Huge post incoming
Now that we're out of UUPL I wanted to make one of these team dump posts to preserve all the teams I helped build this season (and to clear my builder). A big shoutout to
Adaam,
Celebiii,
Raptor,
Chaos23333,
Moutemoute, and
Accel for being a great SS core to work with, your insights have been amazing when building together and has allowed me to grow as a builder. A big shoutout to
freezai for piloting my teams to solid success in the tour, when you won I felt I won. Go Ladies! Enough rambling though, I've got a compilation of teams I built for Freezai, raptor, Chaos, and myself to share. Sprites will be in the pastes for most since they're public or outdated.
Week 1 Freezai- vs TSR 
Week 1 of this tour we started off with a bang. At the time, we believed TSR to not bring Tangrowth or bulu as grasses, using only Amoonguss or Zarude based on the scout. As such, Zygarde-10% was a strong option to start with. At first we thought about futureport to better wallbreak but Slowking slowed the team down and made it less offensive. Also, I feared SubCM Primarina since I got owned by it during tryouts and with the Amoonguss takeover of UU it was a valid possibility to see, so I wanted to use AV Galarian Slowbro, one of the best answers out there with a colorful movepool to lure Pokemon like Swampert or Salamence.
Celebiii suggested Keldeo and I got to break out the pivot Toxic set I've been hyping for a while. Keldeo was massively slept on because of Slowking so this set hella punished it, and in general Keldeo was a solid underrated mon. Tangrowth, Excadrill, and Goltres were the last 3 as obligatory grass-type, rocker+ removal, and ghost-resist, but in tests Tangrowth felt like a huge momentum sink and gets punished by a U-turn into something Galarian Slowbro can't switch-into like Aegislash or Hydreigon, even with a Goltres. We went with Zarude over Tangrowth and Celesteela over Goltres next to be better against Aegi, Hydreigon, and Excadrill. The team was going well, but right before the game I got smashed by a Conkeldurr. I tried Brave Bird Mandibuzz to replace celesteela and it worked out, we lost to Hydreigon anyway since Celesteela drops to specs too, but we still kept the solid MU against DD Mence, Excadrill, Aegislash, and not getting 6-0d by Conkeldurr. We also got better Zygarde counterplay. The team worked great and Freezai smashed him. Was super hyped to get the great start and was excited to keep going.
Week 1 Raptor- vs ez
Adaam brought up the idea of grass knot thundurus early on to use. I wanted to bring starmie so we decided to condense here. Next was a chansey and zarude punisher and ghost resist during the team building process, so we had cobalion + goltres as the next two until adaam suggested to use conk for extra power as the fighter and a different steel. Bulu was our thousand arrows resist, and rocks registeel was something I really liked using as the last; it was a real steel defensively and could compress the needed roles of a rocker. I didn’t have to worry about aegislash either with goltres. Excadrill was a somewhat issue and with bulu we dropped knot for focus blast, and eventually we cut knock too since we had conk and goltres for the main targets in chansey and aegislash. Thus, double STAB thundurus was born, which I really liked as a set since I can hit hard as a pivot or breaker. Registeel was an amazing pick overall in game, but 4 paras in a row against meteor beam nihilego caused us to lose the match. Still, a really solid team I enjoyed helping build.
Week 2 Freezai- vs Highways (he regret using stall) 
It was at this time that Chansey exploded in usage, getting brought over 10 times in Week 1. Naturally, I immediately though of Conkeldurr to be a strong pick. At first the plan was Conk + Azelf but the team severely lacked defensive utility and Aegislash just destroyed me. I was stuck for a bit until
Moutemoute suggested to bring Bulk Up Conk, a set commonly used by Prodigezz. Also, I saw Pak lose to that set in masters, so it got me thinking about the potency of it. We took inspiration of a Conk + Bulu team and put Mixed Life Orb Aegislash, a set hyped up at the time by Indigo Plateau I believe, on the team to offset the recoil.
