First off, I’d like to say that in the week or two since I got into this pet mod (and any pet mods for that matter), I’ve had a great time with it! When I first joined smogon towards the end of last year, I never thought custom metagames would be something that pique my interest, but this has been a very fun format to play and I’d like to thank everyone involved in the development of it, and its entire community, for bringing it as far as its come and hopefully will continue to go!
Anyway, I’m a sucker for teambuilding in formats that I feel I have at least a decent understanding of, though I certainly won’t claim to be a master at crafting teams, either. Moving on, I’ve built a good few teams for the Crystal: Sevii Islands format since I started playing it, a handful of which I feel are solid enough to share here for others to use, improve, derive ideas from, etc. Below I’ve linked said teams and provided a brief summary of their goal(s), the pokemon, and their movesets. Feel free to adjust and improve anything about them to your liking, as none of them are likely perfect!
(Also, as a disclaimer, all of these teams were built before the most recent slate of mons were added to the metagame, which they still aren’t as of when I’m typing this, so some of the teams may need some slight adjustments or even be obsolete when the new mons are added to the mix. Others may still play fine and not need any adjustments.)
The Teams:
Esscargoo Stall-
While stall isn’t the most dominant playstyle that I tend to use, this team is a real doozy, and can steadily wear down many opposing ones over the course of a longer game. QuakeLax provides nice coverage for hitting many Ghost and Rock-types that would otherwise force a switch. Zapdos runs its standard set to provide a solid matchup against opposing Zapdos and ground types like Nidoking. Forretress sets Spikes down and removes them, facilitating the stall strategy of forcing switches and racking up chip damage while alleviating the would-be pressure of them for its own team. Toxic is to put incoming switches, such as Rest-less Fire-types, on a timer. Giga Drain is the teams primary offensive answer to opposing Exoltol that otherwise may be difficult to bring down if they’re running rest. Blissey provides cleric support, healing the rest of the team’s status with Heal Bell (allowing several other team members to run rest without the need for sleep talk) and bolstering their SpDef with Light Screen. Ice Beam hits opposing Zapdos, among other mons, for solid damage. Esscargoo is what I wanted to build this team around. Sacred Candle allows it to rack up burns on the opposing team, which can be a major hurdle to deal with for offensive mons that don’t run Rest or have any team mates with Heal Bell, crippling their physical attack and putting them on a timer. Flamethrower was chosen over Fire Blast for additional PP, and deals well with the likes of opposing Steel-types. Explosion should only be used when the opposing team has been thoroughly worn down and statused, where clicking boom will open up a hole in the opponent’s defenses for other team mates to clean up. Finally, Dragonite provides crucial support with its ability to nullify enemy stat buffs via Haze, bolster its team’s physical defense with Reflect, and spread paralysis with Dragon Breath. This team should be played passively and defensively, at least for most of the game, aiming to wear down the opponent with Spikes damage and status. Try not to gamble with Snorlax too much early on, as it can be very valuable for cleaning up late-game once the rest of the team has done its job.
