Jul-Aug-Sep OU Standard Metagame General Discussion

[Tangerine]

Other than the general lack of decent players on the server (resulting in me running into a plethora of random stuff), here are some observations

- The "Dual Screen" Deoxys doesn't seem too popular despite many top players complaining about it. I haven't ran into a single one yet.

- Sash Azelf seems to be popular as a lead- however not many players are using it to its full potential it seems. People use it, but "for what reason" I can't really tell. It will commonly carry Explosion or U Turn.

- Bronzongs all tend to Explode quite easily - usually against Garchomps and Gyarados or any threat the user "does not feel like dealing with". Brozong's job in the metagame is similar to Azelf's - set up rocks, Sleep something, and then Explode on some threat.

- I've seen a few Electrode leads, setting up the Rain for Kabutops and other Rain Dance sweepers. These teams are very fast paced - attempting to sweep you within 10 turns.

- Deoxys E is definitely very common - despite the general lack of "dual screen" deoxys E users that I have seen so far. I will predict that Deoxys E will be within top 3 the month of August.

- Expect to see many "random" leads - I have a feeling that many of the "good" players have seeped over to the Suspect ladder.

- Metagross seems to be popular - especially with Bullet Punch and Pursuit, something that can deal with Gengar and Deoxys, two of the biggest threats in the game.

 

[Brawley]

There has been an huge increase in tyranitars lead in response to these suicude leads, as he negates the sash, and poses a great threat in itself, also I dunt know if its just me but hail teams seem to be on the up rise....

 

[gengod]

I'm also seeing a lot of the stuff Tangerine mentioned although quite a few more leading Dual Screen Deoxys than he says hes comes across. I also realise most players aren't using it to it's full potential as they simply tend to just slap a few set up sweepers after Deoxys without too much thought and call it a team.

Also i've realised many people seem to be trying to either come up with ways to counter the "suicide leads" or have come up with some wierd ones of their own. Examples include pokemon like such as Focus Sash, Fake Out, Stealth Rock Infernape, Snatch , Taunt Absol and Scarf Trick/Taunt Smeargle.

 

[Taylor]

Before Deoxys became an official suspect, I myself whitnessed an array of dual-screen varients, followed by a Swords Dance Gliscor that passed the boosted attack to a recepitant that was best suited in the situation. For instance, if we were to be opposed by Tyranitar after our Gliscor used Swords Dance on their switch, you would Baton Pass to Metagross to easily withstand the expected Ice Beam, instead of passing your Swords Dance boost to another recepitant such as Salamence. Basically, the core of the team was the immediate set-up of both Reflect and Light Screen, compliments of a Light Clay Deoxys, followed by the independant Gliscor that was heavily relied on to provide the rest of the team with a significant attack boost.

However, since Deoxys was prohibited from the Suspect Ladder for further testing, this trend cannot be fullfilled to its very best and has suffered dramatically.

 

[Tangerine]

You know with all these Bronzongs and Metagrosses just exploding at the sight of Garchomp and Gyarados and what not, I think the usefulness of Deoxys E has increased greatly. But this could just be because that is how poor players play - but I have seen an increase in things exploding on my sweepers.

 

[Tangerine]

Well now that Garchomp is gone, Standard seems to be the new place to play.

Deoxys E and CM Jirachi is definitely *rare* now. I'm not sure why but Deoxys E usage has decreased tremendously - perhaps because of many Metagross around. I've seen them as leads - but rarely the sweeper cleaner Deoxys E that was so popular a long time ago - something I don't quite understand considering it is the best end game sweeper in the game.

Agility Gross seems to be a bit more popular - although the Bullet PUnch/Pursuit sets are still prevalent.

CM LO Suicune is a huge threat - Bulky Zapdos and Celebi are no longer safe switch ins against it. Celebi should be running timid with CM in order to 'beat' it. Celebis are also much more offensive now - many of them garnished with Scarves or Life Orbs - something to look out for.

Heatrans is still really common - perhaps more common than Gengar even, although the Sub/Hypnosis sets still works wonders - since it can beat the ever so common heatrans even if they are scafed.

Salamence is more popular, and as I have mentioned elsewhere - Specsmence seems to be common. Although I think they need to run +speed now to beat CMCune

Finally - Raikou seems to be enjoying a slight boost in popularity, rising from its obscurity to serve the positions of a few random teams.

 

[Taylor]

I have to agree entirely with Raikou's slight increase on standard play, though I have no stats to back that up. The actual improvement in its popularity did not influence my own decision to use it, as I began to use it not so long after the Suspect Ladder was introduced.

Perhaps many of us are finally beginning to truely appreciate Raikou's dorment capabilities, such as a personal favourite of mine: Calm Mind, Charge Beam, Thunderbolt and Hidden Power [Ice]/[Ground] with Life Orb, maximum Special Attack and the Speed EVs to surpass Starmie's common break-point of 352.

The offense that this beast served was overlooked by the fact that I needed an Electric-type resist at the time, and I was relunctunt to use Swampert/Celebi in an all-out offensively-based team. Luckly, I immediately began to realise how useful Raikou was for that particular team and how overwhelming it was for an opponent to deal with, especially without Blissey.

I can completely understand why you have brought up Raikou into the picture.

 

[Tangerine]

Also before I forget, Blissey is definitely rising in usage - much like EW's post in the other thread, I guess.

 

[Tangerine]

k, we need to arrange all of this into one coherent analysis, so we can have one analysis covering from the start of the suspect test, the garchomp ban, to the end of the DP Gen

is anyone up for it or do I have to do everything ~_~