SM Ubers GMG Trifecta

[Thathotguy]

As I try to improve my team building ability, I've decided to try out a new Ubers team and had some decent success with it. So far I've capped at 1566 in pokebankubers but dropped to exactly 1500 at the end, and I'm currently at 1402 in Gen7 Ubers after 2 days. Now let's get on with the team.

Teambuilding Process

Started with the most necessary pokemon in this meta. Can put up rocks, checks Kyogre/water types, roars mons that like setting up, and can be an offensive threat all in one package. Obvious first pick.

Though not the exact same set anymore, Minority and Aberforth suggested I use Giratina-O on my last RMT and I've quite liked it as a defogger and ground immunity. It can also phase out non-fairy types and has priority against faster ghost types. Synergizes well with PDon since it has ground immunity.

To complete my core, I decided to add Magearna into my team simply because it's the best Xerneas counter there is and can easily check Yvletal variants that don't carry heat wave (2 mons that come in easily on Giratina-O). Synergizes well with Giratina-O in general.

Added Xerneas as an offensive threat + win condition and something to check zygarde since rest variants threaten my team.

Added Yveltal as a special offensive threat and another priority user. Can also take out Magearna if I predict the switch-in.

To wrap up my team, I realized I was really vulnerable to physically offensive threats such as Mega Mence and Ekiller, so I decided to add Aceus water as a check to both and is yet another mon that has good synergy with Groudon.

The Squad
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Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 184 HP / 188 Atk / 120 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch
- Roar

This is an EV spread Aberforth gave me and I've stuck with it since. I used to have Lava Plume over Fire Punch but now that burns do a lot less damage, I've opted for a fully physical set. SR is self explanatory, Precipice Blades over EQ for important KO's (EQ doesn't take out other PDons for example), Fire Punch to make use of its dual STAB capability and Roar to phase out mons that use PDon as setup fodder, such as Mega Mence and Rayquaza variants that carry V-Create over Waterfall.

I opted for an EV spread that allows PDON to have more of an offensive presence (which is why I haven't changed to the support set) while maintaining the ability to check GeoXern. 120 SpD also helps PDon soak up Kyogre's Ice Beams and I invested 16 EV's for into speed to speed creep other Groudon forms.

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 224 Atk / 248 Def / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Shadow Force
- Shadow Sneak
- Dragon Tail
​

I chose Giratina-O as my team's Defogger simply because it can reliably come in on most SR users and click Defog without a problem. It also provides my team with Ground immunity without being weak to Stone Edge which is a huge boon to my team. Giratina's Ghost typing also allows my team to escape dangerous priority moves (ESpeed) and Giratina is also a very effective counter to SD Ghostceus, being immune to ESpeed and Brick Break, and can spam Shadow Force to scare it out since Giratina's slower. I use Shadow Sneak to annoy support Speed Deoxys, kill Lunala once Shadow Shield is broken, and to revenge kill mons that I weakened. Dragon Tail allows me to abuse rocks and also phase out mons that can potentially use Giratina as setup fodder.

I went with an EV spread that welcomed a more offensive presence so that when Giratina is no longer needed, I can highly damage special tanks that would stall my team otherwise. 36 EV's into speed for speed creep against other Giratina.

Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Heart Swap
- Pain Split
- Thunder Wave

Magearna has two purposes in this team: Stop GeoXern from being able to be a win condition and spreading T-Wave once PDon is down. Magearna is by far the most effective counter to Xerneas no matter which version you use thanks to Heart Swap, and if Xerneas tries chipping Magearna every time I switch in, I can pain split either the Xerneas or whatever my opponent uses to check Magearna and then switch out again. It also checks defensive Yveltal, RestTalk Kyogre, Arceus-Water, and many other specially offensive Pokemon. Regardless, this is a pretty standard set and probably the best one for my team. EV spread is self explanatory.
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Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 108 HP / 104 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Substitute​

Another EV spread suggested by Aberforth, I decided to use GeoXern as one of my main win conditions since it's so easy to set up and makes my opponent play in a style where they want to save their specially defensive Pokemon for Xerneas specifically. I decided to go with the standard Moonblast-Focus Blast set because it has great coverage. I used to use Aromatherapy instead of Substitute, but since burning isn't favorable anymore (nor does it bother my team) and I have Magearna to absorb Toxics, I opted for a Substitute set that Minority suggested and it works great.

108 and 104 EV's into HP and Def respectively helps Xerneas get a little more defensive value and 44 EV's into speed to outspeed Genesect. EV spread is specialized so Genesect doesn't get its attack increase when coming in on Xerneas. I could use a more standard EV spread since I don't see Genesect at all anymore, but I haven't seen a big enough reason to.

