After the Chi-Yu ban and the subsequent Greninja drop 1v1 has seen a bit of a drop in activity and not a lot of players really care for the state of this metagame, due to the fact that Home is supposedly dropping semi-soon and PL signups are in imminent reach, so most people are waiting for either of the two before diving into the tier once more, which brings to the metagame being in somewhat of a dire state and people generally not caring to change it. I'm gonna be brief and to the point: you should. The Home release date has not been announced yet, and PL manager signups are less than two weeks from now, so every supposition that Home will be released before the actual PL start is based merely on speculation, and most likely false. With VGC series 2 being confirmed February 1st to March 31st, we've predicted that its likely for Home to be dropped somewhere between March 1st and April 1st, which brings to the 1v1 Premier Leaguer regular season having to go through various weeks of Pre Home metagame before effectively switching to Post Home, and potentially, if the drop is later than we anticipated (right now the only confirmation we have is that it'll be in spring, which is really broad), the entire tournament being pre home locked. I won't go into details about the specifics of each scenario but either way the chances that at least some of PL will have to be played in the current metagame is quite high.
With this preamble out of the way, discussion has pointed out that there are basically 3 Pokemon that should be outright banned in rapid succession, however the Council decides to go about whether to quickban either of them or to suspect is no matter of mine, but the order of criminality is as follows:
1. Gholdengo Quite the demoniac presence in every tier from day 1 due to its crazy ability, amazing typing, vast movepool and acceptable stats, now finds itself as the most problematic part of our metagame. While initially Choice sets were the most prevalent with the occasional Nasty Plot strats, fraun's famous Max Defense Reflect Weakness Policy Set has surprised everyone with how much this thing was actually capable of; with the appropriate stat spreads and movesets this mon seems to be able to beat anything, from reflect metal sound to thunder wave hex to light screen to nasty plot i swear ive seen everything on this guy, and with its biggest nemesis Chi-Yu now gone, beating this guy both in the builder and in game is a massive headache. I could keep going for even longer but I think it's clear to mostly anyone that has touched SV recently that this Pokemon does not belong with how lackluster its checks and counters are. My stance on Gholdengo is to outright quickban it but I understand that a certain process has to be followed so I don't think suspecting it is that bad of an idea.
2. Iron Valiant already borderline even before the chi yu ban, if gholdengo, its biggest counter, were to get removed, iron valiant would absolutely need to get booted right after. Encore Disable Booster Energy already pushed Scream Tail over the edge, and one thing valiant has that demon puff didnt is really high offensive stats with a good offensive typing and moveset to boot. While I admit the former is much more relevant than the latter, its enough to make this mon banworthy. QB or Suspect, it matters little, just make it quick.
3. Greninja dropped very recently but from what I've heard its cancer up the wazoo. Trillion different items and moves and sets its pretty much a build-a-threat of a mon; I've seen some random ass petaya counter shit just snag a win for no reason, so weird. I've heard that its not as banworthy as the rest but maybe if valiant's gone its worth suspecting it, after all it feels awfully similar to a specific scorching bunny we've had our fair share of.
if all 3 of these guys get booted, or even just a couple, I can easily see Annihilape or Flutter Mane needing a ban, but I doubt we'll even have the time to get that far.
The main point is that these things take time, between the On The Radar thread, people posting, Council deciding, suspects lasting weeks, etc. we cannot afford to show up to PL's doorstep with so many issues all piled up and no time to address them, we risk ruining the biggest tour of the year just due to lack of action.
I'm also gonna use this post to say that, looking at the mons Home is bringing us, while some hope that it will be a saving grace and bring us to a whole different tier (wishful thinking), to me it doesn't seem like it'll be that much different. We'll get a good addition of mons thats for certain and the tier will be less stale, but from my expectations we're seeing <10 mons between the S-B tiers, so nothing that will turn the tier upside down. Which means all the action we're taking on the current metagame is sure to be relevant on post Home as well. As an example, sure we can free Chi Yu once Home drops, but looking at the new mons, I don't see it getting much weaker. Yeah Landorus Therian seems like a good counter but it being outsped means that wisp wp will still likely beat it and scarf chi yu will beat scarf landot, making it a bit of a cat and mouse situation. urshifu rapid strike may be a similar deal, with Specs Psychic completely mauling it unless AV, which will also be losing to wisp, av chi yu beating volcanion and so on and so forth.
With this preamble out of the way, discussion has pointed out that there are basically 3 Pokemon that should be outright banned in rapid succession, however the Council decides to go about whether to quickban either of them or to suspect is no matter of mine, but the order of criminality is as follows:
1. Gholdengo Quite the demoniac presence in every tier from day 1 due to its crazy ability, amazing typing, vast movepool and acceptable stats, now finds itself as the most problematic part of our metagame. While initially Choice sets were the most prevalent with the occasional Nasty Plot strats, fraun's famous Max Defense Reflect Weakness Policy Set has surprised everyone with how much this thing was actually capable of; with the appropriate stat spreads and movesets this mon seems to be able to beat anything, from reflect metal sound to thunder wave hex to light screen to nasty plot i swear ive seen everything on this guy, and with its biggest nemesis Chi-Yu now gone, beating this guy both in the builder and in game is a massive headache. I could keep going for even longer but I think it's clear to mostly anyone that has touched SV recently that this Pokemon does not belong with how lackluster its checks and counters are. My stance on Gholdengo is to outright quickban it but I understand that a certain process has to be followed so I don't think suspecting it is that bad of an idea.
2. Iron Valiant already borderline even before the chi yu ban, if gholdengo, its biggest counter, were to get removed, iron valiant would absolutely need to get booted right after. Encore Disable Booster Energy already pushed Scream Tail over the edge, and one thing valiant has that demon puff didnt is really high offensive stats with a good offensive typing and moveset to boot. While I admit the former is much more relevant than the latter, its enough to make this mon banworthy. QB or Suspect, it matters little, just make it quick.
3. Greninja dropped very recently but from what I've heard its cancer up the wazoo. Trillion different items and moves and sets its pretty much a build-a-threat of a mon; I've seen some random ass petaya counter shit just snag a win for no reason, so weird. I've heard that its not as banworthy as the rest but maybe if valiant's gone its worth suspecting it, after all it feels awfully similar to a specific scorching bunny we've had our fair share of.
if all 3 of these guys get booted, or even just a couple, I can easily see Annihilape or Flutter Mane needing a ban, but I doubt we'll even have the time to get that far.
The main point is that these things take time, between the On The Radar thread, people posting, Council deciding, suspects lasting weeks, etc. we cannot afford to show up to PL's doorstep with so many issues all piled up and no time to address them, we risk ruining the biggest tour of the year just due to lack of action.
I'm also gonna use this post to say that, looking at the mons Home is bringing us, while some hope that it will be a saving grace and bring us to a whole different tier (wishful thinking), to me it doesn't seem like it'll be that much different. We'll get a good addition of mons thats for certain and the tier will be less stale, but from my expectations we're seeing <10 mons between the S-B tiers, so nothing that will turn the tier upside down. Which means all the action we're taking on the current metagame is sure to be relevant on post Home as well. As an example, sure we can free Chi Yu once Home drops, but looking at the new mons, I don't see it getting much weaker. Yeah Landorus Therian seems like a good counter but it being outsped means that wisp wp will still likely beat it and scarf chi yu will beat scarf landot, making it a bit of a cat and mouse situation. urshifu rapid strike may be a similar deal, with Specs Psychic completely mauling it unless AV, which will also be losing to wisp, av chi yu beating volcanion and so on and so forth.