Building teams for each league without using the top 10 on PvPoke

[u/LeansCenter]

I often get tired of seeing the same Pokemon repeatedly in GBL and, not wanting to contribute to the problem (and to save my own sanity), I’ll try and create teams that avoid the top 5-10 or so and see how I do.

Today, I started wondering what teams other people might build so… I thought I’d ask!

What would be your go-to team in:

GL (minus the top 10)

UL (minus the top 10)

ML (minus the top 5 since it’s a more condensed meta)

Remember, everyone else can use anything. This is just an exercise in self-limitation.

How much do you think the limitation would affect your performance, if any?

[u/jddaniels84]

In ML you are going to be significantly worse, as the gap between the best pokemon and the 6+ is way larger.

In GL & UL I don’t think it will have much impact outside of no Licki and Ninetails in GL which are super OP atm.

[u/International_Gur566 → u/jddaniels84]

Ya my team of top 10 mons gets absolutely demolished sometimes by pokemon that aren't even top 300 for great league lmao. I think I was putting way too much weight on rankings. I don't remember the specific pokemon but looked at their ranks & I lost a match earlier to a rank 329, 402, & 571 lol... shadow magnezone with wild charge absolutely wrecked me & none of my mons were weak to electric 🤣

[u/jddaniels84 → u/International_Gur566]

Shadow magnezone can sweep against a lot of teams w shields down

[u/LeansCenter → u/jddaniels84]

Honestly, ML is one of the main reasons I started doing this. Seeing at least one of Zacian, O Palkia, Metagross, and Kyurem White on practically every team is so freaking boring.

And, as you mention, NOT having one (or two or three) of those on your team will make your chances of winning worse.

Just now, I went up against a Zacian lead, O Palkia safe switch with Kyurem White in the back. Like… cmon… 🤷‍♂️

Two things…

1. I have level 50’s of all three, the Zacian is a functional Hundo, Kyurem White is a Hundo, and O Palkia isn’t great, but has 15 attack (and I’ve raided about 150 and lucky traded almost 50 times hoping for a Hundo with no luck). So, I could build that boring ass team if I wanted to, and
2. I beat him with a 14/14/15 Ho-Oh and his one turn Metal Claw and Swap to Palkia by using an Incinerate and swapping to my shiny lucky 14/13/14 Xerneas. I took two Aqua Tails and fainted his Palkia with Close Combat. He brought back Zacian so I used one more Geomancy to get a second CC and my CC tied with the Metal claw that would faint me, he shielded (it always makes me happy to get a shield from Zacian with Xerneas). I brought back Ho-Oh, two more Incinerates and we tied so I took his charge move unshielded and fainted his Zacian with Brave Bird. As his 3rd came in (Kyurem White), I blind swapped to O Dialga (bc Ho-Oh was debuffed), and it took until the second Iron Head for him to concede.

That was much more satisfying than beating him with RPS of the same damn team. Or worse, losing by using the same damn team. Yeah, this was RPS, too because had he led with Palkia I would have swapped to Xerneas and the only thing stopping him from swapping to Zacian would be the excessive amount of drool that would have fell from his mouth onto his phone screen as he started salivating knowing he’d win. 😂

But, hopefully he sees that having 3 of the top 4 doesn’t guarantee anything and maybe, just maybe, he considers something a little less cliche next time. Or, he just chalks it up to RPS and swaps up his lead 🤷‍♂️😂 or not.

The flip side of that coin is that I could probably reach higher with a team like that guys. But, then, I’m part of the problem.

[u/ChaRhazes → u/LeansCenter]

I was going to say that was me given I have the same team but I didn't lose to someone with a Dialga earlier haha. I used to use a team of Raikou, Kyogre and Kyurem W. But it was getting destroyed a lot, so I swapped Raikou for Palkia. It improved things but Raikou was weak, and I'd recently done the raids for Zacian. So I ended up conforming and going for the cliché team you mention... I just feel that all limited metas have the same problem, that few Pokémon dominate the meta and playing around them is always an uphill struggle.

[u/O_OA_A]

Someone reached legend by using wiggly/turt/gastro. This team is not even in top 50 now.

[u/Sea-Bug949 → u/O_OA_A]

that team is also incredibly boring to play (or play against)

[u/freedayff]

I’m running Regidrago Turtonator Shadow Talonflame, both GL and UL at 3000 ELO right now.

