Metagame Crazyhouse

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
approved by Isaiah and in the hills

Cool art by in the hills

Crazyhouse
In Chess, there is a cool variant played called Crazyhouse where you can use the pieces you captured as your own. This tier will provide that fun twist on a metagame similar to OU. You can use the Pokemon you directly KO! Building, positioning, sacrifices! Everything is turned up to the max in Crazyhouse because you need to prepare for both your opponent's building and your own. You can't sacrifice Pokemon easily because your opponent will get to use them. Crazyhouse takes the strategy that playing Pokemon entails and makes it crazy!

Rules
Mechanics
  • A Pokemon will be considered "captured" and swap sides if it dies by a direct attack.​
  • When a Pokemon faints, it would be added as the last slot of the opponent's team from the state right before the Pokemon was knocked out, except the Pokemon's HP will be restored and it will be healed of any non-volatile status (burns, poison, paralysis, etc.).​
  • There will be an HP cost equal to 25% times the number of times it swapped, rounded down, whenever a Pokemon changes sides (so a captured Pokemon would have 75% of its original maximum HP when its first captured, 50% for the next, and so on).​
  • A Pokemon will be out of play when it dies to indirect damage (like life orb or poison damage) including struggle recoil or curse cost, or when a Pokemon would be on its 4th swap (as the HP cost will be 100%).​
  • The Pokemon will be added to your team instantaneously as the last member of your current team.​
  • There will be a "progress checker" so players can check which Pokemon is on what side, as well as which Pokemon are out of play for the remainder of the battle.​

Clauses, Banlist, and Watchlist
Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokemon with the same National Pokédex number on a team.
Evasion Moves Clause: A Pokemon may not have either Double Team or Minimize in its moveset.
Sleep Moves Clause: Bans all moves that induce sleep, such as Hypnosis. (also bans Yawn)
Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot intentionally prevent an opponent from being able to end the game without forfeiting.
OHKO Clause: A Pokemon may not have the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold in its moveset.
Dynamax Clause: Prevents Pokemon from Dynamaxing.
Pokemon
Calyrex-Ice, Calyrex-Shadow, Cinderace, Darmanitan-Galar, Dialga, Dracovish, Eternatus, Genesect, Giratina, Giratina-Origin, Groudon, Hawlucha, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Kyurem, Kyurem-Black, Kyurem-White, Landorus-Incarnate, Lugia, Lunala, Magearna, Marshadow, Mewtwo, Naganadel, Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Palkia, Pheromosa, Rayquaza, Reshiram, Solgaleo, Spectrier, Urshifu-Single-Strike, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zacian, Zacian-Crowned, Zamazenta, Zamazenta-Crowned, Zekrom, Zygarde-50%

Items
King's Rock, Bright Powder, Lax Incense

Abilities
Arena Trap, Moody, Power Construct, Sand Veil, Shadow Tag, Snow Cloak

Moves
Baton Pass, Explosion, Final Gambit, Healing Wish, Lunar Dance, Memento, Misty Explosion, Self-Destruct
:magnezone: Magnet Pull :magnezone:
:hawlucha: Unburden :Slurpuff:
:blacephalon: Blacephalon / Steel Beam :heatran:
:weavile: Weavile :weavile:
:ribombee: Sticky Web / Light Clay :light clay:


Strategy
Teambuilding
The basis of Crazyhouse's teambuilding strategy is preparation for both your team and your opponent's team. One's teambuilding will have to counter their own teambuilding and their opponent's teambuilding in order to be successful. Even though the metagame looks extremely similar to OU, not many OU teams are actually really top-tier Crazyhouse teams due to their lack of preparation for their own Pokemon being used against them.

Battling
The basis of Crazyhouse's battling strategy revolves around positioning and strategic knockouts. Sometimes, you will try to make a Pokemon die to Entry Hazards, Life Orb recoil, move recoil, etc. to try to not pass your opponent a Pokemon. To avoid knockouts, Crazyhouse becomes very very centered around positioning and momentum as well. Trying to be one step ahead of the opponent becomes so much more crucial when one wrong move can give your opponent an extra Pokemon, effectively causing a 7-5. However, past that, many things stay the same. You still can win by securing a win-condition and not passing it to your opponent.


