Project The Top 10 Titans of the 6th Gen OU Metagame

The OP has been updated. Thanks again to everyone who has submitted a reservation thus far.
reserving Excadrill
Hey, do you still want to do Excadrill? It's been over 24 hours since your reservation. I'll give you a little extra time, so please try to post your nomination by tomorrow morning or at least message me and let me know if you're still working on it.
would like to reserve Torn-T, I'll have it up by Monday at the latest
That's fine, I'll give you the extra time. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time.
 
Nominating Tornadus-Therian.

What effect did Tornadus-Therian have on the metagame?
Tornadus-T is, at least in part, guilty of the near constant use of Electric types throughout the course of Gen VI OU. Tornadus-T's access to a powerful special Flying move, backed by a few coverage options, made many of the typical Flying-type checks irrelevant to it, and as such other methods of taking it down were needed. The electric-types themselves have changed over time. Early on, we saw Thundurus-I, Mega Manectric, and Mega Ampharos. Thundurus was able to cripple Tornadus-T with priority Thunder Wave, while Manectric could naturally outrun it and crush it with its STAB, and Ampharos's natural bulk allowed it to sponge attacks and retaliate. Later on, as hyper offense became less common and the two Megas grew worse or irrelevant, we saw the emergence of Raikou. Assault Vest Raikou was developed early on as an attempt to sponge hits as well as possible, but it was later replaced by Calm Mind and Choice Specs when people realized that Raikou really wasn't a good user of Assault Vest. The latest trend has been Zapdos, mostly due to an infamous BirdSpam team that's been incredibly popular on ladder. Tornadus-T is also one of the prime reasons for Choice Scarf Magnezone's fall from grace, as it couldn't outrun Torn and was taken out by coverage or U-Turned out of. Instead, players started looking towards Choice Scarf Magneton as a replacement, since its higher Speed allowed it to outrun Tornadus-T and several of the things in a similar Speed tier.

In what main roles was Tornadus-Therian used?

Tornadus-T has had two major sets that shape how it sees use. The first set, Assault Vest, is a pivot. Thanks to Regenerator, a powerful STAB move in Hurricane, and access to Knock Off and U-Turn, Tornadus-T is one of the only good users of Assault Vest. The additional bulk allows it to check several notable Pokemon, including Keldeo, Serperior, Breloom, Amoonguss, Tangrowth, and Gengar. The combination of Tornadus-T's decent bulk and Regenerator makes it more than reasonable for it to outlast these mons, while also picking away at its switch ins with Knock Off and maintaining momentum through heavy use of U-Turn.

The second set is Life Orb. Thanks to how offensively powerful Flying types are this generation, we've seen things like BirdSpam taking a spotlight. Hurricane is a special move, so Tornadus-T has a different set of checks and was never really part of most BirdSpam teams, but it still enjoys the effectiveness of the typing. A high 121 Speed, partnered with U-Turn, Taunt, and a solid array of coverage, allowed Tornadus-T to threaten every archtype. Hurricane and a choice of either Focus Blast or Superpower provides incredible neutral coverage, which allows for a certain amount of flexibility in catering the set to a team's needs.

What caused it to have a significant impact?
Tornadus-T has several selling points. As mentioned before, its Speed is above average, allowing it to outrun most of the unboosted meta. Its lower offenses aren't impressive, but a set of high powered offensive moves coupled with some great utility options more than makes up for it, and the sheer power of having a Flying STAB like Hurricane makes it extremely easy to fire off attacks. That said, Regenerator is what makes Tornadus-T what it is. The ability to heal off chip damage, recover from hits over multiple switch ins, and more-or-less negate Stealth Rock grants Tornadus-T incredible longevity. This staying power is what allows Tornadus-T be successful in what it does, both in checking attackers and threatening defensive cores.

Unlike other Flying types, Tornadus-T doesn't need much support in order to fit onto teams, and as such can be found on everything from semi-stall to hyper offense. Offensive teams obviously love having a fast attacker with access to U-Turn, allowing them to bring out their heavy hitters for free and maintain pressure with Taunt. On balance, it will commonly find itself alongside Rotom-W or Landorus-T, in order to blanket check several threats at once while supporting its teammates. In even slower teams, Tornadus-T is able to take care of several potent wallbreakers, including Serperior, Gengar, and Keldeo, as well as provide a late-game win condition should the need arise.

How did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
Although Tornadus-T's attacks are strong, its offensive stats are a bit lacking. 110 Special Attack is quite weak compared to many of the powerhouses in OU, and to make matters worse, Tornadus-T often finds itself going mixed in order to hit a few choice targets, further weakening its power. As a result, there are a few specially bulky Pokemon who can sponge hits from it, such as Clefable, Hippowdon, Jirachi, Metagross, specially defensive Skarmory, defensive Talonflame, and so on. Life Orb sets are much harder to handle with these mons than Assault Vest, especially since Taunt can potentially prevent them from healing from repeated switch ins.

For offensive teams, the answer is much more direct. Tornadus-T has a low Defense and may even a Hasty nature to make the most out of its offenses, so smacking it with a physical attack works wonders. Despite its high Speed, there are still a few mons that are faster. Weavile is able to force Tornadus-T into a deadly 50/50; switch out and catch a Pursuit for your trouble, or stay in and eat an Icicle Crash? Mega Lopunny is another big issue, as its Normal STAB deals huge damage and can OHKO after Stealth Rock. There are still some offensive mons that can handle Tornadus-T despite being slower, such as Mega Metagross or Mega Diancie.

Lastly, a huge part of Tornadus-T's effectiveness depends on its Speed, so paralysis makes it nearly useless. Things like Klefki and Thundurus can be a massive pain for Tornadus-T, who is forced to switch out for fear of priority Thunder Wave. Slower things like Clefable are able to force it out with the threat of Thunder Wave, allowing for free turns to heal or set up. Even some of the things that Tornadus-T is supposed to check are able to paralyze it, such as Glare from Serperior or Stun Spore from Amoongus, which makes checking them all the more trickier.
 
Nominating Greninja

What effect did Greninja have on the metagame?


Greninja was one of the best Pokemon in late XY after the bans of Aegislash and Mega Mawile, which caused a surge in Balanced teams, which consists of 4 bulky pivots and 2 powerful attackers. After the release of ORAS, Greninja received the moves Gunk Shot and Low Kick, allowing it to now being able to get past previously reliable checks such as Clefable, AV Azumarill, Clefable, Kyurem-B and Ferrothorn. The combination of Greninja's high Speed, wide movepool and Protean allows it to OHKO a large portion of the metagame slower than it, with Pokemon residing in Stall teams being an exception. While Hyper Offense players have no switch-ins to Greninja, they can pick Greninja off with their choice of Priority attacks or Pokemon with higher base Speed. This leads to Balanced teams being unviable and players are forced to go to the extremes of playing Hyper Offense or Stall.

In what main roles was Greninja used?

Greninja was an amazing cleaner and revenge killer that can take out most Pokemon slower than it even with little or no prior damage. Protean allows Greninja to have STAB on all of its moves, allowing Greninja's only average offenses to be hit extremely hard. This also allows Greninja to function as a wallbreaker as virtually nothing can avoid a 2HKO from its combination of moves.

In XY, Greninja was often seen with a Life Orb Special Attacking set. This set allows Greninja the freedom to switch moves, which allows it to abuse Protean better. Greninja's wide movepool (which consists of Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Extrasensory, Grass Knot, Dark Pulse, Hidden Power Fire) and Protean provides very little breathing room for the opponent to respond. Greninja can also viably run U-Turn and Spikes, both moves which make full use of the fact that Greninja forces switches from the opponent, allowing its user to grab the momentum of the match.

