Pet Mod [Gen 9] Blindsided

[DuoM2]

staff approved

HE SEES ONCE MORE​

Hello, and welcome to another iteration of Blindsided! This was a mod back in Gen 8 where I sent a DM to every active Pet Mods user asking them for a Fakemon and compiling a meta out of what I got back. Sounds simple enough, right? Well here's the catch - nobody could see what anyone else submitted until the meta was complete. Last gen this created a meta that was completely unbalanced, with no bulky Steels to speak of and very few defensive Pokemon to keep the broken sweepers at bay, but this time should be a bit different.

This time, so I tried to check over everyone's submissions for balancing, but I'm certain something went under my radar. I was RUSHED for work here, a vast majority of my past few days have solely been put into this mod - talking with people about it, forming a list of every user I could find (and still missing a few - I had over 100 people), and actually sending enough DMs to make Discord think I was a spambot. It goes without saying, but please do not bash anyone for their subs being broken or having "stupid ideas" or anything like that. The former is 100% my fault and the latter is just people trying to have fun with their one submission. For what it's worth, we did get 80 responses this time, so the chance that we're straight up missing anything like last gen having no Steels is significantly lower than it was last time.

I'd like to mention here that despite how finished this mod may look, there will be future slates! There is more fun to be had with this concept! What exactly will be done with them I don't want to say yet, but keep your eyes on this thread. I won't be flooding people's DM inboxes anymore.

also here's a spreadsheet lmao

 

[DuoM2]

reserved

 

[DuoM2]

Reserving this one too just in case but feel free to discuss what you expect of the meta here!

 

[Totally_Odette]

i played 3 games and lost 2 of them so I feel like I’m qualified to analyze this metagame

ferroluna- big offensive threat, 135 attack and 117 speed when bolstered by booster energy is huge, especially if it can get a sd off (Which it has the bulk to do fairly often.) from what I’ve seen it’s probably the premier sweeper right now, but it’s definitely like 5 hours into the meta game so we’ll see. extremely solid overall

phenominix- there are two fire flyings with regenerator so I’m gonna talk about the one I used! it‘s pretty bulky and it has u-turn, there are a whole bunch of regen mons but there’s only two I ran. I used this one as kind of a weird lead/hazard control with Defog/Spikes? It’s definitely not the most optimal use, but pretty hilariously I gave it flare blitz and it kind of carried my team a lot of the time. Idk how good it is, it definitely has a lot of competition, but it works well enough

zarkanon- the other regen mon I used. This one has teleport, which can be really useful as a guaranteed slow pivot even with zark’s decent speed. Good special attack and most importantly, access to scald! Scald is really good on something like this, especially since two of the three types it fears the most are primarily physical (fighting and ground.) definitely a pretty good and solid mon, and truthfully one of my favorites!

diabol- ok this isn’t really “good” but I have to talk about it because I think it’s just the best mon ever created. Simple is a funny ability, and the metronome/explosion set is absolutely hilarious. it rolled superpower against my zark and ohkoed it but I couldn’t even be mad because it‘s just so funny. Again, probably not that viable, but surprisingly not as useless as one might expect a gambling nuke to be. It’s really bulky, so it can hilariously kind of fish for good metronome hits, and it’s explosion is honestly pretty strong. I love it

psydrive- tapu eleki is pretty good. Electric terrain stab psyblade is obviously great, and its incredible speed tier lets it put in a lot of work. Honestly not too much to say about it, it’s just a really good offensive mon.

terrapollo- this is a really peak mon. Beast boost is a fire ability, and this is a really good use of it. Thousand arrows + beast boost with a band or scarf let’s it act as a breaker that can also do a sweep. Good speed, good offense, probably one of the best STAB moves in the game, it’s very solid. Definitely a great mon, big fan

fendeerie- okay i didn’t use this one but it did beat me twice, so I have to talk about it. Speed boost is obviously an amazing ability, and Fendeerie has the skills to take advantage of it. It’s quite strong with a life orb, it’s fast enough to use speed boost well, and that’s not even its only viable option! Intimidate is another amazing ability that Fendeerie can use really well! Although I don’t know too well what it’s capable of, I do know that it’s really cool, and seems like it’ll be a pretty good mon overall!

tyrannyan- I’m legally obligated to talk about my sub right? i was pleasantly surprised to find out that tyrannyan is not actually too bad. Opportunist gives it a real thing it can do as an anti-setup mon. it can mess up madad if it switches in on a belly drum, it can remove hazards with mortal spin, and it can provide a pretty strong knock off (I think it’s like, the fifth strongest in the tier?) if it had a better matchup against ferroluna, then I think it would actually be pretty good! as it stands, it’s not the most viable mon at all, but it’s usable and I love it.

thanks for coming to my TED talk

 

[DuoM2]

Time to make my hour 8 post after playing only 5 games but watching a majority of the rest. I've only used one team with minor tweaks.


- Intimidate Cavvage has felt like a lifesaver in the games I've had it. Just Leech Seed + Protect often feels like enough to make it last and it's a really important way to check a bunch of broken mons at once like Ferroluna, Terrapollo, and Psydrive. If this thing is healthy then those cannot get going, although I've seen two of them tech U-Turn which could prove to be a problem in the future. If this thing isn't healthy then it's going to struggle to get back up. Kinda has 4MSS in that you want Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, Protect, Stun Spore, Horn Leech, and U-Turn, but it's not a deal breaker by any means and you can definitely build around this.

- I don't feel like people are building cautiously enough around Terrapollo yet. Chelperela and Crevicera are cool and checks like that will force people to experiment more with it but I've just been able to run Choice Band Speedboosting and it'll just kill stuff and sometimes win outright. Even still I've had Banded U-Turn and always had the option capably chunk both of those even if I didn't feel a need to really use that. Maybe my team's not built to be aggressive enough, I dunno. The possibility of Bulk Up sets exists too and in general I could see this thing ending up broken pretty quickly.

- I haven't played against this one much but Phenominix has seemed pretty ridiculous when I've seen it. Very well-optimized stats, Regenerator, very strong STAB combination that also offers it plenty of resists to let itself in, Swords Dance... I'm pretty sure I've played against this thing once and don't remember how I dealt with it, but wouldn't be surprised if it were just the pressure from all of my more offensive mons happening to do well into it. I don't know if much optimization can be done in building against this either, reminds me very much of my good buddy Fluxtape-Stereo offensively.

