OMotM/LCotM Spotlight: Nature Swap and Camomons

By Gimmicky. Released: 2025/01/16.
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Art by anundeadboy

Art by anundeadboy.

What is an OMotM/LCotM?

The OMotM, or Other Metagame of the Month, is the metagame that is voted by the players to have a ladder for a specific month. The LCotM, or Leader's Choice of the Month, is a second ladder that is chosen specifically by OM Forum Mods. For the most part, the LCotM is a metagame that needs more love, as it may not be able to compete with the others that get nominated for the OMotM voting.

For January, the OM of the Month is Nature Swap, while the Leader's Choice is Camomons!

Introduction to Nature Swap

Nature Swap is a metagame where a Pokémon's nature can be used to swap its base stats around! For example, a Primarina with a Naive (+Speed, -Special Defense) nature would have base stats of 80/74/74/126/60/116, while an Adamant (+Attack, - Special Attack) nature would give it a spread of 80/126/74/74/116/60. In addition to the swap, the 10% debuff to the lowered stat is removed, while the 10% buff to the boosted stat remains, making swaps less risky and encouraging creative combinations! This allows Pokémon like Kingambit and Enamorus-T to take their solid Defense and use it to get an excellent Speed tier, or Pokémon with high HP but an underwhelming defensive stat like Drifblim and Dondozo to beef up their Defense and Special Defense, respectively. Naturally, some Pokémon get pushed over the edge with this change to their base stats; Azumarill, Deoxys-D, and Cloyster are all broken with access to such powerful offenses. At the same time, though, otherwise underwhelming Pokémon like Torkoal and Hisuian Avalugg find themselves as peers with threats like Kingambit and Great Tusk, and priority users can thrive in a metagame where so many Pokémon lower their defenses, giving opportunities for every Trainer to find something they like.

Threats in Nature Swap

avalugg-hisui

New Base Stats: 95/127/38/34/36/184

Welcome back, Chien-Pao! Hisuian Avalugg can, with a Hasty nature, swap its massive base 184 Defense and miniscule base 38 Speed to become the ultimate glass cannon, putting its meaty base 127 Attack to work! Mountain Gale, though inaccurate, is ludicrously strong and even packs a nasty 30% flinch chance that it can finally take advantage of. Stone Edge is a powerful option to threaten weakened Alomomola as well as common threats like Araquanid and Torkoal, and Earthquake smacks Gholdengo, Kingambit, and other Steel-types. Finally, Crunch is an option to hit Air Balloon Gholdengo, while Rapid Spin can be used to clear entry hazards for teammates in a pinch. Tera Ice allows Hisuian Avalugg to maximize the damage of Mountain Gale to incredible levels.

torkoal

New Base Stats: 70/85/85/140/70/20

Trick Room teams, rejoice! Torkoal can put its sky-high Defense to use in its Special Attack, giving it an absolutely nuclear Eruption that can, at full HP in sun, threaten an OHKO on even resisted targets like Roaring Moon and physically defensive Moltres. Torkoal's pitiful Speed works wonders for it in Trick Room, allowing it to effectively outpace almost the entire metagame and flip the table on newly speedy attackers like Kingambit and Iron Hands. Flamethrower is a powerful secondary STAB move when Torkoal drops below 60% HP, and Earth Power hits opposing Torkoal and Raging Bolt. Finally, Solar Beam gives Torkoal an option against bulky Water-types like Calm Dondozo and Assault Vest Alomomola. Tera Fire is preferred to maximize the damage of Eruption, but Tera Grass allows Torkoal to boost Solar Beam and leverage its still passable bulk to check Water-types.

cyclizar

New Base Stats: 70/95/65/85/121/65

There's more to this metagame than just powerful attackers! Even with Shed Tail (unsurprisingly) banned, Cyclizar finds a valuable place in the metagame. Donning a Sassy nature gives it excellent Special Defense and low Speed, making it perfect as a RegenVest pivot bundled with plenty of utility. Cyclizar's typing gives it a notable Ghost immunity and some valuable resistances as well, making it an incredible stopgap to attackers like Spectrier, Torkoal, and Serperior. On top of the expected utility moves of Rapid Spin, Knock Off, and U-turn, Cyclizar can choose between Dragon Tail for its incredible utility against setup sweepers and Draco Meteor to reduce its passivity and let it threaten foes more directly. Tera Ghost is chosen for a valuable Fighting immunity and to block Rapid Spin from Great Tusk and opposing Cyclizar in a pinch.

