Well, at least I have more teams to put here now than in the Wcop. And with a positive result!
Week 1:
https://pokepast.es/39db3b438cc1d204
I was originally a Sub this week, and didn,t even plan to play, however Rexus had some IRL issues, so in the end I had to face one of the strongest ( at least in Wcop) players of Europe, Twixtry.
The team was made this same week while I still was in the bench. I wanted a team with SD Gliscor, which at the time wasn,t too common outside of Spain ( where the bad player Trosko has always liked to cheese with it). The best partner for that Gliscor was Magnezone, and after all the team was finished, I decided to use a Sub-Z set. Even in defensive teams I usually like to put Z Moves, and this particular set is the best one for dealing with Mawile. Speaking of that, I don,t remember how the rest of the team ended up being so defensive, but I think it was the best way, since covering so many threats with a weak unboosted Gliscor and a frail Steel Zone was a dificult task.
Sableye is PDef in this team, which still allows it to check well Zam and M-Latis (except DM). Now, however is much more reliable at stopping Medicham, Zard-X and especially lead Chomp and Lando. It doesn,t switch into Ass Gren anymore, but I have 2 good checks for that.
Toxapex has his best combination of moves and one of my favourite items, Eject Button. I have built many teams across this gen with that Item, whether the trapper has been Dugtrio, Weavile, Alola Golem or Magnezone, like in this team. Eject Button allows me to block U-Turn from Scizor and kill it with Magnezone. The other (and in fact, more frequent) use of Eject Button is allowing Gliscor to enter safely on Tran, without fearing a burn. Now Gliscor doesn,t fear anything from Tran except Firium-Z.
OU Meta has 5 good hazards removers: Tornadus-T, Zapdos, Fini, Gliscor and Excadrill. Right now, I consider Tornadus-T to be the best of the bunch, and he fitted well in the team as a good Kartana and Bulu check.
Ferrothorn also has its best move combination and functions as a Psychic, Electric and Rain check, as well as the rocker of the team.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-454313 < In general, Twix chooses well his teams and plays the same way. This battle was not the case for the former, Shedinja is a horrible Mon that no one should use, there are better ways to stop Rain, even in Stalls, even against Manaphy. Still, I had no Knock Off in Gliscor, so I had to wait some time for Twix to commit a mistake, 82 turns in total. Shedinja finally used WoW against my Sableye and died. Skarmory was trapped by Zone shortly after that and Gliscor destroyed the rest of the team. Unfortunately we lost the week anyway.
Week 2:
https://pokepast.es/da3912846a6475dd
My opponent this week was Indigo Plateau, the same player that finished my run in OST this year. The team I used vs him was built in the 3rd cycle of the Ladder Tour. Like all my arsenal of teams, it failed there, but Snake is an easier tour than OLT, so I had hopes it would do well here. Tests with Empo, Marcop and Xray proved it was a good idea to use it.
I generally don,t like Magearna. Yes, it can sometimes sweep entire teams, but for me its generally too weak, dies fast or can,t cover everything. That was until I invented my own Magearna set, which I call "Killer Magearna". Like I said before, 3 Attacks Magearna with either Shift Gear of Trick Room dies pretty fast. Meanwhile, CM + Pain Split + 2 Attacks is walled by a lot of things. This one is a mix of the 2 sets and uses its wonderful coverage to kill almost everything while healing itself with Pain Split against walls like Chansey, Pex or Ferrothorn. Fightium is the Z Moves I choosed, since it was the move that dealt the most damage to Mawile (which Magearna could be used as a switch-in to), Heatran and Scizor.
This Magearna is very offensive, yet slow, so it needed paralisis support. Zapdos and Serperior are the right Mons for the job. The first one also Defogs and checks flying Mons and Kartana. It has HP Ice, since Gliscor could be a threat, as it outspeeds Magearna and is not OHKOed. Serperior is the other Gliscor check, Defog Fini abusser and potentially a sweeper.
