I didn't come anywhere near making reqs this time (in no small part because I stopped playing rated matches while I screwed around testing random crap), but I'll still chime in with some nominations, since it appears that even non-voters can do so:
Ban Garchomp: While I think the metagame is mostly fine, this thing makes me uncomfortable. It is incredibly dangerous in its own right, but the fact that the metagame has adopted a set that specifically trolls for lucky misses (when any miss against Garchomp can lead to a loss) is just going too far.
Ban Swift Swim entirely: Free speed boosts are possibly the second scariest thing in the game, right after free evasion boosts. Swift Swim is inherently stronger than even Speed Boost, though, due to the fact that it does not require the two turns SB needs in order to outspeed the metagame. Any Swift Swimmer with average speed will outrun everything but incredibly fast Choice Scarfers, priority users, and other Swift Swimmers.
Now, if Swift Swimmers were all offensively weak, this wouldn't be a problem. But since the vast majority of them have remarkably powerful attacks courtesy of their Double STAB, you are looking at an ability that cranks out Pokemon that are on the wrong side of broken far too often. This is contrary to Sand Rush and Chlorophyll, who lack that Double STAB.
If this incredible boost in power only lasted a limited time, then it wouldn't be nearly so bad. But in a metagame where you can set up Rain simply by switching in Politoed, or in a metagame where your Damp Rock Rain Dance won't be interrupted, it's too much (see Generation 4's UU for an example where Damp Rock was a suspect).
There are three obvious ways to deal with the problem (aside from the current complex ban that nobody is really happy with):
- The first is banning Drizzle in OU (and probably eventually ban Damp Rock in one or more of the lower tiers). This kills Swift Swim almost completely, but it also removes every Rain-based strategy from the metagame and probably would lead to either Drought being played much more or being chased out of the metagame entirely by Sand.
I think one of the worst things we could do to the game is fundamentally change a metagame that shows signs of being close to balanced and stable. While this metagame is heavily influenced by weather, it does appear to be at least close to a balance at the moment. Removing Drizzle would turn the metagame on its head, probably not for the better.
- The second is hunting down and banning all the Pokemon who are too strong because of Swift Swim. I think this is a bad idea since it's impossible to tell exactly how long that will take. While we can be fairly certain that Magikarp and Luvdisc aren't broken, we won't know for sure if, say, CB Relicanth breaks the metagame until each and every more broken Swift Swim abuser in the game is banned.
If it turned out that Kingdra, Ludicolo, and Kabutops were the only things broken because of Swift Swim, then it wouldn't take very long. But after a few rounds of Swift Swim being broken, Drizzle will become the proverbial kicked dog once people get sick of it.
- The third is banning Swift Swim outright. This more or less maintains the status quo, which is probably a good thing. This would also remove the one complex ban we have, which gets rid of the precedent for them (which has come back to bite us) while having a very minor impact on the metagame.
The biggest argument against simply banning Swift Swim entirely is that Swift Swim clearly doesn't break Magikarp or Luvdisc. For me, this argument is similar to the one that Salamence shouldn't have been banned last generation since it wasn't broken without Outrage or Draco Meteor. Since finding the exact combination of Swift Swimmers that won't break the metagame could easily leave the metagame in a broken state for several rounds, banning the ability outright will let the metagame go on how it has.
