OU SM OU - Teambuilding Competition : October 2023 Revival (Week 1: Seismitoad on post #290)

[zinnias]

approved by the mods, thank you!

OU TEAMBUILDING COMPETITION!

art by yours truly! (outdated)

Hello everyone and welcome to the Teambuilding Competition, hosted by yours truly. Below are the rules and the process of how this thread will function, please read up before posting and good luck to everyone!

Rules:​

1. Entry submission: Post team in the thread itself with import and explanation in hide tags. Please, when you are submitting a team, try not to slash movesets / items in the importable. The finished product should be the build you are most confident in. It is fine to do minor set changes throughout the week, but if you want to give another option for one of your Pokemon, note it in the Explanation instead.​
2. Disputes / Copying: Obviously, there is potential for disputes over copying or people making similar entries. In general, if your team entry has the same Pokémon and similar move sets to an earlier entry, it will be disqualified. If anyone tries to abuse this by reserving an early post in the thread for their entry, please bring it to my attention and they'll be disqualified. If you are caught doing this there is a high possibility you will not be allowed to post in the building stage for an indefinite amount of time.​
3. Discussion and team changes: One part of the process is to have discussions about the teams and the core. While I'd like to keep this from being a speedy RMT thread, suggestions of improvements to entered teams are allowed. In the interests of fairness though, I'd ask that any suggestions don't involve anything more major than move set changes, and that if you've already submitted a team you don't change the Pokémon in it. Basically, just be sure that you're happy with the team before you send it in.​
4. Voting Phase: We’ll be using the simple voting structure for this project, so when the voting phase comes around write the name of the builder to vote! pretty easy, right? Do not delete your vote, and if you do edit your vote, make sure that it is at least 24 hours before the end of the voting and make it clear that you have edited your vote. Do not vote for your own submissions.
   
   GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AND LET THE PROJECT COMMENCE!​

 

[zinnias]

WINNERS

by ausma
by Katy
by Katy
by KaiserKaiba
by Vittorioso
by Captain Funk
by Don_Trabuco69
by Charmflash
by Katy
by Maktyum
by CM Reuniclus
by CM Reuniclus
by CM Reuniclus
by CM Reuniclus
by Zaza​

 

[Rae]

WEEK 1: Ash-Greninja!



Ash-Greninja is one of the best offensive Pokemon in the tier thanks to its excellent offensive typing combines with its monstrous Special Attack and Speed stats to turn it into a dangerous attacker that is capable of shredding offensive teams. It's also one of the best offensive Spikers in the tier, being able to wear down its own checks and counters. This offensive demon is an excellent fit on a multitude of teams, so lets see how you tackle it! 5 days to submit, good luck!​

 

[Clementine]

DarkSpam: Greninja + Crawdaunt Offense


(click on sprites for importable)​

Crawdaunt and Battle Bond Greninja form a very interesting, underutilized offensive core in SM OU: they share a lot of checks by virtue of their typing and offensive moves, and can easily overwhelm those checks. Crawdaunt is a great offensive tool early game, especially with Rocks up, since its Knock Off is almost impossible to switch into safely. On top of the sheer power provided by Adaptability and its Choice band, Knock Off removing items from the likes of Tapu Fini, defensive Kommo-o, Assault Vest Magearna, Assault Vest Tangrowth and specially defensive Tapu Bulu will free up Greninja nicely, allowing it to more easily wear down its checks with Spikes.
Kommo-o is there to give us a solid Heatran switch-in while being our check to opposing Greninja-Ash, as well as other dangerous Pokemon like Charizard-Y.
Jirachi is our dedicated Psychic-type switch in, being a temporary check to the likes of Tapu Lele and Alakazam while outspeeding both of them with its Choice Scarf. Healing Wish allows you to play more agressively with Crawdaunt, Greninja or Garchomp without fearing them being crippled by status or chip damage.
Tornadus is our Defog user for the team, while being a check to the likes of Scizor, Serperior and more importantly Kartana. Its spread allows it to eat 2 Leaf Blades from Kart in Terrain if Torn is full.
Garchomp is one of my favorite Rocks setter in the tier while being a nice Electric-type immunity to prevent Volt Switch spam from the likes of Rotom-Wash and Magnezone. Another option is going Rocks on Kommo-o to run Substitute & Outrage (with a Dragonium Z) on Garchomp, but I like this configuration as Kommo-o doesn't want to take too many hits just to set-up Rocks.

