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The author finished 577th (2225), hitting their three-digit goal with a defensive cycle team built on Toxapex plus Meganium using priority and poison. It started purely from loving Toxapex, which is fully special-defensive and runs no item to dodge Poltergeist. Meganium is the physical wall, complementing Toxapex, beating Stealth Rock and Spikes setters, and packing a hit on Steel types. A Choice Scarf Garchomp picks off fast threats like Mega Gengar, while a Black Glasses Hisuian Samurott uses Ceaseless Edge to lay Spikes and covers Mega Starmie and Mega Delphox. A Shuca Berry Aegislash tanks Mega Lucario's post-Swords-Dance Earthquake and handles Floette and Umbreon; a Leftovers Galarian Slowking closes things out and stat-walls Psychic-carrying Floette and Volcarona. The author lays out matchup verdicts and felt-pick rates in detail, crediting the Aegislash's Shuca Berry and Speed invBuild article →

Two months into the format, he judged that Archaludon plus Mamoswine plus max-Speed Mega Charizard X matched up well against the popular Meowscarada, Aegislash and Mega Dragonite core, and made those three his axis from the start of the season. That trio couldn't handle Stealth Rock plus Mega Gyarados setups, so he added physically defensive Trick Room Mimikyu to stop Mega Gyarados, and alongside it Mystic Water Primarina as a Trick Room ace that is also strong into Hippowdon, then the format's best Pokemon. Mega Starmie filled the last slot to cover Mega Venusaur and Skeledirge. The team aims to be strong at trading, at reversing, and at breaking: his main three all hit hard, and even in losing matchups Mamoswine's Endeavor and Archaludon's Metal Burst force a one-for-one so he rarely falls behind on numbers. Baton Pass is handled by Mimikyu's Curse, and Stealth Rock plus Mega Gyarados Build article →

The author saw someone succeed with a Hippowdon plus Primarina plus one Mega skeleton, tried a range of Megas in that shell, and found Pinsir felt best. Hippowdon is the standard Stealth Rock, Yawn and Whirlwind set, later shifted toward Special Defense to take Dragonite's Air Slash and Draco Meteor and Primarina's water moves. Primarina moved to a Lum Berry with Surf instead of Sparkling Aria, since Leftovers kept it out of Torrent range and Corviknight needed the Leftovers more. Mega Pinsir is overwhelming once Stealth Rock is up and it gets a Swords Dance, but it always struggled with Garchomp and Hippowdon, which is exactly why Corviknight was added — it is absurdly strong against Hippowdon without Whirlwind and against bulky Garchomp plus Sylveon, and the author calls it the season's real winner. Scovillain runs Substitute and Endeavor and barely lost to gimmick teams, while MeowscaBuild article →

The team is built around Toxapex as the author's personal favorite, paired with a Scarf Hydreigon that handles Toxapex's natural counters—Starmie, Delphox, and Gengar—from above. Mega Delphox runs a physically-bulky set that survives Garchomp's Outrage and outspeeds near-max-speed Mega Gengar, with Will-O-Wisp and Encore providing cycle disruption. Mega Lopunny uses Fake Out plus Mega Kick to beat matchups that Delphox struggles with, like Umbreon/Mega Gengar cores or Starmie/Florges combinations. Sash Primarina provides a frontline answer to aggressive builds and can Encore setup moves. The team's strength is finding an offensive angle against most team archetypes; its weakness is the surplus of inaccurate moves throughout the team and difficulty dealing with lead Gyarados or Kingambit late in the season.Build article →

