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Resource AGPL III - Team Dumps and Discussion
- Thread starter Seldanna
- Start date
Maxomega
supra ludio
Introduction
Teams Dump
Week 1
For me:
Week 2
For the BO3 slot:
Week 3
For me:
Week 4
For the BO3 slot:
Week 5
For the BO3 slot:
Semifinals
For the BO3 slot:
cromagnet Thank you for the pick and for the tests when I needed it!
Frito135 Royal1604 Geysers Fc Thank you for the support on the builds!
mc56556 It's always nice to team up with you! Thank you for the support in ORAS when I needed to sub.
rahul_3301 Thank your for the tests in SS and ORAS! I never teamed up with you, and it was a good experience.
Ainzcrad Juicyy GRNBLN PurpleGatorade SiTuM Unfortunately we did not talk a lot during this tournament. However, you put a good work in this tournament, and I'm glad to have teamed up with you!
CKW Thank you for helping our manager, cromagnet, with the Discord server, roles and stuff. You were an insane technician!
AM Lasen Waves susciety Smart Kid Thank you for the mental support during the tournament!
Zayele Nevelle default0 baconeatinassassin Thank you for helping the team during Semifinals!
Conclusion
Hello everyone and welcome to my AGPL III Teams Dump post! This AGPL was my first team tournaments in AG as a player, as I already experienced it during AG Snake Draft, where I was helper in the Sinister Shadow Riders team.
During this tournament, I did a lot of building and testing, and I want to share with you what I built! The teams I used will be shown with a [*]. I'll also paste all my Galar AG builder at the end.
During this tournament, I did a lot of building and testing, and I want to share with you what I built! The teams I used will be shown with a [*]. I'll also paste all my Galar AG builder at the end.
Teams Dump
Week 1
For me:
*
Week 2
For the BO3 slot:
Week 3
For me:
*
Week 4
For the BO3 slot:
Week 5
For the BO3 slot:
Semifinals
For the BO3 slot:
Here's my entire Galar AG builder:
Shout-outscromagnet Thank you for the pick and for the tests when I needed it!
Frito135 Royal1604 Geysers Fc Thank you for the support on the builds!
mc56556 It's always nice to team up with you! Thank you for the support in ORAS when I needed to sub.
rahul_3301 Thank your for the tests in SS and ORAS! I never teamed up with you, and it was a good experience.
Ainzcrad Juicyy GRNBLN PurpleGatorade SiTuM Unfortunately we did not talk a lot during this tournament. However, you put a good work in this tournament, and I'm glad to have teamed up with you!
CKW Thank you for helping our manager, cromagnet, with the Discord server, roles and stuff. You were an insane technician!
AM Lasen Waves susciety Smart Kid Thank you for the mental support during the tournament!
Zayele Nevelle default0 baconeatinassassin Thank you for helping the team during Semifinals!
Conclusion
During this AGPL III, I had a lot of fun through building, talking in the channels, and in voice-chat when we were spectating games. We did a good run together, and I'll be happy to meet you all in another tournament!
Unicorns
Banned deucer.
UPDATE: We did it, Reddit! At 1648 GMT-7 on the 23rd of August, 2021, let it be known that Kate did finally send me a furry pic (it's SFW)! The rest of the post is staying up though!
I'm making this post to publicly call-out my manager for cheating
me out of my hard-earned furry pics.
I have received a total of zero furry pics from Kate in my DMs since 0950 GMT-7 on the 15th of August, 2021. Until she sends them, here's an AGPL III USUM partial team dump with strategies.
I started contributing a lot more after around week 2 or 3. We had a rough start and I wanted to be more proactive. I won't be going over my Week 3 Galar team, simply because it wasn't my team. In case you don't know, I build a lot of USUM AG, largely as a means of keeping my ADD brain preoccupied. The teams aren't normally anything particularly good, so it's not worth posting everything I built (probably amounts to ~50-60 teams over the eight-week season). Here's some of the bad and here's a decent(?) team. Lycanrocs USUM building support was largely me and Will, with Edgar pitching in when he could. Kate (cute) and Loti also helped out and Fardin was around for semis. All of Will's teams, and some of Edgar's, were largely Will's doing so I'll let him post if he wants. Lastly, Velvet used her own teams. I got the okay from Will and Edgar to post these teams, so here we go. Importables are in embedded pokepastes (click on the sprites!) and in-line. I added replay links in the title for each game.
WARNING AHEAD: way too many words
Edgar + Unicorns [BO] AGPL Week 2 Edgar vs Skarph ("Furry UwU Cocaine Queenpin") (L)
Edgar + Unicorns [Balance] AGPL Week 3 Edgar vs Skysolo (W)
Edgar + Unicorns + Will [Stack] AGPL Week 4 Unicorns vs Temp (W)
Unicorns + Will [Webs] AGPL Week 5 Unicorns vs GRNBLN - part I (W)
Fardin + Unicorns + Will [BO] AGPL Semis Unicorns vs GRNBLN - part II (W)
Unicorns + Will [BO] AGPL Finals Unicorns vs Skarph (W)
Edgar + Unicorns + Will [Stack] AGPL Finals Edgar vs 64 Squares (W)
And that's it! Lycanrocs was an absolute blast. I probably would have gone like 0-2 on another team lol. Our USUM slots went 6-2 in the weeks after I joined the starting line-up, which was neat. The furry UwU cocaine dealing core (me + Edgar) went 7-1 in weeks we both played, including 4-0 in the playoffs. Lycanrocs finished second after the grand finals BO3 tiebreaker. I'm super proud of everyone on my team. I had a ton of fun and felt like I got a lot better as a builder and a player. I think I did pretty well this tournament. I put in a lot of work each week and I'm grateful that my record reflected it. I know that doesn't always happen for everyone that tries that hard.
This game isn't healthy for me anymore, so I'm not going to play it. (I need to take a mental health break). I'll make a couple more posts, but until then: be good people!
I'm making this post to publicly call-out my manager for cheating
me out of my hard-earned furry pics.
I started contributing a lot more after around week 2 or 3. We had a rough start and I wanted to be more proactive. I won't be going over my Week 3 Galar team, simply because it wasn't my team. In case you don't know, I build a lot of USUM AG, largely as a means of keeping my ADD brain preoccupied. The teams aren't normally anything particularly good, so it's not worth posting everything I built (probably amounts to ~50-60 teams over the eight-week season). Here's some of the bad and here's a decent(?) team. Lycanrocs USUM building support was largely me and Will, with Edgar pitching in when he could. Kate (cute) and Loti also helped out and Fardin was around for semis. All of Will's teams, and some of Edgar's, were largely Will's doing so I'll let him post if he wants. Lastly, Velvet used her own teams. I got the okay from Will and Edgar to post these teams, so here we go. Importables are in embedded pokepastes (click on the sprites!) and in-line. I added replay links in the title for each game.
WARNING AHEAD: way too many wordsEdgar + Unicorns [BO] AGPL Week 2 Edgar vs Skarph ("Furry UwU Cocaine Queenpin") (L)
shucking (Marshadow) @ Marshadium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Bulk Up
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
jiving (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- V-create
stealing (Lunala) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moongeist Beam
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
robbing (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
itching for (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
crack rock (Arceus-Dragon) @ Draco Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 136 Def / 132 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Bulk Up
- Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat
jiving (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- V-create
stealing (Lunala) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Shadow Shield
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moongeist Beam
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
robbing (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
itching for (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
crack rock (Arceus-Dragon) @ Draco Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 136 Def / 132 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Toxic
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
This team was bad. We had the idea to use Specs Luna for some reason. This was just not it. I really don't know what we were aiming for. It's really bad. Please don't use it. Nickname for the team came about as me and Edgar discussed getting art of my fursona commissioned as a drug lord covered in white powder ala Scarface.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the Frank Ocean song, Crack Rock.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the Frank Ocean song, Crack Rock.
