A Look back at US Nationals
So of course, US Nationals was the last major event before worlds so taking a lot at that can give a good indication of where the meta game is heading and more specifically, what people will be bringing to counterteam the meta. Looking at day 2 teams, Landorus-Therian was overwhelmingly the most popular Pokemon, making its way on 27 of 37 teams. That means that basically 3 out of every 4 people were using Landorus-T! And honestly, don't expect this trend to die down. There's a reason Lando-T is so good. Flinches from fast Rock Slides literally swings momentum in games. And STAB Earthquake is so good! And only two types can switch into Earthquake: Grass and Flying. But with Rock Slide for Flying types and a lack of Grass Pokemon in the metagame, there's really nothing that's safe from Landorus-T. We saw the same trend last year with Garchomp, who was on nearly 40% of ALL teams by the end of 2014. Of course, with worlds we tend to see some more creativity, so don't expect all Lando-T to have Scarf with Rock Slide, EQ, Superpower, and U-Turn. I think we are going to see a shift more towards power with Life Orb on teams that are heavily reliant on speed control. The next four most popular Pokemon at Day 2 US Nats were Aegislash, Thundurus-I, Kangaskhan, and Amoongus. Again, each of these Pokemon are very solid overall. Aegislash hits hard and has amazing defenses thanks to Stance Change, Thundurus-I is one of the best support Pokemon in the game who also boasts a solid 125 SpA stat, Kangaskhan is the most popular mega, with very balanced stats, and Amoongus is arguably the best redirector, with Regenerator for recovery and impressive bulk that makes it a menace to take out.
US Nationals also showed us a shift towards the new premier mega: Gardevoir. I actually predicted Gardevoir to make the finals of nationals because it was so good. And the great thing about Gardevoir is that people are finding more and more ways to use it. We've seen a shift from being strictly on a Trick Room team to being on teams that have different forms of speed control, which Gardevoir easily takes advantage of thanks to its 165 SpA and 100 Speed. Looking at National Champion Toler Webb's team, the only form of speed control he had was Thunder Wave from Thundurus, and he turned out doing all right.
US Nationals was also quite the showing for weather, with 5/8 top cut teams having some form of weather with twenty of 37 day 2 teams sporting some sort of weather. Weather of course is always a very popular strategy because it usually offers some sort of support (i.e. weakening effectiveness of opponent's moves, boosting speed, etc) without having to waste a turn using a move (unless you're using manual weather).
A Look at Worlds
So what will Worlds bring us? Should we expect to see something similar to Nats? Or will the metagame look entirely different.
Top Pokemon
There are of course some specific Pokemon that I expect to be very popular. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Landorus-T, Thundurus-I, and Aegislash will all crack the top 5. All three are very good at what they do and don't show any signs of dropping in usage. However, I do expect Aegislash to overtake Landorus-T as the most used Pokemon. Aegislash has such amazing typing and deals with so much of the metagame so well. I also expect to see less Wide Guard Aegislash. Obviously Wide Guard is a great move but it seems like the novelty is wearing off because everyone and their mother knows that Aegislash has it. I expect to see Substitute as the most popular fourth move but I also expect to see a lot more attack moves in that fourth move, whether it be Shadow Sneak, a Hidden Power, or some other super niche tech move. As I mentioned before, Lando-T will of course be very popular but I expect to see it used much more creatively than the standard Choice Scarf variant. I think we'll see a lot of LO, Choice Band, AV, and maybe something really cool like Substitute, which we saw on a few Garchomp towards the end of last year. I'm sure Thundurus will continue to be bulky and annoying with four of Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Taunt, Hidden Power Ice, Swagger, and Protect.
