While I haven't played in SPL, I have been fairly active within the tournament scene, playing whenever I get the opportunity to. Frequently building in this tier also opens my vision in terms of knowing what I need to pick in my team in order to not lose to certain threats, it's like a mental checklist regarding what is needed. With this, I want to discuss and share my thoughts about the current metagame, along with opinions from fellow companions who are also involved/spectating ORAS OU in tournaments.
Some heads up regarding what I'm about to type is that everything below is obviously just opinions from various different players and at various different skill levels which inevitably means opinions will likely clash and not all will agree with the reader's own feelings which is completely understandable. Although, having multiple voices paints a strong overall picture which is handy in discussions regarding the overall metagame. I asked everyone the same question, "How do you feel about the current ORAS metagame?" and the responses are as follows.
Community input - fellow peers
An individual stated that the meta is slowly shifting towards the direction of the SM metagame in the sense that the same "3" cores keep showing up, Mega Metagross teams, Sand and CM Keldeo teams. Can I personally agree with this? No, but I suppose it is an interesting perspective. Multiple users noted that there has been a rise in Mew, especially the bulky Stealth Rocks variant which is something I can agree with, Mew's usage has skyrocketed recently and this was especially evident in SPL. People have also mentioned that Thundurus, Serperior and bulky Manaphy have seen a rise in usage which is also largely true, but I believe that Serperior's usage has always been high in the recent meta. Following the rise in bulky Manaphy, we also see an increase use in the move Psychic and for a good reason, to hit Mega Venusaur, this toad's usage popped off in recent meta due to its ability to check the bulky waters, grass types and various other things whilst also being a potent damage dealer thanks to the move Growth/running an offensive nature in Modest. A user said that there has been a small rise in Kyurem Black appearances, especially the Assault Vest variant which is a valid observation, people have been using AV as a means to blanket check all sorts of special attackers. Lastly, there were complaints about Paralysis and the move Scald, both are reasonable cries since both of these are super powerful in ORAS. Although, the general consensus was that the tier is fun, enjoyable and many mons are usable.
Community input - ORAS discord
All the responses I received in the ORAS discord server leaned towards the enjoyable tier judgement, from individuals who only ladder to individuals who participate within the tournament scene. Generally, all of them also liked how a lot of mons and playstyles are viable. The newer players openly mentioned how the tier felt refreshing to play in but hazard control is a much more arduous task compared to other fairy gens which is a totally fair opinion, even experienced players know the struggle of fitting removal on teams due to the lack of viable options, some are even willing to forego removal completely, especially seen on Hyper Offense and Spikestack structures. Following from the hazard control issue, it was also stated that this made hazards seem awfully more dangerous. Other beginners have mentioned that they appreciated how diverse the Mega evolution pool was and how a large portion of them are viable, even if they're super niche. These users have also pointed out that there's a rise in Choice Specs Keldeo which is another thing that I can agree on. Another interesting opinion was how the mons in the tier feel well balanced in the sense that they can play both an offensive and a defensive role, I presume what they were hinting at was sets such as Rest Talk Keld which invests in bulk for further longevity, this is especially present on teams that uses Keld as their sole Ice/Dark resist or uses it as a means to pseudo absorb statuses. The more experienced player called out the rise in Mew and Mega Scizor, the former being flexible enough to run various sets such as Stealth Rocks, Nasty Plot, Suicide Lead, Stallbreaker and even Defogger. Mew's fantastic stat distribution (100 across the board) means it can outspeed various mons that the slower bulky Psychics types can't do with the exception of Cresselia who is also relatively fast for a bulky mon, although Cresselia is far more passive and really only has 2 viable sets, Rocky Helmet and Choice Scarf even though scarf is rarely seen. The latter can boast either a potent Swords Dance set or a Defog set, SD is particularly threatening in the current metagame due to M-Scizor's amazing bulk and having access to a reliable recovery in Roost, there has also been a reduced usage in the likes of Volcanion, Zapdos etc who were previously great counterplay for M-Scizor, many teams nowadays rely on Scald burning or Fire type moves from mons who do not resist boosted Bullet Punch such as Dragonite, Serperior, Clefable etc. Defog M-Scizor is a good enough removal thanks to Roost and U-Turn which allows it to manoeuvre around issues it may face throughout the game. To no one surprise, users have mentioned their dislike for Paralysis and Scald again, which is a common theme. Summarising this up, as aforementioned, the current metagame is enjoyable thanks to varying viable options to play with.
