Metagame SV Pokebilities AAA

[Dorsia]

I'd like to know how Flame Orb Heracross is faster than Cinderace without web/tailwind/speed drop? I've seen several Scarf Heracross holding Flame Orb and still being able to outspeed faster things. There must be something I'm ignoring but I cannot explain. Can anyone explain me?

 

[Nakoruru_XD]

I'd like to know how Flame Orb Heracross is faster than Cinderace without web/tailwind/speed drop? I've seen several Scarf Heracross holding Flame Orb and still being able to outspeed faster things. There must be something I'm ignoring but I cannot explain. Can anyone explain me?

Quick Feet ability

If this Pokemon is statused, its Speed is 1.5×; ignores Speed drop from paralysis.

Burn , para , poison

 

[mason75]

I’ve been messing around with LOSF Chandelure recently. This thing is ridiculously hard to wall.

Just some examples:

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 247-291 (48 - 56.6%) -- 33.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 107-126 (29.3 - 34.6%) -- 7.2% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey: 173-204 (26.5 - 31.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatran: 183-216 (47.4 - 55.9%) -- 23% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

With this knowledge, plain ol’ Hoopa with Focus Blast would be even better, except for the worse defensive typing/abilities. I’m sure you can guess which 4 moves I’m running as there really isn’t much else Chandy learns. Dual STAB, Energy Ball, and Psychic is interesting coverage tbh, I wouldn’t think Psychic would be necessary but I find myself clicking it quite a bit. Let me know if you think of some other move to slot that would be better. Thanks!

 

[SchizoidPersona]

Discussion: Does anyone think abilities should be open knowledge in this format. For regular aaa the mind game can be played around and the best abilities are predictable, plus one ability per team clause. Also obviously in normal formats you almost always know the exact ability a Pokemon has. In this format it's genuinely impossible and nearly skill less, how often you can be psyched out or immediately lose to the most random set. A team will have like 3 ground types and you have to predict which one of them has water absorb and which one of them has dazzling or any other random thing that seems to exist to counter team. I'm not sure if showdown can display the abilities, but I would definitely be in favor of it.

 

[SchizoidPersona]

Also here's a couple of teams. One is Set up spam the other is focused on clearing the way for Regieleki to sweep. https://pokepast.es/6c77a5f659698b0c

The set up spam teams is cheap and surprisingly strong. Also It s has mold breaker Ogerpon, which help beat unaware and water absorb Pokemon. Emboar is on this team to check counters or get an early damage lead and immediately die. This team has no switching moves but also every Pokemon has a way to heal and regenerator Goodra resists everything. The team is strong against stall, and most teams you can easily set up a Pokemon. Often it feels like if you kill one Pokemon you immediately win the match, which seems strong.

2nd team
Galvanize regieleki is very strong but unfortunately ground types exist. Regenerator scarf landlords mainly for the ground immunity and the speed control. Banded Alo with primordial sea so you can switch something into fire types. I mainly focused this team on dealing with Zapdos and Hearten since those Pokemon tend to run through my failed teams. This team is weak to kommo-o setting up. I had to change like 3 Pokemon sets just for slight check s against it. Alo has play rough now. Also Volcanion was adaptability but I switched it fluffy and I dont really see the difference it is here mainly for the typing anyway. Also I swear there's a better Pokemon to use than Iron Treads on this team but I haven't found it. It's hear to help with poison types and Zapdos.

Edit: The Set Up team very much abuses the fact that abilities are not open knowledge in this format. I still think it would be strong but still.

 

[Lavender Vice]

Discussion: Does anyone think abilities should be open knowledge in this format. For regular aaa the mind game can be played around and the best abilities are predictable, plus one ability per team clause. Also obviously in normal formats you almost always know the exact ability a Pokemon has. In this format it's genuinely impossible and nearly skill less, how often you can be psyched out or immediately lose to the most random set. A team will have like 3 ground types and you have to predict which one of them has water absorb and which one of them has dazzling or any other random thing that seems to exist to counter team. I'm not sure if showdown can display the abilities, but I would definitely be in favor of it.

To be honest, yes the format can feel a bit matchup fishy at times but it is NOT because of lacking open team sheet.

Most mons run typically one or two abilities, several of which reveal themselves upon entry, and a large part of the magic of PokeAAA (and AAA tiers in general) is the fact you can run certain strange combinations to catch opponents off guard.

For the same reason open team sheet isn’t used or needed in… I believe any other singles metagame? (Correct me if I’m wrong), even formats like Balanced Hackmons which have INFINITELY more potential options is because it isn’t needed. It can be frustrating to get beaten out by certain abilities that you were surprised by, but the vast VAST majority of sets each mon runs commonly are well-known and discovered atp, and is listed quite extensively on the VR.

There are plenty of reliable ways to defeat things like Dazzling setup mons or immunity mons. Mold Breaker, Ditto, Unaware, bulky mons like Hoodra or Garganacl, fast scarf mons like Meow, etc.

If you keep losing to ‘cheese’ and the lack of knowledge on what abilities are commonly ran, or lose to a single turn of momentum loss from them switching into an unexpected immunity, it is likely your team/tier knowledge that is the problem, and not the tier itself (might be worsened by using a set that physically cannot hurt grounds or volt absorb mons). That’s not to say there isn’t counter teaming and a problem with matchup fishing and rock/paper/scissors matchups, but rather that open team sheet is NOT the way to solve said issue (one which is not nearly as overblown as you’re making it out to be).

 

[Miss Crisis]

Discussion: Does anyone think abilities should be open knowledge in this format. For regular aaa the mind game can be played around and the best abilities are predictable, plus one ability per team clause. Also obviously in normal formats you almost always know the exact ability a Pokemon has. In this format it's genuinely impossible and nearly skill less, how often you can be psyched out or immediately lose to the most random set. A team will have like 3 ground types and you have to predict which one of them has water absorb and which one of them has dazzling or any other random thing that seems to exist to counter team. I'm not sure if showdown can display the abilities, but I would definitely be in favor of it.

not really, this is actually the first time i've seen discussion of this. i find the unpredictability to be one of the more enjoyable parts of this format, and even picking which one of your opponent's 3? ground types has water absorb is a good exercise in player skill because you also need to keep in mind the existence of desolate land and positioning. this extends to other scenarios, like predicting if your opponent's lokix is choice band adaptability or life orb magic guard, or if your opponent's heatran without desolate land is earth eater/water absorb/fluffy. these prediction games help shore up some of the difficulties a team has with covering the many threats in a format.

i also doubt that showdown has an ability reveal mechanic, but if it does i'd be down to run some room tournaments with it!

