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Been laddering a lot lately as I wait for my cancer treatment so here is an analysis of the meta and a list of effective abusers of each new stone in my experience.
(temp) ZA Stone Metagame Analysis:
The metagame as a whole hasn't changed drastically with the introduction of the ZA Stones in their current temporary ability form. Standouts are as predicted with the defensive immunity stones Chimechite, Heatranite, and Chandelurite which add another means to answer threats within the metagame. These stones are healthy additions that add layers to the metagame and teambuilding as a whole with Chimechite in particular opening up a lot of options for many different mons in its current state (I wish it remained with levitate). The only other immunity stone is Zaeraorite which sadly has an extreme skewed stat boost towards offenses with no defensive stats to speak of which heavily hurts the usability of the stone on stuff like Corviknight. One other immunity, Eeleektrossite gives levitate as well but has an offensive stat boost which benefits a variety of stuff.
Offensively there is Zygardite and Barbaracite with the latter acting as a sidegrade to Metagrossite that includes a type change. Zygardite is great for already fast mons and occasionally as a surprise factor on otherwise inoffensive mons.
Other stuffs include Glimmorite which has seen some usage but the inclusion of a poison type like Eternatus or Pecharunt on teams heavily inhibits the presence of Toxic Spikes but with time there is potential for it to see more. Scolipite also sees some use as a sidegrade to Sablenite with poison point punishing contact physical attackers and giving great stats for a more defensive orientated Pokemon.
I still think there is potential for stuff like Scraftinite but at the moment I haven't found it to work all that well at this point.
Edit: Nearly forgot Absolite Z, sadly the stone won't see a ton of usage due to a lack of ghost move coverage that isn't the crappy low BP shadow claw, best of the bunch is Basculin honestly, which is faster then basically everything but deo-s and eleki.
In the end, the metagame basically in a similar state to pre-ZA stone introduction, the kings of the metagame are still kings and old teams will work just as well in spite of the new stones. Instead you can view these new additions as just more options that don't overly sway the top tier choices.
Stone pairings I found effective:
Chimechite: Bellibolt, Pecharunt, Iron Moth, Milotic, (been meaning to try Palossand with Chimechite)
Heatranite / Chandelurite: Magearna, Corviknight, (basically any fire weak mon really)
To celebrate getting an oncologist appointment relatively fast and hitting the following milestone here is the process I went through to create my 90 GXE team!
The team is a balance team centre'd around the core of Ho-Oh for most special threats and Eternatus for physical threats, obviously there are gaps with these two alone so I supplemented some of the weaknesses through Altarianite Great Tusk, Lunala, Pinsirite Regieleki, and Scolipite Kingambit. It is a team that handles most of the threats in the metagame with good playing.
Individual Team Member Analysis Below:
Thanksgiving (Ho-Oh) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Future Sight
- Whirlwind
Bog standard max spdef Ho-Oh handles a wide range of threats, differences from usual sets is the choices of having no recovery and relying completely on Regenerator, and the usage of Future Sight. Firstly, the lack of recovery honestly rarely matters as in the worst case scenario vs a setup sweeper of the special sort you can just whirlwind them out.
Now the interesting thing about the set is running Future Sight in tandem with Whirlwind which allows it to setup delayed attacks that warp how the opponent should play in addition to Whirlwind which lets you phase threats but also fish for Future Sight targets when an opposing spdef wall comes in (or dark type).
Once again, bog standard, speed evs are for creeping stuff that is creeping Hearthflame Tusks. I used to run standard Dragon Pulse (Dynamax Cannon is inferior on defensive Eterns :P) over Meteor Beam but I found the lack of means of hitting things like Heatranite/Chandelurite Steels to be frustrating and Meteor Beam allows it to apply more pressure then simply being forced out every time.
Big Horns (Great Tusk) @ Altarianite
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Body Slam
- Smack Down
- Rapid Spin
Altarianite Great Tusk is in general just really cool, and completely and utterly walls Raging Bolt as well as many fighting types such as Barbaroachite (I don't wanna look up how to spell it) Iron Boulder. Smack Down is your counter to levitate and flying types allowing you to pressure them and force switches, honestly, should be ran on most tusks that aren't Hearthflame.
The newest addition, Calm Mind Lunala is fat, and handy to have in the back pocket to cover stuff that has broken past both Eternatus and/or Ho-Oh. A very threatening pokemon that faces few walls due to the inherent mixed nature as a result of psyshock meaning special walls fear it. Leftovers are used over Heavy Duty Boots just because it negates burn. Moongeist Beam ignoring abilities is especially handy versus multiscale, purifying salt, and opposing lunala. Speed evs are same as Eternatus, creeping creeps of Hearthflame.
I use the second best Regieleki in Pinsirite which shouldn't be underestimated for it brings unique characteristics such as immunity to ground types and resistances to fighting. Honestly, only downsides over Altarianite is not hitting Dragonite super effectively, hitting opposing Regielekis for resistance, and finally stealth rock weakness. Hitting fires for neutral is also useful meaning Hearthflame Great Tusks aren't a great answer to it.
Short Stuff (Kingambit) @ Scolipite
Ability: Defiant
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Iron Head
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
Kingambit is criminally underused and often threatens many stuff in the metagame and brings useful resistances on top of this. I choose to use scolipite one of the newer stones entirely because it grants MASSIVE stats on top of good attack, however, Latiosite is an extremely viable alternative as is the two flash fire stones. Don't bother with speed investment with Kingambit, it is waste of its combination of good bulk and attack, emphasize those elements over trying to speed creep stuff.
I use no setup as I find I rarely have the opportunity to setup and abuse it and rather use Defiant to get boosts off of stuff like Pecharunt and Intimidate Pokemon / Mega stones.
The team plays predictably, abuse openings, play safe and smart.
zastraQT are allowed to use this as a sample, I got 90 GXE so I am taking a break until stones are either given actual abilities or I desire MnM laddering again.
After 2 weeks of MnMPL gaming, Mix and Mega is now running a tiering survey to gather community feedback on the current metagame. With the introduction of new stones, the meta has seen different opinions on what--if anything--needs tiering action, so this is your chance to help shape the tiering direction moving forward. We will keep it open for about a week, so please respond ASAP! Shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, would appreciate any responses. I'll be tagging a few players below as well (anybody can respond though!).
