Metagame [Gen 9] Do Not Use (new samples)

[a fairy]

id def place budew higher than you both i think. but also i do not share your take on maku lol, though i do see the logic for sure

my top 5 is prob like
1. hatenna
2. alorat
3. nacli
4. pooper
5. litwick? budew? swablu?

but i think the line is either below alorat (where i currently sit) or below pooper. idt hatenna is standout The Best. it's the best but not like, elevated to another level of godhood yknow

 

[Orangesodapop]

Notable x-0 solopl player here for the REAL top 5.

1. Tailow. If it manages to beat quite literally half of the top 5 of other players something is up. In most cases, it forces a rock type or beldum, which all hate hazards. Also notably, it beats the only spinner in the tier by virtue of type. It’s way too much of a team builder constraint imo, forcing some way to outrun it only for your mon that can outrun it to die to quick attack. It can also run special to decimate an unprepared check while still having the same potency as physical. Jump if you are listening please save us
2. Rata. In a similar strain, this mon is nutty af, with its big normal stab and high speed allowing for it to rip through fatter builds forcing 50/50s on quite a few mons
3. Nacli. Now I call this mon bait every now and then but it’s the most consistent normal check for a reason. Without this mon, half the tier would be banned no joke. It stops mons like my top 2, zigalar, wick, and it also sets rocks.
4. Ok this one’s obvious but hattena. When hazards are good, a fat bouncer is good as well. With evio for bulk builds, and eject button for offense, you can’t really prevent this mon from getting the edge vs you. Nuzzle is incredibly hard to stop especially when its main coverage obliterates grounds, and its stab obliterates the other ground.
5. Bit controversial but. Luvdisc. This mon is frankly really strong, and while it doesn’t hit the hardest, it makes up for it by being paired with hazard spam and the top 2 normals. With this it can combo kill just about anything, while providing a solid answer to any and all fastmons.

 

[Jumpheart]

Going to wait to make my overall PL post after TBs but going to post my VR now. Things may shift slightly before the actual VR vote but this will be roughly what I submit.

Explaining a couple hot takes

- this Pokemon is fucking absurd. It is the best user of the best move in the tier. It has the ability to break quite literally any wall in the tier between its Bulk Up set and Flame Orb Guts--yes, even that one. Whichever one you're thinking of, Makuhita can break it. While stall has been irrelevant and even balance looks shaky at times that is still an incredibly valuable trait when you also have a great offense matchup too. Bulk Up threatens several of the tier's frail attackers and Flame Orb Guts can fit Fake Out + Bullet Punch to be comparable to Skitty. This mon has no counters and even the list of checks is slim pickings. I genuinely considered it for #1, and if you have it below 6-7, I question if we've been playing the same tier. I'm not pro-ban yet but I can absolutely see myself getting there after a couple other mons get cleared out.

- this Pokemon, unlike Makuhita, does have counters and checks. A couple of my other rises are directly because of how they match up into Beldum. However, in terms of how much you have to prepare for it in the builder, I do believe Beldum to be a top threat, even if it is more containable than some of the others. You're forced to run one of our bulky Fire-types, Wooper, or Marill to reliably handle it, with one or two niche options for fat and stall (obligatory mention). It's also a monster defensively--being our only Steel type means it truly has a unique defensive profile and it really makes the most of it. This is in addition to its gargantuan stats. Everyone knows this thing has impeccable physical bulk, but it actually has the same special bulk as Gossifleur? Really useful mon for a lot of team compositions that, for whatever reason, don't want to run a Rock-type, and as such absorbed my Roggenrola placement from my post a couple weeks ago.

- I've finally come around on this Pokemon. Yeah, it's silly. Having access to the two best moves in the metagame by far combined with titanic bulk means that it can just throw them off repeatedly even between Rests. It also has a deep and unexplored movepool outside of it. The set that offense can run with Encore and Copycat can throw off a lot of the common Marill counterplay on teams that don't need it to click Rest (and whoever invented that set I'm sure is very attractive). However neither of these are the reasons that this mon rose so high for me. My reason for raising this mon to this degree is simply the fact that it is the closest thing we have to a Makuhita counter, LOL. Guts can break through but it checks any version of Eviolite Bulk Up, countering the most common four moves of that set. It also checks Beldum in the same slot which is nice.

- I'm not the person who should be introducing the latest on this mon, but if you've been in the Metangs DNU channel you've seen the chatter on this one. Fucking absurd, and honestly one of two mons I would vote to ban today if I called a vote. I'll save this discussion for the person who should be talking about this.

and - Not going to go into detail because these two have been discussed at length in the DNU Discord, but these two match up very poorly into the current metagame. Budew is a victim of its own success and I can see it shifting back up once people stop spamming cores that each carry 3-4 Budew hard checks, but it's hard to imagine a world where Jigglypuff climbs all the way back up. Being forced to rely on Wish just sucks and people are more comfortable than ever forgoing its unique bulk + utility profile and splitting its role across multiple Pokemon. At least Cleffa can and does fit Soft-Boiled.

- The more I think about this mon, the less I rate it. Yes, it has absurd calcs, and occasionally we'll still see a game where a +1 Speed Bramblin just rolls over a lightly bruised opponent, but those are moreso bad teambuilding and any good team right now is going to have stuff for this guy. Not necessarily because of Bramblin, either. Still good and I find it hard to ever see it drop further than A-, but this is the lowest the weed has ever been.

- Still broken on paper but people are trusting it less and less to hit those Stone Edges when it matters. Very poor performance for it in the Premier League stat-wise. Could see this mon make a comeback if people find a way to make its inevitable misses not match-ending.

Rapid-fire, the four UU drops by my VR:
- "Broken priority" is less useful than it ever has been thanks to Makuhita seeing more exploration recently. If I wanted a broken anti-offense mon, I'd load Zigzagoon-Galar or Skitty over this (and you'll note I lowered both multiple positions). Hates Marill and Beldum rising like they have, too. Congrats Noglastica

- Swablu's absorbed most of its role, and ofc Budew farmer 3000 is worse in a meta where Budew isn't all that. Still has a place but much harder to justify considering how badly it loses to most top tiers. Honestly kinda want to drop it further.

- Rattata will continue to drop until morale improves. Or Taillow gets banned. One of the two.

- I actually think this guy is neat and considered him at one point, which is more than I can say for some of low rankers, but I organize the lower tiers very much with a "do they actually see play" and Nidoran just hasn't--I can recall a single appearance since its unban and that was Week 1 of DNUPL. Still, a physical Poison-type who can set up offensively is cool. It's not a unique role as Curse Wooper-Paldea exists, but Nidoran has merits over that one.

Anyways, tiering thoughts: ban Taillow, ban Kirlia, suspect Makuhita, keep an eye on Beldum, look to free Goomy at some point. Jumpheart out.

 

[zxgzxg]

I genuinely considered it for #1, and if you have it below 6-7