Smogon Shoddy Server Statistics - January 2010

[Fireburn]

Thanks again Doug!

Mewtwo is now #2 in Uber usage...interesting.

[PK Gaming]

Urgh, Mewtwo #2! Ridiculous...

[goofball]

Meh scarft-tar rise should not be a surprise. It has been good for many months and commonly used by some of the better players. Also with its set being popularized more, its rise within this much shouldn't be a surprise to anybody -.-

[Cuiv]

Originally Posted by Fat shadowalone10

Yeah scarftar at 22% is absolutely huge, but not surprising because of the fact that it checks so many Pokemon and is an amazing trick absorber for stall based teams.

Also pretty shocked that Venusaur is still number one, considering that it is not as dominant as in was in the previous period, definitely was expecting Cresselia to be number one.

If you read the notes, Venusaur is #3 in the period since Cress and PZ became legal in UU, with Cress at #1 and PZ at #2. However, the usage numbers aren't that different, just enough to put Cress and PZ narrowly in the lead. Once the novelty wears off, they'll slide down a bit (unless Cress gets banned, o/c).

[dbcb]

Originally Posted by Fat Taylor

appreciate the effort for providing us with these statistics doug

i think its time we lead with starmie more often!

what item does lead starmie run? life orb? scarftrick?

[eastamazonantidote]

Great stats as always. At last the metagame is evening out.

[Golden Sun]

thanks Doug

who else expected Cress to be on atleast 30% of teams? and Scarftar is an amazing Poke

[Engineer Pikachu]

It seems more players in UU are trying ways to beat Cresselia instead of utilizing her...

[Quaily]

It's strange that there are other pokes similar to ttar(swampert, metagross in particular) yet none of them ever use a scarf. I think people are too hard on psychic typing. It's weak to scizor, but if it can get past scizor(generally with water attacks) then there is very little stopping the typing except... scarftar.

I should get out my 3 attack celebi again when I was laddering. I haven't used that thing in months and it always tore stuff up.

[Brammi]

Is it just me or is it becoming a gamble just to work out what to lead with in OU. Highest percentage is less than 8. That shows just how messed up the opening of a match is.

And DAMN my favorite lead in UU Kanga is in for trouble with all the Uxie leads.

[IcyMan28]

Lead Empoleon should really see more use, IMO. With a Chople Berry, it can take on pretty much 9 of the top 10 leads, losing only to Roserade (whose sash gets broken). It forces the opponent to use Stealth Rock first turn (or lose their setup), while Empoleon is bulky enough to come back in later if it couldn't set it up at the beginning.

[jumpluff*]

Wow, I'm shocked that 'pert jumped over Infernape and Luke. Must be the Scarf Tyranitar, which is dropping in effectiveness the higher it rises. Nearly a quarter of Tyranitar are Scarf -_- Also, to my shock, Rosie will be staying in OU, it seems. I don't play UU, so I find the most interesting shifts are in OU -- I correctly predicted the stats this month would be quite different.

[Toaster]

As always, thanks Doug.

Choice Scarf Tyranitar is rising futher which is starting to worry me(I don't know why :/). Uxie sure has gotten a big jump.....

[Thorns]

uxie in ou will drop next month, it's just a fad, you heard it here first
scarftar has been bad since half way through January, I blame sprinklestall
mamoswine below electivire is disappoining but electivire is disappointing in general
sd scizor will rise or fall with scarftar

[capefeather]

Is it just me or is it becoming a gamble just to work out what to lead with in OU. Highest percentage is less than 8. That shows just how messed up the opening of a match is.

It's always been like that <.<

[Jack]

Thanks Doug. I'm a little surprised that Scizor usage has dipped down. Perhaps people are growing tired of it? And I'd be willing to bet the rise in Tyranitar is related to the Scizor usage. Maybe he has a bit more room to DD?

[Alan]

Thanks Doug Just Doug, your a wonderful human being.
________
Kizashi

[Brammi]

Originally Posted by Fat capefeather

It's always been like that <.<

Not exactly the same though. In previous months there have been about 6 or 7 leads that have held a higher group by a couple of percent. Here it is a steady decline and any of the top 10-12 have similar usages to the select few before. It isn't much of a difference but it still makes it that little bit harder to pick a lead.

[StarWizard]

Originally Posted by Fat ILoveLiza

Not exactly the same though. In previous months there have been about 6 or 7 leads that have held a higher group by a couple of percent. Here it is a steady decline and any of the top 10-12 have similar usages to the select few before. It isn't much of a difference but it still makes it that little bit harder to pick a lead.

Just stay away from the suicide leads. There are quite a few pokemon who can deal with them in two hits, leaving most of your opponents with nothing but SR on. I've found that having 6 100% healthy pokemon is better than having 5 and stealth rock.

[capefeather]

Well, it really depends on how offensive your team is. Two of my teams love having Azelf leading it.

[EvilMario]

Originally Posted by Fat Jack

Thanks Doug. I'm a little surprised that Scizor usage has dipped down. Perhaps people are growing tired of it? And I'd be willing to bet the rise in Tyranitar is related to the Scizor usage. Maybe he has a bit more room to DD?

The rise in Swampert's usage, to counter Tyranitar, does Scizor no favors either. The metagame has been built around Scizor for a while, just look at the top ten Pokemon. 4. Heatran, 5b. Rotom-A, 6. Gyarados, and number 10. Swampert all give Scizor issues. 7. Jirachi, and 8. Metagross (and 18.Magnezone!) stop Bullet Punch spam as well.