 

[Katy]

pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/09c0b3f5048284b0

explanation: this team with ash-greninja is built with the core of tankchomp as the entry hazard setter and lead pokemon to other threats such as heatran, excadrill, and tyranitar (mega), it also consist of speed ontrol in kartana, and kartana with choice scarf can also deal with with rain builds which have manaphy, mega swampert, and azumarill in their team alongside toxic tankchomp to cripple them severely. tornadus-t is the z-move user with flyinium z resulting into a strong flying stab and is the opposing grass-type pokemon check such as kartana, tapu bulu, and tangrowth. magearna ahs the assault vest so it can deal with massice threats such as tapu lele, tapu koko, opposing greninja aswell as opposing magearna. ash-greninja is the specs user in this team and hard hitter with a strong water / dark combination and priority in water shuriken. its last slot is spikes so it can put more pressure on opposing teams for another dark-type in mega tyranitar, as with stealth rock provided by garchomp and spikes provided by ash-greninja, dragon dance mega tyranitar can clean the house in the later game, when enough pokemon are weakened severely. it has also enough support given by volt-turn from magearna and tornadus-t.​

 

[Vittorioso]

Very cool to see new SM content!

Battle Bond Greninja + Electrium Kommo-o: Mlop offence

(click sprites for importable)

This is a basic style of team (and some would say boring!) that I quite enjoy using on the ladder for games that are both short and (importantly) fun. The nature of team structures that rely on blankets like Landorous-T and Rotom-Wash, like this team, mean that you will often struggle against more extreme teams & 'all-in' picks, like Kingdra Rain. Mega Lopunny with both Fake Out and Quick Attack, alongside Water-Shurkien from specs Greninja, can help to alleviate these team structures weaknesses by providing strong and consistent priority, which is why I like Mega-Lopunny a lot on these types of builds.

Essentially the team operates on the basic premises of checking threats with a defensive trio of Jirachi + Landorous-T + Rotom-W, while forcing offensive pressure with the trio of Mega-Lopunny + Battle Bond Greninja + Electrium-Z Kommo-o.

The Team:
: The star of the week, Battle Bond Greninja is, imo, the single best set in the tier; both incredibly consistent and powerful. Personally I prefer spikes over other options like ice beam and gunk shot, as it can be useful to help pressure stall by forcing 50/50's vs - indeed for that reason I chose spikes on this squad. It also acts as the teams psychic immunity and, when paired with Mega Lopunny, the teams check.

: This Kommo-o set is probably my favorite. Electrium Z + Swords Dance allows you to break and for Greninja; in addition, Ice Punch allows you to dent which Greninja also appreciates, as we are not running Ice Beam, and for Mega-Lopunny, which is also lacking Ice coverage. Defensively Kommo-o provides a soft check to opposing , , and .

: Mega Lopunny provides much needed speed control and powerful priority, allowing it to act as a cleaner, as well as a second fighting type to pressure and for Ash-Greninja. It also enjoys Kommo-o removing and .

: Jirachi was chosen as the teams psychic check over Magearna for two reasons: firstly, it resists psychic 4x which gives the team slightly more longevity against Choice Specs psyshock - as psychic spam is very prevalent at the moment, I felt that exchanging a dragon immunity (Clangourous-Soulblaze anyone?) for this extra defensive presence was worth it. Secondly, Jirachi has access to wish, which it can often use to keep Kommo-o healthy against Magma-Storm .

: Rotom-Wash is an additional check to and while also providing a switch in to . It also acts as the teams defogger, for which we dropped pain split and thus are running Agauv to compensate.

: This is our catch-all switch in to physical threats as well as our stealth rocker. Hidden Power Fire is run to provide pressure against and , as and are adequately covered by the rest of the team. Rocky helmet helps to chip physical attackers for Mega-Lopunny and Greninja to clean with priority.



Hope to see more cool teams like ones above!

 

[Marnie]

Love me some SM

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Ash-Gren Double Terrain VoltTurn ft. E-belt Koko


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1. The team revolves around making shine, hence here we are. It runs the standard set but instead of Spikes, the chip damage(s) comes from Uturn which also enables easy entry for its teammates that deals with its checks.
2. lures in fat Grasses like ,, SpDef, & and nail the 2HKO with -boosted Brave Bird (Glare-immunity & Electric Terrain for Spores & Sleep Powders is also a huge boon) as well as severely dent defensive in 1 moveslot. STAB Wild Charge helps in chipping more. Roost provides longevity especially with recoils & also makes it a solid Flying-resist by checking ,, &.
   
