Now that France is out of World Cup I might as well immediately share my teams and thoughts on AAA currently. Needless to say that I'm really happy about my 6-0 (or 5-1 depending on how you look at it) record. I think I have a really good grasp on the meta and how teambuilding works right now. This is probably my last post discussing about aaa.
Teams and games
Keep in mind that I can't go through the whole process of making these teams, because 1) I don't have the time and will to do it, and 2) I don't remember everything, far from it. So I'll just explain the general ideas and point details that I feel are worth looking at.
Pools
Vs Spitfire (won) -
I just knew sub WA Lando-T would beat Spitfire based on his general way of building and knowing that he isn't super familiar with the tier so I tried to build a stallish team that could utilize it. The spread prevents Corv Brave Bird at +1 Def + U-Turn at +2 Def from breaking a sub. Not too much to say in terms of synergy here, the team works quite well. Scarf Bounce Mew adds anti-cheese and additional surprise effect, Primsea Corv beats every Heatran (Heatran being a worry for balance in general). Scarf Regen Genesect truly is great, whenever I'm not sure what to do I just go to it and U-Turn. Toxapex provides additional anti-cheese as well as T-Spikes, that are strong against HO in general, and that annoy most mons that can prevent Lando from winning such as Zarude and IDef Kommo. If your opponent has a way of dealing with Lando consistently, the gameplan is to try outlasting him, especially with the team's strong hazards play.
Lando just won.
Vs MZ (won) -
This is the most sound TNMish team I've used all tournament. It quite fun to use however. I wasn't really sure what to bring vs MZ, I expected something very standart from him, potentially a QT team, potentially HO as well. After trying some ideas I came up with this flying spam team making use of a cheap Bounce Slowbro, since I thought he was quite likely to use Garchomp or Kommo-o or Swampert as his rocker - which he did. Future Sight support is always nice too. The team makes use of two broken things : Zapdos with Sharp Beak boosted Hurricanes, and Para spread by Aerilate Lando Body Slam and Zapdos Thunder. There was a time when Tapu Bulu was about to get suspect tested and it suddenly disappeared, I don't really remember for what reason ; it's still a strong breaker, very hard to switch into, especially since Corv does not answer it reliably. It also has some very nice resists and provides strong priority. MB Tran is probably the best rocker in the game so it only makes sense to use it, especially since it provides nice support for Zapdos both offensively and defensively. A lot more could be said here but yeah that's the general logic of the team. It's however very weak to SFLO Lele, Primsea Weather Ball and Blacephalon, since AV on chomp doesn't help against Blace (just use lefties). Not my favourite one but it works.
Speaking of Blace and Primsea Weather Ball, MZ brought these alongside Regen Chomp and Regen Blissey, the two best Zapdos answers. Preview felt very very bad, and the matchup was indeed almost unwinnable, although he couldn't get up rocks at least. Intim Corv + DS Mew was also bad news for my Lando-T + Bulu core. On turn 14, MZ lets me get a Toxic on his Primarina on the switch, and then Moonblasts on Protect, which I understand (as I predicted it), but it was definitely a choke since Primarina had an easy win with more patient play. Then Zapdos proceeds to paralize Blissey and start spamming Hurricane, which I didn't know would be possible here but I once again underrated Zapdos' brokenness. But that wasn't sufficient since MZ was just Zapdos proof. From here Blacephalon couldve still won quite easily for him, and Prima couldve gotten at least a kill, but MZ proceeds to sacrifice both and lose the game. Most forgettable game of all probably.
Vs Gibraltar (won) -
I didn't know anything about my opponent other than that he was a decent player with no experience in AAA, so I just didn't want to let him any chance and brought this semi-stall team. When playing stall in AAA you have to avoid passiveness at all cost otherwise you just get outlasted by double Regen anyway, so the team is still quite threatening all around with Dland Tran and Zapdos as well as some hazards stacking. Trick Fini and Unaware Hippo make sure I'd never get cheesed, Confide Blissey is for Volcarona. The team can be in trouble against a well supported Blacephalon or some hazards stacking + U-Turn spam, but it's really solid overall.
The stall team Gibraltar brought was a prime example of how you don't want your stall team to look like in AAA. It just crumbled under the pressure of Spikes Skarm + Desoland Tran while not really being able to answer back. He had Taunt Heatran, which could've done a lot more than what it actually did, but he didn't really get to use it that much. The Heatran 1v1 that starts on turn 117 quite noteworthy, since from the end of turn 118 I thought he was faster than me and my Heatran was done for sure, esp after missing 2 Storms in a row ; but it turned out that 1) he just had won 2 speed ties beforehand, 2) he clicked Magma Storm and not Solar Beam, which was probably the correct move, 3) he missed Magma Storm and I hit, 4) I then won the next speed tie and won the 1v1. Truly the most unexpect turn of events I've ever seen in a tournament game.
