Project SS ZU Secret Santa 2021

Tuthur

formerly 0-7 in FCL
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Exams aren't real so I had a lot of time to build! czim, I know you're getting old, I know 2021 wasn't fun, but we aren't in 2020 anymore; Raboot isn't a good Pokémon. That said it is not as unviable as Block Substitute Swords Dance Lickilicky in Mareanie, Sableye, Lurantis meta.

:raboot:
Starting with Raboot, I would make the best use of it as an offensive pivot with Boots in a VoltTurn team with hazard support.

:aurorus:
Raboot can force in and use U-turn on bulky Water-types, Ground-types, Altaria, and physical walls that Aurorus takes advantage of. Aurorus provides Stealth Rock for our stack hazard team and hail chips. Also Aurorus is broken so I can get wrong starting with it.

:qwilfish::eldegoss:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/aurorus.3692798/post-9015512
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/zu-eldegoss.3694219/post-9044868

Both Pokémon form a great defensive core together and pair well with Aurorus, makes a FWG core with Raboot so you can even give the team to Toto.

:manectric::cinccino:
Needed Speed control, other VoltTurn pivots, and Electric- and Ghost-immunities. So here go Manectric and Cinccino. Cinccino is also quite nice for providing Knock Off support, appreciating Aurorus weakening Steel-types and can in return bring it in versus the likes of Rhydon and Tangela, and providing a reliable mid/late game breaker as opposed to Aurorus which shines early. Manectric fits well because I've Eldegoat and also helps pressuring Flying-types like Cuno.

:ss/aurorus::ss/cinccino::ss/eldegoss::ss/manectric::ss/qwilfish::ss/raboot:
Aurorus @ Power Herb
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Beam

Cinccino @ Choice Band
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tail Slap
- Bullet Seed
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Eldegoss @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Rapid Spin
- Pollen Puff

Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Switcheroo

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Liquidation
- Taunt
- Pain Split

Raboot @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
- High Jump Kick

Merry christmas czim and bless whoever got Toto's submission!
 
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Exams aren't real so I had a lot of time to build! czim, I know you're getting old, I know 2021 wasn't fun, but we aren't in 2020 anymore; Raboot isn't a good Pokémon. That said it is not as unviable as Block Substitute Swords Dance Lickilicky in Mareanie, Sableye, Lurantis meta.

:raboot:
Starting with Raboot, I would make the best use of it as an offensive pivot with Boots in a VoltTurn team with hazard support.

:aurorus:
Raboot can force in and use U-turn on bulky Water-types, Ground-types, Altaria, and physical walls that Aurorus takes advantage of. Aurorus provides Stealth Rock for our stack hazard team and hail chips. Also Aurorus is broken so I can get wrong starting with it.

:qwilfish::eldegoss:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/aurorus.3692798/post-9015512
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/zu-eldegoss.3694219/post-9044868

Both Pokémon form a great defensive core together and pair well with Aurorus, makes a FWG core with Raboot so you can even give the team to Toto.

:manectric::cinccino:
Needed Speed control, other VoltTurn pivots, and Electric- and Ghost-immunities. So here go Manectric and Cinccino. Cinccino is also quite nice for providing Knock Off support, appreciating Aurorus weakening Steel-types and can in return bring it in versus the likes of Rhydon and Tangela, and providing a reliable mid/late game breaker as opposed to Aurorus which shines early. Manectric fits well because I've Eldegoat and also helps pressuring Flying-types like Cuno.

:ss/aurorus::ss/cinccino::ss/eldegoss::ss/manectric::ss/qwilfish::ss/raboot:
Aurorus @ Power Herb
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Beam

Cinccino @ Choice Band
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tail Slap
- Bullet Seed
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Eldegoss @ Eject Button
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Rapid Spin
- Pollen Puff

Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Switcheroo

Qwilfish @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Liquidation
- Taunt
- Pain Split

Raboot @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Libero
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch
- High Jump Kick

Merry christmas czim and bless whoever got Toto's submission!
EA11ACA7-8916-463A-B2AD-8F1F598FC0B1.jpeg
 

Corthius

diehard hockey fan
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnus
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I was feeling very generous for christmas so I bought 50 packs of Pokémon TGC just for you to get these wonderful pictures of the cards I took. :)
<<import>>
I was asked to build around CB Luxray. A difficult task, that's for sure - at least it wasn't Evire. I will go shortly over the sets used: Luxray runs Wild Charge for STAB, Ice Fang and Superpower for coverage and Volt Switch last to keep some offensive momentum versus checks like Tangela and Gurdurr. A bulky Grass type was my initial thought because they check common checks like Rhydon and Stunfisk. Eldegoss was the one that sticked, because it also adds removal support. Standard moveset, Sleep Powder gives Luxray some free switches. Alolan Sandslash next, because I am always scared of Frosmoth haxing its other checks. It also adds Spikes support - Luxray lacks a bit in power. Kangaskhan is an odd slot here, Miltank would usually fit better because it adds a Fire resist BUT Kangaskhan has the ability to run the lures Whirlpool Toxic set. This set is great support for Luxray, as it lures and removes Tangela, Rhydon and non-Rest Cofagrigus which is really helpful at breaking the opposing team. If you want a more 'solid' team - as solid as it can get when using Luxray - you can add physdef Miltank here and change up the last slots. Would just be less cool :afrostar:. Rotom-Fan over Rotom is only relevant for ladder because Flying is a solid typing versus a lot of ladder trends like Accelgor and Lurantis. Choice Scarf for speed control and another bonus is crippling Rhydon and Stunfisk with Trick, making it once again easier for Luxray to break. Uxie was throw onto the team because itprovides Stealth Rock, pivotting and Future Sight support for Luxray, while also acting as general good glue and panic physdef wall.
Overall the team could be more solid by adding Miltank and Rotom - and if the requester wants that he can do that ofc - but sometimes it's the fun things that matter more. :)
Additionally two replays I have with the team:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1469617044
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1469556505

I wish RoiDadadou and everyone reading this a fun holiday time with their friends and family!​
 
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ssanta.jpg


So i had to build around abomasnow+scarf sawk

The paste: https://pokepast.es/60931db723b81d85

this is a great offensive core who needs some help to shine.


:abomasnow:
Abomasnow has a good spa with some excellent attacks but his lack of speed is fatal for him. the problem is to let in abomasnow safely and only when he has the aventage and kill something every time he attacks.
I gave to abomasnow the speed to outspeeding aurorus who is the tier's threat now. Even without beeing modest he deals a lot of damages.

:clefairy:
The real problem of Abomasnow is to beeing weakened easily, so i searched a way to recover him. I think clefairy is a great solution because he has wish+teleport, he also his a good defensive tank and can win time with protect who helps a lot vs trick room or weather teams.

:sawk:
Sawk is a revenge killer, he also can sweep if the opposing team is not prepared. I wanted to use spikes to get extra damages when the opponent swiths on his sawk check.

:sandslash-alola:
i can not use abomasnow's hail without sandslash. Slush rush gives a speed boost that sometimes helps but he is here to spin and use spikes to help sawk and abomasnow. Knocking off some heavy-duty-boots is the plan and sandslash does right his work with their good defensive stats.

