Also gonna jump on this to pour my thoughts on the post-tera AAA meta since we've been given a bit of time to test out the waters.
FurScales is probably the most urgent thing in terms of deciding on the fate of with the immense effect it has on the meta while not universally being appreciated to say the least. With almost
everything being influenced by these abilities, it's probably best to tell if we wish to have a FurScale meta or not before we start suspecting
most mons. I don't think it's too bad in general on defensive mons and can be broken through without that much trouble and allows for meta with much higher power we definitely didn't have last gen, although FurScales on setup mons like Volc or Flutter presents a new problem all together and certainly wouldn't be possible or at least to the same degree with other defensive abilities.
If there is a mon worth suspecting before FurScales, it's most definitely this fairy bastard here. The most standard SFLO set surprisingly not turned out that bad with IceScales, although still quite powerful in its own right. However, with more time a variety of sets are popping up that definitely can pressure one when teambuilding to say the least. Hadron Engine/MBreaker Specs, Dazzling Scarf or even FC Painsplit CM all providing different solutions and answers which some consider overbearing (see above post).
Another mon that might just be too much, even with FurScales around. With FurScales dominating one side of the spectrum, mixed attackers have come to shine and Iron Valiant is next none in that category. Being able to break Fur Coaters and Ice Scale mons alike by hitting the other side of the spectrum hard, it definitely is quite hard to account for when building defensive cores. While it does have a standard set, there is also quite a lot of variety to consider as well that can surprise even usual answers. IceScales Florges/Specially Defensive Screamtail? PJab! Bulky Gholdengo? SBall/Knock! It can even run Scarf Trick sets among other things and might just be too overbearing to account for defensively for some.
Ever since the Tera ban, it's been surprisingly not that bad. Probably doesn't need a ban, although you still definitely need to be wary as it can still overwhelm special walls with Flip Turn chip and is still very annoying to account for, even if you just need to stuff a DesoLand sometimes. Still should be on the watchlist imo.
Don't think this is a suspect worthy mon, in fact I'd believe more that it's kinda holding a lot of the meta together with its utility, although not on the same level of Corv. I haven't found it anywhere close to overbearing to account for while just generally being useful but not anything broken when using it myself. The only one which fits this description is Stakeout, but that comes with its own bag of problems and isn't OP imo, although the predictions it can force may be considered unhealthy.
Why do people want to ban this again?? Maybe I run defensive Iron Hands too much but I've never found this overbearing to account for defensively and is just decent all around. Various Fur Coaters can handle it like Iron Hands, SlitherWing and Hippowdown and defensive Regen/Immunity variants are nice but nothing special.
Again, I don't think this is banworthy. I've found at least defensive variants aren't hard to account for while offensive can apply a lot of pressure, has a very clear and prominent weakness in prominent mons like Pult, Mane and Gholdengo and can also be beaten by the likes of Whirlwind FC Hippowdown/Iron Hands. Scouting the set can be annoying but often assuming offensive wont get you punished majority of the time in my experience.
Not really overwhelming to account for either, but still a powerful presence. Whether this mon remains imo is up to whether FurScales stays or not, if it does then I doubt DNite should be suspected or banned with how it clunks into all manners of FC mons. Mixed sets can be annoying to deal with but are rare and usually let something else check DNite.
Same case as with DNite imo. Powerful, but not overwhelming to account for. Variety of IceScale mons can handle most sets, although does pack a bit of variety which can be annoying to scout. Maybe higher than DNite but I don't think that suspect worthy.
Good as Gold is super annoying to play against and account for, but this is just clear personal bias. Probably not suspect worthy with the more pressing matters or at all. Spin Tusk remains a prominent and good option against these teams but can be annoying to fit at times with SAC, at least for me.
I remember a few calling for a Shed Tail suspect a while ago but playing with it and against it, imo it probably isn't suspect worthy. Good players can easily play around it since it's obvious and braindead. It can be annoying with good play against passive mons but generally most of the time all it can do is get a free switch and imo screens is better.
Immensely versatile and annoying to play against, although none of the sets are really that overbearing. The main issue is just scouting the set and sometimes it can exploit and get value out of that alone, maybe in the future in a post FurScales meta could be suspect worthy but generally right now just a good versatile mon.
And also, Merry Christmas! (Although it's no longer Christmas here...)
