Metagame 1v1 Metagame Discussion

[Joker 1v1]

i mean, bulk up usually runs life orb soooooo

Funny how smelly socks's the post with 20+ likes is credited as the Cinderace sets yet all these variants come out of no where lol

 

[Ehmcee]

Funny how smelly socks's the post with 20+ likes is credited as the Cinderace sets yet all these variants come out of no where lol

I mean, considering that smely's post was made literally the day off Cinderace's release+the fact that it has only a scarf set, two band sets and a few lure sets means that it should maybe be taken with a grain of salt.

The amount of Cinderace counters are extremely scarce and essentially requires you to be able to beat every single set without being required to make a prediction, which is almost impossible, I honestly hope DLC brings us some kind of mon that can deal with it reliably.

 

[MisterCantiere]

I wanted to return playing 1v1 and I'm actually pretty scared about Cinderace. I'm still thinking for a team that counters him or at least not having huge problems against it. But nope. No idea on what to do. Too many sets. As you said, I hope for more counters. Otherwise, I forsee a suspect test..

 

[zioziotrip]

Ok seeing as DLC is up and coming now seems like the time to hit you w/ FACTS AND KNOWLEDGE about how well potential unbans fare statistically. After all of that is said and done I will give my (now-informed) opinion. This will be done by putting the mons against the current VR as well as the viable mons confirmed to be returning.

Lose against Win against 50/50 or unsure SB=Set Based and O in front when referring to the opponent and B in front when referring to the banned mon
Note that a some of these MUs are techable from both sides, for example scarf Necro cheesing Vish but I don't think it's worthwhile to include lures that will see minimal usage. Also going to be skipping C as those tiers w/ very few exceptions just get swept and I think including those skews the data

MUs

Sets considered are Specs and CM+ID Stored Power. WP seems very odd in a post-Mimi meta and its MUs are super bad but I'll include it for the sake of argument.

S Rank
Primarina BSB

S- Rank
Darmanitan-Galar
Sylveon

A+ Rank
Dracovish
Dragapult (all choice variants lose to sub+disable and CM loses to curse)

A Rank
Cinderace OSB
Crustle

A- Rank
Arcanine BSB and OSB
Corsola-Galar BSB
Corviknight OSB
Haxorus
Mandibuzz
Rotom-Wash OSB and BSB
Sawk
Snorlax BSB
Whimsicott

B+ Rank
Aromatisse
Avalugg
Diggersby
Hydreigon
Kommo-o
Kyurem
Rotom-Heat OSB and BSB
Togekiss OSB and BSB
Zeraora

B Rank
Aegislash BSB
Celebi BSB
Centiskorch
Chandelure
Conkeldurr
Darmanitan BSB
Durant
Gardevoir BSB
Gastrodon BSB
Incineroar BSB
Rhyperior
Rillaboom
Silvally (Water, Poison, Steel)*
Steelix OSB and BSB
Tyranitar

B- Rank
Bewear
Blastoise this one is super suspect for Necro, specs should just lose but stoise needs to guess set and have mirror coat but I don't think CM can boost quickly enough to deal w/ SSs
Dracozolt
Duraludon
Gengar
Golisopod 252+ Atk Choice Band Golisopod First Impression vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Prism Armor Necrozma: 334-396 (83.9 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO super easy to bulk
Goodra
Grimmsnarl
Gyarados
Keldeo
Milotic BSB
Venusaur
Returning Viables
Magnezone
Chansey +6 0 SpA Necrozma Stored Power (380 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 1270-1495 (180.6 - 212.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO so they may forced to start running Toxic but regardless getting to +6 +6 +6 after stosses is not going to happen
Tangrowth
Kingdra
Scizor maybe some weird occa variant could win, doubt it
Azumarill BSB
Krookodile
Mienshao
Volcarona
Talonflame
Slowbro +6 0 SpA Necrozma Stored Power (380 BP) vs. +6 248 HP / 252+ SpD Slowbro: 207-245 (52.6 - 62.3%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery I have to clue what slowbro will be running because both spdef and def are needed so maybe this could reasonably optimized or only spdef will end up beating CM necro
+that pangoro typing fighting dog thing wins probably but I'm not counting it because there's a chance it's banworthy

Necrozma has:
16 auto-lose MUs
24 auto-win MUs
13 dependent on Necrozma's set
2 dependent on opponent's set
5 that depend on both mon's variants
2 that are suspect

Notes

most of the MUs dependent on Necro's set are it becoming CM and being able to break stall mons and wall things that usually break you. This however opens you up to Trick mons. Most of the "dependent on Necrozma's set" are realllllly in Necrozma's favor. The Necrozma user is not the one responsible for set-guessing and thus has an inherent advantage.

MUs

S Rank
Considered sets are Band, Specs, Scarf, and Haban. There are prob more but like those cover everything lol
Primarina 252+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Bolt Strike vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Primarina: 498-586 (137.1 - 161.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO and specs now the option of freeze dry so 0 chance here

S- Rank
Darmanitan-Galar 252 Atk Choice Band Gorilla Tactics Darmanitan-Galar Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Kyurem-Black: 448-528 (98.6 - 116.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO lol
Sylveon

A+ Rank
Dracovish
Dragapult BSB

A Rank
Cinderace
Crustle 252+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Crustle: 325-384 (94.4 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO holy shit

A- Rank
Arcanine BSB and OSB
Corsola-Galar
Corviknight bye bye birdie 52+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Bolt Strike vs. 248 HP / 100+ Def Corviknight: 452-532 (113.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Haxorus unnerve is very attractive
Mandibuzz
Rotom-Wash
Sawk BSB, kyub can bulk scarf but 252 Atk Sawk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 152 Def Kyurem-Black: 330-390 (84.3 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO is necessary which is excessive dropping attack/speed is a bit a pain for other mus
Snorlax counter is spooky and this really depends on how the lax user plays
Whimsicott yache will not exist don't lie

B+ Rank
Aromatisse 252+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Aromatisse: 365-435 (90.1 - 107.4%) -- approx. 25% chance to OHKO so arom is forced to set guess
Avalugg
Diggersby
Hydreigon BSB
Kommo-o
Kyurem
Rotom-Heat
Togekiss
Zeraora

B Rank
Aegislash BSB
Celebi
Centiskorch
Chandelure
Conkeldurr BSB
Darmanitan
Durant
Gardevoir
Gastrodon freeze-dry is now an option
Incineroar
Rhyperior
Rillaboom
Silvally (Water, Poison, Steel)*
Steelix BSB
Tyranitar