:rhydon:
It's the spdef tank of the team. i use him for their fire/electric resistances and for his capacity of checking rotom and breaking defensive cores with sword dance. He outspeeds tangela but you need to weaken him before if you want to kill him. Rhydon does really appreciate the help of clefairy to recover him.

:shiinotic:
The last pokemon is here to check thwackey, gourgeist and others physical pokemons. He breaks the opponent's tempo, can use spore to get a free switch on abomasnow... Shiinotic is not the most important pokemon of the team but you really need him if you want to check some threats of the tier.

I wish you a merry chrismas hiss i had some fun to build this team. Have fun too!
 

Jett

gm gobodachis
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(In the worst Santa voice imaginable)
"Let's see what our next player has requested. Oh, a team with Choice Band Klinklang! :klinklang: Let me quickly just check whether Heracross2.0 is on the nice list."

*30 seconds of scrambling later*

"They've been especially good this year; that means that they deserve not just 1 but 2 teams. Let me just see where I plac-" *cough* *cough*


Ok I can't do this act any longer, so let's swiftly move onto the teams.

:ss/delibird:Team 1 :ss/delibird:

:klinklang: :flapple:

Going into teambuilding I had a lot of concepts. While Choice Band Klinklang is pretty fun to use, it's fairly easy to build around compared to most other fun ideas. To avoid coming up with something too generic, I ultimately decided that I'd pair it with Flapple, another very potent wallbreaker, and one that would benefit greatly from Klinklang's ability to deal with Ice-types (and to a lesser extent Fairy-types because Flapple can outspeed and bop those anyways but it's always nice). I opted for Dragon Dance Acrobatics Itemless Flapple because 1) it's by far it's coolest set and 2) because it can bully Tangela (and is even more difficult for other Grass-types to deal with) given that Tangela can knock off Klinklang's Choice Band after switching in making it a lot easier for the opposing team to deal with it.

:klinklang: :flapple: :qwilfish:

While I really wanted to use Wishiwashi here because these Pokemon love slow pivots, I had to forgo this idea because of Sawk (and other Fighting-types) that would become pretty annoying to build against (tried having Uxie as my Stealth Rock setter but this made it very difficult to fit both hazard removal, speed control, and a Volt Switch immunity in the remaining slots while covering other weaknesses). Qwilfish is equally a great fit here because it covers the Fire-type weakness as well as being a pretty solid Sawk and Alolan Sandslash check at the same time. Spikes are also great for helping Klinklang and Flapple break past teams.

:klinklang: :flapple: :qwilfish: :rotom: :stunfisk:

Next up I decided on the hazard control, and Stealth Rock user, and Rotom and Stunfisk happened to fit my idea perfectly. Rotom's a solid pivot, can spread burns, and be a nuisance in general because it threatens Ground-types which is super handy for Klinklang. The Fighting type immunity is also nice here to further dissuade Choice-locked Sawk from clicking Close Combat and while Earthquake can be pretty rough for this team, at least Flapple can cover that. Stunfisk was my choice for a Stealth Rock user because it was a Ground-type, aka Volt Immunity, that also helps to deal with weird threats like Nasty Plot Ninetales.

:klinklang: :flapple: :qwilfish: :rotom: :stunfisk: :sawk:

Lastly we have Sawk which provides the team which much needed Speed control for covering a plethora of faster threats (Cinccino, Silvally-formes etc.) and one of the best cleaners. Additionally, it gives the team a means of dealing with Dark-types effectively otherwise Thievul and Silvally-Dark would bully this team. It also benefits from the Flapple tech so that's pretty neat and also helps Klinklang out by alleviating some of the pressure of dealing with the Ice-types, especially when you run into some Hail jank.

(Click the Pokemon below for importable and also enjoy the awful Christmas themed nicknames)
:ss/klinklang: :ss/flapple: :ss/qwilfish: :ss/rotom: :ss/stunfisk: :ss/sawk:

While this was the main team I wanted to showcase I also made another team, because I love trapping. I'll go into a lot less detail and admittedly it might be a little worse but it's still a lot of fun.

:delibird: Team 2 :delibird:
While Yovan had already used this pairing in the past, I wanted to make my own team revolving around Choice Band Klinklang and Block Trevenant. The basic idea is Trevenant lures in Tangela and Klinklang is allowed to go ham because of that. I added Wishiwashi to cover the Fire-type weakness and for the slow pivotting, and just overall great special wall to go along side the physically defensive Trevenant. This time I chose for Miltank as my Stealth Rock user because of its useful "resistances" (Thick Fat) and immunity to Ghost-type and then Gurdurr for Defog and Mach Punch, and because it could also deal with Dark-types. Scarf Manectric was the last addition to the team because of it's very important Volt Switch immunity, and also helps the team deal with opposing Water-types. (Edit: It appears we get owned by guts Fighting-types oops)

:klinklang: :trevenant: :wishiwashi: :miltank: :gurdurr: :manectric:
(Paste in minisprites)
Merry Christmas to everybody and hope you enjoy your teams Heracross2.0 !!!(or tbh btboy and toto who will steal them)
 
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Itchy

take all my data, what will you find?
is a Site Content Manageris a Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
:delibird:Jett gm:delibird:
I was your secret Santa!
(with plenty of help from thebtboy the ZU elf!)
~
:kabutops::choice-band: You asked for a Choice Band Kabutops team, and, well, here it is! :kabutops::choice-band:
:kabutops: :tangela: :miltank: :jynx: :manectric: :articuno:
~
:Rapidash: :Rotom: Building Process :Jynx: :Manectric:

I started with a similar core with Rapidash + Rotom over Jynx + Manectric, but that struggled a bit with opposing Tangela and needed an Electric immunity + something for Hail. We then had to have a defogger + pivot with a good matchup versus Poisons and some fat Waters, which Articuno did best! I hope this is as fun of a team as you hoped - it has been blessed with the combined luck of Itchy + btboy!
~
:sawsbuck-winter: Happy Holidays! :sawsbuck-winter:

 
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Hello there, Beka's Secret Santa here. One of my little elves told me that someone was looking for an Aurorus Thwackey team. Your wish is my command:



(Click on the cutest Pokémon to get the importable... choose wisely)


:aurorus::thwackey:
I started off by thinking about how I can get maximum synergy out of the two, so it would actually be a team around that core rather than just a team that ends up having both these Pokémon on it without much of a connection.
Now offensively there's already some obvious synergy, with Aurorus handling bulky grass and flying types like Tangela and Altaria, and Thwackey pivoting Aurorus in on said Pokémon, while also handling bulky waters should I end up not running Freeze-Dry. I wanted to push the synergy further, and make use of how amazingly Aurorus matches up against most hazard removal, making it very effective at getting hazards up. Thwackey not only appreciates the hazards a lot because they make Grassy Glide more effective, it is also quite potent at knocking off the Heavy-Duty Boots from Pokémon with a Stealth Rock weakness. With this strong focus on placing hazards and aiming at a Grassy Glide endgame, Choice Band Thwackey seemed like the most fitting option. I decided to go with Earth Power Aurorus, to cover the main hazard removal it can't handle too well otherwise - Alolan Sandslash. And as mentioned before, Thwackey compensates for the lack of Freeze-Dry to some degree anyways.

