Announcement SV Monotype Tiering Surveys & Results

[maroon]

Hello everyone, this thread will be used to post tiering surveys and results; we hope that it will help the council get a better understanding about how the playerbase feels about the current metagame and take appropriate steps with regard to tiering.

Starting with our first SV Monotype survey which includes questions about current Pokemon in the metagame, will be sent in this post and those with a Smogon account may respond. We will keep this open through the end of 25th June 2023 but the council will be reading responses as they come in.

Please note that the results of this survey does not guarantee that we will be banning or unbanning anything. It is not some kind of vote.

Please respond to the survey here! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM. Have a great day.

https://spo.ink/svmonotypesurvey1

 

[maroon]

Sorry about the delay, here are the results of the survey.

Survey Results

As you can see from the above screenshots, most people saw the metagame as competitive. While a few Pokemon like Spectrier, Chien-Pao, and Sneasler were more concerning to the community, the results showed that the community as a whole did not feel like anything immediately sticks out. The council had some internal discussion on the slate and voted on Chien-Pao, however there was not enough support to garner a suspect test. Due to this, the council thought it would be best to wait a minute and let MPL continue before posting survey results to see how the tier adapts to these threats before taking further action. Please feel free to address any of the results or your thoughts on the metagame in the discussion thread.

 

[DugZa]

Hello, with the DLC release, the Monotype council has decided to opt for the generation's second tiering survey to gather the community's opinion on the current state of the tier.

Following the release of the DLC, Ice-type has gained one of the best Snow and Aurora Veil setters in Ninetales-A and a buffed Baxcalibur with access to Scale Shot. This leads to a unique situation with regard to tiering as it is unclear as to what sequence of tiering actions should be taken because of the myriad of factors that contribute to Ice-type’s dominance. The main focus of this survey is to gauge the community opinion on how we should approach the tiering of Ice-type as a whole.

You can find the survey HERE.

The survey will remain open until 1st of October, 11.59 PM GMT-4 but the council will be reading responses as they come in. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

 

[DugZa]

Hello, the results are finally compiled and done! We had a total of 168 responses which is a step up from our last survey so thank you to everyone that took time to respond to the survey and the survey helped a lot in deciding what tiering action we want to take moving forward. I won't go much into details since the survey results are very self-explanatory; without further ado, here we go.

Qualified Voters

The average general response was 7.17 out of 10 while the average from the qualified playerbase was 6.86 both of which are below average scores that are concerning to us, especially with close to 25% of the participants voting 6 or less. This is most likely due to the volatile state of the tier with the DLC and we hope this will improve in the future following some tiering action.

Qualified Voters

Similar to the previous question, except the results here are skewed even lower this time for a general average of 6.11 and a qualified average of 6.16; we acknowledge that this is most in part due to serious threats such as Baxcalibur still being free in the tier and hope that this will improve in the future following more tiering action including the suspect that will be starting soon!


Anyways, moving on to the part that everyone is more excited for, the individual Pokemon results!

Qualified Voters

Overall, significant support for some tiering action on Urshifu-S with 58.4% general respondents and 69.4% of qualified respondents supporting some form of tiering action on the Pokemon. The council has Urshifu-S on the radar as a potentially problematic Pokemon that would warrant tiering in the future; however, we opted for tiering on Baxcalibur first due to the more overwhelming support for it.

Qualified Voters

There was a staggering 61.9% of general responses and an even greater 71.4% of responses among qualified voters in support of tiering action on Baxcalibur. This is the greatest support we've ever received for tiering action on any Pokemon in our surveys and this played a key role in the council's decision to determine which aspect of Ice-type we would like to tackle first.

Qualified Voters

Pairing both of these questions together as they are of similar nature; they were included to determine if tiering should be taken on Baxcalibur or either of these items that enable Baxcalibur's dominance but neither managed to get over 50% support for tiering action giving us little reason to focus on them.

Qualified Voters

This is perhaps the most important question that helped us decide to ultimately take action on Baxcalibur instead of Icy Rock or Light Clay. 53% of both the general responses and qualified responses were in support of tiering on Baxcalibur rather than the other two options.

With all of these in mind we unanimously voted to conduct a suspect test on Baxacalibur; more information on that can be found HERE. Urshifu-S received similarly great support for tiering action and will remain on the council's radar as a potential threat that might warrant tiering action in the future but ultimately we opted for the Baxcalibur suspect test as it received more support as shown above.


