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Ogerpon-Wellspring is getting the magic nerf wand applied to it. Ogerpon is getting a small stat nerf that will scale down the power of it's sets while solidifying it in a speed tier that is a lot less threatening in the current metagame. The big nerfs however, definitely come from losing recently acquired Strength Sap and long time coverage move Play Rough. Strength Sap has been showcased to be a key component to Wellspring's oppressive presence in the tier, allowing it to easily heal chip near reliabluly throughout the match. Play Rough solidifies Dragon types of all corners as checks and counters to it as well, limiting how it can bypass counterplay. Hopefully these nerfs will help to quell the beast that is Ogerpon-Wellspring, and we should probably boo the schmuck dumb enough to buff it anyways.
Tagging Yoshiblaze for implementation and Gekokeso to make tour hosts aware of tier changes (as if bro didn't make suggestions on the nerf)
Hello everyone, I saw my friend FlamPoke make a great team dump so wanted to do the same while giving my thoughts on the meta and some changes on the vr, enjoy!
Vs Clas, week 1
Knowing that Clas was prob the only person with prior Teramax experience, I wanted to bring something that is easy to pilot. I knew they would think I would bring ho as I'm unfamiliar with the meta so decided to bring an offense that could break stall and fat teams. Ogerpon looked broken here and it just 6-0ed so that is that. My first impressions were that dnite and togekiss could be very broken too. - - - - - [Outdated], Won
Vs One Last Kiss, week 2 I didn't know what to expect from them, brought a team that could be solid across the board against ho, offense. OLK didn't bring what I expected but with a bit of luck and broken gambit I was able to pull trough. - - - - - [Outdated], Won Replay
Vs Mielke, week 3
Mielke had been using ho a lot this tour so the idea was to have an anti ho offense, it did very well in test games and this lum dragonite was a tech I wanted to use. Gengar also looked very good. An all around good team tho weak to fairies be warned. - - - - - Won by act Vs Ineros, week 4
Ineros was 2-1 going into this so I knew I had to prep well. I know him and I also saw that he used only ho if my memory is correct, I wanted to counter team by bringing something I haven't done before which is ho, specifically webs ho to beat opposing ho. In testing all the members did well tho Cinderace was the weak point. Turns out webs wasn't the call and my goat Ineros washed me. Still a fun team that did well. - - - - - Lost
BloodAce subbed in for Occulars as they were already in and wanted to give everyone some games. I expected some offensive team so I went with some spike stack lax team that I recreated. Copper was something I wanted to try out and it looked super nice in test. Garg is the ultimate you won't be prepared for it and zama destroys ho. Webs was brought by them and Copper + Zama went LeBron. A very nice team. - - - - -
PMPL was one of the tours I enjoyed the most. It was super fun to build for it and test while being in a super nice team, it was def a great experience and for thart I want to thank all my teammates and also my managers Cao Jie and RL who did a great job and spent way too much time testing with me each week (you guys are the goats). I also want to thank GekokesoMaia and igiveuponaname for the super hosting. Now I'm sad there's no PM circuit.
Ps : also want to thank the guys who did predicts every week aking this tour hype, s/o NoglasticaGekokeso and Beaf Cultist ! You guys are the goats.
Thoughts on the meta and vr
Even tho ho was used a lot I do think the meta is in a fine state atm, ho was overused while not being the best archetype in my opinion. Here's what I would change on the VR :
Rises Togekiss S- -> S : This thing is insane. It can have so many sets and fit on so many teams, super good mon and yet I'm not sure if you need a nerf or not. It always put big numbers but it isn't a sweeper most of the time. Copperajah-Gmax B+ -> A- : Spikes is broken, this things is good and has every moves it needs whenever it's to weaken eq with Power Whip, it's signature move, Heat Crash for sun or even eq to boost it's defensive capabilities. It's very good tho it's held back by some weakesses.
Drops Cinderace-Gmax S -> S- : it's obv very good whenever in sun, bo or other but I do think losing access to Court Change is a bit of a deal, also some mons just check it well so it isn't as easy to fit on teams as the other S tiers.
Ogerpon-Wellspring A+ -> A- / B+ : Losing play rough and some stats is rough for it, no longer having Strengh Snap is also huge, I think the nerf was a bit overkilled. Before the nerf it was S- in my opinion.
That is that for me, will 100% come back next year for PMPL and will continue to contribute for Teramax. Until then see you guys!
PMPL was another success for the metagame development for TeraMax, with many new strategies solidifying while many classic threats still endure as Pokemon to be sure to account for.
The metagame is more or less complete, but here will be slight adjustments here (except for one fumbled mon).
-10 SpA, +10 SpD
Ogerpon-Wellspring is a bit too strong initially, but it was said that the moment was also over nerfed. Thus, I decided to slightly shift around the nerf, to have an actually formidable SpD, so it can continue being a pivot with strong healing. Keep on the lookout for this Pokémon in the future, even if it's no longer a peak offensive threat in TeraMax OU rn.
-Skill Link, +Technician
+Fake Out, +Bone Rush
Ogerpon was initially designed to abuse multihit moves so we gave it Skill Link with Bullet Seed and Rock Blast....but it turns out that isn't enough to put gas on an Ogerpon, so I decided that the initial sub idea of Technician (sans options like Triple Axel) should get given fruit to flourish as a fast paced attacker now. Fake Out is decent chip and Bone Rush offers as an alternate form of coverage.
-10 SpD
-10 Atk, +10 SpA -Merciless, +Flash Fire
Ivy Cudgel - Special when used by Ogerpon-Hearthflame Embody Aspect (Hearthflame) - Raises Special Attack on switch in.
Ogerpon-Hearthflame is a failed experiment in making a funny top tier mixed attacker. Mixed attackers haven't been viable for a long time, and this is a big example of why. Hearth doesn't have enough stats to pull it off, in fact, it has 10 extra points in BST that we never got to address. In addition to that, it has a useless signature ability based on an error on how the ability works too...it was just a bad idea. Not to mention, it heavily competes with existing physically inclined Fire Grass type Scor. With all of this in mind I decided to just fully commit to being the sole specially offensive Ogerpon here, so it can do whatever it needs to do as an offensive breaker without any competition. Still, it will be a decent Pokémon in the tier as it's dual STAB is strong and Mold Breaker is huge here.
+15 HP, +8 Atk, +22 SpD
+Mach Punch, +Supercell Slam
Staraptor was designed to be a potent late game Dynamax Sweeper, but it's stats are simply too poor to compete with many of the major competition that exists here. With these stat buffs here Staraptor can actually stomach hits while utilizing DMax, Supercell Slam gives it strong coverage for Reckless sets (and DMax sets) and Mach Punch gives it fun priority to serve as some sort of revenge killer.
-Stakeout, +Analytic
Stakeout + Max Darkness is just free progress. Absolutely no Pokémon be a consistent switching when it essentially has a guaranteed wallbreaking tool like that, and it can't even be forced out by a faster threat thanks to its signature priority STAB move. So Stakeout was replaced by the more reasonable Analytic - still hard to switch into, but a hell lot more reasonable.
That's it really it. Outside of anything broken no more adjustments will be made, so have fun with the full picture of TeraMax moving forward, I hope it gets a great time.
Hopefully we can more thoughts shared about PMPL and the current state of the meta game, expect VR to be updated soon!
Here is the full stats of the tour if someone wants to see funny stats.
Transistor - Boosts Electric type moves by 1.3 -> Boosts Electric type moves by 1.5
+Tri-Attack, Temper Flare, Dazzling Gleam, Foul Play, Nuzzle
Regieleki kinda struggles in being relevant in the metagame right now, and while Regieleki will probably never be amazing, kinda by design, these extra options will give Regieleki some extra things to do. Temper Flare is funny if you are into that, but Dazzling Gleam and Foul Play are it's main form of great additions here, giving Regieleki a few extra options. Tri-Attack is also kinda funny if you like balling for hax. Nuzzle is finally cool for spreading Paralysis, something Regieleki is surprisingly not adept at in standard. Of course these additions are backed by the bolstering of Transistor, once again making it's Electric moves do some serious damage.
+Heat Crash, Swords Dance, Flash Cannon
These are just small, yet impactful buffs that make Regidrago more effective. Drago has received a lot more good progress making tools than it's brethren, so this just allows a few of its key sets (physical set up, special choice sets) to be much more effective in the metagame.
