Resource SV UU DLC 2 Viability Rankings- Update at Post #232

[Monky25]

I agree with most of the nominations put forward in this thread and I figured I’d add some more to our slate.

to A-: As expected with no Ursaluna, Skeledirge is pretty legit right now with a lot of bulky offenses and balance builds making use of its ability to snowball rather quickly while being difficult to take down. It’s clear we’ve stopped treating Skeledirge like it’s a defensive Pokémon and a lot of its shortcomings have been optimized lately on common teams showcased in UUBD. Tera Fairy, Tera Poison, and Tera Water all have the ability to flip key matchups and further deny revenge killing chances and it’s a Mon prevalent to the point where you do have to account for it on your teams, granting it a rise to A-

to B: I really try my hardest to make teams that work using this Pokémon but it just can’t perform. It’s in this awkward position where it wants STABs, Knock Off, Stealth Rock, Earthquake, and Bullet Punch but clearly can’t fit them all and generally really feels tough to justify over other Steels like Excadrill, Cobalion, and even others like Scizor and Tinkaton. The prevalent offensive Dark-types like Lokix, Hoopa, and Grenjnja all give it shit in particular, but as a whole it’s really weird because you’re not handling most threats while also not really making much progress as a whole. It’s nice to compress a more sturdy Cornerpon answer + Latios check but its lack of usage is undeniable and B tier fits a lot better

and to B-: Believe me I’m also tired of seeing Psychic Terrain flip flop between the ranks but it’s undeniable Terrain still has a fairly decent place in the metagame even post Iron Crown, with Teapot + Hawlucha + the very deadly Scarf Hoopa being all useful wincons on the terrain that sometimes results in game winning matchups. It’s not amazing but enough to break out of the C rank mess

to C: Milotic kinda just does what this wants to do but compressing Excadrill + Greninja check in one is a lot more valuable than the Latios + Greninja check, plus the extra Speed and Scald access sets Milotic apart to where Empoleon is just really fringe and is at best C rank

to UR: In our monthly update cleanup, these shitmons stand out as the ones I’d cut from the VR entirely. Amoonguss is a Grass that doesn’t resist Ground, a Poison that doesn’t resist Poison, and generally feels really do nothing compared to Hydrapple with a massive lack of usage as a whole. There is no reason to really use Mienshao over Okidogi as a Choice Scarf user and it doesn’t offer anything else to stay ranked. Manaphy is plain terrible; it’s too weak and not bulky enough to win games and generally doesn’t even force many switches to get setup chances, that plus 4MSS and the fall off of HO really makes it seem like there’s just no reason to actually use this. Iron Jugulis is also plain bad in Torn Zapdos Hoopa Lokix tier. Golurk is a meme wallbreaker 1000 who gets ranked and promptly unranked because it’ll always be just a usable option rather than truly viable, especially with slow breakers being worse off these days. Lastly, Thundurus only really should be used on HO where you REALLY need to outspeed and hit Cornerpon with Focus Blast and that’s not enough to really warrant a whole ranking on the VR

As alluded to earlier, we have a slate coming soon, so I’m making an announcement to get in your nominations by Sunday morning PST to ensure they make it onto the slate for this coming VR update. We are looking forward to hopefully reading some good posts in the coming days!

 

[Goombatower69]

B -> B+
I believe that Keldeo is a very underestimated mon, in particular its specs set. Hydrapple becoming less viable and greninja and hoopa becoming dominant threats is fantastic for it, as vacuum wave stops most Greninja and Ogerpon-C sweeps and secret sword can threaten out Hoopa, while speed tieing and one shotting Coballion. It also does fantastic damage against Zapdos, and with tera water surf outdamages physically defensive slowbros regenerator.

