Hey all! I'm back on this thread for some more misc. noms. Normally I'd write about just one Inparticular, but I've got quite a few on my mind I really wanna talk about, so they'll be much shorter than usual, but a lot more rapid-fire esque.
Rise Nominations!
C+ -> B-
And the OU VR Perfect Attendance Award Goes to...
Jokes aside, I can see where people are coming from with Gengar competing with the other Ghosts so heavily. But I do feel like Gengar is fairly under explored in OU, and a clear cut above the rest of the Pokémon found in C+ Tier, especially as a Ghost Type with both Focus Blast, and Nasty Plot. Choice Scarf sets consisting of Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Trick, and Nasty Plot have been absolute godsends to my Hyper Offense teams, being able to reliably RK Scarf Kart for these teams I've always felt is a huge boon in Gengar's favor, as well as being able to trick away its Choice Scarf once it's no longer needed to go for the game with Nasty Plot and a still respectable speed tier, both the great speed control they provide, as well as being another setup threat with Trick Utility are things Blacephalon and Dragapult would love to be able to do themself, this isn't to say Gengar's worthless outside of Hyper Offense though, Focus Blast also makes it a genuine option to consider on Ghost Spam, being able to take advantage of common Ghost Resists and Blow them Sky-High, with Nasty Plot being able to increase its potency if left unchecked, and make it even better at pressuring common Ghost switch ins, Achieving absurd feats like overwhelming Toxapex, Heatran, and Blissey singlehandedly with Relative ease with such a ridiculously strong Shadow Ball/Focus Blast respectively.
Nasty Plot Giga Drain on Non-Choice Scarf Sets also allow Gengar to lure and remove Gastrodon near instantly, who otherwise has no qualms walling a majority of the other Ghost Types in the tier, making the Ghost type of your choice to complement Gengar much more easily able to go to town, Giga Drain also has Great Synergy with Life Orb, and Gengar's naturally low HP Stat, allowing Gengar to hit extremely hard, minimize their Life Orb recoil with 29 HP IVs, and offset said recoil thanks to Giga Drain. All the while making Gengar surprisingly resiliant for a Pokémon otherwise so frail. All these traits make Gengar, while still flawed, and not always justifiable over other ghosts, feel extremely under-appreciated in the current Metagame.
B -> B+
Just as its design would imply, I believe Hydreigon is a total beast in OU right now, only bolstered by the rise of Bulkier Grounds that struggle to immediately threaten it, like Hippowdon and Gastrodon just to name the two big ones. Access to Nasty Plot and a Defensive Profile sent down from the Gods above to capitalize on this rise only makes Hydreigon even scarier.
Hydreigon also has some extremely good defensive utility, being able to find plenty of set up oppertunities on common defensive cores, and pressures them like nothing else quite can, shredding defensive cores like they're paper in a lot of cases where they don't have the tools to break it, and only really struggling if the opponent has Clefable (which is a common scenario yes, but teammates that help VS Clefable aren't too hard to come across.)
Overall Great Pokémon from my experience, and with the overall bulkier direction the meta's taking, Hydreigon's gonna make people regret it, while slotting on these bulkier teams excellently itself.
B- -> B
Speaking of a Pokémon that takes advantage of Bulkier Metas, this Mitosis Master is becoming quite a threat. There's not a lot in the current metagame that walls the combination of Psyshock + Thunder besides Ferrothorn, and there's much less common Pokémon that pose an immediate threat than you'd think bar Tyranitar and Weavile, who can still be caught with Focus Blast if you choose to opt for it. I'd argue its on par with Calm Mind Clefable as one of the better Calm Mind sweepers in the Meta, because while it's marginally harder to get going with than Calm Mind Clefable, it's significantly harder to stop when it does.
C - C+
Might be a hot take, but I feel like Keldeo is super scary on rain. While obviously not an automatic Addition, Keldeo's Choice Specs set can still be absolutely nuclear under the effects of rain, even 2HKOing Toxapex After Stealth Rock Damage!
Flip Turn and Scald also give it really good midground options to make it a lot easier to avoid sinking momentum via failing to predict properly (though let's be real you're probably just Hydro Pumping everything in sight.)
Secret Sword is also extremely relevant for helping break down Pokémon that Rain Pokémon normally struggle to handle, and in my opinion is what allows Keldeo to be justifiable over another Rain Breaker like Volcanion or Thundurus Therian, Being able to take down Gastrodon can be huge for Keldeo's Partners like Zapdos, and Seismitoad, as well as easing Barraskewda's Predictions later on, while also allowing Keldeo to force out Pokémon like Blissey or Ferrothorn with relative ease to use to generate momentum with Flip Turn!