:weavile:
Weavile, due to its amazing speed tier, offensive typing, and Beat Up, has shown itself to be strong enough to make itself onto both the increased viability list and the Crazyhouse council's watchlist. Beat Up itself does more hits the more Pokemon are on your team, which in combination with Weavile's incredible speed tier, make Weavile incredibly difficult to deal with. Also, with priority being very very good, access to both Fake out and Ice Shard gives it more options in revenge killing.

:rillaboom:
Priority is insanely good in Crazyhouse. Rillaboom comes in with Fake Out and the very threatening Grassy Glide. Access to U-Turn allows for Rillaboom to be a strong pivot as well, which is very necessary in a format that is very much defined by maintaining momentum. Having Grassy Terrain up due to Grassy Surge also lends itself to many strategies, and the chip healing provided by Grassy Terrain is always appreciated. The combination of setting terrain with its ability, strong priority moves, and a great pivoting option make Rillaboom one of the strongest threats in the tier.

:tapu lele:
Tapu Lele is another terrain setter that is very strong in Crazyhouse. With priority moves being so strong, having Psychic Surge as an ability allows Tapu Lele to both use boosted Psychic type moves and be strong against the priority moves that are so strong in the tier. Tapu Lele's speed can be boosted by having it hold a Choice Scarf, which allows it to outspeed even Pokemon like Dragapult. The fact that it cannot be attacked with moves that have priority while Psychic Terrain is active gives it many options to switch in as well.

:blacephalon:
The fastest of the three big "User loses 50% of its maximum HP" move users, Blacephalon's access to its signature move, Mind Blown, is what lands it on this list. If a Blacephalon faints due to the HP loss from using Mind Blown, it is not passed to the opponent. However, if an opposing Pokemon faints to Mind Blown, it is passed to the team with Blacephalon. Blacephalon also learns Trick, which means it has an option to cripple a defensive Pokemon, which may be sent out to attempt to wall it by giving it a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs. Due to just the sheer strength of Mind Blown on sets such as Choice Specs Blacephalon and the option to cripple defensive Pokemon with Trick, the Crazyhouse council has added Blacephalon to its watchlist.

:heatran:
The second of the three big "User loses 50% of its maximum HP" move users, Heatran comes onto this list as a Pokemon that tends to play a significantly different role than it does in OU. Unlike in OU, in which Heatran plays a more defensive and support oriented role, Heatran is at its best in Crazyhouse when it is playing an aggressive role with moves such as Magma Storm, which can help in trapping and chipping opponents, and Steel Beam, which does heavy damage to most Pokemon that don't resist Steel type moves. Heatran also has the added benefit of being able to easily switch into a Blacephalon Mind Blown. In addition, Heatran also has the option of using Steel Roller in order to end any terrain that is active. Due to all of these strengths, the Crazyhouse council has added Heatran to its watchlist.

:magnezone:
The slowest of the three big "User loses 50% of its maximum HP" move users, Magnezone comes onto this list with a different set of strengths than Heatran. Magnezone has three very strong abilities in Magnet Pull, Sturdy, and Analytic (which can also work due to the abundance of very fast Pokemon in this tier). It also has a great pivoting move in Volt Switch and can learn Steel Roller to control the terrains on the field. It also has the same Special Attack as Heatran, which makes Steel Beam very difficult to switch into on Choice Specs sets. Due to these strengths, the Crazyhouse council has added Magnezone to its watchlist.

:zeraora:
Zeraora is strong in Crazyhouse due to its combination of high speed, coverage options, and strength in pivoting. Zeraora, as usual, has access to Plasma Fists, its signature move, but also has access to moves like Outrage, Play Rough, Close Combat, Knock Off, Fake Out, Volt Switch, and more. Despite doing many of the same things it would do in any other circumstance outside of the Crazyhouse metagame, the reason that Zeraora makes this list is that the valuation of speed in Crazyhouse is much higher than it would be in metagames such as SS OU.

