Metagame SWSH Little Cup Teambuilding Competition

[Drifting]

approved by Coconut, OP stolen from the DPP OU Teambuilding Competition.

Art by ashelyDeluxe​

Welcome to the SWSH Little Cup Teambuilding Competition thread! Each week I will post a new Pokemon, core, set or team archetype, and its up to you to make the best possible team out of it! Every time you post a new team, you will have to provide an explanation of the building process, strength and weaknesses, and the importable of the team itself. The winner of each week will get their team featured in the Hall of Fame!

Some rules:

1) Don't copy somebody else's team. Pretty straightforward here, we want this competition to be as diverse as possible, and copying a team someone else posted will result in a DQ for that week's round. Taking inspiration is absolutely fine, but I don't wanna see copies of teams.

2) Don't vote for yourself.

3) Don't ask for votes, neither for you or your friends. Let's keep the competition fair and clean.

Here's an example on how you should post your team:

Description

describe building process, strength and weaknesses, etc.

HALL OF FAME

Week 1: D-Rank

Won by wesh papillon with The Phantump Pain
Honourable Mention: DOOR MONEY with THE CUBONE CIRCLE

Week 2: Weather

Won by Coconut with Why Choose Just One?

Week 3: Doubles

Won by Actuarily with Scarf Trick Goth

Week 4: Fire-Water-Grass

Won by Coconut with Starter Sun and Pamplona with Shedding Off The Heat

Week 5: Hyper Offense

Won by wesh papillon with Chinese Sun

 

[Drifting]

This first round will be a test, so I have chosen a simple prompt for everyone to do this week.

Build a team around a Pokemon listed as "D-Rank" in the Viability Rankings

Basically just as it sounds. Build a team where the main focus is on a Pokemon listed as D-Rank in the Viability Rankings. I hope to see some cool teams from everyone :)

The deadline for the building phase is Friday 22nd of July, 11:59pm AEST

EDIT: A lot of people have been asking and I didn't specify, but you can use an Unranked mon instead if you really want to.

 

[Shandeur]

Scorbunny Spike Stack

Teambuilding Process

I started with an extremely potent offensive core. Scorbunny destroys every steel in the tier, and that opens a huge hole for Choice Scarf Porygon, who notably doesn't like either steel.

I then noticed the core was weak against Carvanha, so I added Timburr for powerful priority, and being able to Knock Off/Beat Bulky Waters, which helps Scorbunny. Timburr also helps vs Frillish, as it can use Frillish as setup fodder due to Guts.

I decided to bring Staryu as a second special attacker. Life Orb Staryu is a fast special wall-breaker that can help overwhelm Ferroseed and is able outright OHKO Pawniard with Hydro Pump due to Life Orb and Analytic. Rapid Spin also helps Scorbunny not worry about Stealth Rocks.

Grookey can helps with Bulky Waters, and Knock Off into Wood Hammer is able to OHKO standard Mareanie after rocks. You can also never be too safe against Carvanha. Grookey also can revenge kill trappers and can live Trapinch's First Impression.

I then added Dwebble for obvious reasons. It wouldn't be a Spikes Team without Spikes, of course.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Strengths of this team lie in it's offensive presence. Strong Wallbreakers, Priority, and Hazard control on both sides is great. Scorbunny is notable for destroying both prominent steels, and can somewhat check Abra via Sucker Punch making it a Dark Type. It can help Porygon clean more easily. Timburr can spiral out of control very quickly, and can help vs Carvanha. Staryu can help chip down Ferroseed even faster for a Porygon end-game.

Some Weaknesses is that you can't threaten too much without hazards, as defensive cores can just recover on you. Scorbunny's attack can feel meager sometimes, and it has the issue of having to deal with speed-tying with Mienfoo. I even considered teleport on Porygon to go to Scorbunny on Steels.

Problematic Pokemon

Grassy Seed Acrobatics goes extremely hard into this team. My only Grass resists are frail, and can die to +2 Acrobatics. Porygon doesn't enjoy eating a Grassy Glide either.

With my only Normal Resist being my suicide lead, Scarf Porygon is a threat to the team. You can outplay with Timburr and Grookey, but if those are down, Good Luck.

Mareanie can blank several of my attackers, and can recover in the face of repeated attackers. However, Knock Off into Wood Hammer from Grookey can beat it one on one.

The freest Volt Switch of ALL TIME. No Ground on the team means Scarf Magnemite automatically goes hard into it. Oftentimes you can just outplay with Timburr.

 

[PyProd]

mfw I have to build around Meowth (Meowth + Trap Mag)

Description

The team is built around the humorous D-rank Meowth, which looks like an interesting pick in this meta. This new Trapper Magnemite set aims to solve its biggest problem in opposing Steel-types, and three Pokémon pack Knock Off in the team to further support Meowth. The removal of Steel-types and Knock support greatly benefit Staryu as well, as its greatest switchins are either trapped or hampered by Knock Off. The team notably struggles a great deal against opposing Frillish if it is well played, and Meowth's low longevity overall makes games fairly complicated to plan in the long run.

Teambuilding Process

While looking at the non-Morelull D-ranks currently in the Viability Rankings, one particularly interested me. Meowth has some nice traits in this meta, such as its pretty strong priorities allowing it to handle or heavily dent problematic stuff such as Carvanha, Abra, Speed-boosted Porygon, Magby, Sun sweepers, etc, and the fact it hits 19 Speed. However, Meowth has some problems: it is heavily walled by Steel-types, it struggles with recoil especially if rocks are up, and Meowth still remains weak, so it needs Knock Off support.

Introducing, the return of Trapper Mag, courtesy of Lokifan and myself as you may have seen in that one cursed LCPL game. Unlike Salac Berry Substitute Trapper Magnemite, this set can swap into and beat most Pawniard and Ferroseed, while still being able to serve as the Steel-type of the team in a pinch thanks to its Eviolite. Its role here will be to trap the two main Steel-types that Meowth struggles against. Moreover, freeing up the opposing Steel-types this freely allows us for more flexibility in teambuilding, since we don't have to pack a sturdier check to these. Meowth + Magnemite will therefore be our base core.

