Drizzle is banned, I'm afraid.My team is bad, but why my Vaporeon (Politoad) Drizzel - Ice beam / Earth power / Toxic / Substitute, is illegal?
I totally see what you're saying, the metagame is chaotic atm to say the least.Save Inheritance With These Major Changes (Plus 6 Creative Sets To Use Post-Bans)
Now we get to the fun part. I think that Sheer Force, Regenerator, Unaware, Magearna, and Natu/Xatu should all be banned.
Sheer Force should have been banned day 1. It's unreasonable that a Pokemon with base 143 Speed should have no switchins and require a dedicated defensive slot to check. The problem isn't Mawile or Tauros or Tapu Koko; it's the fact that you can get so much immediate power and coverage on almost any Pokemon for minimal investment.
Regenerator is, in my opinion, the biggest problem with this meta and with OMs as a whole. There are many issues with Regenerator, but in the context of this post, the main issue with Regenerator is that it is far and away the most useful defensive ability and is so exceptionally strong that there is little reason not to use it. It kills metagame diversity, since there is no alternative to running it, and its presence in the meta has changed things for the much grindier.
Unaware is another metagame diversity killer — gone are the days where you could be rewarded for taking a risk setting up with a Pokemon. In the presence of Unaware, Pokemon can essentially be taken for face value. Removing setup removes one of the core elements of surprise in the game and allows for extreme consistency in defensive and bulky offensive strategies.
Magearna is a receiver that is able to do too many things. The main issue with it is that it is a fairy type that's immune to Toxic, making it exceptionally good at pulling off cheesy monoattacking strategies. It was the main abuser of Butterfree, now the main abuser of Comfey, and as we've seen above it can also just pull off the role of a generic Unaware tank making use of the fact that it has the best typing in the game.
Xatu has Magic Bounce + Teleport + Wish going for it, and that's all it needs to forcefully seize momentum. Aside from the obvious hazards denial, being able to pass Wishes while being immune to Toxic, Willo, and Taunt seriously limits the effectiveness of stallbreaking options. As people have put it, even if all Blissey was able to do was click Teleport, it'd still be broken. Then it gets other moveslots to defog or trick or Night Shade or whatever.
As a closing note, I'd like to share with you some fun sets that I haven't been able to make work in this metagame of titans, but that I think could be pretty good post-bans. These sets are cool on their own but they also happen to make a fun little team that you're free to try out!
https://pokepast.es/ab68c0e8aaded648
Thanks for reading, and happy laddering!
My thoughts on the the abilities you mentioned:
Sheer Force I see what you're saying, it's not the mons (Zeraora for example) that are the problem it's the ability itself? I actually agree to an extent. I don't think Zeraora is unbeatable and it does have a few counters, but not enough considering the damage output it has and the speed control. However, banning it will almost certainly make the meta more physically based as there are few abilities that boost special attack in any way. If it is banned, Tapu Koko should return.
Regenerator Out of all the defensive abilities available for us to use, this ne is by far the worst. ESPECIALLY that you can have it on 2 mons. It needs banning immediately imo.
Unaware Everything you said I agree with, if regen wasn't enough, you also can't set up on the opponent at all. Despite this, I think it should stay AS LONG AS Regenerator is banned. For me, it's one or the other at this point, can't have both.
Magearna I actually love this mons versatility, but you do have a point. It's extremely difficult to predict as it has so many viable sets, however I don't think that makes it broken to the point of banning it outright. It's typing is excellent, but not without it's weaknesses and sheer brute strenth and power can run it down quite easily depending on set.
Xatu I agree this mon is being used a lot now and for good reason, the Teleporting is the main issue. Maybe a ban on just the move teleport for it? Because besides that, it's not broken at all imo. And I honestly think banning Regen will clean up stall quite nicely.
Ones I think should be looked at:
Surge Surfer From Raichu-Alola, this ability is crazy. Better now Koko is gone, but still crazy. Xurkitree DESTROYS lives with it. The speed control is a bit too much imo and should be banned.
Torkoal I added Torkoal because I think it needs to be looked at again. The mon is amazing even without Drought. And imo, if Drizzle is gone, then so should Drought. And if Drought does get banned, Torkoal should return back to us.
Speed Boost I just want to ask why Blaziken is banned, but not Scolipede or Ninjask? I'm assuming its because of coverage, but I'd just like some more explanation if possible? For the record, I don't think Speed Boost is broken, but I understand Blaziken could be pretty crazy as a doner with it.
I will say this, however:
Your quote:
"I think there's this idea floating around that if you remove the most overpowered abilities from a tier, some new set of overpowered abilities will emerge, but this is not true."
I agree with what you said regarding the "average" abilities as they will eventually even out after bans, but you're forgetting other abilities like Contrary and Fur Coat / Fluffy that will become the main abilities used to replace the banned ones. I just think it will take a little longer than you think banning abilities to balance out the meta and allow us to be more creative.
Despite this, I think you're right, we need some bans happening to kick it off, as the chaos is real atm. There are so many other abilities available that are actually quite powerful that are not even considered because of the likes of Sheer Force, Regenerator, Weather, Terrain and Unaware.
NOT saying it should ALL be banned, I just think because these abilities and strats exist, there's very little room for extra creativity and even the usage of different mons. And if you are creative, you're destroyed by Zeraora or Hyper Stall.
:)