Hello folks!! Its me, the Berkeley who can't sleep, and what better way to get through that nonsense than reviving a niche tier inside of an already-slightly-niche tier??
LC UU appears to have remained stagnant since the tier shifts that brought Honedge and Lileep back into the tier. From what I can tell for not having even thought about the meta over the past month or so, here's what I'm thinking.
1. Birds are undoubtedly very powerful.
Specifically, I'm referring to Doduo and Taillow. I'm sure you've heard it all before: "Doduo has no counters" "Boomburst, bro" "*insert any Latin-containing Shrug post in this thread*". Nonetheless, I'm here to echo those sentiments to an extent. It's fairly obvious that Doduo and Taillow are very powerful Pokemon in LC UU. Doduo simply has the raw stats and movepool, whereas Taillow comes in even faster and with actual variety, i.e. mixed v. Guts. However, I believe seeming lack of reliable checks has lead some people to overestimate the duo's actual efficacy. Not only do we now have access to two of the very best defensively oriented Pokemon in all of LC in Honedge and Lileep, we also have various capable mixed walls such as Frillish and Intimidate users of varying play styles (read: defensive Growlithe & offensive Sandile). What's more, there are several somewhat reliable offensive measures of dealing with the birds--which I might add are incredibly frail--in Pokemon like Amaura and Tyrunt (iirc). Overall, the birds are the epitomy of glass cannoning. I feel they are somewhat akin to XY Fletchling, in that they have not been properly prepared for or their checks fully sought out.
2. Sand seems very, very good.
A sand setter, a sand abuser, a ridiculously bulky Water Absorb grassmon, a bulky spinblocking Water-type also immune to Water cause why the hell not. These Pokemon, namely Hippopotas, Sandshrew, Lileep, and Frillish, all reside in LC UU. What's more, they have the makings of a sand squad that could have legitimate success in LC OU, meaning bulky sand offense should be truly terrifying in here, right? Perhaps, perhaps not. For one thing, the playstyle loves not having to deal with Pokemon such as Foongus, Fletchling, and Vulpix. However, the lack of those Pokemon in LC UU means that other Pokemon that harm sand's viability, such as Slowpoke and Snover, see more use. The playstyle has every tool it could possibly want present in the tier, but its uncertain how effectively it can function without true metagame exploration, which leads me to:
3. The metagame is ridiculously unexplored.
Look at the two paragraphs you just read. Look at how uncertain the person writing those posts is about the topics that are practically the most obvious ones he could possibly talk about. Then, remember that that person is none other than H&MBerkeley, an actual member of the actual council of the actual metagame he's discussing. While you could definitely blame that on his own lack of effort, it's also important to recall just how little activity has gone into exploring a metagame that is part of arguably the biggest tournament in the community: LCPL. One season of inclusion, one mini tour, and scattered room tours do not a metagame make. I'd like to actively call for my fellow council members (myself included, of course!!) to push deeper into this meta. It would be very cool if we as a community could flesh out this metagame by the time the next LCPL rolls around, so that
Oma can go 8-1 in a tier that truly deserves to be called a tier. Am I suggesting another mini tour? A community suspect test? Who the hell knows?! Unless we play the meta, it will sit stagnant until next LCPL, when people like Oma will once again have to play some "garbage tier".
END POST
TIME: 12:47 AM MST
WHEN I HAVE TO GET MY ASS OUT OF BED: 5:45 AM MST
REGRET LEVEL: ZERO