Resource Series 9 Viability Rankings

[Namuko Pro]

Some of what I would change has already been said by Zeefable or others so I'll gloss over all that I think are pretty obvious. With that being said, here's what I think should be changed.

Tapu Fini/Urshifu-S/Porygon-2: 1 -> 2
People have already touched on Fini and Urshifu-S usage falling, but P2 usage is also a bit on the downswing as well. Between the popularity of Grimm/Incin/Support Spectrier, which all run taunt most of the time, as well as a reduction in the usage of a lot of the stuff that the Eerie Impulse set helped out against near the end of S7, P2 isn't quite the auto include on every defensive team that it felt like at the end of S7. I still think it's the best TR setter in the format, but the gap between it and others isn't as big as it once was.

Coalossal: 3 -> 2
Coal is a legitimate archetype that hasn't seen it's success wane as the metagame develops like some of the other early popular strategies have, and it's still something you need to respect both in ladder and on tournaments more than any of the other Pokemon in tier 3. Using it in Bo1 can also be pretty effective, since you can exploit the fact that people basically need to lead their anti-Coal stuff and just lead your alternate plan in some games for easy wins.

Cinderace/Lapras/Mamoswine/Tyranitar/Tapu Koko/Stakataka: 3 -> 4
None of these are particularly great at the moment. Cinderace is a build around Max that lacks the game-warping ability of stuff like Coal/Spectrier/Charizard. Lapras was good in S8 primarily because you had Zacian to compensate for the fact that your Max wasn't doing much damage, and even then it tapered off before PC3; now it doesn't have big damage dealers to compensate for it's mediocre damage output, and if you really want screens Grimmsnarl is really good and doesn't take your max slot. Mamoswine is cute because it can deal with some common stuff like Incin and Lando, but it has too many weaknesses to be reliable, and is terrible if your opponent doesn't bring at least one (if not both) of those. Tyranitar is actually kind of okay and has seen some success along with Excadrill on sand teams in S9, but I don't think it's that good, and it should probably be in the same teir as Exca, and Exca isn't at the level of the rest of Tier 3. Koko has a cute niche in shutting off sleep, but Eleki is just so good that Koko is hard to justify on most teams. Stakataka has a nice niche in being the only (good) offensive TR setter besides Modest P2, and Max Stakataka can scale quite nicely with Beast Boost, but it's weaknesses are too extreme to be in 3 I think.

Tapu Lele/Tornadus: 3 -> 5
These two just kind of suck. Lele was decent in S8 when you could pair it with Shadow-Rider for HO nonsense, but now you can't do that, and it's a medicore offensive mon that struggles with a lot of common stuff in the format. Tornadus is really good until you get past 1300/Great Ball and people have actual answers to Metagross, and then you realize that: 1) You can't brute force Tornadus/Metagross leads every game, 2) Tornadus is absolutely terrible in every scenario in which you don't lead it next to Metagross, and 3) There are better ways to activate Weakness Policy on Metagross, and if you really need speed control on your activator you can just use Sucker Punch Grimmsnarl.

Politoed/Kingdra: 3 -> 5
These two also just kind of suck, but get a special mention because I used them on my ill-fated PC3 finals team so I know them better than most. There were a few reasons to use them in S8. They had a really strong matchup against both Groudon Sun teams and Zacian teams that didn't use Lapras (Both Coalossal and Sun Variants), which was like 50% of the top metagame by the end of the series. Politoed was also a really good Zacian partner between weakening fire moves, Helping Hand, and using Perish Song to clean up after Zacian ran through teams, and on the flip side Kingdra was one of a very very small group of non-restricteds that could reliably 1v1 an un-intimidated Zacian (it didn't even need to max to win if rain was up!).
The point of that S8 tangent is to show that literally none of that applies now in S9. There's no Zacian to support or beat, and sun teams are no longer made up of 4 mons that Politoed/Kingdra are strong against, but instead are now usually just Venukoal + 4, which limits Rain's efficacy there. What you're left with is two medicore water types that are really bad on their own, not fantastic together, and demand that you build a team around them -- unlike something like Venukoal, where you can use it alongside a lot of different stuff, or Coalossal, which is good enough to justify doing that. Not to mention the increased presence of stuff like Eerie Impulse P2, Tapu Fini, TR teams with Glastrier, Ferro, Kart, etc, none of which Rain wants to face.

Gastrodon/Sylveon/Snorlax: 4 -> 5
None of these are very good, but are probably good enough to still be ranked. Gastrodon suffers from the fact that it loses the 1v1 to the most common water type (Fini), which is... not good when your only job is to shut down water types. Sylveon's only value is being able to set up WP on Moltres or Dragapult and then unlike Comfey do actual damage afterwards, but if you're going all in on WP set-up you probably prefer the healing/ally switch/anti-tr stuff (reversing TR with your own TR or Taunt) that Comfey offers. Snorlax is decent if your opponent has no way to break through redirection and stop Snorlax, but the problem is that nearly all well built teams can already do that without specifically preparing for Snorlax.

Weezing/Regigigas: 4 -> 3
I think you can argue that Regiweezing is still good enough to be in Tier 3, especially as lower usage is making it so people have less specific answers to it, but that's not a hill I'd be willing to die on. They're in a weird limbo state where I don't think they're good enough for 3, but too good for 4.

Registeel: 5 -> 3 (Yes, 3!)
I think Registeel is just as good as Ferrothorn is right now, so it should be ranked wherever Ferro is. It has better bulk than Ferro, especially on the special side, and can also run Amnesia if you want to go all in on the stall. The big issues it has are that it lacks a great way to deal with ghost types, while Ferro can stall them out with Leech Seed, and that the mono-Steel typing means it takes neutral damage from Water/Electric and Super-Effective from Ground -- I think Electric is the only real issue there though because of Eleki, since there aren't a ton of offensive water types and most ground moves are physical so you Iron Defense on those anyway. The 2x weakness instead of 4x weakness to Fire is a nice bonus as well, especially since it makes Incin much easier to deal with. Overall I think it's just as good as Ferro, and is probably the better choice if your team doesn't need the additional support against Regeleki + Ghosts.
(RIP to Regice, the only Regi to not make the list)

Marowak-A: 5 -> 4
Marowak has seen success on a couple different teams in tournaments lately. It has a lot going for it, in that it hits super hard in TR (more immediate damage than Glastrier/Rhyperior/Regirock), doesn't compete with anything for an item slot since obviously nothing else wants to run Thick Club, and if you dynamax it, it can intrinsically boost it's damage output by either setting Sun with Max Flare, or with Phantasm dropping defense on opponents (like a TR Max Dragapult). It's also one of the very few mons that can break through Defense boosted Ferro/Registeel/AV-Celesteela with any consistency, and unlike a lot of pure attackers doesn't fall off that much if you don't dynamax, since it's perfectly fine unmaxed as well. Lightningrod is also a nice bonus given how common Regieleki and other electric types are in this format -- It's also pretty much the only thing can guarantee it's not at all threatened by any Regieleki set, since it's immune to the Hyper Beam that the LO sets run to hit Electric immunities. Overall I think it's quite a bit better than anything that's in tier 5 now (besides Registeel!) and everything I suggested moving down there.

I'm a big Marowak fan if it's not obvious...

Cobalion/Gyarados/Phermosa/Mudsdale/Hydreigon/Rotom-C: 5 -> UR
I think none of these are good enough to be on the list. They either have mediocre gimmicks that aren't reliable with all the strong mons S9 has (Cobalion/Phermosa/Mudsdale), are outclassed by other stuff (Hydreigon), or just aren't good enough in the current metagame (Gyarados/Rotom-C)

And for a couple things that aren't ranked but probably should be:
Porygon-Z: UR -> 5
The fact that it has STAB Max Strike and does more immediate damage than Spectrier is enough of a reason to at least consider it over Ghost Horse on some teams. You should probably still go Spectrier in most cases, but the fact that at least sometimes your answer MIGHT be PZ is probably good enough to make it Tier 5

Blacephelon: UR -> 5
It's seen results on a couple teams in tournaments as an alternative to Dragapult for activating Steam Engine on Coalossal. It's a lot less flexible than Pult is since you basically need to run Choice Scarf , which is why it's only Tier 5, but T1 Mind Blown + Max Move from Coal (or Heat Wave in some scenarios) can just annihilate some teams. And just for funsies, T1 Mind Blown + Max Flare into T2 Sun Boosted Mind Blown + Max Move is probably the best way to farm 2-Turn wins on low ladder.

