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The worst type in SV Monotype is the subject of some debate. Realistically, the way Monotype is structured, there will always be multiple bottom-of-the-barrel types in a given generation - all that's to say that it's tough to pick out the worst type in SV. Electric, Rock, and Ice all have great claims to being the worst type out there. But personally, the worst type is Grass. Its matchup spread is rather poor, with its only winning matchups being against Water and Ground (both of which have problematic foes to face in Pelipper and Mamoswine respectively) and having poor to downright-awful matchups into top types like Steel, Dragon, and Flying which are all the rage on ladder. At least Ice can boast advantages into Dragon and Flying while keeping a good matchup into both Water and Ground. You don't even have a proper Stealth Rock setter (Torterra doesn't count) or great removal options (Brambleghast, Toedscruel, and that's it.) Safe to say, if you're playing a semi-conscious opponent who isn't loading Rain, your ladder experience will be abject hell.
I guess it's a comment on the state of the ladder that I got this high.
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Coffin Nails (Meowscarada) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Triple Axel
- Flower Trick
3 sentences. Let's see if I can make it. Scarf Meowscarada is a staple on Grass teams - it's your fastest viable option (no, Hisuian Electrode is not viable), and has great coverage coupled with Protean to make its moves sting just an extra bit harder. Its speed tier ensures you don't lose instantly to foes like Darkrai and Dragapult, along with outspeeding opposing Choice Scarfers like Roaring Moon and Latias that are very annoying for this team. Triple Axel could be Play Rough for the Fighting matchup, but Triple Axel does so much more versus Flying and Dragon that I find it hard to remove. There we go.
Valerian Root (Ogerpon-Cornerstone) (F) @ Cornerstone Mask
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ivy Cudgel
- Power Whip
- Superpower
Rockpon, Cornerpon, or my personal favorite, Stonerpon - whatever you call it, I chose Cornerstone over Hearthflame here for two reasons. Firstly, Cornerstone helps stop any nascent sweeps from foes like DD Dragonite that ladder loves to use if Sturdy is up. The more important reason, however, is Cornerstone's matchup spread. While Hearthflame is a great asset into Steel, mainly, Cornerstone is the key to beating Flying and Fire, to an extent. Flying crumbles to it if you use it well, while Fire is a tougher proposition but still hates Cornerstone. Its main weakness is not being able to hit Gholdengo hard enough unlike Hearthflame, which can be rectified later by the amount of things that threaten it on this team. Superpower is on this set because it has a 75% chance to OHKO Archaludon, which is huge - Archaludon and Gholdengo dying are how you win versus Steel, and blowing one of those off the field is major.
Lavender Blossoms (Rillaboom) @ Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Grassy Glide
- Wood Hammer
- Knock Off / High Horsepower
- U-turn
Rillaboom has fallen out of favor with many Grass players because it doesn't offer much outside of strong priority and a couple useful utility options in Knock and U-turn. I find it as a quite good auxiliary damage-dealer on this team, with Grassy Surge being much-appreciated by the whole team. Life Orb allows you to switch moves and get far more power on every one, while having the recoil mitigated significantly by Grassy Terrain. Meanwhile, Wood Hammer nukes neutral targets and even some soft resistances, while the third slot is up to you - Knock Off is always nice to potentially beat down Leftovers users like Archaludon trying to double-dip on Terrain and Lefties, while High Horsepower just hits it and Hisuian Goodra straight up. U-turn is useful for getting away from something that walls Rillaboom while denting Dark-types decently without Low Kick.
Kava Kava Root (Sinistcha) @ Leftovers
Ability: Heatproof
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Matcha Gotcha
- Shadow Ball
- Strength Sap
Again, this is going to be a struggle. Here goes. Calm Mind Sinistcha is a great sweeper against types like Fighting and maybe even Steel in the right conditions, while generally being a pain to kill especially when supported by regaining 12% of its HP per turn and lowering your attack while being impervious to most special attacks at even +2. Matcha Gotcha is great for a sweeper, while the max/max EVs are greeded as Belly Drum Azumarill, the threshold the standard set is set to beat, already loses to Grassy Glide. Realistically, this is good if you can get it in early-game and deal good damage for your two priority breakers and Meowscarada to clean up later.
Patchouly Leaves (Amoonguss) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 240 HP / 164 Def / 104 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Spore
Again, this is just standard Amoonguss. I'll just borrow my own work and paste it here. Foul Play is a great option in order to hit threats like Swords Dance Scizor and Dragon Dance Dragapult, which may try to take advantage of Amoonguss's passive playstyle. Sludge Bomb hits the aforementioned Fairy-types, as well as threatening Grass-types like Hisuian Lilligant and Hydrapple. Spore lets Amoonguss facilitate dangerous setup sweeper teammates, like Nasty Plot Hydrapple, Victory Dance Hisuian Lilligant, and Swords Dance Ogerpon-H. The given EV spread lets Amoonguss survive one Ice Beam from Choice Specs Greninja from full health and retaliate by putting it to sleep. That's what it does. Helmet is useful for random U-turns.
Black Snake Root (Breloom) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb / Bulldoze
Finally, Breloom. Banded Breloom is a huge damage dealer, especially when in terrain - if you name anything that's not Archaludon or a 4x resist, it probably drops in at least two hits to a Terrain-boosted Choice Band Technician-boosted Bullet Seed. Mach Punch is great priority that eviscerates Normal and Steel after HiZo and Gholdengo drop, while Close Combat is very spammable in general against types without a reliable Ghost-type. The final slot can go to either Rock Tomb or Bulldoze - Rock Tomb smacks Flying-types like Moltres trying to switch in, while Bulldoze hits Gholdengo at the cost of being completely useless into Flying and being weakened by Terrain.
I will be honest here. I saved exactly 1 replay of my laddering - I was planning on reaching at least top 150 before doing so, because replays against 1400s players aren't very useful, but in the end I ran into too many bad matchups and good players who capitalized on those matchups to make it to the top 150. I did, however, get the chance to test against some good players and use these games for this RMT - very grateful to those who tested with me.
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Shoutout to Dunes for hating on me whenever he saw me, glad to pay it back in kind
Thanks to my good friends in the Monotype community (boomp, roxie, RoyalReloaded, the list goes on)
Thanks to Trichotomy for quite a few test games
Too many people to ping, but a big shoutout to everyone not in the Monotype community who still are plenty close to me on Smogo
The mafia madhouse has always been fun to play with, even if I have a 0% town winrate (ElectricityCat, Alice Kazumi, Lechen, and many more)
See you all on another day.
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