(the big art doesn't work) G-Max Cannonade - Sets Aqua Ring upon successful use. Effects of Rapid Spin. -> Sets Aqua Ring upon successful use. Removes Spikes set on its side of the field.
We felt being able to remove hazards solely on your side of the field shouldn't be applicable to such a strong and useful move on Giga Toise. Since we already have a Defog GMax user, we decided to hyper focus Cannonade on specifically Spikes removal. This still maintains it as a very solid form of hazard control while leaving it very open to numerous inadequacies (SR, TSpikes). You also don't carry extra benefits like removing Leech Seed among other things.
-10 Def
Hospitality - On switchin, heals 1/16 Max HP at the end of each turn. On switch-out, this Pokemon restores 1/4 of its next switch-in's maximum HP, rounded down. -> On switchin, heals 1/16 Max HP at the end of each turn.
Sinistcha just felt overturned. We scaled back it's defense a bit, and also removed the ability to heal it's teammates, as we felt this was largely unnecessary considering the Pokémon it was often paired with as well. This should make it easier for teams to handle while still being a formidable threat that is definitely an improvement over its base form.
I don't believe anything else needs immediate nerfs atm, and while some stuff needs buffs, I believe they are either too large to be within the scope of just a mod post, or would probably make the tier a bit unstable (not broken, just major shakeup), which isn't ideal right before a major tournament. We have some other things looking at as well, so keep a look out for that. Otherwise have fun TeraMaxing! Yoshiblaze
While I optimize the calculator, I took it upon myself to give the Pokemon some sets. I haven't played this tier in a long time, so the sets might be unoptimal to a modern eye, but these serve as direction for the Pokemon's playstyle. I also haven't given everything Pokemon a set. Mainly because I started yesterday but also, a lot of Pokemon carry on their vanilla sets and I mainly added "TeraMax" infront of the set name.
Okay so TeraMax is back on the PMPL menu, so I will make this post and hope that no coding errors badly influence the games. Here are my previous posts for PMPL 3 for further explainations. I will provide a TL;DR for your time's sake.
In-Battle Information:
- Beads of Ruin will show you that it drops Special Defense, both as a message and a multiplier. This is false though, it will lower Evasion by 25%.
- When a Pokemon with Power Spot switches out, its ally will receive a 30% boost to its next attack. This modifier does not show, but it happens.
- Commander boost the damage by 20% if the target is slower than the user, 30% if Dragon or Water. Like Power Spot, this modifier does not show.
- Rage Fist is unbanned and changed. It boosts the power by 25 instead of 50, but still caps at 350. The information will tell you that the move is still boosted by 50 BP, which it isn't. It still shows how many times you've been hit, so you can figure out the damage via math. The Cap is reached with 12 hits.
- Doodle should work as intended, but the moves you get don't show the names of the moves. While you can select the doodled moves (they also seem to copy the moves data), you don't see what move is what.
- Grass Knot, Heat Crash, Low Kick and Heavy Slam can now target Dynamax and Gigantamax. It will show you that they are blocked, but they work against Dmax and Gmax Pokemon. Grass Knot, Heat Crash and Low Kick will have 120 BP while Heavy Slam will have 40 BP.
Builder Tips:
If you want to use Gigantamax, you have to select the Gmax forme in the builder, If you do other wise you will receive the regular Dynamax.
This is good. You will receive Gmax Cinderace and Pyro Ball will be G-Max Fireball (Fire-type U-turn). These usually bad moves will be Max Moves permanently.
This is shit. Cinderace will be regular Dynamax and you miss out on Magic Guard and Fire-type U-turn. Furthermore, you will have shit ass moveset after 3 turns.
Some Gigantamax Pokemon don't have their G-Max Moves implemented due to bugs. Replenish has a band-aid fix to its effect Depletion does not heal when KOing a Pokemon
Calculator Information:
- Dynamax Pokemon will receive the 2x HP that usually have. Gigantamax Pokemon don't automatically have the 1.5x HP, so you have to give them the Wishing Stone in the builder. CAREFUL! Since the trigger for the 1.5x HP is the Wishing Stone, regular Dynamax Pokemon can also receive the 1.5x HP if they are holding the wishing stone.
Dynamax Pokemon: No Item
Gigantamax Pokemon: Wishing Stone
- If you calcing with your Gmax Pokemon, make sure it is the correct forme. When you click the Dynamax button on a Venusaur, it will be regular Dynamax even with the Wishing Stone. You have to manually select "Venusaur-Gmax".
- In one of the post, I talk about how "Tera and Gmax don't work properly". I have fixed this in the time the post has been made. So the "Calcs that DO NOT work" section is irrelevant.
- Tar Shot still needs manual removal of affect abilities though.
If you find something wrong with the calculator, let me know cause I'm the one responsible for it.
I will update this post if new things come up or something have been fixed (Last Update: 15th July, 13:51 GMT+2)
Update 1: 29th June, 16:00 GMT+2
It has been brought to my attention that G-Max Snooze and G-Max Depletion have functioning code. Depletion however, does not heal once it KOes a Pokemon, but the move seems to work as intended.
Update 2: 15th July, 13:51 GMT+2
No new information has been added, but some fixes have been made. At the time of this update, a PR with the fixes has been submitted and waiting to be implemented.
Quick Draw and Curious Medicine had non functioning code.
Self-Repair and Grim Neigh worked as intended, but when they activated, the message was displayed on the opponent. This did not change the opponents ability however, this is mainly a visual bug.
Commander and Power Spot had the wrong numbers in their damage calculation. This is a minor thing however (going from 5324/4096 -> 5325/4096)
Gengar-Gmax in Teramax has access to Max Overgrowth, which notably allows it to circumvent its Ground weakness (and Ground matchup in general). Gengar having Levitate in base while losing it as a GMax was supposed to be shown as Gengar trading it's Ground matchup for more power. Max Overgrowth ignores this feature and turns otherwise very sturdy checks in Ting-Lu to be set up fodder with only little damage. Without Overgrowth, Gengar has to run Max Knuckle or Max Starfall to hit Ting-Lu, which doesn't half EQ's damage and heals which also notably doesn't "snowball" in power upon repeated hits. This let's various Pokemon like Garganacl, Ting-Lu and such have a much easier time being a consistent check to GMax Gengar.
-Fixed Self-Repair & Grim Neigh: worked as intended, but the ability activated on the opponent
-Fixed Power Spot & Commander: Minor Typo, does not change calcs but is now consistant
-Fixed Quick Draw: The condition duration was increased to 2 turns, otherwise the priority does not work
-Fixed Curious Medicine: Didn't work before
Edit: Fixes have been implemented
I was also trying to fix G-Max Replenish and G-Max Depletion, but I was not successful. I can confirm that Depletion heals the intended amount though.
Servus! I'm excited to finally talk about this meta again and not just give updates on resources and the coding process. The games are in and I'd like to give my two cents on them. I'll provide my thought process when it came to team preview, my initial predictions of the games, my analysis of key plays and some suggestions for improvements.
Now before I start with this, I don't mean to attack anyone for not knowing this meta or playing poorly in it. The only people with some sort of knowledge of this meta are Clas and OSP, and these two don't play this meta often enough. A lot of people have to find their footing and it is only natural that you don't optimize your team or your plays when first playing it. My hope is that I can improve at least one person's experience in this tour.
One last thing before I get into the games, I am in the dc server of some players, but I do not share teams, reveal sets or give advise based on their opponent. I try to give objective advise based on threats of the meta, ev spreads and the meta. I'm not in teams that have conflicting interest currently, but even if I was, I follow of the principle of neutrality. Besides, I'd forget what team matches whom, so I couldn't even leak properly. I'm available for games, you gotta ask in the main server or the TeraMax dc server.
For the analysis, I will make assumptions of the Pokemon's sets. Even if I know the sets or the outcome of the game, I want to recreate the thought process I had while watching them. Obviously, I have the gift of hindsight, so I can make calculated assumptions, especially thanks to my knowledge of this meta. A player in the battle will not have the time or energy to think everything through. That is my luxary as a spectator, so again no bad feeling towards the players. I think that overall, everyone was playing great, even if one or two things didn't go as planned.
