It's been a while since I've last posted anything other than QC checks or VR ranking updates so I figured I'd talk about what I make of the current meta, as this thread could use some more activity. A lot of people I've talked to about the metagame say that it seems stagnant, but in all honesty I think that people really aren't picking up on the fact that Mega Slowbro dropping changed a lot of Pokemon's viability. There are also some other meta trends benefiting mons that I feel are going generally unnoticed. So I guess without further ado, I present to you what I believe to be some
super underrated Pokemon.
This guy always seems to get mixed reviews. I know that my main man
palkia246 is in love with Rotom-C, but I also know that a lot of people find it underwhelming due to its lackluster power and Speed. Regardless, I think that Rotom-C is pretty slept on right now and wish that a lot more people would catch on to the perks that come with using it. One thing I absolutely love is the STAB combination. Sure, it leaves you walled by Latias, Hydreigon, Amoonguss, and Alolan Muk, but I feel like that's adequately offset by the amount of Pokemon it pressures reliably. Mega Slowbro is in my honest opinion the absolute hardest Pokemon to stand up to in the tier because if it gets one free turn your team can just lose. However, using Rotom-C more frequently has basically erased fear of being completely overpowered by Mega Bro because of how well it pressures it with the Grassium Z set, which is admittedly pretty insane. It also takes advantage of a few other recent metagame trends, which include the surge in usage and viability of Hippowdon, Azumarill continuing its dominance (I personally find Rotom-C to be one of the best offensive Azu checks available), and Rhyperior recently emerging as a decent threat and showing up on a surprising amount of teams recently. It also has fantastic synergy with a lot of staples on offensive builds, most notably Infernape, Scizor, and Gliscor. I just feel like there's a lot to love about Rotom-C and that its few issues can be easily circumvented (it volt switches on its defensive countermeasures, can viably run Scarf to overcome its paltry speed, has great synergy with plenty of Pokemon that take on its most prevalent defensive checks). Great Pokemon overall, and so slept on that even
Sage of the 6 calls it resident sleeper. Love this thing.
Tsareena is another Grass-type that I'm pretty high on right now. Its Choice Band and Meadow Plate sets really flourish against some of the tier's more currently popular archetypes, which include bulky offense, balance, and especially stall. Being a physical attacker that can easily power through Mega Slowbro is extremely impressive and a trait that seems to be greatly under appreciated right now, and as a Rapid Spinner it really adequately pressures a myriad of the tier's common rockers, like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Gliscor. It's also a fantastic way of pressuring stall's prominent Quagsire/Blissey/Alomomola core, while Queenly Majesty is also pretty sick for heavily pressuring Azumarill and Breloom and taking care of Scizor in emergency situations. Like Rotom-C, it has apparent struggles but I've generally found that those are more often than not relatively easy to circumvent. Knock Off is extremely burdensome for some of its better paper switch-ins in Amoonguss and Moltres, and U-turn is also a great tool for pivoting it out of predicted switch-ins to the likes of Mega Aggron and defensive checks that have already had their items knocked off. The Speed can be an issue but it's also worth noting that nothing that outruns and pressures it is reliably switching in It's just a really solid threat that I feel has continued to find more of a place in the metagame, and despite the hate train it got smacked with in SM, I think it deserves more usage than ever.
It may seem odd referring to a Pokemon residing in the A rankings of the VR as underrated, though I think that Mega Slowbro has horribly lacked the usage that a Pokemon so centralizing really deserves. There are really almost no 100% reliable means of dealing with it, since as soon as it gets a free turn and boosts up it's extremely hard to muscle past. Pokemon like Chandelure, Mega Houndoom, Gengar, and Serperior become shaky checks due to the threat of failing to KO a boosted Mega Slowbro and getting smacked with one of Scald/Ice Beam/Psyshock. Another gigantic perk of using this mon that I don't think enough people have caught onto is that it's actually one of the most reliable Azumarill switch-ins in the tier. It has similar Azumarill-hit-tanking capabilities as Mega Aggron, but key access to recovery that can allow it to consistently check one of the hardest Pokemon to continuously defensively stand up to in the tier. I don't know, I just don't feel like I see enough of this guy and that everything he brings to teams is seriously undervalued if his current usage is factored. It's capable of contributing heavily to the vast majority of the tier's best team archetypes, and I think more people need to hop on the Mega Slowbro train and at least give the poor thing a try, it was BL once for a reason.
It's really no secret that this has been a bit of a weird generation for Celebi. It just feels like metagame trends are both constantly benefitting it and working against it. Scizor is prevalent, Serperior gives it competition, it lost the ability to check Rotom-W, Pursuit is still a valuable and frequently used tool, and Flying-types like Crobat, Mega Pidgeot, and Moltres have recently increased viability. However, I think right now is the most viable our little onion pixie has been since super early SM, since it just matches up against so much of the metagame well. It super reliably takes on every defensive threat that rose in usage to adapt to Serperior being around, the main examples being Amoonguss, Mega Aggron, and Alolan Muk due to its crucial access to Earth Power and a secondary Psychic-typing. Its bulk and typing is also really useful for tanking hits from stuff like Mega Slowbro and Breloom that Serperior stands up to way less reliably. I just think that metagame trends threw Celebi a massive bone recently and that it now has a lot more that it can use to separate itself from its main competition. Nasty Plot's biggest issue for me is how hard it can be to fit on a team due to how awkward Grass-types generally just are to have on teams, but regardless I really like Celebi right now and hope to see it used some more, it's been a rough couple of months and it now seems like this poor thing could finally deserve some more love.
A lot of people are already catching on to the Rhyperior hype, but I still want to talk about this thing because it's pretty awesome. Rhyperior just has such an unexpectedly solid niche in the metagame due to being an outstanding Mega Manectric answer that isn't super passive like Hippowdon and a lot of Gliscor sets. Stealth Rock + 3 Attacks is my favorite set, though Swords Dance is also really nice for overpowering stuff like Latias and Gliscor if you can find a way to fit it onto the set. In addition to checking one of the tier's most centralizing specially offensive Pokemon, it matches up super well in the recently Flying-types (most notably Moltres, Mega Pidgeot, and Crobat), and also isn't too shabby against a few other metagame staples, like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Altaria, Alolan Muk, and Togekiss. This guy's just super solid and I can't stress how oddly fascinating it is that it just kind of emerged from nowhere and everyone began really enjoying themselves using it. I'd recommend, on paper its 4x weaknesses are troublesome but damn it's so good at doing exactly what you fit it on teams to do, and I could see it having a well established place in the tier not far from now.
This post went on for longer than I had hoped, but I just can't help but ramble about these mons lol. I hope you guys enjoyed and consider using all of these Pokemon, since I've been really pleasantly surprised at how they've all managed to improve and further distinguish themselves in this new metagame! Thanks for reading and hope you all liked what I had to say! :)
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