M&M Mix and Mega Resources

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VR Update 9/20
Rises:
Arceus-Ground: A- to A
Landorus-Incarnate: C+ to B
Arceus: UR to C+
Palossand: UR to C+
Deoxys-Defense: UR to C
Gengar: UR to C-

Drops:
Kartana: A+ to A
Ho-Oh: A to A-
Mandibuzz: A to A-
Zeraora: A to B+
Blissey: A- to B+
Victini: A- to B+
Darkrai: A- to B-
Buzzwole: B+ to B-
Zapdos: B+ to B-
Shuckle: B+ to Banned
Arceus-Rock: B to B-
Tyranitar: B to B-
Yveltal: B to C+
Manaphy: B to C
Raikou: B to C-
Archeops: B- to UR
Azelf: B- to C+
Rayquaza: B- to C+
Archeops: B- to C
Xurkitree: C+ to C
Cobalion: C+ to UR
Shaymin-Sky: C+ to UR
Garchomp: C to C-
Giratina: C to C-
Latias: C to C-
Gliscor: C to UR
Lucario: C to UR
Mewtwo: C to UR
Stakataka: C to UR
Gyarados: C- to UR
Milotic: C- to UR
Mimikyu: C- to UR
Togekiss: C- to UR
Volcarona: C- to UR

Rises:

Arceus-Ground: A- to A - Arceus-Ground proved to be one of the most splashable mons in OMPL, generally having a decent matchup against other top threats and fitting on a lot of solid builds. Its popularity has notably overtaken Fairyceus' popularity, largely due to its immunity to Magearna's Volt Switch and its nicer matchup vs Pdon as a whole being valuable traits in the current metagame. Calm Mind sets have picked up a little bit as well, being especially useful on more offensive builds that struggle to find checks to the likes of Lunala, Lucarionite Zygarde, and Rock Polish Pdon.

Landorus-Incarnate: C+ to B - Lando-I can act as a decent wallbreaker or Stealth Rock setter with its Salamencite set. Its access to STAB Earthquake sets it apart from similar -ate breakers, notably allowing it to break through Magearna. It also has various other useful tools in its arsenal, such as access to Explosion which can help it both with breaking and Rocks setting, Ground typing which can be useful on offense as an alternative Volt Switch blocker instead of Pdon, and the ability to offensively check SD SR Pdon. Although this list of tools isn't as long or as relevant as Lando-T's was, it's still enough for Lando-I to earn a spot in B rank.

Arceus: UR to C+ - Ekiller is actually respectable right now on heavily offensive teams, providing a hugely important check to Lunala whilst being able to keep pressure on opposing offensive threats in general. It can form cores with other offensive threats in various ways, since it can still weaken its defensive checks despite not being able to break much on its own. One popular example of the cores it can form is on triple Espeed offense, where Pinsirite Entei, Altarianite Zygarde, and Ekiller all support each other against different offensive checks, whilst putting pressure on defensive cores as a whole. However, Ekiller is still offensively checked by Terrakion and Kartana, which are huge threats to offense, so it stays within the C ranks.

Palossand: UR to C+ - Palossand has gained relevance as an integral part of Pigeons stall. With Slowbronite and Iron Defense, it has the ability to blanket check a ton of physical threats, including the hugely important Terrakion. This is particularly useful for stall builds as it helps shore up (get it) their offensive matchup, alongside Tspikes from Toxapex and Ditto to revenge kill big threats.

Deoxys-Defense: UR to C - Deo-D sets itself apart from other lead options thanks to its ability to set Spikes. This allows freer building when considering bulk matchups, as it is easier to offensively pressure those teams with both Stealth Rock and Spikes up. However, low Speed and a lack of ways to threaten mons that are faster than it can make it quite abusable as a lead, which has to be accounted for with the rest of the team.

Gengar: UR to C- - Gengar sets itself apart from Lunala due to its higher Speed and access to Destiny Bond. This allows Gengar to threaten a trade with some of its defensive checks, which can open up holes for other mons like Lunala to break through.


