First, some classical music for your enjoyment:
What makes a team in Anything Goes successful?
This is a question that nearly every AG player asks themselves before teambuilding. Let’s take a closer look at it.
Pokémon is based off of a key concept-KO the opponent’s team before they KO yours. Each Pokémon in a team is made up of six statistics, and item and four moves. Three key team archetypes have arisen within Anything Goes to meet this task-Stall, which focuses on slowly eating away each Pokémon’s health, Hyper Offensive, which focuses on using Speed and Attack/Special attack to quickly eat up an opponent’s team and Balance, which attempts to be an intermediary between the two. However, no Pokémon is made perfect, and this shows in the weaknesses of each play style. Stall, particularly in Anything Goes, is worthless once a Pokémon with sufficient Speed and Power starts eating up its specific checks and counters, Hyper Offensive cannot stand up to an extended battle in which no real momentum can be seized and Balanced is susceptible to lacking the power to break up a good stall team and thus slowly falling to Toxic and WoW.
But what if this wasn’t always the case?
There’s no way to remedy a Hyper Offensive team’s poor defence without losing Attack. There’s no way to remedy a Stall team’s passive nature without losing the purpose of the team. But there is a way for balanced teams to remedy their weakness to stall.
Toxic is dangerous, slowly building up power through the battle, but it can’t scratch Steel types, and its damage can be healed off when switching frequently. WoW cripples physical attackers, but with strategy physical attackers don’t need to risk exposure to this.
As such, a balanced team with enough defence and phasing to deal with Hyper Offensive and enough strategy to deal with Stall and Balanced is the best possible team archetype. This team is my attempt on manifesting this concept.
Presenting…
Equilibrium
A study of Anything Goes archetypes
What makes a team in Anything Goes successful?
This is a question that nearly every AG player asks themselves before teambuilding. Let’s take a closer look at it.
Pokémon is based off of a key concept-KO the opponent’s team before they KO yours. Each Pokémon in a team is made up of six statistics, and item and four moves. Three key team archetypes have arisen within Anything Goes to meet this task-Stall, which focuses on slowly eating away each Pokémon’s health, Hyper Offensive, which focuses on using Speed and Attack/Special attack to quickly eat up an opponent’s team and Balance, which attempts to be an intermediary between the two. However, no Pokémon is made perfect, and this shows in the weaknesses of each play style. Stall, particularly in Anything Goes, is worthless once a Pokémon with sufficient Speed and Power starts eating up its specific checks and counters, Hyper Offensive cannot stand up to an extended battle in which no real momentum can be seized and Balanced is susceptible to lacking the power to break up a good stall team and thus slowly falling to Toxic and WoW.
But what if this wasn’t always the case?
There’s no way to remedy a Hyper Offensive team’s poor defence without losing Attack. There’s no way to remedy a Stall team’s passive nature without losing the purpose of the team. But there is a way for balanced teams to remedy their weakness to stall.
Toxic is dangerous, slowly building up power through the battle, but it can’t scratch Steel types, and its damage can be healed off when switching frequently. WoW cripples physical attackers, but with strategy physical attackers don’t need to risk exposure to this.
As such, a balanced team with enough defence and phasing to deal with Hyper Offensive and enough strategy to deal with Stall and Balanced is the best possible team archetype. This team is my attempt on manifesting this concept.
Presenting…
Equilibrium
A study of Anything Goes archetypes
Teambuilding process
In-depthAt a glance:
In-depth:
So, initially, I looked to create a strong defensive backbone. I considered BlissTina, but found it to be too passive for my needs. However, the correct concept was there. I moved on to considering Arceus forms, and elected Arceus-Ground as a strong physically defensive Pokémon and Arceus-Steel as a strong specially defensive Pokémon.
Next up I needed to adapt the team to be able to not only deal with offensive pressure but to crush what could be called defensive pressure. As such, I rang up the most broken Pokémon in the tier, Banded Mray.
Banded Mray was, at this point, my main damage dealer. However, it’s tricky getting it in safely, so I decided that a slow U-turn would do the trick. As such, I put Yveltal onto the team.