- Ferroluna also might be really strong, but not strong enough to the point where I think we should be quickbanning it just yet. I've mostly just seen people run Booster Energy + Swords Dance but that set might just be all it needs, its STAB combo + coverage is pretty scary. Some people have had difficulty handling it but I don't know if it's bad enough to be a problem just yet because there's also been a fair amount of games where it's just done very little. Maybe people need to learn to build against this mon to show it's manageable, maybe people need to learn how to build with this mon to show it's not. A lot of set diversity is possible here so I could see it going either way. Side note but Quark Drive is better than Protosynthesis here because of Psydrive being prevalent.

- A lot of people have been running Regen cores and I can definitely see the appeal. We have 5 Regen mons and 4 of them at minimum seeming pretty nice here. Chelpelera has really optimized stats and is actually fairly threatening offensively, Dualifer has a lot of strong utility options and seems pretty splashable in general, Phenominix I already mentioned and Zarkanon has a fairly strong offensive presence alongside solid physical bulk. Phoenoptic might be solid on some teams too but I don't see what it currently has setting it apart from Phenominix. These mons though, especially Chelpelera and Dualifer, seem very simple to use and like solid places to start from if you're new and trying to teambuild.

- Like a quarter of the meta can set Stealth Rock and even more mons can remove them. Teambuilding seems pretty freeform for the time being compared to what last gen's Blindsided was like, so you all should enjoy it now before the meta gets more development and potentially ends up feeling more constraining to play as teams get optimized. Do be careful though of some of the mons I mentioned here, since a lot of them are pretty fast and you'll just auto-lose to them if your team doesn't account for them in some way.

- There's a bunch of mons I still feel are pretty underexplored, as you'd expect from a meta that's not even 12 hours old. If you want a mon to build around, I'd try Dragurall, Flumflare, Sapparine, or Sundon. I've seen practically nothing from any of those four but do think each of them hold some amount of potential in this meta.

- To close this post, a lot of you may know that I had a sub for this that I made before anyone else, that being Obzilla. I've been using it alongside Ferroluna and it's been helping with prying open certain checks for it, just having fast EdgeQuake is pretty cool. Salt Cure feels like the kind of move I can't be as tired as I have been during these battles in order to properly use. You don't have nearly the same defensive utility as Garganacl and there's a lot in this meta that's hostile to you, but your Salt Cure is way harder to switch into since all of our Regen users save maybe Dualifer don't like being hit by it at all. I don't see Curse doing much because no tera but I could still see a fair amount developing for this mon and it being pushed into broken territory. We'll see though, from what I've played of it I've found it pretty good so far. Big step up from Gloriode last gen...

 

[Dusk Mage Necrozma]

miscellaneous thoughts

My boy Terrapollo is managable imo. Unless Bulk Up sets turn out to be super broken I think it's wallable enough. It can go Scarf + Attack Beast Boost or Band + Speed Beast Boost, not sure if Life Orb is a good choice as well or not.

I like our variety of Regenmons. Dualifier is a great offensive pivot with Ceaseless Edge, Phenominix is very versatile and can remove hazards, Chelperela has a lot of bulk + Scald and enough coverage to be a Regenvest mon or can lean into its utility moves like Glare, Toxic, and Leech Seed. No idea how Zarkanon plays.

Our Fairy/Darks do a decent job keeping Psydrive in check but are far from hard counters. I haven’t used Psydrive enough to tell if it’s truly broken or just a super threatening breaker.

I'm a huge fan of Teraqua - Technician Flip Turn go brr - but Salmurai probably outclasses it. I like Salmurai as well, it's basically Urshifu-R with Flip Turn.

 

[Glubbfubb]

I assume everyone has substitute and protect like the canon games, also how good do you think the following mons will be

Chubee
Diabol
Vesquadren

 

[G-Luke]

Ok I have gotten enough battles in so I can share general thoughts.

Day 1 (and two now that I think on it) was rammed with shitty Regen teams, often utilizing 4 differing options plus two random mons. They are unironically not hard to beat at all and many threats in the metagame straight up solo them without support. Teams were annoying, but I quickly dispatched them using this set

Gilamenza @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock / Substitute
- Drain Punch / Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot

3 out of 4 of the most likely Regen spam teams are smacked SE by its STAB combination, and the last one doesn't resist Gunk Shot and cannot risk switching into Knock Off. In the early games this Pokémon was vital to slush my way through brainless Regen spam in combination with hazards which are very easy to carry in this meta. It helps that none of the Regen mons carry Wish nor Heal Bell, so regular Regen healing can only carry them so far between Poison Touch, hazard chip and switching into the wrong 120 BP STAB move. Spread runs enough speed to creep zero investment Chelperela, maximizes it's Attacking power and pumps the rest into HP. You can get away with fully defensive sets since you have the bulk but it def requires Wish support and often Heal Bell too, plus the power you gain is worth it.

Marteleo @ Shuca Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rapid Spin
- Gigaton Hammer
- Toxic / King's Shield

Heatran at home. Fun utility Pokémon that is somewhat hampered by how prevalent Ground moves are in the metagame. That being said if you are not hitting it with EQ you might find it hard pressed to KO this thing on the physical side. I have it in a replay, but I turn 1 lead this into the Ground Armadillo, Wisp'd it, and took like 25 or so from it's resulting STAB Earthquake after Shuca, it was incredible (Bare in mind that variant was max Defense). This EV spread was customized after an interaction with the Rock Ground type in a match versus Scoopapa, it's speed allows it to creep said Rock Ground type after a Rapid Spin, and people love to switch that into this for a free EQ, so it's pretty funny to smack them with a Gigaton Hammer or burn them after spinning on the switch. Nothing left to say tbh this thing ate a Banded EQ from that silly Bird Pokemon people are crying over without Shuca (with this spread).

Draugrall @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature [Modest is untested but most likely very viable]
IVs: 0 Atk
- Blizzard
- Freeze-Dry
- Shadow Ball
- Encore / Shore Up / Spikes / Nasty Plot / Whatever the FUCK

Goat status. Less than 25 moves in it's total Movepool and yet this is what I'd call one of the best Pokémon in our tier ever. It's speed tier is solid, it's power is respectful, it's STABs are spammable as fuck, and most importantly, there is no physical move in this metagame that can OHKO this thing from full, as far as I can tell, making it an instant trade machine with any troublesome physical attacker that doesn't hit it with SE attacks. Blizzard and Shadow Ball are non negotiable, as these are your main STAB moves and are highly spammable. Freeze Dry is pretty peak and being able to OHKO that rat Chel is a very valuable position to have. Last slot genuinely doesn't matter, meaning you can do whatever you want. I've been running Encore to dodge Sucker Punches and crap on mons thinking they get off a free SD or other form set up / recovery, and it works consistently well. It's only gripe rn is that Snow isn't at 100 rn! Moves currently do not recognize Snow as a weather atm so Blizzard can miss, Aurora Veil will fail and other slimy interactions. But as I said, this Pokemon had peak performance with these flaws at play, so I cannot imagine how hard it goes once that is remedied.

