This was the final team I used to make the first 90 GXE on the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons metagame.
Alola! I'm 3000 posts in and this is my 10th year anniversary on Pokémon Showdown, so I thought I could celebrate by showcasing one of the teams I've accomplished something with as of late. I'm planning to make a series of RMTs to commemorate events or achievements I've gone through since Natural, with this being the first in this series. Hopefully the next RMT will come in a little under a month ;).
Back in September 2023 (coincidentally the last month I would reign as OM Leader), Gen 7 Pure Hackmons was chosen to hold as OM Leader's Choice of the Month ladder. Given my history with the format, being its first ever leader, primarily responsible for bringing Pure Hackmons and its community to where it is today, and playing the first ever Gen 7 Pure Hackmons ladder game, I was determined to put myself into the high ranks of this game and set records to prove my own experience. Throughout that month, I ended up topping the ladder's elo multiple times over and placing the most amount of alts on the high ladder. My GXE would also keep up with the metagame, as one of my alts ended up with the third highest GXE on the ladder. I would make a large post after September to showcase my experiences with the OM Leader's Choice ladder. Flash forward to January. Apparently people liked the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons metagame and felt Gen 6's ladder was getting stale. There were requests from the Pure Hackmons community for Gen 7 Pure Hackmons to be placed as a permament ladder, so I did what I could to request a permanent ladder to be set in replacement of Gen 6's. On January 19th 2024, the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons ladder made it through. I ended up being the first active player to top the permaladder when it arrived. Shortly after the ladder was placed, I looked at it and realized one critical thing. Despite all the elo peaks I've made in the metagame, I've never once made the highest GXE. I knew with my best records that I would be able to make GXE peak I tried, but now I wanted to do it to stack upon everything else I've done for Gen 7 Pure Hackmons. I made an attempt with the team I made it furthest with on the OM Leader's Choice ladder, named Thanos World. I ended up being one match away from making the GXE peak, but lost due to slight choking and a speed tie loss I would've still won the game without despite the choke. I went another go at it and was nearly at GXE peak again until I ran into a bad matchup and lost. From there, I lost more games, tilting to a GXE way lower than what I started with. With that, I decided to ignore my ambition for the time being. About 3 weeks later, it started eating me up bad. The GXE peak has risen from 87.8 to 89.4. I knew the longer I waited, the less realistic it would be to achieve having the highest GXE. I went at it again with full determination this time. My attempt ended up with me getting two separate accounts to 88.8 GXE, one using a team I designed around Dual Zygarde and the other solely using Cats and Rabbits. 88.8 was still only around the third highest GXE on the ladder, but I ended up tilting below 87 on both accounts. I wasn't giving up. I needed to stay determined. In order to keep myself chill, I built a Pikachu team to use for fun, which somehow also ended up with 88 GXE, but this was after my peak was accomplished. I just realized this was reminiscent of when I built a separate Pikachu team to keep myself chill 9 years ago after the most brutal experience I've ever had laddering. What a coincidence.
By the next day, I went all out again, rotating across teams to find what worked best for the state of the ladder at the time. I was ready to do whatever it takes to be taken to the top. Adrenaline was flowing through my veins for my desire to break the chains. My efforts resulted in having two accounts back up at 87 GXE simultaneously. I had Key Sketcher, which was one of the formerly 88.8 GXE accounts, and then I had an account named Ultra Hackmons, which I made 17-0 with back on the OM Leader's Choice ladder without touching again until this day.
It was late in the day by the time I brought 2 accounts back up to 87, so instead of continuing to play, I thought into what else I could consider to push me to GXE peak the next day. Within not many traces of thought, I had it. I ended up feeling silly. I went through all these intensive attempts to make the highest GXE in the metagame without once thinking to consider using the metagame's best Pokémon. I thought the Dual Zygarde team from earlier was going real well until I lost to a great player's Pixilate Evoboost Mega Diancie. I knew I needed to replace one of the Zygarde with another Pokémon afterwards, but I was also focused on running mostly different teams, including Cats and Rabbits, alongside some niche variations of the same team. I ended up focusing directly on that Dual Zygarde team, modifying it to replace Misty Surge Zygarde, and replacing two held items on the team with Safety Goggles to mitigate the effects of Misty Surge's loss. I intended for this to be the final team to push myself to GXE peak, knowing it could at this point and even knowing it sacrificed the use Mega Audino, who is the best Wonder Guard in this metagame, and my favorite Pokémon of all time. This was for a good cause and I'll get to it in the Teambuilding Process and Team Description.
By the next day, I went all out again, rotating across teams to find what worked best for the state of the ladder at the time. I was ready to do whatever it takes to be taken to the top. Adrenaline was flowing through my veins for my desire to break the chains. My efforts resulted in having two accounts back up at 87 GXE simultaneously. I had Key Sketcher, which was one of the formerly 88.8 GXE accounts, and then I had an account named Ultra Hackmons, which I made 17-0 with back on the OM Leader's Choice ladder without touching again until this day.