:dragapult:
Dragapult, similar to Zeraora, is also a very strong option in Crazyhouse due to its combination of high speed, versatility, and pivoting options. Dragapult's biggest strength is the versatility that it provides, being good as a Dragon Dance setup sweeper, a Choice Band attacker, a Choice Specs attacker, and more. Its access to U-Turn also allows it to retain momentum. Despite doing many of the same things it would do in any other circumstance outside of the Crazyhouse metagame, the reason that Dragapult makes this list is that the valuation of speed in Crazyhouse is much higher than it would be in metagames such as SS OU.

:scizor:
Scizor is another Pokemon that is strong in Crazyhouse due to its strong priority moves, specifically its Technician boosted Bullet Punch. Scizor also can pivot really well through the use of a slower U-turn, which is something this tier has a notable lack of good users for. Roost also allows for Scizor to get good recovery options, but your opponent can also use it to heal back the damage that is done when a Pokemon is healed.

:nihilego:
Nihilego is another Pokemon that is made powerful through its use of a single-use item, namely, the Power Herb, which negates the charge turn of Meteor Beam. Since Nihilego can get a boost to its Special Attack while making it incredibly difficult for an opponent to do the same due to the two-turn nature of Meteor Beam, it sees increased viability in a similar nature to the increased viability of Hawlucha.

:tyranitar: :excadrill: :ninetales-alola: :arctozolt: :pelipper: :barraskewda::torkoal: :venusaur:
Weather setting and weather abusing Pokemon aren't as great as they usually are. This is mostly because you would have to go against the weather abusers once they're passed to the opponent, which would be difficult to play against.

:uxie::marowak-alola::stakataka:
Trick Room setters often get knocked out, which means that the Trick Room can be reversed by the opponent right after it gets set up. This basically defeats the purpose of running Trick Room in the first place, making it quite difficult to use in Crazyhouse.

Further Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to Shedinja if it would be captured?
There will always be at least 1 HP taken in damage when passing, which means Shedinja can never be passed from one team to another.

How do form changes work when a Pokemon faints to damage and is passed to another team?
Pokemon that keep a form change while switching out and being switched back in will keep the form change when they are passed. Likewise, Pokemon that do not keep a form change in that situation would not be keeping the form change when they are passed to another team. This also applies to other non permanent changes such as ability and/or moveset changes.

How does Destiny Bond work?
If a Pokemon dies by Destiny Bond, then it is out of play. You will still get the Pokemon who used Destiny Bond, so this move is not viable as a result of this implementation.

Does move PP carry over?
Yes, endless battles aren't something we want here.

How does Beat Up work?
If you have 10 healthy Pokemon it will hit 10 times.

How does Perish Song work?
If a Pokemon dies to Perish Song the Pokemon it is out of play and will not be captured.

Where can we play this?
Pokemon Showdown now has the Crazyhouse Rule, just add "Crazyhouse Rule" to a tour or custom challenge to use its mechanics!
We're also the OM of the month, try it out now!
You can also play it over on TrashChannel!

Is there a discord or something to talk about this?
There is! Click here!

Council
:zoroark: Instruct :zoroark:
:eevee: Lumii :eevee:
:talonflame: UT :talonflame:
:exeggutor-alola: Eggs :exeggutor-alola:
:squirtle: Byleth :squirtle:
 
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HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
If you are here looking for samples, none exist at the moment as we're still incredibly new!

However most OU teams work and will get you half of the way there, just worry about prepping against yourself to finalize it.
 
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UT

Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool
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Appeals + C&C Lead
Quick metagame thoughts from my initial plays:

:ss/weavile: :ss/dragapult: (pretend this is an image of a Choice Scarf)
Cleaners are very powerful. With HP diminishing each capture, it's not uncommon to end up in an endgame where everything is at very low health and a fast cleaner can just win. They also put out a lot of pressure early game, as every KO they threaten puts more pressure on the opponent.

