Project SV ZU Team Bazaar

[lettuce]

It's kinda crazy that I've basically been in SVZU teamtours since August, and because of that I haven't really found the time to teamdump anything since ZUPL ended. This will probably be a mix of ZUPL/UMPL teams, and to increase the value of this post for anyone coming here looking for something that isn't a sample to load in some random tour, I'm gonna include as up-to-date as possible versions of each team I post. I also definitely waited a bit to post this cuz i forgot, but hey better late than never.

I had a lot of fun building for the crams during ZUPL, even if I got burnt out from it in the end. I was kinda expecting it to be more like my past ZUOL/ZUWC experiences where I'm mostly staying in my lane but helping out where I could, but whatever happened W1 didn't work, I passed TJ a bad team because I thought it would be fine (it was not), and then the PRs came out and predicted that I'd do a lot of building that tour. After all that, I did the next logical thing by locking in and starting to do a lot of building that tour. I'm shocked I had as many ideas as I did all tour; I loaded a team called 'the inspiration has left my body' the week I subbed back in and still had more in me after that somehow. I didn't quite reach 4 SV loads in 1 week (which thank goodness TJ had an act win the week before and just used the planned team from then, the sliggoo-h team in the works was NOT good), in thanks to Terracotta, BaitWiz, PlayaBeavs slotting in and self-building, and all the semi/final helpers, cuz whatever I was doing was not sustainable, i made nothing good for semis, none of my builds made the cut lol.

I also had a lot of fun and energy to build in UMPL up until the last 2 weeks, where I think I just ran out of steam and Esteb4n unfortunately picked up a loss. Venu dropping is the only reason I was able to stay as motivated as I was during that tour, and I had a lot of fun building in this meta. Was a little weird when UMPL and ZUPL were running simultaneously, but once that was done and I could allow myself to experience Venusaur, I got into a groove before I dropped the 3-0 to a 3-3 rip. I didn't build a lot in UMFL, but that's what happens when you manage and buy ppl so you don't have to do a lot of building.

And the teams will be in whatever order I feel like, and I will leave out/include what I want on a whim. I'm not writing up ~30 teams unless I find 30 I care about.


Bello v4 / Mag + Ori BO
| ZUPL w5, LBN (L)
| UMPL w2, Esteb4n (W)
The original intent was a team designed to abuse the newly broken Bellossom, and I was really proud of this team despite it losing when LBN brought it. I think if I actually made a chronological teamdump I was gonna say smth like 'man i cant believe the builds didn't win more this week i was proud of them.' It was one of the ones I brought into ZU SSNL and definitely contributed to why I'm probably one of the only people who needs to restrict my Magneton usage. For the UMPL remaster, Esteb4n was playing early and I saw a Magneton weakness in Shadow's scout. It's a little known fact that I am a huge Magneton glazer, so I saw a chance and did a little recycling with one of my favorite Magneton teams. I also knew that Shadow liked to reuse, and I was half-expecting the Tera blast fairy curseglast team. We got the matchup. I think the Oricorio is electric because at some point BaitWiz and I went through all the tera types for Ori trying to land on a perfect one, and Electric had reasonable defensive utility and a lax bslam immunity.


TORKOAL TEAM
| ZUPL w4, LBN (W)
Fitting Weezing + Whims on one squad kind of became my white whale during ZUPL, since I kept adding Lanturn on as mon #3. In hindsight I'm not sure how I didn't get Weez + Whims + regi/lax working since they're all the same mon and fill the jolt/zard check role, but idk it never came together. Maybe I was flip turn pilled or was building it for TJ who wanted something outlandish like an 'electric immunity' (and I totally should've put smth together with Piloswine or Whiscash, RIP hindsight again) Going back to the real team, the main point was actually a Mabosstiff squad since FlamPoke spammed Mesprit like crazy. I originally had Regirock > Torkoal and just no removal, but I wanted the secondary physical wall running rocks to not add a Whimsicott weakness, and Torkoal just happened to fill that role perfectly. I knew LBN would be down to load Torkoal and it did everything I wanted it to do in that game, even if this wasn't the MU we had in mind. Torkoal's resistances are awful without Whimsicott being a problem anymore, but I'm still really happy with this squad and finally experiencing the magic feeling of finding a UR mon that plugs the perfect hole in my build. Wish it caught on, but like Ho3n's Defog Gurdurr and basically every other niche mon ran for removal, it just didn't.


A couple of webs squads
| ZUPL W1, me (L)
| updated version
| Terrorizing ladder
| UMPL W3, Esteb4n (W)
The story of this team actually goes back to LTWC somehow, where I stole a Medicham team that Danny used (and I think DBD built) for Lice, and I wanted to bring Medicham Webs to start off ZUPL. I thought I played fine during the game besides falling to the obvious fast dbond weezing that was popular at the time (look, i tabbed out of wc), but right after Bait told me I didn't get the breaker in, and yeah I didn't. In the moment I knew clicking the Vika tera was the wrong play but I didn't think Medicham tera got me anywhere much better. I guess I could've tried to nuke mesp on a switch, but I knew it wasnt helm (or knew my wincon was 'it gets locked into NP'). Anyways, around the time of the Bello suspect, I reworked this team to be Clawitzer > Medicham for extra Charizard assurance, and I still didn't outspeed zard LOL. I had fun with it on ladder, and I felt like it was solid and reliable and good despite how it terrorized zause and Meth Master. For UMPL, I looked at OBB's scout and saw a grand total of zero snorlax usage. I even had Jeza scout farther back, and nope, still no lax. From ladder, I knew that the Claw webs version was was good into not-lax, so I polished it up to not be scarf clawitzer and Esteb4n added on a Samurott. Somehow Esteb4n won without webs up, but hey it still won.


