August 23 is a very unique meta, being the first meta to gain serious traction, alongside being the first meta to have a major tournament, it is the analog to generation one for 35 pokes. It’s kind of clunky looking back at it but it is still an incredibly solid tier that anyone who played it would recommend. The landscape of 35 was very different back then, with much less work being put into it, so not a lot of resources were made at the time. Thankfully, due to its inclusion in 35PL alongside support from many people, we have a decent amount of modern August 23, which is different from August 23 as it was in August 23, due to Empoleon gaining competitive over defiant.

The meta is focused more so around bulky offense and setup sweepers, as I am sure you can glean from the viability rankings below, but many other team styles have found success in the tier. Hyper offense & weather obviously jump out, and while they tend to do less well than a bulky offense team on average, they can absolutely work in the right hands and can also work given the right team composition. Many mons near the bottom of the viability rankings, like Avalugg and Rabsca, have found tournament wins piloted by some of the best players of the tier.

The August meta has many nuances to it that are difficult to explain, but I will try to condense them by noting important interactions between just 3 notable pokemon, just to give you, the reader, an understanding of how the different mons interact.

Comfey Vs Empoleon: This matchup has some nuance with sets but with the most common 4 moves on both, your best bet is toxic stalling on Empoleon assuming Comfey isn’t already set up. Comfey does not have the coverage to hit Empoleon, but with aromatherapy, it can become a problem. You can circumvent this as the Empoleon player if you run steel wing, but I would only recommend that if the rest of your team is incredibly weak to Comfey, as it has very limited utility otherwise

Comfey Vs Donphan: This one generally is in favor of the Comfey, but if the donphan is still at full health, they can chunk you for decent damage due to surviving with sturdy. No team uses Donphan as a Comfey answer, but it is an option once you get in game if you have the right set for it, since Comfey doesn’t run anything to boost its defense stat on the standard sets. Overall Comfey wins the trade but it is one the Comfey player must chip beforehand. Hazards usually do not work either because of many Donphan running heavy duty boots, but since it is usually a team's form of removal you can potentially get that necessary chip whenever it comes into rapid spin.

Empoleon Vs Donphan: This is a situation of “does beat them, does not want to switch in to them” as donphan obviously doesn’t want to switch into an Empoleon and risk damage or burns due to scald, but similarly Empoleon doesn’t want to switch or stay in and risk the massive damage earthquake does, it out damages roost and while you are faster in base stat, donphan is much more likely to actually invest in speed than Empoleon, who tends to value bulk. Both risk big damage switching into or staying in on the other, so they tend to not interact, but in a pure one on one scenario it comes down to whether the Empoleon player can get a scald burn.

These are just 3 of the 1190 interactions mons have in the tier, and while many are not as complex (obviously many mons towards the bottom of the tier list tend to fold to most of the mons at the top) many of them are just as if not more complex. Overall this meta is well loved by the community, and despite being over a year out of date, remains among the highest regarded metas from people who played during that time. 

Written by Kizaco

/challenge gen9nationaldex35pokes @@@ -All Pokemon, +vileplume, +swanna, +yanmega, +heracross, +nidoking, +leafeon, +kricketune, +swellow, +comfey, +bibarel, +empoleon, +ludicolo, +tangrowth, +simisear, +parasect, +krookodile, +eelektross, +abomasnow, +avalugg, +bastiodon, +dusclops, +minior, +masquerain, +victreebel, +rabsca, +linoone, +omastar, +politoed, +ledian, +donphan, +magcargo, +bombirdier, +dedenne, +butterfree, +jynx

Tiermaker