Hi, it was honor managing and having a heavy involvement in what will likely be the best old-gens core to ever exist in ZUPL (until next year?). This season has certainly resparked my love for ZU Old Gens and I have a lot to say about every one of these metas. Because I have so much to say, I’m going to be splitting these posts up, with this first one addressing the SM VR and what I believe needs to change on it. For this post, I will be referencing the current SMZU metagame, via tests, usage stats, ZUPL performances, and personal opinions reflective of a lot of testing and experience.
Just wanna shoutout Rav3, who while I might not have agreed with his metagame takes all the time, is a fantastic player who gave me a lot of perspective on the meta that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
DROPS:
Combusken S->A+
Espcecially given my recent thoughts on Combusken being the most questionable Pokemon in the tier, this is going to be controversial to some. Is Combusken the scariest Pokemon to face if it is given free turns? Absolutely (exclusing Bibarel). Does that make it worthy of an S rank…. not neccesarily. S rank is supposed to be exclusive for the best and most versitile Pokemon in the tier, and I certainly don’t think that Combusken meets the criteria here. Despite its offensive capabilities, its quite franky a teambuilding liability in most cases in this meta. It provides very little in terms of defensive compression on a team. It showcased a pretty terrible winrate this ZUPL, further adding to my belief that unless used correctly, it’s actually not that splashable of a pick. Currently I think that its on-paper offensive power makes it somewhat of a one trick pony - Inferno Overdrive sets have come to the front in terms of viability, with Life Orb sets showing too little room for playmaking due to the additional chip it already takes from recoil and limited defensive stats. Giving free Toxic Spikes for Mareanie also doesn’t help it as it necessitates a certain team structure to be able to guide it as a viable win condition in games. Additionally, Combusken tends to get over-prepped for in a lot of games, which leads me to believe that Combusken is being used poorly or in the wrong situations with the wrong teams. It requires a very specific formula for success and it lacks the splashability of an S Rank Pokemon.
Torterra S -> A+
Torterra boasts the achievment of being the Pokemon with the worst winrate in this ZUPL. While on paper it has lots of good sets, it doesn’t really perform in any of its roles as well as an S ranking would suggest. Frankly, having your Ground type have a secondary typing weak to Ice as well really doesn’t help it in a metagame where Electrivire (and to an extent Rotom-Fan) is the dominant Electric type in the meta. Additionally, having a Grass type neutral to Grass and Water also limits its value in a tier where threats like Exeggutor and Swanna are at all-time highs in popularity and consideration when it comes to teambuilding. It’s certainly deserving of a spot at the top in A+, but Swanna is clearly the best Pokemon in the tier right now and the VR should reflect this.
Bouffalant A+ -> A-
Bouffalant has primarily been turned from the stallbreaker it used to be into some sort of wanna-be Eggy check… but even with AV, Sap Sipper, and Pursuit, it doesn’t really do that very well. Every time we attempted to use Bouffalant, we had to compromise team structure to make a “better" Eggy check or we just ended up replacing it overall. I’ll dive more into this in a later nom, but Grimer-A is infinitely better than Bouffalant in this regard and in my opinion it takes away one of Bouffalant’s major (percieved, I don’t think it actually does it very well to begin with) niches away. I wouldn’t consider winning a single game out of only three over the entirity of ZUPL a standout performance of an A+ Pokemon in the tier list.