Drops:

Kartana: A+ to A - Kartana fell off a bit during OMPL, as the metagame has adapted to it significantly over the last few months. The main trend that affects Kartana is the rise of Manectite Magearna teams, which limit Kartana's ability to lure its checks with Pinsirite or wear them down quickly with Stealth Rock support. Kartana has also gained some offensive counterplay, with many teams packing Diancite Terrakion to stop Kartana from getting out of hand lategame. Overall, Kartana is still a powerful mon with a large influence on teambuilding, but it doesn't match the level of consistency or splashability of the so-called "big 5", requiring a lot more team support to work effectively.

Ho-Oh: A to A- - While Ho-Oh does fit best on balance builds, it still struggles to find a place in the current metagame. With balance teams becoming so common, the metagame has also seen an influx of strong balance breakers such as Eruption Pdon, Lucarionite Tapu Lele, and Terrakion. Since these mons all have limited prep, many balance teams can't afford to run a Ho-Oh without opening up significant weaknesses, despite the fact that Ho-Oh can take on less common breakers such as Calm Mind Magearna and Calm Mind Arceus-Ground/Arceus-Fairy.

Mandibuzz: A to A- - Mandibuzz has been struggling to keep up with the metagame as of late, with a lot of adaptation in the metagame being centralized around beating teams featuring Mandibuzz. One such example of this is the significant rise of Eruption Pdon, which provides problems for Mandibuzz balance by breaking through the common mons that would be expected to check it. Although this drop may seem confusing given Mandibuzz's high usage in OMPL, it is worth noting that Mandibuzz's usage dropped significantly in the later stages of OMPL, likely due to the fact that it became much tougher to build around.

Zeraora: A to B+ - Zeraora is another victim of the current state of the metagame. While previously it was able to provide great role compression as a speed control option that also had respectable bulk and the ability to break down teams, it's now becoming less useful and less effective. The simplest explanation for this is the fact that it struggles with all of the big 5, making it harder to find opportunities to come in and do damage. On top of this, most teams in the metagame now feature either a defensive Magearna or a defensive Pdon, meaning that even when Zeraora does come in it is likely to be walled. Zeraora's offense matchup is now much weaker as well, with Espeed spam and Diancite Terrakion generally stopping it from cleaning, as well as combinations of the big 5 mons simply not letting Zeraora in at all. OMPL Usage stats show that Zeraora suffered a big drop in usage towards the late stages of OMPL, which points to its issues in the metagame.

Blissey: A- to B+ - Blissey does have some use as an alternative bouncer choice to Mandibuzz, with some extra utility options and the ability to take on some mons like Lunala and CM Arceus better than the other Sablenite users. However, it's put under a lot of pressure by a lot of the top offensive threats, as well as the heavily offensive builds that came into the picture later in OMPL. Since it has become harder to build a consistent Blissey team in the current metagame climate, Blissey sees a drop here.

Victini: A- to B+ - Victini hasn't been particularly relevant in a while. Despite the fact that it can hit the meta pretty hard whenever it does get free switches, Victini still suffers from being a Red Orb user that isn't Pdon. This gives up a lot of flexibility in the rest of the build, particularly when trying to deal with pivoting from Manectite Magearna and powerful mons such as Terrakion and Pdon. Lucarionite has also been added to the stone list, notably being able to 2HKO Mixed Def Pdon and outspeed Lucarionite Tapu Lele. It also frees up the Red Orb slot for Pdon later which can be helpful.

Darkrai: A- to B- - This is a large drop, but a justified one. Darkrai is simply a relic nowadays - it offers very little in the context of the metagame compared to the rest of the upper ranks. While it can be considered a Lunala check, it's still pretty average at this role. Darkrai struggles to break in general, due to the fact that it barely comes in on anything in the metagame comfortably, and even when it does, it's typically stopped by Magearna, Alt Zyg, Terrakion, and sometimes even Mandibuzz. Most teams also have an option to revenge kill Darkrai, unless it's Diancite, which is honestly still pretty hard to set up, often checked defensively and still revenged by -atespeed. Most of these reasons also contribute to its 0-7 record in OMPL, further justifying the drop.

Buzzwole: B+ to B- - Buzzwole's balance niche has pretty much diminished to zero at this point, since none of the sets check enough threats well to fit on good balance teams. However, it still has a very important niche on stall builds, so it drops to B- to reflect this.

