Time for some fresh noms.
C > C-: I have to admit a good part of this nomination is the fact that I've almost never seen it. With Steelix entering the tier and Sliggoo becoming popular as a competing Dragon-type wincon (which also 1v1s Steelix sometimes) people are finding less reasons to use Fraxure despite its on-paper niche of a ridiculously powerful Outrage. It can function as a wallbreaker but the best outright-wall in the tier is immune to its STAB move, and Outrage's very nature makes it better as a cleaner. I'm kind of undecided on this but I want to promote more discussion about this mon so here goes anyways.
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C > D: Again this nomination isn't based on Hippopotas and Stoutland becoming less deadly but rather that they constitute a gimmick strategy, for which you have to dedicate two slots of your team to pull it off. While Hippopotas makes for a decent wall with Eviolite, realistically, why would you use this over Torterra if you wanted a Ground-type with Stealth Rock and recovery? I guess no Grass-type weaknesses but c'mon; Hippopotas is never ran without a Sand Rush user, take from that what you will. Meanwhile, Stoutland is pretty deadly while Sand is up, but it's completely outclassed by Kangskhan / Tauros outside of it. I think this "we-need-each-other-to-not-be-completely-outclassed" dynamic makes them more suited to D rank than anything else; other weather sweepers such as Exeggutor and Victreebel are at least somewhat unique / self-sufficient.
D > Unranked: Basculin doesn't really have anything to offer over its fellow physical Water-types, with Barbaracle hitting a similar level of power and trading a better immediate Speed tier for the ability to set up and wipe out entire teams, Kabutops also boasting similar power alongside Rapid Spin and more Rock-STAB, and Floatzel's special attacks and speed tier being much more useful than physical Water-type moves in general. It's not horrible but I don't see why you'd ever seriously run this over one of the above three, let alone Samurott.
D > Unranked: The hype has died, please remove this mon. DynamicPunch is a gimmick that Garbodor can check even if it hits itself the whole time, and Machoke has nothing else to offer aside from being a more passive version of Yama that lacks Ice/Fire resists.
Unranked > D: Uh oh it's big nose. This isn't me saying that Probopass has gotten any better so much as me thinking that the current D-rank criteria suit Probopass as a niche mon like Leavanny or Huntail. Some offensive threats like Swellow, Kangaskhan, Stored Power Musharna, etc, become a lot more dangerous with Steelix/Ferroseed being trapped and lured. Probopass has all the tools it needs to remove these threats consistently in Earth Power, Hidden Power Fire, Magnet Rise, and even Taunt if you really want. It's a terrible Rocker / pivot because of how easy it is to exploit its weaknesses but the trapping niche alone is enough to justify D-rank in my opinion.
D > C-: Having seen this thing in action a few times, I think Vigoroth is more than just a gimmick and can actually be a good choice as a combined stallbreaker/wincon. Its speed-tier gives it a good matchup against many defensive mons with Taunt and no/minimal investment, while its bulk and Slack Off gives it a decent matchup against weaker attackers (including Specs Swellow) that can't 2HKO it. There are more consistent wincons and stallbreakers around such as Musharna and Mismagius, but Vigoroth combines both in one slot and can be a good choice for teams that can otherwise function on their own with a 5-Pokemon core outside of these two roles.
D > C-: Again this isn't me saying Metang got better so much as I don't think it's a gimmick and it can be good for teams that require a dedicated response to Ice-types, particularly Jynx, or need a Steel-type / Stealth Rock user that doesn't fold to special attacks as easily as Steelix. It's definitely better than Probopass as a general tank in this regard.
B- > B: Quagsire declined quite a lot over the past few months with the addition of Sceptile, but now that it's gone, the fast physical threats that Quagsire has a better matchup against (mainly Tauros and Archeops) are mostly filling its role over other Grass-types as a fast-and-powerful cleaner. Floatzel isn't as common so Quagsire doesn't mind it coming back into prominence so much. In addition, less things run Hidden Power Grass at the moment due to Quagsire's previous decline in popularity, so this thing is actually more consistent at its job than it was in the pre-Sceptile meta. Meanwhile, its excellent strengths in Unaware and Recover still remain as important as before, making it a staple for defensive teams.
I realise this is a lot of noms but I think generating discussion about lower-ranked mons is important so that they don't just linger on for longer than warranted. I think restructuring D-rank as a place for high-risk somewhat-reward gimmicks is a good idea as it avoids overlap with C-, which should be reserved for more general mons that have a niche but don't 100% rely on it, and makes it a better cut-off point between what's viable and what isn't. Under this system I'd be happier with Arbok in C- too but it just dropped so w/e. Let me know what your thoughts are on this.