Introduction to Camomons

Camomons is a metagame with a beautifully simple premise: every Pokémon's typing is determined by their first two moves. For example, a Garchomp with a moveset of Earthquake / Liquidation / Swords Dance / Stealth Rock would be a Ground / Water type, while replacing Earthquake with Iron Head would make it a Steel / Water type. If you'd rather run a mono-type Pokémon, just run two moves of the same type! This effectively gives every Pokémon a STAB boost on any two moves of their choice and allows them to customize their defensive matchups as far as their movepools will allow. Pokémon otherwise held back by mediocre typings like Coalossal, Lycanroc-D, and Porygon-Z suddenly find themselves as metagame staples, while already good Pokémon like Great Tusk and Garganacl only get even more diverse. Some Pokémon are even too good for the tier, like Roaring Moon and Manaphy! This metagame allows for rare or unseen combinations like Ground / Fairy and Normal / Ghost to suddenly become metagame-relevant and gives plenty of otherwise underutilized Pokémon a chance to shine. Trainers can get as creative as they'd like with their favorites!

Threats in Camomons

volcanion

New Typing: Water / Ground

Water / Ground with Water Absorb? Arceus, it's Gastrodon! Volcanion is able to drop its somewhat underwhelming base typing and trade it for a powerful STAB-boosted Earth Power, allowing it to threaten the bulky Water-types it switches in on like Alomomola, Slowking, and Gliscor! Steam Eruption is as powerful a move as ever, and Focus Blast is a powerful option to hit Steel-type Hydreigon. Sludge Bomb is preferred on rain teams, giving Volcanion a powerful smack against Fairy-types like Great Tusk, Latias, and Necrozma, but standard offense teams can opt to run Flamethrower for a more consistent option against common Steel / Flying types like Empoleon, Scizor, and Iron Crown. Even without any investment in bulk, Volcanion serves as an excellent check to Water-types and especially rain teams thanks to Water Absorb and its decent bulk.

hydreigon

New Typing: Dragon / Steel

With Flash Cannon, Hydreigon finds itself with an excellent defensive typing of Dragon / Steel boosted even further by Levitate negating its Ground weakness. This turns Hydreigon into an absolutely ludicrous sweeper and wallbreaker, able to consistently switch in against the tier's many Earthquake, Thunderbolt, and Surf users to wreak havoc. STAB Draco Meteor is as threatening as ever, while Flash Cannon is an excellent pairing for its ability to hit common Fairy-types like Great Tusk, Cresselia, and Clefable. Flamethrower is important for its ability to smack Steel-types that would otherwise wall Hydreigon like Empoleon, Ting-Lu, and Gholdengo. Hydreigon's fantastic coverage and great type options make it a staple on balance and bulky offense teams, able to cleave through opposing teams with ease with Nasty Plot.

deoxys-defense

New Typing: Ghost / Normal

No longer held back by a mediocre mono-Psychic typing, Deoxys-D can shine as one of the best pivots and entry hazard setters in the tier. With Night Shade and Recover, Deoxys-D gains the much coveted Ghost / Normal typing, boasting a whopping 3 immunities and a resistance to the common U-turn, allowing it to make the most of its gargantuan bulk. Night Shade is a consistent attack that keeps Deoxys-D from being too passive. Spikes is notably superior to Stealth Rock here, as most Pokémon completely opt out of a Rock weakness, but Stealth Rock is still an option to chip Levitate users and Flying-types. Knock Off lets Deoxys-D remove Heavy-Duty Boots to make its hazards even more dangerous, while Teleport makes it a fantastic pivot. Deoxys-D is a crucial part of many great offense teams, reliably setting up hazards and leveraging its many neutralities to bring in its powerful teammates.

Final Thoughts

From the stat-shifting shenanigans of Nature Swap to the captivating creativity of Camomons, January's spotlights offer fun experiences for any player. Come discuss, play, and learn about these metagames and more like them in the Other Metas room this month!

HTML by Lumari.
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