Smogon Shoddy Server Statistics - December 2009

[Deucalion2]

Could be a sign of centralization. The metagame isn't changing because it can't. I mean, even ordinarily we should see some responsive changes, such as Skarmory numbers falling because Magnezone numbers are rising.

[Ken Sical Ifreet]

...Hmmm. I wonder.

Thanks for the Stats!

[Quaily]

Just to look at recent events ou has lost:

allakazam
rhyperitor
cressellia
porygon-z
(I cannot spell pokemon names)

and gained:
roserade

So ou is getting smaller.

[Madonna]

The OU game is getting boring...
At least there are some new things in UU

[Crashman]

Wow, Blaziken in UU took a massive drop from 18th in usage to 31st in a month. That's just shocking, once an excellent wall breaker in the metagame has now been reduced to the position of that other Gallade, how sad.

Anyway, nice stats, I can't wait to see the tier changes.

[BlakBlastoise]

Originally Posted by Fat Quaily

Just to look at recent events ou has lost:

allakazam
rhyperitor
cressellia
porygon-z
(I cannot spell pokemon names)

and gained:
roserade

So ou is getting smaller.

This is why I don't think the tiers should be adjusted solely on usage. Cresselia is clearly not UU.
Bug good work Doug getting all that information.

[VirtualKaraokeCircusAct]

I think blaziken is going to see a massive rise in usage in jan, what with two ridicoulus powerhouses being moved to bl, and the likelihood of stall increasing from the cress drop.
Thanks for the stats as usual doug.

[Stylish Interval]

Originally Posted by Fat BlakBlastoise

This is why I don't think the tiers should be adjusted solely on usage. Cresselia is clearly not UU.
Bug good work Doug getting all that information.

And if it proves to be too defensive or supportive in UU it will be tested and banned and sent to BL or OU. :/

Also, not cool seeing the OU metagame so..settled. No one trying to come up with crazy new sets or new ways to use Pokemon o: Can't wait for next month, loving the Tyranitar increase, hoping it gets past Rotom-A at least, even though it will still be in the third spot.

[lati0s]

Originally Posted by Fat BlakBlastoise

This is why I don't think the tiers should be adjusted solely on usage. Cresselia is clearly not UU.

How do you know? people said the same things about dugtrio, rhyperior, and alakazam, and they were proven wrong every time.

EDIT: 1k posts!!

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Fat Quaily

I've been using an expert belt jolteon a lot, I think it's a really effective poke. It will probably never be a top tier poke though because well.. it's a special attacker without trick/explosion. Still a great gyrados/rotom counter.

It does have Baton Pass, though, meaning you can BP out on the Blissey switchin and nail it with a Pursuit from TTar or Scizor or someone.

[Megan_Fox]

Cresselia in uu is going to be insane....GJ Doug

[Little Green Yoda]

Thanks for the stats, DJD. How much more effort would it be to provide stats above a certain rating threshold? Say greater than 1450 or 1500 CRE?

Originally Posted by Fat Deucalion2

Tyranitar, Starmie, and Jolteon are the most notable risers, and Celebi, Gliscor, and Hippowdon the biggest losers. Overall, most of the Pokemon that increased in percentage were orientated around sweeping or providing support to sweepers, and overall, those that decreased in percentage were orientated about stalling or providing team support to stall, which I think denotes a further move away from stall and towards offense, especially teams using large amounts of mixed sweepers. However, the overall change wasn't particularly high, indicating we may be nearing the peak of the move towards offense, and soon the wave will break and the metagame will begin to move towards more stall.

The increased stagnation/centralization of OU should help too.

Originally Posted by Fat Redtype

Blissey's falling even more, huh.

It's been on a steady decline for the past year. Still waiting for people to exploit this trend tbh.

[Staraptor Call]

| 53 | Ludicolo | 20023 | 2.44 |

Ludicolo is coming close to the cutoff for becoming OU. If Manaphy goes down to OU, that will be all it takes to push it over the edge because Manaphy is often used with Rain Dance and almost every Rain team includes a Ludicolo.

From Suspect:

| 34 | Ludicolo | 490 | 4.95 |

| 42 | Kabutops | 228 | 2.30 |

| 52 | Qwilfish | 119 | 1.20 |

The usages of Rain Pokemon in Suspect are very high compared to OU. This Rain-filled metagame could be the future in the likely event of Manaphy getting moved down.

[MetaGross66]

The usage of LS and Reflect on Azelf made a huge jump beating Fire blast now. :)

Oh, and Cress in UU is just absurd, IMO. Look at its gargantuan stats. It'll be walling much of UU (ecpet maybe subCMkou, but CMCress beats that...)