No responses for a while so im releasing them a little early. 28 responses this time, 13 qualified.
Enjoyment
General: 7.43/10
Qualified: 7.615/10
It seems our playerbase finds the current metagame fairly enjoyable, though there's still room for improvement.
Competitiveness and Balance
General: 6.57/10
Qualified: 6.77/10
Competitiveness and balance scores are not bad, but they definitely need improvement.
Zygardite
General: 3.64/5
Qualified: 3.77/5
The playerbase has shown significant support for tiering action on Zygardite, with 17 people being on the 4 & 5 classes. The numbers are alarming.
Dragapult
General: 3.25/5
Qualified: 3.46/5
The respondents, especially the qualified ones, have shown significant support for action on Dragapult as well, which is the prime Zygardite abuser.
Raging Bolt
General: 2.96/5
Qualified: 2.7/5
The playerbase has shown decent support for tiering action against Raging Bolt, but it's not significant enough to warrant immediate attention. We'll keep an eye on Raging Bolt.
Deoxys-S
General: 2.5/5
Qualified: 2.38/5
The playerbase has shown some support for tiering action against Deoxys-S, but it's not significant enough to warrant immediate attention.
Urshifu-R
General: 2.39/5
Qualified: 1.85/5
Most of the playerbase was against taking action on Urshifu-R, generally agreeing that it's healthy for the metagame.
Red Orb Retest
General Chart
Qualified Chart
Results are a bit all over the place, but most people wouldn't oppose a retest. Something to look at in the future.
Comments
Gholdengo - 4
Gengar
Regigigas
Zacian
Pidgeotite
Kyogre - 2
Ursaluna-BM
Last Respects
Lugia
Bikes
zastra
zastra's competence
add me on council
Gholdengo received decent support last survey as well. Definitely something that could be revisited in the future.
To sum things up, these 2 elements are going to be the priority of the council:
Zygardite
Dragapult
As a note, it's still not clear whether Zygardite is the issue or Dragapult is. Zygardite may have received the highest numbers, but Dragapult numbers are also fairly concerning. Majority of the respondents feel the other two main Zygardite users, Deoxys-S and Raging Bolt, are largely fine. Other users like Helectrode and Pecharunt weren't in this survey specifically, but they weren't brought up in comments. Stone bans are a delicate matter, so it's best to proceed with caution before hastily banning Zygardite. We've been engaging in internal discussion on how to proceed and would really appreciate it if people posted their thoughts, may it be here or OMCord. We're planning to do something this weekend, so now is the time to speak!
Personally I dislike the zyg stone on a fundamental level, it is essentially a free choice specs that is splashable on rlly any fast mon, this gets turned up to 11 with the option to pivot. I think what makes the stone truly terrible to deal with from a building and playing perspective is that it has insane offensive synergy with the newly released immunity stones, which let one run pretty free hard counters to the most common revenge killers. This feels different from running things like psyterrain as the opportunity cost is much much lower, as vabs and flash fire cover a much wider range of mons and archetypes outside of espeed. Already great mons also benefit from the offensive synergy offensive synergy (ex. bolt, shifu/barra, dnite, harc, etc).
As of right now I think the bare minimum tiering action is to get rid of pult, the customization of 4th move slot + extremely free u-turns makes building extremely restricted in terms of the types of cores one can run for bulkier teams. Zyg mons will continue to reveal themselves, but might not be as ridiculous as pult currently is. I would hope that there is a qb on pult so the rest of mnmpl can be a bit more playable if the stone is such a delicate matter.
Fundamentally I think the case for zygardite being as broken as claimed is very weak. We’re in MnMPL week 4 by now, and most Zygardite pokemon have terrible win rate and perhaps equally importantly a terrible performance in most games. A good Pokemon can have a poor winrate if the team it’s on is bad, but in that case you would expect it to heavily outperform its teammates; likewise a Pokemon can have unimpressive performance if heavily overprepped for, but one would typically expect this means the team still wins because there’s no room to prep for its teammates. The biggest exception to this situation is if it’s a playstyle dependant pokemon and the playstyles it eats alive get entirely forced out of the metagame, but I think even more so this has not materialized and it’d be something you want to specifically establish.
If none of these hold - if a pokemon has sufficient checks to not go the distance in most battles, and these checks are generally good enough or splashable enough or reliable enough that it is neither winning a lot of games or enabling its teammates to win games - that’s some serious limitations on how broken it can actually be. There’s no denying Zygardite is powerful, that Pokemon who use it can do serious damage, but it’s not actually a bad thing for a format for it to have frail breakers that can punish overly passive teams. On the contrary, if getting through a defensive core is so difficult even breakers can’t manage it with free turns and proper positioning, that’s in many ways the bigger problem, and I think it’s a good thing Mix and Mega doesn’t have it.
Now with that said, I do personally dislike Zygardite Dragapult. I don’t really respect uturn that much - it’s too difficult to get dragapult in safely in a good position for me to want to immediately have it switch itself out before accomplishing anything - but the spd drop on shadow ball is actually super obnoxious when it triggers and you suddenly have to decide between awkward lines instead of a safe one like you’d planned. Likewise I lowkey hate hydro pump as a move for how unreliable it is, both to use and play against, but there’s just no real replacement so you have to live with it. I don’t think I can justify voting to ban it on this, but I wouldn’t be very sorry to see it go.
TBH, the new mega stones abilities are really underwhelming, just keeping the abilities of their previous forms. I play a lot of legends z-a Ou, & the mega stone abilities are better for… just making sense? Skarmorite, Meowsticite, all the starter mega stones, just all of the stones from Z-A & Mega Dimension(excluding Zygardnite because having +125 sp.atk is a good trade-off for not having a ability) should be fixed to what they are in the Z-A OU list. Will it break the meta? Maybe. But it’s better to have some mega stones changed, & after some testing, with Starminite, Pure Power is, by a landslide, much better than Illuminate, same goes for Hawluchanite, the other stones i mentioned, just take the pre-existing abilities from ZA OU, & fix em’ that way.
