3rd RMT | ORAS Anything Goes | Peaked 2057 | 1st Place
Welcome to my third Rate My Team, and yet again it's for the only metagame I can play, Anything Goes. Along the way somewhere, I convinced people I was good at this metagame. This is not true.
Once upon a time, a man named chaos pondered about the effect of Mega Rayquaza on the Ubers metagame, when he determined that the power, ability and movepool of the dragon made it an overpowered force in what was once called a banlist. Chaos created the Anything Goes metagame, rid of all clauses, allowing anything legal within the cartridge games to be used. Many players thought to themselves "That sounds like absolute cancer, I'm in" and hence the Anything Goes ladder became densely populated, turning into what is the third most played metagame on the server.
It all started with random players testing different strategies, six Glalie, six Klefki, six Shuckle, e.t.c. Finding out what worked in such a diverse and unique metagame was what made testing random gimmicks and teams entertaining. After a while the metagame developed into a Uberesque style metagame, however still remained unique in its own way.
One of the main commonalities of Anything Goes, is the abuse of the Species Clause, with many players spamming Pokémon such as Klefki, Arceus and Darkrai. Arceus is the most common, as its versatility, movepool and ability to hide its typing before it's sent out allows it to be an easily spammable threat. However, not everyone chooses to spam these Pokémon. In fact, the norm is one or two Arceus. No one ever peaks without Arceus, as it is too good to refuse. The majority of the metagame believe Arceus is a must.
Inspiration
The inspiration for this team was essentially the misconception that Arceus is a must in the Anything Goes metagame. This team was created to prove that this wasn't the case. Although having an Arceus forme is extremely beneficial, in its natural bulk and pleasant movepool. This Pokémon is also easily spammed and forces the belief it is the best Pokémon in the metagame. I decided to ignore this and build something unique.
Teambuilding
I started this team almost seven months ago. Before my last RMT, I had the idea in running multiple Xerneas, instead of Arceus spam. Three sounded like a decent amount, without being overkill, and still having room for handling its weaknesses. I chose Xerneas, as it seemed to take on the majority of the metagame 1v1, bar Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh which was rare at the time. I could run Geomancy as a late game set-up sweeper, possibly two to ensure efficiency. The last could be a Scarf Xerneas to deal with Darkrai and other fast Pokémon, fast revenge killing (this team's version of an EKiller lawl).
My thoughts were PDon, Ho-Oh, boosted EKiller, other GeoXern, Steel types and Poison types. I had found an efficient core in Skarmory and Ho-Oh previously that managed to take on these threats bar two, and I would find a good check for both Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon later on.
So, of course the next step was to find a viable check for these Pokémon and the first thing that came to my mind at the time was Arceus-Water. However, that defeated the purpose of the team. I also found that I wasting a mega slot, and although it wasn't a major concern, the thought that Mega Rayquaza could possibly function as well as Arceus-Water made me add the beast itself.
I noticed that without an Arceus forme or a momentum killer in Giratina, my team didn't favour Stealth Rock, especially with the amount of pressure placed on Ho-Oh. I decided an early Taunt lead would fix this problem so I experimented a bit. Firstly, as I was running some jacked up offensive team, I wanted to be able to set rocks efficiently with Taunt on the same Pokémon. I would sacrifice one Xerneas slot as I found three was just excessive, two was enough. One Scarf, One Geo.
Aerodactyl was able to set rocks, get up a swift Taunt and potentially utilise its offensive stats to dent the opposing lead. It's typing would be nice, if people didn't use Rock coverage support Don leads, but what can you do. I found that Klefki and Kyogre were giving this team a hard time. I also noticed that how even though rock setup was nice a lot of the time, I found myself constantly defogging often which wasn't great for keeping up rocks, and for Ho-Oh which ended up being a fundamental part of the team. I tried other swift Taunt leads and landed on Thundurus-I.
This team peaked #1 on the Anything Goes ladder, however had extreme flaws and relied on set-up sweepers to put in the hard work. ExtremeKiller Arceus spam could shut down the sweepers with usually only the sweeper fainting one opposing mon. This wasn't enough to sustain progress and I often found myself not using Geomancy or Dragon Dance. I pondered the idea of a Screens lead, when I arrived on Light Clay Espeon. It could effectively disable rock setup, and set up both screens without much trouble.
