New Meta: Intro to Recently Created OMs

By Scyther NO Swiping. Art by Bummer.
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Intro to recently created OMs

Introduction

You may know about Other Metagames with a permanent ladder, such as STABmons, Almost Any Ability, and Balanced Hackmons, but many more are being created each day to introduce new ways to play the game. In February alone, seven new OMs were created: Lockdown, Follow the Leader, Return'd, COMBOmons, Meta Man, Weightmons, and Top Percentage, all were posted on the OM Forum. Many of these metagames are playable on Pokémon Showdown! if you challenge someone to a Custom Game and edit your team according to the rules of the metagame. There are normally many eager users in the OM room just waiting for a battle in one of the new exciting formats of the month. If you want any of these new metagames to have a ladder on PS, they are eligible to be nominated and voted for Other Metagame Of The Month beginning in April.

Lockdown - Created by ChrystalFalchion | February 22nd

The idea of Lockdown is simple: the battlefield that is in place at the end of turn 6 becomes permanent for the remainder of the battle. This means effects such as weather, terrain moves, Trick and Magic Room, and Water and Mud Sport become permanent if they are active at the end of turn 6. Lockdown also affects entry hazards, making them too irremovable if on the field when turn 6 concludes and causing both them and hazard removal moves such as Rapid Spin and Defog to fail if used turn 7 or later. However, not everything becomes permanent. Things such as status conditions, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Tailwind, and Heal Block all behave as they normally do, regardless of what turn they are used in battle. Lockdown follows the standard OU clauses and banlist, with the additions of Heat, Damp, Smooth, and Icy Rock.

Terrain moves, which include Misty Terrain, Grassy Terrain, and Electric Terrain, are rarely used in competitive battling because they often don't provide enough benefits to a team to be worth the moveslot. However, in Lockdown, if they are on the field at the end of turn 6, they become permanent, providing battlers with a higher incentive to use them. Misty Terrain provides users with a de facto Safeguard effect, as well as halving the damage Dragon-type moves do against grounded targets. Another thing improved in Lockdown is weather. In Generation 5, weather teams dominated OU thanks to some abilities setting permanent weather. Now, permanent weather makes a return, as it stays up if active when the field gets locked down. This makes weather teams much better, as they have the entire battle to work, not just the five or seven turns they normally get. Because of this, many weather abilities such as Sand Stream, Sand Rush, Sand Force, Swift Swim, Solar Power, and Chlorophyll become more viable.

Trick Room and Magic Room are two other moves that may see increased usage in Lockdown. Trick Room, while used occasionally in other tiers, becomes better, as it is now permanent if in play at the end of Turn 6. This is something that allows slower Pokémon such as Rampardos, Mega Camerupt, Slowbro, and Azumarill to always move first instead of going last as they normally do. Magic Room is a niche option to harm foes that rely on their items, such as Eviolite Chansey and many Focus Sash or Choice Pokémon. Gravity is yet another move that appreciates this metagame; it will work extremely well when paired with Spikes or Toxic Spikes, as it removes Flying-types and Levitating foes' immunity to them. Ground-types also pair well with Gravity due to no longer having to worry about immunities. Moves with low accuracy such as Thunder, Blizzard, and Focus Blast will see increased use coupled with Gravity, as they will always hit. Also usable are moves such as Water Sport and Mud Sport, as they make Fire- and Electric-type moves, respectively, have 1/3 of their original power. Water Sport could be extremely helpful for Pokémon such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Bisharp, as it lessens the damage they take from super effective Fire-type moves, whereas Mud Sport pairs particularly well with rain teams, as Water-types will take a lot less damage from Electric-types.

With hazards becoming permanent after the field is locked down, Defog and Rapid Spin have less viability, as they can only be used for the first six turns. Because of Misty Terrain, status moves such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, and Spore are less viable due to them not working while Misty Terrain is active. Because of the increased viability of Trick Room, Pokémon that rely on their great Speed to be viable such as Raikou, Serperior, Starmie, and Alakazam may become less viable.

