a catch-up via viability
as the metagame thread has not had much in the way of updates since the OMPL metagame passed, I figured it would be nice to give the community a viability ranking to showcase how the metagame has changed over the past few months. thank you to those who have been testing with me the past few weeks, it made figuring out some of these newer picks easier!
S Rank
Regieleki [Altarianite, Glalitite, Light Clay]
pretty much unanimously best mon, insane momentum pick for almost every build. altarianite regieleki practically defines which ground types are good and which ground types are not by simply existing, as being a ground type that can't handle eleki makes you excessively prone to being shuffled by the various potent voltturn cores that eleki can create. moreover, eleki is the absolute best tool against offense that you could wish for, practically beating out every lead, being able to revenge kill a large portion of the metagame and being able to trade with a large portion of the metagame. it's pretty much everything you'd want in an offensive mon atm.
A Rank
A+
Ho-Oh [Heavy-Duty Boots, Choice Band]
ho-oh's a top tier glue for practically any non offense build atm. being able to beat mosa, lunala without power herb and pivot into various things it really shouldn't seem like it has the power to like regieleki and genesect makes it the prime pick for a mixed wall atm.
Rhyperior [Tyranitarite]
the best tank in the metagame, very consistent stealth rock setter, beats lun / etern / fires. rhyp really holds its own regarding just role compression in general, and has some very strong offenses for a mon that's so bulky on both sides. sd rest sets are absolutely amazing for balance not only for their ability to set sandstorm, which can chip away at key targets, but for their ability to demolish certain teamcomps without really trying on fat. probably the best wincon there, too.
Slowbro [Sablenite, Manectite, Cameruptite]
bro has started to fall off since urshifu-r and groudon started becoming more common imo, as it is not a great check to either. low speed and difficulty in setting up fs / lack of util also significantly impairs it compared to mew. however, the mon still holds its A+ viability due to it still being a decent check to urshifu-r (albeit somewhat situational) and being one of the few magic bouncers that actually performs its role properly.
A
Blissey [Ampharosite, Sablenite]
defensive glue + guaranteed rocks. blissey's role hasn't really changed, but the metagame around it has - but for better or worse, I cannot really say for sure. the physical side of the spectrum has blissey get more noticed teammates like buzzwole and mew to pair with it, whereas the special side of the spectrum sees mons like spectrier leaving the fray and heatran and genesect entering instead. blissey has, of course, already adapted to this by running flamethrower instead of shadow ball. so it really hasn't changed a whole lot tbh.
Corviknight [Venusaurite, Sablenite, Salamencite]
venusaurite corviknight has been seeing some pretty strong usage recently as pivots to groudon & eternatus, and as an acceptable defogger vs the current metagame compared to the amount of matchups sab can pull. bulk up sets are still decemt but honestly not all that worth it atm.
Eternatus [Life Orb, Black Sludge, Power Herb, Metronome]
yet again downtrending entering into ompl, but started seeing a lot more usage nearing the end of ompl and afterward. etern really does a good job at pressuring the best picks in the metagame and beating some of the new picks like urshifu-r. it has also been benefitting from the drops in viability of mons like solgaleo, which would otherwise be solid offensive checks to it. very solid wallbreaker & balance glue
Groudon [Leftovers, Life Orb]
groudon counters are very difficult to fit on current teams. 3a groudon is almost guaranteed to take a mon by virtue of it just outliving any good hit that a mon can throw at it, and use its insane 2hko potential to just muscle through the mons that are supposed to stand in its way. additionally, lefties make it a very durable regieleki answer, and one of the best ways to exploit teams that overly abuse eleki as a source of momentum.
Magearna [Manectite, Sablenite, Pinsirite, Venusaurite, Latiasite]
magearna might be the only good cleric in the metagame - that's pretty much its main niche. magearna still does a really good job at handling some of the less used wallbreakers, but coming out of ompl I think it's found a really hard time trying to define itself on bulky offense due to what's trending, and especially the ominous presence of kyurem and magnezone. calm mind sets might be used to get around magearna's passivity issues but more often than not actually make them even more noticable. still pretty good in general as a pick, and third option coverage options like grass knot are still relatively underused.
