alright, yall know the drill by this point. these are just my first impressions on the mons so some of this stuff could be super uninformed, but let's just get into it.
Aerosterror: Very unoptimized stats really let this guy down unfortunately. Would be better if it got Swords Dance for SD+Scale Shot sets, but as-is it's a pretty mediocre Dragon Dancer. Also the art is cute but totally lost the air flavor lol.
Atlassey: Pretty cool mon, god-tier art. Fully outclasses Slapybara and probably Rimdaak too, but I'll get to that guy later.
Attaxolotl: BIG STALL. Pretty great utility pivot for balance, though it's kinda let down on stall by its lack of reliable recovery and the fact that its bulk highkey sucks. RIP to the evil flavor though.
Cryofey: Pretty nutty offensive mon. Kinda like a mix of Ares and Enamorus. Fairly weak unboosted so you'll have to find time to set up with CM, and Drizzle sets can't hit Steels, but it's still a very strong option. Also holy fuck Rain is here
Ducklepto: Not another -ate Normal type lol. I thought we learned from last slate. Anyway uhhh this mon sucks
Without Aerilate its abilities are ass, and with Aerilate its coverage is trash, its speed tier is mediocre, and stats guy totally screwed it over by making it a special attacker. At least if it went physical it could use Koff.
Eepinsomnia: ???? uhhhh this is definitely the TR abuser of all time ig. Gives big Glastrier vibes, and heavily punishes mons for switching around it, which is cool. Definitely gotta try this out on TR but I expect it to be very niche if not outright bad.
Ensure: Looks pretty solid as a fatmon. would've been a lot better if it got Scald or Calm Mind, but even without them it seems like a pretty good choice. Definitely gonna compete heavily with Naenaeray and Attaxolotl though. Edit: this gets Octolock. lol! Actually super good at using Octolock, and easily one of the best stallbreakers we have access to now. Quackologist eat your heart out.
Fuqoph: WHERE IS KNOCK OFF????? THIS MON WOULD BE SO HEAT WITH KNOCK OFF!!! Anyway uh, movepool is unbelievably barren and directionless so this guy seems pretty bad. Very unfortunate since the rest of its steps went together really well.
Humpcave: THE Grassy Surge Ground type. Probably a stall mon since GSurge + Shore Up + Rocks + insane physbulk is great compression, but could find its way onto other squads that want terrain or a Ground besides Molei (more on that later).
Jermpire: I was gonna write this off as bad, but then I noticed it gets Prankster Copycat. Uhhh I don't really know what that means but in theory it could make for a pretty great cleaner in the right hands. Cool guy, hopefully not broken.
Molei: Finally, a brokemon. Fur Coat on this is pretty disgusting, as it can sit on literally every physical attacker besides Ohmyrod and Wisp for free, making it super obnoxious to deal with. It's no Lazerazer, but it still probably needs to go.
Ramoxide: Fast Excadrill! Despises Sphinxiant but otherwise looks really really good as an SD mon or pivot. Could potentially run choiced too but its STABs aren't super easy to lock into.
Razorbeep: Ain't no way we made balanced Lazerazer. Anyway, this is like Magnezone on crack. Both Analytic and Download are insanely good abilities, and Galvanize Rapid Spin is gimmicky and bad but people will still run it. Definitely an incredibly good mon, only really held back by Wolversnare's dominance and the ridiculous influx of Ground types this slate.
Reflactal: Interesting mon. Specs Protean sets look really good, and Calm Mind sets could also be really threatening in the right hands. Hands-down the best monotyped mon in the mod.
Rimdaak: Bad in every aspect. Custom ability is cool tho. Moving on.
Rizzidi: My baby. Folks were worried about Technician Water Shuriken but I think it'll be balanced since it lacks setup. Definitely a big threat with both physical and special sets either way, though its low bulk definitely hurts it a lot.
Serverus: Oof. Movepool definitely crippled this mon. Any one of Gunk Shot/U-Turn/setup/real coverage would've made it way better, but as-is I'm pretty hard-pressed to justify running this mon, especially since Wolversnare forces it to hard predict with Band sets (which would otherwise be its best set).
Sisyphidna: Momentum is a broken ability and this would be really strong if not for Humpcave pretty much completely outclassing it. Might still see use, and Belly Drum sets seem funny but bad, but generally I think Humpcave is better.
Stunseed: idk what shadowpea was talking about, this mon looks solid for sure. Its Special Attack is a little low, but those Volt Switches are gonna be hitting super hard in Terrain, and it has STAB Energy Ball to fuck up Grounds. It's also got plenty of utility and great special bulk, so I could easily see defensive sets being good as well (mon walls Lazerazer!!!!!)
Stupendous Tectonova: Holy hell why did we get so many fat Grounds this slate. This one's claim to fame is not being weak to Water and Grass, but the other Grounds are so much more optimized that idt this mon will see much play.
Unbearabolt: LMAO HOW HAS NOBODY BEEN TALKING ABOUT THIS??? Insanely strong mon with Tough Claws Plasma Fists and amazing stats. SD sets look incredible and Choiced sets, while harder to run, are also ridiculously hard to switch into. Easily one of the best mons this slate, may even be broken.
Vertaspire: See what I said for Stupendous Tectonova, but even moreso here. For some reason people were VERY afraid of giving Ghosts Poltergeist this slate, and this mon is definitely hurt worst of all by that decision. However, I do see one niche for this guy, and it's as a TR setter. Not that many guys get TR, and this one is very fat and has access to Memento to let in abusers easier. Not the greatest if niches, but at least it's something.
Wormisery: Fucking hell, I knew I shouldn't have given this guy Barb Barrage. Ok so when I saw Water/Poison No Guard, it was pretty obvious that this guy had to be a specially offensive mon. Dolsin and Octazure already existed to fill the other Water/Poison roles, so if a mon of that typing wanted to stand out, it needed to go special. Well, I tried my best with the movepool, but stats guy had other plans I guess. This mon sucks. Its physical coverage is nonexistent and its special offenses are laughable. Its utility is mired in awful bulk and subpar speed, and really any positive role it could fill is taken up already by Octazure, Rizzidi, or even known shitmon Dolsin. Also it had AI art so uh, yeah. 0/10.
Wyrmidon: It's ok. Movepool guy really tried their best to give this mon everything it could possibly need, and stats guy followed suit, but a mono-Grass offensive mon is just really gonna struggle to do anything in this Steel-centric meta. But hey, at least it beats all the new Grounds (besides the broken one...)!
You humour me greatly with your arrogance and contempt, a flood of accusations born from the poison of envy and smite of disrespect.: Worst name of all time. Mon itself looks pretty insane. Speed Boost is an incredibly strong ability, and this guy abuses it very well. The only real downside is a complete lack of bulk, but with Screens support you can definitely get around that. Ban Combaudit btw.
Overall a much better slate than slate 2. Obviously some mons are still very suspect, but the low-effort shitters were a lot less prominent this time, and a lot of the new mons seems really interesting and unique. I'm excited to give the meta a try, though we REALLY need to ban Unpatroll and Quackologist no matter what.
Initial VR:
Banned: Molei
Meta Defining: Cryofey, Razorbeep, Unbearabolt, YHMG
Great: Atlassey, Humpcave, Ramoxide, Reflactal, Stunseed
Good: Attaxolotl, Ensure, Jermpire, Rizzidi, Sisyphidna, Stupendous Tectonova, Wyrmidon
Niche: Aerosterror, Eepinsomnia, Fuqoff, Serverus, Vertaspire
Shitmons: Ducklepto, Rimdaak, Wormisery