Personal takes
The way I've written notes in preparation for this discussion means that sometimes I mention something related to Serperior for example, at the start but then after a load of other points, I recall something about Serp again and just note it below all the other stuff... which is not ideal so I may be talking about the same mon but at different points of the writing but rest assured, I will explicitly word everything out.
I believe that the meta is practically perfect at where we currently stand, nothing is incredibly broken and even niche mons see screentime which is something I really enjoy seeing and especially teambuilding with if they happen to be the right pick. In terms of playstyles, I think that Fat/Offense are the go to playstyles at the moment, they're both powerful and tend to have some sort of plan B if things go south meaning that with some outplaying and careful resource management, you can turn the tables in your favour. Hyper Offense is probably the only playstyle that has significantly tanked, I am aware that we still see HO every now and then but in comparison to before, it has definitely decreased. This is likely a result to the increase of counterplay such as Scarfers, Sand Rush Excadrill, Priority, Taunt and such. This is not to say that HO is straight up bad because it isn't, it is still super effective against the right opponent. Sand is still the strongest playstyle in my opinion, both offensive sands and bulkier defensive sands, Sand Rush Drill is just such an amazing tool in practically every kind of match up, it can also run a ton of moves as the 4th move, Stealth Rocks (on offensive sands), Rock Slide for flyings, Toxic for bulky mons like Slowbro, Hippowdon and Swords Dance to become an even more potent STAB abuser under sand.
Something that I've noticed with Serperior, asides from it being a crazy strong mon in the current meta, is that it is slowly reverting to Hidden Power Fire again, at least in a couple of my own builds, I've seen HP Fire take the spot as I have other mons who can reliably tackle mons that HP Rock Serp hits. With the rise in M-Scizor, Bisharp etc, I'm sure HP Fire will just continue to rise. Another thing that I've observed with Serp is that Lum/Helm/Lefties is often more handy nowadays over Chesto which saw a spike in use last year, with the increase of Thundy, Lum has been proven useful as a countermeasure to it along with being able to switch into something like Will-O-Wisp once which is also neat. Helmet is just a great item in general, I personally believe that some form of contact is mandatory on every team if feasible, being able to punish Spin from Drill, attacks from the likes of M-Metagross and just a ton of other scenarios seeing Helmet being so handy. There isn't much to say about Lefties asides from it being a good item if you don't need Lum/Helm. With these shifts, we see Serp running Synthesis as the recovery over Rest when it was paired with Chesto.
Now, I'll discuss the offensive water types of this tier. We see Keld now slowly switching back to running Specs and for a good reason, immediate power without the need for Calm Mind means that you ruin mons who typically switch into Keld such as Clefable, Serperior who is forced to recover or drops to Focus Blast, Slowbro with Scald burn, Tornadus Therian who is forced to play mind games with Hurricane/U-Turn especially when it is burnt and rocks being up and what not. We have also seen Rest Talk on Specs, although in general, Rest Talk Keld has seen an increased use too, being able to check stuff like Weavile/BandTar/Dark types more comfortably throughout the game is handy. This also means that some Rest Talk Keld's have been running bulk in their EVs which as a result, makes them run Modest to cover for the missing SpA EVs. Manaphy is still as reliable and as annoying as ever, although we see an increase in Stallbreaker sets i.e. Rain Dance/Substitute with Scald/Surf + Psychic as the damaging moves. As aforementioned, Scald is pretty much broken if you can consistently burn and Psychic is present to stomp on M-Venu. Two interesting changes is the rise in Rotom-Wash and the fall of Volcanion, people have probably realised how frustrating it is to switch into Rotom's Wisp/T-Wave and the constant Pain Split spam. Also, the occasional Scarf that throws users off, you can even invest in SpA to 2HKO incoming Clefables (happened to me and it caught me off guard). I'm assuming that the drop in Volcanion usage is thanks to the combination of it being prone to hazards with no reliable recovery and electrics/ground types being so omnipresent in modern ORAS.
