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Serebii Journal Discussion and Suggestions Thread - September Issue

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Discuss the issue of the Serebii Journal here, anything from what you liked the most to what you disliked as well as what you would want to see in the next issue. Updates on the next issue will be posted here such as the number of articles, the theme, and some of the article names.
 
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Rocxidi

The Jim Reaper
EliteKnight said:
Heatran @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fire Blast
- Autotomize
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Grass]


Heres a really abstract set, physical Heatran. With a passable base attack of 90, Heatran would be a decent surprise sweeper with Autotomize, boosting its attack up to 459 allowing it to hit most things quite hard backed by nice coverage. However the lack of physical fire moves does set the set back, but with its already high special attack, Heatran is capable of running mixed with Fire Blast using physical coverage moves like Earthquake and Stone Edge. On the other hand, Autotomize can be used as an Agility and make Heatran a deadly special attacker with its massive special attack.

Did you mean Shift Gear?

Also, Mandibuzz is a great counter to Bird Spam and many other Physical Attackers, and I personally think it's one of the best Physical Walls... Mandi is sad now...

Great job on this, by the way.
 
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Did you mean Shift Gear?

Also, Mandibuzz is a great counter to Bird Spam and many other Physical Attackers, and I personally think it's one of the best Physical Walls... Mandi is sad now...

Great job on this, by the way.

Yes i feel sheps ment shift gear. Will get edited
 

ger9119

Well-Known Member
Interview me 2k14

I liked this issue, even though it suffered from being highly outdated. No mention of Mega Mawile being banned and the constant Aegislash being brought up as a threat when it's banned. The editors should get articles redone before posting.

"That Was Then, This is Now" article suffered the most from this. Whoever's writing this article needs to get reevaluated as a contributor.

Scizor- It said significant changes were a Mega Evolution and Neutral to Ghost. But then right afterward, it says it's Mega Evolution is outclassed by it's Band Set which is putting down one of the changes it has. While mentioning it's Mega Evolution you didn't mention it's Swords Dance Set at all while talking about the normal Scizor's SD set which is outclassed by M-Sciz. It's neutral to Ghost but Aegislash is banned now so that is null and void now as the only other ghost seeing usage doesn't want to stay in on bullet punch, it also lost it's dark resist which i think is much more important than Ghost.

Tyranitar- The weather nerf actually helps Tar, for it doesn't have to worry about switching in to cancel out weather and being the dominate weather starter it doesn't face compeition for that spot. Once again no Aegislash in OU so that doesn't bother it anymore. Also Tyranitar doesn't learn Knock Off, Rotom-W is the best Talonflame Check and Scarf Tar doesn't outspeed +1 Mega Charizard X.

Keldeo- One of the ones i kinda agree with. Specs Hydro Pump still hit's hard and it's fast enough to outspeed most of the stuff in the tier. Sand Offence is one of the most popular playstyles right now, along with multi weather (Tar/Zard-Y), also it's scarf set is a pretty damn good revenge killer

Terrakion- Aegislash is Ubers 2k14. It's still a viable Taunt Lead, Steel Types don't like Fighting since only one steel type runs a priorty move that hurts Terrakion. Sub/Salac is pretty good, with a sub and swords dance it can set up on a lot of mons. Terrakion isn't as good as before but you still have to prepare for it, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be. (Also can you check articles because one says Terrak is bad and the other says it's good)

Thundy-T- The weather nerf doesn't affect volt absorb so it still can effectively abuse it. it's choice scarf set is probably one of the best Thundy-I checks there is.

The last article i had minor nitpicks with, Steel/Psychic still isn't very good at all since the Knock Off Bluff and the amount of Pokemon that effectively use it. And non dark pulse Greninja is pretty gimmicky and not common, just about 70% of Greninja's run Dark Pulse. Bisharp is just as good as it was before, hazards and hazards control is common as long as it is Bisharp would still be great.
 
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Ubers and LC

im probably gonna sound like a dick with these comments but its not what im going for. more like constructive criticism.

the now and then article, frankly, was pretty bad. like ger said, sheps didnt really seem to accurately portray the meta when he wrote the article.

i also felt that the new and underrated threats articles seemed a bit lacking. not because they were poorly written (because they werent by any means), but because the articles kinda felt incomplete.

same with the featured team. i wouldve like to have seen it as if it were written for an rmt rather than just an importable and listing the mons. the teambuilding process being written would help newer players get a grasp of how to build better imo

i enjoyed everything else tho
 
The last article i had minor nitpicks with, Steel/Psychic still isn't very good at all since the Knock Off Bluff and the amount of Pokemon that effectively use it. And non dark pulse Greninja is pretty gimmicky and not common, just about 70% of Greninja's run Dark Pulse. Bisharp is just as good as it was before, hazards and hazards control is common as long as it is Bisharp would still be great.

Hi, thinks for the feedback, but all of these points are incorrect.

Steel/Psychic is significantly better with Aegislash gone. Not as good as in BW, but still decent. "Knock Off is everywhere" is such an overused argument, but when you get right down to it, most common users of the move either win regardless of whether or not they have Knock Off (i.e. Landorus), are weak enough that Knock Off isn't even that dangerous (i.e. Gliscor), or are dangerous enough that you shouldn't be relying on Jirachi or Bronzong to check them anyway (i.e. Azumarill). Only a couple of things like Tornadus-T and Landorus-T would be easy to handle if not for Knock Off, and even then, the former still hurts with Heat Wave and the latter only really applies to Bronzong. Regardless, Jirachi and Bronzong have once again become quite viable, and the Aegislash ban is the single greatest cause of that.

