Metagame [Gen 5] Best Wishes from YB - Post SoloPL Survey Results @ Post 11

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Welcome to Best Wishes from YB! Best Wishes from YB is a Gen 5 metagame featuring only Pokemon introduced in Generation 5, with much of the roster being rebalanced in order to give you as many usable options as possible. The mod also features a number of changes to moves, items, abilities, and mechanics, most notably changes to Gems and Freeze, and Hail being replaced by Snow.

Rules
Species Clause: Limit one of each Pokémon
OHKO Clause: OHKO moves are banned
Moody Clause: Moody is banned
Evasion Items Clause: Evasion items are banned
Evasion Moves Clause: Evasion moves are banned
Endless Battle Clause: Forcing endless battles is banned
HP Percentage Mod: HP is shown in percentages
Sleep Moves Clause: Sleep-inducing moves are banned
Swagger Clause: Swagger is banned

Banned Pokemon
(A later section goes more in-depth on my thoughts on the banned Pokemon)
:kyurem-white:

Kyurem-White
:reshiram:

Reshiram

Zekrom
+ All Pokemon not from the Unova Region

Banned Moves/Items/Abilities
Assist
Baton Pass
Hidden Power

King's Rock
Razor Fang

Shadow Tag

Only the most major changes are listed here, a full list can be seen in the spreadsheet linked below.

Mechanics
:vanilluxe:

Snow

Replaces Hail, works exactly as it does in Gen 9. Snow Warning and the move Hail now set Snow.

:kyurem:

Freeze :kyurem:

Has received a complete overhaul, with the following changes:
- No longer immobilizing the afflicted Pokemon
- Affected Pokemon now lose 1/16 of their max HP at the end of every turn (1/8 in Snow)
- Affected Pokemon take 30% more damage from attacks (basically, every attack against them gets a Life Orb boost)
- Pokemon can still naturally thaw out of freeze, but the chance is now only 10% per turn
- Other methods of thawing out still work
- Fire-types are now immune to freeze
- The Snowball item has been added to the game and inflicts freeze when flung - this is the only guaranteed way to inflict freeze
- Facade is now boosted by freeze (and sleep) and Synchronize now activates if the Pokemon with it is frozen
These changes remove the uncompetitiveness of freeze while still making Ice-type moves scary for walls come in on, since the damage boost + chip damage might get them in range of an unexpected 2HKO.

:stunfisk:

Paralysis & Confusion :haxorus:

Paralysis and confusion now work like they do in Gen 9, except that paralysis still lowers Speed by 0.25x. This, along with limited Steel-type options and strong Dragons like Haxorus and Kyurem-Black, is why Outrage has been nerfed to 100 BP.

Moves
:mandibuzz:

Defog

Now works like Gen 6 Defog, removing hazards from both sides of the field - While this is a crazy change to make on paper, it's actually quite low impact, since Defog options are extremely limited and the options that do exist (mainly Mandibuzz, Whimsicott, and Braviary) all kinda suck. Thus, hazards remain strong if you're not using an Excadrill to get rid of them, but you have a few new options for teams that absolutely need hazard control.

:musharna:

Teleport :liepard:

Now switches the user out - DryPass: The Move, was originally supposed to a change to Baton Pass to unban it and add some more pivoting options, but I couldn't figure out how to stop Baton Pass from passing volatiles, so I put the changes on Teleport instead and gave it Baton Pass' distribution. This is why weird stuff like Liepard and Scolipede get the move.

:heatmor:

Swallow & Spit Up :garbodor:

Both of these moves now have effects when you have no Stockpiles:
Swallow - Now heals 1/3 of the user's max HP when the user has no Stockpiles, 1/2 at 1, 2/3 at 2, and all HP at 3.
Spit Up - Now has 50 BP when the user has no Stockpiles.
This mainly serves to buff Swallow, now being a decent recovery option for Heatmor and Garbodor.

Items
:normal gem:

Gems

Gems are unbanned, receiving a big power nerf, going from 50% to 30%, but in return they now also give the affected move an additional effect. Some notable ones include:
:dark gem:

Dark - Removes the foe's item after dealing damage - Probably the best gem effect since its effect is uniquely permanent, turns 1 Dark move into Knock Off. I'd say that this is the second best gem overall and will probably be the most common one.
:steel gem:

Electric, Poison, Ground, Rock, Steel - Lowers the foe's Evasion/Special Defense/Attack/Special Attack/Defense by 1 stage - These five gems all lower stats, with the best of these being Poison and Steel, as these normally awful offensive typings can be used to force switches or bust through walls with their defense drops.
:flying gem:

Flying - Gives the foe the Telekinesis effect - This effect isn't terribly strong, but the Flying Gem will always have a use-case because of Acrobatics, though it's also kinda nice to guarantee hitting a second Hurricane after managing to hit the first one.
:psychic gem:

Psychic - Gives the foe the Heal Block effect - Longer Psychic Noise on any one Psychic move, can similarly force walls into awkward positions like Poison and Steel Gem.
Additionally, Unnerve now prevents Gems from activating

:light ball:

Light Ball :light ball:

Now works on Emolga, which, along with a stat overhaul and minor movepool buffs, makes Emolga into a fun glass cannon.