Still very niche, but it has its uses for rain teams.
Drop Nominations!
A -> A-
Deathly afraid of Washing Machines and Weasels, both of which are incredibly prevelant right now, and as a result means Dragonite is rarely outright sweeping with its offensive sets, and its utility sets are just too prone to being worn down by what their supposed to check (Specifically Kartana/Rillaboom Knocking Off Boots, Heatran being able to Poison it, Pads Urshifu being able to taunt it on recovery turns, etc.)
Still a solid pick you can't really go wrong with, but its potency has diminished slightly in my opinion.
B -> B-
Forgive me Xenon but it must be done :(
Look, I love Scizor, but they're just not having a good time right now. Physically Defensive Sets have just never struck me as useful, and Offensive Scizor just has too many moves it wants to be running to realistically be reliable right now.
Not only that but regardless of what it runs, Zapdos, Offensive Heatran, Volcanion, Victini, Volcarona, and Corviknight will always give it trouble, meaning even in the ideal scenario it gets to set up and has the coverage move it needs to beat the opponent's check, it's likely not getting much further than that without immediately being punished and putting you right back on the backfoot (or in the case of Zapdos, or Corviknight, not getting anywhere at all and just thudding into it helplessly the entire game.)
A- -> B+
With all due respect to his majesty, I have yet to find a reason to run them over Slowbro, especially with Slowbro being able to don some extra Special Defense to pivot around the same things Slowking checks, not even to say anything of Galarian Slowking who I've gotten far more mileage out of. I just fail to see the reason to run this over Slowbro anymore, I'm certain a reason exists, I've just yet to find it.
B -> B-
here we have (what I believe is) yet another Fallen King, Nidoking had his time in the spotlight, but it feels like the overall structure of the metagame has wised up to his tricks, and come to the conclusion of "don't let in the big scary slow frail breaker." Don't get me wrong, his highness still shreds teams unprepared for his Kingly presence, but a lot of the offensive metagame seems to just snuff him out before he gets the chance to do much. To say nothing of defensive Pokémon who don't let it in as freely showing up more often making it even more reliant on Slow Pivots, like Hippowdon, Rotom Wash, heck even Specially Defensive Garchomp isn't safe until it's revealed it's slower than Nidoking.
Still Powerful under the correct circumstances, but requires more team support than it used to imo, as well as those circumstances becoming more rare as the meta evolves.
Rise Nominations!
C+ -> B-And the OU VR Perfect Attendance Award Goes to...
Jokes aside, I can see where people are coming from with Gengar competing with the other Ghosts so heavily. But I do feel like Gengar is fairly under explored in OU, and a clear cut above the rest of the Pokémon found in C+ Tier, especially as a Ghost Type with both Focus Blast, and Nasty Plot. Choice Scarf sets consisting of Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Trick, and Nasty Plot have been absolute godsends to my Hyper Offense teams, being able to reliably RK Scarf Kart for these teams I've always felt is a huge boon in Gengar's favor, as well as being able to trick away its Choice Scarf once it's no longer needed to go for the game with Nasty Plot and a still respectable speed tier, both the great speed control they provide, as well as being another setup threat with Trick Utility are things Blacephalon and Dragapult would love to be able to do themself, this isn't to say Gengar's worthless outside of Hyper Offense though, Focus Blast also makes it a genuine option to consider on Ghost Spam, being able to take advantage of common Ghost Resists and Blow them Sky-High, with Nasty Plot being able to increase its potency if left unchecked, and make it even better at pressuring common Ghost switch ins, Achieving absurd feats like overwhelming Toxapex, Heatran, and Blissey singlehandedly with Relative ease with such a ridiculously strong Shadow Ball/Focus Blast respectively.
Nasty Plot Giga Drain on Non-Choice Scarf Sets also allow Gengar to lure and remove Gastrodon near instantly, who otherwise has no qualms walling a majority of the other Ghost Types in the tier, making the Ghost type of your choice to complement Gengar much more easily able to go to town, Giga Drain also has Great Synergy with Life Orb, and Gengar's naturally low HP Stat, allowing Gengar to hit extremely hard, minimize their Life Orb recoil with 29 HP IVs, and offset said recoil thanks to Giga Drain. All the while making Gengar surprisingly resiliant for a Pokémon otherwise so frail. All these traits make Gengar, while still flawed, and not always justifiable over other ghosts, feel extremely under-appreciated in the current Metagame.
