Hihi all! Most of you will have seen me around the server, or chatting amiably in the forums. I started this thread to get a few people thinking if possible, and really just as an item of interest. Whatever happened to Pokemon that used to be so dominant in the metagame? So many big names are almost never seen nowadays. Here's a cutting from Smogon to give an idea of what I mean: 'Snorlax is one of the most dominant Pokémon in every single generation, if not the single most dominant Pokémon overall. It can be a major threat on any team, no matter what moveset. Snorlax drastically changed the metagames by himself, and can be a pain to face, but if you utilize him correctly, he can be an amazing asset to your team. He is a monster through and through; be careful when facing him....' Nowadays, it can be safely agreed that this once staple of OU is seen on around 5-10% of teams at most. I find this to be a great shame, as I always found it amusing when something incapable of lifting its own head high enough to see over its enormous gut would, quite amicably, power up and wreck entire teams. The metagame has not been kind to Snorlax, and it's sad that his days are numbered. But even more importantly than Lax, what about Pokemon who really have taken a tumble? Dugtrio, Donphan, Milotic, and perhaps even more severely, Slaking and Regice. Once huge names in the buisness, these wonderful, colourful additions to a trainer's repetoire are rarely, if ever seen outside of their respective metagames. I was just wondering, are there any Pokemon that other people miss? Do any of you wonderful people reminisce about the days when their favourites were alive and kicking? Or actually, are there any Pokemon you consider underrated, which should be accelerated towards the golden lights of OU? Please, if you think of anything, do add a reply to this thread. The fallen giants salute you. +) (Patented 'Evil Clown' Smiley)
well, being new to the competitive scene and all, my idea of what was a powerhouse is a bit warped, but in the days when not even the most useless pokemon carried priority, I know Kazam dominated teams lacking Blissey for fun, via the nasty tool called "elemental punches" which was lost to him in the split. Swampert, who I could actually do everything at once in 3rd gen, is now outclassed by others; I even use Lanturn with better results. in the 4th gen metagame, I can see heracross now, who lost all of his claims to fame after Platinum. Instead, we get cheapos like Scizor and Breloom, who just spam the same thing over and over until you're bored to death.
In the current metagame, It's all about doing things to the extreme. We need a god like wall in the form of Blissey. We need retarded OP priority in the form of Scizor. Uncounterable... Everything in the form of MixMence. So the old staples of the metagame, the "jacks of all trades" if you will, have lost popularity. I used to use Cresselia on nearly every team, but now she is just simply out-classed. Although I do think she deserves to be OU.
Interesting. I do agree, Cthulhu, that the metagame does not look favourably on 'jacks of all trades', and that specialised Pokemon are probably the way to go. Mind you, Lax was pretty much just a Curse sweeper, and anybody who tried to use him as a special wall would have been very dissapointed
For me, Skarmory. I've seen barely any of the bird since the change to 4th gen, while I remember seeing it on every other team in RSE. Just as rare now, for me at least, is seeing any of the elemental dogs. I've yet to actually see a Raikou, and Suicune is quite rare now too with all the Grass users. Completely outclassed in every sense of the way is Blaziken. It and Heracross were two fantastic Reversallers back in RSE, and now both of them are very rare. Another Fighting type that was knocked far was Medicham; once a threat to everything, it is now delegated to the NU tier, and is used slightly less than Primeape. To point out the difference between OU and my favourite tier, NU, think about this; I have one box to store all my OU pokemon in, and it's nowhere close to full. However, I've already filled two boxes with NU pokemon, and I only have sets for maybe half of the most common Pokemon there. True, I haven't gotten a set for every OU Pokemon either, but OU is much more static than NU. You can rely on Steel types to wall and mop the floor with everything that isn't a Dragon. In this OU metagame, we rely on resistences and fast counterattacks to damage things, while in RSE things were more balanced, and setting up was usually the reason for sweeps.
I have never experienced the metagame switch ups between generations, so I am really looking forward to black & white so I can feel the difference. However I can answer your second question. I believe Breloom (yes I know I speak a lot about Breloom, but I think it is missused by the majority of players as it is one of the best set up pokémon in the game), Lanturn which were mentioned by Gold are a really great pokemon to counter a lot of common threats and Magnezone which is used mostly as a steel traper when it can do a lot of exciting things seeing as it's almost as strong as Heatran as a special attacker.
I dunno guys... I really feel that Heracross should get some more love. Looking at it in perspective, (assuming it is running a Choice Scarf set), it really can work in today's metagame. It's biggest counter is unqustionably Rotom, no? Well, it only takes a bit of prediction to take down Rotom, as a Guts Boosted Night Slash really packs a punch- and actually, it's quite easy to lure WoW; just bring in T-tar ^^
One Pokemon has been forgotten since the arrival of 4th gen, and it is Claydol. Back in Advanced, it was one of the best, if not best, DDtar (with EQ) and DDmence (with Ice Beam) counter. Additionally, it could use Rapid Spin very well due to the immunity to Spikes, the only entry hazard back then. Claydol, together with Skarmory, walled almost all physical threats in the game because of their resistance to every single physical type. However, Claydol finds it hard to keep up with the battlefield of 4th gen. Many of its jobs are done better by other things. DDtar now has STAB super effective Crunch, and DDMence now has the vicious Outrage to kill the clay doll in one hit. With the new evolution of Dusclops in the form of Dusknoir, and the introduction of the Rotom-a, it is now nearly impossible for the spinning doll to remove entry hazards. Nevertheless, Claydol is still viable in UU ^^
Yeah, poor old Claydol. Mind you, it doesn't really fit all that well into the UU tier either. He's certainly very cool though. What about Egxecutor (Sorry about the spelling =P)? Once a true force in OU, now relegated to NU, where he works to some extent. He was one of the coolest Pokemon in OU, and we will miss his three faces dearly.
There are a surprising number of Pokemon I love that are completely blocked out of the metagame purely on the fact that Smogon allows Rotom formes to be used in OU. Electivire stands out as a big example, it could actually have a place here if not for the Microwave from Hell. Heracross too, as mentioned above. On the other hand, I find a lot of Pokemon are ignored not because they're bad, but because they just aren't preferred by top players. My favorites, Lanturn and Snorlax, have already been mentioned for me. :P