Resource PUPL VI Team / Set Dump

[Akir]

It's that time again. Dump all of your interesting teams and all the SS teams that became outdated. Not tagging every single player like last year, but ig i can later if ppl ask

 

[avarice]

howdy i wanted to show off a couple of my favorite sets during the season

set

never grow up (Grookey) @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Grassy Glide

CB Grookey is easily its strongest set imo. Grassy Glide with the terrain up hits rather hard and is solid at cleaning. Things didn't go its way this PUPL but given its strength in tests and such I still will never doubt my boy. I think it will be better than stuff like Cottonee. Null U-turn into Grookey Glide revenging galardash always nice.

set

DIRTY COMPUTER (Porygon) @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Teleport
- Trick Room
- Recover
- Foul Play

I was gonna bring TR one of the last couple weeks since we were out rather early but enjoyed terrain and scraggy more. Trick Room is naturally a gimmicky playstyle but I still think this dude should be ranked for it as the best setter. It can prevent some set up on it with Foul Play and is a nice pivot with Teleport. It can also be a psuedo electric-immunity since 2/3 of the electrics running volt having Lightning Rod.

set

lush life (Leafeon) @ Blunder Policy
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sing
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off

Sing/Hypnosis + Blunder Policy is so fun and Leafeon pulled it off perfectly in its match vs mz. Pretty simple Double Dance that had the decent coverage to pull off sweeps. Leafeon having decent natural bulk made setting up not as hard. Only getting 1 chance with Sing Blunder isnt too bad since you can still SD and threaten stuff mid game, especially with Healing Wish or Wigglytuff support.

set

heartbreak prince (Hitmonchan) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Throat Chop
- Rapid Spin

I hate hitmonchan but it found its way into my builder as a nice support mon. I used this on my screens team so have some form of removal to not potentially get overwhelmed by opposing spikestack. Rapid Spin's speed boost with Bulk Up made hitmonchan an actual threat and it could boost up on stuff like Sandslash to not just spam Drain Punch and die from Rocky Helmet.

set

boss bitch (Lilligant) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Rest

Rest Lilligant didn't get to see any action but I still really like the set. Jist was eating 1 Poltergeist from Gourgeist, resting up, and getting another safe QD. Rest could also take advantage of stuff like Toxic Protect Klinkklang, Toxic Spikes teams in general, and Null going for Toxic + Rest to stall out Lilligant. Against fatter teams, Rest could be used multiple times with decent Sleep Powder luck.

set

graduation (Throh) @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SpD / 128 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Bulk Up
- Circle Throw
- Knock Off

Throh is a solid mon with a good amount of flexibility and I enjoyed using Taunt on it. You're basically trading off Substitute for Guts. It's worth as Mold Breaker is only for like, pyuku and essentially reveals Substitute immediately. I found this set to be really strong with SpikeStack support, Taunt could be useful against slower Defog mons and Circle Throw racks up damage quick.

sets

paper rings (Gourgeist-Large) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Atk / 16 Def / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Power Whip
- Flame Charge
- Synthesis

bloom later (Gourgeist) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Flame Charge
- Shadow Ball
- Giga Drain

Weakness Policy Gourgeist is great. It can function decently outside of screens with its natural bulk against stuff like Knock Off Sandslash and Tangela. It can be ran either Special or Physical depending on what you need a better matchup against and mix up its last slot. I think Flame Charge in general has been underrated for it.

dishonorable mention to Flare Boost Drifblim for being unusable

Thanks to the octilleries for having me and everyone that helped me test, had a blast for my first PUPL

 

[rien]

hi here are some of the #1 honest/unviable/overpaid sm builder's favorite teams enjoy and use with caution!!!

week 1: kushalos vs estarossa (klangs)

not the most consistent team for general play but it's the perfect esta cteam: it doesn't die to costa, which esta is obsessed with, and four mons outspeed everything on his teams bc esta's definition of speed control is usually the x button. band swanna isn't something i've ever seen being used before but it's actually really good: it's essentially a band dodrio that sucks less because it can actually click buttons fairly freely thanks to its great stab combo. the gastro set is definitely a weird one - iirc, i wanted to use a slightly more offensive set that will dispose of rocks setters like muds and regi fairly quickly without being crippled with toxic. it runs enough spa and speed to 2hko and outspeed the aforementioned two, ice beam over toxic is for grass-types like victreebel that usually switch in pretty easily, and rindo berry is for the rare hp grass costa/lanturn. alolan persian is noteworthy here for not only potentially giving swanna an easier time switching in and mashing buttons repeatedly, but it also wins vs most esta teams on team preview.

fun trivia about this match: gum was on esta's team. gum knows how i build better than anyone else. gum knew i was going to prep for costa. gum built a really good team that tears this one to shreds. esta ended up bringing a costa team.

week 2: royesk vs yandaud (claydols)

i really like this team. i really wanted to use lurantis as it usually shits on yandaud/urusius builds, and i used a set with yache berry and some spdef investment so it can setup with superpower on stuff that might try to check it, like aboma and aurorus, and proceed to eat an icicle crash from alolaslash after a defense boost. i also wanted to use drampa, and i ended up going with protect (thx gum for the idea) as this team is pretty ape weak and scouting ape for cc/uturn is fun. besides that, metang is the only rocker that doesn't lose to vic and also takes a few hits from ape, weak armor band kabu not only hits hard but also punishes ape for spamming u-turn, everyone's least favorite scarfer was used here over like, frosttom bc running heal bell meant lurantis was free to run synth, and taunt+toxic pompom provides extra insurance against vic and fightings while also breaking stall, which is something that needs to be considered when your opposing player is potentially getting fed with urusius teams. this is one of my favorite sm builds. unfortunately, i was the one that ended up using it.

week 3: kushalos vs keppy (carkols)

you might notice that this team is different from what we actually ended up bringing, and that's because the combusken version was ass and it should never see the light of day again. anyway, seeing as keppy knows my building very well, i decided to go way out of my comfort zone and bring something he would never expect from me - full stall. what made the task of building stall even more difficult was that keppy loves alolachu and abomasnow, and it's nearly impossible to build a stall team that doesn't lose to both on team preview. av claydol (admittedly stole that set from an old tlenit rmt, thank you tlenit!) is there because it walls alolachu, most of the team is fairly self-explanatory with the exception of the aforementioned av claydol, poisonium z on carbink because otherwise u clickx vs taunt+cm pompom, and fire coverage and speed creep on both claydol and altaria because i was overly worried about abomasnow. we ended up bringing a version with a bad combusken set over altaria and we ended up losing to defensive jelli on team preview. so yeah i'm not linking that version of the team. sue me.

week 5: avarice vs robjr (meowstics)

this was actually built for w4 as a xiri cteam and it ended up not getting used bc it's not an old hjad team but i really liked it so i insisted on using it another week. it's very standard hailcore - the only things that are somewhat non-standard here are darkinium z on slash bc getting walled by jelli in 2020 is and discharge and u-turn on eel, which is a combo i really like. eel also has enough underspeed to outspeed otr jelli under tr. not much more to say about this one, i think it's pretty self-explanatory.

week 6: royesk vs finchinator (dedennes)
(poison)
at this point our team was already out, so after two weeks of building very standard stuff, i was excited to build fun stuff and also play under less pressure. i would never forgive myself if i didn't get a chance to bring masq to the big stage, so i built a team centered around supporting it. roost is actually really neat on masq - once you accumulate a qd boost or two, you can use the extra health to get a few more boosts against targets like eelektross. it also allows it to act as a very reliable gurdurr check, and an emergency vic check. regi and lanturn are essential partners if you don't like losing to pompom/sensu, and ofc i had to go with scarf lanturn bc fun. losing to rocks sucks so lurantis and poisonvally are both performing defog duties - lurantis beats almost every rocker in the metagame, esp with aromatherapy, and poisonvally deals with vic and provides momentum and setup opportunities. kanga is kinda filler here, and i went with wish over eq bc nothing bar masq runs recovery and they all appreciate a fat wish. oh, and lurantis runs a lot of speed creep for drampa. i ended up losing a speed tie to a drampa with speed creep and that sealed that game

week 6: kushalos vs soulgazer (dedennes)
(dragon)
like the team from w1, this is probably not very good for general use but it destroys ferro clef kanga jelli teams, which is fun when you're playing for pupl and everyone uses like, the same ferro clef kanga jelli team. qwil sets spikes and takes out random scary stuff with dbond, roar on muds is nice for racking up damage on teammates bc most ferro clef kanga jelli teams don't bother with their own removal, skunk beats half of the team, sd dragonvally with *iron head* over u-turn beats all of the team, z-memento on skunk lets you use dragonvally to beat all of the team twice. occa berry is kinda bad on cryo but even worse than that is relying on your wincon to repeatedly switch into simisear so it's alright here. this team usually wins games when u press z-memento.

