Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4

[June Heat]

You can think whatever you want about the tier, but I just want to point out that this has never happened and the opposite is normally the case. Every CG format is put under a microscope by the active playerbase and scrutinized far more than older generations.

You know what, fair enough. In a years time the player base might be looking at SV OU fondly while dealing with whatever mess GF hands us come Gen 10. It very well could become another Gen 8 redemption story, and old posts like mine can be looked upon and mocked. Frankly I probably shouldn't have even made that post cause it really just added nothing, so, sorry. Call it my final vent as a player who was come in and out of SV OU for the past 3 years. I really have given this Generation a fair shake, and after playing various other metagames in between my stents in SV OU I can firmly say "Not for me."

For what its worth I do think you and the Council, past and present, have done a genuinely good job handling this Gen. I'm glad that ya'lls hard work has lead the meta to a state where people are fully enjoying it casually, and competitively. If you want to delete my prior post go for it. I wish you all the best RNG.

 

[658Greninja]

Happy Holidays Smogonites, I am here to gift you with 5 of the most absolute heat sets. One of these is freshly baked by me, the rest are from the innovative geniuses in the builder.

Gift No. 5

Ceruledge @ Life Orb
Ability: Weak Armor
Tera Type: Ghost/Fairy
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bitter Blade
- Poltergeist
- Close Combat/Tera Blast
- Shadow Sneak

It’s times like this where I realize Ceruledge doesn’t need an SD boost to destroy everything in its wake. Everyone who sees Poltergeist during battle will assume its safe to go into Garg, only to eat a fat Close Combat to the face. Tera Ghost LO Ceru still 2-shots a majority of the tier. Throw this with any generic Tusk + Hatt core and you got a goated breaker.

Gift No. 4

Darkrai @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Bad Dreams
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Tera Blast
- Rest

Idk who was behind this creation, but they conceived the most diabolical Darkrai set known to humanity. Have you ever wanted to rid Darkrai of its weakness to getting chipped over the course of a game by U-Turn, Status. and Salt Cure. Tera Fairy and Resto Chesto solves all those problems. As demonstrated by the late Roaring Moon, Dark/Fairy coverage is amazing, with G-Weez as the only switch-in (loses the 1v1 if Screens are up or if its Strange Steam). Tera Blast also cleanly snipes Gambit/Samu/Slither/Ting/Zama/Tusk without sacrificing a slot for an additional coverage option.

Gift No. 3

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Protect

This is not a new set at all. Its been around since the Gen 5 days, but I am gifting it to y’all anyways because Subtox holds up to this day. If you know what you’re doing, this set is broken vs Offense and any team lacking Gliscor, Tera Steel Lati, or the Steel birbs which the team could easily be built to humble. With the right positioning, Subtox Gliscor can 1v1 nearly every sweeper in the tier. Plus you get to employ the devious strat of PP stalling the opponent. With Tera Dark, you prevent Psychic Noise from fucking you up, and get to 1v1 Hatt via PP stalling Draining Kiss. Pair this with other ambiguous rockers like Tusk, Garg, Clef, or Tran so they never know who’s setting rocks.

Gift No. 2

Kyurem @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost/Steel/Fairy/Poison/Ice
EVs: 56 HP / 176 SpA / 76 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Freeze-Dry
- Endeavor

AV Kyurem has risen as the trade machine and special tank of BO teams. The 4th slot allows for endless creative expression. Most people run Dragon Tail or Draco, but I was feeling spicy when I decided to revive some good ol’ tech from Setsu , Endeavor Kyurem. I brought this to OUFL. Endeavor means no matter what, Kyurem is always taking something with it. It also means you bait Blissey into being at extremely low HP so something else on Kyurem’s squad can start sweeping the entire Stall team. Fortunately I didn’t need it and I can just spam my Ice and Ground moves.

(EV spread lets Kyurem tank Enam’s Specs boosted Moonblast and outspeed max Speed Pech and Tusk)

Gift No. 1

Moltres-Galar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Berserk
Tera Type: Dark/Fairy
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fiery Wrath
- Hurricane
- Agility

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2499179475-4qmt6ir2xgwak19h9agah8a53mtj6ahpw

After robbing Storm Zone of his ladder points one time while I was celebrating a well-played (and lucky) OUFL game, I am convinced Goltres is secretly the 3rd most braindead mon in the meta. This mon is so fat under screens that getting both a Nasty Plot and Agility boost is not unrealistic. It resists common priority like Sucker Punch and Grassy Glide while packing that crucial Dark/Ghost resistance to keep Specs Pult and Scarf Ghold from 6-0ing Offense. Shoutouts to Vert for inventing Tera Dark Goatres. The premise of this set is that Gambit will always click Iron Head in front of you, so instead you 2-shot with +2 Tera Dark Fiery Wrath while eating Iron Head + Sucker under screens. It also lets you OHKO Raging Bolt, Kyurem, AV Gking, and potentially OHKO Gliscor after a boost. With how spammed screens are rn, I’d be shocked if this somehow becomes OU proper.

