Metagame Doubles UU

Changes for April:

Zeraora moved from DUU to DOU
Gothitelle moved from DUU to DOU
Oranguru moved from DOU to DUU
Bronzong moved from DOU to DUU
Excadrill moved from DOU to DUU
Torkoal moved from DOU to DUU
Suicune moved from DOU to DUU
Gyarados moved from DOU to DUU
Gyarados-Mega moved from DOU to DUU

Note that this metagame will be the one used in DPL as well as the Spring Showdown. Gaining a real sand abuser, an absolutely busted mon in Suicune, and losing a trapper and suicune check is pretty huge. Gaining monkey, bronzong, and torkoal really helps out trick room a lot, and we'll see how this large shift affects things. Off the top of my head, I'm wondering if gigalith exca monkey semi room is something to consider. We'll have votes for these new mons up soon!
 
We voted on our newest additions and did a lower tier sweep! The same as DOU does, we just went through and voted on the Pokemon in tiers 4 and 5 and whether they should stay, move, or be taken off the VR. I'll post the voting, then the lower tier sweep, and the full results from both at the bottom.

Oranguru:
  • N10sit: tier 3 seems like a solid place to put this, it has a good amount of support options outside of being a fake out and ghost immune tr setter, symbiosis could find a real use too.
  • Talkingtree: 3, Foul Play is the good set btw because Metagross can be annoying for some TR
  • Demantoid: 3, it’s a bulky tr setter with unique support options.
  • Lord death man: 3, being able to almost always set tr in the current meta seems like exactly what TR was missing, but i’d like to wait and see if this has uses beyond just spamming instruct.
Bronzong:
  • N10sit: tier 3 with oranguru, i think the other dropped mons kind of fuck with this one but this is a super solid ground immune tr setter
  • Talkingtree: 4 imo, kind of a momentum suck vs a lot of the meta right now
  • Demantoid: 3, only decent steel tr setter
  • Lord death man: 3
Excadrill:
  • N10sit: tier 4 i think? It just remains to be seen if sand will be usable.
  • Talkingtree: 4, I think it’ll be better than it is in DOU but don’t really know more than that yet
  • Demantoid: 4, it looks very strong in theory but we’ll have to see
  • Lord death man: 4 sounds right
Torkoal:
  • N10sit: tier 5, niche tr option. Would be tier 4 if we didnt also get something that made sand viable and an incredible water type. Having oranguru to eruption spam with this is also neat
  • Talkingtree: 5, there’s just a bit too much support needed for it to be higher rn imo
  • Demantoid: 4, we got a bunch of good tr setters and sun alone could also be decent
  • Lord death man: 4, eruption spam is scary and it’s a better sun setter than ninetales but there’s only a very small handful of sun mons that are actually worth considering.
Suicune:
  • N10sit: easily tier 2. Calm mind could be really good but if it isnt, bulky tailwind setter and phazer will still be amazing. Could be tier 1 at some point
  • Talkingtree: 2, tsareena exists and thund’s a pain but everything else seems to be in suicune’s favor rn
  • Demantoid: 3, could probably go higher but I’d like to see how it fares first
  • Lord death man: 2, I’m willing to admit I’m wrong if anything changes but this is essentially a water type entei
Gyarados:
  • N10sit: tier 4 is probably where i’d put this right now, im just not sure how good the d dance set will be. Could easily be tier 3 though.
  • Talkingtree: 3 I love gyarados
  • Demantoid: 4, has good typing for the current meta. Its speed is also fine for DD here and it easily beats the intimidators
  • Lord death man: 3, this was really good when it left and nothing made it that much worse.
Gyarados-Mega:
  • N10sit: tier 4. Better megas to use, gyarados is better with an item imo
  • Talkingtree: 5, read ldm’s vote
  • Demantoid: 4, same rank as regular gyara for now
  • Lord death man: 5, this was kind of mediocre when it left and there’s only a few particularly big changes that made it better but I don’t think they made it worth using over its regular form, which is really good, other than beating Latias-Mega. There’s better megas and z-move gyara is better

168315

Results:
Oranguru: UR -> Tier 3
Bronzong: UR -> Tier 3
Excadrill: UR -> Tier 4
Torkoal: UR -> Tier 5
Suicune: UR -> Tier 2
Gyarados: UR -> Tier 4
Gyarados-Mega: UR -> Tier 5
Bisharp: Tier 4 -> Tier 5
Buzzwole: Tier 5 -> UR
Chansey: Tier 5 -> Tier 4
Clefable: Tier 5 -> UR
Escavalier: Tier 5 -> UR
Hitmontop: Tier 5 -> UR
Porygon-Z: Tier 5 -> UR
Rotom-W: Tier 5 -> Tier 4
Staraptor: Tier 5 -> UR
Weavile: Tier 5 -> Tier 4
 
7877JRN said:
who is the best pokemon that can replace zeraora's role??
Click to expand...

This is a rather difficult question, as zeraora's role was unique. Incredible speed, volt switch, fake out, and snarl all packed into one mon is very hard to replicate. Your closest and most obvious bet is Raichu, as it is a fast electric that has access to fake out. Fast Snarl really no longer exists, although it can be run on more bulky and slower Pokemon like Suicune. If you were simply using it as a fast electric type attacker, offensive thundurus with wild charge and flyinium z with fly is your best bet.
 
DPL is over for me, I built dozens of teams, these are the ones that made it each week. Thanks to SMB for all the test fights. And very special thanks to Sunrose for so many test fights and helping scout my opponents, you were so awesome to work with and hope to see you drafted next year. Also thanks to kaori for and everyone else on the team for believing in me. I finished with 2-3 record, feel like it could have been better, both times I used rotom they missed overheat and hydro respectively. Yet its no excuse, the DUU field was very competitive imo, and should be back next year. There are lots of cool things to experiment with in this meta, which make it very fun

Mega Heracross Tail-Room
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Wee Bey (Heracross-Mega) @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Atk / 4 SpD / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Protect

Poot (Bronzong) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Hypnosis
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Ally Switch

Bodie (Primarina) @ Life Orb
Ability: Liquid Voice
EVs: 96 HP / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Hyper Voice
- Ice Beam
- Protect

Stringer (Rotom-Heat) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp

Stinkum (Krookodile) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Atk / 4 Def / 120 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stomping Tantrum
- Knock Off
- Fire Fang
- Protect

Bird (Shaymin-Sky) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Tailwind
- Protect


Slowbro Sand
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Dusclops @ Eviolite
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Will-O-Wisp
- Night Shade
- Pain Split

Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 4 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off

Shaymin-Sky @ Groundium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Protect

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drill Run
- Iron Head
- Poison Jab
- Protect

Arcanine @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 224 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Incinerate
- Roar
- Snarl

Gigalith @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stealth Rock
- Protect


Double Weather Tail-Room
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Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 76 SpA / 132 SpD / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Weather Ball
- Synthesis
- Protect

Torkoal @ Assault Vest
Ability: Drought
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 112 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam

Gigalith @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Deoxys-Defense @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 200 SpA / 16 SpD / 24 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Psycho Boost
- Trick Room
- Toxic

Salamence @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Heat Wave
- Tailwind
- Protect

Pheromosa @ Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpA / 204 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Brick Break
- Protect


Mega-Aero Balance
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Aerodactyl-Mega @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Tough Claws
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Sky Drop
- Ice Fang
- Protect

Naganadel @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect

Tsareena @ Assault Vest
Ability: Queenly Majesty
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 4 Def / 92 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Arcanine @ Wiki Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 224 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Incinerate
- Roar
- Snarl

Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 124 HP / 252 SpA / 132 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp

Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Heal Pulse
- Soft-Boiled


Mega-Gyarados Hyper Offense
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Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Aerial Ace
- Ice Fang
- Fire Fang

Naganadel @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect

Deoxys @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Protect

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

Infernape @ Assault Vest
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Incinerate
- Vacuum Wave
- Overheat

Shaymin-Sky @ Life Orb
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Tailwind
- Protect
 
Making a team dump now that my team's DPL and this recent DUU tour are both over, hopefully others enjoy these teams because I've had a lot of fun building in this meta. Pokepastes (with some spread notes) are linked to the images of each team, descriptions and replays in the hide tags below. Teams are ordered roughly in order of "Spice" to correspond to the Sample Teams' scale.