Adaam came up with the bulk of this for the most part this week, suggesting the last 3. I tried Chansey over Swampert for the better Primarina or Salamence MU but we were planning to bring it twice that week already so we went back to Swampert, though we did put Ice Beam on it for a lure against Salamence, and it helped against physical defense Tangrowth in the actual game. We experimented with resist berries like Yache for Mamoswine and Babiri for Excadrill but Swampert solved these issues. The game happened and Freezai just killed it, definitely one of the best games I've watched for sure. Going 2-0 was a huge high for us to hit.
Week 2 Raptor- vs bea
With the huge influx of Chansey from the past week I definitely wanted to get in on the action as well with a Chansey offense. I felt Mamoswine was a good pick to pair with t-wave chansey to slow down faster threats. Aegislash was another offensive partner that works well and Salamence was put on to handle fighters like Conkeldurr. Zarude was the classic arrows switch-in and azelf was speed. Eventually something compelled us to put counter on chansey and rocks on azelf for some unholy reason, maybe a lure for like zarude clicking power chip idk, but def was not the move and azelf having flame over rocks would've been helpful. I didn't like this team though, the opposing Mamo MU was literal horseshit and I prayed we did not run into it. It didn't work out in the game though, not much to say not really my favorite team this tour, though certainly not my most hated (we'll get to that later).
Week 3 Freezai- vs KSt3ve 
This week we fought the french which meant lots of Swampert, Zydog, Darmanitan, and Chinese Regi to prep for. I was thinking about a semi-TR with marowak as well as a Choice Specs Prim spikes team. I went with the latter since I wanted to save the Trick Room gimmick for a full-on team if Aegislash got banned (sadly it did not). I went with Prim + SkarmChansey + Nihilego + Zarude + Band Zydog at first but then I got bodied since I had Fighting-resist Specs Prim against a cobalion. In general I find Specs Primarina potent but super hard to build with since you give up a lot of that amazing defensive utility and are so slow. At the same time I was trying to get Raptor to use Specs Hydreigon, a super underrated set I wanted to bring, but he insisted on building a team for himself so I decided to let Freezai use it here. Specs Hydra beats all barring Chansey so SD KS Aegislash (broken set at the time) would handle it. The team was the same as the final but had AV Tangrowth over Zarude for SubCM Primarina. HOWEVER, broken aegislash with its broken subtoxic set owned so I put a pads zarude instead to also help against SD KS. DD Mence also fucked so we went Ice Beam on King which made Conk MU worse but that's SS (we did not see DD Mence). What really irked me was that tangrowth was 1000% a better choice than Zarude but stupid Aegislash mandated it, and Tangrowth would've came in clutch against the likes of Keldeo, Celesteela, and Band Zarude by the enemy team. We lost b/c of a few unfortunate rolls and band zarude punishing switch-in crobat, and this game really put me over the edge of wanting Aegislash gone since we would've done so much better had I not been forced to account for it (SD KS Aegislash could've been replaced with another physical wallbreaker so it wouldn't effect the team). We also had a worse MU against Primarina but so does every Zarude team. A bit titled, but still looking forward to coming weeks after this.
Week 4 Freezai- vs udongirl
At this point I really wanted to hyper offense at least once. At first I made a webs with these same mons but Ribombee over Excadrill and later Diggersby over Aegislash, but Adaam felt not very confident in webs so we considered other options. We thought of sun but udongirl uses a lot of Nihilego so eventually we went to basic HO instead, which worked out as our opponent's teams weren't that fast and often had random choice mons we could take advantage of. Celebii also had a HO with Mimikyu but Cloyster's ability to better punish Zydog made mine used over it. Team is super basic, nothing much to be said, set rocks and sweep with your choice. During the game Celesteela cleaned and even though we got lucky with a fire blast miss we still would've won with Galrian Moltres (broken bird). 3-1 at the time and ready to bounce back after a loss from the week to go to playoffs, I continued forward.
