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Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
It’s balanced and diverse: The meta has a wide range of viable threats and playstyles, but none of these are overcentralizing. It’s not at all uncommon to see 12 different Pokemon in a battle.
It’s accessible: The meta is similar enough to SS LC that a player without any prior experience can pick it up fairly quickly. Many of the same threats are here, and the ones that don’t are replaced with mons that fulfill similar niches, such as Fletchling over Grookey.
It’s underdeveloped: The meta is still largely in the same state that it’s been in since the end of Gen VI, meaning that it’s ripe for more optimization and the rediscovery of viable Pokemon and sets that were previously unused.
If you want to play, shoot me a PM on discord at gali#1650--I’ll always be happy to play!
Dropping a quick VR now that LCWC is over. Expect something longer-form with more detailed thoughts on these rankings Soon. Everything C2 and below are unordered. There's been a lot of movement in the meta in the last few months and I'm excited to see what happens in the run of tours leading up to LCPL!
Lets save this thread, this is tazz personal archetype tier rank(which we will be using for a lack of a better source), and I will be posting teams and explaining how each of them work so more people get into ORAS
S
Flying spam
A
Ebutton+trapper
Bulky Balance (LilyAC type teams)
Para Spam
You can make almost anything work in ORAS, so some of those categories (like bulky balance) are encompassing a ton of variety. With some exceptions, you can usually tech any team to do especially well against some of those archetypes. Still, if archetypes help you build, I think it's a useful list.
Here's my personal VR, everything B2 and above is ordered.
S - A: The most metagame defining Pokemon. Any competent team has to have a plan to deal with them. they are the most splashable Pokemon in the metagame.
B: Great pokemon, but can't be slapped on just any team like the Pokemon above them can. They're less prepared for as a result, so are deadly on the right team.
C1: I've used most of these Pokemon once or twice, but this is light mu fishing territory for me. If they hit their mus they're decent, but may leave you a little bit worse off if not.
C2: Same as the above, but you'd be even more worse off if you don't hit your matchup (Rufflet is the exception, but I downgraded it because of the luck factor).
D: Hopefully the opponent doesn't have fletchling lol
I encourage people to dip into the B ranks a bit more, many of my wins in the past year have come from exploiting people underpreparing for them.
I went 6-1 in ORAS in the most recent lcwc, so I am posting my opinions here.
- Ponyta is really good because it spreads burns and is very difficult to beat with fast threats that are not Diglett. It is maybe the best pick at trading with its bulk, speed, and wide movepool but it needs hazard removal to do so (usually Vullaby because it is the best pokemon outside of this role). Both physical attacking sets with Flare Blitz and Flame Charge or Wild Charge and special attacking sets with Fire blast and Hidden Power Grass are dangerous. Ponyta teams often don't need to run fighting types, because they would prefer to slot in more speed and Chinchou to make an effective trap bait game plan. An anti Porygon spread also allows Ponyta teams to have a dominant matchup against Porygon structures because it will not be dependably revenge koed. I consider it top 10-15 in viability.
- Archen is suffering from its own success, because there are fewer builds that allow it to take the trades that it is best at. It is still really good and versatile, but using offensively leaning structures and also not using Foongus and Eviolite Pawn as the primary backbone for a team go a long way in fighting the substitute 3 attacks set that is the most dangerous one. Ferro + Snub cores are hit or miss depending on the surrounding speed tiers against archen, but in general they provide fewer opportunities and more resistance against Archen.
- Abra with focus sash is always useful, but there is plenty of room to use other sets. I believe Gastly might be as good as Abra, thanks to a better offensive movepool and sets such as Life Orb Sucker Punch and Eviolite + Wisp being effective against most teams. Porygon is the best breaker to pair with paralysis spam with Eviolite recover or Agility + Juice reliably taking koes. Choice Scarf and bulky Trace are also usable, but less good.
- Onix is not flashy, but it gets the job done because it reliably sets rocks and is the best counter against birds. Weak Armor is my preferred set because it is stronger against Diglett, but Berry Juice potentially gives outs against different offensive structures by using endure. Scarf Pawniard fits excellently beside Onix because they overwhelm Diglett who with Eviolite can only trap one of them, and onix becomes more threatening against knocked targets. Onix is also good against paralysis spam because it blocks thunder wave from some users and is easy to pair with offensive threats that beat the other thunder wave users.
