The OU Council has agreed to ban Shadow Tag from Gen 8 OU.



Shadow Tag has been banned from the preceding 3 generations, yet we decided to be thorough and give it a fair shot in this new metagame. However, with just a few days of observation, Shadow Tag is evidently very broken. It does what it always has done - allows pokemon like Gothitelle to trap / cripple a huge array of pokemon with Trick. Furthermore, gen 8 has granted even more buffs to the already dangerous strategy: 1) Pursuit no longer exists; 2) There are no mega / z items to prevent Trick; 3) Gothitelle has gained access to Cosmic Power and Stored Power. These factors let it trap a wider range of pokemon than before and very often more than one per battle, as Gothitelle can get its scarf back vs a pokemon that is either out of PP or in Stored Power range.



As for why Shadow Tag is being banned instead of just Gothitelle - we are better off avoiding the inevitable of the pre-evolutions and/or Wobbuffet doing similar damage. Additionally, the overall nature of Shadow Tag causing nearly every pokemon to be trapped puts it a level above other forms of trapping (current Arena Trap and past ones such as Magnet Pull).



With the removal of this unhealthy strategy we can more easily isolate factors and focus our attention on other potentially problematic components of the tier. The council will be keeping a watchful eye on the metagame as it progresses through the beginning stages and beyond.