Eternal Flame
Teambuilding Process
This team had its initial debut just after the pigeonite ban, as one of two new teams I made to have fun with the new unbans. This one was for Darkrai and featured a red orb set with Hidden Power Fire to bypass Magearna. The added Fire typing also allowed it some measure of protection from Pixelate Extreme Speed, and desolate land gave it some much needed Defensive utility - and set up chances - by turning it into a water check. The rest of the team would be built around supporting Darkrai.
While Red Orb made it harder to revenge kill, Darkrai was far from a -ate check, so I added Arceus-Fairy to patch that hole while providing Defog to handle Stealth Rock and acting as a soft check to the fighting types that threaten Darkrai. It also took on support Primal Groudon, which was the hardest for Darkrai to wear down, and acted as a solid defensive backbone that gave me a lot more freedom in the following teambuilding.
To patch up most of my remaining issues with Primal Groudon and defensive teams, I added Lucarionite Zygarde. Unlike its normal set, which uses Pixelate to act as a potent revenge killer, Lucarionite Zygarde instead powers up its STAB moves and becomes a potent wallbreaker. At +1, it can clean defensive teams after one or two of its answers are chipped, and offense usually relies almost entirely on extreme speed to counter it. It also forces a lot of switches, which makes it a great choice for gaining momentum.
At this point, I had no real answer to Fire Blast / Overheat Groudon, Naganadel, Xerneas, CM Magearna, or support Arceus, so I decided to fix that by adding Ho-Oh. It's an excellently mixed tan that's hard to switch into thanks to Sacred Fire, and offered me a blanket check to much of the metagame. Thanks to Regenerator, it was far less of a momentum sink than almost all other similarly bulky teams, and could act as a status sponge in a pinch. it also neatly solved my usual problem of "cannot answer Necrozma", which was another major plus for a team that has Fairyceus as the main wall.
I still felt a little weak to Naganadel, and lacked any check whatsoever to Tapu Lele. As such, Necrozma (DM->U) was an obvious pick, as it could keep up the offensive pressure, check all Tapu Lele sets even after a boost, and had an extremely potent Z-Move. The type change is also a godsend, as it allows Necrozma to take one red Orb Naganadel where fellow steel types Magearna and Aggronite Mew basically just click x. Its pre-burst typing allowed it to avoid -ate revenge killing, and its excellent coverage hits almost all the metagame for solid damage. Necrozma also starts out immune to Toxic, which can be great for pivoting into defensive teams and setting up, and its one of the few setup sweepers that reliably beats ditto even when boosted for another added bonus.
To finish up the offense, I added Entei. I needed a revenge killer, and since ditto was a poor fit for the team and I was already using Zygarde I turned to Entei. Outside of Zygarde, Entei is essentially the only option as an espeeder; Arcanine's one-off Intimidate does not remotely make up for its lack of Sacred Fire and worse stats. Bulky Entei helped further proof my team against zygarde, gave me a general offense check, improved the type spam to break past fire resistances, and isn't really all that easy to switch into either.
After I began to ladder with the team, I found that I almost never encountered any of the hyper offensive teams that Fairy Arceus was supposed to help with, and having Ho-Oh as my sole ground switch on a team with 3 ground weak Pokemon just wasn't cutting it. As such, I swapped over to Arceus fly, offloaded Defog to Hho-Oh over Toxic, and turned it into a calm mind sweeper. Thanks to its reliably recovery, high physical bulk, and special defense boosts from calm mind, many teams can't touch Arceus-Flying without Toxic, which lets refresh Flyceus sweep with impunity. Every other Pokemon on the team had some way of handlign steel types, too, so i didn;t even need to worry about the likes of Magearna overly much.
After I'd been using the above squad for a while, Fardin came to me for teams for the Mix and Mega Open final against Jeran. I was happy to oblige, and passed him 4 of my better new teams, with this among them. he asked me if it was really necessary to have Darkrai, since Primal Groudon would allow him to fold every team Jeran had that checked this one. I hadn't thought of it since Darkrai had always been a fundamental part of the team, but I quickly realized that it was in fact replaceable, and that the team improved by doing so.
Once my eyes were opened to the possibility, however, I Didn't stay on Primal groudon for long. I quickly settled on Red Orb Naganadel, which possesed an incredible special attack and a 4x resistances to Pixispeed, which served as a huge boon for me in a sweeper. It was also quite fast, and extremely difficult to switch into, both of which were big pluses. I then kept with this version of the team until this day.
While Red Orb made it harder to revenge kill, Darkrai was far from a -ate check, so I added Arceus-Fairy to patch that hole while providing Defog to handle Stealth Rock and acting as a soft check to the fighting types that threaten Darkrai. It also took on support Primal Groudon, which was the hardest for Darkrai to wear down, and acted as a solid defensive backbone that gave me a lot more freedom in the following teambuilding.
