Well, first of all, I love the new format, even though it makes some things that are actually pretty good look sort of bad, like Meloetta and Pangoro in C rank. Now, I'll get to the new drops soon, but let me get one thing straight.
HOW IS THIS THING B-?!!!
Donphan is in no way B-, at all. Donphan may have some pros, like having a high 120 attack stat, good physical defense, and Rapid Spin, but I feel like it's either too outclassed, bad in current meta, and overall useless to be considered B- alongside mons that are actually good like Galvantula and Moltres. Let's touch on the three topics about why Donphan is not B-:
Outclassed: While Donphan is unique in it's role as a bulky Ground type with Rapid Spin, it still faces competition from mons like Krookodile, who has an extra Dark typing and better abilities than Donphan, Mamoswine, who also has an extra typing and an overall better wallbreaker than Choice Band Donphan, and Gligar, while it is passive, has more overall bulk than Donphan and has reliable recovery and U-Turn. While Donphan can fit on very select teams, it isn't as splashable as the mons listed above.
Current Meta Hurting It: While UU is and always will be Bulky Water: The Tier, it still doesn't help Donphan that it is Bulky Water: The Tier. Grass types are also getting more popular to check water types and with the current suspect test, stuff like Chesnaught and Whimsicott have gotten even better and more splashable thanks to their typings. Donphan sadly cannot touch either of these types unless it has Gunk Shot for Grasses, which is only usable on the Choice Band set. (Ice Shard is too weak to do damage to anything other than Dragon-Flying types eitherways) While current meta trends, like the popularity of Fire types, can help Donphan, it's special bulk is so bad that stuff like Fire Blast from MegaDoom is still basically killing Phan, and physical Fire types like Darmanitan still can hurt Donphan thanks to their power or ability to burn with Entei.
Uselessness: Ok, Donphan isn't THAT useless, but I've never seen a Donphan that actually did something in a battle other than tank one physical hit, maybe get off a Rocks, Spin, maybe even EQ, and then die. Sadly, Donphan can't really do all of these things at once thanks to stuff like it's bad special defense, and probably most importantly, it's lack of recovery limiting it's ability to tank. Even in higher-level play, I haven't really seen Donphan do too much other than the things listed above, and then die. Overall, while Donphan can fit on some teams, usually it has so many faults that it's not worth it.
Ok, I'll give Donphan some credit. Choice Band Donphan is a cool wallbreaker, especially with Donphan's amazing coverage in moves like Seed Bomb and Gunk Shot, but as said above, it faces competition from other Grounds like CB Krook and Mamoswine. Overall, even though Donphan has some cool pros, like being physically bulky, hitting hard, and having Spin and Rocks, it has so many faults like having competition or being outclassed, the current meta hurting it, and it's overall uselessness in most of the battles it's in that it does not reflect it's current rank, and really should drop to either
C+ or C, both of which better reflect Donphan.
Now for the new (but bad/mediocre) drops!
Charizard: Yeah, don't use this thing over much better stuff like Moltres or Darmanitan. D Rank, let it drop plz
Manectric: Overheat and LightningRod are cool, but it's still outclassed by Zapdos and Heliolisk. D Rank
Diancie: It's actually pretty cool as it walls things like Fire types and Flying types, but it's typing makes it weak to Water, Ground, Grass, Steel, etc. The only really good set is Offensive Trick Room, but I still think Diancie could work, but not that well. C or C-
Venusaur: Okay, at first I was really hyped for Venu, as it seemed like Roserade and Amoonguss breeded together so it could have balanced bulk and offensive stats. But sadly, it doesn't have hazards like Rose and Spore like Guss, so it's sorta outclassed by both. Still has some use on Sun teams or that Curse set, but it's still pretty eh. C+
Now for the good drops!
Metagross: I don't have much else to say what other people have said already, but I really like Gross. It's typing makes it really splashable in cores with mons like Hydreigon or any Dark type really, and I feel like it will be a cool staple on balanced or BO teams. B+ imo
Sableye: Ah, the Troll of UU is back.
Ban it plz Eye is a pretty cool
broken addition, with Prankster Will-O-Wisp and Recover letting it
be the most broken thing ever check a lot of things, while also being a hard check to Reuniclus. While Sableye still has trouble with Fire types and other things like Fairy types, I think
we should ban it immediately it still is a great addition for a lot of teams and should be A-.
BAN IT NOW
Gardevoir: Gardevoir is really cool, really nice to have a good offensive Fairy other than Florges and Slurpuff. Specs Gardevoir hits REALLY HARD, Scarf Garde is cool for Healing Wish (Doesn't outspeed Mega Bee smh) and there's probably some other cool sets within Voir's vast arsenal of moves. While Garde still has faults like it's 80 speed and no physical bulk, I think it will be a cool asset for offensive teams thanks to it's typing and STABS and it's neat 125 SpA. B+ is a good starting point imo.
I hope you enjoyed this wall of text, and goodnight! =}}
