got the bad plays from Shadow (wincon dies turn 24 on a 150 turns long game).
Week 3 vs tier (Win)
My teamchat told me that tier only ran Duraludon teams and that Specs Bee would most likely fry him. I forgot to put a scarfer on my squad lol, so Raikou was a bit hard to handle (though i got that lucky burn). Specs Bee did a lot of work for reasons I can't explain; it should have died turn 3, since it was slower than Duraludon (confirmed by Duraludon outspeeding Altaria later), but fsr tier let me make a ton of progress with Bee. Anyway, tier didn't really have a way to break Altaria as Raikou had no set-up and Sylveon obviously can't do much against a Bronzong.
Week 4 vs bricknermon (Win)
So that guy only really ran one kind of teams, so I went full counter team with Bastiodon stall. Test games went terrible against anything that wasn't a Toxtricity HO, but I felt confident. Unfortunately, I didn't get the match-up I wanted, as Sirwings told my opponent that I'd probably bring some stall; taking the german girl from me wasn't enough, he also had to take away sv nu wins from me... That said I got quite the advantage early on thanks to my opponent failing a double, crippling massively their wincon. It would however not be a true Tuthur game if I didn't misplay back going Goodra over Houndstone on Bronzong. Things got really close at the end, where brick getting a double right on Flamigo or a Sludge Bomb poison on Vaporeon could cause me the loss; but fortunately neither things happened and I won.
Week 5 vs Dr. Phd. BJ (Win)
The three teams I had built so far were quite underwhelming, despite the wins, so I decided to take some inspiration and adapt an Esteb4n team he had just used in circuits against Shengineer. Shadow had also copied that team and earned a win, so you could tell it is a good team. The team featured mostly Pokémon I don't use, with only Duraludon being a Pokémon I brought in a previous week. I got a bit unlucky early on with Scald having a 100% burn rate and Calm Vaporeon proving to be a huge problem. However, luck got back on my side with a timely crit on Vaporeon with Sylveon which easily cleaned. Props to BJ btw, he's got a bad season, but he is a strong player who uses honnest teams and played that game really well.
Week 6 vs Gondra (Win)
I already knew since the beginning of the tour which team I'd bring against the Pablos. This is the team I had prepared for SCL semi-finals against the Shoguns. They mostly used balance / bulky offense teams with Pokémon slower than Munkidori beside their Choice Scarf user and most teams had hazard control and no set-up user. I got 2/3 on these predictions, with them bringing Scrafty, but it couldn't do much against Flamigo continuously checking it and SD Incineroar breaking, especially with the help of a critical hit. There was not much Gondra could honestly do in that game; it's not the kind of 6-0 where one player completely outplayed their opponent or anything. It's an interesting game to watch, early game was really tense with Gondra pulling constantly great doubles with Flygon; it went quickly downhill after the crit on Guss and their failed attempt to get Flygon on a Swords Dance.
Week 6 vs ACR1 (Win)
So I didn't play that one, but that's a team I build in SCL to face Kushalos but didn't bring, because I failed like getting 6-0ed by Articuno-Galar. It features brokenass GhostLoom, a SpD Breloom set that beats most of checks to its standard Tera Elec / Normal sets, and which Esteb4n beat me with in Bangladesh PL. Breloom didn't do that much this game, but I'm really glad it's not in the tier anymore.
Week 7 vs loocas13 (Loss)
loocas had barely any Incineroar usage, so I wanted to bring Scarf Chandelure which is quite good against more offensive teams. Galarian Slowbro also seemingly beat most of his more balance teams. Unfortunately I faced an Incineroar HO and realized my Flygon match-up wasn't as good as I thought and tera Grass Slowbro wasn't gonna save me here. Despite whatever Diamonds_Realm said on NU cord with the other armchairers, I believe I took the safest route in the endgame with Heavy Slam + Aqua Jet having a better chance to kill Ribombee than Flygon had to survive Moonblast after Tera Ground (and also lost to Sash Bee, a set I had lost to against Shengineer in SCL). Very disappointed with that loss, because I was very happy with all my plays and I felt like I played better than my opponent there, unlike when I threw against Django.