 

[woosah]

https://pokepast.es/7b6accf631027b8b
team ive been running while cooking tf out of top 5 ladder players

water absorb lando does lando things and is handy at stopping mola from safely pivoting/wishpassing by eating flip turns and having enough ap even while uninvested to threaten whoever wants to switch in (except flying types and ground absorbs), but taunt prevents corv defog for rocks progress

regenvest hands is impossible to kill without biting a chunk out of ur opponent first or at least getting a few pivots out of it, strong enough to threaten so its not just a fat useless wall

turboblaze volcanion is an amazing breaker for those pesky absorb abilities and packs sludge to smoke and hopefully poison vest mola. nothing except regenvest hoodra wants to take a stab specs steam eruption (vest hands CAN somewhat take it, but also risks getting burned which would allow our lando to eat its ice punches). also stops mola from flip turning

Pixilate grimm is probably my favorite set in the entire format and everybody sleeps on its base 120 attack cuz theyre so used to pivot. nobody expects it until you KO their glass cannon with fakeout + sucker then parting shot out on whoever comes in next. This guy can last a long time because he can get off 1-2 free attacks and switch out without taking a hit. also does an assload of dmg to ting lu and hands

banded libero ambipom beat up just smokes everything that isnt a bulky resist, 2hkos corv and mola with all 6 hits and ignores fluffy while taking 0 damage from rocky helmet due to non contact. use to be fury swipes instead of knock but fury swipes is an 80% accurate normal move in a format full of fluffys, steel types and rocky helms so i went knock to take items, which is especially useful for taking helmets and vests

mguard lorb talon always moves first at max hp and also smokes everything that isnt wbb corv, physdef mola or heatran. our volcanion handles them so this thing runs wild once you get em out of the way. immune to hazard + status dmg so if ur able to save it until late game and everyones chipped, nothing really stops it from cleaning up. Went adamant for more ap cuz ur already moving first 99% of the time, plus talon will still have a great speed tier if it loses prio notably still being 1pt faster than jolly ogerpon

 

[mason75]

I’ve been messing around with LOSF Chandelure recently. This thing is ridiculously hard to wall.

Just some examples:

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 247-291 (48 - 56.6%) -- 33.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 107-126 (29.3 - 34.6%) -- 7.2% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey: 173-204 (26.5 - 31.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatran: 183-216 (47.4 - 55.9%) -- 23% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

With this knowledge, plain ol’ Hoopa with Focus Blast would be even better, except for the worse defensive typing/abilities. I’m sure you can guess which 4 moves I’m running as there really isn’t much else Chandy learns. Dual STAB, Energy Ball, and Psychic is interesting coverage tbh, I wouldn’t think Psychic would be necessary but I find myself clicking it quite a bit. Let me know if you think of some other move to slot that would be better. Thanks!

I’ve been having a blast (of the Fire type variety) with this LOSF Chandelure let me tell ya…
If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out! This thing has had me hooked for days trying to figure out the best combination of moves for it to get the absolute most out of it. I believe it will completely and utterly dismantle stall every time once I’m done testing. I think this may be an instance where running both Flamethower and Fire Blast is viable, which amuses me. The fact that any neutral RegenVester takes roughly 30-35% from Flamethrower so you negate their recovery makes it so Fire Blast can shave off another 3-9% when you can risk firing one off. Not a huge difference but I can see the merit versus RegenVesters with Knock-Off like Meloetta and Goodra-H as you don’t want to lose your Life Orb. Here’s some calcs demonstrating how powerful this thing is.

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Meloetta: 121-142 (29.9 - 35.1%) -- 15.4% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Meloetta: 146-173 (36.1 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 107-126 (29.3 - 34.6%) -- 7.2% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Goodra-Hisui: 133-156 (36.5 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

As you can see, Flamethrower is just shy of 1/3 HP on a minimum damage roll for both however Fire Blast deals slightly more than 1/3. I enjoy putting 200% of my effort into solving the most insignificant problems and dilemmas one can find themselves in. To quote the greatest inspirator of our generation: “No problem too big. No task too small.”

 

[noobdueler]

are the sample teams listed still considered the top or meta ones? looking for good teams to try and get an understanding of ladder thx

 

[Miss Crisis]

POKEAAA SURVEY #3 RESULTS
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey! The council appreciates the input of the playerbase who make the metagame what it is <3

ENJOYABILITY, COMPETITIVENESS, AND PARTICIPATION

The average enjoyability rating was 7.3, with a median of 8! The scores were slightly lower than last time (8.3 and 9, respectively), and the council had seen this reflected in discussion around the metagame. We all love this format and want to do what we can to make it healthier!

The average competitiveness ranking was 6.3, with a median of 6! The general feeling of uncompetitivity is what prompted the council to conduct the survey in the first place. To quote myself in a bad mood, "this tier feels like rock/paper/scissors but you only get to bring two of them to a battle. also every now and then someone finds a gun." The metagame has developed significantly in the two team tournaments since the last survey, and the loss of Garchomp and Mamoswine as well as the rise of Weatherspeed has caused restrictions on teambuilding.

This time around, 61% of participants were or will be involved in PokeAAA's tournament scene. Compared to the previous 36% of respondents to the last survey, we can expect these responses to be more influenced by tournament play than the last set.

THE METAGAME
Following the recent metagame development throughout AAAPL and TPP, the council wanted to gauge opinions on several of the most discussed topics in the tier.

Iron Hands has repeatedly been brought up as a point of contention, most commonly in relation to the Surge Surfer Swords Dance set. By utilizing Punching Glove, Iron Hands is able to bypass Fluffy and the common ways to punish contact moves, leaving it able to handle nearly every defensive Pokemon in the tier. Compared to the last survey, more people are inclined towards action on Iron Hands (40% vs the previous 31%), but still not enough to form a plurality. With the departure of Hadron Engine from the tier, setting up Surge Surfer's speed boost requires one to bend the team's structure around including an Electric Surge user, which are weaker, less common, and almost always share a Ground weakness with Iron Hands.

Opinions on Meowscarada have slightly shifted over the durations of the team tournaments, where it hasn't performed spectacularly thanks to player preparation and a changed metagame. While it's the only Pokemon surveyed that didn't have a anti-ban supermajority, compared to the last survey the pro-ban contingent has shunk from 31% to 19% while the anti-ban contingent has grown from 31% to 42%. We can attribute this to (once again) the prominence of Fluffy Corviknight, the removal of Garchomp and Mamoswine, and the stronger presences of Priority and Weatherspeed. Additionally, Meowscarada's Choiced sets are no longer the primary set, however: Magic Guard and Heavy-Duty Boots have seen far more usage recently, as they mitigate Meowscarada's glaring weakness to Entry Hazards while granting it the freedom to switch moves.

