Tournament SCL II RU Discussion and Replays

[Ampha]

Week 9, and final week of regular Season is up!

vs
SS RU: McMeghan vs Mac3

vs
SS RU: Floss vs SoulWind

vs
SS RU: Ajna vs Chaitanya

vs
SS RU: Punny vs TheFranklin

vs
SS RU: Feliburn vs Raptor


As always, feel free to post predicts, comments about last week's game and any thoughts on metagame trends!

 

[Aqua Jet]

SCL II Week 9 Usage Stats and Analysis
Usage

SS RU

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Flygon             |    8 |  80.00% |  37.50% |
| 2    | Crobat             |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 2    | Celebi             |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 2    | Registeel          |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 2    | Golisopod          |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Togekiss           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 7    | Guzzlord           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Mimikyu            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Tsareena           |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Pangoro            |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Steelix            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Scrafty            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Reuniclus          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Gastrodon          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Indeedee-F         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Incineroar         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Toxtricity         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Weezing-Galar      |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Articuno           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Suicune            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Sableye            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Escavalier         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Seismitoad         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Sigilyph           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Nidoqueen          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Salazzle           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Doublade           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Pikachu-Hoenn      |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Vileplume          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Metagross          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Polteageist        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Cloyster           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Lucario            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Stakataka          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Raikou             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Leads

SSRU

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Golisopod               |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Scrafty                 |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Toxtricity              |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Suicune                 |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Flygon                  |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Togekiss                |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Pangoro                 |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Cloyster                |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 2    | Guzzlord                |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Inferences
Continuing with the trend we've seen in RU Cup Week 3, Flygon is still getting a lot of usage but has a horrible win rate. This means people are preparing more for it with new faces such as Articuno and Sabelye.
Contrary to Mac3's observations from a few weeks ago, we only saw one Reuniclus this week.
We saw an interesting Suicune Semi-stall team brought by McMeghan.
lol
We saw lots of different leads this week! Interestingly, differing from the data collected from RUCup that somewhat suggests that leading with a fast Pokemon with access to U-turn, we saw only one lead that fits this category: Flygon.

 

[Floss]

team dump

Not going to bother going into my building process for these because it would take too long (you can DM me on Discord if you have any specific questions), but I will give some thoughts on a few mons/sets that I liked playing with. While I didn't finish the season the way I wanted to, and was unsatisfied with how a couple of my teams ended up playing in the actual game, I felt I had an enjoyable time overall in building and playing the tier. The RU community is also great to be around and very welcoming, and I'd like to thank Amaranth and -Howkings for drafting me and giving me the opportunity to play the full season despite my performances worsening in the 2nd half of the season. Danny DugZa zS Appreciated your help a lot this season as well, it was my first time seriously prepping RU in a team tour environment and not sure I could have done it without you guys throughout.

• Guzzlord probably became one of my favourite defensive mons in the tier with the amount of stuff you can cover with the RestTalk set, which gives it longevity as well as a lot of utility between knocking items off on a bunch of stuff while also being able to phaze set up sweepers (notably Reun, but other stuff as well). This set has some great synergy with hazard stack teams as well, being able to remove Boots and force mons to take hazards damage with Dragon Tail. Something I noticed with 2/3 Atks Tect Guzz was that it had to sacrifice PhysDef for Attack and Speed EVs, which were less necessary on the RestTalk set and allowed it to become a very annoying tank to take down. Togekiss is the worst enemy of this set, but you get to Knock the HDB reliably so if you can maintain rocks + have a reliable Togekiss check, then your matchup into it shouldn't be too bad.

• I already viewed Bat as the best mon in RU before the tour (didn't have a particularly high opinion of Flygon at the time), with the Super Fang set being especially annoying to deal with for opponents. U-Turn seems to be a better option than Taunt on these sets, with the ability to chip Steel types and pivot immediately being a valuable support for a lot of mons in the tier. It is also inarguably the best check for Fighting types, which are varied and great in RU, and balance/bulky offense teams without Crobat usually need to stack multiple resists in order to manage them well.

