Chase

It's um...."official"-official.

@ Slant - I want to say that I "agreed" with the original wording save for the percentage that was given. You're correct, mostly becuase there is a huge difference between a beginner trying to innovate versus someone who has a solid knowledge of the meta. I -never- outright disagreed with anything. @ Nickcrash - I don't know if you're assuming I didn't read the whole guide, but I did. I pointed out those buzzwordy phrases because of exactly what you said - they come off the page and if you're going to build a team and you're new, those are good premises to start with. Obviously though, you are going to want to know all of the terminology, archetypes, etc as well.

Gen 1 - Mega Blastoise Gen 2 - Mega Ampharos Gen 3 - Mega Gardevoir Gen 4 - Mega Gallade Gen 5 -.....I guess we'll go with Mega Audino because it's the ONLY one?.... Gen 6 - Mega Diancie for the same reason above.... My favorite mega is Gallade, but I myself find myself building around non-megas and keeping pace with them at times. I actually don't think they're needed on every team, even though after ORAS came out it's use seems to have grown more prominent, on my end.

Only thing that I would call into question (and I would expect this to still be a work in progress) is that this is not divided into "tiers", which means that obviously you aren't going to bring a birdspam team consisting of M-Pinsir and Talonflame to a tier below OverUsed. Only reason I bring that up is we are trying to give the whole spectrum some attention with our competitive forum overhauls - not that any information was left out. So far, the given information - outside of the pokemon examples - works in ANY tier however. I especially like the following bits: "a good strategy is one that allows the player to win consistently and with minimal risk." "have a gameplan in mind." "start with the win condition and move backwards." etc, etc. --- Slant, I ask that you be careful when talking about fundamental strategies vs. innovative ones. While fundamental approaches are more often successful and hold less risk, telling someone to not innovate and providing a statistic (99%, for example) and spending a whole paragraph dogging the practice infringes on disrespecting of a players' gaming preference, which is a something that we discourage in this community. I'm not saying that you're incorrect in that statement, but it can be reworded to come off as less of a disparagement.

Yes, this has been moved. Sonic, if you want to make a 'Showcase' like the other threads of it's kind, I would just doit by in-depth analysis of a -single- pokemon (kinda like the Smogon pages do). This particular thread was a bit confusing becuase it was not only a full team of six, but also included pokemon that are not in the OverUsed tier. I haven't used Roserade myself, but I find that an interesting pick. Dugtrio is a pokemon that if you don't handle can really set your opponent back, and I like how you use it as a Heatran check - with the only issue being the burn chance.

HAHAHA Favorite TANK..........das funny....haha...ha.......ha..ha...... Regular ole' Camerupt, and Tangrowth are tied for this spot.

The interesting thing about "Deflategate" is that previously, when Indy played New England in the regular season the Colts -did- suspect that the footballs used by the Patriots were underinflated and contacted the league office. (Well, -supposedly-....I'm not to be quoted on that being a fact.) If -so-, then this playoff game's instance -would- be something to be suspicious about. The common response from Patriot fans and staffers seems to be along the lines of "Other teams do the same thing." as opposed to putting their hands up and declaring innocence in the first place. As has already been said though, Indianapolis didn't play well enough to question this further and it wouldn't have mattered how cushiony and light the footballs were. The rule isn't exactly defined with a reasoning, but it is evident that underinflated footballs are easier to handle by running backs in colder conditions as opposed to adequately inflated balls. --- Denver is going to fade very fast. Kubiak is a so-so coach who often does a great job initially and then becomes irrelavent the longer he stays with a franchise. Peyton is just around that age in general, and I don't think he'll be ever overstay his welcome with the league. Playing at his age is more than having a likeable coach.

Hiruda Kurisutiin Vaisu/Wiisu/Uiasu/? ~ Hilda

.....Why is it THESE two teams..........We all know the Cowboys would have been here had it not been for getting hosed. I don't like either team, but I'm going to pick the Patriots because at least they already have established their dynasty and we don't have to hear the word "new dynasty" all of next season. thanks Green Bay....way to choke....Geez...

