Generation 7 Monotype Recap
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Art by Ticken.
Introduction
Monotype started this generation with three significant influences: the introduction of Z-Moves, changing the tiering philosophy around Mega Pokémon, and starting with a minimalistic banlist. Z-Moves are powerful one-time moves that can be used in many different ways, such as setup, utility, and nukes, drastically changing the landscape of Monotype in between generations. Aside from the introduction of Z-Moves into the metagame, Monotype was changing another core philosophy it had in the sixth generation surrounding Mega Evolution. Previously, the type that Mega Pokémon were allowed to be used on was dependent on the Pokémon's base typing, regardless of the Mega typing, such as Mega Gyarados being legal on Flying teams. However, in the seventh generation, Megas were only allowed to be used when their typing was retained, meaning Mega Gyarados was no longer allowed on Flying but was still allowed to be used on Water teams. Finally, Monotype started with a minimalistic banlist for the new generation. The Monotype council aggressively tiered the metagame, balancing it out reasonably quickly. Only four suspects were held throughout the entirety of generation 7 after the initial council bans, which speaks to the great job done during the quickbanning period. Overall, the tier balanced reasonably quickly, and the majority of metagame changes happened slowly over time due to building innovation rather than bans or unbans. Let's jump in to see more specifically how the metagame has changed from the beginning to the end!
The Early Days
Monotype's early days were based around the council banning any threats that were considered way too powerful with the intent to resuspect them after. As it would turn out, the council only ended up banning what was too good, and nothing actually got resuspected. Going into the release of SM, it was decided that as much as was reasonably possible would be unbanned to at least try out in the new generation. Worst case scenario, it was thought, quickbans could be leveraged to bring Monotype back into a healthy state. This meant the likes of Damp Rock and Smooth Rock, Blaziken, Aegislash, and even Darkrai were unbanned, all of which were banned again within weeks of the SM release. Along with other old threats like Mega Metagross and Mega Slowbro that were unbanned, Monotype had to evaluate new dangers in the form of Zygarde with access to Thousand Arrows, the new Tapu Pokémon, and the Ultra Beasts. The banning of Zygarde in particular would become one of the most controversial decisions of the generation.
Zygarde
While no one doubted the immediate ban of Power Construct, and Zygarde-C by extension, the default Zygarde formes would endure over a month of discussion. The fundamental problem with the Zygarde formes was that Thousand Arrows was unreasonable for types weak to Ground to deal with. Unlike Earthquake, Ground-immune Pokémon could not easily switch into Thousand Arrows. While both Zygarde formes only had base 100 Attack, they had access to Dragon Dance or even just Choice Band to boost Thousand Arrows's damage output significantly. For a type like Steel, that meant using an otherwise suboptimal Mega Evolution in Mega Scizor instead of the soon-to-be-banned Mega Metagross. For Electric and Poison, there was essentially no hope, as these types are entirely reliant on Ground-immune teammates. In contrast to usage-based tiers, it was actually Zygarde-10% that was banned first. Its much greater Speed meant it could utilize Choice Band and wallbreak without fear of many common revenge killers that Zygarde had to face. Its lack of bulk was simply less valuable, as Zygarde was primarily threatened by Ice-type attacks in the matchups it was bulldozing. Ultimately, both Zygarde formes were banned from Monotype. Some would argue to ban Thousand Arrows instead, and such arguments would continue into the last year of this generation, but the council resolutely refused to entertain the idea. The Zygarde formes were broken due to their ability to run both wallbreaker and sweeper sets thanks to Outrage and Extreme Speed giving them options to hit both slower and faster Pokémon. Banning just the move Thousand Arrows was considered needlessly complicated for what was a very simple Pokémon.
