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OU ADV OU Teambuilding Competition [Round 4 - Raikou]

In this phase of my life, I really want spikes.
Let me introduce you to my good friend, Forretress.
https://pokepast.es/837c041815dbeba8
That's my main account I mess around on. Swung this to 1600 on an alt, the ride wasn't too bumpy. Paused with a good 7-0 run.


Magnetoff
  • Able to take advantage of CB Gross mm: it already switches into that comfortably so with the combo of twave + protect there are potential lefties gains
  • If Dug is gone/absent its a great check for Zap and reliably switches into CB Aero
  • Has a much improved mu into fire punch Gar which often exceeds 80% on typical Mag

Even with points mentioned it still loses to the tier’s leviathans such as Bliss, Ttar or even Suicune however its considerable difference in bulk may now make the oppo switch out of Mag’s better mus, like Zapdos (meaning more spike possible dmg), and it can bait Pert for obvious reasons to then double switch an appropriate answer into play.


:Snorlax:
is in the lead position because it matches up great into:
Zapdos
Suicune
the occasional OffMie

I really decided to lead with Lax because I don’t want Zap to pass the sub, then have someone else steamroll my team (or Zap itself)
We aren’t fond of leadTars but eq can work out terrifically. Usually does ~50% so reducing Ttar to about half health for Cune/Gyara to finish really inhibits it’s presence throughout the game, spikes makes this dream a reality.
Oh btw [Shadow Ball/Fire Blast]
Don’t even ask about the EVs lmao, I just put them at values I thought high enough to comfortably withstand special atks (hence the Careful nature) and take less from STAB rock slides or mm. I will say the 32 EVs in spatk are more than auxiliary, with that Fire Blast does a minimum of 72% to standard Forre. Refresh is the real draw to this set because it lets me sball Gengar with impunity, knowing I won’t actually be infringed by burn while scoring the probable 2hko. Also highly appreciated since I'm using Thick Fat instead of Immunity lol.
Why Thick Fat???? Honestly this might sound funny but we know Lax is a very good switch into Zap and we also know Zap will have either hp Grass/Ice. If I purposely send Gon into Zap then double switch into Lax the amount of dmg will transcribe the hp they are using. Very useful info thanks to Thiccums!


:Gyarados:
Really undermined by me as an OU contestant until I included it and saw it’s merit on this team. Learns nifty moves like twave or taunt (it is unique at inhibiting spikes, not exactly good) but I decided to be straightforward with 3 atks & ddance. Threatens so much solid damage on the entire meta after 1 dd, Jolly outspeeds everyone relevant. You will see how easy it can be to disrupt defensive synergy when no one is available to stomach +1 STAB or de, esp if Ttar is on the opposing side. Takes advantage of weakened Milotic and Swampert as opportunity to ddance (or mixMence, if healthy) and lum is the perfect confection for this display of brute force, preventing a (un)timely attempt at paralysis from cutting the antics short (also good since Milo & Pert may run toxic)
I will say Jolly might not pack the right punch, with one layer up I still failed to ko an offensive Mie although it was a roll in my favor, approx 32% it doesn't ko
Adamant will secure certain kos or apply more pressure but at the cost of Aero or Jolt easily interfering
hp Fly: for Celebi/Hera, better neutral coverage, hp Rock: to assault fliers like Zap/Aero (other Gyara), hp Ghost: seems weird maybe underexplored, it will ko Gar and Mie without question both of whom could possibly survive +1 hp Fly, also the best hit on a Claydol that could easily explode & it still hits Celebi se
Will experiment with other spreads, Jolly feels alright because I don't have to switch out of Aero/Jolt while reasonably threatening the meta, this alleviates some pressure from other teammates to perform as their would-be targets are either weakened or eliminated.


00
My well and trusted, tried and true:Forretress:. Standard spdef+ like any other Forre w/ a relatively basic moveset.
hp Bug is the featured attack as it dissuades Mie and Dol to stay in to do their job. Also of good use in front of a +1 Ttar
See now, Forre will likely be the 2nd or 3rd Mon sent onto the field. When they see Lax 1st they might think “ahhh what a dumbass, ez spikes” but then they may realize “oh this is clearly bait, I'm not a fool!”...so as they “go Skarmory!” the next to follow might be Dug apprehending Magneton. This is why we do not go Mag the moment we see Skarm, instead we go Forre to keep your side tidy. If they keep tossing spikes or start pecking then ofc you bring Mag in. In the aforementioned scenario as they attempt to nab Mag, this would now mean Forre is essentially trapped. But see, Dugtrio is bitch-made so it probably gets 2hkoed by hp Bug. This is not an endearing interaction tho as Forre would take two hits as well, so for this reason I thought of Counter over Explosion. The window of opportunities to use Counter seems…ajar at best lol. It will work better on a revised team tho
The third interaction is Skarm —> Gar to spinblock their one, measly layer. All you have to do is bait Skarm again with Lax, Gon or even Cune then apprehend the switch. Going Forre or Cune when the spiker/phys attacker (first) comes in is CRUCIAL to this team’s effectiveness in baiting. Want to give the oppo a false sense of security in believing your only preventive measure against spikes is simply rapid spin. If Mag gets apprehended too soon then Forre’s rapid spin becomes more of a pressing matter. That means Forre may faint sooner to repeated switches into layers.
Because Snorlax is a premier switch-in for special atks, physical heavy hitters are inclined to come in or spikers. Forre always has good mus into them barring an extraneous coverage move. This is usually an opportunity to spin lest they can block it (Gar). A straightforward game of hot potato to get in some hazard control or threaten an entry with CB Gon.


:Suicune:
Bro always tryna flex. In fact his sole purpose is to flex up on your Mons, let me explain:
I added this Cune because I desperately wanted a roarMon that resists Water. Forget about CroCune for a second…do you know how many people undermine the destructive capacity of STAB Water in a tier that promotes sand? Resisted by two types (besides itself), one is uncommon and both have common weaknesses.
In ADV a decent portion of the playerbase tend to oversimplify the role of a bulky-Water check in faith of Blissey as a special tank. Relying too heavily on her (or even Milotic) can result in devastating counterplay. Mie, Vap or even Pert hpump does not feel great to switch into, so there is a lot of merit in Suicune taking on this role. Possesses high value in the ability to switch into other Cune and force it out instead of just sitting there like Bliss/Milo. If Pert does not have toxic then you should be able to take advantage of the mu and press roar at your leisure. Outspeeds everything up to Smeargle, so you should almost always roar out another CM Cune. Should also attack before a wide range of Celebi and some Zapdos (it is somewhat easy to ascertain oppo Zap's EV spread based on Forre/Mag damage taken from Tbolt and how well it takes an incoming Surf).
This Cune is a decent scout to reveal how your oppo will deal with it, remember the whole false sense of security act? So I would typically advise 00 into Skarm and this guy into Forre (until you go for it w/ Mag). Because not only will they -likely- switch in their Cune check, you can roar it out to observe the rest of their team structure.
If they possess a reasonable answer for Suicune then the spiker will confidently add a layer with the cognition of aura farm or 00 coming in (again) as a response: ample opportunity for Magnet Pull or hit it with Lax’s fblast.


Skippey
I am definitely one of several players experimenting with CB:Flygon:this month, quite the commonality I see lmao. Doesn’t make me love him any less, this guy is great.
A phenomenal rock-resist, not as realistic without lefties but always a fantastic switch into Ttar. CB dissuades any risky actions on Ttar’s behalf so the oppo may tread carefully in hopes of preservation. Yet if they are unaware, a confident switch into Pert may result in surprise seeing the range on that eq. You can also farm the off-grounder with rock slide.
Yes I was able to use quick atk
Its neat in pinch situations, esp when Hera pops a Salac lol
Got 29% on Jolt

See, the early dmg on thousands of leadTars used in a day (lmao) really puts Flygon in a great position to make your oppo move very cautiously with it; even ppl who ddance t1 need ice beam to be truly safe against CB. Besides that you may find ample opportunities to switch into eq, esp if your oppo doesn't have Dug.
(sometimes the oppo may willingly sack Ttar upon realizing CB)
More value in lead Snorlax is that should your oppo "go Skarmory!" with Dugtrio creeping behind it, they cannot carelessly send in Dugtrio even if they expect Mag. Lax could land Foc Punch, which dents the shit out of Skarm and what if I used bslam to fish for para? The careless Dug is almost dead or dies in some cases if I’m atk+
If they end up trapping someone else most of your overall interactions are favorable, unless they double trap Forre with Mag (yikes lol)

The benefit of switching into any eq is that Flygon will likely resist the Mon’s coverage options or possess a teammate that does. It can force switches or provide delightful dmg with good intuition. Switching into Tbolt will either:
a) provide an opportunity for Lax to come in, possibly discover hid pwr
b) press rock slide
Gyarados really extends Flygon’s offensive role once any evident threats are reasonably chipped or gone. +1 Gyara will apply pressure to anyone who stomached a CB eq earlier or put late-game off-grounders in ko-range depending on the hp. Their targets are pretty similar so they essentially double up on pressure.

Be careful with subZap!



Other teammates?
:Metagross:
I already know some of you are saying “How is he running Forre with no pursuit trapper?” lmao shut up & let me run my shit please
Serious thought, one could include mixGross in place of Mag as it does learn pursuit (or psychic), can use hp Fire & still boom (if you want).
I do lose a pretty valuable Zap switch-in with twave though.
max spatk, enough spe to go before minimum Tar, do 232 in HP (360 is divisible by 8 & 6) on Quiet

:Claydol:
Double spin with Dol < Let Forre run another move? Mag has very good resistances and Claydol has bad weaknesses lol. It wouldn't be hard to spin at all using psy/sball & that Levitate with the rock-resist is swell indeed. But another death by Starmie sounds tragic. Not sure of an exact set, just a fleeting thought for now.
Ig 2 boom is better than 1?
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Why is Cloy/Gar/hp Ice Zap the biggest cteam to this LMAO, its fine Cloyster sucks anyways.
I may have been remotely inspired by the forums, I'm just thinking about daily ADV shenanigans.
You always find out the hard way if it works or not.
Hopefully I can try something else fun.
 
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Flygon is an interesting mon with a surprisingly large movepool. Due to the no Skarm restriction i thought itd be fun to try out a different flavor of spikes with Flygon.

Heres what i came with:
https://pokepast.es/d3c9c613dd9437e8
:Tyranitar::Metagross::Cloyster::Jolteon::Flygon::Gengar:

Jolteon, Agility Meta, Gengar and Tar are some of my favorite pokemon to use in ADV anyways so felt like a perfect fit here. I love fast paced spikes and with the not using skarm clause and forre + gon likely not lending itself to a fast paced style team i settled on cloyster. I say settled but it really does feel like the better fit a water and ice resist is pretty nice and cloyster is a nice endpert switch in with its popularity atm. due to having a rock resist in flygon that is immune to spikes i decided to drop spin on cloy in favor of beam. and having another way to trade with mence is really crucial. Why Mixed Flygon? well on a faster team like this the ability to pressure skarm is really key and having a second rock resist kinda lets me cheat a bit on movesets. hidden power grass supports both tar and agil meta as well.

Tyranitar: Staple of fast paced spikes teams ofc pairs great with flygon as gon is sand immune. opted for DD tar here truly cant go wrong with that set on basically any structure especially these.

Metagross: Agility is important alongside flygon as support vs Aero. Gon is often paired with another rock resist usually Jirachi so Meta with its identical typing made alot of sense. Meta crucially is another Lax and Bliss punish too as well as an emergency suicune delete button i speed crept it for standard rest suicune.

Cloyster: The lesser of the 3 OU spikers is still pretty interesting and i think has some pretty great synergy with Flygon that isnt really explored. typing wise being able to come into ice and water moves is great but it also has boom and stab ice of its own to trade with problematic mons.
Another great thing is it can pressure the most common spinner Claydol which when using Jolteon is very nice.

Jolteon: Natural fit alongside Cloyster with Volt Absorb it checks things such as Zapdos and Gengar. Flygon can come into the twaves and Eqs aimed at Jolt. having stab electric is really crucial here so suicune cant run away with the game. roar as a backup option and twave to prevent dders from causing issues.

Flygon: Definitely an unusual set but i think if there's any place to use it its here. Fire blast is sometimes seen and of course rock slide and earthquake as options. almost never will you see HP Grass but Flygon has a passable Spatk stat of 80 so with spikes down its actually pretty threatening to swampert and lets it trade at worst for one of the set up sweepers to clean. went for a odd speed tier but i think it helps alot. being faster than celebi is just nice and also outspeeding jolly tar and the group that creeps those also doesnt hurt.

Gengar: Gengar makes any mu playable and protecting spikes with a non skarm spiker is much more important especially when that spiker is offensive and booms. Gar adds a 3rd boom here limiting setup and providing critical help vs snorlax. Willo is borderline broken only held back by accuracy. Gar also provides important help vs dd mence here its eved to always live +1 from full.

Well thats my team it definitely has some poor matchups and doesn't do well vs status but vs opposing fast spikes and offense it did really well in my testing and I had a lot of fun coming up with this.
 
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Sun Offense ft. Adamant Lead Dug, Bulky Mixgon, and some eggs​

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https://pokepast.es/4c2962ff3113d7b2

I attempted to build a BulkPass team for the Medicham teambuilding challenge last month, but realized a good ADV pal, xlimexheep, was already ahead of the curve on that one. So, in comes Skarmless Flygon. What was the inspiration? How did this weird structure come about? First was figuring out Flygon's role on a team without Skarm. To me, this meant it would act as the defensive rock resist threatening EQ's and maybe some coverage. I had both Flygon and Zard in the builder as I'm wont to include my favorite mon to use in ADV and suddenly the sun idea came about. Sun is a very rarely seen strategy in serious OU games as there is only a single decent Chlorophyll user, Exeggutor, and not too many OU mons synergize as well with sun as they do with rain, (i.e. Suicune, Pert, mons running Thunder, etc.). However, I wanted to give this a go since Egg and Zard could both support each other quite well.

Each mon's role:​

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Code:
Dugtrio @ Choice Band 
Ability: Arena Trap 
EVs: 252 Atk / 88 SpD / 168 Spe 
Adamant Nature  
IVs: 0 SpA 
- Earthquake 
- Rock Slide 
- Beat Up 
- Aerial Ace

Lead Dug's first and foremost role is to find and eliminate Tyranitar so Zard and Egg in the back can reset weather. Its Attack is as maximixed as possible (full IVs, EVs, and Adamant) while still carrying enough speed at 318 to outrun other assorted targets (Hera, Loom, Houndoom, Jynx, non-Jolly Rachi). 88 SpD isn't quite enough to always live max SpA Ice Beams from Bliss, and definitely not from Mixtar, but it IS able to live Mixtar's HP Grass as well as HP Grass/Ice from offensive Zap. The team I used carried Beat Up over HP Bug as it's weak to Bliss even with Fighting coverage, but this greatly backfired during one single match where Recover/Leech Celebi just ran laps around me. Additionally, most of the Bliss I ran into were max SpA Ice Beam, so Beat Up would greatly damage it, but not pick up the KO. Choose which secondary kill you'd prefer.

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Code:
Charizard @ Leftovers 
Ability: Blaze 
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe 
Timid Nature  
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def 
- Toxic 
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fire Blast 
- Sunny Day

Zard is here as a secondary Sun setter/sweeper, since it hits big stupid numbers with max SpA, Sun-boosted Fire Blast, coupled even further when in Blaze range. My team waffled between HP Ice and HP Grass for Zard as the coverage option: While Grass coverage is very handy in order to handle lategame Pert, the team ended up stumbling against opposing fliers, namely the Flygon mirror. HP Ice and Grass are swappable between Zard and Egg (I'll explain shortly). The team also briefly carried Sub over Toxic, but I much preferred Tox as a way to pressure Bliss. If you're feeling spicy and don't think you need two whole sun setters, you could forgo Tox/Sunny Day and go SubPunch to threaten Bliss better.

1760919353776.png

Code:
Exeggutor @ Leftovers 
Ability: Chlorophyll 
EVs: 32 HP / 20 Atk / 252 SpA / 204 Spe 
Modest Nature 
- Psychic 
- Sunny Day 
- Solar Beam 
- Explosion

The Egg: The centerpiece of an ADV sun team. Exeggutor is, wouldn't ya know it, the primary sun sweeper of the team. Egg was the hardest to really settle on a good moveset, it falls victim to four moveslot syndrome HARD. I'm still not totally set on what works best with it.
Different moves I experimented with include:
  1. Explosion -> Sleep Powder / Leech Seed / Giga Drain
  2. Psychic -> HP Ice / HP Fire
In the end, I settled on having STAB moves with Explosion last. Solar Beam is your big Grass move that dunks on the bulky Waters and chunks everything neutral, (including non HP-invested Bliss for ~26% surprisingly enough). Psychic is your secondary STAB coverage that defeats Gar, Tentacruel (yes that happened to me on ladder), and the fighters, and possible SpD drop fisher. Explosion last is the Hail Mary to deny an opposing wincon, finish a game when you're up a mon(s), kill Blissey button, and general pivot tool once Egg has swept. Egg overall felt strong to use and ended up doing good damage whenever the opponent let it get sun up. Depending on whichever mons you'd prefer to cover; HP Ice helps in chunking Zap & beating the dragons, Sleep Powder effectively removes an opposing mon from the field/allows for a sun turn, Leech Seed prevents Bliss from freely switching in on you at full, and HP Fire is more effective at threatening Celebi when sun is up. Depending on whether or not Egg is running HP Ice coverage, Zard can go back to HP Grass to better check Pert. Full disclosure though, HP Ice Egg did not feel good. Maybe with Boom it's better, idk.

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Code:
Flygon @ Leftovers 
Ability: Levitate 
EVs: 92 Atk / 252 Def / 128 SpA / 36 Spe 
Lax Nature  
- Earthquake 
- Giga Drain 
- Fire Blast 
- Toxic

Hey look, it's the guy the competition is about! Flygon here takes a more defensive role, being the premier switch-in to Rock and Ground moves. A neat little synergy on this structure is that sun allows Flygon to switch in on Water moves a LOT more comfortably. This is true for Lax as well, but having MonoPert's positive MU into Flygon neutralized by the weather was a massive serotonin boost, (even if Toxic still goobs you long run). EQ needs no explanation on Flygon, but deciding to go full mixed attacks with Giga AND Blast was an invention born from that MU switch with Pert. With the defensive boost that sun gives Flygon into Water moves, it made sense to run Giga Drain over Rock Slide, (previously ran move), as a surprise factor against opposing Pert, and other relevant mons, (Dol was another mon that came up). Healing from Giga was an added benefit, as, remember, Flygon is the premier defensive wall of the team. Fire Blast, with the extra Sun boost, ends up chunking Skarm SIGNIFICANTLY more than standard Flygon does, getting further in the damage game with the accursed bird. Flygon ended up working well as a mon that could take advantage of the sun being up and as the glue for the team.

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Code:
Snorlax @ Leftovers 
Ability: Immunity 
EVs: 92 HP / 116 Atk / 144 Def / 144 SpD / 12 Spe 
Adamant Nature  
- Curse 
- Body Slam 
- Shadow Ball / Earthquake
- Brick Break / Earthquake
As soon as I landed on the sun idea, it was absolutely obvious that Lax was going to double as special wall and breaker. Lax is up there with Hera as the poster monster for "weather clear" teams. And as special wall/breaker? Yeah, it works about as swimmingly as you'd expect. There were several games on ladder where the Egg and Zard didn't even get to do their sun sweeping because eliminating Tar/fighters early with Dug and erasing sand just let CurseLax do CurseLax things. This is personal preference, but I always run Body Slam on Lax as the chance to para is just way too beneficial for both the team and Lax itself. Midgame Tar reveals end up completely splatting once Lax gets that Slam para off and Dug is allowed in for the trap. Shadow Ball/Brick Break were my coverage choices by the end of my teambuilding phase to cover the ghosts/Celebi and opposing Lax respectively, but depending on whichever MU you anticipate coming up, (ex. Meta, Jolt, etc.), you can swap either with EQ. Several of my replays ran EQ over Brick, but the Lax mirror felt way more difficult to manage without it.

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Code:
Regirock @ Leftovers 
Ability: Clear Body 
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD 
Adamant Nature  
- Rock Slide 
- Earthquake 
- Thunder Wave 
- Explosion

The last mon for the team was difficult to land on. Originally, the team had Armaldo last as the combination of sun weakening Water moves, Battle Armor denying crit hax, and Knock/Spin were all enticing, but the glaring weakness to Rock sweepers just did not mesh well at all. Regirock's superior defensive stats, typing, and movepool allowed it to function much better as a secondary defensive wall for Flygon and offensive threat with Edgequake coverage, especially as Flygon had Rock Slide dropped for Giga. Threatening Twaves also helps the team immensely with buying more turns for sun setting, Lefties recovery, and good ol' fashioned paraflinch hax. Yeah, it's cheap. Who cares, you're running a sun team in OU, take what you can get. Explosion is the fourth move as a final Hail Mary to stop any setup sweepers or eliminate a bad switch-in for the team, (ex. Suicune).

Some replays with the team in action:​

I am playing on a test account called "iamnotjimothycool"
 
SURPRISINGLY FAST STEEL TYPES

:RS/Zapdos: :RS/Forretress: :RS/Jolteon: :RS/Jirachi: :RS/Flygon: :RS/Tyranitar:
https://pokepast.es/4d5aad97a1a042e2
The teambuilding process is relatively straightforward here. The team is designed around enabling jirachi and jolteon to clean by forcing damage onto tar, dol, and meta. Flygon abuses the strong pressure onto skarm and with sub abuses the eq locks the other slots will bait. Most synergies will be explained below.

:RS/Zapdos:
IDNTNEED (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 140 HP / 220 Atk / 100 Def / 48 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Drill Peck
- Thunder Wave

This set is primarily designed to duel lead tars to enable jirachi and jolteon later by forcing damage onto phys tars and to scout the sets/force out mixed tars. This spread survives a bkc tar rock slide after sand and two shots with hp fight. Drill peck is for the fighting types that flygon teams are often otherwise soft into along with strong threat against celebi which is otherwise often problematic for double electric teams. Just don't get flinched by lead medi.

:RS/Forretress:
savages (Forretress) @ Quick Claw
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Explosion

Generally self explanatory. As a fast paced spikes offense without gar I like having a spiker that can force out the two most common spinners. Boom also fits with the pace as this team generally does not enjoy switching into special threats repeatedly. The team is not really designed to spin but with 4 grounded mons a mid game spin against passive teams can be impactful, particularly for rachi and tar. It is quick claw because quick claw forre is rad and I wanted an excuse to post on the smogon forums about how stupid it is that this has not been banned yet.

:RS/Jolteon:
(snowlight nxc) (Jolteon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thunder Wave
- Baton Pass

Does the jolteon things. The team needs the speed badly as otherwise endpert is a nightmare for this team to handle. Baton pass is probably droppable but I like not needing to concern myself with bulky dug and the bp to sub tar against predictable blis switches can be threatening. Mix zap lead also requires a real zap answer.

:RS/Jirachi:
pocket nitro (Jirachi) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 188 HP / 120 Def / 60 SpA / 140 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Calm Mind

Modified superachi opting for ice over psy to cover the otherwise problematic mence endgames. The set is heavy on physical bulk with salac to reverse momentum on dug and aero. This set is reliant on getting damage onto tar and meta. While designed originally to be a cleaner on this team in practice it plays more as a mid game breaker where the salac proc can get an extra boosted attack off before dying in some scenarios. Still a potent cleaner against common spike off cores.