B- Rank
Bewear BSB
Blastoise fuck stoise I have no clue how this shit works
Dracozolt BSB and OSB
Duraludon BSB and OSB
Gengar
Golisopod
Goodra
Grimmsnarl BSB
Gyarados
Keldeo BSB, not practical to tank specs but it is practical to outspeed and kill w/ scarf
Milotic BSB
Venusaur
Returning Viables
Magnezone potato or someone showed calcs that ballon can't even cheese anything lol
Chansey
Tangrowth
Kingdra
Scizor
Azumarill 252+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Bolt Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Azumarill: 474-558 (117.3 - 138.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO and wacan can't even kill back and you still die to freeze-dry from specs
Krookodile
Mienshao
Volcarona
Talonflame
Slowbro 252+ Atk Choice Band Teravolt Kyurem-Black Bolt Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 384-454 (97.4 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO n 252+ SpA Teravolt Kyurem-Black Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Slowbro: 288-338 (73 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO you are going to have a tough time arguing slowbro is a check
+both of the fighting dog things assuming those things aren't banworthy (still not counting just incase)

Kyurem-Black has:
11 auto-lose MUs
37 auto-win MUs
9 dependent on Kyurem-Black's set
0 dependent on opponent's set
3 dependent on both mon's variants
4 that are suspect

Notes

All of the "dependent on Kyurem-Black's set" are mons hoping Kyurem is the right choice item. Someone could probably figure out the suspect MUs but I don't think it really alters my view the other way regardless.

MUs

S Rank
Going to base MUs off Roseli and Bandand w/e seems reasonable since Marshadow isn't really pressed to run any one item/set.
Primarina BSB

S- Rank
Darmanitan-Galar 252+ Atk Gorilla Tactics Darmanitan-Galar Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Marshadow: 289-342 (90 - 106.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
Sylveon BSB

A+ Rank
Dracovish BSB and OSB
Dragapult this one is really fishy ends up depending on what necro will end up running but pult will have a rough time cheesing this one w/ sub disable so you may have to resort to dong offensive variant

A Rank
Cinderace
Crustle

A- Rank
Arcanine OSB
Corsola-Galar can't steal drops you rat
Corviknight if you just roost t1 you can scout for band/non band damage and non-band damage isn't enough to 2hko so just don't boost and PP stall CC at which point thief doesn't do enough so you can get off roosts more easily and start throwing off ihs, just boost on band
Haxorus
Mandibuzz same w/ corv but instead of pressure stall you have foul play
Rotom-Wash
Sawk
Snorlax chople counter doesn't mean shit when you can't counter
Whimsicott taunt/seeds on taunt/attack 50/50s

B+ Rank
Aromatisse
Avalugg
Diggersby
Hydreigon
Kommo-o
Kyurem
Rotom-Heat
Togekiss
Zeraora

B Rank
Aegislash
Celebi
Centiskorch
Chandelure BSB and OSB
Conkeldurr
Darmanitan darm-u’s blitz is stronger than darm-g’s crash believe it or not
Durant BSB marsh needs bu
Gardevoir BSB
Gastrodon tfw no counter or boosts
Incineroar BSB marsh needs bu
Rhyperior
Rillaboom marsh can cheese but it’s not easy
Silvally (Water, Poison, Steel)* but I fully expect fairy to pop up
Steelix
Tyranitar tfw no chople counter

B- Rank
Bewear
Blastoise SS should just win
Dracozolt BSB
Duraludon
Gengar not counting scarf gar that set is wack
Golisopod
Goodra
Grimmsnarl grimm can cheese but you need to hella outplay your opp and ig grimm could start running reflect again since marsh can’t steal that
Gyarados very suspect but not impossible for marsh to cheese
Keldeo cc is feasible to bulk
Milotic scald burns are a pain this one can easily go in milo’s favor
Venusaur
Returning Viables
Magnezone
Chansey
Tangrowth 252+ SpA Tangrowth Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Marshadow: 226-267 (70.4 - 83.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO unviable ass tang
Kingdra
Scizor BSB and OSB
Azumarill
Krookodile
Mienshao
Volcarona OSB 252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcarona Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Marshadow: 391-462 (121.8 - 143.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Talonflame
Slowbro
+0 clue how fighting dogs MU against marshadow but fair chance they both lose

Marshadow has:
14 auto-lose MUs
30 auto-win MUs
6 based on Marshadow’s set
2 based on opponent’s set
5 that are suspect

Notes

A lot of these MUs are incredibly fishy both ways and out of the trio Marshadow has the worse case of needed to run to much at once by far.

So those are the three I think deserve serious consideration, list of things I don’t think deserve serious consideration and why:

Blacklist

Unless there is insane power-creep this should remain nuked forever. Only reason it makes sense in natdex is that most Megas and Z-Moves snap it in half but that simply isn’t a thing in SS and I doubt similar power will ever pop up.
If you thought KyuB is hard to kill, hoo boy. This thing’s bulk and power is ludicrous and can run any item for no cost and when it was allowed on the ladder basically the only checks were Chand or faster ID mons that can easily lose to ID+Press Melmetal or get cheesed by TWave.
The ability is just inherently awful to play around at it doesn’t help w/ its increible typing and movepool. Out of everything this one is def what you could make the best argument for but I think it’s an awful presence for the tier and makes building stupid hard, at least w/ Necro I could just run a Mandi or similar dark type and call it a day. My options w/ Mimi were running dogshit Exca or two separate counters for separate sets. Unless a drastic amount of returning mons are both top tier and 100% counters I really don’t want to see the return of Mimi.
Coverage is ludicrous, typing is top 5, and 100s across the board complement those two. You also have to factor in the 60% to cheese checks, I don’t even believe that’s the main reason Rachi was so good. Similar to people finally picking up on stall Toge variants, Serene Grace is not the broken factor of the mon. Once you explore what Rachi does outside of flinching that’s when you have problems. Serene Grace is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Another example of a mon just not fit for SS’s power level.
Encore+Disable w/ Prankster is a match made in heaven only thing holding Sableye back in a choice infested meta is its shitty bulk but that’s not nearly enough of a drawback to compensate for the massive teambuilding strain.
You look at this thing’s stats, movepool, and ability. That’s all you should need to see to assess that this mon will never be fine. Mf could be a Bug type and it would still be broken. If you sincerely think this mon is acceptable then please pass me what you’re smoking.

Moving on to what I think, this is mainly to spark conversation I don’t think my view is factual and I do think views on these mons are incredibly subjective especially considering it’s basically all theorymoning.