• Lucario is probably my favourite Fighting type in the tier, with the combination of Swords Dance, Extreme Speed, and great STABs making it a problem to deal with for most team comp. A few mons can shut down the SD set completely, like Jellicent (Crunch can be used to beat Jelli, but probably not worth the trade-off of dropping Meteor Mash), but a decent amount of teams have trouble dealing with a well-supported Lucario. While Muscle Band is probably the most consistent option for bulky offense, Air Balloon is an interesting alternative that lets you set up on Flygon and Steelix (assuming no Dragon Tail), providing the opportunity for a free turn of set-up if you play your cards right.

• The first mon to drop to RU in a while, Tenta has split opinions among the player-base as to how useful it actually is. My perspective is that it has a unique niche in being able to check most Togekiss sets (TWave is barely used but it does lose to that) while also providing the utility of hazards removal, which can make it an invaluable asset on the right team. It also has some additional utility in being able to spread status inflictions as well as removing items with the combination of Scald, Sludge Bomb, and Knock Off, albeit can easily be exploited by one of the best mons in the tier in Reuniclus (similarly to Vileplume).

• I didn't really like Flygon much before the tour started, since I felt like the Band set wasn't that great, the DD set was better suited to fit on Offense, and the Scarf set was a sort of role compression in having a Ground and speed control in the same slot. I used it a lot more in this tour, and one set which I found cool to run on balance/bulky offense was LO 3 Atks w/ Roost, which gave me the ability to switch moves while still being able to deal a lot of damage and pressure the other team. While the increase in Golisopod usage makes it difficult for Flygon to run through teams even with Scale Shot, it can still do a lot of work and create conundrums for the other player.

• I only used Reuni once in the tour, but I keenly felt its impact while prepping for the possibility of it every week. The amount of possible sets that it can run (CM 2 Atks, LO 3 Atks, Psychic/Knock/Toxic) creates a lot of difficulty in having to work around it in the builder. While I don't think that it is necessarily broken, it did make me come up with ways to circumvent it every week. In Week 7, it was able to easily break through my team due to Milotic and Registeel offering it opportunities that I could not afford.

 

[Aqua Jet]

I was going to do usage stats for everyone's teams and figured I'd share them with my fellow data nerds
I will update this post accordingly

Floss

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (54) | % of all teams (9)]
Flygon: 11.111% | 66.667%
Crobat: 9.259% | 55.556%
Golisopod: 5.556% | 33.333%
Registeel: 5.556% | 33.333%
Togekiss: 5.556% | 33.333%
Steelix: 5.556% | 33.333%
Raikou: 5.556% | 33.333%
Tsareena: 3.704% | 22.222%
Tentacruel: 3.704% | 22.222%
Celebi: 3.704% | 22.222%
Heracross: 3.704% | 22.222%
Milotic: 3.704% | 22.222%
Lucario: 3.704% | 22.222%
Guzzlord: 3.704% | 22.222%
Sigilyph: 1.852% | 11.111%
Nidoqueen: 1.852% | 11.111%
Tornadus: 1.852% | 11.111%
Klefki: 1.852% | 11.111%
Gardevoir: 1.852% | 11.111%
Heliolisk: 1.852% | 11.111%
Bronzong: 1.852% | 11.111%
Vileplume: 1.852% | 11.111%
Rotom-Mow: 1.852% | 11.111%
Pangoro: 1.852% | 11.111%
Barbaracle: 1.852% | 11.111%
Mimikyu: 1.852% | 11.111%
Reuniclus: 1.852% | 11.111%
Toxicroak: 1.852% | 11.111%

