Other Metagames The Legend - An AG HO RMT (Peaked #1, 2076 ELO)

[Daft Blaze]

The Legend
An AG HO RMT
Peaked 2076
1st Place
(Scroll down to the end for importable)

Something to listen to while you read the RMT.
It's a great song, according to me anyway

I first started playing AG because I wanted to try out the most powerful Pokemon ever Mega-Rayquaza. But since then, I’ve been able to meet many people and make friends while playing and laddering the meta I enjoy playing a lot.

In this RMT, as the title suggests, I’ll be telling you about a HO Team that helped me peak the AG ladder utilizing the Deoxys-Speed as a Suicide Lead, which is considered to not do too well in the AG Metagame.

But, before we get started with RMT, shout-out to AG HO God T-HunterStorm. I had never been able to make a successful HO Team before and it was with his help that I was able to understand the concept behind HO Builds. All-right, now we’re done with the main shout-out so let us jump right into it!

Team Building Process

So, I basically wanted to make a HO Team and had been unsuccessful in making a good one. Therefore, I sought out the help of T-HunterStorm, as mentioned before, to help me understand the concept behind making a HO Team.

It was here the idea of a suicide lead popped up - such as Excadrill, Scolipede, or Deoxys-Speed. Gunner had already used Excadrill successfully as a suicide lead (quite recently) and Scolipede had been used by LLW. As I didn’t really want to copy someone and having seen how good Deo-S did in the Ubers Metagame, I thought of using it.

Next I needed something that could sweep through entire teams with the help of hazard support from Deo-S. So I added a Geo Xern to the team. Xerneas was a really good choice overall because it OHKO’d all relevant defoggers (after Geomancy) after stealth rock damage, thereby ensuring that the hazards stay on the field for good.

Although Xerneas is a really good set-up sweeper it is walled by P-Don regardless of whether SR are up, so next I needed something that could sufficiently weaken relevant Xerneas checks and that had really good Offensive presence. Therefore, I chose to add M-Rayquaza to the team next.

All-right, Xerneas and M-Ray take out the walls in a team leaving the opponent’s team open to be swept by E-killers in the late game. So, without putting in much brain, I tossed three E-killers into the team.

The first one utilizing the most common move-set. The second one had frustration to take on any walls remaining, and the third one being Lum Magic Coat so as to handle WoW and walls better + Rai. I’ll discuss the move-sets in depth in the next section.

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

Deoxys (Deoxys-Speed) @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 68 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
Taunt/ Reflect/ Light Screen/ Stealth Rock

Can’t really take credit for this set, I copied it directly from the Ubers Sample teams thread (Classic HO) and tinkered the EVs a bit. Deoxys-S is a suicide lead and helps turn the game in my favour from the beginning itself. You almost always lead with Deoxys-Speed, nothing else. Set-up Rocks to break sashes against anything bar something with Magic Coat/ Magic Bounce.

SR damage helps Xern smash through stuff like Lugia and Ho-oh that are usually able to check it.

Taunt to prevent usage of Defog, Roar, Whirlwind and Entry Hazards.

Screens help reduce the damage taken by the team, making it easier for mons to set-up and bear hits from priority moves such a E-Speed.

About the EVs, with Jolly Nature 200 EVs invested in Spe you outspeed everything relevant that Deo-S can outspeed, and as almost no-one uses Deo-S there is no question about a speed tie (Atleast till I hadn't made the RMT). 240 EVs in HP and 68 EVs in SpD helps ensure that Deo-S lives a Dark Pulse from Offensive LO Yveltal with Light Screen up. It also isn’t OHKO’d by a Dark Pulse from the Bulky (Physically Defensive) Darkrai set that is gaining popularity.

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 176 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
Moonblast/ Geomancy/ Thunder/ Focus Blast

The move-set and the EVs are standard on Xerneas, with a bit of speed creep. Moonblast is the main STAB move, Geomancy to set-up and sweep, Focus Blast to OHKO relevant Steel type mons and Thunder for good coverage (OHKOs Ho-oh and most P-Kyogre after SR damage). As the rest of the team is physically offensive, using Xerneas well is crucial in winning matches.

