XY OU: Recent Metagame Trends

Introduction

All throughout the timeline of the XY OU metagame, various new trends and innovations have occurred, both in ladder and tournament play. This shows the healthy evolution of a metagame and increases the variance within it. All of these trends have occurred quite recently and are usually created / popularized by users in tournament play, though as mentioned before, ladder play can sometimes herald interesting creations. This article will highlight some of the most recent trends that have developed in the tournament / ladder scene, and will explain just why they happen to be so popular.

Specially Defensive Gliscor

Specially defensive Gliscor is probably the most notable difference between the metagame 3-4 months ago and the metagame now. Typically, Flying-types are the best defensive checks to Landorus due to their immunity to its main STAB move and resistance to its most common coverage move; however, in order for them to be able to check Landorus, they must not be 2HKOed by Psychic, and they must have reliable recovery as well. Gliscor was a common defensive Flying-type, but it was usually invested in Defense in order to check Pokémon such as Excadrill, Landorus-T, and other Ground-types. However, the bright idea to invest Gliscor specially defensively instead suddenly gave stall teams an effective Landorus counter with reliable recovery in Roost and Poison Heal. Gliscor has Knock Off to remove Landorus's Life Orb as well as Toxic to stall it out. Specially defensive Gliscor wasn't only a Landorus check though; it managed to also check Taunt + Will-O-Wisp Gengar if Gliscor carried Knock Off. This is important because Gengar would usually take on stall teams very well with this set, using Taunt to prevent recovery while wearing the opposing Pokémon down with Will-O-Wisp. Because of Gliscor's Toxic Orb and Poison Heal combination, it cannot be burned, allowing it to check Gengar pretty well. With Toxic + Knock Off + Poison Heal, it wasn't only usable on stall teams, as it also works against stall very well with the aforementioned combination of moves, wearing down typical stall Pokémon while negating their recovery. Because specially defensive Gliscor checked two of the biggest threats to stall teams, it became a staple placement on them.

Choice Scarf Heatran

In early XY, Heatran was almost always the specially defensive variant, which used Heatran's useful typing and bulk to take on a number of top tier threats, such as Mega Mawile. However, ScarfTran has recently surged in popularity thanks to CrashinBoomBang and Unbirthday's recent RMT, Crystalised, which made it into the RMT archive. This RMT, which obviously used a ScarfTran, became very popular, and all of a sudden, ScarfTran became very common in tournaments and on the ladder. It isn't difficult to see why either; ScarfTran capitalized on Heatran's great defensive typing to maintain a lot of the defensive set's walling potential, but also became more effective against offensive teams by being able to revenge kill a number of very common metagame threats, such as Greninja, Landorus, and Terrakion. ScarfTran also creates large momentum advantages by using its typing to bluff acting as a pivot switch, when in reality it aims to take on the Pokémon itself. For example, ScarfTran may switch into a Greninja's Ice Beam (which it 4x resists), seemingly acting as a simple way of pivoting into something to take the incoming Hydro Pump, when in fact it ends up surprising the Greninja with Flash Cannon. With the rise of ScarfTran's popularity, pivot switching may end up being less effective, but that doesn't detract from ScarfTran's ability to revenge kill a large amount of dominant Pokémon and act as its own late-game cleaner.

Stallbreaker Mew

Mew is enjoying a huge rise in popularity, due to its amazingly potent stallbreaker set that is not only effective against stall teams, but against offensive ones too. It used to be a rather forgotten Pokémon in the metagame, but currently it sees a ton of usage in tournaments and on the ladder as seen by its jump from UU to OU in the September tier shift. Its set of Taunt / Will-O-Wisp / Knock Off / Soft-Boiled disrupts stall teams by negating their recovery, burning them to slowly wear them down, using Taunt to prevent them from using status moves on Mew or recovering themselves, and then keeping itself healthy with Soft-Boiled. After being Taunted, most common stall Pokémon such as Chansey and Skarmory can't touch it. However, Mew is also effective against offensive teams, unlike some non-offensive stallbreakers, as it has Knock Off to remove boosting items such as Landorus's Life Orb, and Will-O-Wisp to make the attacks of physical attackers weaker; Pokémon that should trouble it such as Bisharp are almost useless after being burned. Mew also manages to wall dangerous offensive threats such as Mega Medicham, a powerful stallbreaker itself. Mew's good Speed for a defensive Pokémon aids it in taking on offensive teams, even though some Pokémon such as Keldeo and Thundurus still outspeed it. Also, because of its very good bulk, after these Pokémon's boosting items are removed, Mew can eventually stall them out with Soft-Boiled and Will-O-Wisp. Mew is a great choice in the metagame at the moment and fits on almost any balance team.

