Post Celebi UU
As most are aware, Celebi has had a chokehold on the UU meta for quite some time now. It's Nasty Plot set has dominated UU ever since it fell to the tier, and thanks to a general lack of good Steel types in the tier, it quite often got out of control incredibly quickly. One of the only reasons Celebi did not get banned any sooner is because of the dominance of U-Turn Flygon and Crobat. Despite it's 4x weakness however, Celebi was able to adapt with a bulky Nasty Plot set that lived U-Turn, and was able to KO the Milotics and Roserades that Flygon and Crobat would often bring out. The lack of good Steel types in the tier making it so one of the only good checks for Celebi is Metagross became so extremely exploitable to the point that Celebi began running Shadow Ball to hit every Steel for neutral, and the best Steel for super effective. The only Steel type that did not crumble to Celebi being Forretress meant nothing when Forretress could not hit it back for meaningful damage. Celebi became so oppressive to the point that Forretress started running Bug stab moves like Pin Missile and Bug Buzz.
Because of Celebi's auspicious defensive typing and stats, it's held back, and promoted the usage of many pokemon whom may now form the new, Post-Celebi UU meta. Let's address these gains and losses.
Gains
Milotic, Blastoise, Vaporeon
Classic Bulky Water types like
Milotic and
Vaporeon have now had their biggest counter banned.
Celebi was an extremely important part of many offensive team's effort to break these bulky waters. With
Celebi now gone, many offensive teams will find themselves unable to break down these bulky waters by blasting them away with powerful grass moves.
Quagsire will now be an extremely potent threat. with the best Grass type banned, and the biggest argument against running
Quagsire being banned, it will now be an unbreakable part of many stall teams.
Celebi was an extremely threatening pokemon against
Quagsire, as it stopped all means of progress it could make thanks to it's resistances to Scald, Earthquake, and Natural Cure healing it of Toxic and Scald Burns.
Swampert has been struggling in the
Celebi meta ever since the start. It's had a hard time making use of it's phenomenal traits due to it's free allowance to let in
Celebi. While not weak, It's Ice Beams barely scratched
Celebi, and it was forced to swap out immediately, lest it would risk getting OHKO'd.
Suicune will now be extremely dominant, as it will no longer have to shore up it's coverage with Ice Beam.
Suicune is capable of setting up Calm Mind on most, if not all the Grass types in the tier; except for
Celebi, who would outdamage
Suicune's Calm Mind with Nasty Plot.
Roserade will now be an extremely important part of many, if not most offensive teams. With the rise of Bulky Waters, Grass types will be in a much higher demand.
Roserade also appreciates
Celebi's ban as it was both competition for the Grass type mantle, and an effective check thanks to it's higher speed over
Roserade, and STAB Psychic.
Offensive Blastoise will now be extremely threatening, capable of destroying a large swath of teams.
Celebi could use it's immense bulk to live +2 Ice Beam and stop a
Blasoise Sweep. Now Blastoise will have even less checks, and might finally become banworthy in UU. (doubt)
Psychic types like
Espeon and Cresselia have also gotten their biggest counter banned. With
Celebi out of the picture, Psychic spam will be significantly more effective.
Celebi could previously use it's great bulk to live their Psychic type offense and heal or maintain momentum with a super effective U-Turn.
Shaymin, Rotom-Mow, Sceptile
Auxiliary
Grass types will now have less competition to contend with, and one less counter.
Rotom-Mow will be an even more effective part of VoltTurn teams, and
Shaymin will have less competition for a bulky Grass type niche on Balance and Stall.
Sceptile's Leaf Storm and Focus Blast will now be significantly harder to switch into, and it will be significantly easier to pull off a successful SubSeed.
Machamp, Hariyama, Medicham, Gallade
Fighting Types will take the meta over by storm. Balance teams anchored around Bulky Waters like Milotic will find themselves destroyed by strong Fighting types who can smash through even Physically Defensive
Milotic with ease. With
Celebi gone, many teams will lack an adequate Fighting resist, and
Roserade's middling bulk will lead to it getting obliterated by an onslaught of Fighting types.
With
Celebi gone, the
Slow Twins (Slowbro & Slowking) now do not have a counter who resists both their STAB's, hits them for super effective, and shrugs off their status with Natural Cure.
Slow Twins will be especially good, as Psychic weak Grass types like
Roserade will take over Celebi's niche on offensive teams. With their tremendous bulk, the
Slow Twins will be a valuable asset as the usage of Fighting types like
Machamp,
Hariyama and
Medicham take over the meta.
Hippowdon will now be a much more effective wall. With the most common Grass type (likely) being
Roserade, who is neutral to earthquake,
Hippowdon will find significantly more success in the
post-celebi meta.
Stall is now significantly more viable. Celebi single handedly destroyed most stall teams not using the likes of
Drapion and
Umbreon. With it's great natural bulk, Giga Drain and Nasty Plot, many stall teams found themselves unable to wall
Celebi whatsoever, as even
Chansey couldn't withstand
Celebi's GIga Drain, which would outheal Seismic Toss after a boost.
Losses
Entei, Arcanine, Rotom-Heat, Torkoal, Moltres, Houndoom, Typhlosion
EVERY VIABLE FIRE TYPE IS NOW WORSE
Celebi provided a key niche for offensive teams stacking pokemon like
Choice Scarf Flygon and
Choice Band Entei. These teams are completely anchored around a Grass or Electric type who can KO
Milotic and other Bulky Waters.
Celebi provided an extremely important answer to
Milotic's Scalds, as well as an important resistance to the plenty of earthquake users in the tier.
Hippowdon now becomes impossible to break with this archetype, as
Rotom-Mow doesn't heal in it's sand and is easily worn down,
Shaymin does not fit on offensive teams well, and
Roserade is neutral to earthquake, and has pitiful physical defense. With Celebi's ban, these
teams stacking Fire types will be unable to make any significant progress against any of Milotic, Hippowdon, Swampert, Quagsire, Suicune, Cresselia, and Tentacruel.
Drapion, Honchkrow, Absol
Offensive Dark Types were used to hold the tier together from Celebi's onslaught. with it's ban, these Dark types will find their biggest niche neutralized, and their effectiveness will drop significantly.
Final Words
Overall, Celebi's ban is a welcome one, and it will create a huge change in UU's meta. The most consistent archetype is significantly nerfed, and some of the best offensive pokemon have had their best partner removed. Hope is not lost for offensive teams however. Strong Fighting types are sure to rise and blow apart Milotic and Hippowdon anchored balance teams, as well as Slowbro and Slowking anchored stall teams. This meta is really fun and should be played more often.
Cya~ <3