Glastrier + Trev BO ft. Muk
| ZUPL W5, TJ (L) + UMFL W2, Praise the Salt (L)
Man I didn't realize this team lost twice, but to be fair, I picked it because I could actually find stuff to say about it. I liked it enough to pass it in UMFL, but there's no Magneton, so I'm not head over heals in love with it today. I would never use this Hitmontop set today, since I think I figured out that pads saves you in every MU where you want to trade for damage on smth a week or 2 later, and there's no speed creep. The team originally started off as a BaitWiz team that TJ ended up loading 2 weeks after (and winning with), but I didn't like the Whimsicott MU and Victreebel felt like it was stretched too thin when I tested on ladder, so I kept just tweaking things until I couldn't tell which 'Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of muk > bell because whimsicott sucked' was the real one and had to actually rename the team. For UMFL, I was uber busy IRL and Praise The Salt didn't have anything yet and I didn't have time to build/test, so I sent this in. Despite losing twice, I think it had the tools to win both games if PTS remembered Regi was a zard check lol.


the inspiration has left my body
| ZUPL W7, me (W)
The Crams immediately jumped straight to Basculin once Floatzel left the tier, and I had been spamming it on that scarf claw webs team, so a boring looking offense with voltturn and basc was still fresh enough for me to bring. I was burnt out enough to where the building process was 'slap 6 together and have nothing better to load' even though I was confident with it once I brought it. It's games like this that convinced me that Pass and Mowtom suck as scarfers, or at least when you lose to Basculin. I did take a risky line to get to the W, but hey, it worked.

and thats all the ZUPL teams. the ones from finals were built last minute and I already sent the hail in the sample submissions, and everything else is either not memorable to me or smth i want to gatekeep for no reason. and while im here the rest of the teams are gonna be UMPL teams since I'm only taking credit for the one FL team I passed. I do also have thoughts for the UMPL teams so most of them will be included.


Tombcorio BO
| UMPL W3, me (W)
This paste was sitting in my builder through ZUPL and the reason I didn't load it was definitely related to my Magneton and Sandslash usage. Someone else in the cord (I think it was Bait but this also feels like a Terra tech) put me on physical Spiritomb, and I lowkey forgot about it until now which is a crime because it SLAPS. Was really nice when people were going hard Whimsicott into your tomb because you would just delete it with Poltergeist. As for the actual game, I had to wait the full 30 minutes for it (even if I said I cant play early because i was still building/testing, I was still ready on time and bro was online) and I remember going in with the mentality that I was going to win because of that. All things considered, I think this is one of the best performances I've had in a game ever. I made good trades in the early game, and even though I'm not really sure what I was doing with my Muk or if I saw the Oricorio line by then, by time I clicked Tera I knew the game was over. Thank goodness I landed my Hurricanes lol.


Self-Sun Venu Offense (it's probably BO still LOL)
| UMPL W4, Me (L)
Was fun getting to face tony. Don't think we'd played ever and I was excited to. This was the busiest week I had IRL this tour, so I built this like Monday/Tuesday and just hoped it was good when it was game time. The goal was to see how broken Venu was when heat rock was legal since I was busy playing the non-venu ZUPL meta, and I wanted to make this Venu work. It decimated ladder and I knew I was bad against lax, but I thought Regirock alone was gonna be enough for that MU. I didn't get enough games with this team in, since I still didn't have a good gameplan against a well played Snorlax, and I didn't adapt the rigid plan I had against non lax teams or on ladder, which was get early game KOs with venu and clean with Graf.


LO Medicham VoltTurn
| UMPL W5, Me (L)
I kinda just decided it was Braviary time for me and Esteb4n this week, I got nothing from the scout and Esteb4n didn't have any better ideas. I wanted to include this team last because I felt like it was good. Idk, 'its brav week' and 'team good' are all I got. I need to learn how to play around SubSeed or to learn to commit to trades when I really don't want to make them, because my only out vs that CB basc into ditto was tera on magneton, and by time I realized that I lost to that combo, it was too late because I chipped magneton.


and finally,
That One Fat Team
| UMPL W4, Esteb4n (W)
| OG version (grass nacl + defensive cryo)
I actually copied the ppl that copied this team for this paste, since Spiritomb was a pain point and I watched Irene solo a Spiritomb with tera fairy Naclstack. If you want the original, go check out my ZU interview. The inspiration this week was simply to build fat. It'd been on my mind for a while. I didn't think this squad was that good, but Toto stole it for SSNL finals, and Irene ended up also using it in UMPL. I actually didn't realize it was the same team when I was watching Toto play live lol, but shoutouts to Esteb4n for making it look really good tho.


And yeah, teams.

 

[sketchy ecchi]

Hi guys, Sketchy/Datlatias/Sunfish Tamer here. I've been playing a bunch of ZU in the past few weeks as well as taking inspiration from others and wanted to share some creative builds and sets. Teams are listed in order of how much I like them.

Leech Arboliva SD Zard Bulky Offense

I wanted to build around these Arboliva and Muk sets, which I saw in a replay and team from Lettuce's post above. Another new mon for me was this Samurott set I saw posted in VR thread, which is really cool. SD zard is another fun and unexpected set that can easily sweep if the opponent guesses wrong.

SD Zard 6-0

Ape Ditto Spikes Semi-Stall

This team was another draft inspired by some underrated sets I found. The unorthodox sets include Band Spiritomb, fast Neutralizing Gas weezing, and Recycle Snorlax, and I feel like they work well together. Ditto fits well on fat teams and provides some specific utility in being an electric immunity vs Jolteon and revenge killer vs set up. Primeape is really dangerous and also serves the team as defog deterrance.

350 BP Rage Fist

Lass Para Spikes Offense

Paralysis is an underrated status and is pretty unexpected coming from Froslass and Whimsicott. The rest of the team is pretty standard for ZU standards. I have a difficult time in general building without some sturdy mons on the special side like Snorlax or Lanturn, but here I feel like the team can lean on some of its natural resistances and overall speed to not suffer from a lack of walls.

T-Wave Froslass

SD Slash Sand Offense

Sand is an interesting weather condition in ZU, because unlike rain or sun, it has it's own auto-setter, and unlike hail, there are more than a single mon is can support. This team's very similar to diegoyuhhi's in this thread, but with Whimsicott > Lilligant, and quite a few moveset changes like Specs on Probo.

Double Removal Full Stall

I've always been a fan of stall. Since a lot of people write it off as annoying, it feels underexplored. It's pretty hard to make it work in ZU, since there's so much pressure from pivot moves and hazards with limited removal options. Orthworm and Sableye stand out to me as really great stall options with the former having a great universal typing along with hazard setting capabilities to make the whole team less passive, and the latter having prankster encore to make it really difficult for set up sweepers.

