Week two is over, which means its time for another usage analysis post!
All games were played this week, meaning there were 24 teams once again.
Most Used Pokemon :sv/zamazenta:
I'm taking suggestions as to how best convince y'all to use something different, because there's only so many ways I can say the same thing over and over again. With 12 appearances, or a whopping 50% usage rate, Zamazenta continues to stretch my vocabulary as I look for new phrases and words to make what's probably been the 15th edition of the same ass paragraph look interesting. In all seriousness, there was at least some different looks this week. The usually unpopular IDPress variant received three uses this week, which is far more than it usually gets. One of these also eschewed the more standard secondary coverage options for Heavy Slam, presumably to catch any Fairy-types that thought they were safe off guard. The seldom used Psychic Fangs also made an appearance on a 4a Zamazenta set. It was business as usual the rest of the way, with your standard mix of Boots, Z-Moves, and Life Orb making appearances on the 4a variations.
I dare someone to run Choice Specs Zamazenta next week to give me something else to write about.
Other Pokemon to Receive High Usage
Landorus-T had a banner week for usage, as it appeared ten times for an excellent 42% usage rate. The majority of these were defensive pivot sets, as players looked to Lando-T for its valuable defensive role compression combined with pivoting. Most of these packed a Rocky Helmet to apply additional chip onto the many physical attackers that are currently permeating the tier. A Swords Dance+Continental Crush variant also made an appearance.
Gholdengo also had an excellent week, checking in with 8 appearances, or 33% usage. Thunder Wave sets appeared to be most popular for Ghold this week, with significant item variance to boot. A Choice Scarf set also made an appearance, but multiple items and sets went unrevealed for Ghold, so I'm not sure if any of them had a Z-Move or not. Iron Treads also had a great week with six appearances, or 25% usage, as players continue to value the catch all hazard game role compression that it offers.
Highest Ranked Pokemon to Not Be Used :sv/cinderace:
The bunny finds its way into this category once again, as Cinderace continues to see relatively sporadic usage at high level tournament play. I'm personally high on Cinderace right now, for the record, but there's no denying that one needs to build it very specifically lest it end up being dead weight or actively detrimental to have on ones team. Fast paced hazard stacking very common right now, and while Cinderace can definitely alleviate that with Court Change, it also doesn't match up very well against the defensive Pokemon that are common right now, leading to it giving several Pokemon relatively free entry, including those that set the hazards up themselves. Teams are choosing to mitigate this through Rapid Spin (as evidenced by the high Iron Treads usage) and stacking their own hazards rather than waiting for their opponent to. Meanwhile, offensive sets like SD and Band are very dangerous, but also challenging to build and they tend to dislike the upswing in offensive Pokemon that are faster than it, most notably Zamazenta but also more Tapu Koko and Tornadus-T. All in all, not a good week for Cinderace.
Other High Ranked Pokemon To Not See Much Use
While many Pokemon who didn't see much usage last week recovered with solid weeks this week, a few notable ones did not. Mega Latios, Gliscor, Alomomola, Zapdos, and Corviknight continued their usage trends from last week, with Mega Latios and Corviknight only receiving one use, while the others got two uses apiece. Landorus-T being by far the most popular Ground-immunity didn't help any of the Flying-types, as its blend of utility and pivoting leads it to be preferred over Zapdos and Gliscor. Meanwhile, Corviknight suffered thanks to an influx of Gholdengo and Iron Treads usage. Mega Latios didn't see much use either, as bulky walls and Dark-types were everywhere and teams preferred other soft Wellspring checks. Finally, Alomomola continues to be relatively unpopular, and honestly I couldn't tell you why. The metagame has definitely shifted in a more offensive direction, and these teams can overwhelm Alomomola or take advantage of it with specific sweepers that Mola does poorly against, but the laundry list of Pokemon that Mola does check pretty easily are still mostly prevelent, and its pivoting is still very valuable. I would guess this is more of a blip than anything, but definitely keep the WishFish's usage in mind as we go forward in this tournament.
The UR Pokemon :sv/hydreigon: :sv/heracross-mega:
I'm not going to highlight these two in the cool sets section, because these were brought by, who else, Separation and Darkness, and I'd like to highlight some different players. Make no mistake though, these were cool brings. Separation's Nasty Plot+STABs+Roost Hydreigon with Dragonium Z was the butcher vs SpyOP's Sun team, which had no reliable switch ins at all. While definitely a risky bring in a metagame permeated with strong Fairies, Separation's scouting made the right call and this set ended up helping him win the game. Meanwhile, Darkness brought a Substitute variant of Mega Heracross with Close Combat, Knock Off, and Rock Blast, but Sealoo's defensive core consisting of Gliscor and Slowbro gave him ample opportunity to pivot around such coverage. Still, good stuff to these players for their consistent creativity!
Some cool sets that I wanted to highlight
mrfraud's Whirlwind Iron Moth :sv/iron moth:
Iron Moth can be a huge headache for certain team structures to deal with, but its flawed STAB combo and coverage leaves it hard walled by common Pokemon like Heatran and Ting-Lu, alongside bulky Regenerator cores with Pokemon like Toxapex and Galarian Slowking. mrfraud got around this with a Whirlwind set, which allows Iron Moth to preemptively phaze these threats out as they try to switch in. However, in this game specifically Iron Moth did one better, as it phazed out a Dragonite attempting to set up and reverse sweep him. Very clutch inclusion, and a cool little innovation that helped mrfraud take victory.
electraineheart's Psychium Z Slowbro :sv/slowbro:
The elder Slowbrother continues to see relatively low but consistent usage, as players like to fit it on teams that require its ability to check dangerous Fighting-types but can accomodate for its flawed Specially Defensive profile. One issue with Slowbro is its general inability to immediately threaten Poison-types; while Poisons are generally fearful of Future Sight, Slowbro usually has no other way to immediately threaten them, therefore letting them status it or get up Toxic Spikes before being forced to flee. electraine looked to fix this with a Psychium Z set, which allowed her Slowbro to immediately threaten Poisons and help clear the way for her Zamazenta and Mega Diancie. This didn't quite work out within the game, although the Slowbro did end up sniping a Mega Venusaur after the game was clearly over. Still, good stuff to this little set tweak!
Ok see yall next week.