Mawile A -> B+
Mawile previously rose to prominence in a meta where it could utilize its strong typing and intimidate to check powerful phsyical attackers like Pinsir, Silvally-Dark, and Granbull, strong Normal types like Toucannon, Komala, Bouffalant, Sawsbuck, and Silvally-Normal, and still remain useful vs utility picks like Pawniard and Bronzor. Unfortunately, as the meta shifted, Mawile has kind of lost its place right now. The rise of physical attackers that rely on super effective moves to break through the Intimidate debuff (Combusken, Golem, Torterra, even the normals have adapted to consistently run Earthquake), Special attackers that can take advantage of Mawile’s middling SpDef stat even with not particularly impressive special attack stats of their own (Swannas usage is heavily skewed towards special sets, Silvally-Dragon blows it up with Flamethrower and even if they're running Thunderbolt for Mareanie, Mawile doesn’t take it very well), and most importantly Special attackers that can brute force through resists (Exeggutor in particular is the most notable example, even able to OHKO Mawile in many cases, though Beheeyem is a good example as well) have not treated Mawile very well and it should drop a few ranks as as result. Special Defense investment in some sets that are popping up just isn’t enough to save Mawile’s terribly defensive stats that were previously carried by fantastic typing and ability that fit favorably in the meta of the past, and in fact it just makes Mawile worse at the specific niche it used to be good at. It’s now sadly nothing more than an inconsistent rocker and it doesn’t have the defensive stats to let it do what it wants to do.
Dusclops A- -> B
Despite my advocating for Dusclops years ago, I think it’s also fallen a bit out of favor currently. Stall isn’t nearly as popular as it was before, and Dusclops getting a measily single use during ZUPL suggests that it’s been all but forgotten about. Too many teams are way better at capitalizing on passivity right now, and defensive Pokemon that can’t provide some sort of momentum compensation (more specific examples later but Gorugeist-Super and Mareanie both fit the criteria as well) are big time liabilities and Dusclops can’t really function anymore. Momentum compensation on defensive Pokemon will likely be a common topic throughout this post as it is an important concept that has made itself very apparent in recent trends.
Kecleon A -> B+/B
Speaking of forgotten Pokemon, Kecleon just doesn’t really have a home right now. The main reason is likely because of its inability to shrug off chip damage from hazards and status, not even having leftovers to aid it in most cases. Kecleon found itself a niche in the past due to its fantastic coverage and great natural special defense stat that allowed it to threaten checks, but as the meta diversified over the last year and a half it finds itself with some serious 4MSS and tank sets with recover are just flat out momentum sinks with no positives going for it. Toxic Spikes and hazard priority are way too important to permit a defensive Pokemon like Kecleon to survive currently and the fact that its fallen off a cliff in usage suggests the same.
Lickilicky A- -> B+
In the same vein as Dusclops (and to an extent Mawile), Lickilicky hasn’t been able to keep up with metagame trends and provides way too little utility for the massive momentum sink that it is. It still has a niche on stall but its completely unviable in any other team compositions which limits its placement on the VR in my opinion. I do think its better than Kecleon, however because of the fact that it does do it specialized job very well.
Pawniard A- -> B
This Pokemon doesn’t do… anything. Despite being the pre-evolution of my favorite Pokemon, it really lacks a lot in comparison to other Pokemon in the tier. Silvally-Dark’s natural defensive stats makes trapping way safer, and theres a lot more flexibility in terms of spreads and the fact that players can’t usually assume Silvally-Dark from team preview. Theres significantly more counterplay to Pawniard and while it does provide hazard control options, they’re usually inferior. Add on to the fact that Pawniard can just drop to an Exeggutor Leaf Storm and you’re really losing a lot of reasons to run it. It’s only situationally good when running a Z move and/or situationally on webs but even then its pretty dodgly. Another Pokemon insanely outclassed by Grimer-A.
Shuckle B+ -> B
The sad reality of shuckle is that it’s tied to an obsolete playstyle. Webs HO is way out of the meta, as screens and rain are confidently better go-tos when it comes to offensive playstyles. Needs to drop as a result.
Granbull B+ -> B
Granbull is a case where it was good because it was able to prey on more passive teams that as I have previously stated have fallen out of the meta quite a bit. It was able to create some defensive utility with Intimidate and its Fairy-typing but its been left a bit in the dust as a result of its poor speed tier and lack of recovery outside of the extremely rare Z-Heal Bell, which hasn’t been seen in ages to my knowledge. A loss in its single appearance this ZUPL doesn’t fare well for this Pokemon.