Edgar + Unicorns [Balance] AGPL Week 3 Edgar vs Skysolo (W)
fmid (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpD / 0 Spe
- Transform
wichitalk (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Defog
- Rest
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
nights like these (Yveltal) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Toxic
- Taunt
eat your heart out (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- Extreme Speed
freak me out (Arceus-Poison) @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 148 Def / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Whirlpool
- Perish Song
- Recover
- Poison Jab
cigarettes (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpD / 0 Spe
- Transform
wichitalk (Giratina) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Defog
- Rest
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
nights like these (Yveltal) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Toxic
- Taunt
eat your heart out (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- Extreme Speed
freak me out (Arceus-Poison) @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 148 Def / 96 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Whirlpool
- Perish Song
- Recover
- Poison Jab
cigarettes (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
Me and Edgar threw together a bulk-busting team that could hang with offense. Skysolo was a solid opponent with whom I was decently familiar. I remembered he had a thing for obscure breakers, so we started with Gira + CM Rock's Arc-Steel as a stall-breaking balance core I really love. I used that core on a team I used for G2 + G3 in R2 USUM Cup II series vs Rhm. Arc-Steel sets Rock's and boosts up to threaten mons while being Toxic-immune, guaranteeing it makes progress every turn that it's out. Gira Pressure stalls all of Arc-Steel's defensive checks while also absorbing status. We went SpDef Gira to better check Ogre and because it didn't really matter (and I thought it'd be funny) (spoiler alert: it did matter, and it was funny). We then added Arc-Poison + phys def Yvel as checks to Marsh, Xern, Zyg, DM, + Ultra. We lastly opted for Ditto + Band Ray to manage offense, shore up the bad matchups, and provide offensive pressure against defensive pivots. The team worked exactly as it was supposed to [8 SpA Dread Plate Arceus-Dark Judgment vs. 248 HP / 208+ SpD Giratina: 200-236 (39.7 - 46.9%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO from 46%], Edgar played super well and won the week.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are song titles from the pigeon pit album, shut in.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are song titles from the pigeon pit album, shut in.
Edgar + Unicorns + Will [Stack] AGPL Week 4 Unicorns vs Temp (W)
Kiss My Name (Arceus-Rock) @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Pray for Me (Ferrothorn) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Spikes
Music's Over (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
Such a Sweet Time (Arceus-Ground) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Defog
Turn Off Light (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
Wonderful My Life (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Fire Blast
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Pray for Me (Ferrothorn) @ Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Spikes
Music's Over (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
Such a Sweet Time (Arceus-Ground) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Defog
Turn Off Light (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
Wonderful My Life (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Fire Blast
I finally got put in the starting line-up. Temp was a super interesting opponent that was sitting at 2-1 at the time with solid USUM support from MZ, AGL, Pichus, and Zayele. Those four are such vastly different USUM builders that I opted to just use a hazard stacking bulky offense. We started with Pursuit Marsh + Ray + offensive utility Rock's setter that could stick around throughout the game. Marsh + Ray is a time-tested, super solid offensive core that matches up vs everything, gives many outs, and rewards playing smart and aggressive. Tox Rock's Arc-Rock acted as a fast Flying-type resist that could set Rock's and apply overwhelming pressure against slower-paced cores between Tox, Judge, + Rock's. CM Fire Blast Arc-Fairy acted as a set-up sweeper that could manage Marsh and Zyg while luring-in checks for Ray + Marsh. We added phys def Arc-Ground for Defog and as a back-up check to Don, Zyg, + Marsh. We finished off with Chople Tox Ferro to buffer hits from Water- and Fairy-types, notably Ogre, Arc-Fairy, + Xern. I feel the game went well. There weren't too many things that could stop my Arc-Fairy. I removed the Ho-Oh early, scouted the Arc, weakened the Ray, and got my Arc-Fairy in on a free turn to finish it.
Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the last portion of the Beastars season one opening theme, Wild Side by ALI.
Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the last portion of the Beastars season one opening theme, Wild Side by ALI.
Unicorns + Will [Webs] AGPL Week 5 Unicorns vs GRNBLN - part I (W)
Kshitij Todo (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
Kaala Chandroday (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 8 Atk / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Taunt
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sucker Punch
Achchhe Karm (Smeargle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Power Trip
- Shell Smash
Sunahara Pankh (Shuckle) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Final Gambit
Mirar Maijik (Arceus) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Giga Impact
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
Prthvee ka Kendr (Zygarde) @ Maranga Berry
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Rest
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
Kaala Chandroday (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 8 Atk / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Taunt
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sucker Punch
Achchhe Karm (Smeargle) @ Leftovers
Ability: Moody
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Power Trip
- Shell Smash
Sunahara Pankh (Shuckle) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Encore
- Final Gambit
Mirar Maijik (Arceus) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Giga Impact
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
Prthvee ka Kendr (Zygarde) @ Maranga Berry
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Rest
Week 5 was largely a throwaway week for us since we only had a super slim chance to nab the number one seed in playoffs. Still, GRN is a super solid player I wanted to beat. For a reason I don't remember, Will wanted us to go Webs. We started with a standard USUM Webs core, consisting of web setter + LO Taunt Yvel + SD Ray. I added on ZKiller, because it's an awesome balance breaker for Webs. Will was convinced GRN was going to bring Exca HO, so I suggested Waves Zyg. Kate approved, so the p0lt3rg3ist-designed monstrosity got added. I threw SmashTrip Smeargle on as a last because GRN wouldn't agree to "no obnoxious strats" and I wanted to see how good it was. I had a bad match-up this game, between the Luna + DM that could OHKO Shuckle, the fast Arc-Fairy, and priority from Ray. I ended up missing a 90% acc move, got back-to-back one-turn sleeps, and got really unfavorable Moody rolls. I managed to snare the Arc-Dark with Zyg though, got to +10, and saved the game.
Pokémon nicknames are the first six B-side's from Celeste, translated into Hindi with Google Translate because I'm built a little different: Sever the Skyline by Maxo, Black Moonrise by Ben Prunty, Good Karma by Christa Lee, Golden Feather by in love with a ghost, Mirror Magic by 2 Mello, and Center of the Earth by Jukio Kallio, respectively.
Pokémon nicknames are the first six B-side's from Celeste, translated into Hindi with Google Translate because I'm built a little different: Sever the Skyline by Maxo, Black Moonrise by Ben Prunty, Good Karma by Christa Lee, Golden Feather by in love with a ghost, Mirror Magic by 2 Mello, and Center of the Earth by Jukio Kallio, respectively.
Fardin + Unicorns + Will [BO] AGPL Semis Unicorns vs GRNBLN - part II (W)
can we pretend (Arceus-Water) @ Waterium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Impish Nature
- Liquidation
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
that airplanes in (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
the night sky are (Yveltal) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 176 SpA / 80 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
lik shooting stars (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
i could really use (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
a wish right now (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Impish Nature
- Liquidation
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
that airplanes in (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
the night sky are (Yveltal) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 176 SpA / 80 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Oblivion Wing
- Foul Play
lik shooting stars (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
i could really use (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
a wish right now (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
Semis. Will noted Scarf Yvel had a good match-up versus several of GRN's common builds. I agreed because I fucking love pivoting moves. It's like playing easy mode. We added Pursuit Marsh + Mix Ray as offensive beneficiaries to Yvel's pivoting, as well as to manage GRN's potential offenses. In return, Yvel provided an offensive mid-ground on Ultra, Mewtwo, Gar, Marsh, + Luna. The SpDef investment allows Yvel to live a Modest Specs/+1 Luna Moonblast from full, as well as improve the chance for a 3HKO from MGar Sludge Wave (41% chance to 2HKO vs 98.4% chance to 2HKO). We added SpDef Edge Rock's Don because it gave us Rock's, Fairy-type resist, Xern check, and Ogre switch-in that could offensively pressure Ho-Oh. Defog Liquid Arc-Water acted as hazard removal and defensive support that also threatened Ho-Oh and harassed Arc-Steel + Arc-Ground. CM Arc-Steel was lastly added as a fast Flying-type resist + secondary Fairy-type resist that could absorb Tox and buffer hits from mons that annoyed my offensive core. Arc-Steel also acted as counterplay to GRN's potential Viv or Goth. While it wasn't revealed during the game, Thunder allowed Arc-Steel to pressure defensive Flying- and Water-types that could otherwise be obnoxious. On a side note, I planned to never go Arc-Water vs GRN's Don and instead always go Ray. Crobats had been on an SD Thunder Wave Don binge, being used in my Week 5 game vs GRN and in Will's Week 5 game vs PG. The team worked exactly as planned. Offensive mid-grounds into Mix Ray limited the destruction by GRN's SD Thunder Wave Don. Scarf Yvel checked Gar + Marsh amazingly (also pulled through with the one-turn sleep). Arc-Water got the chip I needed on Marsh, as well as checked the SpDef DM + Arc-Fairy. Arc-Steel shut down GRN's CM Arc-Fairy, and Don provided excellent pressure between Blades, Tox, + Rock's. Marsh didn't come out, but it would have checked the Gar, offensively checked the DM, halted the CM Arc-Fairy, and potentially won a speed tie versus GRN's own Marsh.
Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the OTP
Pokémon nicknames are lyrics from the OTP
Unicorns + Will [BO] AGPL Finals Unicorns vs Skarph (W)
カオスの王 (Groudon-Primal) @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 36 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Rock Polish
- Solar Beam
夢と希望の平原 (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
ルードバスター (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
紅の森 (Zygarde) @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Rest
- Coil
- Toxic
やすらぎの秋 (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Thunder
- Calm Mind
闇の降るとき (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 36 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Rock Polish
- Solar Beam
夢と希望の平原 (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 232 Def / 28 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
ルードバスター (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
紅の森 (Zygarde) @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Rest
- Coil
- Toxic
やすらぎの秋 (Arceus-Steel) @ Iron Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Thunder
- Calm Mind
闇の降るとき (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
I put my undefeated streak on the line in the pivotal fourth game of the AGPL finals. The only player with a better record than me than me was my opponent, Skarph: one of the best AG players of all-time in his best tier. Simple task really. Honestly, I was pretty confident I could beat Skarph on the offensive end, so we started with Pursuit Marsh + Mix Ray + CM Thunder Arc-Steel. Skarph used Arc-Water in 4/5 games up to that point and I didn't get to reveal Thunder the week before. Arc-Steel could also buffer hits from the Yvel Skarph used in 3/5 games. Skarph hadn't been using much Ho-Oh and was instead relying on Arc-Poison or SpDef DM as Fairy-type resists. I wanted to use Dugtrio (bad headspace time) Will suggested RP Don to click Fire Blast vs everything. I agreed because Fire Blast Don is fucking awesome. I also dropped this amazing bluff in the AG Discord a few days prior. We ended up going Solar Beam + Dragon Pulse to catch Arc-Water and chunk Ray + Zyg, respectively. Blades wasn't that necessary because there wasn't any way Skarph would bring Ogre (spoiler alert: he did). This also allowed me to go Modest with enough bulk to troll revenge-kill attempts [252 Atk Life Orb Marshadow Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Groudon-Primal: 183-216 (53.6 - 63.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO from 50% vs 252 Atk Life Orb Marshadow Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Groudon-Primal: 161-191 (47.2 - 56%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO from 50%]. We finally added Tox Rock's Arc-Fairy + Tox Coil Zyg as the last two. Rock's is Rock's and multiple Tox inducers pairs super nicely with Arc-Steel + Ray + Marsh. Both could also buffer hits from broken Marsh + Ray. I had no Defog because I just planned on out-offensing Skarph anyways. Also, Skarph didn't use much Spikes or Webs and my team isn't that weak to Rock's. We probably could have gone Liquid Defog Arc-Water over Zyg tbh. On team preview, I identified Arc-Steel as my win-condition with four parameters: (1) remove Marsh, (2) soften Ogre into +1 Thunder range, (3) ensure non Scarf Ray (remove Ray if it is Scarf), and (4) scout the Arc trio for anything that could prevent my Arc-Steel from winning. I think I played the game as optimally as possible. I lead Arc-Fairy because I wanted to get momentum with Rock's. I played aggressively, got my breakers in, and let my techs go to work. Yes, the team has some glaring matchup issues, notably to Arc-Ground + Ultra. I knew those matchups would be rough, but I felt the team could out-pressure those checks through optimizations and gameplay (Hasty over Naive Nature on Mix Ray to improve Arc-Ground Beam roll; multiple Tox users to limit set-up potential; using Marsh as a stop-gap vs Ultra and set-up; double switching and offensive mid-grounds to keep control of the tempo). At the end of the day, I won and tied the series back up.
Pokémon nicknames are the Japanese titles of songs from Deltarune: Chapter 1 (all by Toby Fox): Chaos King (best fucking song), Field of Hopes and Dreams (god why am I not an anthro goat IRL), Rude Buster, Scarlet Forest, Quiet Autumn, and Darkness Falls, respectively (Arc-Water named after You Can Always Come Home).
Pokémon nicknames are the Japanese titles of songs from Deltarune: Chapter 1 (all by Toby Fox): Chaos King (best fucking song), Field of Hopes and Dreams (god why am I not an anthro goat IRL), Rude Buster, Scarlet Forest, Quiet Autumn, and Darkness Falls, respectively (Arc-Water named after You Can Always Come Home).
Edgar + Unicorns + Will [Stack] AGPL Finals Edgar vs 64 Squares (W)
technicolour (Arceus-Rock) @ Stone Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
clawing & clinging (Arceus-Dark) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Refresh
post op (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
out of thehospital (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
frankenstein (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Spikes
into the morgue (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
clawing & clinging (Arceus-Dark) @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Refresh
post op (Arceus-Fairy) @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
out of thehospital (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Life Orb
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- V-create
- Extreme Speed
frankenstein (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Spikes
into the morgue (Marshadow) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spectral Thief
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Pursuit
AGPL Finals. Down 3-4. Shot clock turned off. A game we weren't sure was ever going to get played A game with the season on the line. Edgar had a dumb stressful week, so we couldn't work with him too much. We ended up using a re-skinned version of my Week 4 team. We shuffled the mon order and changed Arc-Fairy to Wisp Defog, Arc-Ground to CM Refresh Arc-Dark, DD Ray to Mix Ray, and Chople to Leftovers on Ferro. We made those changes to (marginally) improve the Marsh + Ultra matchups and apply more immediate offensive pressure. We also decided there was no way 64 would bring Xern (spoiler alert: they did). We probably should have put a little more thought into the team in such a key game, but I had faith. If there's one core I knew Edgar could win with, it was Ray + Marsh + CM Arc + utility hazard setter bulky offense. Truth be told, this team wasn't very good. The team had hella bad matchups vs Marsh + Xern. While Edgar clutched the game, that was off the back of his stellar playing. Regardless, you can't complain with a win that secured tiebreak.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are song titles from the Mouseatouille album, Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue.
Per Edgar, Pokémon nicknames are song titles from the Mouseatouille album, Out of the Hospital and Into the Morgue.
And that's it! Lycanrocs was an absolute blast. I probably would have gone like 0-2 on another team lol. Our USUM slots went 6-2 in the weeks after I joined the starting line-up, which was neat. The furry UwU cocaine dealing core (me + Edgar) went 7-1 in weeks we both played, including 4-0 in the playoffs. Lycanrocs finished second after the grand finals BO3 tiebreaker. I'm super proud of everyone on my team. I had a ton of fun and felt like I got a lot better as a builder and a player. I think I did pretty well this tournament. I put in a lot of work each week and I'm grateful that my record reflected it. I know that doesn't always happen for everyone that tries that hard.
Last edited:
Replays:
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 Semis
W1 (L)
Wanted to try out Caly pass to Scarf Xerneas to start the tour, and I think the team is still pretty solid I just didn't play the MU right. Ran into Scarf Yveltal and it didn't click that it was Scarf because it stayed in on dynamax'd Calyrex-S which it doesn't kill with Foul Play so I thought it was just trying to bluff dyna, but I ended up losing to that trying to quickpass later on. Scarf Xern is a super solid mon imo, good speed control with Aromatherapy similar to Scarf Calyrex-S, but it checks things like Zygarde and Zekrom which is appreciated. Defensive Lando-T is always good, and standard Bliss for improof, NDM, and Yveltal rounded out the team.
W2 (W)
Really liked this team, was just a standard solid balance. I expected something to be brought with Zekrom check NDM which there was, so I ran Magnet Rise to beat that. It forced an early dyna and by just using my own dyna with Zekrom after pivoting out I won. Fairly normal stuff, ndm yvel etern core with Kyogre to beat Groudon and Marshadow for priority to revenge things like Calyrex-S and Zacian-C which could slowly break the team and win if I lacked speed control or priority.
W3 (W)
LO Zygarde was just starting to be noticed around now, so I capitalized on it and ran it here to good success. It got +1 and broke through an ID Ferrothorn with relative ease, and then picked off quite a few more kills before the rest of the team could clean it up. Yveltal NDM and Blissey was the standard defensive core, again with Scarf Xerneas as the speed control. That having aroma let me run Teleport + Twave Blissey instead of fitting the cleric on that, giving way more momentum for Zygarde. Groudon has Heat Crash which is an odd pick but I put it on right before the game because I realized Ferrothorn might have posed a problem for the team, and if it gets set up before Zygarde it definitely does.