Then, Koffing was the Pokémon of choice! Its Neutralizing Gas allowsfor permanent chip damage on opposing Regenerator Pokémon such as Mienfoo or Mareanie, and it can forgo the use of Fire Blast very easily thanks to our Trapper Mag. Koffing can check problematic stuff such as Grookey and Mienfoo defensively, so it is always great to have one!

Staryu is our next slot. Steel-types that Magnemite traps will almost always get Stealth Rocks up, and this is where Staryu comes in! It will also be the Koffing and Natu switchin by default of the team. It notably helps check Ponyta and Tyrunt and really loves having Ferroseed dispatched of. As such, it can be a formidable offensive presence as well!

Next, we still want our own Stealth Rock or Spikes support, as well as a Pokémon that can check the special attackers in the tier (as Magnemite won't be effective at this if it traps a Steel-type due to them packing Knock Off and our priority user can't switch into them + we don't really have anything to handle Staryu). Ferroseed gives us a more workable Steel-type which can spread Paralysis to help solve the Speed issue and check stuff such as Abra, Porygon and Staryu better. Ferroseed also continues the trend of giving us Knock Off support and chip thanks to its Iron Barbs Ability. Spikes is chosen here as it can more easily dent through the common middle-ground options against the team.

The last member of the team is our bread-and-butter Fighting-type glue: Mienfoo! Thanks to the flexibility Trapper Mag allows us investment-wise since no Steel-type has to be checked, Mienfoo can go all-out with a bulkier investment in conjuction with a better ability to keep its Eviolite intact, which helps tremendously against an unfathomable number of threats. Its Knock Off support and slow U-turn helps Meowth and Staryu find opportunities to break.

One thing of importance to note is that, as this 6 looks Tyrunt weak, each Pokémon has a way to deny Tyrunt dealing too much damage to the team. It outright can't set up on Magnemite, Will-O-Wisp Koffing (which would normally be food), Thunder Wave Ferroseed and Mienfoo. While it can set up on Meowth, the use of Knock Off lets Staryu's Ice Beam finish the job. Staryu can only deny the set up if it is healthy, which should be the main concern against Tyrunt teams.

Thank you for hosting this, it is a nice breath of fresh air and a thread I look forward to. I'm interested in what this will hold for the future!

 

[TheShoddyStrawman]

https://pokepast.es/9b90a2aeadd0523e

Description

Typical Fighting Poison Steel Core. Mienfoo because of its blanket utility. Koffing stalls out regenerator on mons like Mareanie and Foongus to help Dewpider break them later on. Pawniard is a more active Knock Off spreader than Ferroseed, so it can weaken opposing teams more easily. Porygon is to bring in opposing steels to wear them down for Dewpider later on.

The big odd choices are Zubat and Dewpider. Dewpider is a nuke if it gets free turns, throwing off Water Bubble boosted attacks can OHKO non resists extremely easily. Rookidee was chosen as Dewpider hates rocks, which limits its potential due to taking 25% HP every time it comes in. Zubat can take Mienfoo's hits, roost up to come back in again, then U turn out into Dewpider or Porygon while providing Defog Support to keep Porygon and Dewpider healthy.

Teambuilding Process

Dewpider is a stupid little bug that can hit like a truck. I never used it before, but Water Bubble seems like a fun and strong ability to use in Little Cup, plus I really enjoy Araquanid's design.

There was the usual mons in Mienfoo, Koffing and Pawniard, as most teams are incomplete without the Fighting Poison Steel Core, so I figured I should get the baseline mons down before getting into specific supports to help Dewpider Succeed.

The problem with spinners like Drilbur and Staryu is that rocks makes you really suspectable to Mienfoo, as it can come in and threaten with a very hard HJK to the face and you have to make a choice between no rocks or heavy damage, as seen with many Larvesta teams. So I wanted to have a mon that could remove hazards while not being weak to Mienfoo, so I looked into Eeveeto's thread and found that Rookidee had some really optimal moves. Brave Bird to threaten some good damage was nice, but Roost + U turn + Defog was the main selling point. Reliable moves all around. And then I saw that there was also Zubat.

Functionally, Zubat is the same. Same stats with training and same possible movepool, only that you have a poison type secondary. I was a bit hesitant at first because of psychic type moves being super effective, but I relented because the main thing that zubat/rookidee was supposed to do is check Mienfoo, then Defog, and pivot out. Having the poison typing means that U turn and HJK from Foo become much easier to take. So I decided to go with that instead. Also Inner Focus is a better Ability than Big Pecks.

Good luck to everyone else.

 

[blooclipse]

the uh the the uh i uh did the uh the thing

queen noodle.

Team Description

This team was built around RestTalk DD Dratini. It is a super strong cleaner and sometimes wallbreaker that loves this current metagame, what with like 0 fairies right now. With two Knock Off users and Thief Koffing (or wisp), there is a lot of support for a Dratini sweep. With support from its teammates, Dratini is easily able to clean up lategame. This team has a lot of longevity and can stick around to the lategame, chipping mons down and removing their Eviolites, letting Dratini clean up lategame. Dratini is the only real offensive mon on this team; which can be annoying at times, but all the Pokemon work together to facilitate its sweep.

special things on this team

This team contains both Levitate Koffing, and Eviolite Diglett (different spread than normal)
On this team, Levitate Koffing has a lot of utility as it can switch into ground types that would normally be problematic. It also can bluff Air balloon Diglett. NGas is a hard ability to pass up; but as long as the regenerator mons are knocked off, Dratini can still sweep after rocks. It doesn't need much actual chip.
The spread on Diglett lives +6 Magby Mach Punch after rocks, which is super helpful on this very HO-weak team.

