First off, I want to thank everyone on Team Melmetals for a great run and a great tour. Definitely a great team atmosphere during the entire run (with those who were still active), and always people willing to discuss my teams and playtest which I greatly appreciate. Shoutouts to
KyogreF4N,
Alkione,
Fc04,
fourmi,
Ayoukoo,
Kei Kikuno,
Sharow,
Royal1604,
Corazan,
Fogbound Lake,
Kushalos,
0NI (sorry if I forgot someone!). Also shoutouts to abs, was cool to discuss, playtest and talk again.
Week 1 vs Hamhamhamham (L)
(clickable)
The first week of this tour I just returned from a 4 year hiatus, never having played with Farceus before so I was not really confident. I did not know what was good and what wasn't in this meta, so decided to stick with something I know that worked in pre-Farceus meta with Froslass Rain. I experimented with swapping Giratina-O for Arceus-Ghost and playing a different Steel type, but Gira-O showed more utility on this team. I almost went Arceusless with Jirachi or Bronzong > Arceus-Steel to have more insurance against DD Rayquaza but could not justify it.
Froslass still is a good lead in this meta even with the shifts, cause it is so reliable versus Deoxys-S and Tentacruel. Tyranitar is a lot worse, but generally you are getting Spikes up. Destiny Bond is a consideration with all the Kyogres popping up in the lead slot this tour. Specs Ogre is still as ridiculous as it ever was, and probably even better: people were dropping true Kyogre counters all tour and instead relying on Giratina-O / Dialga. In the end, I went with this too as Specs Ogre was invisible but at this time I still went with Latias. I went with Splash Plate Kingdra instead of Life Orb, but this choice was unfortunate in hindsight where Life Orb might have saved me the game with a slightly higher roll vs Mewtwo.
Week 2 vs Lord Thorx (W)
After the first week, and playing a bunch of test games all week I was a bit more confident in the meta. For this week, I decided to really start playing with Arceus in focus. This team is built around Arceus-Fighting which a lot of teams have problems with: Psychic and Flying moves are kinda rare so it's hard to KO and strong after a boost. Thunder Wave Kyogre is here to lure in and paralyze Latias and Latios, which can normally deal with Arceus-Fighting by outspeeding and going for their own boosts. Other than that, the this team uses the most useful mons in the metagame to deal with most things somewhat reliably while dishing out damage.
Week 3 vs absdaddy (W)
I knew that abs could bring anything and play it well, so I didn't try to prep for anything specific or even a specific playstyle. Instead, I assumed that my playstyle was more predictable than his and he'd try to take advantage of it. After all, I am a lot more comfortable bringing rain than straight up offense. For this game I decided to step out of my comfort zone and bring offense, hoping to throw off abs.
This team had a Deoxys-S lead for a long time, but I'm just not that into it - everyone knows it's coming and is prepared for it (of course it still works even then). Instead, I went for a lead that starts by dealing out damage right from the start in Sash Tyranitar. The Rock Polish Groudon with ExtremeKiller Arceus combination is one that really shined this whole UPL. With Dragon Claw and Overheat, Groudon lures in Giratina-O, Latias, Skarmory, and Bronzong and cripples or kills them - leaving room for Arceus to win the game. Palkia, Dialga and Mewtwo round out the team, simply, because they are crazy good. Palkia is a Kyogre switchin, Dialga is a great Scarfer in case I need it (that resists ExtremeSpeed), and Life Orb Mewtwo easily gets two kills with its coverage and boom.
Week 4 vs TSR (W)
This is one of my favourite teams I built during this tour. I had noticed two mons that seemed well positioned in the meta. Ho-Oh seemed great against most teams brought, but not worth the trouble: Giratina-O is very commonplace and the standard spinner in Forretress seemed like such a momentum killer on sun offense. Kabutops seemed like a great Swift Swimmer (if you haven't noticed, I like Swift Swimmers), with a resistance to ExtremeSpeed as well as Low Kick, and notably: Rapid Spin. For this team I decided to combine them and go with Ho-Oh rain, as weird as that might sound initially.
