Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4

[Magcargo]

Do y'all think Wellspring should be banned? What do y’all feel about her impact on the tier?

It can be annoying but nope. Has some notable downsides between Tera + Item Lock, a bit of 4MSS, and a handful of annoying MUs depending on what move it runs. Think its general utility with its solid defensive typing and various utility moves like Spikes, Encore, etc. are all pretty nice for various builds (though I personally don't make much use of it since I prefer other options like Meow / Weavile). I also don't really think its ban will have as much of a liberating effect as many believe - most bulky waters imo are bad because of their poor MU into gking moreso than Wellspring and a lot more cancerous cheesers like Manaphy will get unleashed should Wellsp get banned (which I still hate facing more than Wellspring lol). While I personally am supportive of the Roaring Moon ban, I feel an unfortunate negative side effect of it leaving is that we have seen the rise of more cheesers like Manaphy / Ceruledge, which I personally struggle sequencing against more - I feel a Wellspring ban would result to a similar outcome.

I def am underselling Wellspring a bit since its no doubt strong - especially when wielded by a good player - but its gameplan always feels like it has a few more holes compared to other wallbreakers - which aren't as well-rounded as Wellspring perse, but often feel like they can excel at certain things better or in "worst case scenarios" due to their increased Item / Tera flexibility. Sure, Weavile doesn't have the raw defensive utility of Wellspring, but it feels more reliable in bad situations where the opp has setup max layers of hazards, letting it play a better long game + having nice utility with its Priority Ice Shard vs miscellaneous shitters like Raging Bolt. I feel similarly about Darkrai.

 

[Moyashi]

OU would be unplayable without Wellspring.

How? Nothing it does is a necessity and it has an undeniable impact on building that can be argued to be restricting. I’m not sold on it being so much a problem like it is in other meta games but it’s not keeping the tier together in any way.

 

[JackRG]

Do y'all think Wellspring should be banned? What do y’all feel about her impact on the tier?

Yes, I think it's impact on the tier has been largely negative. If you are unsure, I recommend this pinkacross video:

It goes through the pro ban and anti ban arguments.

I think its mainly problematic due to the sheer spamability of ivy cudgel paired with the lack of switch ins that don't crumble to coverage. I'm not sure if the general consensus will be pro ban or not but I think it at the very least deserves to get suspected, since most of the other problematic mons in the tier have already gotten atleast 1 suspect.

 

[Avira]

Yes, I think it's impact on the tier has been largely negative. If you are unsure, I recommend this pinkacross video:

It goes through the pro ban and anti ban arguments.

I think its mainly problematic due to the sheer spamability of ivy cudgel paired with the lack of switch ins that don't crumble to coverage.

Personally, I don't believe the support will ever be there to ban Ogerpon-Wellspring even if I hate her effect on the builder to an extent since not enough offense players would get on board with banning her, whereas with Kyurem, it almost happened if not for one troll DNB vote from LoseToRU? I find Kyurem a more restrictive presence in the builder due to how the special, mixed, and physical DD sets all have counterplay that's often not overlapping between sets. Kyurem is admittedly not clear-cut broken as we've banned all the Pokemon that were obviously broken, and Kyurem has clear weaknesses in its SR weakness and mediocre defensive typing, but I find accounting for all the different sets difficult. And as leng loi mentioned earlier, guessing what Tera Type Kyurem has is more difficult than for Dragonite. Wellspring is Tera Type-locked to Water, so she's easier to plan around than Kyurem for the most part.

 

[soupeater]

Do y'all think Wellspring should be banned? What do y’all feel about her impact on the tier?

I think wellspring isn't broken but the metagame would be better with it gone imo. There's a lot more healthy water resists in the metagame right now and with it gone water types would be decent but never overpowering

 

[JackRG]

bar kyurem (who has already had 2 suspects), pon recieved the 2nd highest score on the previous survey, which I think is worthy of a suspect. Kyurem is stupid too and I wouldn't mind it being the next suspect but I think the past 2 surveys have shown wellspring should be tested.

 

[Avira]

bar kyurem (who has already had 2 suspects), pon recieved the 2nd highest score on the previous survey, which I think is worthy of a suspect. Kyurem is stupid too and I wouldn't mind it being the next suspect but I think the past 2 surveys have shown wellspring should be tested.

