Metagame Fervent Impersonation

[drampa's grandpa]

Rayquaza (Dragonite) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Claw


Rayquaza has been big Dnite since gen 5. Now it can abuse that to the fullest. Set is pretty self-explanatory, but an Extreme Speeder will be very useful in a meta with lots of set up, and Multiscale lets you get multiple boosts on mons without Ice Meme or w/e.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

Alright everyone, there is a slight update to the restricted Pokemon banlist. I actually made the initial ban list by myself and wasn't sure on which mon that was usable but then banned from OU could be unbanned. Originally I thought that mons with signature moves can be unbanned because they had to sacrifice it to use the OM's mechanic which I thought would be enough to keep them around. But over time I think that it's probably not enough of a nerf for two reasons; the first being that even ignoring the OM mechanics, these mons with their signature moves will be amazing anyways. For example, Magearna with Fleur Cannon or Urshifu with the crit moves. Secondly, even outside their signature moves, these mons tend to have good typing, stat distribution, ability and BST anyways so even if they sacrifice their signature moves to transform, they are still going to be good. Anyways now that I have a council, we decided to vote on these mons instead of going only from my thoughts. A mon needed 3 Unban votes to be unbanned.

Pokemon	Me	QT	rightclicker	TTTech	Clas	Status
	Unban	Unban	Ban	Ban	Unban	Unrestricted
	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unrestricted
	Unban	Unban	Ban	Unban	Ban	Unrestricted
	Ban	Unban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Unban	Ban	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unrestricted
	Unban	Unban	Abstain	Unban	Ban	Unrestricted
	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unban	Ban	Unrestricted
	Ban	Unban	Ban	Ban	Unban	Restricted
	Ban	Unban	Abstain	Unban	Ban	Restricted
	Ban	Unban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Restricted
	Unban	Unban	Unban	Unban	Abstain	Unrestricted
(Rapid)	Unban	Unban	Ban	Ban	Unban	Unrestricted
(Single)	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Unban	Restricted

Also I forgot to add Sneasler when we voted but it's been unbanned but Dire Claw is banned.

Some thoughts on the Unrestricted mons:
I think you should still run Rage Fist on this mon but I think it's balanced since you can't transform. You can also just die faster since Ubers hit harder.

Honestly very close but I was willing to give it a chance. Definitely a top contender to be banned later though.

Probably one of the best mons unbanned, this thing is super fast and hits really hard.

Another extremely good mon, everyone knows how strong this is with Sheer Force + Life Orb. I voted unban because it loses Sheer Force after forme change so you're stuck with the LO recoil and it's not very fast initially.

Really needs to Tera and have Ivy Cudgel to be "broken", so I don't think its that good.

(Rapid) Honestly this mon along with Baxcalibur, Iron Bundle and Landorus might be banned down the line. I think you just run Surging Strikes and call it a day but I'll give it a chance.

Very good mon as well but it's probably fine without Dire Claw. Might be my famous last words.


Some thought for Restricted mons:

I think this mon would be uncompetitive thanks to Speed Boost, Calm Mind, Stored Power and Terastallization. It already did this in OU but here it's even worse because it can become an Arceus or Mewtwo.

Probably just too good because of insane typing and bulk. You can either run Fleur Cannon or use Dazzling Gleam or Draining Kiss and turn into Arceus or Flutter Mane.

This mon is just good as is, it's basically an Uber mon that requires you to switch out once or use Flip Turn. I think you just run Jet Punch and don't bother with turning this into another mon.

I was debating this since the votes are not decisive but I decided to keep it banned because I think it forces every team to run a ground type that can take Ice Tera Blast.

(Single) Unlike the other Urshifu, this mon can run SD/CC//U-turn with Crunch and turn into Koraidon. The Rapid Urshifu is already on the fence but I think this one is over the edge.

 

[drampa's grandpa]

More fun!


