Other Metagames (AG) Paranoia [Peak #10, GXE 91.4%, 1894]

iLlama · Sep 8, 2016

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Hello Smogon! Llama here with my second RMT, this time with my first Anything Goes team I created when I started playing AG about a week ago. Every since the introduction of Primals in ORAS, I lost interest in playing Ubers and started to focus on playing Monotype and some Official tiers. That was until recently when people started suggesting I take up Ubers again and to try out AG. I knew my mindset on the current Ubers meta hadn't changed, so I decided to try to team build for AG and see how it went. The idea behind developing this team came from the, at the time, upcoming debut of A Day To Remember's newest album, Bad Vibrations. Specifically from the album's first released single, Paranoia. I wanted to design a team around the concept of nightmares, fear and mind break, i.e. how the team got its name. With that, this is how I came to constructing my squad. Hope you enjoy!

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Right off the bat, I wanted to build a team around Mega Gengar and Darkrai both to follow the proposed team concept as well as to create an annoying Sleep-Trapping Duo (Xerneas beware). At this point, I was leaning towards making a Balanced Trapping team and so I began to look for suitable defensive options to add on.

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Moving forward, I tried to continue with the nightmare theme and bring in YvelGod as a Physically Bulky monster and to completely dismantle multiple E-Killer + Mega-Ray teams.

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However, as I searched for more additions, read discussion regarding better team compositions for AG, and watched many battles to understand the meta better, I decided to drop the Balanced sets and team design, and change it to make it more Offensively oriented. In the long run, I think this was my best decision when building this team, and it would not have done as well if it were a different style. Because of this change, I decided to drop YvelGod and bring on Deoxys-Attack as a great lead and powerhouse.

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Continuing with the new Offensive team build, I decided to add Arceus-Steel to wall any Fairy threats and to check Mega-Ray, Mega-Mence, and other Dragons. In addition, SteelCeus is my main coverage Pokemon, meant to hit any and all major threats to my team.

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Lastly, I needed to add Physical beasts to round out my Offensive build. With that, I decided to utilize a standard Lum E-Killer set and Rock Polish PDon. Two monstrous Pokemon that are the framework the help hold this team together.

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The latest end result of this team comes with changing SteelCeus to a Defensive Support GroundCeus and a rearranging of PDon's EV's to allow for better survivability.

Gengar @ Gengarite

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Protect

Shadow Ball

Sludge Wave

Destiny Bond

Possibly one of my favorite Mega Evolutions in design and capabilities, paired with Darkrai, Mega Gengar is the cornerstone for the concept of this team. I gave it a pretty standard spread, although I have considered trying out options such as Perish Song and Focus Blast to give it better options against more stall oriented Pokemon as well as E-Killer.

Darkrai @ Leftovers

Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Dark Void

Substitute

Taunt

Dark Pulse

Second in line comes Darkrai. Again I went fairly standard with its Sleep Inducer set, although it may seem as an oddball on this Offensive team. However, its importance to keeping this team together and making it work is why I kept it as is from the original team concept. This set, really is just too good to pass up on. Although, I did change the usual set a tad and went for bulk over damage, which has come in handy many a times when facing Mega Rayquaza and Arceus heavy teams. As you can check in one of the replays below, it really is an integral part of this team and keeps it together.

Deoxys-Attack @ Focus Sash

Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD

Stealth Rock

Taunt

Psycho Boost / Flash Cannon

Superpower

I chose Deoxys-Attack, because I wanted to have the strongest, fastest, most terrifying lead I could have. That may seem pretty naive, but against most teams that don't have faster Pokemon, this monster puts in a hell of a lot of work in no time at all. I went mostly standard with Rocks, Taunt, and Superpower as well as maximum attack to have a good chance of OHKOing non-bulky E-Killers, but I switched between Psycho Boost and Flash Cannon some games. Psycho Boost is nice for doing a ton of damage, but having a Mega Diancie breaking move in Flash Cannon is very, very nice. Also, trolling Geo Xerneas is fun as well :^)

Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate

Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk

Judgment

Will-O-Wisp

Ice Beam

Recover

When originally making this team, I added SteelCeus in order to eliminate Fairy as a threat and to lower Dragon's potential against me. However, as suggested by PurpleGatorade, I changed the set to a Defensive GroundCeus to better contain PDon, SteelCeus, Mega Rayquaza, and E-Killer with Judgment and Will-O. Ice Beam for Dragon control and Recover to keep GroundCeus as a recurring threat throughout the entire match.

Arceus @ Lum Berry

Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Swords Dance

Extreme Speed

Stone Edge

Earthquake

I chose E-Killer as my Physical powerhouse right off the bat because of its incredible potential to just wipe the floor with opposing teams. I chose Lum Berry over Life Orb to have a guaranteed kill on Swagger Klefki and to halt Giratina and other statusers.