Samurott-Hisui was also frequently cited as an issue, due to its ability to always make progress when it's on the field. Samurott's favorable matchups into Corviknight and Great Tusk, premiere hazard removers and physical walls, make it one of our best and most dangerous physical (or mixed!) offensive threats. This survey had nearly identical opinions on Samurott-Hisui to the last one, with a 66% supermajority agreeing that it was healthy and belonged in the tier (this opinion was at 63% support in the last survey). I concur with this, as Samurott-Hisui is one of our premiere and iconic offensive options that is held back by its middling speed and bulk.

While more chatter about Talonflame has been occuring, an overwhelming supermajority believes Talonflame is healthy, despite the noticeable restrictions it causes in the teambuilder. While Magic Guard Talonflame might be the single best anti-offense tool in history, it's also quite linear, and can be played around as long as you brought the right tools to the game. We've seen a notable uptick in tournament players bringing awkward sets, like Power Gem Heatran and Protective Pads Well-Baked-Body Corviknight, in order to secure the late-game victory against the opponent's Talonflame win condition, which is what prompted Talonflame's inclusion on the survey.

Tornadus-Therian has been among the more popular threats in recent tournament play, thanks to its incredible typing and longevity, as well as its position as one of the only special attackers Ting-Lu is afraid of. Tornadus-Therian sets have been innovating lately, most notably the inclusion of Knock Off on Nasty Plot sets. Knock Off allows it to remove Assault Vests, Heavy-Duty Boots, and Leftovers from otherwise solid checks like Goodra-Hisui, the Slowkings, and Heatran, setting up a late-game victory with their reduced bulk and Tornadus-Therian's fantastic longevity. Tornadus is the topic that has been discussed the most among the council, as we have found it to be more versatile and dangerous than anything else on this survey. We're glad to see that a 61% supermajority enjoys playing with it and would like to keep it in the tier, and will consider this in future discussions.

we don't like revival blessing either lol. If Revival Blessing starts cheesing serious gameplay we'll ban it on the spot. It's *fine* for now.

The council wanted to ask about exactly how Weatherspeed impacts your teambuilding process. There's a few top Pokemon that perform well into it (Desolate Land Heatran, Primordial Sea Tornadus-Therian, Clodsire, Fluffy Corviknight, to name a few) but a 76% supermajority feels that they are forced to make some concessions around its presence in the tier, and include these Pokemon to avoid matchup fishing, even if they aren't the best pick for their team. From the data above, we can infer that Weatherspeed is a significant part of the issues with competitivity mentioned earlier, as well as the next question:

Another issue with the competitivity of the metagame is the wide variety of Pokemon one is forced to consider in the builder. A total of 90% of the survey participants experience difficulty in the teambuilder finding checks to the top threats in the tier. The popularity of blanket checks to patch these holes, like Fluffy Corviknight and Regenerator Ting-Lu, make the Pokemon that are able to bypass them, like Iron Hands and Tornadus-Therian, far more important and dangerous.

THE LAST QUESTION
The last question was about suspect tests, and it read like this:

The council is looking into tiering action to help the format become less centralized.
Which of these topics would you be interested in seeing suspect tested?
[]Iron Hands
[]Samurott-Hisui
[]Talonflame
[]Tornadus-Therion
[]Other (write-in)

The open response option made the Google Sheets chart pretty awkward, so I've processed the data here:

14 / 21 survey respondents answered this question
6 / 14 would support an Iron Hands suspect test
5 / 14 would support a Samurott-Hisui suspect test
5 / 14 would support a Torandus-Therion suspect test
4 / 14 would support a Meowscarada suspect test
4 / 14 would support a Talonflame suspect test
2 / 14 would support a Mienshao suspect test
1 / 14 would support a suspect test on:
Primal Weather abilities, Pawmot/Revival Blessing, Toxtricity, or Ogerpon-Cornerstone
1 / 14 would susport a Archaludon suspect test (unban)

We didn't have any pro-suspect test majorities this time around. With none of these topics appearing urgent, let's wait and see if the format shifts at all with some unbans, which the council is discussing at the moment.

RESPONDING TO THE OPEN RESPONSES
these responses reflect the opinions of Miss Crisis and are not endorsed by the PokeAAA council as a whole

Is there anything you'd like to say that wasn't included in the survey?

the tier needs a crescent moon shaped hero

dawg we have no fairies and corviknight barely keeps up with the rest of the bullshit here

Pls ban hatterene

i haven't seen this opinion before but i also disagree with it. hatterene never gets to do everything it needs to, and its movepool is too shallow to make it a top threat. it also serves as a limited anti-hazard tool that can support hazard-weak teams.

Restrict Weather abilities, unban a lot of the WeatherSpeed merchants

interesting proposal, and one that i've been considering personally. i think this would be a massive and unprecedented change. i'm also not sure where to draw the line on it, would we stop at primal weathers, or keep going and get the normal ones? maybe we should even hard ban all of them? i think i'll create a Weatherless PokeAAA room tournament and see how it goes.

Test Mienshao

i could see it, given more mienshao usage. it hasn't proved itself to be oppressive quite yet, and much like Tornadus-T it does eat up a regen slot, but with far less defensive utility.

Unban Azumarill, Manaphy, Yanmega

pending. archaludon too, maybe even gzap again lmao

I’d like to see Magnet Pull retested but restricted to those who naturally get it, not as your chosen ability. Magnezone might be overwhelming with Magic Guard Life Orb sets but I can’t foresee probopass or golem-alola being too much to handle.

disagree, you weren't in the trenches back then. tldr when you get magnet pull for free you get to do other things on top of it, which usually means some bullshit way to remove the opponent's corviknight or hoodra and let your breakers go uncontested. god how i miss you psea magnezone

Restricting weather abilities potentially. Unrestrict Hadron. Unban Stored Power.

1. see above
2. maybe? depends on how the abusers do. with ting around i could potentially see it
3. over my dead body

I miss Mamoswine. I think evasion abilities clause makes total sense in terms of Smogon compliance, but damn I wish they were just disabled and then you could use the mons.

taps the sign i miss mamoswine too </3

Not a single mention of 2ac is crazy. It needs to go.

haven't seen this opinion before, curious as to what prompted it. imo the most consequential change besides extending the pool of Pokemon available in a regenerator core is the ability to run two Magic Guard users, which isn't exactly gamebreaking.