When Greninja obtained the moves Low Kick and Gunk Shot through the ORAS move tutors, it began to run a Mixed Attacking set, which allows it to defeat its previous checks. This renders Greninja basically uncounterable as it can defeat most responses to it provided it carries the proper coverage move (which still gets the STAB bonus!). As Greninja's presence forces players to play Hyper Offense or Stall, it was considered to be Overcentralizing and eventually banned to Ubers. With Greninja gone, the meta stabilized to be a bulkier meta again, which will later allow Manaphy to thrive.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

As mentioned previously, the combination of a high base Speed, wide movepool and Protean make Greninja one of the best Pokemon in OU. 122 base Speed allows Greninja to outspeed virtually the entire unboosted OU except for speed demons such as Talonflame, Weavile and Mega Manectric. Protean allows Greninja to have STAB on all of its moves which allows Greninja the flexibility to tailor its 4 moves to pick which opposing Pokemon that can even check it. For example, Grass Knot allows Greninja to beat Slowbro, Gunk Shot allows it to get past Fairy-types while Low Kick allows it to put a dent in Ferrothorn and Kyurem-B. Greninja's access to Spikes also allow the user to quickly chip away at the opponent's health when they were forced to switch out against it.

A meta which favours bulky balanced teams provides the best opportunity for Greninja to thrive as it will be almost guaranteed to outspeed 2/3 of the entire team and hit them hard with its offensive moves. As the meta adapted to extreme trends of Hyper Offense or Stall, Greninja finds itself in Offensive teams to threaten some Pokemon on Offense teams which it can outspeed. However, against Stall teams, Greninja struggles to achive much notable impact against extremely bulky cores such as Tentacruel + Mega Sableye.

How did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

Although Greninja is a major headache for balanced teams to switch into, Stall teams does not suffer too much from its presence. Although Greninja has a great ability in Protean, its average 103 Special Attack and 93 Attack means it will struggle to put the hurt on extremely bulky Pokemon when not hitting them Super Effectively. As a result, Stall teams such as the aforementioned Tentacruel + Mega Sableye core can effectively cause Greninja to wear itself down with Life Orb and hazards.

For offensive teams, Greninja is normally dealt with by forcing it out by faster Pokemon such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Manectric. Pokemon packing priority moves such as Talonflame and Breloom can OHKO Greninja with Brave Bird and Mach Punch respectively. Mega Scizor and Bisharp can also threaten Greninja with Bullet Punch and Sucker Punch if Greninja had already changed its type due to Protean.

Finally, like any Pokemon with high Speed and low defenses, Greninja absolutely hates getting paralyzed. This forces it to switch out in fear of priority Thunder Wave from the likes of Klefki and Thundurus.
 
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Nominating Azumarill


What effect did Azumarill have on the metagame?

Azumarill impacted the metagame greatly in both XY and ORAS, mostly in part of it's brand new Fairy typing and ability Huge Power. While it is not the most prominent Fairy type in OU (Clefairy holds that title), it is the only other Fairy-Type that is viable in the current metagame imo. XY saw the rise of both Azumarill and Sylveon, and ORAS saw the decline of the latter, with Azumarill staying consistently used. Whether aware of it or not, most teams/teambuilders include an Azumarill check on their team, otherwise this little monster would run right through it. Besides being able to counter large metagame trends like Landorus-T and Latios, Azumarill is one of the best check to Charizard-X, one of the strongest Mega Evolutions in the game. Azumarill also has the ability to break through stall, being able to hit Mega Sableye and Chansey with strong Physical moves. Besides the infamous Belly Drum set that allowed Azumarill to 6-0 most teams, Azumarill was able to successfully run a Choice Banded set, boosting's its already high attack to a godly 654 Attack stat, allowing it to consistently break through teams, both bulky and offensive. Azumarill saw to it that Pokemon like Amoonguss, Quagsire, and Tangrowth saw a large increase in usage, and probably caused a lot more to jump up in usage as well.

In what main roles was Azumarill used?

Azumarill was a force to be reckoned with in the Generation VI metagames; either you use it or you prepare against it. Having the ability to be used on any sort of offensive team allowed Azumarill to shine as an attacker. The two most common ways that Azumarill was used was as either a Set-Up Sweeper, using Belly Drum and coverage moves to demolish teams, or a great wallbreaker who was consistently able to break through bulky Pokemon. Partnered with a Sitrus Berry, the Belly Drum Azumarill was the most prominent form of Azumarill, and for good reason. In the era of Greninja, the most common set seen was AV Azumarill, which allowed it to sponge hits from Greninja, although the set saw a decline in usage after Greninja's ban.

Belly Drum in conjunction with Huge Power turned Azumarill from the weak little bunny it was in the games it was originally introduced into the destructive force of nature it is today. With solid defensive typing and decent enough bulky, Azumarill was able to utilize BD to boost its already high attack to an unfathomable level, higher than any other Pokemon that gets BD in the entire game, capping out at 1744 Attack. Combined with the STAB priority Aqua Jet, Azumarill takes a few things out at least before going down itself. Strong coverage moves like Knock Off and Superpower also allowed it to check and KO it's supposed checks.

While less common, but not at all less viable, the wallbreaking Choiced Banded Azumarill set was able to break ground in Generation VI. Hitting bulky and offensive Pokemon hard is Azumarill's thing, and slapping a Choice Band on it was downright terrifying for the metagame. In fact, I heard somewhere that someone decided not to run an item on their Amoonguss so that a Knock Off from Azumarill did less damage. With strong STAB attacks like Waterfall and Play Rough, CB Azumarill was and still is able to handle most of the metagame, save for a few decent counters. CB Azumarill was also able to utilize Aqua Jet to effectively become a revenge killer, dealing large amounts of damage to a large portion of Pokemon

Mostly in XY, Azumarill could be seen running an Assault Vest, mostly to be able to sponge a hit from Greninja a retaliate against it. Greninja was no doubt a monster in the XY metagame, and Azumarill was probably one of the most solid check against it. In the ORAS metagame, where Greninja was banned, the AV Azumarill is rarely seen, but can be useful at times, being able to take a few hits from Pokemon like Volcanion and Tornadus-T.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The two things that allowed Azumarill to even be viable in the Generation VI games was it's ability Huge Power and it's gaining of the Fairy type. Fairy type is the most broken type in the game, with two very uncommon weaknesses and a crap ton of resistances and even an immunity to what is now the second strongest type in the game, Dragon type. Azumarill's typing allows it to work great, providing both offensive prowess and defensive capabilities. Huge Power was a godsend for Azumarill as well, turning it into the powerful physical attacker it is today. Azumarill has the ability to break through the toughest of walls that don't resist it's amazing dual STAB attacks, and can easily deal with some that do resist it's STABs with coverage moves. Coupled with access to BD and priority attacks, Huge Power allowed Azumarill to function as the sweeper it is know as today.

Azumarill not only had an impact on the Generation VI metagame because of additions to itself, but because of additions to the game in general. Generation VI saw the introduction of Mega Evolutions, some of the strongest of which can be checked by Azumarill. Most notably, Charizard-X. Back in XY Charizard-X was easily the strongest Mega Evolution in the game, being able to set-up Dragon Dances and sweep teams with ease. Azumarill eventually started to factor in, being immune to one of Charizard-X's STABs and resistant to the other one. Charizard-X was given a choice; either run a coverage move to hit Azumarill or have a way to deal with it on a team. Almost single-handedly, Azumarill caused the slight decline in Charizard-X's usage, and most definitely caused the increase in usage of other Pokemon.

