Project Draft League Tiering

[OdinRM]

Following the end of Spring Seasonal, we would like to hear from the community about the current state of SV Draft!

https://www.smogon.com/forums/form/draft-tiering-survey.291/select

 

[Addison]

Hi! SwSh Update coming in hot, ready for DCL 4 as well as SwSh Cup later this year. Between DWL and DPL recently, we've seen some pretty stark usage shifts as well as some clear trends in the draft. The board can be found here.

But first and foremost: 19 is gone. Eviscerated into atoms.
As tested in DPL, the top 8 mons on the board will be divided into 4 20-pointers, and 4 18-pointers. The theory behind this is that the agreed "big 4" of SwSh Draft were seeing an imbalanced amount of usage and success compared to other Round 1 picks, meaning, on average, Drafts that were picks 1 through 4 in the draft were more likely to be selected per week in team tournaments, and as such has higher rates of success. We found that broadening the gap between these "big 4" and the rest of the pool helped mitigate this issue. The divisions are now as follows:

20 points:
18 points:

Now onto drops and rises!

Rises!
17->18 Agreed upon as the best steel in the format, Celesteela finds extremely consistent results unlike any other fellow 17-pointer, so we moved it up.
16->17 As a consistent early round 2 (and sometimes even late round 1) pick, and as one of the tier's primary speed option, with high win percentages across every tour, Cinderace has finally been risen to match its fellow-fire type Victini. Cinderace has found extreme success alongside Kartana and Mew, and profound success if it manages to make it to either of Landorus-Therian or Garchomp.

14->15 Nihilego consistently found itself above its fellow 14-pointers in regards to how early it got drafted, and it was drafted in pretty much every pool. Not to mention it has snowballed multiple games in a way no other 14-pointer could dream of. Meesto Beam wins again.

12->13 Its been a long time coming, Uxie has extremely high usage as an extremely role compressed option for nearly any type of team. The competition for it is tight and it has found consistent usage and success at 12 points for almost 2 years now. Its time for a bump up.

7->8 6->7 Recent drops who saw an uptick in usage and success once they dropped so back up they go.

4->5 Very reasonable late round picks as speedy support options with offensive merit, they will still be frequently used at 5 points.

1->2 Everyone kept drafting this guy at 1. Did he do anything? I don't even know, but time for folks to try something new with their leftover point.

Drops!
18->17 Unfortunately with a winrate of under 40% across the last year of team tournaments, Zeraora has been moved down. It's not just a low winrate, though, its the fact that Zeraora teams are chosen significantly less than any other round 1 team in SwSh. It's no surprise, Zeraora historically has struggled hard in the Landorus-Therian matchup which disincentivizes choosing it quite often. Hopefully now that it has some competition with Cinderace in the same tier, it will be valued more as a speed option with some more added value to help it out.

Speed These elite speedsters have been dropped by a point. Having elite speed can be very high demand in SwSh Drafts, yet none of these mons see any interest.

Grounds Incredibly crucial type to have on any draft this generation but competition for the top tiers is so high that many low tier grounds get overlooked. Rhyperior, Seismitoad, and Steelix in particular have very real places in the meta but often get overlooked due to their price point.

Steels Arguably the most highly sought after type behind grounds, and still saw no usage in DPL (barring Heatran which sucked butt). They've all been dropped a point.

Fairies Outside of the notable top tiers, like Tapu Koko, Fini, and Lele, not many fairies get to shine in SwSh other than the odd Primarina or Sylveon. We dropped quite a few unused low tier ones by 1 point to see if anyone would catch on.

Grounded Poisons I watch players drool over these...take your pick. Each dropped by 1.

Got lost in the meta All of these mons are good mons, but have seen less usage than they used to due to meta shifts as well as not offering that much reliable role compression at their present, as such we have dropped them by 1.

Misc. Little goobers many of whom haven't seen play since the dinosaur ages of SwSh.

 

[Almighty Rye]

Hello, I will be breaking down the latest changes for the ORAS tier for DCL 4. The main goal of the changes was to implement a lot of usage based tiering based on trends we have seen from previous team tours like DCL, DWL and DPL. Special thanks to those who helped me with the tiering being HjSean, Slick, TJ and blitz.

