After waiting for what feels like forever, SV is finally coming home. It was recently announced by the Pokemon company that the maintenance of Pokemon HOME will being on May 29th in North America, meaning it is likely that we would transition to the HOME metagame on May 30th. While there are still many unknowns about this release as we need to rely on not 100% sources on what changes will occur, the Monotype council has decided to get ahead of the release and pre-emptively vote on the first slate of the new metagame. In this voting period, we took into consideration returning Pokemon, previously banned Pokemon (and items) and rumoured moves changes. The votes were conduced in 4 phases. As a reminder, a Pokemon can only be banned (or unbanned) with a supermajority, which will be a 5/7 vote in this case (Shiba will be sitting out from this vote for personal reasons). Moreover, the council will return to frequent quickban cycles upon release to rapidly stabilize the metagame.
PHASE 1: Usual Suspects
In the first phase, the council elected to ban the clearly broken Pokemon that have been historically banned from the tier from the start or had a very short time in the tier.
The banlist:
Mewtwo has been banned from Monotype 
Groudon has been banned from Monotype 
Kyogre has been banned from Monotype 
Rayquaza has been banned from Monotype 
Dialga has been banned from Monotype 
Dialga-Origin has been banned from Monotype 
Palkia has been banned from Monotype 
Palkia-origin has been banned from Monotype 
Giratina has been banned from Monotype 
Giratina-Origin has been banned from Monotype 
Arceus has been banned from Monotype 
Zacian has been banned from Monotype 
Zacian-Crowned has been banned from Monotype 
Eternatus has been banned from Monotype 
Calyrex-Shadow has been banned from Monotype 
Calyrex-Ice has been banned from Monotype PHASE 2: Unfriendly Faces
In the second phase, the council decided to target Pokemon (and a move as a special exception) that have either historically been banned from Monotype following either a suspect test, or a relatively long tenure without being banned, and also Pokemon that were big threats, and greatly contested, but did not end up being banned. Similarly to OU, Monotype has decided to vote on Last Respects as there are now 3 potential users instead of 1. We also voted on Basculegion as one unit in the case that Last Respects would not get banned, and instead the abusers were chosen to be removed. In the case of a Last Respects ban, Houndstone would be free.
| Attribute | Chaitanya | Dugza | Floss | Kev | maroon | Zap | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Last Respects  | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | 7/7 Ban Votes - Ban |
Basculegion  | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 0/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Galarian Moltres  | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 0/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Hoopa-Unbound  | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 0/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Landorus-I  | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 0/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Magearna  | Ban | No Ban | No Ban | Ban | No Ban | Ban | No Ban | 3/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Spectrier  | Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 1/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike  | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | 0/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Urshifu  | Ban | No Ban | No Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | No Ban | 4/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
The conclusion of this phase is that:
Last Respects is banned from Monotype, and Houndstone is unbanned PHASE 3: Second Chances
In the 3rd phase, the council decided to reevaluate Pokemon (and an item) that were banned during the pre-HOME metagame.
| Attribute | Chaitanya | Dugza | Floss | Kev | maroon | Zap | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Annihilape  | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | 0/7 Unban Votes - Do Not Unban |
| Booster Energy | Do Not Unban | Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Unban | Do Not Unban | Unban | 3/7 Unban Votes - Do Not Unban |
Chi-Yu  | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | 0/7 Unban Votes - Do Not Unban |
Iron Bundle  | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | 1/7 Unban Votes - Do Not Unban |
Palafin  | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | Do Not Unban | 0/7 Unban Votes - Do Not Unban |
In conclusion: Nothing will be unbanned.
PHASE 4: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
In the final phase, the council decided to give a chance to Zamazenta and Zamazenta-Crowned. This is following discussions we had in the past week leading up to the release, and popular discussion in the tier in the previous gen. Moreover, it aligns with the route that OU decided to take.
In the final phase, the council decided to give a chance to Zamazenta and Zamazenta-Crowned. This is following discussions we had in the past week leading up to the release, and popular discussion in the tier in the previous gen. Moreover, it aligns with the route that OU decided to take.
| Attribute | Chaitanya | Dugza | Floss | Kev | maroon | Zap | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zamazenta  | Ban | No Ban | No Ban | No Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | 3/7 Ban Votes - No Ban |
Zamazenta-Crowned  | Ban | No Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | Ban | 6/7 Ban Votes - Ban |
In conclusion:
Zamazenta will be allowed in Monotype Zamazenta-Crowned is banned from Monotype -------------------
This concludes the voting phases that were taken in order to establish the initial banlist for the HOME metagame of SV Monotype. I'm sure there are some major surprises like Zamazenta entering the tier. I want to remind everyone that quickban phases will begin immediately upon release as the council's priority is to get to the stable metagame as soon as possible, especially with the impending MPL; I just want to emphasize that patience is key. Moreover, the mons listed in this post are not the only ones that will be subject to scrutiny during quickban votes - anything that shows to be problematic can be added to the chopping block. Otherwise, looking forward to see how the tier unfolds with all these new additions, as this list only scratches the surface of the fun new toys we are about to receive. Looking forward to a hopefully very fun and exciting metagame, and hope to see lots of discussion too!
Mewtwo
Groudon
Kyogre
Rayquaza
Dialga
Dialga-Origin
Palkia
Palkia-origin
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Arceus
Zacian
Zacian-Crowned
Eternatus
Calyrex-Shadow
Calyrex-Ice
Last Respects
Zamazenta-Crowned
Groudon
Kyogre
Rayquaza
Dialga
Dialga-Origin
Palkia
Palkia-origin
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Arceus
Zacian
Zacian-Crowned
Eternatus
Calyrex-Shadow
Calyrex-Ice
Last Respects
Zamazenta-Crowned
Houndstone