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Shake ran a rare Mega Staraptor plus Mega Pyroar pairing, the idea being to chip hard and then push Pyroar or Garchomp through. The opening Mega Staraptor carries Final Gambit to forcibly whittle slow mons like Hippowdon, Primarina and Corviknight and open the way for the backline, plus U-turn to strip Mimikyu's disguise and punish pivots; just showing it at team preview baits out Mimikyu and Mega Delphox. Mega Pyroar was the Mega used in about 70% of games, brutal against the ubiquitous Mimikyu, one Overheat nukes Hippowdon, and it beats Gholdengo, Corviknight, Skarmory and Aegislash. Mimikyu is the super MVP, brought nearly every game, and once its Swords Dance plus Wood Hammer drops Hippowdon the game is basically won. Scarf Garchomp closes as the third pick with many removal routes alongside Mimikyu, and Archaludon adds Stealth Rock and answers Starmie and Greninja. The author lists

Built around status conditions and chip damage cycling into a late-game sweep, this team originated from a friend's remark that Scovillain plays like Celesteela, prompting the author to rework an old cycle-team concept. The dual-Mega core of Mega Dragalge and Mega Scovillain is the backbone: Dragalge's unique typing handles Mega Gengar and Mega Blaziken, while Scovillain's Leech Seed pairs with Clefable's Wish to check Steel Mega and high-BST Dragon cycles broadly. Hisuian Samurott's Sacred Sword chunks Archaludon, patching a key gap in the slow, Clefable-dependent cycle, and the Focus Sash ended up more reliable than the Expert Belt. Clefable carries the team as the overworked workhorse — wide switch-in range boosted by Leech Seed and burn chip, a late-game win condition, and a counter-play option against Mimikyu. The author flags over-reliance on Clefable, Scarfed Garchomp underperformBuild article →

The team is built around Mega Victreebel as the undisputed ace, designed to achieve reliable 1-for-1 trades in head-on matchups against the metagame staples Delphox, Greninja, and Charizard. Rather than the standard Chlorophyll or trapping-support set, Mega Victreebel runs a pure attacker spread — Knock Off, Giga Drain, Poison Jab, and Sucker Punch — exploiting the fact that Ingrain prevents opponents from switching out, forcing them to attack and walk into Sucker Punch. Whimsicott was the season MVP: a Cotton Guard + Leech Seed + Substitute loop that hard-walls Garchomp without Poison moves and Mimikyu without Curse. Gholdengo used Archaludon and Hippowdon as setup fodder for sweeps, and Dragonite leveraged Multiscale to set up Dragon Dance. The author admits the team has low overall polish — many wins came down to favorable matchup coin-flips — and highlights Mega Dragonite teams, PrimBuild article →

The team was built around Toxapex after noticing that the prevalence of Fire-type Mega evolutions had reduced Steel-type usage, making Toxic easier to land. The core of Mega Scovillain and Toxapex handles physical threats together: Scovillain chips with Flamethrower and Leech Seed while Toxapex stalls with Toxic and Recover, and burns or sandstorm chip covers Poison- and Steel-types immune to Toxic. Mega Delphox serves as the second Mega to deal with threats the core struggles against, using Magical Flame and Encore to disrupt setup and Wish to heal teammates. Choice Scarf Meowscarada acts as a stopper against Swords Dance Garchomp and Basculegion that threaten to break the core, with Foul Play punishing high-Attack foes and Trick removing Aegislash's shield. Aegislash breaks stall teams built around Venusaur and Dragalge — including landing Fighting coverage to KO Umbreon after a SwordsBuild article →

With rain teams and Alolan Ninetales snow squads dominating Season M-3, the author built a sun team around regular Ninetales, whose core strategy is to open with Nasty Plot then Baton Pass the +2 Special Attack boost to teammates. The main receivers are Whimsicott with a Life Orb and Mega Pyroar — Whimsicott can one-shot uninvested Garchomp and even Mega Blaziken after the boost, while Mega Pyroar's Infernal Parade ability stacked on top of Nasty Plot and sun lets it one-shot Toxapex and Mega Charizard X. Mega Greninja runs Protean and hits with Weather Ball under sun for simultaneous Fire- and Ice-type coverage, threatening Mimikyu and Aegislash, while Mega Slowbro and Garchomp mostly function as lead-bait to draw out unfavorable matchups. The author notes the team excels against Mimikyu and Aegislash and becomes overwhelming once the Baton Pass lands, but falls short when Ninetales faiBuild article →

