Seasonal Ladder - November

[Roie]

I don't like randbats but special metagames with weird banlists would be fun.

[kaki]

Trick Scarf in this makes Sigilyph nothing, and there's plenty of them out there.

[IstheCakeReallyaLie]

I like the current format, actually. Maybe some time we could try non-randbat? This is really refreshing from the typical "Oh. You have a rain team. With Genesect. And Ferrothorn. Okay." of OU, by the way. It's also a way to dispel the "SRS BSNSS" idea that the public has about us.

With all of the Flying-types around, Private Earth is very important to put down and keep down. It's really interesting to see what a game-changer SR can, honestly.

[SHUCKLE MAN]

Originally Posted by Fat Relados

Yeah, that glitch is a problem right now.

For now all the pokemon are level 100, rather than in level groupings like Random Battles. Not quite sure why that is, but it'd be preferable if the levels were not all the same.

Also, mono-Ice for December sounds reasonable to me.

Back when I started playing on NetBattle, they used to have a "Level Balance" feature. It's similar to what's on PS now I think, it basically adjusted the levels of all Pokemon according to their base stats, in an attempt to even it out.

A mono-Ice metagame would be weird. I imagine Thick Fat Walrein and Dewgong would be useful to tank Hidden Power Fire. And they'd probably have Rock Slide and Iron Tail respectively as their best attacking moves rather than Surf and Ice Beam.

[SavageSceptile911]

Ah man, this is a pretty fun little psuedo-metagame. Although, with the random TB, I keep getting Spinderped lol

[IstheCakeReallyaLie]

By the way, keep Tiptoeing Tectonics up at all times. There are very few Rapid Spinners and tons of Flying-types.

[zdrup15]

Ok after playing 30 battles, I have to say I like the metagame.

It started pretty bad for me with the first 5 games being decided before the players did a thing (Archeops vs 6 slower mons weak to one of its stabs or Zapdos vs team full of grass and flying types) but now it's much better. The metagame is very offensive, and if you're lucky enough to have Stealth Rock, you have a huge advantage. Poor defensive mons like Blissey and Skarmory can't really do a thing when there is such a great pressure.

The best mons so far are mixed Tornadus, Archeops, Zapdos, Staraptor, Articuno, and Aerodactyl. They are just so strong it's not even funny. The odd Sigilyph with the right moves is beastly too.

Also, I've successfully spun Rocks and TSpikes with Delibird at least twice and that alone is funny enough xD

[TooMuchSugar]

Whatever the theme is for December, Delibird HAS to be there.

[Menshay]

Seriously, Archeops is pretty terrifying with so many fighters and birds around. Though seeing one essentially committing suicide by OKHOing a Blissey with Head Smash was pretty funny.

Just out of curiosity, are natures and EVs preset, random or all neutral/null?

[TheMantyke]

Haven't played singles in forever and this is turning out to be a load of fun!

Thoughts on a few of the Pokemon I keep running into:

Sigilyph is very, very scary. If you don't have anything to Trick it while it's setting up, you're in for a world of hurt until the battles over or you score a critical hit. It's really important to not get greedy with this thing as, at least for me, testing the waters for critical hits usually results in your opponent scoring them.

Aerodactyl is scary thanks to that speed and such a quick Rock Slide. Tornadus is golden if you're lucky enough to score a Flight Gem and Acrobatics. Braviary and Swellow are both very intimidating, especially when Braviary has Bulk Up and Swellow has a status orb.

Snorlax and Skarmory are pretty useful. Skarmory has the always sought after Stealth Rock in a metagame filled with flying types and walls many of the Pokemon that rely almost solely on their physical attack like Swellow and Braviary. Snorlax is great for dealing with Zapdos and any Tornadus that lacks physical attacks.

Articuno is a surprisingly useful Pokemon if it nabs Roost and Ice Beam. If your opponent is unfortunate enough to lack a super effective attack, you're sitting pretty.

Leavanny and Roserade are pretty bad. Grass typing's obviously pretty terrible in a metagame like this and Roserade's variety of spikes aren't very helpful when few Pokemon touch the ground.

Delibird and Spinda are complete death fodder, lol. Hustle Ice Shards have done me or my opponents no good so far.

Guess I'm pretty cool at this :o

---

[Matthew]

Yeah Roserade and Leavanny are pretty useless as a whole, but I've had a great time with Lilligant, especially QD versions with HP Rock. It's such an amazing set / pokemon to have that I want to cry always when I get it.

[Gerard]

Sygilyph it's almost to good, I couldn't get Articuno to break it with Ice beam (seriously, no whirlwind?) since it just kept Roosting and boosting and he wouldn't freeze thanks to flame orb, ridiculous

Moltres has become an incredibly useful Pokemon, Flame Body it's amazing against all the (many times choiced) fighting types, and many flying types, and since SR is not guarantee in here it doesn't have to worry about it too much, only problem is I have yet to see one that actually has a Fire Move, Hp grass is probably the worst Hidden power in a tier where everything resists it

[phoopes]

I've had the most trouble with Zapdos so far, though that's usually because it gets Thunderbolt and my whole team turns out to be Flying types. Sigilyph has been less of a problem for me because I've been lucky to have a 'mon with Trick whenever I go up against one. It's nice to try something new that's pretty fun as well.

[speed ghilliesniper]

Haha, this is pretty fun. Aeordactyle, Archeops, Sigilyph, Golurk and Lilligent are complete bosses in this meta, makes me so happy some of my favorite RU pokes doing work. Aero and Archeops are both just so fast with rock stab to destroy other flying along with flying stab to beat the grass and fighting types running around make them both too good. Sigi is always a pain unless you happen to have a trick choice user which is pretty common here, otherwise it just boosts and burns any physical attacker. No guard Golurk with stone edge and stealth rocks plus it's great bulk and ability to spin block makes it a very underated threat imo, not one that can sweep on it's own mind you but still a useful team mate to have for the super useful rocks and ability fire off a stone edge first to screw any Xatu thinking their gonna ruin your fun. Lilligent is just amazing, if sleep powder hits your screwed without a volbeat or something to prankster encore it into QD so something can ko it physically, otherwise it can quickly snowball into a fearsome threat.

[Roie]

If PS is that changeable
could you do something like, the pokemon with the lowest hp% every 3 turns faints instantly?

I like the idea of weird banlists and metagames and things like what I said above, but I hate randbats a lot.

[Mdevil]

I'm loving seasonal and I can't wait for the next set of pokes. Imo, Alakazam is the MVP this time around. Most sigilyphs let him set up calm minds in there face.