Ban the cat, ban the evolution of Floragato, ban whoever learns flower trick, ban the generation 9 final evolution of the grass starter

i have no idea what you're talking about

Do you have any questions or comments for the council, or general feedback about the format?

make gastro A+

after recent tournament play i will be raising my personal ranking of gastrodon to around B+, but i do not see it going that high lol. it feels like a defensive matchup fish

Weatherspeed has added too many matchup fishes to account for in the tier for my tastes, and like has been said as what feels like common sentiment- every game more often than not ends up as rock-paper-scissors of who brought the right matchup fish mon.Not entirely sure how to go about fixing it, though restricting weather abilities might be a step in either the right or wrong direction. Either way it'll be a massive change (and we'll probably end up with a new mold breaker meta for waters and fires).

my ears perked up when i read "mold breaker meta". big fan of those. pretty much everyone agrees about the weatherspeed matchup fishes, and you're not the only person to float the weather ability restrictions. we'll see how this plays out!

What do I need to do to have my team posted as a sample and become a council member?

pretty sure i know which team you're talking about and it suffers from consistency issues. it's totally possible to play around these (especially a skilled player like yourself) but sample teams need to be consistent and easy to pilot so newer players can enjoy them as well. as for the council member thing, the current council was selected because of their participation and discussion around the metagame. if i am dethroned in a bloody revolution someone leaves the council we'll likely open up a spot for another player who very much cares about the tier.

I think the uncompetitive nature (for me) primarily comes from the variety and unpredictability of move sets. This is part of what makes the tier so enjoyable, though often frustrating. I don't know if that can be fixed, or if it should.As another part of that, stall is really good. It solves the unpredictability problem most of the time, which makes it very consistent to use. I don't think the easiest (2nd easiest depending on who you ask) archetype to play should be this strong. Once again, I don't know if this can be fixed b/c the strength comes from this being such a weird metagame. Maybe I am overestimating the strength here?

yeah that makes sense. on some level we're never going to *balance* this tier and that's ok! i don't agree with the stall part, i think there are a lot of tools in this tier that make playing against stall far easier than in other tiers, especially Samurott-Hisui and 2AC Magic Guard and Regenerator.

Hamu and torn are the definition of healthy presences in this tier, getting rid of them would make this tier so much worse. Making progress in consistent ways is good! torn and hamu do this, and also keep all the dumb fat shit u can run in this tier in check. Talon is also fine, this tier needs faster 350 guys for the ogers, talon offers a lot of benefits to a team while having middling defensive utility, and is completely neutered when any form of chip is applied. You throw on a fire answer for it and tran anyway so I dont really see an issue with it. Arguably the only borderline mons on this survey are meow and hands, but what set even sets hands over the edge ? Running it on terrain teams with glove ? This just sounds like so much work to bolster a mon, especially now that hadron is gone. Hands is threatening, but idt has done anything egregious. Meow is borderline, but what probably sets it over the edge isn't those mid long reach band sets but things like mglo or boots that let it actually click moves and pivot while not taking hazards, those are much more threatening than the band sets IMO. weather speed is annoying but its mostly just primsea shit, so u just run deso to beat, individual users probably get looked at first no or do u just reinstate the complex idk.

i agree on pretty much all of this except the banded meow take, that thing is insanely dangerous and heavily incentivizes the trend of most corviknights running damage reduction abilities.

Thank you to everyone who participated! We have a decent chunk of time before OMCL starts and the council is going to look into potential tiering actions during this period. Stay tuned!

 

[Lavender Vice]

POKEAAA SURVEY #3 RESULTS
Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey! The council appreciates the input of the playerbase who make the metagame what it is <3

ENJOYABILITY, COMPETITIVENESS, AND PARTICIPATION

View attachment 865638
The average enjoyability rating was 7.3, with a median of 8! The scores were slightly lower than last time (8.3 and 9, respectively), and the council had seen this reflected in discussion around the metagame. We all love this format and want to do what we can to make it healthier!

View attachment 865640
The average competitiveness ranking was 6.3, with a median of 6! The general feeling of uncompetitivity is what prompted the council to conduct the survey in the first place. To quote myself in a bad mood, "this tier feels like rock/paper/scissors but you only get to bring two of them to a battle. also every now and then someone finds a gun." The metagame has developed significantly in the two team tournaments since the last survey, and the loss of Garchomp and Mamoswine as well as the rise of Weatherspeed has caused restrictions on teambuilding.

View attachment 865641
This time around, 61% of participants were or will be involved in PokeAAA's tournament scene. Compared to the previous 36% of respondents to the last survey, we can expect these responses to be more influenced by tournament play than the last set.

