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Committed to a stall-based approach, the author anchored the team on Skarmory and Tyranitar as the physical and special walls respectively, then added Toxapex to cover the gaps against Aegislash and Primarina. Mega Starmie handles opposing offensive Megas that the wall core cannot absorb, while Mega Venusaur covers Archaludon and the Water-type Rotom. Choice Scarf Hydreigon provides speed control and a safety net against Mega Starmie and Mega Gengar. Skarmory's set features Taunt plus Iron Defense rather than the common Pressure set, allowing it to aggressively break opposing passive teams before crushing with Body Press. Tyranitar runs Sleep Talk with a Chesto Berry for the one-time HP-doubling trick combined with sandstorm chip damage. The author candidly states the team suffers against almost every strong threat, with Belly Drum Mega Garchomp and Hisui Samurott as the two most painful unresolved matchups. The final ranking of 172nd was aided by favorable matchups and run luck.Build article →

The author is a veteran weather-team player who locked in a Pelipper rain squad the moment Mega Swampert became legal in M-3, building around Pelipper setting rain and Swampert sweeping with rain-boosted Wave Crash plus Bulk Up. The support is tight: a bulky Garchomp lays Stealth Rock and spikes while soaking Electric moves; Aegislash walls the Alolan Ninetales, Vanilluxe and Floette that rain struggles with; Mega Staraptor flips its nature via Contrary to pressure Sharpedo, Blaziken and Meowscarada; and a Nasty Plot Alolan Ninetales closes games, punishing Hippowdon-style pivots with Freeze-Dry after chip. He admits Greninja and lead Dragonite are his worst matchups, and just seeing Clefable makes him wince since the line changes on whether it Megas.Build article →

The build starts from a Modest Mega Dragonite with Extreme Speed, paired with a Jolly Choice Scarf Garchomp so both hard hitters can outspeed the field. A bulky Archaludon (final version is Bold HB) holds Light Clay-style duties with Stealth Rock, Roar and Mirror Coat to absorb Meowscarada and Mega Starmie. Mimikyu with Pixie Plate and Curse covers opposing Garchomp, Baton Pass teams and Clefable. The core selection is Mega Dragonite + Scarf Garchomp + Mimikyu just overpowering opponents face-to-face, while Mystic Water Adaptability Basculegion one-shots Hippowdon teams. On the final day the author swapped Mega Lopunny for a Sub + Nasty Plot + Overheat + Psyshock Mega Delphox, which patched up matchups against Florges, Umbreon, Gengar and Hippowdon + Archaludon. The author admits the team isn't clean: Scarf Meowscarada and Triple Axel Lopunny are still rough and often had to be muscled through.Build article →

The team is anchored by an HA Starmie core chosen for its high standalone matchup performance, with Hydreigon and Aegislash as the standard three-Pokemon lead. Starmie skips Rapid Spin in favor of a wider move set, trading chip recovery for greater coverage and raw pressure; its bulk frequently allows it to handle two consecutive opponents. Hydreigon uses Choice Scarf for Dark Pulse reliability and pivot U-turns, though its usability worsened as Florges and meditating Primarina numbers rose. Aegislash answers Florges by tanking Shadow Ball one cycle and landing Iron Head during the next Calm Mind setup turn, an exploit that caught many opponents off guard. For Dark-type-heavy teams, Mega Lopunny replaces the primary Mega and Azumarill with Belly Drum closes out games, using the turn Hydreigon is KO'd by Outrage as a free setup opportunity. Archaludon with Mirror Coat covers the out-of-plan matchups when standard team selection breaks down. The author cites over-reliance on Archaludon's face-up style on the final day as the main failure point in missing a top-100 finish.Build article →

The author kept the same core for three straight seasons, leaning on high familiarity with Mega Dragonite plus Kingambit to post steady results. Dragonite is the brain of the team: with Multiscale intact it tanks Greninja's Ice Beam and answers with a Draco Meteor OHKO, with top-tier power and bulk. Kingambit runs Leftovers to blend cycling and sweeping, healing as it Swords Dance and Sucker Punches. Hatterene is his personal favorite, bouncing Stealth Rock with Magic Bounce and 3-0ing with Calm Mind plus Trick Room. The rest are targeted: a Choice Scarf male Basculegion sweeps late and beats Delphox via Adaptability, Mega Venusaur mops up Primarina and Floette-style fairies, and Volcarona with Quiver Dance and Whirlwind counters Baton Pass and hazard-stacking teams. He credits the polished core, and admits the Scarf-less speed drop on Dragonite makes the mirror shaky.Build article →

