Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
I made a team dump just to see what it's like to do that. There's 41 teams in total, though some are revisions of others. I wanted to have a team dump that exists for the people out there who care enough about my teambuilding to rummage through my teams, while also having my dump appeal to me. Part of the reason I play these tournaments is to have stories to tell. I like when my funny team does the funny thing, and so I added blurbs to the teams where I get to talk about it maybe. You can ignore my blurbs if you don't care.
If you have questions, ask away. I like talking about my teams.
Wasn't rly planning to make this post as I usually only believe in writing a shoutout post after a tournament win, but someone kept pushing me for weeks. Sooo, Hello everyone, it's been almost 2 weeks since the Tigers' season ended in semis tiebreak, tragically :( , and I figured I'd do a review of my spl season - sharing teams, in game thinking, personal thoughts and shoutouts. This is also my first time posting something like this writing after being inspired by other spl players' threads.
This will also only cover my own games from w3 onwards as Skarph was playing the first two weeks for our team before going inactive all of a sudden (hope he's doing alright, i wonder what happened) which meant i got a chance to sub in luckily which worked great for me.
(Click on sprites for the pastes )
Note : I didn't feel comfortable sharing EVs or Natures as there's still a lot of tours left for me this year so its only the moves
Week #3 :- vs Garay Oak (L)
One of my fav teams, does well vs aero spikes and mixed attackers. Standard lead is but I just run cuz wanted to change it a bit, thinking it could throw off. Unfortunately, that backfired as I needed sand asap to get something going with CMbliss. I honestly forgot why i brought this team here, I believe my thinking was to use something I feel comfortable with in a big tournament like this. Also, Garay had brought 2 different teams which he normally doesn't, prior to this, but were matched up well into his opponent's scout. I knew my scout is weak to aero, so wanted to be solid vs that.
Rewatching this game still hurts, and I don't know what to say about it. I did need to get sand asap like I said and my plan was that if I ran Missy out of perish, I'd be in a good spot with cmbliss. Ofc that's not as easy to do as it sounds. I got outplayed hard on several turns, and everytime a mon from my side switched in, it's taking 3 layers while everything except tar is perish trapped. One of my worst games and i tried to tell myself this is what SPL is like, being at the highest level. I tried to remind myself people don't do that well in their first season to make myself feel better. Our team did win the week but i was still nervous as long as I didn't get a win.
Jabba didn't have much recent scout, as his last spl was in the last decade, yrs ago, while his last tour was jimvite in 2025. The original idea was to use fire birds but im not high on and while is definitely a great mon, i feel it wasn't winning much in tests. So, I just thought of a good six which will have a favorable matchup into most offenses which i knew is always good into my scout, and Jabba liked aggressive teams as well overall.
This is one of the better OffStar spikes builds, imo, with being used by Mcmeghan and Fakes in ci7 and then Jimvite respectively. Similar to the above team but at the cost of a weaker matchup vs Agility meta, as Offstar is the water of choice, this ends up performing better vs offense + DDers. Some edits with DD Focus Tar and CMbliss with flame+grass were inspired by a team Mielke built for Pak last yr, and the team lacked a decent switchin anyways. I do feel wish + beam or toxic is better, and i'd prob go with that next time if I decide to bring this. Thanks to baddummy for the last min suggestion for this team a day before the game.
I didn't want to reveal hp grass early on T6, but felt I had no choice, would have been cool as a suprise tech later. Not having sand at this point was annoying me, and didn't want to repeat my mistake from the last game, so I had to switch tar into zap directly on t13 taking 40%. Once meta was revealed on t20, I recognized the team instantly, knowing last was going to be cmpass cele, and my flame grass bliss had a great mu. I did misplay by going into a cmwar with celebi on t22, but im not sure cuz nothing else on this team handles cmpass bi that well. +1,+1 Meta was scary and especially after it outsped my skarm, I started panicking. As I made a bad move by now just blown up with my meta and clicking eq, as my meta won't be able to do anything later this game. I did recognize claydol isn't gonna do much either so blowing up or eqing was a fine move there. After that, the game was pretty much won for me, as long as I don't choke. I did knew he can't sack his meta on t37 otherwise he loses to bliss, and my tar lived one mash so a dd was free. I could've dded the 3rd time on zap or cele but was afraid of missing. Crit could've been scary at the end but mie bliss closed it out.
