gonna do a more in depth post about the changes and delete my older one instead of double post, but yeah this was a surprise but sure a welcome one. I do look forward to how the tier changes as a result, hopefully nothing ends up being too crazy and we can finally get a period without a suspect for a while, maybe we even get a zamazenta test who knows. Ironically enough I made an extensive post back in August covering what gets better from these 2 bans, and now I'm about to do the same nearly 7 months later. Anyway, these are just the major benefactors and losers from the bans, will be using the VR as a resource for this post. Without further adieu, lets get started.
-grouping these 2 together because they are likely to be top offensive threats now that the bunnies are gone. Grassy glide is nuts and SD chomp is more threatening, I do think they will be kept in check thought because of the surge of things like
who all also get better with the bans and will be able to be used more to help check these top threats. Both of these look to be A+ threats, though not banworthy at all imo.
-slow twins (or triplets) galore! Slowbro appreciates mag being banned but also lost its best FS partner in ace, I think it'll still be good because usually new things will end up filling the void left behind banned threats. Like others have said, glowking will be less splashable due to it being a more reliable mag check than blissey, it'll still be good though so doesn't matter. Slowking is another Pokemon on the rise, its special bulk helps it be more reliably than slowbro in some instances, being a UU player though its an integral part of the meta so please don't take this from us :(
- all these mons appreciates the two leaving and will also become offensive threats. These bans will definitely cause a usage resurgence in latios while these bans might also push kyurem to being OU by usage for the future. Lele and NP hydra also get better with these bans and are going to be super threatening going forward.
- see you in UU friend, at least you'll be good there. As for the latter, HO took a big hit and it might fall off, also because it faces competition from koko as a screens setter. Other stuff like
and
don't benefit too much from these bans and I can see them falling to UU in the future, buzz by april and maybe mandi in the July shifts, especially because mandi is gonna be super hard to justify over corv.
Lastly, down below are some miscellaneous mons that got better with at least 1 of the bans and wasnt too affected by the other.
All in all, despite me not thinking cinderace was too broken and that we may have been able to adapt after the magearna ban, I do think the meta is going to look much more better and appealing now that all the crazy stuff is gone. Nothing sticks out as banworthy at all, and I'm curious to see what adaptations occur in this new meta, the changes here will certainly create a run off effect down to UU and maybe even down to RU and NU depending on the magnitude of these changes.
Lastly, down below are some miscellaneous mons that got better with at least 1 of the bans and wasnt too affected by the other.
All in all, despite me not thinking cinderace was too broken and that we may have been able to adapt after the magearna ban, I do think the meta is going to look much more better and appealing now that all the crazy stuff is gone. Nothing sticks out as banworthy at all, and I'm curious to see what adaptations occur in this new meta, the changes here will certainly create a run off effect down to UU and maybe even down to RU and NU depending on the magnitude of these changes.
, 
, 
and 
became more popular, I'm pretty sure 
will rise a lot because of how good it is against those threats. Sure you have to play around with your boots, but a Static proc against those mons are way worse for them, as they rely a lot from their speed tier, especially 
and 
as one of the premier checks of both mons, crippling them with Stun Spore and Sludge Bomb, respectively.
almost everytime to not being run down by 
and 
. The same sand archetype also can profit from Choice Band 
as a premier breaker for those teams as it won't be Magearna bait anymore and because 
lost one of its main mons to check, but it still good as always, checking 
with Toxic for 
or 
to take advantage. It will be interesting to see how the metagame develops after this massive impact.
