SS OU Specs Kyurem Core

[tysgod]

Introduction

Hi there! After my first RMT, I decided to get more into teambuilding and create another team! This time I did not want to create a weather team since those are just plain obvious and you know whats coming. So I searched across forums and the strategy dex trying to find a mon to showcase. Then I stumbled upon Kyurem! This will be my main focus today and I hope you guys enjoy!


Team Building Process


From the moment I saw this mon, I knew I wanted my next team to center around Kyurem. With amazing base stats it was amazing. With great flexibility being able to fit in to defensive and offensive teams it is really versatile.


Mandibuzz is simply put, a must-have on so many teams. This thing is simply invincible to hazards and weather and able to remove hazards that hurt my team. This will be key to be able to bring out Kyurem, since it will be damaged by Stealth Rock.


Clefable is a great teammate to Kyurem. With its typing, decent bulk, and access to a great ability it will protect Kyurem when its at low health and get it ready for another round.


Ferrothorn is so tanky, so much defensive power that it is pretty hard to cripple it except by targeting its weaknesses. It has great longevity and able to replace one of my mons and last pretty long before it has to be switched out.


Mandibuzz, Clefable, and Ferrothorn was chosen together because they cover their weaknesses perfectly. Mandibuzz is weak to electric, fairy, ice, and rock. Out of those types Ferrothorn is able to cover rock and fairy types. Ferrothorn is weak to fighting and fire. Out of those two Clefable is able to counter that. Clefable is weak to poison and steel, which Ferrothorn covers all of that. This trio is pretty amazing and solid.


Dragapult is one of the sweepers of this team, tasked with cleaning up the weakened enemies. This thing is so fast and outspeeds almost everybody. With strong STAB moves and speed it is so powerful.


Another sweeper and the last one that completes the team, Zeraora! So fast and power attack power, this is so threatening. Like Dragapult, it outspeeds so many mons.


The Team + Description

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Freeze Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

Thanks to it's great special attack and offensive typing along with its access to Freeze-Dry, Kyurem is able to act as a tremendous wallbreaker with Choice Specs. Kyurem's natural bulk should not be underestimated, as its able to take multiple hits before switching out. This will be my main sweeper, dealing tons of damage to enemies. I chose a modest nature over timid because its power makes up the loss in speed. Ice Beam for coverage across the metagame, Freeze-Dry for taking out mons like Tapu Fini and Swampert, and Draco Meteor that hits like a truck and 2HKOs anything that doesn't resist to it. Earth Power over Focus Blast because honestly Focus Blast is unreliable as it only has a 70% accuracy and never works out for me. Earth Power is handy because it can handle steel types and rock types such has Excadrill and Tyranitar.




Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 144 SpD / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Mandibuzz is so amazing. A hazard remover, pivot, it does it all. I chose this over Corviknight because I already had Ferrothorn and because it is not immune to hazards. This is completly immune, as long it has its item. A defensive EVs spread, with a impish nature. Foul Play to get rid of mons like Rillaboom and Landorus-T, Roost for longevity, Defog for getting rid of Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, etc. U-turn is for pivoting into my sweeper once hazards are out of the way. This set is self explanatory so you get the idea.




Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Teleport

This will help Kyurem recover when it's on low health and a fairy resist so that Kyurem doesn't take super effective damage from mons like Tapu Lele and Tapu Fini. A defensive EV set to resist Landorus-T and Garchomp, and Magic Guard to be immune to hazards and weather. Leftovers so that it doesn't get KO'd easily, and Calm Mind for more resistance to special attacks and stronger Moonblast. I have Wish and Teleport for Clefable so when I need to switch in to Kyurem I use Wish to heal it and Teleport for pivoting movement. So when Kyurem comes in Wish heals it and gets it to full power.




Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn is the best Spikes setter in the tier thanks to its ability to threaten common forms of entry hazard control like Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Mandibuzz with Knock Off. This will be my specially defensive tank, absorbing hits and wearing down my opponents. This mon will punish defoggers and destroy a key part of balanced teams. Ferrothorn supports wallbreakers such as Dragapult and Kyurem because of the entry hazards it sets up and pressure revenge killers. Leech Seed will be for longevity and recovery for all of my mons and provide a little healing and slowly damage enemies. Gyro Ball is to counter fairy types that are faster than Kyurem.




Dragapult @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave
- Flamethrower

The last mon that completes the team, Dragapult. It is such a effective sweeper and in this case, will be taking out weakened opponents as fast as it can. Infiltrator gets to enable it to go past screens which are pretty annoying. Choice Scarf so that it has the speed of a bullet train to knock everyone out. A timid nature for even more speed and max EVs for SpA and Spe so it becomes a powerful threat. Shadow Ball and Draco Meteor for STAB, Thunder Wave to paralyze sweepers so it pretty much becomes useless. There Kyurem will be able to come in and destroy it.



Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Toxic

Zeraora is simply put amazing. With high attack and tremendous speed it really completes the team. Plasma Fists is it's STAB, Close Combat to beat rock and steel types that threaten Kyurem, Volt Switch for pivoting, and Bulk Up to be cripple walls. I found that Zeraora is weak against hazards and they really slow it down so I chose Heavy-Duty Boots. At this point I was just trying to find a fast sweeper and didn't really try to look for other ones lol.

​

Threatlist

The mons that really threaten my team just came up in my head. The following are the mons that are simply annoying or hard to counter. Make sure you try to destroy them as quick as you can or you will be in serious trouble.



Volcarona is pretty threatening to my team, considering that none of my mons has any resist to it. Clefable is resistant to its Bug Buzz. but with Quiver Dance+Flamethrower it is not easy to stop. Try using Zeraora and use Close Combat or Plasma Fists because Volcarona is weak in defense.



The Tapus. They are hard to beat, considering half my team is weak against fairy types they are common in many teams. If you're facing Koko, use Kyurem with Earth Power. If its Bulu use Dragapult with Flamethrower or Kyurem with Ice Beam. If its Lele use Ferrothorn with Gyro Ball but be careful of its Focus Blast. Another option is using Dragapult with Shadow Ball. If its Fini use Zeraora with Plasma Fists or Kyurem with Freeze Dry. Even though I have counters to it it will depend on the speed control between them and my mons.


I don't think this is a problem but if it's paired with Reflect and Light Screen, added on with terrain and seed item, paired with Unburden, it will give you trouble. Swords Dance+Acrobatics / Close Combat / Stone Edge will sweep everything. Probably the only thing that will outspeed this will be Dragapult and Zeraora. Be careful when this comes out because if you have the wrong mon out you will be sweeped.


Conclusion

All in all I think this team is pretty solid. With Mandibuzz+Clefable+Ferrothorn covering each other and Kyurem at the same time is pretty cool. The only problem for me is to find the right kind of moveset and moves I guess. I just went along with the Smogon analysis and tried to meet Kyurem's needs. If you guys could give me advice on it that would be great! See you next time when I make a team!

PokePaste

Specs Kyurem Core (pokepast.es)

Importable

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 144 SpD / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Teleport

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

Dragapult @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave
- Flamethrower

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Bulk Up

 

[ironwater]

Hey there. I’m here to give you my thoughts on the team as well as some advices that may help you improve it.


I always enjoyed playing Kyurem and I think it’s a Pokemon with a very high potential so I’m glad to see a team based on it. The Choice Specs variant is an extremely threatening wallbreaker able to destroy unprepared teams. They are very few mons able to reliably switch in against Kyurem and even if you’ll need to make predictions for instance to catch Steel types with Earth Power, I feel like it’s pretty easy and low risk to do so with Kyurem. Of course, you’ll need to have the right support in your team in order to bring it safely and wallbreak the opposing team. Looking at how you built the rest of the team, I truly think that you have a good basis in teambuilding. Some of your choices of mons or moves are not optimal or at least can be discussed but overall, the team seems great. I’ll go in more details with each mons and the changes you can try but you have a solid basis with both good defensive options and a strong offensive presence.

As you’ve noticed it, some mons can be annoying to deal with. I will not speak about Zamazenta-C here as your team seems to have been built in the pre Zamazenta metagame. So, to begin with, Volcarona is indeed a huge threat as bulky variants can set up for free in front of most of your mons and try to sweep your whole team. Another huge threat is Heatran . You didn’t mention it but I’m sure you had troubles dealing with the Heatran you’ve faced mainly because you don’t have any reliable switch in. Mandibuzz and Clefable are shut down by Taunt and your others mons cannot afford to come on a Magma Storm. Tapu Lele and others Clefable can be annoying. You can use Ferrothorn against them but your one Focus Blast away to lose your only Fairy switch in against Lele and Clef can PP stall yours Gyro Ball and then mess you up with Calm Mind + Moonblast. I also think that the Rain match up or even Urshifu Rapid Strike alone can be an issue as your Water resist is Ferro who must be played perfectly to avoid dying to Close Combat from Urshifu-R or Barraskewda . Offensive Zapdos and Tornadus-T that are common in Rain teams (and even outside for Tornadus) can also mess you up as they are able to break through Ferrothorn with Hurricane and Focus Blast.


Now, let’s move to things I think you can change in the team to try improving these hard matchs up.

