 Hello friends, welcome back to another episode here on the channel. I hope you're all doing well. If anyone new to the channel, my name is Lee, also known as Osiris. And in today's episode, we're going to be going over my personal VGC series eight tier list for all of the restricted Pokemon that we're going to have access to when the rules officially start tomorrow, which will be the first of February and will have access to all these new toys to play with. So I thought prior to going into the new rules, it'll be fun to do a tier list. And I did shout out on the last video. If anyone was interested to see this video, then let me know. And we got a great response from that. So a big shout out to all and everyone that responded asking for this tier list. And I hope you enjoy it. At the baseline of it, it's going to be great to go through this with you. I give you my opinions on what the best and what the worst Pokemon in my opinion are going into series eight and obviously things will change. It'll be nice to look back in a few weeks time to see how close we were to this. And if you strongly or, you know, disagree or agree with any of the opinions that I have, do leave a comment down below. I'm really interested to hear your thoughts on what you think will be the best Pokemon going into the format before it officially starts and what some of the worst ones are. So definitely leave your comments down below. I'd love to hear them. And without further ado, let's jump in to a tier list. I've got them all in chronological order. So we'll go through from Generation One, Neoji, Mewtwo, right the way through to our new sword and shield restricted. So I guess there's no better place to start than that powerful restricted, the original one, which is the psychic type Mewtwo. It's got a base 130 speeds. That's right off the bat. That is something really good. You know, you're looking at that. You're thinking it's going to outspeed the majority of the other restricted. It's going to outspeed most of the things in the format. But it has got the psychic type, which I think does kind of deter a little bit from being a very top tier Pokemon. All the dog types in the format as well. Give it a hard time. If we jump over to showdown, we can take a quick look at Mewtwo's overall base stats, which aren't too bad. Actually, you know, if you look at the spread, the hundred and six HP start with 90 and 90 defenses, they aren't too shabby. But for a restricted, it's not got the best defenses. It's got phenomenal special attacks that and phenomenal speed. But you're kind of really looking at a restricted Pokemon like this is more it feels more like a glass cannon, although it will take hits. But it's I always tend to put it into that that more glass cannon sort of Pokemon, but I do feel with the the resurgence of darks. Steals are kind of dominating the format at the minute, which makes it even more difficult to really utilize those stab psychic type attacks and then the dark types that are there really do hinder the ability for Mewtwo to do well. And you've got things like Regioleki that can really like just take away that speed advantage very quickly. I think Mewtwo is going to find it very difficult to perform in this format. It has got access to things like Trick Room, though. So, you know, it has got access to some nice support moves, but whether or not you want to go down that route with Mewtwo, but I don't know if it's really going to do too well. So I'm going to start off with Mewtwo. I think we'll go into the CTO with Mewtwo, because I don't see it being used too much. I don't really see it having too much of an impact in the format. And that is down to the faster ghost threats in this format. And we'll get into some of those bigger threats as we go forward. But for Mewtwo, in a format that is full of other very strong restrictors, I don't think it's quite up there with the other ones. So that is where I'm going to leave Mewtwo for now. And we'll move on to our Generation 2 restrictors, which one of them definitely is a lot stronger than Mewtwo. And that is Hoho. Now, Hoho is a phenomenal Pokemon, flying, fire type. Got incredible stats across the board if we get rid of Mewtwo for a moment, we can take a look at Hoho. So yeah, always loved Hoho with actually access now to the ability patch in Sword and Shield, we can access the regenerate ability freely. So that's really good. And obviously that recovers a third of your health when you switch out, which is phenomenal for something like Hoho that has that really good defensive bulk and amazing stats across the board. I mean, you look at that base, 154 special defensive stat. If you pair that up with something like an Intimidate user to just bolster those defenses a little bit and that 106 HP stat, that's a very, very good amount of bulk. Obviously going to have that four times weakness to rock, but I don't know, outside of Lander as Therian, maybe going to see G-Max Colossal as well. Maybe Giglith, maybe Giglith and Stack Attacker. Outside of that kind of cohort group of Pokemon, you're not going to see too many rock type Pokemon. And even against something like Regiolechi, because of that 154 base special defense, you're not going to worry too much, especially if you're Dynamax and Hoho for dealing with it. And you get some incredible attacking options as well. You get Sacred Fire, which is obviously great for when you're not maxed. You can burn your opponent. So you've got a 50% burn chance, which is amazing. And you've got access to Max Airstream and Brave Bird, which is incredible. And coming off that base, 130 attacks that is amazing. It still has access to recovery, which is another nice option to have. I think it has lost access to Tailwind, though, which is something that it did rely on and give your other Pokemon quite a bit of support with. But you do have the Max Airstream, which is quite nice. You've got lots of different coverage moves here. You know, you can go Earthquake, which is a really nice option. You know, you've got the Max Quake there that you can take advantage of. So it does have a lot of versatility. I think Hoho is generally a very good Pokemon. How good it is in the grand scheme of things. I don't know. I probably put it in Tier B. I think Tier B is where I'd probably put Hoho because I think it's got the utility there with Max Airstream. It's got the fire typing as well. And we mentioned a little bit earlier about how dominant steel types are in this format. So having the ability to hit those steel types with super effective damage is really invaluable in this format. And then having that general bulk on top of that really does help out. You can always go Lightning Rod user. Maybe that gives you the support there and screen support from something like Grimsnall help out a bunch with Hoho. And we might change things up as we go, but we'll we'll put Hoho in Tier B. We'll move on to its counterpart from Generation 2, which is Lugia. Lugia the flying and psychic type. It has a great speed stat as well. So not like your other restricted base, 110 speed stat, which is pretty amazing, does get access to its hidden ability as well, like most of the restrictors now. And it does have access to multi-scale. So when it's full HP, any super effective attacks are cut in half, which is really useful and just makes it even more of a tank than it is. I mean, look at its its defenses are incredible. You've got 106 HP with 130 defense and 154 special defense. Combine that with multi-scale and you're looking at some very strong Pokemon with that speed stat. And the beauty about this speed stat is it really does give it the jump on the majority of the other restrictors in the format. So you've got a very good Pokemon here. You've got a signature move, Aero Blast. Fortunately, it is a special based attack, but you can go more predominantly special with it. You get access to things like Earth Power. It's kind of coverage moves are generally pretty good. And it's got some nice options in calm mind. You can go down that route if you want. And lots of options help in hand could be a supporting Pokemon. Does it still get Feather Dance? Feather Dance was always something. 2010 Lugia finished second in the World Championships that year. Feather Dance set. It was always something that I played around with lots and it was something I was planning on taking to World Championships that year. I got an invite, but I didn't get the paid invite, unfortunately. So I didn't end up going that year, which was a little bit sad for me. But Lugia was definitely something that I was planning on playing that year. Obviously Ray won in the end with his groud on team. But Lugia did an amazing job in that championship. So it does have the potential. The only drawback I would say with Lugia is again, it falls into the category a bit like me to where it's got all these new ghost types, new dark types that have kind of popped up since then and really kind of make its life a little bit more difficult, I think as well, because of the 90 base attack stats across the board. It's very underwhelming. It doesn't really hit very hard. You're going to need a weakness policy. And even then with the weakness policy, it's it's very underwhelming for what you would normally generally expect a restricted Pokemon to do. So again, Lugia, I think I do like it as a Pokemon. I think it's got a niche again. But I don't think we're going to see too much of it. I don't think it's going to have too much of an impact in the format. And for that reason, I'm going to dump you into category C. Right. So we've got the first two gens out the way. We'll move on to generation three. And this is where things get spicy, my friends, because we're going to be going over to some of my favorite restricted Pokemon right now. And I'm sure a lot of other people's favorite restricted. We've got Groudon up first. Now Groudon is obviously a ground type. It doesn't have that primal form that we've been used to in the 2016-2019 format. So it is that pure ground type. It still has access to drought. Very strong Pokemon in general has a crazy high base defense. 