Now I wanted to pin down the archetype I would go for. The core is already quite offensive and doesn't offer much in terms of defensive utility outside of Grassy Terrain weakening Earthquake. And the fact that I wanted to focus on hazards paired with Aurorus' own hazard weakness made the idea of long games not appealing, eliminating Balance as an option. I felt Hail was too obvious for a team around Aurorus, and Hyper Offense didn't seem like the best fit for the kind of offensive synergy Aurorus and Thwackey have - you'd prefer Pokémon who pressure similar checks rather than a core that covers each other's checks (And I personally despise Hyper Offense, you surely feel the same). Bulky Offense seemed like the best fit.

:qwilfish:
So I decided to start looking at some pivots who can patch up some of the defensive issues and also further help with the hazard situation. Qwilfish seemed like a perfect fit, offering good defensive synergy, Spikes, poison typing to absorb Toxic Spikes, and Rocky Helmet to further chip the opponent into Grassy Glide range.

:uxie:
Despite Grassy Terrain and still didn't like the ground weakness, and I was looking for a generally specially defensive pivot to add next, while also having an eye on potential Knock Off users to help Thwackey out in removing Heavy-Duty Boots. Uxie seemed like a good fit, also providing a decently slow U-turn in the process. At this point I was wondering if I should shift the Stealth Rocks to Uxie and maybe run a Choice Specs Aurorus, but I really like Meteor Beam Aurorus, and it is just much more effective at setting Stealth Rocks than Uxie.

:silvally-dark:
Despite the focus on Hazards, not having any removal is questionable, especially since the team didn't have a Spin Blocker, making the Matchup against opposing Spike teams who have a Spinner quite tricky. I decided to add a Silvally-Dark as an emergency Defogger, ghost resist, and stop to some gimmicky Stored Power shenanigans. It also raises the general Speed a bit, can use its natural bulk to serve as a Tank. I opted to go with Iron Head, so you can potentially wear down Clefairy a bit to help Aurorus out. In testing I missed Swords Dance, but I just couldn't find a way to fit it.

:sawk:
Lastly the team was lacking Speed control, and Frosmoth caused enough trauma in the past, so Sawk seemed to round out the team well, without giving it another ground weakness (looking at you, Rapidash...). And just like Thwackey, Sawk is quite good at getting Knock Offs on Heavy-Duty Boots users.

Now I tested this team quite a bit, and I really like how it flows. Structurally it seems sound. However, it's one of those cases where you have some really, really bad Matchups, but changing things up would massively change the entire team down to the basic idea. Preserving the idea of hazard stacking, I wasn't able to come up with a better fit. Things to "watch out for" (to be honest, even if you watch out it'll still be bad) include Electric Terrain - actually electrics in general (Rotom, Manectric), and Hyper Offense in general if it can handle Grassy Glide. Speaking of Grassy Glide, that's the other big problem. And then there will be the occassional Accelgor ruining your day.

So in the end the team isn't perfect, and it is also not the most creative team, but I think you'll definitely be able to have fun with it and do well outside of the mentioned problem Matchups!

Happy Holidays to Beka and everyone else who made it to the end of this post :]
 
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Hello there, Beka's Secret Santa here. One of my little Elfs told me that someone was looking for an Aurorus Thwackey team. Your wish is my command:



(Click on the cutest Pokémon to get the importable... choose wisely)


:aurorus::thwackey:
I started off by thinking about how I can get maximum synergy out of the two, so it would actually be a team around that core rather than just a team that ends up having both these Pokémon on it without much of a connection.
Now offensively there's already some obvious synergy, with Aurorus handling bulky grass and flying types like Tangela and Altaria, and Thwackey pivoting Aurorus in on said Pokémon, while also handling bulky waters should I end up not running Freeze-Dry. I wanted to push the synergy further, and make use of how amazingly Aurorus matches up against most hazard removal, making it very effective at getting hazards up. Thwackey not only appreciates the hazards a lot because they make Grassy Glide more effective, it is also quite potent at knocking off the Heavy-Duty Boots from Pokémon with a Stealth Rock weakness. With this strong focus on placing hazards and aiming at a Grassy Glide endgame, Choice Band Thwackey seemed like the most fitting option. I decided to go with Earth Power Aurorus, to cover the main hazard removal it can't handle too well otherwise - Alolan Sandslash. And as mentioned before, Thwackey compensates for the lack of Freeze-Dry to some degree anyways.

Now I wanted to pin down the archetype I would go for. The core is already quite offensive and doesn't offer much in terms of defensive utility outside of Grassy Terrain weakening Earthquake. And the fact that I wanted to focus on hazards paired with Aurorus' own hazard weakness made the idea of long games not appealing, eliminating Balance as an option. I felt Hail was too obvious for a team around Aurorus, and Hyper Offense didn't seem like the best fit for the kind of offensive synergy Aurorus and Thwackey have - you'd prefer Pokémon who pressure similar checks rather than a core that covers each other's checks (And I personally despise Hyper Offense, you surely feel the same). Bulky Offense seemed like the best fit.

:qwilfish:
So I decided to start looking at some pivots who can patch up some of the defensive issues and also further help with the hazard situation. Qwilfish seemed like a perfect fit, offering good defensive synergy, Spikes, poison typing to absorb Toxic Spikes, and Rocky Helmet to further chip the opponent into Grassy Glide range.

:uxie:
Despite Grassy Terrain and still didn't like the ground weakness, and I was looking for a generally specially defensive pivot to add next, while also having an eye on potential Knock Off users to help Thwackey out in removing Heavy-Duty Boots. Uxie seemed like a good fit, also providing a decently slow U-turn in the process. At this point I was wondering if I should shift the Stealth Rocks to Uxie and maybe run a Choice Specs Aurorus, but I really like Meteor Beam Aurorus, and it is just much more effective at setting Stealth Rocks than Uxie.

:silvally-dark:
Despite the focus on Hazards, not having any removal is questionable, especially since the team didn't have a Spin Blocker, making the Matchup against opposing Spike teams who have a Spinner quite tricky. I decided to add a Silvally-Dark as an emergency Defogger, ghost resist, and stop to some gimmicky Stored Power shenanigans. It also raises the general Speed a bit, can use its natural bulk to serve as a Tank. I opted to go with Iron Head, so you can potentially wear down Clefairy a bit to help Aurorus out. In testing I missed Swords Dance, but I just couldn't find a way to fit it.

:sawk:
Lastly the team was lacking Speed control, and Frosmoth caused enough trauma in the past, so Sawk seemed to round out the team well, without giving it another ground weakness (looking at you, Rapidash...). And just like Thwackey, Sawk is quite good at getting Knock Offs on Heavy-Duty Boots users.

Now I tested this team quite a bit, and I really like how it flows. Structurally it seems sound. However, it's one of those cases where you have some really, really bad Matchups, but changing things up would massively change the entire team down to the basic idea. Preserving the idea of hazard stacking, I wasn't able to come up with a better fit. Things to "watch out for" (to be honest, even if you watch out it'll still be bad) include Electric Terrain - actually electrics in general (Rotom, Manectric), and Hyper Offense in general if it can handle Grassy Glide. Speaking of Grassy Glide, that's the other big problem. And then there will be the occassional Accelgor ruining your day.

