Project VGC Teambuilding Competition - Week 15 (almost here) - Building (undetermined)

[I'mKindaTrashTho]

Hey Trainers! When I saw that Blastoise had been announced, I was super hyped, because I had been building with it for a while, and its Gmax move makes it a perfect choice for a Weakness Policy strat! The rest of the team is built around covering for its weaknesses and enabling it.

Blastoise-Gmax @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
- Shell Smash
The star of the team! Standard spread, Water Spout gives the highest BP possible Max Geyser. Cannonade and Hail can combine to create chip damage that adds up to almost a fourth of the opponents health, making securing KOs way easier. Resetting weather is also invaluable, as weather teams have been running around the Series 9 ladder for a while, and this helps stop them in their tracks. Aura Sphere turns into Max Knuckle, which boosts the power of the strong physical attackers like Marowak and Rillaboom on the team. A lot of the meta game is weak to Fighting type, so Aura Sphere provides great coverage. Shell Smash gives it a secondary setup method in addition to Weakness Policy.

Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 4 Atk / 196 Def / 60 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spirit Break
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Light Screen
This is a standard Screens set, but I used Thunder Wave instead of Scary Face to get around Metagross's and Dragapault's Clear Body, and the chance of getting full paralysis provides another win condition for the team.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 100 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poltergeist
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang
- Protect
Blastoise's perfect partner! Lightning Rod means the team doesn't have to worry about Electric moves, which is super useful since the team has 2 Electric Weaknesses. Flare Blitz combined with Thick Club (and sometimes a +1 from Max Knuckle) does amazing damage to Rillaboom, Kartana, and other prevalent Grass types that threaten Blastoise. Marowak can also dish out huge amounts of damage, and can pick up OHKOs with the help of Cannonade and Hail from Blastoise.

Rillaboom-Gmax (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Fake Out
Swords Dance Rillaboom is something that a lot of players don't expect right away, and Life Orb Rillaboom at +2 can do huge damage to most of the Pokemon in the metagame. Fake Out can do a surprising amount of damage with Life Orb in addition to being a utility move.

Comfey @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Triage
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Floral Healing
- Charm
- Trick Room
Comfey is the mon that activates Blastoise's Weakness Policy, in addition to increasing its longevity with Floral Healing. While most players run Ally Switch in Comfey's third slot, I decided to run Charm as a secondary form of damage reduction that can help neutralize threats such as Rillaboom and Kartana. Trick Room on Comfey is something I found myself clicking more than I expected, as it is the perfect answer not only to reversing Trick Room of other Trainers, but also providing an answer to teams that outspend Blastoise and Marowak.

Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 116 Def / 4 SpA / 68 SpD / 76 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Follow Me
- Protect
Togekiss is the counter to sun with Safety Goggles and Air Slash, and Follow Me allows Blstoise and Rillaboom to setup easily, and can give Comfey a near-guaranteed Trick Room. Heat Wave is coverage against Steels and Venusaur.

Overall, this team is amazingly fun to play with, and has a lot of elements that can make for an easy win. Thanks for reading, and I will hopefully see you next week!

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

Phew just missed the deadline. Here is my team of Blastoise semi room.
https://pokepast.es/a2471cf68619039a

Blastoise is the standard Shell Smash set. I used a Timid nature to outrun Regieleki at +2. Water Spout gives it the strongest Cannonade possible, Ice Beam hits Grass types, Scald helps when it’s health gets low. Went with Torrent as my team has no Rain.

Grimmsnarl provides both Fake Out and Screens support to help Blastoise set up. Other than Fake Out it’s standard support Grimm so nothing else to say really.

Porygon2 helps bring Teick Room and counter opposing Trick Room. It also counters Spectrier really nicely. Tri Attack gets STAB, Shadow Ball hits Ghost types. Recover keeps it healthy.

Alolawak provides 2 key benefits on my team. 1: it keeps Electric moves away from Blastoise and 2: it’s a Trick Room sweeper. Thick Club makes it insanely powerful. Poltergeist and Flare Blitz have incredible power coming off that Attack star.

Whimsicott also provides 2 things for my team. 1: Tailwind and 2: Beat Up. Blastoise appreciates Tailwind support as it’s not then necessary to Smash. Beat Up also makes Terrakion stupendously powerful thanks to Justified. Focus Sash lets it survive any 1 hit. Max Speed and max bulk give it the most chances to do its thing.

Finally we have the most underrated Pokemon in VGC 2021 series 9, Terrakion. After being hit with Beat Up it will pulverise anything not resisting its STABs...which is pretty much nothing. I went with Iron Head as Max Steelspike makes it really bulky in conjunction with the SpDef boost from sandstorm. Lots of weaknesses makes Weakness Policy a great choice, as when Maxed it still easily takes a Grassy Glide from Rillaboom. It’s also not completely reliant on Beat Up.

 

[Bananers]

team submissions closed

 

[Bananers]

Minimum is 2 teams and the maximum is 4 teams.

Team A by just snores

Blastoise- Shell Smash+Omega Sweep to set up with it check incin for cartana add Indeedee click follow me so they cannot target you and you get protection from the fake out from incin. Incineroar- Assault Vest- For the fake out pressure snarl on eleki u-turn and flare blitz. Kartana- Finish of the FWG core checks Rilla takes down water types with max overgrowth and you set up with swords dance so you go bananas. Add Eleki life orb so you can do Helping hand+eleki and My team is not very good against airstream so I added it so I got koes and I can click electroweb+water spout. Urshifu-Dark with focus sash so you can profit off the residual damage and do a million damage with wicked blow also its a good cleaner :o. No EVs in the pokepast but ill give it https://pokepast.es/ecc42dbf5443c7fc

Team B by PinkSylvie

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1393997081627570177

paste and cart rental above. Got t4 in the rose tower tournament with toise!

Blastoise on this team fills the role of a support with yawn/hh to support its friend outside max. early maxing is used to KO fire/ground types that threaten registeel and to start some good chip to slow the game down. wacan allows it to live some regieleki attacks. Thundy supports steel and toise by reducing spatk of opposing attackers. Landot/regidrago are alternate offensive mons, although regidrago is predominately as an end-game sweeper. Rillaboom works well as a pivot/priority attacker and to help vs opposing waters/grounds.

Team C by Yourwelcomthank

https://pokepast.es/974dd333ef17447d (stakataka is supposed to be brave nature)
So the idea of this team was to use Weezing to negate Venusaurs Chlorophyll letting Blastoise outpseed and destroy it. Garchomp+weezing with no Regigigas has been doing well in tournaments lately. Blastoise needs redirection so Togekiss helps with that and it provides more safety for Garchomp to Swords Dance. Stakataka is able to provide a defensive check to flyers and hatterene while being able to set Trick room reliably thanks to Togekiss. Regieleki provides speed control and checks bulk Water-types.
No detailed breakdownncause time.