The Ho-Oh lead set allows it wreck havoc from turn 1 without having to worry about rocks, while also having a good matchup versus a lot of common leads. Choice Band with Sleep Talk also works, but forces Ho-Oh to switch out more often which I don't want. If the Ho-Oh train is unexpectedly stopped I can switch it out and potentially spin with Kabutops later. The rest of the team is again the rain stuff I'm used to, with Giratina-O and Arceus-Steel as defensive core. Latios was originally Latias as obligatory Kyogre switchin, but later switched to Latios to deal more damage and weaken a team for a Kabutops clean. Also I was afraid of getting a too high Latias usage stat and becoming too predictable (that didn't turn out to be true, I would never use Latias again this UPL).
Week 5 vs Hack (W)
Hack is a formidable opponent and I figured I couldn't just bring rain again and hope for a solid matchup, so I switched it up a bit. I hadn't brought Deoxys-S so I didn't expect an anti-Deoxys lead and felt this was a good moment to bring it. For this team I brought out the forgotten Uber in Skymin, which I believe didn't see play at all in other games this UPL. It is not at its best in this meta, but it still is incredibly annoying and solid. It also forces switches like no other with Leech Seed, Seed Flare and Air Slash which pairs great with Spikes. Of course, we're also talking Skymin and in a tough match it always gives you outs and increased odds - which was perfect for a match like this. I also wanted to try out Arceus-Ground cause it seemed potent and this felt like a good team to try it. I'm not sure if it's much better than Arceus-Fighting but an immunity to paralysis (Thunder mainly, but also Thunder Wave) is very useful.
I switched up the sets later and Scarfed Skymin, which is not nearly as good at forcing switches as SubSeed or Life Orb sets but is a very nice insurance against a lot of things and can still flinch or SpDef drop its way through things. It also has Healing Wish as a very useful move to heal up something else.
Week 6 vs Finchinator (L)
Semifinals Tiebreaker vs Aishia (W)
One thing I expected from day one of Farceus meta is that Garchomp would be great - perfect speed tier, threatening dual STAB and OHKOes Arceus at +2. When I realized that I still hadn't brought Garchomp, and both Garchomp and especially Skarmory had way too low usage, I built this team. I think both sun and rain Garchomp are both very viable too, but in the end I had to go with sand as Sand Veil is too good to pass up. SubSalac is also a very good set but I didn't want it to fall to ExtremeSpeed or Skarmory, so I went with Life Orb Fire Fang (which KOs Skarmory at +2 with minimal chip!). I figured the most prominent obstacle to a Garchomp sweep (besides Scarfers) is Latias / Latios. For this I decided to give Scarf Tyranitar a go, which can Pursuit trap them - although this isn't as easy as in OU. Arceus-Fighting also appreciates removed or weakened Lati@s.
I decided to bring Skarmory too, as I felt it was just as underused. Giratina-O and Dialga finish the team off - as usual - to provide a solid balanced team. I really wanted to fit Latias and a better lead (no I don't think Dialga is a good lead) on here, but I didn't know how to so just stuck with this. Magic Coat is obviously a pretty shit move in DPP, but it really helps with opposing Darkrai lead. It could potentially be dropped though, as Skarmory + Arceus-Fighting can probably deal with it.
I felt this team didn't get the chance to perform in my first game, so decided to bring it a second time cause I felt it is solid enough. I also simply didn't have the time to build something new for tiebreak's short deadline and this team felt well positioned (although it was almost a mirror match with only a difference in Spiker).
