Premier League Spotlight: MWP 3

Art by Ticken.

Introduction

The Monotype Winter Premier League is Monotype's second annual team tournament, which features SS Monotype as the current generation and the primary format of the tier and its Other Metagames, being National Dex, Monothreat, STABmons, AAA, and LC. Several things have changed from the tournament's previous iterations; the first is that National Dex Monotype replaced Monotype Ubers. The draft style was also changed from a snake draft into a much more competitive and popular auction format. A few more exciting things have happened this MWP; some of the teams projected to do well and make the playoffs did not, such as the Inebriated Incineroars and the Milk Bagged Miltanks, which let a dark horse team, the Viridian Vivillons, make the playoffs. This was completely unexpected, as the community did not believe they were a strong team; many of the reasons are discussed in the Power Rankings. Furthermore, the Monotype Other Metagames were balanced faster than in Generation 7; each of them was assigned a council to ban broken elements, making them overall more quickly playable. This made playing the Other Metagames of the tournament a smoother experience than previous iterations. With all of these exciting things that happened, tune in, and let's dive into the specifics and highlights of the tour!

Teams & Power Rankings

The Power Rankings were written by the Monotype community from the managers, tour players, and Monotype veterans.

1. Po Town Pandas

• Managed by Floss and Maple
• Players: Attribute, Catalystic, EviGaro, Floss, Kev, Riku Sakuraba, Sae, Sensei Axew, Splash, Xiri

Somehow, the team lead by first-time managers Floss and DugZa is ranked first. Blasphemy. Anyway, it is done, so I have no choice but to write about it. While they are an inexperienced manager group, they have a lot of experience on their team. Kev, Sae, and Attribute have been around for years with varying degrees of success, and Catalystic and EviGaro are also extremely experienced in Pokemon matters and are reliable teammates and players. The latter end of their short bench is a little suspect, as there is no experience there at all. Overall they are lead by one of the better SS players and builders in Floss, who for some reason has decided to lose in Natdex. Overall a well-rounded team that lacks true star power, and while I personally do not believe their ranking, they have the pieces to make it to the finals if the pieces click.

2. Inebriated Incineroars

• Managed by Ridley and torkool
• Players: aesf, Bouff, Confide, Conflux, Derpeddeath, Feliburn, GotCookies, Jordy, MetaRiolu7, Plas, zugubu royale

Torkool and Ridley are by far the most successful managers in MWP history, managing the winners of MWP I and MWP II, respectively. However, their draft has serious question marks, and I don’t understand this second place ranking. Apparently losing versus Fire with Water boosts your price for the next tour, so I’m sure one of my teammates will try to emulate that at some point. zugubu royale once asked to be benched after losing to Ronman 5 in a tour; I can’t be sure which of these is worse, asking to be benched or losing to Ronman. There is no real star player on this team as well. zugu has had tremendous individual success so far this year in the circuit, but he has never been totally up to it for an entire tour. There is quite a bit of OM depth on this team, however, and overall it is filled with relatively solid players, even if they're not very experienced in the tier. A majority of the responsibility will fall on the managers and MetaRiolu to help the surrounding OM players. A lot of pieces and a lot of question marks. Apparently there is already inner turmoil on that team, which can only be expected with zugu, and of course they need to be careful of their teams being leaked. I’ve heard their chat is quiet, and if it stays that way, I think this tour could be a disaster for them. Working together, they have the potential to make it far in the tour.

2. Mossdeep Murkrows

• Managed by Leru and Sabella
• Players: Betathunder, Gondra, Leru, Maki, Sabella, smub, Star, TheArchitect_, TonyFlygon, Yami

In second place, we have the Mossdeep Murkrows, led by Sabella and Leru. Similar to its sister team, two-time MPL Champions the Hearthome Honchkrows, this team has taken a drafting approach that focuses on putting most of the budget on major tournament players and using the remaining funds to pick up the scraps of the Monotype mainers pool. While this strategy has been successful in MPL, because of the managers' knowledge of the different generations of Monotype, it is a huge question mark for this tournament. In the five different metagames in this tournament, this team lacks a proven, standout builder in all of them. Moreover, their usual shadow manager Isza is not on their team to hold their hands throughout the tournament this time. Their primary current gen Monotype support is the very new Maki's Fox, who had a strong MPL debut but was mostly reliant on support and lacks the experience to be trusted with the entire SS slot. Their OM support lies on the shoulders of smub, who has failed to have an impressive showing thus far and has a terrible record of disappearing during tournaments. In terms of National Dex, it's highly doubtful most of the team even knows what it is let alone is able to provide a competent team. The team does have some good players like Star, Gondra, TonyFlygon and the manager duo, as well as an upcoming player in Maki, so there is a strong chance they can make a playoffs run if they manage to figure out building in the different tiers and adapt to their respective metagames. Nonetheless, there is going to be a lot of pressure on those star players to perform every week because it is unlikely the rest of the team collects more than three wins combined.

