Announcement I'm Still Standing - Vullaby Suspect Test

I need go write a sentiment as I am not been good enough to get reqs ( while honestly a lot of lessen players are getting so i would say its mafia ?)

Also, honestly yall know me, if I arguably the most skilled player of a generation can spent AM evening being a victim of Said magnitude what would you expect of lessen users.

We cannot expect our average ladder user to bê Trawkan

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9lc-2687830852-iaiw8r19t9acqeg7xnc7jfds56fhgojpw

This shows everything if you vote DNB you hate LC and América.

:Vullaby: :Toedscool: :Larvesta: :Gothita: :Glimmet: :Mienfoo:
Run this crazy team to got reqs, only lost to Tera Ground Np Vull and haxes, Np Vull is undisputed crazy in this tier with his so easy to set and diverse sets. And flinch is also annoying. So i will vote Ban without any thoughts.
However, i think ban Weak Armor will be better if okay, or even just Vullaby + Nasty Plot (Sadly we cant do this complex ban). For Weak Armor Ban, i just think Overcoat Vullaby is not really broken, or even not so good. So why we cant just keep it? I don't think this will have any negative impact.

Ima keep it short and sweet, I don't think :vullaby: deserves a ban beacause there are a lot of mons that can "check it" like :Tinkatink:, :Mudbray:, :Elekid:, :Chinchou:, :Glimmet:, :Choice Scarf: :Sandshrew-Alola: and opposing defensive tera. The physical set is still very healthy for the tier BUT, tera is rly busted and that takes :vullaby: over the top rn. I don't got the energy to write a long paragraph before the 3rd so ima do a list of reasons why is it busted :
I want to point out that some of the "reasons why it is busted" are managable.

I would also like to mention that it is very predictable when a :vullaby: is trying to setup. Usually it is a :Toedscool: rapid spin, fake out of some sort (into tera ghost and nplot), neutral tera into nplot again (tera ghost into flare blitz and nplot to finish game), etc... There are also a lot of viable priority in this tier that can help there. :stunky: :Sandshrew-Alola: :Diglett-Alola: :Trapinch: are the big 4 im thinking about.
Another important thing, nplot :vullaby: only got 15 speed so A LOT of mons outspeed it, can scout tera + move and ko it afterwards.

Ik this is gonna be banned so...
Im stop here, but to sum up everything, ill WON'T BAN :vullaby:

Hate this guy, making me do my job


Note: All of this is my opinion/memory of events, does not reflect the rest of LC council


How Did We Get Here/Why Now?
After LCPL XV concluded (congrats again to Cooper and the rest of the Dratinis), Eric then Hacker posted in Metagame Discussion on 3 Aug 2026 (posts are linked in each person's name above) their thoughts about SV LC. These posts effectively started the main portion of the "what next?" conversation that lasted until 13 Aug 2026, until Colin's post stating, "the LC council is considering, but has not decided on, suspecting Aipom for a potential unban." Below is what I would say the main list of considerations from LC council were during that period before Colin posted for us.

Mienfoo
Vullaby
Gothita
Aipom
Tera Blast

Immediately we can just remove Gothita and Tera Blast as options for suspect action as while the results did not go the way I wanted for both, it was still way too early to even consider them again. Mienfoo effectively had a 100% use rate in LCPL XV (thanks Bub for ruining it) and Vullaby has been hovering around 75-80% use rate for most its life in SV LC. Both have been the clear first and second best Pokemon respectively since Voltorb-Hisui was banned, both have had multiple stretches of complaints volleyed at them over the years, and both sound like enough of the masses support taking action on one or both. The problem is that internally within council as said in Colin's next sentence, "other targets for tiering action (Mienfoo, Vullaby, Tera/terablast) either have no clear consensus or a majority do not ban." We had no clear idea on what to look at next, as either one of these Pokemon's exit from the tier changes so much.

