The final roomtour of Cycle 3 took place today, let's get right into the results and bans!
I'm very tired, so the following takeaways are going to be very brief and very scattered, but here's some takeaways:
- I expected Kleavor to be good, being the only mon that can set Stealth Rock, but forget good, this mon was INSANE. Stealth Rock chip was amazing in a metagame with multiple good Flying-types, no Boots, and basically no removal outside of Excadrill but Kleavor in its own right was great since this meta's power level was low enough for Scarf Kleavor to be fast, strong, and bulky enough to put in work
- Zapdos topped usage charts this time, being a mon that's definitely been quietly great ever since Week 2 or so, despite some big nerfs like no Volt Switch, Boots, or Roost
- Landorus was on top once again, that's our goat
- Azumarill went crazy this tour, being the best Fairy-type left and Belly Drum also being super threatening. Plus, both Trick Room and Rain were used a bunch, both of which it loves
- Hattrem with 4 uses and a 50% winrate, my beloved. Trick Room was fr pretty good in this meta, with the likes of Ursaluna, Azumarill, Enamorus-T, and Conkeldurr as great abusers
- Deoxys-S underperformed quite a bit after a good last couple weeks, which is somewhat surprising as it still has a good number of good tools like most of its coverage and Nasty Plot
- Related to the above, people has definitely lost faith in PsySpam at this point. If you were using offense this week, it was either weather or "set hazard then send out 5 sweepers". Despite the lack of Politoed, Rain had a pretty good showing with Greninja and Azumarill being huge threats, I used a funny Quadruple weather team that almost won me a game, and I even had a fun Snow team in my builder that I forgot to use. Meanwhile, Kleavor was a really good enabler of offense, with a good number of setup moves still alive like Swords Dance, Calm Mind, and Belly Drum to run through teams
- On the defensive side, Pecharunt was definitely the best defensive mon this week, with some of the best bulk in the meta, TSpikes absorbing, Parting Shot for free momentum, and nasty combo of Poison + Poison Puppeteer + Hex
- Speaking of TSpikes, I was expecting the likes of Toxapex or Mew or even like Meowscarada to be setting them, but nah instead we had Swalot. And it also had Swords Dance. On the same set. Didn't even know it learned that. And it almost got a sweep in the last game of the day. What a metagame, man.
- Quaquaval made its first appearance in all of Cycle 3 iirc, I feel like that mon should've been getting used a lot earlier idk
- We all kinda forgot about Stored Power sweepers, so you could imagine that Tera Poison Calm Mind Latias absolutely cooked this week
- Two weeks in a row, I get cooked by our dear mascot Tinkaton. If this keeps happening, I'm installing Crabominable as the new mascot, Tink cannot keep getting away with this...
And now, the very last bans of Banhammers Cycle 3!
CYCLE 3 - WEEK 4 BANS
Pokémon: Azumarill, Blaziken, Deoxys-Defense, Greninja, Heatran, Kleavor, Kommo-o, Meowscarada, Moltres-Galar, Ninetales-Alola, Pecharunt, Politoed, Sinistcha, Skarmory, Ursaluna, Zapdos
Moves: Belly Drum, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot
Items: Focus Sash, Leftovers, Life Orb
Abilities: Intimidate, Levitate
Again, these thoughts will be brief and scattered and I do plan on putting out a deeper analysis post later in the week as we begin to build this metagame, but for some quick thoughts:
- lmao, we banned so many mons
- Item bans have been extremely rare in this Cycle, but this time around we just decided to splurge cuz 3 of the best items in the gone are just gone now. These 3 bans, especially Leftovers, should have the most significant implications of all the bans this week
- Kleavor had its fun being an A+ Tier mon in an "OU" metagame, it is gone. With it, the only ways to set hazards are the move Toxic Spikes and Glimmet's Toxic Debris. Bring grounded Poison-types or die. Or don't, people this week didn't really seem too keen on bringing TSpikes actually
- A lot of offensive strategies got gutted with these bans, with Rain dying a brutal death with Gren, Toed, and Azu gone, good sweepers like the aforementioned Azu, as well as Blaziken and Kommo-o being banned, and even wallbreakers like Ursaluna and Meowscarada getting the boot. Plus, all 3 move bans were setup moves, Life Orb and Focus Sash bans hurt breakers and frailer sweepers a lot. I don't think the meta is gonna devolve into a ton of bulk or balance, since a lot of those options have been gone for awhile and we just lost Leftovers and also Pecharunt, but fat definitely has a better chance now.