 

[Mossy Sandwich]

Keep A:
Might be a bit weird to bring up a mon to get it to stay in a certain rank, but I think it's relevant in this case as I've seen a good amount of people support a Hydrapple drop, which I personally believe should not happen. Hydrapple has seen less usage lately in tournaments, but I believe that to be moreso caused by a general change in mindset surrounding teambuilding as people are avoiding Regenerator cores more often. However, Hydrapple remains a terrifying offensive trait and a great defensive pillar for most teams it gets slotted on. First of all, with the Ursaluna ban, teams using pokemon like Slowking and Excadrill have been given more breathing room and those mons are easily taken advantage of by Hydrapple. There has also been a significant rise in Hoopa-U usage and Hydrapple is one of the only mons that can actually scout its choice lock thanks to Regenerator and its higher defense stat. It can also use Tera Fairy to completely blank Hyperspace Fury if you need it to. While Okidogi can be a bit annoying for it to fight, using the stat spread below, Hydrapple can usually survive any hits and 1HKO with a +2 Draco Meteor provided Okidogi isn't Tera Fairy.
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpA
Modest Nature
Another nice change for Hydrapple is that Zapdos now rarely ever runs offensive sets, meaning it's more often able to survive a Hurricane and hit it back which it might not have had the ability to do in previous metas. As a whole, I believe the metagame is fairly nice to Hydrapple and that it performs well enough to remain A tier.

B+ --> A-:
Zarude's defensive traits are rather similar to Hydrapple as it's a good check to Water and Ground types as well as a fairly bulky Dark-resistance to keep Hoopa in check. While it may not be as efficient defensively as Apple is, this kind of defensive utility is valuable to a variety of teams, so it's hard to deny its relevance. Zarude is also a similarly tough pokemon to wall than Hydrapple with its Swords Dance set. Of course, it's not difficult for Cobalion or Okidogi to take its hits, but they both hate losing their items and are gonna be worn down very quickly, at which point the path will be cleared for Zarude. Zarude's high speed, bulk and resilience to status can heavily limit options to deal with it and it can often take down 2 or 3 opposing mons if used properly. Obviously, there are some issues that you have to keep in mind, notably you need a good gameplan for Tornadus and Zapdos and you want some way to wear down the Fighting types such as using Spikes, but Zarude with the right teammates and a decent player is one of the scarier pokemon in the metagame. Even in tougher matchups where it might not be able to wallbreak as well, its defensive utility and access to Knock Off usually means you won't be playing a mon down and this kind of consistency is enough for a rise.

 

[Heatranator]

Very last minute UR mon nom
UR -> C

I was playing RU and having to face my 50th HO of the day that included yanmega, who I believe to be super busted in that tier. I thought, what would happen to yanmega if it was banned? Would it sit in RUBL limbo? Or is it actually underexplored in UU? Well, I decided to test it out. And honestly, it went pretty well. I was able to climb up to 1500s by using a yanmega HO, and yanmega did put in a lot of work. So I'll explain today why it should be ranked.

Yanmega @ Throat Spray
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Tera Blast
- Protect
This is the set I used in the team for reference, its basically the RU set but timid instead of modest.

Now, what does yanmega provide to HO? Well, with its speed boost ability, its able to revenge kill basically anything in the tier. With one protect, its faster then basically the entire unboosted meta, and after two ability procs everything that doesn't use a double speed ability. From here, yanmega can use bug buzz on a target (preferably something slower) in order to boost its special attack by one stage. This makes it very dangerous to basically any frailer team, as they will not be able to try to outspeed it. Now, what about priority? Well, yanmega slotting in protect in order to get speed boosts is ofc good against lokix, which usually mons who have to use protect don't like doing. However, yanmega doesn't really have any more moves it wants, stabs+tera blast is usually enough for it. It can also survive lokix sucker punch even if its at 50% and pivot scizor bullet punch. It's speed stat also makes it faster then lokix, meaning it can use a revenge kill that lokix has gotten as an entry point to launch off a bug buzz, which is very nice. Once its gotten a boost, yanmega is quite scary. Even against resisted targets its not ready to tera against, it can still cheese its way through them with air slash, with the 30% flinch chance meaning it can beat something like tinkaton if it gets lucky enough. If it decides to tera, not a lot of things can withstand its hits as the steel types that usually wall it are hit super effectively.

Now, yanmega has quite a few flaws. Firstly, its deathly afraid of stealth rocks, as while it can take common priority moves at 50%, it will still undercut its decent enough physical defense. It also commonly is roadblocked by common mons in torn-t and zapdos even if it tera grounds, which it has to hope it flinches multiple times in order to beat them. And of course, if it wants to beat most steel types, it is going to have to tera. However, despite this, I think yanmega is a decent mon in UU, and thus I believe it should be ranked C tier.