Edit: I wanted to share one more team

Hail + Ori

I struggled a lot to figure out what to run on Aboma and Bear and what teammates to use. Here I opted for the most aggressive sets I could think of. Mixed LO + 4 attacks on Abomasnow gives it a strong priority move and an option to hit both walls like phys def Mesprit and spdef Snorlax hard. Life orb + aqua jet Beartic, which helps out against things that may outspeed it and allows it to still potentially sweep after hail ends. This team also features bulky feather dance Oricorio. This thing was devastating on the ladder, and functions in a similar capacity as Bellossom used to. A cool thing I learned is that covert cloak also allows you to heal through psychic noise. This team relies on Sandslash to spin which lefties, SD and tera dark are designed to help pull off even against spin blockers. Mesprit runs healing wish to support the offensive team members, which have a tendency to wear down quickly.

 

[plznostep]

plznostep's Crack Teams

Hello Everyone. I've been building quite a lot of fun teams in SV ZU. I thought I would drop them here for fun!​

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Veluza + Expanding Force Raichu-Alola Psychic Terrain


This is one of my older Crack teams but one that has held up for a really long time. It took a pretty long while to get a team of six that I thought were perfect for each other and this is what I came up with.

Lycanroc

Firstly, Lycanroc. It is here to get rocks up, prevent Stealth Rocks from going up, usually trade, and die. This is important for Typhlosion so it can keep itself at 100% for a full power Eruption. It's not always going to lead however; if I see a Sandslash or Hitmontop on preview, I usually lead Indeedee-F instead.

Indeedee-F

Speaking of Indeedee-F, she is my next and obvious team member for a Psychic Terrain team. Intitally, this Indeedee-F was offensive but I found Reflect + Light Screen was amazing to allow Pokemon like Veluza and Raichu-Alola to get a setup turn. Indeedee-F has a decent Speed stat to do this and Healing Wish allows Indeedee-F to immediately get in a threat. It also again synergizes with Typhlosion, as Healing Wish can restore it back to 100% for Eruption.

Veluza

Veluza is next. It has excellent synergy with Psychic Terrain, as it appreciates the power boost for its STAB Psycho Cut and also loves being immune to priority, as Veluza is always near low HP after setting up. It also punishes Pokemon like Basculin for locking into Wave Crash to revenge a Pokemon like Raichu-Alola for example or Passimian locking into Close Combat to revenge Virizion.

Raichu-Alola

Raichu-Alola is my Expanding Force user. It is the fastest user of Expanding Force in the tier and has excellent coverage with its Electric-type + Psychic-type + Fighting-type coverage. Raichu-Alola's problem is its poor Special Attack stat. Expanding Force fixes this issue, giving it an incredibly strong STAB move that is likely to even OHKO Snorlax at +2 with Tera Psychic.

Virizion

Virizion is next. The team needed a Dark-resist and a Jolteon answer. Virizion seemed perfect for the job, given that Justified gives it an Attack boost, directly punishing Knock Off use. Additionally, Psychic Seed is great with Virizion as Virizion already has naturally high Special Defense. By giving it a Psychic Seed, it is able to tank many dangerous Special Attackers in the tier and set up with Swords Dance. Psychic Terrain also boosts it's coverage in Zen Headbutt, giving it more favourable damage rolls on Pokemon like Weezing.

Typhlosion

Typhlosion is the last Pokemon on the team. It is used here for Speed Control but also naturally synergises with many team members already while also appreciating Psychic Terrain to stop priority and thus keep it at 100% for Eruption cleaning.​

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Full Trick Room


Trick Room has always been a pretty fun team style to build. ZU has quite a lot of unique Trick Room Pokemon to choose from, so I had to make a team with them. When making this team, I did prioritize OTR Pokemon over Pokemon who don't get Trick Room naturally. I thought it was important to make most of the team function on their own while also supporting each other at the same time.

Carbink

To start is Carbink. Carbink makes for a good suicide lead on Trick Room, as it is unable to be OHKO'd thanks to Sturdy, has Stealth Rock + Spikes, and has Misty Explosion to allow a switch-in after it has used Trick Room. I am running Red Card on my Carbink so that Carbink cannot be used as setup fodder and also can be kept in the back to force a dangerous setup Pokemon to switch.

Hitmontop

Hazard Control seemed pretty important to have on Trick Room, as many Pokemon here need to be able to take a hit in order to set up Trick Room. By removing hazards, my Trick Room sweepers have a higher likelihood of doing this. Mach Punch also adds some much needed priority for outside of Trick Room while Hitmontop also is decently threatening enough that it can be used in Trick Room as well.

Spiritomb

Next is the obvious choice for an OTR Pokemon in the tier in Spiritomb. Spiritomb has Nasty Plot + Trick Room naturally and also a great defensive and offensive typing for the tier. It also acts as a spinblocker so Carbink's hazards can stay up.

Ursaring

When searching for a Trick Room abuser, I wanted someone who didn't necessarily need a turn of set up to be threatening right away but also didn't overlap with the other members of my team. Ursasing was the best I could find. Crabominable would have been favourable, but I wasn't sure about running two Fighting-types and Ursaring is just as, if not more powerful when it has its Flame Orb activated.

Rabsca

Rabsca is a very unique Pokemon with its access to Revival Blessing. This is a great tool for Trick Room as a lot of the time you may have to sacrifice someone in order to get momentum back in your favour after Trick Room has ended. Revival Blessing allows you to do this without as much repercussion, and Rabsca in itself is not too bad offensively.

Exeggutor-Alola

While not having any setup moves, Exeggutor-Alola's typing is pretty unique among Trick Room setters. Offensively, it is the only Dragon-type and one of the few Grass-types to have Trick Room. Someone like Trevenant could have also worked with it also having Trick Room and a decent offensive profile, but it is a Ghost-type which compounds a weakness to Dark-type and Fire-type Pokemon that Rabsca has. As a result, I chose Exeggutor-Alola. Exeggutor-Alola is very threatening with basically perfect coverage and a high Special Attack stat combined with high base power STAB moves in Draco Meteor, making it a good final Pokemon for the team.​

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Lilligant Grassy Terrain


Grassy Terrain is a pretty tough team composition to build. There are a few things that can get in the way. Mainly, Fire-types, but I do think there is some fun potential here to enable our Quiver Dancers. Lilligant is a pretty cool Pokemon to use on Grassy Terrain. While I do like Oricorio, it requires Hitmontop to function on these teams as if Stealth Rocks go up, then your Oricorio has effectively lost its bulk. Lilligant doesn't worry too much about this, but we'll go into it more when I cover its role on the team.