How did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

Azumarill can be hard to deal with at times, and downright terrifying to face. With high attack and priority, how can Azumarill every be dealt with? The answer is actually a lot more easier than you think. Azumarill's downside is it's reliance on priority to deal fast and high damage, so Pokemon that outspeed it and resist it's Aqua Jet can handle it quite well. In fact, one of the best counters for Azumarill is Serperior. Serperior is able to take at most 2 +6 Aqua Jets from Azumarill, and can easily OHKO with Leaf Storm. Electric-Type Pokemon are also able to deal with Azumarill as well, with Mega Ampharos being able to take an Aqua Jet and OHKO with Thunderbolt, but must also be wary of their chance of living a +6 Knock Off or Aqua Jet.

Dedicated physical walls are able to handle Azumarill very well. Extremely bulky Steel types such as Ferrothorn and Skarmory are able to handle Azumarill in their own way, but must be aware that a +6 Knock Off can do extreme damage to them. Pokemon like Mega Venusaur are able to straight-up wall Azumarill, being able to take any move and dealing huge damage with either Sludge Bomb or Giga Drain. Amoonguss and Tangrowth can deal with Azumarill as well, but once again must be wary of the Knock Off. Unaware Pokemon, especially Quagsire, are able to completely shut down Azumarill, ignoring it's stat changes.

Overall, Azumarill greatly impacted the Generation VI metagame, with the addition of it's Fairy-Typing and it's new ability Huge Power. With access to Belly Drum, a +6 Azumarill has almost not safe switch-ins because of its great coverage moves, in Waterfall/Aqua Jet, Play Rough, Knock Off, Superpower, and may more. Being able to single-handledly take on Charizard-X, one of the most ferocious Mega Evolutions of the generation, as well as consistently provide anti-metagame trend support, Azumarill should most definitely be considered for a Top Ten Titan of the Generation 6 Metagame spot.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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I'll pick up lando i seeing as noone else has picked it up after it was re-opened. If I can't get it up tonight I'll try to have it done before Wednesday.
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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Sorry If I'm blind but I swear nobody has nommed this yet so I'll go ahead and do it....

Nominating Latios



What effect did Latios have on the metagame?


Latios has consistently been one of the best Pokemon in the tier for most of Gen 6. Even with the introduction of new big threats such as Aegislash, Defiant Bisharp, Fairy-types, and the reintroduction of Genesect, Latios was always considered a huge threat. As the metagame started to develop more after the banning of Aegislash, Latios was a lot harder to prep for in terms of team building because of how easily it could spam Draco Meteors without having to worry as much about being punished for it. Most Fairy-types weren't even that great of an answer to it either because of its secondary Psychic-typing, which let it 2HKO most of them on the switch with Psyshock or Psychic. Because of this teams started adapting to it by packing Pursuit, which was always considered a very useful move but with Latios running rampant it practically became a staple on teams utilizing Keldeo, Zard-Y, and Manaphy. Tyranitar was considered one of the best counterplays to Latios in the tier because it could switch into Draco Meteor and trap it with a strong Pursuit regardless of whether or not it chose to switch out or not. While Tyranitar has always been a top tier Pokemon, its ability to Pursuit trap Latios is one of the major factors in its overall usefulness, because so many teams just appreciate Latios being gone. Defog was also a new toy that Latios got in gen 6 which allowed it to get rid of hazards for its teammates, and because of its great defensive typing and reliable recovery, it was pretty consistent. To counteract this Defiant Bishap hazard stack skyrocketed in usage in order to heavily punish it and potentially pressure it from even clicking Defog at all.

Latios mandated that every team should at least carry some kind of switch-in to it, even offensive teams. Steel- and or Fairy-types are practically mandatory on any team that doesn't want to get slaughtered by this thing. Rarely will you ever see a team not running at least a Clefable, Heatran, Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Jirachi, or Mega Scizor. Offense started to adapt to it by running Scarf Jirachi, Tyranitar, or Weavile, all of which can outspeed or even switch into it once barring the latter. The longer the metagame has developed, the less and less teams were able to consistently prep for Latios because of its huge movepool, which allowed it to lure in its own counters and allow it to spam Dracos more freely. Overall, Latios' impact on the tier throughout this generation has been huge, and it practically pioneered many of the common meta trends such as the high usage in Pursuit, T-tar+Keldeo/Zard-Y, and SpD Steel-types.

In what main roles was Latios used?


For the majority of the generation Latios was almost always seen running some sort of Life Orb set consisting of either Roost 3 attacks, Roost Defog, or even Defog 3 attacks. Life Orb was a great item on it because it gave all of its moves significantly more power while maintaining the ability to switch moves, and thanks to reliable recovery in Roost it didn't suffer as much from the recoil. Latios was always one of the few consistent offensive Defoggers in the tier because of its high power, reliable recovery, and vast movepool which let it lure in common rockers such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Lando-T. Calm Mind is also a very viable alternative option because it makes Latios a lot more threatening versus bulkier teams, allowing it to muscle through Clefable and Chansey as well as winning Calm Mind wars versus Slowbro or Reuniclus. Towards the end of the generation Defog has become less and less of a consistent option because of how common Pursuit is, which is why Roost 3 attacks has become the more popular option. More recently Choice Specs has started to pop up, which makes it significantly harder to switch into and allows it to run more coverage moves or a way to cripple Chansey. Its biggest selling points are always 2HKOing Clefable with Psyshock, as well as Heatran and T-tar with Surf which is especially nice because the latter can no longer Pursuit it consistently. And of course we can't forget Specs Draco Meteor.

Latios is unique because unlike most offensive Pokemon it has a very good defensive typing as well as solid bulk, which lets it pivot into the likes of Keldeo, Zard-Y, and Mega Manectric. Because of this it's seen as one of the best checks to Keldeo in the tier, resisting both of its STABs and roosting off the damage. This makes it a great fit for offensive teams and bulky offensive teams alike for its offensive and defensive capabilities.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Latios' very spammable STABs in Draco Meteor and Psyshock made it very difficult to switch into, and on top of that its extensive movepool limits what can reliably switch into it without proper scouting. Its fantastic offensive and defensive capabilities are complimented by its 110 base Speed stat, which gives it the edge over a majority of offensive Pokemon and has raised the Speed tier benchmark overall. Anything that is slower than Latios is at an automatic disadvantage, because that forces it to stomach a hit or switch into something else that can, losing you precious momentum. Its pivoting capabilities is also one of its biggest advantages over other offensive Pokemon because it just provides so much support for most teams, which is why it's so easy to fit onto a team.

Regardless of how many Latios checks you pack, none are really reliable. Latios applies so much pressure turn 1 just from all the sheer possibilities of moves it could run, which forces you to aggressively scout its moveset. However, most battles that involve Latios are revolved around preventing it from spamming Draco Meteor as much as possible, because it's just that powerful. So many of its Draco switch-ins are easily worn down or can't take repeated hits in succession reliably, so even when packing checks to it you still have to play very smart around it because in the end Latios can break through. The other part of the match is trying to get your Pursuiter in safely so that you dispose of it efficiently without losing too many Pokemon of your own, but outside of T-tar, Metagross, or Weavile none are really that reliable.