Team I used to get to 1500s with yanmega (might put this in the samples thread at some point):
https://pokepast.es/41af1dedd67244a0

Proof of peak with the team:

Winning replay with yanmega:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2181888635?p2 Here, we can see yanmega is doing its stuff. It claims a kill on lokix, scouts haracanine with protect, tera's to kill it, and then takes 50% of the gyara's health, allowing lokix to revenge kill. It basically traded itself and tera for 2.5 mons, which is a pretty big thing.

Some other set ideas:
Tera blast electric is an option that you could try, resists electric moves and makes you a lot better against zapdos/torn while resisting scizor's bullet punch. However, you do less damage to steel types, which is big drawback as steel types can usually take a hit and respond back with a ko.
Ancient power technically hits both zapdos and torn for big damage, but 8 pp is unreliable and doesn't help at all with steel types. However, if you have something that can lure in and remove steel types, like magnezone or smthing, then it could be a cool option.

 

[Monky25]

It’s been 4 weeks since the ban of Ursaluna, and with UUBD regular season coming to a close in addition to the near end of Grand Slam, we’ve decided to run another update to accurately reflect the tier post Ursaluna. I don’t really feel like writing too much mostly because a lot of these changes are uncontroversial, but there will still be a 48 hour period to ask questions about why certain Pokemon that we voted on did as well as did not change on the VR this update. We hope you enjoy these changes!

Rises

• from A- to A+
• from A- to A
• from B+ to A-
• from B+ to A-
• from B+ to A-
• from B to B+
• from C to B
• from C to B
• from C to B-
• from C to B-
• from C to B-
• from C to B-
• from C to B-
• from UR to C
• from UR to C
• from UR to C
• from UR to C

Drops

• from A+ to A
• from A to A-
• from B+ to B
• from B+ to B
• from B+ to B
• from B+ to B
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B to B-
• from B- to C
• from C to D
• from B- to UR
• from B- to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR
• from C to UR

Unchanged Placements

(remains UR)

 

[Rabia]

gonna have to ask why my homie sandy shocks dropped. he puts in far too much work every game I use him in for me to understand this shift

 

[AuroraOurania]

Is the dirge rise entirely due to its more offensive set? Or is it also seeing more defensive usefulness?

 

[MC Squared]

Crazy the Pokémon with arguably 3 amazing signature moves is bad in UU. Power creep is insane

 

[ThatOneApple]

gonna have to ask why my homie sandy shocks dropped. he puts in far too much work every game I use him in for me to understand this shift

While being a Zapdos switch that can set hazards is cool, its not that hard for Zapdos to outlast it as both Hurricane and Heat Wave do a solid chunk of Sandy's health. Additionally, Power Gem is pretty pitiful most other things and bulky Zapdos can take it decently while grasses and Latios just sit on Sandy's with it, while Tera Ice Blast is committal and can backfire if it doesnt hit its mark as it loses its advantages type for switching into Zapdos. Its also rather irritating to get it in on other things reliably for how little it can end up doing in return as it lacks the immediate threat level Thundurs-T has with higher Sp Atk and coverage. Spikes also isnt as unique as it once was with options like Gligar popping up on the offensive teams Sandy tends to find itself on. Thats my take on it anyways.

Is the dirge rise entirely due to its more offensive set? Or is it also seeing more defensive usefulness?

Its quite a threat later in the game if its preserved as its more able to spam torch song if its healthy, especially if tera is saved for it. Dirge's threat level is held back when you need to use it defensively as it can be worn down, but its defensive applications are still pretty neat with tera poison being used to improve the Okidogi matchup. However, other defensive tera types like fairy or water are still options for foes like Hoopa-U or Greninja respectively.

 

[mrsuslawl]

• from B- to UR

[/SPOILER]

my goat washed

 

[mintwinter]

Pretty curious about the washtom rise. I mean, it was really annoying for certain teams to deal with before, but has anything changed to make it more viable?

 

[timeflow]

has something changed that makes gastrodon b- or has it just been underrated?

