Format Discussion Metronome Battle

I've hear of people using bots to ladder automatically, is this a real thing?
It is! The most notable at the moment has got to be hippobotas. While there's a noticeable impact on monthly stats (since it randomly cycles through off-meta mons), it does help find games when ladder is less active. Personally, I think they offer an improved experience, in terms of finding undiscovered niches (I feel like it used some regi's that ate me alive before, but afaik is pretty unexplored, but possibly some potential), and just a cool programming project for bot devs.

For the record, there are lots of bots on showdown outside of metronome as well.
 
I've hear of people using bots to ladder automatically, is this a real thing?
Kind of?

The goal is not to ladder. I don't know a single person making a bot and having it jam double pecha. A friend and I made bots that I use for testing teams over a large sample size. bingingem also correctly mentioned hippobotas which is the most active one but it uses pokemon from a set pool as well. You'll find bots in ladder but I don't think I've seen one made with the goal to just ladder for the sake of it.
 
Kind of?

The goal is not to ladder. I don't know a single person making a bot and having it jam double pecha. A friend and I made bots that I use for testing teams over a large sample size. bingingem also correctly mentioned hippobotas which is the most active one but it uses pokemon from a set pool as well. You'll find bots in ladder but I don't think I've seen one made with the goal to just ladder for the sake of it.
i'm honestly interested in making my own bot to ladder, but i am horrible at coding...

also this is legitimately insane lol:
1745007203575.png

it was at 1599 a few days ago, so i think this person hit 1600s before decay happened
 
i'm honestly interested in making my own bot to ladder, but i am horrible at coding...

also this is legitimately insane lol: View attachment 733395
it was at 1599 a few days ago, so i think this person hit 1600s before decay happened
that's me hi
i play the format when im bored of vgc lol -- i was at 1610ish before decay, i don't have much of a reason to ladder on that account anymore
 
Happy May Day! I really don't have much to say about the month here other than 2025/05 being aesthetic, but April still felt like a positive yet eventful month for me though. Not particularly because of the Nintendo Switch 2 news, since it doesn't seem like SV's free Switch 2 update will add any new content, and thus it probably has no relevance to how Metronome Battles will be played. In other news, the new CAP 36 in progress will have a Fire/Ice form, while the other is Fire/Steel which makes it banned. Anyway, it's nice to get back in the flow of just writing whatever comes to mind while reading too much into these usage stats, just for the sake of it without anything at stake, so let's have at it once more.

The usage stats for April 2025 will mark 7 years since the first Metronome usage stats of April 2018, which would end up as the only one of its kind for a while.

https://www.smogon.com/stats/2025-04/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2025-04/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt

The battle count has fallen back a bit to 29602, but is still higher than January and February of this year so far.

April 2025: 1630-weighted top 10 + last month positions

#1: Pecharunt (no change) :pecharunt:
#2: Mega Heracross (no change) :heracross-mega:
#3: Mega Venusaur (#5) :venusaur-mega:
#4: Mega Ampharos (#3) :ampharos-mega:
#5: Blissey (#4) :blissey:
#6: Ting-Lu (#7) :ting-lu:
#7: Mega Sableye (#10) :sableye-mega:
#8: Mega Abomasnow (#30) :abomasnow-mega:
#9: Mega Gengar (#8) :gengar-mega:
#10: Regirock (#24) :regirock:

Compared to last month, there have been a lot more shuffles and upsets. And even within the top 2, Pecharunt notably boasts a strong weighted usage percentage of 48.9%, over double that of Heracross's 23.3%, despite their very close raw usage (10133 and 10497 according to the moveset file). The most popular picks of Ice Scales/Weakness Policy/Relaxed 0 Speed/Tera Stellar/Pecharunt teammates have pretty much barely changed either.

