It is kinda nice to see some discussion on SM, as the tier isn't that popular anymore, despite being great to play.
As for bans, there are only two Pokemon that could be considered for a ban: Combusken and Swanna. I've been vocal about it since 2018 and my opinion hasn't changed in the slightest regarding them.
Combusken brings nothing of value into the tier in my opinion. It is arguably quite mediocre even, as there are many match-ups where it is completely unable to do anything, which is against Altaria and Aqua Jet Swanna / Floatzel, and can really struggle to find a setup opportunity. However, Combusken is just way too hard to revenge kill if it gets a Swords Dance up. Fightinium-Z OHKOes most Fire-resists (Golem, Wishiwashi, Silvally-Water, etc), while Thunder Punch has been used more as a way to punish Mareanie spammers. I've always felt that the inability to reliable revenge kill Combusken with a Choice Scarf user unless you switch it outright onto Combusken and the reliance on Pokemon that take way too much from a +2 move and are supposed to answer many other threats, was very unhealthy. I do see losing Combusken as a net positive for the tier, as the Pokemon brings nothing of value.
Swanna is just ridiculous. It is kinda the same as Combusken in the sense that it brings nothing defensively (except for a Ground-immunity), but it is ridiculously broken, to the point where I'm still stun it didn't get banned 2 years ago. Back then people started using Wishiwashi and Furfrou more, which quite helps to check special Z-Rain Dance and physical sets, respectively, but since then Furfrou fell out of favor, and teams have adapted to Wishiwashi and can weaken it enough for Swanna to break through it. Swanna's winrates in ZUPL have been 65%, 44%, 83%, 40%, and 72%. (22% in Olympiad I and 67% in Olympiad II, but the SM playerbase is noticeably weaker in this tournament, so I'm not sure the numbers really speak, especially Olympiad I which had Type:Null); while I usually don't like to use winrates as metric for weighting whether something is broken or not, the numbers are really crazy some years (all with Swanna retaining high usage). There is no counter to Swanna, and checks don't cover well the 3 main sets (physical Rain Dance, special Rain Dance, and Mirror Move), and guessing wrong can quite often cost you the game. The closest things are Mareanie (very flawed Pokemon that also can't check Swanna anymore if you got the wrong EV spread and get Knocked Off) and bulky Sivally forms (no recovery at all).
Ultimately I don't think removing these two Pokemon would negatively impact the tier. I would open the teambuilder and I doubt it would push anything over the board given both Pokemon are terrible defensively and not fast enough to act as natural form of Speed control.
On Simisage, this Pokemon is a late adaptation in the tier. Basically if you are not running a non-Mareanie Poison-type, you open yourself to let Simisage pick KOes. In my opinion, Simisage is balanced by the fact its STAB moves are flawed; Giga Drain is not strong enough, limiting its ability to break early, while Leaf Storm's drop means Simisage can't really pick up many KOes and smart pivoting can put it in bad positions. In my experience, Simisage also struggles with picking its non STAB moves; between Hidden Power Ice, Knock Off, Nasty Plot, Focus Blast, and Synthesis. You definitely don't need all of them, but lacking any of them make some matchup far harder. Also Simisage brings nothing defensively, and while that's also true for Swanna and Combusken, Simisage is far easier to revenge kill, with no natural ways of boosting its speed and no priorities. I could see Simisage getting unhealthy as time progress though, as evidently it has excellent offensive traits for the tier that makes it hard to defensively handle, but the counterplay has felt sufficient.
tldr: not opposed to retest type:null, ban combusken and swanna, do not ban simisage
Speaking for myself, I don't think there is any tiering action that could be done for SM ZU. Olympiad I showed that the playerbase had no interest in revisiting the ZUBL, as Throh proved to be very unhealthy with its Flame Orb set, though the Bulk Up ones were quite manageable. Type:Null could theorically be revisited alone, as it saw minimal usage due to Throh invalidating most of its sets. The defensive set is most likely outclassed by Wishiwashi, though Type:Null's lack of Electric- and Grass- weakness for the less common Fighting-weakness means it gets a better matchup into Rotom, Electivire, and Simisage. While it is hard to stay whether the Swords Dance set would be as threatening as it seems on paper. Anyway, if there is support to retest Type:Null without Throh, so just on its own, I'd be glad to have a suspect slot for it in next Olympiad.
