I didn't know what I was going to play coming into SCL and when I heard I was going to play PU I was very excited given the wide pool of usable Pokemon and strong top tier choices. I really leaned on removal+pivots+wincons+immunities this season and it worked out well. Setup is too good in lower tiers where the pool isn't strong enough to counter mons as naturally as OU/Ubers. Mons like goodra/florges tend to overpower flimsier and more passive builds and being weak to them in the builder was always a pain in the booty. Having a ground is essential due to pawmot and the types natural competitive aptitude. I haven't enjoyed a meta game this much since SSNU and had the advent of being on a competitive team.
W1 vs void:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-870856 --
https://pokepast.es/448a62d4a8d8327d
My first look at the tier told me setup was broken. No quag and the few strong revenge killers are both vulnerable to priority and tera. Combining the two bulk-up mons w a status spreader and having them cover each other's weaknesses between tera and types/abilities seemed intuitive. It worked out for bombardier, this is set I'm proud of that is maybe even strong w no Wo-Chein. I figured Void would bring something fatter and I would catch the milo w toxic/trade w florges w one of the guys and then have a clean victory. Asa gave me the idea for poliwrath, cool mon.
W2 vs MDB:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-872497 --
https://pokepast.es/f6c3a9a6d5f628dc
Asa recommended that I use AV amoongus and they had praised its trading ability and lure potential. I didn't get to watch MDB play week 1 and figured he would be more prepared for random win-cons and used a very offensive team with Articuno-G that looked strong vs me. I thought Grimes complemented Amoong well typing wise and I needed a wincon. Taurous to break down grounds/phasers/opposing setup for grimms and florges for speed control/trick. Sand w iron ball because I kept losing to Articuno in tests and felt that it was decent insurance vs the foggers and other rockers. I got fortunate with some cane misses at the end. I was happy with this team and was comfortable copying this mold vs a majority of the tournament.
W3 vs Mind:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-875238 --
https://pokepast.es/c3d5aac61fb9740f
I thought frosmoth using boots was a waste, liked this bulky espeon set and figured tera rock would be strong because of its good matchup into Arcanine, birds and other moth. Sub gives it a lot of opportunity to set up mess w PP as it did in this game. Removal+Bulky Espy keeps them off vs pretty much everything. Scarf Memento for other setup opportunities. Pivoting into special moves w the immunities/resistances and physical moves w everything else.
W4 vs. Isza:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-877292 --
https://pokepast.es/7f2c9903d68ad657 Updated version:
https://pokepast.es/5a208453bc2101ad
I wanted to use anti-HO as I expected it. So tinka+AV goodra to lure stuff and phase/trade+prio seemed good for me. This team had no real breaker and lacked a ground type. Got a turn wrong at the end and lost. I wanted to Chein before it shifted and figured it would be cool spreading damage w goodra for qwil.
W5 vs Drug:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-878831-- https://pokepast.es/17800c04504b6634
I was coming into the shift week and wanted to use HO because I thought my team choices were getting a little monotonous and wanted to see how the field was responding to changes. Got absolutely smashed. I like the decid set, maybe tera poison is more worth it, or maybe that's just hindsight. I liked terrain because I found setup to be very valuable in the tier. Dudun w toxic and CM was something mind showed me as I originally had rocks but figured another wincon would be more valuable.
W6 vs JYT:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-881492 --
https://pokepast.es/4497beb443605e7a
I wanted to go back to what was working after two consecutive losses and I had good tools to win vs JYT despite a missed tera read. I really liked the idea of CB bruxish in a Cheinless metagame and though it didn't do much here I remained interested in its potential. This was a super standard team with the only difference to my prior arc set being max impish because I no longer need to outrun Hounstone. Wisp+Grimms is broken.
W7 vs Kyuss:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-883355 --
https://pokepast.es/0866487212f16249
I really liked specs florges and goodra vs him as he tends to be a little tenuous vs those mons. I opted for florges+Hariyama and then filled the rest of the team out pretty normally with Yama as a wincon to fuck around w Kyuss' typically passive walls that didn't have a lot of recourse for status/tera+setup. Zoro having trick and mocking as florges could help me trick a fire and make progress more easily with Yama.
W8 vs LPZ:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-885295 --
https://pokepast.es/63c25da1a2eaa405
I liked the idea of AV muds+sash lazlo+bird to complement each others weaknesses. being a little weak to Bruxish means that sucker could be worth using on bird for added insurance. This game ended p quickly because I was fortunate to dodge an axel. Proud of this one overall and I think sash lazlo on balance is worth trying because removal is so consistent in this tier, and even as a lead he can always do something.
W9 vs MZ:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-886619 --
https://pokepast.es/f71cafe393e40db5
I liked Psyspam into this scout and thought specs espeon was really undervalues as a way to cripple opposing teams as even after throwing off a trick it can still hit like a truck. Scarf Type is fun and is a one time swap into fairies can help in endgames w curse. I really liked this SD brux set that I had seen on forums and figured
it would be well supported by paras/trick. Rest of the team was filled out pretty normally w hazard core. I wanted something to deal w rhydon better so I opted for bird here.
Semis vs Mind:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9pu-888291 --
https://pokepast.es/cd6854151ecab7e5
Could opt for toxic/Sball over flame here on Dudun. I really thought rest rhydon would be fantastic, both vs minds offensive threats and defensive cores. Paired it w status and trick to try and setup endgames where is just immortal. I used chople on dudun in the actual game but you can mess around w the set as you like.
Thanks to Taka, Asa and Feli for all the help and games. Was struggling at first in the post-shift meta game but realized just cping the same team format was kind of unbeatable and did well. I would ban frosmoth to try just to take away one nonsense wincon. I think it is too strong and there isn't reliable/good defensive or offensive infrastructure to reliably counter it. I think milotic is a catfish mon and there a lot of cool ideas that I didn't get to bring to the table. You need to make concessions in the builder in this tier but the mons aren't so broken that you autolose if you roll a bad MU, which I appreciate.
Indigo Platoon vs Technical Machines 
Studio Gible vs Power Plant Dynamos 
Circuit Breakers vs Uncharted Terrors 
Arena Spartans vs Mt. Silver Foxes 
Orange Islanders vs Showdown Shoguns 
