rip gen 8
Introduction
Hello all, just here to share some of my thoughts on the current "meta" and some of the new mons/moves that were added in gen 9. I still miss gen 8, but after playing the new gen for a bit, it's definitely very fun and a good game in it's own way.
Meta Observations
A lot of strong offensive powerhouses were added in gen 9 like Flutter Mane, Chi-Yu, Roaring Moon, Slither Wing, and so on, with a lot of defensive options being taken away, like a lot of mons losing Toxic and recovery moves having their PP nerfed, along with a lot of good defensive pieces being removed from the game as well, such as Tapu Fini and Incineroar. Based on these factors, you would be forgiven for assuming hyper offense teams making use of the several new offensive threats that would be banned in any other gen without a second thought would dominate the meta, which would be partially correct. The combination of Chi-Yu and Flutter Mane make up a common offensive pairing that utterly decimates the vast majority of Pokémon in the tier by using their powerful spread moves in Dazzling Gleam and Heat Wave boosted by Chi-Yu's "Beads of Ruin" ability, lowering the Special Defense of it's opponents.
These offensive teams do not go unanswered however, and it would be incorrect to say that more balanced teams are not also usable. Strong defensive pieces like Ting-Lu and Arcanine give you ways to beat the pairing of Chi-Yu and Flutter Mane more consistently, and Pokémon like Glimmora, Gyarados, and Brute Bonnet also give bulkier teams ways of spreading damage through either direct breaking power or through slowly chipping the opponent with Hazards. While disruption options like Follow Me and Fake Out have lost a good amount of their most common users from the last generation, Gothitelle and Amoonguss still slot very nicely onto these bulkier team styles and give the team ways to more easily pivot around the opponent and work towards late game wincons such as Dragon Dance Gyarados, Extreme Speed Dragonite and Sucker Punch Brute Bonnet.
Speaking of moves that have lost a lot of viable users, Tailwind and Trick Room have also received pretty sizeable indirect nerfs. All of the best users of Tailwind and Trick Room from the last generation have been removed from the game, meaning options for speed control are much more limited, and are seeing less use overall. Roaring Moon is by far the best Tailwind option, with a respectable speed stat and threatening offenses, especially when boosted by Protosynthesis. Salamence is also a decent option, essentially functioning as a bulkier, less offensive version of Roaring Moon. Scizor has also proven itself as a surprisingly decent user of the move. While not particularly fast, it has a great defensive typing and strong priority with Technician-boosted Bullet Punch. It also has slow U-Turn, allowing it's frailer teammates to enter the field without taking damage. As for Trick Room, Gothitelle is easily the best user with more niche options like Mimikyu and Scream Tail also being usable.
On the Radar
stealing this from the OU thread
Obviously, I cannot say for certain what is in consideration for a quickban/suspect, as I am not on the DOU council and have no authority to decide that, but this is a list of Pokémon that I would personally consider for a suspect based on consensus and my own personal experience with the Pokémon.
Flutter Mane 
/
Chi-Yu 
It's pretty debatable which one of these Pokémon is the problem in the Flutter Mane + Chi-Yu pairing, but it's blatantly obvious something needs to be done about one or both of them. Flutter Mane can be considered unhealthy for the metagame because of how demanding it is to check in the builder. It's a very difficult Pokémon to deal with due to it's blazing speed and devastating damage output to the point where there's only a select few Pokémon able to consistently check it. It also can easily remove nearly all sources of speed control currently in the game, making Tailwind or Trick Room harder to use against it. Due to Flutter Mane's near unrivaled damage output and the fact that it's near impossible to outspeed it naturally (especially in sun), Your main options for counterplay against it being Pokémon like Ting-Lu and Arcanine which can live it's attacks and OHKO back, and priority moves that can OHKO Flutter Mane before it can attack, like Palafin's Jet Punch and Brute Bonnet's Sucker Punch. The problem with this being it could be considered rather unreasonable to expect people to run these Pokémon on every team just to deal with Flutter Mane, and such requirements can restrict the teams that can be used in a way that could be considered unhealthy.
On the flipside, Chi-Yu could also be considered unhealthy because of it's ability to enable all special attackers it happens to be paired with while also dealing amazing personal damage. Chi-Yu also has perfect synergy with sun teams, as it can further boost any special attacking Protosynthesis users it may be paired with (which at the moment is basically just Flutter Mane) while it's own Heat Waves are further boosted by Drought. Chi-Yu already has some decent non-Flutter Mane partners, like Sylveon for example. Chi-Yu has significantly more counterplay on it's own however. It's not particularly fast or bulky (base 100 speed in this meta is pretty much the baseline) meaning pretty much anything that outspeeds it can OHKO it. It also is not ghost type like Flutter Mane, meaning it is vulnerable to Normal-type priority such as Gothitelle's Fake Out and Dragonite's Extreme Speed. As I said, it's debatable whether or not Chi-Yu or Flutter Mane is the problem, but to give my own opinion on it, I think Flutter Mane makes more sense to ban. Chi-Yu has much more counterplay without Flutter Mane than Flutter Mane has without Chi-Yu. A lot of Chi-Yu's weaknesses are covered by Flutter Mane while Chi-Yu simply acts as an amplifier for it while providing some of it's own personal damage. Without Flutter Mane in the meta, I believe that Chi-Yu will become much less problematic and easier to manage, but I could obviously be wrong as I am not a Psychic-type and cannot see into the future.
