UnderUsed Teambuilding Competition Week #13 - Scizor

[pokemonisfun]

https://pokepast.es/e6e525a3f41b1e98



A super meta team (pre February, it's probably too sun and iron hand weak now to be considered meta) - it has a standard fire/water/grass core with the best of each type (Talonflame is considered the best fire usually and it offers some semblance of speed control in conjunction with Luke's priority, Bramble/Tsareena/Wo Chien compete for the top grass slot imo and Slowking is probably the best defensive water type).

It also has a momentum core with chilly reception, U-turn and Volt Switch being all present on the team.

Spikes stacks works great with knock off and Tinkaton is the queen of UU in terms of usage plus a valuable steel and Gengar check.

Luke is the breaker of choice since it also has priority to make up for the lack of scarfer.

Overall a super standard, rather boring, but still effective team pre February. Hopefully I can submit a revamped one if sun and iron hand stays for a while, although I'm a bit doubtful...

 

[DraconicLepus]

https://pokepast.es/70a120f13224e731



Put this little team together to submit for the teambuilding competition this week.

Decided to go standard SD Lucario cuz it is the one that just works best in the current meta. Paired it with Lokix later on since I feel they can break for each other relatively well, and works well due to fighting/dark type synergies. To finish the Fighting/Dark/Psychic core i added a gardevoir cuz it is one of the best scarfers in the tier rn and I think it helps me with my sun matchup as well. Sandy Shocks is the go-to rocker in something like that and is another great partner to Lokix to form a volt-turn core for some momentum. Brambleghast is my personal spinner of choice because I really wanted a ghost type on this team. It also is overall nice because it adds a bit of spike stacking to the team, though it could also be something like power whip+shadow sneak for even more priority. Gyarados was originally salamence but decided to go with it to lower the amount of ice weak mons, and it helps the stall matchup a bit in that taunt+dragon dance can sit over quagsire and other mons to easily set up. Little offense team that I think uses Luke pretty well.

 

[Celebiii]

Thanks for the submissions, everyone! Vote for your favourite!

• by HydreigonTheChild
• by pokemonisfun
• by DraconicLepus

You have until the end of Sunday to vote (Sunday, February 5, 2023 @ 11:59PM GMT-5)!

My vote goes to DraconicLepus!

 

[Corperate n]

lepus

 

[pokemonisfun]

Draconiclepus

 

[DraconicLepus]

My vote goes to pif

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

smogon bird

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Draconiclepus

 

[Celebiii]

Congrats to DraconicLepus for winning the week and thanks for all the submissions, everyone! Next up is the Pokemon on everyone's minds...

Iron Hands

​

Iron Hands recently dropped from OU into UU, and it immediately made its presence felt in the tier! Its most standout traits are its incredible stats - Iron Hands packs an astounding Base 154 HP / 108 Defense bulk to complement its huge Base 140 Attack, making it both difficult to KO and difficult to take hits from! Iron Hands also has a good movepool to take advantage of these stats, carrying basically every physical attack it would want alongside other setup and utility options like Belly Drum, Swords Dance, and Volt Switch. One standout among these is Drain Punch, which allows Iron Hands to keep itself healthy while threatening heavy damage in return. The combination of great stats and movepool allows Iron Hands to viably run a multitude of sets, including Choice Band, Assault Vest, Swords Dance, and Belly Drum, making it difficult to know what Iron Hands will do until it makes a move. On the flipside, Iron Hands does have a few weaknesses to balance it. Iron Hands' Special Defense and Speed stats are quite low, meaning that it can be exploited by faster special attackers like Sandy Shocks and Armarouge. It also lacks a recovery move outside of Drain Punch and is vulnerable to hazards, which can cause it to be worn down over time. These are small flaws that Iron Hands has so far been able to overcome, however, and it's uncertain how long Hands will remain in the tier, so let's make some great teams with it while we can!

Teambuilding Restrictions:

• The team should be built in the Scarlet and Violet UnderUsed format.
• The team must include Iron Hands.

Submission Deadline: Friday, February 10, 2022 @ 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5).

 

[starbitstorm]

Hello once again, I'm back at it with another classic team style.