Other Options : Psyshock > Thunder

Reasoning : OHKOs almost all Ho-ohs after SR, 2HKOs the not so common P-Kyogre, hits Poison types for super-effective damage (Kill mushrooms :^))
​

Dragoon (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Choice Band
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Dragon Ascent/ Waterfall/ V-create/ Extreme Speed

Unaware walls can be a real pain while using this team. They wall everything in this team, except this monster. As it has CB, nothing can really switch into this with SR up. Dragon Ascent is the main STAB move, Waterfall OHKOs P-Don thereby helping Xerneas sweep. V-Create is a really powerful move, hits Steel types and Skarmory in general which can be a menace to deal with if Xern is dead. Espeed for priority.

It’s a good wall breaker in general and OHKOs all variants of Ekiller after SR damage.

Other Item(s): Using Lum instead of Choice Band helps handle Skarmory better as you don't get locked into a move, it also gives M-Ray the option to set-up and win. But you lose offensive pressure.
The move-set I used on Lum M-Ray is :

Dragoon (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 48 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Def / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
Dragon Ascent/ Dragon Dance/ V-Create/ Extreme Speed

The EVs are not standard, so I’ll explain them. 252 EVs invested in Attack to maximize damage out-put, as usual. 128 EVs invested in Spe to out-speed Modest Scraf Xerneas (after a DD) which is gaining popularity. Rest of the EVs in Def so that its as bulky as possible. I’m sure most people won’t agree with the spread, but okay.

Other Options : Earthquake can be used over V-Create on Lum M-Ray in order to hit Rock types - support Arceus-Rock in specific which is gaining some popularity.

You can also simply run 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe, Adamant Nature on M-Ray ~Curve
​

Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Extreme Speed/ Swords Dance/ Earthquake/ Magic Coat

Lum – Magic Coat Arceus can help in handling walls such as Lugia and Bulky Arceus if I’ve been unable to set-up rocks or if Xerneas has died or if I've been unable to damage them at all. All you have to do is predict the turn they use Toxic/ Wisp or Roar/ Whirlwind, Set-up with SD and kill them or weaken them to the point other mons in the team can take them out. Also, this is a legit switch-in to Darkrai. Espeed is the main STAB/ Priority move, EQ hits Steel types. If Rai is still alive on the opponent’s team mid-game, toss this out.

​

Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Extreme Speed/ Swords Dance/ Earthquake/ Shadow Claw

The Standard Ekiller Set. ES because it’s an Ekiller, SD increases damage out-put, EQ hits Steel-types and Shadow Claw hits Ghost types. Toss it out if you fear facing Arceus-Ghost, because at +2 Shadow Claw has a 75% chance to OHKO Arceus-Ghost after SR damage.

Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Extreme Speed/ Swords Dance/ Earthquake/ Frustration

The other Standard Ekiller Set. This thing absolutely decimates things that are not Skarmory or Giratina after SR damage. I added it for pure power, nothing else. ES, SD, EQ are staple. One can either use Adamant Nature and Frustration which helps ensure you almost every time take out mons like Yveltal with +2 Frustration after SR damage, Frustration also hits very hard in general and is able to take out Support Arceus forms if they are at 76% (or below). Or, one can also opt to use Jolly Nature and Stone Edge, which ensures that Yveltal gets killed unless it has Charti Berry. Stone Edge also helps hit Gengar - which it can’t touch if running Frustration (Or any ghost type with levitate in general).


​

How to use
The general idea while using this team is to set up both Screens (more importantly Reflect) and SR and Taunt when required (especially when facing support Arceus formes to prevent phasing/ using status moves). Then set up Xerneas or Ray accordingly and sweep through. Or weaken walls using Xerneas and M-Ray till the E-killers can sweep through.

