Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v3

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There does seem to be way more support for Bax quickban than there had ever been for Volcarona. I don't think the two situation are really comparable.
Shit like this off-cuff is how huge trouble always starts.

People one day are like “oh this ban is obvious how have they not done it already” and want process expedited without a survey or any due diligence — release isn’t even 20 hours out. It’s not the degrees of support — I am seeing what you see — but rather the premise and underlying logic.

I am sure Bax will be banned in the near future if it warrants it. If it doesn’t, that’s a different story. But you can’t just take my post and say the situations are different fundamentally when the underlying context is the same and one just has a few more forum posts than the other. We run our system based off of data and any time we deviate from that it clearly hasn’t gone well.
 
I'd like to hear a genuine, well informed opinion from someone who doesn't think Bax is quickban-worthy post-DLC.
The main argument I see right now is that Dondozo was a great pick at least in the pre-DLC meta and seemingly will continue to be a pain for Bax teams. I also have heard people wanting to ban veil or light clay first, which I strongly disagree with but can at least understand.

Is there anything besides "Dozo is easy to fit for many teams and it keeps it in check" and "Restrict Veil Alolatales in some way first", that makes people opposed to a Bax ban?

Also, for what it's worth, I'm fine with giving it a couple days, having a survey, and only quickbanning it if it gets like 3.5/5 or higher. I just hope things move along at a reasonable pace.

Possible bax counters/checks: dondozo,iron defense corviknight, tera fairy garganacl with either curse or iron defense, tera fairy in general, air balloon kingambit,air balloon gholdengo,azumarill,alolan ninetales (which gets a boost from snow to its def, resists or is immune to its stabs, isn't afraid of its coverage, and sets veil in its presence, while being able to encore-lock it), weezing-g (with levitate and tera steel,if necessary). Then u go to more niche picks, like orthworm, bronzong and tera steel cresselia.
Other means are status (including burn, if its not the thermal exchange variant), encore (from the likes of i-val, scream tail etc), hazards (to which bax is very vulnerable if it's not running hdb), phazing (from tera'd ting-lu and great tusk) and the drawbacks of using scale shot (decreases its defense,which makes bax susceptible to revenge killing, from faster threats and priority, and it also has a chance to miss) or glaive rush (taking double damage)

Possible veil counters:ur own weather setter, cinderace (both with taunt and court change), dragapult, the tauros regionals, brick break or psychic fangs on anything (personally, i have used throughout this gen on balance and bulky offense structures choice scarf meow, aka my speed control, with brick break, for gambit and screens, as well as psychic fangs basculegion-m on rain teams for toxapex,amoongus and screens), defog (if not for gholdengo on the opposing team, unless u don't mind its presence, like with neutralizing gas weezing-g). Lastly, gholdengo itself is very threatening to veil structures with a-tales and bax,especially if it is running choice scarf to surprise a-tales or air balloon for bax. And of course, a-tales is weak to all sorts of hazards,if it's not running heavy duty boots (hazards in general are a very effective way of dealing with a-tales structures,including laying down toxic spikes). Of interest is also the fact that it cannot hold light clay and icy rock simultaneously, which reduces considerably the number of turns for either screens or snow boosting.

As a final point, do not fall for new toy syndrome.we have seen the same thing whenever a new ou release happens, overhyped things that just fall off as the meta evolves.

Make of that what u will
 
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I'm never wrong, sometimes just early, about the correct tiering decisions so here's my personal radar after some ladder sessions

Blood Moon Usralana - 5 This is thing is ridiculous and is significantly better than the og urslana has ever been. Guts ursalana has splashable counter play like id corv, great tusk, air balloon ghold etc, is taking net 12.5% more damage every turn than blood moon is due to having to forgo lefties for flame orb, and is much more prediction reliant due not having scrappy as an ability. Blood Moon can also hit through subs with hyper voice. My prediction is that it's a matter of when not if this thing gets banned.