The team runs two main plans: spread paralysis with Mimikyu or Mega Raichu Y and sweep with Overqwil using Minimize and Swords Dance, or lead with Quaquaval using Rapid Spin to clear Stealth Rock before Mega Charizard Y cleans up. Espathra with Focus Sash is the premier lead, able to knock out two opponents while they hesitate over Calm Mind Baton Pass, and the Espathra plus Mimikyu plus Overqwil core is the most-used lineup. Mimikyu runs Substitute, Thunder Wave, Pain Split, and Play Rough with Bright Powder to maximize Substitute turns, while Overqwil runs max Speed and HP with Leftovers and sweeps after paralysis is in place. The author notes the team is designed to force opponents to react rather than cover broad threats, and its main weaknesses are a Choice Scarf Garchomp coming from the back, a Choice Scarf Excadrill that is nearly unwinnable, and opposing Mega Charizard Y warping Build article →

The team is built around the newly added Mega Staraptor from patch M-B, originally paired with Glimmora for a Toxic Spikes-grinding strategy, but the prevalence of high-power threats like Mega Blaziken, Mega Barbaracle, and Mega Swampert forced a shift toward a more offensive face-to-face style. Glimmora runs a full four-move attacking set with a Focus Sash (Sludge Wave, Power Gem, Earth Power, Energy Ball) to threaten rain teams, while Mega Staraptor maximizes Attack and Speed to apply constant pressure with Intimidate and Brave Bird. Empoleon and Hippowdon handle special and physical hits respectively, both running Stealth Rock and Yawn to control the pace; Mimikyu with Life Orb fills the cleanup role and covers Ghost-types; Mega Delphox is the dedicated answer to Raichu and stall teams, using Nasty Plot and Overheat to break through Umbreon. The author flags Gyarados, Corviknight, andBuild article →

The team is built around Mega Gyarados, with Whimsicott using Encore to lock down opponents and Glimmora leading to carve out setup opportunities, letting Gyarados sweep after one or two Dragon Dances. Mimikyu is the MVP at a 97% lead rate — running Life Orb and leveraging Disguise to land High Jump Kick for clean KOs on Garchomp and Glimmora after Mud Shot chip; Curse replaces Close Combat to phaze unkillable targets and shut down Baton Pass teams. Zoroark is a niche lead pick (~5% usage) that punishes players who expect Glimmora leads, but gets exploited at high ladder. The team excels against rain — the author went 10-0 versus rain teams, previously running Alolan Ninetales in that slot before rain disappeared from ladder. Weaknesses include Talonflame-Mega, Delphox, and Greninja leads, and Zoroark becomes a liability at high ranks.Build article →

The team was built around newly available Mega Mawile, starting with a Mega Mawile + Mega Gardevoir core that fell apart against the popular Hydreigon + Metagross archetype. The author reverse-engineered a 2400-rated player's team from Twitter and identified Mega Greninja as the key piece: in team preview it reads as a Focus Sash Greninja, then surprises opponents by Mega Evolving, which is the core selling point. The standard gameplan is special-set Blaziken up front as a surprise to chip threats, Mega Greninja sweeping, Garchomp as a near-auto-select answer to Hippowdon yawn loops, Gyarados for frontline chip damage, and Mimikyu using Curse against Baton Pass and Screen teams. Mega Mawile excels against 1-attacker-2-defender cycle teams but struggles against hard stall featuring Mega Venusaur or Mega Slowbro, and Mega Kangaskhan is a genuine problem the team has no clean answer to.Build article →