This was extremely nice however, it didn't provide much prevention for rock setup or sleep prevention in the turns that followed. It also had two fairly unused moveslots in Yawn and Psychic. Around this time Drayden8437 made a team which involved Screens Deoxys-Speed. I decided to try that and was impressed at the results.
With Reflect, Light Screen, Taunt and Stealth Rock; Deoxys-Speed was the perfect fit. It could do everything the other options could do. By providing an early Taunt on Darkrai leads, it aided GeoXern set-up once Deo died. It set up screens to let GeoXern/MRay sweep against even the most offensive ExtremeKiller offense teams out there. I was content with the outcome.
In-Depth
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ingrain
- Aromatherapy
- Geomancy
The first member of the team is something I've used before many times. Ingrain Geomancy Xerneas, with absolutely no bulk investment, because living attacks is overrated. By having maximal speed I aim to achieve three things. Firstly, outspeeding opposing Geomancy Xerneas is extremely nice, as it enables the win 1v1. It also enables Xerneas to speed tie Modest Offensive sets of Yveltal, preventing the 50% OWing as much as possibly without sacrificing Xerneas' offensive stats (I hate you Curve <3). Lastly, it can outspeed 252 Neutral Base 90s. PDon and Kyogre both don't appreciate chip damage unless Rest variants of either which are both surprisingly rare (resttalk ogre isnt as common as it should be unfortunately). As for the movepool, the lack of coverage makes it useless against Ho-Oh, but the movepool is needed to allow my team to function against common phazers in Multiscale Lugia and Sturdy Skarmory. Ingrain prevents any sort of phazing, allowing Xerneas to set-up to +6 against Lugia and Skarmory, avoiding Toxic damage using Aromatherapy and allowing nice team support when set-up is not necessary possible or isn't beneficial in that scenario. All around any Geomancy Xerneas set is extremely viable within the Anything Goes metagame.
Xerneas @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 216 Atk / 172 SpA / 120 Spe
Rash Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Sleep Talk
Darkrai is an extremely potent threat within AG. Already a major threat in Ubers, its power is only exaggerated by the lack of the Sleep Clause which enables Darkrai to sweep unprepared teams. By abusing moves such as Taunt and Disable, Darkrai is no longer threatened by slow Sleep Talk users like Ho-Oh and Primal Kyogre. Hence this Pokémon was added to the team. Scarf Xerneas is an excellent team member as it allows simple checking of Darkrai, nice offensive pressure and can potentially be used as Steel Arceus lure. Its Speed enables outspeeding of max speed base 130s, Mewtwo and Mega Gengar; Darkrai, Shaymin-S, Mega Diancie, CM Arceus formes and a plethora of other common threats. Its Attack allows an alternative to only running Moonblast, as both moves provide a guaranteed OHKO standard Darkrai. Close Combat 2HKOs 252 HP Steelceus on the switch-in. The rest is dumped into Special Attack to still be a nuke on the special side, and abuse Xerneas' combination of Fairy Aura and accurate STAB in Moonblast. Sending this Xerneas in on Darkrai is not a terrible idea, however scouting for Substitute on the switch can be nice as this can effectively make Xerneas' job harder when taking down Darkrai. Scarf Xerneas is a terrifying threat on any team, but combined with an effective stop for Steel Arceus in Ho-Oh, is feared much more by foes.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost
- Whirlwind
Skarmory makes a returning appearance as the best stop for ExtremeKiller Arceus in the game (bar the Unaware users Quagsire and Clefable). Its defensive typing and stats allow it to live almost any unboosted physical attack, even without Sturdy intact. Toxic is for stalling down offensive threats in ExtremeKiller Arceus, SD Ghost Arceus, SD Ground Arceus, EQ Variants of Mega Rayquaza and many more. Defog is obviously to provide Ho-Oh and Mega Rayquaza with a pleasant switch in, also removing Sticky Web for the Xerneas sets and ridding of Screens which are increasing in popularity (I'm a catalyst for change). Roost is to recover health, I know, it's hard to understand. Whirlwind is to prevent set-up if Skarmory feels threatened (Stone Edge LO EKiller, SD/RP PDon assuming Sturdy intact, Mega Salamence once it sets up heaps, etc). Overall, Skarmory is a great physical wall with a decent array of utility options to choose from.
Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Atk / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Recover
Ho-Oh is essentially my favourite Pokémon, so I tend to build all my teams in a style that Ho-Oh can fit in and put in work. I love how it works, its ability, offensive typing, movepool, stats and its versatility. Fire is nice with Steel Arceus, Skarmory, Ferrothorn and a myriad of other steel types running wild throughout the meta. Flying doesn't have many resists, however the move Brave Bird is mainly used as its Ho-Oh's strongest STAB move without serious repercussions (Sky Attack). Its offensive presence is extremely pleasant, burning walls down is just straight fire. As offensive moves go, Sacred Fire and Brave Bird aren't half bad. Life Orb only makes these moves stronger, without being Choiced. Substitute is a nice bonus, as Ho-Oh can Substitute on switches, against Darkrai as it substitutes and avoiding slow status spreaders in Blissey and suicidal Skarmory. Its EVs allow it to live a +2 Modest Thunder from Geomancy Xerneas, which is nice since I'm weak to Geomancy Xerneas if I'm not able to setup first. Losing Ho-Oh isn't too detrimental against Xerneas as Deoxys-Speed can usually set up Light Screen for your own Geomancy Xerneas to set up, take 50% before Geomancy, Xerneas the 2HKOs without dying. Mega Rayquaza's ExtremeSpeed and Skarmory's Whirlwind (while Sturdy is intact) are also nice last resorts to Geomancy Xerneas. The EVs also allow Ho-Oh to out-speed Diancie Pre-Mega which can be useful if Ho-Oh can be sacked without much loss, or if Ho-Oh is low, rocks are up and Skarmory is unable to Defog. Ho-Oh is a neat Pokémon, which is unfortunately overlooked due to its Stealth Rock weakness. With appropriate team support Ho-Oh can be a dominating threat in Anything Goes.
Enfin (Rayquaza) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance
Thanks to Mega Rayquaza, the Anything Goes metagame was created, and for good reason. Its offensive stats, movepool, amazing ability, decent bulk, ability to hold an item and so much more make it a dominant force within the Anything Goes metagame. This set is extremely self-explanatory but I'll go through it anyway. Dragon Ascent, strongest STAB other than Outrage or Draco Meteor, required for Mega Evolution. ExtremeSpeed for many reasons, revenge killing, out-speeding Speed boosted mons in Smeargle, Scolipede, etc. Also allows the final damage on ExtremeKiller when Ascent does ~90% in many cases. Earthquake is used over V-create for two main reasons. One is to hit Primal Groudon well (usually for 50%), and the other is so I can easily imposter proof the set with Skarmory. It can also be used to bait Mega Diancie not to Protect on lead, however I wouldn't count this as important as the other two points. Dragon Dance is the best set-up move for Rayquaza in this case, as it allows enough Attack with the nice boost in Speed to outspeed Darkrai, Mewtwo, Scarf Xerneas, Deoxys-A, Shaymin-S, e.t.c. If you read all three of my RMTs, you may have noticed that my Mega Rayquaza set never changed. Well, it's actually extremely coincidental that my RMTs all feature the exact same Rayquaza set. I've tried Band, Specs, Scarf, LO, bulkier sets, mixed sets, Swords Dance, V-create, etc but somehow my best teams always happen to have this set. Weird, huh?
Deoxys-Speed @ Light Clay
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Stealth Rock
Not much to say about Deoxys-S but I'll try to elaborate on it regardless. Reflect and Light Screen are used to allow easy set-up by Rayquaza and Xerneas as well as allowing Ho-Oh to get its Substitute up splendidly. Taunt is there mainly to prevent early rock set-up, but also to Taunt Darkrai and use Geomancy Xerneas to set up on it. Stealth Rock is used against many teams where I can prevent Rock set-up and place a lot of pressure on the rock setter itself. Light Clay is self-explanatory, Pressure is nice in some cases e.g. when an Arceus decides to ExtremeSpeed you a few times and ends up losing the majority of its PP. Max speed to allow outspeeding of +1 Ray, +2 Xern, Drayden8437 's Deoxys-Speed and speed tieing with other Deoxys-Speed leads. Against Drayden8437 's team (I keep bringing this up because it's an extremely popular RMT at the moment), this team performs magnificently as it prevents Deoxys from working, allowing Xerneas or Ray to come in with Screens and sweep.
Threats
Some common threats to the team include:
Not running Thunder sucks, but this weakness can be easily overcome with Ho-Oh and Rayquaza-Mega. Skarmory can also come in and live anything other than Banded Sacred Fire, ensuring you don't need Skarmory for anything. Ho-Oh is speed crept over other Ho-Oh which usually just run 8 Speed maximum due to outspeeding Diancie not being considered as relevant or just being ignored completely since Ho-Oh shouldn't be needing to outspeed Diancie if it doesn't carry Earthquake coverage.