- Oh, I just remembered that Poison-types get to keep Black Sludge, huh. Poison-types stay winning
- Heatran kinda unceremoniously got banned after weeks of dropping usage and a minor return in this tournament. Similarly, the absolutely gutted Skarmory just got put out of its misery
- Speaking of things getting gutted, Sinistcha is probably really glad that it got banned the same week as Calm Mind and Nasty Plot. Maybe it could've been a good pure defensive mon with Matcha Gotcha/Scald burns and stuff like Stun Spore, but we'll never know
- Snow suffers a bit from losing Ninetales-Alola but unlike Rain now losing both of its setters, you still have Abomasnow there
- Okay, I've been beating around the bush this entire time but I must address it. With the ban on Intimidate, we have unfortunately lost our tier's glorious king, Landorus-Therian. Let us all take a moment of silence to honor the memory of our fallen hero. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.
But, as one life comes to an end, another begins. With these bans, Banhammers Cycle 3 is now officially ready to play and explore! There's a lot to take in after this recent bans, which I'll make a post about later this week, but all that I know that is that this meta looks absolutely wild. Sheer destitution, but in like a good way. Like an abandoned amusement park and the only living ride operator is an Excadrill. Very excited to see how it shapes up.
As for what's next in the immediate future, my goal is to have a forum tournament for Banhammers sometime late in the summer, likely after the current FEUU Forum tour or during the late stages of PMPL III, whichever comes first. This gives us 1-2 months to playtest, build resources, and take any necessary tiering action on what we have left. But remember, everything that was banned through these 4 weeks of roomtour can never be unbanned, so the council (me) will have to find a way to work with that.
That's all for now, a huge thank you to everyone that participated in the roomtours, and I'll see you soon!
| Pokemon | Uses | Usage% | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapdos | 8 | 40% | 37.50% |
| Landorus-Therian | 7 | 35% | 42.86% |
| Azumarill | 7 | 35% | 42.86% |
| Politoed | 6 | 30% | 33.33% |
| Ursaluna | 5 | 25% | 60% |
| Greninja-* | 5 | 25% | 40% |
| Scizor | 5 | 25% | 40% |
| Kleavor | 5 | 25% | 100% |
| Pecharunt | 4 | 20% | 75% |
| Hattrem | 4 | 20% | 50% |
| Deoxys-Defense | 4 | 20% | 50% |
| Hoopa-Unbound | 4 | 20% | 50% |
| Enamorus-Therian | 4 | 20% | 50% |
| Latias | 3 | 15% | 100% |
| Moltres-Galar | 3 | 15% | 100% |
| Lokix | 3 | 15% | 66.67% |
| Kommo-o | 3 | 15% | 66.67% |
| Conkeldurr | 3 | 15% | 33.33% |
| Meowscarada | 3 | 15% | 33.33% |
| Excadrill | 3 | 15% | 33.33% |
| Blaziken | 2 | 10% | 100% |
| Swalot | 2 | 10% | 50% |
| Heatran | 2 | 10% | 50% |
| Gyarados | 2 | 10% | 50% |
| Sinistcha | 2 | 10% | 50% |
| Tinkaton | 2 | 10% | 50% |
| Hippowdon | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Deoxys-Speed | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Lucario | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Zoroark-Hisui | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Toxtricity | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Metagross | 1 | 5% | 100% |
| Quaquaval | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Latios | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Ninetales | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Tyranitar | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Slowking | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Haxorus | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Magnezone | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Moltres | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Serperior | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Staraptor | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Thundurus-Therian | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Inteleon | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| Munkidori | 1 | 5% | 0% |
Mossy Sandwich - 9
Tanny89k - 7
Yoshiblaze - 7
zxgzxg - 7
adpg.alt - 6
Tanny89k - 7
Yoshiblaze - 7
zxgzxg - 7
adpg.alt - 6
I'm very tired, so the following takeaways are going to be very brief and very scattered, but here's some takeaways:
- I expected Kleavor to be good, being the only mon that can set Stealth Rock, but forget good, this mon was INSANE. Stealth Rock chip was amazing in a metagame with multiple good Flying-types, no Boots, and basically no removal outside of Excadrill but Kleavor in its own right was great since this meta's power level was low enough for Scarf Kleavor to be fast, strong, and bulky enough to put in work
- Zapdos topped usage charts this time, being a mon that's definitely been quietly great ever since Week 2 or so, despite some big nerfs like no Volt Switch, Boots, or Roost
- Landorus was on top once again, that's our goat
- Azumarill went crazy this tour, being the best Fairy-type left and Belly Drum also being super threatening. Plus, both Trick Room and Rain were used a bunch, both of which it loves
- Hattrem with 4 uses and a 50% winrate, my beloved. Trick Room was fr pretty good in this meta, with the likes of Ursaluna, Azumarill, Enamorus-T, and Conkeldurr as great abusers
- Deoxys-S underperformed quite a bit after a good last couple weeks, which is somewhat surprising as it still has a good number of good tools like most of its coverage and Nasty Plot
- Related to the above, people has definitely lost faith in PsySpam at this point. If you were using offense this week, it was either weather or "set hazard then send out 5 sweepers". Despite the lack of Politoed, Rain had a pretty good showing with Greninja and Azumarill being huge threats, I used a funny Quadruple weather team that almost won me a game, and I even had a fun Snow team in my builder that I forgot to use. Meanwhile, Kleavor was a really good enabler of offense, with a good number of setup moves still alive like Swords Dance, Calm Mind, and Belly Drum to run through teams
- On the defensive side, Pecharunt was definitely the best defensive mon this week, with some of the best bulk in the meta, TSpikes absorbing, Parting Shot for free momentum, and nasty combo of Poison + Poison Puppeteer + Hex
- Speaking of TSpikes, I was expecting the likes of Toxapex or Mew or even like Meowscarada to be setting them, but nah instead we had Swalot. And it also had Swords Dance. On the same set. Didn't even know it learned that. And it almost got a sweep in the last game of the day. What a metagame, man.