Teambuilding process

I wanted to build with Dratini. I have experimented with many Dratini sets in the current metagame, but I've found that RestTalk DD is the best. LO 4 attacks isn't strong enough to justify at the moment, and LO dragon dance just can't find opportunities to set up.

Diglett is the obvious partner to a mon that struggles with steels. Diglett can trap and remove Pawniard and various poisons which Dratini loves.Not trapping ferro isn't a problem on this team because this Dratini set actually uses Ferro as setup fodder. This started out as a

I'm just grouping these together as they form the good ol fight-poison-steel core. All of them remove eviolites and can chip things down into range of dratini, and also helping switch into many many threats. Koffing specifically started out as NGas. Mienfoo is mienfoo, and ferro sets rocks and is good role compression.

Staryu is a great mon. This team doesn't like having to deal with hazards, and Staryu's ability to spin is super helpful. Star being able to switch into certain Pokemon like Ponyta and force switches is also super helpful. It can run either Ice Beam or Psychic in the last slot to pressure grasses or fighters.

 

[Fiend]

https://pokepast.es/90a4f05b7dab2de7

I've always found that smart enough opponents can minimize Carvanha's potential to dance around the Steels while preserving health on Mienfoo or whatever they need. There are far better ways to make this harder, but I've always liked putting terrible coverage on Pokemon. Initially this was a team with Zorua but that simply never worked well. Making the team vastly more normal, I put Drain Punch on Meme Jr and then my other favorite moves T wave and Sucker Punch. It outspeeds Pawniard and does 20 damage. It actually takes extremely little from Pawn, so you can theoretically chip with with Sucker Punch then recover to half. I have never done this. Psychic does 90% minimum to Koffing. Everything else rounds out a standard Carvanha team with Wisp Split Koffing due to Tyrunt. I would note the Pawn spread is slightly different than what I see everyone else run. Random ladder goons will win the Pawniard trades. Run Ancient Power Diglett if you want to meme Larvestas or double SR if you want to maximize Meme JR.

 

[Bella]

(Shoutout to pap for some really helpful input to this team <3)

Description

So this is a team centered around Scarf Amaura. Ive always liked Amaura as a Mon and wanted to try it out. This is made as a balance team, with the WinCon being scarf amaura, with a secondary "wincon" being Rapid Spin Drilbur, but for the most part you want to keep amaura for late game to clean up.

Building Process

I wanted to make a team with Amaura. It looked fun to use and i noticed how powerful it was under hail. Since you only need 3 solts for Freeze Dry Blizzard and Earth Power, the last slot is interchangable. I just put Aurora Veil for a bit of support, but theres a case to be made for Ancient Power if you really want to bop larvesta or Sleep talk or something like that.

So this was a Larvesta but Pap reminded me how stupid bad of a Matchup Psychic Types were to this team (im looking at you SashBra.), so we changed it up for Stunky. this is a standard set, but im a firm believer in Stunky being amazing, and its put Work for this team. Really soft grook check but it threatens it hard, and also has a great defensive typing to come in safely to break through so amaura can clean.

is my rocker, and has a great niche in rocking on natu. Rock tomb is a really underrated move in the meta imo, the speed boost has saved me alot. Also, i needed a koffing check, and Drilbur works.

Im Grouping these two together because i dont have alot to say about them. Just standard Defensive Wall Poison and Mienfoo pivot.

Just for a bit more offensive pressure + i needed a carv check, and Grookey does well at that. Just a standard Evo set. Spreads knock off for Amaura support.

Problematic Pokemon

GOD I HATE THIS THING. Sashbra is a bad MU for this team, and you need to keep Stunky alive to beat it if you dont want to lose a mon to beat it.

This is a 6-0 if Grookey goes down. Just dont let Grookey die and Keep Foo and Mareanie knock-free.

Just keep Stunky alive. and keep Mareanie alive aswell.

 

[ACNT]

Shuca Berry Chinchou Volt Spam

team description

This Volt Spam has the main purpose of keeping the momentum throughout the game by harassing the opponent via different pivoting moves + Neutralizing Gas Koffing denying Regenerator. The team is built around the core Shuca Berry Chinchou + Analytic Magnemite : Chinchou can lure Diglett and ground types, hold any ground attack via Shuca Berry and kill them with Scald which allows Magneti to have free rein to spam Volt Switch.

teambuilding process

is the star of the team, as the first member of the + core. His role is mainly to lure the opposing but it can also check a lot of things, including . Scald and Discharge weakens the enemy team in the long run by inflicting status. Heal Bell also allows him to play a Cleric role in some match-ups, it's mostly useful for that will sometimes have to switch on Thunder Wace from . The spread allows to live LO EQ after SR damages, 13 spatk instead of 14 isnt too costly for what this is supposed to do

is our main win condition. Its main purpose is to spam Volt Switch once the opposing team no longer has anything to absorb the electrical attacks. Nothing special to say about his moveset.

is a mandatory slot. He forms an effective Volt-Turn core with and since pokemons that can switch on it like get threatened by the Volt Spam core.

is one of the key pieces of the Volt Spam core as it can prevent pokémon with Regenerator from regaining life, as well as providing resistance to fighting types and . We play wow here instead of Thunderbolt because the team has no problem against Mareanie and because it is imperative to prevent a possible from setting up.

is a glue mon. It is mainly used to check what might be a problem for the team, such as , which might be difficult to manage in the long run, but also Flash Fire . He can also countertrap if has failed in its mission. Finally, Teleport is played here rather than Ice Beam because Ice Beam is not needed to win vs and Teleport regains momentum much more easily, especially by being able to bring safely and on the field.

is the sr setter of the team. Why it rather than something else? Simply because his Eviolite version checks and +1 , is able to spin and has a strong offensive presence. It's a good mon to break through weakened defensive cores, and an excellent glue for the team. I've used an aggressive spread here to increase the offensive presence of the pokemon but you can play a more bulky spread with 116 in def if you wish.

match-ups

it's auto-lose vs sun
very hard match-up, keep porygon high
very dangerous, switch to before it can dd, or burn it if he has the guts to DD front of
probably fine since you have and But be cautious in late game
you are probably fine against hail if you don't troll too much with the
/ + really annoying, you will probably have to sac something early

It's fine v classical balance stuff imo but it depends on the sets / exact 6.

importable

https://pokepast.es/6764c86ac6d76123

 

[gali]

this is a fun team i built a few months ago using life orb pumpkaboo-small, which hits extremely hard with the combo of poltergeist+bullet seed and can clean really easily with flame charge+its resistance/immunity to common priority. shadow sneak is also really cool for rking stuff like abra, although you can run rock slide in this slot as well. teleport staryu gets it in vs ferroseed, letting it flame charge for free. pawniard is the preferred steel type here to avoid stacking weaknesses too much, while evio diglett removes threatening foes like ponyta and pawniard.

