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UUPL XIV Team and Set Dump
- Thread starter Lyssa
- Start date
One set I wanted to share especially since Terablast is banned is this Lilligant-H set that I used on sun as did FrankJosh. I would jokingly call her Marshadow at home for the coverage. I came up with this set last year as a way to check Ogerpon-C while also being able to hit all of sinistcha/slowking/skeledirge. It helps vs both mach punch and e-speed and resists first impression post tera so pretty great into all priority.
Lilligant-Hisui @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Synthesis
- Close Combat
- Victory Dance
- Tera Blast
See replays below
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-925483
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-928044
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-884862 - No Victory Dance here
Lilligant-Hisui @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Synthesis
- Close Combat
- Victory Dance
- Tera Blast
See replays below
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-925483
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-928044
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-884862 - No Victory Dance here
Last edited:
This year i initially was gonna try a different approach at prep/teamchoices for my slots, which i partially still kept throughout the season, which was just using known/tried and true stuff instead of trying to build everything from scratch like i did a lot in the past. However i think it just really takes out the thing i love the most about this game which is getting creative in the builder and figure out new ideas for whatever metagame i decide to be involved on. The result for this season was a mix of me building stuff i like and other peoples teams with my own twists, and even though i kept a lot of the original ideas i did come up with some things i found interesting, some of them being just slight tweaks or retakes on less common ideas and one or another entirely new ones. Without further adieu, those are the ideas i think are worth sharing:
SV:
:excadrill: Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 160 HP / 232 SpD / 116 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Poison Jab
Cheesy idea, however i do think you don't mind not having Iron Head that much on rocks Drill sets. While my go for choice on last slot is usually Rock Slide/Rock Tomb on those kind of Excas to handle Thunds better (and later on pressure Talonflame teams), Poison Jab gives it odds to make life harder for the usual pokes that denies it from accomplishing its ''supposed role'' (i.e poisoning Sinistcha and Mandi makes them need to play even more reactively with using up turns to recover themselves, pokemon like Donphan also really hates being on a timer).
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-917039
:gligar: Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
Me and Lyssa have talked about that pokemon in few occasions in the past and it still roughly does the same thing it always did: checks pivot Thunds, has a cool defensive typing into some of HO pokes like Revavroom and Slither Wing, has access to some nice moves like Spikes, Toxic, U-turn, Knock, Tspikes. At that point in the meta, it also helped totally disrupting momentum that Sandy Shocks, which has seen a slight rise in usage, would get or at least pressure vs Thund-T/Donphan teams, being able to actually reverse it thanks to its own access to U-turn. While it's true that it doesn't have good longevity, i feel one common mistake people do when using Gligar is using it on overly passive builds that does depend on it being alive forever to check the stuff it's supposed to, when one of its strong assets is exactly its ability to reverse momentum on the most common volt users while having the possibility to click setup Spikes/spread Toxic or Knock vs more passive ones.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919738
:sandy shocks::shuca berry: / :rocky helmet: Sandy Shocks @ Shuca Berry / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Power Gem
People tend to almost always default to boots when using Sandy Shocks as a pivot, however i do think that while boots is never a bad choice for a pokemon, there are usually more useful items for a not really weak to hazard pokemon. Shuca Berry is usually my prefered choice to either reverse momentum vs opposing Sandys, helping in the 1v1s vs Exca and Donphan while also being able to help checking things like Revavroom. While Helmet was mainly an idea to punish Weavile clicking Triple Axel, it's still a good item in general, chipping down U-turn users and being able to deal that finally damage vs weakened setuppers/fast Pokemon
Games: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919036
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-921318
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-930174
:keldeo::life orb: / :splash plate: / :rocky helmet: Keldeo @ Life Orb / Splash Plate / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Steel/Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pain Split
- Surf
- Secret Sword / Icy Wind
- Taunt / Flip Turn / Substitute / Vacuum Wave
The infamous splitter Keldeo. While it was a set i first used in UUWC one year ago(?), it started to more usage/experimentation in this UUPL, having a lot of possible tweaks making it a pretty versatile set. While not the most reliable recovery, Pain Split still helps it keeping Keldeo somewhat healthy vs teams with more passive checks (clodsire, slowking, fezandipiti, etc) while still forcing damage on them, allowing it to last longer vs threats like Weavile, Skeledirge, Arcanine, Slither etc.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919036
:basculegion-f: Basculegion-F (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump / Ice Beam
- Aqua Jet / Flip Turn
Although it doesn't have great speed, it still has solid enough speed for your usual defensive checks. Water Ghost STABs are awesome offensively and while there are offensive ghosts with greater speed and roughly the same wallbreaking ability, Basculegion has a pretty useful defensive typing unlike Gengar and Zoroark-Hisui, which gives a one time check on offense for pokemon like Slither Wing, Keldeo, Excadrill and Revavroom. While Scarf sets are not too shabby, i do feel like you lose out on one of its mains niches since while it's still fairly strong without specs, it does miss out on noticeable damage vs fatter teams.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-920627
:slither wing::life orb: Slither Wing @ Life Orb
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Leech Life
- Flame Charge
- Earthquake
The moves are not new by any means, but when using it in Sun with Life Orb it can act similarly to pokemon like Ceruledge, being able to hit super hard while still offsetting Life Orb recoil because of Leech Life recovery, pretty cool set for all out on offense suns.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-923594
Unused ideas:
:thundurus-therian: Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast / Thunder Wave / Grass Knot / Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse / Taunt / Psychic
:thundurus-therian: Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 16 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb / Grass Knot / Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse / Taunt / Psychic / Thunder Wave
Bulky Thund sets are something that could see more exploration imo. While it's true that the rise of pokemon that hovers around a closer speed tier to it such as Hydreigon and Arcanine does make it a bit less optimal nowadays, it still has some pretty cool upsides, specially when trading vs opposing offenses, while still keeping the annoying presence offense vs slower teams. The first one has enough speed to outspeed 240s, which are is the benchmark to outspeed max Adamant Metagross, the second one outspeeds max Adamant Excadrill, with the rest of evs making Thund as bulky as possible to the point where it can afford to trade Knock/Sludges/Twave/Focus more efficiently vs things like Latios, Gardevoir, opposing Thunds and Excadrill.
:ninetales: Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball
- Encore
- Healing Wish
- Solar Beam
Although you do need to tera to achieve its supposed goal, being able to kill Sassy 16 SpDef Slowkings with Solar Beam into tera Solar Beam can be huge when Slowking tends to be very annoying for sun builds
:gastrodon: Gastrodon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sticky Hold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
- Recover
Gastrodon tends to be annoyingly passive at times, specially vs agressive teams. This set only really fits on very specific teams, usually on fatter ones that already could slot Rocks and possibly Spikes in another slots, but it can get huge surprise kills vs U-turn heavy teams or at worse trade 1v1 vs offenses efficiently. The EVs are just standard ones but it might want a more phys def spread when using this set.
:dudunsparce: Dudunsparce-Three-Segment @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Rattled
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 80 HP / 116 Def / 136 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Glare
- Roost
- Flamethrower
s/o italians. I do think it is genuinely very usable on para focused teams, this thing actually has crazy bulk to the point where it will get at least one glare on something and has solid enough offensive presence to be able to force things out and possibly go for more glare targets. Sitrus + that amount of defensive EVs allows it to take a +2 Triple Axel from Weavile while having enough speed to outspeed Lokix after Rattled.
:scizor: Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
Yes, CB Scizor has been used since Meru started playing this game or something like that, but Dual Wingbeat is a cool 4th to have on it, one shotting pokemon like Keldeo/Conk/Slither Wing while also pressuring answers like Pex in exchange of not being able to hit Skarm, which in my experience hasn't been a huge issue since it's not a hard pokemon to exploit when you can just get free turns vs it via U-turn.
:muk-alola: Muk-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 96 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
I've been trying to make this pokemon work for a long time but never got to find a team with it that i was glad with, nice to see Peum load it in this tour though. Pretty solid check to SubNP Hydras/CM Latis (and even to Dew/LO ones if you commit to full SpDef, being a solid special sponge in general), plus Poison Touch + Knock combination being very annoying to deal with, at times even for Skarm/Tinka teams.
:scizor::assault vest: Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Atk / 32 Def / 12 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Close Combat / Dual Wingbeat
Fun option for faster paced teams that have better wincons than SD Scizor that also would appreciate a more resilient pivot into Latios
:basculegion: Basculegion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Flip Turn
- Psychic Fangs
-Tera Blast Phantom Force
I think it's the best Basculegion if you're gonna run Scarf on it, gives you strong Flip Turns and Psyfangs in a fun tech vs Screens while also being able to hit Clod/Keldeo. It's true that you do lack a Ghost STAB when using it over Femalegion, but i feel like you often click Flip Turn more than anything else anyway.
:enamorus-therian::leftovers: Enamorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 152 HP / 252 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Draining Kiss
- Earth Power
Although i haven't continued exploring with it, i did try it a LOT earlier in UUPL and it actually had some really strong MUs, truly a nightmare for slowish teams to face and even some faster BOs that would lack the necessary power to break through it and stop it from snowballing. Paired it with para support for pokemon like Tinka and other pokemon that could help overwhelm checks like Excadrill/Psynoisers.
:jirachi: Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Energy Ball / Shadow Ball / Doom Desire / Future Sight / Wish / Stealth Rocks / Fire Punch / Anything really
- U-turn
- Thunder
- Psychic Noise
One very underrated pokemon in my opinion and often overlooked because people tend to close their vision into ''Rachi only does Ihead + para/HW shenanigans but it thuds into too many pokes lol'' when it actually has a pretty diverse amount of assets to explore and pressure some of its usual initial switchs, while still having a pretty solid defensive typing + stats to be a fine offensive check to pokemon like Latios and Gardevoir. Psynoise + Thunder is a pretty disruptive combo vs fatter teams if you picture common defensive walls/offensive pivots like Skarm, Clod, Mandi, Slowking, AV Conk, Fezan, etc. While it's true that there'll be hard stops to it like Excadrill (and Tinkaton since it has no IHead), U-turn just makes those telegraphed switches pretty exploitable for the Jirachi user, as long as you build with it in mind.
:mew::power herb: Mew @ Power Herb
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Beam
- Fire Blast
- Psychic Noise
Pretty solid option for a rocker on Screens teams if you don't opt for Rhyperior/Arcanine/Hydreigon/Kleavor, i feel the speed is actually nice to have to pressure Exca more efficiently over something like Necrozma, which is also very likely usable.
:weavile: Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance
Me and Reina came up with it around the same time, while it can come off as very greed it's not anything super new to SS OU players. If you look at the usual UU pokemon going around, you can notice that Ice Shard still reasonably covers the Pokemon you miss out outspeeding by dropping the speed (Latios, Thund-i, Serp) and the added power with Adamant is noticeable, allowing it to muscle through checks like Skarmory, Tinkaton, physdef Fezandipiti more easily.
:serperior::rowap berry: Serperior @ Rowap Berry
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 20 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Synthesis
- Taunt
- Tera Blast
You might ask me what in the world is a Rowap Berry and i wouldn't blame you for that. Rowap Berry act as an one time Rocky Helmet for Special moves, but then you still might ask me ''ok, but why would i use that?''. The answer is: A lot of the pokemon that would check this set when Tera Blast was allowed were mostly Special attackers (Skeledirge, Fezandipiti, sometimes Latios/Hydrapple). With Taunt, you deny them the recovery, so a +2 Serp, while not outrighting KOing them, could still do significant damage to them. However with Rowap adding that extra damage, it could turn those into actually 1v1 wins for Serp.
:chandelure: :choice scarf: Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hex / Trick / Will-O-Wisp
Never got my players to use it but i think it has some cool potential. Great offensive typings with a great spa stat, and we know how solid it can be defensively as seen with Skeledirge, but one thing that caught my eyes was Infiltrator, which would allow it to be one of the few things that could reliably revenge kill tera Steel Hydreigon with a sub up and resist common prios running around (even resists Lokix Fimp!).
ORAS
Pdt was mostly self sufficient here, but since ORAS is one of the UU gens i like the most i often would throw in ideas here, and even got to see some of them in action in the few weeks where pdt didn't have much time to prep
:cresselia: Cresselia (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psycho Shift
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Future Sight
This set might look like trolling, and it might as well be, however i think this is truly the best way to make the most out of Cresselia. Cresselias downsides imo is usually how passive and do nothing it is at times, and while those options don't truly solve this problem, they at least help at making some form of contribution vs slower teams and offsetting one of its other issues which is getting owned by burn/poison. While it might be hard to get a Psycho Shift off when poisoned, i feel it's not as hard to do when it's burned.
:houndoom-mega: Houndoom-Mega @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Wisp on a fast pokemon? sounds broken. It also provides myself a Wisp immunity + Knock resist.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-925743
Definitely one of my favorites team i built this season, but honestly this is an adaption i made from the team Pak used vs Garay, Coba Rose allows you to get the sleep off vs bat and you can safely stay in vs Aero, Poison Point felt more useful here since Rose hardly will last long enough on this kind of team to the point where Natural Cure will be more useful (and Poison Point was actually clutch in that game).
Aqua Tail Aero was used here because Garay had a considerable usage of non-Seismitoad ground types and Aqua Tail could nuke through those, being particularly useful vs Nidoking in that game where according to Bouff it was specifically ev'd to life an Earthquake.
Natural Gift Metagross rounds up the team well here, giving a soft switch to Gardevoir and Aero while also being able to lure in Seismitoad/Swampert for Aero, and possibly being a less obvious lure than something like Natural Gift Entei.
Standard Krook with enough evs to live a scarf Hydreigon Draco from full and Knock it off, making it easier for Aero/Coba/Gyara later on
Instead of the usual SD Coba i opted for CM Volt Coba as a way to force damage on Seismi/Swamp while also not being totally blocked by Doublade, which Garay had a considerable amount of usage, being able to generate momentum + force damage on it for its teammates.
Lastly i opted for ChestoResto Gyara which looked pretty solid into those more passive teams that relied on status to beat it. Opted for a fatter one to be able to abuse even more those passive teams since i felt that the lack of immediate power on it was fine enough with the lures + spikes.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-928077
:blastoise-mega: Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 136 SpA / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
Not something entirely new, but i feel this set is solid if you can afford pairing it with a cleric. Compressing a spinner + wisp/scald absorber is pretty cool while also having solid MU into non Gknot waters.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-932881
Unused ideas:
:blastoise: Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Sleep Talk
- Refresh / Rest
Regular Blastoise. Honestly not an amazing spinner but it is usable enough as a hazard control option on teams that really wanna keep your hazards up and/or can't afford Defog Empoleon on that slot
:chandelure: Chandelure @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 240 HP / 152 Def / 16 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Protect
- Taunt
:chandelure: Chandelure @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 232 HP / 156 Def / 16 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Hex
- Calm Mind
I REALLY feel like Chandelure is a pretty good poke, although it does require a fair amount of support. The combination of high SpA, Flame Body and decent enough coverage with mono hex makes it a pokemon with unique traits that are good into the metagame right now, being a solid punish to Super Fang Bats, deadly into Scarf Hydreigon teams since locks can be pretty awkward for it (and it can burn it if it U-turns....) and obviously has access to broken Wisp. Felt pretty strong into your typical Water/Ground Empo Bat builds.
:toxicroak: Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
While SD sets might still be better in general, AoA Croak with Edge might have potential atm considering that some Empoleons/Seismitoad drops a move to properly hit it and Edge allows it to not be easily blocked by Crobat. This set aims to act more as an immediate breaker by forgoing SD, giving it space to fit coverage for Nidos, Doublade and Crobat. It's also a solid offensive check to Heracross which is cool.
