Project Monotype Core Laddering Challenge: [INDEX THREAD]

Namranan

:)))))))))))
Taken over from Starblim, approved by Eien , co-hosting with Perish Song


Welcome to the Monotype Core Laddering Challenge Season 4 Index Thread! The Core Laddering Challenge obviously involves laddering...with a core! Seeing as this is the Monotype Core Laddering challenge, we will be laddering on the Monotype ladder on Pokemon Showdown!. It is a competition encompassing multiple elements of competitive play: teambuilding, adapting, and battling! Various types will get a core every week, but you will have a little over a week to ladder with the core in order to achieve a Hall of Fame rank. After you've gotten the core, it's time to teambuild! The only restriction is that you'll have to use the Pokemon in the core; you may decide the move-sets, EVs and items yourself, as well as the partners.

Overview of Challenge Rules
by Sly Mav/Rum & Coke

  • To register, reply to the challenge you are participating in with the following information: Your Username, and your Laddering Alt (which must have the required tag)
  • To apply for a Hall of Fame level, state your Username, your Laddering Alt, the HoF Level you are applying for, and proof (i.e. Replays, Screenshots, ect)
  • While you are laddering on your CC alt, you are only allowed to use a CC team, which corresponds with the CC tag of your alt. If you are found to have broken this rule on purpose, you will be disqualified. You must use the correct CC tag (CCXxN) as specifed, if you wish to be eligible for the Hall of Fame (HoF). Failure to do so, will render your challenge invalid.
  • Asking your opponent for a free win or asking your opponent to forfeit is STRICLY PROHIBITED. Anyone caught doing this will be disqualified from competing in the Core Challenges.
  • It is strictly prohibited to share an account with another user, so that they may ladder for you. If caught you will be disqualified from competing in the Core Challenges.
  • Your CC team must contain the 2 members of the core at all times. You are free to change the other 4 members of your team as you wish, however.
Beginner's Guide to the Core Ladder Challenge
by Sly Mav/Rum & Coke

  • Step 1: Choose a core that you wish to compete with, observing what the CC tag for that core is. CC tags have a format of "CCXxN" [CC=Core Challenge; Xx=Type, N= The Cycle/Round of the type]. So for example, "CCWa2" is the 2nd cycle/round of the Water type cores.
  • Step 2: Create an alternate account ("alt" for short) using the CC tag. For example: "CCWa2 YourName"
  • Step 3: Reply to the challenge in which you want to participate in, and provide your Username, and the Laddering Alt you will be using. Your PS Username is your regular account and the CC alt is the alternate account you just created.
  • Step 4: Build a Monotype team, which includes the two (2) pokemon listed in the Core you're doing. Please note carefully whether the Pokemon in the core are capable of Mega Evolution and whether or not they must hold their Mega Stone, as specified.
  • Step 5: When you are sure that your team is ready, log into your CC alt and begin battling on the Monotype Ladder.
  • Step 6: When you reach a milestone ELO, for example 1300 / 1350 ELO for the "Silver" rank, save the replay and submit the link in the thread for proof.
  • Step 7: If you reach the "Platinum" rank of 1550/1600 ELO, save the replay of each new ELO peak that you achieve which is greater than the listed HoF level. Before the challenge ends, submit the replay that shows your highest overall peak. The Top Finisher of each Core is the person with the highest ELO peak overall, in a submitted replay.
Do not cheat in this challenge! It is a global PS! offense to boost your ladder ranking. Within the confines of this challenge, this includes asking opponents to forfeit so you don't lose ELO.
People caught boosting their ELO in any way will be disqualified. No exceptions, you've been warned.

Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use more than one type in each challenge?

Yes, just make sure you have a tagged alt for each one.

When can I start laddering?
As soon as you post in the challenge thread here on Smogon, you can start laddering.

Do I need to save/submit all my replays?
NO! Please submit replays that show you reaching a Hall of Fame level, or ones that provide proof of a laddering peak (screenshots are also fine). If you forget to save the replay when you first pass a Hall of Fame level, then just save another replay proving you were above the Hall of Fame level.

