Gen VI metagame speculation

[Tbird]

Nicely put.

I didn't even think about the effect this would have on abilities and such. They should definitely have that in mind. As you say, abilities like Keen Eye have close to absolutely no bearing on the Meta's at this point and while I sometimes forget that the actual game is the focal point of what they create, this sort of thing will again add a little change that can add to massively different game.

You never know, in a couple months time we could be seeing Junpluff signature set revolving around sweet scent.

[Tbird]

Just announced:

Thick Fat Vensaur

Drought Charizard

Launcher Blastoise

Will be back with more when I have more time!!!

[wraith89]

The new mega-evolutions are just fantastic! I do like how they gave the three starters a Mega-evolution: it makes for some good return of fan favourites and finally get the recognition they deserve. Lorshy doesn't seem to care, but eh, it's his loss

I do wonder if Mega Evolution stat buffs aren't just mere additions to their base stats, but actual stage boosts from their regular stage, like a free Nasty Plot on a Mega Mewtwo or something. Can you imagine how broken that would be? Although, I doubt it's of that level, but I do hope it is significant enough to make an impact and not be inferior to Life Orb or something.

Okay, Mega Venusaur looks like a downgrade from Dream World Venusaur, who literally murdered the entire fields of OU with Chlorophyll + Growth boosted attacks, along with Sleep Powder to incapacitate things that would cause trouble. But if you look closely, Mega Venusaur loses out on two of its weaknesses with Thick Fat, meaning it is only weak to Flying and Psychic moves now. Imagine this thing stalling out everything with its bloated defences with Leech Seed + Protect combinations with Toxic Spikes. It even eats Toxic Spikes, and now Fire and Ice moves will barely scathe it now. However, a swift Brave Bird or two will probably KO it, but not before it has done some damage with insane stalling. And even if it isn't stalling, I don't imagine it falling anytime soon, not with its ginormous offensive movepool in its hand. It can even switch off (if Mega Evolutions work this way) by being Mega when it needs to against a stall team while being offensive (using DW Venusaur) when needed (though it'd need to be paired with Ninetales and not Charizard for this role). However, it doesn't carry Leftovers/Black Sludge, which is bad in my opinion. It can recover with Synthesis and Leech Seed, I suppose, and Giga Drain, but even so, I still wonder due to the lack of item. Is it really an upgrade or a downgrade? You decide. It still needs support from other Pokemon, such as Toxic Spikes support and whatnot, and dealing with its weaknesses. It does look good, but sometimes, I wonder if another Pokemon is better for this role of the Mega on your team. I am a little upset it usurped Blastoise's role as defensive Pokemon, but what can you do? Venusaur might be a nice new addition for a change, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do.

Now Charizard was the butt of every competitive battler's jokes... with it being SR weak along with a certain legendary blue bird and the likes... but look at what it got now! A form that looks awfully familiar to Digimon. Oh joy... anyways, are they becoming more liberal with these legendary exclusive abilities? Because they gave Drought and Drizzle to Ninetales and Politoed a generation ago, and now it looks like Charizard gets it. However, unlike Ninetales, Charizard doesn't need to be AS cautious when it comes to weather wars. When it comes into the field, it can instantly Mega-Evolve, destroy the foe that comes in (most likely Tyranitar or Politoed) and Solarbeam on the same turn, thus vanquishing a formidable foe. That is, unless the opponent has BOTH of them on the same team... which is possible, and this may give rise to sets such as Protect Politoed and the likes because now Charizard will bring in the sun. Ninetales still has a lot of advantages over Charizard in terms of movepool, being instant with the sun, and whatnot, but Charizard can play some interesting mind games now along with tearing up foes apart with its boosted Special Attack. Perhaps competitive battlers will be more kind towards Charizard, who knows? I'm sure the 9 year old kids will love it even more now. This Charizard may also be an ideal Pokemon for fanboys who like pairing their starters in a team. Imagine Mega Charizard and DW Venusaur on the same team: that Venusaur will start picking off where Mega Charizard left off... or Mega Charizard will burn down the whole forest by itself! Either way, this will be a very interesting addition to the metagame. I'm unsure, still, how much this SpA boost is... but I am having doubts whether it will make up for the loss of Solar Power and whatnot. Hey... what if it Mega-Evolves, switches out, and comes back in (DW Charizard mind you) and abuses Solar Power from then? That'd be interesting. Either way, the ferocious dragon starter does deserve this kind of revamp: I think Mega Charizard will have more impact on the metagame than ever before, especially due to how it activates its ability. This doesn't change the fact it gets destroyed by Stealth Rocks, however, so a good spinner is still needed (unless SR damage formula changed).

Speaking of great spinners... here comes one! Though the sun would not benefit this guy in any way... but it still can take some things that Charizard hates. Venusaur can do it too, but what about having all three on a team? Unfortunately, only one can be Mega... and Charizard/Venusaur combo seems best so far. Blastoise... is just "there", but at least it can Foresight vs Ghosts. Hm, Blastoise is interesting. I mean, look at this guy: he has really really huge guns that resemble a tank. And though he is tanky defensively already, this is going to be the tank that takes hits AND blast foes to smithereens with its giga cannon. Mega Launcher is its ability, and it is a new one, yes. What it does, apparently, is boost "pulse-type attacks", such as "Dark Pulse" or "Water Pulse". It doesn't even learn Dark Pulse! Ick. Knowing Gamefreak, it's probably something lame like 20% boost like Iron Fist, which means Hydro Pump is still stronger than Water Pulse, and so is Surf. That is, unless, it also buffs moves that are in Blastoise's arsenal, such as Flash Cannon and the likes. In-game Blastoise trainers tend to pack Focus Blast on it as well. It even used to learn Zap Cannon in GSC event, though it's impractical, but still, Blastoise's movepool is very gun-like, so I hope those cannon moves get buffed too. Heck, I hope Hydro Pump gets buffed as well: that thing ought to be, really. If the buff is much bigger, as Mega Launcher sounds menacing, then Blastoise may be a threat to prepare for. Otherwise, mono-STAB can only get it so far and Gamefreak is trolling on the Water starter once more, AS USUAL. We don't even know which one of its stats Gamefreak is boosting either: I do have a feeling its slow speed and its tanky-like nature will bring it down. And that's not what I want on the original Water starter: it deserves more than that. I don't even know how this will compare to the usual Specstoise I use with Water Spout: that thing is dangerous and sweeps things late game: I've done it successfully multiple times. There's also Rain Dish Dream World Blastoise which makes a phenomenal supporter in the rain, although Tentacruel's better typing and Ludicolo's Leech Seed stalling makes them better in some aspects. I do think Blastoise needs to find a way to differentiate itself, and maybe with Mega Launcher, it can become a supportive Pokemon that finds a balance in defence and offence, like most Waters do with balance (what they mean by balanced stats with waters means "everything well rounded except speed"... unfortunately). I hope it can differentiate itself from the other bulky waters by being insanely powerful in Mega mode (Mega Launcher should be more than 20%... I really hope so... I want my mega powerful Hydro Pumps/Hyper Beams/Hydro Cannons please!). Yeah I know, you don't use Hyper Beam like moves in competitive, but that'd be awesome. Just think of the overkill damage you do to everything! Imagine that Mega Launcher has a built in Mold Breaker that goes through Water Absorb/Storm Drain... nah too broken. I don't know about Blastoise. We'll see where this one heads to, but I am hoping a lot of good things comes from Mega Blastoise and it isn't just another useless filler Pokemon with no role to differentiate itself and just there for nostalgia sakes.