DPP
That was a surprise for me as well since i haven't dabbed into building much in non preview gens, but i felt like there were some fun ideas to be explored there since lots of DPP teams seemed to be getting lazier. Obviously since it's a way older metagame there was hardly any run to come up with something entirely new, but i felt like there were some older sets/ideas that could be revamped to ''modern days''.
:mesprit::light clay: Mesprit @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- U-turn
While Screens isn't unheard of it definitely is on the rarer side of things in DPP nowadays. You might ask why not just use Uxie here, and you'd be right for asking that, but using Mesprit as the screener allows you to use setup Uxie in the back. Even though we lost the game, i feel like Screens has the potential to be good considering how we have good offensive tools for setup spam teams
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-917420
Not a revolutionary team or anything like that, but felt pretty solid to use and definitely happy with that one
:primeape::expert belt: / :black belt: Primeape @ Expert Belt / Black Belt
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Ice Punch
Fairly common set, but i feel like this is something that should be used more given how solid it is into most of the non-HO teams running around at the moment. Not a gamebreaking thing but very tried and true, specially with the good old Pursuit support.
:drifblim: Drifblim @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 84 Def / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
DPP NU enjoyers are familiar with this one (or ig if you're Heysup). I feel it has pretty nice potential to be good in Spikestack HOs as either a secondary spinblocker and surprise really fast wincon, specially with other pokes that help overwhelm its checks
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-925882
:entei::liechi berry:Entei @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Natural Gift
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed
Stolen set from ORAS but it always looked good into a lot of the scouts through this tour (maybe because of Milotic being less favored as the Water poke option recently?), strong into most leads as well
:drapion: Drapion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Crunch
- Earthquake / Aqua Tail
- Pursuit
Very old set, people seem to hate it right now favoring Houndoom/Skuntank as a Pursuit trapper, and while they certainly have advantages over Drapion i do like it's luring potential/being able to trade damage with walls for offense with SD + coverage. Unfortunately i do think it didn't show much of its potential because we could have played better with it, but definitely a set worth exploring more imo
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-929451
Unused ideas:
:rhyperior::life orb: Rhyperior @ Life Orb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
That seems like a 2010 throwback set honestly LOL but it's honestly worth trying right now imo, LO SDless Rhyperior has enough fire power to nab at worse a kill vs most teams and can reasonably force weird locks for scarfers trying to revenge kill it, definitely a set i'd only use on very offensive teams tho.
:clefable::life orb: Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 8 Def / 16 SpA / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Grass Knot
- Soft-Boiled
- Fire Punch
Speaking of 2010 throwback sets..... It honestly looked pretty strong into those Clef Milo slowish builds when theorizing with it, with Gknot nuking Rhyperiors expecting to get a turn vs CM Clef/Support Clef. Honestly i feel there's something better for the last slot, specially if you pair it with Pursuit support, but Fire Punch was the midground to hit ghosts while still chipping down Registeel. Fire Blast can be used but honestly there's barely any difference in damage to Fire Punch and it can miss so....
Closing thoughts
I think even in more ''solved'' metas there are still a lot to explore (and obviously there are still a ton to be explored in SV as well) and that's why i'll hardly stop liking this game even if i can feel burnt out at times, I encourage everyone reading this to don't be afraid of testing dogshit since that's the best way to figure things out and refine them into solid ideas
Shoutouts to people that directly and indirectly gave me ideas for stuff in this tour Lyssa sky Taka Pak Sabella Mossy Sandwich spell pdt dingbat Bouff frankjosh passion etern Cynde @ladder
SV:
:excadrill: Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 160 HP / 232 SpD / 116 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Poison Jab
Cheesy idea, however i do think you don't mind not having Iron Head that much on rocks Drill sets. While my go for choice on last slot is usually Rock Slide/Rock Tomb on those kind of Excas to handle Thunds better (and later on pressure Talonflame teams), Poison Jab gives it odds to make life harder for the usual pokes that denies it from accomplishing its ''supposed role'' (i.e poisoning Sinistcha and Mandi makes them need to play even more reactively with using up turns to recover themselves, pokemon like Donphan also really hates being on a timer).
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-917039
:gligar: Gligar @ Eviolite
Ability: Immunity
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
Me and Lyssa have talked about that pokemon in few occasions in the past and it still roughly does the same thing it always did: checks pivot Thunds, has a cool defensive typing into some of HO pokes like Revavroom and Slither Wing, has access to some nice moves like Spikes, Toxic, U-turn, Knock, Tspikes. At that point in the meta, it also helped totally disrupting momentum that Sandy Shocks, which has seen a slight rise in usage, would get or at least pressure vs Thund-T/Donphan teams, being able to actually reverse it thanks to its own access to U-turn. While it's true that it doesn't have good longevity, i feel one common mistake people do when using Gligar is using it on overly passive builds that does depend on it being alive forever to check the stuff it's supposed to, when one of its strong assets is exactly its ability to reverse momentum on the most common volt users while having the possibility to click setup Spikes/spread Toxic or Knock vs more passive ones.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919738
:sandy shocks::shuca berry: / :rocky helmet: Sandy Shocks @ Shuca Berry / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 48 HP / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Volt Switch
- Power Gem
People tend to almost always default to boots when using Sandy Shocks as a pivot, however i do think that while boots is never a bad choice for a pokemon, there are usually more useful items for a not really weak to hazard pokemon. Shuca Berry is usually my prefered choice to either reverse momentum vs opposing Sandys, helping in the 1v1s vs Exca and Donphan while also being able to help checking things like Revavroom. While Helmet was mainly an idea to punish Weavile clicking Triple Axel, it's still a good item in general, chipping down U-turn users and being able to deal that finally damage vs weakened setuppers/fast Pokemon
Games: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919036
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-921318
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-930174
:keldeo::life orb: / :splash plate: / :rocky helmet: Keldeo @ Life Orb / Splash Plate / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Steel/Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pain Split
- Surf
- Secret Sword / Icy Wind
- Taunt / Flip Turn / Substitute / Vacuum Wave
The infamous splitter Keldeo. While it was a set i first used in UUWC one year ago(?), it started to more usage/experimentation in this UUPL, having a lot of possible tweaks making it a pretty versatile set. While not the most reliable recovery, Pain Split still helps it keeping Keldeo somewhat healthy vs teams with more passive checks (clodsire, slowking, fezandipiti, etc) while still forcing damage on them, allowing it to last longer vs threats like Weavile, Skeledirge, Arcanine, Slither etc.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919036
:basculegion-f: Basculegion-F (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump / Ice Beam
- Aqua Jet / Flip Turn
Although it doesn't have great speed, it still has solid enough speed for your usual defensive checks. Water Ghost STABs are awesome offensively and while there are offensive ghosts with greater speed and roughly the same wallbreaking ability, Basculegion has a pretty useful defensive typing unlike Gengar and Zoroark-Hisui, which gives a one time check on offense for pokemon like Slither Wing, Keldeo, Excadrill and Revavroom. While Scarf sets are not too shabby, i do feel like you lose out on one of its mains niches since while it's still fairly strong without specs, it does miss out on noticeable damage vs fatter teams.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-920627
:slither wing::life orb: Slither Wing @ Life Orb
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Leech Life
- Flame Charge
- Earthquake
The moves are not new by any means, but when using it in Sun with Life Orb it can act similarly to pokemon like Ceruledge, being able to hit super hard while still offsetting Life Orb recoil because of Leech Life recovery, pretty cool set for all out on offense suns.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-923594
Unused ideas:
:thundurus-therian: Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast / Thunder Wave / Grass Knot / Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse / Taunt / Psychic
:thundurus-therian: Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 16 SpA / 152 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- Sludge Bomb / Grass Knot / Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse / Taunt / Psychic / Thunder Wave
Bulky Thund sets are something that could see more exploration imo. While it's true that the rise of pokemon that hovers around a closer speed tier to it such as Hydreigon and Arcanine does make it a bit less optimal nowadays, it still has some pretty cool upsides, specially when trading vs opposing offenses, while still keeping the annoying presence offense vs slower teams. The first one has enough speed to outspeed 240s, which are is the benchmark to outspeed max Adamant Metagross, the second one outspeeds max Adamant Excadrill, with the rest of evs making Thund as bulky as possible to the point where it can afford to trade Knock/Sludges/Twave/Focus more efficiently vs things like Latios, Gardevoir, opposing Thunds and Excadrill.
:ninetales: Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball
- Encore
- Healing Wish
- Solar Beam
Although you do need to tera to achieve its supposed goal, being able to kill Sassy 16 SpDef Slowkings with Solar Beam into tera Solar Beam can be huge when Slowking tends to be very annoying for sun builds
:gastrodon: Gastrodon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sticky Hold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Counter
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
- Recover
Gastrodon tends to be annoyingly passive at times, specially vs agressive teams. This set only really fits on very specific teams, usually on fatter ones that already could slot Rocks and possibly Spikes in another slots, but it can get huge surprise kills vs U-turn heavy teams or at worse trade 1v1 vs offenses efficiently. The EVs are just standard ones but it might want a more phys def spread when using this set.
:dudunsparce: Dudunsparce-Three-Segment @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Rattled
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 80 HP / 116 Def / 136 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Boomburst
- Glare
- Roost
- Flamethrower
s/o italians. I do think it is genuinely very usable on para focused teams, this thing actually has crazy bulk to the point where it will get at least one glare on something and has solid enough offensive presence to be able to force things out and possibly go for more glare targets. Sitrus + that amount of defensive EVs allows it to take a +2 Triple Axel from Weavile while having enough speed to outspeed Lokix after Rattled.
:scizor: Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dual Wingbeat
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
Yes, CB Scizor has been used since Meru started playing this game or something like that, but Dual Wingbeat is a cool 4th to have on it, one shotting pokemon like Keldeo/Conk/Slither Wing while also pressuring answers like Pex in exchange of not being able to hit Skarm, which in my experience hasn't been a huge issue since it's not a hard pokemon to exploit when you can just get free turns vs it via U-turn.
:muk-alola: Muk-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Poison Touch
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 96 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
I've been trying to make this pokemon work for a long time but never got to find a team with it that i was glad with, nice to see Peum load it in this tour though. Pretty solid check to SubNP Hydras/CM Latis (and even to Dew/LO ones if you commit to full SpDef, being a solid special sponge in general), plus Poison Touch + Knock combination being very annoying to deal with, at times even for Skarm/Tinka teams.
:scizor::assault vest: Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Atk / 32 Def / 12 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Close Combat / Dual Wingbeat
Fun option for faster paced teams that have better wincons than SD Scizor that also would appreciate a more resilient pivot into Latios
:basculegion: Basculegion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wave Crash
- Flip Turn
- Psychic Fangs
-
I think it's the best Basculegion if you're gonna run Scarf on it, gives you strong Flip Turns and Psyfangs in a fun tech vs Screens while also being able to hit Clod/Keldeo. It's true that you do lack a Ghost STAB when using it over Femalegion, but i feel like you often click Flip Turn more than anything else anyway.
:enamorus-therian::leftovers: Enamorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 152 HP / 252 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Draining Kiss
- Earth Power
Although i haven't continued exploring with it, i did try it a LOT earlier in UUPL and it actually had some really strong MUs, truly a nightmare for slowish teams to face and even some faster BOs that would lack the necessary power to break through it and stop it from snowballing. Paired it with para support for pokemon like Tinka and other pokemon that could help overwhelm checks like Excadrill/Psynoisers.
:jirachi: Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Energy Ball / Shadow Ball / Doom Desire / Future Sight / Wish / Stealth Rocks / Fire Punch / Anything really
- U-turn
- Thunder
- Psychic Noise
One very underrated pokemon in my opinion and often overlooked because people tend to close their vision into ''Rachi only does Ihead + para/HW shenanigans but it thuds into too many pokes lol'' when it actually has a pretty diverse amount of assets to explore and pressure some of its usual initial switchs, while still having a pretty solid defensive typing + stats to be a fine offensive check to pokemon like Latios and Gardevoir. Psynoise + Thunder is a pretty disruptive combo vs fatter teams if you picture common defensive walls/offensive pivots like Skarm, Clod, Mandi, Slowking, AV Conk, Fezan, etc. While it's true that there'll be hard stops to it like Excadrill (and Tinkaton since it has no IHead), U-turn just makes those telegraphed switches pretty exploitable for the Jirachi user, as long as you build with it in mind.
:mew::power herb: Mew @ Power Herb
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Beam
- Fire Blast
- Psychic Noise
Pretty solid option for a rocker on Screens teams if you don't opt for Rhyperior/Arcanine/Hydreigon/Kleavor, i feel the speed is actually nice to have to pressure Exca more efficiently over something like Necrozma, which is also very likely usable.
:weavile: Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pickpocket
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance
Me and Reina came up with it around the same time, while it can come off as very greed it's not anything super new to SS OU players. If you look at the usual UU pokemon going around, you can notice that Ice Shard still reasonably covers the Pokemon you miss out outspeeding by dropping the speed (Latios, Thund-i, Serp) and the added power with Adamant is noticeable, allowing it to muscle through checks like Skarmory, Tinkaton, physdef Fezandipiti more easily.
:serperior::rowap berry: Serperior @ Rowap Berry
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 20 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Synthesis
- Taunt
- Tera Blast
You might ask me what in the world is a Rowap Berry and i wouldn't blame you for that. Rowap Berry act as an one time Rocky Helmet for Special moves, but then you still might ask me ''ok, but why would i use that?''. The answer is: A lot of the pokemon that would check this set when Tera Blast was allowed were mostly Special attackers (Skeledirge, Fezandipiti, sometimes Latios/Hydrapple). With Taunt, you deny them the recovery, so a +2 Serp, while not outrighting KOing them, could still do significant damage to them. However with Rowap adding that extra damage, it could turn those into actually 1v1 wins for Serp.
:chandelure: :choice scarf: Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Hex / Trick / Will-O-Wisp
Never got my players to use it but i think it has some cool potential. Great offensive typings with a great spa stat, and we know how solid it can be defensively as seen with Skeledirge, but one thing that caught my eyes was Infiltrator, which would allow it to be one of the few things that could reliably revenge kill tera Steel Hydreigon with a sub up and resist common prios running around (even resists Lokix Fimp!).
ORAS
Pdt was mostly self sufficient here, but since ORAS is one of the UU gens i like the most i often would throw in ideas here, and even got to see some of them in action in the few weeks where pdt didn't have much time to prep
:cresselia: Cresselia (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psycho Shift
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Future Sight
This set might look like trolling, and it might as well be, however i think this is truly the best way to make the most out of Cresselia. Cresselias downsides imo is usually how passive and do nothing it is at times, and while those options don't truly solve this problem, they at least help at making some form of contribution vs slower teams and offsetting one of its other issues which is getting owned by burn/poison. While it might be hard to get a Psycho Shift off when poisoned, i feel it's not as hard to do when it's burned.
:houndoom-mega: Houndoom-Mega @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
Wisp on a fast pokemon? sounds broken. It also provides myself a Wisp immunity + Knock resist.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-925743
Definitely one of my favorites team i built this season, but honestly this is an adaption i made from the team Pak used vs Garay, Coba Rose allows you to get the sleep off vs bat and you can safely stay in vs Aero, Poison Point felt more useful here since Rose hardly will last long enough on this kind of team to the point where Natural Cure will be more useful (and Poison Point was actually clutch in that game).
Aqua Tail Aero was used here because Garay had a considerable usage of non-Seismitoad ground types and Aqua Tail could nuke through those, being particularly useful vs Nidoking in that game where according to Bouff it was specifically ev'd to life an Earthquake.
Natural Gift Metagross rounds up the team well here, giving a soft switch to Gardevoir and Aero while also being able to lure in Seismitoad/Swampert for Aero, and possibly being a less obvious lure than something like Natural Gift Entei.