Vigoroth B+ -> B
Another Pokemon with a single showing and a single loss, Vigoroth has also fallen out of favor due to the fact that it was a common stallbreaker that really doesn’t have a use anymore with the decline of stall and the rise of breakers that it can’t handle.
Camerupt B -> B-
This Pokemon is really bad. Pretty much the definition of a “feast or famine” mon, Camel used to be really good into certain fat matchups, but in any useless where it can’t get off free hits, its absolutely useless. For Camerupt to put dents in teams, it has to be at full health and in a position where no good player would allow their play line to deteriorate to such a point so fast. Even if it can get in once, its often a play where Camerupt is forced to 50/50 what move it clicks and if it doesn’t get it right it may not ever get a chance to come in again. It’s just too slow and requires way too much to go right for it to have any sort of use in a game.
Sawsbuck B -> B-
Another Pokemon that has just really fallen off, it’s best set from years ago was its scarf set which provided specific antimeta capabilities, being able to revenge kill threats like Floatzel which has been flying low in usage as of late, while being able to hit normal or grass resists like Pawniard or Probopass hard with Jump Kick coverage. I still think SD Sawsbuck with a Z move could have some use, but overall that role is just outclassed by Leafeon as a result of a deeper movepool (access to Knock Off, Celebrate) and Leafeon sporting some pretty great natural bulk.
Pinsir B+ -> B
Pinsir used to be one of the best Pokemon in the metagame, but in all honesty it was just high usage as a result of ladder people really liking the generally inferior Scarf Moxie sets that were flying around. The biggest issue with Scarf Pinsir is that its the single biggest Combusken fodder in the game - you can NEVER click X-Scissor, your main STAB move, unless you want to auto-lose to Combusken. SD sets have some use but generally have trouble setting up as the things that it always hated facing are still popular (Golem, Swanna, aformentioned Combusken) as well as how the defensive Pokemon it was able to take advantage of aren’t nearly as popular anymore with the exception of Bronzor (and it still doesn’t like eating a Toxic). The Z-Me First set has been rather underused in my opinion but is still a situational use sweeper that can’t always find the right windows to win games.
potential drops to think about:
Poliwrath A- -> B+
I think I may be in a minority with this opinion, but I think Poliwrath is not very good right now. It’s something quite abusable by many threats (Swanna, Eggy, Evire, etc.) and is really only something you put on a team when you desparately need some last-mon role compression when building.
RISES:
Mr. Mime B+ -> A-
Mr. Mime is a solid option for Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, and NP sets, with good coverage and defensive typing despite a poor physical defense stat (reminder that it has a whopping base 120 Special Defense). The ability to revenge kill Combusken on scarf sets, as well as tons of available utility in Encore, Healing Wish, and Trick, leaves Mr. Mime to be a quite dangerous threat if not correctly analyzed during team preview. I can’t count the number of times I’ve assumed a Mime was choiced just to have it NP in my face.
Basculin B- -> B+
Basculin is reallly strong. Like REALLY strong. It has a number of hard checks but its raw power just pushes through a lot of resists, and it always has that Ice Beam coverage option to nail grass types like Gourgeist. Its incredibly fast, tying swanna, most notably outspeeding silvally forms, and has access to priority that cleanly 2HKOs Electivire (with CB) and Mr. Mime, providing reliable Combusken counterplay, and it absolutely blows my mind that Basculin needs just a single 20% defense drop proc to force Mareanie out, which people often just slap on as their water resist and call it a day. It also breaks through typing checks like swanna, putting a lot of pressure on teams with its immense power with a speed stat more than able to support its higher rank.
Corsola B- -> A-
The Corsola deniers need to finally appreciate this beast for what it is. Corsola is the definition of defensive momentum, able to blanket check so much of the tier and provide momentum through dual status threat, hazards, and regenerator. Hazards in combination with good defensive stats and Regenerator is an extremely powerful combination, as normally the turn you spend getting up rocks is a tax that often gets negated a lot by Regenerator healing. It also is good into the best Pokemon in the tier, Swanna, and completely blanket checks so many Pokemon. I can’t sing praises about Corsola enough and it also has perfect defensive synergy with Gourgeist-Super, which honestly is the superior 2-Pokemon defensive core to the Bronzor + Mareanie that dominated SMZU for so long.
