Other Metagames Anything Goes Semi-Stall: Scarf Mega-Ray IS Viable! Peak #6 with 1920 ELO

What's happening forums, sashimi9999 here with my third Anything Goes RMT, featuring a slightly different Mega Rayquaza than normal. This team started out very different from its current form, utilizing Lum Berry Groudon as a check that was able to set up on Klefki, mostly because Klefki is annoying as hell. It was a fun gimmick that actually worked decently well, but as the team evolved, Groudon was removed. The original team will have an importable posted at the bottom, for anyone curious. Without further ado, let's get into the reason we are here!

Proof of Peak:
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Trampolynx is the account I used for this team.

Teambuilding Process:
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This team started out as a Hyper Offense team with an Extreme Speed core I took from one of my other teams. It worked well there, but I felt it could use modification.
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SubTaunt Darkrai was added to take on stall teams, namely Giratina, more easily, and was chosen over Xerneas for more flexibility and survivability.
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Ho-Oh was added as a much needed Xerneas check, as otherwise, if it set up, I would have to sack half my team to take it down.
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Lum Berry Groudon was added to set up on Klefki, as Swagger would give him a free +2, after which he OHKOd. He also served as a decent check to Extremekiller Arceus, and as my Rocks setter.
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The first version lacked a defogger, and Deoxys wasn't performing as well as he used to, so he was replaced with Giratina. He also became my premier Extremekiller answer, performing remarkably well.
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That version struggled with Kyogre (Primal) and CM Ghost Arceus, so Groudon was replaced with Blissey, who acts as a cleric and much more reliable Stealth Rocker.
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One Arceus was replaced with Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza, who works as a much stronger Revenge Killer, and doesn't require set up. He can also revenge opposing E-Killers with a faster Extreme Speed.

This is the final version of the team.

In-Depth Analysis:

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Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

We'll start off with God, for no particular reason. Standard Lum E-Killer, but with Adamant used over Jolly for extra power when revenge killing or sweeping. I'm sure everybody has seen this set, as most high ladder teams run around with 2 or more of these guys, but, due to some rules, I will explain it anyways. STAB Extreme Speed is his primary attack, used for picking off faster threats such as a set-up Xerneas if Ho-Oh is gone. Earthquake hits Primal Groudon mainly, but also Steel types, namely Klefki, who is easily beaten thanks to Lum Berry. Also useful for dodging King's Shield from the uncommon Aegislash. Shadow Claw pokes Giratina slightly harder than the other moves, but still isn't doing much. It also hits Ghost Arceus, who can be beaten with some prior damage and prediction. Swords Dance doubles his attack, allowing him to muscle past some defensive pokemon, namely Ho-Oh, who beats this set otherwise. Adamant is chosen over Jolly to have an easier time muscling through support Arceus formes and Giratina, guarantee the 2HKO on Darkrai, and help to weaken threats for the other members more. It also does quite a bit more to Ho-Oh, forcing him to Recover or switch, gaining set-up opportunities. Lum Berry allows his sweep to not be cut short by status, and be a one-time check to Klefki and Darkrai.

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Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Atk / 56 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Sleep Talk

This is my first time using a team with Ho-Oh, and, I must say, I am quite impressed with him. His combination of great bulk, power and healing, as well as the ridiculousness that is Sacred Fire, makes him one of the most annoyingly difficult Pokemon to take out. Sacred Fire is possibly the most spammable move in the game, as physical attackers and walls that try to switch in won't appreciate the burn. Even Special attackers will be worn down faster, and he can wall most of them anyways. Brave Bird is his most powerful attack, dealing good damage to most switch ins, and also helps to keep Kyogre at bay. The recoil isn't even much of an issue thanks to Leftovers, Recover, and Regenerator. Recover makes him a full stop to any Xerneas lacking Thunder (which is surprisingly many on high ladder). Sleep Talk lets him counter any Darkrai lacking Taunt, who would be a pain to deal with otherwise. Even if they have Taunt, he walls Darkrai, and with a bit of luck, can pull through. The HP and Special Defense EVs allow him to always survive Thunder from +2 Xerneas, making checking him much easier. The Speed EVs creep 12 Speed Primal Groudon and opposing Ho-Oh, and the rest are dumped into attack to hit as hard as possible.

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

Ah, Darkrai. You always manage to weasel into every single one of my teams. This set is unorthodox, but works really well. Dark Void is a ridiculously spammable move in Anything Goes due to no Sleep Clause. While its accuracy has let me down on more than one occasion, Darkrai still proves to be invaluable to this team. Substitute can be set up on a predicted switch or Magic Coat, as Dark Void will be much safer afterwards. Lum Arceus coming in? Break his Berry while he breaks your Sub. Diancie coming in? Smack it with a Sludge Bomb before being forced out. Speaking of Sludge Bomb, it is a great coverage move on him, 2HKOing most Fairies, as well as having a nice 30% Poison chance. Sludge Bomb can be changed out for Taunt to help a bit against Ho-Oh and Blissey, but they are covered well enough by the rest of the team. Dark Pulse is the obligatory STAB, dealing decent damage to most neutral targets, as well as having that flinch chance, just to be more annoying. His main role is to handle Giratina and some Arceus formes thanks to Dark Void and his great Speed tier.

