Other Metagames (AG) Mixed Greens- Peaked #55

[Qplaz]

Hello Smogon, Qplaz here with an Anything Goes RMT. This is a fresh, albeit rather standard, team that I built with the help of the RMT room during the dead hours (thanks, guys). I based it around the idea of having dual cleaners that double as sweepers, which is perfect for clutch victories and the like. It's been rather successful, helping me to escape the confines of lower ladder AG and the associated memes with relative ease. I managed to continue to a respectable peak at #55, proof of which I'm not going to shove in your face, however it can be found here.

So the main reason that I started AG in the first place was for Mega Rayquaza, easily the most broken mon in the entire game.

A big issue for Mray is scarf Xern, so to compensate for this I added a bulky Primal Groudon.

After this, the team was looking like Darkrai and opposing Mega Rayquaza could be an issue, so I added a Scarf Xerneas of my own.

As helpful as Xern is a revenge killer, I felt that I should probably save it for checking other threats. Thus, I added a revenge killer and secondary win condition of my own, Extreme Killer Arceus.

At this point, the team looked like it would have a bit of trouble switching around. Therefore, I added Klefki, for some free Twave and Swagger spam.

Finally, I thought opposing Ghostceus, Aegislash, and other ghost and psychic types could be a tad painful. As such, I made the last member of my team Yveltal.

Crisp Romaine (Rayquaza) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

Dragon Dance

Dragon Ascent

Extreme Speed

Earthquake

Every salad needs some good quality lettuce

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Mega Rayquaza fulfils several roles here. Thanks to it's sky-high attacking stats, it can function as a scary wallbreaker in the early game, and can also revenge kill slower attackers. However, the primary purpose of it here is to act as a threatening sweeper and potential late game cleaner if Arceus fails to setup for whatever reason.
MOVES, ITEM AND EVS:
Dragon Dance is the move that defines this set, turning Mega Rayquaza into a terrifying cleaner and sweeper. Dragon Ascent is a must for mega evolving Rayquaza, but it also provides the highest damage output of any move on this set. Extreme Speed is excellent here, providing a way to pick off weakened threats as well as a way of getting damage on other priority users, mainly stuff like Ekiller and opposing Yveltal. It also stops Rayquaza from being revenge killed as easily.Earthquake hits the steel types that resist Rayquaza's STABS super effectively. I chose an adamant nature for the highest damage output possible, and I believe that the EVS are self-explanatory. Lum Berry was selected as the item to ease setup and avoid status from stuff like Lugia and fat Yveltal variants, turning them into setup fodder instead.

Car Keys (Klefki) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Substitute

Thunder Wave

Swagger

Foul Play

How are you going to get to the shops to buy ingredients? In a car, of course!

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Klefki's job is to create free switches for the rest of my team with a combination of Thunder Wave and Swagger. It can cripple various sweepers with a prankster Twave, too, and pseudo-phaze with Swagger. Overall, Klefki is a weird mix of pivot and support that the team requires.
MOVES, ITEM AND EVS:
Swagger and Thunder Wave are necessary for Klefki to force switches and cripple sweepers, which is what got Klefki a spot on the team in the first place. Substitute is necessary here, as it allows Klefki to hide from direct damage, which is very useful as it's only recovery is from Leftovers. Furthermore, it protects Klefki from Magic Bounce and Magic Coat users and eases prediction. Foul Play allows Klefki to deal reasonable damage and pairs nicely with Swagger. I chose to invest in special defence and HP because Klefki isn't going to be surviving many physical attacks at +2 anyway, plus it allows Klefki to switch into the various special attackers in the tier. Leftovers is the item here to give Klefki passive recovery, and it ties nicely with all the free turns that parafusion gives.

Feta Cheese (Arceus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Swords Dance

Extreme Speed

Stone Edge

Earthquake

Add texture AND flavour with some feta cheese

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Ekiller Arceus can be used for a few roles. Depending on team matchup, Arceus can be utilised as either a powerful sweeper or scary late game cleaner thanks to a combination of Swords Dance and Extreme Speed. Furthermore, it can be run as a pure revenge killer thanks to the handy priority that Espeed brings.
MOVES, ITEMS AND EVS:
Arceus' moveset is pretty self-explanatory. Swords Dance boosts it's attack to sky-high levels and turns Arceus into a terrifying sweeper/cleaner. Extreme Speed is reasonably strong STAB with the bonus of having a +2 priority, meaning that the chance of opposing Pokemon hitting Arceus before they faint is very slim. Stone Edge is there to nail Ho-Oh and Mega Rayquaza on the switch, and Earthquake is for Rock and Steel types. Life Orb is the item of choice for the maximum damage output possible without a choice band. EVs are invested into Attack and Speed to outspeed as much as possible with coverage and outspeed other Espeeds while hitting as hard as possible. A jolly nature was chosen to ease the matchup against other Ekillers.

