Other Metagames Imperialism of The Ruthless Phoenix [NDAG peak 2151 elo, 94.0gxe]

The one and only buck · Nov 5, 2022

Eh, hi. I didnt want nor expect myself 2 do 3 rmts ndag but this is in my opinion the most consistent team i built in the tier (ngl the ladder was a bit dead but w/e) and without a doubt my favourite one. Enjoy.
Table of content
1. Introduction
2. Proof of peak
3. Teambuilding Process
4. Team in details
5. Replays, Importable and shoutouts
6. Final words

1. Introduction
NB: I built this team before building "Dual Reign of the Behemoth and Phoenix" but I couldn't achieve the results I wanted because

About 3-4 weeks ago there was a guy on the ladder who used to boost in the ndag ladder with alot of alts (about of 5-7) which I will just refer to as "the goku guy" (most of his alts had dumb anime reference, mostly coming from DB) . At first I wasn't really bothered since he would just use dumb teams therefore immediately fall down no matter how far he will boost. I grew quite annoyed when he then started running sets and moves specifically to win vs me. Mons like darkrai , taunt ice beam mmx, sets like 3 water moves Kyogre, or mixed arceus ground with judgment, flamethrower, ice beam and rock slide. It was outrageous because he will prevent me from climbing and see how good my team would do because of his numerous alts playing at the same time but he wouldn't have to face the consequences for running bad teams, simply because he was boosting. A friend and I quickly reported all of his alts and those who boosted got permabaned and elo reversed. I had a private discussion with him where he admitted to have boosted but was unaware that it was forbidden. He "stopped" doing so eventually.

But now that the main problem was gone, nothing was really stopping me so I laddered again. The team is a semistall featuring ho-oh as the main offensive power.
2. Proof of peak
Highest Elo I reached (it's actually 2158 but i didn't save)

Peak for fun

Gxe peak

3. Teambuilding Process
:ss/ho-oh:

I think i originally started with this. It was then obvious to me that I was xern weak and that i omitted the defensive dark type. I removed ferro for chansey and arceus rock for arceus dark whom I gave rocks. I also removed the specially defensive Groudon who had rest and rocks for cm rest defensive kyogre primal.
:ss/ho-oh:

I laddered a bit with it before getting steamrolled by lorb Marshadow so I removed the arceus rock for arceus fairy. i also removed quagsire for ndm since quagsire was too passive and wouldnt give rocks too arceus fairy. I also replaced zygarde for defensive yveltal since i needed a dark type.
:ss/ho-oh:

It didn't take long before realising removing zygarde was a huge mistake since zygarde happen to be more effective on ladder to block ladder shenanigans. I removed kyogre and added back zygarde.
:ss/ho-oh:

I was getting steamrolled by specs ogre so i changed chansey to umbrella blissey but decided to use back chansey since blissey was just not bulky enough to deal with the overwhelming special threats in ndag.
4. Team in details
:ss/ho-oh:

Phoenix Emperor (Ho-Oh) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Defog
As I pointed out in the Intro, I was keenly interested in building around offensive ho-oh as it is my favourite mon and I was never really satisfied by defensive ho-oh. It seemed to had an exploitable potential offensively with its powerful STABs and it's ability letting it heal while being able to apply pressure. I gave it Sacred fire and Brave bird as those are his best offensive moves. My team seemed really hazard weak so i decided to still give it defog. Thunder wave is to weaken supportceus or other threats ho-oh can soft check like yveltal and calyrex. I gave it max attack for a maximum of damage output and gave it 16 speed to outspeed paralyzed zacian and calyrex.
:ss/zyagrde:
Dragon Guardian (Zygarde) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Haze
- Thousand Arrows
- Glare
- Rest
Now when I build a bulky team zygarde is a mon i add by default since he seems to be the best mon to counter the ladder shenanigans none as "smeargle" and "vivillon". It's also a hazer and a very effective check/switch-in to Groudon. It's also my E-killer check. I gave it max defense since the lack of lefties cuts its longevity. His sets is a standard one. I considered Toxic over glare but it turned out a toxic groudon was more annoying than a paralyzed one so I stucked with glare.
:ss/necrozma-dusk-mane:

Solar Mountain (Necrozma-Dusk-Mane) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Sunsteel Strike
- Morning Sun
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
This one doesn't need an explanation tbh. Rhelmet Defensive Necrozma dm is a very effective zacian check who also happens to learn the indispensable stealth rocks. I was hesitant on the last slot but I decided to give it knock-off as it seemed like a better way of applying pressure on balance teams with ho-oh as defoggers as defensive ho-oh doesn't really fear status moves. Knock off also turns out lets it beat stall (including lance's stall) more easily as it gives it a damaging move preventing it from wasting sunsteel strike pps if the mu calls for it.
:ss/yveltal:

Raven of Death (Yveltal) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Roost
- Sucker Punch
- Toxic
- Foul Play/snarl
Here comes the calyrex check. A dark type is mandatory in any balance or stall team. Yveltal seemed to be the best fit here. I wasn't really a fan of defensive yvetal since i always thought it couldn't check calyrex variants well enough. And I wanted a set capable of checking 'em all fairly well as much as possible. I started with a two stabs, foul play and sucker punch. foul play is really effective as it punishes a switching zac, defensive ndm, mray if needed and can ohko undynamxed calyrex. sucker punch was also a necessity to handle it when it dynamaxes after a boost to kill yve with max starfall, It would get broken through if not. Roost was obviously my next option but I felt like defog was too passive so I added toxic instead of defog as it allows it to 1v1 other defensive yve without toxic (which is really common) and supportceus forms without a super effective judgment. It was also more reliable vs a baton pass calyrex as it poisons the boost receiver. Snarl over foul play is also an option since it's more reliable to handle sub calyrex.
:ss/chansey:

Bipolar Degenerate (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 100 HP / 156 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Confide
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
Confide chansey is the best xern/ogre check one could hope for. Chansey is an amazing cleric which do many things at once like healing other statused member, handle special threats and give a valuable source of damage output with seismic toss if the situation calls for it. I gave 100 hp for the following calc: 252 SpA Choice Specs Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 100 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Chansey in Rain: 286-337 (42.9 - 50.6%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO
Now it's still a 96% chance after rock damage but it felt more reliable and chansey still needs a bit of defense to not take too much from moves like pursuit for example.
:ss/arceus-fairy:

. I'd like to say that though it was only for 8 months, ndag was the best tier i ever played. Probably because it's the purest one made so far. Some people might think it's impossible to check everything in 6 slots, but it's not rly a necessity as you'll be playing vs people who have the same problem and therefore the way to thrive is to be as consistent as you can and to ensure that u win WAY MORE than u lose by a high margin which on the other hand, is possible. And that's done through rinse and repeat process of building, testing and tweaking based on what i experienced. I hope gen9 ndag will be as fun as gen8.
Long live Anything Goes!
Important edit: I obtained a new gxe peak of 94 :).

ADF Test · Nov 15, 2022

Gratz on the peak again. There are quite a few things to discuss about this team.

THIS THING. This pokemon can 6-0 or SEVERELY cripple your team with just about any standard set. I do understand that Mega Gengar is very uncommon in Natdex Anything goes, especially on the ladder, but this thing is creating a huge hole in your team that you can not repair.

+

>

This helps with not only Mega Gengar switch-ins, but also Perish Trapping Arceuses.

Another big huge monster threat is KYOGRE. This pokemon can 2hko chansey under rain. As shown

252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 100 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Chansey in Rain: 313-369 (46.9 - 55.4%) -- 72.7% chance to 2HKO

The don might be your best bet here for this stall over Ho-Oh. Primal Groudon is such an annoying threat and status spammer in this tier. Highly recommend this change to combat Kyogre better.

Here are the optimal sets for these changes

Cool stall, good luck boss.

The one and only buck · Nov 16, 2022

ADF Test said:
Gratz on the peak again. There are quite a few things to discuss about this team.
View attachment 465906 THIS THING. This pokemon can 6-0 or SEVERELY cripple your team with just about any standard set. I do understand that Mega Gengar is very uncommon in Natdex Anything goes, especially on the ladder, but this thing is creating a huge hole in your team that you can not repair.
View attachment 465907+View attachment 465908> View attachment 465910
This helps with not only Mega Gengar switch-ins, but also Perish Trapping Arceuses.

Another big huge monster threat is KYOGRE. This pokemon can 2hko chansey under rain. As shown

252+ SpA Choice Specs Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 100 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Chansey in Rain: 313-369 (46.9 - 55.4%) -- 72.7% chance to 2HKO

View attachment 465911 The don might be your best bet here for this stall over Ho-Oh. Primal Groudon is such an annoying threat and status spammer in this tier. Highly recommend this change to combat Kyogre better.

Here are the optimal sets for these changes View attachment 465912 View attachment 465913
Cool stall, good luck boss.

Thanks a lot pal! Ur right when u say gar makes a giant hole in the team. As far as I laddered (even up till now after playing more games) I never faced it, but I did lost to it in a friendly vs a friend using an usum team. I considered blissey (with umbrella tho for specs ogre) but realised it was making my mu vs pursuit users (which are common in stalls) a lot worse. To be effective blissey would need to be max spdef and max hp. I tried it several times over chansey but ended up doing way worse with it than using eviolite chansey. Now There’s no debate about the fact that specs ogre would STILL wreck me but to ensure a very consistent run, Chansey seemed to be the better choice.
Groudon on the other hand would be of GREAT help. The only reason why I use ho-oh over him is because I originally didn’t WANT to make a stall at all despite the fact that it would give a more consistent run as I grew p bored of long games. The idea of making a semistall centering that hooh set was js for the pleasure as “fun” is something I wish to keep when playing mons in general. I appreciate the groudon tho. It’s something I didn’t rly think about. It might def give me more consistency vs kyogre so I’ll try it out when I reach 94 gxe with my semistall. Thanks again for the suggestion!

Other Metagames Imperialism of The Ruthless Phoenix [NDAG peak 2151 elo, 94.0gxe]

The one and only buck

Banned deucer.

ADF Test

Banned deucer.

The one and only buck

Banned deucer.