did a lot of these past midnight lol, i fully expect some disagreements for that reason
Bugmetl: Non-mega should check Frozalisk and Vipier okay, but doesn't really accomplish much else. Mega, however, does that with Neutralizing Gas, which...honestly, doesn't really accomplish much relative to Slate 1 mons. It beats Barad-Jur, and both Persistent and Drizzle stop working which is like good for it I guess, and Vipier and Frozalisk now suck harder against it, but not really much else changes. It is a check to Frozalisk, Vipier, and Barad-Jur all at once, though, which has got to be useful.
Cursolisk: Fragile, not particularly fast, not particularly strong...how does delayed Agility work exactly? Does the user have to stay in or can it pass an Agility a la Wish? Agilipassing sounds super good even if it'd be kind of bad outside of it, but it'd probably kind of bad even if kind of a fun gimmick if the former is true.
EDIT: Apparently you do get Agilipassing. Still don't think the mon will be that great, but it should be pretty fun to use all the same.
Denaleon: Might be kind of interesting. Its Speed tier is pretty nice for this mod and it could be fun having the choice between Fluffy or a Rocks immunity + a third STAB if the opponent sets Rocks on this. No Knock Off OR Triple Axel off of 100 base Attack is kind of a yikes though, you're locked into 80 base power moves and that won't really be strong enough as a breaker. I'm not sure how you'd run this being completely honest, maybe Fluffy with its Speed tier could help it anti-offense stuff, but it seems pretty underwhelming to me.
Dronachnid: Flat-out better bulk than Bugmetl even with its Mega. At the same though, it doesn't have very much utility, or even reliable recovery... But what's funny is that with Fire Lash and Water Absorb, you can actually scare out Drasapor. You still don't kill it though because it can switch to regain its Defense, although that has its own problems. Interesting mon but I'm not sure how viable it's going to be, especially with the influx in what will likely be pretty good Fire-types.
Fluxtape-Radio: The final part of the Fluxtape trilogy! I just had to leave my mixtape-shaped imprint on this mod. But I'm honestly pretty disappointed in how many Fires got added, but what can ya do? It doesn't really do that badly against many of the new mons, but it really hates things like Drasapor and Barad-Jur. Unsure if it'll compete with much else, but I do want to highlight the fact that its spread move resistance makes it technically only 2x weak to Earthquake. Pretty cool but not very relevant to the point of this post.
Galaleo: I'll just preface this by saying I don't like this thing's ability much, but at the very least it's fast and there is some level of risk to using what would be most of the moves on your kit since you're faster than like everything in the mod and whatever comes in will need to likely take a hit. And a Flying move coming off of a 130 Attack stat that also pivots for free, ouch. Not gonna be breaking everything by itself with how many physical walls exist in the mod but most of the mod's true resists aren't very bulky so you're going to be doing an unreasonably large chunk for a pivoting move. You also have Tailwind for an offensive archetype which this meta sorely lacks, so that's cool, but I really feel iffy about that signature move, plus free pivoting off of Defog and a pretty good defensive presence.
Impactus: So its ability makes it take half damage from Grass, Water, Ground, and Electric...all of its weaknesses are the same really, so the boost will be greatly appreciated. Sucks that its typing is weak to Rocks and its defensive stats aren't the best but that's still a great set of resistances. Being honest I don't really know what this beats, it'll probably end up being pretty mediocre even despite all the utility it has, but it's a cool idea of giving a big boost to a bad typing like this.
Ledumming: Honestly reminds me a bit of Shaymin with the coverage. Give it a Life Orb and very little really likes switching into this because of how few specially fat things there are in the meta, minus maybe one of the Steels we got this slate that wouldn't mind Earth Power by virtue of a second typing. Might not be bad.
Lenluna: Pretty nice Quiver Dance user, not much else to say. Meta really lacked Speed boosting before which this delivers on, and it's not the absolute strongest thing out there, but its stats and Ghost STAB should make it a decent cleaner. Especially if Vipier usage dies off as we think it will.
