Metagame [OMotM] Battlefields

[BriefMarigold4]

Art by DaWolfKid

Permanent Field Conditions

Playable on: rom.psim.us​

It's a new meta so there might be unforseen glitches on the rom.psim, if something doesn't work please let us know. There is also no visual confirmation for certain field conditions still being active. It will look like tailwind has run out, but you will still get the speed increase, if not then let us know.

What is battlefields?
In Battlefields, any battlefield condition with a timer becomes permanent once activated, unless directly replaced, removed, or reversed. This includes all effects that apply to one side of the field, both sides, or the entire battlefield. Specifically, the following conditions become permanent:

• Weather (e.g. Sun, Rain, Sandstorm, Snow)
• Terrain (Grassy, Electric, Psychic, Misty)
• Room effects (Trick Room, Wonder Room, Magic Room)
• Gravity
• Screens (Reflect, Light Screen, Aurora Veil)
• Tailwind
• Safeguard
• Mist
• Quick Guard
• Wide Guard
• Magnetic Flux
• Fairy Lock

Available only in past gens or otherwise illegal

Lucky Chant, Pledge Move, Crafty Shield, Mat Block, Water Sport and Mud Sport

Battlefields echoes the Gen 5 weather wars, which shaped an entire generation and gave rise to unlikely threats. But Battlefields goes much further—extending permanence to Screens, Tailwind, Gravity, and much more—creating a dynamic metagame where control of the field is both the foundation and the endgame.

Banlist:
Clauses: Species Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Sleep Moves Clause
Abilities: Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, Moody, Sand Veil, Snow Cloak
Moves: Fairy Lock, Baton Pass, Shed Tail, Last Respects, Trick Room, Tailwind
Items: King's Rock, Razor Fang
Pokemon:

• Annihilape
• Arceus
• Calyrex-Ice
• Calyrex-Shadow
• Chi-Yu
• Deoxys-Attack
• Deoxys-Base
• Dialga
• Dialga-Origin
• Espathra
• Eternatus
• Flutter Mane
• Gholdengo
• Giratina
• Giratina-Origin
• Groudon
• Ho-Oh
• Koraidon
• Kyogre
• Kyurem-Black
• Kyurem-White
• Lugia
• Lunala
• Mewtwo
• Magearna
• Miraidon
• Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
• Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
• Ogerpon-Heartflame
• Palkia
• Palkia-Origin
• Rayquaza
• Reshiram
• Shaymin-Sky
• Sneasler
• Spectrier
• Urshifu (both forms)
• Zacian
• Zacian-Crowned
• Zamazenta-Crowned
• Zekrom

Watchlist:

• Quick- and Wide Guard
• Chlorophyll
• Swift Swim
• Slush Rush
• Sand rush

Strategy
Pokémon that benefit from consistent terrain, weather, or speed control—such as Swift Swim sweepers or Trick Room abusers—are significantly strengthened. With no timers limiting effects, strategies built around field synergy can define entire matches.

Offensive teams can stack multiple field effects to enhance their offensive prowess. Sun + Trick Room can support slow, hard-hitting threats such as Torkoal or Ursaluna. Gravity and sandstorm can be paired for fast and unavoidable ground attacks. Rain & Electric Terrain combine to create perfectly accurate boosted Thunder.

Defensive builds can lean on tools like permanent Screens, Safeguard, and Misty Terrain to mitigate status and chip damage over the long term. Pokémon like Alomomola, Corviknight, and Galarian Weezing provide valuable utility and disruption, especially when field denial becomes as important as field setup.

Victory in Battlefields will come down to who can seize, maintain, and adapt around field control—both in team preview and throughout the match.

Resources:

To be determined

Q&A:

To be determined

Council:

• Imperator Romanum
• Snaquaza
• Clas
• VannAccessible
• Briefmarigold4

 

[BriefMarigold4]

Sample teams

- Gravity + Tailwind Balance - Imperator Romanum

 

[InkyDarkBird]

Why are Chien-Pao and Baxcalibur allowed, especially with Snow being able to participate in the weather wars?

 

[VannAccessible]

It lives! Congratulations Imperator Romanum!

I’m glad you applied the clause to screens so Gravity and Trick Room can have a proper check. Given the crazy power level we’ll see here, that’s a good call.

Specifically to Gravity, I am worried about Landorus-T specifically being overbearing if Tera is also allowed, as Tera STAB Flying will allow it to hit Grass and Bug, the two remaining Ground resists, for SE damage.

Edit-Edit: I just learned both Safeguard and Mist can be Defog’d. They should be alright.

 

[Imperator Romanum]

Why are Chien-Pao and Baxcalibur allowed, especially with Snow being able to participate in the weather wars?

It's a good question and I'll take the opportunity to elaborate on the banlist as a whole.