 

[wesh papillon]

THE PHANTUMP PAIN(in the ass)

​

ashelyDeluxe​

A team I made especially for this! This is a team inspired by that stupid phantump I kept running into ladder. I though I could make it way more of a "chaotic evil" team. So yeah sorry for anyone who has to play against this. On the flip side the team is frankly hilarious to use (maybe that says more about me than about the team tho)

building

I started with phantump obviously, psychic to hit koffing for a 2hko (who would otherwise ruin the harvest bs I have going on), max speed cuz really I dont need anythign else, 14 is cool for tying faster pawns tho ig. this dude really jsut stalls out as is a mega pain.

Added a deino next. Deino has maybe the best type all of lc. immune to Abra and nato's stabs as well as resisting most of there coverage. Completly walling carv and pony. As well as many other nicher ish mons that really just cannot it. The sucky part is that its pretty bad at like actually hitting stuff. In the best case you would have deino just sit around, maybe hit dragon tail, maybe not, and still make progress.

you know these two already, partners in crime, a strong trapper to remove poison types (except koff) and a tspiker. Tspikes are especially good vs ladder ppl who use larv/morelull/ other types of teams with no poison lol. The dig can also sorta trap foo thanks to the help of our next candidate.

dont leave just yet, just isnt ur normal mienfoo, my man is the fattest foo ever, with a whopping 15 defense!! The idea is that you can take a fake out a knock+ HJK from a normal foo, and retaliate my knocking first then u turning into ur dig, trapping the foo at the start of the game. Foo being slower than mare also makes it really easy to jsut trap mare cuz u just slow u turn on scald lol.

the steel of the team so I dont lose to pory, its really a pain to deal with if u can get spikes up ( you can just keep recycling)

threats

Well it went undefeated in testing, 6-0 on the ladder, tho I did luck on game where I dodge a leaf storm from a scarf Fomantis, so ig watch out for that?

Proof of peak If anyone cares

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8lc-1621040233-ic45xp95m60i7a7vpoy236m76ys8d0xpw I only got one opponent to agree to me posting the replay so thank you PigWarrior19

another replay vs the oh so annoying Canadian spikes https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8lc-1622563987-wb7tqtn55plz21vi6afgmubjo7sweizpw thx for allowing to use it BeardedDrakon

Overall I think most mu should be at least playable, tho its definitly a team that is sus to play and I wouldnt use it in a tournament if I were you, since even if its ok in most mu its def not rock solid or anything (I mean it has 2 Unranked so like what did u expect)

Be sure to subscribe to TheKingKarp if you wanna see it played in a YouTube video by a true pokemon master (that being Acehunter1 , not me or karp kek)

 

[Pamplona]

- - - - -

I was in Top 32 of LC Majors this year and was looking for alternative removal users and anorith stuck out to me for its bug typing and 18 speed tier so I began there. Team ended up winning which is great. Also used togepi and won in Top 16 who is also a d rank pokemon but I went with this team instead.

Anorith (ranked d) - A nice glue pokemon that I find to be sufficient in its role. It will never wow you away but it will always get the job done and that's get a rapid spin off to remove hazards. Knock is a useful tool as it will often take the eviolite off of fighters, but it will also 2ko frillish and natu so they can't come in. X-scissor stops Grookey and you tank a glide. Brick break is a nice way to surprise KO pawniard as peeps swap in expecting knock, or stay in not expecting brick break after.

Mienfoo - Nice to have a regen pokemon on the squad. Acrobatics for opposing larvesta/foongus/morelull/etc.

Axew (unranked - wtf?) - Clear the resists and a +1 Outrage is insane. A clear advantage over Tyrunt is its pure dragon typing meaning you can set up vs grookey which warrants it being ranked d alone imo. Pure dragon typing is pretty nice and you can tank a hit vs a lot of peeps. superpower is there if you need it for steels. sub is great way to dodge wisp, twave, and spore. Good enough bulk, great attack, solid pokemon. Could always run alternative dragon moves over outrage so you're not locked but I like seeing OHKOs.

Larvesta - Fight resist, slow pivot, wildcharge 2ko on frillish after spike. One of my favorite pokemon to use.

Ferroseed - deals with staryu and porygon MUs, adds spikes to help claim kos and ohkos, revenge to clear steels for axew. also spore absorber.

Mudbray - heavy hitter that can turn sweeper especially if physical fighters are all that's left at the end of a game. also does well vs punishing most pokemon and can come in on koffing. also good just for fighting +1 tyrunts.


weaknesses: mienfoos with rock coverage or opposing mienfoos pivoting into a diglett with rock coverage. salac trapper magnemite if you let it get going.

 

[Hacker]

THE CUBONE CIRCLE
(click on Cubone for pokepaste) sorry if the formatting sucks this is my first post like this and had trouble organizing everything together

Teambuilding

Earlier today when this I fully decided I wanted to make a post in this, I looked through all of the mons I could choose from and decided this was the one I wanted to use. The main reason I chose Cubone for this is I fought a Cubone on the ladder one day and it did WAY TOO MUCH damage to my Mienfoo when I swapped it in. I think Cubone has a great niche in this tier threatening all of the poisons due to its typing and being fast enough to outspeed and threaten some of the slower pokemon in the tier.