Banned
To start, we first took a look at reimplementing Mega Alakazam back into the tier. Long ago, Mega Zam was a regular in ORAS with the mon not even being a R1 pick or seen as broken as Mega Gard. However, after Mega Zam’s dominance in USUM back in the day, it was swiftly banned from ORAS in the fear it would wreak the same havoc. Thus, we went ahead and reevaluated Mega Zam to see how it would fare against recent drafts while also comparing drafts of old when it was allowed. From these, we determined that Mega Zam’s inclusion would likely be too strong and its potential of being broken was not something worth risking in DCL and so it remains banned at this time.

Notable Rises:

16->17
Weavile is the fastest viable speed that isn't a mega while also being a fantastic counter to some of the top mons in the meta like Garchomp, the Landos, Torn and others. Not to mention it being the best pursuit trapped aside from Krook and Scizor. Its value as premier speed has been recognized more and more with it being taken early R2 nowadays thus it gets a price bump.

15->16
Infernape is one of the most coveted R2 mons there is with it pairing well with virtually all of the top tiers in 19 and 18. Not to mention its speed tier lets it outpace many of the mons in the 100s and is one of the best scarfers in the gen. Finally it offers the best check to the aforementioned Weavile. The price raise is a long time coming so yeah Infernape is 16 now.

15->16
Thundy is just like Infernape where it's a mon that pairs exceptionally well with many top tiers and gives a multitude of roles such as elite speed, speed control in prankster twave, and pivoting which is hard to come by. This is Thundy I’s best generation and its consistent performances have warranted a price raise.

14->15
Jirachi is one of the most annoying mons in the tier with its dreaded iron head flinches and body slam paras which are more impactful in ORAS given para’s debilitating speed drop. Jirachi also offers the best Mega Gard answer out of any other steel type making it a highly sought after mon in early R3. Yep we are making those rachi kiss cancer cores just a bit harder to achieve so Jirachi receives a price raise by 1.

13->14
13->14
Did I mention just how annoying Togekiss is? Yeah I did but let me give you some more as to why Togekiss is more expensive. Togekiss is the second best fairy type in the gen after Clefable but also offers the valuable but hard to come by defog. That alongside its ability to stat check a lot of the top tier offense makes it a valuable addition to any team. Next we have scizor who like togekiss offers defog but it also stands out as the best speed control and pivoter in the game with bullet punch and u turn respectively. Scizor has long been a mon sought after in late R2 or early R3 so we have raised its price.

10->12
Raikou is the best speed you can attain without spending on a top tier. Base 115 speed is incredibly fast in the gen and it offers a great check to top tier mons like Torn, Zapdos, and Keldeo. Raikou has been stuck at 10 despite being consistently taken ahead of mons several points above it so it is now 12 to reflect its value. Someone somewhere just witnessed JimmyG fall to his knees.

13->14
Starmie is the best spinner in the tier with it also being an incredible check to the metagame king Keldeo. It deserves to be 14 given its unmatched support.


Notable Drops:

17->16
17->16
17->16
While all these mons are consistently drafted in R2, we found that these mons are less prioritized than the other mons accompanying them in 17. Neither Latios nor Clefable are one man armies that can carry a team to be worth 17 and Mega Gallade often struggles to get going given the ORAS speed mechanic where it stays base 80 speed the first turn it mega evolves.

16->15
KB is a mon that, despite its amazing wall breaking ability, is often left undrafted in many team tours or left until the very late rounds to be picked up at all. Thus we have lowered it by 1 to hopefully encourage more people to pick it up. Let them see your potential, my child.

16->15
Rotom Wash is the premier bulky water in this format with it checking many top tier mons; however, its cost has led it to feel like a points sink for a role compression defensive piece so it will be lowered to fit in with other mons of its caliber like Skarmory.

16->14
A mon that is almost never drafted in any team tour format and if it does it is picked up in the midseason in the hopes it gives a team a breath of life just to be disappointing all the same. Mega Scizor has never been prioritized as a top mega like its old price reflected and it is arguably worse than regular Scizor so it faces a 2 point drop to maybe give it a chance at being drafted.

15->13
Mega Alt is a mega that has actually seen a lot of play as of late. The main reason for its decrease is due to it not having the team carry stats to warrant it taking 15 points of ur budget and better reflects a niche mega with lots of potential v the right teams such as a Mega Charizard that it sits alongside in 13 now.