:RS/Flygon:
HEAR ME TONIGHT (Flygon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Substitute

This team can afford a more offensive flygon as there are enough fat mons on the team/speed with jolt to handle pretty much any physical tar set. I wanted to run choice band originally but substitute as a eq lock punish is too important and the team does not really have the physical longevity that band users necessitate. Sub abuses the double para spreading electric types fairly well and this set can force damage/sub against dol which the electrics don't handle directly when healthy. This set thuds hard into skarm so avoid using it early into games if skarm is revealed or expected. Offense without phasing also mandates a strong eq user so we make do.

:RS/Tyranitar:
born to be (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpA / 8 SpD / 12 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power [Grass]

I absolutely love boah tar and its a fantastic way to round out this core. One of the best (if not the best) blis punishes and fire grass coverage over the typical crunch fire/thunder forces damage onto meta/pert/skarm more reliably that enables the other threats. I think crunch over grass for more damage onto dol is reasonable. VIL tar also fits here but I wanted a stronger hit than focus onto skarm/meta.
 
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Skarm-Less Superman

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https://pokepast.es/3dcc3c72aabffeac

After procrastinating for a while, I have something to show for the class show x tell.

It’s been a while since I played with an actual Superman team that wasn’t just another fraudulent Articuno team straight out of gutters of my brain, so this was a nice refresher to remind me that not every Superman team has to make me die a little inside whenever I que up on the ladder.

The Fortnite Lobby
Zapdos
:Zapdos:
Standard Offensive set that acts as a flexible lead.

I figured I really needed something for Suicune, so I figured Zapdos was the way to go.

“Do they carry a lot of weight from having to carry this team against most Water type matchups?”

Yes

Should I have distributed the responsibilities better amongst the team?

Yes, but your co-workers being actually helpful is very unrealistic. This is an art piece that’s supposed to depict the daily grind, especially your co-workers that leave mounds of work they didn’t do in the morning which piled up until you clocked in at specifically 4:00 in the afternoon.


Moltres :Moltres:
Just the standard one, not much I can explain that isn’t repeating stuff already said about this mon.

Colonel Sanders is honestly nice for the burn spread, and also helping with the chip pressure alongside Tyranitar’s sand/ Zapdos’ Toxic.

This team is kinda ass cheeks at pure breaking (With the exception of CBT, because Tar is GOAT’ed like that), so I had to incorporate a lot of chip to put enemies into range.

Just like the annoying ass bikers who revved their engine at 12:00am right beside my hotel when I went back to Okinawa, I have a lot of compensation to do.

So to get around not having access to Spikes (I’m not using Cloyster because they’re lowkey a Potential Mon whom I don’t know how they’re still in OU/ I don’t wanna run Pursuit Tar to run Forre), I had to compensate with other forms of chip in status.


Jirachi :Jirachi:
The perfect SpDef wall to pair with my Def-Flygon.

I can bring this thing into all the special shit my Flygon hates staying in on, and more (except Fire stuff).

I really needed help with the Gengar matchup, and this Jirachi was particularly good at the job at hand, since Fire Punch is usually a rarity.

Also this thing is bulky enough to the point where I don’t have to worry about them dying to a stray hit from switching in.

Again with the chip, burn is always appreciated. Para is also appreciated because this team has a lot of flaws, and I don’t give a shit about playing fair, I’ll cheese some shit if I really have to as I huff and puff that sweet, sweet Superman copium.

Wish/ Protect is nice for not only my Jirachi’s longevity, but also the teams’. Given my team is Balance, it fit like a glove, since there’s bulky mons that appreciate the healing so they can go back in for additional walling/ round 2 of breaking.


Gengar :Gengar:
I added this set to rage-bait Blissey.

So I want the damage to stick, but in general, my team is quite mid in terms of damage output. Not too low, but not really great (with the sole exception of CBT).

One of the work arounds to making the damage stick is by denying healing moves, so support mons like Blissey can’t get off a Heal Bell, Wish, etc.

Wanna stop setup for future turns, then Gengar also has that covered.

And having extra help against Mence is nice because this team is legitimately a DD Mence victim. Like the moment Flygon goes down, I’m getting my ass cheeks clapped, no question.


Flygon :Flygon:
Shittier Claydol

HP Ice Victim
Flygon is the premier Defensive Wall on this team, not because they fulfill the position the best but because I had to put them on the team because they certainly do a solid job at deterring physical attackers, the likes of Tyranitar, Gyarados, Aerodactyl (Double-Edge victim) and (sometimes) Mence.

Slander and agenda aside, they actually do well pairing with Defensive Jirachi, given they can switch into attacks they don’t like staying in on, while Jirachi can switch into attacks Flygon doesn’t like staying in on.

Having Protect on both mons is also nice for this chip heavy team, since it helps to stall out turns to help rack up chip damage, and get things into range for the offensive mons on my team.

Chat, I miss Claydol

If I sound too harsh, it might possibly be because I might in fact miss Claydol.


Tyranitar (CBT) :Tyranitar:
The GOAT of the team, the one nothing really likes switching into.

Tyranitar makes sure damage sticks by setting up sand, which is key to this entire team as they need to maintain the damage in order to find KOs.

Tyranitar also compliments my team’s longevity as my two walls of this team is immune to sand, allowing my mons to win the war of attrition against something like Blissey.

Tyranitar also has to carry really badly because they’re the premier, and only reliable source of active damage output on the team, especially physically.

If it wasn’t for Tyranitar, this team would struggle a lot more than it already does, which is baffling until you remember this is a Superman team.

So yeah, easy MVP. Carries a lot of weight, and certainly carried the team in general.

IMG_1007.jpeg



Personal Rant
I did end up reliably sticking around 1600s range with this team, and I do believe it can go higher given the I was doing well, even in the unemployment hours of the ladder where I was going up against the top players of the ladder, and somehow winning with this team.

However…

I do not wanna play this shit unless I am pushing agenda/ unless I HAVE to.

I can’t stress enough how flawed Superman teams are, especially this one. I think I spent more time verbally shitting on 5/6 members of this team (CBT was excluded because they’re the carry) instead of playing the game.

It got to a point where shit-talking my team got more fun than queuing up for another game. The motivating factor in this run was just to reach high-end of mid-ladder, and my “can’t end on a loss” mindset.

I had displeasure playing this team, but…

Maybe the memories it brought back of how I initially started ADV was worth it after a-

NO.

Fuck this team.

I wanna do something fun. Like having a Struggle war end-game with Suicunes. That’s real ADV entertainment.

Anyways, 4/10 experience, probably will torture myself again for clout.
 
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https://pokepast.es/424774d568e5d585

CB Gon Spikeless Offense


- Idea is to use multiple mons that r good at damaging flying types for a CB Gon sweep
- Sub Salac Hera as a extra wincon, flying type lure with Focus Punch and Gengar lure with HP Ghost
- Registeel as the glue vs specials/Zap and Boom natural cures (specifically Celebi) for EQ spam. Chip down PertDol for a eventual Hera or Flygon sweep, its able to also chip down Skarm for later
- DD Tar to start opening up with trades and have Sand to stick at the opponent flying types. Trades up with Meta/Rachi/Pert which is benefitial for Hera (and even Gon in case of Pert) or trades w Claydol alongside Gengar for Gon's benefit
- FireGrass Gar to lure fliers more reliably. Also our switchin to Skarmory and Swampert and able to press opp Claydol for our CB Gon
- Claydol is able to spin hazards for Hera/Steel, boom fliers (most important function here) for CB Gon and Hera and is able to absorb Gar for some time alongside Lum DD Tar
 
Thanks very much to everyone who submitted teams this time. I know this was a bit of a trickier prompt, but people came through with some really clever and creative builds. Looking forward to seeing what Mielke and Adam have to say as well.

I worked very hard on my judging this time, so please enjoy:

Forre Offgon Zard (https://pokepast.es/558007e4ed74293c)
by Johnald

Really, really strong start here. I think the write-up especially here is absolutely excellent. Overall, the synergies are very well thought out. I especially want to give some love to the finishing touches like Screech on Flygon and Roar on Charizard. This is not an entirely novel team, though I do think it's just a fairly logical endpoint for Forretress+Flygon. We've seen Forre+Gon+Registeel+Milotic here and there over the years, even as recently as last SPL by McMeghan. McMeghan's team had Celebi in the Charizard slot. I even built this team some time back too, mine was RestZap in the Charizard slot. I think Charizard is at least arguably better than both of those options because it much better addresses the weakness to Jirachi/Celebi. It also adds another switch in to Metagross which is always a valuable and important consideration when using Flygon or Forretress, let alone both. Charizard is a strong SkarmBliss punish, which Forretress teams are sometimes lacking other than just their own spikes and hoping to keep opposing spikes off long term. Lastly, it helps relieve some of the pressure on Tyranitar vs Gengar, again a really welcome help on Forretress teams. I will say it leaves you with a not especially convincing Suicune matchup. Again, Screech on Flygon and Roar on Charizard were great touches to give a chance. However, if Flygon ever dies, lastmon Suicune should have a very good chance to just win. Even more concerning is the CroCune matchup, I don't think I need to expand on that. RestLax similarly really threatens to run away with a game. Another concern I'll mention is fighting types. Charizard again helps marginally here, but vs Medicham especially there are no great options turn 1. Last thing I'll mention is something a little more abstract, but I just want to say that these middling pace Forretress teams often look better on paper than they work in practice. What I mean is that while most things seem pretty well covered here, in practice it may not work as well. An example I'll give is facing Offensive Starmie. On paper, Registeel is a great inclusion here that covers this concern well. But imagine there are spikes, imagine the Starmie is paired with Gengar, imagine the Starmie is offensive with Recover. As the game gets dragged out, the matchup looks a lot worse. Does this team have the backbone to withstand having to switch around these threats multiple times? If not, does this team have the firepower to win quickly enough? I'm not saying there is a necessarily correct answer here, it's just meant more as a thought exercise, especially since overall I loved this submission a lot.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 9/10
Competitive Viability: 9/10
Creativity & Originality: 7.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 10/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 8/10

Total: 43.5/50

Untitled 162 (https://pokepast.es/5b10838886f7043d)
by Dastardlydwarf


Not bad, ultimately I think this team is just a bit too weak to SkarmBliss. In the write-up, the builder mentioned that most of the mons at least mess with Skarmory. This is true, Taunt on Gyarados and Fire Blast on Flygon are two nice touches that show care was taken on that front. The problem is that Blissey threatens a lot here and only really Snorlax can switch in to it, which is a great entry point for Skarmory. Before too long this team is gonna get overloaded by such a defensive core. Again though some good synergies here, this is a nice spot for Houndoom. Not only does it trap Gengar which is a mon of huge concern to every other team member, but checking Jirachi/Celebi is definitely welcome here too. The builder mentioned offensive Starmie and Zapdos as potential issues, especially with spikes. Not much to add, I concur.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 5/10
Creativity & Originality: 7.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5.5/10

Total: 31/50

Dashback Grab (https://pokepast.es/265be65419305b1a)
by xtinaxendrix

Another cool team. I think my big problem with this team is that I feel it's both not quite offensively potent enough and not quite defensively sound enough. It's just barely lacking on both fronts and should probably pick a direction to go a little further in. Whenever you have both Pursuit Tyranitar and Magneton it is really quite difficult to fill out with everything you want. Medicham with BP to get a free trap with both Mag and Tar is a nice idea. I feel like Flygon's fit here is at least somewhat questionable. It's nice to have another Zapdos check and the idea of offensive Flygon as a fast cleaner that appreciates both the trap targets of Tar and Mag makes sense as well. However, of huge concern to me is opposing Swampert. The builder mentions that both Tar and Mag have HP Grass to lure and dent it, which I think is a hopeful plan if anything, especially since the Tar here is quite slow. You have to also keep in mind, this team is spikeless so Swampert can potentially do a lot of chip healing. Really any offensive water type can really do some cleaving to this team once Snorlax is chipped. Milotic can also sit on everything here except Magneton, Snorlax would have to explode on it to reliably take it out. Another big concern is mixed attackers in general, especially Salamence. Tar and Lax are one time checks at best and Swampert can threaten it if it's at full, but otherwise it's very scary. The builder mentions that El Clasico should be a good matchup and I have to say I'm not super convinced, although it is a spot where BP on Medicham can potentially really shine. Fun team with good ideas though.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6.5/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 33.5/50

Flygon teambuilding competition (https://pokepast.es/1a3e308acb69109a)
by pixie909

Yet another really interesting one. Synergestically, you can't really argue much with the choices the builder made. Most everything is pretty well thought out. Mimic on Metagross is obviously a very hilarious way to get your own spikes on this team, and actually fairly reliably at that. That said, facing an opposing spikes team does seem a bit awkward. Obviously, we want to Mimic with Meta and get our own, but in the meantime they're getting theirs. Since Flygon is CB, we really cannot rely all that much on its defensive traits to help us out, especially since it's rather unsupported. This leaves us with a grounded defensive core and at least a couple layers up before our Starmie can really even enter. Our flexibility at this point is severely limited. A potential nightmare scenario I feel is if the opposing spiker that came into Metagross was Forretress rather than Skarmory because Starmie can't just switch into Forre. I guess in that scenario we really can't afford to Mimic, but regardless I guess we have to just go straight to Gengar when we have no spikes of our own. Seems bad. Against spikes offenses we mostly will have to face off with Gengar or Celebi and neither seem very comfortable to play around. Gengar especially seems a big time problem for this team. Making Starmie SpDef is a good touch with the partners we have though. This is another team where opposing Swampert is pretty painful, and on that note Flygon (or at least this Flygon set?) feels like it just really does not fit all that great here. Huge creativity points though and you can tell the builder is very clever overall.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8.5/10
Competitive Viability: 6.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 9.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5/10

Total: 36/50

Houdini Offgon Regice (https://pokepast.es/73ecf5d8d867db4c)
by WraxiusGaming

Kind of a wacky 6 on paper, but I think in the end most things end up covered at least acceptably. The one exception is I think this team is simply way too weak to Metagross. Suicune is the only real switch in to it, which obviously has some problems especially in any long term sense. I think this could be acceptable but the other real problem is we don't at least have a reliable lure for Meta that we can trade. Regice does at least semi-reliably paralyze it which is something, and Meta is sometimes forced to check SubRachi so maybe not completely dire. Another thing about this team worth saying is that it kind of lacks convincing ways of dealing with Blissey. If our plan is to blow up Metagross turn 1, we really have nothing we want to actually switch into Blissey. The builder does mention that Mirror Coat on Suicune means beating CMBliss; that doesn't seem like a perfect solution vs CMBliss to me, but it is at least something. We can blow up Regice vs Blissey, but we don't have a super great follow up and we also will no longer have a Regice. SubCMRachi can try to duel Blissey but that's usually something you're forced to do rather than happy to do, and it's especially unreliable on a sandless team. Our Suicune can at least force out Seismic Toss Blisseys, but then we're left with a sleeping Suicune. So yeah, the Blissey counterplay is lacking. The Mence set is interesting, appreciate the builder's thoughts on the why. I will say dropping Earthquake when as I mentioned we lack reliable Metagross luring/breaking is at least a little suspect. Dropping HP Flying on such a fighting type weak team is a pretty big risk as well. Last thing I want to mention that may be somewhat obvious (and not entirely unique to this team by any means), but if we are facing a Skarmory team and do not manage to blow it up immediately, we are probably in pretty big trouble. Although, I will say, in that case we are really glad to have Flygon's spike immunity when it comes to checking Tyranitar or Zapdos with a spike down. Stuff like Gengar or Salamence with a spike down however are definitely a big time nightmare. Anyways, pretty nice team overall, Houdini + OffGon is a fun synergy I've messed with myself in the past and I also really appreciate the synergy of Regice + SubGon.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 7.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6.5/10

Total: 34.5/50

no spikes offensive flygon team (https://pokepast.es/a78e6b3597b84c68)
by 4lowray


Another team going with the Pursuit Tyranitar + Magneton combo. Again, lots of strong and clever synergies to fill out the team. My first reaction to seeing the 6 was that it's simply too weak to mixed attackers and Swampert, but Rest on Gyarados is a nice solve. I will say it sacrifices some offense that this team maybe can't afford to sacrifice and having a Gyarados tasked with so much defensively is always sketchy. It also doesn't actually very convincingly deal with MixMence, which is a major problem. I like the choice of Registeel here because the fact it can act as a half check to just about everything is extremely welcome. Breloom makes some sense here because CBGon appreciates some help checking PhysTars, and Suit support already built in is nice. Breloom is also something that threatens Blissey which is desperately needed, but unfortunately Breloom can't really switch into Blissey. In fact, we severely lack anything that wants to switch into Blissey. Gyarados can rest loop any set lacking Tbolt, but that's a lot of lost momentum. Our Tar and Registeel can switch into Blissey convincingly, and they can even threaten it out once or twice, but eventually they will learn that Blissey walls both barring Registeel's boom. Despite these downsides, this team is at least playable and had some very nice ideas.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 5.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 7.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4.5/10

Total: 31.5/10

Choki (https://pokepast.es/837c041815dbeba8)
by greenapricotttss

Don't really get this one. This team is truly going in a thousand different directions, we need to settle on just one. No, Refresh Snorlax is not a Gengar solution. SkarmGar just ruins this entire team. The Magneton is a bulky set (actually maybe kind of necessary since we are so weak to every special attacker?) so Skarm is always getting multiple layers. Suicune lacks Rest so the mixed attacker weakness is even worse. Even Gyarados can't check things very well because it was given a Lum Berry and will take damage to sand. The Forretress explanation the builder wrote made no sense. Flygon doesn't seem to fit at all, CB especially is probably not good because almost every common flying type threatens this team a lot.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 1/10
Competitive Viability: 2.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 4.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 4/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 1.5/10

Total: 13.5/50

Mixed Flygon Cloyster Spikes (https://pokepast.es/d3c9c613dd9437e8)
by Zpanther

First team using Cloyster as the spiker. Looks like a pretty classic take with Jolteon and Gengar. This is the first Mixed Flygon we've seen so far, and it's not a bad fit at all. I like the idea of luring Swampert to make way for an Agility Metagross or DDTar sweep. I don't have a ton to say about this team just because it's honestly just a pretty standard aggressive spikes team; its matchups and upsides/downsides are pretty well understood. Two things I will point out about this team specifically. 1) Celebi looks like a massive pain and 2) you have to be really careful against opposing Metagross, especially Agility Metagross threatens to sweep very easily here. Overall, just a pretty nice practical build here.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8.5/10
Competitive Viability: 8/10
Creativity & Originality: 5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 5.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7.5/10

Total: 34.5/50

sun/mixgon egg offense (https://pokepast.es/4c2962ff3113d7b2)
by alphasapphire918

Ok, at first glance this team seems insane, but upon further examination I think it actually works at least decently. Regirock does a ton of heavy lifting as sort of a solver for all the potential shortcomings, because it can technically help patch up weaknesses to a huge host of things. Of particular note here is its help vs Aerodactyl, Salamence, and to an extent Blissey. People will scoff at lead Dugtrio, but I think Charizard is one of the mons that can at least kind of make it acceptable. I will say the fact this Charizard set isn't super threatening to Blissey is likely a mistake here (to be fair the builder does mention this), I think this team might be a bit too lacking in Blissey pressure. In general, this team is probably lacking a bit in power. The other thing I think this team is too weak to is water types of all sorts. The builder does mention that setting Sun helps, particularly in helping Snorlax switch in, which is interesting and I'll give some credit for. Long term though, I think Rest Suicune (especially if on a spikes team) and Milotic looks especially painful. In theory, Exeggutor shouldthreaten them, but honestly I think most defensive cores shouldn't have much problem, it's kind of just an egg problem in general. Last thing I will say is that Flygon's fit is also kind of iffy here, but using a mixed set (especially given some of the other set choices) is somewhat of a cute idea. Huge credit to this builder for creativity though, and there's really some very cool ideas here that shouldn't just be cast aside.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6.5/10
Competitive Viability: 4/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 3.5/10

Total: 28/50

SURPRISINGLY QUICK STEEL TYPES (https://pokepast.es/4d5aad97a1a042e2)
by tigersuit

Very cool team here. It feels like there are a lot of things this is potentially weak to, but it's an aggressive team filled out with so many techs that I reckon it probably works anyways. Forretress is a very cool pick here. Even though it looks like a place it wouldn't fit traditionally, here it should just be thought of as an aggressive spiker with a good matchup into the spinners (help vs Claydol especially is HUGELY helpful here). I like how the builder described sequencing and gameplanning in their explanations as well. This is a very nice spot for offensive Flygon I think. The team wants its help vs things like Tyranitar, Metagross, fire types, and pixies. The weaknesses to Salamence and water types it introduces I think are probably covered just well enough by Zapdos and Jolteon (especially both packing Thunder Wave) and the amount of HP Grass piled on here probably means you're just good enough vs Swampert even with a Zapdos set walled by it. A clear mon of potential concern is Gengar. You definitely have to find a way to win fast vs Gengar teams (and I think is the real reason Crunch should be used on the Tar here more than Claydol concerns that the builder mentions), but I think it can be done. Great submission.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8.5/10
Competitive Viability: 8.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 9.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 8/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7.5/10

Total: 42/50

ADV OU Skarm-Less Superman (https://pokepast.es/3dcc3c72aabffeac)
by Tomotaco69

Funny idea. The flaws are probably quite obvious though. Against any sort of solid defensive core, you're gonna be struggling to make consistent progress, although CB Tyranitar + Moltres can at least try with Wish support. Against many offenses, you actually might do alright, but worse than if you just had Skarmory, so there's really just no reason for this team to ever exist other than you weren't allowed to use Skarmory.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 3.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 3.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 3.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4.5/10

Total: 21/50

bruh (https://pokepast.es/424774d568e5d585)
by Shitrock enjoyer

Very creative use of Gengar, particularly this specific Gengar set, and the explanation from the builder makes sense. This is another team using Registeel as kind of an ultimate fixer covering all sorts of potential problem mons like Zapdos, Celebi, and offensive waters. It works pretty well for that, though I will say in the end this team still feels a tad too weak to Celebi for me. Love the use of Claydol here as we are of course in desperate need of the help vs Gengar, but also the point about it being used as a lure to flying types to clear the way for Flygon is very clever as well. Its spin is something of a bonus. I can see this team potentially getting overwhelmed and flopping in some matchups (lacking a bit in flexibility overall), but I think if you play aggressively enough it should do quite well at its proposed gameplan.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 9/10
Competitive Viability: 9/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 41/50

tl;dr my podium = 1) Johnald 2) tigersuit 3) Shitrock enjoyer
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

I was given the opportunity to fill in as a judge for this and I have the time at the moment - so my scores are below. I tried to follow the same scoring format as Kollin and Zpanther. I've made an effort to try to somewhat ignore personal team building bias (but that's very hard...), and I've shortlisted a top5. I am not a tourney seasoned pro like the other judges or some of the submitters, so of course don't take my scores too seriously as its all for fun anyways. Cheers.

Edit 12/21: Added comments.

Top5:

1. Johnald

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 9/10
Competitive Viability: 8/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 9/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 41/50

Johnald's team has my vote. It's just a natural conclusion based on the prompt; spikes teams are always going to be a consistent approach to winning but can't use skarm, so he makes a defensive structure with flygon as a "half" rock res. The explanation is also very detailed and the team has some great techs. Kollin mentioned the weaknesses to this team which I won't repeat much because I completely agree. It seems to me it will strike some pace middleground and end up losing to stuff like gar + spattackers and without many ways to reverse momentum it can lose there. But every team has bad MU's and the prompt is hard so. Anyways, overall its my #1, it should have a hand vs most the metagame and should be playable most MUs. Will probably perform the most consistently out of all to me.

2. Zpanther

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 9/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 8/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 8/10

Total: 40/50

Just gonna be very solid for obvious reasons. Again, spikes consistency really makes teams work, and the prompt doesn't let you use skarm. Cloy is the other option to forre (save for smeargle I guess). Zpanther's team exhibits lots of already known synergy (jolt/gar, meta/tar, etc). Seems the mixed flygon is basically slotted over a mence so this is one somewhat natural way to respond to the prompt. This team imo is going to be slightly more flexible than Johnald's because its gengar spikes with lots of offensive potential. But, Johnald's will work more consistently in its playable MU's so it's somewhat of a toss up for me. Anyway, not much to say it's a known good structure.