THE METAGAME
Following the recent metagame development throughout AAAPL and TPP, the council wanted to gauge opinions on several of the most discussed topics in the tier.
View attachment 865745
Iron Hands has repeatedly been brought up as a point of contention, most commonly in relation to the Surge Surfer Swords Dance set. By utilizing Punching Glove, Iron Hands is able to bypass Fluffy and the common ways to punish contact moves, leaving it able to handle nearly every defensive Pokemon in the tier. Compared to the last survey, more people are inclined towards action on Iron Hands (40% vs the previous 31%), but still not enough to form a plurality. With the departure of Hadron Engine from the tier, setting up Surge Surfer's speed boost requires one to bend the team's structure around including an Electric Surge user, which are weaker, less common, and almost always share a Ground weakness with Iron Hands.
View attachment 865752
Opinions on Meowscarada have slightly shifted over the durations of the team tournaments, where it hasn't performed spectacularly thanks to player preparation and a changed metagame. While it's the only Pokemon surveyed that didn't have a anti-ban supermajority, compared to the last survey the pro-ban contingent has shunk from 31% to 19% while the anti-ban contingent has grown from 31% to 42%. We can attribute this to (once again) the prominence of Fluffy Corviknight, the removal of Garchomp and Mamoswine, and the stronger presences of Priority and Weatherspeed. Additionally, Meowscarada's Choiced sets are no longer the primary set, however: Magic Guard and Heavy-Duty Boots have seen far more usage recently, as they mitigate Meowscarada's glaring weakness to Entry Hazards while granting it the freedom to switch moves.
View attachment 865746
Samurott-Hisui was also frequently cited as an issue, due to its ability to always make progress when it's on the field. Samurott's favorable matchups into Corviknight and Great Tusk, premiere hazard removers and physical walls, make it one of our best and most dangerous physical (or mixed!) offensive threats. This survey had nearly identical opinions on Samurott-Hisui to the last one, with a 66% supermajority agreeing that it was healthy and belonged in the tier (this opinion was at 63% support in the last survey). I concur with this, as Samurott-Hisui is one of our premiere and iconic offensive options that is held back by its middling speed and bulk.
View attachment 865762
While more chatter about Talonflame has been occuring, an overwhelming supermajority believes Talonflame is healthy, despite the noticeable restrictions it causes in the teambuilder. While Magic Guard Talonflame might be the single best anti-offense tool in history, it's also quite linear, and can be played around as long as you brought the right tools to the game. We've seen a notable uptick in tournament players bringing awkward sets, like Power Gem Heatran and Protective Pads Well-Baked-Body Corviknight, in order to secure the late-game victory against the opponent's Talonflame win condition, which is what prompted Talonflame's inclusion on the survey.
View attachment 865766
Tornadus-Therian has been among the more popular threats in recent tournament play, thanks to its incredible typing and longevity, as well as its position as one of the only special attackers Ting-Lu is afraid of. Tornadus-Therian sets have been innovating lately, most notably the inclusion of Knock Off on Nasty Plot sets. Knock Off allows it to remove Assault Vests, Heavy-Duty Boots, and Leftovers from otherwise solid checks like Goodra-Hisui, the Slowkings, and Heatran, setting up a late-game victory with their reduced bulk and Tornadus-Therian's fantastic longevity. Tornadus is the topic that has been discussed the most among the council, as we have found it to be more versatile and dangerous than anything else on this survey. We're glad to see that a 61% supermajority enjoys playing with it and would like to keep it in the tier, and will consider this in future discussions.
View attachment 865767
we don't like revival blessing either lol. If Revival Blessing starts cheesing serious gameplay we'll ban it on the spot. It's *fine* for now.
View attachment 865768
The council wanted to ask about exactly how Weatherspeed impacts your teambuilding process. There's a few top Pokemon that perform well into it (Desolate Land Heatran, Primordial Sea Tornadus-Therian, Clodsire, Fluffy Corviknight, to name a few) but a 76% supermajority feels that they are forced to make some concessions around its presence in the tier, and include these Pokemon to avoid matchup fishing, even if they aren't the best pick for their team. From the data above, we can infer that Weatherspeed is a significant part of the issues with competitivity mentioned earlier, as well as the next question:
View attachment 865770
Another issue with the competitivity of the metagame is the wide variety of Pokemon one is forced to consider in the builder. A total of 90% of the survey participants experience difficulty in the teambuilder finding checks to the top threats in the tier. The popularity of blanket checks to patch these holes, like Fluffy Corviknight and Regenerator Ting-Lu, make the Pokemon that are able to bypass them, like Iron Hands and Tornadus-Therian, far more important and dangerous.

THE LAST QUESTION
The last question was about suspect tests, and it read like this:

The council is looking into tiering action to help the format become less centralized.
Which of these topics would you be interested in seeing suspect tested?
[]Iron Hands
[]Samurott-Hisui
[]Talonflame
[]Tornadus-Therion
[]Other (write-in)

The open response option made the Google Sheets chart pretty awkward, so I've processed the data here:

14 / 21 survey respondents answered this question
6 / 14 would support an Iron Hands suspect test
5 / 14 would support a Samurott-Hisui suspect test
5 / 14 would support a Torandus-Therion suspect test
4 / 14 would support a Meowscarada suspect test
4 / 14 would support a Talonflame suspect test
2 / 14 would support a Mienshao suspect test
1 / 14 would support a suspect test on:
Primal Weather abilities, Pawmot/Revival Blessing, Toxtricity, or Ogerpon-Cornerstone
1 / 14 would susport a Archaludon suspect test (unban)

We didn't have any pro-suspect test majorities this time around. With none of these topics appearing urgent, let's wait and see if the format shifts at all with some unbans, which the council is discussing at the moment.

RESPONDING TO THE OPEN RESPONSES
these responses reflect the opinions of Miss Crisis and are not endorsed by the PokeAAA council as a whole

Is there anything you'd like to say that wasn't included in the survey?

dawg we have no fairies and corviknight barely keeps up with the rest of the bullshit here

i haven't seen this opinion before but i also disagree with it. hatterene never gets to do everything it needs to, and its movepool is too shallow to make it a top threat. it also serves as a limited anti-hazard tool that can support hazard-weak teams.

interesting proposal, and one that i've been considering personally. i think this would be a massive and unprecedented change. i'm also not sure where to draw the line on it, would we stop at primal weathers, or keep going and get the normal ones? maybe we should even hard ban all of them? i think i'll create a Weatherless PokeAAA room tournament and see how it goes.

i could see it, given more mienshao usage. it hasn't proved itself to be oppressive quite yet, and much like Tornadus-T it does eat up a regen slot, but with far less defensive utility.

pending. archaludon too, maybe even gzap again lmao

disagree, you weren't in the trenches back then. tldr when you get magnet pull for free you get to do other things on top of it, which usually means some bullshit way to remove the opponent's corviknight or hoodra and let your breakers go uncontested. god how i miss you psea magnezone

1. see above
2. maybe? depends on how the abusers do. with ting around i could potentially see it
3. over my dead body

taps the sign i miss mamoswine too </3

haven't seen this opinion before, curious as to what prompted it. imo the most consequential change besides extending the pool of Pokemon available in a regenerator core is the ability to run two Magic Guard users, which isn't exactly gamebreaking.

i have no idea what you're talking about

Do you have any questions or comments for the council, or general feedback about the format?

after recent tournament play i will be raising my personal ranking of gastrodon to around B+, but i do not see it going that high lol. it feels like a defensive matchup fish

my ears perked up when i read "mold breaker meta". big fan of those. pretty much everyone agrees about the weatherspeed matchup fishes, and you're not the only person to float the weather ability restrictions. we'll see how this plays out!

pretty sure i know which team you're talking about and it suffers from consistency issues. it's totally possible to play around these (especially a skilled player like yourself) but sample teams need to be consistent and easy to pilot so newer players can enjoy them as well. as for the council member thing, the current council was selected because of their participation and discussion around the metagame. if i am dethroned in a bloody revolution someone leaves the council we'll likely open up a spot for another player who very much cares about the tier.

yeah that makes sense. on some level we're never going to *balance* this tier and that's ok! i don't agree with the stall part, i think there are a lot of tools in this tier that make playing against stall far easier than in other tiers, especially Samurott-Hisui and 2AC Magic Guard and Regenerator.

i agree on pretty much all of this except the banded meow take, that thing is insanely dangerous and heavily incentivizes the trend of most corviknights running damage reduction abilities.

Thank you to everyone who participated! We have a decent chunk of time before OMCL starts and the council is going to look into potential tiering actions during this period. Stay tuned!

Just to parrot what was said, I think it’s good we have mons like Hamu and Torn-T to force progress because the tier desperately needs ways to consistently force progress, and the semi-lack of them and with how prevailing bulky teams are as the best archetypes (and thus, hazard stack is really good because HAHA CORVI IS OUR ONLY DEFOGGER) we should keep that in mind.

