Resource NU Tiering Info & History

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Kiyo

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This thread will server as both a place for current NU Council Information as well as a History for past bans that take place over the course of SM NU.

Current Council:
Eternally (TL)
Finchinator (TL)
rozes
Kiyo
Hootie
elodin
Kushalos
Realistic Waters
TDK



How Tiering is Run:

A thread was made <<here>> so be sure to give it a read if you want the full information, but here is the tldr:

At the beginning of NU, everything that is potentially broken is banned by a council. Then, each banned element is reintroduced to the tier one at a time, and the NU council votes on whether each suspect should be kept in NU or remain BL3. After leaving beta, tiering now undergoes public suspect tests, where the Pokemon chosen are determined by the tier leaders and council, as well as from community input.
 
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Kiyo

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06-07-17 Yanmega and Slurpuff have been quickbanned from the NU tier as they were deemed too broken for the beta period.

Yanmega: Yanmega is blessed with two incredible abilities in the form of Tinted Lens and Speed Boost. The former allows it to use its already monstrous 116 base Special Attack and Choice Specs to blow past would-be counters that would otherwise resist its attacks, while the latter gives Yanmega the ability to make up for its middling 95 Speed and sweep through offensive teams while still maintaining a good amount of power when packing Life Orb. Yanmega was a centralizing force in NU Alpha forcing players to run a small set of hard counters in order to prevent getting swept from team preview, and the number of checks to Yanmega has only decreased with the shift to Beta. With these things considered Yanmega will be quickbanned from SM NU Beta.

Slurpuff: Slurpuff keeps a lot of the problems that made it broken last generation. Once Slurpuff is able to get off a Belly Drum there is nothing in the tier that is able to reliably handle it. The combination of Unburden to double its speed as well as the addition to Drain Punch to its moveset in ORAS means even once common checks like Steelix are unable to handle it with a little bit of chip damage. Slurpuff also has an advantageous typing in Fairy that gives it both good Offensive STAB as well as a good type to set up with due to a high amount of resistances to common types while its weaknesses are not as common in the NU metagame. All of this together means Slurpuff is too unhealthy for the tier and will be quickbanned as of now.
Voted on by the current tier leaders rozes and Kiyo
 

shiloh

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Tiering Lead
06-11-17 Porygon2, Noivern, Moltres, Drought, Ribombee, and Kingdra have been banned from the NU tier through council voting.

Porygon2: Thanks to its amazing bulk, Porygon2 is able to switch into the majority of the metagame and is very difficult to take down throughout the course of a game. Porygon2's biggest weaknesses are Fighting-types, Knock Off, and Toxic. While NU definitely has no shortage of these 3 things, all of them are easily handled by Porygon2's teammates and severely limit the options opponents have to deal with it. Porygon2 also has the ability to function as a great support Pokemon for Trick Room teams and can reliably set Trick Room more than once in a match. Porygon2's combination of bulk, support options, and ease of being supported lead to it being an unhealthy presence in the NU metagame.

Noivern: Noivern's great base speed, offensive typing and movepool have made it too strong for NU in the eyes of the council. Its mediocre special attack is mitigated through its high base powered STABs alongside its near unresisted coverage, and its great 123 base speed make it almost impossible to check for offensive teams. Noivern also has the ability to run a potent Taunt + Roost set that allows it to shut down most of the defensive walls that would normally wall it. Because of all of these factors, Noivern will be banned from SM NU.

Moltres: Due to a combination of spectacular power, virtually unresisted coverage, and great defensive attributes, the NU Council has deemed Moltres too much for the tier. Moltres' fantastic base 125 Special Attack, coupled with respectable speed and potent dual STABs (Hurricane and Fire Blast / Flamethrower) allow it to run a variety of sets to get through would-be counters, including but not limited to Grassium-Z Solarbeam, SubToxic, Scarf, and Life Orb + Roost. Although Moltres is heavily pressured by Stealth Rock, the most common setters (Necrozma / Seismitoad / Rhydon / Steelix) are extremely threatened by it, moreover Moltres shares good synergy with common hazard removers such as Hitmontop and Hitmonlee. Overall, all of these factors have resulted in Moltres being banned from the NeverUsed tier.

Drought: One thing the council had agreed upon prior to banning Drought was that auto-sun in some way was problematic in the tier. The ability to not have to use a move and automatically gain 8 turns of weather thats easily abused with top tier sweepers like Victreebell, Exeggutor, and Shiftry among others as well as powering up fire type attacks from Pokemon like Charizard. When we came to this conclusion, we had the dilemma of either banning the most common Drought user in the tier, Ninetales, or banning the ability itself. In the end a few council members did in fact ladder with Vulpix in place of Ninetales and we came to the same conclusion that it was in fact the ability Drought that was unhealthy and not the users themselves which led us to voting and banning Drought from the tier.