The next Pokémon on this team is Mienfoo, is anyone surprised? Mienfoo is practically a great partner for everything in this tier as well as soft checks a lot of prominent threats. Mienfoo pairs specifically well with Cubone because it baits in the poison types that Cubone absolutely FEASTS on.

I think this little bug is a great addition to the team. Larvesta is a pokemon I haven't actually built with myself and I think it serves as a really good fit here as one of the main things that Cubone can struggle with is Grookey who this bug can burn with flame body effectively neutralizing the mon. Larvesta can also serve as a great pivot to help bring in Cubone. This also means I can stray off of regular team structure and not be forced to use a poison type.

The main con you get when you put Larvesta on a team is that you could be extremely weak to hazards and I think these two are great fits to make sure they do not go up because with this set staryu can spin on every hazard setter not ferroseed which natu completely walls and forces out. Staryu also can function as the teams water and fire resist due to its typing. And for natu it also provides an amazing defensive typing helping vs opposing grookey and being immune vs ground types.

Every team in LC needs a steel type otherwise you get rolled by Porygon, and this is my choice of a steel. I chose Pawniard over Ferroseed because I like the offensive pressure that Pawniard can apply and its able to get up rocks vs Natu which is one of the best pokemon in the tier right now.

TLDR

The goal of this team is to pivot in, bring in your Cubone, and apply tons of pressure. I think the rest of the team serves as self explanatory. If you wanna explore other options with this team you could try ferroseed over pawniard or put a poison over Larvesta.

 

[Laroxyl]

(click on the image for the pokepaste)

Teambuilding

I wanted to build around treecko and so I made a fight spam grass spam + mienfoo core.
The plan of this team is to lure treecko’s counters with taunt foo and evio grook.

Treecko set is standard grassy seed for activating his ability in the first turn, acro bullet dpunch sd.
Grookey is evio uturn because I really need a nice switch on waters and grounds cuz I don’t have a flying type + uturn helps better in core with treecko having more momentum and so I don’t lose turns of grassy terrain in case I want to switch in treecko easily.
Mienfoo has the standard set with taunt > fake out, especially for pain split koffing, so it can’t recover life after being knocked and so it will be in range after of +2 acro treecko which is the real plan of this team as I have already explained at the top. Taunt is also better here for screen teams / venipede teams cuz I don’t have a spinner/defogger so spikes could be annoying.


After this big trio, I decided to put pawn as setter and especially it is better than ferro cuz having 3 grass types doesn’t fit very well. Pawn fits better here as psychic check like vs abra / natu.

After I put mareanie as fight check and fire check. I preferred it instead of koffing especially because I needed a fire check and also imo I don’t need a grookey check + having another mon that can knock eviolite helps better treecko to sweep after. Mare fits better also because of the grassy terrain so the core uturn foo + diglett doesn’t have an easy way to kill it.

Lastly I put diglett for trapping mareanie and pony which were still annoying and for having a nice switch for koffing. It helps also the treecko sweep with memento. It is evio with a different spatk spread because of the grassy terrain, I wanted to be sure to kill or at least to make big damage vs pony and mareanie. So 76 spatk + hasty nature + earth power is especially for that.
Here there are some calcs:

Calcs

76 SpA Diglett Earth Power vs. 36 HP / 0 SpD Ponyta: 18-24 (81.8 - 109%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (18, 18, 18, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 24)


76 SpA Diglett Earth Power vs. 116 HP / 180 SpD Mareanie: 14-20 (60.8 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (14, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 20)

Weaknesses

Psychics, + 1 pony if your mare is knocked and acro grook but I think you can manage them.

For psychics you have pawn and evio dig beat up + evio grook which should be ok;
for pony just try to have full life mareanie and you also have spunch pawn as priority;
against acro grook which is recognizable especially in screen teams, just keep your grassy seed treecko and also you have so many speed ties with grookey and foo so it should be ok as situation.

 

[DuGuo]

The Du of DuGuo is Du, not poison

(click on the mons for the pokepaste)

Description

This team expand around trap. The Eject Pack on Salandit, the Eject Button on Mareanie and the Air Balloon on Diglett constitute a great trap chain. Swards Dance Grookey and Substitute Mienfoo can gain an advantage over the enemies attracted by Salandit but unable to be beat easily by diglett, including but not limited to Staryu, Porygon, Frillish. Archen is the sixth mon after my careful consideration. It is the only Stealth Rock in the team and has the ability to exert pressure on fighting Mons and flying Mons, such as Mienfoo and Natu.

Teambuilding Poress

First, I want to build around Salandit. I immediately thought of the cooperation between Eject Pack salandit and Diglett. Then, I used Swards Dance Grookey and Substitute Mienfoo to exert pressure on Staryu, Porygon, Frillish and so on, because Salandit+diglett are difficult to beat them. By the way, I think Eject Button Mareanie is also suitable for my cool trap chain, so I joined it. Finally, I need stealth rock, and it can put pressure on Mienfoo and Natu. Considering that this would be a handsome team, I finally chose Archen.

Match-ups

Well, When you use Archen+Salandit, what else can you expect? Even so, you only need very strong double switch and prediction, and this team will be invincible. In fact, as long as the small tricks played by this team work, it is still very powerful, lol.

My self talk

Thank you for hosting this post. I thought a long time ago why LC doesn't have teambuilding competition while other meta have, lol. It's interesting, and I really don't want to just replace some Mon, so I built this. Believe me, even though most of the teams here are not suitable for tournaments, I believe it will make meta full of vitality.