Electraineheart's team
This is a rather slow team. I was expecting that newer players would try Offensive teams like Sun or commit to Hyper Offense, but it is cool to see a Balance build. It has a solid defensive core with Alomomola, Blissey and Alcremie. Alo and Bliss have Flip Turn and Teleport respectively, and thanks to their bulk, they phenominally as pivots. Alremie is a solid and most likely a Gmax Pokemon, but it is still possible, that it is a regular Alcremie that serves as a set-up deterrent with Decorate. Ogerpon is the speed control here but it can also be a Loaded Dice Swords Dance variant, with Great Tusk and Gholdengo serving as utility options and threatening breakers.
Orangesodapop's team
OSP's team is even slower. With four defensive Pokemon and two offensive Pokemon, it surely wants to play the long game. Garganacl is the likely rocker and Iron Treads is the spinner. Zamazenta can either go Choice Band or IronPress, with the former being a better breaker but the latter being able to sweep once the opposing team is chipped, which this team is aiming for. Pecharunt will probably be a bulky EV build, but there's a possibility for it being a Nasty Plot set. Finally Orbeetle and Copperajah. Both are able to Gmax so either one can be. Copperajah would fit better as the team aims at hazard stacking.
Team Preview: EH perspective: Great Tusk is phenominal. One resist to Ground STAB and four weak to it. If both Zama and Orbeetle are chipped enough, Tusk can sweep the game. Alo-Bliss check a lot of the opponent's team but Pecharunt can become an issue if it is Nasty Plot and Zama can become an issue if it is Sub IronPress, although Gholdengo and Alcremie can deal with that depending if Zama has Crunch or Heavy Slam. The Gmax of the opponent is most likely Copperajah, which makes Gholdengo mostly useless.
This may raise some eyebrows, especially if you seen the match, but Copperajah-Gmax has Bulletproof and with Trick being unusable against Gmax mons, the only real option that most Gholdengo's will have is Make It Rain. Depending on the set of the Gholdengo it can muscle through with boosted MIRs especially when Raj is weakened. But since EH's Ghold is most likely Scarf, based on the replay, It is eaten alive by Copperajah.
OSP perspective: This will be a long game. Knock Off, Hazards, Salt Cure and Toxic have to chip down Alo and Bliss, otherwise Zama and Orbettle have a hard time sweeping. Furthermore, Great Tusk should have as little switch ins as possible. Zama and Orbeetle can only take so many hits, before they become weak to Ground too. Pecharunt has to ideally force out a Tera against Blissey. Steel would mean that Salt Cure chips it more and Dark means that Orbeete has an easier time breaking through with Bug Buzz.
I will only talk about significant plays here. The plays that significantly changed the match or revealed vital information. The rest are logical plays.
Turn 1: Raj is the Gmax Pokemon. This was the likely option anyway, but EH now knows that Gholdengo will have a hard time doing anything, thanks to Raj's good match-up against Ghold. It can still get value. Like I said in the Team Preview section, if Zama is SubIron Press finding out if it has Crunch or Heavy Slam would make it easier to check with either Ghold itself or Alcremie. If it is just IronPress with Roar or 3 moves, Tricking Scarf is really good for EH, removing a wincon from the opponent and only needing to worry about passive damage and Orbeetle.
Turn 2: Great Tusk eats a Max Overgrowth. Great for OSP and bad for EH. As mentioned before Tusk is the most threatening Pokemon for OSP's team and getting rid of it would remove the one Pokemon that could make progress against OSP's team. If Tusk is down, EH does not automatically loose however. OSP has a hard time breaking through the core of Alo-Bliss, so EH has to resort to PP stalling and switching in the worst case scenario.
Turn 5: OSP had a good amount of momentum with the double switch. Grassy Terrain is up and the only real switch in is Alo. Raj had a great opportunity to keep the momentum and use Overgrowth against Blissey. However, it chose to use Flare, which allows Alo a safe switch. Overgrowth would've done around 60%, knocking Alo's HP down to 28% after Spikes. Even if EH predicted the Overgrowth and switched into Gholdengo or Ogerpon, Overgrowth was still the play. Ghold cannot do anything and with Ogerpon having U-turn, it is most likely a pivot set. This play shifts the momentum to EH, which can now position Great Tusk to use Headlong Rush.
Turn 9: Iron Treads uses Knock Off on Alcremie. Alcremie uses Gmax confirming that it is not a defensive Decorate set. However, in the process, it uses Quake and OHKOs Treads. This unideal for OSP, since they now lost their hazard removal. Ogerpon can set Spikes if it has them and Tusk can set Rocks with the switches it forces. I don't know if OSP could've done something differently, since I don't remember their Treads set, but staying in was really bad for them. At the same time, the team is Ground weak so there wasn't really anything significantly better OSP could've done. At the same time, this isn't amazing for EH. Alcremie could've served as a great check to Zama and if not careful, Zama could get out of hand for EH.
Turn 11: After a brief 1v1 against Alcremie, Raj switches out to preserve its HP. Raj could've won this 1v1, but keeping it healthy would allow it to check Ghold. Alcremie now uses Quake against Orbeetle and raises its SpDef to 3 stages. Overall, this is good for EH. Raj and Orbeetle are getting weaker, meaning that Ghold and Tusk can start taking KOs against OSP.
Turn 13: Blissey teleports into Ogerpon and it reveals no Boots. This means that it could be running a Choice Band set or it is Loaded Dice after all. Anyways, this means that Ogerpon can be chipped.
Turn 14: Ogerpon uses Knock Off on Pecharunt, which looses 28%, meaning it isn't Choice Band. While the exact EVs of both Pokemon aren't clear, Choice Band would've done more damage, meaning it has Loaded Dice Bullet Seed as its main STAB and either Spikes, Rock Blast or Bone Rush as the worth move.
Turn 16: Gholdengo is in and wants to attack. OSP switches into Garganacl. I think this is where the dominos start falling. Raj is at 59% but it still would've been better to scout for what move it wants to make. Specs MIR does 32% on a Gmax Copperajah without bulk and surely, you run bulk on Raj. 27% on max HP and 25% on max SpDef. I still think the correct play was to switch into Copperajah and take the hit. Especially since OSP switched in Garg, which only makes sense if you expect Shadow Ball.
Turn 17: After taking 79% from MIR, Garg uses Tera Water and Recover while EH switched in Tusk. While I do think OSP had no other play to Tera, it still sucks for them to do it. On the other hand, it was really risky for EH to hard switch into Tusk, since OSP could've gone for a desperation Salt Cure and chip Tusk further. It turned out better for EH though, since OSP has used their Tera and Tusk came in safely, since it has HDB and lost no HP.
Turn 21: Garganacl stays in on Ogerpon, who reveals to be Loaded Dice Bullet Seed. It misses out on the KO and gets Salt Cured. I think this was a misplay on OSP's part. Pecharunt, while not really healthy, can still check Ogerpon and your Tera Water Garg can now function as your Ghold answer meaning that Raj does not need to preserve its HP that much. OSP also gained nothing from this. The chip on Ogerpon is nice but Stealth Rock would've been better since it would've forced Tusk to spin instead of attack, allowing OSP to gain back momentum.
Turn 26: Alomomola uses Toxic on Zama. There is still a possiblity it has Sub, but even if it does, it does not matter anymore. OSP reveals the next turn that it has Roar, which removes Sub from the pool of possibilities. EH has pretty much, which Alo being really healthy, Ghold at worst eating a Crunch and Alcremie being a sac. The only real threat being Orbeetle and a possbility of Nasty Plot on Pecharunt, which is unlikely however since it would need Recover and Shadow Ball to win.
Turn 30: Pecharunt reveals Recover, meaning it has Shadow Ball as its last move. If it was Nasty Plot, Ghold would hard wall it. Speaking of which, Alo uses Flip Turn and switches in the Ghold, who receives Alo's Wish
Turn 31: Pecharunt eats a Shadow Ball and uses Shadow Ball back. At this point in the game, it didn't not matter anyway, but OSP could've attempted to switch into Raj. That at least would've given them the momentum back.
From here on, there is nothing notable anymore. Gholdengo reveals it was Scarf later on, but it mattered little. Orbeetle was attempting a sweep, but Blissey shut it down.
I know I was somewhat harsh to OSP's playstyle, but in the grand sheme of things, OSP really struggled to make progress and EH had so much better pressure against them. If anything OSP held their ground and didn't make it too easy for EH. However, EH I think played this pretty well. Only thing I have to criticise is that risking Tusk at many points of the match was not the play, especially since it was the biggest threat to OSP's team.