Team D by z0mOG

I wanted to go with a double setup sweeper + triple support comp, as I feel like Blastoise is really only strong enough to be winning games by itself after a shell smash. Grimm screens help get that t1 shell smash off, or using fake outs/follow me from toge to keep blastoise healthy enough to snowball the game out of a winnable state for the opponent. Garchomp was my opposing sweeper choice as their typings leave them vulnerable to generally different threats entirely, as well as giving me both a special and physical sweeper. The rillaboom/toge sets are standard (Yawn to help vs trick room a bit? Not necessary imo. Also babiri is definitely a good option as steela tends to be the dyna carry of choice against this team I find), fake out on grimm helps for regieleki and getting grimm back in after a switch out, and I opted into Shuca wisp incineroar to make the match up against SD lando, chomp, and glastrier all much more manageable.

Team E by I'mKindaTrashTho

Hey Trainers! When I saw that Blastoise had been announced, I was super hyped, because I had been building with it for a while, and its Gmax move makes it a perfect choice for a Weakness Policy strat! The rest of the team is built around covering for its weaknesses and enabling it.
View attachment 346162

Blastoise-Gmax @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Torrent
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
- Flash Cannon
- Shell Smash
The star of the team! Standard spread, Water Spout gives the highest BP possible Max Geyser. Cannonade and Hail can combine to create chip damage that adds up to almost a fourth of the opponents health, making securing KOs way easier. Resetting weather is also invaluable, as weather teams have been running around the Series 9 ladder for a while, and this helps stop them in their tracks. Aura Sphere turns into Max Knuckle, which boosts the power of the strong physical attackers like Marowak and Rillaboom on the team. A lot of the meta game is weak to Fighting type, so Aura Sphere provides great coverage. Shell Smash gives it a secondary setup method in addition to Weakness Policy.

Grimmsnarl @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 220 HP / 4 Atk / 196 Def / 60 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spirit Break
- Thunder Wave
- Reflect
- Light Screen
This is a standard Screens set, but I used Thunder Wave instead of Scary Face to get around Metagross's and Dragapault's Clear Body, and the chance of getting full paralysis provides another win condition for the team.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 100 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poltergeist
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang
- Protect
Blastoise's perfect partner! Lightning Rod means the team doesn't have to worry about Electric moves, which is super useful since the team has 2 Electric Weaknesses. Flare Blitz combined with Thick Club (and sometimes a +1 from Max Knuckle) does amazing damage to Rillaboom, Kartana, and other prevalent Grass types that threaten Blastoise. Marowak can also dish out huge amounts of damage, and can pick up OHKOs with the help of Cannonade and Hail from Blastoise.

Rillaboom-Gmax (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Fake Out
Swords Dance Rillaboom is something that a lot of players don't expect right away, and Life Orb Rillaboom at +2 can do huge damage to most of the Pokemon in the metagame. Fake Out can do a surprising amount of damage with Life Orb in addition to being a utility move.

Comfey @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Triage
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Floral Healing
- Charm
- Trick Room
Comfey is the mon that activates Blastoise's Weakness Policy, in addition to increasing its longevity with Floral Healing. While most players run Ally Switch in Comfey's third slot, I decided to run Charm as a secondary form of damage reduction that can help neutralize threats such as Rillaboom and Kartana. Trick Room on Comfey is something I found myself clicking more than I expected, as it is the perfect answer not only to reversing Trick Room of other Trainers, but also providing an answer to teams that outspend Blastoise and Marowak.

Togekiss @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Serene Grace
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 116 Def / 4 SpA / 68 SpD / 76 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
- Follow Me
- Protect
Togekiss is the counter to sun with Safety Goggles and Air Slash, and Follow Me allows Blstoise and Rillaboom to setup easily, and can give Comfey a near-guaranteed Trick Room. Heat Wave is coverage against Steels and Venusaur.

Overall, this team is amazingly fun to play with, and has a lot of elements that can make for an easy win. Thanks for reading, and I will hopefully see you next week!

Team F by ChrystalFalchion

Phew just missed the deadline. Here is my team of Blastoise semi room.
https://pokepast.es/a2471cf68619039a

Blastoise is the standard Shell Smash set. I used a Timid nature to outrun Regieleki at +2. Water Spout gives it the strongest Cannonade possible, Ice Beam hits Grass types, Scald helps when it’s health gets low. Went with Torrent as my team has no Rain.

Grimmsnarl provides both Fake Out and Screens support to help Blastoise set up. Other than Fake Out it’s standard support Grimm so nothing else to say really.

Porygon2 helps bring Teick Room and counter opposing Trick Room. It also counters Spectrier really nicely. Tri Attack gets STAB, Shadow Ball hits Ghost types. Recover keeps it healthy.

Alolawak provides 2 key benefits on my team. 1: it keeps Electric moves away from Blastoise and 2: it’s a Trick Room sweeper. Thick Club makes it insanely powerful. Poltergeist and Flare Blitz have incredible power coming off that Attack star.

Whimsicott also provides 2 things for my team. 1: Tailwind and 2: Beat Up. Blastoise appreciates Tailwind support as it’s not then necessary to Smash. Beat Up also makes Terrakion stupendously powerful thanks to Justified. Focus Sash lets it survive any 1 hit. Max Speed and max bulk give it the most chances to do its thing.

Finally we have the most underrated Pokemon in VGC 2021 series 9, Terrakion. After being hit with Beat Up it will pulverise anything not resisting its STABs...which is pretty much nothing. I went with Iron Head as Max Steelspike makes it really bulky in conjunction with the SpDef boost from sandstorm. Lots of weaknesses makes Weakness Policy a great choice, as when Maxed it still easily takes a Grassy Glide from Rillaboom. It’s also not completely reliant on Beat Up.

Gl to all and let's get voting.

 

[SoulBadguy0408]

B C F A

 

[Helios of Sun]

B D C

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

B D F

comments

My Favorite team is easily Pinksylvei's. the sub pulse Thundurus is very innovative and i respect the team very much having played vs PinkSylvie using it.

Zomog just made a very solid team not much else to say. non LO Blastoise is an interesting pick.

F very cool team very weak to venu and Rilla but cool nonetheless

 

[Duck-Monke]

Just Missed It ;-;
I failed to put together my team report but here’s my weeks votes

Votes

B
E
C
F

 

[PinkSylvie]

A C

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

E D C A

 

[Bananers]

Congrats to PinkSylvie for winning this week! I am so sorry for being so late lol, had so much family business going on this week that I forgot to update this thread. Next weeks Pokemon will probably be announced tmmrw, also I will have to most likely change up the schedule due to my lateness. Stay tuned.

 

[Bananers]

Ok so with the PL being the main focus of the forum and just, in general, this thread not getting a lot of submissions, we're gonna take a week or so break. I hope you guys all understand.

 

[Human]

Motostoke Eiscue Tryout: Player's Choice
Choose At Least One!
​

The challenge for this tryout is as follows:
1. To create or improve an already existing team focusing on at least one of Thundurus-I, Togekiss, Moltres, Grimmsnarl, Garchomp.
2. Discuss how the team plays, and state what modes exist and how you intend to make them work generally. Is there anything specific that's especially unique? How does the team win/why is it a good team? Why should I want to use it? (Try to keep this 3-6 sentences long)
3. Identify an archetype or similar-looking teams you feel your team is strong against, and an archetype you feel your team is weak against. Talk through the matchups explaining why.

