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The team centers on Mega Clefable's Unaware ability to wall setup sweepers and Life Orb Mimikyu, with Magic Mirror post-Mega blocking Taunt and Encore. Sneasler leads to spread Toxic Spikes and recover opposing Toxic Spikes as a Poison type; Mega Blaziken pairs with Clefable as a secondary Mega for offensive Fire-Fairy coverage. Garchomp lays Stealth Rock, Gholdengo beats stall with Substitute plus Nasty Plot, and Choice Scarf Ditto handles Mega Gyarados and other boosters. The author notes Clefable's base stats are modest and it can be KO'd by two strong hits before accumulating enough Cosmic Power, making precise play essential.Build article →

The team is built around Mega Delphox as the ace of a dual-screens setup. With a base Speed of 134 in the current meta and Light Clay Grimmsnarl setting up both screens, Mega Delphox becomes unstoppable after one Nasty Plot. Primarina with Focus Sash handles leads like Garchomp and Staraptor while Encore disrupts setups; Archaludon checks Mimikyu and various special threats with great type synergy alongside Delphox; Mega Gyarados serves as a backup sweeper whose Mold Breaker ignores Mimikyu's disguise; and Scarf Meowscarada was added last to deal with water-types. The author notes that Mega Delphox had excellent matchup spread, but Hydreigon and Kingambit were persistent problems, and the dual-Mega restriction made team preview decisions difficult.Build article →

The hyper-offense team is anchored by Life Orb Mimikyu, whose Disguise ability ignores Stealth Rock damage and allows it to function as a lead, mid-game breaker, or late-game cleaner. Mega Delphox runs Substitute to bait switches and create openings, tolerating Stealth Rock chip better than Charizard. Sash Meowscarada leads against screens and Gyarados teams, also Knock Off to disrupt opponent setups. Mega Lucario surprised opponents with Rock Slide and Bullet Punch and ended up the team's strongest individual performer. The author acknowledges fast Sneasler and Mega Metagross as persistent threats the team struggles against.Build article →

kuru wanted to abuse the new-meta megas with an offensive Trick Room core, landing on Mega Mawile. Since Mawile is slow, Mimikyu sets Trick Room to fix its speed and packs a Life Orb to snipe with Shadow Sneak, while a Focus Sash Torrent Greninja gives a safe, flexible lead. Because Mawile and Mimikyu are both Fairy and hate Fire, Ground and Steel, kuru added a Stealth Rock/Spikes Garchomp and a Leftovers Milotic as two pivots to chip away, with Mega Charizard Y in the back for Water and Grass coverage. There is no fixed lead; it is all about reading the switch to land free Play Rough with Mawile. He rates the matchup pressure highly but says bulky walls and combos like Meganium, Mega Blaziken plus Corviknight, or Bellibolt are very hard to break.Build article →

Setsuna built the whole team around his partner Sylveon and deliberately ran a single mega for cleaner selection. Sylveon holds Leftovers, tuned to survive Garchomp Earthquake and to fire off Yawn from underneath plus Quick Attack to finish. A Choice Scarf Meowscarada applies Knock Off pressure, Archaludon is a pure Stealth Rock lead, and Focus Sash Torrent Greninja is the MVP that carried him into the top 999 thanks to a scary priority Water Shuriken. The only mega is a max-speed Metagross for offense up top, with a non-mega Life Orb Blaziken in the back that he calculated actually hits harder than the mega. Selection is just two shapes: mega plus two, or Stealth Rock plus Sylveon's Yawn loop plus a sweeper. He says it handles offense and cycle teams but struggles against bulk and setup like Corviknight, Minimize Qwilfish and Mega Clefable, and finds Mega Charizard Y annoying.Build article →