Honestly, I think this looks fine. New additions such as Volc and Taunt Cinder are very annoying Necrozma doesn’t really have the versatility other brokens do. It’s either CM or Specs and both have their respective issues. Other sets such as scarf and WP exist but those trade significant MUs and compared to CM/Specs. Of course, no one deals in absolutes. It’s still ludicrous how easily this mon can be both an insane stall mon and stall breaker at the same time and this is supplemented by its insanely helpful ability. In addition it has random BS like ignoring abilities and STAB Prismatic laser and quite usable coverage. But looking at the MU spread and some personal theorymoning I do think Necrozma is worthy of a retest for DLC 1.


Every single check has to get over the massive hurdle that is KyuB’s stats. In SS, the walls have a poor chance of walling KyuB and our offensive mons have a poor chance of killing KyuB. While at first giving this serious consideration w/ the addition of moves such as Icicle Spear and Freeze Dry (DD is useless) made an already incredibly shaky case completely shatter. I do not foresee Kyurem-Black being worthy of a retest in DLC 1, when more info about DLC 2 is released it may be worth revisiting.


As I assumed, 125 attack is a bit underwhelming. Despite that, Ghost/Fighting is arguably the best offensive typing and it isn’t exactly awful defensively either and most fairies can just be beaten w/ Roseli. Going over MUs however it has quite the 4MSS so it’s always nice to know a mon such as this has very real and very exploitable weaknesses. Bulk is quite annoying in a number of MUs however so this one is quite up in the air. I would wait to see how the Necrozma meta develops (if it does) to consider it for DLC 1 but it’ll be likely broken there so I recommend holding off until DLC 2.

I planned on doing MUs on Cinder in the same format but considering no action will feasibly be taken I held off on it for the sake of time. If you want to yell at me for being a moron I’m p active on Discord. Peace.

 

[Bopher]

Time to make a post about a pokemon I think is quite unexplored in the meta- Aegislash.

This pokemon has a LOT of lure potential. It has access to a wide variety of techs that let it win a multitude of matchups it normally loses, making it a sleeper threat on team preview. Its ability to run either a physical or special set, access to priority and boosting/stallbreaking moves, flexible item holding and strong defensive/offensive stats via its ability, Stance Change, let it take on a variety of meta threats in unexpected ways.

Weakness Policy: Aegi's most common item right now and the one you all know. It works with both a physical and special set, and makes use of Aegi's huge base defensive stats in shield mode to tank a hit and KO back with +2 stab attacks. It then uses +2 Shadow Sneak to pick off low HP opponents. It can also run SD/Metal Sound (phys and special sets respectively) to break defensive mons that wont kill it, and also wont hit it supereffectively. You can run King's Shield to 50/50 some attacking matchups or just outright beat phys attackers that make contact with it, reducing their attack stat by 1 stage. Very cool very epic. A big weakness to this set is there is a distinct counterplay pattern as it is quite predictable- an abundance of pokemon in the meta can tank Aegi's unboosted attacks, boost up and KO it. Some Banded or Specs mons can just outright OHKO it with supereffective moves. Pokemon that run taunt like Zeraora or scarfers like Malamar can lock it into blade form and KO it when it is extremely defensively weak. These are the usual counters you see to Aegi, and with a little bit of thought you can bait almost all of these on team preview and beat them with the following, more interesting sets that I made this post to discuss.

Occa Berry + Head Smash: Allows this thing to tank strong fire type moves that normally OHKO it. With access to Head Smash (150 bp rock move!) in conjunction with 140 base attack, it takes out threats such as Rotom-Heat, Chandelure, Ninetales, Band Cinderace, Centiskorch and Salazzle in one hit. Any extraordinarily defense-ev'd mon in this list that does not get taken out in one hit (mainly the rare Rotom, or endure in Ninetales' case) will then die shortly after to the following shadow sneak.

Head Smash, while also beating fires, allows you to also beat Taunt Life Orb Zeraora. People do not EV their Zera's to live an Aegi 252+ HS into Sneak. Smash turn 1 on the Zera taunt, Sneak to pick up the KO. If it wants to Bulk Up on you (uncommon set), you still have the option to King's Shield, putting you in a couple of 50/50s that, if played right by you, keep the matchup winnable. As Occa is unimportant for this specific MU here, you can run whatever you want as long as you are 252+ attack with both Head Smash and Sneak.

I've even been experimenting with a set that runs King's Shield, CC and Head Smash along with Occa to counter every Cinderace set that does not run substitute. You shield turn 1 to scout for Taunt or Pyro, then use the appropriate supereffective coverage move to take out even a defense invested Ace in one shot. While this set is extremely situational, I wanted to discuss it to outline the wide variety of options Aegi has access to.

Air Balloon + Fighting Move: Running this item will cause pokemon like Diggersby and Steelix to flat out lose vs you (Torment Lix forces 50/50s but you easy tank an EQ in shield form so its in your favour). This item plus some defensive evs as well lets you beat all Darmanitan-Galar, tanking a band blitz at -1. Pretty dope set all up, s/o Nalei for the anti-Darm spread.

Magnet Rise: This move lets you gain an immunity to ground type moves for 5 turns. It is primarily used as a specific tech for Crustle and Avalugg, or any sturdy mon that runs Choice Band to underspeed Aegi in order to kill it every time with a banded Earthquake. It also beats pokemon such as choiced Haxorus and Kyurem who click ground coverage, fail to one hit KO you then lose as they are locked into the one move. Not bad. The reason to run this over Air Balloon + a standard set is to maintain your fire type matchups, as you can run Occa with this move.

Kasib Berry: I'm not going to include this as a set at the end of the post as I haven't experimented with it, but run this to ez clap unsuspecting Gengar, and even Pult if played correctly.

TL:DR: Aegi has more potential than you might realise. Thanks for reading, here are the sets I mentioned: https://pokepast.es/da0e198b2782dd64

 

[Mubs]

1v1 Newsroom
Idea Made by Mubs
​

A bit late on this, sorry. Hello and Welcome to this month's edition of the 1v1 Newsroom. This post is brought to you by these lovely contributors:

Hide

Writers: Mubs, pqs, DEG
Other Contributors: Nalei LittleRunnerXC Poison Adhesive

What is the 1v1 Newsroom? The 1v1 Newsroom is a project, created by Mubs to recap the last month of 1v1 activities, along with adding a batch of mini-articles written by contributors. We have quite a bit to go through in this first edition, with notable tours in World Cup and Ladder Tour, both in their fourth run, along with what's been happening on PS! Without further ado, let's get into it.