Week 5 Freezai- vs umbry
At this time I was facing a big burnout and irl was being a pain so it didn't help we were facing the best UU player in the pool in Umbry. We saw a lot of Skarmory + Dhelmise used by the idols so at first I wanted to Vanilluxe, but then I realized Mamoswine was just better in general, then I remember she used Skarmory so it was back to the drawing board. I wanted to Primarina at first but then I decided to use Nidoking. The Nidos in general had made a solid showing the week before so I wanted to have one of our SS slots bring it, and we ended up using it here. I wanted to pair it with Thundurus to lure AV Tangrowth in and this voltturn was made. It was hard building at first, I struggled to nail the physical breaker slot or the speed and one version got destroyed by Azelf. I had to break my moral code and go with Scarf Zarude and Defog Mandibuzz instead, since Scarf Jirachi was just dick. If only Scizor were legal I would’ve been much better. In general I hated the current pre shifts meta and wanted to build in the new meta with the drops so I just wanted to get the week over with. Def my least favorite team this tour. In the game we didn't play the best around Tang and sacked Nidoking too early, just a meh week that I wanted to get behind.
Week 6 Monky- vs Expulso 
Freezai was supposed to play this week but I got subbed in btw. I wanted to make sand for Freezai (with certified MADAGASCAR nicknames) but long story short after many tries sand sucked major ass so I went with Scizor offense. 3 attacks pads scizor was my favorite set to use, still is in fact, as it pivots and knocks at once, so I paired it with Thundurus to form the best offensive core in the tier right now. Starmie was wallbreaker + BP resist and pairs well with Scizor for Chansey and AV Tangrowth. I also begun to like Scarf Hydreigon at this time since ghost-resist + speed + removal is great for building. Hippo + Amoonguss made the defensive core. I got subbed in, played, and won, and this team has def still been my favorite in the tier to use. I submitted this for samples so have no problem sharing the paste- try it out! After the week, playoffs were in sight for the Ladies.
Week 7 Monky- vs Draphirion
We were very close to making playoffs, only needing 3 wins iirc, and we were facing the last place Commanders, so I felt I'd rather reuse then building something new and save the ideas for finals. I tried using Choice Specs Aegislash but wasn't a fan of the builds I stole and came up with, so I wanted to use the other idea in sub DD Gyarados. Being a BP resist that sets up on Scizor has potential to do great so I wanted to bring it for sure. I ended up reusing this team, the same one Adaam brought against Lily week 5, and it worked alright in tests. Won't share the paste since it's not my team. Unfortunately the team had thundurus as the kanto moltres switch-in and lost to SD goggles cobalion, which happened to be what my opponent brought that week. We got into a Hatterene CM war and after a lucky crit I won. Unfort it happened that way but that's mons, 2-0 en UUPL was something I'm proud of as my start.
Semi-Finals Chaos- vs bea
Chaos was busy this week so I had to build two teams for semi-finals. Throughout the tour we've used offensive stuff, so I decided to really mix it up and go with a more balance/fat route. I wanted to use Chinese Registeel at least once this tour and with aegislash usage being very down (still broken mon) I felt now would be the best. I went with a more bulkier route since ik pif took a similar route with his team. Amoonguss is the fighting resist for keldeo and counter to SD aegislash in the event they do bring it. Salamence was the other fighting resist, excadrill check, and removal. Nihilego beat thundurus and provided rocks and knock support. It also added some offensive value to the team. Next was rotom-wash as a Mamo answer and NP azelf revenge killer while also potentially being able to trick scarf to cripple enemy Pokemon. Lastly, chansey was ghost immunity and special sponge, aromatherapy came in clutch to wake up registeel early in tests. I had mixed feelings, it would work well in some games but other games I'd get crit and just click X since no progress could be made. After
Adaam's reassurance though I felt comfortable having this is the final product. After a long game we won and got our sunday off to a great start. Huge props to
Chaos23333 for pulling it off.
