What is up, dumbasses and dumbassettes! I’m here today with my fifth RMT and my first of Generation 8! This team is a Gen 8 Anything Goes Hyper Offense team that has seen great success on ladder due to its ability to control entry hazards, improof itself, and deal consistent and powerful damage. It’s one I’ve enjoyed using a lot and would like to display for you all.
The original composition of this team had Zacian-Crowned over Marshadow. I had originally built this for the AG Banhappy Tournament, where my matchup had banned Defog and Sticky Web. As a result, I thought Aerodactyl would be a great suicide hyper offensive lead, as it is the fastest Stealth Rocker in the game and can Taunt opposing hazard setters. It also had access to Tailwind, which could be very helpful as my opponent had also banned Choice Scarf. The rest of the team fell in line fairly easily, with Choice Specs Kyogre, physically offensive Yveltal, Focus Sash Nasty Plot Calyrex Shadow Rider, Weakness Policy Trick Room Necrozma Dusk Mane, and standard offensive Zacian-Crowned. The team didn’t really have a lot of things that couldn’t reliably be transferred to a normal Gen 8 AG setting. I put Defog on Aerodactyl over Tailwind to help control entry hazards, and I replaced Zacian on the team with Marshadow as a means to help Improof the team as a second priority user with a powerful Shadow Sneak to help against pretty much whatever Ditto wanted to copy. As a result, the final composition of the team was achieved.
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Rock Tomb
- Taunt
My Aerodactyl is fairly standard, at least for an Aerodactyl. Stealth Rock and Taunt should be relatively self-explanatory, Rock Tomb is a nice means of speed control and chip damage, and Defog is a great means of controlling hazards should the opponent set them themselves. Defog is also nice because it means in some niche scenarios you don’t need to lead with Aerodactyl, as it can remove hazards later on in the match with its great speed tier and then proceed to set Rocks. In my opinion, Aerodactyl is a criminally underrated suicide lead in the Gen 8 AG format.
Kyogre @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Spout
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Origin Pulse
Choice Specs Kyogre is an absolute behemoth of a Pokemon (sorry Zacian); it deals incredibly insane amounts of damage with rain-boosted Water Spout, devastating pretty much any of its checks, barring Chansey and Blissey. Ice Beam and Thunder are excellent coverage options, as standard as they are, and Origin Pulse is the next best thing regarding powerful special Water-type moves Kyogre can get. Kyogre is an absolutely integral Pokemon to the team, helping heavily chip threats such as Eternatus, Ferrothorn, and Ho-oh (more like shatter than chip with this one). It threatens a KO every time it comes in, which is incredible as far as offensive pressure goes.
Calyrex-Shadow @ Focus Sash
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draining Kiss
- Nasty Plot
- Astral Barrage
- Psyshock
Calyrex Shadow Rider is the most powerful Pokemon ever, straight up; I don’t care what anyone says. Being able to obliterate its only reliable check in Yveltal via Dynamax and destroy pretty much everything else with Astral Barrage is insane, and also its snowball effect with Grim Neigh is just crazy. Its versatility is also incredible too, being able to run Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Sub-Life Orb, Sub-Leech Seed, Nasty Plot-Baton Pass, among others. If Gamefreak and The Pokemon Company manage to come up with a Pokemon more powerful Pokemon, I’ll be incredibly impressed and also pissed because this thing is just stupid. That being said, abusing it is pretty nice. I decided on Nasty Plot with three coverage options because it felt like it would put the most offensive pressure on the opponent, which is the goal of this team. Psyshock threatens Eternatus and Blissey, Draining Kiss threatens Yveltal and can also restore HP after potential Rocks chip to reactivate Focus Sash, and Astral Barrage is Astral Barrage; it needs no introduction. I went with Focus Sash as the item because it not only provides an easy out for setting up a Nasty Plot, it also provides a means of Improof, which is something a hyper offense team needs in this format.
Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Knock Off
- Dual Wingbeat
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch
Physically offensive Yveltal is another devastatingly powerful Pokemon, Dynamax or not. STAB Dark Aura Life Orb Knock Off does incredible amounts of damage to just about anything while providing excellent utility in getting rid of opposing items such as Heavy-Duty Boots and Choice Scarf to help diminish the opponent’s capability of threatening the team. I went with Heat Wave as a tech option to help with Ferrothorn, which in general is pretty threatening to this team from a defensive standpoint, as it checks the majority of the team in some way, shape, or form. It’s also a great way to deal substantial chip damage to Zacian-Crowned on a switch, and Max Flare against it brings it down to Sucker Punch range or Shadow Sneak range from Marshadow. Yveltal is also the primary Dynamax target of the team, as it deals massive damage with both Max Airstream and Max Darkness and also can boost its speed to help deal massive damage and get rid of faster offensive threats lategame like Calyrex and Marshadow. This Pokemon is another incredible piece of this team that threatens damage and devastation against almost anything.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Sunsteel Strike
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
One of the cooler pieces of this team in my opinion is NDM; I opted for a slower, max-HP variant to help with not only having an easier time against Zacian but also as a means of Improofing. Not only can it Improof with Trick Room, but its extremely slow speed stat means that everything else on the team outspeeds Ditto if it copies NDM, even with the Choice Scarf. NDM is also a great Dynamax option for the team, as it can come in against something like offensive Yveltal, Dynamax, and either revenge kill or bring it in range of a Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch. NDM is another pretty integral piece to the team, acting as a nice defensive utility option and offensive as well. Also, for the longest time I had Stone Edge over Earthquake to hit Ho-oh and Yveltal more reliably, but I opted for Earthquake as there were just too many instances of either NDM versus NDM or NDM versus Ditto or NDM versus Eternatus where I couldn’t help but think “Man, I really wish I had Earthquake right now”. You could very easily run Stone Edge over Earthquake or even Swords Dance, and it would be just as great.
Marshadow @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
- Ice Punch
Marshadow is the final piece of the team and, in my opinion, is the glue that holds this team together. Marshadow is one of the most powerful Pokemon in the format, with its STAB options having zero resistances (prior to Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark). Shadow Sneak was my main motivation for including it on the team, as it provides excellent Improof for Calyrex-Shadow and also just helps with Improofing in general for Kyogre and Yveltal. Double Priority is one of the main reasons this team is as potent as it is. Poltergeist and Close Combat as a combination are extremely devastating, breaking through just about whatever you can think of, and Ice Punch is an excellent back-up option for Eternatus if its item is consumed or removed via Knock Off, and it also hits Zygarde very nicely. Marshadow is an excellent Pokemon, and its role here is essential.
THREATLIST
Offensive Yveltal is the main threat to this team, as, after Dynamax, it outspeeds everything on the team and hits everything incredibly hard, whether it be the physically or specially offensive set. Delaying Dynamax as long as you can against opposing Yveltal is key to winning that matchup, as more often than not, defensive Dynamax is going to be required to stand any chance. Marshadow and Kyogre are excellent options to dealing with Yveltal as well, as Marshadow outspeeds it before Dynamax (and should take a Sucker Punch from relatively full health) and can deal huge damage with Close Combat, and Kyogre can take special hits well and come back with pretty much any non-Water Spout move and revenge kill.
Ditto is the next-biggest threat in my opinion, specifically because of Dynamax. If Ditto copies Yveltal after you’ve Dynamaxed, it’s pretty much game over. Again, delaying Dynamax as long as you can against Ditto is pretty essential, and also making sure Ditto doesn’t copy Yveltal is critical.
Regieleki is annoying as hell for this team to play against on ladder because it’s impossible to set up Rocks against it, as it can bring Aerodactyl down to its Sash and KO you with Rapid Spin, resetting any speed drop you’ve imposed with Rock Tomb, or if you haven’t, just removing the sash in general. It’s a pretty minor threat, but it’s still incredibly annoying.
Believe it or not, opposing Hyper Offensive matchups aren’t great for this team, particularly because of opposing offensive Yveltal but also because there’s somewhat of a tradeoff when it comes to this matchup and hazards: either you keep hazards off your side of the field, or you get hazards up on your opponent’s side, but not both. This is because opposing hazard setters like Aerodactyl and Lycanroc can use Rock Tomb to lower your own Aerodactyl’s speed and revenge kill you the following turn, and you pretty much have to make a choice as to what you value more in the matchup: rocks on your side or rocks on theirs. The Slurpuff Webs matchup is more manageable, but Yawn on Slurpuff is still a nuisance. This is where Defog on Aerodactyl comes in most handy, however; you can switch it out and bring it back in later to get rid of Rocks or Webs or whatever, preserving Calyrex’s Focus Sash and removing that residual damage which can be detrimental to hyper offensive teams, which is very nice. This still requires some maneuvering to pull off successfully, and it might require you to sack a Pokemon in the process or at the very least let one or two take some damage, but it’s not horrible.
I hope you guys enjoyed this RMT; I certainly enjoyed writing it! Special thanks to my buddy Shivam3299 for helping me out with the team and for using it on ladder as well! You’ll find the importable below, and please feel free to leave any constructive criticism! Thank you for reading, and until next time, peace out!
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