:ss/hawlucha: :ss/nihilego:
Any mon with a single use item/ability gets a nice bump in viability as you get the full benefit, but your opponent does not. Hawlucha stands out as the best (maybe too good even?)

:ss/heatran: :ss/magnezone:
Trappers are VERY good, and avoiding them is super important. They can be a double edged sword however, losing your trapper early puts the pressure right back on your own team.

:ss/blacephalon: :ss/heatran:
Steel Beam and Mind Blown (and recoil moves in general) have an interesting niche; self-KO due to passive damage does NOT count as a capture, meaning you do not send your mon over. This allows a weakened Blace or Steel Beam user to fire off one last powerful attack and deny the opponent a capture. Super strong on paper, we'll see in practice.

Anything with Regen or Recovery
I find these, especially Regenerators, awkward to use. They still have their fabled longevity, but if captured, can very quickly offset the HP penalty and force you to face a full-health version again. I am reluctant to put Regen mons on my team for this reason.

Excited to see how this metagame develops and evolves! and it is the closest thing to OU I will ever play
 
Team I put together in 5 minutes based on my initial thoughts:

:dragapult: :haxorus: :latios: :togekiss: :grimmsnarl: :blacephalon:

The main strategy is just to kill everything with the dragons (and let the dragons die), then when the opponent only has the dragons left, they die to the fairies. A bit dumb, but I think it has a chance of actually working... at least a bit :pray:

Oh yeah, there's also Blacephalon, no need for explanation - Blacephalon does what Blacephalon does
 

in the hills

spreading confusion
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crazy house banner.png

here's the banner! enjoy​
so this isn't a one liner, here's some fun thoughts i had
:ss/zapdos-galar:
Zapdos-Galar @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thunderous Kick
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn / Taunt
with self-KOing sets in mind, Life Orb Zapdos seems like a fun way to blow huge chunks through your opponents team while having a pretty good chance of KOing yourself, thus making it so your opponent cannot utilize it. I think in general sets like this may end up being very strong, with alternatives like Darmanitan.

Obviously I'm a huge fan of Meteor Beam Pokemon as well for the similar idea of giving your opponent weaker mons than you started with, Nihilego is probably my favorite of these as UT already mentioned but I think Celesteela's defensive utility is even more important here.

Other thoughts is that Rocky Helmet/Iron Barbs/Rough Skin seems to have a decreased viability here, and while hazards are still good, they have a bit of a risk factor to them now.
Really excited to play this meta some more, it's so much fun. That's all for now, thanks!
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Here's a Pokemon to consider:
:ss/Regieleki:

Regieleki @ Choice Specs
Ability: Transistor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rising Voltage
- Thunder Cage
- Volt Switch
- Ancient Power

Regieleki is a really great mon here not gonna lie, it has a lot of great properties that make it incredibly potent and a Pokemon you should definitely consider: It hits like a truck, it's incredibly fast, but it's also very easy to prepare against as you only need a ground type to switch in. Its signature move Thunder Cage also traps Pokemon coming in, which allows you to snag more members to your team to continue your onslaught. All in all, very simple Pokemon but incredibly effective.
 
:ss/magnezone:
Magnezone @ Starf Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
- Substitute
- Recycle
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt / Flash Cannon

:ss/heatran:
Heatran
Ability: Flash Fire
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Moves that aren't Taunt

(EV Magnezone to be faster than Heatran)

Since it doesn't sound like PP is restored between swaps, this means that if you use Magma Storm a bunch while Heatran is still in your control, you can lure your opponent in a situation where they're unable to stop Magnezone from setting up to +6 in every stat and sweeping.

This is insanely cheesy and I doubt know if it would actually work in practice, though I suspect that the core of the strategy (have one of your Pokemon be setup fodder for another of your Pokemon) will be popular.
 
hiii! Not a lot of y'all probably know me, but I'm lumii!

