Explaining the recent bans of Greninja, Mawilite, and Sablenite and the unbanning of Mega Metagross

[Jorogumo]

The purpose of this post is to provide the playerbase with the reasoning behind each recent ban – and the unbanning of Mega Metagross. Further details can be found in the PvP Council Discord server. I will not focus on generic traits or stats unless prompted to do so by a specific argument. Likewise, I will avoid referencing other metagames (think: XY/ORAS OU or SM/USUM OU) and I invite you to do the same. We should solely focus on what is in the metagame.

 

 

 

Why is Protean Greninja banned?

 

 

1. Greninja controls the hazard game to a suffocating degree.

 

It is the premier offensive setter of Spikes – and the underutilized Toxic Spikes.

 

Its blistering Speed and wide movepool allow it to beat most viable hazard removers (e.g., Tornadus-T, Rotom-W, Landorus-T, Zapdos, Gliscor, Lati@s, Skarmory, Excadrill…), thus giving it the ability to control the hazard game even more efficiently.

 

It also defeats most viable hazard setters (e.g., Garchomp, Heatran, Landorus-T, Clefable, Tyranitar, Skarmory, Kommo-o, Hippowdon…), effectively diminishing the possibility of any fair trade-off.

 

2. Greninja has almost no guaranteed (offensive or defensive) switch-ins.

Spoiler

Being able to check most Greninja sets does not come with an immunity to that one set that dismantles your whole team. You are almost never attempting to counter Greninja; you are hoping to predict right in an effort to check it at best.

 

The lack of infallible answers is a problem. At the risk of mentioning a generic Greninja trait, Protean means that every attack receives a STAB bonus, thus making it impossible to know any of the moves that Greninja is running because it is not obligated to run STAB moves like most offensive Pokémon. In the teambuilder and in practice, this means that Greninja is nearly impossible to check reliably without 2+ dedicated team slots. Many PRO Ladder Tour replays display this point well, with balanced builds being forced to run a combination of 2+ dedicated Greninja answers (e.g., Ferrothorn+Rotom-Wash) that can still lose to it anyway. In direct correlation to the previous point, I would like to add that Greninja enforces unhealthy teambuilding and overpreparation – mostly for Balance and Bulky Offense – in order to stand a chance against all the potential moves that it is susceptible of running.

 

It can even be argued that Greninja does not have a practical 4MSS because it can tailor its moveset to the needs of its team. Greninja also receives a STAB bonus on every single attack, which means that it does not really carry coverage – the sole attack requirement being Ice Beam.

 

3. Greninja gives its user the knowledge advantage.

Spoiler

This is due to a combination of the two previous points, as there is no consistently solid or reliable way of dealing with Greninja offensively or defensively. As a result, most of the time, the player facing it has to rely on said Greninja lacking the moves that would otherwise plow right through their team. To make matters worse, Greninja forces guessing games at no cost to its user; it is the opponent who must make the right prediction in order to garner more information regarding the Greninja set, which instantly gives its user a knowledge edge in the match-up.

 

This is not a theoretical argument whatsoever. I included a PRO Ladder Tour replay that illustrates this point relatively well: A Ferrothorn switches into Greninja in hopes that it carries “standard” moves and lacks HP Fire or Low Kick. Unfortunately, Greninja has HP Fire and blows past Ferrothorn after setting up a Spike for free.

 

4. Greninja objectively hinders the development of certain playstyles and archetypes.

Spoiler

This point has nothing to do with your favorite Pokémon or your preferred playstyle. A healthy metagame is fundamentally characterized by the diversity and viability of multiple styles of play.

 

Pure Offense can somewhat adapt by spamming priority with Bisharp, Mega Scizor, Dragonite, etc. and using something like Mega Lopunny or the common Choice Scarf Landorus-T to outspeed Greninja. Overall, Hyper Offense is not expected to have reliable switch-ins to Greninja and is able to apply sufficient pressure against it – while never allowing it to switch into anything freely. Moreover, Greninja ends up getting worn down relatively quickly in these scenarios.