Vs Racool (lost) (won technically) -
This one is from
motherlove. I didn't test the team too much before the game but I trusted motherlove and I really liked the look of it, even it it wasn't anything crazy. Band Tinted Mienshao is a reliable wincond and pairs really well with both Barraskewda and MGLO Genesect, making a potent pivot spam core. Swampert is one of the most reliable rockers, which is important when using pivot spam. The Corv + Pert + Silv-dragon core is quite standart but works really great here, as Barra helps Silv against Tran and Gene deals with fairies that beat Silv.
The team gets owned by Blace, not much to do about it. It threatens out half the mons, you can't even click a fighting move with Mienshao, otherwise they go Blace and get a kill back, and Silv can't even kill it. Racool's gameplan just worked perfectly, but she didn't even need to weaken Silv with WS Skarm tbf, Blace just had the freest win. Quite a disappointing game already, but it also ended the way it ended...
Tiebreak
Vs Racool (won) -
This is my favourite team of all tournament, maybe of all time. I had made the mistake of underrating Racool the first time we faced, bringing a rather shaky untested team with a really standart structure and cheap wincond, so I had to redeem myself with something more spicy. Guts Mew is really an insane wincond, FF spdef Lando felt like the dream rocker for an offense, dealing with a wide variety of threats amongst which Blacephalon, which is annoying for Mew, and providing a slow U-Turn. DShield Rest Chesto Garchomp ended up being the second sweeper of choice, having very nice defensive utility and surprise effect. Tinted Genesect pairs really well with SD Chomp in general, putting pressure on Corviknight, Fini and other physical walls, and providing a resist to Draining Kiss and Grassy Glide. Explosion allows it to always get at least a trade, even when it can't sweep, which is highly valuable in offense. Then Koko and Cinderace provide really good speed control, pivoting, defensive utility, and overall game control thanks to double Taunt and Court Change. Taunt Cinderace is just insane at keeping their walls low, with sun boosted Pyro Ball being such a strong move. It also has great utility as a hazards changer (which is miles better than removal), Water moves switchin, Genesect and fairies check. I'm pretty sure I discovered this Koko, and dude it's insane, why have we not thought about it yet. Facade just gets clicked over and over again, it 2hkoes physically defensive Swampert, 2hkoes Fini, ohkoes kind of every offensive mon like Zarude and Chomp, and Volt Switch immediately puts most Facade switchins in big trouble alongside rocks. Taunt is really good in general as an anti-cheese measure and not letting bulkier builds breathe. Koko also obviously prevents flying spam from the likes of both Zapdos forms. Yeah the team's just beyond good tbh, I don't think I have ever lost a game with it yet, must be like 10-0 or something.
The game was sadly a pretty easy win, with Koko showing its power and Mew doing its thing, outlasting Toxapex. Not much to say, Racool didn't live up to the expectations here.
Semifinals
Vs Quojova (won) -
I had been testing some Pressure users for like two weeks prior to this game, and figured it was actually a very strong strategy. Pressure Excadrill is just unmatchedly reliable of a wincond, because it doesn't matter what they use to deal with it, you will ppstall it. And I value that a lot, because most other winconds have hard counters that you don't want to face, which really isn't the case for Pressure Exca. But it also sometimes just wins right off, so it's not just a kind of unrealistic long term idea. Exca was picked over other options because of its hazards resistance, decent speed, STAB with no immunity in Iron Head, good attacking stat (meaning the opponent is actually pressured when you start SDing), and overall good defensive utility, checking stuff like Zapdos and Koko. With that Exca I felt like I could afford more passiveness than I usually allow myself, so I went with that Regen Pert + Regen Corv core with Toxapex in the back. This core does great at just switching around and scouting everything. Volcarona and Zarude aren't special walls but they actually do well at covering the most relevant special threats in the tier in Lele and Blace, while Exca and Swampert cover Zapdos and Koko, Corv covers Azelf, and Toxapex somewhat covers Weather Ball Primsea (Baneful Bunker is here to help for that). FF Zarude also pairs really well with Pressure Excadrill since Exca ppstalls Body Press from Kommo/Corv/Skarm/Tran/Mew for Zarude to win. The team's really solid overall, only thing that needs to be fixed is the Volcarona spread : you want +spdef to actually be a SFLO Lele check.
Indeed, SFLO Lele just happens to ppstall the Volcarona spread I used here, which made the game way harder than it should've been. Quojova did a really good job of permanently keeping up the pressure with Lele, and Exca needed the game to really go the long way to start showing its strenght, since he had WS Helmet Corv + Lefties bulky Tran, which is close to worst case scenario. Going into the details of this complicated game would take too much time, but Quojova made a couple of slight mistakes that I was able to utilize and win a really close one.
Various thoughts
The meta is truly in a great form currently. Nothing stands out as broken, building is pleasant, not too restricted, and offers a lot of room for innovation. Every playstyle is buildable from HO to Stall, passing by Offense, BO, Balance and semi-stall. Please don't overthrow everything with any big ban/unban (Blace ban probably won't change the meta
that much if it happens).