I was too exhausted to play last night, but I was able to get some time to play today, so here's a quick team that I made for Crazyhouse. I posted it in the RMT channel of the Crazyhouse discord (y'all should join if you haven't already, link at the bottom of the OP!) yesterday before any testing, but now that I have played a couple games, I'm just gonna post my team basically!

https://pokepast.es/0b0ab2b6d3c3d197
:hawlucha: :magnezone: :heatran: :necrozma: :tapu lele: :landorus-therian:


:hawlucha:
Hawlucha is just a really really good Pokemon (and imo should likely be the first big post-release quickban) due to its having an amazing ability in Unburden. Combined with how strong the terrains seem to be, it becomes very difficult to deal with. Once it sets up a Swords Dance, it becomes nearly impossible to break without a Pokemon with Sturdy or a Focus Sash. It also has either boosted Defense or Special Defense due to the seed items it holds. Overall, Hawlucha is really strong, and given that Fighting/Flying also gives it a very difficult typing to deal with, and that it has STAB item-less Acrobatics and Close Combat, Hawlucha really (imo) is cementing itself as one of the top offensive Pokemon in the tier.


:magnezone:
Choice Specs Magnezone is both difficult to switch into and difficult to switch out of. The combination of Thunder, Steel Beam, and Volt Switch give three very strong options to use on a switch. Steel Beam does a lot of damage and either KOs or nearly KOs anything that does not resist the steel typing. Thunder is slightly less powerful and less accurate but is very good if you're okay with risking the miss for additional power. I also carry Thunderbolt for the reason of providing a more accurate move just in case. Volt Switch allows it to pivot really nicely, letting you get better positioning in a metagame in which proper positioning and momentum is all-important.


:heatran:
Heatran is (at least imo) the best defensive Pokemon in the tier due to being able to discourage a Mind Blown from Blacephalon, basically all moves from Heatran (while your own Heatran still has a Balloon ofc!), and Steel Beam from Magnezone. Magma Storm is an amazing trapping move, Eruption does a lot of damage to Pokemon who switch, Steel Beam (even if not from Specs Magnezone) is still an absolutely terrifying move, and it has access to Taunt to annoy any defensive Pokemon that get trapped by Magma Storm. Just an all-round good Pokemon.


:necrozma:
Now for a Pokemon that I truly don't expect to see all too much of... Necrozma is definitely more of a gimmicky Pokemon, but I think it's really nice if you're able to remove Dark types from your opponent's team through things like Hawlucha, Magnezone, Heatran, and Tapu Lele. The set relies on Tapu Lele's Psychic seed giving it an initial boost to its Special Defense. Iron Defense allows it to get its already good Defense to +2 in one turn, while Calm Mind lets it get to +2 Special Defense due to its initial Psychic Seed Boost. After that, the plan is to keep setting up and healing with Moonlight. Prism Armor is also an ability that increases Necrozma's longevity. After that, you can often just sweep with Stored Power and heal back up with Moonlight on less threatening Pokemon.


:tapu lele:
Scarf Lele is up there in the list of the strongest offensive Pokemon in this tier just because of how much the tier is relying upon moves with priority at the moment (at least from what I've seen). The fact that Tapu Lele can set terrain, allowing for other Pokemon to come in and attempt to sweep, or be a really strong revenge killer with moves like Psychic, Moonblast, or Focus Blast, which work together to hit most of the tier very hard, allows it to have quite a lot of versatility as an offensive Pokemon. Nature's Madness is used to just do a good amount of chip damage on a switch-in.


:landorus-therian:
One thing I realised is that this team struggles against Physical attackers and webs setters. Defog Landorus-Therian really allows me to cover those holes really well. While Choice Scarf may look weird in combination with Defog, I think it works really well because you most likely want to switch out after using Defog anyway, with most Sticky Web setters opting to sacrifice themselves after setting up webs so that the opponent would not be able to set up Sticky Web themselves. The speed allows it to outpace my Tapu-Lele and hit back with a Sludge Wave. It also has very good matchups against Heatran, Magnezone, and Hawlucha after they've been passed. It also makes it very difficult for teams that focus on Tapu Koko to break this team. Overall I think Landorus-Therian just being the one mon that can cover most of the holes that this team has.


