So earlier this week, my friends and I had wanted to peak the ladder with some cheese ass strategy, and we finally settled on Xurkitree as our choice. This is NOT a sample submission.
eliana., Strat8246, Bored Pikachu, NoName6293, pidgeyo, and Nefarious 2.0 PRESENT
THE PLUG SHAKER (PEAKED #1 ON LADDER)
PROOF OF PEAK:
BUILDING PROCESS
The primary goal with this team was to make

the star of the show, and I'd say it was a success. We first began pairing

with

since we thought webs would be the best way to bring out the lightbulb's talents. Our next choice was a pretty obvious one,

, as he prevents both defog and rapid spin allowing us to keep hazards up. Our next 2 choices were part of the anti

core needed to make this team not immediately fold to the King.

's terrain provided much needed priority blockage for

's sweeps in the endgame, while

gave us some immediate firepower. Lele and Tusk under webs are terrifying, as with Choice Specs and Booster Energy respectively, their attacks hit like two wrecking balls. Finally, we had to have an option for when we played bad, or if

's gimmick didn't work, so we picked the reliable

.
SET EXPLANATIONS
(Shuckle) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off/Final Gambit
- Encore
Standard, boring Shuckle set. Used this mon over another setter mainly to set up encores into one of our breakers. Tera ghost to prevent random rapid spins but you'll likely very rarely click the tera button on this mon.
(Xurkitree) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 244 HP / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Tail Glow
- Hypnosis
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
The mon we built around and the star of the show. I know what you're thinking, this set is garbage cheese that should've never escaped Gen 7. And I agree, but hear me out.
Psychium Z with the Hypnosis gives you a +1 speed boost and has a 60% chance to sleep the mon in front of you. A successful sleep can allow for an easy tail glow into some immediate kills. This mon forces lots of switches, so under webs you should be able to Hypnosis a switch in should your Z-Hypnosis miss the first time. Gimmicky, I know, but this team is unserious anyway. HP EV's come in clutch instead of max offenses, as they allow you to live certain attacks from

,

, random

, and others. Your Special Attack is already very high even with 12 EV's invested.
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Xurkitree in Grassy Terrain: 271-319 (73.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

(Great Tusk) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Rapid Spin
Our team's hazard removal and offensive powerhouse/

check. Tusk does Tusk things and under webs is especially scary when it can't be outsped and killed. Dual stab and ice spinner give enough offensive coverage for most meta threats while booster energy with webs up gives you a bit less than a free dragon dance on

on it's first switch in. Tera water to survive a hit from unboosted

,

,

,

,

,

and others. Again, not very common to tera this, and I'll get into why soon.

(Tapu Lele) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
More standard here, with Specs Lele for its immense power under Sticky Web. Standard specs set, with Timid to outspeed HDB

and

. Lele's terrain provides an extra layer of security when fighting

and other priority spamming mons. Tera Water is here solely for

, which is this team's worst matchup. This isn't unwinnable however, and I'll explain how in the next section.
(Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Smart Strike
Standard Scarf Kart, Tera Grass to hit a bit harder. Nothing else to say here. This mon is just here to do Kart things and sweep late game or knock things off early game if it isn't needed. Scarf Kart on webs may seem silly but with the huge usage

is getting at the moment (who outspeeds kartana), we decided to keep the scarf on.
(Gholdengo) @ Leftovers/Air Balloon
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Make It Rain
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Recover/Focus Blast
This mon is very tough to revenge kill under webs unless your opponent's team carries Pursuit, which not all teams do. Tera Fly gives you a way to avoid all of your weaknesses. This mon is the one who benefits most from tera on this team, and is the mon you likely will tera the most. Nasty Plot and Stabs gives you potent offensive pressure and under webs,

can straight up 6-0 certain teams. Also, the good bulk and leftovers it holds allows for

to have some good survivability to check threats like

once or twice per match. Focus Blast can be used over Recover to immediately kill

or force it to tera. This mon forces trades with your opponents threats, and this can lead to better situations for your team in the long run. Air balloon is another option for those who like having a bit easier time switching in to

.
PLAYSTYLE/GAMEPLAN
This Team requires
Aggressive Play, making good double switches to get your desired mons in at the right time is crucial. In most matchups without an opposing magic bouncer, you can lead

and get up preferably both hazards. If you see a

on the opposing team, prioritize stealth rock over sticky web, as that mon needs to be chipped immediately. If you see a magic bouncer, you can immediately lead

and double out to

if the opponent has

. Shuckle preferably gets up both hazards, or gets up one and sets up an encore and dies. At this point you can go to a mon that beats whatever the opponent has out, and double on their swap or attack what's in front of you depending on the matchup. You can then keep doubling to get your

in a favorable position to boost up and win. Xurkitree forces several switches in this metagame so you'll likely have the ability to click hypnosis multiple times per game, and you realistically only need one hit to win in several matchups. One more aspect of this team is trading, you'll constantly be trading mons for chip or kills with this team to sweep with something in the endgame. Keep in mind which mons on the opponents side threaten your sweep and trade your less useful mons for as much damage as possible on those threats.
THREATLIST
1.
- This is the biggest threat to this team, but it is not unbeatable. Save your tera for this mon and prioritize Stealth Rocks with
. Using Tera Water on
can immediately catch the Zard user off guard when you live one fire blast and claim a kill with specs Psyshock.
2.
- Another obvious hard mon to defeat as Magic Bounce reflects your hazards away. Not unbeatable though. 99% of
users will lead with it trying to catch your shuckle. Leading
and immediately doubling to
can prevent
from Mega Evolving. However, Protect is an option
sometimes uses. If your opponent's team looks extremely hazards weak, consider the possibility of protect on their
. In which case, you can immediately Make it Rain to scare them away. You may be forced into a game without Sticky Web, which isn't autolose. Against slower mons, your
can still setup and deal large amounts of damage. Additionally,
,
, and
can all tank one hit from
and trade with it (Great Tusk will need to use Tera for this. 252 SpA Diancie-Mega Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tera Water Great Tusk: 301-355 (81.1 - 95.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) . These mons also are not too slow to function without webs support, and they can still win you games even if you come across a well played Protect
.
3.
Specifically Clear Body or HDB Sets. Dragon Dance Z
seems like a huge threat since it can't be dropped by webs, but in reality this mon can't set up on anything and can get taken out by every offensive mon on the team. I'd advise keeping
healthy to trade with this mon if it's a physical set, or use your
's tera to trade with it.
3.
another threat to
, but this mon is slow and easily killed by almost every team member.
4.
Can be quite annoying to deal with, specifically with Air Balloon sets. Your best option is to tera your own
and trade damage, as all you need is chip for
or
to kill them on a later turn.
5.
Annoying in theory, but it gets turned into
food provided you hit with a Hypnosis. These like to lead against
so you can encore them into Taunt, Stealth Rock, or Magma Storm and proceed from there. Scarfed
additionally can prove annoying, but you can deal with them via Web slowdown.
6.
Rare, but completely shuts down
. Your best option is to sleep it and swap to a mon that can kill it.