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If you ever watch the SPL tournaments (yeah I know, >lel smogonfags, it's funny because smogon is full of fun-haters amirite rofl xD) you'll see a lot more than OU: the Team. Cookie cutter Deosharp is a rarity in tournaments and you see a lot more balance and stall. Lots of nichemons and sets that would be gimmicks on the ladder just to fuck with the opponents. Lots of uncommon megas like Heracross, Medicham and Gardy (though they're becoming more popular on ladder)
Generally, higher-ranked players tend to be more experimental with sets and nichemons because they know how to play against OU: The Team. I mean hell, one tournament player recently brought a HAIL STALL team, and another guy in the first week of the same tourney had a goddamn Weezing (and won). This was during the time of broken-ass Mega Lucario and Genesect too.
Still, even then it's definitely not because of any notion of being "favourites", which is subjective anyway (you could say, I don't know, Lando-I is your favourite because it rekks shit in competitive battles). Tourney players, whether Smogon or VGC, don't think that way. They use experimental mons to find new niches and throw off the opponent, and if it works on the ladder too, it becomes standard. How else did you think Mandibuzz and Clefable turned OU?