Wishiwashi B- -> B/B+
ZU players have learned a bit from the current gen in realizing how good Wishiwashi can be when it comes to a bulky slow water-type pivot. Its now often replacing Silvally-Water as the bulky Water-type of choice due to its access to sustain through RestTalk and just better defensive stats overall. Silvally-Water also leaves some to be desired in terms of EV investment as it always feels like you’re making unnecessary compromises when you’re allocating your EVs into defense or speed or the fact that you need Spcial Attack to threaten Mareanie, as you have to be able to deal with it when it comes in. Obviously Silvally-Water has a lot more going for it in other ways but Wishiwashi definitely has taken one of Watervallys previous niches and proven that it can do some things a lot better.
Grimer-Alola C+ -> A-/B+
This is the big kicker of this post. Grimer-Alola is insanely good. I was a skeptic at first when Rav put me onto it but its just such a do-everything Pokemon. Theres a reason it saw so much usage in the early weeks of PL specifically - its a tspikes absorber, a knocker, a pursuit trapper, and perhaps the best eggy check in the tier. It has respectable defenses but its incredible defensive typing and movepool just makes it so much more appealing than any of the other options out there. The fact that its a grounded poison that isn’t Eggy fodder, and in fact an eggy counter, is just unreal. This mon carried a great winrate and playrate during ZUPL and it would have been higher if Rav wasn’t such a choker ;) I genuinely think this Pokemon is better than Kanto Muk lol.
Shiinotic C+ -> B-
Shiinotic isn’t as bad as people think it is. It fits on a lot of teams right now and Fairy typing is good defensively. Spore and Strength Sap provide a lot in terms of momentum compensation and it definitely has a sitautional use given stuff like Pawniard is finding less use, while Grass-types like Leafeon, Exeggutor, and Simisage, Water types like Poliwrath and Simipour, and Electric types like Raichu and Electivire have been thriving lately. It’s also still really good into the staple meta picks like Golem, Fightvally, etc.
potential rises to think about:
Stunfisk C -> C+/B-
Maybe the best voltturn punisher in the tier, amazing defenses, solid movepool. Can deal with a lot of stuff based off of good offensive and defensive electric/ground typing.
Floatzel B+ -> A-
I feel like this mon is heavily underused and underrated. The bulk up sets look really crazy on paper and it has performed very well in tests. The meta over adapted to its overhype when it first came into the tier years ago (remember when Mareanie used to run Sludge Bomb?). It’s a contender for the best bulky balance demantler in the tier and I could potentially see it rising a tier.
Silvally-Electric B -> B+
Solid form that has always had fantastic coverage, but with Silvallys struggling to deal with Mareanie more as it has been opting to tech into SpDef investment have opened a good use for Silvally Electric as people have realized that Electivire is sometimes kinda hard to check without an electric resist alongside an immunity, and BoltBeam being the only coverage you need frees up a lot of options for moves and utility.
thanks for reading feel free to ask me on discord if you want any further explanations
Just wanna shoutout Rav3, who while I might not have agreed with his metagame takes all the time, is a fantastic player who gave me a lot of perspective on the meta that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
DROPS:
Combusken S->A+Espcecially given my recent thoughts on Combusken being the most questionable Pokemon in the tier, this is going to be controversial to some. Is Combusken the scariest Pokemon to face if it is given free turns? Absolutely (exclusing Bibarel). Does that make it worthy of an S rank…. not neccesarily. S rank is supposed to be exclusive for the best and most versitile Pokemon in the tier, and I certainly don’t think that Combusken meets the criteria here. Despite its offensive capabilities, its quite franky a teambuilding liability in most cases in this meta. It provides very little in terms of defensive compression on a team. It showcased a pretty terrible winrate this ZUPL, further adding to my belief that unless used correctly, it’s actually not that splashable of a pick. Currently I think that its on-paper offensive power makes it somewhat of a one trick pony - Inferno Overdrive sets have come to the front in terms of viability, with Life Orb sets showing too little room for playmaking due to the additional chip it already takes from recoil and limited defensive stats. Giving free Toxic Spikes for Mareanie also doesn’t help it as it necessitates a certain team structure to be able to guide it as a viable win condition in games. Additionally, Combusken tends to get over-prepped for in a lot of games, which leads me to believe that Combusken is being used poorly or in the wrong situations with the wrong teams. It requires a very specific formula for success and it lacks the splashability of an S Rank Pokemon.
