Introduction
With every new Generation, things are bound to change. New Pokémon, new items, new mechanics: new metagames. In the last Smog issue, there was an article about Alakazam, for instance. It talked about all of this Pokémon's ups and downs, (it has quite a lot of them,) and where he is now. That is a perfect example of how Pokémon change, but today, I'll talk (type) about how the metagames might change.Current Metagames:
- OU (OverUsed)
- UU (UnderUsed)
- RU (Rarely Used)
- NU (Never Used)
- Ubers (Pokémon better than OU)
- Tier Shift
- OU Monotype
- Little Cup
- 1v1
- VGC (Double Battles)
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause" - Pokémon that would otherwise be in lower tiers (i.e. Charizard) but have a Mega-Evolution will be put into their tiers based on their normal form's viability. However, Mega-Stones will be banned on certain Pokémon with overpowered Mega-Evolutions.
UU: UU has always been a very fun and intriguing metagame. It consists of only Pokémon that aren't that bad, but aren't quite that good, either. I expect many dragons moving into UU because of Fairy Types, but I have a feeling that they will reign supreme in UU. Most likely, only particularly weak Fairies will be sent to UU because of their Dragon-slaying abilities. I've heard that Fairies will be weak to Poison and Steel, so this is my prediction for the next generation's competitive battling: create a team of a Dragon, Steel, and Poison-type, (3 others that could help in any other way,) lead with a Dragon, switch out if they have a Fairy, because that's who is coming in next, switch to whichever could abuse the Fairy more easily, and finally, obliterate the pixie.
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause"
"Fairy Clause" - players will not be able to use more than two fairies on one team.
RU: RU, or "Rarelyused," is a tier with some of the coolest looking Pokémon, but the worst in the game. It is a place of Rapid Spinning and Sceptile, and is one of the most popular tiers, oddly enough. I guess most people go straight to playing OU because it is the "standard tier," but I've met several smart players in RU (although I'm awful myself.) Also, the RMTs for RU seem to be a bit more intelligent than the average OU RMT, but that's just my opinion, OUers. Anyway, I don't see much change for the lower tiers, Dragons being virtually nonexistent. (excuse me, Druddigon.) I'm excited, though, to see if any Mega-Evolutions still aren't used enough to join OU or UU.
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause"
NU: NU is a huge jump from RU directly before it. Most people just laugh when talking about NU, and having a serious conversation about it with another player is difficult. However, NU players have to use less popular Pokémon than your OU players, and a long while ago, when I participated in an OU tournament, I was defeated by an NU team! I didn't understand how in the word that happened, but it was because of the evolution NU players have to go through to survive with these hated Pokémon that they become better than the average Ubers player! I'm expecting many Steel and Poison-types from NU to rise because of their presumed Super-Effectiveness against Fairies.
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause"
"Single-Use Clause" - Certain Poison or Steel-Types that are only used for their strength against Fairy will be able to stay in NU, but of course be used for any other tier."
Ubers: The 6th Generation will, most likely, have the greatest effect on Ubers than any other Smogon Metagame. Expect to see Xerneas (a Fairy-Type Legendary) become a top tier threat, destroying common monsters like Palkia, Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem-W. I don't really know what they should do about this, because those behemoths cannot be allowed in OU, but with Xerneas, I can't see how they could prosper. Also, Blaziken, who happens to be in Ubers already, has a Mega-Evolution that will probably be stronger than he already is. I wonder what will happen to Mega-Blaziken?
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause" (for Blaziken)
"Dragon-Slaying Clause" - a single Fairy-type Pokémon may not be used to neutralize (KO) more than two Dragon-type Pokémon per game.
Tier Shift: In Tier Shift, Pokémon in Tiers lower than OU gain 5 Stat Points for each stat per each tier below OU it is. For example, a Serperior, which is currently in NU, would gain +15 Stat Points because it is 3 tiers below OU. However, what if, for example, I used my Charizard in NU, and it had +15 Stat Points for each stat. Then, it Mega-Evolved, and gained the stats earned by Mega-Evolution along with the +15 Stat Points!?! That would be infinitely crazy.
OU Monotype: The only relevant changes in OU Monotype that I can think of would be more Steel and Poison usage and less Dragon usage. And, of course, more Fairy usage, at least in the beginning of Gen 6's reign.
Little Cup: Little Cup is one of the cutest and most fun of Smogon's metagames. Your Pokémon must be at Level 5 and only unevolved Pokémon are accepted. Not much changes will be occurring there, as most dragon types aren't good at their first stage of evolution, and only Pokémon that are in their final evolutionary phase can Mega-Evolve. Nothing but new, cute Pokémon coming into LC. :D
1v1: Now on to my favorite metagame of all, although it may not be many of your favorites. It is simple and self-explanatory: each team can consist of only 1 Pokémon. There will be issues in 1v1, for sure. First of all, Garchomp, Dragonite, and Haxorus will most likely be burned by the Fairies, and Mega-Evolution will become a huge factor in 1v1 play. Can it be used in battle? Who could it be used by? What if one becomes too strong?
Suggested Rules:
"Mega Stone Clause (Modified)" same rules as normal Mega Stone, but one new condition: certain Pokémon (will be determined later, as now we have not a clue which Mega-Pokémon are overpowered) are able to Mega-Evolve.
VGC: There isn't much for VGC. It changes the most out of every game mode every year, with even non-Smogoners coming and demonstrating their brilliant strategies. I expect this to change, of course, but there isn't much way of telling what will be changing. I also expect that Mega-Evolution will be 100% acceptable during the tournaments.
New Tier Ideas:
Of course, I'm not trying to impose, but we might need some new tiers for Smogon in the 6th Generation. One plan could be making a tier similar to BL, (Borderline) but be in between Ubers and OU. I stated earlier that several Uber dragon-types will be hurt greatly by Xerneas, so a tier named... Titan's Threshold could work? However, unlike BL, perhaps Titan's Threshold could actually be a tier that you actually play in, unlike BL being more like a banlist.
Double Battling:
I think it's about time that we created a Double Battling tier. The Tiers could be Ubers, OU and UU for now, and we could complicate it, like we Smogoners do tend to do, later. The Pokémon would be tiered not based on our normal Singles Analyses, but on their usefulness in Double Battles. We could later do the same for Triple and Rotation Battles, but for now, I'd be content with just Double Battles-and I don't mean VGC!
Sky Battling: Ironically, this is here to make a suggestion not to make a Sky Battling metagame. I mean, it isn't particularly Smogon-like, and the only difference is using Flying Type Pokémon or ones with Levitate. Or Rotom-F, which has a redundant combination of both. Seriously, Smogon, please do not make a Sky Battling game mode.
Conclusion: As we can see, X & Y will bring a huge change to our metagames and tiers. All of those changes to the metagames were conceived factoring in only two new things: Fairies and MegaEvos. Without a doubt, there will be many, many new changes to Smogon, and, hopefully, we will be able to adapt to the changes and become better than ever before!
--Note--
Please give me suggestions on how to edit and expand the page. Don't worry, I'm not like some people who become completely paranoid and upset when someone tries to criticize them. If you make a valid suggestion/edit, please tell me, and I'll be sure to change the article to fit your description.
~~Smiddie~~