Whimsicott

A possible threat in Lockdown to be used early-game will be Whimsicott. Whimsicott gets a lot of utility moves that will be useful in the metagame, such as Sunny Day, Trick Room, Memento, U-turn, and Taunt. Even if you don't plan on using a Trick Room team, it is almost mandatory to carry the move so you can use it to undo the foe setting it. Memento is great when used on turn 5, as it easily allows Whimsicott to pivot into a teammate that can to set up something on turn 6 before everything becomes permanent.

Rampardos

A strong offensive threat may be Rampardos. Rampardos has the second highest Attack stat of legal non-Mega Evolutions. With Trick Room support to make up for its awful Speed, it will nearly always attack first. With its Rock-type it is able to resist most forms of priority, if paired with Gravity support as well, it won't have to worry about Rock Slide or Iron Tail missing. With its first 3 moves, it is able to hit every Pokémon for at least neutral damage.

Other possible threats in Lockdown include Mega Diancie and Mega Sableye for their ability to use Magic Bounce to hinder the opponent from setting hazards, as well as being able to set weather, Trick Room, and Gravity. Excadrill and Mega Garchomp see increased viability as well, as the former is able to run either Sand Rush or Sand Force to become a top offensive threat, and the latter is able to hit incredibly hard for due to Sand Force in permanent sand. Mega Camerupt, Guts Conkeldurr, Reuniculus, and CurseLax are example of Pokémon that enjoy permanent Trick Room.

Follow the Leader - Created by G-Luke | February 24th

In Follow the Leader, the Pokémon in the first slot, the Leader, donates its possible abilities and movepool to the Pokémon in slots 2-6, the Followers. The Followers in return lose access to their normal movepool and ability. If there is a Mega Evolution in the first moveslot, the team only gains access to the moves and abilities of the base forme. Follow the Leader follows OU clauses and banlist with the addition of Smeargle, Shedinja, Regigigas, Slaking, and Archeops, as well as Chatter, Huge Power, Pure Power, Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, and Imposter. Aegislash is also unbanned and usable in this metagame.

Talonflame

Talonflame is, on paper, an incredible option for the first slot in Follow the Leader. It donates an amazing ability in Gale Wings and high-powered attacks in Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. It also has access to good support moves such as Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, Substitute, Toxic, and Tailwind. However, besides Solar Beam, Steel Wing, and U-turn, Talonflame lacks coverage moves to donate, still having to rely on Natural Gift or Hidden Power to hit certain targets. Talonflame makes for an amazing partner to Landorus-T, which will finally be able to enjoy a strong Flying STAB move; Skarmory and Staraptor also pair well with Talonflame, as they appreciate the priority donated by Gale Wings to make up for their below average Speed. Heatran is also an option, as it has access to a special Fire-type STAB move, it can run a Power Herb + Solar Beam, and it finally has a reliable recovery move in Roost. Talonflame teams do lack both hazards and hazard removal, though, but access to priority Roost can somewhat deal with this as it makes it easier to recover the damage taken from hazards.

Clefairy

Clefable appears to be a top threat as a Leader. It has an incredible special movepool with access to good moves in 12 types, and it boasts as good physical movepool as well with good options in eight types. Most impressive is its status movepool, featuring moves such as Cosmic Power, Heal Bell, Belly Drum, Calm Mind, Healing Wish, Moonlight, Soft-Boiled, Substitute, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Trick, and Wish. Additionally, Clefable has access to two amazing abilities in Magic Guard and Unaware. Clefable pairs well with many Pokémon such as Cresselia, Slowbro, and Volcarona. It surprisingly is able to make a good partner to Mega Charizard Y, giving it Magic Guard pre-Mega to avoid taking Stealth Rock damage on the switch in, moves such as Fire Blast, Solar Beam, Focus Blast, and a choice of Psyshock, Moonblast, and Ice Beam, which cover the Dragon-types that sometimes trouble Mega Charizard Y or specially defensive walls such as Chansey. Clefable also gives its team access to Stealth Rock. It lacks hazard removal, though, but this is offset by Magic Guard making hazards irrelevant.