 

[Confuzed]

Serperior unranked is painful

 

[WilhelmTheOkay]

Serperior unranked is painful

Serperior is still A-, its ranking did not change.

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

Am curious about the following:

• from C to B
• from C to B-
• from UR to C
• from UR to C
• from UR to C
• from UR to C

Particularly the last four. Has Stall been gathering traction lately in the tier? What does Gligar do in particular that makes it ranked decently well in the scope of the bulky Grounds outside of Spikes + U-turn, or is that its main draw? Similarly the comparison between Milotic and Slowking, guessing mainly the lack of Dark-type weakness?

I do have to say its funny that we live in a meta where Avalugg and Gligar are considered better than Manaphy of all things but hey that's how life goes I guess.

 

[Estarossa]

Am curious about the following:


Particularly the last four. Has Stall been gathering traction lately in the tier? What does Gligar do in particular that makes it ranked decently well in the scope of the bulky Grounds outside of Spikes + U-turn, or is that its main draw? Similarly the comparison between Milotic and Slowking, guessing mainly the lack of Dark-type weakness?

I do have to say its funny that we live in a meta where Avalugg and Gligar are considered better than Manaphy of all things but hey that's how life goes I guess.

On the topic of cyclizar specifically, while stall has been gaining some traction and someone else on VR team will likely respond on that bit, (We've seen stuff like the avalugg + cyc stall getting used for instance) Cyc has also been seeing use on some balance style builds too. It's the aspect of it being quite a longevous rapid spinner that has good punishing moves in general, Knock + U-turn + Dragon Tail means it always keeps up momentum and even spinblockers like stcha have to be quite considerate of it if hazards are up other side, and its valuable typing + AV bulk means it's quite a nice switch in to things like Gren etc and can definitely be used to switch into things like Torn, Dirge, Zap etc and threaten them with its knock and stuff if you can deal with potentially being crippled by knock / status. Dtail also gives it some usefulness as an anti-set up tool against bulkier set uppers like stcha/dirge if in bad positions, and its been quite nice in some comps such as gastro cyc in practice.

 

[Forest Guardian]

Why did Pecharunt rise? And why did Greninja and Enamorus-Therian drop?

 

[ThatOneApple]

Why did Pecharunt rise? And why did Greninja and Enamorus-Therian drop?

Pecharunt is pretty threatening long term with its plot set, with malignant chain being tough to switch into due to the toxic chance in tandem with the fact that it can wear down excadrill over the course of the game but hitting it with shadow balls as it comes in. The ability to draw in drill is also useful for its pivot set as it let’s it bring in teammates like Hydrapple or Zarude in without them taking a hit so that Hydrapple can heal more with regen and Zarude can remain healthy to be threatening for longer. The parting shot drop is also potentially useful for opening up avenues for teammates to set up but Im unsure if this has been messed with yet, apple and zarude are probably good teammates to make use of it though.

Greninja dropped due to its partner in crime ursaluna being banned, making it so that teams aren’t so easy for it to cleave through. It also faces dark type competition from Hoopa who is generally more reliable as a breaker due to it being able to mash one button as opposed to gren who needs to predict at times. It’s still great as speed control due to its more varied coverage just not as dominant as it once was.

Enamorus struggles with its iffy defensive profile in tandem with its low speed. The main draw it had was being able to punish the Hydrapples that were very popular for a time, but with apple less popular it has less avenues for entry. Probably threatening into some slower structures but those aren’t super popular rn even post Luna (though I personally think they’re worth messing with), and overall it was probably just a bit overranked to begin with.

 

[Heatranator]

Why did Keldeo drop? I would have thought with hydrapple being less popular and zarude being a vacuum wave target, it would have gotten better.

Why was Yanmega left unranked? Not that I'm upset or anything, I can completely understand why it wasn't ranked, just maybe some reasoning would be nice.

 

[ThatOneApple]

Why did Keldeo drop? I would have thought with hydrapple being less popular and zarude being a vacuum wave target, it would have gotten better.

Why was Yanmega left unranked? Not that I'm upset or anything, I can completely understand why it wasn't ranked, just maybe some reasoning would be nice.