Ribombee: Ribombee's combination of blazing Speed, above-average power, and potent offensive typing have made it too much for the NU tier. Base 124 Speed places Ribombee above nearly every relevant threat in NU, while Choice Specs-boosted Moonblast is extremely dangerous in a tier with few sturdy Fairy resists, making it easy for it to punch massive dents into opposing teams and threaten sweeps with minimal support. Ribombee can also opt to run Quiver Dance with Psychium Z, allowing it to break through several of the only good checks to the Choice Specs set. As a result of these factors, Ribombee will be banned from NU.

Kingdra: Because of its great stats, typing, and move pool, Kingdra has been deemed banworthy from the NU tier. Kingdra is the most unpredictable pokemon in the tier as it can run both physical and special sets with equal viability, and it is also incredibly strong through the use of its high powered STAB moves. Kingdra also has a fantastic defensive and offensive typing as well as very good bulk for an offensive pokemon which allows it to set up on a large portion of the NU tier. As a result of all these factors, the council has banned Kingdra from SM NU.
 

Kiyo

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06-18-17 Exploud is now banned due to council voting.

Exploud: Exploud is simply too overwhelming a Pokemon for the NU metagame too handle. It's Choice Specs boosted Boombursts have very few switch ins in the tier and the few that exist can be dealt with in one hit by a coverage move, or fail to 2hko exploud before it can 2hko or 3hko them. Exploud also sports decent natural bulk which makes it extremely difficult to revenge kill with priority and even faster Pokemon can struggle to OHKO it.
 

Kiyo

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06-30-17 Necrozma and Tyrantrum have been banned from NU through council voting.


Necrozma: Necrozma was banned for a combination of bulk and incredible versatility that made it difficult to scout for what set it may be. Checks to Necrozma could matchup very well versus one set, but lose to another, which makes it constraining to prepare for while forming a team. Its bulk alongside its ability made taking it down a task too, many teams relied on Toxic in order to keep it at bay. Dark-types in the tier checked it, but many are easy to wear down and Necrozma can outlast them as a result thanks to having a fairly reliable form of recovery in Moonlight. All of these traits deemed Necrozma as being too much for the current NU metagame to handle consistently.

Tyrantrum:
Tyrantrum possesed an overwhelmingly strong offensive niche in the meta game as a wallbreaker and sweeper because of its powerful STAB Head Smash with Rock Head and diverse coverage options. Dragon Dance sets were powerful because of Tyrantrum's ability to pick between what item and Z Move let it get past its common checks easiest depending on its teammates. Choice Scarf sets made checking Tyrantrum offensively that much harder if you were trying to prevent a Dragon Dance and Choice Band sets made switching into Tyrantrum with your Rock-resistant Pokemon significantly more difficult. Tyrantrum's overwhelming offensive capabilities are too much for the current NU metagame to handle.
 

Kiyo

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07-16-17 Cofagrigus was banned from NU via council vote


Cofagrigus: Cofagrigus was banned due to a large number of factors, mainly its bulk, ease of set up, and power. Starting with its bulk, Cofagrigus has a large defense stat that allows it to tank every hit from the physical side, super effective or not. Also by using a Z-Crystal for Never Ending Nightmare you were able to tank Knock Offs from Pokemon like Sneasel and Drapion with ease. It also found a very easy time setting up due to this, as after a Nasty Plot it has the ability to sweep through a large portion of teams if Normal / Dark types are weakened or removed. Overall it did have some down sides like weak coverage and low Special Defense, but with all the meta shifts the positives far outweigh the negatives leading it to be banned.

forgot to update this o.o
 
Welcome Finchinator to the NU tiering council! He's shown dedication to the tier between participating in tournaments and discussions on the forums, having great knowledge of the metagame. There's no doubt that he will be a great addition and will lead the tier to a positive direction alongside the rest of the members.
 
These are very late, but should be listed anyways.