Swords Dance Talonflame

In very early XY, Swords Dance Talonflame was the most popular set, as Talonflame's Attack seemed subpar and reliant on a boost in order to have any place in OU. However, players quickly turned to favor the Choice Band set, as it was a reliable revenge killer to a large amount of top threats such as Keldeo and Mega Pinsir. Choice Band seemed an appropriate item for such a job, seeing as Talonflame doesn't have to worry about its Speed. Later on, Bulk Up + Taunt became quite popular as a stallbreaker with a specially defensive spread, in which it set up on its usual checks and took a slower approach to sweeping. Recently, Swords Dance has been picking up again, as stall teams have been on the decline thanks to Mega Gardevoir, Mega Heracross, and Mega Medicham's rise in popularity. While the Bulk Up set does well against stall teams, the Swords Dance set does more work against offensive ones, which are by far the most common teams currently. Most common offensive teams use a Mega Pokémon, and the most common ones are OHKOed by Talonflame at +2: Mega Heracross, Mega Medicham, Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Pinsir are OHKOed by +2 Brave Bird, and Mega Scizor by +2 Flare Blitz. Ultimately, Talonflame's Swords Dance set is very good in OU, and it can easily sweep offensive teams when given the little support it requires.

Mega Gardevoir, Mega Heracross, and Mega Medicham

These three Pokémon are commonly grouped together because they all started rising in popularity around the same time, are all Mega Pokémon that threaten stall teams rather well (or used to; a recent trend in itself is the usage of Pokémon that counter these threats), and they all benefited immensely from the ban of Aegislash, as the ban allowed them to free up a coverage move which would otherwise forced to be run to hit Aegislash super effectively. Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voices are now extremely hard to switch into, OHKOing Pokémon such as Landorus after just one switch-in with Stealth Rock up. Mega Gardevoir also has a Psychic-type STAB move option to super effectively hit the Poison-types that resist Hyper Voice; the other Pokémon that resist it (Steel-types) are almost always completely boned by Focus Blast. Mega Heracross is incredibly devastating against stall teams with the free moveslot to run Swords Dance: SD / Close Combat / Pin Missile / Rock Blast has very few answers on common stall teams, though now new checks are being "innovated" to respond to that, such as Doublade and Acrobatics Gliscor. Mega Medicham has a much easier time since the most common Ghost-type in the tier is gone, meaning its High Jump Kicks are a lot less risky to use. The only other common Ghost-type in OU is Gengar, and it is hard pressed to switch into a Mega Medicham and is far less common than Aegislash was. Mega Medicham can also use Fake Out over Fire Punch now, which makes its job much easier by allowing it to get chip damage, which is surprisingly strong. All of these Pokémon are immensely better than they used to be, and that is simply why they are used more.

Alomomola

Alomomola was never typically seen as a great Pokémon by any means in BW, and it gained nothing in the transition to XY. It also stood back quite a lot in early XY; no one could honestly say at that time that Alomomola was a top-tier threat or anything. It had a brief span of popularity a few months ago, where Mirror Coat Alomomola was seen in an RMT and was experimented with on the ladder a bit. However, after a few weeks it faded back into obscurity, until the World Cup of Pokémon came along, where previous winners US East used Alomomola a huge amount of times in their games. Not even the Mirror Coat gimmick either, just the standard Scald / Wish / Protect / Toxic set. Magic Coat and Knock Off made a few appearances, but overall it was just standard Alomomola. What made it so popular then? Alomomola's massive HP made it perfect for passing Wishes to Pokémon on defensive teams lacking recovery, an example being Goodra. Alomomola also walled nearly every physical attacker lacking super effective coverage, such as Talonflame and Excadrill, while being the only viable Pokémon to have the combination of both Wish and Regenerator, keeping it healthy as it kept other Pokémon healthy. Alomomola's meteoric rise in popularity showed, as it suddenly rose up from Unranked on the OU Viability Ranking thread all the way to B+ in small bouts. Alomomola is now one of the definite go-to bulky Water-types on defensive teams.

Magnezone

Magnezone's rise in usage in OU is largely due to the ban of Aegislash. Magnezone's role was to give sweepers an easier job sweeping by removing the Steel-types that stood in their way, but with Aegislash being present and untrappable, these Pokémon couldn't just use Magnezone as a teammate to remove their only roadblocks. Now in the post-Aegislash metagame, mainly Pokémon such as Mega Pinsir, Calm Mind Clefable, Kyurem-B, and Latios have a much easier time benefiting from Magnezone, though Pokémon such as Mega Heracross and Mega Gardevoir also benefit from the removal of certain Steel-type checks. Magnezone is typically seen running one of three sets. The first is Choice Scarf, which is an exceptional Mega Pinsir check, as it can switch in on the 4x resisted Return or Quick Attack, and simply Volt Switch out. The Choice Specs set is more effective against defensive teams and is usually specifically partnered with something such as Mega Pinsir so that Skarmory can be trapped and KOed, making the Mega Pinsir sweep easier to accomplish. The third set is a more unique Magnet Rise + Air Balloon set, which is designed to lure in Excadrill; it uses Magnet Rise as Excadrill uses Iron Head to break the Air Balloon, at which point Magnezone can eventually KO it with Hidden Power Fire. Magnezone's immense utility as a Steel-type trapper and its important role as a Mega Pinsir check make it a valuable addition to most offensive teams.