[Tbird]

You've basically covered the bulk of my thoughts there, Wraithy-baby. Flying and psychic type moves aren't all that common as it stands, aside for obligatory Stab moves on a select few such as skarm and the Latis, which are easy enough to make your own contingency for, so I dare say Venusaur should still find some solid use regardless. I don't see it as a downgrade I think this will play out a lot like the Porygon wars, in that regard.

You do raise an interesting point, though, about the ability to turn off the mega evolution. I don't think that'll be possible, simply because that could essentially mean that any given team can have 7 Pokemon roles, which would put the other team to a massive disadvantage.

Also there is a new Pokemon released, no name as of yet. Looks like a weird Absol. It might be worth someone who had the time to do so to check that paste bin and see if any of the descriptions fit. If so it coul. Help to prove or disprove that list's viability.

[wraith89]

Yeah it seems pretty bulky overall, especially with that kind of build. None of us knows how Mega Evolutions work, and being able to trigger in and out of the evolution would sound broken anyways... but still, IF that sort of thing happened, you could potentially have "seven Pokemon" in a team, should the Pokemon be able to do so. I don't know if it's like the Smash Ball from Brawl where only one guy who triggers it will get it for the duration... or if both players can trigger Megas and have a Mega battle. (I hope simulators allow 6v6 Megas just for the fun of it... and fun stuff like madness games where it's 30 vs 30 weak pokes or something... idk.). I'm still wondering about Mega Ampharos... and if Megas and regular has different movesets... probably not. I hope not: that'd be too broken honestly, though some guys like Blaziken don't really need to modify their moveset a lot. I hope Charizard can learn some high powered Flying move to OHKO Blaziken... lol. I also hope the Kanto legendaries get a Mega Evolution... but knowing Gamefreak, they'll goof up and Mega Zapdos will be overpowered, gaining access to Heat Wave's Icy sister Frost Wave while the other two (particularly the blue one whose name we have all forgotten) will be all but collecting dust, because you know, Ice will be weak to Fairies and probably will be modified to be weak to everything, as a way for "rebalance". Yeah, I hope I'm not giving them any ideas... but it's probably too late. Moltres is supposed to be the strongest =(

I was thinking the same thing. Twin telepathy, heh. The closest I could see with that description is Pokemon #731 [731: Basic, Ice. White shiba-inu dog with little shards of ice on its body. Its tail is made of ice-crystals.], but it doesn't appear Icy much nor is it a shiba-inu dog. It resembles Absol so much... but like... I'll bet it's another Tauros/Bouffalant, Luvdisc/Alomomola, Rhydon/Aggron kind of thing, I imagine. Feel free to scour around: http://pastebin.com/C6761nic

Female Magnezone freaks me out though. Good grief: it's Mystery Dungeon come true! This may also mean it gains egg moves... along with others like Metagross and the likes. Hmm...

[Mewtwo Ex]

Heard overkill and after that Telepathy....

I know this isn't the speculation thread, but that white pokemon was shown 1/2 months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQMEWZZRDk

18/19 seconds. The girl in front of the stairs. Reminds of Kurusu. One of the prototype pokes

And just to be on topic, i think we can all assume that all pokemon have now mega evolutions. At least their final normal evolutions. I doubt we will see mega Caterpie anytime soon. That said it will change all of the current metagame. They did try their best to make these game create the thrill of experiencing our old love for our old pokemon as if new. This is why i am expecting awesome looking starters with interesting abilities.

Btw W... You do know all the strategies you have now will change since we will get new moves per Pokemon and some we have right now will be replaced. As well as the new abilities will make possible new outcomes... as long as they are more than i remember from serebii... This aside, marks the end of my pointless post.

[wraith89]

Generally I think most Pokemon will stay very similar to their original roles, unless Megas redefine them or put more emphasis on another role they intended (like Mega Venusaur going for defensive stall as opposed to the horror of sun sweeper). There are exceptions, such as Gen V Cloyster becoming a terrifying Shell Smash beast while its original role was generally Spiking Spinning utility... which it still does use, but you see a lot of crazy offence sets going on that it spiked all the way up to OU. Yeah, there are those, but I think generally most will stick to their original roles.

[Find__Tab]

I know nobody will agree with me on this, but I really dislike the whole Megavolution thing. I know the digimon argument is overused, but come on, really?

*sigh* it'd be better if it was any other Pokémon. Absol/Mawile/Ampharos are great, but I hate the idea of the Gen 1 starters getting Megavolutions - it just feels like they're trying to make a profit off nostalgia, I guess?

Then again, it might just be an attempt to make peace with the older fans. The "hard mode" after-game has been confirmed. I just hope it'll give the NPC's better AI and hold items, as opposed to giving them stronger/more Pokémon instead.

This could either turn out really well or really badly.

[randomspot555]

I know nobody will agree with me on this, but I really dislike the whole Megavolution thing. I know the digimon argument is overused, but come on, really?

*sigh* it'd be better if it was any other Pokémon. Absol/Mawile/Ampharos are great, but I hate the idea of the Gen 1 starters getting Megavolutions - it just feels like they're trying to make a profit off nostalgia, I guess?

Then again, it might just be an attempt to make peace with the older fans. The "hard mode" after-game has been confirmed. I just hope it'll give the NPC's better AI and hold items, as opposed to giving them stronger/more Pokémon instead.

This could either turn out really well or really badly.

I haven't actually looked at anything besides a few promotional videos so I wanna be mostly surprised by them. I hate the knee-jerk reaction of "this sucks/doesn't look good" because no one has played the game yet and that's the method in which we fall in love with a Pokemon or get annoyed with a Pokemon.

anyway, Pokemon's like central premise for older players is profiting off of nostalgia. HGSS were released even though all 99 Johto Pokemon were available before the re-makes, for example.

[Find__Tab]

I hate the knee-jerk reaction of "this sucks/doesn't look good" because no one has played the game yet and that's the method in which we fall in love with a Pokemon or get annoyed with a Pokemon.