Semi-finals vs OranBerryBlissey10 (Win)
Did you fall in the same trap twice? That's the team I faced the week prior, it turned me so angry that I decided to load it and Toxtricity did once again Toxtricity things. OBB had to play in unfortunate circumstances from what I understood and I hope we can have a fairer game, so I can prove that SCL 6-0 would have been the same if I played.
Finals vs Fc (Loss)
New metas in finals are always a bit tough, here it was hard to gauge Reuniclus viability, as well as if Breloom leaving would change the teambuilding habits of my opponent. With Fc having nearly 100% usage of Incineroar and no Bronzong, I wanted to use Ground Blast Articuno Galar. I got Wo-Chien which seemed good against Basculegion that he likes to use a lot. Earthquake Copperajah because it matches well against all the other Steel-types and I expected Toxtricity. Goodra was here to cover for a potential Chandelure (why is it not banned?) and support Copperajah with special hits. Flamigo as Speed control and Reuniclus as a wincon against fat and potential bait for Guno. Game ended unfortunately when Copper got fully paralyzed as I clicked Earthquake on Toxtricity. In hinsight, I should have CMd up next turn against Toxtricity with Guno, but stress and tilt got the worst of me, which is still something I need to work on. I believe I was quite favored if Eq went on Toxtricity, with full health Wo-Chien and Articuno + tera and a 80% Scarf Flamigo against suicide lead Dudunsparce (which I thought was Custap and not Chople), SD Decidueye, and likely DD Flygon, but we will never know.
Overall mixed feelings with this tour, I felt good getting 6 wins again in a teamtour after coming short of so many wins in SCL and feeling like I'd never get a shot again. I'm however quite unhappy to lose once again in NUCL finals, this is the third NU teamtour I lose in finals; and after binning our win last year with a failed spread, I was hoping I could make this time what I messed up last year. I'm 1-4 in final games in NU teamtours and I was really hoping to improve my playoff record and finally have a 7 wins season, which I honestly can only blame on me for not Flip Turning Inteleon with Basculegion.
Week 1 vs Django (Loss)
I don't remember much about what went into building that team. My preparation channel mentions Django using a lot of Wo-Chien and Flygon, so wanted to try Technician Breloom. Unfortunately, that idea died because Danny kept beating me with nonsense like Specs Tera Blast Fairy Wo-Chien. So instead, I decided to bring Fairy Blast Raikou which shits on Flygon and Wo-Chien while being less prediction reliant than Breloom. I also believed I could outplay Django, which happened when he decided to Tera Toxtricity instead of keeping it for Scyther, but I hadn't predicted I'd choke back. Also got surprised by Toxtricity 2HKOing my HP invested Duraludon. Kids, respect the elderly, because it hurts to lose to them.
Week 2 vs Shadow079 (Win)
Not my team, so no paste. Prep this week went into saying Shadow will either bring offense or play bad, so some anti-HO balance would do the job. The team Danny had just used against FLCL in SCL fit that criteria and wasn't very similar to stuffs I had been using recently, so I rolled with it. Prediction worked just fine, as despite having a terrible match-up, we got the bad plays from Shadow (wincon dies turn 24 on a 150 turns long game).
Week 3 vs tier (Win)
My teamchat told me that tier only ran Duraludon teams and that Specs Bee would most likely fry him. I forgot to put a scarfer on my squad lol, so Raikou was a bit hard to handle (though i got that lucky burn). Specs Bee did a lot of work for reasons I can't explain; it should have died turn 3, since it was slower than Duraludon (confirmed by Duraludon outspeeding Altaria later), but fsr tier let me make a ton of progress with Bee. Anyway, tier didn't really have a way to break Altaria as Raikou had no set-up and Sylveon obviously can't do much against a Bronzong.
Week 4 vs bricknermon (Win)
So that guy only really ran one kind of teams, so I went full counter team with Bastiodon stall. Test games went terrible against anything that wasn't a Toxtricity HO, but I felt confident. Unfortunately, I didn't get the match-up I wanted, as Sirwings told my opponent that I'd probably bring some stall; taking the german girl from me wasn't enough, he also had to take away sv nu wins from me... That said I got quite the advantage early on thanks to my opponent failing a double, crippling massively their wincon. It would however not be a true Tuthur game if I didn't misplay back going Goodra over Houndstone on Bronzong. Things got really close at the end, where brick getting a double right on Flamigo or a Sludge Bomb poison on Vaporeon could cause me the loss; but fortunately neither things happened and I won.
