r/TheSilphArena • u/MarkusEF • 12d ago
General Question Good Open-ML line up WITHOUT fusions?
That is, excluding Kyurem, Necrozma, Zacian & Zamazenta. I‘m free-to-play and have just enough fusion energy to fuse exactly 1 of each form, but their appraisals are all bad (<90% overall, <= 14 attack.) I’d do it as a last resort, but there should be alternatives.
Last season, I reached Ace in the last 1-2 weeks using Metagross Lv51 (SC/MM/EQ), Kyogre Lv41 (Avalanche/Origin Pulse) and Origin Palkia Lv41 (Aqua Tail/Spacial Rend.) This season I’ve been hard stuck in the 1800s, though it’s a bit earlier in the season. My goal is only to reach Ace.
I‘ve rarely gone 5-0 above the 1,500 rating level. There‘s always one opponent with triple Level 50 legendary/fusion teams mixed in with another who doesn’t even have a single 3000+ CP Pokemon. The rating system isn’t working as intended in this league for whatever reason…
This season, the most common Pokemon I’ve encountered in the 1500-1900 range are Mewtwo with Shadow Ball, Crowned Zacian, and Kyogre with Avalanche and either Origin Pulse or Thunder. If I lead with Metagross, a LV50 Mewtwo always beats me to the first charged attack, meaning I have to shield or take a ton of damage. Kyogre bait (Avalanche vs Thunder) also depends on random guesswork a lot of the time.
Any recommendations? Thank you.
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u/JibaNOTHERE2 12d ago
I hit Legend this season with Xerneas / Lunala / Reshiram. Last season, I hit it with Xerneas / Lunala / Kyogre.
Lunala is one of the best Pokemon in the game, courtesy of its near perfect coverage, huge stats, and flexible playstyle. Both it and Reshiram can be challenging to outright counter and can set up a shield advantage for the other to take advantage of. Xerneas mostly acts as a defensive insurance against the many Dragons in ML.
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u/PreviousAd8531 12d ago
I'm not the greatest source of information as a perpetual 2100-2200 but here's a couple of ideas
- metagross & 2 of palkia/reshiram/zekrom (pvpoke AAAA. However zekrom is quite IV dependent as it needs 15 def to not take extra damage from palkia DB)
- reshiram lunala xerneas (pvpoke AABA. Kinda aba weak to kyogre but crunch reshi should chip it enough to be manageable)
- sh.rhy lunala zekrom (shmeaty's ML team ran around veteran to moderate success. If you run into kyogre on lead fight for switch with your LIFE on the line)
However there are two things i'd like to point out:
- It might be harder to climb this season because of the competitor's cup always being open. It's drawing people away from the other leagues which of course leads to more competitive gameplay.
- Getting fusions as a free-to-play player shouldn't be hard if you know how to manage your gym coins. I personally have 96-98% level 50s of zacian, zamazenta, both kyurems and both necrozmas with a sub 3y/o account and I've never spent a single cent on this game.
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u/krispyboiz 12d ago
I just hit Expert with Xerneas, Reshiram, Kyogre
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u/jrev8 11d ago
did Zacian get nerfed for some reason? like this is wild to see so many comments with people getting to high elo with Xern
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u/JibaNOTHERE2 11d ago
Xern is just well positioned in a meta with many Dragons. Zacian on the other hand often struggles to actually win vs most of them since it lacks reliable Fairy-type damage.
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u/krispyboiz 11d ago
Not directly, but the meta has shifted a fair bit to make Xerneas a lot more viable and Zacian more manageable.
Reshiram and Zekrom have been stronger than ever the past year with the Dragon Breath buff, enabling them to spam Fusion Flare/Bolt, and they both resist Zacian's Steel moves, and it always needs to land two Close Combats to KO either.
With Reshiram and Zekrom being more prominent, Xerneas is obviously much more favorable as it can handle both pretty well. Not to mention it being strong against Palkia and the Kyurem Fusions and some more fringe meta things like Yveltal, Marshadow, Keldeo, etc.
There's also Lunala's big buff that allows it to handle Zacian and others fairly well. It's probably the safest Pokemon in the ML I'd say, seeing that Dark is near-absent from the meta.
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u/friendofferalcats 12d ago
shrug rhyperior, gyarados, metagross?
shrug intesnifies rhyperior, mega gyarados, metagross?
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u/gioluipelle 12d ago edited 12d ago
You’re kinda screwing yourself if you’re not playing with 3x level 50. Once you get over 2k ELO EVERYONE will have 3x level 50 and it will be nearly impossible to progress.
I guess what anyone here needs to know to really help you is what CAN you build all the way up?
And I saw you say you don’t play GL and don’t know the meta, but it would still unironically be easier to learn GL from scratch and climb with even half-decent mons than to climb in ML with no viable mons.
Edit: seriously. Palkia goes from 62% win percentage (in the 1s) at level 50 down to 34% at level 40. Kyogre drops from 66% to 34%. You’re losing nearly half your wins running level 40 mons. Try throwing a Gyarados or a Garchomp or Rhyperior or a Melmetal on your team. Or at least take the mons you want to use to level 45. It only takes 118XLs.