It was late in the day by the time I brought 2 accounts back up to 87, so instead of continuing to play, I thought into what else I could consider to push me to GXE peak the next day. Within not many traces of thought, I had it. I ended up feeling silly. I went through all these intensive attempts to make the highest GXE in the metagame without once thinking to consider using the metagame's best Pokémon. I thought the Dual Zygarde team from earlier was going real well until I lost to a great player's Pixilate Evoboost Mega Diancie. I knew I needed to replace one of the Zygarde with another Pokémon afterwards, but I was also focused on running mostly different teams, including Cats and Rabbits, alongside some niche variations of the same team. I ended up focusing directly on that Dual Zygarde team, modifying it to replace Misty Surge Zygarde, and replacing two held items on the team with Safety Goggles to mitigate the effects of Misty Surge's loss. I intended for this to be the final team to push myself to GXE peak, knowing it could at this point and even knowing it sacrificed the use Mega Audino, who is the best Wonder Guard in this metagame, and my favorite Pokémon of all time. This was for a good cause and I'll get to it in the Teambuilding Process and Team Description.
What better choice to break the ladder with than the Pokémon best at breaking? I wanted a dedicated nuke on the team to ensure progress was being made. Enter Mega Mewtwo X. The Pokémon who gives Ultra Instinct Goku a run for his money and can probably shatter entire universes in one move. Almost everything in the game has great difficulty walling it.
An immense trend went on for ladder at the time where people would spam 5 Primal Groudon then 1 Grass-type in attempt to soak up Water-type moves. After lots of frustration against this trend, I opted to run Water Bubble Ash Greninja to easily clear every Primal Groudon spam used. Games were a lot more guesswork otherwise. Ash Greninja also served as a useful switch-in to Mega Mewtwo X or Imposter Chansey transformed into Mega Mewtwo X, as it can block STAB Photon Geyser, outspeed, then KO back with Choice Specs Oceanic Operetta or force them out into a tank who still gets OHKOed.
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The initial team had Misty Surge Zygarde-Complete as an extra support unit but after a while I lost to Extreme Evoboost Pixilate Mega Diancie. It didn't seem like I could keep using an extra Zygarde-Complete when Mega Diancie were starting to become more common, so I held off on using my old team. I then retconned the team to have Chansey instead. Chansey is the best Pokémon in the metagame as it's incredible at scouting for anything and harshly punishing sweepers. I decided to make this one Scarf Imposter to act as an extra failsafe against sweepers.
I was really doing whatever it takes. Mega Audino would usually be my defensive Wonder Guard pick here but I kept struggling to deal with opposing Mega Audino on ladder. I've opted for Oranguru so I could try to take advantage of Mega Audino's higher presence and have Dawn Wings Necrozma run Sludge Wave against them, while still being able to imposterproof Dawn Wings Necrozma. Oranguru is otherwise just there to act as any defensive Wonder Guard and slow pivoter.
This trusty friend of mine is an obscure Wonder Guard I've used and succeeded with a ton throughout ladder prior to this team; far more than any other great player in fact. This is a special sweeper who I argue could be more capable of threatening the metagame than any other special sweeper and sweep better than arguably any other Wonder Guard in the metagame; all due to the sheer range what Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword could harshly hit, having more opportunities to run unique coverage against possible walls, it packing a Lunalium Z, and it having not as many opportunities to be hit very hard. Dawn Wings was ultimately useful for giving a great chunk of this metagame a difficult time while being easy to Imposterproof without sacrificing a better item for a plate. Almost everyone else fears using using Dawn Wings Necrozma due to its x4 weaknesses, but Dawn Wings isn't any more threatened in this metagame than other offensive Wonder Guards. This is reminiscent of The Royal Army, as once again I gave my trust to this Pokémon when no one else did and made 90 GXE with it.
Adding Zygarde-Complete was a no-brainer if I wanted to make the highest GXE in the metagame. Countless battles made me determine this Pokémon was mandatory if I wanted to be highly consistent at the time. Zygarde-Complete was the backbone of the team, dealing with an extraordinary amount of offensive threats on its own and being the primary halt to the endless stream of set-up sweepers the ladder has.
Team Description
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Light That Burns the Sky
- Photon Geyser
- Sunsteel Strike
- Shadow Sneak
Mega Mewtwo X only has one job, break. It was given everything it could to do its job effectively. It has Huge Power to double its raw attack, Choice Band to rack up even more damage, and Adamant nature to maximize its damage output while not sacrificing any important stat it is using. It's carrying maximum EVs for each stat because it's optimal and harmless. Pokémon below Mega Mewtwo X will have similar EV spreads for the same reason unless stated otherwise. Mega Mewtwo X likes either hardswitching in front of vulnerable walls or being pivoted into by a defensive support Pokémon. From there, it carries huge momentum, as there's hardly anything switching into it let alone taking it well. If this Mega Mewtwo X isn't against Doublade, Mega Steelix, Mega Slowbro, Mega Aggron, Mega Metagross, Solgaleo, or Dusk Mane it's probably fine. Outside that its biggest weakness are Imposter Chansey, who I use Ash Greninja in attempt to cover for, and Shadow Tag attackers who could take advantage of Mega Mewtwo X getting locked into a move in order to revenge kill.
Move Descriptions
Light That Burns The Sky: A one-time nuke that OHKOs even the likes of Zygarde-Complete and opposing Wonder Guard Oranguru or Meloetta. Can also be used to finish off plenty of defensive threats such as Mega Slowbro when they've been chipped but cannot recover in time. Having a one-time nuke is huge for this Mega Mewtwo X, especially since it's able to one-shot the best tank of the metagame, Zygarde-Complete.