Thanks for reading :D S/o: Shou Dui xujing691691 hybone​

 

[paolode99]

HO SCORBUNNY È BROKEN TECH

- - - - -
(click on the sprites for the pokepaste)

TEAMBUILDING

I built this team around scorbunny, with the main purpose of emulating a monotype team fire that used a funny tech with cinderace scope lens and focus energy able to almost always critt the opponent and if played well can win the game alone. Focus Energy in combination with Scope Lens and Libero can turn scorbunny into a great revenge killer. Unfortunately in lc this tech loses power as scorbunny does not learn pyro ball and therefore we have to settle for Blaze Kick. Luckily we keep the very strong High Jump Kick and Sucker Punch which is very useful for the revenge kill of faster Pokèmon.


The second Pokèmon I chose for this team is dwebble, as I tried this scorbunny tech also in team balance but I saw that it made much more in the ho teams. Dwebble's task is the same as all suicide leads in ho teams: set hazards and die. thanks to Weak Armor we are able to set more layers of hazards as generally the opponents lead with physical attackers like mienfoo and eviolite allows us to be more bulky and tank some more hits.


As in all the teams I have that respect each other, let's move on to the setup sweepers. The setup sweepers I chose for this team are tyrunt and grookey probably the strongest pokèmon in the tier. Tyrunt is able to set up on passive Pokèmon such as Koffing and Natu, thanks to one boost of Dragon Dance tyrunt is able to OHKO almost all the pokèmon of the tier. I chose to play Berry Juice to give him more of a chance to outlive his opponents as he tries to sweep. The moves chosen for Tyrunt are Dragon Dance, Rock Blast, Fire Fang, and Psychic Fangs. Rock Blast is very useful against Pokemon that may have Focus Sash as it is a multi-hit move and is also very useful against Flyng, Ice and Fire types. I preferred Fire Fang over Close Combat as it is able to OHKO Ferroseed and Pawniard although without Close Combat we are unable to OHKO Porygon. Psychic Fangs is Tyrunt's iconic move, capable of removing shields and taking down the tier's major threats.


Grassy Seed Grookey is one of the best sweepers in LC, thanks to his Grassy Surge ability which allows him to have Grassy Glide with a +1 priority, guaranteeing him to attack first on many occasions with active terrain and thanks to Grassy seed that as soon as activates the terrain allows him to have a boost in defense and enhances the Acrobatics move that in combo with Swords Dance transforms Grookey into a first-rate sweeper. The last move of the set is Knock Off, probably LC's strongest and most useful move that can remove the various items.


Abra is the only Pokèmon that uses special moves in the team, equipped with a Focus Sash to resist an extra attack and to use the combo with Counter, able to beat physical attackers like Pawniard. Psychic is his STAB move capable of dealing massive damage to all Pokémon in LC except Dark-types. Shadow Ball is its coverage move against Ghost and Psychic-types such as Natu and Frillish. Dazzling Gleam is his move for hitting Dark or Dragon Types and I chose it mainly to cause as much damage to opposing Tyrunt as possible.


Carvanha is the revenge killer for excellence in LC, thanks to the Speed Boost ability and Protect it can overcome all the Pokémon in the tier. The set I chose for Carvanha is the classic Physical Sweeper set with the Life Orb to cause as much damage as possible. Flip turn is a very useful move that allows us to pivot and bring in another teammate who has a better match up in safety. Psychic Fangs threatens Poison and Fight types such as Foongus, Koffing and Mienfoo and is able to remove screens. Crunch is his stab move for excellence capable of taking down Psychic and Ghost types and also has a 20% chanche to decrease the opponent's defense.

This team was created for total fun but playing it against some good players and in the LC room tournaments it proved to be a good team. If you want to experience the taste of critting all attacks this team with Scorbunny is for you!





​

 

[Kazeiyuu]

See you, Space Cowboy...

“You know the first rule in combat? shoot them before they shoot you.”

Why using Remoraid?

Remoraid is in fact a really cool Pokemon. Its insane coverage option Fire Blast allowing it to tears through common water type check with ease, such as Ferroseed or Foongus for example. Water Spout is a terrific STAB whith its huge 150 base power, 2HKOing everything that doesn't resist it. Remoraid's offensive statistics are also great, with a great 16 in SpA and an astonishing 17 in speed, which is damn good for a scarf user, allowing it to reach a speed of 25. With all of this, Remoraid is a litteral gun, blasting through opposition at mach 3. too fast for eyes.

Description

The main objective of this team is too literally flood your opponent under a lot of water. Yes, it's a water spam. Remoraid capacity to break through most common water type check being highly appreciated by Staryu, while the starfish offers a good hazard removal in exchange, since Remoraid doesn't like getting weakened by entry hazards. Diglett is here to trap stuff like Mareanie and Ponyta or to final gambit an annoying Staryu. Ferroseed is used in conjuction with Diglett in order to stack both Stealth Rock and Spikes, making it easier for Remoraid and Staryu to break through annoying Pokemon like the aformentioned bulky water types, Ferroseed also gives a very solid defensive answer to those Pokemon. Finally, Koffing is here to wall Grookey, Remoraid's worst nightmare, and can also pressure Foongus and Mareanie, canceling both their active and passive recovery, thanks to its coverage and ability.

...Bang​

 

[risi]

*insert cool name here*

(click sprites for paste)

reason for building with honedge:
Honedge is imo an underrated steel, it is a decent check to psychic types, super super annoying for porygon, which can only hit it with tbolt, tyrunt check, and it's ghost typing is nice for deterring foo hjk and avoiding being trapped.

teambuilding process:

I started off with a honedge + drilbur core, I like that drilbur is very good at forcing rocks up through natu's magic bounce, which is really beneficial for honedge since it really hates dealing with larvesta and ponyta. Another idea I had with drilbur was that it can put some pressure on opposing staryu if you get the rapid spin off, and staryu is really annoying for honedge since honedge doesn't have any coverage for it. Staryu was the next mon I wanted to fit, because I really wanted a water type that could switch into fire types somewhat reliably. Mareanie I did not like so much because its prone to getting uturned on and trapped by diglett, didn't really like frillish either because I didn't want 2 knock weak slow mons, staryu also provides some speed control. Trace Porygon is a comfy glue mon, checks larv, prevents honedge from being overwhelmed by natu, also can take advantage of honedge possibly baiting steels like pawniard and getting rid of them with sacred sword. Larvesta checks grookey + fighting types, pivot is also nice. Mienfoo slot is mienfoo, you just need one because... idk.

tough mus:

staryu and ponyta can be annoying, pony should probably be manageable between staryu/pory/drilbur, staryu is a bit tougher but worst case, just win the speed tie with your other staryu :p
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8lc-1621105805-p2fin3alhq35i1is8urowk2rvw59t81pw
here is a replay that showcases honedge

hope you enjoy using this team as much as i did!