Mew [Manectite, Sablenite, Ampharosite]
defensive glue that sets up fs, actually beats groudon unlike slowbro, but exchanges this for a poorer rhyperior and urshifu-r matchup unless mew carries wisp. sab sets are very dangerous to deal with without mold breaker, and mew also beats down blissey pretty easily with body press - it does require some support against setup though to avoid getting crit through
Lunala [Leftovers, Power Herb, Heavy-Duty Boots]
fallen off a little due to increase in usage in darks, and competition with mew / slowbro. still pretty devastating with herb but bulky cm sets are honestly pretty bad atm. they don't really win games at all in current meta and suffer from rhyperior / blissey being so common.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike [Metagrossite, Aerodactylite]
rising star wallbreaker that abuses common usage of manec pivots & ho-oh / rhyperior cores by using an uncommon attacking type, which is really helped by the common usage of regieleki. urshifu-r also tends to breed future sight cores that yet again further offensive presence, and its ability to check various ground types like rhyperior in a pinch is super useful. whilst etern and alt zyg are rising in usage a little post-ompl, they also aren't 100% safe either due to access to ice punch.
Zygarde [Lucarionite, Altarianite, Heracronite]
zygarde was doing bad in ompl - however, I do believe this to be the issue of zygarde sets being poorly optimized for a balance meta. lucarionite dragon tail sets still are probably top 5 biggest threats to balance, and the recent resurgence in usage of altarianite has also made teams think twice about what they need to beat this mon. steels won't really do it for -ates anymore thanks to eleki & this guy.
A-
Genesect [Cameruptite, Altarianite, Glalitite]
very solid lategame sweeper, currently messes with cores heavily and doesn't have easily splashable answers (i.e spdef ho-oh, flamethrower blissey, flare blitz solgaleo, heatran)
Heatran [Ampharosite, Charizardite Y]
loves the new meta, very good rocks setter + poisons loads of the meta + entei / etern counter. only issue is that rhyperior / tyranitar builds really don't treat it well, and it gets owned by faster builds using things like urshifu-r. could rise higher in the future but not really many builds proving its viability atm
Pheromosa [Aerodactylite, Lopunnite]
stickbug variant of urshifu-r, doesn't beat ho-oh and is considerably frailer but actually does a fairly reliable job at rapid spinning and forces a lot of damage with u-turn. mosa is a bit easier to punish however. recently seen more usage post ompl as future sight cores start developing
Solgaleo [Metagrossite, Aerodactylite, Manectite]
was a significant threat until people started using balance with actual physical tanks and then this thing fell off hard. still pretty useful for its defensive utility in combination with how threatening it can be offensively, but it often fails to make a dent because of a lack of boosting
B Rank
B+
Buzzwole [Venusaurite, Metagrossite]
big ground resist. beats mosa to a pulp, groudon can't really do much vs it either. metagrossite sets unproven and are worse vs mosa but have some pretty solid offensive presence and patch up buzzwole's more notable issues in active response to things.
Entei [Altarianite, Pinsirite]
read: solgaleo but this mon doesn't really have the same defensive utility, and is often outclassed by regieleki in terms of speed control. it still sees usage on HO occasionally and still has its niches for bulky offense but entei is no longer as viable as it was made out to be
Hippowdon [Sablenite]
hippo's decent ig but currently suffers a lot from competition from rhyp and zyg-c in a metagame where urshifu-r actually exists. it still has a solid niche by being the only true eleki answer with recovery, however outside of this I feel like I'd rather just use helm zyg atm as hippo doesn't beat much as a bouncer right now either.
Landorus-Therian [Salamencite]
sucks compared to its sm counterpart. corv usage really hampers this mon and it continues to dislike slowbro and mew being common. still a pretty solid fit for bulky offense but even then bulky offense is not always in the best place. good wallbreaker otherwise
Magnezone [Lucarionite, Diancite]
zone is actually surprisingly strong as a wallbreaker. not only does it trap magearna & corviknight, practically preventing them from doing any of the pivoting business, and also manages to trap genesect, it also has very few ground types that can handle adaptability flash cannon. combined with the presence of steel beam making it even harder to resist getting 2HKOd by zone and you have a wallbreaker that can very quickly force things into volt switch wars.