Mac3

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (54) | % of all teams (9)]
Flygon: 7.407% | 44.444%
Togekiss: 5.556% | 33.333%
Reuniclus: 5.556% | 33.333%
Metagross: 5.556% | 33.333%
Salazzle: 3.704% | 22.222%
Milotic: 3.704% | 22.222%
Steelix: 3.704% | 22.222%
Crobat: 3.704% | 22.222%
Golisopod: 3.704% | 22.222%
Seismitoad: 3.704% | 22.222%
Dhelmise: 1.852% | 11.111%
Gastrodon: 1.852% | 11.111%
Raikou: 1.852% | 11.111%
Starmie: 1.852% | 11.111%
Aerodactyl: 1.852% | 11.111%
Weezing-Galar: 1.852% | 11.111%
Rotom-Mow: 1.852% | 11.111%
Registeel: 1.852% | 11.111%
Vileplume: 1.852% | 11.111%
Snorlax: 1.852% | 11.111%
Sneasel: 1.852% | 11.111%
Umbreon: 1.852% | 11.111%
Omastar: 1.852% | 11.111%
Toxicroak: 1.852% | 11.111%
Politoed: 1.852% | 11.111%
Klefki: 1.852% | 11.111%
Sharpedo: 1.852% | 11.111%
Roserade: 1.852% | 11.111%
Pangoro: 1.852% | 11.111%
Gardevoir: 1.852% | 11.111%
Guzzlord: 1.852% | 11.111%
Sigilyph: 1.852% | 11.111%
Bewear: 1.852% | 11.111%
Bronzong: 1.852% | 11.111%
Mimikyu: 1.852% | 11.111%
Polteageist: 1.852% | 11.111%
Cloyster: 1.852% | 11.111%
Lucario: 1.852% | 11.111%
Tsareena: 1.852% | 11.111%

 

[Ampha]

Semifinals are up!

vs
SS RU: Feliburn vs Welli0u

vs
SS RU: McMeghan vs Ajna

Which RUer do you think is gonna take the trophy home? and who are you cheering for, post your thoughts

In another note, pinging every RUer from regular season, if you guys wanna share some info from scouts, team ideas, and such, feel free to post them
(floss already posted so :P )

SilentVerse TheFranklin Mac3 Raptor Punny Chaitanya SoulWind robjr BIHI Sage watashi ProDigeZz

 

[Mac3]

wooooooooo teamdump time, also some thoughts on meta maybe - we shall see!

vs robjr (L)
ok so i built this for Prod to use vs robjr. i decided to build around dhelmise + rh sticky hold gastro as the idea was the dhelm switchins in this tier - incin, bat, guzz - all have a tough time with constant helm chip from gastro. next addition was np bell toge as it seemed like a great fit to complete the defensive core while providing some breaking potential as well, np encore lazzle was then added after some tests as a way to deal with demongross and owning milo in conjunction with gross and cm reuni, the next choice was scarf rocks gross as i needed a steel but didnt wanna be. too slow, finally i added lo reuni as a steel punisher. not entirely happy with this team, its clunky and kinda fragile - dhelm + gastro is a super cool core that i advise yall to try tho.

vs Feli (L)
this team was built around cm tect raikou to take advantage of scarf gons locking into uturn. i decided to pair cm kou with aero to pressure flygon and seis, next i added tspikes weezing cause it seemed to pair well with tect raikou as well as giving me an actual flygon switch in. next was the addition of spin starmie as hazard control and water. toxic was chosen instead of port so it can deal with milo/gastro much better. scarf roost gon was next addition as speed control that can also double as an incin switch in after getting knocked, cb meta was last addition as a breaker, also provides rocks.

vs watashi (W)
built around helm knock toxic reuni, now dubbed european reuni, as it kinda owns everything tbh. i paired it with np two attacks to take advantage of knocked steels and waters and provide a switch in to pangoro and other darks. next addition was registeel as we hadnt used a real steel up to this point so decided to change it up a bit, milotic was my next addition for much the same reason, also being a physical sponge for incin and pod which relieves tons of pressure off reuni and also allows it to keep helm for as long as possible. next addition was no item dd gon as a sweeper and another incin switch in, also a necessary ground type. scarf mowtom was my last addition as elec cover, speed control, and hazard control. really happy with this team - def worth a spin.