Torterra S -> A+Torterra boasts the achievment of being the Pokemon with the worst winrate in this ZUPL. While on paper it has lots of good sets, it doesn’t really perform in any of its roles as well as an S ranking would suggest. Frankly, having your Ground type have a secondary typing weak to Ice as well really doesn’t help it in a metagame where Electrivire (and to an extent Rotom-Fan) is the dominant Electric type in the meta. Additionally, having a Grass type neutral to Grass and Water also limits its value in a tier where threats like Exeggutor and Swanna are at all-time highs in popularity and consideration when it comes to teambuilding. It’s certainly deserving of a spot at the top in A+, but Swanna is clearly the best Pokemon in the tier right now and the VR should reflect this.
Bouffalant A+ -> A-Bouffalant has primarily been turned from the stallbreaker it used to be into some sort of wanna-be Eggy check… but even with AV, Sap Sipper, and Pursuit, it doesn’t really do that very well. Every time we attempted to use Bouffalant, we had to compromise team structure to make a “better" Eggy check or we just ended up replacing it overall. I’ll dive more into this in a later nom, but Grimer-A is infinitely better than Bouffalant in this regard and in my opinion it takes away one of Bouffalant’s major (percieved, I don’t think it actually does it very well to begin with) niches away. I wouldn’t consider winning a single game out of only three over the entirity of ZUPL a standout performance of an A+ Pokemon in the tier list.
Mawile A -> B+Mawile previously rose to prominence in a meta where it could utilize its strong typing and intimidate to check powerful phsyical attackers like Pinsir, Silvally-Dark, and Granbull, strong Normal types like Toucannon, Komala, Bouffalant, Sawsbuck, and Silvally-Normal, and still remain useful vs utility picks like Pawniard and Bronzor. Unfortunately, as the meta shifted, Mawile has kind of lost its place right now. The rise of physical attackers that rely on super effective moves to break through the Intimidate debuff (Combusken, Golem, Torterra, even the normals have adapted to consistently run Earthquake), Special attackers that can take advantage of Mawile’s middling SpDef stat even with not particularly impressive special attack stats of their own (Swannas usage is heavily skewed towards special sets, Silvally-Dragon blows it up with Flamethrower and even if they're running Thunderbolt for Mareanie, Mawile doesn’t take it very well), and most importantly Special attackers that can brute force through resists (Exeggutor in particular is the most notable example, even able to OHKO Mawile in many cases, though Beheeyem is a good example as well) have not treated Mawile very well and it should drop a few ranks as as result. Special Defense investment in some sets that are popping up just isn’t enough to save Mawile’s terribly defensive stats that were previously carried by fantastic typing and ability that fit favorably in the meta of the past, and in fact it just makes Mawile worse at the specific niche it used to be good at. It’s now sadly nothing more than an inconsistent rocker and it doesn’t have the defensive stats to let it do what it wants to do.
Dusclops A- -> BDespite my advocating for Dusclops years ago, I think it’s also fallen a bit out of favor currently. Stall isn’t nearly as popular as it was before, and Dusclops getting a measily single use during ZUPL suggests that it’s been all but forgotten about. Too many teams are way better at capitalizing on passivity right now, and defensive Pokemon that can’t provide some sort of momentum compensation (more specific examples later but Gorugeist-Super and Mareanie both fit the criteria as well) are big time liabilities and Dusclops can’t really function anymore. Momentum compensation on defensive Pokemon will likely be a common topic throughout this post as it is an important concept that has made itself very apparent in recent trends.