4. Circhester Centiskorchers

• Managed by Havens and In The Hills
• Players: basaninho, Brumirage, Eternal Spirit, Fissure, King Choco, le LLiolae, Lilburr, Nailec, Quantum Tesseract, Shiba, Skysolo, Trichotomy

Shockingly, we have the Centiskorchers at fourth despite being ranked 8th in three categories and 7th in another. The team is led by Havens and the OM version of himself, which is not a compliment by any means. While they do complement each other well as a Monotype main and OM main pair, the motivation of their players is a huge question mark, as most players hate the thought of playing for Havens & ITH. If they do manage to keep the players motivated, they might just make playoffs; however, this rank isn’t a testament of how good they are, but more of how terrible the ones below are.

4. Milk Bagged Miltanks

• Managed by Seo. and Zap
• Players: avarice, Chaitanya, col49, D2TheW, dahli, Gray, Harpp, Hys, Izaya, Roxiee, TJ, Vodoom, Zap

Another 4th place team, we have the MWP edition of the Gengars, with a less intimidating lineup and lower collective IQ. The obvious stars of this lineup are the trio of Chaitanya, Zap, and dahli, who should most certainly do well in their slots. They also have Harpp, who was once one of the most hyped-up players in Monotype but now finds himself below his past co-manager maroon in National Dex. They also have, Vodoom who is a risk in every sense of the word. Many will probably be surprised by this team being tied at 4th with these other two because of the clear star power, but the second half of the team falls short. The rest of this lineup is rounded out with players who are unproven in their slots, and while their bench is large, there aren't too many convincing rotations that can be made. With the guidance of an expert core of Chaitanya and Zap, this team can definitely patch up the holes in their lineup and have a strong season.

4. Tsundere Tsareenas

• Managed by Zar and Azelea
• Players: 1 True Lycan, Bushtush, Isza, Jase Duken, Jolly Togekiss ^-^, K3ppr, Maskun, North, power, tko, Wanka

The final team tied for the 4th slot is the Tsareenas, where old, potentially washed players and new, probably bad players meet. This team was very liberal with spending their money at the start of the draft, dropping big money on older players. While 1 True Lycan is undoubtedly the definition of consistency, he has not touched SS AAA and will most likely not help in other slots, so his immense pricetag might backfire. They also have two recently unbanned players in Isza and Bushtush, who definitely were top players before, but it's possible they will not adapt smoothly to SS Monotype. One could argue Isza remained active, but he lost like 50$ to a mediocre ladder hero in a money match. Their newer players like Jolly Togekiss, K3ppr, and Maskun are all still unproven, which could make them a hit or a miss. They also lack building support in a lot of the metagames. as neither of the managers are relevant players and a lot of the players aren't builders for the tiers. This team definitely can do well, but they will need to grind on building, and their old players will need to prove they are still at the level they formerly were.

7. Viridian Vivillons

• Managed by Bondie and Mateeus
• Players: dcae, Decem, Fírnen, gorex, kythr, maroon, Mateeus, The Number Man, Toadow, ToxaNex, trash

Next, we have the MWP equivalent of passing GO in Monopoly. The Vivillons' success relies heavily on Tier Leader Decem's support after paying a ridiculous 35k for him, as he is the only higher-end player they believed would give them a modicum of respect. However, he is playing in the very competitive Bo3. This team will be heavily dependent on them getting their money's worth on Decem in terms of prep. They will also need maroon to finally put his money where his mouth is as the Monotype National Dex Tier Leader, despite him actively trying to be traded on draft day. While this team seems to have neglected getting a very strong SS, they also managed to slack off in the OMs. Overall, the draft of this team seems rather bizarre, as they lack star power across the board. The manager even benched himself week 1, as he benched someone redundant with his own tier. However, this team does have some players with a potential to pop off, so they could be surprising.

8. Weaboo Wartortles

• Managed by LuckyPiper and Perish Song
• Players: adjustments, Crashy, Dieu Amphibien, Feitan the steam, Fylkir Pudin, iLlama, Kaguya Lys, LuckyPiper, martha, Namranan, RAP Yogurt, taide, vivalospride, yedla

At the bottom of the barrel, we have the Weaboo Wartortles with a roster that would be runner-ups in BLT. This team lacks a realistic superstar bar Feitan the Steam, who is a huge disappearance risk and has already expressed dislike for the team. Without him, this team looks even less convincing, as he is their only slot ranked within the top 3 of a tier. Befitting the crash and burn that was this draft, the most convincing slot on this team is Crashy. While a solid Monotype LC player that is expected to do well, he went for a ridiculous price for the tier, which might have contributed to the rest of the mess. Overall, this team is rounded out by players that have little to no experience or history in the tiers they are in. The saving grace of this team is that of any of the ones in the tournament, they are definitely the ones that would be the most motivated by being at the bottom. They will have plenty of motivation to pull the zero to hero story like in their animes, but there isn't much the power of friendship can do for them here.

