Metagame Sketchmons

[Dorsia]

I'm pretty bad as a player but I'd like to discuss about some things that might be an issue:

1. having access to ice-type coverage - whether it's Glacial Lance or Ice Beam - makes it really dangerous IMO.
   Things like easily check special Regis, but then it can just pivot on it, keeping momentum and introducing the perfect counter.
2. Jet punch : I'm pretty sure this move should be restricted because it's just as good as you can think. Most notably Waterpon is an excellent user of this STAB'd priority, which is even stronger with its mask.
3. Light Clay : in a metagame where you can have the missing move you need on your favourite set-uppers, having 8 turns on screens is diabolical. can even run Parting Shot to safely pivot, can recover itself or sketches Encore to trap you.

 

[Imperator Romanum]

Funniest pic I found of
Primarina @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Shuriken
- Draining Kiss
- Calm Mind
- Substitute

Surprisingly effective and fun set that I found. Easily finds setup oppurtunities and at +1/2 Water Shuriken can pick up a lot of OHKOs. Replay of it clutching me from mishandling a torch song latios set

 

[Miss Crisis]

ANNOUNCEMENT: TIERING SURVEY!

Sketchmons is hosting a survey on the metagame! Tell us what you think about the tier and some of the stronger elements within it. Leave your feedback as well as anything you'd like addressed by the council!

Topics

Annihilape
Glacial Lance
Heat Rock
Jet Punch
Light Clay
Meowscarada
Ogerpon-Wellspring
Regieleki
Sacred Fire
Salt Cure
Surging Strikes

Responses open until <t:1782100800:R>

 

[overcooked]

Hi, I just wanted to offer some of my opinions on some of the discussed bans (also, first post on the site ._.)

1. feel like i should talk about eleki first, since its probably been the biggest cause of concern. eleki has been one of my team's greatest assets, but its clear that with ice moves and the ability to run mixed sets makes it incredibly unpredictable and a coin toss to switch into. (banded eleki is so silly tho)

2. Light clay definitely needs to go. 8 turns of screen is just way too broken when every mon gets whatever set up move they desire and when the setters get additional moves for safe pivoting/ recovery/ other supporting moves like glare or wisp

3. this fella definitely should be talked about more. pretty sure this thing was overshadowed by the banned mons but all you need is to slap on a band and it kinda nukes everything. literally depleted my max def/hp mola by 70% in a single hit. Really hard to switch into safely

 

[MrDrStevenson]

Why is Komala banned? There's gotta be something I can't figure out.

 

[Schpoonman]

Why is Komala banned? There's gotta be something I can't figure out.

ComaPhazing, Comatose allows it to run Scarf with Sleep Talk and an unblockable phazing move like Whirlwind (Suction Cups isn't real) and use 0 priority phazing moves preventing your opponent from acting and wracking up hazard damage.

 

[VannAccessible]

Sketchmons Survey Results​

The results of our format survey are in! We had 22 responses. Thank you to everyone who responded.

Survey results

Metagame results (average, ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best):

Enjoyability	6.48
Competitiveness	4.81

The metagame's enjoyability score is above average, while our perceived competitiveness dips significantly lower. This suggests that while many players enjoy playing the tier, there are several notable concerns that warrant tiering action.

Tiering actions for banning or restricting (average, ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 being no tiering change, and 5 being an immediate tiering action):

Annihilape	3.19
Glacial Lance	3.24
Heat Rock	3.10
Jet Punch	3.67
Light Clay	4.05
Meowscarada	3.24
Ogerpon-Wellspring	3.67
Regieleki	3.33
Sacred Fire	2.76
Salt Cure	2.52
Surging Strikes	3.48

Light Clay stands out as the survey's clear frontrunner, being the only option to break the 4.0 mark, indicating widespread concern among the playerbase. Jet Punch and Ogerpon-Wellspring follow closely behind with identical averages. Surging Strikes and Regieleki also received a fair amount of attention. Sacred Fire and Salt Cure scored noticeably lower than the rest of the field, indicating the player base currently sees them as far less problematic.

Respondents also brought up other concerns including Baneful Bunker, Basculegion-M (3 mentions), Encore, Glare, Iron Valiant, Ogerpon-Cornerstone, Torch Song, and Zamazenta.

The Council will be taking these responses into consideration and pursing a tiering vote soon. Stay tuned!

 

[VannAccessible]

Annihilape, Basculegion-M, Light Clay, Ogerpon-Wellspring and Regieleki have been banned!
​

Following our tiering survey, the results of our council's tiering action vote are in!