Abilities
:seismitoad:

Speed-boosting Weather Abilities :sawsbuck:

With all 4 weathers present in the tier, finding a way to unban the likes of Chlorophyll and Swift Swim felt like a good opportunity to further shake up the weather metagame, so they all been unbanned but with a couple changes:
- Chlorophyll, Sand Rush, and Swift Swim now only boost Speed by 1.5x in their respective weathers.
- Slush Rush now exists and also only boosts Speed by 1.5x.
- Drilbur and Excadrill no longer have Sand Rush
These give weather teams good forms of Speed control but said Speed control is only as strong as a Choice Scarf, often still requiring abusers to run Speed boosting natures, lest they get revenge killed by Scarfers naturally fast mons, being much more along the lines of Protosynthesis Speed-boosting in Gen 9. Plus, without Sand Rush Excadrill, the wielders of these strong abilities aren't particularly crazy, with the best for each weather being Seismitoad, Sawsbuck, Stoutland, and Beartic, who all have multiple other faults that keep them from being overwhelming, or even automatic inclusions on weather teams.

:cryogonal:

Snow Cloak / Sand Veil :krookodile:

These abilities take a page from VaporeMons and now make the Pokemon immune to indirect damage in their respective weathers, instead of increasing Evasion. They remain niche but really nice to have to avoid damage form hazards or Life Orb.

:excadrill:

Sand Force :landorus:

Excadrill also got its other weather ability nerfed, as Sand Force now only boosts the power of Ground, Steel, and Rock moves by 1.2x in Sand instead of 1.3x, making Excadrill and the unbanned Landorus much easier to handle in Sand.

:genesect:

Download :genesect:

Genesect is unbanned, needing multiple nerfs to to do so, with one of them being Download. Now, the stat boost goes away at the end of the next turn, which makes it harder for Genesect to snowball after getting the right boost. This encourages its VoltTurning playstyle, but with Genesect getting a massive Attack nerf, said playstyle is much less powerful.

Future Gen Abilities/Moves
Along with the aforementioned Slush Rush, a couple future generation abilities and moves have been added as either unique buffs or flavor to a few mons
:samurott:

Samurott & Leavanny get Sharpness - Samurott also now gets Sacred Sword
:swanna:

Swanna gets Gale Wings (Gen 7+ version) - Swanna also got a big HP buff, making it a niche Keldeo answer
:bouffalant:

Bouffalant gets Fur Coat - Along with some stat rearrangement and movepool buffs, Bouff now serves as a decent blanket check to physical attackers
:eelektross:

Eelektross, Emolga, and Stunfisk get Parabolic Charge, which is now a 65 BP Electric-type Draining Kiss clone - Mainly here to buff Eelektross as a bulky set up mon, since it also now gets Calm Mind
:cobalion:

Cobalion gets Tachyon Cutter - Steel is still a bad offensive typing pre-Gen 6, but Tachyon Cutter's notable power jump compared to Flash Cannon makes it a great option on Coba
:terrakion:

Terrakion gets Mighty Cleave, which is now 65 BP and no longer makes contact - Had to add this if I was adding Tachyon Cutter, you won't use it over Stone Edge but it exists. You'll find out what Virizion got in the next section, as it's definitely not Psyblade
:cinccino:

Cinccino gets Tidy Up - Adds another niche hazard control option with some (literal) sweeping potential
:sawk:

Sawk & Throh get Upper Hand - Added solely for Reversal Sawk shenanigans, since Upper Hand makes it so that you can't get revenged by priority if you win the mindgame

Spreadsheet
Discord
Viability Rankings
Sample Teams
Damage Calculator
SoloPL 3 Replay Thread
Original Solomods Thread Post

Council
:cinccino:

Yoshiblaze

Watchlist
:terrakion:

Patch History
6/13/25 - Metagame is made live
6/15/25 - Egg move capability bug fixed, Mythicals can now freely be shiny
12/9/25 - Pre-SoloPL III Patch (Serperior nerf, Buffs to Escavalier, Meloetta, Mienshao, Throh/Sawk, and the Simis)
1/11/26 - Download bugfix, technically a Genesect nerf