Metagame Insights

SS

With MWP III being the first team tour after the Crown Tundra DLC release, the tour commenced with an undeveloped SS metagame, leaving massive room for innovation week after week, and the players did not disappoint. Unlike previous generations, almost every type saw usage in MWP, adding up to a total of 16 types that were used throughout the tour and giving a sense of the vast type diversity in the modern SS Monotype metagame. We saw important trends such as the usage of Ghost falling off significantly after the first few weeks and the increased usage of Ice, a supposedly lower-tier type, at the latter half of the tournament. Spectrier played a major role in how players approached building, as it forced many types to innovate methods to circumvent the Ghost-type matchup, specifically Spectrier. Some such ways were Water Veil Mantine, increased usage of Mandibuzz on Flying, and Rest Drapion on Poison, among others. Last but not least, Landorus was banned within the first few weeks of the tournament due to it being too overpowered for the current SS metagame, again putting players' innovation into the test and leaving everyone at an equal playing field. So without further ado, lets dive right into the intricacies of SS Monotype throughout MWP III!

To absolutely no one's surprise, Flying was the foremost in usage. After being blessed with the return of some of Flying's most traditional and significant assets in Celesteela, Landorus-T, Zapdos, and Tornadus-T along with the newly introduced Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres, Flying teams dominated the tournament. Flying teams saw a great deal of twists and turns almost every week, most notably the above-noted Landorus ban. Celesteela and Thundurus-T saw the highest usage on Flying teams and rightfully so. Celesteela's utility as an amazing defensive wall and Thundurus-T's aptness as a reliable Electric-immune teammate in conjunction with its capability of overcoming matchups like Water, Flying, and Fairy made them a no-brainer to be slapped on a majority of teams. However, the most significant and eye-catching change on Flying teams, apart from the glaring unattractive aesthetic in comparison to previous generations, was the soaring Mandibuzz usage, mostly attributed towards the increased Spectrier usage. There were a variety of lesser significant trends seen throughout the tournament such as Galarian Zapdos being used more often than not by the latter half of the tournament as a reliable means to deal with the Steel and Dark matchups and Dragonite gaining less traction as the tournament progressed into later weeks as the tournament progressed. Much like every other generation, Flying maintains its stature as a force to be reckoned with in Monotype.

Trailing behind Flying in usage by a slight margin were Water and Steel, with each being used 32 times across the entire tournament and, to top if off, both having a win percentage of 50% or more, proving how dominant Water and Steel have been in the tournament. Water saw a great deal of innovation ranging from Sticky Web Water and rain Water to the classic balance Water along with a combination of many other techs like non-Choice Urshifu-R, the occasional Calm Mind Keldeo to overcome the Steel matchup, and Choice Scarf Tapu Fini with Knock Off to to get the better of Dragalge Dragon teams and the occassional Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu Fairy teams, both of which are less fortunate matchups for Water. While innovation on Steel teams was very limited, there was one key transition over the course of the tournament: Skarmory gaining more traction and replacing Celesteela on a majority of Steel teams by the latter part of the tournament. This change was primarily attributed towards Skarmory's ability to deal with threats to Steel-type teams that Celesteela falls short against, most notably Urshifu-R and Weavile. The increase in Skarmory usage also significantly contributed towards the aforementioned Keldeo being opted for, to overcome the Steel matchup. Nonetheless, more often than not Steel-type teams were extremely linear in the builder and saw very little innovation, though that did not stop them from commanding the competition successfully.

Admittedly, a tier below the aforementioned types, types such as Ground, Ghost, Ice, and Grass still received respectable amounts of usage in their own rights. Ground usage was at an all-time high during the first two weeks of the tournament, but after the anything but surprising Landorus ban, everything started going downhill for the type. Landorus was easily the best special wallbreaker available for Ground-type teams and aided greatly in a wide range of matchups like Fairy, Dark, Grass, and Poison. Despite Smack Down or Gravity Landorus-T being used as a replacement, Ground usage gradually began to die out, as it significally fell short of fulfilling Landorus's role to the same effect. Even so, innovations such as Substitute Power Whip Seismitoad to conquer the Water matchup, Choice Scarf Krookodile to ease the Ghost and Psychic matchups, and increased Nidoking usage to reliably handle the Steel and Flying matchups were a few notable improvisations seen throughout the tournament. Similarly to Ground, Ghost was at its peak within the initial weeks of the tournament, and Spectrier forced a majority of teams to opt for dedicated checks such as the previously mentioned Rest Drapion and Mandibuzz on Flying to better deal with it. However, Ghost soon became massively overprepared for, and as a result it momentarily began a downwards slop in terms of both usage and win percentage. Contrary to both Ghost and Ground, Ice, a type considered to be subpar generation after generation, saw more usage at the latter half of the tournament. Its ability to reliably handle some of the most prominent types such as Water, Flying, Dark, and Dragon in tandem with the reduced Fire usage was more than sufficient to elevate its status in the tier. Much like Ice, the significantly reduced Fire-type usage in conjunction with its ability to deal with types like Ground, Fairy, Electric, Water, and Psychic impacted the surge in Grass-type usage.

