I think we had a discussion about Sylveon earlier on the forums, so i'm glad this is brought back to light!
About Sylveon, yes, there are plenty of checks, we know that for sure, but as i said earlier, the fact that people has to bring a Pokémon to deal with Sylveon on your team is more of a reason to KEEP IT on where it is rather than dropping it a rank. Otherwise Kangaskhan and Landorus-T wouldn't be S since they have really well-known checks and counters and they can't do well against them unless they are running a gimmicky move or a really good team support. Heatran can't take too many HP Ground from Specs Sylveon, and they really hurt it. Mawile takes around 30% from Specs Hyper Voice and it isn't really switching in, and Sylveon also outspeeds it letting it go for Hyper Voice if lacking a switch in, doing a solid amount of damage in the opponent. Metagross takes around 80% from Specs Sylveon Shadow Ball, so if Sylveon is under TR/Tailwind it is more of a check than a counter, since Shadow Ball just does a ton of damage. Not to mention Hyper Voice does around 30% as well to the non-bulky variants in the normal form, making Metagross unlikely to switch many times. Zard Y is a really good defensive check...but what it can do against Sylveon anyways? Camerupt is a really good check on TR, i concede that, but i've rarely seen a team without a Water type, since is pretty much mandatory on the metagame.
Florges? Why is that even mentioned on here? And also, what kind of support does Florges? I've never seen or fought one so idk what it does, could someone tell me pls?. I'll give you Clefable, it is WAY better than Sylveon, but they fit different roles so be careful.
Well, Mega Venusaur was also on a discussion earlier on....and guess what? U are right! Mega Venusaur needs to be built around, so A- is really better for him. Aaron built around it like crazy, but that's not the only way to build Venusaur. I've seen some players using Mega Venusaur on Zard Y teams as a secondary mega option and a sun attacker at the same time, so it can check rain and work well under sun. Mega Venusaur can't drop to B categories since is the best rain check VGC has until now, without lying or anything. Its bulk is also incredible so i'd go A-, definitely.
I understand your point of view about Sylveon.
In the end I think it just depends on what criteria is being used to rank pokemons.
The thing about Sylveon is that it is forced to run Choice Specs to be effective (as in, get proper kills), but having a slow pokemon locked in a move makes your team lack a lot of versatility and defensive switches.
If you run another item on Sylveon (Pixie Plate, Siturs Berry, Life Orb, etc) just to be able to use Protect and switch moves, then there are better pokemon for this role.
If you get locked in something other than Hyper Voice (Shadow Ball, Psyshock, Hidden Power Ground, Hidden Power Fire, etc), your team loses a lot of momentum, which is key in fast formats like VGC.
If you take a look in the A+ pokemon, Sylveon is the only one that needs other team members supporting it (with Speed Control).
You can throw Kang, Land-T, Thundi, Mega Metagross, Heatran, Terrak, RotomW, Amoonguss, etc in any kind of team and they will perform well.
Sylveon is not like that, itself is not a huge presence like the other pokemon in his ranking. For it to become a huge presence, it needs support.
I used Sylveon in the first Regional in Europe, in a Tailwind team, and it disappointed me.
In the only match that I knew it wouldnt be bad to bring it, I Hyper Beam'd a Kang and then got OHKOd by a Bisharp.
Lets be honest, Hyper Voice is a threat, but it is not ~that~ strong to get many OHKOs it should get.
The metagame evolved and Sylveon is now outdated.
All the players who brought it to this Regionals regreted it, because it is not enough versatile, and this is the truth.
Also, for Florges, it placed #15 in Worlds last year and got #1 seed in the Swiss Round of a Premier Challenge last weekend:
http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/muc...15th-place-world-championships-team-analysis/
In the end, I believe that it depends in the definition being used.
If, in this ranking, there should be pokemon that have a huge offensive or defensive presence and are used a lot in showdown ladder / battle spot, then for sure keep Sylveon.
However, if we agree that in this ranking there should be only pokemon that alone represent a huge threat, with enough versatility and capable of alone doing a lot of work against many matchups, and pokemon used a lot in "real life" tournaments, then for sure Sylveon should not be there.
If you take a look in the teams that topcut'd recent Regionals, you are likely to see more Clefable/Clefairy than Sylveon.