Hands
I was saying Boo-urns
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This is where I am with the current meta's more visible decks. Not necessarily tiered for NAIC but more for where I think they are in terms of viability, match ups, consistency etc.
Top Tier is pretty self explanatory. All four decks are consistent, have energy acceleration options, can run as spread decks and are able to play out of bad starts. Marnie's Grimm is probably the current BDIF, able to make short work of most picks on this list. Raging Bolt hits it hard and it struggles into a lot of the lower tier decks, but its match ups into almost everything in the top 3 tiers are solid, with only Bolt and Gholdengo really being super problematic. Joltik Box can deal with it smoothly with an early lead and some smart tool usage but Marnie's Grimm really locks out your typical Pikachu ex lines that Joltik Box is so reliant on for late game. Gardy is Gardy, DuskPult is DuskPult, these decks play largely unchanged from prior formats, with only their set ups being a bit different down to rotation.
A Tier is where a lot of the threats to the top tier are placed. Joltik Box is great into anything that relies on stage 2 (except for Marnie's) but has a poor Raging Bolt match up. You can win it with some smart, early aggressive plays into their noctowl lines with Iron Hands, and some smart Pika plays can see you through against Big Bolt, but they're just running super consistent engines that Joltik Box can struggle to keep up with. Both Dengo lists have fairly strong match ups into Pult and Bolt, a little less strong into Gardy and can find Marnie a tricky match up (though the inclusion of Picnic Basket is really helping). Flareon Box is just a super consistent toolbox that works like a better TeraBox for the current format (can struggle to keep pace sometimes though) and Ceruledge is just a strong, fast, consistent beatdown deck that also hits Gholdengo for weakness. Great Tusk Mill is my surprise pick here, but the Discarding Elephant is in a fairly strong spot. Stadium bumping is harder than it was prior formats, making the Neutralization Zone Ace Spec a bit more valuable and the slower pace of this format gives you a little more breathing room to get the most out of your lines of play. PultZard is PultZard, its the same solid strat its always been.
B Tier is where I put what I see as upstart rogue decks that have fallen into a good spot thanks to the rest of the meta. Espathra ex's ability can be a pain in decks running tight energy counts, especially big basics since you also have Pokemon League headquarters at your disposal, and it hits for grass weakness which is huge right now. In fact, all three of these decks do. Yanmega is a slightly worse, more janky Joltik Box with a bit more late game consistency and I think its a real sleeper in format and Festival Grounds is just in a strong place right now thanks to its impressive engine, shaymin from DRI and a lot of grass weakness to exploit.
C Tier is where I've slapped everything that has legs but just isn't good enough to be an A tier contender or isn't unexpected enough to get the upstart surprise factor that the B tier picks hold. All of these decks are good, and all of them have the potential to do well, just there's almost always a comparable deck higher up that does the same thing but better. R's Mewtwo and C's Garchomp almost made it into B, but they're both lacking a little something. Everything else is just playable, can beat the top flights, but has issues either in consistency, match ups or are particularly vulnerable to disruption/spread.
D Tier is where decks I'd say are just not good picks currently are. Three of them are there pretty much because Shaymin has made rule box spreaders significantly worse, most are there because they have a tenancy to brick or don't do enough to stand up to a lot of threatening decks and walls is there because it's just not super relevant right now. Who knows, if they reshape a little and start pushing towards using a more robust set of lines into the more prevalent threats then maybe it can go back to B. Misty's and Porygon-Z are just bad decks, even for rogue builds, and should only be played for fun or for a challenge for yourself. They're not serious decks.
Feel free to ask me specifics on any placement I've put a deck at, or to add your own thoughts (or tierlist, I'm using the Trainer Hill one here: - https://www.trainerhill.com/tools/tier-list)
Top Tier is pretty self explanatory. All four decks are consistent, have energy acceleration options, can run as spread decks and are able to play out of bad starts. Marnie's Grimm is probably the current BDIF, able to make short work of most picks on this list. Raging Bolt hits it hard and it struggles into a lot of the lower tier decks, but its match ups into almost everything in the top 3 tiers are solid, with only Bolt and Gholdengo really being super problematic. Joltik Box can deal with it smoothly with an early lead and some smart tool usage but Marnie's Grimm really locks out your typical Pikachu ex lines that Joltik Box is so reliant on for late game. Gardy is Gardy, DuskPult is DuskPult, these decks play largely unchanged from prior formats, with only their set ups being a bit different down to rotation.
A Tier is where a lot of the threats to the top tier are placed. Joltik Box is great into anything that relies on stage 2 (except for Marnie's) but has a poor Raging Bolt match up. You can win it with some smart, early aggressive plays into their noctowl lines with Iron Hands, and some smart Pika plays can see you through against Big Bolt, but they're just running super consistent engines that Joltik Box can struggle to keep up with. Both Dengo lists have fairly strong match ups into Pult and Bolt, a little less strong into Gardy and can find Marnie a tricky match up (though the inclusion of Picnic Basket is really helping). Flareon Box is just a super consistent toolbox that works like a better TeraBox for the current format (can struggle to keep pace sometimes though) and Ceruledge is just a strong, fast, consistent beatdown deck that also hits Gholdengo for weakness. Great Tusk Mill is my surprise pick here, but the Discarding Elephant is in a fairly strong spot. Stadium bumping is harder than it was prior formats, making the Neutralization Zone Ace Spec a bit more valuable and the slower pace of this format gives you a little more breathing room to get the most out of your lines of play. PultZard is PultZard, its the same solid strat its always been.
B Tier is where I put what I see as upstart rogue decks that have fallen into a good spot thanks to the rest of the meta. Espathra ex's ability can be a pain in decks running tight energy counts, especially big basics since you also have Pokemon League headquarters at your disposal, and it hits for grass weakness which is huge right now. In fact, all three of these decks do. Yanmega is a slightly worse, more janky Joltik Box with a bit more late game consistency and I think its a real sleeper in format and Festival Grounds is just in a strong place right now thanks to its impressive engine, shaymin from DRI and a lot of grass weakness to exploit.
C Tier is where I've slapped everything that has legs but just isn't good enough to be an A tier contender or isn't unexpected enough to get the upstart surprise factor that the B tier picks hold. All of these decks are good, and all of them have the potential to do well, just there's almost always a comparable deck higher up that does the same thing but better. R's Mewtwo and C's Garchomp almost made it into B, but they're both lacking a little something. Everything else is just playable, can beat the top flights, but has issues either in consistency, match ups or are particularly vulnerable to disruption/spread.
D Tier is where decks I'd say are just not good picks currently are. Three of them are there pretty much because Shaymin has made rule box spreaders significantly worse, most are there because they have a tenancy to brick or don't do enough to stand up to a lot of threatening decks and walls is there because it's just not super relevant right now. Who knows, if they reshape a little and start pushing towards using a more robust set of lines into the more prevalent threats then maybe it can go back to B. Misty's and Porygon-Z are just bad decks, even for rogue builds, and should only be played for fun or for a challenge for yourself. They're not serious decks.
Feel free to ask me specifics on any placement I've put a deck at, or to add your own thoughts (or tierlist, I'm using the Trainer Hill one here: - https://www.trainerhill.com/tools/tier-list)
![[PokeCommunity.com] Tier List of the DRI Meta](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/90/90274-107459e0ca9876b8530b67ac37f30979.jpg)