Someone can correct me if I missed something here, but based on searching through this thread (and then going through the usage stats myself to double check), I believe this is Regirock's very first debut appearance in the top 10. There's certainly been plenty of regitalk in this thread over the years as having a rock-solid meta niche, MattC (Banned) potentially being the most prolific Regirock poster here, and Regirock as a mon has probably made top 20 quite a bit, but I am pretty sure this is the first time I have had to type out Regirock's name in this top 10 list. So Regirock fans, this is for you, good job representing the new top 10 with Regirock. History can still be made in some ways, I guess. Apparently the main Regirock ability is Ice Scales, the items are mainly Weakness Policy with some Choice Band/Mirror Herb, they go Relaxed to max Defense, tera Ghost, and its main teammate is Ting-Lu (as well as Ting-Lu's highest teammate being Regirock). Interestingly Tera Grass and Fairy are both more popular than Tera Rock, which I guess shows how little Regirock is used by casuals.

Aside from that, Mega Abomasnow coming back from the depths is also kind of interesting. The top abilities of Purifying Salt and Comatose and top items of Choice Specs/Band are really not what I expected, having pretty much nothing in common with last month, and you would think status immunity kind of overlaps with Flower Veil, but I guess people could just be running this mon with tera Ghost for the raw stats. Looking around, Purifying Salt usage on some mons is actually kind of noticeable despite not having been posted about in this thread for a year, like it's 2nd for Slowbro, Type: Null, and Garganacl itself (though pretty far behind their main options), on top for Hoopa. Diancie, Tyranitar, Regidrago, Regice, Articuno, Tangrowth... well, maybe you shouldn't be applying salt to your ice or plants, eh.

Back to the main usage stats, Slowbro itself is the lead dark horse on the list, being just below Regirock at #11 with less than 4-digit uses (810 from the moveset file). The rise of Darkrai has continued since last month, making it up to #18 and still rolling with Ice Scales/Mirror Herb/Pecharunt, subsequently followed by fellow special attackers Blacephalon and the lower used Volcanion, both beating out Mega Gardevoir and Gallade. On the other hand, Iron Hands has fallen back since last time down to #23. The forementioned Hoopa has actually made a rare high appearance for itself at #26 with 385 uses as well, seems like it's mainly teammates with Slowbro and some Abomasnow, and this has made me notice that Normalium Z also counts towards having a "Nothing" tera type which also makes sense. Lastly, Shox is back to a more typical #30 placement after it somehow managed #11 last month.

Moving onto the moveset file, though I've pretty much gone into some highlights already, so this will just be ending off with looking through the top few viability ceilings (highest GXE of a player of that mon). Starting off at 82 is Pecharunt, leading two lists in one post, but also tied with Iron Hands similarly running Ice Scales/Relaxed shenanigans but with Mirror Herb.

Next up is a skip down to 80 with Mega Heracross (usual Intrepid Sword/Choice Band, but with Adamant leading over Brave and prime Pecharunt teammate) and Mega Banette (leading with Orichalcum Pulse and Poison Touch, Choice Band, and Lonely nature with Sableye/Heracross teammates).

Mega Ampharos has 79 to itself, representing Plus/Minus with more favour towards Plus, followed in 78 by Mega Gallade, also alone but similarly running Intrepid Sword, though with more Defiant representation and themed Gardevoir teammate preference.

Filling the rest out to just over 11 mons is a 5-way tie at 77, with Mega Venusaur (Flower Veil leading as Magic Bounce drops off behind Good as Gold, and Weakness Policy barely edging out over Choice Specs and Mirror Herb, with Pecharunt partner also leading), Mega Sableye (usual Magic Bounce but Covert Cloak takes a notable lead over other options like Mirror Herb, Bright Powder, and Sablenite), Necturna (sample team Thick Fat/Brave 0 Speed), Guzzlord (Pickup/Mirror Herb), and Snorlax (Dauntless Shield/Mirror Herb lead), which is kind of a nice weird pick to end off on, though its spot here is probably more due to wins with a Venusaur partner. Thanks for your reading.

EDIT: Oh yeah, this happened last month (though I was avoiding the letter h so it was kind of unclear) but hippobotas is not around based on Rotom-Wash usage being nonexistent.
 