Other Metagames base things on rules, not arbitrary changes or balances beyond what common tiering can accomplish. Giving the new stones the best ability that the original user had is clearly Pet Mod territory as this is trying to improve them or ensure they are good. Ultimately, since we are based on rules we decided the most logical way to decide their ability was to base it on their default ability. For all we know, this is just a temporary state and the release of Champions or Generation 10 could change things fundamentally for MnM or this could just be how things are.
In short, OMs are created and controlled by the boundaries of their conceptual rule, AAA gives Pokemon access to almost any ability, STABmons access to same type moves of their STAB, etc... We don't decide what abilities each stone is gonna come with, even including these new stones was not an easy decision but we settled with either having no ability unless datamines existed or defaulting to the most basic ability, all for the sake of consistency.
the problem is that om’s just don’t change the abilities of the mega stones just to make other stones better, that’s ped mod territory. it’s kinda like reworking run away to be broken to make it good in aaa, if it makes sense. There’s always gonna be duds, alakazite and charizardite x exists. plues champions is coming soon and they’re actually gonna give those stones abilites come then, so this is just temporary at the time.
So I don't really blame you for not going through 19 pages of the thread - it's a lot. I also fully get your frustration since it feels like a lot of new toys were dropped but most of them are duds. The thing w/ OMs and Smogon in general is we can't really go for the most "fun" option, because the goal for OMs is to apply a uniform change (like any Pokémon can have almost any ability, almost any Pokémon can run almost any move and ability with almost any item, etc.) and balance things from there. If we start modifying things based off of a pet mod, that breaks that premise since suddenly people have to familiarize themselves with a pet mom's list before getting into this meta, while the current system adds a pretty easy to follow exception.
Pet mods can also change depending on balance - looking through the current ZA Mega list, I can tell a lot of abilities have changed for the new megas (and they change some abilities for existing megas also, like Audinite, which isn't an option here for the reasons I just described). Adjusting abilities for balance reasons isn't really what this meta does - if a stone is broken, we ban it rather than change it.
I'm not saying your idea is invalid or wrong or bad - I'd probably play a mashup of Legends Z/A OU and Mix and Mega and it sounds like a fun metagame. But I'm hoping that helps shed some light on why things are the way that they are. If you really wanna play that metagame (cause it does sound exciting), you could look into hosting a tournament for it in the Pet Mods forum maybe? I'm not fully sure if that's the right place, but I'm hoping that you can find a solution that works for you.
the problem is that om’s just don’t change the abilities of the mega stones just to make other stones better, that’s ped mod territory. it’s kinda like reworking run away to be broken to make it good in aaa, if it makes sense. There’s always gonna be duds, alakazite and charizardite x exists. plues champions is coming soon and they’re actually gonna give those stones abilites come then, so this is just temporary at the time.
How is charizardite x even bad to begin with? Alakazite, sure. I get it, trace is bad. But tough claws is decent, & I know that the stats are wasted on sp.atk, but it’s at the very least decent. In my eyes, having a good ability over bad stats is better than having good stats with a bad ability. Starminite is supposed to have huge power/pure power, & the only time a mega stone had less or more than 100 bst increase was Zygardnite, & Zygardnite is also pretty decent. My point is, if you’re going to keep these bad abilities on mega stones with solid potential via base stats, give them a different ability for them, for example, instead of Skarmorite having keen eye, give it sturdy/weak armor instead. Much better abilities, no contest. There’s also the case of contrary on malamarite, & contrary isn’t the primary ability for malamar.
How is charizardite x even bad to begin with? Alakazite, sure. I get it, trace is bad. But tough claws is decent, & I know that the stats are wasted on sp.atk, but it’s at the very least decent. In my eyes, having a good ability over bad stats is better than having good stats with a bad ability.
no speed, +dragon secondary hurts its viability a ton since dragon moves notoriously suck physically and lack any distribution, and aero/meta/barb are just better
Starminite is supposed to have huge power/pure power, & the only time a mega stone had less or more than 100 bst increase was Zygardnite, & Zygardnite is also pretty decent.
we know, but since thats not how theyre coded in home (someone correct me on this if im wrong thanks, is it actually in z-a itself?) thats how they work. itd also be banned with huge power, so at least it has some fake viability currently. and by fake i mean its probably somewhat viable right now because the raw stats are really respectable, just ignore how it gives barely any speed and middling bulk
My point is, if you’re going to keep these bad abilities on mega stones with solid potential via base stats, give them a different ability for them, for example, instead of Skarmorite having keen eye, give it sturdy/weak armor instead. Much better abilities, no contest.
TBH, the new mega stones abilities are really underwhelming, just keeping the abilities of their previous forms. I play a lot of legends z-a Ou, & the mega stone abilities are better for… just making sense? Skarmorite, Meowsticite, all the starter mega stones, just all of the stones from Z-A & Mega Dimension(excluding Zygardnite because having +125 sp.atk is a good trade-off for not having a ability) should be fixed to what they are in the Z-A OU list. Will it break the meta? Maybe. But it’s better to have some mega stones changed, & after some testing, with Starminite, Pure Power is, by a landslide, much better than Illuminate, same goes for Hawluchanite, the other stones i mentioned, just take the pre-existing abilities from ZA OU, & fix em’ that way.
Welp I’ve been roasted so hard about my opinions that at this point it’s pointless to even talk about anything with ability changes for the mega stones. Feel free to roast me about my “horrible” opinions, I will not care.
Welp I’ve been roasted so hard about my opinions that at this point it’s pointless to even talk about anything with ability changes for the mega stones. Feel free to roast me about my “horrible” opinions, I will not care.
No one roasted you, they just stated facts. Don't take things like that personally and they were polite about it as well...
If you read the original post I made and that which has been repeated several times, Other Metagames do not balance things by specifically targeting elements of a specific Pokemon. An OM modifies an element by introducing a concept like AAA letting all pokemon run any non-banned ability, that is all.
If you have any other questions please ask them, but this won't change and the current way of deciding their ability is a compromise that will remain until official abilities are released via Champions or Gen 10 (if neither do then they will remain as is).
Alrighty our team is already out and my series has ended, so thought it'd be appropriate to teamdump & yap a little. My final score was 2-3, which is admittedly not amazing (granted I choked one win) but in spite of that I feel like I've learned a lot about how to approach the tier and teambuilding in general in regards to it.