​

Subject​	Miss Crisis​	HiZo​	April​	VannAccessible​	Result​
Annihilape ​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	4-0-0 BAN​
Basculegion-M ​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	4-0-0 BAN​
Glacial Lance ​	DNB​	DNB​	ABS​	DNB​	0-1-3 DNB​
Heat Rock ​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	0-0-4 DNB​
Jet Punch ​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	0-0-4 DNB​
Light Clay ​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	4-0-0 BAN​
Meowscarada ​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	BAN​	1-0-3 DNB​
Ogerpon-Wellspring ​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	4-0-0 BAN​
Regieleki ​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	BAN​	4-0-0 BAN​
Surging Strikes ​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	DNB​	0-0-4 DNB​

Reasonings

Annihilape: Ban

The monkey is broken in most OMs, and it should be no surprise that when it gets complemented by access to any of Tidy Up, Cosmic Power, Strength Sap, Jungle Healing or Shore Up it becomes exponentially more unmanageable.

Basculegion-M: Ban

With access to a highly spammable Adaptability STAB Poltergeist on top of its bevy of amazing Water utility moves, this fish can blow up basically anything in the meta with a Choice Band. Unlike Crawdaunt, it’s bulky enough to take a hit, has better defensive typing and is much faster. The female version of Basculegion remains legal, but hits a bit less hard, and has to choose between either Astral Barrage or Water Shuriken for its Specs breaking set.

Glacial Lance: Do Not Ban

It’s difficult to argue this move is broken in and of itself, especially when many users who enjoy Ice coverage also have access to Triple Axel. Its continued existence also helps keep Gliscor in check, who is very good.

Heat Rock: Do Not Ban

Sun teams are strong, yet kept at bay by solid defensive cores. This archetype also lacks a definitively broken singular Pokémon now that Hearthflame and Gouging Fire are banned.

Jet Punch: Do Not Ban

There’s only one obviously broken Jet Punch user, and it’s Wogerpon. The council concluded it would be premature to ban the move completely as of now.
Jet Punch does become generally better now that Wogerpon is removed from the tier, but this move still thuds on Grass-, Dragon-, and opposing Water-types. We will continue to watch Jet Punch in the post-Wellspring metagame.

Light Clay: Ban

In a metagame where anything can be a sweeper and everything can customize its coverage, the player base and council agree screens are unambiguously broken. This ban in particular should shift the focus of the metagame away from Hyper Offense and toward Balance.

Meowscarada: Do Not Ban

The only split vote, this magician is the definition of unpredictable, as with Protean and its Sketch move of choice, its typing can change to literally anything. Glacial Lance, Sacred Fire, Bolt Strike and Magical Torque all synergize well with Flower Trick and Knock Off. However, it is limited by the fact that it must employ a Choice item to achieve its full breaking or revenge-killing potential, leaving it prone to being forced out or taken advantage of.

Ogerpon-Wellspring: Ban

Between the perfect coverage that Glacial Lance brings alongside its STABs and the powerful priority of Jet Punch, Wellspring is oger-bearing.

Regieleki: Ban

Regieleki’s high Speed, mixed attacking options, Volt Switch and ability to use coverage moves that complement its Electric Super STAB make it incredibly effective at bullying both offense and defensive cores lacking very specific answers like Ting-Lu, Clodsire or Goodra-H. It needs to go.

Surging Strikes: Do Not Ban

This move is mainly utilized on Sniper Kingdra or Inteleon, Band Araquanid on Trick Room builds, and the occasional Technician user, none of whom appear broken. The move does thud hard on the majority of Regenerator cores, especially when utilizing Rocky Helmet. Rain has also become far less consistent without Damp Rock augmenting its damage output.
Again, Wogerpon’s ban will make this Water move stronger, and we will continue to keep an eye on it in the future.

Please implement dhelmise!

———-

Also, a bittersweet farewell to Glory, who has decided to step down from the Sketchmons council. Thanks for your service!

 

[recycleyourstyrofoam]

In loving memory of Light Clay, I'll just drop this draft I've been working on.

Team

Summary:

I really enjoyed Ninetales having a pivot move. I switched a lot between which one to use, but I settled on U-Turn because it wasn't hampered by any types or abilities and over Teleport because of how bulky most of the team is under Veil. Teleport is very much a valid option, and is definitely better when going into frailer abusers like Ival or Hilli.

Ival having Nasty Plot is a huge game changer. It's able to force the issue a lot faster with Lu so you don't have to spam CC, and it generally is a much faster snowball mon with it over CM. I was really stuck on the last slot, but I really liked Tbolt to hit a lot of what its STABs already covered. However, SBall is probs better for Gking even if Tbolt has slightly better neutral coverage.

