Introduction
Over my time playing in ag I have been well known as a player who never uses balance and the times I did use balance usually ended up going terribly wrong, but over the past couple months I have been practicing using balance and Skarph telling me has has no respect for the teams I use gave me the push I needed to build and then use a balance team on ladder. Over time I grew to love this team and I actually found success with it, getting the highest elo I have ever achieved.
Song because everyone does it lmao
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
Sub disable Gengar was the mon this entire team was built around, Sub disable perish Gengar is very good at beating mono attacking sets such as support Arceus, cm refresh calm mind arceus, and even mons such as defenive Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, It also provides a check to the very common ultra necrozma with shadow ball being able to ohko it from full. Using this is quite simple too, against mono attacking sets you just sub, if they break your sub you disable, and then you perish song. Your opponent can't switch so they are just forced to wait 3 turns for their pokemon to die.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Dragon Pulse
Calm mind ultra necrozma was the second mon I put on this team, I saw zayele run this along side sub perish disable gengar on her team so I thought I would be a good idea to do the same on my team. Unlike swords dance ultra necrozma calm mind is able to set up on will-o-wisp arceus and is able to to survive a gengar shadow ball after a calm mind. This mon is very valuable to the team for its ability to beat bulkier teams and fire off powerful light that burns they skies. Heat wave is run to hit the various steel types of the tier such as ferrothorn, celesteela, and necrozma-dusk-mane. and dragon pulse is a very powerful move that deals a surprising amount of damage to the dark types that normally check sd ultra. overall this mon was great addition to the team.
Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
I decided to run arceus fairy because I needed a defogger and a marsh check as well as a way to beat mega rayquaza and fairyceus checked all 3 of those boxes. Arceus fairy is a very solid defensive mon in anything goes, its ability to defenively check a ton of the metagame makes it invaluable to the team. I chose to run pretty much the standard defensive arceus set with judgement hitting plenty of the metagame very hard even without special attack investment just because of how good of an offenive type fairy is in ag made it a very good pick. This mon also paired very well with mega gengar giving me a mon to switch in to from gengar because it beats most of Gengar's checks such as yveltal and marshadow.
Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh
Calm mind arceus dark is amazing in its ability to set up against a large portion of the meta game and the fact that it is very difficult to stop one a sweep has been set up. This mon also provides an incredible necrozma check and a way to deal with teams that attempt to win by toxic stalling. This set is so hard to stop that it can every beat arceus fairy once it sets up a calm mind as long as the arc fairy doesn't have roar, calm mind, or perish song but most standard arc fairies don't have those. I have had so many great games where I lead arc dark and proceed to 6-0 because there is just nothing they can do about it. overall a very good mon and probably the mon i most rely on to sweep for this team
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
With plenty of ways to beat xern's most common checks on this team I thought it would be a great idea to run geoxern on this team. This mon is usually my late game sweeper that I use once the opposing team has been weakened enough for xern to be able to sweep. I chose to run a 252/252 spread on it because I wanted it to be able to beat the annoying scarf marshadow and also speed tie with life orb yveltal to get a chance to geomany up on it. focus blast is incredible at beating steel types that would otherwise beat it and psyshock deals 60-80% to arc poison which is one of the most common fairy checks in anything goes. I really love xerneas and I am really happy that I was able to make it fit on this team, tbh xerneas is probably my favorite ag mon now.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Roar
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
I put groudon on my team because it filled a bunch of the holes that my team had, Roar is a very good move on pdon, it allows it to check xerneas by living any attack xern can throw at it becuase of its special defenive investment and then roar it away. Roar also prevents pdon from being setup bait for mons such as mray by roaring them away after they try to set up. But the main reason I chose to use pdon was as a stealth rocks setter. Precipice blades and overheat are nice as stab moves on both the special and physical side. I chose to run 0 speed ivs and a speed negative nature to underspeed the other base 90 speed defoggers giratina and ho-oh so I can get my rocks up in calm mind defog wars
Conclusion
Over the past week I have grown to love building and using balance and I hope that I can continue to expand the playstyles that I use and grow even more as a player
Shoutout
Zayele- For being the inspiration for this team as well helping me improve my balance skills and being a good friend
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1001323876 vs wsun1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1001065364 vs chippytreatz
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000619913-uvyicqkzuf1b9wyekcv6s19cgctk41rpw vs Icemaster
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000940138-ushhxc3sdqz3orvjlrmkzbv1ka7eegqpw vs polt
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000819466-t217ud8uok0cdnwnxxp54pnn19wxyd9pw vs edgar
Importable
https://pokepast.es/ddc359042b634d7a
Over my time playing in ag I have been well known as a player who never uses balance and the times I did use balance usually ended up going terribly wrong, but over the past couple months I have been practicing using balance and Skarph telling me has has no respect for the teams I use gave me the push I needed to build and then use a balance team on ladder. Over time I grew to love this team and I actually found success with it, getting the highest elo I have ever achieved.
