Project SS Monotype Community-Create-A-Team

CCAT Week 9 is here, and the poll winner was Smub's Galarian Weezing Fairy!

Weezing-Galar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Toxic Spikes
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Psychic

Klefki @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Foul Play

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Superpower

Mimikyu @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Play Rough
- Shadow Claw

Gardevoir @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
- Healing Wish

:weezing-galar:

Galarian Weezing was the winner of the poll, so it was our Pokemon to build around for this CCAT. We went for the first set using Neutralizing Gas, as setting up Toxic Spikes without any restrictions + cancelling threats' abilities like Azumarill's Huge Power and Jirachi's Serene Grace sounded more appealing for the community. Out of the slashes, Flamethrower was chosen later on for the team to have a Scizor check and damage Steel-types in general.

:weezing-galar::clefable::klefki:

Our two next teamslots were quickly decided; a hazard stack core satisfied the builders the most, so the SR user in Clefable and the Spikes one in Klefki were unanimously added onto the team. An offensive Clefable set won the votes, as it could threaten offensive teams and certain bulkier builds like Poison and Steel with surprise factor.

:weezing-galar::clefable::klefki::azumarill::mimikyu:

With hazard stacking + Dual Screens as our main strategy, we felt good set-up sweepers were needed to further abuse such support. That's where Azumarill and Mimikyu come in; both greatly appreciate the extra bulk given by screens and the chip damage provided by the triple hazards combo. Superpower was chosen as the last slot on Azumarill for it to be further threatening vs Steel and Normal while having an overall powerful move.

:weezing-galar::clefable::klefki::azumarill::mimikyu::gardevoir:

Choice Scarf Gardevoir was added to tie the team up as a fast speed control Pokemon and weather abusers' check, seeing the team lacked in both departments. A Healing Wish user also synergized well with the team's purpose, healing up the sweepers to do their job late-game.

Shoutouts to Jolly Togekiss ^-^, Tico 21, Vodoom, Derpeddeath, DemonBldz and Decem for participating!

Replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1145253422
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1145251227

With that, CCAT Week 9 is over! For Week 10, we'll be doing a CCAT around National Dex Monotype, as it had the most number of votes in a poll held at Monotype Events throughout this week. The resources and banlist for the tier are here.
 
I am nominating my favorite core for Rock Nat'l Mono:

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Toxic
- Rock Slide

Coalossal @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Flamethrower
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Tomb / Earth Power

This core gives a perfect defensive backbone to Rock types, which is historically without a defensive backbone. Coalossal's boost to Rock, gives it a solid answer to Grass, that also doesn't hurt itself in the process (looking at you Ferrothorn). It also gives it a chance to force switches against Excadrill. It works similar to Magnet Pull + Air Balloon Magnezone from USUM. Both abilities support Rock, with Storm Drain to absorb water moves and Flame Body to threaten physical attackers. Compounded by both pokemon's wall abilities to give the other four slots to go more Offensive in build.
 
Hyper Offensive Normal



Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Sticky Web
- Spore
- Nuzzle / Magic Coat

Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return
- High Jump Kick
- Encore
- Power-Up Punch

Indeedee (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Shadow Ball
- Mystical Fire
- Trick / Hyper Voice


Smeargle and Mega Lopunny are both incredible hyper offense staples locked behind the National Dex. In Generation 8's significantly more offensive metagame, Mega Lopunny in particular does a solid job of taking on some of the newer threats such as Urshifu Single-Strike and the unbanned Aegislash. This offensive duo is even better supported by its newest addition, Indeedee, whose Psychic Surge is an absolute boon for hyper offensive Normal. The archetype has historically had difficulty dealing with strong priority users, such as Mega Scizor and Dragonite, but Indeedee provides a solid answer to not only these threats, but has the luxury of taking on less dangerous priority users like Azumarill and Bisharp without having to take any damage, which can't be said for Ditto/Mega Lopunny. Additionally, the rise of terrain abusers like Alolan Raichu and Rillaboom also gives Indeedee a much needed role in handling them as well. Hyper offensive Normal, under the National Dex ruleset, can flexibly blend older offensive Normal types such as Staraptor and Diggersby with newer Generation 8 options such as Obstagoon, so it'll be really interesting seeing what combinations can be made from this core.
 