Slowking-Galar [Aggronite, Cameruptite]
ol' reliable (genuinely not sure what to say about this mon other than it has done what it usually does)
Tyranitar [Heracronite, Pinsirite]
big ttar, ghost resist alternative to rhyperior. less longevity but more initial power
Zygarde-Complete [Leftovers, Rocky Helmet]
big zyg saw some pretty solid usage during ompl as a balance pick that can phaze out various setup threats. easily beats slowking-g / sab mew builds. whilst I do think it has faded a little using leftovers, I have found a better niche for it with helmet sets that are actually pretty solid in the metagame for staving off mosa / urshifu-r from just u-turning on everything. it also helps punish eleki from just clicking -ate moves all the time so there's another reason to use big zyg.
B
Hydreigon [Blastoisinite, Altarianite]
broken breaker on paper (as well as being a pretty solid ho-oh / lun resist!) but struggles to break common cores in reality due to pivoting. was seen quite a bit by me in ompl.
Kartana [Metagrossite]
kartana had a good run going into ompl as a breaker, but more recently it has been falling upon hard times as mons like magearna, mew, ho-oh and eternatus continue to have more and more usage. as well as this, it suffers from competition from other ground resistant wallbreakers like urshifu-r which do not have as hard of a time making progress.
Kyurem [Heracronite]
turns out having ice as your only stab isn't a bad thing when you're as powerful as kyurem. most steels in the metagame either cannot break kyurem or fold to boosted icicle spears, sans solgaleo and some other venusaurite mons. additionally, kyurem is one of the best partners for magnezone, which can get rid of these frustrating threats, which in combination makes for a pretty secure sweeper. outside of this it is pretty hard to support however, and it can fold pretty quickly to offensive pressure.
Skarmory [Gyaradosite, Ampharosite]
spikes are good! skarm's niche is very team dependent, but it happens to be an excellent wall to the likes of solgaleo and kartana, and is a great response to rhyperior & tyranitar if left in its base forme.
Spectrier [Lucarionite, Manectite]
I wish spectrier was better at breaking, but likewise with a lot of theoretically good breakers in the metagame, spectrier has been adapted to in ways that would seem insufficient, but are just enough to limit spectrier to 1 KO at best. really wishes it could use its solid speed but its coverage just stomps it on the way - would be nice to have fighting coverage to stomp blissey and rhyperior.
Swampert [Sablenite]
saw some usage in ompl originally on bulky offense, then once people realized those comps were bad swampert dropped off the face of the earth. swampert has seen some resurgences in some offense structures however, as swampert has possibly one of the best matchups for a magic bouncer in the metagame - most stealth rock users cannot set them without either being punished by rocks theirselves or being unable to set them entirely.
Weavile [Scizorite]
saw some usage in ompl then died off once people started using more magearna. has continued to be rather mediocre as urshifu-r and venu corv usage pick up. [tentative ranking - beat up has been nerfed as it only takes into account the attack stats of the base formes of mons]
Xerneas [Power Herb]
turns out this mon is actually a pretty good sweeper. whilst it may have some key weaknesses such as -atespeed being able to revenge kill it at a high percent and some steel types like solgaleo outright stopping xern from making much in the way of progress, it still likes the current meta as it takes advantage of the current structures of teamcomps and unlikeliness of teams to have a steel that will properly beat xern.
B-
Arcanine [Altarianite]
legacy pick for ompl. was cool when weavile was common, but now only really features on some groudon builds as a btec entei with recovery. still a decent niche all things considered though, and will pretty quickly smack builds without a ho-oh.
Dialga [Choice Specs]
fun breaker, will just smack things around with draco. needs toxic to make good progress though, as it does tend to suffer at the likes of ho-oh and is relatively prediction reliant.
Dragonite [Altarianite, Salamencite]
can't actually think of a good reason to run this atm outside of mencite on some HOs. dnite is poor speed control if you try to make it defensive too as fairy resists are absolutely everywhere
Excadrill [Glalitite, Latiosite]
drill still has a minor niche as a wallbreaker that can also reliably spin, but tends to suffer a lot as a ground due to lack of recovery and poor bulk with glalitite. latiosite sets are better at beating eleki but tend to be worse vs everything else.
Milotic [Sablenite, Slowbronite]
I honestly don't like this mon tbh, but I can at least see why people run it as a means of beating some of the better hazard setters atm / compressing a check to fat cm lun as well. fun mon, but not my favourite, still better than the C ranks though
Shuckle [Gyaradosite, Ampharosite]
if eleki was banned this mon would be B+ without a doubt. however, it does exist, therefore shuckle (and webs teams as a whole) are relatively inconsistent at this current point in time. not brilliant vs fat either I find unlike last gen.
