1st: Yoshiblaze's Aegislash
2nd: G-Luke's Scizor
3rd: Ebinola's Greninja
4th: God of Llamas's Heatran
2nd: G-Luke's Scizor
3rd: Ebinola's Greninja
4th: God of Llamas's Heatran
Why are you using OU Pokémon that check it as justification when you should focus on NU?
Name: Xerneas
Nerfed Stats: 97/81/76/101/98/72 (-29 HP, -50 Atk -19 Def, -30 SpA, -27 Spe, BST 525)
Removed Moves: Focus Blast, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Defog, Aromatherapy,
Ability: Fairy Aura
Typing:
New Moves (If Any): N/A
Justification: Xerneas is simply an amazing Pokémon, with great coverage, an excellent stat spread, and one of the best set-up moves in the game. I wanted to keep Geomancy as both a personal challenge and to keep Xerneas' identity, so the stat changes are mainly to prevent Xerneas from immediately sweeping teams. 72 Base speed lets common OU Pokémon outspeed before a boost (including Hearten, Mega Scizor, and Skarmory). After Geomancy, anything with base 115 Speed or higher outspeeds Xerneas invested, including Greninja and Hawlucha, while Choice Scarf base 100s outspeed a fully invested Xerneas. Choice Scarf Xerneas is also outsped by fully invested base 117s or higher. It's physical bulk has been nerfed so that Mega Scizor has a chance to OHKO Xerneas after Stealth Rocks with Bullet Punch. The nerf to its offenses prevents Xerneas from going mixed while also lowering its overall power. Even after a boost, Xerneas overall power is only slightly more than other OU sweepers such as +1 Timid Volcarona (662 SpA vs. 554 SpA). Xerneas also loses coverage in Focus Blast and Thunder, along with its ability to be a cleric and hazard remover.
Competitive Insight: Nerfed Xerneas is a very potent threat in the NU metagame, becoming very dangerous after a single turn of set up. Not only does Xerneas have bulk comparable to bulky NU attackers such as Blastoise, but also has the ability to double its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed in one turn. Should Xerneas be given a free switch-in, it is capable of OHKOing most NU Pokémon and sweeping a team. Hernias is even capable of blasting through its resists, easily 2HKOing Delphox after a boost. However, bulky Pokémon and resists such as Slowbro/Slowking, Garbodor, Vileplume, Silvally-Steel, Steelix, and Klinklang are able to take a hit from +2 Xerneas. To make matters worse, the latter two can OHKO Xerneas, while a fully invested Silvally-Steel isn't even 2HKOd by Xerneas' coverage. Hernias is also troubled by faster Pokémon such as Sneasel and Choice Scarf users. While Xerneas is a threat that needs at least one dedicated answer on every NU team, many of these answers are also among the tiers most common problems, forcing Xerneas to be used more late-game.
Name: Yveltal
Nerfed Stats: 58/98/95/98/94/94 (-68 HP, -33 Atk, -33 SpA, -4 SpD, -5 Spe, BST 537)
Removed Moves: Heat Wave, Focus Blast, U-Turn, Steel Wing
Ability: Dark Aura
Typing:
New Moves (If Any): N/A
Justification: Another Pokémon with brilliant stats (the same as Xerneas), Yveltal was obviously immediately removed from OU and can play a ridiculous amount of roles in the Uber metagame, including Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, and defensive sets. A whopping 66 base points have been taken away from its HP to greatly reduce its bulk from Uber standards down to NU. Yveltal also loses its phenomenal mixed attacking stats. This greatly increases the number of Pokémon who can switch into Yveltal and take it out with a STAB move. These including Kyreum-Black, Clefable, Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Tapu Bulu, all of whom lost to Yveltal before. Yveltal is also outsped by 95 base Speed Pokémon, including the aforementioned Kyreum-Black and Zygarde alongside Tapu Lele. Yveltal loses important coverage against Steel and Fairy-types with Heat Wave, Focus Blast, and Steel Wing. Finally, Yveltal loses U-Turn, meaning it can no longer act as the bulky, powerful pivot that was common on many teams. These changes should be enough to prevent Yveltal from being viable in the Uber or OU metagame, while also making it balanced for NU.
Competitive Insight: Nerfed Yveltal, despite losing a great deal of bulk, nevertheless can act as a bulky Pokémon. Yveltal retains a strong defensive movepool including Defog, Foul Play, Knock Off, Oblivion Wing, Roost, Tailwind, Taunt, Thief, and Torment, that differentiate itself from other bulky Pokémon. One should not be quick to discount its base 98 offenses and 94 speed, making it one of the most powerful mixed attackers in the tier. A Dark/Flying Typing is fantastic in a tier with strong Ground, Grass, Psychic, Fighting, and Ghost types. Dark Aura further amplifies moves such as Sucker Punch, Foul Play, Dark Pulse, and Knock Off. However, Yveltal faces strong competition for a team slot in NU. Incineroar is bulkier and has higher attack than Yvelta, while Seasel is faster and has a great secondary Ice typing. Yveltal is also prone to being revenge killed by prominent Ice and Rock-types such as Vanilluxe, Diance and Sneasel, all of whom have a chance to OHKO even the bulkiest of Yveltal. Regardless, Yveltal's flexibility and solid base stats are often enough to make it a threat in the NU metagame and warrant a team slot.
Thanks for letting me know. I was trying to balance my Pokémon for NU, but also wanted to make sure they weren't viable in OU (akin to Gastrodon). You've saved me a lot of work!Why are you using OU Pokémon that check it as justification when you should focus on NU?