10 Best Pokémon Championship Teams To Climb With This Season

It's been a week since Game Freak released its latest season Set M-B, for Pokémon Champions, and now we're starting to see a new meta form. While there hasn't been a lot added to move the needle away from teams dominating the double format last season, there have been a few new picks to help keep Mega Charizard Y players on their toes.

We've seen 22 Pokémon join the roster, along with 16 new mega evolutions, with most already making a much-needed shake-up to the meta.

For the sake of this list, we'll be looking over Double Battles which is the main competitive format, so if you're a Single's player only, then these compositions might not be too relevant for you.

But without further ado, here are the best Pokémon Champion teams that are sure to help you carry your way to Master Ball tier this season.

10 Mega Delphox

Delete Your Enemies Before They Can Move

Mega Delphox teams have been around since the game first launched, but due to being a bit one-dimensional, they can struggle against players who know how to counter your exact setup.

The best team comp I've been able to find involves running Mega Delphox with Mega Floette to threaten major damage to teams, and to fill your team with supports to enable them. 2014 World Champion Sejun Park elects to run Maushold, Incineroar, Sinistcha, and Vivillon with moves that'll let your sweeper to set up with a Calm Mind or Nasty Plot before sweeping the enemy team.

This is a fairly risky team composition as it's entirely dependent on how well you can protect your Delphox in battle. If you mispredict a Protect or Nasty Plot into your enemy who's decided to send it on your Delphox, you might as well forfeit before the fight has even begun.

9 Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Blaziken

A Sun-Setting Sweeper Team

With the introduction of Hoenn Mega's into the game, we've started to see players figure out where the trio fits within the meta. While Sceptile remains the laughingstock he's always been, we've started to see Blaziken pick up some use thanks to Mega Aerodactyl.

The setup is that you start with your Blaziken and Aerodactyl in the start. If you have a safe opener, you can set up tailwind and delay mega-evolving Blaziken to stack an extra turn of his Speed Boost. That way, you're sure to outspeed any Pokémon brought onto the field.

To round out your team, you'll bring in Kingambit, Basculegion, Garchomp, and Sylveon to have an answer for the remaining meta picks in the game. If you'd like to set the sun up so your Blaziken's Flare Blitz is a guaranteed one-hit-KO and to shut down other weather teams, you can slot Torkoal in Garchomp's place instead.

8 Mega Gengar

Perish The Song Thought

Mega Gengar is a fearsome, yet beloved Mega Pokémon among the community thanks to its ability to set up deadly Perish Song team compositions. Thanks to its ability Shadow Tag, unless a Pokémon is a Ghost-type, they'll be unable to switch out so long as Gengar is on the field.

If you don't know what Perish Song does, any Pokémon that remains on the field for longer than three turns after hearing the song immediately dies. You could switch your Pokémon out to avoid this, but since Gengar's ability makes it so you can't switch out no matter what, it's effectively a death sentence.

One of the most popular variants of this team comes from Santino Tarquino, who'd go on to come fourth place at the Grand Champions Festival a little over a month ago. Tarquino would run a team comprised of Mega Gengar, Alolan Ninetails, Sneezler, Incineroar, Mega Dragonite, and Kingambit.

The core of this team is Gengar and Ninetails, who are able to trap the enemy team in, set up some solid speed control, and threaten strong heavy special hits with Shadow Ball and Blizzard. Ninetails is also able to shut down most weather conditions, as the most popular weather setters like Pelliper or Tyranitar won't be able to switch in to reset the weather after Ninetails comes in.

This team is perfect for a player who loves to trap their opponents and have them feeling despaired about what little options they have to deal with your team.

7 Mega Tyranitar

Your Bulky Sand Sweepers

If you're nostalgic for Pokémon Black & White weather wars and want to run a sand team, then Mega Tyranitar is sure to be one of your favorite teams to run this season.

The benefit of running a sand team right now is that it's a rock solid answer to Charizard teams, which are running the format this season. It's also an incredibly bulky team built for survivability, while also having plenty of room to dish out damage as well.

One of the best compositions being run now includes: Mega Tyranitar, Excadrill, Hydreigon, Corviknight, Rotom-Wash, and Mimikyu. This lineup allows for plenty of type coverage, speed setup, damage with Tyranitar and Hydreigon, and a surprisingly oppressive attacker with Mimikyu.

If you're looking for a consistent sand team to take out oppressive Charizard and Floette compositions, this is the pick for you.

6 Mega Raichu Y

A Powerful Special Sweeper

This season of Pokémon Champions dropped both Y and X variants for Raichu, giving players a strong Electric-type sweeper to choose from. However, it seems like Mega Raichu Y has been the winner between the two, and has been getting some impressive results.

The main reason for this is Mega Raichu Y's ability No Guard, which makes moves used by and against the Pokémon hit 100% of the time. While this can suck with things like Rock Slide and Heat Wave becoming guaranteed hits, this also means your powerful moves like Focus Blast and Zap Cannon are also guaranteed to hit, and you're bound to get plenty of value from them. Zap Cannon will always Paralyze your opponent, and Focus Blast is a solid move to shut down strong threat like Kingambit or Mega Tyranitar.

