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The team is built around Mega Blastoise, which the author values for its high one-on-one performance and ability to re-enter and rampage after Trick Room is set. White Herb Archaludon pairs with it as a lead or back-row deterrent against Stealth Rock setters, with Sheer Cold for Mega Clefable and Rock Tomb for Talonflame. Focus Sash Mimikyu sets up Trick Room and disrupts with Curse, re-enabling Blastoise for a second sweep window. Swords Dance Focus Sash Garchomp applies direct pressure and handles Charizard Y teams. Mega Scizor replaced an earlier bulky Steel option to cover Florges and Primarina, with U-turn maintaining cycle flexibility. Gyarados covers Blastoise's weaknesses against Primarina, Meowscarada, and post-Trick Room Aegislash; Earthquake makes it hard to wall, and Intimidate adds defensive value. The biggest problem matchup is Mega Dragonite, which is very hard to handle without Trick Room, and pivot Corviknight combined with a strong attacker also pressures the team.Build 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 →

He kept the Mega Charizard Y, Hippowdon and Meowscarada he was comfortable with from last season, added the Mega Lucario he regretted not using, brought in Gyarados as a switch-in and cushion against the newly added Mega Swampert rain teams, and finished with Mimikyu for its Disguise. He reached rank 600 mid-season with almost no changes, then lost a string of games down to 1800 and reworked the spreads. Mimikyu went from a bulky set to Adamant max Attack, max Speed with a Life Orb, giving it real damage without setting up at the cost of having essentially no bulk once Disguise breaks. Mega Charizard Y changed the most; he lists three problems — Stealth Rock hurts too much, high-power pivots like Starmie and Basculegion force it out with the choice entirely on the opponent's side, and specially defensive Hippowdon became common enough that even Overheat can't kill it. His fixes were swapBuild article →

Last season's Focus Sash Kingambit and Curse/Protect Mimikyu got too easy to read, so with Mega Victreebel face-off teams blowing up in popularity, the author leaned into the trend on purpose: this team looks like a copycat Mega Victreebel squad, but hides two ambush plans, Shell Smash Mega Blastoise and a Trick Room pivot. Mega Blastoise is built to outspeed Choice Scarf Garchomp after Shell Smash while matching 0 EV Mimikyu's speed, letting it scout the opponent's speed before committing to Trick Room; it's the second most-led Pokemon after Aegislash, and opening with Shell Smash is the team's main win condition. Mega Victreebel disguises the team so foes lead counters like Metagross or Delphox, letting Blastoise smash safely; Mimikyu was reworked from Curse/Protect stall into a face-off and Trick Room pivot, Vanilluxe was this season's MVP, and Aegislash leads with Focus Sash mainly tBuild 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 dislikes cycle teams because they demand too much reading and thinking, so they built a straightforward face-off squad for M-4 and finished at rank 971. The core is Mega Metagross + Mamoswine + Hisuian Samurott, with Mega Dragonite as the second Mega option. Focus Sash Mamoswine is the MVP, leading almost every game and grabbing 1–2 KOs with Icicle Crash, Rock Tomb and Ice Shard. Mega Metagross cleans up with Tough Claws Psychic Fangs and Bullet Punch, while Choice Scarf Hisuian Samurott handles the Delphox, Mega Greninja, Basculegion and Kingambit matchups Metagross struggles with. Mega Dragonite runs a special CS spread with Flamethrower for Aegislash and Gholdengo, plus Extreme Speed to close games while keeping Multiscale. Archaludon with Scope Lens + Focus Energy + Draco Meteor is the tech piece that shreds Baton Pass, Mega Clefable and stall. Serperior fills the last slot to answer Primarina, Rotom-W, Hippowdon and Yawn loops. The author admits Primarina, Rotom-W, Umbreon and Scizor remain very tough matchups.Build article →

The team was built around pink Mega Lopunny, which the author had used in USUM and knew had the firepower, especially given the absence of Rocky Helmet this format. Mega Lopunny uses Fake Out plus Mach Punch as a priority combo; swapping from U-turn to Mach Punch noticeably improved win rate against Dragon Dance sweepers like Mega Gyarados and Mega Charizard. Aegislash with Spell Tag is the offensive centerpiece, using Sacred Sword to threaten Archaludon and Shadow Sneak to pick off various soft targets. Mega Delphox with Choice Specs uses Focus Blast to punish switching in Primarina and similar counters while blasting through Corviknight-based cycle teams. Primarina runs Quick Turn for pivot play and performs well against Hippowdon and Umbreon head-on. Dragonite with Lum Berry sets Dragon Dance then uses ExtremeSpeed to clean up; increasing Mega Infernape usage in the late season made it harder to bring. Choice Scarf Archaludon covers Espathra and Florges, and takes first turns against Glimmora leads.Build article →

