Regulation M-B just got announced and released on the 17th of June and is set to be the format for the 2026 World championship. We got about 30 new Pokemon added to the roster and I am here to discuss and explore how it shakes up the current metagame moving on from Regulation M-A
First Impressions:
To be honest 30 pokemon is not a whole lot. the entirety of the Regulation M-A metagame became overly centralized with some variant of the goodstuffs Charizard Y archetype, seldom featuring Mega Floette and Mega Aerodactyl as a stronger over one or the other as a direct answer to the opposing goodstuffs composition. Rain teams and Italian-Ice composition that became popular over the end but nothing came a step above this strong standing archetype. Following is a box of the best Regulation M-A mons
Now the M-B roster adds these Pokemon that I believe will have some impact on the metagame:
The Big Winners:
Staraptor:
Being funnily called our for the new toy syndrome on week 1 of ladder or a gimmick Staraptor has been putting in the work. It easily fits beside Grimmsnarl or Whimsicott as they fire off stat debuffs into it that get turned into stat buffs via contrary. Being the first fighting type that actually gains defenses off of close combats is insanely useful. This becomes more impressive given it starts out with intimidate, immediately adding to its own physical defense. Then when it mega evolves it actually can defeat Kingambits with a close combat and get bulkier doing so, the newly added fighting type means that it is now taking resisted damage from sucker punches.
The moveset of Close Combat, Brave Bird, Roost and Protect is the current staple.
Mega Swampert:
Pertrain is the new archetype running around on ladder right now. Sure Basculegion hits harder band for band as compared to Swampert but Swampert has perks of its own. Getting buffed via Wave Crash, being a ground type, therefore being immune to Electro Shot spam from Archaludon, having a new Ground STAB option in a format plagued with Garchomp makes it really useful. Given Swift Swim as its ability, it doesn't have to by locked into 1 move or walled by Kingambits unlike Basculegion is.
Important coverage moves like Rock Slide, Ice Punch, Bulk Up, High Horsepower and Wide Guard are also cool options to consider.
Grimmsnarl:
Grimmsnarl has found itself in a very metagame specific favorable position right now. It just got its OG Light Clay and Iron Ball items back, though losing Thunder Wave it can still pack Scary Face which is arguably better given Paralysis was also nerfed along with Straptor being its new best buddy!
Carrying dual screens whether its on Pertrain or with Staraptor is the sole purpose of this hairy gremlin but other coverage matters. Spirit Break is always a very useful offensive move to have. Given the dominance of physical attackers I wouldn't count out Foul Play either. Parting Shot is the go to move for Pertrain giving it a specific new pivot to the rain sweeper going after the turn order of switches or Mega Evolution making it carry the benefits of Sableye's Rain Dance, albeit making the switch rather predictable. Fake Out is another excellent option is you want to slow down the pace of a battle and let your mons set up before they start launching big hits.
Annihilape or Mausape:
I know Maushold is not a new addition but it has been given its partner in crime back, in Annihilape. Though Rage Fist was nerfed to reset after switching in or have its base power be caped at 350 max, its still a really solid move. Annihilape also lost Final Gambit which is a sad day as it further demerits the rise of Hard Trick Room teams, something I was expecting to come back with this regulation. Having a defiant user in a new metagame that added few more Intimidate users is quite excellent to be honest.
Where it gets hurt is despite being placed beside Friend Guard Maushold, it cannot terrastallize any longer into a Water or Fire Type. With the format still being dominated by Garchomp, Charizard Y and Floette all of which carry really strong spread attacks... Annihilape, or Mausape to be more specific can have a harder time.
Maushold specifically got Wide Lens back, which means Technician Population Bomb is back, not as strong without Normal terrastalization, but we have something meaningful for it.
Mega Raichu:
With Mega Raichu Y boasting No Guard Zap Cannons and Focus Blasts with one of the fastest Fake Out in the game and threatening Charizard Y, Basculegion and Kingambit very directly, it feels like a useful piece especially in the early parts of the metagame.
Raichu X gains the Electric Terrain ability and is able to be placed alongside Archaludon in rain team compositions. whether running physical or special moves on it is the best is still up for debate, but Volt Switch with bulk and Fake Out, it feels like a useful secondary mega on rain teams.