From here I began looking at problems with the team, and one of these problems was that it got pretty much 6-0’ed by Darkrai. Seeing this, I put on one of the more viable counters to Darkrai, this being ScarfXern.
I continued looking for problems in the team at this point. I did notice that Ho-Oh gave the team a little trouble, but nothing that couldn’t be played around. However, GeoXern with Focus Blast could outright 6-0 at this point. Seeing this, I added Swagkeys, which fixes this problem and adds a blanket check to more than half of the tier.
Is this keeping in check with that awful, long, rambling speech that didn’t really make sense at the top of this post?
I believe that this team is not close to perfect, thus why I post it here, but I believe that it goes a fair amount of the way to addressing the concepts discussed previously. It possesses enough defensive backbone to take a beating from Hyper Offense/Balance and still come through with a win as well as enough offense and positive typings tonuke stall like the cancer it is deal with stall.
In-depth:
So, initially, I looked to create a strong defensive backbone. I considered BlissTina, but found it to be too passive for my needs. However, the correct concept was there. I moved on to considering Arceus forms, and elected Arceus-Ground as a strong physically defensive Pokémon and Arceus-Steel as a strong specially defensive Pokémon.
Next up I needed to adapt the team to be able to not only deal with offensive pressure but to crush what could be called defensive pressure. As such, I rang up the most broken Pokémon in the tier, Banded Mray.
Banded Mray was, at this point, my main damage dealer. However, it’s tricky getting it in safely, so I decided that a slow U-turn would do the trick. As such, I put Yveltal onto the team.
From here I began looking at problems with the team, and one of these problems was that it got pretty much 6-0’ed by Darkrai. Seeing this, I put on one of the more viable counters to Darkrai, this being ScarfXern.
I continued looking for problems in the team at this point. I did notice that Ho-Oh gave the team a little trouble, but nothing that couldn’t be played around. However, GeoXern with Focus Blast could outright 6-0 at this point. Seeing this, I added Swagkeys, which fixes this problem and adds a blanket check to more than half of the tier.
Is this keeping in check with that awful, long, rambling speech that didn’t really make sense at the top of this post?
I believe that this team is not close to perfect, thus why I post it here, but I believe that it goes a fair amount of the way to addressing the concepts discussed previously. It possesses enough defensive backbone to take a beating from Hyper Offense/Balance and still come through with a win as well as enough offense and positive typings to
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Judgment
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
Arceus-Ground is, as said previously, the first member of the defensive backbone of the team. As can be seen, the highest possible defensive EVs have been pumped into it for optimum effectiveness. I’ve elected to go with a special set, since it hits Pdon harder than the physical set. Will-o-wisp is a nasty surprise for any physical attacker who thinks they can take advantage of Arceus-Ground’s attack capabilities. I’ve chosen to put Stealth Rock on over Defog or Roar here because consistent rocks throughout the battle allow for my team to slowly grind down teams.
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roar
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
Arceus-Steel completes the most defensive aspect of this team. Due to the special defence EVs it can take a variety of special attacks without too much fear, even super-effective ones. It, of course, can’t stay in on consistent, strong, super effective special attacks, but it does its job well enough. Defog is used liberally unless an opponent carries Ho-Oh, since both Yveltal and Rayquaza-Mega hate rocks. Judgment isn’t used an awful lot on this set, but it’s still here to avoid Taunt and to force out overly confident Fairies. Roar is for general phasing and is used liberally to avoid a well-placed physical attacker coming in on it.
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Dragon Ascent
- Waterfall
- Extreme Speed
BandRay is perhaps the most broken Pokémon in the tier. No Pokémon can take all of its attacks well once rocks are up, with even Giratina falling to multiple Dragon Ascents. This is a fairly stock-standard set, not too much to discuss. Waterfall has been opted for over Earthquake since Arceus-Rock is non-existent; Arceus-Steel falls to V-Create and Waterfall OHKO’s Pdon.