Everything else that I think should be ranked is either on there already or I forgot it existed.

 

[ProNooob]

We need a tier above Tier 1, as Ursh-S is not T1 but it definitely is not the same tier as Ursh-R

 

[Evelyie]

First of all I agree with ProNooob, we need a "1.5" tier, because there are some Pokémon on Tier 1 that are worse then the others in 1 but not that bad to be 2, same with 2, some are stronger then 2, but not strong enough to be 1. I'll be going by some quick nominations in case 1.5 is accepted, then I'll tackle my normal ones.

Tapu Fini - 1 > 1.5 / 2
Tapu Fini is still super strong. It did fall off but I don't think she's bad, still a queen.

Urshifu Single - 1 > 1.5 / 2
Urshifu doesn't offer that much utility compared to others in my opinion. It's just damage. Yes, gotta say, really good damage. But I think what he offers to a team compared to other Tier 1 Pokémon such as Incineroar or Grimmsnarl makes him "1.5". (Not saying that Urshifu Single Strike is bad though, I still love him)

Landorus-T - 2 > 1.5
When this VR released, I considered nominating Landorus to tier 1. Why? It offers Intimidate, huge damage, speed control with Max Airstream, counters a bunch of meta stuff such as Rillaboom, Urshifu, Coalossal, Venusaur and Terrakion. But its flaws always made me not nominate it. If 1.5 is ever added, Landorus-T definetly deserves it

Okay, done with 1.5. Let's get real please

Tornadus - 3 > UR / 5
"HeY eVeLyN wHy ArE yOu SaYiNg iT sUcKs iT wAs BrOkEn iN s8". Yes, Series 8. The reason why people ran Tornadus was because 100% Hurricane was absolute bonkers. But since there is no Kyogre anymore, there is literally no reason to not run Whimsicott. And you don't want to outspeed +6 Eleki with Swift Swim Kingdra and Tailwind.There is maybe some reasoning if you want to run that Brutal Swing Tornadus with Weakness Policy Metagross, but Spectrier is just better, and else that, Whimsicott does the job. Also, things like Regieleki, Landorus-Therian and Regirock are more menacing to it then before. Please use Whimsicott.

Gothitelle - 3 > 2
Your goth girlfriend of your dream exists, and it's called Gothitelle. Fake Out, Trick Room, Shadow Tag, Helping Hand, Ally Switch and more? This thing is awesome! You know, my last submission, I rated Cresselia Tier 4, but after more playing out through my leagues and such on Series 9, I gotta say that Gothitelle is such a better Cresselia. They differ a litlle from each other, but they still do quite similar things.

Lapras - 3 > 4
When we were nearing the end of Series 8, I said to myself "I think our experience on Series 8 will change the Series 9 meta". Although I'm not totally correct on that one, we learned that Prankster Screens is such better then Lapras's Resonance. Since there is no Zacian around, I don't think it's worth to run Lapras. Grimmsnarl just does this job so much better, and to an extent, even Regieleki.

Kartana - 2 > 3
When I was testing KIT + Terrakion and Dragapult around, I always felt Kartana lackluster. And I decided to search why. I think the reason why Kartana is so mid-tier is first of all, it is weak to Regieleki, Incineroar and Sashed Urshifu Single, and there are better Grass Types, such as Venusaur and Rillboom. I don't think Kartana is bad. But people have been feeling it quite lackluster, so I think it deserves tier 3.

Terrakion - 4 > 3
I think Terrakion will fall off soon. But while it doesn't happen, this thing is mad strong. I've been playing with it in tournaments for a while and I've been getting some good results with the team. Terrakion does so much damage, can offer utility with Helping Hand, pairs extremely well with Dragapult and Whimsicott, and definetly deserves Tier 3.

 

[z0mOG]

Tier 1:
Incineroar
Grimmsnarl
Tapu Fini
Regieleki
Porygon2

Tier 1.5:
Rillaboom
Glastrier
Landorus-T
Urshifu-R

Tier 2:
Urshifu-S
Spectrier
Celesteela
Rotom-H
Dragapult
Garchomp
Amoonguss
Metagross
Moltres-G
Torkoal
Venusaur
Rotom-W
Zapdos

Tier 3:
Kartana
Gothitelle
Cinderace
Clefairy
Tornadus
Togekiss
Whimsicott
Dusclops
Entei
Nihilego
Thundurus
Heatran
Indeedee-F
Kingdra
Politoed
Charizard
Coalossal
Regirock
Coalossal
Regigigas / Weezing
Stakataka
Tapu Koko
Ferrothorn
Tyranitar
Blastoise
Hatterene

(Loosely) Ordered. Don't really have too strong of an opinion of the mons beneath tier 3 but a ton of strategies fall into tier 3 with good setup.

 

[Helios of Sun]

The meta has seen quite a few shifts over the past week, and I have spent quite a good deal of time recently testing more niche Pokemon (stuff in Tier 5), so let me speak a little more on the Tierlist:

Tapu Fini (1 >> 2):
I agree with what the past few posters are saying. Tapu Fini has fallen off greatly due to the rise of offensive Eleki in the meta, and the rise of Rillaboom. With Eleki being what I consider the best Pokemon in the metagame right now, it has been quite hard for me to look at Fini as a tier 1 mon, and should be dropped.

Kartana (2 >> 3):
Kartana just doesn't cut it in the current meta. Fire has consistently been one of the strongest typings in S9, and Incineroar and Landorus being very consistent Intimidate mons is also a huge weakness for it. The metagame consists of mons with high amounts of natural bulk such as Celesteela, which means that Kartana is unable to proc Beast Boost reliably, and most likely gets killed trying to do so.

Lapras (3 >> 4):
Always on the train that Lapras sucks, will continue it here. It just doesn't do enough for a Dynamaxed option, for my money. 85 Special Attack doesn't cut it in the current meta, and it dying in one shots to Lorbed Eleki or Gmaxed Rillaboom doesn't help matters either.

Tornadus (3 >> 5):
This mon is simply not good. It doesn't do the WP Proccing Metagross job the best (I think Spectrier and Entei do a far better job at that), it doesn't support HO teams as well as Whimsicott can, and in general, does not really fit well on most teams. The only team that I thought it worked fine in was the Swagger Lum Garchomp team, and even then, I think there are many better Garchomp teams in the current meta.

Weezing Regigigas (4 >> 3):
I think Weezing Regigigas is quite good right now. As one of the OG answers to Sun Teams, I think it is still up there as one of the strongest 2v2 combos out there. Weezing has also seen some usage in the Weezing Garchomp teams that became popular recently, so another one up for it.

Registeel (5 >> 4/3):
I really think Registeel is amazing right now, and possibly better than Ferrothorn. With the general strategy being to get Max Quake SpDef boosts on this thing and then bulking up with Iron Defense, it really creates very favourable endgame scenarios where Registeel cannot be killed by the enemy team, and it can very easily cleanup the rest of the opponents.

Rhyperior (5 >> 4):
Rhyperior is an amazing addition to Sun Teams. Being a strong TR mon with high base attack means that it provides a strong alternative mode to the usual Venukoal stuff, but it also allows Venukoal teams to fight Flying Types that would normally counter it, such as Thundurus or Zapdos. Overall, a great mon in Trick Room and deserves a raise.

Marowak-A (5 >> 4):
With the rise of Life Orb Regieleki (which I consider the best mon in the metagame rn), Marowak-A is one of the best counters to that without question. Even without talking about Regieleki, it has quite a few things going for it as it as this mon has an insane attack stat with the Thick Club, and is fairly reliable in Trick Room as a sweeper/dynamax mon.

Turtonator (UR >> 5):
Turtonator is a niche mon that I saw in NPA a few times in the past few weeks. Another strong Body Press user, Turtonator not being weak to Fighting Type Attacks (unlike Ferrothorn and Registeel) allows it to fill a niche where it is strong against the non-Coal components of the standard 5 on Coal Teams, and is able to clean up quite easily after Coalossal goes down.