vs arce (L)
decided to build a snorlax team cause it looked good into arce's scout and it feels like ppl arent prepping for it recently. decided on heat crash to hit dhelmise, hera, and celebi as they were threats. i next added sneasel to put pressure on water types, rest was the 4th move in order to help vs the umbreon balance mu as i could play sneasel much freer vs bulky waters and umb itself. the next additions were plume + milo for cleric support and fighting checks. milo is 286 in order to beat togekiss 1v1 as that was otherwise a huge threat, crobat was next addition to provide hera cover as id been really weak against that in recent teams. lastly i added lix as a ground and steel type, not much to say there.

vs Ajna (W)
originally i was planning to HO ajna in order to add to the streak but decided against it when i thought about a sticky barb without trick as a lure. first i was considering going sigi with eball as the lure but decided against it as i thought it would be a bit too specific and unlikely to actually work so settled on a normal cm reuni thatd hopefully lure a goro or incin after getting the barb removed. i then paired reuni with lazzle and pod as knockers to hopefully knock milo or bat. milo would make it so reuni 1v1s after barbing it through flip turn while bat getting barbed means that i win the hazard war through spikes pod and rocks lix. the umbreon toge lix core was added as a way to create a solid backbone to the team in order to make it so the barb had a chance of impacting the game longterm. this is another team that im very happy with the result, be careful against hera tho.

vs BIHI (W)
vs BIHI i decided on rain quite early in the week cause his balances were incredibly weak to it and i wanted to diversify my scout after brinnging similar fat most games. i didnt wanna bring standard rain cause i kinda think its bad and very reliant on a shit setter in politoed so i wanted my team to be pretty unreliant on rain itself. to do this i decided on two of my sweepers being shark and omastar which function well outside of rain as well, special shark was chosen in order to better deal with pod as it was a common mon in their scout. next addition was the obligatory seismitoad as an electric check and rocker. i next added shuca toxicroak as a flygon lure as i was weak to it without a torn or mantine. finally i decided on adding id cm klef as its unexpected on a rain team and also seems extra potent due to fire moves being weakened.

vs lax (W)
vs lax i wanted to keep with the offense route so my scout wouldnt just be fat and HO. started with sd goro + sleep powder rose as it seemed super potent vs many crobats in their scout. my next addition was demongross as it looked really dangerous and provided a really nice steel type for an offense like this. then added ice punch seis and crobat as a defensive backbone, ice punch seis with tox seemed like a great pairing with demongross as it forced a toxic on milo and also dealt with dd gon much much better than knock does. bat was taunt as a fat helper and defog wasnt super necessary. last addition was scarf garde as healing wish is super nice cause i can play gross and goro more aggresively, esp goro cause i can trade vs bat and then hw it back up if i feel like it.

vs Floss (W)
again here i wanted to keep away from my usual fat. originally i wanted dazzle sigi to punish the guzzlords but i went ice beam cause ywt pointed out togekiss was kinda a problem. team also had sub rhyp as a starting point so to allow for him i added scarf go as another grounnd and also restalk guzz as a raikou sponge which it seemed floss was very high on in early weaks atleast. i also chose to include pod + zong as cb gon checks as id been weak to that generally as well as good HO counters as that was something Floss wasnt afraid to bring. pod is drill run in order to provide safety vs luke and croak. the last change i made was replacing rhyp for bewear in order to give me a pod switchin and goro check.

vs McMeghan (L)
went some p standard ghostspam HO vs mcm cause it felt like he hadnt been respecting the ghost types throughout the tour really. mimi + sash teapot were obvious for the ghostspam as they compliment eachother and are also the best ghosts for HO in general. next addition was spikes cloy as i didnt feel that i had space for a rocker but wanted an opportunity for hazards and also wanted an anti-HO mon of my own. shuca luke and lum gon were the next addition as they are amazing sweepers and provide good typings for a HO like this. my last mon was were i strayed from the mold a bit. i knew i wanted sash spam but didnt think i had space for taunt fog aero so i went for spin tsar as another HO check through queenly majesty and also hazard control. a grass type also was really nice for dd gon / elecs and offensively it meshes well with the ghosts as it pressures steels, bat, and incin.

here are also some miscellaneous teams i was considering bringing throughout the tour: https://pokepast.es/47f458f1993f0324

some quickfire thoughts ig, i think rhyp is ass, bat is overrated, roost dd gon is flames, berry fighters are great, reuni is broken frfr, ppl need to stop dismissing HO as cheese instead of prepping for it

ty for reading, huge shoutoots to Yourwelcomethanku for being amazing help, not a chance i get the record i did without your help man, super grateful.

