Hello everyone, it's been a few days since the Gholdengo suspect and we've been talking about what to do first in this new and altered post-Gholdengo metagame. To this end we have come up with a list of things that both us and the community have deemed discussion-worthy, and we wish to have a bit more conversation about these Pokemon before holding a council vote in the coming days. These are Baxcalibur, Ursaluna-Bloodmoon, Iron Valiant, Sneasler, and Tapu Lele.
Baxcalibur
Baxcalibur started the generation off being often overlooked compared to other physical Dragon-type Pokemon like Garchomp and Dragonite, and at one point even being called an inferior Kyurem due to its lower bulk and "inferior" ability compared to Pressure. But eventually, Baxcalibur found itself in the spotlight because of how potent it is as a set-up sweeper with either Dragon Dance or Swords Dance, an incredibly strong signature move in Glaive Rush, absurd Ice + Ground attacking combination, a burn immunity, not being too bad of a Choice item user, and its insane mid- or late-game sweeping capabilities with Terastallization. With all those traits, it is without a doubt Baxcalibur has a constricting hold on both the builder and gameplay and is often being unable to be stopped once given an opportunity to get a boost, which is not hard for it to do at all with its good bulk and all of the Tera options it has at its disposal. Rather it be revenge killers like Tapu Lele and Kartana that get turned into fodder with Tera Poison or Fairy, or defensive checks like Mega Scizor and Dondozo that become invalidated with Tera Ground and Dragon respectively, it is often too easy for Baxcalibur to invalidate its only checks which is quite problematic. With all of this in mind, we have decided to put Baxcalibur as our highest priority that is On the Radar.
Ursaluna-Bloodmoon
Being questioned constantly on why it is still legal in National Dex, Ursaluna-Bloodmoon has been quite the Pokemon to deal with in the metagame. Possessing absurd breaking, tanking, and trading potential that is backed up with boosting options with Calm Mind and semi-reliable longevity with Moonlight, it is extremely challenging to deal with Ursaluna. Unlike its cousin who was infamous for its overstayed welcome in Ubers and having actual ways to outplay, methods of outplaying and checking Ursaluna is close to none. With both Mind's Eye ignoring immunities like an emergency Tera Ghost and a 140 BP STAB option in tandem with its 135 Special Attack, switching into Ursaluna is often a tedious task that will result in you having to do an unfavorable trade, or in some cases, just lose the game outright. With Tera options like Ghost, Fairy, and Poison that add onto its aforementioned insane trading capabilities, Ursaluna has cemented itself as a very problematic factor in the metagame.
Sneasler
Sneasler has been an oddball when it comes to whether it should stay in the tier or not, but with the recent ban of Gholdengo, Sneasler has started to show off a bit too much with its Unburden + SD sets. While it could threaten Gholdengo before its ban with Night Slash or Shadow Claw, Sneasler now having the option to forget about it completely to break through would-be checks like Landorus-T and Toxapex is something that must be noted. Dire Claw has also been infamous for its potential to take the game out of the players hands if dealt with an unfavorable status condition, which is quite uncompetitive.
Iron Valiant and Tapu Lele
These two Pokemon are grouped together as they are both the most relevant Fairy-type Pokemon in the metagame that got significantly better by Gholdengo leaving the tier. With no foolproof Steel-type that has reliable recovery to check Tapu Lele and Iron Valiant, they have become very hard to deal with since they have so much more opportunity to click buttons against a majority of the tier. Even good checks like Mega Scizor isn't completely safe, as it is dented by Focus Blast from the former and Hidden Power Fire from the latter. However, they both bring something that is valuable to the tier as a form of speed control and as a revenge killer, so their place in the metagame is something we currently are wondering about.
Please do share your thoughts in this thread on each one of these, your experiences using and facing them, as well as any and all pro- or anti-ban arguments. We will be greatly considering community feedback when moving into these votes, which should happen at some point over the next few days. Let us know your thoughts, and please be courteous.
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