The 1v1 council has been following the meta following the Chi-Yu ban and as of late has noticed that there has been a lot of discontent with the current state of the meta. We would like to open up discussion on mons that are currently considered the most problematic throughout the community with plans for a potential slate vote in the following days.
The initial focus will be on Gholdengo, Iron Valiant, and Flutter Mane with a secondary focus on Greninja and Annihilape if needed.
Main Priority
Gholdengo
Following the Chi-yu ban, Gholdengo has become quite a dominant force in the meta. It can run a wide variety of sets such as Scarf, Specs, Reflect Weakness Policy, Light Screen Weakness Policy, AV, Air Balloon and so on thanks to its versatile movepool and access to the best steel type move in the game in Make it Rain. Gholdengo also has one of the best abilities in the game in Good as Gold which makes it nearly impossible to lure or finesse because of its immunity to moves like Trick, Encore, Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, and even ghost type Curse. It should be of no surprise then that
Gholdengo was also the most used mon on ladder last month and sees plenty of usage in tours due to it having good matchups against other top tiers like Annihilape and Iron Valiant, SV's overall lack of steel types, and being incredibly easy to slot on pretty much any team. While it isn't unbeatable, the Weakness Policy sets in particular often necessitate the use of an offensive boosting item (Choice Band/Specs, Life Orb, Booster Energy) to win and are why Gholdengo is one of the first mons people point to when discussing potentially problematic pokemon.
Iron Valiant
Iron Valiant is a leading cause of frustration among many a ladder goer. While one may initially look at its powerful attacking stats and think to try Choice Band or some kind of mixed Scarf set, a 1v1 veteran will quickly recognize that its true power lies mostly in Encore Disable sets. With its upper echelon speed tier when boosted by Booster Energy, Iron Valiant is our current fastest Encore Disable user in the tier. With this speed it can afford to put most of its evs into bulk where it would normally be lacking while still outspeeding most of the tier and even many Scarf users. Iron Valiant isn't forced to run Encore Disable either. Offensive sets such as Choice Specs are capable of catching people off guard as well. Encore Disable has been a powerful strategy since the early days of SS Sableye and counterplay does exist for those willing to put the time in and learn the specifics, but many are saying Valiant is too strong as it is.
Flutter Mane
Flutter Mane is another mon that has been rising up the ranks as of late. With its incredible speed, special attack, and special defense, it is inherently capable of beating most special attackers by virtue of being faster and stronger than them. Moves like Calm Mind, Taunt, and Mystical Fire give it tools for dealing with set up users as well. Don't let Flutter Mane's pathetic physical bulk deceive you either. With moves like Charm and Pain Split, Flutter Mane is capable of beating many physical attackers such as Dondozo and Ting-Lu so long as they aren't running Clear Amulet. To make matters worse, people have started running Charm sets along with a speed boost from Booster Energy to get the best of both worlds. Whereas previously you had to pick between beating mons like Dragapult and Iron Bundle with speed booster or Iron Hands and Slaking with Charm, now you can beat them all in a single set. There are some mons like Arcanine or Dondozo who can win with Clear Amulet sets, but many people argue these measures are not a healthy impact on the meta.
Others on the Radar
Greninja
Being the new Protean mon in town, Greninja's long awaited return has been the focus of a lot of discussion across the community. This is the first time ever we get to see Greninja no longer shackled by having to beat Mega Zard(s) and can instead take a more versatile approach when being used. Many of the same frustrations caused by Cinderace have been reignited by the frog and its ability to tech for almost any scenario. However, Greninja has also only been around a week and was not even allowed in any tournaments until this week so it's currently not planned to be on any initial vote. Instead the current plan is to closely watch Greninja and be prepared to take action shortly afterwards if needed. That being said feel free to discuss it here because it is still technically on the radar.
Annihilape
While Annihilape
was voted to remain legal via a suspect test about a month ago, it has come back into discussions again because of talk of it becoming broken in the wake of these potential bans. This is especially possible if Gholdengo and Iron Valiant were to both be banned as both of those have favorable matchups against Annihilape. However, as decided in the suspect test results, Annihilape is not broken at the moment and as such should not be on any initial vote. If it does end up broken following any action we can always retest it down the line, but for the time being we shouldn't be taking action on a mon because it "could" become broken.
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For clarity, we would like to focus this discussion mostly around Gholdengo, Iron Valiant, and Flutter Mane. These are what are currently most likely to be voted on. Greninja while definitely on the radar, is still incredibly new to the tier and planned to be looked into afterwards if needed. Annihilape could be an issue at some point, but should not be focused on until significant meta changes justify a revisit. Keep in mind also that just because a mon is slated to be voted on
does not mean that it will necessarily be banned. It is entirely possible that only two, one, or even none of these are quickbanned and suspect tests are always on the table as well.
The current plan is to leave discussion open until 11:59 PM GMT-5 Friday but we can take as longer if we need to. I also encourage anyone to post their thoughts, even if what you want to say has already been said because numbers do matter. As always be respectful since flaming people gets you nowhere, feel free to reference the current
Tiering Policy Framework when making arguments, and
any one liners will be deleted