 

[Achohermano]

When there's an issue in the tier (a Pokémon that's been outstanding aganist the competition and therefore being problematic), or a certain set / move that hasn't a counterplay developed at the moment, there's usually a lot of activity around it. I know that there's also the influence of having both natdex OU and ZA OU active at the momment (as well as the lower tiers / Ubers / LC), which divides the playerbase, but the lack of "complaints" and issues brought up by the playerbase (Ceruledge and Screens are the only two recent things that come to mind) is a sign of the tier actually improving.

Does that mean it's perfect? Of course not, everything can always be better (I have my personal issues with some stuff that I won't talk about in this post) but compared to the start of the year, I think we can all agree that SV OU has greatly improved. I don't know how the gen will be after it stops being CG (I honestly don't care, I always think about the present, that's why I never see arguments when banning / unbanning a Pokémon of "X will be broken, Y combination is gonna break the tier" as valid) but at the momment, we've improved. And that's really nice.

Happy holidays

 

[Hangfire]

I kind of disagree. We've reached a stagnant point in which offense is overinflated, and people still somehow don't realise Darkrai and friends should be on every team, balance or otherwise.

I've reached my limit with this meta. I will admit, I am just some guy. I don't have qualifications. But I speak as someone who's played for about half a year now, and reached around 1676 (if memory serves) on an alt account. Unfortunately I was too stupid to SC, and my ladder ranking has since fell.

Anyway, HO has far too many tools, IMO. Does that make it broken? Not neccesarily. I agree with the somewhat common sentiment that there aren't any banworthy offensive threats. My take is that there are so many offensive threats that you cannot build a consistent balance/bulky team without having a glaring weakness to something common in the meta. It's unpleasant.

The amount of times I have changed balance teams, only to trade issues with Raging Bolt for Iron Valiant, or Wogerpon, or Iron Def Zam, or one of the 50 Dragonite sets has gotten ad nausiem. And I just don't see a point in engaging competitively when I face HO 7 games in a row, and can only win half of them. I can't think of anything glaringly broken, but clearly something needs to change if we want balance to be the most viable archetype (which makes for a more competitive meta, btw).

As for people complaining about Alo: How are you struggling with Alo? Knock Off, Hazards, Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, WOGERPON! I honest to God have no idea how you could lack an out to Alomamola unless you're building a team without a breaking core.

People mistake what's immediately enjoyable to win with for what's balanced. Balance isn't flashy, but it's consistent and if you have an attention span, is fun.

 

[Avira]

When there's an issue in the tier (a Pokémon that's been outstanding aganist the competition and therefore being problematic), or a certain set / move that hasn't a counterplay developed at the moment, there's usually a lot of activity around it. I know that there's also the influence of having both natdex OU and ZA OU active at the momment (as well as the lower tiers / Ubers / LC), which divides the playerbase, but the lack of "complaints" and issues brought up by the playerbase (Ceruledge and Screens are the only two recent things that come to mind) is a sign of the tier actually improving.

Does that mean it's perfect? Of course not, everything can always be better (I have my personal issues with some stuff that I won't talk about in this post) but compared to the start of the year, I think we can all agree that SV OU has greatly improved. I don't know how the gen will be after it stops being CG (I honestly don't care, I always think about the present, that's why I never see arguments when banning / unbanning a Pokémon of "X will be broken, Y combination is gonna break the tier" as valid) but at the momment, we've improved. And that's really nice.

Happy holidays

Yeah, you're right that the tier has improved since the start of the year, and that's mainly 'cause gigathreat Roaring Moon was banned. That thing was so unfair to face and cheap. I believe many players if you ask them whether they view things as glass half-full or glass half-empty, they'd say glass half-empty with their pessimistic approach.

I personally do not enjoy Tera's presence in SV OU, but the OU Council has ensured that there was more tiering action this gen than in any other generation to compensate for Tera greatly increasing the power of set-up sweepers, and that has resulted in there being a more playable meta than at the start of the year. If ABR had been the tier leader for SV OU instead of Finchinator, we'd be getting a very clearly inadequate number of bans much like how Gen 7 OU remained unbalanced at the end of the generation with it being really match-up fishy.

So I thank the SV OU Council for its more proactive approach this generation since it is what the playerbase has needed. Happy holidays, everyone.