Hgssanta
Banned deucer.
The Corrosive Cage
National Dex Anything Goes
Peaked #1
Table of Contents
Introduction
Proof of Peak
Team and Its Description
Threat list + How to defeat them
Other Options
Replays
Importable
Acknowledgements
Conclusions
1. An Introduction.National Dex Anything Goes
Peaked #1
Table of Contents
Introduction
Proof of Peak
Team and Its Description
Threat list + How to defeat them
Other Options
Replays
Importable
Acknowledgements
Conclusions
National Dex AG is a very interesting tier to anyone who tries to ladder in it. It has extremely powerful threats that can break games open like Rayquaza-Mega and Zacian-Crowned, and incredible special wallbreakers in Calyrex-Shadow and Yveltal, and even through these monstrous threats, stall prevails. It is able to somewhat deal with these immense threats without crumpling almost instantly. In a tier with the most powerful offensive behemoths, stall still manages to prevail as THE champion of consistency. I myself began my journey as a player who played other playstyles, favoring bulky offense over others, but I was introduced to stall with an incredible team by a player by the name of Ethan(Hibiki). It quickly became my playstyle of choice, and by this point, I had managed to amass a lot of knowledge about this metagame by my constant moving up and down the ladder. These 2 combined fueled my fire to create a stall team that could not only function but deal with some anti-stall measures as well. This team was instrumental in the boom of stall in the National Dex Anything Goes ladder, which lead to anti-stall measures being extremely common, thus reducing the team's viablity heavily in the current meta.
2. Proof of Peak
First Peak:
Elo Peak:
3. The Team Description
Before I begin listing each member and their roles, I would first like to discuss my thought process while I built The Corrosive Cage.
I started with a simple core of Quagsire and Chansey. It remains an extremely potent core to this day due to its ability to check metagame breakers like Calm Mind Arceus, Xerneas, Zacian-Crowned. Primal Kyogre and the dangerous Extreme Killer Arceus.
After this I added on Arceus–Ground and Arceus–Dark, due to the former’s ability to consistently get rocks on the field and to check most variants of Primal-Groudon and the latter’s ability to check the extremely dangerous Calyrex-Shadow and Yveltal, while also being able to soft check the stall-freezing Calyrex-Ice using its power of Dynmax.
Lugia was added shortly after due to its incredible ability to check most variants of the extremely dangerous Mega-Rayquaza while serving as a check to some variants of the extremely dangerous Zygarde-Complete.
After this, I found myself in a weird position, with no Pokemon being apt for a last slot on the team, despite it losing to several metagame threats like Eruption Primal Groudon and Xerneas along with a Calm Mind Arceus variant,. Thus, I tried many many options, including a defensive Xerneas, Ho-oh and even Giratina.
Finally, I stumbled upon Arceus-Water, which was a peculiar Pokemon to me, as I believed other Pokemon accomplished its niche far better than it. But I soon realized that it provided a backbone to the team like no other Pokemon could. It switched into Eruption Primal-Groudon with ease and could stall it out if the Groudon was previously poisoned. It also removed the instant loss I would face to a Calm Mind Arceus, specifically Arceus-Dark, but also Fairy, Ground and Rock if a Xerneas was to pp stall Chansey’s limited confides, due to its ability to Calm Mind along with other Arceus forms and PP stall them.
Thus I came upon the final team, The Corrosive Cage
Now onto the members and their roles.
The Stable Earth (Arceus-Ground)
Arceus-Ground is an excellent Pokémon in the tier right now with its ability to set up stealth rocks while checking incredible threats like Groudon-Primal and Necrozma-Dusk Mane. It functions as a switch in to both of these Pokémon, and is ev’d to outspeed all variants of base Primal-Groudon. It can also defog away hazards, and fears being poisoned itself. In niche situations it can also take a dragon ascent from a base Rayquaza-Mega and a Behemoth Blade from a +1 Zacian-Crowned, provided neither have further attack boosts, and retaliate by poisoning Rayquaza and doing heavy damage to Zacian-Crowned.
The Flowing Sea (Arceus-Water)
Arceus-Water is an extremely useful Pokemon on The Corrosive Cage. It provides incredible utility with its ability to absorb most status, as well as forcing most variants of Ho-oh out, thus preventing them from whirlwind continuously. It also checks Eruption Primal-Groudon, and can stall it out If the Groudon is poisoned. It also baits in Primal-Groudon, which can be used to set up rocks against repeated defogs. It can also be used to soft check Calm Mind Arceus variants, although the team auto loses if both are at +6 and the opposing Arceus lands a critical hit. .
