The one and only buck
Banned deucer.
Table of content
1. Introduction
2. Teambuilding Process
3. Team in details
4. Replays and Importables
1.Introduction
Greetings, ndag lovers. Gen9 has been a lot of fun ag/ndag wise. While ss was simply boring and the previous ndag felt outdated, this gen gave a new-but-amusing spin on competitive Pokémon, let it it be it’s new mons/abilities and the brand new mechanics. Immediately after the release on PS!, I played an peaked SV AG:
I intended to rmt the team I used but days after my peak, the team just felt really inconsistent and tended to struggle more vs the used-mons. I decided to temporarily abandon sv ag and let it settle before retrying to build a consistent team in it. I then naturally turnt towards NDAG.
2. Teambuilding Process
I built loads of teams in the tier, all of them being bad if not this one. It was a long process so I decided to just display how I built this.
I’d been thinking a lot of what I could run for a good run. I tried to build, ho, stall, semi stall and failed each time and I’ve never really being a balance enjoyer since July. Neither did I think balance would do well judging by the meta’s diversity. I thought about the play styles and approaches I used and why they failed. Stall simply just couldn’t do the job. It got some new cool mons like dondozo and Garganacl but the recovery nerf + Tera made it too inconsistent. Semi stall (bandmray semistall) tensed to suffer from the same troubles. I then reflected upon ho. It had being inconsistent for me because suicide leads tended to be less effective vs bulky teams with defog or other playstyles used atm. Hazards are extremely important for every team. Not possessing/maintaining them can be very disadvantageous for one since the chip helps to make more progress; let it be to wear down or break through opposing mons. Suicide leads just weren’t consistent enough to set those well enough. And being relatively weak mons, you would most likely turn out to be playing 5v6. I was thinking about ways I could make a solid ho. Last Wednesday, I finished my day at a remarkably early time so I spent most of it thinking about it with all this free time at hand. I was then hit by an idea. It was hard to picture it so I just opened teambuilder and followed the flow.
Scarfed koraidon is a mon I include in most if not all of the HOs I built. Benefiting from an amazing ability and relatively good coverage + STAB, koraidon uses the additional speed to ohko/2hko most of the offensive metagame and can still win vs mons that would normally outspeed it at +1 speed like UNecro or Mray.
Then I wanted a mon able to hit fast and strong on the special. I thought about calyrex but miraidon seemed better since the chances of reverse sweeping are lower. It also benefited from the electric terrain + taunt + a pivoting move. The terrain + taunt helps beat most (if not all) suicide leads used atm. It also enables to miraidon to do insane holes in bulky teams as it can do a lot of damage with it STABs and prevent recovery.
I then decided to add a hazard setter. I needed a consistent one. One capable of doing other things and preferably a bulky one. I settled upon spdef Pdon with dtail, toxic and eq. Not only was it able to take rocks but it was able to phaze against those who would try to set up vs it like taunt caly, mray, unecro or ekiller. It’s typing + bull also makes it able to tank a few hits. Toxic puts most of the mons that might threaten the team like ekiller or Arceus ground on timer.
Double ekiller is also something I tend to use quite a lot when building ho and for good reasons. It provides an amazing revenge killer and potential late game sweeper. And also help improve mu vs the annoying assist spam teams as it minimizes the chances of espeed pps getting stalled out before the liepards drop. I added a fast one and a bulky one.
At that point I had ran out of inspiration and I frankly didn’t know what could effectively fit in. I didn’t want to test it out with loads of games so I started brainstorming about the ideal mon that would fit in. I listened to a bit of music to clear my mind then started reflecting upon the matter. I thought my offense power was enough to break thru cores so I wanted something giving a defensive backbone but still capable of doing a lot of damages. Shedninja teams too might just win the late game if I was simply unable to hit super effectively. I then decided to add Lefties Ndm (:sv-necrozma-dusk-mane:) to the team, with sd + msun. It provided the defensive backbone I mentioned before + that offensive potential and the fact that it eased shed mus. At this point I was already convinced I’d found the mons I needed. All that was left to do was obtain the optimum Tera types and sets.
3. Team in details
Koraidon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Low Kick
- Flare Blitz
- Outrage
This thing is amazing speed control. The u turn is for useful pivoting, allowing it also to play more safely or take advantage of switches. Low kick over close combat because drops are detrimental and most of the ubers mon are heavy anyw. Thank god there’s isn’t the dumb dynamax. Tera fire gives it a good damage output with sun boosted fblitz tho it generally doesn’t rely on it.