Eternatus has some issues with movepool, mostly due to the fact that it has Recover and almost nothing else does. Nothing gives it dual STABs + Recover or STAB + Fire move + Recover, but it still has some potential sets


Eternatus (Iron Moth) @ Power Herb
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic Spikes / Toxic
- Meteor Beam


Eternatus (Slowking-Galar) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes / Toxic
- Rest



Ho-Oh (Mew) @ Choice Band
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Zen Headbutt
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake

Would this set have Pressure? If so that sucks.

Mew is going to be on many many teams, simply due to it having that move. Yes that one. On the other hand only having the one Ability makes it inflexible in that regard. So can I make this better?

Ho-oh (Blaziken) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake

Yes. Mew still gud though, and doesn't reveal what it is at team preview.



Arceus- Whatever (Deoxys-Defense)
Ability: Pressure
IVs: 0 Atk
- Charge Beam / Thunderbolt
- Cosmic Power / Calm Mind
- Stored Power / Ice Cream
- Recover

Arceus (Lucario) @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

 

[LemonLime78]

I'm kind of curious how this would interact with frantic fusions. Specifically, if you pick an ability from the fusion would it be the same ability after transforming or the first one (I'd assume the boost goes away after transforming). I figure this is probably something that we'll only figure out once it's coded in, but I am curious how the interaction would go.

 

[Isaiah]

dhelmise made this playable on PS! Thank you :]

Now everyone should hit the lab and play challenge battles (and roomtours in the OM room!) to see how some of these mechanics work.

 

[KaenSoul]

Some mechanics to keep on mind:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ferventimpersonation-2102980806
You can become any of the 3 Terapagos forms, baby doesn't transform until you switch out, but you can begin as the final form. Nothing is tera locked either unless the base form is, so Terapagos-Stellar can have any tera. You can also use the Crowned forms without the rusted items.
But Arceus meanwhile needs its corresponding plate, otherwise is normal with the graphics of whatever you nicknamed it after.
If you transform into a Speed Boost mon the ability won't active until the next turn.

 

[R.para ti]

Like darmanitan

 

[InkyDarkBird]

Klawf has interesting synergies in this format.

Groudon (Klawf) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Anger Shell
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Horsepower
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
- Substitute

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

Alright so there is currently a bug in the code which reverts the secondary or hidden Ability of your changed Pokemon into the primary Ability.

Example 1: Unaware Clefable changes into Multiscale Dragonite. Dragonite's ability changes from Multiscale to Inner Focus after switch.
Example 2: Magic Guard Clefable changes into Water Absorb Clodsire. Clodsire's ability changes from Water Absorb to Poison Point after switch.

There are also some Pokemon which names exceed the 18 character limit. There is a slight workaround- the hyphen character (-) is NOT necessary in the nickname. Capital letters are also not currently enforced. The only Pokemon which I can think of right now which can't be changed into because of character limit is technically "UrshifuSingleStrike", but apparently that can be accessed via just "Urshifu".

Example 1: Hyphens (-) and capital letters are not necessary in nicknames to cause forme change.

 

[InkyDarkBird]

I have created a bug report about hazards not causing a Pokemon to transform at the end of the turn if that Pokemon switches in to replace a Pokemon that has been KO'd. It will only transform at the end of the next turn after switching in.

Proof: turn 23 at https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ferventimpersonation-2111541838

This bug does not occur with other methods of switching.

Turn 15 shows Red Card and turn 17 shows Whirlwind both working correctly in the following game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ferventimpersonation-2111560772

This is a bug since it goes against the core concept of the OM of any Pokemon at or below 50% HP having to transform at the end of the turn.

 

[chartung17]

I have created a bug report about hazards not causing a Pokemon to transform at the end of the turn if that Pokemon switches in to replace a Pokemon that has been KO'd. It will only transform at the end of the next turn after switching in.

Proof: turn 23 at https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ferventimpersonation-2111541838

This bug does not occur with other methods of switching.

