Other Metagames [BH; 1500 Elo] La Voix du Néant – Magic Bounce Arc-Ghost + Magic Guard Eternatus Bulky Offense/Stall

[DarkLugia4000]

"The voices of the void speak in whispers, yet all shall hear their decree."
A Gen 9 Balanced Hackmons Stall/Offense Hybrid

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Introduction​

I would believe this to be my first-ever post on this forum, so I suppose an introduction is in order. I’ve been playing in this meta for some considerable time now, mostly lurking in forums, looking at various RMTs and the like. I’ve always had a fondness for this tier, and I would like to leave a little bit of my thought process in here.

The idea behind this team was simple.: Get as consistent as possible vs. ladder matchups. In the violent and chaotic nature of this meta, one philosophy seems to rule above them all: Control. La Voix du Néant was designed to establish said control as quickly possible, and to never relent in its possession, thus providing a replicable, and consistent laddering experience. Utilizing a combination of bulky pivoting options, stallbreakers and hazard pressure, to be as disruptive as possible, allows it to achieve this in various ways, be it more aggressively through Eternatus, or defensively via the rest of the team.
This team has gone through an extensive process of reiteration, and redesign, until arriving in its current state, reinforcing its ability to deal with as wide an assortment of enemy mons as possible, while retaining its offensive identity.

Teambuilding Process​

I wanted to build around an Arceus-Ghost for a while now, and could never really get it to click, until I eventually settled on this combination of hazards and offensive pressure. Magic Bounce is really neat into ladder stuff like Spikes and Glares while allowing it to conveniently self-improof against its own Spikes as well. Take Heart transforms it into a win condition during the later stages of the game, allowing Eternatus to act more as a wallbreaker in the midgame.



This slot was a contested one. It went through various pokemon, MG Flutter, Pixie Flutter, and so on, eventually landing me with an Eternatus, which I fell in love with relatively quickly. A very splashable mon, giving the team an immensely effective offensive pressuring tool, to work in tandem with the hazard stacking the team is built around.



For the Fur Coater of this team, Zamazenta was chosen. Commanding a respectable 138 base Speed, along with its Fighting-type which allows it to boldly switch-in on most of the unboosted physical metagame, clicking Strength Sap, mostly for free.



Pairing with Zamazenta, Audino-Mega still remains one of the best special answers in the entire meta. The amount of flexibility in building that this Pokemon provides is not to be understated.



Mandatory imposter. No stall team is complete without one.



The final slot was also an odd one. I needed a utility mon to round out the structure of the team I had going so far.
I knew I wanted it to be our Mortal Spin absorber as well, and eventually settled on this PrimSea Celesteela.

The Team​

Vesperaeth (Arceus-Ghost) @ Spooky Plate
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Spikes
- Take Heart
- Shore Up

"From the abyss, order rises—inevitable and unyielding."

The late-game win condition. Immune to status, reflects hazards, sets its own Spikes, and boosts to sweep. Pairs wonderfully with hazard stacking and punishes passive teams.
Improof: Audino-Mega (if Imposter holds Spooky Plate), otherwise self.

Chrophaeris (Eternatus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Torch Song
- Shell Side Arm
- Strength Sap
- Dragon Energy

"It hungers endlessly, stars extinguishing at its mere breath."

Mid-game breaker and speed control. Torch Song snowballs, SSA hits switch-ins, Dragon Energy punishes bulky foes. Strength Sap helps pivot out.
Improof: Chansey, Celesteela. Arc-Ghost in an emergency.

Phylactor (Zamazenta) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Combat Torque
- Strength Sap
- Mortal Spin

"At the edge of oblivion, a guardian waits, defiant to the end."

Disrupts the physical meta, spreads para, removes items, and clears hazards. High base Speed lets it do all this with great tempo, while enabling it to clear critical speed benchmarks, such as Greninja-Ash and Garchomp.
Improof: Arceus-Ghost.

Eidolon (Chansey) @ Eviolite
Ability: Imposter
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Calm Nature
- Shore Up
- Wish
- Jungle Healing
- Teleport

"In the mirror of eternity, all power becomes reflection."

Standard imposter. Scouts sets, revenges careless setup, and keeps most of the offensive metagame in check by virtue of its presence on the team alone. Can’t really ladder effectively without this one.

Akeomia (Audino-Mega) @ Covert Cloak

Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Haze
- Stone Axe
- Soft-Boiled
- Teleport

"Keeper of silence, whose voice calms the storm within."

