I may meme on council a bit but I think these are 10/10 bans for the tier to start our second week. As the honorable MPL 3K andy
Vodoom has said, "I can actually play this shit".
I've been playing water without Palafin past 2 days, even without Pala I was able to go something like 28-8 and get into top 50 pretty fast. Still an A tier type imo.
Ghost is still S tier, even if Flutter had gotten banned it would be at minimum A tier. I'd been able to have tons of success without stone/flutter since day 1 on Ghost.
Booster ban I am SO HAPPY ABOUT. I was under the impression that it's ban was up in the air so seeing it gone is great. If booster had stayed in a whole bunch of mess would've been about with Paradox mons that aren't broken without it being a whole lot more troublesome. It immediately makes Iron Valiant/Roaring Moon/Flutter Mane less oppressive than they were.
Lastly, everyone had Flutter as a top 3 on list to ban. I definitely had flutter mane syndrome at the start but kinda turned around to thinking we should suspect it without booster. Seeing it still in is important to get a better sense of what it can actually do and whether it should be banned/suspected.
What I'm mostly curious about right now is how Roaring Moon responds to the booster ban. I can imagine Iron Valiant replacing Booster with Life Orb or a Choice item, and Flutter going choiced, 3 attack life orb, maybe leftovers. No Booster means Roaring Moon doesn't have the same sweeping potential with no repercussions, not to mention the acrobatics set would have to run no item to help Dark vs. Fighting.
As far as what I have on my watchlist for potential suspects, it would be Chien Pao, Chi-Yu, Flutter Mane, Roaring Moon, Annihilape, and Cyclizar/Shed Tail. Council mentioned a potential linkage of Shed Tail to Baton Pass in order to ban the move without affecting Cyclizar, which would defs be the pro gamer move. If that's impossible then Cyclizar would likely need to be suspected. It's utility on dragon cannot be understated.
I started playing some more dark today, I pretty much didn't touch the type for most of the meta so far with only a lil use at the beginning and Chien Pao and Chi Yu are still insane.
Chien Pao I moreso see as a mon limiting alot of options in the meta, with the worst cases being types such as grass where the normal offensive counters Breloom/Meowscarada get OHKO'd by a life orb Ice Shard.
Chi Yu I see as a bit worse. It's VERY easy to get a sub up, and once a sub is up it can either start attacking or nasty plot and either way things are dying. For builds that still have bulkier support options, it can very easily lead to a nightmare scenario, and the fact that Chi Yu isn't super predictable on what set it has whether it be Sub/NP, Specs, or a variation such as Flame Charge, makes the immediate response to it very important.
Flutter Mane I think people have adjusted to for the most part, but is still a clear suspect since it is has been such a meta defining pokemon. I'd imagine it's on the council's watchlist but we'll see how dangerous it is.
Annihilape I see as worse than Flutter Mane in what it can do with it's bulk up or resto chesto set, especially should Revival Blessing become coded correctly and Rage Fist becomes even more dangerous.
And finally, Roaring Moon. Even with the Booster Ban, screens support with it's speed tier and attack stat make a dragon dance set still have insane sweeping potential. Perhaps people will try out some other options like a choiced set, but it'll still be an extremely dangerous sweeper. If anything I imagine people may just experiment more with it. No item acrobatics will still be solid in the fighting matchup for dark, life orb DD would effectively be an attack boost booster energy with less longevity, perhaps something like roost becomes an option. Either way I think Booster Energy was the no brainer path before for a monster with alot of ways it can be dangerous.