Index:
Pokemon Showdown! | 1v1 Ladder Tournament | World Cup of 1v1

Pokemon Showdown!
by Mubs and DEG
​

Top 5 Ladder Usage:

17.53%
15.76%
13.73%
9.90%
9.37%​

Lets also congragulate these users:

Poison Adhesive on Ladybug!
dogknees on roomvoice / driver
Boat on Room Owner, Global voice and Ladybug!
Potatochan on Room Voice!
smely socks on Room Voice!
Waylaid on 1v1 council!
TheShadowClaw and Baleblaze on Room Driver! (Welcome Back)
kjdaas on being a Real TD!

Deg's Take on the 1v1 Room Drama
Written by DEG of course

On 5/19/2020, the 1v1 room woke up to one the biggest surprise it has ever met: The sudden demotion of #Rosa. Rosa was demoted with Boat and Robyn being promoted. Boat was promoted as a permanent Room Owner meanwhile Robyn was promoted as a mentor RO. With that being said and done, the community was furious and a bunch of spam happened for the next hours in the 1v1 room and discord with a lot of community members being punished. After the storm, the 1v1 community decided to gather in a safe place to put their thoughts into a message to upper staff showing their frustration. The message was sent and it was received, but the community still don't know if it was heard because few days after the message was sent Robyn quit PS! The 1v1 room still have Boat and Felucia as Room owners.

1v1 Ladder Tournament IV
Written by pqs​

LT's ladder cycles have concluded, and we'd like to congratulate the 16 users that made it in!

Going by highest to lowest ELOs,
ryyjyywyy (1)
ggopw (2)
SiceXV (3)
Maki's Fox (4)
Downcoming3 (5)
DEG (6)
187 Fan (7)
Inkreativ (8)
XSTATIC COLD (9)
Scraftionite (10)
JustUhhDude (11)
Nalei (12)
Kaif (13)
Kardistry King (14)
Close (15)
SolarflareRo (16)

Many experienced players qualified, along with some relatively new faces like SiceXV who had previously only played in PL before, and JustUhhDude who was a common face on ladder but wasn't there in tours at all. A relative trend with teams brought to LT were either low rank Pokemon that could lure in commonly used high tiers like Primarina, which Nalei brought an interesting Pyukumyuku to beat. Another common trend was uncommon sets of normal Pokemon, like 4 attacks Sylveon by Close, Scarf Kyurem by Kaif, and Shuca Berry Cinderace by ryyjyywyy.

Interesting LT Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1111951035 - Currently the highest rated replay on the gen81v1 ladder, by a long shot. This game was taken at the end of cycle one but ended up going past the time, though it is still one to be noted of.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1120466181 - At the end of Cycle 3, SiceXV sniped SolarflareRo from getting in at the last minute, bringing an interesting Assault Vest Primarina to take on his Sylveon. This ended up costing Solarflare a higher seed in LT, and just barely getting him in.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1116117925 - maxy1991991 got EXPOSED by Potatochan for not having SOLAR BLADE CRUSTLE and losing an LT game.

World Cup of 1v1 IV
Written by Mubs ​

World Cup of 1v1 IV, hosted by Rosa has concluded team discussion, with these regions being chosen by her and the 1v1 Tournament Directors, along with 8 slots:

US West
US Central + Latin America
US East
Canada + Oceania (or CONE)
South Europe (France + Italy + Spain) + Africa
Northwest Europe (Benelux + UK)
East Europe
Asia​

This has also come with a timetable change, as Player Signups are now July 5th, instead of Captain Signups. Taking a step away from the norm to some community disapproval, captain signups have been conducted in conversation PMs. This is due to (and I paraphrase kjdaas) captains pretty much already being decided by the teams prior to signups, especially if the team stays the same.

As it currently stands, discussion has gravitated towards two things:

1. Memes about Asia’s SS / DPP slots
2. The proposal of a BoXoY slot (since 8 slots are already confirmed)

With team banners being posted and people doing what 1v1ers do best, I personally expect this World Cup to be quite fun. Will EEU 3peat? Will Asia surprise us all? Will Central’s SS Core Dominate? Time will tell.

Of course, we have to cap it off with Meme of the Month! (Credits to Boat)

Meme

Thank you for reading the first-ever edition of the 1v1 Newsroom! If you want to join us in the making of these, hmu on PS! (Pokesartoolcay) or Discord (Mubs#2111). If you enjoyed, make sure to leave a like and subscribe :).

Expect the next one early next month. As always, thanks for reading and have a nice day. Until next time.

 

[lancert]

Yooo, this would be my last post here for this year, (I'm not going to john like the last time I had to leave for something absurd) where I lost friends that I liked a lot, I can quote ggopw and 187 fan, please know that I am sincerely sorry for my behavior towards you, my goal was not to make you react negatively, but I just wanted to let know how I felt after each fight, I am a person who does not like to lose and very competitive and this has been felt a lot lately... I've learned a lot here, I've evolved a lot on how to watch the matches and how to determine the conditions for victory, which has helped me save some matches. I'm very attached to this community and to the people who have become real friends for me on a virtual level, it's thanks to you that I can speak with a better english than 2 years ago when I had trouble saying a sentence, and now I can write a post without holding back from the judgments that have been made about me. I'm not going to be able to participate in the next big editions, because my life has changed and this change has implied a difficult start, I leave with me a lot of memories that come back to me every time I played 1v1, to the friends I faced without necessarily thinking about the consequences that have unfortunately been involved. This community greatly deserves its evolution with the support of every person who finds an interest in playing and staying for a passion that is far from being ephemeral. Rosa, the legend, Glyx, deserves a return as the owner of the hall, it is not often said but her colossal contributions in my eyes were worthy of a leader to make her community function as effectively as possible. I'm also happy to keep in touch with waylaid, deg, dom, stable, sust and the others I forgot to mention on instagram to leave a trace for this community that I've loved for 5 years now... The best is yet to come and I'm sure that we are not at the end of our surprises... Au revoir & ciao take care all

 

[Elo Bandit]

Check out the Evolution of Gen 8 1v1! New video going over the history of meta shifts, bans, etc. plus speculation on DLC.

 

[XSTATIC COLD]

for sure, Magnezone (and volcarona in a 2nd time) will be insane

 

[DMPancake]

I'm so excited to play with Volcarona again. Sub swarm and quiver dance are so much fun.

 

[dogknees]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, come one come all to dogknees' initial thoughts on the new metagame!

I've been buggering around on ladder for about an hour and thought I'd just give my initial thoughts on the things I have used and the things I have played against. There is a lot of really cool stuff floating around, and I'm super keen to see how it all develops.