 

Stall can more or less manage it due to running Chansey and another soft check – although Spikes tend to give Greninja the upper hand in these match-ups (cf. this old PRO Ladder Tour replay). Usually, something as fast as Greninja comes with the drawback of being unable to break defensive teams (think: Weavile or Mega Lopunny). This is not the case for Greninja.

 

Hyper Offense and Stall aside, Balance and Bulky Offense use cores that are dismantled by Greninja. Balance is by definition not going to run a passive Pokémon like Chansey because it cannot afford that much momentum drain. The only Balance-fitting Greninja checks have no reliable recovery (e.g., Ferrothorn) and can still lose to “unexpected” options. This gives Greninja the advantage in the longer run.

 

Likewise, Bulky Offense is by definition not going to run something like Ferrothorn that does not generate momentum and, in fact, does the opposite. For example, Bulky Offense appreciates Volt-Turn cores. However, AV Tornadus-Therian and Defog Rotom-Wash are extremely poor Greninja checks, because the first loses to Ice Beam after Stealth Rock or nearly any other attack and the second is handily defeated by HP Grass Greninja, which can freely set up Spikes against it. Even something like Mega Scizor is never a guaranteed switch-in, because Hydro Pump 2HKOs it, while the rare HP Fire incinerates it entirely.

 

There is also something fundamentally wrong with telling other players to deal with Greninja or throw a random Chansey or Ferrothorn on their teams with no consideration for how unreasonable or suboptimal that may be for some builds.

 

5. Greninja pairs up too well with too many Pokémon, including Megas.

Spoiler

While this is mainly thanks to Spikes in conjunction with its sweeping potential, Greninja can also assist its teammates in many ways.

 

When Greninja sets up a Spike and hits Rotom-W hard with HP Grass, it is not only helping itself, but also the potential Mega Pinsir waiting in the back.

 

When Greninja sets up a Spike and hits Ferrothorn with HP Fire or Low Kick, it is not only going to benefit itself, but also the potential Mega Metagross or Mega Gyarados waiting in the back.

 

This is even worse for balanced builds that usually carry a single check to Greninja’s teammates.

 

6. Greninja has had a profoundly negative impact on the metagame.

Spoiler

 

Some of the negative trends that it generated – either directly or indirectly – include:

• Running Chansey on offensive and balanced builds;
• How common AV Tyranitar was at one point;
• Accepting that Choice Band Weavile will Pursuit trap and remove Greninja after it gets a kill;
• Finding Alomomola on balanced teams, etc.

 

Many players perceive these trends as necessities that cannot be entirely imputed to poor team building.

 

 

7. Greninja restricts team building and limits innovation.

Spoiler

This was frequently used as a pro-ban argument by players who supported removing Aegislash from the metagame – and some of those now oppose a Greninja ban despite the applicability of the same argument to Greninja. Although the announced bans are still relatively recent, the new metagame showcases a greater diversity (and viability) of teams and playstyles.

 

Even if you do not find Greninja to be individually broken, perhaps you can enjoy the current metagame more than previous ones, as the frog was indubitably overcentralizing and possibly even unhealthy. Without having to run the same (extremely limited) Greninja checks all the time, team building can now open up more and new teams can finally emerge.

 

 

Relevant replays from the latest PRO Ladder Tour

 

Replay #1

Spoiler

In this replay, Greninja is chosen as the lead for its good match-up against most of the opposing team. It forces out Zapdos – due to the fear of Ice Beam – and proceeds to set up a Spike for free. Had Zapdos stayed in, it would have run the risk of potentially fainting to Ice Beam while only dealing 38.5% to 45.6% damage to a Ground-type Greninja that had just used Spikes with Heat Wave – since it is more commonly run that HP Ice. Overall, the risk is not worth taking because the potential reward would be too low.

