Project Top 10 Titans of the Gen 8 AG Metagame

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because I want this project to be as good as it can be I'm gonna rattle off a few noms in a row and also snipe some that aren't written, baconeatinassassin get to it.

:ss/ditto:

What effect did Ditto have on the metagame?

Ditto changes how the game is played, and effects the builder a lot. Hyper Offense teams with access to Dynamax would be absurd if not for the chance of Ditto showing up. It encourages Zacian-C to never be on HO because of the chance it gets copied then your whole team dies, and generally in a dynamax meta it shores up so many weaknesses to offensive Pokemon that its presence cannot be understated.

In what main roles was this Pokemon used?

There's not really anything to say here, it's a revenge killer but it just does whatever the opponent does, but faster.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Access to Dynamax and an increased power level makes it quite strong in SS and NDAG. Revenge killing everything is only accomplished in one slot by Ditto, and that leads to a lot of different building requirements for breakers to ensure you're improof and can actually win a game if Ditto shows up.

How do/did you deal with Ditto in AG?

Another hard to answer question, but the main thing is run improof sweepers and try to preserve Dynamax. DD NDM, LO Yveltal, Sash Caly-S, and Haban Zekrom are all good examples of ways to improof your sweepers and prevent Ditto from autowinning if it copies, but it can still put in work given the Ditto user plays around these a bit.
 

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:ss/eternatus:

What effect did Eternatus have on the metagame?

Eternatus is one of the best and most dominant Pokemon all throughout Gen 8 AG tiers. You have to have a good answer to both TSpikes and offensive sets or you're just gonna lose without perfect play. In SS AG it sees insanely high usage because it glues together so many teams by checking a ton of offensive threats, and its own offensive capabilities are good enough to net it a spot on some offensive teams.

In what main roles was this Pokemon used?

Eternatus can do everything. Specially defensive is the main set for Kyogre, but it can also invest more in phys.def for Marshadow. With Life Orb and Z-Moves it's a powerful offensive threat in NDAG, and in SS AG EBelt, Life Orb, and MBeam sets are super solid offensively. Whatever Eternatus needs to do for a team it can.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Pressure is an incredible defensive ability for the high power low pp moves in AG, Etern is super fast, and it has incredible all around stats with a good support movepool. In NDAG Tspikes are huge since Etern isn't mandatory but just really good, and in SS AG it's just really hard to switch into while providing invaluable support by checking Kyogre, Marshadow, Ferrothorn, Ho-Oh, Yveltal, etc.

How do/did you deal with Ditto in AG?

Gothitelle, Necrozma-DM, Zacian-C, and Calyrex-S are usually most team's best ways of dealing with it. Ho-Oh, Groudon, and certain Arceus like Ground can also apply pressure to it against the right sets and in the right scenarios. Chansey and Blissey hard counter it for the most part but they're held back by their passivity against the high power of Eternatus' typical teammates.
 

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:ss/ferrothorn:

What effect did Ferrothorn have on the metagame?

Ferrothorn can single handedly beat certain teams, and it forces a lot of teams to switch up coverage or game plans just to deal with it. A fat wall isn't something that you'd expect to solo a team, but with Leech Seed and set up moves to boost its defense a lot of teams actually just can't deal with the slow playstyle of Ferrothorn setting up hazards and chipping everything with Leech Seed. Ho-Oh is used a lot even with Kyogre which is counterintuitive sometimes just because Ferrothorn is too scary, and many teams have to forgo their preferred breakers like DD Toxic Zyg for Dtail, or CM Resttalk Ogre for Specs just to deal enough damage to beat it.

In what main roles was this Pokemon used?

Ferrothorn has 2 roles: Phys.def and Sp.def. Sp.def is for when you're weaker to Kyogre than you'd like to be and it's needed to deal with all sets not named specs. Phys.def is usually better because it can use set up ID Press / Curse Knock to deal meaningful damage while also being probably the best DD NDM check and still dealing with most CM Kyogre with Leech Seed.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Hazards are broken as fuck, defensive typing is broken as fuck, and it's a really fat wall that is able to check a lot of things at once like NDM, Ogre, and some Yveltal / Zygarde while also having annoying support moves like Leech, Twave, Knock, etc.

How do/did you deal with Ferrothorn in AG?

