Season M-5 Week 2 Meta Report: rain rises and Pelipper reaches S
By ChampTeams Editorial
Season M-5 continues on Reg M-B. The board is back to the standard two-week window this week, 36 tournaments and 1,768 player entries, after last week stretched to three while the August teamlists caught up. Reg M-C is still expected with Season M-6 in September, so Reg M-B is the format to build for. The story this week is rain: it won the most events, Pelipper climbs into S, and Sylveon joins it while Sinistcha and Incineroar drop to A. Kingambit holds number one. Here is the current tier list, what moved, and the teams winning events.
The tier list is recency-weighted and reads the last 14 days of Reg M-B results. Last week it stretched to three weeks while the newest teamlists finished posting; this week it is back to the standard two. A shorter window means a smaller sample, so the board is tighter than last week and the lower tiers are thinner.
Meta score is a results-led composite from every 30+ player Champions Reg M-B tournament on Limitless in the window. It blends tournament usage, win rate (shrunk toward the mean so small samples are not over-rewarded), top-cut conversion, and event wins, each weighted by how large the event was. Tiers come from the natural gaps in score.
The Season M-5 Week 2 tier list
| Pokémon | Tier | Win rate | Meta score |
|---|---|---|---|
 Kingambit | S | 52.4% | 167.2 |
 Charizard-Mega-Y | S | 52.6% | 158.6 |
 Basculegion | S | 52.0% | 157.9 |
 Staraptor-Mega | S | 51.0% | 153.5 |
 Farigiraf | S | 50.1% | 149.6 |
 Pelipper | S | 51.1% | 148.3 |
 Sylveon | S | 51.3% | 147.9 |
 Garchomp | S | 49.4% | 146.9 |
What moved in S
Kingambit is the number one Pokémon at 167.2 on a 52.4% win rate, ahead of Charizard-Mega-Y at 158.6 and Basculegion at 157.9. The two changes lower in S are Pelipper and Sylveon, which climb in, while Sinistcha and Incineroar drop out to the top of A. Pelipper moved because rain won events, and Sylveon because it anchors the Charizard Tailwind teams that keep converting. Staraptor-Mega, Farigiraf and Garchomp hold the rest of S. Sinistcha and Incineroar did not get worse; sand and balance simply took fewer trophies this window than rain and Tailwind, and a two-week board reflects that right away.
Rain won the week
Rain was the most successful archetype of the last two weeks by event wins, and one player drove most of it. Noktuska won three separate events on the same rain team, the 114-player VGC Reg M-B Ingame Tour #4, an 83-player Champions Reg M-B event, and a 75-player one, all with Pelipper, Archaludon, Venusaur-Mega, Grimmsnarl, Basculegion and Charizard-Mega-Y. ChefRich22 won the 103-player Talon's Fight Club #96 on a near-identical build. Rain did not sweep everything, the single largest event went to a balanced team, but it won more than any other archetype and moved Pelipper into S. Pelipper is the setter that makes it go: its Drizzle turns on the rain that powers Archaludon's Electro Shot, and it carries Tailwind and Wide Guard for the team.
S · 51.1% WRPelipper
DrizzleThe rain setter behind the week's wins. Drizzle turns on the rain that powers Archaludon and the rest of the shell, and Pelipper itself brings Tailwind for speed and Wide Guard to blank spread moves. Four rain event wins in two weeks moved it into S at a 51.1% win rate.
A · 50.1% WRArchaludon
StaminaThe rain payoff. Under Pelipper's Drizzle its Electro Shot fires the same turn with no charge, and Stamina plus Leftovers lets it sit in front and keep firing. It anchors every rain team that won this window and sits at the top of A.
What is winning tournaments
Rain took most of the recent trophies, though the single biggest event went to a balanced team. Read the winners below as the recent results the board is weighing.
| Player | Event | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Sir_Aaron | Champions League VGC August (162p) |  Aerodactyl-Mega Sneasler Froslass-Mega TsareenaKingambitBasculegion |
| Noktuska | VGC Reg M-B Ingame Tour #4 (114p) | PelipperArchaludon Venusaur-Mega GrimmsnarlBasculegionCharizard-Mega-Y |
| ChefRich22 | Talon's Fight Club #96 (103p) | Charizard-Mega-YPelipperArchaludon Venusaur Swampert-MegaGrimmsnarl |
| masajji | Sketch Academy Sunday (80p) |  AraquanidFarigirafSylveonSwampert-MegaPelipperArchaludon |
| othunder21 | Imperium Champions #2 (74p) | Charizard-Mega-YSylveonFarigirafAerodactyl-MegaKingambitGarchomp |
Movers in A
Sinistcha and Incineroar sit at the top of A after dropping out of S, still strong support pieces. Venusaur-Mega posts the best win rate in the tier at 57.6%, a frequent fifth or sixth on the rain teams, and Delphox-Mega (53.9%) and Froslass-Mega (52.9%) hold high marks too. The sand core is still the most-played team in the format through Excadrill, Tyranitar-Mega and Sinistcha, even as its pieces slipped a little on the recency board. Archaludon and Grimmsnarl round out the rain package in A.
Cores that showed up
- Pelipper + Archaludon: the rain engine behind four event wins, Electro Shot firing instantly under Drizzle.
- Charizard-Mega-Y + Venusaur-Mega + Grimmsnarl: the rest of the rain shell, Grimmsnarl for screens and Venusaur-Mega to clean up.
- Excadrill + Tyranitar-Mega + Sinistcha: the sand core, still the most-played full team in the format.
- Charizard-Mega-Y + Sylveon + Farigiraf: the Tailwind core that keeps Sylveon in S.
- Basculegion + Kingambit: the offensive backbone that fits rain, snow and Tailwind alike.
What to expect next
Rain is the team to beat right now. Pelipper and Archaludon just won four events, so expect more of it and more answers to it: redirection and Wide Guard to blank the spread moves, and fast Tailwind to race it before it sets up. Kingambit is still the safest single pick and anchors most of the top pairs. Sand stays the most-played team even after slipping, so it is not going anywhere. Snow and balance need a strong event to climb back into S.
This week's board sits at 8 S, 27 A, 14 B, 16 C and 46 D across 111 ranked Pokémon. It is tighter than last week because it reads two weeks rather than three. The live tier list keeps rolling forward as results land. Season M-5 runs on Reg M-B, and with Reg M-C not expected until Season M-6 in September, this is the format to keep building for.