Did somebody say melmetal?

:ss/melmetal:
Melmetal @ Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Thunder Punch
- Facade
- Superpower

:ss/bronzong:
Bronzong @ Mental Herb
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Trick Room

After its unjust exile to ubers we finally have a mono tier that can use the big boy, this shit has no good switchins and is slow enough to take advantage of that spicy trick room that zong can set up. bonus points if you can fit the brick wall :stakataka: on the team that shit 6-0s fire ezpz. sets and whatnot can be altered if you need

ps if you do decide to do this core and run staka pls make it lonely with 14 def ivs gotta get that attack boost
 

Thunder

Kingku ke charan pranam
Since fylkir core ended up being too fire(pun not intended), here's a fire team to counter it
:sm/volcanion: :sm/Charizard-Mega-X:


Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Flare Blitz
Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 212 HP / 160 SpA / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
The charizard is a pretty standard charx and as for volcanion, hp evs for as much bulk as possible the speed evs help it creep 229, rest are put into spa to hit as hard as possible. The main challenge I wanted was no sun fire, so volcanion ended up making so as to act as a water switchin, thanks to its great ability and hp grass being present.
Just a calc to show its bulk
252+ Atk Choice Band Iron Fist Melmetal Thunder Punch vs. 212 HP / 0 Def Volcanion: 296-350 (83.6 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
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Old faces, new tools :charizard-mega-y::marowak-alola:


Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Scorching Sands
- Roost / Focus Blast / Tailwind / Defog

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch / Flare Blitz
- Poltergeist

Back in Gen 7, Fire teams favored Mega Charizard X as their Mega Evolution of choice due to its better typing, Dragon STAB, and ability to completely wreak havoc against types like Grass, Bug, Steel or Electric after one (or two DD) boosts. Meanwhile, the other Mega Evolution faded away in viability; while it was an incredible wallbreaker on its own, it didn't do much else for the type when compared to Mega Charizard X. Fortunately, with Gen 8's Isle of Armor DLC, a pair of new moves gave the offensive core above a new breath of life: Scorching Sands, when coupled with a Modest nature, allows Mega Charizard Y to bypass Poison and Water teams nigh entirely by sniping what stopped it from doing so last gen: Toxapex. And that's not even taking into account the 30% chance to burn it.

252+ SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Scorching Sands vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 144-170 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery

The other half of the core, which already synergized well with the Mega Lizard, received a real jump in power with its new STAB Poltergeist, which inflicts a wholly 110 BP of damage against practically all targets (as items are, bar really rare exceptions, present in competitive battling in general). The significant difference makes it capable of doing major damage to offensive Pokemon unboosted, and at +2, turns Marowak-Alola into a deadly wallbreaker against targets it couldn't blow through before, like Swampert, Hippowdon and Toxapex.

+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 303-357 (99.6 - 117.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Swampert: 439-517 (108.6 - 127.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 248+ Def Hippowdon: 366-432 (87.1 - 102.8%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock - and most run some SpDef, so it should be a kill!

If this core gets chosen, I'll be really curious to see which path will the community take with a known core, but with Fire's new tools received in the gen transition like Cinderace and Heavy-Duty Boots at disposal.
 

