PSPL II, OMs, Monotype News, and Tier Updates

The first week of PSPL II has officially begun! For the first stage of the tournament, the group stage, our teams are placed into eight groups of four. Within each group, the four teams will battle each other once over a three week period. At the end of this stage, the two highest ranked teams in each group will advance while the other two will be eliminated. Check out the current match-ups and cheer on your favorite rooms!

The Other Metagame of the Month for September is Haxmons! If you are not familiar with this metagame, read the official thread here. The Pokemon Throwback OM for this month is Gen III 1v1, which follows the bans and clauses of Gen III OU. Alphabet Cup has been replaced by Mediocremons and other new additions include Smogon Triples, 350 Cup, OM Mashup, and PU. Head over to our Other Metas room to discuss these formats and compete in the daily tournaments!

OU Monotype is now known simply as Monotype after implementing a major change in its tiering system. Instead of following the OU metagame, the banlist is now catered specifically to Monotype and comprised of two categories. The first category deals with global bans and states which Pokemon cannot be used anywhere in the tier. The second category deals with more complex type bans, where Pokemon or items are only banned if used on a specific monotype team. Try out the new ladder and discuss your experiences either in the thread or here in our Monotype room!

Three months have passed since our last usage-based tier update, so this month brings another one! For an explanation of the update and a list of which Pokemon have shifted to new tiers, head over to this thread prepared by Antar.

—Sir Donovan on Sep 4, 2014