Monotype: The Community, Events, and Competitive Scene
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Introduction
Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to battle like a Gym Leader or an Elite Four member? To build an entire team that shared a type yet was still menacing to face even for some of the best trainers? The Monotype metagame gives you these opportunities!
Monotype is an Other Metagame where each of your Pokémon must share a type—like the Gym Leaders and Elite Four from the cartridge games. You'll face other battlers playing under the same restrictions, which can lead to some very interesting and fun matchups! Your team building and in-battle decisions are challenged as you learn how to deal with the shared weaknesses of all your Pokémon and exploit those of your opponent. Often, players that master a type are able to reliably win in matchups that initially appear to be a disadvantage. For instance, a Grass trainer that faces off against an experienced Ground trainer is actually more likely to lose than to win, despite their type advantage.
The Monotype metagame supports a dedicated community that is just as competitive as that of any official Smogon metagame. This article is meant to provide an overview of the Monotype competitive scene so you can join in on the fun!
For more information, metagame resources, fun projects, and more check out the Monotype subforum!
Monotype on Pokémon Showdown!
PS! Ladder
The Monotype ladder is one of the most active on the PS! server. Only AG, Ubers, OU, and UU are more active. More importantly, many of the top Monotype battlers are actually active on the ladder, which can be contrasted with most standard metagames, where the ladder is not thought to facilitate high-level competition on a routine basis.
At any given time, the top ~30 ladder spots host a large portion of the metagame's best players. This means any aspiring Monotype battlers can almost always find a high(er) level match to help improve their skills!
Monotype Room
Like the ladder, the Monotype room is one of the more popular public rooms on PS! There are always users willing to help someone improve a team, discuss the metagame, or battle. The Monotype room's website also hosts a couple useful resources that aren't available on Smogon, such as specialized statistics. In addition to hosting daily Monotype tournaments, the room sponsors multiple events or competitions throughout the year, which are described below.
Monotype Events!
Monotype Monthly Championship
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The Monotype Monthly Championship, or MMC, is a two-part tournament designed to recognize the top player(s) in the standard Monotype metagame on a monthly basis. Anyone may enter this competition simply by playing in the Monotype room's official tournaments.
The first portion of the MMC consists of four qualifying periods that last seven to eight days. Each day, there are three to four official tournaments, hosted at 2am, 8am, 2pm, and 8pm EST (GMT -5), in which the winner and runner ups are awarded points. These points tally up throughout a qualifying period, and the people with the two highest point totals are entered into the second portion of the tournament: an eight-player, single elimination, best-of-three tournament. At the end of the month (after four qualifying cycles) the eight-player tour starts, and the winner is crowned Monotype Champion of the Month!
Monotype Premier League
Premier Leagues are a staple of the Smogon competitive environment and the annual Monotype Premier League, or MPL, represents the top Monotype competition of the year! The inaugural MPL was won by the Ambitious Altarias.
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Much like in Smogon Premier League, eight managers draft teams of about ten top-level players to compete across seven Monotype metagames. Monotype Premier League started the first week of February and is currently ongoing. Check out the MPL thread to watch the top Monotype battlers compete across the following Monotype metagames:
- ORAS (2x)
- BW
- UU (UU as determined by Monotype ladder stats)
- Doubles
- Almost Any Ability
- STABmons
- Monothreat (All players must bring the same type; e.g., Fire Monothreat means everyone brings, and prepares to face, Fire teams)
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Monotype Ladder Tournament
Like Premier Leagues, Ladder Tours are common on Smogon. Monotype's Ladder Tournament is structured similar to Smogon's Official Ladder Tournament. Participants are required to ladder up in a series of qualifying cycles. The top finishers from each cycle participate in a bracket-style tournament to determine the champion. The 2015 Monotype Ladder Tour was hosted during the northern hemisphere summer on the Monotype room's website—expect to see the 2016 version in the Monotype subforum later this year!
Core Challenges
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In a Monotype Core Challenge, colloquially referred to as "CCs", players are given a core from a specific type and challenged to ladder up as high as possible over the course of two weeks. The CCs were on a short break for Monotype Premier League, but they just returned!
This is one of the room's most popular events and has run for more than a year with ~90 unique challenges spanning all 18 types. The top finisher from each challenge is recognized in a hall of fame and they also have the opportunity to showcase their winning strategies via an RMT.
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Lower-Tier Ladder Contest
Monotype is a stratified metagame where you will mostly face the eight to ten types that fare very well in the metagame. The remaining types are often referred to as "lower-tier" and are generally thought to struggle in the overall metagame. This competition challenges Monotype players to ladder up with six lower-tier types.
The player that achieves the highest ladder ranking with each type is recognized on the Monotype website, and the player with the highest overall ELO is eligible for a Monotype room voice prize!
Monotype Leagues / Clans
The Monotype metagame has its roots in groups of trainers that form "leagues" and accept challengers using OU teams—like the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion from the cartridge games. However, as the metagame developed, the leagues started competing amongst themselves, which gave rise to various competitions, such as Battle of the Leagues (BotL) and League vs. League challenges (LvLs).
For more information on BotL, LvLs, or how to challenge a league yourself, check out the leagues hub on the Monotype room's website.
OMGS & OMPL
Monotype is also a part of the major Other Metagames events: OM Grand Slam and OM Premier League. Check out the OM subforum for more information on these tournaments!
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