There are so many flaws in this oh my fucking god. The tours argument is a very valid argument when making a nomination. When you keep the 'highest level of play,' out of a nomination, what are you ranking these pokemon based on? I'm sure taking the opinions of 1300 ladder heros will satisfy some of the public as evidenced by the metagame discussion thread. The VR is designed for the public, but including high level play is definitely important to help the public understand how to get to playing and building at a higher level.Nidoking makes 50/50's in a different way than Salazzle does. Nothing on Steel except Heatran wants to take the Flamethrower from Salazzle and Heatran gets hit with Toxic on the Switch in, putting their only fire immunity on a timer. This is a simple case of Hyper Offense Vs Stall. Nidoking destroys Steel with raw coverage and offensives, Salazzle picks at Steel's newfound weakness in Toxic+Fire STAB, something you couldn't do otherwise. I'm not trying to knock Nidoking's Viability, I accept it is A tier for many of the reasons you suggest. However I can point to Salazzle and say it performs a similar role against Steel and Poison mirrors that Nidoking does, both of which are extremely annoying matchups for Poison as a whole.
Secondly, since when does Nidoking beat Choice Scarf Excadrill besides a switch in? Since when does it beat Z Happy Hour Jirachi again, besides catching it on the switch in? Both Excadrill and Jirachi are faster than Nidoking and force it out due to being able to OHKO Nidoking anyhow. Salazzle Choice locks Excadrill with Substitute/Protect forcing the appropriate switch while Nidoking lacks the speed to do anything to either one unless you are running Scarf Nidoking, and this is assuming neither one has any form of speed control (and they both do.). In fact Jirachi can set up in Nidoking's face and live the Earth Power, while with rocks its a roll in Jirachi's Favor.
252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Nidoking: 416-492 (137.2 - 162.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Jirachi Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Nidoking: 312-368 (102.9 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. +1 0 HP / 0- SpD Jirachi: 281-330 (82.4 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoking Earth Power vs. +1 0 HP / 0- SpD Jirachi: 281-330 (82.4 - 96.7%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Nihilego being the carrier of Stealth Rocks for Poison isn't a problem if you opt for something like Metronome Nihilego, which can actually take on and whittle down things like Mantine after a few Power Gems, which it cannot outpace with Roost or Scald thanks to metronomes damage boosting effect over multiple uses and chipping Celesteela isnt strictly a hard thing to do with careful play. Gliscor barely takes HP Ice as it stands and 2-3 power gems are all you need to get it into KO range if you attempt to switch it into the attack. Even if you decide to throw Mantine away for a scald unless a burn occurs Dragonite cant even KO Nihilego.
Vs Mantine:
1. 176 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 150-176 (40.1 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
2. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 165-194 (44.1 - 51.8%) -- not a KO
3. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 198-233 (52.9 - 62.2%) -- not a KO
4. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 257-303 (68.7 - 81%) -- not a KO
5. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Mantine: 360-424 (96.2 - 113.3%) -- 75% chance to 1HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Mantine Scald vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Nihilego: 116-138 (30.6 - 36.4%) -- 45.7% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Dragonite Extreme Speed vs. 80 HP / 0 Def Nihilego: 133-157 (35 - 41.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Vs Gliscor:
1. 176 SpA Nihilego Power Gem vs. 244 HP / 124 SpD Gliscor: 133-157 (37.7 - 44.6%) -- 32.6% chance to 3HKO after Poison Heal
2. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 244 HP / 124 SpD Gliscor: 146-173 (41.4 - 49.1%) -- not a KO
3. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 244 HP / 124 SpD Gliscor: 175-208 (49.7 - 59%) -- not a KO
4. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 244 HP / 124 SpD Gliscor: 227-270 (64.4 - 76.7%) -- not a KO
5. 176 SpA Metronome Nihilego Power Gem vs. 244 HP / 124 SpD Gliscor: 318-378 (90.3 - 107.3%) -- 43.8% chance to 1HKO after Poison Heal
Regarding Ground: This matchup is risky for Poison no matter which one you want to put in your 6th slot, Nidoking or Salazzle. Nidoking can break M-Steelix instantly but everyone realizes that, and won't allow you to do that. You also risk a Resttalk Earthquake on the pivot if you try to get Nidoking in while its mid-Rest. Also, for the same reason mentioned regarding Excadrill and Jirachi, are you perhaps talking about Choice Scarf Nidoking? You keep mentioning things Nidoking "threatens" but actually doesnt because it is slower than both of them again. Garchomp (even mega) outspeeds and OHKO's Nidoking as does Landorus (Either Forme). Salazzle admittedly can struggle to beat M-steelix without mindgames of Sub/Toxic/Flamethrower: 0 SpA Salazzle Flamethrower vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Steelix-Mega: 158-188 (44.7 - 53.2%) -- 27.7% chance to 2HKO
but conversely M-steelix can also have bad RNG that is coupled with RestTalk sets, making it not use Earthquake when needed and allowing Salazzle to get behind a Substitute.