week 7: royesk vs snaga (beartics)
(ghost)
i swear this is an old team and me using scarf lanturn 3 times in a row is purely coincidental i was really busy irl this week so i didn't have time to prep, but i found out this old team of mine has no public replays and i quite like it so i decided to bring it. nothing really innovative here besides sd ghostvally, which is a really cool mon for switching into ape and checking jelli and spinblocking all at the same time. oh it's also a kangaspikes team that doesnt feature ferro clef jelli, which means it actually is innovative after all. it's good and it can win games when being used by players better than me.

week 7: kushalos vs taskr (beartics)
(fairy)
i honestly have no recollection of building this team (although apparently i built it around w1 or w2) so i don't have much to say about it or the thought process behind it. it's more offensive than your usual bo in the sense that it doesn't really have generally bulky mons but it relies on offensive mons that can defensively cover a few key threats. spdef gurdurr is kinda neat because it improves your cryo and eel mu while still letting u do the same stuff gurdurr generally does. air balloon on vic makes muds mu slightly easier. sd fairyvally is good and it wins games apparently.

thanks to my dear octillery friends and especially avarice for keeping me sane and somewhat motivated during these tough times. see y'all next year where i'll inevitably go for 20k and an even worse sm record

 

[Bughouse]

Innovating DPP with 4 unranked mons here:

Grovyle @ White Herb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute
- Endeavor

Not sure what Heysup was running, but seeing him use Grovyle made me look into it and this is what I came up with.
Generally good to trade 1 for 1 (or close to it) with almost anything, due to Endeavor. White Herb Leaf Storm removes the ability to switch into a bulky neutral mon like Misdreavus or even Mantine (I mean spdef switches in, but eh), especially if rocks are up. 95 is an excellent speed tier.

Persian @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 28 SpA
- Fake Out
- Bite
- Return
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Persian has a lot over Purugly, even aside from being faster. Technician Bite lets you beat Misdreavus in a way that you can't with Sucker Punch. Technician HP Grass (this is 59 BP - I don't think you can have 60 BP while preserving 31 speed IVs) wrecks Relicanth and Rhydon. Technician Fake Out is of course stronger too. Return is somewhat weaker, and I'm not using U-turn on this set (though it learns it), but there's pretty much no other drawbacks. I guess you take more damage from Fire and Ice attacks since you don't have Thick Fat?

252 Atk Life Orb Technician Persian Bite vs. 252 HP / 236+ Def Misdreavus: 170-202 (52.4 - 62.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Technician Persian Bite vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Misdreavus: 258-304 (98.8 - 116.4%)
0 SpA Life Orb Technician Persian Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rhydon: 428-504 (103.3 - 121.7%)

Seviper @ Life Orb
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 176 Atk / 156 SpA / 176 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Giga Drain
- Poison Jab
- Flamethrower
- Sucker Punch

Decently strong mixed attacker, great coverage, and faster than Relicanth. Has even more coverage options than just these, such as EQ, or could even be a Switcheroo user. Could easily go fully special or physical, though I think LO mixed is probably best. Pretty self explanatory, imo.

Banette @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Pursuit
- Return

Abuses non-Sucker Punch Purugly really hard, since U-Turn does jack shit and Pursuit chunks. Also generally handy as a sleep immune and priority user. Return might be better off as Wisp or something else, but I wanted to be able to stay in on Sneasel and Murkrow and just KO back. Also could come in handy against a Sucker Purugly for sure.

252 Atk Life Orb Sneasel Punishment vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Colbur Berry Banette: 178-211 (65.6 - 77.8%)
252+ Atk Banette Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Sneasel: 181-213 (72.1 - 84.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Life Orb Murkrow Sucker Punch vs. 132 HP / 0 Def Colbur Berry Banette: 222-262 (81.9 - 96.6%)
252+ Atk Banette Return vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Murkrow: 244-288 (93.4 - 110.3%)

 

[MZ]

All the imports are there if you just click on the sprites.

BW

Only BW team I made, physical grasspam for Lilburr's week 4 before she started building BW for the rest of the weeks. Nothing amazing but I think it's funny and worth sharing. Possibly loses to Scraggy.
Week 4: Lilburr vs tko

SM
I built an awful lot for SM and I'm not gonna post all of it. Some was just fairly standard boring MudsEel stuff, one or two didn't do so hot so probably aren't super worth sharing, these are just the ones I found the most fun. I do not really care too much about classic or future PUPLs or w/e so idm dropping the best stuff.


This started as just being a boring standard MudsEel to pass but I ended up going a GrassSpam route which worked surprisingly well. Z-Celebrate Leafeon is just still a really clutch mon so frequently, and with Pursuit+constant setting of rocks you can generally pressure the fires and electrics. It's nothing too crazy which means it's not too crazy to figure out what beats this either, but sort of the generic SM stuff that I think works pretty ok.
Week 2: robjr vs Xiri
Week 7: Specs vs yandaud


Ok so this one's a bit more of a gimmick but I really enjoyed it. Haunter burns Skunk and sometimes Absol and is generally annoying before you send in Musharna and try to just steamroll things. Haunter can also easily run Leftovers or something other than a Z-move by the way, it just seemed silly not to have one. Also this tech is completely besides the point but Heavy Slam Mudsdale is a solid option over Rock Slide, it's consistently strong and beats Clefairy which the team is otherwise pretty troubled by, Haunter notwithstanding.
Week 3: Taskr vs Raichy


Normally BO wants something more immediately powerful in the breaker slot than Mr. Mime but I actually found it a really solid option. Z-Dazzling Gleam is a nice nuke, Technician HP Fire is technically worse than Focus Blast and getting Filter/Soundproof but also sooooo much nicer to not rely on hitting vs Ferroseed, and the team still fits some powerful utility mons in Drampa and Aggron.
Week 6: robjr vs Estarossa


The idea is that Persian+Spikes = good, there's not a whole lot more to the team concept. Only team here that was not successful (although certainly not the first failure I built), but it definitely ran into a particularly hard matchup where it handles much better vs most Spikes builds. Plus it's a lot more fun than the other stuff that ended up not doing so hot.
Week 6: Raichy vs Ajna


I made a whole team around this set for robjr to use in playoffs vs LST but the team itself is kinda boring so I'll just share Wrath. This mon has its fair share of problems and stuff that completely neutralizes or severely annoys it but I still found it to be usable and enjoyable. You can Toxic the majority of things that give it a big headache and try to reasonably prepare for the few that you can't (Clefairy), but if you look back at plenty of standard fat builds with Mudsdale and Jellicent that got used over the course of PUPL it should probably become more clear why this is not a complete waste of space. Specs did use the team but it was after we'd already lost and LST brought a meme team with Glaceon so I won't bother dropping the replay.

I would also post the thing Raichy used in playoffs but that was actually ripped off wholesale from a Taskr team I saw in some replay going back through the last Smogon Snake Draft so s/o Taskr that team's still good I only changed like 2 sets.

SS

Obviously I built a ton for SS trying to keep up with lots of new metas, figure out what to ban every week, etc. and most of what I did is gonna be pretty outdated. Everything here is for past metas, some of the sets are probably worth trying but I'm not dropping any full teams for the post-drops meta and the most up to date team I have here happens to have major struggles vs Flareon and Alolan Dugtrio.