Solid team that makes use of how disgusting ada aero shifu is vs the all-known boring balancecores of Ho-oh Pinstusk Etern, Heatran set is also kind of neat since it's able to fully stop Eleki & Magearna, glad to see this is seeing more use elsewhere.
Pile of junk, the original idea was to have a balance core with Fsight built into it (Please people stop using lunala as your fsight mon I swear it's actually so bad compared to Slow/Glowking) together with offensive Pinstusk, since it gives tusk that final push vs things like physdef arc formes, but the team itself doesn't make great use of that & has very poor speed control.
Look, I don't wanna say I reinvented rain, but I will say that I've been glazing this archetype for forever now, and finally people seem to have started picking up on how absurd it is, which hopefully means people will stop calling it matchup fish when it's clearly strong overall. Arch alone is able to carry this archetype, but now that we have decent Special water-users I feel like it's gotten even better, just... Don't drop Arch whatever you do. I feel like the core should always include Pelipper + Archaludon + Another Rain abuser + Eleki switchin, with the rest two being flex picks that ideally also help with the Dnite matchup.
At this point I decided to just full-spam Offense because it's generally what I like the most + it usually gives me the ability to put my opponent on the backend, meaning that whether I win/lose depends on how well I play. Aside from that the team is fairly standard as far as Screens go, Diancite Pecharunt isn't new per say but I don't believe I've seen anyone using Dbond before which I think is pretty cool, allowing you to always trade 1-for-1 worst case which of course Screens loves to do.
Bog-standard Psyspam except I forgot to add a ground-resist, I think the archetype itself is very good but this team doesn't really show it off, I'm sure if you run Lunala > Kommo-o you get something better but shrug.
As far as the metagame is right now I'm finding it very enjoyable, there are still a lot of cool things to try out & I'm glad that a lot of people this tour specifically have done so. I know a lot of people are still big on the standard balance cores built on Ho-Oh, defensive arc, Etern, Pinstusk etc. but I've gotta admit I think they're very average currently, you're generally not able to withstand multiple offensive threats (granted your opponent isn't boosted like me) which means that one wrong sack or switchin can often cost you the game. In other words, I think the meta overall rewards more offensive teams & strategies, and I don't think that's a bad thing. In fact, it's why I'm enjoying the tier a lot right now, since offense usually allows for a larger variety of mons to run.
As for the elephant in the room, Zygardite. My initial thoughts on it were that I didn't believe that it would stay for long, but after having played quite a bit with it I've gotta admit that it's not something I find unbearable nor really overtuned yet. So far there's only really what, 3 or 4 users I respect, being (stop running U-turn I beg you just click a fucking move that deals damage), , & (Cheat mention since this mon can run literally anything and be good), and as for those four I don't really think they're problematic enough to warrant removing the stone. I don't like quoting Winrates because they don't paint the full picture of the impact something may have, but these users mentioned above haven't really dominated games, and I don't really get the argument of "people are overprepping for it" because like, yes? A new wave of offensive mons have been introduced, of course you should prep for them, what does overprepping even mean? If you're investing too much into countering these mons specifically and sacrificing your matchup vs other offensive metastaples then that's probably a builder issue, and if you argue that your balance team isn't able to counter every single offensive mon then newsflash; balance couldn't cover everything before Z-A stones either, that's just the thing with balance teams in gen 9. You are bound to not being able to cover every single offensive mon that's currently usable, the pool of offensive mons is simply larger than the pool of defensive mons, especially in OMs like these. "Oh but then you're just fishing for good matchups each time you play" No, and it annoys me because to me when you're matchup-fishing you're going "Man I really think my opponent will load stall, Imma sacrifice having an advantage vs other archetypes in order to make sure I'm really strong vs stall" not "ah my team loses to Ice Beam Arceus-Water, I sure hope they don't load that", that's just how building teams work, you can't have a team that beats everything. Rant aside, if more oppressive zygardite users pop up that require tailor-made checks for them I'd be fine to see it got but so far I haven't been too impressed with the current users (I chose to exclude Helectrode because that mon is ass and literally gets checked by Ho-Oh).
Mega Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja have been confirmed to be getting Bulletproof, Levitate, and Protean respectively. Are there stones gonna be updated for this within the next couple days or will it be put off?
Mega Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja have been confirmed to be getting Bulletproof, Levitate, and Protean respectively. Are there stones gonna be updated for this within the next couple days or will it be put off?
Greninjanite will allow you to have a STAB Ice Beam without the disadvantages of being weak to Stealth Rocks
Mons like Deoxys/Latios have BoltBeam (Ice/Electric moves)
Delphoxite (+45 Special Attack, +25 Special Defense, +30 Speed | Levitate | N/A
| +0 kg )
Eelektrossite if it was cool:
No but seriously, another offensive levitate stone?? Insane work, special attackers are gonna love this one. Massive glow up from blaze
Fairly standard offensive set, taken directly from one of the OU samples, but now you come in on grounds or ground coverage.
Chesnaughtite (+30 Attack, +50 Defense, +40 Special Defense, -20 Speed | Bulletproof | N/A | +0 kg)
Bulletproof isn’t a huge buff but it’s better than overgrow. Skeptical of whether this will make chesnaughtite viable or not, but fblast immunity is nice. Mostly just a solid ghost check, with shadow ball immunity and a solid +40 special defense. The +50 defense might be useful for Body Press abusers, too.
If anyone thinks of good users for it lmk lmao
Greninjite (+30 Attack, +10 Defense, +30 Special Attack, +10 Special Defense, +20 Speed | Protean | N/A | + 0 kg)
Absurd. Any pokemon that gets a lot of coverage can make use of this stone.
One example is pokemon that already get protean, like meowscarada, or greninja themselves.
Another example is deo-s, as Nirvana2000 mentioned
Anyways heres Rmoon with it Roaring Moon @ Greninjite
(105/169/81/85/111/139)
Ability: Protosynthesis (Protean)
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off / Crunch
- Earthquake / Iron Head
- Iron Head / U-turn
- U-turn / Shadow Claw / Filler
I just went with 4 attacks because becoming pure dragon off of ddance seemed counterproductive to what protean stands for. 105/111 special bulk when you can become a better defensive type for a short while is actually really solid, and Stab U-turn without rocks weakness is always nice. Just run whatever moveset fits your team best, ergo if you struggle against common levitate stone users or pinsirite users, maybe dont bring EQ lmao
You could even run roost, because of course it gets that, or shadow claw purely for the fighting immunity given.