I needed a Rocker and with so many paralisis and weakness to Sand, Mega Chomp was the best. People tend to discard Mega Chomp for its Speed drop, but its not only stronger that unboosted regular Chomp (especially on the special side), its also bulkier. I don,t think I need to explain the set, its the standart mixed Mega Chomp. I just will say that people need to use Mega Chomp more often, its a good Mega.
The last Mon of the team is Reuniclus, I needed a Medicham check and a good Status absorber. This Reuniclus has Shadow Ball, as Jirachi could be annoying for both Magearna and Serperior. The boosted move also does good damage to Lele and every Steel except Bisharp.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-455525 < Indigo Plateau used a Steel SPAM, covered by 2 grounds and an offensive Tornadus-T. In the early game I managed to Status 2 of his Mons and kill other 2 at the only part of Zapdos, but then I threw away the match by sending Reuniclus to a CM + Shift Gear Magearna (I expected every other set except that one). Luckily for me, he also threw the game by not using CM on Reuniclus to get to +6 and by using it on my revealed Haze on Pex. Even some luck turns he had couldn,t save him afterwards and I won this battle too. Mambas won against Lindworms and proved everyone we were a competent team.
Week 3:
https://pokepast.es/187cf4c65fea8f16
Hayburner was my third opponent. I have met Hayburner during the Ladder Tour several times and he was a strong and annoying opponent.
Originally I was going to use a Sun team with Torkoal, Lando, Fini, Venusaur and Mawile. However, after both Marcop and Empo lost to the same Mega Latias Balance, I decided to built something new the very last day of the week. It proved to be a bad decision.
Lando a Fini are a good hazard core. Victini is a good scarfer that checks many thing. Magnezone is a trapper that also pairs well with the core. I don,t have to explain more about these Mons.
That week I have also been experimenting a lot with Dragonite, both Sub-DD and DD + EQ. Extreme Speed Nite is terrible, don,t use it, unless with Band. With Roost and some support (hello Zone) Dragonite is capable of sweeping entire teams. It switches boosts easily on Zard-Y and Dclaw less Zard-X, Tran, Volcarona, Bulu, Kartana, Ass Ninja, everything if it still has Multiscale. Its strong, its bulky and at +1 only Scarfers ( which usually can,t even kill it), weather sweepers and Mega Zam outspeed it. This Dragonite is the Mon around which the team was built.
Mawile is there to have a Mega, a threat to Bulky teams and to punch some Mons before Dragonite comes and sweeps. Gliscor could be a threat (and at that time it already became common), so it has Ice Punch.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-456700 < The team has some important holes, like Lopunny + Hazards, Rotom-W or Standart Lead Chomp. Exactly what Hayburner used. I knew it was imposible to win since the preview, but in the first 6 turns I made the impossible possible. Then, I missed an importat Play Rough and started to choke, losing the game in the end. The same way, Mambas lost this week. The saddest thing was that Venusaur in Sun would have probably this match-up.
Week 4:
https://pokepast.es/ba7bd122ee464a75
Zomog was my 4th opponent and posibly the one considered the strongest that I had. The team was built the week of the battle.
Pelipper, Swampert and Tornadus-T don,t have to be explained, they are always in Rain teams.
Azumarill was the Mon I wanted to build around, he is a good Rain sweeper when there are no Bulu, Lele or Rotom-W annoying it. Kingdra is the special wallbreaker/sweeper. Its much bulkier and faster than Greninja, and more powerful when Greninja is not in the Ass form yet. HP Electric covers the rare Mantine and also hits Fini outside of Rain.
Jirachi is also a good Mon in Rain. It atracts Lando and Tran, and U-Turns to Kingdra on them. It checks Lele, Bulu and Alakazam. It puts Rocks and also can heal a teammate with Healing Wish. It does not check Ass Ninja unlike Ferro, but I have Azumarill and Kingdra for that.