This could prove to be a problem. Its typing is absolutely incredible and hosts a barrage of versatility in its movepool and stats. I've mainly seen specs floating, but I've no doubt that we will be seeing some innovation in this mon with lure berries, calm mind, pain split, shift gear, and probably more. Definitely worth keeping a close eye on this one

I'm sorry, this is so aesthetically unpleasing but I couldn't find a better sprite rip. An absolutely ridiculous breaker with surging strikes, however lacks good coverage to take down fairies which we all know absolutely litter this metagame. I've used it a bit and although being extremely good, I'll be interested to see if it develops into something more problematic

Hahahah hyper beam go BRRRR! This does exactly what you expect of it, being spamming hyper beam. Specs seems to be popular but scarf also has its uses as well. This thing actually has a really cool movepool with recover, nasty plot, eerie impulse and other cool tech. Seems like a staple top tier mon

This is still broken fyi

I'm a little disappointed tbh, I thought this'd be another awesome mass fairy killer but the current ladder isn't very kind to it. Probably just because new toy syndrome means people won't be running the standard threats for a little while, but I can see this being generally very solid all around

I used specs for a bit. It's a lot of fun. Not sure how this mon will sit in the meta, but it's a lot of fun and has some nice options with wisp / quiver dance / recovery. Could be cool, but not entirely sure where its niche is

Not really sure what I think of this, only played around with band. Seems like it has some promise, but more likely within other sets like belly drum and perhaps some sap sipper shenanigans

Hits hard and grants an electric immunity which is really nice, but doesn't exactly sit in a speed tier you'd want to celebrate.

Pretty sure expanding force is doing way more damage than it should be due to showdown not having all the information regarding expanding force yet, so abuse this while you can before the mechanics act the way they're supposed to

Pretty lazy post without much effort, but I wanted to share some very early thoughts on things I have some experience with. There is A LOT that I haven't discussed that is undoubtedly very good, but at this very early stage of the meta, I can only speak about the things I know. Hopefully others share their thoughts too on the new mons and things to keep an eye out for! This meta is looking fun

 

[DMPancake]

Tragically, my regular Arcanine set (248 hp 224 def sitrus) doesn't wall either Urshifu yet. might have to use Iapapa + more def investment, I think it could work, even against surging strikes...

also Magearna is giving me gen 7 PTSD

 

[zioziotrip]

Ok I've played an actually unhealthy amount of DLC since it was patched in, sleep is for the weak. Time to go over returning mons that will dominate and how they will alter how usable old ones are.

Some music to go w/ the post

First The Fall of the Kingpins

I think Prim and Sylv were the undisputed best mons of the pre-DLC meta-game. Our options for steels were pretty bad imo, corv was a decent mon but being forced to run spdef for Prim was a massive pain and you could still get finessed. Now we have Magearna, Magnezone, Scizor, and more niche options such as Klefki and Skarmory. While their status as the best has been overtaken, Primarina and Sylveon are still very good. Some new checks were introduced into the meta but they still have the same excellent MUs they did before and checking new mons such as Urishfu is p nice. These mons are still really good, I would argue Prim is still top 5, however, I think Sylveon really hates the new steels because of its mono-fairy typing and not nearly many options.
The Era of Magearna Begins

Magearna coming back was unexpected especially in DLC which wasn't supposed to have any legends. It's here now and its insane. However, I believe people are overblowing that it's banworthy. It straight up loses to many fires and it can maybe cheese some w/ Occa but that's a stretch to call a mon broken. I haven't found any issue w/ it in building and I think people need to accept that spamming the same things they did pre-DLC won't work. You will have to pay attention and find new techs or just settle for running a fire type or a special wall. That being said, Mag is the best mon in the tier. The typing is likely the best defensive typing in the game. Mag's movepool is also p good and has the really nice additions of Stored Power and Encore. CM+ID is seeing a lot of success as well as specs also seen talk of Shift Gear+Encore which could be quite nasty. I personally quite like the impact this mon has on the tier but who knows, maybe an overwhelming amount of sets pop up.
New Big Players

Many new excellent additions are in the tier now. There are many others as well such a Talonflame, Scizor, and Porygon2 but those aren't as important so I'm discluding em.
-Magnezone has quite a unique typing which I think is quite useful. The dual combo of Electric/Steel STAB is quite nice, in addition this mon gets Sturdy and options such as Metal Sounds and Electro Web. Specs will always be solid, over all this mon has a lot going for it. Zone is bound to be metagame staple.
-Porygon-Z this thing is off the walls strong. 135 STAB Hyper Beams are already insane then you have to take into account it gets Adapatibilty. Absolute nuke and especially when you consider things that may want to tank a beam will just get Tricked and PP stalled by Recover/Rest. Also it got Eerie Impulse so it can be a thorn in the side of special mons, notably being able to best Mag w/ NP.
-Slowbro. Just really fat. Can't get Taunted. Got Stored Power which lets it beat opposing stall. An excellent stall mon w/ stall breaking capabilities and it's unable to get Taunted. Still don't like stall mons in general, but I do like the sound of Slowbro.
-Azumarill has 3 different sets that are all quite nice. BD is a good lure for stall mons. Band offers immediate damage. AV is a good lure for Zone and gives you a chance against some special mons. Stall hasn't been optimized to my knowledge but that'll be quite a nice addition. Overall seeing this thing doing its job well, not really one of the best but a really solid pick.
-Chansey is a nigh unkillable stall mon. However it's really susceptible to stall cheese, I feel the same way about Chansey that I do about Corsola-G. Excellent stall mon in a meta where stall mons have to have a measure against some anti-stall, which Chansey simply doesn't. Isn't bad by any means, if a mon does lack a way of cheesing you it will just get walled and even if it dent Chansey it has to be wary of Counter.
-Marowack-Alola is a bit slept on. Rod is nice for walling out Zone and generally Maro is quite a scary stall breaker w/ BD. I wish its SpDef and Speed weren't so bad and basically no item slot is another major bummer but that 110 ghost stab is quite nice. Also can run Flame Charge/Bulldoze for some sturdies. May fall out of favor as the meta progresses, but atm it's quite a nice anti-meta pick.
-Volcarona is quite strong at 135 and its typing is interesting offensively. Also can be quite the special wall that can threat opposing mons as well as cheese Sturdies w/ Will-O. Issue I have w/ it atm is that you look at rest of this list and exluding Zone and Slowbro they all off Volc w/ relative ease. This one may take a bit to develop
-Urishfu is quite good. Nice speed tier, decent bulk, and a stupid good sig move. I think the dark one is incredibly mediocre but I've seen a lot of success w/ the Water one. Idk, I feel being neutral to fighting and overall dark not being that useful in this meta puts Water far and above its counterpart. This thing can run hella sets but was forced by cinder to run very bulky band, I can't wait so how it does now that Cinder no longer limits it.
Old Mons, New Tricks

Both terrain users can make use of Expanding Force and Grassy Glide respectively, both of which are moves usable in terrain.
-Rillaboom got Grassy Glide which is 70 BP prio boosted by STAB and terrain which is quite nutty. For faster threats, it is no longer necessary to speed creep and rely on Drum Beating drops. I think a Wood Hammer into Grassy Glide will nuke most things in the tier even unboosted so I can see people running AV. This move may be awkward to utilize, but regardless I think Grassy Surge Rilla is a very scarf prospect which just got a really nice addition to its arsenal.
-Indeedee I think this mon faces massive competition from PZ if your goal isn't beating PZ. Idk the exact base power of Expanding Force but it's much less than initially implemented (180-200 BP depending on who you ask) so I think while it has def gained a decent amount of power it's not going to go from trash to great. It'll become decent and finally have a niche but I think it's a bit overhyped, its stats are still atrocious really limiting what it can do.