How did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

The best way to deal with Latios is to pack something that can outspeed it and force it out. Weavile is one of the most popular offensive checks to Latios in the tier because both of its STABs can OHKO Latios, and it can also Pursuit trap it. Scarf T-tar is another very common answer because it can stomach a Draco Meteor or Surf and 2HKO it with Pursuit, which puts it in a checkmate situation that's almost always in favor of the Tyranitar. Other fast threats that usually force it out are Tornadus-T, Scarf or Sand Rush Excadrill, Mega Lopunny, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Scarf Jirachi, and Mega Metagross. Slower offensive threats that can almost always stomach a hit from it and OHKO in return are Mega Gardevoir and Azumarill.

Defensively it's a lot harder to deal with because it hits so hard and its coverage is insane. Most people tend to run Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Scizor, or Heatran as their primary checks to Latios, but the former two have to watch out for Hidden Power Fire while the latter can't stomach Surf or Earthquake well at all. Skarmory tend to run a more specially defensive set these days and can stomach most coverage moves, but Thunderbolt is still a possibility it has to watch out for. Specially defensive Jirachi is easily one of the most consistent answers to Latios in the tier because it resists both STAB moves and takes very little from super effective coverage, and it can just click U-turn for free momentum. Klefki is another consistent albeit less bulky choice but it has the advantage of being completely immune to Draco Meteor, and can threaten it out with Thunder Wave. Clefable is one of the best Fairy-type checks to Latios because it can usually avoid the 2HKO from Psyshock and shrugs off any sort of coverage move, but it has to watch out for Specs. Thunder Wave + Calm Mind is usually enough to prevent it from staying in though. Chansey is stall's main answer to Latios because even Specs fails to 2HKO it with Psyshock, and it laughs at Draco. However, Specs oftentimes carry Trick which can turn Chansey into a liability so it must be careful, but outside of Calm Mind it has very little problems walling Life Orb variants.

Lastly, packing a Pursuit user on your team is a great way to take Latios out of the game effectively. Tyranitar, Assault Vest Metagross, and Mega Metagross are the most consistent because they aren't OHKOed by any of its moves, and Latios will normally try to switch out against them. Other Pursuiters that can still get the job done but require a bit more prediction are Weavile, Mega Aerodactyl, Bisharp, and Mega Scizor.
 
everyone using these ass models.
Nominating Mega Charizard-Y


What effect did this Pokemon have on the metagame?

Its not really Mega Charizard-Y itself that really had a large impact on the metagame but the unique mega evolution mechanic that Charizard has in OU having two mega evolution. Moving more so onto Mega Charizard-Y, it brought on one of the best wallbreakers in the entire game and was really difficult to handle at one point when it was so good. Some of the Pokemon only being able to switch into it are Chansey. A lot of the Pokemon teams used for a Mega Charizard-Y switch in were worn down fairly easy such as Latios, Latias, Tyranitar and Heatran which the last two had to e careful of Focus Blast either way. An excellent RMT made by user Valentine displayed how a lot of teams functioned with Mega Charizard-Y which included multiple teams being used in tournament play and countless being on the ladder.

In what main roles did this Pokemon take on?

Mega Charizard-Y is mainly used as a wallbreaker to set up for another Pokemon to clean up later. It was used as a wallbreaker because of how difficult it was to switch into and how easy it was to actually play with for newer players to use or more experienced players to abuse. Only few Pokemon still can switch into it but its low speed tier, and 4x Stealth Rock weakness keeps it from being as good as it once was. Onto the fun stuff, Mega Charizard-Y was a decent stall Pokemon at one point back when Pokemon such as Gothitelle and Aegislash were in the meta. Although Mega Charizard-X was the better option, Mega Charizard-Y had a niche to some players to handle some bulky waters such as Rotom-W due to Drought weakening their water moves. Another RMT that showcased this by user fingerscrossed

What caused it to have such a significant impact?
doing this in a bit

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
At the moment, a lot of people answers to Mega Charizard-Y is Specially Defensive Talonflame which can switch into it and Roost off damage it does with Fire Blast until it misses to do something back. Before that was a thing, I've used this such as Scarf Tyranitar to outspeed and OHKO Mega Charizard-Y. Mega Charizard-Y also at that time forced Heatran to use a moveslot to use Stone Edge because of how popular it was. Stone Edge Heatran had a very high chance of OHKOing Mega Charizard-Y with Stone Edge with no attack EVs which didn't compromise its bulk.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Sorry that it's not as detailed as Goth and Zard X. There isn't as much to say about Lando beyond emphasising how borked it is, but it is definitely one of the most influential 'mons. Also can someone who actually used them (I didn't so I can't write them up) please do Deo-S and Deo-D 'cause the sheer fact that DeoSharp existed and was as dominant as it was is more than enough reason to say they are good nominees.

Nominating Landorus-Incarnate



What effect did Landorus-Incarnate have on the metagame?

Landorus-I was an incredibly limiting force in the metagame. Short of a completely miniscule number of consistent answers in the forms of Latias, Ice Beam Blissey (this loses to Rock Polish variants if hit by Focus Blast as it came in because they ran modest) and a handful of obscure picks. Hell, the fact that people were using Blissey outside of the CM role was enough evidence that this thing was unhealthy, but I digress. It's ability to run different sets to pick and choose what playstyle it annihilated and punctuating these decisions by destroying the ones it wasn't built specifically to manhandle anyway meant that it was almost impossible to prepare for, and it ended up being one of the most blatantly broken Pokémon in the game as a result.

In what main roles was Landorus-Incarnate used?

Lando-I was an attacker. Between it's RP and AOA sets it manhandled offense and balance, and with it's more obscure CM set it manhandled stall. It would use it's wide Sheer Force-boosted movepool (aside from the mandatory Earth Power, it's notable SF moves included Sludge Wave, Focus Blast, Psychic and Rock Slide) and coverage/utility options like HP Ice and Knock Off to pick and choose what it loses to, and as such it was really hard to prepare for consistently without losing to one of its six billion different variants.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

It's raw power was the determining factor here. Right the way through both XY and it's short time in ORAS, Landorus was revered as a premier balance breaker. It's versatility and ability to pick and choose what it lost to was also a big factor in why it eventually evolved into Bandorus-I. I don't think there were many people that have ever gotten above 1600 on the ladder who would argue with you if you said that it was blatantly busted, and even Greninja didn't get that honour (much to my dismay there are people I know sit at around 1700-1900 usually who are still convinced that thing is balanced... somehow). This is testament to how much of an influence Landorus-I has had.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

Generally speaking, your method of beating this was to either let something die and revenge kill with something like Weavile or to bring one of it's situational answers and bank on it not bringing the correct coverage. It's AOA set struggled a little vs. fast offense builds, it's CM set was in the same boat and it's RP set's shortcoming was slightly limited coverage relative to AoA. Beyond this, counterplay doesn't exist.
 
hey, may i do mega gardevoir ??
No one else has claimed it, so you're good to go.

Also, Excadrill is back up for grabs. That'll probably be a good one to have on the slate, if someone wants to write up a nomination for it. I'll try to update the OP with the newest nominations sometime tonight. Thanks again to all our contributors thus far!
 
Nominating Excadrill



What effect did Excadrill have on the metagame?

Excadrill can be largely attributed to the rise of Defensive Landorus, as TankChomp usually didn’t cut it as a reliable Exca check. Granted, Landorus also checked Mega Charizard X, but Defensive Lando began rising in usage around the same time Sand got really popular, so Excadrill is likely the reason. Excadrill had an interesting history in OU this gen, starting out as somewhat rare in early XY, and from there, steadily rising in usage throughout the generation until it’s peak in late ORAS, when Defensive Landorus became the most common Pokemon in the tier. To a degree, it can also be attributed to the rise of Bulky Offense, in order to take Exca’s hits and not lose to unboosted. Notably, Excadrill forced offense to carry some sort of offensive check to it, usually defensive Lando, but sometimes Breloom, Azumarill and Crawdaunt, generally super effective priority that could OHKO. It also, in turn, resulted in the rise in Tyranitar’s usage, as the two go together like a key in a keyhole, where the resultant opened door contained nothing more than a whole lot of fast destruction and devastation.