It is evident that some types like Flying, Steel, and Water shined throughout the course of the tournament and were the obvious favorites. While some types were winners, there were also some obvious losers, most notably Bug and Rock, which got no usage, along with types like Fire and Normal that left much to be desired. Nonetheless, innovation was at its finest in a completely unexplored metagame prior to the commencement of the tournament. Most importantly, the common myth of SS Monotype being totally matchup based was completely debunked time and time again.

• Floss vs. Conflux [Ground vs. Flying]
• dahli vs. Sabella [Electric vs. Ground]
• Floss vs. Star [Dragon vs. Water]
• Isza vs. Attribute [Dragon vs. Water]
• kythr vs. MetaRiolu7 [Flying vs. Flying]

Monothreat

This is one of the first tournaments Monothreat has been playable in since SS was released, so many Monothreat types were unexplored and needed some attention. Due to Monothreat's reliance on a set number of available Pokemon per type, as well as having to follow regular Monotype's banlist, the Monothreat council chooses which types are not versatile enough to be in the tournament. Dragon and Ghost often get the short end of the stick, as their weakness to themselves makes them inadequate to be playable formats, with Fighting and Normal not getting the green light either as a result of their lack of diversity and least interesting metagames. This is an effort to make sure Monothreat is as competitive as it can be while still having enough types for the entire season and taking into account any and all tiebreakers. With the type pool set and the randomizer hot and ready, let's see how it unfolded!

To start things off, we had Monothreat Flying. Monothreat Flying was historically a hard-hitting, hazard-heavy metagame in SM with Pokemon opting to use BoltBeam and Rock-type coverage, but due to the removal of Hidden Power, the introduction of Heavy Duty Boots, and the loss of Mega Aerodactyl, most notably, this was no longer the go-to strategy. Many players decided to go for a more setup-focused team with Pokemon such as Autotomize + Meteor Beam Celesteela, Bulk Up Corviknight, and various Agility users in Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, and Dragonite. This is important to take note of, as this setup-heavy strategy is a common strategy across a majority of Monothreat types. Many teams used a similar core in Thundurus, Aerodactyl, Dragonite, and Celesteela due to their unique assets as fast offensive threats or general glue roles.

Ice was less focused on setting up compared to other types this year, as it is generally a hard-hitting, position-heavy metagame. Heavy-Duty Boots also play a huge role here, because it allows teams to adequately prepare defensive checks to Galarian Darmanitan between Avalugg, Cloyster, and Kyurem. Ice teams rely on Rapid Spin to remove hazards, namely from Alolan Sandslash and Cloyster, so Froslass and various Rocky Helmet Pokemon were advantageous to keep hazards up for any Pokemon lacking Heavy-Duty Boots. Froslass went 3/3 for the type as a hidden gem that provides role compression Pokemon as the only hazard-blocking and Fighting-immune Pokemon while also having the capability to burn foes and set up Spikes once it was out. Considering how common Fighting-type coverage is in Ice Monothreat with Pokemon such as Avalugg, Glastrier, and Weavile, Froslass was a hidden gem on the Monothreat VR coming into the week, and it was shown just how effective Froslass can be at a high level.

Fairy Monothreat has the most interesting history, going from being the only metagame where we introduced the idea of banning Magearna in early SM and then being deemed unfit by the council to be played in a major Monotype team tour, so it never got the spotlight until now. Part of the reason it was barred from participating prior is because of the stranglehold Tapu Koko had on the metagame, but that was due to having access to Hidden Power Poison to muscle past Tapu Bulu and spam Electric-type coverage against the rest of the cast. SS introduced intriguing new Pokemon into the mix such as Galarian Weezing, Galarian Rapidash, Hatterene, and the unbanned Tapu Lele. Tapu Koko made a 180, going from a specially offensive powerhouse to opting for a physically offensive and sometimes physically defensive set instead to check itself. Klefki is as dominant as ever thanks to its supportive capabilities and versatility, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Lele are still very strong offensive threats, and various other Pokemon in Diancie, Galarian Weezing, and Hatterene attempt to disrupt the flow of the aforementioned threats. Fairy Monothreat cannot compete when it comes to the amount of setup users and hazard setters of other types, but it really rewards players for smart building, accurate positioning in battle, and taking advantage of key threats.

Grass Monothreat is much like Flying Monothreat, with the strategy of laying hazards and setting up with a plethora of threats. Grass lost Mega Venusaur and Hidden Power, which are two huge losses because Mega Venusaur held the type together, gatekeeping most offensive threats such as Abomasnow, and Hidden Power's exclusion makes many Pokemon less viable, namely part Poison-types, and Ferrothorn is immediately better as a result of the Hidden Power Fire loss. While this makes it sound like "Abomasnow and Ferrothorn: the metagame," that could not be further from the truth, as seen in week 7. Abomasnow is still a great threat with pretty much only two Pokemon neutral to its STAB attacks in the metagame, including Abomasnow itself, but it is easily worn down by hazards, while Ferrothorn does not have any reliable recovery and as a result is also worn down relatively quickly. Grassy Surge existed in SM but was only accessible on the mediocre Tapu Bulu, so the release of Rillaboom's hidden ability was huge. It can run Swords Dance + Acrobatics + Drain Punch sets, increasing its own Acrobatics with Grassy Seed under Terrain, and singlehandedly makes offensive setup the go-to archetype. It also gave rise to Sceptile, which would run the same moveset, putting on too much pressure for Ferrothorn to handle. As a result, Grass Monothreat is a very offensively oriented, volatile metagame that thoroughly changed from its previous SM iteration.