 

[Aqua Jet]

SCL II Week 9 Usage Stats and Analysis
Note each time I compare usage from previous weeks that because less games were played this week, it doesn't paint a full picture
Usage

SS RU

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Vileplume          |    3 |  50.00% |  33.33% |
| 1    | Flygon             |    3 |  50.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Togekiss           |    2 |  33.33% | 100.00% |
| 3    | Crobat             |    2 |  33.33% |  75.00% |
| 3    | Registeel          |    2 |  33.33% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Golisopod          |    2 |  33.33% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Rhyperior          |    2 |  33.33% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Sharpedo           |    2 |  33.33% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Bronzong           |    2 |  33.33% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Sigilyph           |    2 |  33.33% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Reuniclus          |    2 |  33.33% |  25.00% |
| 12   | Xatu               |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Celebi             |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Gastrodon          |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Toxicroak          |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Stakataka          |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Rotom-Mow          |    1 |  16.67% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Umbreon            |    1 |  16.67% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Metagross          |    1 |  16.67% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Entei              |    1 |  16.67% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Xurkitree          |    1 |  16.67% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Lucario            |    1 |  16.67% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Guzzlord           |    1 |  16.67% |   0.00% |

Leads
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Registeel | 1 | 16.67% | 100.00% |
| 1 | Flygon | 1 | 16.67% | 100.00% |
| 1 | Reuniclus | 1 | 16.67% | 50.00% |
| 1 | Rhyperior | 1 | 16.67% | 50.00% |
| 1 | Xurkitree | 1 | 16.67% | 0.00% |
| 1 | Golisopod | 1 | 16.67% | 0.00% |
Inferences
Same trend as last time, Flygon is losing more than it's winning
Vileplume usage is up, but it is also losing more than it's winning
Togekiss has a 100% win-rate

Not many inferences due to not many games, sorry. Most teams brought this week were standard, and we didn't really see any new techs other than Feliburn bringing Special Lucario.

 

[Feliburn]

It's finals time:

vs

SS RU: McMeghan vs Welli0u

I'm personally rooting for McMeghan here, I've been a fan of some of his meta takes and innovations (such as eldegoss).

Expect a post SCL post from me, probably today or tomorrow, with some of my thoughts.

 

[McMeghan]

Here are the teams I used in SCL II. I won't go into too much details as otherwise I'd be here all day. If you have specific questions feel free to ask here or by PM/Discord because I love to talk about these things. Would like to shout out the Ladder for being a good place to practice, TDK Tony Star Garay oak for bouncing ideas back and forth and Feliburn Mac3 Floss for all the testing practice in playoffs.

vs BIHI (W)
By that time of the tournament, I hadn't properly got into the tier myself and we were already in the middle of the first week, so rather than bringing some trash, I laddered with some teams posted in my channel and I liked that one the most. I believe PDT is behind it. Not much to say it's a solid bulky offense with pivoting options to get CB Pangoro in. I strongly considered using Heracross over Pangoro for the added speed but I stuck with Pangoro for its psychic immunity especially given how Reuniclus was rough otherwise.

vs SilentVerse (W)
While studying the tier and trying to come up with ideas, one of the first thing I thought would be amazing is PhysDef Regen Reuni. Seemed excellent to blanket check pretty much anything physical in the tier and punish Flygon/Crobat Uturns. TDK made a team shell with Aero/Meta/Toge/Gastrodon/Tsareena originally, and two things I knew I wanted for certain were Cleric and Spin support for Reuni. After trying the team, Xurkitree proved to be extremely difficult to deal with and that's when I thought of Eldegoss as a Xurk counter that could be my Cleric, freeing Togekiss to be more dangerous, and a spinner, making Reuniclus even more obnoxious. TW NP Togekiss was well supported by Reuni to punish the Steels trying to attack it.