Now, generally speaking, this team's core philosophy is not too far off that of what most solid hands teams are running "quag+talon+hands+tink+2 filler" to quote Monky, however, it offers what many of the wish support hands teams lack in a form of punishing status spread. This can be seen from the punching glove iron hands with tera fire (running enough speed to beat para max talonflame) which shuts down wilo alt and talon flame leaving many teams at its mercy after swords dance (also helps with sun mu)

There is also the foil of the team, Umbreon. It takes the toxic from quag trying to answer the +2 hands or one trying to status talon and even our own quag and punishes it while allowing ease of absorbtion via rest.

The quag set is another interesting anti-meta idea with ice beam and 120 spa attack to break sub tera flying sd iron hands and dragon dance ttar ,which would normally require a tera umbreon to beat, while not missing too much bulk. The rest is pretty much standard solid stuff.

Huge shoutout to Sanguine, Mossy Sandwich, and Pia community for being willing to discuss some of the evs and sets.

The team

 

[sleestacks]

i'm tired of this stupid little toy-story lookin' hariyama. sadly, however, the suspect test doesnt end for over another week. thus, i made this team to get myself up to the voting requirements and get rid of this stupid little shit once and for all. using the iron hands to destroy the iron hands. you could say, like, some poetic shit about the good in evil and the evil in good or whatever, but i'm currently writing this at 2:12AM and don't have the energy to be philosophical.

click the sprites for the pokepaste!

tera blast bisharp + mixed mence hazard stack
credit to Ian_yo for the idea behind the salamence set!

basic idea is to apply pressure to the will-o-wispers and bulky grounds that annoy bisharp and hands, while also keeping a healing wish in the back to apply more pressure / heal up one of your wincons.

bisharp is the standard set except for tera blast fairy over night slash. its the best bisharp set imo, letting you 1v1 iron hands and pretty much any other fighting type, as well as giving yourself a strong neutral non-contact option versus things that resist both dark and steel or might be holding a rocky helmet.

iron hands is sub SD tera flying. beats quag and bulky teams in general by removing their ability to will-o-wisp or toxic or spore you. the rocks weakness is somewhat offset by the addition of healing wish.

salamence is the most interesting member of this team. it's 3 attacks roost, but instead of the normal draco / hurricane / fire move, i've slotted in EQ over hurricane. the ability to lure in tinkatons who think they're safe by clicking draco and then smacking them with a strong EQ is great. the same for physical walls also happens, where your opponent might switch in a quagsire after you earthquake something only to take 85% from draco meteor, clearing up bisharp and iron hands for the late game.

scarf gardevoir is one of my favorite mons to use in this tier, and i'm concerned that it should get more usage. it has no competition for an offensive fairy type, and has massive synergy when paired with the extremely bulky sweepers that are iron hands and bisharp. i cannot stress enough how incredible healing wish is on this team. as many of you know, bisharp is one of the best pokemon at punching a hole in the opponents team in order to get you to the point where you can clean. with healing wish, it can punch that hole twice, making for even bigger weaknesses or even cleaning up as a whole.

hippo is a general physdef mon and rocker. all 4 offensive mons on this team can have their checks worn down by hazards quite easily, so dealing with physical threats and setting rocks in one team slot is great. stone edge is here over roar to lure talon, who annoys both bisharp and iron hands.

finally, we have brambleghast. it's pretty much mandatory on most hazard stacking teams for its immense role compression. it blocks spins and sets up my own spikes, baiting defogs for bisharp to get a free SD from or chipping the checks of my offensive threats. power whip is here over shadow sneak / ball in order to hit quagsire, which bisharp really appreciates.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Iron Hands: Sub SD is such a nuts set, being so tanky while taking advantage of pokemon such as quag, gastrodon, hippowdon, bisharp, etc. Drain + ice punch covers so much of the meta besides the slow twins. Speed is to outspeed wo chien, and max attack helps it hit as hard as possible after an SD.

Slither wing: Boots slither wing is a set that came to me... with hazard removal being so shit, and slither wing often being forced in and out of the game, I ditched pads for boots, as this improves its longetivity. THis slither wing is running enough speed for ada ttar, the bulk improves its ability to take hits as I didn't find a need for the extra speed

Slowking: Min speed slowking setting up future sight allows the stall MU to be much better, with future port to slither wing the opponents without a scream tail are forced to be under a lot of pressure. Setting up future sight and being able to take hits is a lot of utility it provides to the team. THe team appreciates this by having salamence to cover grass weakness and hippowdon to cover the electric pokemon who want to hit it.

