Happy Sunday everyone! It's crazy how much eyes are on Champions UU now, especially since it got a ladder. We've been keeping an eye on how the metagame has developed and I can say now that we have done our first tiering slate and I'm happy to announce that...
Froslass-Mega,
Polteageist, and
Medicham-Mega have been quickbanned from Champions UU by council vote! Tagging
dhelmise to implement
Runo Edit: Here's the voting slate
Mega Froslass was undisputedly the best mega in the tier, for good reason. It was fast, powerful, and had access to Nasty Plot to really hit it home that it had no reliable switchins. It was frankly too much for the tier to handle. The combination of Nasty Plot + Boltbeam had no defensive answers, even our bulkiest of special walls in Milotic could not reliably 1v1 Mega Froslass. Mega Froslass also possesses decent variety in its game that made answering it even harder. It could run Aurora Veil to assist its teammates and especially itself in setting up, and running away with the game with its STABs alone. Destiny Bond could even be run if Froslass knew it was going down. For long-term metagame development, Froslass could stay no longer.
Polteageist was the face of HO and general offence in this format that was not a mega evolution. Frankly, we don't have to mince words and just say it's a cheese Pokemon. There were too many games where Polteageist would click Shell Smash and proceed to win the entire game from that moment, and if somehow it didn't, it took down half your team probably. You may be thinking this Pokemon is Sash reliant, so you just have to pressure it with hazards or just use priority to deal with it but both of these points were not as easy on paper. Polteageist teams easily had measures to deal with hazards, whether that's Taunt leads on HO or running Defog Conkeldurr since that deals with the few Darks in this tier, Polteageist setting up was not particularly too hard. The second point of priority/speed control, our priority kinda sucks in this tier? It has immunities to Extreme Speed and Mach Punch, we have no good Pokemon with Sucker Punch, Aqua Jet Pokemon are also uncommon, so your most common priority was Ice Shard Weavile, which unironically counters Polteageist even in the worst-case scenario. Choice Scarf Greninja was also the only common scarfer that could get the jump on Polteageist after a boost, and that's not taking into account that Polt could just have Weak Armor activated prior and it can't do anything. Teams relying on Arcanine-H as their speed control also were just outsped by the teapot and were subsequently dealt with. Everyone knows this Pokemon needed to go.
Finally, Mega Medicham. We all know what this Pokemon is capable of, and it is also another major issue that exacerbates the offensive metagame we've come to know. This Pokemon even has less switchins than Froslass, without the need to really set up. Our bulkiest physical walls like Hippowdon, Skarmory, Forretress, I can continue the list, all were 2HKOd by Close Combat and while Hippo could 1v1 Medicham, it can never really switch into it. Gliscor was dispatched with Ice Punch as well. Medicham was not as easy to use as Mega Froslass, as its speed tier was average and it's not bulky, but webs could solve its speed problems, and vs offence, sure it might struggle, but vs slower teams, whether that's bulky offence or balance, if you aren't running Mega Sableye, you just have a hard time dealing with it, as you end up playing a sack game with your Pokemon. Therefore, it has to go.
The council hopes these bans will help the tier become less offence heavy, because this tier does possess good defensive Pokemon and we've seen the potential that this tier doesn't have to be HO heaven, or hell depending on who you ask. We took other Pokemon into account before voting, such as Arcanine-H, Weavile, and Mega Gardevoir was mentioned here and there. However, drops will significantly affect Arcanine-H, as base Swampert is likely to drop and Gardevoir simply was not as threatening when Froslass could beat it and it shares the same issues as Medicham, except the latter is way harder to switch into. Excited to see where the tier goes from here, because a
lot of mons are gonna enjoy these bans.
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Mega Feraligatr 
is super underrated. It can be very strong in a meta with no helmet, corv and very limited priority - man this mon really needs a lot haha. Anyway this team is just some pretty skilless bulky pivot spam.