Thing is, we wont have that opportunity with Mega Evolution. By the looks of things it wont be accessible until the very end of the game. You have to have near max happiness with the Pokémon, an item that you'll get from an NPC (probably in postgame like with the Gracidea that Shaymin has) AND a pokemon-specific hold item. Unless you go out of your way to get one, i.e for competitive (not that I expect Smogon to to put these guys anywhere besides Uber), you probably wont "fall in love" with these guys.

It'll just be one of those things where it's "I don't like this, but it's there and I may as well get over it." like (for me personally) HMs, Infinite TMs and alternate formes.

I know I shouldn't be annoyed by these kinds of things, but Pokémon games change almost as much as Paper Mario does. Well, that's a bad example. Paper Mario changes the entire genre of a game, simply retaining the 2D "Paper" factor. Pokémon adds tiny little details each game that, in my opinion, overcomplicate it and draw away from the experience. (We also haven't got a single game with decent AI, which is why I'm really hopeful for this new "hard mode").

I started at Gen 4, but I wish it went back to it's roots and became a little more like Gen 1. I don't even like Gen 1 overall, but I do prefer the simplicity in it's design. I could use a LOT of different examples, but the most common one is that we don't need every Pokémon to be super-saiyan Goku. We also don't need every Pokémon to be super-simple, but a healthy balance is nice. Gen 3/4, and to a lesser extent, 5 had some great designs - Gen 6 is hopeful (with the exception of Mega Evolutions) but I can't help but think that they might go overboard with the whole "HEY GUYS IT'S 3D NOW" thing.

[wraith89]

So apparently... two new Mega forms were revealed.

This is the other Mega Mewtwo, which does look like a physical attacker, and possibly physically bulkier as well. It is Psychic/Fighting and has Steadfast, essentially making it a "better version" of Gallade. If this is so, just imagine how many mindgames Mewtwo can play, as if it already wasn't versatile enough. Will it be its regular form, its special Eclair form to further destroy a team, or this physical bulkier version to take down the vastly special Ubers metagame by surprise? One may wonder, and Psychic/Fighting STAB is pretty good, asides from it not hitting Spiritomb and Sableye... and of course Shedinja, but all of them can be covered. Anyways, it makes me wonder if this is another Deoxys-like treatment, where Mewtwo gets two different forms depending on the versions, and a third game resolving the Hegelian dialectics (hopefully it isn't X2Y2) bringing out a new form. That would be pretty cool.

You saw this coming... and truth be told, I don't like it. It's Mega Garchomp... and has Sand Force as its ability. As if Landorus with its 101 speed wasn't already scary enough with it, now comes a Dragon/Ground 102 speeder, who is possibly getting a speed boost, becoming much scarier in an already predominant sand weather (or will it be dominant in the new generation)? OPing OP Pokemon again Gamefreak? But I guess because it has FAN FAVOURITES, they had to do it. What can you do? With the inclusion of Fairy, though, one has to wonder how good Garchomp will be in the next generation. I don't really have much to say, because Garchomp be Garchomp, OP be OP. Yes, the aforementioned Mewtwo is the definition of OP, but come on, that thing is purposely overpowered. Sorry, I cannot really make a detailed meaningful analysis at the moment due to my stubborn biases =P

Also, on the light of the new Fairy types:

• Fairy-type is super effective against Fighting, Dark, and Dragon, weak to Steel and Poison, resists Fighting, Dark, and Bug, is not very effective against Steel, Fire, and Poison, and is immune to Dragon.
  
• Steel's Dark and Ghost resistances are gone now.

Now i have a lot to say here. First of all, WHY U NO RESIST FAIRY, GHOST TYPES??? So long for no weaknesses, Spiritomb and Sableye. I was also hoping Ice would be resistant against Fairy, but it looks like that's not the case: Ice will be 4x weak to everything this Generation. Secondly, it looks like Fairies are actually IMMUNE to Dragon. Look at all this balancing out... but I don't think I like this. Why? I know Poison and Steel were relatively unpopular attacking types, but this is ridiculous. Fairy should have another "commonplace" weakness if they want to actually balance this out. I don't think people want to stick awkward random Iron Tails or Poison Jabs just to hit a Fairy Pokemon super effectively on their Pokemon who would otherwise have nice coverage. I kind of wish Fairies were weak to Ghost or something, that I would like. But they didn't do that.

Since Fairies are changing things around, I do like how it is resistant to Fighting and good against it, as Fighting won't be as dominant. Also, I'm not quite understanding what the Bug resistance is for. Sure, I know Bug was within that chain of relations, but being randomly resistant to Bug, I suppose it helps out tremendously from something like Scizor dominating the entire metagame. Poor Heracross: neither of its STABs will be effective against Fairies. Now I don't like how it destroys Dark types: Dark types were already pretty balanced out, and relied on unorthodox tactics to defeat their foes. Fairies just plain out resisting and becoming super effective against Dark is just... ick. Seriously, they couldn't put Ghost types in this zone either? Ghosts are of relation with most of the other types listed above, so I don't see why not much was done about them.

As for Steel losing its resistance to Dark and Ghost, I suppose it's... all right? But this will take some time to get used to. I did really like Steel resisting a lot of types except ones that it wouldn't. They really did, however, try to get the Ghost and Dark types implemented into this cycle, I suppose. But not Psychic? How come Psychic isn't getting anything interesting. I know, Steels were made (along with Dark) to counter Psychics, so their resistance to it still remains. After - 6 from Tickles off a Wobbuffet, a Choice Band Tyranitar will OHKO Skarmory with Pursuit now. Oh yikes. It does shine some hope that OTHER types can have some modifications too, like, you know, Ice types? Please Gamefreak? And when you do, please, like, improve their movepools, and try not to have this current generation's Ice types outclass the older ones completely?

Overall though, I'm a little disappointed, but I hope this implementation of new type to "balance" things out isn't merely adding a new overpowered type into the mix. I just wish Fairies had a conventional weakness alongside Poison and Steel. Poison and Steel weakness is great, I do like their effort for trying to get uncommon typing to be strong against a new one, but it feels forced, and almost arbitrary. Adding a Ghost weakness wouldn't have been so bad in my opinion, along with being NVE vs Ghost as well. On the positive side, Poison types also resist Fairy too, which makes it great now too because it resists Fighting and Bug as well. I think we can expect the rise of Poison types. I have no idea what this will do for Psychic types, as Psychics were shafted quite a bit. I suppose we will see more Empoleon with STAB Flash Cannon and with Heatran as well...