Zapdos: B+ to B- - Similar in some ways to Buzzwole, Zapdos doesn't check many threats comfortably and struggles to fit on balance as a result. Additionally, Mandibuzz performs very similar roles to Zapdos, while also providing a rare Lunala check. Zapdos can still see some use as a Flying resist, but that's often covered equally well by the likes of Manectite Magearna or Defensive Pdon. Red Orb has a somewhat decent niche as a mostly better Raikou (thanks to its bulk and access to Roost).

Shuckle: B+ to Banned - This bitch empty. YEET!

Arceus-Rock: B to B- - Rockceus performs the same role as it always has, checking niche Fire-types and Flying-types. However, niche Fire-types are less common nowadays, and Flying-types can be checked by other slots such as Magearna or Pdon.

Manaphy: B to C+ - It's quite difficult to justify using Manaphy right now, since it isn't very effective defensively or offensively compared to any of the more reliable offensive threats.

Tyranitar: B to B- - Tyranitar is in the same boat as Rockceus, except for the fact that it trades recovery and Will-O-Wisp for the ability to trap Lunala. The reasons for the Rockceus drop still apply here though, so it makes sense that they move down together.

Yveltal: B to C+ - This doesn't really end up on teams in practice, and it normally ends up being underwhelming for the same reasons that nearly every Dark-type struggles in Mix and Mega (Terrakion, Magearna, Alt Zyg).

Raikou: B to C- - This is almost outclassed entirely by Red Orb Zapdos, though you can try and use it if you want a slightly more powerful Fire STAB that doesn't miss.

Archeops: B- to C - Another one of the many drops for niche offensive threats. Archeops is outclassed on most builds by Diancite Terrakion, especially with its webs immunity being less relevant. However, the increase in power of its Rock STAB does allow Archeops to hit some calcs that Terrakion can't, such as OHKOing Lunala after rocks and 2HKOing Fairyceus.

Azelf: B- to C+ - Previous drops have already reflected that Azelf is largely outclassed by Red Orb Mew, but since Tyranitar and Lucarionite Zygarde (the two main things between base 100 Speed and base 115 Speed) are both declining, Azelf drops one rank further.

Rayquaza: B- to C+ - Rayquaza isn't really a top breaker right now, and it struggles to get anywhere as a cleaner due to the prevalence of -atespeed, Lunala, and Terrakion.

Skarmory: B- to C - Skarmory has been struggling ever since Lando-T left the metagame, now offering much less to teams over any other Pdon check. It is a somewhat usable Spikes setter and a solid Ho-Oh check though, so it's not entirely useless.

Weavile: C+ to C - Weavile really struggles with all of the Manectite Magearna in the meta, since it doesn't even really push through over time anymore. It's still a decent Lunala check that can attempt to trap it as well and provides decent speed control, but regardless it's not a great mon overall.

Xurkitree: C+ to C - Xurkitree loses out on Shuckle support, but it can still provide a similar niche on various other HO builds, notably having very few defensive checks, especially on common balances. Mons such as Manectite Magearna and Defensive Pdon are unsuitable for HO, so the Flying resist is more useful on this style.

Garchomp: C to C- - Garchomp isn't great right now due to the high amount of targets that it needs to use Outrage against as well as the abundance of Fairy-types, but it does fill a niche of providing Rocks and a Pdon check in one slot.

Latias: C to C- - Decent bulk and access to Healing Wish allows Latias to act as decent support for common blanket checks. However, Latias still drops to C- because this niche has been explored less in recent times than the current members of C rank.

Giratina: C to C- - Giratina has the same niche it has always had, but it still drops here because it's not as relevant to current stall builds as it used to be.

Cobalion/Shaymin-Sky/Gliscor/Lucario/Mewtwo/Stakataka/Gyarados/Milotic/Mimikyu/Togekiss/Volcarona to UR - Post-OMPL is the best time to go on a mass unranking spree, as these mons have proved to be irrelevant in yet another tour. In most of these cases the mon in question was relevant and very niche at a specific point in the meta which has now passed. As a result these mons aren't really worth ranking compared to things that are either actually relevant in the current meta or have a niche that still somewhat applies regardless of what mons are actually popular at any given time.


