^(Click on Team for Pokepaste)^
- Introduction -
So a few weeks ago, I had the idea to try and build a team centered around Deoxys-Attack, since I rarely ever see it on the ladder and thought it'd be fun. After some brainstorming which I'll get into a little bit in the next section, I decided to go with making a psychic terrain team, as the extra power of psychic moves as well as the denial of opponent's priority moves synergize beautifully with Deo-A.
*Side Note: This post marks not just my first RMT ever, but also my first post on the forums in general! I've been playing mons and lurking on the forums despite not having an account for years now, but finally have found the courage to join the fun! Due to this being my first post, please please let me know in DMs or comments if I should correct anything, or if my formatting is off, or anything like that. Enjoy! :)*
-- The Team --
Deoxys-Attack @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Psycho Boost
- Shadow Ball
- Ice Beam
- Superpower
Deoxys-Attack, the Star of the Show. Deo-A is a monstrously powerful glass cannon, able to OHKO even fully HP and SP.DEF invested Groudon-P with a Psycho Boost if terrain is up (or if you tera), as well as OHKO-ing Physically Bulky Kyogre-P with both terrain and Tera. Life Orb is essentially a free 1.3x damage boost to all of Deo-A's moves since getting hit even from full would almost always OHKO anyway, so it's an obvious choice of item here. EVs are self-explanatory, maximum speed and special attack to hit as hard and as fast as possible, with the other 4 put into attack to just boost up Superpower a tiny bit as defense investment is essentially useless. 29 HP IVs are used to minimize the damage of Life Orb in the very rare scenario it makes a difference and allows you to live a weak resisted hit. Psycho Boost is an insane 140bp STAB move, and while the drawbacks of lowering SPA by 2 stages and a 10% chance to miss can be annoying at times, it still holds strong as one of if not the strongest un-boosted nuke in the tier. Ice beam threatens to OHKO common threats such as non-SP.DEF Yveltal (guaranteed OHKO after minor chip) who is immune to Psycho Boost, and can threaten OHKOs against other assorted dragon and ground types, such as Zygarde and M-Salamence. Shadow ball is a nice alternative to Psycho Boost if you are in a situation where you need a strong neutral hit against something, but don't want to drop your SPA so that you can keep attacking afterwards. Shadow Ball is also nice in its ability to nail opposing Psychic types such as 2HKOing Necrozma-DM. Superpower allows Deo-A to not be walled by the occasional Blissey, as well as hitting very hard against Arceus-Normal (who can't Extreme Speed if Psychic Terrain is up). Deo-A is the team's main wall breaker, able to demolish even some of the bulkiest of foes, and the rest of the team is constructed to enable its ability to tear down the enemy as much as possible.
Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast / Aromatherapy
- Nature's Madness
- Taunt
Tapu Lele is arguably just as important as Deoxys-Attack for this team, setting up 8 whole turns of Psychic Terrain that Boosts the already powerful psychic attacks of Deo-A and Necrozma-U to absurd levels, as well as completely denying the enemy the ability to revenge kill with priority moves. A terrain extender is an obvious choice of item for keeping up psy terrain 3 turns longer than normal. This is especially helpful due to how rare terrain teams are in the tier nowadays, so you often won't have much or any competition in maintaining your terrain the full 8 turns, allowing you to continuously wreak havoc on the enemy. EVs and nature are fully invested into SPA and Speed since defensive investments on Lele are somewhat rhetorical. In addition, maximum SPA investment allows Tapu Lele to 2HKO opposing Groudon-P, allowing you to Nature's Madness into it freely on turn 1 if you don't expect it to attack, instead setting up rocks or toxic or other Groudon things. Doing this puts heavy pressure whether they switch out or not, since if they stay in, they are then threatened to be out sped and killed with Psychic, and if they switch out, one mon on their team has now taken a clean 50% damage, a win-win for you, again granted the Groudon doesn't KO you with an attack. Moonblast is used to allow Tapu Lele to hit Dark types who are immune to its Psychic if the situation calls for it. This slot or the taunt slot can also be changed out for Aromatherapy if you feel you struggle with statuses too much, but personally I think Moonblast is just a better option here. Nature's Madness I already have explained, 50% damage on anything and nothing can be immune to or resist it is just consistently a good pick for a move slot. Taunt is used to stop things like Zygarde or Groudon-P from trying to status you or Dragon Dance or set up rocks respectively. You'll want to try to preserve Tapu Lele as much as possible in most matchups so that you can keep setting up Psychic Terrain throughout the game, though don't be too afraid to sacrifice it if the situation calls for it. Tera Water is used in the niche scenarios where it would allow you to live something like a Sunsteel Strike from Necrozma-DM or a Fire move from Groudon-P, but you will almost never be clicking tera on this mon in most games.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Def / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Photon Geyser