If we are making a Tier 1.5 list, the additions I would put there are:
Urshifu-S (1 >> 1.5)
Urshifu-R (2 >> 1.5)
Rillaboom (2 >> 1.5)
Venusaur (2 >> 1.5)
Landorus-T (2 >> 1.5)

 

[Bananers]

I had a bigger post planned but the dang draft didn't save . Here is a smaller one in place.

Tapu Fini 1 -> 2
Agree with a lot of people here, Tapu Fini has been falling out of favor in recent times. Its only set really is Calm Mind, Specs hits like a wet blanket, and Support is just bad. So it's only good set, Calm Mind, get shut down by Taunt, Eerie Impulse, and even the rare Haze. And even if these things didn't exist, Fini is just too weak to so many things that it's hard to even set up. Regieleki, Thundurus, Rillaboom, and Kartana can straight up kill it before it can do anything. While it can still be a deadly win condition, it's harder to get it in a position where it can nowadays.

Venusaur 2 -> 1
Now hear me out here. When I think of what a T1 is, I think of these questions. Does it activate certain archetypes? Venusaur is the reason Sun is good. Does it invalidate other Pokemon/Archetypes? Absolutely Venusaur does this, Tyranitar and Politoed teams are niches at best because of the existence of this thing. Is it restricting? This is the main thing that makes Venusaur Tier 1 in my humble opinion. Every team needs a consistent answer to Sleep Powder, or else the entire team just goes to bed. It has lowkey made Safety Goggles one of the best items in the meta just for the fact that it counters this thing. I haven't even mentioned the power. Vine Lash chip damage is actually broken, and it gets pretty solid coverage between Poison/Ground/Fire. This thing is not only strong, but has an iron fist on the meta, and in my opinion deserving of T1.

UR -> 5
sigggggghhhhhhhh These things. As much as I hate to admit it as these two are extremely annoying, uncompetitive, and just a toxic strategy in general, it is becoming more legit. While these two have always been really prominent on the ladder, they have actually been getting tournament results. I think the big result that swayed me towards wanting to rank them was it getting top 8 at VR. Specifically this team. So yeah, don't make me the resident clown of SmogVGC for nomming Chansey Shuckle.

See you guys later.

 

[Evelyie]

I had a bigger post planned but the dang draft didn't save . Here is a smaller one in place.

Tapu Fini 1 -> 2
Agree with a lot of people here, Tapu Fini has been falling out of favor in recent times. Its only set really is Calm Mind, Specs hits like a wet blanket, and Support is just bad. So it's only good set, Calm Mind, get shut down by Taunt, Eerie Impulse, and even the rare Haze. And even if these things didn't exist, Fini is just too weak to so many things that it's hard to even set up. Regieleki, Thundurus, Rillaboom, and Kartana can straight up kill it before it can do anything. While it can still be a deadly win condition, it's harder to get it in a position where it can nowadays.

Venusaur 2 -> 1
Now hear me out here. When I think of what a T1 is, I think of these questions. Does it activate certain archetypes? Venusaur is the reason Sun is good. Does it invalidate other Pokemon/Archetypes? Absolutely Venusaur does this, Tyranitar and Politoed teams are niches at best because of the existence of this thing. Is it restricting? This is the main thing that makes Venusaur Tier 1 in my humble opinion. Every team needs a consistent answer to Sleep Powder, or else the entire team just goes to bed. It has lowkey made Safety Goggles one of the best items in the meta just for the fact that it counters this thing. I haven't even mentioned the power. Vine Lash chip damage is actually broken, and it gets pretty solid coverage between Poison/Ground/Fire. This thing is not only strong, but has an iron fist on the meta, and in my opinion deserving of T1.

UR -> 5
sigggggghhhhhhhh These things. As much as I hate to admit it as these two are extremely annoying, uncompetitive, and just a toxic strategy in general, it is becoming more legit. While these two have always been really prominent on the ladder, they have actually been getting tournament results. I think the big result that swayed me towards wanting to rank them was it getting top 8 at VR. Specifically this team. So yeah, don't make me the resident clown of SmogVGC for nomming Chansey Shuckle.

See you guys later.

About Venusaur, I would say it's 100% reliant on Torkoal. Nominating Venusaur to Tier 1 means probably nominating Torkoal as well. And we all know that Torkoal isn't as near as good as things like Grimmsnarl or other Tier 1 Pokémon. I understand what you are saying and I gotta agree, Venusaur is very, very good. So as Torkoal, Torkoal is a great Trick Room sweeper and bulky Fire. But not by their own. As Kindred from League of Legends normally says: "Never one without the other", this phrase defines Venusaur and Torkoal perfectly. So both are completely fine in Tier 2.

 

[tqew]

Thoughts and Nominations
Marowak-A (5 -> 4)
With the rise of offensive Life Orb Regieleki, counters through ground types and/or Lightning Rod Pokemon are needed. One advantage of Marowak-A over Landorus or Garchomp is its ability to beat Rillaboom, and while it loses to Urshifu-R, you would commonly have a Rillaboom of your own. Along with this, Marowak-A has an insane attack stat with Thick Club, meaning it doesn't need to hit something for Super Effective damage to OHKO it. Lightning Rod can also support a teammate that is weak to electric.

Urshifu-S/Urshifu (1 ->2)
While Urshifu was very good early meta, it has fallen off. On most of my teams I either don't find a need for it, or Urshifu-R is already on the team. While it is still good, its weakness to common meta mons like Tapu Fini, Urshifu-R, Celesteela, and Grimmsnarl weigh it down too much for a tier 1 ranking.

If a tier 1.5 is created, these would be my nominations.
Glastrier (2 -> 1.5)
Rillaboom (2 -> 1.5)
Urshifu-R (2 -> 1.5)
Tapu Fini (1 -> 1.5)
Venusaur (2 -> 1.5)

 

[Prinz]

Venusaur should be 1.5 at best but never 1 imo, it's very very good of course but it isn't splashable at all unlike stuff like Incin, Urshifu etc. When you play venusaur you will always have torkoal, you'll probably have p2, grimmsnarl, regirock/rhyperior, maybe charizard... while for example Urshifu works well with coalossal, regieleki+goth teams, even in glastrier+p2+incin teams. Also looking at the 2 last VR qualifiers with 0 venusaurs in top 8, it makes me believe that Venusaur has gotten a bit worse lately (it won a VR qualifiers 3 weeks ago or so, but since then it has fallen down a bit)

Also don't unrank Cresselia, rank 5 fits her well. Cresselia is still quite good in certain teams and especially in ladder when you don't know her item it can be very hard to stop trick room from her, she's also one of the best users of ally switch and we all know how good that move is. Also arash made t8 of the last VR qualifier using her and BK had a lot of success with her in NPA/Rose tower tours

 

[Evelyie]

Chansey & Shuckle: UR > 5/4

Talking with zeefable a bit, I was told the VR would have a big update after the Smogon VGC Major. But of course, Chansey and Shuckle are banned, so I will just go and nominate them beforehand. Why? Simply because it's not funny, but actually good.

In the words of the o' powerful Raineko "The first step to beat Shuckle and Chansey is to accept that it isn't a meme anymore" and I 100% agree with that. Shuckle Chansey is not a meme anymore. Look at MogarChu for example, having 2 Top 16 in Victory Road's Spring Qualifier #3 and #4 using this combo. Of course, it has its weaknesses. First of them being Dynamax and Max Knuckles that simply just can't miss; and Taund against Quick Claw Shuckle variations, etc. Of course, not the best combo, but sure, can cause pain and players need a gameplan for it, making me nominate it for Tiers 5 or 4.

 

[yuki]

NOT PICTURED (they weren't available): Regigigas, Weezing Tier 3, Registeel Tier 4, Chansey, Shuckle potentially Tier 5.

Time for some of my thoughts.

I think Tier 1 is fairly self explanatory. No particular order but P2, Incin and Grimm offer way too much to so many different teams and I think Regieleki is just absolutely nuts right now.

Tier 2 has most of the big metagame threats. I can't quite justify Coalossal going up, but it and Whimsicott are super close to going up. I think Urshifu-R has definitely earned a spot alongside Urshifu-S finally, and definitely something I want to use more. I think Metagross hangs on because it's still performing fairly well in tours despite the meta not being super kind to it.