Ho-Oh is the best hard counter for Ferrothorn, since really nothing else can both Defog and kill Ferrothorn while being a good mon. Aside from that, Pokemon with Fire-type coverage like Eternatus, PDon, and MRay can threaten it along with Fighting-type coverage from Marshadow and Zacian-C. Trying to just overwhelm Ferrothorn with Specs Kyogre is also possible, but if Ferrothorn can get going in both NDAG and especially SS AG it's really hard for teams without Ho-Oh to stop.


gonna start the voting when I wake up in the morning, if anyone has last minute noms or wants to finish their old ones please do to make the voting stage more interesting and close
 

Drifting

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is a Tiering Contributor
:ss/kyogre:

What effect did Kyogre have on the metagame?

Kyogre, with its Water-type, great ability in Drizzle, and significant bulk further amplified by Dynamax, is one of the leading Pokemon in the AG metagame, and a cornerstone of both Balance and Offense teams. Its wide variety of great sets allows it to beat several key Pokemon in the metagame cleanly, and its mere presence has mandated trends such as Ferrothorn, Blissey and Dragon Tail Eternatus.

In what main roles was this Pokemon used?

Kyogre did several things. On the bulkier side it had Calm Mind sets, serving as a terrifying and adaptable win-condition that could absorb status with Rest and Substitutes, while sometimes even crippling opponents with Thunder Wave. On the flip side however was Choiced Ogre, the specs set being a monster wallbreaker that could even 2hko the supposed "counters" of Blissey, Ferro and Giratina with Water Spouts, and the scarf set being able to revenge kill mainstays of the meta such as Zacian-C, NDM and Zygarde with ease.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Kyogre's impact came from it being good at so many things. It was beyond powerful, quite bulky, not too slow, had a fantastic ability, could easily abuse Dynamax, provided utility defensively with Rest and Thunder Wave, and was frankly unstoppable offensively with Choiced Water Spouts. Whether it be through setting up or wall-breaking, if Kyogre came in against something slow or weak, you had to act fast to avoid Calm Mind sweeping you easily, and if you switched in your Ferro on a Specs Water Spout? might as well be game.

How do/did you deal with Kyogre in AG?

Dealing with Kyogre is difficult but doable. Ferro, Blissey and Eternatus are effective walls despite Specs being a possibility, the latters speed advantage being especially useful. Fast or priority revenge killing is very possible with mons like Marshadow or Yveltal, though you have to fear Scarf. Kyogre a lot of the time hates hazards that can weaken its Water Spouts and chip it down. Kyogre however excels at punishing minor mistakes, so you still have to be very careful even with these counters on your team.
 

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Thank you everyone for your submissions! Over the next few weeks we will be voting for the Pokemon at each ranking, starting at #1 and going down from there.

List of Pokemon Nominated:
:ss/necrozma-dusk-mane: :ss/calyrex-shadow: :ss/zacian-crowned: :ss/zygarde-complete: :ss/ho-oh: :ss/arceus-water: :ss/arceus-ground: :ss/xerneas: :ss/groudon: :ss/yveltal: :ss/rayquaza-mega: :ss/dracovish: :ss/marshadow: :ss/gothitelle: :ss/ditto: :ss/eternatus: :ss/ferrothorn: :ss/kyogre:

The voting stage for each round will last ~3 days, and while posting a reasoning with your pick isn't necessary, discussion is encouraged. Remember, this is for the most influential Pokemon throughout the generation, not necessarily the strongest (ex. if you think Zacian-C is a stronger Pokemon than Calyrex-S but Calyrex-S is almost as strong and more impactful on building, you should probably vote Calyrex-S).

My vote for #1 goes to Calyrex-S. It single handedly warped the entirity of NDAG to be completely different after DLC 2 when it was the only viable Pokemon added, and is probably the most influential SS AG Pokemon all gen as well, at the very least second to NDM.
 
Kyogre- It's literally the reason why almost every galar ag team needs to run an eternatus or a blissey to check it proving how strongly it affects the meta. Besides both of the above mentioned checks are still vulnerable to the offensive ogre sets such as life orb or the not needed description for the G.O.A.T specs kyogre. We could consider that kyogre has a very big hand in eternatus becoming the part of the big 3 of Anything Goes hence with these reasons I would give my vote to Kyogre.
 
