All-Weathermons
(Other suggestions for the metaname are welcome)
(First of all, my apologies for my poor English)
Premise: Every match is played with a randomized and permanent weather, field and dimension.
Weather conditions: Rain, Sun, Sand and Snow
Terrain conditions: Grassy Terrain, Electric Terrain, Psychic Terrain and Misty Terrain
Dimension conditions: Trick Room, Wonder Room, Magic Room and Gravity
This makes for a total of 64 possible combinations of field conditions (from now on used as a collective term for weather, terrain and/or dimension).
The randomized field conditions will be shown before each player sends out their lead mon.
Example:
In most metagames, field conditions are a core component of team building. Some teams even revolve around one, and in rare cases more, field conditions. In Gen 9 OU, when building a team that doesn't need a field condition to function, one still might want to build their team so they are able to still win versus Rain, Sun, Grassy Terrain or Psychic Terrain. What if we were to take this to the extreme: a metagame where one is required to build a team able to handle all field conditions.
A few specific examples:
Walking Wake doesn't mind Snow and doesn't enjoy Sand, but oh boy does it love both Rain and Sun. This means that in close to half of all games, where either Rain of Sun is active, Walking Wake will have a good time blasting through the opposition.
Raging Bolt loves Grassy (recovery and EQ nerf) and Electric Terrain (nuke electric attacks) a lot as terrain. However, it hates Psychic Terrain completely nullifying its beloved priority Thunderclap, making one move slot effectively useless. And while Misty Terrain blocks status, it also cuts the power of Raging Bolt's Dragon-type moves in half, leaving it as a mostly mono Electric-type attacker.
I don't think I will have to elaborate much on the inevitable clashes between past and future paradox mons that await in this metagame with the possibility of unlimited Sun and Electric Terrain.
Ah yes, the good old Gen 2 walls. Without field conditions, they will still function fine. But what happens if the dimension Wonder Room is active? Suddenly Skarmory becomes the special wall, while Blissey becomes the physical wall. What happens if Trick Room is active? Now Skarmory and Blissey are more likely to outpace their opponents and take the initiative in battle. And what happens if Magic Room is active? Unfortunately, now Skarmory will have to miss out on its trusty Rocky Helmet or Leftovers, while Blissey will have to enter the field without its Heavy-Duty Boots. Finally some opportunities to use those close to unused 'Wonder Room', 'Magic Room' and 'Gravity' buttons in the Damage Calc.
Speaking of Magic Room making Heavy-Duty Boots obsolete: do you dare bring Volcarona on your team in the 1 in 4 chance it will have to face the pre-Gen 8 PTSD of no boots? And would you still blindly slap that Booster Energy on your Iron Moth and call it a day, ignoring the off chance where Magic Room prevents Booster Energy from activating?
One final example, which is one of my favorites since I'm a sucker for Trick Room. In the 1 in 4 chance that Trick Room will be active while you are using your bulky balance team, your opponent will be in for a baaad time. Not to mention if conditions like Sand, Grassy Terrain or Psychic Terrain are active. You just have to hope that Misty Terrain won't be active at the same time and thus blocking Ursaluna's Flame or Toxic Orb.
Even though these are just a few example, the implications of field conditions can have serious consequences for a mon's viability.
Bans:
Pokémon
At this point, I find it too hard to say what mons will be broken. Yes, Walking Wake will be very good in about half of the games where either Sun or Rain is active, just like Iron Bundle with Rain or Snow and/or Electric Terrain, but Trick Room and Magic Room can put a serious dent in those threats. To do a quick and easy calculation with Walking Wake: either Sun or Rain will be active 50% of the time. However, either Trick Room or Magic Room will also be active 50% of the time. This means that in 'only' 25% of the time Walking Wake has a clear opportunity to succeed in unlimited Sun and Rain. While Wake is undoubtedly strong is these instances, I do not think it is as big of a hitter in the other 50% where neither Sun/Rain nor Trick/Magic Room is active, and especially in the 25% where Sun/Rain are not active while Trick/Magic Room are active. This example goes for more big hitters, but I expect only time will tell.
Abilities
All weather-setting abilities: Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream and Snow Warning
All terrain-setting abilities: Grassy Surge, Electric Surge, Psychic Surge and Misty Surge
(F for no dimension setting abilities lol)
If it is possible to modify these abilities to not affect the permanent field conditions, these bans would not be needed. In addition, a pop-up could be given if a player searches for a match with a team that has a mon with a weather-setting ability (same pop-up when using banned mons/moves).
Moves
All weather-setting moves: Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Sandstorm, Snowscape and Chilly Reception
All terrain-setting moves: Grassy Terrain, Electric Terrain, Psychic Terrain and Misty Terrain
All dimension-setting moves: Trick Room, Wonder Room, Magic Room and Gravity
If it is possible to modify these moves to not affect the permanent field conditions, these bans would not be needed. In addition, a pop-up could be given if a player searches for a match with a team that has a mon with a weather-setting ability (same pop-up when using banned mons/moves).
Steelroller - as it becomes a free 130 BP Steel-type move when any terrain is active.
Ice Spinner - as it clears the field of terrain. This is not needed if the secondary effect of Ice Spinner can be nullified with mods.
Other:
The field effects have to be active on turn 0. This is mostly important for Booster Energy users, as when Magic Room only becomes active after the lead mons are send out, Booster Energy can still activate and will not be nullified even after Magic Room goes up.
Final:
One variant I already came up with, is adding the possibility of having no weather, terrain and/or dimension. As weather, terrain and dimension then have 5 possible 'states' that can be chosen randomly, the total number of combinations increases to 125. This means that there is a 1 in 125 possibility that no field conditions will be active, and a 12 in 125 possibility that only one field condition is active.
Another variant is making it so only two of three field conditions will be chosen at random, while the third one will be ignored, reducing the randomness and thus less erratic. For example, having Rain and Trick Room active and therefore no terrain, or having Electric Terrain and Wonder Room active and therefore no weather.
I have always found field conditions a cool addition to Pokémon all the way back in Gen 3 with weather, and later terrain and dimension. However, even though Rain and Sun see a lot of use these days, I feel that other field conditions have been undervalued and underexplored. I have a soft spot for the dimensions Magic Room and Wonder Room as they effectively never see use in competitive play. I would love to make this metagame a reality to see what interesting teams every comes up with. Though I also very much want to stimulate people experimenting with the field conditions.
I am aware that this metagame does involve some RNG. However, I would say every team is still able to function regardless of the field conditions. If one decides to build a team fully are Rain: yes, they'll likely demolish a lot of non-rain teams, but on the other hand will get equally demolished in instances where rain isn't active. But who knows, maybe someone will be able to craft a team that will weather all...
I am very curious about your opinions on this OM. I am also very interested in hearing suggestions to improve, or even ideas you came up with to use in this metagame!
Bonsly
Sandshrew-Alola
Stonjourner
for sure.
