This tier is kinda hard to build sometimes
a rant disguised as an essay by one of the best worst players in the metagame
I stole this formatting from the AAA forums and the :insertmon: spam going popular
So, as a personal opinion, gen 9 is fun, it's balanced, it has a lot of creativity thanks to tera, and it rewards interesting building and all fun all flowers and rainbows, but sometimes, things just don't go well, and It's not just me, some people often find themselves in this position, so I'm gonna take the anger of everybody and transform it into a shit post. So let's see some of the reasons why your "next heat team that's gonna change the meta entirely" falls flatter than a bowl of piss. I won't go into too much detail (so that people who don't have these problems don't call me a whiny little bitch) and these problems are in no particular order, so feel free to expand in whatever really
Chapter 1: Why do I always have 3 weak to Iron Valiant mons
The metagame is filled with Fighting types, Dragon types and Dark types. And for good reason, resist from these mons are scarce, meaning that they can do whatever they want, UNTIL
gets in, and then, you just take the L.
is so valuable right now because it's the best offensive fairy type in the tier right now, and while its defenses are poor, a quad resistance to dark and a dragon immunity always gets her some spots. And thanks to the large variety of sets it's running, one turn could very well mean the end of you, especially is that is either the specs set, or a booster set and the guy is playing 10D chess.
and
also deserve some special mentions, the former is nowadays a
counter that's more than able to pull her own into a game. The latter is either a HO para supporter or a Stall + Sun Breaker with Calm Mind. But both are threatening and valuable for their niches.
Chapter 2: Phanto(Me)
Once upon a time, GF decided to made Gen 8, the gen in game sucked, the gen in comp sucked, and everyone died, the end. But let's get to the point,
and
are the 4 available ghost types in this meta (if not counting tera) and these 4 post always a big problem, why? Because ghost is free, shadow ball and/or hex.
can stall and wall break,
can wall break and wall,
can wall break and
does the 5 at the same time, and the 4 have additional tools to make them harder to check alone,
has 4000 sets,
has W-o-W, a Sound Move and recovery,
has pure damage, recover, a boosting move and a broken ability, and
has a good move pool, types and its ability combines well with the meta. So you basically need to account for them in some fashion
Chapter 3: THE ONE PIECE, THE ONE PIECE IS REAL
and 
are our ghost resistance available, from these, is not a dark type, and he has its own chapter don't worry. and are frail, while different in move pool and functionality, the nasty weakness to fairy doesn't help a lot. is a momentum sinker and can't really damage the mon. And that leaves us with even tho quad neutral to fighting is bad, that has never stopped 
for success, and with a neutrality to fairy, great damage, enough bulk and priority, makes it a very anti-Bullshit mon, that gets slotted into a lot because fuck man, what are you supposed to do really. He really does everything, from sweep to wall break to come back to anything. It has become a necessary evil in order to keep the phantoms out of the fucking S tier. To the point where people have become too paranoid of this thing, max speed on defensive 
and ? Really?
Chapter 4: Mom would be sad if she saw the flying type pool in gen 9
Dexit + low defoggers means that our flying types in OU are LITERALLY 
and 
, if we count OU tier and not UUBL and lower, we literally have as many viable birds as FUCKING GEN 2. AND FROM THESE 2 DOESN'T EVEN USE FLYING MOVES UNLESS FOR SPECIFICALLY TROLLING 
. WHICH MEANS THAT IN REALITY, WE HAVE AS MANY VIABLE FLYING TYPES AS GEN 1. And that means we have to go to UU for the flying types, 
is HO only buts it's fun. 
is defensive oriented but its actually a better defogger thanks to . 
is rain, and let's be real for a sec rain is a gimmick (fun fact: tera fairy 
blanks both stabs, and It's overall decent in this meta) and 
which is a stall breaker (I haven't used it really) but he really is one of the mons of all time. Lack of defoggers and ground immunity means that sometimes your role compression can be easily fucked if predicts and Knocks Off your item.
Chapter 5: Garganacl (yep, we're doing this again)
I have already done a big ass post regarding this thing that keeps on creating 1000 new cheese sets per day, and to be honest, I'm getting too tired (I'm writing this while allergic, and it's 11:PM) but to keep it short, the "just put covert cloak" is one of the most short-sighted answers I have seen in this metagame. It stops momentum of any offensive mon that is not Grass, Ground or Fighting, and that can even fail if he teras. I know its never gonna get banned, but Andviet gave up, and I haven't seen YnotMence here in ages, so somebody has to keep the flame burning
Conclusion
These are just some of the common constricts I have found myself having in this metagame, some may agree, some may add more, some may disagree and get things off the list. But luckily, the player base has found ways to create wonderful teams even when all of these stuff is involved, so let's have a toast for everyone who uses the resources well, because you my friend are gonna be the one that conquers the world at the end of the day. If you wanna expand on something in particular, add or critique, do it, just give me likes. I'm going to bed now, I'm too tired (and feeling really sick)
This is an incredibly good post and I've been linking it in OU chat and sending it to friends periodically over the past 2 days.