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Gardevoir will now, thanks to its new Psychic/Fairy typing, be.... (assuming no other changes)

Weakness: Ghost, Poison, Steel

Resistances: Fighting (4x), Psychic, Dragon (0x)

Type changes: Bug (1x), Dark (1x)

How interesting. Gardevoir is going to be 4x resistant to Fighting, meaning it's not going to be 2HKOd by things like Lucario's Close Combat. How nice.

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Azumarill with its Water/Fairy typing will now... (assuming no other changes and Marill doesn't LOSE Fairy typing upon evolution)

Weaknesses: Electric, Grass, Poison

Resistances: Fire, Water, Ice, Bug, Fighting, Dark, Dragon (immune), Grass (immune if using Sap Sipper, which nobody will)

Type changes: Steel (1x)

Azumarill is going to destroy this metagame, as Heatrans will fall on its mercy. You thought Azumarill was anti-metagame before? Wait until you see this now. Random Iron Tail to destroy other Fairies... eww.

I will post more when I have the time to...

EDIT: Some interesting things to note:

"Still not confirmed, still not confirmed, still not confirmed!"

~ Hydreigon after hearing his possible 4x weakness to Fairy

Sorry Hydreigon, it looks like you are now 4x weak to something after all. It's going to have to run awkward Flash Cannons to deal with Fairy switch-ins now... ugh. Metagross is the only pseudolegendary so far (not counting the Gen VI pseudolegendary) to not have a 4x weakness.

Speaking of which...

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These three have gained two weaknesses, Ghost and Dark, thanks to Steel type no longer resisting them. Yes, people, that annoying Jirachi you had to deal with... you can Pursuit trap it now! This should play interesting, and Ghost and Dark are significantly greater threats to this metagame because they're not resisted by much types as they used to, which is a huge blow to Steel types. This change, I suppose, was made to implement those two types into the whole Fighting-Psychic-Bug-Fairy-Steel-Poison relations...

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And yes, it looks like Gengar, although as frail as a sheet of paper, is actually going to be a greater threat now. Now Scizor will have to eat a high powered neutral STAB Shadow Ball (or maybe even a stronger STAB that gets introduced!) when it switches in, potentially 2HKOd (most likely 2HKOd), and things like Metagross and Jirachi will no longer be as threatening to it anymore because of their newfound weakness to its STAB. It can run STAB Sludge Wave (I hope it's no longer DW exclusive move, and if not it can still use Sludge Bomb) to ruin Fairies and the likes, which means Gengar got a huge competitive boost for XY... as if it already wasn't unpredictable as it is. DisableGar? Protect Gengar? Trickster Gengar? Anything else can still be hit with the shaky Focus Blast, which is still a threat regardless. It's going to get more interesting for our original spooky ghost nemesis here.

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Heatran gained a 4x resistance to Fairy, and assuming other aspects haven't changed much yet, it is still also 4x resistant to Bug, Grass, and Ice. Heatran fans rejoice: it'll probably have to run STAB Flash Cannon alongside its usual Fire Blast/whatever Fire STAB with Earth Power to ruin Fairies. Is 4x resistance to Fairy a good trade-off for Ghost/Dark neutrality? Not sure... but still, if Fairies become a great threat in this metagame, Heatran will be the #1 Fairy slayer (unless it's facing Azumarill).

Scrafty is 4x weak to Fairies, along with Pangoro. This is going to hurt them a lot, as Dark/Fighting no longer have nearly perfect coverage (Toxicroak/Heracross resisted it). It'll be completely destroyed by Fairies unless it runs an awkward Poison Jab. Frankly, I don't like this guy, so... heh heh...

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Heracross's infamous dual 120 BP STAB will both be ineffective against Fairies. Poor Heracross: it continues to be shafted. It may have to run an awkward Poison Jab in its moveslot as well. At least it can find room for it, unlike most other Pokemon. However, this will leave it nearly helpless vs. Ghosts, as faulty Stone Edge isn't always going to work, and Night Slash is too weak to be even used most of the time. Please learn something like Flame Horn to OHKO Scizor

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Scizor losing its Dark and Ghost resistance is going to make it harder to check things like Gengar and the likes. Its STAB Bullet Punch will still be potent, but Fairies will resist its other coverage moves, such as Superpower, and especially its Bug STAB U-turn and Bug Bite. I was afraid of this metagame getting too Steel dominant, but Fairies may actually put a nail in Scizor's coffin. However, Scizor's STAB Bullet Punch will be more useful than ever for revenge killing Fairies, so I wouldn't count on it going down yet. Unless, it's a bulky Fairy with a typing that resists Steel like Water... uh oh. Azumarill!

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Sableye and Spiritomb will actually gain a Fairy weakness, leaving Eelektross the only Pokemon without a weakness. Come on Gamefreak...

... I still wish Ghost resisted Fairy...

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These two, Dialga and Reshiram, will actually be the only Dragons so far (why not Giratina???) that are not weak to Fairies so far, unless they introduce Poison Dragon and such... this will give them more divergent niche to fulfill in the Ubers metagame. Random Flash Cannons are to be found in Dialga... oh wait, it's okay. It actually gets STAB on it.

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This Pokemon, along with many others of its typing, will forever be left in obscurity. Why? Because it's an Ice type silly: nothing good ever happens to them. STILL STUCK WITH ONE RESISTANCE AND IT IS ITSELF. What's more funny? Articuno's secondary typing NEGATES its Ice type resistance. Sigh Gamefreak Gamefreak Gamefreak... you could at least do something about THIS problem. And you had to give Fire the extra resistance. It isn't a bad thing, but there's another type that you guys DESIGNED to be defensive, but have the wrong resistances.

Ice types suffer a lot, asides from their typing problems. It's their lack of movepool, lack of high stats (or wrongly distributed stats... that 95 Atk on Vanilluxe should have gone to its awkward 79 speed instead), amongst other things. I'm hoping Hail would be buffed this generation, but I won't get my hopes up. With Fairies being the new Dragon slayers, there's really little to no reason to run Ice moves anymore, nor run Ice Pokemon at all... this is just disgusting. Oh, and Kyurem just got another weakness, further pushing it to obscurity. Again, whose idea of "balance" is this?

Edited September 11, 2013 by wraith89

[Lorshinator]

Two things.

I'm incredibly mad that Dark is weak to Fairy, thus giving Yveltal an unfair disadvantage against Xerneas. I will admit that's not new (Groudon and Kyogre, Dialga and Palkia), and that's not all that counts.

But it also makes pokemon that seemingly had no weaknesses suddenly have weaknesses. If Fairy is, in Xerneas's case, Life, why is it neutral in all aspects towards Ghost?

I'm happy that Fairy is resistant (and not weak to) Fighting, and that Steel has been slightly nerfed... But bug? I guess that's because Fairy is in some cases still attributed to some creatures which are magical and bugs are, generally, not. Eh I dunno.