3. tigersuit

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 9/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 39/50

Was very interesting to see. It's a spikes team with lots of aggressive options so it's going to get rated in my eyes for that. Looking back I shouldve given this maybe an 8 in flexibility and it woulda tied for #2. It's one of those boom forre jolt teams that people are liking lately. The explanation and set choices was cool to see. I don't think it will work as well overall compared to the first two but it would be my next choice, and yeah I would put crunch on ttar.

4. pixie909

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 10/10
Clarity of Explanation: 9/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6/10

Total: 39/50

Thought it was one of the most creative with mimic. Without skarm there's a desire to find a way to make spikes and the observation that forcing it to be a forre or cloy build can feel awkward so I like a lot that the builder just went a fully creative route with mimic. At the end of the day, it has a way to spike in skarm MU's, has gengar, and in non-skarm MU can still win so honestly I put it high because it's creative and I genuinely feel it can win games. It's definitely not going to work as consistently as the others and imo the Johnald build has the most natural use of Flygon (that would just be subjective opinion though). Super cool and I would like to see more mimic meta in general...

5. shitrock enjoyer

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 7/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 37/50

Fruhdazi may kill me for putting his build this low. The synergies and gameplan make the most sense to me out of the other spikeless builds, I put wraxius' very high though and it almost got #5 for me. I am quite known as a major spikeless hater and I realize it's very hard to put that bias down. I feel fruh's build (or again, wraxius) are the best of the spikeless ones. I like the use of gengar especially and it's set choice makes sense, team has multiple sources of breaking. I like that hera can double as a late game cleaner in some MU and in others it can chip flyers (which the whole team is designed to do for flygon). There's a few things to me like just skarm, and cele, that seem like they could be major issues and would prob limit its flexibility, but yea.

Other Scores/Honorable Mentions:

Dastardlydwarf

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 5/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5/10

Total: 27/50

xtinaxendrix

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5/10

Total: 30/50

WraxiusGaming

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 8/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 35/50

4lowray

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 4/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 8/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 3/10

Total: 28/50

Greenapricotttss

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 3/10
Competitive Viability: 2/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 3/10

Total: 21/50

alphasapphire918

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 4/10
Competitive Viability: 2/10
Creativity & Originality: 8/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 1/10

Total: 22/50

Tomotaco69

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 4/10
Competitive Viability: 5/10
Creativity & Originality: 2/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 1/10

Total: 19/50

Thanks for reading :woo:
 
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Thanks to you all that submitted teams for our 2nd round of the ADV Team building competition featuring Flygon, excluding Skarmory! And thanks to our judges Kollin7 & Pajama Sam that took the time to review and test out each of these teams. And thanks again to every participant's patience. Moving forward, this project should start running quite a bit smoother. Without further delay, let me present the finalized ratings of each participant's team!

Round 2 Teambuilding Results: Yes :flygon: No :Skarmory:

1st: Johnald - 42.25/50
2nd: tigersuit - 40.50/50
3rd: Shitrock enjoyer - 39/50
4th: pixie909 - 37.50/50
5th: Zpanther - 37.25/50
6th: WraxiusGaming - 34.75/50
7th: xtinaxendrix - 31.75/50
8th: 4lowray - 29.75/50
9th: Dastardlydwarf - 29.00/50
10th: alphasapphire918 - 25.00/50
11th: Tomotaco69 - 20.00/50
12th: greenapricotttss - 17.25/50

Congrats to Johnald for submitting the highest rated team!!! And again, thanks to all who took the time to submit. I know some may not be happy with their scores, but hopefully this can be an opportunity to improve. We are still fine-tuning this to be a fun way for people to show off their teams, and for newer players to grow and learn.

Please stay tuned for Zpanther prompt for Round 3 of the ADV OU Teambuilding Competition! Once you see their prompt, feel free to start building to submit your teams right away!
 
Teambuilding Competition - Round 3:

The prompt will be No Spikes No Sand and No Trappers (Pursuit is fine but good luck with no Tar). One of the tougher styles in ADV to build with lots of room for experimentation. I'm excited to see what you all come up with!

Remember to outline your teambuilding process in your submission. This not only helps clarify the thoughts and ideas behind your team for the judges, but is an active part of how we as judges are scoring. Have fun!

TBC.png
 
https://pokepast.es/fea738831a609237

MACONHA FESTA


IDEA:

The team's main idea was to use High Octane Breaker + P2 in a pivot-style type of team. Using P2's chain switch principle to give a high power breaker more chances to attack. I ended up following w classic CB Medi as it is the most high power breaker in the tier and had natural synergies with P2, exploiting the common P2 switchins (Tar, Lax, Bliss, Cele, Mie) and also appreciating P2's ability to shutdown Mence and answer Fliers in a pinch



P2'S CHAIN SWITCH PRINCIPLE:

This is the principle of many pivot based offenses. The chain switch principle is using a defensive mon to shut down something and then immediately double switching to get a big powered threat in, being seen mostly in the form of BP Zapdos in Spikeless historically. Said principle is P2's main secret weapon, its ability to shutdown Mence completely and promote passive answers or slower breakers makes room for easy chains of double switchin. The reverse also occurs as the Fighter can be positioned in a way that its allowed to stay in on its counter to handle the incoming double switchin to disrupt P2"s chain, allowing the fighter to clock in a big kill it otherwise wouldn't do. But what makes P2 so special besides that? Can't Zap and Blissey do the same things? Of course this is where P2's main known weapon is established, which is its ability to counter trap Dugtrio, making room for the frailer breakers vs Stall and its Aero and Mence checking abilities meaning you can get away w frailer backbones physically unlike Bliss or Zapdos




WHAT MAKES P2 TEAMS DIFFICULT TO BUILD?


This is actually a question most people dont really know to answer properly. The reason lies in on how P2 styles are often constructed as the way P2 operates favors a pivot style (think of BP zapdos offenses, cm pass, blissey+fighters or even classico and maybe skarm beatdown to some extent) unlike a flow style (think of Slop, jolt teams, smeargle to a extent). However, most pivot mons serve more flexible and general roles like how Zap and Blissey are catch-all's defensively, being able to check Mence, Zap, Firebirds and Offwaters. P2's function is ultraspecific meaning it is harder to slot due to being a pivot that does not have a "catch all" nature. This means P2 teams become defensively flawed as they do not have enough ability to handle phys mons (Meta, Lax, Ttar) or CMers (Cele, Rachi, Kou), this also is emphasized due to the fact many P2 teams absolutely want Celebi for the ground resist + special check, however Cele is a much worse "catch all" pivot than Zap/Bliss and Zap/Bliss dont synergize well w P2. It is often that Cele wants another "catch all" pivot to boost up the team's defensive capabilities in the special side, this + the spikes weakness that comes from P2's passivity usually means P2 teams struggle to fit levitators on a team due to not being high powered enough (thus not taking advantage of P2's ultraspecific pivot function) or making the team gimped defensively. That paired with the fact P2 wants stallbreakers to really drive home the ability to fuck over Dug Stall, which is the main reason to run P2 for a tour, makes it incredibely difficult to actually build a P2 team




WHAT MAKES MACONHA FESTA SPECIAL?



Maconha festa decided that fuck spinners. One of the main reasons that its hard to build P2 is due to the fact you want a spinner to cover the spikes weakness, however spinners are also ultraspecific and thus there isnt enough upside being taken from them. Instead I decided to rely more on momentum than the usual P2 team, taking a page out of Astamatitos's book and using something akin to his CB Medi / P2 / Cele / DefPert / Jirachi / Aero team. Its evident some of the synergies, Cele was able to BP out to Medi who took advantage of Tar/Bliss/Cele coming in, DefPert was able to hold up play physically and Wish CM Elec Grass Jira took advantage of Medi's ability to lure fliers and abuse tanks while also trading with said tanks, easing up for Aero cleans in the process. My problem is that this was still too spikes weak and Spikeless Aero didnt have enough ham to really clean up, while its role defensively (CMer check, fighter revenge killer, special mon revenge killer) was appreciated, it still fell short when it came to Stall MUs. I do believe this 6 could be revamped and made even better but as it stands I didnt think it provided enough upside and I decided to take a shot at something else while using some ideas here (CM Rachi that trades w tanks, TW+HP Fire P2 to trade and lure Metagross)





HOW MACONHA FESTA WAS STRUCTURED:




I had the idea that to ease up Stall MUs and not being overly reliant on Medi for breaking like Asta's team, the best course of action would be to add a second fighter. I immediately went to Machamp as it would help vs Gar w Guts+HPGhost and vs Ttar with its natural bulk and typing, while also being excellent vs Stall and more classic TSS (another struggle of P2 teams). Then I needed to add Celebi, however I felt that it might be best to go a more offensive route and rely on offense to trade up and use P2 as a pivot instead of going a more passive route with Recover Cele as the extra pivot. This way, to add pressing into opp Cele, extra speed to finish off crippled fliers and a possible late game wincon vs Offense, I added Timid Super Cele, which was still able to check specials a bit and helped at damaging Metagross, which this team needed to have as a compound effort since there is no Water type or Zard/Molt. It is in my belief that every ADV team needs a tox immune and that this tox immune should be a steel type about 99% of the time (Meta/Rachi/Registeel/Forre/Skarm), otherwise your team will suffer vs much of the passive dmg that flies around. In the case of Spikeless, its Meta or Registeel usually or Rachi with Meta/Regirock on Offense and with BlissCune on more niche balances. That said, I decided to break this rule as P2 teams need a good abuser for when Dug is gone and a buffer into Stall, at first I was decided into a bulky SuperJira that was able to trade with tanks and helped on the special side, however the team was undeniably too weak into Meta even with stuff like Fire P2 and what have you so I decided to cook and run CM+Reflect Jirachi to ease up the weakness to tanks (while also allowing Jira to better 1v1 Snorlax). I decided the coverage like Asta and came to the conclusion Elec+Grass was best to beat up Tanks as efficiently as possible with Thunder to 1v1 non TW Blissey. As all mons were able to excellently overwhelm fliers and Champ+Cele for Gar insurance, while also having Double Fighter, TW Fire P2 and SuperCele to really hammer down Skarm, I needed something that was able to handle both Ttar and CMers in a pinch while also being able to clean up if so desired. CB Gon fits this description perfectly, giving myself a cleaner a la Aero in the Asta build, a CMer check and a help vs Ttar while also abusing the flier overwhelm aspect of this build (and a neat thing at how well this team lures Dol). It also loved P2's ability to softcheck Aero, Meta w TW+HP Fire and able to completely shutdown Mence which was Gon's biggest threat vs. This team is able to hang from a defensive standpoint due to how well everything trades vs tanks and fliers with a few "reset" buttons in the forms of pivots like Reflect Jira and P2.




CONCLUSION


MACONHA FESTA is a surprisingly good and unique team, it isnt without its flaws, mainly the fact that it is overreliant on P2's defensive abilities (cant be avoided due to P2 teams explanation) and its somewhat sketchy way to handle threats (relies a lot on softchecking and luring rather than traditional walling methods unlike most pivot style balances or offenses) and the fact Spikes can still be trouble due to the frailty of the defensive pieces. With that in mind, its able to consistently win in most MUs and has very great synergy off the bat, giving chances to outplay every MU. I personally give this a 7/10, its solid but not the best, considering P2's flaws and stuff, its probably my best P2 team to date and one I would bring to Tour in a heartbeat







FEW UNDERSTAND. EVEN FEWER WILL APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE.
 
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The prompt was "No Spikes/Sand/Trappers" (but Pursuit is still allowed). The first thing that came to mind was Boom Spam, a rarely seen archetype these days. When I was first getting into ADV, it was one of my favorite styles to play due to its fast pace and getting Suicune last mon endgame was a reliable win condition for me. However, with the rise of Raikou in the current metagame, it's getting a lot harder to have Suicune sweep everything. So I have come up with an alternative Boom Spam team that hopefully can handle the recent meta developments.

SuiMence + 4 Big Booms

Lead: Suicune
Suicune loves to see Tyranitar in the lead slot, especially teams where Tyranitar is in the lead just to set up sand and switch out. You can instantly clear weather with Rain Dance and enable Snorlax/Regice as switchins for common Suicune switchins like Zapdos/Celebi. It also enables Suicune to chip heal while having a sub and boosts its Surf damage vs Skarmory that wants to Roar it out. The team also has 2 mons weak to Fire, so the rain helps to decrease damage from mons like Charizard/Moltres. Suicune is Timid 275 Speed in order to ensure Smeargle doesn't Spore it, 404 HP so Seismic Toss takes 2 hits to break, and the rest is dumped into Special Attack. Substitute is also amazing to catch Explosions from Houdini Metagross/booms in general since Suicune will usually be faster (other than Gengar).

Tank 1: Regice
If you see Zapdos/Starmie in the lead slot, Regice is a pretty reliable switch. It eats special hits that aren't Fire moves easily and even if Zapdos is able to get a Substitute, Ice Beam is usually breaking the sub for whatever is getting passed to. Spreading paralysis and weakening opposing mons is its usual job, but you may notice that it is running Hidden Power Fire instead of Thunderbolt. This is to hit Skarmory/Metagross for some super effective damage, but more importantly it hits Forretress really hard. We hate to see Spikes get set up, so most of the mons on this team are running some form of coverage to hit the popular spikers for more significant damage.

Tank 2: Snorlax
The other specially tanky wall is Snorlax; unlike most sets that utilize Curse as a boosting move, this is running 4 attacks and is meant to get big damage in immediately. The ideal situation would be to have Snorlax clicking Focus Punch on a switch-in like Skarmory/Tyranitar thinking that it is clicking Curse. Snorlax is here for a good time, not a long time; once you feel its utility has run its course, try to Self-Destruct and get big damage in. The goal is to hopefully trade at least 1 mon from your opponent's team that will enable Salamence in the back.

Semi-Tank 3: Claydol
There are 4 mons weak to Spikes on this team, so it's imperative that we have a spinner to deal with them. Claydol seems to be the perfect choice as it can clear hazards while representing Explosion, though you should be wary about doing so. Having special walls is nice, but having a mon immune to Electric+Ground moves is even better, so make sure you account for unrevealed mons in the back. Aerodactyl is also quite scary and having a healthy Claydol to check it would be much more preferable to exploding early.

Wild Card: Metagross
Okay I know what you're thinking, but hear me out! I think Swampert poses a pretty big threat to the team and is one of the hardest mons to reliably KO in ADV. It is a traditional answer to Metagross and stops it from spamming physical moves. This is where special Metagross comes in as a lure for Swampert. It is running Hidden Power Grass specifically to take a big chunk out of Swampert's health (usually around 70-80%, possibly OHKO on more offensive variants). It is also running Thunder Punch to hit Skarmory and inflict significant damage; the 10% paralysis chance is also nice when it procs. Defensive Starmie has been very popular recently and will surely get 2HKO switching into what they think is a Meteor Mash only to eat a super-effective special hit.

Win Condition: Salamence
One of the scariest endgame sweepers in the game, Salamence can try to clean up once most of its checks are eliminated. This is the set that many affectionately refer to as "Penguin-mence," which means it does not make use of its STAB Hidden Power Flying and opts for coverage moves like Earthquake, Brick Break, and Rock Slide. It is EVd to live unboosted Ice Beam from mons like Blissey and therefore Dragon Dance a second time, boosting its kill potential even further. Rock Slide spam is always a potential way to achieve victory (budget Aerodactyl) and flinch your way to victory. Another useful aspect of Salamence is simply as an Intimidate switchin, which helps soften the blow of physical attacks for other mons. Example: Let's say you have Suicune vs Swampert. Switch Salamence into Swampert EQ, Intimidate it, then switch back to Suicune on the Ice Beam and Swampert has to switch out because EQ won't do enough to break Suicune Substitute.

Shoutouts to Zettscord for giving me some feedback before I made this post <3
 
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https://pokepast.es/ea773d6b2b2aeda9

Welcome to CM Pass "Almost Slop", a team that I recently built not with this competition in mind, but which happens to have "No Spikes No Sand and No Trappers". The concept of this team started out as "CM Pass/Special Offense but I break through Blissey without using Dugtrio" and eventually settled into the current state, which one user on discord noted was "on the cusp of slop" after the inclusion of EndPert. So this is "almost slop" because I have to differentiate the 400 teams in my builder somehow. The current state of the team is more of a mixed offense with CM Pass as an option, but the origins of the idea are useful for discussing how we ended up with certain options. With that out of the way, let's first discuss the mon that the team started out around:

Mon 1: The Blissey Sitter: SubCM Jirachi
If you want to pressure Blissey without trapping it with Dug (or pressuring it with Spikes/Sand/Boom, as this team would mostly end up with), SubCM Jirachi is a good start. Since this team isn't running Dugtrio and thus lacks the means to ensure the removal of Tyranitar, Ice Punch/Thunderbolt coverage is needed over Psychic/Fire coverage. This is going to be one of our main win conditions depending on the matchup, along with another mon we'll get to later.

Mon 2: The Puncher (?): Endeavor Swampert
Say hello to our helpful friend capable of wearing down opposing walls for our Calm Mind Sweepers and DD Mence to break through, EndPert. Under the initial CM Pass/Spec Off plan, the idea here was to run Offensive Swampert with Pump/Beam/EQ/Focus Punch, and have OffPert act as another CM Pass recipient that could threaten Blissey with EQ/Punch. This was not ineffective, but it was ultimately doubling down on defeating Blissey when we actually need Swampert's help to pressure a variety of special walls. Snorlax ulimately ended up being a significant roadblock for the OffPert version of this team, and as such EndPert is here to help out. Able to pressure Snorlax/Regice/Registeel with the threat of Endeavor, Toxic to still wear down Blissey and Celebi, and still potentially threatening with a CM Pass into Hydro Pump, Endpert provides this team with much-needed ability to take a CM and force damage on special walls.

Mons 3/4: Lead CB Metagross and Zapdos
Our "lead" is CB Metagross, which provides immediate breaking power and high damage output. But the turn 1 gameplan is almost always to go to Zapdos to get ahead of the opponents response to Meta, and then force out the special/electric check and formulate your gameplan for breaking through that check. Common T1 Metagross switches like Skarmory and Swampert are unlikely to stay in on Zapdos, meanwhile common leads that threaten Zapdos like Tyranitar or the less common Regirock likely won't stay in on unrevealed Meta, or at the very least won't be selecting an option that threatens Zapdos. EndPert is also viable as a lead on this team with much the same strategy as leading CB Meta--send it out and then immediately call it back. Opposing Zapdos can disrupt this plan, but our own Celebi is a good answer for that. Speaking of...

Mon 5: CM Pass Celebi
...acts as our immediate answer to Zapdos and can supply calm minds to Zapdos, EndPert, or even our other CMer in Jirachi. Celebi/Zapdos both have Baton Pass to be able to pivot around the opponent's response, and Zap with a free turn can set up a Substitute to pass as well. There's not much to say about this set, except that HP Fire is needed here to threaten opposing Celebi and Jirachi.

Mon 6: DD Mence
Depending on the matchup, Fly/Slide/BB Coverage on Mence can either provide useful coverage to chip some important targets for your special threats, or act as a win condition if you've spent the rest of the game acting as if you've got CM Pass with CB Meta as your only big physical threat. This is why our Turn 1 gameplan is to switch out immediately as opposed to taking damage in a favorable lead matchup--the opponent's responses to Meta/Zapdos will determine whether we want to use Salamence in the midgame to force chip damage, opening opportunities for our CMers, or if we want to do the opposite and have our CMers break through roadblocks to a DDMence win like Swampert, Metagross and Jirachi.
 
MAGIC MICHAEL × HOUDINI SLOPPY MAKEOUT SESH



https://pokepast.es/a93f942627a39219



WHY ALAKAZAM?



I personally best find my footing in these competitions by thinking of out-of-the-box Pokémon or sets first and then trying to support them. Alakazam attracted me for 2 main reasons, which are Encore and its speed tier.



Encore is an amazing move that makes your opponent repeat a move. Its speed tier means that Encore outspeeds every single Calm Mind or Swords Dance user, most Substitute users, and even some slow Dragon Dance sets. Finding the right opportunities to switch in Alakazam is key, as Alakazam is able to both use opposing setup Pokémon as opportunities for its own setup and force Pokémon to use Recover or Protect repeatedly.



Alakazam also outspeeds the majority of the metagame. It comfortably outspeeds base 100 Pokémon and Starmie, while speed tying Jolly max speed Dugtrio, meaning it also wins vs any slower version of Dugtrio which is very helpful.



I've decided to run Psychic and Fire Punch on this set for psychic/fire coverage and I've invested exactly enough special attack to 1HKO 4 hp EV Heracross from full without setting up because I think some bulk on Alakazam could be helpful.



BUILDING PROCESS



I've decided that I wanted to use Alakazam on a really offensive team that tries to sweep through balance and stall teams while using Alakazam to turn the setup from opposing offensive teams into its own setup.



I didn't want to use a Rapid Spin Pokémon, because I think that locks my team too much into a bulkier kind of offense that I don't think meshes well with Alakazam.



Given Alakazam's spikes weakness, however, I couldn't leave spikes entirely unaddressed, so I'd decided to use a lead Zapdos + choice band Metagross core. I've used this combination before to great success. I think it has great lines because it allows you to switch into Metagross early and explode Skarmory against balance while still having all the advantages of a lead Zapdos.



Zapdos is Thunder Wave to paralyze opposing electric types. It has Hidden Power Grass to hit Swampert and Baton Pass to pivot and do Baton Pass chains with Celebi. The spread allows it to have just enough bulk for crucial targets while maximizing offensive power for good hits against Metagross and Skarmory. The speed is a bit low, but the team can check adamant Heracross and Moltres is in an inconvenient spot in the metagame right now, so I think it's excusable for the sake of the other benefits.



Metagross is choice band to spam Meteor Mash into opposing offenses and to click Explosion early into Skarmory vs spikes teams.



Celebi is just a standard Calm Mind + Baton Pass set to pass stat boosts to Zapdos/Alakazam/Swampert. I made it Psychic over Giga Drain to hit Salamence harder, though Giga Drain will help with the Tyranitar matchup.



Swampert is the team's rock resist and Metagross and DDMence check and has a Calm Mind recipient set that allows it to break opposing Blissey and become a powerful threat with boosts passed to it. I've decided on Swampert over Suicune because the actual rock resistance is very vital on this team due to the poor Aerodactyl matchup.

Salamence serves several vital functions on this team. It checks Charizard while being able to wield Intimidate vs Aerodactyl teams. I'd decided on a bulky Dragon Dance Brick Break set because Brick Break serves the vital function of KOing Blissey and Tyranitar. This set helps a lot with sweeping vs weakened balance teams considering the team's Tyranitar weakness. I'd decided on Vapicuno's Refresh DD Brick set because Refresh allows it to set up on Milotic, and thus it improves the stall matchup by hurting Milotic/Blissey/Claydol all at the same time.

TEAM WEAKNESSES

The team's primary weakness is Aerodactyl and Tyranitar. You may need to make trades to prevent Aerodactyl from becoming too much of a threat in the endgame and the team's gameplan overall vs an alive Tyranitar is a little reliant on using Salamence cleverly.

USAGE TIPS

Have good metagame knowledge. Explode on Skarmory early vs balance teams and spam Meteor Mash vs offense teams. Use BrickMence intelligently and make strong predictions to bring Alakazam in on vital turns.
 