Zarkanon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator / Protean
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump / Steel Beam

Zarkanon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump

I like using offensive Zarkanon, a very good mon in our meta. AV exists, but I disliked the lack of utility it actually has, and just coasts on the Steel typing. Anyways, Zarkanon is a superb wallbreaker, as many teams find it hard to switch into it's coverage options, especially variants that opt for Protean over Regen. In a meta starved for good old fashion special nukes, Zarkanon sets itself apart with it's gargantuan 130 Special Attack, the highest effective one in the meta and it shows. I personally think Steel Beam is a meme but people have used it to some success to punch REALLY big holes in teams when they lack sturdy Steel resists (and I mean REALLY big), and with Regen the cost of clicking that move hurts 33% less than normal. Volt Switch for pivoting around is really nice, esp since most Ground types do not want to switch in, and most Water types do. All around great mon, it sucks that it lacks Shadow Ball as a spammable option for Protean Scarf though (or an actual Fighting move for Special sets)


I can't think of much else to spotlight so I'll talk about what I generally think. Lots of shitmons unfortunately, for various reasons - bad stats, weird typings, being based around crappy gimmicks and by far most frequently, very poor movepools. Like seriously, it hurts when you load up a mon with good stats, decent abilities and nice typing but you open it's Movepool and it's bad STAB options that do not compliment each other and piss poor coverage / utility options. Not even the funny gimmick ones, the ones that have like just unfinished or not thought-out movepools. Very sad state.

On the flipside, we have some big dawgs that run the metagame lemmie just give some small thoughts.


Ferroluna is overhyped, call me biased it's still true. No Play Rough really shudders the offensive potential of this Pokémon, making so that essentially as long as u can resist Dark, and are preferably not weak to either Fairy or Ground, u should comfortably beat the popular Swords Dance sets that have cropped up. Band sets, while much easier to use and are by and large the more consistent sets, are even easier to check thanks to being locked into as I said easy to resist moves that it can't boost through.


Psydrive is a funny Pokémon. It's the fastest Pokémon by a longshot, and can hit very hard with it's STAB moves since both are boosted under Electric Terrain. Luckily for us, we have a large assortment of viable bulky Ground and Dark types that annoy the ever living shit out of Psydrive, but it's still quite the formidable threat and imo is one you should take into account when building.

(but on Fire)
Arsekai is a mon I've only faced once or twice, but one of the times I did face it I was completely overrun by a Calm Mind + Cotton Spore Draining Kiss set, it was really scary and pretty difficult to stop for an offensive team. Bulkier squads are probably equipped with Toxic though, and one Toxic tends to ruin that set quite well. It can still customize itself tbh because Mono Draining Kiss ain't hard to run with some hazard support, so Heal Bell to dodge the Toxic? Either way don't sleep when this thing starts Calm Minding with +1 priority.


In my opinion, the true most influential Pokemon in the tier, the Pokemon that everyone should be conscious of when building any team they have, something that wallbreakers have to choose whether or not it's worth creeping it over the drop in power (until it just creeps you regardless), Chelperela. Chel can do almost anything you want, it can serve basically any role you desire of it thanks to it's godly defensive typing, extremely hyperoptimized stat spread and Regenerator. Do you need a raw specially defensive wall? Check, do you want an AV tank that can take a hit and dish it out? Check. Do you want a solid physically defensive wall? Check. Do you want a fast utility pivot? Check. SubSeed? Check. Apparently this thing is also one of the best offensive special breakers we have in the tier right now so you can check that as well. Seriously, whatever you need, Chel can do a great job at doing it, it's just that good. There isn't one thing to isolate as to why Chel is as good as it is, some key things are it's Ground resist, giving it ample switchins to many of the common threats in the meta, 115 Speed, meaning even uninvested you creep past alot of offensive Pokemon and can throw out a quick Scald, Glare (lol) or Leech Seed to cripple them before they even started, Regenerator making it damn hard to kill, or a solid 110 SpA making it relatively difficult to switch into for more frailer Pokemon. Everyone has been spamming generic Scald Recover U-turn filler as options and don't get me wrong these are incredible sets (I faced one with it being the final Pokemon alive with 5 mons up including a Flying type, SD breaker and Specs mon and still lost) but I have been thinking that they are just scratching the potential of Chel. I've got replays of two variants of a more offensive Chel cleaning up house versus offense and (shitty) Regen spam alike attached in the Discord, you would never think it's a wall doing what it's doing. It's the closest thing to arguably broken we have in the meta rn, but it's decidedly not so far until more exploration is done.

All in all, a very fun Blindsided, more fun to play than Gen 8's variant. Great work everyone.

 

[NANI?!]

Here are my thoughts with exactly 0 games played (I'll probably update them upon further testing).

- Hazards: Haratrail and Dasydillo look like the best Stealth Rock setters by a pretty big margin. Spikes has good options like Phenominix, Idk2, Draugrall, and Crevicera, while Dualifer sets it up with Ceaseless Edge. Chelperela gets Toxic Spikes, which is kind of interesting. Velvittle has Sticky Web, although I'm unsure if that's worth running. Overall, there are plenty of options for hazards.

- Hazard Removal: Compared to the setters, removers are harder to come across. Most Defoggers are either Rocks weak or don't adequately pressure the setters. The phoenix is probably our best bet, but it has to watch out for Rock moves. Freezbyte seems like a decent option in theory, but I feel like it might not work well in practice. That being said, Marteleo and even Dasydillo itself seem to work as good Spinners.

- Field Effects: Snow is bugged apparently, so I won't discuss it for the time being. Haratrail looks great in Sand. We have every Surge except for Grassy, plus Ferroluna to abuse Electric Terrain. Sundon has Desolate Land, but it doesn't look too good apart from that. However, Spirem gets Trick Room + Teleport, which could pair well with Eruption Sundon tbh.

- Priority: My boy Teraqua has the fat Aqua Jet and Mach Punch. Dualifer gets a really strong Sucker Punch. And of course, Idk2 has Refrigerate OR Pixilate Extreme Speed. They're pretty decent in terms of speed control.