As you build, focus on how you can get positive matchups against the current set of Top Teams, such as those that succeeded in the Smogon Major (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/smogon-vgc-major-top-30-teams.3685233).

Skip the discussion of the teambuilding process where you add one Pokemon. If you want to add that, put it in spoiler tags.

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

https://pokepast.es/764054aa8f7da455 Firstly thanks to my friend RenjuuVGC on PS for helping me build this team.
So this team was built around WP Venusaur in screens. Venusaur is a pokemon that is very threatening and powerful even outside sun which you may notice this team has no Torkoal, its offensive presence often demanding it be hit by a super effective move which is where the WP and screens Grimmsnarl come in. The primary mode of this team is Grimmsnarl, Venusaur. Some other modes are Landorus-T Regieleki which is good considering their offensive synergy with Regieleki threatening common water-types, providing speed control and Landorus-T threatening common Grass-types. Heatran Grimmsnarl is a well known core giving but here Heatran is able to counter Celesteela who would otherwise trouble this team very much. Glastrier can go well with Regieleki as Glastrier threatens common Ground-types and Regieleki threatens bulky Water types that Glastrier could struggle to break through.

Matchups

So I feel like Heatran has some good matchups mainly into Clefairy Glastrier and Celesteela which is on the winning team and quite concerning for my other team members like Venusaur and Landorus-T. And of course this isn't so one dimensional that team has Heatran answers. I feel like this team has pretty neutral matchups vs most of the topcut teams having answers to Kartana, Thundurus, Celesteela, and Regieleki. One matchup that i do worry about a little is vs offensive LO Thundurus + CB Urshfiu. Urshifu hits my whole team pretty hard. It is manageable though with Grimmsnarl threatening it Regieleki being able to slow it down and my pokemon being able to take a hit in screens. I really liked putting Heatran on this team to counter Celesteela which is one of the strongest Pokemon in the metagame and is not very easy to answer so having a counter can be very useful.

Breakdown

So I was talking with my friend RenjuuVGC about building WP Venusaur. So we started with Grimmsnarl and Venusaur to give Venusaur bulk in screens and take hits. the speed is to outspeed minus one Thundurus. and Grimmsnarl's EV spread can take a LO Celesteela Max Steelspike some of the time in Light Screen.

Breakdown

So renjuu told me he saw a Japanese team with Heatran and policy Venusaur i loved the idea. Heatran is able to deal with Celesteela, Glastrier, and Kartana those being pokemon that Venusaur could struggle with mainly Celesteela 30 defense IVs is for p2 download boost which is relevant if its on the field by itself niche but might as well .

Breakdown

We wanted a Ground type and we felt that Landorus-T was the best option for its intimidate slowing down opposing Landorus-T and giving us generally useful damage control. Also its a far more menacing Dynamax option.

Breakdown

This was originally a goggles Zapdos to handle sun but we decided to find other ways of handling sun and instead made this Regieleki for the speed control. Also Renjuu's version has a acrobatics Regieleki which seems fun.

Breakdown

Added last but this team does not like Ground types and what better pokemon to use than the Ground-type destroyer Glastrier. With Lum SD it acts as a Venusaur check and threatens opposing Flying-types which Venusaur appreciates much.

 

[Duck-Monke]

Motostoke Eiscue Tryout: Player's Choice
Choose At Least One!
​

The challenge for this tryout is as follows:
1. To create or improve an already existing team focusing on at least one of Thundurus-I, Togekiss, Moltres, Grimmsnarl, Garchomp.
2. Discuss how the team plays, and state what modes exist and how you intend to make them work generally. Is there anything specific that's especially unique? How does the team win/why is it a good team? Why should I want to use it? (Try to keep this 3-6 sentences long)
3. Identify an archetype or similar-looking teams you feel your team is strong against, and an archetype you feel your team is weak against. Talk through the matchups explaining why.

As you build, focus on how you can get positive matchups against the current set of Top Teams, such as those that succeeded in the Smogon Major (https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/smogon-vgc-major-top-30-teams.3685233).

Skip the discussion of the teambuilding process where you add one Pokemon. If you want to add that, put it in spoiler tags.

How Long Will This Challenge Last ?

 

[yone]

Hello,


I wanted to build around a support Thundurus.
The good thing is that the support set on Thundurus is the least common, compared to the defiant set. From there, it allows you to get the upper hand by surprising the opponent with T-Wave while reducing special offensive threats like Regieleki, with Eerie-Impulse. Playing Taunt greatly benefits our matchup against pokémon that tend to make it easier to place others, such as grimmsnarl with his screens or any trick-room user such as Porygon-2 mainly or Dusclops. Thunderbolt is there as the main stab.

So, playing Clefairy as a 2nd support helps a lot with spectator placement for example, it also helps to stall when trying to get momentum back, like using Parting Shot with Incineroar. Not to mention the effectiveness of Friend Guard.

The goal of this team is to leave the way to the sweepers, depending on the style of play, we can maintain the pressure, play on the statuses or even block the opponent's placement.

Combining the elements of the team in this way is a great advantage against most common offensive threats and also top 30 threats, including Celesteela, Regieleki, Dragapult, Glastrier, etc...

As far as matchups go, this team has a pretty big advantage against weather based teams, as the style is quite offensive while totally temporizing the weather via defensive supports.

On the other hand, the matchup against the Trick-Room seems a bit complicated, that's why there is Taunt on Thundurus, to avoid being in too bad a position.

(This Kartana spread allows to survive Incineroar's Flare Blitz (0 atk) when Kartana is dynamax.
0 Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 68 HP / 4 Def Dynamax Kartana: 240-288 (83.9 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO)

That's why I find this team correct in this metagame, which responds well to weather based teams, especially sun teams, and depending on the play style, can be made very effective in different ways.

 

[TyphoeusVGC]

https://pokepast.es/02db3f2f995a03e0
I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This is the Togekiss team which also happens to be my secondary ladder team.
The team is fairly self explanatory, so i'll just explain my choices.I chose dusclops over p2 because it covers intimidate and comfortably beats registeel which lots of balance teams just slap on to cover their p2 glast MU. Togekiss over indeedee cuz it fares better against urshifu's and also provides a consistent max option against screens offense teams focusing around Grimmsnarl. Entei over Incin as it provides another strong max option while better covering the steela MU.

 

[Evelyie]

Double Wyrm​

I just decided to submit my overall S9 team. I think it came off to be a great and fun team, so let's break it down:

Teambuilding Proccess​

First of all, I decided to build around Terrakion + Dragapult. I think both synergize amazingly well, not only for the Beat Up combo, but as well for covering each other. So that was my starting point.

/
After I decided on what to run, I started playing with the considered good synergies of TerraPult. But none of them felt fun nor covered some matchups I was scared to deal. So I decided to test other things out. Untill I saw a team on Rose Tower, consisting of Terrakion, Dragapult, Whimsicott, Celesteela, Regieleki and Landorus-T. I tested that team and I loved it, but still wasn't as "me" as I wanted, so I decided to change it


My first change was adding Garchomp instead of Landorus. And Garchomp helped me out so well, such as the NUT team matchup and Regieleki Gothitelle / Clefairy, and also was incredibly fun. I then added Celesteela to the team, because Celesteela synergizes alot with Garchomp, but so as the rest of the team, being able to take those Fairy-type moves well.


