(posted because Mark K said he'd post his changes later)
devised a preliminary list, feel free to advise my changes as they are very early in
S rank:
Zygarde: (Incredible diversity and ease of sweep with the Altarianite sets)
Groudon-Primal: (Alike to Zygarde, but is more defensive and supportive in its potential roles)
A+ rank:
Blissey: (An amazing glue and switchin to almost every special attacker there is, especially if unboosted. This Pokemon is very irritating to deal with due to its immense special bulk.)
Tapu Lele: (The Diancite stone has made having a Steel-type on the team fairly mandatory. However, piss poor defences and the limited life of terrain make this Pokemon a one-shot chance. Changed rank to A. CM sets can also break through Blissey despite the limited life of psyterrain, and lacking walls as well as a very high speed tier make Lele a potential candidate for A+.)
A rank:
Magearna: (Incredible diversity in its sets and the ability to blanket check the majority of setup in the tier, as well as the majority of special attackers make this mon a fantastic glue and the removal of all Xerneas problems you ever have. Moved to A+, CM Split Cameruptite sets are extremely effective at stalling out opposing defensive cores and acting as a wincon, making Magearna an incredible pick for any team. Moved back to A, community input suggests that Magearna is easy to chip and therefore dispatch on offense, which is a rising trend at the moment.)
Arceus-Ground: (Ditto. You know this Pokemon by now. Best Groudon-Primal check in the game, capable of offensive pressure due to its Ground STAB.)
Zapdos: (Altarianite hit this mon quite hard, but it still checks and supports the team with momentum and anti-hazard support)
Kartana: (Altarianite might have made this mon better but I find it was quite overhyped earlier in the gen. With the decline of Zapdos, it can threaten teams very easily, and can also run a set of lures, such as Glalitite and Pinsirite.)
Arceus-Fairy: (Similar role of checking the majority of Fighting-types in the tier as well as being a very good check for Zygarde.)
Deoxys-Speed: (Sets up Stealth Rock every damn game if a Gyaradosite variant is present, and will often set up Spikes if the opponent doesn’t have a Magearna on their side)
Keldeo: (An incredibly powerful breaker that defeats most Supportceus with just its STAB moves, and another claimer of the title of 2hkoing PDon. Taunt sets can also shut down traditional counters such as Toxapex.)
A- rank:
Xerneas: (It’s fucking Xerneas.)
Manaphy: (Unfortunately, the release of Diancite and Altarianite have made this pixie’s life very difficult, as it finds itself commonly revenge killed by the majority of teams. It also finds fewer setup opportunities, due to the more offensively inclined metagame.)
Raikou: (to summarize, it’s an incredibly strong breaker that only PDon can really resist, and even then, Blissey can lose to Sub + CM. However, it’s fairly slow for the current metagame.)
Buzzwole: (An incredible wall for the majority of -atespeed users, using its fantastic 107/189 defenses as well as an incredible defensive typing. However, it falls quite easily to special attackers and mainly Substitutes, despite being the least passive of walls.)
Toxapex: (Latiasite gave it life, and now it acts as an incredibly good check to the Fighting-types in the tier. Oh, and it counters the two Fire/Fairies as well!)
Entei: (Zygarde can kinda screw this mon over, but Sacred Fire and a very strong 155 Attack Pixilate Extremespeed can be very hard to deal with even at neutral.)
Terrakion: (Teams are much more prepped for this mon, and Zygarde is on every team with the Altarianite stone, really hitting this Pokemon hard. It was incredibly difficult to deal with before, but I think its glory days are over.)
Weavile: (Explained by the community. Weavile is overrated. The meta also hates it at the moment. However, the ease of revenge killing where Tapu Lele does not exist and respectable damage output make Weavile a threat in the current metagame.)
Gengar: A- (after 22nd of September, however it is as it was on the old VR for now, as it'll get access to Zap Cannon to compliment Hex.)
B+ rank:
Arceus-Ghost: (It’s back. A difficult sweeper to break, but with the introduction of Marshadow, its life might get a little harder.)
Skarmory: (Entei isn’t seen much anymore, and most variants are quite easily defeated due to the rise of Electric types and more Red Orb users popping up. However, the mix of hazard and defog support cannot be denied.)
Tapu Koko: (A bit stuck on this one. Open to rising it to A-.)
Mew: (Mew is an all and everything Pokemon, and a rather tough support to break at that. If you want a Fighting resist and have your Arc forme taken, this is most likely your next best bet.)
Genesect: (opportunity cost sucks but +1 Techno Blast hurts like anything, and Explosion is basically a 1-1 trade. New sets in the form of Pidgeotite keep the great typing Genesect has, and also invalidate previous switchins to other sets such as Zapdos.)
Togekiss: (See: Mark K)
Landorus-Therian: (I’ll need more experience with this mon to say more about it, but I do think that this is B+ material.)