Miraidon @ Life Orb
Ability: Hadron Engine
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Volt Switch
- Electro Drift
- Draco Meteor
This kinda acts like an anti suicide lead. Denies hazard most of the time. Also does a lot of damage with its ability + stabs. Taunt helps vs what I mentioned earlier. Vswitch is very good as it helps to pivot vs non ground mons that might try to indimidate it with 5050s and taking advantages of switch is always a bonus. Electro drift is mandatory ofc. Draco meteor is for the power it provides vs naturally bulky mons like arc ground compared to dpulse. Tera ghost is to not fear revenge killing from ekiller who would heavily threaten it with +2 or if at range. I had steel at first but it just wasn’t doing anything note worthy so I switched it.
Groudon-Primal @ Red Orb
Ability: Desolate Land
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Careful Nature
- Toxic
- Dragon Tail
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
One of the most consistent hazard setter in the meta. Dtail is to phaze stuffs that would generally try to setup vs it. Toxic helps to chip a lot of mons like support arc form. I had the awful precipice blades but removed it for eq. The additional power was nice but the importance of their move is too high to be screwed by 15% odds (which shall still tend to happen a lot in a long run). If you find yourself missing that you might be in a lot of problems. Eq provides a more consistent but solid stab. The 44 speed evs is to outspeed 0 speed zyg to toxic it as sets like glare + sub can really be a bummer. It also helps vs other defensive pdons who tend not to run speed so u wouldn’t have to rely on speed ties. The flying Tera is to have a better mu vs it arc ground, tr machamps and other pdons if needed.
Arceus @ Life Orb
Ability: Multitype
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
The indispensable ekiller. He provides the team with noteworthy revenge killing with its primary stab and fair speed. Eq and ibeam was chosen as coverage to hit pdon and untera zyg. It also comes in handy vs tera ground shed (most annoying and best Tera shed of all). The normal Tera is for the raw power boosted STAB espeed provides. I use to have defog over ibeam but I realized removing hazards wasn’t that useful to the team.
Arceus @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multitype
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Recover
- Shadow Claw
My favourite ekiller set. This is your best shot vs assist spam too. Sd + espeed is always excellent. Recover gives it longetivity and sclaw is to hit caly, ndm, Tera ghost arc and many more. Lum berry eases set up vs stuffs that would try to status it, which might allow it to kill it after a boost. The spread was made to outspeed max speed ndm and it negates speed ties vs zero speed arc forms so always a bonus. Tera ghost is for opposing ekiller and ditto. Be aware that the meta is much more prepared to it now so it involves a few mind games to use it well.
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Leftovers
Ability: Prism Armor
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Morning Sun
- Earthquake
- Sunsteel Strike
The team’s last member. Spdef Ndm is a very valuable mon atm. Not only does it completely walls xern, it’s also a soft switch-in into miraidon’s dragon moves. Can pressure arc forms even if they possess wisp with sd. And obviously, sunsteel strike always appreciated to deal with shed in late game. Tera fairy is good defensively. I’m leaning towards dark tho atm as being weaker than other ndms can be detrimental. Haven’t tested it so I can’t tell for sure.
4. Replays and Importable
NB: Some replays might have defog arc or pb don. Or diff evs on lum arc and pdon.
Vs default0
Vs assist spam
Vs AIsang
Vs ArceusMaliciousJR
Again
Again
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-1739360945-s33txcv7g20wc5p5kedv6l8fsmz60qdpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-1738618601-sd710m9px3nzx872ieza248zmfaoxk2pw
Vs ttv-error-yt
Vs nobodi nowan
Vs slidogg
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-1736273110-jat3ia85bnwkera8z0txf2einn4w19zpw
Vs rowletroost
Vs assist spam again
Vs Lunarai
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-1737193431-7kyzhs8gtjwa02uon8lhl2tqbt8lojapw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexag-1737207288-fs3raeizgunfuxt1en62leh8m8i6qoupw
Importable: https://pokepast.es/a5d2df742943a4a1
What a fun gen. Hopefully they won’t know how to implement dynamax. I’ll update the peak when I obtain higher elo and a better gxe. And now I’m off, back to sv. Cya until then.
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