So in the end the team isn't perfect, and it is also not the most creative team, but I think you'll definitely be able to have fun with it and do well outside of the mentioned problem Matchups!

Happy Holidays to Beka and everyone else who made it to the end of this post :]
Great teams I have seen so far!!! But reading yours I think you found a gremblin in the ladder called schnittie... :bloblul:
 
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Happy holidays to tingling, and tingling only. You requested a balance or bulky offense team built around Shiftry, which I was excited about because it’s one of my favorite Pokemon. Because I'm feeling the holiday cheer, I also commissioned the amazing cleffa to provide some festive artwork for the team, which I hope you enjoy. (Click on the image for the paste.)

secretsantateam.png
Building the Team
:shiftry:
Because Shiftry has a deep movepool and workable attacking stats, I first had to decide what set to utilize. I ultimately decided on a physically-biased, all-out attacker set for its coverage, breaking power, and powerful, STAB Knock Off. I chose Heat Wave as the fourth move because Grass-Fire coverage is generally pretty good, and because Shiftry can often lure Tangela. As threatening as Shiftry can be, hazards and Life Orb recoil tend to shorten its lifespan, so I wanted to provide it with pivot support.

:shiftry: :unfezant:
My initial thought was to pair it with Choice Band Morpeko to lure its counters for Shiftry, but Shiftry can only break Tangela if Tangela is switching into it, and it became difficult to fit necessary utility elements like Stealth Rock and hazard removal once I added a special attacker to threaten Tangela out. After several (unsuccessful) attempts to make it work, I scrapped the Dark spam idea and restarted with a different fast pivot - Unfezant. STAB Brave Bird is really strong, and Choice Scarf Unfezant provided both speed control and an ability to lure Pokemon that Shiftry wants to exploit to begin breaking, like Rhydon.

:shiftry: :unfezant: :gurdurr:
Steel-type Unfezant switch-ins are a bit trickier; you don’t necessarily want to telegraph Heat Wave, especially if there’s a Tangela in the back, so a Fighting-type seemed appropriate here. Bulk Up Gurdurr was chosen here not only to exploit these Steel-types, but for its synergy with Shiftry and the utility it provides. Shiftry can remove Tangela and Cofagrigus for Gurdurr, who reciprocates by helping handle Miltank and Skuntank for Shiftry. Gurdurr also acts as a wincon, a status absorber, and Hail counterplay, so it afforded a great deal of defensive utility to a composition that, to this point, didn’t have a lot of it.

:shiftry: :unfezant: :gurdurr: :qwilfish:
The biggest weakness of the team at this point was its lack of defensive counterplay to Scarf Sawk’s Close Combat. Alcremie also looked fairly annoying, so Poison Jab Qwilfish seemed like a good addition, especially with its ability to provide chip damage through Spikes and Rocky Helmet. Poison Jab also helps pressure opposing Eldegoss and Jynx, which ends up being very threatening to this team if allowed a free switch-in. We do miss out on chipping Sandslash-Alola, but we can always Taunt it and handle it with Gurdurr.

:shiftry: :unfezant: :gurdurr: :qwilfish::eldegoss:
Offensive Grass-types still looked like a pretty big threat at this point, and hazard removal had yet to be added to the team. Physically defensive Eldegoss made a lot of sense, especially because it’s an excellent partner for Qwilfish and acts as a defensive midground for common threats like Rotom. Sleep Powder is especially helpful for incapacitating threats like Ninetales and Silvally-Poison, which can do a lot of damage if they get free turns. Eldegoss originally held Heavy-Duty Boots, but I changed this to Eject Button per @czim’s suggestion both because it helps provide momentum and allows Eldegoss to wall Gourgeist-Small. Eldegoss is also helpful for its ability to switch into Tangela.

:shiftry: :unfezant: :gurdurr: :qwilfish::eldegoss::dugtrio-alola:
There were a lot of options for the last member of the team, but Dugtrio-Alola fit nicely for a couple reasons. First and foremost, it sets Stealth Rock, which is particularly good on a team with two Knock Off users. Secondly, despite not being a reliable counter to either offensive Poison- and Electric-types, its immunities act as a deterrent for clicking these moves. For example, Choice Scarf Rotom has a difficult time when confronted with both a Ghost immunity and an Electric immunity, which creates opportunities for double switches. This is useful considering the team does not have a dedicated slow pivot, and it allows you to manufacture momentum, especially when paired with Eject Button Eldegoss. Dugtrio-Alola is also a nice form of natural speed control and ensures that the team can always revenge kill threats like Alcremie, Ninetales, Skuntank, Silvally-Poison, and Klinklang. Its speed tier is not the only way it can act as speed control though; Tangling Hair can be useful in a pinch, as well. Lastly, it really appreciates Shiftry’s ability to remove Tangela, can help soften up Rhydon for Unfezant if necessary, and can act as a secondary or tertiary cleaner if its threats have been removed or sufficiently chipped. It should be noted that opting for Beat Up over Stone Edge gives you a favorable roll to OHKO an otherwise-annoying WispHex Rotom in the early game.

I've included some replays to showcase the team in action. I hope you have as much fun playing with it as I did building and testing it. Happy holidays!
 
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viet noa

eating neopronoun pizza at little xe/xyrs
is a Pre-Contributor
Lickilicky_Attacks_Darkrai.gif


Happy holidays to yovan33321! I was requested to build a team around Swords Dance Lickilicky, so I did my best to buid a competent team around this unranked mon.

:ss/lickilicky:

So, what would SD Lickilicky even do well? With very good bulk, a passable Attack stat, and a variety of useful coverage options, Lickilicky doesn't seem too bad on paper. It can power through defensive Pokémon like Alcremie, Altaria, and Articuno, while luring in checks like Tangela and Rhydon just to cripple them with Knock Off. However, with it relying on Double-Edge to truly get big damage off, it can get chipped down a bit. That's why I gave it Leftovers as small compensation, but Silk Scarf is an alternate option to boost its power. Nevertheless, it still struggles versus some physical walls like Cofagrigus, and it certainly has trouble against offensive mons like Sawk and Wisp Rotom.

:lickilicky::basculin::gourgeist::alcremie::sandslash-alola::eldegoss:

After many rough drafts, this is the team I decided to build around SD Lickilicky. Basculin is an offensive pivot that can deal monster amounts of damage to physical walls like Cofagrigus and Qwilfish. Small Gourgeist is a fast wallbreaker that can help this team against bulky Waters, alongside providing speed control with Shadow Sneak. The offensive core isn't flashy, but it can put lots of pressure agaisnt common defensive Pokémon like Rhydon, Alolan Sandslash, and Miltank.

Defensively speaking, my priority was to build a backbone that soaked up Fighting and Ice attacks that threatened my offensive Pokémon. Alcremie and Alolan Sandslash is a duo that accomplishes this pretty well, forcing threats like Jynx and Sawk to rely on prediction to make progress. To resist Earthquakes and Volt Switches while removing hazards effectively, Eldegoss provides a nice role as a mixed wall. This does leave the team weak to Fire-type attacks, but Pokémon like Rapidash are declining in viability, so this weakness is not as brutal as it could be. The team also is weak to Poison-typss, which is an issue given the strength of Skuntank and Silvally-Poison, but the counterplay to those mons are put in the hands of the breakers.

