Strategy Seventh Generation Banlist

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
Unpopular opinion here, but post-Aegislash meta sucks!

Granted it's only been here for a day. But I don't like how my teams feel vulnerable to a decent chunk of the meta even with well developed teams. I get that it's impossible to answer everything, but there always seems to be so many things that I can't answer regardless of the six mons I put on the team. Aegislash meta was stable because it blanket checked so much.

Going to wait before playing anymore until more bans happen because it's not fun right now.
 
J

Juliacoolo

I kind of like the post-Aegi meta. Especially in an HO environment, facing and playing as Aegislash warranted a degree of mind games and luck that I found unappealing. I would often find Aegislash outcomes to be the threshold of matches, which undermined the rest of the strategic gameplay.
 

thegrovylekid

Makes fake cards
Member
I'm definitely more pleased with the post-Aegi meta. Aegi on 70% of teams was silly and games were decided by whos Aegi went down first rather often.
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
Advanced Member
Member
Added the Baton Pass clause back to the OP. It turns out that last generation's ruling still applies.
 

Blakers

Holder of the Holy Diamond!
Member
I'm just tired of all the Ultra Beasts and the Island Guardians! Pheromosa needs to go!
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
Advanced Member
Member
@PG24 You might also want to put in the clauses too, like Sleep, Evasion, and the rest that I'm forgetting about right now.

I'm keeping it simple like the previous ban lists. The only ones worth mentioning are the more complex bans, like Baton Pass, as the others are obvious to most players or will put up red flags on the teambuilder.

Evasion clause is already mentioned, as Minimize and Double Team are both listed under complex bans.
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
Advanced Member
Member
Did they not ban Snow Cloak/Sand Veil?

I've actually looked around for years and have yet to find anything that says they are. My understanding is that with the weather nerf and the fact Garchomp is better with Rough Skin, it was silently revoked between generation's 5 and 6.
 

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
I'm quite curious as to why it was Lando Calrissian over Pheromosa.
I think it might have something to do with how Lando has proven to be broken three generations in a row now, while Pheromosa hasn't proved it once.

They might be waiting for a traditional suspect test for Pheromosa given that she's so new.

Plus people are figuring out how to adapt to Pheromosa so I don't know if she's as quickban worthy as we thought a few weeks ago. But I will admit that each quickban seems to be making her stronger.
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
Advanced Member
Member
Landorus-I can screw you over through various means and is overall harder to handle compared to Pheromosa. While Pheromosa can be just as difficult to handle, it still struggles to muscle past hard counters and checks like Toxapex, Skarmory, etc because it lacks varied options. Meanwhile, Landorus-I has options for anything that could hope to check it, such as Rock Polish for offensive teams or Calm Mind for defensive teams. It's not so much that it's proven to be unhealthy three generations in a row that it was banned first, but it's the fact that unlike Pheromosa, finding an exact answer for Landorus-I is near impossible. You have Cresselia, who is unviable in OU, and a handful of shaky checks who fold to a certain coverage move.

Don't be surprised if Genesect is banned next before Pheromosa. Actually, don't even be surprised if Dugtrio is suspected first or alongside Pheromosa and Genesect since it's the prime reason they are able to get away with their crap. I can't count the number of times that I've been threatened by Phero and Genesect not because of the Pokemon themeselves, but because there's a Dugtrio waiting in the shadows to pin down my counter. U-Turn + Dugtrio has been cancerous dating back to gen 5, but this generation the combo has become even worse. I wouldn't be opposed to an Arena Trap suspect test to see if the problem fixes itself.
 
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Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
Next ban is going to be Hoopa-U imo. Nothing switches into it and it has Gunk Shot to screw the new fairies over.

CB Hoopa is literally mindless as you just click Hyperspace Fury turn after turn.

Hoopa --> Genesect --> Greninja is my projected quick ban list. Once we get into official suspects, I'm expecting Pheromosa --> Tapu Lele --> Dugtrio
 

TheRealBro..

...
Member
I honestly don't think Pheromosa should be banned. It's a threat, sure, but a well build team easily has some hard counters.

The set it usually runs (on Battle Spott anyway) is U-turn/Poison Jab/Ice Beam/High Jump Kick.

High Jump kick hits very hard, sure, but it's very risky. Carry a ghost, or use protect (works quite often because it uses High Jump Kick a lot) and you can often screw it over. Bulky Pokemon that can hit reasonably hard are also a problem for it since it won't OHKO these, but is often OHKO'd itself after attacking.

A strong U-turn is good, sure, but bug is not a very good attacking type (a lot of 4x resists) so if you play smart you can deal with it pretty easily, predicting the High Jump Kick or tanking a U-turn. Lastly there is priority which screws it over pretty bad. I really don't see it as that big of a problem but I guess that's not the consensus..
 

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
I doubt Pheromosa will get banned and I don't want it to get banned.

It's surprisingly easy to check and priority is a staple on every team (at least it should be) so beating it isn't that bad.

Lele on the other hand...
 

TheRealBro..

...
Member
It's surprisingly easy to check and priority is a staple on every team (at least it should be) so beating it isn't that bad.

Lele on the other hand...

Exactly. Under the right circomstances (or the wrong if you're facing it) it can be an absolute beast (pun intended), but it's really not that hard to prepare your team for it. On Smogon everyone seemed to think it was super overpowerd (just as Kartana which is not that bad in my opinion either for lack of high base power moves + a bad stab combo) but I don't see it. If it's easy to deal with in 3 vs 3 than it should be even easier in 6 vs 6.

I think Lele is the biggest threat this gen, aside from the obvious ubers like Solgaleo and Lunala. The fairy/psychic combo is just very hard to counter and even steel types don't like switching into a standard +1 psychic (psychic terrain) coming of a 130 base stat. Standard scizor for example get's 2hko'd after stealth rock.
 

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
It's a classic example of metagame evolution. I frequent Smogon and I haven't seen a "Ban Pheromosa" post in a few weeks.

Whether or not that changes with suspects of Tapu Lele and both Greninja forms can't be predicted though.
 

TheRealBro..

...
Member
Hm, alright. Well I guess they changed their minds then. It just seems many people initially jump to conclusions pretty fast; sky high attack stat, ban it.

Do you also play Battle Spott by the way? Or only showdown. I guess that makes a difference too because that's 6 vs 6 right? (never played there)
 
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