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Giratina @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Defog

The first half of my defensive core, Giratina serves as my Defog user and my Mega-Ray and Extreme Killer counter. Without him, Ho-Oh (and the rest of my team to be honest) would become practically against many teams. Arceus and Rayquaza would both have a field day with the rest of my team, and Stealth Rock would just kill me. Badly. Defog is probably the most important move on this set, helping Ho-Oh, Arceus, and Rayquaza to not be worn down as fast throughout the match. Will-O-Wisp spreads burn around the opposing team, wearing them down and crippling Arceus. Rest and Leftovers are his only recovery options, but Rest leaves him helpless for a couple turns. Dragon Tail is used for phazing Arceus formes that have already set up if you suspect they have Lum Berry. Hitting them as they set up also gives extra Leftovers turns. It's just a great move to throw out if you don't know what they're gonna do. It also hits Mega Ray really hard after Dragon Ascent, making him easier to pick off later.

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Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy

The second half of my defensive core, he patches up my weakness to Primal Kyogre and Calm Mind Arceus formes. She sets up Stealth Rock to help wear down the opposing team, and is especially helpful against Ho-Oh and Lugia. Toxic is used to stall out special attackers that can't break through, and to wear down walls such as Lugia and Giratina. Aromatherapy cures burns from Arceus and Rayquaza, wakes up Giratina from Rest, and cures Toxic from Ho-Oh. It also helps against Kleki's Thunder Wave shenanigans. Soft-Boiled is for healing for more walling. Blissey also takes on Yveltal lacking Taunt, who is a huge threat otherwise. Burned Yveltal's Foul Play does about ~2%. From full health, he can take some decently powerful physical hits as well, if needed, in order to cripple a Ho-Oh or Arceus with Toxic.

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Rayquaza @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- V-create

Last, but most definitely not least, we have Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza. The Choice Scarf allows him to take on many would-be faster threats such as Mewtwo, Darkrai, and most Arceus without the turn of set-up required by the Dragon Dance set. Dragon Ascent is the STAB move, being extremely powerful and reliable, and having few resists. V-Create is just as powerful as STAB Dragon Ascent, and roasts Steel types such as Steel Arceus and Skarmory, with the latter being really hard to break through otherwise. Earthquake hits Aegislash and Primal Groudon, but can be replaced with Waterfall for a guaranteed OHKO on Primal Groudon if you haven't Mega Evolved yet, or if you came in second. Extremespeed picks off weakened Extreme Killers and Deoxys-A with his faster Extreme Speed. Adamant is used over Jolly, as he still outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame, bar Deoxys-S, and hits much harder. The surprise factor of Scarf helps him net many kills against usually faster Pokemon. Jolly can be used to outspeed 44 Speed +2 Xerneas, but he is handled by Ho-Oh, and as a last resort, can be hit with Extreme Speed.

So, that's the team! Overall it is very well-equipped to handle most of the metagame. All feedback is appreciated, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Importable for Version 1:
Groudon @ Lum Berry
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Substitute

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

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

Deoxys-Attack @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Naive Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
- Extreme Speed

Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Atk / 56 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Sleep Talk
- Recover

Rayquaza @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- V-create
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed

Importable for Version 2:
Giratina @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Defog

Rayquaza @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- V-create

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

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy

Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance

Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Atk / 56 SpD / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Sleep Talk

Threatlist:
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If it carries Choice Band or Outrage, it can do heavy damage to my team. My own Scarf Ray can revenge kill, as can Arceus. Giratina can be a one time check and burn it.

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Life Orb or MMY hits my entire team hard due to Psystrike hitting Ho-Oh and Blissey. Ho-Oh can tank one hit and hit back hard. Arceus and Rayquaza Can revenge kill, and Ray usually lures it in after a Dragon Ascent.

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Very difficult to break through. Has to be worn down a lot, which is relatively easy due to lack of recovery. Burns from Ho-Oh or my own Giratina and Toxic from Blissey can all help put it to 2HKO range from Arceus or Ray. Ho-Oh walls it, but loses due to Pressure.

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Again, can be difficult to break through, but a bit easier than Giratina thanks to V-Create and Sacred Fire.