Whiscash


Firstly, I put Whiscash on as a hazard lead. A lot of people on this team really appreciate hazards such as Lilligant and Dodrio, so its no brainer to put it on, and it can also act as a Fire-type check in a pinch as I don't always have to lead and sack it.

Thwackey

Thwackey is mandatory for Grassy Terrain. Arboliva, while a great Pokemon, doesn't activate it on switch unless it gets hit, which isn't really that practical. Plus, Thwackey does add some neat tools like priority and Knock Off, so its not the worst.

Lilligant

Lilligant is the star of the team. There was one combo I really wanted to utilize with this team; Petal Dance and Own Tempo. Petal Dance has a very high base power of 120 which gets boosted to 156 in Grassy Terrain. Combined with Lilligant's 110 Special Attack stat, and you have a very dangerous Pokemon. As a bonus, Own Tempo negates one of Petal Dance's downsides in getting confused after locking into the move, and Lilligant doesn't mind locking into Petal Dance because even resistances take absurd damage. Giga Drain also is great, as it is boosted by Grassy Terrain and gives Lilligant recovery, which is particularly notable for Snorlax. Tera Ghost allows Lilligant to hit the majority of the tier neutrally while also giving Lilligant a resistance to U-turn and means Snorlax cannot paralyze it with Body Slam.

Dodrio

For this team, Dodrio is the best user of Acrobatics as it is fast and strong. It also has great coverage in Low Kick, meaning it can hit Flying-resists Orthworm and Regirock super effectively. I went for Tera Ground as a way to make Dodrio resist Rock-types and also be immune to Electric-type moves, being particularly strong versus Jolteon.

Mesprit

Mesprit may not benefit from the passive recovery of Grassy Terrain, but Grassy seed certainly gives it a big buff to its bulk. This allows bulky setup Mesprit sets to be particularly nasty when used on Grassy Terrain. I opted for Calm Mind + Stored Power here, as Grassy Seed gives Stored Power a boost as well.

Snorlax

Lastly is Snorlax. While Snorlax isn't particularly great in Grassy Terrain, it can work fine enough and is needed as Fire-types become really difficult to deal with otherwise. Because I cannot run Rest, Snorlax practically needs Facade or status becomes way too hard to deal with. It can use Curse to make itself more threatening, and Grassy Seed means Snorlax has pretty decent physical bulk as well.​

 

[budgetplayer]

A couple of cool teams with NFE mons
​

This is just a teamdump/yapfest with a theme of using a bunch of less used NFE Pokemon as supporting roles. Some of these Pokemon are very helpful as defensive pieces because Eviolite is the best item for bulk, and a couple even get toolkit pieces, such as reliable recovery and hazard control, that are very rare in ZU.

Gurdurr:

Defog Gurdurr is likely among the most reliable hazard removal options in the tier, as Braviary's typing and stats don't give it much help defensively at all, and the spinners are obviously threatened by spinblock. As such, it works very well in supporting Pokemon with rock weaknesses, like (ironically) Scarf Braviary. Other than that, it has Drain Punch and Knock Off to just annoy things, and Mach Punch for emergencies. More experimentation with the EVs is probably a good idea, as the incredible bulk is nice but without a lot of attack Gurdurr sometimes struggles with an offensive presence.

Scarf Brav DefogGurdurr


Ursaring:

Facade. 252 Atk Guts Ursaring Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Snorlax: 487-574 (92.9 - 109.5%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO. Very nice wallbreaker, and with enough speed EVs, you hit the coveted 221 speed tier that many wallbreakers aspire to outspeed. Play Rough and Close Combat hit (almost) everything that tanks Facade, and the last move has a bunch of cool options, from Throat Chop/Crunch to kill all the other less viable ghosts that are not Tomb/Sab, Sub to ease predicts, Taunt for... something, probably, and Trailblaze if you think you can get away with actual robbery. (If you really really hate Zause stall, I heard Stone Edge has a better than not chance of oneshotting Drifblim.) It does often need pivot support, however, since Flame Orb takes a turn to activate and it never wants to tank hits.

Tinkatuff:

It's a steel type, it does steel type things like tank Whimiscott's Moonblasts. It sets rocks, clicks Thunder Wave, clicks Encore, clicks Knock Off, those are all pretty good moves. It's pretty passive and lets things in, but just get good at doubling in your response I guess. (Weirdly enough, Own Tempo might be a viable option since Pickpocket might steal random Choice items and Mold Breaker reveals itself.)

Haunter:

Interesting choice for a scarfer. Alongside Toxicroak and Mesprit (and base Rotom, maybe), it is one of the few viable scarfers with a positive matchup into Fighting types. Notably, it (kinda) blanks all of Toxicroak's moves and can threaten back with a Wisp or Trick. It's also a ghost, making spin a much more annoying select for the opponent, and levitates, allowing it to matchup more positively into Webs along with letting it keep its bulk by not taking spikes damage. (That was a joke. Ha!) Shadow Ball is also just a cool move into many teams, and most normals don't like eating Haunter's utility options or Sludge Wave. Haunter has a lot of choices for its last two moves, but I personally like Wisp and Trick, as Wisp is just generally useful to cripple mons (most of all big man Toxicroak hates it), and Trick lets you swap the scarf to a setup sweeper or a defensive wall (and also lets you actually "revenge kill" CM jolt, especially since people are probably tempted to click another setup to dodge DBond). There are a lot of tools in Haunter's toolkit, however, like Encore, Dbond, other attacks, and some more cursed options like Toxic Spikes.

Here's a team with all these mons supported by a pivot Rotom-Mow:
MC Hammer Bear


Clefairy:

Oh yeah, this mon is kinda cool, I guess. It's a fairy with reliable recovery, hazard immunity, it's a rocker with a decently positive matchup into HTop, it's a Tomb check, and it has some utility moves like Encore, TWave, Knock, or even Healing Wish. Probably worth experimenting with more. It's a nice rocker option when Mesprit is off the table for one reason or another and you want a different defensive profile than the typical rock type rocker that gets spun on all day.

EBelt Mesprit Rocks Clef


(Please do not make any suggestions involving Tera Psychic Tentacool or Tera Psychic Carkoal, Oof.)

