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Polar Spectrum

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I'm pretty glad those both got megas. They were DEFINITELY two pokemon that needed it. Imo the things that already rule the meta don't need megas because they're already part of the game to competitive players. Things like Beedrill, Pidgeot, and Lopunny are just now going to start (hopefully) being a part of the game again with their new megas.

THAT BEING SAID. Analyses

No Guard on Pidgeot? Unless they introduce a new flying type move, this seeeems like it's just for Hurricane and a special pidgeot. It's also got Giga Impact, Steel Wing, and Air Slash to also kinda benefit, buttttt those are all already 90 or so I'm pretty sure. I guess no hax, but really this screws Bird Jesus over more than helps, since it has 100% guaranteed fear of Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Thunder, Blizzard, etc. I'm guessing they'll give it a new move or spice up the movepool with inevitable ORAS Move Tutors.

Mega Beedrill with Adaptability - nice. There's a solid metabuff to a pokemon you'd never see any "I only use the 10% of competitively viable pokemon on any of my teams" person run, ever under any circumstance at any time for any reason without being coerced, bribed, taunted, baited, or blackmailed into doing. It'll have a pretty dang hard hitting stab, even with that bug/poison coverage. Steel types are inevitable switch ins, but it'll be used with something to compensate. I'll wager a big nugget that means butterfree gets one eventually too.
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PlatinumDude

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I'm pretty glad those both got megas. They were DEFINITELY two pokemon that needed it. Imo the things that already rule the meta don't need megas because they're already part of the game to competitive players. Things like Beedrill, Pidgeot, and Lopunny are just now going to start (hopefully) being a part of the game again with their new megas.

THAT BEING SAID. Analyses

No Guard on Pidgeot? Unless they introduce a new flying type move, this seeeems like it's just for Hurricane and a special pidgeot. It's also got Giga Impact, Steel Wing, and Air Slash to also kinda benefit, buttttt those are all already 90 or so I'm pretty sure. I guess no hax, but really this screws Bird Jesus over more than helps, since it has 100% guaranteed fear of Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Thunder, Blizzard, etc. I'm guessing they'll give it a new move or spice up the movepool with inevitable ORAS Move Tutors.

Mega Beedrill with Adaptability - nice. There's a solid metabuff to a pokemon you'd never see any "I only use the 10% of competitively viable pokemon on any of my teams" person run, ever under any circumstance at any time for any reason without being coerced, bribed, taunted, baited, or blackmailed into doing. It'll have a pretty dang hard hitting stab, even with that bug/poison coverage. Steel types are inevitable switch ins, but it'll be used with something to compensate. I'll wager a big nugget that means butterfree gets one eventually too.
Just saying, Pidgeot also gets Heat Wave as a not-perfectly-accurate attack as a past gen tutor move.

Polar Spectrum

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Just saying, Pidgeot also gets Heat Wave as a not-perfectly-accurate attack as a past gen tutor move.

Oo, yes - that's a really great one for it too. Coverage for steel and spread for doubles. You cannot guard yourself from the intense heat its flaps will generate. No doubt it comes back as a tutor move for it in ORAS too. woo



There are no gifs of Pidgeot using heat wave. :c
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Nah

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^Assuming that good move tutors do actually come back in ORAS. I really really hope they do, but you never know wtf Game Freak's gonna do.

Like, it really wouldn't surprise me if they do this:

Mega Talonflame
Stone: Talonflamite
Ability: Gale Wings+ (all flying moves have priority plus Mold Breaker)
Stats:
-Attack: 131
-Defense: 95
-Sp.Attack: 74
-Sp.Defense: 94
-Speed: 126

And think that's one of the greatest ideas they've ever had.

/mini-rant against GF
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Polar Spectrum

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^Assuming that good move tutors do actually come back in ORAS. I really really hope they do, but you never know wtf Game Freak's gonna do.

Like, it really wouldn't surprise me if they do this:

Mega Talonflame
Stone: Talonflamite
Ability: Gale Wings+ (all flying moves have priority plus Mold Breaker)
Stats:
-Attack: 131
-Defense: 95
-Sp.Attack: 74
-Sp.Defense: 94
-Speed: 126

And think that's one of the greatest ideas they've ever had.

