Qsns
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Qsns’ run of getting broken number 1 picks is over. However, Qsns continues to be the villain of draft, picking up Dondozo and Tatsugiri. Fortunately, this time opposing teams should be able to pack techs for the nefarious duo. That doesn’t mean that Qsns won’t be a force to be reckoned with. Solo Dondozo has shown to be of value in some doubles metas so Qsns won’t need to bring Tatsugiri every week. Qsns has also made good choices with their lower point Pokemon to round out the team and so they won’t be missing out if Commander doesn’t come to a matchup. Delphox is a cheap Expanding Force user with excellent speed and power for its price and adds valuable fire coverage to the team. Decidueye-Hisui is a relatively strong physical attacker and is immune to Intimidate. I’m not so sure about the Talonflame pick since I don’t think this team really needs Priority Tailwind and there is some anti-synergy with Indeedee-M's Psychic Surge. Raging Bolt has similar issues with Psychic Terrain preventing it from using Thunderclap.
Schister
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Schister has ticked pretty much every box that a balanced doubles draft would want: Intimidate, Tailwind, Trick Room, Fake Out, a good steel type, redirection a Toxic Spikes absorber. I’m just not entirely sold on how the pieces fit together. The speed tiers are very crowded with four Pokemon between base 100-90 speed. Ursaluna Bloodmoon is the team’s biggest damage dealer but the rest of the team doesn’t really want Trick Room to be set that much and Jirachi is the only Trick Room setter. I would have liked one of the Tailwind setters to be a bit faster and having them speed tie makes it easier for opponents to prepare to deny Tailwind. It’s also a shame Arcanine Hisui doesn’t get Justified to take advantage of Fezandipiti’s Beat Up.
Penter
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I like the synergy between the members of this team but I also think Penter is lacking in some important aspects. Spectrier is the team’s only special attacker (Poltchageist is a Sitrus Berry, not a special attacker) and, unlike many other physical heavy teams, Penter lacks a Chien-Pao and may struggle to break through teams running a lot of physical bulk. Spectrier is a really important pick and Penter will need to use it well to have success with this team. Sneasel Hisui is a great value pick and can provide Coaching and Fake Out support for a number of the team’s strong and bulky physical attackers as well as absorbing Toxic Spikes that would otherwise hinder the bulky options on this team. I would place this team much higher if it weren’t for the lack of quality speed control options.
Smudge
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I like Smudge’s team in general but I think there were some other options available that would have improved their team. The offensive core of Chien-Pao, Dragonite and Landorus-I is fearsome but I would have liked to see another strong physical attacker to really take advantage of Sword of Ruin. Dondozo is a solid Pokemon, however Palafin has an equal cost and complements the Chien-Pao/Dragonite core well. Perhaps Smudge was not comfortable with activating Zero to Hero each game or valued Dondozo’s extra bulk and better Trick Room matchup. Dragonite’s Tailwind is also the main form of speed control and Smudge may have to decide between offensive sets and Tailwind if Ariados’ Sticky Web and Scream Tail can’t provide enough support. Houndstone is a decent pick at 3 points but I don’t quite see the role it will play without having a sand option available. I think something like Scyther (fastish Tailwind, decent damage) or Stonjourner (boosts damage, good physical bulk, good attack) could have been a better option. Scream Tail is the wildcard of this team with its variety of support options and whether Smudge can make good use of it will determine how far they go in the tournament.
Veti
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Veti will be running an Expanding Force team with three psychic types. A lot of Veti’s Pokemon have pretty average speed and only Iron Hands is really slow enough to consistently move first in Trick Room and Veti will need to manage their speed control well, especially given that there are a number of stacked weaknesses on this team. Fletchinder is an interesting choice for a cheap priority Tailwind option. One issue with Fletchinder is that it is slow enough for a Fake Out/priority move + a second attack to KO it before it can get Tailwind up, even with Covert Cloak. Because of this I’m wondering if Iron Ball Fletchinder is actually optimal on this team given that it would protect Fletchinder from priority moves in Psychic Terrain and still allow it to set Tailwind. If Veti considered this when drafting then that was a well-considered choice. Iron Hands is a great partner for the rest of the team, dealing with the dark and steels that would otherwise pose problems for the Expanding Force users and giving the team a real threat in Trick Room. I don’t like the anti-synergy of Comfey’s Triage and Psychic Terrain. Typhlosion-Hisui is a nice pick in general and draft is one place where its Frisk ability can really shine. Wyrdeer is a good budget pick but I don’t like how it stacks typings with Indeedee-M. While Comfey can still use healing moves on its allies in Psychic Terrain not being able to attack opponents or run boosting sets is unfortunate.
