Alright well my ALTPL is over so may as well dump the teams I used, most are pretty boring and would be good sample teams. Enjoy the mid player takes and teams:
https://pokepast.es/3642c438dc832a43
Vs Diannie, g2, I played lead SD zard to punish staying in and clicking slash in zard v zard, they ended up playing against scout and actually switching out of it so it didn't get to sweep till late. Basic big 5 team, nothing to talk about except no Fblast on zard means theoretically a moth can stay in and sleep it (as Diannie did but she said it was desperation, not reading my set)
https://pokepast.es/cff8b005ce4c6ae6
This is the most basic team of all time and a really obvious sample, lead mime can Twave stuff and go to golem after especially if the opposing lead is a zard and they switch out to avoid para. If you're better than your opponent its hard to lose with this barring hax
https://pokepast.es/401cd1014f5cd3ca
Funny zardless team I played into Nicole but I didn't really get any of the things I needed to see if this is viable; I think double water to surprise zards + lead mime to beat opposing lead zards in the 1v1 if they stay can work but this team's also absurdly weak to Trode and not happy to see nidoking ether. Might have potential with some revision, idk
https://pokepast.es/fbed0d622109bcb3
I've literally never lost with tuff lead, this thing's broken as shit when the enemy doesn't lead moth, standard big 5 team but you frontload your 6th to spread para. Switching moth into it is a nonstarter cause if you take twave and a hit you're already in mime/zard range anyway, and you're screwed if you miss a sleep and take another hit. Plus para'd moth is easy to wake in front of so you could gamble that vs someone who doesn't punish well
https://pokepast.es/d9930b9c61c5cd83
This is the trode team I played vs Nicole - note that the fire spin on the set was a builder error and it was supposed to have swords dance, i still am not sure if i fucked up or the server fucked me over since I also had an incorrect moveset on my moth in the same BO3 on a different team (the ratking team was supposed to have dedge hbeam on moth to surprise 1v1 mime). it fucked me up midgame when suddenly my zard was in front of a sleeping mon with no way to boost, but yeah this is a pretty simple "opponent doesn't use grounds" punish or MU fish. worked great till I threw
https://pokepast.es/d20da36df34af3ea
Despite the name I actually played this vs ikiq g2 and it rolled, I like the rat. Again not much to say, rat's just a good mon and the rest is big 5.
I chickened out of playing the experimental stuff except vs nicole and then builder/I fucked up and the sets got mis-assigned anyway so I didn't get to show anything fun but I have a couple ideas to test in the future. Overall very centralized meta and the better player will win most times due to superior lines but anyone can lose when they full para twice or something cause the tier is so fast. I think my games vs Diannie and Ikiq were good examples of outplaying, especially vs Diannie g1 when I brought a garbage team (do not lead toise)
Here's my VR enjoy the hot takes on mons I think might actually be usable here
S: Order is irrelevant, your team has all 3 of these or its a bad/matchup fish team
A+: Most teams should also have these; you can drop Zard for a Zard check as a surprise or Moth for Egg or surprise sing sleep but this is risky. Zard's set diversity is scary as hell and its the one consistent answer to Moth bullshit + wins games if it gets one free turn, Moth almost always gets a KO and a half if not more
A: Golem feels like the most consistently good 6th mon to me, it can punish paralyzed Mime/Clef harder than the others and OHKOing Zard is obviously good, the others all have their uses but Golem has a hard time not getting mileage
A-: All of these are good back 6th mons, Nidoking sweeps through weakened teams, Kingler is broken if it doesn't miss and can check Zard pretty well lategame + loves if the mimes trade themselves, Rat is fast as fuck and beats the "let zard trade early" strat, Kabu's EQ weakness honestly sucks ass and I think it's the worst of the 4 but the upfront slash damage while still having water coverage is cool
B+: Wiggly is absurd into mime or zard leads, Egg is a semi consistent switchin if you lead zard and see an enemy mime (Nicole was smart for this), Moltres still hits like a truck and it feels like there's less Kabu around but Zard optimization is making Molt scary to use
B: Can we admit Trode doesn't suck now? It's a matchup fish but it completely shits on teams that either lack grounds or have to use them early due to hax. Like if you play Mime lead back Golem and your Mime gets haxed to shit in the lead matchup you're kind of out of options and the Golem probably gets slept right after. Trode is good and its existence sucks
B-: Tales exists I guess and trades well with mime/clef and parafusion is annoying as hell; Seadra wins situations that Kingler or Nidoking usually win too so I'm not very into it but it's good enough to be NU
C+: Fearow is so close to being broken, eats mime and moth alive, I think it has potential. Pinsir punishes these teams using zard up early and I think it could be a thing. Arcanine is faster than 90 and 1v1s half the big threats in the tier but where do you slot this thing in this meta (idk, maybe put it in C)
C: Abra's sick if you lead it and they don't lead Zard, but still could just run Wiggly and be safer; Ape lost its niche but still has nice coverage and speed ala rat with rock slide for enemy Zard ig
The rest: I have ideas, don't worry about it yet till I try these in practice, they're probably all bad