Overall, SS Monothreat still has a lot to offer even with the many losses from Mega and Z-Moves to the exclusion of important moves. It is fair to say it is more balanced than its predecessor because of the loss of Z-Moves, and it rewards traditional competitive attributes from solid building and battling proficiency. Whichever side you are on, SS Monothreat did not fail to deliver with its many surprises that it is well known for!

• ToxaNex vs. taide [Grass]
• Kev vs. Bouff [Ice]
• Kev vs. basaninho [Fairy]

AAA

Monotype AAA over the course of this tournament was a rather interesting one. Given the lack of this metagame's exploration after Crown Tundra's release, as well as the ban of Triage prior to the start of the tournament, it was a completely clean slate for players to start from, and no team had a clear, distinct building advantage over the other. That being said, AAA this year was a delight to watch, and nearly every single type saw usage at least once throughout this tour. Dragon, Dark, Flying, and Steel were among the most popular and consistently performing types of the tour, with Water trailing behind them. Some types such as Ground and Normal saw solid tournament usage but failed to excel, while others like Fighting saw limited playtime but had a perfect winrate over the course of the regular season.

As much as things had changed between generations, some things stayed the same. Generally speaking, defensive abilities such as Poison Heal, Regenerator, and Magic Bounce found a purpose on most teams, and immunity-granting abilities like Volt Absorb, Flash Fire, and Primordial Sea were often seen to add onto a Pokemon's stopping power. Offensive abilities in Sheer Force, Tinted Lens, and Adaptability performed similarly as well, providing great power boosts to the likes of Kyurem and Tapu Lele. Type-changing -ate abilities were often seen on Extreme Speed users like Lucario and Zygarde-10%, yet the biggest offender of them all was Aerilate Noivern. A formerly banned element in the previous generation, it dominated throughout the course of the tour with STAB Boomburst and was evidenced to be a staple considering its unanimous pickrate on Dragon teams and its near-unanimous pickrate on Flying teams throughout the course of the regular season.

New moves introduced in this generation also changed the ways teams were built. The creation of Flip Turn as a new form of pivoting gave rise to new, offensive Regenerator Pokemon in Dragalge and Swampert. Other options like Grassy Surge on Zarude and Technician on Weavile were greatly influenced by Grassy Glide and Triple Axel, making them phenomenal breakers late-game. Additionally, the new combination of Dauntless Shield and Body Press found its way onto notable niches here and there, most notably on Corviknight and Kommo-o, which were granted greater durability and longevity.

This tournament showcased fascinating battles and became exciting for the community to observe; check out our highlights from this tour below:

• aesf vs. Fissure [Fairy vs. Fighting]
• Fissure vs. 1 True Lycan [Dark vs. Fairy]
• Fissure vs. Catalystic [Flying vs. Psychic]

STABmons

Similarly to Monotype AAA, Monotype STABmons was also loosely explored and developed prior to the beginning of MWP, so players were often experimenting as they went along. However, STABmons was hit hard with the exclusion of various metagame-defining moves from the previous generation. Beak Blast was no longer available to Flying-types as arguably the best move in the format, which used to instill the fear of burns on contact while providing raw damage output and plentiful Power Points to make it a good option on nearly every Flying-type. Other losses like Pursuit increased the versatility of Ghost- and Psychic-types, Araquanid became much more manageable without Tail Glow, and the removal of Hidden Power made special attackers overall worse for wear.

Aside from this, as well as the ban of Glacial Lance in the middle of the tournament, the Crown Tundra DLC couldn't have come at a better time for Monotype STABmons, revitalizing what was a rather dead format. Flying teams dominated as the most popular type of the tournament, with mainstays in Aerodactyl, Landorus-T, and Celesteela providing them with a sense of balance. Fairy and Steel teams were behind Flying teams in pickrate and slightly ahead in winrate, while less explored types like Bug, Fire, Ground, and Ice teams attained a perfect winrate despite collectively being used in six games. Additionally, Water as a type had its lowest pickrate and winrate in MWP history, being used in four matches and winning only one.

In terms of Pokemon, Aerodactyl and Tapu Koko were the biggest titans of the format this tournament. Choice Band Aerodactyl did the same thing it did in previous generations, which was to use Head Smash and Brave Bird essentially without risk given the combination of its great Attack, phenomenal Speed, and Rock Head. Alternatively, Tapu Koko's offensive affinity, utility, and enhanced STAB options provided Electric teams with that coveted Electric Terrain and its Fairy arsenal to deal with Dragon-types, with it also being a necessity on Fairy teams for its raw damage output.