- Clerics: Tiramitzu gets Wish and Heal Bell. Roseaphot seems to have Wish + Teleport. Arsekai can probably run Heal Bell alongside setup to negate Toxic, but that opens up a lot of options for counterplay. Overall, not many good choices for clerics.

- Offensive: Ferroluna might be overhyped, but Swords Dance and a Speed boosting Quark Drive are still terrifying. Melethyst deserves mention for being a fairly fast Scrappy Fighting type. The phoenix and Dualifer have Regenerator shenanigans going on. Psydrive is the fastest thing in the tier and can hit hard, but really doesn't like Grounds and Darks. Terrapollo seems like a great user of Choice Band that forces you to run actual Ground resists. Idk2 looks quite interesting as an all out attacker. Finally, Haratrail seems pretty strong as a wincon with Coil, Misty Terrain, Shore Up, and great STABs. In comparison, we don't have too many good Special attackers. Specs Zarkanon is probably a decent nuke option. Draugrall is neat, but again, Snow is apparently bugged. Chelperela seems to have potential to play offensive roles as well.

- Defensive: Haratrail is likely the best option against Ferroluna and Dualifer. It beats Psydrive and Melethyst too, so 2 birds with 1 stone there. Terrapollo forces use of Grass and Bug types, among which Cavvage, Chelperela, and Crevicera are probably the best options. Lack of bulky Waters is pretty apparent though. Freezbyte could be interesting imo, it has Magic Guard, good bulk, and Recover. Finally, let's take a look at the Regenerator mons. Chelperela, Phenominix, and Zarkanon can run defensive sets, but tbh, I think they have more potential outside of that. They make a decent core together, but it's also pretty exploitable if you prepare specifically for it.

Overall, looks like a great bulky offense oriented metagame!

My sub Teraqua's main competition is Salmurai, so I'll do a thorough comparison here to see exactly how similar/different they are.

Hide

- Both are Water/Fighting.

- Both have an ability that boosts some of their moves by 1.5x (Teraqua's Technician as opposed to Salmurai's Sharpness).

- Teraqua has Intimidate and better bulk, allowing for a defensive playstyle.

- Teraqua has reliable recovery in Recover.

- Both have access to Swords Dance for setup.

- Salmurai is faster by 20 points, with a Speed of 105 compared to Teraqua's 85. This allows it to outspeed the likes of Draugrall, Gilamenza, and Melethyst.

- Teraqua has the slightly stronger Water STAB:

252 Atk Technician Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Triple Dive (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 174-207 (51 - 60.7%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Veluza Aqua Cutter vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 160-190 (46.9 - 55.7%) -- 77% chance to 2HKO
(Teraqua is Urshifu and Salmurai is Veluza, with stats and typing adjusted accordingly. Mew is typeless)

- Salmurai has the stronger Fighting STAB:

252 Atk Sharpness Veluza Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 207-244 (60.7 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Technician Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Storm Throw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew on a critical hit: 172-204 (50.4 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

- Teraqua has the stronger Aqua Jet:

252 Atk Technician Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 76-91 (22.2 - 26.6%) -- 25.2% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Veluza Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 57-67 (16.7 - 19.6%) -- guaranteed 6HKO

- Teraqua gets Mach Punch.

- Teraqua has access to the Elemental Punches as coverage, while Salmurai gets Sharpness-boosted Psycho Cut, Night Slash and X-Scissor instead.

In conclusion, I'd say that Salmurai mostly overshadows Teraqua in this meta, unless you're looking for stronger priority or a weird defensive playstyle. Teraqua was originally supposed to have 120 Attack, which might've made the opposite true. That being said, I'm glad the more versatile mon is the "weaker" one (so you could probably still have fun playing it), and I do love Salmurai as a design.

 

[Glubbfubb]

If I knew that Substitute and Protect aren't automatic inclusions, I would of added them to my entry's moveset, right now this is the best I could come up with Chubee

Chubee (F) @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 116 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 136 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile
- Icicle Spear
- Headlong Rush
- U-turn/Leech Life
Loaded Dice allows Chubee to have good coverage against against Flying-types, and with Pin Missile you basically have Megahorn level Bug STAB, U-Turn can be used for pivoting while Leech Life can be used for recovery.

And yeah, looking back, I should have included Substitute and Protect; I thought that was automatic since like every Pokemon has that, and if it has Sub, it would have been a good hazard stacker. Right now, I don't really know its viability right now, how is it?

 

[DuoM2]

Hey guys! First big update post is here!

In case you're not aware, this meta has been very active on its Discord server (check the first post), enough so to get pretty frequent battles, especially on the first three days. There's already been a lot of meta development, and there's a fair amount to talk about here.

Most people who have been more outward about their opinions have said that we did a good job on this meta, which is cool. I don't know if this is in comparison to last gen's, lack of expectation because of how likely it was the meta would be broken, or just completely ignoring all of that, but I'm glad people are enjoying it given the amount of time I put into getting this running. The meta currently has only had two especially prevalent playstyles, those being fat balances centered around Regenerator and the occasional Aurora Veil team, although I did hear of someone trying Stall out one time.

It does kind of go without saying as well that in a meta where nobody could prepare for what was viable, some people did submit some Pokemon that ended up a bit overtuned. As such, I decided to host four roomtours (announced in the Discord server (check the first post)) for the sake of developing the meta further and singling out the people who knew the most about it. We would have a vote on some Pokemon that were suggested to possibly be overbearing were nominated and then everyone gets to vote on whether they should be banned or not. People who won one of the tours would have their votes count for 3x (myself, Sticky Fingaaa, Scoopapa, and anaconja) and people with a 50% win ratio or higher would have their votes count for 2x (Gaboswampert, zxgzxg, Fragmented, Jrdyop :), Mossy Sandwich, XenonHero126). Any Pokemon with 50% or more ban votes would be banned from the meta. And well, the votes are in...

Chelperela, Terrapollo, and Dualifer have been banned from Gen 9 Blindsided!

Chelperela's a Pokemon that's been on a lot of peoples' radars from the start. It has very high bulk, not too many relevant weaknesses, and Regenerator, plus a pretty customizable Speed tier and a Sp. Atk stat that demands respect. Although not even close to as egregious as last gen's best Pokemon, it became pretty quickly apparent that Chelperela would be very centralizing, and that only became more and more true as the meta developed. People started experimenting more and more with the little ways you could customize this Pokemon, like running Life Orb with Heat Wave to make Atomoth less sturdy of a check or running Taunt + Calm Mind. There were absolutely ways of answering it, like normally running a Dragon-type would do fine, but for a huge amount of games it boiled down to just running your own Chelperela, which is pretty bad for a Pokemon that also is difficult to break. As such, Chelperela was nearly unanimously decided to be banned in our first wave.