Keld dropped because, while apple being less popular is cool, AV torn and Slowking being more popular post Luna sucks for specs sets. Additionally, it faces competition as a water breaker from Greninja, who yes isn’t as popular, but it’s still usually more reliable than Keld due to superior coverage. Cm taunt sets could potentially pop up to punish slowking stuff but as of now Keld hasn’t been particularly great.

As for yanmega, the issue with it is it’s kind of a dud into Zap and AV Torn. Zapdos resists all the hits and can roost them off rather easily while torn is just really fat and can either beat yanmega down itself or put it in priority range before pivoting to said priority, be it sciz bullet or kix sucker. It also needs throat spray to boost its rather weak offenses, meaning it lacks boots to cover its quad rocks weakness, as well as tera blast to actually hit steels like drill and tink, meaning that you need to tera it in a good amount of games. Overall it just doesn’t really have any particularly interesting qualities for HO that make it worth ranking and the downside of having it over other threats is pretty big.

 

[Monky25]

Pretty curious about the washtom rise. I mean, it was really annoying for certain teams to deal with before, but has anything changed to make it more viable?

The metagame has taken a large shift towards bulky offense after the ban of Ursaluna, which further allows Washer to shine as a very utility oriented pivot that can now use more defensive teammates to keep it from getting worn down quickly in-game. Mixed/Specially Defensive sets are more explored that allows it to handle threats from both sides such as Greninja, Tornadus, and Scizor, and other factors that helps it include the fact most Excadrill are not carrying Swords Dance as well as just how punishing Hydro Pump is into the most common Volt immunes in Excadrill and Thundurus-T

has something changed that makes gastrodon b- or has it just been underrated?

Gastrodon has been more potent as of late with its solid role compression of the very rare Spikes and ability to compress a Greninja check + counter to the Electric-types. Less setup sweepers running around is also beneficial, ultimately meaning Gastrodon stands out among the C rank guys to have a small but notable rise into B-

Am curious about the following:


Particularly the last four. Has Stall been gathering traction lately in the tier? What does Gligar do in particular that makes it ranked decently well in the scope of the bulky Grounds outside of Spikes + U-turn, or is that its main draw? Similarly the comparison between Milotic and Slowking, guessing mainly the lack of Dark-type weakness?

I do have to say its funny that we live in a meta where Avalugg and Gligar are considered better than Manaphy of all things but hey that's how life goes I guess.

Yes, stall has been quite potent lately with the three new additions + Mandibuzz/Toxapex/Skeledirge being a formidable six that generally can be tough to pressure for a lot of teams while simultaneously having its own ways to make progress in Skeledirge and Toxic Spikes. It has bad matchups and doesn’t always win but C rank is a solid reflection for the viability of stall at the moment

Gligar offers a LOT of useful traits in one that makes it a very solid utility pick. Its defensive profile handles many dangerous threats like Excadrill, Cobalion, Okidogi, and Thundurus-T all in one and is overall just a utility beast with Knock Off, U-turn, Toxic, and the rare Spikes all being very valuable tools to support a lot of teams right now. Its seen a lot of usage that makes B a more than justified ranking on the VR

Milotic does offer some unique compression of a Greninja + Excadrill check in one that also functions as a slow pivot with recovery. It's mostly a soft check to a lot of things including Metagross, Rhyperior, and Quaquaval but the compression it brings really helps a good bit of offense and bulky offense teams that justify a nice rise to B-

Haxorus finds itself ranked due to being a useful tool on hyper offense that can kill the deadly Skeledirge while still being dangerous with Swords Dance + Loaded Dice Scale Shot. HO is def in an awkward place but Haxorus offers enough benefits to make some consistent appearances as a whole and as such lands on the VR

A big thanks to Estarossa and ThatOneApple for stepping up to answer these questions, I really appreciate both of you. For the community, this thread is now open for your nominations!

