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The author built around Starmie and Conkeldurr, finishing 142nd in Champions M-1 at 2622 rating. Mega Starmie is a powerful physical attacker running Aqua Jet and Quick Turn, whose presence essentially guarantees Archaludon will be brought by opponents. Conkeldurr is built specifically to exploit those Archaludons, plus the dark-types and big physical threats that Starmie struggles with — the author calls it the MVP. Mega Clefable uses its pre-evolution's Unaware to wall setup attackers, then stacks Cosmic Power for a fortress mode that handles dark-types and Mimikyu. Archaludon runs White Herb for Sturdy-guaranteed action and can one-shot Florges with Steel Beam. Corviknight in HD spread uses Mirror Armor to bounce back stat drops from Florges, then stacks Bulk Up. Scarf Meowscarada handles speed control and pivoting. Key weaknesses are the absence of ground-types, making Slowbro and Bellibolt quite painful.Build article →

The build starts from Mega Blaziken, unlocked in S4—the author loves that burns don't shut it down and Speed Boost lets it outspeed. Working off an existing Stealth Rock + Yawn setup piece using Mega Delphox, they swapped in Garchomp as the lead, then added Gyarados, Mega Gengar and Mega Blaziken as the core attackers. Mimikyu was picked fifth as a non-Mega Ghost that could reliably act and spread Will-O-Wisp against physical leads, and Choice Scarf Archaludon rounds things out as a hard-to-read piece. Chomp and Mimikyu set up; the other four sweep. Mega Blaziken runs Swords Dance + Detect to guarantee a boost; Gyarados with Lum Berry, Dragon Dance and Taunt exists to solo Hippowdon and physical walls (their most-selected mon); Mega Gengar covers Clefable, Skeledirge and Mega Starmie; Scarf Archaludon leads to snipe Mega Floette or Chomp. Weak points: priority-carrying Waters (Mega Starmie, Basculegion), Mega Venusaur, and Dragons that resist their STABs like Dragonite and Dragapult.Build article →

The author starts from the observation that Champions' shallow item pool makes Garchomp extremely common, so a Focus Sash Garchomp serves as both the Stealth Rock setter and the Garchomp answer, with Dragon Tail giving an edge in the mirror. Since the format now ends in draws instead of the old timer rules, Mega Gengar becomes the main Mega — Shadow Tag closes games once it lands safely. Kingambit with Black Glasses handles ghost/psychic spam like Mimikyu, Skeledirge and Aegislash via Sucker Punch. To bring Gengar in cleanly, Primarina absorbs grass/electric hits and uses Sparkling Aria + Aqua Jet to chip Barbaracle, while Corviknight blanks ground-types and stalls losing games into draws with Roost. A second Mega slot goes to Delphox, whose Magical Flame + Nasty Plot punishes opposing steel Megas and Kangaskhan cores. The author's main weakness is Mega Mawile's Swords Dance Megaton Kick and a general lack of electric coverage.Build article →

The author wanted to revisit Mawile and built off a top-ranking team from the previous season. Mawile drops the usual Swords Dance for a full-attacker set with Brick Break, which cracks screen leads, avoids Play Rough misses against Lopunny and Lucario, and OHKOes Kingambit. Hippowdon was moved from a physical bulk spread to a special one to handle Archaludon and the late-meta Gengar surge. Garchomp runs Choice Scarf Jolly to outspeed Mega Charizard X and stay at worst speed-tied with post-Scale Shot Chomps, with Sleep Talk for Vivillon's powders. Heat Rotom becomes a Life Orb breaker crushing Corviknight+Bellibolt and Umbreon+Venusaur cores. Meowscarada holds Life Orb to patch its firepower and Stealth Rock issues. Florges provides special power, Substitute dodging Archaludon's Mirror Coat, Blaziken's Protect and Toxapex's status. Author admits Empoleon is basically unwinnable, Mamoswine is rough, and Garchomp+Corviknight duos are tight, and calls the team read-dependent rather than raw-strong.Build article →

The author, a professional Pokemon Trading Card Game player, finished 145th in Champions M-1 at 2621 on their first ever ranked ladder. The approach was iterative: just run ranked games and add a counter whenever an unfixable matchup showed up, without deep analysis. Archaludon was the near-mandatory lead, using Mirror Coat and Roar to pressure almost every opponent, including Mega Florges trying to set up Moonblast. Scarf Garchomp with Adamant nature can reverse-sweep Basculegion more reliably after Stealth Rock damage, and Iron Tail gives a chance to OHKO Florges. Mimikyu holds Scope Lens for a 50% critical hit rate on Shadow Claw, letting it chip through walls like Corviknight over multiple tries and never left the team since day two. Primarina is only selected into Hippowdon matchups, carrying a Lum Berry to sleep-proof against the Hippowdon and Meowscarada core. Mega Lopunny breaks stall and counters Mega Scizor. Weaknesses include ghost-type coverage and stall teams.Build article →