Volcarona: (The fall of Pinsirite has made this mon inadvertedly better and a lot tougher to take down after a +1 boost. Bulkarona sets (Cameruptite) have also made a splash, and can hit much harder with their coverage. Fire Blast even 2HKOs offensive variants of Groudon-Primal! Open to moving this within the whole of B.)
Thundurus: (An excellent balance breaker due to its high speed, nuclear base 190 Special Attack, and access to Thunder and Focus Blast allows it to break through most teams without a problem.)
B rank:
Hippowdon: (Immense physical defenses and a resistance to Fire with the Venusaurite stone make Hippowdon a tough cookie to break, allowing it to blanket check the majority of physical attackers, such as Entei, Groudon-Primal, and even Zygarde. However, it suffers from being passive a lot of the time due to induced burns from these checks and needs to stall them out a lot of the time.)
Giratina-O: (A decent defensive typing and an insane stat distribution of 150/100/100, Giratina-O can act as a blanket check for Orb based attackers, and support the team with Defog. However, its limited lifespan makes its job difficult, as it cannot repeatedly check what it needs to.)
Golisopod: (See: Ruins of Alpha/Highlord)
Yveltal: (Altarianite fucked this mon big time.) (not sure where Arcanine lands either. Haven’t seen it on ladder at all, but I’m sure it has a lot of usability.)#
Jirachi: (Good utility in the forms of Wish, Stealth Rock, Healing Wish and U-turn allows Jirachi to fit on balance teams as a status spreader with the Ampharosite stone. It also acts as one of the only switchins to Tapu Lele, making it a prime pick for balance.)
Excadrill: (Ability to defeat common HO leads and also set up Stealth Rocks in the face of Magic Bounce makes this mon a very good anti-meta Pokemon. However, I am yet to experiment with –atespin sets.)
Ho-oh: (Unsure, but I’ve seen Banded Ho-oh put in a lot of work vs other teams.)
Lunala: (Whilst the Scarf variant admittedly sucks, the Specs variant is incredibly tough for offense to wall, 2HKOing the majority of Pokemon other than specially defensive Zapdos, Magearna and Blissey. However, the common usage of these Pokemon and Lunala’s low speed tier doesn’t really put it that high.)
Xurkitree: (Won me the only game of OMPL, so sure, I’ll take this)
Cresselia: (Mark K has the majority of the reasoning for this Pokemon.)
Arceus-Water: (Need a few more reasons for this mon. Can’t quite get them at the moment, but I’m sure it’s still B+ worthy)
Kyogre-Primal: (Extremely good balance breaker. Substitute sets can give teams a nightmare, but Red Orb users really do screw it over.)
B- rank:
Arceus: (EKiller is dead. However, I am sure that it still has a niche in MnM. Open to moving it to C+.)
Rayquaza: (Really unsure about this one. Altarianite nerfs it… maybe???)
Mantine: (Also unsure.)
Metagross: (Fairly good offensive SR lead on HO teams. Doesn’t really do much else other than take lives 1-1 however. Open to moving this mon anywhere B and lower.)
Mimikyu: (Again, I lack reasoning on this Pokemon.)
Shuckle: (Shuckle.)
Venusaur: (see my post on it in my RMT for a more detailed description, both have a very similar role and have very minor differences in their sets, so I'd count them as one Pokemon altogether (as summarised by Mark K, Roserade sukc)
Cobalion: (I need a bit more reasoning for the Diancite set, but it works well as an offensive pivot to say the least.)
C+ rank:
Zygarde-Complete: (this needs to scale similarly to Giratina in my opinion, if this is getting a rank Gira is rising)
C rank:
Garchomp: (Also really unsure about this mon. Does it still have a niche?)
Giratina: (Unsure. However, Zygarde could put this mon out of stall for good.)
Arceus-Steel
Nihilego: (Latiasite gives Nihilego a much needed immunity, but a boosted Zygarde can easily take one down. Unsure about this nomination.)
Marshadow: (Seems like a fairly good breaker with Marshadium Z, but both sets fall flat due to the higher speed tier of the metagame. Changed to C-. Changed again to C.)
C- rank:
Solgaleo: (A Z-splash set on webs is incredibly lethal… if it can set up.)
Kyogre: (Only lethal in the right circumstances, but it can work exceptionally well vs weatherless teams.
D rank:
(nothing here because D rank sukc, unless you want to nom Breloom for this spot)
Unranks: Vaporeon, Salamence, Shedinja, Arceus-Dark (fairy-types really screwed this mon over), Arceus-Rock (no relevant niche in the current metagame)
Do not be surprised when this turns into an even bigger wall of text. I'll be having detailed reasoning for each Pokemon later on tomorrow. Those which have been striked through are unranked.
Update 2: Format change
Update 3: Gengar's preliminary ranking changed to A-, Tapu Lele changed to A+. Magearna moved back down to A.
Update 4: Added Jirachi to B.
This VRs subrankings have been finalized - I may move things around in the subranks, but I do not think I can go into such detail with the nominations. Requesting council to consider this as the current VR.
every time you ignore this post Magearna slowly starts to find itself in S rank by virtue of the VR creators being biased