Health Inspector (Xerneas) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Sleep Talk

Moonblast

As the God of life and all things pure, no one else is more qualified to be quality control than Xerneas

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Xerneas is here as a general check to a few mons that can be quite threatening, in particular, Mega Rayquaza and Darkrai, which aren't checked by much else bar my Arceus (which can only revenge kill them). Furthermore, thanks to sleep talk, it works as a check to sleep spam in general. Aside from this, it can also perform reasonably as a revenge killer if it isn't needed to check stuff.
MOVES, ITEM AND EVS:
Moonblast is crucial here, as this is what allows it to check dark types and Mega Rayquaza. Sleep Talk allows Xerneas to have an easier time against sleep spam, particularly that coming from Darkrai. Only one attack is used on this set in order to be a full counter to Darkrai (basically assuring that Xerneas OHKOs it with moonblast). Max special attack allows for as much damage as possible, while speed investment allows Xerneas to outspeed as many threats as possible. A choice scarf allows Xerneas to outspeed threats mentioned above.

Kalamata Olive (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 65 Atk / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Rash Nature

Dark Pulse

Oblivion Wing

Sucker Punch

Taunt

Olives add some wonderful extra flavour

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Yveltal is an overall excellent check to the ghost and psychic types that roam the AG tier, and can be a decent switch-in to various Primal Groudon variants. It can do a bit of revenge killing with Sucker Punch on the side, too. Furthermore, this set can deal with hazard setters (mainly Smeargle) and Klefki, which both need their non-damaging attacks to function properly.
MOVES, ITEM AND EVS:
Dark Pulse is here as an overly spammable STAB with a nice damage output and the potential for a flinch. Oblivion Wing is further STAB that heals Yveltal and has the bonus of mauling fairies on the switch (~50% to Geoxern if I recall correctly). Sucker Punch finishes off a weakened foe, and Taunt can shut down Klefki on the switch, as well as various other hazard setters. (it also helps against particularly high achieving Baton Pass teams). I chose a Life Orb here to power up ALL of Yveltal's moves, and the small bonus of LO > Black Glasses isn't bad either. 184 speed EVs allows Yveltal to outspeed most Geomancy Xerneas forms. Full special attack investment allows it to hit as hard as possible, and the rest are in Attack to power up Sucker Punch.

Capsicum (Groudon) @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Relaxed Nature

Stealth Rock

Precipice Blades

Lava Plume

Roar

Every salad needs some flair

ROLE IN THE TEAM:
Primal Groudon is here mainly as a check to fairies and Steels, both of which are rather threatening to the team. It can take on most Xerneas forms with relative ease, and thanks to it's mixed attacking prowess, can destroy Steel Arceus no matter if it is Physically or Specially defensive. It also functions as a soft check to Primal Kyogre. Generally speaking, Primal Groudon is an excellent tank and key member of the team.
MOVES, ITEMS AND EVS:
Stealth Rock is arguably an essential move on any team, punishing switches and destroying stuff like Ho-Oh. Roar can phase out setup sweepers and ruin Baton Pass chains before Ingrain. Lava Plume and Precipice Blades hit for reasonably high damage, and both can destroy Steel-types. Red Orb is essential for Groudon to go Primal, which is what makes it so deadly. The EVs allow for a few benchmarks, including surviving a +2 focus blast from Geoxern after rocks and two spikes; avoiding the 2HKO from Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam; and living various other powerful attacks.

SD Groundceus and Arcspam

What is currently the greatest threat to the team, Ground Arceus carrying Swords Dance can put in the work against most of my team, being able to OHKO most of it at +2. At the moment, the best way to deal with this is to keep throwing priority at it until it dies. This leads on to the next point: while I can deal with one Swords Dance Arceus pretty well, and even beat two if I play right, an opponent with several powerful, offensive Arceus can blow my team right out of the water.

Sludge Bomb Darkrai

Opposing Darkrai that run Sludge Bomb are a problem because I can't switch in, only being able to revenge kill it.

