Hey there District 151! Today I sat down and interviewed your very own Wiki Administrator, JonathanRP! Check out what he has to say about the game today, and get to know some of his history! He also offers some valuable insight into the Generation 5 Ubers Metagame, of which he ranked #1 on the Smogon Ubers Ladder!

District 151: BOLD

JonathanRP: Normal

What would you say started your competitive Pokemon career?

One of the users on the site by the name of Arctic introduced me to smogon
We're friends from school, and he suggested that I check it out

What would you say was your biggest achievement during that time?

The first team I ever constructed ended up being one of the best teams I've used, and it can still hold its own in a battle
It was a general trick room team, I had wanted to use something that was slightly anti-metagame when I started playing, and the one I constructed ended up serving me very well

Which metagame did you become active in Pokemon?

4th gen OU

What style of team was your favorite for that metagame? Did you have a particular Pokemon that saw more use than others?

In the beginning, I ran trick room as my team style, but as I evolved as a player, I began to edge into a more standard team, a team that was pretty much based around power. As a result, I managed to construct a general outline for teams as I made them. As for a particular Pokemon that I used, I would have to go with Porygon2. It's been on almost every team that I've made

In 4th Gen Porygon2 was a UU pokemon, you never had problems using it in OU?

Never. It actually had a niche in OU that no other Pokemon had, it was a 100% counter to Pokemon like Heatran, Gyarados and Salamence, as it could Trace their abilities and cause issues for the opponent

So would you reccomend to newer players to check into UU as well when crafting teams?

Well, I recommend that people try out new things when making teams. There are many UU Pokemon that have specific niches that they can fill in OU, eg Walrein on a Hail team, Mr. Mime on baton pass, ect.

Another advantage that you can have is surprise factor. Pokemon like Scizor and Blissey are basically the definition of OU. They appear on almost any team, and it stifles creativity amongst players. A creative player can win without being 100% standard.

Well spoken. Moving on to more current topics, how do you feel the game has changed moving from Generation 4 to the new Black and White metagame?

Well, weather got a huge boost in usage with Politoed and Ninetales getting Drizzle and Drought, and with Sand Rush / Sand Force becoming abilities. I think that weather is obviously a huge part of this new meta, and while I've strayed from using weather in favor of baton pass, I feel that weather is a nice addition to the meta, as it introduces more team strategies

What in your opinion are the biggest threats teams should prepare for?

Honestly, things like Excadrill and Reuniclus are the main things to worry about. It's not a bad idea to carry a haze user on your team either, as baton pass is a fairly common strategy, and you can't taunt/phaze chains away any more

Are there any new Pokemon or abilities on older Pokemon you feel are worth taking note of?

Well, since every Pokemon got a new ability (with a couple exceptions) there are a lot of things I could talk about. One of my favorite new abilities would be Magic Bounce. Natu, Xatu and Espeon got it, and it's probably one of the more interesting abilities of the gen

It acts as a permanent Magic Coat, and it can reflect literally any status effect back at the opponent, allowing for you to reflect status moves, and even entry hazards back at the opponent

It's definitely something to look out for

Are there any Pokemon that surprised you by being better or worse than expected?

Well, Dream World-wise, I would have never expected Sableye to be as useful as it is. Pokemon like Chansey have ended up surpassing their evolutions because of the Eviolite, and then you have Reuniclus

At first, I would have never used Reuniclus, but now it's easily one of the best Pokemon ever

Are there any strategies that you think are the more superior strategies in the current OU metagame?

Well, Sandstorm is basically the dominating weather at the moment, and it's not hard to see why. I personally like to play baton pass, but it's a hard strategy to get used to. But if you can master it, you can basically tear any team to shreds.

Sandstorm has the distinct advantage of having some of the best Pokemon get benefits from it, so it's probably the best strategy for someone who's getting used to the meta. It's also one of the best for experienced players too.

Do you have any advice for players that are just getting started in competitive battling?

The first thing you want to do is to read up on some teams that have been placed in RMT threads. While you don't want to copy the team, it can give you an idea of what to expect in the metagame

Another good idea is to try to play defensively at first. You won't know what everyone is doing, and you don't want to make bad guesses as to what your opponent is going to do. You just want to try to get the feel of playing with your team, and making a team that has each member complimenting another member

Are there any solid combinations you reccomend to newer players?

Well, there are defensive cores that you can try out, but I've never been that big of a fan of them, to be honest

Defensively, Porygon2 and Chansey are some of the best walls you can come up with. They both have good recovery, and can cripple a lot of attackers

Do you have any advice for players struggling to get accustomed to the metagame?

Well, you want to try to play to the metagame as you start out. You want to be able to prepare for Sandstorm, Sun and Rain teams, and while that seems like a pretty daunting task, the best way to do this is to run a weather team until you're sure that you are familiar with the metagame

Do you have any comments on recent bannings or lack thereof?

Well, I agree with most of the new bans, but I'm a bit on the cusp about Thundurus, and I think that he's definitely something that should be looked in to

I think that Garchomp should have been banned from the start, I just like how it went 4 rounds without being a suspect on smogon to everyone voting for him

Care to share why you feel Thundurus is broken?