I originally built this team so that my DUUers would have a standard sand to test against in prepping for DPL, but I believe it's also a pretty solid team in its own right and definitely worth sampling. Physical Thundurus has been shown to be an incredibly powerful threat with Electric/Flying/Fighting having fantastic coverage and Defiant ensuring that Krookodile and Arcanine's popularity boost its effectiveness. Aside from that, most of the choices are fairly standard, aside from a supportive Mega Latias. It's being used over a Calm Mind variant because sand chips away at slow setup mons and the Tailwind support is huge for the rest of the team, most crucially allowing Excadrill to hit its Sand Rush speed tier even without the weather.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-900561638https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-902122269

RestTalk CM Suicune is definitely a big threat, but I wanted to try SubCM since that gives Suicune the ability to run Protect, which it otherwise would almost never have the room for. It also still addresses the issue of status, but with the right conditions can allow Suicune to keep its Leftovers since Sub will take Knock Off without it being broken. The rest of the team supports Cune in the best way possible without leaving the team helpless if Suicune is to go down somehow. Most sets are pretty standard, so I'll just touch on the couple that aren't: CB Dragon Tail Krookodile was sort of the emergency TR check for the team, Wacan Togekiss addressed the huge popularity of Thund, and Punishment gives Tsareena the ability to take on CM Mega Lati, doing at least 50% to +1/+1 Mega Latias. It's pretty useless in almost every other matchup, but Tsareena rarely needs anything other than its first three moves anyway. Incinerate is on Thund-T to handle Mega Scizor, but it also can be a decent tool for removing Berries if you want that utility.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-910817829

A setup sweeper that beats Mega Latias, Fires, Krookodile, and Metagross is a wonderful thing, and MGyara can't even be hit by Prankster TWave. Flyinium Moltres punches holes for it to clean, and AV Kyurem is just a beast. I dropped Draco in favor of Dragon Tail to improve the TR matchup, and the only matchup that gets tougher as a result is Rotom-W. Tsareena is practically full support because I knew Rapid Spin could help with how ridiculously Rock-weak this team is and Helping Hand is crucial for the many strong attackers to clinch KOs. Toxic was Yuichii's suggestion, and I think it works pretty well against whatever might be annoying to chip it into range, but running U-turn in its place is also probably quite good. This team looks on paper like it loses to Mega Aero (+1 Gyara can't outspeed it...), but its three replays this tour were all against Mega Aero and it won every time, so I guess it's not that bad.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-896993920https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-900567303https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-902125197

This is really just goodstuffs, Pidge is decently strong and cool with things like Rhydon/Hydreigon that really don't like missing their STABs. Its main downfall is tying with Naganadel, but good players win the tie anyway. Sleep is really good in a meta where there's no Amoonguss, Terrains, or general prep for it, so Breloom can put in serious work. Fitting Taunt on Gengar might be a decent idea but I can't think of what would be replaced and Sleep + SubMetagross + Hydreigon are usually enough for TR anyway. No replays of this one, so it's all just theory but I can't imagine it's terrible.

Gyara is good even without its Mega forme, you just trade beating Meta+Lati super strongly for taking out Araquanid and Tsareena. Alolan Marowak redirects Electric attacks and can only be hit by SSSS or HP Ice from Thund, so it's decent support. CM Lati was naturally supported by our remaining members of the team, and Breloom just spams sleep and beats Suicune/Krook. Bowman suggested Superpower and the added power bonus, especially for being able to hit Tsareena, is actually fantastic. Chansey was added purely because there are no other solid Naganadel checks, and we freed up slots on it by running SR Marowak. Torn-T offered the team various other forms of support, hitting Scizor with Heat Wave, pivoting, setting Tailwind, and staying healthy with Berry + Regen. You can take a huge hit and then Berry + Regen puts you right back at full. Overall, this is a pretty anti-meta team and its unconventionality can be a bit of a double-edged sword, so it does great in some matchups but can't really get going in others.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-910822753

I never actually got around to using this, but it was my first attempt at taking advantage of Oranguru + Torkoal dropping. The team sort of overcompensates for Metagross's presence but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Torkoal + Mega Venu was something SMB made work pretty well so I tried that and used Mudsdale as the Ground-type to ensure that it could stand up to Thund while hitting Togekiss accurately and powerfully.

I really liked the coverage Barbaracle had on paper, so I built a team around it and ended up slapping an SD Mega Scizor on at the end so that if Barb went down the team wasn't ruined. Rock Slide + Waterium Z and Stone Edge + Rockium Z are both okay sets, but neither really does quite well enough on their own. Endeavor Tsareena was left over from when I was running Rock Slide and Waterium, but it's also just kind of a fun tech. Heattom's not terrible in this meta, beats Tsar/Metagross/Thund and is a Fire that doesn't immediately lose to Krook, so that's pretty nice. Weavile is pretty much the only Fake Out user I'd use, since Tsareena gets scared out by LO Icicle Crash.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-905331968
==========​

VR Nominations:
Entei Tier 2 -> Tier 3, Arcanine Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Arcanine is more widely usable, has a better ability, and has more flexibility, so Entei being a tier higher doesn't really make sense.

Oranguru (and maybe Bronzong?) Tier 3 -> Tier 4, Musharna Tier 4 -> UR
Full TR with Oranguru + Torkoal is nowhere near as good as we thought it could be when these shifts were announced, so Oranguru is probably placed too highly and Bronzong doesn't really have the widespread use that other Tier 3 mons do. Also, I see almost no reason to use Musharna when Bronzong exists.

Mega Gyarados Tier 5 -> Tier 4 (or Tier 3 but I know it won't go there)
I was extremely impressed by this mon every time I used it; it's bulky, it's strong, and it has some really great matchups right now.

Mega Aerodactyl Tier 4 -> Tier 3
Fast Rock Slide is great, but it also has so many other options that it's rarely deadweight. Certainly more widely usable than many other Megas in this tier.

Thundurus-T UR -> Tier 4
Great check to Thundurus-I, super strong in the right scenarios, and it has a few decent coverage options to boot.

Breloom UR -> Tier 5
Sleep is so good in this meta, and Breloom's fast + accurate sleep with no field condition requirements makes it a perfect tool for giving its teammates free turns.

Lilligant UR -> Tier 5
LilliKoal is no joke. Obviously, without Torkoal, Lilligant is pretty terrible, but that pairing is enough for Lilligant to get a place on the VR.

Lots of Tiers 4 and 5 looks pretty out of date, but I won't bother with nominating too many of those because a low-tier sweep is definitely the best way to handle them.
 
i have a couple noms too :D thanks everyone for participating in DUU spring!

Gengar: Tier 3 -> Tier 5: Record of 0-1 in the spring tour, the rise of Darks like Krookodile and Mega Gyarados along with there generally being more spdef on teams puts this mon (and one I'm gonna nom next) in a really bad spot.