 

[PlayaBeavs]

zupl team stuff

w1
Was really busy this week and didnt have time to make anything new, but wanted to use a-eggy so just went with this since i had used it to ladder a while back and it felt alright. Good thing opp didnt load a fire type.

w2
probably the worst team i loaded the whole tour, not sure what i was thinking here.

w3
Lost with this but, I like this the most i think. Abomasnow + Toxicroak seems like they work good together.
Mismag was originally subplot but i think specs is alot better.
A-veil should probably be fblast or low kick
sandaconda probably better slash

w4
vs twenty was the hardest week to prep for until i thought about trick room,
Team is pretty standardish i think tho nothing crazy.

w5
Opp used toxicroak as only water resist every week except 1, and only used a grass type once. So i had to go for the mold breaker basc fish. Chlorophyll + timid on venusaur for peace of mind vs sunny day venu who other wise 6-0s with some chip

w6
Steel + flashcannon on toed because i was expecting to see some frosslass whiscash/regirock spikes but probably any other move is usually better.

alright i am tired of typing, how do u guys talk so much about your teams, how do u remember alla that

 

[milliongatejumpguy]

Hi, I joined halfway through the tournament so I don't have that much stuff to share.

Week 5 (vs PTK): Slaking bulky offense

Figured it was best to meet crackhead strength with crackhead strength, instead of trying to prep for Articuno balance, scarf Flapple and dragon fang Alolan Egg, so I started scouring the tier for unranked nonsense and landed on the funny BW sloth. Since Slaking is the type of extremely bulky mon that lends itself to favorable trades, I figured I could have other bulky trade machine mons support him in a bulky offense structure.

: Main breaker. Edge is standard STAB, knock hits ghosts, play rough hits the ghosts that don't get hit by knock (Sableye, Spiritomb), EQ hits basically everything that resists normal type attacks (bar tera steel Mesprit). We run a defensive tera to match Slaking's role as a trademon, you also get to boost Play Rough but there aren't many situations where I'd expect to use it offensively.
: Rocks setter with all sorts of useful resists. Eject pack lets you get Slaking in for free once, at the cost of longevity. This is a fine trade, since you're aiming for a shorter game anyway.
: Boots Whimsi provides some speed control and anti-setup to make up for Slaking's down time in longer games. Slaking hates protect users, so I figured leech seed would be funny tech to lure random Camerupts/Pyroars and force them to take some undesirable chip. No idea if this is the right EV spread for this set, maybe you can afford max HP.
: Wanted some way of punishing protect Whiscash too, so Bait suggested this guy which also doubles as proper insurance against water types. There was no Cryo in scout and I couldn't find a reason to run thunderbolt so I just went with two ice moves. Definitely not the optimal set.
: We round off the team with two win conditions that wouldn't mind much even if all hazards went up. Curse Regirock is a dangerous late game sweeper that really enjoys rocky Mesprit/Skunk being used to trade with Slaking, as it can now click curse without fearing encore/psynoise/taunt.
: Mystical power Mesprit is a set I stole from Beavs and it's meant to clean in games where the offensive presence was used to trade with Slaking instead, ideally butchering through crippled bulky teams.

In-game we got one of the interactions I wanted, that being Slaking removing the Mesprit (and Toedscruel) for Regirock, and that ended up being enough to win the game despite a couple Magneton high roll jumpscares.

Week 6 (vs M1chael Jordan): Expert Belt Mesprit ... thing?

Honestly I just wanted to build with Expert Belt Mesprit. MJ seemed to be having this trend of loading hazard stack with scarf fighting type, so I just laid the bare minimum requirements of having a spinner and a fighting resist with longevity. This was actually a rejected variation due to the abysmal lack of special bulk that kinda just lost to sunny day Venu, but we luckily dodged that matchup so it's all good.

The actual intended build went like this:

Which does a lot better into sunny day Venu and special attackers as a whole.

: Expert Belt Mesprit. Energy ball 1hkos Whiscash, Shadow Ball likely 2hkos rocky helmet Mesprit, Psychic is STAB and fairy move ensures you can hit Spiritomb/Sableye. This is a pretty good anti-hazard-lead build that I could not find a way to properly exploit (for example, if you pretend this anti-lead is enough to deny hazards you lose to webs).
: Late game win condition and hax merchant. Also kinda just wins the endgame against self-sun Venu? Very easily too. Tera poison ensures you cuck the scarf Passimian/Toxicroak that tries to revenge kill you.
: Didn't want to load no-scarfer 2 weeks in a row, so I loaded my own Passimian too, to clean up after the opposing Passimian is gone. Worst case scenario I can go for a speed tie.
: Rocks setter that provides some much-needed special bulk in the early game. This is the more standard leftovers + protect set, since the team is intended to be more defensive.
: Primary physical tank to check Passimian/Croak (also Basculin, who knows) and ensure Dunsparce doesn't take an unwarranted knock off early in the game. Earth power is mandatory to threaten Skunk.
: We round off the team with an offensive removal option since ideally Mesprit will cripple the hazard stack core before it can set stuff twice.

Yes, I'm describing the intended team over the team that won, because the team that won is more glaringly flawed and I do not recommend using it. Funny enough, draining kiss was swapped for dazzling gleam like, twice, but it ended up saving me from a Minior sweep in-game.

Week 7 (vs Memphisdepayy): Custap Basculin lmao


I pitched the idea of non-choiced Basculin week 5 but we hadn't got a chance to use it yet so I figured might as well bring it here. Opponent was expected to recycle or maybe bring a sample so I didn't prep too thoroughly here, after all we were out by this point.

: Non-choiced Basculin aims to punish Toxicroak water resist builds. I didn't want to reveal scarfn't in damage rolls so naturally custap berry is the next best choice. Originally had aqua jet over double-edge but you do need a move to hit Toxicroak post-tera.
: Since Basculin is not scarfed, someone else has to be. Magneton is a nice choice because it doesn't give your idea away early game, as people would assume eviolite in this type of build.
: Removal that doesn't get spinblocked super easily by Froslass/Sableye. Ended up getting spinblocked by Froslass anyway.
: Physical tank. Expected Toxicroak or Skunk, but also Whimsicott, so sludge/ep/giga drain felt like the most appropriate coverage.
: Special tank to support Cryogonal, round off the FWG core and set rocks. Same set as last week.
: Skunk is the best mon in the tier so there's little reason not to load it if you got a free team slot. We don't need more bulk and priority + taunt + psychic immunity (since Magneton is not eviolite and won't take hits super well) is pretty good glue for the team.

