Loving this diversity.

JUST

>>26973899
>VGC is so much better than smogon

I guess more people care about odds

There's a reason the games only let you have one mega on your team

>>26973899
So this...is the world championships..........woah
If only I was as skilled as them

>>26973899
4/8 have the exact same team

That's a little scary

Only one mawile JUST

>>26973899

Smogonbird, more like VGCbird

What set is Smeragle running?

>high tier
>ever diverse

I'm surprised Lilligant is up there, anyone know why it was chosen over anything else or what it was running?

>>26973978

Dark Void with some Follow Me shit

>>26973978
Probably Dark Void, and three other moves.

>>26973941
Im guessing you would suck and lose against a random gimmicky team even if you use a big 6 team.

>>26973978
Most now are running some variation of
-Dark void
-Spiky shield
-Crafty shield
-Wide Guard

Although this image is old, so I don't really know what they were using at the time.

>>26973941
worlds isn't until next month...

File: new pokez.png (11KB, 94x54px) Image search: [Google]

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Wow, I've never seen this pokemon before, are they related to the Unown?

>>26973985
Chlorophyll abuse maybe.

>>26973985
With the primal Groupon bringing the sun out and lilligant having Chlorophyll it could abuse it and maybe it had the move entrainment allowing it to give on of his other Pokémon Chlorophyll

>>26973985
http://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/winter-regional-championships-2016/teams/virginia/masters/

Looks like it was used mainly for chlorophyll + teeter dance/sleep powder to cripple the opponent's team

He posted here talking a little about how he generally uses Lilligant
http://nuggetbridge.com/forums/topic/22448-need-help-with-lilligant-set/#comment-260973

VGC is enforced border policy anti multiculturalism.

Smogon is pro diversity open borders.

This is the only instance is the world where more diversity is a good thing.

>>26974318
Ironically it's the opposite with tiers and clauses.

And vgc lets you use anyone, even legends!
Open boarders ruin everything anon

>>26973899
>expecting anything but shit from vgc

>>26973899

Is Primal Groudon better than Primal Kyogre?

>>26974426
A million times.

>>26974426
Mainly because ground is so good, and it only has one weakness

Resists fairy too

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>>26973899
>Mawile and Lilligant made it into the top 10
I like this

>>26973985
Same reason Jumpluff was in German nats. Ultra fast Sleep inducer under Harsh Sunlight.

File: smogon.png (57KB, 442x342px) Image search: [Google]

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ITT: Smogon ban everything cry babies jealous of the people who play the REAL game and earn money doing it.

Go back to diddling the little kiddies on your servers, smogtards.

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>>26974509

File: xerneas_official_illustration.jpg (2MB, 1920x1373px) Image search: [Google]

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What was GF thinking when they gave him Geomancy?

>>26974509
>Dark Void Smeargle spam
>fun

So funny it makes me cry.

>>26974534
I bet they forgot they had power herb

when playing in hackmons simple geomancy is great

>>26973939
It was probably megas that even got us to this point in the first place

>>26973941
The challenge now is in the details. None of those teams are exactly the same, different moves, natures, EVs/IVs and items can make all the difference in the world

>>26973899
That must have been a very boring match.

>>26974522
>implying any of that isn't true

When was the last time you saw smogon fags adjust to a meta threat instead of ban it?

When was the last time you saw a smogon tournament with thousands of dollars on the line?

When was the last time you saw a smogonfag not molest an underage?

>>26974560
Like that Pokemon VGC champion whose title got rescinded because he acted like a total dick in the hotel they stayed at?

>>26974560
Oh it's this butthurt anti-Smogon poster again

>>26973899
Why is there only one person running mega fug?

>>26974560
>adjusting
Smogon tiers will adjust to anything as long as it doesn't wrap the entire tier around itself

>>26974652
>takes both the mega slot and a legend slot
>most used attacks are single target and contact
>dragon ascent lowers already not-so-great bulk

>>26973899
That's how you know your metagame is dogshit.

>>26974509
A good game SHOULD have clauses and banlist.
Smogon in all this years only tried to trasform a hardly competitive single player RPG into an almost enjoyable game even before GF has started to give a fuck about competitive. Also those rules shouldn't be ochlocratic but people that at least know what are they playing should try to do it. Note how smogon OU was much better back in gen 4 when they were much less democratic and look how shitty it is now, but that's also GF's fault since they crap overpowered shit non-stop, now with the fifth move we are witnessing to the hardest power creep in the game of all times.

When you give no bans to a game It doesn't get better, just all players use the best of what they can use. Just look at VGC where all the teams are the fucking same or Everything goes that is the penultimate garbage monstruosity ever created. But faggots who wanted no bans needed a containing tier I guess.

