The History of Competitive "Pokémon": BW and XY Quiz

Answer: Multiscale

Lugia has had access to Recover since it's inception in the second generation. Multiscale, a new ability in the fifth generation, allowed Lugia to only take half damage from any given attack as long as its HP is full. Given Lugia's high speed tier for a wall and it's access to Roost and Recover, keeping Lugia's HP full was fairly easy.

However, the introduction of Zekrom, Reshiram, and the Kyurems, four Pokemon whose abilities nullified Multiscale and (except for Reshiram) were able to hit Lugia with super effective STAB sullied this newfound advantage somewhat, though Lugia would often come with teammates to deal with these threats.

Unfortunately, a great reward only comes at a great price, and there was only a small window to legally acquire a Multiscale Lugia; you had to have "Pokemon Soul Silver" along with a fifth generation game, while also taking advantage of the Dream World Radar, where you could then find a legal Multiscale Lugia.

As of right now, there is no other legal way to obtain Multiscale Lugia.

Answer: Regenerator

Regenerator was an absolute Godsend for Ho Oh. The only reason Ho Oh wasn't considered top tier in the fourth generation was the introduction of Stealth Rock stripping away half of its health every time it came into battle. While Regenerator didn't completely nullify this disadvantage, now Ho Oh could regain 1/3rd of its health every time it switched out, allowing it to mitigate it's once crippling weakness significantly.

In addition, Ho Oh, with its massive special defense, access to recovery, and Regenerator, now became the undisputed best pivot in "Pokemon" history, as it could effortlessly switch in on most special attackers in order to scout their movesets.

This made it extremely valuable when going up against Pokemon such as Extreme Killer Arceus, as Ho Oh could switch in on Pokemon like the Extreme Killer and then immediately switch back out. Your opponent would either switch their Arceus out because it wasn't running Stone Edge, meaning it would've lost a confrontation to Ho Oh, or they would leave Arceus in to use Stone Edge, only to end up hitting the wrong target and erroneously revealing their coverage move on Arceus, allowing you to have an easier time dealing with it.

In conclusion, fifth generation Ho Oh is often thought of as the Pokemon that made Balance in Ubers viable, because it did so much for teams of this nature that it could make creating a win condition much more doable.

Answer: Custap Berry

The Custap Berry is triggered when the user reaches low health, and gives it one time access to a priority move on the next turn. When combined with Sturdy, Custap Berry would allow Skarmory to reliably use at least two moves, which could be Taunting the opposing lead to stop it from setting entry hazards, setting Stealth Rock and then fainting, or it could allow Skarmory to set up at least Stealth Rock and Spikes before fainting.

There were countermeasures to this set, as a speedier Taunt from the likes of Deoxys-S or a Pokemon such as Zekrom or Reshiram, whose abilities nullify Sturdy, could completely stop Skarmory from doing its job, but if these Pokemon were not present on the opposing team, or if they could be dealt with before Skarmory entered the battle, Skarmory could reliably do its job of setting up entry hazards. Due to the nature of this set, this Skarmory only belonged on hyper offensive teams that were capable of pressuring the opposing hazard removal unit enough to keep the one time entry hazards on the opposing team's field.

Answer: Virizion

While Virizion was likely the least viable of the four, it had a small arsenal of tricks that could throw the opponent off if they guessed wrong on what variant they were dealing with. Virizion had a standard Swords Dance set, with Leaf Blade, Close Combat, and the user's choice of Zen Headbutt or Stone Edge.

It also had a Calm Mind set, consisting of Calm Mind, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Hidden Power Fire/Rock/Psychic. It could even run a gimmicky but situationally useful Work Up set, consisting of Work Up, Giga Drain, Close Combat, and Hidden Power Rock/Psychic.

Answer: Negate the abilities of the opposing Pokemon

Teravolt and Terablaze weren't always helpful, but key Pokémon in the metagame, such as Lugia, Heatran, and Skarmory were impacted by it. Heatran, typically able to check Fire types by virtue of its Flash Fire ability, cannot check Reshiram at all, as Reshiram can use Terablaze to melt Heatran with Blue Flare, its signature move. Lugia typically walls opposing physical attackers with ease, especially with Multiscale up, but Zekrom does not care if Lugia's Multiscale is up, thanks to Teravolt, and can OHKO it with a Choice Band boosted Bolt Strike.

Answer: Fairy type Pokemon are resistant to Fighting

The addition of the Fairy type certainly shook the game up. The Ghost typing quietly served as the primary beneficiary of this introduction, as unlike the Dark typing, Ghost was only hit neutrally by Fairy types, while also dealing neutral damage back, while Dark was weak on both ends to Fairy. Ghost ended up receiving no nerfs and only buffs, as it could also now hit Steel types for neutral damage. Fire resisted Fairy, but only hit Fairy back for neutral damage, while Fighting, much like Dark, was weak on both ends to Fairy.

Answer: Geomancy

Geomancy Xerneas was by far the most terrifying Pokémon that had ever been seen to that point of the game, with generation one Mewtwo being an exception. After its Geomancy boost, Xerneas could sweep with ease and it could sweep with authority. In time, answers to this set did stand up, however, and while it couldn't really be countered due to Xerneas' massive movepool, it could be checked very thoroughly by Lugia, Ho Oh, Aegislash, forms of Arceus with a favorable typing such as Poison and Steel, and Chansey. Xerneas' massive movepool consisted of its STAB Moonblast, which was automatically inserted onto any Xerneas set, Focus Blast, Thunder, Aromatherapy, Hidden Power Fire, Psyshock, Hidden Power Rock, and Ingrain. Though Xerneas would lose to specific checks if it did not pack the right coverage move, its movepool was so easily customizable that the mere threat of it running coverage was enough to make it uncounterable. Worth noting is that very specific checks, such as Aegislash, did not have reliable recovery, and could thus be worn down and blown past by Xerneas if weakened enough.

Answer: A Choice Specs set

While all of these listed sets are ones Yveltal can run well, the Choice Specs set packed fierce power that could break even the sturdiest of walls. The tandem of Dark Aura and Choice Specs made it so that only Chansey could even think about switching into this set, and even then Chansey can fail to check Yveltal if it gets flinched by Dark Pulse, or if there are entry hazards on the field and Chansey is not at full health. Oblivion Wing is what set Yveltal apart from other Choiced wallbreakers, as it could heavily pressure the opposing team while also keeping itself healthy with this move. Access to U Turn meant that Yveltal could punish the opposing team for making obvious switch outs, such as when Yveltal is up against a Pokémon it forces out like Groudon. Through this, Yveltal could pick apart an opposing defensive core surprisingly easily, making a sweep for a teammate (usually Xerneas) significantly easier.

Answer: It was useless due to the fact that Xerneas and Yveltal were illegal in OU

As previously mentioned, Zygarde's Aura Break was useless unless an Yveltal or Xerneas was on the field. Due to the fact that Zygarde was useless in Ubers and Xerneas and Yveltal were banned from OU, Aura Break was utterly useless for Zygarde.

Answer: Blaziken

Blaziken would eventually receive a Mega Evolution, but not in "X/Y". Charizard was unique in that it became the only non legendary Mega to receive two different Mega Evolutions, both of which were totally different. This versatility elevated Charizard's viability drastically.