That's only if you include the general playerbase as a whole, and since the OU Council only looks at the qualified demographic when determining what to suspect, it was Gliscor that had the highest survey score followed by Kyurem. Ogerpon-Wellspring has the highest (downward) shift in score from the general playerbase demographic to the qualified demographic, showing that stronger players tend to have less issue with her than lesser-skilled players.

 

[JackRG]

Actually, that's only if you include the general playerbase as a whole, and since the OU Council only looks at the qualified demographic when determining what to suspect, it was Gliscor that had the highest survey score followed by Kyurem. Ogerpon-Wellspring has the highest shift in score from the general playerbase demographic to the qualified demographic, which shows that stronger players tend to have less issue with her than lesser-skilled players.

again, gliscor has already recieved a suspect fairly recently so its too early to retest it. I would make far more sense to suspect something that hasn't been voted on before.

Wellspring is Tera Type-locked to Water, so it's easier to plan around than Kyurem for the most part.

So it gets to make ivy cudgel even more brainless? What a drawback!

 

[Avira]

again, gliscor has already recieved a suspect fairly recently so its too early to retest it. I would make far more sense to suspect something that hasn't been voted on before.

Suspecting something that has nowhere near the support to get banned would be a waste of time. Gliscor was last suspected 8 months ago and Kyurem 10 months ago, so more than enough time has passed for them to be suspected again. I know you really hate Ogerpon-Wellspring, but the community at large likely wouldn't vote to ban her at this time.

 

[pixelpenguin]

So it gets to make ivy cudgel even more brainless? What a drawback!

Unnecessary snark aside, yes it does make it easier to plan around. DD Kyurem has different checks based on whether it's Tera Fire or Electric which determine whether it's getting past Alo or not. Ogerpon being Tera locked means it can't cheese its counterplay as easily. No matter how strong your Ivy Cudgel, Tera will never save you from Zama CC or Dragonite ESpeed or Bolt Thunderclap if you get low enough. Kyurem could become a Ground type at any time and dodge Thunderclap and Ogerpon doesn't get this benefit.

Obviously being locked to Tera Water isn't a curse for Ogerpon but being predictable in SV OU isn't exactly a boon.

 

[JackRG]

Unnecessary snark aside, yes it does make it easier to plan around. DD Kyurem has different checks based on whether it's Tera Fire or Electric which determine whether it's getting past Alo or not. Ogerpon being Tera locked means it can't cheese its counterplay as easily. No matter how strong your Ivy Cudgel, Tera will never save you from Zama CC or Dragonite ESpeed or Bolt Thunderclap if you get low enough. Kyurem could become a Ground type at any time and dodge Thunderclap and Ogerpon doesn't get this benefit.

Obviously being locked to Tera Water isn't a curse for Ogerpon but being predictable in SV OU isn't exactly a boon.

i never said it was a boon, lmao. I just am pointing out getting a free special defense boost on top of getting a free boost to an already free click isn't exactly the huge drawback people make it out to be. Also you say "plan around" oger, but what exactly do you mean? It's not like anything actually switches into it lmao

Suspecting something that has nowhere near the support to get banned would be a waste of time. Gliscor was last suspected 8 months ago and Kyurem 10 months ago, so more than enough time has passed for them to be suspected again. I know you really hate Ogerpon-Wellspring, but the community at large likely wouldn't vote to ban her at this time.

We've had multiple tests this generation involving pokemon that have recieved similar scores, so I honestly don't know what you are talking about lmao. Survey scores are hardly the end all be all, either

 

[Moyashi]

and since the OU Council only looks at the qualified demographic when determining what to suspect,

Could you not with this please? This isn’t true (and if it were why would the council poll the general players too)

Ogerpon being Tera locked means it can't cheese its counterplay as easily. No matter how strong your Ivy Cudgel, Tera will never save you from Zama CC or Dragonite ESpeed or Bolt Thunderclap if you get low enough.

It can in fact cheese counter play off of crits and many physical soft stops to it can be thrown out if a timely crit comes knocking. If a full health Zama eats a crit switching into Cudgel even from full health, it can no longer switch in safely on its own. Boots takes 76% from crit cudgel and even IronPress takes 59% and factoring hazards, that’s a ton of pressure. Pecha is sturdier but +2 knock is 80ish% minimum and that’s really hard to heal off later, which opens the Pecha user up to Wellspring’s teammates.