This is a Sticky Web plus Bulk Up Staraptor cheese team. The Mega Staraptor core runs Contrary, so Close Combat hits hard while making it bulkier, baiting Ghosts and switch-ins that it then uses as Bulk Up setup fodder against Mimikyu, Ceruledge, Basculegion and Aegislash, and it can even stack boosts un-evolved into Metagross and Mawile. The back MVP is Slurpuff: Sticky Web plus Yawn plus Endeavor, using Unburden to spam Yawn from above, cripple walls with Endeavor, and it is nearly unstoppable without Taunt. Archaludon is the second sweeper under Web with wide coverage and bulk, using Shuca Berry to check Metagross and Gyarados, while Nasty Plot Substitute Hydreigon beats the Gholdengo, Skeledirge and stall that Staraptor cannot, and Mega Lopunny covers Gholdengo, Dragonite and fast megas. The standard lead is Slurpuff plus Staraptor plus Archaludon. The author says the build comfortabBuild article →

Shin climbed from 320,000th in M-1 to a brief Champion rank and 908th, built around a Choice Scarf Staraptor axis, paired with a fast Mega Greninja for speed control and two pivots, Heat Rotom and Primarina, to cycle and chip. Staraptor uses Reckless Brave Bird and Double-Edge, pressing forward when ahead and using U-turn to make favorable matchups when behind. Mega Mawile is its type partner, one-shotting things with Huge Power, while a special-attack Garchomp ambushes Corviknight and Archaludon that switch in expecting a physical attacker. Heat Rotom is a physical wall and Volt Switch pivot, and Primarina uses Alluring Voice and Flip Turn to pressure Umbreon and walls, while the disguised Mega Greninja ambushes the Hydreigon plus Metagross cores. He stresses he never overhauled the team, only tweaked it, grinding a huge number of games; the weakness is a lack of setup or phazing, so buBuild article →

This is a borrowed Hippowdon plus Gyarados sand cycle, based on a 5th-place M-A Season 2 team. The core idea is that Hippowdon beats the new-gen threats across the board, wall Ninetales, rain, Mimikyu-Mawile, Blaziken and Metagross, and paired with Gyarados it holds the whole cycle together. Hippowdon runs the standard Stealth Rock plus Yawn plus Slack Off set, while Leftovers Intimidate Gyarados covers the Primarina and Meowscarada that Hippowdon fears, disrupts setup with Taunt, and has wide, hard-to-waste coverage. Mega Glimmora is the best partner for Hippowdon with its sand Special Defense boost and high power, Mega Lopunny forces coverage with speed and No Guard, and the author calls Blade-form Aegislash the most underrated mon whose damage explodes when it wins a prediction. Choice Scarf Staraptor is the breaker whose Reckless Brave Bird one-shots Mega Delphox and Mega Venusaur. TBuild article →

The author is a four-month competitive newcomer who stayed in the top 999 for the first time, built around an offensive Snorlax. Snorlax breaks first and Greninja and Azumarill clean up, a plan he says won roughly 80 percent of games. Snorlax runs Earthquake plus Ice Punch with a fighting-resist berry, hitting the meta hard and freely phazing through teams, while Mega Raichu Y is the main attacker tuned to survive Life Orb Mimikyu's Swords Dance Shadow Sneak and Mega Mawile's Sucker Punch, and Lightning Rod lets it eat Electric moves. Mega Greninja switched from Focus Sash Torrent to Protean, using Water Shuriken to pick off sped-up threats after Snorlax breaks, while Corviknight is the top physical wall and a team-preview pressure piece. Skeledirge handles Baton Pass setup teams like Clefable, and Azumarill even fights Gholdengo thanks to Knock Off. He admits Bellibolt, Vivillon and MeoBuild article →