vs Floss (L)
The idea of this team was supporting this offensive Togekiss set that I liked quite a bit in theory, proposed by starmaster. Since it's likely to trade hits at some point during the game and can't heal itself, it's paired with Umbreon (good typing synergy too) for Wish and Cleric support. Milotic/Crobat/Reuniclus provided a strong defensive backbone and could slow down the game while looking for the best opportunities to set up Togekiss. Seismitoad was added to compress Rocks, electric immunity and a way to lure Xurkitree (and Raikou sometimes) to facilitate Togekiss sweeping potential.

vs Ajna (W)
After a rough game vs Floss the previous week, I felt like I needed to branch out from my comfort zone playstyle wise and looked into more offensive Pokémons to use. Tony proposed Toxtricity, which looked very into Ajna. This Pokémon was not on my radar at all and after doing some calcs, I really liked the idea. Toxtricity has pretty shit bulk so I eventually settled on HO where it felt the best. Garay oak gave me this shell with Tox/MMQ/Shark/Luke/Gon/Roserade and it honestly felt very average in tests. The main changes that made the team work much smoother were: Sash Lucario as a get out of jail free card in a lot of situations, DBond Shark to take down anything that can survive a hit and Cloyster over a dedicated hazard lead. Cloyster in particular made the team flow amazingly with its breaking power and ability to remove hazards (Boom is great at deleting Haze Milotic too).

vs robjr (W)
A set I liked a lot going into the tour was DemonGross, and it occured to me that rather than using it in a typical Balanced team, it could fit very well on HO, a playstyle where it's not hard to trade Pokémons early. The less Pokémons alive, the less answers to the Metagross. On top of that, the set would be well hidden into such a team. On top of that, I wanted to use Shuca Tyrantrum which looked quite strong in an opponent whose main offensive counterplay is Scarf Flygon. Cloy/MMQ/Flygon are leftovers from my HO experiments the previous week, just good Pokémons for the playstyle. I then added the teapot as it felt like a strong fit in HO and I wanted something with Memento to provide easy set-up opportunities for Metagross late-game, as I believe it needs that one free turn to become truely dangerous.

vs Feliburn (L)
I wanted to try my hand at hard Stall at some point and that's what I ended with. The main core was Audino + Quagsire. Quagsire handles a ton of set uppers, and Audino has incredible longetivity + access to some of the best Stalling tools in the tier (Wish/Cleric). I added Weezing as the sturdiest Fighting answer available. Bronzong to compress Togekiss check + Rocks, Eldegoss for double Regen core + Spin and Celebi/Rotom-C check with Pollen Puff, and finally Crobat to soft check a bit of everything, Defog for some Spikers and some speed/power. The main win con is Rocks + item removal from Audino + Weezing. Weezing's Infestation is also good to force progress everywhere and prevent aggressive double switches.

vs Raptor (W)
Raptor at this point in the tour seemed set to spam Weathers, so I wanted to bring Scarf Gardevoir this week. As he had already used Hail and Sun, I wanted to be good into Rain and Sand the most, especially Rain as it was very good into my recent teams. Milotic does just that hence why it's here. DemonRegi was a set I liked quite a bit from another team and could make use Gardevoir's Healing Wish. Nidoqueen to provide Tspikes for Regi/Milo, Crobat because it's the Bat and Heracross finally to give the team some breaking power and a Reuniclus answer. It also had Uturn/Flip support to get on the field safely, and even HW Gard should it become my main wincon and get too low.

