With the first edition of the DUU circuit coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on the tournament and the metagame as a whole, as well as provide some of the winners and losers of the tour in the grand scheme of DUU.
About midway through the first round, we saw a new archetype pop up in Gothitelle + Mega Manectric + Setup, and this quickly swept the metagame aside and prevented itself as both the team to use and beat for the rest of the tour. Kommo-o specifically is great with this pair, and it rose to an astounding 43% usage, surpassing even DUU staple Mega Scizor. Even more impressive is its staggering 65% win percentage, especially considering many of its matches were mirrors that resulted in a win and a loss for the pokemon. While this metagame change was swift and abrupt, I personally thought it was great to see meta development pushed forward so heavily in a way that I personally didn't spearhead, which is great for the metagame as a whole. I will echo Memoric's thoughts on Kommo-o: A pokemon so centralizing that you dedicate 3-4 slots on every team to beating it is straight up not healthy, and I would like to be able to ban Kommonium Z as soon as possible (
kamikaze). I am very welcome to more metagame changes and hope to see more of our community's great players continue to challenge and change the norm as far as what is good in this tier.
DUU Winter: Winners
Kommo-o: I went over Kommo-o's success in my beginning paragraph, but thanks to the recent release of its own insanely powerful Z move, Kommo-o has surged to the top of this Metagame, challenged only by Azumarill in terms of dominance. Boasting the highest usage rate
while also having the 5th highest winrate of everything above 10% usage is insane. A broken pokemon, it currently is the face of DUU.
Gothitelle: At first considered a niche pick, the Shadow Tag user we all know and love has quickly proven itself as the premier support Pokemon in DUU. The ability to Trap, set Trick Room, and Heal Pulse its allys is incredible when paired with aggressive setup sweepers like Kommo-o and Azumarill. While we wait to hear if there will be a DOU decision on Shadow Tag or Gothitelle, it will remain a premier threat on many DUU teams. It also posted a positive winrate (57%), which is fairly impressive considering it also saw a bunch of mirrors, especially in the middle-late rounds.
Manectric-Mega: Like Gothitelle, Mega Manectric was on the fringe of viability until Level 51's favored archetype found it's way to DUU, and boy has it been a subject of contention. Many believe it to be the best mega in the format, as its speed + pivot ability + ability to drop both attacking stats has been able to provide so much support for the likes of Azumarill and Kommo-o. It has certainly taken the mega by storm, and it will be interesting to see where it's viability goes when/if we have a DUU without Kommo-o or Gothitelle. It boasted a high usage rate of 21.92% while also maintaining a solid winrate of 59.38%.
Incineroar: At the start of this tournament, Incineroar saw a lot of competition. There were bulky fake out users in Hariyama and Hitmontop, strong Fire types in Entei and Victini, and solid Dark types in Hydreigon and Krookodile. As the tour progressed however, Incineroars bulk, power, and utility quickly saw its usage sky rocket. Incineroar pairs well with Goth/Mane/Setup, as the bulky fake out, strong fire stab, and ability to pivot with U turn allow it to support the team in a number of ways. It had the 4th highest usage rate in DUU, trailing only Kommo-o, Scizor, and Azumarill, at 29.45% while also boasting the
best winrate at 67.44%.
Clefable: With the rise of heavy setup, Clefable's ability to ignore opposing stat boosts with unaware and redirect attacks has proven invaluable. It's one of the more solid Kommo-o checks in the game, and has other utility in Heal Pulse and Icy Wind. Clefable won 66.67% of its games at 18.49% usage, so it is clearly here to stay, challenging even Togekiss as the best redirector in the format.
Gengar: This pokemon has fallen off since XY DOU, seeing as it lost levitate and was pushed out of viability by stronger Pokemon, it has fallen to us here in DUU. Always a solid choice, Gengar's utility has seen it surge back onto the scene as a dominant threat. Able to beat fairies and psychic types as well as provide great support in Icy Wind, Will-o-Wisp, and Taunt, mean the sash disruptor set is back in full force. While its usage was middling, around 15.75%, it had a great winrate at 65.22%.
Losers:
Charizard-Mega-X: This Pokemon saw a huge fall from stardom this tour. With Kommo-o's rise and the everpresent dominance of Azumarill, as well as new competition for the Mega slot in Manectric and Mawile, see this Pokemon's viability plummet. While still a threat, it loses to the 2 best Pokemon in the format, which is no bueno for something that is supposed to be so powerful. It's tour usage was a measly 6.16%, and it went 4-5 in games, for a 44.44% winrate.
Breloom: Previously considered a premier threat, with its combo of priority and Spore, Breloom quickly found itself in a number of poor matchups, whether it was being taunted by Gengar, redirected by goggles Togekiss or Clefable, or just straight up KO'd due to its poor defensive stats and typing, Breloom saw high usage coupled with poor performance in round 1, and quickly saw its usage fall from there. It had a high usage rate at 18.49%, but a terrible winrate: 40.74%. It was the 2nd most used Pokemon in round 1, seeing 31.94% usage and a 43.48% winrate there. It went just 1-3 in the next 4 rounds.
Gardevoir-Mega: Many people, myself included, thought this strong mega would take a foothold in DUU, boasting great Special Attack and Defense stats and Strong STAB in Hyper Voice with utility moves like Trick Room and Icy Wind. However, Kommo-o's ability Soundproof prevents Hyper Voice, and the increased Mega competition + Pokemon like Gengar and Incineroar really shut down Mega Gardevoir's offense. It saw a measly 8.90% usage and a poor 30.77% winrate.
Porgyon-Z: While this Pokemon didn't do outright terrible, it saw its position as foremost Z crystal setup Pokemon taken away by Kommo-o. While PZ is not a bad pokemon in its own right, not being able to use it with Kommo-o puts any PZ team at a disadvantage. Mega-Manectric doesn't help either, as its base form's lightning rod can help teams deal with it more easily.
Sylveon: Hooooo boy. Sylveon took a hit this tour. It already sees so much competition from Fairy-types like Gardevoir, Azumarill, and Clefable, and now with Kommo-o blocking its preferred set of specs Hyper Voice, Sylveon has to find a new way to find success, and it didn't find it in this tour. It had the worst usage rate of every Pokemon with more than 10 uses, as it went an abysmal 2-10 in games for a winrate of 16.67%, at a usage rate of 8.22%.
Dragons: I touched on this in my notes about Zard X, but the addition of Kommo-o's dominance coupled with Azumarills dominance and Manectric's ability to snarl them, Dragon types struggled to succeed in this tournament. Both Latios and Hydreigon had the same records: 4-8 (33.33%) and a usage rate of 8.22%.
Thanks for playing everyone! I know myself and the rest of the DUUdes™ will continue to develop and monitor the metagame until the time comes for our next tournament.