5th Generation Metagame Speculation

[PokePoindexter]

Those of us who have been visiting Smogon and other sites like it have probably seen a lot of buzz about the development of a Black and White metagame. Note to mods here: I don't intend to make this the same as the other thread (towards the end, it looked like it would be), but I apologize if it seems too much like it.

Here are some thoughts on some possible new additions to the metagame from me to get things started):

Things that will probably be solid OU contenders:
*Technician Breloom - As if Breloom wasn't strong enough with Poison Heal, Base 130 Attack, Spore, Focus Punch, and who-knows-what-else, this just adds to the pain; how about a possible 250-powered (375 with STAB) Bullet Seed? 100 (150) at bare minimum? The bad news is this means Breloom now gets crippled by Toxic (Spikes), but it's still a viable trade-in, as five hits will easily OHKO or 2KO most Pokemon who aren't resistant to the attack.

*Shandera - How does 145 Base Special Attack, a stellar special movepool, and Shadow Tag suit you? Some people think this is good enough to evict it to Ubers, but I seriously doubt it; every Pokemon has at least one Achilles Heel, and in Shandera's case, it is easily revenge-killed with low defenses, and being weak to both of Tyranitar's STAB attacks doesn't exactly help. Gyarados and Vaporeon can often prove to be good checks to it as well, all having solid Sp.Def and/or HP. Still, with a Choice Scarf attached, Shandera can quite possibly be a candidate for the #1 Anti-Metagame Pokemon.

*Ulgamoth - Let's just say, you might need Stealth Rock on your opponent's field to ensure any chance of beating it, as with stellar Special stats, base 100 Speed, and access to Butterfly Dance (which boosts all three of those stats one level each), this turns Ulgamoth into a real beast. The only Pokemon I can suggest as a potential wall is Heatran. If he wasn't 4x weak to Rock attacks and had better Defense or Special Defense, I'd be advocating for him to be shoved to Ubers instead.

*Magic Mirror Espeon - Magic Mirror works as an automatic Magic Coat. Talk about cool; Taunt, Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, etc. all get blasted back towards your opponents without you needing to use the attack ahead of time. This makes Espeon even better at his infamous EspyJump combo than before. Espeon's movepool doesn't give it many good attacking options aside from Psychic and Grass Knot, so he'll probably be doing EspyJump again, just in OU this time.

*Speed Boost Blaziken and Sharpedo - The former was mentioned a lot more commonly, but I seriously believe both Blaziken and Sharpedo can make excellent use of this ability. Neither Blaziken nor Sharpedo are tailored to be defensive Pokemon, but both have great Attack and passable Special Attack, so adding a Speed Boost helps out a lot. This will certainly give Blaziken a chance on higher ground than either Infernape or Emboar. Sharpedo can also do this well; he has Yanmega's speed, better typing (not being 4x weak to SR is better, yes?), and solid offensive stats.

*Eccentric Ditto - Instant transformation into anything your opponent has out at the time. There's even speculation on Smogon about him being booted to Ubers. This I can imagine happening, as a Ditto that turns into an Arceus can do some number or two on your opponents.

*Doryuuzu - Everyone, meet Tyranitar's (and/or Hippowdon's) new partner-in-crime; this Steel/Ground monster packs a Base 135 Attack, 88 Speed, and an ability called Sand Throw, which doubles his Speed in a sandstorm. Thus, a Jolly nature will get his Speed up to 604 - not bad, eh? Even if you use Adamant instead, this thing will still hit 550, which still outruns ANY non-Scarfed Pokemon (and some that are). He's not without his checks, however; with two new auto-weather Pokemon hitting the scene, both of whom can score super-effective hits on him, Doryuuzu's reign of terror isn't quite as lethal as one might think. And speaking of auto-weather, that brings us to...

*Drizzle Politoed - How about auto-rain, huh? Man, oh man, we got some Uber-level abilities comin' onto non-legendary Pokemon now. As if rain wasn't lethal enough, too. Well, all kidding aside, I certainly believe auto-weather will skyrocket Toed to OU, simply because he gives instant (permanent) weather to help many UU/BL/OU Pokemon of the last generation who could plaster whole teams as long as the rain existed; such Pokemon as Kabutops, Ludicolo, Kingdra, and Hydration Vaporeon (more about that one later) can be counted on this list. Dry Skin Toxicroak might also see some usage in OU, either to counter or provide type coverage on these teams.

