Does the BL in (UUBL, RUBL, NUBL, PUBL) stand for Border Line or Ban List?

Question

Just wanted to know. I've heard people both say it both ways and just wanted a definitive answer. Thanks.

Also, Espathra was once in UUBL and is now banned from OU. If I had a nickel for every time a Pokemon got banned from OU because of setup subbing, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Middling at best Showdown Player,
MrKensa

Answer 1

BL originally stood for "borderline". It originates from the term "borderline standard", where Standard is the original name for OU (sort of -- the two are at least contiguous). As described by this archived tier guide, BL's original purpose was to "differentiate the Standard Pokémon that are not as commonly used".

Some time around 2018, it was decided the borderline tiers would be termed "banlist" instead (and abbreviated as UUBL, RUBL, etc. instead of BL, BL2, etc). This is more reflective of their modern purpose.

Comments

thank you, this is perfect