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Project SV PU Research Week

it's been too long, time to open the lab back up.

:sv/articuno:Research Week 2-1: Sweater Weather :sv/sneasel:

It's getting chiller, so what better way to stay warm than cook up some heat? This week we'll be focusing on Articuno and Sneasel.

:pmd/articuno:
Articuno rose to prominence in the latter half of PUPL, establishing a reputation as a defensive pivot capable of annoying several common threats. This is especially due to its access to Freeze-Dry, allowing it to stop foes like Gastrodon in their tracks with ease. However, maybe it has other uses? It's up to you to find out!

:pmd/sneasel:
Although ranked low on the VR, Sneasel has quite a few good qualities: it's immune to Intimidate, fast, has STAB Knock Off, and strong priority, and this is only the tip of the iceberg when you throw in its access to Swords Dance and Low Kick to hit foes like Copperajah and Coalossal. Is this fuzzy fiend doomed to be a low tier hero forever, or can he claw his way to the top?

The deadline for this week is Sunday, September 29th. The tag for this week is SVRW21. Good luck, and happy researching!​
 
Sorry I'm late, thought games were due tomorrow and didn't read the actual date. Here are my teams and games.

These two teams are both…interesting ways of using the Pokémon.


Week 1:


Team 1: Weakness Policy Agility Articuno


The team: :articuno: :decidueye: :tatsugiri: :skuntank: :dugtrio-alola: :tauros-paldea-blaze:
I plan to use this Articuno to set up and sweep my opponent in the late game. My rocks lead Dugtrio-A + defensive core should hopefully get articuno in a good position to win. I think fire bull and arcanine are my biggest weaknesses, but I can at least deal with fire bull with brave bird and espeed tera normal arcanines have to fear tera blast fighting.


Game 1: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2211742186-j7jbx8lwmxfz2nuzxwgsbn076rnxzh6pw I wish they removed the critical hit mechanic. That’s all


Game 2: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2211744594-x2vhq3810ko1t3wd9s65xmqkm9mlvfkpw AGHH so close again but yet so far. Shouldve poltergeist predicted dachsbun to go to delphox. but insane houndstone took 51%


Game 3: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2211748949-0m6cxqd5im398fq9c72uldmrcj76ojipw FINALLY A WIN. AND THE ARTICUNO CONTRIBUTED. Arcanine tera normal espeed revenged like I thought but it still put in the work
Game 4: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2211751622-e30z7pjls1qhvm1hbtzhiwtxe5d8ti2pw Another loss :(


Game 5: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2211753910-nqlfhbysta8q601pf6s29kefe1jlojnpw GREAT game to end off on. Revenge on the opponent who beat me game 2 is so fun. Not really an articuno game but hard to pull of when your opponent knows your set.


Team 2: Special Sneasel


The team: :sneasel: :venusaur: :houndstone: :bronzong: :arcanine: :tauros-paldea-aqua:
Well uh. I will be happy with one kill with Sneasel. 5/6 of these mons are good. Yep. Nothing else to say.


Game 1: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2212675157-2ky9hk0fdlwcrztrrr8g020ig88kxolpw They hit 8/9 hurricanes. I misplayed at the end but they hit 8/9 hurricanes and got 2 confusions and full confused me twice. Now I know my team is very weak to altaria if sneasel dies. But I still feel like I was cheesed in this game just a small tiny bit.


Game 2: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2212939849-lh8cf94tdzaogt8w0u290uasc2nvq9npw Yeah this team sucks. Almost swept with arc but I shouldve set rocks up first.


Game 3: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2213078538-zrwqmpp6yukhrsapl7nwoq1yput35vipw LETS GO I GOT A WIN. Now to be fair this opponent had no elo, but the surf and tera ghost were just amazing and then doing that much to morpeko. Exciting to get a result here.


Game 4: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2213081531-s6hoz4bcyqpcfs7mq2fvux5abvyfgdkpw Second win that did rely on luck but I definitely messed up my sucker games lol. OU PTSD was clearly not enough. But I still held a pretty good game against sun, which is very strong into my team.