#8: Mega Abomasnow (#30) :abomasnow-mega:
#9: Mega Gengar (#8) :gengar-mega:

#10: Regirock (#24) :regirock:

Someone can correct me if I missed something here, but based on searching through this thread (and then going through the usage stats myself to double check), I believe this is Regirock's very first debut appearance in the top 10. There's certainly been plenty of regitalk in this thread over the years as having a rock-solid meta niche, MattC (Banned) potentially being the most prolific Regirock poster here, and Regirock as a mon has probably made top 20 quite a bit, but I am pretty sure this is the first time I have had to type out Regirock's name in this top 10 list. So Regirock fans, this is for you, good job representing the new top 10 with Regirock. History can still be made in some ways, I guess. Apparently the main Regirock ability is Ice Scales, the items are mainly Weakness Policy with some Choice Band/Mirror Herb, they go Relaxed to max Defense, tera Ghost, and its main teammate is Ting-Lu (as well as Ting-Lu's highest teammate being Regirock). Interestingly Tera Grass and Fairy are both more popular than Tera Rock, which I guess shows how little Regirock is used by casuals.

Aside from that, Mega Abomasnow coming back from the depths is also kind of interesting. The top abilities of Purifying Salt and Comatose and top items of Choice Specs/Band are really not what I expected, having pretty much nothing in common with last month, and you would think status immunity kind of overlaps with Flower Veil, but I guess people could just be running this mon with tera Ghost for the raw stats. Looking around, Purifying Salt usage on some mons is actually kind of noticeable despite not having been posted about in this thread for a year, like it's 2nd for Slowbro, Type: Null, and Garganacl itself (though pretty far behind their main options), on top for Hoopa. Diancie, Tyranitar, Regidrago, Regice, Articuno, Tangrowth... well, maybe you shouldn't be applying salt to your ice or plants, eh.

I didn't even like play this format for a hot minute and 3 of my top 10 is in the top 10 from this post I made in February. I am honestly kinda shocked that I am influencing the tier this much, AND I have been noticed by our resident monthly usage stats poster for my advocating for all of these guys.
:pinsir-mega: :gardevoir-mega: :deoxys-attack: :Dhelmise: :gigalith: :volcanion: :goodra:
^ Gotta get these guys in the top 10 fr fr. But honestly... I am still shocked that I did this. Wow. Adding this to the signature :3
 
Would the tier be more competitive/fun if Terastalization and/or the Ghost type were banned? Ghost types are currently immune to 21.3% of all Metronome moves and prevent numerous interesting effects from ever being relevant, such as Bind, Guillotine, Super Fang, Explosion, Thrash, etc. No other type completely nullifies as many moves, and this results in Ghosts absolutely dominating the metagame. By banning Terastalization, Pokemon typings would matter much more since you now actually have to care about the typings of both of your Pokemon instead of repeatedly clicking Tera Ghost (and the occasional Tera Grass) over and over again for one of them.

Banning the Ghost type itself won't exactly solve anything, since people will simply move onto the next best type to Terastalize into: Water or Grass. By banning Terastalization as a whole, this issue of everyone simply using the next best type is avoided.

In addition, I think the 625 BST banlist, while accurate in the majority of cases, does have some flaws by including relatively average Pokemon for the tier. The main ones are Zacian and Zamazenta, although Blastoise-Mega and Sceptile-Mega (somewhat of a stretch) could be potentially healthy as well.
 