In what main roles was Excadrill used?

Excadrill was commonly used as a sweeper. In sand, it outsped most common scarfers and sweepers, and could typically KO most of offense easily. After a Swords Dance, it’s difficult to stop in sand via offense, with teams usually resorting to strong, super effective priority to OHKO it before it did too much. However, it had other sets, though both were significantly less used than it’s Sand Rush variant.

Sand Rush Sweeper

This is Excadrill’s most potent and well known set, and the reason for it’s large influence on the tier. This set typically ran max speed and max attack with an Adamant nature, holding a Life Orb and with the moves Earthquake, Iron Head, Rock Slide, and Swords Dance or Rapid Spin, depending on what the team needs in terms of hazard removal. Some Excadrill ran Jolly, however, primarily to outpace opposing Adamant Excadrills in sand if the Jolly Excadrill’s team was weak to opposing sand. This reduced the likeliness of speed ties being mandatory to beat it. Some Excadrill chose to forgo the Life Orb in favour of Air Balloon. This had a few benefits. First of all, it gave an Excadrill that SDd on a Lando switchin an extra chance to break Landorus and sweep anyways, also dodging Garchomp’s Earthquake as well. However, Air Balloon wasn’t awfully common as the raw power offered by Life Orb was usually preferred. Due to it’s dependence on Sand to do it’s job, this set is almost always paired with either Tyranitar or Hippowdon, often with a Smooth Rock to maximise Sand tuns.

Choice Scarf

While less common than it’s Sand Rush variant in Gen 6, Choice Scarf is useful on teams where a ground type revenge killer is needed that can also hit common “ground resists” such as Rotom-W and Bronzong, but a Sand setter doesn’t fit on the team. While niche, this set has it’s uses. It typically runs an identical moveset and EV spread (max speed max attack) to Sand Rush except it runs Mold Breaker as opposed to Sand Rush, always runs Jolly and always run Rapid Spin in the last moveslot, that moveset being Earthquake, Iron Head, Rock Slide and Rapid Spin.

Support Excadrill
Probably the least common of Excadrill’s sets, this set is less dedicated to direct offensive prowess, unlike it’s sand rush and choice scarf sets. This set ran a fully specially defensive spread, sometimes with speed investment to outpace Rotom-W, with the moveset Earthquake, Iron Head, Rapid Spin, and either Toxic or Stealth Rock. This set usually ran Leftovers. It’s niche over other defensive grounds such as Hippowdon, Landorus-Therian and Garchomp is Mold Breaker, being one of the few defensive grounds that can directly threaten Rotom-W and Toxic or set up rocks on Magic Bouncers, which is noteworthy as very few Mega Sableye appreciate Toxic. This set gained a degree of popularity around the time of the Mega Sableye and Shadow Tag test, as it was one of the few Pokemon that set up rocks on Mega Sableye that didn’t as easily invite in Goth to trap and cripple it, as it did with Heatran and the like, and if it has a scarf tricked on, it can attempt to flinch Goth to death with Iron Heads that do well over 40% and that 3hkos, preventing Goth from brainlessly resting on it. It also switches in on Latios’ Draco Meteors as a result of it’s defensive typing, can beat Bronzong, spread Toxic or Rapid Spin. Unlike Bulky Starmie, it had a surprising degree of offensive presence. While a more niche ground than the more common ones, it can still be useful on certain teams.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Excadrill’s ability to demolish frailer offensive teams unboosted in sand and deal huge damage to balance after a Swords Dance made it an incredibly powerful sweeper. So much so, in fact, that it was banned in Generation 5, though it was unbanned this gen primarily due to the weather nerf, which cut Excadrill’s sweep to 8 turns at the most. However, make no mistake, this was more than enough time for Excadrill to do damage. Excadrill had pretty high attack, an Earthquake stronger than Garchomp’s, EdgeQuake coverage in EQ and Rock Slide (though it unfortunately didn’t get Stone Edge), Swords Dance, and also Rapid Spin, enabling it to be one of the few offensive rapid spinners not named Starmie that were viable in OU. However, it’s biggest and best trait is being a very good abuser of Sand Rush, which gave it a speed stat of 550 in Sand with an Adamant nature, and an even higher one with Jolly. It also had the potential to flinch hax through opponents with Iron Head and Rock Slide, with both having a 30% chance to flinch, though this is somewhat minor compared to it’s other traits.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

The most common and widespread answer to Excadrill is Landorus, particularly the Defensive variant. Defensive came in on almost any attack Excadrill had, punished it with Rocky Helmet, and OHKOd back with Earthquake, assuming it wasn't on a balloon. It could be Iron Head flinched to death at +2 and easily chipped away at by teammates, though. Scarf Lando couldn’t directly switch in but could take any single attack and KO back, again, assuming not air balloon. Double Dance was usually EVd to live Iron Head as a 3hko, and often used Excadrill as setup bait when Rock Polish was the ideal move. Skarmory, while not as common and nowhere near as splashable, countered Excadrill pretty reliably, resisting it’s STABs and taking very little from Rock Slide. It could roost off any damage rather reliably to stall sand turns and wittle away at it with Brave Bird, or just phazed it out with Whirlwind if it tries to boost. Defensive Tangrowth is noteworthy as it switched in on any variant, only really fearing +2 SD variants that flinched it with Iron Head, but once in, it could chunk it back with it’s own Earthquake, though it didn’t always OHKO. What makes it noteworthy is it’s ability to do it repeatedly if Excadrill is not SD. Rotom-Wash was another common defensive counter, but it lost to Scarfed sets with Mold Breaker. Quagsire, while less common, was unique in that it countered even SD boosted Excadrill due to Unaware. While not as good a switchin, TankChomp could take any single attack and OHKO non Air Balloon variants with EQ, and, unlike Landorus, hit even Air Balloon with Fire Blast. However, it was prone to being OHKOd by +2 Earthquake and being worn down. Defensive Slowbro, while OHKOd by +2 Adamant EQ after rocks, and 2hkod by unboosted Adamant, could deal with it pretty adequately if it came in on an Iron Head or a free switch via Scald burns. Defensive Mega Slowbro countered any variant and had a stronger Scald to boot.

Breloom with Technician Mach Punch was another typically used method to deal with Excadrill on more offensively inclined teams who disliked running momentum sucks like Skarm, or Lando didn’t fit well on their team, as LO with just Jolly OHKOd Sand Rush variants. However, it couldn’t reliably switch in for fear or Iron Head. Mega Charizard Y erased Excadrill’s Sand, outsped, and vaporised Excadrill with it’s Fire STAB. However, it did fear Rock Slide, and Tyranitar, a decent check to Mega Zard Y, was the most common partner of Excadrill. Azumarill, like Breloom, could annihilate Excadrill with it’s priority. However, it had to be Choice Band to somewhat reliably OHKO unboosted as it took a tonne from Earthquake, preventing it from Belly Drumming. Crawdaunt is in a similar vein, but LO would usually suffice in KOing it. Mega Alakazam could trace Excadrill’s Sand Rush, outspeed, then OHKO with Focus Blast. Keldeo could take any single hit and retaliate with a Scald, potentially burning it and very often plain OHKOing, hit it with a Secret Sword/Focus Blast, or just blow it off the field with Hydro Pump if it’s Keldeo checking partners are scald burned/sufficiently weakened. Mega Lopunny could Fake Out stall it of Sand turns, and once sand came down, it could OHKO Excadrill easily. Mega Heracross lived any of it’s attacks and annihilated it with Close Combat.
 