W4 (W)
I still think this is probably one of the most solid teams I've ever built, with it being really consistent on ladder and in the tour games I've used it in. Here after trading Spikes and forcing out Ferrothorn with Kyurem-W DD NDM was able to win by just beating a Life Orb Zygarde trying to set up on it with Max Steelspike, then cleaning from there since Ferrothorn was heavily chipped prior to it setting up so the walling wasn't there anymore. Groudon Zacian is always a strong core since don sets rocks for Assurance and sets up on NDM, With NDM Yvel and Kyu W forming the defensive core and Ditto to shore up pretty much every matchup just a bit because it's broken.
W5 (L)
I johned to the last minute to see if our team had made poffs by the time I played, and they did, so I brought this. lotiasite is lucky and bad though and cteamed Crobat HO with Dtail Groudon >:( Nothing special about the rest of it, standard Slurpuff NDM and Defog Yveltal since I rely on Focus Sash a lot on this team, with Polteageist and Weezing-G being a smashpass core that improofs w Neutralizing Gas. Crobat was there for fun and all it did was die ;-;
Semis (L)
This was definitely the most disappointing game to play, because I was super happy with the team I came up with here. I threw Crobat HO at loti the week before when I was planning on bringing a similar structure with the Xern and Yvel core, but I kept working on it and came up with this for semis. Xerneas checks offensive Yveltal and improofs well, and I expected some offensive Yvel offensive stuff which did come, but then Xern got crit. I also really liked Hone Claws Yveltal myself, with it being a strong breaker overall, but I didn't get to utilize it properly with it having to check the other Yvel after Xern died. Standard Etern and NDM with rocks NDM this time since we agreed no Gothitelle, and Marshadow + Lunala as a double ghost core to shore up most other things. Marshadow revenged Calyrex-S and HO mons while Lunala covered for all the physical attackers the rest of the team couldn't, and then it missed wisp and didn't check anything. Defog Lunala isn't my favourite thing ever but here it fit super well. Still like the team, just not the result it put up. Changed a few spreads I had in the actual game but the same core of every set is there.
s/o's cromagnet and Juicyy for spending a ridiculous amount of money on me in the auction and letting me mess around building new Crobat teams every week, and the rest of the Crobats for helping test a bunch too. Definitely not the record I wanted but I still had a ton of fun for my first playing AGPL.
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 Semis
W1 (L)Wanted to try out Caly pass to Scarf Xerneas to start the tour, and I think the team is still pretty solid I just didn't play the MU right. Ran into Scarf Yveltal and it didn't click that it was Scarf because it stayed in on dynamax'd Calyrex-S which it doesn't kill with Foul Play so I thought it was just trying to bluff dyna, but I ended up losing to that trying to quickpass later on. Scarf Xern is a super solid mon imo, good speed control with Aromatherapy similar to Scarf Calyrex-S, but it checks things like Zygarde and Zekrom which is appreciated. Defensive Lando-T is always good, and standard Bliss for improof, NDM, and Yveltal rounded out the team.
W2 (W)Really liked this team, was just a standard solid balance. I expected something to be brought with Zekrom check NDM which there was, so I ran Magnet Rise to beat that. It forced an early dyna and by just using my own dyna with Zekrom after pivoting out I won. Fairly normal stuff, ndm yvel etern core with Kyogre to beat Groudon and Marshadow for priority to revenge things like Calyrex-S and Zacian-C which could slowly break the team and win if I lacked speed control or priority.
W3 (W)LO Zygarde was just starting to be noticed around now, so I capitalized on it and ran it here to good success. It got +1 and broke through an ID Ferrothorn with relative ease, and then picked off quite a few more kills before the rest of the team could clean it up. Yveltal NDM and Blissey was the standard defensive core, again with Scarf Xerneas as the speed control. That having aroma let me run Teleport + Twave Blissey instead of fitting the cleric on that, giving way more momentum for Zygarde. Groudon has Heat Crash which is an odd pick but I put it on right before the game because I realized Ferrothorn might have posed a problem for the team, and if it gets set up before Zygarde it definitely does.
W4 (W)I still think this is probably one of the most solid teams I've ever built, with it being really consistent on ladder and in the tour games I've used it in. Here after trading Spikes and forcing out Ferrothorn with Kyurem-W DD NDM was able to win by just beating a Life Orb Zygarde trying to set up on it with Max Steelspike, then cleaning from there since Ferrothorn was heavily chipped prior to it setting up so the walling wasn't there anymore. Groudon Zacian is always a strong core since don sets rocks for Assurance and sets up on NDM, With NDM Yvel and Kyu W forming the defensive core and Ditto to shore up pretty much every matchup just a bit because it's broken.
W5 (L)I johned to the last minute to see if our team had made poffs by the time I played, and they did, so I brought this. lotiasite is lucky and bad though and cteamed Crobat HO with Dtail Groudon >:( Nothing special about the rest of it, standard Slurpuff NDM and Defog Yveltal since I rely on Focus Sash a lot on this team, with Polteageist and Weezing-G being a smashpass core that improofs w Neutralizing Gas. Crobat was there for fun and all it did was die ;-;
Semis (L)This was definitely the most disappointing game to play, because I was super happy with the team I came up with here. I threw Crobat HO at loti the week before when I was planning on bringing a similar structure with the Xern and Yvel core, but I kept working on it and came up with this for semis. Xerneas checks offensive Yveltal and improofs well, and I expected some offensive Yvel offensive stuff which did come, but then Xern got crit. I also really liked Hone Claws Yveltal myself, with it being a strong breaker overall, but I didn't get to utilize it properly with it having to check the other Yvel after Xern died. Standard Etern and NDM with rocks NDM this time since we agreed no Gothitelle, and Marshadow + Lunala as a double ghost core to shore up most other things. Marshadow revenged Calyrex-S and HO mons while Lunala covered for all the physical attackers the rest of the team couldn't, and then it missed wisp and didn't check anything. Defog Lunala isn't my favourite thing ever but here it fit super well. Still like the team, just not the result it put up. Changed a few spreads I had in the actual game but the same core of every set is there.
s/o's cromagnet and Juicyy for spending a ridiculous amount of money on me in the auction and letting me mess around building new Crobat teams every week, and the rest of the Crobats for helping test a bunch too. Definitely not the record I wanted but I still had a ton of fun for my first playing AGPL.
a generous plump lecherous dump - third edition
My annual contribution to the Anything Goes forum in the form of text has arrived just a tad late. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you skip the write-ups. They do get progressively shorter as the post goes on and my desire to write disintegrates.
Teams used during the season
apologies for readability, I tried making it vivillon's palette
WEEK 1: vs lotiasite (click for replays)
Gentlemen's agreement: no OHKO moves, Gothitelle, Life Orb Zygarde (lol)
I had the time to do some scouting this week, and there were several things that stuck out to me. First was my fairly low Zacian-C and defensive Zygarde-C usage, and I had noticed that loti had been experimenting with physical Yveltal at the time after I got smashed on ladder, so I knew I wanted to have a decent check to it on my team. Another thing that stood out was that every defensive Yveltal loti used lacked Foul Play; I initially wanted to use an offensive setup Groudon to take advantage of this (ie. Aerial Ace or Rock Polish), an idea that Shivam suggested, but really never got to build a team that I liked with it and ultimately decided to save it for Shivam's own match against pdt. Besides that, I wanted to have a team that was defensive sound against the trending metagame threats that did well vs the standard Necrozma-DM + Eternatus + Yveltal teams that I commonly used (mainly physical set-up sweepers like Zekrom, Zygarde, Groudon and DD Necrozma-DM, and Kyogre sets teched to beat Eternatus as well).
The team has some fairly unusual sets and choices - I didn't initially build around them, but it just worked out the way it did with the 6 Pokemon I had chosen. Rest is an interesting move on Zacian; it usually gets worn down easily between Rocky Helmet hits, hazards and aggressive pivoting into Yveltal/Ferrothorn/Eternatus, which is why the extra longevity is something that I personally appreciate a lot, and it still retains the ability to break Necrozma-DM long term. The other moves were decided later; I only drop Sleep Talk if I have a cleric on my team (usually Scarf Calyrex-S, Xerneas or Blissey), and the way I envisaged during building the rest of the team I didn't want to fit one. Ho-oh was on a downwards slide in terms of usage at the time, so I felt fine dropping Wild Charge. Groudon's Drought presents the ability to use Fire Fang as the coverage for Steel-types here instead of Close Combat, as it can be pretty detrimental getting unwanted defense drops with Sleep Talk and I sometimes find 8 PP to be restrictive on a set that's meant to last in long-term games. Play Rough is the STAB of choice because Zacian would get walled by defensive Kyogre if it carries Behemoth Blade, and it was nice to have another way of breaking defensive Zygarde and not rely too heavily on team members to do so.