I have been trying a bunch of mixed-off variants recently on the ladder and this seemed like a cool one to share for the comp:

Basic Ideas:
I was interested in building around the classic Breloom+Pursuit Mixoff combo but giving it a bit of a modern "sloppy" twist. Given Tar was banned, Houndoom is really the best fit for a Pursuit trapper. It's synergy with Breloom is pretty well understood - they have natural type synergy and Doom can be used to trap and remove natural Breloom answers like Celebi and Gengar which come in to take its fighting attacks.
When using Breloom, you either want to lead it (which is kind of inconsistent IMO), or use a mon to help position it in front of passive walls to help it get the Spore-Focus Punch momentum going. This has traditionally been done by Zapdos, but here I wanted to try a different take and use Vaporeon. It tends to have good lead MUs (aside from opposing Zap) and often forces big damage on a phazer like Skarm/Zap, gets Breloom in against special walls like Bliss/Snorlax, or gets Houndoom in against Celebi.

To cover lead Zapdos and add some defensive solidity, I next added a Registeel. It can come in Turn 1 vs Zap and force it out/Toss it down. As is well known at this point, it's generally a great catch all mixed wall for these teams which can spread paralysis, chip things, and doesn't cede momentum due to Explosion/Counter. It can be weak to Gengar, Fire types and Leech Seeding but this is well covered by Houndoom.

Finally, I wanted to have two offensive cleaners which can take advantage of the damage done by the first 4 members and the Sub-Pass setup opportunities created by Vaporeon. Raikou has a natural and well understood synergy with Breloom and Houndoom. Many of its checks like Claydol, Dug, Physical Tyranitar and Blissey will get slept, trapped, Burned or beaten-up by these two mons, leaving it free to reach havoc in the endgame. It also provides nice immediate speed and power which the team was lacking and can be a great momentum reverser vs special attackers in the late game. Finally Dragon Dance Salamence is almost an auto-include here. It is needed to be a late game cleaner against Aero and Dug teams, especially given against the latter we can't always ensure we can trap Dug with the Mach Punch-Pursuit combo. It can help break Blissey for Raikou with Brick Break and can punish Dug's Earthquake lock-ins against Houndoom, Registeel and Raikou.


Set Details & Explanations:
  • vaporeon.png.m.1753797560
    : Here we are using Subsititute, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam and Baton Pass. Vaporeon should try to sub turn 1 if the opponent is inclined to switch and can then respond to the switch-in by attacking or Passing appropriately. Against Meta and Skarm you should try to get damage off (Meta will find it hard to boom into potential Sub and you can scout the set/lock in). Against Mence I typically hard-switch Breloom to avoid the intimidate being passed. Against Zap and Suicune we hard-switch into Registeel: other options could be justified against Suicune here but I think this is safest. In terms of EVs I have added enough hp to live Modest Zap Thunderbolt from full (and make >101 hp subs), enough Special attack to 1HKO bulkless Tar and have hit 222 speed. The remaining EVs have been put into defence. You could definitely consider going faster/stronger here but I think having some defence is useful here as it allows us to be a better mid-game Mence/Meta switch-in and potential late-game DD-Mence check. You can also 1v1 things like lead Medicham which is nice.​
  • breloom.png.m.1753797560
    : We are using the standard mono-fighting set with Spore, Focus Punch, Sky Uppercut and Mach Punch. I have gone for a Jolly nature to get the jump on the many mons hanging around the 244 speed benchmark and I am using Black Belt with 252 Atk for power. Breloom doesn't really value its longevity - most games you will get it in, Spore, Focus Punch and then switch out to be sacked off or get 1 more hit off later on in the battle. The only real exception to this is if you think they have DD-Tar.​
  • houndoom.png.m.1753797560
    : I chose to use Fire Blast, Pursuit, Will-o-Wisp and Beat Up here. Sacrificing Crunch can make Gengar more awkward at times, especially if they have spikes down, but I found the team generally sequences well against Gar teams with Breloom often baiting in Gengar before this happens, allowing for the trap to be done with pursuit. The up-side of dropping this is that, with Will-o-Wisp and Beat up, Houndoom can act like an auxiliary breaker (akin to Zard on MixedOff) which many teams struggle immensely to switch into. People often don't respect these coverage options and get punished for it. In terms of EVs, I have gone for 252+ SpAtk for power, 40 hp Evs to live CB Meta Mash + Sand, 274 raw speed for Smeargle (and most DD-Mence) and put the remaining EVs in SpD.​
  • registeel.png.m.1753797560
    : Registeel is using the standard Seismic Toss, Thunder wave, Counter, Explosion set with near Max Special bulk and Speed creep for Blissey. This is the defensive Glue mon on the team and should be brought in when out of position vs Special attackers in the early-mid game, or to switch into Rock Slide/Meteor Mash lock-ins. Unlike on some Slop teams, you shouldn't really boom into recover spammers unless necessary. Things like DefMie and Celebi can be Pursuited by Houndoom after being Paralysed and you might want Registeel as a 1 time check to the likes of Meta or DD-Mence in the endgame. Also, don't spam T-Wave until Breloom has spored!​
  • raikou.png.m.1753797560
    : Here we are using Timid SuperKou with Thunderbolt, hp Grass, Crunch and Calm Mind. Other options could be considered here but, given we are dropping crunch on Houndoom, it is nice to have another tool for Gengar. Modest is very appealing but there is so much Endpert flying around on the ladder at the moment that timid is just too valuable. It is generally best to preserve Raikou's hp for the endgame, but you do sometimes need to bring it in the the early-mid game if you are worried a Suicune might get out of hand.​
  • salamence.png.m.1753797560
    : Penguin-Mence: Dragon Dance, Rock Slide, Brick Break, Earthquake. This is justified on this team given we have a lot of pressure on Celebi, Gengar and Claydol with Breloom, Houndoom and Crunch Raikou and so don't really need hp Flying to take these out. As a result, we can have the greedy coverage to hit all Mence's other checks. Like Raikou, Mence should generally try to preserve its health for late game in order to have the best sweeping potential. In many situations, it can be used to break Blissey with + 1 BB to allow as Raikou sweep. As with most MixedOff DD-Mence, I have added a lot of bulk to take Ice Beams from Bold Bliss, Ice Punch from Def-Gar (if needed) and comfortably stomach Ice Beams from Pert. We also have the Physical bulk to (15/16) live Rock-Slide from Jolly Tar, which can be invaluable in endgame situations.​
Overall performance
houndoom-gen2.jpg

For a team with 4BLs, this team has actually performed pretty well for me in practice, winning a lot in the 1700s. It's also just really fun to use and there is a lot of outplay potential/skill expression in terms of how you use Vaporeon and get traps off with Houndoom.
The main problem MU with the team is physical offence. We don't have a dedicated physical wall and so we are very dependent on positioning to beat these teams. Vaporeon + Will-o-Wisp + Mence Intimidate all help but, for example, if you end up out of position vs Snorlax and it starts Cursing, it is very difficult to reign it in. We also don't really have a good fighter check given our Mence set, but this can be Bluffed if needed in the early-Middle game.
One other issue I found in practice was Blissey. We only have one mon in Breloom that threatens Blissey to switch reliably and so, if you aren't able to lure it with Beat Up, DD-Mence or Registeel Boom, you can just lose to it in an endgame. You can often get creative with Vaporeon to avoid this by trying to Sub-Pass on turns it wants to heal, but this cannot be done indefinitely. I think this has to be kept in mind when playing.

Anwways, I hope people like the team. Thanks for reading!
 
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Ice-e and the Gang

https://pokepast.es/4a1152ab13fa4747

Building a team that is sandless, spikeless, and trapperless is building a team without the best parts of ADV OU. Therefore, its gonna have its faults. It's still possible to create a cool and interesting team though, and that's what i set out to do.



Idea

There are 2 BL mons that I believe are currently underrated: Regice and Machamp.
That's the base that i started with, so let's go over some strengths and weaknesses.



First Regice :Regice: :

  • Strengths

Strongest unboosted ice beam in OU

Incredible Special Bulk

Good Utility in Twave, Explosion, Psych Up

Boltbeam coverage

Not as easily Dug trapped as Blissey

  • Weaknesses
Spikes and sand weak

Cannot wall fires

No reliable recovery

Weak explosion

Slower than Blissey



Regice is our special wall of the team, to switchin to most special threats and fight back with strong ice beams. I think there is a misconception that Regice needs to run explosion. I think that without Dug explosion is complete garbage on Regice. You are slower than blissey so you can't stop soft-boiled and you can't ohko them, let alone any mon, either due to our lackluster attack stat. Therefore, for our Regice, we will be running psych up + 3 attacks, a tech that I got from Flanky. Psych up allows regice to be a direct counter to any CMer copying their boosts and nullifying them, granted no crit. With ice beam for celebi, tbolt for suicune, and hpfire for jirachi we have supereffective coverage for the 3 big cm sweepers in the tier. As for Regice's other weaknesses we will be calling in assistance from Vaporeon :Vaporeon: . One thing that I failed to mention before, was that rest + roar Suicune, can actually tank two post psych up tbolts and roar us out, so they can kind of loop us since our team is quite slow. Vaporeon alleviates this issue with water absorb completely countering mono water suicune. Regice has natural synergy with lead Vaporeon as, Vap forces out most leads in the meta, and the ones that it doesn't are easily switched in on by Regice. Along with wish support from Vap, Regice can last surprisingly long even with sand and spikes up. Vap also helps with the fire mon issue as it can switchin easily and ohkos all with surf with our investment. This investment also allows you to 2hko defgar and metagross after some chip. Vap is heavily defense invested making it an impromptu metagross and swampert switchin as well.



Now Machamp :Machamp: :

  • Strengths
Bulkiest of the fighters in OU

Guts, dissuading status

Stong setup with Bulk Up

  • Weaknesses
Cross Chop accuracy

Slow

Sand and Spikes weak



Machamp is the main breaker of the team, and will be used most against slower balance and stall teams. Whereas Regice can often struggle versus common TSS cores, Machamp excels. Tyranitar and Blissey, two mons that are very tough for our Regice, hate to see a Machamp coming. A line that was very common in testing was Vap vs. Tar lead. They switch to blissey on my sub, and i pass sub to Machamp. With the set we are running, Bulk Up Machamp, this line completely desroys their composition within the first two turns of the match, as they will struggle to find a switchin, taking heavy damage on their tanks or losing a mon. With our investment max modest blissey can never break a vap sub with ice beam adding on to the pain they will experience. Against faster teams you will generally want to trade against high priority targets such as metagross and swampert.



The rest of the team

Claydol :Claydol:

Alluding back to Regice's and Machamp's weaknesses, we mentioned a sand and spikes weakness. Claydol makes the most sense here to alleviate spikes as it also helps with our matchup against rock spam while providing a much needed levitate mon. There isn't much to say about this mon, but we are running a slightly strange option. Most people wouldn't run psychic-less claydol without a pursuit trapper, but in testing I found that gengar was very easily handled by the rest of the team, often forced to trade with machamp or regice. I do think psychic is the safe choice especially aginst a smart opponent who will preserve their gengar to keep up spikes, but ladder is not smart, so we are running ice beam to help our matchup against salamence and enough defense to live two boosted hp flys from standard spdef dd mence. The rest of the EVs are put into attack for a stronger eq and explosion.



Metagross and Salamence :Metagross: :Salamence:

I will talk about these two together, as they serve a similar function while having known synergy together. Agility metagross and dd mence act as our sweepers and speed control of the team. Metagross is running a standard set with enough bulk to live boosted eq from tyranitar and salamence, and enough speed to outspeed +1 mence. Meanwhile, Salamence is a bulky spdef variant with enough spdef to live dclaw from mixmence, icebeam from defpert, and ice punch from defgar. Fire blast is another breaking tool to help the team against a skarm that who thinks they deserve to live.



Threats and Counters

  • Fire Punch Superachi
While regice is able to counter most cm sweepers, fire punch superrachi is the one exception. With serene grace, fire punch has a 20% chance to burn, and if it does, it's joever.

  • Jolly SD Heracross
Not much to say here, everything is slower than it and gets ohkod. no real way around it, except making mence really fast????

  • Destiny Bond
If a defensive team is running a ghost type, be wary of destiny bond. Losing machamp in this way makes the matchup a lot harder.

  • Gyarados
Not really a counter, but is annoying since none of the mons on the team deal with it very cleanly. Try to boom it when it DDs.



Conclusion

We have a very strong team with good matchups into common TSS structures and special offense. There are some flaws with the team, as i admit in the post. A lot of strength of the team does come from surprise factor, so bluffing moves you don't have, e.g. twave and explosion on regice and ice beam of vap, is a key component of running this squad. I have had pretty good success with this team on the ladder in the 1600 and 1700s. I hope you give my team a try, and i hope you enjoy it!
-Booga​
 
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Hydro Hurricane (H.O.)

This team is designed to get rid of Tyranitar with Zapdos and then use mons that benefit from Sand being gone the most. It could use a little Dug but the plan was trapless; usually I'd recommend Dug over Cune since double water is a bit Zap weak.

252+ Atk Choice Band Zapdos Hidden Power Fighting vs. 252 HP / 0 Def 30 IVs Tyranitar: 363-428 (89.8 - 105.9%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Zapdos Hidden Power Fighting vs. 4 HP / 0 Def 30 IVs Tyranitar: 363-428 (106.1 - 125.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

From the calcs, you have a very good chance of getting rid of Ttar turn one. If not, your Zapdos will likely either eat a Rock Slide, or get DDed on and then you'll want to sack. If you can't get rid of Ttar turn 1, you'll probably have to just forget the weather clear plan until it's gone; don't even bother constantly changing the weather and then having Ttar switch in and ruin it for you.

Zapdos @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 56 SpA / 200 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Thunder
- Drill Peck
- Rain Dance
Yes, CB RD is real (finally)! The whole game plan is to destroy the opposing Tyranitar without a Dug in the back, you have to go all in. If you CB RD, you obviously have to switch out.
56 SpA Zapdos Thunder vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 297-350 (88.9 - 104.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

Thunder is basically a 1/3 chance of OHKOing Skarm, so you're somewhat ensured there. Against Mence I would switch to Suicune and Ice Beam, and against Meta you should probably switch to Suicune and sub up for the possible boom. Against opposing Zap I would click Drill Peck, expecting a BP to Celebi, Blissey or Snorlax. Otherwise just Thunder. You might want to preserve Zapdos at full HP to keep them from noticing you have a CB so they switch in with their Ttar. However, after turn 1 you'll eat Sand chip, so they might notice something's up and switch back out.

Kingdra @ Petaya Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 192 HP / 252 SpA / 64 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Substitute / Surf / Toxic

+1 252+ SpA 30 IVs Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory in Rain: 350-412 (104.7 - 123.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ SpA 30 IVs Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 144 HP / 136+ SpD Snorlax in Rain: 286-337 (57.5 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Try to only use Sub when Rain isn't already around, lol. Or when it is and you know they don't have a Protect mon (or use it when you expect about 50% of damage to be dealt and you're slower, but that's rather inconsistent). Meant to be kind of a nuke. You can go a more bulky Lefties route, and use Surf as a guaranteed accuracy move when you know Pump's better BP won't be needed, if you want. Personally, I like Toxic in the fourth slot, but it's up to you. I haven't tried out Gorebyss extensively but that's another option. It's surprisingly good on H.O. because it hits like a truck (and you get a BP mon). Something like Mystic Water RD Pump IB Surf/BP/Toxic. And no I am not clever for using Gorebyss. Or you can use Omastar. Main positive traits are it's immune to Sand and you can feign Spikes to go all in with a RD set.

(Bonus calc)
252+ SpA 30 IVs Mystic Water Gorebyss Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross in Rain: 351-414 (96.4 - 113.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 244 Atk / 252 Def / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Earthquake / Brick Break
- Shadow Ball
- Curse
One of the 3 mons that benefit from sand being gone the most. You can freely get to +2 (or more) and really wreck the opp with sand gone. Brick Break hits Ttar for big damage so that may be a more viable option if you want to go that route. But usually you can just weaken it for a Zapdos finish (and hope they don't read the CB HP Fighting strat from no Lefties). But you have to make sure to not get it into expected Tbolt/Thunder range so they get surprised.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Rain Dance / Hidden Power [Fire] / Pursuit
- Psychic
- Explosion
Psychic can dent Pert and you have enough offense on this team to where you don't need EQ. Boom is necessary on this style of team to get rid of bulky mons, especially bulky waters. I'm a big fan of mixed Meta but if you want to use a more standard one here I could see EQ over Psychic and an Adamant nature phys build. You can also use HP Fire over RD so Forre is out of the way and you have a better way to hit Skarm. Pursuit is another option over RD/HP Fire that can get rid of Gar/Aero more consistently.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 192 SpA / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Substitute
Sub is good for setting up on Blissey, setting up more CMs in a weak opp's face, and evading boom. One of the big 3 rain mons, you can get to +6 a lot easier with sand gone.

Heracross @ Salac Berry
Ability: Guts / Swarm
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Swords Dance
- Hidden Power [Ghost] / Megahorn

Hidden Power Ghost is because otherwise Gengar hard walls your SwarmHorn Hera and burns everything else, and I didn't like that in the game plan. You can run SwarmHorn if you'd like, sometimes it 1v6s. One of the big 3 rain mons because Salac isn't as huge of a gamble as it is when sand is up. Not really a fan of this mon because of how defensively unvaluable it is, but in hyper offense it's great. You could alternatively run 285 Spe Jolly in case you want to SD against a DDing Mence and then Endure the next turn, hoping to get a jump on it with Reversal after your Salac activates.

The team is defensively weak to Zapdos and Hera makes it liable to get set up on by DDMence/DDGyara so you have to pick your turns carefully. Try to position yourself to get rid of bulky waters and special walls like Blissey/Snorlax after Ttar is gone, as they're defensively the other thing that shuts this team down.
 
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CMPass GarZard :zapdos: :celebi: :gengar: :charizard: :jirachi: :regirock:

I was always a fan of CMPass and CMOff in general, but it was always quite weak to Aerodactyl and DDMence due to Dug being a momentum sink (Agility Pass Zap used to fix this but RIP), so a few months ago I tried fixing this by ditching Dug altogether and finding other ways to kill Blissey and the other special checks while, preferably, keeping the CMPass identity.

Teambuilding process:

Since most of this team was built a bit ago, some details are a little muddy. I initially took a CMPass team I already had (Zap Celebi Jirachi Suicune Dug Regirock) but, obviously, ditched Dug and decided to slot Gengar in for luring Blissey and then booming, opting for Wisp to help deal with Lax. However, of course, one single mon for dealing with Bliss, especially when relying on getting the boom right, is far from enough, so I also decided to slot another CM recipient that could handle Bliss and I ended up settling for BUZard and, initially, dropped Jirachi, however, I realized I was sorely missing Normal resists, so I slotted Jirachi back in (Also experimenting with Tyranitar > Zapdos as a way to help vs Blissey and Snorlax).

When this teambuilding comp round dropped, I got reminded of that team and decided to give it another try. After some more games and watching Darth Tyros's SpecOff guide, I was inspired to try MixZap lead instead of SubPass Zap as a way to help deal with Tyranitar (as CBRegirock as the only Tyranitar check is easy to wear down + Blissey and Celebi were still annoying so having extra tools against them doesn't hurt.

Lead: Mixed Zapdos :zapdos:
Usually, you want to run SubPass Zapdos to pass a sub to Dugtrio for trapping Blissey/Celebi or giving extra turns to the CMers, however, when lacking said Dug, SubPass isn't as necessary, as you'll rely on lures to remove the Special walls, freeing the zap set to be something else (or even a whole other pokemon). As said above, Zapdos allows you to hit Tyranitar t1 for good damage, you'll often lose the Zapdos, but you'll also often leave Tyranitar in range of other stuff such as Regirock HP Bug and +1 Jirachi HP Grass (148 Atk Zapdos Hidden Power Fighting vs. 248 HP / 0 Def 30 IVs Tyranitar: 204-240 (50.6 - 59.5%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery // 208+ Atk 30 IVs Choice Band Regirock Hidden Power Bug vs. 248 HP / 0 Def 30 IVs Tyranitar: 187-220 (46.4 - 54.5%) -- 8.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery // +1 252 SpA 30 IVs Jirachi Hidden Power Grass vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD 30 IVs Tyranitar: 192-226 (47.6 - 56%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery). Notably, HP Fighting also helps finish Blissey after Gengar booms it.
Drill Peck also helps immensely into fighters, especially at lead, which can often be quite tough to switch into as CMPass, especially with no Dugtrio to trap said fighters after trading something into them.

The passer: Celebi :celebi:
Not much to say here. It's CMPass and the second best option for doing that is Lunatone or something like that (lol). Opted for Psychic over Giga Drain because Gengar felt like a big annoyance for the team, however, Giga might be good for helping finish Ttar too. Do note that the Celebi is EV'd to outspeed Timid Moltres, meaning you can either hit it on the switch with Psychic and then finish it off or Baton Pass to something else that can take the hit well.

Special Lure 1: Gengar :gengar:
Not many options for mons with strong special attacks + ways to hit Blissey and the speed is appreciated, so Gengar was the obvious first include here. Runs Thunderbolt for the big Skarmory damage + Ice Punch to help deal with Salamence, which is a big problem, hitting Flygon, Zapdos and Celebi too are nice bonuses. Wisp for Snorlax, Tyranitar and baiting Blissey into thinking WispTaunt. Boom for owning Blissey and denying setup.

Special Lure 2: Charizard :charizard:
The other obvious option would've been Salamence, however, being owned by Blissey Ice Beam and having a weaker STAB sucks. So, Charizard it is. Importantly, it also helps deal with opposing Metagross (except agilslide). Has Flame for reliable STAB, HP Grass for Swampert and sniping the bulky waters on the switch, DClaw for decent neutral damage + dealing with Mence and Beat Up for Blissey, being a 2hko as long as you have like 5 healthy mons. Just like Gengar, being not-grounded helps the also-annoying Spikes matchup for CMPass.

CM Sweeper: Superrachi :jirachi:
Normal Resist, also resists rock, which is very useful vs non-slide DDMence, Bulky Tyranitar and Aerodactyl, again, not much to say other than it goes to town after the special wall is removed. Beware of Dugtrio, though. Psychic as it's stab, HP Grass for TTar/Swampert/Bulky Waters and Fire Punch for Meta/Skarmory mainly.

The Physical Check: Regirock :regirock:
HUGE defense stat and normal resist, man's the goat. Chuck a CB so it's even harder to switch into and poses a bigger immediate threat into things like Snorlax (208+ Atk Regirock Superpower vs. +1 144 HP / 132 Def Snorlax: 183-216 (36.8 - 43.4%) -- 99.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery // 208+ Atk Choice Band Regirock Superpower vs. +1 144 HP / 132 Def Snorlax: 275-324 (55.3 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery) and, oddly enough, even Blissey (208+ Atk Choice Band Regirock Superpower vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 685-806 (105.2 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO // 208+ Atk Regirock Superpower vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 457-538 (70.1 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery). HP Bug so it can snipe Celebi/Claydol trying to come in/finish Tyranitar off without dropping attack and defense (very helpful into subtar).

Overall plan:
You want to eliminate any rocks and special walls ASAP so you can more quickly go to town. Into stall, you often rely on the two main lures to kill Blissey and use Celebi as the Milotic/Suicune switch-in to rack-up calm minds and baton pass to either Jirachi or Gengar, however, Dugtrio is something to be careful with, so you'll often prefer going to Gengar, so either of them can break. Into Spikes in general, you want to lure the spiker in with Celebi as you Calm Mind and then hit it with a +1 HP Fire as it's forced to roar you out (or probably lose if it sacrifices HP to Spike up). Into offense, you'll usually rely on good trades with stuff such as HP Fighting Zapdos and the two boomers to stifle any problematic sweepers such as DDMence and DDTar, though there are many offenses, so the approach will change from matchup to matchup. Most of the plans will boil down to "get rid of problem mons and go to town with CM", of course.