Terrapollo was up next on most peoples' radars. I've yet to mention in this post, but something I forgot to say in the initial DM I sent to everyone was that dexited moves are not allowed. This is something some people asked about, but I didn't get to everyone, and since I couldn't check every submission individually for dexited moves, a few things slipped by. Terrapollo was a pretty nutty Pokemon from the start when it had Thousand Arrows, and even with that removed, it's still shown to be a problem. It can choose to run Bulk Up, Choice Scarf, or Choice Band, and it can choose to boost its Speed or Attack with Beast Boost, and all of those have shown to be very potent for different reasons. A lot of games would end with a Terrapollo snowballing, though, and exceedingly few cleaners could come close to its efficiency in that job. Most checks to this Pokemon have shown to be pretty shaky or flawed for one reason or another except for Chelperela. I can't speak for the voters, but they might have gone under the assumption that Chelperela would be banned, thought that Terrapollo pushing Chelperela further into the spotlight wasn't healthy, or that it was still stupid in spite of Chelperela's presence. Either way, Terrapollo is the second ban for this round, and not an overly controversial one at that.

Lastly, Dualifer. This is a Pokemon that was always known to have some amount of presence in the metagame, but not many people formed especially strong opinions on it until later on in the roomtours. It's another Pokemon with Regenerator and not a lot of common weaknesses, but otherwise it's pretty different from Chelperela. Where Chelperela is difficult to break and difficult to answer, Dualifer is a bit easier to break but impossible to stop from making progress. This thing has both STAB Knock Off and Ceaseless Edge alongside options like Spirit Break, Trick, Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Taunt, although to be honest with you I don't remember which of these have been used the most. Bottom line is still the two STAB Dark moves though. Dualifer was banned not because it was too absurd of an offensive or defensive threat, just that it was pretty overtuned and fairly difficult to answer.


Now something else I'd like to touch on before closing this post out. I've been pretty vocal about this on the Discord, but chances are I'm NOT going to be nerfing these subs to be more suitable for the main mod again. I don't really want to go against the original submitters' intentions in any way, and I don't want them to be able to make changes to their sub after seeing what the final meta turned out to be. I'm open to getting my opinion changed but fair warning that I have a feeling this is something I'll be stubborn about. I've also said a fair bit before that people really shouldn't be getting too attached to their subs - this isn't the last Blindsided meta that will ever exist, and a majority of people unfortunately ended up making submissions that aren't overly viable for one reason or another. Also it's kinda getting annoying seeing people who disproportionately talk about their own sub compared to everything else...

That's about it for now though. Tagging joe to implement the bans. Hope you guys enjoy the new meta, and stay tuned for more votings like this in the future!

 

[anaconja]

gonna post usage here cause discord wont let me, based off 136 (possibly duplicate) replays

Pokemon	Use	Usage %	Winrate %
zarkanon	90	33.09%	55.56%
phenominix	89	32.72%	49.44%
chelperela	76	27.94%	53.95%
dualifer	74	27.21%	63.51%
terrapollo	73	26.84%	49.32%
psydrive	64	23.53%	43.75%
ferroluna	60	22.06%	53.33%
crevicera	53	19.49%	60.38%
draugrall	49	18.01%	38.78%
salmurai	44	16.18%	56.82%
obzilla	42	15.44%	52.38%
marteleo	42	15.44%	47.62%
atomoth	38	13.97%	34.21%
gilamenza	34	12.5%	61.76%
dragnis	34	12.5%	67.65%
phoenoptic	30	11.03%	63.33%
haratrail	29	10.66%	55.17%
Chelperela	29	10.66%	51.72%
dasydillo	28	10.29%	57.14%
koydatosh	26	9.56%	53.85%
cavvage	25	9.19%	52%
teraqua	24	8.82%	50%
suganger	23	8.46%	43.48%
roseaphot	23	8.46%	43.48%
funera	22	8.09%	54.55%
forenseelie	21	7.72%	71.43%
wormga	19	6.99%	63.16%
idk2	18	6.62%	55.56%
cartogopher	18	6.62%	50%
klimausion	18	6.62%	50%
craftenir	17	6.25%	64.71%
fendeerie	16	5.88%	25%
velvittle	16	5.88%	37.5%
freezbyte	16	5.88%	75%
squwhirrl	15	5.51%	66.67%
madad	13	4.78%	38.46%
bruined	13	4.78%	30.77%
arsekai	12	4.41%	41.67%
zunowy	12	4.41%	25%
glixie	12	4.41%	50%
zenoise	12	4.41%	25%
gastrel	12	4.41%	75%
vulchar	12	4.41%	25%
scorpdyceps	11	4.04%	27.27%
Atomoth	11	4.04%	45.45%
libuble	11	4.04%	36.36%
Haratrail	10	3.68%	60%
sapparine	10	3.68%	10%
ferticotta	10	3.68%	30%
caddismith	9	3.31%	11.11%
pyrove	9	3.31%	77.78%
Psydrive	9	3.31%	33.33%
diabol	9	3.31%	33.33%
Madad	8	2.94%	37.5%
Phenominix	8	2.94%	62.5%
spirem	7	2.57%	42.86%
flumflare	7	2.57%	42.86%
agonette	6	2.21%	16.67%
tusquokaagent	6	2.21%	0%
covloris	6	2.21%	50%
snowpea	6	2.21%	33.33%
roquack	6	2.21%	33.33%
fridgeate	6	2.21%	33.33%
harmadillo	6	2.21%	66.67%
chubee	6	2.21%	33.33%
cryosaurite	5	1.84%	40%
tyrannyan	5	1.84%	20%
sundon	5	1.84%	60%
locustab	4	1.47%	25%
kaledzi	4	1.47%	75%
brasshopper	4	1.47%	0%
kepaying	4	1.47%	25%
ralirulero	3	1.1%	33.33%
kurayami	2	0.74%	50%
melethyst	2	0.74%	50%
thorbarage	2	0.74%	0%
Marteleo	2	0.74%	50%
possabomb	2	0.74%	0%
origyrant	2	0.74%	0%
neuranium	2	0.74%	100%
tiramitzu	1	0.37%	0%
scorjester	1	0.37%	0%

 

[Mossy Sandwich]

I've been slowly building some kind of early personal VR and I want to share it in part to help people learn what works well in the metagame, but also to share some thoughts on what I consider to be high-tier mons.