On top of this, and I’m going to keep fighting for it lol, Stored Power can also be unbanned. There’s really only one Mon that REALLY abuses it properly in Hatterene, and other mons that can/could use it like Comfey are still a bit too slow to setup/weak to fully utilize it. I really don’t see why it’s staying unbanned other than it’s a bit unfun, but I mean- Big Ting is already the best special wall in the tier and I think it’d be good for the tier to have a more diverse set of ways to force progress other than hazard stack, Torn, Meow and maybe a few other niche breakers.

 

[adriancosmoem]

I haven't made a post here in a while but I basically wanted to showcase my thoughts on these mons. My survey answers were very reactionary though, I said ban for a bunch of them but now I kind of don't think they're all broken and editing was off fsr. But I wanted to give my piece on why these guys were brought up in survey


Ban: What lands hands on the survey is the SD gloves set with regen / esurge / surfer. Hands is often able to trade down the entire team, healing with drain punch. With regen it can outlast any opponent, with esurge it has the most self-sufficiency, and with surfer it needs support but becomes capable of outspeeding max speed torn-t with the same power as esurge. There are almost no reliable walls or revenge killers for hands, which has led to concern for some that it may be too strong
DNB: Hands's low speed, hatred of hazards, and common weaknesses to ground and psychic make it tough to get in. The biggest issue is not wanting to take knock as otherwise it has trouble with fluffy mons. This will usually either necessitate other knock absorbers or plans around fluffy, which means this mon needs quite a bit of support to function. If it were really broken, it would be self-sufficient


Ban: There have been two sets that have come under fire for meow. The first is band adapt, a set capable of blowing holes in many teams with utility (u-turn, knock off), ability to ignore defense and fluffy (flower trick), and powerful moves with strong offensive types (triple axel, low kick, play rough). There are also other abilities brought up for this set like long reach and misty surge, though adapt is claimed as the largest problem. The second is mglo, which is a powerful progressmaker that forces knock onto targets and chips them quite easily. The issue brought up is the lack of long-term answers for meow
DNB: Meow has issues on both sets. Band sets, regardless of ability, suffer from huge weaknesses to helmet and hazard chip, abilities with contact effects, and being quite easy to scout with a physdef regen. The highest power moves, taxel and low kick, are both inconsistent as well. This requires band meow to get the turns right to win, and also means that short-term answers work. Mglo is arguably a healthy pokemon for the tier, as it lacks power into a lot of the best phys walls like corv, peach, coba, and hands while being great at making progress which enables a lot of otherwise unviable teams, so removing it isn't an attractive idea


Ban: The concern for hsam's presence in the tier is from offensive sets, which are very difficult to deal with both short and long-term as it can ignore fluffy with aqua cutter and chip its checks with ceaseless, knock, and flip, making it a self-sufficient breaker that is easy to throw on teams. Its stabs reach absurd damage with a boosting ability and item, threatening to ohko or 2hko most of the tier. It also has priority on both stabs, and it has SD which lets it nuke most phys walls
DNB: There are quite a few mons that can reliable check hsam long term, such as prima, loom, and gastro. It also doesn't have a great matchup into corv. Its speed tier is an issue, forcing it to guess with sucker punch vs faster threats, and its defensive type could be better. Similarly to mglo meow, regen hsam is a healthy pokemon that mostly serves to support teammates while not being super bulky and rewards offensive play, so it isn't a pokemon people want to remove


Ban: SD sets restrict the tier, as builders usually have to go out of their way to check it. With roost and flame body, it can burn and outlast most walls that try to play midgrounds vs it. This means the only real way to beat it is to hit it super effectively. Its stabs at +2 will often ohko non-resists and it outspeeds the majority of the tier. These traits allow it to dominate endgames
DNB: There are a number of pokemon who can stop talon's sweeps like tran, hands, zap, and some peach/corv variants. Breaking its gale wings makes it a lot less scary as now it can be outsped by pokemon like zama or a scarfer. It appears people aren't finding it too difficult to slot talon checks right now


Ban: NP sets have been raising a number of complaints, as the combination of an offensive ability with regen makes torn an incredibly powerful sweeper that can also outlast its checks. It typically runs mglo/sflo with focus or primsea with wball, which are both elite coverage options that target most flying resists. It even has knock to cripple special walls and regenvests, making it very easy to dominate games long-term. At +2, it is capable of feats such as ohkoing lu with focus/wball and 2hkoing bliss with focus, with primsea hurricane 2hkoing after a little chip. This all combines to make one of the deadliest setup sweepers a self-sufficient one
DNB: There are pokemon out there that can handle np torn reliably, such as clod and the aforementioned bliss who can cripple it with twave. Each set also has issues, with primsea missing out on some pokemon like hgoo and bliss with lack of focus and mglo struggling with accuracy. By far the biggest reason to keep this mon is to be able to use its other sets. Boots and mg av are both two very useful proactive progressmakers that enable the consistency of a lot of popular teams, as they're able to spread knock, pivot, and revenge kill setup threats. Losing it would definitely make this consistency more difficult to achieve

 

[Dorsia]

Quick Feet ability

If this Pokemon is statused, its Speed is 1.5×; ignores Speed drop from paralysis.

Burn , para , poison

Thanks, I've completely forgot that ability.

That being said, here some sets I've been thinking of recently (if someone already posted them, sorry I haven't checked all the pages!):

Earth Eater Clodsire

Clodsire (M) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
- Recover
I'm having Earth Eater in order to remove t-spikes, nonetheless this set completely useless vs / at the very least.

Toxic Boost Breloom

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Rock Tomb / Focus Punch
- Swords Dance / Substitute
Toxic Boost combines nicely with Poison Heal and Technician. I have a SubPunch fetish since G3OU and I know I should not but still...

Purifying Salt Sinistcha

Sinistcha @ Colbur Berry / Lefties
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Matcha Gotcha
- Shadow Ball
- Strength Sap
This one looks cool on paper, losing 3 weaknesses (and being immunised to Poltergeist once Colbur Berry is gone) but I've seen so many Sword of Ruin Lokix around that I'm not even sure it's usable at the moment.

Grassy Surge Ogerpon-C

Ogerpon-Cornerstone (F) @ Cornerstone Mask
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Ivy Cudgel
- Wood Hammer
- Grassy Glide
Simple as it is.

Adaptability Kommo-o

Kommo-o @ Throat Spray
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clangorous Soul
- Clanging Scales
- Aura Sphere
- Vacuum Wave
I haven't seen many fairies around so I guess it can work.

