hey guys, I'd just like to clarify that I'd very happy to see this metagame launched. After some brief thought on some of the threats I'm seeing here, there's some things that I'd like to cover:
sneasel is boss: pu is a tier that's filled of Pokemon that vastly relies on Eviolite and other vital items that would allow them to effectively suit their roles (such as leftovers and various choice items), and as such will have quite an ongoing impact towards this metagame. with a lo set alone, knock off wrecks, and ice punch / low kick threatens almost any Pokemon that could otherwise come in. ice shard helps it clean up and allows it to check things like various Scarf Pokemon, which are essentially the only things of relevance outspeeding it. sneasel's nearly unmatched speed tier means that none of the choice scarf users will be able to switch in safely, considering that if they come in on knock off, they would have to take another hit before they can move, likely koing them. pursuit is also nice, guaranteeing damage on things like exeggutor or musharna when trapping them. overall a fantastic pokemon, and something i'd definitely recommend preparing for on any team.
trick room seems exceptionally viable: this tier has a lot of viable offensive playstyles (water/rain spam, sticky web, hyper offense, etc.), but tr in particular seems like a nice eye-catcher. musharna in particular is virtually impossible to prevent setting up tr, and we have a plethora of threats that can really just sit around and smack practically everything around for significant damage. this ranges from threats like pangoro (who can also aid furthermore with parting shot), ursaring, marowak, flareon and even things like exeggutor who can provide some backup on their own with TR and their utility.
garbodor and roselia are capable of stirring a pretty hazard-based metagame. with limited use of defoggers / rapid spinners (Some of the people who posted about them did already mention them above, but honestly I'm not so sure if I'd consider using any of them outside of perhaps maybe mantine, pelipper and wartortle. even then, the metagame is really offensive so it's hardly a good idea to justify making use of momentum killers), as well as the absurd amount of utility that the two are capable of generating, it can be quite a challenge to keep up with the pressure coming from teams that can really benefit from hazard support, especially in a more offensive approach. Stuff like dwebble and pineco seems alright too. sticky web in particular is really good also, as they are able to exploit teams that are primarily centered around their speed (majority of how offense plays).
pivots are really valuable sources to pu also. piloswine is really bulky, and is pretty much our most dependable source for sr while golem is generally more offensive. piloswine is also one of the better checks to sneasel that this tier has, which is quite a boon going for it. golem looks to be good at its classic role as a bulky stealth rock setter too for dealing with things like flareon and dodrio, but it can also play a more offensive approach with weakness policy (this tier has much less ways of getting around sturdy with the lack of sawk and stuff). musharna is exceptionally bulky and overall is just such an adjustable Pokemon. It has so many amazing move options and is only really threatened by sneasel and pangoro, both of which mush is capable of getting around. tangela is very consistent at switching in and out of what it needs to, which is further supported by its utility and regenerator ability. overall most of these pokemon will surely be staple pokemon on various playstyles.
water spam is something that's already mentioned, but i also expect them to be extremely dominant playstyles as well. with pokemon consisting of samurott, barbarcle / carracosta, and huntail, many checks are few and far between and can definitely even support one another. however, i think it's too soon to decide that any of the mons here are individually broken (it might be just because it was a small sample size or the fact that we were all playing very offensively which made them more or less tolerable). i certainly do see a few of them being suspect-worthy, but we shouldn't really push on the idea of banning anything until we've given the meta some time to oscillate.
some other things i'd like to look at down the line:
purugly: great source of priority and momentum, and has access to defiant to deter sticky web teams
drifblim / haunter: looks to be quite anti-meta honestly, with a nifty typing and movepool that allows it to effectively perform roles that's primarily centered around the use of unburden in drifblim's case. haunter's subdisable set is still really effective against slower teams, and is probably the ghost type with the most threatening kind of offensive presence. also d bond is marvelous
pangoro: it's slow but parting shot is still awesome offensive utility. it also has good coverage and hits just about anything hard besides togetic and tangela
liligant: can be a really solid sweeper if used effectively. also, scarf's utility is still legit like so in nu.
scyther: while sr is still annoying, it can really benefit from the presence of hazards otherwise because of it having such great offensive presence and being immune to spikes / tspikes (i've seen plenty of matches where those two would be the preferred hazards to set up over sr). it can also baton pass swords dance on a bulky set which can really work with the presumed prevalence of tangela / musharna and other things it can nab opportunities on.
i'll bring up others soon. this is looking to be quite a fun meta so far!
