been enjoying sv a lot lately, so have some late nominations from me:
A+ -> S-
arguably the best ground type in the tier full stop, his classic defensive sets have been excelling as always due to how great they are at blanket checking just about every physical attackers in the tier and because Intimidate + Taunt and U-turn is actually amazing on both paper and in practice. However the discovery of his offensive sets has once again shown that Landorus-T is not just a defensive Pokemon either, with Choice Scarf having a complete resurgence due to how excellent it is and Soft Sand sets having great showings too. In short, Lando-T has stood the test of time and its insane to realize that hes still him even after the movepool changes hes received this generation.
A+ to S-
Completely busted, idk why its still A+ honestly. Kyurem set variety in conjunction with how stupid freeze can be makes it completely impossible to handle defensively due to how powerful and how versatile it is. The discovery of SubTect has made Kyurem even more nightmarish to handle safely due to it being able to pressure stall easily as well as dodge potiential revenge killers with Substitute, and that is ontop of every other set it can run(specs, dd, mixed dd, boots, etc) as well as others that havent been fully explored fully(scarf being most notable but even sets such as dd weakness policy can probably be usable). As a whole, Kyurem is just downright insane and its crazy how even with the removal of Roost from its movepool its still a completely terror to face
A- to A
Crown is very good in the tier thanks to its typing, bulk, and versatility. AV is great as always considering that its just very reliable at taking on many special attackers, but other sets such as Specs and even CM also have shown that Crown can be more than just a speical hit taker. Overall a great pokemon in the metagame and very effective as a result of how versatile it can be.
B -> B+
B+ -> A-
echoing this post that i made a while ago, however i still think they deserves rises as a whole
B -> B+
Greninja still continues to reign as a potent threat even in Gen9 OU despite the nerfs it has recieved in addition to the enomorus power creep this generation has brought and it Ladder + OLT success says it all. Water/Dark is always a good STAB combination and it can run away with games quickly if it picks up a KO, combined with its great speed for the tier as well as its amazing movepool that gives it good coverage in both Ice Beam or Sludge Wave in addition having great priority with Water Shuriken and you pretty much have a great offensive threat that is capable of snowballing through teams if given a chance to pick up a KO, and that is before you add on the fact that it can tera too to jack up the power of its stabs or to change its typing defensively in the face of its checks. SD Battle Bond sets have also been seeing some decent success too on top of classic special bb sets, thanks to those sets having access to upper hand for stuff like Kingambit or Raging Bolt as well as having access to Gunk Shot for a more powerful Poison-type coverage move. Ofc it struggles with stuff like Rillaboom, Raging Bolt, Kyurem, both Primarina and Ogerpon-W outside of Sludge Wave/Gunk Shot, and Zama; but this can be all fixed with support from its teammates and the opportunity cost to bringing it is worth it if its issues are covered since its still a massive threat despite the nerf its received.
B+ -> A-
Zapdos has been seeing a bit of a resurgence as of lately thanks to the fact that it has had strong showings on ladder play(almost to the point where it would've rose to OU this month if monthly tiering shifts were still in effect) as well as OLT and theres no surprise to see why. The bans of Archaludon and Volcarona most certainly helped Zapdos out as they were two excellent checks to it and the dominance of Zamazenta cannot be overstated, thus despite Kyurem and Raging Bolt as well as Gliscor still existing in the tier it feels like Zapdos has been progressively getting much better as time has been going on. Its typing is excellent as always as it matches up well into most physical attackers in the metagame(IV, Scizor, Roaring Moon, Kingambit, Dragonite, etc) as well as matching up excellently into Great Tusk and defensive variants of Landorus-T, thus making it a much better pivot than bolt against these two certain grounds due to it having a ground immunity which something that bolt cant claim. Static is also something that Zapdos has that Raging Bolt doesnt and its what makes Zapdos such an excellent progress maker in the metagame, since it can easily fish for para's thanks to its typing in conjunction with its bulk and proceed to slow down faster threats for its teammates to take advantage of. Having access to U-Turn is also another good quality as an electric-type pivot considering that it allows Zapdos to pivot out of ground types like Gliscor and Landorus-Therian so it doesnt lose momentum. Offensive sets also have huge potiential still but i think those will prolly get more expirementation later on in the metagame, for now tho i think Zapdos deserves a rise thanks to whats listed above and it would be very cool to see where Zapdos winds up n the future if it keeps excelling.