Both setters are equally strong, way too many strong abusers, and Heat Rock is too insignificant of a nerf to balance the playstyle. Drought ban is the safest path forward. 
Hits way too hard immediately to overwhelm most non-Slowbro/Hippowdon walls. And for those two all it needs is a Shell Smash turn to invalidate them as checks. Speed control and priority options are much too mediocre as well for this to be balanced out on the offensive side. 
An Electric Type with the ability to snowball in a metagame where two of the top Pokemon are weak to Electric? Yes please! Mega Eelektross enjoys a great spread into the metagame, capable of threatening the many Water Types around here and flipping the script on almost every Ground Type in the tier by switching into them and threatening them with Grass Knot (Gliscor the exception). Mega Eelektross' decent bulk and lack of weakness is going to play very well into balance, forcing non-boosted offensive Pokemon out if they don't want to feed the eel. Their mediocre Speed and lack of resistances though means playing into offense is going to be a bother for it. I see Mega Eelektross with a real niche here, perhaps becoming the premier Electric Type.
The good news is that Mega Falinks' new stat spread allows it to flex a Swords Dance set, granting it mid-game wallbreaking potential it did not have before. Punishing Defog from Hisuian Decidueye and Conkeldurr is quite nice. Mega Falinks still runs into the same old issues it did before. Mono Fighting is a horrible sole offensive Type and leaves Falinks wanting for all of its coverage that it just can't quite fit on. Even at +1, Mega Falinks Special Bulk is horrid and leaves it prone to being revenge killed. The tier is also home to Kommo-o, who might be slower but is much bulkier and has less coverage issues with Dragon STAB to compliment its Fighting STAB. Mega Hawlucha also exists in the same tier and is mediocre, but still better than Mega Falinks. It does not seem like this tier will be the home for the fan-favorite Fighting Type. 
Mega Pyroar does one thing. It's the naturally fastest Fire Type in the tier and clicks big Fire Type moves. Non-bulky resistances get chunked by the sheer power of Fire Blast, or even Overheat. Its coverage is unfortunately very lacking leaving it to cripple its switch-ins with Will-O-Wisp, but it is pretty good at that. Unless your opponent is on really low HP, Hyper Voice is seldom ever going to be a button you want to press unless your primary Fire STAB is Flamethrower for consistency. That's something Mega Chandelure can hold over it, but it's also nowhere near as fast as Mega Pyroar. I think Mega Pyroar will find a solid spot in the metagame, being able to put in enough work against its checks and counters.
Some form of Special Attack investment is a necessity on Mega Raichu X unless you're otherwise comfortable being walled by the Grounds of the tier. Being an Electric Type is quite nice and you threaten to OHKO the standard Milotic off of Rising Voltage alone. Comparisons between it and Mega Eelektross are easy to draw, maybe Mega Raichu X proving itself superior? It's faster, has Nasty Plot, enjoys the same coverage + Surf and has stronger immediate Electric STAB. It doesn't have the same immunity to Ground and attack-to-boost though. I expect great things from either or, whichever becomes the primary or if they both find a life for themselves.
Might be fire? Mega Malamar looks like another balance breaker that flexes its well-rounded stat spread. Taunt shuts down would-be road blocks in Iron Defense Skarmory, Hippowdon and its Whirlwind and even hits Kommo-o before it can get off a Clangorous Soul thanks to its higher Speed. At +1 Defense, Mega Malamar can survive Hisuian Arcanine's Head Smash, boosted by Life Orb. Its massive Special Defense lets it eat even super effective special hits like Gengar's Dazzling Gleam. Mega Altaria does unfortunately OHKO you through your Defense buff with Double-Edge, but you can hit it with a Taunt to force it to Dragon Dance and Roost another time. Maybe pairing this thing up with Vaporeon for Wish passing and Flip Turning to have an easier time getting onto the battlefield. Is there anything I missed?