As for bans, there are only two Pokemon that could be considered for a ban: Combusken and Swanna. I've been vocal about it since 2018 and my opinion hasn't changed in the slightest regarding them.
Combusken brings nothing of value into the tier in my opinion. It is arguably quite mediocre even, as there are many match-ups where it is completely unable to do anything, which is against Altaria and Aqua Jet Swanna / Floatzel, and can really struggle to find a setup opportunity. However, Combusken is just way too hard to revenge kill if it gets a Swords Dance up. Fightinium-Z OHKOes most Fire-resists (Golem, Wishiwashi, Silvally-Water, etc), while Thunder Punch has been used more as a way to punish Mareanie spammers. I've always felt that the inability to reliable revenge kill Combusken with a Choice Scarf user unless you switch it outright onto Combusken and the reliance on Pokemon that take way too much from a +2 move and are supposed to answer many other threats, was very unhealthy. I do see losing Combusken as a net positive for the tier, as the Pokemon brings nothing of value.
Swanna is just ridiculous. It is kinda the same as Combusken in the sense that it brings nothing defensively (except for a Ground-immunity), but it is ridiculously broken, to the point where I'm still stun it didn't get banned 2 years ago. Back then people started using Wishiwashi and Furfrou more, which quite helps to check special Z-Rain Dance and physical sets, respectively, but since then Furfrou fell out of favor, and teams have adapted to Wishiwashi and can weaken it enough for Swanna to break through it. Swanna's winrates in ZUPL have been 65%, 44%, 83%, 40%, and 72%. (22% in Olympiad I and 67% in Olympiad II, but the SM playerbase is noticeably weaker in this tournament, so I'm not sure the numbers really speak, especially Olympiad I which had Type:Null); while I usually don't like to use winrates as metric for weighting whether something is broken or not, the numbers are really crazy some years (all with Swanna retaining high usage). There is no counter to Swanna, and checks don't cover well the 3 main sets (physical Rain Dance, special Rain Dance, and Mirror Move), and guessing wrong can quite often cost you the game. The closest things are Mareanie (very flawed Pokemon that also can't check Swanna anymore if you got the wrong EV spread and get Knocked Off) and bulky Sivally forms (no recovery at all).
Ultimately I don't think removing these two Pokemon would negatively impact the tier. I would open the teambuilder and I doubt it would push anything over the board given both Pokemon are terrible defensively and not fast enough to act as natural form of Speed control.
On Simisage, this Pokemon is a late adaptation in the tier. Basically if you are not running a non-Mareanie Poison-type, you open yourself to let Simisage pick KOes. In my opinion, Simisage is balanced by the fact its STAB moves are flawed; Giga Drain is not strong enough, limiting its ability to break early, while Leaf Storm's drop means Simisage can't really pick up many KOes and smart pivoting can put it in bad positions. In my experience, Simisage also struggles with picking its non STAB moves; between Hidden Power Ice, Knock Off, Nasty Plot, Focus Blast, and Synthesis. You definitely don't need all of them, but lacking any of them make some matchup far harder. Also Simisage brings nothing defensively, and while that's also true for Swanna and Combusken, Simisage is far easier to revenge kill, with no natural ways of boosting its speed and no priorities. I could see Simisage getting unhealthy as time progress though, as evidently it has excellent offensive traits for the tier that makes it hard to defensively handle, but the counterplay has felt sufficient.
tldr: not opposed to retest type:null, ban combusken and swanna, do not ban simisage
