This is a quick and dirty analysis of the CURRENT Top 10 on the uberssuspect ladder. I found some very interesting patterns I would like to share.
For the record, the current top 10 are: Dracomaster hyw, Dracomaster pain, It's just Lacus, MaikElite Top1, bleed the shark, DoubleOD, the_steve_man, MasterOfRampa, SockeFTW, Valledis
Fact One: All ten teams run an Arceus form. Of those ten, FIVE are the Extreme-Killer variant. Arceus-Ghost and Arceus-Water get two appearances each, and Arceus-Ground makes up the last one.
Thoughts: While Arceus may only have one variant (EKiller) as S-Rank - I think this supports the assertion that, due to its versatility, Arceus [when considering ALL of its forms] still has an argument for being ontop of the Ubers world.
Also... half of the Top 10 use Extremekiller? That's nuts.
Fact Two: Only 6 of the 10 teams run Xerneas.
Thoughts: Shows that even with the arguable Top Pokemon in Ubers, you can build an elite team without it. This isn't Lower Ladder - if you are in the Top 10 you have an answer to Geoxern.
Fact Three: Of the 6 Mewtwo's, THREE of them are NOT Mega's.
Thoughts: MMX had 2 of the other 3 appearances. As good as Mewtwo's Mega's are, there is an opportunity cost to using them. This serves as a good reminder of the viability of a regular Mewtwo with an item attached. We may see another reminder in ORAS when people opt out of using Primal Kyogre.
Fact Four: SIX of the Top 10 teams on the Ubers Ladder use DITTO.
Thoughts: This thing is supposedly C Rank and yet FIVE of the top SIX teams on the Ladder have Ditto. With hyper-offense rampant, Ditto as a surefire check to both ExtremeKiller and Xerneas in one is invaluable. I myself was outside of the Top 10 until I dropped one of my less useful Pokemon for Ditto. (Those less useful Pokemon? Kyogre and Ferrothorn. No joke)
Fact Five: FIVE of the Top 10 use a Ho-Oh
Thoughts: Of those five, four of them use a (non-normal) Arceus form as their defogger. Arceus still the most reliable defogger if you are not choosing to use Extremekiller.
PS. Beware Rock Slide Xerneas. It's a serious thing on the ladder now.
Fact Six: FOUR of the Top 10 use a Kyogre
Thoughts: I thought this was interesting. What was even more interesting is that hard checks to Kyogre were so hard to come by in these teams. Only ONE team in the Top 10 uses Palkia, and only ONE uses Gastrodon. I myself opted away from using Kyogre as I find nearly every top team is too prepared for it for it to wreck the havoc it was meant to.
Fact Seven: Ferrothorn and Scizor appear three times each.
Thoughts: Back-Up Xerneas checks? Scizor is a de-fogger and Ferrothorn is very good against physical (or even special) threats that don't carry fire moves. Having played on the ladder, however, I have seen way too many Arceus running Overheat. This sours me on Ferrothorn - unless you are running Anticipation, you are OHKO'd no matter what your investment.
Scizor suffers the same 4X weakness but acts as a reliable defogger and a more reliable Xerneas check (unless, of course, Xerneas is carrying HP Fire)
Fact Eight: Only 4 of the Top 10 teams on the ladder carried a Pokemon that serves no purpose aside from being a lead (Deoxys-S appears twice as does Smeargle)
Thoughts: These are good leads but having a dedicated lead is clearly not necessary for success. As long as you have your own way of controlling hazards, you don't need to sacrifice a Pokemon for it. However, these two Pokemon are extremely effective in that role.
Fact Nine: Mega-Gengar on the Ubers Suspect Ladder? In the Top 10 it has ONE appearance. There is NO OTHER SHADOW TAG USER in the Top 10.
Thoughts: This has got to be at least somewhat telling. The entire purpose of the ladder was to suspect Shadow Tag and no user comes even close to topping the ladder. Okay, I lied. The top team on the ladder is the one with Mega-Gar. Draw your own conclusions.
Fact Ten: Here are the remaining Pokemon I have not discussed:
Mega-Kangaskhan appears twice. As do Groudon and Giratina (one of A and one of O).
SockeFTW has by far the most "original" team in the Top 10: he has four Pokemon on his team that do not appear on any other team. All four of these Pokemon are defensive in nature and counter specific threats (Gastro, Heatran, Gliscor, Tyranitar).