Delphoxite (+45 Special Attack, +25 Special Defense, +30 Speed | Levitate | N/A
| +0 kg )
Eelektrossite if it was cool:
No but seriously, another offensive levitate stone?? Insane work, special attackers are gonna love this one. Massive glow up from blaze
Fairly standard offensive set, taken directly from one of the OU samples, but now you come in on grounds or ground coverage.
Chesnaughtite (+30 Attack, +50 Defense, +40 Special Defense, -20 Speed | Bulletproof | N/A | +0 kg)
Bulletproof isn’t a huge buff but it’s better than overgrow. Skeptical of whether this will make chesnaughtite viable or not, but fblast immunity is nice. Mostly just a solid ghost check, with shadow ball immunity and a solid +40 special defense. The +50 defense might be useful for Body Press abusers, too.
If anyone thinks of good users for it lmk lmao
Greninjite (+30 Attack, +10 Defense, +30 Special Attack, +10 Special Defense, +20 Speed | Protean | N/A | + 0 kg)
Absurd. Any pokemon that gets a lot of coverage can make use of this stone.
One example is pokemon that already get protean, like meowscarada, or greninja themselves.
Another example is deo-s, as Nirvana2000 mentioned
Anyways heres Rmoon with it Roaring Moon @ Greninjite
(105/169/81/85/111/139)
Ability: Protosynthesis (Protean)
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off / Crunch
- Earthquake / Iron Head
- Iron Head / U-turn
- U-turn / Shadow Claw / Filler
I just went with 4 attacks because becoming pure dragon off of ddance seemed counterproductive to what protean stands for. 105/111 special bulk when you can become a better defensive type for a short while is actually really solid, and Stab U-turn without rocks weakness is always nice. Just run whatever moveset fits your team best, ergo if you struggle against common levitate stone users or pinsirite users, maybe dont bring EQ lmao
You could even run roost, because of course it gets that, or shadow claw purely for the fighting immunity given.
Chesnaughtite is also probably the stone that'll be what finally balances Deo-S, since it can't just overwhelm Steels anymore with FBlast. That said, Protean Deo-S looks almost just as frightening.
Mix and Mega Metagame Analysis (must read for beginners!)
Hello wanderers. Have you been looking at the new stones and thinking "yo theyre sick I kinda want to try mnm"? But you feel overwhelmed? Fret not, cuz if so, this post is for you (well it's for everyone, no discrimination when im farming likes). In this post, I'll be breaking down things on the meta as simply as possible: which new stones are relevant and what are the main users, which old mons have risen to counter the new threats, which archetypes are viable in MnM and how to build them, etc.
Dragapult heavily benefits from Zygardite. It's fast, has great power and coverage. Draco Meteor kills (nearly) everything that's not a fairy type or a Ho-Oh. I don't think it's broken though. Draco Meteor is quite blockable and you get to -2 everytime you click it, and its other moves aren't nearly as strong or threatening enough. It's a solid mon, but I think enough counterplay exists.
Nuke Deoxys is here baby. It's very fast and furious. DeoS is quite good at pressuring teams. Psycho Boost threatens heavy damage, especially if you manage to get an NP off. You can run all sorts of coverage--BoltBeam, FB, Shadow Ball, etc. for Steels and Darks. Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball are nice options vs Lunala.
Helectrode is another mon with stronger offenses and speed. Leaf Storm means your opponent always risks getting their Ground-type annihilated while trying to voltblock, though Zeraorite existing makes its life more difficult. It's a hit and run mon, so once it has the upper hand momentum-wise, your opponent can be in serious trouble. Sometimes you can also catch a low health Etern trying to recover with Taunt, which would be quite nice for your position.
Greninja @ Zygardite
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Sludge Wave
- Grass Knot / Water Shuriken
Gren is kind of the last of the "fast" mons you can run Zygardite on (speedties with metashifu post-mega). If you manage to get things chipped a little, Greninja is a good cleaner. It's found success on Rain teams, but you can easily run it on any other playstyle as well.
You'll notice so far we've only discussed frail and fast breakers. Pecharunt is an exception though. The main idea of Zyg Pecharunt is to click NP and kill things (obviously lol) while not being revenge killed by PixiSpeed.
While I don't think Zyg Spectrier has seen much usage, I think it has a lot of potential, especially on something like Screens.
Note:
I've seen many people simply putting a Zyg user on their team and expecting it to win instantly in the game. That's wrong. Winning with a Zyg mon is a matter of pure positional play. You need to give your mon support (in the form of pivots, check baits, etc.) so it has as many opportunites as possible to come in and blow holes. Use it wisely, it's a strong weapon.
Chimechite
Milotic @ Chimechite
Ability: Marvel Scale
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD (mixed EVs are used generally; I'll leave EVs up to the reader)
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Ice Beam / Scald
- Haze
- Recover
Chime Milo is good at absorbing all sorts of attacks. Any move from Pult, Deos Psycho Boost, any move from Etern, Tusk Headlong, Dragonite ESpeeds, etc. It also has a good MU vs CM Arc formes. Slow Flip Turns are also nice to bring your breakers in.
Iron Moth @ Chimechite
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Toxic / Toxic Spikes
- Morning Sun
- Flash Cannon
Chime Moth has seen some usage. It's a nice mon to pressure grounds and espeeders while also spreading poisons. Also has enough SpDef to deal with things like Pult and Helectrode.
Barbaracite
Iron Boulder @ Barbaracite
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Mighty Cleave
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt / Earthquake / Substitute
Boulder is pretty good at breaking, especially now that Ho-Oh cores are rising in viability. Solid physical offenses and Speed.
Barraskewda @ Barbaracite
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Close Combat
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs
Lopunnite Skewda used to be ass, Barbaracite is a nice upgrade. It's faster and stronger than Urshifu so I believe functions better as a pivot. If you're looking to build voltturns with mons like Helectrode and Raging Bolt, go with Skewda (otherwise Ursh is always there as an SDer with Surging and Ice Spinner)
A key defensive resource in the meta currently. Heatranite is good for Eterns, Fire Blasts, Ho-Oh, etc. Zeraorite handles Raging Bolt, Regieleki, Helectrode, Bolt DeoS, etc.
