Hello everyone!
As promised, with the new ban slate being implemented, I'm releasing the team I've used to dominate the ladder the past couple of weeks. It's managed to keep three alts occupying the first, second and third spots on the ladder using this team, proof of peak in post #212.
Intro
I will be the first to say that if you're expecting something creative or innovative then prepare to be dissapointed. I'm a competitive guy and enjoy winning games. I play until I peak the ladder, then I experiment and goof around on alts. Whichever team allows me to most consistently achieve the former is the one I'm using, regardless of whether the strats are cheap or the pokemon are broken. The best way to get broken things out of the metagame is to abuse them so they draw attention to themselves. As the quote from Sid Meier's Civilization creator states, this team is a attempt to optimization of the metagame trends, pre the new bans. Whether that goal was accomplished, well I think the record speaks for itself
Gameplan
This is a hyper offense team built around four sweepers with overlapping counters, with a dedicated hazard lead and disruptive offensive support. It functions best when you're willing to make bold predictions to force progress and sacrifice when necessary. Through brute force and correct predictions this combination can break through any defensive cores you're likely to find. The first step is to correctly identify which mon is most likely to sweep your opponent and the roadblocks to that sweep. Through offensive pressure your goal is to weaken those roadblocks to open up for the sweep. Facing tough teams I'd throw all of my pokemon at my opponents team before bringing out my finale sweeper, which cleans up my opponents remaining pokemon.
Team breakdown
The best HO lead out there, no question. Glimmora is usually able to get a favorable matchup against most mons. Either achieveing KOs, hazards or spreading status - depending on what is most favourable. The set has been fairly consistent, but toxic is an option over earth power for a more favourable matchup against bulkier teams. However, with mortal spin and earth power steel types are hit pretty hard already and opposing poison types can be poisoned with mortal spin. This is especially useful versus clodsire, as it can no longer reliably counter Raging Bolt. The only lead matchups you should be worried about are: Cinccino, Ninetales-A, Clefable, Iron Threads, Glimmora and Greninja. Greninja can OHKO you outright with Water Shuriken and Threads can EQ + Spin leaving you with nothing to show for it. Cinccino can hit you with Bullet Seed and use Tidy Up to potentially both remove hazards and kill you afterwards. Ninetales-A can set up Aurora Veil and Encore you into rocks. Opposing Glimmora is a 50/50. Cosmic power Clefable is a huge threat and I will usually switch directly into Kingambit if they lead it. If it gets up too many Cosmic Powers then its GG, bar a crit. Since stall teams use HDBs I'll usually keep Glimmora alive to poison them later or sack it get a favourable matchup.
Chien-Pao is probably the most replacable member of the squad and acts an offensive disruptive support pokemon. I've ran both SD and Taunt, and at the time of the ban I still wasn't sure which was most effective. Chien-Pao is a check to opposing sweepers with focus sash and a potential anti-lead pokemon against the leads that can beat Glimmora. It can OHKO Greninja and Cinccino outright. With sash it can beat Iron threads 1v1 too. Unfortunately it lacks the bulk to reliably setup, so I ran taunt to disrupt my opponet further. It usually baits in Clefable. If Clefable switches into Ice Spinner you can taunt its attempt at healing, and use Ice Spinner twice to leave it very weak, opening up your opponent for a later sweep. Cosmic power tera-steel Clefable can also fall to Sacred Sword if it gets out of control.
Braviary-Hisui is an absolute monster in the current metagame. Rarely does it have the bulk to sweep your opponents entire team, but it always has the power to break through anything bar Blissey. I've already talked extensively about why Braviary-Hisui is so powerful, so I will keep this short. Psychic + Hurricane alone 2HKOs everything bar Assault vest Reuinclues/Slowking-Galar (which you beat 1v1), Tera Dark Clodsire and Blissey. Usually it will just attack until it dies, but if you can setup an agility that's great too. I choose Vacuum Wave as the finale move to catch Kingambit of guard and to play mindgames with Raging Bolt. At first I ran tera fighting, but I don't think I clicked it once. Tera ground was more useful to gain an electric immunity and a rock resistance in a pinch.
Roaring Moon does what it does in OU just aswell here. Tera flying Acrobatics with booster energy easily 2HKOs Clefable, potentially baiting out a tera steel/electric which then means EQ can finish it off. At +1 there's very little that's able to outright stop Roaring Moon. It pairs especially well with Kingambit as their checks/counters overlap and they can weaken the opposing team for the other to sweep. Tera booster energy Acrobatics is powerful enough to 3HKO Dondozo, meaning you'll beat it 1v1 unless they get of a lucky curse and avoid the crit. At +1 you outspeed even modest Kingdra under rain. If you don't tera you'll resist the Aqua jet from Azumarill, Thunderclap from Raging Bolt and Sucker Punch from Kingambit too. This thing is very hard to stop once it gets going. Bar your opponent having ID + BP Phy.Def Corviknight you're going to put some hurt on his team, just make sure you time the setup correctly.