This team is headlined by Vivillon, with the idea of simply out-slugging with high-matchup mons, warping the opponent's selection with team preview, and keeping Trick Room and setup as comeback insurance. Vivillon runs Leftovers Compound Eyes with Hurricane, Substitute, Quiver Dance and Sleep Powder, feasting on grinders like Umbreon, Corviknight, Dragalge and Victreebel, and punishing Hippowdon and Archaludon without a phazing move. Mega Lopunny is the Adamant attacker, Focus Sash Espathra hard-checks Metagross and the hidden Hydreigon plus Metagross core, Mimikyu runs Curse plus Trick Room, and Mystic Water Basculegion is the Trick Room ace and slow-cycle killer that can now be brought alongside Lopunny, with an Oran Berry Steel Beam Archaludon as glue. The lead is chosen from these depending on the opponent. He says it handles offense and cycle teams but fears Meowscarada plus HippowdBuild article →

With no team locked before the last day, the author just threw together the six best matchup mons, anchored by Mega Staraptor and Mega Starmie. Mega Staraptor uses Contrary Close Combat and rarely minds being blocked by Ghosts except Mimikyu; its only troublesome physical walls are Corviknight and Slowbro, and it even deters the popular Hisuian Samurott lead, making it the strongest new mega in his eyes. Pelipper brings rain and hard-checks the Hippowdon that Staraptor cannot beat while pressuring Metagross, and Life Orb Dragapult absorbs Fighting, baits Fighting moves onto Archaludon and Krookodile, reliably beats Mega Raichu Y, and punishes screens teams. Mega Starmie is a Huge Power physical set that wins almost every matchup and pressures Metagross, Choice Scarf Krookodile revenge-kills Basculegion, Metagross, Raichu, Lopunny, Lucario and Delphox, and the bulky Archaludon lays StealtBuild article →

The author touched Champion rank with sand last season and stuck with it, since the Smooth Rock and Life Orb releases let sand teams hit full power. The core is Excadrill, using Smooth Rock to extend sand and Life Orb for damage, running Modest-speed to outspeed Archaludon outside sand and one-shot Metagross up top. Tyranitar, not Hippowdon, is the main sand setter with Smooth Rock, with the bonus of switching into Delphox, but Hippowdon comes along as a second sand setter, a physically defensive set specifically to wall the otherwise hopeless Blaziken. Mega Meganium handles what sand teams fear with reliable accuracy, better than Scovillain, and only hates Poison Jab Garchomp, while Mega Dragonite is plainly strong and easy to use. The last slot was a last-day Never-Melt Ice Vanilluxe to trade with bulky mons and Greninja, giving up Aurora Veil. He only aimed for 2300 and slipped into tBuild article →

The author fell for Mega Dragalge's Regenerator and looks, then cooked a do-it-all defensive cycle around it. Mega Dragalge is a Special Defense monster that eats most special attacks, running Draco Meteor, Flip Turn, Toxic and Toxic Spikes, tanking Garchomp and Hippowdon Earthquakes to extend Gholdengo's reach, and it had the highest selection rate. Partner one is Grimmsnarl with Fake Out, Foul Play, Parting Shot and Reflect, hiding Foul Play to punish the Gyarados and Mega Charizard X that set up thinking it is harmless, which he considers the team's real MVP, while Corviknight is the second partner covering Steel physical attackers and Mimikyu. Hisuian Samurott holds Expert Belt disguised as a Choice Scarf, spamming Ceaseless Edge and Wave Crash and cleaning up Gholdengo, Delphox and hard-to-break stall with Sucker Punch and Encore. Choice Scarf Gholdengo hard-answers Archaludon by trBuild article →

The author's idea is to deliberately keep megas out of the core, trading a strong set of standard mons plus one high-pressure mega for selection flexibility. He judged Dragonite plus Gholdengo to be strong in this meta and ran Dragonite on a Dragon Tail set, using phazing plus Extreme Speed to finish since it lost Encore, so it only invests speed to outrun Adamant Kingambit and dumps the rest into HP and Attack. Choice Scarf Trick Gholdengo locks opponents down with speed, and an HP/Speed Stealth Rock/Spikes Garchomp feeds chip damage alongside the Dragonite-Gholdengo duo, while the only mega, Mega Floette, is the Fairy slot that can be brought with them and whose Light of Ruin hits so hard it shuts Steels out of the game. HP/Def/Speed Volcarona hard-beats the Hydreigon plus Metagross core and pressures Meowscarada, and Focus Sash Protean Meowscarada covers matchups and revenge-kills FocBuild article →

