XY Smogcast #1

[Ace Emerald]

The first Smogcast of generation 6 is going to broadcast live on Wednesday at 2:30 PM, EST! We'll be reviewing the major mechanic changes, new Pokemon, and updated Pokemon, while also theorizing their impacts on the new metagame. This is shaping up to be a great cast covering a lot of metagame theory, so be sure to tune in or catch it on our channel official channel, SmogonU, whenever you like!

This thread may be used to field questions, but I'll stress that we are going to cover a lot in this cast, which means that 1) we don't have time for that many questions, and 2) we will likely cover your question just in the course of our normal discussion. That said, feel free to post what you're looking forward to most!

 

[Mulligan]

Will Smogon even bother setting up a Showdown ladder for what some players were calling the "454 metagame"(the available Pokemon in-game as of right now) if we're going to have access to Pokebank in two months?

I've kinda been browsing around the forums for this, but haven't picked up any clues.

 

[Sir Lemongrab]

This sounds awesome! Sorry if this has been answered before, but I can't find this anywhere, so, where can I tune in to watch this live?

 

[Ace Emerald]

Will Smogon even bother setting up a Showdown ladder for what some players were calling the "454 metagame"(the available Pokemon in-game as of right now) if we're going to have access to Pokebank in two months?

I've kinda been browsing around the forums for this, but haven't picked up any clues.

I'll answer this now, we already have an OU beta with just the released Pokemon, and a Pokebank OU with Pokemon that we will get in December.

This sounds awesome! Sorry if this has been answered before, but I can't find this anywhere, so, where can I tune in to watch this live?

A link will be posted on PS!, IRC, and this thread to a live stream!

 

[Stone Alchemist]

Very cool, I've been looking for a good rant on the new metagame. I'm glad that it goes over mechanic changes too because the mechanics haven't stuck into my brain yet.

 

[Haruno]

Who will be hosting?

 

[Arcticblast]

When Fairy's type interactions were revealed, there was a huge fuss about how Fairy would be the best type we've ever had and we'd immediately have to suspect several Fairies because Fairy is such a great typing... but then that movement sort of fizzled out when we figured out what all of the Fairies ended up being. Do you think Game Freak did a good job at keeping the Fairy type as the "balancing act" it was originally intended to be (as stated in a few pre-release interviews)?

If you don't end up covering this I'll probably bring it up in a future cast, but if you do that would be awesome.

 

[Psylink]

Who'll be participating in the Smogcast? I would assume alexwolf and Pocket at least, but there will probably be more.

 

[noobcubed]

To what extent will weather influence the metagame, in your opinions? Will weather be more effective than manual weather teams in BW UU etc? What about in Ubers, where the weather summoners are really good anyway despite the nerf?

 

[TaiCrunch]

The new breeding and EV training mechanics introduced in XY have made it easier than ever for players to create "legitimate" Pokemon to play over Wi-Fi. How do you think this will affect simulator play?

 

[The LoudWendle]

Has the 3DS console improved on the competitive aspect of the game? Is it easier to find battles etc. Is the battle graphics improved enough to warrent the upgrade to 3DS for competitive play.

 

[sandstreamftw]

How well do you think Speed Boost Blaziken will fare?

 

[Blackbeltsam]

Do you think certain thinks that were banned in Gen 5 (Swift Swim + Drizzle on the same team, Sand Veil, etc) still warrant a ban this generation?

 

[Skore]

The new breeding and EV training mechanics introduced in XY have made it easier than ever for players to create "legitimate" Pokemon to play over Wi-Fi. How do you think this will affect simulator play?

I second this, was coming to propose the same question.

Edit: But to add something else, how do you feel Mega Evolutions will shake up the meta and are there any in particular that stand out from the mega crowd so far?

 

[Halcyon.]

As we've seen on the ladder(s) so far, priority is everywhere, and there aren't many good Scarf Pokémon out there yet, so I've found myself not really needing/being strained to find a good Choice Scarf Pokémon for my teams. Compared to the previous generation, this is a pretty significant change. Choice Scarfed Pokémon were required on almost every team, but now this may not be the case. Furthermore, the former kings of Choice Scarf, namely Keldeo, Garchomp, Salamence, Terrakion, Latios, etc., now have undesirable types to be locked into. Locking oneself into Close Combat or Secret Sword can lead to a Mega Gengar trapping or Aegislash setting up on one. Dragons must also be wary, as they can no longer freely spam Outrage due to the introduction of Fairy types. Additionally, Sticky Web is one of the most interesting moves that has come from this new generation. Upon switching in, a Pokémon will be brought down one stage in speed if that Pokémon is grounded when Sticky Web has been laid. This obviously has some pretty huge implications, one of which may be that Choice Scarf Pokémon become obsolete. So my question is this, how do you think Choice Scarf is faring/will fare in this generation, what implications does this have for team building, and who will this compare to the team building of BW OU?

As a side question, what are your thoughts on Sticky Web? I'm sure this will be brought up naturally, but if not, I would like it answered.

 

[Vaz]

Will we see a ladder set-up on showdown with the rules for standard singles like we see on GBU (3 Pokemon, Level 50s, Uber Clause, Item Clause, Species Clause)?

 

[Tesung]

Has Defog made all hazards, especially spikes but arguable rocks or sticky web defunct?

 

[PawnSlayer]

What are the implications of the rebalancing to the existing types? A lot of Pokemon that have Poison as a secondary STAB didn't use it because it was redundant or worthless - will this now change? Drapion is a good example of this, as its access to powerful Poison moves like Poison Jab counter new threats against it. Likewise, will we see more offensive steel types, with those oft-neglected attacking moves of the type brought in as anti-Fairy cover? Or are these things redundant if Fairy hasn't lived up to its hype?

 

[Weebos]

How will the (current) lack of gems affect the game?

 

[Erazor]

Do you think that Dragons actually got nerfed? Sure they can't spam outrages, but since Steel types are easier to kill now...

 

[AJC]

grasses now being immune to powder type moves was it a good thing to apply this to all grass types?

for one thing is sure ferrothorn is more annoying now that you can't just set up on it with sleep powder/spore on top of it's toxic immunity having to use hypnosis which is unreliable as hell, dark void which only 2 mons have access to or yawn which requires ferrothorn to stay for a turn to fall to sleep.

 

[Mulligan]

How will the (current) lack of gems affect the game?

IIRC the gems are available now. I believe you can Rock Smash for them in-game.

 

[666lumberjack]

IIRC the gems are available now. I believe you can Rock Smash for them in-game.

Pretty sure you can only get Normal Gem right now.

 

[Classical]

are there any pokemon you expect to rise up from what were considered lower tiers to counter new threats (excluding mega evos)

 

[Celever]

What Pokemon, abilities, items, types or moves do you feel are being heavily over-hyped and why? Everyone doing the stream can say what they think the most over-hyped thing is, take it in turns. ;)

On the other end of the scale what do you think is being underhyped?