Ditto - before Gen 8, it wasn't bad because it can copy the stats of opposing mons, making it an effective revenge killer. However, with the introduction of Zacian-C, it is used way more often, as it can copy the +1atk stat of the opposing Zacian-C and its ability Intrepid Sword. This allows it to have +2 atk just by switching in, making it one of the best Zacian counters. It can also hold choice scarf, unlike Zacian-C, making it outspeed most things. This means pretty much every team with a Zacian-C has NDM to counter ditto. It is also a check to Caly-S, especially ones that are not scarfed, as it can copy stats it may have gained from Grim Neigh and reverse sweep the opponent.
 
Yveltal - Yveltal is the king of usage in Gen 8 Anything goes with an incredible 99.25% usage during the last agpl, yveltal was already the best pokemon in national dex anything goes before calyrex was even released due to its incredible dyanamx abusing sets and then when calyrex was released it kept the niche of dynamax abuser while also gaining a new niche as the best defensive calyrex check in the game, this means that yveltal is on almost every single anything goes team and it is incredibly difficult to build a good ag team without yveltal.
 
Caly-S - In my opinion, Calyrex Shadow Rider is the most powerful Pokémon ever introduced. It has near universal coverage, and with Max Starfall and the snowball effect grim neigh introduces combined with its incredible SpA and speed, it’s just an absolute monster. You can’t just run yveltal to check it because it’s so powerful; it necessitates multiple checks and has zero counters, unlike Zacian-C who was very checkable as long as you kept NDM alive (though this is more of a testament to how good NDM is as opposed to Zac being underwhelming). The only Pokémon that comes close to Caly in terms of influence and dominance imo is Yveltal, as it would have incredible usage anyway even without Caly and is easily a more versatile mon, but Caly necessitates Yveltal usage on every team along with something else. I doubt specially defensive Yveltal would even be as huge of a thing without it. It can run scarf to act as an alternative to Ditto, it can pass nasty plots to make other Pokémon even scarier, it can run Sub Seed, disable, aromatherapy, will o wisp, a host of different things that can benefit any team, and there’s also no pursuit which makes this mon even better. Something that also gets overlooked I think is that you can’t even run ghost resist berries or fairy resist berries or custap for revenge killing due to unnerve. So yeah, Caly is insane. Easy pick for #1 for me.
 
Voting for Calyrex-Shadow.

I personally think this has been the most warping presence in AG since its introduction, and find it to be more constraining in the builder than other offensive threats of its magnitude like Zacian-C. While it has a good counter in Yveltal, other forms of defensive counterplay are lacking without resorting to generally mediocre walls like Tyranitar or Eerie Impulse Porygon2.

One of the major factors precipitating Calyrex-S' dominance is its Baton Pass set, which makes every interaction with Yveltal a guessing game. Icemaster's dual Xerneas offense is an example of a team that both relies on this sequence and mostly nullifies opposing U-Turn Yveltal + Ditto (the usual way BP Calyrex-S is handled).
 

Pokemh

Banned deucer.
Voting for Kyogre.
It hasn't really done anything to shift the metagame outside of making Eternatus or the rare Kyurem-White and Blissey (although hard to fit on balance) basically mandatory. Sets like Block Choice specs Offensive Lum Twave and even Life Orb and Twave Substitute and just simple sets like Scarf and Physically Defensive Kyogre are just not able to be checked as a little bit of chip can beat Blissey if Specs and if they want to risk it Scold for fat with blissey can just OHKO blissey if it connects. Even if Utility Umbrella and Lum Twave and Life Orb straight up just beat etern unless its Yache Light Screen with Dragon Tail if they predict a CM and even then once they get a free CM Eternatus can lose. Kyurem-White can lose to Substitute Twave usually. Gastrodon and Shedinja can check pretty well outside of Ancient Power for Shedinja or Toxic and Gastrodon can lose to Scold although very niche and luck dependent. Ferrothorn shouldn't usually use Spd as it loses once scald burns it and it can't really switch in to water spouts. The only way to really beat this mon is offensively with Zekrom, Zacian, Spectral Marshadow, Xerneas, and Lorb Eternatus forces it out. It also can't stay in on potential Choice Band Knock Offs from Yveltal. A mon that can only be checked offensively and can also be a potent offensive threat should always be kept in mind when building like thinking "Once they reveal Choice Specs or Offensive Twave Lum I just lose to it". Or "If Scald burns me I have no way to make progress vs it".
 