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Toxic
- U-turn
This Yveltal set has been optimised for physical defense. When I first brought it ontot he team I wanted a slow U-turn to let in Rayquaza-Mega safely, but due to it’s defense Yveltal can put a stop to a myriad of other Pokémon. Foul play shuts down any Pokemon trying to set up a physical sweep, and in the high ladder particularly Toxic is great for when these Pokemon switch out to another Pokémon that can better take a Foul Play, such as Fairyceus or Xerneas. Roost is for stalling out any Pokémon who feels like staying in after Toxic even though they can’t significantly damage Yveltal. U-turn is for letting in Rayquaza-Mega safely, which does wonders for the team’s momentum and flexibility.
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 32 Def / 252 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest Nature
- Moonblast
- Sleep Talk
Scarfed Xerneas, despite primarily being wanted to deal with Darkrai, deals with a great deal of other threats. GeoXern is relatively difficult to use in high ladder, with only one free turn being hard to pick up. As such, Scarfed Xerneas is one of, if not the best, Xerneas set around right now. This particular set has had it EVs stolen straight from the Smogdex, but the set itself was first used by Zangooser, to the best of my knowledge. The idea here is, even if Darkrai puts Xerneas to sleep, Xerneas can still use a scarfed Sleep Talk and score an OHKO. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work, since most Darkrai switch out when Xerneas comes in on it out of fear of a Scarfed set.
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Swagger
- Foul Play
If BandRay isn’t the most broken Pokémon in the Anything Goes tier Klefki is. Added initially as something to deal with Xerneas Klefki can mess with nearly any Pokémon in the tier and even act as a wincon. This is a stock standard Swagkeys set, nothing particularly special here.
To start with, lead with Groundceus unless an obvious counter-lead is present. Don’t hesitate to WoW a physical opponent, even if you suspect that it’s carrying a Lum Berry. Attempt to keep rocks up throughout the battle, but don’t prioritize it over keeping Groundceus alive.
Special attackers should be met with Steelceus. Even super-effective attacks don’t hurt Steelceus too much, so don’t be afraid to use it often. Roar should be used liberally, especially with rocks up.
Assess the tide of the battle frequently. If you need to grind the opponent’s team down more to allow Yveltal or Rayquaza-Mega in do so, the defensive backbone can keep up with it. Once it becomes possible, use Rayquaza-Mega as frequently as possible. Every time it comes in it should be able to secure at least one KO, making it a key asset to the team’s victory.
Klefki should be used in a similar fashion to Rayquaza-Mega, simply to different extents. Paralyse everything; it makes it so much easier for Rayquaza-Mega and ScarfXern to clean up at the end. If it’s a possibility, set up with Klefki and attempt to start sweeping. You’ll get called lots of nice names, but it’s only a game, and it’s not like Klefki’s a banned Pokémon.
ScarfXern is a different case to Rayquaza-Mega, it simply lacks the power to do serious damage. Use it when it’s safe to do so, especially on Darkrai, but if it’s possible to use either Rayquaza-Mega or Xerneas safely, go with Rayquaza-Mega.
Don’t underestimate your opponent. Don’t go for a premature victory with Rayquaza-Mega, it doesn’t work well without the correct support. Keep grinding down your opponent if it seems even slightly dangerous to bring in Rayquaza-Mega. Be wary of lures, there are lots of good ones out there. The best way to find and deal with lures is simply to not bring in anything too valuable against an unfamiliar Pokemon until it’s obvious that it doesn’t pose a threat. Pretty much, don’t be stupid with the team, it’s only as good as whoever’s using it.
Special attackers should be met with Steelceus. Even super-effective attacks don’t hurt Steelceus too much, so don’t be afraid to use it often. Roar should be used liberally, especially with rocks up.
Assess the tide of the battle frequently. If you need to grind the opponent’s team down more to allow Yveltal or Rayquaza-Mega in do so, the defensive backbone can keep up with it. Once it becomes possible, use Rayquaza-Mega as frequently as possible. Every time it comes in it should be able to secure at least one KO, making it a key asset to the team’s victory.
