^ A picture of the two mascot legendaries, Reshiram and Zekrom, in battle.
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Alakazam had all of the Kanto region in its grasp as the most powerful Pokemon at the time (besides Mewtwo). Then in Generation 2, Steel types and Dark types were introduced, specifically Houndoom, Scizor, and Tyranitar, knocking Alakazam off its throne as the best in the land. In Generation 3, we were introduced to many new faces and threats, including those in the forms of Salamence and Metagross. Then we had the Sinnoh region, with all of the evolutions of pokemon from previous generation. Here, we witnessed the advent of suicide leads and Hyper Offense teams. We saw the evolution of stall, and here, in Generation 4, did competitive battling truly begin to kick off. Now, we're at the start of a new age, a place where we can't possibly predict what will happen next. We're now in uncharted territory, pioneers of who knows what the hell what. In a land where having at least one base 140 stat seems average, and where new abilities and Pokemon hold us in their sway, what does this new frontier have in store for us? In time (about two weeks), we will learn more about these Pokemon, and what their purpose is to be. All this, and all the changes to come will shake up our mentality as competitive battlers. 120+ base stats were given away like candy on Halloween. What are the plans for the Limbo tier? How will Speed tiers be sorted out? All this will come to us in time.
Everyone's excited, what do the new Pokemon have in store for us? We've been introduced to Zoroark, a shady fox-like pokemon that has the ability to create illusions. Then came Reshiram and Zekrom, the mascot legendaries on the covers of Pokemon Black and White, respectively. Whispers of the new ability Earthquake Spiral began to spread, and pictures of the starter evolutions surfaced. Originally believed to be fake, they turned out to be authentic and all of a sudden, "What starter are you going to choose?" was a question asked quite frequently in the Shoddy Battle Smogon University chatroom. I, personally, will be choosing Tsutarja, more commonly known as Smugleaf. The three, coined in America as Smugleaf, Pignite, and Wotter even now continue to have us wondering, what is in store for us. 3V3 battles also make their debut. How difficult will it be to battle with the new rules, especially since you can't attack Pokemon all the way on the far side of you. Alternate formes are explored more in depth in Black and White, as even far as to change form, base stats, and typing during a battle! Expect to see Hihidaruma and Melola play around with this a lot.
The Pokemon have all been introduced to us, base stats and sprites and all. But how, how will they modify the landscape? We've seen so many bulky attackers with low speed this generation. Will Trick Room teams reign supreme, or will suicide leads continue to hold the heavy impact they do upon the metagames of OU and Ubers? Drizzle and Drought have now been awarded to Politoed and Ninetales, expect Rain Dance, Sunny Day, and even Sandstorm and Hail teams to be in abundance next generation. I'll be making a Rain team myself. The Dream World is giving a host of Pokemon better abilities, so pretty much everyone's a winner. And when everyone's a winner...no one is.
The most awaited thing of course, are the new dragons, of which we have three;
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Ononokusu, the beast, at Pokemon #612 boasting 147 base attack and pure Dragon typing. Me myself, I hope to be the one to write the analysis for it.
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The dark horse named Kurimugan at #621 , a standalone Dragon, seems to be the weakest of the three. What impact will it have on the metagame?
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Finally, we have the sixth and latest pseudo legendary, an initiate into the group of super strong Pokemon boasting 600 BSTs. Sazando, the Dark/Dragon hydra, and the first specially based pseudo legendary. All eyes are on these three to make a splash in the Generation 5 metagame. We all witnessed the banning of Garchomp, Latias, and most importantly, Salamence. What do their draconic brethren have in store for us next generation? How will they all manage to co-exist in the next OU metagame, presuming they're all there?
- In time, all of our questions will be answered. But until our friends lucky enough to get a japanese copy of Pokemon Black and Pokemon White tell us more, and the new metagame is introduced, we can only do so much as to wonder, and do some extreme theorymoning as to what Generation V has in store for us.
In this thread, I want to hear about your ideas, your hopes, your thoughts about how the next Generation will be. Myself, like a lot of you, will be waiting until March to place my hands on the latest games. So please, a note to all, even the mods, just drop a comment or a little something. =)
What to look out for in Generation 5
#553 - Warublaru (Ground/Dark) Intimidate/Earthquake Spiral - boosts Attack one stage per KO, 97/117/70/65/70/92 (I really want to write this analysis for this).
#555 - Hihidaruma (Fire) Encourage, 105/140/55/30/55/95, Hihidaruma becomes a Fire/Psychic type with 140 base SpA and 30 attack at 50% HP and lower. Look out for possible SubSalac sets.
#563 - Desukan (Ghost) Mummy - Changes the foes ability to Mummy. This thing is going to be messing with teams next generation. 58/50/145/95/105/30
#571 - Zoroark (Dark) Illusion. Expect to see Zoroark make an appearance in OU next in Gen V. 60/105/60/120/60/105
#589 - Shubarugo (Bug/Steel) Swarm/Shell Armor, Trick Room anyone? 70/135/105/60/105/20
#598 - Nattorel (Grass/Steel) Iron Barbs. This thing is sending some serious Forretress vibes at me. They look alike, have the same weaknesses mainly, but this thing is much better rounded. 74/94/131/54/116/20
#609 - Shanderaa (Ghost/Fire) Flash Fire/Flame Body/Shadow Tag. Here's my pick for first non-legendary Uber of Generation 5. This thing is just a monster. 145 base SpA with Ghost and Fire STAB, holy shit? All it has to do is switch into a Choiced Fighting move, Sub and get 6 calm minds. Gg. 60/55/90/145/90/80
#612 - Ononokusu (Dragon) Rivalry/Mold Breaker, This thing is pure Dragon and has 147 base Attack. At level 100 with max EVs, this thing is hitting 419 base attack no problem. Outrage, Earthquake, and Dragon Dance are things to look out for on this guy. Another tidbit, this guys' Outrage is almost as strong as Rayquaza's, while Ononokusu actually outspeeds Rayquaza
#635 - Sazando (Dark/Dragon) Levitate, Amazing offensive STAB typing comes in the form of the newest member of the pseudo-legendary club. A lot of eyes are on this one. Be prepared to pack some Weaviles on your team. The new non-Pursuit weak Latias is going to make a huge impact on the metagame. However, a lack of boosting moves really limit the potential of this thing. 92/105/90/125/90/98
#637 - Urugamosu (Bug/Fire) Flame Body. This thing has a pretty neat stat distribution. However, losing 50% of its HP to Stealth Rock upon entry will keep plenty of people at bay about thing...and will probably keep it off plenty of teams.
Thanks for the read.
- Misty Slappy
