Closing this for the new slate, which could very well lead to a shake-up in S rank! Stay tuned 

Ladies and gentlemenboys and girls, I bring to you the slate!
Rises
from A+ to S: Ash Greninja fits on to an absurdly high amount of teams right now. Need something to clean out and consistently threaten offense while having a great speed tier? Ash Greninja is the definition of that. Need something to pressure balanced cores early in games? Ash Greninja is perfect for doing this, especially seeing as it can bluff Protean the first time it can come in. This overlaps with the last question a bit given Spikes impact, but need an offensive Spike setter? Ash Greninja is again easily the best with this. These and many more positive, practical labels can be used to describe what Ash Greninja brings to the table. Nothing else in the metagame has such a consistently dynamic, progress making presence to gameplay in the tier. Sure, Ash Greninja is frail and the SDef Grass types that are spammed check/counter it, but we're not arguing for Ash Greninja to be banned -- it's not outright broken. It's just a top tier Pokemon that is incredible at doing its job, supporting teams, etc. It is a pretty clear-cut rise to S.![]()
from A- to A: Mega Tyranitar has slowly become one of the better Stealth Rock setters and offensive utility presences in the metagame. It is one of the few Pokemon that can consistently set up Stealth Rock regardless of the opposing Defogger, making it incredibly practical against bulkier teams, and it has ridiculous natural bulk, letting it survive attacks one would think it had no business living. On top of this, Mega Tyranitar is a strong physical attacking presence, allowing it to effectively Pursuit trap specific targets and muscle through some pivots in the long-haul. As of late, Mega Tyranitar's niche has been taken advantage of on more and more teams, thus leading to us moving it up to A rank.![]()
from B- to B: Tapu Fini has been flirting with mediocrity ever since its golden days passed in early SM, when it was somehow among the top tier of Pokemon due to the utility people associated with it. Nowadays, it is still doing what it has been for the past year and change: flirting with mediocrity. However, with the increasingly threatening nature of Ash Greninja, Heatran, and various others, Tapu Fini has at least been called on slightly more as a defensive and utility presence, thus making a rise to B no real surprise despite it ultimately being a marginal departure from past norms.![]()
from UR to C-: The Klanger has finally hit the threshold for viability in the SM OU metagame in the collective opinion of the VR Council. While it is still a long way from being "relevant", Kommo-O does have a niche on a number of fronts. People like Eo Ut Mortus have used it as a convenient Specially Defensive Stealth Rock setter on specific stall builds while numerous others have taken advantage of its offensive tools, using the signature Z move or Belly Drum variants on HO teams that grant it sufficient support to function. It may be inconsistent, but Kommo-O has a place in the metagame, even if that place currently is at the very bottom of the VR list!![]()
the fact that Sticky Web already allows for Pokemon with potential to OHKO many opponents held back by their Speed makes Stealth Rock a mere little bonus
[final gambit] is a waste of a moveslot anyways
For example, Ribombee can utilize Stun Spore so if Sticky Web gets removed, there's still at least one Pokemon you're able to gain momentum on
most likely just lead with their burst damage and most likely 2HKO Shuckle, which means it can't even get up Stealth Rock. Encore and a filler move like Toxic or Knock Off is nice, but it'll most likely be gone before you can even utilize it.
Sturdy (which is kinda useless with its defenses) allows it to run Mental Herb, but there's literally no other option,
Custap Berry isn't released.Sure there are. Mental herb is great and gets the job done well, but you have a number of techs to choose from, like red card and custap berry.
You're welcome <3It's about finking time that this thread opened back up. I always love discussion slates, and can't wait to tackle the 7 potential changes on tap + Shuckle which is getting some discussion - albeit one sided.