B- to B
Gouging Fire being banned gives room for Blaziken to start finding some decent success again thanks to sd + speed boost allowing it to opperate as an effective breaker and potientally being able to sweep. Ofc it still has some competition as an offensive fire type from Iron Moth and still has some issues with threats like Raging Bolt and Zama, but i feel like Blaziken has improved a decent bit thanks to one of its main competitors leaving which can potential let it find some success and it wouldnt be surprising that it could become a legitmete threat in the future
Keep B+
While Heatran losing toxic is huge i dont think it should drop to below B+ considering that its still a great wallbreaker due to how a lot of mons in the metagame are afraid of Magma Storm or get irritated of switching into it and can function as an effective gluemon thanks to it having access to rocks + taunt and wisp, SpDef Heatran is also still solid at checking threats like Gholdengo, Crown, Darkrai, and Choice Specs Dragapult. Being able to also check pults lacking twave can be quite helpful to for some teams that can otherwise be irritated into facing it. Tera Blast Grass is also something that i feel like should be explored too considering that it effectively allows Heatran to trap Pokemon like Dondozo, Alomomola, and Garganacl lacking Tera Fairy. As a whole, i think Heatran is def a mon that deserves more respect and potentially more exploration considering that it can be an effective Tera Blast user too, thus lending me to nominate it staying in B+
B+ to B
i truly dont get the hype for this Pokemon im sorry. Latios isnt bad per say considering that Tera Steel variants of it provide some of the most consistent counterplay into SubTect Kyurem and it naturally allows Latios to maximize its defensive utility ontop of the fact that it can still use choiced sets to decent results. However it cant reliably break through many bulky Pokemon consistently, such as those that rose up to check Kyurem like AV Crown and Galarian Slowking as well as Pokemon such as Ting-Lu and defensive Ghold still being great checks which hurts Latios's breaking prowess by a significant margin. Its speed is also a let down against most of the offensive Metagame too and Latios also still faces stiff competition from Dragapult and Kyurem as special wallbreakers too considering that their stabs are much better most of the metagame metagame and the fact that they arent as awkward to fit unlike Latios
A -> A-
Still a threat but overall isnt as good as it was compared to at the start of DLC2. Alomomola being as common as it is really stings Weavile a lot and the rise of Moltres kinda hurts it too considering that Flame Body greatly irritates Weavile trying to damage it at all. Zama also being as common as it greatly checks Weavile considering that its faster and can hit it for big damage or threaten Weaviles team in return with the threat of an ID sweep. Weav is still good tho especially after GFire bans considering that: its speed and toolkit is still very good into offense, having ice shard is valuable as always in such as fast pace metagame, and being able to deter Pokemon that arent running Booster Energy from switching in with the item removal of Knock Off is invaluable, however its ranked too high and feel like it being A- is more accurate of where it stands right now
B+ -> B
Despite gfire's ban i still think its mid and actually worse than Weavile despite Meowscarada having U-turn. Its item syndrome holds it back as it wants all of boots/band/scarf and all of which are flawed in their own right such as boots and scarf being too weak as well as band being too slow, both choiced sets are also badly weak to hazards and are very prediction reliant as a whole. Moltres and Zapdos also rising doesnt do meow any favor because meow cant muscle through them without band unlike Weav who at least can have a chance of doing huge damage to them thanks to Sword Dance, provided it doesnt get contact prompted.