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Sample Sets

Sample Teams
Pending

- Genesect Sand by Yoshiblaze

- Lead Archeops Rain by Yoshiblaze

- Snow Offense by Yoshiblaze

- Sawsbuck Sun by Yoshiblaze

- Screens by Yoshiblaze

- Weatherless Conkeldurr by Yoshiblaze

- Scarf Terrakion Balance by Yoshiblaze

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Viability Rankings
(last updated: 3/7/26)
Unordered within tiers unless stated otherwise

S
Best of the Best (ordered)
:Genesect:

A
Staples
:Amoonguss:

B+
Close to being staples, great mons with obvious flaws or are amazing but only on certain teams
:Conkeldurr:

B
Mons that have a place on a number of teams but have a number of issues that keep them from performing better
:Jellicent:

B-
Same as the above rank, but, like, worse
:Alomomola:

C
Similar to the above rank but either their use cases are more specific or they (or the teams they fit on) are less consistent
:Archeops:

D
Niche mons, have specific traits that can give them an edge on certain teams or in very specific situations but are mostly middling
:Accelgor:

"Untapped"
Unranked mons that are probably bad but I believe in them (or they're funny)
:Bouffalant:

be so fr
Mons that even I wouldn't tell you to use right now
:Beartic:

Banned
:kyurem-white:

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Reserved

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Reserved

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

Reserved

Yoshiblaze · Mar 7, 2026

First (real) post in our new thread!

With all of the Best Wishes from YB SoloPL 3 battles finished, I can bring you the full usage stats from the tournament (sans the very last game, due to replay server issues)

[Gen 5] Best Wishes from YB SoloPL 3 Usage Stats

Code:

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Landorus-Therian   |   33 |  56.90% |  57.58% |
| 2    | Gigalith           |   24 |  41.38% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Hydreigon          |   22 |  37.93% |  59.09% |
| 3    | Terrakion          |   22 |  37.93% |  59.09% |
| 5    | Genesect           |   18 |  31.03% |  61.11% |
| 6    | Ferrothorn         |   17 |  29.31% |  41.18% |
| 7    | Excadrill          |   14 |  24.14% |  42.86% |
| 8    | Musharna           |   12 |  20.69% |  91.67% |
| 8    | Amoonguss          |   12 |  20.69% |  41.67% |
| 10   | Thundurus          |   11 |  18.97% |  36.36% |
| 11   | Jellicent          |   10 |  17.24% |  60.00% |
| 11   | Reuniclus          |   10 |  17.24% |  30.00% |
| 13   | Throh              |    9 |  15.52% |  66.67% |
| 14   | Volcarona          |    8 |  13.79% |  37.50% |
| 15   | Landorus           |    7 |  12.07% |  71.43% |
| 15   | Conkeldurr         |    7 |  12.07% |  28.57% |
| 17   | Escavalier         |    6 |  10.34% |  66.67% |
| 17   | Keldeo             |    6 |  10.34% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Kyurem             |    6 |  10.34% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Unfezant           |    6 |  10.34% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Kyurem-Black       |    5 |   8.62% |  80.00% |
| 21   | Mandibuzz          |    5 |   8.62% |  60.00% |
| 21   | Haxorus            |    5 |   8.62% |  40.00% |
| 21   | Tornadus-Therian   |    5 |   8.62% |  40.00% |
| 21   | Victini            |    5 |   8.62% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Basculin           |    4 |   6.90% |  50.00% |
| 26   | Stunfisk           |    4 |   6.90% |  50.00% |
| 26   | Tornadus           |    4 |   6.90% |  25.00% |
| 26   | Golurk             |    4 |   6.90% |  25.00% |
| 26   | Meloetta           |    4 |   6.90% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Heatmor            |    3 |   5.17% |  66.67% |
| 31   | Seismitoad         |    3 |   5.17% |  66.67% |
| 31   | Serperior          |    3 |   5.17% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Watchog            |    3 |   5.17% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Sandile            |    2 |   3.45% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Maractus           |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Gothitelle         |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Zebstrika          |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Vanilluxe          |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Swanna             |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Scolipede          |    2 |   3.45% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Bisharp            |    2 |   3.45% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Alomomola          |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Garbodor           |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Durant             |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Sawsbuck           |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Emolga             |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Stoutland          |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Cobalion           |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 43   | Zoroark            |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Thundurus-Therian  |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Cinccino           |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Sigilyph           |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Mienshao           |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Krookodile         |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Crustle            |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Virizion           |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |

Leads

Code:

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads                   | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Genesect                |    9 |  15.52% |  77.78% |
| 2    | Landorus-Therian        |    7 |  12.07% |  71.43% |
| 3    | Hydreigon               |    5 |   8.62% |  20.00% |
| 4    | Gigalith                |    4 |   6.90% |  75.00% |
| 4    | Unfezant                |    4 |   6.90% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Victini                 |    4 |   6.90% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Ferrothorn              |    3 |   5.17% |  66.67% |
| 8    | Amoonguss               |    2 |   3.45% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Swanna                  |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Thundurus               |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Basculin                |    2 |   3.45% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Keldeo                  |    2 |   3.45% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Garbodor                |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Sandile                 |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Gothitelle              |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Cobalion                |    1 |   1.72% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Scolipede               |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Conkeldurr              |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Reuniclus               |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Excadrill               |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Serperior               |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Golurk                  |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Vanilluxe               |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Haxorus                 |    1 |   1.72% |   0.00% |

Most of my thoughts from this post halfway through the season still apply here, but a couple more revelations came out in the last few weeks:
- Musharna won 11/12 games oh NAH
- Excadrill and Escavalier were the main spinners of choice early on in the tournament, but Throh's usage skyrocketed later on in the tournament, potentially as answer to the likes of Ferrothorn, Hydreigon, and Terrakion which are all genuine top tiers, and it did managed to do pretty well in that role with 6/9 wins. Hazards are still pretty strong in BWYB, but between Excadrill, Escavalier, and Throh, plus Defog Mandibuzz for when you REALLY need hazards gone, you definitely have options against them
- Stunfisk was one the funniest developments of the later portions of the tournament. Turns out giving Poison Heal to literally anything with decent bulk and a set up move makes it good, as Stunfisk managed to win or help win multiple games thanks to it being virtually unkillable after a couple Curses, with Earthquake and Facade being able to chip away at the opponent eventually. And, despite Stunfisk's bulk being unchanged from standard (as its only stat change was its Attack and SpA getting swapped), it's more than bulky enough to 1v1 a lot of things, including stuff that you'd think would be able to beat it like Amoonguss. Heck, in one of the games I thought it was even gonna 1v1 a Landorus-Therian, which is just inconceivable (it didn't, but it made me believe, which is crazy by itself). Definitely one of my favorites things to come out of the tournament, as this niche for Stunfisk was 1000% completely unintentional, as I had only envisioned Stunfisk to be a status-spreading bulky Ground with Toxic and the buffed Spark
- For a mon that I thought was lowkey broken before the tournament, Victini going 0/5 is pretty sad lmao. Sand and Terrakion being so dominant was definitely part of it, but Victini also just has a meh Speed tier, hates Rocks, has to choose between having Choice Band's power and Choice Scarf's speed, and its best archetype (Sun) is middling, so it's not too crazy that it ended up that way
- Watchog, one of my favorites mons in the tier, got some usage and in each and every game it was ludicrously disappointing, it was legitimately depressing. Tinted Lens STAB Extreme Speed may be crazy in theory, but 95 Attack is still just 95 Attack and that fact was extremely apparent in its games, along with the fact that it provides absolutely 0 defensive utility to make up for how weak it is. It was a harrowing experience for all Watchog fans out there
- Sandile still ended up having the most usage of any mon with a 100% winrate (being just 2 games, but still), that's my goat
- 57 different Pokemon were used (counting different forms as different Pokemon), which is a fairly good amount of variety even with many of the top mons having a ton of usage, like Lando-T being on over 50% of teams. The 28 FEs following are all the ones that didn't get any usage:
:chandelure:

I can't say that I'm too surprised that any of these didn't get any usage, though a couple of them (Chandelure, Cofagrigus, Emboar, Archeops, and Braviary, to name a few) have some merit in my opinion. Another Pokemon that I'm not surprised to see get no usage but still has some merit is Zorua, as Imposter's revenge killing capability plus a lot of mons like Terrakion, Hydreigon, Genesect, and Excadrill happening to run moves they're weak to would theoretically give it something to do, though the bulky balance-centered metagame is really unkind to it
Also, funnily enough, since one of those 57 Pokemon that got used (Sandile) isn't an FE, that means that 56 FEs were used, which amounts to exactly 2/3 of the legal FEs

And that's all! Thank you to everyone who played BWYB in the tournament, and to everyone who got it into the tournament to begin with! I still can't believe it actually made it and I'm so pleasantly surprised with how well it went, it was just great all around.

In the coming days, I will have a post-SoloPL survey out for those who played the metagame during the tournament to give their thoughts on it and how I should move forward as, while things went better than expected, there are definitely a LOT of things that can be improved here, so be on the lookout for that.