Some of the issues for the team:
- Metagross can be scary if you lose Zapdos, as Zard can't switch in forever. Jirachi and Regirock can work as emergency checks but beware. :metagross:
- Twave Blissey can mess up your lures and trip you up so be careful against it. To be honest, Twave as a whole is annoying as the team quite likes having speed and has no immunities to it. :blissey:
- Rockspam is still troublesome, especially since you don't have Dug to trap Tyranitar anymore. :tyranitar: :aerodactyl:
- Some other grounds and rocks such as Claydol, offensive Swampert and Regirock, as you don't have Giga Drain on Celebi nor a Suicune. :claydol: :swampert: :regirock:
- Jolteon can spread a bunch of paralysis with Twave or hit Celebi on the switch with HP Ice, so if you can trade Twaves with Zap vs it, that can help a great deal. :jolteon:
- Milotic can be hard to deal with if opponent gets spikes and can wear Celebi down and eliminate Zapdos. :milotic:
- Firebirds can be a little hard to switch into and can come into both Jirachi and Celebi, sometimes needing a Celebi/Jirachi trade or a Charizard trade. Fortunately, Mixed Salamence, who's often lumped in with the Firebirds, is easier to deal with due to DClaw on Zard (beware of pumpmence) and Ice Punch on Gengar. :moltres: :charizard:
- Snorlax can still be annoying if it wears Regirock down or Wisp misses (or if it's restlax) :snorlax:

Despite having quite a few issues, many of the ones listed here are more akin to warnings than true big issues (such as Raikou for El Classico, for example) and can be dealt with through tight play. However, of course, the nature of CMPass is not super consistent, but it's far from bad in my honest opinion and can be a good tool to have in a player's kit.

Possible changes to be considered
- Bulky 3a + boom Metagross resists Rock and, therefore, might be a good alternative to Regirock to help switch into rock moves, however, it does make it harder to deal with ground and normal moves (Leftovers is appreciated too). :metagross:
- Giga Drain over Psychic on Celebi to help deal with grounds, Suicune and Swampert. :celebi:
- Baton Pass on Zapdos over Drill Peck to help keep Calm Mind chains going if Zap is forced out. :zapdos: Edit: Protect might be a good move there too to help scout any CB locks and possibly help with a little bit of longevity in certain situations, possibly also being able to drop Twave?
- Tyranitar over Regirock so sand can help deal with Snorlax, Suicune and Milotic, however, not only would that break this round's premise, but it would also require other changes to help make up for the overall loss in physical resistance. :tyranitar:
 
Alllllright, I think we got a good one guys- https://pokepast.es/9cae27c367ecdf33

So the vibes with this team is that I aim to inhibit the opponent's potential to stack hazards, preferably early as possible. I do not have an easy way to get rid of Skarm/Forre so the approaches to the matter are rather unconventional. With the elimination of one of them (may come with some heavy opportunity cost) I plan to open up the floor to the other physical attackers and Suicune. With an evident physical wall gone the pressure of physical atks increase, and the team is situated with powerful boosters and dangerous moves. Jolteon is the ultimate speed check and cm/roarCune can give cmBliss a run for her eggs. So lets discuss the good, the bad, the all.



Despite the ordering of the title I do find myself using Metagross as a much more consistent lead
:Metagross: @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion

Standard CB business.
Metagross is such an offensive threat with high potency. Yes there are pokemon that can stomach the CB mm but can they dance with +1?
Skarm is a consistent switch into this...so you have 2 options.
#1: mashmashmashmash
#2: boom it

Option 1 is likely to occur when Skarm switches into Gross taking a mm upon entry. Barring the random weirdos who run impish Skarm, CB mm usu does around 35%~
Just a 4hko considering protect and it is giving Skarm free spikes but this is not folly. The bird is getting batted up to be dealt with later on, switching into CB mm puts Skarm at 42% after two consec hits. These are ideal ranges for Snorlax foc punches, let Cune cm once then eliminate it, or have it yield to the authority of Gyara's taunt.
[Con] your side of the field could get messy and may not be easily cleaned if you get spinblocked

Option 2 is as you see it. Bursting with emotion and radiance, this a declaration that solemnly states: f*ck your spikes.
I think CB boom kills standard Skarm and it should almost kill Forre. Yeeeah none of that mess over here, no thanks.
[Con] an early-game move; MUs throughout the game may have restraints
This 1for1 does not advocate for immediate offensive presence. An oppo's central defensive pivot may be gone but that doesn't mean Claydol and Lax get free reign- Cune, Pert, and Ttar still exist and we have excellent teammates to handle them. Dol's increased power and Lax's coverage options bring added surprise factor and can really shift momentum with the right choice. But realistically, these two are defensive cornerstones and will be treated as such (esp without Metagross) so boom wisely.
Max speed CB Gross is very good into lead Ttar, Gar, Medi and slow Cloyster. You threaten high dmg or the KO off bat: their switch-in is susceptible to your predictions. I do think one should tread lightly with their choices for Metagross and consider what the oppo may be thinking.
Its needless to say that CB mm can get caressed by Magneton.
An early boom will make you much worse into Aero later on! (but not horrible)

You can lead with this fella
:Snorlax: (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam/Double-Edge
- Self-Destruct
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Punch

Hits like a truck, few Mons like to eat what it dishes unless they are of the Steel-type. This guy is awesome into lead Zap because they take a ridiculous amount from just body slam. It will often switch out so you can foc punch at your leisure to dent Steel-types or fish for paralysis. Great into the rare leadCune, as these are usu offensive. Because of this, they too, take respectable dmg from bslam/foc punch so they will play conservative in hopes to reappear late-game. Phenomenal into the even rarer leadDug, ohhh you sons of bitches know who you are. I'm a jokester though, Dug isn't that big of a deal in front of any Snorlax. This saves Metagross for later on *whew* and it throws off their farming antics because Dug will die if it stays in, doing 60%~ at most.
252+ Atk 30 IVs Choice Band Dugtrio Earthquake vs. 232 HP / 0 Def Snorlax: 275-324 (52.9 - 62.4%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Focus punch does reasonable dmg to Skarm (esp switching in) placing it within uncomfortable ranges to continually spike, lest it sacrifices itself altogether. Foc punch + boom should always ko (again risky). When Registeel comes in you will likely deliver a foc punch if it becomes paralyzed or attempts to paralyze you. Amazing against common special atkers that are not named Celebi.
Keep the 24 spe EVs‒ HP multiples of 8 are yucky.

These guys complement each other: CB Gross is good into Ttar, Medi, Celebi, and possibly other Metagross. Snorlax fares well against Zap, Cune and the many offMies of today. Their dynamic in the lead position differs in style however both of them can agree on their distaste for Skarm/Forre. So with a spike imminent to lay by your side, who else do we have to come out & play?



:Jolteon:
is an outstanding contender and finds herself many opportunities to come in. Bodak can be easily sent in on a predicted Skarm entry to dissuade spikes. From there t-wave may be used on the next entrant, pretty sweet if they don't have Natural Cure. If they do, then baton pass is great to get you immediately out that MU. Spreading t-wave is an act of good service; everyone here is slow. The paralysis can give some teammates a future they could never dream of without it. Even t-waving Celebi can prove useful when its in danger of a 2hko from someone's coverage. We like to t-wave dragon dancers/calm minders, and faster sp atkers like Zap or Gar.
You come into those two with ease, seizing the moment to absorb a tbolt or canceling WoW/tox/t-wave via Lum Berry to shift momentum.
More often than not, people will not force this interaction so there is ample opportunity to baton pass. This goes for Skarm, Mie, Cune as well: use baton pass to put your double switches on fleek. This maneuver keeps Bodak away from Blissey so the next participant can take advantage of her.

:Suicune:

This guy puts up numbers fr. These calm mind antics are nothing to be modest about :zing:
We need to document what's going on here
+1 252+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 217-256 (67.3 - 79.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 179-211 (53.5 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 248 HP / 44 SpD Swampert: 207-244 (51.3 - 60.5%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 144 HP / 136+ SpD OU CurseLax: 147-174 (39.6 - 46.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Bro this shit smacks the daylights out of :Zapdos:, unless its spdef. The very defensive variants aren't gonna hit too hard with Cune at +1. Don't get me wrong it still hurts, but very bearable. Often time they just take two surfs to the dome (switching-in) which puts them near red while your Cune isn't dead.
As you can see,:Skarmory: is astounded by this damage realising it cannot safely add layers in front of this Cune after losing 50% to phaze.
:Swampert:, another common roarMon, is delightfully 2hkoed so Cune finds it easy to set up when they lack toxic.
Many:Snorlax:use Curse because it is hard to break at +2 and can be difficult to check late-game. If you can get +2 before Lax does you have odds in your favor. Calm mind on the turn they enter, then surf away; either they KO you at +1 in the red OR they rest to avoid death.


We like coming into Forretress as well, but tread carefully because an untimely boom would be unfortunate.
cm + roar gets real gains on Blissey, thanks to the power that modest provides. Normal CroCune aren't very threatening to begin with and even at +6 it just barely reaches 50% on Bliss. You can do min 40% with this CroCune starting at +3.

Pressing rest feels stifling with this guy and should be done only if absolutely necessary...for the win. Holding onto a sleeping dog may NOT be the best idea when Ttar or Mence starts dancing. I am trying to say don't press rest to save Suicune just because. Expend it's usefulness in assaulting the oppo offensively for someone else to clean up. If you are certain the oppo can't 3hko you then play the rest/cm game at your leisure. But DO NOT preserve Suicune with rest in hopes to address certain Mons in the late-game without knowing their set. Getting that last hit or roar is usu worth it. Ice Beam would score some delectable KOs.




:Gyarados:
is making power moves out here, to intercede. The word means to intervene on behalf of someone. It does so in the form of compensating for Dol's rigidity by preventing spikes with taunt. When Skarm has been thoroughly weakened by mm/foc pun this Gyara easily comes in, hazard control while making it setup fodder at the same time. He just gets going from there and can get quite far depending on who else needs to be dealt with. As you can see 1 dd is for the 100s. Try to predict switches (esp if they have an Intimidator) to nab the 2nd/3rd dd. This can go crazy even at +1 if the oppo doesn't have any realistic speed control. The HP goes surprisingly far since it has naturally good spdef. We take advantage of Perts, Milos, Cunes, even Bliss that aren't using tbolt. I guarantee you after chip the hp rock is killing Zap as it comes in on your dd. But who don't we like?

*A healthy Gengar
even if Gar is paralyzed they are often defensive and hp rock aint got the stab so it doesnt get there
*Starmie
Can likely outspeed, take eqs fairly well
*Claydol/Breloom/Flygon
for obv reasons
*CB Mence
has the immediate power to threaten it and lower it's atk to stay out of ko range

Luckily we have fail safe options for some Mons but any kind of Mence can be a hassle with it's coverage and Gar can be tricky to work out with the potential WoW or hidden moves. These scenarios need careful navigation and weighing opportunity cost in the moment, when Gyara is boosted there is always at least 2 options. Sometimes Intim has to get put to work so Gyara is sacced for another teammate to finish off a ddancer. If you can let some booms fly earlier on then Gyara could possibly have a easier time.
Needless to say Jolt and Aero come in with impunity ready to tell Gyara to slow his shit down. A good saying: we leave the faster folks up to the slowpokes. Lax switches fine into most users of tbolt, Jolt can handle Gar/Rachi. CB Gross decks the shit out of bulkless Breloom. Cadenza can switch into any rock-slide then just boom (or sball for Gar) & again t-wave Jolt is prolly the swiftest answer to other Jolt/Aero as rng permits.

We can go 244 spe to outrun Mie/Kou without really sacrificing atk pwr. Ideally Gyara wants atk maxed out but surviving hits are important while slowness can be a liability. So 140 HP, 180 atk, 188 spe will keep the 115s away. You can taunt ddTar in late-game moments. Remember‒ if you have other teammates alive taunting dd is usually better as many of them can handle a regular Ttar but would not appreciate a weakened yet lethal Ttar that could eke out a flinch to get past a check. If Gyara + Jolt are the only ones left then eq + tbolt should KO bulkless ddTar.

Cadenza
Last but not least its:Claydol:our featured spinner of the 6
lmao ngl I looked up the meaning of the name and I'm on a roll
  • an improvised virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a concerto or other work, typically near the end.
"improvised"
Beyond the need to spin, Claydol can take a fluid approach at different matters. This may be EQing Water-types to put them in range (staying in on the mismatch), sballing before you spin in case of a Ghost, sacrifice for a teammate via boom or rapid spin to ensure safe entry.
"near the end"
Dol doesn't need to make dignified appearances early-on, switching into resists is good enough. You usu want to enter when you're sure you can spin, confident in hitting a spinblocker, or attempting to ko someone. Very often all she will do is spin/boom.
Trading 1for1 with Celebi, Cune, Mence‒ love it.
Intentional EVs
So the 236 HP gives us a multiple of 16, is what I would say if we're running lefties here
But see with 72 spdef this ensures modestCune's pump does not ko from full, only modestMie can get there. & that means the original Gyara set will outspeed at +1
49 points on adamant gives us a 50% chance to KO maxdef CroCune with boom.
EQ is a clean 2hko on standard cmBliss.
ddTar & CB Aero are dangerous if Dol is chipped too much, could be better to kamikaze then sitting around waiting to get KOed
Claydol sent onto the field is like silvervine to a cat: Skarmory will often take the bait.
Use this opportunity to switch into toxic, or begin setup.


Mons the team does NOT like
Breloom can sleep someone who may be integral later on. You can bluff hp flying for a while tho
Aero MU gets worse with each boom, and probably scary if they didn't go 1for1.
Raikou can be awfully dangerous without Lax/a way to paralyze it.
CB Hera actually scary ngl, just hit that mf.

Parting Words
- Choose:Jolteon:'s hidden power at your discretion as it will certainly affect your Pert/Mence MU, changing the sequence dynamic
-:Gyarados: into :Skarmory: be like:
STOP and watch me
stevedastoner-dancing.gif


edit: let me show 2 receipts of the team for navigation purposes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2520757401
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2521051581?p2 (against v5)
2nd game had too much rng but Cune goes crazy on them with no spikes

another edit: we got moreeee
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2519697959-f026mm1qsk920kgajsmf7qk7g8vknogpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2522010276-0t1dsw7kmcyskfijb8mki96sixyru32pw
**press focus punch in front of Zapdos**
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2523628110-4k2wp6jpekvcls1hmq6idv9cis3ejlfpw
https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/battle-gen3ou-2525612763
Game 4 could've had some better clicks: t16 taunt would've let me hit Bliss after Mie's death, and that alone preserves Cadenza
(I didn't need to boom tho)

Disclaimer: I do not advocate turn 1 explosions, I'm just crazy LMAO.
This is very real.
 
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When I saw this prompt I immediately thought of Skarmory beatdown with RestTalk Suicune and Snorlax. This has been done countless times, which led to my decision to build without using Suicune for this round of the competition.

Teambuilding Process:
I knew I wanted Snorlax, the most quintessential beatdown pokemon. It is one of the more reliable ways to lure in skarmory. The other mon that I believe should be on nearly every beatdown team is Claydol. Beating down Skarmory means it will have an opportunity to establish spikes and dol can spin them away, it also trades into Gengar which matches up well into many common beatdown mons. My watertype of choice is endpert, I belive it is one of the best mons of trading up in the entire tier. Since dol and endpert are quite frail I have a regirock as an additional physical check which can handle every dragon dancer. The win conditions on the team are Dragon Dance Salamence and Jirachi, Jirachi was chosen last in part due to its steel typing as having lax be the only toxic immune is questionable.

Pokémon Sets:
:snorlax: : The set I went with is curse 3 attacks with Double Edge. Double Edge with max attack is chosen so that Snorlax can reliably chunk Skarmory which it lures in. Shadow Ball is needed on this team since unlike many beatdown teams there is no Pursuit user on this team due to the sand restriction and Claydol is not enough to reliably check gengar every game, lax also often lures gar in and can therefore pick it off. The last move is earthquake, which means that we are omitting Self Destruct. I believe that the trading power into Metagross is more important than boom on this team as it helps open up for Salamence to win the game.

:regirock: : Regirock is running a choice band as I feel that it lacks power without it. With choice band it can come in on physical attackers and then threaten pretty big chunks on the switchins with super power or one of the coverage moves. It also works as a reliable check to every dragon dancer that attempts to sweep assuming it isn't already chunked. It can then come in again later and boom to hopefully overall trade up. Regirock also contributes to the overall beatdown plan by often luring in Skarmory. For the maximum value out of this set you do have to predict a bit but with how bulky this team is overall you will get multiple chances throughout most games, superpower is also a generally powerful click into anything that doesn't resist it so I think it is fine.

:swampert: : This is the standard max max Endeavor Swampert. I went with Toxic over Roar because I believe that Toxic is a more reliable click overall without spikes. Hydro Pump is chosen over Surf as the extra damage simply is more important than any accuracy concerns, it also is very good at chunking Skarm and helps with overloading it. Endeavor puts pressure into Celebi and Blissey which other mons scare away and can help prepare for a Jirachi sweep. Other than that Endeavor Swampert is just ridiculously good at breaking and opening up weaknesses in general.

:claydol: : Claydol is also the standard set and ev spread. We need it for trading into Gengar since gar is threatening to every member of the team to some degree, Will-o-Wisp is especially debilitating into other mons. Dol also provides the team with Rapid Spin support, the gameplan does very consistently chunk Skarmory but it also lets multiple spikes up in the process which isn't ideal with 4/6 grounded. It can also boom and trade with threats or use Earthquake to stop Tyranitar if needed.

:salamence: : I maintain that practically any trapless spikeless team needs Dragon Dance Salamence now that speedpass is banned. Therefore it was a very easy inclusion here and works as a punish to any dugtrio trap. The rest of the team is also quite slow so the extra speed is very appreciated. Giraffe has made a team with the four mons I have described before this one https://pokepast.es/8b422beb767afb96. However this team has Agility Baton Pass Zapdos which has since been banned. Another thing I have had as a goal when making this team was making this kind of structure work without speedpass. The best alternative is as established DD Salamence. I have 200 spd to survive uninvested Gengar Ice Punch and the moves I have gone with are Hidden Power Flying, Brick Break and Rock Slide. Earthquake is only needed to trade into Steel types which Regirock and Snorlax already lure in and can chunk down, allowing the use of BB instead.

:jirachi: : With Endpert and no Suicune we have lost the most common Pokémon used to win the game alongside Salamence on beatdown in favour of another breaker. To take advantage of this additional breaker I have chosen to go with a Salac Berry Endure Jirachi. This Jirachi's goal is to get up one Calm Mind boost and then get down to its salac berry to sweep at the end of the game when its checks are broken down. I have gone with Salac Endure due to the overall lack of speed on this team without speedpass and because most mons here are quite bad at dealing with fast flying mons especially Aerodactyl which poses a big threat to Jirachi. This also lets you play around a Dugtrio revenge since you always kill it with a CM boost and without it you still kill uninvested Dugtrio 68.8% of the time. I originally considered Raikou in this slot but decided against it for 2 reasons. The first reason is the fact that it is much more Dugtrio weak than this Jirachi set, even with Salamence I think that is a problem since having Salamence being the only good dug answer feels dubious. The second reason is that this lets us have a second toxic resist, Snorlax as the only toxic resist means that we can get overwhelmed by it quite easily once lax goes down.

Gameplan:
The gameplan of this team is quite simple, we are overwhelm Skarmory with a lot of Pokémon that lure it in thus beating it down and killing it. Once Skarm is down other mons have to come in instead and then you trade into them and break down the opposing teams backdown. This allows for Salamence or Jirachi to win the game, or occasionally Snorlax and Endpert which also can take over a game if the opportunity presents itself.

Weaknesses:
There are definitely some weak matchups. This team doesn't like facing Celebi, especially not leech seed as no pokemon really wants to trade into it. It has a hard time handling Unemployed 6 style teams because of this but it still isn't unplayable into them. WoW is also still a big problem for every single mon on the team even with the many ways to eliminate Gengar. If it survives and lands WoW it can cause big problems. The last weakness I will highlight is teams that overload on bulky walls that can be used instead of Skarmory. If Skarmory survives until later into the game when most of the trade pieces have been chipped and can't enter to beat it down as reliably it poses a very big problem.

I hope you enjoy playing with this team, it was fun building it and I have had moderate success with it on ladder despite this being a style I consider myself to not be very proficient with.
 
Ok but imagine this team with if speed pass was legal

:machamp: :regirock: :swampert: :jirachi: :raikou: :salamence:



Teambuilding Process:
This team has taken on a lot of different forms. Originally I wanted to pair Endpert with P2, as I felt there was a cool synergy between the two vs SkarmBlissDug style teams. I knew I wanted to use DD Brick Break Fire Blast Mence, paired with CB Regirock. I liked Endpert + CB Regirocks ability to chunk Skarm for Mence, and limit spikes, while also picking up extra damage on Pert/Dol/Gon. I also wanted to use Sub + CM + Psy + Grass Rachi, for it's ability to straight up 1v1 Bliss, and to either lure Dug to get trapped, or to abuse Dug getting removed by P2. I was enjoying running Jolly Sub Liechi Heracross, for it's ability to threaten out Bi/Dol/Tar, get behind a sub, and click focus punch. Most people expect Salac on sub, so it was nice to get the +1 attack after getting in berry range. It also helped get damage on opposing Birds for DDFB Mence to clean up. However, I found myself still weak to Aero & Meta. Even with P2, I had to play very carefully and it never really felt solid. The team also felt very Gar/Status weak, and was missing some speed control, and Zap could still really be a pain to deal with.

First iteration

But it felt like there was something there, so I kept trying new things. First of all, I found that the team didn't really *need* P2. It was nice as a defensive back bone, and the twave support was helpful for CB Rock, but it either felt overloaded or underused in most of my games. I also felt I needed a better Gar answer & a better way to deal with Zap, especially at lead. That is how I ended on this current 6.



:machamp: Machamp:
I landed on swapping Hera out for Machamp, as I found it's bulk to be very useful. Due to its already lower speed, it doesn't mind catching a stray twave on a switch in. Machamp at lead helps in a couple ways. Vs Tar leads, it forces them out allowing you to bulk-up and threaten the switch in with either a +1 Neutral Cross Chop, or a Super Effective HP Ghost or Slide. However, the main reason why I elected to lead Machamp was it's ability to lure lead Zap to stay in and trade damage.

:regirock: Regirock:
CB Regirock was one of the first to come to my mind when I saw the prompt of Spikeless/Sandless/Trapperless. It's a normal resist that threatens big damage back. Rockslide is good obviously, but I find the most value in Superpower/HP Bug. Catching a Pert/Dol switching in with Superpower/HP Bug does a good chunk of damage, chipping into range for DD Mence to clean the endgame. Bonus points vs Celebi that doesn't respect HP Bug. The team appreciates the help it provides vs Aero/DDtar, and having boom only adds to Regirock's trade value.

:swampert: Swampert:
Standard Hydro Pump Tox Endpert here. Building without the tier's #1 Mon, I had to use what I consider to be #2. Between Regirock & Rachi you can get away with a less sturdy Pert set. It's very easy for endpert to trade 2 for 1. With no spinner, endpert can actually benefit from spikes being up. There's nothing like getting a KO with endpert at 26%, to save it for later to switch in and proc salac and threaten most of the meta with either torrent pump or endeavor.

:jirachi: Jirachi:
I opted for Sub CM Psy Thunder Rachi, for it's ability to 1v1 Stoss Bliss, and spread para. While the coverage is not ideal, between the three mons above are intended to lure and trade with the mons that would otherwise give this set a hard time. Originally, this was Water Pulse over Thunder, which was a fun gimmick, but I felt the ability to spread para with thunder was more important, as it helps the slower members of this team.

