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Metagame Convergence [OM of the Month (New Bans post #465)]

I may have severely misjudged the power level of this tier

Pheal Lando-T, Adap Greninja, Ddance Garchomp
Hell, i just scrolled past dragons maw haxorus and now im terrified
 
Hey guys it's been awhile, so I'll be brief. Tomorrow night at 9:30 pm EST will be when any action regarding the future of the tier will be made. I do see where some problematic things are festering in the tier for over a year, and trust they will be dealt with. However, until then I implore players to build, battle and discuss in here exactly what they feel is the most pertinent threats to tackle. Hope everyone has a great two days of battling!
 
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I'm fully prepared to ruin everyone's enjoyment of Convergence. Just you wait.
 
BELLY SPAM

Team: https://pokepast.es/e16c68c500f71449

Team basically just relies on getting one free turn and then just sweeping the entire enemy team. Its really scuffed and fishy, but it also works to the point that I've gone like 16-0 in challenges just off of how strong the drummers in the tier are.

wugtrio.gif
@ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Memento
- Yawn
- Taunt
Lead Wugtrio (it would be Barraskewda if no species clause) is a very underrated lead that can get up rocks in front of magic bouncers, as well as abuse yawn due to sleep not being banned. If the opponent lets themself be yawned, then its basically ggs with a free turn with any drummer.


umbreon.gif
@ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Wish
- Protect
- Foul Play
- Parting Shot
broken-eon is required on all teams, so its here too. Also might add

conkeldurr.gif
@ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Bullet Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Mach Punch
Conk as a drummer is pretty consistent, and is pretty easy to setup. Pretty much anything that isnt over 100/100 bulk with full investment is dying to mach, and anything resisting mach will just die to coverage. Hitting umbreon with its stab move is also very nice for this team.

snorlax.gif
@ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Feint
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat
- Belly Drum
Another belly drummer that is pretty easy to setup most of the time. Tech is a bit mid since it only boosts feint, but its still the strongest way to boost it. Feint is ran over quick attack since its nice to be able to outprio prankster and other priority moves, even though the bp drop sucks.

ogerpon.gif
(F) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Queenly Majesty
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power Trip
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Reversal

Ogerpon is just an antiprio sweeper, which only can really setup in niche situations. If they cant outspeed it at +1 or prevent salac then its basically ggs. Unfortunately, im sort of forced to run reversal since +6 hjk WONT KILL AN UMBREON (???)

barraskewda.gif
@ Mystic Water
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crabhammer
- Aqua Jet
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
Funny mon that ohkos literally everything if it manages to setup on some frail wall or a scared switchout. Physdef suicune cant even survive a crabhammer from this guy at +6. The only real way to live a hit is to be a resist in sun or to be running an immunity ability.

This team obv isnt really "good" (I mean its literally lead wugtrio), and it just loses on preview to psysurge or unaware cress, but it kinda shows how dumb belly drum can be if you can get it in an okay matchup. Even if its MU fishy, the counterplay is rare enough and the # of drummers is high enough that its honestly really hard to deal with consistently.
 
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Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 224 HP / 32 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Court Change / Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Morning Sun

Raging Bolt @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Thunderclap
- Volt Switch

mini sun core ive enjoyed a lot. rgb was indirectly buffed by the presence of good drought users and the fact that fat waters are everywhere while defensive grounds are worse in general, to the point where a lot of teams kinda just explode to it. cm sets probably also work and are likely a lot more sun-independent. ive also enjoyed bulky msun ace, sets sun and sticks around surprisingly well and still packs enough firepower to maim both offensive and defensive mons on top of bring burns and hazard game.

you can go semisun or hard lean on it with like chloro zarude ebutton bouncer etc. i think both are cool.
 
Persian-Alola should be banned. With Fur Coat, Umbreon puts such a ridiculous chokehold on the tier that any physically offensive Pokemon that cannot hit Umbreon supereffectively is borderline useless.
+6 252+ Atk Snorlax Hyper Drill vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Umbreon: 216-255 (54.8 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Dragon's Maw Haxorus Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Umbreon: 109-129 (27.6 - 32.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Guts Ursaluna Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fur Coat Umbreon: 135-159 (34.2 - 40.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Roaring Moon should be banned for having Hustle. Aside from Umbreon (which can get chipped by U-Turn), there is basically no reliable wall to this Pokemon, especially Choice Banded variants.
252 Atk Choice Band Hustle Roaring Moon Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 199-235 (65.6 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Hustle Roaring Moon Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 211-250 (63.1 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Why is Dire Claw allowed? Why Sneasler too?

https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/battle-gen9convergence-2492479671-vmyfr10vedodm6n6ye987dp3a1gy9o9pw
 
Also seems like the validator is only looking at one Pokemon at a time currently.
1764726930701.png

1764726877913.png
This set should be legal. Infernal Parade from Typhlosion-H and Energy Ball from Chandelure. But it says Skeledirge can't learn Energy Ball
Then when I reverse the move order it says Skeledirge can't learn Infernal Parade.