Standard Krook with enough evs to live a scarf Hydreigon Draco from full and Knock it off, making it easier for Aero/Coba/Gyara later on
Instead of the usual SD Coba i opted for CM Volt Coba as a way to force damage on Seismi/Swamp while also not being totally blocked by Doublade, which Garay had a considerable amount of usage, being able to generate momentum + force damage on it for its teammates.
Lastly i opted for ChestoResto Gyara which looked pretty solid into those more passive teams that relied on status to beat it. Opted for a fatter one to be able to abuse even more those passive teams since i felt that the lack of immediate power on it was fine enough with the lures + spikes.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-928077
:blastoise-mega: Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 136 SpA / 120 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Rest
Not something entirely new, but i feel this set is solid if you can afford pairing it with a cleric. Compressing a spinner + wisp/scald absorber is pretty cool while also having solid MU into non Gknot waters.
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-932881
Unused ideas:
:blastoise: Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Hidden Power [Grass] / Sleep Talk
- Refresh / Rest
Regular Blastoise. Honestly not an amazing spinner but it is usable enough as a hazard control option on teams that really wanna keep your hazards up and/or can't afford Defog Empoleon on that slot
:chandelure: Chandelure @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 240 HP / 152 Def / 16 SpA / 100 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Protect
- Taunt
:chandelure: Chandelure @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 232 HP / 156 Def / 16 SpA / 104 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Hex
- Calm Mind
I REALLY feel like Chandelure is a pretty good poke, although it does require a fair amount of support. The combination of high SpA, Flame Body and decent enough coverage with mono hex makes it a pokemon with unique traits that are good into the metagame right now, being a solid punish to Super Fang Bats, deadly into Scarf Hydreigon teams since locks can be pretty awkward for it (and it can burn it if it U-turns....) and obviously has access to broken Wisp. Felt pretty strong into your typical Water/Ground Empo Bat builds.
:toxicroak: Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
While SD sets might still be better in general, AoA Croak with Edge might have potential atm considering that some Empoleons/Seismitoad drops a move to properly hit it and Edge allows it to not be easily blocked by Crobat. This set aims to act more as an immediate breaker by forgoing SD, giving it space to fit coverage for Nidos, Doublade and Crobat. It's also a solid offensive check to Heracross which is cool.
DPP
That was a surprise for me as well since i haven't dabbed into building much in non preview gens, but i felt like there were some fun ideas to be explored there since lots of DPP teams seemed to be getting lazier. Obviously since it's a way older metagame there was hardly any run to come up with something entirely new, but i felt like there were some older sets/ideas that could be revamped to ''modern days''.
:mesprit::light clay: Mesprit @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- U-turn
While Screens isn't unheard of it definitely is on the rarer side of things in DPP nowadays. You might ask why not just use Uxie here, and you'd be right for asking that, but using Mesprit as the screener allows you to use setup Uxie in the back. Even though we lost the game, i feel like Screens has the potential to be good considering how we have good offensive tools for setup spam teams
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-917420
Not a revolutionary team or anything like that, but felt pretty solid to use and definitely happy with that one
:primeape::expert belt: / :black belt: Primeape @ Expert Belt / Black Belt
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Ice Punch
Fairly common set, but i feel like this is something that should be used more given how solid it is into most of the non-HO teams running around at the moment. Not a gamebreaking thing but very tried and true, specially with the good old Pursuit support.
:drifblim: Drifblim @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 84 Def / 252 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
DPP NU enjoyers are familiar with this one (or ig if you're Heysup). I feel it has pretty nice potential to be good in Spikestack HOs as either a secondary spinblocker and surprise really fast wincon, specially with other pokes that help overwhelm its checks
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-925882
:entei::liechi berry:Entei @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Natural Gift
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed
Stolen set from ORAS but it always looked good into a lot of the scouts through this tour (maybe because of Milotic being less favored as the Water poke option recently?), strong into most leads as well
:drapion: Drapion @ Lum Berry
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Crunch
- Earthquake / Aqua Tail
- Pursuit
Very old set, people seem to hate it right now favoring Houndoom/Skuntank as a Pursuit trapper, and while they certainly have advantages over Drapion i do like it's luring potential/being able to trade damage with walls for offense with SD + coverage. Unfortunately i do think it didn't show much of its potential because we could have played better with it, but definitely a set worth exploring more imo
Game: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-929451
Unused ideas:
:rhyperior::life orb: Rhyperior @ Life Orb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Megahorn
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
That seems like a 2010 throwback set honestly LOL but it's honestly worth trying right now imo, LO SDless Rhyperior has enough fire power to nab at worse a kill vs most teams and can reasonably force weird locks for scarfers trying to revenge kill it, definitely a set i'd only use on very offensive teams tho.
:clefable::life orb: Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Atk / 8 Def / 16 SpA / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Grass Knot
- Soft-Boiled
- Fire Punch
Speaking of 2010 throwback sets..... It honestly looked pretty strong into those Clef Milo slowish builds when theorizing with it, with Gknot nuking Rhyperiors expecting to get a turn vs CM Clef/Support Clef. Honestly i feel there's something better for the last slot, specially if you pair it with Pursuit support, but Fire Punch was the midground to hit ghosts while still chipping down Registeel. Fire Blast can be used but honestly there's barely any difference in damage to Fire Punch and it can miss so....
Closing thoughts
I think even in more ''solved'' metas there are still a lot to explore (and obviously there are still a ton to be explored in SV as well) and that's why i'll hardly stop liking this game even if i can feel burnt out at times, I encourage everyone reading this to don't be afraid of testing dogshit since that's the best way to figure things out and refine them into solid ideas
Shoutouts to people that directly and indirectly gave me ideas for stuff in this tour Lyssa sky Taka Pak Sabella Mossy Sandwich spell pdt dingbat Bouff frankjosh passion etern Cynde @ladder
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galvantula @ choice scarf
ability: compoundeyes
evs: 252 spa / 4 spd / 252 spe
timid/modest nature
- sticky web
- thunder
- bug buzz
- energy ball
this set is very anti-opposing hyper offense. opposing taunters like froslass and crobat can't prevent webs from getting upped and you could theoretically snipe a kill on the latter if they think you're sash.
moltres @ choice specs
ability: flame body
evs: 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
ivs: whatever the fuck hp grass ivs are
timid nature
- flamethrower
- hurricane
- hp grass
- overheat
offensive fire types have gained a lot of traction in this meta lately since we've become a lot more lax with stacking fire resists. moltres has big special attack and big stab moves, so i figured, why not reintroduce a throwback set from the current gen days and slap a choice specs on it? turns out this set is still really fucking strong after all this time, rivaling hydreigon in terms of power output but also being arguably harder to wall due to its stabs having a shorter list of reliable resists in this tier.
krookodile @ leftovers
ability: intimidate
136 hp / 244 atk / 128 spe
adamant nature
- bulk up
- earthquake
- knock off
- superpower
i honestly enjoyed theorizing with this set a lot and i think bulk up as a whole could be a rly cool option as a 4th move even on its sr sets. opted for adamant nature > jolly since i expected pdt to run something bulky and i wanted some degree of extra bulk while juicing up its power enough to outright ohko shit like slowking off rip after a boost. unfortunately my spread ran into a major issue of being slower than his jolly mega swampert, but at the same time, adamant nature meant i had some odds of naturally 2hkoing it (~25% chance iirc?), so it ended up being a double edged sword that went pdt's way in what ended up being probably the closest oras match of this season.
i miss liam (porygon2) @ eviolite
ability: trace
evs: 248 hp / 84 spd / 176 spe
calm nature
- sub
- tri attack
- charge beam
- recover
shoutouts Amukamara, i stole this set in ur honor and got lucky n bad with it. unfortunately pak's florges outsped my duck which i thought was going to immediately end me, but luckily it died and we all learned how broken tri attack is when it inherits the serene grace ability.
anyways i had a fun time in the builder. my overall performance kinda went out the window after ~ week 4 so sry to the ladies for that, even though we were out of playoffs after week 5. i also had a couple of other stupid ass sets that i considered building with that a few others know about, but i will save those for another season. cheers
ability: compoundeyes
evs: 252 spa / 4 spd / 252 spe
timid/modest nature
- sticky web
- thunder
- bug buzz
- energy ball
this set is very anti-opposing hyper offense. opposing taunters like froslass and crobat can't prevent webs from getting upped and you could theoretically snipe a kill on the latter if they think you're sash.
moltres @ choice specs
ability: flame body
evs: 4 def / 252 spa / 252 spe
ivs: whatever the fuck hp grass ivs are
timid nature
- flamethrower
- hurricane
- hp grass
- overheat
offensive fire types have gained a lot of traction in this meta lately since we've become a lot more lax with stacking fire resists. moltres has big special attack and big stab moves, so i figured, why not reintroduce a throwback set from the current gen days and slap a choice specs on it? turns out this set is still really fucking strong after all this time, rivaling hydreigon in terms of power output but also being arguably harder to wall due to its stabs having a shorter list of reliable resists in this tier.
krookodile @ leftovers
ability: intimidate
136 hp / 244 atk / 128 spe
adamant nature
- bulk up
- earthquake
- knock off
- superpower
i honestly enjoyed theorizing with this set a lot and i think bulk up as a whole could be a rly cool option as a 4th move even on its sr sets. opted for adamant nature > jolly since i expected pdt to run something bulky and i wanted some degree of extra bulk while juicing up its power enough to outright ohko shit like slowking off rip after a boost. unfortunately my spread ran into a major issue of being slower than his jolly mega swampert, but at the same time, adamant nature meant i had some odds of naturally 2hkoing it (~25% chance iirc?), so it ended up being a double edged sword that went pdt's way in what ended up being probably the closest oras match of this season.
i miss liam (porygon2) @ eviolite
ability: trace
evs: 248 hp / 84 spd / 176 spe
calm nature
- sub
- tri attack
- charge beam
- recover
shoutouts Amukamara, i stole this set in ur honor and got lucky n bad with it. unfortunately pak's florges outsped my duck which i thought was going to immediately end me, but luckily it died and we all learned how broken tri attack is when it inherits the serene grace ability.
anyways i had a fun time in the builder. my overall performance kinda went out the window after ~ week 4 so sry to the ladies for that, even though we were out of playoffs after week 5. i also had a couple of other stupid ass sets that i considered building with that a few others know about, but i will save those for another season. cheers
Another year another UUPL with wishing kangas fire blasting arcanines and unexpected amount of altarias PLEASE STOP
Gonna group these games together because of the individual. The gameplan was to always bring a CM psychic because crying is usually weak into them more than others. More aggro the better because they tend to play a more passive by the books adv uu. Week 1 was a stomp due to said psychic type. Semis was more challenging was won by a choke, however both came out wins that I'm quite proud of. Week 1 was more me while Semis was more of a Killintime input. Kangaless week 1 was indeed OD.
Finals was quite different. Me and KT came in knowing they would likely come in with a cheese HO/BO to avoid a more drawn out game after watching the game vs Bouff. So we decided to match that energy. The psychic we bought was endure Lunatone which did wonders in the late game. KT pretty much built the team because I was being lazy. Thanks!
I mean I bought CB Xatu and Stantler? Thats cool I guess.
UUPL continues to be one of my favorite tours. Went positive. Glad people still value in me as a ADV UU player even though I'm 30 and washed.
Thanks again to tycoons managers and everyone who helped in the tour as well!
Gonna group these games together because of the individual. The gameplan was to always bring a CM psychic because crying is usually weak into them more than others. More aggro the better because they tend to play a more passive by the books adv uu. Week 1 was a stomp due to said psychic type. Semis was more challenging was won by a choke, however both came out wins that I'm quite proud of. Week 1 was more me while Semis was more of a Killintime input. Kangaless week 1 was indeed OD.
Finals was quite different. Me and KT came in knowing they would likely come in with a cheese HO/BO to avoid a more drawn out game after watching the game vs Bouff. So we decided to match that energy. The psychic we bought was endure Lunatone which did wonders in the late game. KT pretty much built the team because I was being lazy. Thanks!
I mean I bought CB Xatu and Stantler? Thats cool I guess.
UUPL continues to be one of my favorite tours. Went positive. Glad people still value in me as a ADV UU player even though I'm 30 and washed.
Thanks again to tycoons managers and everyone who helped in the tour as well!
yearly (tourly?) uupl dump, unfortunately nothing here is particularly interesting because i just got in my head too much in prep and it made me bring boring stuff unfortunately which is probably reflected in my performance. think for the first time ive been burnt out on prepping in adv which sux but itt happens. gonna keep it brief but ill still do the pmd sprites cus i like how it looks
week 1 i was on vacation with little computer access and i was dehydrated as fuck the whole week (fasting) so i brought something very boring but also probably not that great. i honestly really do not rate missy spikes highly these days but my thought process was that i just c an eventually outlast and itll be fine., unfortunately im a dumbass and forgot arcanine ran espeed (?_?) but even with that slowking kinda gave me the business
i actually spent a lot of this week trying to work with girafarig, which despite the really high ceiling is a challenging task, but i was generally working and editing with a structure i got from killintime last year. eventually in testing heysup brought up this scyther set and it was quite nice in game, i got a little unlucky and then i complained and got rewarded and got lucky back. sorry parpar. yawn kanga is also quite cool and i liked it here to try facilitate breaking with my swords dance guys
this is a 6 i think that Accel had used before this tour, so im not going to include a paste but i figured vs heysup i wanted to just kind of end the game fast and not have it drag out too long. the game was really tight and i felt like i could get immensely fucked at any turn but it worked out in the end, cb qwil is such a menace. i rate these fast paced offenses quite highly at the moment though of course its a little hard to come back from it if you make any errors which i sorta did against his hp water arc that i like definitely knew was not going to be hp grass
cm twave slowking. thats it. nothing else to really say...
this was a really obnoxious game to play especially after i almost brought it back some fuckin how but i figured lanturn looked p solid this week as well as granbull and i hadn't used either so i was like why not. the team itself is very boring, as you can tell i have used kanga oma scyther arc 5 billion times. this wasn't exactly on purpose it was just really frustrating trying to get a team i was satisfied with this season
week 6 was stall. luck wasnt on my side but i fucked up and let it get to that point and if you do that it's on you in this tier imo. the paste is in the sample thread so no need to post it here LOL
obviously things were going a little wrong in the builder and in poffs i knew that had to change. i am a very firm believer in always having spikes > no spikes but in practice i was noticing that even in games i was winning, i was....not really getting them up / keeping them up often. so i decided to go with a more slower approach that isnt as reliant on it to win. my teams have been extremely boring (not that this one is exactly the most innovative thing ever), and i had basically used no bulky waters that weren't oma, and i hadn't even used gligar either. my thought was to break shit down with cb solrock + gligar and then eventually end the game with curse lapras, because as long as i can keep tempo in my favor, keep it unrevealed as to force elecs to potentially die / get weakened earlier, and not get mauled by spikes it should be ok. got crit a lot in this game but there were small optimizations that i could make that coulfdve mitigated it somewhat, and ofc when your normal resist is cb solrock you are at mercy of crits i think.
building was a nightmare for me this season due to some weird mix of lack of interest...? in experimentation and paranoia but i did finally bring the gligar that i had posted in the uucl set dump thread. there were some other things that i thought of that didn't make it but i think i'll save it for uucl if i play adv (though ill admit it might be better to try smth else). pretty upsetting season, my losses couldve been avoided even with the subpar rng but it happens. the adv games were quite fun to watch this tournament even though i kinda didn't expect a lot so im hoping that keeps up, ggs yall!