:raikou: Raikou:
I opted to drop P2 for Raikou, as the team felt far to slow otherwise. While dropping P2 for another dug weak mon may seem counter intuitive, I've found a lot of success with it. It can be used either to apply early pressure, and force double switches or be saved for an endgame if bliss has been taken care. It can also help chunk zap into range of Mence if needed.

:salamence: Salamence:
DD Fire Blast HP Fly Brick Break Mence is a set that has really surprised me recently. There have been so many games recently I've either played or watched, and thought "Damn, DDFB Mence would 6-0 from here". It can either be used early game, and bluffing that it's a standard mixmence, or as an Endgame Cleaner. It allows you to cheat vs Skarm, as most of the threats above will chunk Skarm in exchange for a spike or toxic, but scare it out so it doesn't feel safe to switch in, it can often be one of the last remaining mons. It's coverage is limited, but the rest of this six is designed to play around these limitations.



Game Plan:
Use Machamp, Regirock, Endpert & Rachi to break early game for Kou/DDmence. Spread para with Rachi to allow Machamp + Regirock to be more threatening. Remove Blissey or Def Walls to set up Kou or Mence to win.



Final Thoughts:
Man, I miss speedpass. Building creative Spikeless/Sandless/Trapperless is extremely hard without Agilipass Zap. Without it, teams are so much more frail Vs Aero/Dug Teams. On this six I would swap out Kou for Agilipass Zap in a heartbeat, and wouldn't feel the need to run inconsistent moves like thunder Rachi.

This team is still very fun to use, and I think I reached around 1670 with it on ladder, and have had good results with it during KOTH. Sorry for the late submission, I thought I had more time to do my write up, but decided to say fuck it and send it anyways.
 
Hey y'all,

Very tough prompt this time, but it seems the bar keeps getting raised with the quality of submissions. I spent a little less time really digging into these teams this time (though I spent more time than I originally intended, ha), so my ratings may not be quite as on point. However, I understand you guys are in for a real treat on the analysis front from at least one other judge.

Anyways, my ratings are as follows:

https://pokepast.es/fea738831a609237

If there's a flaw of this team, it's probably that the lines as described in the write-up are pretty precise and to make the most of this team is gonna require some fairly serious pilot skill especially in certain matchups. That hardly counts as a flaw though, and I absolutely loved this submission. Very illuminating read.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 9.5/10
Competitive Viability: 9/10
Creativity & Originality: 10/10
Clarity of Explanation: 9.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7.5/10

Total: 45.5/50

https://pokepast.es/5af5eb207ffb5874

Not a unique 6, but a unique take on it. Traditionally, we would see this type of Skarm Beatdown leading with a CB Metagross and then employing CroCune in the back. This builder decided for a lead (non-rest) Suicune. The Metagross set is actually kind of cute here, because it can lure Celebi for Suicune and the Mence set and this team can't switch into Swampert basically at all when going with a non-rest Suicune. Ultimately though, I think some of the choices here fall a little flat and, as built, I can see this team getting overwhelmed by some pretty common strategies.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 6.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 4/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 31.5/50

https://pokepast.es/ea773d6b2b2aeda9

It's interesting that the builder says the way they started this team was by wanting to make a CMPass team. Because as I analyzed this team I realized it kind of spits in the face of a lot of common CMPass ideals; not necessarily entirely in a bad way. For example, I think this team accomplished something thought to be impossible for CMPass - it is overprepared for Aerodactyl. Honestly, maybe you should even take this and just remove the Celebi entirely. Perhaps just replace it with Tyranitar (obviously would have been unsubmittable for this prompt) and have Tar + Zap kind of be your plan vs special attackers. Sand would help both EndPert and SubCMRachi. Or maybe slot a Snorlax over something. As it stands, we kind of lack Blissey pressure and have an awkward at best matchup vs Gengar. Two things that CMPass usually has solid plans of dealing with. Interesting one though, there could be something here with a little work.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 6.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5.5/10

Total: 30.5/50

https://pokepast.es/a93f942627a39219

Another CMPass team, this one featuring the ever elusive Alakazam. I think this team would be soooooooo much better with the small change of giving Celebi Giga Drain over Psychic. Otherwise, for one, Alakazam's fit is pretty questionable. Zam should be helping you cheat vs Gengar, as the one thing Alakazam really is great at in this tier is that it is an A1 Gengar switch-in. The builder mentions they wanted Psychic on Celebi to beat down Salamence more effectively, but as it stands (and this is my second point on Zam's fit) this team has seriously zero way to ever favorably trade damage onto Tyranitar and it has two mons completely stone walled by it. The Mence set is maybe nice for some matchup division purposes, although in exchange it is less good at general DDMence things. The builder does at least seem somewhat aware in their write-up of the issues at hand.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 5/10
Competitive Viability: 5.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 5.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6/10

Total: 29/50

https://pokepast.es/39bb45f60176793d

I've actually seen this team with Pursuit Tyranitar in the Houndoom slot. Houndoom does kind of sort of do a better job of handling the pixies, which enables the Breloom and Salamence sets here. However, I think on this team Tar's sand is pretty important in fat matchups and you can leverage it to switch into and threaten Blissey out (a pretty big concern here, in theory Houndoom can lure and seriously dent Bliss with Beat Up, though I think people really respect Beat Up on Doom these days and moreover the Blissey teams people use nowadays don't usually have to resort to using Bliss to check Doom). Tar also does a good job of luring and beating down Swampert, which this team appreciates with DDMence and also the fact it has to be very precise in switching around Pert. Lastly, SuitTar is nice here as kind of a jack of all trades and can check different things depending on the game (without even considering the help of sand) whereas Doom is pretty hyper-specific and not always very useful at all game-to-game. Obviously, we couldn't use Tar here so we have to make do with Doom. I think it's a nice team still, but I can really only view it as a novelty given what I've said.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 6.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6/10

Total: 32/50

https://pokepast.es/4a1152ab13fa4747

Another Skarm Beatdown-ish looking team; a very natural course to take given the limitations of the prompt. I think this 6 basically makes sense and should perform fine, though it's hard to say what it excels at and I found myself possibly disagreeing a bit with some of the set choices and some of the things the builder said in their write-up. It would be less creative (and granted, you could maybe even say easier to play vs in a sense), but I think if I was building this I'd just use Lax + Cune over Vap + Regice. I'd lead CB Metagross and also make the Claydol speedy (helps opposing Suicune concerns and also is a needed help vs opposing Metagross, which I have big concerns about in the original build). I think there's other tweaks that could potentially be looked at, but overall I think this team as submitted is still fairly competent.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6.5/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6/10

Total: 31/50

https://pokepast.es/9d978ba1422b55b6

I think we all understand this is gimmicky at best, not that I can totally hold it against the builder given the limitations of the prompt. There's a lot of problems with this setup even in ideal conditions. For example, even if the turn 1 Tyranitar snipe plan works (not consistent, but again, we know that) if they follow up with Skarmory and any sort of decent defensive backbone on top of that, we could end up struggling. Against some offenses, this team will probably some times end up thriving and I'm sure it's fun to play, but it's just so woefully inconsistent and reliant on the perfect starting sequence for me to rate it very highly.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 4/10
Competitive Viability: 2.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 3.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 4.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 1/10

Total: 15.5/50

https://pokepast.es/8e3c0bd3138346ee

A cool take on CMPass because it tries to address a couple of the biggest CMPass annoyances in Aerodactyl and Snorlax by slotting Gengar and Regirock. I've never been a Regirock fan in general but on these types of specially based offenses I've always thought is definitely an interesting spot for it because it can help vs myriad of mixed and physical threats at least on a one-time basis and that is so appreciated for this team. Mixed Zapdos I think is also a very cool touch to help enable all of Gengar, Charizard, and Jirachi. Again, like with Sylveon HRT's team, I find Psychic on Celebi here is probably worse than Giga Drain, although there is at least better argument here that you want to smack Salamence. The builder seemed very aware of the team weaknesses, so I won't reiterate them. I think there could be some adjustments on some of the finer points here, but overall I really like this submission.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 8/10
Creativity & Originality: 8/10
Clarity of Explanation: 8/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 8/10

Total: 40/50

https://pokepast.es/9cae27c367ecdf33

More Skarm Beatdown type vibes. This time featuring Jolteon. I wonder if this team would be flat-out better with Raikou in the Jolt slot. In theory, the SkarmDug matchup will become worse, but Jolteon is often not great in those matchups anyways and also Taunt Gyara can be really nice in those matchups, so I'd definitely try it out. With that and a couple other tweaks, I might actually be really intrigued by this team. I think if we're using Gyarados over Salamence on this sort of structure, maybe we should also replace Suicune with something, though that's less certain. With the set choices made here especially, Celebi looks like an unbelievably massive problem.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 5.5/10
Competitive Viability: 3/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5/10

Total: 25.5/50

https://pokepast.es/93544b0748627272

Yet another Skarm Beatdown take. Am I starting to sound like a broken record? This one looks like a truly modern update though. I really like the use of EndPert because unlike other Swampert sets it can help trade into Celebi which is very desirable on this team. I think the only place this team goes a little wrong is perhaps the Jirachi. When slotting all of Pert, Regirock, and DDMence, I think the help vs Aerodactyl is not super needed and the set requires opposing Swampert and Tyranitar to be broken and the team I'd say is pretty lacking on that front. Regirock can at least in an ideal world lure and blow up on Pert. Also in theory, the Rachi can help break Pert for Mence and vice-versa. Still, I'm unconvinced. That said, I'm having a hard time coming up with a truly suitable replacement and it needs to be something that helps checking water types, maybe Jirachi is fine but should just be a slightly different set, I'm not sure. I do have some concerns about Gengar with this team. Overall though, I really like this submission.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 8/10
Creativity & Originality: 8/10
Clarity of Explanation: 8/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7.5/10

Total: 39.5/50

https://pokepast.es/ac8fa32817eadf47

Another very modern looking spikeless offense. It's very interesting that the builder intended originally for this to be a Porygon2 team, and they decided it wasn't necessary because I have to tell you - my main reaction to this team is that it simply is way way too weak to Dugtrio. Outside of that, it seems very thoughtfully built, but this is hard to get over. In general, outside of Mence, there is nothing dissuading an Earthquake click. Admittedly, as the builder gripes, it would be a lot better if the Raikou could be an AgiliPass Zap, but what can I say? I think just swapping Raikou for P2 as the builder originally had is not exactly a perfect solve; it's kind of trading one set of weaknesses for another. Still, there are cool synergies here and unlike many of the submissions for this prompt, this team at least trades defensive soundness for true offensive firepower, so it's not surprising to hear that the builder has found some success with this.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6.5/10
Competitive Viability: 6.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 8/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4.5/10

Total: 33/50

tl;dr my podium = 1) Shitrock enjoyer 2) Rambode 3) isnialan
 
whats good here is my ratings for the contest really liked all the submissions this time around. dont take any criticisms too harshly this is all in good fun and i want to stress again that i really did like all the submissions.

Shitrock enjoyer
https://pokepast.es/fea738831a609237

One of the more interesting submissions very unique. personally found it hard to use but it def it very well thought out and creative.
very intresting use of p2 and it has some lowkey great synergies with gon and the fighters.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8.5/10
Competitive Viability: 7.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 10/10
Clarity of Explanation: 9.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 42.5/50

mrsunsmash
https://pokepast.es/5af5eb207ffb5874

Pretty normal looking skarm beatdown with some cool techs nothing too crazy here but solid i think some sets could be changed namely the suicune to really take this team to the next level.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 7/10
Creativity & Originality: 3/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 31/50

Garpachi
https://pokepast.es/ea773d6b2b2aeda9

it feels as if this team strays away from a cm pass plan a bit and leans more into a setup based mix off. could prob use more absuers of a cm boost especially. no glaring issues but doesn't seem incredibly strong either.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 5/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 4/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 5/10

Total: 26.5/50

Sylveon HRT
https://pokepast.es/a93f942627a39219

This actually looks very cool until you see the some of the set choices. the 6 i think has merit but zam and bi not being able to hit tar is super rough and idt this team can get away with it very easily. using giga on bi would go a long way here.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 4/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4/10

Total: 27/50

SpamOn
https://pokepast.es/39bb45f60176793d

this is pretty cool i love the dual immunity abilites in water absorb and flash fire here they actually provide great helpfor the teamates. this is definetly getting close to the line of what you can get away with and prob has 1 or 2 bls too many to really be a truly great team howver i think theres a cool concept here.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 7/10
Creativity & Originality: 9/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4/10

Total: 34.5/50

Gamebooadvanced
https://pokepast.es/4a1152ab13fa4747

Another Skarm Beatdown another vaporeon but i think here it can actually do more with wish here. this team has some great techs that prob go unnoticed at first glance. psy is alot less needed on dol when champ is a very good gar lure and psych up regice helps vs some tricky matchups. mix mence seems somewhat tough to deal with tho especially consider vap doesnt threaten it at all

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 7/10
Creativity & Originality: 6/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7/10

Total: 34.5/50

Yak Attack
https://pokepast.es/9d978ba1422b55b6

weather clear is ofc very gimmicky and hard to pull off with dug let alone without. Lax is def a plus here i think u need the offensive pressure and bulk and way to lure tar. the rain dance meta set however is really really risky. this team has a hard time with mag despite no skarm i think thats telling in of itself

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 5/10
Competitive Viability: 4/10
Creativity & Originality: 4/10
Clarity of Explanation: 4.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 3/10

Total: 20.5/50

Rambode
https://pokepast.es/8e3c0bd3138346ee

this is kinda the style i had in mind when i made this prompt. spikeless gengar, charizard, regirock, its def not perfect but i think this does a great job of sticking to one gameplan. no water on cm pass kinda feels really really rough at times and youll be relying on gar to check this defensively more often which i dont like. i think gar should have dd mence bulk here. if it gets a DD and regi is chipped good luck.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 8/10
Competitive Viability: 8/10
Creativity & Originality: 8.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 8.5/10

Total: 40.5/50

greenapricotttss
https://pokepast.es/9cae27c367ecdf33

seems like its fighting for two different identities. its like a cross between a fast paced and bulkier mixoff i think theres def gonna be some pacing issues here. jolt gyara does have some cool synergies however im not sure gyara is supported enough here. lum seems really unnecessary to me on jolt as well.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 4/10
Competitive Viability: 3/10
Creativity & Originality: 7/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 6/10

Total: 26/50

isnialan
https://pokepast.es/93544b0748627272

Quad rock resists (yes regirock counts) and regirock is kinda the main one here with salc pert AND rachi. some cool techs i think it lacks some physical pressure esp into like blissey and lax is wearing itself down to attack skarm here. but i think its very solid overall.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 7/10
Competitive Viability: 8.5/10
Creativity & Originality: 8.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 7.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 7.5/10

Total: 39/50

mint yerb
https://pokepast.es/ac8fa32817eadf47

Another basically quad rock resist however this one pressures blissey better early and breaks skarm faster due to champ. almost like a varaint of slop i think this looks good. it kinda seems to want sand but at the same time can prob get away without it.

Team Synergy & Cohesion: 6/10
Competitive Viability: 6/10
Creativity & Originality: 8.5/10
Clarity of Explanation: 6.5/10
Adaptability & Flexibility: 4/10

Total: 31/50


My top 3 for this round is
Fruhdazi's with a 42.5/50
Rambode's with a 40.5/50
and isnialan's with a 39/50

thank you all for submitting a team!!!
 
Last edited:
First time judging for this. I hope you appreciate my commentary. It's all subjective, but I hope to do a good job seeing the teams how you'd like me to see them, while also providing honest comments from my perspective. Definitely share these team posts with your friends. You guys did a lot of good work and the quality of discussion here is pretty high. Congratulations to all who participated!

For full disclosure, I evaluated every factor blind before reading the team descriptions and took time to understand each team's goals and positives before critiquing. It is also important to consider that the metagame is evolving, and I am rating at the start of SPL, so we might see new strategies emerge (or older ones reemerge) as current standards are limit-tested, so rating adaptability and competitive viability is difficult when the meta context to which a team must adapt and in which it must be viable is ever shifting, and my perception thereof is limited. I also tried to avoid double-counting when scoring separate categories, since I feel it is too easy to penalize a team whose (e.g.) synergy is limited for also being inflexible. By the nature of not synergizing, a team generally struggles to adapt in game. It was difficult, however, so I think there are almost certainly cases of double jeopardy dragging down the scores of even near perfect teams. On the upside of this, no team is as bad as a low grade scores it -- it's only a few tweaks away from greatness -- and my grading understates how high I am on the concepts. As with painting a complex landscape, each layer offers multiplicative to the texture and dimensionality of a team's polish. And as for my grading, 5.5-6 means that a team is passable. I like teams that I give 6s and consider them good. 7-8 means that your team is theoretically precise and is capable of winning these kinds of contests amid a decent field. A 9-10 means your team comes from the future and has broken the scale. I'm rating from 1-10. I can try to curve differently if I am asked to, but if you don't like your score, you can just add around 10 points to it and treat 8s as 10s.

I hope to see you guys come back with even better teams soon!

https://pokepast.es/fea738831a609237

Team Synergy & Cohesion 7.5/10:
This team breaks a lot of rules, but there are no obvious points of entry or clicks for most of the mons that give this team trouble. That works as a form of defense. I would critique the shortage of proper Zapdos-ins, but most mons trade with Zap without giving free entry. The same can be said for Meta, but Jirachi has Reflect. I can see Gar being annoying as well, but with Champ, TW, Nat Cure, and Thunder, it can be dueled. There's an answer for almost every problem -- except for fires, potentially. Assuming that you hit your Cross Chops and Thunders or get lucky with TW, Spikes are manageable, but you should be able to get chip on Skarmory pretty consistently for Flygon to clean against more grounded stall teams. You have dual fighters to help against Claydol on v5, and the high octane (TM) pressure of the fighters should offer serious compensation against Blissey teams. This team might just be the right side of the crackhead vs genius divide. The only concern I have is that CB Gon is fundamentally inflexible and does not give back to the team in the way of breaking for other mons in its worst match-ups. But that's alright because this team is (almost) as anti-floater as it comes, and between the sturdy, grounded phys/mixed backbone of the team and the dual-fighting fire power, one need not rely on Gon offensively in every match-up. I don't trust CB Gon in general, so I can't give this team too high of a score, per my sensibilities, but I can commend the level of thought that went into it. My intuition tells me there are more awkward match-ups you'll run into (on ladder) against teams that aren't optimized for top-level tour play that can put something like this through its paces, but I think the juice is well worth the squeeze.

You also make really good use of the prompt, submitting a team that thrives without Sand and against both Sand and Sandless styles.

Competitive Viability 7/10:
As mentioned, I do not trust CB Gon, but the offense of this team should hum. It seems sketchy against Moltres, too, but I can't knock a team's viability only for that. Zard (with RNG or techs) can be threatening, too. TIL uninvested P2 IB breaks Zard's Sub, but the 50-50 of having to TW vs IB vs Sub and Blast feels icky. I understand you can trade into the fires here, tho. I'm not convinced by Super Celebi without +2 Spe or Suit Meta to beat Dug, Aero, etc. However, the mixed offensive approach of this team exploits Blissey and Aero well. This kind of team feels like it would scale with the pilot, but maybe less brain power is needed with 2xCB and Recover on your side. The team might like Wish support from Jirachi (e.g. for Celebi) but Reflect is pretty awesome. You've done a good job at patching the Gar weakness of P2 teams using two status absorbers, including a lure in Machamp, which work outside of the odd Gar+Mence Spikes -- if Medi doesn't break them first. The unique offensive scheme covers for weaknesses for this team with a number of different synergies. I am skeptical about the Off Zap Spikes match-up, but the information advantage should allow you to pivot clevely around Zap, and there are few ways to build a well-supported Off Zap, but the flex slot on EC is problematic. It's also possible there's a Sub Jira team out there, waiting for you in the bushes, but that's a relatively small concern.

Creativity & Originality 9/10:
I would say I haven't seen something like this anywhere else, but that wouldn't be true because I've seen Fruhdazi at multiple stages of his development as a team builder. The uniqueness of this team and the ability to make stuff like this work is just like him. I could only give a 10 if he built something that convinced me it was the next big thing in the tier -- after all, what kind of creativity in this scene is more valuable than that which convinces everyone of its worth? -- but I have to award points for being able to make something so ambitious work.

Clarity of Explanation 10/10:
The chain switch is a really nice concept that isn't so central or celebrated, and it's quite nice that you center it here as part of your concept. It's really nice to bring something like this to the table for people who are trying to learn the meta from posts like these. I commend your sharing of metagame takes and your willingness to take on the challenge of building P2, given your informed perspective on the difficulties involved in so doing. I also appreciate the theoretical comp to Asta's team and the explanation of your choice to revise it. The explanation was just a bit long, but it's also sufficient in every capacity.

Adaptability & Flexibility 7/10:
I hesitate to award points for adaptability when discussing such a frail team -- it's usually only a turn or two of bad RNG or misplays away from falling far behind -- but the bulk that Gon and P2 bring are commendable. Again, I think Wish might flip this around, but the fact it's a mixed offense with 2 CBers, 2 fighters, and bulky support makes it look playable.

https://pokepast.es/5af5eb207ffb5874

Team Synergy & Cohesion 8/10:
This team composition is tried and true, opting for Regice in what is typically (imo) the Zapdos slot for this kind of team. The 5-mon mold of Dol/Lax/Meta/Cune/Mence is surefire -- the synergies are well-known, documented, and generally intuitive, so I will refrain from commenting at depth. My Penguin Mence set is used here, which comes at the cost of the Bold Celebi match-up, and more difficulties against Flygon and Claydol. Metagross is teched to more consistently lure all three of them, which is a nice synergy, but with Regice instead of Zapdos, you have one less lure to the floating grounds and one less strong abuser of Celebi (in the case of Sub Pass Zap). Considering that Bold Celebi frequently comes with Magneton (as on the ever popular -- if aging -- ABR SkarmMag
:Skarmory:
:Magneton:
:Blissey:
:Celebi:
:Swampert:
:Aerodactyl:
), and Metagross is walled by it, this team is somewhat underprepared for the Celebi match-up. Snorlax and Claydol help to lure Celebi, and there is definite compensation from Regice, luring Swampert, Magneton, Skarmory, and Blissey for Cune and Mence. In fact, it's possible that Lax trades for Celebi and Cune wins the game, but it is the core I would choose to stuff this offensive game plan. I would argue, however, that this team would benefit from dropping EQ on Mence for HP Flying, considering that Regice and Snorlax (particularly with FP for any Tar brave enough to switch in first) are especially good lures for Metagross. This solves the Aero+Celebi match-up more convincingly, improves the damage against Flygon and Claydol, and gives more pressure into Sub and/or Roar Cune, for example, which might be annoying. It's also possible that Flygon may come in on Snorlax with EQ and FP revealed. I have some concerns, but the clever use of HP Fire on Regice, Focus Punch on Lax, Tpunch on Meta, and Brick Break on Mence make this a pretty solid looking build offensively. Defensively, the team is also sound, with Focus Punch on Lax aimed firmly at Tyranitar, as previously mentioned, and with the use of Rain Dance on Cune to beef up the double SpD core of the team. It's a good 6 with sharp techs, and I have to commend the builder of this team.