 

[rarre]

https://pokepast.es/7056ef133f0aa2bc​

Why skrelp:
Mostly because Steel207 told me to build skrelp when I brought up maybe competing in the LC teambuilding competition. Skrelp is interesting because it has no-so great stats, yet it’s still viable because of adaptability, making it hit quite hard.

Teambuilding process

I started with a core of skrelp and ferroseed. Ferroseed synergies well with skrelp. It’s able to provide knock, paralysis, and rocks support for skrelp. It’s also the steel type for the team, critically providing a check to porygon and some abra.

Mienfoo completes the fighting-poison-steel core. I also opted to give it stone edge to deal with larvesta, which could be annoying for my team to deal with. Also, the foo

Larvesta gave a more solid check to opposing grookey, mienfoo, and other physical attackers. I wasn’t really content with how the team could be easily overwhelmed by the two after the teams eviolites were knocked.

Natu provides a form of hazard control, which larvesta greatly appreciates, while also functioning as a fine special attacker and a way to break the annoying ferroseed for skrelp.

The team lacked a sort of speed control and completely died to tyrunt, so I added a scarf mudbray.

Threats

Ponyta is difficult to long-term check for the team. Mudbray can switch in, but only once, as it takes too much from flare blitz. Larv can switch in, but it can’t actually threaten ponyta.


Namely life orb diglett, as it can threaten every mon with eq, rock slide, and beat up. Mudbray and ferroseed can take a hit in a pinch.


If mudbray is weakened/knocked, tyrunt runs through this team easily after a boost.

Hazards
Natu can’t keep rocks and spikes off super consistently, which really hurts a lot of team members, mostly skrelp, larv, and mudbray.

 

[bdov]

https://pokepast.es/0b50d96320c41097
Reason for building with Treecko:
Treecko is an underrated sweeper in the current metagame with a move pool that can ohko so much of the meta. One SD usually means game and there aren’t many Pokémon that can do enough to prevent it.

Teambuilding

I started with the core of grookey + treecko to take advantage of grassy seed unburden. I decided to go with an SD treecko set to maximize its sweeping potential.

Dwebble hazard stack allows for it to get the chip it needs on certain mons to be able to ohko (ponyta, natu, koffing (after a knock).

The rest of the team is basically volt turn pivots that can safely switch in on a multitude of moves. And mareanie is just a solid defensive backbone.

Threats

Koffing: you should be able to chip away enough as this is usually the only switch in to foo or grookey, who can both u turn out and knock it off.
Natu: Natu is trickier to switch into however, any chip on this is good enough and a knock can immediately set up the treecko wincon. You can also use endure strats with magnemite.
Ponyta: arguably the hardest to deal with, but also the easiest to get chip on. One knock, or even just rocks gives you enough to ohko with treecko.
Mareanie: can be annoying if allowed to stay healthy, but you there’s plenty of ways to deal with it still.
Trapinch: the other one arguably the hardest to deal with. While first impression doesn’t ohko treecko you need to be very careful about chip and about hp on mareanie and mag.

 

[JustNot]

I made this it was rushed

Crab rave time, scarf Krabby team
Big thanks to Door Money for helping me with this

Teambuilding

I first started with a trapper that can remove problematic matchups for Krabby like Grookey, Mareanie, Ferro and Carv so Krabby would have a smoother time sweeping

I added Pawn because it was a stealth rocker that has a strong knock off to remove eviolite from a lot of bulkier mons that Krabby can’t break. Mienfoo is also there for knock and generally being a useful pivot to get Krabby into the field safely

Koffing is there to serve as the bulky poison as always and a backup to beat grasses just in case Trapinch gets overwelmed. Ponyta is there to break a huge hole into the other team and to burn Grook and other priority users so they can’t revenge Krabby later in the game

A few problematic mons

Specifically scarf Mudbray can run through this team if Mienfoo and Trapinch were damaged

Koffing isn’t really good at longevity and without it fighting Mareanie is just STANDING HERE, I REALIZE

If it got burned by Pony guts boosted attacks stings, even worse if Koffing was knocked
I bet there’s lots more weaknesses but I’m too lazy to find more

 

[Wes8888]

https://pokepast.es/d7b1f6d30d1a2bc1
A team centered around Shell Smash Omanyte.

Teambuilding

Started out with this core. Omanyte is a nice shell smasher with great coverage and nice bulk. It's fatal flaw, however, is it's weakness to priority users, most notably Grookey and Timburr. That's why I put Ponyta here. It can switch into Grassy Glide and threaten a burn on Grookey, and is also generally good at spreading burns and crippling physical attackers, which gives Omanyte more opportunities to set up.

Added Foo because it does Foo things. It spreads Knocks and can pivot Omanyte in. It's also just a great benefit to the team in general.

Needed a Fight resist, and Koffing also happens to be a pretty good check to Grookey. Omanyte loves its ability to force Grookey out while also coming in on Timburr's Mach Punch

Needed a Steel, so why not one that double resists grass. Ferroseed is great at spreading knocks which, alongside rocks, can put many foes into KO range of Omanyte.

With its trapping abilities, Trapinch rounds out the team with one final layer of Grookey insurance. It can remove non-Protect Grookey easily with First Impression, and also takes out Pawniard, who does around 50% to Omanyte with Sucker Punch.