Tier 3 welcomes Moltres-G, Rotom-W and Kartana into its ranks. I think none of them are quite on par with Pokemon that are seen in Tier 2. Very close with Charizard and Heatran staying in the tier, I think they're both in interesting positions and I'm not 100% sold on them staying up.

Tier 4 feels fairly nice: Blastoise had a bunch of usage at the start of the format, and it feels nice to run. Rain drops back to Tier 4 because it's simply not as good as running Sun, but it generally still has fine matchups. It just means you have to run Kingdra, when I don't rate it hugely. Bunch of Rock-types in this tier because I like Rock as a type currently. Some of the HO pieces that we saw used dropped down to here, I think we're past the "spam HO it's the start of a series" point.

Tier 5 has some more niche things but I think they're all perfectly valid. I could make a case for the following 6 Pokemon to make it into Tier 5, but I'd need to see a bit more from them tour wise before I can say I'm 100% sold on it.

In the council, we discussed after the last ranking that we definitely wanted to cut down on things. We're hitting a more complete state in this metagame, and we've definitely learned a lot. No need to keep ranking things that are cute on paper but do nothing in actuality, both in tours and on ladder.

Edit: Next VR update should be coming after the Smogon Major. Then updates will probably slow down unless something massive occurs that really change our minds on things.

 

[Evelyie]

Eyo, Smogon VGC Major is over, time for some noms.

3 > 4/5
TAKE THIS THING OUT OF MY WAY- Seriously. I may have personal hate against Stakataka, but I definetly think it needs to drop. With the overwhelming presence of Quakes and Knuckles, Hard Trick Room not being so good, and Porygon2 / Glastrier just playing a better role as setting Trick Room and being a Trick Room sweeper.

3 > 5
TAKE THIS THING OUT OF MY WAY v2. I already talked about Tornadus here

3 > 4
I think both of the Tapus are too high. In my opinion, all Tapus suck right now, except for of course, Tapu Fini. Tapu Koko is just a worse Regieleki, and if you want to use Regieleki + Tapu Koko, this is a core that has no ways to take down things such as Landorus-T. Tapu Lele, well, is a Choice Item abuser, but still it has major weaknesses, such as bulky Pokémon like Glastrier, Steel-types like Celesteela, Ghost-types like Spectrier and Dragapult.

4 > 5
Comfey is still, a good Pokémon, but Galarian Moltres, its partner in crime, has been falling off / not running Weakness Policy, so clearly this thing felt off as well.

Anyways, this were my quick noms, gonna do my final thoughts after Hatterene Series is over.

 

[skyp1llar]

No suggestion, just thought

Flexibility. Looking at tier 1, you see a lot of multi-faceted Pokemon that bring a bunch of potential field state advantages to the game. Bear with me-- I do not want to trivialize the teams and strategies that a T1 wicked blow or CC can enable-- Urshifu most definitely affects the flow of the game-- but no more than something like Rillaboom with priority grassy glides // fake out // terrain control and he's sitting in tier 2. Urshifu's limited item options, linear game-plan, and overall predictability are things which I think that the council should consider looking forward with its viability placement.

3 > 2

Speaking again in terms of flexibility, Indeedee-F brings something to the table that no other Pokemon in the game can bring-- priority blocking + redirection that can enable both HO setups and guarantee TR with the exception of niche strategies like imprison. Although "checked" by the omnipresence of Grimmsnarl (offensively) and killed in a vacuum by things like Urshifu, Indeedee outright denies strategies like trick + lagging tail or things like prankster thundurus eerie impulse that have recently cut tournaments like the Smogon Major. Amoongus sits at the top of tier 2 in the OG viability rankings-- and I'd argue that in a lot of scenarios Indeedee enables playstyles just as effectively as the mushroom does.

3 > 2

Whimsicott at the bottom of tier 3 is imo outright incorrect. Although the pacing of the metagame has changed in such a way that speed control has become more avant-garde (electroweb, lagging tail, soft TR common) Whimsicott can single-handedly enable hyper-offensive setups in a way unlike other speed control picks such as Tornadus / T1 Airstream / etc. When you observe trends on Babiri / Pikalytics high ladder there is seemingly a high threshold of success for Whimsicott on mostly HO cores. I think the trend of my post has been mostly flexibility-- and Whimsicott brings variable change to the game-state in such a way as to be respected as a tier 2 contender. It has so many options-- fake tears, charm, tailwind, eject button/trick, encore, taunt, TR-- I see no reason for it to sit in the bottom of tier 3 other than people potentially sleeping on/forgetting about the potential influence that it has on the board positioning of the game overall.

 

[Evelyie]

No suggestion, just thought

Flexibility. Looking at tier 1, you see a lot of multi-faceted Pokemon that bring a bunch of potential field state advantages to the game. Bear with me-- I do not want to trivialize the teams and strategies that a T1 wicked blow or CC can enable-- Urshifu most definitely affects the flow of the game-- but no more than something like Rillaboom with priority grassy glides // fake out // terrain control and he's sitting in tier 2. Urshifu's limited item options, linear game-plan, and overall predictability are things which I think that the council should consider looking forward with its viability placement.

3 > 2

Speaking again in terms of flexibility, Indeedee-F brings something to the table that no other Pokemon in the game can bring-- priority blocking + redirection that can enable both HO setups and guarantee TR with the exception of niche strategies like imprison. Although "checked" by the omnipresence of Grimmsnarl (offensively) and killed in a vacuum by things like Urshifu, Indeedee outright denies strategies like trick + lagging tail or things like prankster thundurus eerie impulse that have recently cut tournaments like the Smogon Major. Amoongus sits at the top of tier 2 in the OG viability rankings-- and I'd argue that in a lot of scenarios Indeedee enables playstyles just as effectively as the mushroom does.

3 > 2

Whimsicott at the bottom of tier 3 is imo outright incorrect. Although the pacing of the metagame has changed in such a way that speed control has become more avant-garde (electroweb, lagging tail, soft TR common) Whimsicott can single-handedly enable hyper-offensive setups in a way unlike other speed control picks such as Tornadus / T1 Airstream / etc. When you observe trends on Babiri / Pikalytics high ladder there is seemingly a high threshold of success for Whimsicott on mostly HO cores. I think the trend of my post has been mostly flexibility-- and Whimsicott brings variable change to the game-state in such a way as to be respected as a tier 2 contender. It has so many options-- fake tears, charm, tailwind, eject button/trick, encore, taunt, TR-- I see no reason for it to sit in the bottom of tier 3 other than people potentially sleeping on/forgetting about the potential influence that it has on the board positioning of the game overall.

I just want to say that the tiers are ordered alphabetically so Whimsicott is just on the bottom of 3 because it starts with W.

 

[skyp1llar]

I just want to say that the tiers are ordered alphabetically so Whimsicott is just on the bottom of 3 because it starts with W.

How embarassing. This is my first time commenting on one of these. Thank you!

 

[yuki]

After the conclusion of the Smogon Major, it's time for another VR update!

The rises:

3 -> 2
Clefairy has proven itself as an exceptional redirector for just about any setup team, and even when alongside somewhat frail attackers such as Regieleki. Friend Guard is an absolute boon for a so many offensive teams, and Follow Me gives so many partners the opportunity to do things undisturbed. Having positive matchups into the Urshifus also proves extremely handy. Arguably the best redirector in the current format, and worthy of Tier 2.

3 -> 2
Gothitelle has really surprised us with how good in can be over the last couple months. Despite lower representation at the Smogon Major, we still feel the potency of trapping especially on the everpresent GothEleki teams. The fact Gothitelle is no longer forced on to Trick Room gives it far more flexibility. It also has access to Spore, which just makes it truly infuriating to play against as you're stuck in against it while it continually puts your Pokemon to sleep.

3 -> 2
Is this 2015? Prankster Thundurus seems to be the wave right now for good reason. Prankster Eerie Impulse is exceptional at shutting down so many of the biggest threats in the current format. Equally, Scary Face and Taunt offer opportunities to control the opponents further with speed control and the ability to shut down moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Trick Room. Coming off of an amazing performance at the Major, more than deserving of being in this tier.

5 -> 4
After a good showing in recent tournaments, such as the Major and Japanese Nationals, Registeel finally gets a rise at the 3rd time of asking. Iron Defense + Body Press is an amazing wincon in the endgame, with numerous positive matchups into the likes of Kartana, Regirock and Porygon2. Definitely a Pokemon that requires an exceptional amount of respect.