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nominating Mega Gardevoir



What effect did Mega Gardevoir have on the metagame?

Mega Gardevoir stands as one of the best wallbreakers in the meta, Due to its insane dual Stab in fairy/psychic and coverege moves, allowing it to simply dent almost every single mon in the tier. After aegislash ban in late XY, gardevoir became even more powerfull, as the thing that resisted its premier combo ( fight, fariry and psychic ) had been gone. The meta adapted to this change,with the raise use of the recently common spd rachi and bulky mega scizor. On ORAS, garde gained another powerfull check, mega meta, wich stands beyond the others becouse of its phenomenal speed, bulk and power. With the raise of mega sableye gardevoir forced it to be runned w/chansey if it did not want all of your team to get destroied by hyper voices. Gathering everything, gardevoir forced the meta to develop specific checks to it in each playstyle.

In what main roles was Mega Gardevoir used?

Gardevoir is well known for its wallbreaking power, a pixilate boosted 165 SPA hyper voice does a ton to many pokemon, that, backed up by the nearly perfect coverege of fairy/psychic and fight makes garde to have little switch ins ( even spd skar has a chance to be 2HKO by focus blast+rocks ), the last move slot can still be well used, with taunt for even more wallbreaking capabilitys, will-o-wisp to cripple its already few switch ins (i think all of them are fisical ) and even calm mind can be used. We have a suport wish, wisp, protect + Hyper Voice more uncommon set too, but due to Mega Gardevoir´s Huge Special Defense its still pretty decent IMO.

What caused it to have a significant impact?
The fact that it has almost 0 guaranted switch ins ( you dont want your rachi/zor/metagross burned, the later has no recovery and chansey can be beaten by taunt sets if it has prior damage ) makes it a insane metachanging mon, with its huge power, great special defense and decent speed for a wallbreaker.

How do you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
You have some options in here, as its has really low defense, the first one is : its low fisical def ( insanely low i should say, 65/65 ) lets it prone to be trapped by pursuiters such as weavile and tar(thats a 50-50% tho cause it OHKOs both) or dugtrio and removed from the match.

The second strategy is : you have a chansey, a metagross ( can get worn down so be carefull), a scizor or a spd rachi, hope it does not have the apropriate move, then KO it, grab momentum or wear it down ( chansey )

The third one and most simple is : revenge kill. As Said Before ^^ Mega Gardevoir´s fisical defense and HP are low, so its rather easy to revenge kill. Atackers such as lopunny, weavile, metagross, scarf tar, scizor and almost every single decently powerfull fisical atacker can just do at least 80% to it, counting it gets worn down easily due to non recovery on ofensive sets ( who uses defensive LOL, as said really uncommon ), its really easy to revenge kill.
 

Punchshroom

FISHIOUS REND MEGA SHARPEDO
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
Nominating Mega Scizor.



What effect did Mega Scizor have on the metagame?

Much like BW Scizor, Mega Scizor has remained a top relevant threat throughout the entirety of the Generation. The fearsome reputation of its Swords Dance boosted Technician Bullet Punches persisted even from previous Generations and stands tall to this day as one of the most significant priority moves in OU, and its significantly increased bulk allowed it to tank hits and set up Swords Dances at a far greater capacity than before. Its stats, typing, and narrow but precise movepool allowed Mega Scizor to effectively perform various roles and check a large variety of Pokemon in the metagame, including titans such as Kyurem-B and Mega Metagross. While Mega Scizor has lost its Ghost and Dark resistance, it gains an extremely important type advantage against the new formidable Fairy typing, and is by far one of the most significant threats to Fairy-types as a whole. Its high physical bulk, access to reliable recovery in Roost, and its distinction as a Mega Pokemon also made Mega Scizor one of the tier's best absorbers of the buffed Knock Off as well, effectively "resisting" Knock Off; Mega Scizor is notable for keeping the likes of Weavile and Bisharp in check. Recent trends of faster Mega Scizors were also impactful enough to force even bulkier Heatran variants to run maximum Speed investment.

In what main roles was Mega Scizor used?

Mega Scizor is most well known for Swords Dance sets, which have massive cleaning potential thanks to its strong Bullet Punch, but it has two ways to go about it. Bulky Swords Dance sets with Roost are usually preferred, as they can check or counter various offensive Pokemon in the tier, including but not limited to Weavile, Bisharp, Mega Metagross, Mega Diancie, Tyranitar, Azumarill, Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Alakazam, and the high investment in bulk allows it to go toe-to-toe with most variants of Landorus-T, which is usually one of the universal checks to physical sweepers. Bulky Mega Scizors also have U-turn to maintain momentum against most of its checks. Offensive Mega Scizors with maximum Speed investment are effective at punching open bulkier cores, with powerful moves such as Bug Bite and Superpower to aid in taking down the likes of Slowbro, Rotom-W, tank Garchomp, and opposing Steel-types. Support-based variants of Mega Scizor, which sport moves such as Pursuit and Defog, do exist, although they're relatively rare as they do not offer nearly as much reward as the Swords Dance sets to compensate for the cost of being a Mega Pokemon.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Bug / Steel typing is solid defensive typing, especially when coupled with Roost, but Mega Scizor also has great offensive potential thanks to Technician Bullet Punch. Moreover, it has the stats and movepool to easily accommodate both of those, giving Mega Scizor great power, bulk, effective Speed thanks to Bullet Punch's priority, and either longevity or coverage depending on Mega Scizor's set. A Pokemon with this many advantages under its belt will find its way onto several teams and is inevitably going to leave its mark on the metagame, and everyone will have to account for this commonplace threat. A large majority of fast Pokemon in the tier that do not resist Bullet Punch are liable to get swept by +2 Mega Scizor, so it is essential for teams to carry Pokemon that not only can weather Mega Scizor's attacks, but also has the power to break through its bulk. Mega Scizor has never fallen below A Rank, consistently remained in A+ for the large majority of the Generation, and has been nominated for S Rank on more than one occasion, which is a testament to its long-standing effectiveness.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

Fire-types usually serve as the best counters to Mega Scizor, as they not only resist both STABs but Mega Scizor also typically lacks coverage to hit them with. Talonflame, both Mega Charizards, Volcanion, Volcarona, and Heatran serve as great answers, although Heatran has to be wary of Superpower. Water-types can prove bothersome as well due to their Steel resistance; Keldeo and Manaphy can do a lot of damage to Mega Scizor while Rotom-W and Suicune can threatens burns, although the slower Water-types get stung hard by +2 Bug Bite. Magnezone can trap Mega Scizor and remove it with Hidden Power Fire, although Specs variants get Superpowered by offensive Mega Scizors and Scarf ones don't OHKO bulky Mega Scizor, which allows the latter to escape. Pokemon that can tank Bullet Punch and carry Fire-type coverage can act as checks as well, such as Fire Blast Garchomp, Fire Punch Jirachi, and Hidden Power Fire Manaphy. Speaking of Hidden Power Fire, various Pokemon, such as Mega Diancie, Latios, and Kyurem-B, can use it to catch Mega Scizor on the switch attempting to check them.
 
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Nominating Weavile cause Weavile be a pain and that everyone took the best ones lol.




What effect does Weavile have on the metagame?


