My current thoughts
If Tera ends up staying, than the ape gotta go. Personally Ape in a Tera free meta would not be a problem since it is much easier to rkill without the guessing game of whether or not it will turn into one of 10 Tera types. Will most likely be way more balanced in Home with the genies, the birds, and more are added.
The Dpulse flinch machine itself. If your only three counters are Ttar and Azu who have no recovery in this dogshit hazard stacking meta, Roaring Moon, and Shitsbun. Whether or not Tera stays we should’ve keep a Pokemon with 135 spa/100 speed, an ability that lowers SpD, NP, and Fire/Dark STAB. Specs and Boots NP are the worst ones due to their unpresidented breaking power. Even Home meta won’t be able to handle the fish since we barely dealt with Lele, now we have better Lele in fish form.
Gholdengo feels more like a byproduct of tons of spikes and limited hazard removal. If you think SV has it bad, look at Gen 4.
Its that bad. Teams would either run Starmis or fall on Pokemon that resisted rocks, were immune to spikes, or both. Thats why when you see the vr rankings of generations 3-5, alot of them are
-hazard setters
-resist rocks
-immune to spikes
-immune to hazards
-hazard removers
We need to recognize just how lucky we are in a world where our best spinner also doesn’t auto lose to the best spinblocker in a 1v1. We have the privilege that is Boots, something DPP players back in the day would’ve only dreamed about. Now we can have bootleg Magic Guard on any Pokemon we want. Mons that are weak to rocks? Yes. Mons that aren’t immune to spikes? Absolutely. Mons that benefit from being harder to rkill? Of course. These things are why I feel like Gholdengo is not suspect worthy. A versatile Pokemon that can be speed control or a wallbreaker. With the banning of the other broken threats I could see teams having an easier time slotting in checks to it such as big Clod. Home will bring in more power creep and Defoggers that actually threaten Gholdengo, making it a non-issue.
Derpy lizard boi is not the problem rn, I believe Shed Tail makes it and Orthworm a problem. While ofc Cyclizar is a better user of it due to high speed and Regen, We should suspect at Shed Tail first before going after Cyclizar to determine if its Shed Tail or the lizard.
There is a lot of talk surrounding Espathra but nothing too suspect worthy. To me Espathra is bound to be the cheesy HO mon that ends up in UUBL as the generation goes on. Lack of ease for set up along due to its bulk and not being able to threaten most things out without a CM. Alot of priority, steels, and dark types that can live +1 Dgleam going around.
Don’t know why Espathra was one of the main mons in the survey and not Chien-Pao. Checks like Corv, and Dondozo are easily to be worn down into 2HKO range. Boots is fine but SD LO and CB are way too difficult to switch into. Also having priority of its own means rkilling it is even harder. Home will introduce some actual checks to it like Tran, Magearna, and Watershifu.
Terastilization will only get worse once Home comes out. Are you gonna tell me two months later that its fine to have Tera Ice Eleki, Tera Flying Lando, and Tera Grass Tran running around?