Shadow Tag 
Shadow Tag is an ability that is considered broken by many players at the time of writing this. In a meta as offensive as this one, Shadow Tag users like Gothitelle in combination with strong offensive threats can lead to unavoidable pins and warp the game in a way that could be considered unhealthy and broken. I think other posts explain why Shadow Tag, and specifically Gothitelle is broken way better than I can, so I will simply quote some of the other Shadow Tag posts:
Gothitelle enables all the stupid Pokemon more than anything else. It is easier than ever to flowchart with this Pokemon. Nothing is surviving Helping Hand + a Flutter Mane STAB, it is incredibly hard to position around Fake out + Scarf Chi-Yu pins, it sets up TR for Torkoal Eruptions, and it does all this while preventing the opponent from switching. This Pokemon is always game-warping when it comes on the field, provides momentum and immediate power, and allows you to pick apart teams for the many speedy Pokemon to clean up late game. Goth still gets Hypnosis, by the way - and we do not have any Misty Terrain setters! It is extremely hard to see what is actually broken when Gothitelle can dial every threat up to 11.
shadow tag needs to be quickbanned, it's impossible to get a read on the meta when goth takes over games. fake out + shadow tag is peak toxic gameplay.
In my opinion, +1 to quickban Shadow Tag. From my experience playing with it, it doesn't feel terribly broken, but in a meta with 10+ mons that would be banned in any other generation that's really not saying much, and I 100% agree that Shadow Tag has a net negative impact on the tier. I do think that Shadow Tag specifically should be banned and not Gothitelle though, which is an important distinction to make. Gothitelle itself has a fairly healthy impact, being one of the best Trick Room users and having access to Fake Out which is also in short supply. It's just Shadow Tag specifically which makes it broken and unhealthy.
Houndstone 
Houndstone itself is not broken, its stats are actually pretty bad. It's simply made broken from it's access to what is currently it's signature move: Last Respects. Last Respects is a 50 base power move that grows in base power by 50 for every fainted ally. This makes Houndstone an insane late game cleaner on Sand teams. an up to 300 base power Ghost-type move with great neutral coverage by virtue of it's typing is pretty obviously unfair and should be banned. I personally only think the move is broken though, Houndstone itself is fine, it's honestly not even good to be completely honest.
Ting-Lu 
I don't personally think this Pokémon is broken, but I felt like it at least deserves a mention here as it's come up in the "what do we ban" discussion a few times. Ting-Lu on the surface actually has quite a positive impact. It's one of the few "consistent" checks to the Chi-Yu + Flutter Mane duo which has been terrorizing the meta, but has counterplay in strong fighting and grass types that are strong enough to deal good damage to it despite it's ability, like Iron Hands and Brute Bonnett for example. The problem with Ting-Lu is, it does in fact counter Flutter Mane + Chi-Yu offense... but it also counters everything else. Balance struggles to kill it, especially since a ton of Pokémon lost toxic this generation. It spams Earthquake into Sun teams, which basically only have Brute Bonnet and Slither Wing as resists. Trick Room teams gets chipped down by Ruination and Earthquake until it's teammates can clean up, and Ting-Lu itself actually appreciates Trick Room more than anything, the only real team style Ting-Lu struggles with is Hazard Stack teams, which it also slots very nicely into as hazards accentuate it's damage output which would otherwise be mediocre. I personally don't think it's broken however. It's damage output is manageable, especially if you have Intimidate Pokémon like Arcanine and Gyarados, and a good amount of Pokémon hit Ting-Lu for massive damage, like Gyarados, Chien-Pao, Brute Bonnett, Iron Hands, the list goes on. While Ting-Lu absolutely could end up being problematic after bans start happening, but I feel it's in a quite balanced spot right now.
That's just about everything other than Dondozo, which I consider pretty much a gimmick by now and don't feel like writing about it.
My Full Opinion on Generation 9
I think gen 9 is extremely fun. I initially thought the meta would be unbalanced and filled with hyper offense, but now that people are starting to figure out what mons work as good defensive pieces in the tier, balance and hazard stack teams have increased in usage, which are team styles I am extremely fond of. I do miss generation 8 a lot, it's the first generation I played and easily my favorite meta out of all DOU formats that currently exist in terms of how balanced it is, but gen 9 has been the most fun I've had playing Pokémon in a long time, and I'm excited to see how the meta develops from here!