To patch up most of my remaining issues with Primal Groudon and defensive teams, I added Lucarionite Zygarde. Unlike its normal set, which uses Pixelate to act as a potent revenge killer, Lucarionite Zygarde instead powers up its STAB moves and becomes a potent wallbreaker. At +1, it can clean defensive teams after one or two of its answers are chipped, and offense usually relies almost entirely on extreme speed to counter it. It also forces a lot of switches, which makes it a great choice for gaining momentum.
At this point, I had no real answer to Fire Blast / Overheat Groudon, Naganadel, Xerneas, CM Magearna, or support Arceus, so I decided to fix that by adding Ho-Oh. It's an excellently mixed tan that's hard to switch into thanks to Sacred Fire, and offered me a blanket check to much of the metagame. Thanks to Regenerator, it was far less of a momentum sink than almost all other similarly bulky teams, and could act as a status sponge in a pinch. it also neatly solved my usual problem of "cannot answer Necrozma", which was another major plus for a team that has Fairyceus as the main wall.
I still felt a little weak to Naganadel, and lacked any check whatsoever to Tapu Lele. As such, Necrozma (DM->U) was an obvious pick, as it could keep up the offensive pressure, check all Tapu Lele sets even after a boost, and had an extremely potent Z-Move. The type change is also a godsend, as it allows Necrozma to take one red Orb Naganadel where fellow steel types Magearna and Aggronite Mew basically just click x. Its pre-burst typing allowed it to avoid -ate revenge killing, and its excellent coverage hits almost all the metagame for solid damage. Necrozma also starts out immune to Toxic, which can be great for pivoting into defensive teams and setting up, and its one of the few setup sweepers that reliably beats ditto even when boosted for another added bonus.
To finish up the offense, I added Entei. I needed a revenge killer, and since ditto was a poor fit for the team and I was already using Zygarde I turned to Entei. Outside of Zygarde, Entei is essentially the only option as an espeeder; Arcanine's one-off Intimidate does not remotely make up for its lack of Sacred Fire and worse stats. Bulky Entei helped further proof my team against zygarde, gave me a general offense check, improved the type spam to break past fire resistances, and isn't really all that easy to switch into either.
After I began to ladder with the team, I found that I almost never encountered any of the hyper offensive teams that Fairy Arceus was supposed to help with, and having Ho-Oh as my sole ground switch on a team with 3 ground weak Pokemon just wasn't cutting it. As such, I swapped over to Arceus fly, offloaded Defog to Hho-Oh over Toxic, and turned it into a calm mind sweeper. Thanks to its reliably recovery, high physical bulk, and special defense boosts from calm mind, many teams can't touch Arceus-Flying without Toxic, which lets refresh Flyceus sweep with impunity. Every other Pokemon on the team had some way of handlign steel types, too, so i didn;t even need to worry about the likes of Magearna overly much.
After I'd been using the above squad for a while, Fardin came to me for teams for the Mix and Mega Open final against Jeran. I was happy to oblige, and passed him 4 of my better new teams, with this among them. he asked me if it was really necessary to have Darkrai, since Primal Groudon would allow him to fold every team Jeran had that checked this one. I hadn't thought of it since Darkrai had always been a fundamental part of the team, but I quickly realized that it was in fact replaceable, and that the team improved by doing so.
Once my eyes were opened to the possibility, however, I Didn't stay on Primal groudon for long. I quickly settled on Red Orb Naganadel, which possesed an incredible special attack and a 4x resistances to Pixispeed, which served as a huge boon for me in a sweeper. It was also quite fast, and extremely difficult to switch into, both of which were big pluses. I then kept with this version of the team until this day.
The Team
Arceus-Flying @ Sky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Refresh
124 Speed EVs allow it to outpace even + Spe Groudon, while the rest of the EVs are placed into defense to better allow Arceus-Flying to check the likes of Kartana or Zygarde. Arceus Flying is one of only 2 viable Mono-attacking Calm Mind Arceus, and it's far harder to check defensively than fairyceus thanks to the only relevant flying resistances being steel types, and thanks to refreshing Aggronite Mew, Necrozma-DM, and Skarmory cannot break Arceus-Flyign (although the last can force it out if Arceus-Flying isn't the last Pokemon on the field).
Naganadel @ Red Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Flamethrower is chosen over fire blast for reliability issues, but should the greater power be desired Naganadel does still carry sludge bomb. Hidden power Ground prevents the occasional Blue Orb Magearna from walling Naga, but it's far from the only option, and since Naganadel really only needs its first three moves you have plenty of options for the last slot, from roost to a different hidden power to Thunderbolt.
Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Defog
Pretty standard moves for Defog Ho-Oh here, there's not much to write about. Very little manages to OHKO Ho-Oh, so don't hesitate to leave it in on weakened threats (that lack Rock-type attacks) to pick up the ko before you pivot out with regenerator. It's best to keep a close eye on Sacred Fire PP, however, as once that dissapears a lot of Ho-Oh's utility goes with it. It can't force out steels anymore, or threaten switching with a burn, or avoid recoil. As such, whenever Brave Bird will work just as well, its usually advisable to utilize the latter attack.
Zygarde @ Lucarionite
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage / Dragon Tail
-Extreme Speed / Substitute
Dragon Dance and thousand arrows are, for obvious reasons, essential, but beyond that Zygarde has options. I generally prefer outrage and Extreme Speed for consistancy, but Dragon tail can be a very potent tool for handling setup sweepers like Cresselia and is great for chipping would-be switchins. Substitute is also a good option for setting up on will-o-wisp users such as Mew or Toxic users such as Blissey if you can make the prediction, and offers protection from altarianite Pokemon that attempt to stop the sweep.
Entei @ Altarianite
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
This is a fairly standard bulky entei, with the only other real options being howl for supportceus or Stomping Tantrum for Primal Groudon. On this team, neither is necessary and it's generally best just to stick with the most reliable set. 32 speed evs let you creep most base 90 Pokemon since few are willing to take so much out of bulk, and allows you to avoid ties with opposing bulky Entei.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Stone Edge is an option over Sunsteel Strike, especially given that there is excessive coverage for Faries elsewhere on the team, but its useful enough in taking down arceus-fairy and -atespeeders that it's usually not worth passing up just to hit the likes of zapdos or yveltal better. Necrozma can decrease its speed a bit to outpace either 252+ Blastoisonite Darkrai or red orb Naganadel, but the marginal increase in bulk is usually not suffering edge cases.
Threatlist:
Terrakion: This team has no real switch-in to Terrakion and only 3 checks. Thankfully, Terrakion doesn't like switching in on anything and the three checks are the main sources of offensive pressure, but just having this pokemon on the opposing team is a huge issue and requires careful play.
3 Attacks Mixed Primal Groudon: Should Primal Groudon carry both a fire move and a rock move, such as Rock Tomb + Eruption or Stone edge + (Fire Blast / Overheat), careful prediction is required. A Special Fire Stab prevents Arceus-Flying from switching in, and with a rock-type attack, Ho-Oh can't check either. Zygarde and post-Burst Necrozma can force this out or switch in in a pinch, but this Pokemon remains a major threat and is capable of tearing holes into the team should it get the chance.
Tapu Koko: Eternal Flame doesn't exactly have any answers to this pokemon, as the only electric resistances are also Dragon Types and thus weak to Dazzlign Gleam. Both of them can still check in a pinch, as can Entei, but if Tapu Koko gets a free switch in on one of the other teammembers it's difficult to prevent it from KOing a Pokemon.
Arceus-Flying @ Sky Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Refresh
Naganadel @ Red Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Defog
Zygarde @ Lucarionite
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
Entei @ Altarianite
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Refresh
Naganadel @ Red Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Ho-Oh @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Recover
- Defog
Zygarde @ Lucarionite
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
Entei @ Altarianite
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Extreme Speed
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Chloe :D
Eien forletting me tag this many people getting me to up my game as a user and being a good friend.
Chazm for lots of hard work into Mix and Mega
Leru for being cool
Monotype FGO Goons: Acast 6ti Omega-Xis Arifeen
Ag Fam: Megazard Catalystic avocado PurpleGatorade TylerWithNumbers Whitewash Pigeons DonnotheFirst Ransei 21pichus Thimo DontStealMyPenguin
Rest of OMs: DEG UnleashOurPassion Iron Crusher Gross Sweep motherlove Laxpras Uselesscrab Jrdn Racool Funbot28 jasprose Halliday charizard8888
Isotonex for getting me to replace darkrai
Sorry to anyone I've forgotten, no disrespect is intended there's just a lot of names here to keep track of who I have and haven't listed
Eien for
Chazm for lots of hard work into Mix and Mega
Leru for being cool
Ag Fam: Megazard Catalystic avocado PurpleGatorade TylerWithNumbers Whitewash Pigeons DonnotheFirst Ransei 21pichus Thimo DontStealMyPenguin
Rest of OMs: DEG UnleashOurPassion Iron Crusher Gross Sweep motherlove Laxpras Uselesscrab Jrdn Racool Funbot28 jasprose Halliday charizard8888
Isotonex for getting me to replace darkrai
Sorry to anyone I've forgotten, no disrespect is intended there's just a lot of names here to keep track of who I have and haven't listed