Same as Mage, except Corv is good vs Grounds and has Defog. More passive though, and doesn't have Spikes/Encore.
Heatran @ Zeraorite
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Power Gem
- Earth Power / Will-O-Wisp
- Stealth Rock
Zeratran is a decent anti-Mage/anti-electric rocker. Ho-Oh can't easily switch into it cuz of power gem.
Old is Gold
Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: Up to you
Careful Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird / Earthquake
- Recover
- Whirlwind
Ho-Oh usage is at all time high, which is to be expected. Zygardite has made the metagame more special oriented, and there aren't many mons better than Ho-Oh at its job. It can pretty much sponge any hit and heal back up with Regen. WW is also a great tool to disrupt anything from setting up. The birb is a strong glue for balance / BO builds currently.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Big Pecks
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Foul Play
- U-turn / Toxic
- Roost
- Defog / Toxic
Mandi is solid. Good defenses and typing for handling problematic mons like Pult, DeoS, Bascu. Defog, slow uturn, fplay and toxic are also useful tools.
Blissey (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Soft-Boiled
"Blissey is unviable in SV" no it isn't dumbass. Well, it's only a little unviable. It gets the job done.
Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 36 SpD / 72 Spe
Bold / Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp / Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Power Gem
- Recover
Arceus-Fairy checks Dragons (bar Eternatus) and Fightings. Useful vs Dragapult and Barbaracite mons.
Playstyles in Mix and Mega
Rain
A dominant form of HO in MnM. Largely carried by Archaludon, a mon that's banworthy in the eyes of many. Electro Shot is one of the most broken moves ever. Archaludon is already quite powerful and hard to kill, and when you factor in Swampertite, a stone that patches its speed issues, into the equation, it becomes very difficult to stop if piloted well. Choice Band Basculegion is the secondary breaker. Flip Turn + Last Respects is a broken combo with swift swim, and you also have wave crash under rain as a backup nuke. A third (and fourth) breaker is not mandatory, but you can use mons like Urshifu-R and Zygardite Kilowattrel and Greninja.
Psyspam
MnM is full of Extreme Speed users and lazy defensive cores. Psyspam is one of the most brutal ways to punish them. Zyg DeoS becomes a monster with Expanding Force; you no longer have an easy way to Revenge kill it and Eforce has no drawbacks unlike Psycho Boost. Delphox's viability is hurt a little because of Heatranite being a thing, but it shuts down a lot of potential counterplay (such as CM Arcs) with Encore. Agility Meteor Beam Eforce Lunala is hardly wallable too. Psychic Terrain is a beautiful concept for Dragons, fightings, and frail setup sweepers--they don't have to worry about espeed or thunderclap revenge killing them. SD Shifu, Kommo-O, Basculegion, Polteageist, etc.
Screens
Screens is another great archetype to shut down usual revenge killing strats. All 4 mons above have seen use as screens setter before. Eleki is the fastest setter and has Spin and Boom. Arceus has healing wish, taunt, and bulk. Etern has Toxic (Spikes). DeoS has teleport and hazards. The list of potential screens users is long; RSword Moon, Herb Lunala, and Spectrier are a few good options.
Sun
Sun gained 2 chlorophyll stones. Heatranite and Ho-Oh stocks being up has hurt its prowess a bit though. Chloro Armarouge is an interesting tech. When Ho-Oh tries to kill you you can click Destiny Bond, and when the birb dies your mons are a lot more threatening. Heatran is pretty hard to wall cuz of its extensive coverage with power gem for Ho-Oh. There's no shortage of Fire types that would benefit from Sun, and Groudon itself is a good mon so you're not wasting a slot for a setter either (unlike let's say Pelipper). Sun is still fairly underexplored.
Snow
Chilly Glowking is a good mon so there's no drawback in running a Snow style team. Raging Bolt gets access to Ice Weather Ball, meaning it can pull a surprise KO on Altarianite Dragonite and Great Tusk. Lati Mage has fallen a little in viability, and even though Chimechite is a thing, Bax (and by extension, Kyurem) is still a bit of a monster. Espeed no longer RKs, and you get to click strong Heracronite Icicle Spears with DD / SD. Zygardite Cloyster is unbeatable in snow after a shell smash, though that's still a little hard to get. A screens setter in the back could help. Alolan Ninetales hasn't seen any play as a snow setter at the top level, but I don't think it's a particularly horrible pick (I have won games with it). Definitely something you can experiment.
Balance / Bulky Offense
This is the most popular and "standard" way of playing MnM. You pack hazards, hazard removal, counterplay vs offense with your own offensive or defensive core, speed control, phazing, etc. Building is a bit of a deep topic cuz there are many many variations. Lots of intricacies cuz you have to decide your defense/offense distribution. Maybe I'll talk about it in another post. Balance being unviable is a myth btw.
Stall
Blissey and Ho-Oh are good at dealing with special monsters. You set hazards with a moldy mon (ex. Gyara Clod spikes) and try to punish Spinning attempts with mons like Helmet Giratina (and hazards themselves do a good job, especially against Eleki). If you manage to stretch the game long enough, your opponent will crumble. It's quite risky bc of oversaturation of offensive threats rn, however. Always wise to pack mons like Ditto and Dondozo.
Trick Room
Trick Room is an unorthodox way to punish offense. It's not used much and is widely considered a little dubious by people, but I think it has potential. Cresselia and DeoD are nice setters; Cress has Lunar Dance and DeoD can TeReport. Full Trick Room is very committal, but I think you can easily and viably run semiroom.
Future Sight
FSight teams are very effective in this tier. Lunala can FSight-->Teleport, Glowking is the same except it has Chilly over Port. Iron Crown is a faster user that volts out. FSight is the king of forcing interactions, and if used perfectly, can very quickly make things unpleasant for the opponent. If you like dynamics and are looking for sharp games, Fsight is your best friend. A wide pool of pkmn benefits from it. Helectrode and Barraskewda love Etern not being able to switch into them. Zamazenta can click moves without worrying about Pecharunt. DeoS can click Thunderbolt and secure the 2HKO on Milotic. Etc.