The VR

Once again, this is just my opinion and is pretty early in this meta's lifespan so take this with a grain of salt. Only about half of the mons are properly ranked, though a lot of the one I've yet to try or see in action seem rather mediocre. Also this isn't ordered. With all that out of the way, let's talk about some mons.

Phoenoptic: This mon has insane offensive potential between its incredible speed, versatility and valuable defensive profile. It's mostly been seen running sets with Calm Mind+3 Attacks recently as very few mons with good SpDef are good against Fire/Flying and it can setup on the very common fairy types of the metagame. These sets also run Regenerator which can allow it to trade or take risks before healing back up later and even allows it to be a part of the defensive core of the user's team. This set alone is extremely versatile and makes Phoenoptic very difficult to handle, but there's still a lot of untouched potential with it. It can still use Tinted Lens sets as those could tear right through mons like Obzilla, it has access to moves like Knock Off, Taunt, Toxic, U-Turn or Will-O-Wisp to annoy mons that try to check it and it can even attempt to use Bulk Up sets. However, Calm Mind 3 attacks with Regenerator and Boots will probably remain its main set thanks to being able to get through most standard special walls.

Salmurai: This is perhaps the most versatile and useful physical attacker in the entire tier within just a few sets. Of course, Salmurai's main trait is a STAB Sharpness-boosted Sacred Sword which gives it an incredible damage output, and this is backed up with Aqua Cutter which is fairly dangerous as well. Its speed tier is also pretty great for a mon that hits as hard as it does, teams will rarely have more than one or two pokemon that outspeeds it. Between its power, speed and spammable STABs, it's perfect for both a Choice Band and Choice Scarf set with Band dealing ridiculous damage even to Fighting resistances while Scarf allows it to outpace pretty much the entire meta, including certain speed-boosting sweepers at +1. This is just what makes it good though. What makes it great are its more utility-oriented offensive moves and type matchup towards the meta. Every set runs Flip Turn which is crucial in wearing down switch-ins such as Draugrall, Craftenir or Libuble while also just being a very safe option a lot of the time. Furthemore, Band sets appreciate being able to use Aqua Jet which tends to be extremely useful priority in the metagame as it hits notably dangerous fast threats like Phoenoptic, Obzilla and Wormga. Of course, a strong neutral hit on Psydrive and Ferroluna is also appreciated. It's also worth noting that, while there are a lot of Fairy types to take Sacred Sword, a lot of them also don't take Water moves properly. In fact, there are few good bulky Water resistances in the tier and Salmurai has forced teams to adapt to include the few good Dragon and Grass types available to them. In general, Salmurai is very good against offensive mons between Aqua Jet and the Scarf set and Scarf notably can clean up especially well. It's overall an extremely valuable offensive mon that should be considered for most teams as it can never truly be useless and puts in work consistently.

Zarkanon: We have a lot of Steel types with a lot of potential, but none of them match up to Zarkanon. The Assault Vest set is one of the best general switch-in to many of the metagame's various threats and is also extremely active thanks to Flash Cannon hitting a large part of the meta super-effectively, Scald doing the same while also having a threatening burn chance and Volt Switch keeping momentum. It also has extremely dangerous Specs sets that are in part threatening thanks to Regenerator and its valuable defensive utility making getting it on the field so much easier. Regenerator also allows it to fire off Steel Beam which can be devastating for teams that lack a proper Steel resistance. Offensive Protean sets have also seen use for their offensive versatility, but I don't think they're as consistent due to the loss in longevity and defensive utility. There's not much to say about Zarkanon tbh, it's very clear at surface-level why it's good, but I think it's a good example of why offensive presence on a defensive mon is good and why defensive utility on an offensive mon is also helpful.

Wormga: There will be much less to say about non S tier mons. Wormga is a very simple yet very dumb mon. You setup No Retreat then blast everything with Fire+Ground STAB. Its 4th slot is open whether it wants Head Smash to kill the phoenixes, Shore Up to not die or whatever other abomination it may have in stock. It can also run Shed Shell if you want to not care about No Retreat's drawback! I think this mon is probably banworthy after playing with it and is mostly held back by Salmurai being a really good revenge-killer for it and by setup opportunities being a little difficult to find at times.

Phenominix: Only reason this isn't as high as Phoenoptic is that the Speed tier feels much, much worse than it and it's also not as good at running special sets which are better for its typing. Outside of that, Phenominix is generally better for more defensive roles and physical sets. There's not much to say about it that hasn't been said about Phoenoptic, typing is hard to switch into, Regen is broken, it's pretty fast and versatile.

Psydrive: I wasn't sure about putting this mon this high up because it can flop pretty hard, but it's also the fastest mon in the tier and can run through underprepared teams. Basically, Psyblade+Wild Charge is insane to switch into even if both have immunities. You can struggle even if you have bulky Grounds besides Haratrail and you may just need to take a 50% on something. It's not broken, but it can be pretty overwhelming to deal with if you lack proper answers and let it get in more than it should.

From here on out, I'll mostly be listing notable traits about A rank mons.

Idk2: Pump+Freeze-Dry is only blanketable so this mon is quite annoying to switch-into with hazards up or chipped special walls, Zarkanon is the main answer.

Crevicera: Best Spiker.

Tusquoka-Agent: Prob shouldn't be that high, but SD+High speed+Good defensive typing+Tinted Lens has swept me enough to be scared of it.

Atomoth: Poison/Steel with Levitate, Recovery, Fog and Pivoting is absurd. Typing just doesn't match up very well against top offensive threats.

Marteleo: Insane physical bulk and just like Steel Beam Zarkanon, Gigaton Hammer can hurt unprepared teams really badly.

Draugrall: Pretty hard to switch into without AV Zark and provides a ton of defensive utility for a NP breaker.

Glixie: Fast NP Fairy with good coverage #1.

Haratrail: Can be kinda passive, but answers stuff like Psydrive or Ferroluna that feel insane to deal with otherwise which is great.

Ferroluna: Speed Booster+SD threatens to run through a lot of teams if they're not careful with their counter. Also is speed control in a pinch.

Suganger: Fast NP Fairy with good coverage #2.

Forenseelie: Answers NP Fairies, sets deadly Tspikes, Spins and is a blanket special wall.

Obzilla: Fast, super strong STAB combo, answer phoenixes, has recovery and annoys stuff with Salt Cure.