Competitive Viability 5.5/10:
I don't really know how to separate this from 'cohesion' as described above, so I'll borrow from my comments in the previous segment. This team has strong potential. I can also see it thudding against Celebi teams, for example. It's quite solid, overall, but it appears somewhat unwieldy with the sets potentially being too targetted and sacrificing general utility. What happens when you're in a match-up that you'd prefer Ice Beam Cune to mono Cune? Sure, your mono Cune patches match-ups that make the team more viable in the worse match-ups on average, but the ceiling of this team is somewhat reduced by the fact of Cune being even more exploitable in the match-ups where it already is struggling. Same with the Mence set. I would like to add that not using Zapdos in the Regice slot means that a TSS team with momentum against you will be an unpleasant struggle, rather than a comfortable match-up on paper, simply because Zap is the single best reverser of momentum on Skarmory with Sub (or Agility) Pass to punish Skarmory's team mates. The Snorlax set would be greatly improved by dropping EQ, in my opinion. I appreciate the surprise factor against defensive Jirachi, and being more consistently able to trade up in some spots, but this contributes to the problem of tunnel-visioned sets inherent to the team. The lack of STAB on Lax to deal with opposing (Sub) Cune or birds (e.g. Mence or WoW Molt, pivoting to reduce attack) is a serious in-game problem. The lack of Tbolt on Regice is also noted for worsening the match-up against non-Pert waters, while HP Fire compensates Metagross's limitation against Forretress. There are tradeoffs, and their cost isn't a nail in the coffin by any measure, though, but what is lost brings the ceiling of this team down from high to average.

Creativity & Originality 7/10:
The techs are quite creative, as discussed above, while the composition is rather rote, outside of the inclusion of Regice. It's above average in its use of mostly good techs, and I can see this working in spite of the problems I mentioned above. I'll give credit in this category, since the team is quite thoughtful, but creativity -- among other factors -- is meaningless without the qualifier of success.

Clarity of Explanation 8/10:
I'm going to directly respond to the explanation here in addition to evaluating it. I disagree that boom spam Cune+Mence is unseen. Watch the Brazilian ADV dojo for some of the more exciting newer takes -- including with Raikou. I like that you've lead Cune here for the reasons you've mentioned, and the explanation is sound. I'll add that early chip on Skarm is nice, and Tar trying to phase or DD t1 eating Surf is very nice. Well done. Mentioning lead Starmie in the Regice section makes it clear that this team is optimized for ladder rather than necessarily for tour, but I would argue this team is suitable for both. I like that you've covered your base here. I think the fact you have not properly accounted for Starmie while mentioning it as something you aimed to account for is something of a contradiction. I also respect your decision to stack Spikes pressure greatly. This is one of the many pitfalls when building offense that are addressed here, with the whole team being on the same page, momentum-wise. The remainder is less interesting to respond to, line-for-line, but it's sound. You've made a good team here -- you know that, and so do the readers.

Adaptability & Flexibility 5/10:
I critiqued this as making use of 'tunnel-visioned sets' above, and I will maintain that here. I also said that none of these factors matter unless qualified by success. I think the team can be successful on average, even with the sets being hyper-focused, given a more or less decent match-up spread, in my mind. I can't give this team a below-average ranking here, considering that.

https://pokepast.es/ea773d6b2b2aeda9

Team Synergy & Cohesion 7.5/10:
I like the use of Sub BP Zap on this style of team. I think trapless offense depends greatly on BP to reach great heights. I think Cele Pass also works quite well here. My one point of contention might be that Pert and Jirachi love Sand against Sandless teams, and Mence and Jirachi enjoy the extra pressure into Swampert that Tyranitar brings. Metagross is likeliest to boom Skarmory, and then you're lacking pressure into Skarmory. It's unfortunate, though, that Zapdos has to run Sub, rather than Agility, since it sacrifices HP to threaten Skarm teams with the Pass and therefore loses defensive utility. In any event, I think you want a bit more targetting Swampert for Jirachi and Salamence, even if Sub Passing can give Mence a few bites at the apple without sacrificing its own HP. However, Zap+Celebi appreciate playing without Sand, and whatever cost there is in the Sandless match-up for End Pert is compensated by BP being more effective. On the whole, though, the special offense of this team is pretty good, and the dual Pass concept makes it potent.

Competitive Viability 7.5/10:
As mentioned above, I think the offensive engine of this team in its dual passing is potent, but I think the lack of physical synergy supporting Jirachi and Salamence is disappointing. If I had to say where to start to fix the team, I would say that Jirachi is likely the odd mon out. It's possible to make this team without Salamence, but I don't trust this team as much against Aero without Agility on Zapdos. I understand your intention to trade Mence into Pert for Jirachi, but I don't believe in such rigid match-up division -- your support network should flow in as many directions as possible, particularly against some of the most highly mons in the tier (including Pert among their number). Still, outside of being soft against Pert and maybe against certain Sandless defensive teams, I'm impressed. A well-played Lax might be annoying to face, considering the lack of Sand and switch-ins, but you won't be booming early vs most Lax teams, considering they will not be leading the same way as Skarmory teams, so you will have one of the best Lax answers in the game. Maybe change the Hidden Power IVs -- I don't recommend HP Bug anyway -- and consider Brick Break for midgrounding Mag and Lax.

I'm thinking it might be nice to have HP Grass on Metagross and to lure Skarmory down with Celebi and Swampert rather than booming it more generally.

Creativity & Originality 8/10:
We don't see very many Zap+Celebi teams these days. It's a nice choice to experiment in this territory. It's by the book, but the book of ADV is very old, so I'm not faulting you for failing to build the next big thing, but I can't give a 10 here for less than that. I would argue that this is one of the best choices for the prompt, either way. Refreshing specially-slanted offense fit. Kudos on coming up with this.

Clarity of Explanation 5.5/10:
I'm not sure about your commentary on formulating your game plan based on the response to revealing Zapdos. As you say underneath Pert, it's your consistent method of removing their check. It doesn't matter what information you get when your game plan is the same against any defensively sound team. And breaking the Zap/special check is not particularly relevant when Jirachi generally solos special checks and Mence only needs a little bit of chip except against Registeel. I think you can make it up as you go along either way. I also want to add that you have decent pressure against phasers on this team, including Roar Zap, Roar Tar, and Skarm -- most mons, except for Roar Pert -- and that this is critical to this team's success.

Adaptability & Flexibility 7/10:
With double Pass, multiple switch-ins to everything except Lax, and two generally decent endgame options, this team should be pretty good across the board, but I can see it thudding against certain Pert teams. I'm really high on this team across the board, though.

https://pokepast.es/a93f942627a39219

Team Synergy & Cohesion 2.5/10:
Another Zap+Cele team, but this one uses Zap without any tools (like Roar or Sub) to aid in Passing CMs or shielding breakers. Same 5+1 as the previous team, but with Zam>Jira and sets that do not impress me. Both Zam and Celebi are walled by Tar. Pert lacks coverage for Jirachi and can be sat on by Metagross more comfortably. There is even less Pert pressure here with Zam>Jira, so Mence is worse supported, but with Refresh>Slide and no EQ, it's stuffed by several birds and Meta and Jira. I'm not convinced by the techs on the sweepers or the breakers, except for Metagross and maybe Celebi, although this Celebi set is not well-supported on this build. The 6 itself is defensively solid on paper before sets are considered. The 6 was a good choice, however.

Competitive Viability 3/10:
Carrying on from my previous comments, I think this team is undercooked. It has potential with better techs and sets -- feel free to reach out to discuss the teams more specifically if you can't get help from someone close and trusted -- but I won't get into it too much to avoid repeating myself and dogpiling. The mons themselves should allow for some wins. Encore might have some hidden potential, but it also gimps Zam on a team that fails to support it.

Creativity & Originality 5/10:
As I mentioned in another team-rating, creativity is conditioned by functionality. I don't see this team successfully navigating non-stall match-ups. The 6 is usable enough on paper that it should be able to win some games. I can give points for coming up with the 6 and fitting it with CM Pass, Encore, and Brick Mence.

Clarity of Explanation 3/10:
The explanation is fairly straight-forward and clear, but I think it suffers from the same tunnel vision that strikes its sets. I would recommend watching more ADV tournament replays or joining more ADV tournaments in general to get a feel for how prep is handled and which teams define and shape the metagame. It would help direct your attention to which match-ups need to be accounted for in the building process. Predictions can help this team to shine, but the advice to make predictions is nebulous and can be universally applied. The team has more weaknesses than described. One could also ask for more detail on Metagross's function on the team outside of luring Skarmory, though the use of t1 boom Metagross (vs Skarmory) is appropriate.

Adaptability & Flexibility 3/10:
I think this category can only be scored low with how specific the sets are, in addition to their lack of utility in most match-ups. This team has options, if somewhat limited. Again, I think Encore might just allow for some unforeseen possibilities, but I'm not sold.

https://pokepast.es/39bb45f60176793d

Team Synergy & Cohesion 7.5/10:
This team has quite the offensive synergy to it. It's heavily grounded for a team that gives Skarmory free Spikes in several slots, but the use of Pursuit with Registeel and Salamence are quite clever. I'm not sure whether Crunch AND HP Grass on Raikou are necessary with Houndoom on the team, when it could slot Substitute (or even Roar!?) but it does make sense in providing an extra Celebi lure for Mence on a team that might not be guaranteed to beat it, even with Registeel and Houndoom. I'm partial to using HP Ice or Crunch as the sole alternative coverage option to better lure Pert and Gon for Mence. I love the choice of Penguin Mence here, since the synergies are so natural. I also strongly endorse the use of Vaporeon and Registeel together on this kind of build, but more generally to answer the call of this particular challenge. I see how the rest of the team supports Breloom, too, and I think a sleeper helps a team like this go a long way, but I wonder if this wasn't a team for Leech Seed Loom -- it might pair well with Sub Pass and Sub Kou -- or if Loom doesn't make the team criminally weak against Dugtrio. Loom+Pursuit is a creative fix for sure, but maybe just using Sub on Raikou (or Vaporeon) and/or DDing with Mence to abuse e.g. Aerial Ace lock are good enough? I also praise the creator of this team for submitting a team that thrives without Sand rather than simply dropping Tar from a team that strongly craves it. Another point of contention that I have is the use of WoW on Doom and Twave on Steel next to Loom, as you can't simultaneously status a Pokemon. I think Toxic>Counter on Steel would benefit this team against Swampert in specific, but more generally, I would argue that it better abuses Substitute. You sacrifice some utility against strong physical attackers (including Dugtrio and Metagross, yikes) in return for some offense. The use of multiple status conditions can be asynergistic, so I would advise dropping WoW for Crunch on Doom in that event, though you do miss being able to stay in or revenge burn vs Lax. The extra power against Pert is appreciated, and the opponent is likelier to switch Mence in, for example. Doom can also better answer Molt and non-fighting Zard, then, which are very helpful roles to compress for this team. I'm impressed by what this team manages to accomplish, and I like the general promise, but I suspect a few small changes could make this team really hum. It's possible that the tradeoffs of one tech for another can track to tradeoffs in defensive vs offensive utility on this team, though.

Competitive Viability 5/10:
I'm concerned about the frailty of this team. While I love the fit of all of the mons here offensively, Loom AND Doom might be a bridge too far with Vaporeon as your bulky water. You're leaning on Registeel for rock and special checking. The offensive pressure prevents Metagross coming in for free, but seeing how Steel is overloaded, you're not far off from getting swept by Agility Metagross in any game. The team works in the abstract and barely holds itself together to that extent, given its offensive pressure against certain critical threats. I think the offense is well-designed, but I can't fully trust this team defensively. I suspect this team might do well to substitute Loom and Doom with Lax and Dol.

Creativity & Originality 8.5/10:
This team clearly derives inspiration from some of my (and/or Fruh's) teams revealed around/just before JI, with Registeel, Raikou, and Penguin Mence. However, I think the choice to go Sandless and to slot Suit, Sub Pass, and Sleep are refreshing. The synergies Vaporeon and Doom in particular bring are a strong conceptual upgrade on my Raikou Sand team.

Clarity of Explanation 9.5/10:
Quite well-done. It's a sober and precise analysis of where this team thrives and struggles. I can only suggest delving a little bit deeper into discussing alternatives (e.g. did you consider Seed on Loom, Tox on Steel, etc.), and I suspect the team is a bit frailer than advertised, but this explanation is extremely well done.

Adaptability & Flexibility 8/10:
Offensively, this team overachieves in this category, with Sub Pass and all manner of Skarm and Bliss pressure powering it up to what amounts to a convincing offense. Defensively, I am concerned this team might struggle against bad RNG or might not withstand being outplayed as well as a more robust team might. It should be able to win a decent number of games. It looks good.

https://pokepast.es/4a1152ab13fa4747

Team Synergy & Cohesion 6/10:
I'm not sure how Regice dropping Blissey coverage is a good choice -- especially not on a Sub Pass team -- but I can imagine something like Toxic being a good option here. I like the use of Sub (Wish!!) Pass next to heavy hitters, otherwise. Agility Metagross feels somewhat under supported, given that Regice is the sole good lure of Pert on this team, next to Mence, who can't stay in to chip very well. Regice also doesn't consistently lure Pert before other tanks, which is quite annoying when Mence and Meta are your endgame plans. If you wish to boom Pert, you might have to hope there isn't a Zap or Aero behind that stuffs Mence and hits back. I like the use of Champ to lure Zap and Mence as well, and I think the 6 should farm stall pretty consistently, but defensively, it's frail, and the use of lures feels somewhat inconsistent, given that the overlap is limited. Snorlax might help to bulk it out, while maintaining pressure. It comes at the cost of some offensive synergy, but Lax is a good mon to include for its role compression either way. Ice Beam on Dol makes sense, and the distribution of phys Def responsibilities allows for more aggressive trading elsewhere on the team, but I think a well-prepared and played Gengar can still punish this team. I like this team, but I just feel it's short of tools to make it work.

Competitive Viability 4/10:
This team looks like it almost works. Agility Meta supported by DD Fire Blast Mence and both supported by Sub Wish Pass Vap and Machamp are intelligent choices. The team, however, feels somewhat frail to Zapdos with the right support, and Regice gives free entry to some of the more threatening mons in the tier. I prefer giving it Toxic or Twave to make better use of it defensively than giving up status and boom, since those are its best tools to seize momentum. I think it should stop stall out, while more active teams will prove too hot to handle quite often. I also have to critique the lack of lures for Pert, considering the faster set-up sweepers on the team want Pert out of the picture.

Creativity & Originality 5.5/10:
While I love the use of this Vaporeon here, and I think the anti-bird synergies are quite clever in support of Meta and Mence, I think I have to subtract points for using three defensively suspect BLs. Machamp, Vaporeon (without Ice Beam), and Regice (without defensive coverage) are limited, particularly when not well-supported by other mons on the team. You don't really want Metagross supporting the others defensively so much, considering it's a set-up sweeper. The concepts are there, and they are promising, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Some ingredients just get lost in the sauce when you over-season.

Clarity of Explanation 6/10:
I disagree with your critique of Sandless, Spikeless, trapless meaning a team is inherently doomed. I don't disagree with your assessment on Regice's boom being soggy and disappointing, but sometimes, for the sake of momentum, being able to take some HP, end a turn, and get a new threat in is valid. If you are looking for a sturdier Regice, you might consider Rest Talk. In any event, I think you'd like some way of seizing momentum and not capitulating entirely to Blissey, for example. The formatting also makes the explanation difficult to read. I do like your choice to include metagame takes here, and explaining the logic of Psych Up 3 Atks on Regice was nice, but I still advise using some other status move, if not Explosion.

Adaptability & Flexibility 5.5/10:
The team looks like it dunks on non-Pert stall, and with Wish and Sub Pass on Vap, it might be able to weather the Pert stall comfortably as well. Regice is limited, and Metagross thuds into SkarmPert, so your avenues for breaking are bottle-necked. I think this team tries to do too much and fails to consistently accomplish it, but it has enough paths for play with Vap's support that I can see it winning some games.
 
pt. 2
https://pokepast.es/9d978ba1422b55b6

Team Synergy & Cohesion 7.5/10:

Using Sandless abusers in Sub Cune and Reversal Hera to compensate for Dugless Kingdra's inability to crack Blissey teams is conceptually strong. I love the 6 -- wouldn't swap out a mon -- and I love the direction that this team goes in, more generally. I think having Self-destruct (or some other strong Skarm-coverage) on Snorlax and/or mixed coverage on Metagross would help this team against Skarmory quite a bit, particularly considering that this team has five grounded mons without Spin, and the one 'good' switch-in is carrying a Choice Band. You will have to switch into Metagross and Snorlax to handle opposing threats, and you will have to answer to Skarmory. Protect Skarm doesn't mind coming in on your physical attackers. It stalls out Rain turns, and it annoys your Zapdos very much. I can imagine this team banks on momentum reversal tactics with Hera and Kingdra to bail the pilot out of a stick situation against an aggro Spikes team, but particularly with Metagross as your only rock resist, it is a risk to explode against Skarmory against Aero, and not necessary to the offensive game plan, considering all sweepers are capable of doling out heavy damage. It's necessary to increase Skarm pressure to keep Spikes off, even if you need to boom Lax early for momentum. I can see why a Bold Cune was used to compensate, but I'm not convinced that is the right fix. There are some clever corners cut here -- for example, Heracross foregoing Megahorn and Zapdos's CB HP Fighting being favored to KO the less than full bulk Tyranitar leads we see these days, and due to a decline in the number of Protect Skarmory, the Band comes with a reduced tax. I think better building techniques could improve defensive cohesion, but the offensive synergies are artfully designed.

Competitive Viability 6/10:
As mentioned above, the synergy of the comp is limited by the physical and mixed attackers being walled by Skarmory, to varying extents, allowing Skarmory to Spike and Protect in the face of this team. Some of the sets are a bit too gimmicky to work consistently before the opponent knows the full set of techs. While few players will switch Tyranitar out of Zapdos at lead -- a testiment to the potential for consistency of this team in a balanced scout and on the ladder -- max HP Tyranitar is favored to tank HP Fighting, and even with Dugtrio bulk, bulky Tar still survives 37.5% of the time. This isn't a death sentence, but Zapdos dying to Rock Slide allows Skarmory to more comfortably play against this team on big 5, for example, while the team holds up defensively against the other threats. Because Snorlax is walled by Skarmory, and Metagross can't boom against it, it's also possible for Gengar to 1v1 Heracross at full HP, tanking HP Ghost with the common 168 HP investment. I can also see Claydol managing to come in on a free turn against Zapdos and staying in on Heracross coming in to SD to block the sweep. +2 HP Ghost does not guarantee a KO on max HP Dol, and 252/112 (Aero Double-Edge) bulk Dol is favored to survive it. While these can be small considerations, they add up to reduce consistency and demand more from the pilot. My advice would be to use a different mixed Metagross set; Mash/Tpunch/Grass/Boom (with Magnet!?) or Mash/Fire/Psy/Boom can reduce the number of entries Skarm can make while offering some Gengar and Claydol luring potential and giving pressure into Magneton, depending on the set. The Snorlax needs more firepower for Skarmory, too. I think Self-destruct is almost necessary here, especially if you would like to use it to lure opposing Suicune, since this team is short on ways of eliminating Rest Cune. If Magneton comes in on Metagross, this problem is exacerbated. I think swapping out CB on Zap (and dropping Thunder) could potentially improve consistency later in the game, too. This team is hard to evaluate since it's a bit unbalanced with upsides and counterplay, but it could be solid with some tweaks.

Creativity & Originality 9/10:
This team kind of reminds me of Smurf's Ozymandias RMT, in that it's a double-water, heavy offense Kingdra build that foregoes Dugtrio in favor of an alternative approach to beating Blissey and dealing with Tyranitar. Obviously, these teams are different in philosophy; while Ozymandias relies on Sand+End Pert (and Gengar) to beat Blissey (or otherwise heavy offense to trade up against stall), Yak's approach uses Sub Cune in place of Bliss lures with Sand support and a Zapdos that no Blissey wants to come in on to compensate. It's a nice, modern update on an older stall build, and it's quite ambitious. I also love how it slots Reversal Hera as a catch-all to win against Dug or Aero stalls with Blissey that manage to handle Cune -- and stuff Kingdra, of course. This team meets the task of convincingly running Sandless to the benefit of the composition and slots four set-up mons that can trade up. The 6 is quite good, even if I'm not sold on the particulars of the execution in the technical aspects. As something ambitious and new that I can see being more widely adopted without fundamentally changing the philosophy of the team, I'll give the submission a slight pass on execution here.

Clarity of Explanation 8.5/10:
The explanation of the Zap vs lead Tar match-up and what to do in every event is correct. The justification for Thunder on Zapdos is also strong. The discussion of lead interactions and lines is also a good addition. I also appreciate the instructions on using Kingdra, since this team is very technical. I agree with your analysis of individual members and interactions more generally, but I think this would be aided by a discussion of the critical match-ups -- full archetypes or cores.

Adaptability & Flexibility 6.5/10:
Any team that is walled by Skarmory in two key defensive slots with little room to reverse momentum is inflexible. Set changes would go a long way, especially in the cases of Metagross and Snorlax who are unsupported and unsupportive (offensively) in critical match-ups. However, the end game options are pretty diverse, once these details are ironed out -- and potentially even as is, on a match-up to match-up basis.

https://pokepast.es/8e3c0bd3138346ee

Team Synergy & Cohesion 4/10:
Another HP Fighting Zap-lead special offense. At a glance, I am reminded of the Ibidem team Linear brought to SPL XII w5 against Star (video). Where it departs is by dropping Sand for a CB Rock, and dropping Cune for Gengar. While I think dropping Tar makes sense next to Cune, I'm not crazy about Zard without Sand and Sandless offense without Cune. There are only so many reliable grounded offensive threats that can sweep through the pressure of the most threatening revenge killers (Dugtrio, Aero, etc.), and either way, you prefer to have a water to chip in against Tyranitar and Salamence defensively. Sub Kou can get the job done instead of Cune when supported by DD Mence to compensate for Dugtrio trapping. Speed Pass enabled it to thrive previously. The pickings are slim, and your choice of revenger informs the results of your team. Zard is checked by Aero and Milo, and Rest Zap looks to be somewhat annoying to maneuver around here. This team mono loses to Suit Tar, and your special defensive core consists of a STABless, Seedless Celebi and a bulkless Zapdos. Rock Slide at lead also ruins HP Fighting Zapdos, while Zap leaves Tar with enough HP after leftovers to smother Zard, chunk Rock, or come back in later. This team feels very close to losing to Cune and should outright fold to Starmie and Pert throwing out Hydro Pumps. It can sit on Celebi once the set is revealed. The Gengar set is also one better suited to Spikes+Sandstorm teams with its underwhelming coverage.

I can understand that you were going for by trying to make the most out of CM Pass offensively, and I don't mind the 4-mon core with a water instead of Rock, and possibly a Mence or Dug instead of Zard, but it's got a mixed offensive flavor to it that might be lost by turning it into full-on special offense. However, I feel that you have chosen to forego the best Pokemon (or sets) to use on Sandless offense -- Lax, Cune, Kou, Seed/Recover Celebi, BP Zapdos -- while bringing some of the mons that want Sand the most -- Zard, Gar, CM Jira. I'm also not sure what Regirock offers here outside of sometimes luring Dol, because luring Skarmory, waters, or Celebi is not interesting at all for this team. Props for finding a fresh concept. I can't see this having an easy time against v5 or Aero Spikes, though, and a plan in the Dug and Aero Spikes mu's is prerequisite to a viable team composition. That all said, all of the special attackers want to overload (Pursuit, bulky phys) Ttar. Give them (Celebi, Gengar, maybe Zard) better coverage for that match up, and I can see the synergies improve. I will also credit this team for choosing an offensive core of Zap+Cele to answer the prompt, and I can see the synergistic overloading of Claydol here. It is also cute to think that Celebi can set up and pass to Gengar on boom once the set is revealed. Props also for having good anti-Skarm pressure across the board, and I guess also a build that dunks on Forre Suit Tar builds. This team should also be solid against Lax, for a special offense build without Dug, Meta, or Sand.

