I'm just gonna go ahead double post because I can and I kind of don't like this thread being dead seeing as how when I'm at work or away from the sim / away from doing battles / testing it gives me some perspective that I can keep a note of.
One thing that I've been fond of in particular lately with my catchphrase of
Breloom wins again is the SD / Spore Breloom set. Those who have been watching me in the OU room play some test matches and casual room tour games probably have seen pull off some team sweeps with it in multiple scenarios lol
Sample idea of what it does what it does
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-288627186 - Cleaning a team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-288371659 - Vertex showing why Klefki is literal Satan and how Loom is a ninja against Serperior
The set I've been using which I personally think is the best variant right now and figured I would share is the Fist Plate variant. Life Orbs recoil puts Breloom into a decent amount of KO ranges where as Fist Plate boosts the number one move without that health decreasing effect.
Breloom @ Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Swords Dance
Sands increase in general usage I find has given Breloom some increased potential to punish these teams and the power behind this set is pretty nice.
I personally think rain is going to be making a generally slow come back if it hasn't already. Maybe I'm the only one but I've seen a fair amount of these rain teams (I'm not a fan of that one with M-Scizor / Chomp on it though :/ ) being used. M-Altarias increased usage before made rain somewhat a pretty match up reliant playstyle seeing as how you had to make a bunch of prediction games to offset the Dragon Dance variants. Now with the decrease of said mon and more offensive playstyles utilizing Zard, Weavile, and such I believe it can be a powerful force, something that should be taken into account when building.
SketchUp I've played a bit with Tornadus as well but I'm not exactly too fond of the set you're using simply cause I think power > utility is key in breaking down strong defensive cores and it works better on more high octane teams. Granted this was used on a birdspam team but the set I was running to give you an idea was this one.
Conducted Rhythms (Tornadus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Iron Tail
- Tailwind
Flying / Fighting coverage is good I think Iron Tail is kind of obvious for M-Diancie seeing as how M-Diancie is traditionally a problem for people trying to accomplish any sort of bird spam team which normally is built around Mega Pinsir as its focal point.
So I guess to gauge some discussion points that I'm more or less interested in without going too crazy with discussion.
What are your thoughts on the Trick Room playstyle?
I've only seen two good builds in the ORAS meta of it one being MattyBrolic's M-Steelix team during the OST times, which is probably outdated by now with Zard-X usage at its high point and Sharpteeths TR team featuring Life Orb Azumarill that he generally ladders with.
Thoughts on anti-meta trends?
Vertex and I joke all the time of how Jirachi is broken because it flinches literally everything to death, but in all seriousness I think Jirachi is actually a very versatile mon in the right hands and can display some very capable uses such as its EBelt and Scarf variants, both classic offensive tools to lure mons for a coined win condition such as Mega Tyranitar (which you can see on a build myself and flegg worked on in the RMT competition right now, weak to stall though!!!! Pokepals fix the 80 SpA on Klefki LOL it should be 88) or to provide pivot relief against Mega Gardevoir on offense for the likes of Latias and M-Manectric.
Another anti-meta trend I find is Life Orb Clefable, seeing as how the majority of its counter measures in terms of defense rely on being able to switch into the classic Moonblast, Twave variant, which most times depending on what's trying to be lured, won't be able to against a more offensive variant
Tsurugi No Mai (Clefable) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock / Softboiled
This is a variant I run on a HO team with M-Metagross (I use rocks cause I needed it Softboiled is better). Timid is to outpace standard Rotom-W, Defensive Lando-T, Crawdaunt, the ever so common Adamant Bisharp + Klefki combos (seriously I think it's time we stop using Adamant Bish and go back to Jolly please thanks). This is however a team specific aspect where Modest is still a good option for power purposes. Coverage options all depend on team so you have options of 3 attacks / softboiled stuff like Psyshock for M-Venusaur and Amoonguss switch ins, Focus Blast for Heatran, Ice Beam for Gliscor, etc. Fire Blast is to clean out Adamant Bisharp, Ferrothorn, bulky M-Scizors who think they're safe in roosting or setting up while Thunderbolt catches Talonflame, Skarmory more easily instead of Fire Blast missing, and Manaphy. I also started using this set on the build that I was referencing in the Jirachi post because it helps break down defensive cores that annoy that Mega Ttar team a bit better and I found this + Keld is normally enough to keep Weavile at bay.
Anything you think is seeing a decline in effectiveness and usage?
Personally as I've stated and have got hounded on by many others when I said this in my carefree blunt ways in the OU room lol, I think M-Scizor is overrated and is particularly not the knight in shining armor that it was claimed to be a couple months back when everyone was spamming these M-Zor balances. It's pretty evident considering I've seen more M-Gross builds than I had before so I guess I must not be the only one catching on to this. Seeing as its been pigeon holed into the bulky U-Turn set to not be a liability to stuff like Zards I find it rather disappointing.
I've also kind of stopped watching OLT until it gets into the quarter final stages seeing as how there's been a lot of....less than stellar matches contradictory to tournaments roots of sparking meta development and high level games. So thoughts on the meta would be nice.