Other Metagames Dark Void is better than Extreme Speed

[MZ]

Thanks Anty for the amazing banner that goes very well with the team​

Introduction​

Hello, I'm an irrelevant dude with lots of badges who plays fake tiers like PU and AG, this is my 9th RMT because I really enjoy making RMTs. Finally Nineage's RMT formatting program got invented so the annoying formatting part doesn't take so long anymore. Anyway, this is the only AG team I've used in the past month for the most part, it's beaten pretty much every relevant player, has a sick w/l, and went undefeated in the AG minitour if I remember correctly. While all that is just there to give you an idea of how consistently good this team has been overall, I ultimately wanted to RMT it because, as a farewell to AG, the team showcases some stuff that just hasn't been shown off too much really well. We've had lots of stall RMTs, Shedinja, Baton Pass, balance, birdspam, Arceus spam, Mega Rayquaza centered squads, even 6 Dialga. But Darkrai, the most broken Pokemon in Anything Goes* just seems to get slept on (stay in school kids, it teaches you skills like that epic wordplay). With gen 6 almost over and Dark Void getting nerfed to the point where Darkai is probably never gonna get back to its former glory, I wanted to make this as one last goodbye to the Nightmare Pokemon. When people think of how stupid and unbalanced ORAS AG is, they shouldn't think about Mega Rayquaza, Klefki, or 6 Arceus. They should think about how absolutely stupid Darkrai is, and that's why this team is awesome.

However, I will put in one disclaimer. This is not a team I recommend laddering with. It's heavily reliant on Dark Void and sometimes Focus Blast, and if you play a lot of ladder games you're just more likely to miss. The team doesn't have a very high hax threshold, aside from Darkrai it's not that easy to come back from being lucked, and I have no peak to share precisely because over time I won more games but lost more points when I lost to some garbage squad with Espeed Fairyceus because they crit Darkrai or whatever. Additionally, I don't even know if it's fully optimal. This team gave me a lot of issues in building even after I turned to Gunner Rohan for advice, and most of its consistent wins have still come from versions that feel imperfect, as though I could be doing more with the initial concept. That being said, the team has proven itself to be really good regardless* so arrogant intro aside, hope you enjoy.

*opinion

Teambuilding Process​

Hide

Originally the core I wanted to start out with was something like Darkrai puts things to sleep and cripples things like Ho-Oh for GeoXern to set up and win, with Gengar checking Ekillers and removing Clefable. The core ended up not working out, but it still seems really good.

I ended up going with a more balanced approach with Pdon+Dragon Arceus as a supporting defensive core. Yeah the original looks better for offense but in my experience, you normally end up just sacking Darkrai in a lot of matchups if its offense and I really wanted to use Darkrai.

I needed some revenge killing and a better way to check Darkrai so I added a second Arceus which is definitely different from the first Arceus. I won a ton of stuff with this version (like this was what I used for most of the wins I stated up above) but something felt wrong so I talked to Gunner Rohan and made an alternate version I like more.

Instead of Geoxern, which just wasn't getting enough mileage, the team became Darkrai+Yveltal Darkspam! And the Dragon Arceus became Fairy! Yeah it seems kind of random, but I'm gonna show how the team fits together and put the alternate version down at the bottom, they're both cool tbh but this one is a lot cooler with running up a ton of offensive pressure.

The Team​

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Dark Void
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt
​

Bread and butter Darkrai, there's really nothing like it. You Dark Void, you Substitute, you start spamming attacks, you don't care about whatever random mon they've slapped Sleep Talk on because Taunt is pretty stupid. I will say that NP is fine if you're into that kind of thing, I prefer Taunt to keep more pressure on things like Ho-Oh but NP means that you're pretty much never going to drop a game vs stall. Not that you normally do with Yveltal+Gengar though, I'm pretty sure Fardin called it a stall ct once even though that wasn't the intent of the team because it does pretty gud vs that. This is the mon you try to get in on support Arceus formes and stuff like that to start breaking things, the fact that it beats or cripples pretty much all of Yveltal's checks (bulky arc formes, Ho-Oh, Xerneas, etc) is pretty excellent.

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 132 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sucker Punch
- Sleep Talk / Knock Off
​

For a while this was Choice Band (shoutouts gunner again), but I ran back to a more regular set once I realized that putting more pressure on Ho-Oh just isn't that necessary. LO Yveltal honestly isn't seen that much in AG, but this is the kind of team I think it works best on, where you have Darkrai+Gengar to annoy all the fairy and bulky arc checks. I needed an offensive mon that can wallbreak well, clean occasionally, and check Groudon while not losing too much ground to Ekiller more specifically, so Yveltal can pivot into Ground stuff and start spamming attacks. The moveset is fairly self explanatory, originally I had Knock Off because it donks Ho-Oh for Darkrai but not only are you crippling Ho-Oh for Yveltal with Taunt Darkrai but Sleep Talk is also really useful to just have less Darkrai fodder on the team as a whole. It lets you not be complete Darkrai bait after something gets KOed and that's basically the only reason for it but that's the only reason it needs. However Knock isn't terrible, it also makes it harder for standard Geoxern to set up on things and that's kinda nice. Oh, and EVs are standard from analysis and do useful things and stuff.

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast
​

Ok so there's really nothing special about standard Gengar but it does so much for the team and nothing else supports Darkrai as well as this. Obviously when your starting core is Darkspam, a trapping Poison-type is incredibly useful for things like Clefable, but it also can remove Ekillers, especially if Darkrai weakens them a bit beforehand, just check general Espeeders, and is the team's second best cleaner after Ekiller. It's crucial that this gets Mega Evolved as early as possible since the threat of trapping is vital for the team, for example you can remove Mega Rayquaza after Stealth Rock+Dragon Ascent SpDef drop which is huge for the team.

Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar
​

Team needed more fairy resists and Stealth Rock, and I wasn't going with Bronzong on this type of team. Basic Pdon is incredibly useful for not losing to Geoxern, which I enjoy to do sometimes. If they have fairies, you can normally get up rocks with this fairly early and then preserve it for whatever you need or even just fodder it once they send out the CB Megaray, but if you think there's a Geoxern then play carefully with this and hope they aren't running something stupid like Ingrain. I will say that any other moveslots aren't really recommended, it needs its basic dual STAB and Roar is critical for Xerneas, I suppose you could try Rock Tomb instead of Lava Plume but burns and reliability and Steel pressuring are all cool things so yeah. Also more defense is a possibility but I found that this thing spends 90% of its time pivoting into fairies so just going full specially defensive made the most sense, the phys def EVs do something slightly relevant but unfortunately I can't remember what that is.

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
​

Weird Fairyceus is a necessary evil, the team really needed just a tiny bit of Defogging and Pdon checking and something that could switch into Mega Rayquaza once and outspeed+OHKO Adamant versions. It works as a general utility check to some other things like Yveltal and can normally spread around a bit of chip damage, which is all it really needs to do. In case it wasn't clear the EV spread beats out Adamant Mega Rayquaza while maximizing bulk, there's probably room to fiddle with this if you want but it seems to be fine. Earth Power is also an option rather than Toxic, especially since Toxic clashes with Dark Void, but being able to chip Pdon fast while you spam Defog on it is huge.

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

And finally, Ekiller. Checks Klefki and Pdon, revenge kills random stuff, nothing too special about this. Magic Coat is my preferred option because it messes with Darkrai more, something that the team desperately needs, but Stone Edge is just generally a cool move and having Magic Coat can occasionally be really annoying when you wanna hit Ho-Oh or something. There's really nothing more to do with this slot, that's AG for you.

Importable

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Dark Void
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 132 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sucker Punch
- Sleep Talk

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast

Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar

Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic

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

The Alternate Version​

The original form of this team looked something like this, Darkrai would come in as early as possible and Gengar would trap or forcibly weaken anything remaining so that the opposing team would be too crippled to stop the eventual Ekiller sweep. Ultimately the team felt too balanced and slow to deal with most of the threats that I'll detail down below which is why I kept working on finding something else, but this still put in a ton of work and is probably useful to look at for anybody trying to seriously rate the team. Also the Fairy Arceus was Dragon Arceus because why have two fairies and they do pretty much the same thing.

Alternate Importable

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Dark Void
- Dark Pulse
- Taunt

Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 176 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 52 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast

Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 20 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar

Arceus-Dragon @ Draco Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic

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

Threatlist​

- Opposing Darkrai are unfortunate, you have checks but it's literally always a threat if they play well and get it in on Pdon or Fairyceus. Besides, if this wasn't in the threatlist of an AG RMT then the writer is either lying or has a very specific team

- Defensive is completely fine but SD/RP is a big threat that needs careful play and probably sacking something to hit it with something priority. Try to get Yveltal in on this sharpish. And yeah I mean primal but I'm too lazy to go looking for a primal sprite D:

- Mewtwo is a threat and you should try to win Speed ties with Gengar and Sucker Punch 50/50s with Yveltal. MMY is a bigger thread since there's no Speed ties, you should try to play really good. MMX is also a threat but at least it's checked better by Fairy Arceus

- Just play well and try to trap it with Gengar since you kill it after rocks at -1 SpD. Again, always a threat and well played DD is absolute hell

- Sigh. Play really well with Arceus, Pdon, and Fairyceus

- Work with Pdon and Magic Coat+Lum Ekiller, the fact that Fairyceus can be bait for this kinda sucks but it's really down to some luck overall.

Lots of things can be generally threatening, it's a fairly offensive team. Even things you theoretically have checks to can be annoying. It always requires really careful offensive play, another reason why it's not great for ladder. That's not to say it has a ton of bad matchups, and it can have a lot of good ones, but be prepared to handle some big threats if you steal this.

Replays​

I've collected a ton of replays with this just from having used it so much, but most of them are with the alternate version. Here's a few with the updated one, there's a ton with the old version in my replays but I don't feel like posting most of them for obvious reasons. Also most of the people I beat here lucked me in other games also in my replays, so if you dislike me just look for them there

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-474017588 vs Hunterstorm, it's a good example of how you can do well with strong offensive play and also a good example of how it's hard to come back from hax even if you were doing amazing early on
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-474014251 vs Pigeons, Darkrai puts in work
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-473789294 vs PurpleGatorade, solid match
And, just for fun, beating Chloe twice with a weird version that had CB Yveltal over Dragon Arceus and with Geoxern in the period between realizing the team needed Yveltal and figuring out where to put it
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-471480385
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-473164325

Conclusion+Shoutouts​

This team is fun, and I'm glad I got it out before gen 7 gets here. All the changes from Z-moves to new mons like Kartana and Marshadow are incredibly hype, and I can't wait to see what the meta has going forward. There won't be a lot of shoutouts since I don't need the likes, so here's just a few for some AG people
Gunner Rohan - helped me get the final version of this team, thanks a lot for the advice and CB Yveltal is a lot of fun
Chloe. is alright I guess, better than Thimo
Kris. you play this meta right?
also cryptis, catalystic, pigeons, gatorade, and the rest of the people in AG who I tested this team against a ton and generally make it a fun place to be


☭