Major changes:

If Ferro can pair well with Kyurem because of the Spikes support it brings, I feel like your defensive core struggles against too much threats. A way to have a more solid defensive basis could be to replace Ferro by Slowking . Indeed, Slowking can act as a pivot able to reliably switch into Tapu Lele , Tornadus-T , Clefable , Heatran , Nidoking , and also act as a water resist but with the ability to heal in a much more efficient way than Ferro and without the annoying Fighting weakness. Moreover, Slowking brings two interesting things for Kyurem. Firstly, thanks to Teleport, it can act as a slow pivot able to take hits and safely bring in Kyurem in order to abuse its wallbreaking power while keeping him healthy. Secondly, Slowking has access to Future Sigh which can help Kyurem but also Zeraora to break through some of their counters, increasing the offensive presence of the team especially against more defensive teams that cannot prevent you from firing a Future Sigh before using Teleport. Here is a set you could try for Slowking. I put some Defense invest to take hits from Barraskewda and Urshifu-R a bit better but the spread can still be optimized:

Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Future Sight
- Teleport


Dragapult is surely a big threat. However, I’m not a huge fan of the Choice Scarf set especially when you already have a very fast mon with Zeraora . Choice Specs Dragapult could be an option here as it’s way more pressuring than the Choice Scarf one and won’t be as easy to wall. However, I’m not sure that Dragapult is the best choice of mon for the team. I think you can try and test several options here to reinforce the offensive presence of the team. An interesting one could be Heatran. Indeed, it’s a very efficient rocks setter as it can pressure a lot of Defoggers. Moreover, it’s a good Stallbreaker and it’s great typing allows you to deal with annoying mons like Volcarona way more consistently. Here is a Heatran set you can try:

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 128 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock


Minor changes:

The set you proposed in your past is a Bulk Up pivot and I don’t think it’s the way you want to play Zeraora. You have to choose between the Bulk Up variant and the Volt Switch one. Here, as you want to pivot into Kyurem you rather have a Volt Switch Zeraora. For the fourth moveslot, Toxic is an option, but I feel like Knock Off would be better here especially if you remove Ferro. Here is the set:

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off/ Toxic


Clefable can be a wincon with a Calm Mind setup set or a support mon with Wish + Teleport. I don’t think you can compress both roles however because Wish without Protect or Soft Boiled will make you lose against plenty of mons that Clef normally walls. Moreover, you don’t want to set up a Calm Mind if your main role is to pivot out with Teleport. I think you rather play a Wish + Tp Clef here in order to heal Kyurem and Zeraora and thus you should adjust your set this way:

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Wish
- Teleport


The set is fine. As you mentioned it, Focus Blast could be an option but is not mandatory. The only thing I would change here is the Nature, moving from Modest to Timid. This is because a Timid Nature allows you to outspeed mons like Nidoking , Landorus-T , Excadrill and some slow Garchomp as well as Speed tie with Tapu Lele . I don’t think the extra damage brought by a Modest Nature is worth considering all the threats you can outspeed with a Timid Nature.


Here is a past with all the changes I made, feel free to test different things and see what works best:

The past

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 144 SpD / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Wish
- Teleport

Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Future Sight
- Teleport

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 128 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off

Hope this helps, have fun testing the team.

 

[tysgod]

Hey there. I’m here to give you my thoughts on the team as well as some advices that may help you improve it.


I always enjoyed playing Kyurem and I think it’s a Pokemon with a very high potential so I’m glad to see a team based on it. The Choice Specs variant is an extremely threatening wallbreaker able to destroy unprepared teams. They are very few mons able to reliably switch in against Kyurem and even if you’ll need to make predictions for instance to catch Steel types with Earth Power, I feel like it’s pretty easy and low risk to do so with Kyurem. Of course, you’ll need to have the right support in your team in order to bring it safely and wallbreak the opposing team. Looking at how you built the rest of the team, I truly think that you have a good basis in teambuilding. Some of your choices of mons or moves are not optimal or at least can be discussed but overall, the team seems great. I’ll go in more details with each mons and the changes you can try but you have a solid basis with both good defensive options and a strong offensive presence.

As you’ve noticed it, some mons can be annoying to deal with. I will not speak about Zamazenta-C here as your team seems to have been built in the pre Zamazenta metagame. So, to begin with, Volcarona is indeed a huge threat as bulky variants can set up for free in front of most of your mons and try to sweep your whole team. Another huge threat is Heatran . You didn’t mention it but I’m sure you had troubles dealing with the Heatran you’ve faced mainly because you don’t have any reliable switch in. Mandibuzz and Clefable are shut down by Taunt and your others mons cannot afford to come on a Magma Storm. Tapu Lele and others Clefable can be annoying. You can use Ferrothorn against them but your one Focus Blast away to lose your only Fairy switch in against Lele and Clef can PP stall yours Gyro Ball and then mess you up with Calm Mind + Moonblast. I also think that the Rain match up or even Urshifu Rapid Strike alone can be an issue as your Water resist is Ferro who must be played perfectly to avoid dying to Close Combat from Urshifu-R or Barraskewda . Offensive Zapdos and Tornadus-T that are common in Rain teams (and even outside for Tornadus) can also mess you up as they are able to break through Ferrothorn with Hurricane and Focus Blast.