I usually wouldn't risk-switch my "counter" if I have a "check" available. It's a good point, but like you said, Gyarados should be able to beat it regardless, especially if it has the often accompanying cleric still around I mostly suggested Gyarados because Keldeo was already mentioned.

Smogonturd......and Fl-....Florges....FLORges....FLORGES- OU - Check Terrakion @ Choice Scarf Ability: Justified EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Close Combat - Stone Edge - Earthquake - Rock Slide Every time your opponent is going to see a Terrakion, they know their Smogonturd is going to get outsped.....or they'll find out, the hard way. Counter Gyarados @ Gyaradosite Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Dragon Dance - Waterfall - Earthquake - Ice Fang (couldn't find the Mega Sprite, oops) - Megados is nice and bulky and gets rid of a potentially bad weakness to Stone Edge, thus most likely forcing a switch from Heatran, giving this thing a free Dragon Dance and puts pressure on the opponents team. UU ~ Check Crobat @ Choice Band Ability: Infiltrator EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Brave Bird - U-turn - Cross Poison - Defog BandBat is a fairly obvious check that will run circles around Florges if it stays in. Only attacking Crobat run Cross Poison, but honestly, in order to preserve Florges (who is hapless in terms fo physical defense.), you should probaly treat every Crobat you see as an attacker until you know the things moveset. This is a good pokemon to bring if you are having problems with Florges in particular. ...and now time for a little bit of innovation, because I'm usually due for it, here's a suggested counter.... Durant @ Life Orb Ability: Hustle EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Hone Claws - Iron Head - Superpower - Crunch Those of you that know me....know that I think Durant is TERRIBLE....and it still is, but there is literally nothing a Florges is going to be be able to do to this thing, and so long as you give Durant the luxury of sticking around till it's counters are dealt with, this thing effectively dispatches the flower fairy. Yes, it is from a lower tier, but for the sole purpose at hand, it's very, very good. (even though it's bad. ) Hmm.....