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb

Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 32 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature

Rock Polish

Earthquake

Fire Punch / Dragon Claw

Rock Slide

The final addition was PDon, frankly, because it's just so damn good. I actually saw a poll recently asking whether or not PDon should be moved down in AG and I just kind of chuckled and wondered who posted while they were drunk. As for the set itself, I decided on Rock Polish over SD or both, and that is where the set became a tad less than standard. For all those that know me and how I play, I really, really, REALLY hate missing moves. Just because of that, I am willing to sacrifice the extra power from Precipice Blades and Stone Edge just so I have the best possible chance to hit and get guaranteed damage. Not to mention that every time I have predicted a Rayquaza switch-in to my PDon I have missed Rock Slide. No seriously. Every. Single. Time. -_- However, in general I am happy with how it performs, even though it's packing a bit smaller of a punch. With regards to Fire Punch and Dragon Claw, I would switch back and forth depending on what I was facing on the ladder. If there were more Mega Rayquaza teams, I used Dragon Claw. Less, and I used Fire Punch. Overall, PDon with Rock Polish is possibly the scariest aspect of this team, and without it, it'd never succeed as well as it has.

Any team that utilizes multiple E-Killers can be terribly annoying to handle for any team, but this team especially can have a rough time. As Mega Gengar is the only real check to it, even though Deoxys-Attack has a decent chance of ohkoing non-bulky spreads, it can wreak havoc against this build. I pretty much knew that E-Killer would be a pain to deal with, but 1 and even 2 E-Killers is still fairly manageable. Just, don't expect to beat teams with 4 or more, unless they hand you the win.

GroundCeus was another Pokemon that I expected to have a bit of difficulty with, though not as much as multiple E-Killers. It really does a number to this team and your best bet for beating it are either Trapping it and trading with Mega Gengar or Sleep stalling it with Darkrai.

I originally didn't think Mega Sableye would be an issue with this team seeing as I have Max Adamant PDon and Darkrai can pretty much wall out the generic spread, but I would be lying if I said matches against good Mega Sableye spreads and team comps weren't a pain in the ass some times. Overall very beatable, but just be ready for some headaches and desk pounding.

Mega Rayquaza overall isn't too dangerous against my team, however, the occasional Choice Band spread is really brutal to handle. Most of the time I can utilize SteelCeus and Mega Gengar to Check and wall it out, but Band sets can totally shift the momentum against this team.

Although I have yet to face a Mega Salamance with this team, I know for a fact that it would be a pain to deal with. The lack of Intimidate Pokemon paired with no Physical checks, beyond SteelCeus really leaves a gap in this team, but unless it rises in usage dramatically, you should be fine.

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Destiny Bond

Darkrai @ Leftovers
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Void
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Dark Pulse

Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
- Recover

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

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch / Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide

Deoxys-Attack @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Psycho Boost / Flash Cannon
- Superpower

6TI Balor - Wtf is Balor? czim - Never see you anymore ;-; Dece1t the GoD Eien - SDR2 Livestream when... KGBanter - When you can get 9 alts Top 10 and still not peak. terrors - Mono RO coming soon? The Excadrill Thimo for getting me into AG Tyke Waszap Zyo - DEG said you speak French pretty well .=.

ArkenCiel Bitana EricSaysHi - 8s Hype Izaya. PhoenixElite TheOfficialVodoom Sky Might Fall zugubu royale - ~~Berrytime is trash~~

http://prnt.sc/chd7nl

PurpleGatorade · Sep 9, 2016

Hi there!
This is a pretty nice team, but it definitely could be improved. The main issue I see with it at the moment is that you get 6-0ed by geomancy xerneas. It easily sets up on deoxys if it's already used psycho boost, and it can even set up on ekiller because a +2 espeed won't kill and after that you have no priority to take it out. To fix this I'd change the EV's on primal groudon to 168 hp, 252+ atk, 32 spdef, and 56 spe. There's no need to be running max speed on a rock polish set, and the bulk aids in setting up. More importantly, the ev spread allows groudon to live a +2 focus blast from xern after rocks and retaliate with fire punch/precipice blades. Now that you have a decent xern check, arceus-steel seems completely unnecessary. You mentioned you wanted to beat fairies, but the only relevant ones are xerneas, fairyceus, and klefki. Pdon deals with xerneas and klefki, while mega gengar easily traps and removes fairyceus. I think you can easily replace steelceus with a support arceus ground. As it stands, mega rayquaza is a huge threat and support groundceus helps you check both mray and ekillers better. The set would be judgment, will o wisp, ice beam, and recover with max hp and def. Other than that, the team is great and congrats on your peak. Hope my suggestions helped!