Follow the Leader is great for Pokémon that have multiple good abilities such as Sigilyph, Reuniclus, Magnezone, Clefable, and Slowbro. Good Pokémon for the first team slot also include Pokémon with a wide movepool such as Mew, Alakazam, Gengar, Tyranitar, and Togekiss. Finally, Pokémon that have one great ability and an above-average movepool such as Dragonite, Nidoking, Tornadus-T, Landorus-T, Zoroark, and Talonflame also make for good Leaders. With all these possible Leaders, many Pokémon also make for followers. Pokémon such as Keldeo, Heatran, Hippowdon, Hoopa-U, and Volcarona like gaining good coverage moves or great abilities that help make them stronger.

Return'd - Created by The Immortal | February 29th

Return'd takes the mechanics of Return and applies them to the first move in the moveset, so if your Pokémon is at full happiness, the move in its first moveslot will have 102 Base Power. I know what you're thinking, "Ooh, time to spam 102 Base Power Rock Blasts." Hold your horses, because multi-hit moves don't receive the power boost, and status moves are unaffected as well. Otherwise, Return'd follows the standard OU banlist and clauses.

This metagame will provide a good environment for offense oriented teams, as it gives many offensive Pokémon much-needed coverage. For example, it gives Rock- and Flying-types a reliable STAB move that those types normally lack. Because of this, many stall Pokémon will be hurt, with everything gaining access to a new high-powered move. However, even some stall Pokémon appreciate the increased Base Power of a move, as Pokémon such as Ferrothorn can now run Iron Head and not have to worry about Gyro Ball's low PP. Pokémon such as defensive Starmie, Slowbro, and Suicune appreciate a more powerful Scald too.

Pinsir Mega

Mega Pinsir is a Pokémon that really enjoys this metagame. Feint now becomes a 102 Base Power move at +2 priority that hits through Protect as well. It also is boosted by Aerilate, making it incredibly powerful. This makes Mega Pinsir a top tier threat in Return'd. Earthquake and Close Combat are included for coverage to hit the Steel-types that resist Aerilate Feint. Swords Dance allows Mega Pinsir to raise its Attack to incredible levels and sweep teams.

Azumarill

Azumarill is something that has all the tools to be amazing in Return'd. It now gains access to a 102 Base Power priority move in Aqua Jet. This, paired with Choice Band, allows Azumarill to OHKO most foes before they even get a chance to attack. The increased power of Aqua Jet also removes the need to run Waterfall, creating the room to run both Knock Off and Superpower.

As a whole, many Pokémon can expect a boost in Return'd. Most Rock-types finally gain access to a reliable STAB move in Smack Down, Rock Tomb, or Ancient Power. Moves with secondary effects will be used more, such as Power-Up Punch, Mud-Slap, Knock Off, Icy Wind, Charge Beam, Astonish, Acid Spray, and Flame Charge. Moves that are powered each turn such as Echoed Voice, Rollout, Ice Ball, and Fury Cutter also can receive a big buff due to their Base Power starting out strong and increasing even more each turn they are used in a row. Draining moves such as Draining Kiss, Parabolic Charge, and Absorb also see more use, as they are now able to hit harder while also restoring health.

Pokémon that lack coverage moves may also enjoy Return'd, as many of them now have access to either a high-powered Hidden Power or powered-up moves that are normally weaker such as Power-Up Punch, Bulldoze, and elemental moves such as Ice Fang. Pokémon such as Rotom-W and Serperior, may enjoy the strong Hidden Power coverage, while Dragonite, Tornadus, and Thundurus may finally enjoy a good Flying-type STAB move in Aerial Ace or Hidden Power Flying. Pokémon such as Mega Sharpedo, Gliscor, and Aerodactyl may enjoy the use of a stronger elemental Fang for coverage. Entei may benefit from a stronger Bulldoze, while Pokémon such as Weavile may benefit from a strong Fighting-type coverage move in Power-Up Punch, which now not only hits hard but also raises Attack by a stage.