Other:

Magearna: A+ to S (rejected) - While Magearna definitely does have a huge influence on the metagame, it doesn't really stand out as an S rank threat in games. Firstly it should be stated that the only two stones that have significant usage in the metagame are Manectite and Pinsirite. Other sets are viable but they don't really find their way onto teams right now. The main issue with this nomination is that it understates Magearna's issue when dealing with Pdon - it isn't really fair to say that Pdon is only checking Magearna in theory, and Magearna definitely isn't gaining momentum on Pdon most of the time, as Pdon gets momentum nearly every time it clicks an attack. The metagame currently uses mons like Mandibuzz, Groundceus, and Lunala to handle Pdon. Since all of these mons typically click recovery immediately after taking an attack from Pdon, the Pdon user will get a free switch, thus keeping up the momentum. While Pdon does have offensive checks that can make progress after switching in (mainly Lucarionite Zygarde and Pogre), they're much less common than Magearna's main offensive check, and Pdon at least has ways around this, since Rocks for a free Luc Zyg switch is normally a decent trade and fast sets still threaten Pogre on the switch.

Another issue is that Magearna struggles to be as actively threatening compared to the two current S rank mons. As has been mentioned earlier, Pdon provides a very safe initial response to an unscouted Magearna, but even if there isn't a Pdon, many other cores can handle Magearna's guessing game pretty well. For example, Groundceus is always able to at least switch in on an unscouted Magearna, since even if it turns out to be Pinsirite, the likes of Manectite Magearna (which is a very common partner to Groundceus anyway) will be able to switch directly in on the boosted Pinsirite Magearna. Alternatively, other Fire-types such as Ho-Oh, Entei, and Victini can all come in to scout Magearna's set without fear - while these aren't exactly common mons, it does emphasize that there are options beyond the first two crazily common responses that i mentioned. Comparing this to the currently S rank Pdon, you can see that the risks involved when dealing with Magearna as a whole are much lower. Even after figuring out Pdon's set early in the game it can still pose a problem to a lot of teams on its own, with most teams not being able to switch into Eruption comfortably whenever Pdon does get a free switch. On the other hand, no good team should really struggle with Manectite or Pinsirite Magearna before any of their mons get significantly weakened. Zygarde is generally less threatening than Pdon, but even here there's still usually an element of guesswork when dealing with it earlygame - staying in regular forme and clicking Dragon Dance doesn't reveal its set, allowing it to get around many teams' prep which relies on knowing Zygarde's set first.

The most common argument for rising Magearna to S is normally the splashability of its Manectite set. However, the later stages of OMPL showed solid alternatives to running Magearna. Magearna faces a lot more competition on offensive builds, since its Pinsirite set is one of many choices that can fit on offense as a mainly offensive threat. Additionally, Manectite variants are still quite difficult to fit on offensive teams, because it is much harder to account for Pdon being able to come in relatively freely. Comparatively, bulky Pdon and Alt Zyg do a much better job of trading blows in order to gain momentum, which makes them much more useful for offense. On the other hand, the balance teams where Manec Mage fits best are on the decline, since they have to prep for more threats than they did previously. While Magearna is still very useful here, most of the things it beats have already gone down in usage, so teams can do a decent job of avoiding Magearna checking most of the threats. Alternatively, most of the mons Magearna checks can pair up with Eruption Pdon, since that takes advantage of Magearna quite well if it catches Magearna on a double. Even though this isn't a reliable strategy, it is worth mentioning due to how punishing it can be to most Magearna teams, and how this differs from many non-Magearna teams where the mons that spend the most time switching into threats can manage Pdon in a 1v1 scenario.

Overall, we don't really feel Magearna is at the same level as Pdon or Zygarde right now, as despite the fact that it's splashable and has had a large impact on the meta, we don't feel that it has as large of an impact in the actual games as the two current S rank mons.


Araquanid: UR to C (rejected) - This nomination may end up going through later but right now it's too early to nominate something this new in the metagame. We will discuss Araquanid's ranking between updates when we can figure out where it actually stands in the metagame.
 
