Other Tier Monoletter

Drag0n · Jan 28, 2026

Monoletter

Art By SilverSlime

Monoletter is a National Dex OU based metagame where your entire team has to start with the same letter of the English Alphabet. This format aims to answer the question of what letters would have the best Pokemon competitively, while still keeping a fun and balanced meta where all letters are equally balanced.

Council:

Drag0n :latias:

(Tier Leader)
AthenaStrive9 :lilligant:

Alpha1013

Monoletter Discord

Play Restrictions:

Species Clause: Players cannot have more than one Pokémon with any National Pokédex number.
Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot intentionally prevent their opponent's Pokémon from fainting from PP depletion and Struggle recoil.
Sleep Clause Mod: Players can not induce sleep on more than one of the opponent's Pokémon at once.
Evasion Clause: Moves that boost evasion like Minimize are banned.
OHKO Clause: Moves that OHKO the foe (Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, and Sheer Cold) are banned.
Terastal Clause: Players may not Terastalize.
Same Letter Clause: Players team must start with the same letter of the English Alphabet. (Not a real clause, must be manually enforced)

Pokemon Restrictions:

Players cannot use the following Pokémon:

Ability Restrictions:

Players cannot use the following abilities:

Item Restrictions:

Players cannot use the following items:

Move Restrictions:

Players cannot use the following moves:

These changes in the ruleset are unique to Monoletter separate from the normal National Dex OU ruleset:

Unbans:
- :Yveltal:

Unbanned
- :walking-wake:

Unbanned
- :Ursaluna-Bloodmoon:

Unbanned
- :Ogerpon-hearthflame:

Unbanned
- :urshifu:

(Single Strike) Unbanned
- :naganadel:

Unbanned
Bans:
- :kommo-o:

Banned

These ruleset changes aim to better balance certain underwhelming letters to be able to compete with the top tier letters in the tier.

*IMPORTANT NOTE*

Monoletter or a “Same Letter Clause” doesn’t currently exist, this part of the ruleset will have to manually enforced.

Drag0n · Jan 28, 2026

Monoletter Sample Teams:

Hyper Offense:

https://pokepast.es/b686877ebea85f8c
Dual Lead HO by Alpha

https://pokepast.es/7ea21ad251775dc9
Iron Screens HO by Danbear

Offense:

https://pokepast.es/596cdfab45745202
Tapu Koko Volt Turn by Drag0n

https://pokepast.es/dab84e175fa8b817
Z Choice Band Spam by Danbear

https://pokepast.es/1dddce1ca1aff93e
L Offense by Danbear

Bulky Offense:

https://pokepast.es/63221febb204d133
L Bulky Offense by Kin+ak

https://pokepast.es/235e6fbe61c97929
Double Tapu BO by JK

https://pokepast.es/7423710b30c7fbd3
Z Bulky Offense by Kin+ak

https://pokepast.es/7e744d37fb930a80
K Bulky Offense by JK

https://pokepast.es/7f953b1192c09af7
R Grassy Terrain Bulky Offense by Danbear

Balance:

https://pokepast.es/e53649dc4343e2a0
T Hazard Stack Balance by Kin+ak

https://pokepast.es/4d9cd1ba835edaa6
Alo + Arch Balance by TBIC106

Stall:

https://pokepast.es/988fb5e09f9b7ee2
C Stall Ceruledge Version by Drag0n

https://pokepast.es/f45c0150cfcb7b26
C Stall Charizard X Version by Kin+ak

https://pokepast.es/cd9d5bd780739f32
C Stall Double Steel Birds by JK

https://pokepast.es/0294e3468147c730
S Stall by Danbear

Weather:

https://pokepast.es/dce40d99ba7fccfa
Vulpix Sun by Kin+ak

https://pokepast.es/5792450a5e12427a
C Zard Y Sun by Danbear

https://pokepast.es/61fd53ef0f774873
E Automatic Sun by Danbear

https://pokepast.es/9db328568dd621c6
P Rain by Soda & Drag0n

Other:

