Strategy & Metagame Mind over matter

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Metal Sonic

Resurgence
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"Have you ever wanted to suggest an idea for The Smog but aren't too confident in your writing abilities? Now's your chance! We're accepting article ideas, all you need to do is PM your ideas to one of us Smog Staff (Setsuna, Toast++, Bummer, Flora, skylight, Vacate)."

Hi Skylight! I have an idea for a Smog Article:

"Mind over Matter, or Matter over Mind?"


Talks about the significance of Specially offensive and Physically Offensive spectrums in general

Then about their relevance/significance in the OU metagame

then which one is more common and why

and then the common users/tanks that you should take note of

:)

<I have exams in early October so I can't write for the time being>

Sent this to skylight and wanted to follow up on IRC but hard to find the chance cause we are both very busy
 

CoolStoryBrobat

The hero Smogon needs, but not the one it deserves
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Hmm...This might be kinda wonky but I feel like if you're gonna tackle this kinda concept in OU, I think specially offensive Pokemon might generally have more of an edge in OU considering the majority of specially defensive Pokemon you see in OU aren't really walls with reliable recovery (You got Chansey, Mew if you wanna count that?, defensive Clefable though with Gunk Shot Greninja now being out that's on a decline, and I guess Porygon2). Most specially defensive Pokemon tend to be bulky tanks or Assault Vest users, such as Excadrill, Heatran, Conkeldurr, Azumarill, so on and so forth. Or a Pokemon that typically is physically defensive but is instead running a SpD set, like Gliscor, Rotom-W, Tyranitar, and the like. The reason why I say this gives special attackers a bit more of an edge in OU is because these Pokemon can be a bit more prone to getting worn down by the presence of special wallbreakers. Since most of them lack actual recovery themselves outside of Leftovers, they rely either on having Wish/cleric support, their own offensive presence to quickly remove threats, or offensive partners who can beat these Pokemon. Compare this to the wide range of readily-available physically defensive Pokemon in OU, many of which have recovery, such as Skarmory, Hippowdon, Venusaur, Ferrothorn, Mandibuzz, Zapdos, Mega Scizor, Slowbro, etc. While I'm not saying physical attackers have a harder time simply because there's sturdier defensive options for taking the majority of them on in OU, I will say that wallbreaking from the specially offensive side can be a bit easier based on this. I still have some opinions but I'm gonna try to not blow all my thoughts here in one post haha. I'll probably make some more a bit later.
 

atomicllamas

but then what's left of me?
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I can't really speak for the OU metagame (like at all), but I guess another factor besides what Bummer already mentioned would be moves like Secret Sword and Psyshock which allow certain special attackers to go "mixed" without splitting their EVs among two different offensive stats, there is also the fact that Special Attackers have access to Hidden Power which is a pretty big boon to special movepools. That said I think that Swords Dance has a much wider distribution than Nasty Plot (it definitely does in RU), and that most Special Attackers if they want to boost tend to use like a bulky CM set instead of a fast / strong SD type set (not that there aren't offensive CM pokemon either). This could end up being a pretty interesting article if well written, though I personally can't give any pointers on what to mention if it is written about the OU metagame.
 

Bummer

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I assumed that this article would bring examples across the tiers and not be just about OU, hence why I tagged people from various tiers.
 
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