Metagame First Blood

[Mubs]

approved by in the hills and drampa's grandpa

First Blood
​

Premise:
First Blood is quite similar to the regular 6v6 OU format, but with one twist- The first player to have a Pokemon faint loses! This gives an entirely new approach to how a battle is played, allowing for more fast-paced play, as one cannot allow any of their Pokemon to go down.

Rules:

Clauses, Bans, and General Interactions

Clauses

• Dynamax Clause
• Endless Battle Clause
• Evasion Moves Clause
• OHKO Clause
• Sleep Clause Mod
• Species Clause

Banlist
Pokemon

• Calyrex-Ice
• Calyrex-Shadow
• Cinderace
• Darmanitan-Galar
• Dialga
• Dracovish
• Eternatus
• Genesect
• Giratina
• Giratina-Origin
• Groudon
• Ho-Oh
• Kyogre
• Kyurem-Black
• Kyurem-White
• Lugia
• Lunala
• Landorus-I
• Magearna
• Marshadow
• Mewtwo
• Naganadel
• Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
• Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
• Palkia
• Pheromosa
• Rayquaza
• Reshiram
• Solgaleo
• Spectrier
• Urshifu
• Xerneas
• Yveltal
• Zacian
• Zacian-Crowned
• Zamazenta
• Zamazenta-Crowned
• Zekrom
• Zygarde (50%)
• Heatran
• Porygon-Z

Abilities

• Moody
• Power Construct
• Shadow Tag
• Arena Trap
• Magnet Pull

Moves

• Baton Pass
• Swagger

Items:

• Eject Button

Mechanic examples / Further clarification of the format

Mechanics Examples

Game 1:

Player 1 sends out Garchomp.
Player 2 sends out Pikachu.

Garchomp uses Earthquake.
Pikachu faints.

Player 1 wins the game.

Game 2:

Player 1 sends out Pikachu.
Player 2 sends out Wailord.

Pikachu uses Volt Tackle.
Wailord faints.
Pikachu faints.

Player 1 wins the game.

• You are allowed to switch Pokemon during a game to prevent them from fainting.
• In case of a double knock-out, the player whose Pokemon fainted last wins (moves like Explosion and Destiny Bond make your Pokemon faint first).

Strategy:

- Strong Attackers: Pokemon with the ability to do strong damage with little setup are exceptional choices in nabbing KOs within this format.

Sample Set

Dracozolt @ Life Orb Choice Scarf / Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang

Resources:

Playability: None Yet.

Council:
Mubs (co-leader)
zio (co-leader)
Potatochan
Mishlef
Arai

Sample Teams: Coming Soon!

 

[Mubs]

Reserved. You may now post.

 

[Lil' Litleo]

I expect immunity stacking will be an important aspect of team building, even moreso than usual.

Other than that, it’s difficult to guess how this metagame would differ from standard OU. Looking forward to playing it

 

[rumia]

mhmhm 6v6 but with a 1v1 type beat looks promising ill be following this closely

 

[DrPumpkinz]

What's to stop people just stacking a team with stealth rock + sturdy / focus sash?

Why... why would that be an issue?

 

[Nuclearstomp]

Why... why would that be an issue?

I can't remember if it was late at night or if I was just extremely bored at work but I don't remember why I made that post so I just deleted it. Sorry about that.

 

[Caurnio Gemesa]

This is definitely going to be an interesting fusion of 1v1 and OU. Right out of the gate, I'm thinking endure / eject button are going to be massive staples to this metagame, as having the ability to "sack" a pokemon without losing will be important for pivoting into favorable matchups. I'm also questioning if focus sash should be an item allowed, given the astounding utility it provides to pokemon who lack bulk but have speed to make up for it. It's probably imperative that it be banned, actually, since FEAR is likely to become very centralizing factor in teambuilding and lead selection.

Also, a few things I'm interested in seeing in action:
- Golisopod seems like it will be a pretty good pivot, as it has strong priority, Emergency exit, and endure to guarantee a safe switch. Throwing on sitrus berry also gives it a potential second use of its ability, a big plus.
- Regenerator seems spoooooky. In particular, I'm thinking the Slow family for teleport and future sight, and TornT for its offensive pressure and having a fast Uturn.
- 1v1 strats that don't normally work well in OU, such as recharge moves, Sturdy abuse, resistance berries, etc. could have a great place here.
- Toxic spikes seem to me to be the most potent hazard in this meta. Breaking through endure places massive pressure on pokemon who rely on endure to activate an item, and there's not much you can do other than run a poison type to remove them.

I really hope to see this come up as an OMotM soon. Seems fun!