Until then, see you soon!

Yoshiblaze · Mar 11, 2026

Hello!

I'm here to bring you that post-SoloPL community survey I promised!

>>> CLICK HERE TO ANSWER THE SURVEY <<<

Tanny89k
Monai
LpZ
seraphz
Baddy
Duke Sux
Concept
MemphisDepay
magialice
PixelBob
ElectraineHeart
Fragments
Heatranator
leoperi
Maarck

I highly encourage anyone who played in the tournament, whether in tournament games or as a tester or even just casually, to answer the survey, as your input will be integral in helping me improve the tier, especially since I'm the sole council member for this mod so I'll need as much input from as many different sources as I can get. This is also by far the longest community survey I've ever made, since we do have quite a lot to talk about here, lmao

That's all for now, see you soon!

Heatranator · Mar 11, 2026

Will refrain from responding since I only played one game that I subbed into so I am not experienced enough to answer. Cool meta though.

LpZ · Mar 11, 2026

Although the meta seemed a bit too top-heavy and having some clear brokens I enjoyed it and liked the proposal here. Gonna take some notes on a couple mons

:hydreigon:

- It is absurdly broken with literally 0 counterplay, SpDef Throh and Gigalith are your best bets but both with no recovery and get worn down fast, it heavily limits breakers speed tiers, it is the major reason Keldeo is not top notch, the reason Kyurems get a bit awkward to use. It def needs a nerf but even tho I mentioned the speed, I think decreasing its SpAtk a decent amount can help a lot, and no pity on how low you can get it since Draco is already a super strong click by itself, but if it ends up being speed its aight.

:terrakion:

- Another clear broken since w1, your hope is Lando or keep a bulky psychic full hp, too fast for how strong it is and I do think it only gets patched with a speed nerf, an attack nerf wouldn't do much when it will run SD or CB regardless and still hit like a mf

:gigalith:

- Sand is the only viable weather tried and true, that being said I still think weatherless is as good if not better than sand structures

:landorus-therian:

- Actually fucking impossible to not run this mon unless ur running Lando-I, does everything, Intimidate is absolutely huge in this meta and the ability to pivot serves everything while it checks literally 60% of the meta by itself

:musharna:

- Mush is great but she aint broken wtf yall on

:throh:

- Despite not running a single Throh whole tour, I acknowledge it is the go-to removal for weatherless, great bulk and actually gets a lot of mileage whenever its not seeing Jelly

:thundurus:

- This mon is so goddamn good, regardless of no hp ice it can just annoy about anything, pivots and spams twave like crazy its just a dumb mon that not even grounds are happy to switch into

:genesect:

- Destroys sand completely, the speed makes it manageable but slower structures just sit and watch it nuke everything just like me in finals. Maybe nerf the spatk a little bit or make it frailer but im not that desperate about it

:amoonguss:

- They are both amazing, and it was actually tough choosing between them in games because they both give some amazing tools to teams and I usually felt the need of having both, but that is not possible, it was the hardest part about building

:excadrill:

- Def hot take but drill is just mid imo. It doesn't switch on almost anything, the speed is bad cuz its slower than every relevant breaker outside of non-scarf gene and its a spinner that is owned by Lando. In fact imo its best set is Scarf Sand Force in sand, makes it hit very hard, rk shit like Terrak, packing the spin utility still and patching the speed problem, still a bit of a compromise to take so I just dont rate as high as high A or S.

:kyurem:

- Funnily they are equally good imo, specs or Subs Kyu can also open holes vs slower teams but Scarf KyuB is a very fun mon to use as well, makes it not insta rkilled by Drei after locking itself into Outrage while still hitting extremely hard since the only real check to it is Ferrothorn, I guess Haban or Chople can see use on it as well.

:tornadus:

- There is NO reason to run Therian here, actually. TornI is stronger on both ends and has a more useful ability, special Torn is bad but BU with Defiant is great on it, Lando becomes fodder and it threatens a lot with AcroGem and Superpower while u can go Taunt or U-turn last and being naturally faster than Terrak is an amazing trait. Trace does shit for TornT.

:unfezant:

- Not crazy on it, great typing that is only really good for Lando and Drill, I thought it had Defog but not even that, its just a do nothing mon that can maybe chip stuff with Helmet, ok Attack and mediocre on every other aspect on top of the abysmal SpDef. Only good as a role compression mon on some teams ig.