Mega Metagross:
One of the lynchpins of competitive formats where megas were allowed isn't looking all too promising. sure its the best answer we have to Mega Floette by far, but given Mega Floette teams have the tendency to also have Mega Charizard, Garchomp, Basculegion, Kingambit and on Mega Delphox style combs a Sinistha for redirection and an infinite loop swapping of Incineroar... Mega Metagross hasn't found itself in the most favorable of metagame positioning's thus far in this format.
Moves like Meteor Mash or Iron Head, Psychic fangs as excellent coverage, especially vs Screens Staraptor style teams, Ice Punch for Garchomp, Stomping Tantrum as Coverage against Kingambit and Incineroar... It has things going for it, but still doesn't feel heavily centralizing. I'd have to wait and see what becomes of it.
Following is a few lines on the rest of the revealed lineup that I think will be relevant:
Gholdengo: Extremely buffed by taking a hit to Make it Rain accuracy and 2 stages Special Attack drop but Ghost and Steel is still an excellent typing. It can be a great choice scarf user as a late game sweeper given it has great coverage in Thunder Bolt, Power Gem, Surf and Trick to use as Scarfer
Blaziken: Bisharp and Blaziken were good back in the day and we even saw coaching + Kingambit in Regulation H of SV. We need to see what becomes of this duo again, especially now that Blaziken has its Mega Form back.
Houndstone: A Last Respect Sand Rush user for the Sand archetype sounds really promising to me. Given Houndstone also has moves like Shadow Sneak to pair with Endeavor or Sand chip, It also gets Yawn, Will-o-Wisp, Howl and Body Press all the while being immune to Tyranitar's biggest weakness in fighting type attacks makes it worthy of having a look at.
Eelektross: One of the most interesting first impression mons with its new mega ability Eelevate is feeling rather mid! This ability combines Beast Boost and Levitate. While having good coverage moves like Dragon Claw or Dragon Pulse, Giga Drain, Energy Ball, electric coverage in Thunderbolt, Supercell Slam or Wild Charge, Discharge,Volt Switch depending on if you run it as a physical or special attacker makes it somewhat promising. With the ability to have Coil as a setup move option... It feels like it'll come up sometime as a niche, maybe as a rain counter or to be placed as a spam on the side of Garchomp.
Overqwil: its an interesting Swift Swim addition due to its non water typing. With stab Dark and Poison coverage it can take on Basculegion and Fairy types of the format. Its situation specific but I won't be surprised to see it get some good placements in online tournaments before the world championships roll around.
Mega Pyroar: I can clearly see its niche from afar. Its sort of like a Sylveon to Floette relation but with Charizard. Its newly bestowed Fire Mane ability allows it to boost up its fire type moves by 50% which stacks vs Charizard's Sun. Having your firepower (pun intended) not be dependant on weather, and a part normal typing to take on late game Basculegion's Last Respects with coverage like Dark Pulse and an anti typing vs Mega Froslass, there's promise to its current standing within the metagame.
Mega Scrafty: Sounds like a dream to some and a nightmare to others. Heavily situation dependent which turns into a nightmare if facing Kingambits and Milotics. It solves the Farigaraf lead problem of not being able to pivot into your Trick Room user fast enough, a problem that was very Regulation M-A specific. Fake out + Trick Room followed by immediate fighting type or dark type pressure is useful. Especially as life orb got reintroduced, Kingambits have been dropping the use of Chople berry so it might all turn out well in the end for this guy.
Mega Mawile: Again this one has found itself in a situation of powercreep, or a direct consequence of the pieces not being there. it has merits, its Sucker Punches and Rock Slides as coverage work excellent but at the end of the day even inside of trick room, it has to survive triggering Kingambits with Intimidate, safely being brought in and then competing with Torkoals or the stray Mega Camerupt you'd come across at that.
How the overall metagame is impacted?
With the release of items like Life Orb and Light Clay (2 of the most impactful) we can expect Sableye on Archrain teams to run Light Clay, Life Orb can be given to the share of Garchomps most preferably or Kingambits. Overall the Charizard Y goodstuffs still stands tall with the most solid additions like Mega Metagross, Gholdengo, Mawile and even Mausape all somewhat falter against it. I myself have been using this archetype on the ladder as I got lucky with my drafts in Pokemon Champion's Andriod release.
That's all from my side on this end. I stopped writing on this blog and sort of fell off from writing Pokemon altogether. I have been around the scene since 2014, but this Wednesday was the first time I got to play an official VGC match without Showdown... It sparked some inspo within me to be back at my original blogspot here... I will try to keep up here as much as I can!
Comments
Post a Comment