B -> B+Just as its design would imply, I believe Hydreigon is a total beast in OU right now, only bolstered by the rise of Bulkier Grounds that struggle to immediately threaten it, like Hippowdon and Gastrodon just to name the two big ones. Access to Nasty Plot and a Defensive Profile sent down from the Gods above to capitalize on this rise only makes Hydreigon even scarier.
Hydreigon also has some extremely good defensive utility, being able to find plenty of set up oppertunities on common defensive cores, and pressures them like nothing else quite can, shredding defensive cores like they're paper in a lot of cases where they don't have the tools to break it, and only really struggling if the opponent has Clefable (which is a common scenario yes, but teammates that help VS Clefable aren't too hard to come across.)
Overall Great Pokémon from my experience, and with the overall bulkier direction the meta's taking, Hydreigon's gonna make people regret it, while slotting on these bulkier teams excellently itself.
B- -> BSpeaking of a Pokémon that takes advantage of Bulkier Metas, this Mitosis Master is becoming quite a threat. There's not a lot in the current metagame that walls the combination of Psyshock + Thunder besides Ferrothorn, and there's much less common Pokémon that pose an immediate threat than you'd think bar Tyranitar and Weavile, who can still be caught with Focus Blast if you choose to opt for it. I'd argue its on par with Calm Mind Clefable as one of the better Calm Mind sweepers in the Meta, because while it's marginally harder to get going with than Calm Mind Clefable, it's significantly harder to stop when it does.
C - C+Might be a hot take, but I feel like Keldeo is super scary on rain. While obviously not an automatic Addition, Keldeo's Choice Specs set can still be absolutely nuclear under the effects of rain, even 2HKOing Toxapex After Stealth Rock Damage!
Flip Turn and Scald also give it really good midground options to make it a lot easier to avoid sinking momentum via failing to predict properly (though let's be real you're probably just Hydro Pumping everything in sight.)
Secret Sword is also extremely relevant for helping break down Pokémon that Rain Pokémon normally struggle to handle, and in my opinion is what allows Keldeo to be justifiable over another Rain Breaker like Volcanion or Thundurus Therian, Being able to take down Gastrodon can be huge for Keldeo's Partners like Zapdos, and Seismitoad, as well as easing Barraskewda's Predictions later on, while also allowing Keldeo to force out Pokémon like Blissey or Ferrothorn with relative ease to use to generate momentum with Flip Turn!
Still very niche, but it has its uses for rain teams.
Drop Nominations!
A -> A-Deathly afraid of Washing Machines and Weasels, both of which are incredibly prevelant right now, and as a result means Dragonite is rarely outright sweeping with its offensive sets, and its utility sets are just too prone to being worn down by what their supposed to check (Specifically Kartana/Rillaboom Knocking Off Boots, Heatran being able to Poison it, Pads Urshifu being able to taunt it on recovery turns, etc.)
Still a solid pick you can't really go wrong with, but its potency has diminished slightly in my opinion.
B -> B-Forgive me Xenon but it must be done :(
Look, I love Scizor, but they're just not having a good time right now. Physically Defensive Sets have just never struck me as useful, and Offensive Scizor just has too many moves it wants to be running to realistically be reliable right now.
Not only that but regardless of what it runs, Zapdos, Offensive Heatran, Volcanion, Victini, Volcarona, and Corviknight will always give it trouble, meaning even in the ideal scenario it gets to set up and has the coverage move it needs to beat the opponent's check, it's likely not getting much further than that without immediately being punished and putting you right back on the backfoot (or in the case of Zapdos, or Corviknight, not getting anywhere at all and just thudding into it helplessly the entire game.)
A- -> B+With all due respect to his majesty, I have yet to find a reason to run them over Slowbro, especially with Slowbro being able to don some extra Special Defense to pivot around the same things Slowking checks, not even to say anything of Galarian Slowking who I've gotten far more mileage out of. I just fail to see the reason to run this over Slowbro anymore, I'm certain a reason exists, I've just yet to find it.
B -> B-here we have (what I believe is) yet another Fallen King, Nidoking had his time in the spotlight, but it feels like the overall structure of the metagame has wised up to his tricks, and come to the conclusion of "don't let in the big scary slow frail breaker." Don't get me wrong, his highness still shreds teams unprepared for his Kingly presence, but a lot of the offensive metagame seems to just snuff him out before he gets the chance to do much. To say nothing of defensive Pokémon who don't let it in as freely showing up more often making it even more reliant on Slow Pivots, like Hippowdon, Rotom Wash, heck even Specially Defensive Garchomp isn't safe until it's revealed it's slower than Nidoking.
Still Powerful under the correct circumstances, but requires more team support than it used to imo, as well as those circumstances becoming more rare as the meta evolves.
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