In-game I played too conservative and ended up having to reveal scarf Magneton way too early but eh, still got the job done somehow or another.


Happy with my results here. My ZU teambuilding is still rough around the edges but this is the first time I build stuff that actually gets wins, so that's progress.

 

[sketchy ecchi]

Hi guys,

It has been over a year since I started playing around with reverse webs and I wanted to share my current take on it, as I feel like it is not too bad of a gimmick in the current meta.



The idea is the same- to lead Vikavolt for webs, use Smeargle for court change, and then take advantage of reverse webs abusers. However here, I have focused on just the contrary + superpower sweepers Malamar and Lurantis for two reasons. First, I felt like other reverse web abusers were a little overrated and usually it was just Malamar doing the heavy lifting. Second, I have played around with the idea of trying to set webs on both sides of the field when possible. This is important for Lurantis as just a +1 speed boost is not enough for it to outspeed offensive mons and it can also benefit non-reverse webs sweepers. Skuntank and Mismagius are great mons in general and help round out the team.

more about the sets

56 HP ev's helps it live CB sneasel triple axel. I opted for a Timid nature since damage is not a priority and this can get a jump on 0 speed Mesprit and Modest Eggy-A. I belive Thunder Wave is much more useful than Energy Ball as it can cripple spinners trying to spam Rapid Spin vs Sticky Web. I do not generally click Twave unless necessary as 10% miss sucks :c

252 Atk Choice Band Sneasel Triple Axel (120 BP) (3 hits) vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Vikavolt: 260-309 (84.1 - 100%) -- 0.1% chance to OHKO

I've had a lot of fun with unboosted technician Population Bomb. If all hits land (and this is rarely happening), it's a 450 base power attack which more than makes up for Smeargle's pitiful base attack stat. Most games you will just click Court Change and, if you're lucky, reset webs on the opponent. Burning Bulwark is great in this meta as a lot of mons rely on contact moves. Do note that Protective Pads do not incur a burn on this move.

252 Atk Technician Smeargle Population Bomb (10 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mesprit: 150-180 (41.2 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO (helmet damage gonna hurt)

With the Tera Blast ban, I decided to give Lurantis a shot over Servine. I opted for a physically biased mixed set, as Superpower was the main move I wanted to take advantage of. Leaf Storm is a great addition for Weezing and Sableye. Lurantis really shines with webs on both sides of the field, as it would then outrun all unboosted mons and up to scarf base 90 mons.

As mentioned before, I believe Malamar is the best reverse webs abuser. It gets great coverage between its three attacks. I opted for lefties + sub to help with scouting and not get worn down. Jolly nature is necessary to outrun Jolteon at +1.

This is a standard set with boots to not get slown down by webs.

Mismagius can take advantage of weakened teams to sweep late game, is unaffected by webs, and offers some potential spinblocking while trying to set up Court Change.

Finally, I'm not much of a "save replay guy", but here is a malamar sweep to show what it can do.

I have played around with other reverse webs abusers such as the following team



However I liked the idea of not being strictly set-up based and thus prefered to present the other team. Reverse webs has a decent amount of customizability, you can also rely solely on Smeargle and free up another slot or use some other Competitive/Defiant mons like Wigglytuff and Pawniard, as I have seen others doing. I hope to see more people playing around with the concept. Thanks for reading!

 

[plznostep]

Steppy ZUPL Team Dump

Week 1 vs Chungler (L) - Steppy Psychic Terrain


I wanted to try Psychic Terrain for first week to see how it was. My verdict? Not amazing. Someone probably will find a way to break it but it won't be myself. Some fun things here like Screens Indeedee-F and Memento Skuntank as well. I ended up losing this one on Veluza nature though haha...

Week 2 vs DBD (W) - Bog Standard Bulky Offense


So after that week I thought lets just go for something I know. A pretty bog standard Sun core of Pyroar + Venusaur, Froslass + Whiscash hazard core, and Skuntank and Passimian; the mons you can just slap on if you don't know what else to do for your slots really. It went very well would say.

Week 3 vs Baddy (W) - Bandaconda for a Baddy


So. Bandaconda. I was looking through PU VR rankings one random time and saw a mention of it. Something so silly needed to be used by me at least once. I'm very glad I did, Sandaconda did so well in the game. Otherwise, Swanna is here. I think they're cool, some nice defensive mu's into stuff like Passimian, good into Camerupt and Whiscash as a Defogger, and particularly Orthworm to help Sandaconda. Naclstack is here as well because he's just good and deals with Fire-types. Yeah.

Week 4 vs One Last Kiss (W) - Another Standard Bulky Offense


So like. Pretty standard? Instead of a BO with Sun Venusaur, I used the other good Venusaur set and it worked in my favour. There isn't really much to say, everyone pulled their weight here.

Week 5 vs Tempo Di Anguria (W) - A Taste of Steppy Webs


I did a lot of experimenting with Sticky Web teams before doing ZUPL. That's how I came up with Smeargle as the lead for Sticky Webs as the only option for Stealth Rock + Sticky Webs. Dusknoir is a really good spinblocker on webs as it makes its low speed actually pretty decent, now outspeeding stuff like Hitmontop and Clawitzer. Honchkrow is a demon on webs, can't revenge with a Choice Scarfer unless your name is Mesprit and when you kill something you become 1000x more dangerous. Toxicroak likes Sticky Webs because it can no longer be revenged by other Scarfed Toxicroak, and some other minor things it likes such as slowing down Whimsicott. Vikavolt is disgusting with Sticky Webs up; in the game it almost just won on the spot without a random Tera to stop it. And Lycanroc is Pyroar insurance and also good on webs as Scarfers no longer revenge. Phew, that was a lot. Not even all the good Sticky Web Pokemon. Go forth, my Sticky Web agenda!

Week 6 vs MemphisDepay (W) - MemphisDepay Balance Counterteam


I was begging for an opportunity to do Balance this tour but like, I know people want to load Clawitzer into me. But volia, I see a repeated team that a balance team should do great against? Here's my CTEAM! Obviously Tera Ghost Choice Specs Typhlosion is to stop Pyroar, Lurantis was supposed to outspeed Regirock and Defog but it didn't so Regirock was fast. Muk stops Whimsicott + he also checks a good few other Pokemon in this tier; he's kinda underrated. Sandaconda the glue, being Volt immune, taking on Passimian, Toxicroak, and Skuntank. Love them. And uh. Passimian and Skuntank again. They really do deserve S tier don't they?

