Smogon Community - View Single Post

Scrawly · Sep 5th, 2012, 5:55:43 AM

I've got a Dragonite in lead position, more or less arbitrarily. If I see a Genesect in the opposing team preview, I leave it there. Game starts, I shrug off the Ice Beam with Marvel Scale and KO back with Fire Punch. It's a freak trick, but it's surprisingly effective. When I use to run a Sun team back in BW1, I had a Lilligant in first position--spec'd to KO opposing lead Politoed's with Leaf Storm, allowing me to control the weather for the rest of the match. Again, somewhat gimmicky, but effective.

This sort of tomfoolery certainly would not go unnoticed if I had placed these guys anywhere but first position and moved them to the start during team preview. It'd be suspect, people would be more wary. Playing guileless is a great way to get ahead early, in a relatively changed metagame where "traditional" leads tend to be more of a hindrance than a help.

I don't see any DPP suicide leads even rating a mention, while what we have got is the weather bratpack (a holdover from last gen), some bulky hazards users (Forretress, Deoxys, Ferrothorn) and also Rotom-W (?). Would anyone care to explain that last one? I'm guessing it's got something to do with Volt Switch, but R-W is almost twice as likely to lead as rough physical analogue Scizor.

Sep 5th, 2012, 5:55:43 AM	#2
Scrawly Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 38	I've got a Dragonite in lead position, more or less arbitrarily. If I see a Genesect in the opposing team preview, I leave it there. Game starts, I shrug off the Ice Beam with Marvel Scale and KO back with Fire Punch. It's a freak trick, but it's surprisingly effective. When I use to run a Sun team back in BW1, I had a Lilligant in first position--spec'd to KO opposing lead Politoed's with Leaf Storm, allowing me to control the weather for the rest of the match. Again, somewhat gimmicky, but effective. This sort of tomfoolery certainly would not go unnoticed if I had placed these guys anywhere but first position and moved them to the start during team preview. It'd be suspect, people would be more wary. Playing guileless is a great way to get ahead early, in a relatively changed metagame where "traditional" leads tend to be more of a hindrance than a help. I don't see any DPP suicide leads even rating a mention, while what we have got is the weather bratpack (a holdover from last gen), some bulky hazards users (Forretress, Deoxys, Ferrothorn) and also Rotom-W (?). Would anyone care to explain that last one? I'm guessing it's got something to do with Volt Switch, but R-W is almost twice as likely to lead as rough physical analogue Scizor.