[Taylor]

appreciate the great effort doug!

I discovered that Azelf, as a lead, can be played around to your great advantage with say, a lead which invites the opponent to use Taunt, as you switch in CSTyranitar. Let's face it, ScarfTar and Skarm go hand-in-hand with the current semi/quick-stall motion in full throttle. And yet, Metagross (the best lead, in my opinion) is a fair distance behind Azelf.

[iShedinja]

Porygon-Z UU is pretty much chaos, this'll be SO MUCH FUN ;D

[Thund91]

Glad to see Milotic is back in the top 5. It's probably the most effective wall the tier has to offer, it checks so much things.

Why is Mesprit falling? So much better then Uxie if you ask me. Stop using it for bulky purposes!!!! Seriously CB and SubCM are soooo much better.

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Fat iShedinja

Porygon-Z UU is pretty much chaos, this'll be SO MUCH FUN ;D

Now THAT is the attitude to have. No whining and bitching about how "broken" it is, just anticipating the new strategies and metagame!

[Black Sludge]

Originally Posted by Fat Thund91

Why is Mesprit falling? So much better then Uxie if you ask me. Stop using it for bulky purposes!!!! Seriously CB and SubCM are soooo much better.

Mesprit actually gained 0.11% and 19 positions since November. And yes, it's a greatly underrated Pokemon especially considering Porygon2 gets so much attention. Most Ground-types can't do squat to it, it can threaten the otherwise annoying Machamp and Breloom, and it can send Gyarados and with the right EV spread DDMence into oblivion.

[BlakBlastoise]

Originally Posted by Fat lati0s

How do you know? people said the same things about dugtrio, rhyperior, and alakazam, and they were proven wrong every time.

EDIT: 1k posts!!

because I used to play back in D/P when Cresselia was a fucking force to be reckoned with even in OU. Those others you mentioned never were too good. Alakazam and rhyperior may seem powerful, but alakazam is frail as fuck, and rhyperior is too slow. Rock polish helps it's speed but even with increased speed it's not very hard to handle. Cresselia on the other hand, used to be very very good before Scizor. CM versions were probably the deadliest to teams but the standard wall ones were also hard to deal with. It has moonlight, which in OU is not much of a recoery move since the sand makes it gain less HP, but in UU people will be forced to use snover or hipopotas to limit it's recovery.

Originally Posted by Fat Megan_Fox

Cresselia in uu is going to be insane....GJ Doug

Originally Posted by Fat MetaGross66

Oh, and Cress in UU is just absurd, IMO. Look at its gargantuan stats. It'll be walling much of UU (ecpet maybe subCMkou, but CMCress beats that...)

And other people seem to think the same as I, so it's not as crazy as you might think.

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Fat Black Sludge

Mesprit actually gained 0.11% and 19 positions since November. And yes, it's a greatly underrated Pokemon especially considering Porygon2 gets so much attention. Most Ground-types can't do squat to it, it can threaten the otherwise annoying Machamp and Breloom, and it can send Gyarados and with the right EV spread DDMence into oblivion.

Yeah, the anti-sweeper set can check three huge threats on its own. Mespirit is HIGHLY underappreciated.

[Xia]

UU has been shaken up a bit, but I realy don't see how well Cresselia and Posrygon-Z will fit into the metagame; priorty will most likely take down P-Z and Cresselia's bulk makes her a very strage addition to the UU metagame.

[Ramblin Wreck]

Originally Posted by Fat Xia

UU has been shaken up a bit, but I realy don't see how well Cresselia and Posrygon-Z will fit into the metagame; priorty will most likely take down P-Z and Cresselia's bulk makes her a very strage addition to the UU metagame.

I saw some people earlier saying that the removal of Gallade makes stall more viable; maybe we'll see a rise in stall teams with Cresselia as a tank.

[Thund91]

@RR and Black Sludge

I was talking about Mesprit in UU not OU. :P
The Anti-Sweeper set is kinda useless there lol.

[Smurf.]

Originally Posted by Fat BlakBlastoise

This is why I don't think the tiers should be adjusted solely on usage. Cresselia is clearly not UU.

My thoughts exactly. It seems contradictory to have all this suspect testing and not even debate whether PZ and Cress are UU or not and the impact they may potentially have. It certainly looks like we will never have a balanced UU metagame at this rate.

Instead, potential drops from OU should be discussed and specifically chosen to balance suspects before putting half the decent UU pokes into BL, where they are effectively useless.