The Eternal Night (Arceus-Water)
I will not say too much about this Pokemon’s role against anything except stall because it has an extremely important and clear role vs everything else. Check Calyrex-Shadow and Yveltal. This Pokemon impeccably checks both of those Pokemon, even One Hit KOing a Calyrex-Shadow behind a substitute, thanks to snarl. This is furthered by the fact that the God of Pokemon can use its whirpools and check even Taunt Yveltal, trapping and snarling it. If one faces a Toxic Spikes Eternatus or a Spikes Ferrothorn, it is instrumental to trap them and then defog away the hazards with Arceus-Ground. It can use the power of Dynmax and check Calyrex-Ice if it has not accumulated too many boosts. It also lures and destroys Chansey vs stall due to the combination of Whirlpool and Perish Song. It manages to accomplish this while also forcing the opponents hand as the Pokemon on stall teams usually meant to defeat PerishPool being Giratina, Sableye and Lugia are all deathly afraid of a Max Darkness, and it prevents Whirlwinds from Lugia and Roar from Giratina as well when in Dynmax form..
The Soothing Salve(Chansey)
Chansey plays the role of the specially defensive wall on the team, keeping it from falling apart vs massive threats like Xerneas and Calm Mind Arceus forms. It has a simple and straightforward niche, standing as a beacon of support versus status spamming teams with its re-energizing heal bell. Due to the nature of its EVs it manages to stand in the way of what is thought to be one of the best chansey breakers: Psyshock Xerneas, not fearing a 2HKO from a +2 Psyshock and confiding the Xerneas back down to +1. There isn’t a lot to say except that without a Pokemon like chansey the team would not be able to function.
The Enduring Hill (Quagsire)
Quagsire is not a Pokemon one would expect when asked what could possibly wall a monster with 170 base attack and a free +1 attack on switch in. However, this Pokemon has proved time and time again its ability to utterly stand in the way of the strongest offensive threat the tier has to offer. With its unaware ability and a rocky helmet, Quagsire dissuades critical hit fishing from Zacian-Crowed. It also has the added benefit of checking most variants of the dangerous Extreme Killer Arceus, although it fears Max Phantasm from these Pokemon due to its defense drops. It can also stay in on Xerneas if it does not check any other Pokemon on the field and haze away Geomancy. It also happens to be my favorite Pokemon!
The Graceful Avian (Lugia)
There is a lot for me to say about this Lugia set and what it can accomplish. First I would like to make it clear that this is not an optimal Lugia moveset and I use it ONLY because it fits the team properly, due to the rest of the team not needing to Dynmax to deal with most threats. Lugia is the only reliable Mega Rayquaza check in the ENTIRE game. It remains the only Pokemon that can switchin and stall out most variants of the incredibly dangerous Mega Rayquaza. It functions as an excellent Pokemon even if one does not face Mega Rayquaza, due to its ability to whirlwind and rack up stealth rock chip while scaring out Zygarde-Complete using Ice Beam. It uses the power of Dynmax to One Hit KO Rayquaza after stalling out 2 Dragon Ascents. I was debating running defog on this Pokemon but ultimately decided that there was simply no space to slot that in. If the situation is extremely dire then it can use its Dynmax to defeat Yveltal as well. !
This team has an excellent matchup against the most popular Pokemon in AG but I will go over most of them anyways.
Zacian, Marshadow and Extreme Killer and both checked by Quagsire, however the latter has the ability to Dynmax and scare Quagsire with a Max Phantasm, however, the player can pivot to other Pokemon such as Lugia to stall out the Dynmax.Marshadow should be checked using a mix of Arceus-Ground and Quagsire as the former fears a bulk up set and the latter fears a Z move Marshadow
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane is checked by a combination of Ground and Water Arceus Formes, both scaring it out and the latter using it as setup fodder.
However, a Dragon Dance Ultra variant may require a Dynmax from either Arceus-Ground or Arceus-Dark, the latter even luring the absolute nuke that is Necrozma-Ultra’s The Light that Burns the Sky.
Calyrex-Shadow and Yveltal are both checked by Arceus Dark. Calyrex-Shadow can run a dangerous Buginium Z set as an Arceus Dark lure, thus it is advised to either switch to Chansey on the Z or use Dynmax to take the hit and retaliate with a one hit KO. The latter can use Focus Blast to do heavy damage to Arceus Dark, however, if statused, Chansey can wall most Yveltal variants. However, a Focus Blast Yveltal than runs a move like Knock Off can be extremely threatening to the team and may require another Pokemon to be sacrificed in order to deal with it.
Groudon-Primal is easily checked by Arceus-Ground, and if it is poisoned, even Eruption variants lose to Arceus-Water.
Mega Rayquaza is famously difficult to check, however with the Dynmax power that Lugia has, it can One Hit KO even a Banded Rayquaza after 2 Dragon Ascents. It works especially well against Banded and +1 Life Orb Variants due to the opponent assuming they can break through Lugia.
Calm Mind Arceus variants and Xerneas are easily checked by Chansey. However the latter has a nasty Max Ooze variant, however this is extremely rare and is usually seen as a Cteam to stall. It can be dealt with but may require Lugia to whirlwind it out.
