Announcement Annihilape, Walking Wake, and Shed Tail are now banned from National Dex

[Kyo]

	Kyo	Jho	hidin	Ryuji	Sulo	peap	ChrisPBacon	Final Result
Dragapult	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban
Kingambit	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban	Do Not Ban
Annihilape	Ban	Do Not Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban
Walking Wake	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban
Shed Tail	Ban	Do Not Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Ban	Do Not Ban	Ban

Votes required to pass: 5/7

Following the results of our most recent Tiering Survey, the National Dex OU Council has voted on a slate of 5 items that we feel are of greatest concern to the state of the current metagame. Following the above vote, National Dex will receive the following bans effective immediately:

Annihilape

Receiving an average score of 3.18 on the Tiering Survey, Annihilape has been in the crosshairs of the OU council for some time now. It is likely the single most oppressive force in the metagame against bulkier playstyles. There can be no half measures when going on the offensive against Annihilape as weaker attacks will bounce off Ape's significant natural bulk and further stack up boosts for rage fist. Taunt completely shuts down most creative counterplay and forces further direct attacks for the benefit of rage fist. With near perfect coverage and all the tools necessary to forcibly begin snowballing, this matchup often feels unplayable for bulky and balanced teams. However, Annihilape is no slouch against offense either. Screens support and numerous defensive Tera options allow it to accomplish much the same result although it will be more easily out sped and potentially revenge killed in these matchups.

Walking Wake

Walking Wake received an average score of 3.46, the highest of any individual mon on the entire Tiering Survey. With the strength of weather teams in National Dex already well established, the addition of Wake as potentially the best abuser of both rain and sun playstyles simultaneously proved too much to bear. It pairs phenomenally well with Charizard-Y while adding boosted water moves to the typical offensive coverage of sun, bypassing the major drawback of this weather entirely. On rain, Wake is equally powerful and has access to hurricane as a unique option. It is able to not only check but actually take advantage of Charizard-Y which has long been used as a weather disruptor to help manage the offensive presence of rain. Walking Wake's addition to both of these already excellent team structures has led to a severe lack of reliable options in the builder, and it consequently received our only unanimous ban vote.

Shed Tail

Standing above all else in offense playstyles from day 1, Shed Tail has been the greatest enabler of nearly every setup threat within National Dex. Once overlooked options like Mega Gyarados and Dragonite received new life as the value of a completely safe turn of setup and potentially an extra move slot was undeniable. However, virtually any Hyper Offense pick can benefit greatly from this support. This is evidenced in the way that HO has degenerated into an increasingly linear playstyle with Shed Tail + screens that immediately replaces any banned threat with the next closest option, often to much the same or near identical effect. Although Cyclizar is the premier Shed Tail user, Orthworm offers significant value as well with a slow Shed Tail and access to entry hazards. The OU council feels it is clear that targeting Shed Tail rather than either of the two users is the appropriate course of action if we are to have any meaningful impact here. This also allows us to preserve both Cyclizar and Orthworm for use within the tier in other roles.

***

With these 3 bans, we hope to get the metagame back on track to a healthier state wherein multiple different playstyles can thrive without being overshadowed by the two extremes of fully offensive and defensive play. Please feel free to share any thoughts in the Metagame Discussion Thread! Tagging Kris to implement.