I have come to talk about our lord and saviour Jesus Christ, also known as:
You're sceptical, I know, and for good reason. Not many people have successfully run serious Trick Room teams in the history of the Anything Goes metagame before. I initially didn't expect to either, and believe that this is arguably borderline achieving that goal. In an ideal world, one would be able to check offensive and defensive teams simply with standard offense, but on the current Anything Goes ladder, most offensive teams struggle to keep both in check. Trick Room however can alleviate this, with its ability to defeat Stall incredibly easily with excessively powerful threats; while dealing with offense rather well. The latter is due to the reliance on priority the teams have, and the strength of the later mentioned offensive threats. I still haven't convinced you, and I don't expect to have by the end of this post; however I hope that with your help, we can potentially turn Trick Room into a valid archetype within the metagame.
The Setters
Arceus
Support Arceus formes are some of the best Trick Room setters, as they possess the bulk and movepool to stay relevant through the entirety of the match. They allow TR to be set against even the most deadly threats. Dark and Ground are both two effective forms as the former can effectively check most Taunt users (say Gengar and Yveltal) while the latter provides a decent defensive wall for the remainder of the metagame.
Carbink / Diancie
Suicide leads for more Hyper Offensive builds mainly come in the form of Carbink and Diancie. These Pokémon can effectively use Stealth Rock, Trick Room and Explosion, allowing teams to safely get in offensive Pokémon in the back. Carbink at the moment is the superior option due to its access to Sturdy and ability to run Mental Herb to evade Taunt, and safely get up Trick Room. Diancie may overtake Carbink in the future when Diancite gets released, as it can bluff a Mega Evolution, whilst having much higher offensive presence. Explosion may actually dent an opposing defensive Pokémon. These two Pokémon and other arbitrary Pokémon like Dialga, are the only suicide leads I would consider for Trick Room.
Cresselia
Cresselia is an interesting answer, as it provides Trick Room easily while having high defensive stats, recovery and Lunar Dance. Cresselia is a mid to late game Trick Room setter, as it can revive a previously damaged sweeper or wallbreaker and give it the optimal opportunity for this to occur. In many of the replays, Cresselia can be seen accomplishing this. It also acts as a decent wall if need be, providing answers to Ground Arceus and Primal Groudon, two Pokémon the sweepers below may have trouble breaking.
Porygon2
P2 (formerly fleggumfl) is a great wall as well; however, it is nowhere near a replacement for the aforementioned Cresselia or Support Arceus formes. While it does have access to Foul Play, multiple status moves and great bulk when boosted by Eviolite, it cannot take on many metagame threats due to the evident power increase within the Anything Goes metagame. Porygon2 can still be run effectively alongside the above two defensive setters though.
Random Utility
Dialga is another effective offensive lead, but you already know this. There's potentially a plethora of other options but I told myself not to write anything big with this post so I won't mention them all.
The Sweepers
Groudon-Primal
This isn't rocket science. Primal Groudon doesn't have a great speed stat and can abuse its 180 base Attack with Trick Room fairly easily. "Speedy" Swords Dance is a godsend, especially when combined with Groudon's already amazing defensive and offensive capabilities. I don't know why I'm explaining this, I really shouldn't be. I don't need to show you PDon calcs, you know them >_>
Marowak-Alola
Alowak is definitely what I've found to be amazing most surprisingly. It breaks past a myriad of common defensive options without any set-up, and defeats the rest after a single Swords Dance. Flare Blitz and Shadow Bone are both nice offensive options that Alowak gets access to, that allow it to break past everything in the metagame bar like Defensive Arceus-Water, but who runs that in 2017 lol.
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Giratina: 282-332 (55.9 - 65.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Lugia: 264-312 (63.4 - 75%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 240-283 (57.8 - 68.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Fairy: 265-313 (59.8 - 70.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 200 Def Groudon-Primal: 202-238 (50.1 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Shadow Shield Lunala: 486-572 (116.8 - 137.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Mawile-Mega
MMawile's biggest flaw is obviously its speed tier, but Trick Room completely alleviates that. You should really be weary of how frail this thing is though, especially pre-Mega Evolution.
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Fairy: 422-500 (95.2 - 112.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 24 Def Xerneas: 504-594 (110.5 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Yveltal: 414-488 (90.9 - 107.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Lugia: 168-198 (40.3 - 47.5%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Ferrothorn: 352-416 (100 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Other
I'm sure you can make other omnipresent threats such as Arceus-Ghost and Rayquaza-Mega function with Trick Room somehow. They attack fast and avoid nasty speed issues they previously obtained.
All the calcs here were without set-up; however, you can almost pick and choose your opposing Pokémon with setters like Cresselia, so Swords Dance isn't hard to pull off at all.
vs 24 Rajorshi Das:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-579470125
vs ashiva:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-579474372
vs Donno:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-579466495
vs PurpleGatorade:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-567577707
vs Quantum Tesseract:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-568009539
AND THE FINALE
VS THE INFAMOUS
*PEPA120*:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-579473538
Here's an example squad. You can obviously get a lot better than this, but this has worked out well. I'm sure with adequate effort and practice, a much more optimal squad could be created.
Code:
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Play Rough
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
Cresselia @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Trick Room
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Trick Room
- Calm Mind
- Recover
Groudon @ Red Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Atk / 32 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Precipice Blades
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Tail
- Swords Dance
Carbink @ Mental Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Trick Room
- Explosion
Literally posting this only to take credit because every nub is now copying muh sht and I want to be acknowledged for it. >~<