What do you mean I was going to forget this series, what GIVES I KNOW WHAT-...we're live?...oh- Pokemon of the Week: Druddigon (lol special attack animation that -looks- baller but really means you ain't doin' it right.) Viability in RU: A+ Rank - this pokemon does a couple of things dangerously well and can fit on several teams. Ooh, Druddigon. Basically. when you see your opponent use this thing, you should just forfeit the battle, because you aren't going to stop it......okay, maybe you can stop it, but this thing can cause a lot of problems with it's fantastic ability and coverage moves. If your opponent thinks they can switch in -any- Fairy type on this thing (and it will force some switches) they're going to be in for a very unpleasant surprise. Druddigon is all about click and attack, so if you're like Hilda and "ain't got time for that settin' up business", this is the pokemon for YOU. One of my absolute favorites after using it competitively, and my favorite 'mon in RarelyUsed. Ideal Item: Depends on the set you want. Druddigon is a BULKY pokemon that can dish out some damage, so it's an excellent user of the Assault Vest. What about damage? You can have that too. Pick your poison though: Choice Band Druddigon pairs well with it's vastly superior attack stat (over it's Special Attack) and avoids a pricey HP loss, but locks you into a move until you switch it out. Life Orb Druddigon however gets access to it's entire moveset, which enables the prediction game to be opened up for the price token HP loss. But WAIT...there's MORE. Druddigon can even be run a little defensively. Leftovers can be used on Stealth Rock (Yes, this monster even can serve as your Hazard setter) sets, while you can go with the Rocky Helmet and pair it up with one of Druddigon's abilities to make touching the thing with physical attacks a costly decision. Ya know, kinda like what some people do with Ferrothorn up in OverUsed, except...it's not Iron Barbs... VIABLE Abilities: Druddigon get's three abilities (Two to choose from out in the wild, and a third "Hidden")...and two of those abilities are great to use in RU play. The first one is the common ability Rough Skin - which gives opponents who attack it recoil damage from any physical attack. This pairs well with the Rocky Helmet on the defensive set you'll see in a bit. The Hidden Ability is Sheer Force - which boost's it attacks' power in exchange for omitting the possibility for secondary effects on moves that have them. This makes some attacks -really- hurt and pairs well with the Choice Band and Life Orb. If you were going to ask ME which set you should use, it's a Sheer Force All-Out-Attacker set, but Druddigon's a 'mon of many talents. Lets go with the defensive set. Druddigon is a pokemon that will be doing a lot of it's damage in this set, by -taking- direct attacks. (I'll try to copy past the exportable here, and -not- tamper with it this time.) It get's acess to pretty fun utility moves, as you'll see: Druddigon @ Rocky Helmet Ability: Rough Skin EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD Careful Nature - Glare - Dragon Claw - Rest - Fire Punch Glare is a 100% accuracy move that paralyzes the target, which helps out it's teammates set up for the sweep (although, -this- pokemon is good enough to sweep itself why would, oh, I guess I have to be someone open-minded....-sigh-....) and Druddigon is one of the few pokemon that is graced with being able ot use it. Dragon Claw is optimal over Outrage because you want to be able to freely use the entire moveset. Rest is a move that can prolong this pokemon's life and is by far the most interchangeable move in set unless you want to subsitute coverage move Fire Punch for Sleep Talk. (If you want to get rid of Rest, a good replacement is Stealth Rock (to set up entry hazards), Dragon Tail (to assist in crippling the opponents team with Glare by shuffling the opposing pokemon in and out.), or third coverage move GUNK SHOT.....for those pesky fairies you want catch off guard upon switching in. Then there's THIS monstrosity... Druddigon @ Assault Vest Ability: Sheer Force EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe Adamant Nature - Dragon Claw - Sucker Punch - Fire Punch - Gunk Shot Assualt Vest gives this thing some pretty good bulk in case it gets into a scrap, but you can also put in the Choice Band or Life Orb here just to pack an incriminating amount of heat in all four slots. Sucker Punch enables Druddigon the ability to deal with Psychic types and gives it a priority move (and it's always good to keep this move hidden untill late game), Dragon Claw is suitable enough, especially with the boost items to grant Druddigon a STAB, Fire Punch and Gunk Shot are both boosted by Sheer Force so that they do massive amounts of damage, even without the boosting items. Well, you guys may legitimately have nightmares about this pokemon now....and you SHOULD. I hope you enjoyed this weeks installment of 'RU Showcase', and until next time, "GL:HF?"...(why do people SAY THAT, It's a POKEMON BATTLE I -AM- GOING TO HAVE FUN.....oh.....we're still rolling...Jimmy, we can edit all of this out right?....Right?)

But Megalix is BAD why do people use this oh my goodn- (I'm just kidding. I don't really understand it's S-rank viability personally, but I do get that Megalix is a very good glue-mon for the tier.) Nice thread, Jelly!

^ Yeah, I was thinking 'The Giver' too. It's a good book to skim through if not outright read beforehand anyway, just because 's a good read. Other than that though nothing is striking to me.

I thought Alabama's DC was Kirby Smart? Did he leave last year for an HC job and I missed it? EDIT: Steele was Alabama's Linebackers' coach. It was a diagonal moves from Defensive unit coach to DC.

Yeah, pretty much what Jericho just said. It doesn't hurt to report a post if there is a reasonable "concern" of there being something wrong. It will be apparent if the button is getting abused.

No, It can be a rather scary in other places, but here all it does is flag attention where it's needed. You can do it discretely, and it won't necessarilly end with someone getting into trouble. Regardless, it needs to be used much more often.

On the contrary, there may be consequensial talking-tos to people to FAIL to report threads for now on.

