Rate of the Week V3: Week 19

[Enki]

Rate of the Week
​

Welcome to Rate of the Week! This is a project that looks to bring quality individual rates into the spotlight and recognizes the hard work of unbadged raters. Here's how it will work:

• Each week, official Team Raters will be paying close attention to the RMT forum and reading the rates posted in their respective tiers. They will then shortlist a few which will be in contention for the Rate of the Week award.
• From the pool of shortlisted rates, one will be chosen which most exemplifies the qualities of an excellent rate. That rater will be the winner for that particular tier!
• A post will be made by an official TR who specialises in that tier, explaining how and why the particular rate won. This will allow aspiring raters to gain an idea of what constitutes high-quality rates, and hopefully incorporate those aspects into their own rates.
• There will be multiple winners every week, one from OU and a couple from other tiers depending on the quality of the rates posted. We hope that in this way we can expand rating activity in less popular tiers, while maintaining a weekly OU winner.
• Official Team Raters are eligible to win, but unbadged raters will have priority since that is the main focus of this project.

So what's in it for the winners? Well, they will earn a place in the Hall of Fame, which will be kept in the OP of every thread, and will earn more consideration for the Ladybug

and Team Rater

badges. Also, after gaining three places in the Hall of Fame, a rater will be eligible to earn voice status in the RMT room on PS! on the condition that they've shown an interest in getting involved.

We hope that this project will encourage people to put more effort into their rates and become better and more experienced raters, which will consequently increase the quality as well as the quantity of rates in the forum. Good luck to you all!

Hall of Fame

Week #1 - Toon Linked (OU)
Week #2 - Nedor (OU), Arifeen (UU)
Week #3 - Fireburn (Ubers), Do A Bibarel (UU)
Week #4 - AM (OU), Raiza (PU), Kiyo (NU)
Week #5 - FlamingVictini (OU)
Week #6 - Cyndequil. (UU)
Week #7 - BreloomMyHomie (OU)
Week #8 - FlamingVictini (OU)
Week #9 - oml it's too ez (OU), Cyndequil. (UU), MrAldo (RU)
Week #10 - Nedor (OU), Cyndequil. (UU), Cranham (Ubers), Lax (Monotype)
Week #11 - AM (OU)
Week #12 - Lange (OU), Amaroq (UU)
Week #13 - all falls down (UU)
Week #14 - Manipulative (UU)
Week #15 - mil (OU)
Week #16 - Tricking (OU)
Week #17 - Hector Hard Mode (OU), Christo. (UU)
Week #18 - p2 (OU), all falls down (UU)
Week #19 - ez (OU), Chakra (RU), S0LID G0LD (LC), Memoric (Doubles)

 

[feen]

This week's RU winner is Chakra! His rate is a very elaborated one with a nice format, with pictures to increase the visual appeal. First, he noted that Dark-types are very threatening for the team, and a good way to weaken them is running Colbur Berry over Leftovers on Slowking. Chakra backed up this change by giving a few circumstances how this item is better than the gradual recovery from Leftovers.

His next change of running Dragon Claw over Outrage on Flygon seems like a controversial one in the beginning, but it helps the team greatly, as Earth Plate Flygon relies heavily on spamming Earthquake and so a less stronger but more reliable secondary STAB to use.

Chakra's next change of running Sleep Powder over Knock Off on Venusaur is a good one, as the team heavily benefits from an asleep opponent to ease Slowking's chance of setting up and sweeping the team. Venusaur also forces a lot of switches, and putting one of its checks to sleep is very appreciated on the team, as Medicham can have a free switchin, which is a frail Pokemon itself. He also suggested an optional change of running Rhyperior over Diancie, as it can check Tyrantrum very well, which the team could lose to, if not played well versus it, while still retaining the defensive roles of Diancie.

Thanks to his great rate, Chakra has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

 

[Tricking]

This week's LC winner is S0L1D G0LD! His rate contained both good suggestions and good explanations. First, he changed Aipom's set, replacing Return with Fury Swipes, which allows Aipom to get better rolls against the main threats of Little Cup. Furthermore, he included in his rate two minor changes to Abra's and Bunnelby's EVs spreads.

His next suggestion was replacing Magby for something more useful like a Pokemon able to resist Fighting-types considering the team's glaring weakness to Fighting-types. He opted for Foongus, a solid check to Fighting-types, as well as to Spritzee (which was mentioned as a big threat too). Moreover he suggested to replace the Stealth Rock setter for something more offensive: Pawniard has a better niche than Onix because of its access to the powerful Knock Off and priority Sucker Punch, while maintaining its capability of checking Flying-types. Finally, he suggested to opt for an Agility variant of Bunnelby, which is much more threatening and unexpected as a lategame cleaner.

For his great and in-depth rate, S0L1D G0LD has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

 

[Tricking]

This week's OU winner is ez! His rate was He wrote a concise and complete rate with great suggestions that showed good metagame knowledge. He started off outlining the team's weaknesses, such as Bisharp, Mega Gardevoir and Gengar. In order to solve the Bisharp issues, he suggested to replace Clefable with Keldeo, as the latter really appreciates Pursuit support from the likes of Choice Band Tyrantiar and has synergizes fairly well with Volcanion. A Scarf variant was chosen to have more Speed control on the team.

After that, he suggested to run Scizor in lieu of Venusaur, due to Dragon-types being really annoying after the removal of Clefable. Moreover Scizor is capable of checking both Gardevoir and Gengar, which are both problamatic for the team, as well as providing momentum with U-Turn, thus letting Volcanion enter the field for free and weaken opponent's team.

Lastly, he suggested to run Heatran over Tyranitar so as to fix the weakness to Serperior. Additionally, Heatran provides good utility and acts as a nice stallbreaker to the team, especially with Magma Storm + Solar Beam luring bulky Water-types that are able to check Keldeo, Scizor-Mega, and Volcanion. Taunt serves as a good answer to Chansey and other bulky mons with recovery. The removal of Pursuit Tyranitar can be solved, according to ez's explanation, by adding Pursuit over Swords Dance on Scizor.

Thanks to his well-written and detailed rate, ez has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congratulations!

 

[deoxys speed]

This week's DOU winner is Memoric! His rate was very descriptive, offered great reasoning, and had quite a few small suggestions that benefited the team greatly. His first change was to make Landorus-T a Landorus-I because with double intimidate the team struggled with Bisharp and Lando-I is also better equipped at beating things like Aegislash, Volcanion, and Heatran who can be problematic when paired up with Wide Guard to avoid Earthquake.

His next change was making Sylveon a Calm Mind set to take advantage of Scrafty's Fake Out support and use things that come in on Volcanion and Landorus-I like Rotom-Wash, Hydreigon, and Thundurus as set up opportunities especially if they're trapped by Mega Gengar. The next significant change was giving offensive Thundurus Flash Cannon because with the absence of Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Mega Diancie becomes quite the problem so having something to out speed and check it is extremely important.

His last series of changes are all relatively small but really polished off the team well. Making Mega Gengar Timid over Modest helps with opposing Gengar, Darkrai, and Weavile while Taunt over Giga Drain opens up a move slot for Thundurus and allows it to use the previously mentioned Flash Cannon. Giving Thundurus Protect and Magnet increases its longevity and without Life Orb it can bluff a defensive set to lure Mega Diancie. Lastly the change to make Scrafty more of a support mon with Sitrus Berry and Quick Guard benefits the whole team rather than it being a Life Orb attacker which didn't fit at all.

Thanks to his solid rate, Memoric has earned himself a spot in the hall of fame! congratulations :D