Turn 15 shows Red Card and turn 17 shows Whirlwind both working correctly in the following game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ferventimpersonation-2111541838

This is a bug since it goes against the core concept of the OM of any Pokemon at or below 50% HP having to transform at the end of the turn.

That's the way Power Construct works, so I don't think it's a bug.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-2111706467

 

[InkyDarkBird]

That's the way Power Construct works, so I don't think it's a bug.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-2111706467

It is the way Power Construct works, but it is not the way this OM is supposed to work.

In the end though, it depends on what the council thinks.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

It is the way Power Construct works, but it is not the way this OM is supposed to work.

In the end though, it depends on what the council thinks.

The game is working as intended. This OM's premise is based on Power Construct and all transformation mechanics will follow how Power Construct works. There seems to be a misunderstanding because of the mistake in the description:

"...it will transform into the Pokémon it's nicknamed after once it drops to or below 50% health."

But it should state:

"...it will transform into the Pokémon it's nicknamed after once it drops to or below 50% health at the end of the turn."

Do note that by "end of the turn", it means after all recovery and passive damage effects have resolved (eg. Leftovers, Poison, Sitrus Berry, etc.) I hope that clarifies the explanation. Because your Deoxys was brought in and drops to <50% hp due to hazards at the start of the turn, it does not transform.

It seems you have posted the same replay twice so I can only guess. I'm assuming that your Pokemon transforms after going down to <50% hp due to hazards after a Red Card or Whirlwind. This is intended behaviour. Whirlwind and Red Card cause switches to occur during a turn as opposed to at the start of the turn after a Pokemon faints. After the ongoing turn with Whirlwind/Red Card resolves, the turn ends and the hp check occurs.

 

[InkyDarkBird]

It clearly was not at the start of the turn. It was at the very end of the turn after one of my Pokemon was KO'd. I also edited my post to contain the other replay.

 

[chartung17]

It clearly was not at the start of the turn. It was at the very end of the turn after one of my Pokemon was KO'd. I also edited my post to contain the other replay.

View attachment 627958

There are a lot of things that happen at the "end of the turn", and those things happen in a specific order; for instance leftovers heal at the "end of the turn", but some things such as burn damage happen later. Power Construct transformation is one of the last things to happen (and thus certainly counts as happening "at the end of the turn"), but it still happens before a new Pokemon switches in after another faints.

For reference, here's the end-turn resolution order for Gen 8 (because I can't find one for Gen 9): https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sword-shield-battle-mechanics-research.3655528/post-9244179

 

[InkyDarkBird]

Where does that post mention hazard damage after switching in after a KO?
Furthermore, if this OM is 100% based around Power Construct’s mechanics, the OM description needs to be changed, because as I said before, hazard damage is one exception that goes against the current OM description.

 

[Gimlaf]

The point is, you switch in after a KO, which is after all the end-of-turn things (including Power Construct) are already resolved, meaning it doesn't check for the forme change again until the end of the following turn.
And what would you want to change the description into? Even Power Construct itself states that its effect happens "at the end of the turn". (Edit: Unless you mean that the "end of turn" part is missing. Specifying that in the description would be fair enough, I suppose)

 

[InkyDarkBird]

(Edit: Unless you mean that the "end of turn" part is missing. Specifying that in the description would be fair enough, I suppose)

Yes, this is what I mean.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

Alright, the description in the main post has been updated. I apologise for the confusion but the game was working as intended.

 

[InkyDarkBird]

Magearna or Klefki should be put on the watchlist. They share Iron Defense, Calm Mind, Stored Power, Draining Kiss, Flash Cannon, Thunder Wave, and Spikes. Prankster double dance is very threatening.

Because Klefki Magearna does not immediately damage the opponent and uses setup moves first, few Pokemon can counter it effectively, namely Blaziken Koraidon (which is frailer than Mew and weak to Psychic) and Klawf Groudon (which relies on Anger Shell). This is not even including Tera Water, which can easily escape bad matchups.