Slikkles' team
Slikkles decided to bring a bulky offense team. The double Fairy core of Hatt and Kiss is interesting, because they cover each others weaknesses, but this can be explained by Hatt being the Gmax of the team. If the Gmax is Ace however, this core is pretty redundent defensively, unless it is an offensive Hatt or Kiss, which is a possiblity. Gambit, Tusk and Bolt are great breakers with Gambit and Bolt being potential sweepers.
One Last Kiss' team
This is a team I excepted most people to run. You have an Offense team with Fezandipiti as a backbone with a likely Gmax Duraludon being another bulky Pokemon. Orbeetle is another Pokemon for Gmax, since Psychic Surge could help Gyarados with sweeping, by denying Espeed, Sucker Punch and Thunderclap. Gyarados is also a candidate for Dmax, but this one seems less likely due to Duraludon and Orbeetle having better Gmax opportunities.
Team Preview: Slik perspective: Togekiss is a key defensive Pokemon. Checking Great Tusk and Chi-Yu and being able to hold off Gyarados. Kingambit and Raging Bolt will the wincons for Slik although Gmax Cinderace also outspeeds everything and can chip them. Even Gyarados, which naturally is a good check, does not like to switch in and can be forced out by Raging Bolt. Slik definitively wants to keep the pressure. Even if the team is bulky, it lacks longevity. Only Kiss can heal but the rest of the team can be chipped fast, so Slik wants to be in the driver's seat.
OLK perspective: A lot of Pokemon on Slik's team threaten the main breakers and sweepers on OLK's team, but the lack of longevity can be played around with Fez' Toxic spreading. Fez is generally a good Pokemon for OLK due to the double Fairy core on the oppossing team and the Raging Bolt. Gyarados, if Tera Ground, could also sweep but it is probably the most expandable Pokemon on the team. Duraludon is the likely Gmax, since Orbeetle's Psychic Surge isn't that useful on this team. Dura is a solid breaker and tank for OLK and it gets many opportunities to do things.
I will only talk about significant plays here. The plays that significantly changed the match or revealed vital information. The rest are logical plays.
Turn 1: Gyarados has Intimidate and it takes 23% percent from Max Flare. This means that Gyarados is not a sweeper, but a defensive set. This is unusual, but in this match-up, having a switch for Gmax Ace is nice. Speaking of which, Slik's Gmax is Ace which is the Gmax that causes most trouble for OLK, but the Gyarados set helps it in this case.
Turn 2: Reveals Dragon Tail, which confirms the defensive Gyarados set and Rest the next turn solidifies it.
Turn 5: Raging Bolt and Duraludon face off against each other. Duraludon turns to Gmax. Bolt is faster and uses a Draco against Gmax Dura, which looses 99% and retaliates with a Depletion that OHKOs Bolt. However, due to a bug, Depletion does not heal Dura. This is the most important turn of the game. I cannot reasonably assume what the EV spreads of either Pokemon is, but what I do know is that you want Dura to hit 250 speed, specifically to outrun Bolt. Even 274 to be safe against Timid Bolt. I cannot tell if it was lucky from OLK to survive this hit or if it was lucky from Slik to do this much damage. Dura however, basically traited with Bolt since the bug of Depletion does not heal it back and leaves it with nothing to do for the rest of the match.
Turn 6: Cinderace wants to get the KO on Dura with Knuckle to boost its Attack. OLK switches into Gyara however. This is the best OLK could've done in this situation. Dura can still get value against Hatt or serve as a sac later on and not giving Ace the boost is good.
Turn 16: After revealing not to be a HDB set, Chi-Yu misses an Inferno on Hatt who in turn paralyzes Chi-Yu with Nuzzle. A way to think about Beads of Ruin here is that the Evasion drop on the opponent equals and accuracy boost of the user by 25%, so inferno is just 62.5% accurate. Basically worse Compound Eyes. Thus Inferno isn't really good on it, except for Blunder Policy cheese. Anyway, this turn is bad for OLK. Not only loosing so much HP on Chi-Yu but also getting para'd.
Turn 21: Great Tusk faces off against Togekiss. Great Tusk teras into Steel and shockingly, Togekiss outspeeds Great Tusk and uses Air Slash on Great Tusk. This surprised me, since Slik's team appreciated the defensive value Togekiss provides. Great Tusk does not get flinched and used Spin to remove the rocks. Afterwards, Great Tusk is able to defeat Togekiss with Ice Spinner. All of this added up to enough damage for Kiss to be KOed.
Turn 39: After a lot of turns of pretty standard plays, we get to a 2-4 (Slik-OLK) situation. Kingambit teras into Fairy and gets the 40% boost from Supreme Overlord. The game is in favour of OLK based on Pokemon count but Slik is in the driver's seat right now, especially with the SD.
Turn 40: OLK predicts the Sucker Punch and locks Kingambit into the move with Encore, allowing OLK to take a breath for a while.
Turn 44: The Kingambit is in and it has the full boost from Supreme Overlord and up against a chipped team. Gambit for sure has the upper hand here, but OLK can still win with reads.
Turn 46: After KOing Orbeetle, Fezandipiti faces Gambit and eats a Kowtow Cleave, suggesting that Slik's Gambit does not have Iron Head. Fezandipiti survives with 10%.
Turn 47: Fez recovers with Roost and Grassy Terrain while Gambit uses SD.
Turn 48: Moonblast from Fez badly poisons the Gambit, while Gambit knocks down Fez to 5%. Kowtwo does more damage than Roost recovers, but Fez is faster and can chip Gambit further, allowing Gyarados to potentially win.
Turn 49: The Sucker Punch from Gambit failed and Fez heals with Roost. At this point, Fez can Roost again and avoid Kowtow KO. Even with a crit, the extra turn of Toxic would chip Gambit further. At this point the game is pretty much over. There is still room for RNG, but fortunately for OLK this did not happen and they take the win.
I think that this game was the best game played. Sure some elements didn't go exactly as planned but I think both players made good plays and did their best. I gotta say though Slik had the better team. Obviously OLK won, so there isn't so much weight on my statement, but OLK's team was weird in some ways.
Gyarados was unconventional, but in this match it was actually a good Pokemon, so I wont go into it. For Duraludon, you want to hit 250, specifically to outrun Raging Bolt, not doing that caused to hit a hit that it could not have survived. If Bolt was 252 Speed with Timid, then ignore me, but Dura should always aim at that 250 milestone. Chi-Yu is a mon that does not make sense to me. It was not Specs nor HDB, so I really don't know what it wanted to do.
mielke's team
Another standard team, with the only unusual Pick being Hydreigon. Hydreigon is likely Scarf, since this is its best set and it can serve as a Max-Check thanks to Dynamax Cannon, which also serves as a middle Ground for Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse, perfect for a Scarf set. Duraludon is the likely Gmax mon, which again is surprising since it is bugged. The rest of the team as a nice combination of defense and offense but it relies on its defensive utility to make progress.
Clas' team
A Semistall team is not what I expected to see honestly. Having two Unaware Pokemon, two Fairies, one of them being a status spreader, a Ting-Lu for hazards and a Dragapult as the fast Pokemon. This team has to hazard removal, suggesting HDB spam, especially with no Alomomola wishing. Hatterene is the likely Gmax of the team, which gives the team more longevity thanks to Regenerator, but loosing Magic Bounce can be dangerous for it.
Team Preview: mielke perspective: Depending on the Wellspring set, it messes up Clas' defensive core. Flower Veil SD is pretty good here but no guarantee that they have this exact set. Tera is also an option for Clas but forcing it on Dozo or Dirge can be really nice. Dura, Pecharunt and Tusk have to serve as secondary breakers and weaken Clas' team. Dura with Gmax is especially good due to Depletion. Even if the move is bugged, as long as it does not KO, which funnily enough is good here, it heals a lot of HP and drains valuable move pp from these defensive Pokemon. Hydreigon does the least here, but it is still solid, because it outspeeds Pult and serves as a switch into Ting-Lu and Skeledirge, who are difficult to switch into.
Clas perspective: It is in Clas' best interest to drag this game out as much as possible. The team relies on status spread to work and it needs to take advantage of its longevity. Ogerpon looks dangerous in this match-up. Pult and Fez will be the best checks here or Tera Dirge and Dozo, although these hate being forced to Tera. Lu is the most valuable defensive Pokemon for Clas, since nothing besides Wellspring can break it, so keeping it alive as much as possible should be considered.
I will only talk about significant plays here. The plays that significantly changed the match or revealed vital information. The rest are logical plays.