Do I have to keep the same team for all the ladder matches?
Nope, feel free to change the team around the Pokemon in the core as often as you like. However, if you are caught on the ladder without the core on a tagged alt you will be disqualified.

I think these cores are stupid. When will there be better ones?
New cores will be up every week. They will eventually cover all 18 types and multiple play-styles. If you have a suggestion for a core, pm it to me or Perishing Song accompanied by a brief description of why those Pokemon support one another and then it will be considered for future challenges.

For any questions or concerns regarding the challenge, please contact myself (Namranan) via Private Message (PM) on Smogon forums or in the Monotype Room on Pokemon Showdown.

Also please do not post in this forum, it is just for me and my co-host to document all things related to CLC.
 
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Namranan

:)))))))))))
Hall of fame:

SS cycle 1:



Peak teams Hall of Fame:

Fylkir Pudin - Challenge #1


https://pokepast.es/20ab2133b57d54a2 - Steel
Peak: 1609

https://pokepast.es/c21030e110b46408 - Dark
https://pokepast.es/ccd813948b1c45e6 - Dark
https://pokepast.es/f749f1ee824cc4ac - Dark
Peak: 1480

Guwahavel - Challenge #3

Claydol+Celebi Psychic
Peak: 1475+

Ribombee+Primarina Fairy
Peak: 1475+

Guwahavel - Challenge #4

Normal Team Used
Peak: 1500+

Grass Team Used
Peak: 1500+
 
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Namranan

:)))))))))))
approved by Eien.
hosted by Namranan , co-hosted by Perish Song


(Banner coming soon!)
Monotype Core Laddering Challenge Cycle 1
Priority Core!
2 Standard Cores, January 20 - February 3

Steel
:sm/Durant: :sm/Lucario:
Durant + Lucario
Tag : CCSSSt1
Hall of Fame Rankings:

Platinum: 1600+
Gold: 1475+
Silver: 1350+
Bronze: 1250+
[/hide]

Dark
:sm/Crawdaunt: :sm/Bisharp:
Crawdaunt + Bisharp
Tag: CCSSDa1
Hall of Fame Rankings:

Platinum: 1600+
Gold: 1475+
Silver: 1350+
Bronze: 1250+
[/hide]

Note: This project is now lead by Namranan and cohosted by Perish Song. So now all questions and suggestions regarding to CLC should be directed towards us now and not Illama, the former leader.

To register to participate in a core challenge, you must reply to this forum with the proper information to be eligible! See the example post below for details. This also applies for submitting peaks (with that said please keep all of your information onto 1 post)! Otherwise, refer to the Index Thread for the official rules and info on this project. Please make sure to post replays of your Hall of Fame Rankings, failure to do so will result in your post being ignored.

In order to win this challenge, one player must obtain the highest ladder peak with the given core. In order to be eligible for winning the challenge you have to either post a replay of your peak (Highest elo reached) or take a screenshot of your accounts highest rank on ladder. The person with the highest rank at the end of the week is the winner of the challenge and will get posted in a new hall of fame in the Index thread along with the team they were using. If you win, please PM the team to Perishing Song or Namranan along with a brief description of the team and how you got the elo you got to. (Replays are much appreciated)

Remember to keep track of your Win/Loss ratio because the person with the best ratio out of 30 games can get a shoutout after the challenge has ended. To submit your Win/Loss ratio just take a screenshot of your record and post it in your registration. The team with the best record will be added to its own Hall of Fame. That being said, if you win the challenge you must PM Namranan or Perishing Song your team with a brief description of how it works. If you do this even without winning you will still have your team posted in an honorable mentions section. You get 1 extra point this cycle if you submit your team.

