I apologize for posting that thread. I was unaware that it had to get approved. As for the meta game suggestion I think you are incorrect (my opinion) obviously a higher tier pokemon will be superior, that's the point of tiers in the first place to classify them. but just because a pokemon is ou that does not make it impossible for an NU pokemon to beat it, especially with the proper set up. Not trying to be disrespectful here, just trying to have a debate on this. I feel like the points you brought up are invalid. the whole point of the ratio system is too balance a team out, if pokemon was a 1v1 game then the points you made would indeed make sense. if it were an Ou team vs an NU or even UU team then your points would make sense. with a ratio system both players would be on an even playing field, it would all come down to how they construct there team. we already limit the use of higher tier pokemon at will depending on what tier battle agree too, what makes this any different? I think this idea would allow for several unique team combinations. yes a pokemon can be OU, but if the pokemon has no place on the team because it's poorly constructed the a good lower tier team could easily beat it. It all comes down to construction, which this format basically promotes vs doing the same boring OU battles where top teams have already been established therefore not promoting much team building. i've been lurking smogon's pokemon builds for a few years (which are excellent by the way) and from one generation to the next the same pokemon set ups have been written up and posted, theres only been slight changes due to new moves, and abilities but the general team purpose, and recommended compositions have remained the same. 5th gen has been out for a while now, yet i still play ppl who don't use 5th gen pokemon much or at all due to people not wanting to adapt. I think we need something to shake the tree of creativity a little bit.