Hi everybody! Here are some explanations for the shifts and some other discussions that came up during the slate. These explanations attempt to provide a more 'objective' perspective to the extent that this is possible as opposed to personal views. I'll probably have a post later this week with those.
Explanations - Rises
[S- -> S] Zacian-C has surged in use over the course of the last year and hasn’t shown any sign of slowing down, even surpassing 50% use recently! While Zacian-C’s use and viability have fluctuated, the amount of respect it demands in the teambuilder has not. Over this time the playerbase has increasingly opted for more offensive structures. Not only is Zacian-C near mandatory on these structures, it is also one of the strongest Pokémon against them due to the limited counterplay available for these teams to incorporate. Consequently, the unsettlingly high number of games have been decided by Zacian-C speed ties has not gone unnoticed. Offense may be Zacian-C’s home, but it remains a solid option on bulkier playstyles, albeit with significant competition for its roles.
[A -> A+] Last slate Eternatus dropped a subrank by a single vote and has risen back up. Eternatus is undoubtedly one of the best Pokémon in the tier, but opinions are split on exactly how good. Eternatus isn’t at the ‘just throw it on a team and figure out the details later’ level of flexibility that defined its peak, but is on a rebound. Offensive sets anyways, defensive Eternatus remains rare, but that is still an improvement from earlier last year when it was nearly non-existent outside of stall.
[A- -> A] Hyper offense teams tend to hate Marshadow and Zacian-C in general, but none more than the Tera Normal Double-Edge Ekiller HOs that were ubiquitous six months ago. Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground fixes those issues whilst being a solid anti-offense tool itself. This does come at the cost of immediate power, but is often well worth it. The clearest metagame trend over the last six months has been the development of more traditional or midrange offenses where Arceus-Ground is quite common for many of the same reasons. Arceus-Ground has risen purely off the strength of the Dragon Dance set as its defensive and Calm Mind sets have not returned to the metagame in any meaningful capacity.
[B+ -> A-] This is mostly the viability rankings catching up to Sticky Web developments. Chi-Yu has clearly demonstrated that it is a necessary component to Sticky Web’s success and a two subrank gap between it and Smeargle was a bit large when most successful Sticky Web teams incorporate both.
[B -> B+] The offensive Defog set has proven that its legitimacy as a Defogger that self-sufficiently removes Sticky Webs whilst providing serviceable offensive output and a status sponge. Mega Salamence has also seen some success as a Yveltal replacement on Hstack HO. Each still have their own benefits, but Mega Salamence has proven to a solid option on these structures.
[B- -> B] If you’ve been watching tours games recently B might seem a little low for Garganacl. Its Iron Defence + Body Press set has been putting in overtime with the Stealth Rock + Protect set making the occasional appearance. While Garganacl is a fantastic Pokémon, its reliance on Tera makes it deceptively difficult to build with despite its strengths. If teambuilders continue to overcome this hurdle in creative ways then another rise in the future wouldn’t be surprising. Perhaps we will see some more Ekillers throwing out Earthquakes?
[C -> C+] It is worth noting that this vote happened before Swas busted out Swords Dance Arceus-Water. Arceus-Water has historically been a polarizing Pokémon to evaluate among the council and tends to have the highest variance in votes. This also makes it susceptible to see-sawing between tiers as it did this slate. C is likely a floor, but even without changes it would not be shocking to find Arceus-Water oscillating anywhere between B- and C.
[C -> C+] Screens have had a slight uptick due to a solid matchup into Sticky Web and some of the newer offenses we’ve been seeing and Grimmsnarl has established itself as the best screens setter. Deoxys-S really wants a Rocky Helmet to consistently handle Smeargle and Prankster enables Grimmsnarl to do its thing. Screens are still currently the weakest of the three HO archetypes, but a slight rise represents their increased, albeit minor, place in the metagame.
[C -> C+] Kingambit is an odd, but somewhat effective cleaner due to its combination of power, bulk, and typing. This isn’t a huge rise, but does elevate Kingambit to ‘legitimate’ status. It is still a niche, seldom used Pokémon, but it tends to be better than it appears at a glance.
[C -> C+] Despite lower use in recent times, Life Orb Mewtwo has continued to prove that it is a legitimate part of the metagame. It is an incredibly effective breaker, but this does come with the caveat of requiring near perfect play, a deep disdain for entry hazards (especially Toxic Spikes), and an eternal fear of Zacian-C. Due to this it will always be somewhat inconsistent, but the highs are high enough for it to rise a subrank.
[C -> C+] Psyspam hasn’t changed, but was teetering on the border of C and C+. This slate it ended up on the C+ side of things.
[D -> C-] There have not been any new developments with Dialga, but was one of those Pokémon that teetered on the border of C- and D. It has some interesting traits that enough voters believe in to rerank it.
[D -> C-] Zekrom has been in a similar situation to Dialga, but Swas’s
nomination was convincing enough to re-rank it.

