A very annoying set in UU was Happy Hour Jirachi, a lot of people will be glad it's gone. However in return we get Porygon-Z...Not what I wanted. The loss of Jirachi sucks for offense Scarf Healing Wish was so nice. Sure there are other Healing Wishers but ScarfRachi has always been the best especially since it can turn the tide of a game with Iron Head.



Mamoswine will be unfortunate. A solid Stealth Rocks user combined with being an offensive check to the likes of Serperior, Salamence, and Dragonite, granted you're healthy enough to take an ESpeed from the latter, made it a solid Pokemon in the tier. While there are other rockers out there like Azelf, Krookodile, and now Hippowdon, the reason Mamoswine set itself apart was being able to prevent damn near everything from coming in on it just because it's that strong.



Tangrowth will be detrimental to Balance and Stall as it's insane bulk let it check near any attack that wasn't Super Effective. Being able to take on Physical threats like Dragonite, Salamence, Jirachi, Bisharp, and (M) Sharpedo with one set, and Special threats like Keldeo, Latias, Serperior, and non-Specs Primarina with another made it very difficult to take down unless you have STAB SE coverage on your team. Tangrowth was easily the best bulky Grass type in the tier and finding something to replace it will be pretty difficult for many teams.



Won't give too much of an opinion on Kingdra.. Very rarely saw it in UU as the better Rain Setter was in OU so....SKIP



Edit: We also lost Alolan-Muk. A very good mon in the format. Personally I'm very happy it is gone just because it was hard for my team to handle lol. Other than that.. We lose a decent Psychic counter and Pursuit trapper but we get Bisharp so it kinda evens out. Bisharp is far less bulky, has many more weakness, but is faster and has access to SD so it will be interesting to say the least. Should make a decent impact on the meta but overall won't be broken.







As for the drops I think Porygon-Z is the deadliest. Z-Conversion is going to be absolutely devastating to everything. Very few things will be able to counter it especially when you won't always know what type it'll be. A few quick calcs show me that top walling contenders will be Snorlax and Blissey. It will also have above average bulk and speed only slower than Scarfers. Every play style except "Anti Porygon-Z" will have trouble with this thing as it rips apart defensive cores, and outspeeds a good chunk of offense. Best bets are keeping your specific counter healthy and not letting it touch the field on more defensive teams. As for offense, they're just gonna have to never give it a chance to set up. Personally I think SubConversion will be popular just to avoid status although the missing coverage would suck a lot. Personally I don't see this lasting very long.



Mandibuzz will be a nice addition to the tier. It'll act somewhat like Tangrowth in that depending on how you invest, you'll be able to check a lot of threats. I can definitely see a mixed Defensive spread so that it can handle Serperior and Latias while also handling things like nonOutraging Dragons, Scizor, Sharpedo, and Krookodile. I'd like to also give special mention to Z-BD Azumarill.. Mandibuzz beats it as long as it's healthy enough to tank Jet, as it can easily be faster than Adamant and Jolly is so meh (viable but near unheard of). Mandibuzz can be a great Defogger, Wall, Stallbreaker to an extent, and overall nuisance. Foul Play, Brave Bird, Roost, Taunt, Knock Off, U-Turn, Toxic, Defog, and Whirlwind, are all great moves that will make Mandibuzz a very viable UU mon.



I can see Hippowdon still being somewhat viable in the meta.. Setting up Sand for Stoutland/Lycanroc, taking on threats such as Mence, DNite, Terrakion, opposing Sand Sweepers, Minior, and ScarfTini, and being a reliable Stealth Rock setter. However it is still crippled by its low Speed, Average at best SpDef, and weakness to common offensive types like Water, Ice, and Grass. While it does have good options to use to make it viable I highly think it'll just be a niche mon to help patch certain weakness as its roles can be better filled elsewhere. It is a phenomenal bulky Ground type but with a meta full of things like Zard Y, Primarina, Serperior, Weavile, Kyurem-B, Azumarill, Keldeo, etc, I find it'll be difficult to shine.