Terricks Sand-
This was one of the first teams I built because hey, non-manual weather is viable now, and who doesn’t want to build around sand in GSC! My goal with this team was to include as many sand-immune mons as possible, as it deals a whopping 12.5% per turn in gen 2. Let’s start with Snorlax, every good team needs one! Even if Lax isn’t sand immune, it can still provide valuable support to the team by racking up as much damage as possible in the early game. Body Slam has the potential to paralyze any non-Ghost switch-ins, giving Lax the immediate speed advantage if it gets lucky. Thunder and Fire Blast give Snorlax great coverage to hit a plethora of mons for super-effective damage. But the main goal of this set it to ideally 1v1 an opposing Lax, getting in a turn or two of chip damage with Body Slam/Thunder and finishing them off with Self-Destruct. This helps pave the way for the rest of the team to do its thing less-impeded. Zapdos runs HP Grass here to threaten a potential Exoltol that may otherwise give this team a bit of trouble. Thunderbolt is chosen over Thunder because Thunder’s accuracy is reduced to 50% in sand. Forretress does its usual thing, plus runs HP Fire to help deal with opposing steel-types, and Explosion to break a hole in the opponent’s defenses. Exoltol runs a more defensive set here, with dual-stab coverage in Earthquake and Surf. AnicentPower is for hitting opposing HP Grass Zapdos on the switch in, potentially gaining an Omni-boost in the process. Protect is for additional leftovers recovery and ideally wearing the opponent down with sand even more. Sandslash is the star of this team, with its sandstone providing valuable chip damage on the opponent in conjunction with Spikes support. A Rest, Sleep Talk set is run to preserve its health as much as possible, given how valuable sand is for a team built around being largely immune to it. Terricks is the team’s best answer to opposing mono/quake/fire Lax, if it wasn’t taken out early on with the Self-Destruct strategy. Rock Slide and Earthquake provide unresisted neutral coverage for the entire tier, Curse allows it to boost up into a veritable monster if the opponent doesn’t have any remaining checks, and Whirlwind is to force out opposing setup sweepers. Play this team offensively, but make sure to preserve Forretress and especially Sandslash as well as possible. This team is built around the passive damage they both provide.
Double-Dance Scizor-
You don’t know fear in this metagame until you’re staring down an Agility-boosted Exoltol that’s just gotten off a Belly Drum and survived the turn. So, you might as well be on the piloting side of that scenario! QuakeLax does its usual thing, HP Grass Zapdos should be the immediate response to opposing Exoltol (and Scizor, for that matter, if you have any reason to believe the opponent has an Exoltol). Esscargoo provides burn support with Sacred Candle, and can hit pretty hard with a combination of dual STAB moves plus Explosion to serve as a wallbreaker. And now, the most important member of the team, Scizor. It might not seem that threatening with a single attacking move, but its ability to pass either Attack or Speed to a team mate makes in invaluable to this team. Not to mention the fact that it often lures in an opposing Fire-type. Which leads to Exoltol, who can switch in on said Fires (ideally after receiving an Agility boost) and eat any hits they might have to offer. At which point it can set up a Belly Drum and go wild with the three attacks it‘s packing. Alternatively, Terricks makes for an excellent recipient of either Attack or Speed, and can put some heavy damage into much of the tier with a combination of Flying, Rock, Ground, and Fire coverage. Play this team aggressively, you don’t have spikes support and don’t want to get your own mons worn down too much. Try to keep Exoltol and Terricks in the back and don’t reveal them until you can provide them with a stat-pass from Scizor, if possible. At which point, go on a rampage!
New Stuffs-
There was still a handful of new moves/items I’d yet to try out when building this, so I tried to combine several of them into the same team. And, luckily, it worked out pretty well! This team runs a very standard GSC OU core of MonoLax, HP Ice Zapdos, and Cloyster. They all do their normal duties, with MonoLax being an absolutely devastating Mon to deal with if its checks are dealt with. Speaking of dealing with its checks, Houndoom does just that! It often comes in for free on Ghost-types, and Pursuit trapping chunks them for massive damage. Additionally, Fire Blast can deal massive damage in some scenarios, and the opponent better hope that whatever they switch into it has some way to heal status, because Hellfire Lantern guarantees a burn on its Fire Blast. This also synergizes well with thief, as it can burn an incoming mon and later steal Leftovers from another one. Houndoom also traps Psychic-types, which doesn’t go unappreciated by its team mate, Machamp. While Machamp often runs Curse, I opted not to do so here, as in my experience, it rarely gets the opportunity to utilize it. Instead, I run three attacks here to maximize coverage, along with Parry, to survive some hits that it otherwise wouldn’t be able to, and retaliate with a final attack before going down, if it comes to that. Last, but certainly not least, Meganium wraps up the team. It provides valuable support by checking opposing Water, Rock, and Ground types with its fancy new move, Flower Mortar. It can also force switches and keep its health up with Leech Seed, while Light Screen is their to strengthen the whole team’s SpDef. Play this like a traditional GSC offense team. The big three and Meganium form a solid core while Houndoom picks off opposing Ghosts and Psychics, and Machamp aims to put as much damage into the opponent’s team as possible, ideally in a mid-late game setting.
