Welcome to Paul Creenis Gaming
Friends, enemies, Paul Creenis – welcome to this RMT. This is a team I made with my buddy Brendan whom I met on Smogon nearly 10 years ago. While Brendan and I now only play sporadically, we have always loved coming back to current gen UU. All-time great BKC summed up my love for UU well in a video that I can’t seem to identify. Paraphrasing here, BKC explained that UU strikes a good balance between having a hierarchy of powerful Pokemon but that this hierarchy is fluid enough to allow players ample room to experiment and get creative. That’s always been what’s fun to me about Pokemon: using new Pokemon to change the dynamic of a game. You didn’t come here to hear me ramble, though – you came for the team. Let’s get into the teambuilding process.
We started with Cresselia – this cheating ass Pokemon can singlehandedly win the game by itself. Cress is the main win condition on this team so we needed to add ample support: mainly hazards and taunt support to prevent other Pokemon from setting up before Cress can get situated.
We needed hazards and taunt – we knock out both with the addition of Overqwil and Gastrodon. Initially, this Gastrodon ran Stealth Rock – but this will change later. Additionally, we add three immunities and Intimidate – thereby affording us some pretty significant leeway in maneuvering the team.
This Pokemon is a top 3 grass type of all time, and if you disagree I’m sure the wall is happy to talk about it. Between an insane ability, Rapid Spin, Strength Sap, and its ability to spinblock, Bramble is the perfect utility Pokemon to add to the team.
In last few slots, I wanted to add a few more immunities, a way to punish U-Turn spam, and more hazards (namely Spikes). Physically defensive Moltres offered an opportunity to reign in physical attackers who would otherwise threaten the team (namely Mold Breaker Haxorus and Lokix). Meanwhile, Clodsire provides Unaware and Spikes while maintaining a self-sustaining recovery move.
These were the initial six, but the teambuilding process continued to evolve as games played out and weaknesses became apparent. Facing Substitute+Nasty Plot Tera Steel Hydreigon was pretty much an immediate forfeit. Weather – particularly rain – ended up putting a lot of pressure on Gastrodon and prevented Cresselia from stalling out rain turns due to the reduced recovery of Moonlight. While we had Overqwil for Taunt, it was a pretty slow Taunt and ultimately added to the problem of being overwhelmed by Toxic-immune sweepers. Finally, without Knock off, we struggled pretty hard versus teams that opted to spam Heavy Duty Boots.
--->
When in doubt, throw Tornadus-T on and call it a day. A utility set with Taunt and Knock Off did more than replace Moltres – it elevated the team to higher levels. Torn’s ability to flip matchups versus things like Iron Leaves, Clodsire, and other Tornadus-T ended up being critical to the functionality of the team.
Tyranitar got the promotion over Clodsire in the last slot. While it doesn’t have Unaware, it does allow me shuffle around hazards (instead putting Spikes on Gastrodon and Stealth Rock on Tyranitar), add Knock Off, add a Taunt user, and have an emergency weather changer when facing things such as Aurora Veil.
knack 2 : 2 (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
This Cresselia is extremely standard, straightforward, and overwhelming. With the proper support, I feel strongly that Cresselia can 1v6 games with a well-timed Tera. Tera Poison seems to be the way to go on this Pokemon: Levitate removes the ground type weakness while Psychic typescan be played around by waiting to Tera until you’ve acquired all the stat boosts necessary.
Smiff Smiff Wild 2 (Overqwil) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Barb Barrage
- Toxic Spikes
- Crunch
- Taunt
Overqwil is, to me, the most underrated Pokemon in the tier. Any Pokemon with this stat distribution, Intimidate, Taunt, and Toxic Spikes has a spot on my team. What truly elevates this Pokemon though is Barb Barrage. Barb Barrage – a 60 base power poison type move – doubles in power if the target is poisoned. So, if you’ve set up Toxic Spikes, this bulky wall all of a sudden becomes incredibly difficult to switch into.
The speed on this set is intentional – it outruns most Mandibuzz and Cress variants (allowing you to freely Taunt or fish for poison with Barb Barrage) while retaining enough bulk to carry you throughout the game.
When using this team, managing Overqwil’s health is probably the trickiest thing to pick up. Overqwil doesn’t have access to a recovery move nor Regenerator, meaning that you really need to pick your spots for when this Pokemon comes in. Leaving it in on a Torandus-T on turn one, for instance, is a pretty risky gamble: if they click Bleakwind Storm you’re all of a sudden playing at a massive disadvantage, particularly if it’s partnered with Lokix.