Week 7 vs Leroipolux (W B/C I got to use Flittle) - FLITTLE ATTACK


It's Week 1 team but with Flittle on it; we were already in so I just did that.

Semifinals vs Micciu (W) - Lapras BO


Diego likes Lapras = I get Lapras tech. Lapras has Water Absorb + Tera Fairy for Clawitzer so like no dealing with it coming in on my Sableye. Eelektross always takes a hit and pivots into something we like. Somehow my first Regirock? He's great, big bulky guy. Wow is that Passimian again? It's almost like he's fucking crazy and amazing in this tier, and U-turn is a fucking superb move. And Pyroar is here again because Pyroar is good.

Finals vs LogIce (W) - Clawitzer Pivot Spam


I decided Clawitzer is our mascot + it didn't do terribly into scout. Who would expect Clawitzer from me anyways, it's No.1 Hater. Pairing it with Passimian obviously (U-TURN. IS. STUPID.), Mesprit, and Eject Pack Appletun, who is also someone I wanted to use more but I never got the chance. Happy to use during finals though, a favourite Pokemon of mine. Camerupt is here again, he's just good. AND LOOK MORE SKUNTANK. Maybe you can see a pattern in my builds now. Clawitzer sucked balls this game but please ban.

 

[diego]

ZUPL DUMP
it's been one of the seasons of all time for sure. i felt like i had a decent grasp on the metagame but i kept losing to in game misplays, my mentality and irl conditions weren't there for most of the season and it showed. anyway, i had some very fun builds so i wanted to share them.

Week 1 vs Terracotta (W)

slapped this team together like 5 minutes before the game cause i was feeling really really sick (hence paste name), it's def flawed but it's like 3 brokens + haz stack core + ditto so i thought it would've prob worked, and it did. sun venu has some extra bulk and lefties as patchwork fix to whimsi weakness. poltergeist lass hits cryo harder. got a bit lucky.

Week 2 vs Greybaum (L)

honestly idr why i wanted to stall grey. stall with pivot into breaker is one of my fav archetypes of all time, tho i usually include a ditto which got replaced by a crocalor in this instance for unburden users, and it ended up costing me. wanted some claw usage on my scout so i said why the fuck not. idbp apple is a fun mon. def played badly, team flaws didn't help.

Week 3 vs Leni (L)

mr greedent was something i had been eyeing for a while, and so i built some bread and butter bulky offense to go along with it. jaboca punishes knock off. scarf alolachu has a cool speed tier above sun venu. the venu set is very fun and prob good on a different team, this paste struggles a bit too much with cryo (stone edge cash would've helped). threw endgame.

Week 4 vs Shadow (L)

0 flying resists on scout, wanted to ball with cb dodrio. i don't like croak as a scarfer but felt needed here. offensive epack camel was doing wonders in tests, double ground move to punish his own camel usage. never been a slash fan but it's a croak punish with spikes, and if you can manage to spin it helps dodrio. played in bad irl conditions, forgot to click encore.

Week 5 vs seraphz (L)

discovered lapras, this mon is kinda bonkers. stabs + psynoise pressure the entire tier, def investment + body press 2hkos cryo. spatk invested weezing with fire blast better punishes croak, skun and sunny venu. the croak set was being used a lot and i wanted to try it, it prob sucks ngl, just go pads cc. very winnable game, was hardcore clicking cause i was late irl.

Week 6 vs Toto (W)

already qualified and wanted to ball with sand. always preferred 4a lycan over sd, feel like you never get the chance to click it. ebutton whimsi and tomb fix some annoying matchups for sand defensively, and give pivoting and anti setup in the former's case and an alternative wincon in the latter's. no clue how i won this game ngl but it felt very nice.

Week 7 vs OBB (L)

built this team with the specific intention of wanting to vary my usages a little bit, and so i brought stuff like orth, clef, vika, and missy. not much to say, funky haz stack with vika for webs and missy as pseudo spin blocker. no volt blocker since obb doesn't run boots on jolt so it just dies. incredibly weird in game but ended up losing in a close one.

Semis vs Shadow (L)

had been eyeing curse lapras for a while, not as good as curse glast but it can still kinda do a similar thing. weird eel set to hit some stuff like camel and venu harder. play rough tuff hits skun and top. blim clears hazards while not clashing in typing with lapras. temper flare skun helps with croak and sun venu. got wrecked by cb lycan, lapras couldn't setup in time.

Finals vs OBB (W)

"something trades with skun and the other mons can break better after that". dbond roar mabo is a cool set which can do some interesting stuff, prob go pads if you're playing any normal helmet skun user. had 0 basc on scout and mystic water is THE set that trades with skun, plus few reliable water resists on obb scout. phystomb is underrated, no knock on this team + had help for skun + otr was kinda antisynergistic with vika. speaking of, vika still looked good cause obb has weird boots usages. i knew i was accepting the potential to lose to some phys breaker with this team, and sceptile almost punished it. luckily, vika is the absolute goat.

a lot more losses than i'd like to admit but i brought some very fun stuff, esp in the later weeks. i still adore this tier. might do some vr noms in the next days.

 

[Shadow079]

ZUPL Slop!!!

Im a greedy bastard so initially wasnt going to do a post zupl team run down as umpl is about to start, but given the sizable shifts we're now confirmed to be getting figured I might asw do smthing with the teams before theyre rendered useless.

Week 1: Greybaum (W)


Week 1 meant there wasnt a clear scout to go off so was instead focused on just making something I felt was solid enough to win versus pmuch anything. Clawitzer is a nonsense mon that does nonsense things (hopefully itll be more palatable after shifts) so wanted to load it to start the tour. Passimian had just dropped back into the tier which meant the return of the king scarfer and one of the better claw partners thanks to forcing lots of swaps and getting to pivot into claw for free. Mesprit is mesprit, blanket checks everything and another pivot for claw. Whimsicott and venusaur were two of the mons I most respected throughout the tour, so camel on this team (and pmuch every other team i loaded for the tour) was a no brainer. Weezing is there solely cause croak is broken and I didnt want to lose to it week 1. Viriz was the last mon I added, as I wanted smthing fast, and a nother 'water resist' (its not exactly switching into basculin comfortably). CM cloak was a set bace used versus me in circuit poffs 2025, and with air slash it functions as a very nice venu lure. In the actual match I was certainly suprised by what Greaybaum brought, but claw doesnt discriminate in blowing stuff up so it smashed stuff early. In prep I realised skunk was pretty scary for the team (my cope solution was t dark camel) as it forces weezing to trade down with it, and this interaction ended up happening in the game and it nearly ended up costing me with Greybaum's pass nearly managing to clean with weez traded off, tho thxfully my own pass + viriz managed to hang on.