week 1 i was on vacation with little computer access and i was dehydrated as fuck the whole week (fasting) so i brought something very boring but also probably not that great. i honestly really do not rate missy spikes highly these days but my thought process was that i just c an eventually outlast and itll be fine., unfortunately im a dumbass and forgot arcanine ran espeed (?_?) but even with that slowking kinda gave me the business
i actually spent a lot of this week trying to work with girafarig, which despite the really high ceiling is a challenging task, but i was generally working and editing with a structure i got from killintime last year. eventually in testing heysup brought up this scyther set and it was quite nice in game, i got a little unlucky and then i complained and got rewarded and got lucky back. sorry parpar. yawn kanga is also quite cool and i liked it here to try facilitate breaking with my swords dance guys
this is a 6 i think that Accel had used before this tour, so im not going to include a paste but i figured vs heysup i wanted to just kind of end the game fast and not have it drag out too long. the game was really tight and i felt like i could get immensely fucked at any turn but it worked out in the end, cb qwil is such a menace. i rate these fast paced offenses quite highly at the moment though of course its a little hard to come back from it if you make any errors which i sorta did against his hp water arc that i like definitely knew was not going to be hp grass
cm twave slowking. thats it. nothing else to really say...
this was a really obnoxious game to play especially after i almost brought it back some fuckin how but i figured lanturn looked p solid this week as well as granbull and i hadn't used either so i was like why not. the team itself is very boring, as you can tell i have used kanga oma scyther arc 5 billion times. this wasn't exactly on purpose it was just really frustrating trying to get a team i was satisfied with this season
week 6 was stall. luck wasnt on my side but i fucked up and let it get to that point and if you do that it's on you in this tier imo. the paste is in the sample thread so no need to post it here LOL
obviously things were going a little wrong in the builder and in poffs i knew that had to change. i am a very firm believer in always having spikes > no spikes but in practice i was noticing that even in games i was winning, i was....not really getting them up / keeping them up often. so i decided to go with a more slower approach that isnt as reliant on it to win. my teams have been extremely boring (not that this one is exactly the most innovative thing ever), and i had basically used no bulky waters that weren't oma, and i hadn't even used gligar either. my thought was to break shit down with cb solrock + gligar and then eventually end the game with curse lapras, because as long as i can keep tempo in my favor, keep it unrevealed as to force elecs to potentially die / get weakened earlier, and not get mauled by spikes it should be ok. got crit a lot in this game but there were small optimizations that i could make that coulfdve mitigated it somewhat, and ofc when your normal resist is cb solrock you are at mercy of crits i think.
building was a nightmare for me this season due to some weird mix of lack of interest...? in experimentation and paranoia but i did finally bring the gligar that i had posted in the uucl set dump thread. there were some other things that i thought of that didn't make it but i think i'll save it for uucl if i play adv (though ill admit it might be better to try smth else). pretty upsetting season, my losses couldve been avoided even with the subpar rng but it happens. the adv games were quite fun to watch this tournament even though i kinda didn't expect a lot so im hoping that keeps up, ggs yall!
ORAS
Sceptile-Mega (M) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Focus Blast
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-916809?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-921843
I used this (arguable dog shit) on both teams I used Sceptile. Scep is funny because it has like 10 viable moves, but you still do roughly the same thing no matter what unless it's like SD. Application of HP Bug here is pretty obvious. Celebi has been back in a big way. Bug Sceptile isn't exactly a hard counter and this shit doesn't even OHKO, but sometimes you need the faster insurance. You can also do some stuff like hard in on Nasty Plot if they're already weakened. Not anything crazy, but sets like this are a necessary evil sometimes.
Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Recover
- Calm Mind
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-916809?p2
I already talked about this one a bit in my other post, so won't go super long here. As I mentioned, this was more of a product of what the team needed then sitting there theorizing this set as a crazy metagame pick. My team was loose vs Mega Pert and this helped a lot. Also does some stuff like deter rocks Seismitoad early, but they might not know that. In general, pairs very well with Rotom-H, who abuses the Steels that wall it and can burn Hydra to put it on a timer. It's a better sweeper than you'd expect. In any case, Reun has a lot of good going for it. Scald immune, checks some important guys defensively, and obviously poses a threat as a sweeper in the right matchups. I originally theorized Grass Knot which has better rolls vs stuff like Pert and Hydra (which ironically would've won the game week 1), but I felt like being 100% walled by Doublade and some other shit wasn't worth. Think Energy Ball is a better option overall.
Absol-Mega @ Absolite
Ability: Justified
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- Protect
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-925877
Not the most consistent set ever, but I think it does have a purpose on the right team. I really really wanted to get Mega Absol and Rotom-H on the same team for a variety of reasons. Bulky Rotom-H beats the entire game on its own. One of its only real weaknesses is to rocks of course. Rocks are notoriously not hard to keep up in this tier. It's much better with Absol tecting turn 1 and helmet Rotom-H being an incredible hard switch turn 2 vs almost anything that would lead into Absol (think faster U-turns, Fairies, bulky Steels). It can give such a massive advantage early given how much pressure they apply and how much they threaten directly 1v1 or between each other, including rockers. Knock Play Rough Wisp is the default tect set for a reason. However, something that's nice is that tecting turn 1 will give a heavy indication of what the rest of the set is.
Superpower and Pursuit played toward the goal of the team more so than the other options. Gave some nice surprise value and made sense overall. I ended up not clicking Pursuit in the game itself when I probably should have just from overthinking. Game would still be pretty up in the air, but it would have improved my chances. In any case, I think this team was exactly what I was hoping for when fumbling around with the 5000 terrible Absol teams I made this tour. It's hard to make something that truly takes advantage of Absol's skillset while not overly relying on it or another mon not just making more sense if it isn't relied on enough.
Florges (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Synthesis
- Calm Mind
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-925877
Stole king uu's whole flow with this one so not going to act like this was originally mine. Another set that isn't that great in a vacuum compared to other more consistent sets, but I did like the fit a lot here. Ding had a ton of Crobat + not real Steel-type. With a bit of support from Rotom-H and the Absol above, I felt like this made a lot of sense. One of the biggest hurdles of anything involving Florg + Forre is making up for the inherent passiveness. Rotom-H itself does a very good job mitigating some of those weaknesses as I keep gushing about apparently. Still, I knew I wanted some kind of tech around Nidos especially (creeps Queen). This Florg wasn't relied on to do a ton defensively so the solution I liked was to use this thing + Spikes + Pursuit support + Rotom-H + Helmet Celebi to all play toward a common goal of chipping Steels and eventually cleaning. Unfortunately things happened and Aroma probably would've won immediately.
Swampert-Mega @ Swampertite
Ability: Torrent
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Power-Up Punch
Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6uu-934934
Yeah yeah not going to act like I was re-inventing the wheel by putting a slightly different and potentially stupider spin on Mega Pert + Empoleon. Again as I talked about in the other post, you can't throw Mega Pert onto a team as a breaker nearly as safely and comfortably as before. There are a ton of techs floating around that can limit its effectiveness. Essentially, I was scared that I'd be relying on Pert to do too much if it's being counted on to maintain rocks, make progress as a breaker, and answer stuff like Aero defensively. This change diversified the roles a bit so Emp compresses even more while Pert has more free rein as a breaker. Just so happened that this Emp didn't *need* any other utility move so it worked out fine. PUP lets Pert break through stuff like Cune, Reun, and stuff that would otherwise avoid 2hkos and semi comfortably wall over time. Emp itself is a great rocker and made a lot of sense next to Shao especially, getting them up on basically anything that would pivot into Shao. Shao is a much better progress maker with rocks up and yeah. Think this change helped a lot in the game itself.
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Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald / Thunder Wave
- Psychic Noise
- Slack Off
- Chilly Reception
I've used this guy before uupl but idt psynoise is a common move. Reason is pretty straightforward: if your team can't afford to give a free turn against sub keld variants, psynoise heavily cripples that mon. It's also a cool move in general to make damage stick against stuff like clodsire and fezandipity, before pivoting out to another mon.
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 176-210 (54.4 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, if you add to that the 25% the sub costs, keld is left really low
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Fezandipiti: 134-158 (35.2 - 41.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 248 HP / 16+ SpD Clodsire: 146-174 (31.5 - 37.5%) -- 82.5% chance to 3HKO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919623 brought up psynoise for the team piyu used here, but we ended up not running it. No keldeo from the opponent, but there's still the opportunity to click it against sinis on turn 33 and open up a different endgame for weav and mamo.
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald / Thunder Wave
- Psychic Noise
- Slack Off
- Chilly Reception
I've used this guy before uupl but idt psynoise is a common move. Reason is pretty straightforward: if your team can't afford to give a free turn against sub keld variants, psynoise heavily cripples that mon. It's also a cool move in general to make damage stick against stuff like clodsire and fezandipity, before pivoting out to another mon.
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 176-210 (54.4 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO, if you add to that the 25% the sub costs, keld is left really low
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 252 HP / 16 SpD Fezandipiti: 134-158 (35.2 - 41.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Slowking Psychic Noise vs. 248 HP / 16+ SpD Clodsire: 146-174 (31.5 - 37.5%) -- 82.5% chance to 3HKO
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919623 brought up psynoise for the team piyu used here, but we ended up not running it. No keldeo from the opponent, but there's still the opportunity to click it against sinis on turn 33 and open up a different endgame for weav and mamo.
hi, i wanted to ramble about my uupl teams for a bit. didn't have the energy to make a full video or anything but I love making these posts after tours anyways. not really going to analyze the actual games just wanna quickly talk about the teams.
w1 v frankjosh- :greninja::weavile::fezandipiti::skarmory::latios::excadrill:
This was a very fun team to make week 1, but honestly this is easily the worst team i loaded all tour. i came in with virtually no meta knowledge apart from the Torn meta teams i made in UUCL, just picked out greninja bc hes fire, and then structured a team around overloading Fezandipiti while grabbing the big vr mons. I found Adamant Weavile to be really strong in tests, esp along with spikes, as it was pretty easy to overload Keldeo / Tinkaton / Fezandipiti for Greninja to sweep. taunt fez limits slowking and has a good fat matchup overall, and i had spdef to help w Gren (i don't know why i was so high on it...).
this team is rly weak to opposing weak, not very fast, and has the shitter rocks exca, so I can't really cosign it now. but its a product of me building the tier for a day or two maybe, so whatevs.
w2 v haxlolo- :weavile::scizor::gardevoir::donphan::slowking::conkeldurr:
Another pretty fun offense here. this one is also not great haha, my early teams had a lot of flaws that were compensated by me playing with a ton of aggro and getting turns right. But the idea was using Weavile and Sciz to overload Skarmory, with "triple prio" in Gardevoir / Slowking / Scizor to act as speed control alongside Weavile. I really wanted Slowking to bring in my own Weavile and as such, I had it be level 99. At this point in the tour, I was really big on non-choice Gardevoir, which I still think doesn't really have pivots thanks to a great speed tier + strong coverage.
this team is 6-0ed by sinistcha. i totally missed that in prep, but i think its a fun squad to use overall if you can play aggro enough. not built to reuse a ton if the team is known though.
w3 v spell- :clodsire::skarmory::weavile::gastrodon::blissey::gardevoir:
fat ass weavile spikes team this week! this is the week i started to get more cracked out with stuff in the tier. gastrodon is a fine enough mon that, when used in conjunction with skarm and clod, can help cover things like trick metagross and annoying knock thund sets, since at this point grass knot was still lower usage. just wanted to support weavile with a strong defensive backbone since I felt like (and still feel like) boots weavile is the best progress maker in the tier by far and can win most games. the sets on this team are very flexible, you can be calm mind on bliss, diff coverage on gastro, scarf on gardevoir. i personally wanted to bring boots to abuse her good coverage once again, and packed on vacuum wave as a minor thing to cover annoying weavile mu.
w4 v apple- :ninetales-alola::thundurus::krookodile::bisharp::greninja::latios:
yea this team is weird and unfortunately unusable now because of tera blast ban. but i had a lot of leftover veil structures from the previous that I felt I couldn't optimize properly. Krook probably solved 99% of my issues solo by making it much easier to antilead the steels while chipping Skarmory/Mandibuzz for my sweepers. Tera Blast Latios gets past Tinkaton and under Screens Latios is nearly unkillable especially w Sitrus Berry. Thundy is super fat and ev'd to kill Lati after rocks or something, krook eats a draco from latios, and bish is another good classic veil guy. gren is here for the speed tier because i still felt like HO as a whole feels too slow and susceptible to Weavile. that being said, i think at the moment I'd probably make gren -> manaphy even if tera blast ban wasn't a thing.
w5 v peum- :lokix::slowking::excadrill::thundurus-therian::skarmory::weavile:
i really like how this team felt. band kix is really strong and has a ton of good calcs into cheese and offense. Tera Fire Blast Weavile is obviously very strong for killing Tink / Skarm / Sciz but also just a good defensive Tera against Gardevoir / Sciz / Meta, and opens up Lokix well. This Exca was meant to sd up and beat Mandibuzz and Donphan 1v1, and Thundy-T took advantage of these breakers to freely click Scarf Tbolt while also luring Weavile (and Latios with Tera Blast Fairy, but that was a filler slot). I loaded into TR and honestly i was pretty sick and sacked my kix t1, but I think my prep was at least on point, and this was a good team for a Bo1.
w6 v feen- :hydreigon::fezandipiti::metagross::gardevoir::excadrill::thundurus:
at this point, i was experimenting with Hydreigon and Thund-i, which I hadn't used enough in previous weeks. Plot Hydrei with rocks Epack was meant to hazard up and generate a free entry for band meta to kill something, and having rocks on drei freed up Exca to run the threatening SD set. thund is always good with support sets, and I went ghost knock taunt for fatter structures, but this probably wants to be tera water. Fun really offensive team, and I think this one still relatively holds up, just have to outplay Weavile on some turns.
w7 v plague- :latios::excadrill::toxapex::tinkaton::thundurus::slither-wing:
think i was expecting some garde or meta team that i thought sball specs lati could punish. ebutton pex sets up lati nicely, taunt thund as glue, tink as rocker / fairy / steel of choice because i hadnt used it till now, sd exca as usual because its great + supplements tink well. i really liked how scarf slither played at this point in the tour, and tera rock blast gave it some additional utility to kill Thund-T/I, Mence, Talon, while working well with its natural weaknesses to Flying/Fire.
semis v frankjosh- :slither-wing::ninetales::entei::excadrill::weavile::latios:
heater sun. i wanted to use big breakers and slither / entei fit the role well. slither beats all of its checks in sun with LO, only held back by its natural speed. banded entei blows up slowking and all the other natural sun pivots, while notably being faster than hydrei (tbh i forgot harc existed this week LOL but thats w/e entei is lowk just as good on this team). Ghost SD tect weavile is just a secondary wincon to help with lokix and random prios like Conk / Harc. I stole Ground Ninetales from kitoothe i think, and Exca was just ev'd to eat a +2 weav knock so i didnt get owned by misplays into sd weav with eject button. after thinking on it further, and seeing the askov post, i think this team could've benefitted from having solar beam off ninetales, but its still fine as is.
finals v stories- :weavile::talonflame::serperior::metagross::excadrill::slither-wing:
LO weavile is rly good and has some ridiculous calcs into practically the entire tier, in exchange for a reasonable rocks weakness. almost every single weav counterplay gets covered by the combo of Tera Ice + a steel + talonflame, hence how this team was structured. i liked taunt fat talon for being able to sit on lokix and exca longer thru the game and punish fatter teams, and similarly serp was glue to ease the rock move exca / keldeo / thund-i matchups. i spent a lot of time trying to get a colbur jirachi team through tbhhh and i just gave up and made it meta, but i'm sure that colbur rachi is similarly good. psynoise just blocks skarm from getting back up on rocks meta, letting exca and slither keep up easier. i think exca was ev'd for something regarding weav or donny, but i can't remember...slide is needed for thund and mandi here though. finally, i j really like scarf slither and it felt really good in conjunction with LO weav + double off steel who blow up the u-turn resists for it.
