Scarlet and Violet Tiering Announcements

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shiloh

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Tiering Lead
All tiering decisions for official Scarlet and Violet tiers will be documented here.

Tier Leaders: At the conclusion of any suspect test or council vote, please update the relevant post for your tier. Please make sure to include what was suspected, the date of the vote, the vote results (including the list of council members who voted if this was a council vote), and a brief explanation of the suspect.

Sample Council Vote said:
On ((date)), the NU council voted 6-2 to BAN ((Pokemon)) from NeverUsed.

((List council members who participated in this vote and how they voted here))

Reasoning: ((include a brief description of why the vote was held))

Sample Public Suspect Test said:
A public suspect test was held for ((Pokemon)). On ((date)), 65 voters (45%) voted to ban ((Pokemon)), while 80 voters (55%) voted to keep ((Pokemon)) UU. As it failed to reach the 51% majority required to ban, ((Pokemon)) will remain UU.

Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread

Reasoning: ((include a brief description of why the vote was held))
 

Finchinator

-OUTL
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OU Leader
OverUsed

On November 20th, 2022, the OU council voted 9-0 to BAN Flutter Mane and 9-0 to BAN Houndstone from OU.

Flutter ManeHoundstoneChien-PaoPalafinRoaring MoonIron ValiantCyclizar
ausmaBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
FinchinatorBanBanDo not banBanDo not banDo not banBan
FlamingVictiniBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
imaBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
Ox the FoxBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
RuftBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
StarBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
talahBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
TPPBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan

Reasoning

On November 25th, 2022, the OU council voted 9-0 to BAN Palafin and voted 7-2 to BAN Iron Bundle from OU.

PalafinIron BundleCyclizarChien-PaoRoaring MoonGholdengoAnnihilape
ausmaBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
FinchinatorBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
FlamingVictiniBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
imaBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
Ox the FoxBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
RuftBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
StarBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
talahBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
TPPBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban

Reasoning

Starting December 14th, 2022, a public suspect test was held for Terastallization. From January 2nd to January 4th, 2023, 205 voters (59.25%) voted to take action on Terastallization, while 141 voters (40.75%) voted to take no action on Terastallization in OU. As it failed to reach the 60% majority required to take action, there will be no action taken on Terastallization in OU.

Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread

On January 8th, 2023, the OU council voted 9-0 to BAN Chi-Yu, 8-1 to BAN Annihilape, and 7-2 to BAN Cyclizar from OU.

FinchinatorRuftausmaFlamingVictiniimaOx the FoxStartalahTPP
:Annihilape:BanBanBanDo not banBanBanBanBanBan
:Chi-Yu:BanBanBanBanBanBanBanBanBan
:Chien-Pao:Do not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
:Cyclizar:BanBanBanDo not banDo not banBanBanBanBan
:Dragonite:Do not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban
:Espathra:Do not banDo not banBanBanBanDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
:Garganacl:BanDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banBan
:Gholdengo:Do not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not banDo not ban

Reasoning

Starting January 29th, 2023, a public suspect test was held for Chien-Pao. On February 11th, 2023, 107 voters (69.03%) voted to ban Chien-Pao, while 48 voters (30.97%) voted to keep Chien-Pao OU. As it reached the 60% majority required to ban, Chien-Pao is BANNED from OU.

Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread

On February 11th, 2023, the OU council voted 9-0 to BAN Espathra from OU.

FinchinatorRuftausmaFlamingVictiniimaOx the FoxStartalahTPP
:Espathra:BanBanBanBanBanBanBanBanBan

Reasoning
 
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Fc

Waiting for something to happen?
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Ubers Leader
Ubers

On November 18th, Ubers quickbanned King's Rock.
King's Rock being legal to begin with was an oversight. With recovery moves nerfed, Toxapex losing its best ways to stop physical attackers with Scald, and Necrozma-DM not being in the game, King's Rock would be devastating and entirely luck based on hyper offense teams. Cloyster could very easily win a game on a coinflip, and Maushold with Population Bomb + Beat Up could have done similar.
 