Conclusion
But zas, what about sand? Uhhhh sorry I think sand's pretty ass. No clear good abuser, bad setters, limited options thanks to sand chipping away your own team. Maybe somebody can make it work, but I doubt it. But ye, the point is, there is no shortage of things you can run in MnM. We have a lot of variety, much more than past gens. All you need to do is keep an open mind. Let's all stop using boring slop and Run Creative!
I do understand concerns regarding offense though. I think the tier's a little more offensive than I'd like, but I'm not fully sure how to fix that. Nothing really crosses the line currently. I'd keep an eye on DeoS. You can more or less make anything work nowadays, which is pretty awesome. As for yesterday's additions, it's too soon for me to comment. Protean Greninjite could be cool. I think all 3 would be pretty mid though. New ability reveals would also shake things up a lot. We'll see. That's all for this post. Cya
Mix and Mega Metagame Analysis (must read for beginners!)
Hello wanderers. Have you been looking at the new stones and thinking "yo theyre sick I kinda want to try mnm"? But you feel overwhelmed? Fret not, cuz if so, this post is for you (well it's for everyone, no discrimination when im farming likes). In this post, I'll be breaking down things on the meta as simply as possible: which new stones are relevant and what are the main users, which old mons have risen to counter the new threats, which archetypes are viable in MnM and how to build them, etc.
Dragapult heavily benefits from Zygardite. It's fast, has great power and coverage. Draco Meteor kills (nearly) everything that's not a fairy type or a Ho-Oh. I don't think it's broken though. Draco Meteor is quite blockable and you get to -2 everytime you click it, and its other moves aren't nearly as strong or threatening enough. It's a solid mon, but I think enough counterplay exists.
Nuke Deoxys is here baby. It's very fast and furious. DeoS is quite good at pressuring teams. Psycho Boost threatens heavy damage, especially if you manage to get an NP off. You can run all sorts of coverage--BoltBeam, FB, Shadow Ball, etc. for Steels and Darks. Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball are nice options vs Lunala.
Helectrode is another mon with stronger offenses and speed. Leaf Storm means your opponent always risks getting their Ground-type annihilated while trying to voltblock, though Zeraorite existing makes its life more difficult. It's a hit and run mon, so once it has the upper hand momentum-wise, your opponent can be in serious trouble. Sometimes you can also catch a low health Etern trying to recover with Taunt, which would be quiet nice for your position.
Greninja @ Zygardite
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Sludge Wave
- Grass Knot / Water Shuriken
Gren is kind of the last of the "fast" mons you can run Zygardite on (speedties with metashifu post-mega). If you manage to get things chipped a little, Greninja is a good cleaner. It's found success on Rain teams, but you can easily run it on any other playstyle as well.
You'll notice so far we've only discussed frail and fast breakers. Pecharunt is an exception though. The main idea of Zyg Pecharunt is to click NP and kill things (obviously lol) while not being revenge killed by PixiSpeed.
While I don't think Zyg Spectrier has seen much usage, I think it has a lot of potential, especially on something like Screens.
Note:
I've seen many people simply putting a Zyg user on their team and expecting it to win instantly in the game. That's wrong. Winning with a Zyg mon is a matter of pure positional play. You need to give your mon support (in the form of pivots, check baits, etc.) so it has as many opportunites as possible to come in and blow holes. Use it wisely, it's a strong weapon.
Chimechite
Milotic @ Chimechite
Ability: Marvel Scale
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD (mixed EVs are used generally; I'll leave EVs up to the reader)
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Ice Beam / Scald
- Haze
- Recover
Chime Milo is good at absorbing all sorts of attacks. Any move from Pult, Deos Psycho Boost, any move from Etern, Tusk Headlong, Dragonite ESpeeds, etc. It also has a good MU vs CM Arc formes. Slow Flip Turns are also nice to bring your breakers in.
Iron Moth @ Chimechite
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fiery Dance
- Toxic / Toxic Spikes
- Morning Sun
- Flash Cannon
Chime Moth has seen some usage. It's a nice mon to pressure grounds and espeeders while also spreading poisons. Also has enough SpDef to deal with things like Pult and Helectrode.
Barbaracite
Iron Boulder @ Barbaracite
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Mighty Cleave
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt / Earthquake / Substitute
Boulder is pretty good at breaking, especially now that Ho-Oh cores are rising in viability. Solid physical offenses and Speed.
Barraskewda @ Barbaracite
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flip Turn
- Close Combat
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs
Lopunnite Skewda used to be ass, Barbaracite is a nice upgrade. It's faster and stronger than Urshifu so I believe functions better as a pivot. If you're looking to build voltturns with mons like Helectrode and Raging Bolt, go with Skewda (otherwise Ursh is always there as an SDer with Surging and Ice Spinner)
A key defensive resource in the meta currently. Heatranite is good for Eterns, Fire Blasts, Ho-Oh, etc. Zeraorite handles Raging Bolt, Regieleki, Helectrode, Bolt DeoS, etc.
Same as Mage, except Corv is good vs Grounds and has Defog. More passive though, and doesn't have Spikes/Encore.
Heatran @ Zeraorite
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Power Gem
- Earth Power / Will-O-Wisp
- Stealth Rock
Zeratran is a decent anti-Mage/anti-electric rocker. Ho-Oh can't easily switch into it cuz of power gem.
Old is Gold
Ho-Oh @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: Up to you
Careful Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird / Earthquake
- Recover
- Whirlwind
Ho-Oh usage is at all time high, which is to be expected. Zygardite has made the metagame more special oriented, and there aren't many mons better than Ho-Oh at its job. It can pretty much sponge any hit and heal back up with Regen. WW is also a great tool to disrupt anything from setting up. The birb is a strong glue for balance / BO builds currently.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Big Pecks
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Foul Play
- U-turn / Toxic
- Roost
- Defog / Toxic
Mandi is solid. Good defenses and typing for handling problematic mons like Pult, DeoS, Bascu. Defog, slow uturn, fplay and toxic are also useful tools.
Blissey (F) @ Sablenite
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Calm Mind
- Shadow Ball
- Soft-Boiled
"Blissey is unviable in SV" no it isn't dumbass. Well, it's only a little unviable. It gets the job done.