THESE ARE INDIVIDUAL FUN SETS NOT AN ACTUAL TEAM USE THESE 6 MONS TOGETHER AT YOUR OWN PERIL
Leafeon- this was before Appletun dropped and that mon is a real problem for Leaf but I had to share the set regardless because Sun Breaker is kinda hot. Can do a real number on Tangela and Klinklang and Gourgeists switching in. Synth > Knock is optional.
Grapploct- probably its best set, the mon can be somewhat hit or miss and this was way better in the pre-DLC meta it was originally conceived in but I still had a lot of fun with it. Sub+BU Throh is more broken because of how it beats fat things like Stunfisk a bit better, but recovery and priority can make this a more valuable choice versus more offensive things.
Wigglytuff- Week 4: MZ vs Finchinator
Golduck- free momentum??? Unless they go to a Natural Cure Roselia or something else that absorbs the status just fine??? Also it kinda fails if they go hard to Type: Null so the secret strat is also have an Eject Button mon in the back to catch its U-Turn. Then you can go hard to the setup sweeper of your choice that's capable of abusing a sleeping Type: Null. Gimmick, but fun one.
Roselia- This set's just straight good lol, kinda like Scarf Sandslash is pretty good. Outspeed and OHKO Galarian Rapidash for fun and profit, three potentially useful support moves (just seeing now I forgot to slash Spikes with Toxic Spikes), really scratches that offensive mid speed mon that uses Scarf less for revenge killing and more for utility itch.
Gourgeist- Assuming you don't play like a complete idiot like I did vs Keppy, this thing has a nasty habit of abusing Gourg's common switchins right now. Physical Poltergeist Power Whip stuff is much more broken, but Sub+NP abuses common checks like most itemless Grasses and Type: Null (U-Turn won't break Sub) quite effectively. It's not even that bad at pressuring Unfezant, especially if you have a Stunfisk in the back because then breaking your Sub can be a risk if you simply hard out.


If Thievul wasn't banned I'd stick this in samples. Very simple Thievul abuse with a couple of pivots and also Tspikes because why not. Nothing earth -shattering here and it's certainly not without its share of problem matchups like any SS team, but I'd be remiss not to include it. The biggest issue for the team was just that people had to overprepare for Thievul because it was massively broken, I also used this vs Xiri in our PU open set and it got bodied due to pretty much that.
Week 6: MZ vs SergioRules


I've talked a decent bit in the Discord and on Untier Talk about how Maractus is pretty good actually, this was the team that convinced me on it. With Stunfisk and Klinklang being so good, it's not hard to imagine why pairing them with a Spiker that isn't also weak to Ground itself is a massive boon. Again, no team is perfect, Stunfisk is the Heatmor switchin and the "gee I hope Klinklang beats Ice-types" strategy only goes so far (see termi vs Star in playoffs) but on the other hand I've got the broken Pony so who cares.
Week 7: Brandon vs MZ


I wouldn't feel up to posting a bunch of things that mostly got used by other people if my team wasn't awesome, s/o to the Meowstics for making building tons of PU a real treat. God knows making a ton of SM was a huge hassle at times because it's much more fun to play than build new stuff, but I have no regrets and that's the sign of an awesome team.

 

[2xTheTap]

First things first, Beartic shoutouts

Big shoutouts to yogi for drafting me and to the rest of the Beartics (byronthewellwell, Chill Shadow, Anty, Bobby Dagen, snaga, Gefährlicher Random, TonyFlygon, Sjneider, and watashi) for being really chill and easy to build for. You can pretty much pass them any kind of team and they'll handle it expertly, even without prior testing. Special thanks to Taskr for stepping in and taking over in yogi's absence while posting great builds week after week and just generally being a cool guy to talk to, and to lyd for putting together our team logo for us! Lastly (but not least), thank you Akir for hosting - ensuring that these team tours are running smoothly every week is no small feat, and I know you've been busy as of late.

While SwSh PU changed way too many times in the short span of a month and a half (~6 council votes with DLC dropping and monthly tier shifts), I enjoyed this PUPL and I felt like I was able to push my builds further, despite having to acclimate to a new meta basically every Monday. I was high on Eject Pack spam pretty much the whole time, I found new techs like Eject Button + Yawn, I built with weird cores like Magnemite+Appletun+Unfezant for trapping Mawile and Klinklang, etc. I also dipped into BW finally, which I hadn't done at all until this PUPL. Anyway, here are some of the teams and sets I contributed - hope you guys enjoy (click the sprites for teams)!

Week 1 SwSh:LopunnyKicks vs TonyFlygon(L)


I had a few pre-built teams ready for Tony to kick us off: some based around Electric Seed Thievul and Grassy Terrain WP Gourgeist, but Tony mentioned he'd prefer something fatter that'd give him more opportunities to outplay his opponent. This team was also built around the time CS Heatmor started picking up steam (s/o Slowbroth for showing me that set). I kept going back and forth on whether we should run SD on Type: Null or U-turn to facilitate setting up with NP Mr. Rime and DD Hakamo-o. We ended up going with U-turn, but SD Type: Null would've had a better chance in cleaning up late-game.


Stunfisk @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Static
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 48 SpA / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Discharge
- Earth Power

Some meta development that came out of building this team was this new Stunfisk spread; some negligible amount of SpA can be used to guarantee the OHKO on Pawniard without prior damage. This team is vulnerable to Pawniard's Knock Off, so I figured always scoring the OHKO and avoiding a potential Earth Power SpDef drop-induced Defiant boost could be worthwhile.
0 SpA Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 218-260 (94.3 - 112.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
vs
48 SpA Stunfisk Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 234-276 (101.2 - 119.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

broth's CS Heatmor vs Arakd'eau: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1131047941

Week 1 SwSh:watashi vs Baoba(W)


This is the game where tlenit1's Weakness Policy Gourgeist went public / ham. I had a version of this team in my builder since March that I had been testing with g (with Silvally-Grass over WP Gourgeist and CS Mr. Mime over CS Manectric). This team is honestly just super easy to pilot and each version of it has been consistent across all the metas we've seen so far this gen (and who better to pass this team to than watashi?). Once you've got hazards up, there are multiple avenues to clean up late-game: BU Metronome Sucker Grapploct, CS Manectric, WP Flame Charge Gourgeist and SD Pawniard. We had a stellar match-up here too, with Gourgeist and Mareanie pressuring Hitmontop and Stunfisk, Pawniard checking Roselia, Crustle, and Mr. Rime, Carkol punishing Silvally-Bug's U-turn via Flame Body potentially, etc. Metronome Grapploct clutched out the endgame and basically KOed Crustle twice after Baoba had brought it back via Mr. Rime's Healing Wish. Here's that set:


Grapploct @ Metronome
Ability: Limber
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Bulk Up

SwSh Crabominable vibes. Don't underestimate Grapploct; most of the tier's Fighting resists can't actually stomach +1 BU- and Metronome-boosted Ice Punch (save Mareanie). Repeated +1 Sucker Punch is also a cool way to clean if your opponent doesn't know you're running Metronome and uses the wrong damage calc.

There was a new Mareanie spread that came out of building this, but it's outdated now. In order to avoid being too weak to Specs Basculin, I ran enough SpDef here to avoid the 2HKO from Specs Basculin's Hydro Pump after SR:

252 SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Basculin Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 176 SpD Eviolite Mareanie: 111-131 (36.6 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
vs
252 SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Basculin Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Mareanie: 146-172 (48.1 - 56.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

bonus replay: tlenit1 vs TJ with tlenit testing out my team for me: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1131072891-mwssy1x26peddwwb7abfghp3by4fjjepw

Week 3 BW: MZ vs Chill Shadow(L)

I'm still not sure what possessed CS to request this build, but he had a pretty clear vision for the team going in and wanted to use mono Psychic, so I sent him this: v1. We realized the Hypno set was illegal (Barrier + BP is incompatible), then Anty and Taskr helped finish it up for CS 20 min before the battle started (final version above).