Primal Groudon

In the same boat as the above SD Groundceus, except sacrificing speed for extra power and bulk. Offensive Primal Groudon again can only be revenge killed.

Ho-Oh

Ho-Oh can OHKO or 2HKO most of my team with ease. My main way of dealing with it is Stone Edge on Ekiller, which misses rather frequently. Furthermore, Arceus can't switch into Ho-Oh for fear of a burn.

Stat-Passing Smeargle

Opposing Smeargle that aim to give sweepers an insane boost in various stats are a problem as they tend to outspeed Yveltal's taunt, and put everything else to sleep (and the only mon that can deal with this is Xerneas). The recipient of these boosts can then continue to sweep my team.

Overall, this has been a fun team to ladder with and has been quite successful given how little knowledge of the meta I had at the start of this whole thing. Before I rap it up, I have a few shoutouts to give:
-playerW17 for being my moral support while I was laddering, believe it or not it actually helped
-Panther5001 for helping me to put this entire thing together, which involved putting up with constant questioning for like 3 days straight. Thanks man.
Anyway guys, thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Image Credits

Pokemon Sprites taken from www.pokestadium.com/tools/sprites
Headings/Titles from www.cooltext.com
Mega Rayquaza sprite from http://pokemon.neoseeker.com/wiki/Mega_Rayquaza
Type Sprites from Pokemon Showdown

importable

Crisp Romaine (Rayquaza) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

Car Keys (Klefki) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Swagger
- Foul Play

Feta Cheese (Arceus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Health Inspector (Xerneas) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Talk
- Moonblast



Kalamata Olive (Yveltal) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 132 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Rash Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Oblivion Wing
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt

Capsicum (Groudon) @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Lava Plume
- Roar

​

 

[PurpleGatorade]

Hi qpaz, nice team you have here. The only real issue I see with it is a weakness to extreme killer arceus and mega rayquaza. Since both of those mons commonly carry a lum berry, klefki loses to both of them, and you cant allow primal groudon to take a +2 eq because then geomancy xerneas sweeps your team. I believe the best way to solve this problem is to use a defensive yveltal as opposed to a life orb variant. Defensive rocky helmet yveltal allows you to have a reliable switchin for extreme killer arceus and most variants of mega rayquaza. Life orb yveltal doesn't look like it has an extremely important role on the team, so i think it's fine if you get rid of it. You can still keep taunt to hit klefki on the switch, and even sucker punch as well. Obviously, if you do decide to make the change you will have to replace dark pulse and oblivion wing with foul play and roost. Hope this helped!

 

[Execute]

hey man!

I dont wanna make too many changes to this team but i think Stone Edge > Lava Plume on Pdon will help give you another option to kill it. Lum Berry > Life Orb on arceus allows you to set up on it and also gives you a way to take status better on your team.

Nice rmt!

 

[MZ]

Hey man, this team feels really solid overall and I don't have much to change. I do agree that your main issue comes from opposing Ekillers or other random SD formes that put a lot of pressure here, a basic SD Groundceus+Ekiller combo is a lot for the team to take on. While defensive Yveltal helps with this, the weakness isn't totally gone if you run into stone edge ekillers, and it's not taking on Pdon/Groundceus too well either. Oh and spam teams can just sack something to weaken it before running through with the ekiller in the back. One way to help patch up the issue (in conjunction with defensive Yveltal, I agree with that) would simply be running SD Ghost Arceus over Ekiller. You've got some weaker priority but aside from that there's not much here to require that the SD Arceus is normal. However, the weakness to Darkrai is enhanced a bit while it doesn't help out too much with Ground Arceus. For Darkai, why not try Dazzling Gleam on Klefki? Foul Play is definitely the better move overall but here you're being a bit worse on Pdon in exchange for being able to break its sub once you wake up and Twave it after. This isn't guaranteed on Taunt variants, but Sludge Bomb is the problem set which Klefki can take on fine. Finally, something to consider would be going Charti Berry on Yveltal rather than Rocky Helmet. It doesn't punish casual Espeeds as well, but, without hazard removal, being KOed by a +2 edge from some random Arceus form or Pdon doesn't seem terribly unlikely at all. Anyway, I hope these changes helped you out.

Summary
Defensive Yveltal > Offensive Yveltal
Optional: Charti Berry on Yveltal
SD Ghost Arceus > SD Normal Arceus
Dazzling Gleam > Foul Play on Klefki