We debated between two approaches when determining the inital banlist. We could take the SV OU banlist as our baseline or the traditional OM approach by unbanning *most* non-box legendaries such as Chien-Pao and Baxcalibur. Usually the latter is preferred when the OM is so all-encompassing that it's difficult to determine what will be too overpowering. Will Chien-Pao be overpowered in a metagame with permanent reflect and trick room? Will snow be able to compete with rain and sun? It's an inherently presumptive excercise to make such predictions. Chien-Pao was allowed in Trademarked and it wasn't particularly good - while Ogerpon-Heartflame was still way too strong.

However, as you might notice, some non-box legendaries are still banned. Notably Annihilape, Shaymin-S, Magearna, Annihilape, Sneasler, Chi-Yu and Last Respects. I outlined our reasoning for this in the submissions thread, the excerpt of which I've attached below

I also wanted to quickly mention the inital banlist I suggested. Fairy Lock is the only field condition I would suggest quick banning. Fairy Lock prevents both sides from manually switching for the rest of the game, which is easily abused by running pivoting moves - a devestating tactic if your opponent doesn't. I won't linger on it further.

On the initial pokemon banlist I considered going for the standard OU list, or something similar to trademarked. However, after discussion with Snaquaza we ended up making an executive decision to unban everything with the exception of the box legendaries and certain mons which I personally believe will be broken. These are Magearna, Shaymin-Sky, Annihilape, Sneasler, Chi-Yu and Last Respects. I assume everyone here knows what these pokemon do and why they are so strong. All of them, except perhaps Annihilape, benefit directly and immensely from terrains/weathers (Sneasler Unburden, Sun Chi-Yu, Swift Swim, Last Respect, Grassy Terrain Shaymin-S or Magearna in grassy terrain & rain having very few exploitable weaknesses). I won't dwell on it more. It's of course my own opinion here, and if you feel strongly about it then I wont push it, though they will probably be banned swiftly regardless.

This is of course a subjective and presumptive argument, but the line had to be drawn somewhere. Clearly Chien-Pao and Baxcalibur also benefit from permanent snow and we will keep a close eye on them. I think there's going to be a lot of overpowered strategies, broken combinations and overwhelming pokemon. However, we felt it was best to unban as much as possible, while still banning pokemon we believe to be either annoying to face or those which we're almost certain would be banned eventually . Once the metagame has time to stabilize, and if there's support for it, we could always suspect test them. In essence, we attempted to craft a banlist which would be as fun to play as possible. Not everyone will agree with the particulars, and that's of course fair. We'll ask for your patience until the metagame has seen some plays and a proper evaluation can be made.

It lives! Congratulations Imperator Romanum!


Specifically to Gravity, I am worried about Landorus-T specifically being overbearing if Tera is also allowed, as Tera STAB Flying will allow it to hit Grass and Bug, the two remaining Ground resists, for SE damage.

Edit: Oh Safeguard is being permitted? That one has no counter and will be a great fit on offense against fat.

Thank you! VannAccessible gets credit for the suggestion of expanding the premise to include asymmetrical effects.

It might be and it might not be, it's too difficult to say before the meta is played. Landorus-Therian would need to run Stomping Tantrum, EQ is stopped dead by Grassy Terrain and Wide Guard. We're going to be very hesitant to ban any of the field conditions, as they are the core of the metagame. Fairly Lock is the except, for reasons outlined earlier. From (limited) experience you do run into opportunity cost eventually. Finding space to run screens, safeguard, terrains etc gets quite difficult after a while. We will keep an eye on them of course, but the threshold for removing a field conditions is high - as it should be.

 

[VannAccessible]

Some other random thoughts.

Defog is absolutely pivotal in this format, as it removes those as effects, as well as screens and terrains.

Defog good = Cheeseman good.

Ice Spinner will be a great move for terrain control.

Snow teams are a valid answer to Gravity as well, with Ice types getting a def boost to counter Ground spam.

Brick Break and Psychic Fangs should be very handy for offense, again, as they remove perma-screens. I noticed Solgaleo is absent from the ban list. Should be a nice thick Trick Room setter/unsetter with STAB Psychic Fangs.

These guys also get through those screens with crits or Infiltrator.

Misty Terrain is a nice check to the Guts mons like Conkeldurr and Ursaluna that Trick Room teams will want to spam. Magic Room also works for this role, and Magic Room hazard spam just sounds fun.

On the subject of Weezing, Neutralizing Gas should have some very nice utility in denying auto setting weather and terrain abilities from working, besides countering Weezing countering Rillaboom.

Will be curious to see if the weather speed abilities, Tailwind and Trick Room will make it.

Trace + Scarf yoinks the Weather Speed abilities. Maybe Gardevoir has a fun all purpose revenging niche?