Would the tier be more competitive/fun if Terastalization and/or the Ghost type were banned? Ghost types are currently immune to 21.3% of all Metronome moves and prevent numerous interesting effects from ever being relevant, such as Bind, Guillotine, Super Fang, Explosion, Thrash, etc. No other type completely nullifies as many moves, and this results in Ghosts absolutely dominating the metagame. By banning Terastalization, Pokemon typings would matter much more since you now actually have to care about the typings of both of your Pokemon instead of repeatedly clicking Tera Ghost (and the occasional Tera Grass) over and over again for one of them.
I think the number one problem in the format is Pecharunt. Banning Tera Ghost only makes Pecharunt stronger, and banning Tera altogether probably still does that too. Banning the ghost type entirely is going way too far, though. Ghost types were fine until Pecharunt came along because they generally just didn’t have great stat lines for Metronome, with very few having anywhere near 600 BST and those that did being fast offensive spreads. Pecharunt is the first second ghost type to actually have a strong 600 BST stat line for metronome, and it even has an excellent second type as well. The real first is already banned, and I honestly think Pecharunt is stronger than Spirit thanks to Ice Scales and Weakness Policy.

Banning the Ghost type itself won't exactly solve anything, since people will simply move onto the next best type to Terastalize into: Water or Grass. By banning Terastalization as a whole, this issue of everyone simply using the next best type is avoided.
That said, I think a Tera ghost ban would be worth looking into once Pecharunt is dealt with, because while Ghost is the obvious best choice with Steel banned, there really isn’t an obvious next best choice after Ghost. Water isn’t even in my top 5; Grass, Poison, Fire, Electric, Fairy, Flying, and even Normal are all good options, to say nothing of Stellar. I’m sure Grass would be quite popular alongside Mega Venusaur, but I think there’s plenty of room for Choice Band/Specs HO to continue beating that on average using those types.

In addition, I think the 625 BST banlist, while accurate in the majority of cases, does have some flaws by including relatively average Pokemon for the tier. The main ones are Zacian and Zamazenta, although Blastoise-Mega and Sceptile-Mega (somewhat of a stretch) could be potentially healthy as well.
I could sort of see Zacian and Zamazenta as being potentially balanced because their BST is mostly wasted on high speed and defenses instead of HP; they’re very comparable to Tyranitar if you ignore speed and typing (which you really shouldn’t). But what exactly are you proposing increasing the maximum to here? Zacian and Zamazenta have 660 BST. Raising the limit that high would also let in Palafin-Hero, Mega Blaziken, and Kyurem. Or are you just suggesting that we start selectively unbanning stuff above the limit? I think opening that can of worms would be asking a lot of a format leader who still hasn’t addressed a Pokémon that has been singlehandedly dominating the top of the ladder for multiple months straight.
 
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I think the number one problem in the format is Pecharunt. Banning Tera Ghost only makes Pecharunt stronger, and banning Tera altogether probably still does that too. Banning the ghost type entirely is going way too far, though. Ghost types were fine until Pecharunt came along because they generally just didn’t have great stat lines for Metronome, with very few having anywhere near 600 BST and those that did being fast offensive spreads. Pecharunt is the first second ghost type to actually have a strong 600 BST stat line for metronome, and it even has an excellent second type as well. The real first is already banned, and I honestly think Pecharunt is stronger than Spirit thanks to Ice Scales and Weakness Policy.
This is definitely an interesting line of thinking. I guess Pecharunt is unique in that it is the only viable Ghost immune to Poison as well, which makes it extremely difficult to take down.

I could sort of see Zacian and Zamazenta as being potentially balanced because their BST is mostly wasted on high speed and defenses instead of HP; they’re very comparable to Tyranitar if you ignore speed and typing (which you really shouldn’t). But what exactly are you proposing increasing the maximum to here? Zacian and Zamazenta have 660 BST. Raising the limit that high would also let in Palafin-Hero, Mega Blaziken, and Kyurem. Or are you just suggesting that we start selectively unbanning stuff above the limit? I think opening that can of worms would be asking a lot of a format leader who still hasn’t addressed a Pokémon that has been singlehandedly dominating the top of the ladder for multiple months straight.
Speed is objectively the least important stat in Metronome Battles because it is only really relevant for extremely offensive Pokemon (Zacian and Zamazenta lack high Atk/SpA), Struggle wars, or Perish Song. Furthermore, I highly doubt mono Fairy and mono Fighting are that powerful at all since Zacian and Zamazenta already have roughly average bulk and roughly average offenses.