Notable Threats

Despite all the Grookey counters present, it doesn't change the fact that it forces out Omanyte and stops its sweep in its tracks.

Walls pony and foo and threatens scald burns. However it can be handled by Trapinch and Omanyte's +2 Earth Power.

Takes Omanyte out with Mach Punch, hits Ferroseed hard, and can become very problematic if it manages to get burned.

I realize that having no hazard control can be an issue, but this team puts a lot of pressure on common hazard setters like Pawniard and Ferroseed

 

[Iynhe]

https://pokepast.es/da0595ea5bff9c52

I have always hated using "overused" mons. Yeah, ignore the mienfoo, i'm already a bad teambuilder and we're already playing with mons that are not considered the best XD So this teambuilding competition came as a gust of fresh air! Plus i'm seeing less used mon on the ladder, that's fantastic!

Teambuilding process

Sheer Force is my favourite ability. Krabby happens to be unranked and I already tried to create a team with it, but this time I have a little bit more experience. I went with an agility set because the name of the set is SFLO (sheer force life orb) so yeah, i couldn't just ignore the LO part. Liquidation is the best STAB that goes well with the ability, Body Slam and Rocky Slide are the other two decent attacks that also take advantage of the ability. Krabby dies to Grookey and other priority users. The only non physical one that I can think of is Croagunk, that usually no one uses -but the team can handle, as seen in the only one time I saw it-. Therefore, Larvesta is the coolest switchin I could find. WoW is there because Flame Body is not a 100% chance of burn, Morning Sun because we need larvesta to survive, Flare Blitz is the best stab, U-Turn gains us momentum which is one of the key to success. Then I decided that I wanted to trap stuff that in theory Krabby couldn't cleanly beat. I never tried LO Diglett so I went with it. Sucker Punch in case something is faster, EQ is STAB, Rock Slide is for larvesta and stuff that resists EQ, Beat Up is for Sash Abra because that's an evil mon (that I love so much.) Mienfoo, as much as I hate it, it's useful. KOff is needed because Eviolite exists, Fake Out hits a bunch of faster stuff and it's free damage, HJK is STAB, U-turn is momentum. I had two slots left and I still needed a) hazards b) hazard control c) something to come into mons that Larvesta couldn't come into. Drilbur is one of the few mons that has both hazards and hazard control. Berry Juice because I need it to come in a lot to spin, something that can't do if it's dead. SR is worse than Spikes here but heh, we get the mon the tier offers and I think it's better on the team. EQ is stab, Rock Slide hits Natu. Porygon was the last mon chosen. It comes into anything else that Larvesta can't come into. Carvanha (albeit it's a problematic mon), Ponyta, Abra, Staryu come to mind. I had TBolt instead of Ice Beam but that's a much more useful attack, so I switched. Teleport as usual for momentum, Tri-Attack is STAB, Recover is for longevity.

Weaknesses and threats

First thing first, I only have one Knock Off user. I tried Anorith instead of Drilbur but the SR weakness is harsh, albeit it survives more hits AND it hits 18 speed, which is EXTREMELY useful. It's a substitute for Drilbur if you want. Battling I found out that it might be enough, Krabby is definitely powerful and it ohkoed a bunch of stuff that still had its eviolite on, but it's pushing our luck a bit.
Carvanha is one of the problematic mons. Porygon is a switchin, but if it has Flip Turn it's annoying. Crabby can survive one hit and ohko back iirc but it's not the best. Being weak to a somewhat common mon is not the best, but as I said i'm not the best teambuilder.
I had some problems with grassy seed Grookey, but usually Larvesta + Mienfoo are enough to stop it.
I have nothing that can hit supereffectively Koffing and usually needs to get his eviolite knocked off, but it's a Mienfoo switchin, so that is taken care for. Then I have a bunch of stuff that can hit it hard enough. I found nothing else to be a problem, or maybe I simply didn't encounter something else that IS a problem.
Last thing: Larvesta and Porygon must be kept healthy until all mons they check are taken care of. Multiple of them can definitely overpower them (but it didn't happen often.)

 

[Drifting]

Wow! I really didn't expect such an incredible turnout for Week One. Thank you to everyone who participated and also all those who gave positive feedback. Here are this weeks teams:

Team 1 - Scorbunny Spike Stack by Shandeur

Team 2 - Meowth + Trap Mag by PyProd

Team 3 - Dewpider Monoblue by TheShoddyStrawman

Team 4 - Queen Noodle by Bluecliqse

Team 5 - Mime Jr. + Carvanha by Fiend

Team 6 - Amaura + Ky by uhBella

Team 7 - Shuca Berry Chinchou Volt Spam by ACNT

Team 8 - Pumpkaboo Offense by gali

Team 9 - The Phantump Pain by wesh papillon

Team 10 - Anorith Poisonless by Pamplona

Team 11 - THE CUBONE CIRCLE by DOOR MONEY

Team 12 - Grass Spam + Foo by Laroxyl

Team 13 - The Du of DuGuo is Du, Not Poison by DuGuo

Team 14 - HO Scorbunny È Broken Tech by paolode99

Team 15 - See You, Space Cowboy... by Be Like Bisharp

Team 16 - *insert cool name here* by risi

Team 17 - Skrelpseed by rarre

Team 18 - Dwebble Hazards + Grassy Seed Treecko by bdov

Team 19 - Crab Rave Time by JustNot

Team 20 - Omanyte + Grookey Counterplay by Wes8888

Team 21 - Krabby Poisonless by Iynhe

I recommend reading through people's write-ups if you haven't already, some very insightful stuff that could aid in your decision.

To vote, please post with the three teams that you think should win. For example, if I thought that Team 735, Team 90 and Team 129 were the best, I would post this:

Team 735, Team 90, Team 129

Very simple. After voting is finished the team(s) with the most votes will win. Good luck!

The voting period will end on Sunday 11:59pm, 24th July AEST

 

[TheShoddyStrawman]

Team 9, Team 11, Team 1