Suicide Lead Deoxys-Speed

Deoxys-Speed is the premier No Guard suicide lead currently and is extremely useful on Offense and Hyper-Offense teams to force hazards up, break sashes or bring down non-sashed offensive Mons or non-WG defensive Mons. However, it is near-useless against bulky teams without variation in the set as it is easily beaten by 2 non-OHKO-move weak Wonder Guards and is threatened by Magic Bounce users in general (provided the opponent plays well). It is also susceptible to priority due to its frailty as well as being threatened by opposing scarfed attackers, particularly Parental Bond attackers.

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Most of the time you will be leading with Deoxys-Speed if you have it. The exceptions are against stall teams and opposing teams with Deoxys-Speed in which case you will prefer bringing in a counter to Deoxys-Speed. Deoxys-Speed is extremely easy to play as it follows an extremely simple flow-chart.

If your opponent has an offensive Mon on the field (which you are certain isn't Choice Scarf) just click Sing, then hazards. If they are still asleep click your OHKO move to hopefully break their sash or kill them. There is practically never a reason to sacrifice something to keep Deoxys-Speed safe as it is preferred that it dies quickly to maintain momentum. The exception to this is against offensive teams where you may want to save Deoxys-Speed to use as a late-game cleaner.

If your opponent has a defensive Mon in you must play slightly more carefully. This is because many Wonder Guards carry Magic Coat which, worse-case scenario, will allow them to bounce back your hazards then put you to sleep which is extremely unideal. Rest assured however, this situation is unlikely unless you play quite poorly. Note that against bulkier teams you are more likely to run into Magic Bounce which is similarly unideal. This is circumvented by Entrainment/Gastro Acid which will allow Deoxys-Speed to threaten WG's with Sheer Cold and force them out. Entrainment is generally preferred as it fares better against Magic Bouncers and Magic Coat WG's as you will just gain their ability instead of only losing your own.

A very common interaction with Deoxys-Speed is the infinite switch game when the opponent has 2 WG's. This is another reason why hazards are so valuable on this set as you can continually threaten them out with Entrainment forcing them to switch and thus, take hazard damage. Note that the opponent has the ability to make you use all your OHKO-move PP if you play badly enough.

The customization available on Deoxys-Speed is extremely wide as it can changed to fit basically any offensive team. Sticky Web can aid greatly as it basically prevents your opponent from making offensive progress without using a turn setting up or using priority. Baton Pass allows you to scout if your opponent switches (I.e you can use it if you are against Kyurem-White to see if they double switch) as well as providing a neutral move against WG if your set lacks an ability nullifying move. Magic Coat helps against bulkier teams and in No Guard lead mirror matches. Gastro Acid just acts as an alternative to Entrainment which persists after a Baton Pass and doesn't give the opponent a potentially useful ability in certain edge cases. Taunt is another tool against bulkier teams as it forces WG's out and is a more reliable way to shut down most common hazard removal or attempts to heal. Fissure can be used in place of Sheer Cold to hit Ice types (mainly Kyurem-White) and Ground-weak WG's as well as having the slight benefit of being 10% more accurate when your ability is removed.

Focus Sash can be swapped for Choice Scarf which will allow Deoxys-Speed to outspeed many setup sweepers even after they Shell Smash . This is extremely useful as you can just put them to sleep, OHKO them etc. Choice Scarf is especially strong in tandem with Trick as you can use it to neuter WG's and effectively become a regular Deoxys-Speed afterwards. Finally, it is not recommended but you can swap your ability from No Guard to Mold Breaker to guarantee hazards against even Magic Bouncers, only being stopped by Magic Coat WG's.

There are certain teammates that Deoxys-Speed loves having as they cover it's weaknesses well. Most importantly, you want teammates that can cover your crippling weakness to Parental Bond. Notably, Yveltal resists Moongeist Beam and can Pursuit trap or Knock Off Parental Bond Gengar. However, this is still not foolproof as they could predict your switch and ruin your day with Ice Beam. Other examples include Normal types that can switch in on Moongeist Beam very safely and use the free turn to setup (Arceus, Slaking etc.). Again, there is still a possibility that they predict such a switch and use Sacred Sword or Focus Blast on the switch.

While none of them come close to the dominance of Deoxys-Speed it is still worth while to note the alternatives to Deoxys-Speed (note that these are alternatives for Deoxys-Speed's role as a suicide lead, not as its role as a No Guard user). Pheromosa can be used for it's strong U-Turn which can deal valuable chip to opposing offensive Mons. Mega Aerodactyl can be used as it is Fissure immune, resists Normal and Aerilate FakeSpeed and similarly fast, however it is Stealth Rock weak meaning you can't bring it in too often. Mega Lopunny was extremely popular for a period of time as it acts as a Moongeist Beam (and thus Parental Bond Gengar) switch-in while still being relatively fast. Still, in the current meta it is just slightly too slow, being outsped by MMY which is extremely common. Finally, Mega Sceptile is Spore-immune and fast enough but is weak to even more common priority moves (Ice Shard, Pixilate FakeSpeed, Triage Mega Rayquaza) and thus isn't ideal. Despite these flaws, each of these No Guards are worth considering in place of Deoxys-Speed.

Because of Deoxys-Speed's important place in the meta, most teams will have at least a soft answer to it. First and foremost is having 2 Wonder Guards with one of them having Magic Coat. As mentioned previously, this shuts down Deoxys-Speed as you can't make any progress and they can drain your PP. Also mentioned is Magic Bounce which is similarly annoying. However, your opponent needs to predict practically every turn quite well to fully beat you with only a Magic Bouncer and a WG as you do have the option of clicking your OHKO and eliminating the Magic Bouncer.

Next are the offensive threats to Deoxys-Speed which take advantage of it's minimal bulk. The most common of which is Scarfed Parental Bond Mega Gengar which will outspeed you with the scarf and KO you with Moongeist Beam. Nicher Parental Bond threats include MMY and Deoxys-Attack both of which require more careful play on your part. These threats can be circumvented with using the Choice Scarf set and OHKO'ing them outright. What can't be circumvented is priority coming from strong attack stats. The most mainstream of which is Slaking's FakeSpeed set which will KO you easily, Shadow Sneak's coming from MMX and Huge Power Ghosts like Marowak-Alola and First Impressions coming from MMX, Mega Heracross and Pheromosa.

One particular counter worth noting is Magic Bounce Mons which resist one of the two main OHKO moves (Kyurem-White/Black, Yveltal etc.) which are sets made specifically to beat most Deoxys-Speed sets. They are immune to your Sheer Cold and will bounce back your hazards, ability nullification etc. These can be beaten by running the other OHKO move. The exception to this is Articuno which you will not be able to beat without Horn Drill which we heavily advise against running.

Many contributions by epictoastokay and ansonisthebest on Discord