90 speed stat, which is kind of common for most restricted, as we'll see as we go through this guide. But you can see 100 HP and 140 base defense, which is incredible and not got the best special defense in the world, 90. But it's not too bad overall. And then 150 base attack, which is just incredible. It does get access to its signature move, Precibus Blades, as we've seen on the Primal Groudon. Very popular and just a generally great move. I've got my own relationship with Precibus Blades, as many of you will know from watching episodes throughout the years with Groudon, Primal Groudon. I don't have the best time with this. It has got a lot of accuracy, so it's not the best accuracy. But again, it's just a super powerful move. It's worth running on it for sure. The one drawback with Groudon is that obviously its special attack is not really that good. It's a bit like Lugia. So Lugia is very underwhelming. And I think the same can be said for Groudon. And it's even more worse for Groudon because you don't with the fire type moves. You get eruption, which is boosted by your drought ability. You can bring the sun to the field. But again, eruption doesn't have a same type attack bonus anymore like you would get with Primal Groudon. So you just not got that impact with that move as you would previously have. So it's not really something you would look at playing around with. You're mainly going to be going for like the Rock Slide, Stone Edge there, Precibus Blades. Maybe Sword Stance is an option for you. Substitute also a nice option. But something along these lines or you could run maybe Choice Band, drop the Sword Stance and protect and go along that route. I like the Choice Band set myself. I think it's very good. Groudon's not bad in this format as a restricted. I think it's potentially better than what a lot of people are maybe pegging it. I don't like it myself. I don't think I'll be playing very much Groudon. But I think it's got a place in the format. It's got a bit more of a niche in the format. For a lot of reasons. I think there's a lot of steel types who keep going on about this. A lot of steel types in the format. It's one of the predominant, probably better ground types that we've got access to. Gives you the utility of the Sun as well. So you've got that and Venusol. Obviously with its Chlorophyll ability, we've seen it in previous formats, paired with Torcal and that drought ability, how strong Gigantamax Venusol can be. With Groudon support, I think it's very good. I think it's a nice option as well. Gives you a nice matchup against a lot of things that are kind of dominating at the minute. And a really nice stab attack with Precious Blades. Especially if you're running the band set, you get it in, you need speed control with it. That's one of the things you need to either go trick room, you need to go tailwind with it. And if you can do that and manipulate the kind of the speed control to your advantage with Groudon, it's not something to underestimate from your opponents. The one thing is the big drawback of it is obviously being a physical attacker. It is very prone to intimidate abuse. Groudon I do like, but I think I would put it probably in tier. Oh, I'm kind of torn. I'd like to put it on the line between B and C, but I think at the minute, I'm probably gonna drop it into C. Yeah, so I'm gonna drop Groudon here. I don't think it's gonna have as much impact in the format as something like Ho-Orc could potentially have, but I don't think it's bad enough to drop down to D. And I would say it's more marginally on the line between B and C rather than sitting at C. So top of C, I think, is not a bad place for it and move on to its counterpart, Kyoga, which is one of my favorite restricts ever. I remember using it in 2010 to get my first invite that year, which was amazing to the World Championships, finished third in the UK Nats that year, which was just an incredible experience altogether. I still remember it very fondly. And for that reason, Kyoga just carried me through that tournament. It was amazing Pokemon and ever since then, it's been one of my favorite Pokemon to use and brings that water to the table with its drizzle ability, has access to an incredible move in water spout and we'll have a look at its stats and spreads and things like that. Got an amazing special defense, 100 HP. Not so good defense, but the defense isn't something that really worries you too much in this format. I think because of intimidating support and the prevalence of intimidate, we've got access to a lot of good intimidate users as you can really take advantage to that. But you've got one of the most powerful attacks in the game, which is then boosted by the drizzle ability coming off a 150-bit special attack, which is just nuts. And I mean, you are even resisted, things are taking huge chunks from water spout. Like you're gonna be doing 50% to even things that resist water spout at full power, which is just incredible. So Kyoga very good. We've seen it kind of picking up a lot of use early on in the format with Tornadis. It's a very popular combination from previous formats. And I think it's just generally a very good Pokemon. Indeed, so I would actually put Kyoga up in two. I don't know if I would go S tier because I think it can be a Pokemon that can just win you games outright. And I think the idea of it having the ability to dynamax as well, where you can utilize water spout up until the point where water spout is probably not the best option anymore rather than going for origin pulse, then you can max and then you can start throwing out max geysers, which are again, just as powerful, just ridiculously powerful. I think I would put Kyoga in S tier. It's got a lot harder of a time in this format. I'm not gonna deny that. Regi Alecki, Rillaboom, Cartana, or your three kind of staple checks to Kyoga in this format. But they're Pokemon that you can deal with. And I think as we see the format develop, I think we're gonna see players getting smarter with how to deal with those threats directly. And Kyoga may start to become more of a late game Pokemon rather than an early game Pokemon that we're seeing at the minute. Remove the threats to it and then get it in late game next to something with speed control and then just absolutely obliterate what's out in the field because there aren't many things in this format that aren't gonna take huge damage from a full power water spout. So for that reason, I am gonna put, it's our first S tier Pokemon. I'm gonna put Kyoga up into S tier. Okay, moving on to Rayquaza, another one of my favorite Pokemon. Unfortunately it doesn't have its mega in this format or fortunately because if it did, it would be broken. But Rayquaza, dragon flying type, got a nice speed base speed stat. Add speed to majority of the common restrictives with a 95 base speed, which is great. It's a nice speed stat. And even though it doesn't get its mega form, it does get access to its signature move, the dragon ascent, which is a 120 base flying type attack. So it gets access to a really nice attack that can be max airstream, gets airlock as well, which ignores any effect of weather, which is useful against things like Kyoga, things like Groudon, Tocall, and the abusers like Venusol that would take advantage of those weathers. So yeah, generally airlock of very good ability. Stats are good across the board. Defenses are a little bit like Mewtwos, I would say. So it falls into that kind of very hard-hitting glass cannon sort of restricted in a way where it's not gonna be able to take a lot of hits. It's gonna be something you need to protect very well. We've seen in the past, Mega Rayquaza go with something like Assault Vest. So that could definitely be an option in this one. Focus sash as well. Could also be something that you kind of look at using. It does get access to nice options like extreme speed, sword stands, but you don't need to go down a physical route because if you look at the special attack, 150 base special attack, which is amazing. Probably not gonna use Dragon Ascent in that case, but you do have options to things like Air Slash. You've got things like Earth Power as well, which is a nice option. You've got very good spread attacks. You've got fire. You've got Hurricane that you can utilize if you don't wanna use the Dragon Ascent and that gets around any drops when you're not in a Dynamax form. So yeah, really versatile Pokemon. Got lots of options. And I think Rayquaza, it does have a place. It's a bit more