Even though it was just banned, Snorlax is being dropped down and retested almost immediately back into the NU tier. Similar to how we dealt with Glastrier earlier on in the year, we found that process worked great with how we wanted to deal with new drops the council was unsure on, especially when important tours are going on.
Onto Snorlax itself. In it, we see a Pokemon that really only has one main set that will see use on a majority of teams that it is on: Curse. CurseLax is one of the bulkiest sweepers that the tier has had to face and is able to quickly grab boosts to become almost impossible to KO, with good coverage in Darkest Lariat and Heat Crash or even Sleep Talk to remove the passive turns Rest creates. In combination with a good ability in Thick Fat, it makes up for its mono-Normal typing, giving it resistances to Fire and Ice. This not only helps it in its efforts to sweep or set up, but it also lets Snorlax better check any Fire- and Ice-types and Pokemon that run that coverage.
However, Snorlax is not without its flaws. Before setting up, Snorlax is very vulnerable to physical attacks as its natural Defense is not that great. This means that it is not able to set up on quite a few Pokemon, and it has to be careful when trying to switch into them; it's nearly useless when faced with certain foes like Diancie and Escavalier, among others. Snorlax is also more susceptible to hazards than a lot of other Pokemon, since it cannot afford to drop Leftovers for Heavy-Duty Boots. This means if any entry hazard is on the field, Snorlax's longevity and ability to find setup opportunities are severely cut into. Its typing also does it no favors, as mono Normal only provides it with a Ghost immunity, and even though it has Thick Fat, there are not a ton of Ice- or Fire-type attackers in NU.
While Snorlax can run other sets like Choice Band, overall most of the reasons to keep or ban it will come down to the Curse set, which is why that was the main focus of the OP and what we imagine will be the main focus of the thread. That is not to say Choice Band is a bad set but mainly that it does not add a lot to Snorlax's viability or reasons that it would be considered banworthy. Snorlax also provides the tier with an additional ghost resist, and a more defensively inclined one as well. This helps it add more to the tier than most traditional breakers, and helps it have a niche due to the numerous Ghost-type attackers in NU.
Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test. The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 79 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 79 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 83. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 79 GXE will suffice. **It is now 79 GXE**
GXE | minimum games |
79 | 50 |
79.2 | 49 |
79.4 | 48 |
79.6 | 47 |
79.8 | 46 |
80 | 45 |
80.2 | 44 |
80.4 | 43 |
80.6 | 42 |
80.8 | 41 |
81 | 40 |
81.2 | 39 |
81.4 | 38 |
81.6 | 37 |
81.8 | 36 |
82 | 35 |
82.2 | 34 |
82.4 | 33 |
82.6 | 32 |
82.8 | 31 |
83 | 30 |
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had significantly more immediate power, leading to a much more knee-jerk reaction to its introduction into the tier. Snorlax tends to run sets that prosper in the late-game due to its immense bulk and ability to set-up, and as the metas become very offensive right when it gets new Pokémon, Snorlax wasn't able to shine as much as its offensive Dragon friend. This offensive meta will not stay around forever, right before every shift the metas are at their bulkiest, as we learn how to manage offensive threats and force them into long games where their longevity comes to bite them. 
?) and although Fighting-types like 
or 
can put it on the back foot, they'll still lose the 1v1 if they come in as Snorlax Curses. Haze is less than ideal in every situation outside of Snorlax, and phasing moves are in a similar boat. Haze and phasing moves also have very limited distribution and the Pokémon who do learn those moves do not appreciate having to drop an otherwise better move in its place. Now obviously every Pokémon has its checks (
vs 
) but being forced to use Doublade or Growth Vileplume on every team just so you don't have to run Haze/Roar on every team is extremely restricting. This is all on paper, and pressuring Snorlax before it gets going usually tends to make it not accomplish much of anything, so its really hard to tell if this thing will actually be a problem on the battlefield.
who completely checks you otherwise, and IronPress 
/ Ghost types (
). 
-Ghost
Copperajah has Superpower and that has been a solid move to hit Guzzlord and Glastrier since those are generally heavy Pokemon in the metagame. However, Copperajah has an issue dealing with Snorlax after it has gotten to +1 Curse so here is a 
Roar / Dragon Tail users are easily usable and it prevents them from being easy fodder to Curse. It also allows a teammate like Silvally-Ground, Passimian, or Drapion to check Snorlax better. Here is 
Trick obviously hinders defensive Pokemon and flashback to Cresselia metagame where Cresselia really needed that Trick Choice Scarf to hinder Copperajah, Drapion, and Escavalier to sweep teams, effective eh? This is an example of utilizing a Special Pokemon to cripple a defensive Pokemon.
Xatu is the Snorlax setup in this replay and as I said before, Snorlax is unable to stay at 100%. It is able to eat 2 Boombursts and this replay doesn't account for the hazards or the Flip Turn / Volt Switch momentum chip that happens during a standard NU game. Nonetheless, it wasn't able to get a Rest off in front of Exploud.