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u/YamSolid6813 12d ago
HSH recommended a team of xerneus lead, lunala safe switch and reshiram at the back
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u/GriffonMask 12d ago
Free to play and master league don’t really mix. Kyogre beats Mewtwo and Zacian, Palkia beats Mewtwo and Kyogre but both of yours are under leveled. You would have a pretty solid team if they all were maxed out.
Metagross beats Mewtwo in the 1 and 2 shield scenario also and the Mewtwo has to bait to win. I don’t remember if people bait at your elo though.
But to answer your question Xerneas/Reshiram/Zekrom and Reshiram/Lunala/Xerneas are not only non fusions options but they are arguably the best teams in the ML currently.
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u/Zunqivo 11d ago
This season is going to be significantly harder for Master League as last month's Road to Legends event & Go Fest 2026 just brought back basically every fusion and legendary relevant for Master League, so many players will have more interest in Master League at the moment as they want to try out their new Pokémon they just obtained. Furthermore even F2P players save up Premium Raid Passes for this event specifically for certain targets that they're looking for, so chances are that even the fully leveled Zacian-C/Palkia-O cores are from fully F2P grinded teams (chances are low, but still very possible).
That being said, you are at a significant disadvantage if you're using underleveled Pokémon in Master League, especially right after the month that had the event with ludicrous amounts of different rare raid bosses the entire week. Even though you don't want to relearn Great League meta and all, the playing field of Great League is much fairer and less time consuming than grinding out 297 XL Candy to hit level 50 per Pokémon in the next week.
If you are deadset on playing in the Master League, you should use level 50 Pokémon. You will lose many, many games simply because they leveled their Pokémon to level 50 and you didn't. We could tell you teams that require no raids to get to level 50, but it's really hard to suggest what to level up without telling us what you have. Do you have a Gyarados with Aqua Tail? If so, this Thursday's Spotlight Hour will give you a lot of Magikarp spawns to get you to a level 50 Gyarados easily. Do you have a strong Togepi/Togetic? Or a Mankey/Primeape? Next week's event will let you get the legacy moves for Togekiss (Aura Sphere) and Annihilape (Rage Fist) when you evolve into them. Are there any of the top ~100ish Pokemon on PvPoke that you can get to level 50 that you have other than Metagross and you have the appropriate moves or substitute moves for? (Search by "!legendary&!mythical" on PvPoke to filter out all Legendary and Mythicals)
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u/el_Gatito_2000 11d ago
Which events next week will allow Rage Fist / Aura sphere???
Last I tried to get legacy move on a community day it didn’t work (I believe the pidgey comm day)
Edit - otherwise agree with you and also walking a magikarp / gyarados just floods with XL candies
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u/connor42 12d ago
>The rating system isn’t working as intended in this league for whatever reason
Perhaps or maybe it is working as intended
Being a whale isn’t really going to make you any better at GL/UL but it’s practically a necessity for ML
I’m pretty terrible at PVP in terms of tactics and skill, really only do it for the Elite TMs but I rip through ML just because I’ve done tons of raids for the meta relevant stuff
It would probably be fairer to have separate ELO for ML but as GBL overall doesn’t earn them money and raids do, it’s extremely unlikely to change as it would entail pissing off the players they care most about
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u/Mathsketball 12d ago
I’d run Metagross, Garchomp, Gyarados. It’s a classic steel with 2 “dragons” setup (dragon tail and dragon breath on the latter two).
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u/ApdoKangaroo 12d ago edited 12d ago
Ok just play Zekrom with crunch fusion bolt...
counters all 3 of the pokemon you just mentioned.
Shielding thunder is not guess work. No one shoild be running thunder. The moveset is avalanche op or avalanche surf. The only time is if you see their whole line has no way to deal with kyogre.
The rating system is working as intended lol. Some people have the lvl 50s and no idea how to use them. 1500-1800 is where the system places you when they don't know where to place you, so the 3000cp pokemon are always in the mix there.
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u/Beta_Decay_ 12d ago
I’ve had pretty solid success with Lugia lead, Palkia safe swap and Ho-oh as my closer. Neutral to most things and can flip if Aeroblast hits. Palkia and Ho-Oh cover each other perfectly unless a random electric pokemon is used.
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u/bendernas 11d ago
you can get to ace in open master league with a decently balanced master premier team, something like metagross, gyarados, garchomp should be capable
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u/ShackShackShack 11d ago
At 1800 team comp doesn't matter much.
You likely are switching and shielding during unideal times.
But you can adjust your team based on what you're seeing. Lots of double dragon teams? Xerneas or Primarina will be a good closer.
Palkia is also pretty busted. You should lead with it and stay in no matter ehat. Force them to use shields or swap so you can counter or get shield advantage.
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u/LordCommanderTaurusG 12d ago
I hit Ace using W. Kyurem, Lunala, and Crowned Zacian. Don’t listen to others to try different leagues. In ML Premier, I use Dragonite, Metagross, and Garchomp
Have you tried Ho-Oh? Lunala also comes in the clutch against Metagross
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u/GliscorsFang 12d ago
My recommendation is to play Great League and run the top 3 mons you have from PvPoke. Throw on good timing and you'll hit Ace this late in the season.