Finally, from the free comments section, Chien-Pao was by far the Pokemon brought up the most number of times. This was followed by a few mentions of Kingambit; no other Pokemon received enough mentions to be noteworthy enough. The council will keep a close eye on both of these Pokemon on top of Urshifu-S as well following the Baxcalibur suspect test.

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Thank you to everyone that responded to the survey, your feedback has been great. Once again, with the survey results in mind, the council has decided to conduct a suspect test on Baxcalibur, more information about the suspect test can be found HERE. Be sure to get suspect reqs and vote!

 

[maroon]

Hey besties, its time for another Monotype Community Tiering Survey! This form will be open until February 11th @ 11:59pm GMT-5.

https://spo.ink/svmonosurvey3

 

[DugZa]

Hello, the first forum-based survey for Monotype has been a great success and the results are as follows. I've decided to follow the OU format for results so its more clear and concise and easier for you all to grasp.

Enjoyment

• General - 6.26
• Qualified - 5.98

The lowest enjoyment ratings we've ever received, it is evident that the player base has a clear dislike towards the current state of the metagame and hopefully the tiering changes in the not too distant future will improve this.

Competitiveness

• General - 5.41
• Qualified - 5.12

Similar to enjoyment, extremely low numbers; this was more apparent following MWP with the entire metagame revolving around Dragon-type with the DLC 2 release. A lot of room to improve.


As for what everyone's excited for, the actual Pokemon!

• General - 3.57
• Qualified - 3.71

Gouging Fire suspect is up! Gouging Fire received the most support for tiering action in the survey and is generally considered to be the key contributor towards Dragon being as dominant as it is in the current metagame while playing a key role on Fire teams as well. This was more apparent in the recently concluded MWP with Dragon usage being at an all time high, while Gouging Fire in particular sported respectable usage and win rates on both types. With this, along with general community sentiment regarding the Pokemon in mind, the council unanimously agreed to suspect test Gouging Fire.

• General - 3.33
• Qualified - 3.62

Despite being suspected in the previous metagame and ultimately remaining unbanned, Baxcalibur gained a substantial amount of support for tiering action. This is most in part due to Dragon as a whole being extremely overpowered and Baxcalibur being a key contributor towards the type's dominance. With amazing support on both types, Baxcalibur is a top tier threat in the metagame and with the current level of support, some tiering action could be looked into in the future following the Gouging Fire suspect test. One key thing to note is that most of the qualified players showed much greater support for action on Baxcalibur in comparison to the overall results.

• General - 3.41
• Qualified - 3.33

With Dark and Ice type teams being slightly less dominant than they were in previous metagames, one would assume Chien-Pao is no longer as dominant as it used to be.... but they would be wrong according to the survey-takers. Chien-Pao had a noteworthy amount of support for tiering action but how much of this support is due to the remnants of its dominance in previous metagame is a question mark as it has failed to show similar levels of dominance as it did in older metagames; this was more apparent with its lackluster usage throughout MWP. Moreover, it gained noticeably less support for tiering action by the qualified playerbase as well. However, given the substantial amount of support the council will keep a close eye on it as the metagame progresses forward following the Gouging Fire suspect test.

• General - 2.97
• Qualified - 3.21

Hearthflame was considered suspect-worthy by many towards the latter part of the DLC1 metagame, and while the support allayed in the new DLC2 metagame, it is still considered a threat by many. The qualified playerbase believes Hearthflame to be substantially more problematic than the general average, which lies below the neutral point (meaning majority of the players lean towards no tiering action taken on it). With Grass-type usage being near non-existent, Hearthflame's dominance is almost exclusively through Fire-type teams. In the event that Gouging Fire is banned and Fire-type teams are nerfed to a noticeable extent following the suspect test, it is likely that Hearthflame will be less of a threat in the current metagame as well. The council is not keen on taking any tiering action on it in the foreseeable future for these reasons.

• General - 2.90
• Qualified - 2.88

Ursaluna-Blood Moon was a powerhouse that surpassed the impact of its alternate form when it was released during DLC1, with access to reliable recovery, a compatible set-up move in Calm Mind, and powerful STAB options. However, the threat it poses has reduced since then, judging that it received a score below 3 (neutral) by both the overall and qualified voter section. With the current state of the metagame, and considering that there are more dangerous threats at play, it is unlikely that action will be taken on this Ursaluna variant in the near future.

