Screens have been a difficult thing to deal with in during the past of National Dex UU, to the point where Grimmsnarl was originally banned a long time ago due to how easily it got up screens leading to its dominance, and its retest was the very first official retest the meta had with a forum. For a while now, however, screens have been manageable, if not even underwhelming. The bulky nature of the meta made most sweepers simple to stop, and certain Pokemon like Urshifu-Rapid-Strike and the recently banned Melmetal were a massive thorn in its side, the former ignoring screens and sashes with Surging Strikes and the latter putting a stop to many of the dominant sweepers on HO, as well as making Grimmsnarl hate its existence, not that the latter being banned had much to do with this decision.
However, recently, this has changed. During the Melmetal suspect, and even a little before, it became clear that Moltres-Galar and Autotomize Celesteela behind screens are borderline unstoppable. Revenging them is nearly impossible and both can quickly snowball out of control, not to mention their bulk and typing them affording multiple setup opportunities anyways. However, the council believe that neither of them are broken outside of screens, making them distinctly different cases to previous screens abusers like Mew, Blaziken and Hawlucha, who were all pretty clearly broken outside of screens - screens just exaggerated this pre existing brokenness to a ludicrous degree. This presented a dilemna - the two Pokemon are clearly fine outside of screens, so banning them wasn't the right call, but equally, leaving them around makes HO unmanageable. It's also not the fault of any screens setters like before, so going after Grimmsnarl isn't right either, especially given Grimmsnarl isn't even the screens setter on what is regarded as one of if not the best HO teams around right now. Thus, given that, while ultimately not the majority of the reason, screens have been a major factor in several previous Pokemon that were banned, it was decided to target screens itself, and nip the problem in the bud once and for all.
As a result, we decided to do what UU did and ban Light Clay. While the previous screens abusers were broken outside of screens, screens was still a significant factor. Blaziken at the very least would have stood much more of a chance of being suspected rather than quickbanned without screens, and Hawlucha wouldn't have been quite as ludicrous without screens letting it beat its short list of checks with Taunt. Hopefully, Light Clay being banned should significantly limit the turns the abusers have to clean house to a much more manageable amount.
So, without further ado, Light Clay is now banned from National Dex UU!
Tagging Kris and Marty to implement this on ladder when they can! Thanks in advance!
However, recently, this has changed. During the Melmetal suspect, and even a little before, it became clear that Moltres-Galar and Autotomize Celesteela behind screens are borderline unstoppable. Revenging them is nearly impossible and both can quickly snowball out of control, not to mention their bulk and typing them affording multiple setup opportunities anyways. However, the council believe that neither of them are broken outside of screens, making them distinctly different cases to previous screens abusers like Mew, Blaziken and Hawlucha, who were all pretty clearly broken outside of screens - screens just exaggerated this pre existing brokenness to a ludicrous degree. This presented a dilemna - the two Pokemon are clearly fine outside of screens, so banning them wasn't the right call, but equally, leaving them around makes HO unmanageable. It's also not the fault of any screens setters like before, so going after Grimmsnarl isn't right either, especially given Grimmsnarl isn't even the screens setter on what is regarded as one of if not the best HO teams around right now. Thus, given that, while ultimately not the majority of the reason, screens have been a major factor in several previous Pokemon that were banned, it was decided to target screens itself, and nip the problem in the bud once and for all.
As a result, we decided to do what UU did and ban Light Clay. While the previous screens abusers were broken outside of screens, screens was still a significant factor. Blaziken at the very least would have stood much more of a chance of being suspected rather than quickbanned without screens, and Hawlucha wouldn't have been quite as ludicrous without screens letting it beat its short list of checks with Taunt. Hopefully, Light Clay being banned should significantly limit the turns the abusers have to clean house to a much more manageable amount.
So, without further ado, Light Clay is now banned from National Dex UU!
Tagging Kris and Marty to implement this on ladder when they can! Thanks in advance!