2v2 Doubles in Generation 8 - How We Got Here, and Where We Are Now
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Art by Kaiju Bunny.
Introduction
Don't know what 2v2 Doubles is? 2v2 Doubles is an OM (Other Metagame) based on combining the popular OM, 1v1, with Doubles and its mechanics. Essentially, it's a double battle in which you bring four Pokémon and pick two to battle with. Prior to Generation 8, this metagame had little activity, not really having much of a community around it. But within the span of a little over a year, that changed. It's now one of the permanent formats on the PS! ladder, with an active room and Discord server alongside various forum tournaments. What happened within that time span, you might ask? Well, you'll have to continue reading to find out!
How We Got Here
2v2 Doubles didn't start out the generation the way it is now. As I mentioned before, the metagame didn't really have a community prior to this generation—just people who played its room tournaments in the 1v1, OM, and Tournaments rooms. With the generational shift, the former leader no longer had the motivation to continue leading the metagame and gave the position to one of their council members—yours truly.
Early SS
Pre-Home
With the generational shift, 2v2 Doubles found its home in the OM forum, having a new thread in which the community started to take shape. Various mini-tournaments were hosted in the thread, generally consisting of around 8-16 people, for purposes of developing the metagame and finding threats that may be banworthy. A notable example of one of these threats was Dynamax, which was ravaging a plethora of metagames at the time. After a few mini-tournaments and the establishment of preliminary resources, Dynamax was put to a vote by the 2v2 Council and banned.
A little bit after this event, 2v2 won the OM of the Month voting hosted by the OM forums, in which it was given a ladder for a month. This ladder brought with it the discovery of newfound strategies, such as Trick Room Hatterene, Torkoal in sun teams, and Dracovish in rain teams. The latter in particular found overwhelming success in one of the first 2v2 tournaments in the OM forum, leading to discussion about suspecting it. With the month of a ladder about to end, Dracovish was suspected and banned with a slim margin.
Post-Home
While Pokémon Home was not that big of an addition compared to the DLCs, it significantly changed the landscape of the 2v2 metagame. New Pokémon such as Incineroar and Melmetal quickly rose to the top of usage and viability. Melmetal was the more controversial of the two with its Double Iron Bash, great bulk, and good synergy with Trick Room builds.
While the 2v2 Council wanted to suspect test the Pokémon, it lacked a place to really host a suspect test, no longer having a ladder. After some discussion with 1v1 and OM staff, it was given a subroom to host suspect tournaments, intended to last for the duration of the suspect. I'd personally say this was the turning point for 2v2's development. Before this, 2v2 didn't really have a good place for discussion and room tournaments. Sure, places like 1v1 and OMs did give opportunities to discuss those things before, but only sparingly at best. With a newly acquired room, discussions happened more frequently, causing the community to grow even more. After the Melmetal suspect and its ban, the 2v2's subroom had enough activity to convince the PS! staff to keep it around, and it became its own independent room.
2v2 Doubles Premier League I
A few months later, 2v2 had its first major tournament: 2v2PL I. Four teams faced off in Generations 6-8 of 2v2 Doubles. This was the first time 2v2's oldgens got some tournament development; SM and ORAS were seen as more diverse alternatives to the current generation. That isn't to say that Generation 8 didn't get its fair share of development, with Pokémon such as Mew, the aforementioned Incineroar, Indeedee-F, and Zeraora becoming top-tier threats. The tournament ended with the Hotshot Heatmors winning against the Shmepic.
DLC 1
Much of DLC 1 in 2v2 was defined by the tournaments of that period.
OM Snake Draft
With 2v2's rise as one of the biggest OMs without a permanent ladder, it was given a slot in OM Snake Draft III. This tournament featured notable 2v2 players such as Mishimono, Monsareeasy, and D2TheW alongside new faces to the SS 2v2 metagame such as anime sans and K3ppr. With the DLC's new additions, a new metagame developed with Urshifu-S at the forefront. Commonly seen with its fast Fake Out partner Zeraora, the two dominated the scene, both having over 25% usage and a 50% winrate. Older Pokémon such as Incineroar and Mew still did well, alongside new metagame picks such as Primarina, Talonflame, Necrozma, Rillaboom, Cinderace, and Amoonguss. After the tournament ended, there were calls for Urshifu-S to be suspected, but it ultimately was not due to how close DLC 2 was.