Ho-oh is a dangerous pokemon that can generate massive amounts of chip by spamming whirlwind. Thus, it is EXTREMELY important to poison Ho-oh. I cannot stress enough how much damage a Ho-oh can do to the team if left unchecked. However, one must note that since Arceus-Ground scares out common rocks setters and Arceus-Water can pressure Ho-oh with judgement and refresh away its status.
Zygarde is a scary Pokemon in theory, however, in practice, it is pretty easy to wall. Quagsire and Lugia both can deal with its sets and Lugia scares it out with an ice beam.
Support Arceus forms can be a nuisance but are simply setup fodder for Arceus-Water.
Ferrothorn and Eternatus both can be massive threats if not dealt with prematurely. Ferrothorns lays down spikes that can force Quagsire into 2hko range vs Zacian-C. Eternatus also lays down similarly destructive toxic spikes, but a non toxic spikes variant can be checked by chansey and Arceus-Water. It should be noted that Chansey can easily be pressure stalled by Eternatus, so Arceus-Water is a preferred switchin to a non-toxic spikes variant, due to its ability to force in a check by spamming calm mind. Both can be perish trapped by Arceus-Dark although the player must be aware of the former's ability to scout with protect and switch out of the trapping attempt.
Now lets move on to specific Anti-Stall Pokemon.
PerishPool Arceus – The team can obviously be adversely affected by a Perish song forme of Arceus. However, any Non-Dark variant can be whirlwinded away using Lugia and Dark variants require the sacrifice of Arceus-Dark, also whirlpooling the opponent as they Perish Song. After this, Calyrex must be checked by dynmax Arceus-Ground.
Calyrex-Ice – The Famous “Stall Killer” alongside Zekrom.It mows down teams with its incredibly high damage output and favorable type matchup vs The Corrosive Cage. It can even run bullet seed/seed bomb to crush Quagsire. This is an extremely difficult Pokemon to deal with if it gets going. However, it can be dealt with if Arceus-Dark Dynmaxes after Calyrex-Ice has taken sufficient chip damage
Zekrom – Another Pokemon known to take down stall, because it can break these teams after dragon dances and its incredibly Teravolt ability, even bypassing Quagsire’s unaware. It needs to be noted that while Arceus-Ground is an excellent check, it has to be on the lookout for a weakness policy. Thus, it is advised to stall out dynmax by recovering or ones own dynmax.
Primal Kyogre – Normal variants of Primal Kyogre can be checked by Chansey and Arceus-Water, the latter fearing a Calm Mind set. The first priority is always to either chip Primal Kyogre or to poison it, because its massive water spouts threaten even chansey if it is at full health. I recommend that one leads chansey and switches to Arceus-Water, scouting for a liquidation. If the Kyogre is a liquidation variant, it is advised that you use Arceus-Water to check it alongside chansey, and poison in as soon as it switches in. Don’t fear sacrificing a pokemon to poison Primal Kyogre as it can take the team apart if left unchecked.
5.Other Options
The team has several other options that one can use, like toxic or counter over Yawn on Quagsire and replacing Arceus Dark with Tyranitar. Both of these changes are fair and make sense, however replacing Arceus-Dark with Tyranitar worsens the stall matchup. The team loses to pressure stall without a PerishPool Arceus-Dark. Seismic toss can also be replaced with Toxic on Chansey although I prefer the former due to its utility against Refresh Calm Mind Arceus formes.
6. Replays.
I forgot to record most matches while laddering with this team, and since it doesnt function very well in the current meta that is strongly prepared for stall, I have only a few replays to showcase.
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexag-1341967618-ge6tn5fwy780vyxsg9co2wma2ckszh2pw An unorthodox Ice Beam extreme killer that managed to freeze Quagsire, and won despite a critical hit Max Starfall as well
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexag-1341975033-l1tdrsdjoum92xb3p75sp20b95rw1nnpw Solar beam Primal-Groudon
- https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexag-1326433673
Versus a double Zacian team. - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nationaldexag-1353651193-i11s62gwyfweo05tygylgah84vtwc7epw Versus a guy that used all 4 of the threats to team and crit Arceus-Ground and Quagsire.
7. Team Importable
Click on any of the above sprites for the pokepaste.
8..Acknowledgements:
- Ethan(Hibiki) - For introducing me to stall as a playstyle
- SafetyTorch- For helping test the team and moral support. :D
- Alain the Expert - For helping test the team against anti-stall options
- Lanaxtana - For helping me with several key sets and meta matchups
- Makaai(Pokechamp) - For running anti-stall on the ladder and giving me the idea for this team.
- Lycos - Help with the smogon post
9. Conclusion
Thus I conclude my first ever Team Showcase by saying thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. I will continue to make these in the future if I make another team that can gain these results.
Edit 2: I have added another replay to the replays section
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