Of course a crit isn’t “easy” cheese but the fact it’s random almost makes the matter worse. Also let’s not pretend like being predictable in the way of tera is a huge hindrance when the Tera in question is so good, and even offers a spdef boost. It’s not exactly predictable beyond that because its moveset can be so varied. SD has many permutations which aren’t really easily gleaned from preview

 

[Avira]

Could you not with this please? This isn’t true (and if it were why would the council poll the general players too)

I believe it's perfectly true. Whenever Finchinator or someone on the OU Council cites the numbers regarding the decision to suspect something, the focus is almost always on the qualified demographic, and it has been stated more than once that Smogon tiers around high-level play, whether it be ladder or tournaments. Thus, I believe there's no reason to believe that the OU Council takes into the consideration the general playerbase as a whole when making tiering decisions.

 

[Moyashi]

I believe it's perfectly true. Whenever Finchinator or someone on the OU Council cites the numbers regarding the decision to suspect something, the focus is almost always on the qualified demographic, and it has been stated more than once that Smogon tiers around high-level play, whether it be ladder or tournaments. Thus, I believe there's no reason to believe that the OU Council takes into the consideration the general playerbase as a whole when making tiering decisions.

This is such goofy conspiracy theory stuff I’m sorry and I’m not saying that to be mean. They focus primarily on qualified results but they absolutely consider the general player base as well, as they’re a large part of the playerbase that can influence tiering through suspects.

 

[Heatranator]

I believe it's perfectly true. Whenever Finchinator or someone on the OU Council cites the numbers regarding the decision to suspect something, the focus is almost always on the qualified demographic, and it has been stated more than once that Smogon tiers around high-level play, whether it be ladder or tournaments. Thus, I believe there's no reason to believe that the OU Council takes into the consideration the general playerbase as a whole when making tiering decisions.

Wow, the OU council cites the top players as a reference. Golly gee, I wonder if they might be more qualified then the average Joe.
Stop trying to spread conspiracy theories that aren't even true. If they truly didn't care about the general response, they prob wouldn't even include them in the survey.

 

[pixelpenguin]

i never said it was a boon, lmao. I just am pointing out getting a free special defense boost on top of getting a free boost to an already free click isn't exactly the huge drawback people make it out to be. Also you say "plan around" oger, but what exactly do you mean? It's not like anything actually switches into it lmao

right I acknowledged that its Tera is in fact good for it. if I tera my wallbreaker, it better be impossible to switch into, what are we even whining about. doesn't change the fact that you can "plan around" revenge killing it and preventing it from gaining entry points because it will always be a Water type sitting at 350 speed. Zama can dodge Fairies with Tera Steel Heavy Slam or Wisps with Tera Fire. DNite can dodge Wisp with Tera Fire, Twave with Tera Ground, and even Dragon moves with Tera Fairy. Gambit can setup on Fighting moves with Tera Ghost or dodge Ground moves with Tera Flying or beat Fighting types directly with Tera Fairy Blast or muscle through Fighting resists with Tera Dark. My point is Ogerpon is uniquely unable to pick and choose its matchups in the same way every other mon can with Tera. don't strawman the argument into "oh Ogerpon Tera bad" because it's Tera is incredible. however you can in fact "plan around" it if you know that at all times it can nuke the mon in front of it (may I add at the cost of the team's Tera and it loses some defensive utility no longer being a safe Ground switch in) but it cannot suddenly survive a hit it shouldn't (unless it's a special move but like c'mon, that is again something you can "plan around" ((don't fucking put yourself in the position where Tera Ogerpon will survive the revenge kill)).

Of course a crit isn’t “easy” cheese but the fact it’s random almost makes the matter worse. Also let’s not pretend like being predictable in the way of tera is a huge hindrance when the Tera in question is so good, and even offers a spdef boost. It’s not exactly predictable beyond that because its moveset can be so varied. SD has many permutations which aren’t really easily gleaned from preview

right I agree it's a very versatile non which can make it a nightmare to answer. I'm specifically arguing that its Tera is easier to play around than other mons because it can't cheese matchups significantly via Tera (you should be aware that Ogerpon can become a devastating wallbreaker, which arguably isn't cheese) and Tera doesn't solve its hazard weakness and vulnerability to revenge kills. the crits are definitely cheese but I'm not defending those because they are in fact stupid. in the same way that Pecharunt can beat Ground types via Poison Puppeteer confusion, Kyurem can fold its checks with Freeze, Darkrai can flinch past solid answers, Zapdos can hard stop physical threats via Static + Hurricane confusion, Zama can Crunch defense drop past Fighting resists, etc etc. All similar odds to Ivy Cudgel crits.