Individuals have also been running more SpDef orientated ground types which further messes up Volcanion and this nicely follows up on my next point which is the speaking in regards to Ground types such as SpDef Landorus Therian and mainly SpDef Garchomp. SpDef Lando is far from common at that and it picks between the classic Careful nature and Assault Vest, it is rather annoying when you don't suspect it but if you do any sort of damage to it then the calc can easily inform you of this. Now, SpDef Chomp, this has been the most popular set at the moment (eclipsing the usual Lum SD variant), alongside the standard TankChomp. With Lefties, this thing is an unkillable monster (slightly exaggerated), it is super effective at trading damage with stuff like Clefable, Zapdos, Thundy, Slowbro (granted no burn) and such. It can even choose to run Protect for scouting and extra recovery from Lefties. There is also SpDef Hippowdon although we have seen this in previous years.
Onto the steel types, Bisharp does not run Assault Vest anymore, people have realised that it is not really THAT effective at sponging special hits as initially claimed, Bisharp is also usually the Weavile switch so you end up losing AV early in the game anyways. Black Glasses is the preferred item for raw damage as AV felt weak to begin with, Lum is the other option for Bisharp, being able to defer statuses which is convenient. As mentioned before, M-Scizor has risen in usage, both the SD and Defog sets are splendid tools for different purposes. We saw SD M-Scizor sweep in SPL which is something to take note of, people don't exactly have a reliable M-Scizor counterplay (it has fallen) which makes this set so potent as one SD is usually all it takes to clean up the opponent. Defog allows M-Scizor to function as a strong removal option, thanks to Roost and U-Turn, it's also not weak to stuff like Weavile which the other two (Drill + Zapdos) are prone to, being a pseudo Dark resist is something that many teams seek for nowadays and M-Scizor can fulfil that slot. M-Metagross has fallen in usage, that doesn't mean that it's bad, no, it is still very powerful but with the relentless amount of contact, statuses and such, M-Metagross struggles to thrive as much as it did. I actually believe that we should revert back to AOA M-Metagross i.e. run something along the lines of Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash, Ice Punch, Zen Headbutt, Earthquake/Hammer Arm because this set feels so much more threatening against the current metagame, it might struggle with Slowbro but you have 5 other slots in your team to figure that out whilst this set handles all other standard M-Metagross check better. M-Metagross falling in usage also means that there's no single "ruling" mega now and the viable options are still vast.
In terms of the flying types, the biggest change (probably) that we've seen is the increased appearance of Talonflame, especially SpDef variants that run Taunt + Wisp to demolish Stall/Fat structures. That isn't to say that offensive Talon isn't good because the combination of Flare Blitz + Brave Bird is still very dangerous, especially if it gets a Swords Dance off. Between the two electrics, we see that Thundy has a tad bit more usage than Zapdos recently, people have realised that Thundy is more than just a T-Wave bot, you can run Taunt on Offense to shut down hazards/set up, Knock Off > Focus Miss for incredible utility, U-Turn for a few of the snarky Ground types, Nasty Plot + T-Wave is also something we see more now as you can still spread T-Wave whilst Thunderbolt + HP Ice hits all your regular targets fine, even more so after pulling off a NP. Although, this change is also why something like M-Scizor is more deadly now. Something that I've liked about the recent Zapdos' is that people are experimenting and using offensive Zapdos more which is great, I love this set and catches a ton of players out whilst being a presentable threat against many teams, it also has reliable recovery in Roost + Static for fishing which is something that Thundy doesn't have access to.