I am not exactly proposing to modify the 625 BST rule (although I don’t like how the rule relies on an arbitrary number), but I am more suggesting that we look at Pokemon with roughly mediocre stats above the 625 BST rule. I would prefer if the rule were abolished entirely and the power level still limited to roughly OU standards with manual bans, though.

For setting a bad precedent of being able to reconsider other Pokemon as unbannable, well, why shouldn’t potentially balanced Pokemon be reconsidered? Because every Pokemon has the same moveset, we can easily compare the bulk, offenses, and typing of banned Pokemon to existing Pokemon and make arguments about their brokenness.
 
I 100% agree that things would be more fun with both Tera Ghost and Pecharunt gone. Either being removed would be an improvement, but I think both need to go before we can see the same amount of diversity as Gens 7 and 8, even during Steel meta.

Tera Ghost has been an autopick since the start of the generation. With Metronome eliminating both movepool and natural abilities as factors, typing and stats have always been the main factors in determining a mon's viability, but Tera throws a wrench into that by allowing any Pokemon to receive an optimal typing in Ghost. When stats are the ONLY factor in deciding what mon is good, it massively reduces the viable pool, leaving so few truly strong options for the Tera slot on your team that you can count them on one hand. Even before Pech released, this had already made Gen 9 feel like the least diverse generation of Metronome Battle to me, at least of the ones that have had ladders, and I think banning Pech would just go back to that same status quo from before.

That said, yeeeeeah Pech pushed things a lot further itself. It's so blatantly the best Pokemon for the non-Tera slot that it's further centralized the meta into either Ice Scales Pech + bulky Tera Ghost (most often Lu), or Double Scales Pech for WP shenanigans. Older strategies like Flower Veil, snowballers (ie Defiant or Pickup Herb), and HO as a whole simply fail to compare to the consistency of these two builds, and only bulky snowball strats have a positive matchup, which are still optimally played with Pech + bulky Tera Ghost. I believe Pech is the more pressing of the two entirely because you can run two of it, whereas Tera Ghost at least leaves the other slot free, but both are pretty fucked, and play a large part in the staleness of Gen 9 Metronome.

Also, there's been a lot of talk about Ice Scales lately, but I think that its power stems primarily from the meta being entirely Ghost right now. There are around 1.4x more Physical moves than Special moves; in other words, Defence is around 1.4x more valuable than Special Defence. That's why Ice Scales was spared when Fur Coat was banned (and similar for Fluffy): It's significantly less effective, to the point where it never outcompeted other viable abilities. However, Normal and Fighting are very common and very physical types. When you take them out of the equation by being Ghost, Physical is only around 1.1x more common than Special, which is a massive buff to Ice Scales' viability in a meta so reliant on statistics. Ice Scales was never an issue in Gen 8, and I believe that's because the only bulky Ghosts with strong enough stats to see use were Mega Sableye and the occasional Dusclops or Necturna, none of which are especially powerful outside of their typing. Because of that, once Tera Ghost and Pecharunt are dealt with, I expect Ice Scales to fall back in-line with other top tier abilities, without outcompeting them like it is now.

edit: Oh and if I had to guess, I'd say Stellar, Poison, and Fire become the most common Teras with Ghost gone, plus Grass on Flower Veil builds.
 
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I feel like banning Ghost Tera and Pecharunt is fine, but there's still just... strategies that far outclass other meta staples. Like Mega Heracross, Ampharos, Venusaur, Sableye---they're always going to be solid. I feel as though there needs to be a solid meta shift to really stop the guys. Because I won't lie to you man, Mega Heracross does too much damage to outbulk it. You need to out offense it. It's better than Mega Amph because there's more physical stuff to call, and even with Aerilate or Pixilate, you still don't really beat them unless you're faster.

A lot of things need to shift in order for meta to feel balanced, in my opinion. Ghost Tera and Pecharunt are up first for sure, but then we need to look at other things in the metagame as well. We cannot ignore the fact that these guys are STILL A THING. It has been ages. Nothing has really shifted at a frequent enough level to consider them "okay". They're in their own league of meta dominance, and just... are overbearing to me.
 