I'm concerned that Fairy has two uncommon weaknesses and four resistances, which does include that immunity to Dragon. What saddens me more is that they could've adjusted so much more but they decided not to, at least, not that we know of (but since the chart is right there I doubt it needs official confirmation). What happened to Dark gaining more prominence? It was never OP to begin with, it was quite balanced... it's just odd to me to make it weak to something else. Everyone uses Fighting types, Dark's weaknesses were easily exploitable.

And of course with that said Ice has no more resistances. Of course. Well, I'll cross my fingers for Gen 7 making Gamefreak realize they need to alter pretty much the entire type balance which includes poison being more effective on more things to give them more of a reason to use it and for Ice to have more resistances, and for Fairy to be weak to ghost.

I think, though, that I'm worried, but I won't say the metagame is entirely screwed. Also MegaChomp will just go to ubers straight away, because they don't want to deal with it. At least it's not sand rush, and it's weaknesses are potentially more exploitable.

I'm just mainly angry that they didn't adjust the type balance as much as they could've... That's my biggest concern. Fairy just needs ONE MORE WEAKNESS for it to be fine. For Dragons, it was only weak to two things, fair enough, but one of them was coverage for everything and most of the dragons out there were especially weak to it. They are also weak to themselves. As for Fairy, we have yet to see how powerful the pokemon themselves are, because it could be a dangerous type with not so many tremendously dangerous mons on it. We'll see how that goes. Bug isn't tremendously common offensively except for STAB only, and Dark is seldom used offensively except for STAB, though it may be used more since Steel no longer resists it.

We may see a rise in poison type moves though, like a poison type flare blitz or outrage. Imagine that.

As for it's resistance to Fighting, I am especially happy for this since Fighting is too effective and too common, so that's good. As for Dragon... It's good they're immune since Dragon is hard to counter, or was. Now it may be easy.

But countering fairies? That may be hard. They should've had another weakness, such as fire, ghost, or grass, or something, since you balance it out for having lots of handy resistances with common weaknesses, like Steel. I don't feel great about this by any means, though I don't know if it'll destroy or seriously hinder competitive. yes, I know Wraith, random Iron Tails and Poison jobs, but they may buff their movepools at least.

Still mad that Poison is not super effective on water, Ice wasn't buffed, and fairy only has two weaknesses.

[wraith89]

Another thing that hit my mind... I'm reading through the thread at Smogon, and people haven't really commented much about Ice, except for the new Rock/Ice fossil Pokemon, which is just going to die from a single Bullet Punch or Mach Punch anyways due to its crazy amount of weaknesses. Its ability is Freeze Skin, which boosts power of Normal attacks and changes them to physical. I... I think they're going to troll again and its only Normal moves are stuff like Tackle and Take Down or some other useless moves. Some people are saying it may be a way to buff Ice types... but I doubt that. Just like Gen V, where only a handful of Pokemon gained new gamebreaking abilities, leaving some old Pokemon in the dust (except via Dream World), this Freeze Skin ability is most likely only going to be found in the new Ice Pokemon and unless they do a Dream World Redux or Hidden Ability 2 or something, I don't think there's any hope for Ice Pokemon at all. The ability in itself is pretty cool, but due to the way Fairies appear unbalanced as it is, I think that's the end of seeing any form of Ice Pokemon in standard battles. That's just how it is, unless these Ice Pokemon vastly improve their movepool or have STAB that goes above a paltry 75 base attack (I'm staring at you, Weavile). Freeze Skin will be on a selection of Pokemon: you won't see much of this anywhere else. I mean, they had the chance: they could have just given Ice a few practical resistances and it would have been all right. But nope, Chuck Testa. Knowing Gamefreak, they won't do much with the old Ice Pokemon: I'm quite sure of it: not even access to Hydro Pump would save most of them.

The T.rex looks cool, as it is a new Rock / Dragon Pokemon. Unfortunately, most Fossil Pokemon are slow, and if Tyranitar is any indication of how these people design their T.rex... well... it'll probably end up like poor Rampardos. Most fossil Pokemon that isn't Aerodactyl or Archeops are quite slow. However, unlike the Rock/Ice Pokemon, it doesn't have to pretend to be a defensive Pokemon, as Rock/Dragon is great offensively and can just fulfill its offensive role no problem. What is stupidly lopsided is you'd think the Ice type was designed to beat the Dragon. Lol nope. The Rex will probably be faster and STAB Stone Edge the Apatosaurus to death. I know they tell you carnivorous dinosaurs eat herbivores, but I don't know what to say about this. I think anything with Ice just automatically disqualifies it from being viable at all.

I know I shouldn't be complaining about Ice Pokemon at a time like this, but... it still needs more mention. Ice type is beyond salvagable at this point, unless you're something like Cloyster or Mamoswine (but both have another typing along with the right moves and ability). Too soon to tell? Probably. But 4x weakness to Fighting and Steel is just ridiculous, along with the inclusion of Fairy types, who counter Dragons much better and have no need for Ice Beam or anything... Ice types are finished competitively.

The old metagame was also kind of lopsided, as it was basically who gets to kill the opponent's Steel first and then finish off the rest with boosted Outrage. Now they're basically at the mercy of... Purin. Ick. I'm quite skeptical of how this will turn out, as Gamefreak were not exactly the masters of balancing things out. They had the right idea, but now ultimate types like Dragons are quite nerfed, which wasn't a bad idea, but I'm afraid of Fairy becoming the new overpowered typing. I'm not saying the whole dragon business was balanced either: it was stupid, as it was a matter of which dragon had strong enough attack and the highest speed (Garchomp, Latitwins), basically meaning the others really had little to no reason to be used, honestly. Garchomp even had Earthquake and other moves to deal with Steels. (They could have just given Kyurem's new forms 105 speed, but they didn't, and because Gamefreak absolutely loves Ice Pokemon, Kyurem was given the gift of an incredibly limited movepool and ultra powerful signature move... that required charge up, and a stronger version of Icy Wind). I don't know what to say, honestly. I'll have to wait and see how this turns out. But I needed to kind of rant regarding "balance". Some of the aspects are okay, but I don't like how they are conscious of Ice's weakness problems but refuse to address it.

[Find__Tab]

Honestly, I feel like ice types are only bad because the Pokémon that represent it are bad.

Ice/Dark is a terrible typing, but Weavile isn't all that bad. Mamoswine is great, too. You know why? Because they're legitimately good Pokémon. Every other Ice type has terrible stats and movepool. Maybe we'll get some more top-tier ice types. I can dream.

On a side note, while I hate mega-evolutions in general, at least I have a design I can appreciate now. The only thing that Garchomp had missing was a badass chin - I love it.