The author wanted a team whose game plan isn't obvious at team preview and that doesn't lean too hard on the easily-countered Mega slot, so he built around two axes the opponent can't immediately read: Moody Scovillain and a Trick Room sweep from Basculegion. Scovillain pairs with a bulky Sash Zoroark that scouts with Icy Wind and uses Illusion to fake Mega pressure, setting up Substitute+Protect Moody turns. Basculegion teams with Mimikyu, who uses Disguise to guarantee Trick Room, then the Mystic Water Adaptability Last Respects breaks everything. Megas Lopunny and Floette are the lead matchup pieces, mainly to chip one Pokémon and pressure the Dark-types that threaten Basculegion. He rates the unpredictability of his lead combinations as the team's biggest strength, with Sub+Protect even stealing draws from lost games. Weak points: Delphox crushes both Megas and locks Scovillain with Encore, Toxapex spreads Toxic Spikes and erases Moody boosts with Haze, and Quick Claw Tyranitar is just an unlucky loss.Build article →

The author built a pure offense team with no defensive pivots, running all attackers to avoid draws and sending Glalie through when a wall core is too tough to crack. The core is Mega Kangaskhan, picked for tanking Dragon Dance Gyarados and Trick Room Mawile then killing back, with Body Slam, Earthquake, Fake Out and Sucker Punch; Body Slam's paralysis rolls twice for a high chance and ignores Minimize. The support is direct: a Life Orb special Aegislash smashes the Hippowdon and Archaludon that trouble Kangaskhan, nearly OHKOing Hippowdon with Iron Head; a Sitrus Primarina wins matchups and walls Blaziken; a Scarf Garchomp lays rocks and surprises Lopunny; a Sash Gengar handles Toxic Spikes, paralysis and Icy Wind speed control to set up Glalie. Glalie closes with Moody, Substitute and Sheer Cold to grind walls, and with Toxic Spikes can KO Blaziken on Protect-Sub alone. He names ScizorBuild article →

The author runs a Trick Room team where Mega Audino supports the slowest possible Basculegion via Trick Room and Healing Wish, reviving the ace over and over to keep smashing. Audino's Regenerator and solid typing let it set Trick Room against all kinds of foes, and Encore locks opponents down; he stresses only the Audino line can juggle Trick Room, Healing Wish and Encore while cutting off Ghost moves. The ace Basculegion runs a Spell Tag with max Attack for terrifying Grave Rush damage: it comes in on a faint, wrecks the field, then gets revived by Audino to rampage again, muscling through its own counters. Support-wise: a Sash Empoleon lays Stealth Rock and chips Dark-types with Vacuum Wave to open lanes, exploding via Competitive; a Leftovers Hydreigon uses Umbreon and Mega Scovillain (Basculegion's banes) as setup fodder; and Mega Mawile is a second Trick Room sweeper for Venusaur aBuild article →

The team is built around Mega Delphox leading to disrupt the field, Archaludon as a leftovers pivot to handle water threats, and a scarf Garchomp to sweep. Hisuian Samurott lays Iron Barbs and Spikes pressure to help both win conditions land. Corviknight plugs the floating slot and handles fairies, while Mega Florges closes out with Moongeist Beam. The author notes the team's strengths are Archaludon's exceptional ability to absorb water-types and Garchomp's broad coverage backed by Shark Skin chip damage. The key flaw was swapping Stealth Rock for Mirror Coat on Archaludon late in the final day, which caused several losses to poor timing.Build article →

The author thinks Hippowdon is the strongest mon and built around a Gen 7 Hippowdon-Salamence-Aegislash style, with newly unbanned Mega Staraptor as the ace. Hippowdon handles terrain with Stealth Rock, Yawn and Slack Off, has by far the highest usage, and can fight everything when piloted well. Mega Staraptor flips matchups with Contrary Close Combat and Brave Bird, and Whirlwind pushes back Stealth Rock Garchomp and resets setup, though the author flat-out calls it a fraud since a foe swapping to a Ghost anytime makes Close Combat a coin flip. The Steel slot is a Leftovers Gholdengo with Golden Body for recovery, chipping Primarina and Delphox. The rest fills gaps: a Scarf Meowscarada stops Basculegion and Mega Starmie, a Mystic Water Primarina beats Delphox and forces 50/50s on Hydreigon, and a Mega Delphox fakes out Charizard Y cores by dropping SpA with Mystical Fire. He admits the Build article →