These two have my votes on their victory and many other also agree. Now Lele no longer has to think that hard about relying on focus miss just to hit the bunny and Latios now has the freedom for aura sphere if it's not using a four attacks set
As ironic as it may seem, I think Blissey somewhat benefited from Magearna's ban. Yes it can wall Magearna but at the same time, it loses to calm mind draining kiss while being ruined by specs or scarf tricks
This was the closest thing one could get to a Cinderace hard counter if it runs a hefty amount of defense, only fearing a potential gunk shot poison. It has always distinguished itself with this niche from fellow bird, Zapdos, as even random life orb Cinderace can barely touch it while Moltres threatens to render it useless with flame body. Despite the massive opportunity cost and risk to using this bird, that one niche has always been valuable, to me anyway but now, it's probably gonna drop to uu
) / or (
)
Zarude growing in usage; being a bulky grass type that retains strong offensive utility in a meta where Rillaboom and Garchomp are expected to run the show is a solid niche, and unlike Tangrowth, it doesn't mind taking toxics or scalds thanks to Jungle Healing. Darkest Lariat does enough damage to things like Torn and Corv that they have to be careful about coming in, and Future sight immunities are something pretty sought-after in the current meta, especially with the slowtwins predicted to grow in usage again, and it's also worth mentioning that Zarude will often win the 1v1 against the current standard NP/Roost Hydreigon even without special bulk investment. It's not without problems - its somewhat awkward speed tier leaves it outsped by Latioses and Kartanas who are usually able to revenge kill it, and Power Whip genuinely feels like it misses more than any other move, but with sufficient team support, it can definitely get past some of these issues. Zarude is fairly infamous for being hard to build around, but now that these two massive threats to it are gone, some of its issues have been patched over a little, and it may even end up finding a real place as a common feature of the OU meta.
As I said, Slowking is one of the few pokémon that can take Specs Draco Meteors/Moonblasts as well as Psyshocks, which makes it a very good check to these mons. Not only that, but it also doesn't have to compete with Slowbro as much since it doesn't have the disavantage of not checking Cinderace as well. Overall, I feel like it provides more defensive utility than Slowbro as it checks the dangerous special threats running around such as the afromentioned Latios and Tapu Lele, Tornadus-Therian and Nidoking.
Ok so basically Kyurem's great now. Magearna being gone and Slowking-G probably being less common means it can afford to drop Earth Power on a Specs set, although it still is a great option, which allows for it to run Focus Blast and Draco Meteor on the same set again.
This has kinda fallen off since the Urshifu ban but I predict it gets much better this time around, with no Magearna and especially no Cinderace to force it out. SpD Clef is one of the better checks to Kyurem and WishPort sets can get wishes off much more safely without having to worry about letting the bunnies come in for free.
Another pretty obvious one. Corviknight gets better, the thing that can remove it with careful prediction gets better too. This also definetly enjoys Cinderace gone.
I feel like those are honestly the biggest losers, especially Zeraora. VoltTurn teams were incredible partly thanks to Cinderace, and Cinderace + Koko, Cinderace + Zeraora and even Cinderace + Magearna were extremely common and effective cores, so with it gone, those teams take a huge hit.
There were many reasons why this was one of the best cores recently, but the biggest one especially was because this core checked both Cinderace and Magearna exceptionally well. In the current meta, Slowbro doesn't seem to be as neccessary for checking massive threats as the previously mentioned Slowking. Slowking-G also suffers from Magearna being gone, as it was the best check to its Specs set, and unlike Slowbro it cannot pair with its Johto counterpart due to Species Clause (it would be worse as a core anyway since both are left weak to physical attacks). I don't think Slowking-G has it as bad as Slowbro, though, as its AV set still has an important role in checking Kyurem and its NP sets might pop out more now with Magearna gone.
Screens teams just lost both Cinderace and Double Dance Magearna, which makes screens pretty bad rn imo, and as Regieleki is considered the best of the screen setters it obviously takes a massive hit.
This doesn't get worse per say but I didn't know where to include this on my post so I decided to include it here. Some people are apparently thinking it gets better with Ace gone which, like, no lol it doesn't. Ace ban doesn't remove its need to choose between Thunder Punch/Earthquake/Knock Off/even Stone Edge now with Defensive Dnite rising, nor does it magically make it not die in 3 turns due to Flare Blitz + LO, neither of which it can afford to give up on because of the loss of power.
