Nice timing!
Metagame
On a Scale of 1-10, how competitive and balanced would you find our current metagame to be?
Competitiveness - 7/10
Decided to answer a 7 out of 10 for this question, as someone within the small majority of people able to directly observe our current course of action, I feel as if the tier is in solid hands to move forward and plan accordingly against some of our most important and volatile metagame developments. While there is a definite centralization factor to account for when managing several of the top threats running around, many of them also being supplemented by the added prevalence of defensive cores, which feel rather tied to required components in order to reach their full potential. I feel as if there is enough variety in playing around with these aspects to keep the most crucial elements of the tier abound and running.
On a Scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy the current metagame?
Playability - 9/10
Unlike a few, I actually enjoyed some of the teambuilding elements present in this new metagame, in spite of the inherent flaws with centralization present among a few threats (which I'll get to later), lots of compositions and teamstyles feel fair and balanced to respond to in a way that actively encourages the exploration of role compression on both sides, and some of the discussions I've partaken in from the community has easily resulted in the most fun I've had when it comes to sharing thoughts and trying things out. I highly encourage those potentially interested to find their footsteps one way or another, you will not be disappointed at all.
Pokemon
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Ogerpon-Wellspring?
- 3/5
Now onto the Pokemon themselves, if there was anything that screamed unhealthy in the long-run for me, it was definitely going to be this guy here. Even without the boosts from Tera, Wellspring remains arguably the biggest beneficiary of such a defensively-oriented metagame being pulled off successfully. The adept defensive attributes and power of its STABs alone make it already one of the biggest threats to defensive cores currently, even M-Latias can be 2HKOed by +2 Power Whip to really drive the point of not needing coverage as much as you would home. In spite of this, I feel as if many of the existing blankets present to stop it were just initially seen as less valuable than they would be, teams can often afford at least one of a faster threat in Meowscarada, Booster Moth, Serp, Ace, or M-Aero, plenty of other scarfers able to abuse the Grass weaknesses, and defensive ones currently forming part of the defensive teams running about, such as Regen Grasses and Buzzwole / Iron Hands, though they of course run into issues with chip given the offensive support which Wellspring moreso hinges on than most. Still pretty centralizing to the degree I'd concede with it being suspected sooner or later, especially on the basis of NDPL concluding and the tier being forced to move forward as it is.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Cinderace?
- 2/5
Much like Wellspring, Cinderace packs the occasional tendency to snowball out of control against even prepared teams in the long-term, especially with how situational some of the defensive answers are to it (Fini, M-Altaria, Tyranitar, etc), on top of its recent pairing with pursuitters and other offensive pivots such as the Thundy formes and Toxic Zera. We've also been seeing more bulky Will-O-Wisp + Court Change variants similar to standard SV, though I find the utility of that set alone to be more of a keeper in its own right than the elements present in other sets before it. Nevertheless, I've still seen a fair amount of individual answers in the tier that aren't fully exempt from having outs against these, Balance easily relies on Regenerator cores to scout and wear down the duo, and the replacement of Hippo taking Ting-Lu's place also only exists to supplement this issue, while Offense also has no problem between rising threats that can respond to it similarly like M-Aerodactyl, Meowscarada, Rush Excadrill, and Iron Hands, and various Scarfers, on top of having to deal with Pursuit pressure from Tyranitar when lacking HJK. Many of the neutral pivots supporting them also being able to threaten it back with status, such as Pivot Slowtwins, Skeledirge, and Swampert (who I actually think is pretty underrated on both ends, but I digress). With this in mind, I feel that Cinderace leans closer to being a top threat with some hugely important dynamics added to its repertory, but I do not see any action against it as being a priority for now.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Ursaluna?
- 1/5
Mostly the same as last time, though I feel as if the recent changes centered around faster mons such as Sub Wellspring and Iron Moth which have since risen to abuse defensive cores, also happen to cut into the amount of opportunities it gets to break as a whole, especially with how many weaknesses it already shares with its teammate Alomomola, if anything it arguably got worse compared to before.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Gyarados?
