Competitive Battling Discussion Of The Week 16

PG24

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
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Sorry if this seems a tad late, I was waiting for you guys to try out the new metagame before discussing this topic.

With the recent banning of Excadrill and Thundurus, what have you noticed change in the metagame?

i've recently acquired a lovely scarf for my terrakion, and I must say that he looks rather fetching
 
Definitely more Terrakion, more Landorus, more Tentacruel, and more steel types like Jirachi and Heatran. Gliscor and Gastrodon are both plummeting in usage.
 
I've noticed that sun teams have a lot of pressure off. Although now Landorus is a larger threat. While I'm on that topic, I guess I should mention that Landorus is becoming more popular as a Sand sweeper. (And it's no surprise.) If anyone thought banning would be the end of sand they were wrong. Terrakion and Landous are now Tyranitar's best friends.

Rain wasn't as boosted as I thought. It lost Thudurus, but I expected to see more rain because of the loss of the mole. But rain is pretty much what it used to be. We all expected Raikou and Zapdos to replace Thundurus, but I haven't seen much of that. I HAVE seen a lot more Tornadus though.

Gastrodon is now outclassed by Quagsire and Slowbro.
Stuff like Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Dragonite, and Starmie are not really affected.

Vocarona and Virizion are now more popular it seems.
 
I find it quite a bit easier to pull off a sweep in the rain. Thundurus isn't threatening my Politoed and Water type sweepers, while Excadrill isn't killing my Magnezone and Toxicroak. Other than that, playing is just generally less overcentralized and more enjoyable.
 
I don't play weather, regardless the banning of that mole is very helpful for my team I can now worry less about having to play with/against Gliscor (a fatal flaw in my team) and I can counter sand easier than ever now before I had to hope that I could get a SW in on samurott and then aqua jet the excadrill but if it was holding a sash or I got roared into spikes/toxic spikes/SR OR if samurott set up too early and got burned the game was over. Now however I don't even need to run samurott anymore if I don't want to....

However now Paraflinch jirachi is running rampant through the streets ;-; there is almost no pokemon that can OHKO it and then it will just return the favor with either body slam or t-wave after that it's just a matter of time (unless your a bulky water with a ground type attack *looks at swampert*) but jirachi now just burns hols in teams along with torment tran bec now no one is afraid to use them.....

thundorus means almost nothing to me I've never seen it played much and when it does get played I just get a quick ice attack in there and it's over (it didn't need to be banned imo)
 
As much as I hate banning things in general and how opposed I was to these two bans, I am glad to admit that both have made the metagame more balanced. Now when one set of weather is up, it is much less common for that team to run right through their opponent unchallenged. This is a very positive change. Sand teams will run more Landorus, which is in some cases even more difficult to counter (especially with gliscor; gliscor use is dropping like a rock). I'll be interested to see what will move into thundurus' place. Terrakion and Landorus will fill Excadrill's place, but I'm not sure on Thundurus. Maybe Tornadus will move up to OU?
 
I've seen Rain so much it's incredible. With all these great RMT's for use on Smogon, almost no loss of important sweepers baring Thundurus, and a diverse choice of Offensive/Defensive threats, Rain has easily become the epitome of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." And it doesn't look like anyone will be beating Rain teams anytime soon.
 
Whenever there is a sand team, it will always have Landorus, Terrakion, or both, as well as a Water absorber (Jellicent seems to be the most common).

Rain teams don't seem affected by the ban. The playstyle has had a sharp increase in viability with Excadrill's passing. With SpecsToed growing in popularity, a Water absorber will be critical. Dragonite will always remain a thorn in every team's side, as it is very unpredictable. Perhaps Politoed will be banned in the next stage.
 
Rain surprisingly hasn't raised as much as I suspected. Tornadus is more used now but I haven't seen much Zapdos, Raikou, Jolteon for now.

Sand is still strong with Terrakion and Landorus raising in usage. More Jellicents on sand teams to absorb water attacks and less Gastrodon. Also at least 1 more water resist on sand teams. Usually Celebi or Ferro.

Sun is easier to maintain now and I 've seen lots of Ninetales running Sunny Day to use it when TTar and Politoed switch in. Also rise in Volcarona(most broken thiing ever)

Dragonite is more powerfull than ever. (obvious is obvious)

Gliscor falling in usage because it can't wall things like Scrafty and Landorus also struggles with Conkeldurr because +1 Payback hurts and it can be difficult to take down at +1 def. So you basically need Protect, Taunt and Swords Dance to really counter it. As a result Skarmory is raising in usage.
 
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