Non-Dark Pulse Greninja isn't gimmicky, it's standard. Dark Pulse isn't even that great of a choice on Greninja because you can get most of the exact same neutral coverage against Water-types (if not running HP Grass/Grass Knot) and such with Extrasensory while hitting things like Keldeo, Mega Venusaur, and AV Conkeldurr harder. Deoxys-D and Aegislash were the two biggest reasons to use Dark Pulse, and they're gone. It also got only 35% usage on Greninja last month on the high end of the ladder (the only stats that should really be taken seriously, and even those are shaky), so I'm not sure where the 70% number is coming from. The only thing I can think of that Dark Pulse hits is specially defensive Mew, to be honest (and Jirachi/Bronzong who, while viable, are still really uncommon). Everything else can already be hit by one of Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Extrasensory, HP Fire, and HP Grass or Grass Knot.

While Bisharp is still very good, being able to trap Aegislash was a big reason for using it on offensive teams when paired with something like Mega Heracross or Mega Gardevoir. That alone is enough for it to lose stock. It's not a huge drop in viability, but it is a slight drop nonetheless.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this, but Aegislash's ban has caused a trend where people are starting to choose Rapid Spinners over Defoggers, causing Excadrill to be even more common and making things like Starmie and Tentacruel more viable. This also hurts Bisharp somewhat as dissuading Defog is one of its biggest perks. There's also the fact that people have become so used to Defiant Bisharp that it's a lot harder to actually get a Defiant boost via Defog against a competent player and really do a lot of damage with it than it used to be.
 
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BGP_

Well-Known Member
Two things

First, since I've been told I can ask this, if anyone has suggestions for who to interview next (yes, I was the one who interviewed user Archangel) feel free to make suggestions here and a legit reason why if you want. Not guaranteeing any suggestions will be taken, and I already have some people in mind so not guaranteeing I start taking suggestions for the next one immediately, but I'll think about it depending on what's said here. If enough people say the same person that I already thought I guess that'll put them higher up in priority :p

Second, I say ubers cuz gengarite :)
 

Rocxidi

The Jim Reaper
I'm assuming the issue seems outdated because it was written before the end of the month... Not only that, but Smogon has been working fast...

I'd say you should interview EK if it hasn't happened already... :)

Also, one of the things I've noticed as I read threads in Serebii / Smogon is the emphasis on specific Pokemon but not specific moves. There are certain moves that deserve individual discussion, such as Dual Chop, Acrobatics, etc. for having its uses, or other moves like Knock Off / Earthquake for being extremely useful. For example, rather than saying that Excadrill is a great spinner, the issue should mention Rapid Spin / Defog in general, while mentioning viable users of said moves and emphasizing their importance in the current metagame. This is simply an idea...
 
Articles for next issue include:
Interview
Wars+ Tournaments+ Leagues
LC

if something you want isnt on this list or at least mentioned in this thread. Post what you want here!
 

Psynergy

Strong Winds
Staff member
Super Mod
There should be something on the new mons that rose to OU like Magnezone, Mew, Heracross, and Slowbro.

Definitely this. Particularly with an emphasis on the things they can they can do in OU now so people understand the specific reasons they moved up besides simply "Aegislash is gone." Even though that's a fair reason in itself, but still.
 

Saph~

Serebii Champion x.x
So little confused on a couple things in Sheps' section.

(Keldeo)
Usage Rank in BW2 31st
Usage Rank in XY OU 39th
Significant Changes ~

(Terrakion)
Usage Rank in BW2 25th
Usage Rank in XY OU62nd
Significant Changes ~

Pretty sure both of these mons had some significant changes that made them not quite as good. With keldeo, it got hit fairly hard by the weather nerf, meaning it couldn't abuse the effects of rain easily anymore. With terrakion, the rise of aegislash and other ghosts due to their offensive buffs hit it quite hard because it couldn't spam close combats as easily. Since aegislash is gone now, usage for terra has probably gone up a little bit. Another thing that annoys both mons was the addition of another fighting resisted type.
 

Eaglehawk

Banned
I'm planning to do a "This Just In Slowpoke" article (slowpoke mem obv). I didn't get to do it simply because Kokoloko is a bipolar little turd and that September was ushering in new tier changes. Instead of being a full-length article traditional to most journals, it will just be kind of like a series of "news headlines" with a small blurb to describe why it moved up/why it was banned. For OU, I will be covering Aegislash and Mega-Mawile (mostly I only pay attention to the lower tiers). I will also be doing explanations for bans/quickbans in RU and NU and UU Testing period results.

Another article will detail the drops from OU to the lower tiers. This article will consist of mostly UU (since UU got the biggest number of drops).
 

Moonclawz

Aura Trainer
Although the "New Threats to the Metagame" articles was a bit outdated, I think journal overall was good. The Interview with Archangel was really interesting to read.

As Bestgamepearl mentioned, an Ubers article would be nice since the results of the Gengarite test are coming out soon.

I'd be willing to help write articles too :)
 
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