Photon Geyser: This is Mega Mewtwo X's go-to STAB attack. With Choice Band, even Zygarde-Complete suffers trying to switch into it and most other Pokémon in the game can't even survive. Light That Burns The Sky should be used against the absolute tanks who could survive a hit, such as Doublade, Mega Steelix, Zygarde-Complete, Imposter Chansey, and maybe even Celesteela, but Photon Geyser should be the default move you're using unless you're trying to make predictions or revenge kill.
Sunsteel Strike: This move lets Mega Mewtwo X deal with the widest range of possible Dark-type switch-ins, such as Mega Gyarados, Ash Greninja, Alolan Muk, Yveltal, and Mega Sableye. With Choice Band, only Mega Gyarados can switch into one of these Sunsteel Strikes and that's just if its nature benefits Defense. The vast majority of Mega Gyarados are Adamant Nature. Most other Gyarados run either natures benefitting Speed or other natures benefitting Attack, leading for natures benefiting Defense to be rare.
Shadow Sneak: This priority move was given to make revenge-killing Deoxys-Speed much easier, as Choice Band makes the difference of Mega Mewtwo X being able to OHKO Deoxys-Speed with this move. Deoxys-Speed can otherwise be annoying with Comatose + Whirlwind or even the No Guard set if spammed. This all ups this team's chances of losing to Deoxys-Speed without Mega Mewtwo X having Shadow Sneak. Shadow Sneak could also help Mega Mewtwo X take on both opposing Mega Mewtwos in a 1v1 if they're chipped decently beforehand, serve as useful against Deoxys-Attack trying to sweep, and revenge-kill most low HP threats in general.
Greninja-Ash (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Oceanic Operetta
- Water Shuriken
- Sunsteel Strike
- Icicle Spear
Ash Greninja is incredible. The main goal with this Pokémon was to make dealing with Primal Groudon spam a breeze, since those teams otherwise make handling them a lot more guesswork than anything. It needed Water Bubble to efficiently KO Primal Groudon with Water Shuriken. Choice Specs was given to provide extra damage, enabling Oceanic Operetta to fully OHKO opposing Zygarde-Complete, opposing Mega Mewtwo X and many Imposter users when transformed into Mega Mewtwo X. Particularly Pikachu, Blissey, and non-Eviolite Chansey. It can also threaten Eviolite if enough chip damage is made. Naive Nature was given for Ash Greninja to take advantage of plays around Mega Mewtwo X while still utilizing both offense stats. It allows switches into Mega Mewtwo X when Photon Geyser is predicted, then either OHKOs Mega Mewtwo X or force Mega Mewtwo X out into a tank that often gets OHKOed. Wonder Guard switching in was a rare play against Ash Greninja, but if there's ever a time where I could predict that, I'd either a hardswap into Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X or a hardswap into Zygarde-Complete, depending on if the Wonder Guard has a set-up move or not. This Pokémon requires more skill than most others to pull off effectively.
Move Descriptions
Oceanic Operetta: One-time nuke that OHKOs most Pokémon. Ash Greninja having this move makes it really difficult for opponents to switch into, as they may either just lose their most valuable non-Wonder Guard wall to Oceanic Operetta or leave me room to build momentum by hardswapping into Mega Mewtwo X in front of their defensive Wonder Guards.
Water Shuriken: This move is primarily there to obliterate any Primal Groudon spam but is also quite great for inflicting chip damage and breaking sashes. Thanks to having Choice Specs Water Bubble, it may even revenge-kill Shell Smash sweepers such as Mega Mewtwo Y, Mega Gengar, Kartana, and Deoxys-Attack if they aren't Wonder Guard and if Ash Greninja can hit enough times. This move also decently revenge-kills offensive threats if their HP range is chipped a good 50% or so, depending on the amount Water Shuriken hits.
Sunsteel Strike: A moldy move useful for dealing any sort of chip damage against Wonder Guards without anything fully blocking it. This move can especially be useful for popping Alolan Muk's Air Balloon for Zygarde-Complete, chipping Alolan Muk to x2 Lunalium Z KO range, and chipping Mega Audino to x2 Sludge Wave range from Dawn Wings Necrozma. It also clears any Wonder Guard that fails to recover.
Icicle Spear: This move is mainly present to hit Mega Sceptile, who would be the best support Pokémon for Primal Groudon spam by soaking up Water-type attacks. It could also help against the occasional Mega Rayquaza.
Chansey (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Healing Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Whirlwind
- Metal Burst
Chansey's job is to transform into targets in front of it in order to scout, sneak in surprise knockouts, or sweep. It's been given a Choice Scarf to fully outspeed the opponent but was made a Chansey over Blissey to bluff Eviolite. If Chansey is ran, most players always expect it to be Eviolite, affecting how they play against it in comparison to Blissey. Players of all sorts, even great ones, are willing to make riskier plays in hopes to win the imaginary speed tie against Scarf Imposter Chansey without realizing there was no speed tie ahead of time. Chansey otherwise has just 10 less raw HP than Blissey, so running Choice Scarf Chansey over Blissey virtually never has negative impact. Because Chansey is transformed almost every time, the raw stats and moves given almost never matter, but they could be useful for the rare occasion of when you're trying to stop an opponent behind Substitute.