Okay, that's pretty much it from me for now! I hope y'all enjoy playing this metagame and a huge thanks to Instruct for literally being the most awesome coder ever okay byee-
 
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Watched a game and it was quite interesting (although Crazyhouse games will necessarily be longer than OU games on average, so get used to endurance runs) - the game and some of the comments on this thread made me think this, though:

How important is Imposter-proofing in this meta?

I'm already seeing teams prepare for their own mons in various ways that resemble how Balanced Hackmons teams improof their own members (e.g. Mon A consumes its item and gets a boost from it that transferred Mon A cannot replicate (a la Unburden Belly Drum sets in BH), Mon B is setup fodder for Mon C or at least checked by it), but will that kind of thinking need to extend to all 6 members of your team a la Balanced Hackmons improofing? (We can treat mons with self-damaging moves as self-improofed members.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note, how well would the average OU-legal stall team perform in Crazyhouse given stall teams' general dislike of getting any of its own members KOed?
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
How important is Imposter-proofing in this meta?
Incredibly. There is a stark difference between Chansey impostering a fairy memory multi attack Zacian, and the opponent using that very fairy memory multi attack zacian you brought.
On another note, how well would the average OU-legal stall team perform in Crazyhouse given stall teams' general dislike of getting any of its own members KOed?
At the moment, stall seems kinda interesting. These teams rely more on residual damage more than usual, which gives the opponent more opportunities to get their mons out of play, for better or for worse. We can’t say this for certain as we just started out, but hopefully we can give better answers when trends start appearing.
 
figured i would contribute to the early stages of the meta by posting my team
https://pokepast.es/f99fb3c827e6865e
as lectrys and instruct said above me, improofing is insanely important for this meta. but there's one key difference between bh and crazyhouse: you cannot transform into an already transformed. crazyhouse lets you do this, and thus, choice scarf ditto becomes one of the most godlike pokemon in the game. the rest of the team is self explanatory; everything on this team can beat itself. garchomp beats toxapex, toxapex beats weavile, scizor beats weavile, weavile doesnt really beat much its just an amazing mon to have in its own right. blissey seems very valuable to have, as the amount of mind blown blacephalon and steel beam heatran going around give most teams a tough time. however, blissey shrugs off these hits without a second thought. lmk what i can improve on with this team!
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
After playing some games, here's my own team to the current provisional pile.

:tapu koko: :regieleki: :slowbro: :landorus-therian: :heatran: :hawlucha:

Hawlucha is definitely a threat everyone should prepare for, so why not abuse it? Tapu Koko + Eleki compliment it well by not only resisting most things lucha throws at it, but also enable your own lucha to wreck havoc. Landorus-Therian allows you to take some revenge killers well enough so you don't lose anything, but it is very imperative to keep it alive so Eleki doesn't reverse sweep you. Slowbro applies a lot of offensive pressure while also being able to net surprise damage with ice beam vs opposing ground types (especially your own and other Landos!) where it matters the most. Custap heatran is a fun way to tank hits from Blace and also make a surprise kill with a speedy Steel Beam so they can't use heatran against you. All in all, very offensive and can easily wrap games up quickly when played properly.
 
:ss/Ditto:
Looking at this Meta, Ditto looks like a pretty good Pokemon. With kills being the name of the game, one of the best revenge killers in the game, with only a weakness against Unburden Pokemon and other weird anti-imposter sets. Not only does Ditto discourage set up sweeping, but also if it does manage to imposter a set up sweeper, it only has 5 PP for every move, letting Ditto take advice from Low Tier God at your will.