I will readily agree that Ogerpon can be a negative presence in the tier, but while its Tera is certainly good, there is definitely a significant downside to being Tera locked that cannot be flippantly disregarded.

 

[UltraSword]

Do y'all think Wellspring should be banned? What do y’all feel about her impact on the tier?

I have 2 reasons for not believing Wellspring should be banned. The first reason is that it is not that fast. Being in the same speed tier as Latios along with its other tools would make it broken in any other gen but in a tier as speed crept as this the speed tier that Wogerpon inhabits is the (new) standard for all pokemon that aren't set up sweepers or defensive pokemon. The second reason is it being forced into one tera. The thing about tera that makes it so good on other pokemon is that they can change into whatever type they want. However, while Wogerpon does appreciate the special defense that tera water gives it, it doesn't change the fact that it is only allowed to tera into that one type. This makes it by far the most predictable pokemon in the tier on principle and therefore one of the easiest to play around. The ways to beat Wogerpon are far more concrete than any other pokemon in and/or viable in ou. These 2 reasons combine to make a very strong pokemon who has far more obvious flaws compared to its competition than perhaps any other pokemon in competitive history.

 

[JackRG]

I have 2 reasons for not believing Wellspring should be banned. The first reason is that it is not that fast. Being in the same speed tier as Latios along with its other tools would make it broken in any other gen but in a tier as speed crept as this the speed tier that Wogerpon inhabits is the (new) standard for all pokemon that aren't set up sweepers or defensive pokemon. The second reason is it being forced into one tera. The thing about tera that makes it so good on other pokemon is that they can change into whatever type they want. However, while Wogerpon does appreciate the special defense that tera water gives it, it doesn't change the fact that it is only allowed to tera into that one type. This makes it by far the most predictable pokemon in the tier on principle and therefore one of the easiest to play around. The ways to beat Wogerpon are far more concrete than any other pokemon in and/or viable in ou. These 2 reasons combine to make a very strong pokemon who has far more obvious flaws compared to its competition than perhaps any other pokemon in competitive history.

Yall act like 350 speed isn’t still good. Yes there are faster mons, but bar zama (who is not only a short term solution, but you really wanna keep healthy for gambit and other darks), which faster pokemon is switching into it? Even in a 1v1 aganist a faster pokemon that threatens it like darkrai, it can just use the spdef boost to easily stomach the hit and 1 shot you. I swear you guys know its broken but want it in the tier so you don’t have to learn how to wallbreak.

 

[UltraSword]

Yall act like 350 speed isn’t still good. Yes there are faster mons, but bar zama (who is not only a short term solution, but you really wanna keep healthy for gambit and other darks), which faster pokemon is switching into it? Even in a 1v1 aganist a faster pokemon that threatens it like darkrai, it can just use the spdef boost to easily stomach the hit and 1 shot you. I swear you guys know its broken but want it in the tier so you don’t have to learn how to wallbreak.

I never said it wasn't good I was just saying it is THE average speed tier in gen 9. There are just a lot of pokemon that are either faster period or are faster after one turn of set up. Also you are acting like Wogerpon can just force its way through anything when it really can't. There are such things as water resists and there are plenty of things that resist its other moves.

 

[JackRG]

I never said it wasn't good I was just saying it is THE average speed tier in gen 9. There are just a lot of pokemon that are either faster period or are faster after one turn of set up. Also you are acting like Wogerpon can just force its way through anything when it really can't. There are such things as water resists and there are plenty of things that resist its other moves.

Let’s hear them. You say there are ivy cudgel switch ins but tell me what can handle tera water ivy cudgel backed by coverage like pwhip, play rough, knock, uturn, taunt, and encore. Knock + Uturn paired with hazards on its own can in invalidate pretty much everything that doesn't instantly collapse to ivy cudgel

 

[olamomalo]

Let’s hear them. You say there are ivy cudgel switch ins but tell me what can handle tera water ivy cudgel backed by coverage like pwhip, play rough, knock, uturn, taunt, and encore. Knock + Uturn paired with hazards on its own can in invalidate pretty much everything that doesn't instantly collapse to ivy cudgel

Stop trying to make your balance teams LARP as full stall. You can’t and won’t switch-in to everything forever; sometimes offensive counter-play or more aggressive positioning is necessary. God forbid something causes the game to progress to a conclusion lol.