The Ninetales-Baxcalibur-Manaphy-Light Clay conundrum - 4.5 It's hard to exactly pinpoint what exactly is most broken here. Obviously Baxculibur and to bit of a lesser degree Manaphy are insane in their own rights, being able to run multilple different setup sets and teras while having amazing bulk. This lays the foundation for why hail + screens support (and also rain support for mana) makes them completely ridiculous to try and counter in a tera meta. However, I honestly feel it's Ninetales that is in some ways the biggest culprit here, as it's easily the most insane offensive support we've seen since cyclizar shed tail. Gets 1.5 def boost off the rip, has a great speed tier, powerful stab moves like moonblast, freeze dry and blizzard, and great support options behind veil like encore and hypnosis. Ninetales feels like the most uncompetetive and frustrating part when playing because so much of the game can be decided on hypnosis coin flips. While 1 turn veil support is possible with abomasnow, ninetales makes getting up veil very easy while also preventing your opponent from being able to make much progress while you get up veil. A major part of what makes screens/veil so strong is the 8 turns you get from light clay, which has been a hot topic for a while now, and suspecting/banning it first is probably what makes the most sense in terms saving the rest of the tier from collateral. I think it's really hard to sell the idea that the low opportunity cost of 1 turn is a worthy tradeoff for 8 turns of halved damage, which is why we've seen it banned in lower tiers before. In this gen with the insane powercreep and ability to change your type on any given turn, it really has no business being in ou either. I think the focus should be veil first as opposed bax and mana because it doesn't take great foresight to see how after those two got banned that gholdengo, kingambit, kommo-o, dragonite, roaring moon etc. could all abuse veil to a problematic degree.
 
Shit like this off-cuff is how huge trouble always starts.

People one day are like “oh this ban is obvious how have they not done it already” and want process expedited without a survey or any due diligence — release isn’t even 20 hours out. It’s not the degrees of support — I am seeing what you see — but rather the premise and underlying logic.

I am sure Bax will be banned in the near future if it warrants it. If it doesn’t, that’s a different story. But you can’t just take my post and say the situations are different fundamentally when the underlying context is the same and one just has a few more forum posts than the other. We run our system based off of data and any time we deviate from that it clearly hasn’t gone well.

I respect this but I do want to point out hes not completely wrong either.

You're right, slower the better than knee jerk react ban in under <24 hours (IMO minimum should be 72hrs before anyone can even start suggesting things), but using volc's reaction as an example isn't correct cause that was more of a case of the ban itself not being justified in the first place. Quick bans are for egregious issues that make the tier unplayable and need urgently taken care of, bax is clearly one of those, volc clearly was not with the time it was in the tier. Yes it happened too quick into the home meta, sure, but that's the surface and its dishonest ignoring the rest of the reasons that riot happened.

It wasn't the fact a quickban was made so soon after home, it was what it happened to and the disagreements with that decision in general. Him saying you wouldn't see that kind of reaction with Bax is probably correct cause there are few disagreements for that by comparison of volc where majority, even if they thought the ban itself would happen in a normal suspect, should've been done constructively not 'just so the council doesn't have to deal with it during WCOP' when even you guys said you wanted to suspect it even after the ban should the pre-dlc meta have lasted long enough.
 
bros hear me out
Eiscue @ Focus Sash
Ability: Ice Face
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aurora Veil
- Flip Turn
- Ice Spinner

remember it’s literally immune to physical moves under snow
this thing will destroy
 
252 Atk Choice Band Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 211-249 (56.8 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 315-372 (84.9 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

+2 252 Atk Baxcalibur Scale Shot (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 320-380 (86.2 - 102.4%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Guts Conkeldurr Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 244-288 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


Ok time to bring out the big guns. The strongest rock move in the game from a choice band adamant tera rock great tusk

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Rock Great Tusk Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 289-342 (77.8 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
...
I could go on and on and on about the baxcalibur calcs, but this shit is an active fucking war crime. Imagine people actually invested in it's bulk...
 
bros hear me out
Eiscue @ Focus Sash
Ability: Ice Face
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aurora Veil
- Flip Turn
- Ice Spinner

remember it’s literally immune to physical moves under snow
this thing will destroy

That's not how the ability works, Eiscue is only immune to physical moves once.