I'm not sure what to think about the change in steel types - There are way too many changes for me to theorise properly. Who knows, maybe it'll be for the better.

I can't wait for Crobat to finally be useful again, and @Lorshinator, you're deluding yourself if you think ANY of the megavolutions will stay out of Uber. Blaziken, Lucario, Mew3/4, Garchomp... even Kanghaskan - even if Ampharos and Mawile aren't overpowered, it's simpler just to ban the mechanic in general.

[Tbird]

Banning the mechanic in general would be a super shit idea. This right here is an interesting and game changing mechanic of magnitudes far greater than we ever percieved. Your thinking of these changes in comparison to gen IV/V. Which is wrong. They're incomparable, it's a new slate and this mechanic is something that needs to be thought of when tiers become more defined. MegaGarchomp, for instance loses speed and gains power. The power already was overkill, so nothing much will change there except for the fact that that BandGon and DDMence will hard counter it. So there you go, it's got counters, it can be contained, its not uber. Mega Kangaskhan, I theorise it'll have CB sort of power just sans the move lock, still, Scizor and Skarmory don't give even a single fuck, it won't be banned.

I would e massively concerned for the competitive playing field if they start throwing out mass bans on a whole mechanic, it'd be like banning stealth rock, for crying out loud. Think, Gengar will no longer have to run hidden power fire to get passed steels, it can just shadow ball them in the face and keep on keeping on, sub gar will ruin things, will it be banned? We don't know, as I said , the game changes now and the goal posts have been moved, we may need mega evolutions to keep old threats that have been buffed at bay.

[LEGOanimal22]

The starter Mega-evolutions are monsters. Think, you're going up against a Venusaur. You could send Charizard out and get a OHKO with the mega evolution energy and a STAB move.

Mega Evolutions should have their own tier since they are so powerful.

Edited September 14, 2013 by LEGOanimal22

[wraith89]

I've already mentioned the problems with Ice types: yes, Gamefreak loves giving them the movepool of a Tyrogue and call them "complete". Dark / Ice is a phenomenal attack typing, btw, but Weavile's problem is the lack of STAB that goes above 75, making his 120 Attack nothing stellar. But Ice typing also has that lack of resistance problem: resisting itself while having 4 arguably very common weaknesses really hamper their potential, and any buff, even a 50% Defence buff in Hail or something, would help. Even an Ice version of Swift Swim/Chlorophyll would have helped (they even made Sand Rush for Sand teams), but no... they will have none of that. I just don't get Gamefreak's idea of Ice Pokemon: it's ridiculous, and most of the Pokemon with usable stats like Cryogonal are very lopsided or only can run their STAB move without resorting to stupid things like Night Slash off a 50 Atk or Solarbeam. Let's take this whole one resistance thing with the fact MANY of them were designed defensively. Only ones that see many use are things with decent Attack and Speed stats like Weavile... and Mamoswine now has a resistance to Ice thanks to Thick Fat and neutral to Fire: the Ground typing along with Ice gives it dual weather immunity, nearly flawless STABs, along with a great movepool. If it didn't have any of those (asides from Thick Fat since it managed without it), then it wouldn't be used as much. Now let's look at.. you know, things like Articuno, which despite its legendary status, has a usable movepool on par with Tynamo's, and is quite predictable, and even with those defensive stats, that lack of resistance (and the resistance Ice provided is negated by its very second typing) and disgusting movepool really hampers its potential that even MOLTRES, who wasn't even designed to be the defensive Pokemon, is a much better defensive staller than Articuno. Articuno has to constantly pretend that it is a defensive Pokemon, when it really isn't, especially with that disgusting weakness to Stealth Rocks, while Moltres's Fire typing isn't exactly known to be a defensive typing, but a great offensive one, still has a lot more resistances than Ice (and many are very useful). Not to mention how they continually pick on Ice types, even in anime or so, as Ash defeats an Articuno and Regice at one point. Kyurem's Glaciate has the worst BP ever for a legendary's move (even if Kyurem is supposed to be represented as "incomplete"), and then you get the dual 140 BP attacks that Kyurem fusion forms do... which all require charge-up. Kyurem-B is apparently so bad with its movepool that not even the strongest Outrage saved it from being demoted to OU. Don't get me started on how inane the whole concept of dragons are, as it's basically a match-up of who's the fastest and can Outrage the fastest (which just means Garchomp wins most of the time, especially Scarfchomp). Bottom line is, Ice types suck, and will continue to suck if Gamefreak doesn't help them up with any of those factors (movepool, stats, and especially the type table). Now with the introduction of Fairies, they're further slidden to oblivion and really, won't find much use asides as coverage moves for Water Pokemon to run or something. That's really sad.

As for making all Megas into Ubers... what? No, it's a new mechanic and it's to make the game more interesting. You take one Pokemon of your choice and do what you want with it. Both players have the opportunity, so I don't see why it would be banned. Will some be more powerful than others? Certainly: I can see Mega Mewtwo getting banned, since its original form is also too powerful for standards and is purposely overpowered to begin with. Perhaps people can set up separate metagames where one is with Megas and without Megas... but please, this is not Gen IV or V anymore, but a new game. Nobody's deluding themselves by saying they're usable: you'd be deluding yourself for thinking they're not usable in any way, shape or form. I don't like the idea of Megas, but it doesn't mean it'll stop people from playing them. A new standard will come out, but it's too early to tell what kind of impact they make, and just exactly how much of a boost these Pokemon get anyways. I am afraid of things like MegaKangaskhan and the likes, but we have to wait and see: it's not as simple as banning them all because that's like banning Stealth Rocks, which was a countermeasure from things like Salamence from sweeping too soon (though it worked too well and killed off the usage of, say, Charizard and all). Even so, some combinations like Swift Swim + Drizzle was banned, just because rain is too potent (though Sand Rush + Sandstream was not, and Excadrill itself got banned for being too broken). I still don't like how Blaziken as a whole is banned, as a Speed Boost-less version is okay. But these people like to yell "NO COMPLEX BAN"... which is stupid because now nobody can effectively play regular Blaziken anywhere, as it gets demolished in the Uber tier (which basically means almost no restrictions game), while you'd have to make specific Speed Boost sets to even make it viable otherwise. Some rules, I cannot agree with, but I highly doubt Megas as a whole will get banned. I'm totally okay with the idea of a separate Mega | Non-Mega metagame, but they're not going to be banned outright, and will probably be tiered themselves.

[Find__Tab]

Damn, I need to sort out my thoughts instead of posting my immediate reactions. Looking through them now...

I think a lot of this can only be speculation. You're right, I'm thinking as if they're being put into the current metagame.