In my opinion, we eventually agreed on Aipom to be what we suspect because it had the odd circumstances around its original ban, it was the option that enough of us felt good enough on to want to see action, and gave us more time to kick the Mienfoo/Vullaby stones down the road on what we take action on (if at all) next. Either it's a fine enough Pokemon and potentially helps with Mienfoo and/or Vullaby (it hasn't), or it stays banned and we're back where we are, but more time to make a call between the two.


What I'm Voting
Less interesting of the two questions for me to answer, but I will be voting Ban for the Vullaby suspect after successfully mickey mousing myself reqs via tour reqs from LC Ladder Tour (get your suspect reqs people).


(Y'all remember the LC Bridge Bot? Good times...)

Taiil's message above from almost two years ago can sum up how I get to my conclusion on stuff for tiering in SV LC. This is almost certainly what people would call "bad tiering" by me, but I don't really care that "I'm voting ___ for the wrong reasons" because ultimately this a game we play for fun. I've said for multiple LC suspects (Shellder and Heat Rock are the two examples I remember), "X isn't a problem in the tier, but I wouldn't complain if it disappeared", and "Y is annoying to go against and I don't use it, will be voting ban". So if we just carry that logic over to Vullaby:

Is Vullaby a problem in the tier?
Physical sets no, Special sets maybe.

Is Vullaby annoying to go against?
Yes, for both sets. Yeah Physical Vullaby doesn't outright win games like Nasty Plot will, but I'm never happy to see it on the other side of a battle.

Would I complain about Vullaby leaving the tier?
No. Popping a champagne bottle if I don't have to play against a Nasty Plot Vullaby again.

Do I use Vullaby?
Obviously. This question applied more to suspects like Shellder Gothita, and Sun/Heat Rock where they just didn't fit the kind of teams I liked using or think I'm good at, but she's the second best mon in the tier with ~80% use rate for a reason, yes it's going on my team. If you narrowed this down to just Nasty Plot Vullaby since that's what most people agree is the problematic set, then no I do not use it often. Physical Vullaby is consistent enough at the progress it makes that I throw it on teams more often.


Fun Fact
Last thing of note from me that I just think is interesting. While I was/am in favor of a Vullaby suspect, I'm not sure how it's the Pokemon we are suspecting lol. If you look at Metagame Discussion and LC Discord for "Ban Mienfoo" vs "Ban Vullaby" posts between 3-14 August 2026, the dates of Eric then Colin posts (and yes I counted for forums, then used the search filter on Discord to verify this) , way more people were posting that they wanted a Mienfoo ban than a Vullaby ban. After the Colin post to today, that's somehow flipped and now way more people want Vullaby action than Mienfoo action. I have no idea why all the "Ban Mienfoo" either swapped to Vullaby or just didn't say things about it again after the Aipom suspect, maybe some of the recent SCL games have swayed people that Vullaby is a bigger problem but this was true even before the tournament. I personally think if the same ratio was had after Colin's Aipom post, that Mienfoo would be the Pokemon getting suspect tested right now and not Vullaby.

Yeah not going to dig in too much to what seems like a pretty dead duck, but at this point it's pretty hard to defend a DNB vote. I'll talk to the imaginary DNB posters though. There's really only one common trendline that I've seen though...

"Only the NP set is broken, the physical sets are fine. So why wouldn't we just ban X?"

I understand the framing, Vullaby has been an important part of the metagame for a very long time, but I think you should consider it from the opposite perspective. The NP set is problematic, and the physical sets are just a bonus to add onto how good NP is. Nasty Plot sets benefit from the idea that a physical set exists and is viable, and can be argued to be a better fit onto most teams. Couple that with players who have gotten very good at masking what kind of Vullaby it is, and that culminates to a very challenging gamestate. As to why we wouldn't touch Nasty Plot, or Weak Armor, I think personally the most problematic part is Air Slash's flinch chance. But even if it wasn't, Nasty Plot is viable on other mons and Weak Armor is the best option on other mons. It would be a disservice to those pokemon to ban them and is against Smogon Tiering Policy. Banning indivdual elements of Pokemon should be avoided at all costs as well (read: Speed Boost Blaziken).