This is the most fun I've had in SS by far. The meta is incredibly fun I like the mons that sit at the top and it feels very far from solved unlike pre-DLC. I am quite excited to explore this new pool of mons and hopefully, people discover niches for some of the more underutilized mons atm. Until next time, see ya.

 

[Vrji]

I honestly feel like the Cinderace quickban was a bit rushed.
We got to use it in the DLC meta for 2 days and poof it's gone, out of the blue, which is "funny", because it now actually has counters. Slowbro and Urshifu-Rapid-Style hardcounter most sets, and each of those have creative options to counter even more Cinderace sets, such as Payapa berry Urshifu, which has the potential to be a 100% hardcounter, but we (the community) didn't get to test it enough.
Other potential counters include Kebia berry Azumarill (and the old Primarina), and mabye Magnezone who can probably do something with sturdy (?), what I'm saying might be completely wrong, but the thing is, we can't really know.
A significant part of the community would have been a lot happier if the quickban had just been delayed by a few days, so we would have actually had enough time to try and build more sophisticated counters to Cinderace and see if they work or not, and then, if we did come to the conclusion that they don't work, the quickban would have been fine, although a suspect wouldn't have hurt either.

 

[Potatochan]

I honestly feel like the Cinderace quickban was a bit rushed.
We got to use it in the DLC meta for 2 days and poof it's gone, out of the blue, which is "funny", because it now actually has counters. Slowbro and Urshifu-Rapid-Style hardcounter most sets, and each of those have creative options to counter even more Cinderace sets, such as Payapa berry Urshifu, which has the potential to be a 100% hardcounter, but we (the community) didn't get to test it enough.
Other potential counters include Kebia berry Azumarill (and the old Primarina), and mabye Magnezone who can probably do something with sturdy (?), what I'm saying might be completely wrong, but the thing is, we can't really know.
Everyone would have been a lot happier if the quickban had just been delayed by a few days, so we would have actually had enough time to try and build more sophisticated counters to Cinderace and see if they work or not, and then, if we did come to the conclusion that they don't work, the quickban would have been fine, although a suspect wouldn't have hurt either.

papaya urshifu fails to ko cinderace, and thus gets outsped and 2hkod. magnezone's specs moves can be bulked with relative ease, and slowbro can lose to scarf electro ball, which can be run with very little opportunity cost due to the 4th move on scarf being relatively useless. additionally, kebia azumarill fails to ko a poison type cinderace. the rest of the new pokemon lose to at least 1 of cinderace's main 4 viable sets, leaving it in exactly the same position as it was pre-dlc

 

[LRXC]

Pardon the very cool conversation everyone is partaking in, and consider checking out a new DLC video with no DLC mons!

 

[LRXC]

Maybe we can discuss the power of SHARPEDO

 

[CashKP]

Hi everyone Cash here bringing you something a little bit new for me. A brand new series called New Tools going over some new things we got with DLC. I tried to make some more educational videos in hopes to help some of the newer (or old returning players) get more adjusted to the post DLC metagame. Im going to try to put out 2-3 of these a week and I am open to criticism. If there is anything you think I could change/add please let me know. Also if there are any mons you would like to see in particular. You can msg me on smogon or on discord. Thanks and I hope you enjoy :)

Chansey

Porygon-Z

 

[nolenot]

Hi everyone Cash here bringing you something a little bit new for me. A brand new series called New Tools going over some new things we got with DLC. I tried to make some more educational videos in hopes to help some of the newer (or old returning players) get more adjusted to the post DLC metagame. Im going to try to put out 2-3 of these a week and I am open to criticism. If there is anything you think I could change/add please let me know. Also if there are any mons you would like to see in particular. You can msg me on smogon or on discord. Thanks and I hope you enjoy :)

Chansey

Porygon-Z

Maybe we can discuss the power of SHARPEDO

shameless plugs smh

 

[CashKP]

So I decided that I will be uploading 2 of these a week every Friday, enjoy :)

Skarmory

Magnezone

 

[pqs]

Hi, I think this is the right place because Mubs posted here about official slots too

Can UU 1v1 be removed from officials? It's quite a dead metagame due to the start-up being long gone and nobody really being interested in it outside of one or two people, and people aren't actually building for it most of the time and just scrolling through their teambuilder looking for a regular SWSH team that's valid. Not to mention there's not been an updated VR for a while, now.

But please don't bring Ubers 1v1 back, that tier is horrendously unbalanced especially with Dynamax in place and needs some work to not always be overcentralized like with Lunala in the past and Zacian-C now (I know ubers is supposed to be that way but it's just intensified and shit in a 1v1 setting).

I think some there's some options for the new official slot, if you want to go the OMs route, there's CAP 1v1, which has seen a lot of popularity between both the 1v1 community and the CAP community, and with it being limited to only CAP Pokemon, it encourages building or taking samples which is fine. There are a bunch of OMs that could potentially be brought to the spotlight if CAP 1v1 doesn't work out, like LC 1v1, Dynamax 1v1, or MNM 1v1, but I think these all have their flaws since they haven't had much development or a start-up yet.

Alternatively officials could go the old gens route and have a third SM which also would make sense imo since the other old gens also have two slots and SM is obviously more popular than them.

 

[CashKP]

Videos for the week :)

Azumarill

Rillaboom

 

[RADU]

I know it's a bit early but I really really wanna talk about the
Post DLC 2 Metagame​

Here's the list of mons that are confirmed added to DLC 2 so far:

Bar a few exceptions, I think most of these mons are broken and will utterly annihilate the meta how we know it. Let's start analyzing set by set:

Set

Aerodactyl @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Taunt
- Roost

Pressure stall is back and popping boys, the people's favorite gimmick (not really). I honestly think Pressure stall isn't gonna be as obnoxious as people make it out to be. The amount of choiced mons is reducing drastically and half of the choice mons are Scarf. People really like running weakness berries and Assault Vest on everything. Aerodactyl is probably gonna be one of the more prominent Pressure stallers just because of the combination of both Taunt and Roost, able to properly stallbreak.