 

[Miss Crisis]

post AAAPL & TPP teamdump! not discussing teams and ideas used for the last 2 months has been agonizing and i'm so glad i get to share the stuff that has been so fun to play with. also my phone got destroyed so i lost a few of them, here are the survivors:

vs adriancosmoem
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown was a bad, bad team (i even spelled LEROY wrong) and i lost the eponymous Leroy Brown on turn 1 to a crit. mostly unremarkable, but i wanted to say that torn is the best setup sweeper in the tier. longevity, power, knock off, and coverage allow it to beat and outlast pretty much everything your opponent has for it, effectively putting a timer on the match if you're not able to pressure it sufficiently.

vs Ducky
SS26 was made in a bit of a rush, but this match vs ducky was probably the most fun i had in tournament this year! received an unfavorable matchup and made quite a few misplays, but SubSeed Ludicolo and CB Adapt Lokix put in a hell of a lot of work alongside the staple Ting-Lu + Corviknight core. the team had quite a few issues that i didn't get enough time to test out (notably, Surf was a much better choice on Ludicolo than Weather Ball due to higher PP and scenarios where weather isn't on the field), but it's become one of my favorite teams to play on ladder.

vs hxmo
Puttin' On The Ritz was another very fun team used for an extremely unfortunate game that i feel very bad about, and it didn't really get showcased beyond Mr. Qwil qwilling all over the other team. Pecharunt + RegenVest Hands has become my new favorite defensive core, thanks to raw bulk, type synergy, and the decent amount of switches either member can force. in hindsight, Iron Hands should have used Ice Punch over Fake Out because i was already packing the true apex predator of the tier: CB Adapt Lokix (move aside, Talonflame).

vs Wesleyy
Plastic Hearts, much like the song, fucking slaps. remember how i said CB Adapt Lokix was the true apex predator of the tier? nah. it's BANDED TALONFLAME now.

i swear this matters it's so worth it

this was developed due to my habit of keeping talonflame in the back like a loaded gun. in any game that was going my way i would simply either click Brave Bird or U-turn, there was simply no reason to click anything else, and it felt like i wasn't missing out on much if i dropped the ability to U-turn after clunking a Brave Bird. so, in this specific scenario in which you play like me, this is optimal!

252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 246-290 (82.2 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 283-334 (94.6 - 111.7%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 246-290 (81.7 - 96.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 283-334 (94 - 110.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Cinderace: 259-305 (86 - 101.3%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Cinderace: 298-352 (99 - 116.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zamazenta: 242-289 (74.4 - 88.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Zamazenta: 278-330 (85.5 - 101.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 222-263 (92.1 - 109.1%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Deoxys-Speed: 256-303 (106.2 - 125.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

TLDR the difference is small but it's roughly equivalent to a layer of spikes. this makes Talonflame's anti-offense capabilities even better as you don't even need hazards up against a few of these to secure the OHKO. this also matters in slapfights, which is where this shined in this match, as Brave Bird crucially did more than 25% to Fluffy Gastrodon, which meant Wesleyy could not rely on it in the long run as it would end up beating the slug's recovery spam.

vs Betticus IV
Lonely No More was featured in the single most embarrassing tournament match i have ever played. watch it here. there were circumstances (covid + flu shot aftermath) but i built badly and played badly enough that i clicked Secret Sword into Galarian Slowking like 4 times on a predicted switch. i will say, Wind Rider Chesnaught is real and good and absolutely sits on Tornadus and Zapdos, even without spdef investment (the investment here was for Keldeo) and it really deserves more usage in this format. this team also loses instantly to CB Meowscarada but i have seen a lot of trash talk on it recently and predicted i wouldn't see it, allowing Moltres to do an acceptable job at halting non-CB sets.

lastly, and most importantly, an actual RMT, featuring Raichu-Alola!
Ultimate Sinatra: The Centennial Collection (Disk 4)

i made this team for my girlfriend because it featured Alolan Raichu, and we had so much fun i decided to bring it to a match! unforunately, Velcroc had a poor matchup into the power of love, but this team has seen quite a bit of success on ladder becasue it's one of the silliest and most fun teams i've made in a long time.

My Way (Raichu-Alola) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 96 Atk / 252 SpA / 160 Spe
Mild Nature
- Knock Off
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Psychic Noise
star of the show! this originally was a Nasty Plot + Life Orb set, but testing proved Choice Specs to be the superior option due to damage output and longevity issues Life Orb caused. Knock Off is invaluable, as the many hard switch ins to Raichu, especially Ting-Lu, very much dislike losing their item. Psychic Noise is chosen over Psychic or Psyshock because it doesn't miss any major benchmarks that i found, while also stopping walls from healing off chip and hitting through Substitutes. Raichu is a fantastic anti-meta pick and it easily outspeeds every other Weatherspeed abuser while threatening quite a few of our prominent walls.


Fly Me To The Moon (Keldeo) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Primordial Sea
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Flip Turn
- Vacuum Wave
deletertron 9000. chosen for its synergy with Raichu, most importantly its ability to devour Ting Lu and Goodra-Hisui, while also benefitting from Raichu's ability to easily break Clodsire, Slowking, and Primarina.


My Kind of Town (Ting-Lu) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Earthquake
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Ruination
i took a huge risk and decided to include the best special wall in the tier on my team. daring, i know. iirc on later editions i replaced Ruination with a Rock move to shore up the Talonflame matchup.


Girl from Ipanema (Skeledirge) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Desolate Land
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Torch Song
- Will-O-Wisp
- Slack Off
- Hex
originally this slot belonged to Corrosion Toxapex, but i wanted a more solid way to check Keldeo and other Weatherspeed users without being a passive blob. i don't think too highly of Skeledirge but it does perform its role somewhat well on a team like this, covering said weaknesses while also providing the long-term win condition that neither of my Choice Specs users will be able to consistently.


New York, New York (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

| 1 | Corviknight | 60.82505% | 8622 | 24.444% | 7159 | 25.141% |
| 2 | Ting-Lu | 39.94830% | 3213 | 9.109% | 2651 | 9.310% |

That's Life (Great Tusk) @ Choice Band
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Headlong Rush
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
CB Mold Breaker Tusk is so funny. Close Combat is a clean 2HKO on physdef Corviknight, meaning only Intimidate and Tablets of Ruin can reliably check it throughout a match, while Headlong Rush deletes anything that was relying on Leviate/Earth Eater to avoid Ground moves. Stealth Rock is slotted here because it didn't really fit elsewhere, while also benefitting from the ability to set it up on Hatterenes attempting to tank a hit. overall a fantastic breaker and excellent glue for the team.

anyways, i'm glad we get a little respite from tournament season and can share our stuff again. i have a few misgivings about the metagame, namely Tornadus-Therian's shadow weighing across the entire match with few long-term answers, but over all this was a good season, better than ommpl in my opinion. glad to have been a part of the Meowing Meowstics and the Silverhaven Slowbros, and i'd like to give thanks to my managers and teammates, but especially Lavender Vice, adriancosmoem, and Ducky for the help and the games and the pushback to my bad ideas <3

 

[DiegoVstar]

*Azumarill, Manaphy, and Yanmega unban*

pending. archaludon too, maybe even gzap again lmao

These are all interesting unban requests because each of these Pokemon have so much to offer for the meta

This dude was initially banned because it had three really good (except Huge Power, which we all know is broken) abilities, plus it gets an extra ability, either to boost its damage, bulk, or provide an extra immunity for it, making it a powerful force. It was also kinda carried over from its Pokebilities ban.