Blacephalon: Tier 4 -> Tier 5: All of the reasons mentioned above, but there's also a lot of competition among fire types right now. Went 1-6 in the Spring tour.

We'll vote on these soon and do a lower tier sweep.
 
My team is out of DPL now, so here's some of the teams I used.

Bulky Charizard

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https://pokepast.es/b51bbc2d9a957bdc

You can run Roost > Protect on Charizard. I didn't like it, but you can and it can potentially cheese its way past things with Clefairy's help that way.

I made this to take advantage of a lot of trends I felt like I had been seeing or would see; a big part being that I felt that Charizard-X was under-prepared for, with dragon checks being almost exclusively steels, and teams (in my head) were therefore very weak to a physical dragon that didn't auto-lose to Metagross and/or Mega Scizor. Rapid Spin Tsareena, Clefairy, Krook, and Suicune all offer a lot of support, while z-Thundy helps prevent intimidate while also offering a lot of power and making good use of the open z-move slot that Charizard provides over a similar sweeper like Gyarados.

Tsareena uses Rapid Spin to remove rocks (which is a big deal for Zard-X), while Clefairy can keep it alive and is just generally more useful, in my opinion, than Togekiss or Blastoise would have been on this team.

I will also say that, at the time I made this, I thought that Mega Gyarados was outright bad. I do feel that a reinterpretation of the core concept of this team with Gyarados might be more successful.

The given spread lives 2 +1 Psyshocks from Latias-Mega, and a bunch of other stuff I can't be bothered to remember. Speed is 1 point above positive base 70s (Breloom, Metagross, Bisharp), but also 259 is an important stat for a speed boosting mon to hit because its faster than Skymin at +1. Attack is a dump stat, but it also ends up just short of where Jolly would land, I think I'd go for Jolly (to hit stuff like Krook without boosting) if I were to forego bulk, which I wouldn't.

Crocune Balance

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https://pokepast.es/54c962c3ef4f7e6c

This was originally just a fairly regular suicune balance team before n10sit suggested Crocune, and I think it really works and ties the team together. Thundurus can really hurt a lot of mons that could potentially slow down a Scizor sweep, U-turn on Scizor helps chip down mons like Arcanine (and I just didn't feel this team needed bug bite).

Thundy, Scizor, Moltres, and Kyurem really threaten/check the big grasses that hinder Crocune's snowball, while Kyurem and Krook sort of take on the electrics. I do think this team is somewhat weak to physical thundurus, but smart positioning can potentially hinder it, and it doesn't usually 2hko Suicune (with Flynium, LO sets always do).

Latias Sand

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https://pokepast.es/3497883b7ed01204

This is very similar to Talkingtree's sand team, and I was hesitant to post this because of that, but there's a lot of different sets so I feel they're sufficiently different. Same general idea, but I've opted to use fairium Azumarill to help reduce the team's weakness to Gyarados-Mega and to potentially lure or just otherwise blow up the mons that Excadrill doesn't have the easiest time cleaning through, such as Tsareena, Suicune, and Gyarados. Life Orb is used on Thundurus to maximize the damage hp ice does to things like other Thundurus, Krook, and Latias, and because I forgot Magnet was an item.

I will generally say that, regardless of set, Latias-Gigalith-Excadrill-Thundurus is probably the way to go with sand.


talkingtree said:
Breloom UR -> Tier 5
Sleep is so good in this meta, and Breloom's fast + accurate sleep with no field condition requirements makes it a perfect tool for giving its teammates free turns.
Click to expand...
I think of all of Tree's noms, this might go under the radar the most, but the meta is actually looking pretty good for Breloom at the moment; Sleep is incredibly powerful and Taunt use is really low, Bullet Seed is super useful for blowing up Suicune, and Mach Punch has some new, relevant targets in Excadrill and Gyarados-Mega that make it feel less like a filler move that gets negated by Tsareena and more like a legitimate option.

Obviously has a lot of flaws, but some teams have a really big problem with it, and there's fairly few teams where it's actually dead weight because there's just no real way to absorb sleep reliably.

I'd also like to nominate Moltres Tier 5 > 4. I feel like this sees more use than anything else in tier 5, bar Suicune, and while it can be very matchup dependent, it has excellent type synergy with several good mons (notably Krook and Suicune) and a very threatening stab combination. I think 4 is likely the upper limit of where it could go because of its terrible type, however.

Also Landorus-I Tier 2 > 3 (or lower). I haven't seen this in forever and it just doesn't "feel" as threatening as it used to, and I think that its relatively low usage in recent tours is reflected in that.
 
hello! we have a new round of vr votes, a lower tier sweep, and an addition to the vr council! big welcome to MajorBowman, the current duu circuit leader and, less importantly, a dou tier leader. insert tree and jake joke here. i'll post the votes, the results from those, and then the lower tier sweep and its results below that.

