By Thedanies_89 & CLeonardo77
OVERVIEW
Here we are in our fourth meta of Devon’s first season! We are pleased to announce the release of the Rainstorm Cup. After some allowed-list metas, we decided to fall back to a good, old-fashioned meta format that some might even call vintage. A bit of nostalgia perhaps? Always. But the main reason that drove us towards adopting a simple rule-set was to make team building something more comfortable and easier, especially compared to the previous metas we released. In so doing, we hope to continue to give players an enjoyable experience in a restricted meta instead of opening up Pandora’s box to such a diverse set of choices.
Alright, let’s dive into the rules! Since it’s a rainstorm, allowed typings are Water, Dark and Flying. Sorry, no Electric! 😀
ABOUT TYPINGS AND POKEMON
Water typing, as most know, always opens up to a wide range of options during team building thanks to the several dual-typings that can be chosen, many of which are very bulky and versatile. Dark and Flying have been missing from our metas thus far, so we decided to make them work together. To create a healthy distribution for these allowed typings, we decided to ban Fighting, Fairy, and Electric, which would have resulted in very extreme typing matchups or what many call RPS. We decided to ban Skarmory, Whiscash, Mantine, Obstagoon, Toxapex, Pidgeot, and Celesteela. The reason for most of these bans was due to the oppressive dominance they would have in the meta and, also, that it’s become a bit annoying to always see them around! As far as Celesteela was concerned, we didn’t think our community would be too happy if we left a Smack Down throwing Skarmory clone in the meta!?
Next, let’s talk a bit about what’s allowed in this meta, shall we?
Empoleon, with its no longer new fast move seems to be a must-have for battlers and the newly updated Feraligatr can dish out hard-hitting moves in a blink of an eye. We welcome Walrein back to join Dewgong in keeping Dragons at bay, however, there will still be some solid Dragon options in the meta like Guzzlord and Zweilous. As opposed to Dragonite and Altaria, these Pokemon can fight back against ice better by only taking 2x damage instead of 4x. Additionally, some dark types will be able to make their way through the Rainstorm meta thanks to their bulk and coverage such as but not exclusive to Alolan Raticate, Umbreon, Mandibuzz.
What about the other fliers?
Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about them and who knows, they may even prove to be this month’s core-breaker. Golbat looks solid, ready to sink its fangs into its prey and Gyarados looking very dangerous with no fairies around to check it, and with a useful set of sub-typings that allow it to sustain more damage for longer periods of time. In the distance, we can see some less stunning fliers such as Jumpluff and Tropius, but we also cannot sleep on these.
PARTING THOUGHTS
Despite the simple rules and the very select allowed typings, we are confident that trainers will see a lot of diverse battle parties. The pvpoke.com rankings show most Pokemon in this meta have some way to fight toe-to-toe against the top 30.
Also, make sure to conserve some team-building energy because you will need it for next month’s meta!