Oh the guilt
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Oh the guilt has an offensive Tailwind team built around Roaring Moon. I’m worried Roaring Moon is going to be stuck as a Tailwind bot and won’t be able to deal enough damage given Oh the guilt lacks other speed control options. Meowstic-M is a nice pick here to provide screens for the offensive threats and some additional speed control with Prankster Thunder Wave. I’m not personally a big fan of Teal Ogerpon. I don’t like that it is locked to the grass typing and that it doesn’t have a secondary STAB typing. Its coverage is decent but not particularly impressive either. Defiant is a fitting ability for this team but I wonder if this could have been something else, especially considering Brambleghast was chosen as a budget offensive grass type. I have been pretty big on Rampardos as a 1-point pick but I don’t think it fits as well in this team. Other Rampardos players have better or more varied speed control options or more offensive builds to force opponents to pick their poison when choosing to target Rampardos or not.
Ado!
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Ado’s team is built around spamming strong special moves with Tornadus-I’s Prankster Tailwind. Some of Ado’s cheaper picks feel a bit better suited on other teams. Hitmonlee would like a terrain to proc Unburden, instead of needing Normal Gem Fake Out or other means. Most other Delphox drafted were done on Psychic Surge teams to take advantage of a cheap fast Expanding Force user. Ado would also like a Trick Room setter that is better suited to Trick Room itself, considering Delphox is the only option at base 104 speed. A cheap redirection pick would have been helpful to assist Belly Drum Azumarill, who seems a bit out of place on this team. That being said Ado’s core of Tornadus-I, Landorus-I and Regidrago will place significant pressure on their opponents.
Scionicle
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Scionicle is running a balanced team that went top heavy with its points. This team is a little too top heavy for my liking but the bottom four Pokemon do still have their uses. Dual Fake Out on two excellent Pokemon and Brushish’s Dazzling will help Scionicle control the flow of games, although I would have liked a better way of taking advantage of Fake Out turns with something like a strong setup Pokemon or a potent Trick Room mode. Mandibuzz is pretty slow and passive for a Tailwind setter so Scionicle will need to rely on Unburden Sneasler and priority moves to put on more immediate pressure. Dugtrio Alola is quite frail for a steel type and Scionicle will need to make use of the bulk from the likes of Rillaboom and Raging Bolt to take hits, rather than the blanket coverage of steel type’s resistances.
Akaru Kokuyo
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With Stamina Archaludon, Justified Virizion and Steam Engine Coalossal Akaru’s Maushold is going to spend more time attacking its allies than its opponents. Mew’s Transform will additionally allow any side attacking options to spiral out of control and opponents must be wary of all of Akaru’s options unless they want to be facing a legion of boosted threats. Virizion would be a good Coaching option but there aren’t really any targets to coach. Articuno Galar does fairly similar things to Mew and I don’t think Competitive is that valuable here given Intimidate isn’t particularly good into this team. Most players that drafted Archaludon and didn’t add a Drizzle Pokemon at least had a Prankster Rain Dance user. Akaru is instead going to need to set rain manually with perhaps Maushold or Mew if they want to spam Electro Shot. If Akaru doesn’t consistently make good use of Maushold I think opponents will get the better of them.
Lindwurm
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Lindwurm has a draft of slow to middling speed bulky attackers. I think this is one of the better Magmar picks considering Lindwurm has Nasty Plot Moltres-Galar and Gholdengo, Swords Dance Iron Hands and Shell Smash Blastoise as potential setup Pokemon. Speed control is largely limited to Mew and Moltres-Galar, which might limit how flexible they can be with their movesets, especially Mew which could make good use of Transform with boosted allies (don’t try to Transform into Gholdengo!). Cryogonal is a decent 1-point pick that can mitigate the team’s ground weakness, particularly against the likes of Landorus-I which otherwise bodies this team. I would like players to add a stronger Trick Room mode when they draft Iron Hands. While Iron Hands is perfectly capable of being used outside Trick Room with Assault Vest sets, I think the premium Pokemon should be supported to their maximum potential. While Mew does get Trick Room Donphan would be Iron Hands’ only partner in crime under Trick Room, which is fine but not particularly threatening.
Flying Beagle
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Flying Beagle went all in on Trick Room, spending big on Ursaluna Bloodmoon, Sinistcha and... Tornadus? I don’t get the Tornadus pick. This feels like a perfectly harmonious Trick Room team but 20 points have been slapped on a random Tornadus. Ursaluna Bloodmoon is fast enough to outspeed most Pokemon in Tailwind if it runs max speed, which I imagine Flying Beagle will try at least once, but otherwise it feels like a waste of points. They even have Moltres Galar to set Tailwind if necessary. As for the rest of the team I think there are a lot of good picks with solid synergy. Glastrier and Ursaluna Bloodmoon are quite bulky and are serious offensive threats. Sinistcha and Morgrem will help keep them healthy with Hospitality and Prankster screens. I do think there may be one too many support Pokemon or one of the support Pokemon could have been an extra Trick Room setter. Magmar as a Follow Me user is a solid pick but Sinistcha already has Rage Powder and that slot could be used on something else.