- Mienfoo's best 4th move in my opinion is sleep talk, because it allows its teammates to take advantage of Foongus while preventing Foongus offense from gaining free turns. In general, Mienfoo is forcing specific switches but isn't able to break through them by itself, so freeing teammates should be Mienfoo's primary priority. If Mienfoo cannot do this, I usually slot in Timburr or drop the fighting type slot entirely.
- Gothita does not need Eject Button to position effectively, but the threat of that forces opponents to play slower, increasing the chances that Gothita has to trap its preferred target. Gothita will almost never trap more than one target in a game, but will gain momentum for its team if counter trapped. Gothita therefore wants many potential speed control options alongside it.
Eviolite, Air Balloon, and Life Orb are good. So is Shed Shell, because it completely destroys trap bait teams by invalidating techs such as Sucker Punch Chinchou or using Pawniard to get damage for Air Balloon dig counter trapping. Shed Shell dig will pretty much always run EQ, Beat Up, Substitute, and Sucker Punch or Rock Slide. In my opinion, this set fits best with bulky attackers that do not fear Diglett such as Vullaby, Scarf Porygon, and Eviolite Gastly.
Hello everyone, this is your boy BRAZILIAN ARMY / MISTER MAGNUS / AHMAD ALFATIH / TRAWKAN, or whatever nickname I’m using when you read this. First, let’s talk a bit about myself (if you don’t want to read this part, you can skip directly to the history section, and if you just want the teams, they’re all at the end, don’t worry). I wanted to make something special for my (uoooww) 12th Smogon anniversary, and the idea came to me late at night after a few drinks (promising myself I wouldn’t drink anymore, considering I’m the last one of my friends still not married LOL). Without further ado, I present to you some stories from Late Nights in La Matanza, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
TALES OF LA MATANZA The History of ORAS LC Through Abra Builds
I — The Toy The first team is just my new toy, and I should say this is the first non-historical team in this thread (I’m not even sure if this team will be allowed in my LCCL game vs Tazz — at this point, me, Envy, Howkings, and Kythr are still discussing it). Since the very beginning of my time here, I’ve always heard the same thing: “You can’t play ORAS without trapping, trapping is broken.” My boy Dcae even openly campaigned for banning Gothita, which fortunately the council at the time — led by me, Tazz, and Levi — voted against. The first part of the idea actually comes from an old concept of using Diglett as an offensive initiator, something I basically stole from myself and Envy from back when the Brazilian players were spamming Alolan Diglett as a HO lead with Memento support. The second part of the idea was simple: what if we just removed every single Life Orb Abra check? That’s why there are four trappers on this team. But this wasn’t the first time Abra made me rethink how the tier worked.
II — The Challenge The second team came from a time when Shrug was drafting me basically every season. Unfortunately, though, our team got eliminated from that year’s LCPL playoffs. After that, one of my old students, Mr. Goao (in memoria — I don’t even know how long you’ve been banned, but if there’s a chance you read this, I hope you’re doing well), challenged me. I was like, “OK, my team didn’t do great, but I did. Let me show this kid how adult life works.” Then I realized he was bringing Diglett as the Abra stopper on every single team, and I thought, “Bro, I never noticed, but people don’t actually rely on switching into Abra… so what if we just make Abra untrappable?”
Abra Subs → kills Scarf Pawn. Abra trapped by Dig → enter Porygon. Abra trapped by Goth → enter Pawniard
To me, this was one of those amazing forgotten LCPL moments, and some old heads even remembered this game later when Shed Shell Abra became standard during the SS meta. Around that time, I started experimenting more and more with different ways of using Abra. ________________________________________
III — The Numbers The third team was a big anomaly at the time, but I was actually spamming Scarf Abra quite a lot during what I’d call my prime — PSPL with the Portuguese Room team, the very first LC Swiss, maybe some Battle of the Week games, even old POWC for Team South America. At that point in the meta, there was a very, very, VERY big trend of using Smashers, especially Shellder, which made the traditional Abra set pretty unreliable for a lot of offensive builds.
As a mathematical GENIUS, lord of numbers, Harvard PhD, I realized that 27 (Modest Scarf Abra) was higher than 26, which is what Shellder reaches after a Smash. So the solution was simple — just run Scarf Abra and outspeed everything. For today’s meta, when I rebuilt those structures, I added Magic Room, copying the idea from an old Shing BW LC team. It’s surprisingly fun to use.