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Lily

wouldn't that be fine, dear
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UU Leader
UnderUsed

On January 1st 2023, UU quickbanned Espathra:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...e-entry-beta-starts-now-bye-espathra.3713709/

On January 7th 2023, UU quickbanned Baxcalibur and Hydreigon:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-starts-now-bye-espathra.3713709/post-9461429

On February 20th 2023, UU banned Iron Hands by suspect test:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ess-stage-2-1-iron-hands.3716638/post-9516121

On April 7th 2023, UU quickbanned Iron Leaves:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-scizor-suspect-iron-leaves-quickban.3719391/

On July 1st 2023, UU unbanned Hydreigon, Iron Hands, and Iron Leaves:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-uu-metagame-discussion.3723831/

On July 8th 2023, UU re-quickbanned Iron Hands:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/iron-hands-is-banned-from-sv-uu.3724182/

On Juiy 16th 2023, UU quickbanned Hisuian Lilligant:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/hisuian-lilligant-is-banned-from-sv-uu.3724620/

On September 3rd 2023, UU quickbanned Roaring Moon:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/roaring-moon-is-banned-from-sv-uu.3727267/

On September 24th 2023, UU quickbanned Quaquaval and Ceruledge:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/quaquaval-and-ceruledge-are-banned-from-sv-uu.3728411/

On October 1st 2023, UU unbanned Quaquaval, Iron Hands, Hisuian Lilligant and Ceruledge:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...teal-mask-edition.3728797/page-2#post-9804668

On October 8th 2023, UU quickbanned Ceruledge, Garchomp, and Kommo-o:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ceruledge-kommo-o-and-garchomp-are-banned-from-sv-uu.3729309/

On October 15th 2023, UU quickbanned Garganacl:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/garganacl-is-banned-from-sv-uu.3729683/

On January 6th 2024, UU quickbanned Iron Hands, Latias, and Blaziken.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/iron-hands-latias-and-blaziken-are-banned-from-sv-uu.3733861/

On January 28th 2024, UU banned Ceruledge by suspect test.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-uu-suspect-process-round-4-ceruledge.3735462/post-9956437

On February 19th 2024, UU banned Garganacl by suspect test.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-uu-suspect-process-round-5-garganacl.3736952/post-9989615

On February 24th 2024, UU quickbanned Galarian Moltres.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/galarian-moltres-is-banned-from-sv-uu.3737378/
 
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NeverUsed

On April 15th, 2023, NU quickbanned Florges:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-and-march-shifts.3717264/page-2#post-9580923

On May 20, 2023, NU kept Indeedee banned following its suspect test:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-nu-indeedee-suspect-voting.3721696/#post-9626313

On July 2nd, 2023, NU quickbanned Tornadus and Frosmoth:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-live-see-post-19.3720845/page-2#post-9690122

On July 9th, 2023, NU quickbanned Hoopa:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-live-see-post-19.3720845/page-2#post-9697112

On July 24th, 2023, NU banned Grimmsnarl via suspect vote:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-nu-grimmsnarl-suspect-voting.3724995/#post-9713631

On August 6th, 2023, NU quickbanned Oricorio, Zoroark, and Jolteon:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-stage-4-bye-bye-august-tier-shifts.3725517/#post-9730719

On August 10th, 2023, NU quickbanned Dudunsparce:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-stage-4-bye-bye-august-tier-shifts.3725517/#post-9735614

On September 3rd, 2023, NU unbanned Goodra, Hoopa, Indeedee, Dudunsparce, Grimmsnarl, Jolteon, and Zoroark. NU also quickbanned Drednaw, Inteleon, and Toxtricity:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...x-zoroark-meloetta-bans.3727156/#post-9764849

On September 11th, 2023, NU quickbanned Flamigo, Delphox, Zoroark, and Meloetta:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ark-meloetta-bans.3727156/page-3#post-9774499

On October 1st, 2023, NU quickbanned Drizzle and Drought:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...arade-quickbans-post-10.3728799/#post-9804590

On October 8th, 2023, NU quickbanned Brute Bonnet, Galarian Slowbro, and Snorlax:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...arade-quickbans-post-10.3728799/#post-9814671

On November 2nd, 2023, NU unbanned Florges:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-stage-7-electric-florges-unbanned.3729895/#post-9844836

On December 2nd, 2023, NU unbanned much of NUBL:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/np-stage-8-coming-down.3732068/#post-9879654