:victini:

looks ok as a weatherless scarfer and p much a sun staple, :seismitoad:

is a good rocker with some compression and softcheck to a bunch of stuff since grass moves are very rare, :scolipede:

is a great ho lead but SD is very mid cuz of Lando, :escavalier:

is a good alternative spinner for sand that does fair better into setters, :stunfisk:

has potential for the As but it needs turns to get going and prob has some nice stuff outside of Curse sets with rocks or tox with volt switch, :mandibuzz:

checks Hydreigon without rocks up and is a meh defogger but its one at least, :durant:

whole jit is being faster than Terrak and hitting very hard while doing it with actual few checks but Hustle hustling, :volcarona:

rarely sweeps because of the speed nerf which is honestly a blessing but it is functional with Screens or in sun, :cobalion:

stomps sand with SubsCM provided it wins the tie vs Terrak (or not have it scarfed).

:serperior:

is literally doomed to being only a screener, good at that at least but nothing crazy, :watchog:

is super disappointing cuz Tinted Lens ESpeed sounds so juicy but its just too weak, :krookodile:

solid scarfer that can Pursuit (rare), :maractus:

hits very hard but is still outsped by every scarfer even on Sun, :sigilyph:

PsyShift shenanigans are actually pretty cool with at least OK speed, :cofagrigus:

got no usage but I can def see its value on hardcore spikestacking structures as its much better at spinblocking than Jelly and even provides TSpikes which owns the whole tier, :archeops:

hits hard and has fire move additions and outspeeds Terrak but Defeatist bla bla bla, :garbodor:

shits on Throh and also has TSpikes and some good bulk, :zoroark:

good in HO and clears weather with Night Daze which actually can go a long way while spinblocks for Scoli lead, :swanna:

hits hard and has emergency Defog with Gale Wings and can scare setters away easily, :alomomola:

is the one true wish passer and some stuff can appreciate it although its playstyle is almost nonexistent, :mienshao:

great scarfer if it was not for Lando shtting extremely hard on it, :golurk:

copes as a Terrak check but at least hits hard with great coverage and has Spikes, :heatmor:

sun does stuff but its a dogass setter, :virizion:

has good stats and solid defensive profile to try checking Drei but its super passice and setup cant get past the main defensive backbones, :thundurus-therian:

hasn't done a thing, limited to move options, sand and rocks weakness

Yoshiblaze · Mar 21, 2026

I'm come bearing survey results!

This post will only be discussing the results of the survey, with no changes being made a official yet. Some things from the survey will definitely be done, but they won't be official until the next time I post, as a lot of these were fairly split and also gave me other things to think about and I want to post all the changes to the metagame all at once.

We got a solid turnout of 7 responses, with 5 players and 2 testers. Thank you to everyone who gave their input!

Average Fun Rating - 7.29/10
People definitely seemed to enjoy their time in BWYB during the tournament, which is great to hear!

Average Competitiveness Rating - 6.29/10
The competitiveness rating is a bit low, a full point down from the fun rating, so there's definitely a lot of room to grow on that front.

People seem to be in favor of nerfing Terrakion in some way, with a Speed nerf being the most popular option and what I'll likely do, but I do think the idea of removing Close Combat to reduce its power is interesting too.

Surprisingly to me, a Hydreigon nerf seems to be pretty unpopular. I suppose a lot of its issues could be attributed more to Dark Gem or just the lack of good fatmons, since most of the good ones are either weak to Dark, weak to its Fire coverage, or don't have recovery, so Hydrei doesn't need a direct nerf if those things get addressed. If I were to directly nerf it, (counting LpZ's post above since they didn't answer the survey) the preferred options were split between a Speed nerf and a SpA nerf, though the former had vocal opposition that the latter didn't.

People seem to be just about in favor of a Genesect nerf, with the most popular option being a bulk nerf. I do think removing coverage is also a neat option, since Genesect being such a Swiss Army Knife is part of the problem with dealing with it (if I do that, it'll probably be its Electric/Dark/Grass coverage to make bulky Waters, namely Jellicent, a consistent answer to it).

People are VERY not in favor of nerfing Musharna. It is very good and very annoying, but it makes sense to not nerf it when the lack of good defensive options is already a problem with the tier and it's also the closest thing we have to a Terrakion answer with recovery. The most popular nerf option was to undo its HP buff, which I found really surprising, as in my opinion Teleport letting it bring in the tier's offensive demons is the only borderline broken thing about Musharna

People were pretty split on Gems and this is like 1/3 of the reason why I need more time to think about this lmao. People were slightly in favor of nerfing Gems, so that will likely happen, but what that nerf will be is the question. Both a power nerf and removing the boost altogether were popular options, while simply changing the Dark Gem effect is also appealing to me, since it was the main factor in Gems making it on this list. If you forced me to pick an option right now, I think I'd go with the power nerf and probably also change Dark Gem's effect, but I definitely need to think on it.