14->12
14->12
13->11
13->12
13->11
All these mons are niche meta picks that have retained their prices across many team tours while rarely being picked up. This is due to a variety of factors such as not offering defined roles or being worse versions of mons above them. As such they have all received price drops to encourage their drafting.

14->12
13->12
What a fall from grace… Sand used to be one of the most coveted archetypes of ORAS with it being drafted time and time again. Sand nowadays tho has been mostly abandoned due to the multitude of negative records it received. Even when picked up, the teams have rarely excelled. We hope that with both components receiving price drops, sand may reach its once lost glory.

13->12
10->8
12->10
All of these megas are very powerful and on the right teams can excel as a mid tier megas that you got at the end of the draft cause no one wanted them. We lowered their prices in the hopes that more people hop on the opportunity to fit in these niche wall breakers that may not have been achievable before given their price.

See the full ORAS tiering changes here.

 

[Tidal]

Hello everyone! The coolest and most kind and charming USUM council member Tidal here with your DCL tiering update, this time for USUM!

Not too much has changed given USUM Cup's board update prior, but we did want to take a look at draft and usage rate for some minor tidying up and improvements to the board, special thanks to the rest of the gang OdinRM, vmnunes, KCric, and not Hacker because he smells bad.

Rises

11 -> 12

Mega Charizard Y has become a notable meta staple over the last few tournaments, having good results across DPL and DWL and a solid draft rate in the USUM Cup. It's now drafted more than its other form thanks to its stellar offensive profile, unique utility, flexibility, and value for its price, so we've decided to give it a small bump up to reflect its metagame presence and consistency.

Drops

13 -> 12

Sorry Krookodile! Unfortunately, being weak to the electric's most common coverage options, or in Tapu Koko's case, it's STAB, makes it quite a bit worse off as a ground compared to it's friends Nidoking and Nidoqueen, who boast a more impressive defensive profile and offensive presence in the tier. Krookodile's usage has also fell off, notably only being drafted twice across both DWL and DPL in favour of other budget ground-type's that can handle the electric duo better such as Stunfisk and Piloswine, so a drop in points was deemed appropriate

11 -> 10

We have not seen Hawlucha be present in any tour capacity for quite a while due to it's nature of being a luxury offensive piece on Koko and Fini teams (please don't draft bulu unless you're JCMShadow). Hawlucha isn't really too notable otherwise and should be easy enough to handle for reasonably cheap due to its one dimensional playstyle, and will hopefully see some more usage in future tours.

11 -> 10

This guy hasn't been drafted since DCL II. Image below. Love this guy though and probably worth it for the price now!

10 -> 9

Mesprit has always been a neat little package for drafts, mimicking what Uxie can do with a bit less bulk and a little more power, but we wanted to drop it to encourage it's draft rate to move up a bit more, helping be an interesting yet solid option for drafts that need a bit more utility to help fill out some gaps. Give it a try!

10 -> 8

Tyranitar is in a similar vein as Hawlucha, it's mostly seen as a niche luxury offensive piece, or uniquely as the premier sand option to use (which frankly, is very rarely). It's got plenty of potential by itself, but struggles to get picked up mostly due to it's generally weird match up spread into the top tiers, but hopefully a noticeable drop in its pricing lets it get picked up once again.

9 -> 8

On the other hand, Mega Kangaskhan has struggled to get usage over the past few tours, notably getting 0 usage throughout the USUM Cup and not being drafted in the tour, as well as in DPL and DWL. We figured that a minor price bump would be in order. Mega Kangaskhan still has a lot of potential with its diverse kit and set versatility, it simply hasn't kept up with some of the metagame changes and the trend towards other mid-tier megas like Zard Y, Gyarados, and Sableye.

7 -> 6

A wise man once said, "All of these megas are very powerful and on the right teams can excel as a mid tier megas that you got at the end of the draft cause no one wanted them. We lowered their prices in the hopes that more people hop on the opportunity to fit in these niche wall breakers that may not have been achievable before given their price." Just imagine these guys as like. noticeably worse. and cheaper. and not as powerful. At least Sceptile has some friends now!

We also dropped a ton of other low tiers with no draft usage! Some of Tidal's Picks (copyright pending) are the brand new 4 point and , the 3 point , and the 2 point and ! You can check out our full update here!

