Special Season 16: Battle Spot Singles Underused!

[Theorymon]

Oh boy, as if Gamefreak decided to drop a mini little E3 morsel for us: Special 16 has gotten announced! This time, it's the return of an old favorite, Battle Spot Singles UU! Here's the rules!

Banned Pokemon (besides the usual event and boxart legendary stuff)

You can't use these Pokemon!

Aegislash
Azumarill
Blaziken
Breloom
Celesteela
Charizard
Cloyster
Dragonite
Excadrill
Ferrothorn
Garchomp
Gengar
Gliscor
Greninja
Gyarados
Heatran
Hippowdon
Hydreigon
Kangaskhan
Kartana
Landorus (all formes)
Lucario
Mamoswine
Mawile
Metagross
Mimikyu
Naganadel
Porygon2
Rotom (all formes)
Salamence
Scizor
Serperior
Skarmory
Slowbro
Snorlax
Tapu Fini
Tapu Koko
Tapu Lele
Thundurus (all formes)
Toxapex
Tyranitar
Venusaur
Volcarona
Zapdos

These are all Pokemon that have ended a season in the top 30 at some point in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. A lot of staples are gone, so this is going to be a radically different metagame than usual!

The only other special rule to note: TRANSFERS ARE ALLOWED! Yep, time to crack out the Fissure Politoeds and other stuff like that!

I'll update this to include a viability rankings after this format gets some play, and also, yes I will update that giveaway thread of mine to focus on this format sometime this week!

Preliminary Viability Rankings (thanks cant say !)

PRELIM TIER LIST MADE BY ME AND MY STREAM VIEWERS

S tier

Kommo-o


A+ tier

Gardevoir (mega)

Pinsir (mega)

Porygon-Z

Pheromosa

Tapu Bulu

A tier

Vivillon

Lopunny (mega)

Cresselia

Amoonguss

Suicune

Xurkitree

Muk-Alola

Araquanid

Primarina

A- tier

Swampert (mega) +

Pelipper (

Politoed )

Glalie

Chansey

Ninetales-Alola

Incineroar

Magnezone

Entei

Togekiss


B+ tier

Heracross (mega)

Reuniclus

Manectric (mega)

Alakazam (mega)

Nihilego

Diggersby

Empoleon

Darmanitan

B tier

Tornadus-T

Latias

Latios

Aggron (mega)

Nidoking

Tangrowth

Piloswine

C tier (the rest)

#66 - Chandelure

#75 - Quagsire

#77 - Whimsicott

#78 - Sharpedo

#81 - Marowak-Alola

#84 - Ditto

#86 - Espeon

#87 - Milotic

#90 - Gastrodon

#93 - Clefable

#97 - Blacephalon

#98 - Aerodactyl

#100 - Steelix

#105 - Lanturn

#106 - Donphan

#107 - Abomasnow

#109 - Blastoise

#110 - Lapras

#115 - Gigalith

#116 - Eevee

#122 - Moltres

#125 - Stakataka

#126 - Beedrill

we made this super quick because I was limited on time. mostly posted as a discussion sparker !!

 

[Theorymon]

Sorry for the double post, but I didn't want to put my opinion in the OP lol. Just have a few hazey thoughts since I just woke up.

Maybe it's just me, but Kommo-o being allowed sounds nuts. This format banned damn near all of its common checks, and most of the good fairies left are slower than it! I imagine most people are jumping to Kommonium Z, but I bet physically based sets work too just because most of the good fairies are squishy enough that boosted Poison Jabs and Earthquakes are gonna be bad news for them!

Speaking of fairies... just off the top of my head, we basically got Tapu Bulu, Primarina, Nega Gardevoir, and Sylveon to work with. Maybe people will use Klefki too if desperation sits in. At the very least, Primarina and Slyveon could probably work well on Trick Room, and I like that Mega Gardevoir outspeeds Kommo-o. I also imagine that Tapu Bulu is going to be among the best Grass-types usable in this format!

Speaking of Trick Room... Cresselia appears to be allowed for this. That thing sounds sorta nuts with the major Ghost-types getting banned lol. It'll easily be the default Trick Roomer with Porygon2 and Mimikyu gone.

 

[cant say]

tagging Lego to get it on Showdown so we can spam Viv together

 

[Lego]

tagging Lego to get it on Showdown so we can spam Viv together

ok

 

[Ika Ika Musume]

vivillon with no tapus or ferrothorn XD
Glalie :P

 

[Lego]

This is now live on PS!

 

[Charisma]

Gonna wait for a viability list, but this looks fun!

 

[cant say]

PRELIM TIER LIST MADE BY ME AND MY STREAM VIEWERS

S tier

Kommo-o


A+ tier

Gardevoir (mega)

Pinsir (mega)

Porygon-Z

Pheromosa

Tapu Bulu

A tier

Vivillon

Lopunny (mega)

Cresselia

Amoonguss

Suicune

Xurkitree

Muk-Alola

Araquanid

Primarina

A- tier

Swampert (mega) +

Pelipper (

Politoed )

Glalie

Chansey

Ninetales-Alola

Incineroar

Magnezone

Entei

Togekiss


B+ tier

Heracross (mega)

Reuniclus

Manectric (mega)

Alakazam (mega)

Nihilego

Slowbro (either)

Diggersby

Empoleon

Darmanitan

B tier

Tornadus-T

Latias

Latios

Aggron (mega)

Nidoking

Tangrowth

Piloswine

C tier (the rest)

#66 - Chandelure

#75 - Quagsire

#77 - Whimsicott

#78 - Sharpedo

#81 - Marowak-Alola

#84 - Ditto

#86 - Espeon

#87 - Milotic

#90 - Gastrodon

#93 - Clefable

#97 - Blacephalon

#98 - Aerodactyl

#100 - Steelix

#105 - Lanturn

#106 - Donphan

#107 - Abomasnow

#109 - Blastoise

#110 - Lapras

#115 - Gigalith

#116 - Eevee

#122 - Moltres

#125 - Stakataka

#126 - Beedrill

we made this super quick because I was limited on time. mostly posted as a discussion sparker !!

 

[Charisma]

I think Talonflame has viability as an anti-meta mon. Strongly considering it since Bulu shreds its defensive answers too.

Edit: Update the viability list to not include Dragonite. Just tried building with it and got a message saying it's banned.

 

[Charisma]

https://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/battle/usum/#special

The top 30 used Pokemon list is up. I totally forgot about Staraptor, who is the current #3 mon in the format. #1 and #2 aren't a surprise though haha.