After tilting about 2 months ago on the AAA ladder and never quite recovering back to my preferred spot in terms of GXE, I finally have enough interest in the meta to create a team and made it back to the magical 80 GXE that my average self feels is necessary at minimum. As a result I am posting the teams that got me there, some are better then others, but I will highlight the one that proved most successful (it is strange).
Blushes, it isn't impressive by any means but whatever!
Anyways, without further ado, here is the team that got me there.
Quaquaval @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
- Roost
This set is designed to act as a general check to Dark types such as Weavile and Meowscarada as well as check Ogerpon among other things, it can also act as a weak check to manaphy's whose only coverage is energy ball and scald. Has worked out quite well but can crumble to powerful hits or heavily setup'd Pokemon.
Corviknight @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Bulk Up
- Roost
Volt Absorb Corviknight is there to help with the matchup against electrics which would otherwise destroy this team and does a fine job of doing so, I choose defensive EV's because most electrics don't have moves that work are all that effective against it and I'd rather improve my matchup against Tusk by any means.
Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Avalanche
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
My hazard remover and general tank, hits pretty hard and the combination of Body Press and Avalanche makes it relatively hard to switch into easily aside from Corviknight which is a Pokemon that is easy to predict. It is Magic Guard because of the obscene amount of Knock Off in the tier and also let's absorb Toxic from Corrosion Mandibuzzes / Fezandipiti's. Do not underestimate this pokemon, I only am using it because I faced one against Glaliegoesboom and it was annoying so I thought wynaut give it a go, and it works.
Samurott-Hisui @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Ceaseless Edge
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
- Flip Turn
Regenvest Samurott-hisui was choosen for a multitude of reasons, firstly, I needed something, anything to switch special attacks especially Azelf, second, I wanted something that could setup hazards, thirdly, I need it to be able to pivot and not be overly passive. These requirements really pigeon holed me into using Samurott-hisui as a regenvester and it has done a solid job at it, granted, it isn't stellar at taking special hits due to low spdef but I can generally handle most matchups with it in tow.
Iron Moth @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Morning Sun
It's standard DesoLand Iron Moth with Toxic over U-turn, mainly to punish switch-ins that aren't immune to it (Garchomp, Roaring Moon, etc...).
Azelf @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Expanding Force
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Trick
I like Choice Specs Azelf for it's obscene power it has, and have opted to run Dazzling Gleam to better handle Dark type matchups, it's effectiveness does however, come down to prediction and trick is there for the emergency, Cress / Scream Tail setup spam.
This variant of the team has not lost yet, I feel like you could probably better min-max the team, potentially swapping members for other stuff to cover for it's weaknesses but as a whole it has been quite effective at around 1500-1600 range.
TEAM DUMP

This is my second most successful team and works fairly well, though it kinda crumbles to strong fighting types and really doesn't appreciate the rise in Water Absorb randos like Great Tusk and Corviknight.

Similar core of Azelf + Empoleon (VA to handle Electrics) + Corviknight but I run Corrosion Mandi to punish everything that can't kill it, Zapdos-Galar because it is lowkey busted, and scarf regen Infernape to handle the likes of Weavile.

This is a modified version of my first team, biggest issue with this team is the matchup against Azelf being pretty dismal.

Experimental team with weird things like grassy surge Meow with Grassy Glide, Defog Triage Conk, and Colburr Berry, Well-Baked Jirachi with Doom Desire.
Metagame Thoughts
I am enjoying the metagame much more then I did post-Home, maybe it is the sheer amount of unexplored territory but I feel there is a lot of room to explore and experiment, moreso then even post-home. I think the biggest highlight I've found is that I feel less pigeonholed then I did previously, I've actually created teams without regenerator which prior to DLC 1 was basically only a thing on HO and this definitely invigorated my exploratory spirit in regards to teambuilding.