*Drought Ninetales - It's not all rosy for Rain-based Pokemon, though; Ninetales, having been generally decent in the 4th generation metagame (albeit outclassed by Ape and Tran), jumps into a similar league as Politoed with infinite weather available at his disposal. Ninetales can either use SolarBeam (which will have the charge negated in the sun) or Energy Ball (which can now be learned through TM53) to counter Water and Rock Pokemon, and Psycho Shock gets around Blissey and Snorlax. All of these have their power boosted by either Calm Mind or Nasty Plot. Also, a Scarfed Ninetales with 492 (or 448, for that matter) can outrun and OHKO non-Scarfed variants of Azelf, Gengar, Metagross, Mamoswine, Doryuuzu, Bronzong, and Magnezone with Fire Blast. One more thing - he also learns Will-O-Wisp to cripple Tyranitar and Hippowdon.

And one last one:

*Hydration Vaporeon - Ahhhh, nice and refreshing...yeah. Anyway, having statuses healed in the rain is a steal when your main role is supporting other Pokemon with WishPassing and the occasional Hydro Pump. Vaporeon was already a great OU contender before, but this new ability makes him outstanding on Rain teams, where he can switch into just about any status and wash it away. Just be sure to keep your opponents from changing the weather; Tyranitar can survive two Surfs with that extra bulk, and CM Ninetales after one boost can easily handle three.

I know that many of these are only available through the Dream World, and not all are available yet, but once they DO become available, you can probably expect to see them.

LIGHTNING QUICK EDIT: Feel free to post your ideas as well, of course.

PokePoindexter out.

[SilentSentinel]

I have been playing the 5th gen metagame since it has been available on Pokemon Online for playing, and let me tell you, it's insane. I'm going to quote everything, and tell you what I think of each one.

Those of us who have been visiting Smogon and other sites like it have probably seen a lot of buzz about the development of a Black and White metagame. Note to mods here: I don't intend to make this the same as the other thread (towards the end, it looked like it would be), but I apologize if it seems too much like it.

Here are some thoughts on some possible new additions to the metagame from me to get things started):

Things that will probably be solid OU contenders:
*Technician Breloom - As if Breloom wasn't strong enough with Poison Heal, Base 130 Attack, Spore, Focus Punch, and who-knows-what-else, this just adds to the pain; how about a possible 250-powered (375 with STAB) Bullet Seed? 100 (150) at bare minimum? The bad news is this means Breloom now gets crippled by Toxic (Spikes), but it's still a viable trade-in, as five hits will easily OHKO or 2KO most Pokemon who aren't resistant to the attack.

Don't forget about Technician Mach Punch here. An equal base attack to Scizor and a priority move with much better coverage makes Breloom a viable revenge killer, especially for Sand Throw Doryuuzu. Even with these new toys, the Poison Heal ability is still going to be popular for that staying power.

*Shandera - How does 145 Base Special Attack, a stellar special movepool, and Shadow Tag suit you? Some people think this is good enough to evict it to Ubers, but I seriously doubt it; every Pokemon has at least one Achilles Heel, and in Shandera's case, it is easily revenge-killed with low defenses, and being weak to both of Tyranitar's STAB attacks doesn't exactly help. Gyarados and Vaporeon can often prove to be good checks to it as well, all having solid Sp.Def and/or HP. Still, with a Choice Scarf attached, Shandera can quite possibly be a candidate for the #1 Anti-Metagame Pokemon.

I happen to use Shandera on a quite a few of my teams, and it works excellent as a revenge killer, but there's something else that makes Shandera even more threatening to unprepared teams: A Shandera running Calm Mind/Acid Armor/Shadow Ball/Flamethrower. Switching this set into a choice Fighting or Normal Type essentially guarantees you the win, as you can boost your Special Attack and Both Defenses to astronomical levels, making an unkillable tank that can crush entire teams. It still fills the revenge killing niche with decent coverage with its STAB attacks as well. I have won many a battle that I thought to be lost with just this set.

*Ulgamoth - Let's just say, you might need Stealth Rock on your opponent's field to ensure any chance of beating it, as with stellar Special stats, base 100 Speed, and access to Butterfly Dance (which boosts all three of those stats one level each), this turns Ulgamoth into a real beast. The only Pokemon I can suggest as a potential wall is Heatran. If he wasn't 4x weak to Rock attacks and had better Defense or Special Defense, I'd be advocating for him to be shoved to Ubers instead.