Toxapex [Banettite, Gyaradosite]
I genuinely don't think I've had a reason to use this once in 2021, but this mon is making people run tpunch on urshifu-r so it's gotta be somewhat worth it right?
Urshifu [Choice Band]
urshifu's a niche breaker that counterteams stuff like demon mew. good with future sight support, although it does suffer with speed issues.
Yveltal [Choice Specs]
not garbage bin lun check, but instead it's blast hydrei (mode 2). like dialga, fun breaker but requires some momentum to get it going.
C rank
C+
Tapu Lele [Diancite]
once corv dies this will become at least decent I swear
Terrakion [Lopunnite, Lucarionite, Tyranitarite]
once terrak gets a switchin it will become at least decent I swear
Zeraora [Pinsirite]
once balance no longer becomes good it will become at least decent I swear
C
Mandibuzz [Sablenite]
garbage bin lun check. not that useful rn I will be honest
Victini [Banettite, Lucarionite, Charizardite Y]
this mon requires 7 moveslots to be viable beyond counterteaming certain builds. just use heatran if you want a groudon partner.
Zapdos [Sablenite, Manectite]
garbage bin kartana check. wait, kartana is also not that great...
C-
Calyrex-Ice [Choice Band, Heavy-Duty Boots]
Kyurem-White [Life Orb, Choice Specs]
Mewtwo [Life Orb]
Tapu Koko [Lucarionite, Gardevoirite]
Zarude [Metagrossite, Altarianite]
all of these mons are part of the garbage bin and have some undefined niche that has yet to be fulfilled properly. in theory these mons are ok but I have yet to believe that they could actually put in work over a more viable pick, sans m2
READER'S BONUS:
here are some teams that I've been working on to showcase some of these mons:
kyuzone
kyurem + magnezone is a really solid core! both of them are pretty solid wallbreakers that let in mons that tend to be benefitted by the other. magnezone also traps steel types which can otherwise give kyurem annoyance. mew helps further this by giving future sight, something that is capable of deterring urshifu-r and buzzwole from switching into kyurem. it is also capable of answering -atespeed, another thing that both kyurem and magnezone tend to dislike. ho-oh is mostly here as a pivot into lunala, altarianite zygarde and pheromosa - it can also answer a few other threats in a pinch + is a decent defogger. rhyp supports these two members by being a decent deterrent for power herb lunala, and countering eternatus and heatran, two mons that would otherwise decimate this team. zygarde is here as speed control and as a solid partner to magnezone, which can take corviknight and magearna out of the game, and severely threaten slowbro, mew and ho-oh.
offbuzz
offensive buzz was mostly born out of my desire to have a functional groudon / rhyperior check that isn't passive af or is weak to a current metagame adaptation. whilst it isn't the best in terms of wallbreaking, it does do the tank job better than some other mons (solgaleo!) can claim to do. pretty much the entire team is designed to support it with another threat it struggles with (i.e hydreigon for lunala / beats psychics). this build also ended up being a groudon build as I felt having a ground that can both take pressure off of buzzwole vs eleki and dish out significant pressure onto every single one of buzzwole's answers was worthwhile.
urshifu
urshifu isn't really that menacing now that it's mega stone got taken away from it, but it does have a niche in being a strong breaker that can patch up weaknesses to "demon" boosters (i.e mew, slowbro, magearna). as usual, with rhyp being the all utility mons it is, it was an easy fit here. eternatus is a solid wallbreaker that checks -atespeed in a pinch, and has very solid longevity vs bulkier teams. particularly, it's a good way of forcing out pivots like mew / slowbro when urshifu can't really do the same thing, and is a good way of switching into ho-oh when rhyperior is too busy checking eleki. magearna also features on this build as a general purpose pivot that can beat down various dark types & keep pressure off of eleki / mew when needed. the mew here is demon mew - you might be wondering why I skipped out on tspikes, and it's because I noticed that a lot of teams simply don't have counterplay to it regardless of if tspikes are there or not. it's also one of the best magic bouncers in the metagame as it can keep rocks from going up against nearly the entire metagame and forces moldy setters to mega suboptimally.