The author bet that Mega Gyarados wins if it can just Dragon Dance, and paired it with a Focus Sash Gengar that rarely loses matchups, using the two as a dual axis. Life Orb Adamant HP/Attack Mimikyu tanks both physical and special hits behind Disguise and is the team's top-selection core and finisher. Gengar is the starter, thrown out to be sacrificed with wide coverage, taking one or one-and-a-half mons when unscouted and paving a setup path for Gyarados. Sturdy White Herb Archaludon leads to guarantee a survivor and chip one with Draco Meteor, and Gholdengo switched from HP/SpA to HP/Def on the last day to beat Umbreon plus Venusaur cores that Gengar and Mimikyu cannot, being unmatched against stall. Mega Raichu Y is pure bait in the top slot to lure Ground leads and warp selection, used only once or twice in over 100 games. The lead is usually Gengar or Archaludon to remove one, thenBuild article →

This is a Role Logic team, the old cycling school built on committed switch-ins with fixed roles, and the author hit 2303 with Garchomp as its face. The core argument is that Garchomp spent 17 years excluded from Role Logic for having too few resistances and no clear role, until Mega Raichu Y's arrival let it qualify on its Electric, Grass and Fighting resistances. Yet the author values it not for beating Raichu but for its STAB Earthquake plus high versatility cycling: with a Life Orb its Earthquake hits so hard it even breaks bulky Archaludon and Aegislash, and few mons can establish a role on it, so opponents dare not switch in loosely. Mega Delphox handles Metagross and the Hydreigon plus Metagross core, Alolan Ninetales has very wide roles and blocks Aurora Veil, Mega Tyranitar exists to stop Aurora Veil, Expert Belt Gyarados has broad roles, and durable Wise Glasses Archaludon is tBuild article →

The author is a VTuber who loves Excadrill and wanted a sand result, copying sand expert Key's build of Houndstone plus Mega Scovillain and Dragonite with Hippowdon. Smooth Rock extends sand and Life Orb greatly boosts the team's power. Tyranitar is the main sand setter, remarkably bulky and able to beat other weather-setters so it can lock in the sand selection, while Excadrill and Houndstone are two fast sand blades, with Houndstone essentially a sand Basculegion that also carries Howl for power and can scrap with Corviknight. Mega Scovillain is the first mega via Insomnia and Spicy Extract, its burn chip plus sand damage hurting a lot, and Mega Dragonite is the second mega for Blaziken, Glimmora, Ceruledge and Staraptor. Hippowdon is the sub sand setter and physical wall, specifically stopping physical attackers that Mega Dragonite lets through. Selection is two shapes: mega plus sandBuild article →

The author simply loves Gengar, so he made Mega Gengar the axis and built outward: when Gengar loses a matchup it retreats to an HP/Def Hippowdon, which is very effective in this mega-heavy meta. Alolan Ninetales was added to handle the rising Sitrus Garchomp and to set screens so selection rarely goes to waste, then Mega Delphox as a second mega that pairs well with Ninetales as a setup finisher. Because Hippowdon, Hydreigon and Umbreon were all heavy, a Rest-Chesto Primarina was added, and finally an Endurance Archaludon with Stealth Rock to withstand the late-season Focus Sash Greninja while supporting Hippowdon's Yawn. Mega Gengar takes broad roles with Will-O-Wisp and Pain Split, Hippowdon is a rock-solid Protect plus Leftovers pivot, Archaludon does work just being thrown out first, and Primarina can 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 from near-losing positions, crushing teams that wall it with BeBuild article →