iLlama · Sep 9, 2016

PurpleGatorade said:
Hi there!
This is a pretty nice team, but it definitely could be improved. The main issue I see with it at the moment is that you get 6-0ed by geomancy xerneas. It easily sets up on deoxys if it's already used psycho boost, and it can even set up on ekiller because a +2 espeed won't kill and after that you have no priority to take it out. To fix this I'd change the EV's on primal groudon to 168 hp, 252+ atk, 32 spdef, and 56 spe. There's no need to be running max speed on a rock polish set, and the bulk aids in setting up. More importantly, the ev spread allows groudon to live a +2 focus blast from xern after rocks and retaliate with fire punch/precipice blades. Now that you have a decent xern check, arceus-steel seems completely unnecessary. You mentioned you wanted to beat fairies, but the only relevant ones are xerneas, fairyceus, and klefki. Pdon deals with xerneas and klefki, while mega gengar easily traps and removes fairyceus. I think you can easily replace steelceus with a support arceus ground. As it stands, mega rayquaza is a huge threat and support groundceus helps you check both mray and ekillers better. The set would be judgment, will o wisp, ice beam, and recover with max hp and def. Other than that, the team is great and congrats on your peak. Hope my suggestions helped!

Thanks for the rate man! Although I've never had any problems with Geo Xerneas I'll try out the different spread of Groudon EV's. The support GroundCeus was something I never considered so I will see how it does with my team comp.

MZ · Sep 10, 2016

Hey dude, this is a pretty cool looking team. First off I totally agree with the changes to Pdon, you absolutely need a way to take a hit from Geoxern. While I'm not really sold on support groundceus here, it seems like it's been working out for you enough to put it in the OP so I'll run with that. However, there were a couple of recommendations I had. First off, Focus Blast on Gengar could help considerably with the opposing ekiller matchup, dropping Sludge Wave can be a bit of a pain but overall I think it's necessary for ekiller while you already have two other fairy resists. Alternately, you could drop destiny bond if you don't find yourself using it too much. Also I just wouldn't bother with flash cannon deo-a, as you can see below it's not really useful at all.
252 SpA Deoxys-A Psycho Boost vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Diancie: 270-318 (112 - 131.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
I also think you could really benefit from Sludge Bomb over Taunt on Darkrai here, Groundceus sacrificed your main way to pivot into Fairy types and the immediate chip damage on incoming Diancie and GeoXern should come in handy although admittedly Ho-Oh isn't too fun for the team either. Anyway, I hope these suggestions helped. Good luck peaking with the team!

as a side note, the rmt has groundceus but the importable still has steelceus in it

iLlama · Sep 10, 2016

Megazard said:
Hey dude, this is a pretty cool looking team. First off I totally agree with the changes to Pdon, you absolutely need a way to take a hit from Geoxern. While I'm not really sold on support groundceus here, it seems like it's been working out for you enough to put it in the OP so I'll run with that. However, there were a couple of recommendations I had. First off, Focus Blast on Gengar could help considerably with the opposing ekiller matchup, dropping Sludge Wave can be a bit of a pain but overall I think it's necessary for ekiller while you already have two other fairy resists. Alternately, you could drop destiny bond if you don't find yourself using it too much. Also I just wouldn't bother with flash cannon deo-a, as you can see below it's not really useful at all.
252 SpA Deoxys-A Psycho Boost vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Diancie: 270-318 (112 - 131.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
I also think you could really benefit from Sludge Bomb over Taunt on Darkrai here, Groundceus sacrificed your main way to pivot into Fairy types and the immediate chip damage on incoming Diancie and GeoXern should come in handy although admittedly Ho-Oh isn't too fun for the team either. Anyway, I hope these suggestions helped. Good luck peaking with the team!

as a side note, the rmt has groundceus but the importable still has steelceus in it

Thanks for the rate man! GroundCeus I tested right away and it immediately outperformed SteelCeus so I decided to make the full switch. As for Focus Blast, I had been considering running it over Sludge Wave, because DBond comes in handy about every other match. I'm skeptical about changing because I don't want to have to miss the Focus Blast and end up costing me the game. I'll test it out anyways and see how match-ups differ. I'm not sure ab out the Sludge Bomb over Taunt for Darkrai though. Having Taunt available on Darkrai has helped so many times that I frankly can't even count. The fact that it paired with Dark Void shuts down Support Arceus, Sleep Talkers, Defoggers, etc. has been to integral to the team. Overall, its importance is too much for me to change it. Anyways, thanks for your suggestions man! I'll try to test them out right away.

E: Import was fixed :)
E2: Not using Focus Blast. Have lost multiple times to it missing and Sludge Wave would have been more hopeful in each situation.

Other Metagames (AG) Paranoia [Peak #10, GXE 91.4%, 1894]

iLlama

Nothing personal, I protect my people

PurpleGatorade

iLlama

Nothing personal, I protect my people

MZ

And now for something completely different

iLlama

Nothing personal, I protect my people