Replays:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-332416767 showing an earlier version of the team

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-334077558 against Cryptis, a really good player. This was a very close game.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-335013499 against Klefki spam.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-335015436 against Yveltal

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-335020954 against Banded Mega Ray

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-335029366 against 6 Arceus
 
Agreed, that was a very close game. I love this team, but I have a couple suggestions. First, I love Lum Berry on Arceus, but I think it's more effective when couple with Magic Coat. This makes it a great switch-in to Darkrai and Smeargle, and lets it set up on both of those as a lead. Second is Leftovers on Ho-OH. Ho-oh really likes a Life Orb/Choice Band for that extra power. It already has Regenerator for the recovery, I don't think it needs Leftovers. Third thing is Dragon Tail on Giratina. It's viable, but I personally prefer Roar, as you can phaze out Xerneas' that try to set up on you. Otherwise, Thunder or HP Rock + Psyshock Xern just shits on you. Lastly, the scarf on Mega Rayquaza. It definitely can catch people off guard, but I'm not sure the loss in power is really worth it. It already has a pretty nice speed tier, and if necessary, it can boost its speed with Dragon Dance. I'd personally suggest Lum Berry SD, but Dragon Dance is still a viable option. Still, it's an awesome team. HMU if you wanna teambuild sometime!
 
hey sashimi9999, this is another very cool team in the recent surge of good AG rmts. Before I start the rate, I kind of have to address why I really disagree with the above rate (sorry Cryptis :/). Magic Coat isn't needed on Lumceus when you already have a sleep talk mon, a rest mon, and an aromatherapy+natural cure mon, and if anything you could use a different item over lum. Leftovers is also fine on bulky Ho-Oh, the extra recovery is always useful and there's certainly nothing wrong with the item. And you could run roar gyara, but then you can't phaze magic bouncers and you're far weaker to bouncers (particularly diancie) than Xerneas which is checked by hooh, blissey, and 2 espeed users. The one thing I can agree with is that scarf ray isn't really necessary here, but I'll get to that in my rate.

So looking at your team/threatlist, you basically have 2 types of threats. The first kind are specially offensive attackers which can break through Blissey, leaving your main check unusable. This includes Mewtwo and Mega Diancie (the 80 attack timid variant 2hkos w/diamond storm). The other kind is very bulky mons that can stall out your own semistall. With that in mind, the best thing for the team would be simply going CB ray > Scarf ray. You're still a strong revenge killer, but now have a much better time versus opposing stall and bulky mons in general. Additionally, scarf ray just isn't a great set, it's not particularly needed to function as a Rkiller and you badly need the stronger priority. However, I understand it's the set you wanted to build around, and removing it, even if it isn't great, isn't exactly what you want. In that case, I think the best option here is to go Nasty Plot > Sludge Bomb on Darkrai, which gives more issues with diancie but helps a lot with bulkier mons. Then you can go defensive Ghost Arceus over Giratina to still defog and handle Ekillers, but also ease the matchup versus diancie and mewtwo. Not a perfect switchin by any means, but also not weak to attacks they commonly carry and certainly a better check. Hopefully one of these changes works for you, and this is still a very solid team regardless.

Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Judgment
- Recover
This can be tweaked for more physical bulk if you want to directly handle gira more, it doesn't really help with one specific threat but might suit your semistall playstyle more
 
Thank you both! To start off, Cryptis I agree with Megazard on most points. While I do agree Magic Coat is a great move on Arceus, mine just doesn't have room for it as Arceus is, in fact, relatively weak and needs all the coverage he can get. I feel it works much better on him when there is more than one Arceus and both are used to handle different threats, and can also carry extra coverage between them. Forgoing Earthquake would make him unable to check Klefki, and losing Shadow Claw would leave him completely walled by Ghost Arceus, Lugia, and Giratina. For Ho-Oh, since this is Semi-Stall as opposed to Balance or Bulky Offense, it's more about outlasting the opponent than OHKOing them. As for Scarf Mega-Ray, removing his Scarf would just let Mewtwo waltz all over my team, as Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and STAB Psystrike just murders my entire team, especially with Life Orb, since Psystrike bypasses Ho-Oh and Blissey. The Scarf is essentially a lure set, so they stay in thinking to tank the E-Speed and then getting KOed by Dragon Ascent. Using Dragon Dance would almost work the same way, but would remove his ability to check faster threats (which is his main role in this team, as opposed to his usual wallbreaker/sweeper roles), and I would have to give up V-Create, which is pretty much my only way to handle Skarmory and Steel Arceus. As for Ghost Arceus, this team is set up bait for so many things, the phazing is absolutely necessary. I could use Roar, but Giratina is significantly bulkier, and the chip damage is exceedingly helpful in wearing down the opposing team. Nasty Plot on Darkrai will be tested, however, as Sludge Bomb is mostly filler anyways, and I have other ways of dealing with the common Fairies. Thank you both for the rates! :) And I hope denying both of you doesn't seem too rude, my apologies if so.
 
DW Megazard and sashimi9999, I'm just getting into the RMT scene, I've got a lot to learn. Now that you point it out, most of my points weren't necessary. I still stand by the fact that Scarf MRay is unnecessary, as Mewtwo isn't as big a threat as you make it out to be.
 
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