- 4.5/5 (Leaning more towards 5 than 4)
I would like to preface this by saying that out of all the individual mons we could be testing down the line, Sub DD Gyarados remains the most obvious example of metagame-warping by far. With the lack of Rotom-Wash necessitating Power Whip on its moveset unlike last generation, the 50/50s that broke it are undoubtedly more apparent than before, as are some of the increasingly prominent targets which Gyara can take advantage of using Sub, including Alomomola, SpDef Celesteela, Slowtwins, and numerous things which it can opt to check offensively, like Ace and a few of the tier's Fightings. It also doesn't help that most revenge killers in the tier are also easily KOed by an unboosted Gyara (many of which don't even come close to OHKOing a healthy Gyara 1v1 without suboptimal move choices honestly, such as electric coverage on the Latis and Jirachi), or come extremely close to it, even Scarf Kartana attempting to live Z-Bounce can be dispatched in tandem with additional chip and screens, while the problem with Gyarados just attacking the offensive checks are also being accentuated further by Gyara's bulk and neutral coverage more often than not securing games for it after boosting twice, which no team is truly safe against given its additional ease in flinching past checks. Looking forward to seeing it get owned.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Iron Hands?
- 3/5
Unlike the blatantly unhealthy Gyarados, I'd like to give Iron Hands a 3. I feel as if Iron Hands's main strengths draw from recent improvements made in its ability to facetank threats, while the combo of more immediate power, useful defensive typing against threats like Tyranitar, and lack of chip it suffers from help make it more threatening than Ursaluna as a whole. Swords Dance with STABs + Ice Punch is typically the most effective moveset that you can run in most cases, but said set on its own also has some enormous variety in this metagame, be it the ability to invest heavily in either PDef, which gives you added longevity against physical threats such as Excadrill and Kartana, or SpDef to take hits from common special attackers like Aegislash and the Lati twins, it can also invest enough Speed to outrun many of the common defensive staples running around, such as Skeledirge and Clefable. The recent introduction of Wish Alolomola (which Iron Hands can both take incredible advantage of, or benefit immensely from itself) also hasn't helped much with curbing its ability to facilitate opportunities long-term.
However, despite everything I've said, I still feel as if Iron Hands, while more than deserving of its current place in the metagame, isn't the most required for tiering action due to a few reasons. Spikes are currently a huge part of team compositions, and can easily limit Iron Hands's opportunities should it not be able to recover a huge portion of its longevity on the way in. Iron Hands doesn't always have the power to force out staples to the extent preferable; Pokemon such as Slowbro and Amoonguss can often afford to stay in at least once and threaten status, while said issues with chip are also compounded by some of the midground plays which teams can afford to make to minimize its impact, namely switching through resists such as Mega Venusaur and Balloon Aegislash, or limiting Drain Punch recovery through Helmet spam from the likes of Buzzwole. Nevertheless, I'd like to see a suspect test for this thing shortly after, preferably second to Gyara.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Mega Sableye?
- 2/5
Never had problems dealing with it honestly, and would even say it's proven to be rather... disappointing as of late? That being said, the PP nerf to recovery and issues with being easily chipped haven't really done M-Sableye any favors in regards to an even more longevity-faceted metagame where sand chip and status spam are everywhere, and the increase in threats which can directly exploit it not really helping with its case either, namely old things like NP Hydreigon and Knock Clefable gaining more prominence, Sub on all of Wellspring, Moth and Keld rising, on top of Guts Ursaluna being added. One other thing I'd also like to mention in particular are the hazard matchups in general - something I find to be rather inflated with how easily the most common setters (think mons we're seeing on most teams, such as Clefable, Tyranitar, Hippo, Gastrodon, and Hydreigon) bowl it over to where the ability to block hazards alone often becomes too circ*mstantial for my taste, especially when compared to just simply using Regenerator and Boots spam with added longevity against most the pivots running around currently. Not bad, just way more situational in practice than people used to make it out to be, and not so overwhelming to the extent I feel its prevalence is anywhere near unmanageable enough to follow.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Alomomola?
- 2/5
Now, how much this mon exactly contributes to the current state of the tier is something that's been on my mind for a while - on one hand, the ability to pivot Wishes to its team makes for quite the nuisance in the builder when attempting to take advantage of the recipient; healing things like M-Tyranitar and Ursaluna to near-full has been huge for allowing them to exert continuous pressure through trades. On the other hand, Alo teams themselves can often struggle to stop things such as offensive pressure from pilling on, many pivots of which can often afford to take their time in doing so through things like status, Future Sight, and hazards across the game, on top of Substitute users like Wellspring popping up and being not so easy to check when given the free turn or so. Likely going to continue keeping my opinions on the lookout though, considering the flow of offense is on the way for some pretty drastic changes anyhow.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Enamorus?