My post about how building is a pain wasn't 1/8th as thought out or clear as this one so thank you for putting some of my frustrations into words.
Essentially, it feels like the mons we have do this awkward little dance with each other and leads to stale exchanges in battle.
Building feel more paint-by-numbers than I've ever experienced in my life.
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(This part has nothing to do with your post but if you want to give feedback feel free; you seem to have a grasp of some of the harder to understand aspects of this weird meta)
This is not a post about trying to get tera banned- this is a post about how I feel about the state of the meta.
I can't put it into words but tera makes this meta more restricting in a lot of ways when it comes to building and battling.
Or not restricting exactly, it's more like a pointless, or powerless feeling?
If I have X mon and opp has Y mon that lets Bax set up for free I could gain momentum by going Bax.
If my opp predicts my Bax and sends in Val, they should have momentum.
For that turn, they played better than me and deserve the momentum they now have.
However, thanks to tera, I can literally steal, not earn, but steal momentum by tera Poison on the Moon/CC and dance up.
Players are getting punished for the correct plays in this meta.
Momentum is getting stolen, not earned.
Not only that, but I had no fear of getting predicted.
If they don't predict right I get a dragon dance, if they do, I tera and get a dragon dance.
This literally brings the game down a level, instead of adding anything. This is what I mean by tera feels restricting.
My opp was restricted- they literally could not stop my 145attack mon from getting +1 in speed and attack.
Was the Val supposed to tera ground?
Was the mon that lets Bax set up for free supposed to tera and somehow handle Bax now?
Ik what some players, or, some forum posters will say: "Send in a mon that can handle Bax with a defensive tera."
Ok so they send, lets say a def tusk and tera water and kill Bax, all good right? Fun and fair meta?
Well, fuck no, actually, cuz now that Tusk no longer resists gambit I just KO it later that game and win.
That was actually my plan the entire time- and I won the game simply by putting things in +1 Bax range (not hard), getting in Bax, even in front of a Val, and forcing Tusk to tera Water for my late-game gambit win.
Or whatever. This is just a small example but
you can take this exchange as a math formula or an algorithm.
If X checks Y but Y can tera into Y(2) to check X then X is sacked or switched into Z which can handle Y(2) with a tera but now Z is Z(2) which now losses to B that Z would check but no longer does because it's now Z(2)
I'll plug in the mons I listed just to help people out.
If (Val) checks (Bax) but (Bax) can tera into (Bax-Psn) to check (Val) then (Val) is sacked or switched into (Tusk) which can handle (Bax-psn) with a tera but now (Tusk) is (Tusk-water) which now losses to (King) that it (Tusk) would check but no longer does because it's now (Tusk-water)
Or even a simpler way: How many times has a Dragonite turned normal so u can now kill it with body press from Tusk?
Just imagine that scenario at a higher level.
I play better and get a Val in vs a Nite, they STEAL momentum by tera normal and killing, but I STEAL it back now thanks to def Tusk.
That's the best case scenario and a frequent occurrence in this meta:
get your momentum stolen but steal it back.
What I outlined with the algorithm is that sometimes you can't steal it back.
You just rob or get robbed.
One player loses all momentum although they made the correct play. Best case they have a check they don't need healthy, worst case they lose the game, maybe not that turn but as I've stated, being forced to def tera just leaves you open for a worse exchange later.
This isn't every battle, but it's how I play my battles at a high level. I actively find a no-win situation my opp can't do anything about. I'm going to get that dragon dance boss, you literally can't stop me even though you played correctly lol
I'm forcing players to lose, and taking out any autonomy they have to win via skillful play.
Again not every battle, but more often that you would see in lower ladder, for sure.
I do it, and it happens to me.
As the meta progresses, and more high level tours are played, this issue gets worse and more exploitable.
I would give this meta a 7/10. If we could mitigate or outright stop exchanges like this it would improve significantly, imo.
Maybe in time players will realize instead of tera normal on the Nite they go into a check, or something. Not 100% sure how we, or the meta, will evolve when it comes to stealing and not earning momentum.
PS- again, this is not a "ban tera" post. I'm not trying to engage with anyone about tera. I realized recently that the argument is fun vs balance at it's core and it's a subjective taste of the player if they want to focus on more "gotcha" moments and enjoy seeing their Volc become a Grass type than they do about a balanced and competitive meta. (That was me in gen 7, I would have been pro Z moves although they lessen the balance and comp aspects of the game, so I understand where casual players are coming from) This post assumes Tera will never be banned and is fine with that, just expressing some frustrations with the meta and looking for possible solutions or different perspectives on this matter.
got a 3, which retains the consensus that has been so cheese forever that people just don't give a shit anymore
