Early Metagame Trends in VGC Regulation M-A

Introduction

Hello everyone,
This is the Showdown Tier team.

Showdown Tier is a web platform dedicated to statistical analysis of the Pokémon metagame.

Pokémon Champions has finally been released, and VGC Regulation M-A has already been implemented on Showdown as well. For the full dataset, please refer to our Tier List page.

In this column, rather than going over every number individually, we'll focus on what the data tells us about the early Regulation M-A metagame during the first week after release.

Mega Evolution Pokémon

Among Mega Evolution slots, Charizard, Floette-Eternal, Tyranitar, and Dragonite have posted particularly high usage rates.

Charizard, Tyranitar, and Dragonite were all widely expected to be strong even before Champions launched, and the early ladder data suggests that many players were eager to put those expectations to the test.

Most Charizard teams are using Mega Charizard Y. Its standard moveset has quickly settled into Heat Wave / Weather Ball / Solar Beam / Protect, but one especially noteworthy detail is the remarkably high win rate of Overheat, despite being outside the most common build. That kind of result may indicate that Charizard still has room for optimization beyond its early default sets.

Tyranitar, meanwhile, is not being used exclusively as a Mega Evolution. A significant portion of teams are also running it in its regular form. Broadly speaking, Tyranitar appears to be split between two major approaches: straightforward attacking sets that aim to apply immediate pressure, and Dragon Dance variants built to boost and attempt a sweep. At least for now, however, the win rate data suggests that Dragon Dance sets have been struggling somewhat compared to the more direct versions.

Dragonite is another Pokémon with high usage, though its win rate indicates that it may not currently be one of the strongest options in the format. Both physical and special variants are seeing play, but so far the special sets appear to be producing better results overall.

Floette-Eternal is perhaps the clearest early breakout story among the Mega options. Before Champions released, it was not widely viewed as one of the format's most promising Pokémon. However, once it was revealed to share Fairy Aura with Xerneas, and once players began to see its combination of high Speed and offensive power in practice, its popularity rose dramatically. Not only is its usage high, but its win rate is also outstanding. At this stage, Floette-Eternal already looks like one of the Pokémon most likely to define Regulation M-A, and it would not be surprising to see it remain at the center of the metagame going forward.

Its usage is still relatively modest, but Delphox is another Mega slot worth highlighting as a Pokémon to watch. Thanks to Levitate, Delphox is able to soften the threat posed by the many Garchomp in the format, despite being a Fire-type. On top of that, it combines high Speed and strong offensive presence with favorable offensive coverage and resistances against Mega Charizard Y, which has translated into an extremely strong win rate in the early data. It has the profile of a Pokémon that could rise sharply in usage and eventually become one of the metagame's defining presences.

Standard Pokémon

Among non-Mega Pokémon, Sneasler, Garchomp, Kingambit, and Incineroar rank near the top in usage.

None of these names are particularly surprising. All of them were already established as highly powerful options in previous generations, so it makes sense that they would immediately occupy a large share of the early Regulation M-A metagame.

One Pokémon that had not seen nearly as much attention in the past, but appears to be in a very strong position in Regulation M-A, is Aerodactyl. Its high Speed allows it to outspeed threats such as Charizard and Sneasler while pressuring them super effectively, and it also offers valuable Tailwind support. Although it is not yet one of the format's most common picks, its early win rate has been very impressive.

Of course, many other Pokémon have also been finding success in the format. As the metagame continues to develop, we hope to revisit these trends and highlight more of the emerging threats and archetypes in future columns.

Closing Thoughts

Regulation M-A is still in its earliest stages, and the metagame is likely to continue shifting rapidly as players refine teams and adapt to the strongest early trends.

Even so, the first week of data has already revealed several important patterns:

• Floette-Eternal has emerged as an immediate central force.
• Charizard remains one of the most influential offensive Mega options.
• Delphox may be one of the most promising underexplored threats to watch going forward.

We hope this overview helps with your early metagame reads and team-building decisions.

See you in the next column.