Wild Wild Smiff (Brambleghast) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Poltergeist
- Strength Sap
- Rapid Spin
Brambleghast, besides being a great Pokemon both conceptually and statistically, fits great on this team. It not only blocks hazard removal but can clear hazards itself. With Colbur Berry, Brambleghast also has a strong matchup into most hazard removers (such as Iron Treads, who if not running Ice Spinner gets walled after Colbur Berry Knock Off + Strength Sap). Poltergeist hits hard and scouts items. Honestly, I pretty rarely click Power Whip – but nothing chips threats like Weavile and Mamoswine harder, so I feel as if it has to stay.
Wind Rider is a hilarious ability which allows this thing to wall most Torandus-Ts. If you do switch in on a Bleakwind Storm, Brambleghast’s base 115 attack stat is enough to punish neutral Poltergeist switch ins. Or, if you’re extremely cash money, you can Rapid Spin on the switch and outrun a fair majority of the metagame.
Paul Creenis (Gastrodon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
This is classic Gastrodon: get hazards, soak up water type moves, stop Volt Switch, and Recover away any incidential damage taken throughout the course of the game. Gastrodon fits especially well on this team because of its ability to handle things like Quaquaval (with Tera Ghost), Barraskewda (see previous), and fringe threats like Noivern or Gengar.
Chan's Finest Hour (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bleakwind Storm
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Knock Off
What can I say about this Pokemon that has not already been said? Tornadus-T is the best glue Pokemon in the tier. The only creative liberties we took with this set focus on using Taunt and Heavy Duty Boots over Grass Knot/Focus Blast and Assault Vest. Running boots here takes a little bit of pressure off of the legendary Brambleghast and a fast Taunt is critical to shut down mid-speed Swords Dance sweepers (Haxorus) who would otherwise just run through the rest of the team (thanks to Mold Breaker allowing it to hit Tera Poison Cresselia super effectively).
I have seriously considered running Air Slash, but missing Bleakwind Storm allows me to complain about it and blame that for my losses (instead of facing the harsh reality that I am giga-washed).
JarJarBinks Dances (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Taunt
Tyranitar is designed specifically to ease the matchup versus both weather offense and Hydreigon: full special defense (along with Tera Ground) is calculated to be rarely 2HKO’d by +2 Tera Steel flash cannon, allowing us to (ideally) Knock Off twice before revenge killing with Tornadus-T. Taunt makes its third appearance here, mostly to give us additional leeway versus bulkier teams or Pokemon who want to set up Trick Room.
This thing is an absolute problem – if you see it at team preview, it’s essential that you keep Tyranitar healthy (as almost any damage puts it into range to be 2HKO’d by +2 Tera Steel Flash Cannon) or try to catch Hydreigon on the switch with Gastrodon’s Ice Beam or Overqwil’s Barb Barrage. If you’re really struggling against this Pokemon I suppose that swapping Taunt for Focus Blast on Tornadus-T would be beneficial – it helps to catch Hydreigon on double switches or revenge kill it, assuming it doesn’t have a substitute up. Alternate tweaks to this team could be to add something like Brick Break or Low Kick to Tyranitar (perhaps removing Stealth Rock, Taunt, or Stone Edge) – but I don’t think changing both Tornadus-T and Tyranitar is necessary.
A few short generations ago, this wouldn’t be a problem at all – there’s pretty significant outplay ability to Mamoswine if you can stack an Intimidate or two and pivot between resistances. However, with the buff to Oblivious, Intimidate becomes futile and Mamoswine becomes a lot more threatening. Cresselia handles this pretty well (assuming you don’t get lucked by Icicle Crash), but it’s admittedly disheartening that you have to risk this team’s only legitimate win condition to sneak past Mamoswine.
Weavile is pretty similar to Mamoswine, with a few exceptions: while it doesn’t have Oblivious, it does have access to Swords Dance – meaning that letting Weavile come in for free usually means that (at least) one thing dies. Like dealing with Hydreigon, Weavile is best dealt with by applying as much pressure as possible and ensuring that it can rarely come in for free. Getting a Toxic Spike up is the key to beating non-boots Weaviles, while those rocking Heavy Duty Boots are walled substantially easier by Overqwil (who may only need two Barb Barrages to knock Weavile out, depending on the Weavile’s poison status). If you are using this team and find yourself losing a lot to Weavile, it may be good to remove Tornadus-T and go back to Moltres: the burn chance from Flame Body and Will-o-Wisp creates a lot of risk for the Weavile user.
While probably the least problematic of the four, Hoopa is difficult because its expansive movepool makes it difficult to switch into. Mixed sets with Drain Punch and Energy Ball pretty much force you to make a ballsy Tornadus-T pivot (thereby threatening with U-Turn) while Taunt + 3 attacks (or even 4 attacks + Psychic Noise) brings most healing to a halt.