Ulgamoth is a pretty solid force with a Butterfly dance, but it's Physical Defense is extremely weak. Butterfly Dance is easily one of the premier boosting moves, but in my experience, use of Stealth Rock is still very high, and it's useless against the now omnipresent Sandstorm and Rain Dance teams.

*Magic Mirror Espeon - Magic Mirror works as an automatic Magic Coat. Talk about cool; Taunt, Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, etc. all get blasted back towards your opponents without you needing to use the attack ahead of time. This makes Espeon even better at his infamous EspyJump combo than before. Espeon's movepool doesn't give it many good attacking options aside from Psychic and Grass Knot, so he'll probably be doing EspyJump again, just in OU this time.

Probably one of the most annoying things for Stealth Rockers, Magic Mirror in general is just a momentum killer for anything that isn't an Anti-Lead or straight sweeper. Espeon actually works great as an Ulgamoth partner, since it can stop those damn Stealth Rocks, and still give you some offensive punch that just isn't found in a lot of Spinners. This is going to be a very effective set in OU, and Xatu will probably occupy the same role in UU.

*Speed Boost Blaziken and Sharpedo - The former was mentioned a lot more commonly, but I seriously believe both Blaziken and Sharpedo can make excellent use of this ability. Neither Blaziken nor Sharpedo are tailored to be defensive Pokemon, but both have great Attack and passable Special Attack, so adding a Speed Boost helps out a lot. This will certainly give Blaziken a chance on higher ground than either Infernape or Emboar. Sharpedo can also do this well; he has Yanmega's speed, better typing (not being 4x weak to SR is better, yes?), and solid offensive stats.

I haven't had the chance to use Sharpedo just yet, but Blaziken makes pretty good use of this ability. It loses a couple of it's good moves like Thunderpunch in order to use the DW ability, but there are some new roles it can fill. Running Protect sacrifices some coverage, but grants the +1 speed boost without having to take a hit, and often lets Blaziken outpace it's foe, and continue to build momentum from there. Blaziken with Protect/Swords Dance/Baton Pass/Attacking move works as an effective Baton Passer, and pairs well with Wobbufett, who is currently still OU as of posting. Wobbufett gives Blaziken a free turn of setup with Swords Dance, essentially guaranteeing a boost of +2 to Attack and Speed to whatever you pass to. And if a Phazer or Taunter comes in? Use your now boosted attacking move off of that nice 120 base attack to bring the pain.

I haven't really used Sharpedo yet, but there are some things I can see right off the bat. First of all, it's got terrible defenses, so Priority and Sturdy pokemon are problematic. However, having Aqua Jet to take out those priority users could help out a ton.

*Eccentric Ditto - Instant transformation into anything your opponent has out at the time. There's even speculation on Smogon about him being booted to Ubers. This I can imagine happening, as a Ditto that turns into an Arceus can do some number or two on your opponents.

Ditto with a choice scarf wins the award of most annoying pokemon in the metagame. I got so pissed off at Ditto that I made a team specifically to thrash the crap out of anyone who uses it (using a clever baton passing team and the Shandera set I mentioned... fufufufu. Don't use Ditto against me). Anyway, where were we? Eccentric copies the stat boosts of any pokemon, which makes using any kind of boosting sweeper a hazardous risk for you, as your entire sweep can get reversed by a Choice Scarf Ditto. It may not have the ability to switch attacks, but it's guaranteed to go faster than your +6 speed pokemon, and will kill it or force you to switch, ending your plans for sweeping. And given than most pokemon resist their types, it can come in for little cost on many pokemon.

Think of it this way. There are a few pokemon that you must be able to beat, or you will not be sucessful in the gen 5 metagame. Eccentric Choice Scarf Ditto is one of those pokemon.

*Doryuuzu - Everyone, meet Tyranitar's (and/or Hippowdon's) new partner-in-crime; this Steel/Ground monster packs a Base 135 Attack, 88 Speed, and an ability called Sand Throw, which doubles his Speed in a sandstorm. Thus, a Jolly nature will get his Speed up to 604 - not bad, eh? Even if you use Adamant instead, this thing will still hit 550, which still outruns ANY non-Scarfed Pokemon (and some that are). He's not without his checks, however; with two new auto-weather Pokemon hitting the scene, both of whom can score super-effective hits on him, Doryuuzu's reign of terror isn't quite as lethal as one might think. And speaking of auto-weather, that brings us to...