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VR Update 9/20
Rises:
Arceus-Ground: A- to A
Landorus-Incarnate: C+ to B
Arceus: UR to C+
Palossand: UR to C+
Deoxys-Defense: UR to C
Gengar: UR to C-

Drops:
Kartana: A+ to A
Ho-Oh: A to A-
Mandibuzz: A to A-
Zeraora: A to B+
Blissey: A- to B+
Victini: A- to B+
Darkrai: A- to B-
Buzzwole: B+ to B-
Zapdos: B+ to B-
Shuckle: B+ to Banned
Arceus-Rock: B to B-
Tyranitar: B to B-
Yveltal: B to C+
Manaphy: B to C
Raikou: B to C-
Archeops: B- to UR
Azelf: B- to C+
Rayquaza: B- to C+
Archeops: B- to C
Xurkitree: C+ to C
Cobalion: C+ to UR
Shaymin-Sky: C+ to UR
Garchomp: C to C-
Giratina: C to C-
Latias: C to C-
Giratina: C to UR
Gliscor: C to UR
Lucario: C to UR
Mewtwo: C to UR
Stakataka: C to UR
Gyarados: C- to UR
Milotic: C- to UR
Mimikyu: C- to UR
Togekiss: C- to UR
Volcarona: C- to UR

Rises:

Arceus-Ground: A- to A - Arceus-Ground proved to be one of the most splashable mons in OMPL, generally having a decent matchup against other top threats and fitting on a lot of solid builds. Its popularity has notably overtaken Fairyceus' popularity, largely due to its immunity to Magearna's Volt Switch and its nicer matchup vs Pdon as a whole being valuable traits in the current metagame. Calm Mind sets have picked up a little bit as well, being especially useful on more offensive builds that struggle to find checks to the likes of Lunala, Lucarionite Zygarde, and Rock Polish Pdon.

Landorus-Incarnate: C+ to B - Lando-I can act as a decent wallbreaker or Stealth Rock setter with its Salamencite set. Its access to STAB Earthquake sets it apart from similar -ate breakers, notably allowing it to break through Magearna. It also has various other useful tools in its arsenal, such as access to Explosion which can help it both with breaking and Rocks setting, Ground typing which can be useful on offense as an alternative Volt Switch blocker instead of Pdon, and the ability to offensively check SD SR Pdon. Although this list of tools isn't as long or as relevant as Lando-T's was, it's still enough for Lando-I to earn a spot in B rank.

Arceus: UR to C+ - Ekiller is actually respectable right now on heavily offensive teams, providing a hugely important check to Lunala whilst being able to keep pressure on opposing offensive threats in general. It can form cores with other offensive threats in various ways, since it can still weaken its defensive checks despite not being able to break much on its own. One popular example of the cores it can form is on triple Espeed offense, where Pinsirite Entei, Altarianite Zygarde, and Ekiller all support each other against different offensive checks, whilst putting pressure on defensive cores as a whole. However, Ekiller is still offensively checked by Terrakion and Kartana, which are huge threats to offense, so it stays within the C ranks.

Palossand: UR to C+ - Palossand has gained relevance as an integral part of Pigeons stall. With Slowbronite and Iron Defense, it has the ability to blanket check a ton of physical threats, including the hugely important Terrakion. This is particularly useful for stall builds as it helps shore up (get it) their offensive matchup, alongside Tspikes from Toxapex and Ditto to revenge kill big threats.

Deoxys-Defense: UR to C - Deo-D sets itself apart from other lead options thanks to its ability to set Spikes. This allows freer building when considering bulk matchups, as it is easier to offensively pressure those teams with both Stealth Rock and Spikes up. However, low Speed and a lack of ways to threaten mons that are faster than it can make it quite abusable as a lead, which has to be accounted for with the rest of the team.

Gengar: UR to C- - Gengar sets itself apart from Lunala due to its higher Speed and access to Destiny Bond. This allows Gengar to threaten a trade with some of its defensive checks, which can open up holes for other mons like Lunala to break through.


Drops:

Kartana: A+ to A - Kartana fell off a bit during OMPL, as the metagame has adapted to it significantly over the last few months. The main trend that affects Kartana is the rise of Manectite Magearna teams, which limit Kartana's ability to lure its checks with Pinsirite or wear them down quickly with Stealth Rock support. Kartana has also gained some offensive counterplay, with many teams packing Diancite Terrakion to stop Kartana from getting out of hand lategame. Overall, Kartana is still a powerful mon with a large influence on teambuilding, but it doesn't match the level of consistency or splashability of the so-called "big 5", requiring a lot more team support to work effectively.