Guard

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:ss/yveltal:

It was the epitome of centralization in DLC 1 Natdex AG, forcing absurd innovations such as Protect Zacian-C, specially defensive Protect Ho-Oh, and Rest Diancie, which it would in turn adapt to with Heat Have, Rock Slide, and Steel Wing. Next, it instigated a cataclysmic metagame shift to Arceus-Fairy / Arceus-Dark balance and bulky balance, which it adapted to again with Max Ooze and Taunt + Roost sets. Come DLC 2, it is the only thing keeping all AG metagames standing upright against Calyrex-S, sporting usage stats we've never seen before. It forces progress on everything with every single set it can run, necessitating a Knock Off absorber at the least (which pretty much equals to Eternatus being rendered itemless in every game) and severe prep to limit its offensive sets at worst. Offensive sets have featured on every relevant hyper offense team all generation long, shifting from Hidden Power Rock --> Knock Off --> Rock Slide --> Sky Attack + Hidden Power Ice --> Hidden Power Poison --> Taunt + Sucker Punch or Hone Claws. Yveltal defined and redefined AG before Calyrex-S ever set foot on the battleground and its impact was and continues to be vastly multidimensional, unlike Zacian-C's.
 
Yveltal. It eclipses everything in usage and offers a level of utility unseen since pre-home Eternatus. Its offensive sets rival Calyrex and Xerneas in terms of destructiveness, and its support sets are one of the biggest reasons balance archetypes are able to thrive in SS AG.
 
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and with that breaking the tie, the winner for #1 titan of gen 8 AG is Yveltal!
:ss/yveltal:

Voting for the #2 titan will now begin

List of Remaining Nominated Pokemon:
:ss/necrozma-dusk-mane: :ss/calyrex-shadow: :ss/zacian-crowned: :ss/zygarde-complete: :ss/ho-oh: :ss/arceus-water: :ss/arceus-ground: :ss/xerneas: :ss/groudon: :ss/rayquaza-mega: :ss/dracovish: :ss/marshadow: :ss/gothitelle: :ss/ditto: :ss/eternatus: :ss/ferrothorn: :ss/kyogre:

The voting stage for each round will last ~3 days, and while posting a reasoning with your pick isn't necessary, discussion is encouraged. Remember, this is for the most influential Pokemon throughout the generation, not necessarily the strongest (ex. if you think Zacian-C is a stronger Pokemon than Calyrex-S but Calyrex-S is almost as strong and more impactful on building, you should probably vote Calyrex-S).

I will once again be voting for Calyrex-S for the reasons I stated in my other post.
 
Caly-S; see round 1 reasoning. I do agree that Yveltal is the best Pokémon in the game, but at least as far as Galar goes, you don’t see the amount of effort that goes into answering pokemon like Caly or Zacian that you do with Yveltal. I think one of the reasons for that is Yveltal can check itself in some cases, and it was on every team anyway because of Caly. So funnily enough I think Caly balanced Yveltal out in some sense without it having to be dealt with on its own, and I think that alone should’ve had Caly above Ygod, but I digress.
 

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The #2 titan of Gen 8 anything goes is Calyrex-S!

:ss/calyrex-shadow:

Voting for the #3 titan will now begin

List of Remaining Nominated Pokemon:
:ss/necrozma-dusk-mane: :ss/zacian-crowned: :ss/zygarde-complete: :ss/ho-oh: :ss/arceus-water: :ss/arceus-ground: :ss/xerneas: :ss/groudon: :ss/rayquaza-mega: :ss/dracovish: :ss/marshadow: :ss/gothitelle: :ss/ditto: :ss/eternatus: :ss/ferrothorn: :ss/kyogre:

The voting stage for each round will last ~3 days, and while posting a reasoning with your pick isn't necessary, discussion is encouraged. Remember, this is for the most influential Pokemon throughout the generation, not necessarily the strongest (ex. if you think Zacian-C is a stronger Pokemon than Calyrex-S but Calyrex-S is almost as strong and more impactful on building, you should probably vote Calyrex-S).

My vote goes to Zacian-Crowned. Only (viable) AG mon this gen, warps teambuilding to an insane extent and still beats the things it forces on teams to beat it.
 
I’ll continue the trend. My vote is also for Zacian-Crowned. Insanely powerful Pokémon, has excellent coverage, only reliably checked by NDM and quagsire of all things (and eviolite wooper too I guess), really valuable signature move in Behemoth Blade to nullify dynamax, and single handedly made Ditto an S tier Pokémon in my opinion.
 

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