>>26974690
>Doesn't take mega slot
>What's a legendary slot

>Primal Evolution counts as a Mega
Would this be a start in the right direction?

>>26974738
Mega slot, as in your designated mega evolution for the battle if you choose to evolve it. You can only mega evolve one pokemon per battle.

Legendary slot, as in VGC 16 only allows two big legendary Pokemon per team.

Mega Rayquaza occupying both of those means that on the occasion it fails to accomplish anything, you're fucked sideways. The guy in the OP pic has Mega Mawile as well, so he's probably not leaning so hard on Mega Rayquaza.

If you've ever played other competitive games with metas, you should understand why there's little diversity in VGC. I played Yugioh in my early teens and graduated to MTG later on, and they both have their share of top tier decks that statistically win the most. Players use those decks in tournaments because they win, and the decks win because they're good.

There are two main differences between the card games above and VGC:
1. Wizards/Konami releases new sets of packs with ~100 new cards each every few months to keep players invested in the game and to make money. These new cards offer new strategies and combos that work well with older cards and each other, making the game different and interesting (almost) every time a new set is released. Although there are brand new cards and strategies, the game still follows the same basic format of killing your opponent before they kill you.

VGC, however, gets new pokemon only every few years with some new mechanics/items being released in remakes or events. Each new gen is arguably balanced within itself (e.g. there are some shitmons, mostly average mons, and some really good mons). However, the new gens aren't guaranteed to provide better options for a team slot than previous gens, but some pokemon seem to be made to replace older ones (strictly competitively speaking). There are a total of ~700 options to choose from, but tournaments are about winning; of course players are going to choose the combination that wins the most.

2. In MTG and YGO, you have a deck with 40-60 slots for cards that all matter due to draw probability and combos. In most decks, roughly half of these card slots are filled by creatures/monsters, which are usually your main source of dealing damage (i.e. winning). In VGC, you only get 6 slots for mons and only 4 of those will be used per battle. Think of variations in moves/items/abilities that each pokemon can have and is seen in VGC and they are basically equivalent to a few card slots.

>>26974795
The guy using Rayquaza is probably using Base Ray with either Waterfall / Aqua Tail to make quick work of opposing Primal Groudon. Since the ability of base Rayquaza nullifies any kind of weather.

I guess it also carries Dragon Ascent (That's why it appears as a Mega) to make a huge dent right off the bat against Xerneas/Kyogre.

>>26974749
Sure.

Next step is to retcon them entirely.

>>26974733
>When you give no bans to a game It doesn't get better, just all players use the best of what they can use.

As opposed to Smogon top players which use the best of what they can use in their respective tier.

>>26974827
Yes, exactly

>>26974733
>now with the fifth move we are witnessing to the hardest power creep in the game of all times.
>fifth move
this meme again... pls gtfo

>>26974800
>Cont.
One plays top tier deck is not EXACTLY the same as another's, but they both follow the same strategy and same staple cards that are required to win. Now apply that to VGC and the staple cards become the pokemon you use and, more specifically, their stats and movepools.

Pokemon changed the rules this year in, what appears to be, an attempt to diversify the meta. This barely made a difference, as the new available pokemon became the new standard best options, and of that list, there are a select few that work the best.

As in any game, there is always going to be that one combination, with slight variations, that is the best and does what players want it to do: WIN

There are a few occurrences where counter-meta teams take first place. This wouldn't be possible without the meta being the way it is in the first place, they rarely win against teams they don't specifically prepare for.

>TLDR
The VGC top teams will never not include the same basic team setup because players know what wins the most.

>>26973899
This is what happens when you allow legendaries. Most years aren't like this.

Does anyone have the teams from this past weekend?

>>26974952
You're... joking, right? Every year is like this.
Kangaskhan and Bravest Birb have been there since 2014, and Amoongus has been there since Gen 5. Smeargle even longer.

The only difference, is that instead of Heatran, Cresselia, Rotom-W and the genies, we've got box legends.

Same lack of diversity, new coat of paint.

>>26973933
To be fair, they're both shitty, just in different ways.

>>26974952
I don't remember 2010 being like this at all, but thats probably because all the big guns had really similar stats.

>>26973984
This.
Most games that are at least decently competitive have their diversity go to shit at the top. Its nothing to be mad or disappointed about.

>>26974859
of course they do but at least there's more choice there

>>26974920
Useless to trick yourself. Just check the facts. It's obvious this is going to happen.

>>26975040
I'll take variety with annoying stall over that shit any day