Not a ton to say but things are definitely better post Pagos ban as expected. Some thoughts:
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We knew this mon would be good, and it definitely is, but I think well-balanced by its low initial special attack, the poor offensive typing of its main boosting option, and the fact that there is plenty of speed control. Tera Ground gives it SE coverage at the expense of not boosting it further, whereas stellar Tera pairs nicely with Contrary but doesn’t offer any SE hits so imo requires that opps be weakened a bit more. Personally I think Enamorus is better with stellar and Serp should just stick to regular Tera. Glare is basically just 100% accurate TWave bc it’s only advantage is paralyzing grounds, who weren’t switching into Serp anyway. Good mon.
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I didn’t wade into the discussion pre-drop because I knew there would be no convincing opponents of freeing it on the basis of their emotionally-charged arguments. However my initial thoughts have proven correct at least initially. Sleep is a non-factor for it and it finds itself missing out on any one “perfect” set. I’m sure it’ll do better when balance becomes more prominent but then again that’s just true for any setup sweeper with decent speed. Good mon that’s comfortable at this power level but nothing amazing.
Hazards
I specifically waited until DLC2 to make final judgments. I think Go itself is perfectly fine. It’s a hot take but I think the real issue are hazards themselves, and they have been since Gen…6 maybe? Every new iteration of the metagame is increasingly complex in a way that individual aspects of the game only remain balanced if they have specific downsides or opportunity costs that require thoughtful play to manage. With hazards this is not the case as clicking any one of them is an almost entirely risk-free play and requires no thought. We saw this with the rise of offensive spikes on Greninja, who mitigated any risk (whether bringing the wrong set in the builder or choosing the wrong move mid-battle) by simply clicking spikes - guaranteed progress. Let alone the fact that hazards are stackable upon each other and themselves - even Stealth Rock which only needs to be once guarantees damage indiscriminately over multiple turns. Counterplay exists in Defog and Rapid Spin sure, but this is ALWAYS a situation where the opponent is on the back foot as the hazard user can then exploit the use of these low-power moves that have otherwise no effect or relevance in battle. Gen 8 is regarded as one of the slowest gens thanks to the introduction of boots, an item deemed almost necessary even for mons that have no inherent weakness to hazards.
If it were up to me, a simple hazard clause where only one type of hazard is allowed on the field at a time would lessen the oppresiveness of hazards while still maintaining their competitive value. It’s an unlikely outcome though, I realize that.
Anyway, interesting meta so far. Can’t wait to see how it continues to develop.
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:We knew this mon would be good, and it definitely is, but I think well-balanced by its low initial special attack, the poor offensive typing of its main boosting option, and the fact that there is plenty of speed control. Tera Ground gives it SE coverage at the expense of not boosting it further, whereas stellar Tera pairs nicely with Contrary but doesn’t offer any SE hits so imo requires that opps be weakened a bit more. Personally I think Enamorus is better with stellar and Serp should just stick to regular Tera. Glare is basically just 100% accurate TWave bc it’s only advantage is paralyzing grounds, who weren’t switching into Serp anyway. Good mon.
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:I didn’t wade into the discussion pre-drop because I knew there would be no convincing opponents of freeing it on the basis of their emotionally-charged arguments. However my initial thoughts have proven correct at least initially. Sleep is a non-factor for it and it finds itself missing out on any one “perfect” set. I’m sure it’ll do better when balance becomes more prominent but then again that’s just true for any setup sweeper with decent speed. Good mon that’s comfortable at this power level but nothing amazing.
Hazards
I specifically waited until DLC2 to make final judgments. I think Go itself is perfectly fine. It’s a hot take but I think the real issue are hazards themselves, and they have been since Gen…6 maybe? Every new iteration of the metagame is increasingly complex in a way that individual aspects of the game only remain balanced if they have specific downsides or opportunity costs that require thoughtful play to manage. With hazards this is not the case as clicking any one of them is an almost entirely risk-free play and requires no thought. We saw this with the rise of offensive spikes on Greninja, who mitigated any risk (whether bringing the wrong set in the builder or choosing the wrong move mid-battle) by simply clicking spikes - guaranteed progress. Let alone the fact that hazards are stackable upon each other and themselves - even Stealth Rock which only needs to be once guarantees damage indiscriminately over multiple turns. Counterplay exists in Defog and Rapid Spin sure, but this is ALWAYS a situation where the opponent is on the back foot as the hazard user can then exploit the use of these low-power moves that have otherwise no effect or relevance in battle. Gen 8 is regarded as one of the slowest gens thanks to the introduction of boots, an item deemed almost necessary even for mons that have no inherent weakness to hazards.
If it were up to me, a simple hazard clause where only one type of hazard is allowed on the field at a time would lessen the oppresiveness of hazards while still maintaining their competitive value. It’s an unlikely outcome though, I realize that.
Anyway, interesting meta so far. Can’t wait to see how it continues to develop.
in OU... without success. Also been testing 
with shell smash focus sash acro, it gets smacked by random 
or
but it has some sort of success together with 
.
This Pokemon is really good. With GF adding more broken moves each gen, Smeargle winds up being one of the biggest benefactors since it adds those broken moves to its repertoire. Ceasless Edge and Stone Axe are massive buffs, letting it setup hazards in the face of tricks such as Taunt, and it can pack some additional new utility options in Mortal Spin for spinning vs Tera Ghosters. I think this pokemon does really well specifically vs the other common leads in the meta like Ninetales-A.
has used an agility set on previous occasions.