Raging Bolt, like Roaring Moon, functions exactly the same way as it does in OU. Raging Bolt is one of OU's fiercest offensive threats thanks to good bulk, a great Special Attack stat, and fantastic priority in Thunderclap allowing it to act both as a wallbreaker and sweeper while additionally threatening potent revenge killers. It works especially well in conjunction with Kingambit and Roaring Moon. Kingambit will force Clefable to tera and if it tera waters then Raging Bolt is able to beat it, while Roaring Moon handles electric/steel. Raging Bolt is also a great answer to opposing rain teams, able to outspeed and threaten KOs at +1 with Thunderclap. I choose to run max speed and special attack to speedtie opposing Raging Bolts. Tera flying is great at giving you a free calm mind and removing your weakness to everything bar ice type attacks.
Kingambit is king for a reason. I love using Kingambit so much. It's the ultimate wincon. Kingambit is the premier offensive Pokemon in Pokebilities, with potent wallbreaking and sweeping potential thanks to its high Attack bolstered by Supreme Overlord and Swords Dance. Usual counterplay options like Intimidate are turned on its head with access to Defiant and Supreme Overlord. I choose to run max speed and jolly to outspeed the bulkier kingambits running around and killing them with Brick Break. Brick Break is also a handy tool when facing Ninetales-A as most people don't expect it. Lum Berry is an option to absorb otherwise crippling status from Pokemon like Glowking, Dragapult and Cinderace. Tera Flying allows Kingambit to set up on Ground- and Fighting-types such as Great Tusk, Gliscor, and Zamazenta.
Epiloque
That's the team. As you can see there's very little thats revolutionary aobut it. It's exploiting peoples natural dendency to overlook threats without multiple abilities, but are none the less threatning (Chien-Pao, Raging Bolt and Roaring Moon). It's not easy to use and requires an remembering important threats and calcs, but if used correctly it's extremely effective. I'm glad Braviary-H and Chien-Pao are gone, the metagame was becoming very centralized. The very centralizating which this team managed to exploit. With the metagame shifting there's more room to run new pokemon which can handle this team better.
Anyways, thanks for reading and for the discussion this last month. It's been a fun metagame to play.
I haven't saved a lot of replays, but in the last week 3Dom3 began contesting the top spot and I faced him a couple of times which I remembered to save. Here's two replays where I came out on top! You can see how the team works to weaken down my opponent, with the game plan being to win with Roaring Moon both times.
As promised, with the new ban slate being implemented, I'm releasing the team I've used to dominate the ladder the past couple of weeks. It's managed to keep three alts occupying the first, second and third spots on the ladder using this team, proof of peak in post #212.
Intro
I will be the first to say that if you're expecting something creative or innovative then prepare to be dissapointed. I'm a competitive guy and enjoy winning games. I play until I peak the ladder, then I experiment and goof around on alts. Whichever team allows me to most consistently achieve the former is the one I'm using, regardless of whether the strats are cheap or the pokemon are broken. The best way to get broken things out of the metagame is to abuse them so they draw attention to themselves. As the quote from Sid Meier's Civilization creator states, this team is a attempt to optimization of the metagame trends, pre the new bans. Whether that goal was accomplished, well I think the record speaks for itself
Gameplan
This is a hyper offense team built around four sweepers with overlapping counters, with a dedicated hazard lead and disruptive offensive support. It functions best when you're willing to make bold predictions to force progress and sacrifice when necessary. Through brute force and correct predictions this combination can break through any defensive cores you're likely to find. The first step is to correctly identify which mon is most likely to sweep your opponent and the roadblocks to that sweep. Through offensive pressure your goal is to weaken those roadblocks to open up for the sweep. Facing tough teams I'd throw all of my pokemon at my opponents team before bringing out my finale sweeper, which cleans up my opponents remaining pokemon.
Team breakdown
The best HO lead out there, no question. Glimmora is usually able to get a favorable matchup against most mons. Either achieveing KOs, hazards or spreading status - depending on what is most favourable. The set has been fairly consistent, but toxic is an option over earth power for a more favourable matchup against bulkier teams. However, with mortal spin and earth power steel types are hit pretty hard already and opposing poison types can be poisoned with mortal spin. This is especially useful versus clodsire, as it can no longer reliably counter Raging Bolt. The only lead matchups you should be worried about are: Cinccino, Ninetales-A, Clefable, Iron Threads, Glimmora and Greninja. Greninja can OHKO you outright with Water Shuriken and Threads can EQ + Spin leaving you with nothing to show for it. Cinccino can hit you with Bullet Seed and use Tidy Up to potentially both remove hazards and kill you afterwards. Ninetales-A can set up Aurora Veil and Encore you into rocks. Opposing Glimmora is a 50/50. Cosmic power Clefable is a huge threat and I will usually switch directly into Kingambit if they lead it. If it gets up too many Cosmic Powers then its GG, bar a crit. Since stall teams use HDBs I'll usually keep Glimmora alive to poison them later or sack it get a favourable matchup.