Turn 1: miel is leading with Hydreigon, which leads me to believe that it is a Scarfer since U-turn is a safe play and getting greedy against a Dragapult could pay off. Meanwhile Clas leads with Hatt, which prevents hazards and can turn pretty easily into Gmax. All of that happens, Hydreigon switches into Duraludon via U-turn, which in turn eats a Mindstorm.
Turn 2: miel is double switching, potentially getting Great Tusk into a Ting-Lu, but to their surprise Hatt uses G-Max Smite. It has prepared to 1v1 Duraludon and now miel has lost their Great Tusk. This is a huge loss. Now Clas' hazards can run rampent.
Turn 3: Duraludon is back in with full HP, thanks to Stalwart, and uses Gmax. Both do similar damage to eachother, although Hatt has the benefit of Light Screen thanks to its Smite.
Turn 7: After a bit of switching around and setting a layer of Spikes, Wellspring immediately Teras in the face of Hatt. Due to a crit the Wellspring takes more damage than miel would've liked, but it did decent damage to Hatt back. I think the timing of the Tera is interesting. The extra defensive utility against Hatt is nice but loosing the potential Flower Veil is not good, although it likely was Water Absorb since they gave it up easily.
Turn 18: +2 Pecharunt faces a Dragapult. Instead of switching out, miel probably assumes it is a Hex set or just predicts Clas. Either way it stays in and Shadow Balls the Fez. Afterwards Fez switches into Ting-Lu and a PP stall begins.
Turn 43: After a lot of switching with Ting-Lu and Dozo taking hit after hit, Dirge switches in to take Pecharunt but dies after 2 Shadow Balls. Now that both teams have no spinners, any hazards will stay up. Although Tusk was miel's likely Rocker, so they only have Wellsprings Spikes left. Anyways the PP stall continues.
Turn 57: Pecharunt has enough of the stall and switches into Wellspring who now faces the Dozo. The same turn it teras into Dragon and uses Body Press via Sleep Talk, killing the Wellspring. Now that it has used its Tera, there are no surprises and thanks to Pecharunt miel can start making real progress the rest of their team.
Turn 63: After good old haxxing, Hatterene is weakened too. Duraludon is now up against Fezandipiti, who switches into Hatt again via U-turn.
Turn 64: Ting-Lu is back in for another brawl and like Pecharunt, Dura stays in and attempts the 1v1. However, Dura is build for this. Steelspike boosting Defense and Depletion healing and draining Lu of more PP is more efficient and Pecharunt weakening the defensive core that could stave off Dura really helps. Now only Lu likes dealing with Dura and it is close to crumbling.
Turn 75: miel decided to play it safe and switched Dura out, allowing its team to weaken Clas' team further. After saccing Pecharunt, Duraludon can now throw out a Steelspike against a paralyzed Hatt. After more haxxing, a full para and a crit to be exact, Duraludon gets rid of Hatt and thus Clas' team really struggles to come back from this.
Turn 81: After switches and predictions, Duraludon KOs Fezandipiti while Pult revenge kills a weakened and burned Dura. The game is pretty much over. Hydreigon is still in the game and it threatens everything on Clas' team that's left. The question is, is it Scarf? If so it can win here and now and with it replacing Dura on the team, the answer is definitive.
Turn 88: The amount of Dynamax Cannon is enough. Ting-Lu has one more fight left in it but Ruination cannot do the job, and thus Hydreigon sweeps Clas' team.
I gotta say that both players played good in this match. Clas in my opinion unnecessarily risked Hatt in the first two turns with using Mindstorm against Hydreigon and Smite against Duraludon, who would've done more than 60% first. I gotta say that Clas was lucky there. Speaking of lucky, mielke was definitively lucky in this game. I think that Hatt hax at the end didn't matter much, since miel was already in a position to win, but the hax made the win easier to achieve.
Now that that's over, here are the usage stats. Thanks to Gekokeso for compiling, but I added the Gmax stats.
Nothing too surprising here, but there are Pokemon that are missing imo. Terapagos for example has a decently impactful change, that being able to have any Tera Type. Other Pokemon that I thought we'd see for sure are changed and now unbanned Ubers like Annihilape, Ogerpon-Hearthflame, Chien-Pao and Spectrier. Although I can understand why, because they function as different Pokemon now.
Furthermore SV OU staples like Dragonite, Kingambit, Gholdengo, Zamazenta and Ogerpon-Wellspring either didn't appear or were used rarely, eventhough they still have their fundemental strengths and values. With the exception of Wellspring, who got a rework, but still functions the same as before.
As for G-Max, I'm still surprised that Duraludon was used twice, with its bug. Unfortunately the bug didn't cost the games they were used in, even if OLK's game got close because of it. mielke's Dura got to do a lot more and Clas' team was perfect for Dura to bully. The rest are standard and common Gmax Pokemon, so I have nothing to add to their usage or strategies, but I appreciate Slikkles to run both the G-Max move and a move of the same type, to make use of the Max effect.
Welp, this was half a birth to write. I hope to see exciting games this week.
Ciao Servus.
Sorry for the double upload, but I'm bored and I wanna talk more about this tier. As I said in my Week 1 post, I'm surprised that some Pokemon were not used or tried. Thus I wanted to make a post where I talk about regular Pokemon and some of the strategies they can run. I won't cover Gmax Pokemon, since people tend to have them and what they can do on the radar. I considered regular Dynamax but this honestly deserves its own post.
Darmanitan-G got a heavy nerf. Not being able to hold Choice items with Gorilla Tactics. Basically the set it runs is a Choice Band set (not Choice Band the item but Gorilla Tactics the effect) with either a hazard immunity with Boosts, extra damage from Life Orb or a different boosting item like Never-Melt Ice. Assault Vest or Berries, like Liechi and Salac could work as well, but aren't as valuable as the others.
Zen Mode activates before executing a special move. Against a Pokemon like Chien-Pao, you'd move before it, provided it isn't a random Scarf. This set struggles with power and its coverage isn't great. Fire and Ice are walled by a lot of Pokemon and Focus Blast is your real coverage. The speed is the main selling point of this Pokemon.
Another greedy idea I had, was use Darmanitan-G with Belly Drum and no Special moves. Basically physical Darmanitan-G without the choice lock from Gorilla Tactics. Based on the idea alone, you can tell why this isn't a good idea though.
Alcremie @ Leftovers
Ability: Aroma Veil
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draining Kiss
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Decorate
People like this mon's Gmax and I understand why. However, regular Alcremie is solid as well. I think that overall Fezandipiti, Hatterene and Togekiss are better defensive Fairies since their strengths are more applicable, but Alcremie is a nice set-up deterrent with Decorate, which now works as Heart Swap. There are other set-up deterrents in this meta however, but depending on your team, you'd want a Fairy with recovery and a way to punish a set-up sweeper.
Stonjourner @ Eject Pack
Ability: Power Spot
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
This is more niche but it provides a good amount of value. Power Spot boots the allies' side power by 1.3x, which includes Stonjourner, but at the same time, the ally that enters the battle after Stonjourner switches out also receives a 1.3x boost, but only for 1 turn. Thanks to Eject Pack, you can momentum on switch and throw off a strong move like a Gholdengo Make It Rain or an Ogerpon Ivy Cudgel. You can get at least 2 uses of Power Spot. Once after Eject Pack and one after saccing Journer if you don't need it, and obviously you can get more boosts with it.
This is the most awkward Pokemon to use thus far. Ice Face now works as a Stance Change for Eiscue. After using an attacking move it becomes its Noice forme and using a Status move turns it back to its base forme. You could run 3 attacks with a Status move to make use of the bases bulk to attack one more time than usual. The thing is that Eiscue has a worse defensive typing than Aegislash and also does not have King's Shield like moves to really benefit from the changing. Unlike Aegislash however, It is fast in its offensive forme and it has Flip Turn for pivoting.
Tatsugiri is pretty much all of its formes wants to utilize a speed boost from some sorts. Commander does 20% more damage to slower Pokemon, 30% if the slower Pokemon is also Water- or Dragon-type. Choice Scarf will almost always get that boost and Dynamax Cannon is a really good move on its Scarf set, but also on its NP sets. Rapid Spin will give you the speed boost in this case and provide utility. You could also not use the speed boost and rely on its natural speed, which is solid in itself.