Honestly, when I'm trying to defeat it, it almost seems that I have to rely on Life Orb recoil to take it out. It has access to priority Taunt, priority Thunder Wave, which causes me a bunch of issues when I'm trying to figure out a way to stop it
Plus, it can 2HKO Blissey with special attacks, which not many Pokemon can claim to do

For familiars to Generation 4 who are just now beginning the climb to Generation 5, are there any pokemon they will be familiar with that still see use in OU?

Well, sadly, there are some pokemon that are outclassed that still seem to find places in OU. Familiar faces like Lucario, Infernape, Gengar, Starmie, and to my distaste Scizor still have important roles in the metagame, and are still viable pokemon

Do you have an overall opinion on the general complaints from the public on weather "breaking" the metagame?

I think that it's just people who want to make 5th gen OU into 4th gen OU. People need to accept that weather is here to stay

That said, do you have any reccomendations for players who do not wish to use weather, but still want to succeed?

Well, you have to prepare to be in for a rough time, to be honest. Pokemon that have speed increasing moves are going to be a must for you, as you'll have to worry about Chlorophyl and Sand Rush Pokemon. Priority moves are also helpful, as they bypass the speed boost of the abilities, and you can pick off weakened opponents

Do you play any metagames other than OU, and if so would you reccomend others playing them?

My personal favorite metagame would have to be Ubers. It's the metagame where my claims to fame are, as I've peaked at #1 on smogon, and #10 on PO. I like ubers because you get to use the most powerful Pokemon, and it's not as horribly centralized as OU is

Ubers is basically kill or be killed, and it puts a lot more emphasis on team structure than OU does

So would you say there are no "skeleton" builds like there are in OU?

Honestly, I've never really even thought of using a skeleton build in ubers, to be honest

Are there any pairings in Ubers that function similarly to OU pairs?

Not that I can think of. I've seen Giratina and Blissey paired together to combat Swords Dance Arceus that run Shadow Force, but that's generally the only pairing I've seen

Would you say Ubers is more affected by the changes to the metagame, or less?

Honestly, I have not seen a single Garchomp on an ubers team, so I'd have to say less. Since ubers is basically a banlist, there's not much to change in it

Are there any particular Pokemon that dominate the Uber tier?

Kyogre for sure. It's used on roughly 40% of all ubers teams

Could you tell us why?

It's literally able to OHKO or 2HKO any pokemon in the entire metagame with Specs Water spout. If you baton pass it a nasty plot, you can OHKO anything, even Palkia.

Are there any Pokemon in Ubers that really enjoyed the switch to Generation 5?

Mewtwo for sure. Its new move Psyshock is one of the most insanely powerful moves in ubers

Has the intoduction of Arceus changed the game much?

Well, the main thing about Arceus is that it can now be fully ev'd. Back in 4th gen, you could only give it 100 evs in a stat. Now that it can be fully EV'd, it can be used to its full destructive potential

Sets like the Swords Dance set can see this new potential, as those evs make about 100 points of difference in Arceus' attack stat after a swords dance

Is his ability used at all?

well, I participated in the writing for the Bug Arceus analysis on Smogon. Each Arceus type (except for Dark and Psychic Arceus) has a niche that it fits in the current metagame

Why not those two?

They're outclassed by Mewtwo and Darkrai

each pokemon is pretty much outclassed by Mewtwo and Darkrai, as both of them are faster, and have generally better sets that they can run

How prevelant are entry hazards and defensive styles in the Uber tier?

They tend to be used on about 30% of the teams that  I see honestly. Fortress is basically guarenteed to get up 1 layer of spikes, toxic spikes, or to set up Stealth Rock (assuming that Reshiram isn't the opponent) because of the buff to sturdy

So does that limit the use of pokemon like Shaymin-S and Ho-oh?

If I'm going to be honest, I use Shaymin-S specifically because of Air Slash, heh. As long as you carry a spinner, Ho-Oh should be fine to use. I always tend to send out Shaymin-S against Fortress to try to limit the entry hazards to a minimum (and possibly prevent them)

What would you say are the most common Ubers strategies?

well, Trick darkrai is a somewhat underrated strategy, imo
then you have Dark Void + Nasty Plot Darkrai, which can sweep entire teams

Would you say Weather is just as or more prominent than in OU?

Basically, every team is going to be a weather team in ubers
Tyranitar isn't even a factor
it's all drought and drizzle

Are teams based around them in the same sense (I.E. Chlorophyll/Swift Swim), or are the effects generally used for the Water/Fire damage buffs?

Generally, moves are used for the Water/Fire Damage buffs

Priority is too common in ubers for Swift Swim/Chlorophyl pokemon to survive

What are some of the common priority users?

Arceus and Rayquaza, generally

So, as a closing statement, do you have anything to say to any players out there?

Try to work your favorites into your teams! Ambipom isn't exactly a standard in this metagame, but I'm still able to use it successfully. Don't let the metagame control you as a player, don't feel the need to run OU only teams
Almost every pokemon has a niche that it can fill, you just need to be able to figure out that niche for yourself