Iron Crown is one of the most fun STABmons larps in the tier, and really is just a showcase of how broken Esper Wing is. It hits Lu pretty hard since it can afford to run Modest which makes room for Goltres, and generally is a really scary balance breaker since it's able to larp QD with CM and the speed boosts. Very fun mon

Hilligant is super broken. Victory Dance behind Veil makes this thing absolutely unkillable, and it hits like an absolute train with Flower Trick just like in STABmons. Wide Lens is here just because I'm not brave enough for Life Orb, but it's definitely a much better item.

Regular Goltres is world renowned for being OU behind Veil 70% of the time. Now, with the advent of Aeroblast, it's able to be broken 95% of the time. It's just the same as regular Goltres, there's not a lot to say here.

Ceru is a bum

 

[VannAccessible]

Good news, the bans are in!

Bad news, with 2 days left with our ladder, unfortunately there isn’t much time left to test the current meta.

I was hoping to get some sample teams up and maybe work on VR, but that may have to wait until the next ladder.

Anyway, I figure I’ll team dump for posterity. :)


Kingambit Trick Room

A revision of my team from a year or so ago. Basically, HO good = Trick Room good. Hat+Mimikyu+Specs Eruption Torkoal make an offensive/support core as brain dead as ever, and with Torkoal picking up access to Electro Drift, Water types like Volcanion become less of a switch-in option. Eject Button Teleport Slowbro still makes for a good switch in and momentum grabber, who also lets Ursa activate its Flame Orb instantly on the switch. The new sauce here is Trick Room Kingambit, an amazing late game Trick Room setter, breaker and cleaner, who’s defensive typing and bulk complement the other setters. Air Balloon gives it nice defensive synergy with Torkoal. Went 14-0 with this, felt very solid pre-bans.


Aurora Veil HO
This was previously a Light Clay team, but Scarf Ninetales can still facilitate HO well, while also providing weather control. I haven’t tested this current incarnation as much as the previous pre-ban version, but it should work similarly.
Any of the 4 sweepers can end the game on a dime, Cloyster is basically physically unkillable behind Snow and Veil, and has Bolt Strike to hit Pex, Slowbro, Corv etc hard and get perfect coverage with its Ice STAB. Ceruledge brings hazard control with Tidy Up and snowballs like a demon. Darkrai is a fast special breaker with a STAB that hits the meta’s main AV mon Glowking for SE damage, and Secret Sword lets it exert mixed pressure that nails both Blissey and Kingambit. Water Shuriken Manaphy replaced Jet Punch Wogerpon and is EV’d to outspeed Adamant Rillaboom’s Wood Hammer. (Feel free to slot Psychic over Energy Ball to nail Pex harder.) Lastly Scarf U-Turn Zamazenta replaced Regieleki just to revenge opposing set up and pivot mid game and clean late game.


Volt Turn Vortex
My take on a bulky pivot and priority spam team. Again, less tested than pre-bans but same idea as before. Previously I had Regieleki and Basculegion in place of Rotom and Crawdaunt, but it should function fairly similarly.
Everything has a pivot move, except Tidy Up Zam, so the team is hard to gain momentum against. Zam provides hazard control and sweep potential. The double regen pivot core gives this team a nice defensive backbone that’s hard to break down and doesn’t lose momentum. First Impression on Scizor ensures Sun teams with Fire + Grass Chloro sweepers can’t sweep through my Regenerator core. Crawdaunt’s STABs and ever spammable and amazing breaking, chip and utility tools. Rotom takes Eleki’s place to provide a nice third defensive pivot mon with a complementary STAB to hit ground types immune to its electric moves, and Trick to neutralize a threat.

Beyond these teams, I played with a modified version of coral fan ‘s Sun team and HiZo ‘s Stall team, both of which are still great. I think stall will be even better now that Ape, Wogerpon and Eleki are banned, which really frees Dondozo up to run wild. Terrain teams seem good, manual rain is good. There’s lots to explore.

Ultimately, even though the tiering actions were slow to implement this meta is still incredibly fun, has a massive amount of untapped potential, and allows for a lot of player expression. I hope people will continue to support it in the future. :)

 

[Miss Crisis]

I'm so glad to have seen Sketchmons on the monthly ladder again! After the reboot last year, I thought it was a lot of fun to watch the format develop so quickly. I had more fun as the month progressed, but I thought I'd include my earlier teams in my team dump/thoughts wrap up post.

Week 1: Hype Moments and Aura Rain

I liked how this team played so I submitted it to aim. Or at least tried to, I wasn't doing too hot at the time and I accidentally linked a STAAABmons team. Also, we banned damp rock like a day later. Fairly simple rain abuse, fit for a youtube video.