Tico

Heart of the Mountain
is a Social Media Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Smogon Media Contributoris a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Psychic Terrain Mega Alakazam

:ss/alakazam-mega: :ss/indeedee:

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot

Indeedee (M) @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Mystical Fire

Psychic Surge is a great ability for Monotype Psychic since it set Psychic Terrain up, boosting Psychic-type attacks and protecting grounded Pokémon from priority moves. Unluckily, it's only user on the past gen, Tapu Lele, was banned on USM Monotype, but now we've got Indeedee, that is a weaker version of Tapu Lele and probably shouldn't be banned. Additionally to setting Psychic Terrain up, Indeedee has a immunity to Ghost-type attacks, making it a great addition for Psychic teams. With Psychic Terrain support we can use Mega Alakazam, that is a powerfull special attacker with low defenses, it can abuse of Psychic Terrain powers to setup with Nasty Plot and become a very threatening Pokémon that can break past many teams, since the terrain will protect it from priority moves like Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch, making very hard to revenge kill it.
 
Voting phase is now open! Leave your votes (1 or 2) below for any of the following cores:

Keahi's Cradily + Coalossal Rock
smub's Hyper Offensive Normal
Fylkir Pudin's Melmetal + Bronzong TR
The Thunderbirds's Zard-X + Volcanion Fire
Mateeus's Zard-Y + Marowak-A Fire
Tico 21's M-Alakazam + Indeedee Psychic

Thanks for all the submissions! This week's CCAT will be hosted by Mateeus at 5pm EST.
 
Here's what we got after our first Monotype OM CCAT, probably the most hectic one we've had so far!

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot

Indeedee (M) @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Mystical Fire

Victini @ Choice Band
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- U-turn
- Trick

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 32 SpD / 224 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
- Stealth Rock

Celebi @ Groundium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]

:alakazam-mega::indeedee:

Gen 8's DLC1 brought, alongside new moves, wider distribution of older ones to old Pokemon. One of the most benefitted ones was, without a single doubt, Mega Alakazam. Getting a blessed boosting move in Nasty Plot was enough to make it, on paper, much more viable than it was in the previous gens, taking advantage of its amazing coverage to tear apart most defensive cores after a single boost. Alongside it, Indeedee's Psychic Terrain support and Expanding Force meant it could have a powerful, boosted 120 (156 if counting Terrain) BP nuke most of the time.

:alakazam-mega::indeedee::deoxys-speed:

At first glance, such a powerful offensive backbone immediately screamed "Hyper Offense" as its archetype. Having that in mind, participants all agreed that entry hazard support was, in fact, a must for the team. Deoxys-S won the poll over Celebi, Jirachi and Metagross. We chose the classic entry hazard lead Deoxys-Speed over the Dual Screens variant because hazard stacking softened up many defensive threats in theory.

:alakazam-mega::indeedee::deoxys-speed::victini:

The lack of physical presence on the team was immediately noted, and we didn't think once before putting in our next Pokemon: Victini. Psychic's small pool of physical attackers and Mega Gallade not being available meant splashing in the historic staple of Psychic teams was a no-brainer. A Choice Band set was the chosen one, enabling the team to hit hard on both sides. It also synergized well with Mega Alakazam by beating Psychic-type resists and special walls like Celesteela and Chansey.

:alakazam-mega::indeedee::deoxys-speed::victini::latios::jirachi:

Psychic's wide pool of viable offensive Pokemon kept us brainstorming for a while when deciding for the last two slots. Options like Hatterene to check Dragon-type teams better, Latias for Healing Wish support and Celebi for a bulky Water/Electric resistant pivot were all brought up, but we ended up with Latios as our Choice Scarfer and Jirachi as a secondary sweeper and Z-move user.

:alakazam-mega::indeedee::victini::latios::jirachi::celebi:

After finishing up the team and testing it for a while, we noticed it had some major flaws defensively that offensive pressure couldn't fill. Most faster Dark- and Electric- types seemingly ran through the team, as we had no response from them given Latios can only outspeed so much before dying and turning the team slow. Instead of opting for HO, Celebi was splashed alongside a SpDef + Healing Wish Jirachi set to create a more reliable variant of the team. Most people decided to use a wallbreaking Celebi set over a defensive one to have extra mileage against Water, Electric and Poison teams.