Pretty scary stuff here, PP has graciously showed you that tasty 604 speed, which to put in perspective outspeeds Choice Scarf Base 130 pokemon. It's defenses are a bit flimsy though, and there are a lot of new pokemon that can KO it with a well-placed Mach Punch now, not to mention risking being overrun by your own pokemon when the other guy switches in his Ditto on you. I have a hard time getting in a Swords dance on a set of Swords Dance/Earthquake/Rock Slide/Coverage Move, but Doryuuzu usually doesn't even need the boost. Strong, but overrated.

*Drizzle Politoed - How about auto-rain, huh? Man, oh man, we got some Uber-level abilities comin' onto non-legendary Pokemon now. As if rain wasn't lethal enough, too. Well, all kidding aside, I certainly believe auto-weather will skyrocket Toed to OU, simply because he gives instant (permanent) weather to help many UU/BL/OU Pokemon of the last generation who could plaster whole teams as long as the rain existed; such Pokemon as Kabutops, Ludicolo, Kingdra, and Hydration Vaporeon (more about that one later) can be counted on this list. Dry Skin Toxicroak might also see some usage in OU, either to counter or provide type coverage on these teams.

Rain, rain. Another deadly weather effect now, and Politoed does a decent job of setting it up and profiting off the boost. Lots of interesting swift swimmers are already around and familiar to people, with new ones like Tsunbear coming up. I'll note that Genosekuto makes a great pokemon for Rain as it's fire weak is reduced greatly. One thing though, you must note that if someone has a sandstorm team and leads with their Ttar or Hippowdon, the slower pokemon (A.K.A. not your Politoed) will have their weather effect set up first. It is simply because of this fact that I think Sandstorm teams are better right now, even though Rain teams have the type advantage. I have two teams for both effects, and my sand teams have no trouble demolishing rain teams, while its a bit more tricky the other way around for some reason. Maybe it's because Garchomp got moved back to OU...

*Drought Ninetales - It's not all rosy for Rain-based Pokemon, though; Ninetales, having been generally decent in the 4th generation metagame (albeit outclassed by Ape and Tran), jumps into a similar league as Politoed with infinite weather available at his disposal. Ninetales can either use SolarBeam (which will have the charge negated in the sun) or Energy Ball (which can now be learned through TM53) to counter Water and Rock Pokemon, and Psycho Shock gets around Blissey and Snorlax. All of these have their power boosted by either Calm Mind or Nasty Plot. Also, a Scarfed Ninetales with 492 (or 448, for that matter) can outrun and OHKO non-Scarfed variants of Azelf, Gengar, Metagross, Mamoswine, Doryuuzu, Bronzong, and Magnezone with Fire Blast. One more thing - he also learns Will-O-Wisp to cripple Tyranitar and Hippowdon.

I don't really have enough on Sun teams to tell you a lot here, I haven't seen them used that much to be honest. Venusaur seems to be the prime favorite to partener up with Ninetales. Keep in mind that Ninetales loses to Hippowdon and Ttar for weather control as well.

And one last one:

*Hydration Vaporeon - Ahhhh, nice and refreshing...yeah. Anyway, having statuses healed in the rain is a steal when your main role is supporting other Pokemon with WishPassing and the occasional Hydro Pump. Vaporeon was already a great OU contender before, but this new ability makes him outstanding on Rain teams, where he can switch into just about any status and wash it away. Just be sure to keep your opponents from changing the weather; Tyranitar can survive two Surfs with that extra bulk, and CM Ninetales after one boost can easily handle three.

This works as a great annoyance set, especially if you can Toxic a few foes. Just watch out for boosting sweepers, as if you're running a rain team you might not have room for a ditto.

I know that many of these are only available through the Dream World, and not all are available yet, but once they DO become available, you can probably expect to see them.

PokePoindexter out.

A couple other pokemon that you need to know about:

*Erufuun - This pokemon with Mischeivious Heart is the most annoying subseeder ever created, and works great as a lead as well, with priority Taunt, Encore, and a high base speed stat to boot. There's no room for error without giving a chance to drain your poke badly either, so using anothing without 100% accuracy is very risky.