Ho-Oh: A to A- - While Ho-Oh does fit best on balance builds, it still struggles to find a place in the current metagame. With balance teams becoming so common, the metagame has also seen an influx of strong balance breakers such as Eruption Pdon, Lucarionite Tapu Lele, and Terrakion. Since these mons all have limited prep, many balance teams can't afford to run a Ho-Oh without opening up significant weaknesses, despite the fact that Ho-Oh can take on less common breakers such as Calm Mind Magearna and Calm Mind Arceus-Ground/Arceus-Fairy.

Mandibuzz: A to A- - Mandibuzz has been struggling to keep up with the metagame as of late, with a lot of adaptation in the metagame being centralized around beating teams featuring Mandibuzz. One such example of this is the significant rise of Eruption Pdon, which provides problems for Mandibuzz balance by breaking through the common mons that would be expected to check it. Although this drop may seem confusing given Mandibuzz's high usage in OMPL, it is worth noting that Mandibuzz's usage dropped significantly in the later stages of OMPL, likely due to the fact that it became much tougher to build around.

Zeraora: A to B+ - Zeraora is another victim of the current state of the metagame. While previously it was able to provide great role compression as a speed control option that also had respectable bulk and the ability to break down teams, it's now becoming less useful and less effective. The simplest explanation for this is the fact that it struggles with all of the big 5, making it harder to find opportunities to come in and do damage. On top of this, most teams in the metagame now feature either a defensive Magearna or a defensive Pdon, meaning that even when Zeraora does come in it is likely to be walled. Zeraora's offense matchup is now much weaker as well, with Espeed spam and Diancite Terrakion generally stopping it from cleaning, as well as combinations of the big 5 mons simply not letting Zeraora in at all. OMPL Usage stats show that Zeraora suffered a big drop in usage towards the late stages of OMPL, which points to its issues in the metagame.

Blissey: A- to B+ - Blissey does have some use as an alternative bouncer choice to Mandibuzz, with some extra utility options and the ability to take on some mons like Lunala and CM Arceus better than the other Sablenite users. However, it's put under a lot of pressure by a lot of the top offensive threats, as well as the heavily offensive builds that came into the picture later in OMPL. Since it has become harder to build a consistent Blissey team in the current metagame climate, Blissey sees a drop here.

Victini: A- to B+ - Victini hasn't been particularly relevant in a while. Despite the fact that it can hit the meta pretty hard whenever it does get free switches, Victini still suffers from being a Red Orb user that isn't Pdon. This gives up a lot of flexibility in the rest of the build, particularly when trying to deal with pivoting from Manectite Magearna and powerful mons such as Terrakion and Pdon. Lucarionite has also been added to the stone list, notably being able to 2HKO Mixed Def Pdon and outspeed Lucarionite Tapu Lele. It also frees up the Red Orb slot for Pdon later which can be helpful.

Darkrai: A- to B- - This is a large drop, but a justified one. Darkrai is simply a relic nowadays - it offers very little in the context of the metagame compared to the rest of the upper ranks. While it can be considered a Lunala check, it's still pretty average at this role. Darkrai struggles to break in general, due to the fact that it barely comes in on anything in the metagame comfortably, and even when it does, it's typically stopped by Magearna, Alt Zyg, Terrakion, and sometimes even Mandibuzz. Most teams also have an option to revenge kill Darkrai, unless it's Diancite, which is honestly still pretty hard to set up, often checked defensively and still revenged by -atespeed. Most of these reasons also contribute to its 0-7 record in OMPL, further justifying the drop.

Buzzwole: B+ to B- - Buzzwole's balance niche has pretty much diminished to zero at this point, since none of the sets check enough threats well to fit on good balance teams. However, it still has a very important niche on stall builds, so it drops to B- to reflect this.

Zapdos: B+ to B- - Similar in some ways to Buzzwole, Zapdos doesn't check many threats comfortably and struggles to fit on balance as a result. Additionally, Mandibuzz performs very similar roles to Zapdos, while also providing a rare Lunala check. Zapdos can still see some use as a Flying resist, but that's often covered equally well by the likes of Manectite Magearna or Defensive Pdon. Red Orb has a somewhat decent niche as a mostly better Raikou (thanks to its bulk and access to Roost).