This tournament showcased fascinating battles and became exciting for the community to observe; check out our highlights from this tour below:

• Quantum Tesseract vs. Betathunder[Flying vs. Electric]
• Sae vs. trash [Dragon vs. Normal]
• trash vs. Leru [Flying vs. Flying]

LC

Monotype LC is generally seen as a very top type-heavy metagame due to the inconsistent spread of viable Pokemon across each type, and this was further amplified with the changes from SM to SS. However, multiple low tier types had some usage this tour, such as Psychic and Steel, while none of the top 4 most used types had over a 50% win percentage. What caused this discrepancy? How did Grookey's ban mid-tour affect the metagame's builds and results?

Water stands at the top of the usage and only started seeing more usage later on during the tournament after Grookey was banned from Monotype LC. It is an all-around consistent type with a plethora of Pokemon to choose from. This season showed more experimentation than previous seasons, and that is not as evident as Water, seeing how it has the most number of unique Pokemon for any one type and Pokemon such as Goldeen, Omanyte, and Shellos were used. A huge upset, however, was Carvanha, the face of the offensive archetype, having 0 usage throughout the entire tournament, possibly due to players preferring balanced builds or teams just forgetting it existed. Mareanie's usage shot up, as it compresses roles well, has access to useful utility moves in Knock Off, Toxic Spikes, and Iron Defense, and is both a Grass and Fighting answer with reliable recovery. Chinchou is another Pokemon that had high usage, seeing how it is the go-to Choice Scarf user, has access to Volt Absorb for the occasional Electric-type coverage, and has great coverage of its own with Volt Switch, Scald, Ice Beam, and Dazzling Gleam.

Grass was very dominant in the beginning of the tournament because it naturally has a good matchup against multiple top-tier types, namely Rock and Water, and combined with access to Grassy Surge + Acrobatics, other types struggle taking it on as well. Grass almost has the most 100% usage Pokemon for any one type, second only to Fighting, and that was only after Grookey was banned. While Grass was only brought 20% of the time during the weeks Grookey was allowed, its impact and overall consistency were unprecedented. Grookey + Treecko was a very potent offensive core, easily activating Treecko's Grassy Seed with Grassy Surge, and in conjunction with a solid hazard setter in Ferroseed and the defensive core of Ferroseed, Foongus, and Lileep, it was hard to stop. Before Grookey's ban, Grass won over 50% of the time, while after the ban, it had virtually no usage, demonstrating how vital Grookey was to the type's success.

• Toadow vs. Nailec [Grass vs. Poison]
• Toadow vs. Confide [Dark vs. Normal]
• Confide vs. tko [Fighting vs. Fighting]

National Dex

National Dex Monotype is a rather interesting format, as it is pretty much a fusion of SM Monotype and the Galar Pokedex. This set National Dex Monotype apart from other metagames, as most teams felt very developed and solid from the start of the tournament, leaving a lot of room for creativity and experimenting rather than just figuring out the metagame. Due to this, National Dex Monotype was a very exciting slot to follow, as the games were always competitive and nearly every type was brought, showcasing the tier's diversity. Here are some key types I feel are worth showcasing: Grass, Flying, and Psychic.

Grass teams showcased a strong defensive core of Mega Venusaur + Ferrothorn, which wall a large majority of the metagame. This allows the team to focus on offense and take on the type's different weaknesses. Rillaboom is a new addition to Grass that really allows the type to excel. Due to its ability to act as a revenge killer in Grassy Terrain, it can take on a variety of threats to the type such as Greninja, Tornadus-T, and Spectrier. The addition of this Pokemon set Grass apart from anything in USM, as it gave Grass teams a strong revenge killer. In addition to this, Grass teams have access to an arsenal of offensive threats that allow it to take on its weaknesses, Zarude can take on Psychic-types like Victini and Tapu Lele, Celebi can deal with Poison-types such as Rillaboom, Rotom-C can deal with Flying-types like Tornadus-T, and Breloom to take on Ice- and Steel-type Pokemon such as Kyurem and Excadrill. Due to these different elements, Grass teams were able to stay on top of their weaknesses and dominate the metagame.

Flying teams most successfully ran balanced teams with a strong defensive core backed by strong offensive teammates. The typical team structure has a defensive core always sporting Celesteela and a Ground-type such as Landorus, Gliscor, or Landorus-T, while also carrying Mantine and Tornadus-T to cover different matchups. Between these defensive Pokemon they can wall a vast majority of the metagame with relative ease, only being broken by BoltBeam coverage or strong neutral attacks such as from Nasty Plot Spectrier.