He's still a simple fit on many teams though. U-Turn+Entry Hazards damage is no joke, even to Pokemon like Rotom and Zapdos who can be worn down. And of course, his Bullet Punch makes setup sweepers think twice about attempting an early game sweep.

[Garganator]

It's strange that there are other pokes similar to ttar(swampert, metagross in particular) yet none of them ever use a scarf. I think people are too hard on psychic typing. It's weak to scizor, but if it can get past scizor(generally with water attacks) then there is very little stopping the typing except... scarftar.

As I agree (a bit) with Metagross, however Swampert as a Scarfer... is strange idea. Not that it doesn't have power (as 110 base attack isn't bad), however it's much better defensive pokemon anyway. I think that Tyranitar is the best choice here as he has good special bulk even without investment and he revenge kills a lot of mons, unlike Metagross, which needs to work with much worse STAB combination. Also if you use Meteor Mash and you face Magnezone, say good bye to your Metagross. And unfortunately Metagross with Scarf can't OHKO Latias with Meteor Mash (also his Scarf Pursuit is weak) unlike TTar with Crunch/Pursuit making him worse Latias check.

Thanks Doug. I'm a little surprised that Scizor usage has dipped down. Perhaps people are growing tired of it? And I'd be willing to bet the rise in Tyranitar is related to the Scizor usage. Maybe he has a bit more room to DD?

I think ironically that TTar usage rise makes Scizor a bit worse. Like Gengar, Tyranitar also adapted almost perfectly to Scizor-like metagame. Scizor at best is only TTar check and at best unreliable one. CB Stone Edge OHKoes 248 HP Scizor with SR up, Bait Tyranitar is great Scizor lure. And even if Scizor switches on Dragon Dance, Babiri Berry DDTar may easily finish it of, while surviving Bullet Punch. Also every single member of OU top10 may take it on and OHKO it back (or bait it). So yeah, I think that drop in Scizor usage isn't that surprising.

But yeah, I guess this month statistics are really interesting ;).
a) Tyranitar at 2nd place. I think that you may start calling Sandstorm common weather condition (to help defend Salamence OU status). Also Scarf TTar is nothing surprising, as I saw more then few of them. Also Latias is annoying enough to consider Scarf TTar.
b) Uxie at 50th - If you check RMT section, it's not surprising. Uxie is much more popular right now, mostly as a lead or mid-game dual screener, as it does this job really well. Also unlike Cresselia it has better supporting options to use. However I don't expect it in OU.
c) I like those changes in top10 OU. Swampert and Gengar in top10 and Infernape + Lucario out. Quite surprising, and I think it shows that offense is a bit less popular. However, I think that dropping usage of Blissey helps Gengar alot - as Gengar deals with top10 right now really well and he doesn't need to bother with Blissey as much as in the past.
d) Dragonite goes down. I guess that ExtremeSpeed hype goes down. Nothing surprising.
e) Mewtwo is 2nd right now. Yeah, I love this guy (especially defensive sets, I can't imagine my Ubers teams without them, as they deal with offensive behemoths and stall at once. Too good to pass up.). 4% isn't that huge difference (however it's not small either) and I think in few months we may expect Mewtwo being Ubers king ;).
f) Uxie 9th in UU - As I expected - as a lead it's still unique enough to use it over Cresselia. However it may drop, but I don't think as much as some people expect.
g) Scyther 37th place - If I'm not mistaken Scyther right now is UU. Heck, it shows how much Cresselia affects usage of some forgotten earlier pokemon. Scyther is perfect example ;).
h) Absol 23rd - Well, I expected it a bit higher. A bit unrieliable, however I think it's still solid Cresselia check (just watch out on speedy Cresselia versions with Signal beam). Also STAB Sucker Punch helps alot against Porygon-Z. I think I'll be surprised not seeing it in UU top20 soon.

Thanks as always for statistics Doug ;). Good job dude :D.

[Bluewind]

Originally Posted by Fat Garganator

g) Scyther 37th place - If I'm not mistaken Scyther right now is UU. Heck, it shows much Cresselia affects usage of some forgotten earlier pokemon. Scyther is perfect example ;).
h) Absol 23rd - Well, I expected it a bit higher. A bit unrieliable, however I think it's still solid Cresselia check (just watch out on speedy Cresselia versions with Signal beam). Also STAB Sucker Punch helps alot against Porygon-Z. I think I'll be surprised not seeing it in UU top20 soon.

IMO Scyther's always been a solid pokémon, only overshadowed by its rocks weakness, and all Cresselia did was open people's eyes to this fact. It checks many pokés that are at the top, like Uxie and Venusaur; sweeps many stall teams so easily that it makes you cry and revenges some very common pokés in the current metagame, like Missy (HP Fighting), PZ, Moltres (around 70%) among others. CB U-Turning action is always useful too.
Regarding Absol, that was kinda bound to happen, and I gotta say I did expect it higher as well, as even though it's not as good as krowly, due to Cress' entrance in the tier, it had yet another reason to have its usage boosted furthermore.

[Lockeness]

Scizor is dropping. Hello Magnezone. It is always interesting to read these- thanks doug.

[SHUCKLE MAN]

Yeah, I also thought, with Honchkrow moving out, and Cresselia moving in, we'd see a larger Absol increase.

And Scyther has always been relatively popular (or at least, it's always been UU in DPP, heck, even since like RBY), so I don't think it's usage has increased that much.