Chien-Pao is probably the most replacable member of the squad and acts an offensive disruptive support pokemon. I've ran both SD and Taunt, and at the time of the ban I still wasn't sure which was most effective. Chien-Pao is a check to opposing sweepers with focus sash and a potential anti-lead pokemon against the leads that can beat Glimmora. It can OHKO Greninja and Cinccino outright. With sash it can beat Iron threads 1v1 too. Unfortunately it lacks the bulk to reliably setup, so I ran taunt to disrupt my opponet further. It usually baits in Clefable. If Clefable switches into Ice Spinner you can taunt its attempt at healing, and use Ice Spinner twice to leave it very weak, opening up your opponent for a later sweep. Cosmic power tera-steel Clefable can also fall to Sacred Sword if it gets out of control.
Braviary-Hisui is an absolute monster in the current metagame. Rarely does it have the bulk to sweep your opponents entire team, but it always has the power to break through anything bar Blissey. I've already talked extensively about why Braviary-Hisui is so powerful, so I will keep this short. Psychic + Hurricane alone 2HKOs everything bar Assault vest Reuinclues/Slowking-Galar (which you beat 1v1), Tera Dark Clodsire and Blissey. Usually it will just attack until it dies, but if you can setup an agility that's great too. I choose Vacuum Wave as the finale move to catch Kingambit of guard and to play mindgames with Raging Bolt. At first I ran tera fighting, but I don't think I clicked it once. Tera ground was more useful to gain an electric immunity and a rock resistance in a pinch.
Roaring Moon does what it does in OU just aswell here. Tera flying Acrobatics with booster energy easily 2HKOs Clefable, potentially baiting out a tera steel/electric which then means EQ can finish it off. At +1 there's very little that's able to outright stop Roaring Moon. It pairs especially well with Kingambit as their checks/counters overlap and they can weaken the opposing team for the other to sweep. Tera booster energy Acrobatics is powerful enough to 3HKO Dondozo, meaning you'll beat it 1v1 unless they get of a lucky curse and avoid the crit. At +1 you outspeed even modest Kingdra under rain. If you don't tera you'll resist the Aqua jet from Azumarill, Thunderclap from Raging Bolt and Sucker Punch from Kingambit too. This thing is very hard to stop once it gets going. Bar your opponent having ID + BP Phy.Def Corviknight you're going to put some hurt on his team, just make sure you time the setup correctly.
Raging Bolt, like Roaring Moon, functions exactly the same way as it does in OU. Raging Bolt is one of OU's fiercest offensive threats thanks to good bulk, a great Special Attack stat, and fantastic priority in Thunderclap allowing it to act both as a wallbreaker and sweeper while additionally threatening potent revenge killers. It works especially well in conjunction with Kingambit and Roaring Moon. Kingambit will force Clefable to tera and if it tera waters then Raging Bolt is able to beat it, while Roaring Moon handles electric/steel. Raging Bolt is also a great answer to opposing rain teams, able to outspeed and threaten KOs at +1 with Thunderclap. I choose to run max speed and special attack to speedtie opposing Raging Bolts. Tera flying is great at giving you a free calm mind and removing your weakness to everything bar ice type attacks.
Kingambit is king for a reason. I love using Kingambit so much. It's the ultimate wincon. Kingambit is the premier offensive Pokemon in Pokebilities, with potent wallbreaking and sweeping potential thanks to its high Attack bolstered by Supreme Overlord and Swords Dance. Usual counterplay options like Intimidate are turned on its head with access to Defiant and Supreme Overlord. I choose to run max speed and jolly to outspeed the bulkier kingambits running around and killing them with Brick Break. Brick Break is also a handy tool when facing Ninetales-A as most people don't expect it. Lum Berry is an option to absorb otherwise crippling status from Pokemon like Glowking, Dragapult and Cinderace. Tera Flying allows Kingambit to set up on Ground- and Fighting-types such as Great Tusk, Gliscor, and Zamazenta.
Epiloque
That's the team. As you can see there's very little thats revolutionary aobut it. It's exploiting peoples natural dendency to overlook threats without multiple abilities, but are none the less threatning (Chien-Pao, Raging Bolt and Roaring Moon). It's not easy to use and requires an remembering important threats and calcs, but if used correctly it's extremely effective. I'm glad Braviary-H and Chien-Pao are gone, the metagame was becoming very centralized. The very centralizating which this team managed to exploit. With the metagame shifting there's more room to run new pokemon which can handle this team better.
Anyways, thanks for reading and for the discussion this last month. It's been a fun metagame to play.
I haven't saved a lot of replays, but in the last week 3Dom3 began contesting the top spot and I faced him a couple of times which I remembered to save. Here's two replays where I came out on top! You can see how the team works to weaken down my opponent, with the game plan being to win with Roaring Moon both times.