It can however reset it's Ice Face if it sets Snow itself, which is only once practically.

If you're running a snow belly drummer, just use Cetitan :P
 
252 Atk Choice Band Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 211-249 (56.8 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Iron Head vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 315-372 (84.9 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

+2 252 Atk Baxcalibur Scale Shot (5 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 320-380 (86.2 - 102.4%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Guts Conkeldurr Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 244-288 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


Ok time to bring out the big guns. The strongest rock move in the game from a choice band adamant tera rock great tusk

252+ Atk Choice Band Tera Rock Great Tusk Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Baxcalibur in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 289-342 (77.8 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
...
I could go on and on and on about the baxcalibur calcs, but this shit is an active fucking war crime. Imagine people actually invested in it's bulk...
ngl these calcs aren't exactly very useful, but they are an example of why Bax is extremely powerful. However, I still don't think it should be quickbanned, mainly because doing the due process of a suspect and a vote, really won't take that long in the grand scheme of things.
 
that was more of a case of the ban itself not being justified in the first place.
I don’t think you can really say this when the survey about it being retested a month later didn’t generate enough support for a retest. I think the issue with Volcarona was the process: people should have a say through surveys at the minimum unless it’s like a generational outlier (Regieleki with Tera type of Pokemon) Pokemon. Trying not to repeat this process is important.
 
ngl these calcs aren't exactly very useful, but they are an example of why Bax is extremely powerful. However, I still don't think it should be quickbanned, mainly because doing the due process of a suspect and a vote, really won't take that long in the grand scheme of things.
You're right they ain't useful. But bro cannot be killed on the physical side. Watch the baxcalibur teams run Psychic Terrain to handle Scizor (a solid counter to it)

Oh wait...
 
I don’t think you can really say this when the survey about it being retested a month later didn’t generate enough support for a retest. I think the issue with Volcarona was the process: people should have a say through surveys at the minimum unless it’s like a generational outlier (Regieleki with Tera type of Pokemon) Pokemon. Trying not to repeat this process is important.
As far as I see, either way it's getting action taken very soon, amirite? No worries then.

Like the tier just started, let the folks have their fun with the new toy. I'm not even gonna partake until the dust settles a bit, it shouldn't be long.
 
You're right they ain't useful. But bro cannot be killed on the physical side. Watch the baxcalibur teams run Psychic Terrain to handle Scizor (a solid counter to it)

Oh wait...
And those Baxcalibur teams start running Psychic Seed so that both sides of its bulk are x3 for a few turns.
 
That's not how the ability works, Eiscue is only immune to physical moves once.

It can however reset it's Ice Face if it sets Snow itself, which is only once practically.

If you're running a snow belly drummer, just use Cetitan :P
It can re set up Aurora and gives it ice face back on switch in if hailing
its a decent pivot Mon to just do damage and leave with lefties to regain health
 
It's crazy to me that more people aren't running Blood Moon Ursa.

Also, Galarian Weezing with levitate legit walls half the tier. People need to start using it ASAP.
 
And those Baxcalibur teams start running Psychic Seed so that both sides of its bulk are x3 for a few turns.
That shit sounds super copious to deal with but yet somehow more manageable to deal with than loaded dice. Although to be fair, Icicle Spear Kyurem-Black was banworthy without loaded dice. Do I think bax will be banned? No. But it is still very good. Maybe terrain extender indeedee with veil would make it's bulk top notch for as long as possible
 
It's crazy to me that more people aren't running Blood Moon Ursa.