Week 7 vs default0 (W)
I wanted to give Froslass and Kingdra another shot at a win after my Week 1 loss, so I decided to combine it with my other idea of reviving Scizor. Scizor was a mainstay in Ubers for a long time but it has vanished a bit with no usage this UPL that I saw. I wanted to give it a go again, as it can be very useful in the right situation. After doing some calcs, I noticed that its Draco Meteor tanking potential isn't as high as you'd hope: it can only tank a Draco Meteor once from Latios for example - and that is with a Careful nature. However, if you don't repeatedly switch it into Draco Meteors but play it to its strength it can be great. I wanted to abuse its slow U-turn with giving free switchins to hard hitters such as Specs Kyogre (which in the end I changed for Scarf). It can potentially Pursuit Lati@s too, helping out Kyogre a lot as well as Specs Kingdra. In addition, it can check some dangerous stuff like Arceus, Darkrai, Mewtwo, etc with its typing and Superpower or Bullet Punch.
I decided to go with Specs Kingdra after my disappointing experience with Splash Plate Kingdra week 1. Specs Kingdra is a lot stronger and you notice it in the calcs: it OHKOes Arceus after Spikes instead of 2HKO, and brings a lot of things such as Jirachi and Bronzong into KO range earlier. The downside is not being able to Lati@s, Palkia or Gira-O while locked into Hydro Pump or Surf. This requires a slightly different playstyle, but is not as big of a problem as you might think. Lati@s can be Pursuitable with Scizor, Palkia is not that common anymore and gets crippled by Kyogre's Thunders, and Gira-O with no recovery is easy to wear down to KO with the immense power of Specs - Hydro Pump does up to 57% vs Naive Gira-O!
Kei Kikuno --- Semifinals vs CKW (W)
This is not my team but
Kei Kikuno's, so all credit goes to them and their clutch win. However, I'm not sure if they're posting and I still had some input in this team so I figured I'd make some quick comments (but thus I do not have a paste).
Wobbuffet is still an amazing Pokemon which was criminally underused this UPL, I believe the only other use was abs vs Hack. For this match it seemed like simply using Wobb as a Scarf killer and setup creater seemed guaranteed to give good opportunities for Groudon or Arceus. Custap + Destiny Bond is the cooler Wobbuffet set, but Safeguard really helps out Arceus here to set up in the face of status (and forces Scarf Darkrai to Trick). Groudon + Arceus here is the classic offensive core that is hard to stop and especially Arceus again showed its usefulness here. Rayquaza aims to get the offensive momentum going T1, Palkia is a nice glue and Jirachi sets up rocks and uses slow U-turn (lower your Speed IVs) to bring in the others.
Finals vs shrang (L)
I am still pissed at myself for this game, I feel I played the worst game of the tour here in finals of all moments, costing us the chance for a tiebreak. Congrats to shrang and Dracovish on winning the whole thing, definitely deserving.
I felt I had to use something non-standard for the finals (although in hindsight maybe I should have went for something more reliable) and considered many options, ending up at Ludicolo. This thing was bonkers in testing, as long as I could avoid status it regularly 'swept'. I added Toxic Spikes as support but it is not even necessary for it to perform. Dialga and Arceus-Ghost are important support, as Stealth Rock and a spinblocker I feel are somewhat necessary on this team and they are able to check a lot. I considered Giratina and Giratina-O for this team as well, but they felt either too passive or lacked any form of recovery. Scarf Jirachi is important for checking a lot of things like Garchomp, Rayquaza, Arceus with any form of status or seed, etc. RestTalk Kyogre lives a lot longer than Choice sets and is also very threatening on its own, especially with Toxic Spikes.
The downside of this team that it is weak to status. Opposing Toxic Spikes force you to spin before bringing in Ludicolo, while paralysis from Thunder ruins Ludicolo's potential and makes it harder to switch into Kyogre with it. I originally had Gira with Refresh Arceus-Steel for this reason, as Kyogre cannot absorb Thunders. For this reason, you have to be a bit careful with Ludicolo and Dialga might be good to scout Kyogre as well.
Feel free to me hit me up if you wanna discuss anything DPP Ubers related. PS I realize now I haven't Darkrai once but that thing is still broken.