Honestly would be a strong mon for the meta due to primordial sea cancelling out statuses each turn. Don’t forget, it also has a really strong movepool in moves like Scald, Ice Beam, Energy Ball, Take Heart, and Tail Glow.

It’ll most likely be banned due to its very high damage output with tinted lens and Adaptability/MGLO/SFLO paired with Speed Boost. It’s still frail, but it can do big amounts of damage and get the game out of hand really quickly.

This one is an interesting case. It has essentially two bad abilities. Stalwart is downright useless in singles and Sturdy isn’t the greatest for it because it has Stamina. The one possible set I could see it working with is a Primordial Sea Assault Vest Body Press set. Other wise, it’s Archaludon. He’s still rlly strong otherwise.

:galarian zapdos: This dude is most likely getting banned two days after its free.

NOTE: NONE OF THESE POKEMON HAVE BEEN UNBNNED. I AM SIMPLY ANALYZING THEM. Thank you.

Also, if any of these Pokemon end up getting unbanned, it would be exciting for the meta.

 

[noobdueler]

Are the plus or minus abilities restricted or banned? i dont see them on the list but they cant be added to anything either?

 

[Miss Crisis]

Are the plus or minus abilities restricted or banned? i dont see them on the list but they cant be added to anything either?

i just checked, i'm not sure why you aren't able to use them, unless your team is not being built using the PokeAAA format in teambuilder. also, just a heads up: plus and minus only work in double battles, the ability has no effect here, even if a Pokemon has both abilities on the same set

 

[noobdueler]

i just checked, i'm not sure why you aren't able to use them, unless your team is not being built using the PokeAAA format in teambuilder. also, just a heads up: plus and minus only work in double battles, the ability has no effect here, even if a Pokemon has both abilities on the same set

nvm idk when i switched to OU in builder. and ah only works on ally in doubles. i thought i was about to do something interesting lol

 

[Crazyxd0612]

hello everyone, I'm a returning player after months of not playing the format, and ps in general, got busy with life. anyways this is a team I made to try out my teambuilding skills it probably sucks but I still wanna see where I can improve https://pokepast.es/128000d61bbe4751

 

[I'm me 321]

Can someone please explain why tinted lens is restricted? I was trying to use comfey as a calm mind mon with tinted lens to ignore resists, but I couldn't. What used it so well that in needed to be restricted?

 

[Hiusi guy]

Can someone please explain why tinted lens is restricted? I was trying to use comfey as a calm mind mon with tinted lens to ignore resists, but I couldn't. What used it so well that in needed to be restricted?

The ban post

TINTED LENS HAS BEEN RESTRICTED
Tinted Lens was an incredibly powerful ability that a significant portion of the offensive Pokemon could use to blow past their checks. Comfey, Latios, and Rillaboom were the primary users of this ability, able to abuse their strong (or useful) STAB moves in addition to their base abilities to blow through walls like Corviknight, Heatran, and Zapdos, who can normally take a resisted hit and fire back to keep these powerful attackers in check. These Pokemon were able to commit truly absurd acts, such as +1 Comfey 2HKOing Corviknight with Alluring Voice, and Choice Band Rillaboom OHKOing anything without a 4x resist on switch in.

 

[I'm me 321]

The ban post

Thanks, that makes sense, I guess I have to use something else

Edit: I had this battle where their desolate land chandelure switched against my primordial sea overquil, but even though desolate land was removed, primordial sea didn't reactivate, which is not what happens on cartradge from my understanding (I don't have a 3ds, so I can't be 100% sure)

 

[mason75]

I don’t believe this is intended or not but I recently made a team featuring 2 Protean users and a Cinderace which obviously has Libero without realizing it and was playing on ladder with it. If I’m not mistaken, you are only allowed 2 users of the same ability, correct? It might have just been an oversight since they’re reskins of the same ability. I’ve already replaced one of the Protean users so I won’t care if it gets limited to 2. I hope no one tries to cheese this with 4 protean/Libero users right now…

To be honest, yes the format can feel a bit matchup fishy at times but it is NOT because of lacking open team sheet.

Most mons run typically one or two abilities, several of which reveal themselves upon entry, and a large part of the magic of PokeAAA (and AAA tiers in general) is the fact you can run certain strange combinations to catch opponents off guard.

For the same reason open team sheet isn’t used or needed in… I believe any other singles metagame? (Correct me if I’m wrong), even formats like Balanced Hackmons which have INFINITELY more potential options is because it isn’t needed. It can be frustrating to get beaten out by certain abilities that you were surprised by, but the vast VAST majority of sets each mon runs commonly are well-known and discovered atp, and is listed quite extensively on the VR.

There are plenty of reliable ways to defeat things like Dazzling setup mons or immunity mons. Mold Breaker, Ditto, Unaware, bulky mons like Hoodra or Garganacl, fast scarf mons like Meow, etc.

If you keep losing to ‘cheese’ and the lack of knowledge on what abilities are commonly ran, or lose to a single turn of momentum loss from them switching into an unexpected immunity, it is likely your team/tier knowledge that is the problem, and not the tier itself (might be worsened by using a set that physically cannot hurt grounds or volt absorb mons). That’s not to say there isn’t counter teaming and a problem with matchup fishing and rock/paper/scissors matchups, but rather that open team sheet is NOT the way to solve said issue (one which is not nearly as overblown as you’re making it out to be).

 

[ANinjaDude]

I don’t believe this is intended or not but I recently made a team featuring 2 Protean users and a Cinderace which obviously has Libero without realizing it and was playing on ladder with it. If I’m not mistaken, you are only allowed 2 users of the same ability, correct? It might have just been an oversight since they’re reskins of the same ability. I’ve already replaced one of the Protean users so I won’t care if it gets limited to 2. I hope no one tries to cheese this with 4 protean/Libero users right now…

Was one of the Protean pokemon Greninja-Bond by any chance