Have Fun!​
 
Name: Fylkir Pudin
Ladder alt: CCSSSt1 F, CCSSDa1 F
Peaks:
I got into the 1550s and forgot to save a screenshot as I thought I would go on with it tbh, highest i saved was 1480 in the gold replay
1608
Hof replays:
1250 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1050097040 - Absolutely riveting game to get to 1250
1350 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1051852477 - Damn I really had to beat my own team to make this rank
1475 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1052212767
1250 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1050134329
1350 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1050450832
1475 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1050965991 - Ladder didn't update but this was the game I got to 1475
1600 - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8monotype-1052163078 - Had an absolute shocker trying to get to 1600 about 2/3 of my losses were getting to it tbh
W/L ratio:
1580636490324.png
1579903982023.png
 
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mushamu

God jihyo
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Perish Song said discussion was fine in this thread as it helps with metagame development so here I am. I only ended up doing the Steel core, and the team I ended up with was unorthodox but cool nonetheless. Here it is.

:ss/lucario: :ss/durant: :ss/aegislash: :ss/duraludon: :ss/corviknight: :ss/bisharp:
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Vacuum Wave
- Nasty Plot

Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Superpower

Aegislash @ Metronome
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Autotomize
- Flash Cannon
- Steel Beam

Duraludon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Taunt
- Roost
- Bulk Up

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Iron Head
When I first saw the Steel core I first thought of the fact that they were both offensive Pokemon that had priority and both dealt with Dark fairly well. This is pretty much why I built the core around Hyper Offense Steel, which is good with priority spam and whatnot. Corviknight is also there because it's Corviknight, it's a Ground immunity, and it's reliable setup and helps break teams down. Mirror Armor helps against Mystical Fire. While people would usually run Speed, I thought going no Speed would be fine here seeing as Bisharp could paralyze opposing Corviknight while Aegislash can annoy it too. The Aegislash set is kind of crazy, but I just wanted something that could break through Toxapex a little bit better with Metronome, but I would say the standard King's Shield Weakness Policy special set works here too since it can blanket check super effective coverage. Durant is Life Orb 4 attacks and dropping Iron Head lets you fit in Crunch, which helps with things like Aegislash and Bronzong. Rock Slide is great against Mandibuzz, assuming you hit, and Lucario is standard Life Orb Nasty Plot with Timid for opposing Lucario. Choice Scarf Duraludon is honestly great right now for the Dragon matchup, and I don't really build any Steel teams without it. The set has Dark Pulse since I found I was struggling with Swords Dance Aegislash quite a bit. Bisharp is my lead, and can Taunt Pokemon and get up Stealth Rock while also spreading paralysis. I used to have an Excadrill, but I really like Taunt Bisharp here and I think it is better seeing as Excadrill can't Toxic Mandibuzz anymore and Bisharp's Taunt is useful for denying opposing hazards, seeing as Spikes are huge right now. An Electric immunity isn't mad crucial as Tapu Koko in particular isn't in the metagame right now, so I felt like going without one here was safe. Bisharp with Swords Dance feels really nice too as a part of priority spam, but on this team I used it as a lead.

One thing that's kinda unfortunate for hyper offense Steel is that you probably aren't running Spikes. Running hyper offense means you're likely dropping Ferrothorn, along with Spikes, which is unfortunate seeing how powerful they are with limited removal. As for the team, some other things I could have tried would be maybe putting Choice Scarf Excadrill and Choice Scarf Duraludon together to form a core, or a more gimmicky set I guess. Compressing Stealth Rock on a Choice Scarf user like Duralduon and then using Swords Dance Bisharp was something I could have done for sure, seeing as Bisharp fits into the priority spam idea of the team very well. I got to gold with the team I pasted above but then I tilted for a bit and stopped. So yeah, that's what I came up with, interested to see what others did with the cores.
 
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Seeing as Decem has posted his team I'm going to throw mine in as well.

Steel:

:ss/duraludon: :ss/durant: :ss/lucario: :ss/ferrothorn: :ss/excadrill: :ss/corviknight:

Duraludon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Stealth Rock

Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Rock Slide

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Vacuum Wave
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Protect
- Power Whip

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Rapid Spin

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 212 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Bulk Up
- Roost
- Taunt