 

Later, after Serperior faints, Greninja forces out Latias and uses U-turn to take advantage of the telegraphed Ferrothorn switch while also covering the unlikely scenario in which Latias would not switch out. This is a perfect example of a low-risk, high-reward situation. While the star of this replay seems to be Mega Manectric, its sweep was facilitated by hazards and good Volt-Turn support – both of which Greninja played a big role in.

 

 

Replay #2

Spoiler

In this replay, the Conkeldurr player takes advantage of the fact that Unaware Clefable has to use Protect to avoid fainting to the next attack by double switching to Greninja. At that HP range, Bold Clefable is forced out by either Gunk Shot or Hydro Pump and cannot risk using Protect again out of fear of giving Greninja two potential free turns to set up Spikes.

 

Greninja ends up setting up a layer of Spikes on the incoming Ferrothorn before heavily chunking it with an unexpected HP Fire, which Leech Seed cannot outheal.

 

The Greninja player goes for another layer of Spikes on the predicted Protect/switch and the Ferrothorn player ends up setting up Stealth Rock despite knowing that they will most likely need to Defog all hazards away later. After figuring out that Suicune can check this specific Greninja set, it switches into it and loses a decent chunk of its HP to hazards. Gliscor then successfully removes all hazards with Defog, but Ferrothorn and Suicune are down to 50% HP and 77% HP, respectively. Meanwhile, Greninja is at 52% HP but has successfully damaged two Pokémon, while simultaneously taking advantage of the obvious Defog to switch into Gliscor and set up another layer of Spikes.

 

Greninja attempts once more to switch in on Defog, but Gliscor goes for Earthquake, failing to KO the “extremely frail” Greninja. The 1% HP Greninja goes for another layer of Spikes. While it may seem that Gliscor is successfully removing Greninja’s Spikes every time, the Gliscor player is the one constantly behind, forced to play a catch-up game, while the Greninja player aggressively dictates the tempo of the match (cf. the aggressive double switch to Manaphy and, immediately afterwards, to Greninja). Ferrothorn, the Manaphy answer, is now too low to check Manaphy efficiently. Moreover, it is forced out by the double switch to Greninja after taking Spikes damage for nothing. The ability to keep up hazard-based momentum is what distinguishes Greninja from other Spike setters, most of which are too passive or too slow to function similarly.

 

Ultimately, before Choice Band Weavile was able to remove Greninja from the game, Suicune had to go down and Ferrothorn lost 57% of its HP. The layer of Spikes stays on the field and the remainder of the game is a mere formality.

 

 

Replay #3

Spoiler

This replay is perhaps uneventful, but it highlights the kind of teams that Greninja destroys and renders useless in a Greninja-centered metagame, even with a standard set consisting of Hydro Pump/Surf, Ice Beam, HP Grass, and Spikes.

 

 

Replay #4

Spoiler

Greninja only comes into play on turn 20, but it drastically influences the outcome of the match. It sets up a layer of Spikes on Tornadus-T and proceeds to KO Conkeldurr with Extrasensory – because, unlike popular belief, you cannot “just Mach Punch it” if it is a Ground-type Pokémon.

 

Greninja then sets up a second layer of Spikes on AV Tyranitar and, before going down, crucially chunks it with Ice Beam to put it in range of a Mega Manectric 2HKO after two layers of Spikes (16.67%).

 

After the first Mega Manectric Thunderbolt, AV Tyranitar had 5% HP left. Without Spikes, it would not have been in range of a second Thunderbolt. Choice Band Scizor was likely not going to KO a 62% HP Tornadus-T.

 

 

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Why is Mawilite banned?

 

 

1. Mega Mawile only has a handful of checks and counters.

Spoiler

This makes Mega Mawile extremely hard to switch into for many teams. It can also singlehandedly, albeit slowly, whittle down its own checks due to its raw power.

 

 

2. Mega Mawile is extremely difficult to prepare for in a sufficient manner.

Spoiler

It also promotes centralizing and negative trends, such as Substitute or Will-O-Wisp on Pokémon that would rather run another move (e.g., Heatran dropping Toxic for Will-O-Wisp). Mega Mawile also forces players looking for reliable answers to run otherwise unviable or unenviable options, such as Moltres or physically defensive Arcanine.