Week 2: The Hazard Game

Ogerpon-Wellspring, despite being somewhat obviously broken, was extremely fun to play with. It especially shined alongside Salt Cure users and Cinderace, both of which easily achieved the necessary chip to land the critical Jet Punch KOs. This is where I started using that Tornadus-Therian set, which has been a staple on most of my teams (I just like how it plays). Cinderace is another one of my favorites, and one of the best Burning Bulwark users. Notably, this team does not feature hard hazard removal and relies on both Court Change and the omnipresence of Mortal Spin to remove hazards. Just the threat of Court Change massively changes the hazard game, and this team was slippery enough to get away with Court Change.

Week 3: Saltking

Played around after some further metagame development, and came up with my favorite Cinderace set yet: First Impression gets the jump on every other (relevant) priority in the tier, notably Ogerpon-Wellspring's Jet Punch and basically every Thunderclap, and also makes U-turn a surprisingly powerful follow-up move. This puts pressure on your opponent from a different angle, and Cinderace is often able to safely grab a Court Change or get some nice chip in after threatening a First Impression. Covert Cloak is Ting-Lu's best item, allowing it to sit on Mortal Spins, Sacred Fires, and Salt Cures, Gholdengo also holds one of these for a better matchup against Salt Cures and Scalds. Salt Cure Slowking puts out an immense amount of pressure, as it is no longer a safe switch in for basically anything. In hindsight it probably should have run Future Sight, but Slack Off + Psychic Noise allows it to sit on any defensive Pokemon hoping to tank the Salt Cure.

Week 4:

I liked this one enough to do an RMT on it!

Saturday Night (Alomomola) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Mortal Spin
- Wish
- Flip Turn
- Protect
This thing eats so many hits, and stray Bolt Strikes can usually be tanked while it pivots out to a teammate. Mortal Spin gives it the same pressure Scald did while providing utility.


Is The Loneliest (Clefable) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Take Heart
- Moonblast
- Flamethrower
- Moonlight
Win Condition! Covert Cloak + max defense + Unaware means Clefable absolutely sits on most defensive mons, is capable of tanking and revenge killing the many Fairy and Fire-weak offensive Pokemon, and wins every Calm Mind/Nasty Plot arms race. Magic Guard seems really cool on Clefable, but between Take Heart and Covert Cloak, Clefable is protected from most of the passive damage present in the tier. Take Heart is chosen because Clefable already has basically everything it could ever need, and it further cements the dominance over the defensive Pokemon in the tier.


Night Of The Week (Glimmora) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Toxic Debris
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Strength Sap
- Mortal Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
Honestly not sure if Strength Sap is the best choice, but it's what the team got iterated towards. Maximum defense Glimmora is capable of taking at least one hit from nearly everything in the tier (Ground moves don't count) and make a little bit of progress. Toxic Spikes really make the rest of the team shine so much more, and a secondary Mortal Spin user helps against opposing Hazard stack teams.


My Sweetie And I (Gholdengo) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Good as Gold
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Astral Barrage
- Make It Rain
- Trick
- Recover
I believe that this is the optimal Gholdengo set. Ghost is a fantastic STAB, and nothing relevant is able to repeatedly tank both multiple Astral Barrages and Make it Rains, making Gholdengo a ticking time bomb once the opponent's Ghost or Steel resist is damaged. Gholdengo is *really* good here, in my personal top 5, thanks to its fantastic power, versatility, and ability to block Mortal Spin. One of its biggest roadblocks is PP usage, 8 PP on each STAB is not a lot and good gameplay requires you to conserve these as much as possible.


Used To Dance (Tornadus-Therian) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Salt Cure
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Bleakwind Storm
The GOAT set. Salt Cure + Knock Off + U-turn on a Regenerator user is, uh, really good, and makes progress whenever Tornadus hits the field. Assault Vest means it can tank most unboosted special hits and hit back with Salt Cure or Knock Off, severely hindering whatever tried to hit it. This set serves as the glue to so many of my teams thanks to its unparalleled utility and ability to offensively check dangerous Pokemon like Gholdengo and Walking Wake, while uninvested Bleakwind Storm is able to heavily damage or KO physically defensive Pokemon like Great Tusk and Landorus-Therian.


Cheek-to-Cheek (Ting-Lu) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Shore Up
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Whirlwind
The load-bearing special wall of the format, like many other formats. Checks basically anything you need to that doesn't have a boosted STAB Water move. Spikes and Whirlwind further enforce the hazard core, and combined with the incredible passive damage output of its teammates, Ting-Lu is afforded many opportunities to use Spikes and Shore Up.

Overall, Sketchmons feels like a format about personal preference. The good stuff works in whatever way you think would be the most fun, and no team is going to check *everything* and you can pick what you're going to lose to (this unfortunately lowers the competitiveness score from the survey). Glad I got to experience this format with everyone. Special thanks to the Sketchmons council, who worked super hard to make informed and fair tiering decisions while keeping the core idea of the format alive.