Mega Stones
Early SM Monotype was impacted by which types had access to their Mega Evolutions, so the release of other Mega Stones enabled many types to gain significant viability as they came out. For example, when Mega Pidgeot was released, Normal teams were ecstatic to have an option that could outspeed and revenge kill Keldeo, which had been one of their biggest weaknesses, as Mega Lopunny had not yet come out. One of the biggest winners of the early-generation Mega Stone drought was Poison. Because it had access to Venusaurite from the beginning of the generation, it was able to form the sturdy Mega Venusaur + Toxapex + Alolan Muk + Crobat defensive backbone that persisted from day one to the end of SM. Unfortunately, as types progressively received checks to Poison, such as Mega Gallade on Psychic and Fighting teams and Mega Diancie on Fairy, it began a slow and very steady decline down the type rankings. As Mega Stones were released, other teams found themselves enabled to use very different team archetypes, such as when Water finally gained access to Mega Swampert, one of its best rain sweepers.
Medichamite
The one Mega Stone the community had been dreading the release of was Medichamite. A titan that had been part of the dominating balance Psychic teams in ORAS Monotype, Mega Medicham was predicted to be a high-impact release. Unsurprisingly, it was. Its base 100 Attack was doubled to unbearable levels with Pure Power, leaving Monotype with almost no defensive answers to its might when combined with its ridiculously powerful High Jump Kick and access to the elemental punches. It could even take out many faster Pokémon with Fake Out and Bullet Punch. Almost overnight, what made a team viable in Monotype was wiped clean and replaced with little more than one question: "Does it have an answer to Mega Medicham?" As teams went to extremes to check Mega Medicham, they opened themselves up to losing to more traditional teams, many of which lost to Mega Medicham itself. This would mark the only time in Monotype's history where it was truly a game of fishing for matchup, as you either used Mega Medicham, used a Mega Medicham counterteam, or countered Mega Medicham counterteams. Its release came at a horrible time for the Monotype council, as Monotype Premier League was just starting up. Banning Mega Medicham to retest it later would mean a delay of three months, but waiting to suspect Mega Medicham during the tournament could seriously affect the metagame. The ultimate decision was to suspect Medichamite as soon as possible; only a couple weeks into the tournament, the community decided enough was enough and voted to ban Mega Medicham with an 80% majority.
Magearna
Magearna had been one of the top threats in Monotype since SM came out. Blessed with the fantastic Steel / Fairy typing, great defensive and offensive stats, and an almost perfect movepool, it could do almost anything for both of the types it was available on. Early on, it had the support of teammates like Mega Metagross and Kartana on Steel teams, which let it slide somewhat under the radar until they were banned. Nevertheless, Magearna's ability to impact almost any matchup depending on what options it chose meant it was very difficult to prepare for, predict, and outplay. Even in matchups like Steel vs Water and Fairy vs Poison that are traditionally almost impossible to win, Magearna could easily turn the game around and make the state favorable with the right choices. Specifically, the innovation of running Shift Gear + Calm Mind along with Steelium Z gave Fairy a way to set up on and counter Poison's Mega Venusaur + Toxapex core. With Magearna warping so many matchups on its own, it was clear it was changing how the metagame could be played. With its Soul-Heart ability punishing even the slightest misstep, Magearna emerged from the end of Monotype Premier League as the clear best Pokémon in the tier. The question was whether it could stay. After some heated discussion and a suspect test, Magearna was ultimately banned from SM, marking the end of an era, as Steel teams would plummet from being a solid contender in the top tier of types to barely scratching the middle tier of types, and Fairy teams lost their answer to Poison.
Diancite
Within less than a week of Magearna's ban, Fairy found a new answer to Poison: Mega Diancie. With the new Speed calculation change on the turn Pokémon Mega Evolve, Mega Diancie could enjoy its great base 110 Speed without needing to waste a moveslot on Protect. This fact gave it the ability to run either an extra coverage move or a utility option, which made it an immediate major threat. While Fairy would certainly miss Magearna, Mega Diancie was a very effective replacement, and Poison teams were again faced with a Pokémon they had a very difficult time checking, especially when it had support from Klefki's Prankster Reflect and Light Screen. Its mixed attacking capabilities with powerful STAB moves in Moonblast and Diamond Storm made it very difficult to handle for the standard teams that relied on balance up until this point. Mega Diancie's release marked the turning point on Flying teams, as the extremely physically defensive Skarmory was 2HKOed by Hidden Power Fire and they began to explore the more defensively balanced Celesteela instead. Mega Diancie also sparked off changes in Dragon teams, which started to use the previously almost nonexistent Dragalge as a Fairy counter, which was able to OHKO Mega Diancie with its Adaptability-boosted Sludge Wave when holding a Poison Barb.