Still, Mega Mewtwo(s) will be uber, pretty sure. Before, I thought (Mega) Blaziken, Lucario and Garchomp would all immediately go uber, I mean c'mon, they're close enough as they are. Yes, Blaziken without Speed Boost should be allowed, but iirc Mega Blaziken HAS Speed Boost. And is more powerful. Lucario, I was just thinking of the sheer power. He might just end up as a semi-glass cannon like normal Lucario. Garchomp? I was thinking it just as a "better Garchomp". If it's really lowering their speed, maybe. I have my doubts though - I don't think GameFreak are going for "balance" with this mechanic. The others could be debatable, but that's only because it's speculation.

If that "new defence orientated battle system" is true, Blaziken and Lucario would be nerfed quite a bit. If we get a really good bulky fairy (or just retyped Celebi), Garchomp could be in trouble. I was thinking of these guys as if they were just straight up better versions of their old Pokémon in the current metagame. I still think they'll be better (I don't see the lower-speed Garchomp being "balanced", for example) but I apologise. I should probably avoid spouting whatever comes to my mind first. Sorry.

As for Smogon banning the mechanic in general... Yes, it would be stupid. But it's Smogon. If Garchomp/Kanghaskan/Venusaur/whatever, or more likely, multiple of them (maybe even most of them) are considered too powerful or overcentralising, Smogon would probably ban the mechanic. I haven't been in Competitive Battling for a while, so I apologise if Smogon has changed that much - but from what I remember they prefer the lazy "less trouble if we ban it" method. Hence why Blaziken went to Ubers. I remember a lot of the community being really confused when Swift Swim (in rain) became banned, as opposed to just Rain in general. It took a while for people to get used to it and some people still had problems with Rain being legal.

As for ice, I agree. Remember Syclant? Obviously it wasn't as "refined" as GameFreak's Pokémon, but I feel like that's a good example of a /good/ ice type Pokémon. Granted, it was given an extremely good movepool, but it shows that it can be done. I don't think Ice needs resistances - It's Ice. If any type screams "glass cannon", it's that. I'd like some better Ice moves, though. Ice type Pokémon getting better stats alone would move them up a lot.

Who knows, if Mega Evolution becomes a common thing, maybe we'll get a Mega Ice type. One that's usable. Oh, and Garchomp still has a sexy chin.

[wraith89]

Ew. Smogon's CAP monsters are broken. Syclant on its debut was quite broken, but they nerfed him, and yes it did show a "good Ice" could be done. They're just... they're too designed to be competitive that stuff like Krillowatt ended up with Draco Meteor for no reason. But yes, if Ice types were all designed to be that offensive (hello Weavile), then they'd be good. If Weavile had better STAB options, then it would truly be a monster: I guess they gave it low BP moves to "balance it out" (yeah right Electivire). But Ice does need resistances, not because of the typing itself, but because there are PLENTY OF ICE who are DESIGNED as defensive Pokemon, but cannot function as one due to it being weak to more stuff than resisting them. These Pokemon (such as Articuno) remain a relic in the past, and it's like Gamefreak doesn't do anything about it just because either they're hopeless (well you can still expand its movepool Gamefreak) or actually try to give them an actual great DW ability, like double defence ability or something, and it would be great. Unfortunately, for most Ice Pokemon to be usable, they need to be Regice's Defences and SpA and Lapras's movepool with Weavile's speed. It's actually that bad. The new Rock/Ice fossil needs like 200 base Defence to survive a Bullet Punch off Scizor... which is bad. Call me crazy, but I think Gamefreak just wrote Ice types off the metagame, especially with the inclusion of Fairies.

I just think there needs to be a Mega | Non-Mega separate metagame. Period.

Are they seriously promoting MMX using GIGA IMPACT of all moves? Really Gamefreak?

[Find__Tab]

- stuff about ice-

I just think there needs to be a Mega | Non-Mega separate metagame. Period.

Are they seriously promoting MMX using GIGA IMPACT of all moves? Really Gamefreak?

You got that right. They really messed up with the 'defensive ice' thing. I still feel like that's because of a lack of moves (and stats) rather than the typing, though. Imagine Walrein with a restoration move like Recover. Mega/Non Mega metagame will happen, pretty sure. It's just a question of whether or not both will be used, and which will be considered the "main", official metagame. Y'know, for tournaments and things. Speaking of, will Mega Items be allowed on Wifi?

And MMX is the 'physical' one. From a competitive standpoint it's pretty silly, but it makes sense. Giga Impact is considered 'stronger' than anything else (e.g. Close Combat, Zen Headbutt) to non-

competitive players. (I'm deliberately avoiding the term 'casual' because I hate that word).

-edit- Now that I think about it... while it won't be banned, the metagame will most certainly have two separate tiers; one with and one without. Think about 5th gen DW/Wifi. Wifi was always the predominant metagame. I expect the Mega Pokémon tier to be the less-played variant, just because it doesn't change the metagame as much. If that's the case it may as well be banned - sure, people will play it, but eh...

Edited September 16, 2013 by Find__Tab
realisation

[Toffeuy]

At the rate things are going, it seems to me like mega evolutions are going to extend to a large number of pokemon. Details have only confirmed that not all pokemon can mega evolve, but the fact that they are reviving pokemon which have been rarely ever used as well as the ones which are already good or even broken in the current metagame suggests to me that there is plenty more to come for the little guys in between with medium strength/usefulness. Weak + Medium + Strong kinda covers a large range of pokemon don't ya think?

I really don't see a need to separate of Mega/Non-Mega. Players and their opponents alike will have equal advantages in being able to access mega evolved pokemon. Overall, all pokemon will probably get stronger (well, let's say most), but their relative strength shouldn't be greatly changed. The only thing i'm worried about is the pokemon in Ubers. If many ubers also get mega evolutions then this theory of relative usefulness remains true. However, instinct tells me that not many ubers will be getting mega evolutions, and in this case, the usefulness of ubers may cross with the mega evolved OU pokemon and cause a bit of a dilemma in terms of being able to predict what may happen.

What many people seem to be forgetting is that mega evolutions have a conditional aspect. I remember reading that it could only be used once in battle, though i'm not sure whether that refers to per pokemon or all pokemon within a single match. They may get some nifty upgrades but regardless of which of the two previously mentioned statements are true, upon switching out, that same pokemon will definitely be unable to mega evolve again. If the opponent sends in something which the pokemon cannot defeat (which seems likely considering defending types are increasing in coverage due to implementation of fairy and changes to steel), the pokemon which was previously mega evolved will either have to be sacrificed or later re-summoned without the threat it once posed. Under this, it seems sweepers and walls are the most viable, but even then, the requirement to be holding a mega item makes sweepers easily outsped and revenge killed by scarf users and walls lose the luxury of a healing item such as leftovers.