Trace
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Trace has elected to draft a sun team without a dedicated sun setter and will instead rely upon Tornadus or another support Pokemon to use Sunny Day manually. This team doesn’t necessarily need sun to function as Walking Wake, Sandy Shocks and Chi-Yu are all perfectly capable of dealing significant damage without a weather boost. Trace’s speed tiers are quite crowded and any Pokemon below base 100 speed will consider running no speed investment, boosting their bulk and power. I don’t have as much faith in Trace’s lower point picks than I do with other teams. While Wyrdeer is a valuable pick with Intimidate, Trick Room and usable Attack and Special Attack, I’m not as convinced Banette and Probopass are going to be of as much value to this team. Banette has a solid movepool and Frisk but its stats are exceptionally poor and Probopass’ Body Press and Magnet Pull don’t seem to fit on a team that is built around playing aggressively with special attackers in sun.
Lydian
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Lydian is running a sun team with all special attackers (no, Scraggy is not a physical attacker). I would prefer Blissey over Chansey in draft because Blissey is more versatile and doesn’t suck momentum as much on an offensive archetype such as sun. I am a bit concerned that Lydian will rely too much on Walking Wake, Chi-Yu and Torkoal to deal all the team’s damage. There are no physical attackers on the team so Lydian should be prepared to face multiple Assault Vests every week. I think replacing one of the support Pokemon with a strong physical attacker would have made this team much more threatening. Shiftry, Lokix, Golem Alola, Donphan or Crabominable could have been used over Chansey.
Steam Buns
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Individually Landorus-Therian, Gouging Fire, Necrozma, Darkrai, Lucario and Weezing-Galar are all solid picks but I don’t see as much synergy as with other teams. Lucario is a decent value pick on Chien-Pao teams but there is no Chien-Pao here. Steam Buns’ speed control is limited to Darkrai’s Icy Wind and Necrozma’s Trick Room, however the team’s offensive threats, the Pokemon you want to move first, are all above base 79 speed. In addition, the team’s speed tiers are quite crowded around the base 90 mark. I would have liked a Fake Out or redirection user to enable Gouging Fire as Lucario has lost Follow Me this generation. Despite this Steam Buns’ Pokemon are very strong individually and opposing teams will have to make sure they can handle all of the team’s threats.
Staraptor
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Staraptor has paired Whimsicott with a squad of moderately fast offensive threats. Delphox is a really good budget pick with Expanding Force, a solid speed tier and fire coverage for the team. This team’s speed tiers are very crowded and I assume Staraptor is banking on having the Tailwind advantage in most games. I don’t like the anti-synergy with Whimsicott and Psychic Surge. I understand that Whimsicott will often be using Tailwind next to Indeedee-M but part of Whimsicott’s value is the option to use moves such as Encore and Fake Tears. If Staraptor just wanted a Tailwind bot much cheaper options were available. I’m not sold on the Vivillon pick, its frailty and limited use outside Sleep Powder and Rage Powder have made it hard to bring to games when I used it in a previous draft. Hawlucha would be amazing if it still had Tailwind and its underwhelming base 92 attack means it probably needs to set up before doing much damage.
BananaCrazy111
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Points-wise I BananaCrazy has the most top-heavy draft, dropping a whopping 76 points on their top four Pokemon. Additionally, there isn’t that much synergy between them beyond being good Pokemon with different typings and roles. Normally I would be strongly against this but I think they made good choices with the remaining slots to make a solid team. Morgrem is a usable Prankster screens user that will be of great value to the frail offensive Pokemon in Banana’s lineup, such as Iron Bundle, Ogerpon Hearthflame and Zangoose. Screens also improve the viability of Weakness Policy Diancie given that Diancie under screens will be very difficult to KO without super effective moves. Muk has the advantage over its Alolan cousin of having Toxic Spikes and is bulky enough to come to games without being a liability.
ACExdiscostu93
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ACE has a number of value picks but has some redundancy and some slots lack synergy with each other. I like Palafin and Murkrow as relatively cheap picks that will be useful in every matchup. Having two Prankster users feels a bit redundant, even if they are usually going to be doing different things. Running two slots for Prankster Tailwind and screens feels too slow to me and not an efficient use of team slots. I don’t really understand the Vikavolt and Rhydon picks. They would be solid cheap picks on a Trick Room or Semiroom team but there is no Trick Room on this team. I also don’t think they are really needed as anti-Trick Room picks either, considering this team isn’t that fast and opponents can simply opt to match Tailwind instead. That being said I like most of the picks individually and just having Prankster Tailwind with some strong threats is enough to give yourself a chance in most matchups.
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