RicePigeon

Made some changes to the Viability list: : Added to C While being a spinblocker that can also check Mega Mawile is nice, it has to choose between having no offensive presence or losing to the things it's supposed to check. Also faces stiff competition from Giratina-A. : Added to A I know I didn't discuss Mega Scizor all that much prior to now, but Mega Scizor does bring some good qualities to UUbers. Aside from having access to Defog, it can check Mega Mawile, Mega Altaria, Azumarill, both Deoxys formes, and cripple Blissey & Giratina-A with Superpower and Knock Off, respectively. Under the right situations it can always use Bullet Punch to revenge kill, and can stomach a hit from Greninja if it lacks Hidden Power [Fire]. : Added to B See above post for reasoning on Empoleon. : Added to B See above post for reasoning on Bisharp. It feels more like a B-rank mon at the moment but I'm not entirely against moving it up to A if more people can prove its effectiveness. If anything, the lack of offensive Defoggers in the tier is the only thing keeping it from A, imo.

Shaymin's Sky forme has been banned from Doubles OU by majority vote

I wouldn't worry about Thunderpunch too much if you look at the viability list. But yes, Scald is primarily for Mega Mawile and Azumarill, as neither of them enjoy burns and both are high ranked threats in the meta.

: Possibly B Empoleon has all the tools it needs to be successful in UUbers. Specially defensive sets avoids a 2HKO from any Palkia that lacks Earth Power, while also comfortably taking on any Greninja that lacks Low Kick. Can Defog or set up Stealth Rock, and running Scald allows it to keep physical attackers like Mega Mawile and Azumarill in check. Notable moves: Scald, Hydro Pump, Flash Cannon, Stealth Rock, Defog, Toxic, Grass Knot, Hidden Power [Fire]

So following the new Baton Pass clause that was implemented (no combination of Baton Pass + Speed Boosting move/ability + Any other stat boosting move), the following tier shifts have occured: Rises None Drops : BL -> UU : BL -> RU

Generally fairly simple, in your -2 or -3 states, you apply an attackmulset controller to one of your fvars, which starts at 1.0 and decreases with each hit (which can be handled either in the -2/-3 states or in each attacking state) and then reset that value back to 1.0 once the opponent recovers or otherwise returns to a non-hit state.

Another Singles OU update Additions None Rises : A+ -> S : A+ -> S : A -> A+ : A- -> A : A- -> A : B+ -> A- : B -> B+ : B- -> B : C -> C+ : D -> C : C- -> C Drops (M.Latias): A -> B+ : B+ -> B : B -> B- : B- -> C+ : C+ -> C- : C+ -> C Removals Nones

Some potential discussion points for rankings: : B or C Thanks to Mummy and Will-o-Wisp, it provides a soft check to Mega Mawile, as well as any other physical attacker that is reliant on its ability, such as Azumarill and Mega Charizard X. Ghost typing allows it to spinblock in a meta where offensive Defoggers are scarce, but faces some competition from Giratina-A in this regard. : A or B Theres no denying Bisharp hits hard, and can even revenge kill many weakened threats. Defog may be scarce on offensive teams, but nothing is scarier than giving Bisharp a free +2 from a mispredicted play, putting pressure on defense and balance to hold off on Defog. Btw, did I mention it can 2HKO physically defensive Giratina-A?

Taking this opportunity to add some new faces to the Singles UUbers viability ranks: : Added to B See above post for reasoning on Giratina-A : Added to B Decent Rapid Spinner in a metagame with very few offensive hazard removers. Mega Launcher boosted Dragon Pulse allows it to check Reshiram and Palkia, OHKOing offensive variants of both with Stealth Rock up, and fears only a Choice Specs Thunderbolt from Palkia. Dark Pulse lets it beat spinblockers, including Giratina-A. Also scares Mega Mawile with Scald burns. Flat out loses to Greninja and Azumarill, and has a bit of a four moveslot syndrome where it needs to decide if it wants drop Dragon Pulse (loses to Reshiram and Palkia) or Ice Beam (loses to Mega Altaria), as Dark Pulse, Rapid Spin, and Scald/Hydro Pump are more or less mandatory. Also has no recovery to keep it afloat and easy to wear down. : Added to C Another spinner, as it can actually beat non-Scarf Reshiram as long as it has a Choice Scarf or Sand Rush boost under its belt. However, Tyranitar being banned really hurts it, so it has to rely on either Hippowdon or manual sand to get Sand Rush going, or has to stick to Choice Scarf, and locking yourself into Rapid Spin is never a good thing. However, it can't really do much to Giratina-A without a Swords Dance, and even then it risks being burned. May move up to B if it proves to be more effective than I'm making it out to be, as it does check Mega Mawile. : Added to C More or less outclassed by Greninja, and can't do anything in the face of the entirely of S-rank, but it at least has the niche of being able to provide Rapid Spin support, and can 2HKO Giratina-A on the switch-in with Analytic Life Orb, so it's not dead weight against it. : Added to B Comes in two flavors; Spiker or Defogger, and has the benefit of walling any Mega Mawile that lacks Fire Punch or Focus Punch, even if you run Specially Defensive. For offensive teams, you could even use it as a Custap Lead set, but Deoxys-D is generally better suited for the role of setting up multiple entry hazards. : Added to B Like Skarmory, it can check any Mega Mawile that lacks Focus Punch, except it can threaten it offensively with Fire Blast or Lava Plume. Sets up Stealth Rock, and even checks some A-rank threats like Mega Charizard X and Mega Altaria (lacking Earthquake). Has a poor matchup against S-rank otherwise, and even some A rank threaten it.