of a niche. I don't know where to really put it because I generally don't, like I'm gonna move Mewtwo behind Luga because I feel like Luga is better than Mewtwo. And I feel like I would probably say Rayquaza's probably, I'd say tying with Mewtwo. I'm gonna put it into C. I don't see it having too much of an impact in this format. I think it's gonna have a rough time against a lot of other threats in this format. You know, like Regi Alecchi, gonna give it a hard time. You do have a way to hit it hard, but you're gonna need speed control support to help it out, which you're gonna need with predominantly all of these Pokemon. And it's not a Pokemon that I see are restricted that I could see really dominating games, you know? It's not gonna be something like Kyogre where it's gonna come in and just wreck stuff. Yeah, so, Palkia up next. Now, Palkia is an incredible Pokemon. Palkia, Dragon and Water type. One of the best typings, I think, combinations in the game. It has access to pressure, it has access to telepathy, which is its hidden ability, which is amazing. It's got incredible stats across the board, 90 HP, 100 defense, 120 special defense, combined with the typing, Water Dragon, incredible, and incredible speed stat of 100, which is generally better than most of the other restrictives in the format. Namely, Xerneas and Neveltal, and 150 special attack stat, and 120 attack stat. I don't know if you'd wanna go down that route, but the 150 special attack stat is incredible. Not got the best coverage, but got decent coverage. You've got things like Aurora Sphere, which is obviously a fighting type stat, which is useful, Blizzard does get access to all its Dragon type attacks, but Spatial Rens gonna be its kind of signature attack, which is always nice to be able to rely on. It's got a good base, 100 attack stat there. So if you're going max, then it's a useful earth power. It's got access to fire coverage, water coverage, obviously for that other stab, which is something that you can use quite nicely. Again, Power Gem, it gets Thunder, and it gets access to Trick Room, which we've seen in the past and used as an option. So it is a fast Pokemon, but it can utilize Trick Room as well. So it can help you counteract Trick Room, reverse it yourself or set it up for yourself if you're in an awkward position. But I think generally, you know, Parkia is an incredible Pokemon. Commonly seen it early on in this format, run an Assault Vest, which makes it even more difficult to deal with. And if you're using it to deal with something like Kyogre, then you're gonna have a really nice time. Kyogre is gonna really struggle to do anything to Parkia. It can't hit it for good damage with Water Spout. It's gonna struggle to hit it without Thunder. And even with Thunder, if you've got the Assault Vest on it, it's neutral damage, it's not gonna be doing enough and you're gonna be able to really tank Kyogre in return. Generally, I think it's a very good Pokemon. And when you look at the format on a whole, the lack of kind of fairy types that are being suppressed by these steels that are kind of dominating at the minute, I think the dragons are having a lot easier of a time in the format than you would have said previously. Now, this might be a bit of a surprise to you all, but I'm gonna chuck Parkia into S tier because I think it's a Pokemon in its own right that can win games. I think with its speeds stat, it's attack power. I think it's utility to come in, soak up damage, slow things down. I think honestly, it's probably one of the best restricted Pokemon that we've got access to. And that's because fairy types aren't having the best time in this format. One of the issues obviously with Parkia is it's gonna, you're gonna have to face a lot of Tapu Finney, but you can easily check Tapu Finney with something like Rillaboom, something like Cartana, something like Regi Alecki, they all pair very nicely with Parkia, you know? So that check can be done quite easily. Parkia are not gonna be the easiest Pokemon to deal with as well. And when you're relying on something like maybe a Veltel that you would normally look to, to kind of weaken this sort of Pokemon, or some of the other Pokemon that you kind of see Snarl with, like Enti, Incinero, they're not gonna want to sit in front of a Parkia, even Enti, speed time with it, it's pretty risky, you know? Especially if you see Parkia and Max. So for that reason, I am gonna throw Parkia into the S tier. I think it's an incredible Pokemon. I think standalone, if we're only using one restricted, I think it's gonna be a very good one. It's definitely one that I think everyone should experiment with. Now we'll move on to the counterpart for its generation in Dialga. Now Dialga is definitely one of my favorite Pokemon. Ever, all time restricted, steel dragon type. Again, a bit like its brother in Parkia has access to pressure and telepathy, telepathy incredible. Especially if you've got something like Lander sitting next to it, you can earthquake all day long and not worry about taking any damage yourself. So it's kind of like a pseudo flying levitate type as well with that ability. Steel dragon is an incredible typing. Got some excellent coverage moves. Flash cannon, great earth power, amazing. It's got access to thunder, thunderbolt. It's got access to ice beam. It's got access to Aurora Sphere. It's got everything, Aurora real, Aurora real? No, we want Aurora Sphere and it's got access to trick room as well, which, you know, 90 base speed. They can take advantage of that a little bit better than Parkia and incredible defenses combined with that dragon and steel typing, you know, 100 HP, 120 defense, 100 special defense, really nicely balanced across the board and again, 150 base special attack. So we're seeing a lot of people slap maybe a life orb on this, a weakness policy on this. If this thing gets boosted up, it's gonna be hitting like an absolute truck and it's one of those Pokemon that's quite versatile. It can work in trick room and it can work in tailwind. You've got the ability like most of the other base 90 speed Pokemon where you can hit that 140 speed stat in tailwind, you're gonna outspeed a Regilecky in pretty much everything in the format. So an access to probably two of the best kind of Dynamax moves in the game and Steel Spike and Max Quake where you can boost your defenses. It's just really good utility. Good offensively, good defensively and good for your partner Pokemon as well. You get like your partner Pokemon next to Dialga stop boosting those defenses to just see out the rest of the game. It's incredibly strong. So for that reason, Dialga, in my opinion, especially with that Steel typing as well, is just an absolute monster. I'm gonna throw Dialga into S tier but I'm gonna put it, I think. Yeah, it's above Park here, I think. And yeah, is it top? Is it top of the list? Yeah, I think Dialga's top of the list. Okay, so that's how it's looking so far. I don't know how you agree with me but we'll move on. Giratina, probably gonna be pretty quick. Dragon Gorse typing, got some good stats, good stats. Giratina had a lot of success in the 2010 format. You saw it with Choice Gorse predominantly early on in the format and what was it? Shadow Force is its two turn attack where it would disappear and then come back down the next turn, do a lot of damage. It has telepathy as well as pressure. Problem is, base 90 speed, it's got amazing defenses across the board, 150 base HP, 120 and 120 both across defenses. A bit wiffy on the attack side of things but does have access to Carmine, seen that in the past do well. But in general, I don't know if it's gonna be very good. It's got nice support options, Willowisp obviously there. I think it's lost access to Tailwind now. It used to get access to that. But I mean, it's not a bad Pokemon. It gets poltergeist as well, which is another option that you can take advantage of which is a bit more of a powerful ghost type attack. But again, I think it falls into a category that is very difficult to utilize with a lot of the dark kind of threats that are around now like Taranitar, Urshifu, Yveltal all give it a really hard time and then you'll faster ghost threats as well. And probably faster and stronger dragon threats as well. You know that you're gonna see in the form. I think it give a guiratina a really hard time. You've got both forms here. So you've got the origin form and you've got its other form. Or is it just a regular form, origin form here. But for the origin form, you do get levitate as its ability. I don't know if it's really needed and you have to kind of give up an item slot for that. So I don't know if you're gonna see that. Its stats do vary a little bit. It gets a bit more attacks that loses a bit more defense, keeps its speed. I think if we've got a speed boost here, it'd be a bit more better of a utility Pokemon. Generally across the board, it's pretty good. But I don't really see it having much of an impact. We've seen those weakness policy teams do all right early on in the format. But I don't really see it doing super well. And I don't, I think it's probably better than Mewtwo and Reakwaza. But actually the origin form I probably put below cause I think the giving up an item slot for just levitate isn't worth it. When you haven't got a grand