The best team composition I've seen run includes Gholdengo, Mega Floette, Basculegion, Garchomp, and Whimsicott.

Funnily enough, while Zap Cannon and Focus Blast are key moves on Raichu, players are also running it with Fake Out to set up Gholdengo as a second sweeper on your team, giving you a nice spread of coverage in any fight.

5 Mega Staraptor

Everybody Likes A Contrarion

Mega Staraptor is the latest Mega to join this season, and has quickly become a fan favorite thanks to its ability Contrarian. This ability makes it so whenever you're set to have your stats decreased, they increase instead. With Staraptors typing changing to Fighting and Flying, this turns Close Combat into both a sweeping and setup move capable of one-shotting powerful threats like Kingambit.

The best lineup I've found runs Mega Staraptor with Whimsicott, Garchomp, Grimmsnarl, Kingambit, and Gholdengo. Whimsicott is a key part of getting your damage up early, as people will run Charm, raising your Staraptor's damage to setup for a powerful Close Combat or Brave Bird. Grimmsnarl also sets up some vital Light Screens or Reflects to bulk up the team for longer.

While the team is really fun, it's also very transparent in what it's trying to do, making it fairly easy to counter with some of the already existing meta Pokémon. But still, it's always exciting to see the big damage numbers go up and watch your opponents despair as they realize there's no way they can kill your Staraptor before it sweeps them.

4 Mega Frosslass & Glimmora

A Bulky Sweeper Team To Catch People Off Guard

Mega Frosslass is an interesting team, as while it isn't the strongest matchup against the dominant Charizard teams (spoilers!), there are a few team comps that will have answers for it. But where Mega Frosslass has been shining this season is with oppressive rain teams and Mega Staraptor, as being able to change the weather and answer with Blizzard makes it an oppressive team to match against. You'll also want to run a Focus Band Glimmora with max Special Attack, making its Earth Power and Sludge Bomb mighty threatening.

One of the best setups includes a Focus Sash Glimmora, Incineroar, Garchomp, Whimsicott, and Corviknight. This team would see player Evan Scott reach the top eight at the Indianapolis Regional tournament thanks to its defensive setup while being able to dish out plenty of damage.

If you're sick of seeing Mega Staraptor's Close Combat in front of your face, Mega Frosslass is a solid team to punish their meta-abusing behavior.

3 Mega Swampert Rain Team

Crash Into Me

Blaziken and Sceptile may not be doing too hot in this latest season. However, Swampert has quickly risen to be one of the most dominant teams of the format.

Most openers will see Pelipper paired with a Mega Swampert, setting up rain in your first turn along with Swampert's Swift Swim ability, meaning you get a powerful physical attacker with plenty of speed as well. Pair that with a Tailwind from Pelipper, and you've almost got no way of outspeeding this bulky frog.

This team is a slight deviation from the regular rain team last season, keeping Pelipper and Archaludon, but adding in Grimmsnarl, Sinistcha, and Overqwil. Some teams will opt to slot in Mega Metagross or even Sableye to help deal with Grass and Fairy-type threats.

This team is great if you're looking for fast and agile sweeping Pokémon that won't require turns to set up and can shut down a Mega Charizard and Mega Raichu teams pretty consistently.

2 Mega Floette + Palafin

An Oppressive Setup Team

Mega Floette is by far the most versatile Mega Pokémon in the game right now, and fits into almost any composition. Outside Kingambit and Incineroar, Floette is able to find itself on most competitive teams thanks to its impressive damage and utility.

This team pairs Mega Floette with a Palafin, whose goal is not to switch out and activate its ability, but to instead run Bulk Up and one-shot anyone with Wave Crash. Professional Pokémon player Nick Navarre would finish third place with this team at the Indianapolis Regional Championships thanks to its versatility and opportunities to set up sweepers.

Not only do teams have to account for the Palafin and Floette, this team runs Sneasler, Talonflame, Incineroar, and Kingambit ensuring that there are plenty of ways to help your sweeper setup with Fake Out or Tailwind. If you fail to predict your opponents' moves and let them set up freely, you can find yourself getting swept before you have a chance to take down a single Pokémon.

1 Mega Charizard Y

A Team No One Can Answer

Mega Charizard Y was one of the strongest teams in the game in Pokémon Champion's first season, and even with answers by Mega Swampert, it still remains the strongest team in the game.

One of the key reasons Mega Charizard Y is so good is that the team doesn't really need any setup to get it going. Once Charizard mega evolves and turns on the sun with Drought, it'll be able to one-shot most Pokémon with Heat Wave or Solarbeam.

There are a bunch of solid team compositions you can take here as well, but the main team that's gone on to win several tournaments is: Mega Charizard Y, Mega Floette, Kingambit, Garchomp, Whimsicott, and Basculegion. If you're unable to grab Floette from Pokémon Legends: Z-A, you can slot in Sylveon here and still have great results.

I've been able to climb to Master Ball tier with several 6+ winning streaks and even came fourth in a local tournament with this team composition thanks to every Pokémon bringing immediate value on the field. If you're looking for an easy team to climb with, then you can't go wrong here.