Entei Tier 2 -> Tier 3:
  • n10sit: i think both fires should be 2, they do different enough things but are equally viable
  • MajorBowman: 2, possibly even 1. While it does compete with Arcanine I’d almost always rather use Entei solely for Sacred Fire and the extra bulk
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 2. I agree with n10sit about both being 2. Entei has better natural bulk and has tools that differentiate its role from Arcanine.
  • Lord Death Man: I think 2 is fine, Entei can be a bit overshadowed by Suicune as an inner focus roar mon, but I think it is still good.
Arcanine Tier 3 -> Tier 2:
  • n10sit: see entei
  • MajorBowman: I guess? Like I said in the Entei vote I’d strongly prefer Entei in most scenarios but I can concede that Arcanine is a really good mon right now too
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 2. I don’t like Arcanine very much but it does provide a lot to a team.
  • Lord Death Man: 2. kind of mixed on this, I think arcanine is good and often competition for the same teamslot as entei, but I often feel like I’m being forced into using it over entei when I do because I just desperately need intim or helping hand. I guess.
Oranguru Tier 3 -> Tier 4:
  • n10sit: fine, i havent been impressed with this mon
  • MajorBowman: That’s fine, agree with LDM that TR feels pretty meh. I think the best use of Oranguru is probably with Torkoal but if Gigalith picks up steam that’ll make its life much more difficult
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 4. I haven’t really seen this at all.
  • Lord Death Man: 4, TR is still kind of blah and I don’t think this regularly adds a whole lot to a lot of TR teams at the time, but Instruct can still be situationally stupid.
Bronzong Tier 3 -> Tier 4:
  • n10sit: i think the meta is bad for it but this is still bronzong, the bulkiest tr setter in the format, i think it stays in 3
  • MajorBowman: 3 still makes sense I think, if you do want to use TR zong is probably the best option since there aren’t a lot of sleep checks in the meta
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 4. TR hasn’t been very impressive in this meta.
  • Lord Death Man: 3, I think this is a better TR setter than Oranguru even without a z-move.
Musharna Tier 4 -> UR:
  • n10sit: fine, outclassed by zong
  • MajorBowman: UR, almost objectively a worse bronzong
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: UR
  • Lord Death Man: yeah I guess.
Mega Gyarados Tier 5 -> Tier 4 or 3:
  • n10sit: tier 4 is fine. Im still not convinced this thing is more than a counter meta pick but it did insanely well in duu tour (9-1)
  • MajorBowman: 3, I’ve loved using both gyarados forms recently and mega gyarados has the typing and bulk to set up on a lot of stuff. Really solid mon
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 3. Does well against a lot of common mons. Also has lots of unexplored options that could be good.
  • Lord Death Man: 4. I’m still not sold on this as being better than regular Gyarados.
Mega Aerodactyl Tier 4 -> Tier 3:
  • n10sit: no, i always watch this mon do jack shit except fish for flinches. 4-6 in duu tour and there are a couple megas that just severely outclass this one
  • MajorBowman: Agree with everyone else, pretty bad outside of flinch fishing and generally being fast. 4.
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 4. Doesn’t do much besides being fast and trying to flinch things.
  • Lord Death Man: 4. I’ve always liked this, but I think this is one of the worst metas we’ve had for it in a little while.
Thundurus-T UR -> Tier 4:
  • n10sit: im fine with 5, im tentative on tier 4. I think its almost always outclassed by thund-i
  • MajorBowman: 5 for now, I like Thundurus-T a lot as an off meta pick but competing for a slot with incarnate is a big knock
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 5. I’d like to see it more before moving it up further.
  • Lord Death Man: 5, it feels like the only reason to use it over its incarnate form is to beat it’s incarnate form, and I don’t think that’s really 4 worthy. And Thundy-I is one of the easiest mons to put on a team, further limiting Thundy-T’s viability.
Breloom: UR -> Tier 5:
  • n10sit: ugh, i dont like this mon but jake used it well in duu finals. abstain
  • MajorBowman: agree with tree, sleep is really good and breloom is probably the best sleep mon right now
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 5. Loom is extremely threatening against slower teams.
  • Lord Death Man: 5, Spore is good.
Lilligant: UR -> Tier 5:
  • n10sit: 51 Lilligant 4 2.985% 2 50.0% 0 50.0% not enough for me here, would need to see it beat real teams
  • MajorBowman: UR, haven’t seen much of it and I’m not really a fan of lillikoal in general since it can devolve into 50/50s and sleep turns pretty quickly
  • talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: UR. I haven’t really seen it that much and only really has After You as a unique move.
  • Lord Death Man: on the fence, but the bar for 5 isn’t that high. 5.
Gengar: Tier 3 -> Tier 5:
  • n10sit: my nom
  • MajorBowman: 5 is fine, has some decent utility but not nearly enough to be as high as 3
  • talkingtree: 5, being a poison that outspeeds and beats Metagross without relying on inaccurate moves is the only reason this isn’t UR imo
  • Demantoid: 5. It is sobad
  • Lord Death Man: 5, this sucks.
Blacephalon: Tier 4 -> Tier 5:
  • n10sit: my nom
  • MajorBowman: agree with tree, 5
  • talkingtree: yeah, haven’t really felt comfortable using it in this meta - Suicune, Krook, opposing fires, etc are all trends that make Blace worse.
  • Demantoid: No. It is still capable of fulfilling its role if a few mons are taken out.
  • Lord Death Man: 5, this also sucks.
Moltres: Tier 5 -> Tier 4:
  • n10sit: I don’t know how much I like this mon but I guess 4 is fine it does cool things on paper and I’ve seen it used well
  • MajorBowman: 4, i like moltres a lot as an offensive tailwind setter and it certainly has a lot of tools that justify using it over one of the other fire types
  • talkingtree: 4 for sure, I really like Moltres
  • Demantoid: 4. Moltres’ role as a bulky fire-type with speed control separates it from Arcanine and Entei. Unfortunate rocks weakness helps keep it down.
  • Lord Death Man: my nom
Landorus: Tier 2 -> Tier 3
  • n10sit: 3 is fine, krook is a better ground atm
  • MajorBowman: 3 but no lower imo, still a pretty strong mon with neat coverage options but demantoid’s point about the meta not being great for lando-i is pretty poignant
  • talkingtree: 3, but I wouldn’t drop it any further. With the right field conditions, this tears apart plenty of teams in the meta
  • Demantoid: 3. The tier has either gotten faster or bulkier which puts it in an awkward position where it can’t threaten as many ohkos.
  • Lord Death Man: my nom

Results:
Arcanine: Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Oranguru: Tier 3 -> Tier 4
Musharna: Tier 4 -> UR
Mega Gyarados: Tier 5 -> Tier 3
Thundurus-T: UR -> Tier 5
Breloom: UR -> Tier 5
Gengar: Tier 3 -> Tier 5
Blacephalon: Tier 4 -> Tier 5
Moltres: Tier 5 -> Tier 4
Landorus-I: Tier 2 -> Tier 3

Lower tier sweep:
176388
 
In my previous post I had a bunch of UR mons in those teams which I really like using (Heracross-Mega, Primarina, Slowbro-Mega, Salamence, and Deoxys-Defense). Here are 2 more that I have enjoyed playing with


Buzzwole
buzzwole.gif

Buzz has a few really good match ups thanks to Fighting+Bug coverage, including Tsareena, Krookodile, Mega Gyarados, Mega Lucario, and Excadrill. If you run it with Substitute and Tailwind then you can start having a strong match up against Mega-Latias, Meloetta, and other special attackers. Substitute is also a great option for 3rd move because you cannot be intimidated behind a sub so you can rack up beast-boost kills. With Buzzwole on your team make sure to have ample checks for Mega-Aero, Skymin, Thundy, and Fire Types. Sense this set uses 2 drain moves, I am taking advantage of Big Root which can recover an absurd amount of HP.
Buzzwole @ Big Root
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 140 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD / 112 Spe
Careful Nature
- Drain Punch
- Leech Life
- Substitute
- Protect


Mega-Ampharos
ampharos-mega.gif

Had an impressive run in seasonals as a Trick Room attacker. The set below is for Tailwind or Tail-room, it out runs Naganadel in TW. It has one of the strongest SpA in the game and very nice bulk. It requires heavy support for speed and because Electric+Dragon isnt the best coverage, so I like Signal Beam in the 3rd slot to hit Grass and Dark types that would otherwise wall it.
Ampharos-Mega @ Ampharosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dragon Pulse
- Signal Beam
- Protect
 
DPL is finally over, so anyone who was waiting for five very similar Mega Aerodactyl squads can rejoice. I'll do this post in a similar format to talkingtree, with pastes linked to each team image. Big thanks to stax for drafting me and laptops for being a massive help building and testing for DUU. I reordered the Pokemon in the teams from week 2 onwards so you can see the common structure better, I should have done it in the order FWG but I didn't think of it at the time and I'm not changing it all for that. Also, n1n1 called me out for always using Mega Aerodactyl, but it was in fact Tsareena that I used the most, being on all 5 of my teams!

week1.png
Week 1 the duu meta was still quite new to me with the latest shifts, so I spent some time trying various different ideas such as Sand (Excadrill + Hippowdon), Mega Latias + Chansey, and Ninetales + Scarf Blacephalon. From testing, having a sand setter felt like too much of an opportunity cost, Chansey felt a bit passive, and Ninetales also basically set weather then was a wasted slot. So as you may have guessed, this moved me towards the team I did use, which has CM Mega Latias as a defensive win condition and Choice Scarf Blacephalon as an offensive one. These were two Pokemon I already liked coming into the tour so I felt it was a safe choice. The rest of the team is just goodstuffs to support them with a good mix of defense, offense, and speed control; with Stealth Rock and Feint being especially useful for facilitating a Blacephalon sweep. In testing, the team did terrible against Aboma TR, due to no Steel-type and the Fire being very frail. I decided it was unlikely he would bring that though, so I went with the team I had. After the game, this gave me the idea of trying the team with Mega Scizor instead, which I used in some test games and liked.