I feel like banning Ghost Tera and Pecharunt is fine, but there's still just... strategies that far outclass other meta staples. Like Mega Heracross, Ampharos, Venusaur, Sableye---they're always going to be solid. I feel as though there needs to be a solid meta shift to really stop the guys. Because I won't lie to you man, Mega Heracross does too much damage to outbulk it. You need to out offense it. It's better than Mega Amph because there's more physical stuff to call, and even with Aerilate or Pixilate, you still don't really beat them unless you're faster.
I don't think any of these mons are issues. They're strong, sure, but they're still reasonable enough for them to be part of a diverse meta, as has been the case in previous gens. They don't outclass other meta staples, they ARE the meta staples, and staples that have proven healthy over the years, with plenty of other mons that can contest their power levels.

As far as MHera being unstoppable... nah I've never felt that. You're taking the wrong approach if you're trying to out-offence it, since it IS peak HO. Ime, very defensive teams generally match up well into HO, and MHera is no exception. You can still get unlucky with it pulling crazy moves but like that's just Metronome being Metronome. Also, Mirror Herb is a pain in the ass for classic double Intrepid, it's certainly weaker this gen than last.
 
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very disappointed this wasn't a suspect, there were a few vocal voices calling for a ban but i highly doubt they were the majority. there were a lot of cases made about pecha and pretty much all of them revolved around high usage, rather than it being outright broken or unfun. simply being the best mon in the meta shouldn't be grounds for an immediate ban.
 
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glad to see pecha finally gone (i am a week late but whatever) though i do sorta wish that the pecha+ice scales combo got banned first just to see if that was the real problem

i do wonder which mons will become more popular now... maybe regirock or something i'm not good enough to predict that stuff
 
glad to see pecha finally gone (i am a week late but whatever) though i do sorta wish that the pecha+ice scales combo got banned first just to see if that was the real problem

i do wonder which mons will become more popular now... maybe regirock or something i'm not good enough to predict that stuff
pecha's ban made me realize i was getting hard carried by it idk what to build now :psycry:someone help
 
Off the latest topic, but a few days before the monthly update of June, I have a kind of challenge for this thread after coming across a particular replay from March 2025 with an inexplicable damage calc at first glance, and I'm wondering out of curiosity if anyone has the intuition or awareness to explain the trick behind the mystery with as little info to go off of.

(Also it's mostly already solved, so don't look around the other forums or replays too closely for an honest shot.)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9metronomebattle-2324395738
[Blissey] used Metronome!

Waggling a finger let it use Hard Press!
It's not very effective...
The opposing Regirock hung on using its Focus Sash!
(The opposing Regirock lost 99% of its health!)
1748405423600.png



Hints:
- The date and team setup is relevant.
- Regirock also attacks Blissey with Struggle on turn 2 for 1% damage.
- A clue only plays in the animated replay of turn 1 that isn't visually reflected in the side battle log.







1748407446211.png

(Also don't actually think about it too hard, because it's an unintuitive PS 'interaction' in a way that technically can't be replicated in the present and is something that I thought could mess with people out of context.)

1748407498574.png

But it also just so happens that while trying to replicate it, I found how it did change relatively recently, which leads to an old new way to mess with people on the Metronome ladder, though in a slightly more obvious form than the above.

1748407324867.png

Sorry in advance/kudos to whoever's been messing with this so far already, I see you in the March/April 2025 raw stats knowing what to look for now and I respect it, but I suppose the gimmick of this particular setup would have already changed in this month.

1748407366708.png

Plainly speaking, there is a new/adjusted mechanic introduced in May 2025 that enables set options for a certain mon that were not available for it before, options which are arguably more viable for it, though I wouldn't call it particularly meta before or after the fact, not being named in this thread for over a year. But more on all that later.
 