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Dragon Dance
Necrozma is this team's main setup sweeper, as well as a pseudo defensive wall before transforming, being able to clean up against some teams once you sufficiently chip down the opponent. Ultra Burst allows for some tricky play around super-effective hits, such as Dragon Dancing in front of an ice type without bursting, and then bursting the next turn and stone-edging it. Effectively, Ultra Burst allows you to reverse your steel-type's weaknesses which can come in very handy sometimes. 192 speed EVs with a Jolly nature allow Necrozma to out speed even the speediest of Arceus forms, as well as just barely out speeding Naganadel and Cyclizar by one point before a Dragon Dance (all of aforementioned only apply after using Ultra Burst to transform into Necrozma-U). Maximum attack EVs are used to simply maximize your damage output, allowing you to sweep more effectively. The remaining EVs are split up between HP and defense, allowing Necrozma-DM to act as a defensive check and switch-in against Zacian, as well as having the benefit of not being OHKO'd from full by Marshadow's Shadow Sneak after using Ultra Burst. Finding an opportunity to click dragon dance allows you to become a force to be reckoned with, out speeding and threatening nearly every fast mon in the tier as well as obviously boosting your attack by one stage. Photon Geyser is strong STAB that ignores abilities and gets boosted by Tapu Lele's Psychic Surge, as well as being able to use the Ultranecrozium Z to double its power once, nuking the opposing mon off the face of the earth. Earthquake and Stone Edge are for coverage, with Earthquake dealing big damage to Groudon-P and opposing Steel types such as Magearna or Necrozma-DM, and stone Edge hits Flying types, most notably Yveltal and Ho-oh.
Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 204 HP / 52 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 29 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Heart Swap
Magearna is the defensive glue that holds the whole team together in certain matchups, most notably it is a hard counter to Geomancy Xerneas, but it does fill many other purposes as well. I choose Leftovers as the item here to mitigate chip damage and provide extra longevity throughout the match, pretty standard stuff. The listed EV spread allows for Magearna to function as an incredible Specially Defensive wall, with its typing granting it only 2 weaknesses to Fire and Ground, while being immune to both poison and dragon with a plethora of resistances to boot. The defense EVs just allow for Magearna to have a better matchup against Marshadow so it can pivot out of it with Volt Switch, in turn breaking its sash, and in general lets it take hits on the physical side a bit better. The 29 Speed IVs allows for as slow of a Volt Switch Pivot as possible to safely get in a mon like Deo-A, while still being able to out speed Max-Speed Xerneas after stealing its Geomancy boosts. Fleur Cannon is a strong STAB option to pressure targets like Marshadow, Yveltal, and Koraidon against switching into you, as well as just being a source of reliable damage without any Special Attack investment. Game Freak blessed Magearna with the glorious move that is Volt Switch. This move is incredible on Magearna, with its low speed allowing you to safely pivot it out to frail teammates and dealing chip after tanking a hit from the opposing mon, as well as, in some very niche scenarios, allowing you to deal some very good chip damage against Water and Flying types. Pain Split allows you to keep Magearna alive much longer and more consistently, while at the same time damaging the opponent's mon. Heart Swap is used almost exclusively to counter Geomancy Xerneas, though it does have some other nice uses here and there like heart swapping your SPA drop after using Fleur Cannon. Since Magearna can safely switch in on unboosted Xerneas (You should pretty much always switch in Magearna as soon as the opponent switches in Xerneas), not getting OHKO'd from full by even Tera Fire HP Fire, and able to steal the boosts and then pain split the damage dealt from Xerneas away, after which it threatens to OHKO Xerneas with Fleur Cannon.