5 -> 4
Against all odds, Rhyperior seems to be making more and more of a name for itself. Great Attack and Defense and Solid Rock give it good potency as a WP Dynamaxer, especially when the 4x Water and Grass weaknesses are covered off. This gives it a suitable home on Sunroom, where it can be a pest for usual checks to this core such as Moltres-G and Zapdos. With Dynamax, it can quickly spiral out of control, making it a very potent threat when positioned correctly.

UR -> 5
Clefable has had a good showing in Victory Road Qualifiers, earning a few top cuts along the way. Its biggest niche being Unaware, allowing to take attacks from threats that particularly like to boost such as Garchomp, Rotom-W, Metagross and Coalossal. With its decent bulk, it makes for a good redirector with the same utility that Clefairy provides. Worth a mention on this list as bulky Fairies still come in handy on a lot of teams.

The drops:
As part of our plans to trim down the VR and to reshuffle things aptly, there are a lot of drops. Hold on tight.

1 -> 2
These Pokemon are still good, and are both part of a very popular team that is doing really well right now. We just feel that the meta has been particularly unkind to these Pokemon as of late, with the resurgence of Togekiss and other bulky Fairies keeping Urshifu-S in check and Regieleki's rise being great into Tapu Fini.

2 -> 3
Amoonguss can still prove to be a potent redirector with access to Spore. But with Togekiss being so good into it, Sun being so popular, and Regieleki loving to set Terrain, it's a little bit harder to utilise Amoonguss' good points. This one was right on the edge of staying the tier, so it can still clearly be a great choice for lots of teams.

2 -> 3
Metagross is a good Pokemon, as Giulio has shown us with his Metagross Balance team, but we really do feel that the meta is just simply unkind to it right now. With Spectrier being really good, Regieleki threatening it with a Helping Hand boost and the usual Ground-types having such a positive matchup, it feels more like a mid-tier pick now than ever. WP Metagross, however, still feels a sensible pick as a focal point of a team, and if the current weaknesses to the metagame can be mitigated, it can shine on a lot of teams. Tier 3 feels like the right place for it.

2 -> 3
Moltres-G is in the same boat as Metagross, for near enough the same reason. We just feel that there are potentially even more Pokemon with great matchups, with Regieleki, Regirock, Glastrier, Rhyperior, Zapdos amongst others all playing really well into it. However, with good redirection support or Lightning Rod support from the likes of Raichu, Moltres-G can still find ways to setup Nasty Plot and unleash its wrath upon the foes. Tier 3 is a fair placing for this.

3 -> 4
All of these Pokemon we feel are still solid choices for a clearly wide variety of teams. They basically all drop down due to weaknesses to common metagame threats, or other Pokemon being equally as good if not better than they are. In terms of the Rock-types, they don't quite stand up to Regirock or Coalossal, either down to their niche or extra weaknesses. None of these Pokemon would look amiss on certain teams in the current metagame, but Tier 4 feels like the best place for all of these.

3 -> 5
Kingdra and Lapras still have a place in the current metagame, but we just feel they're not quite as good anymore. Rain seems to have dropped off a fair amount, especially with the ubiquity of Sun, and other dynamaxers being able to replace the weather. As such, Kingdra has dropped all the way down to 5. Lapras just needs the correct team to be on, but it's this limitation as well as common weaknesses to some of the Pokemon mentioned far too many times already that drop it down to Tier 5.

3 -> UR
Tornadus just doesn't seem to be at the same height that it hit in Series 8. We really feel that there's no compelling reason to use this thing over Whimsicott. While Icy Wind can potentially be an idea, and Brutal Swing can be used as a means of self-proc, we simply believe this isn't enough of a reason to keep it on the VR.

4 -> 5
Generally speaking, these Pokemon tend to fill a more narrow niche due to a lack of teams they can easily fit on. They can still shine when used in the correct way, with the right teammates, but either a combination of narrow usage and weaknesses have caused them to drop down into Tier 5.

4 -> UR
Similarly to Tornadus, these are all Pokemon that we feel just don't currently bring enough to the table to justify being on the Viability Rankings. In terms of Comfey, we feel that the Pokemon it used to be seen next to commonly have found newer compositions to be a part of, and that Comfey has kinda been left behind. The rest we just haven't seen enough from to keep on the VR.

5 -> UR
Similar story for all of these lot. Not much really to be said about them other than we just don't feel they bring enough to the table compared to the new Tier 5.

EDIT:

5 -> 4
We've had a bit more discussion on this one, and a few votes have been changed. Marowak-A has proven itself a few times in tournaments so far, and offers a few interesting niches as a great offensive Pokemon in TR, and Lightning Rod support for teammates such as Celesteela and Moltres-G that would otherwise struggle heavily against Regieleki. It makes for an interesting offensive counterpart to the traditional Raichu that's used for Lightning Rod. Additionally, this Pokemon is far from fully explored, and could potentially just continue to get better as it redirects even Thundurus' Eerie Impulse. Up to 4 for it!

 

[Evelyie]

Well, if it isn't me again. I want to gather some Hatterene Series results, thoughts and etc. around.

UR > 5.
Yes. You might think I'm crazy. Maybe even Raineko will think it. But it Top Cut, and I remember seeing another one (but couldn't find it). As a girl, I gotta say we like sparkly, sweet and cute Pokémon, but well, it did play some cool roles. It is for sure a hot take, but maybe the fox has some hidden cool stuff we didn't tried out yet.

4 > 3
I don't know why the fuck Cinderace felt off. Cinderace has being performing well as it always did, it Cut the Smogon Major three times, did well on some Mt. Silver weeklies, such as the #16 and the #15. Super fast Max Airstreams, it abuses its Libero ability so well, mauling through great part of the metagame, it definetly deserved to remain still on 3.

UR > 5
I think Bisharp is a great Pokémon. Defiant is a good ability, and well, Bisharp has Sucker Punch, and it abuses Cinderace's Max Airstream. Of the 5 teams I spotlighted Cinderace, 2 of them had Bisharp. I think this thing deserves to appear on the list. It is an inexplored Pokémon that definetly is getting the presence it deserves on Hyper Offensive teams.

4 > 5
Politoed is Kingdra partner in crime, so it can go with Kingdra to 5. Netherious commented on the Smogon VGC server that it could operate without Kingdra, making it remain on 5, but I disagree. There is literally 0 results of Politoed in tournaments by itself, the few times it appeared, it always had Kingdra. You may argue that it enables many Swift Swimmers, but well, only Kingdra abuses it. You can say the 50% increase to water move is nuts, but hey, Tapu Fini and Urshifu-R, the most used Water-types wouldn't want Politoed together on the team, and both barely needing that rain for the damage, Tapu Fini being able to set up and Urshifu abusing those critical hits. Yea, its more damage, but 100% not worth adding Politoed to the team for it.

4 > 5/UR
You can think I am crazy (well, I definetly am), but I don't think Tapu Lele has space to shiny anymore. What Tapu Lele does is, well, abusing that Psychic Terrain with its Choice Specs but we have too many Dark-types around. Dazzling, its Fairy STAB move, well, its resisted by so many things around, and of course, Dynamax cutting that damage to almost nothing. And well,it only plays the Choice abuser role in my opinion (or weird Psychic Seed Unburden shenanigans), but due to having almost no results, this thing can go.

And well, that's it. I think these are the few modifications needed for now to the VR be as accurate as possible during the state of the meta we're in. Congratulations to the VR Council for balancing it out greatly after the Major. Cheers!

 

[Helios of Sun]

Suicune (5 >> 4):
I have used a variation of MisterGX's team on ladder and what I must say is that Suicune is an amazing support Pokemon that really can put in major amounts of work against certain archetypes, notably CeleChomp, which has a lot of trouble dealing with BulkCune archetypes. I find it an insanely good mon, but it's not nearly as splashable as other support mons such as Grimmsnarl (due to mons such as Eleki or Rillaboom), so I think Tier 4 is a good place for it right now.

Coalossal (3 >> 2):
It's that time of the year again, where Coalossal is just insanely good. With another metagame shift, Coalossal finds itself in an interesting position where the archetype itself is very strong again. This is primarily due to the newfound prominence of late game sweepers, where people started playing more around just setting up Volcalith and then cleaning up the game with late-game sweepers instead of trying to preserve the Coalossal for sweeping.