The match itself was pretty funny; CS had MZ saying gg by turn 15, but CS being haxed this PUPL became kind of a meme (you can watch the miss to end all misses on the following turn). If MZ's Klang was max HP / max SpDef, Heat Wave had a slightly better roll on Klang. If not, Stored Power was the play.
+5 252 SpA Swoobat Stored Power (260 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Klang: 279-329 (86.1 - 101.5%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+5 252 SpA Swoobat Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Klang: 288-340 (88.8 - 104.9%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Week 3 DPP:brewfasa vs byronthewellwell(L)


I'm not really a dpp pu mainer or anything (yet!), but I cooked up this week 3 team for byron. Its focus is mostly on beating (and abusing) broken weather mons, like Victreebel and Mantine. Passho Thunderbolt Probopass and Thunder Punch Machoke are here for luring Mantine, and if that doesn't work out, you've still got Scarf HP Electric Cloud Nine Golduck in the back for the RKO. This team originally had SR Probopass and CB Gabite, but bringing out a surprise weather core in Heat Rock Gabite + Victreebel was too good to pass up. None of this came to pass however with byron's Machoke and Sunny Day Gabite both being OHKOed by Leaf Storm followed by a crit Leaf Storm in the first five turns, which took away our opportunity to sweep with sun Victreebel. I was also waiting to see my Probopass tech come into play against brewfasa's Relicanth, but byron switched out of that instead of using Thunderbolt on turn 8 (perhaps to avoid a Waterfall flinch). The Probopass set:


Probopass @ Passho Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Magnet Rise
- Taunt

This Probopass pulls triple duty - it acts as a Purugly check, traps Metang (while preventing SR and avoiding EQ), and gives you room to outplay and lure threatening Water-types like Mantine, Whiscash, and Relicanth. Here's this set against Specs, who's been kind enough to test with me and show me the ropes in DPP. Watch how it plays vs his Whiscash late-game here: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4pu-1122542873.

Week 3 SwSh:TonyFlygon vs termi(W)


Initially, I gave Tony the option between these three teams, as they all had done well in testing:

TangNull Bulky Balance:

Fat Dubwool Squad:

(vs Xiri: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ru-1144315152-2tyf1je16owhsv49h9zza75w13x27bcpw)
SD Silvally-Rock Balance w/ Vibrava Lure:


In testing with Tony, I realized these teams were either weak to Pawniard or were a bit too slow overall, so I made three more squads centered around SD Silvally with better counterplay for Pawniard and improved speed control:

SD Silvally-Rock w/ Ice Fang lures Ground-types for Scarf Manectric to clean:

Choice Specs Hyper Voice Manectric lures Ground-types for SD Silvally-Rock to sweep:

SD Thwackey, NR First Impression Falinks, SD Silvally-Ice supported by Healing Wish Future Sight Musharna:


We ended up patching the Pawniard issue with Dubwool on v1. I advocated for Copycat Dubwool, as that either copies Pawniard's Stealth Rock or Knock Off, letting you set SR or cripple something else as Pawniard switches out, but we ended up going with a more conventional set (RestTalk). Rocky Helmet lets Dubwool KO physically offensive Ghost-types like Dusknoir without needing coverage for them, while its EVs there (152 Spe Jolly) let it outspeed Jolly Falinks.
Tony and Taskr both preferred v1 so we went with that against termi, but I really liked v2 and v3 with Musharna enabling Falinks and Silvally to set up reliably by firing off a Future Sight before they come in. Doing so means Gloom and Mareanie can no longer come in to check Falinks, and for Silvally-Rock, Rock resists like Throh / Grapploct / Falinks are KOed if they switch into Multi Attack followed by Future Sight. In reverse, Psychic resists that might be able to eat Musharna's Future Sight are set up on by Falinks or pressured badly by Manectric. Musharna's Healing Wish is just the icing on the cake, as SD Silvally and NR Falinks get a second shot at sweeping. Thwackey really brings each team together, as its Grassy Terrain protects these relatively Ground weak teams from Earthquake to some extent. That, and slotting speed control to CS Thwackey lets you use Specs over CS on Manectric so that Vibrava can be lured and 2HKOed by Specs Hyper Voice for Silvally-Rock on v2. Lastly, Shed Shell Falinks + Manectric is a cool way to beat other Manectric attempting to RKO a boosted Falinks; just switch to your own Manectric for the punish when your opp assumes you've trapped yourself with No Retreat.

Week 3 SwSh:Sjneider vs allstarapology(W)


I made this team back in early May before PUPL. It's the culmination of three main ideas: Tailwind Teleport is a combo unique only to Natu in PU, so I wanted to pair it with 4-5 wallbreakers; moves with stat dropping effects (ex. Overheat, Leaf Storm, Draco Meteor, Shell Smash, Curse, Superpower, Hammer Arm, Close Combat, etc.) can be chained together to generate never-ending momentum when you stack multiple Eject Pack users; and, Copycat is an underutilized move with many applications (I first started testing with it back in ORAS with Copycat Mr. Mime) - you can copy any of the above moves (or pivoting moves), provided the Copycat user is faster than its foe.

Building the team in council chat

GonyFlygon05/09/2020
[12:46 AM]
i am just thinking out loud, but i am trying to work out a fun team concept atm
the only mon to get tailwind + teleport in pu is natu
so the team idea is tailwind/teleport natu + 5 breakers
natu + specs glaceon / LO mawile / CB falinks or something

taskr05/09/2020
[1:16 AM]
I tried something sorta similar last gen with lagging tail volbeat
Didn’t work very well for me last gen and I think we had better breakers than we do now lol

Spex05/09/2020
I think two tailwinders could work

GonyFlygon05/09/2020
[1:48 AM]
tailwind explosion silvally
+ teleport tailwind natu
+ 4 breakers

Heavy Metal Hero05/09/2020
teleport tailwind natu sounds fire

Apple Acid Glaceon Combat Log

Stonjourner used Superpower!
(The opposing Appletun lost 42% of its health!)
Stonjourner's Attack fell!
Stonjourner's Defense fell!
(Stonjourner used its Eject Pack!)
Stonjourner, come back!
Go! Heatmor!
The opposing Appletun used Apple Acid!
It's not very effective...
(Heatmor lost 26% of its health!)
Heatmor's Sp. Def fell!
(Heatmor used its Eject Pack!)
Heatmor, come back!
Go! Glaceon!
The opposing Appletun restored a little HP using its Leftovers!
Turn 2
☆[REDACTED]: what
[REDACTED] withdrew Appletun!
[REDACTED] sent out Mr. Rime!
Glaceon used Copycat!
Glaceon used Apple Acid!
(The opposing Mr. Rime lost 41% of its health!)
The opposing Mr. Rime's Sp. Def fell!
Turn 3
Glaceon used Copycat!
Glaceon used Apple Acid!
(The opposing Mr. Rime lost 59% of its health!)
The opposing Mr. Rime fainted!

That's when this core based around the following calcs was born:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Klang: 250-296 (77.1 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mr. Rime: 464-548 (154.1 - 182%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Type: Null: 180-213 (45.6 - 54%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock (no Eviolite)

+
Glaceon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Copycat
- Freeze-Dry

Heatmor @ Eject Pack
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Knock Off
- Overheat
- Recycle
- Giga Drain

The basic sequence of moves that you should use to capitalize on this combo is, Overheat with Heatmor as you predict a Fire resist like Vibrava is coming in. Then, send yourself out into Glaceon via Eject Pack. From there, either click Freeze-Dry for free or copy Heatmor's Overheat on a Klang (Klinklang now) or Mr. Rime switch-in. I was hoping to see neider copy Overheat with Glaceon when asa switched Mawile into a predicted Ice Beam on turn 2, but I'm happy enough that this crazy idea paid off at all.
As a byproduct of being paired with Manectric, Glaceon is also able to copy Volt Switch to chip down Steel-types like Mawile while keeping up momentum:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Glaceon Volt Switch vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Mawile: 200-236 (66 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

While you normally wouldn't be able to copy moves of your choosing given that Glaceon is relatively slow (and Copycat copies the last move used, so if your foe is faster, Copycat would copy its move instead), you often have the opportunity to do this successfully thanks to the Speed boost from Natu's Tailwind.
This team has had four different versions due to the meta being in a constant state of flux, but it's stayed in tact for the most part; once Eject Pack is used, Thief becomes a pseudo-Knock Off for Hitmontop / Hitmonchan, letting you steal important items from Fighting resists like Vespiquen's Heavy-Duty Boots or Mareanie's Eviolite.

