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Tournament UUPL XIII Team and Set Dump
- Thread starter Lily
- Start date
Hello, I've been playing oras uu for about 10 years now and it's one of my favorite tiers. I think despite it being so old and somewhat "solved" and exhausted (by pak), there's still room for creativity as metagames incur trends and shifts. Particularly, I think the setting of bo1 is the perfect place since you're less pressed to make a team that's good in general and more so a team that will give you the best odds at winning 1 game vs a specific opponent. With this in mind, I mostly did the prep and teambuilding alongside pdt with some input (minimal and mostly useless) from the strap. Here's what we used each week:
Week 1:
I had the idea to use a set-up water type, either DD Gyarados or CM Tox Cune (paired with Florges for wish and aroma support). Funnily enough, I had 0 time to actually build a team and picked what I used from a team dump that pdt posted early on. I just picked it because it looked cool and hadn't seen an Entei in a very long time. Unfortunately Alomomola walled my entire team and the game was only looked somewhat close because I got a crit.
Week 2:
Orb Hydrei looked pretty good this week so that's what I wanted to build around. The main issues with Orb Hydrei is its longevity and increased susceptibility to scald burns so I wanted to pair it with Florges. MPert / Empo / Bat were natural adds; the latter 2 alongside check most of the meta pretty efficiently while MPert provided some offensive options against stuff like MAggron / MLix. For the last slot we needed some extra speed so scarf Hera fit the bill perfectly since it not only is a nice cleaner with moxie, but also synergizes well with Hydrei since they tend to overload on fairies together. There was a good degree of moveset flexibility since we could put SR on either Pert or Empo, defog on Empo or Bat, etc. We decided on SR Pert, fog Empo, and taunt Bat since we wanted to limit the amount of turns Bat has to click defog instead of just uturning out on stuff. Plus, Pert is a way better SR setter than Empo. Anyway, the reason Pert clicks stone edge in the actual game is cus... we forgot to put waterfall on it.
Some alternative options I made that week are:
I quite like this 6 since Nido / Escav with wish support is pretty strong and escav is pretty damn hard to switch into. Fairly similar to hera in that regard except you're even less worried about fairies (but the tradeoff is the speed and being worse into scald).
I also like how this looks quite a bit. The job of wishing and and curing any status ailments diverge from the singular Florges to Mola and Cress, whereas Escav guarantees removing Celebi for Pert. This one was way too weak to waters for my taste though (a single suicune would be troublesome, for example) so we shelved the idea but I kinda fell in love with Cresselia as a random 6th on most teams.
Week 3:
We noticed that our opponent tends to use pretty "cheesy" / unconventional stuff and is also very soft into a basic specs Sylv. My go-to thought when facing opponents like this is to use something very proactive so they have less breathing room for their surprises to take effect. Enter: Specs Sylveon HO. The structure is pretty straightforward - Lass sets up spikes which helps Shark immensely; Krook / Doublade / Bat pressure physical tanks while the latter 2 offset the fighting weakness. Sylveon is mainly a trade machine here, since it's naturally bulky enough to actually eat hits while destroying most of the tier. In the actual game, we didn't even face a steel or a pokemon that can outspeed and reliably 2hko Sylv without getting ohko'd in return so the pick worked out very nicely.
Some alternatives we looked into this week were:
No removal and Bliss / Florg are somewhat redundant (especially on this 6) but I liked the idea of some sort of Ditto balance. Couldn't find a 6 we liked with it though.
Week 4:
I quite liked this team so it's a shame that it was so weak to sub 3a Empo (that set wasn't at all on my radar). The idea here was just to use a fairly reliable balance breaker / trade machine kinda mon so we started with the idea of Nido + TWave Hydrei (to lure av Mienshao). Mola / Aggron / Bat were natural fits and we preferred Mola as the water type here since Aggron and Nido appreciate the wish support (it is hard to pass a wish to Nido but easier in games vs. bulky teams). AV Shao provided a special sponge without using something as passive as Florges / Empo and is pretty nice vs. Celebi and also just helps to bring Nido in.
Some alternatives for this week were:
The idea here was just to use strong dudes like Ape / Rose while Klefki can spike, allowing Rose an extra slot for an attack and/or synthesis (I find synthesis to be really strong on it). Ultimately, I felt this 6 doesn't support nor appreciate Klefki enough and Empo has way too much of an easy time removing.
We wanted to abuse the potency of bulky SD Hera and its ability to remove Florges so partners that came to mind were dragons like MScep and Hydrei. Also put this together:
which is a fairly normal Aboma team with a random Cresselia (I became pretty addicted). Another idea we looked into is SD Coba since I figured it doesn't really have the same checks as other fighters - it has an easier time getting past crobat and naturally pressures fairies. Some 6s I put together were
where Mamo was chosen as a partner to pressure stuff like Doublade and bulky waters that Coba has traditionally struggled with.