To nobody's surprise, Psychic teams stayed dominant and beat up the competition. Mega Medicham was a dominant force in the metagame before it got banned, being nearly unanimously picked as the Mega of choice for Psychic teams, and for good reason, being able to 2HKO all of the metagame as well as target its so-called counters such as Aegislash with Fire Punch. This made for an extremely unhealthy metagame, as nothing really bar Mega Sableye could take it on, which Tapu Lele could beat down for it. Mega Medicham was banned from National Dex Monotype due to this, shifting the type to utilize more balance-oriented Mega Evolutions such as Latias. Psychic teams were still able to dominate the metagame due to the variety the type has, being able to handle its different matchups while sporting extremely good defensive and offensive cores. The main way to beat these teams was to use strong attackers that took advantage of Bug-, Dark- and Ghost-type attacks, making Pokemon such as Volcarona, Mega Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Mimikyu, and Spectrier some of the best ways to take on the type.

Overall, the tournament proved that a plethora of types were viable, leaving room for exciting techs and discoveries in future tournaments!

• Gondra vs. Feliburn [Steel vs. Fire]
• Jordy vs. Attribute [Flying vs. Grass]
• Feitan the steam vs. zugubu royale [Steel vs. Flying]

Highlight Matches

Attribute vs. Isza [SS Bo3]

Game 1: Water vs. Dragon | Game 2: Fairy vs. Dragon

As two longtime friends and great builders, Attribute and Isza's SS Bo3 series was an instant highlight. The series determined which team advanced into playoffs and as a result was extremely decisive for both teams. The series began with Water vs Dragon, an almost even matchup. However, Attribute opted for a unique Sticky Web offense build, something not seen in the tournament prior to that. While Isza's team was more or less standard from a building standpoint, Attribute's team was one of the most creative teams seen in the entire tournament, consisting of interesting sets such as Custap Araquanid, Gyarados, and Tentacruel. As such, Sticky Web and Choice Scarf Tapu Fini in conjunction with some great playing resulted in the first game of the series being won by Attribute. The second match of the series was Fairy vs Dragon. While the matchup did seem in Attribute's favor at first, in actuality that was not the case. Lack of reliable counterplay against Toxic Spikes, extremely limited Fairy STAB across the team, and an opposing Flash Cannon Hydreigon put both players at even odds. While Isza came close to winning what would otherwise be an unfavorable matchup, patiently waiting for the right moment to set up with Calm Mind Clefable allowed Attribute to sweep through the weakened team, winning the exchange, and as a result he was the victor of the series.

Trichotomy vs. Star [SS Bo3]

Game 1: Flying vs. Dragon | Game 2: Ice vs. Flying

Trichotomy and Star sported two of the best records in the tournament and are known to consistently put up top performances in every tournament, while Star in particular had the best SS Bo3 record of the tournament at the time. As a result, their game was the immediate and obvious highlight of the finals. The series started off with a Dragon vs Flying matchup. Although the matchup was slightly in Star's favor, some interesting sets such as Outrage Landorus-T and Choice Scarf Galarian Zapdos gave him decent odds at winning the game. That, combined with some amazing playing, resulted in Trichotomy taking the first series of the game. The second game of the series was Ice vs Flying, meaning Trichotomy had an immediate type advantage at preview. Despite, Star having his own fair share of counterplay against Ice in Galarian Zapdos and Celesteela, Trichotomy gave no breathing room for Star as he continuously pressured Star's Flying team with some top-notch playing. As a result, Trichotomy won the second game, taking the series in two.

smub vs. Fissure [AAA]

Water vs. Flying

This matchup was perhaps the biggest upset of the entire tournament. The finals AAA game was between smub, who at the time was sporting the worst record in the tournament at 0-7, against Fissure, who was at the opposite side of the spectrum, undefeated and dominating the entire AAA pool with an excellent 8-0. Naturally, everyone expected Fissure to win the game with ease, but that was not the case. The matchup was Water vs Flying. Both sides had innovative and interesting sets like physical Choice Scarf Landorus, Corrosion Toxapex, and Sap Sipper Tapu Fini. However, the defensive core of smub's Water team in Poison Heal Swampert, Slowbro, Toxapex, and Regenerator Lanturn proved to be too much for Fissure's team to break through, with smub having a dedicated check against all of Fissure's threat. As such, smub came out as the victor of the game in style, causing the biggest upset in the tournament.

Late Weeks

Going into the latter part of the regular season, it was rather clear which teams were on their to making playoffs. At the start of Week 6, the Circhester Centiskorchers were leading the standings with 7 points and the Viridian Vivillons trailed behind by a single point at 6 points. The Po Town Pandas and Mossdeep Murkrows were both sitting at 8 points; however, the Pandas were at third due to their higher differential in +0 as opposed to the Murkrows' -2 differential. The Tsundure Tsareenas and Weaboo Wartortles were placed 5th and 6th respectively, both with a total of 5 points. At the same time, going into week 6, the Milk Bagged Miltanks were already eliminated after a poor showing throughout the tournament, managing to grab only a single point over the course of 5 weeks. The Inebriated Incineroars were a close runners-up for 8th place, as their season was much like the Miltanks: disastrous, but they had a glimpse of hope at making playoffs through winning the next two weeks and a number of different external factors which they had no control over. At the end of week 6, the Centiskorchers and Murkrows were guaranteed a spot at playoffs after their wins against Tsareenas and Incineroars, respectively. With their loss against the Murkrows in week 6, their fates were sealed, and they were knocked out of playoffs contention. With that, four teams in the Vivillons, Pandas, Wartortles, and Tsareenas were fighting it off for the last two playoff spots. While the Vivillons and Pandas immediately advanced into playoffs with a simple tie or a win, the Wartortles and Tsareenas had to resort to external factors. As week 7 ended, three out of four matchups concluded as draws, two of which were the matchups between Viridian Vivillons against Wartortles and the Pandas against the Tsareenas, resulting in the Vivillons and Pandas successfully securing the 3rd and 4th spot in playoffs after close ties.

