hidin
What a kind young man
I've been playing and building the metagame a bit recently (as far as September since I did most of my PL's teams RU prep), and I'd like to talk about the playability of the tier, some VR nominations, and things that can be done to improve the tier as well.
Here are the teams I've been using if anyone's interested: https://pokepast.es/68f4627d4158c46d
Playability
I'm gonna be honest, playing the tier is pretty nice. You usually have defined gameplans that can be executed well and don't have the concern of Tera ruining that. However, what I want to address is the Pokemon that make the playability a bit worse, both in game and in the builder.
When I build and play, these three Pokemon are all things that I tend to dislike facing. They all have their "checks" but lets be real I don't think any of these things have any reliable and foolproof checks besides Munkidori. To start this rant off, Mamoswine is simply Mamoswine. Genuinely don't know why it is still down here like this thing is absolutely ridiculous. Literally just Slowbro, Buzzwole, and Rotom-Heat deal with Mamoswine reliably, and Rotom-Heat is iffy because it can be hit by Smack Down or crippled by Knock Off or Toxic, along with Buzzwole being crippled by the same exact things besides Smack Down. Preparing for it is a tedious task and once Mamoswine is enabled (which is often not hard to do!) its an absolute migraine. Munkidori and Thundurus are both special Pokemon that are just headaches because preparing for them is a bit nightmarish and can make building linear. Munkidori is an Alakazam Jr. but with a Toxic chance on all of its moves, U-Turn, and while it does have a "worse" typing it still is a competent set-up sweeper and cleaner. Yes you can't be all sets at the same time, but keep in mind all of its "checks" still get fucked over by it besides Tinkaton, which is honestly the most foolproof Pokemon against Munkidori and the only true check, alongside Alolan Muk which honestly is used mostly for this thing. Nasty Plot tears everything to shreds, its speed tier isn't bad at all, it can use Scarf effectively, can use HDB Pivot sets effectively, anything this Pokemon can do it will live up to the expectations you would have for it. Thundurus has been debated on in the past I think and I don't know why the hype died, and if you play NDRU I'm sure you know why I included it on this list. It is too variable and too strong.
TL;DR
Take action on Mamoswine, Munkidori, and Thundurus sometime in the future. Could include Pokemon in past slates like Buzzwole but in all honesty Buzzwole is a healthy presence down here, and its defensive profile is much needed.
VR Nominations
-> A
Already explained above, this Pokemon is totally A rank worthy, could even argue for A+!
-> A
Finally you guys freed this, has great defensive profile and an excellent offensive one as well but its manageable and healthy.
-> B+
I don't see Scizor on A rank level just yet, Buzzwole coming down here kinda revoked Scizor of the defensive Bug-type rank but its still good offensively. Don't like how easy it is to revenge kill with Mega Manectric, Mega Houndoom, and more either. Maybe I might be tweaking but from what I've seen and how I feel, it should be in B+ for now
-> A-
Stallbreaker supreme, SD and DD sets are very effective and its strength cannot be contested.
-> B
Unsure about this really, its good that it got Knock Off to hit the Slowtwins but it kinda sucks not using Ice Spinner because then you're walled by Tapu Bulu. This definitely has its applications, but I haven't seen enough.
-> B+
Great wallbreaker with Choice sets and Howl + 3 Attacks, will be putting a dent into anything you throw at it.
-> A
This does so much and it does so well at it, the utility it provides to any team is invaluable and it being in the same tier as Crobat is kind of silly to me. Totally deserves some more recognition
-> B-
Great Latias and Munkidori check while also messing with any special clicker that's relevant, Knock Off + Pursuit + Poison Touch has a lot of good uses in the tier right now and it shouldn't be this low when it has a good amount of potential as an AV tank
I don't have anything to drop, don't think anything should be lowered. Maybe put Scream Tail in C+? It's a do nothing Wish blob that relies on teammates to pose as something to respect when you really can throw anything at it and won't have to worry, it does no more than 35 to anything relevant
How To Improve
When it comes to community input and tiering decisions, I think NDRU has been doing it pretty good. What I feel like though is that this NDPL showed the volatility of the tier with everything that can be used, and we can maybe do some things to cut down on that. With the lack of activity in the tier the problem has been unnoticed but as I said NDPL revealed the bonkers things that can be ran down here. However, having to prevent that in a tier of ~100 viable Pokemon may be a bit of a task to handle, but surely it cannot be too much. If I'm gonna be honest its 1 AM and I'm super tired but just know that so far, things have been perfectly fine. Maybe some look over of NDPL replays to find out how to solve the volatility problem can be done, but that's all up to the council.