thank u Accel and Indigo Plateau for drafting me, thanks for all the help throughout the tour sky Xrn Corperate n Permission Slip spell, was a fun tour and sv uu is cool
w1 v frankjosh- :greninja::weavile::fezandipiti::skarmory::latios::excadrill:
This was a very fun team to make week 1, but honestly this is easily the worst team i loaded all tour. i came in with virtually no meta knowledge apart from the Torn meta teams i made in UUCL, just picked out greninja bc hes fire, and then structured a team around overloading Fezandipiti while grabbing the big vr mons. I found Adamant Weavile to be really strong in tests, esp along with spikes, as it was pretty easy to overload Keldeo / Tinkaton / Fezandipiti for Greninja to sweep. taunt fez limits slowking and has a good fat matchup overall, and i had spdef to help w Gren (i don't know why i was so high on it...).
this team is rly weak to opposing weak, not very fast, and has the shitter rocks exca, so I can't really cosign it now. but its a product of me building the tier for a day or two maybe, so whatevs.
w2 v haxlolo- :weavile::scizor::gardevoir::donphan::slowking::conkeldurr:
Another pretty fun offense here. this one is also not great haha, my early teams had a lot of flaws that were compensated by me playing with a ton of aggro and getting turns right. But the idea was using Weavile and Sciz to overload Skarmory, with "triple prio" in Gardevoir / Slowking / Scizor to act as speed control alongside Weavile. I really wanted Slowking to bring in my own Weavile and as such, I had it be level 99. At this point in the tour, I was really big on non-choice Gardevoir, which I still think doesn't really have pivots thanks to a great speed tier + strong coverage.
this team is 6-0ed by sinistcha. i totally missed that in prep, but i think its a fun squad to use overall if you can play aggro enough. not built to reuse a ton if the team is known though.
w3 v spell- :clodsire::skarmory::weavile::gastrodon::blissey::gardevoir:
fat ass weavile spikes team this week! this is the week i started to get more cracked out with stuff in the tier. gastrodon is a fine enough mon that, when used in conjunction with skarm and clod, can help cover things like trick metagross and annoying knock thund sets, since at this point grass knot was still lower usage. just wanted to support weavile with a strong defensive backbone since I felt like (and still feel like) boots weavile is the best progress maker in the tier by far and can win most games. the sets on this team are very flexible, you can be calm mind on bliss, diff coverage on gastro, scarf on gardevoir. i personally wanted to bring boots to abuse her good coverage once again, and packed on vacuum wave as a minor thing to cover annoying weavile mu.
w4 v apple- :ninetales-alola::thundurus::krookodile::bisharp::greninja::latios:
yea this team is weird and unfortunately unusable now because of tera blast ban. but i had a lot of leftover veil structures from the previous that I felt I couldn't optimize properly. Krook probably solved 99% of my issues solo by making it much easier to antilead the steels while chipping Skarmory/Mandibuzz for my sweepers. Tera Blast Latios gets past Tinkaton and under Screens Latios is nearly unkillable especially w Sitrus Berry. Thundy is super fat and ev'd to kill Lati after rocks or something, krook eats a draco from latios, and bish is another good classic veil guy. gren is here for the speed tier because i still felt like HO as a whole feels too slow and susceptible to Weavile. that being said, i think at the moment I'd probably make gren -> manaphy even if tera blast ban wasn't a thing.
w5 v peum- :lokix::slowking::excadrill::thundurus-therian::skarmory::weavile:
i really like how this team felt. band kix is really strong and has a ton of good calcs into cheese and offense. Tera Fire Blast Weavile is obviously very strong for killing Tink / Skarm / Sciz but also just a good defensive Tera against Gardevoir / Sciz / Meta, and opens up Lokix well. This Exca was meant to sd up and beat Mandibuzz and Donphan 1v1, and Thundy-T took advantage of these breakers to freely click Scarf Tbolt while also luring Weavile (and Latios with Tera Blast Fairy, but that was a filler slot). I loaded into TR and honestly i was pretty sick and sacked my kix t1, but I think my prep was at least on point, and this was a good team for a Bo1.
w6 v feen- :hydreigon::fezandipiti::metagross::gardevoir::excadrill::thundurus:
at this point, i was experimenting with Hydreigon and Thund-i, which I hadn't used enough in previous weeks. Plot Hydrei with rocks Epack was meant to hazard up and generate a free entry for band meta to kill something, and having rocks on drei freed up Exca to run the threatening SD set. thund is always good with support sets, and I went ghost knock taunt for fatter structures, but this probably wants to be tera water. Fun really offensive team, and I think this one still relatively holds up, just have to outplay Weavile on some turns.
w7 v plague- :latios::excadrill::toxapex::tinkaton::thundurus::slither-wing:
think i was expecting some garde or meta team that i thought sball specs lati could punish. ebutton pex sets up lati nicely, taunt thund as glue, tink as rocker / fairy / steel of choice because i hadnt used it till now, sd exca as usual because its great + supplements tink well. i really liked how scarf slither played at this point in the tour, and tera rock blast gave it some additional utility to kill Thund-T/I, Mence, Talon, while working well with its natural weaknesses to Flying/Fire.
semis v frankjosh- :slither-wing::ninetales::entei::excadrill::weavile::latios:
heater sun. i wanted to use big breakers and slither / entei fit the role well. slither beats all of its checks in sun with LO, only held back by its natural speed. banded entei blows up slowking and all the other natural sun pivots, while notably being faster than hydrei (tbh i forgot harc existed this week LOL but thats w/e entei is lowk just as good on this team). Ghost SD tect weavile is just a secondary wincon to help with lokix and random prios like Conk / Harc. I stole Ground Ninetales from kitoothe i think, and Exca was just ev'd to eat a +2 weav knock so i didnt get owned by misplays into sd weav with eject button. after thinking on it further, and seeing the askov post, i think this team could've benefitted from having solar beam off ninetales, but its still fine as is.
finals v stories- :weavile::talonflame::serperior::metagross::excadrill::slither-wing:
LO weavile is rly good and has some ridiculous calcs into practically the entire tier, in exchange for a reasonable rocks weakness. almost every single weav counterplay gets covered by the combo of Tera Ice + a steel + talonflame, hence how this team was structured. i liked taunt fat talon for being able to sit on lokix and exca longer thru the game and punish fatter teams, and similarly serp was glue to ease the rock move exca / keldeo / thund-i matchups. i spent a lot of time trying to get a colbur jirachi team through tbhhh and i just gave up and made it meta, but i'm sure that colbur rachi is similarly good. psynoise just blocks skarm from getting back up on rocks meta, letting exca and slither keep up easier. i think exca was ev'd for something regarding weav or donny, but i can't remember...slide is needed for thund and mandi here though. finally, i j really like scarf slither and it felt really good in conjunction with LO weav + double off steel who blow up the u-turn resists for it.
thank u Accel and Indigo Plateau for drafting me, thanks for all the help throughout the tour sky Xrn Corperate n Permission Slip spell, was a fun tour and sv uu is cool
Built a lot of BW, DPP, and ADV UU teams this tour and I'll go in reverse order since there's a LOT of BW slop.
Fire Spin is a niche but very fun option on the above mons when you're able to fit it, and the use cases differ slightly here. For Arcanine, it's best used after clicking Fire Blast, ideally with Spikes, on a supposed switch from the opponent to their Kangaskhan etc. This achieves a favorable loop (if you hit Fire Spin, shoutouts 70 accuracy), where the switch-in is obviously trapped and takes damage which may lead to Fire Blast 2hkos or an opportunity to whittle down something like a Surf-less Walrein. As for Solrock, Fire Spin allows it to comfortably go for a 'secure' Explosion turn without any fear of the opponent pivoting to a Rock or Ghost to tank the boom. Both situations are, in my experience, very nice to go for throughout my test games (I'm not sure if Cam, Expulso, or Summer Islands ever brought it?) and I would recommend that ADV players try this at least once during their future tour runs.
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 100 Def / 88 SpD
Brave Nature
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Counter
Counter Quag is a decent lead option and offers similar value to many Counter leads in both ADV and DPP UUs. However, in ADV specifically Counter has the added benefit of doubling the damage received from Hidden Power. Yes, any Hidden Power, and not just from types that deal physical damage. So this lead Quagsire can, in theory, very easily be EV'd to live Hidden Power Grass from Arcanine or whoever else and instantly remove it from the game. I was planning on bringing this set to my UU Classic finals series vs Bouff but they beat me handily in 3 games before we even got around to an ADV game. Oh well, now you can use it!
Stantler
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thief
Muk
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Explosion
- Thief
Thief leads are quite common, though I don't think I've seen anyone else use them on Stantler and Muk. Both of them can be very disruptive at lead as is and potentially nabbing Leftovers from the likes of Omastar, Solrock, or other overlapping Normal/Poison checks can be huge for your Kangaskhan etc. later in the game.
Oh my days, another Counter mention. Here, it's featured on a Lead Houndoom which typically runs SubTox, an AoA set, or even Scarf and it managed to achieve its intended purpose in one of violet river's games this UUPL: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-929451
Being fully honest, I dont think I've built a team around this set that I'm quite content with but the concept itself is so good on paper. You can Taunt anything that threatens to status you or phaze you out like Bronzong, Blastoise, etc. and in theory, boosting your special stats in tandem with Scald being Scald makes for a cool set. I think the few times I've brought this to tour games it's either been crit or I've run into a combination like LO Night Slash Weavile + Scarf Heracross which basically nullifies it as a threat. Perhaps someone out there will be able to do this set justice!
Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Beat Up
- Low Kick
Weavile truly is the unsung devil of the tier. The concept of a then-traditional lead largely dissipated with the advent of team preview in BW, but this set definitely acts as such. I am not the first to use this particular set but it sure was loads of fun to mess with in tests and the UUPL game i brought it to. Use this set, or better yet, bring Weavile every week and shuffle between LO, SD Lum, and SD Sash with Beat Up. Guaranteed headache for your opponents.
Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
Wait a second this isn't ADV UU...Arcanine's still decent here and this set may be listed on analyses but it's been quite absent from BW UU tour games for as long as I can remember. You might be wondering to yourself "why not use Victini instead?" and my answer to that would be that the prio is incredibly useful with Spikes on board as is the option to heavily pressure Snorlax with Close Combat, a feat that Victini is unable to replicate as directly. It's a bit prediction reliant but when it hits it hits.
Rotom @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Rotom has a cool speed tier and walls certain Snorlax sets that people have been favoring, which can lead to some oppressive SubSplit loops if you find yourself expecting that sort of matchup. The damage output is kind of disappointing though, so Spikes are a must and it does function as a spinblocker so that synergy is appreciated.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist / No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Atk / 40 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Gravity
- Drain Punch / Dynamic Punch
God I love Golurk. It's unique typing and access to Stealth Rock allow for some really creative teambuilding as it soft checks important threats such as the Electrics, most Fighting-types, Snorlax, and such. Don't expect it to reliably check all of them though, as it's best to treat it as a one-time stopgap to these mons while you proceed with an offensive gameplan. Gravity is something I've been unable to bring to a tour game yet but it's such a cool move and I've thought to pair it with CB Flygon, CB Durant, and a few others. The abilities should be interchanged based on your move of choice between Drain Punch and Dynamic Punch of course, so do pay attention there.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
It can be very fun to mix up your opponent's expectations of a certain set by bringing something unorthodox instead. In my case, I had some Suicune usage earlier in the tour where it was revealed to be Crocune (CM + Resttalk + Scald) and this set aims to punish the usual responses to that. In one case, my opponent overextended by bringing Seismitoad so you might realize how funny that must've been. The idea is simple, force something out as you CM and proceed to Ice Beam something like a Zapdos or Roserade for big damage.
+
Bisharp @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
- Pursuit
- Night Slash
This is a NASTY combo that I've managed to pull off in multiple games. CB Bisharp can fire off some scarily powerful Night Slashes and achieve some surprise rolls vs Rhyperior, Snorlax and such, but it's real value is in Pursuiting targets like Roserade. Which may stand in Suicune's way. I've even taken the extra leap of loading the usually unfruitful Toxic Spikes alongside this combo which nets value once a grounded Poison like Roserade isn't available anymore to absorb them.
I'll drop some replays and let them do the talking:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-919213
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-909634
Snorlax @ Custap Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Self-Destruct
Really cool Snorlax set that to my knowledge, no one's used in BW UU specifically. I decided that it was best suited on a HO team and it's quite easy for it to fall under 50% to activate Gluttony + Custap Berry, which has very good odds of luring your opponent into a favorable turn for yourself. It may be a bit expected now that I've showcased it but still, a very fun set should you want to use it on HO.
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
Moxie Heracross is terrifying with hazards as is, but add Reversal into the mix and you have a potential Fighting STAB that isn't plagued by 8 PP vs common Pressure mons and can achieve up to a raw 150 BP in a heavily spikestack and trade-heavy meta.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Refresh
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Curse + Refresh is a tried and true combo that many used to success on Snorlax, and Swampert aims to achieve similar goals with very useful typing. Credit to Estarossa, I managed to build a decently fun 6 with it that I spammed for a good bit of my BW UU Cup run.
Yanmega @ Choice Specs
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Psychic
- U-turn
One of the scariest breakers in the tier. Use him and 2hko damn near everything. Get some pivots and hazard removal on board and I promise it'll be a fun time.
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 208 HP / 212 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Substitute
No Guard + Dynamic Punch is just unfair sometimes, wouldn't recommend using this vs someone with high Slowbro or Cofagrigus usage though those two aren't the hardest to cover in the builder.
Eelektross @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 120 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Coil
- Substitute
- Thunder Punch
- Drain Punch
Can set up on some unsuspecting mons and get out of hand quicker than you'd expect. Do carry insurance for mons like Nidoqueen and Roserade that limit what it can do.
Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Earthquake
Not a meme. It checks Special variants of Victini very, very well and serves as a check to Electrics that does not mind HP Grass or Ice, a feat that not many other Electric checks can boast about.
Darmanitan @ Expert Belt / Flame Plate / Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Honestly, it's a middle ground between LO Arcanine and Victini: you have an offensive Fire that can pivot out while also clicking a stupidly strong Fire STAB. Darm's massive HP stat honestly offsets Flare Blitz's recoil, and it truly shines with a Volt Switch partner like a Rotom-Mow.
Crobat @ Black Sludge / Poison Gem
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 40 HP / 248 SpA / 4 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Sludge Bomb
- Heat Wave
If you've made it this far, no I am not insane and yes, this set has potential. +2 Poison Gem Sludge Bomb can get the jump on Zapdos and Raikou after a round of Stealth Rocks and it can set up on mons like Bronzong, Roserade, and such. I will admit that I haven't been confident enough to load this to a tour game LOL so maybe one of you readers can in my stead as I watch proudly from the sidelines.
Thank you for sticking with me this far and I hope this was somewhat entertaining to read and inspiring at the very least.
ADV:
Arcanine @ Leftovers / Charcoal
Ability: Intimidate / Flash Fire
Hidden Power: Grass
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Extreme Speed
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Spin
Solrock @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 176 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Fire Spin
Arcanine @ Leftovers / Charcoal
Ability: Intimidate / Flash Fire
Hidden Power: Grass
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Extreme Speed
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Spin
Solrock @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 176 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Fire Spin
Fire Spin is a niche but very fun option on the above mons when you're able to fit it, and the use cases differ slightly here. For Arcanine, it's best used after clicking Fire Blast, ideally with Spikes, on a supposed switch from the opponent to their Kangaskhan etc. This achieves a favorable loop (if you hit Fire Spin, shoutouts 70 accuracy), where the switch-in is obviously trapped and takes damage which may lead to Fire Blast 2hkos or an opportunity to whittle down something like a Surf-less Walrein. As for Solrock, Fire Spin allows it to comfortably go for a 'secure' Explosion turn without any fear of the opponent pivoting to a Rock or Ghost to tank the boom. Both situations are, in my experience, very nice to go for throughout my test games (I'm not sure if Cam, Expulso, or Summer Islands ever brought it?) and I would recommend that ADV players try this at least once during their future tour runs.
Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 100 Def / 88 SpD
Brave Nature
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Counter
Counter Quag is a decent lead option and offers similar value to many Counter leads in both ADV and DPP UUs. However, in ADV specifically Counter has the added benefit of doubling the damage received from Hidden Power. Yes, any Hidden Power, and not just from types that deal physical damage. So this lead Quagsire can, in theory, very easily be EV'd to live Hidden Power Grass from Arcanine or whoever else and instantly remove it from the game. I was planning on bringing this set to my UU Classic finals series vs Bouff but they beat me handily in 3 games before we even got around to an ADV game. Oh well, now you can use it!
Stantler
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Double-Edge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Thief
Muk
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Explosion
- Thief
Thief leads are quite common, though I don't think I've seen anyone else use them on Stantler and Muk. Both of them can be very disruptive at lead as is and potentially nabbing Leftovers from the likes of Omastar, Solrock, or other overlapping Normal/Poison checks can be huge for your Kangaskhan etc. later in the game.
DPP:
Houndoom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Counter
Houndoom @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Counter
Oh my days, another Counter mention. Here, it's featured on a Lead Houndoom which typically runs SubTox, an AoA set, or even Scarf and it managed to achieve its intended purpose in one of violet river's games this UUPL: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4uu-929451
BW:
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled
- Scald
Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Taunt
- Soft-Boiled
- Scald
Being fully honest, I dont think I've built a team around this set that I'm quite content with but the concept itself is so good on paper. You can Taunt anything that threatens to status you or phaze you out like Bronzong, Blastoise, etc. and in theory, boosting your special stats in tandem with Scald being Scald makes for a cool set. I think the few times I've brought this to tour games it's either been crit or I've run into a combination like LO Night Slash Weavile + Scarf Heracross which basically nullifies it as a threat. Perhaps someone out there will be able to do this set justice!
Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Beat Up
- Low Kick
Weavile truly is the unsung devil of the tier. The concept of a then-traditional lead largely dissipated with the advent of team preview in BW, but this set definitely acts as such. I am not the first to use this particular set but it sure was loads of fun to mess with in tests and the UUPL game i brought it to. Use this set, or better yet, bring Weavile every week and shuffle between LO, SD Lum, and SD Sash with Beat Up. Guaranteed headache for your opponents.
Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
Wait a second this isn't ADV UU...Arcanine's still decent here and this set may be listed on analyses but it's been quite absent from BW UU tour games for as long as I can remember. You might be wondering to yourself "why not use Victini instead?" and my answer to that would be that the prio is incredibly useful with Spikes on board as is the option to heavily pressure Snorlax with Close Combat, a feat that Victini is unable to replicate as directly. It's a bit prediction reliant but when it hits it hits.
Rotom @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Rotom has a cool speed tier and walls certain Snorlax sets that people have been favoring, which can lead to some oppressive SubSplit loops if you find yourself expecting that sort of matchup. The damage output is kind of disappointing though, so Spikes are a must and it does function as a spinblocker so that synergy is appreciated.
Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist / No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 220 Atk / 40 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Gravity
- Drain Punch / Dynamic Punch
God I love Golurk. It's unique typing and access to Stealth Rock allow for some really creative teambuilding as it soft checks important threats such as the Electrics, most Fighting-types, Snorlax, and such. Don't expect it to reliably check all of them though, as it's best to treat it as a one-time stopgap to these mons while you proceed with an offensive gameplan. Gravity is something I've been unable to bring to a tour game yet but it's such a cool move and I've thought to pair it with CB Flygon, CB Durant, and a few others. The abilities should be interchanged based on your move of choice between Drain Punch and Dynamic Punch of course, so do pay attention there.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
It can be very fun to mix up your opponent's expectations of a certain set by bringing something unorthodox instead. In my case, I had some Suicune usage earlier in the tour where it was revealed to be Crocune (CM + Resttalk + Scald) and this set aims to punish the usual responses to that. In one case, my opponent overextended by bringing Seismitoad so you might realize how funny that must've been. The idea is simple, force something out as you CM and proceed to Ice Beam something like a Zapdos or Roserade for big damage.
+Bisharp @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
- Pursuit
- Night Slash
This is a NASTY combo that I've managed to pull off in multiple games. CB Bisharp can fire off some scarily powerful Night Slashes and achieve some surprise rolls vs Rhyperior, Snorlax and such, but it's real value is in Pursuiting targets like Roserade. Which may stand in Suicune's way. I've even taken the extra leap of loading the usually unfruitful Toxic Spikes alongside this combo which nets value once a grounded Poison like Roserade isn't available anymore to absorb them.
I'll drop some replays and let them do the talking:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-919213
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-909634
Snorlax @ Custap Berry
Ability: Gluttony
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Self-Destruct
Really cool Snorlax set that to my knowledge, no one's used in BW UU specifically. I decided that it was best suited on a HO team and it's quite easy for it to fall under 50% to activate Gluttony + Custap Berry, which has very good odds of luring your opponent into a favorable turn for yourself. It may be a bit expected now that I've showcased it but still, a very fun set should you want to use it on HO.
Heracross (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Reversal
Moxie Heracross is terrifying with hazards as is, but add Reversal into the mix and you have a potential Fighting STAB that isn't plagued by 8 PP vs common Pressure mons and can achieve up to a raw 150 BP in a heavily spikestack and trade-heavy meta.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Refresh
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Curse + Refresh is a tried and true combo that many used to success on Snorlax, and Swampert aims to achieve similar goals with very useful typing. Credit to Estarossa, I managed to build a decently fun 6 with it that I spammed for a good bit of my BW UU Cup run.
Yanmega @ Choice Specs
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Psychic
- U-turn
One of the scariest breakers in the tier. Use him and 2hko damn near everything. Get some pivots and hazard removal on board and I promise it'll be a fun time.
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 208 HP / 212 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Substitute
No Guard + Dynamic Punch is just unfair sometimes, wouldn't recommend using this vs someone with high Slowbro or Cofagrigus usage though those two aren't the hardest to cover in the builder.
Eelektross @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 120 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Coil
- Substitute
- Thunder Punch
- Drain Punch
Can set up on some unsuspecting mons and get out of hand quicker than you'd expect. Do carry insurance for mons like Nidoqueen and Roserade that limit what it can do.
Camerupt @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Earthquake
Not a meme. It checks Special variants of Victini very, very well and serves as a check to Electrics that does not mind HP Grass or Ice, a feat that not many other Electric checks can boast about.
Darmanitan @ Expert Belt / Flame Plate / Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower
- U-turn
Honestly, it's a middle ground between LO Arcanine and Victini: you have an offensive Fire that can pivot out while also clicking a stupidly strong Fire STAB. Darm's massive HP stat honestly offsets Flare Blitz's recoil, and it truly shines with a Volt Switch partner like a Rotom-Mow.
Crobat @ Black Sludge / Poison Gem
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 40 HP / 248 SpA / 4 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Sludge Bomb
- Heat Wave
If you've made it this far, no I am not insane and yes, this set has potential. +2 Poison Gem Sludge Bomb can get the jump on Zapdos and Raikou after a round of Stealth Rocks and it can set up on mons like Bronzong, Roserade, and such. I will admit that I haven't been confident enough to load this to a tour game LOL so maybe one of you readers can in my stead as I watch proudly from the sidelines.
Thank you for sticking with me this far and I hope this was somewhat entertaining to read and inspiring at the very least.
Last edited:
We won UUPL! Wasn't planning to play this year originally, my drive to play ADV against the same field as usual wasn't there and none of the other old gens were jumping out to me. I'm sure I could've had a good enough time playing ORAS or maybe BW, but I didn't want to sign up just for the sake of signing up. I sorta did that for UUCL and it was both the least invested I've been in a UU tour and my worst individual performance. Decided to sign up for SV on a whim though to learn it before WCOP in hopes of becoming more useful. Was lucky enough to land with Accel and Indigo Plateau again after we barely fell short in UUSD a couple years back. I tend to prefer old gen lower tiers to current gen ones cause for these side tours I'd generally rather learn a tier in a couple weeks than have to keep up with an evolving meta, and when I have played current gen lowers before I just relied on others to pass me teams. This tour I built nearly all of my own stuff for once and even if most of it was pretty boring maybe some people will find it interesting to see a non-mainer's team dump idk. I would've had a better hook for this if I won in finals for best SV record but ALAS I had 1 braincell active during that game. Note: some pastes have slight edits from the versions loaded, also my fault for any typos I'm not rereading this
Week 1 vs etern (W)
:pmd/arcanine-hisui::pmd/excadrill::pmd/skarmory::pmd/slowking::pmd/skeledirge::pmd/weavile:
https://pokepast.es/bc1df69178276640
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-917189
Week 2 vs Colin (W)
:pmd/ninetales::pmd/venusaur::pmd/arcanine-hisui::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/latios::pmd/excadrill:
https://pokepast.es/f476f626e44d9221
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919681
Week 3 vs Piyu (L)
:pmd/serperior::pmd/magnezone::pmd/latios::pmd/excadrill::pmd/rotom-wash::pmd/mandibuzz:
https://pokepast.es/bce84030de535e27 / https://pokepast.es/00ffdd601de26595
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-921530?p2
Week 4 vs Sabella (W)
:pmd/blissey::pmd/skarmory::pmd/gastrodon::pmd/latios::pmd/weavile::pmd/skeledirge:
https://pokepast.es/b10f1b9c5fc5adf5
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-923175
Week 5 vs Nat (W)
:pmd/mamoswine::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/toxapex::pmd/tinkaton::pmd/mandibuzz::pmd/latios:
https://pokepast.es/3e29108aa2725baa
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-924990
Week 6 vszS Ninja (L)
:pmd/houndstone::pmd/hippowdon::pmd/excadrill::pmd/mandibuzz::pmd/toxapex::pmd/latios:
https://pokepast.es/c96b80d9db6a540b / https://pokepast.es/ca02949387136504
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-927976
Week 7 vsbbeeaa QWILY (W)
:pmd/ninetales-alola::pmd/sinistcha::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/bisharp::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/greninja:
https://pokepast.es/1518d2917e8e9d92
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-930174
Semis vs etern (W)
:pmd/thundurus::pmd/metagross::pmd/donphan::pmd/keldeo::pmd/hydreigon::pmd/fezandipiti:
https://pokepast.es/c06978d6b1dff373
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-932302
Finals vs Finchinator (L)
:pmd/serperior::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/tinkaton::pmd/hydreigon::pmd/azumarill:
https://pokepast.es/54bbe7b898085cba
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-934727
Something about UU man. In 8 tours, I'm 37-22 and my worst record is a 3-4. Despite that I'm somehow 0-8 in my final game of UU team tours losing in just about every way possible. Fortunately for me my team got the job done one way or another so my sanity was lightly saved. UU is my favorite singles section on the site so feels nice to win another one of these after losing in playoffs tour after tour. Maybe I'll turn the 0 into a 1 next year, or maybe I'll turn the 8 into a 9, or maybe it'll stay the same idfk. ggs tho, s/o Taka sky DugZa Corperate n @ladder for input and test games
Week 1 vs etern (W)
:pmd/arcanine-hisui::pmd/excadrill::pmd/skarmory::pmd/slowking::pmd/skeledirge::pmd/weavile:
https://pokepast.es/bc1df69178276640
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-917189
Against etern I was looking at balance breakers like Manaphy and Flyblast Thundy-T but I was building straight dogshit W1 so after a while I gave up. DugZa suggested H-Arcanine and I said yeah sure that'll work he has strong moves. Ripped this 6 from UU Masters from somebody I don't remember sorry then filled in sets. Most "notable" thing here is I used full PhysDef Skarm and full SpDef Slowking because I thought the sample spreads were stupid. Drill outspeeds Adamant/Modest base 80s and should have Rock Slide/Tomb but didn't vs etern because I was a noob. Dirge has a PhysDef jump point and creeps Latios after TWave. Team can have issues vs Thundy (mainly Focus but really any set) if Slowking isn't enough to hold it off, otherwise felt solid enough for W1. Would've liked to fit FSight on King here but TWave felt too important for punishing offensive mons, especially in combination with Hex Dirge.
Matchup was pretty good here with my Fires looking real strong in a drawn out game which is what it would end up being. Bulky NP Apple was annoying but I got pretty lucky with full paras to limit it's impact, Bish was the only other potential threat with Tera however it didn't end up doing much. Fires eventually won in the end game as expected from preview.
Matchup was pretty good here with my Fires looking real strong in a drawn out game which is what it would end up being. Bulky NP Apple was annoying but I got pretty lucky with full paras to limit it's impact, Bish was the only other potential threat with Tera however it didn't end up doing much. Fires eventually won in the end game as expected from preview.
Week 2 vs Colin (W)
:pmd/ninetales::pmd/venusaur::pmd/arcanine-hisui::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/latios::pmd/excadrill:
https://pokepast.es/f476f626e44d9221
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-919681
Colin had no real scout and I built a Sun I was vibing with, so I loaded that. 4a Latios is a demon on Sun and opens up teams really nicely for the more dedicated Sun abusers. Venu was my preferred Chloro mon over H-Lilli cause I felt like it was a bit less reliant on Tera to be threatening in various matchups. Still one of two main Tera users though, Fire is great for flipping the matchup on priority users and can do some crazy shit like pop Lati/Hydrei at +2 after Rocks. Scarf H-Arc is the main cleaner for when Venu can't win outright and the second main Tera user. Tera Fire Sun Blitz just kinda shreds through teams that don't have Pex or Hippo, especially if you're willing to greed Naughty for a good roll to 2HKO Slowking. Solar Beam teched on to blow up Gastro and the lesser seen Rhyperior, as well as physically bulky Tera Water mons. AV Slither with FImp is nice to have as anti-offense since the Sun attackers can all be turned into setup fodder when caught out of position, and also gives the team somewhat of a pivot while still being threatening. Not a big fan of dedicated pivots like Mandi on Sun right now, feel like you're better off going fully offensive. Exca is the team's toolbox utility mon being responsible for Rocks/Spin, switching into Lati/Garde, and blocking Volt. Usually dies after a few turns but as long as it fulfills one or two of it's roles that's good enough.
Ran into Slowking which is of course not great for Sun but I lead Slither into it and he pops Tera Fairy immediately. Sadly there was still Keld AND H-Arc into the back meaning it wasn't gonna be a free Tera Fire Blitz win down the line. I find the opening for Venu and Lati to get value pretty quickly before realizing this would come down to who hits Head Smash. I miss a pretty big one onto Slowking and I dunno why but he didn't
click TWave LOL. Trade down some more and I end up hitting the final one in H-Arc vs H-Arc.
Ran into Slowking which is of course not great for Sun but I lead Slither into it and he pops Tera Fairy immediately. Sadly there was still Keld AND H-Arc into the back meaning it wasn't gonna be a free Tera Fire Blitz win down the line. I find the opening for Venu and Lati to get value pretty quickly before realizing this would come down to who hits Head Smash. I miss a pretty big one onto Slowking and I dunno why but he didn't
click TWave LOL. Trade down some more and I end up hitting the final one in H-Arc vs H-Arc.
Week 3 vs Piyu (L)
:pmd/serperior::pmd/magnezone::pmd/latios::pmd/excadrill::pmd/rotom-wash::pmd/mandibuzz:
https://pokepast.es/bce84030de535e27 / https://pokepast.es/00ffdd601de26595
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-921530?p2
DugZa had been telling me to use Serperior or Mamoswine for the past two weeks. I felt bad about not listening last week, so I said yeah sure I'll bring one now. I was playing around with Serp Dirge paraspam thinking that was the best direction until this dogshit ended up absolutely owning in test games. What does Serp get owned by the hardest? Steels and Dirge. Your can Tera Blast the Steels if you really want to, but how do you beat ever reasonably Dirge? Obviously instead of Tera Blasting the Steels you run Magnezone and then you have room to run Gastro Acid for Dirge. This was a bad idea. Flip Turn Lati helps position Specs Zone for traps or even just to threaten big damage. Scarf Drill for speed control and another beneficiary of trapping Skarm. Washtom+Mandi to form a pivot core and soft check threats long enough to execute the gameplan. Extreme fish that has a bad matchup into HO and an even worse matchup into Screens HO, which I fought.