After discussing with Bananers and Yourwelcomethanku (shoutouts to them), we came up with the idea of adding redirection. I tried out Clefairy, Indeedee, but Amoonguss helped me out so much. Amoonguss solved overall all my pre-existing fairy weaknessess together with Celesteela, added redirection to the table, and it also gave me more options inside of Trick Room


I was in need of Fake Out for my last slot. Opposing redirection was kind of an issue, the same goes for Hard Trick room teams, so I just added it! It came off well, dealing with things such as Rillaboom, and Intimidating Landorus-T.

How the team plays​

This team is a quite offensive team on its own. You can see that my Dragapult is a Life Orb 4-move set, fast-and-strong hitting Pokémon like Terrakion and Garchomp, but also a "slow mode", where Celesteela is the protagonist, together with Amoonguss and Incineroar. Amoonguss is also one of the biggest stars of the team, I bring it most of the time and people have been sleeping on it recently. Besides being a good team prepared for good part of the metagame, its also a fun team, bringing in two Dragon-types, plus a super fun Beat Up core where seeing those Justifieds boosts brings you joy and makes you snowball through the game. The team is also very flexible in terms of leads and endgame. TerraPult, Garchomp, Amoonguss and Celesteela can be good endgamers if positioned correctly

Sets analysis​

Lets start off with Dragapult. I chose a 4-move variant because this caused mind-games on my opponent on what I will Dynamax, if it will be Terrakion or Dragapult. Nothing else to add here. Life Orb for consistent damage


Everything that Quake hits for super-effective damage, other members of my team deal quite well, so I chose Helping Hand. I decided to go Lum Berry for things such as Prankster Swagger and Thunder Wave from Thundurus.


Standard set. Nothing to talk about it


My most "weird pick" for sure, it was Energy Ball Celesteela. This made my Kartana matchup slightly weaker, but Dragapult managed to play it well together with Terrakion's Close Combat. Energy Ball is for Tapu Fini, Rotom-Wash and Blastoise, plus additional Terrain Control.


Standard set.


Went max SpD so I could take Kingdra's, Spectrier's and Regieleki's attacks better.

Leads and Matchups​

Giulio Tarlao's Metagross + Galarian Moltres team




This is mostly how I would approach it. They barely have a way to stop Beat Up, and even if Metagross is able to take a +4 Rockfall, Helping Hand + Max Phantasm chips it so Garchomp comes in and closes the job, if it didn't pick the knockout.

Venusaur + Torkoal




Dragapult being able to Max made my sun matchup so good. +1 Dragapult outspeeding Timid Venusaur in sun just made it so manageable.

Kingdra + Politoed




Amoonguss coming in clutch. Redirecting those Kingdra attacks so Dragapult can finish it off with Wyrmwind is my main strategy.

Liako's Regieleki + Clefairy team




Here is where Double Wyrm shinies. Dragapult in the back so I can switch-in into those Max Strikes from Regieleki, plus, Clear Body makes so I will always outspeed Regieleki at +1. Garchomp, of course, will get the Regieleki knockout quite easily as well.

Zapdos + Grimmsnarl
(Trick Grimmsnarl)



This is arguably one of my worse matchups, because the trick Lagging Tail, so I just try to kill the Grimmsnarl as soon as possible. If its the screens variant, TerraPult just does the job.

Coalossal / Regigigas + Weezing
/



I want to cover both here, because I operate the same. TerraPult is always the best option. If they straight up lead their combos, I just max and win, but if they do not, I have plenty of good tools on my back and on my max options to deal with them. I would say this is my strongest matchup, due to both being so common and being quite easy to handle.

Hard Trick Room




Standard gameplan here is to Taunt Indeedee and Parting Shot t2, while maxing Celesteela.

Celesteela + Garchomp mirror




This is by far, the most mind-game matchup I can have. If I commit to Dynamax Dragapult and they max Celesteela, it could be a problem, same goes for my Terrakion Dynamax against Garchomp. But normally, I want to Dyanamx Terrakion in front of Celesteela and Dragapult, with Garchomp.

Rental Team + Poképaste

(click me!)

I also had the honor to have this team spotlighted on PokeMaineEvent's channel, feel free to watch the video and see it in action​

 

[Giokio]

pokepaste clicking on the mons​

With LO Regieleki on the rise and therefore Flying-type getting harder to play, I thought about giving our favorite bird a chance.
Moltres can become really hard to stop once it sets up, but in order to work as planned it needs a supporting cast capable of checking its usual counters such as Regieleki and Thundurus.
The main Dynamax is Moltres, I thought that the WP variant fits better in the current meta as wasting a turn on Nasty Plot can be troublesome.
Teambuilding process:
+

Birbs

I wanted Moltres to be able to setup so adding a redirector was the first thing it came to my mind. I considered Amoonguss, Togekiss, and Indeedee. In the end I choose Togekiss even tough it shares Moltres's weakness to Electric, as its more versatile and can also check various matchups such as Rain.

Evelyie would be proud

I desperately needed a LO Regieleki check and my first Choice was Landorus-T, but after getting my ass beaten by Thundurus i figured that Chomp could have been a better idea. Chomp checks not only electric types, but also Sun and flying types such as Zapdos.

+

SOS Glastrier

My team desperately needed a check to both Glastrier and Celesteela, so Heatran came to rescue. Despite being really bulky, Heatran can't take Max Qakes well, so Grimmsnarl was the choice to soften this weakness that also provides Taunt support to stop P2. Grimmsnarl can also be used alongside Moltres if Togekiss has a bad matchup redirecting hits.

OHKO machine

Last slot was fairly free but I noticed that Tapu Fini had a good matchup against the team, moreover Glastrier could still beat Heatran with enough support so i choose Kartana. Kartana with Expert belt is able to OHKO most mons it normally wouldn't such as Clefairy and Critkiss.

In the end, in my testing games the team worked well against the majority of common matchups, struggling a bit with hyper offense but still able to pull of a win.

 

[Microwave Raccoon]

https://pokepast.es/a4ec5a9039669b73
I DON'T LIKE INTIMIDATE: THE TEAM

Big thanks to Yourwelcomethanku skyp1llar and poogang for helping with the team!
​

This team was built around Thundurus-I, a mon I had been wanting to use for a while. Despite the support set with prankster rising in usage, I decided to use an offensive Thundurus for a couple reasons a couple reasons I'll explain in bit.



This team was primarily built around the combination of Thundurus and Mamoswine. I decided to use a defiant set on Thundurus as I noticed it matched up incredibly well against some of the most used Pokemon in the smogon major, notably Tapu Fini, Incineroar, Landorus-T, both Urshifu forms, Rillaboom, Moltres-G, Dragapult and Amoonguss, some of which were on almost half of all the teams. I paired it with Mamoswine as the two have incredible offensive synergy. Thundurus checks the Urshifus, Rillaboom and Tapu Fini for Mamoswine while providing it with speed boosts from Max Airstream, while Mamoswine in return checks Regieleki, Garchomp, and most Rock types for Thundurus.



