Pigeons
pidge pidge
Ok now that I've had the chance to play the ladder for a while I can make a more informed post about the state of the metagame. If you've played vs me at all, then I'm sorry. I didn't want me to be born either.
Firstly, Regenerator needs to go. As much as it pains me to say this it is an incredibly unhealthy part of the metagame. While I wouldn't call stall overpowered, Regenerator makes it incredibly polarizing and matchup dependent. Regenerator effectively makes incremental progress impossible against stall, which limits counterplay to teams that can break through it via direct offensive pressure. This means that games with stall are near universally decided at team preview by whether or not the opponent stacked the right offensive abilities and moves to have a remotely winnable matchup. As a stall player myself, every single one of my games has been decided at preview, which is just ridiculously unfun for everyone but psychotic maniacs who get off on 1000 turn games. Regenerator also results in any game involving stall and another team with Regenerator turning into a stalemate of switching back and forth, which again is not a sign of a healthy metagame. While I do think defensive teams should be enabled to some degree, Regenerator makes them too polarizing and results in a metagame largely defined by the two extreme playstyles. To illustrate some of the problems with Regenerator, here is the stall team I've been laddering with:
(Click sprites for team paste)
This team is getting a bit out of date with Skill Link teams ramping up in popularity but the autowin potential is still there against many common archetypes. FluffyScales should need no explanation, and Sableye's Prankster allows Milotic to effectively shut down any setup-based offense with Haze. Regenerator lets everything stay alive without wasting recovery PP and stalemate vs any opposing Regenerator teams without a way of breaking. Pressure is less common on stall builds these days but I really like its ability to limit threats like Heatran that rely on low-PP attacks and win the PP war against hazard teams. Milotic is pretty ridiculously bulky and has few weaknesses so it often walls entire teams by itself. This stall has no hazards or anything to make progress with because as I mentioned, most of the times you're just stalemating anyways. If you want to not lose vs Skill Link teams Mudsdale > Corviknight is an option, just make sure you fit something like Rapid Spin Eldegoss for hazard control.
I doubt there will be much pushback on a Regenerator ban because anyone who's played much knows it isn't healthy. I agree with a lot of the sentiments expressed so far about things like Magearna and Beast Boost / Moxie / Grim Neigh being too strong (I'd add "Skill" Link to that as well) but I wanted to touch on something that is potentially a bit more controversial: Unaware.
To put it mildly, I think if Regenerator goes then balance and stall teams will not have the necessary tools to handle all the hyper offense infesting the metagame. In order to counteract this, a ridiculous number of bans would need to occur before stall or balance could become usable again, which to me defeats the point of Shared Power. I think tiering of this metagame should focus on giving the metagame enough tools where offensive, balanced, and defensive teams are viable without one being excessively dominant over the others. Freeing Unaware in my opinion puts the metagame in that right direction, because unlike the current Regenerator stall and balance teams, there is room for incremental progress even if opposing teams do not outright break. This puts a slightly greater emphasis on player skill rather than pure matchup, though matchup will always be an issue in a metagame like this one. Incremental progress being possible against opposing fat means balance teams now have a reason to exist since there is incentive to be proactive with a breaker so you can limit the opponent's own progress. This won't solve the metagame overnight and Fluffy + Ice Scales have the potential to become problematic if Unaware is freed, but I think it will at least help diversify the metagame in the long run.
TL;DR
Ban Regenerator, click the sprites for a stall team, unban Unaware, other stuff like Magearna should probably go too
Firstly, Regenerator needs to go. As much as it pains me to say this it is an incredibly unhealthy part of the metagame. While I wouldn't call stall overpowered, Regenerator makes it incredibly polarizing and matchup dependent. Regenerator effectively makes incremental progress impossible against stall, which limits counterplay to teams that can break through it via direct offensive pressure. This means that games with stall are near universally decided at team preview by whether or not the opponent stacked the right offensive abilities and moves to have a remotely winnable matchup. As a stall player myself, every single one of my games has been decided at preview, which is just ridiculously unfun for everyone but psychotic maniacs who get off on 1000 turn games. Regenerator also results in any game involving stall and another team with Regenerator turning into a stalemate of switching back and forth, which again is not a sign of a healthy metagame. While I do think defensive teams should be enabled to some degree, Regenerator makes them too polarizing and results in a metagame largely defined by the two extreme playstyles. To illustrate some of the problems with Regenerator, here is the stall team I've been laddering with:
(Click sprites for team paste)
This team is getting a bit out of date with Skill Link teams ramping up in popularity but the autowin potential is still there against many common archetypes. FluffyScales should need no explanation, and Sableye's Prankster allows Milotic to effectively shut down any setup-based offense with Haze. Regenerator lets everything stay alive without wasting recovery PP and stalemate vs any opposing Regenerator teams without a way of breaking. Pressure is less common on stall builds these days but I really like its ability to limit threats like Heatran that rely on low-PP attacks and win the PP war against hazard teams. Milotic is pretty ridiculously bulky and has few weaknesses so it often walls entire teams by itself. This stall has no hazards or anything to make progress with because as I mentioned, most of the times you're just stalemating anyways. If you want to not lose vs Skill Link teams Mudsdale > Corviknight is an option, just make sure you fit something like Rapid Spin Eldegoss for hazard control.
I doubt there will be much pushback on a Regenerator ban because anyone who's played much knows it isn't healthy. I agree with a lot of the sentiments expressed so far about things like Magearna and Beast Boost / Moxie / Grim Neigh being too strong (I'd add "Skill" Link to that as well) but I wanted to touch on something that is potentially a bit more controversial: Unaware.
To put it mildly, I think if Regenerator goes then balance and stall teams will not have the necessary tools to handle all the hyper offense infesting the metagame. In order to counteract this, a ridiculous number of bans would need to occur before stall or balance could become usable again, which to me defeats the point of Shared Power. I think tiering of this metagame should focus on giving the metagame enough tools where offensive, balanced, and defensive teams are viable without one being excessively dominant over the others. Freeing Unaware in my opinion puts the metagame in that right direction, because unlike the current Regenerator stall and balance teams, there is room for incremental progress even if opposing teams do not outright break. This puts a slightly greater emphasis on player skill rather than pure matchup, though matchup will always be an issue in a metagame like this one. Incremental progress being possible against opposing fat means balance teams now have a reason to exist since there is incentive to be proactive with a breaker so you can limit the opponent's own progress. This won't solve the metagame overnight and Fluffy + Ice Scales have the potential to become problematic if Unaware is freed, but I think it will at least help diversify the metagame in the long run.
TL;DR
Ban Regenerator, click the sprites for a stall team, unban Unaware, other stuff like Magearna should probably go too
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