DPP OU - What have I been missing?

I feel that with the close of the ORAS era, I should try learning a few new things before the eventually Sun and Moon metas make themselves known. I tried getting into BWOU, as you might or might not have seen, but honestly, I couldn't do it It just didn't feel right to me. I took a break after realizing I didn't much enjoy BWOU, spent my time mostly playing ORGs and whatnot. But then a pal of mine offered me a DPP OU team, and considering I hadn't played since 7th grade, I gave the team a whirl.

DPP OU is one of those metas that's so radically different yet also slightly familiar to the current meta that it's a refreshing feeling. The lack of Team Preview brings me back to a time when I thought that using Pokemon like Jumpluff in a legitimate OU battle was a good thing. I suppose I've gown up a lot since then, considering I at least know what Win Conditions are. But this meta is radically different because of the lack of team preview, and I think that's what makes it so exciting. I haven't tried ADV yet since I'm still working with DPP OU, and DPP OU is more splashable, with Smogon Tour and all. So I'm officially learning DPP OU, and it excites me. The dedicated suicide leads exploding after they're useless, Electric/Ghost Rotom-A, the lack of power creep, it's really refreshing.

So that's what I'm doing. Maybe if I have the chance I'll try my hand at the Tours and see what I can do. The next DPP one of course, considering I missed the first DPP OU one.

A Brief Personal History and a Future Plan - BW OU

If there's one tier I really regret not getting better at during the period where it was most popular, it's Black and White OU. BW(2) OU was the metagame that I really feel like I experienced a lot of growth as a player, and where I met a lot of my current mons friends. But unfortunately, I was never able to really compete with them on a legitimate level, especially because for a while, I only had one team that could even be considered decent. It was probably my favorite team for a very long time, though it's now unusable with the new BWOU bans on speed-boosting weather abilities.

Now for the record, this team isn't at all good. The team is horribly standard, and very predictable. The EVs were either ripped from pure Smogon analyses way back in the day, or I had one of my old friends tell me what I ~should~ be running. Additionally when I was playing BW OU with this team at the time, I wasn't very aware of how to identify a win condition, and as a result, I had a bit of a low Win : Loss ratio. But I digress, this is the team.

     

Ninetales @ Leftovers

Ability: Drought

EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe

Timid Nature

- Flamethrower

- Will-O-Wisp

- Sunny Day

- Substitute

Venusaur @ Life Orb

Ability: Chlorophyll

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Growth

- Giga Drain

- Hidden Power Fire

- Sludge Bomb

Starmie @ Life Orb

Ability: Analytic

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Hydro Pump

- Thunderbolt

- Ice Beam

- Rapid Spin

Heatran @ Air Balloon

Ability: Flash Fire

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Fire Blast

- Earth Power

- Hidden Power Ice

- Stealth Rock

Dragonite @ Choice Band

Ability: Multiscale

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Outrage

- Extreme Speed

- Fire Punch

- Earthquake

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash

Ability: Arena Trap

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Reversal

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

- Sucker Punch

Nothing too out of the ordinary, as you can clearly see. But again, it's fairly predictable, and generally just your average Sun Offense team. I feel like I should try renovating this team sometime in the near future, considering I'm considering getting back into the current BWOU. I do have the notes to relearn things, so it's not like I would be completely out of my element. But additionally, I feel that I am a much better battler when compared to even 2 years ago, so I feel that I if I stepped back into the fray, I would be able to hold my own much better.

But for my first sort of "goal" or whatnot, I plan to relearn how to play BWOU, and get back into that meta. A feel that a good place to start with this is analyzing the current meta trends, and that shouldn't be too hard given that the Smogon Premier League is happening as I type this. It also helps that I have a few friends who still specialize in the meta, if I need someone to test my skills.

Furthermore, and probably the main reason why I have decided to get back into BWOU,I found an extremely large folder full of teams. When I say large, I mean, over 1,000 teams are in this folder, most of them BWOU teams. I was struggling to remember why I had all of these, when I remember that one of my friends who effectively "quit" gave me all of his teams because he didn't want to completely deleted them. Even still, this giant folder full of teams is why I feel like I should maybe get back into this meta. I can't just let them all go to waste sitting on my PC without being used.