Going back to my original discussion point; Giratina-A. Its easy to see why this thing would fall out of favor in Ubers when Giratina-O more or less outclasses it in pretty much everything. In UUbers, it pretty much loses against 3/4 of the current S rank (Mega Mawile, Reshiram, and Palkia all OHKO it at best, and 2HKO it at worst). The only S-rank Pokemon Giratina-A has a favorable matchup against is Greninja; but running a Specially Defensive set, it avoids the 2HKO from anything Greninja can throw at it. Giratina-A may lack offensive presence but it does have access to the handy Defog, allowing it to provide its team with entry hazard control. What's more is that due to its Ghost typing, it's also a nice spinblocker, capable of handling both Excadrill and Starmie with minimal investment, burning the former while forcing the latter to switch out with Dragon Tail. It can also spread status, which is always handy. However, what holds it back is its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards, and lack of reliable recovery, having only to rely on Leftovers and Rest. As such, don't expect this thing to accomplish much on Hyper Offensive teams. I'm thinking perhaps a B ranking for the Ghost/Dragon is fitting, no?

Sadly, the Speed Boost + other boosting move + Baton Pass ban from the official Smogon tiers carries over to here (since it applies to Ubers as well). It can still Baton Pass its Speed Boosts, it just won't be able to use Iron Defense or Swords Dance alongside it. It is possible that Scolipede may drop next month due to this, so he'll be allowed in UUbers again if that happens.

This is UUbers, not OU or Ubers, and isn't an official tier. Basically, its the UU of Ubers. The reason Scolipede is banned from UUbers is because it reached at least 3.41% usage in the Ubers tier (the same use cutoff that Smogon uses when determining if a Pokemon is OU or UU). This is the same reason why other non-Uber Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, Latias/os, and Klefki are banned as well. That being said, I want to bring the discussion point to something I briefly covered in the viability rank updates: Ability: Gale Wings / Item: @Leftovers or Rocky Helmet Nature (1): Impish w/ EVs: 248 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Speed Nature (2): Jolly w/ EVs: 172 HP / 244 Defense / 92 Speed Move #1: Brave Bird Move #2: Will-o-Wisp Move #3: Roost Move #4: Taunt I briefly mentioned Talonflame as a nomination for B rank for its ability to check Mega Mawile. As I was looking for something to check Mega Mawile, I thought about using a physically defensive version of the standard OU Stallbreaker set. Fully defensive, Talonflame avoids a 2HKO from any attack Mega Mawile can throw at it, unless said Mega Mawile is at +2, but a burn from Will-o-Wisp will easily remedy that. The second spread I found later on Smogon's Battle Spot Analysis, which allows Talonflame to reach 342 speed while still reaching the defensive benchmark to comfortably check Mega Mawile (only being 2HKOed by Sucker Punch, but Brave Bird mitigates that issue by going first). Even with no attack investment, Talonflame can still revenge kill any Greninja at half health, and still shuts down common stall Pokemon like Blissey and Giratina-A.

Anyone who shits on a release without providing some kind of constructive criticism as to why you feel that way is subject to an infraction point. Don't do this. That includes you, TMC55 (I know you're only trying to help but to be frank, you're only making the situation worse).

Forgot this in the last post, but also adding Blissey to B rank Reasoning: : Nice defensive check to Palkia and Reshiram, and can also halt Greninja depending on whether or not its running Low Kick. Has little offensive presence, though, and flat out loses to Mega Mawile, while even the S ranks that it does check has ways around it (Greninja and Reshiram can 2HKO with Gunk Shot and Outrage, respectively, with Rocks up). Unlike Chansey in OU, Blissey isn't screwed over by Landorus-I that carry Knock Off, who can't even 2HKO 0/252 Blissey, so it does have that going for it.

Hoopas been added for a while now. Making some adjustments to the viability ranks after those matches I had earlier. Note that as of now, the A, B, and C ranks no longer have subranks associated with them. This should make placement easier. Everything in the current A and A- ranks have been bumped down to B.; Rises : A -> S Drops : S -> A Additions Added to A: Added to B: Reasonings: : Although it sports offensive presence, its just too frail to take a hit. Great suicide lead, but not worth being S rank. : Very powerful hitter with very few switch-ins. That number becomes even fewer with a Swords Dance under its belt. : Its former job from before its ban in OU is more or less unchanged, and one of the few checks to Reshiram and Mega Mawile. Still does its job decently as a wallbreaker and cleaner. : Defensive sets can check Mega Mawile under the right conditions, but still a shaky check at best. Specially defensive sets can switch in against Reshiram, but recoil hurts its survivability. Coupled with the fact that there are close to no offensive Defoggers in UUbers, it's forced to rely on Rapid Spin for hazard control. Current Pokemon to discuss: Haven't tested Giratina-A yet but it has poor matchups against all of the current S rank (Greninja, Palkia, Reshiram, and Mega Mawile all beat it 1-on-1) and doesn't have much offensive presence. On the flip side, its great defensively, both as a wall and as a spinblocker, and also gets access to Defog, but its lack of reliable recovery hurts it.