• General - 3.06
• Qualified - 2.90

Flutter Mane has been continually discussed throughout the generation thanks to its speed, breaking power, and ability to run multiple sets and even on those sets never continually be locked into the same four moves. It received more support with the general playerbase than with qualified voters, but less so than multiple other options that are more primed for immediate tiering action, and so it will continue to be monitored moving forward.

• General - 2.78
• Qualified - 2.64

Kingambit received limited support and is unlikely to be considered for tiering action at this time. Some of this support is likely due to recency bias from it having a better presence prior to DLC2. As one of its checks at the moment is about to undergo a suspect test, this could change afterwards, so it is something the council will keep their eyes on moving forward.

• General - 2.28
• Qualified - 2.57

Ogerpon-W received limited support and is unlikely to be considered for tiering action at this time.

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Lastly, from the free comments sections Archaludon, Zamazenta and Heat Rock were brought up a handful of times but didn't gain enough support to be noteworthy enough. There were very few mentions here and there regarding unbanning tera without the type lock but to reiterate what has been said a million times already, that would break the whole concept of Monotype giving Pokemon permanent type changes and the council has no intention whatsoever to unban tera under such circumstances.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey, be sure to check out the Gouging Fire suspect test HERE!

 

[maroon]

Hey besties, its time for another Monotype Community Tiering Survey! This form will be open until April 14th @ 11:59pm GMT-4

https://spo.ink/monotiersurvey4

 

[ken]

Here are the latest survey results, which had 122 unique responses, of which 47 were qualified after vetting. With the ban of Baxcalibur and the drop in usage of Dragon teams, it's clear there's been a shift in what you all believe to be unhealthy aspects of the current metagame despite the increase in enjoyment of the tier.

Enjoyment

• Qualified: 6.60 / 10
• General: 6.61 / 10

With a substantial bump from the previous survey, we're glad the community is enjoying the tier more now, but we think there's still some room for improvement.

Competitiveness

• Qualified: 5.94 / 10
• General: 6.03 / 10

This is quite a boost from the last survey, so we're glad the community thinks the tier is in a better place than it was before. We're going to continue to take tiering action where appropriate.

Heat Rock

• Qualified: 3.17 / 5
• General: 2.99 / 5

Despite Gouging Fire failing its suspect test, Heat Rock still enables multiple threats on Fire-type teams quite well, likely on the verge of being considered too much. Heat Rock received noteworthy support but not enough for tiering action at this time, but we'll continue to monitor it moving forward.

Pokemon

• Qualified: 3.74 / 5
• General: 3.48 / 5

Ursaluna-B had the biggest jump between the previous survey and this one, jumping from 2.88 to 3.74 among qualified voters and 2.90 to 3.48 among the general playerbase, likely in part due to one of its biggest checks, Baxcalibur, being banned. Receiving this much of a boost and after internal discussions, we expect a suspect test to go up for it over the next few days.

• Qualified: 3.87 / 5
• General: 3.65 / 5

Chien-Pao remains one of our top priorities to monitor, receiving more support in this survey than the last, but not nearly as an alarming of a jump as Ursaluna-B.

• Qualified: 3.51 / 5
• General: 3.39 / 5

Kingambit received quite a bump in support from the previous survey, second only to Ursaluna-B, and has returned as one of our top priorities to watch.

• Qualified: 3.11 / 5
• General: 3.10 / 5

Zamazenta received noteworthy support with its addition to this survey after being mentioned a few times on the last, and we'll keep an eye on it moving forward.

• Qualified: 2.94 / 5
• General: 3.20 / 5

Flutter Mane received similar support to the last survey, which means we'll still be keeping an eye on it.

• Qualified: 2.94 / 5
• General: 2.90 / 5

After many mentions in the last survey and the room, discord, and meta discussion thread, Archaludon received noteworthy support, so we'll keep an eye on it moving forward.

• Qualified: 2.85 / 5
• General: 2.97 / 5

Ogerpon-H received marginally less support than the last survey but enough that we'll still keep an eye on it.

• Qualified: 2.15 / 5
• General: 2.36 / 5

Gholdengo did not receive noteworthy support.

--

Other honorable mentions in the survey

Espathra and Gouging Fire were both mentioned each by a decent number of respondents, so we'll likely keep tabs on both moving forward. As Gouging Fire's suspect test was still relatively recent, we'd likely need to see an overwhelmingly strong reason to consider a second.