Klefki should be used in a similar fashion to Rayquaza-Mega, simply to different extents. Paralyse everything; it makes it so much easier for Rayquaza-Mega and ScarfXern to clean up at the end. If it’s a possibility, set up with Klefki and attempt to start sweeping. You’ll get called lots of nice names, but it’s only a game, and it’s not like Klefki’s a banned Pokémon.
ScarfXern is a different case to Rayquaza-Mega, it simply lacks the power to do serious damage. Use it when it’s safe to do so, especially on Darkrai, but if it’s possible to use either Rayquaza-Mega or Xerneas safely, go with Rayquaza-Mega.
Don’t underestimate your opponent. Don’t go for a premature victory with Rayquaza-Mega, it doesn’t work well without the correct support. Keep grinding down your opponent if it seems even slightly dangerous to bring in Rayquaza-Mega. Be wary of lures, there are lots of good ones out there. The best way to find and deal with lures is simply to not bring in anything too valuable against an unfamiliar Pokemon until it’s obvious that it doesn’t pose a threat. Pretty much, don’t be stupid with the team, it’s only as good as whoever’s using it.
Ho-Oh: Keep up your rocks. Even though Arceus-Ground can’t touch it Ho-Oh can’t really hurt it back, so PP stall it out. A Ho-Oh without Sacred Fire or Brave Bird is a sitting duck; it’s not too much of a problem after you’ve gotten rid of one of these moves.
Darkrai: Even with ScarfXern Darkrai’s still a problem. Outside of ScarfXern there’s no good way to deal with this monster, just play smart and hope that your opponent doesn’t.
Klefki:Forfeit. In all seriousness, your best bet against Klefki is Arceus-Ground, but even that’s not too good. Short of Diancie or Sableye-Mega Klefki or a double regenerator core Klefki can’t be stopped easily. Play smart, and hope your opponent doesn’t.
Rayquaza-Mega: In particular, the Band and Specs sets are hard to deal with. The best way to deal with this is status, if you can see them coming in, or manoeuvre Xerneas in safely.
Stealth Rock: Arceus-Steel isn’t able to use Defog consistently, and as such Stealth Rock is a persistent issue. Essentially, try not to use Yveltal/Rayquaza-Mega too much while it’s up and, at the earliest convenience, Defog.
I can’t think of anything else right now, but if you see something wrong with it please say so, the entire point of posting the team here is to make it better.
Darkrai: Even with ScarfXern Darkrai’s still a problem. Outside of ScarfXern there’s no good way to deal with this monster, just play smart and hope that your opponent doesn’t.
Klefki:
Rayquaza-Mega: In particular, the Band and Specs sets are hard to deal with. The best way to deal with this is status, if you can see them coming in, or manoeuvre Xerneas in safely.
Stealth Rock: Arceus-Steel isn’t able to use Defog consistently, and as such Stealth Rock is a persistent issue. Essentially, try not to use Yveltal/Rayquaza-Mega too much while it’s up and, at the earliest convenience, Defog.
I can’t think of anything else right now, but if you see something wrong with it please say so, the entire point of posting the team here is to make it better.
Replays
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-406111445 - Me vs Tic-Tac-Toe Guru, good example of how the dual Arceus defensive backbone can grind a team down.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-406227306 - Me vs siddhu116, good example of how, even when haxed, the team can pull through. Or it could just be an example of why Substitute should be a staple on all Darkrai. You decide.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-407777766 - Me vs brtx, just a general insight into how the team works. It was a close game, probably due to a mixture of bad plays on my part and luck, but my team came through in the end.
I don’t have too many of these atm, I’ll try to post some more later.
Well, that’s it! Please leave behind your thoughts on the team, particularly flaws in the team, this sort of feedback helps a lot.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-406227306 - Me vs siddhu116, good example of how, even when haxed, the team can pull through. Or it could just be an example of why Substitute should be a staple on all Darkrai. You decide.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/anythinggoes-407777766 - Me vs brtx, just a general insight into how the team works. It was a close game, probably due to a mixture of bad plays on my part and luck, but my team came through in the end.
I don’t have too many of these atm, I’ll try to post some more later.
Well, that’s it! Please leave behind your thoughts on the team, particularly flaws in the team, this sort of feedback helps a lot.