On December 10th, 2023, NU banned Galarian Slowbro and Oricorio Pom-Pom:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-g-oricorio-pom-pom-ban.3732068/#post-9888284

On February 3rd, 2024, NU unbanned Inteleon, Iron Thorns, and Scrafty:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...n-thorns-unbanned.3733604/page-2#post-9963920

On March 8th, 2024, NU banned Lilligant-H, Regidrago, and Suicune:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...regidrago-suicune-lilligant-h-banned.3737924/

On March 15th, 2024, NU banned Armarouge, Gyarados, and Necrozma:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-necrozma-banned.3737924/page-2#post-10030763
 
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Chloe

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NUPL Champion
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Coconut

W
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LC Leader
Little Cup

On November 18th, 2022, the LC council unanimously quickbanned Murkrow, Meditite, and Moody from SV Little Cup.

Coconut
Fiend
Acehunter1
KSG
LilyAC
tazz

Murkrow has everything you could want from a Pokemon, Prankster, fantastic coverage, excellent typing for offensive options, and a lack of viable defensive checks and counters. Couple it with 19 speed, the second fastest speed tier in the metagame, and a STAB Brave Bird, Murkrow was simply too strong for the current metagame.

Meditite has Pure Power and a myriad of solid options and coverage. In addition to some of the more obvious choices, such as High Jump Kick or Close Combat, Meditite also had priority, allowing it to bust through anything that outpaced it.

Moody was tested again in the hopes that it would be less luck-based due to the higher power level of LC. It was not. Moody took the game out of the hands of the player and left it to the draw of random boosts. Snorunt was able to Protect itself and give itself options to survive without much of a semblance of counterplay for opposing players.


On November 21, 2022, the LC council unanimously banned Dunsparce from SV Little Cup.

Coconut
Fiend
Acehunter1
KSG
LilyAC
tazz

Dunsparce was an excellent Pokemon at making sure your opponent could not play the game. With Glare and a Serene Grace Headbutt or Bite, the number of actual attacks your opponent could use was limited at best. Couple that with stellar bulk and other options for it to thrive, Dunsparce was deemed to be uncompetitive in the current metagame.


On November 30, 2022, the LC council unanimously banned Misdreavus from SV Little Cup.

Coconut
Fiend
Acehunter1
KSG
LilyAC
tazz

With Tera-Fighting or Electric, Nasty Plot, and incredible stats, Misdreavus has few downsides and many appealing options. Though running the same set every time is more than enough for Misdreavus to be widely considered the best Pokemon in the tier. With boons like limited Knock Off, Pursuit being removed entirely, and being immune to Arena Trap, Misdreavus is positioned well against the metagame even before Tera is considered. With Tera, there is no question on Misdreavus being too much for the tier.


On December 4, 2022, the LC council unanimously banned Flittle from SV Little Cup.

Coconut
Fiend
Acehunter1
KSG
LilyAC
tazz

The LC council has quickbanned Flittle. To the uninitiated this may seem surprising, but combination of the ability Speed Boost and the move Stored Power is extremely strong. With Calm Mind to bolster this combination, Tera types to destroy Dark-types, and just enough bulk to Roost and passively boost its primary attack, Flittle is at best extremely centralizing and at worse extremely broken. While Flittle excelled with Screens support, it often is superfluous and Flittle remained extremely strong without specific support.


On December 17, 2022, the LC council unanimously banned Rufflet from SV Little Cup.

Coconut
Fiend
Acehunter1
KSG
LilyAC
tazz

The LC Council has quickbanned Rufflet. Rufflet is incredibly strong due to its stock Flying/Fighting coverage backed by Hustle. Aerial Ace helps Rufflet remain a strong and reliable enough Choice Scarf user, and has been the most common and nearly uncontested best user since day one. If this had been the only set Rufflet had, perhaps Rufflet would have been fine despite the tier's few Flying-type resists. However, slowly more and more people have began using Bulk Up + Agility Rufflet which can quickly become devastatingly strong and difficult to revenge kill. With a few more tricks in Choice Band Brave Bird OHKOing neutrals and Tera-type Ground picking apart dedicated counterplay, Rufflet has steadily grown more and more limiting as it became more flexible itself.


