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Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4

I agree with your analysis, the only thing I will say is that all of these things are inextricable screens, Dragonite, Kyurem, Tera blast, Gambit, and Oger all are aiding HO or offensive play styles which make it feel really oppressive. Building to handle all of those threats at once feels a bit overwhelming and people typical don’t have concrete answers besides “sequence” or “get hazards up.” Sort of a bummer that there’s no changes for the rest of the gen, but understandable.

Finchinator didn't say there'd be no changes for the rest of the generation, just that he doesn't think there's anything banworthy in the meta but would allow a suspect test depending on whether the qualified demographic of survey takers score something at 3.5 or above (This part is implied based on past statements. Dragonite had a 3.44 on the last OU Tiering Survey, and Finchinator said that Dragonite was close to getting a suspect and previously stated that 3.5 is automatic suspect territory provided no other mon had a higher score than that, and it isn't a score for something previously tested already). Dragonite is the only thing I can maybe see getting a suspect test as support for it getting banned has been growing over time. Whether we have reached critical mass for a suspect test to happen is what we will see with the upcoming survey.
 
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I agree with your analysis, the only thing I will say is that all of these things are inextricable screens, Dragonite, Kyurem, Tera blast, Gambit, and Oger all are aiding HO or offensive play styles which make it feel really oppressive. Building to handle all of those threats at once feels a bit overwhelming and people typical don’t have concrete answers besides “sequence” or “get hazards up.” Sort of a bummer that there’s no changes for the rest of the gen, but understandable.
Aren't a lot of these mons like Dragonite & Gambit really good into offense because of their strong priority? Most HO or bulky offense teams I've seen struggle with Dnite esp because their defensive backbone against it can be a bit fake. I'd imagine dealing with Sun, TR or Webs would be harder if they were banned.
 
Aren't a lot of these mons like Dragonite & Gambit really good into offense because of their strong priority? Most HO or bulky offense teams I've seen struggle with Dnite esp because their defensive backbone against it can be a bit fake. I'd imagine dealing with Sun, TR or Webs would be harder if they were banned.
Good point. Dnite and Gambit are sort of flexible any way you cut it. I don’t think either are broken, but I do think the meta advantages HO/offense more than bulkier playstyles right now.
 
Can we talk about :Excadrill:? Like. How does it rise but not hydraplle or sinistcha?
There is a triple weather team spammed by a bot on ladder that massively inflated its usage.
Torkoal recently hit 4.54% usage on the OU ladder for November. 56% of these Torkoal were ran on a single team spammed by a bot on the OU ladder. Excadrill hit 6.68% usage, with 38% of the usage coming from this same bot. If trends continue, two mons that would otherwise get about 2% and 4.1% usage respectively will end up rising to OU not off of real people, but off of a bot using a gimmick triple weather team.
 
Shouldn't we do something about bots? But what could we do? I think usage should be determined by different teams used on ladder and not amount of use (using the exect same team doesn't add to usage)
 
There is a triple weather team spammed by a bot on ladder that massively inflated its usage.
In my opinion, if there is a bot that is inflating the usage of certain pokemon then the usage by that bot should not count. Is it really fair to let Excadrill rise to OU if it isn't getting enough usage from actual human players? I am aware that this is probably a post I should make in some tiering discussion thread so I apologize. (Also what is Tyranitar's usage without the bot inflation? I am sure it will still rise to OU anyway from actual human usage but I am still a bit curious.)
 
There is a triple weather team spammed by a bot on ladder that massively inflated its usage.
But how do we even know its a bot? Is it a bot, or is it just one person playing a lot of games?

If its one person playing like, 5 or so games simultaneously, then yeah its a bot i wont disagree, but how do we know?
 
This is indeed not the place to discuss bots in ladder. There is a thread in Policy Review if you wish to read and talk about it. Otherwise, lets please try to avoid it here.

...

Excadrill is doing quite well, you can find a few replays from OLT quarterfinals and SCL. The social media section is working on an Excadrill spotlight coming out this month, and among teams you have this RMT by 658greninja and JackRG1. Both Swords Dance and Substitute sets are quite good, has entry points against the likes of Galarian Slowking and Raging Bolt, provides speed control, hazard removal, a potential wincon, and its somewhat hard to wall outright.
 
It is interesting to see at the generations tail-end, former OU mons that "fell off" like Tyranitar, Tornadus-T, Heatran, and Garchomp are seeing a resurgence. The impression I get is that this isn't entirely a fad and will likely last a while.

I haven't played for a couple of months, but I do wanna give a big shoutout to the resident GOAT :Meowscarada: (and of course :Weavile:) for matching up incredibly well into a lot of these rising mons. Its a bit weird seeing that both Meowscarada / Weavile are currently in the B Ranks when they are arguably two of the best mons at farming a lot of these Torn-T builds we see on the ladder. Pads Meow I think is particularly nice since Helmet mons like Chomp or contract cheesers like Zapdos / Heatran just become more fodder. I think Meow just generally doing well vs standard cores like Ogerpon-W + Raging Bolt + Gking is just really nice asw.

https://pokepast.es/b4d95daa44bb1bfa <- Hit a peak of 1982 w/ this team a couple months ago. Meow is very nice partner for Keldeo since it has a great MU vs the regen crowd Keldeo struggles with. Its also an excellent opener for Gambit as its good at luring Gambit's checks like Zama / Corv early, and either crippling them w/ Knock Off or putting the pressure on Corv with Axel + Rocks, forcing it to expend Roosts & making it tougher for it to beat Gambit later.

Some replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2450105871-ccudaelr1xknmehq9yjypijrxuwiiyapw?p2
Got a bit lucky w/ Low Kick crit, but the opps team pretty much had no switch-ins to Meow here. Most of their mons were fodder.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2453320616
This guy is a bot I think, but uh..... Meow kinda cooked here I think with the Gambit Lure & Pads really helped it break down Moltres.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2451391364
Another Samu / Torn / Treads build where Meowscarada was a bit threat throughout.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2451987972
Snipes Garchomp with Axel, Knock's off Corv's Helmet, and almost breaks through the bird if Axel didn't miss.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2453326276-7584vo7gnh7svinlhejn2qfhdx8a16xpw?p2
I played pretty shit here, but Meow basically 6-0'd this team and still extracted a lot of value even with my poor play. Low Kick was so strong, it forced Kyurem Tera, still deleted Lando-T with Axel, etc.

I haven't been playing lately, but based on general meta conditions where we are seeing more Helmet Chomp / Torn-T / Ttar, etc, I feel like things have only gotten better for Meow. I think its being slept on. Same with Weavile. That mon is crazy broken.
 
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