The concept is one line: make Mimikyu work. He started from a matchup team he'd actually want to bring Mimikyu on, and listed the four things that stop it hardest — Hippowdon, Archaludon, Scizor and Corviknight. Beating Scizor and Corviknight means a Fire-type Mega, and by feel he chose Mega Charizard X; Charizard strongly baits Garchomp, so he added a Ground-resist Berry Ice Beam Empoleon that beats both Garchomp and Hippowdon, then Hisuian Samurott, strong into Hippowdon and Archaludon, for games where the opponent has no Garchomp. Leading Empoleon or Samurott to out-tempo the opposing hazard setter and then winning one-on-ones with Charizard and Mimikyu is his default three. That left Mega Gyarados, Lopunny, Baton Pass and screens teams painful, so he added the Mega Venusaur plus Umbreon pair he was already practiced with. Mimikyu is deliberately max Speed out of fear of the mirror; hBuild article →

Mega Lucario forms the core: with Florges and Archaludon heavily present, Lucario's type matchup against both is excellent, so the author ran full-coverage moves rather than Swords Dance, applying immediate pressure from favorable matchups. Choice Scarf Hydreigon covers Lucario's Ground and Fire weaknesses on type while also winning cleanly against the common Choice Scarf Garchomp and Hydreigon. Primarina handles cycle play; its typing walls Mega Lopunny, and Encore into Mega Gengar's pursuit of trapped foes was a powerful sequence. Corviknight is the second pivot, originally running Power Whip for Venusaur but that target almost never appeared, so the author thinks Iron Defense would be better. Mega Gengar is the breaker: Shadow Tag traps opponents, Modest nature boosts Special Attack, a +1 Shadow Ball drops Hippowdon, and Protect ensures stable Mega evolution in the cycle. Garchomp rounds out the team as an emergency ace when neither Mega can push through, with Thunder Fang covering Corviknight and non-Mega Gyarados.Build article →

The team blends cycle and direct matchup play. Mega Clefable is the most-used Pokemon: Natural Cure without Mega evolving lets it stay healthy against special attackers, while Moonlight and Cosmic Power let it outlast almost anything; Unaware blocks setup from Smeargle-style effects and Thunderbolt handles Primarina and mirror Clefable. Mega Gyarados sweeps after a Dragon Dance, Taunt stopping Aegislash from setting up Iron Defense and Swords Dance, Earthquake preventing Archaludon and Dragonite from being safe switchins. Its hardest matchups are Mega Dragonite and Meowscarada, which it cannot deal with. Rotom slots in as a fire-and-pivot pivot, spreading Will-O-Wisp on physical threats and Volt Switching for cycle control. Aegislash is the dedicated Florges check, using Shadow Ball, Shadow Sneak, and Flash Cannon from multiple angles sustained by Leftovers. Glimmora leads with Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock, using Rapid Spin to clean up its own hazards. Choice Scarf Garchomp is the direct offense backup: Rock Slide and Outrage cover almost everything outside Dragonite and Archaludon.Build article →

The author dislikes heavy mindgames and prefers teams with a clear gameplan, so after struggling with Trick Room in M-1 they pivoted to a setup-cycle build that lets their favorite Gardevoir shine. Mega Gardevoir is locked in as the lead every single game, with Modest plus bulk EVs to live Garchomp's Earthquake and an 87.5% roll vs Mega Gengar's Sludge Wave, blasting through Garchomp, Archaludon and Mega Gengar with Hyper Voice, Psyshock and Calm Mind. Mimikyu is the cleaner with Spell Tag specifically to KO Basculegion; Gyarados runs Lum Berry to dodge Yawn/WoW and DD sweep; Garchomp with Sash + SD covers Mega Glimmora and uses Fire Fang on Corviknight and Scizor; Volcarona is the second setup wincon via Quiver Dance; Aegislash-Shield is the safety net. Author admits Stealth Rock plus widespread Rock coverage really hurts Volcarona, and Play Rough misses sometimes cost games.Build 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 →