Groudon + Giratina-O serve in tandem to cover the physical sweepers I mentioned above, as well as provide some additional offensive presence. My long-standing fascination with setup Dragon Tail Groudon continued here, where I used a similar variation to the set I submitted for this gen's Next Best Thing. I felt safe with Swords Dance instead of Bulk Up with Giratina-O's ability to both lure & burn Foul Play Yveltal, something I didn't expect loti to bring anyways, and act as a backup check to Necrozma-DM, while the extra power boost really helps Groudon to be more of an immediate threat against things like defensive Kyogre. I'd probably use Precipice Blades instead of Earthquake now because the rolls are just that much better, but losing to a miss, especially in a tour game, isn't fun and I trusted my abilities to outplay enough to the point where I wouldn't need the extra power. Giratina-O acts as not only a sponge for opposing Groudon and Dusk-Mane, but a way of revenge killing Calyrex-S that the team otherwise lacks without a scarfer; again, it isn't perfect, but I think it's serviceable counterplay. Dragon Pulse is for more consistent damage vs Substitute Zygarde, but as the game proved, the additional output from Draco Meteor is probably worth it.
I was (and still am) of the personal opinion that Kyogre is ridiculously good; up until that point in the metagame, most of the Calm Mind Kyogre sets I had seen were standard Rest + Ice Beam, something which struggles to break common answers such as Eternatus, and there wasn't much exploration with other options until Substitute + Thunder Wave started to really pick up around that time. I knew when building that:
a) I didn't want to rely solely on Eternatus to check Kyogre,
b) none of my other Pokemon would do so, and
c) with the no OHKO move agreement discouraging Kyurem-W and further incentivising a Kyogre bring as a result,
I needed a hard stop in a single slot.
I settled on Gastrodon, as it seemed the least passive of the options I was considering against threatening Pokemon like Zacian-C and Marshadow. However, I only realised that this meant that the team's matchup vs 3 attacks Eternatus was bad when Cata reminded me of it about 5 seconds before loti accepted my challenge. I'd probably use Blissey now, even if it means Zacian-C/Marshadow has an easier time coming in and Spikes becomes more problematic. The final two are fairly evident in terms of roles; Yveltal has Toxic instead of U-turn because Ice won by turn 7 in a test game I had around half an hour before the actual match with BP Caly + Yveltal webs and I couldn't really be bothered finding a better solution, and as a result, I changed Yveltal from Knock Off to Foul Play in order to not be walled by Zacian-C. Defensive Groudon checking Zekrom pretty well meant I could afford to use Knock Off as the 4th move on Dusk-Mane to give Groudon and Zacian-C an easier time breaking.
Spread explanations:
My annual contribution to the Anything Goes forum in the form of text has arrived just a tad late. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you skip the write-ups. They do get progressively shorter as the post goes on and my desire to write disintegrates.
Teams used during the season
apologies for readability, I tried making it vivillon's palette
WEEK 1: vs lotiasite (click for replays)
Gentlemen's agreement: no OHKO moves, Gothitelle, Life Orb Zygarde (lol)
I had the time to do some scouting this week, and there were several things that stuck out to me. First was my fairly low Zacian-C and defensive Zygarde-C usage, and I had noticed that loti had been experimenting with physical Yveltal at the time after I got smashed on ladder, so I knew I wanted to have a decent check to it on my team. Another thing that stood out was that every defensive Yveltal loti used lacked Foul Play; I initially wanted to use an offensive setup Groudon to take advantage of this (ie. Aerial Ace or Rock Polish), an idea that Shivam suggested, but really never got to build a team that I liked with it and ultimately decided to save it for Shivam's own match against pdt. Besides that, I wanted to have a team that was defensive sound against the trending metagame threats that did well vs the standard Necrozma-DM + Eternatus + Yveltal teams that I commonly used (mainly physical set-up sweepers like Zekrom, Zygarde, Groudon and DD Necrozma-DM, and Kyogre sets teched to beat Eternatus as well).
The team has some fairly unusual sets and choices - I didn't initially build around them, but it just worked out the way it did with the 6 Pokemon I had chosen. Rest is an interesting move on Zacian; it usually gets worn down easily between Rocky Helmet hits, hazards and aggressive pivoting into Yveltal/Ferrothorn/Eternatus, which is why the extra longevity is something that I personally appreciate a lot, and it still retains the ability to break Necrozma-DM long term. The other moves were decided later; I only drop Sleep Talk if I have a cleric on my team (usually Scarf Calyrex-S, Xerneas or Blissey), and the way I envisaged during building the rest of the team I didn't want to fit one. Ho-oh was on a downwards slide in terms of usage at the time, so I felt fine dropping Wild Charge. Groudon's Drought presents the ability to use Fire Fang as the coverage for Steel-types here instead of Close Combat, as it can be pretty detrimental getting unwanted defense drops with Sleep Talk and I sometimes find 8 PP to be restrictive on a set that's meant to last in long-term games. Play Rough is the STAB of choice because Zacian would get walled by defensive Kyogre if it carries Behemoth Blade, and it was nice to have another way of breaking defensive Zygarde and not rely too heavily on team members to do so.
Groudon + Giratina-O serve in tandem to cover the physical sweepers I mentioned above, as well as provide some additional offensive presence. My long-standing fascination with setup Dragon Tail Groudon continued here, where I used a similar variation to the set I submitted for this gen's Next Best Thing. I felt safe with Swords Dance instead of Bulk Up with Giratina-O's ability to both lure & burn Foul Play Yveltal, something I didn't expect loti to bring anyways, and act as a backup check to Necrozma-DM, while the extra power boost really helps Groudon to be more of an immediate threat against things like defensive Kyogre. I'd probably use Precipice Blades instead of Earthquake now because the rolls are just that much better, but losing to a miss, especially in a tour game, isn't fun and I trusted my abilities to outplay enough to the point where I wouldn't need the extra power. Giratina-O acts as not only a sponge for opposing Groudon and Dusk-Mane, but a way of revenge killing Calyrex-S that the team otherwise lacks without a scarfer; again, it isn't perfect, but I think it's serviceable counterplay. Dragon Pulse is for more consistent damage vs Substitute Zygarde, but as the game proved, the additional output from Draco Meteor is probably worth it.
I was (and still am) of the personal opinion that Kyogre is ridiculously good; up until that point in the metagame, most of the Calm Mind Kyogre sets I had seen were standard Rest + Ice Beam, something which struggles to break common answers such as Eternatus, and there wasn't much exploration with other options until Substitute + Thunder Wave started to really pick up around that time. I knew when building that:
a) I didn't want to rely solely on Eternatus to check Kyogre,
b) none of my other Pokemon would do so, and
c) with the no OHKO move agreement discouraging Kyurem-W and further incentivising a Kyogre bring as a result,
I needed a hard stop in a single slot.
I settled on Gastrodon, as it seemed the least passive of the options I was considering against threatening Pokemon like Zacian-C and Marshadow. However, I only realised that this meant that the team's matchup vs 3 attacks Eternatus was bad when Cata reminded me of it about 5 seconds before loti accepted my challenge. I'd probably use Blissey now, even if it means Zacian-C/Marshadow has an easier time coming in and Spikes becomes more problematic. The final two are fairly evident in terms of roles; Yveltal has Toxic instead of U-turn because Ice won by turn 7 in a test game I had around half an hour before the actual match with BP Caly + Yveltal webs and I couldn't really be bothered finding a better solution, and as a result, I changed Yveltal from Knock Off to Foul Play in order to not be walled by Zacian-C. Defensive Groudon checking Zekrom pretty well meant I could afford to use Knock Off as the 4th move on Dusk-Mane to give Groudon and Zacian-C an easier time breaking.
Spread explanations:
- For Zacian, the EVs allow it to live a +2 Max Lightning from Thunder Xerneas, and even without Behemoth Blade, Play Rough should put it in range of Dusk-Mane - this is obviously not ideal, but it helps. The speed investment allows it to creep Adamant Zacian and the vast majority of other Jolly Zacians creeping for the 395 benchmark, as well as max speed base 130s such as Eternatus and Mewtwo, which is important on a team where Zacian is the fastest Pokemon, while the rest is dumped into attack.