Threatlist

Ditto
Ditto can be a real pain to handle with this team. The most important thing to do while facing a team that has Ditto, is not to lead with Deoxys-S >_>. They'll probably lead with Ditto to make use of Deoxys-Speed's hazard support or to just taunt it. So lead with Frustration E-killer Arceus and hope to get Ditto killed soon. Deoxys-S will have to come in the field somewhere mid-game to set-up SR, so that if you're unable to take down Ditto, it gets worn down every time it switches in.

Arceus-Ghost
Physical Arceus-Ghost can be a real problem to deal with if the opposing player is able to preserve it or if it leads and is able to get a SD up (you should usually set-up Light Screen first turn to check for the Special variant). There is nothing you can do other than using plays to your advantage.

Unaware Walls
Unaware walls such as Quagsire and Clefable can be a pain to deal with, especially if you're using Lum M-Ray. Try and preserve Xerneas if facing Quagsire and, LO Frustration Arceus if facing Clefable.

Replays

I was able to save quite a few replays but was unable to save a few good ones as I never ceased to forget to save the replays >_>

vs HunterStorm
vs DontStealMyPenguin
vs Zangooser
vs Sage Hane
vs chanyuh
vs Primal Box (Ditto)
vs 9td40o909
vs Donno
​

Proof of Peak

Shoutouts

Chloe : First person I ever talked to on PS! Creative teams, fren :]
DoW : Stall and Shedninja aren't viable in AG >_>
DEG : I'm beginning to like Gengars
White Lion18 : Introduced me to the world of plays
GonxKillua : KILL-U-A
Bacon : Begone
HunterStorm : God tier AG player
LinearCurve : ^
Gunner : ^
LLW : ^
Joshz : I wanna be popular S E N P A I
Infernub : I've been spying on you using different accounts since 2 weeks now >_>
Megazard : Make me look popular :^)

AG Fam : Megaqwer :], Black Schatten, Whis Khalifa, Ratkiller, Donno, TheHungrySage, Cryptis

Importable

Deoxys (Deoxys-Speed) @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP / 68 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Stealth Rock

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 176 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Geomancy
- Thunder
- Focus Blast

Dragoon (Rayquaza-Mega) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Delta Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- V-create
- Extreme Speed

Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Magic Coat

Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Frustration

 

[Cryptis]

I love the way this team looks, especially the triple Ekillers. (Did HunterStorm suggest Frustration Ekiller to you? Cuz he suggested the same thing to me when we were teambuilding, and it's a monster.) Looking at this team, it seems very weak to bulky Roar 'mons and hazard stacking. I'd suggest either finding a place for Defog on one of your Ekillers, or running Ingrain over some coverage on Xerneas. I'd probably get rid of Thunder, as it only hits Ho-Oh, which Xerneas still struggles to OHKO without rocks up, and POgre, which Xerneas has a chance to OHKO with Moonblast with rocks up. Also, bar Band MRay, your team is pretty much walled by the core of bulky PDon with Roar and dual status defensive FairyCeus (S/O to my RMT). I'd suggest running an Ekiller GroundCeus over one of your Life Orb Ekillers to help your PDon matchup, as it's one of the biggest threats in the tier. You could run SD/Espeed/EQ/Defog to help with your hazard weakness, and run 252 Atk/252 Spe Adamant to maximize damage output. This is just me talking out of my ass, so feel free to disregard all of this. Anyways, nice RMT, and glooks on the S/O.

Edit: HMU if you wanna teambuild sometime!

 

[Daft Blaze]

Well, I added the Frustration Ada LO Killer bc its a monster and is able to break through walls which aren't Giratina or Skarmory. Hunter didn't really suggest adding it, I just sort of incorporated Hunter's advice and came up with the team. With that being said Hunter has made almost all of the LO Ekiller sets, so S/O to him for that.