Grafaiai: WIth knock + u-turn and poison touch, it is able to wear down a lot of pokemon easily, being able to pressure quagsire to make it easier to setup against quagsire esp if its poisoned so its easy to setup and force progress. Low kick hits bisharp, and tyranitar which is big for the team.

Hippowdon: Hippowdon is really an amazing pokemon, with its mixed bulk it can easily take hits such as sandy shocks (no tera), tinkaton, scarf gengar, pawmot, bisharp, and more. Stealth rocks is really really valauable, smth I prob do not have to explain, hippowdon is an excellent setter of it esp since it has tera ghost to spin block.

Salamence: Special mence, what a good set, carried from gen 8 this easily helps the team by taking advantage of physical walls such as quagsire, phys def hippowdown, forre, bramble, wo chien. Max sp. attack and max speed allows it to be faster than haxorus, and hit as hard as possible by applying as much as pressure as possible

 

[mark6870]

Mabosstiff + Iron Hands Voltturn




Honestly the team is very straightforward, just future sight -> chilly reception with slowking and bring in either Mabosstiff or Iron Hands
Stakeout Mabosstiff is surprisingly effective. All of its attacks are effectively STAB or stronger if the opponent switches and most notable it does 65 to max HP Tinkaton if it switches in.
Iron Hands does the same thing except slower and bulkier.
Forretress and Donphan are mediocre pokemon that honestly fit well onto the structure. Defensive donphan (never use max attack) checks bisharp, mence, and non-mixed Tyrannitar (mixedtar is always viable never sleep on it.)
Finally Forretress. I don't care for Forretress, but i needed a steel type. I narrowed it down to Forretress, as it had spikes and momentum.

 

[Celebiii]

Thanks for the submissions, everyone! Vote for your favourite!

• by starbitstorm
• by sleestacks
• by HydreigonTheChild
• by mark6870

You have until the end of Sunday to vote (Sunday, February 12, 2023 @ 11:59PM GMT-5)!

My vote goes to sleestaclks!

 

[Totomon]

starbitstorm

 

[starbitstorm]

mark6870
he's got that dog in his

 

[sleestacks]

mark6870

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

mark6870

 

[Rasche]

mark6870

 

[Celebiii]

Congrats to mark6870 for winning the week and thanks for all the submissions, everyone! Next up is...

Torkoal

​

Another recent drop for OU, but a very different one from Iron Hands! Torkoal's role is to enable Sun to exist as a playstyle thanks to its ability Drought, which doesn't require Torkoal to use a move in order to activate. Torkoal also brings some valuable supporting moves to the Sun teams it fits on, such as Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock, and Yawn. Torkoal is also not completely passive itself, being able to use Body Press to threaten Blissey and Tyranitar and Sun-boosted Lava Plumes to scare just about everything else. Torkoal doesn't really do much else besides this - it's a pretty simple Pokemon that gets used only for its role on Sun teams. This doesn't prevent it from fitting on some excellent teams, however, and I hope we can come up with some ourselves for this week!

Teambuilding Restrictions:

• The team should be built in the Scarlet and Violet UnderUsed format.
• The team must include Torkoal.

Submission Deadline: Friday, February 17, 2022 @ 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5).

 

[Lily]

Just a fun team that lets Charizard click buttons so either Sandy Shocks or Maushold can sweep. Not a whole lot is going on here. You click buttons and switch into the mons that outspeed and annoy Zard (Graf for Gengar, Slither for Sandy, Sandy for Kilowatt, prayers for Noivern) so you can switch back out and get Zard back in to click another button. Torkoal and Grafaiai set up the sun so you can click the funny fire move, Torkoal and Maushold remove hazards so Zard can keep clicking and beyond that it's just a bunch of Proto mons / stuff that abuses the sun in some way shape or form. Give it a try it's p fun. Not amazing but fun! Low Kick on Maus lets you bop Tyranitar too so that's cool. Just don't run into Tera Fire Hippo.

 

[Rasche]

Specs Torkoal Hyper Offense




Probably my favourite "turn your brain off" hyper-offense teams. The general idea behind this team is to heavily support Torkoal via trick room, healing wish and magic bounce.