The last 2 times I used Rain in an oficial tournament ( Smogon Tour playofss vs Ima and Wcop vs Ultraballz) I got the same worst possible match-up: Sand team with a bulky Grass and Water core that I could not break. Could it be different this time?
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-457570 < No, it couldn,t. It wasn,t that bad of a match-up like the previous times, but it still was what I feared facing the most. I still could have won the match, but played pretty badly, especially the turn 10, when I withdrew Kingdra from Rotom, fearing TW. Had it TW, I could still heal Kingdra with Jirachi and break Zomog with it, but that is something that I only thought after the match ended. This loss mattered a lot, since Mambas tied the week instead of winning. I swore to not use Rain again in an important match in the remaining of the Gen 7 after this match.
Week 5:
I had to move to another town this week, to start working there. Considering that and my most recent results, sitting on the bench was a good move from my managers. Mambas achieved their most impressive Win, an 8-2 against Cobras.
Week 6:
https://pokepast.es/f4dcfb25e63667aa
This week I was living in the same hotel I was working in. So, I had Internet, although a pretty bad one, and some time to test and battle TonyFlygon, the captain of Europe.
I had time to test and battle, but no so much to build, since work was half of the day and I needed to find a flat where to live starting from the next week. I did build some teams, but they were not good, so I had to choose from the ones I built the previous weeks. This one was built the Week 4 and almost was used vs Zomog and to choose it against Tony my logic was: "I won 2 games using Toxapex, and lost 2 games without using it, so I need a strong team with Toxapex"
The team is a Sand Semi-Stall with one wallbreaker and a sweeper. Hippowdon is a very good Mon in SM OU, but a horrible Rocker that loses to Fini, Gliscor and Tornadus-T, among with some lesser Defoguers (see: Serperior and Kartana). With Toxic + Whirlwind, however, its a very good Wall, especially with Rocky Helmet chipping Zard-X, Mawile, Medicham, etc.
Toxapex has Shed Shell. The team is quite Tran weak, so having the power to switch-in and out to it is useful. Someone had to have a Z-Move, so Tornadus-T was the choosen one. He still has the same bulky set, just without Rocky Helmet. Likewise, some Mon had to have Rocks, as Hippo doesn,t have them. Jirachi not only does that, but also checks a lot of things (Lele, Magearna, Bulu, etc.) and heals the team with Wish.
Kartana has his most deadly set, band. Tyranitar is the Mega that is supposed to sweep. This spread, that I have ripped from somewhere in this forum, is weaker and slower than Standart DD Tar. However, its obsenely Bulky, making it easier to set-up to +2. Without rocks, it will always live Focus Blast from Magearna, it will always live Hydro Pump from transformed Ass Ninja and it will always live +2 Bug Buzz from Volcarona.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-460322 < Tony decided to go the HO route against me. Many of his Mons were stopped by Jirachi, so I abussed that by staying with Kartana against them, predicting his switches. Hippowdon was only needed to stop Gyarados and block Spin from Drill (with Rocky Helmet) and he did both tasks well. The match-up was really good for me, yet I commited a mistake in the end by staying with a paralyzed Kartana vs Volcarona. Had it not moved twice, Tony could have won. Fortunately, it attacked both turns and Volcarona was killed, ending the match 6-0 in my favour. Mambas still lose this weak, though.
Weeks 7, 8 and 9:
After Week 6, I found a flat and moved there. Unfortunately, there was no Internet, and it took 2 Weeks for the Internet company to come here and install it, finally doing it when Week 9 already started. I couldn,t even help my team the Weeks 7 and 8 and when I returned for the final one, it was not enough...
In the end, it was a bitter-sweat tournament for me. I met a lot of nice people and I ended with a positive 3-2 result, but we did,t reach playoffs and I could have done better in the matches I lost
See you (hopefully) in the Galarian SPL!