The council has been monitoring the effects that recent shifts have brought upon the grounds of NDPL. In light of a council vote held in response, we’ve decided to quickban Tornadus-Therian from National Dex UU.
Tornadus-TherianTornadus Therian has been in the tier for a few days now, and it's no surprise to see that it has cemented itself as an incredibly defining and splashable presence once more, with access to some huge utility moves in Defog, Toxic, Knock Off, and a wide selection of coverage to choose from in Heat Wave, Superpower or Focus Blast, and even niche options like Grass Knot that goes alongside its superb stat spread, longevity, and bulk, provides it an incredibly diverse list of highly reliable offensive applications to make use of on a wide variety of teams. As such, this all comes together to make Tornadus-Therian arguably the best Pokemon in the metagame.
It is, however, the previously new generational addition of Nasty Plot to its repertory that makes Tornadus-Therian arguably too much for the tier. Here, Tornadus-Therian’s strength and natural threat factor works in such a regard to make an offensive menace highly equipped to retain its usual capabilities of outspeeding and checking other threats like Serperior and Buzzwole, while becoming incredibly potent at breaking down slower defensive cores after a boost. Options such as STAB Hurricane or Bleakwind Storm boosted by Flyinium Z allows it to muscle its way past neutral checks like Unaware Skeledirge and Gastrodon, offsetting the downside of the unreliable accuracy these moves have in the process; Focus Blast, especially in conjunction with Fightinium Z, allows it to readily break past Tyranitar while offering a safer hit on Blissey and weakened Mega Aerodactyl; In tandem with Tornadus’ absurd Speed stat and Regenerator; Nasty Plot sets with Knock Off easily find offensive opportunities against the aforementioned targets to bludgen incoming defensive walls like Celesteela and Assault Vest Galarian Slowking through item removal, thus making it much easier to wear these dedicated answers in the long-term until it can safely boost up and remove them.
Taunt on Tornadus-Therian is also worth giving a raise, particularly when supported by other forms of hazard removal through alternatives such as Defog Tapu Fini and Rapid Spin Excadrill, giving it some much-needed room to fit said move. Taunt allows Tornadus-Therian to deny recovering and status options from Pokemon otherwise reliant on withstanding its most common utility options, such as Specially Defensive Toxic Hippowdon or Thunder Wave/Calm Mind Clefable, beating these Pokemon without having to further compromise on its reliability in other scenarios. As a side-effect of the sheer neutral coverage offered by its Flying-STAB and coverage move of choice, Nasty Plot sets can benefit similarly from having it in the last slot to help break down the opposition.
Tornadus-Therian’s impact is not presented as entirely negative in contrast to more one-dimensional offensive threats that were banned previously, but rather as an instance of extreme centralization that corrupts and heavily restricts the foundation of defensive teambuilding within the tier through its ease in forcing unfavourable situations that would otherwise be more neturally susceptible to changes based on metagame adaptations and personal anticipation of the subject. In contrast, Tornadus-Therian will always be the most impactful Pokemon on either side no matter the list of options available, and centers the game around playing around or with it in ways that are both unconventional and damaging to the environment.
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The full voting list can be found here:
| Tornadus-Therian | |
| Arishem | Ban |
| sanguine | Abstain |
| Runo | Ban |
| Niadev | Ban |
| Pubo | Ban |
| TBIC106 | Ban |
| Meminger21 | Ban |
| Outcome | Banned |
Outside of the more urgent matters behind our decision, the watchlist as mentioned before will remain as follows:
Light Clay
Gyarados
Mega Sableye
Tagging Kris to implement the following. To anybody else playing in NDPL, this will be applied after Round 1.