We have quite a solid selection of teams this round. I don't think anything here even approaches bad, and so ranking these is quite a task but I'll do my best.
#5: 3)
CM Terapagos BO :ho-oh: :terapagos-terastal: :lunala: :arceus-dark: :pheromosa: :groudon-primal: by Sami
This team is interesting, and I think there are a handful of problems that have it as probably the worst in my mind. I think this team might do worse than you'd expect into many balance teams for a variety of reasons. Ho-Oh is quite a problem I'd say, as it's a thorn in the side of what I'd say is your big piece here in Lunala and also massively halters Terapagos and Pheromosa, and I don't think the rest of your team does away with Ho-Oh well enough. Ho-Oh doesn't exactly have a field day against this team, as most things on this team do hit it for considerable damage, but it's still very annoying especially when paired with certain teammates that you can expect to be quite common. Zacian can also be tough since your Primal Groudon is 68+ Def, and revenge killing it with Pheromosa is made harder if they have a Ho-Oh. Arceus Dark can also be very tough here, and Eternatus can also be a bit annoying. Marshadow is also a considerable problem. All of these Pokemon are very common on balance structures that can work together to play around this team's options and put great pressure on it. Terapagos seems like that it could be set up to be an amazing option that has the potential to muscle past the foe while also bringing valuable defensive utility, but it runs into a pretty big issue. Tera Starstorm is only 8 PP, and that combined with it's relatively low damage output means that Terapagos without any other offensive move isn't good at blowing through a team before it runs out of PP and becomes a sitting duck, especially if the opponent has a Ho-Oh or Eternatus. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this is a lot better than it is on paper and has some pretty good strengths, but this team just has too many things it needs to worry about for me to put it higher unfortunately.
#4: 6)
CB Ho-Oh Offense :ho-oh: :diancie-mega: :marshadow: :arceus-ground: :groudon-primal: :yveltal: by BEASTADARSH
This team doesn't seem to have too many problems. The Marshadow, Eternatus, and Ho-Oh matchups are less than ideal, but managable, and it obviously doesn't really struggle against webs. A team so inclined to click Defog being so offensive is also something to consider, and Calm Mind Mega Diancie is unusual, but both of these are more weird than strictly bad. The thing that gets me here is how blunt this team is. Three choice-locked Pokemon on a team this frail is interesting to say the least. You don't have the defensive profile to easily switch out if things go sour, so leaving half your team highly vulnerable to losing momentum is dangerous. However, I'm far better at accounting for defensive holes than offensive ones, so I can't be sure whether this team is offensively threatening enough to mitigate this issue. Because of a lack of overall concrete weaknesses I think this could definitely seize the number one spot had this been a weaker team cycle, but unfortunately this team has stiff competition.
#3: 5)
HP Ice Ho-Oh :ho-oh: :pheromosa: :zacian-crowned: :groudon-primal: :giratina-origin: :arceus-dark: by EbonyGod
This team confuses and frightens me. This team should suck. Life Orb Ho-Oh does not make sense. Basically the only thing it does better than CB is lure and kill Zygarde. It's weaker, frailer, and the ability to click other moves doesn't matter all that much cause 80% of the time you just want to click Brave Bird anyways. That combined with the bizarre combination of teammates means that by all means this team should suck. But it doesn't. It doesn't look like it does. I'm running down the list of Pokemon, and the things this team struggles against is like. Webs and Marshadow. Also CM Arceus Ground a little. Maybe also Stall. Far from ideal of course, but this team looks like it should be way way worse. What the fuck?
#2: 4)
Bulldoze Ho-Oh Balance :ho-oh: :yveltal: :groudon-primal: :zygarde: :arceus-dark: :kyogre-primal: by Bumboclaat
This is about everything you could expect from a Bumbo team. Rock solid GHAZ. The most you can levy against this team is that it might struggle a bit against Dragon Dance Zygarde and Arceus Ground. That, and hazard control being limited to Choice Scarf Yveltal. I would definitely drop either Thunder Wave or Bulldoze for Defog. Bulldoze is a certified Ho-Oh fourth move in that it kinda solves a problem Ho-Oh has but doesn't offer enough to be that tantalizing, but Ho-Oh's fourth move doesn't usually get clicked all that much anyways so you could run it if you really want to. But that's for like, Thunder Wave and Whirlwind, not Defog. And that's about all I can talk about for this team. A good place is expected from Bumbo, but what wasn't expected was that he wouldn't take the top spot. This goes to show how stiff the competition was this round, and while it was incredibly close, I'm afraid this has to settle for silver.