On January 30th, 2023, Little Cup held a public suspect test and voted to ban Girafarig.
Suspect Test Results
Suspect Test Thread

Reasoning: Girafarig possessed many incredibly strong attributes, the most obvious being its incredible Base Stat Total (BST). With such a high BST, most strengths of Girafarig were bolstered and its weaknesses were difficult to take advantage of. With both great Attack and Special Attack with a movepool to accompany either, Girafarig is difficult to account for in the builder. Often, the Girafarig mirror was what limited either set after Tera was revealed likely blowing through the initial switch in.
 
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Yoda2798

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Doubles Leader
Doubles OU

On 26th November 2022, the Doubles OU Council voted 5-2 to ban Shadow Tag from SV DOU.
Actuarily - Do Not Ban
Yoda2798 - Ban
Paraplegic - Ban
SMB - Do Not Ban
Umbry - Ban
Qwello Lee - Ban
Nido-Rus - Ban
Since the Gothitelle line has gotten access to Fake Out in generation 8, the combination of trapping opponents + immobilizing one opponent with fake out has been deemed too strong for the metagame. It was banned in generation 8 DOU by suspect, and now has been re-banned in generation 9 DOU via council vote.

On 12th December 2022, the Doubles OU Council voted 7-0 to ban Tatsugiri and 4-3 to ban Flutter Mane from SV DOU.
Actuarily: Ban Tatsugiri; Do Not Ban Flutter Mane
Nido-Rus: Ban Tatsugiri; Ban Flutter Mane
Paraplegic: Ban Tatsugiri; Ban Flutter Mane
qsns: Ban Tatsugiri; Ban Flutter Mane
SMB: Ban Tatsugiri; Do Not Ban Flutter Mane
umbry: Ban Tatsugiri; Ban Flutter Mane
Yoda2798: Ban Tatsugiri; Do Not Ban Flutter Mane
Tatsugiri, with its ability Commander, formed a potent combination with Dondozo, providing it +2 boosts to Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. With these boosts, Dondozo became a massive threat, being strong offensively and very difficult to take down, leading to high amounts of Haze usage just to deal with it. Immunity to phazing like Whirlwind, and the options of Tera Steel for Clear Smog immunity and Safety Goggles for Spore immunity left little counterplay outside of Haze. An incredibly centralising force, the combination was dealt with via a baon Tatsugiri by council vote, though the banned element is still pending a result from the following Policy Review thread.

Flutter Mane quickly established itself as the top Pokemon in the format, boasting an excellent typing in Ghost / Fairy along with a staggering base 135 Special Attack and Speed to make it a top offensive threat. Dazzling Gleam provided a spread option, while it had near perfect neutral coverage between its two STABs. Protosynthesis with Booster Energy or sun, Tera Fairy, and Chi-Yu's ability Beads of Ruin helped push Flutter Mane's damage output even higher, with Chi-Yu forming an excellent offensive duo with it. Flutter Mane's biggest weakness is its frailty, though only on the physical side due to its healthy Special Defense, and its valuable Ghost typing provided immunity to a major form of priority, Dragonite's Extreme Speed. Sets would later decide to invest in bulk to further patch this area up, making Flutter Mane difficult to KO, while maintaining its offensive presence due to all the aforementioned reasons. As a result, Flutter Mane was banned by council vote.

A public suspect test was held for Flutter Mane. On 9th January, 58 voters (77.3%) voted to keep Flutter Mane banned, while 17 voters (22.7%) voted to unban Flutter Mane from DOU. As the 60% supermajority required to unban was not reached, Flutter Mane remains banned from SV DOU.
Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread
With the council vote on Flutter Mane being split, and other people also having wanted Flutter Mane to be suspect tested, it was decided that Flutter Mane should be given a suspect, with the result being it was kept banned. For reasoning on why Flutter Mane was banned, see above.

