hello pals i wanted to post my thoughts on this suspect test as i didn't post anything on page 1
i think the current meta is ill prepared for a pokemon like metagross for a number of reasons. metagross is without a doubt one of the best pokemon in the tier and poses a threat to almost every single team in the meta and most people's choice of counterplay such as scizor is now easy to circumvent as hp fire is finding it's way onto different metagross sets and is a legitimately viable option. there are few good answers to dealing with metagross to begin with and another issue that i haven't seen adressed that much is that a good majority of the moves found on metagross have secondary effects that end up really punishing the opponent to where prediction isn't even that important. it's incredibly easy to spam meteor mash vs most teams as landorus-t / ferrothorn / helmet tangrowth are the only things that can switch in and apply some sort of damage thanks to helmet / barbs, although landorus-t and ferrothorn wont stay in for fear of ice punch and hammer arm respectively. when metagross inevitably gets +1 attack vs these more bulkier offensive teams it has no problem breaking holes and getting at least one kill before the inevitable scarfchomp which btw is a roll to ko metagross with eq when factorin gin rough skin or their ash greninja or whatever. zen headbutt comes with flinch chance which makes it easy to muscle past mons like rotom and when its paired with lele, if sr is up, its incredible tough to beat as it does something crazy like 35% to scizor so you just flinch through that as well. thunder punch and ice punch come with their own hax chances as well so without running helmet on like every pokemon metagross is free to spam its moves and fish for whatever and more often than not it will end up having an affect on the game.
metagross puts a heavy restriction on teambuilding in the meta and the most frustrating aspect is that metagross itself needs very little support from its teammates barring maybe hazard removal. every single tapu aids it, with lele and koko boosting its moves, bulu applying recovery, and fini protecting from any scald burns and paralysis. i'm not going to address some of the other more known stuff such as the immediate speed boost and the lack of counters coming over from gen 6 bc everyone knows that but i do want to bring up the dumbass reasoning of "metagross has 4mss so it's really not that good" just because metagross has more than 4 viable moves doesn't mean it doesn't function properly with only four. all metagross truly needs is meteor mash / hammer arm or eq / and then coverage options depending on the team. i'm really not sure when this mentality of having a lot of moves to pick from and not being able to fit them all on one set meant a mon was bad, bc what it really means is that without absolutely flawless play you could lose something that you needed tin your game to one of its coverage moves because scouting for everytihng vs mmetal isn't realistic and like i said earlier with all the secondary effects of its moves, you also risk getting punished via hax.
i think the current meta is ill prepared for a pokemon like metagross for a number of reasons. metagross is without a doubt one of the best pokemon in the tier and poses a threat to almost every single team in the meta and most people's choice of counterplay such as scizor is now easy to circumvent as hp fire is finding it's way onto different metagross sets and is a legitimately viable option. there are few good answers to dealing with metagross to begin with and another issue that i haven't seen adressed that much is that a good majority of the moves found on metagross have secondary effects that end up really punishing the opponent to where prediction isn't even that important. it's incredibly easy to spam meteor mash vs most teams as landorus-t / ferrothorn / helmet tangrowth are the only things that can switch in and apply some sort of damage thanks to helmet / barbs, although landorus-t and ferrothorn wont stay in for fear of ice punch and hammer arm respectively. when metagross inevitably gets +1 attack vs these more bulkier offensive teams it has no problem breaking holes and getting at least one kill before the inevitable scarfchomp which btw is a roll to ko metagross with eq when factorin gin rough skin or their ash greninja or whatever. zen headbutt comes with flinch chance which makes it easy to muscle past mons like rotom and when its paired with lele, if sr is up, its incredible tough to beat as it does something crazy like 35% to scizor so you just flinch through that as well. thunder punch and ice punch come with their own hax chances as well so without running helmet on like every pokemon metagross is free to spam its moves and fish for whatever and more often than not it will end up having an affect on the game.
metagross puts a heavy restriction on teambuilding in the meta and the most frustrating aspect is that metagross itself needs very little support from its teammates barring maybe hazard removal. every single tapu aids it, with lele and koko boosting its moves, bulu applying recovery, and fini protecting from any scald burns and paralysis. i'm not going to address some of the other more known stuff such as the immediate speed boost and the lack of counters coming over from gen 6 bc everyone knows that but i do want to bring up the dumbass reasoning of "metagross has 4mss so it's really not that good" just because metagross has more than 4 viable moves doesn't mean it doesn't function properly with only four. all metagross truly needs is meteor mash / hammer arm or eq / and then coverage options depending on the team. i'm really not sure when this mentality of having a lot of moves to pick from and not being able to fit them all on one set meant a mon was bad, bc what it really means is that without absolutely flawless play you could lose something that you needed tin your game to one of its coverage moves because scouting for everytihng vs mmetal isn't realistic and like i said earlier with all the secondary effects of its moves, you also risk getting punished via hax.
this is something i also wanted to address because i don't think i can disgaree more with this. it doesn't matter if you know what metagross is clicking 90% of the time if its clicking meteor mash and getting +1 or hitting the appropriate coverage move which it is fine to do vs most because its natural bulk and immediate threat level mean you can't just keep most pokemon in on it. metagross doesn't require you to play linearly and it is not out here rewarding proactive play either when it's legitimately a fine play to just spam mash and fish. even on turns when it's a "prediction" it really never is because the meta user loses nothing from clicking mash and fishing unless they have something to actively punish that. it wouldn't be a big deal if metagross didn't have tough claws and 389 attack as well as 2hkoing almost everything but that IS the case.Metagross is a mon that encourages and rewards proactive play, which jives well with SM as a whole. It's not enough to have a solid team anymore, the player themselves are asked to navigate it properly. The "broken checking broken" argument is simply silly at this stage - things are relative to one another, and the power level of Gen 7 is high enough that Metagross isn't terribly out of place. It's a mon almost as straightforward as they come - you know what it's clicking 90% of the time, and the ability to dance around and punish a Metagross player being linear is a neat part of the metagame.