:ss/Conkeldurr: :ss/Obstagoon:
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Fling
- Facade/Pay Back

Obstagoon @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Night Slash/Lash Out
- Close Combat
- Fling
One strategy that looks nice is to use Guts+Fling. Or Fling on a Pokemon which doesn’t need an item all that much. Fling essentially becomes Knock Off in this Metagame since onething you don’t want to do is to remove the item of a piece you can potentially capture. Meanwhile, Guts Pokemon only care about Flame Orb burning themselves, so they can afford to fling their items at the opponent. While it’s a 1 time thing, it means that your opponent has a guts user without Status or an Item to burn themselves with. Additionally, if the opponent is captured by you, they won’t be statused after coming to your team. Conkeldurr can dish out more damage for you and survive more, but that also means it will dish out damage on your team if captured.
Obstagoon won’t deal as much damage, it is faster and more crippled if captured.

:ss/Latios: :ss/Latias:
Latios (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Draco Meteor
- Memento

Latias (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Draco Meteor
- Healing Wish
Honestly, Screens Lati Twins is underrated in all meta games. Access to Memento and Healing Wish respectfully is completely underrated combo, but what makes both sets special is the surprise factor. Most people assume Latios will drop a Specs Draco or Latias will set up, then what ever was sent out, probably a special wall, lets you set up screens and then suicide. That is already good for HO teams, but now the suicide part is more valuable since it means they’ll be out of play.

:ss/Sceptile: :ss/Crawdaunt: :ss/Zeraora:
Sceptile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
Level: 36
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Endeavor
- Quick Attack
- False Swipe
- Leafage

Crawdaunt @ Focus Sash
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 30
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Endeavor
- Aqua Jet
- False Swipe
- Metal Claw

Zeraora @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Endeavor
- Endure
- Plasma Fists
- Taunt
Ok, so these sets are pretty gimmicky, but I think they can be fun. While the OG FEAR Ratatta was Dexited, it lives on in these unassuming abusers. Sceptile and Crawdaunt are more traditional FEAR sets, but may not work as well as Zeraora, which can be a positive since they are anti-capture sets too. They utilitize Focus Sash, Endeavor, and Priority to get a valued trade. You get your opponent’s Pokemon, so long as they aren’t Ghost, have Leftovers, or something that prevents FEAR sets from working, and your opponent gets a completely worthless Pokemon. After they used up their Focus Sash, they are effectively dead weight.
Zeraora on the other hand is more consistent, but at the same time, still a gimmick and being more consistent than FEAR isn’t much to say. However, Zeraora will remove itself from play if using Endeavor at 1 HP. This stategy has its flaws (besides what other FEAR sets have), which is that this won’t guarantee that you get your opponent’s Pokemon in the trade. Also, if Zeraora is captured by your opponent, they get to use that strategy against you.
Also keep in mind that you’ll be using extremely gimmicky and volatile sets, and a good opponent seeing you being so low level will tell them what’s happening.

:ss/Shedinja:
Shedinja looks promising, not because itself is buffed, but because with cleaver teambuilding and planning, you can potentially just win the game with Shedinja. That may be a stretch, but using Shedinja with a sweeper that can’t hit it can lead to some success, as by chance you get your Kartana captured, you can prevent that Kartana from sweeping your team with Shedinja. Speaking of which.

:ss/Kartana:
A double edge sword is pretty fitting way to describe Kartana, especially here. Since a team can have more than 6 Pokemon, with 1-5 being your own, abilities like Moxie and Beast Boost are stronger. This, however, means Kartana is stronger for your opponent too, especially for a Pokemon that is pretty frail and has a mixed bag against priority. Pokemon like :gyarados: and :salamence: are similarly stronger because of this reason too.

:ss/ribombee:
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sticky Web
- Moonblast
- U-turn
- Stun Spore
I think Sticky Webs will play a major role in this Metagame, especially with creative teambuilding. Say you have a regular Zeraora and a Urshifu-R. If you have Sticky Webs up, that Urshifu-R can outspeed that Zeraora and recapture it, while Zeraora can recapture Urshifu-R pretty easily back if you also EV that Urshifu-R right.
Basically Sticky Webs helps with overly complicated speed tiers for your team that otherwise would harm you in the early game. No need to have less than Max Speed, which is still viable of an option to do so.