Don't use standart predictable stuff in tournament, it's the best way to just lose without being able to do much. I'm surprised at how many braindead BO fat pivot spam teams we saw in this tour; it was somewhat disappointing, and I feel like they generally did bad. Find some new ideas, make use of surprise effect, that's definitely the easiest and most reliable way of winning in AAA. Don't expect your opponent to be weak to sflo Lele when litterally everyone uses that at the same time, cause he more than likely won't be. Don't get used to using the same defensive cores over and over again, it just makes you tunnel view on a building style when there are many other ways to look at building. Teambuilding is an art that I myself have only scratched the surface of. If you look at it just in terms of having some breakers with good synergy and covering some threats with bulky mons, you're missing pretty much everything of it. If you just stack threats hoping your opponent will be weak to one of them, you're not there yet. If you're not trying to already win games from the builder you're not there yet.
Meta trends :
RegenVesters clearly aren't great since they lose to Blace and Azelf, mons that they would love to deal with since their whole point is taking very strong BP moves.
On the contrary, Blissey is probably better than ever, the Regen variant being able to deal with stuff like Lele, Zapdos and Blace very consistently, but also any random special attacker really. The Magic Guard variant with Leftovers is also great, notably dealing with Heatran, sflo Lele and Blacephalon a lot more consistently while still answering Zapdos decently thanks to Lefties. Bounce is still a thing obviously but I've never been a fan of it, especially since most rockers attack on the physical side, and Heatran runs Mold Breaker a lot.
Zapdos is probably bond to be at least A+ if not S tier in this setup. It has stunning defensive utility while also being able to pivot and being extremely threatening to a lot of teams. Being well prepared for Zapdos isn't easy, far from it. There is now a consensus that the offensive fast set is the best one, with various movesets, most commonly Thunder/Hurricane/U-Turn/Roost or Hurricane/Weather Ball/Volt Switch/Roost ; Toxic and Defog also being options depending on your team.
I've never been a fan of DShield Mew, but it has shown its inconsistency in World Cup, seing high usage yet subpar results ; being useless most of the time like
here or
here or
here or
here, or sometimes just failing to beat the physical threats because they have U-Turn/Toxic. Other Mew sets are a lot more proactive while also dealing decently with the stuff that DShield aims to answer, most importantly Scarf Regen (or just Regen in general although I've never seen scarfless Regen). I think Prankster Mew is something to explore too.
The best Garchomp set by far imo, and the one that makes it potentially A+ (or even S I'd say) is SD specially defensive Regen with Lefties, EQ + Edge and either Rocks or Substitute. It's very hard to deal with and has insane defensive utility in beating Zapdos and Blacephalon quite consistently (although if your team needs it to beat Zapdos badly you might need Toxic). Sub allows it to beat Corv and some Mew sets. Fini really doesn't work against it whatsoever, Moonblast doing like 40. Other than Ice Beam Mew there isn't much that can stop it consistently. Tinted SD is real btw.
Koko now has a physical set that I feel will see good usage, making it even tougher to answer than it was before. I doubt it will ever be banworthy, but it's definitely A+/S material as well.
Tinted physical breakers without U-Turn (Terrakion and Heracross) are decent but extremely fishy and annoying because you can't really account for them sometimes. Those with U-Turn (Mienshao and Cinderace) however are pretty cool and consistent. They didn't really see use in this tournament but they should have imo.
Interesting that we saw very low Triage Togekiss/Lele usage, and indeed they're not very good currently, mostly because their priority doesn't work against the main breakers of the tier, but also because they struggle too much to sweep teams in general. They're still both fine however, Lele still being able to break teams (I'm not a fan of it personnally), and Togekiss providing very useful defensive utility.
The Landorus-T agenda is real. Jokes aside, it saw high usage and very high winrate in this tour, and I think it's bond to end up in the A+ or S tier some day. There are just too many great Lando-T sets : Scarf + Regen/Aerilate/Wandering Spirit/Dazzling, Regen/Flash Fire/Aerilate/whatever + SD/BU (+ potentially Sub), defensive Regen/Flash Fire/other, Dazzling + double dance, etc. The possibilities are immense, and we saw an extent of that in World Cup.
I just put gmolt sprite to prank
Chazm. Never used it, no idea what to think of it. :]
Interesting that no one gave a try to Tinted/Adapt Latios or MGLO Latias, I'm not sure why. Both of them are really strong and consistent.
I'm a huge fan of Cinderace currently, especially the Boots Desolate Land set with Taunt. Extremely strong, consistent, good defensive utility, very solid pivoting since you can somewhat predict from the builder what will come in on it.
I don't think there's much reason to use MGLO Zapdos-G currently with such high Zapdos and Koko usage. Scarf Regen is still a good set.
Azelf only saw 2 uses ?! I completely disagree with the stats, still a prime pivot/speed control imo.
I could go on for a while but I'll stop here. As I said, shoutouts later.
- At this point in time, nobody is surprised to see Blacephalon mentioned in a watchlist. While it didn't have incredibly high 
(Flash Fire) 
(Flash Fire) 
(No Psyshock) 
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