Ol’ Reliable. Maud really does it all. Compressing hazard setting and a pivoting option into this extremely durable special wall, opened the team up for more liberal and offensive options, such as Zamazenta. A nice glue to hold everything together.
Improof: Arc-Ghost, Zamazenta, Eternatus.

Auréone (Celesteela) @ Leftovers
Ability: Primordial Sea
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Parting Shot
- Strength Sap
- Dragon Tail
- Glare / Revelation Dance

"Rain-soaked sentinel, its wings whisper storms."

This slot was a bit of a weird one, and went through a LOT of reiteration, until I eventually settled on this Celesteela set. The key factor for this slot was Mega Blaziken and probably weather teams in general which, lacking adequate suppression, run right through this team’s entire structure. Considering how common this mon is in upper ladder, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this is probably the most decisive member of the team, with its survival (or defeat), at times solely hinging on it. In terms of purpose, it mostly serves as a disruption and phazing engine, shutting down most Power Trip nonsense.
Improof: Arc-Ghost.

Threatlist​

• Mega Blaziken + Electric coverage: Probably one of the most broken physical attackers in the metagame getting even more coverage is not good. This holds especially true for this team. Electro Drift or Bolt Strike both crumble Celesteela in a 2HKO, and Zamazenta does not have the bulk to stay in against it reliably. Can really only be prevented by smart Zam switches and well-predicted Strength Saps.

• Victory Dance + Power Trip users: As soon as the set is confirmed, paralyze with Celesteela, and if applicable, force them out with Dragon Tail. Makes the sets far easier to handle with Imposter.

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Elo:

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Conclusion + Importable​

La Voix du Néant remains my most successful and refined BH experiment to date. I truly enjoy playing this meta, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Thanks for reading!

Poképaste: https://pokepast.es/8c71afbb059f9356

 

[Rothcore]

hey man the celesteela movesets from the paste are different from the one in the rmt, which one is better?

 

[DarkLugia4000]

Both are applicable, as the slot is extremely flexible in general. I'd usually recommend Glare, to make improofing Etern a bit more permanent.

 

[Akira 153]

This team uses a bunch of very solid sets, but I think there are a couple weaknesses and antisynergies that could be fixed.

Arceus Ghost isn't self-Improofed.
The first issue here is that Arceus-Ghost isn't actually able to beat Imposter if it has Take Heart and Shore Up, with no means to remove eviolite.
252 SpA Spooky Plate Arceus-Ghost Judgment vs. +1 252 HP / 252 SpD Arceus-Ghost: 174-206 (24.7 - 29.2%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO
In most cases I'd say this isn't a deal breaker, since you still set spikes. But this Arceus is MBounce, so Imposter can switch in and spam recover to waste pp and potentially bounce a spike. Sure, they'll need to switch out eventually, but if they have another normal type like Mega Audino or even something that can take +6 judgement fine like Ting-Lu (+6 252 SpA Spooky Plate Arceus-Ghost Judgment vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Ting-Lu: 204-241 (39.6 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO), you'll get PP stalled out of judgments in only a couple cycles. Against a well played Imposter stall, this set is a huge liability.

The team has no consistent Knock Off support, which limits Eternatus as a breaker.
A potential fix to the issues with Arc Ghost would be to give it Knock Off over Spikes, which also would massively help Eternatus here. MG Etern is a very consistent progress-maker, but with no means to remove Heavy Duty Boots against Psea Steels or Ice Scales and no means to remove Assault Vest against Regens (also Eviolite on MG Chansey), it'll struggle to make progress. The team has Knock Off on Zamazenta, which is obviously good, Zamazenta's Fighting Knock Mortal set is one of the best sets in the tier right now, but that set can land knocks against mostly physical walls, since a spdef has no reason to switch in on Zama. Giving Arc Ghost Knock would make a mon that applies pressure specially able to knock the opponent's special walls, clearing the path for the team's special breaker. Spikes could be fit on Celesteela alongside giving it Circle Throw for Ghostceus to Improof. Alternatively you could also change Axe for Spikes on Maud, but rocks are also valuable, so admittedly this would worsen the team's ability to hazard stack.

The team doesn't check 2 of the best breakers.
This point is a lot simpler than the others, but also a lot harder to fix without restructuring the team...