weakness anyway, it doesn't really matter. And you can get telepathy anyway. So it doesn't, yeah, the origin form actually I'm gonna just dump down into D cause it's just pointless. I think you just go with regular Giratina. So we'll move on to a generation five Pokemon starting off with Zekrom, which is a dragon and electric type Pokemon, amazing Pokemon, one of my favorite ones from generation five, Zekrom, great Pokemon all together has the ability Terravol, which ignores it's a bit like a mold breaker, ignores opposing abilities, which is really nice. So you can get around light and rod and things like that. Credible stats across the board in general. Again, that base 90 speed is the one thing I think holds it back a little bit. And I think yeah, generally 150 base attack, it gets some nice options. Bolt strike is an incredibly strong attack, 20% chance to paralyze the target as well, which is amazing coming off that base, 150 attack stat. Just just incredible, get some nice coverage as well. Obviously you're gonna be relying on dragon claw if you wanna go down dragon coverage, if you need that. Does get max airstream through Fly, which is a nice option if you do max it, giving you speed control support for sure. That's always gonna be useful. And the typing is really nice as well. You're gonna resist things like Regi Alecki, which is amazing. Are you gonna be able to get your speed control up and do huge damage to things like Kyogre and resist those water type attacks as well, which is just phenomenal. Electric is a really nice typing. I think Zekrom's definitely got a place in the format. Where are we putting it? I think I'm probably gonna put it into B because I do feel like it's got a place in the format for sure. And I think there is a team out there, a Zekrom team, that can do very well in this format. So for that, I'm gonna put it into B tier because it does so well, like if you support it well enough, it does so well against Kyogre, can do well against the dragons as well. Obviously not so well against the Algar, but it can do so well against a lot of the threats in this format, like Evelto, Ho, you know, it's got good utility, I think. And yeah, Zekrom, yeah, we'll leave and be, we'll leave and be, we might come back to that, we might come back to that, but I do, I really like Zekrom. Anytime I've ever played Zekrom, it's always surprised me. It's always been a very good, strong Pokemon. And I think the electric typing is pretty unique in this format for a restricted. So for that reason, we'll put it in B. It's not got the best coverage overall, but I do think it's got a definite place in this format and I can definitely see the Zekrom team being a thing in this format, at least. Okay, moving on to Reshiram, Fire Dragon, another very good Pokemon, Resh, Reshiram, Turbo Blaze, same kind of ability as the Zekrom's ability, it's like Moldbreaker, ignores other abilities. Stats across the board, very good again, 90 base speed, another hindrance as well, but I think the typing Dragon Fire, very good, defenses across the board, and that 150 special attack is incredible. Got some really nice signature attacks, Blue Flare Beam, one of them, which is just 130 base fire type attack, special attack, which is nice. Got your Wingbeat, so you could utilize Airstream there. It does get Earth Power, which is very useful. So that's a nice option for sure. Loses tailwind unfortunately, so that's not ideal for it, but again, it gets Willowisp another option you could take advantage of. I think it's got a place in the format, I think it's typing's very good, and I kind of come back to the typing of Ho'ol here, where I think it's a usable Pokemon. I'm definitely gonna put it into B tier, I think. I think B, it's good. I think actually I'm gonna put Zekrom below Ho'ol, because I think Ho'ol really generally, I think yeah, and I think Reshiram's probably better than Zekrom in hindsight. I just think fire types have a better time in this format than electric. We've got good unrestricted electrics in this format, but not as many fire types that are gonna be able to kind of perform as well in this format. And if you want in a restricted, I think for attacking steel types, these two are generally very good options. Cure them up next. Cure them. The problem is though, you can go, you can look at it's kind of its fusion forms, and you just think, well, they're the same typing. They've got different options. They've got a better ability. So if you just wouldn't use Curem, I don't think. I think Curem's one of those Pokemon. We'll put it into D. I don't really need to explain too much about it, because I think when there's other options out there that are better than it, you've got no reason to use Curem in all honesty. So we'll move quickly on to Curem Black. Curem Black is, again, a dragonized type, which is a bit of a hindrance. It's got Terravolt. This Pokemon's moves and their effects ignored. So it's a bit like Reshiram's Ekrom's ability, bit like Mald Breaker. So it ignores abilities. It's got good stats across the board. I mean, 170 base attack is incredible, like incredible. And that 95 base speed, that is the thing that sets it apart from a lot of the other restrictives, in my opinion. So I think for that reason, it's very good, but the typing is a hindrance, for sure, because defensively, it's not that great typing. It's good against things like Kyogre. You've got some incredible attacks here. You get Fusion Bolt, which is incredibly good. So you've got, you don't get the electric stab, even though it kind of portrays itself as an electric type. It gets Icicle Sphere now. So it gets an actual physical ice type attack as well. This generation, which is really nice. It does get fly though. So you've got a nice option for speed control there with Max Airstream, and it's got the defenses to kind of carry it, I feel. Especially defensively, it's not the strongest. It's got a good HP stat though, which is very useful. And for specific matchups against stuff like Kyogre, Kyogre team, it's gonna be very good. Cure and Black, where are we putting you? I almost feel like Cure and Black is better than, the thing is, I'd say it's better than Zekrom, but it doesn't have the stab that Zekrom has, and it has worse typing. So I'd maybe put Cure and Black just in behind Zekrom, but for the speed, I'd probably put it ahead, and I'd put it ahead of Reshiram, and I'd put it ahead of Hoto almost, you know? But for general utility in the former, I don't know if it's definitely not better than Hoto, but it may be better than Reshiram in the right team. I think it's got a place, you know, in the format. I really feel like Cure and Black could have a place in this format. I think it's not gonna have the easiest time, but I think that its speed stat, it's decent. Yeah, I think B, higher end of B, I think is where we're gonna put it. I could be completely wrong on this. Okay, Cure and White, I think is a better Pokemon in general. It's got 170-bit of special attack. It's got that 95 speed stat again, which is incredible. It's not worried about intimidate support. It's got the same typing, same ability, which is a little bit of a shame. Like if you saw dragon, like fire, dragon, electric there, I think these Pokemon, you wouldn't use Zekrom or Reshiram. You'd just use these two. It's a shame that the typing didn't change, in my opinion. Obviously weak to fairy again, like all the other dragons, but at the same time, you do get access to Fusion Flare, which is another nice option. You get access to Earth Power, which you can actually take advantage of here. Drawback is you don't really have the flying stab to take advantage of as well as you would with Cure and Black. So I don't know if it's as useful. In that respect, you got icy wind, which is nice, stab, ice type attack. And you obviously can take advantage of Blizzard as well, which is just one of the things that you're always gonna be looking to do, but ice and fire coverage with ground coverage as well, which is pretty nice. Drawback is obviously it's typing, it's gonna be susceptible to big steel type attacks, but you can hit them back really hard. So if you can support Cure and White well enough, it can be a real threat and it's gonna actually do some just stupid damage. Does it get freeze dry now as well? That's a, yeah, it gets freeze dry now, which is another option, I would say on there, because then it gives you the option to hit things like Tapu Fini for super effective damage, Kyogre for super effective damage. And that coverage there is actually really nice, like really nice. You could even like Assault Vest this thing. Does it get Thunderbolt? No, I don't think it does. Doesn't get Thunderbolt, but it got some nice coverage in general. It's kind of something not to overlook and definitely not to underestimate. I'm gonna stick Cure and White top of B right for now, because I just think it's definitely, it's a bit like Cure and Black, where I think it's gonna have a difficult time against the Steel Types, but I think it's got enough about it to be able to have a huge impact in the format for sure. Okay, moving on to Zernius and Eveltil. Okay, well, Zernius we all know from previous formats. We've seen how dominant it has been in previous formats. It's a ridiculous Pokemon. Geomancy signature kind