Move Descriptions
Healing Wish: In case the team is in desperate need of someone getting recovered, Healing Wish can take advantage of the opponent setting up behind Substitute by sacrificing itself to recover others. Zygarde-Complete could especially love the extra push sometimes but I never had the opportunity to use this move anyway since Chansey is almost always transformed.
Soft-Boiled: In case Chansey's running low on its own HP, it can also recover its HP by 50% of the total per use while its opponent is behind a Substitute.
Whirlwind: This move usually phazes out opponents behind Substitute, removing the Substitute and allowing Chansey to transform on its next switch-in.
Metal Burst: Sometimes the reason Chansey can't transform could be Illusion. Metal Burst harshly punishes damage done to Chansey as Chansey has 704 HP maximum. Some targets can even be OHKOed with as little as 30% damage done to Chansey. Other targets could simply have their Substitute broken, allowing you to make switch-ins and revenge kill them more easily.
Oranguru @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Strength Sap
- U-turn
Oranguru is designed to provide support for the team and wall most special sweepers. It can pull off this job quite well since many special sweepers on ladder don't carry a Dark-type or Bug-type move. This Pokémon was specifically chosen to help Dawn Wings Necrozma handle Mega Audino while still having an imposterproof who could slow-pivot. Oranguru was given Wonder Guard to block No Guard OHKO move strategies and wall most attacks. Safety Goggles was given to block Spore from random Pokémon and otherwise attackers; 0 EVs and IVs were given to Oranguru's speed to help it pivot as slowly as possible, making the most out of momentum building; 248 HP EVs were given to have Oranguru take less passive chip damage than 252 HP EVs, and 0 Attack IVs were given to minimize damage output against Innards Out Chansey when U-Turn is used. Bold Nature lets Oranguru make the most out of raw Defense in order to wall one move from physical attackers such as Kartana or Mega Mewtwo X, while still minimizing damage output against Innards Out Chansey. I've given Oranguru both Defog and Stealth Rock as the team doesn't have room to fit either of those anywhere else.
Move Descriptions
Defog: Clears hazards for the team, preventing teammates from taking unnecessary chip damage from Stealth Rock and Spikes or getting poisoned from Toxic Spikes.
Stealth Rock: Sets rocks up for the team, chipping the opponent's team and deactivating their Focus Sash each time they switch into a non-Magic Guard Pokémon. Mega Mewtwo X and Dawn Wings Necrozma love this especially since the latter could need the extra support in order to consistently KO bulkier Pokémon every now and again.
Strength Sap: A rather risky recovery move with high reward when used right. It allows Oranguru to lower the Attack of its foes, then raise its HP back by however much Attack the opponent's Pokémon had after Oranguru takes a powerful hit. Oranguru regularly has to deal with Pokémon carrying higher Attack than its HP so this move really comes in handy. Just be careful with Magic Bounce.
U-Turn: Allows Oranguru to pivot into a teammate, usually Mega Mewtwo X, Ash Greninja, or Dawn Wings Necrozma, to build momentum. It can also be used to chip Innards Out Pokémon to lower HP and it can be useful against Imposter Chansey as well.
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings @ Lunalium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moongeist Beam
- Sludge Wave
- Shell Smash
- Secret Sword
Dawn Wings Necrozma serves as the second Wonder Guard needed to manage No Guard OHKO move sweepers on this team. I chose it because this Pokémon can actively punish opposing Pokémon it forces out by setting up and doing significant damage back. It can even serve as a decent Mega Mewtwo X check this way. This beast has always been criminally underrated as hardly anyone wants to use it, but I've used it for many hundreds of games on the ladder and it has failed me less than any other Wonder Guard sweeper. Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword clears a bigger blanket of opposing threats than any other combination of mold breaker move, leaving not as many Pokémon capable of handling it as sweepers using the other two mold breaker moves. Most of the best walls in the game such as Mega Steelix, Doublade, and Mega Slowbro are much better at handling Sunsteel Strike and Photon Geyser, whereas Moongeist Beam tears through those same Pokémon. Add Lunalium Z on top of this and Dawn Wings Necrozma becomes the single most difficult Wonder Guard sweeper to wall in the metagame, as defensive checks like Zygarde-Complete and Alolan Muk can get KOed when the Z-Move is timed right. The combination of Moongeist Beam, Secret Sword and Lunalium Z allow for Dawn Wings Necrozma to run a wider range of coverage moves in order to deal super effective damage against other switch-ins such as Mega Audino. This set was made to take advantage of Mega Audino's high popularity on ladder. I don't run Photon Geyser as there's noticeably more Pokémon who take neutral or resisted damage from Photon Geyser, leading to less KOs being made from Dawn Wings Necrozma overall and more coverage moveslots it wants in order to be as effective as Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword. Running super effective coverage along with Moongeist Beam is almost always better. Dawn Wings was given Modest Nature to maximize damage output, especially since it still outspeeds Deoxys-Speed after one Shell Smash; 248 HP EVs were given to minimize passive damage and Wonder Guard allows for Dawn Wings Necrozma to take in more moves. One of the main reasons people don't use Dawn Wings Necrozma is due to its x4 weakness to Dark and Ghost-type moves. However, these are its only two weaknesses and Dawn Wings Necrozma isn't particularly threatened any more than most other great Wonder Guards in this metagame. It can even take random Spectral Thiefs or Knock Offs from most Pokémon due to not being frail and Lunalium Z not giving Knock Off extra damage. Dawn Wings Necrozma mostly has to look over heavy-hitters with super effective coverage such as Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Rayquaza, and Mega Mewtwo Y, but that's a given for all Wonder Guards in this metagame. These Pokémon often don't even have a super effective move for Dawn Wings Necrozma.