- I don't really remember what the Groudon EVs do; it looks to me that I was trying to hit a defense jump point that improved rolls vs Zacian-C and Marshadow, hit an HP Leftovers number, had a slight amount of (probably unnecessary) attack investment for better kind-of important rolls vs something, speed for defensive Kyogre and defensive Zygarde-C, and the rest dumped into special defense.
- The Giratina spread allows it to live hits from Zekrom, Marshadow and Dynamax DD + Dragon Tail Zygarde when healthy, guaranteed KO Calyrex after rocks with Shadow Sneak, and eat an attack from Kyogre if necessary.
- I don't remember the Gastrodon either but the leftover EVs dumped into defense helps survive attacks from Zacian-C and Marshadow when healthy.
WEEK 2: vs Frito135
Gentlemen's agreement: no OHKO moves, Gothitelle
I was fairly confident in my ability to outpilot my opponent in balance vs balance matchups so I wanted to make a team that had a good matchup against HO, which I knew Frito liked to use, without falling on crutches like Ditto. I started with Scarf Yveltal + Ho-oh as a core to insure myself in Calyrex-S matchups, with Yveltal's ability to KO BP Calyrex before it can pass boosts something that I wanted, especially given my Week 1 team was fairly iffy against it. Ho-oh acts as a pivot into Calyrex, special Yveltal, Marshadow, Zacian and other common metagame threats, giving me breathing room to manoeuvre around them, and provides reliable hazard removal for Yveltal. It looked decent to me in a metagame that saw a resurgence in Ferrothorn and a lesser consideration for Ho-oh by offensive Pokemon (wild charge-less zacian, defensive dd dm, etc. were things I observed in UMPL). I was initially Snarl > Knock Off on Yveltal to be better vs Sash Calyrex and had a standard defensive Ho-oh set, but I didn't like how passive Yveltal ended up being and wanted multiple avenues of generating offensive pressure after I had decided most of my team.
Defensive Landorus-Therian was the next Pokemon I ended up using. I had been experimenting with Scarf variants as a soft blanket check for a variety of threats and speed control that could remove webs, but since I already had Yveltal, I had the liberty of using a defensive set as a check to Groudon, Zekrom and Substitute-less variants of Zygarde. I really don't like using defensive Landorus without Toxic; it struggles hard to actually check Groudon without it and it still offers a way to beat defensive Yveltal and Lunala like Knock Off. I felt fine going for Blissey here despite how passive it can be, with Ho-oh + Landorus to pivot into threatening physical attackers for it and the gentleman's agreement banning OHKO moves & Gothitelle. The Aromatherapy support it offers also enables me to use Rest on Landorus to allow it to stick around in longer games and be a sturdy long-term check to the aforementioned physical threats, although U-Turn is also fine. DM is DM; Stealth Rock Landorus allows it to use setup. Swords Dance is to be better vs opposing defensive DD Dusk-Manes and Dragon Dance didn't really feel like it fit, although you can go for it if you want.
The last mon was a dilemma; I needed a reliable wallbreaker with longevity that could aid to patch up the Substitute Zygarde issue the rest of my team faced that fardin pointed out to me, as Yveltal, Ho-oh (still Whirlwind at the time) and Landorus were all only soft checks. I ultimately decided on Specs Kyogre, one of the best breakers in the tier that I felt synergised well with the rest of the team. With Aromatherapy support from Blissey, I decided to use Rest, which, along with the additional bulk, permits it to be played with a lot more free rein and switch into a plethora of things with less fear of getting worn down. This is particularly valued on Kyogre to regain max base power Water Spout. I've never really found Thunder on it necessary, with its only main relevant purpose being able to hit opposing Kyogre, which can't switch into Water-type attacks anyways. I didn't think max speed wasn't really necessary on a bulky team like this with paralysis support, and Modest bolsters its incredible power to further heights to break through things like Eternatus and opposing Blissey more easily.
Spread explanations:
- Yveltal looks like it's meant to live a Close Combat from Zacian-C after Stealth Rock and outspeed +1 base 90s and Landorus-T, which I think is as much as necessary, while the rest is dumped into sp. def. to make it as specially bulky as possible.
- Ho-oh can pivot into Behemoth Blade and guaranteed live Wild Charge from Adamant Zacian when Dynamaxed afterwards. I do not know for the life of me why it has 12 special defense. The speed is for paralyzed Calyrex-S. Cata suggested Adamant; invested Brave Bird hits surprisingly hard, and while I wasn't able to use as much attack as I wanted to, it still 2HKOs max HP Eternatus and Yveltal after a bit of chip.
- Kyogre outspeeds Glare Zygarde and 0 speed Yveltal/Xerneas with the rest dumped into HP. This was fairly arbritrary, feel free to use a bit more if you want, but there aren't really many other relevant benchmarks to hit.
This is one of my favourite Galar teams I built during this tour. While it does have shortcomings (physical Yveltal & a general lack of a good Knock Off absorber, Kyurem-W & Gothitelle due to the passive nature of some members and lack of punishes), I still feel like it has the tools to deal with the majority of the metagame well.
WEEK 3: vs Trade
I thought LO Substitute Calyrex-S + Porygon2 would be a cool core given the Laprases hadn't really strayed far from standard balance structures and Porygon2 provides a really solid improof for Caly after Yveltal is KOd, with Astral Barrage free to claim lives afterwards as long as Caly can come in at the right times. It's also just a pretty solid mon vs Caly in general, walling both common Nasty Plot variants (Baton Pass and Sub) and mitigating passed boosts with Eerie Impulse. You probably don't need Thunder Wave, as it was my original idea of dealing with BP Caly before I realised it learned Eerie Impulse half an hour before the game. Ice Beam or Teleport both seem fine with Thunder Wave > Knock Off on Necrozma-DM instead. Without Yveltal, I knew I wanted a solid Groudon check since I was also fairly sure I was going to be unable to fit speed control, so Lunala was next. It also provides the Zekrom & DD Necrozma-DM check necessary on structures without speed control. It's relegated to Defogging on this team, which is a bit unfortunate since it sucks vs pretty much anything with longevity but it's pretty good vs webs along with Caly and Zacian-C – get one play right early and you pretty much win the game against the vast majority of webs teams. Zacian-C provides a Yveltal, Marshadow and backup Xerneas check and secondary offensive presence which synergises well with Caly. I already expanded on Rest + Sleep Talk with my week 1 team. Light Screen Eternatus is weird but my idea was that P2 can Eerie Impulse Substitute Kyogre if I ended up facing it but yeah no lol... just use Cosmic Power or Mystical Fire + Toxic/Sludge Bomb. I was also accidentally Calm nature in the game, but both did end up saving me vs Xerneas after my first blunder funnily enough. I think it's safe to say I got really lucky after being lazy with prep.
WEEK 4: vs BasedWhat?
Gentlemen's agreement: no Baton Pass, Gothitelle, OHKO moves
SS (replay not saved):
Didn't really know what to expect so I tried to play it safe and went for fat; probably too predictable given the gentlemen's agreement, in hindsight. Band Zacian has no viable switch-ins; I really don't think a fourth attack of Crunch / Psychic Fangs is necessary at all unless you're super paranoid of random stuff like Shedinja and fat poisons, so I slapped on Rest. I usually prefer its Crowned forme, but it's the only proper breaker on the team and Hero forme is slightly easier to improof. Sucker Yveltal + Shadow Blissey is insured against all Calyrex-S sets in theory, given the BP ban was extended to it as well. Caly-I provides a Zygarde-C & Zekrom check. I don't know why it's Aromatherapy + RestTalk. Iron Defense with Aromatherapy on Blissey and Stealth Rock on Necrozma-DM seems better in hindsight, although it would've done nothing to change the outcome of the match. I didn't know what to have as the last slot, and messed around with a few different unviable things before settling on Skarmory as the DD Dusk-Mane and primary Groudon check, which should be sufficient with fast Yveltal as a backup for the latter.
USUM: 
Cata gave me his builder and I picked a team I thought was cool out of it. There's not much else to it.