However, there are a few Ubers Pokemon that do learn Taunt or Encore. The Ubers with Taunt are Arceus, Koraidon, Miraidon, Deoxys, Calyrex-Shadow, Calyrex-Ice, Palafin, Ogerpon-Hearthflame, Iron Bundle, and Annihilape.
Deoxys can only use Stomping Tantrum and Fire Punch, which only Groudon and Mewtwo get, Koraidon and Annihilape easily lose to Draining Kiss, Calyrex-Shadow cannot hit Klefki super-effectively, and Palafin does nothing against Tera Water.

Encore has even less Pokemon, with Calyrex-Ice, Calyrex-Shadow, Iron Bundle, Palafin, and Annihilape.

While I believe Klefki Magearna is potentially broken, it should be placed on the watchlist due to some Ubers learning Taunt and Encore.

 

[DosDogs]

I don't think this is game breaking or anything, but the ability bans can be circumvented using the OM mechanic.
ex.

Our favorite moody user

Scovillain (Rillaboom) @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Giga Drain

this validates just fine, and I could see this cheesing a few people out of some wins. Personally I don't really see it nearly as uncompetitive as the base abilities are, considering you cant just come in, put up one substitute and let the abilities do their thing, you actually have to switch into an attack that'll bring you down to <50% health and then try and make your ability do its thing.

 

[Notgamingreally]

Koraidon (Slither Wing) @ Choice Band
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Wild Charge

Weather seems fairly good in this metagame, big bst sun abusers can definitely make a mark. Here’s one such user, closely replicating banded koraidon but without dragon stab, while being a good slither wing set on its own.
Mew can also do this and other korai sets with its wide movepool, I’ve been also thinking about mew Miraidon.

 

[Cuddly]

I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing this meta. It sounds pretty cool, but thinking about it and this kind of just seems like the meta is just unbanning Ubers but with extra steps. You can use Groudon sure, but only at half HP, and not having certain moves to use. The only change is that for a short time an Uber may have another ability, but that’s it really.
And for non-restricted Pokemon, it’s more often a detriment because movepools need to match and it’s not exactly easy. If you wanted to say use an Electric Terrain setter that turns into a Paradox Pokemon, you would need to use Pincurchin, survive in a Meta with Ubers at half HP, and then try to sweep with a limited amount of turns of terrain, and you can’t get Pincurchin back to reset terrain. Oh and movesets need to match too limiting the things you can do.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

I think there is some misunderstanding regarding the intent of the OM. Unlike many other OMs like AAA, STABmons, Balanced Hackmons, Inheritance etc. Pokemon in this OM do not get a strict upgrade. For example, you can't just give Toxapex Flip Turn or Great Tusk Regenerator which would simply make them better. In this OM, your upgrade comes at a cost: your movepool has to match. Now of course this is a large restriction. From my personal theorycrafting I found that most mons that want to transform tend to only have 2 or 3 moves that they share that you are happy to run. However, the pay-off in this OM is much larger than other OMs, relatively speaking. Most Ubers have amazing BST and distribution, on top of typing and abilities. Don't forget that untransformed Pokemon are not boosted in any way, so a base Groudon in this OM is much better than a base Groudon in AAA where Regenerator Great Tusk exists.

I will admit that in the original concept, you were only able to change into Uber mons because I thought that there was no reason to choose an OU mon to change into when you can just run that in your team. I was convinced to change my mind because it was an unnecessary restriction so that's why you can change any Pokemon even though you provably should choose an Uber, considering the sacrifices that you have to make. I do think that once all of the outstanding Ubers are completely banned (Zacian-C, Caly-S, Deo-A, Koraidon, etc.) There will be more space for weaker Ubers and even non-Ubers to be viable. At the moment we're letting them free because I didn't want to completely ban any mon without giving them a chance.