Friends, enemies, Paul Creenis – welcome to this RMT. This is a team I made with my buddy Brendan whom I met on Smogon nearly 10 years ago. While Brendan and I now only play sporadically, we have always loved coming back to current gen UU. All-time great BKC summed up my love for UU well in a video that I can’t seem to identify. Paraphrasing here, BKC explained that UU strikes a good balance between having a hierarchy of powerful Pokemon but that this hierarchy is fluid enough to allow players ample room to experiment and get creative. That’s always been what’s fun to me about Pokemon: using new Pokemon to change the dynamic of a game. You didn’t come here to hear me ramble, though – you came for the team. Let’s get into the teambuilding process.
We started with Cresselia – this cheating ass Pokemon can singlehandedly win the game by itself. Cress is the main win condition on this team so we needed to add ample support: mainly hazards and taunt support to prevent other Pokemon from setting up before Cress can get situated.
We needed hazards and taunt – we knock out both with the addition of Overqwil and Gastrodon. Initially, this Gastrodon ran Stealth Rock – but this will change later. Additionally, we add three immunities and Intimidate – thereby affording us some pretty significant leeway in maneuvering the team.
This Pokemon is a top 3 grass type of all time, and if you disagree I’m sure the wall is happy to talk about it. Between an insane ability, Rapid Spin, Strength Sap, and its ability to spinblock, Bramble is the perfect utility Pokemon to add to the team.
In last few slots, I wanted to add a few more immunities, a way to punish U-Turn spam, and more hazards (namely Spikes). Physically defensive Moltres offered an opportunity to reign in physical attackers who would otherwise threaten the team (namely Mold Breaker Haxorus and Lokix). Meanwhile, Clodsire provides Unaware and Spikes while maintaining a self-sustaining recovery move.
These were the initial six, but the teambuilding process continued to evolve as games played out and weaknesses became apparent. Facing Substitute+Nasty Plot Tera Steel Hydreigon was pretty much an immediate forfeit. Weather – particularly rain – ended up putting a lot of pressure on Gastrodon and prevented Cresselia from stalling out rain turns due to the reduced recovery of Moonlight. While we had Overqwil for Taunt, it was a pretty slow Taunt and ultimately added to the problem of being overwhelmed by Toxic-immune sweepers. Finally, without Knock off, we struggled pretty hard versus teams that opted to spam Heavy Duty Boots.
When in doubt, throw Tornadus-T on and call it a day. A utility set with Taunt and Knock Off did more than replace Moltres – it elevated the team to higher levels. Torn’s ability to flip matchups versus things like Iron Leaves, Clodsire, and other Tornadus-T ended up being critical to the functionality of the team.
Tyranitar got the promotion over Clodsire in the last slot. While it doesn’t have Unaware, it does allow me shuffle around hazards (instead putting Spikes on Gastrodon and Stealth Rock on Tyranitar), add Knock Off, add a Taunt user, and have an emergency weather changer when facing things such as Aurora Veil.
knack 2 : 2 (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
This Cresselia is extremely standard, straightforward, and overwhelming. With the proper support, I feel strongly that Cresselia can 1v6 games with a well-timed Tera. Tera Poison seems to be the way to go on this Pokemon: Levitate removes the ground type weakness while Psychic typescan be played around by waiting to Tera until you’ve acquired all the stat boosts necessary.
Smiff Smiff Wild 2 (Overqwil) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Barb Barrage
- Toxic Spikes
- Crunch
- Taunt
Overqwil is, to me, the most underrated Pokemon in the tier. Any Pokemon with this stat distribution, Intimidate, Taunt, and Toxic Spikes has a spot on my team. What truly elevates this Pokemon though is Barb Barrage. Barb Barrage – a 60 base power poison type move – doubles in power if the target is poisoned. So, if you’ve set up Toxic Spikes, this bulky wall all of a sudden becomes incredibly difficult to switch into.
The speed on this set is intentional – it outruns most Mandibuzz and Cress variants (allowing you to freely Taunt or fish for poison with Barb Barrage) while retaining enough bulk to carry you throughout the game.
When using this team, managing Overqwil’s health is probably the trickiest thing to pick up. Overqwil doesn’t have access to a recovery move nor Regenerator, meaning that you really need to pick your spots for when this Pokemon comes in. Leaving it in on a Torandus-T on turn one, for instance, is a pretty risky gamble: if they click Bleakwind Storm you’re all of a sudden playing at a massive disadvantage, particularly if it’s partnered with Lokix.