Cele has always looked good into endill, and my suittar usage is basically non existent. Idk if anyone before baddummy had used it and even there it runs agili slide meta cuz it's the only rock res which I get, but I'm not a big fan of that set, feeling unsupported on this six. I tried some variants with cbtar or bkctar but after stressing and not being able to fix on anything, I just rolled with suit. Thanks to baddummy for this six.
Seeing CBmence damage on mie t1 made me realize it's going to be a good mu for me unless it's cbmence magdol, even there celebi shines . After seeing tar on t4, I recognized it as a team linear brought in spl during 2021, which had suittar and curse rest pert with twave wish bliss. So I played the rest of the game as if thinking it's pursuit tar, which is also the reason why I stayed in with celebi and clicked leech cuz I wasn't scared of it. Was a scary moment when my mie was low on t22 and he had his tar in, somewhow escaped that. After that, it was just not letting mence wreck me with cb hits, and losing cele on t25 could've been deadly if that mence clicked fly, so was a prediction game there. Afterwards, I got a fortunate burn on pert which forced it to rest. And then, my only misplay was letting bliss wish the skarm back up. The game was p much over by the time I got the full para on magneton. Took the wrong path to win towards the end by staying in on mag and clicking rs, not accounting for slide miss but proud of this win. Congrats to Endill on winning this spl.
Mielke had high cele in his scout and my original idea was to try suicune cuz he was most likely expecting me to stall and suicune felt a good choice into whatever offense he tries to bring. Also needed to be good into ddmence agilimeta ddtar type mons. Funnily enough, I'm not a fan of double waters (cune + pert teams) cuz my brain just immediately sees 2 mons being walled by but slop, especially endpert - the best set changed it for me. A big thanks to FJ2K for this idea.
Not much to talk about here, I got a great mu with lead sub cune and then one turn wake up vs venu. I did misplay with not subbing up vs registeel, I didn't know in that sequence that subbing is always the best play, esp when sand isn't up and I'll get health back. After that I dodged a mash and i the dd was kind of uneccessary, i did panic by going to tar as well on the mence and then just clicking rock slide, definitely should have dd'ed.
Haven't brought a dug so far and i don't remember the last time i brought any ghost before this game. Dug spikes is still one of the best teams out there. And while I do struggle with Cune v5 versions (over milo) especially when i face a skarm (as it was very obvious in the game) I was feeling confident and milo is a hax magnet so was trying to avoid it as much as possible this tour. Sball on dol cuz tired of losing to even though I didn't expect zinc to bring it. This does well into lax or most spin teams which I was very much expecting from her.
Had a great mu here, except for the CMbliss, which i knew i was gonna struggle with. I guess on t30, I should've blown up immediately. That eq on bliss didn't make much sense as bliss could just heal if i try to spin on the next turn. After that on t75, my thinking was even if i spin here and she clicks beam, its still in dug + hp steel range from skarm, or even if she tried to switch out vs my skarm, I can spike up later, meaning it would basically be dead, and I'd have a good chance of winning with clops, even with no spin or dug. Luckily for me, Zinc misclicked? trying to softboil so I get to preserve my dug. I misplayed with clops on t97 and didn't get to rest, where i was probably afraid of starmie being able to spin freely. But then also i didn't take into account that clops can very easily get haxed with 3 layers up, and i still had skarm at high health, which can set layers up later if i just rested my clops once. At that point, I basically thought this game is over for me and there's nothing i can do, even about to click forfeit. For 100 turns or so, I just tried to stall with cune hoping it'll do smth. Fortunately, I got a very lucky crit at the exact time I needed on cele. Even though I do feel zinc still had outs after that crit, and misplayed at the end by not blowing up on my cune, with meta when I had pp left in single digits.
Only idea behind running Salac Cune was to turn the tables on Zap lead, and not lose momentum, as i had brought 2 lead cunes in a row before this. Also the fact that kollin had high zap spikes in his scout. Similar to Mielke, I expected offense and since i thought my full team wasn't revealed in that game vs him 2 weeks ago, I liked the idea of reusing it, especially since offense rarely gets bad mus. I was also enjoying slop on ladder even if i didn't believe in it earlier, are just way too good. Another big thanks to FJ2K for the Raikou idea which i didn't believe in before( and still don't) this but got a decent mu here.