Hatenna: An stupidly reliable trick room setter, magic bounce allows you to force a trick room against most taunt users and counter lead most hazard leads. You will often be leading with hatenna due to it not providing much outside of giving you reliable trick room turns and caching a healing wish

Hattrem: Surprisingly bulky, reliably gives you trick room turns, can effectively neuter attackers with nuzzle and provides additional healing wish support

Rabsca: Has good synergy with the healing wish spam on this team, effectively allows you to max revive one of your attackers if you play it well. Is Ev'd to live specs shadow balls from gengar and OHKO in return with psychic.

Torkoal: Classic specs set, you'll be clicking eruption 90% of the time but you still have body press (for killing ttar) and earth power (for flash fire mons).With tera fire you can OHKO mons like noivern, talonflame,quagsire and gyarados without much problem at full health, even without tera most neutral eruption hits will result in an OHKO.

Iron hands: I went for an subSD set which takes advantage of how bulky Iron hands can be in TR, I went with punching glove over lefties as the immunity to flame body and helmet tends to be more useful in most games. Helps weaken defensive walls for a possible bisharp late-game (or for itself if you can revive it). and can take advantage of passive waters which torkoal baits in.

Bisharp: Acts as a very much wanted ghost resist for my team. The set is a pretty standard eviolite set which provides pressure in both priority and swords dance. Helps remove and exploit psychics and ghosts which the team doesn't deal very well with

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Torkoal: The standard set on this team... max hp, max def allows it to be useful to the team by checking some pokemon such as tinkaton, bisharp, ttar in an emergency, gallade, lucario, slither wing, and potentially more, spin and rocks provide utility to the team by making so that the pokemon arent affected by spikes and rocks, as it can easily spin on pokemon such as tinkaton, and set rocks up as tsareena doesnt want nothing to do with it

Espeon: It is a fun member of the team that I wanted to try, under sun it can have tera fire + tera blast allowing it to nuke tinkaton and bisharp combined which tera fighting cannot do, and tyranitar is covered by the other members of the team making that less of a painful task to setup. Magic bounce is going to be rarely utilized as espeon is frail as a piece of paper but it can still predict something such as from scarf choice locked sandy shocks or forretress wanting to get cocky.

Slither wing: With protective pads it can freely fire of hits especially since protosynthesis is active making it a nuclear bomb under sun and nothing wants to switch in, and talonflame is one predict away from being absolutely toasted. Slither wing is here to help deal with the pesky ttar, and bring in the other threats in sun as under sun nothing really wants to scout it unless its smth like salamence, which is a free pivot to pokemon such as CM espeon and tera ice sandy shocks.

Sandy Shocks: Sandy shocks with a speed boost? that is nuts! Literally you just have to wall it which most offensive teams cannot do and esp with tera ice cleaning through salamence, bramble, wo chien, hippowdon, tsareena, etc. We even have slither wing to pivot it in and it can just nuke teams especially sinec it can switch in talonflame and abuse it so much.

Tauros: The revenge killer and speed control of the team, with scarf raging bull in sun, it can cause a lot of damage to offensive teams, esp since stone edge hits talonflame, Tauros is a pretty good revenge killer esp being able to soften the opponent hits. It is an interesting scarfer I wanted to try out. Intimidate is pretty useful esp being able to switch into pokemon and force them out, which is pretty good consideirng sun usually has jack all for defensive counterplay

Bisharp... I really really needed a psychic immunity, otherwise stored power poltea and armarogue just went ham on the team, it provided a lot for the team esp vs gengar, scarf gengar goes ham otherwise and I do not have much for it otherwise, bisharp provides something important and even if sun worsens the fire weakness it never matters here especially bisharp is here to deal with poltea, armarogue, and gengar

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Here's a Sun team I built awhile back.

https://pokepast.es/63bc0c4ccaa02fcb



The idea behind this team is quite simple; Get Armarouge in on a mon that it can comfortably click Armor Cannon against and start Blastin. The rest of the team is moreso just a mish mash of mons that you'd see on your average Sun team which surprisingly works given that Eject Button espeon + Sandy Shocks + Slither Wing have natural synergy with one another and coupled with Scovillain as your main form of Speed Control and lategame cleaning you've got yourself a pretty nice HO team.

 

[mark6870]

Suun.


here we have some Suun. Torkoal is a necessity on Suun teams, because without Torkoal you'll have no Suun for your Suun team.
Slither Wing, Sandy Shocks, and Scovillain threaten the opposing team by being threatening in the suun with their threatening suun-boosting attacks
AV iron hands and Altaria are short term checks to pokemon such as tyrannitar, gengar, bisharp, and Slither Wing.