But if we’re talking about ORAS LC history, there is one team that you simply cannot skip. ________________________________________
IV — Brazilian Webs Well, you can’t talk about LC in general without at least a full paragraph about this team. This team basically introduced a whole country to the community — Pablo, Goao, Spl4sh, Max Carvalho, Ren-chon, Disenchanted, LJ Darkrai, just to name a few. This particular group of six mons takes at least 90% of the first chapter of Tales of ggggd, where I talked about it as one of the best teams in the history of the tier.
What’s really impressive is how this team has stayed basically unfazed for 12 years, from when I first built it after the Missy ban all the way to today’s tournament scene. You can still find replays of people using it in LC Classics, and even recently LAROXYL brought it again. At one point, we literally banned this team from Brazilian tournaments just for logistical reasons, because otherwise we would have had mirrors all over the bracket. So guys, I present to y’all BRAZILIAN WEBS, the most iconic team in the history of the meta. And even after all those years, this team would still come back when it mattered the most.
V — The Tiebreak This team is also an enormous part of the history of Brazil in this meta. The year was 2023, and a young group of Brazilians challenged the LC world, while their main player was playing for Team Latam (fun fact: their captain, my boy Always Edgy, didn’t even know I existed). In the first round of playoffs, they brought my team and advanced, and that was when I joined the chat. The squad was insane in terms of creativity, with West Sasori winning games with the weirdest sets possible, spamming Slowpoke and even Brazilian Double Weather.
The challengers were about to face West, the main favorites of the tournament, and we had no idea what to bring… until Ampha picked this team from my dump. I tried everything I could to stop it, but he was convinced. Little did I know that this game would push Brazil to a tiebreak, which was completely insane at the time.
That match made the team one of the main stories of the tournament, and from there many people even started considering Brazil one of the favorites for the next LCWC, which they eventually won. So yeah, this team is probably the most iconic LCWC team, and it basically tells the story of Brazil in both World Cups. ________________________________________
Hope you all enjoyed the stories. I still have a few more concepts and builds saved somewhere, just to keep proving that Abra can fit into pretty much any structure (and yes, I will keep arguing it’s S rank — to me the 3rd best mon in the tier after Pawn and Foo). But enough history for now.
Now that LCCL is finished, I want to leave a few ideas for anyone else who enjoys playing ORAS LC.
My opinions on my most recent oras lc after lcwc are still largely true, but I believe there's a lot of room for other players' styles and team archetypes. This post will be some of what I think is good right now, and some of what I think has potential.
or : I believe toxic spikes are potentially very strong, but there aren't many users. Omanyte can set many hazards, but more commonly acts as a setup sweeper. Koffing is very weak to a lot of the special attackers in this tier and therefore needs a lot of support, but has a more reliably relevant defensive role than omanyte. Gothita is a blessing and a curse, but I think sleep talk mienfoo is the most important puzzle piece to ensure a good enough foongus matchup.
: Porygon is versatile. It's a powerful choice scarfer, the best early game breaker on the special side using non scarf sets, and does this with good enough bulk to take a hit. Trace Porygon is mostly defensive, but the set of tbolt + twave + psychic + recover is incredible at taking hits neutrally. Trace is good because it provides a volt switch immunity (vs chinchou, Magnemite is a problem), but I believe that fat download is potentially still a good breaker. Hazard support is needed with trace Porygon though.
: Fletchling will never not be good due to the fact that priority acrobatics + trapping is pretty much unstoppable with one flying resist, but it doesn't have the same longevity or immediate power as most other dedicated breakers and cleaners. Fletchling is incredible at beating these breakers and most offensive threats in general, which to me makes it worth the trouble. Fletchling isn't top 5 to me right now, but my prediction is that the players who can make Fletchling teams as dangerous in the early game as Porygon/Ponyta/Gothita teams are going to be the ones to win the most games. Fletchling is probably higher risk but higher reward than ever right now.
: Gothita's 2 flaws are being revenge trapped by life orb/evio sucker Diglett and not being Diglett and therefore not stopping Ponyta. This obviously makes it an excellent pokemon. I started using Gothita more when one of my teammates in lccl compiled a scout of Heysup, and he had over a 90% win rate with Gothita over a huge sample size. Gothita isn't Diglett, but I think it is as good (it traps more but is more exploitable after). I think Gothita will be meta defining, and double trapper will become common.