Hello folks, As some of you may know, we have a 'report' function on the forums. Leaving a report gives moderators a notification that there is something that needs attention, so it is a very useful and -almost- integral part of our jobs. ....which is fanstastic, if only it were used consistantly. The current ritual for forum infractions by most of the community seems to be as follows: Immediately point out the problem and encourage a fix, and leave without leaving a report. This is detrimental to all parties involved in one form or another, whereas the 'Report' function would make fixing the problem seamless and maintaining the forums much, much easier. How does using the report button help out the person making the infraction? Nobody likes being ridiculed in public (unless you're some sort of masochist or attention hog, but that's beside the point.). The report button, contrary to popular belief, doesn't "condemn" the person who made the infraction, and in fact, does so -less- than calling them out with a responding post. When a moderator tackles the issue, the following discussion between the user and the mod can be held privately, which spares the user any embarassment. How does using the report button help out the thread author? It keeps the thread on topic. Nobody is wasting post space by complaining a forum rule being broken, Mods aren't swooping in to fix issues, Users aren't apologizing. The author keeps his or her right to a continuous, on-topic discussion. How does using the report button help out the Moderators? It pinpoints problems and saves us the trouble of swimming in "Thread Hell" to look for infractions, or -worse-....assuming there are not problems to be fixed in the first place, which leads to misplaced complacency on our end and increased workload on people who are much more meticulous by nature. To put this in perspective, let me provide a scenario. Reports automatically cause a red notification to appear in Hilda's left-hand site menu. When a report is made and Hilda logs into the forums, she can see that -something- needs immediate attention and can easily find and rectfiy the problem. Let's say there aren't any reports made however. This causes Hilda to believe that the coast is clear, and on most days, will cause her to attend to her own projects and read the threads she's interested in. Just because there isn't a report, doesn't mean there isn't something I can fix, but if I were to look for it, I would have to look in thread after thread, and page after page, to find the infraction. If I'm lazy, well.....that doesn't happen, and the problem either doesn't get fixed, or it gets fixed by someone like Amethyst or Dan, who have made at least more of a habit to read threads a bit more meticulously than I have. Since Ame and Dan are kinda responsible for making the game and fixing bugs first and foremost, they really don't need to be doing -my- job better than I am, where fixing mistakes in the forums is half of my given responsibility in the first place. It's a two way street here folks. I -do- need to step up my efforts and ensure things are not left unattended, but it would be a WHOLE lot easier if instead of calling the person out and walking away, we use the report option instead. We as moderators then wouldn't have to play 'Hide and Seek' with the infractions! How does using the report button help YOU? You don't have to be "that guy". Part of a moderator's job is to deal with infractions and those making them, and sometimes that doesn't make us very many friends. Using the report button would put the target rightfully where it belongs - not on you guys. It also allows you to respond to the poster as you would if the post was clean and gives you the right to continuous relevant conversation. TL;DR - From double posting to extremely insensitive content, and everything in between, instead of playing the hero or being the messenger, just USE the report button. It's beneficial for EVERYONE involved! ~ Hilda, Forum Team.

I can't speak for giving you the green light, but as a competitor I'm interested. I -do- like the W/L ratio idea, personally.

-My- Way-too-early top 5 5. Baylor - My gripe with Baylor is always that it's defense is always maligned for never getting enough "respect", and then has games where the loss is completely on that unit. That aside, Baylor looks to always have threats in the skill positions, and is recruiting better on both sides of the ball year in and year out. At any rate, the Bears may actually -win- a New Years Six bowl - eventually. 4. Oregon - Another team that has been -nothing- but consistant. If there's reason for concern in Eugene, coaching is going to need to step up in games where the Ducks run into physical defenses. The guys with the headsets are the only group stopping this unit from hoisting a championship trophy. 3. Ohio State - The defending national champions are one of the younger teams in the FBS. It doesn't seem like the Buckeyes can really make a bad decision as to who their Quarterback should be, and due to on-the-field resolution, these guys deserve a higher preseason ranking than Oregon - especially if Mariota opts to go pro.. 2. Alabama - The Tide most likely won't start this high in the regular poll, but if I -had- to have a token SEC pick, it would be this team by default. Saban always has 'Bama in the thick of something by the end of the season. This is the season where they prove if it was all media bias or they -really- were that dominant. [Personally, I hope I'm wrong putting Alabama here.] 1. Texas Christian (TCU) - The returners on this potent offense, plus the fact that they proved they were JUST as good as Ohio State and got snubbed, gives the Horned Frogs the top spot in my top 25.

Kyra. I love you. Really. Punching Rose would be a terrible mistake. Just gonna leave it at that.

PLEASE TELL ME. I DIDN'T MISS IT ALREADY. I'd feel really bad.