#1: 1)
CB Ho-Oh Balance :ho-oh: :giratina-origin: :alomomola: :groudon-primal: :arceus-dark: :yveltal: by TheShowdownHero
Originally I had this at second place and was even debating that placement, but the more I look at this team, the better I think it is. That is not to say that this team is without issues. Tera Dark on Alomomola is quite redundant, and Tera Poison would be especially desired here since you don't have it on Arceus-Dark. This makes this team... still mostly solid against Eternatus, but the option to have the situationally incredibly annoying Poison Alomomola who can also clear Toxic Spikes just like that is preferable to Tera Dark Alomomola who doesn't do a lot here. I'm not super keen on such a frail Primal Groudon, but you clearly took account of the weaknesses it has and made the right compensations, though I think a physically bulky Alomomola spread would be better for Zacian. I need to stress that any issues I have with this team are minor, and this is overall a very solid team.
It was a very close call between ShowdownHero and Bumbo's team, but there were two key factors in this decision. The first is that no Defog on Ho-Oh on Bumbo's team is something I do think is a needless flaw that makes life harder than it needs to be. Reminder that Achilles was still an incredible warrior and most would be lucky if they even lived long enough to see his heel, but this is just enough to put it ever so slightly below the other team. The second factor is not a performance issue. While I obviously value how strong a team is, I also want to give points for ingenuity when making the team. This is why I moved Ebony's team from 4th to 3rd at the last second. And, in my opinion, TheShowdownHero's team shows more ingenuity than Bumboclaat's. Bulldoze is a highly unusual choice on Ho-Oh, especially slotting it over Defog, but outside of it this team is about as basic as a team can be outside of some small speed investments on a few Pokemon. I'm not saying this team is
that bland, but compare this to its competition.
TheShowdownHero's team might not seem like that much at first. It seems to be a pretty standard Choice Band Ho-Oh team. But it has some unusual choices, most notably Offensive Support Primal Groudon. Why did they choose this set? I don't know, since they didn't supply a description, but it's probably to make the team more threatening. A Primal Groudon this frail comes with quite a bit of problems. It's much less effective as a Zacian check, and it gives you less breathing room against Primal Kyogre. But these problems are more or less solved, and in interesting ways. In regards to Zacian, without a bulky Primal Groudon or Ho-Oh, it might seem like there aren't many options against it, but there are. Choice Scarf Yveltal is obviously a great check, but Alomomola pairs pretty well with it. While it is usually OHKO'd by +3 Wild Charge, doing so puts quite a bit of chip on Zacian, and it can also Terastalize if it really needs to survive it (though it would have been better had it been Tera Poison which resists Close Combat and Play Rough) and then pivot into Yveltal. You also have Tera Steel Giratina-Origin with Will-O-Wisp as a backup check. And for Primal Kyogre, Giratina puts in more work. The standard choice for specially offensive is dropped for the unusual physically offensive set. While this helps more against Primal Kyogre, it also helps against Ho-Oh, who can be rather annoying. Tera Steel not only can let it live a bit longer against Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam, but it also gives the team a Poison immunity, which can be helpful for Arceus Dark. Arceus Dark not having Tera Poison originally struck me as another example of why we need to update the damn analysis, but there's no Refresh here. I think Tera Fairy is probably here to give insurance against Dragon Dance Zygarde, which covers Giratina-Origin being physical now. This team comes together to cover each-other's weaknesses in ways beyond standard cores and synergy.
Again, congratulations
TheShowdownHero. This is a quite good team that shows a very good understanding of the meta and how to build a team, and coming out on top in one of the most competitive rounds of this contest and building on-par with the likes of Bumbo is very impressive. Good job on everyone else who submitted a team this round too, as they were all pretty good and interesting.