Week 2: sky (W)


I hadn't got a chance to use mismagius in week 1, one of the other drops around the start of ZUPL, so week 2 I wanted to give it a try. I settled on specs as I felt it best took advantage of missi's wide range of coverage options which I thought to be it's biggest strength. Scarf pass like week 1 was an auto-include cause why wouldn't I want to use the best scarfer in the tier. The biggest issue I faced this week was that I wanted to pair mismagius with pyroar as the double special breaker threat felt rly nice, and as I was scared of facing opposing mismagius which pyroar is on of the better answers to. The issue with this arose as it meant I'd have to use a non camel ground. I spent a while messing around with whishcash, trying to combo spikes with missy to spinblock, but I just dont like how whishcash teams feel (venu weak), which ultimately led me to just decide that it was better to run double fire than to drop camel and deal with the issues of finding checks for whimsicott and venusaur. Eject venu was a set I wanted to run since ZUCL, but Tuthur would complain in my channel everytime I posted it, but by ZUPL id stopped caring about his yap and decided to run it. The extra pivot was nice as the only real issue camel faces is being a momentum sink unable to pivot, so having a pivot somewhere else made issues of momentum and getting specs missi in less annoying. NP mesp has fallen off with skunk taking over the tier, but it's still a major threat, and I felt it could take advantage of the holes pyroar and missi made in teams. For the second week in a row my opponents bring suprised me, with sky loading trick room, but despite a scary midgame NP mesp managed to clean in the end and secured w2.

Week 3: seraphz (W)


By this point you might be starting to recognise a trend in my teams. Week 3 I once again brought the camel, mesprit, passimian core 3 id brought week 1 and 2, with the other 3 slots still being my physdef poison, special breaker and flavour piece. In ZUCL whimsicott was my bread and butter mon, so I figured itd be a good idea to break it out again for ZUPL. The eject venu-camel logic from last week still applied this week. I hadn't used skunk yet this tour so decided this was the week to toss it on. Most important use of skunk was being able to just toss it at other skunks, which was a nice change from previous weeks where I felt quite weak to skunk. Skunk had the added synergy of pressuring venu for whims so that moonblast was as free of a click as possible. In the match the teams lack of an ice resist was made readily apparent by my opponents loading beartic snow, but thxfully tera button exists so my camel was actually a water type.

Week 4: Diego (W)


3-0 to start the tour had sufficiently inflated my ego so decided it was time for a shitmon feature from my friend malamar. Shitmon might be a bit harsh as I do think malamar has a fun niche as knock spreading wincon with longevity. No mesprit this week but venusaur, camel and pass all returned. Lass was my favourite spiker in the tier during the tour thanks to all the useful roles it combines, the two biggest being croak "check" and spinblocking for itself. Cuno roar was an anti-bs button that I felt the last 3 weeks of games showed was warranted, and it also served as a way to rack up the spikes dmg if Id set layers and spread knocks around before hand. In the actual match I got hard punished for my repeated use of the same core mons with diego loading up a cb dodrio to nuke my no fly resist teams. My secret trapcard however was that malamar was actually a flying resist all along, and in combination with its lore accurate mind control powers it pulled through in the endgame for the win.

Week 5: memphis (W)


Peko's team scout had a severe lack of ground types and volt blockers, so immediately specs jolt was my idea for the week. Jolteon has kinda struggled in current meta as slash has been replaced by spdef ground in camel and cash who turn blocked electric moves into hazards. To help with this I went with swanna as its best nice in the meta imo is its matchup versus camel and cash specifically, with it additionally being able to pivot into jolt. With jolteon I felt I didn't really need a scarfer for speed control, but I did want at least 1 other fast mon so I went with double specs with a whimsicott. Camel and mesprit got put on the team because its camel and mesprit and they go on every team, and then lastly I went with croak as the team needed a skunk switch, and it needed smthing to just whack AV eel if jolt or whims ever pivoted out on it. For the first time in the tour I loaded into something I expected with memphis having no volt block. The game ended up being a battle of trades with jolt + whims managing to come out on top.

Week 6: didn't play SV D:

Week 7: terra (W)


I was feeling pretty lazy this week, which in combination with prep hiting a brick wall as I was trying to not use camel (impossible), so I ended up reloading the week 1 team I built as I expected claw to have a good mu, with the only edit being fairy > dark tera on camel for the teams mu versus opposing claw. Game was pretty straight forward, with a big turn being my camel's eq picking up the ko on an av skunk that expected to live an ep.

Semis: Diego (W)


Another week of trying to change my scout, another week of failing to do so and loading camel again. Prep was similar to Week 5 where the opponents scout lacked volt blockers on a lot of teams, which once again meant specs jolt. I was also feeling that cocky-time-to-bring-a-shitmon energy again and this time it manifested in lycanron-midnight as I was not losing semis on a stone edge miss. The idea of the team was pretty straight forward, jolt clicks volt, venu clicks leaf storm eject, mesprit clicks uturn, and in comes the big bad wolf to take a KO. In prep I was pleasantly surprised by the calcs cb lycan had and said calcs manged to translate into the game where it tore through diego's team, alongside specs jolt which once again sucessfully loaded into a team without a volt immune.

Closing Thoughts

Even with skunk taking over the meta mesprit is still rly rly rly good, mostly physdef but np and spdef have their places (scarf is blehh). Clawitzer is (was(?) now that new shifts are here) nonsense and will detonate ur opponents pc if it gets enough entries/is played agressively enough. Camel is the best ground in the tier with it being the best venu check and being able to take on whims. Building on the last point venu is absurd and has no answers in a long enough game where it gets to sludge bomb poison fish and knock versus everything. Croak is pretty absurd and a pain to deal with, either in the builder with running slop mons like weezing, or in game having to hope its not the set that beats you.