Clefable was added to help deal with opposing redirection and bulkier mons that the team could not muscle through quickly enough. Clefable was chosen over Clefairy for 2 main reasons, the first being that it could hold safety goggles, giving the team a much needed sleep powder/spore immunity. The other reason, was its ability Unaware, this ability is incredibly useful in the current metagame. Unaware allows it to take attacks from boosted Glastrier, Coalossal and Justified users, as well as being able to beat Registeel in endgames with flamethrower, as it would ignore any special defense boosts from amnesia, and would ignore any defense boosts that would make body press stronger. Porygon-Z was selected as a very strong max candidate that had great synergy with Clefable and could reverse trick room. With Thundurus around to discourage one of the main ways of slowing down PZ in snarl, it fit nicely onto the team.



I decided to add Urshifu because of its good synergy with both Thundurus and Porygon-Z, capitalizing off of their speed control from Max Airstream and Max Strike respectively, and giving the team excellent cleanup with its strong priority sucker punch. Lastly, Suicune was added as matchup glue, primarily for snarl and tailwind, but also its water typing being useful against Coalossal and for switching around Glastrier if things get messy. Helping hand rounded out the set to ensure suicune could keep up the tempo once tailwind was up.

HOW TO NOT LOSE MATCHUPS
​

Standard Polidra Rain



/ + filler

Lead PZ Suicune and click Max Guard tailwind t1, Suicune can survive a double up from Kingdra + Toed or Rilla because of sitrus. Then Spam Max Strike + snarl, note that one Max strike from PZ will put Kingdra into range of sucker punch from Urshifu. Snarl on Suicune covers for potential Celesteela lead. You can also lead PZ Clef if you don't need to cover for Steela. Last slot is matchup dependent.

Eleki Venukoal Sunroom



+ filler

PZ is the best lead into sunroom as it can not only handle Eleki with Redirection support but can also change the weather with max hailstorm. It can also reverse trick room in a pinch if your opponent goes with that. Clefable is able to block sleep with safety goggles and is EV'd to survive LO modest Max Ooze from Venu. Urshifu can clean up chipped Eleki/Venu with sucker punch. Last slot is matchup dependent.

Registeel Bulky Offense

/



The weird Thundurus set is great here, as it can stop Spectrier from spreading burns with taunt and break grimmsnarl's screens with brick break. Thundurus also does great into the main 2 offensive pieces on these teams, being Landorus-T and Goltres. Unaware Clefable with flamethrower is actually able to beat Registeel 1 on 1 if you can preserve its HP well enough, taking very little damage from body press and doing consistent damage with flamethrower in return. Flamethrower also happens to have a nasty burn chance which can ruin Registeel completely.

Coalossal Balance





This matchup has to be played fairly passive on lead. Clefable is able to take hits from Coal very well thanks to Unaware, and Suicune can immediately threaten Coal with a potential scald or Max Geyser. Urshifu can KO Coal once tailwind is up and Thundurus can cover for Rillaboom. Urshifu, and the many flying types used alongside Coal. Note that Suicune can be preserved for multiple tailwinds in a single game because Coal teams will tend to try and stall out tw turns while positioning Coal to win. Suicune can be maxed in late game scenarios once the opponent is down to only Coal and maybe a surf/aqua jet user.

Eleki Clefairy Offense



/

Prioritize getting up tailwind in this matchup with Suicune, as helping hand Max Strike from Porygon-Z will OHKO Regieleki through friend guard and Eleki cannot OHKO PZ without its own helping hand. Since tailwind is up, PZ and your last mon should be able to clean up.

Spectrier Clefairy Offense.



+ filler

Thundurus can target Spectrier turn 1 safely with a Max Airstreamas Spectrier cannot OHKO Clefable without giving Thundurus a defiant boost. Once Clefable goes down, Urshifu can come in which threatens Spectrier because of Thundurus' Airstream support as it is faster than Spectrier at +1. From there it is very easy for Thundurus and Urshifu to snowball the game.

Trick Room + Redirection

///

/ + filler

Remove the redirector with Urshifu/Mamoswine and reverse trick room with Porygon-Z, then KO the trick room setter. Urshifu is adamant so that PZ will outspeed and be able to KO the redirector before Urshifu KOs the trick room setter after chip from Urshifu on t1. Denying TR is basically the entire matchup and like most HO teams, this team loses almost immediately if TR goes up.

Metagross Balance



+ filler

Pretty easy matchup, two main attackers in Goltres and Metagross fold to Thundurus Urshifu lead regardless of screens from Grimmsnarl. This core is shut down very effectively by Thundurus especially.

Terrapult Sun



+ filler

Clefable shuts down beat up with follow me, and Thundurus is able to safely KO Terrakion without risking a Max Rockfall. Dragapult also cannot click any max moves besides Max Airstream without giving Thundurus a boost. Thundurus Clefableis also covers for Venusaur + Torkoal if the opponent decides to lead with that.

Celechomp Bulky Offense

/

+ filler

Thundurus Mamoswine is able to shut down both Celesteela and Garchomp very well regardless of screens which can still be broken by brick break on Thundurus. Scary face from Grimmsnarl onto Thundurus risks a defiant boost as does spirit break. Thundurus also matches up very well into Rillaboom if it can survive to the late game.

GrimmZapTran Bulky Offense



+ filler

Clefable and Mamoswine are incredible in this matchup. Clefable is a great sponge for Grimmsnarl leads as it doesn't care about losing its item in this matchup nor does it take any extra damage from fake tears. Mamoswine hits both Zapdos and Heatran for super effective damage and puts Zapdos into sucker punch range for Urshifu after one Max Hailstorm

Whimsicott Hyper Offense



+ filler

Set up trick room with Porygon-Z, then dynamax it and sweep with it alongside Urshifu. Never try to match tailwinds as Spectrier outspeeds the entire team on even ground.

 

[Human]

If anyone wants more feedback/comments or to talk about their teams more, DM me here or on Discord!

Yourwelcomethanku Hervalt Typhoeus200318 Evelyie Giokio Microwave Raccoon
I put the comments and responses to each of your teams in the spoiler tags, so check those out

Yourwelcomethanku

The team itself has fairly unclear game plans because for the most part while you seem to show an understanding of how to play the early game with different leads involving Grimmsnarl - by and large when trying to figure out what comes in the back and why is where the team starts to have its gaps. For example, there are no ground immunities/resists which pushes Landorus-T to be a dynamax option, and the lack of speed control makes Glastier reliant entirely on damage control. To adjust the team for specific matchups while executing on primary strategies (WP Venusaur + Grimmsnarl) I feel like it would be getting stuck if you cannot get enough value early on. Also it's not particularly clear how you would handle matchups that did well in the Smogon Major such as Liakos' Celesteela team, the Coalossal match-up requires an early dynamax but it's also relatively weak to Dragapult or Togekiss, and Incineroar lead gets a lot of value into the team. I think for the most part its that you need to trim the team down a bit and focus on how you can get suitable end games and some switches, ideally with some Pokemon that do not need to dynamax.

