General Usage Stats for Week 7: https://pokepast.es/8d262f4912bdc924
Moves and Teammates for Week 7: https://pokepast.es/2fd161e55c12779b

With the release of Pokemon Home into SPL, I'd like to discuss the metagame and some of the things we've seen so far.

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Just like every other week, Clefable has managed to amass the most usage this week as well. With the release of Pokemon Home, Clefable's gotten access back to Soft-Boiled; this has given Calm Mind sets a lot more freedom, as they now have reliable recovery with a solid amount of PP and don't have to give up two moveslots for recovery otherwise. Clefable's been seen running more physically defensive spreads this week in order to check Pokemon like Zeraora and Terrakion a little better.

We also saw TDK use a rather interesting tech in Teleport Clefable in [URL='https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-477475']this replay[/URL]. Although it did not win the game, Clefable can be seen consistently taking advantage of Pokemon like Corviknight and Clefable by using Teleport, granting TDK a lot of momentum over the early-game.

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Zeraora was used a surprising amount this week; it was used 12 times and accumulated a respectable 40% winrate. Zeraora has proven to be a rather versatile Pokemon, with most people using Bulk Up sets but some even opting to run Taunt to shut down bulky Pokemon like Clefable and Grass Knot to deal with Ground-types like Seismitoad and Hippowdon. Thanks to its great natural Speed tier, most people that were using Zeraora elected to forego a Choice Scarf user, instead electing to use Zeraora as their Speed control, sometimes in tandem with a priority user such as Aegislash or Conkeldurr.

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Toxapex had the most impressive winrate this week by far; it was used 8 times and gathered a very impressive 87.50% winrate. In this post-Pokemon Home metagame, Toxapex is easily one of the best pivots into Pokemon such as Terrakion, Clefable, and Aegislash. On top of that, Toxic Spikes have proven to be very valuable right now, as can be seen in [URL='https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-476996']this [/URL]and [URL='https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-477413']this [/URL]replay. Toxapex has also regained its access to Knock Off from Pokemon SM, this has made it much more harder to switch into it without being punished for Pokemon like Dragapult and Hydreigon.

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Rotom-H has been on a downwards trend since Week 5, but that trend seems to be coming to an end. It was only used 5 times in week 7, but managed to win 4 out of those 5 times. Toxic has proven to be a useful tool for Rotom-H, allowing it to cripple checks like Seismitoad, Kommo-o, and Rhyperior, as can be seen in [URL='https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-477363']this [/URL]replay. Something else that's worth noting is that most people have been opting to drop Volt Switch in favor of Discharge lately, this is likely to still cripple certain switch-ins with paralysis without Thunder Wave; it's likely also because it turns Rotom-H into a much more consistent Togekiss check, which we've been seeing a little more of lately.

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Kyurem was only used 4 times, but won in 3 of those games and has most definitely proven itself to be quite threatening. [URL='https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-477475']This [/URL]game is a prime example of just how hard it can be to deal with Kyurem for balance teams. Kyurem manages to find opportunities to switch into play against Toxapex quite often and manages to force TDK into very awkward spots afterwards, despite having its Choice Specs removed by Toxapex. Kyurem can also take advantage of Rotom and some other Pokemon like Mandibuzz and Seismitoad quite well.