Week 5 vs Dr. Phd. BJ (Win)
The three teams I had built so far were quite underwhelming, despite the wins, so I decided to take some inspiration and adapt an Esteb4n team he had just used in circuits against Shengineer. Shadow had also copied that team and earned a win, so you could tell it is a good team. The team featured mostly Pokémon I don't use, with only Duraludon being a Pokémon I brought in a previous week. I got a bit unlucky early on with Scald having a 100% burn rate and Calm Vaporeon proving to be a huge problem. However, luck got back on my side with a timely crit on Vaporeon with Sylveon which easily cleaned. Props to BJ btw, he's got a bad season, but he is a strong player who uses honnest teams and played that game really well.
Week 6 vs Gondra (Win)
I already knew since the beginning of the tour which team I'd bring against the Pablos. This is the team I had prepared for SCL semi-finals against the Shoguns. They mostly used balance / bulky offense teams with Pokémon slower than Munkidori beside their Choice Scarf user and most teams had hazard control and no set-up user. I got 2/3 on these predictions, with them bringing Scrafty, but it couldn't do much against Flamigo continuously checking it and SD Incineroar breaking, especially with the help of a critical hit. There was not much Gondra could honestly do in that game; it's not the kind of 6-0 where one player completely outplayed their opponent or anything. It's an interesting game to watch, early game was really tense with Gondra pulling constantly great doubles with Flygon; it went quickly downhill after the crit on Guss and their failed attempt to get Flygon on a Swords Dance.
Week 6 vs ACR1 (Win)
So I didn't play that one, but that's a team I build in SCL to face Kushalos but didn't bring, because I failed like getting 6-0ed by Articuno-Galar. It features brokenass GhostLoom, a SpD Breloom set that beats most of checks to its standard Tera Elec / Normal sets, and which Esteb4n beat me with in Bangladesh PL. Breloom didn't do that much this game, but I'm really glad it's not in the tier anymore.
Week 7 vs loocas13 (Loss)
loocas had barely any Incineroar usage, so I wanted to bring Scarf Chandelure which is quite good against more offensive teams. Galarian Slowbro also seemingly beat most of his more balance teams. Unfortunately I faced an Incineroar HO and realized my Flygon match-up wasn't as good as I thought and tera Grass Slowbro wasn't gonna save me here. Despite whatever Diamonds_Realm said on NU cord with the other armchairers, I believe I took the safest route in the endgame with Heavy Slam + Aqua Jet having a better chance to kill Ribombee than Flygon had to survive Moonblast after Tera Ground (and also lost to Sash Bee, a set I had lost to against Shengineer in SCL). Very disappointed with that loss, because I was very happy with all my plays and I felt like I played better than my opponent there, unlike when I threw against Django.
Semi-finals vs OranBerryBlissey10 (Win)
Did you fall in the same trap twice? That's the team I faced the week prior, it turned me so angry that I decided to load it and Toxtricity did once again Toxtricity things. OBB had to play in unfortunate circumstances from what I understood and I hope we can have a fairer game, so I can prove that SCL 6-0 would have been the same if I played.
Finals vs Fc (Loss)
New metas in finals are always a bit tough, here it was hard to gauge Reuniclus viability, as well as if Breloom leaving would change the teambuilding habits of my opponent. With Fc having nearly 100% usage of Incineroar and no Bronzong, I wanted to use Ground Blast Articuno Galar. I got Wo-Chien which seemed good against Basculegion that he likes to use a lot. Earthquake Copperajah because it matches well against all the other Steel-types and I expected Toxtricity. Goodra was here to cover for a potential Chandelure (why is it not banned?) and support Copperajah with special hits. Flamigo as Speed control and Reuniclus as a wincon against fat and potential bait for Guno. Game ended unfortunately when Copper got fully paralyzed as I clicked Earthquake on Toxtricity. In hinsight, I should have CMd up next turn against Toxtricity with Guno, but stress and tilt got the worst of me, which is still something I need to work on. I believe I was quite favored if Eq went on Toxtricity, with full health Wo-Chien and Articuno + tera and a 80% Scarf Flamigo against suicide lead Dudunsparce (which I thought was Custap and not Chople), SD Decidueye, and likely DD Flygon, but we will never know.