I flail around like a dumbass vs AV Conkeldurr which certainly isn't a great start but this matchup was pretty chopped from preview. Serp could have had a chance if I was able to get a cleaner opening with it, I think he would've had to fuck up some for it to win though.
I flail around like a dumbass vs AV Conkeldurr which certainly isn't a great start but this matchup was pretty chopped from preview. Serp could have had a chance if I was able to get a cleaner opening with it, I think he would've had to fuck up some for it to win though.
Week 4 vs Sabella (W)
:pmd/blissey::pmd/skarmory::pmd/gastrodon::pmd/latios::pmd/weavile::pmd/skeledirge:
https://pokepast.es/b10f1b9c5fc5adf5
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-923175
Sabella was 1-2 with his win coming from HO and I was 2-1 with my loss coming from HO, so I definitely wasn't going to be weak to that again. Initial calls from me were something along the lines of BO with a Scarf Garde or a Lokix. I couldn't find a BO structure that really clicked for me though so I fell back on this structure I had built last week. Knowing Taka already won with a similar team and it tested well for me before made it a pretty easy swap. Trick Bliss makes you less susceptible to Knock and opposing Trick, TWave is broken but especially important here for allowing Dirge to handle specific threats. CM is pretty worthless in UU in my opinion so that was never a consideration, Heal Bell is solid though. Skarm is Skarm, this time with 2 attacks to maximize the numbers of mons it can trade with. Gastro over Clod cause I decided to respect H-Arc, though it does weaken you against GKnot Thundy. Lati+Weav needs minimal explanation, best offensive mons in the tier. CM Lati provides a long term wincon and can check a couple annoying Keld/Thundy sets too. Weav revenge kills when needed, removes Boots, and can eventually clean. I meant to be Low Lick over SD for a better matchup into opposing Weav and a few others, but I forgot to make the change on STours for this game. Dirge is extra insurance against setup sweepers that might be able to abuse the rest of the defensive core, and also ends up being your best way of beating opposing Dirge in combination with TWave from Bliss.
I run into HO like I made sure to prep for and unfortunately for Sabella it was a team I recognized from ladder too. I spend most of the game trying to mid ground around his threats and hoping I don't get too unlucky. If I was Low Kick Weav like I wanted to be then the game would've ended much quicker. Bish was his only real wincon and I may have been able to play better around his Mamo than I did to keep Skarm safe, but it worked out in the end.
I run into HO like I made sure to prep for and unfortunately for Sabella it was a team I recognized from ladder too. I spend most of the game trying to mid ground around his threats and hoping I don't get too unlucky. If I was Low Kick Weav like I wanted to be then the game would've ended much quicker. Bish was his only real wincon and I may have been able to play better around his Mamo than I did to keep Skarm safe, but it worked out in the end.
Week 5 vs Nat (W)
:pmd/mamoswine::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/toxapex::pmd/tinkaton::pmd/mandibuzz::pmd/latios:
https://pokepast.es/3e29108aa2725baa
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-924990
DugZa came back this week to suggest Mamo again and conveniently I agreed it'd be a good call into Nat and her support. Lot of similar looking balance cores in the scout with a heavy reliance on Mandi. Plenty of other ways to abuse that but this was the comfiest for me. I went NMI Freeze-Dry Mamo for a little extra power and to snipe random shit, Sub is probably just better though. Thundy-T is a pretty perfect partner, free entry against Skarm and generates free entries off U-turn while also being a second Electric immunity to make up for Mamo's shakiness as a Ground. Pex/Tink/Mandi pretty straight forward defensive core, Pex is arguably too passive for this team and would rather be Slowking like on the team Nat used here but I felt too vulnerable to Weav doing that. Lati last fits pretty cleanly to provide an ounce of speed and more power, arguably should be Scarf since the team is a little slow.
I played this game right after I woke up because I didn't feel like going back and forth in scheduling with Nat, and the sloppiness shows up for sure. I should always be Teraing Lati in this matchup but I panic and Tera my Pex early in the game, then I let too much progress slip away as I fail to make the right calls with my Mamo and eventually let her Lati heal for free. I decide that my best way to try to get back into the game is to fish for a TBolt para on her Lati with mine figuring she won't want to Draco into Tink, and I get rewarded with the para immediately. Game isn't won off that but I'm in the drivers seat now and after doubling into Thundy on Slowking I catch Mamo with Focus which more or less ends it. Fortunate victory, definitely not my best work
I played this game right after I woke up because I didn't feel like going back and forth in scheduling with Nat, and the sloppiness shows up for sure. I should always be Teraing Lati in this matchup but I panic and Tera my Pex early in the game, then I let too much progress slip away as I fail to make the right calls with my Mamo and eventually let her Lati heal for free. I decide that my best way to try to get back into the game is to fish for a TBolt para on her Lati with mine figuring she won't want to Draco into Tink, and I get rewarded with the para immediately. Game isn't won off that but I'm in the drivers seat now and after doubling into Thundy on Slowking I catch Mamo with Focus which more or less ends it. Fortunate victory, definitely not my best work
Week 6 vs
:pmd/houndstone::pmd/hippowdon::pmd/excadrill::pmd/mandibuzz::pmd/toxapex::pmd/latios:
https://pokepast.es/c96b80d9db6a540b / https://pokepast.es/ca02949387136504
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-927976
zS had been bringing a bunch of offensive structures and I felt like Houndstone Sand would be able to run through whatever he brought. DugZa suggested some random shit mons but I didn't listen to him this time. Team is straight forward for the most part. Double Sand Rush + Hippo is an obvious starting point. I went with SD Fairyblast Exca to try to hard punish Mandi teams where Houndstone would struggle, though Elecblast or Iron Head were options too. SpDef Defog Mandi is the cope Draco switch in and remover since my Exca isn't really doing either of those. Button Pex to help get in Houndstone early game while keeping the team somewhat defensively sound. Latios last to make sure I have special damage somewhere and a bit of speed outside Sand.
Sadly zS was afk once the week was over and I was about torn between claiming activity or waiting to see if he got on later when they subbed in Ninja. I pulled a somewhat difficult matchup with Hydrei+Scarf Gapdos to limit how much my dog could do, with Slowking not being ideal for Sand either of course. I lead dog and catch the Slowking but I miss my Tera Polter onto Hydrei which instantly puts me on the backfoot, but I bait out the Tera and outplay Sub with Mandi to get my dog back in and miss another Polter. Because I lost that turn of Sand he gets to bring Hydrei in and I have to sack my Drill to break Sub before dog comes back to pick again. Sadly from there I bot out a little bit and play way too passive, missing my opportunities to seal out the game before Sub Hydrei + Gapdos ruin me. I was definitely sad about the early Polter misses but props to Ninja for making good moves in the endgame while I didn't.
Sadly zS was afk once the week was over and I was about torn between claiming activity or waiting to see if he got on later when they subbed in Ninja. I pulled a somewhat difficult matchup with Hydrei+Scarf Gapdos to limit how much my dog could do, with Slowking not being ideal for Sand either of course. I lead dog and catch the Slowking but I miss my Tera Polter onto Hydrei which instantly puts me on the backfoot, but I bait out the Tera and outplay Sub with Mandi to get my dog back in and miss another Polter. Because I lost that turn of Sand he gets to bring Hydrei in and I have to sack my Drill to break Sub before dog comes back to pick again. Sadly from there I bot out a little bit and play way too passive, missing my opportunities to seal out the game before Sub Hydrei + Gapdos ruin me. I was definitely sad about the early Polter misses but props to Ninja for making good moves in the endgame while I didn't.
Week 7 vs
:pmd/ninetales-alola::pmd/sinistcha::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/bisharp::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/greninja:
https://pokepast.es/1518d2917e8e9d92
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-930174
I knew bea didn't care much at all and was just loading random pdt stuff. I was itching for a bit of a break after last week's game and we already clinched playoffs so I loaded up this slop Veil I threw together last week. It had the offensive water I'd want vs pdt teams anyway. Slither/Bish/Thundy-T all very standard sweepers on Veil for good reason. The only real flavor pick here is NP TR WP Sinis which I thought could fuck up someone without much UU knowledge loading halfway tested teams. This definitely isn't an optimal form of Veil without any hazard game whatsoever but I figured it'd give me a good enough chance to win without putting in effort.
Bea never responded to my scheduling and the opposing team never made a sub so I was expecting this to just be an act win until they randomly subbed in QWILY on Sunday and I was told I have 2 hours to play?? I was a little annoyed with how the last few weeks were going at this point but we played and I did some stupid shit cause I was not locked in this week game and then Thundy-T won eventually regardless since I loaded up a very high skill team.
Bea never responded to my scheduling and the opposing team never made a sub so I was expecting this to just be an act win until they randomly subbed in QWILY on Sunday and I was told I have 2 hours to play?? I was a little annoyed with how the last few weeks were going at this point but we played and I did some stupid shit cause I was not locked in this week game and then Thundy-T won eventually regardless since I loaded up a very high skill team.
Semis vs etern (W)
:pmd/thundurus::pmd/metagross::pmd/donphan::pmd/keldeo::pmd/hydreigon::pmd/fezandipiti:
https://pokepast.es/c06978d6b1dff373
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-932302
Rematch vs etern was another exciting opponent and SURELY this one couldn't sub out.. He had been finding most of his success with BO this tour. Hella Donphan, hella priority Bug types, and Garde/Lati. CB Meta, SBall Lati, and Thund-I were pretty immediate ideas that stuck. Finding a build I liked with any of those ended up being weirdly difficult and I almost considered loading Rain or PsyTerrain from sky LOL, but I stuck to the gut call and loaded this BO despite mixed results in testing. Pretty basic take on the archetype I feel, maybe you'd expect a couple of the sets to be swapped around. I wanted to use GK Thund but the team ended up too soft into Drill for that so it's Focus Blast, TBolt+U-turn over Volt+coverage because I value the powerful STAB option I found it can really catch people by surprise on occasion. CB Meta is just an absolute nuke, I figured if he brought BO then it'd get to claim for free vs Garde/Lati and if he brought balance then it can take over the game with Tera. Donphan is an easy inclusion on these squads for the physical sponge and hazard control. I went with Taunt Split Keld over the more traditional Conk out of respect for Weav/Sciz, means you're softer into special attackers but that wasn't a huge issue in my experience. Definitely wanted to fit a Scarfer and Hydrei seemed like the best pick with Lati being the other consideration. Modest outspeeds the common mid range Scarfers like Garde and Meta and makes Dark Pulse super spammable which was the main draw over Scarf Lati to me. Fez thrown on at the end as a general pivot with more SpDef than you'd usually see to make up the absence of AV Conk.
He didn't bring the BO stuff he was spamming but my matchup against the balance he brought was really favorable. Double Taunt is real limiting, Hydrei spams DPulse for free, and Meta/Thund looked kinda whatever but still had their uses. Some good fortune like immediately getting Toxic Chain on Gastro and critting his Pawmot with DPulse sped up the game a ton, only real dangerous turn was having to hit Focus against Hydrei.
He didn't bring the BO stuff he was spamming but my matchup against the balance he brought was really favorable. Double Taunt is real limiting, Hydrei spams DPulse for free, and Meta/Thund looked kinda whatever but still had their uses. Some good fortune like immediately getting Toxic Chain on Gastro and critting his Pawmot with DPulse sped up the game a ton, only real dangerous turn was having to hit Focus against Hydrei.
Finals vs Finchinator (L)
:pmd/serperior::pmd/slither-wing::pmd/thundurus-therian::pmd/tinkaton::pmd/hydreigon::pmd/azumarill:
https://pokepast.es/54bbe7b898085cba
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-934727
Before matchups went up on Sunday I soft committed to loading HO. I felt like balance would be expected from me in finals and that number of the Tycoons builds were pretty soft into HO. Rain was briefly considered again but sky suggested Grimm+Maus and that became my starting point. After a bunch of test games I decided that core was ass, so I dropped Maus. After some more test games it still wasn't all coming together and then sky passed me a different Screens build with Serp as the setter. That felt much more solid than Grimm to me so I tossed Serp onto my Screens which Taka had helped optimize. Slither and Thundy-T require no explanation. SD LO Tinka as the Steel gives you a Fairy/Dragon/Weav swap and Rocker that can still exert pressure, at +2 able to pop Exca straight up and Donphan with Tera or after a bit of chip. Hydrei was the Rocker on some prior versions but was kept with Tinka since it's still quite nice to have as a switch into Meta which can otherwise be problematic with Serp as the Screener, Helmet to chip Donphan is good synergy with Tink, and NP Taunt is just strong against balance. Azu as the last cause it looked very strong into the teams Tycoons had been loading and it makes for a nice 1-2 punch with Slither.
Loading in I see Finch brought a really similar looking squad to some of the Tycoons' past loads, favorable matchup as long as I don't get blown up by the Lokix. Unfortunately for me I just played like a matchfixer this game. Ironically I played this game on the toilet cause my stomach wasn't cooperating that night, but despite not being fully locked in this game is still a diabolical choke job. My clicks with Thundy-T could've been way more efficient, I passed up the chance to kill his Slowking with Azu Knock, and then I don't think through the 2v2 end game at all leading me to go for a Bulk Up war instead of clicking Leaf Storm.
Loading in I see Finch brought a really similar looking squad to some of the Tycoons' past loads, favorable matchup as long as I don't get blown up by the Lokix. Unfortunately for me I just played like a matchfixer this game. Ironically I played this game on the toilet cause my stomach wasn't cooperating that night, but despite not being fully locked in this game is still a diabolical choke job. My clicks with Thundy-T could've been way more efficient, I passed up the chance to kill his Slowking with Azu Knock, and then I don't think through the 2v2 end game at all leading me to go for a Bulk Up war instead of clicking Leaf Storm.
Something about UU man. In 8 tours, I'm 37-22 and my worst record is a 3-4. Despite that I'm somehow 0-8 in my final game of UU team tours losing in just about every way possible. Fortunately for me my team got the job done one way or another so my sanity was lightly saved. UU is my favorite singles section on the site so feels nice to win another one of these after losing in playoffs tour after tour. Maybe I'll turn the 0 into a 1 next year, or maybe I'll turn the 8 into a 9, or maybe it'll stay the same idfk. ggs tho, s/o Taka sky DugZa Corperate n @ladder for input and test games
Fire nation was undefeated in UUFPL! I'm not one to make reports and stuff, but this time I have two reasons: first being the fun I had in this shaky experience at first; second being reserved for later...
I started the tournament with a specific mindset: "I don't know the tier, so I just need anybody to provide a team, test it and play better than my opponent", so in the first three weeks I jumped from 4 BW UU experience to 18-20 in total but the result was not great...