 

[Goombatower69]

Nominate Keldeo from B- to B+/B
Honestly this dropping was a pretty big shock for me, as I find that it is still a really strong breaker. Although I feel the biggest problem is the set, as most people run pure STAB with flip turn and vacuum wave. What they fail to realise is that flip turn on Keldeo is frankly just straight up bad. Introducing:

Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tera Blast
- Secret Sword
- Surf
- Vacuum Wave

While this set doesn't have the pivoting capability of the regular set, it makes up for it by breaking water types that could otherwise wall or cripple it with status, such as Slowking, Toxapex and Rotom-W, and lets it comfortably 2 shot Tornadus-Therian, and one shot the common set with rocks up, which otherwise abuses its presence.
Its typing also lets it be a strong Greninja and Hoopa-Unbound check, as it switches in relatively comfortably, and threatens them out, letting you deal free damage onto their team.
Additionally, I found that Vacuum wave is a more reliable priority option than Lokix FI, as while it lacks the general damage FI does to switchins, it is much more reliable at stopping Greninja and Rockpon sweeps, as those are generally more inclined towards protect thanks to said FI.
Now you might be saying "What about Hydrapple and Latios?". Well, just run AV Torn-T, everyone does so anyways and it is a pretty reliable check to both of these. Really the biggest obstacle I found was Serperior, as it can survive a secret sword and then paralyse the incoming Tornadus, but with the predicted drops Serperior is not a pokemon I'm terribly concerned about.

 

[udongirl]

Nominate Keldeo from B- to B+/B
Honestly this dropping was a pretty big shock for me, as I find that it is still a really strong breaker. Although I feel the biggest problem is the set, as most people run pure STAB with flip turn and vacuum wave. What they fail to realise is that flip turn on Keldeo is frankly just straight up bad. Introducing:

Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tera Blast
- Secret Sword
- Surf
- Vacuum Wave

While this set doesn't have the pivoting capability of the regular set, it makes up for it by breaking water types that could otherwise wall or cripple it with status, such as Slowking, Toxapex and Rotom-W, and lets it comfortably 2 shot Tornadus-Therian, and one shot the common set with rocks up, which otherwise abuses its presence.
Its typing also lets it be a strong Greninja and Hoopa-Unbound check, as it switches in relatively comfortably, and threatens them out, letting you deal free damage onto their team.
Additionally, I found that Vacuum wave is a more reliable priority option than Lokix FI, as while it lacks the general damage FI does to switchins, it is much more reliable at stopping Greninja and Rockpon sweeps, as those are generally more inclined towards protect thanks to said FI.
Now you might be saying "What about Hydrapple and Latios?". Well, just run AV Torn-T, everyone does so anyways and it is a pretty reliable check to both of these. Really the biggest obstacle I found was Serperior, as it can survive a secret sword and then paralyse the incoming Tornadus, but with the predicted drops Serperior is not a pokemon I'm terribly concerned about.

For the same reason, I nominate azumarill to B+
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
Tera Type: Electric /Ground
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Tera Blast / knock off

Even without using stab tera, azumarill basically does not allow many pokemon in this tier to check and can destroy a few checks such as zapdos, pecharunt and toxapex with tera.
The tera ground provides resistance to poison and electric while punishing the switches of pecharunt and toxapex, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to switch. It is a known fact that tera electric destroys all zapdos.
Azumarill is a mon that should have more tera pioneered, as the free turns it gains from tera can cause tremendous damage to the opposing team, and it also has enough bulk to take advantage of the type gained by tera.

 

[Goombatower69]

This one is a bit of a crack nomination, but UR->C

Now you might wonder, what does a mon like this do in this metagame? Well, counter the top 3 pokemon in the tier while simultaneously being one of the rare removere AND an effective spinblocker. Lets break down the set and traits

Bramble Gamble (Brambleghast) @ Leftovers
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Strength Sap
- Rapid Spin
- Poltergeist / Power Whip
- Power Whip / Spikes

Now lets look at the pros and cons of this tumbleweed

Pros:
-Semi-reliable Excadrill check and Zapdos Switch-in. Full defense investments mean even at +2 excadrill has a hard time 2 shotting it and Strength sap lets it heal of damage while simultaneously weakening it. Poltergeist/Power Whip in return have high enough BP to guaranteed 2HKO Excadrill. Its ability also makes it fantastic at switching into the birds, even though it does get considerably chunked by Tornadus Knock Off, and Zapdos can switch out, but at that point, Bramble already is at +1 so anything coming in has to eat a booster Poltergeist.
-Rapid spinner that actually threatens spinblockers. We all had the situation where we desperately needed to remove Rocks, but the opponent had a Sinistcha, and it just sat on you for days? Yeah, this thing blows up Sinistcha, meaning that you can spin away those hazards no problem, lest they loose their sinistcha. Tera Steel also helps it nullify Pecharant as a spinblocker too.
-Grass/Ghost is a very potent stab combo, only being resisted by Zarude and Mandibuzz, and the high BP of it STAB moves means it doesn't need investment to be threatening. Defensively it also is a true grass type, meaning it resists all the things it needs to resist.
-It is a spiker that threatens out most removal.