Tailwind Silvally-Fighting v1:

Eject Pack + Thief Hitmontop v2:

Eject Pack + CC Grapploct v3:

Eject Pack + CC Hitmonchan v4:


vs roy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1111489969
tlenit vs manyy https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1122193383-1u0wgdjg2ohjlz40r747vnnv0oxy284pw
tlenit vs Lambovino https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1122029996-g5h1matf61k78fcybkkdcmj5mzcj297pw
Volt Switch Glaceon https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1111784486
above core vs Lockjaw https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8pu-1128229980

Week 4 SwSh:Procopius vs Sjneider(L)


Following the creation of the above team in early May, I took this strategy a step further with Eject Pack Appletun. This set was in my builder for a day or so before Appletun was banned, so I never got a chance to post it. Once council unbanned Appletun in July however, I didn't want to post the set until after our team had revealed it. Given neider had done well with Eject Pack shenanigans in the previous week, I thought he'd be the guy to get the most out of broken slow pivot Appletun. It was a pretty close game vs Procopius, but with our team being weak to his Specs Golduck (all Procopius had to do was click Ice Beam once Perrserker was KOed, or Hydro Pump once Appletun was KOed) and Procopius having hit all his Hydros after Appletun was KOed, that was that.
I had a second version of this team that would've fared much better with CS Perrserker being able to chip a slowed Golduck with Seed Bomb, so that even an unboosted Earthquake from SD Sitrus Sandslash would've let neider beat Procopius' Golduck late-game:
v2


Sandslash @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off


Appletun @ Eject Pack
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 92 Def / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Body Press
- Apple Acid
- Draco Meteor
- Recover

Week 5 SwSh:Sjneider vs Averardo(W)


This team touches on the notion that Fighting resists in PU tend to be very passive on the whole; Eject Pack CC Hitmonchan can capitalize on this by forcing them in and immediately switching to a teammate for a better match-up. For example, Lapras and Rapidash-G check Mareanie nicely, Klinklang and Ninjask pressure or set up on Musharna and Hattrem, Roselia and Ninjask are beaten by Klinklang and Stunfisk, respectively, and so on.
After last week's loss to the Claydols, I started making more adjustments in my teams for beating Specs Golduck. Protect Lapras was the perfect anti-meta pick for this, as Protect lets you safely scout for when Golduck fires off boosted Psychic / Focus Blast. Future Sight Lapras was more or less an experiment, but it's designed to bring in Ice resists like Mawile, Perrserker, and Klinklang so that Lapras can follow up with Hydro Pump. In turn, weakening Steel-types this way allows Ninjask or Rapidash-G to sweep late-game. Protect + Future Sight also puts your opponent in an awkward position, as Lapras can stall until Future Sight hits while regaining HP via Leftovers. Neider picked up ~4 KOs with Lapras (Mareanie, Exeggutor, Stunfisk, 60% on Perrserker, Ninjask), so you can see just how effective a well played Lapras was in this meta.


Hitmonchan (M) @ Eject Pack
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch


Lapras @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Hydro Pump
- Protect
- Future Sight

Week 7 SwSh:watashi vs Avarice(W)


Thievul was still in play during Week 7, so I made sure to weave enough anti-Thievul techs into our teams (AV Throh here). The Octilleries did the same, as they brought Scraggy stall. In retrospect, we brought the wrong Ice-type, as there were no Freeze-Dry resists on the other side and something like Specs Glaceon or Specs Rime would've washed the other team pretty quickly. We had Silvally-Ice instead, and so watashi had to play this out a bit more carefully, making sure to keep Mawile alive, as this had a phenomenal matchup. He was able to cripple Hattrem with TrickScarf Gourgeist and KO Avarice's Stunfisk with AV Throh, which enabled Mawile to pressure the rest of Avarice's team pretty effectively.

Week 7 SwSh:Sjneider vs banks(W)


This game was pretty straightforward: banks lost Hitmonchan early-game, then Roselia's Spikes went up, which gave neider the opportunity to apply a lot of pressure with Heavy-Duty Boots Boltund, Raboot, and Specs Golduck. AV SF Mawile did a lot this game too, as it soaked up hits (~40% from Stunfisk's Earth Power, ~38% from Golduck's Hydro Pump) while KOing Golduck and chipping Unfezant in the process. I would've used Boltund more this PUPL had I not gotten such a negative first impression of Boltund from people in PU disc. Taskr called Boltund PU Zeraora, and tbh, that description fits. We won another game pretty convincingly thanks to Boltund being dogly (week 6 watashi vs Feliburn).


Boltund @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Crunch
- Fire Fang
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Fang

Week 5 SwSh:TonyFlygon vs Hjad(D)

Eject Button + Yawn Combat Log

Turn 1 [REDACTED] withdrew Sandslash! [REDACTED] sent out Perrserker! Golduck used Yawn! The opposing Perrserker grew drowsy!

Turn 2 Golduck used Flip Turn! (The opposing Perrserker lost 15% of its health!) Golduck, come back! Go! Stunfisk!

The opposing Perrserker used U-turn! (Stunfisk lost 22.6% of its health!)

Stunfisk is switched out with the Eject Button! Stunfisk, come back! Go! Perrserker! The opposing Perrserker fell asleep!

Combine Eject Button Stunfisk, Yawn+Flip Turn Golduck, and a breaker or wincon that resists U-turn. In short, Eject button allows you to keep a Pokemon affected by Yawn in that's about to U-turn out, so it'll inadvertently stay in an extra turn and fall asleep. This was a fantastic tech in a meta dominated by strong U-turn users like Perrserker and Ninjask, but it still works now against Unfezant, Raboot, etc.
The basic sequence for the team I made is, position Golduck against something it threatens out (ex. Sandslash above) --> Yawn on the switch-in --> Flip Turn into your Eject Button user (ex. Stunfisk) as your opponent's mon pivots out with U-turn --> Eject Button sends you into your wincon (ex. Klinklang) while the opp's mon falls asleep.
You can boil this down to something simpler; switch Eject Button Stunfisk into Unfezant's U-turn and bring in something that resists Unfezant's moves afterward for easy set-up (provided your opp actually does click U-turn). I took advantage of this by using Perrserker+Eject Button Stunfisk for bamboozling Ninjask on the team above, but in this meta, you could do the same here with SubSG Klinklang with that gaining a free turn of set up when combined with an Eject Button user.

 

[ManOfMany]

Just gonna dump the oldgens teams I built here cause my SS teambuilder is a mess and most of those teams ended up being awful lol

ORAS:

This is a pretty basic Spikes team I built for Ajna, as he wanted a more straightforward team with a strong wallbreaker and Floatzel. Stoutland breaks walls with Spikes assistance from Roselia. Floatzel benefits from Roselia dealing with water types and Clefairy, as well as Stoutland's wallbreaking ability. Stunfisk deals with Monferno and its Static pressure is fantastic for supporting Stoutland. Pawniard is pretty much essential for this sort of team, deterring against Defog and providing powerful priority. Scarf Mime can also clean weakened teams and functions as an emergency fighting resist that will also gets the speed jump on Scarf Rotom, who is the largest threat to this team, being unaffected by Spikes. Unfortunately it didn't work out since lighthouses brought an extremely solid defensive squad with Defog Swanna and Metang, and played an excellent match. replay (L)


I built this dual Monkeys offense for Kiyo, who is another player who really likes offense teams with strong breakers. SD Monferno and Simisage actually pair with each other quite well as a breaking core, with Monferno dominating Simisage's checks like Mawile and Roselia. Clefairy and Pelipper also form a nice defensive backbone, with Clefairy taking almost all special attackers and Pelipper absorbing Knock Off, beating Monferno, and together they provide both hazards and removal. Golem is the normal resist for the team and since Clefairy already sets Rocks, you can afford to give it Choice Band. The last slot was originally Scarf Mr. Mime, but Kiyo was convinced that Specs Electrode was better- similar speed tier but it has extra power and it threatens the pokemon that Monferno hates such as Swanna. I really love this team as it provides incredible breaking power while still functioning effectively against offense with its great defensive type synergy and ability to provide momentum. replay (W)

BW:

This is a fun team I built for TTK to use when we were already 99% out of the tour. I really wanted to try CM + Taunt Murkrow out because I had never seen it in any match. I knew it had potential, but with Throh's popularity it would be tough to sweep. So pairing with Trick Gothorita, who also could cripple annoying mons like Klang and Zweilous seemed like a fantastic idea. I also thought that SD Meganium would be a cool way to break through bulky cores of Torterra + Klang etc, although in hindsight Lum is a superior item. Overall this team is a bit gimmicky and does end up losing to a lot of team styles but TTK was able to make it work (in part due to Bouff's unfamiliarity with BW) replay (W)

DPP:

Sergio and I were theorizing using Lead Stantler, which has a neutral or above average matchup with a bunch of other leads. It can bop Relicanth with energy ball and Metang with Earthquake, while possessing both priority and Intimidate to nerf physical attacker leads even if you have to switch out (however its horrible vs Lead Missy). The other notable pokemon on this team was Magmar, who at the time was still a highly underrated breaker, and ended up claiming many kills in the match. Gastrodon and Magmar were both strong picks against Drud, who absolutely loves Relicanth and generally doesnt have much to stand in the way of Fire/Grass coverage. Heal Bell Ampharos I also liked as a partner to Gastrodon, because one of Gastro's biggest threats is Toxic. Lastly the team is rounded out by a Scarf Xatu who can revenge kill some mons in a pinch but whose main function is really U-turning in Magmar. replay (W)

 

[Alkione]

My BW builder in this PUPL :

 

[Drud]

Gonna dump the DPP teams I made this season because I had a lot of fun preparing new teams each week and wanted to show my thought process behind those teams

Week 1 vs MetalGro$$



Week 1 I played on Monday so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare a good and new team, so I just put some mons together that I am comfortable with: Lead Reli has always been my go-to lead in DPP, and I have a lot of experience using Rhydon and Bellossom, so I quickly put a team together with these mons. In hindsight, this team needs a physical wall so Tangela > Bellossom would work better here. This is a week I had a lot of regrets, both in the playing and teambuilding department as I ended up losing. Replay (L)

Week 2 vs zS



zS has been my main DPP opponent after PU Classic at the beginning of this year, so we both know each other's weaknesses very well. I knew he can be very diverse in his choice of breakers. Which is why I went with a sturdy defensive core that can cover a majority of the breakers in the tier. Lead Metang is carrying Lum Berry both to beat lead Machoke (which he really likes) consistently and also to make Victreebel's Sleep Powder a little less effective, I have never used defensive Quagsire or Metang vs him so I figured he wouldn't expect those mons. This is the first week where I used Magmar which I discovered was good like 2 months before PUPL and it did a good job in the game. I don't think I played the game that great but I already had a big advantage in the teambuilder and I utilised that well in the game, which ended up leading to my first win. Replay (W)

Week 3 vs DurzaOffTopic



For this week, I didn't really know what to use as I didn't have a lot of info on what my opponent liked to use. My original team looked like this:

I liked the idea of using Politoed as TTK (who played DPP for the opposing team in the first 2 weeks) really liked using Magmar, and Politoed is one of the best Magmar switch-ins out there. I paired with Tangela for a nice defensive core and then I worked from there. The problem was that this team was doing very bad in test games, and a couple of hours before the game I switched to the team zS gave me, which his team had veto'ed so he wasn't allowed to use it. It has a Golbat with the berry to make Natural Gift Electric-type as a Mantine check. In the game, my opponent ended up having the Magmar that I originally feared, and Durza ended up beating me because of it. Replay (L)

Week 4 vs Gefahrlicher Random



I was originally gonna face byronthewellwell but he wasn't available later on in the week so he subbed out. My previous 2 opponents both used Gastrodon and it was a big nuisance both times, so I came up with a lure: Rhydon with Natural Gift Grass. This is also the first week Ktut started helping me, and he immediately got me hooked on the Tangela + Muk core, which I am now convinced is the best defensive core in the tier, Muk walls Special attackers and also spreads poisons on Ground-types that like to switch in on Muk, while Tangela deals with most of the physical mons in the tier. I put Heal Bell on Misdreavus because Tangela can be crippled by something like Toxic pretty fast. I got the perfect MU for my Rhydon set, with his main way of dealing with Rhydon being Gastrodon. Heal Bell Missy really saved my ass in that game, because my Rhydon got burned by Murkrow Heat Wave. Replay (W)


Week 5 vs GeneralAnnoyance



I built this team around SubNP Missy, which TJ told me my opponent was usually weak to. I really liked lead Machoke vs all of his standard leads (Purugly, Relicanth, Rhydon). He also used a lot of Bellossom at that point so I put a Murkrow to abuse Bello as a free switch in. I had a defensive core consisting of PhysDef Gabite and SpDef Bellossom, who work great together. I put HP Ice on my Bello as my team was looking pretty Vic weak, I needed a scarfer and I got told about Scarf Reli, which isn't that fast of a scarfer, but it ended up being a pretty great set in test games so I stuck with it. I got pretty unlucky in the game vs him and I wasn't able to get the win this week. Replay (L)

Week 6 vs Heysup



For this week TJ suggested me to build around Magmar, which Heysup has been weak to, then I added Mantine because it seemed great vs his teams if it carried Ice Beam. I originally had Special Vic > Tangela, but the team was too weak to late game RP Rhydon or Reli. I put a lead Purugly because he used a suicide lead 4 out of 5 weeks before this week, and Purugly is easily the best vs suicide leads. The defensive core of Tangela + Gabite + Muk actually ended up being amazing, and this is probably my favorite teams I made outside of playoffs. All of this prep + me playing well resulted in making my record even again. Replay (W)

Week 7 vs Brewfasa



This week I started with Lead Kadabra as it seemed good vs all of my opponent's previous leads and Murkrow, which seemed good as they used a grass type every week so I could get it in on a Sleep Powder. Here I used a Politoed as I was scared more people were going to abuse my weakness to Magmar, and then I put Tang because it works well with almost every special wall. After that, I just put a RP Rocks Rhydon as that is one of my favorite sets in the tier and it works well on every team that doesn't have a rocker yet. For my last slot, I wanted a scarfer for speed control, and I settled on Zangoose. This team actually looks very similar to the team I was originally gonna use in week 3, just with Zangoose > Purugly and some different sets. Replay (W)

Semi-Finals vs MetalGro$$/Alice



All tournament long, I've wanted to use spikes, but a lot of people were spamming lead Purugly, who can just Taunt vs a lead Glalie, which means getting up spikes in that game is gonna be hard. But then Many recommended me Scarf Glalie, which ended up being an amazing idea. After I put Glalie, I just put 5 mons that would benefit from spikes a lot. Especially SubCM Missy is devastating with spikes up, I didn't have a lot of time to build/test as I was on vacation and I was visiting multiple places that week, but I still managed to make a team I was proud of. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play my game and our teams both had to sub our DPP slots. Luckily the team isn't hard to use even for a guy who doesn't know the tier well, and my replacement Brandon was able to claim an easy win. Replay (W)

Finals vs GeneralAnnoyance



For this week I made like 7 or 8 versions of the same team, and this one was the one I ended up with. Lead Purugly with HP Grass did great vs all of his previous leads, so that seemed like the right call. I also really liked CB Gabite, as it's a great breaker and one that I haven't used before. I made it adamant because jolly is kinda weak, and adamant still outspeeds jolly Vic by 1 point. It also has Sleep Talk to give me a sleep absorber (though Sleep Talk only works once in DPP when holding a choice item). For my next slot I originally wanted to use Seviper but almost everyone on my team veto'ed that idea :(, so I settled on Vic as a different Poison-type breaker instead. GA is in love with Magmar and I needed something that can take some physical hits, and ktut came up with a PhysDef Politoed set which we ended up using. Next is ProTox SpDef Metang which is surprisingly annoying, though it didn't get do much in my finals game because it missed its moves vs his Gabite. For my last I needed a ground resist, speed control and a secondary normal resist, so scarf Missy fits perfectly. In the end, I was able to get the win and finish with a 5-3 record. Replay (W)

This was by far my favorite tournament that I've played, so I'll probably write shoutouts in the next couple of days. Gl to everyone playing in snake and I hope to see more DPP PU action in PU World Cup

 

[Bag of Trixx]

A week late, but here is a general rundown on some of the teams I built this PUPL. Note: not all of my teams will be listed here because I built a lot of SS teams in tandem with keppy but these were the teams that I solely focused on and were most proud of. Also, we built a ridiculous amount of teams so that'd take FOREVER to post them all lol sooo here ya go.

vs Yandaud



Due to never playing in the tournament-style setting before, I really had no idea what to expect in terms of building teams for myself. I wasn't sure if I should go for a sort of counter-team, something that just looks generally overall decent vs most of the things my opponent likes, something that overall covers a lot of the gen7 meta-game in general, or just build with stuff I am most comfortable with in SM since this is my preferred tier above all else PU-related. So, I decided going for a mixture of things I am comfortable with (Victreebel, Primeape) as well as mons who generally cover most of the tier and could slide under the radar as excellent additions to current SM meta assuming they are played well (Gastrodon).

