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This team finished 53rd in the Champions M-5 season. It starts from Focus Sash Primarina, which works as both an opener and a closer and carries Encore to shut down gimmick strategies, paired with physically bulky Hippowdon that grinds opponents down and uses Whirlwind to blow away Iron-Defense-stacking Metagross. Choice Scarf Meowscarada was added specifically to answer Gyarados, and Life Orb Mimikyu pressures Basculegion and Delphox; Metagross was still a problem, so Mega Delphox filled the team's Mega slot, and Mega Lucario went in last to pressure Umbreon and Floette while baiting the opponent into sending Basculegion out for Delphox's Grass Knot to snipe -- that lure-and-snipe plan is the whole game plan. The author calls the constant switch-reading exhausting and not really a strong build, just something thrown together for lack of options, but says it beats everything except BascuBuild article →

This team was built around the author's shiny GO Mega Lopunny, used ever since starting Champions ranked. After two seasons on Swords Dance Lopunny, this season they switched to a bulky cycle build, avoiding Triple Axel and valuing a priority move that isn't blocked by Ghost-type immunity. The core trio is Mega Lopunny, Corviknight, and Galarian Slowking: Corviknight runs a bulky physical wall set and pivots Lopunny in safely with U-turn, Galarian Slowking is the special wall that lays Toxic Spikes, Garchomp sets Stealth Rock and patches team coverage, Ceruledge with Focus Sash handles 1v1 duels and cleanup, and Greninja was added late to check threats Lopunny struggles with. The author rates the team's feel very highly, saying just pivoting around often won games outright, but flags too many low-accuracy moves as the season's biggest weakness.Build article →

This is a Sitrus Berry Garchomp-axis cycle team. Garchomp can trade hits, pivot in defensively, or set up, making it the team's MVP that checks Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, Delphox, Aegislash and Kingambit — matchups Floette struggles with — and opponents often misjudge its speed and get punished. Mega Floette hits absurdly hard with complementary coverage, using a Psychic-type move against Mega Gengar and Toxapex; Scizor U-turns to keep tempo and is the mandatory lead against Lopunny teams; Basculegion hits just as hard and, paired with Mega Floette, can finish off Kingambit; Delphox is the extra Mega slot, and Meowscarada carries a Choice Scarf to handle Starmie and Basculegion teams. The author finished 61st at 2479 rating, well short of the top ten, and named Primarina and a boosted Mega Charizard X as the team's toughest matchups.Build article →

The author looked back at last season and realized that besides Gardevoir and Gyarados, the rest of the team could not dent many matchups, dumping all the pressure onto Gyarados. He swapped Gholdengo for Greninja and ran it for about a month, but rating stalled around 2250 since Scolipede's Iron Defense passes had only Meganium to receive them and Archaludon ran wild against that setup, so he switched back to Gholdengo. The core loop has Scolipede lead with Iron Defense into Earthquake and pass the boosts to Gholdengo to sweep with full attacks, Ceruledge uses Flash Fire to check Charizard Y and Delphox, and Gyarados uses Dragon Dance plus Ice Fang to break through Dragonite. He is glad to finish in double digits two months running across three straight Champion-class seasons, but admits Delphox and Mega Dragonite matchups are still rough.Build article →

Last season's Bulk Up Staraptor build kept losing to Choice Scarf crits and Mega Greninja's Ice Beam freeze rolls, so this time the author leaned all the way into gambling: Jolly Choice Scarf Garchomp anchors the team simply because it outpaces nearly the whole meta and can crit on the way in, so Outrage gets thrown turn one without overthinking. Mega Charizard X trades Dragon Claw to pressure switches while Corviknight cleans up behind it, Primarina's own Choice-Scarf-caliber water move threatens to punish any switch and ends stall matchups, and Mega Gengar (running Sunny Day plus Energy Ball) is the rain-team answer that also patches the team's shared Ghost-type weakness so Meowscarada can freely snipe Mega Metagross, Gengar, and Hippowdon. The build finished 64th at 2478 rating; the author credits the all-in offense for turning any single lucky roll (a crit, a secondary effect) directBuild article →

This season's meta has almost no one-shot items like Choice Band or Choice Specs, but Fairy STAB from Mega Floette can still OHKO neutral targets, so the build started there. Floette's biggest headaches were speed-tying mirrors, getting outsped by Choice Scarf users, and Steel-types like Scizor and Aegislash, so a bulky HP/Def Archaludon holding Sitrus Berry became the lead, setting Thunder Wave and Stealth Rock so Floette can clean up after paralysis. Garchomp with Focus Sash covers 1v1 matchups and runs Fire Fang to threaten Scizor, Kingambit leans on Stealth Rock plus Swords Dance and Sucker Punch to lock down the field, a second Mega in Delphox patches the Ground weakness, and Basculegion rounds out the team to handle Lucario and Blaziken. The author calls the build rough around the edges but says reading past the opponent's Iron Defense Metagross and leading with Archaludon, BasculeBuild article →

This team started from Mega Metagross, which felt great to use, so the author built around it chasing a top-two-digit finish. Mixed Dragonite covers a wide range of threats solo, Scarf Hydreigon handles tough matchups like enemy Metagross and Mega Starmie while baiting Primarina, and Vanilluxe wins face-offs against Mega Gyarados, Umbreon, and Hippowdon. Sneasler switched from Scarf to Focus Sash late in the season for surprise Counter hits, and Mimikyu closes games out as the best one-on-one finisher. Umbreon, Sylveon, and Hippowdon stayed rough matchups all season.Build article →

The author built around Mega Dragalge, liked for its looks and stats, paired with Corviknight running Defog to keep the cycle going without getting hazard-stacked by the Ground-types Dragalge draws in. Focus Sash Garchomp was added to handle setup sweepers and physical Fire-types that pair couldn't beat, while Choice Scarf Hisuian Samurott covers tough attackers like Delphox and Basculegion and can lock opponents into forced switches with Encore loops. Special Volcarona was brought in to break bulky Steel-types like Iron Defense Metagross and Scizor that the other attackers couldn't crack, and Mega Starmie fills the last slot as a priority-move Mega pick for when Dragalge can't safely come in against Ground-types or setup teams. The author calls Corviknight the backbone of the team and Garchomp reliably useful in almost any matchup, but flags Archaludon, Gyarados, and Annihilape as very Build article →