I wanted to talk a little bit about what I think it's broken right now, and what I think should stay for more time and can be decided later.
I will leave terastelize in for now since many things are broken WITH or WITHOUT terastelizing, and since both players can do it on any mon, not just this one specific, I'm gonna let it slide for now.
First of all, Flutter Mane. Ban it.
I find flutter mane to be an amazing pokemon, too powerful for this gen's OU
I used it myself a lot, and almost all the time using a hex calm mind set, which, gotta say, pretty op. If you keep it until the right moment, you can use the energy booster pretty well to gain speed, stopping what could be a would be sweep against you, or to start your own, and calm mind is pretty much free against a special attacker if you have screens up, which are really amazing with gholdengo and grimmsnarl being powerfull screen setters in this early meta. I've been running fairy type terastelization but fighting type one is really amazing aswell (I simply prefer to have the option of more powerful moonblasts), since they stop what could be a revenge kill by a kingambit with sucker punch or a shadow sneak from iron valiant/houndstone if it has a good amount of hp left, making a way to check it way harder. Together with a special attack that makes walling it harder and kills any try to switch in, the best ways to counter it and usually avoid any terastelizing problems are by using screens yourself, using a jet punch from a Palafin-Hero,
chip it down with hazards/attacks when switching in enough for it to be possible a special attacker 2 hit ko or a first impression from a Lokix.
The most reliable wall that is available would have to be a physdef clodsire, but even then, if it takes too much damage it isn't a check.
Other than that, keep a terastelizing ready to counter it. Most of my attempts at countering it I had to try to predict and make switches into things that if not by resisting, would get 1 hit ko'd after a cm boost, and scarf/specs/lo sets exist, so it's pretty obvious why I wish it was gone.
Cyclizar, an amazing pokemon. Suspect test it after Palafin, Flutter and the doggo move, and in case shed tail itself from orthworm seems too broken aswell, ban the move shed tail and unban it.
It's amazing how this pokemon who at first didn't seem really great when it was announced, found itself to be one of the most broken pokemon ever.
First of all, the most broken thing of all, multiscale. Being able to switch in a dragonite that takes half dmg from everything is INSANE. I needed 3 attacks to break down the sub the first time I met this strat, and it was before I could touch dragonite. Thank god Lugia isn't in or I don't even want to know what Ubers would be facing.
Besides shed tail, which with regenerator is already a reason to get this mon banned, it also learns rapid spin, knock off, taunt, and I'm not even gonna mention how if the biggest threats were gone, it could even perhaps run a shift gear flame orb facade moveset, where it didn't even need to invest much in speed evs and could consider bulk. It also has stab priority in quick attack if it was needed (After flutter mane is gone, it would be a possible thing like many other normal types being viable) as an overall good movepool.
I believe that perhaps with flutter mane is gone, it could actually start being worst with dragapult showing up more and many other pokemon like the dark squad aswell.
I'd personally wait a little bit after those 2 are gone before seeing how this one threatens the meta, so for now, purely a suspect test.
Being a mega weavile, Chien-Pao is, after those 2, the most broken one. I want to see if those 2 being gone opens up more walls that could try to handle this pokemon, which, honestly, I REALLY doubt. First of all, this pokemon's ability reduces the base stat of the opposing pokemon's defense by 25%, which by itself, is already op, second, it's movepool. This pokemon learns ice spinner, a solid ice move (Finally there's one) and great dark type stab moves in sucker punch/crunch/throat chop. It is able to threaten would be steel and dark checks with sacred sword, learns psychic fangs to end fighting types without priority, learns acrobatics, which to be honest it isn't really the best thing on a ice type pokemon but it's something, and a priority in ice shard. It can run banded sets or even life orb with swords dance, being able to single handedly destroy the whole meta. Being fast means it's sucker punches can hit before other priorities like Jet Punch and the best check right now is probably azumarill. and that means a lot.
I personally want to see if the paldean tauros can find themselves being used as a counter since many pokemon can be handled by their typing/intimidate, and they also have a 90bp move that ends screens, and the fire type one even has will-o-wisp, but then again, the speed tier and psychic fangs save this mon from being walled by other things.
Iron Valiant is a pokemon I'm not gonna talk about much because personally I never found it to be that big of a problem, then again, might be just matchup dependant, but something like clodsire probably walls well. Though I gotta say it's ability to run both physical or special sets can make it something to be tested in the future.
Roaring Moon. It's definitely an interesting pokemon. I don't think this pokemon is ban worthy, and right now, I wouldn't even suggest a test over many other things first. Before everything, I'd like to say that people overreact to this pokemon. 1: People say it's really op but scarf dragapult, priority or scarf chien pao, boster speed iron bundle, iron valiant can handle it a bit well and many priorities are able to stop him like mach punch or first impression after a dragon dance, which it needs to, first, setup. Something like lokix and slither wing basically force it to either waste the terastelizing or instantly lose the pokemon, and many tera to steel type which still suffers to fighting type priorities so this isn't an option. I will admit it is strong but unaware pokemon like physdef dondozo can handle it with, for example, a body press. 2: People will say many times "Oh but it terastelizes..." but being real, first of all you are wasting a terastelize on a pokemon that can probably be destroyed by other priorities in the tier, second, it can happen that you have already used terastelize, and in that case it can be a real tough job to keep it alive. Fairy types like flutter do keep it in check, but there isn't a lack of options, and to be honest, it's the type of pokemon that would stay if terastelizing was banned.
I will admit however, that unless some walls start showing up after other bans, this thing could get out of hand and in that case it would indeed need to be banned.
The doggo houndstone, either ban him or the move, and personally, the move. It's pretty obvious how this pokemon was running scarf sets, and the other who is faster and has adaptability wouldn't surprise to anyone if it got banned even WITHOUT the move, having access to switft swim aswell. Being an absolute MENACE to the tier. This pokemon can be a good wall in the tier with fluffy and i'd hate to lose it's potencial purely from a move cause other pokemon will get it.
Palafin. I used this pokemon a lot, and personally, suspect test him after flutter mane and the doggo move, perhaps even before cyclizar. Personally, I don't think it should be banned. There are definitely things that wall him in the tier like Physdef Poison Heal breloom or water absorb clodsire, slowking/slowbro, azumarill (Once again) can prove to be a pokemon who counters many of the meta pokemon and physdef dragonite could work aswell, since apparently it's movepool is so stuck to the same flip turn, jet punch, wave crash and close combat, that I doubt we will see ice punch in there, as it really can't seem to drop one, and if it were, many other pokemon could start to wall it. I will say however that its definitely a threat since it can run scarf/banded sets and always bring so much value to the table, being a pokemon that stops many others from being broken right now. Something that is also true however, is the fact that bulk up sets started appearing, and those can prove themselves to be really hard to handle. I hope after more bans the meta evolves into one where it can tank such strong attacks, because being real as soon as this pokemon is gone, many others will be aswell.
Hope I made myself clear and my opinion on the meta right now. It has been fun to play with all the new pokemon and I hope my point of view was of some help.