[UR -> C-] Sure it is a meme nomination, but Sticky Web is here to stay and regardless of your opinion on whether it should be banned, everybody recognizes the archetype’s strength. Toedscruel makes Smeargle’s life very cruel while still doing some other things. It isn’t the first Pokémon to be ranked due to the Sticky Web matchup (Terapagos + Ribombee). Unfuuny’s nomination can be found
here.
[UR -> C-] Iron Treads is a niche lead for Hstack HO that can beat opposing HO leads, namely Deoxy-S and Smeargle. It was ranked for this previously, but was unranked after seeing no use for an extended period of time. Sami's nomination can be read
here
[UR -> C-] Splendid Silver Star’s nomination is
here. Clefable is an Unaware wall capable of checking some scary threats while also acting as a cleric and providing Wish support. It is a unique set of attributes that has proven successful in tour play. The council unanimously felt that Clefable was worth ranking, but there were some concerns that its defensive prowess is slightly oversold due to its susceptibility to entry hazards in addition to myriad of different tera types it wants to be able to check specific threats.
[UR -> C-] See Bobsican’s nomination
here. It is worth nothing this vote ended up being a tie between C- and UR.
Explanations - Drops
[A- -> B+] Finding Fezandipiti was a breath of fresh air for Deoxys-A as it was close to a drop. Since then it hasn’t seen much development nor use. Deoxys-A has always operated on razor-thin margins due to its bulk, resulting in a high ceiling and low floor. The allure of that high ceiling has diminished over time due to its inherent variance and the support it needs to be effective against a lot of offensive structures. That being said, there is still little scarier than a Deoxys-A with the right moves and clicks. Deoxys-A has always been Psycho Boost + Low Kick +2. Rock Slide + Extreme Speed with Tera Ghost has been the most common for a while due to its ability to threaten nearly every Pokémon besides Necrozma-DM.
[B -> B-] Chien-Pao is still an excellent wallbreaker and hasn’t changed much itself. The teams it fits on have been struggling for a bit and a subrank drop reflects this.
[B -> B-] Glimmora is probably the Pokémon most upset that Sticky Web remained legal as it is better than Deoxys-S in most other matchups. Glimmora Hstack isn’t an automatic loss into Sticky Web, but it is often close. Forcing the opponent to pop tera doesn’t really compensate for using HO against HO with Sticky Web up even with a hazard advantage.
[B- -> C+] Landorus-T is a fine Pokémon, but it tends to struggle a lot the moment it needs do something more than switch into Zacian-C once. That is great, but it is also a Ground-type immunity that loses to the Ground-types and the specific utility it offers has been waning for some time. A subrank drop reflects this.
[B- -> C] Every metagame development over the past few years has been hostile for Gothitelle. Long gone are the passive do nothing balances where it could consistently trap multiple Pokémon. These days Gothitelle often has to choose between Tera Fairy to trap Zygarde or Tera Ghost for stall. Regardless, the result tends to be underwhelming given the amount of time required in the builder to account for Gothitelle’s flaws.
[C -> C-] Arceus-Flying just isn’t used. It has some appealing traits, but nobody has demonstrated their value in any meaningful capacity. At a certain point a Pokémon has to actually be used and it has been a very long time since Arceus-Flying was. It is never going to be a top tier Arceus forme, but can easily shoot up a couple of subranks with some results.
[C- -> D] Arceus-Ghost has become ghost envious of its past self. Once a solid antimetagame threat, Arceus-Ghost has continually tumbled down the viability rankings as it finds itself in an increasingly hostile metagame. One of Arceus-Dark, Marshadow, and Yveltal have been found on nearly every team for a while, making it difficult for Arceus-Ghost to do its thing. Over time the opportunity cost of using up both the Arceus and Z-crystal slot on HO has proven to be too much. Even the more adventurous players have failed to get value out of Arceus-Ghost for a long time now.
[C- -> UR] Its been a while since Blissey had a surge in viability due to Bobsican’s fat balances and semistalls. While the general concept still works fine, the execution has changed. Blissey has largely been usurped on these archetypes by Fezandipiti for some time which has proven to be just as effective in practice despite significantly lower special bulk. Consequently, Blissey has tumbled down the viability rankings over the last few slates as it has failed to establish a niche in the tier.
Miscellaneous