Just did some matches with The Answer http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/customgame-259838870 http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/customgame-259840543 http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/customgame-259842527

4 votes was implemented as a method of quality control. But it seems to be more restrictive than we initially thought. Either that or there arent enough good stuff released for July/people dont care anymore

Long overdue OU update Additions Added to A+: Added to B-: Added to C: Added to D: Added to E: Rises : A+ -> S : A -> A+ : A- -> A : A- -> A : B+ -> A- : B+ -> A- : B -> B+ : B -> B+ : B -> B+ : B -> B+ : B- -> B : B- -> B : C+ -> B- : C -> C+ : D -> C- Drops : S -> A+ : A -> A- : B -> B- : B -> B- : C- -> D : C- -> E : C- -> D : D - > E Removals Removed from D: Removed from E:

Tier update time Rises : Untiered -> OU : BL -> OU : RU -> UU : NU -> RU : BL3 -> RU : BL3 -> RU : BL3 -> RU : BL3 -> RU : NU -> RU : BL4 -> NU : PU -> NU : PU -> NU : PU -> NU : PU -> NU Drops : OU -> UU : UU -> RU : RU -> NU : RU -> NU : RU -> NU

The problem with Hidden Power [Ice] is that it leaves Serperior completely walled by Steel types, which is why [Fire] and [Ground] are the preferred Hidden Power types for Serperior. The former deals more damage to Ferrothorn and (Mega) Scizor while also damaging Skarmory, while the latter has the advantage of hitting Heatran.

July use statistic for Ubers are out. No tier shifts have occurred for UUbers yet since we're going on a 2 month basis, but it should give an indication of what to expect: Pokemon which might be allowed in UUbers: Pokemon which might be banned from UUbers: If the use trends continue, we might see Chansey joining UUbers again, which will grant us with a hard check to Palkia, Reshiram, and Mega Charizard Y, along with Shaymin-S, while UUbers will lose Skarmory in exchange, meaning that stall and balance teams will be using a reliable Spikers & Defogger.

Nominations & Voting Rules You may nominate up to 4 characters per month. You may only nominate a character that was released and/or updated during the given month. You cannot nominate characters that have previously won Gold or Silver in any previous Character of the Month. Be specific as to which character you are nominating; include both the name and the author name and, if applicable, the release thread of the character. To make things easier, we suggest that you append the number of nominations that the character has, including your own, when you make your nominations. Characters that have been nominated by at least 4 different people will become candidates for voting. Candidates for voting cannot be nominated any more (as there is no real purpose to this) Voting begins 15 days after the nomination period began, or once 20 characters have been nominated as candidates. The voting period lasts for 15 days. The winner will be announced at the end of this period. During this time, you will be permitted to vote for one character for CotM. So please choose wisely You may choose to nominate a candidacy rejection. Candidacy rejections can only be done on characters that have obtained at least 4 nominations for CotM. When nominating a candidacy rejection, you MUST list the reason(s) why you believe that the character should not be in the list of candidates. Note that if we, the staff of MFFA, feel that your reason for candidacy rejection is not adequate enough, we have the right to reject your nomination for candidacy rejection. At least four (4) valid nominations for candidacy rejection are required for a character to be removed from the list of candidates. You can only make one nomination for candidacy rejection per month, which also counts towards your 4 nomination limit. No collusion of any kind. If we find out that anyone has conspired with other users to nominate characters for the sole purpose of preventing another character from being nominated as a candidate by flooding the list of candidates until it reaches maximum capacity, those nominations will be null and void and all parties involved will be banned from participating in future CotM. That being said, July 2015 Nominations will end on August 15th, 2015. Candidates: Sesame by The Magic Toaster Nominees: Astraea by Sankiti - 1 Angelique by Calcio911- 1 AVGN by DuckSS - 2 Axel Stone by Aлексей - 2 Bangiras/Tyranitar by Minoo - 1 Gatchigoras/Tyrantrum by Minoo - 1 King Harkinian by The Answer - 2 Kyosuke Kagami by ShinZankuro - 1 Lilith by YamoriX - 2 Magneto by Kong, edited by DarkWolf - 1 Robot Steven by TMC55 & D, the Red Cloak - 1 Rushim by The Magic Toaster - 2 Spider-Man by FerchogtX, edited by Darkwolf - 1 SSF2T Akuma by Felineki - 1 The Critic by DuckSS - 2

WInners: Gold Winner: M. Bison by Omegapsycho - 10 votes Silver Winner: Yang by YamoriX - 7 votes

Last day to cast votes, do so whle you can