Didn't get off to a good start with cune immediately getting para'ed, full parad providing no value, where i felt i was screwed. I don't know if trading registeel for suicune was a good idea? likely not, as I could have gone to mence or kou to handle it since steel is hard to kill for most teams. Having a ground type being able to switch in on twave t14 rly helped. And then i got a lucky crit on gyara but messed up the sequence with missing toxic and clicking endeavor next turn. Thankfully i got my mence in on a dd, and i didn't get twaved, finishing it off with slide.T21, I don't know why didn't the regirock come in on tar if it had superpower, but i got a good chunk off on Meta. Since i knew im never risking my pert there, i had decide to sack mence, but it came in on a banded eq which was awesome for me. Looking back, going to pert on regi was risky but i figured nobody clicks boom there on a weakened mence. After that, just needed to hit hydros. I should have clicked endeavor on Meta cuz i was p much 90% convinced last was going to be or but still had some uncertainty and pert would be good against whoever last.
I believe i last saw this team last time here in CI7. I initially had the idea of ABR's lead dug lax, which i regret not bringing here. I first tried mence over dug - DD CB or 3 attacks wish, along curse rest slam eq lax. Then after doing not so well in testing, i realized that Dug is a better revenge killer/cmer check than mence, and settled on this. I know this is not that great into zap spikes, i was hoping zap doesn't look that good into me since all of the teams i had bring at this point were good into zap. So credit to Johnald for the prep he did, and catching me off guard especially with Thunder Zap. Rain dance on might be better than rain dance tar, but was fun to pull it off during the game, and I didn't feel Suit tar had other good moves. Unfortunately, any other mon over tar would have helped a lot more here . Felt sleep talk was weird on lax so decided to go with EQ despite having dug. Curse eq slam is a great set is a strong set though. Full credit to FJ2K for this team's idea.
Don't want to talk too much about the game, i got a great turn on t18 as johnald misplayed by letting me blow up on his celebi otherwise would have been hard for me then. I got some lucky full paras on the pert/ didn't get crit on my lax when i should have rested. Idk if i choked somewhere at the end, Johnald is a nice person and has helped me, can't be upset at him + I've p much come to a conclusion that luck exists in mons - crits/secondary effects/misses and you can never guarantee that the game is won cuz of luck. Even though this week was a do or die for Tigers so obv i was upset after the loss but also got lucky vs zinc, so deserved it kind of.
Rob had low magneton in his scout + wanted to come up with 2 rock res, to be safe vs Aero. I predicted bliss to be of not much value here, so came up with this. Also having low mono waters in general, mixed attackers look great. I believe this is viable even with changed sets such as DDmence + lead mixjira + DDgrass tar. Ofc the flyer slot there could be Aero or Molt, both being great vs celebi whereas this mence one struggles with cmpass or fast superbi. Jira could be defensive with wish + suittar + leech cm 2 attacks bi. In testing, i did feel Superbi is the best here, but decided to go with leech 3 bi anyways as it has worked well with spikes historically. Not so great into or but i wasn't expecting firebirds and fast ice punch jira can help with mence.
Seeing Celebi on t5 scared me, as i knew it was going to be a pain, That's why i fumbled around it with skarm trying to peck, but roaring first would've been better. I just wanted to get it out of my sight, even if it meant sacking my skarm. After seeing cele, mence, skarm, pert, meta, it was p obvious last is going to be tar. And i realized my jirachi is going to have an awful mu here, so i tried to bluff by going to jira on pert as my skarm died, even though it wasn't hp grass. Hoping to get some CMs off or some value out of it, only could have helped vs celebi. Crit sucked on pert and i thought it was over for me. I did know i have a cele at full and his tar isn't bug, but thought i needed cele to somewhat handle his own cele, pert. Had to play the intimidate game, and bluffing grass on jira earlier made him think im grass, so thankfully he didn't dd twice. After that i was only thinking if i should trade my cele to weaken his cele, and then dd with tar, but then i figured going to Ttar on hp fire is basically the same thing. I knew he had to respect bug and can't stay in, otherwise if he loses his cele right there, mence just wins. So, got a good opportunity to click dd. Idk if he was afraid of a miss from hydro and clicked eq, i had a decent chance to live hydro from full and eq suprisingly 2hkoed so that worked for me. I was still worried with thinking cele will be faster, but then he decided to sack it, trying to gain some health back on skarm. And then even if i missed slide on skarm, i just needed to hit 2 blasts from mence to win.