Are there any other problematic elements that you think I should consider taking action on?
Is there anything else about BWYB that you think can be improved? (Nerfs, Buffs, Bans, etc. not already listed)
Combining both of these open-ended questions together, since some of the responses between them were similar
- The tier needs more defensive/Regenerator mons - This was the most commonly echoed statement across both questions and in a couple other places too. Stuff like Terrakion and Hydreigon were offensive menaces by themselves, sure, but part of their problem was that the tier doesn't really have options to stop them consistently, which made them that much scarier. Plus, the defensive options that exist now also overlap with each other bit, making it harder to cover enough stuff. Adding a bit more diversity to the defensive mons in the tier should go a long way in keeping stuff like Hydrei and Terrak and whatever else rises up in check. People also specifically mentioned wanting more Regenerator mons, with Amoonguss being the only truly viable one of the four right now (the others being Accelgor and Mienshao), and while I'm not sure I agree with that specifically, adding like 1 more viable Regen mon probably wouldn't hurt.
- The above point was the main takeaway from these two questions, with the other main thing being said was that the tier was actually in a pretty good spot and shouldn't be change too much, or that the changes should be more on the side of buffs rather than nerfs. Speaking of which...

Proposed Pokemon Buffs
I gave a bunch of potential buff ideas that I had, some major, some minor, and asked for some feedback on them. These may or may not get added to the mod in the way that they're listed, but I wanted to gauge everyone's interest in them. Below I'll list the ones that were the most popular, ordered from most popular (and thus most likely to be added to the mod) to least popular. Each idea was assigned a score corresponding to the options on the survey (Really Like = 2, Somewhat Like = 1, No Opinion - 0, Somewhat Dislike = -1, Really Dislike = -2). Anything with a negative score is extremely unlikely to be added to the mod.
(Listed as :pokemon: Buff Idea - Score)
:beartic:

Ice/Fighting, +20 Spe - 8
:gothitelle:

+Focus Blast - 8
:unfezant:

+Acrobatics, +Iron Tail - 5
:simisage:

+2 Spe - 5
:darmanitan:

+Trick Room - 5
:accelgor:

Bug/Ghost, +Will-O-Wisp and a bunch of Ghost moves - 5
:watchog:

+15 Atk - 4
:cryogonal:

Snow Cloak -> Magic Guard - 3
:mienshao:

+Ice Spinner - 3
:whimsicott:

Grass/Psychic, more physical bulk - 3
:klinklang:

Plus or Minus -> Levitate - 3
:beartic:

Ice/Ground, +20 Spe - 2 (very unlikely to get added since the other Beartic idea was much more popular)
:basculin:

+Spikes - 1
:emboar:

Emboar -> Fire/Ground AND Darmanitan -> Fire/Fighting - 1
:leavanny:

+Sticky Web - 0
:basculin:

+Flip Turn - -3
:samurott:

+Drizzle, +Spikes - -3
:basculin:

+Rapid Spin - -5

Speed Tiers
One specific thing I asked about were the tier's speed tiers, since that's one thing that's bugged me ever since the mod was created. I listed the following proposal for changes to the speed tiers between 90 and 110, which were received mostly fine (aside from the Hydreigon nerf not being popular):
:simisage:

106 -> 108 (already shown above to be popular)
:Zoroark:

105 -> 106
:Emolga:

103 -> 104
:Terrakion:

107 -> 97

85 -> 90 (less useful if Hydrei isn't getting its Speed nerfed but outspeeding Excadrill is still cool)
:Hydreigon:

98 -> 88 (only part that was unpopular)

Additionally, one response noted that basically everything faster than Thundurus kinda sucks, so buffing the likes of Tornadus-T, Accelgor, and Zebstrika is also something to consider.