Overall mixed feelings with this tour, I felt good getting 6 wins again in a teamtour after coming short of so many wins in SCL and feeling like I'd never get a shot again. I'm however quite unhappy to lose once again in NUCL finals, this is the third NU teamtour I lose in finals; and after binning our win last year with a failed spread, I was hoping I could make this time what I messed up last year. I'm 1-4 in final games in NU teamtours and I was really hoping to improve my playoff record and finally have a 7 wins season, which I honestly can only blame on me for not Flip Turning Inteleon with Basculegion.
The Fc team dump incoming. I won't send everything I built since it was a lot but I'll send a couple I liked or were funny. Pastes in sprites.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-895872
DO NOT USE THIS LOL it has no ghost resist at all, I just entirely forgot about it. When I played my game I didn't have tera dark munkidori or normal klefki either like this paste, I legit just went into the game and thought everything was fine. Me and tier both used this team in the same week in semis, and we both swept with heracross. This set has mad aura you just ohko everything and farm most balances, all gligar can do is boost your power with toxic and everything else can get tera'd on. Mainly posting because heracross + munkidori is cool and I think heracross should get more usage, especially now with it beating both new drops bar tera and not competing with breloom anymore.
(It was surely scarf so this was fine but still.)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-895375
Brought this to a must win week 7 game, the 6 are fairly standard but the sets I think are cool. Fight blast chandelure is really nice since in incin mu's you have to predict once and vs non incin you never have to predict just click stabs. The scyther also gets hate but he's him trust me, dwb is a luxury not a necessity. Normal QA is good for HO and defog is nice support since most removal sucks in this tier. Triple phaze also helps vs any setup sweepers, still not sure the situation my scarf flygon is dtailing but surely one day.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-893269
One of the weeks I got tired of building balance and just went to HO, and I think I picked a really cool one for this week. idk if it works as well post drops since kilowattrel is insane fodder for both of them, but in the game klefki got stupid value with lagging tail trick, a nice bonus since its mainly there to spikes and die anyway so why not try and cheese smth on the way out. Only didn't really show off the meloetta in the game but it's fairly normal sub cm, the kilowattrel and incin did the carrying but I really liked this build.
Lyra asked me for SS teams and I built almost every team in 7 and 8 so I will share some ones I liked.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-890929
This team didn't win but I think it's still strong, fairly simple team but cb guzz is him and I also think cm sylv is really strong with it since a lot of steels end up either tricked or chipped by it in longer games which frees up sylv a lot. I think SS rewards simplicity in the builder so I liked how this team played, groundvally is kinda broken.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-892954
Probably my favourite of the SS teams I made, I've seen this salazzle be used in sv lower tiers on occasion and even tho I think it can kinda be the noob trap set sometimes I wanted to see if I can make it work since this tier is a lot of slower paced builds with stuff like vap, staka, gastro etc. It ended up getting some super good value with poison on aero and taking out exeggutor, collectively toxic was used 3 times, once by all the mons I put it on, so the concept worked out well.
SHOUTOUTS
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-895872
DO NOT USE THIS LOL it has no ghost resist at all, I just entirely forgot about it. When I played my game I didn't have tera dark munkidori or normal klefki either like this paste, I legit just went into the game and thought everything was fine. Me and tier both used this team in the same week in semis, and we both swept with heracross. This set has mad aura you just ohko everything and farm most balances, all gligar can do is boost your power with toxic and everything else can get tera'd on. Mainly posting because heracross + munkidori is cool and I think heracross should get more usage, especially now with it beating both new drops bar tera and not competing with breloom anymore.