Yveltal @ Life Orb
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 132 HP / 28 Atk / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Rash Nature
- Oblivion Wing
- Dark Pulse
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch​

​

Yveltal is another one of my main threats and it pairs up really well offensively with Xerneas. Since both are special attackers, Yveltal can open up Xerneas the ability to sweep by taking out or highly damaging checks such as CM Lunala, Mega Gengar, Solgaleo, and Lugia. There isn't much outside of Chansey/Blissey that can come in constantly on Yveltal and it's an excellent mon in this meta.

EV's are spread perfectly so that it gets an extra hit out of Life Orb. Also, personally, I prefer the ORAS EV spread over the favored SM EV spread. The only reason I can find for using the SM variant is so Yveltal can't get checked by faster Lugia variants.
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Arceus-Water @ Splash Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Toxic
- Recover
- Ice Beam
​

To end my team, I'm using a physically defensive Waterceus that can reliably check Ekiller, Ho-Oh, and most PDon sets, although SD PDon can give Waterceus a run for its money. Judgement provides good STAB and Ice Beam helps Arceus take out Salamence. Toxic is to check offensive threats that Waterceus can't touch otherwise (PDon) and is another mon that can spread status to the opposing team.

I'm using an EV spread that outspeeds the most common supportceus forms while maximizing its defensive potential.​

​

Threats

With Magearna not having Toxic, Yveltal not having Taunt and Groudon being my only physical attacker (aside from Giratina-O which doesn't even remotely check Chansey/Blissey) this can be a really annoying pivot against my team. I can try using Mega Mence over Xerneas but then I have an awkward double Dragon and double Flying team.

Offensive Primal Kyogre is very difficult to switch into if it comes in on my Groudon, and Kyogre easily 2HKO's my entire team. CM variants can and will wreak havoc.

Specs Lunala really hurts my team and while Giratina can Shadow Sneak it and Yveltal can Sucker Punch, neither are in play Lunala is pretty much guaranteed to take at least something out if my opponent predicts right. Calm Mind variants can also effectively 6-0 my team once Yveltal is down.

Yveltal is another specially offensive threat to my team (seeing a trend?). While Xerneas and Magearna usually scare it off, it can still sweep most of my team late game.

Thanks To...

Everybody who helped me in past team building:
TheTiksiBranch
8-BIT Luster
Aberforth
Minority

Thanks for reading and I wish you all good fortunes with Stone Edge.
​

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[Minority]

Hi, I'm here to give you a rate.

Going through this team there are a number of different things I noticed. First, I can see Pokemon such as Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon being annoying for this team to deal with. While you have checks for them, the reality is that your two best Ho-Oh checks are vulnerable to Toxic (a move it commonly runs), and that you have two Pokemon that Ho-Oh can come into pretty freely (Xerneas and Magearna). As for P Don, Toxic wears your two best checks to it (Gira-O and Arc-Water), which is also an issue since these mons form the physically defensive backbone for this team and are responsible anti-hazard support.

That brings me to my next point, which is that Spikers get a lot of ops against this team (versus Arceus-Water, Gira-O, and potentially other situations). You don't really have a good way of punishing them, and it makes it even easier for opposing teams to wear down Primal Groudon. Additionally, this team just feels rather gutless to me, Geo Xern or no Geo Xern. Any worthwhile defensive team will have no problems wearing down P Don and Gira-O early. Any attempt to try and break through with Geo Xern will most likely be fruitless, even with sub. Such squads usually have mons like defensive Ho-Oh or Roar P Don, which you can't get through with a single attempt. Lastly, there are a few other miscellaneous offensive threats such as Mega Lucario and Palkia that can cause problems. While you don't automatically lose to them, Mega Lucario can get setup ops versus this team and you don't really have a great switch-in either. Z Palkia can outspeed and OHKO every Pokemon on this team, and you're pretty much reliant on priority to try and take it down.

I feel that Giratain-O isn't a Pokemon that you should add to your team so early in the teambuilding process. It is more of a Pokemon you add because you need the Defog support for mons X, Y, and Z, need the RP Don / SD Arc Ground check, etc. Since it's already here, I tried to address most of my concerns while changing as few Pokemon as possible. The best I could come up with in a short amount of time was to replace Yveltal with Ho-Oh, use Arceus-Dark over Arceus-Water, and to swap out Xerneas for Zygarde-C. By utilizing Ho-Oh here, this team is able to punish Spikers much better and has a bit more breaking power when facing off against defensive teams. Arceus-Dark is used to pickup the Ghost resist that was lost when Yveltal was replaced, but as a status sponge and CM mon it has offensive utility in its own right. As for Zygarde-C, this gives you a Tox Ho-Oh and P Don check that can't simply be worn down, and provides a vareity of secondary checks to physical attackers such as EKiller and Mega Lucario. At a glance, the only new concern that arises is Primal Kyogre, but you can try and mitigate this through play and the details of your spreads and sets.