Weather
Another thing I asked about were the state of weathers in the tier, as we saw in the tournament that Sand was certainly very far above the other three weathers, so I wanted some ideas on how I could address this and got some great responses.
Sand - Most people believed that Sand shouldn't be changed or nerfed, being fine as is, it's just ahead of the other weathers because they all lack the diverse and strong options that Sand has, but Sand itself isn't broken. It was also noted a couple times that Sand is probably a smidge worse than Weatherless anyway, so it seems to be a pretty perfect spot right now.
Rain - People agreed that Rain is fairly bad but were pretty hesitant on wanting to see it buffed. Rain has great abusers like Thundurus, Keldeo, Tornadus, and even Swanna, but it mostly held back but Basculin being an awful weather setter, not to mention how badly its abusers' types overlap. You can also see in the buff proposal question that people were also hesitant on buffing Basculin itself or giving something else Drizzle, so we're in a pretty delicate spot here. Thus, whatever buff I do give Rain will probably be minor, likely giving it a better defensive option or two (with one response noting that the archetype lacks good hazard removal options, so that's something to consider) and maybe finding some other way to buff Basculin. If I end up buffing Tornadus-T in some way, that would also help Rain a lot, too.
Sun - People were a bit more eager to buff Sun than Rain, with the main problems cited being its lack of type diversity, its abusers being one-note (as they're either all Fire-type nukes or Chlorophyll mons and also Virizion), and Heatmor itself being kinda mid, all of which I could see myself addressing, especially type diversity, which you'll notice is becoming a trend.
Snow - Unanimously cited as the worst weather, people mainly pointed out how the benefits of Snow are absolutely not worth running multiple Ice-types for, especially since Vanilluxe itself isn't that great. Type diversity was something else cited here but unlike Rain and Sun, Snow's abusers outside of the Kyurems aren't even that good to begin with, so that's something else to address. One response also proposed changing Snow back to Hail (as even with Hail chipping your own mons, it's still useful for chipping your opponent), which is something that I don't think I wanna do but I figured I should mention it in case others feel the same.
In general, the other weathers lack the type diversity and bulky options that Sand gets to have the best of, so adding some of that to them should close the gap between them a bit.
Other - One response pointed out that Overcoat kinda does nothing since Hail got changed to Snow, which is somewhat relevant with Mandibuzz and Escavalier being good, so changing it in some way seems pretty desirable.

I do also have to mention that one response said that I should make the weathers permanent, which they already are, so I would like to believe that the non-Sand weathers are so bad that they genuinely didn't know that the other weathers were also permanent.

Hidden Power

The last discussion question I asked was about Hidden Power. The move is currently banned as a measure to allow strong Special Attackers like the Thunduruses, Keldeo, and especially Serperior (before it got nerfed) in check. This certainly had the intended effect, but it had the side effect of making the likes of Landorus, Ferrothorn, and Genesect much harder to deal with, since they didn't have to be scared of any random Special Attacker having an Ice or Fire move for them, leading to all three of them being insanely good.
The two solutions to this I proposed were either to unban Hidden Power or give "Hidden Power replacement coverage" to a select few Pokemon, like how a bunch of Pokemon got Mystical Fire and Aura Sphere in Gen 8 when Hidden Power was removed. Both of these options would make slotting coverage for these top dogs with 4x weakness a lot easier, but one would be universal and a little harder to prep for, while the other would be more limited and easier to see coming.
The responses on the survey were mixed, with Unbanning Hidden Power and giving out HP replacement coverage splitting the majority (it looks like Hidden Power had the majority, but the idea in Green is basically the same as HP replacement coverage), along with one response noting that this might not even be a problem in the first place. I currently favor the replacement coverage idea, since if it doesn't work it feels like a natural progression into unbanning Hidden Power, but this is another thing I really have to think about.

Other Questions

There seems to be a pretty good amount of interest in a forum tour for BWYB, so that's certainly something that's on the table, so be on the lookout for any news on that in the future!

VR Noms
There weren't many proposed, so I'm not gonna do an update right now and will wait just a little bit before doing so, but the ones below were proposed and were ones I generally more-or-less agree with:
:victini:

B- -> B

S -> B+

B+ -> A

B -> B (they just wanted to mention that you should be running Taunt on it and not Toxic)
:terrakion:

S -> S-

A -> A+

We can now say with 100% certainty that the YB in Best Wishes from YB stands for Yoshiblaze!
(i was kinda surprised nobody answered Ytterbium but then I remembered that capitalization matters with elemental symbols and Ytterbium is Yb and can't be YB, so this means that you are all true chemists!)

In summary, here are some things you can expect to see in the near future:
:terrakion:

Nerfs to Terrakion
:genesect:

Possible nerfs to Genesect
:dark gem:

Some kind of action on Gems
:beartic:

A variety of individual Pokemon buffs
:heatmor:

Buffs to the non-Sand weathers
:landorus-therian:

Either a Hidden Power unban or distribution of Hidden Power replacement coverage
:beheeyem:

Forum Tournament???

And that's it! Thank you once again to everyone who answered the survey, you have all been a big help in helping me decide what direction to take this tier in!

Until next time, see you soon!

Metagame [Gen 5] Best Wishes from YB - Post SoloPL Survey Results @ Post 11

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Yoshiblaze

ye

Heatranator

The Magma before the Storm

LpZ

capy

Yoshiblaze

ye

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