This metagame will likely revolve around priority. Priority users and priority absorbers will be crucial to most teams. Pokémon such as Mega Medicham, Mega Lopunny, Mega Metagross, Entei, Lucario, and Crawdaunt all enjoy 102 Base Power priority move. It will be important to run checks and counters to priority in the metagame, so Pokémon such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, Mega Metagross, Hippowdon, and Scizor will be important to make sure your team doesn't get swept away.

Other February Metagames

COMBOmons - Created by Lcass4919 | February 21st

In COMBOmons, Pokémon are split into three categories: Offensive, Defensive, and Supportive. Each Pokémon gets the effect of five abilities combined, and the abilities are determined by which category they fall into. Pokémon in the Offensive category have Adaptability, Sheer Force, Technician, Tinted Lens, and Tough Claws as their abilities. Pokémon in the defensive category have Fur Coat, Magic Bounce, Poison Heal, Regenerator, and Unaware. Pokémon in the support category have Flash Fire, Immunity, Mold Breaker, Prankster, and Sap Sipper. Which category a Pokémon is in is completely up to the trainer, as they just pick one ability in the set and the Pokémon also gains the other four. COMBOmons currently follows OU clauses and banlist.

Meta Man - Created by Jajoken | February 27th

Meta Man was inspired by the original Mega Man game for the NES. The metagame follows the premise that when you defeat an opponent, you steal the last move their Pokémon used and add it to your Pokémon's moveset, along with their ability replacing yours. Example: You have a Breloom, which is facing a Keldeo. Keldeo uses Icy Wind but misses. Breloom uses Bullet Seed and KOes Keldeo. Now Breloom gains Icy Wind as a 5th move, and Keldeo's ability, Justified, replaces its Technician. Your Pokémon keeps the gained move(s) and ability even if it switches out. It can gain up to five extra moves if it KOes five foes alone. If an foe faints before it uses a move, your Pokémon gains the first move in the foe's moveset. This metagame is helpful to Pokémon with bad abilities, such as Keldeo, Hoopa-U, Entei, and Suicune, as they may gain a better ability from a foe they defeat. Meta Man makes Pokémon that are only good because of their ability, such as Serperior, Shedinja, Clefable, and Azumarill, less viable, as they will give the foe an amazing ability when they are defeated. Meta Man follows standard OU clauses and banlist.

Weightmons - Created by unfixable | February 22nd

Weightmons follows a simple premise; every Pokémon gains a Speed and/or Base Power boost based on their weight. Pokémon are sorted into four classes. Pokémon from 0 to 451.4 pounds get a boost of 20 to their base Speed. Pokémon from 451.5 to 677.2 gain a boost of 10 to the Base Power of their moves and a boost of 15 to their base Speed. Pokémon from 677.3 pounds to 903 pounds gain a boost of 15 to the Base Power of their moves and a boost of 10 to their base Speed. Finally, Pokémon from 903.1 pounds to 2204.4 pounds gain a boost of 20 to the Base Power of their moves. This metagame boosts heavy Pokémon such as Mega Metagross, Hoopa-U, Heatran, and Snorlax, as they become extreme heavy hitters with each of their moves hitting with 20 BP more than usual.

Top Percentage - Created by Maleovex | February 12th

Top Percentage changes what it takes to win or lose a game. Instead of losing when all members of your team faint, you lose when your team has been dealt 400% of damage. You may be thinking that you can just heal off the damage, but that is not the case. Healing moves, such as Recover, and items such as Leftovers, work as normal, but they don't regain your 400%. This metagame will make stall nonviable, as it no longer is about taking the opposing team down, but its about dealing damage and taking as little as possible in return.This metagame will increase the viability of moves that cause passive damage such as Sandstorm, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, and entry hazards. These moves will be greatly appreciated, as they quickly chip away at the opponent's 400% number, bringing them much closer to defeat.

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