The tone of this message is not meant to be negative, I want to just provide my thoughts on the metagame and do not have any intention of poking at the tier or the people that play it
Here are the teams I've been using if anyone's interested: https://pokepast.es/68f4627d4158c46d
Playability
I'm gonna be honest, playing the tier is pretty nice. You usually have defined gameplans that can be executed well and don't have the concern of Tera ruining that. However, what I want to address is the Pokemon that make the playability a bit worse, both in game and in the builder.
When I build and play, these three Pokemon are all things that I tend to dislike facing. They all have their "checks" but lets be real I don't think any of these things have any reliable and foolproof checks besides Munkidori. To start this rant off, Mamoswine is simply Mamoswine. Genuinely don't know why it is still down here like this thing is absolutely ridiculous. Literally just Slowbro, Buzzwole, and Rotom-Heat deal with Mamoswine reliably, and Rotom-Heat is iffy because it can be hit by Smack Down or crippled by Knock Off or Toxic, along with Buzzwole being crippled by the same exact things besides Smack Down. Preparing for it is a tedious task and once Mamoswine is enabled (which is often not hard to do!) its an absolute migraine. Munkidori and Thundurus are both special Pokemon that are just headaches because preparing for them is a bit nightmarish and can make building linear. Munkidori is an Alakazam Jr. but with a Toxic chance on all of its moves, U-Turn, and while it does have a "worse" typing it still is a competent set-up sweeper and cleaner. Yes you can't be all sets at the same time, but keep in mind all of its "checks" still get fucked over by it besides Tinkaton, which is honestly the most foolproof Pokemon against Munkidori and the only true check, alongside Alolan Muk which honestly is used mostly for this thing. Nasty Plot tears everything to shreds, its speed tier isn't bad at all, it can use Scarf effectively, can use HDB Pivot sets effectively, anything this Pokemon can do it will live up to the expectations you would have for it. Thundurus has been debated on in the past I think and I don't know why the hype died, and if you play NDRU I'm sure you know why I included it on this list. It is too variable and too strong.
TL;DR
Take action on Mamoswine, Munkidori, and Thundurus sometime in the future. Could include Pokemon in past slates like Buzzwole but in all honesty Buzzwole is a healthy presence down here, and its defensive profile is much needed.
VR Nominations
-> A
Already explained above, this Pokemon is totally A rank worthy, could even argue for A+!
-> A
Finally you guys freed this, has great defensive profile and an excellent offensive one as well but its manageable and healthy.
-> B+
I don't see Scizor on A rank level just yet, Buzzwole coming down here kinda revoked Scizor of the defensive Bug-type rank but its still good offensively. Don't like how easy it is to revenge kill with Mega Manectric, Mega Houndoom, and more either. Maybe I might be tweaking but from what I've seen and how I feel, it should be in B+ for now
-> A-
Stallbreaker supreme, SD and DD sets are very effective and its strength cannot be contested.
-> B
Unsure about this really, its good that it got Knock Off to hit the Slowtwins but it kinda sucks not using Ice Spinner because then you're walled by Tapu Bulu. This definitely has its applications, but I haven't seen enough.
-> B+
Great wallbreaker with Choice sets and Howl + 3 Attacks, will be putting a dent into anything you throw at it.
-> A
This does so much and it does so well at it, the utility it provides to any team is invaluable and it being in the same tier as Crobat is kind of silly to me. Totally deserves some more recognition
-> B-
Great Latias and Munkidori check while also messing with any special clicker that's relevant, Knock Off + Pursuit + Poison Touch has a lot of good uses in the tier right now and it shouldn't be this low when it has a good amount of potential as an AV tank
I don't have anything to drop, don't think anything should be lowered. Maybe put Scream Tail in C+? It's a do nothing Wish blob that relies on teammates to pose as something to respect when you really can throw anything at it and won't have to worry, it does no more than 35 to anything relevant
How To Improve
When it comes to community input and tiering decisions, I think NDRU has been doing it pretty good. What I feel like though is that this NDPL showed the volatility of the tier with everything that can be used, and we can maybe do some things to cut down on that. With the lack of activity in the tier the problem has been unnoticed but as I said NDPL revealed the bonkers things that can be ran down here. However, having to prevent that in a tier of ~100 viable Pokemon may be a bit of a task to handle, but surely it cannot be too much. If I'm gonna be honest its 1 AM and I'm super tired but just know that so far, things have been perfectly fine. Maybe some look over of NDPL replays to find out how to solve the volatility problem can be done, but that's all up to the council.
The tone of this message is not meant to be negative, I want to just provide my thoughts on the metagame and do not have any intention of poking at the tier or the people that play it
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