Like I said, there is no mechanical difference whatsoever between abilities and items. Sorting those out alone would be a huge hassle for a single Pokémon, but it would be necessary for the sake of fairness. Hell, a Pokémon's level is revealed as soon as it comes out (and even shows in the team preview of PBR, though that isn't relevant). It would be much easier to enforce a level cap than an ability combo ban in an exhibition or tournament setting.
This is just a minor nitpick really, but what you're saying here is that there is no
competitively relevant mechanical difference between abilities and items. In-game (the thing that we're, you know, trying to simulate), there is a mechanical difference in that every Pokemon has a certain ability at their creation, and said ability cannot be changed for said Pokemon in any way, which is different than an item/moves/EVs/level. Sure, you could say we'd then have to look at IVs/natures/egg moves/event moves that way, but that's not what you were suggesting here. For the record, while I do believe that Blaze Blaziken should be unbanned, I've also recognized the validity of certain opposing viewpoints, and have realized that this is simply preference on my part, and therefore no longer worth arguing about on a competitive forum.
I don't understand why people keep arguing against Uiru's Weather vs Stealth Rock point by using arguments for weather that could easily be applied to Stealth Rock. They say that SR only really affects 4 types, but that's just it; it REALLY affects those four types. Plus, Drizzle/Drought really only affects 2 types (Water/Fire), so it's actually worse on that front.
This isn't even getting into the fact that his argument wasn't really about banning SR; here's what his argument was:
Never mind that pretty much every argument ever made against Drizzle/Drought/Sandstream applies to Stealth Rock but nobody even cares about that. I suggested someone use something with Occa Berry on it to reverse trap ST Chandelure once and was laughed at; I guess I should have said to run a 20 power Normal attack instead. Overcentralizing is bad, right? But Stealth Rock being mentioned on every single analysis ever written is perfectly normal, and entire types being banished out of standard because of this one move is healthy and desirable.
I don't even want this to be about Stealth Rock because I'm tired of beating that drum. It's not that I even want SR banned- it's just that if we're going to ban everything else, we might as well ban this too. Why not, right? It just baffles me that we can go on this banhappy rampage with our made-up words and unstandardized definitions and completely ignore the worst offender of them all.
The big point is that the given arguments against weather can be applied to SR, and while we are fine with a metagame shaped by SR, we are apparently not fine with a metagame shaped by weather, which is hypocritical.
Banning and Tiering are two sides of the same coin. By banning a pokemon from one tier you are forcing it into higher tiers. Technically, the difference is purely semantics as we essentially "tiered" Blaziken into Ubers by banning it from OU. I believe we have enough complex bans already and don't see the point in any more. Blaziken is currently banned from OU, and if it bothers you that much make a case for why Speed Boost Blaziken should be OU because tbh that's what made facing it ridiculous in the first place. And the argument of Blaze Blaziken not being broken is irrelevant, we banned Blaziken.
How come people get to just flip-flop between the usage tiers and ban tiers being different and the same, as long as it fits their point? I mean, don't get me wrong, you haven't contradicted yourself, but I've seen it argued (sorry I can't remember where, I think it's from a thread wanting to ban something from Ubers or something dealing with the difference with RU/BL) where usage tiers and ban tiers are treated differently due to how they are formed, and now here it's said they are the same and the difference is "purely semantic". We should stick to one or the other, and IMO we should stick to "they're different", since they really are. If we do stick to this, then Uiru's point stands proudly, while the current counter-points fall flat on their
asses backs.
As an aside, it seems nobody reads white text or understands humor, since I found your post/quote hilarious PK Gaming. Or maybe I'm just an insensitive prick. Either/or.
tldr; Besides his point on Moody (which he himself has conceded) and with how badly I want to argue Blaze Blaziken unbanned, I agree with Uiru's posts.