As per our given post, the council has elected to conduct a vote on several of the Pokemon mentioned, and the results below were as follows.
With a supermajority on both, Dondozo and Kyurem will be banned from National Dex UU, effective immediately.
---
DondozoDondozo continues to be one of the most oppressive physical walls and sweepers, the decision to ban it from the tier was primarily due to the ease it had at setting up against the heavy streams of offense in the tier. With a simple set of Curse + RestTalk and mono-attacking coverage, the emphasis on ensuring that Dondozo didn’t get going made it very difficult to answer reliably, as Dondozo’s raw bulk ensured that even the strongest physical options would struggle to put consistent pressure and stop it from setting up, while Unaware also nullified the use of most setup sweepers against it, mandating the use of specific options such as Taunt Mega Gyarados and Meowscarada to break through. For reference, one of the strongest physical wallbreakers in the tier: Choice Band Tyranitar, only does a maximum of 42% with an unresisted Stone Edge before accounting for passive recovery options.
Although the standard fully physically defensive variant is as threatening as ever, we’ve recently began to see Dondozo tap into various moveset options to make up for its shortcomings in matchups most commonly used to target it; heavy special defense investment in combination with the use of other Tera-types to remove its common weaknesses, like Dragon and Fairy, has allowed it to directly challenge some of the special attackers used to pressure it, becoming just bulky enough to weather hits that would otherwise force it out in a pinch, like Choice Specs Latios’s Draco Meteor and Tera Grass Iron Moth’s Energy Ball. Curse + Protect sets with Leftovers have also seen some use on teams with WishPass support, which while more vulnerable to status moves and Knock Off, can easily flip the script by scouting potential choice locks from Pokemon such as Trick Latias and Meowscarada, whilst also allowing it to rack up more Leftovers recovery to mitigate its hazard weaknesses, on top of giving it more room to run additional coverage moves — choosing from each of Avalanche, which is used to target Dragon-types like Hydreigon, Earthquake for its synergy with the former, along with maintaining coverage for threats like Aegislash, Future Sight Galarian Slowking, and Blacephalon, and Body Press to hit the likes of Kyurem and Mega Gyarados hard after a few boosts.
For these reasons in mind, including the strain Dondozo placed on the tier, and proven ability to adapt to its few forms of counterplay, which became incredibly strenuous to fit as a result of metagame advancements. It shouldn’t be too surprising that Dondozo has been banned.
KyuremUpon being given its time to shine in the post-Alpha metagame, Kyurem already stood out as one of the most potent offensive forces around. The dual combination of Ice + Ground coverage off its already high Special Attack, potentially bolstered by Choice Specs or Never-Melt Ice is extremely tough to stop defensively, limiting sturdy resists in the form of exceptionally bulky Pokemon such as Blissey and Assault Vest Galarian Slowking, or Steel-types not immediately vulnerable to Earth Power, such as defensive variants of Scizor and Celesteela, however, even these Pokemon have the potential to be broken through on even the most common variants, notably Blissey and Galarian Slowking folding to the Choice Specs set’s raw power with facile prediction, and Jirachi and Scizor being more difficult to fit in this regard due to struggling against Earth Power long-term.
There are several offensive Pokemon that may suffice at revenge killing it in a vacuum, with Pokemon like Clefable and Mega Tyranitar being able to live most hits from full and threatening it in return, in addition to faster threats such as Latios, Cinderace, and Mega Aerodactyl that can outspeeding it while hitting it super effectively, but not only are these unreliable due to Kyurem’s naturally good bulk, enabling this type of counterplay almost always involves foddering something off or high-risk pivoting due to their inability to reliably switch into any of its given coverage moves, in which said opportunity can also be neutered with the effects of Terastalization, namely through Tera Steel or Fairy for opposing Dragons and Fighting-types in the form of the latter, both also removing Kyurem’s Stealth Rock weakness.
In addition, points of discussion made here also justify following up on a particularly underexplored mechanic which only Kyurem can take advantage of against defensive checks to the fullest: the freeze mechanic. With this in mind and the high PP of its Ice STABs, Kyurem can easily play the long game against its aforementioned answers, and find the right opportunity to break through them with every given switch-in presenting the chance of doing so. All while following up on the two incredible buffs it received last generation in Freeze-Dry for a STAB move to defeat bulky Waters such as Tapu Fini and Slowking, and Heavy-Duty Boots to ignore entry hazards altogether, further limiting the ability of most defensive cores to keep Kyurem in check through long-term forms of pressure. Given this combination of factors, Kyurem was voted to be banned unanimously.
The full voting list can be found here:
| Aegislash | Dondozo | Gyarados-Mega | Latios | Kyurem | Sableye-Mega | Light Clay | |
| Arishem | Suspect (2) | Quickban | Suspect (1) | Do Not Ban | Quickban | Do Not Ban | Suspect (3) |
| sanguine | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain |
| MudkipBeans | Suspect | Do Not Ban | Suspect | Do Not Ban | Quickban | Suspect | Do Not Ban |
| Niadev | Suspect (2) | Quickban | Suspect (1) | Do Not Ban | Quickban | Suspect (3) | Do Not Ban (for now) |
| Pubo | Suspect (3) | Quickban | Suspect (2) | Do Not Ban | Quickban | Suspect (1) | Do Not Ban |
| Ryuji | Suspect (2) | Quickban | Suspect (1) | Do Not Ban | Quickban | Suspect (3) | Do Not Ban |
| Outcome | Suspect (2) | Quickban | Suspect (1) | No action | Quickban | Suspect (3) | No action |
NOTE: We prioritized quickbanning these Pokemon due to the upcoming release of HOME. Additionally, with how it was the most voted in favor of receiving one, we will be expecting to move forward with a Mega Gyarados suspect shortly after.
Tagging Kris to implement this. Thanks as always.