 

3. Considering its toolkit, Mega Mawile tends to perform too well against all playstyles.

Spoiler

It possesses an unequalled combination of wallbreaking power and sweeping potential that allows it to perform well in nearly every scenario. What makes Mega Mawile way stronger than something like Mega Medicham, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Alakazam, or Mega Heracross is its superior performance against all playstyles, ranging from Stall to Hyper Offense.

 

There are a few reasons behind this, such as Intimidate, respectable physical bulk, and an amazing Fairy/Steel typing – which are great assets –, but the main culprit in this regard is Sucker Punch, in comparison to something like Bullet Punch on Mega Medicham.

 

This priority move betters Mega Mawile’s match-up against offensive builds by making it harder to revenge kill and even harder to prevent from sweeping a sufficiently weakened team – which is usually achieved when the main Mega Mawile check is weakened into +2 Sucker Punch range or is completely gone. Mega Mawile’s non-STAB Sucker Punch hits almost as hard as Bisharp’s Black Glasses-boosted STAB Sucker Punch. Let that sink in.

 

4. Mega Mawile constantly pressures the opponent to avoid giving it a free turn or a set-up opportunity.

Spoiler

It also pressures them to keep the Mega Mawile check(s) healthy enough to check it properly (e.g., Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian or any Keldeo on more offensive builds and Heatran on more defensive builds), because the looming threat of a +2 Sucker Punch sweep is unavoidable when Mega Mawile can defeat said check(s) at +2. Mega Mawile can also create many of these opportunities for itself against common Pokémon, like Chansey, Ferrothorn, Weavile, and Tyranitar, all of which were some of the most used Pokémon last season.

 

5. There is a massive disparity between the low cost of running Mega Mawile and supporting it properly and the high cost of running Pokémon like Will-O-Wisp Heatran, Moltres, Arcanine, etc. while also covering their many weaknesses.

Spoiler

Despite using up the Mega slot, Mega Mawile requires almost no support to function effectively. It can even slowly beat down some of its checks. Meanwhile, something like Moltres or Arcanine will require a ton of support (e.g., constant hazard removal) without necessarily being useful outside of checking Mega Mawile.

 

Overall, considering how easily Mega Mawile fits on teams and how well it performs with little to no support, it promotes far too many unhealthy countermeasures and negative trends.

 

 

Relevant replays from the latest PRO Ladder Tour

 

Replay #1

Spoiler

This replay highlights Mega Mawile’s great typing and pre-Mega ability, Intimidate. After a series of Zen Headbutt, Mega Metagross flinches Zapdos. Mawile is then used to sponge the next hit thanks to possessing Intimidate and resisting Zen Headbutt. The Mawile user keeps the Pokémon in its regular form and switches back to Zapdos to heal it back up.

 

Later, Mawile is used once again to Intimidate Mega Metagross on a predicted Zen Headbutt that would otherwise 2HKO a 64% HP Zapdos. Thanks to Intimidate, the Mawile user is now able to handle Mega Metagross’ Zen Headbutt with Zapdos better, ultimately closing the game in their favor.

 

 

Replay #2

Spoiler

After spamming Rock Tomb and eventually using Explosion to prevent Zapdos from using Defog, the Mega Mawile user is able to outspeed the Electric-type bird, which is now too low on health to come back on Stealth Rock, thus ensuring that hazards will stay up.

 

Some turns later, Mega Mawile forces out Mega Alakzam, thanks to its typing, and proceeds to chunk Rocky Helmet Landorus-T for 59% of its HP, which puts it in range of -1 Sucker Punch. This specific Mega Mawile set runs both STAB moves. An untimely Iron Head flinch prevents Clefable from defeating -1 Mega Mawile.

 

Ultimately, the outcome of the match ends up coming down to several 50/50s that the Mega Mawile wins twice – although it missed Play Rough the first time that it predicted right!