Song because everyone does it lmao
Gengar-Mega @ Gengarite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
Sub disable Gengar was the mon this entire team was built around, Sub disable perish Gengar is very good at beating mono attacking sets such as support Arceus, cm refresh calm mind arceus, and even mons such as defenive Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, It also provides a check to the very common ultra necrozma with shadow ball being able to ohko it from full. Using this is quite simple too, against mono attacking sets you just sub, if they break your sub you disable, and then you perish song. Your opponent can't switch so they are just forced to wait 3 turns for their pokemon to die.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Ultranecrozium Z
Ability: Prism Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Photon Geyser
- Heat Wave
- Dragon Pulse
Calm mind ultra necrozma was the second mon I put on this team, I saw zayele run this along side sub perish disable gengar on her team so I thought I would be a good idea to do the same on my team. Unlike swords dance ultra necrozma calm mind is able to set up on will-o-wisp arceus and is able to to survive a gengar shadow ball after a calm mind. This mon is very valuable to the team for its ability to beat bulkier teams and fire off powerful light that burns they skies. Heat wave is run to hit the various steel types of the tier such as ferrothorn, celesteela, and necrozma-dusk-mane. and dragon pulse is a very powerful move that deals a surprising amount of damage to the dark types that normally check sd ultra. overall this mon was great addition to the team.
Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Defog
- Toxic
I decided to run arceus fairy because I needed a defogger and a marsh check as well as a way to beat mega rayquaza and fairyceus checked all 3 of those boxes. Arceus fairy is a very solid defensive mon in anything goes, its ability to defenively check a ton of the metagame makes it invaluable to the team. I chose to run pretty much the standard defensive arceus set with judgement hitting plenty of the metagame very hard even without special attack investment just because of how good of an offenive type fairy is in ag made it a very good pick. This mon also paired very well with mega gengar giving me a mon to switch in to from gengar because it beats most of Gengar's checks such as yveltal and marshadow.
Arceus-Dark @ Dread Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Recover
- Refresh
Calm mind arceus dark is amazing in its ability to set up against a large portion of the meta game and the fact that it is very difficult to stop one a sweep has been set up. This mon also provides an incredible necrozma check and a way to deal with teams that attempt to win by toxic stalling. This set is so hard to stop that it can every beat arceus fairy once it sets up a calm mind as long as the arc fairy doesn't have roar, calm mind, or perish song but most standard arc fairies don't have those. I have had so many great games where I lead arc dark and proceed to 6-0 because there is just nothing they can do about it. overall a very good mon and probably the mon i most rely on to sweep for this team
Xerneas @ Power Herb
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Geomancy
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock
With plenty of ways to beat xern's most common checks on this team I thought it would be a great idea to run geoxern on this team. This mon is usually my late game sweeper that I use once the opposing team has been weakened enough for xern to be able to sweep. I chose to run a 252/252 spread on it because I wanted it to be able to beat the annoying scarf marshadow and also speed tie with life orb yveltal to get a chance to geomany up on it. focus blast is incredible at beating steel types that would otherwise beat it and psyshock deals 60-80% to arc poison which is one of the most common fairy checks in anything goes. I really love xerneas and I am really happy that I was able to make it fit on this team, tbh xerneas is probably my favorite ag mon now.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Roar
- Precipice Blades
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
I put groudon on my team because it filled a bunch of the holes that my team had, Roar is a very good move on pdon, it allows it to check xerneas by living any attack xern can throw at it becuase of its special defenive investment and then roar it away. Roar also prevents pdon from being setup bait for mons such as mray by roaring them away after they try to set up. But the main reason I chose to use pdon was as a stealth rocks setter. Precipice blades and overheat are nice as stab moves on both the special and physical side. I chose to run 0 speed ivs and a speed negative nature to underspeed the other base 90 speed defoggers giratina and ho-oh so I can get my rocks up in calm mind defog wars
Conclusion
Over the past week I have grown to love building and using balance and I hope that I can continue to expand the playstyles that I use and grow even more as a player
Shoutout
Zayele- For being the inspiration for this team as well helping me improve my balance skills and being a good friend
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1001323876 vs wsun1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1001065364 vs chippytreatz
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000619913-uvyicqkzuf1b9wyekcv6s19cgctk41rpw vs Icemaster
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000940138-ushhxc3sdqz3orvjlrmkzbv1ka7eegqpw vs polt
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-1000819466-t217ud8uok0cdnwnxxp54pnn19wxyd9pw vs edgar
Importable
https://pokepast.es/ddc359042b634d7a