Overall, I'd say that I'm pretty content with how this team ended up, especially after going through multiple different drafts. I hope you all enjoy the team, and happy holidays to Yovan and everyone else! Much love <3
 

twinkay

these bugs love all the sugar in my blood
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happy holidays S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

:mr-rime: :shiinotic: :wishiwashi: :rhydon: :rotom: :sandslash-alola:
team

you wanted a team around specs mr. rime. this mon has a few things going for it over jynx, namely rapid spin, freeze-dry, and healing wish. specs rapid spin seemed like it would've sucked though so i just used the last two, with psychic and focus blast for coverage. i wanted good pivots to bring rime in vs bulky grasses / grounds like tangela and stunfisk, so wishiwashi and rotom were the next two additions to the team. i considered mons like silvally-elec and morpeko that didnt get their pivoting move blocked by grounds but rotom is just a lot better and you can play aggro and hard switch to rime anyway. rime also needed hazard removal but i liked the idea of being able to hazard stack to pressure switches so i added a spinner, in this case alolaslash which provides general utility with spikes / knock off. the team just needed mons to cover weakness at this point so i added rhydon as a rocker that has a lot of defensive utility + can emergency check set-up sweepers with roar (it's also great with hwish support). finally, shiinotic helps cover fighting / ground / water weakness and can provide switch-in opportunities with spore. the team requires you to play pretty aggressive espec against mons like ninetales and pjab sawk that kinda own vs the whole team but i think it can win vs most matchups. have fun!

replay
older team

 

S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

aka Ho3nConfirm3d
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a defending SCL Champion
:heatmor: :qwilfish: :eldegoss: :sandslash-alola: :sableye: :unfezant:

Merry Christmas sexywooper! As per request, I made you a Heatmor team :)

Heatmor was totally hard to build around because it's a little slow and hard to get in at times. I opted for a physical set so the team can have more Knock Off and priority support, and Fire Lash is too unique to pass up on. Drain Punch ended up being the best 4th in my experience not only for the recovery, but also for targeting Miltank. End of the day, Heatmor still struggles with Wishiwashi and Qwilfish with Thunder Punch, so it's better to Knock Off and forget.

The defensive core is a variation of the very popular and successful hazard stack cores that you see nowadays, which seems to work best to support Heatmor's wallbreaking. Fire Lash + Knock Off goes hand in hand with Spikes, so there's Qwilfish as the go-to. Then there's Alolan Sandslash for Stealth Rocks and Eldegoss for Rapid Spin. Rounding out the core is a niche pick of specially defensive Sableye. It's a crucial spinblocker and an additional special wall with recovery––so that Alolan Sandslash isn't overworked––but I also cherish it for Prankster Encore and Will-O-Wisp. These two help a lot for stallbreaking and checking random setup sweepers, and it's not as if the extra Knock Off coverage hurts. Choice Scarf Unfezant is the only other offensive component, but its good Speed and unique coverage rounds things out for it to be a great cleaner.

I hope you enjoy! I also saved this replay of me beating you with the team as I was writing this post. Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
 
Merry Christmas btbozo thebtboy!
:accelgor::hattrem::piloswine::qwilfish::thwackey::regigigas:
You wanted a team built around Choice Specs Accelgor. So to start with Specs Accelgor is wack and weak to rocks to I added Hattrem. For the hattrem moveset I chose 3 attacks to bop stuff like Qwilfish, Rhydon and Sandslash-a with Psychic, Giga Drain and Mystical Fire. For the last move I chose Healing Wish cause Healing Wish broken. Next up I went with poliswine for the rocker, adding an electric immune and soft check to auroruoous. I then decided spikes are broken so I wanted a spiker and chose Qwilfish cause I was looking kinda sawk weak as per usual. The speed is to outpace Adamant Thwackey and get a supprise kill with Poison Jab. Next up went with a Thwackey of my own cause its broken and should be S tier. Terrain support pairs well with Qwillfish reduce Earthquake damage and also gives much needed speed to the team with Priority Grassy Glide. Lastly I chose Regigigas to round out the team cause its a Regigigas and I also needed a spd wall. Hope you enjoy the team!
 
:Delibird: Merry Christmas Aaronboyer :Delibird:


As you discovered in our BW ZU Room Tour, I am your 2021 Secret Santa :). I do not know if you were aware of that you have been a bad bad bad guy this year (Aaronvoyeur). Beyond that, you requested to your beloved Secret Santa a Rapid Spinda Team. Really? This is how much do you hate me? Anyway, without further ado let's go to the teambuilding...

:Spinda: :Muk: :Lunatone: :Corsola: :Eelektrik: :Lumineon:
Click sprites for the paste!

As I have been building a lot BW ZU and you told me in the past that maybe Rapid Spin Spinda could be useful as spinner in the tier... I have built you a team around it in BW ZU :). First, of course, I started adding Spinda. Tbh, bad Pokémon. Its stats are quite mediocre although its movepool is not that bad. I chose to run a special defense spread to help match-up against Frillish (who is the Pokémon to beat here). It runs Toxic to lure it (obvious), Wish for HP recovery and helping other teammates, and Shadow Ball to touch Frillish in some way or another and fishing for some spdef drops. Spinda kind of sucks against Frillish though after Toxic (if Frillish runs Rest then is completely useless practically) so I added Lumineon who can sit up in front of it due to its ability and click Rest/U-turn to pivot around pressuring your opponent. Its U-Turn can bring us some interesting Pokémon such as Muk who is our breaker and it pairs well with Spinda for typing. CurseMuk with attack and HP investment kind of hits hard really, Poison Jab + Poison Touch fishes some poisons which are huge many times and Ice Punch is for Ground-type Pokémon. Finally, Shadow Sneak really sneaks in front of your opponent and it helped me so much in some games. To help Muk against Psychic and Ground-type Pokémon and to add a wincon/breaker I chose Lunatone. This is not an amazing Pokémon but it fulfills here an important job. SpAtk investment with LO is really good to break through walls such as Frillish (2HKO at +1), Munchlax (2HKO at +1), Meganium (2HKO at +1), Solrock (2HKO at +1), Grumpig (3HKO at +1), Wormadam-Trash (2HKO at +1) with the combination of Psyshock and Hidden Power Rock. Moonlight is for recovery as LO and rocks can let you go down of HP. Afterwards, I added Corsola to help against no Volt-Switch Emolga (normally runs U-Turn in order to not lose against other Emolga). Rocky Helmet is great for this altogether with Regenerator. It gives you Stealth Rock and it has a straight-forward moveset (Toxic + Reover + Scald). Good Pokémon really. Last but not least, Eelektrik that also gives you some momentum with U-turn. Super Fang is amazing to cripple opponent's Pokémon and helping both Muk and Lunatone to break through walls. Eelektrik also run Giga Drain for HP recovery and Thunderbolt for STAB and pressuring Frillish. Eelektrik pairs well with Muk due to its ability Levitate (equally to Lunatone) and with Corsola + Lumineon bc it can resist both Electric and Plant-type Pokémon.