Wild Wild Smiff (Brambleghast) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Poltergeist
- Strength Sap
- Rapid Spin
Brambleghast, besides being a great Pokemon both conceptually and statistically, fits great on this team. It not only blocks hazard removal but can clear hazards itself. With Colbur Berry, Brambleghast also has a strong matchup into most hazard removers (such as Iron Treads, who if not running Ice Spinner gets walled after Colbur Berry Knock Off + Strength Sap). Poltergeist hits hard and scouts items. Honestly, I pretty rarely click Power Whip – but nothing chips threats like Weavile and Mamoswine harder, so I feel as if it has to stay.
Wind Rider is a hilarious ability which allows this thing to wall most Torandus-Ts. If you do switch in on a Bleakwind Storm, Brambleghast’s base 115 attack stat is enough to punish neutral Poltergeist switch ins. Or, if you’re extremely cash money, you can Rapid Spin on the switch and outrun a fair majority of the metagame.
Paul Creenis (Gastrodon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
This is classic Gastrodon: get hazards, soak up water type moves, stop Volt Switch, and Recover away any incidential damage taken throughout the course of the game. Gastrodon fits especially well on this team because of its ability to handle things like Quaquaval (with Tera Ghost), Barraskewda (see previous), and fringe threats like Noivern or Gengar.
Chan's Finest Hour (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bleakwind Storm
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Knock Off
What can I say about this Pokemon that has not already been said? Tornadus-T is the best glue Pokemon in the tier. The only creative liberties we took with this set focus on using Taunt and Heavy Duty Boots over Grass Knot/Focus Blast and Assault Vest. Running boots here takes a little bit of pressure off of the legendary Brambleghast and a fast Taunt is critical to shut down mid-speed Swords Dance sweepers (Haxorus) who would otherwise just run through the rest of the team (thanks to Mold Breaker allowing it to hit Tera Poison Cresselia super effectively).
I have seriously considered running Air Slash, but missing Bleakwind Storm allows me to complain about it and blame that for my losses (instead of facing the harsh reality that I am giga-washed).
JarJarBinks Dances (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Taunt
Tyranitar is designed specifically to ease the matchup versus both weather offense and Hydreigon: full special defense (along with Tera Ground) is calculated to be rarely 2HKO’d by +2 Tera Steel flash cannon, allowing us to (ideally) Knock Off twice before revenge killing with Tornadus-T. Taunt makes its third appearance here, mostly to give us additional leeway versus bulkier teams or Pokemon who want to set up Trick Room.
This thing is an absolute problem – if you see it at team preview, it’s essential that you keep Tyranitar healthy (as almost any damage puts it into range to be 2HKO’d by +2 Tera Steel Flash Cannon) or try to catch Hydreigon on the switch with Gastrodon’s Ice Beam or Overqwil’s Barb Barrage. If you’re really struggling against this Pokemon I suppose that swapping Taunt for Focus Blast on Tornadus-T would be beneficial – it helps to catch Hydreigon on double switches or revenge kill it, assuming it doesn’t have a substitute up. Alternate tweaks to this team could be to add something like Brick Break or Low Kick to Tyranitar (perhaps removing Stealth Rock, Taunt, or Stone Edge) – but I don’t think changing both Tornadus-T and Tyranitar is necessary.
A few short generations ago, this wouldn’t be a problem at all – there’s pretty significant outplay ability to Mamoswine if you can stack an Intimidate or two and pivot between resistances. However, with the buff to Oblivious, Intimidate becomes futile and Mamoswine becomes a lot more threatening. Cresselia handles this pretty well (assuming you don’t get lucked by Icicle Crash), but it’s admittedly disheartening that you have to risk this team’s only legitimate win condition to sneak past Mamoswine.
Weavile is pretty similar to Mamoswine, with a few exceptions: while it doesn’t have Oblivious, it does have access to Swords Dance – meaning that letting Weavile come in for free usually means that (at least) one thing dies. Like dealing with Hydreigon, Weavile is best dealt with by applying as much pressure as possible and ensuring that it can rarely come in for free. Getting a Toxic Spike up is the key to beating non-boots Weaviles, while those rocking Heavy Duty Boots are walled substantially easier by Overqwil (who may only need two Barb Barrages to knock Weavile out, depending on the Weavile’s poison status). If you are using this team and find yourself losing a lot to Weavile, it may be good to remove Tornadus-T and go back to Moltres: the burn chance from Flame Body and Will-o-Wisp creates a lot of risk for the Weavile user.
While probably the least problematic of the four, Hoopa is difficult because its expansive movepool makes it difficult to switch into. Mixed sets with Drain Punch and Energy Ball pretty much force you to make a ballsy Tornadus-T pivot (thereby threatening with U-Turn) while Taunt + 3 attacks (or even 4 attacks + Psychic Noise) brings most healing to a halt.
go madden!
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