okay I guess it's time to post in my own thread
1) What metagames do you think were the best, subjectively?
hm, this one takes some thought, considering I've played this whole generation... With that in mind I think the 'best' metagame was Genesect meta. You can throw trash at Genesect all you want, but Genesect made EVERYTHING better. Every build benefited from its presence in OU. Everyone saw the dip sun took with the elimination of Genesect. I found its effects, rather than negative, positive. Sure, it might have been unfortunately low on counters, but I think if we had discovered Kyurem-B's potential earlier, it would have been significantly easier to handle. It bolstered Heatran and benefited virtually every team. An all-purpose revenge killer is something sorely lacking in OU. I guess you have Scarf Jirachi, but it's not really a veritable offensive threat. Knocking down Scizor a notch for the first time in years was particularly fun. Although Genesect meta was not objectively the best, I think the positives of Genesect outweighed the negatives. People will disagree with me and call bs on my claims, but I still hold them as true.
If you've caught the drift, my best metagames are ones where many playstyles are viable. Restricted teambuilding isn't a big deal for me, as if I can pick from a subset of Pokemon and play around it, it's all good. For this reason, I think today's metagame is also very, very good. This is evidenced by the viability of previously unthought-of team styles, like sun stall, which exploits Cresselia's amazing bulk. Weatherless offense is now one of the best playstyles, while sand stall, rain stall, sand/rain balance, sand/rain/sun bulky offense, and rain/sun HO are all very viable. The variety in teams AND Pokemon impresses me, and outside of drastic measures, I think we've found a fairly solid outcome.
I can't finish this without the metagame I enjoyed most -- Excadrill meta. Sand offense was HUGE, and it has never recovered. With Excadrill gone, spinning in OU became so much worse. It was the sole reason Choice Scarfers were less prominent, which I think was a good thing! It had its counters and checks, and just brought so much to the metagame. We had another good offensive spinner. Starmie doesn't even come close, and is less bulky with a worse typing. The fact that hazard setting wasn't guaranteed for once was awesome, in my opinion. Deoxys-S and other annoying suicide leads were unthinkable with an actual spinner available. I found it less restricting on teambuilding than so much else, and the metagame without it suffered. Rain offense was viable, but not dominant -- it was on an equal footing with sand! Everything, pretty much, was viable in this metagame. The emergence of new threats to defeat Excadrill benefited diversity, and everything flourished.
2) What were your least favorite metagames?
Late BW1 was easily my least favorite. The dominance of VoltTurn was just so 'boring', and Terrakion was so stupidly powerful it wasn't even funny. The outcome of BW1 was very, very bad -- it was just a bland, unexciting metagame. Nothing was 'developing'; it was all the same old, same old. Constantly changing metagames aren't ones that ban and unban consistently. They are metagames diverse enough such that new threats rise and fall, and strategies change. Late BW1 is proof of what I fear would be the outcome of a metagame with a lot of bans.
3) What are your personal highlights of BW?
The first time I got suspect reqs to vote on Deoxys-D was an incredible moment for me. It wasn't long after I finished my tutoring with Funkasaurus (I signed up to get better at the game) that I had the opportunity to ladder for reqs, and after >100 battles on a broken ladder system, I finally made it up to the 2000 Glicko2 requirement. That felt like a great accomplishment to me. It's easy now, but it wasn't then, and is definitely one of the highlights of my Pokemon career, let alone BW.
My second highlight has been working with all the people in OU QC for much of BW2. While I just recently became an official member, I have been collaborating for months, and influencing the analyses is immensely rewarding for me. Keeping information up-to-date and accurate is a matter of great importance for the whole site. Our recent initiatives have begun to make the analyses a true source of knowledge about the current metagame, which has been one of their failings all generation.
4) How do you think the metagame has shifted? What playstyles have become commonplace and fallen? What Pokemon have fallen and risen in effectiveness?