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Ah, we all know Groudon-P, there is a reason this guy is almost always #1 on the Viability Rankings you know. Yes, he does Groudon-P things, and he does them well. The EV spread is standard bulky Groudon-P, able to live almost any hit and blessed by the Game Freak Gods with its biggest weakness completely negated by its ability. Precipice Blades are monstrously powerful STAB coming from Groudon-P's absurd 180 Base Attack even with no investment. I choose Overheat ove something like Stone Edge or Rock Slide here since even though it's primarily a Physical Attacker, Groudon-P still has a pretty nutty 150 Base SPA. Stack that with Fire STAB, the harsh sunlight boost, and the 130 Base Power of overheat, and you nuke flying types all the same as you would otherwise, with the added extra benefit of being able to handle physical walls that don't invest in SP.DEF. Overheat can also OHKO uninvested Necrozma-DM, as well as melting other assorted Steel types floating around in the tier like Melmetal. Stealth Rock is Stealth Rock, deals useful chip to the enemy to help you sweep, breaks focus sashes on threats like Marshadow, Pheromosa, and the occasional opposing Deoxys-A, keeps up constant pressure, just an all-around excellent move. Toxic allows you to threaten more bulky walls that you can't immediately threaten with your STABs, most notable Ho-oh, as well as crippling some setup sweepers and putting them on a timer. Groudon-P is this team's go-to physical wall, as well as a great utility and bulky attacker, never underestimate this guy's ability to live hits, but at the same time obviously still be careful, Groudon-P due to lacking recovery is prone to being chipped down throughout the match so be wary of that.
Salamence-Mega @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate [Aerilate]
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Slam
- Refresh
- Defog
- Roost
And last but certainly not least, we have Salamence. I originally used an Offensive Defog set, but after a lot of testing on ladder I landed on a more Defensively Oriented Salamence set, or as I like to call it: Defense Mence. The listed EV spread allows Mence to out speed Max-Speed Groudon-P and Kyogre-P by one point, threatening to cripple both with body slam paralysis and chip. The rest of the EVs are put into the Defenses, turning Mega Mence into an actually very solid wall, especially with it having intimidate to drop the opponent's attack before Mega Evolution. Body Slam is a surprisingly good move, with it threatening to cripple many attackers in the tier with paralysis even before Mega Evolving, and being a pretty solid STAB attack afterwards. Coupled with its high PP, Body Slam is actually a very good move for this set, allowing for the spread of status and dealing chip to the opposing mon while stalling out lower PP moves. Refresh is not a move I see often, but on this set it flourishes. Refresh allows Mence to consistently check the likes of Ho-oh and Lugia, being able to remove burns and toxics easily. Defog removes hazards and takes pressure off of the team, allowing the likes of Deo-A, Groudon-P, and Tapu Lele to avoid dangerous chip damage. Roost is pretty self-explanatory, simply a good, reliable source of self-healing to avoid being chipped down, especially given the weakness to Stealth Rock. Salamence on this team acts as a good bulky utility, that still provides valuable offensive pressure, walling the likes of Marshadow, Ho-oh, Lugia, most Groudon-P sets, and after an Intimidate drop, it can even wall some Koraidon variants.
- Some Replays -
vs. 1840 "Standard" team
Defense Mence goes off
*I had some other cool replays I wish I could've included but I either forgot to save them, or didn't have permission from the other party. Sorry!*
- Threat List & How to Beat Them -
As sad as it is, this team does have a few bad matchups, most of which quite rare to run into in my experience on the 1500 - 1800 ladder, however it's important to know how to play around these matchups if you do want to try out this team.
*might update this section in the future if I come across something that I haven't dealt with before*
*(With Koraidon now being banned to AG, this threat is no longer a problem! I will leave this section crossed out rather than flat out deleting it in the case of a Koraidon unban at some point in the future!)*
I Hope you all enjoy the team and please feel free to leave questions, comments, criticisms, or whatever in the comments! <3
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