Things to watch (Potential Rank 1s):

Rillaboom:
With Clefairy - Sweeper being an insanely good archetype right now, Rillaboom has seen another drastic rise as one of the best late-game mons in the game. It is also to capitalize on so many things and clean up the late game with powerful Grassy Glides.

Urshifu Rapid-Strike:
Another one with late game sweepers. With the Rapid Strike variant being arguably better than Single Strike right now, we have now seen Urshifu is just insane at cleaning up late games. I think it is definitely worth looking at, as potentially a Rank 1 candidate.

 

[Bananers]

Rillaboom 2 -> 1

Rilla is a fire mon rn. Miracle Seed is such a good cleaner on HO, notably winning SmogMajor on LiakosKillers (which is what call Liakos's team). Miracle Seed also has gotten much better this series since Pokemon such as Zapdos and G-Moltres have been falling off a bit. Assault Vest is still a solid set on bulkier teams, soft checking many threats such as LOrb Eleki and Tapu Fini. It is something you absolutely have to prepare for as a team with no consistent switch-ins to Grassy Glide will get overwhelmed, and along with everything else I mentioned, makes it deserving of T1.

Grimmsnarl 1 -> 2

Grimmsnarl is still a very solid Pokemon don't get me wrong there, I just feel like in general, the meta is gravitating from Bulky Offense, which is why Grimmsnarl was so good in the first place, to Hyper Offense. Whenever I use it it just feels super passive and I would much rather have the other Fairy type flavor of the month, Clefairy. Speaking of Clefairy, not only does it provide damage reduction like Grimmsnarl, it provides a damage increase for all attackers due to Helping Hand, not just special attackers. I've found myself just using Bulky Offense less, and Clefairy more.

Marowak-Alola 4 -> 3

Been using this mon a lot and it slaps so hard. Walling LOrb Eleki, which is the best Pokemon in the format, in my opinion, is so insanely valuable. Let's not forget that Wak hits EXTREMELY hard with Thick Club and has great coverage between Ghost/Fire/Ground. Speaking of that, I've actually been dropping Bonemerang for Swords Dance to capitalize off of Celfairy Regieleki leads, you need a good Incineroar counter though. When paired with a TR setter you can just 4-0 entire teams. I think the Meta really favors A-Wak right now and deserves to be in T3.

Raichu 4 -> 5/UR

Speaking of A-Wak, Raichu has become extremely niche in recent times. One of its claims to fame is being able to proc Celesteela and G-Moltres Weakness Policies, but G-Moltres has been falling out of the meta and Celesteela is favoring Assault Vest, Power Herb, Leftovers, and even Life Orb over Weakness Policy (according to Pikalytics). Its other claim to fame is walling Regieleki, but now many Regieleki are Life Orb Dynamax sets, which carry Hyper Beam, so it can easily break past Raichu to wreak havoc. It can't accomplish its job, or its job isn't needed, and I think A-Wak is such a better Lightning Rod user right now.

One more thing before I go, I am in full support of a 1.5 tier. There is so many mons in T2 that are on the brink of being T1, and vice versa. Landorus-T, Tapu Fini, the Urshifus, and Glastrier are just a few examples.

Anyways, cya later guys.

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

So a VR post cause why not?
I do think the VR should get a tier 1.5 as i feel there are some tier 2s a bit better then the others mainly Rillaboom Venusaur and the urshifus.


Tier 4 to 5 This pokemon is awful please drop it. With how incredibly good Regieleki is in the metagame using this is just hindering yourself as your using a much worse overall pokemon. The reason to use this over eleki is to better check urshifu and that's about it, really not worth a tier 4 slot.

Tier 4 to 5 Compared to the rest of tier 4 Raichu stands out to me as the worst pokemon in that tier. Even in a metagame with Regieleki who can max strike kill it its often better to use who knows a ground type to answer it we have amazing ground types within the metagame and other ways to handle Regieleki like Amoonguss and Venusaur in screens. Not to mention that Raichu directly competes with Regieleki itself who is one of the best pokemon in the metagame.

Tier 2 to 3 I Understand Kartana has had good results in the smogon major nonetheless the metagame isn't very favorable to it. A lot flying types and especially Grass-type Competition as well the desire to have other Steel-types on a team + Rillaboom

Tier 3 to 4 While rotom-w has a phenomenal defensive typing there are a lot of Grass types, a lot of strong neutral can chunk it and impede set up as well as competition from its fellow water types Tapu Fini and Urshifu-R. Rotom-W i see mostly on the GEM(Grimmsnarl Entei Metagross) teams and not much else the support required to make it work for the reward it yields feels more like that of a tier 4 Pokemon.

Tier 5 to tier 4 Excadrill has had scattered success throughout series 9. In the current metagame if your running ttar your usually running Excadrill with it or most results with ttar have shown that. Excadrill i find to be far more threatening then the rest of tier 5 attribute its excellent typing and max moves.
EDIT Excadrill is bad

Tier 5 to tier 4 Kingdra really should be with Politoed to say Politoed can function in matchups without Kingdra this is also true for Kingdra as it in some matchups can viably set its own rain. Politoed is a bland support pokemon yes it could be a Perish song or Helping Hand bot but this isn't really enough to put them an entire tier apart especially when you should never use one without the other.

EDIT
UR to tier 4 Umbreon has had a good showing in the VR quals grand finale. Its very good at slowing down the opponent with yawn and snarl. Deals with Spectrier really well same with Dragapult. speedy Umbreon is pretty good to take advantage of Max Airstream and get snarls and yawns of quicker. A lot of the format struggles to threaten Umbreon and it can be very painful to deal with because of this.

 

[Evelyie]

Blastoise: 4 > 3
4 >3
I didn't want to, but I have to. I don't kno whow the fuck both became relevant, but well, they became. Blastoise's good bulk and capacity of removing Ground- and Fire-types from play and setting up the residual damage, making Registeel an unstoppable endgamer makes me nominate both for tier 3. Compared to other Pokémon on the tier, such as Tapu Koko, both clearly shine more, making me nominate both for tier 3. What made me pull the trigger on the turtle was EU's PCIV results, with 5 Blastoises and 6 Registeels

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1406369527441543168

Zapdos 2 > 3
I think the rise of Garchomp and Dynamax Regieleki really hurted Zapdos. There are better Electric-types to choose right now in my opinion. I still think Zapdos is a good Pokémon, but not as strong

Kartana 2 >3
I would say there are both arguments to lower Kartana, and arguments to not. Don't get me wrong, I think Kartana is super strong, but I think Venusaur and Rillaboom placed theirselves as the best Grass-type Pokémon of the format, and Kartana is just paired with Tapu Fini most of the times, or because Sleep Powder doesn't work on Misty Terrain or you don't want to override it with Grassy Surge.

This is my last S9 VR submission.
I just want to congratulate the VR team for making the VR as accurate it could be in my opinion. Great job everyone, see you in GS Cup annoying you all on why Kyurem Black should be higher on the list.

 

[Namuko Pro]

I don't want to make a long post but here's what stands out to me in each tier. There's probably some other stuff that can be moved too but I don't feel too strongly about.

Tier 1:
Think P2 and Grimm should both be moved down to 2. I said P2 should be moved down last time I posted and I only feel my statement then has become more accurate. Grimm always felt a bit high to me as well given it's usage, and now it's been trending down a bit, still a good mon but I think the gap between it and Incin/Eleki is much higher than it and everything in 2.

Tier 2:
Think Garchomp should be moved down to 3 (or even 4?). Being in the same tier as Lando when they fill pretty similar roles but Lando has 3x the usage always felt weird to me, but I figured it was good enough at doing it's job to stay there. Now Zard is MIA so that advantage over Lando is gone, and Garchomp isn't even better against Coalossal Teams anymore since the main archtype runs LO Pult and Critkiss, which Garchomp struggles against. I think it might even actively hurt the Coalossal matchup because you need to bring it to beat Coal if you have it, but it's just bait for Dragapult and/or Togekiss leads -- it should be pretty telling that when I ran Coal in PC4, I was actually happy to see one of my opponents had Garchomp since I felt it was a non-issue despite the fact that it should've theoretically "countered" my team.