Throughout BW, many playstyles have been common. The most consistent, though, has been rain. From when it was beyond broken pre-Aldaron's proposal to its days with Tornadus-T to now, rain has been consistently excellent the whole generation. Rain has actual 'abusers' in the diverse group of Water-type attackers, special Electric-types, Hurricane users, and Rain Dish users. Its ability to make a whole Pokemon type (Fire) less viable in OU also warrants a mention.
Sun has definitely fluctuated throughout the generation. It peaked when Blaziken and Genesect were OU, and fell the most in Excadrill meta and Landorus meta. It has been somewhat less used during the other times, and is now somewhat common. It went from being solely HO to even full stall with Cresselia in BW2, which greatly increased its viability as a playstyle. Chlorophyll sweepers have been great nuisances for a long time, and Volcarona, Victini, and Darmanitan are brought to the forefront as extremely deadly Pokemon thanks to sun. The metagame has shifted in such a way that Volcarona and the previously unthinkable special Victini are the biggest Fire-type threats, which has been a uniquely interesting transition, imo.
Sand has always been great. BW1 saw sand abuser offense, which utilized Sand Rush Excadrill and Sand Force physical Landorus and dominated the tier. Part of this is due the fact that Tyranitar and Hippowdon are stellar Pokemon. Tyranitar has been a consistent threat. The shift from specially defensive to Band/Scarf was huge this generation, which has shifted more and more toward Pursuit trapping as a means for enabling Pokemon to sweep. Hippowdon is a titanic physical wall that is amazing for sand stall and balanced teams. It counters top threats like Terrakion and Landorus-T. It also holds the title of being the only weather inducer with reliable recovery, allowing it to easily outlast its foes. Sand today is mainly used as a counter-weather weather and to have access to Tyranitar's Pursuit trapping capabilities. However, Stoutland has become prominent as a sand abuser, as well as to a much lesser extent Sandslash, which can spin and thus in some ways fill Excadrill's shoes, though not really. VoltTurn, which was all the rage in late BW1, benefited hugely from sand's chip damage and general abundance of hazards. Finally, I can't forget sand stall, which peaked in effectiveness in late BW1 and is very viable now. Sand's chip damage and the safeguard it provides against opposing weather have contributed to the playstyle's effectiveness. With the creation and spread of Meru stall, Stoutland has been seen as a prominent revenge killer and tool to solve many of sand stall's biggest problems. Sand's evolution throughout this generation has been interesting to see, for sure.
We now come to weatherless, which was at a time...kind of bad. It was really only seen post-Genesect ban in this generation. It's been all HO, pretty much, as well, usually focused around a suicide hazard lead and multiple sweepers. I suppose the earliest incarnation of weatherless this generation was Baton Pass post-Excadrill ban. With Excadrill gone, there was a huge surge in Baton Pass usage, which has always been predominately weatherless. It even hit a simple majority suspect vote, but there was no other round of suspect testing in BW1 to finish it off. The craze eventually died out. Back to post-Genesect -- Deoxys-D was the best hazard setter in OU. Weatherless was almost synonymous with 'Deoxys-D + 5 sweepers'. After Deoxys-D was banished Custap Skarmory and Forretress shot up in usage. Aerodactyl, Azelf, and Mew have also become useful. More recently, Shuca Jirachi has become a great asset. Weatherless boils down to hazard setter + Gengar + 4 sweepers. One sweeper is usually a Dragon, and one is usually some sort of lure. Finally, speaking of Gengar -- its spinblocking abilities are needed on these teams with lots of hazards, and Jellicent loses momentum too easily. In recent times, TR + NP Cofagrigus has emerged as a good sweeper and spinblocker for these teams, boasting much more bulk and the ability to actually force out/beat Starmie. Other types of weatherless have generally been less than effective, imo.
So many Pokemon have fluctuated in usage this generation, so it's hard to pin it down to a couple... Reuniclus comes to mind immediately. Its CM set was unparalleled early this gen, singlehandedly bringing the demise of stall. The BW2 shift was not kind to it, but OTR has emerged as a great set, and CM has recently had a surge in usage. There are other mons, but going from suspect to almost unused at a point is certainly noteworthy.