 

[BitBitio]

Quick thoughts about how this affects various playstyles and their places in the metagame:

STALL
Stall seems quite a bit better on paper, with the ability to pivot around strong attackers and wear teams down over time, with the goal, even in regular play, being to not lose any mons, meaning that stall can go along its merry way. I’m not sure it’ll be able to kill stuff fast enough to ultimately be top tier, but we’ll have to see.

BALANCE
Balance seems pretty similar to before as well, but the focus has got to have shifted to using bulkier stuff than before just in order to ensure no deaths. Hazards are bigger than ever for wearing down other types of teams and invalidating all the stupid Sash/Endure cheese we’ll see.

BULKY OFFENSE
Bulky offense is gonna be big. FuturePort with Regen is gonna be generally insane for setting up checkmates with strong breakers, and the ability to have a great offensive presence while hopefully never being on a defensive backfoot means that bulky offense can take and dish the big hits when it needs to.

OFFENSE
This playstyle seems like it’ll be generally good as well, with its strong breakers and ability to spam VoltTurn into checkmates meaning that it could be really big. Maybe not though, depending on what else ends up being big in this metagame.

HYPER OFFENSE
Dead playstyle? Suicide leads aren’t really a thing anymore when you aren’t allowed to die. Maybe I’m wrong though, and ridiculous sweeper spam will do the trick. Dunno.

TRAPPERS?
Not gonna lie, these sound blatantly uncompetitive in a metagame where they can just remove opponents and autowin. Ban please.

really quick thoughts I probably messed up or said something dumb lol

 

[Potatochan]

Marowak-A

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Poltergeist
- Low Kick
- Substitute

Trick Room is actually an incredibly viable playstyle, which tries to position itself to force a switch with Marowak-A under trick room, winning the game instantly with proper prediction. Low Kick OHKOs Heatran and Hydreigon, while Substitute eases prediction. It is also important to pair Marowak-A with other Trick Room abusers that force out bulky water, ground, rock, and dark types.

Also Mubs hasn't updated the post yet but Magnet Pull and Porygon-Z are banned, if anyone questions the Pz ban I'd like to refer you to the following replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1328902457

 

[targon]

Although Porygon-Z is banned, it might still be fun to try using a high-risk–high-reward strategy with powerful recharge moves to get a surprise KO.
The slower ones here might only work in Trick Room.

Hydro Cannon

150 BP, 90% Acc
Inteleon

Spoiler

Inteleon @ Focus Sash/Choice Specs
Ability: Torrent/Sniper
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Cannon
- Focus Energy/Work Up/Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- U-turn

Blastoise (Shell Smash, Focus Sash)
With Focus Sash, the Torrent boost can come into play. These sets can hit even harder with Rain support, although they may not be viable if water immunities end up being common.

Rock Wrecker

150 BP, 90% Acc
Crustle (Shell Smash, Focus Sash, Weak Armor, Sturdy, Custap Berry)
Rhyperior (Swords Dance, Focus Sash, Choice Band)

Hyper Beam

150 BP, 90% Acc
Drampa (Choice Specs, Calm Mind)

Giga Impact

150 BP, 90% Acc
Bewear (Swords Dance)
Braviary (Defiant, Bulk Up)
Unfezant (Super Luck, Razor Claw)
Bouffalant (Sap Sipper, Swords Dance)
Stoutland (Scrappy)

Meteor Assault

150 BP, 100% Acc
Sirfetch’d (Swords Dance, Leek, Focus Sash, Choice Band,)

Prismatic Laser

160 BP, 100% Acc
Necrozma (Choice Specs, Calm Mind)

Other options that don't seem great:

Blast Burn

150 BP, 90% Acc


Frenzy Plant

150 BP, 90% Acc

 

[zioziotrip]

After testing among the council, First Blood Council has decided to move ahead with some bans. I thought I would provide reasoning for these bans as a council member.

Eject Button, Heatran, Magnet Pull, and Porygon-Z are banned!

Reasoning

Eject Button proved itself to be an overwhelming force in First Blood in testing. The ability to cancel pivoting while also giving free momentum is overbearing in such a fast tier. A multitude of defensive mons could abuse Eject Button to let in offensive threats in for free, this is especially problematic on Regenerator and Weather-Setting mons. With incredibly low opportunity cost and lack of intuitive counterplay, Eject Button was deemed to be an uncompetitive presence.