: Frillish is the new potential man. Nothing else can beat the combination of Porygon, Ponyta, and Abra as reliably as frillish can. Burn is really good in this tier, and it's bulky enough to tank knock off. I think Frillish + anti foongus tech can make some very solid balances. It's usage is near 0% right now.
: Magnemite is difficult to pilot against chinchou + Diglett. It is however, really good. It hits really hard, is a steel type that pivots, and can even trap steel types with some sets. I want to use this, I just haven't figured out how yet.
There's a lot of other sleeper picks, and about as many good picks that only heysup uses. I have a lot of fun with this tier, and I can't wait for people to change how the tier is played in the future.
I decided to make a quick vr before lcpl xv, the list is not ordered within sub tiers. The tiermaker that I used did not have koffing or budew on it, I would put koffing in B and budew in C+.
Since everyone is posting their VR, LCPL XIV having finished and ORASPL 2026 reaching semi's, I might as well chime in + add some basic samples for people to pull from.
I cut D rank of other mons as to not scrutinize Jox, and will detail all changes in this nice list: Up: Pawniard (A+ -> S), Magnemite (B+ -> A-), Natu (D -> C+) Down: Ponyta (A+ -> A), Elekid (B- -> C), Bellsprout (B+ -> B) Unranked ->: Spinarak (C+), Anorith (C), Sewaddle (D)
Pawniard (S): I am quite old fasioned in this. The Levi vr from 2014 up to the last previous VR update of 2023 (found here) had this mon in S.
And I feel the need to request it to become S again. While Mienfoo has only become more defensive as time went on. Pawniard remained as dominantly versatile by doing the exact same thing over and over with Eviolite Stealth Rock Sucker Punch, and increasing in usage with for balance teams with a Scarf set too. I will post stats from recent tours alongside Mienfoo and the 3rd most used to strike in that its usage and winrate are in the same league as Mienfoo. Aka, the viability.
ORASPL V: no accum usage; so had to hand count:
Most used week on week (except a freak week where neither were used), either tying or exceeding mienfoo by 1.
39 used, 20 wins; - 20 aka 51% winrate. Basically LCPL XIII stats.
ORASPL VI : still ongoing at time of writing, so handcount for 5 weeks:
22 brought, 11 wins.
Ponyta (A): I think one of the main issues here is the moment this VR was made, with a bit of usage based hype around Ponyta, especially in contrast to its previous VR ranking, rather than just its success.
LCPL XII (| 24 | Ponyta | 3 | 4.84% | 66.67% |) too small pool
LCPL XIII (| 16 | Ponyta | 8 | 12.90% | 37.50% |)
ORASPL V: no accum usage; so had to hand count 6; of which 2 won and 4 lost.
LCPL XIV (| 7 | Ponyta | 16 | 26.67% | 43.75% |);
ORASPL VI : still ongoing at time of writing, only 3 were brought and all lost; too small sample.
Pooled: 36 used over 5 tours, only 14 wins or ~ 39%.
It sure is better than its previous VR ranking of B+, but I do think it is more correct to tone it down to A mid or even A-.
I will not go over all the other mons by usage / winrate but purely experience while building for and reflecting games of Jox's insane winrate involving the past LCPL's we did and the current ORASPL
Magnemite (A-):
If I think of a strong Scarfer: it is Pawn or Magnemite, both with a similar profile except one is a knocker / Pursuit trapper, the other a Pivot and/or Steel trapper. Being a pivot, it stands out to where a team must have an Electric-Immunity, or learn to put on the hard way.
Even with Chinchou usage being as high as it is, there are not a ton of electric immunities:
Chinchou, Trace Porygon (who only covers Chinchou), Diglett, Onix, Drilburr, and then we are down to Trapinch on niche teams. Only chou and Drilburr can really afford to switch in on it. It's not the easiest to put on, but in the same league as "Failed to account for it, you will lose to it". Especially so for Magnet Pull HP Fire variants, who can retain scarf and threaten the OHKO onto juice Ferroseed at cost of losing the general damage boost of Analytic vs Mienfoo/Foongus balance teams.
240+ SpA 30 IVs Magnemite Hidden Power Fire vs. 84 HP / 148+ SpD Ferroseed: 20-28 (90.9 - 127.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO Possible damage amounts: (20, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 28)
It also has other striking utilities like hard stopping Fletchling from ever beating you, regardless of set up turns or move choice (Flash Cannon after SR OHKO's).