Here you have some replays:
vs btboy here Spinda did nothing though :( poor Spinda
vs corthius
vs you losing :(

:bw/Spinda: :bw/Muk: :bw/Lunatone: :bw/Corsola: :bw/Eelektrik: :bw/Lumineon:

1639651890742.png

Credits to Echofon on DeviantArt

 

5Dots

Chairs
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Hey daniYSB ! I was your Secret Santa and built your request around Perrserker! This Viking cat is really cool to build around with two nifty abilities and a coveted Steel-typing.
Originally, I was going to build around Choice Band, but i felt perrserker would have to be prediction-reliant to make the most out of this set. Enter Swords Dance, which enables it to be a strong wincon for late game. It can start setting up against the likes of non-flamethrower altaria, Tangela, and clefairy to make it quite menacing to switch into after one boost. Altaria seemed like the ideal partner, resisting all of Perrserker’s weaknesses, while perrserker helped covered altaria’s. I opted for two attacks to lure defensive Alolan Sandslash, as otherwise it would get walled more easily. 16 Speed EVs were necessary to outspeed opposing Perrserkers as well. Rhydon provides necessary Stealth Rock support and a secondary mixed wall, while also being a great deterrent against Volt Switchers like Rotom and Manectric. I originally opted for Toxic since Altaria was running 2 Attacks, but I felt Swords Dance’s wallbreaking power was more valuable. Minimum speed Wishiwashi provided U-Turn support and provides a third aspect to defensive cores. Rotom is Choice Scarf to provide it with necessary Speed control and creating a VoltTurn core. Choice Band Unfezant rounds out the team by combining the roles of wallbreaker, priority user, and pivot into one slot. This team may struggle against Hail as Rotom is the only form of Speed Control against Alolan Sandslash/Beartic.

Here’s a replay featuring the team!
 
titans.png


Happy Holidays Tuthur! You asked for a team with the #1 ZU Titan and although you gave me a bad Raboot team, I am such a good person that I even made you 2 teams (although they are more 2 versions of the same team but who cares lol)! They do feature the same mons but they work differently so I hope you enjoy both of them.

Teambuilding process
:abomasnow: First, I added Abomasnow because well, you said you wanted it and it's kinda cool so here it is!
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola: Since we have Hail, might as well abuse it with the biggest offensive threat the archetype has
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi: Wishi is a czimTM and helps the team sponge hits from several mons, gives the team a sturdy Fire, Ice and Water check and pivot Aboma/Slash in safely
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom: Then, I added Defog Rotom because Qwilfish was annoying for this and the Spikes were getting out of hand, it also complements the Voltturn nature of the team and gives us a much needed Fight-immunity
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom::gurdurr: I added Gurdurr because it was cool but it ended up making the team too weak to some threats like Cofagrigus and Gurdurr and I swapped it for one of my creations.
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom::alcremie: Rocky Helmet Alcremie helped the team punish Voltturn a bit and helped the team deal with the 2 aforementioned threats and gave the team a secondary wincon. Alcremie is just a really good mon and it works here.
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom::alcremie::piloswine: Team was looking a bit slow so I added Piloswine as the SR setter with Ice Shard, and has enough offensive presence so the team doesn't lose too much momentum.
Overall this isn't perfect but it's a fun BO team that worked well on tests despite losing to terreitor.
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom::alcremie::piloswine: - version 1
Yes, this is the one I used vs terreitor and features a more straightforward Hail with Icy Rock Abomasnow and SD Sandslash-Alola but I ran into the worst matchup ever and lost the game so.
:abomasnow::sandslash-alola::wishiwashi::rotom::alcremie::piloswine: - version 2
This one is the one I made first and is actually more fun. Eject Pack Abomasnow into CB Slash is a cool tech and potentially having an itemless Abomasnow improves the Gourgeist MU tremendously for the team (which is awful lmao).
replays: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1475957655 (vs terreitor)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1471963885-w8s53uych0y94y3b1lndwb2khbkqg1tpw (vs obb)

Happy holidays everyone and ty for hosting this Mirbro!
 
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Hera

Make a move before they can make an act on you
is a Social Media Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
PUPL Champion
Hey there JonAmon 25 , you gave me a TR Cofagrigus for your Secret Santa. Very interesting idea considering it gets Nasty Plot, so I tried to make it work.

:ss/cofagrigus: :ss/perrserker: :ss/beheeyem: :ss/whiscash: :ss/carbink: :ss/throh:

I forgot how to build balance in this tier so I just threw together a bunch of stereotypical TR mons and went 10-1 on ladder when testing. Cofagrigus is itemless because I couldn't think of an item that actually helped Cofa more than being able to setup on stuff like Trevenant or Dusknoir. Perrserker is Metal Coat to bluff Band and make it harder to play around, while still getting important calcs on mons like Altaria. Beheeyem is standard for TR, you bulk a hit, use TR, then click Meteor Beam and break a few things. Whishcash may seem odd, but I wanted something that could break common cores like Alolaslash + Qwilfish + Altaria and stuff like that. You can change Sub to Stone Edge if you're worried about Articuno. Carbink is almost never your lead here, but when it is, Rocks and instant momentum can be very handy. Finally, I wanted a Fighting-type to round out the team because they're good cleaners, so I chose Guts Throh to beat up stuff. Very fun team, it's easy to just let your mind relax and get free ELO with it. Happy Holidays!

Also here's a replay showcasing how the team performs: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8zu-1476082353-mu0ol5ae4yutrb3lbiv7urnwqn2ex18pw
 
:ss/liepard:

I had the privilege of being Toto's secret santa, and he asked for a team with this very specific Liepard set:

Liepard @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Copycat
- Encore

Well all I can say is be careful what you wish for, because currently this set is the Pokemon equivalent of coal for Christmas. I don't wanna rip into it too much, but basically it's paper thin, a worse dark pulse user than Thievul and a worse encore user than Sableye, can't touch the myriad fighting/fairy types in the tier, hasn't got the damage output to threaten other stuff sufficiently, and relies on risky prediction to make any headway, making it ultimately a big ol' momentum sink.

Initially I tried to make a team which had a dedicated switch-in to all the stuff Liepard struggles with, along with a Silvally-Dark set with iron head and psychic fangs to lure the fairies and fightings, but it was pretty terrible, so instead I made an e-terrain team, which still isn't very good but is at least more fun.

Electric Feline:

:liepard: :pincurchin: :raichu: :miltank: :golbat: :klinklang:

So first up we have Liepard, who helps maintain momentum by copycatting the volt switches and U-turns of its teammates, revenge kills weak things and stops the opponent mindlessly setting up.

As this is an e-terrain team Pincurchin is a requirement; set is pretty standard.

Raichu is an odd pick but the speed tier is great, plus with NP and surf you can actually eventually break through stuff like Rhydon and Stunfisk, which Manectric struggles to do.

Miltank is how you deal with hail - body press is a cool tech which lets you deal with all the ice types better, especially Sand-A and Aurorus (pretty sure this is like the only answer to Aurorus in the tier).

Golbat helps with the matchup against fighting types, defogs and maintains momentum with U-turn.