Cons:
-Lets be real, those stats are AWFUL. Even at max investment It still has a 90% chance of dying in 2 hits to +2 Excadrills EQ without Leftovers, and with them it takes rocks AND spikes, meaning you might as well not have them.
-While it is a check, it is not a counter to the birds. Both Zapdos and Tornadus can still pivot out, and Tornadus can even remove the lefties it relies on to be a reliable Exca check.
-It is ill suited against the dark types of the meta. Hoopa and Zarude obliterate it, and Greninja uses it as BB fodder. The only way to beat that is to use a dark check and a Greninja check, and while most teams do require one anyways, it still hurts.
-Because it needs full defense, it is slow as shit, barely outspeeding the 200 mark and being slower than 252 speed Scizor, meaning that you need a physical wall that covers that.
-If the opponent has a Mandibuzz you might as well be playing with 5 mons. It walls it stabs, it can't switch in on anything mandibuzz does, it gets free momentum because Bramble is faster, and it removes any hazards Bramble might have. At the very least it gets to block Defog (I think that's how wind rider works), but that just makes Foul Play less bearable. The upside is that Mandi is only used on Stall, the downside is that if you face Stall, good luck.
-It is a flying resist only on paper. It still takes a billion million from Brave Bird, and Ters Blast Flying Thundurus-T eats it for breakfast.

Team mates:
-Cobalion is an excellent partner, as it beats a lot of the things that Bramble has troubles with, maing Hoopa and Zarude, as well as Scizor on the occasion that it omits CC (for some reason)
-Zapdos ironically enough enjoys it being another secondary Excadrill check, while also covering the poor Scizor matchup
-Azumarill/Keldeo profit of off the Greninja that will come in on Brambleghast quite excellently, as well as being another Hoopa switchin. Zarude remains a problem though.

Some replays featuring it:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2204843460-50vob8t1i5rrdmn0vgx3uwo18okdbd3pw -Checks Drill and switches in on Torn multiple times. Had I played better with positioning it would have probably been alive by the end of the game
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2205045564-0ufom0v2zweq2wgbq4e35ujqsufg3hwpw - Brambleghast goes Crazy against what I can only assume is an offense team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2205060242 - This particular game shows off its value immensely, letting it be able to both keep up the spikes against the spinner and remove the hazards for its own team, letting cobalion consistently check the opponents zarude, which otherwise might have ran through the team

 

[haunted paper]

This one is a bit of a crack nomination, but UR->C

Now you might wonder, what does a mon like this do in this metagame? Well, counter the top 3 pokemon in the tier while simultaneously being one of the rare removere AND an effective spinblocker. Lets break down the set and traits

Bramble Gamble (Brambleghast) @ Leftovers
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Strength Sap
- Rapid Spin
- Poltergeist / Power Whip
- Power Whip / Spikes

Now lets look at the pros and cons of this tumbleweed

Pros:
-Semi-reliable Excadrill check and Zapdos Switch-in. Full defense investments mean even at +2 excadrill has a hard time 2 shotting it and Strength sap lets it heal of damage while simultaneously weakening it. Poltergeist/Power Whip in return have high enough BP to guaranteed 2HKO Excadrill. Its ability also makes it fantastic at switching into the birds, even though it does get considerably chunked by Tornadus Knock Off, and Zapdos can switch out, but at that point, Bramble already is at +1 so anything coming in has to eat a booster Poltergeist.
-Rapid spinner that actually threatens spinblockers. We all had the situation where we desperately needed to remove Rocks, but the opponent had a Sinistcha, and it just sat on you for days? Yeah, this thing blows up Sinistcha, meaning that you can spin away those hazards no problem, lest they loose their sinistcha. Tera Steel also helps it nullify Pecharant as a spinblocker too.
-Grass/Ghost is a very potent stab combo, only being resisted by Zarude and Mandibuzz, and the high BP of it STAB moves means it doesn't need investment to be threatening. Defensively it also is a true grass type, meaning it resists all the things it needs to resist.
-It is a spiker that threatens out most removal.