Kecleon A -> B+/BSpeaking of forgotten Pokemon, Kecleon just doesn’t really have a home right now. The main reason is likely because of its inability to shrug off chip damage from hazards and status, not even having leftovers to aid it in most cases. Kecleon found itself a niche in the past due to its fantastic coverage and great natural special defense stat that allowed it to threaten checks, but as the meta diversified over the last year and a half it finds itself with some serious 4MSS and tank sets with recover are just flat out momentum sinks with no positives going for it. Toxic Spikes and hazard priority are way too important to permit a defensive Pokemon like Kecleon to survive currently and the fact that its fallen off a cliff in usage suggests the same.
Lickilicky A- -> B+In the same vein as Dusclops (and to an extent Mawile), Lickilicky hasn’t been able to keep up with metagame trends and provides way too little utility for the massive momentum sink that it is. It still has a niche on stall but its completely unviable in any other team compositions which limits its placement on the VR in my opinion. I do think its better than Kecleon, however because of the fact that it does do it specialized job very well.
Pawniard A- -> BThis Pokemon doesn’t do… anything. Despite being the pre-evolution of my favorite Pokemon, it really lacks a lot in comparison to other Pokemon in the tier. Silvally-Dark’s natural defensive stats makes trapping way safer, and theres a lot more flexibility in terms of spreads and the fact that players can’t usually assume Silvally-Dark from team preview. Theres significantly more counterplay to Pawniard and while it does provide hazard control options, they’re usually inferior. Add on to the fact that Pawniard can just drop to an Exeggutor Leaf Storm and you’re really losing a lot of reasons to run it. It’s only situationally good when running a Z move and/or situationally on webs but even then its pretty dodgly. Another Pokemon insanely outclassed by Grimer-A.
Shuckle B+ -> BThe sad reality of shuckle is that it’s tied to an obsolete playstyle. Webs HO is way out of the meta, as screens and rain are confidently better go-tos when it comes to offensive playstyles. Needs to drop as a result.
Granbull B+ -> BGranbull is a case where it was good because it was able to prey on more passive teams that as I have previously stated have fallen out of the meta quite a bit. It was able to create some defensive utility with Intimidate and its Fairy-typing but its been left a bit in the dust as a result of its poor speed tier and lack of recovery outside of the extremely rare Z-Heal Bell, which hasn’t been seen in ages to my knowledge. A loss in its single appearance this ZUPL doesn’t fare well for this Pokemon.
Vigoroth B+ -> BAnother Pokemon with a single showing and a single loss, Vigoroth has also fallen out of favor due to the fact that it was a common stallbreaker that really doesn’t have a use anymore with the decline of stall and the rise of breakers that it can’t handle.
Camerupt B -> B-This Pokemon is really bad. Pretty much the definition of a “feast or famine” mon, Camel used to be really good into certain fat matchups, but in any useless where it can’t get off free hits, its absolutely useless. For Camerupt to put dents in teams, it has to be at full health and in a position where no good player would allow their play line to deteriorate to such a point so fast. Even if it can get in once, its often a play where Camerupt is forced to 50/50 what move it clicks and if it doesn’t get it right it may not ever get a chance to come in again. It’s just too slow and requires way too much to go right for it to have any sort of use in a game.
Sawsbuck B -> B-Another Pokemon that has just really fallen off, it’s best set from years ago was its scarf set which provided specific antimeta capabilities, being able to revenge kill threats like Floatzel which has been flying low in usage as of late, while being able to hit normal or grass resists like Pawniard or Probopass hard with Jump Kick coverage. I still think SD Sawsbuck with a Z move could have some use, but overall that role is just outclassed by Leafeon as a result of a deeper movepool (access to Knock Off, Celebrate) and Leafeon sporting some pretty great natural bulk.