Week 5:
We wanted to use Aboma + Pursuit this week since the opponent was pretty weak to it and this is a pretty straightforward Aboma structure (just a revamp of the idea from last week but more standard aka dropping Cress for Sylv and swapping Hydrei for Krook). Pursuit alleviated stuff like Metagross (who I forgot was in the tier until this week) and allowed Aboma to more freely click against teams w bulky steel types.
Week 6:
I became kind of obsessed with that sub 3a Empo so I wanted to try building with it. I liked the idea of CB Ape + sub 3a Empo since Ape can weaken or uturn on waters like Mola / Slowking / Cune which allows Empo a free sub. The 6 we came up with didn't have removal and we figured there's enough offensive options between Hydrei / NP Celebi so we just went with a standard fog Empo. One choice I'd like to highlight here is that the last on Celebi was U-Turn, instead of a 3rd attack or Recover. The reasoning for U-Turn was that Celebi struggles to break past Empo without EP but NP -> EP allows for some very easy midgrounds, so it tends to be hard to make progress anyway despite actually being able to hit it. Celebi also just isn't that strong even at +2. U-Turn prevents all that midground nonsense and just maintains the momentum which was preferrable for this team. In retrospect, I don't think this 6 was great though and definitely my least fav thing we brought.
Some alternative 6's we looked at were:
which... was built on the premise that Hydrei learns defog
Week 7:
After getting throttled by Hera / Gatr last week, we wanted to switch up our structures since there's been some repetition in the bulky fairy + steel archetype from us. Pert / Doublade / Bat was a good way to be strong into fighters without reusing fairies like Florg or even Sylv so we had that core in mind, especially since Doublade is a pretty strong pick in general and we also hadn't used it yet. Strap suggested an off-meta pick in Specs Coba which turned out to be a nice pick to lure physical tanks for Doublade and Pert. Hydrei here was taunt + roost (with lum) so we have an out vs bulky waters and scarf Garde provided a second out with trick (and also HWish support). This is prob my favorite of the season since it finally felt like I stumbled upon a unique flavor not only in surprise sets but also in composition and structure.
Some alternatives we looked at were:
Specs Coba paired with CB Krook to suit ghost types but this 6 was deemed to be too weak into opposing fighters. The import has scarf Hera but it could also be lefties.
I don't really have general metagame commentary since the way I think about mons tends to be "everything has a purpose on the right team / vs. the right opponent" especially in a BO1 setting like this. I do think that, in my limited knowledge, Cresselia offenses are a bit underexplored and there's also tons of room for exploration on different Cress sets in terms of last moves and items.
Thanks to pdt and strap for talking ORAS with me (despite me yapping more than playing) and thanks to Pak as well for the help and feedback! Our team chat was fun despite there being no sheist uu players of the northeastern region. Will hopefully see you guys in the next one
Week 1:
I had the idea to use a set-up water type, either DD Gyarados or CM Tox Cune (paired with Florges for wish and aroma support). Funnily enough, I had 0 time to actually build a team and picked what I used from a team dump that pdt posted early on. I just picked it because it looked cool and hadn't seen an Entei in a very long time. Unfortunately Alomomola walled my entire team and the game was only looked somewhat close because I got a crit.
Week 2:
Orb Hydrei looked pretty good this week so that's what I wanted to build around. The main issues with Orb Hydrei is its longevity and increased susceptibility to scald burns so I wanted to pair it with Florges. MPert / Empo / Bat were natural adds; the latter 2 alongside check most of the meta pretty efficiently while MPert provided some offensive options against stuff like MAggron / MLix. For the last slot we needed some extra speed so scarf Hera fit the bill perfectly since it not only is a nice cleaner with moxie, but also synergizes well with Hydrei since they tend to overload on fairies together. There was a good degree of moveset flexibility since we could put SR on either Pert or Empo, defog on Empo or Bat, etc. We decided on SR Pert, fog Empo, and taunt Bat since we wanted to limit the amount of turns Bat has to click defog instead of just uturning out on stuff. Plus, Pert is a way better SR setter than Empo. Anyway, the reason Pert clicks stone edge in the actual game is cus... we forgot to put waterfall on it.
Some alternative options I made that week are:
I quite like this 6 since Nido / Escav with wish support is pretty strong and escav is pretty damn hard to switch into. Fairly similar to hera in that regard except you're even less worried about fairies (but the tradeoff is the speed and being worse into scald).
I also like how this looks quite a bit. The job of wishing and and curing any status ailments diverge from the singular Florges to Mola and Cress, whereas Escav guarantees removing Celebi for Pert. This one was way too weak to waters for my taste though (a single suicune would be troublesome, for example) so we shelved the idea but I kinda fell in love with Cresselia as a random 6th on most teams.