   calcs

   252 Atk Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 12 Def : 235-278 (58.1 - 68.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
   252 Atk Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 96 Def : 338-401 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
   252 Atk Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 8 Def 254-300 (74 - 87.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers and Grassy Terrain recovery
   252 Atk Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 172+ Def : 190-226 (52.1 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
   252 Atk Brave Bird vs. 56 HP / 0 Def : 300-355 (98.3 - 116.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
3. Magma Trapper is the stallbreaker for the team and also helps remove most of other answers like ,, &. In addition, Nature Power on the corresponding Terrains help remove &. Specifically in Electric Terrain, it also threatens & which helps the rain matchup and removes Sun respectively.
4. also helps to overwhelm & threaten & with Superpower and checks Water-types like ,,,, & opposing . However, since it's pretty slow for a user, the team also has 2 priority user to help as speed control.
5. checks offensive grasses that can stop 's sweep, like ,, & ( covers HP Fire variants while if HP Ground). Moreover, considering is fully offensive, alleviates its defensive roles by providing another layer of check against the likes of ,,, &. Swords Dance allows it to be a setup sweeper and secondary wincon, especially when its checks such as ,,,, & are covered by the other members.
6. compresses much needed roles for the team: Ground-immunity, Volt Switch-immunity, Stealth Rock setter, Defogger, and another pivot. It also checks (or soft-checks) monstrous physical attackers like , , , &. helps chip them down into range of &.

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[ausma]

finally, an excuse to build for this tier

Toxic Spikes Ash Greninja + Icium-Z Kyurem-Black Balance



This team is centered, primarily, around emphasizing Ash Greninja's main specialty in overloading its conventional checks and seize an endgame. Kyurem-Black is a fairly underrated Ash Greninja partner that is incredibly powerful, taking advantage of many of Ash Greninja's most common answers in the form of Tapu Fini and Toxapex by forcing pressure against them with its nuclear Z-Freeze Shock, and utilizing its great mixed movepool in order to continuously break and force open holes, which Ash Greninja capitalizes upon to build a clean endgame for itself. Toxic Spikes from Toxapex also does well to capitalize on the many forced switches that this composition forces, further clamping down on Tapu Fini. Mega Latias I've found is a good alternative over Kyurem-Black, and is more consistent in a vacuum as an extra line of reinforcement against Mega Alakazam and Tapu Lele, but this is the teambuilding competition and we're here to have fun, not to sweat.

Due to the sheer amount of pressure that my offense exerts onto bulky Water-centric backbones that tend to be utilized on fat, it's mostly just trying to cover sour matchups. I took some inspiration from SS OU with my Heatran set, taking a bulkier Magma Storm approach to trap and pressure Chansey and Toxapex directly, while still having good defensive utility against threats like Tapu Koko. Landorus-T and Tornadus-T are fairly self explanatory--I've felt that Taunt is more important to have on Tornadus-T so you can pivot around Toxapex more reliably, but it's not as necessary if you use Mega Latias.

 

[Rae]

A big thank you to everyone who submitted! onto the voting stage, vote for whichever team you think is best!

by Pujo!
by Katy!
by Vittorioso!
by royalfluxh!
by ausma!

2 days to vote, good luck everyone!

 

[Katy]

ausmas team because i like the structure of it and kyurem-b always is capable of blowing holes into the opposition with enough ease.

however, I like all the teams posted here and everyone did a fucking awesome job Luv that variety of teams and every team is worth to try out!

 

[D5405]

Ausmas team

 

[Jeong]

Katy.

 

[Marnie]

Double Dark by Pujo

 

[ausma]

electrium kommo squad (vittorioso)

 

[spell]

ausma's team: as much as I dislike max spdef pexes in SM, I cannot deny that this team is overall solid. Great use of a good mon in KyuB!

 

[Vittorioso]

Very cool teams posted by everyone, had a bit of fun trying them all!

I will vote for the team by Pujo because I had the most fun with it .

 

[Maktyum]

Pujo's team: all the teams were great, however, the gren daunt team was more fun to play.

 

[Le Don]

Pujo's team is fire

 

[Clementine]

by Vittorioso!

Gonna go with this one, love SD Kommo-o :]

 

[Mishlef]

Ausma

 

[Proftreez]

Vittorioso

 

[Abhi]

Austeam

 

[Rae]

And with that, ausma wins the first round of the building competition, onto week 2!


WEEK 2: Tapu Lele!



Despite its beautiful looks, Tapu Lele is a frightening force of nature capable of utterly breaking numerous team archetypes while boasting unique threat coverage along with downright scary flexibility in its item and set usage. It’s often regarded as one of the most terrifying breakers in the tier, and for good reason! Lets see how you all feature it on a team, 5 days to submit!​

 

[Katy]

Choice Scarf Tapu Lele + Aurora Veil Hyper Offense feat. Hawlucha


​

Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/72f6b2c92cd65e52

Explanation: Landorus-Therian is the Hyper Offense Suicide Lead with Stealth Rock and Swords Dance and the QuakeExplosion-Coverage combined with Alola Ninetales which provides the Aurora Veil to make the setup of the remaining Pokemon easier. Magearna has Shift Gear + BoltBeam-Coverage alongside Focus Blast. Focus Blast hits Heatran and Ferrothorn, whereas BoltBeam hits the vast majority of the tier for at least neutral damage. Mega Gyarados provides itself as a great setup sweeper behind Substitute and its STABs in Crunch and Waterfall. Dragon Dance + Substitute work well, and with Aurora veil support ist can do its job very reliable. Lastly, Hawlucha and Tapu Lele are a great couple with Tapu Lele revengekilling a plethora of threats and weakening Pokemon for Hawlucha, meanwhile Hawlucha has the Psychic Seed to boost itself from Tapu Leles Psychic Terrain and to activate Unburden alongside Acrobatics and High Jump Kick. Swords Dance further provides a boost and in the lategame its able to break past the weakened team with ease.