of attack boosts. You give it the power herb. One turn boost, special attack, speed and special defense in one turn, plus two, which is just nuts. And then you're kind of relying on Moonblast, Desling Gleam, and that's pretty much the set that you're gonna see. Now I do think Zernius is definitely taking a huge hit in this format, but I still think it's good. But the one drawback I would say, which we haven't really pretty much delved into with a lot of the other restrictives up to now, but some of them we have, is the fact that it's all well and good getting your Geomancy up, right? And I think there's ways and there's teams out there that are gonna support that super well. Double fake out, intimidate, support, redirection. There's lots of ways to help Zernius set up. Dynamics definitely hinders it because you're gonna take huge damage. Even if you get your Geomancy up, you're gonna take huge damage anyway. So it means Zernius isn't gonna be as healthy as it normally would be. I still think there's a Zernius team out there to be made and have a real impact in this format. My one drawback, my one gripe with Zernius is once you Dynamax, you've got no utility to take advantage of any of those Dynamax moves you're gonna be setting the Missing Train. And that is it. You're gonna get no benefit from any boosting attacks to your defense, to your special defense. And maybe that is something that players look at going forward because if you can boost, further boost your defense, like further boost your defense, it gets such good coverage, gets flash cannon. There's an option there. I think we've gotta look outside the scope of Dazzlingly Moonblast. I totally agree with the argument that that's all you need because plus two, fairy or a boost, which is like 1.3, is it 1.3 or 1.2, 1.3. So it's like a life or boost, just a free life or boost on top. On all fairy type attacks, I get that you want to take advantage of those boosts and with those, you're gonna be chunking most things anyway. But if you could get some benefit out of Dynamaxing on top of it, that's where I think the key to Zornius really being successful in this format is. It has a great base speed of 99, which is just incredible, outspeeds most things. And with Geomancy, it's just amazing. I don't think it's S tier right now. I think it's A tier for sure though. I would definitely throw it into A tier because I think it's just, there's so many dragons in the format as well. And it's defenses overall are pretty decent because of that high HP stat that it's got. 95, 98, not bad. Great special attack. There's definitely flexibility with Zornius. I think for its typing, the ability to kind of set up so quickly is one of the pluses about it for sure. So I'm gonna put it in A for now. We're gonna move on to Yveltal next, which is my boy Yveltal, a great Pokemon. Dark flying type, super bulky. Got huge HP stat. Again, pretty much the same as Zornius across the board, but probably a little, maybe better defensive typing. Maybe, I don't know, but it does get access. Obviously oblivion wing is incredible. And I think the beauty about Yveltal in this format is you can run a pure special Yveltal. It's Dark Aura, which is the equivalent of Fairy Aura, boosting dark type attacks by 1.3. So it's an incredibly strong Pokemon. Got ground immunity as well. It's got Max Airstream. It's got Max Darkness. Coming off a special attacker as well, that's so useful because you're gonna be weakening your Pokemon on the stat that you're gonna be hitting them on, which is incredible. It's incredibly bulky. You can recover your health with that as well. So it's got a lot of different coverage moves. Heatwave, foul play, it's got, yeah, I mean, just you go down the list, sucker punch. Tailwind, it still gets access to, which is very rare in this format. So utility-wise, it's amazing. Offensively, it's amazing. I think it's one of the best Pokemon in the format, restricted-wise. I'm gonna give you my honest opinion on that. I've always liked Yveltal, but I think it's just got better with the ability to Dynamax. I think you need to get the team build right with Yveltal. I think there's some specific things that you need to build into your teams, but we're seeing a lot of like Yveltal metagross stuff kind of popping up, which was popular cause from previous generations. And I think those are just gonna continue. Where am I gonna put it though? I think tie-in with Kyogre is where I'm gonna put it. Okay, there we go. Okay. Right, there's Yveltal. Next one, Zygarde. Zygarde's a different beast altogether. It's had some kind of hindrances in this format. It's lost extreme speed, which you used to have access to. Just a little bit of a shame. It still gets access to coil low, which is a nice option for it, boosting those defenses and accuracy. It gets a really nice ground-type attacks. You've got a thousand hours. It's probably the one that you wanted to use because it can hit flying types, ground them that turn, then hit them for good damage the next turn. It's got a really good ability in power construct and a roar break as well, which negates the effects of dark aura and fairy aura from Yveltal and Zernius. So that can be something you can take advantage of as well. Power construct though at 50%, when Zygarde hits 50%, it changes to its complete form and gets a huge buff to its HP stat. Let's see if I can pull up complete Zygarde. Here we go. Where we go from 108 base HP, you go to 216, and that isn't even Dynamaxed. So you can Dynamax this thing after it hits its complete form and just go to town. Gonna see things like Misty Seed on it, which give it a little bit more defensive boost. You've got a thousand arrows. You've got whiz. You don't really have the Swagger Spam that you kind of had with Tapofinian previous generations, but you do have coil. It does get dragon dance, which is a way to kind of boost its attack if you want. It's got some other moves. It's got access to haze, glare, some support options there. Obviously dragon type attacks as well, which is gonna be useful. Its coverage isn't the best overall, but it's got a lot of good utility in general. Very good Pokemon. I think it's something that's kind of been a bit overlooked and I think it's a Pokemon that can have a real impact in this format. Again, it comes back to the fact that steel types are kind of dominating this format and there isn't that much fairy out there that can really threaten it. Ice types as well are having a hard time with all of the steel types. So for that reason, I think I'm gonna slot Zygarde into A to here and I don't know if there's many people out there that would agree with me, but I think as the format goes on, we're gonna see more and more Zygarde in this format and I think it can be a real good restricted option going forward. I think it's gonna be very good. I don't think it's gonna be quite as dominant as these four at the moment, but I think it's gonna be a very strong option. Okay, next up, we're gonna be moving into generation seven, which is Sugileo Lunala and its counterpart. Sugileo, very interesting Pokemon, psychic and steel type Pokemon, great base speed again, very good Pokemon. Only issue is it ties with one of its biggest enemies. Nemesis is Oshifu, so it's speed ties with that, which isn't great. It's got a great ability done, full metal body, which prevents, it's a bit like clear body, prevents any stat drops from opposing Pokemon onto Sugileo, got a great signature attack and stun steel strike ignores abilities on other Pokemon, which is incredible. Got access to trick room as well. You're gonna commonly see it with weakness policy. Taking advantage of that ridiculous speed stat that it's got there and with something like Baldo's support, it's very, very, very good. Got a huge attack stat and got decent defenses. Special defense, not so good, but kind of made up with that 137 HP stat, which is just incredibly big. And then you Dynamax this thing and it gets, yeah, it's very difficult to deal with, especially because you can't intimidate it. So to weaken it, you're looking at things like willow-wisp, faster willow-wisp would be something to help it out, but you're probably gonna see it commonly paired with things like Tepufini to prevent that. So it's a tricky Pokemon to deal with and you can't let it get too out of control. Gets amazing coverage. You can see close combat as an option. You've got earthquake, you've got filet blitz. I mean, the coverage is just incredible. Zen headbutt, rock slide, stone edge. I think it gets wild charge as well, wild charge. I mean, the coverage is just absolutely ridiculous on this. You can go a little bit more supportive if you want something like help and hand on there to support partners. And wide guard, one of the better options in this format and something I think a lot of players are sleeping on right now. There's so much spread, damage, attacks in this format. Wide guard is gonna be something that is very, very important. So I think there's utility there. For that reason as well, sogaleo very useful with that move as well. Not the only reason it's a very good Pokemon. But for that reason, I'm gonna throw it into tier A. I'm very close to putting it into tier, the S tier though, cause I think it's a very good Pokemon in general. Not quite there. Lunala, okay, counterpart