/mini-rant against GF
more like

Mega Brave Bird Talonflame

Stone: Talonflite
Ability: Bravery - All flying attacks as well as non flying attacks with recoil, receive priority, and don't deal recoil damage.
Stats:
HP: 78
Atk: 161
Def: 101
Sp Atk: 34
Sp Def: 99
Speed: 126

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more like

Mega Brave Bird Talonflame

Stone: Talonflite
Ability: Bravery - All flying attacks as well as non flying attacks with recoil, receive priority, and don't deal recoil damage.
Stats:
HP: 78
Atk: 161
Def: 101
Sp Atk: 34
Sp Def: 99
Speed: 126

Spoiler:


Also Mega Pidgeot and Beedrill, well done nintendo you actually gave megas to pokes that need them.... took you long enough to get that right. Shame about everything else getting one. :|
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Polar Spectrum

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Y'know I'll loathe it when it comes around, if it does - but honestly I'm wagering there's a solid 70% chance they'll actually give Talonflame a mega, be it in 2 generations or so when they get around to giving sixth gen pokes besides Diancie megas, or sooner. So far they've just been really spot on with giving things that see the most usage megas, Scizor, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Latio/as, Salamence; etc. Not to say ones without that exposure don't get megas, but they really seem to be covering the top pretty effectively.
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PlatinumDude

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Mega Steelix and Mega Glalie have been confirmed. All we know about Mega Steelix is that it has Sand Force as its new ability. Nothing else is known about Mega Glalie yet.

This set for Mega Steelix is all I can come up with:
-Gyro Ball/Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock/Explosion
Nature: Brave/Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def
Item: Steelixite (?)
Ability: Sturdy

Steelix's main three moves all benefit from Sand Force. Of course, Sand Stream support is mandatory for this kind of Steelix.

Edit: stat comparisons between vanilla Steelix and Mega Steelix: https://twitter.com/asz915/status/522046215010009090

Megan

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I hope M-Glalie gets Refrigerate for the sole purpose of Refrigerate + Explosion = awesome {XD}
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Nah

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Mega Steelix and Mega Glalie have been confirmed. All we know about Mega Steelix is that it has Sand Force as its new ability. Nothing else is known about Mega Glalie yet.

This set for Mega Steelix is all I can come up with:
-Gyro Ball/Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock/Explosion
Nature: Brave/Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def
Item: Steelixite (?)
Ability: Sturdy

Steelix's main three moves all benefit from Sand Force. Of course, Sand Stream support is mandatory for this kind of Steelix.

Edit: stat comparisons between vanilla Steelix and Mega Steelix: https://twitter.com/asz915/status/522046215010009090
Mega Steelix, eh? Seems it gets a boost to Attack, Defense, and Sp.Defense, which is perfect for it. I kinda like how the Onix evolutionary line now progresses from plain rocks to steel to diamonds.
Nah ンン
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PlatinumDude

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Update on Mega Glalie: it retains its Ice type and gains Refrigerate. Those Explosions sure are gonna hurt. Potential sets:
-Spikes
-Return
-Explosion
-Earthquake/Taunt/Ice Shard
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Glalite (?)
Ability: Inner Focus

or
-Return
-Earthquake
-Crunch/Ice Shard
-Explosion/Ice Shard
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef or 252 Atk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Glalite (?)
Ability: Inner Focus

Edit: Mega Glalie's stat screen: http://i.imgur.com/bk70C0x.png

Remember that vanilla Glalie has 80 stats all-round, but its Mega boosts are all concentrated on offenses.

Edit 2: Smogon calculated the base stats of Mega Steelix and Mega Glalie from the stat screens (in order of HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed):

Steelix: 75/125/230/55/95/30
Glalie: 80/120/80/120/80/100

Hikamaru

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Mega Steelix and Mega Glalie have been confirmed. All we know about Mega Steelix is that it has Sand Force as its new ability. Nothing else is known about Mega Glalie yet.

This set for Mega Steelix is all I can come up with:
-Gyro Ball/Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock/Explosion
Nature: Brave/Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def
Item: Steelixite (?)
Ability: Sturdy

Steelix's main three moves all benefit from Sand Force. Of course, Sand Stream support is mandatory for this kind of Steelix.