For Arceus-Dark, I would go with a fast Refresh + CM set. You should probably max Speed, and at least enough to outspeed Mega Lucario (it resists, but you still deal enough with Judgment to get clutch revenge kills). Zygarde-C should be maximum physical defense and Arrows / Rest / Sleep Talk / Glare. You might want to try Toxic in the last spot as well, but I can see Glare working well for this squad. Ho-Oh I'll leave more up to your discretion, but try offensive LO and bulky sets and see what works better for you. I'd also consider running a different P Don spread / set and to experiment with Hex Gira-O instead (consider the status support the rest of the team brings).

That's all for now, play with these changes a lot and make sure to work and rework the details. Good luck.

 

[Thathotguy]

Hi, I'm here to give you a rate.

Going through this team there are a number of different things I noticed. First, I can see Pokemon such as Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon being annoying for this team to deal with. While you have checks for them, the reality is that your two best Ho-Oh checks are vulnerable to Toxic (a move it commonly runs), and that you have two Pokemon that Ho-Oh can come into pretty freely (Xerneas and Magearna). As for P Don, Toxic wears your two best checks to it (Gira-O and Arc-Water), which is also an issue since these mons form the physically defensive backbone for this team and are responsible anti-hazard support.

That brings me to my next point, which is that Spikers get a lot of ops against this team (versus Arceus-Water, Gira-O, and potentially other situations). You don't really have a good way of punishing them, and it makes it even easier for opposing teams to wear down Primal Groudon. Additionally, this team just feels rather gutless to me, Geo Xern or no Geo Xern. Any worthwhile defensive team will have no problems wearing down P Don and Gira-O early. Any attempt to try and break through with Geo Xern will most likely be fruitless, even with sub. Such squads usually have mons like defensive Ho-Oh or Roar P Don, which you can't get through with a single attempt. Lastly, there are a few other miscellaneous offensive threats such as Mega Lucario and Palkia that can cause problems. While you don't automatically lose to them, Mega Lucario can get setup ops versus this team and you don't really have a great switch-in either. Z Palkia can outspeed and OHKO every Pokemon on this team, and you're pretty much reliant on priority to try and take it down.

I feel that Giratain-O isn't a Pokemon that you should add to your team so early in the teambuilding process. It is more of a Pokemon you add because you need the Defog support for mons X, Y, and Z, need the RP Don / SD Arc Ground check, etc. Since it's already here, I tried to address most of my concerns while changing as few Pokemon as possible. The best I could come up with in a short amount of time was to replace Yveltal with Ho-Oh, use Arceus-Dark over Arceus-Water, and to swap out Xerneas for Zygarde-C. By utilizing Ho-Oh here, this team is able to punish Spikers much better and has a bit more breaking power when facing off against defensive teams. Arceus-Dark is used to pickup the Ghost resist that was lost when Yveltal was replaced, but as a status sponge and CM mon it has offensive utility in its own right. As for Zygarde-C, this gives you a Tox Ho-Oh and P Don check that can't simply be worn down, and provides a vareity of secondary checks to physical attackers such as EKiller and Mega Lucario. At a glance, the only new concern that arises is Primal Kyogre, but you can try and mitigate this through play and the details of your spreads and sets.

For Arceus-Dark, I would go with a fast Refresh + CM set. You should probably max Speed, and at least enough to outspeed Mega Lucario (it resists, but you still deal enough with Judgment to get clutch revenge kills). Zygarde-C should be maximum physical defense and Arrows / Rest / Sleep Talk / Glare. You might want to try Toxic in the last spot as well, but I can see Glare working well for this squad. Ho-Oh I'll leave more up to your discretion, but try offensive LO and bulky sets and see what works better for you. I'd also consider running a different P Don spread / set and to experiment with Hex Gira-O instead (consider the status support the rest of the team brings).

That's all for now, play with these changes a lot and make sure to work and rework the details. Good luck.

Hey, thanks for the rate! I made a couple changes to my team and the results went great. Here's what I changed:
I was really considering using Ho-Oh in place of Xerneas a while back and it fits very nicely into the team. Here's the set I'm using so far:

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 212 HP / 208 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Recover
- Earthquake

I don't think this will be the complete set that I'm using but I put enough speed EV's to outspeed common offensive POgre sets if I desperately need to. This set can really also help against Groundceus when rocks aren't up.

Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh

This has been a really fun set for me and it wins me matches late-game, too. At first I sucked at using Darkceus because I sent him out way too early, but he puts in work in most games I play.