Shuckle: B+ to Banned - This bitch empty. YEET!

Arceus-Rock: B to B- - Rockceus performs the same role as it always has, checking niche Fire-types and Flying-types. However, niche Fire-types are less common nowadays, and Flying-types can be checked by other slots such as Magearna or Pdon.

Manaphy: B to C+ - It's quite difficult to justify using Manaphy right now, since it isn't very effective defensively or offensively compared to any of the more reliable offensive threats.

Tyranitar: B to B- - Tyranitar is in the same boat as Rockceus, except for the fact that it trades recovery and Will-O-Wisp for the ability to trap Lunala. The reasons for the Rockceus drop still apply here though, so it makes sense that they move down together.

Yveltal: B to C+ - This doesn't really end up on teams in practice, and it normally ends up being underwhelming for the same reasons that nearly every Dark-type struggles in Mix and Mega (Terrakion, Magearna, Alt Zyg).

Raikou: B to C- - This is almost outclassed entirely by Red Orb Zapdos, though you can try and use it if you want a slightly more powerful Fire STAB that doesn't miss.

Archeops: B- to C - Another one of the many drops for niche offensive threats. Archeops is outclassed on most builds by Diancite Terrakion, especially with its webs immunity being less relevant. However, the increase in power of its Rock STAB does allow Archeops to hit some calcs that Terrakion can't, such as OHKOing Lunala after rocks and 2HKOing Fairyceus.

Azelf: B- to C+ - Previous drops have already reflected that Azelf is largely outclassed by Red Orb Mew, but since Tyranitar and Lucarionite Zygarde (the two main things between base 100 Speed and base 115 Speed) are both declining, Azelf drops one rank further.

Rayquaza: B- to C+ - Rayquaza isn't really a top breaker right now, and it struggles to get anywhere as a cleaner due to the prevalence of -atespeed, Lunala, and Terrakion.

Skarmory: B- to C - Skarmory has been struggling ever since Lando-T left the metagame, now offering much less to teams over any other Pdon check. It is a somewhat usable Spikes setter and a solid Ho-Oh check though, so it's not entirely useless.

Weavile: C+ to C - Weavile really struggles with all of the Manectite Magearna in the meta, since it doesn't even really push through over time anymore. It's still a decent Lunala check that can attempt to trap it as well and provides decent speed control, but regardless it's not a great mon overall.

Xurkitree: C+ to C - Xurkitree loses out on Shuckle support, but it can still provide a similar niche on various other HO builds, notably having very few defensive checks, especially on common balances. Mons such as Manectite Magearna and Defensive Pdon are unsuitable for HO, so the Flying resist is more useful on this style.

Garchomp: C to C- - Garchomp isn't great right now due to the high amount of targets that it needs to use Outrage against as well as the abundance of Fairy-types, but it does fill a niche of providing Rocks and a Pdon check in one slot.

Latias: C to C- - Decent bulk and access to Healing Wish allows Latias to act as decent support for common blanket checks. However, Latias still drops to C- because this niche has been explored less in recent times than the current members of C rank.

Giratina: C to C- - Giratina has the same niche it has always had, but it still drops here because it's not as relevant to current stall builds as it used to be.

Cobalion/Shaymin-Sky/Gliscor/Lucario/Mewtwo/Stakataka/Gyarados/Milotic/Mimikyu/Togekiss/Volcarona to UR - Post-OMPL is the best time to go on a mass unranking spree, as these mons have proved to be irrelevant in yet another tour. In most of these cases the mon in question was relevant and very niche at a specific point in the meta which has now passed. As a result these mons aren't really worth ranking compared to things that are either actually relevant in the current meta or have a niche that still somewhat applies regardless of what mons are actually popular at any given time.