Quick Guard gets extended? That one seems iffy, if it cannot be canceled, it completely neutralizes priority as counterplay to all the speed control options.

Court Change is amazing since it can seize your opponent’s asymmetric effects, like screens, Safeguard, Quick Guard and Tailwind.

Probably too early to say on this guy, but we found Giratina to be a pretty balanced defensive piece in Twisted Dimension. It lacks consistent healing so it gets worn down over time, but since it can both counter Rain and Sun and Terrains with Defog, while being also more vulnerable to Snow and Sand, maybe it would be worth considering freeing as a healthy part of the meta.

 

[Clas]

what do you do versus gholdengo like real talk here.

i literally have nothing to add what do you do versus gholdengo

 

[Dawn's Piplup]

Lucky Chant, Pledge Move, Crafty Shield, Mat Block, Water Sport and Mud Sport

Just to add to this, Ion Deluge and Plasma Fists also belong here and we're robbed of them...

EDIT: Also Magnetic Flux might have been added there by mistake. Despite targeting user's side, this move is actually not turn based.

what do you do versus gholdengo like real talk here.

i literally have nothing to add what do you do versus gholdengo

You Wide Guard, then it's RIP MIR.

Some other random thoughts.

I edited my post above, but Dunfan pointed out that Safeguard (and Mist) are removed by Defog. They should both be balanced as a result. :)

Defog is absolutely pivotal in this format, as it removes those as effects, as well as screens and terrains.

Ice Spinner will be a great move for terrain control.

Snow teams are a valid answer to Gravity as well, with Ice types getting a def boost to counter Ground spam.

Brick Break and Psychic Fangs should be very handy for offense, again, as they remove perma-screens. I noticed Solgaleo is absent from the ban list. Should be a nice thick Trick Room setter/unsetter with STAB Psychic Fangs.

These guys also get through those screens with crits or Infiltrator.

Misty Terrain is a nice check to the Guts mons like Conkeldurr and Ursaluna that Trick Room teams will want to spam. Magic Room also works for this role, and Magic Room hazard spam just sounds fun.

Will be curious to see if the weather speed abilities, Tailwind and Trick Room will make it.

Quick Guard gets extended? That one seems iffy, if it cannot be canceled, it completely neutralizes priority as counterplay to all the speed control options.

Probably too early to say on this guy, but we found Giratina to be a pretty balanced defensive piece in Twisted Dimension. It lacks consistent healing so it gets worn down over time, but since it can both counter Rain and Sun and Terrains with Defog, while being also more vulnerable to Snow and Sand, maybe it would be worth considering freeing as a healthy part of the meta.

Feint, Hyperspace Hole and Hyperspace Fury seem like the only counter-play against Wide/Quick Guard, so they can be reversed.

 

[InkyDarkBird]

You Wide Guard, then it's RIP MIR.

Pretty sure Clas meant how do you prevent Gholdengo from simply switching in and blocking Defog from removing screens, Safeguard, Mist and/or a favorable terrain. The only 2 other options are Mold Breaker Defog (Hawlucha is horrible) or Psychic Fangs (also horrible and niche).

Ice Spinner can remove terrain, but it is also a relatively niche move only really used on Great Tusk and Iron Treads.

 

[Dawn's Piplup]

unrelatedly was testing my favorite thing to test in singles and came across this bug:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen9battlefields-2462058

 

[Rex]

its not in the list, but is perish song a field move? Would be absolutely nuts.

 

[Dasuma]

its not in the list, but is perish song a field move? Would be absolutely nuts.

I would think perish song is a status effect where the move targets all mons, rather than something effecting the field itself. in fact the bulbapedia article on status conditions includes perish song

 

[Imperator Romanum]

its not in the list, but is perish song a field move? Would be absolutely nuts.

It’s as Dasuma said yeah, though the thought of an infinitely long perish song countdown is pretty funny.

View attachment 746983

unrelatedly was testing my favorite thing to test in singles and came across this bug:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rom-gen9battlefields-2462058

Wow I didn’t know it was technically possible to active the pledge moves in singles. They’re definitely field conditions so we’ll update the code accordingly. Perhaps we could hold a tournament on PS with a doubles format in the future, it would be fun to try!

 

[Imperator Romanum]

Shoutout to DaWolfKid for the beautiful banner!

 

[donkkut]

I get that there was intention in having a more lenient banlist but when looking at all of the unbanned pokemon you can see some some very suspicious ones. Specifically , with flutter being just plain broken and the other 4 being prime tera abusers in a tera-free meta(although i hope it gets banned). I'm especially looking forward to since its ability, Teraform Zero, removes weather and terrain.
Building good teams that can answer all field conditions sounds extremely hard, especially considering how limited the counterplay can be. Particularly, i predict Trick Room to be the most oppressive/centralizing field condition because 1. the ONLY way to bypass/remove it is to use trick room yourself, unlike terrain(your own terrain, defog, ice spinner, steel roller), weather(your own weather, teraform zero, air lock, cloud nine, utility umbrella) and screens(defog, brick break, psyfangs, infiltrator, passive damage) 2. it is the the best counter to tailwind(which is impossible to remove) 3. punishes speed doubling weather abilities 4. makes bulky pokémon even more flexible.

