Why was Zigzagoon banned in RS LC?

Question

Taking a look, Zigzagoon seems rather... lacking. Its only decent stat is its Speed, and its sole Ability is Pickup, an Ability that doesn't even have a competitive use. The only thing that sticks out to me is Belly Drum + Extreme Speed, but that can't be why it was banned. Here's what Smogon itself said:

Zigzagoon's real problem was being able to set up with Belly Drum without being easily defeated after cutting its health in half, as it didn't have the bulk to survive any decently powerful attacks, especially after using Belly Drum.

Source

Smogon itself says Zigzagoon was weak. So why on earth was this stupid little raccoon of all Pokemon banned?

Comments

"So why on earth was this stupid little raccoon of all Pokemon banned?"

Answer 1

Zigzagoon:
At +6, Zigzagoon was nearly impossible to stop. In addition to Sitrus Berry healing Zigzagoon to full health after Belly Drum, both Shadow Ball and Hidden Power Fighting were physical, meaning not even bulky Ghost, Steel and Rock-types were enough. Although Zigzagoon initially appeared to be difficult to set up, plenty of moves were unable to OHKO it, and dual screens and memento support were and still are commonplace, meaning pulling off a Belly Drum wasn't too difficult. Even extremely powerful priority users such as Choice Band Doduo were often only able to deal slightly over half of Zigzagoon's health (keeping in mind Extremespeed and Fake Out were only +1 priority in gen 3), so Explosion Gastly was absolutely mandated on every single competitively viable team.

Source

This is one of the closest thing I could find why it was banned. Poor bulk aren't worth concerning since Memento and Dual screens exist (no Defog yay!). And since HP Fighting and Shadow Ball were physical, it proved really helpful to it.

Hope this helps.

Comments

Thanks!

Answer 2

You're considering only zigzagoon, not the team as a whole.
There are four Pokemon who can do what I'm thinking. What I'm thinking is Memento
They are Koffing, grimer, ralts and duskull. I think you know it's effects but I'll tell it again.

Lowers the target's Attack and Special Attack by 2 stages. The user faints. This move does not check accuracy, and can hit targets in the middle of a two-turn move. Fails entirely if the target's Attack and Special Attack stat stages are both -6.

some of them have charm, while others have major status affecting moves like willo-wisp, toxic etc.
Then I believe zigzagoon comes in, belly drums and drinks berry juice while opponent switches. Then, needless to say, zigzagoon sweeps with e speed if no ghost types and zigy of course carries more than 2 moves. I hope you get what I meant.
2nd reason can be late game cleaning. Like e killer in ubers, it can do great late game cleaning with belly drum. Remember then, there was no team preview. So trainers couldn't know what's left in their opponent's pocket. They can give bad ziggy's check unknowingly. I believe all these factors led to it's ban.
EDIT: spelling edits
Hope I Helped!

Comments

"I hope you get what I meant."
By that I mean shadow ball. It's physical in gen 3.

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Its Memento, not Momento

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oops thanks!

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I find it kinda weird that it would be banned if it needed that much support, but I'm not that familiar with this format. Do you by chance have a source to back your answer up?

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No source = logic

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But you got your BA below with source.

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Answering with Logic to  Smogon questions? Of course their logic not bad as of GameFreak...