 

[The Guy Who Has Many Alts]

Alright everyone, I have a slight restriction change that I want to propose and get thoughts on: reducing the number of shared move required between the base and nickname mon from 4 to 3. I'll give some example sets that are not legal but will be legal if this change goes through.

Arceus (Volcarona) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain

Miraidon (Raging Bolt) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 64 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt

Keep in mind that signature moves of restricted move such as Judgment and Electro Drift are still unavailable as they are not learnt by the base mons. You can also still choose to run 4 moves that are shared by both Pokemon if you wish. I'll now go over the reasonings and implications of this change. I'm sure that if you've tried making sets for this OM before, you'll find that a lot of the time, you're forced into running one or two suboptimal moves. I personally encounter this problem a lot, and even before this OM was approved I was told that this move pool issue might disincentives people to try this OM. Most of the time there are 2 or 3 moves that you're happy with running but you just can't find a good 3rd or 4th move. This restriction change's primary goal is to reduce the "feels bad" aspect of running bad moves.

Let's all be honest here: no one wants to run suboptimal moves. Adding suboptimal moves and using them in battle doesn't feel good. That's not all however, I think that certain moves are Pokemon-defining, and restricting access to those moves would ruin the Pokemon's viability and flavour. For example, the Volcarona set above. Let's take a moment and imagine running Volcarona without Quiver Dance. It's a dreadful thing to imagine isn't it? There are other examples like Ogerpon without Ivy Cudgel, Kingambit without Sucker Punch, Garganacl without Salt Cure and many more. To be frank, these moves are synonymous with the Pokemon. By forcing these mons to lose their iconic move to engage with the OM mechanic, they lose a large chunk of their identity.

Now that I have put out my opinions why I would want to go through this change, I'll now talk about the two primary reasons why I wouldn't go through with it. The first is the "flavour" of the OM. Were this change to go through, it would mean that the nickname Pokemon would have access to an illegal move. It might not seem like a big deal but I think it goes against what the OM was originally about. The second and bigger reason which is related to the first is regarding balance. I think that a lot of people can agree that strong Pokemon are fun to use because winning is more fun than losing. I think that this change would significantly increase the power level of the meta game because not only are the base Pokemon are buffed thanks to signature moves/better moveset, the nickname mon is also buffed because it can have an illegal move. I don't think I need to tell you how strong giving an Uber mon moves like Quiver Dance, Thunderclap, Recover and Shell Smash is. If we were to go through with this change, I do believe that a lot more Pokemon or Moves will be banned. For example, I think both Urshifus , Shell Smash and Belly Drum probably must be banned. You can also have stuff like Gigaton Hammer Zacian-C and Boomburst Terapagos which might be too strong.

As a final point, I would like to share some sets that would give you an idea of how big this change would be. Let's first talk about Miraidon . If you don't know, Miraidon is one of the best Pokemon in Ubers. It wants to run Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Draco Meteor, Overheat, Calm Mind and U-turn. At the moment, the best Pokemon that can run this is Raging Bolt. With the new restriction, let's see what new Pokemon can effectively use Miraidon as a nickname.

can now run Thunderclap
can now run Shadow Ball
can now run Extremespeed, Hurricane + Thunder (rain)
can now run Wisp, Trick and Pain Split (no dragon move)
can now run Electro Shot

As you can see, not only is Raging Bolt better, but a plethora of other mons also become a lot better. Let's use another example: Ho-oh . At the moment, Ho-oh is limited to Blaziken and Talonflame but with the change, we'll have:

can run SD, Close Combat and EQ
can run Roost
can run Extremespeed
can run Rapid Spin
can run Magma Storm

I hope you have a sense of the magnitude that this change would bring to this OM. Now, I would like to hear your thoughts on it. Do you think the team building would be more fun? Are you alright with a lot more Pokemon and Moves being banned as a result? Do you think that the "flavour" of the OM would be ruined by letting the nickname Pokemon have access to an illegal move? Do you think it would overall be a good or bad change?