A public suspect test was held for Annihilape. On 22nd January, 36 voters (61.0%) voted to ban Annihilape, while 8 voters (13.6%) voted to keep Annihilape DOU. As the 60% supermajority required to ban was reached, Annihilape is banned from SV DOU.
Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread
The strongest part of Annihilape's kit is Rage Fist, a move boosted whenever it takes damage and capable of reaching ridiculous levels of damage. Choice Scarf sets seen some use, often relying on boosting Rage Fist with a partner to take full advantage, but by far Annihilape's best was Bulk Up, being pretty tanky with investment while slowly racking up Rage Fist boosts to give it offensive presence. Between its two STABs Annihilape has practically perfect neutral coverage, with Drain Punch also providing recovery, letting it heal back any damage from faster foes. With Vital Spirit to stop Spore or Defiant to take advantage of Intimidate, and a defensive Tera type such as Water, Fire (also blocking burns), or Steel (also blocking Toxic and Clear Smog), Annihilape became an unbearable and near unstoppable threat. Screens seen use to boost its survivability even further, while Revival Blessing also seen use to bring Annihilape back from the grave, with Rage Fist boosts still in hand.

A public suspect test was held for Iron Hands. On 17th April, 12 voters (25.5%) voted to ban Iron Hands, while 24 voters (51.1%) voted to keep Iron Hands DOU. As the 60% supermajority required to ban was not reached, Iron Hands remains legal in SV DOU.
Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread
Iron Hands boasts an excellent statline, with gargantuan HP, Attack, and Defense stats making it incredibly bulky, especially with Special Defense investment to cover the other side of the attacking spectrum. Assault Vest sets were the first to see use on Iron Hands, increasing its survivability on the weaker special side while it could spread Fake Out multiple times per match, being capable of tanking almost any hit while being able to retaliate strongly due to its naturally high Attack. It is the set which has risen up more recently, utilising Swords Dance, that is the real problem however. In this case, Iron Hands leverages its bulk combined with resources like redirection, Psychic Seed, screens, and Terastallization to set up a Swords Dance, then fire off boosted Drain Punches to knock out opponents and heal back any damage they've dealt. This makes Iron Hands quite difficult to deal with, as it is difficult to KO outright, but will usually regain HP after getting an attack off, usually requiring multiple Pokemon spent to take it down.

On 30th May 2023, the Doubles OU Council voted 5-2 to ban Magearna, 6-1 to unban Annihilape, and 7-0 to unban Flutter Mane from SV DOU with the release of Pokemon home.
1687795741690.png

On 1st June 2023, the Doubles OU Council voted 7-0 to ban Urshifu-Single-Strike from SV DOU.
1687795980286.png

On 4th June 2023, the Doubles OU Council voted 7-0 to ban Annihilape from SV DOU.
1687796085035.png

On 11th June 2023, the Doubles OU Council voted 5-2 to ban Urshifu-Rapid-Strike from SV DOU.
1687796168155.png

A public suspect test was held for Ursaluna. On 26th June 2023, 40 voters (76.9%) voted to ban Iron Hands, while 4 voters (7.7%) voted to keep Iron Hands DOU. As the 60% supermajority required to ban was reached, Ursaluna is banned from SV DOU.
Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread
Ursaluna is a dominating offensive presence in the tier, with 140 base Attack boosted with Guts in combination with Facade picking up KOs left, right, and centre with very little capable of taking one. For the handful of Normal-type resists, Ursaluna could still threaten those with a Ground-type STAB anyways, albeit giving the opponent some room to switch around it. The big caveat to using Ursaluna, however, is its low Speed making it reliant on speed control, mainly Trick Room. Cresselia was nearly always partnered with Ursaluna for this reason, being a bulky Trick Room setter, and offering healing with Lunar Blessing while Ursaluna picks up KOs under Trick Room, forming a fearsome duo. With very respectable bulk, Ursaluna can target the more threatening Pokemon and usually comfortably take anything from its partner, while being healed up by Cresselia. With its low base Speed, Ursaluna is difficult to underspeed in Trick Room, and while being undersped by Amoonguss has immunity to Spore via Flame Orb. Despite being threatened by Leaf Storm from Amoonguss, or from priority such as Jet Punch from Palafin or Aqua Jet from Basculegion, Tera Normal could be used to remove these weaknesses, while providing the extra damage needed to pick up certain KOes with Facade, such as against physically defensive Amoonguss. Due to its strength under Trick Room, and how easily that could be facilitated, Ursaluna proved too much for the tier.
 
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maroon

free palestine
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RMT & Mono Leader
Monotype
In-depth explanations and council votes can be found by clicking the hyperlinks.