Iron Leaves @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Psyblade
- Bitter Blade
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
Leaves main claim to fame is Psyblade. It has its vanilla effect of doing 1.5x damage in Electric Terrain, but if no terrain is active it sets Electric Terrain. It sets its own terrain and benefits from it. Furthermore, it can basiscally run 252/252 in its offenses thanks to its stat spread, so you can choose an Attack or a Speed boost depending on what you want.
Coalossal @ Leftovers
Ability: Steam Engine
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 Spe
Bold Nature
- Tar Shot
- Rapid Spin / Stealth Rock
- Body Press
- Flamethrower
A second support for sun teams. Steam Engine now provides resists for Water and Fire, while setting sun if hit by one of those types. Also giving and immunity to burn and double damage for Fire moves. All that stuff to be mid. It can serve as an emergency sun setter and provide utility with Rapid Spin or Stealth Rock. Outside of that, it struggles to compete with Garganacl but you can use it.
Self-Repair, an ability that heals the user if it successfully uses a Status move, and Neutralizing Gas are great tools to have. Revavroom has its flaws, but Noxious Torque is a great STAB to have and Rapid Spin is obviously a valuable move. The moveset I have above is not a Standard set, so you can change it in a way you like, but with Self-Repair, it is hard walled by Gholdengo, so Neutralizing Gas is better for this specific set.
Frosmoth got its buffs but the most interesting for me is Ice Scales working like Magic Guard when at full HP. For completion sake, yes this also applies to Gmax Lapras. If you manage to keep Frosmoth at full HP, it not only has double Special Defense but can make use of Life Orb or ignore Toxic damage. It is an inconsistant Pokemon, but it works well if it gets going.
The biggest issue with this guy is its 4MSS. It wants to run so many things and most important is Protect. Mycellium Might works as it does in vanilla, but any move affected by the ability also inflicts Leech Seed. Protect would be nice here to heal off damage it takes but sadly it cannot reasonably fit the move. On the other hand, Spore and Parting Shot become invaluable support moves, with Parting Shot moving after Slowking-G's Chilly Reception and Alomomola's Flip Turn, so you get to inflict Leech Seed and switch into your teammates safely.
This is my favourite Pokemon and I'm obsessed with it. Stalwart is now a combination of Regenerator and Sturdy, meaning that Duraludon now has a bit of longevity. Furthermore, it is able to hold the Eviolite meaning it has extra bulk without being locked into attacking moves. I think you do so much with Duraludon. Its Gmax has seen success in Week 1, which is nice to see, but I wish that we get to see regular Duraludon. The first set is an offensive Stealth Rock setter. Eviolite gives it that nice bulk and Eject Pact works well with both Draco Meteor and Stalwart. I really want to try the second set though at some point. Steel Beam with Metal Coat or Specs and a potential Tera Steel is really strong. The recoil is a big drawback. However, throwing this out once or twice and then healing off most of the recoil sounds like a fun idea. Not too serious about this one but I wanna try it at some point.
Now onto my second favourite here and something that is honestly a strong option. Grim Neigh now heals 1/8 of the user's HP when successfully executing an attack. As you might imagine, this leads to a lot of situations where you can heal off most damage you take. You outheal Life Orb, Substitute sets easily heal off the damage you deal to yourself and Scarf can make use of Topsy-Turvy to check set-up sweepers. Will-O-Wisp is necessary to check Gambit, but in general it is good to outchip your opponent.
I ended up cutting a lot of things I have in my box, but I'm satisfied with talking about these Pokemon. I hope that we get more games with unique Pokemon. "Generic" teams seem to be the bread and butter of many players, but at least they try different Gmax Pokemon.
Here we go again. This week had a shorter games overall, which I'm honestly glad about since this won't take much time this week. This week, I will not go through the games turn by turn. I mostly repeated obvious things. Instead I want to highlight key moments and what it meant for each player. Furthermore, I will also highlight the best Pokemon for each player, both before and in game.
I don't wanna waste your and you don't wanna waste mine, so let's get this over with.
This match was pretty interesting to say the least. I think EH's team was pretty solid across the board. Low-Key is an interesting choice for your Gmax, but the paralysis from Stunshock is appreciated and it could potentially get use of Electromorphesis. The Wellspring was interesting honestly. Knock Off and U-turn are standard, but Synthesis too means that you either lack Water or Grass STAB. There was no indication if Wellspring was Water Absorb or Flower Veil, but in case of the latter, you'd want Horn Leech for recovery. A Wellspring being walled by Alomomola is not a good feeling. Other than this oddity, I see nothing wrong with EH's team.
Clas has a far more interesting. Not interesting as in "This team makes use of a cool strategy" and more of a "Who done it?" case. The question here is what Gmax does Clas use? The thing is, there's only two answers to this question. Rillaboom is a great Pokemon naturally, so its Gmax is not worth it most of the time. Sandaconda can be used in this team, but since it lacks an Electric check, it is much more useful for Sandaconda to be regular set. That leaves Copperajah and Snorlax. It can go either way and I knew which one it was so it was not a surprise for me.
I will say that Clas' team is far bulkier and is better suited to face against EH's team. EH lacks a sufficient answer to Dragapult. Kingambit fears Fire Blast and the rest either take supereffective damage, are frail or cannot take more than one. As you may know Dragapult from Clas really gave EH a lot of trouble. Specs Pult was the perfect offensive mon against EH here.
On the other hand, I have to say that Clas was reckless with Dragapult. From the beginning of the match, Clas was in the driver's seat and they made use of every opportunity they were given. Dragapult weakens EH's team and the only real checks to it are gone or low HP. Clas still decides to step on the gas and stay in on Gambit with Pult. I think this was a misplay on Clas' part. Sure it payed off at the end, but risking your most threatening and valuable piece could've cost Clas the game.
Something we see towards the end of the match. EH manages to get 3 Spikes and Stealth Rock up, while Clas either has no removal or didn't manage to spin with Sandaconda. Either way, without Dragapult, this match could've gone in EH's way if Pult was out of the picture. But alas, Clas managed to guess right and got the win against EH. I think that EH played well and threatened to win here, but they were just so far behind.
This is the game I was most excited about. Slikkles and mielke are the passionate about this tier and I was looking forward to this match. Slikkles comperatively has a simple team. The one outlier being an offensive Togekiss. Other than that, it is a simple Hazard Stack team. Gholdengo being a given and a double hazard core of Ferrothorn and Ting-Lu. I will say that the team struggles to break through a team. Sure it has good enough breakers and its defensive core is solid enough, but it cannot break effectively, neither does the team have the longevity to play the long game.
mielke's team has more Pokemon that received changes. You have obvious choices in Dragapult and Ting-Lu, but it's nice to see not only Urshifu, but the a unique set on it. I think that particular is hit or miss, but in this case, it hit hard. Skeledirge is also a Pokemon you don't see often, but it has its use and this was the week for Skeledirge for sure. What made me excited however, is the Flapple. Flapple has a great set of tools, but it was always held back by competition and its only alright stats.
There's no clear winner from Team Preview in my opinion. mielke seems to have the better hand, since their offensive and defensive core are better suited for breaking and longevity respectively, but Slikkles can get the upper hand, when they get the momentum. The game went on as normal until Urshifu faces Ferrothorn and revealed its Protective Pads set. This set allowed mielke to play reckless with their Urshifu and spam U-turn over and over again. The forced Tera on Ferrothorn, put mielke in the driver's seat and with a Tera Steel prediction on their own Togekiss, the game was set.
It was a downhill battle for Slikkles after the Urshifu reveal, but Knock Off would not have made the difference since Flapple punched massive holes in Slikkles' team. The crit on Togekiss sucked, but 2 Tartness' would've done the job anyways.
This match made me loose credibility. OSP is rocking a Hyper Offense team with a lead Annihilape, who got nerfed hard in this meta. However, in my opinion, Annihilape works best as a Spinblocker against Great Tusk or Terapagos, thanks to Strength Sap, or as a suicide lead thanks to Rage Fist recoil and Final Gambit. OSP decided to run regular Dynamax, which is niche but its best use is on Hyper Offense, due to most Gigantamax being too passive for HO. Iron Moth is the Dynamax abuser and it is a great user of it, since it can run 4 moves that help with its typing and ability. Rillaboom is not only a good partner, but also a misdirect since most people would assume Gmax on Rillaboom. The rest is standard HO stuff.