Pinsir B+ -> BPinsir used to be one of the best Pokemon in the metagame, but in all honesty it was just high usage as a result of ladder people really liking the generally inferior Scarf Moxie sets that were flying around. The biggest issue with Scarf Pinsir is that its the single biggest Combusken fodder in the game - you can NEVER click X-Scissor, your main STAB move, unless you want to auto-lose to Combusken. SD sets have some use but generally have trouble setting up as the things that it always hated facing are still popular (Golem, Swanna, aformentioned Combusken) as well as how the defensive Pokemon it was able to take advantage of aren’t nearly as popular anymore with the exception of Bronzor (and it still doesn’t like eating a Toxic). The Z-Me First set has been rather underused in my opinion but is still a situational use sweeper that can’t always find the right windows to win games.
potential drops to think about:
Poliwrath A- -> B+I think I may be in a minority with this opinion, but I think Poliwrath is not very good right now. It’s something quite abusable by many threats (Swanna, Eggy, Evire, etc.) and is really only something you put on a team when you desparately need some last-mon role compression when building.
RISES:
Mr. Mime B+ -> A-Mr. Mime is a solid option for Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, and NP sets, with good coverage and defensive typing despite a poor physical defense stat (reminder that it has a whopping base 120 Special Defense). The ability to revenge kill Combusken on scarf sets, as well as tons of available utility in Encore, Healing Wish, and Trick, leaves Mr. Mime to be a quite dangerous threat if not correctly analyzed during team preview. I can’t count the number of times I’ve assumed a Mime was choiced just to have it NP in my face.
Basculin B- -> B+Basculin is reallly strong. Like REALLY strong. It has a number of hard checks but its raw power just pushes through a lot of resists, and it always has that Ice Beam coverage option to nail grass types like Gourgeist. Its incredibly fast, tying swanna, most notably outspeeding silvally forms, and has access to priority that cleanly 2HKOs Electivire (with CB) and Mr. Mime, providing reliable Combusken counterplay, and it absolutely blows my mind that Basculin needs just a single 20% defense drop proc to force Mareanie out, which people often just slap on as their water resist and call it a day. It also breaks through typing checks like swanna, putting a lot of pressure on teams with its immense power with a speed stat more than able to support its higher rank.
Corsola B- -> A-The Corsola deniers need to finally appreciate this beast for what it is. Corsola is the definition of defensive momentum, able to blanket check so much of the tier and provide momentum through dual status threat, hazards, and regenerator. Hazards in combination with good defensive stats and Regenerator is an extremely powerful combination, as normally the turn you spend getting up rocks is a tax that often gets negated a lot by Regenerator healing. It also is good into the best Pokemon in the tier, Swanna, and completely blanket checks so many Pokemon. I can’t sing praises about Corsola enough and it also has perfect defensive synergy with Gourgeist-Super, which honestly is the superior 2-Pokemon defensive core to the Bronzor + Mareanie that dominated SMZU for so long.
Wishiwashi B- -> B/B+ZU players have learned a bit from the current gen in realizing how good Wishiwashi can be when it comes to a bulky slow water-type pivot. Its now often replacing Silvally-Water as the bulky Water-type of choice due to its access to sustain through RestTalk and just better defensive stats overall. Silvally-Water also leaves some to be desired in terms of EV investment as it always feels like you’re making unnecessary compromises when you’re allocating your EVs into defense or speed or the fact that you need Spcial Attack to threaten Mareanie, as you have to be able to deal with it when it comes in. Obviously Silvally-Water has a lot more going for it in other ways but Wishiwashi definitely has taken one of Watervallys previous niches and proven that it can do some things a lot better.