Quickban #1: King's Rock, Bright Powder, Lax Incense, Quick Claw, Focus Band, Baton Pass, Moody, Shadow Tag, Damp Rock
Luck-based items, Baton Pass, and the uncompetitive abilities were banned either because of their uncompetitive nature or added unnecessary rng into the game. Damp Rock allows Swift Swim users three extra turns of rain, allowing them to become overbearing and dominate the metagame.

Quickban #2: Terastallizing
Terastallizing was restricted to fit the Same Type Clause, however even with this change the additional power granted to STAB attacks made it near impossible to outplay a bad matchup.

Quickban #3: Palafin, Houndstone, Booster Energy
Palafin's Hero Mode was a dangerous setup sweeper or strong choice band cleaner, with access to great coverage moves, and a powerful priority move, made it was overbearing. Houndstone seems underwhelming, however if it the last remaining Pokemon on its side of the field, Last Respects becomes impossible to tank without an immunity, and easily reverse swept lost games. Booster Energy made the paradox pokemon extremely threatening, most of which would be balanced without the initial boost, so to preserve the limited options available Booster Energy was banned.

Quickban #4: Annihilape, Chi-Yu, Iron Bundle
Annihilape had amazing bulk, utility in Rest+Drain Punch allowing it to stay healthy, access to Bulk Up, and Rage Fist which got a huge buff each time Annihilape took direct damage in battle, which would not reset when it switched out. This allowed Annihilape to snowball and quickly become unstoppable. Chi-Yu's ability Beads of Ruin allowed it to weaken the foes Special Defense, allowing it to nuke it with its strong attacks, additionally its Fire-type STAB attacks became even more oppressive under sun. Iron Bundle had perfect coverage with its STAB attacks, Freeze Dry allowed it to hit Water-type Pokemon for supereffective damage. This made walling Iron Bundle impossible and was hard to revenge kill thanks to its decent bulk and blistering Speed.

Suspect #1: Flutter Mane / Result: Not Banned
Flutter Mane is an extremely fast and powerful special attacker with excellent stab and coverage moves, making it a top tier threat in the metagame. However, due to its physical frailty and poor HP, it can be easily checked by the plethora of priority moves available to each type or fast choice scarf Pokemon. Additionally, defensive cores such as Iron Treads and Clodsire popped up, that are able to handle Flutter Mane due to its reliance on Choiced-items.

A public suspect test was held for Flutter Mane. Of the 50 voters, 43 (86%) of them voted do not ban, as a result Flutter Mane is not banned from Monotype.

Quickban #5: Evasion Abilities & Acupressure
In a similar vain to other luck-based strategies banned near the start of Generation, these elements similar to Lax Incense/Bright Powder increased evasion, which is uncompetitive.

Pokemon Home Banlist Update
The council banned all reintroduced box legendaries bar Zamazenta, as well as banning Last Respects to free Houndstone.

Quickban #1: Magearna

Quickban #2: Urshifu-S

Teal Mask Tiering Updates
Annihilape and Urshifu-S unbanned; Shaymin-Sky banned.

Quickban #1: Annihilape
Annihilape and Razor Fang banned; Booster Energy remains banned.

Suspect #2: Baxcalibur / Result: Not Banned

Suspect #3: Urshifu-S / Result: Banned

Indigo Disk DLC Initial Bans and Unbans
All box legendaries released aside from Solgaleo were banned; Kyurem-B, Deoxys-Defense, and Deoxys-Speed unbanned; Booster Energy was freed.

Quick Ban #1
Booster Energy, Smooth Rock, Shed Tail, Blaziken, Kyurem-Black and Solgaleo are now banned.

Suspect #4: Gouging Fire / Result: Not Banned

Suspect #5: Baxcalibur / Result: Banned
 
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Ruft

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Starting January 29th, 2023, a public suspect test was held for Chien-Pao. On February 11th, 2023, 107 voters (69.03%) voted to ban Chien-Pao, while 48 voters (30.97%) voted to keep Chien-Pao OU. As it reached the 60% majority required to ban, Chien-Pao is BANNED from OU.

Link to Blind Voting results
Link to suspect thread

On February 11th, 2023, the OU council voted 9-0 to BAN Espathra from OU.

FinchinatorRuftausmaFlamingVictiniimaOx the FoxStartalahTPP
:Espathra:BanBanBanBanBanBanBanBanBan

Reasoning
 
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