Alright so after a bit of playing and with the new survey up, I feel like I can finally post here for a change:
Meta enjoyment: 7, most of the new dlc stuff is pretty neat tbh I'm impressed by how few insanely minmaxed stuff there is/not much standing out as truly insane (the now-banned bax/firepon nonwithstanding).
Meta balance: 5, stuff's still taking time to be figured out for now.
Firepon: easy 5. Frankly it miiiight've been possibly worthy of 4...if it didn't have trailblaze. But it does, and that lets it bypass the cited offensive counterplay the mon would've otherwise had, especially with it getting stab on the move making it a legit sweeping/cleaning option with a sd/embody aspect boost. The ladder already knows all this too, hence it's trying its absolute hardest to squeeze every ounce of brokenness from this mon, from sun, to aveil, to even BOTH at once...yeah this mon is literally everywhere rn, and "being unable to hold boots" doesn't really cut it at all. Shame too, because we finally get an actually good fire/grass mon and it's gotta go already :( But between its raw power from its stabs alone, to just the right amount of coverage options, to having an already good speed tier (that the oft-compared chi yu would kill even harder for) truly make this thing too much. Btw, if anyone's got any doubts on how dumb this thing is: +3 252 Atk Hearthflame Mask Tera Fire Ogerpon-Hearthflame-Tera Ivy Cudgel vs. 12 HP / 0 Def Walking Wake in Sun: 250-294 (73 - 85.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Manaphy: 2. Tbh it probably should've been 3, particularly with tera fixing any gaping hole its already solid coverage might've had, but...with such a fast paced meta, and it needing to set up to start posing a real threat, it may struggle to find the turns it needs to leave a sufficient impace, particularly without veil/rain support. That said, it can mix and match its remaining coverage moves more effectively than ever before, so yeah maybe I should've voted 3 after all...was kinda torn tbh and wasn't really sure. (at least it can't boost its own speed with an actually semi-competent move for it unlike firepon, which puts it firmly below the latter for me).
Ursaluna: 3. It's quite bulky, and even with no setup, blood moon's raw power can be impossible for frailer teams (and apparently even balance?) to switch into, especially when complemented by just the right amount of coverage/secondary stab. It of course also has calm mind/moonlight to really snowball out of control in tandem with the above phys. bulk, demanding respect/toxicing it asap if you don't wanna just lose multiple mons to it. It's not higher than this rating mainly because it does genuinely struggle with 4mms a tad, really wanting to have all of blood moon/earth power/calm mind/moonlight/vaccum wave/filler move (tera blast, moonblast), and can also have a dilemma between investing in bulk or speed creeping fellow slow mons around its speed range. Definitely a cool mon though and I'm glad it's not just a sidegrade from the regular one. Fun trivia of the night: max speed timid ursaluna-b is faster than garchomp slowed down by webs by ONE POINT.
A-Ninetales: 2. Tbh wasn't sure between this or 3; its speed, encore, and newfound bulk from snow (or even tera if need be) definitely aid it in getting veil up consistently, but...idk maybe it'll eventually fade away? Especially if the meta slows down? The quality of the mons behind its screens definitely seems to affect them, huh. Also not a higher rating bc, outside of veil/the tools I mentioned above alongside it (alongside hypnosis if you wanna count that) its stats are sadly a tad too low to pose much of an offensive threat on its own if it's not hitting for 4x SE dmg/hitting really frail targets for 2x SE dmg. Still an understandable inclusion though, especially with it already causing Bax to get banned.
Waterpon: 2. It's a fine mon; I can see why it'd be included (mostly just in case, since it does have a rather potent performance) but I don't think it really borders onto broken territory at all. It's really just a fine, and healthy mon for the meta even; water absorb on an offensive mon, and one that can hit said opposing waters back super effectively even, is a godsend for...any kind of team really, but especially offense which struggles to fit non volcanion mons with the ability. But yeah its typing, movepool and ability definitely make it a good, standout presence with a lot of positives for teams that can fit it in.
Gliscor: 3. A rather surprising inclusion to many, but not the least sensical thing in the world, especially with the set Srn posted up above. It can be really obnoxious to wear down/take out, between protect/poison heal and the appropriate teammates. Bax being out of the meta also means one less mon to take advantage of the mon's 2 (!!) weaknesses, further accentuating its notoriety for sticking around for seemingly ever. It's kinda odd tbh cuz on a vacuum, outside of the set Srn posted up above, the mon would seem to suffer greatly from 4mms/need lots more experimentation with all the moves it'd want to run at once, but...yeah. Oh and ig it can also just tera to flip the script vs its supposed weaknesses anyway and get off one more spike/toxic before protecting again and again.
As a bonus for making it this far, I'd like to also give a shout-out to a mon that's been seldom spoen of so far despite an incredible buff:
Brambleghast (F) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Poltergeist
- Power Whip
- Rapid Spin
- Strength Sap
Poltergeist finally gives the mon the missing piece it's been looking for in so long, and lets it smack stuff like g-slowking and many more things with poltergeist-including the zapdos it's supposed to check. With said move, it can also ohko uninvested gholdengo (but you might wanna be careful if it's balloon to not pop it first), and 2hko the bulkier variants, though you'll still want some chip for those if you don't wanna eat a counterattack (252 Atk Tera Ghost Brambleghast Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 328-388 (86.7 - 102.6%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO). It ironically also makes a good partner FOR ghold, relieving it of the pressure of spinblocking tusk (its best shot at catching you on the switch is: 252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Brambleghast: 236-278 (94 - 110.7%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO), letting you strength sap it to oblivion before whipping it down; same deal with ting lu, whose hazards you not only spin away, but also punish for spamming whirlwind (!!) The absence of spikes on the set seems dubious but, power whip's needed to actually beat tusk/lu/other stuff like some water types, spin's a no-brainer, strength sap is an AG tier move stuck on mostly shitmons your recovery move of choice, which also lets you more securely handle the mons you're tasked to deal with, and poltergeist's already explained above. Give the mon a try, it might just be to shake-up your teams need after having tusk in all of them just to deal with gholdy! Shame it doesn't get tailwind on its own, it'd have made the mon even more legit. Oh well, it's shiftry time! Oh yeah I forgot to mention up above, in the honorable mentions section I did also put ghold itself for reasons already stated by many; I may not feel as strongly about it, myself, but I can see where many people come from, and agree it should be kept on watch still. Oh and I also put light clay/veil itself in there for some reason idk why; I guess since alolatales's already being looked at, may as well include the remained of the package in it. Oh and I totally forgot to include Kingambit in it, and only got reminded of that after reading this thread after already responding....oh well I'm posting it here instead then, I guess.
That's all for now, thanks for reading. It's pretty late in the night over here, so if any of my voting numbers don't match what I posted here, I apologize, but I hope I've elaborated enough on it regardless.
so good.