There's no check to Shift Gear Blaziken besides soft-checking with Imposter. Blaziken also has many good set-up opportunities against the team.
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega V-create vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Arceus-Ghost in Sun: 766-902 (172.5 - 203.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Eternatus: 533-629 (110.1 - 129.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega V-create vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Fur Coat Zamazenta in Harsh Sunshine: 398-468 (102.5 - 120.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega V-create vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Audino-Mega in Harsh Sunshine: 741-873 (180.7 - 212.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Celesteela: 344-407 (86.4 - 102.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
Celesteela is your best bet, but that's only if it has taken absolutely no chip and rocks aren't up, even then there's a low chance you'll just lose anyway.

Imposter is unable to reliably counter Blaziken even after sacking a mon.
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Blaziken-Mega: 595-702 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252- Def Blaziken-Mega: 663-780 (94.1 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
These calcs are done without an Eviolite boost because all of Blaziken's moves lower its defenses, so coming in after it kills something results in having -1/-1 defenses.
The best option is to switch in Imposter as Blaziken sets up with Shift Gear, which leads to.
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Blaziken-Mega Headlong Rush vs. +1 252 HP / 252- Def Blaziken-Mega: 442-523 (62.7 - 74.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Blaziken-Mega Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 252- Def Blaziken-Mega: 340-402 (93.4 - 110.4%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
This is your best out, but it requires Imposter to be relatively healthy and not have lost Eviolite. If Blaziken simply attacks as Imp comes in it'll do 20 to 45ish depending on the move, which already risks pushing Imp out of the range required to check, especially with any hazards.

Blaziken's SG set is very hard to answer, so the only real fix to this would be to give Zamazenta a Utility Umbrella, which obviously has quite high opportunity cost...

There isn't a good check to Gardevoir either. This is less of a concern since Imposter is a better soft check, and Gardevoir struggles to get in against the team, but it's at least worth mentioning.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Gardevoir-Mega Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Arceus-Ghost: 375-442 (84.4 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Gardevoir-Mega Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252- SpD Eternatus: 490-577 (101.2 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Gardevoir-Mega Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Audino-Mega: 165-195 (40.2 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Audino specifically does actually survive 2 hits from Gardevoir, but can't actually DO anything in response. You're stuck spamming Recover until you run out, or using another move and leaving Audino at critical HP. Not to mention you won't check with Stealth Rocks up.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Gardevoir-Mega Boomburst vs. +1 252 HP / 252- SpD Gardevoir-Mega: 256-303 (36.3 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Imposter can soft check Gardevoir, although this becomes extremely dubious if Rocks are up.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pixilate Gardevoir-Mega Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Celesteela: 211-249 (53 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

The hazard game isn't amazing.
The team's hazard control is OK but not super reliable, since Zamazenta is extremely common and therefore prepped for by modern teams. That said, there's also a bouncer and the breaker is MG, so if you're ok operating with Rocks up, it's fine, just be careful about letting Spikes go up if you're not sure they can be removed, since the team doesn't have Boots on either of the FurScales core. Webs are likely a major weakness, since they enable breakers like Gardevoir that the team is soft towards, and Webs teams run heavy spin denial and will certainly have an answer to standard Zamazenta.

Passive Audino set leaves you very weak to MG Miraidon and TH Arceus.
Since Audino's set lacks any offensive pressure whatsoever and the secondary special answer is Celesteela, the team lacks good answers to Thunder Cage. Not only that, but common Thunder Cage users in TH Arceus and MG Miraidon can't be easily dealt with by teleporting to teammates, since nothing on this team breaks a spdef boosted TH Arc, and while MG Miraidon can be forced out by Imposter if it's healthy, Rocks chip will accumulate to the point that Mirai can risk a Dragon Energy tie, and then it all falls apart... Miraidon also occasionally runs Encore, which makes Audino even more dubious of an answer.
Audino's Soft Boiled only has 8 PP and against Thunder Cage that supply evaporates really quickly, and without tools like Moonblast or Mortal Spin and with Haze being generally insufficient compared to Topsy as a TH Arceus check, I don't really think the team can stand up to these long-term.

Sorry if this rate comes off as overly negative, I tend to see weaknesses in teams much more easily than strengths, even my own. It's very hard in BH to make teams that account for everything, but I think this team doesnt account for too many of the common and strong options right now and you might find yourself completely screwed on matchup vs high ladder players.
That said, congrats on 1500 and GL reaching even higher.