Havens
WGI World Champion
Le me touching on some thoughts on some relevant Dragon Types in the meta rn:
Naganadel: I don't think it's irrational if I said Naganadel is one of the, if not THE best mon to use on Dragon teams right now, and can even go further to say that this mon is definitely a top 5 mon in the tier. We've already talked about the ridiculous damage output it provides, its great offensive typing w/ near perfect type coverage; the fact that this mon matches up incredibly well vs. Fairy overall makes Dragon teams more incredibly frightening, and Dragon dittos are riskier since it could no longer be a battle of Scarf Latios or M-Altaria; instead it can be decided on whose Naga gets to +1 speed first. I'm not necessarily saying that this mon is blatantly broken, but I will say that counterplay to it overall is few and far between, and every team right now needs to consider how to play around it, especially as the meta moves forward.
Kommo-o: This mon isn't all bad actually, but right now Naganadel is overshadowing it. It did get blessed w/ a better movepool overall, making it more viable than it ever could have been in SM. Clangarous Soulblaze isn't a joke either; an Omni-boosting offensive Z-move w/ base 185 power chunks a relatively large portion of the meta, and those that eat it can possibly get hit with other coverage moves in Close Combat, Flash Cannon, Flamethrower, among others. It also lowkey is a nice option to use against Normal teams when coupled w/ Soundproof; having that Fighting STAB plus the fact you won't be as easily revenged by Ditto w/ those stats is quite nice for Dragon to utilize. I feel that this mon will get better as time goes on, but right now we'll wait and see.
M-Altaria: I really want this mon to succeed, but right now it feels very lackluster, at least to me. Part of that can be contributed to the "new toy" syndrome in overusage of Naganadel and exploration of Stakataka and Blacephalon. The other contributor is just how M-Altaria fits into the meta right now. It feels pressured to set up vs. Normal monos, considering both Naganadel and M-Alt can be utilized by Ditto to pick up a kill after a mon is sacked off. M-Alt feels virtually close to dead weight against matchups Dragon traditionally wins (Poison and Grass), and honestly can't break the bulkier mons of the meta (Celesteela, Toxapex, Skarmory, M-Venusaur, Porygon2) on its own without suffering a consequence or relying on a teammate to cripple the opponent first. It still has solid wallbreaking potential, but I don't think it can do too much in this current meta, and honestly I would option to use Mega Latias over Altaria at the moment.
These are my opinions on these mons. I'm open to more discussion on this, so correct me if I'm missing something or over/underestimating something.
Naganadel: I don't think it's irrational if I said Naganadel is one of the, if not THE best mon to use on Dragon teams right now, and can even go further to say that this mon is definitely a top 5 mon in the tier. We've already talked about the ridiculous damage output it provides, its great offensive typing w/ near perfect type coverage; the fact that this mon matches up incredibly well vs. Fairy overall makes Dragon teams more incredibly frightening, and Dragon dittos are riskier since it could no longer be a battle of Scarf Latios or M-Altaria; instead it can be decided on whose Naga gets to +1 speed first. I'm not necessarily saying that this mon is blatantly broken, but I will say that counterplay to it overall is few and far between, and every team right now needs to consider how to play around it, especially as the meta moves forward.
Kommo-o: This mon isn't all bad actually, but right now Naganadel is overshadowing it. It did get blessed w/ a better movepool overall, making it more viable than it ever could have been in SM. Clangarous Soulblaze isn't a joke either; an Omni-boosting offensive Z-move w/ base 185 power chunks a relatively large portion of the meta, and those that eat it can possibly get hit with other coverage moves in Close Combat, Flash Cannon, Flamethrower, among others. It also lowkey is a nice option to use against Normal teams when coupled w/ Soundproof; having that Fighting STAB plus the fact you won't be as easily revenged by Ditto w/ those stats is quite nice for Dragon to utilize. I feel that this mon will get better as time goes on, but right now we'll wait and see.
M-Altaria: I really want this mon to succeed, but right now it feels very lackluster, at least to me. Part of that can be contributed to the "new toy" syndrome in overusage of Naganadel and exploration of Stakataka and Blacephalon. The other contributor is just how M-Altaria fits into the meta right now. It feels pressured to set up vs. Normal monos, considering both Naganadel and M-Alt can be utilized by Ditto to pick up a kill after a mon is sacked off. M-Alt feels virtually close to dead weight against matchups Dragon traditionally wins (Poison and Grass), and honestly can't break the bulkier mons of the meta (Celesteela, Toxapex, Skarmory, M-Venusaur, Porygon2) on its own without suffering a consequence or relying on a teammate to cripple the opponent first. It still has solid wallbreaking potential, but I don't think it can do too much in this current meta, and honestly I would option to use Mega Latias over Altaria at the moment.
These are my opinions on these mons. I'm open to more discussion on this, so correct me if I'm missing something or over/underestimating something.
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