​

 

[Clementine]

Triple Tapu Bulky Offense: AoA Lele + Alakazam


(click on sprites for importable)​

Tapu Lele is, in my opinion, one of the absolute best Pokemon in the current SM OU metagame. Its ability to mold through every unprepared team and to support the monster that is Mega Alakazam makes it an extremely oppresive force in the tier. While we usually see sets like Choice Specs, Choice Scarf or Calm Mind with a Z Crystal, All-out-Attacker Lele is probably my favorite set at the moment.
Mind Plate boosts Lele's attacks already powered up by its Psychic Terrain to crazy levels of power, similar to those of the usual Timid Specs set. I went with Hidden Power Fire over Focus Blast because this team isn't too weak to Heatran, but can struggle a little bit against Mega Scizor. The Modest nature is there to maximize its breaking power, while the Speed allows it to outspeed +Speed base 70s (ie 262 Speed), such as Mega-Swampert outside of rain, Jolly Bisharp, while outspeeding Modest Heatran (253) and Pokemon like Gliscor and Tapu Fini (around 254) aiming to outspeed Tran. The rest of EVs is invested in HP to maximize its bulk. It's a very easy, very fun set to use and it will definitely surprise people not prepared for a Lele that can switch up moves.

Fightinium Tapu Bulu is a fantastic partner for both Tapu Lele and Alakazam. Its ability to lure in steel types such as Mega-Scizor, Mega-Mawile, Celesteela and bulky Magearna to KO them with a +2 All-Out-Pummeling. The EV spread is fairly simple, the Speed investment allows Bulu to hit 233 thus speed creeping opposing Choice Band Tapu Bulu. The HP is there to avoid a 2HKO from Greninja pre-Battle Bond, but it's not mandatory since this team is very well equiped to deal with Gren.

Knock Off Tapu Fini is also a great partner for the PsySpam core, thanks to its access to Knock Off, luring in and removing items from the likes of Specially Defensive Tapu Bulu, Ferrothorn, Assault Vest Tangrowth or even a daring Specially Defensive Jirachi. It is also our Defog user for the squad, and our dedicated Greninja-Ash switch in. The Speed investment is there to hit 212, and speed creep the likes of Specially Defensive Heatran (210), Adamant Crawdaunt (209) and getting the jump on slower Pokemon aiming to hit 200, like Choice Band Tyranitar. The Defensive investment is there to never be 2HKOd by EQ by Garchomp from full, meaning you can switch Fini into it without being afraid of dropping to +2 Earthquake.

Landorus-Therian is a staple on this kind of Bulky Offense team. This time, we're using an edit of my favorite Landorus-Therian set, being the physically defensive Hidden Power Fire set. Landorus is our Stealth Rocks setter, our Kartana check thanks to HP Fire cleanly OHKOing it, and our Volcarona check. This Landorus packs Rock Slide to deal with the aforementioned Volcarona, while luring in and destroying Mega Charizard Y which can otherwise be a huge threat. The SpDef investment is there to eat a Flamethrower from Zard in the sun after Rocks, and a +1 Fire Blast from Volc after Rocks and Leftovers recovery (meaning you can switch Landorus into it, hoping they don't immediately click Fire Blast). The Speed allows it to hit 231, outspeeding Jolly Crawdaunt and Choice Band Bulu.

Magearna is our Steel type for the team and our answer to opposing Tapu Lele and Magearna. The set is fairly easy to understand, I went with Thunder Wave over the usual Heart Swap or Confide to slow down faster threats like Kartana, Alakazam, both Protean and Battle Bond Greninja, while Pain Split keeps you healthy and dents into Chansey, Celesteela, Ferrothorn and Heatran. The 6 Speed IVs make Magearna one point slower than Celesteela, thus getting the slow Volt Switch to bring in another teammate without fearing eating a Heavy Slam.

Mega Alakazam is a given on most Tapu Lele teams simply because they pair so well together. I went with what is, in my opinion, the best Alakazam set, being Knock Zam. Knock Off soften the checks Zam shares with Lele, like Celesteela, Ferrothorn, SpDef Heatran, Jirachi and Magearna, thus making the PsySpam Core even more threatening. The Speed is there to outspeed Mega Lopunny, and the rest of EVs is invested into Defense to make Alakazam as bulky as possible on the physical side.

Shoutouts ChaFouuu for the help and team review