Week 3:
We noticed that our opponent tends to use pretty "cheesy" / unconventional stuff and is also very soft into a basic specs Sylv. My go-to thought when facing opponents like this is to use something very proactive so they have less breathing room for their surprises to take effect. Enter: Specs Sylveon HO. The structure is pretty straightforward - Lass sets up spikes which helps Shark immensely; Krook / Doublade / Bat pressure physical tanks while the latter 2 offset the fighting weakness. Sylveon is mainly a trade machine here, since it's naturally bulky enough to actually eat hits while destroying most of the tier. In the actual game, we didn't even face a steel or a pokemon that can outspeed and reliably 2hko Sylv without getting ohko'd in return so the pick worked out very nicely.
Some alternatives we looked into this week were:
No removal and Bliss / Florg are somewhat redundant (especially on this 6) but I liked the idea of some sort of Ditto balance. Couldn't find a 6 we liked with it though.
Week 4:
I quite liked this team so it's a shame that it was so weak to sub 3a Empo (that set wasn't at all on my radar). The idea here was just to use a fairly reliable balance breaker / trade machine kinda mon so we started with the idea of Nido + TWave Hydrei (to lure av Mienshao). Mola / Aggron / Bat were natural fits and we preferred Mola as the water type here since Aggron and Nido appreciate the wish support (it is hard to pass a wish to Nido but easier in games vs. bulky teams). AV Shao provided a special sponge without using something as passive as Florges / Empo and is pretty nice vs. Celebi and also just helps to bring Nido in.
Some alternatives for this week were:
The idea here was just to use strong dudes like Ape / Rose while Klefki can spike, allowing Rose an extra slot for an attack and/or synthesis (I find synthesis to be really strong on it). Ultimately, I felt this 6 doesn't support nor appreciate Klefki enough and Empo has way too much of an easy time removing.
We wanted to abuse the potency of bulky SD Hera and its ability to remove Florges so partners that came to mind were dragons like MScep and Hydrei. Also put this together:
which is a fairly normal Aboma team with a random Cresselia (I became pretty addicted). Another idea we looked into is SD Coba since I figured it doesn't really have the same checks as other fighters - it has an easier time getting past crobat and naturally pressures fairies. Some 6s I put together were
where Mamo was chosen as a partner to pressure stuff like Doublade and bulky waters that Coba has traditionally struggled with.
Week 5:
We wanted to use Aboma + Pursuit this week since the opponent was pretty weak to it and this is a pretty straightforward Aboma structure (just a revamp of the idea from last week but more standard aka dropping Cress for Sylv and swapping Hydrei for Krook). Pursuit alleviated stuff like Metagross (who I forgot was in the tier until this week) and allowed Aboma to more freely click against teams w bulky steel types.
Week 6:
I became kind of obsessed with that sub 3a Empo so I wanted to try building with it. I liked the idea of CB Ape + sub 3a Empo since Ape can weaken or uturn on waters like Mola / Slowking / Cune which allows Empo a free sub. The 6 we came up with didn't have removal and we figured there's enough offensive options between Hydrei / NP Celebi so we just went with a standard fog Empo. One choice I'd like to highlight here is that the last on Celebi was U-Turn, instead of a 3rd attack or Recover. The reasoning for U-Turn was that Celebi struggles to break past Empo without EP but NP -> EP allows for some very easy midgrounds, so it tends to be hard to make progress anyway despite actually being able to hit it. Celebi also just isn't that strong even at +2. U-Turn prevents all that midground nonsense and just maintains the momentum which was preferrable for this team. In retrospect, I don't think this 6 was great though and definitely my least fav thing we brought.
Some alternative 6's we looked at were:
which... was built on the premise that Hydrei learns defog
Week 7:
After getting throttled by Hera / Gatr last week, we wanted to switch up our structures since there's been some repetition in the bulky fairy + steel archetype from us. Pert / Doublade / Bat was a good way to be strong into fighters without reusing fairies like Florg or even Sylv so we had that core in mind, especially since Doublade is a pretty strong pick in general and we also hadn't used it yet. Strap suggested an off-meta pick in Specs Coba which turned out to be a nice pick to lure physical tanks for Doublade and Pert. Hydrei here was taunt + roost (with lum) so we have an out vs bulky waters and scarf Garde provided a second out with trick (and also HWish support). This is prob my favorite of the season since it finally felt like I stumbled upon a unique flavor not only in surprise sets but also in composition and structure.
Some alternatives we looked at were:
Specs Coba paired with CB Krook to suit ghost types but this 6 was deemed to be too weak into opposing fighters. The import has scarf Hera but it could also be lefties.
I don't really have general metagame commentary since the way I think about mons tends to be "everything has a purpose on the right team / vs. the right opponent" especially in a BO1 setting like this. I do think that, in my limited knowledge, Cresselia offenses are a bit underexplored and there's also tons of room for exploration on different Cress sets in terms of last moves and items.
Thanks to pdt and strap for talking ORAS with me (despite me yapping more than playing) and thanks to Pak as well for the help and feedback! Our team chat was fun despite there being no sheist uu players of the northeastern region. Will hopefully see you guys in the next one
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