Would also move Zapdos down to 3, Eleki is just so good as a dynamax electric attacker that the use case for Zapdos seems to be getting increasingly tenuous (zapdos can't increase its own damage like Eleki does with Max Lightning either since Zapdos flies and doesn't get the terrain boost).

Tier 3:
I said Coalossal should be moved up to tier 2 last time I posted, my reasoning there still applies but Coal is popping off even more now. It's the core to arguably the best team in the meta at the moment, deserves to be in tier 2.

I'd also put Coal's buddy Togekiss in tier 2, it's one of the main mons on that team and additionally Critkiss is good on plenty of other teams as a really good Offense/Support hybrid. Turns out when everyone stops using the mons that counter Critkiss, Critkiss ends up being pretty strong. Regular support Kiss with Wacan or another item is really strong too, Yawn is really good in this meta for screwing over people's powerful Max options and follow me/HH support is obviously great.

I'd move both Rotoms down to 4. Rotom-H is hurt by the drop in usage of stuff it's good against (venukoal/metagross/glastrier etc...), hurt by the rise of rapid strike urshifu (it's much worse against that then Fini), and isn't even a very effective Critkiss check since Critkiss all get run on teams where multiple other mons shred Rotom-H. Rotom-W is kind of nice because it can check several things at once -- I was playing with it on a team I was testing for PCIV before I took the Coalossal pill. It does well against incin/lando and is a fantastic Celesteela answer since it can nasty plot in Max Celesteela's face and they need to use Max Rockfall to touch it which does not do much without STAB, but the high presence of grass types can make it hard to justify since it's main advantage has always been how hard it is to deal supereffective damage to it, which lets it get consistent sitrus recovery. It's really hard to do that when you get OHKO'd by a priority move from a top 5 mon in the format. Consequently you are pretty limited in how you can use it, which is tough for something that provides such important coverage for your team. Both Rotoms suffer from the same issue Zapdos does as well, which is how mediocre they can seem compared to Eleki.

Tier 4:
I think Registeel has proven itself worthy of Tier 3 since it's seeing a lot of play as of late. Clear Body + Iron Defense (and sometimes Amnesia) can be basically impossible for some teams to deal with once you remove their main check to it. It's far and away the best "Setup and win" mon in the game at the moment, since it's not as vulnerable to certain attacks after setting up like SD Lando or Ferro, and unlike something like Snorlax (or Chansey LMAO) doesn't depend on having an entire team built around it.

I think Tapu Lele and Politoed should probably go down to 5. I don't ever see Lele and not sure why it continues to be ranked so highly, Psychic Terrain and decent offensive stats aren't enough and it doesn't have anything else going for it. I don't know what Politoed does without Kingdra to be ranked a tier above it (generic support or Perish I guess?), but don't think it's enough of a niche. Can't really imagine a single team where I'd rather use Politoed over something like Fini or Blastoise or Urshifu if I don't have Kingdra.

I also may be in the minority here, but don't think Blastoise should go up to 3. Yes it showed up several times in EU cut, but keep in mind that it was only on two different teams: Feis, Fevzi and Markus all built their team together (or at least used the same team), and Ilbona and Mean used the same team as well. When something like that happens, I think it's more of a sign that Blastoise was a good meta pick for that tournament, rather than being deserved to be moved up yet. All five of them are also really good players, so it just muddies the waters more than if five lesser known players used five unique Blastoise teams. I may be wrong, but I think moving it up would be just a bit premature.

Tier 5:
Hat should be in 4 I think, Psyspam Sun TR is an okayish archtype. It's better than most of the stuff in Tier 5 in that it has an actual archtype around instead of seeing fringe play. Regidrago is similar, I think it's gotten a bit stronger due to the drop in Fini usage (although rise in togekiss kind of cancels that out), and should be in 4 as well. I think neither of these are amazing, but they're a clear cut above the rest of tier 5.

I also think Tornadus should maybe go back onto the VR and be put in 5? Synergy with Metagross is a good enough niche if you're saying that stuff like Mudsdale and Clefable are good enough to be in tier 5. I think there's some interesting stuff to explore with pairing Tornadus/Metagross with strong spread attackers that have synergy with the two of them like Lando/Chomp/Regidrago/Blastoise, which is more than I can say for most of tier 5.

 

[KingOfBees]

Alright here are nominations I would like to make:

The Rises:
5->4
Not really sure how Hatterene, specifically its Gmax form, ended up in tier 5 in the first place. Gmax-Smite is incredibly hard to play around, and when paired with a psychic terrain setter and redirector (Indeedee-F) Trick Room is a lot of times a guarantee. Max Mindstorm, coming off of Expanding Force and boosted by psychic terrain, absolutely obliterates through many important Mons in the metagame, such as Venusaur, Amoonguss, Torkoal, Regieleki and others. It's also an important team member in the Psyspam + Sun + Trick Room archetype. While it lacks a good way to hit steels and can be a bit too reliant on both Dynamax and Trick Room, it's sheer power is enough to warrant it a tier 4.

4->3
Initially in series 7, many people thought it was just a means to get Regigigas to be good, but as the meta develops it has become far more than that. Weezing greatly helps many Mons win hard matchups, and serves as decent support to them via Will-o-Wisp and Taunt. Here are some examples of what Neutralizing Gas helps shut down: Incin and Lando's Intimidate (incredibly useful for physical attackers such as Garchomp), Grimmsnarl's Prankster, Rillaboom's and Indeedee's Grassy and Psychic Surges, Coalossal's Steam Engine, the Ultra Beasts' Beast Boost and the CT horses Grim/Chilling Neigh's, and of course all weather abilities. Weezing's ability does often become a double edged sword, and Weezing does have incredibly underwhelming stats, so careful positioning and timing is necessary. However, when played correctly Weezing's presence on the field is incredibly powerful, important, and undeniable.

4->2
Registeel is more than a gimmick, it is a completely legitimate and possibly one of the most powerful win conditions in the entire meta. When paired with a strong dynamax user such as Landorus, it can become impossible to kill in the span of as little as two turns. While a losing match-up to sun and the Urshifu forms does hurt its viability, anything else struggles to deal with its insane defenses as well as a potent Dynamax abuser next to it. By far one of the best late game Mons, never underestimate Registeel's sheer bulk. Also, it's seen a ton of success in PCIV, with a whopping 6 teams having it out of the top 16 teams from the EU Qualifiers, as seen in Evelyie's post above.

4->3.5 (Not quite a tier 3, but not quite a tier 4)
One of Registeel's partners in crime, Blastoise is another Mon which saw tons of success in PCIV. While I myself am not too big a fan of it, I cannot deny its qualities. Immense bulk, especially when Dynamaxed, and a decent damage output boosted further by the insanity that is G-Max Cannonade's chip damage, and you've got yourself a pretty decent team member. It fills plenty of roles, such as set-up sweeper, Fake Out user, and an answer to both Incineroar and Landorus-T. There's nothing it particularly excels at, but it's overall a versatile team member that can fill many roles, even if it means each individual role it fills might be done better by another Mon.

3->2
Coalossal is a very interesting team member in the sense that while it's actually quite simple to beat, it enables a ton of mind-games and forces its opponent to play a certain way. It's also what one of the most powerful teams in the current meta is built around. The thing with Coalossal is that its immense power forces the opponent to lead with a set of Mons that can handle it, one example being Tapu Fini and Porygon-2. However, the Coalossal player can predict this and lead Rillaboom + Urshifu-R. This makes Coalossal one of the hardest Mons to lead against, and even what was once thought to be its true counter, Garchomp, is seeing dwindling usage due to Coalossal teams now running CritKiss and LO Pult.

3->2
With the rise of Coalossal I can't help but also nominate its newest partner in crime, Togekiss. Togekiss, more specifically its CritKiss varint, sits in a nice position in the meta due to its great bulk, typing, and ability to ignore both Sp. Attack drops as wells as Sp. Def raises (not to mention light screen). There's not much to say about it, it's simply a good team member with good match-ups into many common Mons. The ability to go both defensive with follow me and offensive with a 50% critical hit chance.