During past gens Weavile as seen as a revenge/sweeper that didn’t had that much going for it. This because Weavile as easily walled as its stabs were walled by Steel types and the fact that Stealth rock didn’t help as well. However in ORAS a lot of trends came that really help it.

The first was the main mechanic of the typing. While fairy types were a bit of a problem, Steel doesn’t resist Dark anymore. This was a huge boon on it as Weavile is able to spam its two main moves, Icicle Crash and its buffed move Knock Off. Another trend rose as the fact of pokemon such as Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Serperior, the Lati twins, Starmie, Alakazam, Heatran, and Tyranitar, and many more in which Weavile can easily OHKO or 2HKO with the right move. With its standard move of Knock Off, Icicle Crash, and Low Kick; not much really wanted to switch in it and the fact that it outran all of these threats just made it better. Give it coverage options that allow it to beat some of its checks such as Clefable with Poison Jab, revenge kill with Ice Shard or give some utility with Pursuit and you have one of the most popular attackers. Also the fact that Defog exists gives Weavile some breathing room.


What main roles was it used?


Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard / Low Kick / Poison Jab/ Pursuit
- Ice Shard / Low Kick / Poison Jab/ Pursuit


Basically you are using Weavile as a cleaner/revenge killer. Ice + Dark stab is huge as it can hit most of the tier for neutral damage. Most Weavile run Ice Shard and Low Kick for the priority and the ability to KO mons such as Tyranitar, Bisharp and Heatran. However depending on the team, you can run Poison Jab to hit Fairies (Mainly Azumarill), or Pursuit to trap things like Lati@s or Starmie.

There is also a choice band set which is used to hit like an absolute truck, despite losing the ability to change moves. This was seen in teams such as Skarmx2’s stall team in which it utilized Choice Band Weavile with the moves Knock Off, Icicle Crash, Ice Shard, and Pursuit to trap psychic types that threatens the team such as Reunicles, Jirachi, and mew.


What caused it to have a significant impact?


Once again, Ice + Dark Stab is a really good offensive type to have in OU. With Knock Off removing items and Icicle Crash avoiding stuff like Rocky Helmet as its main stab moves, Weavile already threatens a lot of the OU tier. With a good base 125 speed which outspeeds key mons such as Tornadus-T, Latios, Serperior and Regular Alakzam and you have a mon that pretty much has the ability to destroy your opponent's speed with sheer speed and power. This is why several offensive teams use Weavile because of not only its power, but also its utility it carries in priority and trapping.


How do/did you deal with this pokemon in OU?

Despite all its pros ( and the fact that it's annoying af to vs), there are ways to beat it. Fighting types are Weavile’s achilles’ heel as a signal contact kills it. Pokemon such as Mega Lopunny, Conkeldurr, and Terrakion are good checks. Keldeo is a very special mention as it's a good counter for Weavile, but it can be worn down if its not running the RestTalk set. Faster pokemon such as Choice Scarf Jirachi, Mega Manectric and Talonflame can outspeed and OHKO if they get in the field safely. Bulky Water Types and Steel types such as Suicune, Rotom-W, and Azumarill are also good in stopping Weavile. Weavile also loses 25% of its health from stealth rock which makes it prone to getting worn down and good priority moves such as Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, and Talonflame’s Brave Bird are all good stops.
 
reserving azumarill
Azumarill has already been written. Check a few posts up.

Also, sorry for the delay, but I promise I'll update this tomorrow afternoon! Today's just been a bunch of crazy for me, including (but not limited to) a coolant hose in my car literally bursting on the way to work.
 
Sorry, my memory is not the best so please excuse anything that I happen to forget about this mon ,but, I do believe it deserves to being within the ten. Also, my writing isn't the best so again please excuse any grammerical errors. Thank you
Nominating Mega-Mawile



What effect did Mega-Mawile have on the metagame?
Mega Mawile, alone showed the power of the new sixth generation mechanics, which includes the mega evolution, the new fairy type, new abilities, and the dark buff all in one pokemon. These four changes allowed the irreverent pokemon to become a force to be reckon with. Mega Mawile was a resigned pokemon from the bottom-up. Giving it a new abilities that made pokemon like azu, and medicham so much better. Which is huge power. The idea that you can switch into any dragon attack and be completely immune to it blew minds at the start of the XY meta. Being able to switch in on the twins and kill or heavily damage any mon that comes in was a big deal during the metagame. Also, with the dark boost and access to sucker punch. It becomes terrifying to even attack this heathen. This mon alone created defensive charizard y, wisp tran, made mons like weezing and arcanine popular in the metagame. This pokemon was just a demonstration of what gamefreak can do to one mon. Making it from such a irreverent mon, to one of the hardest hitters in the games history.

In what main roles was Mega-Mawile used?
Mawile herself was a terror in every offensive role you can think of. If you want a late game sweeper with decent bulk, mawile was your best answer. You want a set up a swords dance and sweep games mawile was your best bet. You want a revenge killer, mawile was you best option, wallbreaker, trick room user, being able to lure in certain pokemon. All of these roles, mawile preformed it at the best of its ability. Whatever (and I hate to beat a dead horse here) mega medicham did, mawile did it better. Or whatever kyurem-b did mawile it better by not being weak to fighting or steel attacks and being able to kill them back. It was used in so many different ways that it outclassed many pokemon in the tier to the point that if you are not using mega mawile you are at a disadvantage.

What caused it to have a significant impact?
Teambuilding was very restricted you need to bring a way to deal with mega mawile. Just like today's medicham, a well played Mawile can guarantee you at least 2-3 kills each match and that was a massive sway within the metagame. Mega Mawile had the two of the best defensive typing in the game. Being able to resist most of the best offensive types such as ice, dark, dragon, psychic, flying, etc. Having two the amazing abilities before and after mega evolving. Intimidate, before mega evolving is great for being able to mega evolve safely on, for example, weavile. And then instantly gaining the base attack stat of 105 and doubling it with huge power makes the power that this pokemon can dish out beats both heracross and medicham in just pure power no pun intended. If you can't already tell one of the most prominent strategies is the volt-turn combo. So of course many mons like rotom-w and lando-t would help this mon a ton. However without going into too much detail I will provide you an example of a team by just replacing one mega. (Most people should know what I am talking about.) I am pretty sure you guys know the volt-turn offensive team with mega medicham. Yeah, just replace medicham with mawile and the team has a easier time beating stall. Another, strategy was beating to one "counter" to mawile which was Heatran with a dugtrio. With Heatran gone you can run four attack because your opponent will always have to fear losing their only way to take a hit reliably.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?
The best checks were steel types itself. However, these are very soft checks. Depending on the set Mega Mawile beats these checks with relative ease. The four attack set beats both ferro and scizor while also keeping the priority sucker punch. The SD set fire fang set beats skarmory. Finally, with the new set of sub focus punch you can beat heatran. Your best answer at the time before the sub focus punch became a popular set heatran was your best way to handle mawile. Even Landorus-T is a soft check because every time it switches in it loses about 40% of its hp becoming less and less of a switch in. Another way to deal with it is by luring in with the twins with hp fire because like the keys, mawile switches in on the twins constantly killing something in return. Another check is mega venusuar if you are running the subpunch set but you can always iron head on the set to nearly two-hit OK it after rocks. Same thing with slowbro it gets two-hit OK after rocks with play rough. There are very niches ways to beat it, for example, the reason defensive mega charizard y exist in the metagame for sometime imply that you don't have rocks on the fields. You can take at least one hit and WoW it back. However, it again goes without saying that the subpunch set causes the zard to play a 50/50 game with roost and that is not fun to deal with. In conclusion, there were ways to deal with this beast of a woman but these are checks, there are no counter to mega mawile unless you want to call in defensive Arcanine which would be a wasted slot on your team if your opponent doesn't have this monster on their team so there was no point.
 