2v2 Classic I
2v2 Classic was 2v2's next big tournament, featuring the oldgens seen in 2v2PL I with the notable addition of BW 2v2, an oldgen that quickly developed to join the ranks. The Cups featured the likes of Aliss, London13, Mishimono, emma, pqs, Le Creme Brule, Sanshokuinsumireko, and D2TheW, who all made playoffs. Of these qualifiers, Aliss won SM Cup, Mishimono won ORAS Cup, and D2TheW won BW Cup. The playoffs ended with London13 beating emma in the finals to become the tournament's winner.
Where we are now
With the Second DLC drop, the 2v2 community was finally given the thing it was working towards for all this time—a permanent ladder.
A look into the current metagame
Urshifu-S, though not as potent as it was in DLC 1, is still undoubtedly the tier’s best Pokémon. With its great STAB combination of Wicked Blow + Close Combat alongside its Protect-bypassing ability, Unseen Fist, it is easily the best offensive threat in the SS 2v2 metagame. It synergizes amazingly well with fast attackers such as Naganadel and Zeraora. Despite its 4x weakness to Fairy and low Special Defense, it has decent physical bulk, allowing it to take a few hits from physical attackers.
With the new change in Speed mechanics this generation, speed control has become one of the vital factors in gaining the upper hand within the course of a 2v2 battle. In the fast-paced metagame that is 2v2, many games are decided by whether a team can make a play to remove Pokémon that are threatening before they can remove your Pokémon and put you in a bad position. Bulky Tailwind setters such as Zapdos and Suicune take advantage of their ability to tank hits in order to set it up. Priority Tailwind users such as Talonflame, Tornadus, and Whimsicott take advantage of the newer Speed mechanics by removing the need for a teammate to use a move such as Protect before the Speed boost is activated, therefore allowing for teammates to outspeed and nab KOs more effectively. Zeraora and Pheromosa are also notable speed control users due to their great Speed stats alongside Speed-reducing spread moves such as Electroweb and Icy Wind.
Great teammates for Pokémon like these include Pokémon that are decently fast with good offensive capabilities such as Kyurem-B, Genesect, Galarian Zapdos, Tapu Lele, and Urshifu-S.
Nevertheless, offensive Pokémon with great natural Speed are still some of 2v2's premier threats. Cinderace has great super effective coverage moves that gain STAB with its signature ability, Libero. Naganadel and Nihilego are both very good Poison-types that hit top-tier threats quite well, alongside activating Beast Boost upon each KO, making it easier to break past bulkier cores.
While fast offense is one of the primary ways of playing, Pokémon that are defensive backbones while still being able to take hits are still widely used. Pokémon such as Tapu Fini and Zygarde utilize boosting moves such as Calm Mind and Dragon Dance to deal more damage. Pokémon such as Incineroar and Kyurem-B use their natural bulk, Attack, and items such as Assault Vest and Chople Berry to devote to taking and dishing out hits.
While support options outside of Tailwind are not as prevalent as they once were in previous iterations of SS 2v2, they do still hold places on a variety of teams. Pokémon such as Indeedee-F and Togekiss are the redirectors of the format, having nice bulk and pairing well with frail offensive Pokémon such as Cinderace and Nihilego. Diancie and Cresselia are examples of Trick Room users that can pave the way for slower Pokémon such as Eruption Heatran. Mew is a great example of an extremely versatile Pokémon, being able to use moves such as Fake Out, Imprison + Transform, and a large variety of other options alongside its choice of coverage.
2v2 going forward
With the first year of Generation 8 done, 2v2 Doubles looks to grow more with the continuation the generation, looking to branch out into analyses, alongside more tournament and oldgens development. Just recently, our second team tour, 2v2PL II, has concluded, with The Gucci Gang Grookeys as its winners. Alongside that, the finals of the 2v2 Doubles Ladder Tournament is ongoing, featuring the likes of 2v2 veteran Knuckstrike against a well-known community member in Krytocon.
Conclusion
Looking to get into 2v2? There are various hubs of discussion, most notably the 2v2 room and the 2v2 Discord. We also have a ladder on PS! alongside sample teams that can help you learn the metagame. Make sure to sign up for its forum tournaments. As always, thank you for reading, and have a nice day!
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