Top Mega Pokemon
After the Gardevoir battle in the finals of Nationals, will Gardevoir climb to the top in Mega usage? Unlikely in my opinion, but I expect it to thrive. I feel that Salamence will be top dog (or dragon) for worlds. Its ridiculously raw power plus its insane speed plus Intimidate make it a great pick. Much like Kangaskhan, you can slap it on most any team and it'll work out just fine. But what about that number 2 spot? I think it's going to be a battle between Gardevoir and Charizard Y. Gardevoir does a great job of keeping Mence in check (with speed control) while Charizard is able to rock my of the metagame with sun boosted base 159 SpA Heat Waves. And of course the ability to nuke things with Overheat and let's not forget that it can change the weather, making match-ups with other weather teams much easier. I expect Kangaskhan to pretty comfortably settle into the four spot. It's always a solid pick and I'm sure it'll be on at least one top cut team but I think that teams are really starting to counter it, with Aegislash, Landorus-T, and Amoongus (Usually Rocky Helmet) running amok.
Niche Picks
There are some Pokemon that seem to be so good against the metagame that could be very interesting if put on the right teams. Mamoswine is a perfect example. With a Scarf or LO and Tailwind, it's able to beat some very popular threats, such as Landorus, Thundurus, Heatran, Aegislash, Salamence, Amoongus, and Hydreigon. It really hasn't taken off this year but I expect it to be a good pick for worlds. Two megas that also fit the bill: Mega Scizor and Mega Blastoise. Both of them have very impressive Attack and Special Attack stats respectively and both get their moves further powered up by their abilities. But why do I think they are so good? Well their ability to again, counter popular threats. Mega Blastoise is a bulky water type with insane offensive power. With minimal support, it's able to easily beat threats like Kangaskhan, Salamence, Thundurus, Heatran, and Landorus. It also does a great job of countering Sand teams. And what does Mega Scizor do that's so great? Well it beats Gardevoir, beats sand, does well against rain (barring a Scald burn), beats Kangaskhan, and puts on immense pressure with very high powered Bullet Punches, which is able to clean up the late game. But Pyro, why not just use LO Scizor? Well while LO Scizor is a great call as well, Mega Scizor gives you very similar power while freeing up your LO for something else! I'm not saying that Scizor or Blastoise are surefire picks but they definitely can cause a lot of trouble on the right teams.
Top Strategies
There's really two strategies to talk about here and that's weather and Trick Room. I expect to see a lot of Sand teams because it just seems to be everywhere. Ttar and Excadrill are a solid duo as are Ttar and Landorus-I. And I think that a lot of players will see this and thus, I think many will go with Rain. Rain is a great weather because it's able to beat Sand, even when Rain isn't active. I think that we will have two rain teams and one sand team team in top cut of Worlds. And what about sun? While I think that Charizard will be popular, I don't expect to see too many Charizard/Venusaur teams (Although if I was there, you might be seeing some Shiftry/Ninetales action). Isn't there another weather? I feel like I'm forgetting one. Hmmmm.....OH YEAH! Hail. Well, Hail is...ummm... well it's hail. It's arguably the worst weather due to the fact that its only upside is making Blizzard 100% accurate. Come on Game Freak. No Ice move attack boost? Or ice type Pokemon defense boost? Way to give it the cold shoulder....
While I don't expect Hail to be relevant at all, I do think that the best Snow Warning Pokemon may see some usage. Trick Room is a great strategy that never seems to be fully utilized. While lots of teams will be going fast with Weather, Twave, and Tailwind, I think that a good Trick Room team will be perfect for the meta. So many teams try to go fast that they seem like they auto lose to Trick Room. I feel like people have kind of forgotten about it. And what will be some good Pokemon to take advantage of Trick Room? Well I think we will see a good amount of Mawile in Trick Room. Mawile beats some of the most popular mega Pokemon, like Kangaskhan, Salamence, and Gardevoir. It's also just has crazy raw power and can OHKO a lot of good Pokemon that it hits neutrally. I also expect to see at least one good Mega Abomasnow in Trick Room. Ice and Grass are both pretty good offensive types right now and with 132 Atk and 132 SpA, Mega Abomasnow has a lot of options. It also gets some nifty coverage moves like Rock Slide and Earthquake that can patch up some of its weaknesses to fire types.
Well thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed my personal predictions on what to expect at worlds. Leave a comment here or on twitter about my predictions or just the article in general!
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