Nareceo: Here's a doozy... Lot of people hate this mon for having healing with Neutralizing Gas and its typing, even with that healing being limited to Synthesis and Wish, but I haven't seen many Pokemon so far that have been completely reliant on their abilities to function. They exist for sure, numerous examples have been brought up, but it's definitely not going to be as aggravating as people are making it out to be. Alongside what was mentioned for Mega Bugmetl, you do better against Wendigoul and now are not safe at all against Barad-Jur which was one of the better applications of this. Its stats also are pretty underwhelming and it's passive outside of the prediction-reliant Encore. Not bad at all, but it's not the world-ender that people are making out to be. Also worth mention that I think despite it having Grassy Surge and Grassy Glide, Belly Drum sets will be unviable due to lack of coverage, no immediate power, and just how telegraphed it all will be.
Nectopal: Well base form seems to be an offensive Drasapor answer. Mother of god is this thing strong. We don't really have many Rock resists, and the Steels we have that don't resist Rock hate Flare Blitz. It's fast too so chip is the only reason it cares about clicking the wrong button, but have fun positioning yourself in such a way that this Pokemon can't just click moves if you're running a defensive team. Better pack your Barad-Jur or Voltero, because nothing else comes in on this, but even so it can hit those two with a STAB U-Turn and just use its power for free momentum. Also makes for a good hazard setter because it's so fast, has a strong way of dying, and has so many hazards. Hivemind form looks like Thoralux but without the possibility of running Boots in exchange for Rock coverage, which might be worth it on teams that can really support it but I dunno. It struggles hard with typical Barad-Jur and physdef Drasapor can check it even if it's pretty iffy for that, although there's nothing saying Drasapor can't run Sp. Def if the meta calls for it now that we have other stuff that can check the broken mons of last slate. Really not a fan of the base form, Hivemind seems okay even if a bit overtuned.
Scaraboom: Seems fine, more bulk at the cost of what would likely be a worse matchup spread than Bugmetl. It can actually do stuff aside from wall what it needs to, you have Knock Taunt Defog and can even Sleep something if you want. Just another fat Bug/Steel that will just have to wait until we find out what kind of Steel the meta calls for to see if it ends up being good.
Skepparter: Okay I hope I don't get too harsh here but I really dislike this sub. Acid Blast takes every problem you could perceive with Toxic and just throws them out the window, minus the fact that it has half the PP. At best you should be taking a similar approach to Nuzzle, but this is not the case here. And it has a lot of bulk, no utility, a bad set of resistances outside of Fighting, and both Neutralizing Gas and Slack Off.... Its 80 SpAtk is very underwhelming so it's not even going to be breaking much, just gonna be annoying.
Sphobot: Does not look super viable honestly. You're basically locked into Reconstruct / Reform / TWave / attack which is extremely passive and would make me question why you're not just running a different Steel that can provide more for a team than just eat hits and spread para. Could be okay on like hard stall teams that would have the tools to make up for it but I'll still be wondering why you aren't running a different Steel.
Terminite: I've said it in the Discord but this is one of my favorite subs this slate. I like that there's actual work now that needs to go into trapping something and it's not just "switch in at the right time and my opponent loses a Pokemon no questions asked." It's a pretty....hey wait a second.
Terminite-Tapler: Have no idea how we ended up with two of these. Terminating termite I guess, makes enough sense. Anyways, it's a pretty novel idea that would end my issues with trapping and I'm pretty sure most who hate trapping would agree. Really wonder how this thing will do with Toxic Spikes. I don't know off the top of my head what all this traps, Drasapor can burn you and Barad-Jur sets up Curse, but it's a likeable Pokemon regardless.
Terminite-Keegan: I just now noticed while writing, how did both of these get Merciless?? Anyways, looks pretty bad. Its stats are all really mediocre and it has nothing to really make up for it. Strong Jaw Crunch and Poison Fang are cool but triple STAB is not enough.
