ok I wrote this up. I haven't really proofread it that much so sorry if there are a lot of errors!!
I think I got most of the metagame differences from the thread I posted yesterday, but I could easily add more later obviously.
Also I didn't write a conclusion yet... whatever
anyway
-------------------
Wi-Fi Metagame
Introduction
The Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle scenes are undeniably different. Wi-Fi battling is rarely discussed, and the only tools for analysis are battle videos and firsthand accounts from battlers, whereas Shoddy Battle's simulated battles are scrutinized and analyzed using usage statistics from hundreds of thousands of battles held each month. And Wi-Fi has a metagame all on its own with several unique traits that set it apart from Shoddy Battle. This guide will detail and explain the differences between the Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle metagames.
Battle Style
Battling on a Pokemon simulator is extremely fast-paced; battles could easily be over in under five minutes. Wi-Fi battles, on the other hand, take at least ten minutes with some lasting over an hour. To make the battles as quick as possible (decreasing the risk for a random disconnection), Wi-Fi battlers rarely use heavy stall teams, often opting for offense or balanced teams instead.
The almost complete lack of one of the common battling styles is probably the most notable difference between Shoddy Battle and Wi-Fi battling. The effects of full stall teams being absent on the Wi-Fi metagame are obviously huge. Tricking Choice items is a much less powerful strategy because it's less likely you'll catch a wall off-guard and much more likely you'll give an opposing sweeper a new Choice item to work with.
To be a successful battler on Shoddy Battle, you'll have to prepare for stall teams by using specialized wall breakers like Mixed Infernape or "bluff" Pokemon. These Pokemon often hold Expert Belt to make your opponent think you're holding a Choice item. On Wi-Fi, these Pokemon are less useful, and good battlers usually opt for more consistent Pokemon.
Stall teams usually rely on setting up as many entry hazards as possible and forcing your opponent to switch around. Wi-Fi teams still use Stealth Rock, but Toxic Spikes and Spikes are far less common. The absence of Toxic Spikes and stall teams arguably affects Vaporeon the most (in a positive way). Being a grounded bulky Water-type, Vaporeon is crippled by Toxic Spikes—it also can't do much of anything against stall teams. The lack of both on Wi-Fi makes Vaporeon a good fit for most teams.
So My Secret Key is Useless?
Pokemon Platinum introduced several new formes into the metagame. Shaymin, Giratina, and Rotom all got new formes with stats all their own. While Shaymin-S and Giratina-O are banned from standard play, Rotom-A is not; the new Rotom formes are very potent threats in the Shoddy Battle metagame. However, Wi-Fi play completely eliminates this threat because using Platinum formes is impossible. The complete lack of Rotom-A on Wi-Fi means Gyarados is much more potent, as Rotom-A is one of the most potent Gyarados revenge killers on Shoddy Battle. Rapid Spin is also easier without Rotom-A, as the plasma ghost is commonly used as a spinblocker on Shoddy Battle. Lastly, slow stat boosters are more useful as Rotom-A is one of the most ubiquitous TrickScarfers.
The Legend and Event Factor
Some legendary Pokemon and event Pokemon (mainly 3rd Generation event Pokemon) are extremely hard to get at all, much less find ones with a good nature and set of IVs. Specially, I'm referring to Suicune, Raikou, and Wish Blissey. The former two can only be found via Pokemon Colosseum or the 10th Anniversary Events. Both of these mediums are very unreliable when searching for Pokemon with good usable natures and IVs. In the same vein, Blissey with Wish can only be found via the 3rd generation PCNY Event, making Wish Blissey extremely rare to the point of being nonexistant. The main way this affects the metagame is Suicune, especially offensive Suicune with Hidden Power Electric, being much rarer. Gyarados and Flygon are examples of some of the Pokemon that benefit from Suicune's lower usage. Wish Blissey is primarily used on stall teams, which aren't seen on Wi-Fi for reasons explained above. Raikou isn't usually seen in Overused play even on Shoddy Battle, but it has been said that Raikou may not be Borderline-material on Wi-Fi because it's so difficult to find a usable Raikou with Hidden Power Ice.