Not much to be said that has not been already. Big Lobster has always been good on Trick Room, but has recently been getting action on other offensive teams with its Band set. Hits like a semi-truck running over some unsuspecting deer (aka your balance team), and has good priority in Aqua Jet to make up for fairly subpar speed. I will definitely be supporting a rise.![]()
Mega Chomp has always loved feasting on Ferro + Clef + Zapdos kinda teams, and that hasn't really changed. someone earlier in the thread mention decimating stall in the sand, and while I don't love the idea of relying on sand turns to break stall it's obvious to see how potent of a wall breaker it is. Haven't ever used it on sand but AV Tar + M-Chomp + Firium Tran seems like an interesting core to try out, that seems solid enough to make Mega Chomper work in the meta with sand (just remember to pack some water resists). Honestly though regular Garchomp is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, and I see how M-Chomp who outside of a Z nuke is obviously a better wall breaker could ride the Chomp love wave to a raise. Obviously M-Chomp will miss the speed in matchups vs threats like Lele and Kyurem-B, but given that you don't have to mega anyways and the impressive match up vs fat I'm going to support a raise to C.![]()
I think Clef has been teetering on the edge of a drop for a while. The little spike of CM Clef with an attack other than Moonblast made me hopeful that Clef could adapt just enough to hold onto an A ranking. However, I'm not really convinced. Even with great utility options I still never really find myself wanting to use this mon when I'm building balance, which I see as a problem for the pink blob. I'm going to agree to a drop for now as I just think trends are shifting away from poor little Clef making it less effective at checking key threats, but I will keep a watchful eye as I don't see Clef being down for long before it rises right back up like it has all gen.![]()
Flyinium Z Gyara is still scary as hell for those poor unfortunate unprepared souls. That said I'm pretty torn on this one as I still see Gyara as a big time threat capable of stomping teams straight from preview, but individually I don't like to give "beats unprepared teams" to much ground as that just sounds like it beats bad teams. Glancing at B+ for an eye test of sorts made me think about Zard-X, a B+ mon who similarly beats a good chunk of teams at preview. A comparison of these two was enough to sell me on a drop as Zard-X while taking up a mega slot as compared to Gyara's Z is just so much better. Being a sweeper who either wrecks shop or struggles to net a kill if you're playing someone with a Zapdos just isn't consistent enough for me to support this thing at B+. Honestly I wouldn't be upset if it stayed, as I'm pretty on the fence, and would probably abstain given the option, but if I had to choose I'd say B.![]()
Still has a good stall match up, and helps vs Ash Gren on HO, but I just don't like this mon. Whenever I use it on anything other than HO I just feel like the team ends up bad. This may come from personal shortcomings, but it's a trend I've noticed trying to build with this thing recently. I feel like it faces a lot of competition for what it wants to do, and it's currently losing that battle. Similarly to Clef I just don't find myself wanting to use this mon, which is enough for me to endorse a drop.![]()
&
If the council wants to drop these two a peg I wont fight. I am a believer in 3 Water-type Rain teams being a max currently. Pelipper and Mega Swampert obviously take 2 of those slots. that leaves Kingdra on the outside looking in as Ash Greninja and Manaphy have been seeing love and success in that slot recently. I don't find myself really wanting to use either of these two, and am ok with a slide. I think Kingdra is still definitely the better of the two so I'm glad there is still that separation of 2 ranks. In the end I'll fully support a Qwil drop, and still be favorable of a Kingdra drop, only showing some hesitance based on the saving grace of being the best straight forward rain sweeper spamming Specs Surf in the rain vs teams with lacking Water Resists - obviously just beating teams with poor rain match ups isn't enough to dominate the meta, but it's just something Kingdra has going for it opposed to others that could forge an acceptable arguement for it staying B.![]()
I'm sure everyone has heard the expression Don't Fuckle with Shuckle. I believe the council should take this to heart, and unrank Shuckle. On the occasion I'm building webs I look at Ribombee and Araquanid, and don't give Shuckle a second thought. I feel like there is no good reason to use Shuckle as opposed to those two, which is enough for me to drop it from the VR.![]()
Whew, took a bit to write all of that. Hope it wasn't to boring of a read, and thanks to anyone who took the time to read it all the way through.
should rise as fuck. It has been used actually pretty regularly in tournaments recently -- and for good reason. While Mega Garchomp will never be a household name, it will still always be threatening as fuck. The fact that it has more practical defensive utility than ever and it feasts on common cores with the EQ + Stone Edge + Fire Fang set leads me to believing that there is a place for Mega Garchomp on standard teams. Does it require support? Not necessarily, but it certainly benefits from Sand, Pursuit, hazard control, etc. I'd say that standalone it is still viable though and with support it can be superb. I'm not even sure how to specifically say how good it is because it has only been a couple weeks of it seeing usage, dating back to the later stages of Snake with Ojama and now a couple STour appearances, but I can say with confidence that it's better than anything in C- and probably most things in C, so...yea, definitely in favor of a rise here.![]()
Mega Garchomp has a rather disgusting SD set with Dragon Claw + Stomping Tantrum which deals with many of the Fairy-types that try to pivot into it such as Tapu Fini and Tapu Bulu (Bulu dies to +2 base 150 ST in sand btw since it's not affected by Grassy Terrain). Even if those two swap out to run from the base 150 ST, something else will be taking the hit for it unless it's Ground-immune, and while Mega Garchomp loses out on Speed, it's still faster than Z-move Lando at the very least, and Mega Garchomp tanks Supersonic Skystrike way better than normal Chomp can. Also, you don't even have to Mega right away if you want to eliminate base 100s like the Zards and Mega Medi first while still being powerful as hell at +2. The other thing that sets this variation of offensive Garchomp apart from its regular Z move set is that it can fit Fire Fang onto its moveset a lot easier as base Garchomp's offensive niche lies with it being an SD rocker that threatens a ton of the tier's popular Defoggers right now with Rockium Z.I don't really see how outside of sand it is worth the mega stone opportunity cost. Its increased defenses are nice, but uninvested are nothing special. Normal garchomp is a crucial 10 points faster, has the same coverage and can nuke something with z-crystal. I might be missing something but don't see how without sand support it can justify a team slot. Now with sand support it obviously hits very hard, but sand support constrains team building.
I'm agnostic on a M-chomp rise since I haven't seriously played with this mon since ORAS, and have faced it like twice out of my last 500 high ladder battles, but just want to hear specifically what it can do that z-crystal chomp can't and why I'm giving up 10 speed points and a mega slot for it.