Semi-Finals Freezai- vs Highways again 
We were in semi-finals so it was time to tryhard. The scout had Mamoswine look good, though admittedly I was skeptical with the presence of Scizor and rise of washer in the tier, but still we could def make Mamoswine work. Coba was a no-brainer as a rocker and pivot against aegi and the grasses to get mamo in. Tangrowth is obligatory defensive Grass-type, and initially Rotom-W was next as a pivot and scizor check. Sub 3 attacks Primarina is a cool secondary wallbreaker and scarf Hydreigon patched holes like ghost resist, speed control, and removal. A day before in a roomtour we lost to bulky SD scizor since washer was dead and cobalion couldn't break, so went with Rotom-H over it since we don't lose much barring the aqua jet resistance for belly drum azumarill, but it's azumarill and nobody uses it lmao. We lost to bulky scizor, though the MU was def playable, and overall still a solid team I liked building. I really came around rotom-H, it's actually not bad at all with toxic crippling Hippowdon being big for some teammates. Sadly this was the last game, our journey unfortunately came to an end, but I still felt I had grown a lot from being in UUPL for almost 2 months both as a player and builder, and I'm excited to see where I got from here.
Lastly I'll drop some ideas we floated around but didn't get to really use.
Reuniclus @ Ring Target
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Trick
- Recover
This was some hot ass ngl. We wanted to try ring target trick reuni + chinese regi even with aegislash being super duper used and broken and came up with this to lure. However, it was pretty much a dead slot and we didn't get much chances to trick. A free idea for some crack team that anyone can use but def was not worth bringing in something huge like UUPL. In hindsight sticky barb was definitely better.
Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast
With volcanion being huge in OU as a wallbreaker I wanted to bring it here. Unfortunately chansey was super common at the time so we couldn't really find a good chance to bring it before it rose.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Yeah...there's a reason this wasn't used LMAO
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Blaze Kick
- Crunch
I was looking through old SM teams to get an idea of something to bring with scizor and saw a voltturn made by someone who should not be named featuring lucario. I thought the team was cool and considered bringing it but didn't find the chance really. Probably decent tbh, a semi-fast fighter is always cool, though defensively lacking as a steel-type isn’t great.
Hatterene (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Draining Kiss
- Psyshock
- Mystical Fire
An actual good idea we had lol. Specs Hatterene is kinda underrated, it's like gardevior but has bulk and utility rather than speed. Ik KM or TSR or someone used this before to good success so it's something I wanted to try. You can even fit healing wish on it as a last ditch move, though being slow compared to something like scarf jirachi means you may not get one off at times.
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Poltergeist
- Substitute
- Shadow Bone
Slowking @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Trick Room
- Slack Off
- Teleport
Semi-room was something we wanted to bring early on, I wanted to wait at first in case Aegislash left for full TR but it didn't happen and this was never brought. Alola wak has like no switch-ins barring Hydreigon but that gets worn down, and slowking can function with 3 moves to fit Trick room to support it.
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 32 Def / 216 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Slack Off
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Spikes
- Sleep Powder
The potential new Buzzwole + Roserade. Hippo walls stuff like Lycanroc, Thundurus, and Zydog so rose has an easier time being a Grass-type, also checking primarina washer tang and amoonguss is great for hippo. Unfort rose can't use synthesis but sleep powder has merits to hit scizor and cripple it even though it's unreliable at times. I def encourage players to try this core out it has potential.
himself, another old Veterans staple who is very versatile and skilled in old gens. DPP is arguably Raichy's least proven tier from gens 2-4, but he's coming off a hot UUSD and has all the talent necessary to pull some upsets and do well. Plas is an ADV staple but is relatively quiet nowadays. The ADV pool is challenging and his record will depend on how much time and effort he puts in. Rounding out the old gens for the Stars is RBY extraordinaire Torchic, who torched the UUSD RBY pool and caught the eyes of many for his warm heart and exuberant effort. Similarly to the ADV pool however, only time will tell if his GSC experience is enough to hang in a powerful GSC pool. Last and certainly least is the famous pinkdragontamer in Bo3. Bo3 has historically been one of the strongest UUPL pools and pdt finds himself ranked in the lower half of it. Although he undeniably has a very high ceiling as a player, his biggest enemy is himself. Can he keep his composure for not one, but three, games? Or will his timer stay above 270 yet again? If he's playing at his best, pdt is capable of proving the PRs wrong.