Edit: stat comparisons between vanilla Steelix and Mega Steelix: https://twitter.com/asz915/status/522046215010009090

Update on Mega Glalie: it retains its Ice type and gains Refrigerate. Those Explosions sure are gonna hurt. Potential sets:
-Spikes
-Return
-Explosion
-Earthquake/Taunt/Ice Shard
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Glalite (?)
Ability: Inner Focus

or
-Return
-Earthquake
-Crunch/Ice Shard
-Explosion/Ice Shard
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef or 252 Atk/4 SDef/252 Spe
Item: Glalite (?)
Ability: Inner Focus

Edit: Mega Glalie's stat screen: http://i.imgur.com/bk70C0x.png

Remember that vanilla Glalie has 80 stats all-round, but its Mega boosts are all concentrated on offenses.

Edit 2: Smogon calculated the base stats of Mega Steelix and Mega Glalie from the stat screens (in order of HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed):

Steelix: 75/125/230/55/95/30
Glalie: 80/120/80/120/80/100
I'm not a fan of the designs, they don't look much different except for the addition of those crystals (diamonds?) but I think both their abilities are not bad at all.

Given Steelix learns a lot of STAB moves as well as Rock it'll benefit really well on sandstorm teams, so it'll definitely become a hard-hitter under those conditions. Kinda like how they gave an Attack boost to it since regular Steelix was really only good for its high Defense.

Glalie's ability is much freakier especially after you mentioned Ice-type Explosions that also gain the power boost. Return is still going to be the main move it uses (since there's a lot of emphasis on physical attacker here) while Explosion gets used in those situations where it knows it won't be able to carry on and due to Refrigerate it'll hit hard unless something carries an Ice resistance, along with bypassing Ghosts' usual immunity to the move.

Also, Glalie happens to be the first Ice-type Mega aside from Abomasnow, which is well cool since Ice usually gets shafted in a lot of things.
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Nah

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Black2/White-esque move tutors are also confirmed to be back in ORAS, btw. THANK YOU GAME FREAK, NOW ****ING KEEP THEM IN FOR EVERY GAME FROM HERE ON OUT
Nah ンン
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Hikamaru

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Black2/White-esque move tutors are also confirmed to be back in ORAS, btw. THANK YOU GAME FREAK, NOW ****ING KEEP THEM IN FOR EVERY GAME FROM HERE ON OUT
That is at least good news, especially with the announcement that customization won't be appearing anymore so at least the more competitive players will be happy now. I was expecting move tutors to be in this game anyway.
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PlatinumDude

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Another update on the Mega Hoenn starters' stats (confirmed through multiple sources; again in order of HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed):

Sceptile: 70/110/75/145/85/145
Swampert: 100/150/110/95/110/70

Mega Swampert is ridiculously bulky, meaning it's hard to revenge kill it in rain. Mega Sceptile can get away with Adamant or Modest because neutral 145 Speed outspeeds threats up to Jolly Talonflame (then again, it can revenge kill with priority Brave Bird anyways, so the next best thing is Timid Greninja)

Ooka

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I'm trying to get back into competitive battling, haven't played since before Aegislash was banned so I'm a little lost as to the current metagame.

What are some of the top threats?

Hikamaru

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Another update on the Mega Hoenn starters' stats (confirmed through multiple sources; again in order of HP/Attack/Defense/Special Attack/Special Defense/Speed):

Sceptile: 70/110/75/145/85/145
Swampert: 100/150/110/95/110/70

Mega Swampert is ridiculously bulky, meaning it's hard to revenge kill it in rain. Mega Sceptile can get away with Adamant or Modest because neutral 145 Speed outspeeds threats up to Jolly Talonflame (then again, it can revenge kill with priority Brave Bird anyways, so the next best thing is Timid Greninja)
I was kinda hoping they'd balance out Sceptile's offenses but they focus on Sp. Attack again which disappointed me since it has a more shallower special movepool compared to physical, but at least we have Sword Dance for that. That Speed and Sp. Attack pretty much shows its role is mainly a speedy special attacker and given that it blocks a huge threat in Thunder Wave its major threats are looking to be Talonflame, and also anything carrying Ice moves that can either outspeed or take a hit, or has Ice Shard.

Swampert on the other hand got a massive Attack boost while backing it up with boosts in both the defensive stats as well so yeah gonna be hard to take down without a Grass move which is the only weakness it even has. Moveset will likely be entirely physical-based but with Swift Swim patching up its low Speed it's pretty much what I agree with you, hard to revenge kill in rain. Thankfully Ice Punch should now be easier to get now that Move Tutors will be in OR/AS.
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PlatinumDude

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I was kinda hoping they'd balance out Sceptile's offenses but they focus on Sp. Attack again which disappointed me since it has a more shallower special movepool compared to physical, but at least we have Sword Dance for that. That Speed and Sp. Attack pretty much shows its role is mainly a speedy special attacker and given that it blocks a huge threat in Thunder Wave its major threats are looking to be Talonflame, and also anything carrying Ice moves that can either outspeed or take a hit, or has Ice Shard.

