I was kind of disappointed in the result of the previous voting slate. As someone who has been active within NU for a while, seeing only
an item get banned when there is much more broken/unhealthy elements in the metagame makes me question the council for the first time in a long time. Not to mention that item was only used on one Pokemon that is unhealthy with and without said item. I'm writing this post to hopefully persuade some council members to be less conservative when voting ban. For one, all of NUBL will likely get unbanned (or looked at) in March, and some might be looked at in 2 weeks. Second of all, it's okay to ban something. If the meta desperately needed that Pokemon for whatever reason, then it can be unbanned. Not banning something that is broken/unhealthy harms a tier more than banning it and looking back at it in the near future. Let's get onto the Pokemon that need to get looked at for a ban.
Scrafty, everyone's favorite Poison-type that just does not want to die. It clicks Bulk Up, Drain Punch, and Knock Off while Resting every now and then, which can really only be exploited by forcing a Tera, Encore, and a strong Psychic-type move that isn't Psyshock. Scrafty may not be broken, but it is an unhealthy presence in both the builder and in-game. Even without setting up Scrafty can make a ton of progress thanks to Knock Off, crippling should-be-checks like Gligar, Sylveon, and Florges. Sylveon and Florges alongside Diancie should check Scrafty no problem, but Tera Poison or Steel allow it shrug off Moonblast, sometimes forcing Psychic, Earth Power, or Ground Tera Blast to get through it. This goes for Registeel as well, but I'm only going to say it here: Forcing a Tera on Scrafty doesn't matter when it always wants to Tera to get rid of a 4x weakness and gain an immunity to Toxic. 90% of the time Scrafty will use Tera and not be punished because it already KOd your Meloetta or Slowbro-G. All of this and I haven't even mentioned the Dragon Dance set. I haven't used it, but I know it's tough to fight because instead of living every hit it takes, it just outspeeds its opponents since it can get to 2x Speed with little consequence. Here's some replays of it in NUCL,
1,
2,
3
Before I had to worry about this outspeeding any Pokemon 56% (or is it 44?) of the time. Now it's a static 30%! Guess what? That isn't even it's best set!!! Slowbro has been running setup sets with Nasty Plot and Calm Mind regardless of Quick Claw + Quick Draw. Instead it opts for Rocky Helmet + Regenerator, aka you get punished for pivoting, spinning, or knocking while your opponent can gain health back with no consequences. Not only that, but its natural Poison/Psychic typing is great defensively paired with its 95/95/70 bulk, add some HP EVs on top of that because it's so slow it can afford to be fat. Slowbro doesn't even need to use Tera to laugh at its checks. Is there a Gligar or Flygon in front of you? Click Surf of Ice Beam. Are you out sightseeing and happen to see a Registeel or Copperajah? Throw some flames at them, sit on IDPress Regi, and force Copperajah to take a lot of chip. This Pokemon really doesn't care about "statistics" because not only does it have QCQD, its Sludge Bomb seems to Poison 96% of the time, not sure why though. Hey look, I've got some NUCL replays of this demon
1 and
2 as well as some from NU Circuit Playoff with
1,
2, and
3.
I love when my only true check is called the Ghost-type, a type that is exploitable thanks to its weakness to Knock Off. Iron Defense + Body Press (and sometimes even Amnesia) causes this lightweight Steel-type to take 2% (rounded up!) from your super effective move. It can even use Tera Dragon or Fairy to no longer care about the one Ghosy-type that exists in the tier. Registeel is a Pokemon I think people like having around, which is why they don't want it banned. It is NU's first fat Steel-type since Bronzong in SS. It can freely use Tera because it just doesn't care about anything. It sets up, maybe Rests once or twice, and sweeps you. I really enjoy using it, but it needs to go, the haters were right. It seems like everyone is prepping hard for it in NUCL and Circuit Playoffs because
this is all I have for the former, with this as the one for the latter
1. It's still broken though.
Just look at the replays, I'm not typing a long paragraph for NU's version of Iron Hands.
1,
2,
3, and
4.
This Pokemon has it all. Access to not one but 2 pivot moves, Knock Off, Nasty Plot, Prankster + Thunder Wave/Taunt, Defiant to stop whatever uses Defog (if we have any), Tera, and endless coverage in Sludge Wave/Blast, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon, Psychic, and Tera Blast (I'm forgetting something). Thundurus isn't the type to scream broken at first glance, it doesn't even have many replays of it being a nuisance. But as we all know from Zoroark in previous iterations of this gen, it really is unhealthy. Everyone used to adore Oricorio-Pom-Pom's typing since it's the same as Zapdos, and it was good. Thundurus is the exact same as Zapdos in SV. It pivots, it clicks a funny button, and it creates too much momentum. Nasty Plot sets are annoying to deal with because you never know its Tera type until it reveals it. It also has Goodra's coverage, allowing it to beat all of its checks. Umbreon and Registeel get zapped by Focus Blast. Vileplume dies to Psychic. Hell, even Knocking and using Grass Knot beats most Flygon since Thundurus's speed is so high. Its Speed tier is incredible, the only notable Pokemon that outspeed it are Salazzle and whatever you decide to throw a Scarf on. Previously I named this the best Pokemon in the tier thanks to its ability to outspeed Terrakion, but it has fallen off due to the changing meta. That doesn't mean this Pokemon isn't unhealthy. This is something that has been extremely under-explored and is something I fear gets used more. Here are the relevant replays I could find of it doing more than existing
1,
2, and
3.
I started writing this at 1:33 AM, it is now 3:14 AM. Hopefully nothing sounds confusing, I did read through to make sure it sounds right but I'm tired and can't properly focus. I'd really like to see more thoughts on these Pokemon, especially Iron Thorns and Thundurus which have both gone a little under the radar.