Wow that's a lot of text. To end this post, I'll drop some teams I've already dropped in the discord, hopefully this can help people get in the meta if they have trouble doing so otherwise.

https://pokepast.es/fda2b4fcb89a9991 Covloris wish fat
https://pokepast.es/1674b5533b427538 Triple steel fat with Atomoth
https://pokepast.es/03abb9a2ec900c3c Dual phoenix balance
https://pokepast.es/9813b00affab8209 Libuble+DD Gilamenza BO
https://pokepast.es/ab530ce23259fc79 Triple fairy balance
https://pokepast.es/a0f5992619d72add Top tier stacking with a severe Salmurai weakness

 

[Fragmented]

Brief comments on stuff I've seen/used so far, hopefully it'll help people get an idea of what's going on.

Top Cut

Phoenoptic: The better firebird due to higher speed tier. CM sets are tough to switch into and difficult to kill since it has decent bulk.

Zarkanon: Protean and Regen are both great. AV Regen tanks so much and can still fire off strong attacks.

Salmurai: Great revenge killer with scarf and scary breaker with band. SD doesn't get much opportunity to set up and can't run all the coverage it wants.

Phenominix: Slightly worse speed tier but still hits like a truck. Defensive sets have also seen success.

High Tier

Draugrall: Very physdef mon that can threaten with NP sets.

Forenseelie: Bulky spinner that doesn't care about ghosts. Sets Tspikes and heals. Kind of hard countered by other steels and poisons, which might make Corrosion something worth considering in the future.

Psydrive: Still a scary breaker in E-terrain, mandates a bulky Ground on most teams.

Ferroluna: Still a threatening breaker with SD and the Quark Drive speed boost. Being experimenting with Scarf to consistently outspeed Phoenoptic.

Suganger: Fast NP sweeper with useful defensive typing.

Good Picks

Crevicera: Bulky PHeal mon that can consistently get up spikes and lower speed of physical attackers for your team.

Haratrail: The best Psydrive counter with misty terrain, gets up rocks and has recovery. Without Rock Slide, it's a sitting duck against the firebirds, but it wants Play Rough for Ferroluna too.

Wormga: Struggles to set up a No Retreat, but hard to handle once it does.

Gilamenza: Cool set up sweeper with all the coverage it needs, just needs to figure out how to fit them on the same set.

idk2: Spins, Flip Turns, and Hydro Pumps you.

Atomoth: Bulky sets work best from what I've tried/seen, offensive sets are better left to Zark. Gets Defog.

Obzilla: Salt Cure is annoying for bulky mons and helps check the firebirds. Kind of overlooked but still good.

Dragnis: The water immunity for Salmurai. Decent rock setter, doesn't appreciate ground types.

Marteleo: Not completely sold on it, but Intimidate and bulk allows it to survive EQs even if it's 4x weak to it. SD Gigaton does a lot of damage, but lack of good Fire STAB kind of hinders it. Decent spinner still.

Uncommon but good

Craftenir: Okay Salmurai answer, Knocks and Recovers and gets up rocks.

Libuble: Typing and intimidate handles Salmurai, fires off strong special hits and also being a Ground resist.

Cartogopher: Sets every hazard and can tank some hits. I still don't know what to expect from this.

Arsekai: I think CM+Cotton Guard is a set, but I used a Wish cleric set. Good mon, but firebirds are better right now.

Glixie: Suganger sidegrade, gets Dark STAB and Transistor Tbolt. Does not outspeed Phoenoptic unfortunately.

Covloris: Cool defensive type, fast utility mon with Tspikes, Knock Off and Parting Shot.

Teraqua: Seen bulky defog with Intimidate and BU Technician having some success, but kind of outclassed by Salmurai atm.

Koydatosh: Saw SpDef BU Rest do some work, think it's a cool idea that could work against fat teams.

Cavvage: Shell Smash sets look fun, defensive Intimidate isn't that great.

Had some success

Roquack: More defensive bird check, also has recovery. Provide Sandstorm for Locustab too.

Gastrel: Shaky Salmurai answer, Corrosion Toxics are nice to spread and can Defog hazards. Cool role compression.

Cryosaurite: I think the typing is fine for an offensive mon, and it can choose which weather to boost its decent defenses, though you shouldn't expect it to take hits well. Not as great a Dragon Dancer, but it can work against slower teams.

Freezbyte: LO Volt Tackle and Triple Axel hits hard and becomes extremely spammable with Magic Guard, and it has the bulk to go one-for-one against some attackers. Sub sets are annoying.

Zunowy: Somehow I had one live a Salt Cure from Obzilla once. Hard to find opportunities to get veil up. Gets webs too.

Brasshopper: No U-turn is unfortunate, but Sharpness hits are strong, and it gets Rock Slide for firebirds and Volt Switch for pivoting. Can't fit everything on the same set.

Locustab: Tough Claw sets are probably more consistent but Sand Rush can be a scary sweeper in sand.

Caddismith: Should be used more tbh. Good hazard setter and utility with Knock and U-turn. Stakeout hits are strong.

Fendeerie: Hex + TSpikes has potential, but lack of physical Ghost STAB does hurt it.

Funera: Used it on stall for Unware. Wisp helps it to tank physical hits better, Infernal Parade isn't as reliable in getting burns on the opponent.

Dasydillo: Very overshadowed by Haratrail, gets Pixilate spin or Fluffy to be a better physdef wall, but leaves it more susceptible to the firebirds.

Other Stuff

Scorpdyceps: Bad typing, bad coverage, bad speed. Hard to do anything with it.

Snowpea: Bad typing makes it hard to set up and it gets walled by Steels, though Bullet Seed still does like 30% to Zarkanon which is decent, and Ice Shard priority is nice.

Roseaphot: It's a Water type that cannot handle Salmurai and Fire types at all. Magnet Pull doesn't do anything since Zark and Atomoth can pivot out, though it can handle Marteleo if it's not running EQ. Wish as recovery isn't great since it doesn't get Protect for some reason. Would be a good idk2 switch-in in theory.

Sapparine: Typing checks Salm, but it lets in the regen trio for pretty much free. Most it can do back is Leech Seed.

Agonette: Haven't seen much of it, but looks like a cool DD sweeper.

 

[DuoM2]

New Blindsided slate! For details on how to submit, you must join our Discord and check the announcements room. Have fun!

 

[DuoM2]

New slate is here! You can view the results by checking the spreadsheet or just visiting Dragon Heaven. Big thanks to Scoopapa for getting it coded so soon!