Reasoning

Heatran boasts great stats with a solid typing which enabled its Magma Storm to be overbearing. Switching into Heatran can be incredibly difficult as Magma Storm traps and with the combination of Taunt, Protect, or Toxic it beats many defensive mons 1v1. Even checks that scare out Heatran such as Dragonite, Garchomp, and Hippowdown do not appreciate the chip from it and as the match drags on these checks begin to break down. This incredible breaking power is supplemented by good defensive utility making it easy to get in.

Reasoning

Magnet Pull is able to trap most steels in the tier at any point with very minimal effort. Threats such as Weavile and Rillaboom make Magnet Pull even more consistent providing Knock Off for any potential Shed Shell. Even steels such as Melmetal and Bronzong which can put up a fight are susceptible to being chipped then trapped.

Reasoning

Porygon-Z proved practically impossible to switch into. STAB Adaptability Hyper Beam coming off 135 special attack fries the vast majority of non-resists. Even mons that can tank a Hyper Beam are not going to be able to handle a +2 Hyper Beam from Nasty Plot Life Orb Porygon-Z. While pivoting ghost-types in is an option, they are very unlikely to tank a Dark Pulse or Shadow Ball. Porygon-Z quickly devolved First Blood into a war of who could get Porygon-Z in first.

 

[JangMoo-Moo]

Hello there! first of all, i love this metagame beeing picked as the OMotM!

I was already started thinking some things that could be potentially good and fun to implement in order to knock out a pokemon, and one of them that i'd come in mind was Focus Sash/Sturdy + Mirror Coat/Counter. I personally this thing could be a focus of attention as there are some
pokemon that could be a potential threat with this method
Sturdy users that learns Counter:

Sturdy users that learns Mirror Coat:

The good thing of all this is that there's no sturdy user that can learn both mirror coat AND counter. but also focus sash + these moves could be not so fun too, as there are a lot of "fragile" counter/mirror coat users, here i left someones that could fit in this situation:
"Fragile" counter + focus sash users:

(this one with illusion could be also a good bait on some situations)

"Fragile" mirror coat + focus sash users:

Also while i was writting this post, i tought that sash + endeavor + a priority move could function in the same way. I may consider these things as a watch point...

Anyways, this meta seems to be enjoyable, and i will definitely try to improve some fun strategies on July :)

 

[Iynhe]

This meta sounds any builder's most horrible nightmare XD You can't easily understand if you lost because your mon is bad or because the opponent had a favorable match up or because you F-up or just randomly or what else XD
I'm totally going to try it, I'm so bad as building teams that I would not care to lose.
I wonder how many Cinccino with King's Rock we will see and if we will see those only on low ladder.
Moreso, here's a list of typings that have immunities against them:
Normal (Ghost)
Fighting (Ghost)
Poison (Steel)
Ground (Flying, Levitate)
Ghost (Normal)
Fire (Flash Fire; Rain weakens it, Water bubble, Heatproof and Thick Fat halve the damage)
Water (Dry Skin, Storm Drain, Water Absorb; Sunlight weakens it)
Grass (Sap Sipper)
Electric (Ground, Lightning Rod, Motor Drive, Volt Absorb
Psychic (Dark)
Dragon (Fairy; Misty Terrain halves the damage)

This leaves us with Flying, Rock, Bug, Steel, Ice, Dark and Fairy as the "only" spammable attacks. Ice has problems with Thick Fat though and Bug is a laughable attacking type. Something worth of note, Scrappy helps Normal and Fighting against Ghost so they're not really off the menu (Plus fighting helps with the Flying spam, for example.)
Psychic Terrain will be useful to avoid the death of faster and vulnerable pokemon to the hand of priority moves (Also Dazzling and Queenly Majesty)
Also, I don't think that any given team will be able to cram up every single immunity AND watch out for the obvious tactics that will be present in the metagame.

 

[Catzzadilla]

I think Reckless and recoil moves gain viability here. Boosting a recoil move as long as you don't die from it seems like a solid investment. Couple that with Life Orb.

Obstagoon and Mienshao could be good users.

 

[Iynhe]

Dangerous, since if you don't kill, they probably will, but yeah.
I'll add multi-hit moves to the list of viable tactics for sure! So focus sash and sturdy will not be that much of a problem.

 

[Clefable]

Hi! Wanted to share my first impressions of the meta! Speaking of First Impressions, with the Eject Button ban, it looks like the Goli family has a nice momentum-grabbing niche:

Wimp Out

Wimpod @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wimp Out
Level: 1
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Endure
- Aqua Jet

The moves don't matter really, you switch in to cancel an enemy U-turn and go into a scary mon of your choice.

Golisopod @ Choice Band
Ability: Emergency Exit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Liquidation
- Knock Off
- Leech Life

This one combines the threat of Band First Impression with the utility of Emergency Exit.

