I wanted to include two pieces of art I had commed a while back as a resource for people if they are hosting stuff or just making LC posts they wanna spice up a bit.
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Metagame Metagame Discussion
- Thread starter Greedy_eb
- Start date
Wanted to officially announce my SV LC end of generation project to recap the history of gen 9. Aiming to have it drop next fall near the release of Gen 10. Hoping to have people contribute to it by sending my teams & replays from throughout gen 9. Send your favorites to me (either smogon dm or discord works) Older teams and replays are in special request.
Thanks for playing LC and keeping it interesting y'all!
It won't let me do the full image because of size limitations so you can see the uncompressed version here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lj0fXOk3HIgp0PfnWIX9c3nRrSbBNVYC/view?usp=sharing
I'm currently sitting in my room with no plans or nothing left to do for university at the moment, so I'm gonna spend my time writing up about the rise of Bramblin in Little Cup, since it's one of the most interesting meta developments within the current meta (happy late Halloween as well to fit the theme of this post).
After Vullaby (take a shot after every time I name this mon) was banned from the tier, the tier has shifted considerably. Without the requirement to add a Vullaby answer to practically every team, particularly one for its Nasty Plot sets, teams have become more adaptable in terms of what they may add and how they perform, alongside the emergence of certain Pokemon that previously had issues with Vullaby. One such Pokemon that falls under this category is, of course, Bramblin.
Before we move onto the good stuff of the analysis, let’s look at some statistics, shall we? Within the last iteration of LCPL and SCL pre-Vullaby ban, Bramblin had a collective usage rate of... 1.25%. Out of a total population of 120 replays, and 240 teams, Bramblin had only made 3 appearances. Now, based off this data, an astute viewer would consider this Pokemon to be "fraudulent" or at least a very niche pick within the meta. However if we look at some tier lists of the newer meta from two established players within the tier...
(from: Éric)
(from: Greedy_eb)
We can see that Bramblin finds itself as a high-mid tier Pokemon, around A- & B+. Obviously, its rise has been affected post-Vullaby ban, but what qualities does it have that allows it to be a viable option as of today? Well, there are a couple reasons why, which I'll list down below:
- Options for utility. Having access to Spikes for hazards and Strength Sap as both an option for sustainable healing while also weakening the offensive power of Pokemon such as Mienfoo, Diglett, and Aipom is neat, but the main attraction of Bramblin is found within Rapid Spin. Little Cup's options for hazard removal is very limited, having only two other viable spinners in Toedscool and Alolan Sandshrew, so having another option to rely on for hazard removal is greatly appreciated on many structures.
- Inability to be trapped. This is also applicable to other ghosts, but Bramblin being unable to get trapped by Trapinch and Gothita to get revenge-killed (and in most situations just being able to outright beat them) gives it a unique niche amongst the other meta-relevant Pokemon in the format, especially in a meta where trapping has become a more prominent strategy on different teams.
- Positive matchup into TTM / LarvGoth. While Bramblin may spin freely in the bulk of its games, Toedscool, a vital defensive/utility piece in TTM + LarvGoth teams, cannot do the same when playing against Bramblin. Being able to spin block Toedscool while still having the option to stack Spikes against it turns games involving these archetypes, which value hazard removal, into a ticking time bomb where every switch needs to count for progress or momentum.
Now, this is not to say Bramblin is without its faults. It is a Pokemon that is still susceptible to Knock Off and really doesn’t like facing Pokemon such as Stunky, Hisuian Growlithe, Alolan Sandshrew, and Foongus. However, it’s previously mentioned qualities in a meta without Vullaby give it a solid niche within the current state of Little Cup, which is shown in it’s current usage in SCL post-Vullaby ban, having it’s usage rate massively jump to 19% as it was featured 8 times across 21 replays (42 teams). With all these presented factors, it’s safe to say that this is a new Pokemon to look out for in the format.
With LCBC beginning this week, let’s hope to see more meta developments within Little Cup such as this!
After Vullaby (take a shot after every time I name this mon) was banned from the tier, the tier has shifted considerably. Without the requirement to add a Vullaby answer to practically every team, particularly one for its Nasty Plot sets, teams have become more adaptable in terms of what they may add and how they perform, alongside the emergence of certain Pokemon that previously had issues with Vullaby. One such Pokemon that falls under this category is, of course, Bramblin.
Before we move onto the good stuff of the analysis, let’s look at some statistics, shall we? Within the last iteration of LCPL and SCL pre-Vullaby ban, Bramblin had a collective usage rate of... 1.25%. Out of a total population of 120 replays, and 240 teams, Bramblin had only made 3 appearances. Now, based off this data, an astute viewer would consider this Pokemon to be "fraudulent" or at least a very niche pick within the meta. However if we look at some tier lists of the newer meta from two established players within the tier...
(from: Éric)
(from: Greedy_eb)
We can see that Bramblin finds itself as a high-mid tier Pokemon, around A- & B+. Obviously, its rise has been affected post-Vullaby ban, but what qualities does it have that allows it to be a viable option as of today? Well, there are a couple reasons why, which I'll list down below:
- Options for utility. Having access to Spikes for hazards and Strength Sap as both an option for sustainable healing while also weakening the offensive power of Pokemon such as Mienfoo, Diglett, and Aipom is neat, but the main attraction of Bramblin is found within Rapid Spin. Little Cup's options for hazard removal is very limited, having only two other viable spinners in Toedscool and Alolan Sandshrew, so having another option to rely on for hazard removal is greatly appreciated on many structures.
- Inability to be trapped. This is also applicable to other ghosts, but Bramblin being unable to get trapped by Trapinch and Gothita to get revenge-killed (and in most situations just being able to outright beat them) gives it a unique niche amongst the other meta-relevant Pokemon in the format, especially in a meta where trapping has become a more prominent strategy on different teams.
- Positive matchup into TTM / LarvGoth. While Bramblin may spin freely in the bulk of its games, Toedscool, a vital defensive/utility piece in TTM + LarvGoth teams, cannot do the same when playing against Bramblin. Being able to spin block Toedscool while still having the option to stack Spikes against it turns games involving these archetypes, which value hazard removal, into a ticking time bomb where every switch needs to count for progress or momentum.
Now, this is not to say Bramblin is without its faults. It is a Pokemon that is still susceptible to Knock Off and really doesn’t like facing Pokemon such as Stunky, Hisuian Growlithe, Alolan Sandshrew, and Foongus. However, it’s previously mentioned qualities in a meta without Vullaby give it a solid niche within the current state of Little Cup, which is shown in it’s current usage in SCL post-Vullaby ban, having it’s usage rate massively jump to 19% as it was featured 8 times across 21 replays (42 teams). With all these presented factors, it’s safe to say that this is a new Pokemon to look out for in the format.
With LCBC beginning this week, let’s hope to see more meta developments within Little Cup such as this!
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