ORAS:
I built this a few weeks beforehand and thought it was fine for the most part. Diancie is the main Darkrai check, and with Defog Groundceus forms a nice defensive core with the ability to remove hazards against most setters to facilitate Ho-oh. I chose Choice Band because it has barely any switch-ins and it still provides nice defensive utility against Darkrai & Calm Mind Arceus as well as helping to sponge status. I felt like Skarm was an obvious bring from me so Mewtwo is the SD Arc check here. That means I had to replace my initial speed control of Scarf Xerneas (with Aromatherapy to help Arceus-Ground against Toxic users) with Ditto so I had a way of revenging chipped ekillers, but I thought the matchup vs Darkrai was already fine. Groudon is the last mon; the set is weird but I wanted a somewhat solid Kyogre & Xern check and didn't believe Ferrothorn was reliable enough against Water Spout Primal Kyogre, and I couldn't be bothered finding something better. Rest is weird but I thought it was cool with Aromatherapy support initially and kept it on after I replaced Xern. Groudon was Swords Dance at first but I made a last minute change to Lava Plume given how prevalent Arceus-Ground is and thought it would be nice to help Diancie. I EV'd the Groudon 5 minutes before the game so my memory is foggy but it looks like it's supposed to live a +2 Shadow Force from Adamant Arceus-Ghost and has some attack for unknown and likely arbitrary reasons, with the rest of the EVS pumped into sp. def.
WEEK 5: vs Highlord
SS:
After getting smashed the previous week I decided that ideas that were too unconventional were best left unused, so I just brought standard Kyogre balance. I think Sleep Talk on Kyogre is a nice tech right now with a lot of teams dropping Dragon Tail on Eternatus and electing to have Toxic Etern force Rest from Kyogre as counterplay instead. Block abuses Dragon Tail-less Eternatus better but has far less utility in other matchups. Calm nature helps it eat attacks from opposing Eternatus more easily. I don't remember why it's Thousand Waves Zygarde; I'm fairly sure I just replaced a different move (that I won't name
) last minute because it was weird and I hadn't tested it. It doesn't need to be fast at all, feel free to use whatever spread you see fit. The rest is fairly self-explanatory; I think Knock Off on Yveltal is acceptable pretty much only with Ditto to cover Groudon and Zacian-C. Iron Head for PP on DM since Eternatus is free to come in against it without Thunder Wave/Earthquake/Knock Off. Eternatus has Dynamax Cannon despite already carrying Dragon Tail because I wanted to be able to smack Marshadow and it becomes Zyg food without it.
ORAS: 
I asked cro for a team and he provided one. Unfortunately, I'm bad.
USUM:
Same deal as the previous week, I picked something Cata had and went with it.
Other teams
WEEK 1
Monsareeasy vs jerryl309
Something I had lying around in my builder when Mons asked for teams. Scarf Lando-T is something I realise kinda sucks now, but in my head it's a defogging Choice Scarf pivot that can revenge Zacian-C and Calyrex-S as well as a soft Groudon and Zekrom check, and it did fine for me when I played with it. The idea here was that it can come in and fairly easily remove webs for Calyrex-S to come in and click against HO, as Ditto felt too obvious here to me and I thought that it'd be exploited in some way. Cosmic Power Etern was something that was really picking up steam in Ubers and that'd I'd stuffed around with a bit in pre-DLC 2 NatDex AG, but no one had used it in Galar to my knowledge and thought it'd be nice here. You can probably use Knock > FP Yveltal here, but U-Turn is necessary to not get donged by BP Caly-S.
Shivam3299 vs pdt
Built standard Groudon + Zygarde-C because Shivam barely used Groudon and it looked pretty decent against pdt's scout. Was initially LO Marsh but after testing, we felt like Scarf Calyrex-S provided more insurance against setup sweepers. We were thinking of using CP Etern here too with Thousand Waves Zyg-C to trap Ferrothorn, but after Mons' game we felt they'd be prepared for it and Shivam had already used TWaves + Scale Shot a fair bit previously.
Yami vs Kate
Defensive Arceus + Ho-oh with Calyrex-S should be enough to handle opposing Caly-S in theory. Lack of Psyshock makes Caly-S much easier to improof. HDB on Arc so there are no Trick shenanigans Ho-oh has to deal with afterwards if opposing Caly tricks Arc. Ho-oh + Dragon Tail Zyg-C looked good against Kate's scout (I noticed a lot of Coil Toxic/Glare Zyg, Band Marsh, CM Arceus, DD Necrozma-DM, occasional LO Etern). Arceus-Grass is something I've always liked; here it checks SD Arceus-Ground/Arceus-Water and pressures Kyogre-Primal/Whirlpool Waterceus. It's the biggest Mega Rayquaza bait without coverage for it so max sp. attack with Draco Meteor to OHKO it after Stealth Rock (I thought it'd be hilarious if that happened). Will-O-Wisp > Fire Blast makes up for its inability to break Yveltal and is still able to cripple Necrozma-DM and Zac-C, and allows for Grass Knot > Judgment more freely since you don't have to worry as much about SD Arcs dynamaxing.
WEEK 2
Monsareeasy vs Royal1604
Mons wasn't very keen on what I'd initially built for him and after we talked a bit, he came up with the idea of Thunder Wave Kyogre + Zacian-C with dual Yveltal, and I filled in the holes from there. Etern EVs guarantee live +1 Dragon Claw from Zekrom. The team is meant to played very aggressively, which makes up for its lack of solid checks to several Pokemon.
MAMP vs mc56556
MAMP asked for keys spam teams; unfortunately, I didn't have any with more than one so I passed them this, which is just an edited version of something I made for AGPL II. They ended up making it swagkeys in the game though lol
WEEK 3
Monsareeasy vs Rotten
3A Recover Mewtwo was something I tried after a discussion about it in the AG discord and thought was cool. Fire Blast in Sun can 2HKO defensive Lunala after a bit of chip. The rest of the team is fairly basic, with Knock + DD on Necrozma-DM as another way to break Lunala, although you can use Toxic Groudon with EQ > Knock Dusk-Mane instead. Ditto > Scarf Calyrex-S because I expected HO from Rotten and felt the rest of the team provided enough of an offensive presence already.
lepton vs FatFighter2
Passed several teams this week and this was the one that ultimately ended up being used. Urshifu clicky-clicky for Calyrex-S and Necrozma-DM, and can lure defensive Zygarde-C with Ice Punch for Groudon/Dusk-Mane.
Tack vs Staxi
Can't find the paste, but it's a pretty basic Ferrothorn balance with Taunt Knock Off Yveltal + Specs Calyrex-S + CM Arceus-Ground to abuse hazards.
WEEK 4
lepton vs Tic-Tac-Toe Guru
I'd seen TTTG use a lot of unconventional stuff like Regieleki, sand offense, and PIG GOD so built a more defensively oriented team that felt safe vs a lot of things. Can't remember why it's Scarf Xerneas + Ferro > Scarf Calyrex-S + Etern on this, maybe Spikes? Iron Head on Ferro for opposing Geo Xern since Scarf Xern is the speed control. Specs Kyogre is a bit of an L but manageable with good play.
MAMP vs fardin
Had to build a team with Vivillon. Excadrill + Smeargle should ensure a win in the hazards war, which is paramount for this team.
I was going to include some unused teams but I can't be bothered at this point
yeah that's about it
WEEK 3: vs Trade
I thought LO Substitute Calyrex-S + Porygon2 would be a cool core given the Laprases hadn't really strayed far from standard balance structures and Porygon2 provides a really solid improof for Caly after Yveltal is KOd, with Astral Barrage free to claim lives afterwards as long as Caly can come in at the right times. It's also just a pretty solid mon vs Caly in general, walling both common Nasty Plot variants (Baton Pass and Sub) and mitigating passed boosts with Eerie Impulse. You probably don't need Thunder Wave, as it was my original idea of dealing with BP Caly before I realised it learned Eerie Impulse half an hour before the game. Ice Beam or Teleport both seem fine with Thunder Wave > Knock Off on Necrozma-DM instead. Without Yveltal, I knew I wanted a solid Groudon check since I was also fairly sure I was going to be unable to fit speed control, so Lunala was next. It also provides the Zekrom & DD Necrozma-DM check necessary on structures without speed control. It's relegated to Defogging on this team, which is a bit unfortunate since it sucks vs pretty much anything with longevity but it's pretty good vs webs along with Caly and Zacian-C – get one play right early and you pretty much win the game against the vast majority of webs teams. Zacian-C provides a Yveltal, Marshadow and backup Xerneas check and secondary offensive presence which synergises well with Caly. I already expanded on Rest + Sleep Talk with my week 1 team. Light Screen Eternatus is weird but my idea was that P2 can Eerie Impulse Substitute Kyogre if I ended up facing it but yeah no lol... just use Cosmic Power or Mystical Fire + Toxic/Sludge Bomb. I was also accidentally Calm nature in the game, but both did end up saving me vs Xerneas after my first blunder funnily enough. I think it's safe to say I got really lucky after being lazy with prep.
WEEK 4: vs BasedWhat?