OLK runs a bulkier Balance team, with most likely a Gmax Copperajah. I say most likely, since OLK did not use their Dyanamx. They either had non or Copperajah just did not get to Gigantamax. Either way, Alomomola is a great Pokemon on this team since it not only helps with pivoting but helps keep Copperajah and Ting-Lu alive. Skeledirge makes its second appearence this week and it did really well in this game. It's nice to see that a Pokemon like Skeledirge finally gets the recognition.
OSP has a rough start into the game. Annihilape successfully sets rocks and sacs itself with Final Gambit. After that, OLK sits in the drivers seat and manages to badly poison Rillaboom, although it costed the Tera on Alomomola. From there on there is just a lot of switching, but OSP struggles to break past OLK's defensive core. After Iron Moth and Gholdengo get KOd and Dragonite gets encored into DD, there is no way for OSP to come back. It gets relatively close at the end but even the strong priorities of Dnite and Kingambit cannot get through Iron Valiant.
This is a match where one player was on the backfoot from the very start and has struggle to come back. In this match this player was OSP. OSP started decently but then very little went right for them.
What surprised me from this week is no Great Tusk. Ting-Lu was the most used Ground-type and it is generally a better defensive Pokemon and it checks a lot of things and you can reasonably run both Spikes and Stealth Rock on it. What Lu lacks is Spin but you can use Skeledirge for that and Dirge got its first usage in this tier. I expect to see it more. The rest is pretty much standard with Copperajah being the only other standout.
When it comes to Dynamax and Gigantamax, Gmax was used on a wider pool of Pokemon with interesting and niche uses, but I also think it's interesting that one match did not use Gigantamax, either using Dynamax or not using their Gigantamax. Maxless teams is something I tried before the tour and something I built on my free time, but it never got significant success. I think Maxless, or at the ver least Gmaxless, can work in this meta.
Servus. Long time no see. I originally planned to do a post for each week but I was never satisfied with my format and after skipping two weeks, I just lost interest. Now that PMPL is over though, I figured that I talk more about the meta than the tournament. I will still talk about the tour and refer back to it when necessary.
First things first, math. Here are the stats both individually and as sums of all weeks. I didn't include the Tera stats for all weeks since I didn't know how to convoy this information, thus only Gigantamax stats for all weeks.
Gotta say, I think it's funny how I wished for more creative and ambitious teams and then I stopped writing weekly posts once they appeared. I think it's really nice that some lesser Pokemon were used. Sure the teams followed a specific formular when it came to their structure. There were like 3-5 of the same Pokemon you see every match, but I still got a dopamine rush when I saw Flutter Mane, a mon I never expected to see.
I was also surprised to see variety in G-Max Pokemon. I wasn't fully in the last weeks and I just heard Cinderace this and Cinderace that. However, the stats say that it wasn't entirely Ace dominated. Yes, it is still the most used and honestly, it might be the best Pokemon in the tier, at the very least the best G-Max. but other G-Maxs were also used and quite effective. I think it's interesting that 2 matches had one player not use their G-Max, but I think this is more because they didn't get to use it rather than it being a maxless team.
I think the meta is in a good-ish place right now. Some G-Maxs could get nerfs, Pokemon like Raging Bolt need to be looked at in my opinion and maybe you could justify a rework of Tera, Dynamax and their dynamic but I would not be too unhappy to see none take palce. However, I wish that there would be a dex expansion. I think allowing for a few more options in building would be nice and I was kinda bumped out in building when I realised no Gliscor or Zapdos were available. If you don't wanna go that route, for understandable reasons, I think buffing Pokemon to fit some of these niches would be nice. Making Sandaconda Ground/Flying so it could function like Gliscor or Landorus but with its own identity.
It was really fun to go through the replays and see the battles in action. There were bugs that came up in the last weeks, but to my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) they didn't cost people the games, so there's relief there. Obviously, does not excuse the unprofessionality on my part. I still hope that everyone playing it had fun and congrats to the Gladiator Gallades for winning and shoutout to Slikkles for winning the last TeraMax game played this tour.
Now I want to answer the survey and put my 2 cents on it. Did you play / build for TeraMax in this iteration of PMPL?
No :p
On a scale 1 to 5, how enjoyable has TeraMax been to you?
8/10. I really like this meta. I know that there are aspects of the meta that people don't like, quite notably the gimmicks making the mod. However, I feel that the changes that were made really flow together well. Yes, there are some rocks in the way but you can ride this river down quite comfortably and have fun.
On a scale 1 to 5, how balanced has TeraMax been to you?
6/10. I have to admit, there's only so much balance you can get with both Dynamax and Terastallization in the same meta. The Pokemon abusing these mechanics are inheritly strong and I think that the limited pool of Pokemon quite hurts the tier. I'm not too familiar with the current SV OU but I think that the Pokemon added from the DLCs add something positive to the tier. While building, I always craved for Landorus, Gliscor or Moltres, only to remember they don't exist.
Opinions on how Terastilization functions in the tier?
I think that Tera is implemented pretty well. I think the defensive bonus it gets against G-Max isn't really something you can prepare for consistantly. Aside from that, you run into the usual problems of Tera which is the unpredictability of the type and what Pokemon it is attached to and the fact that the best Pokemon benefit from it the most. Maybe another nerf to Teras damage boost or maybe even having a Tera Preview could work here but I'm not so sure on that.
Opinions on how Dynamax / Gigantamax functions in the tier?
I like the Mega/Team Captain vibe they give. Even if I struggle to fit them on my teams, I cannot deny that they are really useful Pokemon. Although, I gotta say that some of them are way too strong compared to others. We had a good amount of variety in that G-Max slot, but Cinderace, Copperajah and Hatterene are by far the best. I don't know if the mechanic itself contributes a lot to that or if their strengths are just too many.
Opinions on Hatterene (and it's GMax form) and their overall presence in the metagame?
3/5. I think it is a strong presence but at the same time, it has flaws that hold it back. The only issues that exist, do so with the G-Max. Regular Hatterene is fine. The G-Max has great longevity thanks to Regenerator but on the other hand, it isn't that bulky, especially with the low base HP. Furthermore, it is far easier to break than a regular Regen mon, who usually have secondary healing or a slow pivoting move. The thing that sets Hatt apart is its offensive presence and its singature move. I think these aspects make it a solid but not too strong nor too weak G-Max.
Opinions on Cinderace (and it's GMax form) and their overall presence in the metagame?
5/5. I think this is the mon in the tier honestly. Magic Guard and a pivoting move are so good for it and the fact that it can reliably run Max Flare as a secondary STAB and support for its team is nuts. Overgrowth and Knuckle allow it to break, stay healthy and beat it checks, while Mindstorm and Airstream give more utility and sweeping potential. The bread and butter of Fireball and Magic Guard is makes it honestly and I think that this dynamic needs to be changed.
Opinions on Togekiss and their overall presence in the metagame?
2/5. I might be missing something but I don't get this one? I've expressed before and the first weeks of the tour that Togekiss could use a haircut and I'm not opposed to it now. It just performed good however. There was nothing that stuck out to me as overbearing and I think it underperformed honestly.
Opinions on Copperajah (and it's GMax form) and their overall presence in the metagame?
3/5. Similar thoughts as Hatt honestly. I think the base is worse than base Hatt, but the G-Max feels good, not really overbearing. It lacks the longevity of Hatt but what is has is more bulk and offense. Steelsurge provides great support while being a good button to click and Quake, Flare, Overgrowth and Knuckle provide the usual coverage and utility. I think this more of a Great Tusk level of good instead of a Kingambit level of good. Although I would not mind Steelsurge capping at one layer or being nerfed in power.
Opinions on Alcremie (and it's GMax form) and their overall presence in the metagame?
3/5. This is another one that I don't get honestly. I think the biggest issue you can have with it, is the healing from Finale. Well-Baked Body and its defensive utility also make this guy, but I think the main issue is Finale. Outside from that, the base is solid, if a little underwhelming, but the G-Max is fine honestly.
Outside of the aforementioned Pokémon, are there any other Pokémon that you have concerns about? Even with the Tera nerf, I still think this guy has immense breaking and sweeping potential. Although to be fair, the math here disagrees with me. I think it was a mistake to feel the vanilla version in. Being used 4 times in the entire tour feels so wrong when it is so bulky and strong. To be fair again, Ground-types were spammed like hell, so it had a rough time doing things, but I still think it should be looked at.
Any nominations on the current VR you would suggest we should implement?