 

[Imperator Romanum]

Thank you for voting for Battlefields as OMOTM of july, much appreciated.

The first order of business will be setting up the rest of the council, so if you're interested let me know and we will talk.

Terapagos and Flutter Mane probably should've been included in the inital banlist yeah, oversight on our part.

As for the way forward, we will take a look at how the meta plays for the first couple of days while we setup a council. You can expect an inital banlist to be posted early this weekend. The bar for banning any of the field conditions will be high, but as stated in the OP we have our eyes on both Tailwind and Trick room. I'm not a fan of banning tera either, so don't expect that during this month, we will ban offenders first.

We will do an engagement survey next week, after the afformentioned initial banlist. Further surveys will be announced after that, most likely 2-3 total.

Please post replays, sample teams and anything else of interest - it will help us make swift and sound decisions. This is a brand new meta with no comparable metas to look for precedence in, we don't know what is going to be overbearing or reasonable - nobody does yet. Please be patient with us while we will try to make the best decisions we can, as swiftly and transparently as we can.

Thank you and enjoy the meta!

 

[Italianbrainrotfan420]

my trick room team https://pokepast.es/f90305fb9d8487ad

 

[J-rijn]

Imperator Romanum

Magnetic Flux is a move that just has a one turn effect, maybe Magnet Rise is meant here?

 

[InkyDarkBird]

Day 1 and we are already seeing cancerous hazard stack structures being paired with Gravity and Magic Room and Reflect and Light Screen and Gholdengo and Klefki. How fun.

I really don't see how you are beating these teams at all unless you use your own hazard stack or Urshifu (questionable if they have resists)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394949526?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394952208-rvo0xlh2qwgqefp1d3ivn2hvvdctwr0pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394957445

 

[Spamziken]

why is Magnetic Flux on the field conditions list? isn't it +1 defense/spdef to mons with Plus or Minus? (or am I just confusing it with another move)

 

[k.r.o.b.]

Evil TR set

Ditto @ Iron Ball
Ability: Imposter
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform

 

[DragonLordDX]

Day 1 and we are already seeing cancerous hazard stack structures being paired with Gravity and Magic Room and Reflect and Light Screen and Gholdengo and Klefki. How fun.

I really don't see how you are beating these teams at all unless you use your own hazard stack or Urshifu (questionable if they have resists)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394949526?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394952208-rvo0xlh2qwgqefp1d3ivn2hvvdctwr0pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9battlefields-2394957445

Seems like July is cooked
I played 6 games of Battlefield, literally all of them TR mirrors,
1 game came down to the Ursaluna speed tie,
1 game got swept by Torkoal bcz the only viable mon that underspeeds torkoal is clodsire
It feels like I’m playing twisted dimensions, and that meta banned Torkoal
As for these hazard stacks, God I hope i don’t run into these
Ig i’m gonna play some NatDex this month

 

[Wrap Jesus]

https://pokepast.es/572ca3ee1fb6c979
Anti-Meta? It's just good into everything and takes advantage of teams hard relying on screens with 3 screen outs but multiple setters. Garganacl is even harder to kill than usual. The real best mon has been Solgaleo by FAR. Tera Fire completely dismantles all TR solo. Gravity teams are the only fair MU and get won pretty easily if you keep your play up just a bit. I'm top 5 on our fresh ladder with only this team.

 

[Blitz]

Gotta go to work, so here's my day 1 Peak (as Mairin).

Fun meta if you don't take it seriously, and it legitimately is reminiscent of Twisted Dimensions. TR and/or HO are (obviously) just king here.



Random sun HO I threw together after seeing what was legal, with the main idea being that Wake+FlamePon together kinda just break everything, especially with Tailwind support. Torkoal sports Iron Ball for a better TR matchup, enabling it to function against those teams + being able to beat (non-Iron Ball) Torkoal in the mirror. We know what Hatterene does, and it's here to mainly reset TR, though it of course functions in it too. Last 2 members are the most droppable, but they work... the Mew set is the weirdest thing here, but works as my Tailwind setter, and specifically has Steel Beam to almost drop Hatterene + secure momentum by sacking itself, and Moon is just there for another sun abuser that can break screens (alongside Mew).

 

[sockperson]

https://pokepast.es/ee1971b034f77230

My day 1 team that got to 1300 on ladder (ign noobemoji78)

Very basic TR team with some hazard and weather control and Garg to bully more passive teams.