I won against Yuichii using this team, with Scarf Blace putting in work as I had hoped.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7doublesuu-435388
177133
Week 2 is when I went back to my roots and started using Mega Aerodactyl. Defiant Thundurus had revealed itself to be a massive threat during week 1, and so I came to the conclusion that the best defense is a good offense, i.e. I should use stuff which can outspeed and KO it. This lead me to the flinch god, and to Darkrai, which I thought was a cool Pokemon because it has a nice speed tier and can hit basically everything hard with Dark Pulse and BoltBeam (example calc: 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Thundurus: 317-374 (106 - 125%) -- guaranteed OHKO). In particular, it's a nice offensive partner for Aerodactyl, hitting things like Metagross and Krookodile which it can struggle against. Mega Scizor was still a problem for the duo, so I put Fire Fang on Aero. CB Metagross with Sticky Web does work (as you can see in the game), and support Arcanine is useful for giving everything else extra survivability. The Tsareena spread creeps the sample Suicune spread.

I beat Frisoeva with this squad, in what was basically an advert for Choice Band Metagross, which got 4 KOs.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-896283900
177135
From this point on you should start seeing a pattern in the teams. The rough framework of the team worked last time, so I went for something somewhat similar. This team probably could have been tweaked a bit to be better, I just threw Z move on Metagross because I didn't have one, and prefer Life Orb on Naganadel to Z move. With the funky Metagross set, the team only has three Pokemon with Protect, which is less than I like. I think this team is okay, but could be improved, perhaps by having a bulkier Metagross with Protect/Assault Vest, or maybe a Choice Band Metagross set with a bulkier Entei.

Teambuilding aside, I could have played this game better as well, in particular I massively overpredicted on turn 3, and on turn 9 I switched out Aerodactyl into Metagross when I could have just Protected and been in a better spot. That's just me making excuses though, LDM is a good player and deserved his win against me.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-899926149
177136
This week I asked not to play because I had exams to study for, which was no issue as Laptops could easily fill in for me. Manaphy is something Laptops likes and has used a few times in the past, so we basically ended up fitting it into the successful team structure we'd found. The only speed control is non-Prankster Thunder Wave, so in retrospect I think Tailwind on Aerodactyl would have been good (but fortunately was unneeded in the game). This team is a bit more unorthodox than the builds I used, but it's still fairly solid, as shown in the game.

Despite facing against n1n1 who was also using the enlightened MAero + FWG + 2 fillers framework, my boy Laptops took home the win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-903865107
177138
Now, if you're thinking "Yoda you're so lazy, you keep using the same thing!" you'd be wrong; I went through a series of iterations, trying to perfect the formula that I'd stumbled across this DPL and ended up with this (okay, maybe you are half right). This was the first week I actually used Defiant Thundurus in a DPL game, despite having used it on some earlier versions of teams from other weeks. Around then I came to a realisation about the current DUU meta, that it's very offensive and often a lot of turns come down to who can move first and KO the opponent. There are some good bulky Pokemon (e.g. Tsar, Suicune), but I find in many situations that it's difficult to switch into a given Pokemon, especially Thundurus and Naganadel. As Demantoid pointed out, I believe this is why Landorus-I isn't as good now, because Pokemon are faster or bulky. Compare this to DOU, where I feel Pokemon are generally bulkier, and switching into Pokemon is easier. Games can be (but aren't always) 20+ turns, with a lot of pivoting, which contributes to the usefulness of SR. Whereas in DUU, games are nearly always ~12 turns at the most (I just looked at some DPL/DUU Showdown games and this seems to hold).

Due to the metagame trends I've tried to describe above, I really feel that Aerodactyl is a good mega in the current meta. When speed reigns supreme, Mega Aerodactyl is king. Rock Slide needs no introduction, and Aero's other moves can be used to round out what your team needs. Aerial Ace is a solid single-target attack, Aqua Tail most notably hits Krookodile, and Fire Fang can catch Mega Scizor and do actual damage to Metagross. One of the main selling points of Suicune is being fat enough to near guarantee Tailwind, which Aero can also effectively do as a result of its high Speed. It can position itself to sweep with the right offensive partner, doesn't require using a setup move itself, and can support teammates with Tailwind. Tree also summed it up quite well.

Anyways, onto the actual team. There's three fast attackers (MAero, Darkrai, Thund) and three bulkier things (Entei, Tsar, Suicune), which combines the two elements of the metagame mentioned above. Starting with the classic FWG core, Entei is an all-around solid Pokemon being able to tank and deal hits with a decent Speed, Suicune is fat and a reliable Tailwind setter, and Tsareena is a useful pivot for supporting the team. I'm a big fan of this trio (or something similar e.g. with Arcanine) as the backbone for a team. After that, Darkrai is a great offensive partner for MAero, as I mentioned before. Defiant Thundurus is such an amazing Pokemon, with Defiant being especially useful because I have three other physical attackers, and it is another good teammate for Aerodactyl. I'm very happy with this team, which I believe to be the most well-rounded of these teams, and to be potentially sample worthy.

I beat Howfalcons with this team, in a game which I think shows how the offensive core of the team works great against slower stuff, and how the bulkier part of the team can be used to manipulate the board position into a favourable board position, with Tsareena being used to stall out Tailwind then pivot in Aerodactyl safely as it ended.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-907941976
177168
I'm 99% sure that if you're looking at this team, and even if you watched the game, you'll be thinking I was boring and just instantly went for the same type of team again, which is in fact not the case. As we did not play in semi-finals, I took some time trying to think up something creative to use in finals. And the idea I came up with was: Anger Point Krookodile. The idea is to lead Tsareena + Araquanid, then U-turn into Choice Scarf Krookodile as Araquanid side targets with Frost Breath, resulting in a +6 Krook which can hopefully precede to run through the opponent's team. I went for this move in the game, but sadly did not manage to pull it off. From there I added Aerodactyl as it's a good partner for Krook to use Earthquake, and so I ended up having a similar sort of team from before. Although I think this was actually beneficial, as it meant the team was solid and familiar to me, and further helped conceal the strat which nobody would see coming (and sadly nobody seen :[ ). Tsareena and Araquanid are both fat spreads to help ensure they live hits to successfully pull off the strategy, and Arcanine is used over Entei so it can be switched in to Intimidate hits for Krook to live. Arcanine was originally a bulkier set, but I felt it was too passive once on the field in testing, so Mishimono (who helped me test for finals as Laptops was busy) suggested a more offensive set, which happened to work out in the game.

In the game I was unable to obtain +6 Krookodile, but it did manage to win anyways. I did throw a bit in the end by using Rock Slide when Aerial Ace would have sufficed, but luckily I managed to hit, meaning I beat zaaya and contributed to our team's victory.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-916826379
 
n1n1 said:
Sense this set uses 2 drain moves, I am taking advantage of Big Root which can recover an absurd amount of HP.
Click to expand...

4 Atk Buzzwole Leech Life vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tsareena: 234-276 (67.2 - 79.3%) (27.9 - 33% recovered) -- guaranteed 2HKO

(28~33)*0.3 = 8.4~10%. Barely bigger than 6.25% Recovery through Leftovers. And you don't get to always attack into a Pokemon weak to your attacks, or they might Protect, etc.

4 Atk Buzzwole Leech Life vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Metagross: 93-109 (25.5 - 29.9%) (11.1 - 13% recovered) -- guaranteed 4HKO

13*0.3 ≈ 4%.

This is why Leftovers is better.
 