Steel has definitely been the most fun type for me to use this gen, it's pretty clearly the best type in the meta right now and can be built to beat most other types quite well (shoutouts to fire though). And basically I though I could basically do a straight swap into my normal steel team, replacing bisharp with durant as they perform similar roles. Same as Decem, I'm running scarf duraludon, it's really good in the meta right now and turns the dragon matchup into a very winnable one, its got stealth rocks as imo dark pulse is pretty meh coverage for it and I prefer spikes on ferrothorn. Next we have durant, pretty standard for this meta just life orb, 4 attacks. Crunch probably would have been good for it as I was really struggling with the ghost matchup but it probably would have missed anyway. Life orb, Nasty Plot Lucario is the other mon in the priority core that I needed to use, its great in this meta basically soloing other steel teams and it's a massive threat against normal and dark teams. Standard defensive ferro, really not much to say about this, I haven't found much of a reason to put any spdef evs as of yet. Excadrill is not scarf, which is a change from literally every single one of my other steel teams, I opted for an sd set with spin to boost speed and just stabs for coverage, its ok and can really run through some teams but I prefer scarf drill tbh. And Corviknight, I run a bit more speed than most because it's really my only good way of dealing with other Corviknights tbh but otherwise standard taunt bulk up, goat mon.

All in all I personally prefer bisharp over durant, the only matchup where I found durant putting in more work was vs dark which honestly turns from a difficult matchup to an easy one provided you don't miss. And this team has no copperajah which is very sad but it was a solid team, got plat which was good enough for me.

Dark:

:ss/bisharp: :ss/crawdaunt: :ss/mandibuzz: :ss/hydreigon: :ss/tyranitar: :ss/grimmsnarl: :ss/sableye:

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Throat Chop
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Defog
- Foul Play
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave

Hydreigon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spirit Break
- Bulk Up
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Throat Chop
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Defog
- Foul Play
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Dance

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Spirit Break
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Thunder Wave

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Throat Chop
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Defog
- Foul Play
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Dance

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon

Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Encore
- Recover


Dark is a type that I don't really enjoy using in gen 8, it's really good in the meta I feel and honestly I always struggle against it but idk it's not all that fun. I used 3 teams in the clc all with the same core of 5 mons with 2 having grimmsnarl and one having sableye. I ran standard adamant life orb bisharp the whole time, its a really good mon and a good bit of fun to use. Crawdaunt as well didn't change sets at all, I wanted to give sd daunt a good go and while it was good I found it lacking in some areas that band would have excelled. Ditto with mandi here, I really like this set I was running for it, I find u-turn is really good for the mon and foul play is good at trying to stop set up sweepers and hard hitting physical mons, hd boots is also amazing for it. Ttar is where the teams start to vary, I started with spdef twave tar but changed it to dragon dance later when i switched my Grimmsnarl to screens as I thought another sweeper with screens support would be cool and honestly it was a lot more fun, whether or not it is actually better idk. Nasty plot Hydreigon is really good, but I found it was getting chipped really easily especially against teams like poison where it is the only real answer to toxapex, so I ended up switching it to choice specs which I really enjoyed using. It basically made the steel matchup unloseable unless the other guy had a durant (shoutouts nam for making a challenge where one team autoloses to the other). And the last two mons, I wanted to give rest talk Grimmsnarl a go as I'd never used it before, and it was fun, probably one of the better mons on the team tbh but as this challenge was meant to showcase daunt and bish I switched away to dual screens, which honestly i didn't enjoy at all, I don't think it was all that bad but i never got any good opportunities to get screens up and a good sweep going with either ttar, bish or daunt. And seeing as the team lacked any good way to deal with set up sweepers and lucario I switched it out to Sableye, with knock, encore recover and willo, which was servicable. Great at stopping setup and helped the team a bit more than grimm did I feel

I ended up getting to 1550 odd with the team and a lot of the times I was playing the ladder was pretty dead so I would win like 3 or 4 games and then lose all of that in one loss to like a dude using fairy in the 1100s which just got really frustrating tbh. I would probably change a few things with the team looking at it, maybe use drapion over either bish or daunt to deal with fairies better but yeah, it's not the worst team.
 
This laddering challenge has been the first time I have done a good amount of playing this gen, and the metagame has grown on me compared to my initial impressions (Dynamax ban probably helps). My teams probably aren't as creative as the others but I thought I would share them anyway as well as some thoughts on the metagame.



Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch

Mandibuzz @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Foul Play

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Wave
- Fire Blast

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower

Sableye @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Encore
- Recover

Bisharp and Crawdaunt obviously are extremely powerful wallbreakers which can muscle their way past most of the defensive metagame, and have priority and some useful resistances to not be dead weight against offense. Since these two mons were rather slow and dealt with most defensive teams on the ladder, I opted for a Choice Scarf set on Hydriegon. This helped a ton against the Dragon matchup, since Dracovish and Kommo-o are massive threats to this team otherwise, and in general served as a great security check against the faster, offensive teams on the ladder. Tyranitar. Sableye, and Mandibuzz give the team a good defensive backbone that can disrupt offensive counterplay against the slow wallbreakers. Since walls were already easily dealt with for the team, I went with Encore over Taunt on Sableye which proved to be a fantastic choice. Most ladder players aren't expecting or even understand how Prankster+Encore works, letting you easily abuse mindless setup attempts that you find almost every match. Fairy teams are a big threat to this build due to a lack of Drapion, but thankfully those are rather rare on the ladder currently. Fighting is another terrible matchup for this team, with stuff like Conkeldurr and Sirfetch'd having very little counterplay once they get to switch in. Otherwise, this team was rather consistent for general laddering with a great amount of speed control, wallbreaking, and defensive pivoting. Dark I feel is one of the best types currently due to it's versatility and ability to adapt for specific matchups easily.




Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Rock Slide

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Vacuum Wave
- Nasty Plot

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Taunt

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Psychic
- Protect

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Spikes

I used Scarf Excadrill over Aegislash at first, but since Durant can naturally outspeed many offensive threats without relying on priority, I found Excadrill to be redundant and not contribute much. Instead I opted for Aegislash, since I wanted a mon that could make up for the lack of bulk from Lucario and Durant, while still providing offensive pressure. Aegislash also helped greatly in the common Ghost and Dragon-type matchups which Durant and Lucario can flounder in. Ferrothron is Ferrothron, Bronzong has been a pleasant surprise this gen and serves as a good Stealth Rocker in conjunction with Ferrothron's Spikes and Leech Seed. Corvinight is easily the best mon on the ladder right now, pretty much every team needs to have a dedicated check to it otherwise it will easily win games given a few turns, very much a centralizing mon. Speaking of which, this team's Corviknight matchup is abysmal, the only semi-consistent counterplay is +2 Focus Blast from Lucario, if your opponent is dumb enough to let you set up and get that attack off, and if it hits. If I were to ladder with it again I definitely would run more speed creep on my own Corviknight to be able to Taunt it, or adjust Aegislash to a set better suited for consistently dealing with it. Lucario and Durant both being reliant on inaccurate moves is a problem for this team, many games often were lost or made more difficult due to an unfortunate miss. If it wasn't for Corviknight, this team and Steel as a whole I feel would be a lot weaker.
 

Namranan

:)))))))))))
After two long weeks of the challenge being active, I am happy to announce our first core laddering challenge winner, Fylkir Pudin ! He has proof that he got the highest peak with both cores! Unfortunately, he did not properly post his W/L ratio so he did not win that. Make sure to PM me your teams Fylkir!

As a quick reminder before I announce the W/L ratio winner, the way you are supposed to record your W/L ratio is out of 30 games not after your peak.
With this in mind, the winner of the Win/Loss ratio is a tie between Poised Boy and Guwahavel for dark and Guwahavel for Steel. Congrats to both!

Finally, we only have one person who attained a platinum rank, that person is of course Fylkir Pudin with the Steel core.

I will be posting the next core when I get back from school, but I want to stress that everyone carefully reads the rules next time to make this less messy.

Edit: Eien tagging you to merge this to the index thread
 
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After two long weeks of the challenge being active, I am happy to announce our first core laddering challenge winner, Fylkir Pudin ! He has proof that he got the highest peak with both cores! Unfortunately, he did not properly post his W/L ratio so he did not win that. Make sure to PM me your teams Fylkir!
I didn't get proof of my highest peak with dark, only got proof of getting to 1480 which a couple of the other guys got higher than
 

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