Finally band Klinklang is pretty fun right now: volt switch keeps momentum against common switchins while steel roller hits stuff hard and is actually not a terrible choice for the 4th moveslot.

Here's a ladder replay where Liepard actually did something useful
Liepard @ Black Glasses
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Copycat
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Encore

Merry xmas!

The real secret santa present was all the points I gifted Toto on the ladder with this team
 
Heya 5Dots! I was your secret santa and as you requested for it, I built an hazard stack team with a cool wincon that I named "La machine à gagner".

First of all, you need to know that i've built two teams but the first one looked too much like the Aurorus Balance from czim so i've chosen to go on something more offensive. So here's the team:

:qwilfish: :thwackey: :rhydon: :rotom: :articuno: :rapidash:

Teambuilding Process
I started to build around the core Qwilfish :qwilfish: + Thwackey :thwackey:which i like because Qwilfish can lay spikes and act as a fighting resist while Thwackey provides Grassy Terrain support which gives qwilfish recovery and lowers super effective damages from ground-type moves. Speed investment on Qwilfish lets him outspeed Adamant Thwackey and cripple it with poison jab as the monkey is a big threat for the team.

Then i added Rhydon :rhydon: to get Stealth Rock support and Electrik immunity with Roar as a last move to phaze annoying stuff like CM Uxie when needed or just abuse of hazard stacking.

To prevent spinners to get rid of hazards, i added a Rotom :rotom: which also brings more pivoting to abuse stack hazard. Furthermore, it provides speed control and can irritate checks like Stunfisk or Rhydon which is useful as the last one is threatening for the whole team.

Articuno :articuno: can defog if needed, check Jynx, Frosmoth and that kind of stuff while also pivoting on his common switch-ins like Rhydon.

Finally, I added Rapidash :rapidash: which act as a wincon. This set runs will-o-wisp to deal with Rhydon more easily and doesn't run Morning Sun because of the high popularity of Hail.

Hope you like it! Don't hesitate to contact me on discord if i miss something or you have some questions, and Merry Christmas! (Thanks to Louna for helping me fixing problems and f Tuthur for triggering me with Aurorus team)
 

wooper

heavy booty-doots
is a Forum Moderator
Mirbro, you obviously know i am your secret santa because you organized this, but regardless, you were naughty and asked for a double choiced, double steel-type core of banded :perrserker: and either banded or specs :klinklang:, and i am here to deliver! i made 3 different versions of this, so i'll start with the first one i built:
i looked over :klinklang:'s special movepool and it was absolutely abysmal and i refused to run steel beam because still taking 50% when the move fails on protect or on a sac is very evil and not fun. so instead, i opted for banded with toxic as a lure for :stunfisk: specifically. then i paired it with the necessary banded :perrserker:, very standard moves, nothing special here. i knew i wanted a grass type next to be able to handle the aforementioned :stunfisk: and other ground types and i ended up choosing physdef :lurantis: with enough speed to outpace 0 investment :rhydon:, even with a relaxed nature, just in case. i opted for synthesis + aromatherapy for longevity, as well as for healing any status on the steels, mainly from things like :stunfisk:'s static, :shiinotic:'s effect spore, and the rare flame body from mons like :coalossal: and :rapidash:. i definitely needed a fire-type check, so i opted for :wishiwashi:, which also synergized nicely with :lurantis:'s aromatherapy by not having to rely on sleep talk rolls so often. this also gave the team a slow pivot to get in your banded steel-type breakers. :altaria: was added as a secondary fire-type check, an additional ground-type check, a fighting resist for the team, and a defogger since i didnt include it on :lurantis:. i chose hurricane over flamethrower because i wanted to be able to handle fire-types, which otherwise wall you, and i didnt want to be physically-oriented with eq to still handle grasses. despite hail being so good rn, which hurts :altaria:'s viability, i figured that 2 steels + :wishiwashi: to mostly keep it at bay. i've also considered making :altaria: fully spdef and :wishiwashi: physdef over spdef to improve the hail matchup. finally, i was missing a rocker and a strong special attacker that didnt require set-up, so i slotted on the team an offensive rocks :lunatone:. this adds yet another fire- and ground-type check, as well as being able to dent grasses like :tangela: and :gourgeist: and opposing :altaria: with ice beam, and earth power for steels that would otherwise give the team trouble. i initially had rocks meteor beam :aurorus:, but it shared too many weaknesses with the rest of the team and that wasnt appealing to me personally. if you dont mind that, i think you could totally try that out with rocks/meteor beam/freeze dry/earth power, modest max spatk max speed holding a power herb. the team is lacking in speed control so honestly it's not the best i will admit, but it was fun nonetheless!


this second team is identical to the first, but i did actually want to see if specs :klinklang: performed better than banded. it got some nice clean surprise damage on physdef mons hoping to come in on some gear grinds like :tangela:, but overall, i ended up liking the banded version better. because i went special on this team, i swapped hurricane on :altaria: with eq to better target fire-types. still no speed control tho lol

the above teams worked about as well as i thought they would, but i wanted to try my hand at building around this core one last time, in a different way. first, the same banded steels as before. next, i added :shiinotic: to check fighting- and ground-types, and the steels resist flying, ice, and poison in return. 20 speed evs lets you outspeed 0 investment stunfisk and do damage with giga or put it to sleep with spore. having spore is also really great for getting your steels in. i added :wishiwashi: next as the resident fire-type check, status absorber, and slow pivot from the previous teams. i then still needed a rocker and a wanted a second fire- and ice-type check, and who better than :miltank:! this also gave the team a heal bell user, which again eased sleep talk on :wishiwashi:, and generally just cures the team of status. 20 speed evs outspeeds max speed positive nature :abomasnow:, and with hdb and 56 spdef evs, you will always live :aurorus:'s +1 meteor beam + hail chip, and you can ohko back with body press. i felt that this was necessary to help the defensive core survive the rise of hail matchups on the ladder. finally, i added much needed speed control with scarf :rotom:. i opted for defog over trick as emergency hazard removal, but looking back, you could maybe swap wishi for something like :cramorant: i suppose, make :miltank: more spdef, and then swap defog for trick.

anyways, those are the teams! they are not very good tbh but they are made and thats what counts, right? happy laddering, and merry holidays!
 

Antares

turtwig knight
is a Social Media Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributor
Louna I was ur secret santa and here is the psyvally team u asked
fuck psyvally.png <- open it
:Silvally-Psychic: the star of the team, the thing who will win the most of the matchs. I went for a classical SD Flame Charge set, never a wrong thing on any silvally. He should be sent on the field and revealed only at the end of the match, once his checks have been weakened
:uxie: i kinda went for a psy spam with an uxie np. Uxie with np can be surprising for opponants, and his mission is to weaken or to defeat psyvally's checks. Shadow Ball can be an option for like, opponants uxie.
:throh: can switch on dark and bug type threats for uxie and psyvally, help to deal with rotom
:unfezant: speed control tool, help with thwakey, pivot, great things, ghost usefull ghost type immunity if u want to flex against scarf rotom
:eldegoss: also helps with thwak and rotom, deals with ground types like stunfisk, remove hazards. Sleep powder can be used instead of stun spore to help uxie and psyvally finding good setup opportunities
:runerigus: good ol bulky ground, the sr setter of the team, can annoy things like skun until he loses his colbur, very usefull to switch on physical attacks

also i have to thank Tuthur who helped fixing the team
 
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Danny

is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributor
ZU Circuit Champion
Yo Antares i built a team for u w this terrible Liepard set. Gotta say it’s done next to nothing in most tests but it’s what u wanted to it’s what u get. Wanted to start with double throat spray so I paired ur requested throat spray Liepard with throat spray accelgor and went from there.