I'm gonna base these nominations on the current state of the meta
Rises S- -> S A+ -> S-
A- -> A/A+ A- -> A/A+ A- -> A/A+ A- -> A A- -> A
B -> B+
Drops
Pretty much all G-Max that have not been mentioned can drop by 1 tier
Share any opinions on recommendations in regard to balancing you wish to see for TeraMax Cinderace
Proposal: Swap the effects of G-Max Fireball and G-Max Snipeshot. This would allow Inteleon to take advantage of Stakeout for effectively without much risk while Cinderace could not spam its STAB risk free or add extra chip to its opponent without risk.
Proposal: Replace Magic Guard. I think any ability could work, but if you don't want to kill it that much, I suggest giving it Magic Bounce.
Hatterene
Make Light Screen last 3 turns. I would not nerf this Pokemon honestly, but if I were to give a suggestion, this would be it. I think removing Regenerator would kill it and I don't think it is as strong as Cinderace that a similary strong ability would do the trick.
Alcremie
Make G-Max Finale heal 1/8 of the max, not 1/6. Like I said, if anything is to be nerfed, it should be Finale healing.
Copperajah
Proposal: Limit Steelsurge to 1 layer of Spikes. This would limit the spammability of Steelsurge and make switching around it less punishing.
Proposal: Remove Power Whip. Overgrowth allows it to heal and damage Ground- and Water-types. Removing would allow for more counterplay and remove the passive recovery it appreciates.
Togekiss
Remove 5-10 points from Speed. I'm not on team nerf, but here is the proposal I have for one. Reducing the speed would allow for Great Tusk to get a hit in without fearing an offensive Togekiss infront of it.
Random buff ideas, will not elaborate further: +Roost +10 Spe +Snow Warning +10-15 HP +Slack Off
Will you be TeraMaxxing in the near future?
Yes, cause I like this meta
No, cause I'm probably gonna be inactive again
Don't say this. Really dude don't
That's it, probably for a while from now. Who knows.
Ciao Servus!
Hello my favorite humans. Its a long time coming, so we have finally nailed what we wanted to do with these guys post PMPL
**Nerfs** G-Max Fireball is now 80 BP and a Ball/Bomb move, Loses access to Trailblaze, G-Max Ability is now Mountaineer (from CAP)
GMax Cinderace has been extremely dominant in our metagame, often to a detriment, as its been difficult to place long term damage on the Pokemon since its immune to all indirect damage while evading punishment thanks to its powerful STAB pivoting move to avoid staying in while still dealing damage and momentum. It also had means to cheese past all of its traditional counterplay thanks to moves like Max Overgrowth in its arsenal. Thanks to these nerfs though, we will be reigning it in while still keeping the core spirit of the Pokemon. Fireball is now weaker, and being classified as a Ball and Bomb move means anything with Bulletproof can block it's pivot. No Trailblaze removes Overgrowth from it's toolkit, and finally, Mountaineer as its ability makes it so that Cinderace can now only avoid Stealth Rock, and is still vulnerable to Spikes as well as Toxic Spikes and all other forms of traditional indirect damage, making it much easier for teams to wear down.
Loses access to Mystical Fire
This is to just keep Alcremie slightly in check, making it rely solely on Ground coverage in its fugut against Steel types.
Loses access to Power Whip, lost 10 Defense
Sorry to the Copperajah fans. Max Overgrowth is a common issue here, allowing Copperajah to break past its traditional checks in bulky Waters and Steels while protecting itself from Earthquake AND passive healing. Its simply too strong of an option for Copperajah to be able to wield. -10 Defense just makes it's GMax form easier to match against.
Loses access to Belch. GMax Smite now sets Light Screen for 3 turns
Hatterene has been one of the most controversial GMaxes we have in the tier, and its not hard to see why. It has been able to wall multiple Pokémon thanks to bolstering her bulk with Light Screen, boosting with Max Ooze and then healing any chip on switch in. Due to this we are nerfing GMax Smite, as well as removing access to Max Ooze via Belch. This will make Hatterene much easier to handle.
Loses access to Toxic
Alomomola is already a great Pokémon in standard and that hasn't changed here. There we decided that Toxic adds more trouble than it is worth after initially adding it. Removing Toxic will also allows Pokémon like Toxapex and Slowbro to have a niche over it instead.
Loses 10 Speed
Keeping it slower than Great Tusk and co makes it alot easier to handle, its still one of the best Pokemon in the tier right now.
Loses access to Mystical Fire
Similar arguments in regards to GMax Alcremie, so just check that announcement.
**Buffs** Wind Rage heals 1/3 of Max HP, heals 1/2 when the effects of Defog are activated
In another attempt to incentivize usage of GMax Corviknight, we have given a major buff to the likes of GMax Wind Rage. Considering what is popular in our current metagame, Corviknight while strong isn't too much of a hassle to face.
Loses 10 Atk, Gains 10 SpA
Iron Bundle has been falling behind for a bit, so we gave it a small but notable bump in SpA to make it a more impactful threat in the tier.
Gains access to Freeze Dry
Darmanitan Galar Zen (and its base form for that matter) has fallen to the way side, but with buffs like these hopefully we can see this Pokémon take off as a major threat in the tier again.
Gains Roost
Just makes bulkier variants of Staraptor much legit with access to reliable healing.
Gains 10 Speed
A small speed bump will make Palafin alot more competitive in the tier, putting it above the likes of defensive threats like Corviknight, Clefable and Alomomola who otherwise can punish it due to outspeeding it.
Gains Snow Warning over Hydration
Introduces a Snow setter that isn't Abomasnow into the tier, so that Snow as a weather can get in as a legitimate playstyle with threats like Arctovolt. This also just bolsters the power of its GMax form, who can get 5 turns of Snow to abuse right from the get go instead of burning a slot on Ice Beam to self set it.
Gains 10 HP, 10 SpA and 15 SpD. Loses 25 Atk
Ensures that Toedscruel is much more prominent as a defensive pivot with a sizable bulk increase, while also giving a small SpA buff to make the Pokemon alot less passive.
Swaps GMax and base ability's Soul-Heart with Magic Guard and vice versa
This just recenters the focus back on Butterfree's GMax form, as unfortunately without Magic Guard it can't really work that well as a consistent offensive Pokemon in the tier.
In addition to the above, we have also added a few Pokémon that were added in Pokémon Home in SWSH and SV to further diversify the metagame with new options both offensive and defensive.
These Pokémon will be joining the tier, and I look forward to see how they will shake up how this metagame will be developed.
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(the big art doesn't work)
to A+
to A
to A-
to A-
to A-
to B+
to A-
to B+
to C+
to D
Gouging Fire
Iron Crown
Lokix
Munkidori
Revavroom
Rillaboom
Scizor
Scovillain
Slowking
Spectrier
Talonflame
Torkoal
Walking Wake
Weavile
Amoonguss
Barraskewda
Butterfree
Centiskorch
Duraludon-Gmax
Excadrill
Garchomp
Gyarados
Hydrapple
Hydreigon
Iron Boulder
Iron Leaves
Kilowattrel
Kingler
Okidogi
Orbeetle-Gmax
Pelipper
Stonjourner
Toxtricity-Gmax
Alcremie
Blissey
Clodsire
Coalossal-Gmax
Copperajah
Corviknight-Gmax
Dondozo
Drednaw-Gmax
Dudunsparse
Falinks
Garbodor-Gmax
Greninja
Hawlucha
Iron Hands
Machamp-Gmax
Meowscarada
Ninjask
Orbeetle
Regidrago
Rillaboom-Gmax
Tatsugiri
Tyranitar
Blastoise
Brute Bonnet
Drednaw
Eiscue
Flapple
Glastrier
Grimmsnarl-Gmax
Regieleki
Toedscruel
Toxtricity
Appletun
Chansey
Frosmoth
Gastrodon
Hippowdon
Mandibuzz
Slowbro-Galar
Toxtricity-Low-Key
Armarouge
Avalugg
Azumarill
Bronzong
Charizard
Chesnaught
Coalossal
Flutter Mane
Grafaiai
Mamoswine
Maushold
Necrozma
Quagsire
Sandy Shocks
Venusaur
Zygarde-10%
Replenish has a band-aid fix to its effect
ElectraineHeart vs Orangesodapop 
Slikkles vs One Last Kiss 
mielke vs Clas 
Alcremie
Flapple
Darmanitan-Galar
Venusaur
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike
Glimmora
Appletun
+10 Spe
+Snow Warning