Originally, I wanted to use a more offensive Gastrodon with Icium-Z Ice Beam so that way I could nuke Yandaud's predicted Grass switch-in no problem (which would have happened in the match considering I predicted the Simisage and landed a Toxic on it instead) but I decided to play it overall safe for the first week of my tournament games and went with a bit more of a standard Gastrodon set so I could handle Jellicent's and Eelektross' and other bulky things with the Toxic if need be. My reasoning for wanting to include Gastrodon on my team was simple: it's a mon who doesn't see a ton of play in SM although it is indeed capable as perhaps the best counter to something like SS Carracosta as well as checks commonly used scarfers such as Sandslash-A and Primeape not running Seed Bomb. However, I know I needed ways of 100% supporting the Balance build with the likes of Heal Bell/status absorbers and answers to some of Gastro's worst fears being Giga Drain Eel, Cryogonal, Taunt Jelli, and the grass types since I decided against my plan of Z-Ice Beam. By realizing this, I made this new EV spread for Regirock so that way it always is 5HKOd from Offensive Cryogonal's Freeze Dry, allowing me to include another not-so-common mon which checks everything else Gastro fears and that was Altaria.

With that being said, Altaria-Gastro-Regirock was without a doubt the most fun core I used all tournament and I was definitely most proud of this team.

Although I may have gotten lucky with a Sludge Bomb poison on the Eel switch-in, I really don't think it mattered a whole lot in the endgame bc I called Yandaud on most of his plays made that game by catching the Simisear both times it wanted to switch-in, knew my Banded Skunk calcs vs Victreebel and that Skunk never OHKOd and did a max of 86% therefore the rolls were always heavily in my favor, and he absolutely had nothing defensively to take my Vic's attacks let alone the Toxic spreading (especially considering I was Z-Leaf Storm which beats Eel anyway assuming I didn't want to nuke Skunk), Scald burn if necessary, Primeape pivoting, etc.

vs Random



Vs Random, I wanted to once again; combat all odds my opponent could potentially bring as well as use things I am most comfortable with. Therefore, I decided to bring the ridiculously powerful Banded Torterra paired with Z-Cryogonal and SD Silvally-Fairy once Torterra busted through everything. Swanna I felt was necessary to pair with for Torterra though, as because Primeape could have been a potential issue for this team, so I wanted a scarfer who simply flat-out outsped Ape therefore offensively I wouldn't have to deal with it if it had shown up. I used the same EV spread on Regirock I made the week prior because it seemed really solid since I chose to bring another team with dual quad-weak mons to Ice, as well as brought another good check to most of the PU meta-game and that was Eelektross. I went with a more spdef spread though, because I wanted to be able to take on opposing Eelektross, Z-Leaf Victreebel, Specs Drampa, Z-Jellicent, CM Clefairy, Specs Aurorus, you name it. More specifically, the EV spread allows you to take Specs Draco from Drampa, Specs Blizzard from Aurorus, +2 Z-Hydro Pump from Carracosta, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I just deemed necessary to make Eel a bit more... spdef than just AV.

Overall, I was really proud of this team especially Torterra and Cryogonal- as they easily were MVP that game since Tort pretty much just kills everything so long as you predict the correct move and Cryogonal was able to sponge up CM Clef's Moonblasts for days, despite not being a bulkier set. Also, Regirock came in clutch this game as well, since it was able to force the Clefairy to roughly 70% meaning I never had to risk Wood Hammer on Torterra in order to kill the Clef later on once the Eelektross was dead, therefore EQ became the EZ button.

vs Tlenit1



Tlenit was someone whom I have played countless times in SM and was very familiar with. And although Tlenit is known in SM for using rather bizarre and obscure mons and somehow makes them work to extraordinary levels (I.E. Sawsbuck, Claydol, Carbink, Spiritomb, etc.), ironically enough prepping for his types of teams was not something I was overly concerned with. Like I said, I have played him numerous times so I was fairly confident I knew what to expect when going in with the build. HOWEVER, this was MEME WEEK. And I PROMISED EviGaro I was going to use Ursaring at some point. It was supposed to be the week before I faced Tlenit, but I found the best way to beat typical Tlenit-teams was instead of trying to win the long haul, it's better to just try and bust through his balance/semi-stall/stall as quickly and as efficiently as possible with the most powerful of wallbreakers in the tier. So there was simply no better choice other than the VILLAGE CRUSHER HIMSELF. I went with Seed Bomb over Crunch this week though. Ultimately I prepped a little too hard for Tlenit's norm because I wanted to be able to bust through Carbink as well as still hit Colbur-Jellicent so I didn't have to waste my precious Burn-turns. Because I had Seed Bomb on Ursaring, this allowed me to tech Pursuit on Primeape specifically for Oricorio-Sensu and Raichu-Alola thinking they are safe. But by doing so: going Seed Bomb > Crunch was a costly decision that ended up in Tlenit's favor for the very last turn of the match because Crunch would have done a minimum of exactly 54% to defensive Metang, and that was the exact HP it was at. Aside from the unlucky freeze which if that didn't happen I 100% won the game, had I not overprepped for his typical favorites this game was a wrap.

Even though it was meme week, this team did exactly what it was intended to do vs my opponent and I'm really happy with how Village Crusher has earned his place in some PU spotlight. Ursaring went absolutely ballistic that game.

GeneralAnnoyance vs brewfasa



GeneralAnnoyance actually introduced me to DPP PU during this PUPL and I'm so thankful he did because honestly I can't remember the last time I had so much fun learning how old-school PU worked. With that being said, he taught me the fundamentals of DPP teambuilding and what to look out for, what's good, what's not good, what runs what, and so on. So, I decided rather than trying to combat what his opponent would bring because there is no way I was that comfortable with the tier yet for me to be making straight up C-teams, I decided to build what looked like it could combat the entirety of the meta with relative ease. Originally I had Bellossom > Tangela on this build but that was because I didn't even know Tangela was DPP PU legal lol. He quickly made that change and said overall this seems like a genuinely solid team (I'd hope so since I stole all of the sets/EV spreads from your builder LOL). We tested a few games with it, and he decided to role with it, bringing back tournament success with one of the very first DPP PU teams I have ever built. As expected from the DPP Goat!

 

[zS]

Hello everyone! I didn't want to dump my teams at first but here I am now, a bit late but still here! PUPL was my first smogon team tournament and I really enjoyed this experience so I wanted to do a few shoutouts before we start. Thanks TONE for buying me, even tho you weren't the most active manager but you had your reasons and I don't blame you at all for that. Thanks royesk avarice Bughouse for being the main chat presences and test partners that I had during this tournament. I had a lot of fun with you guys, and I hope we will be mates again in future tournaments! Thanks to the other octilleries even tho you were less active and we didn't talk much but you are all cool persons and great players that I would've loved to play with in other circumstances. S/o Drud and GeneralAnnoyance for your help in DPP it was very appreciated guys! Thanks to TJ and to the Claydols for inviting me into their discord during the playoffs. It was so cool to see a bunch of very talented players that work together to win it all and I am super glad that you guys won, really deserving team!
Okay so that being said, let's get started :
(Click on pairing for replay and on sprites for importable)
Week 1 : DPP zS vs Toy Time King

Week 2 : DPP zS vs Drud

Week 3 : DPP zS vs GeneralAnnoyance

Week 4 : DPP zS vs Heysup

Week 5 : SS zS vs termi

Week 6 : SS zS vs Averardo

Week 7 : SS zS vs Tony


Thanks for reading me and if you have any questions about a team feel free to pm me!