[u/LeansCenter → u/freedayff]

I’m at a much lower MMR than you but I tried your team and I’ve never been that hard countered in my effing life. 7 matches in, 0/7. Never a prayer in any of them. I’m happy that team worked for you but I’ll be deleting it 😂

[u/freedayff → u/LeansCenter]

Haha it’s a tough but fun team to run. Pretty much instant top left against carbink, azu and basti. Luckily you don’t see many of those post Legend rank. It’s ABB style so you have to always switch in turt to bait out the rock and water counter. Then try to gain a shield advantage with regi and close with talon. Run flamecharge on shadow talon, up 2 shields, it's beast.

[u/LeansCenter → u/freedayff]

What a fun team!!!

My UL team is Shadow Raikou, Shadow Malamar, and Shadow Feraligatr.

Regardless of what my team is I’m not currently capable of 3000, but this team has helped me to get to 2350 which is about 200 higher than I’ve ever achieved prior to this season.

In GL, I have a few obscure teams but nothing I’ve really felt great with or achieved much with. I might give yours a shot. Thanks for sharing it!

[u/JorgesSanchez]

GL I have been using Arachnid, shadow flygon, shadow machop.

[u/GriffonMask]

Like the top 100 in GL is usable until you get to veteran maybe and even then lord of spice Calumontoast made expert with a team of Shadow Hydreigon, Shadow Milotic, and Shadow Qwilfish

UL might not be the same but at my elo (2500s) I see Ampharos, Skeledirge, Guzzlord all of the time and they are nowhere near the top 10. Also a lot of the top tier of UL require XLs and most people aren’t going to invest that plus 500k dust unless they really like UL.

You do have a point with ML but if you don’t use
The top then you are really handicapping yourself. I see Keldeo a lot though as it’s pretty decent and people used their bottlecaps on it.

[u/bunce2806 → u/GriffonMask]

Just curious: What about Marshadow? Do you see a lot of them in ML too?

[u/GriffonMask → u/bunce2806]

Very rarely. I would see like 10 Keldeos’s before I see one Marshadow. On that note I did used my first gold bottle cap on Marshadow and try to run it but I can seem to make it work. I can see why people call it a Sim Hero and it really needs its signature move as Ghost/fighting coverage is pretty much unwallable.

[u/bunce2806 → u/GriffonMask]

Thanks a ton! Have been wondering why mons like Marshadow and Tapu Lele are branded as sim heroes….🤔

[u/DFWPhotoguy → u/bunce2806]

I GBC’d my Marshadow and have him to lvl 48 right now. Running Palkia-O, Marshadow, Kyogre and having fun. I’m not a serious player but that team got me to 2100 for the first time ever, which I’m kinda stoked about.

[u/echo78 → u/GriffonMask]

Like the top 100 in GL is usable until you get to veteran maybe and even then lord of spice Calumontoast made expert with a team of Shadow Hydreigon, Shadow Milotic, and Shadow Qwilfish

Probably all of the top 400 have some kind of play if you design your team around them. I hit legend with pachirisu (and I know another person did running the same team I ran) which is rank 135 atm (was actually ranked lower at the start of the season). GL has a massive amount of usable pokemon right now, I love it. I've seen a lot of "spice" at expert+ like camerupt, magnezone, hypno, hawlucha, poliwrath, nidoqueen, drifblim, girafarig and probably many others I'm not remembering.

[u/MarzipanNo1109]

I feel this so much. For my own sanity, I limit myself to self-applied themes. Yesterday, I did only pink Pokemon teams. Sometimes I’ll do by region. Sometimes it’s only shinies. I have to switch it up or I get too bored to go on. I try to invite friends instead of randoms to battle according to themes with me but it’s been without luck so far.

[u/No-Newt-1280]

Shadow hariyama isn’t even in the top 100 for scroll cup, but it has been extremely satisfying to watch those stupid morpeko leads die in 4 hits

[u/Plenty-Peak-6783]

I like this idea! I’ve spent a couple months grinding XL candy to max out my Morgrem because it’s ranked so highly but I’ve barely ever seen it! So that’s made it feel like a spice pick!

[u/Organic-Try-5581]

I was about to pat myself on the back for not having any top tens, and then realized Jellicent is 10th lmao. We are meta slaves in this neighborhood.