[Focus]

After feeling my way through several crappy teams, I finally settled on a not-so-crappy one that just happened to have Sheer Cold Kyogre. I did not intend to build a team around it; it filled a niche that my team was lacking. I was surprised just how viable that set is. It got me out of several uncomfortable spots, but I found myself just playing it safe most of the time with Scald. I won't go as far to say stall is unviable in the least bit. It just forces those teams to play a game of Russian roulette while playing left-handed to take Kyogre out. Not that a full stall team was really that viable before. The defensive core+cleaners approach still works very well. Kyogre can easily break most Pokemon's subs, so subbing in its face isn't typically a good idea (though I dodged a bullet somehow after my opponent had a Sub-NP-Para-flinch Darkrai set up on it).

As for OHKO Clause, I am facing a dilemma. I'm leaning towards keeping OHKO moves banned, but let me play devil's advocate a bit . :P I don't feel that OHKO moves damage the metagame. Offensive teams are pretty much unaffected, but defensive teams now have a threatening tool in their toolbox in case of emergency, or just to discourage set-up moves. Sure OHKO moves can win games early on or in "unfair" situations, but so can a timely Thunder para, Spacial Rend crit, or Air Slash flinch chain. On the other hand, spamming OHKO moves at the start is a viable way to close that skill ga. One time my opp had a Scarf Sheer Cold Kyogre and landed 3 consecutive hits that decimated my team, and then another game with me spamming SC against Pocket, I think, that gave me an early advantage. It is an easily spammable move, but 90% of the time it doesn't win games on its own. It takes a certain skill to know when to use OHKO moves and when not to, which teams benefit from them and which don't. It just happens that they benefit balance teams the most. Most importantly, they do not break the game. They do not even break the metagame. If it ain't broke, then maybe we shoudn't consider fixing it. This is Ubers after all! In principle, this is the place to go when you want to use "broken" stuff. OHKO moves can add a fun new dynamic to some games. Luck IS a desirable part of the game. It is not the end of the world if someone beats a slightly better opponent every now and then. That's intentional. This game is about minimizing risks while being gutsy when the situation calls for it. This game is not chess, and the suspect testing process introduces a metagame bias. People need to be wary of confirmation bias. If you lose a few games where the opponent hits with OHKO moves, then it does not follow that that is the sole reason why you lost. They almost never (in the mathematical sense) win games on their own. OHKO moves have a chance to close a skill gap, not eliminate it entirely.

Devil's advocate end.

What matters most of all in competitive play is to make the better player win. What Game Freak intended is entirely irrelevant. OHKO moves are very viable, which introduces a large element of luck when both players are good. Smogon is all about seeing who is better than who, especially in tournaments. When players are nearly the same skill level, the game turns into a massive roll of the dice, which is not desirable. OHKO moves can severly tip the balance of skill vs luck. Made that great prediction early on? Too bad! Your Kyogre counter just got obliterated. Some sources of luck we cannot control, but we owe it to the serious competitive players out there to not get frustrated by moves that can with a roll of the dice practically guarantee a win. That is not fun.