08-22-17 Meloetta was banned from NU via suspect voting

Meloetta: Meloetta was banned due to its sheer wallbreaking power it possesses between its great Special Attack and wide array of coverage. Counterplay against it was limited to Spiritomb, which was only beat by the less common Colbur Berry Calm Mind set with Dazzling Gleam. Not only was it great offensively, it also sported great natural special bulk which allowed it plenty of switch in and set up opportunities to break holes into teams. All of these traits in combination with its decent Speed made revenge killing it tricky when not using a Pursuit user. Meloetta's ability to break down teams was unsurpassed and was a very unhealthy element to the tier.​

09-06-17 Aurora Veil was banned from NU via council vote
Reasoning can be found here

10-06-17 Barbaracle was banned from NU via suspect voting

Barbaracle: Barbaracle's effect on the metagame was extremely polarizing, with its presence alone forcing certain Pokemon such as Sneasel, Choice Scarf Emboar, and Delphox to avoid using specific moves that gave it a free chance to set up. When set up, Barbaracle was a fearsome set up sweeper that was walled by very little Pokemon, and for the few that did such as Seismitoad and Slowbro, it has options to break past them, with those being Grass Knot and Continental Crush, respectively. Barbaracle also possessed enough Speed to outspeed almost the entire boosted metagame and took little from most forms of priority barring Hitmonlee's Mach Punch, making it very difficult to revenge kill once it has set up.​
 
NU will be implementing a new rotating council which will involve adding proven and invested members of the community into the tiering process to share their perspectives and vote with the main council. Spots will be rotating at Kiyo and I's discretion, however, exceptional members of the rotating council have the potential of earning full council down the line.

With that said though, Sir Kay and Pohjis will be our first two members, congratulations to both! We're looking forward to their contributions towards tiering. :psyglad:
 

Kiyo

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Hello, the NU council recently voted on whether or not to quickban: Abomasite, Bruxish, Cameruptite, Comfey, Diancie, and Gigalith. Votes from each member can be seen below.
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Do Not Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban
Abomasite: Ban
Bruxish: Ban
Cameruptite: Ban
Comfey: Do Not Ban
Diancie: Do Not Ban
Gigalith: Do Not Ban

Due to their power level, limited switch ins, and low opportunity cost, the NU council has deemed Mega-Abomasnow, Bruxish, and Mega-Camerupt as potentially broken. As a result, Abomasite, Bruxish, and Cameruptite will now be banned from USUM NU. Future tiering of these Pokemon will be done via re-introduction and suspect test.

Tagging The Immortal to update the ladder.
 

etern

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NU Leader
05-17-18 Venusaur was banned via suspect voting

Venusaur: Venusaur was an incredibly centralising force in the metagame with a small pool of checks which could be dealt with depending on what set it was running. It's versatility and effectiveness of each individual set was unmatched, make it an overwhelming Pokemon to deal with for any playstyle. It's Z-Celebrate set had very few defensive and offensive measures due to it's impressive bulk, good typing, and access to utility moves such as Growth, Synthesis, and even Hidden Power Fire. Likewise, other offensive sets were difficult to manage and ultimately deemed broken.
 

etern

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NU Leader
Disjunction, ULTRA meeps, and Pohjis are no longer on the NU Council. Thank you for your time, dedication, and contributions to the tier, we hope to see you around!

On a happier note, Sir Kay is now a full council member, and we're also adding two new members to the team; Kushalos and elodin. Kushalos and Elodin have been high level competitive NU players for a very long time and have demonstrated a strong understanding of tiering policy and the NU tier as a whole, making them great candidates for the position.

Moreover, we'll be discontinuing the Rotating Council position moving forward. New council members will be added and removed at the discretion of Hootie and myself, meaning exceptionally proven members of the community will have chances to join the Council and share their perspectives.
 

etern

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NU Leader
07-04-18 Gigalith was banned via suspect voting

Gigalith: Gigalith was deemed as the central catalyst behind sand's domination as a playstyle in NU, and the unmatched support it provided to those teams was ultimately too overwhelming for the tier. For more information on this suspect test feel free to read the following post in which I give an in depth explanation on reasoning for Gigalith being chosen, as well as why Gigalith was an issue in the tier.
 
07-20-18 Hoopa was banned via council vote

Hoopa: Hoopa was unanimously banned from the NeverUsed tier due to its ridiculous power and great STAB combination which made defensive counter play non-existant. Even with a middling Speed tier it still had enough to outpace any defensive cores and make it near impossible for balanced and stall teams to react without relying on a Pursuit trapper. It even had a solid matchup versus offense due to it's lack of many weaknesses and impressive special bulk, meaning Hoopa was getting at least one kill every game without needing any support. It's Nasty Plot + Z-Move, Choiced, and Substitute sets were all able to break through specific checks and alleviate most of Hoopa's flaws, making it far too overwhelming to deal with.
 

etern

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NU Leader
Tangelo has been added to the NU Council. He's an extremely active member of the NU community with a ton of experience in the tier, a fantastic contributor in the VR and NP Threads and has competitive experience in tournaments. We're sure he'll be a great addition to the team. Congratulations!
 
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