vs TheFranklin (L)
Idea here was to use ProTox Chandy with some status spread from Vileplume/Raikou. Vileplume in particular targetted anything trying to use Knock Off and Crobat with Stun Spore, while Raikou would be targetting the grounds with Toxic. Pangoro would make use of Crobat's paralysis and bring a solid wallbreaker to set the team off the right track. Flygon is speed control/electric immunity while Bronzong is the Steel of choice for Rocks and Ground immunity that isn't Flygon. Bronzong was originally Toxic, but I liked the alternative wincon it gave me with Iron Defense at the end of the day.

vs Mac3 (W)
Believe it or not, the original idea of this team was VinCune + VinKou + Lunar Dance Cress. However after trying this idea on the ladder, it barely worked but for some reason I kept trying to fix the team and I ended with this. The three original members that stayed 'till the end were Defog Flygon, Registeel and Suicune. As the team turned more and more defensive, I replaced Cresselia with Weezing because that's an actual fighting check that doesnt lose to Heracross/Pangoro, and counters DD Flygon. Sableye was added to make sure I don't lose to the usual Stall killers like NP Celebi, NP Rotom-C or Togekiss (or anything that is a dangerous setupper). Finally Articuno was added because it counters Togekiss, Cleric everything and Haze CM Cune/CM Reuni (Sableye's Encore PPs are limited after all). It also forms a double Pressure core with Suicune, which works well in tandem with Infest Weezing to guarantee I sap PPs away. Sableye's Knock Off + Rocks is also a wincon on its own if you handle all their offensive threats.

vs Ajna (T)
This team was made around the combo of DemonGross + CMReuni, as I wanted to use two fat setuppers in this game. Reuni's ability to trick Sticky Barbs could be used in three ways, one to facilitate its own sweep by tricking it to a Dark type, two by tricking it to their fat setupper check, like Haze Milotic, and finally as an answer to Choice Trickers. The rest of the team is mostly there to make sure I can play the long game where Reuni and Meta should shine. Rhyperior is electric immunity + Rocks + DD Gon check, Vileplume is Knock absorber and status spreader. Bat is Speed + Defog, Umbreon for Cleric/ghost switch and a good way to Toxic a Milotic out of nowhere. Gas Plume seems weird with Sticky barb but it can work well because sometimes you wont even need to use Trick with Reuni, and in matchups where Barb Reuni isnt the main wincon, it's the best progress enabler.

vs Ajna (W)
This team was just me trying to use Xatu as it has good perks in the tier, especially into Registeel/Bronzong and even Slam Steelix. I found Sticky Helmet Gastrodon to be an excellent partner as it can punish Knock Off all game long, which is great for a Xatu team imo. Taunt SFang Bat is there to give the team a more offensive approach, supported by the multiple helmets and rocks prevention. Defog Togekiss was added to handle Spikers (mostly Goli) and Rocks should they go up, while providing Cleric for Gastro/Xatu. Registeel is the bulky Steel of choice with Heavy Slam/TW for Togekiss. Finally, Celebi rounds out the team by profiting off all the rocky helmet chip and being an offensive answer to Milo/Suicune/Reuniclus thanks to Pollen Puff. It'd also help me into Xurkitree as it beats my ground of choice.

vs Welli0u (L)
And finally, a bulky offense supporting Mimikyu. Mix of Spikes/SR/Knock Off with Taunt Crobat to prevent Defog. Steelix/Guzzlord is a really good defensive core and Guzz is also a good status absorber. Golisopod is a Spikers that can Knock Off the defoggers so I can pressure them effectively. It also brings some speed to the team alongside Crobat. Tentacruel rounds it up by providing a great Vileplume countermeasure, a solid answer to Togekiss, Spin to free Crobat moveset and another Knock Off to remove boots and leftovers and keep everything for late game MMQ.

 

[Feliburn]

SCL Post:

I won't get into detail with my teams, cause some of them were just ideas that felt decent, rather than specific techs (besides w6 and semis). I'll get into those later:









The teams used during w3, w7 and w9 were not mine, so I won't be posting them.