The Destination of a 4 Year Journey
Soon after Diancite's release, the community achieved one of its long-time goals: becoming officially recognized by Smogon. As one of Smogon's largest competitive communities, and with great activity across the entire site wherever possible, Monotype finally became an official tier after nearly half a decade as an Other Metagame. Unlike in ORAS, Monotype had fully integrated with Smogon and had demonstrated its growth as a community, changing to positively benefit the site as a whole. Nevertheless, there was still much more room to grow, and there was no intention of stopping here.
Marshadow
Marshadow was banned from Monotype within a week of its release, to give you an idea of the impact it had on the metagame. Marshadow is very easily identifiable as broken; with its Ghost / Fighting typing it had access to a STAB combination that could target everything for neutral damage. Furthermore, its offensive stats in combination with said typing, its fantastic movepool, and Technician allowed it to act as a nearly unstoppable physical wallbreaker and made it a violent force in the metagame. Its signature move, Spectral Thief, also allowed it to punish various setup sweepers by rendering their boosts useless and supporting itself, making it harder to deal with. Marshadow had multiple different sets in the metagame, all of which were extremely threatening. From Bulk Up + Marshadium Z to Life Orb, Choice Band, and Choice Scarf, it could fulfill a variety of different roles for Ghost and Fighting teams as a stallbreaker, a physical wallbreaker, or a revenge killer. Overall, this invalidated a handful of types such as Normal, Dark, Steel, and Psychic, to name a few. Ghost and Fighting, two of the worst types in the Monotype metagame, also became two of the best types the week Marshadow was allowed, which really shows what a powerhouse Marshadow is. For these reasons, the Monotype council unanimously decided to quickban Marshadow from the metagame.
Shadow Tag
Shadow Tag was a landmark suspect test for Monotype, as it marked the first suspect test Monotype held after becoming an official tier. Much like in other tiers that Shadow Tag tormented, it was not that the Pokémon were broken themselves but rather how Shadow Tag preventing opposing Pokémon from switching out created an unhealthy metagame. Psychic was the only type that had access to this ability, and the two primary users were Gothitelle and Wobbuffet. Gothitelle has a diverse movepool, which allowed it to be tailored to trap and take care of specific threats to Psychic teams. Key defensive Pokémon like Toxapex, Mega Venusaur, Swampert, Mantine, Skarmory, and Celesteela were all easily trapped and taken down, which meant that Gothitelle simply excelled at picking apart defensive cores on types like Poison, Water, and Flying. It introduced a skill difference in battles because the Gothitelle player needed to win just one coinflip to trap a target, while the opponent had to win every coinflip to avoid getting trapped. In SM Monotype, a core that had gained a lot of traction at the time was Choice Scarf Victini + Choice Specs Gothitelle, which was able to break through Steel teams with no effort. Victini would pivot out of a predicted Heatran switch-in with U-turn to get rid of its Air Balloon, which allowed Gothitelle to trap and get rid of it with Hidden Power Ground. This would then allow Victini to easily take out the rest of the team. Overall, with this level of freedom and Gothitelle's ability to be designed to address whatever threat you wanted it to, Gothitelle was too much for the rest of the metagame. Now Wobbuffet, while not able to use its ability in as many ways, it still stood strong with a significant niche. It was able to trap and revenge kill an offensive threat at least once per battle with Counter or Mirror Coat, then possibly throw off a Destiny Bond, allowing Wobbuffet to skilllessly take down two Pokémon without much hesitation. With all of these effects and the impact it had on the metagame, it is very easy to see why Shadow Tag was banned with such a large margin.