5) What, in your opinion, has been the most consistently dangerous and excellent Pokemon in BW OU?
A hard choice, but...I have to go with Terrakion. Terrakion has been an immense threat for eons now. It first emerged around the time of Blaziken's banning donning a Choice Scarf set. It could revenge kill so many top threats. In Excadrill meta, it took advantage of the Special Defense boost from sand and donned a Double Dance set with an Air Balloon to check Excadrill. It would get its Balloon broken, RP, and outspeed and kill Excadrill. Against more defensive teams, it could Swords Dance and wreck house. These sets gave way in late BW1 to Choice Band; Scarf was still common and great, but Double Dance fell in usage somewhat. The Choice Band set was an utter terror -- remember, there was no Landorus-T to handle it. SubSD Rock Gem could OHKO Gliscor at +2 with Stone Edge; it became common as well. It was suspect-worthy in the eyes of many. In BW2, it was a great Genesect check and could revenge kill Kyurem-B, so it flourished. With the release of the Salac Berry, a SubSalac SD sweeper set emerged, being very difficult to revenge kill after Salac activated. The Band set remained effective, and post-Deoxys-D, a lead Stealth Rock set even became good. Nowadays, Band and SubSalac SD are the best sets, with Garchomp generally outdoing it in the lead position, though the set still has a niche in a fast Taunt. Scarf and Double Dance have become less common, but are still effective. All in all, Terrakion, though it might be one-dimensional in moveset, is very versatile in execution, and is the breadwinner for the most consistently dangerous and effective Pokemon in BW OU.
6) What was the toughest OU battle you've ever had, and why? A general description and/or log/replay should be provided to supplement this.
I think the toughest match I've played is a tie between a friendly game with Lavos Spawn I had and my ladder battles with qSeasons this suspect test. Against qSeasons, I think I went 1-1. My matches forced me to think on a higher level and make plays I don't usually have to make. My battle against Lavos I lost, but it came down to the wire and I had fun (it was months ago...I don't remember many specifics). Battles against ben gay and his Trick Room have also been difficult. I faced him some times on the suspect ladder, and struggled to break his Porygon2 and co. I went about 2-1 against him among my alts. Every game against him was again a battle of wits and extremely difficult to win. I can't pick one because all of these stick out in my mind.
7) What was your favorite metagame in this generation?
Excadrill meta. Mainly because it was the first time any of my teams were actually good...but I digress. Excadrill and the sand offense it carried were so much fun to play with and against. I can accept it being banned, but I still have fond memories of that metagame.
8) If you could have picked one Pokemon/move/ability and gotten rid of it besides any weather, what would it have been?
hm...I would have gotten rid of trapping. I'll say this flat: trapping takes no skill. It's so easy to trap, and I find that it being a determining factor in so many bans is very telling. I would specifically ban Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, and Pursuit. Magnet Pull is too limited and is stuck on two pretty mediocre (in all honesty) Pokemon. Sacrificing a teamslot for Magnezone/Magneton is such a huge price to pay that it doesn't meet the mark for a ban, tbh. Meanwhile, Gothitelle and even Wobbuffet are just so skill-less and stupid. They make it so easy for things to sweep. Pursuit makes so many good Pokemon liabilities; the fact that a couple entire types of Pokemon can be made useless thanks to one move is just plain dumb. Finally, Dugtrio...a Pokemon that makes Heatran shaky. A Pokemon that literally guarantees you will win weather wars. It got Genesect banned, ffs. Trapping is just so unhealthy and stupid that I would love to get rid of it entirely.
9) If you could retroactively reverse any one ban in BW, what would it be and why?
I've already written paragraphs about it...but Excadrill. It brings a needed spinner and would offset the dominance of rain. It has additional checks now, and giving Gliscor a niche again would be great. Providing a leg up for sand and a spinner, it would be invaluable. I find that the metagame has adapted in such ways that it can handle it better than before. I didn't think it deserved a ban in the first place...so I would bring back Excadrill.