 

[DuoM2]

Hey guys! First off, we now have a council consisting of myself, Mossy Sandwich, Sticky Fingaaa, zxgzxg, and Fragmented! That's not all though, as this new meta's already shown to be a fair bit less balanced than the first. The power level of this meta was a bit harder to grasp than the first so I understand, but this did call for the new council to quickly have to go around with a round of quickbans. Staff discussed what mons to slate and then promptly voted on mons that we think have no chance of leading to a balanced, diverse meta.

Esporesce, Jab-Bark, and Pandamonium have been banned!

Esporesce may have an awful defensive typing in Grass/Psychic and its Sp. Atk may be subpar on paper, but that's practically all that's holding it back from looking completely ridiculous for this meta. It still is very difficult to switch into thanks to STAB Lumina Crash, which always is followed by the threat of a STAB, +3 priority Giga Drain targeting the opponent's now lowered defensive stat. Its raw bulk also makes it not especially difficult to find the opportunity to use Calm Mind given how it has priority healing to back it up and to top that all off, it also has Spore to completely ruin one of its answers and give it a completely free opportunity to boost or Lumina Crash whatever the opponent switches into. It definitely had checks like Flumflare and Chloravage, but those were not enough for it to stop Esporesce from feeling like it ultimately had far too powerful of a matchup into whatever team it was put against.

Jab-Bark was up next. Its stats may paint it as a pretty unassuming defensive Pokemon, but one look at its ability and movepool would tell you that this couldn't be further from the truth. Jab-Bark was given Mega Launcher alongside access to STAB Origin Pulse, Dark Pulse, STAB Aura Sphere, and Quiver Dance. Its good defensive stats and solid defensive typing made it fairly easy for it to find opportunities to boost at least once, occasionally multiple times, and is raw power after boosting is pretty ridiculous. This all made it a pretty easy candidate for a ban.

Lastly, Pandamonium. This Pokemon is just a simple, "click buttons" kind of breaker tuned to an absurd degree. I don't know what everyone has been running beyond Technician but Bullet Seed, Bone Rush, and Icicle Spear backed by Technician and a boosting item of some kind like Choice Band or Loaded Dice has shown to be practically impossible to switch into. This is also further pushed by a solid Speed tier with Scale Shot leaving the potential for cleaning sets that require priority to be taken down or Rock Blast to target the few things that would make for softer checks to this.

They will be banned when I or someone else goes to update DH with this next. Hope you all are enjoying the meta otherwise!

 

[DuoM2]

Next set of ban votes have happened, and...

Chloravage has been unanimously banned from Blindsided Group B!

As the meta has progressed from its beginning, Chloravage has only shown to be more and more oppressive at its one primary role - setting Spikes with STAB Ceaseless Edge. Its bulk is pretty absurd for this meta, especially with both Grassy Surge and Leftovers supporting it, and it also has functionally no weaknesses. This has all made it extremely consistent in laying several layers of Spikes at once and despite peoples' best efforts, adjusting to it has proven to be next to impossible. Despite the voting percentage being higher, I don't think Chloravage was a bigger problem for Group B than Chelperela was for Group A, but it is practically impossible to overlook how problematic it is.

I guess I could also talk about some of the other mons on here since there's not really much else to go over in this post. Wiifii looks very unassuming at first but has access to Calm Mind, Triage, and several draining moves like STAB Parabolic Charge, Giga Drain, and Draining Kiss, which makes it a deceptively efficient cleaner. Several very capable players voted for it to be banned - it really could've gone either way. Pyroccult has dodged both voting slates now with Calm Mind Strength Sap sets being a concern, as Magic Guard and the 30% burn chance of its main STAB moves make it difficult to comfortably take down, but the meta has adapted to it and it saw little use during the roomtours. As a personal side note I don't think this should've gotten any ban votes for that latter reason alone, but it is what it is. Caeruleto is an extremely efficient Screens setter with Prankster, every utlity move under the sun, reliable healing, and a fairly solid stat spread and typing backing all of that. I know little about it so I can't comment much more. Ohlmagoon is a breaker with an unimpressive Sp. Atk stat but some ridiculous coverage and very high bulk for this sort of Pokemon, plus the ability to just nuke something with Draco Meteor.

Depending on whether or not roomtours happen again, there may be another wave of bans following this weekend! Stay tuned!

 

[DuoM2]

Hello everyone! I hope you're ready for Blindsided Group C, because you wouldn't BELIEVE what's about to happen!

First off, please try making your power level around or below the mons currently listed as Group C in this spreadsheet. If you're not super confident in your ability to make a balanced sub, it's better to aim lower than higher since there's a strong chance your sub will be good in a lower group. Otherwise, if you've been out-of-the-loop, because of the massive influx of submissions we got in Group B, there's going to be a fun little twist for Group C...

- Submit any Fakemon without telling anyone else, just as usual. You can use the spreadsheet above if you'd like a frame of reference of Group C's type distribution.
- Your Fakemon MUST be dual-typed, and cannot include any weird exceptions to the main 18 types like being Bird-type or "Normal/Normal." Those aren't real.
- If your Fakemon ends up sharing a typing with any other Fakemon that gets submitted for this group, it will NOT be included. If you sub, for example, a Fairy/Flying-type, and two other people have also subbed a Fairy/Flying-type, all three submissions will effectively be ignored.
- If your Fakemon ends up sharing a typing with the Fakemon I submit, not only will the above be true, but you will also receive a small 'punishment' of sorts...

Only after you've read everything above, feel free to send in a form with this link. I will tell you if I think your sub is overtuned, but you're free to DM me if you want help. You have until Sunday, October 29th, at 11:59 PM EST to submit to this form. Hope you enjoy!

 

[DuoM2]

Just a quick reminder - this slate has less than 24 hours left before everything closes and playtesting begins!

- Click THIS LINK if you'd like to submit a Pokemon to Group C.
- Click THIS ONE for the form to send predictions.
- Finally, HERE you can find the Group A/B drops. Note that the Pokemon in the spreadsheet right now DO NOT count towards the duplicate typings rule.

And I guess I've yet to mention on the forums - for predictions, I will be giving a small award to some people who complete it. If you enter more correct typings into one of the first three questions than anyone else can without getting any wrong, I will let you send in TWO submissions to Group D. If you get one wrong in two of the three questions then you would still get the reward if you put in more correct typings than anyone else for that third question, if that makes sense.

Feel free to send me a message if you need my help with anything. Thanks!

 

[DuoM2]

Group C is here! A total of 45 mons were added, and 11 of them got axed. I was feeling a bit crazy, to say the least.

Also, congratulations for Gaboswampert, Fragmented, and PalpitoadChamp for winning the predictions! You three will get to sub TWO Pokemon to Group D.