Now I am not denying that it isn't the easiest to put on, not as braindead to click moves as Pawniard, and greatly suffers from being revenge killed by any Diglett variant if it ever goes for something other than Flash Cannon / HP Grass.
But that's just Scarf. Sturdy Juice has become less common but is still respectful for Offense teams, or teams with speed control, like numerous Glare / Thunder Wave users or Sticky Webs.
Bellsprout (B): This isn't so much Spout, more so Vulpix being regarded seperately from Bellsprout. While I can make an argument for saying Sun can be carried by Fire-type sun spam. I don't believe that to be much better. Instead, LO Vulpix to me is B+, nearly by just itself (we even used Specs on a special webs team). As for Sprout itself, it exists only in sun, and between the increase of SpD Vullaby, Ponyta usage, the continued usage of Fletchling, or the optimizations of Sticky Webs; Sprout hasn't had improvements since Mad0ka / QueenLucy. The only upside is a minor decrease of Trace Porygon, dominant preference of Weak Armor > Overcoat on Vullaby, and less Chespin / Scarf Gastly. And that's all. As weird as some may call this, I argue for differentiating Vulpix and Bellsprout and moving Sprout to B.
Meowth (C+):
I will not give you replays to get it ranked. It was ranked on the previous VR and wrongfully removed. Instead you get replays to say it should move from C mid to C+. I often see people scruff this mon off as they think it's a worse Aipom. This mon is nothing like Aipom. Aipom risks 80% accuracy to dent things, Meowth is a revenge killer with surprise coverage. 15Atk LO Stab Technician Fake Out into Feint gives it an insane range of mons to revenge kill. Hidden Power Steel can hit Archen, Onix and Snub, Water Pulse the first 2, while HP Fire can OHKO Ferroseed / 2hit Pawniard. Pick 2 alongside Aerial Ace.
36 SpA 30 IVs Life Orb Technician Meowth Hidden Power Fire vs. 0 HP / 116 SpD Eviolite Pawniard: 13-16 (61.9 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The only issue I see with Meowth is being prone to both trappers as a revenge killer, which justifies never putting it above B-. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen6lc-2016075300 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-879891; a game it lost but correctly showcased its utility forcing out Fletchling and keeping pressure on generally fast mons.
Natu (C+):
LO Sucker Punch natu is a set with use already above D, but the set I will talk over that puts it at C+ for me is this:
Don't look it like a Bad-typed SR answer; instead as a Special Overcoat SpD Vullaby that is weak to Knock but immune to Burn / Paralysis / Memento, and can passively deter (some) hazards. You wouldn't try to Defog on a Pawniard or Onix anyhow with Vullaby, this is conceptionally similar. This set lets it live 2 Knock from Ferroseed. It out speed fat foo, tanks Abra, live any 1 from Gastly, and still checks Sun.
Sounds niche, it is, but boy does this make Webs misserable for the opponent. Typical Abra-Gastly webs struggles to pressure this mon. Gastly either is Sludge Bomb, a cointoss for Thunderbolt on webs (which still doesn't OHKO), or the now rare Shadow Ball. Outside of that they barely 2HKO with Mienfoo while this threatens 66% or 90% depending on your nature, or need to risk sending in Pawniard. Scarf pawn dies to Modest Heat wave if SR are up, or puts it to where SR finish it off mid game.
This is where I would link the games, but they are low quality to show where it shines best. It got crit in the first while checking Sprout, otherwise weather deals 50%. Game 2 put Reflect+ minor chip on a chinchou while fending off Foongus. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-951690 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-850684
Elekid (C): Where I praise Magnemite and Chinchou, my distain for this mon boils up. This was unranked in previous VR and is now B-, despite having 0 games to show for it, with the last 2 usages being LCPL XII ~last vr update, at least from the 5 tours I used for this post.
It wants Life Orb with Eviolite bulk and Air Baloon utility. LO hits hard enough and has move freedom. Evio is able to take a +2 from Fletchling while being above 17 speed and Spore immunity + Psychic to pressure Foongus, and Air Baloon pretends to be a good electric to pressure Webs + Archen. Each of these has a use on the teams build for it, but you will feel the shortcomings for not having all 3 items utilities. Anything that isn't these specifics needs, is outclassed by Chou or Mag one way or another. Move to C.