The author runs a pure matchup-based team: lead with a Mega to grab a numbers advantage, then close with two mons that dominate one-on-one. The trio of Mimikyu, Kingambit, and Basculegion could handle almost any matchup by picking two, so he stacked three Megas to widen coverage. The three Megas are Blaziken, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Victreebel, mix-and-match as long as the coverage is there; Mega Victreebel had the highest usage, guaranteeing at least one trade with Grassy Glide and trading blows with Archaludon. Kingambit is the team's strongest piece, running Focus Sash with Kowtow Cleave, Guillotine, and Metal Burst, oppressive whenever it drops in; Basculegion sweeps after Kingambit clears out Dark and Ghost types. The author says Corviknight and Slack Off Hippowdon are the toughest, but the team is highly patterned and stable, netting his best-ever result.Build article →

The author finished 146th in Champions S1 with a face-forward team built around Mega Dragonite. Mega Dragonite's Multiscale plus wide coverage defeats most opponents head-on; main vulnerabilities are Triple Axel users like Mega Lopunny and Meowscarada, and Mega Florges. Mega Lucario runs HP and Speed max without Bullet Punch but with Swords Dance, letting it break through opponents that Dragonite would rather avoid, while surviving Meowscarada's kicks and Basculegion's Wave Crash. Scarf Meowscarada joined the last day to check leads. Corviknight with full physical bulk and Iron Head, Body Press, Iron Defense, and Roost defeats almost every physical attacker, with Iron Head added late to give more options into Florges. Primarina uses Sparkling Aria, Moonblast, Aqua Jet, and Encore in a balanced special spread, with Encore specifically denying setup plays — the author calls it co-strongest on the team. Scarf Basculegion handles speed control but faced dedicated answers in high ladder. Slowbro and Bellibolt remain unaddressed weaknesses.Build article →

The whole team is built around Mega Dragonite, a partner the author has raised since the RS era. The core is Mega Dragonite plus Gholdengo, complementing each other: Gholdengo covers the Fairy and Ice types Dragonite fears, while Dragonite handles the Ground and Fire Gholdengo dislikes. Dragonite's twist is Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor: no Special Attack drop lets it spam attacks, and paired with Roost its longevity is huge, grinding down opposing lead Charizard or Hippowdon. Hisuian Samurott lays spikes while attacking with Ceaseless Edge and packs Encore, beating Basculegion, Mega Metagross, and stall teams. After tweaks, Focus Sash Mamoswine became the Ground lead, pressuring Garchomp, Glimmora, and Archaludon, and bulky Mega Scizor walls Mega Metagross while pairing with Dragonite. The author says rain teams and Archaludon setting up first are the hardest matchups.Build article →

After a rough previous season, the author copied the base of a top-40 build using Focus Sash Garchomp + Sylveon, then experimented with Mega slots before settling on Delphox, and later adding Kangaskhan. The concept: win face-to-face matchups while keeping a minimum of cushioning, pack multiple breaking options, and abuse Body Slam paralysis on every user. Sash Garchomp handles leads, Stealth Rock, Ground coverage and revenge kills; Sylveon (bulky Wish/Yawn/Protect) cushions and shuts down Dragon-spam; Kangaskhan mashes buttons for reward and cleans with Sucker Punch; Delphox is brought against fighting Megas, Floette, and stall, using Grass Knot for Hippowdon; Archaludon (copied wholesale from the reference team) walls baton pass cores and beats Mimikyu. Kingambit was the last slot but lost to Lopunny and struggled through Hippowdon, so the day before ladder end he swapped in Choice-less AB Mystic Water Basculegion, which patches both and also finishes games. He rates the team strong at raw offense and Dragon-proofing; weakest against opposing Basculegion, Umbreon, Starmie, and Kingambit.Build article →

The team builds on the author's previous Bellibolt + Mega Starmie + Hydreigon core, but needed answers to Archaludon and Scarf Meowscarada, which led to Gardevoir. With Gengar and Mega Lopunny popular, Mega Aerodactyl was chosen as a fresh Mega sweeper. Gardevoir runs Pixie Plate + Trace, copying Archaludon's Sturdy to survive Flash Cannon, then KOing with Moonblast + Vacuum Wave; Substitute baits Hippowdon's Yawn and Stealth Rock and even cracks stall cores. Mega Aerodactyl (Tough Claws, Adamant) cleans with Dual Wingbeat / Earthquake / Ice Fang / Dragon Dance after Hippowdon and Bellibolt set up favorable matchups. Bellibolt is the physically bulky cushion linking everything via Volt Switch. Weaknesses: Gardevoir has no answer to Mega Gengar, Mega Blastoise, Mega Charizard, Aegislash, Glimmora, Ceruledge, and Sylveon-type Fairy spam, with Floette being especially annoying.Build article →

The author built from Mega Gyarados, which can sweep almost anything given the right setup. Gyarados runs Dragon Dance to flip good/bad matchups and steal games with flinches; the key trick is holding the Mega Evolution as long as possible, using the typing change to keep forcing the opponent into guesses. For support, Volcarona covers the Grass, Fairy, Corviknight, and Umbreon that Gyarados fears, while Mimikyu handles Garchomp and Primarina. Two leads: Focus Sash Serperior was the season MVP, spamming Contrary Leaf Storm to crush Stealth Rock plus screens setups and Glimmora while pressuring Espathra and Vivillon; Garchomp sets Stealth Rock anonymously and uses Dragon Tail to bait setup mons. The final slot became Mega Raichu Y, forcing the opponent to keep a non-Mega and discouraging Primarina and Staraptor. The author says Meowscarada and Mamoswine heavily pressure the leads, and onlBuild article →