Thievine: Base form looks unviable, plain and simple. If its bulk got just a slight boost then maybe it'd be okay, it's got a really nice typing and Strength Sap + Wisp. Mega form looks pretty weird if I'm being honest. It's the fastest thing in the entire mod if I'm not mistaken, but for some reason this doesn't have Play Rough, which relegates it to using Fire Lash, Spirit Break, and Superpower to break past stuff, and that's a really awkward set of moves to rely on, especially if Fire Lash lowers your own Defense. Despite all of that, though, being a super fast and pretty strong Fire-type with access to Fire Lash might be pretty cool in a meta where we just got so many potent Steels. Just stay away from Barad-Jur.
Thoralux: Hey look it's Volcarona with less bulk and no Quiver Dance. In all seriousness, I like the customs on this one, but it has a similar issue with Nectopal-Hivemind where I don't really know how to check this. My sub should do fine against it by virtue of typing, plus Barad-Jur, although this has Dazzling Gleam if you really hate Drasapor (which means some people for sure are gonna run it). Otherwise there's a lot you can do with this mon, running some kind of offensive pivoting set or Calm Mind is possible and the one-time priority should help both.
Thunjust: Base form seems like a throwaway whatever form to get your transformation, and it should do that okay by just clicking its somewhat slow Close Combat once and exploiting its good physical bulk, or clicking Charge if you're freaking real. I doubt you want to run Wild Charge as your main physical STAB move, so this is likely going special or specially-based mixed, in which case you have Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, Hurricane and Boltarang all as options alongside Charge because you're real. Should be a decent enough breaker, but worth note that Ice Beam does not help you with Barad-Jur unless you forgo Boots.
Tommaniacal: No Shadow Ball? Sad! Boomburst / Scald / QD / Strength Sap is what you run here, looks really annoying to play against if I'm being honest. We have things like Tactaval and Dolphena that should help against it but it still does not look fun. Don't really have many other comments, we have quite a few Normal resists that got added and like base form Nectopal really bothers this thing for example.
Trojant: Well we now have FOUR Bug/Steel-types, even if you discount the mega. What a slate. Sub passing means free pivoting but this thing wouldn't end up doing much else, I doubt you'd run it for that alone. Looks like an ideal breaker next to the rest of our Bug/Steels though, has a good enough Speed tier, a passable amount of defensive utility, and is actually quite strong after a Boost. There aren't many Bug resists here and most of them hate this thing's coverage. Might not end up being that bad.
Voltero: Also looks pretty good. Has an interesting typing and Intimidate, which I've already mentioned a few applications for this earlier and I'm sure there's more. Drizzle sets have the issue of having both lackluster Speed and bulk, but strong coverage to make up for it. Simple, effective. I like it.
Vulclairis: Blegh, Court Change...looks fine otherwise though. You basically need to use Teleport, Heart Swap, or maybe a Screen for healing if you're insane so this might be susceptible to pressure. I'd mention dual Screens but sets like that really do nothing to combat opposing Pokemon removing the screens or doing some other countermeasure, so I wouldn't call it good at that even if it seems like a fun set. Seems like a fine enough blanket fatmon with pseudo-Regen though, and it actually has some punch to it through Boomburst and Future Sight. Let's just hope Neutgas doesn't screw it too badly.
Zerborger: This is it: the final Pokemon I have to look at for today. This thing has zero defensive answers but there are a lot of things faster than it and this meta is one where pivoting is everywhere, so it might not be the end of the world. I really wish this thing didn't get Fire Fang, it makes no sense on this mon and there would be some decent defensive answers to it while it would still have its offensive presence. Drasapor is barely able to check this at full with Leftovers but because of how easily it gets past Steels and how few Waters we have, there's like nothing else. Maybe it'll be more tame in practice when it doesn't have to decide between three moves every time it comes out, but it reminds me a lot of Urshifu and I'm not a fan.
