Hello!
As we are out of the tournement I figured now is the right time to post this.
First of all I'm glad
CBprincess Larry and my team that trusted me enough to buy and start me for a metagame I never played in! This tour was super cool since it was a tier I never really experienced, so it was a cool experience to build and try out teams (s/o
xSuko the goat) since the tier felt so undiscovered even after building teams every single week.
I would like to share them and leave them here as sign of appreciation that I was able to make this experience in this community I'm normally not really a part of. Click on the Pokemon images for the pastes!
Week 1 - vs igiveuponaname

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So knowing nothing of the tier and beeing slotted in immedieatly I tried gathering as much information as I could, that involved looking at replays, samples and the viability rankings. Looking at them I quickly understood that Typhlosion was the main threat in the tier and it kinda revolves around it getting kills and such, since it outspeeds pretty much everything it needs to outspeed at base 100.
So the plan was simple in theory, run a balance squad that doesnt get 6:0ed by Typhlosion. My Poliwrath is nothing standard , if I recall correctly the EV's in SpAtk allowed Scald to 2hko Gligars after rocks the rest in bulk and SpDef were only used to switch into Typhlo more comfortably and beeing able to scout which moves it goes for if it reveals to be scarf. Having this tech in the team lead me to believe that T-spikes Weezing as a phys def check seemed like an easy fit. Looking weird at first, the speed ev's were tailored to outrun Gligars that seemed to run 230 as their standard spread. As I said beeing really new in the tier I tried to find as many reliable answers to typhlosion as I could so I came up with the idea of running Miltank which only really fears Focus Blast that a) first needs to hit and b) has to run ebelt to actually do decent damage. I thought running Eq over Seismic Toss was more worth it since you do more damage to Typhlosion but quickly realized that Seismic Toss is just really way more reliable and consistent. As my team lacked some serious breaking power I also included a SD Leafeon 3 Attack variant to team, were the idea was to revenge kill anything that isn't dying to Leafblade and is faster than it. I came to the conclusion that, either Double Edge or Synthesis would have been a much better fit than X-Scissor and Quick Attack were. And lastly as I mentioned I ran a scarf Typhlosion which in my eyes is pretty much the best mon in the tier since it can, if you get your plays right just win outright from the get go!
As for the game itself: it was quite haxxy for both sides (me freezing his Victreebel, me not getting a single burn on Dusknoir) but it was a fair defeat, since I felt like I lost to someone that has obviously played way more matches than me in this tier and knows the pokemon in the tier way better than I do, which resulted in me just beeing way more motivated since I realized that the tier beeing undiscovered as it is you can really just try out a lot of stuff!
Week 2 - vs White Atoq

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The second week I started to build way more and getting more comfortable in the tier itself. This team had the idea of having a double psychic core w/ Grumpig and Kadabra to break down teams with Bulk Up Poliwrath as support! Grumpig was basically another Miltank but beeing way stronger and beeing able to trick the scarf when not needed and Thunder Wave opposing mons! The team kinda felt short in the match itself though, I ran into a skuntank which made my life harder than I thought it was going to be. This game taught me that not beeing able to actually deal with Skuntank can also lead to big problems later on. Furthermore the combination of SD Leafeon and Thyplosion really just picks apart the team if the opponent like in the game pulls out good doubles. To put salt into the wound I had to play this game on mobile too, which definetly didn't help to actually muster up a competent gameplan!
Week 3 - vs TTK

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Beeing 0-2 down early on definetly didn't help with my mental, so I whipped out my old'n reliable. I have always been a player that likes to play balance builds that tend to be more on the "fatter" side of things as this squads suggests. This squad is basically a combination of mons that handle most if not all of the mons in the tier quite well I think. With almost max SpD Lanturn and support Miltank there shouldn't really be a world where a Typhlosion breaks through that core. Band Scyther also looked like a neat pick since spamming U-Turn on most of the mons in the tier felt quite free and having Reversal as a tech may or may not woulda helped against the likes off Aggron and such. Claydol and Gligar where the mons to force progress and get rid of the hazards on my side. Double Rest on Weezing and Lanturn may seem like overkill but beeing as sturdy as Miltank is in most of the games I played and spotlighted in the Replay you can see that actually clicking that move comes way more often than you think it did. For the game: It basically played out like I imagined it, me piloting something I'm way more comfortable with deffo helped and I didnt think at any turn that I would lose control of it.
Week 4 - vs be13costa

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As you can clearly see by week 4 of the tour I started recognizing which mons I liked and which ones I didn't. Claydol, Typhlosion, Miltank were no brainer picks but with a twist. Although Claydol stayed exactly the same and Typhlosion only changed its item/ability I tried a third Miltank set. This Miltank set was tailored to still beat Typhlosion and now act as a late game wincon if the Opoonent has no Dusknoir left anymore. You could obviously run Scrappy or either Sip Sapper but Thick Fat just felt way more consistent since the team is kinda losing against Thyplosion if the opponent plays it right. Me beeing destroyed by Skuntank lead me to try it out myself and it definitely delivered! Cradily was there to round out a F/W/G core and beeing able to switch into Typhlo most of the time. Then came the biggest outlier which I haven't seen in the tour yet up to that point. Let me introduce you to Shell Smash Gorebyss! While beeing slow even with a shell smash up it reaching 330 speed made me try and use it as a Breaker. You could honestly also try a rain dance Ludicolo here but Gorebyss just seemed way more efficient in tests! The game in itself went like a well thought out plan to me, the set up sweepers I stacked upon this team came through and won me the game while also not beeing clasconony!
Week 5 - vs A Welcome Guest

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In a scary endgame I turned around my starting record of 0-2 finishing at 3-2 respectively. This team was the most creative one to that point I think. Miltank and Typhlosion were mainstays at this point but every other member I brought did have their debut. Kang felt really strong facing it week 1 so I wanted to try it out for myself! Belossom I had on my radar from the beginning since I played ZU and it does the same thing there + beeing able to tera into poison and have the ability to run Acid Spray to even beat SpD walls that would be way more sturdy. But alas I could only bring it in the last week, because in the game itself it felt great and it did exactly what I imagined it would do in this match! Aggron was a neat fit I also saw somewhere else, beeing able to scout and regenerate health with it is such a neat tech. The biggest outliner in this squad is definetly Pelipper while beeing definetly inferior to Gligar, Pelipper has the benefit of beeing a way better check to Typhlosion and also beeing able to get rid of items which in combination of there beeing rocks everywhere felt really great!
So that was it, I'm glad I signed up for this tour on a whim because I really had fun testing and building while finding new pokemon that could do well in this tier!
If my broken english or some sets confuse you feel free to get in touch with me, but for now cheers BDSP Metagame and thanks for having me!