Arceus-Fairy @ Pixie Plate
Ability: Multitype
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 36 SpD / 72 Spe
Bold / Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp / Calm Mind
- Judgment
- Power Gem
- Recover
Arceus-Fairy checks Dragons (bar Eternatus) and Fightings. Useful vs Dragapult and Barbaracite mons.
Playstyles in Mix and Mega
Rain
A dominant form of HO in MnM. Largely carried by Archaludon, a mon that's banworthy in the eyes of many. Electro Shot is one of the most broken moves ever. Archaludon is already quite powerful and hard to kill, and when you factor in Swampertite, a stone that patches its speed issues, into the equation, it becomes very difficult to stop if piloted well. Choice Band Basculegion is the secondary breaker. Flip Turn + Last Respects is a broken combo with swift swim, and you also have wave crash under rain as a backup nuke. A third (and fourth) breaker is not mandatory, but you can use mons like Urshifu-R and Zygardite Kilowattrel and Greninja.
Psyspam
MnM is full of Extreme Speed users and lazy defensive cores. Psyspam is one of the most brutal ways to punish them. Zyg DeoS becomes a monster with Expanding Force; you no longer have an easy way to Revenge kill it and Eforce has no drawbacks unlike Psycho Boost. Delphox's viability is hurt a little because of Heatranite being a thing, but it shuts down a lot of potential counterplay (such as CM Arcs) with Encore. Agility Meteor Beam Eforce Lunala is hardly wallable too. Psychic Terrain is a beautiful concept for Dragons, fightings, and frail setup sweepers--they don't have to worry about espeed or thunderclap revenge killing them. SD Shifu, Kommo-O, Basculegion, Polteageist, etc.
Screens
Screens is another great archetype to shut down usual revenge killing strats. All 4 mons above have seen use as screens setter before. Eleki is the fastest setter and has Spin and Boom. Arceus has healing wish, taunt, and bulk. Etern has Toxic (Spikes). DeoS has teleport and hazards. The list of potential screens users is long; RSword Moon, Herb Lunala, and Spectrier are a few good options.
Sun
Sun gained 2 chlorophyll stones. Heatranite and Ho-Oh stocks being up has hurt its prowess a bit though. Chloro Armarouge is an interesting tech. When Ho-Oh tries to kill you you can click Destiny Bond, and when the birb dies your mons are a lot more threatening. Heatran is pretty hard to wall cuz of its extensive coverage with power gem for Ho-Oh. There's no shortage of Fire types that would benefit from Sun, and Groudon itself is a good mon so you're not wasting a slot for a setter either (unlike let's say Pelipper). Sun is still fairly underexplored.
Snow
Chilly Glowking is a good mon so there's no drawback in running a Snow style team. Raging Bolt gets access to Ice Weather Ball, meaning it can pull a surprise KO on Altarianite Dragonite and Great Tusk. Lati Mage has fallen a little in viability, and even though Chimechite is a thing, Bax (and by extension, Kyurem) is still a bit of a monster. Espeed no longer RKs, and you get to click strong Heracronite Icicle Spears with DD / SD. Zygardite Cloyster is unbeatable in snow after a shell smash, though that's still a little hard to get. A screens setter in the back could help. Alolan Ninetales hasn't seen any play as a snow setter at the top level, but I don't think it's a particularly horrible pick (I have won games with it). Definitely something you can experiment.
Balance / Bulky Offense
This is the most popular and "standard" way of playing MnM. You pack hazards, hazard removal, counterplay vs offense with your own offensive or defensive core, speed control, phazing, etc. Building is a bit of a deep topic cuz there are many many variations. Lots of intricacies cuz you have to decide your defense/offense distribution. Maybe I'll talk about it in another post. Balance being unviable is a myth btw.
Stall
Blissey and Ho-Oh are good at dealing with special monsters. You set hazards with a moldy mon (ex. Gyara Clod spikes) and try to punish Spinning attempts with mons like Helmet Giratina (and hazards themselves do a good job, especially against Eleki). If you manage to stretch the game long enough, your opponent will crumble. It's quiet risky bc of oversaturation of offensive threats rn, however. Always wise to pack mons like Ditto and Dondozo.
Trick Room
Trick Room is an unorthodox way to punish offense. It's not used much and is widely considered a little dubious by people, but I think it has potential. Cresselia and DeoD are nice setters; Cress has Lunar Dance and DeoD can TeReport. Full Trick Room is very committal, but I think you can easily and viably run semiroom.
Future Sight
FSight teams are very effective in this tier. Lunala can FSight-->Teleport, Glowking is the same except it has Chilly over Port. Iron Crown is a faster user that volts out. FSight is the king of forcing interactions, and if used perfectly, can very quickly make things unpleasant for the opponent. If you like dynamics and are looking for sharp games, Fsight is your best friend. A wide pool of pkmn benefits from it. Helectrode and Barraskewda love Etern not being able to switch into them. Zamazenta can click moves without worrying about Pecharunt. DeoS can click Thunderbolt and secure the 2HKO on Milotic. Etc.
Conclusion
But zas, what about sand? Uhhhh sorry I think sand's pretty ass. No clear good abuser, bad setters, limited options thanks to sand chipping away your own team. Maybe somebody can make it work, but I doubt it. But ye, the point is, there is no shortage of things you can run in MnM. We have a lot of variety, much more than past gens. All you need to do is keep an open mind. Let's all stop using boring slop and Run Creative!
I do understand concerns regarding offense though. I think the tier's a little more offensive than I'd like, but I'm not fully sure how to fix that. Nothing really crosses the line currently. I'd keep an eye on DeoS. You can more or less make anything work nowadays, which is pretty awesome. As for yesterday's additions, it's too soon for me to comment. Protean Greninjite could be cool. I think all 3 would be pretty mid though. New ability reveals would also shake things up a lot. We'll see. That's all for this post. Cya
A while ago I made a team with Sand, and I used more legendary mons(Eternatus, Arceus, Lunala) with Leftovers and a Gargantacl tyranitarite. Very mid team
Gholdengo received decent support last survey as well. Definitely something that could be revisited in the future.
Iron Moth @ Delphoxite
Roaring Moon @ Greninjite
Zygardite
Chimechite 
Barbaracite 