 

 

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Why is Sablenite banned?

 

Mega Sableye tangent:

Spoiler

First of all, I would not say that Mega Sableye is broken. It is restrictive and has had, in its short time in PvP, an unhealthy impact on the metagame as a whole. Players are not entitled to an innate right to set up hazards and use Taunt and status in order to beat opposing Stall teams; as such, a Pokémon like Mega Sableye understandably disrupts and challenges our belief system. Mega Sableye is, in practice, the only Magic Bounce user capable of efficiently and consistently taking advantage of its ability – although Smooge and others made Xatu Stall work in the past.

 

However, the metagame has been healthier and more enjoyable without Mega Sableye in it. My main qualm with this is that “healthiness” and “unhealthiness” are both subjective and difficult to quantify, especially in the absence of a definitional consensus.

 

 

1. Mega Sableye controls the hazard game to a suffocating extent.

Spoiler

It also makes pivoting inefficient without hazard chip.

 

Without referencing obscure or niche sets, the only viable Stealth Rock users that can set up Stealth Rock against Mega Sableye are Clefable, specially offensive Heatran, Mold Breaker Excadrill, Mega Diancie, Skill Swap Azelf, Swords Dance Lum Berry Garchomp, Earth Plate Lando-T, Adamant Mega Tyranitar, and… Mega Garchomp. For other entry hazards, the list is even shorter. Ribombee comes to mind for Sticky Web.

 

By promoting a hazardless match-up against Stall and defensive teams, Mega Sableye grants its teammates the ability to switch without any repercussion.

 

While getting hazards up against Mega Sableye teams is extremely arduous, those teams still run hazard removal options that further complicate matters. You are effectively trying to set up hazards while ensuring that they stay up, which is unrealistic in practice. You will most likely end up needing to set up hazards again, possibly more than twice, while taking the Magic Bounce risk of those hazards ending up on your side if you ever misplay.

 

2. Mega Sableye is centralizing to an unhealthy extent in terms of teambuilding and metagame development.

Spoiler

It singlehandedly dictates the viability of hazard setters. It also forces the use of otherwise subpar options in an attempt to beat it. Moreover, these options come with a running cost: Having a team that functions decently against Stall should ideally not hamper its ability to fare well against other playstyles. Overall, the removal of Mega Sableye from the metagame generates more diversity.

 

3. Thanks to Magic Bounce and its overall toolkit, Mega Sableye is able to remove many ways of crippling Stall and defensive teams in general.

Spoiler

Such as hazards, status, Taunt, Trick, Leftovers recovery to keep up with opposing Stall Pokémon…

 

4. Mega Sableye promotes unhealthy match-up reliance.

Spoiler

Assuming equal skill, it establishes a clear winner and an obvious loser from the get-go. These match-ups, which are determined from team preview, are an undesirable aspect of the metagame. The outcome of the game should be in the hands of the more skillful player, that is, the one making superior plays to progress to victory.

 

Unfortunately, the presence of Mega Sableye in the current metagame takes some control out of the hands of the players due to how many match-ups are decided before the first turn even takes place.

 

This point must assume equal skill because winning an otherwise unwinnable match-up is not usually in the hands of the player with the terrible match-up disadvantage.

 

 

Relevant replay from the latest PRO Ladder Tour

 

Replay

Spoiler

Shockingly enough, I could not find many relevant Mega Sableye replays from the latest PRO Ladder Tour. This replay highlights relatively well the point about the match-up being determined from team preview yet dragging on for ages.

 

How many turns does it take Pressure Kyurem, Pressure Suicune, Gengar, and Nasty Plot Togekiss to win the game against that Mega Sableye team?

 

The answer is 500+.

 

 

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Why was Metagrossite unbanned?

 

Mega Metagross tangent:

Spoiler

Many believe that Mega Metagross did not deserve to be banned alongside Greninja, Mega Mawile, and Mega Sableye. In short, it was unbanned to undo an unjust ban. We should only ban things that deserve to be banned right now, not in the future.