*Jaroda - Jaroda's movepool leaves something to be desired, but it only really needs two moves - Leaf Storm, and Hidden Power Rock. Once Jaroda's Counters are gone, it can use Leaf Storm for a +2 boost to it's special attack everytime it hits. That means that in three turns, you have a pokemon with +6 special attack. Screw coverage, I have raw power. An excellent late game sweeper.

*Zororark - Illusion allows for quite the ruse early on. I often choose to run a Zoroark with Nasty Plot/Dark Pulse/Flamethower/Focus Blast as a lead, disguised as a bulky ghost type like Desukan. This scares out a lot of common leads that run fighting attacks, and most physical attacker in general, since they fear a crippling status move. Then I can boost with Nasty Plot on the switch. By the time the enemy realizes what happened, I have a base 105 speed pokemon (This outruns a lot of stuff, including Garchomp), with a +2 boost off an already high base 120 Special Attack. Unless he's got a solid counter like Blissey, I can usually take out 2 or 3 pokemon.

*Smeargle - Yes, the lovable Beagle with the Sporepassing has become even more deadly. The reason is the new boosting moves:

- Butterfly Dance: +1 to SAtk, SDef, and Spd, this can turn a slow Special Sweeper into a tough to kill pokemon.
- Tail Glow: +3 to SAtk, this move makes pretty much any Specially based pokemon into a monster.
- Gear Change: +1 Atk, +2 Spd. With this, slow but powerful pokemon like Marowak, and Medicham become insane killers. One Gear Change to a Medicham is usually all it takes to sweep an entire team, or at least 3 pokemon. Just make sure you have a way to beat your own sweeper, or ditto will eat you for lunch.

That's all for now, I'm too tired to write more, but I might add some later.

[PokePoindexter]

To reply to a couple quotes of yours:

One thing though, you must note that if someone has a sandstorm team and leads with their Ttar or Hippowdon, the slower pokemon (A.K.A. not your Politoed) will have their weather effect set up first. It is simply because of this fact that I think Sandstorm teams are better right now, even though Rain teams have the type advantage. I have two teams for both effects, and my sand teams have no trouble demolishing rain teams, while its a bit more tricky the other way around for some reason. Maybe it's because Garchomp got moved back to OU...

I don't really have enough on Sun teams to tell you a lot here, I haven't seen them used that much to be honest. Venusaur seems to be the prime favorite to partener up with Ninetales. Keep in mind that Ninetales loses to Hippowdon and Ttar for weather control as well.

Generally with Politoed and Ninetales, you're not going to want to lead with them; that's a given. But Toed can easily dispatch either of the Sand Streamers with Hydro Pump, and Surf can do the job as well. Tales, on the other hand, has Will-O-Wisp to burn them, can utilize a Balloon to deflect Earthquakes, and can still 2KO Hippo with Fire Blast, unless it's running a Specially Defensive set (not impossible, considering his new enemies).

I actually tried adding HOJ Scarf Lucario as the lead for my Sun team the other day, and to great avail. No Tyranitar dares come near him.

[SilentSentinel]

Have you been playing on PO often? Every single Rain Team I've faced has ran Politoed as their lead.

[Silver]

wobbofett
still kicks ass even though he gets no new moves

[ImmunityBow]

Really!? Tail Glow is +3 SAtk?

I'm feeling like an old fogey but that seems RBY Amnesia-broken.

[SilentSentinel]

Yes, tail glow was boosted to +3 special attack, but it's a really limited move. Besides Smeargle having a shiny new move to pass, the only other thing this does is cement Manaphy's place in Ubers.

[SilentSentinel]

Double post, sorry in advance.

Speaking of Ubers, I've been dabbling in that metagame recently, and I have to say that Ubers is probably going to be the least changed metagame out of all the tiers. Isshu simply didn't introduce very many new pokemon to add to the mix. Reshy and Zekky are fairly on uncommon from what I've seen, probably due to below average speed and a weakness to the incredibly common Earthquake, along with Stealth Rock for Reshy. Stealth Rock gets used a lot more as most teams are focusing on huge offense and not carrying spinners, and Magic Mirror Espeon is hard to fit on an Ubers team since it is so fragile and has more pokemon that can beat it. Genosect is too weak defensively, even with that awesome typing, and Kyuremu suffers from terrible defensive typing, which in all honesty gives it trouble in OU. My teams eat Kyuremu for lunch, so I don't see it doing well in Ubers.