Grimer-Alola C+ -> A-/B+This is the big kicker of this post. Grimer-Alola is insanely good. I was a skeptic at first when Rav put me onto it but its just such a do-everything Pokemon. Theres a reason it saw so much usage in the early weeks of PL specifically - its a tspikes absorber, a knocker, a pursuit trapper, and perhaps the best eggy check in the tier. It has respectable defenses but its incredible defensive typing and movepool just makes it so much more appealing than any of the other options out there. The fact that its a grounded poison that isn’t Eggy fodder, and in fact an eggy counter, is just unreal. This mon carried a great winrate and playrate during ZUPL and it would have been higher if Rav wasn’t such a choker ;) I genuinely think this Pokemon is better than Kanto Muk lol.
Shiinotic C+ -> B-Shiinotic isn’t as bad as people think it is. It fits on a lot of teams right now and Fairy typing is good defensively. Spore and Strength Sap provide a lot in terms of momentum compensation and it definitely has a sitautional use given stuff like Pawniard is finding less use, while Grass-types like Leafeon, Exeggutor, and Simisage, Water types like Poliwrath and Simipour, and Electric types like Raichu and Electivire have been thriving lately. It’s also still really good into the staple meta picks like Golem, Fightvally, etc.
potential rises to think about:
Stunfisk C -> C+/B-Maybe the best voltturn punisher in the tier, amazing defenses, solid movepool. Can deal with a lot of stuff based off of good offensive and defensive electric/ground typing.
Floatzel B+ -> A-I feel like this mon is heavily underused and underrated. The bulk up sets look really crazy on paper and it has performed very well in tests. The meta over adapted to its overhype when it first came into the tier years ago (remember when Mareanie used to run Sludge Bomb?). It’s a contender for the best bulky balance demantler in the tier and I could potentially see it rising a tier.
Silvally-Electric B -> B+Solid form that has always had fantastic coverage, but with Silvallys struggling to deal with Mareanie more as it has been opting to tech into SpDef investment have opened a good use for Silvally Electric as people have realized that Electivire is sometimes kinda hard to check without an electric resist alongside an immunity, and BoltBeam being the only coverage you need frees up a lot of options for moves and utility.
thanks for reading feel free to ask me on discord if you want any further explanations
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Spikes were an overwhelming force in BW ZU, and a massive part of the reason was how reliably they could be set. Since removing the hazards outright is just not an option, we decided to place a nerf on hazard stacks by removing their most reliable (and sometimes unstoppable) setters.
And even with hazard stacks having their most reliable setters gone, private testing showed that Frillish still proved to be incredibly unhealthy to the metagame, as no spinner could reliably challenge it over longer games, and attempting to break it was sometimes just impossible due to hazard chip racking up incredibly fast, so naturally, Frillish will be leaving as well.
While Munchlax already bordered broken due to its absurd ability to end games after just a single turn of setup, the loss of reliable counter Frillish and a majority of its problems with being worn down by hazards suddenly vanishing, Munchlax was presumed to be incredibly overbearing, and was voted to the banlist as well to let the meta settle, however this may be retested.
And finally, the most controversial of the bans, Emolga was presumed to be overwhelming due to its SubTox sets in conjunction with its in access to AcroGem, giving it the ability to quickly end games, especially now that one of its best checks, being Curse Munchlax, has left the tier. Emolga is most likely to be retested, but in order to make sure the new metagame can stabilize, Emolga was voted to a ban.
B- to B
C+ to B-/B
A to A-
A- to A
B+ to A
UR to B+
B- to B
UR to B
UR to B+
UR to B
UR to B
), rapid spin users (
, and 
). Let's talk about each other separately.
GSC ZU Poliwag Suspect 
- runner up 
) given that these Pokemon offer a lot less stat wise, utility wise, and are pretty much only on teams because of Spikes. Anyways, I voted Do Not Ban on Frillish because I felt that its place in the metagame was fine and it wasn't overly oppressive despite the presence of Spikes. While I believed that Spikes was the issue back then (and I still do to some extent after these bans), it wasn't really part of the reasoning as to why I didn't vote for Frillish ban, or at the very least it was only a small factor (suspects should be focussing on the specific Pokemon that the suspect regards).