:ss/Dragapult: :ss/Gengar: :ss/Mimikyu:
Ghost types get the option to use Ghost version of Curse, which is a pretty wicked option for Ghost types, especially for Ghost types that have put in their work and are able to be captured. Curse being able to suicide your Pokemon is good here since you can deny your opponents a capture while they take 25% each turn

:ss/Moltres-Galar:
Moltres-G is (or potentially is) unique in this Meta since it means recapturing Moltres-G to your team means it’ll be below 50% HP, and you’ll have an instant +1. That is assuming if it works like that.
Does anyone know if that’s how Berserk works in this Meta?
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Does anyone know if that’s how Berserk works in this Meta?
It's not how it works. It is sent out already at its current percentages, which doesn't activate berserk.
---
Now a few thoughts of the meta from my end:

:ss/shedinja:
Shedinja seems cool at first, since you can just rely on that to handle your teammates... until you realize your opponent can also bring a Shedinja. Then it becomes essentially a gridlock of who KO's the Shedinja first, which could be something to look at further while the metagame develops. Either way, don't rely on Shedinja too much or you might end up being weak to it yourself!

:ss/Heatran:
This mon benefitted a TON due to the mechanic. It can do a lot of things, and abuse some solid single-use items effectively. Magma Storm is a great way to trap and chip threats, Steel Beam allows it to KO itself with a super powerful attack. Hell, it can even spam Eruption knowing full well the opponent can't use it at full power if it gets captured. It can run custap for last minute KO's or even Air Balloon for a 1-time offer at ground immunity. This thing is a menace that got even more creative with its toolset.
 
Shedinja seems cool at first, since you can just rely on that to handle your teammates... until you realize your opponent can also bring a Shedinja. Then it becomes essentially a gridlock of who KO's the Shedinja first, which could be something to look at further while the metagame develops. Either way, don't rely on Shedinja too much or you might end up being weak to it yourself!
If you make your entire team like that, sure it can happen, but you don’t need to have your entire team weak to Shedinja, just a Pokemon like Kartana or Urshifu-R. You can also, in a mirror match up, bait that opponent with an entire team unable to hit Shedinja besides Shedinja itself with Toxic Urshifu-R or Knock Off Kartana, as it would still be reasonable to have back up checks to these Pokemon.
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Hello, we have two big announcements on this very special day!

1) We're now following the recent OM decision and are going to start tiering in National Dex! The banlist will, in short, be standard NatDex with the damaging self-ko moves banned.

2) HoeenHero is now part of the council! I would say congrats, but you never had a say in this to begin with. Regardless, welcome to the team!
 
Instruct is making me kick out HoeenHero out of the council since it was an afd joke

i'm sure that hoeenhero must be crying to learn this
As an add-on to this, apparently our tier leader has gone rogue on us and has singlehandedly made decisions that the council does not agree with or endorse in any way. Crazyhouse council has voted to revert the changes made by the rogue tier leader.

We also have an important message regarding the playability of Crazyhouse!
I hope you liked our April Fools' Day Joke! The "Super Important Announcement!!" will be coming soon!!
 

HiZo

我が為に苦しめ。我が為に狂い泣け。我が為に死ね。
is a Programmeris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Hey guys, thanks for allowing us to be OM of the Month!

Some (real) updates:

1) You can now play Crazyhouse on Pokemon Showdown! The "Crazyhouse Rule" can be added into a custom challenge or a room tour to use its cool effects. Challenge/tour codes will be edited into the OP soon enough.

2) As we kinda expected, we noticed that hyper offense teams seem to be the best in this kind of metagame. Furthermore, it seems incredibly hard to properly play in this tier without bringing hyper offense. We'll be watching the healthiness of Light Clay and Sticky Web on the metagame as the result, as both of these effects get the ball rolling quickly in setting up and netting KO's, making it incredibly hard for the opponent to comeback.

We hope you enjoy the ladder when it arrives and the meta itself.
 
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