Sets

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Roost / Metal Sound / Toxic

Zapdos @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Extrasensory
- Air Cutter / Ancient Power / Hyper Beam

Both these sets look pretty bad to me, with the first one being a slower Aerodactyl trying to approach stallbreaking in a some-what worse way. The Choice Specs set might be better but still ehh over-all.

Sets

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Dual Wingbeat
- Iron Head
- Thunder Punch

and then scarf, yache, haban, ddance LO, whatever the fuck you want, this mon can run a set to beat anything

This Pokemon is insanely broken with Multiscale being able to beat basically the entirety of the metagame just by switching sets. Even Fairy-types like Sylveon and Primarina, who should usually beat Dragon types, just get KO'd by iron head/tpunch without being able to KO back. I really think this needs to be banned as soon as we get into dlc because it just looks ridiculous.

252+ Atk Choice Band Dragonite Iron Head vs. 96 HP / 208+ Def Sylveon: 290-342 (81.6 - 96.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
68 SpA Pixie Plate Pixilate Sylveon Hyper Voice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 160-190 (49.5 - 58.8%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO
0- Atk Pixie Plate Pixilate Sylveon Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragonite: 84-102 (26 - 31.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Dragonite Thunder Punch vs. 248 HP / 148 Def Primarina: 294-348 (80.9 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Primarina Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 249-294 (77 - 91%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Set

Raikou @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Rest / Toxic

The middlepoint between Zapdos and Aero. With the lack of actual mons between the 328 and 361 speedtiers there's no real reason to run this ovevr Zapdos

Set

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Calm Mind / Rest / Toxic / Mirror Coat
- Icy Wind / Scald

One of the more versatile Pressure stallers. Suicune can run a lot of support moves besides sub and protect, like icy wind and mirror coat, to still beat some faster mons. It can also run a higher amount of bulk while sacrificing speed, since it has good defensive stats and its Water typing is very good defensively.

Set

Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Brave Bird

This mon looks cool on paper, let's just hope it doesn't suffer from Mega Lucario syndrome. A lot of creativty can be had with sets like endure liechi, swords dance, bulk up etc. Speed Boost is really nice and its typing would pair very nicely with Fairy types as an absolute Steel type breaker. Its raw MU spread might not be good but with the amount of great fairies in the tier it would syngergize very well in certain teams.

Set

Aggron @ Choice Band
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Head Smash
- Heavy Slam
- Metal Burst
- Earthquake / Superpower / Outrage / Counter / Reversal / Aqua Tail

Pretty hyped for this mon since the lack of good Steel types has plagued this metagame for a long time. Sturdy is always an amazing ability, as we have seen, and combining it with moves like Metal Burst, Counter or Reversal, high hitting STAB moves like Head Smash and the insane amount of coverage Aggron gets makes it very scary. I do think people are gonna be able to easily play around this mon very soon in the meta but once it gets stabilized it's gonna be pretty decent.

Sets

Salamence @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 36 HP / 28 Atk / 236 Def / 208 Spe
Impish Nature
- Iron Defense
- Roost
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage

Salamence @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Iron Tail

This mon is very interesting, probably what people might resort to after Dragonite is banned. It can run a set similar to what it had in SM with Intimidate + fast Iron Defense, and Dragon Dance Outrage to break through stuff. the second, more traditional CB set might also be pretty good, and other creative sets SS ladder kids might come up with.

Sets

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Zen Headbutt

Metagross @ Air Balloon / Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch

FINALLY, a good Steel type. I'm pumped for Metagross, it's probably just gonna be a good, healthy mon to the metagame to push Fairies back from dominance over the tier and to also keep some Dragon types in check. Clear Body is also really nice and it does get a good amount of coverage, + STAB BP priority is dope.

Set

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Amnesia
- Body Press
- Rest

NOOOOOO PACK IT UP BOYS. Not only is crit bait stall cancer registeel back, but it also now gets BODY PRESS. WITH 438 UNBOOSTED DEFENSE. It really is over for the meta. It is still a stall mon, so susceptible to Trick, Taunt, Encore, Curse and all that, but the 438 defense Body Press is still gonna tear holes through trick users. However much I wanna think about it this mon is insanely hard to break through and might even warrant a suspect lmao. (although I doubt it will get one)

Set

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Surf / Energy Ball

Honestly just a pretty good special attacker, nothing too broken. A CM set might be viable and a Scarf set too. Although I gotta say, the meta really will get oversaturated by Dragon types at this rate. This kinda puts a halt on the over-all strength of FWG cores, which are kinda walled by Dragon types without the addition of Ice or Fairy as a secondary type. The increase of Dragon types also increases the viability of Fairies, which is balanced by the increase in Steel types. It's all balanced in the end

Sets

Garchomp @ Choice Band
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Poison Jab

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Poison Jab

Forget everything I said about CB Salamence, this is literally just better. Dragon type that beats Steel types. It's not gonna be banworthy but really good.

Set

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse / Dark Pulse / Rock Tomb
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Overheat

YEEAHHH BOYY ANOTHER STEEL TYPE. Heatran has always been amazingly good through every generation just by running Air Balloon and Overheat, so I doubt it'll be any different this time around.

Set

Cresselia (F) @ Sitrus Berry / Kasib Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Moonlight
- Calm Mind / Rest

nooo gamefreak why did you have to do this to us. reliable defense boosting move paired with Stored power? on a mon as fucking bulky as Cresselia? bruhhh. Nothing is gonna be able to break past this mon with raw strength, people are gonna have to run Trick or Taunt on every team rippp.

Hide

Victini @ Choice Band
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Zen Headbutt
- Trick / Flame Charge

This can also run Scarf, Special, LO, Shuca, Passho, any item really. Stuff like Glaciate is good too, and it also gets Dazzling Gleam for the special route to beat dragons

Super strong breaker with amazing offensive stats, very versatile. Fire typing makes it good to beat Fairies and Bolt Strike allows it to beat Primarina. Over-all an amazing mon, will probably be around S tier or so.

Set

Genesect @ Choice Specs
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt / Ice Beam

+ Scarf

Honestly with SS kids experimenting Genesect could reach its max potential with Download being able to run both mixed and phsyical, and moves like Flame Charge and Metal Sound to abuse this mon's great stats and typing

Another amazing steel type and another mon I'm hyped to see in action, this mon has a lot of potential and doesn't actually seem that broken. Download will get people to put their 4 EVs back in SpD once more lmao. This mon alone destroys the upper mons of the current meta beating pz primarina urshifu rillaboom sylveon and depending on set even darmg.