Thoughts? I thought some of these trends were really interesting and wanted to share them.
For the record, the current top 10 are: Dracomaster hyw, Dracomaster pain, It's just Lacus, MaikElite Top1, bleed the shark, DoubleOD, the_steve_man, MasterOfRampa, SockeFTW, Valledis
Fact One: All ten teams run an Arceus form. Of those ten, FIVE are the Extreme-Killer variant. Arceus-Ghost and Arceus-Water get two appearances each, and Arceus-Ground makes up the last one.
Thoughts: While Arceus may only have one variant (EKiller) as S-Rank - I think this supports the assertion that, due to its versatility, Arceus [when considering ALL of its forms] still has an argument for being ontop of the Ubers world.
Also... half of the Top 10 use Extremekiller? That's nuts.
Fact Two: Only 6 of the 10 teams run Xerneas.
Thoughts: Shows that even with the arguable Top Pokemon in Ubers, you can build an elite team without it. This isn't Lower Ladder - if you are in the Top 10 you have an answer to Geoxern.
Fact Three: Of the 6 Mewtwo's, THREE of them are NOT Mega's.
Thoughts: MMX had 2 of the other 3 appearances. As good as Mewtwo's Mega's are, there is an opportunity cost to using them. This serves as a good reminder of the viability of a regular Mewtwo with an item attached. We may see another reminder in ORAS when people opt out of using Primal Kyogre.
Fact Four: SIX of the Top 10 teams on the Ubers Ladder use DITTO.
Thoughts: This thing is supposedly C Rank and yet FIVE of the top SIX teams on the Ladder have Ditto. With hyper-offense rampant, Ditto as a surefire check to both ExtremeKiller and Xerneas in one is invaluable. I myself was outside of the Top 10 until I dropped one of my less useful Pokemon for Ditto. (Those less useful Pokemon? Kyogre and Ferrothorn. No joke)
Fact Five: FIVE of the Top 10 use a Ho-Oh
Thoughts: Of those five, four of them use a (non-normal) Arceus form as their defogger. Arceus still the most reliable defogger if you are not choosing to use Extremekiller.
PS. Beware Rock Slide Xerneas. It's a serious thing on the ladder now.
Fact Six: FOUR of the Top 10 use a Kyogre
Thoughts: I thought this was interesting. What was even more interesting is that hard checks to Kyogre were so hard to come by in these teams. Only ONE team in the Top 10 uses Palkia, and only ONE uses Gastrodon. I myself opted away from using Kyogre as I find nearly every top team is too prepared for it for it to wreck the havoc it was meant to.
Fact Seven: Ferrothorn and Scizor appear three times each.
Thoughts: Back-Up Xerneas checks? Scizor is a de-fogger and Ferrothorn is very good against physical (or even special) threats that don't carry fire moves. Having played on the ladder, however, I have seen way too many Arceus running Overheat. This sours me on Ferrothorn - unless you are running Anticipation, you are OHKO'd no matter what your investment.
Scizor suffers the same 4X weakness but acts as a reliable defogger and a more reliable Xerneas check (unless, of course, Xerneas is carrying HP Fire)
Fact Eight: Only 4 of the Top 10 teams on the ladder carried a Pokemon that serves no purpose aside from being a lead (Deoxys-S appears twice as does Smeargle)
Thoughts: These are good leads but having a dedicated lead is clearly not necessary for success. As long as you have your own way of controlling hazards, you don't need to sacrifice a Pokemon for it. However, these two Pokemon are extremely effective in that role.
Fact Nine: Mega-Gengar on the Ubers Suspect Ladder? In the Top 10 it has ONE appearance. There is NO OTHER SHADOW TAG USER in the Top 10.
Thoughts: This has got to be at least somewhat telling. The entire purpose of the ladder was to suspect Shadow Tag and no user comes even close to topping the ladder. Okay, I lied. The top team on the ladder is the one with Mega-Gar. Draw your own conclusions.
Fact Ten: Here are the remaining Pokemon I have not discussed:
Mega-Kangaskhan appears twice. As do Groudon and Giratina (one of A and one of O).
SockeFTW has by far the most "original" team in the Top 10: he has four Pokemon on his team that do not appear on any other team. All four of these Pokemon are defensive in nature and counter specific threats (Gastro, Heatran, Gliscor, Tyranitar).
Thoughts? I thought some of these trends were really interesting and wanted to share them.