252+ Atk Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 301-355 (72.5 - 85.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
208+ Atk Life Orb Ho-Oh Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Rayquaza: 273-321 (77.7 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
196+ Atk Life Orb Ho-Oh Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 294-347 (70.8 - 83.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
208+ Atk Life Orb Ho-Oh Brave Bird vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 298-351 (71.8 - 84.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
208+ Atk Life Orb Ho-Oh Sacred Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 260-307 (77.8 - 91.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Not running Thunder sucks, but this weakness can be overcome with Rayquaza-Mega, Xerneas (set dependant) and even Ho-Oh (extremely set dependant). Rayquaza-Mega can live most things and Dance, however if it is fearful of fainting it can Dragon Ascent prior to Kyogre's Ice Beam for major damage. Dancing enables OHKO next turn, however a critical hit to Rayquaza can be detrimental. If Rayquaza is down before this Pokémon comes into play, both Xerneas can effectively play a role. Geomancy is possible, as Origin Pulse either happens after the Geomancy or if Kyogre is Timid it fails to OHKO. Keep an eye out for Sheer Cold Kyogre, and Roar on Geomancy. Scarf Xerneas can also do ~45% maximum with Moonblast, usually being able to blast twice without worry. Skarmory can come in with Sturdy and Whirlwind if it uses Calm Mind a few too many times.
252+ Atk Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 172 HP / 0 Def Primal Kyogre: 301-355 (78.3 - 92.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Primal Kyogre Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Rayquaza in Strong Winds: 274-324 (78 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Primal Kyogre: 153-180 (39.8 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Primal Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 184 HP / 0 SpD Xerneas in Heavy Rain: 385-454 (87.6 - 103.4%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Primal Kyogre: 303-357 (78.9 - 92.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Primal Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. +2 184 HP / 0 SpD Xerneas in Heavy Rain: 195-229 (44.4 - 52.1%) -- 16.4% chance to 2HKO
172+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Primal Kyogre: 144-169 (37.5 - 44%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Primal Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Xerneas in Heavy Rain: 429-505 (109.1 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO (flattened)
Rayquaza-Mega wins ensuring that Glalie doesn't get Evasion Boost turn 1. Usually Protect will occur, so you may opt for Dragon Dance for helping sweep other team members. Then assuming they don't get Evasion, there won't be a problem. The problem is, you could send in Deoxys-Speed or Skarmory but they usually won't be able to do much to it. Deoxys-S wastes two of the turns while Glalie is Taunted on Taunting and switching out. You can use Skarmory after this and phaze, but usually Glalie is used in excess and is spammed. Therefore, phazing will actually just result in another Glalie being used. Sigh, Glalie is a real pain in the backside for any team, but especially those lacking Taunt Sableye (every team in the whole fucking metagame, this is better than Klefki ban it now).
252+ Atk Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Glalie: 331-391 (109.9 - 129.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Glalie Frost Breath vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Rayquaza in Strong Winds on a critical hit: 162-192 (46.1 - 54.7%) -- 50% chance to 2HKO
Replays
vs Curve
vs Hunter
vs Megazard
vs Black Schatten
vs Sage Hane
vs Shwetabh
vs Star Thunderbolt
vs White Lion18
vs Donno
vs sashimi9999
vs GonxKillua
vs DanteZeraxVorheez
vs TeamRocket
vs Two-dimensional
vs Cryptis
vs oosty
vs FischerChew
vs Megaqwer
vs Whis
vs TheTiksiBranch
vs TheHungrySage
vs ratkiller
vs LoopStratos
vs carlitos385
vs saimohan
vs Meguriine
vs Hippeh
vs Caberinho
vs dyejo123
vs lightningmonster
vs getrektson2mlg4u
vs Sami110801
vs teozz
vs zjun
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Baton Pass
Klefki SwagPlay
Assist Based
Proof
Shoutouts
There are thousands of people to shoutout, so if I do happen to forget you, my apologies. This will have to go in a hide, I don't want it to make the thread excessively long.
Importable
Enfin
Thanks everyone for making Anything Goes such an entertaining format to ladder. I hope we can continue in Generation 7 with all new threats, and a completely different but still playable format. Anyways, thank you all, et à tout à l'heure.
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