Nice Weather Lately
One of Platinum's most unintentional influences on the Wi-Fi metagame is on odd weather effect, commonly known as acid rain. In short, invoking acid rain involves one player KOing a fleeing Pokemon with Pursuit while some kind of field effect other than rain is active. Doing this causes the weather to go permanently haywire. Because of this, a new clause, appropriately named "Weather Clause," has been made to ban all weather-inducers. Even if Weather Clause isn't in play, Tyranitar and other weather-inducers are seldom seen out of fear for inducing acid rain. Rock-types that benefit from sandstorm's Special Defense boost lose some of their power. Other Pokemon that are normally hampered by Tyranitar will also benefit from its dramatic drop in usage. Also, if you decide to forgo using Tyranitar but Weather Clause is not in play, then Rain Dance teams get exponentially better without the most common weather-inducer coming in.
Staying Power
Compared to the Shoddy Battle metagame, Wi-Fi's metagame evolves at a snail's pace. Battling on Wi-Fi requires you to breed (or trade for) and EV six Pokemon for a team; this is very time consuming. Because of this, Wi-Fi battlers are much more likely to use standard Pokemon that are tested and proven to work over more abstract Pokemon that may work sometimes (Anti-Metagame Pokemon fall under this too). What this means for you is that it's usually safe to expect Pokemon to carry common movesets like Mixed Swampert, Choice Band Scizor, and Dragon Dance Salamence.
Fancy Pokeballs
This last point isn't necessarily a competitive trait in the Wi-Fi metagame as it is a trend; many Wi-Fi battlers use RNG-abused caught Pokemon, to show off special "nice looking" Pokeballs, over bred Pokemon. Doing this will give away some information to your opponent; specifically, using Pokemon in anything other than a Pokeball tells your opponent that your Pokemon has no egg moves. For example, an acute opponent will glean that a Roserade in a Dusk Ball does not have Sleep Powder or Spikes, and adjust his moves accordingly.
Conclusion
Understanding the differences between the Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle metagames will allow you to compete at the best of your ability wherever you play. You'll be able to make vital changes to your teams and also use different moves when needed.
I hope you found this article useful; now go battle!
I think I got most of the metagame differences from the thread I posted yesterday, but I could easily add more later obviously.
Also I didn't write a conclusion yet... whatever
anyway
-------------------
Wi-Fi Metagame
Introduction
The Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle scenes are undeniably different. Wi-Fi battling is rarely discussed, and the only tools for analysis are battle videos and firsthand accounts from battlers, whereas Shoddy Battle's simulated battles are scrutinized and analyzed using usage statistics from hundreds of thousands of battles held each month. And Wi-Fi has a metagame all on its own with several unique traits that set it apart from Shoddy Battle. This guide will detail and explain the differences between the Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle metagames.
Battle Style
Battling on a Pokemon simulator is extremely fast-paced; battles could easily be over in under five minutes. Wi-Fi battles, on the other hand, take at least ten minutes with some lasting over an hour. To make the battles as quick as possible (decreasing the risk for a random disconnection), Wi-Fi battlers rarely use heavy stall teams, often opting for offense or balanced teams instead.
The almost complete lack of one of the common battling styles is probably the most notable difference between Shoddy Battle and Wi-Fi battling. The effects of full stall teams being absent on the Wi-Fi metagame are obviously huge. Tricking Choice items is a much less powerful strategy because it's less likely you'll catch a wall off-guard and much more likely you'll give an opposing sweeper a new Choice item to work with.
To be a successful battler on Shoddy Battle, you'll have to prepare for stall teams by using specialized wall breakers like Mixed Infernape or "bluff" Pokemon. These Pokemon often hold Expert Belt to make your opponent think you're holding a Choice item. On Wi-Fi, these Pokemon are less useful, and good battlers usually opt for more consistent Pokemon.
Stall teams usually rely on setting up as many entry hazards as possible and forcing your opponent to switch around. Wi-Fi teams still use Stealth Rock, but Toxic Spikes and Spikes are far less common. The absence of Toxic Spikes and stall teams arguably affects Vaporeon the most (in a positive way). Being a grounded bulky Water-type, Vaporeon is crippled by Toxic Spikes—it also can't do much of anything against stall teams. The lack of both on Wi-Fi makes Vaporeon a good fit for most teams.