(In spoiler for comments, replays and thought process around the team I built)
While W1 I was definitely clumsy in my gameplay since I wasn't sure about sets and stuff like that and W2 was a close game, the more I watched the game from W3 the more I was unsure about the provided pokepaste. That was the turning point for me, as I decided to start building my own teams with that little experience under my belt
W4 vs Dingbat
https://pokepast.es/baef598fffd2e459
W5 vs FastCarVroom
https://pokepast.es/b8b5c6e9fb65a6e5
W6 vs Oatkeeper
https://pokepast.es/b518daaa114c032a
W7 vs Wesleyy
https://pokepast.es/39177d62ac53cb9b
Semis vs Oatkeeper
https://pokepast.es/1893b81d9714b690 (strongly advice to read spoiler here)
Finals vs DonBoneJones
https://pokepast.es/d987a21eaecc43c3
Hopefully I get to join any other PL in fun subtiers like this since the learning process and the satisfaction of starting to make my own effective(?) and winning teams were and will be the best feeling
I'm not one to make s/o publicly, in fact mine was made in the discord server, althought it's only fitting to thank sincerely AM BigFatMantis for the constant and valuable support, Mok3s to be my mainvictim sparring partner and Accel while never talking with you directly, but through BFM, the tips on the teams were crucial
I started the tournament with a specific mindset: "I don't know the tier, so I just need anybody to provide a team, test it and play better than my opponent", so in the first three weeks I jumped from 4 BW UU experience to 18-20 in total but the result was not great...
(In spoiler for comments, replays and thought process around the team I built)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-932609 (L)
Without any data, I just picked what seemed to be the classic ones in this tier
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-934358 (W)
Weavile looked good into Tb0lt, so I picked the only feasable team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-935650 (L)
Specs Togekiss and Raikou looked fun, so I wanted to try that
(not leaving those 3 paste on purpose)
Without any data, I just picked what seemed to be the classic ones in this tier
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-934358 (W)
Weavile looked good into Tb0lt, so I picked the only feasable team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-935650 (L)
Specs Togekiss and Raikou looked fun, so I wanted to try that
(not leaving those 3 paste on purpose)
W4 vs Dingbat
https://pokepast.es/baef598fffd2e459
Not many data on my opponent. Assuming they would pick something provided by the UUPL team mates, we just settled for a spikes offense. In this tier nothing can set up both hazards, except for Crustle and Ferroseed so I decided to start from there. Team building is kinda forced, based on type coverage, in:
- Spin block: Mismagius
- Setup sweeper: DD Kingdra
- Revenge kill: Mienshao
- Clean up sweeper/ pick for specific threats: Weavile
- Zapdos and its own tier (picked because of type coverage and special attacker)
W5 vs FastCarVroom
https://pokepast.es/b8b5c6e9fb65a6e5
That week in particular I was quite busy, so I made this team for fun and ended up using it because it looked peculiar enough. It's heavily inspired on a classic ORAS fat balanced composition:
In this game I'm quite sure I win without T8 full para (I clicked SR there. Without a spinner, the game is much easier for me) or Togekiss shenanigans. Unfortunately I didn't train my pokemon to overcome paralisys, so this game is on me but I saw the potential to do better, therefore...
- Para spam: provided mainly by Twave Registeel and Stun Spore Amoonguss
- A wall breaker, who can abuse the slower pokemons to get important picks: CB Victini
- Good walls and type coverage: Registeel, Amoonguss, Blastoise. All sustained by Wish and Heal bell from Umbreon
- Sub CM wincon: Cresselia with this set can be an actual threat for most teams, as she gets to out trade with pretty much anything with a bit of setup
In this game I'm quite sure I win without T8 full para (I clicked SR there. Without a spinner, the game is much easier for me) or Togekiss shenanigans. Unfortunately I didn't train my pokemon to overcome paralisys, so this game is on me but I saw the potential to do better, therefore...
W6 vs Oatkeeper
https://pokepast.es/b518daaa114c032a
I already intended to pick this team again eventually and I was thinking about doing back to back, because nobody would see it coming, until one of my team mates said "stall them, Oath hates stall. You'll tilt him". That was the confirm I needed, with the small adjustment in the EVs and HP fire over fight since it costed me the game and I'm not that afraid of Dark types
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-945461
I don't know why my opponent brought a sample, but it worked pretty well for me
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-945461
I don't know why my opponent brought a sample, but it worked pretty well for me
W7 vs Wesleyy
https://pokepast.es/39177d62ac53cb9b
At this point of the week we were 100% qualified for playoffs, so I wanted to bring a little something that was so hyped up that I decided to reserve it for the semi. Instead I genuinely built this team while I was traveling by car. Didn't put much effort, but the role compression is at least interesting with scarf SR Cobalion, 2 volturn in hazard stack with tspikes, pursuit CB Lax and most importantly a poison type in Scolipede
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-947599
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-947599
Semis vs Oatkeeper
https://pokepast.es/1893b81d9714b690 (strongly advice to read spoiler here)
I could explain the thought process, but this team is both the reason why I changed my plans in W7 and the second reason why I'm making this report at all, so...
these two screeshots are the most important part of the conversation, that had been going on for 30 minutes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-950941
these two screeshots are the most important part of the conversation, that had been going on for 30 minutes
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-950941
Finals vs DonBoneJones
https://pokepast.es/d987a21eaecc43c3
I started building different version of stall about 1 month prior the finals and every single time I was discouraged to play this playstile because it looks bad against the top of the viability ranking and because hazard stack is quite strong, although Monday 22th June I said, quote: "I play gravity against Oatkeeper and hard stall in finals. Locked in"
I scrapped at least 8 teams and kept 3 stalls. While I was undecided I just thought it would feel just right to end my run with a Snorlax stall, just like my main tier. This one was prepared based on the conditioning I tried to lead my opponent into: because I played 4 times in a row a poison type, mainly offensive teams except for the fat balanced, I expected with high chance no tspikes (which are manageable but still quite annoying with this team) and scarf Victini (trick on the fat while being a major threat against HO). I also expected Blastoise, which can be chipped with status+ Slowbro's Helmet or abused with Sub Zapdos
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-952911?p2
I scrapped at least 8 teams and kept 3 stalls. While I was undecided I just thought it would feel just right to end my run with a Snorlax stall, just like my main tier. This one was prepared based on the conditioning I tried to lead my opponent into: because I played 4 times in a row a poison type, mainly offensive teams except for the fat balanced, I expected with high chance no tspikes (which are manageable but still quite annoying with this team) and scarf Victini (trick on the fat while being a major threat against HO). I also expected Blastoise, which can be chipped with status+ Slowbro's Helmet or abused with Sub Zapdos
- Snorlax pursuit the ghost type and EQ over normal STAB because I don't want Rhyperior and Cobalion to switch in for free while also punishing Nido if he stays in
- Slowbro has Trick specifically to counter the Choice Victini I was expecting
- The other 4 slots are quite standard
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen5uu-952911?p2
Hopefully I get to join any other PL in fun subtiers like this since the learning process and the satisfaction of starting to make my own effective(?) and winning teams were and will be the best feeling
I'm not one to make s/o publicly, in fact mine was made in the discord server, althought it's only fitting to thank sincerely AM BigFatMantis for the constant and valuable support, Mok3s to be my main
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I dont think there's going to be a farm dump thread so it's going here for now. Skeleton of stuff I used, not gonna put pastes cause I think I built only one real team (The Swellow one I'll put paste for that one). Everything else was passed or some rain variant, (Sirwings thanks for Shark that one week I asked). They're a bit out of order but you get the idea. Most stuff was vibes throughout the weeks I didn't put too much work in prep tbh besides some theory per opp.
https://pokepast.es/48e1043094c8c66b
It was a running joke in my teamcord by like Week 4 but I lead Uxie for half of the games, I think it's the best lead in the metagame by a pretty significant margin, since Berry resist Uxie eats anything and it can do so many things to supplement the team. I did not load Venusaur much despite its current S ranking in the DPP resources, the sleep removal I think was a big hit for it but fat Venu I think is still good my Finals game proved that to me at least. Rain, Clef, Arena Trap via Dug are all broken in some variation either in isolation or in combination so I always wanted to make sure I dont just autolose to these. When I was stumped I would just load rain, you can have two checks and it can still farm because it takes different lines to cover the different rain mons. That's all for now.
https://pokepast.es/48e1043094c8c66b
It was a running joke in my teamcord by like Week 4 but I lead Uxie for half of the games, I think it's the best lead in the metagame by a pretty significant margin, since Berry resist Uxie eats anything and it can do so many things to supplement the team. I did not load Venusaur much despite its current S ranking in the DPP resources, the sleep removal I think was a big hit for it but fat Venu I think is still good my Finals game proved that to me at least. Rain, Clef, Arena Trap via Dug are all broken in some variation either in isolation or in combination so I always wanted to make sure I dont just autolose to these. When I was stumped I would just load rain, you can have two checks and it can still farm because it takes different lines to cover the different rain mons. That's all for now.
gonna hijack this thread like i did the last time i bothered to build for a uufpl (two years ago wtf). I didn't really build a lot of my teams last year when I was playing in SV districts as I was super burnt out and demotivated but I managed to get the job done in game. This time around though it was the exact opposite as I didn't play any SV at all this tour quite sadly due to the UUPL restrictions but instead got to live vicariously through my players. I had a bit of an off season as I tried to pick up a new tier while being incredibly busy with irl stuff and while that was frustrating, being able to support my players in my main tier made it all worth it in the end. Here's a couple of my builds that I was pleased with:
https://pokepast.es/15b34631002f35fc
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2599944799-lutippisk6g1yuap1bg3i6ppbfu4t6rpw
I built this 30 minutes before Sage's W1 game with the main goal in mind as always when I build for her being to provide her with Pokemon she likes wrapped up in a nice package. I think Specs Apple is just really really good at poking holes in defensive spines and a defensive triad of Wash+Fez+Drill felt more than substantial into an expected fish. I really don't like Ability Shield Wash but it was essential here. Scarf Meta is one of the best revengers in the tier into HO and I slotted Psych Fangs as I anticipated Veil would be good going into this season. Apple was EVd to be 1 point faster than Azumarill as BD Azu is just fucking annoying in general. Paste worked exactly as planned, alas we got lucked otherwise we'd have been off the mark very nicely. Big mistake was deciding not to include Shard on Weav. Low Kick was chosen instead as the paste felt weak to setup Hydreigon and we wanted a tool to revenge it.
https://pokepast.es/87c2d995d9cc1111
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-943353
Honestly don't have a lot to say about this one as I can't remember much of the building process but Chilly > Blizzard Gren was an idea I poached from Mind Gaming in the Shoguns SCL teamcord, I think it pushed Gren over a line in terms of being incredibly hard to answer. I think we misplayed this game a bit so the team didn't really get a chance to show what it was capable of but I still think this ones pretty good. It had a pretty good matchup and we were fairly close to seeing it out.
https://pokepast.es/593ca079fd2ef097
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-947027
Hacker wanted a hazard setter that can beat the removers so I devised this meatbeam Necro with the intention of it luring and beating Mandi. This Necro set was a fantastic lead into most of the metagame as it felt to me like it didn't really have any bad lead mus. Very regularly in tests this Necro was going 2/2.5 for 1 while also coming out with rocks up a lot of the time. As might be becoming evident in these replays we got rather unfortunate with a lot of things going against us in game but once more it came incredibly close to winning anyway. This team is probably way worse with the latest drops so sadly it won't be seeing much use going forward. Helmet Pain Split Keld was really great at patching over difficult mons like Mamo and Harc while also being fantastic into stallers like Slowking and Pex.
https://pokepast.es/8230672e0caa7d40
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-951638
These types of structures are my favourites to build. I love using big guys that can switch in and threaten anything. AV Meta is super duper good in this tier at the moment. It was even moreso when Iron Crown was moonlighting as a UU mon. We tweaked it and made it bulkier with Sitrus to allow it to set up rocks while not sacrificing too much bulk. Unfortunately bro got super crit and exploded making the game way harder. Apple and Mamoswine both poke holes into defensive lines to enable either to make significant headway. SubCM Keld is and will always be the best set in my opinion, it's excellent as a win condition here in a team somewhat lacking in one. This pulled off a very important win in semis to help bring us to grands.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-953169
we liked this team so much we brought it back for finals and it popped off once again.
Anyway I built loads and loads of teams for this tour but I'd be here forever if I went through all of them. Here's just a few of my favourites that we actually brought to games. Quite enjoyed being able to focus on honing my craft as a builder without the additional pressure of needing to prove the proof of concept in game for a change but would much prefer to be back in the hot seat next time (@uucl @uupl captains give a girl a chance and free me from bench purgatory). I think I've learned loads about building this season and am much improved from when I was helping out in Shoguns. Super duper proud of my players for executing in game and for a hugely entertaining season once again. I had an absolute blast managing a UU team tour for the first time and am hoping it won't be the last. oliv out peace peace keep those bellies large and bolt on.
https://pokepast.es/15b34631002f35fc
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2599944799-lutippisk6g1yuap1bg3i6ppbfu4t6rpw
I built this 30 minutes before Sage's W1 game with the main goal in mind as always when I build for her being to provide her with Pokemon she likes wrapped up in a nice package. I think Specs Apple is just really really good at poking holes in defensive spines and a defensive triad of Wash+Fez+Drill felt more than substantial into an expected fish. I really don't like Ability Shield Wash but it was essential here. Scarf Meta is one of the best revengers in the tier into HO and I slotted Psych Fangs as I anticipated Veil would be good going into this season. Apple was EVd to be 1 point faster than Azumarill as BD Azu is just fucking annoying in general. Paste worked exactly as planned, alas we got lucked otherwise we'd have been off the mark very nicely. Big mistake was deciding not to include Shard on Weav. Low Kick was chosen instead as the paste felt weak to setup Hydreigon and we wanted a tool to revenge it.
https://pokepast.es/87c2d995d9cc1111
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-943353
Honestly don't have a lot to say about this one as I can't remember much of the building process but Chilly > Blizzard Gren was an idea I poached from Mind Gaming in the Shoguns SCL teamcord, I think it pushed Gren over a line in terms of being incredibly hard to answer. I think we misplayed this game a bit so the team didn't really get a chance to show what it was capable of but I still think this ones pretty good. It had a pretty good matchup and we were fairly close to seeing it out.
https://pokepast.es/593ca079fd2ef097
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-947027
Hacker wanted a hazard setter that can beat the removers so I devised this meatbeam Necro with the intention of it luring and beating Mandi. This Necro set was a fantastic lead into most of the metagame as it felt to me like it didn't really have any bad lead mus. Very regularly in tests this Necro was going 2/2.5 for 1 while also coming out with rocks up a lot of the time. As might be becoming evident in these replays we got rather unfortunate with a lot of things going against us in game but once more it came incredibly close to winning anyway. This team is probably way worse with the latest drops so sadly it won't be seeing much use going forward. Helmet Pain Split Keld was really great at patching over difficult mons like Mamo and Harc while also being fantastic into stallers like Slowking and Pex.
https://pokepast.es/8230672e0caa7d40
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-951638
These types of structures are my favourites to build. I love using big guys that can switch in and threaten anything. AV Meta is super duper good in this tier at the moment. It was even moreso when Iron Crown was moonlighting as a UU mon. We tweaked it and made it bulkier with Sitrus to allow it to set up rocks while not sacrificing too much bulk. Unfortunately bro got super crit and exploded making the game way harder. Apple and Mamoswine both poke holes into defensive lines to enable either to make significant headway. SubCM Keld is and will always be the best set in my opinion, it's excellent as a win condition here in a team somewhat lacking in one. This pulled off a very important win in semis to help bring us to grands.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-953169
we liked this team so much we brought it back for finals and it popped off once again.
Anyway I built loads and loads of teams for this tour but I'd be here forever if I went through all of them. Here's just a few of my favourites that we actually brought to games. Quite enjoyed being able to focus on honing my craft as a builder without the additional pressure of needing to prove the proof of concept in game for a change but would much prefer to be back in the hot seat next time (@uucl @uupl captains give a girl a chance and free me from bench purgatory). I think I've learned loads about building this season and am much improved from when I was helping out in Shoguns. Super duper proud of my players for executing in game and for a hugely entertaining season once again. I had an absolute blast managing a UU team tour for the first time and am hoping it won't be the last. oliv out peace peace keep those bellies large and bolt on.