Now, as the team is really offensive to its core and I don't really think I'll have problems with Hazards stacking as Deo-S can straight out taunt then (is obv faster) and in the mid-game even if my opponent tries to stack up hazards they'll be giving me time to set-up and sweep.
I don't think that even Arceus-Ground can guarantee to break that core. Also, I think Lum Magic Coat Arceus gives me a fair chance to break the core, all I have to do is get my predicts right and boom one of them is gone or weakened to be taken out by Frustration Arceus.

And as hazard staking isn't really possible against this team, no point in running defog. Ground-Arceus is a good option though (EQ/ ES/ SE/ SD), but I ended up not using it because it didn't hit flying type mons hard enough (Only if Curve hadn't come up with the bulky M-Ray set >_>)

 

[TheHungrySage]

ew 3 ekillers What is there to say? Really great team, as can be seen by your peak (congrats on that, btw). The only thing that I can imagine that might trouble your team that's not included in your threatlist is physically defensive Y-God. Foul Play, as you would know, can decimate Ekiller w/o Stone Edge, which it doesn't appear you have anymore. The logical answer would be to, of course, throw a Zekrom onto your team switch in Xern, but then this stops your Ekiller sweep and can potentially break your strategy if Xern is KO'ed. I would suggest replacing your LO Arc's EQ with Stone Edge, but it's really not that big of a deal to be worried about. Definitely keep Frustration, it's monstrous.

 

[MZ]

Don't tag me just to ask for a rate or I won't give you a full one
I would actually keep thunder on xern just bc when it's coming out they likely still have hooh since nothing comes close to baiting it in or anything
Weaker than I'd like to use to standard ghostceus sets, I think you need shadow claw on the magic coat ekiller just bc it fucks you over
That's all I cba to do, happy trails and this team is good

 

[Daft Blaze]

Don't tag me just to ask for a rate or I won't give you a full one
I would actually keep thunder on xern just bc when it's coming out they likely still have hooh since nothing comes close to baiting it in or anything
Weaker than I'd like to use to standard ghostceus sets, I think you need shadow claw on the magic coat ekiller just bc it fucks you over
That's all I cba to do, happy trails and this team is good

True, this team is weak to Arceus-Ghost, both Special and Physical variants. All I can do is hope to take the Special variant by offensive pressure, i.e., take it out using Xern or M-Ray or, win important speed ties. While I'm forced to handle the Physical variant by making plays that may or may not go into my favour. Not to mention Brick Break takes out screens, so the Physical variant is a really big menace for this team to handle.

Shadow Claw on Lum Arceus doesn't matter though, because both EQ and SC are 2HKOs unless in some other specific situation

Thanks for the rate :]

 

[Daft Blaze]

ew 3 ekillers What is there to say? Really great team, as can be seen by your peak (congrats on that, btw). The only thing that I can imagine that might trouble your team that's not included in your threatlist is physically defensive Y-God. Foul Play, as you would know, can decimate Ekiller w/o Stone Edge, which it doesn't appear you have anymore. The logical answer would be to, of course, throw a Zekrom onto your team switch in Xern, but then this stops your Ekiller sweep and can potentially break your strategy if Xern is KO'ed. I would suggest replacing your LO Arc's EQ with Stone Edge, but it's really not that big of a deal to be worried about. Definitely keep Frustration, it's monstrous.

With SR up Frustration OHKOs at +2 most of the time. I don't think removing EQ is a good idea bc it helps me deal more damage to P-Don and hit Steel and Rock types. Also, SE isn't sure to kill Bulky Yveltal as it can carry Charti Berry.

TY :]

 

[TheHungrySage]

With SR up Frustration OHKOs at +2 most of the time. I don't think removing EQ is a good idea bc it helps me deal more damage to P-Don and hit Steel and Rock types. Also, SE isn't sure to kill Bulky Yveltal as it can carry Charti Berry.

TY :]

Sorry, I didn't realize that Frustration OHKO'ed at +2.

 

[Daft Blaze]

I switched the EVs on the Lum M-Ray set (~ suggested by T-HunterStorm), be sure to check it out guys!