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Alright, the OP has finally been updated with the current entries. We have a pretty solid collection thus far (25 as of right now), but I still feel like there's a couple more that we need. Mega Sableye, for example, is a very important Pokemon that we need an entry for. It's back up for grabs for whoever thinks they can do a good job with it. There are also a couple of things like Ferrothorn, Mega Metagross, and Heatran that could be worthy contestants, if someone wants to take one of those. I'll leave the nomination stage open an extra day if need be, but I'd like to be able to start voting by Monday.
 
Nominating Mega Metagross



What effect did Mega Metagross have on the metagame?

In early ORAS, most notably after the Greninja ban, Mega Metagross was an incredible threat due to it’s immense bulk, speed and power, immediately topping the viability rankings and going into S rank. It was so good, in fact, that it was the subject of the second suspect test in ORAS. It narrowly avoided being banned, fortunately for it, and was allowed to remain to wreak havoc. However, it’s one true counter, Mega Scizor, became and remained very common, as well as TankChomp, something that punished it for clicking STAB and certain coverage, and later, Defensive Lando would become popular and was a good answer to Ice Punchless sets. Mega Metagross forced many balanced teams to run Mega Scizor or run a number of checks to it on the same team, and made offense carry Choice Scarf users like Landorus-T, Tyranitar, as well as certain priority users like Bisharp and the like to check it, and these are still staples to this day, proving it still has an influence, even near the end of ORAS.

In what main roles was Mega Metagross used?

Mega Metagross was mostly used as a wallbreaker, capable of punching gaping holes in balance while still being a pretty big threat to some slower offense. However, it could also run a sweeping set with Rock Polish, though it wasn’t particularly stellar as it had to sacrifice valuable coverage to use it, and lost coverage was the enemy.

All out Attacker/Wallbreaker
While initially it’s wallbreaker set used the moveset of Dual STAB + Steel Killer (usually Hammer Arm but sometimes Earthquake) + extra coverage move (Grass Knot or Ice Punch), it went on to drop Zen Headbutt altogether as it didn’t hit many viable Pokemon outside of the easily worn down Rotom-W. Instead, it began to run the BoltBeam set, like fellow wallbreaker Mega Medicham, in later ORAS. BoltBeam could ravage many bulky teams not named Stall, and typically ran Meteor Mash + Ice Punch + Thunder Punch + Steel Killer/Grass Knot. What remained the same, however, was it’s EV spread that consisted of 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Def and a Jolly Nature.

Rock Polish Sweeper
This set ran a more or less identical EV spread to it’s AoA set, that spread being 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Def and a Jolly Nature. What was different about this set is that it ran Rock Polish. For moves, this set typically ran Meteor Mash/Zen Headbutt/Rock Polish and Ice Punch, Grass Knot, or a Steel killer move, though this spread is outdated. It’d make sense to assume that the few Mega Metagross that ran Rock Polish by the end ran Meteor Mash then BoltBeam elemental punches, with a potential steel killer move/grass knot being ran over Thunder Punch on teams that needed it for similar reasons to it’s Wallbreaker shifting primarily to BoltBeam and dropping Zen Headbutt. If one was feeling adventurous, they could run Hone Claws over Rock Polish but to be honest, it had enough power unboosted already and lost coverage is the enemy for Mega Metagross.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mega Metagross had fantastic stats all around. 80 HP, 150 Defense and 110 Special Defense, even uninvested, is absurdly bulky for such a fast and powerful Pokemon. 110 Speed, while not as fast as in previous generations, is still much higher than other dedicated wallbreakers like Mega Gardevoir or Mega Medicham. It also had a whopping 145 base attack, which, while not absurd compared to some megas on it’s own, was pretty high considering it’s ability, Tough Claws. While not as stellar as Huge Power, it was still pretty good, boosting it’s main STAB, Meteor Mash and a significant majority of it’s coverage, speaking of which, it got a surprising amount of coverage. BoltBeam Elemental Punches, Hammer Arm, Earthquake, Grass Knot… All were options Mega Metagross could utilise and utilise well. Furthermore, it had Bullet Punch to nail weakened faster threats or boosted sweepers such as Mega Altaria in it’s heyday. It’s typing, while not amazing offensively (actually it was kind of poor on it’s own) was pretty decent defensively, enabling it to switch in on Latis, many fairies like Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon, Mega Heracross, Mega Venusaur and more.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in OU?

Mega Scizor, notably bulky variants, was the only true Mega Metagross counter, in OU anyways. It had the power and coverage to potentially 2hko everything else in the tier. Skarmory could be beaten by repeatedly Hammer Arming until it undersped Roost and 2hkod while Skarmory was without it’s Flying type while roosting, and every other counter was rather niche. This method had issues with Rocky Helmet, however, as it meant it could take significant recoil from doing this, so Skarmory was usually enough for stall to beat it. Skarmory was an extremely solid answer to practically any other variant, however. Mega Metagross, like many wallbreakers before it, could not run all the coverage it wanted to in one set, so something always walled it. Mega Metagross lacking Ice Punch was typically walled by Defensive Lando-T and TankChomp most notably, while Mega Metagross lacking Grass Knot struggled with Hippowdon and Slowbro. Jirachi was usually pretty safe as a switchin, and could paralyse it once it got in with Body Slam or Thunder Wave, but it feared Earthquake. Rotom-W was rather solid as a switchin as the BoltBeam set became popular, but could be 2hkod by Zen Headbutt if Mega Metagross ran it. Defensive Landorus and TankChomp could handle any variant lacking Ice Punch, but as a large majority ran this move just for these Pokemon, these weren’t as solid checks in practice. Ferrothorn walled variants lacking Hammer Arm.

More offensively inclined checks included Scarfed grounds like Landorus, Garchomp, and Excadrill, Sand Rush Life Orb Excadrill, Bisharp, Mega Manectric, Choice Scarf Tyranitar, Gengar (though it had to win a speed tie) and Mega Charizard Y. However, of those few, only Landorus, Mega Manectric, Gengar Sand Rush LO Excadrill and Mega Charizard Y could OHKO, as many only OHKOd on a roll after rocks, or required prior damage to KO due to how immensely bulky Mega Metagross was. Even Adamant Bisharp’s LO Sucker Punch only OHKOd on a roll after rocks. However, after minimal chip damage, which was usually not difficult to inflict due to the fact it was usually incapable of OHKOing entire teams unless your team was deathly weak to it’s coverage, most of these would KO it. Starmie could attempt to Scald burn it once given a switchin. However, it usually failed to OHKO so it would either burn or go down to a potential Thunder Punch. Weavile could revenge kill Bullet Punchless Mega Metagross at 60% with Knock Off. There were other Pokemon that could offensively check it, but most came down to outspeeding and finishing off weakened Mega Metagross.
 
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Could I take Mega Metagross? ik I've already done 2 already but Mega Metagross is like one of my fave megas to use in the tier and have used it a tonne. I won't be able to do it immediately but I should have it more than done by this time tomorrow, if I'm allowed that is :P
Sure, you can write as many nominations as you want as long as you don't try to reserve more than one at a time.
 
Martin mentioned the deoxys formes so I guess I'll take Deoxys Defense. If it's not up by tomorrow night, assume I forgot.
 
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Reserving Mega Sableye; I won't be able to do it after the weekend so someone else can take it on Monday.
 

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