Other:

Magearna: A+ to S (rejected) - While Magearna definitely does have a huge influence on the metagame, it doesn't really stand out as an S rank threat in games. Firstly it should be stated that the only two stones that have significant usage in the metagame are Manectite and Pinsirite. Other sets are viable but they don't really find their way onto teams right now. The main issue with this nomination is that it understates Magearna's issue when dealing with Pdon - it isn't really fair to say that Pdon is only checking Magearna in theory, and Magearna definitely isn't gaining momentum on Pdon most of the time, as Pdon gets momentum nearly every time it clicks an attack. The metagame currently uses mons like Mandibuzz, Groundceus, and Lunala to handle Pdon. Since all of these mons typically click recovery immediately after taking an attack from Pdon, the Pdon user will get a free switch, thus keeping up the momentum. While Pdon does have offensive checks that can make progress after switching in (mainly Lucarionite Zygarde and Pogre), they're much less common than Magearna's main offensive check, and Pdon at least has ways around this, since Rocks for a free Luc Zyg switch is normally a decent trade and fast sets still threaten Pogre on the switch.

Another issue is that Magearna struggles to be as actively threatening compared to the two current S rank mons. As has been mentioned earlier, Pdon provides a very safe initial response to an unscouted Magearna, but even if there isn't a Pdon, many other cores can handle Magearna's guessing game pretty well. For example, Groundceus is always able to at least switch in on an unscouted Magearna, since even if it turns out to be Pinsirite, the likes of Manectite Magearna (which is a very common partner to Groundceus anyway) will be able to switch directly in on the boosted Pinsirite Magearna. Alternatively, other Fire-types such as Ho-Oh, Entei, and Victini can all come in to scout Magearna's set without fear - while these aren't exactly common mons, it does emphasize that there are options beyond the first two crazily common responses that i mentioned. Comparing this to the currently S rank Pdon, you can see that the risks involved when dealing with Magearna as a whole are much lower. Even after figuring out Pdon's set early in the game it can still pose a problem to a lot of teams on its own, with most teams not being able to switch into Eruption comfortably whenever Pdon does get a free switch. On the other hand, no good team should really struggle with Manectite or Pinsirite Magearna before any of their mons get significantly weakened. Zygarde is generally less threatening than Pdon, but even here there's still usually an element of guesswork when dealing with it earlygame - staying in regular forme and clicking Dragon Dance doesn't reveal its set, allowing it to get around many teams' prep which relies on knowing Zygarde's set first.

The most common argument for rising Magearna to S is normally the splashability of its Manectite set. However, the later stages of OMPL showed solid alternatives to running Magearna. Magearna faces a lot more competition on offensive builds, since its Pinsirite set is one of many choices that can fit on offense as a mainly offensive threat. Additionally, Manectite variants are still quite difficult to fit on offensive teams, because it is much harder to account for Pdon being able to come in relatively freely. Comparatively, bulky Pdon and Alt Zyg do a much better job of trading blows in order to gain momentum, which makes them much more useful for offense. On the other hand, the balance teams where Manec Mage fits best are on the decline, since they have to prep for more threats than they did previously. While Magearna is still very useful here, most of the things it beats have already gone down in usage, so teams can do a decent job of avoiding Magearna checking most of the threats. Alternatively, most of the mons Magearna checks can pair up with Eruption Pdon, since that takes advantage of Magearna quite well if it catches Magearna on a double. Even though this isn't a reliable strategy, it is worth mentioning due to how punishing it can be to most Magearna teams, and how this differs from many non-Magearna teams where the mons that spend the most time switching into threats can manage Pdon in a 1v1 scenario.

Overall, we don't really feel Magearna is at the same level as Pdon or Zygarde right now, as despite the fact that it's splashable and has had a large impact on the meta, we don't feel that it has as large of an impact in the actual games as the two current S rank mons.


Araquanid: UR to C (rejected) - This nomination may end up going through later but right now it's too early to nominate something this new in the metagame. We will discuss Araquanid's ranking between updates when we can figure out where it actually stands in the metagame.
You have Giratina listed twice, from C to C- and C to UR
 

in the hills

spreading confusion
is a Top Artistis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
VR Update-11/23 (Final Update)
Rises
Entei A to A+
Tapu Lele: A to A+
Mandibuzz: A- to A
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: B+ to A-
Ditto: B to B+
Landorus-I: B to A-
Slowbro: B to B+
Giratina-O: B- to B
Xerneas: B- to B
Arceus: C+ to B-
Drops
Terrakion: A+ to A
Arceus-Ground: A to A-
Mew: A- to B+

Final VR Update of the generation, but a small one. Mostly just cleaning up ranks and small metagame changes that were notable throughout Seasonal and World Cup.
 

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