Also, Galarian Weezing with levitate legit walls half the tier. People need to start using it ASAP.
i prefer neutralizing gas on it because it lets you defog right in gholdengo's sparkly expensive face, which is extremely valuable in a meta that somehow has less hazard removal than it actually has
 
I'm never wrong, sometimes just early, about the correct tiering decisions so here's my personal radar after some ladder sessions

Blood Moon Usralana - 5 This is thing is ridiculous and is significantly better than the og urslana has ever been. Guts ursalana has splashable counter play like id corv, great tusk, air balloon ghold etc, is taking net 12.5% more damage every turn than blood moon is due to having to forgo lefties for flame orb, and is much more prediction reliant due not having scrappy as an ability. Blood Moon can also hit through subs with hyper voice. My prediction is that it's a matter of when not if this thing gets banned.
I was just about to talk Blood Moon. I modified the veil team coral fan posted with CM tera fairy blood moon > torterra, and have been having reasonable success in the mid 1700s. Has basically no switch-ins and can 1v1 pretty much anything. Blood Moon/Earth Power/Moonblast is a disgusting STAB combo (accounting for tera fairy) and with leftovers, calm mind, and veil it has notable longevity over standard ursuluna (those extra one or two hits it can take often translate directly to one or two more kills).

I'm not saying it's quickban worthy yet, but I'd be surprised if it stays as well. Definitely more obnoxious than bax so far in my book

Ursaluna-Bloodmoon @ Leftovers
Ability: Mind's Eye
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Blood Moon
- Earth Power
- Moonblast

(Speed is to creep Corv)
Here's two replays where it put in a significant amount of work:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1943536376
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1943526779-7ftxwb93g7ivztn61kb0xkua3ck9t4qpw
 
Manaphy is an interesting case. It has always stellar at its job. Breaking fat and having the bulk to eat a hit or two from offensive mons. Manaphy under Veil isn’t a new concept since it was common on those archetypes in USUM OU.

SV OU has brought some interesting things that affect Manaphy (such as Tera but we’ll get to that). Offensive power creep is at an all time high so theoretically it is easier to rkill Manaphy. Meowscarada has risen in usage and would easily rkill it with ease via Flower Trick hitting past Screens and also Ogerpon another fast Grass type that can outspeed Manaphy.

Gen 9 also brought in some possible checks to it. One of them ironically being Bax who is a dragon only hit neutrally by Ice Beam and had enough horsepower to hit Manaphy hard. Wake another neutral-to-ice dragon can 1v1 Manaphy and 2HKO with Specs Draco. Empoleon has been around as long as it has but received two major buffs in Flip Turn and Roost.

That is until you factor in Tera, which I believe like with Volc, is what is pushing Manaphy over the edge. Instead of Meow rkilling it, Manaphy just clicks Tera Fairy and puts the cat in the freezer, same with Wake. Pex is noticeably worse this gen and even then Manaphy can click Tera Poison against it anyways. Dozo dies to Tera Grass E-Ball. So that leaves you with Empoleon, but Empoleon needs either Roar which only checks it in the short-term, or Haze + Knock to 1v1 it, sacrificing two moveslots over the more conventional Flip Turn. In a nutshell your only option is Tera with special walls. Tera makes it not only difficult to defensively check but also to offensively check it. Veil also pushes it, but I want to see Bax and Manaphy suspected/QBd before we touch Veil to see if it is still broken without them.
 
i prefer neutralizing gas on it because it lets you defog right in gholdengo's sparkly expensive face, which is extremely valuable in a meta that somehow has less hazard removal than it actually has
Ya, but with Levitate you get to completely wall Tusk, and you get an opportunity to haze/toxic Bax.
 