Final Standings

• SS: Shiba vs. Maki
• SS: King Choco vs. Sabella
• SS Bo3: Trichotomy vs. Star | Game 1 (SS) Game 2 (SS)
• Monothreat: Nailec vs. TonyFlygon
• AAA: Fissure vs. smub
• STABmons: Quantum Tesseract vs. Betathunder
• LC: Eternal Spirit vs. Leru
• National Dex: Skysolo vs. Gondra

Following two tiebreakers in the semifinals, the Circhester Centiskorchers and Mossdeep Murkrows faced off in the finals. Going into finals both teams were at equal odds; with both SS and OMs being neck and neck and the two of them having tied in their first encounter in the regular season, the outcome was anything but predictable. One notable feature in finals was the Murkrows finishing 0-3 in SS after their dominating showing in SS throughout the tour, something they touted themselves throughout the course of the tournament. The series started off with Quantum Tesseract vs Betathunder with a Flying vs Electric matchup. Although it seemed like an advantageous matchup for Betathunder at first, it was even at best, or some would even say, slightly favored towards Quantum Tesseract, as there was no clear-cut, reliable way to get past Quantum Tesseract's defensive core while Aerodactyl continued to apply offensive pressure throughout the game, threatening to KO a foe every time it was sent in. As a result, Quantum Tesseract got the first win of the finals. Next up was King Choco vs Sabella. What was expected to be a highlight of the finals ended up being a massive letdown, as the Murkrow's second best record holder and manager Sabella was swept through in a Dark vs Psychic matchup right from the get-go by a Hatterene, as his Dark team had little to no counterplay against it. Next up was Skysolo vs Gondra. Skysolo had an amazing matchup at Team Preview with Water against Gondra's Ground team. Ice Beam + Grass Knot Greninja along with Drizzle Pelipper left the matchup completely unsalvageable for Gondra, resulting in the Centiskorches getting an early 3-0 lead in the finals. Fissure vs smub was easily the biggest upset of the entire tournament. 8-0 and undefeated Fissure up against 0-7 smub with no wins up until that point. Fissure's lack of any means of breaking through smub's defensive core along with some great playing from smub led to smub's victory and the Murkrows getting their first win in the finals. Next up was the Dark-type Monothreat game between Nailec vs TonyFlygon. Tony proved to be the superior builder by a fair margin with some unique and game-winning sets such as Substitute + Salac Berry + Reversal Urshifu-S along with Weak Armor Brave Bird Mandibuzz to deal with opposing Urshifu-S, winning the game and resulted in a 3-2 score in favor of the Centiskorches. Next up was Shiba vs Maki, two of the better-performing players in the SS pool. Shiba had an immediate type advantage at Team Preview, with his Fairy team against Maki's Dark-type team. Despite Maki having some techs like Heavy Slam Tyranitar and Zarude helping a decent amount in said matchup, threats like Choice Scarf Alolan Ninetales along with Calm Mind Tapu Fini resulted in the match being won by Shiba with little to no effort. Trichotomy vs Star was easily the highlight of the finals, between two great players known to have consistent top performances with amazing records in MWP. Their Bo3 series started off with Trichotomy's Flying team against Star's Dragon team. While the matchup was slightly in Star's favor, some interesting sets like Outrage Landorus-T along with some great playing by Trichotomy resulting in him taking the first game of the series. The second game was Ice vs Flying, meaning Trichotomy had an immediate type advantage at Team Preview, and as a result he came out as the victor of the second game, winning the Bo3 series against Star in two games. With this, the Circhester Centiskorchers led by Havens and In The Hills emerged victorious as the champions of the third edition of the Monotype Winter Premier, with a final score of 5-2 after a dominating showing throughout the regular season as first seed.

Manager Interviews

Closing Thoughts

This edition of MWP was exciting to watch and helped develop many of the Monotype Other Metagames. It will be interesting to watch them develop from here and see them all again next MWP. MWP III ran smoothly and was an intense tour the Circhester Centiskorcher's came out on top, led by Havens and In The Hills. Congratulations to them for being crowned the Champions of the third edition of MWP. With this Monotype team tournament wrapping up, we have another exciting tournament to follow soon, the Monotype World Cup of Pokemon!