Now, let’s move to things I think you can change in the team to try improving these hard matchs up.

Major changes:

If Ferro can pair well with Kyurem because of the Spikes support it brings, I feel like your defensive core struggles against too much threats. A way to have a more solid defensive basis could be to replace Ferro by Slowking . Indeed, Slowking can act as a pivot able to reliably switch into Tapu Lele , Tornadus-T , Clefable , Heatran , Nidoking , and also act as a water resist but with the ability to heal in a much more efficient way than Ferro and without the annoying Fighting weakness. Moreover, Slowking brings two interesting things for Kyurem. Firstly, thanks to Teleport, it can act as a slow pivot able to take hits and safely bring in Kyurem in order to abuse its wallbreaking power while keeping him healthy. Secondly, Slowking has access to Future Sigh which can help Kyurem but also Zeraora to break through some of their counters, increasing the offensive presence of the team especially against more defensive teams that cannot prevent you from firing a Future Sigh before using Teleport. Here is a set you could try for Slowking. I put some Defense invest to take hits from Barraskewda and Urshifu-R a bit better but the spread can still be optimized:

View attachment 334414
Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Future Sight
- Teleport


Dragapult is surely a big threat. However, I’m not a huge fan of the Choice Scarf set especially when you already have a very fast mon with Zeraora . Choice Specs Dragapult could be an option here as it’s way more pressuring than the Choice Scarf one and won’t be as easy to wall. However, I’m not sure that Dragapult is the best choice of mon for the team. I think you can try and test several options here to reinforce the offensive presence of the team. An interesting one could be Heatran. Indeed, it’s a very efficient rocks setter as it can pressure a lot of Defoggers. Moreover, it’s a good Stallbreaker and it’s great typing allows you to deal with annoying mons like Volcarona way more consistently. Here is a Heatran set you can try:

View attachment 334413
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 128 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock


Minor changes:

The set you proposed in your past is a Bulk Up pivot and I don’t think it’s the way you want to play Zeraora. You have to choose between the Bulk Up variant and the Volt Switch one. Here, as you want to pivot into Kyurem you rather have a Volt Switch Zeraora. For the fourth moveslot, Toxic is an option, but I feel like Knock Off would be better here especially if you remove Ferro. Here is the set:

View attachment 334412
Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off/ Toxic


Clefable can be a wincon with a Calm Mind setup set or a support mon with Wish + Teleport. I don’t think you can compress both roles however because Wish without Protect or Soft Boiled will make you lose against plenty of mons that Clef normally walls. Moreover, you don’t want to set up a Calm Mind if your main role is to pivot out with Teleport. I think you rather play a Wish + Tp Clef here in order to heal Kyurem and Zeraora and thus you should adjust your set this way:

View attachment 334411
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Wish
- Teleport


The set is fine. As you mentioned it, Focus Blast could be an option but is not mandatory. The only thing I would change here is the Nature, moving from Modest to Timid. This is because a Timid Nature allows you to outspeed mons like Nidoking , Landorus-T , Excadrill and some slow Garchomp as well as Speed tie with Tapu Lele . I don’t think the extra damage brought by a Modest Nature is worth considering all the threats you can outspeed with a Timid Nature.


Here is a past with all the changes I made, feel free to test different things and see what works best:

The past

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

Mandibuzz (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 144 SpD / 56 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Defog
- U-turn

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Wish
- Teleport

Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 152 Def / 104 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Future Sight
- Teleport

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 128 SpD / 132 Spe
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Zeraora @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off

Hope this helps, have fun testing the team.

tysm for the suggestion! Yes as you said there are some big threats to my team even though I didn't mention them. So I put in Ferrothorn for hazard control and clearing a way for Kyurem . But since you suggested Heatran with Stealth Rock, I think there is no need for Ferrothorn so ty for the suggestion I will definitely try both Slowking and Heatran! For the Zeraora set I was kind of toying it around a bit lol and didn't know what to do for the fourth moveslot. So ty I will make sure to replace that. I tried using Moonblast, Soft-Boiled, Wish, and Teleport and enter a battle it got blocked and said that Teleport and Soft-Boiled can't go together lol so I had to choose a random move for it. And for the nature for Kyurem I honestly thought either one is fine. Tysm for helping with this team, as I will be testing out all the changes!