(It was surely scarf so this was fine but still.)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-895375
Brought this to a must win week 7 game, the 6 are fairly standard but the sets I think are cool. Fight blast chandelure is really nice since in incin mu's you have to predict once and vs non incin you never have to predict just click stabs. The scyther also gets hate but he's him trust me, dwb is a luxury not a necessity. Normal QA is good for HO and defog is nice support since most removal sucks in this tier. Triple phaze also helps vs any setup sweepers, still not sure the situation my scarf flygon is dtailing but surely one day.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-893269
One of the weeks I got tired of building balance and just went to HO, and I think I picked a really cool one for this week. idk if it works as well post drops since kilowattrel is insane fodder for both of them, but in the game klefki got stupid value with lagging tail trick, a nice bonus since its mainly there to spikes and die anyway so why not try and cheese smth on the way out. Only didn't really show off the meloetta in the game but it's fairly normal sub cm, the kilowattrel and incin did the carrying but I really liked this build.
Lyra asked me for SS teams and I built almost every team in 7 and 8 so I will share some ones I liked.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-890929
This team didn't win but I think it's still strong, fairly simple team but cb guzz is him and I also think cm sylv is really strong with it since a lot of steels end up either tricked or chipped by it in longer games which frees up sylv a lot. I think SS rewards simplicity in the builder so I liked how this team played, groundvally is kinda broken.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-892954
Probably my favourite of the SS teams I made, I've seen this salazzle be used in sv lower tiers on occasion and even tho I think it can kinda be the noob trap set sometimes I wanted to see if I can make it work since this tier is a lot of slower paced builds with stuff like vap, staka, gastro etc. It ended up getting some super good value with poison on aero and taking out exeggutor, collectively toxic was used 3 times, once by all the mons I put it on, so the concept worked out well.
SHOUTOUTS
HOW DID WE WIN WE WERE SO ASS this was one of the most insane lock ins I've ever been a part of for a tour so I have to do shoutouts. 3 points in week 5 meant we only weren't last by differential I think, but that's about it. I also started off really bad, 1-3 in first 4 but I had to follow the team and lock in at the same time and win out from there to 6-3. We cooked. (mentioning names in draft order)
tier couldn't have done it without you, not an understatement to say with no other comanager was this possible. We signed up on a whim after only talking about managing nupl later in the year, but you carried this team in activity and prep and clutched up all the important games we needed. I wouldn't have tried as hard without your support and I don't think any of the teams success would happen without you. We cooked.
violet river The goat retain, even with subbing out some games you easily topped the adv pool in wins with some super impressive stuff. I know I was like insanely useless in adv but we were really confident you could cook here and are super glad to have retained you to start the draft off with such a strong point.
Amaranth biggest steal of the auction, no idea how we got you for 12k when over half the rby pool was right around that price point and we projected you to be the best pre draft. You absolutely carried and were basically a free pick every week, 8-1 in rby is some crazy impressive stuff. shoutouts for also telling me to stop being shit then I won all my games, big motivation.
shiloh going into the draft we were only really certain on one thing, and that was drafting you. The strength of your multi gen abilities was something we highly valued, and going positive while playing 4 tiers is really impressive, especially given we had you trapped in the adv mines for so long. Your building also just made things a lot easier, I didn't have to pretend I played anything before sm you could help cover it all which was a big carry.
Void holy lock in, 0-3 into 3-3 clutching every single decider we needed. You're obviously the dpp goat in general but in scl your adaptability also impressed me a lot, so I was really happy to have you on the team, and you really showed up when it counted especially after some poor luck to start the season on a bit of a rough patch.
BigFatMantis we forget UWL happened this was the first time I ever drafted you trust me. I knew you'd be a top end gsc player though, and especially for your price it was amazing to get you on the team. Your ideas are always insane but they just seem to hit and you got all gsc lower tiers on lock, having you play it every week was definitely a big buff for us.
Leni despite the rough season by the standard I know you're capable of I was still really glad to have you on the team. Your versatility was really solid, we never ended up double dpp'ing this tour but you were the first person I wanted to pick for that because of your proficiency in fairy gens as well. No doubt you'll cook going forward.
hellom maybe next time we'll let you sv. Blame tier for that tho lowkey. Regardless thanks for the full season in bw, we picked it every week after 1 and were super secure in that idea, which made things a lot easier for the entire tour. Unluckiest player oat btw and still positive
emforbes only reason we were even able to win the tour, week 7 final game clutch for playoffs from the most insane comeback story ever was hype af. After I switched to sv I was always confident in our sm slot since I knew you were gonna be filling in there, and your effort wasn't wasted either.
aerobee pure hackmons. You gotta start playing something real more often you have the hidden potential of all time. Regardless tho you got thrown into random ahh tiers for the first time ever and did well to help keep us alive, good work yungin.
