OK these don't go as recently as I thought, I may have a couple others written up somewhere, feel free to critique or GP these:
October 4th, 2011
Initial RU caused Yanmega and Venomoth to be removed from Rarelyused
Type:
Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
Gen V Initial RU,
RU Initial Banlist by
Oglemi and
Nails
At the conclusion of the first few months of RU, Yanmega and Venomoth were deemed too powerful for RU and were placed into Borderline 2, or the RU banlist. After discussion in the aforementioned threads, the leaders of the tier, Oglemi and Nails, made an executive decision to boot the bugs out of the tier for being too powerful. Yanmega was cited as broken due to its ability to simply blast its way through almost the whole of RU with its Choice Specs-boosted Tinted Lens Bug Buzz and Air Slash, or a powerful Life Orb Speed Boost late-game cleaner. Venomoth was deemed broken due to its ability to not only sweep with a deadly Quiver Dance Tinted Lens Life Orb set, but it was also able to pass whatever boosts it accumulated with Baton Pass to a teammate, typically Omastar, Moltres, or Porygon-Z. On top of that, Venomoth even had access to Sleep Powder to put its usual counters out of commission for the remainder of the battle.
October 19th, 2011
Alakazam and Sableye removed from Rarelyused after the first stage of RU
Type:
Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
np: RU Stage 1,
RU Suspect Test 1 by
Nails
With the usage tier shifts, banning of Yanmega and Venomoth, and the release of a bunch of new Dream World Pokemon, RU Stage 1 was a hectic round. After just a couple of weeks it became apparent that Magic Guard Alakazam and Prankster Sableye were having an adverse effect on the metagame. So, a seven man council was assembled and a vote was taken on whether the two culprits should stay in RU or not. With a 6-0 vote, Alakazam was nearly unanimously deemed broken, due to its immunity to entry hazards, passive damage, and ability to simply rip through the metagame with a powerful Life Orb set or survive any attack once with Focus Sash and continue to sweep. With a 4-3 vote, Sableye too was deemed broken due to its ability to hard counter any stall team with its access to priority Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, Toxic, and Recover. It could also easily beat its usual counters with a simple Calm Mind set.
November 18th, 2011
The second stage of RU ruled that Baton Pass + Shell Smash is no longer allowed on the same moveset in Rarelyused and Honchkrow and Lilligant deemed not broken in Rarelyused
Type:
Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
Introducing the RU (Jedi) Council,
np: RU Stage 2,
RU Stage 2 – Alt Identification Thread,
RU Stage 2 Suspect Voting by by
Oglemi and
At the beginning of Stage 2, a new style to determine the seven man Council was conceived, with various aspects of the forum, battle simulator, and IRC coming into play. At the conclusion of Stage 2, Honchkrow, Lilligant, and the strategy of Baton Pass + Shell Smash were slated as suspects and were voted on. Only Baton Pass + Shell Smash received a majority 6-1 vote and was voted BL2. SmashPass as the strategy is commonly referred to as, was cited as being broken due to its ability to too easily set up a dangerous sweeper with very few ways to stop the strategy. While some of the voters felt it wasn’t as overly-powered as past suspects, it simply made the game uncompetitive.
December 16th, 2011
Porygon-Z deemed not broken in Rarelyused from stage three voting
Type:
No Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
np: RU Stage 3,
RU Stage 3 – Alt Identification Thread,
RU Stage 3 Suspect Voting by
Oglemi
At the conclusion of Stage 3, Porygon-Z was determined to be a worthy suspect and was slated to be voted on by the next council. However, at the end of the round, a 3-4 deemed Porygon-Z as not broken. Honchkrow, while getting the same vote the round before, was not slated due to the functioning of the new council which would not allow any suspect to be voted on two rounds in a row. At the end of the round, a new strategy involving hail, Trick Room, and Focus Sash + Endeavor Solosis and Duosion was discovered that got the number one seed of the ladder to the top. Many cried out that the strategy was broken, but due to its utter newness, having only been discovered three days before the end of the round, it was not slated as a suspect to let the strategy simmer on the ladder for a while more. However, with the banning of Snover and Abomasnow from UU, the strategy became obsolete, fixing any problems associated with it.
January 5th, 2012
Cresellia deemed not broken from the result of a quick vote
Type:
No Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
Cresselia Suspect Discussion,
RU Cresslia Stage - Alt Identification Thread,
RU Cresselia Quickvote Voting by
Nails and
Oglemi
With the new tier shifts, Cresselia dropped into RU along with several other Pokemon, including Spiritomb and Golurk. Back in Stage 1 when Cresselia was first in the tier with Yanmega and Venomoth, it was largely considered broken. However, Cresselia left the tier to go to UU due to usage before a decision could be made on its tiering placement within RU. With it back in RU without Yanmega and Venomoth, there was large concern that Cresselia would break the metagame and would be even more broken than it was before. So a quick vote was called, to either get it out of the tier ASAP so that the round could continue without its influence, or to keep it in the tier to determine if it really is broken. The voting council that was gathered decided to keep it in the tier to see if it really was broken or not.
January 16th, 2012
Round Four of Suspect Testing Resulted in the banning of Cresselia and Porygon-Z while Honchkrow remain
Type:
Ban
Affects:
RU
Threads:
np: RU Stage 4,
RU Stage 4 Alt Identification Thread,
Porygon-Z Suspect Discussion,
Honchkrow Suspect Discussion,
Cresselia Suspect Discussion,
RU Stage 4 Suspect Voting by
Oglemi and
Nails
At the end of the round, Cresselia was ultimately determined to be broken in a 5-4 vote. It was largely considered too bulky for the tier, as it was able to set up dual screens, Trick Room, and many other field effects for the team multiple times throughout the battle. It also had instant recovery in Moonlight and could bring back a teammate from near-death with Lunar Dance. Finally, it was able to go on the offensive with an effective Substitute + Calm Mind set and plow through the opposing team with the right conditions. Porygon-Z was unanimously considered to be broken, mostly in part to its ability to easily sweep the opposing team from behind dual screens after an Agility. With no reliable switch-ins, the Choice Specs set could also cause devastation to the opposing team. Honchkrow was unanimously deemed not broken after months of debate in this vote. While it is largely considered the most powerful Pokemon in the tier, its downsides in its slowness, frailness, and high recoil make it easy enough to bring down with a well-built team. There are also hard counters to the standard SubRoost set in Aggron, Stunfisk, and Steelix, among others.
