Been doing some building & laddering which made me realize a couple of things about the metagame, so I wanted to share those. I also just wanted to take a snapshot of the metagame before the storm of development in NDWC ~
Koraidon
This thing is teetering around the edge of broken for me. The defensive metagame is revolved around it with Ho-Oh being the second best glue in the tier, Arceus-Fairy being the best support Arceus form, and Choice Scarf users being borderline mandatory on any serious balance if you don't want to lose to SD Koraidon variants. The funny thing about this is Koraidon being the best Choice Scarf user in the tier as well, directly feeding into its own usage (although I've come to appreciate Ditto as a good alternative recently, since it doesn't lose to SD Flame Charge Koraidon sets). The issue with Koraidon though, is that it doesn't really have any good checks at the end of the day.
Koraidon @ Leftovers
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Low Kick
- Wild Charge
- Flame Charge
A simple set like this breaks through the most commonly run checks in Ho-Oh / Arceus-Fairy, while boasting deceptively good staying power with its great bulk and Leftovers. You can also run Dragon Claw over Wild Charge if you want to break the Giratina formes and OHKO Zygarde-C & Mega Salamence after a boost, at the cost of missing out on the OHKO on Ho-Oh. In fast-paced teams, you can even throw caution out the window and run Outrage / Z-Dragon Claw to get the OHKO on Ho-Oh as well as the aforementioned Dragon-types, although running Outrage / forfeiting the ability to Terastalize does come with annoying drawbacks. Crux of the matter is that I just don't think we've been able to figure out how to check Koraidon's SD sets, which is pretty alarming given the months of time we've had to do so. I personally find myself running Ho-Oh + Choice Scarf Koraidon on almost every team I build and still not being fully satisfied with the amount of outs I have. Recently, I've started using Ditto a lot more frequently, and while I think that has mostly solved the issue for myself, it's not exactly a very healthy adjustment. At the moment, I think a suspect test for either Koraidon or Terastal is not out of the question but I'm curious how others think about this, so please let me know what your thoughts are!
Terastal
Speaking of questionable aspects, let's tackle Terastal now. I think at this point, the Terastal mechanic is pretty much synonymous to two specific sets in the metagame that abuse it to the fullest: Geomancy Xerneas and Thousand Waves Zygarde-C. I'll be blunt, I don't find Xerneas to be as problematic as people make it out to be. Yes, it can break through all of its checks with the correct Tera type, but let's be honest, Electric is the only one worth running in a metagame infested to the brim with Ho-Oh. This means that every single team is equipped at trading blows with Xerneas in the form of Primal Groudon. Secondly, the Terastal argument goes both ways: Xerneas can delete Ho-Oh with Tera Electric Thunderbolt / Thunder, but Ho-Oh can also Tera Fire in response and proceed to either cripple it with boosted Sacred Fire or phaze it out. The same goes for Necrozma-DM, although that interaction is a bit dicier due to Tera Electric granting a Sunsteel Strike-resistance. Anyways, Xerneas only gets one chance to pull off a sweep, so using your Tera to stop it is entirely justified. You are also free to stack multiple checks without really compromising any teambuilding synergy, since Primal Groudon, Necrozma-DM, and Ho-Oh are inherent superglues in this metagame. Something else people tend to overlook is the fact that Xerneas hits a lot less hard this generation due to the necessity of a Timid nature, since it wants to get past the ubiquitous Choice Scarf Koraidon. All in all, I think Xerneas is one of the best Pokemon in the metagame that demands immediate respect, but I don't find it to be broken, not even with Terastal in the picture.
Thousand Waves Zygarde-C, however, is a bit different of a case. For those that are unfamiliar, the second set
in this link is what I'm talking about. With this set, Zygarde-C is able to trap traditional checks in Arceus-Fairy / other support Arceus formes, terastalize into a neutral / favourable typing, and continue to boost up to +6 and sweep. This set feels unhealthy to me, since all it takes sometimes is a single Thousand Waves to end a game right there and then. It does get annoyed by Taunt Arceus formes a little bit, but not to a point where I'm confident to say Taunt Arceus is a good check. After all, Zygarde-C can usually just Dragon Dance turn 1, and then spam Thousand Waves / Thousand Arrows with the occasional Dragon Dance in between until Arceus runs out of Recover PP, rendering it useless. I've been finding myself running combinations of Taunt Arceus, Whirlwind Tera Grass Ho-Oh, Coil Zygarde-C etc. to account for this set in the builder, which has mostly been good enough to keep it at bay, but I still want to know what others think about it.
Underrated Pokemon
Arceus-Dark is already ranked at A-, but I still think this is criminally low for a Pokemon that offers so much. As a support Arceus form, it's the only one that checks Ultra Necrozma, while also being a fine check to Primal Groudon, Mega Salamence, and Necrozma-DM. What truly separates it from other support Arceus formes though, is access to STAB Foul Play. This move is a literal godsend for it, letting it punish Koraidon and Zacian-C harshly, and allowing it to blanket check the myriad of setup sweepers in this tier. Arceus-Dark benefits hugely from Terastal as well, with Tera Poison letting it flip the tables entirely on its nemeses in Koraidon, Xerneas, and Zacian-C. A simple Foul Play / Taunt / Toxic set does all of the aforementioned, while turning it into a great win condition. Hands down the best support Arceus form alongside Arceus-Fairy.
Ditto is simply incredible support. The things it does are pretty damn notable and can't be replicated by anything else. It's the only form of speed control that limits SD Koraidon sufficiently, while also checking humongous metagame threats in Xerneas, offensive Eternatus, Zacian-C, Mega Salamence, and pretty much every DD / SD Arceus form. In a metagame where hyper offense is a great playstyle, Ditto solo's a boatload of matchups entirely by itself. I would definitely rank it at B+ / A- at least if I had it my way.
Arceus-Poison @ Poisonium Z
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Poison Jab
- Will-O-Wisp
- Stealth Rock / Taunt (Earthquake / Thunder Wave are valid if you want to annoy Eternatus)
- Recover
Arceus-Poison compresses a check to top tier staples in Koraidon, Xerneas, Zacian-C and Arceus, while also giving you a Toxic immunity and Toxic Spikes absorber. You do have to make sure you couple it up with checks to Primal Groudon and Zygarde-C, since usually you would use your Arceus slot to check those. I haven't found this to be much of an issue however, since you can just pair it with the likes of Zygarde-C, bulky Primal Kyogre, Giratina-O etc. and you'll be fine. A severely underrated Pokemon that for some reason is ranked C+ right now.