Hervalt

The team clearly has a pretty easy to understand flow to it, with the primary Dynamax of Kartana + Spectrier with sufficient support to help pull that off, what I would like to know is a bit more of what matchups do you feel the team is strong into outside of weather. What are some of your game plans against Liakos/Marcofiero's teams or Rahxen Coalossal? I think that there are some potential struggles with Regieleki off of that speed control being more effective against you than a lot of other things, max Airstream Pokemon would have similar advantages against you (namely Landorus-T), and Togekiss ignoring Eerie Impulse could also be troublesome. All of these still seem common enough, that you might need to figure out how to adjust the team to handle those matchups - but hitting your matchups should come off really well. I guess the question is what makes this different or even better than Clefairy Horses of Spectrier/Glastrier?

Typhoeus200318

I like the team, for the most part, having a strong TR option off of Dusclops Togekiss looks strong and the Scope Lens Togekiss next to a primarily single-target dynamax like Glastrier makes a lot of sense. It seems to have a lot of outplaying options off of the Pokemon - the main thing I wish you did was to discuss any weaknesses you imagine the team to have or room for improvement. I think that the spreads have a lot of room for optimization too, but that's not necessary at all for this. Good job overall, but I really wished to see more explanation on the things I mentioned.

Evelyie

Great job using some of the best Pokemon while creating a unique and interesting team! Recommendation for the build would be to use Mental Herb > Coba Berry on the Amoonguss probably and look at whether or not the Amoonguss EV spread can be tweaked to handle max air stream Pokemon, the Amoonguss isn't being brought into Sun so you have a bit more freedom there. I like how you went over the matchups and explained how the team plays. You clearly showed that you have an idea of how the team ideally plays and what makes it good and what makes it bad and when to play it.

Giokio

The team individually has a lot of Pokemon that cover matchups one on one, but I want to see a little bit more reflection as to how matchups play. Have you tried out Fake Tears on the Grimmsnarl yet over Taunt? If its specifically for P2 is it to stop Eerie Impulse because I think that you can put together a team that's similar to the Grimmsnarl Zapdos Heatran cores that uses the existence of Fake Tears to break through teams while using the rest of the team to try turning most everything else into a skill match up. Lastly, Glastrier seems like a very big threat that probably needs to be handled a bit more? Is Taunt Grimmsnarl for that to try preventing the Trick Room? Does that work when they stuff redirection in your face?

Microwave Raccoon

That is a lot of power from one team, and really good use of Clefable to help out in a lot of matchups and continue locking things out. The Thundurus set looks great into a lot of matchups too, it reminds me a lot of a Lum Berry Thundurus I saw pop up at some point in Series 8. I think that a little bit of reflection to see how the opponent can respond to what you're doing if they burn through your dynamax turns with switching/Max Guard for example, do you have enough tools and options to take the win? Overall I rather like the build and you explained why the team could be good.

 

[TyphoeusVGC]

If anyone wants more feedback/comments or to talk about their teams more, DM me here or on Discord!

Yourwelcomethanku Hervalt Typhoeus200318 Evelyie Giokio Microwave Raccoon
I put the comments and responses to each of your teams in the spoiler tags, so check those out

Yourwelcomethanku

The team itself has fairly unclear game plans because for the most part while you seem to show an understanding of how to play the early game with different leads involving Grimmsnarl - by and large when trying to figure out what comes in the back and why is where the team starts to have its gaps. For example, there are no ground immunities/resists which pushes Landorus-T to be a dynamax option, and the lack of speed control makes Glastier reliant entirely on damage control. To adjust the team for specific matchups while executing on primary strategies (WP Venusaur + Grimmsnarl) I feel like it would be getting stuck if you cannot get enough value early on. Also it's not particularly clear how you would handle matchups that did well in the Smogon Major such as Liakos' Celesteela team, the Coalossal match-up requires an early dynamax but it's also relatively weak to Dragapult or Togekiss, and Incineroar lead gets a lot of value into the team. I think for the most part its that you need to trim the team down a bit and focus on how you can get suitable end games and some switches, ideally with some Pokemon that do not need to dynamax.

Hervalt

The team clearly has a pretty easy to understand flow to it, with the primary Dynamax of Kartana + Spectrier with sufficient support to help pull that off, what I would like to know is a bit more of what matchups do you feel the team is strong into outside of weather. What are some of your game plans against Liakos/Marcofiero's teams or Rahxen Coalossal? I think that there are some potential struggles with Regieleki off of that speed control being more effective against you than a lot of other things, max Airstream Pokemon would have similar advantages against you (namely Landorus-T), and Togekiss ignoring Eerie Impulse could also be troublesome. All of these still seem common enough, that you might need to figure out how to adjust the team to handle those matchups - but hitting your matchups should come off really well. I guess the question is what makes this different or even better than Clefairy Horses of Spectrier/Glastrier?

Typhoeus200318

I like the team, for the most part, having a strong TR option off of Dusclops Togekiss looks strong and the Scope Lens Togekiss next to a primarily single-target dynamax like Glastrier makes a lot of sense. It seems to have a lot of outplaying options off of the Pokemon - the main thing I wish you did was to discuss any weaknesses you imagine the team to have or room for improvement. I think that the spreads have a lot of room for optimization too, but that's not necessary at all for this. Good job overall, but I really wished to see more explanation on the things I mentioned.

Evelyie

Great job using some of the best Pokemon while creating a unique and interesting team! Recommendation for the build would be to use Mental Herb > Coba Berry on the Amoonguss probably and look at whether or not the Amoonguss EV spread can be tweaked to handle max air stream Pokemon, the Amoonguss isn't being brought into Sun so you have a bit more freedom there. I like how you went over the matchups and explained how the team plays. You clearly showed that you have an idea of how the team ideally plays and what makes it good and what makes it bad and when to play it.

Giokio

The team individually has a lot of Pokemon that cover matchups one on one, but I want to see a little bit more reflection as to how matchups play. Have you tried out Fake Tears on the Grimmsnarl yet over Taunt? If its specifically for P2 is it to stop Eerie Impulse because I think that you can put together a team that's similar to the Grimmsnarl Zapdos Heatran cores that uses the existence of Fake Tears to break through teams while using the rest of the team to try turning most everything else into a skill match up. Lastly, Glastrier seems like a very big threat that probably needs to be handled a bit more? Is Taunt Grimmsnarl for that to try preventing the Trick Room? Does that work when they stuff redirection in your face?

Microwave Raccoon

That is a lot of power from one team, and really good use of Clefable to help out in a lot of matchups and continue locking things out. The Thundurus set looks great into a lot of matchups too, it reminds me a lot of a Lum Berry Thundurus I saw pop up at some point in Series 8. I think that a little bit of reflection to see how the opponent can respond to what you're doing if they burn through your dynamax turns with switching/Max Guard for example, do you have enough tools and options to take the win? Overall I rather like the build and you explained why the team could be good.

[/QUOT

If anyone wants more feedback/comments or to talk about their teams more, DM me here or on Discord!