Mega Aerodactyl

Mega Aerodactyl has recently become quite popular because both of its two main sets are very effective against two different playstyles. Mega Aerodactyl is a great Pokémon on its own; base 150 Speed outspeeds most of the unboosted metagame and its Speed is supported by a strong Attack stat. Its Tough Claws ability boosts some of its coverage moves to new heights as well. All of these factors make Mega Aerodactyl a large threat to offensive teams, as similarly to Greninja, it often finds itself able to 2HKO or OHKO many offensive Pokémon with its coverage, while also being able to outspeed nearly all of them. Its power is further bolstered by Mega Aerodactyl's ability to use an Adamant nature due its Speed being so high. It often uses Stone Edge and Aerial Ace as its STAB moves, the latter of which provides helpful coverage against Keldeo, Heracross, Medicham, and Venusaur, and any of Earthquake (for Tyranitar and a 100% accuracy hit on Mega Charizard X), Fire Fang (for Ferrothorn and Skarmory), Ice Fang (for Landorus, Garchomp, and Gliscor), or Aqua Tail (for Hippowdon, Air Balloon Heatran, and many of the Pokémon Ice Fang cover, barring Garchomp). Mega Aerodactyl's other main set is a stallbreaker set with the effective combination of Taunt + Roost, which enables it to prevent Pokémon on stall teams from inflicting it with damage while recovering health lost from their weak attacks. Finally, Mega Aerodactyl is sometimes (but not often) seen using a defensive spread to check some common threats, such as Landorus, Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, Staraptor, and Tornadus-T. Overall, Mega Aerodactyl is a versatile and powerful threat that deserves its popularity.

Stealth Rock Clefable

Clefable's Stealth Rock set has risen in popularity as an excellent glue for bulky offensive and balanced teams. It is an exceptional Stealth Rock setter, beating the common Defoggers and at the very least deterring Excadrill from coming in to spin pretty well with Fire Blast. Because of its great bulk and excellent defensive Fairy typing, it is one of the few good answers to Greninja, and unlike Azumarill, does not have to fear a Grass-type attack being chunked at it and significantly damaging it, or being worn down as much in general thanks to Soft-Boiled, Magic Guard, and Leftovers. It is also a solid answer to Thundurus, Latias, and Latios, in addition to being able to checking numerous other threats; Clefable is also rather difficult to tank hits from due to its nice Fairy + Fire coverage. With its expansive movepool it can optimize its set to take on certain hazard removers better, and its Special Attack is large enough to pose an offensive presence to ward off setup. Its many advantages grant it ample opportunities to come in and set up Stealth Rock throughout the match, and combined with its excellent matchup against the tier's premier Defoggers, Latios and Latias, makes it an incredibly reliable Stealth Rock setter against which it is difficult to keep Stealth Rock off the field.

Victini

Victini is one of the most potent and powerful Pokémon in UU, though it has recently been able to make a splash in OU due to the natural course of the metagame. Its solid stat spread, nice movepool, and access to V-create allow it to carry out a number of roles on a team. The first Victini set to break into the OU scene was the stallbreaker set (Taunt / Will-O-Wisp / V-create / Bolt Strike) which appeared on a number of stall teams for its ability to check dangerous threats such as Mega Gardevoir, Calm Mind Clefable, and Mega Medicham, while also being able to break stall itself with the tried-and-true Taunt + Will-O-Wisp combination. Victini then began to become even more popular when it was discovered that it walled two of the three rising Mega Pokémon (Mega Gardevoir and Mega Medicham) while being faster than and able to OHKO the third (Mega Heracross). At this point, other Victini sets started cropping up. Choice Band Victini hits phenomenally hard with the 180 Base Power V-create, and even the bulkiest resists are either 2HKOed by Bolt Strike or baited with U-turn (Slowbro being the most relevant). Victini is also a good Trick Room setter, as V-create's Speed - lowering effect becomes a boon, and Final Gambit baits in Victini checks early-game (such as Landorus-T, Heatran, or Slowbro), making it easier for teammates such as Mega Heracross to sweep. Victini's great tool in V-create is a staple on every set, but that's the only thing you can be sure about when facing it in a match.

Conclusion

As the metagame progresses in terms of the usage of new sets and the subsequent rises and drops in usage of other Pokémon that interact somehow with the initial Pokémon, the metagame changes quite a lot, and while some may state that it is getting stale, the recent suspect tests have made XY OU more diverse and a more enjoyable metagame overall. If you want to find out a bit more on how Aegislash being banned affected the metagame, there's another article this issue that covers that here.

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