Off the latest topic, but a few days before the monthly update of June, I have a kind of challenge for this thread after coming across a particular replay from March 2025 with an inexplicable damage calc at first glance, and I'm wondering out of curiosity if anyone has the intuition or awareness to explain the trick behind the mystery with as little info to go off of.

(Also it's mostly already solved, so don't look around the other forums or replays too closely for an honest shot.)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9metronomebattle-2324395738

View attachment 744092


Hints:
- The date and team setup is relevant.
- Regirock also attacks Blissey with Struggle on turn 2 for 1% damage.
- A clue only plays in the animated replay of turn 1 that isn't visually reflected in the side battle log.







View attachment 744097
(Also don't actually think about it too hard, because it's an unintuitive PS 'interaction' in a way that technically can't be replicated in the present and is something that I thought could mess with people out of context.)

View attachment 744098
But it also just so happens that while trying to replicate it, I found how it did change relatively recently, which leads to an old new way to mess with people on the Metronome ladder, though in a slightly more obvious form than the above.

View attachment 744094
Sorry in advance/kudos to whoever's been messing with this so far already, I see you in the March/April 2025 raw stats knowing what to look for now and I respect it, but I suppose the gimmick of this particular setup would have already changed in this month.

View attachment 744096
Plainly speaking, there is a new/adjusted mechanic introduced in May 2025 that enables set options for a certain mon that were not available for it before, options which are arguably more viable for it, though I wouldn't call it particularly meta before or after the fact, not being named in this thread for over a year. But more on all that later.
Ah, I see. That is Illusion Ogerpon. Naturally imposterproof, can hold the moderately viable mask items that give 1.2x BP to all moves, and thanks to Illusion specifically, it can Terastallize to any type instead of the four specific types it’s usually locked to. The first clue is that “Regirock” appears to transform twice when it Terastallizes, something only Ogerpon and Terapagos do. The second clue is the damage taken and given; as InkyDarkBird is close to guessing above, the “Regirock” is actually not just an Ogerpon, but specifically an Ogerpon-Hearthflame-Tera. When that Terastallizes on older builds of PS, it becomes Ogerpon-Hearthflame-Tera-Tera, a nonexistent Pokémon that indeed has all 0s for base stats.

The recent change, of course, is that Ogerpon is now allowed to have any Tera type in hacked formats, though without Illusion or being transformed, it is unable to Tera into any type other than Grass, Fire, Water, or Rock. I’ve already experimented with this a bit to use it to mess with opposing Mirror Herb and get boosts other than Speed while being grass Tera for Flower Veil. At the time it wasn’t mechanically correct cuz I didn’t implement Mirror Herb quite right, but another dev has since fixed that so it should now proc immediately after Ogerpon Terastallizes, allowing Embody Aspect to pop herbs instantly. As long as we’re posting weird Ogerpon gimmicks, here’s the absolute dumbest gimmick team I’ve ever made which can now utilize this behavior:
My worst idea yet (Ogerpon-Cornerstone) (F) @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Klutz
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
Tera Type: Grass
- Metronome

Enabler (Venusaur-Mega) (F) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
Tera Type: Stellar
- Metronome

Yep, a genuine application for Klutz. Ogerpon is the only Pokémon in the format that can change its ability without the use of an item like a mega stone, so it can use Klutz to block Mirror Herb from being activated by switch-in abilities like Dauntless Shield, then Tera turn 1 to lose Klutz and potentially copy something bigger with its Herb like a Weakness Policy, while simultaneously setting off its own single +1 boost to pop any opposing herbs before they can copy Venusaur’s own WP. This is a great example of my bad habit of building anti-anti-anti-meta. Now that Pecharunt is banned, though, I don’t think Weakness Policy is really even meta anymore, so this is just anti-anti-anti-off-meta.

Edit: Oh, and this of course is also semi imposterproof, in a different way. The Imposter, rather than simply not transforming at all due to Illusion, is able to transform but gets stuck with Klutz, preventing it from eating its Leppa Berry.
 
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