I'd say the pokemon who got a biggest boost in Ubers this gen was Mewtwo. Mewtwo now has a signature move called Psycho Break, which is a 100 base power Psychic attack that uses the opponents physical defense for damage instead of special defense, which is huge since most Ubers are better with Special Attacks. This STAB move can 2HKO Latios, who resists the attack. And that's with no calm mind boosts. Plus Mewtwo has a myriad of options to deal with pokemon that are better on the physical side, such as Ice Beam, which handles Groudon pretty well, and Fire Blast for steel types. The biggest thing is that now Blissey and Evolution stone Chansey cannot stop it.

[BladeVap]

The biggest thing is that now Blissey and Evolution stone Chansey cannot stop it.

Pardon me, but what the Hell is an Evolution Stone? From what I *THINK* you're saying, Blissey is obtained through Stone usage now...

And TBH, I don't give a SHIT about this "metagame" thingy...especially since the games aren't even out of Japan still (though I preordered both yesterday).

Also, Ditto in Ubers is, has been, and always will be impossible. The new Ability it gets is one that I simply don't understand. That, and despite its concept, Ditto is pitifully weak...even my L100 Ditto was frail and KEPT getting beaten to mush...not that it wasn't mushy before...

[SilentSentinel]

1. The evolution Stone multiplies both defenses by 1.5 for pokemon that aren't fully evolved.

2. Ditto can and will be used in Ubers. It's new ability makes it one of the greatest revenge killers in existance.

[PokePoindexter]

Bump (but it's my thread, so what the hey).

Apparently, there is a whole new face on the metagame now. Here are some major Pokemon on the scene now:
Nattorei - I tried using him a few times, and he's an outstanding anti-Rain measure, being resistant to both of Kingdra's STAB's and capable of hitting back with Power Whip (which has to do something, coming off 94 Attack). We're also looking at 74/131/116 Defenses with 11 resistances. Fire attacks are a problem, and his Speed is lower than all of them barring Torkoal, so be sure to carry Stealth Rock to prevent them from waltzing on in and ruining your fun without damage (shame he doesn't get Earthquake).

Kerudio - This is the other main reason Infernape fell from grace. With 108 Speed (equal to Ape), 129 Sp. Attack, and a plethora of moves that can fit that combination, it would not surprise me at all if Kerudio becomes the new "Special-based Fighting hybrid Pokemon" in the OU tier (Roobushin filling in the other side).

And some items/moves:
Balloon - Heatran should be thanking his lucky stars that the good folks at Nintendo graced him with alleviation of his biggest weakness (at the cost of removing his Scarf and Leftovers). The negative thing is that it only works until someone "pops" it by hitting him with...direct damage. However, for a Heatran (or anyone weak to Ground attacks), being able to effortlessly switch into a Choice Banded Adamant Garchomp's Earthquake and take no damage at all is a godsend.

Boil Over - This move basically fires scorching hot water on your opponents, potentially burning them. Quite a shocker for your average Tyranitar, isn't it? Surf and Hydro Pump might still be used in some cases, since they're more powerful, but this could be very useful to have as well; I use it on my Politoed.

[SilentSentinel]

I've been using Venusaur recently to great effect. With Chlorophyll, it doubles it's speed in sunlight, and its powerful STAB on Power Whip puts away the other pokemon that set up weather like Toed and TTar. Plus, Growth is boosted from +1 to Attack and SAtk to +2 in both offensive stats when used in the sun, so Venusaur becomes a BAMF mixed sweeper in one turn. I typically run Growth, Power Whip, HP Fire, and Earthquake.

[PokePoindexter]

Oh, god yes. Venusaur is wicked on Sun teams. Anything I can't kill with Ninetales I just send out Venusaur against, and she does the trick.

As a matter of fact, I'm trying to put together a double-weather team with sun and sand. The results are actually pretty neat so far; I'm playing Tyranitar, Ninetales, Doryuuzu, Venusaur, Heatran, and Lucario at the moment (this will probably change at some point, because I want to find a way of fitting Nattorei on there).

[SilentSentinel]

I've never seen that yet, that's interesting. Someone kicked my butt with a Sandstorm/Trick Room team once though. It makes sense since most pokemon of those types are slow.

[ImmunityBow]

Just looking at your posts makes me start drawing comparisons of BW to Brawl Minus.

Seems both fun and ridiculous.