 

However, this does not mean that Mega Metagross will not be banned eventually. It is important to keep an eye on Mega Metagross to see how it fares in the current metagame – without Greninja, Mega Mawile, and Mega Sableye. If it ever becomes too problematic, this topic must be brought up again.

 

If that happens, we should hold a Suspect Test instead of simply removing it, because qualified voters deserve to have a say in the metagame that they wish to have.

 

 

1. It has yet to show any signs of breaking the metagame.

Spoiler

It deserves a chance to shine in a metagame without Greninja, Mega Mawile, and Mega Sableye. If it turns out to be metagame-breaking, we should discuss it again.

 

2. It has its fair share of checks – and even some counters.

Spoiler

I will solely focus on viable Pokémon that would retain their viability even without Mega Metagross.

 

Non-Grass Knot variants, the most common ones in PRO, are checked by (Mega) Slowbro, Suicune, Hippowdon, Alomomola, and Quagsire. Non-Ice Punch variants are checked by Landorus-T, Gliscor, TankChomp, and Zapdos – which is admittedly shaky against Zen Headbutt. Non-Hammer Arm variants are checked by Ferrothorn and, if they also lack Earthquake, they struggle against Heatran and even Magnezone. Non-Zen Headbutt variants are checked by Will-O-Wisp Rotom-W. Bulky Mega Scizor is the best all-around counter because gimmicky HP Fire variants forfeit valuable coverage and the ability to Speed tie opposing 350-Speed Pokémon.

 

Variants with any given coverage will still struggle to break past some hard checks, like Rocky Helmet or Counter Skarmory (which avoids the 2HKO from Thunder Punch), Rocky Helmet Tangrowth (which avoids the 2HKO from Ice Punch), Will-O-Wisp Mew (which avoids the 2HKO from Meteor Mash with a physically defensive spread and threatens Mega Metagross with Will-O-Wisp)…

 

Additionally, the use of Rocky Helmet on several defensive Pokémon, like Slowbro, Skarmory, Tangrowth, Garchomp, and Landorus-T, to chip down Mega Metagross is not necessarily an unhealthy trend, since that item still serves the purpose of chipping down many other physical threats.

 

Moreover, Mega Metagross can be dealt with more easily if we look at the bigger picture (i.e., certain cores) instead of individual checks. Many teams – especially balanced builds – use a defensive backbone that Mega Metagross struggles to break past, such as Ferrothorn/Rotom-Wash/Landorus-T. Of course, this goes both ways, so I would be interested in reading your thoughts about Mega Metagross-based cores (e.g., Mega Metagross+Magnezone or Mega Metagross+Keldeo) and how well they perform against these anti-Mega Metagross cores.

 

Overall, while Mega Metagross hits hard, I believe that it can still feasibly be played around and worn down due to its lack of recovery and vulnerability to chip damage.

 

3. It suffers from “4-Moveslot Syndrome,” which limits it to 4 moves out of all the ones it would like to run.

Spoiler

Wallbreaking sets with any coverage options are always walled by certain Pokémon. Those sets are walled by a wider array of Pokémon if they opt for a luxury move that hurts Mega Metagross’ wallbreaking prowess (e.g., Bullet Punch, Pursuit, Toxic…). Those moves are still good, especially when tailored to specific needs of the Mega Metagross team, but they do come with the drawback of weakening Mega Metagross’ individual performance.

 

Sweeping sets with Agility or Hone Claws also forego an important coverage move that betters Mega Metagross’ match-up against Offense but worsens it against slower and bulkier teams.

 

Overall, it cannot run niche moves with impunity, because sacrificing a standard move for a more niche one always leaves you walled by more Pokémon.

 

4. It does not yet restrict teambuilding to an unhealthy extent.

Spoiler

Many Pokémon that check Mega Metagross are quite common in the current metagame and can fit on all different playstyles. While uncommon or obscure Mega Metagross checks do exist (e.g., Starmie, Bronzong, Mandibuzz, Slowking, Rotom-Heat, Cresselia, Porygon2, Jellicent, Mega Aggron, Jirachi, Reuniclus, Shedinja, Doublade…), there is no need to use them unless you specifically want to. There are several common and viable Mega Metagross checks that would continue to see usage without it in the metagame.