- 2/5
I'm not entirely convinced Enamorus is anywhere near the first suspect-worthy at that moment, but I will acknowledge that the discovery of CM + Z-Move from NDPL brought it back in viability by quite a bit since then. People have definitely been stressing over its matchup spreads as a whole, especially given the added emphasis on cores and faster checks which can resist said move appropriately and pick up the pace for most teams, namely with things centered around Regenerator Pivots + faster checks in mons like Scizor, Cinderace and Latis, but also specific answers like SpDef Tect Celesteela, Skeledirge, Blobs, and Galarian Slowking all being pretty secure by themselves too. Yes, it can threaten the daylights out of everything, but teams don't just limit Enamorus in defensive aspects as opposed to doing it in tandem with each other, given that it's often been the way of bulkier cores in the past - we can do the same for a mon with greater power and coverage, but also one that's much more prediction-reliant and limited in its opportunities as a whole. Leaning towards no action being taken here as it is, if because removing any of the physical threats mentioned would also help alleviate the difficulty teams have in playing around it right now.
On a Scale of 1-5, how do you feel about Light Clay?
- 2.5/5
Arguably my most controversial option so far, but I don't feel as if doing anything about this yet would help the tier any more than just letting go of some of the Pokemon most commonly attached to it first, many of which have already been proven numerous times by both PL and the community to be more than capable of doing the deed without them. Grimmsnarl is also a fairly abusable setter on its own, most notably with how easily its chipped and cripple by all forms of damage, which is bound to happen in just about any half-decent leadoff during games (Moth, SpDef Steela, Meowscarada .etc).
Retest
Should the council consider retesting Kommo-o? (Provided that it drops back into UUBL)
- Yes
Been wanting to give this a shot since the Tera ban and if there was any time for me to insist on doing so, it's definitely happening in the near future. Without Boomburst, offensive sets are going to struggle against the majority of defensive pivots given the opportunity costs involved with the effective one-time uses of Clangorous Soul and Soulblaze respectively - namely all of Clefable, Tapu Fini, SpDef Celesteela, Galarian Slowking, Skeledirge .etc, it also notably wants to have all of the aforementioned two moves, CC, Taunt, Sub, PJab or Flash Cannon for Fairies, while being forced to split offenses when going mixed against the occasional wall like Gastrodon and Slowking formes, both of which and Slowbro also threaten to KO -SpDef Kommo-o in return with Future Sight despite the boost. I've heard mentions of Sub + Belly Drum sets under screens being arguably much for the tier, especially given its ability to set up on the majority of Grasses and Waters, but those still have issues with Subs being easily breakable for most of the aforementioned pivots within the two-turn window required for setup, and Drain Punch recovery being limited against most Fighting resists before the inevitable revenge kill. Of course, it's not like said options used on most teams to check it disappeared either, old scarfers like Meowscarada, G-Zap and the Lati twins all remain very consistent at checking Kommo-o offensively regardless of sets, made better by the fact that it can no longer Tera its way out of the choice lock, as have more recent options like Scarf Enamorus and Hydreigon. Kommo-o also brings some highly valuable utility options for teams to explore - namely an offensive Tyranitar and Ace check, a fairly fast non-ground rocker in both roles, and wallbreaker with great flexibility in picking apart some of our toughest defensive cores, albeit in ways that aren't costly and overwhelming to the extent I believe it's not trying out at all, hell - even physically based sets with the new tools in Loaded Dice and Punching Glove are potentially interesting too.
Should the council consider retesting Drought?
- Yes (But suspect by all means necessary)
This is a rather pretentious one, I never really bought the timing of a full Drought ban to begin with personally, but I can see why it happened. Bans of Tera and even Blaziken since then means that Sun can feel a lot more inherently fair than it used to, but something like Venu on its own might still be a bit controversial for the tier unrestricted, so we should at least give away the option to vote on the individual mons and Heat Rock whenever it comes around.
Should the council consider retesting Dondozo?
- No
And finally, as something to agree on keeping in the banish zone. Between an even better Alomomola to pass with on stall teams, its continuously absurd variety in playing around offensive checks without the need to lift a finger in the slightest, and me not really being convinced this won't just end up repeating much of what it did before, I don't really find giving this another try as worth it at all.