The author set out to build the strongest possible Mega Staraptor, which has great coverage and power plus Cosmic Power, but can't boost its own Attack and Speed, so the whole team feeds it via Baton Pass. Hatterene is the passer: absurdly slow, so even after Agility it passes from underneath, and Magic Bounce blocks Dragon Tail, Whirlwind, Taunt and other annoying status and pivot moves. Dragapult sets dual screens and doubles as a Dragon Dance passer, linking flexibly with Hatterene. Gyarados is the sub-ace with Taunt to punish the Skeledirge, Clefable and Metagross that Staraptor lures, and it ended up the most-picked. Swords Dance Archaludon was the MVP, tanking hits with Solid Rock and using Earthquake to smash steels that underestimate it. The author admits it's a first-encounter surprise team that folds once opponents learn it, or the instant a perfect play is made against it.Build article →

The author finished S3 at rank 182 with this Hippowdon + Gyarados + Aegislash core, unchanged since S1 apart from two flex slots: a Special Defense Hippowdon to handle lead Delphox and Mega Raichu Y, and a Mega Scovillain to scrape past Primarina, Stealth Rock Garchomp, and Archaludon. The plan is simple: Glimmora sets Stealth Rock plus Toxic Spikes, Mega Gyarados rampages, Aegislash closes. This Gyarados runs Adamant with Taunt over Ice Fang, wrecking the now-everywhere Hippowdon and stalling Iron Defense Archaludon. Aegislash sticks to a Special Defense-based Swords Dance shield build since a pure-Attack spread gets shredded by Foul Play. The author admits Glimmora speed ties are a coin flip, and opposing Mega Gyarados and Will-O-Wisp Rotom are basically unwinnable.Build article →

The whole plan is one line: use Orthworm's Shed Tail plus Blastoise to blow the opposing team apart. The author got crushed last season by an opponent's Shed Tail into a full-HP Water Spout Blastoise, decided the core was solid, and when Hydreigon, Metagross, Delphox and Mawile spiked late in M-3, judged Blastoise would thrive and jumped in. Orthworm stacks Iron Defense then Shed Tails a full-HP Blastoise in; at full HP Water Spout is monstrous, punching through Mega Charizard Y, Floette and Primarina in one hit, and even unboosted it one-shots Hippowdon and Mawile. Glimmora is the second core, Rock Polishing to sweep Delphox and Greninja from above when Blastoise stalls. Hippowdon supports the pass with Whirlwind, Protean Sash Meowscarada handles Gengar/Primarina cores, and Curse Mimikyu covers Minimize, Glalie and Baton teams. The author flatly can't beat Bellibolt, and finds Lucario aBuild article →

The team was built out of frustration with stall opponents like Toxapex and Umbreon that waste game time. Mega Gardevoir was chosen as the lead because it can end matches within five minutes using high raw power. The core trio of Mega Gardevoir, Snorlax as a Yawn-plus-Explosion launcher, and a scarf Basculegion formed the base. Sword Dance Mega Lopunny was later added as a setup sweeper, with Snorlax reworked as the trigger for sweep sequences. Serperior was added last to punish the proliferating leftover Aegislash builds and serve as a setup sweeper off Aegislash as a boost platform. Strengths are explosive offensive tempo and effective lure selection; the weakness is over-reliance on luring specific matchups.Build article →

The team centers on the late-season popular Garchomp plus Mega Florges plus Basculegion core, supplemented by Corviknight as a relaxed-natured physical wall using U-turn to generate momentum, Mega Charizard Y for steel-type coverage, and a fast Umbreon. Corviknight's U-turn is described as the actual engine of the team despite being labeled a cushion. Umbreon runs high Speed to get the jump on incoming Scizor and Aegislash after predicting Swords Dance, landing Foul Play for big returns. Mega Florges sweeps through durable cycles with Moongeist Beam and Calm Mind. The clear weakness the author identifies is Starmie, which the team has almost no answer to, and the author simply accepted a poor matchup rate against it.Build article →