 

[ishtar]

Long ass post showcasing some of the teams built by me and others through this whole process. Shoutout trixx, evi, exp, lst, ava and gum for being wonderful builders and testers to these creations. Some of these wouldnt exist without you. CLICK ON SPRITES TO CHECK OUT THE PASTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 1: vs. Meowstics

SS: Star vs. Jake. (Win)


This is a pretty basic Keppy team from earlier in this gen with the Staple Pika + the new popping set of the tier which was Special Basculin. The idea of Taunt Basculin was so youd be able to have some sort of counterplay vs. setup mons like Gothitelle as well as just being a fantastic disruptive move vs. mons like Type:Null, Mareanie. Apart from this Taunt Basc was also able to ofc bluff the Choice Specs, which funnily enough was a technique that Id end up using again in Finals Week w Golduck. Not the flashiest team, but the team functioned just as planned with Taunt Basc pressuring Mare, as well as the rest of the team just kinda doing its own thing.

SM: Keppy vs. Raichy. (Loss)


UGH, THIS ONE HURTS! Getting back into SM was a pretty big struggle for me, and thankfully I was surrounded by people like LST and gum who were willing to give me a hand in testing and trying out different ideas. Team ended up being quite different from my usual stuff since I tried Scarf Lanturn and Bronzor, two mons I initially really disliked lol. The concept of the team is simple: You bop w Aurorus, win with Z-Rain Dance Swanna. Sadly I ended up choking pretty badly by not Knocking off Raichys Clefairy which singlehandedly made me not be able to break it and lose the match, but you live and learn, still rlly proud of this one.

Week 3: vs. Octilleries

SS: Feliburn vs. solonor. (Win)


Built by my dear teammate Trixx and I, we finally got to showcase my Sub SD Haka, which ended up dealing with the opposing Flame Orb Bello. This team is quite self explanatory, and not really complex at all, but showcased the great breaking potential of the lesser recognized Trev + the epic HAKA!

SM: keppy vs. Kushalos. (Win)


Terrible game, dont watch it. But p much I decided to build a double fighting core w Sub Crab since I had noticed a certain Fighting weakness of the opposing teams. Ended up facing stall which really struggled with Jelli and got a pretty odd win. Team is still really fun, mostly the Skunk set that was given to me by Gum and I think I modified it a bit to pressure Jelli a bit better.

Week 4: vs. Klang Gang

SS: Feliburn vs. pif. (Win)


Far from the best teams from the dump, considering that the stall mu at first glance isnt fantastic, but Feli was still able to pull it off w the amazing (and missed) Perrserker as well as a really well trained Gourgeist. Concept of this is to pretty much break with Duck and Gourg for Pinsir to win, but thats of little relevance in this mu lol.

SS: keppy vs. gum. (Win)


Since we got the drops I had become obsessed with the idea of a pivoting Grass into Marowak to force out the Steels, and I was sure to develop that idea at all cost. Ava was the one who first introduced me to Eject Pack Apple, and it was simply a great addition to a team that performed pretty much in every way it had to. Apple was able to beat Gourg as well as pressure Klinklang in the mu due to Body Press while the removal of the Steels thanks to Marowak would help greatly in Ninjask winning in the end game. Also Scarf Klinklang made sense at the time and it was a lot better than Scarf Perrserker anyway, okay! Dont shit on it!

Week 5: vs. Claydols

SS: keppy vs. Procopius (Win)


I had known Proco for using sort of slow bulky breakers like Throh and Dusknoir, so chipping those down as well as having a solid wallbreaker in the form of Rime simply made too much sense. This team definitely looks a bit odd since it looks like a pre-drops team with Mare and Null and its a lot more balancey than what I usually bring, but it simply gets the job done. This was definitely a really fun match.

Week 6: vs. Beartics

SS: Star. vs TonyFlygon (Win)


Another Trixx-Keppy creation that Im sure were both really proud of. Concept is simply Future Sight Behee into offensive Throh with a solid defensive backbone, but Star said that this team was right up his alley which was really exciting since that would pretty much help us build better things for him in the future. I was quite terrified of the Thievul + T-Spikes mu here but Star was simply able to play it in great skill.

SS: keppy vs. Sjneider (Win)


I first contemplated SD Licky before we even got drops, as Specs and I were pretty sure that it was gonna be near unstoppable. Tier did change a whole lot by the time Licky was finally here, and while unstoppable isnt the exact word Id use for it, its definitely a great annoying balance breaker, as showcased here as it walls Vibrava and Wigglytuff. This was also the first week I used Kadabra which since then has become one of my favorite mons in the tier, truly a menace. This was not a very clean game, but I still believe I had good outs had shit gone differently. Oh well, still one of my favorite teams.

Week 7: vs. Drakloaks

SS: Expulso vs. Xiri (Loss)


This is a pretty simple core of breaking Boltund and Bhee to support Falinks in the end game. HW Support is also greatly appreciated by both Boltund and Falinks in some mus. I almost forgot about this team, and Expulso almost manages to pull off the win with it. I still believe that since then Falinks has been a really underrated threat, and this game showcases just that! We had a prior version with Scarf Roselia, but sadly no Ground resist leads to a harsh reality u_u. Ig lilli will do!

Playoffs: vs. Meowstics

SS: keppy vs. MZ (Win)


This team is really fucking funky to look at. It doesnt look particularly strong and it doesnt even have a scarfer! Despite these two little traits, the pressure put in by Super Fang Morpeko + Sub Tox Duggy Alola + Encore Kadabra for dealing with fat is definitely what makes this team work, in conjunction with Knock Off Support from Tangela. In the replay vs. MZ the team is able to do exactly what its supposed to: Knock off the null, disrupt the annoying breaker that pressures Null and Tangela, and spread status with Duggy-Alola, while Kadabra has the Sash to help w revenge killing from diverse forms of speed control. Star also used it in PU Open Round 7 vs. Xiri.

Finals: vs. Claydols

SS: Feliburn vs. TJ (Loss)


This one still hurts a little, since its a game we shouldve had, but a team that were still really proud of. I built this mainly with Ava but had input from Llamas, Evi, Trixx, Exp and ofc Feli. We knew that TJ pretty much relied on Klinklang + a Grass type to deal with Pokemon such as Golduck, so the idea was to simply have Rain Dance Duck for cleaning and breaking by luring in TJ into Protect Klinklang. Its not the fanciest of ideas, but it managed to work perfectly in the match, followed by a series of unfortunate Hydro Misses into a double Protect. Still super proud of Feli for how he played this one out till the very end, and hope that I can build for you in the future again.


SS: keppy vs. Procopius (Win)


I had grown anxious as my match vs. Proco approached and I simply wasnt able to come up with something I wasnt proud of. Thankfully SOMEONE in our team, I forget who, suggested that we use banded Drednaw. Was it Aldo? Was it evi? Idk. Well I ended up building this team that I tested extensively with ava. The Tangela spread was made by me but suggested by Llamas and Evi to be able to beat Sub Throh, a common mon used by Proco, while the Dred was simply able to be the perfect breaker of bulky mons hed use like Stunfisk as well as pressuring some of his other favorite breakers or other bulky mons such as Dusknoir. LO Morpeko gave the team some extra breaking and cleaning power, while Mr. Mime was simply there to ease the SpDef wall mu even more. Star vs. Xiri, g2 in which he uses the same team.

Thank you.

I was able to end my first PUPL on a high note with this team, and I couldnt be more thankful for those who helped me test, build or simply listen to my struggles as I was trying to figure out how to make something work, or...how to make myself work through said struggles lol. There were definitely moments in which I felt like I needed to take a breath through certain experiences and people were always there to support me or give me some advice (yall know who you are). I didnt only have fantastically gifted teammates, but also great friends that I hope stick around long after this experience isnt more than a dream. This goes not only to my fellow Carkols but also those who were there for me, those who were able to help me with my builds, or my opponents who gave me so much to learn from. Thank you Evi and Trixx mainly, for the countless hours in calls and everyone else who made this experience a PUPL that will be hard to top. Thank you Akir too for making this possible and being communicative through every step of the way. This gen might be a mess, but holy shit Ive had fun, and its all thanks to all of you. Lets make this community even more beautiful.