Move Descriptions
Moongeist Beam: Flagship move for Dawn Wings Necrozma made for great STAB damage and for Lunalium Z to work. It deals lots of damage to the many Psychic-type and Ghost-type that dominate this metagame. It also hits every non Normal-type Pokémon and carries a chance of pushing past resistances after set-up with the use of Lunalium Z.
Sludge Wave: This move gives opposing Mega Audino a harder time and defeats it if they either don't carry Spectral Thief or are chipped by over 30% of their HP. You can play around Spectral Thief Mega Audino by using this move on the first predicted switch-in, then finishing them off when they come back with lower HP. A second Shell Smash also does the trick.
Shell Smash: Given to provide Dawn Wings Necrozma a boost in Special Attack and Speed in order to sweep. Because this is a metagame where Wonder Guards often have an all or nothing chance of getting hit and OHKOed, Dawn Wings Necrozma doesn't worry much about defense drops.
Secret Sword: The best coverage move for Dawn Wings Necrozma. It deals super effective damage against almost every Normal-type and Dark-type Pokémon who could switch into Moongeist Beam, while having 0 resistances or immunities outside Wonder Guard Mega Audino, Alolan Muk, Oranguru, Meloetta, and niche ones such as the possible Yveltal. This leaves Dawn Wings Necrozma the ability to run unique coverage to deal with most of the small range of options left that could switch into it, while still having one teammate who could Imposterproof it and another who could handle the Pokémon Dawn Wings Necrozma can't. They all sacrifice less moveslots in accomplishing this because of Dawn Wings Necrozma's Ghost and Fighting combo.
Zygarde-Complete @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish Nature
- Shore Up
- Haze
- Thousand Waves
- Reflect
Zygarde-Complete is the MVP of the team and the biggest contributor to my success in accomplishing the highest GXE in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons. Its job is to stop as many breakers and sweepers as possible, which it can successfully do with the combination of its sheer bulk and the moves it's been given. Just this sheer combination alone single-handedly invalidates an overwhelming majority of the metagame to the point where players are forced to run an Ice-type move, a special Fairy-type move, or time a Z-Move correctly if they want to even dream of overcoming Zygarde-Complete. I love this Pokémon so much. Prankster is mandatory for this set to work effectively, as Haze, Shore Up, and Reflect heavily depend on Zygarde-Complete's ability to move first. Safety Goggles is critical here as it prevents Zygarde-Complete from being put to sleep by most set-up sweepers. Impish Nature helps gives Zygarde-Complete the extra push it needs against opposing Mega Mewtwo X, Imposter transformed into Mega Mewtwo X, and other physical sweepers, and it's been given 248 HP EVs to minimize any amount of passive damage it could receive, especially since it may often have to step in on Toxic Spikes, Spikes, and Stealth Rock.
Move Descriptions:
Shore Up: This move recovers Zygarde-Complete's HP by 50% while being able to recover more in case someone has sand up for some reason. This ensures Zygarde-Complete lasts long in battle and maybe even outlasts everything.
Haze: This move is essential for clearing the plethora of set-up moves in this metagame, especially when it's up against Shell Smash and Extreme Evoboost. In other words, this move stops you from losing the game.
Thousand Waves: This move allows for Zygarde-Complete to 1v1 offensive threats such as Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Gengar, and non-Wonder Guard Kartana. It also traps Imposter users, forcing them to Struggle and lose the 1v1 against Zygarde-Complete. An easy solution to Imposter is so valuable for this team.
Reflect: This was a move I uniquely chose for Zygarde-Complete because it could use the extra Defense support against this metagame's most powerful physical threats. It catches opponents off guard especially if they're trapped by Thousand Waves, allowing Zygarde-Complete to outlast just about all the biggest nukes in the metagame if they don't run a x2 Attack Ice-type move. Zygarde-Complete can even eat up Light That Burns The Sky from non-banded Mega Mewtwo X by having Reflect. Zygarde-Complete can run Will-O-Wisp but I wanted a more consistent approach, as considering the Pokémon Zygarde-Complete has to wall, the 15% miss can be immensely detrimental. Players can easily lose games outright by missing their Will-O-Wisp. With Reflect, I can always have double the Defense whenever I need to even against mold breaker moves; all without sacrificing Prankster. This move can also help support offensive teammates like Dawn Wings Necrozma, Mega Mewtwo X, and Ash Greninja. It's an underrated move. Y'all should try it out. It had Zygarde-Complete doing Fortnite dances in front of many other Mega Mewtwo X, Kartana, and Mega Gyarados all morning the day I made 90 GXE. Even when Huge Power offense threats were using Shell Smash, Play Rough, Light That Burns The Sky, and Searing Sunraze Smash Zygarde-Complete was simply doing Fortnite dances in front of them, eating up every attack. If I made you visualize that in your head, GOOD, because I was doing the same the morning I made 90 GXE.