+ (Rapid-strike) 2->1.5
If a 1.5 tier were to be added, these would be the first two Mons that I would nominate. They have insane late game potential since they both cover each other's weaknesses and have incredibly strong offensive stats, paired with great moves. They're especially good when paired with Clefairy hyper offense, as they help pick off any unfinished Mons due to their strong 1v1 potential. They're also incredibly important to build around, as you do not want to rely on Dynamax to beat these two.

The Drops:
Since there are many drops that I would like to nominate, I'll try to be more brief with the reasoning on why these Mons aren't worthy of their respective tiers.

1->2
The reason for why I think Grimmsnarl isn't worthy of tier 1 is because it doesn't enable any archetypes and can't just be slapped on almost every team like Incineroar can. Its value is limited to getting a couple of screens, and maybe getting a Fake Tears or Spirit Break off, but it's often the first on the field to die and that severely hurts its viability. Don't get me wrong, Prankster screens is still amazing but isn't nearly as meta defining as a tier 1 should be.

2->3
While still good, Garchomp just isn't what it used to be. Its main claim to fame was being a Coalossal counter, but as stated above Coalossal is now often paired with CritKiss and LO Pult, both of which do incredibly well vs. the franchise's infamous land shark. This makes it so that it has little to boast over the superior ground-type, Landorus-Therian, other than its higher speed.

2->3
Sun and Incineroar make life for Kartana way too hard. Even both Urshifu forms, which Kartana should theoretically be able to OHKO if it's Dynamaxed, often end up carrying Focus Sash and simply dealing too much damage with Close Combat.

2->3
Sadly Zapdos just gets outclassed as an electric-type by Regieleki. It doesn't even get its Max Lightning boosted by Electric Terrain since it's a flying-type, which does end up hurting a bunch of damage calculations. It does have access to Max Airstream and Flare, but that's not enough to grant it a spot on tier 2 when Regieleki exists.

4->5
Entirely reliant on Weezing and frankly not even that good with it. A vast majority of teams have a way to beat it and the moment Weezing is gone it becomes dead weight and a wasted Dynamax. Props for being interesting and viable for once, but Regigigas just isn't cutting it.

 

[yuki]

Time for the first update since the changing of the guard in the VR Council. zeefable and I felt that the VR wasn't in a great state, and we've learned a great deal more about the meta causing a lot of shifts. All in all, there are 42 changes to the current VR. This will likely be one of the last updates, with the final one coming after Players Cup IV. That being said, the final update will be relatively small in comparison to this one.

The rises:
Let's start with the good news, and address all the Pokemon that have risen!

2 -> 1
Urshifu-R has overtaken Urshifu-S in terms of usage for the first time, and it's really easy to see why. Surging Strikes is obviously a great move that plays well into some of the newer threats in Series 9 such as Rhyperior, as well as the timeless classics in Coalossal and Incineroar. Equally, Togekiss and Clefairy being higher in usage means Wicked Blow is less impactful against these redirectors, giving precendence to Urshifu-R. We think it deserves a shot in the highest Tier of the VR.

3 -> 2
Coalossal finally made it. Much like G-Max Vine Lash from Venusaur, G-Max Volcalith is super centralising as a move that by itself makes Coalossal good. Coalossal's continued strength in many recent tours, including Sohaib's undefeated run in the PCIV NA Qualifiers and a few top cut appearances in the Smogon Major, and the fact that it just forces so many mindgames against the opponent have proved key difference makers that led to this decision. We unanimously decided that this should rise.

3 -> 2
Togekiss may just be the best redirector in the format. Bulky Fairy-types are still essential of course, but Togekiss' role as an offensive redirector gives it an edge over Clefairy and Indeedee-F. CritKiss in general has proven itself across several teams, and its positive matchups into Rillaboom, the Urshifus, and Dragapult let it shine in the current format.

4 -> 3
After this thing's showing in the PCIV EU Qualifiers, we can't ignore Blastoise any longer. G-Max Cannonade is of the same ilk as Venusaur's Vine Lash, and Blastoise's extra natural bulk and diversity of options allows it to thrive as the focal point of a team. Positive matchups into Incineroar, Landorus-T, and Stakataka make it an ideal Pokemon to counter plenty of different meta ideas.

4 -> 3
Registeel is really in the same boat as Blastoise here. Iron Defense + Body Press is a very strong setup sweep opportunity that can just wipe through teams if not dealt with early. With Amnesia, Registeel can quickly just become near on invincible against nearly any Pokemon and inevitably win either via Body Press or even PP stall against the likes of Dragapult. This Pokemon is just kinda dumb, and Tier 3 is more than fair right now.

5 -> 4
Hard TR has made somewhat of a resurgence in recent times, with Hatterene, Stakataka, and Torkoal leading the charge. In Psychic Terrain, Hatterene can very quickly become a formidable sweeper, with Expanding Force being super strong alongside Indeedee-F, and G-Max Smite taking out Dragapult and Urshifu-S. There is likely still a ways to go with the Hard TR teams, but Tier 4 reflects how Hatterene has been performing recently.

The drops:
Brace yourselves.

1 -> 2
These two are Pokemon that haven't quite felt as strong as they did before. With Taunt Incineroar being more of a staple, it's becoming a lot more easy to shut down their utility. Their strength, however, when they do get to perform their roles is undeniable, and as such Tier 2 feels like the most natural place for both of these.

2 -> 3
With Regieleki being such a huge force in the current metagame, Celesteela is pressured a lot more easily by a fair few more team compositions. The CelesChomp teams that we saw have largely died down at this point, leaving Celesteela as a big Steel that most teams are looking for a way to fit. It does still bring great power, set diversity and a nice Max Airstream to the table leaving it in a good spot in Tier 3.

2 -> 3
These 2 Pokemon are amazing at enabling other Pokemon, and are probably two of the best at doing this role thanks to their utility. That being said, because they are used so heavily for utility, they are deadweight in endgame scenarios making it vital to get value early game. By that definition, it just doesn't feel right for them to be in Tier 2 right now. If they could stand on their own with their utility, they would have avoided the drop.

2 -> 3
All of these Pokemon are still good choices for plenty of teams. But they're all lacking in that firepower to keep them in the top tiers. Usually, its their weaknesses that subject them to a drop as the meta has progressed to a point where they're just slightly less effective. Notably, Zapdos has taken a huge dive only really occasionally featuring on Sun teams; and Garchomp has finally dropped as its essentially just doing a similar role to Landorus-T, just less effectively all things considered.

3 -> 4
You can basically apply what I said above to all of these Pokemon: they can all still be fairly solid as the focal point of their team - often being enabled by a Weakness Policy or their own setup moves. But the fact of the matter is that these Pokemon need a bit more support than they used to to be wholly effective. These will still be good if you want to build around them, or introduce as an alternative mode for beating matchups, but are often outclassed in their capability.

3 -> 5
Rotom-Wash is in the same boat as Rotom-Heat, which also dropped. Difference is the weaknesses. With a huge Rillaboom and Venusaur weakness, and a neutrality to Regieleki, Rotom-Wash is considered less effective of the relevant Rotoms and has dropped to Tier 5 as such.

4 -> 5
Same thing applies with this big bunch of Pokemon, they're all just a bit less effective or not having the same momentum with results. All of these share very similar weaknesses, and those happen to be to some of the top Pokemon in the current metagame.

4 -> 5
Spotlighting Ferrothorn as a drop here, as it's not only suffering from the weakness problem that has been discussed several times now, but its main role is just being directly outclassed currently. Registeel has basically taken the spotlight away from this thing almost permanently, and it's becoming harder and harder to justify bringing Ferrothorn over it.

4 -> UR
5 -> UR
Unfortunately for these Pokemon, they just haven't shown enough value on teams or put up enough results to justify keeping on the VR at present. The metagame is extremely unkind to some of these Pokemon, despite their undeniable utility.


Where are we going from here?
Most leagues and tournaments are starting to switch over to Series 10. Once we have a bit more data on it, we will be starting up the Viability Rankings (among other resources) for that. This is likely going to be the final time we make a big update for Series 9, so consider the metagame in a more complete state now. Most importantly, we will likely be switching back to the letter system as requested almost unanimously by the current council. We felt that during this series, the numbers made things a bit murky overall. For the longest time, Garchomp was in the same tier as Landorus-T despite being at a fraction of its usage and clearly not being as good - it was just good enough.

See you in Series 10!