After a lengthy council discussion about the metagame, we had a ranked choice council vote starting Thursday night with 4 options: Suspect Blastoise, Suspect Dragalge, Suspect Machamp, and Do Nothing. This vote produced the results are directly below:
With 7 out of 9 council members deciding that Dragalge was the first choice to suspect, as well as the 2nd choice winner Blastoise getting no first choice votes, we decided that a Dragalge suspect was the best course of action at this time. However, as the vote shows, council is still open to suspecting other Pokemon such as Blastoise, as more people voted that they would rather suspect Blastoise than do nothing, in the future.
Dragalge has become one of the most potent offensive presences in the NU metagame in recent months. Thanks to an already strong offensive profile with Adaptability and a great offensive movepool, a shift in how Dragalge was used to focus on breaking through opposing threats, and metagame personnel becoming more susceptible to Dragalge's offensive assault, the Poison-Dragon has went from being one of the better Pokemon to being among the absolute best in the tier. Given this shift, we have seen a large amount of support for tiering action across the NP thread and recent council discussions (see: the aforementioned vote). Although this development is not necessarily as longstanding as Silvally-Ground or as polarizing as Regidrago, we believe that conducting a full suspect on Dragalge allows for us to tackle an important metagame topic in a timely fashion one way or the other.
Dragalge largely centers around abusing its Adaptability boosted STABs, which are oftentimes complimented by Focus Blast to connect with Steel types such as the newly popular Stakataka. Ever since Goodra was banned, it was able to become one of the focal offensive presences in a metagame that lacked much direct competition. In addition, the removal of Bronzong and addition of Stakataka played into the hand of Dragalge a great deal. While it did make Dragalge Focus Blast reliant, it made it so that the main Steel type counterply to Dragalge was Escavalier. Escavalier is in a great position right now and oftentimes is seen as one of the premier Dragalge answers, but many teams are able to string together resistances or immunities and pair that with offensive pressure to try and check it as well. This method is not always the most consistent though as Dragalge is able to come in on common threats like Rotom-C and Vileplume comfortably, giving it ample opportunity to break thanks to convenient defensive typing and special bulk. Overall, Dragalge has counterplay, but some of it is prediction reliant and the means of consistently checking it are limited.
In regards to what sets Dragalge frequents, it occasionally runs Choice Specs, which allows it to strike the foe with unprecedented strength. The combination of Adaptability, STAB, and Choice Specs makes an already strong Draco Meteor or respectable Sludge Bomb hit quite hard. Even bulkier resists are taking close to half health from Choice Specs Draco Meteor, for instance. The major downside of this set is prediction reliance in a tier which finds itself riddled with immunities to Draco Meteor and Sludge Bomb. You also lose any semblance of recovery from Black Sludge, which makes repeated Volt Switches or Stealth Rock switch-ins costly as the game drags on. Alternatively it can run a more consistent, but less potent, Black Sludge set which allows for it to take full advantage of its STABs and coverage thanks to being able to switch moves. Escavalier really shuts this set down, but typically Substitute + 3 attacks or even 3 attacks paired with other moves such as Flip Turn, Toxic Spikes, or Protect can do very well into other defensive cores that lack hard counterplay.
Besides from the aforementioned Escavalier, which is a respectable check to Dragalge as it blanks Sludge Bomb and is able to withstand multiple Draco Meteors while threatening it offensively, Pokemon like Copperajah and Snorlax can serve as very soft and situational checks, but the former is susceptible to Focus Blast and needs Assault Vest to withstand Draco Meteor comfortable while the latter is on a shorter-leash in general and can likely only switch-in once. Focus Blasts's inaccuracy is a major downside of Dragalge, who relies on connection against otherwise threatening Steel types such as the aforementioned Copperajah and Stakataka. Besides from these Pokemon, cores with Protect on Sylveon or Vaporeon coupled with immunities or durable resistances to singular STABs work well against the choice specs set if they are positioned properly, but fall short against the non-choiced variants admittedly. Finally, more offensively oriented teams, especially ones that focus on the physical side of the spectrum, can at least minimize, if not outright blank, Dragalge due to offensive pressure, but it is hard to rely on this method throughout the entirety of a game and each free turn allows for Dragalge to potentially pick off a threat.
Overall, there absolutely is counterplay to Dragalge on both the offensive end and defensive end of the spectrum, as we alluded to above. It is true that this counterplay is a bit more sparse than it is for other offensive threats, oftentimes feeling particularly unreliable for defensive and balanced teams in this metagame. Dragalge is able to function as one of the most threatening offensive options in the metagame because of this. We risk entering a metagame state warped by the offensive impact of Dragalge if it happens to not get banned, but we also risk losing one of the most strong breakers and ways to abuse Pokemon like Rotom-C and cores with strong defensive options with the removal of it. It will be interesting to see if those who qualify for the suspect believe Dragalge is a bit too strong for the metagame or if there is enough keeping it in check for it to stick around!
- Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test. The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 79 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 79 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 83. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 79 GXE will suffice. **It is now 79 GXE**
| GXE | minimum games |
| 79 | 50 |
| 79.2 | 49 |
| 79.4 | 48 |
| 79.6 | 47 |
| 79.8 | 46 |
| 80 | 45 |
| 80.2 | 44 |
| 80.4 | 43 |
| 80.6 | 42 |
| 80.8 | 41 |
| 81 | 40 |
| 81.2 | 39 |
| 81.4 | 38 |
| 81.6 | 37 |
| 81.8 | 36 |
| 82 | 35 |
| 82.2 | 34 |
| 82.4 | 33 |
| 82.6 | 32 |
| 82.8 | 31 |
| 83 | 30 |
- You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be NUER. For example, I might signup with the ladder account NUER Finch
- We will be allowing those participating in the ongoing NU Ladder Tournament's to qualify for suspect requirements with their NU Ladder Tournament tagged alts!
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
- We will be using the regular NU ladder for this suspect test. We will not be creating a new Suspect Ladder. At the beginning of every battle, there will be an announcement denoting the ongoing suspect with a link to this thread.
- The aspects being tested, Dragalge, will be allowed on the ladder.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- The suspect test will go on for two weeks, lasting until Sunday, June 26th @ 11:59pm (GMT-4), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
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Although not ranked on the VR, Articuno has multiple high level tournament uses and fulfills many great niches. With amazing special bulk and speed, recovery in Roost and Heal Bell, and Pressure to stall Dragalge's Draco Meteor and Focus Blast, Articuno not only takes on Dragalge incredibly well but other metagame threats such as Specs Sylveon, Alolan Exeggutor, and Indeedee-F.
This thing is obviously holding the tier together rn, not much to say about it but I think its incredibly easy to overwhelm it because it has to do so much for the teams its on.
Drapion always lowers on people's radars after a while then pops back up but its probably the best progress-maker in the tier while having incredible defensive attributes and a STAB Knock Off. Shuca Aqua Tail sets lure Silvally-Ground very effectively and Black Sludge sets can take on Indeedee relatively well while also threatening a weakened Dragalge with an Earthquake or Knock Off, which can be great if that or a Steel is the only Poison resistance in your way.
I forgot this thing was broken lul, been using an almost full SDef AV set that eats 2 Focus Blasts from Dragalge
With a Chople Berry, Stakataka can take even a Choice Specs boosted Focus Blast, while still tanking hits from Indeedee just fine
(Specs) 