Don't play OU often now, so not sure if this is the right place to discuss, but I think Garchomp-M also has very practical utility as an SpA Lure.![]()
People often neglect the fact that Garchomp-M actually has stellar 120 base SpA. Its 92 Base Speed also means that it can outspeed regular Landorus-T.
A Special or Mixed set with moves such as HP Ice / Draco Meteor / Fire Blast can act as an interesting Lure that allows Garchomp-M to break down many of its common switch-ins or act as an interesting Lead.
252 SpA Garchomp-Mega Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 300-356 (94 - 111.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Skarmory: 300-354 (90 - 106.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Bulu: 238-280 (84.6 - 99.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and Grassy Terrain recovery
Kingdra from B to B-
Qwilfish from C to C-
Crawdaunt from C to C+
No way should Mawile drop to A, A- is absolutely absurd. All of your arguments seem to be you misusing Mawile and blaming it on the mon.View attachment 146752From A+ ---- AView attachment 146752 This may come as a suprise, but with how the overall meta is shifting to a more offense approach to counteract the extreme power creep this generation, and Z-moves it really doesn't support as much defensive play which is what Mega-Mawile strives for. The thing is defensive based teams can still be used the counter measures to the power creep and z moves automatically cover Mega-Mawile.
Lets go over the more power based offensive teams matchup versus Mawile-Mega. Yes mega mawile is hard to counter for offense and it gives trouble for defensive teams but most offensive teams almost always live a +2 sucker (idk how you even get +2 without dying unless its a non + serp lol) and respond rather easily. Also due to Mega-Mawiles lack of speed its going to have to rely on sucker majority of the time due to its low speed and bulk not strong enough to take on things like specs Greninja, or Tapu-Koko for examples.
Mawile-Mega's prime purpose is to break defensive teams more which I do say, it does that why else would I rate it A but with all of the hazard stack wear down and checks like Landorus-Therian, Heatran, Gliscor, Skarmory that can safely get in depending on the situation, or Mega-Mawile, set its going to be relatively difficult. Most importantly Mega-Mawile has to swords dance up on something and its at risk of taking damage first of all with its not that notable bulk outside of intimade or it could risk being burned by scald for example or thunderwave from chansey, and things like clefable also can just wish pass safely on switch to a check of some sort. If Mega-Mawile has to get in on hazards constantly trying to get a read or oppurtunity for a free swords dance, and even if you do get one without being crippled or damaged by a good amount the checks I said earlier am handle it.
The defensive meta has adapted to the extreme force of this generation and as a result Mega-Mawiles not as potent as people like to think she is. She can break and give trouble for defensive teams, but all she can possibly do is just hope that the opponent doesn't cripple it on switch not put up hazards, and hope the opponent sacrifices the wrong pokemon so a teammate can possibly break.
Now about trick room. She is an extremly good trick room abuser,her being able to invest fully in her defensive output and her outspeeding everything along with monstrous attack is a force to be reckoned with. Helping with the stall matchup is also useful and the checks I listed earlier don't apply due to trick room and its not hard to set that up vs stall, and normally truck room runs healing wish cresselia allowing for reckless play.
All in all Mega-Mawile is definitely a good option, but not as good as everyone says when it comes to her iconic role of a breaker at the very least. She flops vs offensive teams, she can be a pain for defensive teams but manageable, she very well excels on trick room based teams although trick room seems to be a lost art. I think all of this isntm't a trait of a almost s-rank pokemon, of anything A rank at best, but preferably A- for me.
The difference between magearna and Mega-Mawile is that magearna has other ways to combat things like heatran or can even negate it as a threat with shift gear z fightium and serves many more roles and is quite unpredictable. The thing with Mega-Mawile here is she doesn't have much other options other than sucker punch vs faster super effective users or resist vs dark moves. The comparison with magearna and Mega-Mawile is just proving my point that vs more offensive teams or vs her checks in general, shes quite predictable and struggles to make up for it with a non stab priority 50/50 move that doesn't get the job done compared to other priority moves.No way should Mawile drop to A, A- is absolutely absurd. All of your arguments seem to be you misusing Mawile and blaming it on the mon.
For one, of course Mega Mawile isn’t going to one shot things with a non stab priority move. This is like saying Magearna is bad because it can’t one shot Heatran at full HP. Every sweeper needs Pokémon wearer down, and it’s not that hard to chip Tapu Koko and Greninja into Sucker Punch’s range. Mawile, while not the bulkiest thing around, can still set up on Pokémon such as Mega Alakazam, choice locked Ash-Greninja, and AV Magearna. Also, if you’re trying to use a mob with 55/95 special bulk as a check to Tapu Koko and Greninja, then that’s not really going to work out for you.
Also, none of the Pokémon you listed are reliable answers besides Heatran, and that is very easy to wear down and can also be dealt with Brick Break. And it’s not Mawile’s fault if one were to not clear entry hazards for it, so this is a complete strawman’s argument.
Finally, Mawile can be used on Trick Room, but that’s not why it is A+ rank.
All in all, there is no way Mawile should drop, especially due to the fact that bulkier teams are thriving in the current metagame.