If I'm not mistaken, this should be a possible moveset. The example sets use multiple Pokemon, so what's the deal?
 
Also seems like the validator is only looking at one Pokemon at a time currently.
This set should be legal. Infernal Parade from Typhlosion-H and Energy Ball from Chandelure. But it says Skeledirge can't learn Energy Ball
Then when I reverse the move order it says Skeledirge can't learn Infernal Parade.

If I'm not mistaken, this should be a possible moveset. The example sets use multiple Pokemon, so what's the deal?
This probably something to be reported to Bug Reports. This seems to happen to all three of them, giving a different invalid message based on if they naturally learn the last move. Even weirder is that if you put Slack Off in the last slot, all of the sets work
IMG_0673.jpeg

You cant see it cause mobile, but skele with the exact same set is in the first slot, only that its last move it slack off. I did test the others and they are valid using slack off last
 
This probably something to be reported to Bug Reports. This seems to happen to all three of them, giving a different invalid message based on if they naturally learn the last move. Even weirder is that if you put Slack Off in the last slot, all of the sets work
View attachment 790469
You cant see it cause mobile, but skele with the exact same set is in the first slot, only that its last move it slack off. I did test the others and they are valid using slack off last
Even weirder, it seems to be JUST slack off in third that causes this. I swapped it out for wisp on the dirge set and it worked perfectly fine on validation
 
Ok good night people. As promised we will be dropping the banhammer tonight. But before we do so, we will need to do some god honest housecleaning for our great metagame, as alot of things feel outdated or inconsistent.

Firstly, right off the bat, we will be removing the Sleep Clause from the tier, and will be implementing the Sleep Moves clause. Spore is already, but irregardless Sleep Powder is around and allows Pokémon to easily past its checks, especially since this move has traditionally been limited to frail and or slow lower tiered mons, while Convergence removes this issue. This also doesn't even address cheese gods with moves like Hypnosis to roll the dice with competitive play. This also will make Convergence consistent with tiering philosophies held by the Other Metagame's subforum as a whole.

Next on the list, how we will handle banning andtiering of the metagame should be made clear. In the past it has been a bit confusing on what would be banned versus what wouldn't be banned in this metagame . Take for example the Primarina vs Huge Power debate in lieu of Pure Power's ban. The fact of the matter is that in Convergence, abilities and moves hold alot less weight than the individual user. All Dark Grasses share all of the same toolkit, and it's up to the individual mons themselves to abuse said toolkit. With that being said, if problematic elements show up, Pokémon will always be the priority, unless it can be proven without reasonable doubt that a specific element ala a move or ability is broken itself - meaning irregardless of user it has a negative impact on the metagame (for example of a clear cut option, Shed Tail is broken on every Mon that gets access to it, across all typings. Therefore it's banned). To keep with that logic in mind, I will be henceforth, removing Pure Power from the existing Banlist, and Gallade will thus be banned immediately. This remains consistent with decisions like the aforementioned Primarina and other decisions like Lilligant-Hisui being banned instead of Victory Dance, while Population Bomb was banned instead of both Maushold and Tandemaus. All other outstanding issues that fall under this new approach will be handled as well.

Now that we got some things out of the way, we will now be moving forward with what will be banned from the metagame. Expect the upcoming bans to heavily showcase the tiering phenomenon in action.

Umbreon, Comfey, Roaring Moon, Haxorus, Sneasler and Final Gambit are hereby and henceforth banned from Convergence!

:ss/Umbreon::ss/Comfey::ss/roaring-moon::ss/haxorus::ss/sneasler::ss/blissey:
*Due to OM tiering policy, we are banning Comfey since it is the sole donor of the ability Triage.
:Umbreon:
Umbreon is THE physical wall. It's a Pokémon that cannot be broken by physical attackers at all, which is a problem when Umbreon has incredible special bulk and a wide enough utility Movepool to cripple or remove any form of counterplay. Knocking Off Choice items, crippling with Status or healing itself of its own, pivoting out with Parting Shot, you name it, Umbreon can do it. We banned Umbreon instead of Persian-Alola due to it being the only prominent abuser of the ability, it's stats being tailor made to fully abuse it. Umbreon is too good of a physical wall, and this will be seeing the ax.