I'm not even gonna try to make a set cause it doesn't really need anything other than HP EVs and Thousand Arrows. This is one of the potentially banworthy mons, or maybe just ban Power Construct. If PC is banned then I can see normal zygarde being pretty decent, maybe something like B+, but zygod with base 216 HP is just too much for the tier to handle.

This mon is gonna be so good. Just slap WP on it and it's gonna do exactly what it did in gen6 but even better. The raw amount of bulk combined with a great offensive typing makes this mon super scary. It also has very useful utility in Rock Tomb, Iron Defense etc. Hopefully the amount of new steels won't hinder it too much.

Set

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Steam Eruption
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power / Flash Cannon / Focus Blast

I think this mon is gonna be way better than it was in SM and ORAS. It has a great offensive typing and great coverage in moves like sludge wave/ep. the fact that the meta is extremely slow bulky offense atm would make it even better.

Sets

Tapu Koko @ Choice Band
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wild Charge
- Play Rough
- Brave Bird
- Iron Head

and whatever else will SS ladder find for it

This mon is scary as fuck and there is 0 reason to run Zeraora over it. A Fairy type that is able to break steel types is absurd. I just hope the lack of Z moves holds it back just enough for it to not be banworthy, although we saw that wasnt the case with zera. Very scary mon, has to be seen in action. Thankfully it won't be able to abuse Rising Voltage since it's not a special attacker

Probably one of the more broken mons of DLC, even stronger than Koko. I've heard rumors that this mf will be getting Expanding Force, too. Specs, Scarf, bulky Skill Swap with Calm Mind. This mon is incredibly scary and incredibly hard to wall, would make running a steel type pretty much necessary on every team.

This mon gets Play Rough now and I heard it will get Grassy Glide. Ever thought "man Rillaboom is so damn strong this meta"? Well this mon is literally eons better in every way. Better defensive stats, way better attack, and to top it off one of, if not the best typing in the tier is added to it, Fairy.

Fini is gonna be one of the mons to fall off the most since last gen imo. Misty terrain and the sheer amount of bulk are pretty good but it lost the one gimmick that made it very viable in z nature's madness. You can still run it with a bulky offense set or other CM stuff but it just gets outclassed by Primarina

It's gonna be somewhat similar to Urshifu, with better defense and attack, a different typing and no crit gimmick. Might be ok but might also be hot trash

This mon might be completely insane. Highest speed tier in the game currently with 137 as both base attacks and insane typing coverage. It definitely doesn't like the fact that the entire meta is centered around bulky offense, so it might not OHKO as much. Still a mon to take into consideration

This dude is being veery overlooked. it's bulk is pretty frail but not by that much. What made it distinctly meh in SM is its very poor speed tier and the amount of natural bulk the other Pokemon in the tier had. With how over-all slow SS is right now and the severe power creep I think a bulky specs Xurkitree could be devastating. 173 base special attack means it can reach 483 special attack unboosted. That's insane.

Not really a fan of this mon. Aside from its typing, it really doesn't have any redeeming qualities. Okay, good stat spread over-all but low speed and none of the stats shine, reminiscent of a base 100 mythical. It might run some specs or metal sound set but nothing more

Kartana is a top tier threat similar to porygon-z and darmanitan-galar. It has a way higher speed than the other two and while the ability might be useless in 1v1 it still has a base Attack of 181. That's 507 Attack with no stat boost or item. Not to talk about the 131 defense that might allow it to run some Iron Defense Swords Dance Synthesis set similar to SM. Some people thought it might outright get banned but I doubt it

Amazing Speed, great SpA, Dragon + Poison is an insane typing and the coverage this mon has is astounding. Definitely a tier defining mon.

Similar to the above mentioned mons, is fast and hits hard. It does also have access to utility moves like Taunt, Calm Mind, Trick, but I think it simply lacks the bulk to make use of them.

My thoughts on DLC 2:

This DLC is adding a huge amount of mons that would single-handedly break the tier if added now, which is no good. Considering this, 1v1 has two options while approaching this DLC:
1. Ban/Suspect most of the problematic mons to mantain a power crept SS, which means Dragonite, Tapu Lele, Victini, Tapu Koko, Kartana, Tapu Bulu, Zygarde, Cresselia would all be in contention to get suspected and banned, +/- other mons that I haven't rated correctly
2. Keep most of the mons unbanned and only ban extremely broken ones, like Dragonite. This second solution would see an extreme gap between Pokemon that are considered top tier and Pokemon that are slightly below. Mons like Primarina and Sylveon, who are now considered extremely strong pioneers of the meta, would pale in comparison to mons like Tapu Lele or Diancie. Mons like Corsola-Galar, Arcanine, Gastrodon and Slowbro would barely have any gimmick over Cresselia and Registeel. 1v1 would also be incentivized to re-suspecting banned mons to balance the tier, like
yeah sure why not, doesn't seem that broken given what's coming back
with mons like Kartana in the tier I can definitely see this one not being that broken
dont even think about unbanning this
no.
game-breaking gimmicks. To not unban under any circumstance.

While I might be slightly exaggerating the tier gap in the 2nd option, it would still bring to an extreme overhaul of the VR, with mons we saw as tier defining getting completely outclassed. I still do think it's the best option, since banning everything that we deem too strong would become very tedious and take an obnoxiously long amount of time, and would eventually snowball into too many bans.

I know it's pretty soon, but brainstorming is pretty fun. What are you guys' thoughts?

 

[XSTATIC COLD]

If i should choose between all dlc2 mons, I'd go chomper. No i laugh, i'd go sealeo.

This mon is scary as fuck and there is 0 reason to run Zeraora over it

=> I need a doctor.

More seriously, i think the scariest mon will be lele. As you said, it needs to bring a steel team everytime.

 

[IBM]

Covering some mons stable forgot about

Strong special attacker that also has a girthy spdef stat. Probably would run a specs set similar to sm except grass knot or something instead of hp fire

Set

Nihilego @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Power Gem
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot

Could run power herb meteor beam too o.o

Sheer force is a thing, gets better without competition from z moves, /shrug probably going to be just as meh

Set

Landorus (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Grass Knot

Shell smash sturdy mon, could probably work the same as sm except without a z crystal

Set

Carracosta @ Wave Incense
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Liquidation
- Stone Edge

Poor man’s serp.

Set

Sceptile @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Protect
- Frenzy Plant

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