A strategy I've been liking a lot is Sand, where there's a lot of room to be creative and aggressive with your sets:

Sand

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 216 Atk / 252 SpA / 40 Spe
Mild Nature
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast

Sash AOA Ttar has been super cool for me! By going mixed you now kill Lando and Ferro, and Superpower is nice for some surprise kills. The speed lets you outspeed max speed Adamant Melmetal and kill with Superpower into Fire Blast. If you want to you could fit Counter on this set, but I like the flexibility 4 attacks offers you.

Dracozolt @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 184 Atk / 140 SpA / 184 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Bolt Beak
- Draco Meteor
- Substitute
- Fire Spin

This is the standard set from Smogon with a Custappy twist. It's no secret how hard Dracozolt is to switch into, and Fire Spin eases prediction considerably. If Dracozolt gets low, it can win endgames with an unexpected Bolt Beak.

That's all for now, I'm excited to see how the meta develops!

 

[shrekthemaster]

I'm lazy and I don't like team building from scratch... sample teams .

 

[ItsChew.]

with the heatran ban I think that sun offense could be great as its biggest check doesnt exist. Victini could become a huge threat as well as other sun abusers. I could very well be wring, excitdd to see how the meta pans out!

 

[Pikachu_fan4820]

I really don't know what tactics would be best for obsttagoon in this format. do i run guts+flame orb+facade, or reckless+cb+double edge? I could see cb buzzwole being scary in the metagame, with stab cc.

 

[zioziotrip]

I'm lazy and I don't like team building from scratch... sample teams .

While we’re still working on samples I can offer some teams council has been using





These teams should fare well on ladder allowing you to get a better idea of the tier, hope you enjoy!

I really don't know what tactics would be best for obsttagoon in this format. do i run guts+flame orb+facade, or reckless+cb+double edge? I could see cb buzzwole being scary in the metagame, with stab cc.

I would recommend a Guts set as the boosted power on Knock Off and Close Combat helps against the various steels in the tier, it’s also nice to be able to swap moves with Parting Shot letting you do hit and run strategies.

CB Buzzwole is a pretty effective threat being pretty strong with solid bulk and speed. I recommend using Close Combat+Ice Punch+Earthquake then one of Thunder Punch or Poison Jab.

 

[Pikachu_fan4820]

what if we had a VR for first blood like we did with bonus type?
(then again weird stuff exists in this tier so we might end up with wimpod in A+ just cuz pivot)

 

[ItsChew.]

Assuming that weakness berries will also be good in this meta. Especially ones like shuca and chople.

 

[Anpawo]

future sight is so broken in this meta, it's not like you can sack a pkm then sweep with an other...

 

[VoolPool]

soz for spelling error, laptop bork its hard to fix em

My 3 av playstyles rn are Future sight Bulky Offense, Sand, And Sun. SUn is so great with no heatran and specszard/bandtini just straight up smacking shit. I recommend this torkoal set: (no visuals cause my laptop kinda bork rn} 192 Spdf Eject Pack Sassy min speed. The move sare constumizable. I recommend SR, Spin, Bpress, Earth power and overheat is essentail for this set so u can pivot. Then just go ur bork breaketr of opp goes something slower or ur cloro boi if they faster or wtv member lol. Sand is nice for breaking sashes and the fact that ttar can run some cool special sets. Gravity Sand is rlly fun too. Finnaly we have FS Bo which is just broken lol. If u line up fs and surging ur opp loses unless they have shedinja end of story.

 

[kprf]

very fun OM :)
here's a decent volt switch team i built to get to #5 on the ladder in <1 hr: https://pokepast.es/ce95f05c1fde483b

ladder proof

the team is essentially based around koko+torn and is pretty much a guaranteed win vs bulky teams without ground/electric resists. if that doesn't work, future sight + hazard stacking + cb zap is a killer combo as well.

other options

i tried out zoroark > cloyster but found that opposing hazards ruined this gimmicky strat & cloyster was able to fill a better niche: hazard remover, teleport momentum, and physical attacking ground counters. however, zoroark can work as knock is great for chansey & you can mask it as torn

replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8firstblood-1373097176-pc7ralh5biuc1uh432wx55ii4ypbou6pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8firstblood-1373113741
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8firstblood-1373111281

general tips for this game mode: be AGGRESSIVE! no risk no gain tbh and the team i used it great bc of hazard setting, luring potential defog, then switching to zap for defiant. make sure to keep momentum as you don't want to give the opponent any chances for set-up. have fun !!