Sunny Day HO-
(As a disclaimer, this team is largely based off of a GSC OU sample team, with a couple mons switched out to adjust for this format and add some personal taste to it, big shoutout and full credit for the original team structure to Siatam!)
While true hyper-offense isn’t really a thing in GSC, including here, this is about as close as it gets to it. Lead Aroofaondo aims to set up Sunny Day for it and its team mates to wreak havoc. If facing lead Jynx or Exeggutor, Miracle Berry allows it to eat sleep on the first turn to set up the weather, and then go for a guaranteed OHKO Fire Blast against said mons on the next turn. If an Exoltol switches in immediately, Solar Beam after a T1 Sunny Day will take care of it. And if facing a Snorlax out of the gate, it’s best to go to another team mate immediately. This team’s Snorlax has a similar goal to an above team’s one. Maybe setup, get in some chip damage on an opposing Lax, and then Self-Destruct to remove it from the picture and ideally eliminate the opponent’s best counter to a specially-offensive sun team such as this. Skarmory and Terricks can be problematic, but other team members can deal with them need be. Exeggutor comes next, with dual STAB moves along with HP Fire to hit Steel-types as hard as possible. And, of course, Explosion, considering the very offensive nature of this team. Gengar comes packing Thunderbolt to hit opposing Flying-types hard and Fire Punch to hopefully take advantage of the weather when possible. Destiny Bond is there to grab a KO against any opposing mon that Gengar outspeeds and the rest of the team that’s still standing would have a hard time dealing with. Otherwise, Explosion is a good nuke for when Gar gets low on health. Houndoom can do its usual job of threatening out Ghosts and Psychics, but it’s also another sun-setter and its boosted Fire Blasts hit pretty hard! Crunch and Solar Beam provide valuable coverage. Finally, Moltres is the only member of this team with a non-Leftovers recovery option. Plus, STAB, Sun-boosted, Charcoal-boosted Fire Blasts hit like a train, and even has a chance to 3HKO Snorlax from full! Anything that resists Fire can be troublesome, though, so be sure to use Moltres strategically. Play this team fast and offensively! There’s no spikes support, no cleric support, and only a single team member with Rest, so try to find a path to victory and pursue it as fast as possible. Use these Mons as the nukes that they want to be!
Well, that was a lot of writing, and I don’t expect anybody to read all of that haha. That being said, I wanted to provide the best descriptions and piloting instructions for these teams that I could, as samples with no information can at times be difficult to discern the goals/purposes of. I hope everyone that uses these teams has fun and finds success with them!
Flavor: 
Flavor:
Competitive Design: Pyronoir is a strong Swords Dance attacker and is able to make use of STAB Fire Blast while being a Physical Attacker. This will allow it to fare well against the likes of Horatekku and Skarmory. As a Fire-type it is immune to Sacred Candle, which only helps its role. It also acts as a spin/explosion blocker and pairs well with Snorlax who can tank super effective Special attacks for it. It has nice utility with moves like Thief, Destiny Bond, Recover, etc. It fits a nice niche like a Ghost-type with Recover. Despite having high special defense, its Fire-typing really hinders it defensively. It can matchup pretty well against the likes of Exeggutor, Aroofaondo, Jynx, Gengar, etc.
Flavor: Pyronoir | Fire Lantern Pokémon
Slate 6: Voting is now open!
Prompt: 'Future' Gen Pokemon
Prompt 2: Fake Leak Pokemon