- Quaquaval made its first appearance in all of Cycle 3 iirc, I feel like that mon should've been getting used a lot earlier idk
- We all kinda forgot about Stored Power sweepers, so you could imagine that Tera Poison Calm Mind Latias absolutely cooked this week
- Two weeks in a row, I get cooked by our dear mascot Tinkaton. If this keeps happening, I'm installing Crabominable as the new mascot, Tink cannot keep getting away with this...
And now, the very last bans of Banhammers Cycle 3!
CYCLE 3 - WEEK 4 BANS
Pokémon: Azumarill, Blaziken, Deoxys-Defense, Greninja, Heatran, Kleavor, Kommo-o, Meowscarada, Moltres-Galar, Ninetales-Alola, Pecharunt, Politoed, Sinistcha, Skarmory, Ursaluna, Zapdos
Moves: Belly Drum, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot
Items: Focus Sash, Leftovers, Life Orb
Abilities: Intimidate, Levitate
/challenge [user], gen9ou @@@ -Barraskewda, -Cinderace, -Clodsire, -Dragapult, -Enamorus-Base, -Gholdengo, -Gliscor, -Hatterene, -Iron Treads, -Kingambit, -Ogerpon-Wellspring, -Pelipper, -Rillaboom, -Walking Wake, -Zamazenta, -Earth Power, -Flip Turn, -Freeze-Dry, -Ice Beam, -Knock Off, -Spikes, -Taunt, -Thunder Wave, -Toxic, -Volt Switch, -Booster Energy, -Light Clay, -Protosynthesis, -Clefable, -Corviknight, -Darkrai, -Dragonite, -Maushold, -Primarina, -Samurott-Hisui, -Slowking-Galar, -Weavile, -Focus Blast, -Glare, -Sticky Web, -Unaware, -Quark Drive, -Blissey, -Ceruledge, -Chansey, -Garchomp, -Garganacl, -Glimmora, -Hydreigon, -Ogerpon-Cornerstone, -Ting-Lu, -Close Combat, -Dragon Dance, -Meteor Beam, -Roost, -Scale Shot, -Stealth Rock, -Tera Blast, -Heavy-Duty-Boots, -Chlorophyll, -Swift Swim, -Regenerator, -Draco Meteor, -Intimidate, -Levitate, -Focus Sash, -Leftovers, -Life Orb, -Belly Drum, -Calm Mind, -Nasty Plot, -Azumarill, -Blaziken, -Deoxys-Defense, -Greninja, -Heatran, -Kleavor, -Kommo-o, -Meowscarada, -Moltres-Galar, -Ninetales-Alola, -Pecharunt, -Politoed, -Sinistcha, -Skarmory, -Ursaluna, -Zapdos-BaseAgain, these thoughts will be brief and scattered and I do plan on putting out a deeper analysis post later in the week as we begin to build this metagame, but for some quick thoughts:
- lmao, we banned so many mons
- Item bans have been extremely rare in this Cycle, but this time around we just decided to splurge cuz 3 of the best items in the gone are just gone now. These 3 bans, especially Leftovers, should have the most significant implications of all the bans this week
- Kleavor had its fun being an A+ Tier mon in an "OU" metagame, it is gone. With it, the only ways to set hazards are the move Toxic Spikes and Glimmet's Toxic Debris. Bring grounded Poison-types or die. Or don't, people this week didn't really seem too keen on bringing TSpikes actually
- A lot of offensive strategies got gutted with these bans, with Rain dying a brutal death with Gren, Toed, and Azu gone, good sweepers like the aforementioned Azu, as well as Blaziken and Kommo-o being banned, and even wallbreakers like Ursaluna and Meowscarada getting the boot. Plus, all 3 move bans were setup moves, Life Orb and Focus Sash bans hurt breakers and frailer sweepers a lot. I don't think the meta is gonna devolve into a ton of bulk or balance, since a lot of those options have been gone for awhile and we just lost Leftovers and also Pecharunt, but fat definitely has a better chance now.