Next, I want to get into some of the thoughts I came up with during the tour:

I obviously won't be preaching this mon as the best mon in the tier, cause it is simply not true. But I can 100% no other pokemon forces progress like Golisopod does. I felt so comfortable with the mon that I have like 6 different sets and spreads for this mon, depending on the team, but the basic Knock Off + Spikes is such an amazing way of forcing damage on opposing teams. I had to force myself not to spam this mon and even then I used it in like 7 teams.

Honestly, a pleasant surprise. Nice speed, insane damage output, and it can still use Trick to mess up steels for other members like the Scarf Gardevoir I used. I know people probably will call it bad because it's walled by Registeel, but progress is just more than doing half to a mon per attack, and I think PZ should be explored more (we are already seeing people use Scarf, which is not bad but still not my preferred set).

Honestly super dope mon in general. Works as speed control, check for the flyers and even a wincon in the right team. Everyone who called me out for using boots Aero last year but are now on the Aero train can SUCK IT. I think no better team supports this mon as well as Ajna's w1 team, as that's when he hard labbed PZ and Aero, but we've seen it used much more ever since.

Floss already talked about this mon, but I still think this is the most customizable breaker. We already saw the physical sets do well (Muscle Band, CB, Life Orb, even SD Balloon), but I feel like special sets are so underexplored. I was shocked to see how easily a special Lucario can dent the common stall teams with ease, as mons like Quagsire are blown away by an Aura Sphere, and the usual special tanks are Umbreon + Regi with a Weezing that can pivot into fighting moves. I only used it once, but trust me when I tell you I made like 8 Lucario teams ready to go.

This is a very small note: Jelli is dope right now. It messes up both the more aggressive HOs, or the slower Reuni builds we've seen a lot. It can make a lot of progress vs the more balanced teams, but I still think it has wayyy more value vs 2 of the most spammed archetypes seen in the tour.

Some more general thoughts: Flygon is dope, I kind of hated scarf sets, but Roost DD, 4 attacks, Life Orb, CB, etc are all very fun in their own way. In a similar fashion, I like how people finally ventured outside the awful "Defog Bat as the only set" mentality, and finally started using other options like Taunt, Super Fang, and even NP seems to be in people's minds. Reuniclus is ANNOYING, be it both CM or EuReu (European Reuni as we now call it), it's just really scary to see in the back of a team, having to plan out how to handle it without letting it set up for free, or w/o it chipping your entire team.


More specific to my teams: I had some fun ideas that I think are worth exploring if people want to continue playing this meta. As seen by my W1 team, Sub Nidoqueen is such a fun breaker. It removes the necessity of making every turn a guessing game between clicking EP or Ice Beam and seeing if u hit a Flygon or the steel type. You can sub on so much, and with modest on my team you are able to nuke Milotic as it switches. I don't think my team supports it well, as I have no removal, but I still rlly like the idea.

Toxicroak stays my comfort zone Pokémon. And after a year of using it a lot, just like any religion, people finally started preaching it. Be it the Life Orb Set, one of the berry lure sets (shuca/coba) and even Scarf which has not seen much use, this mon fills a very fun niche in abusing more balanced teams. It's not game changing or anything, but it has niches no other mon can fill, and I'm really happy it's getting more respect.

Dhelmise and Tsareena are incredibly obnoxious spinners. Dhelmise hits like a truck and tanks hits, while Tsareena can trade with like 2 mons thanks to its coverage, power and the damned Rapid Spin boots. I'm normally a physical grass type hater, but these 2 mons put in a lot of work.

About the fabled Taunt Sneasel: I bought a team that could handle both stall and HO cause I could just FEEL stall coming but I didn't want to hard commit. I liked the way sneasel performed during mac3's game, so I felt like using it, but in order to complete the stall matchup, I added Taunt as a 4th move, as it also allows for recovery limitations vs like Milotic or something, but the plan was always to Taunt a Weezing or a Quagsire, which it did.

There are also some other ideas I never got to use with underrated mons, but I think I'll be saving those for RU Circuit Playoffs, as I've already posted some of the teams I've used the most recently.

I really wanted to go on more, cause I built A LOT. But this is about all I feel like sharing.