Competitive Viability 3.5/10:
I'm not keen on any team without a water type. There are few exceptional builds where you can patch a Metagross weakness without a water type. While I feel that Agility Metagross is significantly harder to build for the average player than recent tactic shifts have indicated, I think it's still relevant this build that folds to Agility Slide Metagross assuming no bad RNG for the Meta player, or maybe just a bit of chip on Zap and Jira. It's not disqualifying, again, because Agility (Slide) Meta is nowhere near as spammable as suggested. Jirachi also does not have support in rock checking. The answer to t1 DD Tyranitar is to pray and go Regirock on +1 Slide and +1EQ after using HP Fighting at lead -- or to sac Zap first. An EQ crit autowins. Back DD Tar autowins. Pert blanks two breakers on the team and sits the third and fourth, effectively halting momentum for a build whose endgame plans involve HP Grass coverage 252 SpA invested sweepers. Celebi automatically loses to Roar Pert, but its mediocre coverage allows physical threats to more freely come in without even Leech Seed to properly punish. This team does not break Milo for Zard, as mentioned before. Jirachi is Dug-weak. While Sub could help, CM 3 Attacks coverage is necessary for this team which does not support it perfectly, and unfortunately, it can't be passed Speed to compensate. Zapdos should have BP to chain, but maybe its current coverage teeters on necessary to compensate for the frailty of the build. I can see this team destroying ABR Celebi+Blissey teams and hanging its hat on a strong match up against Dugless stall, but a worse match up against Aero and Dugtrio builds is disqualifying for me.

Creativity & Originality 3/10:
This is another build whose execution I do not trust, and I prefer to reward points for creativity I can see succeeding. So if I lack the imagination to make an idea work, it is hard to award points to a new concept that I misunderstand or (mis)underestimate. That being said, I think that the anti-Claydol theme is cleverly executed here. I don't think we've seen a team like this before -- which lacks a water type (or a Dugtrio) -- but that is for the worse. I don't have much to add here after what I said above.

Clarity of Explanation 5/10:
I can clearly see the direction from the intro and the forces at play in your decision to work on this archetype. I feel like you must have forgotten bulky waters help with the physical weakness of this kind of build -- maybe a Sub Cune to patch? The 'muddiness' of your thought process is an indication that you might have needed to sit with this a bit longer or rebuild from scratch. I'm a bit disappointed by the analysis here and the settling for a worse game against physical Tyranitar, though. Maybe some testing and/or replays could help your team building and analysis. I can also suggest a DD Brick Mence here instead of Zard, which would help against Aero and Bliss, if well-supported, rather than dismissing Mence outright and reaching for the next Bliss-luring bird. I agree with your analysis of what the problems are, but I can't agree that these are small issues that can be outplayed.

Adaptability & Flexibility 2/10:
Ditto everything said in the previous sections. I don't think this team is suited to handling the most aggressive or defensive of Spikes teams (with tools for Celebi) because the breaking power and bulk of this team are limited. A team that is poorly adapted for the meta can't be adaptable or flexible in (what I see as) the most important match ups. That's my bias, and I can't rate a team that falls below that bar highly. Furthermore, I don't see how this team exploits recent meta trends particularly well. Against Claydol, however, there are options.

https://pokepast.es/9cae27c367ecdf33

Team Synergy & Cohesion 6/10:
The 6 looks reasonable enough at a glance. It is mostly defensively sound, with two decent Zap checks, a hand full good offensive water checks, and a healthy number of physical checks. I also think the inclusion of Taunt Rock Gyara makes a decent amount of sense. The 6 has strong natural synergies, with Claydol and Snorlax offering to boom Celebi for the Gyara, Cune, and Jolt to have an easier time breaking through. The team feels reasonably solid, but I have several points of concern related to the set, item, and spread choices.

First of all, I generally don't like Gyarados without Magneton, as I find it mostly useless against Skarmory. In this case, Drill Peck Skarmory under Sand remains annoying. Gyara can't really hit and run the way some Brick Break Mences can be played, and whatever it offers defensively is limited by its offensive impotence. This team is short of Claydol lures, and Snorlax doesn't guaranteed put Gar into range of HP Rock, so Gyarados probably doesn't have enough firepower to consistently work. It's also too slow to use HP Rock against Aero, which is a serious limitation. Perhaps TW>Taunt and HP Flying could help some at the cost of having to play more precisely against Skarmory with your team. I also think Jolteon is somewhat limited on this kind of build, having experimented with it myself. I like the mon, and I can see why its ability to blank non-status Zapdos are desired here. I would suggest using Leftovers, though. Snorlax and Metagross can absorb status. Claydol is a nice pivot on TW or Tbolt. There are offensive options for luring Zap down. Dropping Thunder Wave for Wish(!!) or Sub and running more bulk are options I would heavily recommend you consider. Those are the strongest reasons to include Jolteon over another BPing special check or Registeel(/Ice) who does the TW thing better for this kind of team, luring Skarmory (among other threats) and adding boom. I think Suicune should probably have Ice Beam (or at least Sleep Talk) instead of Roar here, too. With all of the booms, you can phase or lure mons comfortably, and you should be able to threaten Cune with Jolteon if not luring it down.

I also recommend bulking out Metagross and slotting Brick Break to catch Skarmory (and midground Magneton). It's defensively important for a team with so many offensive sets to run bulkier rock checks. You can't have CB Meta and CB Dol on the same 6 here. As a matter of fact, I might recommend mixed Meta -- or even Suit[!!] Meta for Aero and Gar, since Pursuit is permitted -- if you'd like to keep CB Dol. My other point of concern with Meta is that it lures water types for mons that don't particularly care, and you don't exaclty have the best switch-ins to Pert. It's an anti-synergy for a mon operating in its strongest capacity to lure a defensive threat and thud into it when it does not behoove its team to chip the mon. Furthermore, I don't think this team is necessarily the best fit for CB Dol, what with its pivots being on the stiffer side. I'm unsure about CB Dol here, even with changes to the other sets, but I can see the logic, and think that Sball is a nice add for a team like this. I also don't get the Lax EVs -- you'll net more value dumping into the lower Def and SpD stats than into HP -- but you'll figure out what you'd like with time. Ask anybody who's been around the block for a Lax spread, and I'm sure they'll set you up with something a bit more functional.

With all of these criticisms, I will say I like the choice of 6. I think Focus Lax is very well-teched. You chose a strong 6 to answer the prompt of the Sandless Spikeless trappless competition. While I'm unsure that Dol is better than Magneton, the inclusion of an excellent Skarm pivot in Jolteon makes sense for a team like this. I also understand your choice to slot Lum -- to catch Toxic's from Skarm and Twaves from electrics, I assume -- and Twave. The team is pretty logical and decently executed overall. Don't delete your submission next time, btw. You did well here.

Competitive Viability 5.5/10:
As mentioned in the previous section, I think you need more anti-Aero here. Ada Gyara without TW doesn't cut it. Neither do bulkless CB rock resists. Aero teams will bring Sand and Spikes almost always, which can be rough for your backbone. As it stands, the team doesn't seem fully fit to go up against those Aero builds, while it also feels somewhat limited against Dugtrio stall. It is playable -- the weakness is not unavoidable or disqualifying -- and it should be good against most stall builds and non-Aero balances, provided accurate play against Skarm/Tar/Gar in particular. I think some tweaks ought to be made, and I don't think it's been Gyara's moment in a while. It's also possible that EC and V5 are on the way out, if only because of Bored Mainer Syndrome, and this team is prepared for the shift of the tier in a more offensive direction. All in all, I'm warm on this team, but it needs to upgrades.

Creativity & Originality 6/10:
It takes some balls to build Jolt Spikeless and Gyara trapless. I have built and shared comps like this with Mag>Dol before, and I think the formula isn't super different from your standard Gyara Sandless build. Still, though, it mostly works, to my eye. I think this is one of the more interesting submissions theoretically speaking. It's definitely rare territory to tread, but I don't think it successfully brings its newer concepts to life. This could be me underestimating the contributions of Roar Cune or Lum TW Jolteon to a team like this, but this team is interesting enough that I will give it a pass for how it interacts with the metagame (as I see it).

Clarity of Explanation 6.5/10:
You gotta work on your formatting, bro (sprite inclusion is nice, tho). And also your team naming conventions. And as a dark mode user, I find the text below option 2 cons offensive.

As I mentioned above, Metagross should be bulked out and used for its defensive utility, so I don't agree with booming Skarmory, but I think your analysis is well-rounded in taking that into account. You need to better account for Swampert in your analysis, though.. I also appreciate your analysis on Lax and would emphasize using FP before Metagross is forced to solo Skarmory. I like that you've suggested Double-Edge as an alternative move, too. I agree that Focus Punch should not be using Return, and I think the support of Jolteon frees Lax to play a bit more aggro. I think with Roar and Rest on Cune, you shouldn't have to fear off Cune early, generally, unless it's also Roar, but you probably got fished in that case. As for the Jolteon analysis, I stand by my suggestion that TW is better slotted on Gyara for the reasons you've mentioned slotting it on Jolt. Mence is far less likely to switch in or stay in on Jolteon than on Gyarados. And you really should consider Wish and adding bulk on Jolt, since this bulky kind of team strongly appreciates the support. I like your explanation of Gyara, but I think IB on Cune should be considered to break for it, rather than relying on Gyara to cleave through it on its own. While HP Rock is probably the best HP on Gyara, I think that's only true when you're running Double-Edge (or Return) -- strong neutral coverage -- to compensate against Dol, Gon, Celebi, Blissey, etc. rather than Taunt. I see how Taunt compensates for Dol's inability here. It can be a point of theoretical contention to execute the build with your chosen sets, but I'm not convinced by QuakeSlide (lol) coverage Gyara. I appreciate the inclusion of replays and the depth of commentary. I'm personally not looking for common calcs like e.g. Cune's Surf damage, though.

Adaptability & Flexibility 6/10:
It's hard to go wrong with Meta/Lax/Cune/Dol+rk bird+back-up special check. This team is bulky enough to make things happen. I do have to deduct some points for running 2x CB and Lum Jolt. Roar on Cune does give it some extra options, as does the Jolt set. The Lax being a pivot with FP also offers some consistency. You've doubled up on every kind of defensive check, so this 6 is about as robust as they come, and you have two major winpaths. Gyara isn't amazing, but this 6 is about as robust as it can be for the prompt.

https://pokepast.es/93544b0748627272

Team Synergy & Cohesion 4/10:
Another team after my own heart, using many of my favorite techs. Unfortunately, I think Regirock is significantly less capable with Agility Pass Zapdos -- compressing SpD responsibilities into a sweeper and revenge facilitator (rather than revenge killer) -- no longer in the equation. Choosing the right attack to click to make sure you aren't blanking into Skarmory or any of its strongest partners (including Gengar) is difficult. Curse 3 attacks Snorlax with Double-Edge as the sole STAB option is limited in its defensive utility, but also in its ability to sufficiently pressure SkarmTar without setting up and trading HP (before being phased by Skarmory). Its lack of immediate pressure in Focus Punch on the sole SpD pivot means it will have to solo both of these mons, too, so this isn't an issue that can be outplayed. It's defensive vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the lack of a proper water resist -- particularly when most of the team is threatened out by Swampert, the only options for luring being reliance on Ice Punch RNG, mind-reading clicks with Regirock, accurately booming with Dol (while not losing to Spikes or DD Tar), or trading Mence to support a Jira winpath. To that point, I also don't understand the combination of Endure+Salac on Bolt Beam Calm Mind Jirachi. The same teams you aim to beat with DD Mence will be the ones you can threaten to Salac sweep, but the poor coverage makes it worse at using speed and power in the same way as other speed-boosting set up sweepers. Why could this Jirachi not have been a Metagross, for that matter, to lure Skarmory and Swampert for the physical attackers on the team? Maybe even with mixed coverage, a Choice Band, or Pursuit?

The offensive support core as such is stifled by Recover Celebi and will have to trade into it, while Claydol is difficult to trade out without playing Regirock perfectly, getting lucky with Jirachi, or chucking Mence into its boom. I can say, though, that trading Jirachi into Swampert or Claydol is a positive asset for a Mence-oriented offense, and Lax being able to lure Tar for Jira to focus on trading into Pert is also a value add, once HP Grass is slotted on Jirachi. I can even see Pert lead clicking Hydro t1 to land significant damage on Skarmory to allow this chain to happen. But even as I see the upsides of the theoretical application, the lack of offensive focus means that the team depends on this specific chain working exactly as planned on a match-up to match-up basis. In a game where RNG and differences of building, team-picking, and playing philosophies make game planning unreliable, layering multiple overlapping paths to success with the same pieces to harmoniously overload the constant backbone pieces in support of threats that are capable of winning from such game states is necessary.

When I was independently developing these comps, I used the overlapping pressure on Celebi (and Claydol) to support the so-called 'Penguin Mence' (DD/EQ/Slide/Brick Break), dual coverage Celebi, Sub CM Grass (or Water Psychic) Jirachi, speed boosting Zapdos, and Suicune, among others. Here, where the sweepers have coverage for these backbone mons, End Pert and Regirock make somewhat less sense, and Claydol's boom is less valuable. While End Pert is good into Blissey and Milotic, which are useful for this team, it is also a lure to the important defensive threat of Zapdos, which marginally helps Jirachi alone. Regirock is a kind of worse Metagross that can whiff into Gengar and draw the wrong assignment against Celebi, as previously mentioned. I also have to ask why Tyranitar was not used on this composition with End Pert, DD Mence, and CM Jirachi. Sure, Snorlax appreciates weatherless games, and the extra slot on a team can be used to gain sufficient compensation against popular Tyranitar team styles, but every mon except for Lax appreciates damage sticking -- especially this transient Jirachi set.

One suggestion I have which might be the quickest possible fix for this build would be to consider Porygon2 when looking to update it. Agility Zap's greatest contribution to these builds was compressing central defensive responsibilities with revenging against Dugtrio and Aerodactyl for the special attackers in particular. While P2 doesn't pivot on Skarmory, sweep nearly as well with Agility, check Cune or Zap, or Baton Pass speed, it can stopgap against Aero (especially out of Sand and with max bulk) and rk Dug to support the likes of Jirachi, Raikou, Regirock, and Celebi. I have to direct you to Vapicuno's Mag CM Pass build from SPL XI for an example of what is possible for this style of team:
There are synergies here, but there is also waste, is what I aim to say, and that waste comes in the form of being unable to capitalize on the targets you will get against some of the most consistent teams in the metagame. As harsh as this critique has been so far, though, the critique is less that the team will not work and more that the engine is the wrong shape and size for the vehicle. It will work, but not entirely as intended, and not without serious maintenance. You can force it, but it might just be better to swap out for better parts.

Competitive Viability 5.5/10:
People tend to fold to End Pert and Curse 3 Lax. I can also see this destroying the best Aero teams of the game with a decently well supported DD Mence. The offense has enough juice that it should be fine in non-Gengar match-ups and even give subpar or poorly-played stall builds problems. With a few changes, this would be more convincing. I think Lefties+Sub+HP Grass would improve things significantly. Sometimes, five good mons with one glue piece is enough to get the job done. Ultimately, I think this team is worse against certain Skarmory comps, but the ones that bring Sand and the ones that forego it need to come very correctly. This speaks to the robustness of this team style, I suppose. In the moment, no antidote has been agreed upon. I expect this kind of imprecise build to be easier to counter in the short term, though.

Creativity & Originality 3.5/10:
I see an attempt to find a new six and to add a creative wrinkle with Salac Jirachi. I am skeptical of the execution and feel that this team would be best served by replacing several parts and committing to a direction. I also feel that this is what is trendy in the moment, and I'm not convinced this teams' original concepts are an upgrade on any of the builds I shared with Fruh or in my dump. If I squint, I can see the speed boosting Jirachi can partially replace that of Agility Zapdos on these builds, but not even Thunder would give the raw power of STAB Tbolts, making Jirachi worse against Zapdos, should it drop Ice Punch for HP Grass. I appreciate the creativity, though. Any attempt to upgrade or at least challenge the standards of theory -- particularly recent or hotly contested areas of discussion -- deserve recognition in that regard. It is very possible that there is a viable configuration here that supports this Jirachi better. And this is well and truly an original 6.

You're welcome to message me if you would like to review any replays of this team where your concept shines or flops, and I can try to help you find the idea you're looking for in this area, since I would consider myself the expert on this theoretical area.

Clarity of Explanation 9.5/10:
I will respond to your explanation along with evaluating it. I think the decision to avoid Suicune was definitely a creative choice. Where I chose a different direction was using Raikou: the second most dangerous CM set up threat in the tier. I agree with your analysis that Mence is almost strictly necessary, but I would like to nuance it by suggesting that Suicune (and sometimes Raikou, now P2 or Mence support) are almost necessary when choosing to run Sandless. End Pert is almost necessary when choosing to run Sand. Defensively and offensively, your choice of bulky water (and special check) is heavily impacted in game by weather conditions, and accentuating the nuances is the difference between a functional team and one that withstands the test of time. I appreciate how clearly and academically you've approached writing this explanation, and much of your analysis is natural and intuitive to grasp. You motivate the selection of your 6 well on the basis of defensive necessity, and while I disagreed in part with the final 6 and your choices of sets, I cannot fault the reasoning you present -- only highlight where more concepts are necessary to complete the build. I also respect your explanation of choice for Jirachi.

At this point, I have to suggest considering whether Sub Pass (or Rest, a la Ojama) Zap was a more favorable option for you, and swapping out Regirock for Registeel. Recently, I have been discussing different sets with friends. I don't want to assume they are comfortable with me sharing their sets, but I have been contemplating alternative compressions by using, for example, Curse+Stoss/Twave(!?)/Ghost/Superpower (where Stoss or TW preempt DP Skarm mindgames). It is not the same immediacy in its breaking power, but I think with End Pert, Sub Pass (with a more aggro Steel set, with TW+Toxic or Curse, perhaps), one can be forgiven for electing to go for a more subtle approach.

I also see how you have almost perfectly addressed my concerns about the weaker match-ups. Such a refreshingly comprehensive, honest, sober, and to-the-point explanation shows that you have what it takes, shy a few reps, to win this competition in the near future and hone your craft quite well. I would love to see what you make next.

Adaptability & Flexibility 4/10:

As mentioned before, I think this team suffers from serious rigidity coupled with a myopic luring concept. But I also mentioned that it should make it a pain to load the likes of EC or V5 into this. U6 almost blanks this, though, if Pert isn't able to snowball against a wrong-footed attempt to counter it. S/o Asta for Toxic (hehe) End Pert. It doesn't make much sense to punish a team that consistently wins in important match-ups for lacking flexibility. To the extent that I deduct points here, it's because I think this team is particularly rigid and can be countered more easily, but it's hard to flop with such an explosive baseline.

https://pokepast.es/ac8fa32817eadf47

Team Synergy & Cohesion 6.5/10:
The synergistic offense techs of this six covers for many of the apparent weaknesses of the frame, or otherwise offers compensation. Machamp can lure Zapdos, all grounded breakers can lure Celebi, the non-Pert breakers can lure Claydol, and all of the sweepers benefit from that combination. The team should play fast and trade aggressively to avoid the exposure of defensive holes. Zap TSS seems to be threatening. EC, Cele Aero, or Celebi+Zap versions of Aero TSS can be annoying, though the pressure Machamp, End Pert, and Raikou set against those teams is real. My only concerns are that Mence is somewhat under supported and can seriously flop against both Zap and Aero, even with this compensation, and the team can flop hard against Dugtrio stall if the pilot cannot consistently outpace Dug traps with trading. Mence is supported with some clever techs -- dropping HP Grass on Jirachi and bluffing the same on Raikou can lure Pert into eating extra chip, and of course, End Pert and CM Jirachi can lure Zapdos for Mence if sequenced well. Tyranitar absorbing Thunder (misses) from Jirachi might not be enough to break through, though, and choosing between Raikou and Jirachi to break through Ttar is a difficult ask for a build which highly values both defensively. I also have to wonder if Tyranitar is not more suitable for this team than Regirock. Granted, the boom and Celebi pressure are important and slot extremely well, and Raikou and Machamp operate better under Sandless conditions, but with multiple alternatives for beating Thunder Wave Blissey, Raikou being worse in that match-up is not a concern. The pace of this team would be improved with a DD Tar, for example, and Sand.

Competitive Viability 6/10:
The team looks a bit too soft against fast mons for my liking. Mix Mence, Dugtrio, Zapdos, (sometimes) Gengar, Dugtrio, (Super) Jirachi, Dugtrio, Aerodactyl, Starmie, Flygon (lol), and Dugtrio look somewhat difficult here -- even if this team has counter threats for most of the teams where those mons slot. It also seems to struggle against defensive Jirachi, and Machamp might benefit from HP Bug to trade faster into Bold Celebi here. Speed pass would indeed spike the viability of the build. I like that Machamp is helping to lure some of the birds. Assuming that it doesn't draw Skarmory or multiple non-Skarm birds, then I expect it to be consistently good. But this team is close to 6-0'd by fast Fire/Grass/STAB coverage with a means of hitting and running against Raikou. It also isn't switching into Tbolts well if it doesn't handle Zapdos. That's a matter of RNG and choosing when to stay in to trade, but the lack of a backup plan makes me somewhat nervous. Sandless Spikeless builds can slot Suicune to lure Zap and switch into Mence, and Claydol and Snorlax can help bulk the team out against Jirachi. So might adding Fire Punch Jirachi, but seeing as you lean on it to help against Dugtrio stall, you really like Sub, and dropping Thunder for Fire Punch would be a bit too soft against Tyranitar. It's also easier for Recover spam builds to absorb and trade into Swampert without Sand. The most aggressive teams will punish this hard, while this kind of build will feast on the old big 4 style comps that don't slot Gar or Dugtrio. It's hard to evaluate, but I can only really look to the synergies to inform my take here since the meta is in serious flux at the moment. The build looks good enough to work a decent amount of the time, but I'm also suspicious you won't get farmed spamming these kinds of weaknesses in tournament play.

Creativity & Originality 6/10:
This team is creative in how it approaches slotting Machamp onto an HO mixed offense style of build that leans specially offensive, but it's a bit too close to some other stuff we've seen recently to call this more than a twist on something tried and true -- or at least known. The Jirachi is also cleverly supported, and its ability to lure Zap in this team in lieu of Metagross is also smart, if it is possibly less consistent in that role.

Clarity of Explanation 7/10:
I agree with your selection of Machamp over Heracross and leading it for the reason of luring Zapdos. It is also clever that you make use of Regirock to help bulk out this comp against Aerodactyl. It is also good that you motivate End Pert without Spin. I think mention could have been made of Tyranitar walling Jirachi and Raikou. It's possible that compensation is gained elsewhere on the team, but DD Tar looks like enough of a pain setting up on Jirachi or Raikou that it's worth mentioning how you play against it. I also disagree in my analysis above that your team fully compensates for Mence's incomplete coverage, and I would like to hear how you compensate for the Aero and Mix Mence problems on this team. You mention your game plan is to set up a Kou or Mence win breaking with Jirachi, and I have to emphasize that Jirachi missing Thunder against DD Tar could be a game-ending scenario, and bulky Tar in general will wall Raikou, while several mons trouble Mence. I also was hoping you might have an account of how you handle Jirachi with this team. Overall, a strong explanation, but lacking some critical details

Adaptability & Flexibility 6.5/10:
This team looks very flexible in match-ups against bulkier, grounded builds. Against ancillary defensive mons that don't slot every where but wall half of the mons that see OU play (Zap, Jira, Gon, etc.) the team could be better prepared, and some of the faster threats are frightening, but with three endgame options, it can hang against a lot of stall builds and find outs by outmuscling those builds. It's not perfect, but it's complete enough to threaten most builds with problem mons.

Top 3:
MACONHA FESTA by Fruhdazi - 40.5
Loom-Doom BL Bonanza by SpamOn - 38.5
Hydro Hurricane (H.O.) by Yak Attack - 37.5

I did not fully review my scoring because I couldn't find the time, and of course, I may not be consistent since I found the rubric difficult to implement and scored at different moments when I might have been in different mindsets, but I tried to be as charitable in my approach to understanding your ideas as I am capable of.

Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to discuss these in more depth personally. And if you'd like to, I can also try to share those discussions publicly. Cheers!
 
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