[Silver]

Ditto can and will be used in Ubers.

not a hope!
i'm after seeing four dittos with the new ability on PO this week,
my kirikizan murderd 'em all

[SilentSentinel]

That's odd, they must not be running Scarf or the player sucks or something, cause a ditto under my control would own kirizkan by outspeeding and killing with it's fighting move.

[Silver]

oh that's why
my kirikizan@muscle band
adamant nature
night slash
swords dance
aerial ace

[SilentSentinel]

I just started focusing on Ubers about 6 hours ago, and I have to say that right now, no one must know how to play 5th gen Ubers.

With this team, I won three tournaments in a day:

Choice Scarf Shaymin-S
Mixed Dialga
Paradancer Groudon
Specially Defensive Forretress
Psycho Killer Mewtwo
Extreme Killer Arceus

Mewtwo owns, as I thought it would, and Paradancer Groudon is surprisingly potent. I originally had Choice Band Zekrom where Arceus was, but it was way too easy to revenge kill.

[NyteFyre]

Nice, RP! maybe i should have started there, lol. I just started into the OU metagame, and i'm doing ok, so far.

[zeroality]

More I hear about 5th gen, less I want to play it. I haven't played a 5th gen match yet, and might not ever.

PO implemented RSE and is working on GSC so that's what I'll be sticking with.

[NyteFyre]

-shrug- I like some of the 5th gen things, but not all of them.

[PokePoindexter]

What I like most is it's different from the 4th generation. There seemed to be a lot of ridiculously powerful offensive teams during that time, and that always seemed like the only way to win. There may be a lot of that still today, but weather, new Trick Room-like moves, and a lot of new features make it different enough to allow you to really think.

Too bad Politoed is considered for eviction to Ubers; I have never lost once to a single Rain team (out of about 7 battles), and I've experimented with some of the most Avant-Garde Pokemon ideas before against those teams. Some examples:
Toxicroak
Ability: Dry Skin
Nature: Jolly
Item: Life Orb
EV's: 252 Speed / 252 Attack / 4 HP
*Cross Chop
*Sucker Punch
*Poison Jab
*Pursuit

The main idea behind this is to switch into someone like Kingdra's Water attack, then laugh mirthlessly as they try to do something; if I predict a switch, I use Pursuit. If I think they're going to do something else, I smack 'em with Sucker Punch (CChop and PJab are there for STAB and coverage). Toxicroak may not be the greatest user of these combinations, but his main benefit is being able to easily switch in on a Water attack and then rip opponents apart with his decent Attack (hence inclusion of the Life Orb).

Another one:
Empoleon
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Modest
Item: Leftovers
EV's: 188 HP / 168 Sp.Atk / 80 Def / 72 Sp.Def
*Surf
*Substitute
*Grass Knot
*Hidden Power Dragon

Although Ferrothorn (nee Nattorei) has far better walling capabilities, Empoleon still has excellent Sp.Atk, which allows him to be a sweeping tank very easily. The EV's are geared enough to be able to 2KO all non-Defensive Kingdra sets with HP Dragon, and Grass Knot provides coverage against other Waters. Since Empoleon can easily take even a +1 Outrage for less than 1/4 damage, having a Sub can allow him to handle things more effectively. I mainly wanted to use this as my direct answer to Kingdra. HP Dragon certainly does have a good surprise factor.

And one last one:
Ninetales
Ability: Drought
Nature: Timid
Item: Leftovers (although I have used the Bulb and Balloon at times too)
EV's: 144 HP / 160 Speed / 164 Sp.Atk / 40 Sp.Def
*Hypnosis
*Calm Mind
*Fire Blast
*Energy Ball

This guy sometimes wrecks Sandstorm teams as well. My past experience with Ninetales has shown me that he should usually have some bulkiness so he can switch in more easily (especially on teams that rely on Sunny Day). I usually tend to use him as a tool for stopping the omnipresent Sand and Rain (and the rare but still existent Hail), but he does get other jobs done. This is similar to the set he would often run in the 4th generation, replacing Nasty Plot with CM. Basically, once Politoed is gone, I can bring out Ninetales and laugh in the faces of Vaporeons and Starmies as they try to hit me while I Calm Mind to +6 in both Sp.Atk and Sp.Def, then smite them both with Energy Ball. I still keep Fire Blast at times, though, since it is still more powerful than any neutral Energy Ball (except on Kingdra, curse him).

These aren't the only measures I use to kill RD teams, but they're probably my best. That Empoleon once got me a 6-0 victory.