 

[KCric]

Champs Tiering Update

So this is going to be a lengthy update, as we reflect on the results of our Champions Kick-off tour and DPL. The new M-B regulation is very exciting, bringing some very significant new Pokémon and the re-introduction of important items such as Life Orb, Light Clay and Weather Rocks. Special thanks to those to the Champs tiering council being myself, OdinRM, Addison, Jascha and faygoes.


Double Mega
The most exciting new addition to the rules is that we are now allowing double mega! Given the overwhelming community sentiment for double mega to be allowed in singles, as well as practical reasons, such as a large portion of the current dex being megas, we have decided it is time to experiment with allowing it.


Mega Budget
However, we have allowed it with a mega budget of 22, between a maximum of 2 megas. The reason for this is that there were concerns that ‘broken’ double mega combinations could theoretically become available, such as Mega Clefable - Mega Garchomp. This could be revised in future, but for the purposes of DPL, we wanted to remain relatively conservative while we trial this new rule.


Item Clause Vote
Preceding DCL, we wanted to trial the use of the item clause. That is why the Champions Kick-off tour had an item clause, while DPL did not. Ultimately, we put it to a vote, which was 4-1 in favour of no item clause. The reason for this was that, as a draft format, Champs already has very limited items available in the dex. Restricting these even further, especially given the amount of strong Pokémon, such as Mega Raichu Y (Spoiler) and Mega Delphox are available, was seen as too debilitating and ultimately, it would be more competitive not to restrict item usage. The contrasting argument for keeping item clause was to make this format as close to cartridge as possible, as well as there being a skill element to item clause; being able to figure out what Pokémon has what item enables you to play with the requisite knowledge in working out what other Pokémon are holding.

Ultimately, we will be moving forward with no item clause for DCL but there might be room for considering item clause in future tours as the format develops.


M-B additions


There was some discussion about the legality of Mega Raichu Y, including one vote for ban. However, we have opted to let it remain free for now, citing its paper-thin defenses, the presence of pokemon faster than it such as Mega Delphox and Aero, as well as the amount of powerful priority in the format. It will start at 19 points.


Mega Mawile will start at 18 points, as one of the strongest pokemon in the format, bolstered by the lack of Rocky Helmet. However, we believe it will remain manageable given its poor speed tier and the presence of other powerful megas in the format.


Gholdengo, despite the sizable nerf to its signature move, Make It Rain, will start at 18 points as the premier spin-blocker in a tier without Heavy Duty Boots and strong spammable STABs.


In past generations, Mega Blaziken and Mega Metagross have been too strong to allow in both standard and draft play. We think that remains the case and both are banned.


Mega Barbarcle was banned in a 4-1 vote due to the insane combination of strong STAB moves, a broken setup move in Shell Smash, and Light Clay now making Screens Strategies stronger. At +2, Mega Barb OHKOes almost everything in the dex.


With access to Wave Crash and the Damp Rock reintroduced, Mega Swampert brings new viability to rain as a scary sweeper and breaker. We have decided to start it off at 15 points.


Dragapult Ban

With its stellar speed tier, unresisted stab combination and extreme versatility, Dragapult put in a phenomenal showing in DPL and proved to be very difficult to handle. As a result, we have decided to ban it as it is clearly the best Pokémon in the meta, in a 3-2 vote. We might revisit this as the dex gets bigger and more Pokémon become available.

Notable Raises

The consensus best mon in the format by champs players, Garchomp, was raised to 20.


Palafin had a fantastic showing in DPL and Kick-off and was raised to 18.


Wide Lens has allowed Maushold better use of its signature move, Population Bomb, and thus we have raised it to 9.


Hisuian Samurott had a fantastic showing in DPL and Kick-off and was raised to 16.


All the weather setters received a point increase with the weather rocks back in the game.


Corviknight and Skarmory were shown to be the premier defensive steels in the format, and have received commensurate raises.


To balance the double mega rule, numerous megas, such as Mega Garchomp, Mega Clefable and Mega Skarmory, were raised to reflect their flexibility.

Drops

Mega Floette had a very poor showing in DPL and Kick-off. It is simply not as strong in doubles, where it does not have the support to overcome its lack of coverage and middling bulk. We have dropped its price to 16 to reflect this.