You think I'm kidding?

But that's a plan for me. start relearning how to play BWOU. That seems like a good place to start.

20 Years: How Pokémon Has Changed My Life - An Introduction

My first post to this blog, is, oddly enough, not a competitive Pokémon post. I know, it's weird, but I'll get there eventually. Basically, for this first post, I figure I should introduce myself, and talk about my personal history with Pokémon since I've got a bit of a history with this fantastic series. This is a bit of a spin on a post from Smogon about various community members talking about their past with Pokémon. You can read the first of many here.

Who am I?

I am your average seventeen year old high school senior who enjoys playing Pokémon. It started as a fun hobby (as you'll see in the section below), and eventually developed into a fascination. I've written a mathematics paper on the wild encounter rate and the probability of finding a random perfect IV Pokemon, (it's 9.31 x 10^[-10] by the way) and I've got notebooks full of notes on strategic Pokémon sets. play a wide variety of formats, including the current generation's version of Smogon OU, and the current VGC format. Additionally, I know how to play ORAS UU, ORAS LC, and BW OU. I'm always trying to get better, and this blog is my outlet for learning. I really want to get better at a wide variety of formats, and I figure the best way to sort of track my progress is through this blog.

What got me into Pokémon

My first experience with Pokémon that I remember came way back when I was about five years old. My cousin, who was two years older than I, had a Gameboy Advance with Pokémon Ruby, and occasionally let me watch. One fun time in particular was when we were out camping and he, my brother and I were in his camper, playing Ruby into the late hours of the night. Aside from that, I really got into Pokémon in an after-school daycare place when I was in first grade. I remember seeing a girl with a Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green strategy guide, and I remember thinking the maps looked super cool. I eventually made two of my best friends just from that moment, and those friends were the people who really got me into playing. 

Around 2009, during sixth grade and the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum era, I stumbled around through Youtube and found wifi-battling. I was immediately hooked, though I was not at all good at battling, considering I used mons I raised casually. I eventually, and randomly, stumbled into a random xat one day. Said xat was a "clan" on the serebii.net forums, and they had some really strong battlers. It was there that I eventually met a lot of my long term friends, and made a few connections that would help me progress my Pokémon career through the next seven years.

My Favorite Pokémon Memories

As I previously alluded, I have a lot of fond Pokémon memories. there are the obvious ones, like beating each game, or perhaps having some really intense battle. I remember when I was in one of the clans on Serebii, a good friend of mine, Mazz as he went by on Smogon, helped me seriously study and learn all the things I needed to know for BW OU. He made me take notes and everything, and honestly, it was so worth it. I remember he compared us to the Sith with him as the master, and me as the apprentice. I still have the book of all the notes I took during Spring Break my freshman year, and I still sometimes remember the fun times I spent taking notes while I was in the rainforests of Costa Rica. Clearly I had my priorities in order on that vacation. There was a team I made on that trip that used Hurricane Volcarona in rain, sort of to reflect my time on the trip. Another really memeorable time I had playing mons was when I traveled 10 hours to play at the Ft. Wayne regionals for VGC 2016. I didn't get to stay for the whole regionals since it was a long drive, but I did get to play against some nominal VGC players like Jon Hu, so that was pretty fun. Just a really positive time as a whole.

How Pokémon Has Changed My Life

I spent many of my formative years playing a complex game of rock, paper, scissors, and yet it's strange. Pokémon has been a constant through my seventeen years, and I can safely say that it has shaped how I think and behave. I like to think that because of these games I have a bit more confidence that I truly can be the best if I put my mind to things. I also believe that the game itself has taught me to be a rational and sane person. I used to be that kid who would always make a big deal out of everything, win or loss. But once I came to accept that I would have to lose some games to win others, I feel that I really matured, and it was this game that taught me that. Additionally, I feel that as my skill in the game improved, my maturity grew too. Practicing the game and devoting myself to learning new things helped shape how I learn, and really taught me how to truly focus on something I enjoy doing.