Almost Any Ability MK3

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Monte Cristo

Banned deucer.
6TMWyD8.png

Welcome to the third installment of the almost any ability (AAA) thread! This will be the main hub of AAA XY for all sorts of metagame discussion and any questions about the tier. AAA already has a permanent ladder on the main server, and is easy to play. If you want to discuss the meta on PS! or try to find an AAA tournament your best bet is the other metas room.

On why this thread was made: Recently I approached asterat about banning somethings and un-banning things, he then with a lot of discussion and decision making and with me along the way decided that Asterat and I are co-leading with Kl4ng in the back for tie breakers. Yes you heard this right, no council, so our views represented in this thread will play a big part in what gets banned and what doesn't, although don't fret: I'm trying my hardest and so is asterat to make this a balanced and skillful metagame for both playstyles.

What is AAA?
AAA is a standard version of OU with a simple twist- your pokemon can swap out their normal abilities for almost any ability of your choosing (see the banlist below for abilities that are not allowed.) This opens the door to a very unique metagame, and a host of fascinating sets.

Abilities:
  • Aerilate
  • Contrary
  • Fur Coat
  • Huge/Pure Power
  • Imposter
  • Simple
  • Shadow Tag/Arena Trap (not magnet pull)
  • Speed Boost
  • Parental Bond
  • Wonder Guard
  • Protean
Mons:
  • Archeops
  • Kyurem-B
  • Regigigas
  • Shedinja + Sturdy
  • Slaking
  • Smeargle + Prankster
  • Weavile
  • Keldeo
  • Bisharp
  • Mamoswine
  • Terrakion
Unbanlist:
  • Aegislash
  • Greninja
  • Blaziken
  • Deoxys-D
  • Deoxys-S
  • Genesect
  • Shaymin-S
  • Mawlite is rebanned
Note: all standard OU clauses apply

What should I post about in this thread?
  • Favorite/Innovative sets in AAA
  • Cores in AAA
  • Questions about AAA
  • How to counter [insert threat here]
  • General metagame discussion

By the way, The AAA invitational is canceled due to lack of active players and sudden metagame changes. Metagame changes make it hard to know who is playing at the top level and keep a consistent view of what is top level play. While player inactivity is pretty self explanatory. We hope you understand.
 
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Yada yada why is mamo banned why is sharp banned why is gale wings chatot still fucking legal its literally swagger all over again why is terrakion legal if it does everything mamo does better except freeze dry which it doesnt need with stone edge and it has swords dance to boot. Mawilite was obvious.
 
Except that bisharp can't use refrig, bisharp has a lot lower speed tier, and bisharp has far less reliable priority.
 
Mamo destroys intimidate hippo and doublade, something terrakion does not do.
Bisharp is gone, that means... EVERYBODY RUN DOUBLADE OH YEAH. I also see lati becoming more of a thing now.
Also, darn ppl why now ? I just made a new team for the invitational and I'll have to do it all over again.

Anyway, no bisharp, no mawile and no mamo. Has anybody told Adrian Marin yet ? I bet he'll be pleased.

EDIT: I also would like more explication on the mamoswine ban. There's as much checks and counters as other adaptability users.
 
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I don't understand the Mamoswine ban. Bisharp sure, it can destroy a lot of things. Mawilite also, true. Illusion Swords Dance + Mega Evolution is terrifying.

But why Mamoswine? Like yoman5 said, Terrakion can do a lot of the same things Mamoswine does but better.

motherlove said:
Mamo destroys hippo and doublade, something terrakion does not do.
Bisharp is gone, that means... EVERYBODY RUN DOUBLADE OH YEAH. I also see lati becoming more of a thing now.
Also, darn ppl why now ? I just made a new team for the invitational and I'll have to do it all over again.

Anyway, no bisharp, no mawile and no mamo. Has anybody told Adrian Marin yet ? I bet he'll be pleased.
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Most variants of Doublade that I see use Levitate. Mamoswine cannot touch those variants.
 
DarkeKnight said:
I don't understand the Mamoswine ban. Bisharp sure, it can destroy a lot of things. Mawilite also, true. Illusion Swords Dance + Mega Evolution is terrifying.

But why Mamoswine? Like yoman5 said, Terrakion can do a lot of the same things Mamoswine does but better.



Most variants of Doublade that I see use Levitate. Mamoswine cannot touch those variants.
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Just to clarify, knock off mamo, which is the standard all out attacker set but knock off over superpower- does beat doublade.

It just seemed to be the general consensus between people that I trust most that mamo was fucking broken, and I will make a full post detailing why, but I want to take my time to make sure it's the end all argument, so this thread doesn't turn into a repeat of the "B4N SU1CuN3" arguments where the entire thread was derailed for something that was literally pointless and voided in the long run.
 
252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Doublade: 120-143 (37.2 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Doublade: 120-143 (37.2 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Mamoswine at best 3HKOs.

Gyro Ball 2HKOs Mamoswine.

But I digress. I'll wait for your reply.
 