Yourwelcomethanku Hervalt Typhoeus200318 Evelyie Giokio Microwave Raccoon
I put the comments and responses to each of your teams in the spoiler tags, so check those out

Yourwelcomethanku

The team itself has fairly unclear game plans because for the most part while you seem to show an understanding of how to play the early game with different leads involving Grimmsnarl - by and large when trying to figure out what comes in the back and why is where the team starts to have its gaps. For example, there are no ground immunities/resists which pushes Landorus-T to be a dynamax option, and the lack of speed control makes Glastier reliant entirely on damage control. To adjust the team for specific matchups while executing on primary strategies (WP Venusaur + Grimmsnarl) I feel like it would be getting stuck if you cannot get enough value early on. Also it's not particularly clear how you would handle matchups that did well in the Smogon Major such as Liakos' Celesteela team, the Coalossal match-up requires an early dynamax but it's also relatively weak to Dragapult or Togekiss, and Incineroar lead gets a lot of value into the team. I think for the most part its that you need to trim the team down a bit and focus on how you can get suitable end games and some switches, ideally with some Pokemon that do not need to dynamax.

Hervalt

The team clearly has a pretty easy to understand flow to it, with the primary Dynamax of Kartana + Spectrier with sufficient support to help pull that off, what I would like to know is a bit more of what matchups do you feel the team is strong into outside of weather. What are some of your game plans against Liakos/Marcofiero's teams or Rahxen Coalossal? I think that there are some potential struggles with Regieleki off of that speed control being more effective against you than a lot of other things, max Airstream Pokemon would have similar advantages against you (namely Landorus-T), and Togekiss ignoring Eerie Impulse could also be troublesome. All of these still seem common enough, that you might need to figure out how to adjust the team to handle those matchups - but hitting your matchups should come off really well. I guess the question is what makes this different or even better than Clefairy Horses of Spectrier/Glastrier?

Typhoeus200318

I like the team, for the most part, having a strong TR option off of Dusclops Togekiss looks strong and the Scope Lens Togekiss next to a primarily single-target dynamax like Glastrier makes a lot of sense. It seems to have a lot of outplaying options off of the Pokemon - the main thing I wish you did was to discuss any weaknesses you imagine the team to have or room for improvement. I think that the spreads have a lot of room for optimization too, but that's not necessary at all for this. Good job overall, but I really wished to see more explanation on the things I mentioned.

Evelyie

Great job using some of the best Pokemon while creating a unique and interesting team! Recommendation for the build would be to use Mental Herb > Coba Berry on the Amoonguss probably and look at whether or not the Amoonguss EV spread can be tweaked to handle max air stream Pokemon, the Amoonguss isn't being brought into Sun so you have a bit more freedom there. I like how you went over the matchups and explained how the team plays. You clearly showed that you have an idea of how the team ideally plays and what makes it good and what makes it bad and when to play it.

Giokio

The team individually has a lot of Pokemon that cover matchups one on one, but I want to see a little bit more reflection as to how matchups play. Have you tried out Fake Tears on the Grimmsnarl yet over Taunt? If its specifically for P2 is it to stop Eerie Impulse because I think that you can put together a team that's similar to the Grimmsnarl Zapdos Heatran cores that uses the existence of Fake Tears to break through teams while using the rest of the team to try turning most everything else into a skill match up. Lastly, Glastrier seems like a very big threat that probably needs to be handled a bit more? Is Taunt Grimmsnarl for that to try preventing the Trick Room? Does that work when they stuff redirection in your face?

Microwave Raccoon

That is a lot of power from one team, and really good use of Clefable to help out in a lot of matchups and continue locking things out. The Thundurus set looks great into a lot of matchups too, it reminds me a lot of a Lum Berry Thundurus I saw pop up at some point in Series 8. I think that a little bit of reflection to see how the opponent can respond to what you're doing if they burn through your dynamax turns with switching/Max Guard for example, do you have enough tools and options to take the win? Overall I rather like the build and you explained why the team could be good.

Thanks for the feedback. I was a bit busy last time ,but ill try to explain the matchups rn.
1) Coalossal - lead(kiss+clops)+glastrier +urshifu
This lead guarantees TR against standard coal +proccer leads.Their only way to stop it is rilla boom +taunt incin lead against which u can straight up max kiss and rillaboom and get some night shade dmg on incin.preserving dusclops is important in this game to set up tr against lategame coal maxes so urshifu+glastrier can beat it in the endgame

2)Giulio Tarlao's Metagross blnc-lead(entei+kiss) +urshifu+rillaboom
This MU is a game for max entei.this lead puts insane pressure on metagross 2hko'ing it even if it gets a steelspike boost because of the sun and they cant do the same with max quake because of togekiss.they will also try to play towards grimm+rotom where kiss and rillaboom come valuable
cuz crit kiss can do heavy dmg through screens negating any attempts to setup. Urshifu is brought mainly for their p2 ,but it forces lot of dmg in the endgames anyways. This MU will need some outplaying but their team is so strong its not surprising.

3)Venukoal -lead(Entei+togekiss) +dusclops+glastrier
Another game where entei is rly strong max option or non max option as it threatens burns on regirock and has a good natural mu into everything else .AV allows it to soak torkoal hits and hit back hard with rock fall also changing weather.Be wary of p2 tho as it can be annoying in the endgames but a sacred fire burn can go a long way.

4)kingra-lead(togekiss+duclops) +urshifu +rillaboom
this a straight forward tr+max kiss game but watch out for steela .ur best bet against it is to smack it with rain boosted strikes as they generally carry h. slam +flamethrower on these builds.Both glastrier and entei can be strong picks for BO3 adjustments

5)Clef+eleki/dual horse -lead (clops +kiss) +glastrier +entei
they almost always lead clef eleki with glastrier in the back .this is where the 29 speed iv's come in clutch on the glastrier so u can adjust whether u want tr on or off and always win speed wars depending on whether they are 31 iv adamant or min speed.entei deals with steela in the back.

6)Registeel blnc-lead (kiss+clops) Glastrier +last mon depending on the rest of the team
This is a rly good mu as ppl mostly just add registeel on glast weak teams. Dusclope is a straight up hard counter to these.

7)Cele-Chomp- lead (kiss +entei) +dusclops + glastrier
this is a good MU but generally wait till they max to click ur own max as its a 50-50 on their maxes.But either ways kiss +entei should put immense pressure on most of their leads.

And that's it for the matchups there are a few others but i think these 7 are the most important and well defined ones. Obviously the best feature of these team is its flexiblitly imo so i often deviate from these plans.(i bring rilla a lot despite it not being in many gameplans) .thank you for the feedback and i hope this is what u were looking for.

 

[Microwave Raccoon]

If anyone wants more feedback/comments or to talk about their teams more, DM me here or on Discord!