Swampert on the other hand got a massive Attack boost while backing it up with boosts in both the defensive stats as well so yeah gonna be hard to take down without a Grass move which is the only weakness it even has. Moveset will likely be entirely physical-based but with Swift Swim patching up its low Speed it's pretty much what I agree with you, hard to revenge kill in rain. Thankfully Ice Punch should now be easier to get now that Move Tutors will be in OR/AS.
That being said, Brave Birds from Talonflame still hurt (Swampert's stats tweaked to match up with the Mega on Showdown's calculator):

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Swampert: 217-256 (63.6 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Sharp Beak Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Swampert: 159-187 (46.6 - 54.8%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO

Of course, Mega Swampert has to be healthy if it wants to ever have a shot against Talonflame. But still, that bulk is ridiculous.

On the other hand, I can't help but imagine a core of Mega Steelix + Sand Rush Stoutland in sandstorm. Both have to be used with Sand Stream support from Smooth Rock Hippopotas. Assuming you can keep sand up, Mega Steelix breaks things in half with Sand Force-boosted attacks, while Stoutland can come in and clean up afterward. I highly doubt this core has effectiveness in OU, so that's why I mentioned Hippopotas instead of Tyranitar or Hippowdon.

Hikamaru

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That being said, Brave Birds from Talonflame still hurt (Swampert's stats tweaked to match up with the Mega on Showdown's calculator):

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Swampert: 217-256 (63.6 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Sharp Beak Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Swampert: 159-187 (46.6 - 54.8%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO

Of course, Mega Swampert has to be healthy if it wants to ever have a shot against Talonflame. But still, that bulk is ridiculous.
Talonflame is still pretty much the biggest non-Grass threat thanks to those powerful Brave Birds, but still the really good bulk combined with how healthy Mega Swampert is what can make a difference under the right conditions. Just so unbelievable every Hoenn starter somehow gets threatened by Talonflame lol.

Also, on the topic of Mega Glalie the only thing that can easily wall its Explosion will be Damp users, and those are like not seen at all on a competitive basis so expect almost nothing to easily take it. And there's also Heatran... who's quad-resistant to Ice so I expect it'll be the major non-Damp wall to those Refrigerated Explosions.
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Nah

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Just so unbelievable every Hoenn starter somehow gets threatened by Talonflame lol.
Talonflame threatens a lot of stuff lol. Though I find it a bit scary how something with only 81 base Attack can rip holes in so much.

Also, on the topic of Mega Glalie the only thing that can easily wall its Explosion will be Damp users, and those are like not seen at all on a competitive basis so expect almost nothing to easily take it. And there's also Heatran... who's quad-resistant to Ice so I expect it'll be the major non-Damp wall to those Refrigerated Explosions.
Refrigerated Explosions sound nice, but would that actually be something people would commonly use? If Mega Glalie is even worth using at all.
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If Mega Glalie is even worth using at all.
I don't know, 120/120/100 offenses looks very, very potent. Additionally, it has a wonderful movepool composed of several support choices. We'll see, I suppose.

Polar Spectrum

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I hope M-Glalie gets Refrigerate for the sole purpose of Refrigerate + Explosion = awesome {XD}
Aren't you pleased as punch now eh?

Black2/White-esque move tutors are also confirmed to be back in ORAS, btw. THANK YOU GAME FREAK, NOW ****ING KEEP THEM IN FOR EVERY GAME FROM HERE ON OUT
Dollars to donuts they're still in every other game, being absent from the first titles of any new generation :P

That is at least good news, especially with the announcement that customization won't be appearing anymore so at least the more competitive players will be happy now. I was expecting move tutors to be in this game anyway.
Wait, it's confirmed we won't be able to change outfits in ORAS? D: Called it a million times over on the tutors being back tho. Whoop

On Mega Steelix / Glalie, nice. Steelix will see some offensive use now, and Glalie will see some use period haha. Pure Ice is still risky, but at least it's potent offensively now.
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