 

This is a good indicator that Mega Metagross is not centralizing to the same extent as something like Greninja or Mega Mawile, but it is best to wait for future developments and metagame adaptations, that is, how (well) Mega Metagross teams adapt to the metagame and how (well) all teams and playstyles adapt to them and, more specifically, Mega Metagross itself.

 

5. It can be dealt with by all major playstyles within reason, although some must sacrifice more.

Spoiler

Stall can handle Mega Metagross by walling it for ages, since its only boosting move is Hone Claws.

 

Offensive builds – specifically HO – can try to OHKO it and prevent it from switching into their powerful attackers. In general, more offensive teams should not try to have reliable switch-ins to Mega Metagross, but rather multiple ways of defeating it offensively (e.g., Landorus-T, Bisharp, TankChomp, Focus Sash users, priority spam…).

 

The bulk is mostly problematic for balanced teams, which seem to have sufficient defensive answers that can check Mega Metagross, chip it down with hazards/Rocky Helmet/Iron Barbs/Rough Skin, and put it in range of their attackers. As stated previously, most balanced cores tend to fare well against Mega Metagross.

 

 

I did not look for any replays from the latest PRO Ladder Tour because I understand that some players still wish to use those Mega Metagross teams – while Greninja, Mega Mawile, and Mega Sableye are already banned.

 

Instead, let me briefly address the “Greninja vs Mega Metagross” comparison from the Greninja petition thread.

Spoiler

 

• Mega Metagross takes up the Mega slot, while Greninja does not.
• Mega Metagross is arguably easier to switch into than Greninja and has a wide array of situational checks.
• Mega Metagross does not have Spikes, but Stealth Rock, and, unlike Greninja, some viable Defog users can defensively check it while removing its entry hazards.
• The only thing Mega Metagross has over Greninja is its superior bulk. Mega Metagross is slower than Greninja and does not receive a Tough Claws boost on every single attack – in comparison to Protean Greninja. Greninja can also more viably run a mixed set. When looking at its offensive stats, always keep in mind the Protean damage boost.
• Saying that Mega Metagross is hard to revenge kill because of its bulk actually goes both ways: Greninja is also hard to revenge kill because of its higher Speed and access to Protean. I will concede that priority is less effective against Mega Metagross because of its considerable physical bulk, which allows it to stomach some powerful priority hits, such as Bisharp’s Sucker Punch. However, this also assumes that Mega Metagross is always healthy enough to avoid being revenge killed in one hit.
• Greninja always functions well with a standard Hydro Pump/Ice Beam/HP Grass/Spikes set, even though it has access to other (viable) options. Depeding on its chosen moveset, Mega Metagross will always fail to break past certain checks. While the same applies to Greninja, it can also simply ignore them because setting up Spikes helps its entire team, even if it fails to beat certain Pokémon. This means that Mega Metagross’ 4MSS can effectively hinder its wallbreaking performance. Furthermore, while Mega Metagross has moves to hit pretty much everything, it cannot run them all at once. The fabled Set of Champions does not exist in practice, because Mega Metagross cannot run three natures (Jolly, Adamant, and Naive) and 10+ moves (Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Hammer Arm, Ice Punch, Earthquake, Thunder Punch, Pursuit, Bullet Punch, Grass Knot, HP Fire, Agility, etc.) at the same time. Another minor difference between Mega Metagross and Greninja is how many of Mega Metagross’ checks have reliable recovery (Ferrothorn’s Leech Seed+Protect shenanigans only qualify as semi-reliable at best).

 

 

 

If you are genuinely curious about why usage stats and win percentages should never be the sole determining factor when it comes to bans, you may watch BKC’s recent video: “The Widespread Misinterpretation of a Pokemon’s Winrate.”