- Oh, I just remembered that Poison-types get to keep Black Sludge, huh. Poison-types stay winning
- Heatran kinda unceremoniously got banned after weeks of dropping usage and a minor return in this tournament. Similarly, the absolutely gutted Skarmory just got put out of its misery
- Speaking of things getting gutted, Sinistcha is probably really glad that it got banned the same week as Calm Mind and Nasty Plot. Maybe it could've been a good pure defensive mon with Matcha Gotcha/Scald burns and stuff like Stun Spore, but we'll never know
- Snow suffers a bit from losing Ninetales-Alola but unlike Rain now losing both of its setters, you still have Abomasnow there
- Okay, I've been beating around the bush this entire time but I must address it. With the ban on Intimidate, we have unfortunately lost our tier's glorious king, Landorus-Therian. Let us all take a moment of silence to honor the memory of our fallen hero. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.
But, as one life comes to an end, another begins. With these bans, Banhammers Cycle 3 is now officially ready to play and explore! There's a lot to take in after this recent bans, which I'll make a post about later this week, but all that I know that is that this meta looks absolutely wild. Sheer destitution, but in like a good way. Like an abandoned amusement park and the only living ride operator is an Excadrill. Very excited to see how it shapes up.
As for what's next in the immediate future, my goal is to have a forum tournament for Banhammers sometime late in the summer, likely after the current FEUU Forum tour or during the late stages of PMPL III, whichever comes first. This gives us 1-2 months to playtest, build resources, and take any necessary tiering action on what we have left. But remember, everything that was banned through these 4 weeks of roomtour can never be unbanned, so the council (me) will have to find a way to work with that.
That's all for now, a huge thank you to everyone that participated in the roomtours, and I'll see you soon!
- Deserves a mention since it saw usage in the forum tournament being used by Jumpheart, where it did similar things as it normally does in OU but with Growth instead of the banned Calm Mind, trading bulk for the ability to gain power more quickly.
- Without a manual setter, you're best option for setting rain will usually be a Prankster user, with the best being the legal genies. Thundurus is both a great setter thanks to its access to pivoting and a great abuser with Weather Ball and STAB Thunder, while if you need a second setter or want to use the stronger Thundurus-T as an abuser, you can opt for Tornadus, who also easily deals with Grass-types with Hurricane.
- As stated before, Smeargle with Ceaseless Edge and Stone Axe is the only (reliable) way to set Spikes and Stealth Rock in Banhammers, so any hazard stack team obviously needs a Smeargle. Without Focus Sash, you need to get a little creative in how you're going to set your hazards, as basically everything OHKOs Smeargle and a lot of the tier outspeeds it. Scarf allows you to basically guarantee you get 1 hazard up, but that's gonna be all you get unless you get lucky and Smeargle doesn't die immediately, while something like Endure + Custap can potentially net you multiple layers if you play your cards right.
- You need a Ghost-type on any team with Smeargle on it, as you're playing 5v6 to get 1-2 layers of hazards up, so you certainly don't want to lose them to a Rapid Spinning Excadrill. Incidentally, the tier is very lacking in good Ghost-types and two of the best (Gengar and Mimikyu) get destroyed by Excadrill, so you'll probably want to look into Terastallizing something that can handle it better. Aside from that, your best bet may be Decidueye, as its typing and decent bulk lets it switch-in to Drill fairly easily and you don't lose any momentum thanks to U-turn.
Tailwind - Brambleghast used to have a niche in NatDex OU as, under Tailwind, basically nothing could comfortably take on its +1 Life Orb Tera Ghost-boosted attacks. While that niche disappeared the moment Tera got banned from NatDex OU, there's still a chance for the tumbleweed here as not only is Tera legal, but its Flying-type Tailwind-setting partners like Tornadus or Talonflame don't have to worry about Stealth Rock and thus can comfortably run Eject Button to maximize Tailwind turns. Not to mention, there are even less things in this tier that want to come in on a +1 Tera Ghost Poltergeist, so Tailwind might have a bit of sauce. However, the strategy is extremely boom or bust, as if you don't smash through your opponent's team quickly enough, you'll likely get bowled over in the long term.