I want to bundle the 2 Psychics type that I want to speak on together so the final miscellaneous paragraph can be shorter. First being Mew, of course, this mon has skyrocketed in usage in both side tours and SPL. Having a great stat distribution + movepool are key pointers to this, the set that I've enjoyed the most is its Stealth Rocks set, paired with Wisp to mess up common switch ins and Volt Switch to pivot out of anything that tries to abuse the passiveness that Mew gives, such as against the likes of Manaphy. That said, other sets have also been good/solid, such as Nasty Plot variants which are bulky whilst giving Mew some strong offensive presence, Lead Mew still exists and it's one of the few good lead options, other sets such as Defog and Stallbreaker are things that I have not seen much use of or experimented with myself. The other psychic type in question is the fall of Mega Gardevoir, still a super potent Wallbreaker and even Stallbreaker but is struggling to keep up with the current fast paced teams/the reliant use of Focus Miss. Mega Alakazam is also a victim of Focus Miss but it makes up with its incredible speed tier which is something that M-Gard can't afford. I'm actually tailing off to speak about M-Zam... but this mon also has Magic Guard pre-mega to avoid chip from hazards and Trace to potentially copy Regenerator from Torn-T for extra recovery which are both things that M-Gard is unable to do.
Next is everything else, M-Venu used to run Growth + Synthesis on its moveset for power and reliable recovery respectively but nowadays, we see some M-Venu forego one of those two aforementioned moves in favour for HP Fire/Knock Off/even Sleep Powder in some less common cases. These are all justifiable and it's ultimately up to the builder and whoever is using the team. Something on the rise is the presence of Stealth Rocks Drill, this is becoming more common on teams who use Drill as a role compression mon or on sand offense who tend to slap an Air Balloon on it. I'm personally against the idea of role compression Drill as to me, it often feels like it's doing too much and you have to pick to either get hazards up or remove them from your side, this can be especially tricky when the opposing rocker is something that threatens Drill out, such as Chomp, Hippo or Lando. Another increase in usage is Specs Kyurem Black, this set is a monster, people rarely expect it and it ends up punishing them very hard, you can even run HP Fire if you really despite those x4 Fire weak mons (Ferro/M-Scizor). Life Orb Clefable has also risen in usage, both 3A and Calm Mind which makes Clef a potent threat on bulkier teams. I also believe that there's a strong consideration for Earthquake as Mega Gyarados' 4th move now due to the increase in Keld/Rotom-W showing, along with this is the overflowing abundance of contact which EQ allows M-Gyara to finish them off without the need for extra self chip. On the topic of M-Gyara, I think that Taunt DD is a lot worse compared to Sub DD, this is also applicable to Taunt CM Keld and Sub CM Keld, Scald/Steam and the shift in need to attack safely makes Sub more appealing in many cases, although Taunt is still a strong option to shut down Fat/Stall. Some more niche changes would be the increased appearance of Celebi, Victini, Hydreigon and such (I picked the three I liked the most) and mons like Scolipede, Crawdaunt etc falling off. These are all UU-esque mons with OU usage due to some roles that only they can fulfil via role compression/tools that OU mons don't explicitly have, for example Stealth Rocks/Nasty Plot Celebi and T-Wave + Roost bulky Hydreigon.
I think this sums up everything I currently have in mind, I may have missed some things which is likely expected as I'm not perfect. If there are grammar issues then I apologise because I'm not proof-reading this post as it's significantly longer than any of my other posts. To conclude, the direction of the current ORAS OU metagame is admirable and it's the fairy gen that I enjoy the most, the mechanics, teambuilding and community.
