This thread has seen better days but considering this tournament is finally over, it would be a waste not to give credence to all the sets and ideas that made it all possible for us to get the trophy. i'll only be mentioning sets that aren't particularly seen in standard play, but have manifested in our tour play during this edition of wcop.
Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Substitute / Fire Fang
not sure why this set is not used as much as it is, but i believe that z dragon chomp is by far superior to both mega sd and sd z rock. the targets that z rock hits that z dragon doesn't are really just bulu and skarm(both of which aren't particularly threatening), and oftentimes missing out on the extra power boosted by STAB no less is essentially limiting chomp's nuking power as whole. people also assume that whenever chomp sds, it is z rock, and having z dragon to deal with their check/pivot can be much more rewarding. celesteela isn't an answer either since the most it can do is leech seed and coverage in fire fang or substitute can deal with that, as well as knocking it out with a +4 z dragon. while this set forfeits chomp's ability to set up rocks, sd sr chomp is usually whittled and at most claims 1 kill or major damage before it goes down, which potentially allows for the opponent to defog later on in the match. substitute is preferable for scouting and safe set up(also blocking status), while also allowing for safe usage of z dragon vs non fairy pivots, but fire fang is also usable if coverage for bulu and certain steel types is preferred. if using fire fang, fini is a decent partner as it provides misty terrain support to block status for it and the targets z dragon hits are usually levitating or flying which doesn't nerf its damage output.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 128 SpD / 136 Spe || EVs: 244 HP / 148 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly / Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Facade
sd gliscor is low key broken and admittedly has really skyrocketed in usage ever since oras players from spain started spamming it in sm. the only real "counters" that can deal with it is skarm, physdef steela, ice beam lati, rh tang with hp ice, slowbro, and unaware mons. that isn't a really big list of counters, but the major way of dealing with it before it gets out of hand is honestly applying as much offensive pressure as possible. i personally use 2 spreads for it, one that is more spdef and caters to easier set up while the other is faster to cover threats like z tran, megatar, adamant sd land and base 80s. you can even go faster for jolly drill if you're really weak to that but would be a lot of wasted evs otherwise. while sr and defog gliscor are also quite good, sd reigns supreme.
Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
didn't really think this set was relevant any longer until blunder mentioned how good it can be, and also the fact that germany almost swept us with it so yeah dd land with the comeback. while the standard set is sr over rp which is more catered to dealing with stall, rock polish allows it to outspeed pretty much everything in the current meta, even jolly sand drill and standard hawlucha. rp is very much a surprise tech since it is a set that nobody expects to face and is only really revenged by certain priority. a speed boosting sweeper that can't be revenged under normal circumstances is in itself a huge boon, added with the fact that it is on a mon that can don so many sets, so set up should not be a huge issue if played correctly. probably the most underrated set on my list which definitely deserves some love.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 208 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Toxic
this is basically spdef tran, but forgoes rocks for both stallbreaking and walling potential. of course if you wanted maximum stallbreaking, the standard set with z fire and taunt over protect would be ideal, however the metagame is proving to be less hospitable for stall as a playstyle and this set caters to the majority of the tier much better. as far as counters go, clefable, chansey with heal bell and gliscor are really the only relevant switchins. pex and fini both die to the combination of magma storm chip damage, earth power spam and protect for longevity. this set is perfect in both the offense and defense department and is what i run on most of my trans if i can fit sr on something else.
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
while this isn't the only set it can run, this is what i consider standard diancie to be. diancie is a very underrated mega, despite probably being my most used as it has exceptional offensive stats and versatility in movepool. i honestly think diancie is the best offensive fairy type in the tier, as it has both the speed and power to supplement it(outspeeding kart is so good), compared to mawile and magearna's low speed as well as the tapu's role on a team being spread too thin. while diamond storm isn't bad neutral coverage, i prefer full special since the targets that diamond storm hits are mons that shouldn't even stay in on diancie in the first place. either protect or stealth rock have their merits, protect being able to scout and allowing for safe mega evolving and sr making for a decent offensive rocker. moonblast and earth power already have near perfect coverage, with hp ice scoring the ko on standard gliscor as well as defensive landorus, allowing diancie to not be forced out by common ground type sr users.
Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
pretty sure i've tried every offensive mawile set in existence but nothing does it better than subpunch imo. 4 atks has 4mss surprisingly and sd has mindgames with sucker and sd while also having coverage issues, but subpunch gives mawile safe haven to do what it does best, wallbreak. while this set does not have STAB, that isn't necessary when focus punch outdamages play rough with the rest of the elemental punches solving its coverage issue for the most part. being able to effectively deal with shit like tangpexscor and landtran with the click of a button is what this mawile is born to do. the evs allow its substitute to not be broken by pex's scald while outspeeding skarm, but more bulk can be used to allow mawile to serve as a better pivot and also tank certain hits.
Aggron-Mega @ Aggronite
Ability: Filter
EVs: 240 HP / 240 Atk / 28 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Fire Punch
i was skeptical at first thinking,"why use offensive aggron when mawile exists" but this thing is an absolute menace. i'd go even further in saying that this set is actually better than 4 atks mawile. be that as it may, this set does necessitate wish support. i've tried standard aggron stall before and it never really clicked for me, as aggron was just an inferior mega on stall to sableye for the most part. what offensive aggron has over mawile though is bulk, a lot of it. for perspective, this thing can live a mega medicham's hjk and ohko back with heavy slam. aggron doesn't really need to invest in spdef since its meant to deal primarily with physical attackers. while i couldn't really fit rocks on this, the coverage is absolutely worth it, allowing it to check and retaliate vs a good portion of the metagame, with the slight creep in speed allowing it to outspeed celesteela and do quite a bit of chip with fire punch.
Salamence @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Fly
a very much slept on set up sweeper, subddmence is unstoppable once it gets a dd and its moxie going. this set does require magnezone support, but it does have advantages to some of its other competition in landorus and gyarados. its defensive typing is quite good allowing it to set up vs common fire, water and grass types(also not being revenged by ashgren), its speed tier being able to beat out on the most common scarfer in the tier being landorus, and the perfect moveset to cater to this beast. sub eases set up while also blocking status and prevents mindgames when using z fly, with flying ground coverage to cover the majority of the metagame.
Volcarona @ Buginium Z / Iapapa Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power [Ground]
this is standard volcarona yes, but it is still a very much slept on pokemon in the metagame. if you don't have a chansey or toxapex, all this mon needs is 1 qd to potentially sweep your entire team. needless to say it still requires defog support and teamates that can deal with those 2 mons, but while this mon is considered "cheese" i think this is the best variety on the market, beating out all of weather, ho and stall if you ask me(at least vs standard shit).
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Secret Power
standard wish rachi but there is a caveat to this set, which is having to pair it with tapu bulu. secret power is basically a noncontact body slam that is weaker, but also has a 60% chance to put something to sleep under grassy terrain. this means rachi can't be punished by switching in for example by a tran or pex and can fish for a sleep vs them while switching out to take advantage of an out of commission mon. also has the added benefit of bulu beating out fini and koko for terrain wars since they can block sleep via terrain.
Tapu Bulu @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Horn Leech
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
scarfbulu has really been growing in usage as of late and i'm surprised people don't really consider it when they think of bulu. they either assume defensive sd(which i think is bad now) and cb, but scarf does have a lot of merit to it. being able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame besides megazam not only fixes its speed issue as an offensive mon, but also serves as a decent deterrent vs offense. while it isn't as potent as band, it isn't a bad option if one is in need of speed control and can forgo the breaking power.
Tapu Fini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 96 HP / 160 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Defog
- Hydro Pump
- Moonblast
a bit of an unconventional fini set, but scarfini does outspeed the entire unboosted metagame(including megazam) while also serving as an emergency fast defogger(similar to scarf lando) and also has pretty good utility with trick and good offensive STABs. i was experimenting with finiland cores and they typically use defensive fini and scarf land, but i felt that offensive set up land with scarfini would perform much better vs fat. trick is especially nice on it since it allows it to cripple fat walls similarly to taunt while also allowing it to switch up moves if need be. the spatk investment allows it to ohko opposing offensive land with pump guaranteed.
Tapu Koko @ Fairium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 80 HP / 4 Def / 172 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind
- Roost
a set i didn't think would really grow on me but it has. while my all time favorite koko set is indeed specs, cm z fairy certainly has its perks. being a strong and fast win con with a lot of staying power, this koko has multiple opportunities to wreak havoc once its counters have been weakened or eliminated. a boosted z fairy allows it to eliminate most electric deterrents with ease, thus allowing it to just spam tbolt on the rest of the enemy. probably its most underrated set, but one that is still quite relevant i'd say.
Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes / Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Fire]
if there is any greninja set that one would probably not expect, it would probably be ebelt. seeing as everyone and their moms have ash gren counters(at least in tour), protean greninja would seemingly do well to compensate for that. sure z dig is also very good as well, but it does require a z crystal(also forces it to be physically based) and ebelt can more or less accomplish the same thing. hp fire allows it to threaten steel types like ferro and gearna, with esense covering pex. pump is necessary to make sure that gren isn't walled by things like tran or ttar while rounding out as pretty good neutral coverage. spikes is ideal as a midground, especially since gren is probably the mon that forces the most switches but ice beam can be used for near perfect coverage.
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 36 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock
i only ever really considered using slowbro ever since people learned how passive pex is and that pex as a mon was accounted for on every sm team, thus dwindling its overall usefulness in tour as far as a tanky wall goes. slowbro on the other hand allows it to deal with a lot of things that toxapex can't, for example: zardx, pert, medi, land, gliscor, chomp off the top of my head. also the fact that ash gren usage was dwindling meant that slowbro had a lot more breathing room in the current metagame. despite being its bread and butter set in oras, standard cm megabro is quite a potent win con in sm, especially vs certain bo and balance builds. the evs creep pex, while also koing it after 2 calm minds and being heavily invested in defense to deal with almost every physical attacker in the tier. ice beam can be ran over calm mind if your team is extremely sd chomp weak, but having a win con with cm might be too good to pass up.
Reuniclus @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 212 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind
- Recover
not really a fan of acid armor, but cm z fight reuni is quite a frightening set up sweeper that is quite honestly a mon that people don't really prep for or consider when building. this plays similarly to sd gliscor, and is really only managed via offensive pressure to prevent set up as there isn't really much counterplay to this mon once it's boosted. a bit of a mu fishy mon imo, but one that can pay off dividends if you're expecting some fatty balance or bulky offense.
Latias-Mega @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Reflect Type / Substitute
- Roost
- Stored Power
this set is borderline op vs most bo and balance builds, with very few actual things being able to stop it. obviously this set requires support to deal with dark types, but the sweeping potential with just 2 cms is quite insane. this is basically standard cm lati, but reflect type or sub allows it to deal with most of its counters/issues it would normally face when trying to set up most notably status users and potent breakers. this set also forgoes ice beam, so extra support to deal with offensive grounds is in order but is an investment that is well worth it depending on your team.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 176 SpD / 96 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch
unfortunately i didn't get to showcase it as well as i could have since it got crit
, but subseed loom is a strong win con by virtue of its moveset and ability. it does have some inherit issues as a "defensive" grass type because of its lack of bulk, but it can compensate with utility in spore and it in general being annoying by getting free substitutes and focus punches. i will say that every time i've used loom it hasn't been useless since it can put mons to bed, perform as a status blocker(fuck rotom), and get initiative vs common ou threats like ashgren, lando, pex and ferro. i haven't been able to make the best team i can with it, but i hope i've inspired others who can.
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge / Payapa Berry / Occa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 232 HP / 60 Def / 216 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Spore
- Sludge Bomb
- Stomping Tantrum
- Hidden Power [Fire]
speaking of mons with spore, amoonguss is criminally underrated as a defensive grass type and am somewhat surprised by its low usage. advantages it has over tangrowth in particular are that it's one of the few viable mons that can absorb tspikes from pex, can check every tapu (lele if payapa) while also checking common metagame threats in gren, gearna, rotom and offensive grass types. being able to invalidate a mon with sleep, while also performing as an ideal pivot vs the majority of the common meta is something you can't ask more of from a regen mon. black sludge is preferred, but payapa berry can be used to not die or forced out vs offensive psychics like lele, zam and medi, while occa is helpful vs offensive fires like tran and zard. giga drain isn't necessary i feel since amoonguss already walls most water types and the extra coverage is much more useful.
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 1 Spe
- Transform
while i have not ever considered this mon in my building since it goes against a lot of my preconceived notions of what a competitive team comprises of, scarf ditto is undeniably a mon that has garnered usage and its own build archetype. it has several uses, but is primarily best used as a revenge killer. it also functions as a set scouter, pivot, wall, basically everything since it can be literally anything. the ivs allow it to also trap opposing magnezone and ko it with hp ground as well. definitely a mon i've underestimated, but is something i took into account during our wcop run by using mons that aren't susceptible to it such as sd gliscor, hawlucha, and z fly mence.