Checks and Counters
Ice Shard: Because Zygarde-Complete is the defensive backbone of this team, if opponents were able to easily KO Zygarde-Complete with Ice-type priority moves, the team was in trouble. This is especially if the Ice Shard users are either Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X or a Wonder Guard physical attacker that has set-up stat boosts already up.
Dark-type moves: Both Wonder Guards on this team are weak to Dark-type moves so if I'm facing any Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X with Dark-type coverage, a Power Trip user, or a Dark Pulse special attacker, this team is at a huge disadvantage.
Dual Moongeist Beam / Menacing Moonraze No Guard: These moves are very rare on No Guard Sheer Cold Pokémon but disallow Dawn Wings Necrozma from switching into them. If these Pokémon successfully manage to deal with Dawn Wings Necrozma, this team can likely revenge kill one of them, but not deal with the other, as both are likely carrying Focus Sash. This strategy is extremely rare but was used against me by an opponent who could've won if they didn't make the biggest chokes I've ever seen playing a ladder.
Imposter (on Mega Mewtwo X): Someone outplaying you when transformed into Imposter Mega Mewtwo X could give this team a harder time. This can still be mitigated by taking advantage of Ash Greninja's presence in team preview, using this to outplay the Imposter user in various ways, such as switching directly into Ash Greninja or switching into Zygarde-Complete, then back to Ash Greninja predicting Imposter will use Sunsteel Strike the first time. This can also be mitigated through the use of Reflect on Zygarde-Complete and by sending out Mega Mewtwo X more cautiously in battle.
Mega Diancie: With 3 Pokémon on this team being weak to Fairy-type moves, opposing Mega Diancie spell out deep trouble. One can easily set up with Shell Smash, Power Trip to KO Dawn Wings and Oranguru, then use Pixilate Extreme Speed to clear out the rest of this team. Imposter Chansey can only do so much around this as Mega Diancie can switch into its own Imposterproof, then return and use Sunsteel Strike or Searing Sunraze Smash back on this team's own Imposter Chansey when Chansey is forced to switch back in.
Regigigas/Slaking: Huge Power or Belly Drum Regigigas/Slaking can do enormous chunks of damage to Zygarde-Complete before Zygarde-Complete is able to do anything about it. This makes dealing with these Pokémon substantially more difficult and could end the game in a loss. These Pokémon also usually have some form of Imposterproof to switch into Imposter Chansey when swapped into as well.
Shadow Tag Offense Pokémon: Various Shadow Tag Offense Pokémon such as Mega Rayquaza, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Primal Groudon could trap and KO this team's Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X after they are safely sent in. If this happens, this team no longer has a good answer for the relatively rare Oranguru or Meloetta and can more easily lose to Comatose Deoxys-Speed.
By the morning after building this team, I had two accounts already prepped up. Key Sketcher had 87.1 GXE and Ultra Hackmons had 87.3. I was ready for Whatever It Takes. I decided to use Ultra Hackmons first, since it had higher deviation and GXE, thus raising my chances of making it to the top. Key Sketcher was used as a backup in case I ended up nuking the GXE on Ultra Hackmons. I won a couple games in a row, landing 88.5 GXE, then lost a high ladder game through my own fault from playing against unfamiliar sets. This apparently only dropped my GXE by a few fractions of a percent and within four games I was back at 88.5.
After reaching 88.5 GXE again, I played a game, and noticed one of the previous opponents I've won against made edits to their team specifically to counter my own. It involved them giving a No Guard Sheer Cold Deoxys-Speed Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom to target Dawn Wings Necrozma specifically so they could have a much easier time beating the rest of my team. Fortunately, I was able to play around this Deoxys-Speed and win after Dawn Wings Necrozma received a surprising knockout, but this left me very worried. People were actively trying to counter my team now and that particular opponent was likely gonna try counterteaming harder next time. This was not great if I wanted to reach the peak GXE. I decided to use the team again, then take one last swing of Cats and Rabbits, expecting to meet that same opponent who tried to counterteam me. Instead, I ended up finding Eyeos and losing from a terrible matchup. Thankfully, this loss only dropped my GXE down a couple fractions of a percent just like my previous loss. With Eyeos actively laddering now, I could not use Cats and Rabbits much longer. I believe I played one more game with Cats and Rabbits, in case I found the same guy who tried to counterteam me, then I swapped back to Whatever It Takes. The team was killing it! Plowing through several games until I found the guy who tried to counterteam me again. This time, he brought A SECOND No Guard Deoxys-Speed in attempt to destroy me after the other Deoxys-Speed KOs Dawn Wings Necrozma with Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom. I would be able to revenge kill that Deoxys-Speed, but have a much harder time dealing with the second No Guard Deoxys-Speed! As the game began, I knew I would have to throw in risky plays if I had any chance of winning. Fortunately for me the opponent made the biggest chokes I have ever seen someone make off a ladder, and I won with surprisingly low difficulty. With this game won, I was at 89.3 GXE. All I needed was one more win to make the highest GXE in the metagame.