Yourwelcomethanku Hervalt Typhoeus200318 Evelyie Giokio Microwave Raccoon
I put the comments and responses to each of your teams in the spoiler tags, so check those out

Yourwelcomethanku

The team itself has fairly unclear game plans because for the most part while you seem to show an understanding of how to play the early game with different leads involving Grimmsnarl - by and large when trying to figure out what comes in the back and why is where the team starts to have its gaps. For example, there are no ground immunities/resists which pushes Landorus-T to be a dynamax option, and the lack of speed control makes Glastier reliant entirely on damage control. To adjust the team for specific matchups while executing on primary strategies (WP Venusaur + Grimmsnarl) I feel like it would be getting stuck if you cannot get enough value early on. Also it's not particularly clear how you would handle matchups that did well in the Smogon Major such as Liakos' Celesteela team, the Coalossal match-up requires an early dynamax but it's also relatively weak to Dragapult or Togekiss, and Incineroar lead gets a lot of value into the team. I think for the most part its that you need to trim the team down a bit and focus on how you can get suitable end games and some switches, ideally with some Pokemon that do not need to dynamax.

Hervalt

The team clearly has a pretty easy to understand flow to it, with the primary Dynamax of Kartana + Spectrier with sufficient support to help pull that off, what I would like to know is a bit more of what matchups do you feel the team is strong into outside of weather. What are some of your game plans against Liakos/Marcofiero's teams or Rahxen Coalossal? I think that there are some potential struggles with Regieleki off of that speed control being more effective against you than a lot of other things, max Airstream Pokemon would have similar advantages against you (namely Landorus-T), and Togekiss ignoring Eerie Impulse could also be troublesome. All of these still seem common enough, that you might need to figure out how to adjust the team to handle those matchups - but hitting your matchups should come off really well. I guess the question is what makes this different or even better than Clefairy Horses of Spectrier/Glastrier?

Typhoeus200318

I like the team, for the most part, having a strong TR option off of Dusclops Togekiss looks strong and the Scope Lens Togekiss next to a primarily single-target dynamax like Glastrier makes a lot of sense. It seems to have a lot of outplaying options off of the Pokemon - the main thing I wish you did was to discuss any weaknesses you imagine the team to have or room for improvement. I think that the spreads have a lot of room for optimization too, but that's not necessary at all for this. Good job overall, but I really wished to see more explanation on the things I mentioned.

Evelyie

Great job using some of the best Pokemon while creating a unique and interesting team! Recommendation for the build would be to use Mental Herb > Coba Berry on the Amoonguss probably and look at whether or not the Amoonguss EV spread can be tweaked to handle max air stream Pokemon, the Amoonguss isn't being brought into Sun so you have a bit more freedom there. I like how you went over the matchups and explained how the team plays. You clearly showed that you have an idea of how the team ideally plays and what makes it good and what makes it bad and when to play it.

Giokio

The team individually has a lot of Pokemon that cover matchups one on one, but I want to see a little bit more reflection as to how matchups play. Have you tried out Fake Tears on the Grimmsnarl yet over Taunt? If its specifically for P2 is it to stop Eerie Impulse because I think that you can put together a team that's similar to the Grimmsnarl Zapdos Heatran cores that uses the existence of Fake Tears to break through teams while using the rest of the team to try turning most everything else into a skill match up. Lastly, Glastrier seems like a very big threat that probably needs to be handled a bit more? Is Taunt Grimmsnarl for that to try preventing the Trick Room? Does that work when they stuff redirection in your face?

Microwave Raccoon

That is a lot of power from one team, and really good use of Clefable to help out in a lot of matchups and continue locking things out. The Thundurus set looks great into a lot of matchups too, it reminds me a lot of a Lum Berry Thundurus I saw pop up at some point in Series 8. I think that a little bit of reflection to see how the opponent can respond to what you're doing if they burn through your dynamax turns with switching/Max Guard for example, do you have enough tools and options to take the win? Overall I rather like the build and you explained why the team could be good.

Thank you for the feedback, there were just a couple things I wanted to touch up on regarding the team.

You brought up how the team can struggle if the opponent is able to stall through max turns. However, one of the main reasons that I chose Thundurus that I didn't bring up was how it can abuse dynamax even if it wasn't doing that much damage. Giving speed and attack boosts to Mamoswine and Urshifu can often snowball games regardless of how the opponent handles the Thundurus max. Urshifu makes protecting almost irrelevant and will usually force a dynamax from the opponent just to take it out. This is actually part of why I think PZ is such a good partner for Urshifu, as the combination of normal, dark and fighting coverage is near impossible to switch into, and Urshifu benefits greatly from Max Strike speed drops while forcing KOs if the opponent tries to stall out PZ's max.

 

[ManooPanoo]

Here is my Thundy-I team


NO UNIQUE STUFF HERE, SORRY


Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Fly
- Superpower
- Protect

This is just some classic defiant Thundy.


Incineroar @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Def / 188 SpD
Careful Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Fake Out
- Parting Shot
- Taunt

Incineroar is here for a Glastrier check. While Glastrier's common coverage in High Horsepower could make it struggle, Incineroar's Intimidate led me to think it was justifiable as a check.


Celesteela @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Beast Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 52 HP / 228 SpA / 228 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Air Slash
- Flamethrower
- Protect

I was worried about the aforementioned situation with Glastrier's coverage dunking on Incineroar so I added a second check to it, which this time is not weak to Glastrier's coverage, but at the cost of not having Intimidate.


Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 116 Atk / 36 Def / 76 SpD / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- U-turn
- Rock Slide

Landorus-Therian is here as a Regieleki check because my team in the moment got ABSOLUTELY dunked on by it. I gave it an assault vest for minimal damage when maxed hyper beam(or just hyper beam period). It also OHKOs with Max Quake, but we all knew that.


Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Muddy Water
- Calm Mind
- Protect

Fini is here because this team was currently slightly walled by opposing AV Lando. Not really sure abt this spot, but I was blanking so yeah, Fish girl is here. Also it checks Dracovish but Vish is the big suck so.. :v


Amoonguss @ Coba Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 50
EVs: 220 HP / 188 Def / 100 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pollen Puff
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect

So, the problem with adding ANOTHER mon dunked by Eleki was giving it more oppurtunities for it to execute me. So I added this SUSSY boi to the team. It also serves as a good redirector if I need it.

This does good against balance and fine against HO

I don't think this will win please give feedback! I made it in a rush ://

 

[Evelyie]

Oh my god, we're back again!

Welcome everyone to the Series 10 Building Competition! I was entrusted by Bananers, Giokio and Raineko to be your new hostress!

Before we start, I want to address some things:​

• We will be only covering Restricted Pokémon, since they're the ones you build around.​
• BE CREATIVE. Just don't get "X" Restricted and add Incineroar, Rillaboom, Regieleki, Stakataka and Urshifu-R to your team. Although limited, this Series allows some interesting and niche stuff, as we seen players already making Top Cuts with Pokémon such as Drampa, Qwilfish and Scrafty in Mt. Silvers and others, so I want to see creative stuff while being still, good and somewhat consistent.​
• Don't steal people's ideas (that is obvious)​

Our Series 10 Week 1 and Week 8 Pokémon is...
drumroll pleaaaaase

Zacian, the Warrior Pokémon!
zamazenta just in picture giving her sister company

Anyway, Week 8 is Zacian, you may use both the Hero of many Battles form or the Crowned form. Good luck everyone, submissions go untill the 20th of August 23:59 GMT-3.

Good Luck!
​