Game 5: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2213086128-efsrm8swddzydlxo28ocqpamz0vkhq0pw Used tauros too early and lost.


What I learned for this team is that I should have probably used fire bear instead of water bear and instead of arcanine I should have used a spinner like sandslash to give me a good ground type as well.


Next research week I will focus on getting high on ladder, while showing replays I think best show the team, rather than only showing 5 games.
 
Intro
Articuno was an exciting choice for me because I love articuno as a pokemon in general, and think that it's often overlooked due to its typing in lower tiers. With many support/utility moves as well as offense and defensive directions, it was tough to find direction on how I wanted to test Articuno in our current meta. I ended up deciding on building with a core of Articuno and Sticky hold Gastrodon, as they actually cover each other's weaknesses quite nicely and creates a gameplan on how articuno is avoiding stealth rocks from the beginning of the building process. From there, I realized I could create flexibility for myself in the builder by not running removal and instead focusing on bootspam and going a semistall direction with toxic spam and CM wincon path. Ultimately, while I enjoyed playing with the team, I think it is too slow still and is weak to wetbull.
1000501299.jpg

1000501301.jpg

Roar Arcticuno Semistall
https://pokepast.es/06d0a5e503698ccc

Sporting a 32-18 record after 50 games, i can say i think this team helped me discover new potential ideas for future teams, but was ultimately too slow and too weak to wetbull to be consistent. Specifically, Articuno+Sticky Hold Gastrodon turned out to be a really fun and valuable core, as either one can have anti setup sweeper options in its moveset, it creates safety for articuno's HDB getting knocked from the beginning of the builder process, and it can still be threatening offensively as a core with whatever coverage fits the team it's used in. If we would be in the same meta moving forward I would keep building with these two actually and try to find the best build with that core because I really enjoyed playing with it, but the meta will be totally different soon so we will see.

Thoughts on Sub/Roost/Roar Articuno
1727733949339.png

Articuno @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SpA / 136 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Substitute
- Freeze-Dry
- Roar
i think this set and variants of it are uniquely valuable on bulkier teams with hazard stack and reliable hazard control or bootspam. Articuno can take control of the game sometimes given the opportunity, stalling pp out of low pp moves, toxic stalling, phazing hazards, freeze dry threatening many pokemon on its own, etc.

Replays showcasing Articuno!
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2208698526-vbqmr5arh9hc7vwz583gb9gtbxnnxnmpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2209033265

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2209042904-pwamg6l1z059a33xjhkdpj7on2oe7ptpw

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9pu-2209741163?p2

My biggest realizations though through building and playing are in order to get the most out of your articuno, you need to create opportunities through your team to enable it. For example, on its own, articuno is just tanky, can sometimes pp stall, and can phase out special setup sweepers. However, if you add entry hazards, suddenly it has a higher value ceiling. If you add toxic spam, you create a different avenue of value. This makes building with Articuno challenging for me at least, because you need unique conditions to get its full potential with this set and that restricts building to only specific directions. If I think articuno can stack up in the new meta, I will keep building with it for sure, because I want to find the optimal articuno build with this type of set! And I do think there are many other directions one could take with Articuno this gen! Excited to see what others did.
 
Hi, are we allowed to recommend the mons used for research week? If so, I recommend the week be for Duraludon and Copperajah, as well as being called: “Heavy Metal” with some sort of music reference because they both get that ability and I thought it would be fun. I also think, if I checked correctly, that neither of these Pokémon have had a research week yet.
 
Ok it has been over two weeks since I asked if I could recommend the research week and since then I have had no response. I hope no one minds, but I am going to take over this research week so we can get more research done. This week will be based off something different since Duraludon was banned.

:sv/rotom-mow: Research Week 2-2: Motor Mayhem :sv/rotom-heat:

I don't know much of the history of these 2 Pokémon, so if someone wants to type it underneath (or replied to this message) that would be helpful.
 
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