The next opponent and the one to decide my fate was lag=bad, on an account with high enough GXE for 1 win to push me through. Thankfully, I took advantage of Imposter Chansey's Choice Scarf and won, officially making the highest GXE in the metagame. My GXE was at 89.6; very close to 90%. This now gave me the desire to push for 90% but I wanted to wait until the right time.
I was really wanting to hold off for a good couple of hours or so but Eyeos was in the Pure Hackmons chatroom boasting about how he could beat me. I gave him a warning that I was ready to defeat his team and felt very confident, as my team was great and he was never able to see Whatever It Takes to prepare ahead of time. Eyeos did not take what I said seriously, and I ended up sniping him on the ladder. I won, finally claiming the first ever 90 GXE in the metagame.
In retrospect, losing the battle against Eyeos earlier with Cats and Rabbits was important since it made Eyeos very confident that he'd keep beating me while he was never able to see Whatever It Takes ahead of time. I really managed to take that one loss to my advantage and pull off a decisive win without fully acknowledging it at the time.
After reaching 88.5 GXE again, I played a game, and noticed one of the previous opponents I've won against made edits to their team specifically to counter my own. It involved them giving a No Guard Sheer Cold Deoxys-Speed Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom to target Dawn Wings Necrozma specifically so they could have a much easier time beating the rest of my team. Fortunately, I was able to play around this Deoxys-Speed and win after Dawn Wings Necrozma received a surprising knockout, but this left me very worried. People were actively trying to counter my team now and that particular opponent was likely gonna try counterteaming harder next time. This was not great if I wanted to reach the peak GXE. I decided to use the team again, then take one last swing of Cats and Rabbits, expecting to meet that same opponent who tried to counterteam me. Instead, I ended up finding Eyeos and losing from a terrible matchup. Thankfully, this loss only dropped my GXE down a couple fractions of a percent just like my previous loss. With Eyeos actively laddering now, I could not use Cats and Rabbits much longer. I believe I played one more game with Cats and Rabbits, in case I found the same guy who tried to counterteam me, then I swapped back to Whatever It Takes. The team was killing it! Plowing through several games until I found the guy who tried to counterteam me again. This time, he brought A SECOND No Guard Deoxys-Speed in attempt to destroy me after the other Deoxys-Speed KOs Dawn Wings Necrozma with Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom. I would be able to revenge kill that Deoxys-Speed, but have a much harder time dealing with the second No Guard Deoxys-Speed! As the game began, I knew I would have to throw in risky plays if I had any chance of winning. Fortunately for me the opponent made the biggest chokes I have ever seen someone make off a ladder, and I won with surprisingly low difficulty. With this game won, I was at 89.3 GXE. All I needed was one more win to make the highest GXE in the metagame.
The next opponent and the one to decide my fate was lag=bad, on an account with high enough GXE for 1 win to push me through. Thankfully, I took advantage of Imposter Chansey's Choice Scarf and won, officially making the highest GXE in the metagame. My GXE was at 89.6; very close to 90%. This now gave me the desire to push for 90% but I wanted to wait until the right time.
I was really wanting to hold off for a good couple of hours or so but Eyeos was in the Pure Hackmons chatroom boasting about how he could beat me. I gave him a warning that I was ready to defeat his team and felt very confident, as my team was great and he was never able to see Whatever It Takes to prepare ahead of time. Eyeos did not take what I said seriously, and I ended up sniping him on the ladder. I won, finally claiming the first ever 90 GXE in the metagame.
In retrospect, losing the battle against Eyeos earlier with Cats and Rabbits was important since it made Eyeos very confident that he'd keep beating me while he was never able to see Whatever It Takes ahead of time. I really managed to take that one loss to my advantage and pull off a decisive win without fully acknowledging it at the time.
.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2057620569
Decisive Battle Against Eyeos. 1621 elo. The Battle To Reach 90 GXE.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2057608632?p2
Decisive Battle Against lag=bad (ASDFGHJKLKJHGFD). 1532 elo. The Battle To Reach GXE Peak.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2057578386
Battle Against Archwiz_Spade. 1511 elo. The First Counterteam Attempt.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2057565419?p2
Battle Against disciple of blahaj. 1539 elo. The team's only loss in this run.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2061820332?p2
Battle Against Pure Hackmons. Post-peak. Room tournament battle.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7purehackmons-2072775192?p2
Battle Against Hyper Speed Blitz. 1489 elo. Post-peak.
With both Wonder Guards being weak to Dark-type and Mega Mewtwo X giving the team a harder time against Imposter, this team certainly has open holes. However, if there's one thing I've learned from this metagame, it's that all the most successful teams in this metagame carry open holes. I still have a hard time fully understanding this but I hope I do get to fully realize this point someday. This metagame carries so much of everything, whether it's Pokémon, items, abilities, or moves, that trying to fit preparation for everything ends up not only being a waste of time, but limiting teams of their full potential. While you definitely need high levels of skill in playing and teambuilding to make it far in this metagame, this metagame also relies on matchup to a strong degree. Your best option is to run a team that does its job breaking or defending very well and hope you don't run into the team's biggest weaknesses. What works is running teams whose open holes don't have many opposing teams actively exploiting them at the moment. Gen 7 Pure Hackmons has gone through plenty of phases since the ladder debuted and there's no phase where preparation for every threat can consistently be accommodated for. The most strategic way of handling this is by finding what sets aren't being commonly answered at the time then using those sets to your advantage by forming a team with them. In other words, you gotta find what breaks the mold and adapts best to the current environment. Once you do that and learn how to teambuild, you should be able to make it very far with the right plays.