 

[JackRG]

Stop trying to make your balance teams LARP as full stall. You can’t and won’t switch-in to everything forever; sometimes offensive counter-play or more aggressive positioning is necessary. God forbid something causes the game to progress to a conclusion lol.

Not trying to switch in forever, I’m not sure where you got that. I’m trying to switch in ONCE, lmao. Its absolutely healthy to be able to make progress, you don’t see me complain about darkrai, weavile, gliscor, dragapult, or whatever. The issue is not it making progress, its claiming automatic KOs everytime in comes in that is. Healthy progress makers like those mentioned above actually need to work to get past checks, ogerpon is not one of them. I’m sorry if you will lose 500 elo when oger gets banned because you have no idea how to actually wallbreak. Usually a breaker with this much raw power (say, choice band hoopa or crawdaunt) has to WORK to position itself, oger comes in on so many things and can literally grab a free spdef boost whenever it wants and claim instant KOs. Thats why its unhealthy for the tier.

Stop trying to make your balance teams LARP as full stall. You can’t and won’t switch-in to everything forever; sometimes offensive counter-play or more aggressive positioning is necessary. God forbid something causes the game to progress to a conclusion lol.

Please for love of god actually learn to read. I’ve already said numerous times that offensive counterplay is shaky at best when almost every faster mon can’t ko it first, exasperated by the spdef boost. I am open to hearing counter arguments, but almost every dnb argument I’ve seen on oger has been in incredibly bad faith.

 

[toshimelonhead]

Not trying to switch in forever, I’m not sure where you got that. I’m trying to switch in ONCE, lmao. Its absolutely healthy to be able to make progress, you don’t see me complain about darkrai, weavile, gliscor, dragapult, or whatever. The issue is not it making progress, its claiming automatic KOs everytime in comes in that is. Healthy progress makers like those mentioned above actually need to work to get past checks, ogerpon is not one of them. I’m sorry if you will lose 500 elo when oger gets banned because you have no idea how to actually wallbreak. Usually a breaker with this much raw power (say, choice band hoopa or crawdaunt) has to WORK to position itself, oger comes in on so many things and can literally grab a free spdef boost whenever it wants and claim instant KOs. Thats why its unhealthy for the tier.

Please for love of god actually learn to read. I’ve already said numerous times that offensive counterplay is shaky at best when almost every faster mon can’t ko it first, exasperated by the spdef boost. I am open to hearing counter arguments, but almost every dnb argument I’ve seen on oger has been in incredibly bad faith.

This is a legitimate point despite what the one liner before it may seem.

To answer the "legitimate" DnB concerns, Wellspring's biggest DnB argument isn't that it's not strong (it is incredibly strong), but that incredibly strong is the new bar to stick around in SV OU. It is true that not much switches in, but there are enough things holding it back that even Firepon didn't have hampering it. Tera Water paired with Water Absorb works for covering up some weaknesses, but also restricts it enough to where at least it's one Tera type and not 19 (acknowledging UltraSword already made this point but it's worth repeating). The item restriction also hurts its abilities to serve other roles beyond what its movepool provides. If you are looking for the best offensive counterplay though, First Impression abusers handle it really well. Lokix can checkmate it and even Slither Wing can take a hit or two from it in a pinch. It's still a top 5 mon in SV OU, but I have other things I break laptops in anger at over losing more.

 

[Avira]

This is such goofy conspiracy theory stuff I’m sorry and I’m not saying that to be mean. They focus primarily on qualified results but they absolutely consider the general player base as well, as they’re a large part of the playerbase that can influence tiering through suspects.

Can you stop bringing American toxicity (calling anything you dislike a conspiracy theory) into this with randomly calling my take a conspiracy theory? As can be seen by the results of the OU surveys, it is a fact that whoever posts the survey results only posts honourable mentions/write-in mentions by the qualified playerbase, which shows that this is the group that the OU Council looks at regarding tiering action.