Chloe massive win when it mattered, we barely scraped by in week 7 and your games were really impressive there to get us to playoffs. Unfortunately amaranth was too scary so we didn't double rby very much, but you being a strong backup for that was really good for the team.
Lostmemories we don't talk about finals. I will forget about that game in exchange for the effort you put in, won the 1 game that actually counted and your tests were greatly appreciated in like half the slots which made things way easier to work through prep.
Raahel unfortunate that we couldn't get you into your main tier but I appreciate your ability to sub into the other old gens, they were all kinda last minute but you still took it on which was great. I was also entirely clueless in gsc so your help to bfm was a big contributor, let's win altpl as well.
tier couldn't have done it without you, not an understatement to say with no other comanager was this possible. We signed up on a whim after only talking about managing nupl later in the year, but you carried this team in activity and prep and clutched up all the important games we needed. I wouldn't have tried as hard without your support and I don't think any of the teams success would happen without you. We cooked.
violet river The goat retain, even with subbing out some games you easily topped the adv pool in wins with some super impressive stuff. I know I was like insanely useless in adv but we were really confident you could cook here and are super glad to have retained you to start the draft off with such a strong point.
Amaranth biggest steal of the auction, no idea how we got you for 12k when over half the rby pool was right around that price point and we projected you to be the best pre draft. You absolutely carried and were basically a free pick every week, 8-1 in rby is some crazy impressive stuff. shoutouts for also telling me to stop being shit then I won all my games, big motivation.
shiloh going into the draft we were only really certain on one thing, and that was drafting you. The strength of your multi gen abilities was something we highly valued, and going positive while playing 4 tiers is really impressive, especially given we had you trapped in the adv mines for so long. Your building also just made things a lot easier, I didn't have to pretend I played anything before sm you could help cover it all which was a big carry.
Void holy lock in, 0-3 into 3-3 clutching every single decider we needed. You're obviously the dpp goat in general but in scl your adaptability also impressed me a lot, so I was really happy to have you on the team, and you really showed up when it counted especially after some poor luck to start the season on a bit of a rough patch.
BigFatMantis we forget UWL happened this was the first time I ever drafted you trust me. I knew you'd be a top end gsc player though, and especially for your price it was amazing to get you on the team. Your ideas are always insane but they just seem to hit and you got all gsc lower tiers on lock, having you play it every week was definitely a big buff for us.
Leni despite the rough season by the standard I know you're capable of I was still really glad to have you on the team. Your versatility was really solid, we never ended up double dpp'ing this tour but you were the first person I wanted to pick for that because of your proficiency in fairy gens as well. No doubt you'll cook going forward.
hellom maybe next time we'll let you sv. Blame tier for that tho lowkey. Regardless thanks for the full season in bw, we picked it every week after 1 and were super secure in that idea, which made things a lot easier for the entire tour. Unluckiest player oat btw and still positive
emforbes only reason we were even able to win the tour, week 7 final game clutch for playoffs from the most insane comeback story ever was hype af. After I switched to sv I was always confident in our sm slot since I knew you were gonna be filling in there, and your effort wasn't wasted either.
aerobee pure hackmons. You gotta start playing something real more often you have the hidden potential of all time. Regardless tho you got thrown into random ahh tiers for the first time ever and did well to help keep us alive, good work yungin.
Chloe massive win when it mattered, we barely scraped by in week 7 and your games were really impressive there to get us to playoffs. Unfortunately amaranth was too scary so we didn't double rby very much, but you being a strong backup for that was really good for the team.
Lostmemories we don't talk about finals. I will forget about that game in exchange for the effort you put in, won the 1 game that actually counted and your tests were greatly appreciated in like half the slots which made things way easier to work through prep.
Raahel unfortunate that we couldn't get you into your main tier but I appreciate your ability to sub into the other old gens, they were all kinda last minute but you still took it on which was great. I was also entirely clueless in gsc so your help to bfm was a big contributor, let's win altpl as well.