is a ghost psychic type. I think four times a week to dark immediately screams help to me. Shadow shield as its ability. It's a bit like multi-scale for Lunala where full health it takes, half damage from attacks. It's got really good stats across the board. Defense is not so good, but again, supported by that huge 137 HP stat. Got good special attack and speed's not bad as well. Speed time with Urshifu, not so good. Gets options like trick room. I think it's lost Tailwind now, which is a very disappointing thing for it. But it gets options like trick room, which could be useful. It's got really good coverage. Moongai's beam is a really nice option as well. It's a bit like the counterpart to Sunsteal Strike. Ignores abilities from opposing Pokemon. Dazzling Gleam, it gets lots of options. Heatwave gets trick, willow isp. So it's got some nice utility support options, but do you really want your restricted just being solely support? And I think that's probably what Lunala would be in this format. I don't see it being so offensive because again, it falls back into the psychic kind of argument. Ghost, slot ghost type argument where I think it's gonna struggle in this format. And I don't think it's got the kind of, the ability to work as well in this format as previous ones. I could be wrong, but I think what I'm gonna do is stick Lunala top of C because I don't really see it being played that much. I think it's gonna be very difficult to utilize. I think there's better options. And I think, yeah, we'll put it in C, okay? So we've got the baby's Cosmog and Cosmium next. Do we even look at them? I don't know. We'll put them in D. I think we'll just skip on. We're getting on in this video. We need to save time. I love these Pokemon. Very cute. Not gonna do anything. Don't use them. Don't waste your time. And I think we can do the same for Necrozma as well. I think it falls into the same category as Curem where you've got better options and Dawnwings and Duskmane, which are the next two that we're gonna look at. Dawnwings is probably, I think, falls into the same category as Lunala, unfortunately. The Psychic Gorse type in. It does get Prismama, which Pokemon receives 30 damage from Super Effective Attacks. Sorry, three quarters damage from Super Effective Attacks. So, I mean, it's a good ability, but when you've got a four times weakness, kind of paired with that, it makes it very difficult to utilize. It's got good distribution of stats. It loses a bit of its HP stat, which is not so good compared to Lunala and loses a lot of speed, which makes it a bit more better to use in Trick Room, but I don't think slow enough to really utilize Trick Room and there's a lot more stronger Trick Room threats now that I think will give it a harder time. It's got good defenses, of course, got good special attack. It's got all the same options that you would get with, except why God doesn't get why God, huh, like Lunala. That's interesting. It gets Trick Room now, which is very good support on option, especially for a Gorse type. If you can position it well, you can always get your Trick Room up, not worried about something like Fake Out to kind of stop you. Moonlight's Beam, it gets that signature attack. It gets really good coverage, Earth Power, it gets expanding force that you can take advantage of. Heat Wave, Eye and Defense is an option there. It gets recovery in Moonlight as well, Morning Sun. It gets Photon Geyser as well, which is a nice attack. So I think Don't Wings the Crosmer, probably not as bad as Lunala. Probably just, yeah, I'd say probably a little worse than Lunala, but probably better than, better than these, but probably I'd say I'd prefer, I think Groudon's better than it. I'd say Groudon's better than Lunala as well in this format. Maybe Groudon goes up to B, I don't know. I think Groudon, actually, I think we're gonna move Groudon up to B. Yeah, I think Groudon up to B. I think we were too harsh on it earlier, so move Groudon up to B. Duskman and the Crosmer, different story altogether. I think Duskman and the Crosmer is one of the best Pokemon that you've got in this format. Prism Armor, Psychic Steel typing, credible typing, Prism Armor, getting that defense boost from, well, not a defense boost, but taking less damage from super effective attacks with the defenses that it's got across the board, which are 97, 127, 109 special defense, really balanced and an incredible attack stat. Again, suffering from a little bit of an awkward speed tier, not quite slow enough to take advantage of Trick Room, fully not quite fast enough to take advantage of their faster mode. So it's somewhere in between, but can definitely set its own Trick Room up a bit like Dawnwing's and the Crosmer. It's got access to Sunsteel Strike. It's gonna primarily be something that you're gonna see weakness policy on because of that Prism Armor. And once you max this Pokemon and get that plus two, it's gonna be incredibly difficult to stop. It gets access to Earthquake as well, which is incredible. That combination right there, Max Steel Spike, Max Quake, boosting those defenses. On top of plus two attacks that is just insane. It gets access to some really nice moves. It gets Fought on Geyser if you want the psychic type stab as well with that. Set the psychic terrain if you need it. It gets, yeah, it's got very good coverage in general, Stone Edge gets expanding force if you wanna go down a special route, which you can do. Obviously, it's got just a bunch of things, gravity and prison. So it's got utility as well with it, but I think just in general, you probably want to go more of a physical attacker. It is very prone to intimidate though, but you can kind of mitigate that. You've got plenty of Pokemon in this format that can punish, intimidate, cycling, defiant, tornadoes being one of the melodic, something that might see a bit of use. I don't know how much, but Thunderous definitely something to take a look at. Gotta be careful around the dark types. Again, that's the one bit of a drawback for it. The dark types are gonna give it a hard time and ghost types as well, but with the Prism Armor, I think it's a very good option. I'm kind of tempted to throw it up into air because I do think it's one of the best Pokemon in the format in general. I don't know if it's, I'd probably better than Sogolay on my opinion, just because of the fact that it's got Prism Armor that it can rely on it. It's got Trick Room as well. I think Trick Room's generally just a very good utility in this format. I'm gonna throw it up into S tier. Have I got too many Pokemon in S tier? Have I got too many Pokemon? I mean, I could move. If I moved anything, I think I'd probably move Palkia down into A. But I do feel very strongly about Palkia being in S because I think it's a very good Pokemon. Although you can't really have this many Pokemon in S tier. You cannot, we cannot have, okay, we're gonna refine this at the end. We cannot have this many Pokemon in S tier because yeah, I'm gonna have to move, I'm gonna have to put some of these in S tier as well, which is just not gonna be the way to do it. So I think what we're gonna do is, we're gonna re-jig this now. I think Palkia goes down to A tier. Kyogre, are you gonna go down to A? No, I can't, I can't. I think Necrosma may have to go down to A tier as well. Yeah, and yeah, it has to stay in that order. Okay, yeah, so I think that's what we're gonna go with. Right, Zassian and Zamazenta, two of the new Pokemon that got sword and shield, Zassian, incredible Pokemon. We'll go with the crown form. Obviously you've got normal Zassian, but you're gonna go with the crown form. Give it the rusted sword, it's gonna get that crown form and the steel typing attitude, it's very typing, which makes it just incredible. Behemoth Blade is a move that turns from Iron Head, I believe, when you give it the rusted sword. So the beauty about this 100 base power and damage doubles against anything that is Dynamax. So you're gonna get double damage. Against Dynamax Pokemon. So you're gonna get the same damage, whether they're regular or Dynamax, which is incredible. Intrepid Sword as well, and crazy ability anytime that Zassian enters the field. It gets an attack boost, which is just ridiculous because you look 170 base attack stat and 148 speeds stat. One of the fastest restrictors in the format, which is just nuts. It's got decent bulk across the board in general. 