DarkeKnight said:
252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Doublade: 120-143 (37.2 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Doublade: 120-143 (37.2 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Mamoswine at best 3HKOs.

Gyro Ball 2HKOs Mamoswine.

But I digress. I'll wait for your reply.
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Why would it Knock Off again? It would just use STAB EQ.

Anyway, Monte Cristo I'm wondering why there are still the complex bans of Shedinja+Sturdy and Smeargle+Prankster. IIRC, Weavile was banned because it was broken with Refrigerate but not everything with Refrigerate was broken, which is why the ability itself wasn't banned. So why wasn't just Weavile+Refrige banned? My memory could be off, however, because Weavile might have had other good abilities that were hard to counter but I'm not sure.
 
Evee: a lot of the bans (keldeo, weavile, possibly kyuB) were bans because of the power the presented with Adaptability (this now includes mamo and bisharp) along with some other good set (tinted keldeo, fridge weavile). I still think that we need to stop beating around the bush and just ban adaptability. It's clearly unhealthy for the meta and has now gotten 4+ mons banned just by existing as a set.
 
yoman5 said:
Evee: a lot of the bans (keldeo, weavile, possibly kyuB) were bans because of the power the presented with Adaptability (this now includes mamo and bisharp) along with some other good set (tinted keldeo, fridge weavile). I still think that we need to stop beating around the bush and just ban adaptability. It's clearly unhealthy for the meta and has now gotten 4+ mons banned just by existing as a set.
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I would like to point out weavile and kyub were banned solely for fridge, keld was banned because it had multiple S rank sets that didn't have good common counters, and bisharp wouldn't have been solved by an adapt ban(tough claws was exactly the same for it). We still don't know the full reasoning behind mamo ban but pretty sure its only set was adapt.

moving on, why was mawilite even unbanned in the first place?
 
I got laughed at for mentioning the idea of physically defensive pivot Infernape with Levitate, but was then informed by someone who once peaked AAA ladder and held it for a month that defensive Infernape is actually good. Admittedly, for a pivot Infernape Magic Guard or Intimidate would be superior to Levitate aside from Ground immunity, but the fact is that Levitate Infernape would be able to switch in easily on anything that isn't Superpower (it can switch in on Superpower too but doesn't appreciate it), Will-O-Wisp it and either stall with Slack Off or just leave. It also has a fast Taunt that can stop Stealth Rock, and Levitate makes it immune to any hazards other than Stealth Rock. It could also be used to set its own Stealth Rock. In fact, if Adamant Life Orb Mamoswine is a general thing rather than Jolly, Infernape can outspeed with minimal investment and still run enough Defence to wall the heck out of it.

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Superpower vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Infernape: 172-203 (48.3 - 57%) -- 39.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Weak.

252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Infernape: 122-144 (34.2 - 40.4%) -- 46.4% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Weaker.

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Infernape: 69-82 (19.3 - 23%)

Nope.

And on second turn and later,

252+ Atk Life Orb burned Mamoswine Superpower vs. 252 HP / 224+ Def Infernape: 86-101 (24.1 - 28.3%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

Well that's cute. Now excuse me while I heal all of that off easily.

If Life Orb Mamoswine runs Jolly, it is still not a threat because Icicle Crash is a 4HKO and Superpower would be a 3HKO even if you ignored the fact that Superpower nerfs Mamo's Attack with every use. Even Jolly Banded Mamo at most 3HKOs with Superpower and loses to Infernape. Adamant Banded Mamo loses worse because it is outsped, allowing Infernape to heal or burn it before it can act.

Again, Infernape switches in on and cripples all of these variants of Mamoswine even if it switches directly in on a Superpower. The only chance Mamoswine has is crit hax.

As for what Infernape can do outside of stopping Mamoswine, it can cripple physical attackers in general with Will-O-Wisp and slowly kill them with burn damage, it has Taunt to stop status in general, it can set Stealth Rock, and it can escape undesirable situations and create momentum with a U-turn that conveniently underspeeds actually fast attackers. Of course, it can't run all of these at once so you'd have to choose between Taunt and Stealth Rock.

Defensive Infernape apparently also used to be a great Bisharp counter, but since it's banned nobody cares about that. How sad.
 
I think that Technician Klinklang deserves a mention as a threat. While not the most powerful threat out there, Technician and Shift Gear allow Gear Grind to attain new heights, and standard OU threats like Chansey now get OHKO'd after Rocks. This is just using standard OU mons and strategy, but in AAA, I think Technician Klinklang could shine with the right team. Just my personal opinion.
 
Oh thank the gods that Keldeo is finally gone.

I'm more puzzled by the Mamoswine ban, but willing to wait on the post detailing the why -it's a very good Pokemon in AAA, I just don't remember anything ridiculous about it.

Still don't get why Weavile was and remains banned.

Also still don't get why Aerilate is banned, rather than the abusers or a complex ban of Dragonite+Aerilate type of thing.

Somewhat puzzled by the Genesect and Deoxys unbans. Is it because everything else rises up?