Special shoutouts to all the helpers today! Tico 21, Derpeddeath, DerpsDeluxe, Excaliburn, smub, Jolly Togekiss ^-^, Jo' Z and others I might have forgotten!

Replays (shoutouts Tico 21 again for helping me grab them)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1149517476
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1149506625-qwon0b1xsowp0wrgdynaunrfbhn469wpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldex-1149506739

With that, CCAT Week 10 is over! We'll be returning to Gen 8 Monotype for the following week (week 11), submissions are open!

Over the course of this week, a poll will be up at
Monotype Events to determine the tier we'll build for Week 12's CCAT, so stay tuned!
 
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Wallbreaker/Hazard Stacker Heracross(Fighting)


Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Facade
- Spikes
- Close Combat
- Knock Off


Before the DLC came out, Conkeldurr was Fighting's premier Guts Pokemon. However, despite Heracross being most commonly used as a Choice Scarf sweeper with Moxie, it has a few traits to offer over Conkeldurr as a Guts Pokemon. Despite not having priority, Heracross has a much better speed tier, along with access to its new addition Spikes. While Heracross on its own is capable of ripping through many defensive cores on Ghost, Poison, Water, and Steel teams, Spikes is capable of enabling its offensive teammates to perform sweeping roles much more effectively, opening up more opportunities for Urshifu Single-Strike to experiment with Choice Scarf to blitz through the Psychic teams that Scarf Heracross would normally take care of. Spikes on Heracross in conjunction with its wallbreaking creates much more interesting possibilities for Fighting teams, and it'll be really interesting seeing what the community can come up with.

Also, 1000th post!
 
As we only have 1 submission this week, there will be no voting process and we will use smub's core in the CCAT this week. As a result of the poll in Monotype Events, next week will be Monothreat! We will choose a type at the time of the CCAT today.
 
Heracross @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Spikes
- Close Combat
- Knock Off

Urshifu @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Wicked Blow
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Secret Sword
- Focus Blast
- Hydro Pump
- Air Slash

Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sky Attack
- Close Combat
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance

Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake


:ss/heracross:
We started by resolving the slash in smub's set, which we decided should be Jolly considering we appreciate the instant speed of Heracross in certain matchups.

:ss/Urshifu:
As we aren't running Scarf Heracross, we will need something to hit Psychic. Scarf Urshifu was a natural choice as it adds necessary speed control and outspeeds most things on Psychic and 0hkos. The set is standard with Sucker Punch, one of our 2 forms of priority in the team.

:ss/Terrakion:
We then chose Terrakion, and as we had speed control sorted we could afford a suicide lead which synergises with Heracross to form a hazard stacking core and is able to clean certain types with a well-timed Rock Polish.
:ss/Keldeo:
The next natural choice was Keldeo, it adds important special wallbreaking power and coverage for the team. We chose Choice Specs to further boost its wallbreaking skills and gave it Air Slash as the coverage option.
:ss/Hawlucha:
As the team had a nice hazard stacking core and plenty of wallbreaking power, our next choice was Hawlucha to attempt to clean late game. We opted for Sky Attack so as to make sure we can still set up against Ghost.
:ss/Croagunk:
Our final choice was a tricky one but we ultimately chose Croagunk. This was to hit Fairy-types such as Hatterene, use its priority to remove faster threats, and be able to make use of its ability Dry Skin to remove specific threats like Toxapex.


Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1154207001 (vs. Ice)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1154232296 (vs. Fairy)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1154214992 (vs. Fire)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1154216613 (vs. Steel)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1154225197 (vs. Normal)

All replays thanks to Demonbldz!

Shoutouts:
Big thanks to everyone in chat, Floss, DemonBldz, Jolly Togekiss ^-^, Tico 21, thanks for the help this week!
Week 11 is now over!
The winner of this week's OM poll was Monothreat, and the type has been randomly picked to be Water! Post your Water-type cteams below!
 

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