I find it hard to believe that this will result in anything but an overwhelming ban. Can't imagine we keep it.

Ok i just got reqs and i want to share my opinion. There isn't a lot i can say that hasn't been said already but i still wanted to talk about my perspective (this is the team i used to got the requirements btw, just a relatively standard TTM with NP Vulla https://pokepast.es/63f1617f96f2367d ).

I know im more unexperienced that many of the people that have written here so if you think im wrong in some part and you want to correct me feel free to do it, and sorry if my english is bad

I personally think Vullaby is pretty banworthy but only for the special set. First of all, i don't think the physical set is banworthy or even that good to begin with. Knock + BB is a great progress maker when the other team doesn't have Tinkatink, but if they do it's a pretty bad way of losing momentum (even then you still lose some momentum vs Glimmet and Mudbray), and even if you want to U-Turn out from the Tinkatink you risk losing your Eviolite and limiting more it's defensive utility in case its Air Balloon, and in case there is rocks up you gain some momentum in exchange of losing more health when you come in.

Also Defog is kinda mid imo as a hazard removal option when the mon is weak to rocks, and since there arent any good Ghost types in the tier the spinners are quite adept at doing its job. I personally like a lot the mixed set with Heat Wave bc most people go like a bot straight to their Air Balloon Tink and they eat a big chunk of health, and also it lures greatly Snowshrew

Now, i think the NP set is very absurd tbh. The way it can punish you for making a physical move is way too rewarding for the Vullaby user, being able to spiral out of control many games, and forcing the opposing player to a lot of mindgames where they are too scared of clicking a move like Knock Off or U-Turn because they can autolose to a certain NP vulla set. I think the biggest problem with this set is how propense it is for it to trigger RNG situations, like if your Vulla check gets lured in by Tera Ground Tera Blast (like Glimmet and Chinchou for example) and your emergency check is a Mudbray or a tera Mienfoo then you basically have to gamble that your check works 70% of the time because of the flinch procs of Air Slash.

This also applies to the Vullaby user as well since the 5% Air Slash miss can be critical in way too many situations, and it's pretty unhealthy to have a mon that is so propense to being able to turn games on it's head just through flinching. Unfortunately i forgot to save replays but i remember one of my last games being basically me flinching an entire team with NP Vulla and winning on the spot

Now, if we ban Vullaby this opens a new tangent: some people have been arguing that if we ban the bird Mienfoo becomes broken since there isnt anything that can threaten it as directly the way Vullaby did. I think we should also test Mienfoo if we ban vullaby but i don't have a formed opinion on whether it's going to be broken or not (btw i don't think foo is broken on the current metagame, but that opinion might change without the bird)

Got reqs, I'm kinda conflicted on what to vote because phys, mixed, and nasty plot without flinches are balanced. Unfortunately, pretty much all teams cannot recover a close game against a boosted vullaby flinch against at least one of roost, dark pulse, terablast ground, steel tera, or endure. I don't like it, but I probably vote ban here since tera being used on either side makes flinches that much more devastating. It's a shame, I liked tera fairy sets as a way to beat sub SD mienfoo with slower teams.

Idk about the future of the metagame so I choose not to care about what I cannot predict.

Voting is now open here!
https://www.smogon.com/tools/suspects/view/259

Verified voters: 36
Vote count: 30

Vullaby: Ban (26/36 = 72.22%)
Vullaby: Do Not Ban (10/36 = 27.78%)

26 out of 36 possible people have voted ban on Vullaby. This means Vullaby can not go under the 60% majority required to be banned.

As a result of this, Vullaby is now banned in SV LC.

The vote will be open for a few more days to allow people the chance to vote. If you qualify for Tiering Contributor (4 votes in official LC gens), message tazz or Envy

tagging dhelmise to implement