Honorable mentions (among qualified only): Kyurem (12), Solgaleo (1), Stored Power (4), Heat Rock (2), Damp Rock (1), Tera Blast (6), Gliscor (12), Quick Claw (4), Unaware (1), Dragapult (2), Lugia (3), Spikes (1), Paralysis (1), Booster Energy (4), Boots (1), Cacturne (1), Urshifu-Single (2), Urshifu-Rapid (1), Sleep unban (1), RIllaboom (1), Iron Valiant (2), Sneasler (1), Quick Draw (1), Dondozo (3), Sticky Webs (1), Electro Shot (1), "DEFENSE BOOSTING MOVES" (1), Ting Lu (1), Iron Moth (1), Samurott-H (1), and Weavile (1)

Honorable mentions (among qualified only, which is 154 people):

• Gholdengo (14)
• Gliscor (13)
• Terastallization (12)
• Gouging Fire (9)
• Roaring Moon (8)
• Booster Energy (7)
• Garganacl (6)
• Tera Blast (5)
• Stored Power (6)
• Palafin re-test (4)
• Deoxys-Speed (2)
• Dragapult (2)
• Urshifu-Rapid re-test (2)
• Magearna re-test (2 -- both also mentioned banning Stored Power)
• Volcarona re-test (1 -- one mentioned banning Tera Blast)
• Unaware (2)
• Slowking-Galar (1)
• Rillaboom (1)
• Moltres (1)
• Zapdos (1)
• Protosynthesis (1)
• Quark Drive (1)
• Archaludon re-test (1)
• Ogerpon-Hearthflame re-test (1)
• Espathra re-test (1 -- mentioned banning Stored Power)
• Annihilape re-test (1)
• Solgaleo re-test (1)
• Iron Bundle re-test (1)
• Lugia re-test (1)
• Regieleki re-test (1 -- mentioned banning Tera Blast)
• Terastallization shown at Team Preview (1)

Other notes:

• Ting-Lu received numerous qualified mentions in the write-in section, comfortably being the most popular in this section.
• Pecharunt received numerous qualified mentions in the write-in section, being the second most popular addition here.
• Gholdengo received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section
• Darkrai received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section
• Roaring Moon received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section
• Solgaleo received multiple qualified mentions for a re-test in the write-in section
• Samurott-Hisui received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section
• Booster Energy received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section
• Other things like Annihilape (re-test), Light Clay, Archaludon, Alomomola, Volcarona (re-test), Static / Flame Body, Ogerpon-Hearthflame, Sneasler, and Lugia (re-test) all received a mention
• Someone requested we look into SS OU Toxapex, which made me laugh

Other notes

• Darkrai received the most qualified mentions in the write-in section, followed closely by Garganacl, Kingambit, Ting-Lu, and Zamazenta.
• Gholdengo, Pecharunt, and Stored Power also received multiple, but fewer, qualified mentions in the write-in section.
• Volcarona received the most qualified mentions in the write-in section for a retest, followed by Roaring Moon, Zamazenta-Crowned, and Regieleki.
• Tests to try long-standing Ubers Solgaleo and Lugia received multiple qualified mentions in the write-in section.

It is clear from the OU tiering surveys that the OU Council caters tiering to high-ladder and tournament players. There's nothing controversial or
conspiratorial about what I posted.

 

[PastaMechKaku]

Tangentially related to the Wellspring discussion, I've been ruminating on the Ogerpon masks and their blanket 1.2x boost to physical attacks. While on face it looks over-tuned, it's intergal to the other masked Ogerpons' design given how they work compared to other Pokemon with different forms.
For things like the Gen 4 legendaries Origin forms, the Gen 8 Crowned dogs and to lesser extent Mega 'mons, they either have their stats optimized or added upon at the cost of their item which none of the Ogerpons have aside from their Embody Aspect (which requires Tera). If the masks were just the stock 1.2x to their STABs, the whole thing would be outright wack cause it would not remotely justify Ogerpons forms having their item slot permanently occupied. While not perfectly balanced, there is a line of logic to be found for the Mask item's strength aside from 'hnnng. More power'.
In terms of the Wellspring suspect, I'm firmly anti-ban, but ultimately fine with it getting suspected as it's reaching a level dominance that could stand be interrogated and the desire to suspect repeat offenders like Kyurem and Gliscor hasn't reached a fever pitch right now AFAIK.
That said, I'm ultimately doubtful it would get banned if was suspected as it has very clear limitations that while on paper can be 'fixed', it usually has some form of opportunity cost (i.e. Synthesis sustain vs a coverage/utility move). I'm not going speak whether Wellspring's departure would result in a thousand years of , but rather I believe at present, it's a powerful Pokemon with very defined strengths and weaknesses and deserves to stay in the tier.