Gentlemen's agreement: no Baton Pass, Gothitelle, OHKO moves
SS (replay not saved):
Didn't really know what to expect so I tried to play it safe and went for fat; probably too predictable given the gentlemen's agreement, in hindsight. Band Zacian has no viable switch-ins; I really don't think a fourth attack of Crunch / Psychic Fangs is necessary at all unless you're super paranoid of random stuff like Shedinja and fat poisons, so I slapped on Rest. I usually prefer its Crowned forme, but it's the only proper breaker on the team and Hero forme is slightly easier to improof. Sucker Yveltal + Shadow Blissey is insured against all Calyrex-S sets in theory, given the BP ban was extended to it as well. Caly-I provides a Zygarde-C & Zekrom check. I don't know why it's Aromatherapy + RestTalk. Iron Defense with Aromatherapy on Blissey and Stealth Rock on Necrozma-DM seems better in hindsight, although it would've done nothing to change the outcome of the match. I didn't know what to have as the last slot, and messed around with a few different unviable things before settling on Skarmory as the DD Dusk-Mane and primary Groudon check, which should be sufficient with fast Yveltal as a backup for the latter.
USUM:
Cata gave me his builder and I picked a team I thought was cool out of it. There's not much else to it.
ORAS:
I built this a few weeks beforehand and thought it was fine for the most part. Diancie is the main Darkrai check, and with Defog Groundceus forms a nice defensive core with the ability to remove hazards against most setters to facilitate Ho-oh. I chose Choice Band because it has barely any switch-ins and it still provides nice defensive utility against Darkrai & Calm Mind Arceus as well as helping to sponge status. I felt like Skarm was an obvious bring from me so Mewtwo is the SD Arc check here. That means I had to replace my initial speed control of Scarf Xerneas (with Aromatherapy to help Arceus-Ground against Toxic users) with Ditto so I had a way of revenging chipped ekillers, but I thought the matchup vs Darkrai was already fine. Groudon is the last mon; the set is weird but I wanted a somewhat solid Kyogre & Xern check and didn't believe Ferrothorn was reliable enough against Water Spout Primal Kyogre, and I couldn't be bothered finding something better. Rest is weird but I thought it was cool with Aromatherapy support initially and kept it on after I replaced Xern. Groudon was Swords Dance at first but I made a last minute change to Lava Plume given how prevalent Arceus-Ground is and thought it would be nice to help Diancie. I EV'd the Groudon 5 minutes before the game so my memory is foggy but it looks like it's supposed to live a +2 Shadow Force from Adamant Arceus-Ghost and has some attack for unknown and likely arbitrary reasons, with the rest of the EVS pumped into sp. def.
WEEK 5: vs Highlord
SS:
After getting smashed the previous week I decided that ideas that were too unconventional were best left unused, so I just brought standard Kyogre balance. I think Sleep Talk on Kyogre is a nice tech right now with a lot of teams dropping Dragon Tail on Eternatus and electing to have Toxic Etern force Rest from Kyogre as counterplay instead. Block abuses Dragon Tail-less Eternatus better but has far less utility in other matchups. Calm nature helps it eat attacks from opposing Eternatus more easily. I don't remember why it's Thousand Waves Zygarde; I'm fairly sure I just replaced a different move (that I won't name
) last minute because it was weird and I hadn't tested it. It doesn't need to be fast at all, feel free to use whatever spread you see fit. The rest is fairly self-explanatory; I think Knock Off on Yveltal is acceptable pretty much only with Ditto to cover Groudon and Zacian-C. Iron Head for PP on DM since Eternatus is free to come in against it without Thunder Wave/Earthquake/Knock Off. Eternatus has Dynamax Cannon despite already carrying Dragon Tail because I wanted to be able to smack Marshadow and it becomes Zyg food without it.ORAS:
I asked cro for a team and he provided one. Unfortunately, I'm bad.
USUM:
Same deal as the previous week, I picked something Cata had and went with it.
Other teams
WEEK 1
Monsareeasy vs jerryl309
Something I had lying around in my builder when Mons asked for teams. Scarf Lando-T is something I realise kinda sucks now, but in my head it's a defogging Choice Scarf pivot that can revenge Zacian-C and Calyrex-S as well as a soft Groudon and Zekrom check, and it did fine for me when I played with it. The idea here was that it can come in and fairly easily remove webs for Calyrex-S to come in and click against HO, as Ditto felt too obvious here to me and I thought that it'd be exploited in some way. Cosmic Power Etern was something that was really picking up steam in Ubers and that'd I'd stuffed around with a bit in pre-DLC 2 NatDex AG, but no one had used it in Galar to my knowledge and thought it'd be nice here. You can probably use Knock > FP Yveltal here, but U-Turn is necessary to not get donged by BP Caly-S.
Shivam3299 vs pdt
Built standard Groudon + Zygarde-C because Shivam barely used Groudon and it looked pretty decent against pdt's scout. Was initially LO Marsh but after testing, we felt like Scarf Calyrex-S provided more insurance against setup sweepers. We were thinking of using CP Etern here too with Thousand Waves Zyg-C to trap Ferrothorn, but after Mons' game we felt they'd be prepared for it and Shivam had already used TWaves + Scale Shot a fair bit previously.
Yami vs Kate
Defensive Arceus + Ho-oh with Calyrex-S should be enough to handle opposing Caly-S in theory. Lack of Psyshock makes Caly-S much easier to improof. HDB on Arc so there are no Trick shenanigans Ho-oh has to deal with afterwards if opposing Caly tricks Arc. Ho-oh + Dragon Tail Zyg-C looked good against Kate's scout (I noticed a lot of Coil Toxic/Glare Zyg, Band Marsh, CM Arceus, DD Necrozma-DM, occasional LO Etern). Arceus-Grass is something I've always liked; here it checks SD Arceus-Ground/Arceus-Water and pressures Kyogre-Primal/Whirlpool Waterceus. It's the biggest Mega Rayquaza bait without coverage for it so max sp. attack with Draco Meteor to OHKO it after Stealth Rock (I thought it'd be hilarious if that happened). Will-O-Wisp > Fire Blast makes up for its inability to break Yveltal and is still able to cripple Necrozma-DM and Zac-C, and allows for Grass Knot > Judgment more freely since you don't have to worry as much about SD Arcs dynamaxing.
WEEK 2
Monsareeasy vs Royal1604
Mons wasn't very keen on what I'd initially built for him and after we talked a bit, he came up with the idea of Thunder Wave Kyogre + Zacian-C with dual Yveltal, and I filled in the holes from there. Etern EVs guarantee live +1 Dragon Claw from Zekrom. The team is meant to played very aggressively, which makes up for its lack of solid checks to several Pokemon.
MAMP vs mc56556
MAMP asked for keys spam teams; unfortunately, I didn't have any with more than one so I passed them this, which is just an edited version of something I made for AGPL II. They ended up making it swagkeys in the game though lol
WEEK 3
Monsareeasy vs Rotten
3A Recover Mewtwo was something I tried after a discussion about it in the AG discord and thought was cool. Fire Blast in Sun can 2HKO defensive Lunala after a bit of chip. The rest of the team is fairly basic, with Knock + DD on Necrozma-DM as another way to break Lunala, although you can use Toxic Groudon with EQ > Knock Dusk-Mane instead. Ditto > Scarf Calyrex-S because I expected HO from Rotten and felt the rest of the team provided enough of an offensive presence already.
lepton vs FatFighter2
Passed several teams this week and this was the one that ultimately ended up being used. Urshifu clicky-clicky for Calyrex-S and Necrozma-DM, and can lure defensive Zygarde-C with Ice Punch for Groudon/Dusk-Mane.
Tack vs Staxi
Can't find the paste, but it's a pretty basic Ferrothorn balance with Taunt Knock Off Yveltal + Specs Calyrex-S + CM Arceus-Ground to abuse hazards.
WEEK 4
lepton vs Tic-Tac-Toe Guru
I'd seen TTTG use a lot of unconventional stuff like Regieleki, sand offense, and PIG GOD so built a more defensively oriented team that felt safe vs a lot of things. Can't remember why it's Scarf Xerneas + Ferro > Scarf Calyrex-S + Etern on this, maybe Spikes? Iron Head on Ferro for opposing Geo Xern since Scarf Xern is the speed control. Specs Kyogre is a bit of an L but manageable with good play.
MAMP vs fardin
Had to build a team with Vivillon. Excadrill + Smeargle should ensure a win in the hazards war, which is paramount for this team.
I was going to include some unused teams but I can't be bothered at this point
yeah that's about it
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