Hi! We had our shifts a few days ago, and here were the changes:

Venusaur-Mega moved from DUU to DOU
Excadrill moved from DUU to DOU
Suicune moved from DUU to DOU
Mawile-Mega moved from DOU to DUU
Deoxys-Attack moved from DOU to DUU

Broken mon Suicune is gone, Excadrill's stay in DUU was short lived, and Mega Venusaur rose because the DOU ladder is insane I guess. Speaking of insanity, we got Deoxys-Attack, an insanely fast and strong attacker, and Mega Mawile, a slow but very strong Steel-type that faces a lot of competition currently. Since Deoxys-A is now DUU, we decided to drop Deoxys-N from Tier 5 to UR as it's now totally outclassed. Finally, we did our two quick votes on our new additions:

Deoxys-Attack: UR -> Tier ???
  • N10sit: 3 is fine. Rly good mon tho. Will do bad in tours early rounds and good in later rounds as better players move on
  • TalkingTree: 3, super duper strong but a bit reliant on prediction / protection / speed control to avoid just dying
  • Demantoid: 3. Lots of priority and speed control in the tier as well as naturally fat mons that can live one hit from it.
  • Lord death Man: 2, I think this is being underrated somewhat. Maybe I’m being unreasonable but stuff like Tsareena, Togekiss, etc all kind of make this feel semi-unbearable.
  • MajorBowman: 3 seems reasonable, its strength is only matched by its frailty and a lot of the that are already popular do a decent job checking in
Mega Mawile: UR -> Tier ???
  • N10sit: 4 is good but im not sure it only fits on tr (which as everyone else has said sucks) i think there prolly would be a place for it if metagross and scizor weren’t just wholely better
  • TalkingTree: 4, I think Mawile’s place is a bit awkward right now - it’s so reliant on speed control and the mons it has decent matchups against on paper still chunk it fairly well, so if it’s not moving first then it’ll get chipped down pretty quick.
  • Demantoid: 4. There are plenty of better steel-types for non-TR teams. TR isn’t that great right now and would appreciate a strong special attacker better right now.
  • Lord death Man: 4, I think that’s where it was before and while TR has probably gotten worse, I think it lost a few obstacles so is roughly as good as it was before.
  • MajorBowman: 4. TR is pretty bad because none of the setters are great right now, and the other speed control options aren't nearly as useful for Mawile. Plus it's just so frail even in mega form that it's hard to get on the field without a free switch

Results:
Deoxys-A: UR -> Tier 3
Mawile-Mega: UR -> Tier 4
Deoxys-N: Tier 5 -> UR

Okay, that's all we have for now. Stay tuned for the sign ups for DUU Summer coming september 1st. Yes I'm calling it summer bc technically thats next, I just wanted to delay it so people didn't have to do grand prix and duu together, and dou also has something in august that I should probably remember but I don't. Much love duudes

n10siedit: the above was recanted after feedback from the community. see the below post for a full update :)
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone! Recently I've received some feedback from multiple people who felt the delay between the spring and summer DUU tournaments was too long. This made me reexamine the tournament schedule, and I decided there would be enough time to fit the summer tournament in much sooner. Starting just before the beginning of Grand Prix playoffs and ending with the first round of the next DOU seasonal alienates as few people as possible while also providing a much more accelerated timeline. I'm sorry for any confusion this creates, I just want to be as receptive as possible to what people want and it seems pretty clear that people don't want to wait two more months for DUU Summer. So, on that note, sign ups for DUU Summer will be posted Monday, July 15th. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and helped me make this decision.
 
Since my run and tenzai's run in duu summer showdown have finished I'll post a team that we both have been spamming in our sets which is definitely my favourite team I built for this tour. Full trick room is a pretty dominant playstyle right now in duu as the usage and winrates stats show and I think this team is a good example of that.



Teambuilding was pretty straight forward; i wanted to have mawile on the team because it just moved to duu and its great coverage, intimidate and the ability to work outside of trick room threatening with sucker punch. Bronzong and oranguru are the most broken tr setters and even if i don't like that they share a weakness to dark types both of them are so bulky that this usually does not matter. Specs torkoal 2hko almost every mon in the tier so when you pair this with instruct it is devastating for any team. Hariyama as the fake out user, great coverage and offensive pressure as well. Landorus was the last mon I added because I like to have a "fast mode" in my tr teams so I don't lose when i can't set up tr anymore, it can work as a pseudo fake out as well.

Some move/set choices explanations:
-Rock slide on mawile is mainly to hit fire types since every team has either entei or arcanine, it's also great vs redirection and to get some flinches ig :I
-I already explained the reason why lando is scarf, stealth rock is not needed, any other coverage move is ok.
-Imprison is slashed on bronzong because it was something i came up with when i saw its usage in quarters (second, only after tsareena iirc), if you are going to use imprison I think it's better to not run min speed.
-Thunder punch on hariyama because i noticed jellicent was rising in usage and this team could struggle vs it, ice punch or heavy slam are also valid options.
 
Well this is a bit late, but since I did fairly well and Bowman won the tour, I wanted to do a highlight on some of the teams we both used. VR Noms will be at the bottom of the post if you don't care about the teams. Teams are in the order I felt like writing them in :psyduck:

:bronzong::hariyama::torkoal::jellicent::ampharos-mega::tsareena:
https://pokepast.es/1a75b3556fd58e73
A couple rounds in, Torkoal TR was doing extremely well and I was having trouble figuring out a good way to make a team with a solid matchup against it that didn't feel dumb. Finally I just decided to join in, but made a couple optimizations and edits to make it better against opposing TR. First was Throat Chop Hariyama; making it bulkier lets the team have Fake Out around more and I didn't want to go overly HO anyway, and having Throat Chop + Thick Fat means it absolutely hardstops Roar Entei, which would normally spell doom for Bronzong and can sit on / seriously chunk Hariyama. Then I brought this first three to Bowman (originally with Skill Swap Bronzong to give Torkoal Levitate + reset sun), and we filled in the rest. Jellicent was an easy choice for a second setter, but then we stalled for a bit, until I asked something like "Is Mega Ampharos a terrible idea" and got a "well I don't hate it" response. That incredibly lukewarm building decision ended up being both of our favorite part to this team -- Sub Mega Ampharos can keep its sub against Tsareena / Bronzong / Togekiss / Roar-less Entei and Arcanine and does a ton of damage, taking advantage of opponents using Protect to stall out TR or avoid Fake Out.