115 on both, 92 HP. So it's got the ability to not be like this glass cannon kind of Pokemon. It's got the ability to kind of have a little bit of bulk and definitely the speed and the attack, which you can kind of, if you can position it well against like Intimidate users, you can get the attack boost. So you can maybe take a little bit out of attack and then make use of it that way. Obviously you've got access to things like play rough, like close combat. They're going to be the kind of main three moves that you're going to see. Substitute's quite popular on it. Sword's Dance as well is another option that you've got there. It's got a lot of options that it can take advantage of in this format. Crunch, another option if you need the dark head coverage. Quick attack as well. It might not be something super obvious, but it could be good to chip Sashes and things like that. Wild Charge, another option. Brutal Swing, another option to proc potential weakness policies and things like Metagross, things like Desmond... Well, not Desmond and Cosmo, but Metagross. You would like Desmond and Cosmo maybe with this. It's got Imprison as well, which is a nice option, Quick Guard. So it's got a lot of like support options that you can kind of look at and maybe take advantage of in more of a niche scenario, help in hand as well. But generally just an incredible Pokemon, great typing as well, and that speed stat just puts it like, it just makes it stand out from the rest of the Pokemon. The only drawback is with it is it can't Dynamax and it does give a lot of emphasis on your team building. I think Assassin is probably one of the best Pokemon I think restricted wise that we've got access to. And I think it frees up team building quite a lot. It makes team building hard because you're not really, like you haven't got a dedicated powerhouse, like something like maybe Dialga. It works in a completely different way to Dialga, but what Zassian kind of provides teams is a way to hit Dynamax Pokemon very hard and steal fairy. We've seen how good that typing is in general. Fairy typing the ring, isn't that many good fairy typings in this format? You've got Zernius and then you've got your unrestricted, but how many of them are we gonna see? And I think Zassian, even though play rough isn't the most common option on it, I think it's a decent option at least to consider. There's a lot of dragon types in this format and the coverage that you get between steal fairy and fighting, it's pretty nice coverage overall. So it's definitely something to consider. I would definitely, and why I've rejigged, I would stick Zassian into STI 100%. And I think I probably put it above everything. I think I'm gonna actually rejig as well. I think I'm gonna put Hivalto, yeah there. I think above Dialga and then Dialga, because I do still feel like Dialga gonna be very strong in this format. Zamazenta, okay, counterpart Pokemon. I think Zamazenta, you've got Zamazenta crowned. It's fighting steel, it's got a decent typing. For sure the steel typing is always good. You've got the rustic shield there. Dauntless shield, rises defense by one whenever it switches in. It's got a ridiculously good defense stat. Attack stat, not bad either. Good defenses across the board. And speed, not bad, speed, not bad, you know? If you're going jolly, you're still hitting a very good speed stat. You're under-speeding base 130s, which is a little bit. It's not ideal, it's not ideal, but it's got nice options in coaching. Something that we've seen recently, behemoth bash is it's kind of signature attack, which is again, a steel type attack like behemoth blade. So it's got that option there. Close combat, you're gonna get stabbed from that as well. Again, it's got some nice options throughout. If you can see it's got play rough as well, so you can take advantage of that. If you want it's not stabbed, but it's definitely there, wild charge as well. It's more defensively built. And whether or not it's something that, you know, it's got wide guard as well. So wide guard, you know, it's a perfect support in Pokemon as well with the defense boost. And it's still gonna be hitting hard with behemoth bash and other options like your stab option, close combat. I think it's something that's been a little bit overlooked and it's not as kind of dominant. It's obvious as how strong Zassian can be, but I think Zamazen is actually a really good Pokemon in this format. And I think we'll see more of it being played the further we go into this format. I honestly think we'll see a lot of it. It's got decent typing and then it resists dark typing, which is really nice. It's not weak to psychic, it's not weak to fairy because of the steel type in there. So, you know, it's got a lot of utility in general. I think I'm gonna put it top of, this is another one, I don't think many people are gonna agree with me on, but this is one that I think we'll come back to and I think if not, it's verging on to me, just looking at how it could perform in the format, it's verging on being maybe an ST or Pokemon, but I would definitely say it's an A tier Pokemon for sure. 100%, that's where we're gonna go, Zamazenta. I think it's a very good Pokemon and I would like my one take on it would be don't overlook it because I think the ability to have the wide guard for one, which is incredible. I don't think Zassian gets wide guard, does it? And I don't think, yeah, you wouldn't wanna use it on Zassian anyway. You want the more offensive variant, but I think the fact that it's got really good options throughout to support teams, the only drawback is right and we'll see it right now is where's body press? It's like, where is body press? I think it would be too broken with body press. Maybe why they said, we're not gonna do that because Zamazenta is gonna be everywhere and we wanna see Zassian everywhere. Just a little bit of a shame but I think the more players are kind of twig on to some of the abilities that Zamazenta can provide for your team as well as being an offensive threat. I think it can do a really good job in all honesty and I think it's not something to overlook. I'm gonna put it at the top of A for sure, yeah. Okay, let's move on, Kalorex. Kalorex, Kalorex, I do like you. Kalorex, psychic grass type, unnerved ability, I mean, sorry, the stats are just, yeah. They're not really what you would see from a restricted Pokemon. So for that reason, we're not even gonna discuss it, we're gonna just dump it. D tier, bottom, D tier, Kalorex. Now we'll get on to the better Kalorex forms. We'll start off with Kalorex, which one we got? The Shadow Rider, the Knight Rider himself or herself or themself, whichever one we're going for. So Kalorex, when fused with Spectre, it creates Kalorex Shadow Rider. This is one insane Pokemon. I will say, I love these new Pokemon, these new fusions. They have the ability as one, they have unnerved and they have Chilling Ney or this one has Chilling Ney anyway, which is just, sorry, Grim Ney, which boosts attack, a special attack when you knock something out, which is amazing. Then we come over to the stats, 100 HP, 80 and then 100 special defense, not the best defensively. I will say, not the best defensively. It falls into the Mewtwo, requires a kind of category, very glass cannon-y sort of Pokemon. Not gonna be able to take big hits, especially because of that four times weakness to dark types. I think that makes things very difficult for it to perform against certain Pokemon in this format, namely Ash, Fu, Yveltal, another one, Maltress, Glaren, Maltress, another one. But being the fastest restricted Pokemon in the format gives it a huge advantage against a lot of pretty much everything else in the format, restricted wise. And 165 special attack as well, which is ridiculous. It gets expanding force, which is just nuts. It gets its new signature attack, Astro Barrage, 120 damage, ghost type attack, special attack hits both targets, double like spread damage, which is just nuts, you know? And you pair that with something like Life Orb, and then you have expanding force, and then you have something like Mudge Shot here, where you can just hit like Incineroar for huge damage, turn one, knock it out, if it hasn't got the Shaka Berry. Well, even if it has the Shaka Berry, it can't use it because of a nerve. So I mean, it's amazing utility. It puts on so much pressure, and we got back to why I've put some of these ghost types, psychic types down in these tiers, because I just think when you've got something as prevalent as Chalerex Chalorider, Chalerex Chalorider, if we get it right, I think it's just very difficult for a lot of Pokemon to really gain any sort of momentum here, and then you pair it with something like Indeedy, which is this like new best friend with follow me psychic terrain. I mean, the only things that you have to worry about those dark types, and there is a handful of those that you can definitely have other things in your team to help prepare against. So I think we've seen how good Spectria Clefairy was as a combination in series seven. Now I think this format series eight, Chalerex and Indeedy is gonna be extremely, extremely hard to deal with. Gets access to lots of support moves as well, taunt, willow isp, gets access to trick room as well, which is just madness. So I mean, the list goes on for the options that it's got. Aromatherapy could be something that's useful, I guess I've seen a few. Here's it gets very useful move. Here's like just shutting down things that are trying to boost up and get an advantage over you. We'll not talk about ally switch, but it does get it. Heal pulse is another one helping hand. So in prison as well. So you've got trick room in prison. You've got so many options with it. It's actually ridiculous like, and I think as a Pokemon in general, I think the only thing that lets it down is it's typing because of the darkness weakness. And I think the other thing that lets it down is it's defenses slightly weak. So I mean, it's a great candidate to have screen support with, but I don't think it's, yeah, I'm gonna throw it into ATF for now because I think it does have some drawbacks, although I do think it's top of ATF for the moment. So that is where we're gonna go. I'm rethinking my STF all the time. I'm like, is that right? Can we not put Shadow Rider in ATF and then move Kyogre down to, yeah, you know what? You know what? I think I have to, as good as Kyogre is. I think Kyogre down here, I think Kyogre Shadow Rider is better than Kyogre. Yeah, I'm gonna go with it. I'm gonna go with it. And it makes no sense. We're getting right to the end of this. And you know, it's gonna change throughout, but I'm quite happy with everything right now, I think. And I think I put Kyogre X. I think I put it probably above. Yeah, I put it just below Zastia, I think. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm gonna do. That's where it's gone. Okay. Kalorex Ice Rider. We're nearing the end, friends. If you're with me at this stage, we're nearly there. It's got the Aswon ability instead of chilling, instead of Grimnir, it's got Chillingnir, which boosts attack. It's got actually one of the best defensive spreads, I think, if any, restricted. It's got terrible typing, defensively, great typing, offensively. It does have a dark weakness added to it now, a ghost weakness added to it now, which isn't ideal, but at the same time, it's got absolutely amazing defenses. 100 HP, 150 defense, 130 special defense. It's just absolutely nuts. And then 165 attack stat, which is just incredible. Good speed stat as well. And a good speed stat of base 50 can take advantage of Trick Room really well, and can kind of perform out of Trick Room a little bit better. It can hit things like Amungus a bit more safely out of Trick Room, get rid of it. If you are seeing like minimum speed Trick Room, Amungus being a thing. So it's got very nice options overall. It's a great candidate, I feel, for something like Assault Vest. You can go Life Orb, which I've been playing around with, and it's got that signature attack, which is, I don't know why they ever invented this move, but this is ridiculous. This is the one thing that I just think is madness. If you Life Orb this thing, Glacial Lance is a spread ice type attack. 130 base attack hits both targets. And with a Life Orb, if you get any sort of chilling near boosts as well, I mean, it's just wiping out things. There's not very much, even resistive stuff is gonna take stupid damage from it. And if you can just control the field, like I do really think there's an argument. Do you just run Glastria over this? But I think the difference between Glastria and Calyrex Ice is you get Glacial Lance. And I think just for the ability to absolutely just keep that momentum going, you don't even need to think about 50-50s in an end game situation. Is one thing gonna protect, is the other thing gonna protect, you've just got the ability to just absolutely blitz through things and just click Glacial Lance. It's so easy. If you just keep the speed control. And for that reason, I think Calyrex Ice is just generally an amazing Pokemon. Obviously with it's psychic typing as well, it does now get access to Trick Room. So it can set it on Trick Room up. Another partner for it again would be that follow me, female and DD. It set the terrain up for you, give you redirection support, which is really nice. Allow you to set your Trick Room up and then start throwing some big damage out. It gets all the stuff that Glastria got, you know, close combat. It gets that, it gets heavy slam, which is another nice option. So you've got lots of nice options here and some additional ones that you get from the Fusion with Calyrex as well. Obviously Leafstorm is an option mega horn, I believe. Does it, did it get that? I don't know. But yeah, get some nice stuff. Generally going to be an incredible Pokemon now. And I think for my experience with that, I'm going to throw it into tier A. It's going to have a hard time against the Steals. Probably not as good as Palkia. Is it better than Palkia? I think it's better than Palkia to be honest. I think it's better than, it's not better than Duskman because I think Duskman's just probably a little bit better than it. But it's definitely an A tier Pokemon and that's where I'm going to put it. That's where I'm going to put it and it's going to stay there. I don't think it's quite S tier because of its typing. That would be my only drawback with it. But I think it's a very strong Pokemon in general. Okay, on to our last one. Our very last Pokemon, Eternatus. Eternatus only gets pressure as its ability. Poison Dragon type. Unique typing for a restricted Pokemon. Not bad, not bad at all. Doesn't need an item for any sort of forms or anything like that. Base stats, all right. Okay, 140 HP, incredible. 95, 95, defenses across the board. Not too bad when combined with that HP stat. 145, special attack, very good. And speeds stat, incredible for a restricted Pokemon, 130. Could be a little bit better, but are we asking for too much because we're getting a lot of faster restricted Pokemon these days. I think 130 is very acceptable. The big thing about this Pokemon is cosmic power and recover. And you're primarily seeing Dynamax Cannon and like Flamethrower, Dynamax Cannon and Flamethrower. But it does get access to things like Toxic as well. So it can actually be a Toxic Storm on between these three. Dynamax Cannon and bit like Behemoth Blade and Behemoth Bash doubles damage against Dynamax Pokemon, which is a nice option. Good base power as well. Coming off that special attack, it obviously gets options like Sludge Bomb as well. The problem with Sludge Bomb and Dynamax Cannon, you kind of get a little bit walled by steel types in general, which it does struggle with if you don't carry something like a fire type attack, Mystic Fire, Flamethrower. But you know, you don't need to go down the cosmic power route if you don't want to. It's got a lot of utility outside of that. The recovery is always going to be nice. It gets screen support, it gets substitute fast enough to utilize it, it gets brutal swing to support with obviously the cosmic power. We've touched upon a Turner Beam, which is like a Hyper Beam, a Dragon type Hyper Beam. Don't know if you'd ever really want to use that. Maybe it's an option there. It doesn't get really, it's not got the deepest of move pulls in general, it gets Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon is another option if you want to max it a lot of the time. But I think generally it's quite a good Pokemon. With that speed stat as well, it's going to most of the time with cosmic power be able to get that up before it can be attacked and you're going to need specific things that are going to hit it very hard and remove it pretty quick from the field unless you have something like a Hayes user, which is going to be invaluable against the Ternisys. Something like a Mungus that can't at least be one shot by it and can't be poisoned either by something like Toxic because I think the Toxic stall on it is a really nice option, especially with cosmic power. I mean, that is just, it's just disgusting really, but Steel Types is this big kind of drawback where it can't really do anything to Steel Types. So I think Ternisys is very good. I'm a bit, I don't know where to kind of put it. I don't think it's an A tier Pokemon. I think it's probably B tier and I probably dunk it. Probably top of B tier, I think. I think, yeah. So there we go, friends. I think a Ternisys could maybe go into A. I don't think it will though. I think it'd probably stay B. Maybe around mid B. But okay, there is the list. Wow, what a long video, what a long video. Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout this. I've been very brief on every Pokemon, but there are a lot of restrictives to go through, so I can't go into so much detail about all of them. Obviously, we're gonna have a lot of content coming out on the channel in the next few weeks. Discussing series here, so we'll be able to cover more in depth, a lot of these Pokemon in those videos and stuff like that. So friends, I hope you've enjoyed today's episode. It has been a lot of fun doing this. Let me know your opinions down below and what you think of my tier list, what your overall thoughts are, if you agree with me on anything, if you disagree with me on anything. And it'll be nice, I swear, to come back in about three or four weeks' time or maybe a couple of months' time and have a look how well these predictions kind of pan out because it's never gonna be 100% correct. I don't think anyone that does these is gonna be 100% correct. There's always gonna be that anomaly out there, but I'm kind of trying to be as conservative in my experience that I've got over the years as best as possible to kind of put things in tiers where I think they'll be good and where they'll not be so good. So there'll be surprises, there'll be stuff up there that's probably not as good as what I expected to be, but I think in general, that is that. So thank you so much for tuning in, friends. Have a great rest of your day. Enjoy series eight. We'll be back with content tomorrow on the Switch. We'll have a brand new rental team to feature to kick us off into the new format, which is gonna be very exciting. So I hope you're looking forward to that. Have a great rest of your day, whatever you're up to and I'll see you all for another episode very soon. So until then, take care. See you next time, bye-bye.