While most members of the council see Zygarde as the second best Pokémon, there was more discussion than ever this go around about whether or not it should be S or S+. There is a gap between Zygarde and Primal Groudon, but also a gap between Zygarde the #3 Pokémon. Although Zygarde is still considered #2, it has inched closer to S over the last couple of slates. If we were to use the S(x) model that some oldgens use such as ADV and DPP it is pretty likely Zygarde would be by itself in S2.

There was a fair bit of discussion about Ho-Oh's rank, more than the past couple of slates. Ho-Oh is undeniably one of the best Pokémon in the metagame, but offensive structures utilizing other means of hazard control have been gaining popularity in recent months - namely those that use Pokémon such as Mega Diancie, Choice Scarf Yveltal, and occasionally Mega Salamence. If you're not using these structures you're likely using Ho-Oh. It is still an amazing Pokémon due to its irreplacable blend of offensive and defensive utility alongside providing the best hazard removal the tier has to offer. However, if this trend continues it wouldn't be surprising to see Ho-Oh drop to S- in the future.

There was not really any discussion about Ultra Necrozma within the council, but it is the 'top tier' Pokémon that has the least consensus amongst the council. In the last couple of slates Ultra Necrozma has been on the precipice of falling to A-, but this time around it is arguably closer to A+. Ultra Necrozma has long been one of the most centralizing presences in the tier due to its extremely limited consistent counterplay, especially after a boost. For the past couple of years the respect Ultra Necrozma commands in the teambuilder has been a double-edged sword that has made it difficult to translate its threat in the teambuilder to in-game success.
However, Ultra Necrozma has also significantly benefited from recent metagame trends. The more offensive teams that players have been gravitating towards are far flimsier into Ultra Necrozma as they are less able to incorporate solid counterplay and often rely on momentum or softer checks. Additionally, Hstack HO is starting to make a comeback after being somewhat absent as players embrace Rocky Helmet Deoxys-S due to its ability to make the Sticky Web matchup playable. Notably, this is the archetype Ultra Necrozma is best on, but it has increasingly been swapping Stone Edge for Outrage, enabling it to more easily power through checks such as Calm Mind Arceus-Dark and transistion more to a wallbreaking role if the circumstances call for it. While Ultra Necrozma didn't shift in this slate, its future is looking brighter than ever.

Arceus-Ground did rise, but I think it is worth mentioning in this section as it could very well rise again in the future if the aforementioned metagame trends continue. Sure it appreciates Zacian-C seeing sky high use, but it appreciates the exploration, development, and resurgence of the more traditional or midrange offenses. Although Arceus-Ground has been recognized as the best Arceus forme on these types of structures for ages, they've been fairly uncommon until relatively recently. It isn't without competition, but this spectrum of teams is the only one where it is undisputably the best. If current trends hold, it wouldn't be surprising to see Arceus-Ground rise another subrank in the near future.