So My Secret Key is Useless?
Pokemon Platinum introduced several new formes into the metagame. Shaymin, Giratina, and Rotom all got new formes with stats all their own. While Shaymin-S and Giratina-O are banned from standard play, Rotom-A is not; the new Rotom formes are very potent threats in the Shoddy Battle metagame. However, Wi-Fi play completely eliminates this threat because using Platinum formes is impossible. The complete lack of Rotom-A on Wi-Fi means Gyarados is much more potent, as Rotom-A is one of the most potent Gyarados revenge killers on Shoddy Battle. Rapid Spin is also easier without Rotom-A, as the plasma ghost is commonly used as a spinblocker on Shoddy Battle. Lastly, slow stat boosters are more useful as Rotom-A is one of the most ubiquitous TrickScarfers.
The Legend and Event Factor
Some legendary Pokemon and event Pokemon (mainly 3rd Generation event Pokemon) are extremely hard to get at all, much less find ones with a good nature and set of IVs. Specially, I'm referring to Suicune, Raikou, and Wish Blissey. The former two can only be found via Pokemon Colosseum or the 10th Anniversary Events. Both of these mediums are very unreliable when searching for Pokemon with good usable natures and IVs. In the same vein, Blissey with Wish can only be found via the 3rd generation PCNY Event, making Wish Blissey extremely rare to the point of being nonexistant. The main way this affects the metagame is Suicune, especially offensive Suicune with Hidden Power Electric, being much rarer. Gyarados and Flygon are examples of some of the Pokemon that benefit from Suicune's lower usage. Wish Blissey is primarily used on stall teams, which aren't seen on Wi-Fi for reasons explained above. Raikou isn't usually seen in Overused play even on Shoddy Battle, but it has been said that Raikou may not be Borderline-material on Wi-Fi because it's so difficult to find a usable Raikou with Hidden Power Ice.
Nice Weather Lately
One of Platinum's most unintentional influences on the Wi-Fi metagame is on odd weather effect, commonly known as acid rain. In short, invoking acid rain involves one player KOing a fleeing Pokemon with Pursuit while some kind of field effect other than rain is active. Doing this causes the weather to go permanently haywire. Because of this, a new clause, appropriately named "Weather Clause," has been made to ban all weather-inducers. Even if Weather Clause isn't in play, Tyranitar and other weather-inducers are seldom seen out of fear for inducing acid rain. Rock-types that benefit from sandstorm's Special Defense boost lose some of their power. Other Pokemon that are normally hampered by Tyranitar will also benefit from its dramatic drop in usage. Also, if you decide to forgo using Tyranitar but Weather Clause is not in play, then Rain Dance teams get exponentially better without the most common weather-inducer coming in.
Staying Power
Compared to the Shoddy Battle metagame, Wi-Fi's metagame evolves at a snail's pace. Battling on Wi-Fi requires you to breed (or trade for) and EV six Pokemon for a team; this is very time consuming. Because of this, Wi-Fi battlers are much more likely to use standard Pokemon that are tested and proven to work over more abstract Pokemon that may work sometimes (Anti-Metagame Pokemon fall under this too). What this means for you is that it's usually safe to expect Pokemon to carry common movesets like Mixed Swampert, Choice Band Scizor, and Dragon Dance Salamence.
Fancy Pokeballs
This last point isn't necessarily a competitive trait in the Wi-Fi metagame as it is a trend; many Wi-Fi battlers use RNG-abused caught Pokemon, to show off special "nice looking" Pokeballs, over bred Pokemon. Doing this will give away some information to your opponent; specifically, using Pokemon in anything other than a Pokeball tells your opponent that your Pokemon has no egg moves. For example, an acute opponent will glean that a Roserade in a Dusk Ball does not have Sleep Powder or Spikes, and adjust his moves accordingly.
Conclusion
Understanding the differences between the Wi-Fi and Shoddy Battle metagames will allow you to compete at the best of your ability wherever you play. You'll be able to make vital changes to your teams and also use different moves when needed.
I hope you found this article useful; now go battle!