As for Electric: Fly-Z Zeraora is a 1 off move, If you predict it and let anything except Venusaur-M take it, you just got rid of Zeraora as a major threat.
+1 252 Atk Zeraora Supersonic Skystrike (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Venusaur-Mega: 314-370 (86.2 - 101.6%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO.
+1 252 Atk Zeraora Bounce vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Venusaur-Mega: 168-198 (46.1 - 54.3%) -- 59% chance to 2HKO
Raichu-Alola with Life Orb? Are we pretending this is "new"?? It's a sweeper, everyone and their mother has tried and used that item on Raichu-Alola at some point, and probably in most cases that was the first thing they tried. I'm sorry if this seems like an insult but I can't even take that suggestion seriously enough to form a rebuttal.
And lastly: Keep the "Tours" argument out of it, I care as much about the tours as most people do about ladder peaks at this point. It is nice to see people making new and creative sets to fight each other with but does not justify an argument in the long run. The Viability Rankings are designed for the public to learn what are good choices when designing a team, so saying something (Mon or Set) is justified solely because "it was in a tour" doesn't cut it. The public for the most part doesn't watch high level tours because they play for fun, and use this forum as a place to educate themselves to make more competitive but still fun teams.
Anyway, why do you think Gliscors are going to allow you to get 5 Metronome boosts off? You have to keep in mind that you are under the assumption you are playing a competent player. Ignoring all of that why do you only have 176 SPA? Bad calculations aren't exactly convincing.
Regarding Steelix, Rest talk sets don't run earthquake, I have no idea where you get your information from but 1500s on ladder aint it chief.
Regarding Zeraora, a healthy nidoking forces zera to pick when to z as it's not killing nidoking and venusaur and after a bulk up, it's gonna have it's way with poison without nido.
Regarding your jirachi psychic/epower on/with nidoking calc, that's pretty irrelevant as well. Why would jirachi take an earth power when psychic kills nidoking. If jirachi and salazzle were facing off, the steel user would just psychic (252 SpA Jirachi Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Salazzle: 372-438 (109.4 - 128.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO) And you would be sacrificing your way to beat steel for a toxic on jirachi. My point is neither Salazzle nor Nidoking beat jirachi, so quite a useless calc.
from one of your earlier posts 'Salazzle's Corrosion allows it to Toxic the opposing Poison teams defensive core and give a massive advantage where the matchup normally would take FOREVER due to needing to whittle down with Toxapex scald burns and rocks etc.'
'taking forever' is definitely not a reason to rank up a mon. Patience is a big part of this game and unfortunately not many people have it
Fwiw I don't agree with the nom, B is fine for it. If you have any questions dm on discord, I don't really like clogging this up.
Other noms
Mantine Drop To > A (Flying). Pretty self explanatory, Excessive use of bolt beam greninja on both types has made this mon somewhat useless against a gren. Previously was used to check gren, which it fails to do so now with ebelt sets. HO flying also becoming more popular as balance flying quickly loses it's place in the meta.
Dragonite to > A considering it finds it's place on balance and HO teams and can run two very dangerous, unpredictable sets in DD and band. Does more for flying than skarm does as balance flying dies out.
Bulu drops to > A(grass) Terrain is cool for extra recovery but you're giving your opponent recover as well. Grass doesn't need the ground resist and Bulu's coverage isn't good enough to warrant S Rank. Very repetitive in some mu's and useless in others.
Armaldo Drops > A. I have spent enough time on this post but uhh being weak to water moves, not being able to get toxic spikes off safely, and the arrival of custap which gives foretress another weapon and more reason to use it, I think bug can afford to have this at A. Spin is important yes but I think it's similar to garchomp on dragon where the rocker is at A rank even though you will always carry the rocker. You'll always carry a spinner with bug so I think A is fine.
Latias rise > B on dragon cause healing wish is great. It does more for dragon than dragalage for sure, and probably more than hydregion with kommo being so popular rn.
Have a good day.