Release of USM
After SM Monotype stabilized over the span of a year, the gradual release of the Mega Stones was followed by the USM games dropping. USM introduced a few new Pokémon to the Monotype metagame, namely a few new Ultra Beasts. Although Blacephalon and Stakataka never really made a big impact in Monotype because of the former being on two terrible types and the latter falling off as the metagame progressed, Naganadel became a huge threat in the Monotype metagame as soon as it was released. Naganadel had a good Speed tier coupled with Beast Boost to boost it further, as well as setup in Nasty Plot, making it a dangerous offensive threat many teams hated facing. A new impactful Z-Move was also introduced; Clangorous Soulblaze transformed Kommo-o into a massive threat in the metagame that could sweep a multitude of types. This led to Kommo-o being among the best Pokémon available to Fighting and Dragon teams compared to being mostly unused prior to USM release. Last but not least, USM introduced a variety of moves available through move tutors, with the most important one being Defog.
Defog
Defog has been an important part of competitive Pokémon for a long time due to its ability to remove entry hazards that many teams hate, and this is no different in Monotype. The abundance of new Defog users in USM shifted the Monotype metagame drastically by providing new options and opening new doors. Various Pokémon that were relevant in Monotype such as Landorus-T, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Tornadus-T, and Tapu Koko got Defog. Landorus-T could easily compress Defog onto Choice Scarf sets, making hazard removal much easier to fit on hyper offensive Flying, leading to a spike of usage in the archetype. Rotom-W receiving the move meant that a lot of Electric teams now started to drop Zapdos, as it was no longer necessary to clear hazards, while its presence on Water caused Mantine to fall off as the premier hazard removal option on balanced teams. In addition to that, Gliscor and Tornadus-T caused both Mantine and Skarmory to fall off on Flying too because of Gliscor's bulk and ability along with Tornadus's offensive presence opening up other options for hazard removal on bulky offensive and balanced Flying teams. Last but not least, Tapu Koko's access to Defog meant that it could get rid of Toxic Spikes for Fairy, which would cripple the entire team if left unremoved.
Naganadel
Barely a month after USM dropped, the council recognized the massive threat that was Naganadel and decided to hold a suspect test in order to determine if it was too good for the Monotype metagame. Naganadel had everything it needed to become a deadly sweeper: access to a good setup move in Nasty Plot, a good Speed tier coupled with good Special Attack, and a good special movepool. Its access to Fire Blast was incredibly useful for hitting Steel types such as Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor that it could not hit with its other attacks. On top of all this, its ability, Beast Boost, naturally boosted its Speed, which meant that only specific Pokémon like Choice Scarf Greninja, Ditto, Alolan Raichu under Electric Terrain, Excadrill under sand, and priority users could revenge kill it, making it difficult to check once it collected a KO and limiting its counterplay drastically. Unlike other Pokémon that were suspected, Naganadel only had one main set that it used: Dragonium Z, which let it use an incredibly strong attack that could KO Pokémon such as offensive Heatran, Toxapex, and Mantine, to name a few, after a Nasty Plot boost, along with coverage in Fire Blast and Sludge Wave. All in all, Naganadel was devastating to face for balanced and offensive teams alike because of its ability to pick apart defensive cores and its naturally high Speed and Special Attack. Some suboptimal sets like Choice Scarf Noivern and specially defensive Heatran became more popular in order to handle this oppressive force. After the suspect concluded and votes were cast, Naganadel ended up getting banned from Monotype.
Metagame Stabilizing
After Naganadel made its exit, USM Monotype started stabilizing to what it is today. Although Monotype isn't a usage-based tier, metagame development still does happen, mostly during tournaments where players need to innovate in order to beat opposing players and predicted matchups. New archetypes such as sandless Ground, bulky offensive rain with Toxapex, Mimikyu Fairy, and hyper offensive Flying came into popularity, while specific sets such as Curse Alolan Muk, Expert Belt Greninja, Sludge Bomb Toxapex, Autotomize Celesteela, Knock Off Clefable, and multiple new Tapu Bulu variants sprung up. In addition to this, the release of Zeraora gave Electric teams a fast physical attacker that could take on hard matchups like Normal, Grass, Poison, and Psychic, giving the type a boost in viability. The Monotype metagame has continued to change drastically in this period of time compared to what it was at the beginning of USM.
Conclusion
The seventh generation of Monotype was perhaps the biggest yet, with both the community and metagame growing massively and the metagame itself becoming official. Now, with Monotype moving into generation 8, who knows what Pokémon Sword and Shield will introduce to Monotype, and the only way to find out is to wait and see!
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