https://pokepast.es/97ee7938e7c65975
C Trick Room by Drag0n

Drag0n · Jan 28, 2026

Reserved

Drag0n · Jan 28, 2026

Reserved

Drag0n · Jan 28, 2026

Reserved

AthenaStrive9 · Monday at 8:30 PM

Generation 9 Monoletter Light Clay Suspect Test

Light Clay has been a contentious topic in Monoletter for months at this point, with its ability to bolster the defenses of nearly every letter and as a result trend the metagame towards offense—especially hyper offense—to the detriment of other archetypes. This has been especially problematic for stronger letters such as G and K, which are nearly unstoppable behind the extended duration of screens. Setup sweepers have ample opportunities to come in, boost their stats, and facilitate a sweep with relative ease.

While Light Clay heavily benefits stronger letters, it also allows for weaker letters to keep up with the stronger ones. Certain letters such as N and U are reliant on screens, and without Light Clay may fall to complete irrelevancy. Without Light Clay, the combination of Reflect and Light Screen becomes nearly unviable, as by the time one switches into a sweeper to setup, the screens' duration is almost over. Aurora Veil still functions decently without Light Clay, however the list of viable users is few and far between.

In conjunction with the recent survey results, the council has decided that a suspect test for Light Clay will start now, lasting until <t:1770598800:F>. Join us for suspect test tournaments in the National Dex Other Tiers room on Showdown, and be sure to join the Discord server to get pinged when these tournaments happen. There will be one or two tournaments each day of the suspect. Once the suspect has concluded, a vote will be conducted in the Discord server that will decide whether Light Clay remains in Monoletter or is banned. To be eligible to vote, you must win a room tournament, or be the highest placing player in a tournament who has not yet earned voting requirements. Voting will last for 72 hours after the suspect ends. Happy testing!

Drag0n · Monday at 9:14 PM

AthenaStrive9 said:
View attachment 805818 View attachment 805809 View attachment 805818

Generation 9 Monoletter Light Clay Suspect Test

Light Clay has been a contentious topic in Monoletter for months at this point, with its ability to bolster the defenses of nearly every letter and as a result trend the metagame towards offense—especially hyper offense—to the detriment of other archetypes. This has been especially problematic for stronger letters such as G and K, which are nearly unstoppable behind the extended duration of screens. Setup sweepers have ample opportunities to come in, boost their stats, and facilitate a sweep with relative ease.

While Light Clay heavily benefits stronger letters, it also allows for weaker letters to keep up with the stronger ones. Certain letters such as N and U are reliant on screens, and without Light Clay may fall to complete irrelevancy. Without Light Clay, the combination of Reflect and Light Screen becomes nearly unviable, as by the time one switches into a sweeper to setup, the screens' duration is almost over. Aurora Veil still functions decently without Light Clay, however the list of viable users is few and far between.

In conjunction with the recent survey results, the council has decided that a suspect test for Light Clay will start now, lasting until <t:1770598800:F>. Join us for suspect test tournaments in the National Dex Other Tiers room on Showdown, and be sure to join the Discord server to get pinged when these tournaments happen. There will be one or two tournaments each day of the suspect. Once the suspect has concluded, a vote will be conducted in the Discord server that will decide whether Light Clay remains in Monoletter or is banned. To be eligible to vote, you must win a room tournament, or be the highest placing player in a tournament who has not yet earned voting requirements. Voting will last for 72 hours after the suspect ends. Happy testing!

The bads of light clay outweigh the goods imo. While weaker letters like U and N do benefit from light clay they can function without it, with U being able to run a rocks support Uxie and having threats like :ursaluna-bloodmoon:

and

. N definitely would suffer the most from this ban however it can still make veil work without clay and run non-HO builds.

On the contrary letters like G, K, and I (specifically G) are just way too powerful with screens being able for threats like :gyarados-mega:

etc to run away with games behind screens.

If I get reqs I will be voting ban.