And echoing previous sentiments: should Adaptability be banned, if it's part/all of the reason for multiple Pokemon bans?

But mostly I look forward to AAA without Keldeo. I stopped playing because of it, in large part.
 
Flash Fire pls (Victini) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-Create
- Protect
- Trick

The V-Create giver, and the only thing that will let you get around Flash Fire. It might be better to put Turboblaze on Liepard, as it does NOT like switching into Rocks -- and if the opponent has a Flash Fire user, it will have a lot of pressure put on it to switch in and out.

Rain pls (Infernape) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Assist
- Protect
- Focus Punch
- Counter

I put Drought on Infernape because, since my sun setter won't be running a Choice item, I wanted something fast that has STAB on V-Create.

Speed pls (Liepard) @ Choice Band
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Assist
- Copycat
- Protect
- Trick

Banded Prankster user #1. Against teams without Flash Fire or Primordial Sea, this and Sneasel will be doing most of the team's work, as they're largely indifferent to V-Create's stat drops and can dish out a ton of damage.

Bans pls (Sneasel) @ Choice Band
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Assist
- Thief
- Protect

tfw no weavile. Like a slightly stronger and faster Purrloin that's weak to rocks.

Heavy Rain Pls (Purugly) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Assist
- Thief
- Roar
- Sleep Talk

This is how you get around Primordial Sea users.

This is how the team beats
Birds pls (Monferno) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Assist
- Protect
- Focus Punch
- Counter

Scarf + Prankster is needed somewhere on the team to get around all Gale Wings users. It can afford to be an NFE because birds don't usually have terribly high bulk. The fact that it remains fast in the +1 priority bracket after one use can be useful for surprising things that thought they could switch in to revenge kill.
If the opponent has Flash Fire, Primordial Sea, a very bulky Intimidate user, or a bulky double fire resist, you probably lose. Otherwise, you will almost definitely lose. Either way, games are short and fun. Purugly and Victini could run Banded Prankster to do better against everything except FF and PS, but the team would auto-lose to anything that had either of those.

Don't actually use this team for anything you want a good shot at winning, but I thought it would be fun to post nonetheless. Would have loved to use it in Gen V AAA.

Can't wait until Thousand Arrows gets released.
 
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Ghoul King said:
Oh thank the gods that Keldeo is finally gone.

I'm more puzzled by the Mamoswine ban, but willing to wait on the post detailing the why -it's a very good Pokemon in AAA, I just don't remember anything ridiculous about it.

Still don't get why Weavile was and remains banned.

Also still don't get why Aerilate is banned, rather than the abusers or a complex ban of Dragonite+Aerilate type of thing.

Somewhat puzzled by the Genesect and Deoxys unbans. Is it because everything else rises up?

And echoing previous sentiments: should Adaptability be banned, if it's part/all of the reason for multiple Pokemon bans?

But mostly I look forward to AAA without Keldeo. I stopped playing because of it, in large part.
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kelds been banned since assrats thread

Edit: banner should probably be updated.
 
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Not just overcentralizing. Weavile was a monster because of its great STAB coverage, Attack, Speed, and Refridgerate Fake Out as well as Quick Attack, and even a boosting option in Swords Dance to make it capable of destroying unprepared stall. Tinted Lens set were pretty cool too because they lured resists such as Keldeo. It was really easy to slap onto teams because of its utility against all kind of teams as a Knock Off user, Gale Wings check, Aerilate check before it was banned (Fake Out makes quick work of Dragonite and Noivern), and just a great Pokemon in general that needed little support.
 
true if it wasn't for weavile aaa would be aerilate and gale wings spam happy metagame considering most gale wingers are weak to ice it makes quick work of them
 
Right now I don't know the state of the meta without bisharp, but I can imagine that without the most popular birdspam resist gale wings might just be the next thing to go. Banded braviary and star can OHKO a majority of the unresisted meta with a priority move, and honchkrow can run heat wave to tear through the new biggest steel type threat (bar flash fire). Lets not forget the strongest physical wall going on the offensive and setting up a swords dance too. From the perspective of someone who hasn't played since the bisharp ban, gale wings seems like the new most centralizing aspect of the meta.
 
Counters/Checks will pop up more often than not. But if they become too specific and/or have little viability otherwise, then we'd have a huge problem with Birdspam.
 
DinaIsha said:
Counters/Checks will pop up more often than not. But if they become too specific and/or have little viability otherwise, then we'd have a huge problem with Birdspam.
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there are other ways to deal with gale wings like fridge entei but 5 gale wings is an indestructible stat unless your opponent has at least two gale wings checks(not even skarm who's the only gale wings counter can take on 5 gale wings mons)
 
Rocks Skarmory with Flash Fire (To troll trappers that come along with Birdspam teams) and Rocky Helmet can handle things quite well on the Physical side.

But there's nothing stopping Special Abusers. To make things worse, most Birds have UTurn to maintain momentum, while Stall is left to function only at the mercy of very good prediction skills.
 
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