:Comfey:
Triage has been in the mod for awhile, and has slowly earned the ire of everyone who faces it. No longer confined to a poorly statted attacker with a pitiful Movepool, Triage takes center stage as an unstoppable set up sweeper once it's given even the slightest leeway. Steels are often users go to means of stopping the sweep, but Fairies have access to a plethora of coverage options to shut them down in its tracks. Outside of that your options are limited to running Toxapex which doesn't fit on most structures. This we have decided that we had to remove it from the metagame.

:roaring-moon:
Roaring Moon is a devastating wallbreaker with Hustle boosted attacks, even putting Umbreon on a list whenever it clicks U-turn or Outrage. It's high speed and resistance to common priority moves in Aqua Jet and Sucker Punch makes it hard to revenge kill as well, showing it terrorizes offense and Even with the unreliable aspect of Hustle being something to take note of, it matters little when Moon does it, something does, and it hits more often than it doesn't. It's combined tools makes Roaring Moon too potent of a threat to allow in Convergence.

:haxorus:
Simply put, nothing can switch into Haxorus. Dragon's Maw takes it's offensive potential to never before seen levels, with Scale Shot and Outrage just eliminating all before it. Fairy types are not able to block it's move of choice either since at +2 they all have to worry about Iron Head ruining their chances. Steels aren't safe, with some simply folding to +2 Dragon STAB anyway, or if Hax prefers, dropping to it's many anti Steel coverage attacks. We decided against banning Dragon's Maw itself since no Pokémon has yet to display such meta warping usage of the ability in question. Just like Umbreon though, if this changes we will be quick to address it. Otherwise, Haxorus is too strong, it had to go.

:sneasler:
Even with Unburden gone, Sneasler has showcased it is a very tricky and hard to play around Pokémon. But ofc, the main issue that surrounds Sneasler isn't necessarily the Mon itself (though it is indeed extremely potent), it's the uncompetitive nature of its signature move, Dire Claw, that both it and the bulkier Okidogi utilize to cheese past many a check in the metagame, thanks to the unpredictable status spreading it causes. Dire Claw rewards skillless play, games often showing Sneasler or Okidogi rolling for sleep against an opponent it can't otherwise beat, and succeeding. These elements are not cohesive with a competitive metagame and this will be banned outright.

:blissey:
Finally, Final Gambit has been a long been a problem in our metagame, paired with Revival Blessing to allow users to essentially OHKO everything in the tier then reviving the user back for a potential round 2. The choice between the banning of Revival Blessing or Final Gambit weighed on my mind, but ultimately decided that it's Final Gambit that is causing the trouble so we will be nuking it.


Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. As noted, this wasn't done via council vote. The meta has been rather inactive so naturally councilmen have gone to live their lives. If they are interested in rejoining the effort they are free to hit me up, as well as any new faces. Otherwise see you guys in 7 days when we nuke the resulting broken shit.

Tagging dhelmise for ban implementation.
 
:blissey:
Finally, Final Gambit has been a long been a problem in our metagame, paired with Revival Blessing to allow users to essentially OHKO everything in the tier then reviving the user back for a potential round 2. The choice between the banning of Revival Blessing or Final Gambit weighed on my mind, but ultimately decided that it's Final Gambit that is causing the trouble so we will be nuking it.
I can't believe it. My instant win strategy? All gone, in one snap of the fingers. Now how will I ruin the days of ladder players? Using honest strategies? But how?!




Good bans, thank god, I've been spectating games and watching literally every mon on that list cause problems was funny but in a saddening way. Looking forward to building slightly more honest teams now.
 
Umbreon, Comfey, Roaring Moon, Haxorus, Sneasler and Final Gambit are hereby and henceforth banned from Convergence!

:ss/Umbreon::ss/Comfey::ss/roaring-moon::ss/haxorus::ss/sneasler::ss/blissey:
All really good bans, thank you, OM team, for your service.

I am so excited to play this tier more now after final exa----
We also unbanning Inteleon I forgot that it lost like all its broken stuff a year ago please see this too

:inteleon: Nah nah nah, keep this mon locked up. It was banned before because of the nuke that was Protean Boomburst Tera Normal, but even with Tera and Boomburst locked up, this mon will still be nasty. King Von looking ass mon Inteleon gets SFLO (thanks Feraligatr) + Nasty Plot (thanks Golduck) + all the coverage in the world (notably Earth Power from Politoed for Pex and Grass Knot from Frogadier for every other bulky Water). We locked up fast Nasty Plotters like Darkrai and Lando-I already, please reconsider this.
 
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