The game has been out for some time and I've seen some Wifi battles on Youtube and discussed Gen V battling a little bit. Here's what I gathered:
Some Pokemon have upgraded a lot. Blaziken got Speed Boost, Cloyster Shell Break and Drizzle for Poliwrath amongst others.
Some remain pretty much the same. Jirachi, Infernape and Azelf to name a few have remained the same because neither new moves nor DW abilities have blessed them.
New Pokemon. Of course. It is a new generation afterall. The new Pokemon are all perky, fun and at least usable in the lower tiers.
One thing that struck me is how a lot of Pokemon were revamped and became more competitive. This means that the lower tiers may become even more exciting now. Those unusable Bug Pokemon you get in the early game? They get Butterfly Dance. Almost everything gets a Dream World ability. Everything is at least somewhat competitively viable (except for Luvdisc and Spinda, maybe they should be Little Cup. But that's for another thread).
Enough with the hedging. Now for my main point. I think the tiers will be overhauled.
Many say that the new Politoad and Ninetales will be "Ubered". But I do not see them in the same league as Kyogre or Groundon. Then I thought maybe there would be a tier between OU and Uber? Then I thought some more. And then, voila! Why not a new standard? (I know. A Pokemon is Uber not because of its performance in Ubers but because of its power in OU. But bear with me.)
Since Gen V brought in over 151 Pokemon (more than the original Generation!) and reintroduced the old folks through Dream World, why shouldn't there be a new Standard?
The previous metagame in a nutshell was of leads stealth rocking, top threats setting up boosts and sweeping and the opponent finding a way to stop them. Rinse and Repeat. Add in Scizor to scout and some Scarfed Revenger and that's it.
The new standard from what I can see now would be much faster. While setting up boosts will still be an element of the metagame, the introduction of the Power Creeps accelerate the game much more. The idea of leading may even be changed because of the teams being shown to the opponent beforehand. (people argue about this as to whether it is a good mechanic or not for the game. I think it has it's merits and disadvantages. Prediction is a key element of Pokemon and showing them beforehand will make the metagame more strategic in that sense. However, the idea of hiding a Pokemon is completely shattered. I once hid a Heatran until the right moment in my offensive hail team and he was the MVP of the match!!! hopefully, there will be an option of turning it off...I digress. Again, this should be for another thread)
Weather abuse. It is the hot topic. The addition of DW has taken weather abuse to another level. Nothing much to say here that hasn't already been said.
That's not it. The new generation added another dimension to the metagame. And when I say another dimension I mean another dimension. The sheer amount of these moves and abilities Gen V introduced to the game will create many perky Pokemon. While some of them may not be Power Creeps, I can see them being placed in the new standard. Shell Break Cloyster, Blaziken and Shadow Tag Shandera.
What about them oldtimers? I think some will remain OU. Here's another thing. I think there will be a couple more tiers. (Hopefully, the tiers will be smaller, thus allowing a larger portion of Pokemon to be used overall) But I think the lower tiers and the Ubers will be just as diverse as the standard metagame.
In short: I think that there are enough Pokemon to create a completely different metagame whether you are in UU or Uber or perhaps (hopefully) a new tier. I think (and hope) the new tiers will be more diverse. It sure looks that way.
Some Pokemon have upgraded a lot. Blaziken got Speed Boost, Cloyster Shell Break and Drizzle for Poliwrath amongst others.
Some remain pretty much the same. Jirachi, Infernape and Azelf to name a few have remained the same because neither new moves nor DW abilities have blessed them.
New Pokemon. Of course. It is a new generation afterall. The new Pokemon are all perky, fun and at least usable in the lower tiers.
One thing that struck me is how a lot of Pokemon were revamped and became more competitive. This means that the lower tiers may become even more exciting now. Those unusable Bug Pokemon you get in the early game? They get Butterfly Dance. Almost everything gets a Dream World ability. Everything is at least somewhat competitively viable (except for Luvdisc and Spinda, maybe they should be Little Cup. But that's for another thread).
Enough with the hedging. Now for my main point. I think the tiers will be overhauled.
Many say that the new Politoad and Ninetales will be "Ubered". But I do not see them in the same league as Kyogre or Groundon. Then I thought maybe there would be a tier between OU and Uber? Then I thought some more. And then, voila! Why not a new standard? (I know. A Pokemon is Uber not because of its performance in Ubers but because of its power in OU. But bear with me.)
Since Gen V brought in over 151 Pokemon (more than the original Generation!) and reintroduced the old folks through Dream World, why shouldn't there be a new Standard?
The previous metagame in a nutshell was of leads stealth rocking, top threats setting up boosts and sweeping and the opponent finding a way to stop them. Rinse and Repeat. Add in Scizor to scout and some Scarfed Revenger and that's it.
The new standard from what I can see now would be much faster. While setting up boosts will still be an element of the metagame, the introduction of the Power Creeps accelerate the game much more. The idea of leading may even be changed because of the teams being shown to the opponent beforehand. (people argue about this as to whether it is a good mechanic or not for the game. I think it has it's merits and disadvantages. Prediction is a key element of Pokemon and showing them beforehand will make the metagame more strategic in that sense. However, the idea of hiding a Pokemon is completely shattered. I once hid a Heatran until the right moment in my offensive hail team and he was the MVP of the match!!! hopefully, there will be an option of turning it off...I digress. Again, this should be for another thread)
Weather abuse. It is the hot topic. The addition of DW has taken weather abuse to another level. Nothing much to say here that hasn't already been said.
That's not it. The new generation added another dimension to the metagame. And when I say another dimension I mean another dimension. The sheer amount of these moves and abilities Gen V introduced to the game will create many perky Pokemon. While some of them may not be Power Creeps, I can see them being placed in the new standard. Shell Break Cloyster, Blaziken and Shadow Tag Shandera.
What about them oldtimers? I think some will remain OU. Here's another thing. I think there will be a couple more tiers. (Hopefully, the tiers will be smaller, thus allowing a larger portion of Pokemon to be used overall) But I think the lower tiers and the Ubers will be just as diverse as the standard metagame.
In short: I think that there are enough Pokemon to create a completely different metagame whether you are in UU or Uber or perhaps (hopefully) a new tier. I think (and hope) the new tiers will be more diverse. It sure looks that way.