I haven't mentioned it up until this point, but all throughout the OM Leader's Choice of the Month ladder and the early stages of Gen 7 Pure Hackmons permaladder, I kept actively teasing the idea of someone making the metagame's first ever 90 GXE. I never thought I would be the one to accomplish that, but here we go. For those who've read all of this, thanks for reading the RMT all the way this far. For those who just came to react, I appreciate the extra reactions given. Thanks and have a wonderful day. I am now a Showdown Boomer and I have another big anniversary tomorrow, making it my 10th year since I started playing Hackmons on Pokémon Showdown! Cheers!
While Whatever It Takes was the team to officially break the mold of accomplishing the first 90 GXE on Gen 7 Pure Hackmons ladder, I cannot give credit solely to this team. I only used the team for about 14-15 games on the account to make it up there, while using a variety of other teams beforehand, including plenty with variations of this team's own build, a decent chunk of games with Cats and Rabbits, some variations with aspects of Cats and Rabbits and Whatever It Takes combined, and otherwise fully unique teams in general.
Here are the other teams that contributed aside from Whatever It Takes and Cats and Rabbits:
https://pokepast.es/fbb29e7b14c31d44 - Totem Regigigas Offense. This was the first team I used upon getting back on Ultra Hackmons. I made somewhere between 22-0 and 25-0 in total before losing once.
https://pokepast.es/4906327450629e0a - STAG Mega Gengar Offense
https://pokepast.es/2d6b0bdf270a4f48 - STAG Mega Gengar + Mega Lopunny Offense
https://pokepast.es/154f9e72e346e4e5 - Ferrothorn rocks. This was the team I made 17-0 with back in September, giving Ultra Hackmons a nice head start. It was the team I probably used most during that time, I remember the 17-0 involved Ferrothorn and that Extreme Evoboost Mega Mewtwo X being on it. After searching through my Google history, I can confirm this was the team I started off with.
If there was anything else I used, I forgot, it would've been for a very few amount of games, and I no longer have any evidence of ever using it. These were probably all the teams I used though. I'm thankful I've been able to save all these teams, save a handful of replays, and even take a bunch of screenshots from when I was actively laddering in February. Those screenshots helped me remember a lot of this information and made a lot of details in this RMT possible to bring up.
These are all the Pokémon I used overall, in alphabetical order.
Ultra Hackmons
Gen 7 Pure Hackmons Hall of Fame!
Rank #1 | Ultra Hackmons | 1685 elo | 90.0% GXE | 1917 ± 54
I went on to create other variants of Whatever It Takes, including a variant with Mega Audino, a variant with Meloetta, and a variant with Toxic Plate:
https://pokepast.es/c209fda60e1a4c85 - Whatever It Takes (Mega Audino)
https://pokepast.es/62e2c379e90e9f35 - Whatever It Takes (Meloetta)
https://pokepast.es/c59757d929058e4a - Whatever It Takes (Toxic Plate Dawn Wings Necrozma), bumped the GXE up to 90.1, making a higher GXE peak for its time.
Here are the other teams that contributed aside from Whatever It Takes and Cats and Rabbits:
https://pokepast.es/fbb29e7b14c31d44 - Totem Regigigas Offense. This was the first team I used upon getting back on Ultra Hackmons. I made somewhere between 22-0 and 25-0 in total before losing once.
https://pokepast.es/4906327450629e0a - STAG Mega Gengar Offense
https://pokepast.es/2d6b0bdf270a4f48 - STAG Mega Gengar + Mega Lopunny Offense
https://pokepast.es/154f9e72e346e4e5 - Ferrothorn rocks. This was the team I made 17-0 with back in September, giving Ultra Hackmons a nice head start. It was the team I probably used most during that time, I remember the 17-0 involved Ferrothorn and that Extreme Evoboost Mega Mewtwo X being on it. After searching through my Google history, I can confirm this was the team I started off with.
If there was anything else I used, I forgot, it would've been for a very few amount of games, and I no longer have any evidence of ever using it. These were probably all the teams I used though. I'm thankful I've been able to save all these teams, save a handful of replays, and even take a bunch of screenshots from when I was actively laddering in February. Those screenshots helped me remember a lot of this information and made a lot of details in this RMT possible to bring up.
These are all the Pokémon I used overall, in alphabetical order.
Ultra Hackmons
Gen 7 Pure Hackmons Hall of Fame!
Rank #1 | Ultra Hackmons | 1685 elo | 90.0% GXE | 1917 ± 54
I went on to create other variants of Whatever It Takes, including a variant with Mega Audino, a variant with Meloetta, and a variant with Toxic Plate:
https://pokepast.es/c209fda60e1a4c85 - Whatever It Takes (Mega Audino)
https://pokepast.es/62e2c379e90e9f35 - Whatever It Takes (Meloetta)
https://pokepast.es/c59757d929058e4a - Whatever It Takes (Toxic Plate Dawn Wings Necrozma), bumped the GXE up to 90.1, making a higher GXE peak for its time.
Click the image for the team.
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