After that I added a rocker, a fight resist, and then a broken. And to round off the team I messed with a bunch of different mons, but ended up liking dash galar the best. Any Mon can rlly fit there, specifically an ice resist and a stall breaker. So feel free to experiment.Anyways here’s the team!


:liepard: :accelgor: :dugtrio-alola: :silvally-poison: :flapple: :rapidash-galar:


Hope you enjoy!
 

JonAmon 25

Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
is a Pre-Contributor
Merry Christmas Corthius ! I built the Life Orb Flapple + Kangaskhan and I really enjoyed building and using it and I hope you do too!

:flapple: :kangaskhan: :Cofagrigus: :Articuno: :Rhydon: :alcremie:

:Cofagrigus: - I chose Resttalk Coba Cofa as a solid physical wall to be able to deal with mons Kanga and Flapple can’t stay in vs or switch into such as Sawk, Alolan Sandslash, and opposing Kangaskhan. Shadow Ball + Body Press is also very tough to switch into and either moves can at least 2HKO most offensive mons.

:articuno: Then I chose Articuno as my hazard removal because of its access to U-Turn to get Flapple in more often and have an answer to Frosmoth.

:Rhydon: - Rhydon is the rocker I chose as an obligatory Electric immunity that can also deal with the teams weakness to Skuntank.

:alcremie: Finally we have Alcremie, which serves as the wincon and as a reliable switch in to Theivul.

Hope you enjoy this team!
 

RoiDadadou

My heart and actions are utterly unclouded.
is a Pre-Contributor
Heya all !
I had the privilege to be Serving Suggestion's Secret Santa (SSSSS for short), and was asked to build around Silvally-Ice ! Quite rude when you know that he got me out of the last ZU Tour I inned and where I played Hail with an Ice-based team.

Jk :psysly:

I've never really built in ZU before, so I guess my team is kinda dogshit, but I'll try to give some explanations on why my retarded build is actually genious decent playable.

:silvally-ice:

First off, since I've been traumatized countless times by Articuno walling my whole damn team, I took the fact that I had to build around a physical Ice-type personally. Sir Mirbro suggested that I made a mixed set and was probably right but I gently declined the offer, sure of what I was doing. I thus went on a SD + Flame Charge set, quite basic, with the inclusion of Rock Slide to hit Coalossa, Rapidash and Cuno at the very least.

:silvally-ice: :coalossal: :gurdurr:

To assist my Vally in the best way, I decided I needed to get some bulks and utility in my first two mons, and also reduce the number of threats to my late game sweep. I added SpeDef Coal because of Bandolossal because I needed rocks, and felt like it was my favorite rocker in the tier. And also because fuck Cuno and I wanted a spin. Anyway after that, I wanted a non passive Koffer, who could threaten a bit Cofagrigus. Again, not an expert, but I liked Gurdurr in the comp, so put him in for the priority, potential other sweeper, and because Guts is OP. Also Toxic on Coal to avoid stupid setup strat shenanigans.

:silvally-ice: :coalossal: :gurdurr: :perrserker: :rotom: :thwackey:

And hum, well sorry to say it like this, but the three last are for Speed issues, with Scarf, Priority and Tom, and just for pivoting. 'cause I felt like cheaping the opposing team was the only way to get Vally-Ice to do anything. Anyway Perrs hits hard, Thwackey ease up MU versus the Grounds like Stunfisk, Rhydon etc, and Rotom was needed for Speed, checking the waters (Wishi), and disrupting a bit with Trick.

:silvally-ice: :coalossal: :gurdurr: :perrserker: :rotom: :thwackey:


Not my best build of all times, by far. Really deepshit if you really look at it, but I did my best with what I knew of the tier.

I hope you still enjoy it :bloblul: :blobthumbsup:


And also, I don't have any replay, because Beka didn't want me to save the loss he got against this shitty made team, in the only match where I tried it out against him
421523344031219713.png

Love you Beka
love.png
 

Aaronboyer

Something Worth Fighting For
is a Contributor to Smogon
Hey Itchyy I was your Secret Santa this year. I know I'm posting this team a bit late and that the upcoming shifts will likely quickly make this team invalid. I was at a point halfway through December where I genuinely wanted to give up, because as you know you gave me one of the hardest Pokemon to build around in Cosmoem. Not only that but I also had to provide Wish passing support, which while clearly gave me a direction I wanted to go, it was difficult trying to essentially build a stall team with only five Pokemon. There's more tweaking and finessing to be done for sure, but I'm satisfied at the moment with how the team panned out, and I hope you'll enjoy memeing around Cosmoem on the ladder this week.

:cosmoem: :lickilicky:
So I started out with Cosmoem obviously, which in replays which I forgot to save did more than just act as a punching bag. Cosmoem is actually pretty cool having a dedicated slot to switch into an opposing Trick/Switcheroo user. A lot of games Rotom would switch its Scarf and obtain an Eviolite and then Clefairy was able to henceforth switch into Rotom all day without fear of losing its own Eviolite which was pretty cool. Cosmoem also continues to tank hits surprisingly well even without its Eviolite, and Teleport support has been pretty nifty too. Mirbro initially suggest pairing Cosmoem with Clefairy as the Wish passer, but I 100% wanted Lickilicky. It provides Wish support, a Ghost immunity, and an immunity to Taunt, meaning Lickilicky always gets a Wish off, while Cosmoem can switch into Fighting-types with impunity and then Teleport into an appropriate answer like Qwilfish or Pyukumuku.

:cosmoem: :lickilicky: :qwilfish: :pyukumuku:
Speaking of which, I really wanted use Cofagrigus, I really really did. But Qwilfish has proved infinitely more useful in all of my test games switching into Fighting-types without really worrying about being Knocked Off. Toxic Spikes support gives Cosmoem some sort of ability to outstall opponents on its own, and being able to shut down opposing stall tactics with Taunt has been invaluable. Rest Qwilfish is not something I can say I've seen so far this generation, although I've seen it teched on a few stall teams from Gen 7 PU and gives Qwilfish a lot of longevity opponents don't initially expect even though it does commonly run Pain Split. Pyuku was a necessity from just needing an Unaware mon.

:cosmoem: :lickilicky: :qwilfish: :eldegoss: :pyukumuku: :clefairy:
At this point Rotom kind of just wins, so I tried my best to cover with Eldegoss who provides entry hazard removal and cleric suport. Clefairy also handles Rotom, specifically choiced sets which I already mentioned a bit above while also setting up rocks, knocking off all the things, and providing the team with another specially defensive wall besides Lickilicky.

Team Importable
Merry Christmas Itchyy, and have a Happy New Year!
 

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