The team went 5-0, but it definitely got lucky along the way. Still, going undefeated starting in round 3 means it's at least decent.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957405216
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957410532
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957891645
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-960256523
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-964548969
:lucario-mega::deoxys-attack::togekiss::araquanid::tsareena::entei:
https://pokepast.es/26f1c3da648f1812
This was the first team I made in the new meta; Mega Luke was really strong before the drops and Deo-A had no switchins, so pair them together and add webs and you've got an incredibly scary team. The trick was making it still have a decent ability to respond, not folding to TR, setup, etc and I think I did as well as I could. Mostly standard stuff, but a couple team choice clarifications: LO Deo-A works so much better with coverage (Helping Hand LO Dark Pulse KOes Bronzong) and it's strong for longer, not being as dependent on firing off the Z. Togekiss has Fire Blast because otherwise MSciz / Metagross / MMaw are all things that can get annoying for the two main breakers and they're only really covered by Entei otherwise. Entei is Firium partially because I got to the last mon and had no Z yet, but also partially because that let it guaranteed connect and take out various threats that could stomach a Sacred Fire.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-951991321
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-955101388
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-955460235
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957897293
:steelix-mega::gigalith::oranguru::infernape::rotom-wash::shaymin-sky:
https://pokepast.es/7bb53d085d7072bd
Another attempt by MajorBowman and talkingtree to get a super strong matchup against Torkoal TR. Sand Force Mega Steelix + Telepathy Oranguru means that some *very* strong Earthquakes can clean up, hitting twice per turn. Infernape fills a role that's kind of half Incineroar half Genesect; a fast strong pivot with Fake Out that can happen to take a couple hits because it has an AV. Fake Out users in this tier are so much better when they can scare out Tsareena. The team ended up a little bit clunky and didn't have the best record but I think it's alright... just make sure your Rotom-W are faster than we were running in the replays, because it kept getting outsped and Power Whipped by Tsar before it could get off the burn.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957402032
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-957902136
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-960250668
:mawile-mega::nidoqueen::jellicent::shaymin-sky::weavile::rotom-heat:
https://pokepast.es/e2f28aa5ec9d9faa
Lots of the threats that could take on SD Mega Mawile fold to Nidoqueen, and when I've used SD MMaw in DOU it was on TailRoom so I tried to make that work here. I don't really remember the teambuilding process much, since I made this before the tour started, but it was fairly linearly MMaw + Nidoqueen -> TR setter -> TW setter -> Fake Out -> oh shit gotta compress all the roles and glue this together somehow, so add a pivoting Fire-, Steel-, and Grass-type check with Toxic for setup and Ally Switch as a panic button. Icium Weavile is pretty nice, Icicle Crash has a tendency to miss at the worst times and Subzero Slammer takes out Tsareena at -1 most of the time and Togekiss at neutral always.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-951993836
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-955109281
:breloom::bruxish::naganadel::aerodactyl-mega::entei::krookodile:
https://pokepast.es/c478af1ded6e63dd
Spore + priority blocking shuts down a lot (especially TR), but Breloom + Tsareena is awkward so why not try Bruxish? LO Psychic Fangs takes down Hariyama and Liquidation is decently strong against the Fire-types that are everywhere. After these two I just filled in strong popular mons that could do their jobs well, nothing especially innovative or notable. I kind of threw this together and didn't expect it to be any good, but Bowman brought it anyway and won so I guess it's alright.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-955455661
:gigalith::magnezone::greninja-ash::latias-mega::mienshao::arcanine:
https://pokepast.es/793346e0fda29f6b
Oh look another team that started out with the idea of "how do I shut down Torkoal + Bronzong"... I think that makes four now. Magnet Pull Electric Terrain Magnezone is about as strong a Bronzong answer as you're going to get, you prevent it from sleeping anything and ensure it stays in, and Gigalith shuts down Torkoal + takes out Heatproof Zong, which seemed to be more popular than Levitate. Ash Gren was added because Memoric brought it against me and it seemed strong. AV Mienshao has a decent niche in UU, Regen pivoting + Speed + Fake Out all seemed good enough to me, and High Jump Kick is strong enough that you don't *really* need to invest in it, leaving more room for bulk. Arcanine is using Wild Charge as its coverage move almost exclusively to get something else out of Electric Terrain.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7doublesuu-964545325
If you want notes on what any of the spreads do, I can find them for you, but I didn't want to clog up this thread or delay the post any more, so I left them out for now.

===================

Rises
:torkoal: Tier 5 -> Tier 3, :bronzong: Tier 3 -> Tier 2, :oranguru: Tier 4 -> Tier 3, :hariyama: Tier 5 -> Tier 4 (or 3?)
These can all be attributed to Torkoal TR being a lot better than is currently reflected in the VR. I don't think I need to say much here, but all had fantastic use and winrates in the seasonal.

:mawile-mega: Tier 4 -> Tier 3
Super strong attacker that also benefits from the rise of TR. Rock Slide, especially when paired with Instruct, is one of the few instances of a non-STAB Rock Slide being a solid choice, taking on the Fire-types that ostensibly should check it. Super versatile to fit the team it's on, but it's not quite as bulky as you'd like, especially if it's already Mega Evolved and lost the ability to weaken foes with its Intimidate.

:jellicent: UR -> Tier 4
Super bulky TR setter, and it has options to do a bit more damage in Z-Water Spout or WispHex. One of the best ways to make your own Trick Room team have a better matchup against opposing Torkoal TR. Jellicent is also one of the only viable TR setters with recovery, meaning it can stick around to set many times throughout the match.

:ampharos-mega: UR -> Tier 5
I think Bowman and I have shown that Sub Mega Ampharos can be really scary in the right situations; I'm not sure it's widely usable enough to be any higher than tier 5, but it's one of the most consistent parts of the most consistent team we used.

:shaymin-sky: Tier 3 -> Tier 2
I don't feel quite as strongly on this nom as some of the others, but Scizor's drop in popularity and success helps it out a ton. It's been solid for me every time I've used it, and Bowman was the one who suggested this particular nom, so clearly it's been good for him too.

Drops
:scizor-mega: Tier 2 -> Tier 3
Speaking of Scizor, it just isn't doing well right now. Fire-types are found on every team, Trick Room teams are generally bulkier so they take its hits, and Mega Mawile took up some of its niche as a Steel-type attacker. It won only 28% of its games in the DUU tour -- even with a small sample size, that's pretty terrible.

:meloetta: Tier 3 -> Tier 4 (or 5?)
Oranguru and Bronzong generally outclass it as bulky Psychic-type TR setters, so you need a pretty strong reason to use it over them. Its Z-Celebrate is still around and decent, but Bronzong nearly mandates using Shadow Ball over Psychic STAB, which leaves it a bit lacking in damage output.

:deoxys-attack: Tier 3 -> Tier 4
Deoxys-A is so incredibly strong but Trick Room's popularity makes it a bit harder to justify using. It theoretically has the ability to KO just about every Pokemon in the metagame, but it's unable to carry the slots for all those moves and has no spread options, so it relies on allies to keep it safe and allow it to succeed for more than a turn or two.

*A whole bunch of Tier 4 / Tier 5 mons*
I don't want to go into all of these and would rather handle them in a low-tier sweep, the reasonings I'd give would all be very minimal.
 
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I agree with all of tree's noms but I also want to get a weird one in real quick.

Rhydon UR > 5 AND rank Rhydon and Rhyperior as the same mon.
We've gone back and forth where one is the preferred and they're just honestly functionally the same mon with a different item. The preference for lightning rod > solid rock on Rhyperior really cements this (not that solid rock is useless). Their stats are almost identical to the point that I've seriously considered using a z-move on Rhydon as a lure. Rhydon outdid Rhyperior in the most recent tournament as well; they should share a slot and be ranked together.

Araquanid 3 > 2.
It fits almost every team possible and is a considerable nuisance to deal with. Water resists widely suck, it fits trick room, it does decently well versus trick room by outslowing several key members, it sets webs vs offense and is rough to ohko without a z-move, etc. It has some serious issues but it sees a level of use and versatility that nothing else in 3 and most things in 1 and 2 don't widely see, especially because it only really needs one attack and can fill its other slots with utility moves like Bug Bite, Toxic, Wide Guard, Sticky Web, Substitute, etc.
 
hello I'm extremely late with all of this but without further ado here are the votes on all the above mons and the 3 new additions to duu