Cons:
-Lets be real, those stats are AWFUL. Even at max investment It still has a 90% chance of dying in 2 hits to +2 Excadrills EQ without Leftovers, and with them it takes rocks AND spikes, meaning you might as well not have them.
-While it is a check, it is not a counter to the birds. Both Zapdos and Tornadus can still pivot out, and Tornadus can even remove the lefties it relies on to be a reliable Exca check.
-It is ill suited against the dark types of the meta. Hoopa and Zarude obliterate it, and Greninja uses it as BB fodder. The only way to beat that is to use a dark check and a Greninja check, and while most teams do require one anyways, it still hurts.
-Because it needs full defense, it is slow as shit, barely outspeeding the 200 mark and being slower than 252 speed Scizor, meaning that you need a physical wall that covers that.
-If the opponent has a Mandibuzz you might as well be playing with 5 mons. It walls it stabs, it can't switch in on anything mandibuzz does, it gets free momentum because Bramble is faster, and it removes any hazards Bramble might have. At the very least it gets to block Defog (I think that's how wind rider works), but that just makes Foul Play less bearable. The upside is that Mandi is only used on Stall, the downside is that if you face Stall, good luck.
-It is a flying resist only on paper. It still takes a billion million from Brave Bird, and Ters Blast Flying Thundurus-T eats it for breakfast.

Team mates:
-Cobalion is an excellent partner, as it beats a lot of the things that Bramble has troubles with, maing Hoopa and Zarude, as well as Scizor on the occasion that it omits CC (for some reason)
-Zapdos ironically enough enjoys it being another secondary Excadrill check, while also covering the poor Scizor matchup
-Azumarill/Keldeo profit of off the Greninja that will come in on Brambleghast quite excellently, as well as being another Hoopa switchin. Zarude remains a problem though.

Some replays featuring it:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2204843460-50vob8t1i5rrdmn0vgx3uwo18okdbd3pw -Checks Drill and switches in on Torn multiple times. Had I played better with positioning it would have probably been alive by the end of the game
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2205045564-0ufom0v2zweq2wgbq4e35ujqsufg3hwpw - Brambleghast goes Crazy against what I can only assume is an offense team
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-2205060242 - This particular game shows off its value immensely, letting it be able to both keep up the spikes against the spinner and remove the hazards for its own team, letting cobalion consistently check the opponents zarude, which otherwise might have ran through the team

Other players might compare this mon to Sinitcha given the typing and similar way of being used on a team. While Sinitcha has higher bulk and better SpAtk, Brambleghast has better STABs, option to set up spikes and spin, as well as being immune to Hurricane and Air Slash (sorry no defog). But I think there's more to it than that.
Brambleghast could also be used a fast pivot (similar to Rotom-W kinda).

Brambleghast @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Colbur Berry
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 104 HP / 164 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Poltergeist
- Power Whip
- Strength Sap / Spikes

164 attack allows it to KO bulky Azumarill and 240 +speed is for fast Excadrill outside of sand. Tera Water can allow it to mess with Ice Shard Mamo, +2 BP Scizor, and Flare Blitz locked Arcanine-H. Colbur Berry is for Torn-T's knock and to surprise reverse KO Greninja. The 104 EVs in HP help with all that.

Rapid Spin boosting speed is too valuable to pass up and can allow Brambleghast to build up momentum against non-tera ghost Donphan at the start of a match. 303 speed at +1 can actually be really annoying for most teams to deal with and forces a lot of mons out. So if you have spikes and they don't have HDB on their mon (and if they aren't a flying type like Mandi), then that could be useful chip in the long run. At base speed, Brambleghast is already checking Mamo, Rotom-W, Quaquaval, and Metagross. But at +1, this mon can threaten Greninja, Keldeo, non-scarf Latios, and Sandyshocks w/o a boost.

Just some stuff I noticed and figured I'd share.