FJ2K :- I was hesitant initially wanting to ask for help but ever since you joined the tigers, you were amazing, helped me a lot and have been a longtime supportive friend of me way before this. I never knew you could support this much, even when i wasn't feeling like it most weeks, you were the one who was more serious and watched all the replays of all my opponents, talked to dazi, mielke, endill for help for me. After I was subbed in, your prep was basically on point and I wish I could have you for other tours with me. You managed to came up with great ideas every single week and im sorry if i had been rude at times. At last, you acted as a great quality checker of my teams and made me run good ones. Thanks for all your support
baddummy :- The no1 person who helped me the most. who kept me calm, came up with ideas, new teams, always responded whenever needed, consoled me. I know i've already thanked you enough in dms, how much i appreciated you. I know I made a great choice approaching you for help and you've always been nice to me. I had full confidence in you and your prep decisions, enjoyed prepping with you this whole tour. I remember how you were helping me with sets, notes on how to play vs any specific threat and how much I learned just prepping with you. I hope to see you sometime returning back to playing.
Spreek :- I was super excited to be asking you for help this spl, always a big fan of your creative ideas and teams. And yeah I'll be honest I was stressed at times when I wasn't getting much input on my teams , but I knew it was just you being busy. At the end, I had a record which I could be proud of, thanks to you and winning is what mattered the most o. The only weeks where you didn't help were the ones where I lost, which already speaks to how impactful u were. You've always been a great friend ever since I met you, this was the first time interacting with you personally which I loved, and you've always being funny and supportive. I know you'll get a chance next year surely.
Figull400 : I've said it before but I know it was upsetting to not get a chance after being bought in mids. I wanted you to get a game especially cuz I feel you'd have defeated the same players I beat. I was surprised by how calmly you handled it and helped me with test games, when ever I needed it/watching the replays analyzing my opponents. You were also someone who I've known for a while now so was exciting to team up with you, and you've been kind and caring specifically for the last few months or so, and I appreciate you a lot.
Genesis7We Three KingsRuft and everyone on tigers I know we might not team up again in future but this was certainly a fun experience for me. Unfortunately, we only reached till semis but this is something I'll remember for a long time. And some people had bad experiences with the team having a lot of controversies, while not having a great season as well which I feel awful about. I know a lot of teammates did like me, I wanted to be known more than for my record with a great teammate. Meeting new friends, teaming up with top players is always something positive and what I look forward to in most tours, where I'm sure most of them liked them too.
Thanks to everyone else, xtinaxendrix for being my best friend for 3 yrs at this point, helping me the most with everything. mayo , zinc , Dababy2 , tigersuit, NoName6293 , @everyone i met during roapl - plenty of people who I want to personally shoutout who have supported me a lot over the years and mean a lot to me but felt it'd be too long. Almost everyone who I played this season is my friend and helped me at some/multiple points so shoutout to all my friends, y'all know who you are!
Closing thoughts
I know this was my first season but honestly I'm not sure how long will I be playing or will I be here or not next year cuz of the stress every week puts on you. I know even if 6-2 looks good on paper, there's plenty for me to learn and improve. I'm still learning the same way as I've always done, with reviewing losses, even looking at my wins which weren't perfect. Most of the games I could've played better, used my timer more.
Overall a memorable season for me and something I'll remember for a long time. Thanks everyone who read this far!
Click on sprites for the pastes 
)
cuz wanted to change it a bit, thinking it could throw off. Unfortunately, that backfired as I needed sand asap to get something going with CMbliss. I honestly forgot why i brought this team here, I believe my thinking was to use something I feel comfortable with in a big tournament like this. Also, Garay had brought 2 different teams which he normally doesn't, prior to this, but were matched up well into his opponent's scout. I knew my scout is weak to aero, so wanted to be solid vs that.
and while 
is definitely a great mon, i feel it wasn't winning much in tests. So, I just thought of a good six which will have a favorable matchup into most offenses which i knew is always good into my scout, and Jabba liked aggressive teams as well overall.
switchin anyways. I do feel wish + beam or toxic is better, and i'd prob go with that next time if I decide to bring this. Thanks to 
but slop, especially endpert - the best 
even though I didn't expect zinc to bring it. This does well into lax or most spin teams which I was very much expecting from her.
or 
but still had some uncertainty and pert would be good against whoever last.