Mega Excadrill is, quite frankly, worse than its non-mega version. We have dropped it to 11.


We have also dropped a number of the lower-tier megas to incentivise their usage.

See the full Champs tiering changes here.

 

[LogIce]

VGC Regulation M-B Tiering Update
Not as many tiering updates as last post, but quite a few all the same as we gear up for DCL. The kickoff was good data to go off of, and thus we do have some changes. Thanks again to the council for dealing with me wanting to push out a second slate so soon Feyy Bananacrazy111 trace KCric Lindwurm . If you're looking for the full list of changes, you can find that here. Without further adieu, here are some of the most important shifts we decided on:

Rises

19 -> 20
Mega Floette is widely regarded as the most broken pokemon in the format, and thus we decided to give her own place in 20.

18 -> 19
These guys are easily the best non-mega pokemon in the format, and we decided they all deserved a point raise in respect to that.

17 -> 18

Mega Delphox has seen some good results in standard play, as well as in the kickoff tour. We gave it a point raise to 18 to account for that.

15 -> 16

Probably one of the best secondary megas of the format, we decided to give it a point boost.

14 -> 15

These fairies may have been slightly too cheap judging based on their usage and state in the metagame, each rose a point to reflect that.

2 -> 5

The amount of DMs I got about this guy only being 2 points in kickoff was crazy. Due to its success in standard format, and relative matchups into the dominate fairies of metagame at the moment, we rose pex all the way from 2 to 5.

Drops



This isn't gen 6 anymore, and these two might've fallen off but we are a bit hesitant to drop it much below 17 right now. We dropped them both a point to see if people are willing to pick them up and give them a shot.

17 -> 15

I mentioned last tiering post that Annihilape may struggle without a lot of it's toolkit that it lost in champions, as well as its Rage Fist nerf, turns out we were right and dropped it 2 points to account for that.

Along with the above, there were various 1-2 point changes to reflect draft rates and relevant metagame matchups. Check out the tiering doc to see the full list.

 

[jscurf]

SV Update!
Hey everyone, since the last SV check in a lot has happened, and naturally, the SV tiers are going to look pretty different from what you are used to. From a new council, to the results of SV in spring seasonal and DPL, and an SV survey, a lot of data has come in. Although the council and general player base has been pretty happy with the state of SV lately we are excited to implement a some major but mostly minor adjustments to help the tier reach its full potential this DCL.

Bans:
Interestingly, this is the most bans we have had on any slate in the last couple years. For starters, Tera Regieleki was not exactly expected to stay in the tier. Despite an incredibly lacklustre seasonal, the player base, especially qualified players, did not view this Pokemon as healthy. Although manageable in prep, Regieleki was incredibly constraining, imposing itself in a way almost akin to SWSH Spectrier, forcing high draft rates on Electric immunities and forcing the opposing side to Tera Electric in a high volume of matchups. Although not inherently broken, it was found to be quite unhealthy for the current meta, a trend within the philosophy of the bans.
Although seeing virtually no usage throughout most of SV, Tera Gothitelle had been on many people's minds as a potentially unbalanced threat. Winning the spring seasonal, this hypothesis was supported. Another Pokémon that may not be broken in standard terms, this option simply did not seem healthy, especially once it finds more usage. The smallest unsuspecting play can always be game-ending with Tera Gothitelle on the other side; it can be tailored to take advantage of virtually anything with the right set and type, either winning the game itself or removing incredibly crucial pieces. As much as counterplay might exist, this is a huge constraint in the builder that does not feel balanced.
The most controversial of the bans is certainly Tera Zarude. This Pokemon has been on the radar for a while, and if I had been the SV leader sooner, it probably would have been banned or voted on more seriously a while back. This would've optically made sense after an incredible seasonal into DWL where it was clearly the best Pokemon in both events. Despite a very mediocre, even bad, performance in DPL, Zarude still sat atop the survey amongst qualified and unqualified voters in terms of ban potential. Having played it myself in tour many times, Zarude puts the opponent in a difficult position like no other Tera Captain, often having 5 sets that could win the game and such a supreme flexibility of roles. It can be very difficult to find the right prep to cover the most likely option, another case of not unbeatable but certainly more difficult and less healthy than its peers. Will Zarude remain banned forever? Time will tell. Right now majority of the council viewed the metagame as healthier without Zarude and we are going to see how that feels this DCL.
Key Usage and Winrate Rises:

14-->15
Getting your ground has long been viewed as one of the high priorities in the early rounds of drafting. Landorus has been gaining a ton in popularity, pick order, and winrate, and thus sees a small increase.
14-->15
Another paramount role on any SV draft is top Speed. Although disregarded for a bulk of the generation, Iron Bundle is starting to get a lot
more respect for its really unique combination of power and disruption, as well as outspeeding the other fast threats if unboosted. This has led to some really strong win rates and much higher draft rates and this price increase.
11-->12
Long considered the third best Ogerpon forme assuming Tera is out of the equation, Hearthflame has now even made the case it might just be the best. Perhaps hyperbolic but Hearthflame has begun being drafted in every pool and see a ton of success with its good utility and potent breaking potential. This has especially thrived on balanced structures like Tornadus Therian and Hydrapple teams, enough to where 11 feels too cheap.
12-->14 12-->13
These blobs out blob pretty much everyone else and get drafted way earlier than other comparable Pokemon in this price range. Winrates have certainly varied, usually leaning towards positive, but even so round 2 Pokemon generally are not 12 pointers in any Draft format.

Key Tera Captain Rises:

16-->18
As the Blaziken guru (full ego) this pains me a little but was just long overdue. Overlooked for way too long, Blaziken may have the biggest snowball potential of any Tera Captain in SV. With a much wider variety of roles than it appears, Blaziken is good in every matchup and can always force a great deal of progress, usually force people to tear their hair out in prep, and sweep a ton of end games. In DWL and DPL we saw this Pokemon pop off to alarming winrates for something once deemed unviable and at its kind of modest past price point. Nowadays I am even hearing Blaziken is next on the ban chopping block; however, that is very premature. It is expected we will see a much higher usage rate in DCL than drafted in 1 or 2 pools. At a higher price point with more attention towards counter teaming it, lets just see how the chicken does.

16-->17
Many may not know this, but across the last DCL-DWL-DPL Hydrapple actually has the highest winrate of all Tera Captains. Fitting on a ton of structures, Hydrapple can be a very challenging wallbreaker or setup threat on defense, but also near unkillable on offense. We have seen this paired with about every single round 1 possible and it nearly always goes positive or even. That and being drafted in first half of drafts, every single pool, all combine for a slam dunk case to increase in price.

14-->16 11-->13
We have seen a rise in mid tier Tera Captains since DWL and of those options Gholdengo and Hydreigon, who were often paired together, both succeeded beyond the rest. Boasting strong performances as well as passing the eye test with flying colours, these flexible threats have shown to be capable of sweeping teams with ease while having strong utility and defensive flexibility. These price increases reflect their potential as well as their popularity of late.

Key Usage and Winrate Drops:

Speed: 15-->14 14-->13 14-->13 (Tera)
Always at a premium in SV (remember when Greninja was a round 1 in every pool), any fast options are inherently very interesting, and if they see very low usage, drops could help introduce a lot more flexibility to the meta.

Struggling Tera Captains: 19-->18 16-->14 14-->1313-->12
Whether it be draft rate, win rate, or just how they fit onto drafts, being a popular Tera Captain is hard in SV with the abundance of viable options. The Pokemon above and many more have dropped to reflect this competitive landscape. Raging Bolt is probably the most interesting of the drops however, it has not had stellar winrates in a while and qualitatively has been very difficult to successfully draft around as a round 2 pick.

Underused Fat: 13-->1215-->1413-->12
SV is as offensive as ever and a lot of bulkier pivots have largely fallen out of favour at their past price points.

Shifts I Have My Eyes On:

Rising:
Falling:
Ultimately I am really excited to see how DCL SV plays out. SV is in the best shape it has ever been in most of our opinions and hopefully it continues to get a little more diverse and healthy with these changes. To see all of our changes I mentioned as well as those I could not check out the tiering document here.

 

[Addison]

Hey Gang! Hope everyone is excited for the SS Cup.

We've made some changes, mostly drops, to test out for this tournament. You can check out the new and improved board here.

And welcome Glop and HisuAvalugg to the SS Council!