Torkoal: Tier 5 -> Tier 3:
  • N10sit: 4 is fine, 3 is a little high for a one dimensional mon imo but wouldn’t be upset to see it there
  • MajorBowman: 3 is good, one of the strongest/scariest mons under trick room
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 3. It is too strong :I
  • Lord death man: 3 seems right, its dumb even if it is pretty one dimensional.
Bronzong: Tier 3 -> Tier 2:
  • N10sit: meh i’m sure this is gonna pass, but bronzong is so meh to me i don’t like it, my vote is 3
  • MajorBowman: yes, super strong mon and great TR setter with other neat tools
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 2. TR is broken
  • Lord death man: 2. this feels like a vote for TR to tier 2 so I’m willing to go that far I guess.
Oranguru: Tier 4 -> Tier 3:
  • N10sit: 3 love this mon
  • MajorBowman: Yes but no higher, not as reliable as something like zong but still bulky enough to set at least once and instruct is crazy
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 3. Another broken tr mon
  • Lord death man: 3. yes.
Hariyama: Tier 5 -> Tier 4 or 3:
  • N10sit: 3 is a little much but 4 is a perfect spot for it and i wish the plague on the people who thought this mon was bad
  • MajorBowman: 4, fake out + pretty neat coverage is great
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 4 seems fine rn
  • Lord death man: 4.
Mawile-Mega: Tier 4 -> Tier 3:
  • N10sit: 3 mawiles broken
  • MajorBowman: Meh, pretty indifferent. I’ve never been a huge Mawile fan but I think 3 is fine, it can blow holes in a lot of mons but still has some hard stops
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 3. Mawile does big damage to everything
  • Lord death man: 3 or maybe even higher. It’s meta defining but also completely unexplored outside of TR (where it dominates honestly)
Jellicent: UR -> Tier 4:
  • N10sit: 5 for me, excellent koal check on tr but not much else
  • MajorBowman: 4, big believer in Jellicent. It gives TR teams a setter with unique typing and wisp is really good right now
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 5. mish.
  • Lord death man: 5, I’ve used this a bit and it is kind of lacking. It’s a good check to scizor tho as well, which can be an issue for some mawile room builds.
Ampharos-Mega: UR -> Tier 5:
  • N10sit: 5 this mons cool and resists fire and theres like 1.5 ground types
  • MajorBowman: joint nommed this with tree, love ampharos
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 5 is fine. Trick Room is too good right now.
  • Lord death man: 5 i guess, this mon sort of sucks though.
Shaymin-Sky: Tier 3 -> Tier 2:
  • N10sit: 2 yeah air slash broke
  • MajorBowman: ^
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 2. It is too fast and strong for how many flinches it gets.
  • Lord death man: 2.
Scizor-Mega: Tier 2 -> Tier 3:
  • N10sit: 3 is fine meta sucks for it atm
  • MajorBowman: pretty bad metagame for scizor right now, agree with 3
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 3
  • Lord death man: 3 its bad.
Meloetta: Tier 3 -> Tier 4 or 5:
  • N10sit: 5, it has a lot of diff sets and they are all bad now
  • MajorBowman: 5, melo is only like fringe usable because most of its sets are just outclassed
  • Talkingtree: 5, my nom
  • Demantoid: 4.
  • Lord death man: 5.
Deoxys-A: Tier 3 -> Tier 4:
  • N10sit: 4 is good meta is bonkers shit for it rn
  • MajorBowman: 4 is fine, can usually get one kill but not much more
  • Talkingtree: my nom
  • Demantoid: 4. Deoxys-Mished
  • Lord death man: 4.
Rhydon: UR -> Tier 5:
  • N10sit: UR this doesn’t do enough damage for me
  • MajorBowman: agree with tree/LDM, the difference between Rhydon and Rhyperior is so minute that having them in the same spot only seems right
  • Talkingtree: LDM is absolutely right, Rhydon and Rhyperior seem to oscillate in terms of relevance. Rhydon offers more bulk and thus a more solid defensive check but lacks a bit in power in comparison to its evo; the tradeoff is pretty minor though, so ranking them together just makes sense
  • Demantoid: 5. rhy rhy
  • Lord death man: my nom. This is literally just rhyp with evio.
Araquanid: Tier 3 -> Tier 2:
  • N10sit: 2 spider is busted as hell fits on every team
  • MajorBowman: 2 is good, solid mon on multiple archetypes and deceptively bulky
  • Talkingtree: 2’s good, I’ve never been a huge believer in araq but it’s done well for me recently so I can get behind this nom
  • Demantoid: 2. Good in TR and on other teams :3
  • Lord death man: 2. It fits every team and is annoyingly good at multiple things.
Venusaur-Mega: UR -> Tier ?:
  • N10sit: 3??? 4???? Probably 4 there’s a psychic on every team and this doesn’t deal with enough meta threats
  • MajorBowman: 4 at best, maybe even 5. Doesn’t really wall a lot of top mons like it can in DOU and struggle to keep up with the more offensive mons
  • Talkingtree: 4, I honestly think this won’t be as good as it is in DOU. Really only Tsareena and Krookodile struggle with it out of the higher-ranked mons, Thund would be troubled by it except it runs Flyinium a lot of the time. If you want to use it as a sleep spammer Breloom offers better offenses and a 100% accurate sleep. If you want to be able to hit all the things it soft-checks then you have to drop either synth or tect and neither is optimal.
  • Demantoid: 4. Good bulky mon but doesn’t have the best typing right now.
  • Lord death man: 5. It can really do a lot vs teams with the right moveset but you’re struggling hard to make it actually like, relevant and it really wishes it could have stabs + synth + sleep powder + leech + protect + hp fire so it could accomplish more vs the playstyles it wants to check.
Mimikyu: UR -> Tier ?:
  • N10sit: 3 definitely possibly higher another really good tr setter
  • MajorBowman: 4, pretty weak after Z move is blown or if it doesn’t run Z. Really cool ability but severely let down by its stats
  • Talkingtree: 4, Mimikyu’s pretty weak without a Z-Move or SD and running either makes it a less reliable TR setter. I’d generally prefer Bronzong or Oranguru (or even Jellicent) for a bulky setter and it just doesn’t do enough damage to be an offensive setter… so it’s kind of okay at being a reliable setter and okay at being an offensive setter but not great at either.
  • Demantoid: 4. Good TR setter but doesn’t do much else
  • Lord death man: 4 for now, Mimi is situationally great but I’m not quite sure if that situation is present at the moment and like tree said, there’s other setters. You can run speed for roar Entei/Arc and Spore Breloom on it which is cool (only other setters who can do that get dropped by coverage) but it really is just a disguise tr machine.
Togedemaru: UR -> Tier ?:
  • N10sit: 5 probably fuck FEAR toge
  • MajorBowman: UR, only relevant set is FEAR and that’s not something I’d rank it for
  • Talkingtree: UR. I’m expecting Toge + Torkoal to be somewhat annoying to deal with so I could see 5, but I really don’t think this is a good mon.
  • Demantoid: Abstain. Haven’t seen this at all
  • Lord death man: 5 for now I think, fake out + FEAR is annoying and adds another layer to the already annoying amount of threats TR can potentially field but I can’t see it being meta defining in the current state of things, especially bc tr really doesn’t enjoy running gigalith over torkoal.

Results:
Torkoal: Tier 5 -> Tier 3
Bronzong: Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Oranguru: Tier 4 -> Tier 3
Hariyama: Tier 5 -> Tier 4
Mawile-Mega: Tier 4 -> Tier 3
Jellicent: UR -> Tier 5
Ampharos-Mega: UR -> Tier 5
Shaymin-Sky: Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Scizor-Mega: Tier 2 -> Tier 3
Meloetta: Tier 3 -> Tier 5
Deoxys-A: Tier 3 -> Tier 4
Rhydon: UR -> Tier 5
Araquanid: Tier 3 -> Tier 2
Venusaur-Mega: UR -> Tier 4
Mimikyu: UR -> Tier 4
Togedemaru: UR -> UR (new addition was just clarifying that we did vote on it)
 
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