Zygarde-Complete @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Glare

Tanks much better than Waterceus imo. Only fatal flaw is the fact that Ice Beam with any investment will OHKO this thing so I have to watch out for support Arceus sets that run it. The best part about this set though is Glare.

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 Def / 240 SpA / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
- Defog
- Hex
- Toxic
- Dragon Tail

I decided to improvise on this set (still carries Dragon Tail but has Hex) and I quite like it. While sometimes Hex isn't as good as Shadow Sneak, it correlates perfectly with the structure of my team. I lowered its defense by a little bit in favor of spA and this thing checks PDon a lot better than my old set did since it has Toxic. This set is subject to change though while I debate between Dragon Tail or Shadow Sneak, or even Draco Meteor. Definitely more testing required.

Threats
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I still struggle to switch into this thing at times and I'm going to work around my team to check this better. Kyurem-W easily wrecks Magearna with Fusion Flare and Groudon with Draco Meteor, and the rest of my team is no different. I could make Ho-Oh more specially defensive based but then I'm too slow to pressure Kyogre. Suggestions on countering this would be great.

Like you said, POgre puts in work against my team and can completely decimate it. I have to play really carefully around this thing and make sure Darkceus is healthy enough to get CM's since it's faster than any POgre set. Regardless, if it comes in on Groudon, it's very likely to get a kill. I tried using a faster Groudon set to counter this but then my team grows other weaknesses that I don't like, particularly any CM Arceus set.

Replays
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Ho-Oh and Darkceus synergy putting work vs Mega Lucario & Yveltal
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-534709321

Situation where Darkceus checked an entire team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-534711827

Beat a Chansey/Giratina pivot team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-534721379

Playing my old team, goes to show how easily checked it can be
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-534727819

I rotated back and forth with different sets and found this to be the best one so far. Here's how my record looked only after a few games before I switched things around:

If you have any new suggestions let me know, and again thanks for your help! I greatly appreciate it.

 

[Thathotguy]

Alright so I play tested with the team a lot more and had some good success with it. It's gotten me 1st 2nd 3rd and 3rd in 4 uber room tournaments out of 4 and so far I'm at 1526 ELO on my secondary account.

Reset my W/L ratio for ubers by accident in case you were wondering why I only had 15 matches.

Here's the new full team if anybody wants to rate.

Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 184 HP / 188 Atk / 120 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch
- Roar

Didn't change much at all on this because if I use the spD spread I struggle a little more with stall teams, particularly missing out on Giratina KO's. It does ease up switching into Primal Kyogre however and if anybody has a recommended spread for helping take on both better than this one does I'll gladly take it.

Giratina-Origin @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 224 Atk / 248 Def / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Defog
- Shadow Force
- Shadow Sneak
- Dragon Tail

I still like this set a lot better than my old one because of how well it pairs up with the status utility the rest of my team has. Would be neat if it had more survivability though.

Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Heart Swap
- Pain Split
- Thunder Wave

Sticking with this as there isn't really anything that should be changed about it anyway. T-Wave helps me reduce Kyogre's threat by a ton if it switches in, and late-game when Pdon is down that's what people will often do.

Ho-Oh @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 212 HP / 208 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Recover
- Toxic

Took out EQ for Toxic. Ho-Oh gets completely walled by Rockceus with this change but Darkceus or even Magearna comes in on it easily. The reasoning behind the change was to help against stall/balance teams and help wear down opposing Giratina/supportceus forms (Waterceus in particular) easier. Also means 4 (5 if counting Fire Punch) mons in my team can inflict status, which really destroys slower teams late-game with Hex.

Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh

Keeping the spread the way it is. Max speed allows it to speed tie against other arceus forms and also outspeeds Mega Lucario. Checks RestTalk Kyogre and Yveltal, though something usually has to be sacked for it to come in. Also having it as a status sponge means it beats any supportceus form that relies on Toxic + Recover to stall out threats.

Zygarde-Complete @ Leftovers
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Glare

Zygarde stays the way it was made. I wanted to try and fit Coil into the set but that often meant losing recovery/not pressuring my opponent for 3 turns. Although Coil would be sweet for better checking SD Groudon and Ekiller, I find that this (so far) has worked best for my team.

More replays

Ho-Oh breaking stall with Magearna pivoting
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-537856019

My team can surprisingly play around Scarf Kyurem-W as long as my opponent doesn't predict Fusion Flare.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-538413909

Tournament final, Darkceus cleaned up
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-535392242

Tournament semi-final, just an overall fun match
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-535375816

Getting 6-0'd by Hack in a tournament final
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-535338371

Haxed a win after playing poorly (Darkceus walls Magearna???)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ubers-535329310