The team started from copying a Hydreigon+Mega Metagross core used by streamer Sigma when he briefly hit rank 1 — after testing, the author kept all four (Hydreigon, Mega Metagross, Primarina, Ceruledge) and tuned the last two slots. Mega Delphox with Substitute and Nasty Plot was added to handle defensive pivots like Hippowdon and Bellibolt, using them as setup fodder for a full sweep, while also threatening Mega Blaziken and Mega Charizard. Whimsicott with Cotton Guard and Encore rounds out the team to deal with speed-control threats like Meowscarada and Lopunny, Gyarados cleanup sweepers switching in after Hydreigon, and Mimikyu. The author admits Mega Delphox gets outsped by all priority users and Choice Scarf holders, making full sweeps unreliable against defensive cores, and that Mega Metagross was too broadly typed to consistently bring — in hindsight a more role-focused or unpredBuild article →

This team was thrown together impulsively in two days after the author lost their previous build, yet climbed to a final rank of 298 in Season 3. The core idea came from spotting a synergy post pairing Mega Staraptor and Mega Delphox, with Empoleon added as a pivot target; both Mega slots run Substitute to scout and dodge support moves. Overqwil handles physical threats, lays Toxic Spikes, and packs Haze for setup and Baton Pass teams, while Empoleon sets Stealth Rock and fakes a Torrent attacker — a bluff that earned two surrenders in practice. Scarf Garchomp is the real win condition: soften the opponent with the walls first, then sweep clean. The author admits losing several winnable games simply due to only two days of practice with an unfamiliar team.Build article →

The author built around Mega Charizard Y after finding it strong against the new Mega pool, running a standard Charizard Y team through most of the season before swapping in Espathra, Malamar, and Mega Clefable as a Baton Pass trio on the final day. The dual-threat structure forces opponents to skew their team selection toward Baton Pass, then punishes that skewed lead with the Charizard Y core. Charizard Y runs Substitute over Weather Ball to stay threatening even after sun drops, while Archaludon absorbs all physical hits and spreads paralysis so Charizard Y can move first regardless of its middling Speed. Garchomp with Focus Sash handles Mega Dragonite and Glimmora and can mirror-match opposing Charizard Y. In the Baton Pass line, Espathra stacks Speed and Calm Mind via its speed-boost ability, Malamar with Suction Cups blocks phazing moves, and Mega Clefable cleans up with boosted MoBuild article →

The author built this team around reducing the number of mind-games and switch-ins by choosing a direct-matchup style, then reasoned that if this style is weak to stall/cycle teams, solving that matchup would be enough to beat the whole meta. The core is Focus Energy Archaludon as the near-permanent lead (99% lead rate), boosting up and firing Draco Meteor to dismantle cycle cores, with Flash Cannon for Fairy-types and Thunderbolt for Primarina and Corviknight. When Archaludon can't finish the job, Sash Basculegion cleans up with priority Aqua Jet and can use Agility to outspeed other Sash users. Mega Staraptor (80% usage) handles matchups Archaludon struggles with, like Garchomp and Glimmora, by simply clicking Close Combat. The author names Gyarados and Mimikyu as the biggest threats, with Sash Garchomp, Gengar, and Mamoswine also being major headaches; Mega Blastoise is close to an auBuild article →

The author returned to a familiar core of Glimmora, Mega Lopunny, and Basculegion after finding the ladder full of Hippowdon, as this combination reliably breaks through it. Glimmora leads with a Focus Sash and full Speed/SpAtk investment, using Toxic Spikes or direct chip to funnel opponents into range for the sweepers; Mega Lopunny runs max Attack with Triple Axel to cover Hippowdon, Garchomp, Dragonite, Staraptor, and more, dramatically widening selection options. Mimikyu snowballs early wins with Curse and Leftovers, bulky enough to take a +1 Gyarados Waterfall, while Basculegion cleans up Hippowdon and pivots out against threats like Blaziken and Delphox that pressure Lopunny. Archaludon with Oran Berry and Stamina ability wins straight-up exchanges against Mega Metagross and Mawile; Charizard handles stall teams, going 5-1 against them. The team's biggest strength is that every memBuild article →