From what I've seen and played so far, I feel like Ursaluna-Bloodmoon will be banned in national dex ou just like normal Ursaluna, while remaining ou in the gen 9 ou metagame unlike normal Ursaluna due to it's good move pool and ability. I also feel like Munkidori and Okidogi might be dropped to uu until more people use Munkidori, inwhich then Munkidori will go back to ou. Ferzandipiti will definitely be dropped to uu or ru, it's move pool and stats aren't good enough for ou. Ogerpon will likely be dropped to uu once the hype wears down, it's offensive damage has been pretty underwhelming and hasn't been doing very good against anything with bad bulk. I feel like Dippin will be dropped to uu, but will have a few niches as a staller or with it's ability. Sinistcha will likely go to uu, and will likely be in ru in doubles until it's ability is fixed. Those are my predictions for the end of the month tier changes for the new dlc mons.
 
From what I've seen and played so far, I feel like Ursaluna-Bloodmoon will be banned in national dex ou just like normal Ursaluna, while remaining ou in the gen 9 ou metagame unlike normal Ursaluna due to it's good move pool and ability. I also feel like Munkidori and Okidogi might be dropped to uu until more people use Munkidori, inwhich then Munkidori will go back to ou. Ferzandipiti will definitely be dropped to uu or ru, it's move pool and stats aren't good enough for ou. Ogerpon will likely be dropped to uu once the hype wears down, it's offensive damage has been pretty underwhelming and hasn't been doing very good against anything with bad bulk. I feel like Dippin will be dropped to uu, but will have a few niches as a staller or with it's ability. Sinistcha will likely go to uu, and will likely be in ru in doubles until it's ability is fixed. Those are my predictions for the end of the month tier changes for the new dlc mons.
I think dogi could stick around, mon is a pain to switch around and checks a lot of stuff and can even cripple switchins with toxic chain knock off, granted its a bit slow but it can help deal with some of the offensive threats running around
 
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Manaphy is an interesting case. It has always stellar at its job. Breaking fat and having the bulk to eat a hit or two from offensive mons. Manaphy under Veil isn’t a new concept since it was common on those archetypes in USUM OU.

SV OU has brought some interesting things that affect Manaphy (such as Tera but we’ll get to that). Offensive power creep is at an all time high so theoretically it is easier to rkill Manaphy. Meowscarada has risen in usage and would easily rkill it with ease via Flower Trick hitting past Screens and also Ogerpon another fast Grass type that can outspeed Manaphy.

Gen 9 also brought in some possible checks to it. One of them ironically being Bax who is a dragon only hit neutrally by Ice Beam and had enough horsepower to hit Manaphy hard. Wake another neutral-to-ice dragon can 1v1 Manaphy and 2HKO with Specs Draco. Empoleon has been around as long as it has but received two major buffs in Flip Turn and Roost.

That is until you factor in Tera, which I believe like with Volc, is what is pushing Manaphy over the edge. Instead of Meow rkilling it, Manaphy just clicks Tera Fairy and puts the cat in the freezer, same with Wake. Pex is noticeably worse this gen and even then Manaphy can click Tera Poison against it anyways. Dozo dies to Tera Grass E-Ball. So that leaves you with Empoleon, but Empoleon needs either Roar which only checks it in the short-term, or Haze + Knock to 1v1 it, sacrificing two moveslots over the more conventional Flip Turn. In a nutshell your only option is Tera with special walls. Tera makes it not only difficult to defensively check but also to offensively check it. Veil also pushes it, but I want to see Bax and Manaphy suspected/QBd before we touch Veil to see if it is still broken without them.

The loss of Ferrothorn is perhaps most noticeable when dealing with Manaphy. Ferro was always a splashable check to it; now we don't have a defensive check that deals with it that easily. Still, even with Ferro, Tera Fire would still be an issue.
 
I think dogi could stick around, mon is a pain to switch around and checks a lot of stuff and can even cripple switchins with toxic chain knock off
While it is possible for it to stay, I feel like once people realise how easily Munkidori can sweep many common mons it'll become a staple, and Munkidori as a staple makes Okidogi quite unsafe due to it's 4x weakness to psychic and it's special defense of 86 leaving it only able to tank special hits from non-super-effective moves and moves from special attackers who don't have high special attack (which is the minority of special attackers)
 
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