It is also interesting to note that a large majority of the confirmed Mega Evolutions seem to augment the offensive capabilities of the pokemon. Whether this is just by chance i'm not sure, but surely some other stats are to be sacrificed, providing some sort of balance. Until we get more information about Mega Evolutions, I think it's going to be hard to debate whether there will be a metagame split but I personally do not think/want there to be.

[wraith89]

I doubt MegaEvos will go to everyone (I highly doubt we will get Mega Kricketune or Mega Watchog... though one can dream)... and also, the need for non-Mega vs Mega metagame is to appeal to players who don't like the very idea of Mega evolution (such as myself) and to just play Pokemon as if it were the original Generations without the use of Mega Stones. So a metagame without Megas is perfectly viable. Unfortunately, I doubt competitive community will do that and would rather have a full metagame with everything allowed in it. Even if it is conditional, the very premise of Megas can just turn a whole metagame upside down. For example, Mega Charizard with Drought: activate Mega form as Tyranitar switches in, negate the sand, then Solarbeam all on the same turn, possibly eliminating Tyranitar, Politoed and the likes (nobody will ever dream of switching Abomasnow in anyways). Even if the Megas are not allowed to become Mega once more (we don't know if that's true or not), Mega Charizard has already done its job and pretty much set game for you. It's a whole new metagame, actually. I think two modes would be okay, in my opinion, and have Megas rated in the mega metagame in itself. I don't mean to be doubtful but somehow, I don't think the metagame really works that way (not saying Tyranitar dominating everything was awesome... though it gets manhandled by the 9001 Fighters out there). And the stat augmentation: it's a flaw in itself if it's just a couple of number boost, because Pokemon equipping Life Orb and whatnot are generally stronger than any amount of meager "stat boost", like the Therian form Pokemon (Landorus regular is actually stronger in Sand than Landorus-T, especially with Life Orb). If it is the equivalent of a stat boost or two, then that would be something. However, it's also quite broken, as that's like having Swords Dance and an attack on a single turn... I'm really scared of Mega Kangaskhan, as she can attack TWICE Yeah... I think two metagames would suffice: it's like having a DW vs non-DW metagame from Gen V... somewhat.

If everything gets offensive capabilities rising, it's not really balanced: it's just headed more for an hyper offensive metagame, which would suck when you have Mega Mewtwo X sweeping an entire team? Then say you destroy it... with your own Mega. Mmm... everything will just be hitting too hard, just like how we felt when Gen V debuted. Actually... Fairies already dominate everything with that beast of a typing... so whatever

[Tbird]

I like the idea of an even more aggressive playing field. Think of what that could lead to. We could have Pokemon like Lugia sent back down fr über, which I personally think would be awesome. It would allow for a much neater tansition between tiers. If we have things rocking around in OU that can get passed the likes of Lugia and giratina without breaking a sweat then they're quite clearly über. More aggression will invariably lead to more diversity in the defensive aspect in the game.

The alternative is hurrr durrr too powerful fire up dem ban hammers, and then we play a glossed over rehash of Gen IV an V. Which is stupid when there are Pokemon (potentially) capable of balancing out the tier(s).

As for MegaKangaskhan, I don't think she'll be half as powerful as your thinking, Wraithy-baby. From what I glean, the baby and she attack in the same turn, think of it sort of like hitmonchan and tyrosine both throwing a fire punch, its not THAT game breaking. It'll mean that Kangaskhan can get passed sub users better and hit with about 1.5x strength (the combined power of both moves). Sure if its the case that its two STABed returns coming off of kangas attack were in trouble, but I highly doubt that that would be the case.

[wraith89]

My personal opinion: I didn't like how slow GSC metagame was (Haunter survived Graveler's Earthquake when it was weak to it, for example, or +2 Charizard failed to OHKO Ampharos with EQ, etc...), but going too offensive... I'm scared. Ha ha. I remember those times when Gen V first came out, we were all scared of Haxorus, Reuniclus and Conkeldurr because they kept killing everything. Even things like Lugia were OHKOd that Multiscale Lugia became a necessity. Eh heh heh... we already have a form of UU Lugia in form of Cresselia, though if Cresselia gained Fairy typing, it'd be much better and lorewise how she deals with Darkrai would make actual sense. But I can imagine a whole bunch of Ubers going down to OU in this generation, just like how a lot of OUs from Gen IV went down to UU in Gen V (so a lot of UU is like former Gen IV OU if you think about it, mixed with some other familiar faces of UU but some others went down to RU and possibly NU).

Really not looking forward to a really highly offensive metagame: it'll be Gen V redux where it used to be "set up DD + Outrage everything after every steel is gone" or "sand + SD + Excalol" or "Prankster NP Thundurus + kill" will now be replaced with "lol ur dragon I fairy I keel u becuz u hab no metal or poison atk". I know it's too early to speculate, but what kind of a uber-like typing is Fairy anyways? It has the right resistances and quite negligible weaknesses (though it means BPunch Scizor will rise yet again). In Ubers... oh boy, Xerneas alone will kill the 9001 dragons in that tier. Sorry but I'm quite doubting the sort of balance Fairy would bring, unless their Pokemon are not exactly great in terms of stats to balance out their typing (Azumarill and Gardevoir proves me wrong here though, so again, be vewy afwaid). I don't want the metagame to be going too quickly though: everything hitting too hard or something is scary, especially if, for example, Lugia or whoever is Ubers gets demoted to OU or something, people are forced to run one just to tank everything. I think they had the right idea when they introduced Fairy, but executed it poorly

I hope that's the case for Mega Kangaskhan and it's just Choice Band without the lock cost... but then again, the opportunity cost for that (where you can have some other Mega)... it's not too great as she no longer has Scrappy (I loved spamming Circle Throw on that thing). Perhaps it is just baby with separate stats along with mother Kangaskhan with little modifications, which in that case, isn't too great, unfortunately. But still, two STAB Return isn't exactly something anybody can tank easily (unless you're Aggron or something, in which case, you'll meet a subsequent Fighting coverage move which will OHKO). I wonder how it'll turn out, but yeah, if it's hitting twice with Kangaskhan's attack, that's scary. If it's lower, then it won't be as useful as it should be. So much to think about: hurry up and come out with the game!

[Tbird]

It's like you say there's so much to think about, with the plethora of Pokemon to choose from at this point it would be ridiculous to think that any one Pokemon can yank or sweep the whole metagame. Well see balanced teams become completely eradicated I think and each and every Pokemon per team will be used on their individual strengths instead of "can cover xyz and then sweep once v has been removed." The teams themselves will probably have to be more diverse as their is a more diverse offensive and defensive selection. Win conditions will be more vital than ever before. I hope I'm making sense there. TLDR, more thought because of more diversity.