To address these comments about the UUBL, I decided to reevaluate which mons could see a potential unban.
Diggersby: The descent of Skarmory to UU has given this guy another counter, but I still think this thing still cleaves through too much of the tier. At present, Skarm, Zong and G. Weez are really the only things that can reliably switch into this thing due to typing, ability and physical bulk. Should stay banned.
Dracozolt: Honestly, I think this thing is a lot more manageable now. This is mostly due to the influx of new Ground types to stave off Bolt Beak in Krookodile, Seismotoad and Palossand; recent rise Steelix is also a good counter if Zolt lacks Fire Blast. Add to that faster threats like Celebi and Terrakion keeping Beak at a manageable 85 BP and reliably reeking vengeance on it, and I think this guy might be worth a trial run. I say retest.
Durant: The ant has finally gained a consistent counter in Skarmory, but I don't know about this one. The sheer power of Choice Band + Hustle means that the most reliable way to defeat it is to hope it misses; some Fire types like Arcanine and Talonflame can check it, but neither one really wants to hard switch due to Ant's rock coverage. Thus, I say it should stay banned.
Gyarados: Dos still has the same power of Moxie snowballing and great coverage that got it banned. Again, this thing can be countered by Skarm now, and there are more threats that can theoretically take it out before it gets a chance to set up like Starmie, but defensive options for Dos are still really dependent on coverage. Dos' biggest problem is 4MSS, as it wants Bounce to hit Grass, Power Whip for other Waters and Earthquake to dent Steels, but I'm just not convinced that that is enough to keep Dos in check. Unsure
Haxorus: Gets Scale Shot now. Uh, no. Stay banned
Mamoswine: Huh. It's kind of weird just how many of these mons struggle against Skarm. Anyways, the rise of Prankster screens and drop of Seismotoad due make Mamo a tad more mangeable; in addition, we now have several more checks such as Heracross and Keldeo. Still, Band covers most of the meta, so I'd have to say unsure.
A. Ninetales: While lacking the screen setter godsend that is Prankster, Ninetales carves itself an interesting niche due to only needing one slot for screens. This gives Tales more freedom with the rest of it's moveset, between valuable support in Encore and Hypnosis (right) and decent STAB attacks. They're probably gonna demand a reban anyways, so should stay banned.
Primarina: Calm Mind and Metronome boosted attacks may have broke this mon before, but there are several new options that I feel keep the singer down. For starters, Blissey largely shuts both these sets down, as Rina struggles to dent the egg even after a boost while the Wish+Protect set invalidates the old Metronome strategy. Additionally, the tiers new additions like Skarm (hello again), Tentacruel, Jirachi and screens Klefki, along with old standbys like Mantine and Bronzong give more mons that can check Rina defensively. Finally, UU has no shortage of faster offensive mons who can easily revenge kill it if need be, such as Terrakion, Talonflame and Celebi. Honestly, I think it would be perfectly reasonable to retest.
Venusaur: Honestly, I wasn't entirely onboard with this thing getting banned in the first place. Sure, sun gives it valuable Fire coverage, but the presence of sand (and maybe Hail) mean that this coverage isn't the most reliable; without Fire type WB, this thing struggles against Steels, particularly Skarm (take a shot) and Bronzong. Even if you run Sun, new additions Tentacruel and Dragalge don't care that much for sets without EP, allowing them to potentially set up TSpikes; Alge can muscle through the thing with Adaptability STAB while Cruel can Spin for its team or cripple Saur with Knock Off. Speaking of which, Saur absolutely needs an item to due its job properly, as 100 SpA isn't exactly game-breaking on its own. Mons like Arcanine, Talonflame, Kyurem and Escavalier also tend to prevent Saur from switching in, and it can also be checked by the likes of Jirachi. Because of all this, I think we should retest.
Weavile: Finally, we have the frail but powerful Weavile. This thing hates the new additions of Keldeo, Klefki and Skarm (again?), and also hates that Barraskewda is actually viable now. In addtion, this thing doesn't do that much to G. Weezing and, like it always does, can have problems actually getting on the field due to its frailty. Its inability to run Boots effectively means that non- SD sets mandate hazard support. All that said, this thing is still pretty strong and hits most of the tier really hard, so I'd argue it would be worth the maintenance necessary to use it. Still, I must say I'm unsure.
All this said, I do think this process of retesting is worth further considering, as the successful return of Crawdaunt and Obstagoon to the tier show how much this meta has changed over the last few months. Then again, it's possible I've missed a few things, but as of now this is where I stand on these mons.
