Reserving Pawniard (I promise I'll stop after this)
What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?
Pawniard started off in NFE as an OK offensive Pokemon with access to Stealth Rock; initially like many other physical attackers, it had to rely on Throat Chop as its Dark-type attack as opposed to Knock Off which is inferior due to the presence of Eviolite everywhere. Pawniard was another Pokemon which shot up to the top of the metagame after the Home update, as well as a few bans such as Sneasel and Gurdurr leaving it uncontested as a Dark-type wallbreaker and having one less counter. The combination of Swords Dance, Knock Off, Iron Head, and Sucker Punch was nightmarish to deal with. Physically defensive Ground-types like Palpitoad and Trapinch lacked reliable recovery and Knock Off was super punishing, Fighting-types for the most part were straight up not good with the exception of Machoke which had to resort to being physically defensive and utilising RestTalk otherwise +2 Iron Head would deal a significant amount of damage. The overall effect of Pawniard was that the quality of the metagame dropped as these Machoke sets would rely on Dynamic Punch as their main STAB forcing more luck into the game. Sucker Punch was devastating against the frail offensive threats. While Haunter and Machoke were also deemed problematic by parts of the community, Pawniard was the first to be banned of this devastating trio. Later Pawniard was allowed again when DLC 2 came around, but even with the power level icnreasing with mons like Gurdurr back, Gabite around, Electabuzz with Focus Blast at the top of the metagame, and other previously banned Pokemon back in the metagame, it proved too strong of a breaker for NFE to handle.
However, we have yet to delve in on Pawniard's effect on the "entry hazards metagame"; Pawniard not only had access to Stealth Rock but it was also the only Pokemon that was good enough to be commonly used that would punish Defog attempts due to its Defiant. This gave it an immediate SD boost making it even harder to deal with as it no longer had to waste a turn setting up. Basically every Defogger was fodder for Pawniard with the exception of Gurdurr, which lacked reliable recovery and still took a lot of Iron Head once it lost its Eviolite, and Hattrem with its massive influence due to Magic Bounce was swiftly shut down by Pawniard as well due to Knock Off completely destroying it and Pawniard being able to live a Mystical Fire which procs Defiant. Overall, Pawniard had a drastic effect on the metagame for the short periods of time that its Knock Off version was allowed in NFE.
In what main roles was Pokemon used?
Despite only ever really running a handful of moves, Pawniard did fulfil several differnet roles with its 2 sets, its Stealth Rock set served as one of NFE's best hazard setters and deterred Defog, and offered great utility with Knock Off. Meanwhile its Swords Dance sets were more dedicated towards wallbreaker and cleaning, with Sucker Punch being a decent revenge killing tool as well.
What caused it to have a significant impact?
Despite looking fine on paper, the combination of its moves and typing and ability were just way too strong. Similar to past NFE metagames, we once again saw that without Monferno, Pawniard is completely busted. Most physical attackers would struggle with the likes of Galarian Corsola, or Tangela, or even Golbat, but not Pawniard; it made each of these literal fodder especially because Gorsola was struggling to run Wisp at the time and Tangela couldn't do anything without Sleep Powder (in SM it used HP Fighting to check Pawniard but rip Hidden Powers). STAB Knock Off and Sucker Punch, with Swords Dance, another great STAB move in Iron Head, the only good Defog punish, a bunch of useful immunities and resistances as an offensive Pokemon allowing it to switch in safely despite its frailty at least once per game. Every single check/counter to Pawniard did not have reliable recovery, and would automatically be forced to run Rest, and faster Pokemon were too frail against +2/+4 Sucker Punch.
How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in NFE?
Pre Knock Off Pawniard was relatively easy to handle given that the Ground-types and Fighting-types such as Palpitoad and Gurdurr that switched into it could retain their Eviolite and switch into it multiple times. Sneasel was also better than Pawniard during this time as a offensive Dark-type. Post Knock Off Pawniard was near impossible to deal with, Pokemon were forced to run Rest such as Machoke in order to deal with it, and PhysDef Gurdurr in DLC 2 but these Fighting-types had signficant issues since they were going so defensive, they were extremely easy to switch into; and Pawniard could continuously force them in. Funnily a broken strategy known as Arena Trap was one of the best ways to remove Pawniard since it would often just switch out after chipping away walls in the ealry game; Physically defensive Trapinch served as one of the best Pawniard answers we had for the post Home metagame. Faster Pokemon could KO Pawniard as long as Pawniard was not boosted; Electabuzz, Magmar, Raboot all come into mind with the latter if having used High Jump Kick/Sucker Punch previously would resist the incoming Sucker Punch. Sash Kadabra could Counter vs Pawniard.
After writing all this, it makes me mad that I somehow voted DNB on the Pawniard quickban vote during the early DLC 2 days, but thankfully my council carried me and made the right decision.