The team centers on Mega Gyarados as the primary win condition, which the author felt had the strongest sweeping potential in the format; the Adamant Dragon Dance set is chosen over Jolly because the extra power lets it muscle through more matchups. Hippowdon sets Stealth Rock and uses Yawn as the team's dedicated lead support. Mega Glimmora acts as a second answer to Florges while spreading Toxic Spikes to counter Umbreon-based stall. Sash Armarouge closes out games using Shattering capabilities after forcing defense drops. Scarf Dragonite's Extreme Speed keeps fast Megas and opposing Scarfers in check, with a backup non-Mega Scarf Gyarados for matchups where the Mega can't be sent out. The team's strength is Mega Gyarados's sweep potential and Glimmora's unexpected matchup advantage over Umbreon stall; the weakness is being heavily matchup-dependent with no reliable answer to mirror Gyarados or Encore+Primarina.Build article →

The author is a longtime pure stall player and started this build from how to wall the new Mega Mawile, landing on Mega Meganium: it outspeeds, heals fully with Chlorophyll Synthesis, and OHKOs a bulky Mega Mawile with an uninvested Weather Ball. Mega Slowbro is the physical wall for Mega Metagross, Mega Blaziken and Mega Staraptor, while Snorlax with Fissure serves as the special wall against Archaludon and Mega Charizard Y while cutting down draws. What those two can't catch, Life Orb Mimikyu, Ceruledge and physical Aegislash, goes to a Haze Toxapex whose Infestation plus Toxic grinds down anything that can't beat it. The last flex slot started as Tyranitar for Mega Delphox and Mega Gengar, then became a Choice Scarf Hisuian Samurott whose Ceaseless Edge spikes pressure the back line and outspeeds Delphox, Gengar and Gholdengo. A Mega Clefable covers Hippowdon, Kingambit and Garchomp. Build article →

His diagnosis for why he'd been losing was that the aggressive setup and matchup teams he prefers can never escape the team-preview coin flip, and this game has no comeback mechanic to bail him out. What he wanted was to minimise that coin flip, use chip damage and debuffs to cut out pointless in-game prediction, and pair those with recovery for staying power. He borrowed someone else's team that fit, found the Toxic Spikes plus Staraptor pairing outstanding, and rebuilt around it. The original hazard setter was Focus Sash Meowscarada, too frail to participate in cycles, so he took Overqwil from another article instead: Intimidate as a debuff, coverage for the Fairy, Ghost and Psychic types Staraptor hates, and Toxic as a breaking tool. Mega Delphox is the second Mega but built unconventionally with Will-O-Wisp, Magical Flame and Wish for longevity, and Substitute plus Protect ArchaludonBuild article →

The author built from the idea that with Hydreigon-Metagross cores exploding in the new format, Mega Scovillain might be a great answer. Since it can take a role against most physical attackers outside Fire types, he paired it with bulky, fast-recovering Milotic as complement. Milotic is the team MVP at 100% selection: fully special-invested, it pivots in on any special attacker and, with burns, drives the stall rotation while still hitting hard, and its physical bulk is tuned to survive a max Aqua Break from Mega Starmie. A Focus Sash mon guards against Scovillain getting set up on, favoring coverage over Scarf; a Curse Mimikyu and a Spell Tag physical attacker widen the breaking angles. He also runs an answer to the bulky rotation mons like Bellibolt and Skeledirge that Scovillain struggles with, tuned to survive an uninvested Draco Meteor from Mega Dragalge, plus a Mega Fire-type as aBuild article →

Finishing 595th at 2222, the author admits this team is an almost exact copy of a YouTuber's build, with his own contribution being the strategic write-up. His core point: the M-A meta is balanced and deflated with no broken units, so builds barely differ in power and weaker players can only win by 'shifting' their sets to make opponents misread the pace, then maximizing the one turn that buys. Here Archaludon, Blastoise, Basculegion and Mimikyu each run off the most-feared standard set. Mega Blastoise is the centerpiece, usually brought from the back, tanking a hit and trading while the threat of Shell Smash freezes opponents; the usual answers, Scarf Meowscarada and Primarina, aren't actually that hard to handle since Basculegion cleans up behind. His honest weakness: Basculegion barely saw play and the spreads weren't refined, and he recommends watching the original creator's videos fBuild article →