On the same topic of moved mons. I don't understand why Pineco was moved from C+ to D. Unless you are a now rare Taunt Mienfoo, lead Omanyte, Onix, or less common Dwebble; this thing is going to assure putting 2-3 entry hazards. Something Dwebble can only do with Evio Weak Armor to exactly 2. Nothing has changed to make this mon worse in that sense, it should still be C+.
Spinarak (C+):
First of the 2 that anyone who watched LCPL XIV knows Jox loves; web setters that are not named Surskit (3 if you count Mimic Abra). And there is validity to it. While in the past it was mostly physical to use its higher stat and have useful priority to scare trappers. If you instead make it a special attacker, its niche widens up dramatically. Instead of focussing on all-or-nothing webs. You get a mon that can come into- and check Mienfoo, Foongus, Snubbull (at least once), while not caring for Spore; can keep pressure on Vullaby using Electroweb. This means, it can do so again and again. Ideal for bulkier teams. It has some movepool freedom between Psychic and Sludge Bomb if you wish to speed up your pressure vs Foongus/Mienfoo, or increase your scope to also check Snubbull. While HP Fighting can be used instead of Psychic to catch Pawniard off guard and hit Onix for some damage. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-963964 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-947077
Anorith (C):
A mon I personally spend a ton of time trying to get a winning game for, as it in theory has everything to work.
This is a Fighting-type neutral Stealth Rocker + Knocker, with >17 Speed, a Multihit move, coverage to OHKO Pawniard. Nothing else this thing gets is relevant to discuss having viability as this alone is sufficiently niche. By out speeding 17 speed means it can out speed and break Archen's subs, Surskit's Sash, and Speed tie & live a hit from typical Sub LO Gastly.
It in theory could do the same for Abra and can live any hit from Mienfoo while doing Rocks + Knock. In reality, it's 1 HP or Def too short to really push it home, 2 HP or Def short to be a staple, and 1 speed to be a top tier threat. As it can't do both the Abra and Mienfoo part, it can't even consistently live Fake Out + HJK from Mienfoo unless it wants to miss out on imporant KO's. By a lack of better words, it's doomed to its low placement, as a team building it needs to make these concessions, which puts it in C mid to me.
Either way, a replay that shows its exact utility; https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-952672
Anorith @ Berry Juice
Ability: Battle Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 156 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Blast
- Knock Off
- Brick Break
- Stealth Rock
Sewaddle (D):
Sewaddle has 1 use, and 1 use only; be a web setter in sun so Vulpix can terrorize with Sun without needing a Scarf or Flame Charge. To where we even decided to make it Specs Vulpix with double fire coverage and Sleep Talk (see replay). Conceptionally similar to Sandslash-Alola veil in gen 7 PU/NU, which I still take pride in to have contributed to. You go pix, you go sewaddle, he webs, and he waddle waddels away. Next time Vulpix comes in resetting sun, it clicks whatever it wants. That may sound clunky, but leaves limited play room for the opponent.
I have a replay, and while LO Abra under webs was already a threat, every bit of the concept is showcased in this replay, especially with Vulpix as the center piece cracking up a Ponyta as if it's not resisted. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6lc-956830
Much like Spinarak, you can afford a special set with Electroweb to pressure Defog Vullaby, but it's not all sunshine. Its offense is poor, it needs sun boosted HP Fire to threaten Foongus, has no suicide move, alongside the worst offensive and even defensive typing in the game.
I don't care enough for the other changes as most are personal interpretation, like Clamperl placement for me is very much from the old Levi perspective and most don't share that opinion. Even if you can find games for it, too volatile.
Now on a different topic. Samples
I notice some people not having access to pretty established structures and the same old bunch of teams being passed around. So I will provide a few here w minor set adjustments by me + a Larvesta team we build for a tour (which means it doesn't intend to cover all mu's, but does cover most).
Ponyta
Ferroseed
Omanyte
Aipom
Bellsprout
Vulpix
Cottonee
Kabuto
Tirtouga
Cranidos
Dwebble
Elekid
Frillish
Larvesta
Rufflet
Scraggy
Stunky
Zigzagoon
Amaura
Budew
Bunnelby
Carvanha
Doduo
Koffing
Munchlax
Pumpkaboo-Super
Trapinch
Tyrunt
Bulbasaur
Clamperl
Croagunk
Wynaut
Charmander
Chespin
Hippopotas
Houndour
Magby
Natu
Pineco
Riolu
Shellos
Skrelp
Slowpoke
Snover
Torchic
Trubbish
