You can look at any mathematical conception of centralization you want, and it will show you that the centralization between OU and UU is relatively insignificant (or by some measures UU is more centralized).
OU isn't centralized because of Salamence's presence-- it's because a bunch of really strong players with a mind to win have all been playing the same game with the same pokemon for a good number of years now.
Look at a yu-gi-oh meta where every other deck is lightsworn or a fighting game meta where everyone constantly uses the same 3-4 characters, and I think you will understand that smogon's OU hardly ought to be considered "severe centralization." That's rather laughable.
Besides variety via the real means of allowing as many pokemon in a tier as possible is just as valuable (if not more) than trying to somehow indirectly "remove centralization" to "theoretically" give more poor weak pokemon a shot by banning pokemon.
If the only goal is increasing the number of viable pokemon, I can guarantee you that banning say, Blissey or Skarmory would have a much greater impact just in numbers.
I perfectly agree that in this metagame they are.
I'm not talking about the meta-- or do you not know how to read? I explicitly said
simply looking at the type chart. That means before you look at any pokemon's bst's, typing, what have you, Water and Steel are already undoubtably 2 of the top 3 types.
I only contest that it is mostly because of the power coming from the Dragon Typing that causes those two types to be viewed as better than the rest.
Bullshit. And I already explicitly made my reasonings out to ignore dragon.
Indeed, it is the best defensive typing. But only 2-3 of the 10 OU steel type pokemon are actually used defensively. If it seems logically odd to you that the hands down best defensive type doesn't really play defensively, then you're not insane. I again contest that the reason behind that is because without bulky high power Steels, it's highly useful Dragon resist cannot be capitalized upon.
What the hell are you talking about? Metagross, Scizor, Jirachi, Heatran, Empoleon, Magnezone, never mind Skarm and Bronzong-- ALL of these pokemon find at least half their use in the fact that they are capable of tanking against if not completely walling certain threats.
Even more offensive steels like Lucario, Scarf-Rachi and Band Scizor are only useful because their terrific resistances (defensive prowess) allow them to come in and either set up or otherwise take advantage of pokemon who are unable to touch them because of their resistances.
This is actually completely wrong. Ice and Water are the only useful Resistance here, as STAB Fire moves are very rarely seen in OU (only Heatran and Infernape), and the Steel type isn't necesarily considered the best type coverage move regardless. The Flying type is a FAR better defensive typing with it's immunity to the extremely common Ground attacks and resistance to the very common Fighting attacks, while also coming with a self healing move that gets rid of all Flying weaknesses after use. The only reason Bulky Waters are more prevalent than other bulky types is because they are the most likely type to carry the non-STAB Ice Moves (That aren't named Hidden Power). They can absorb the neutral Dragon hit, and almost always OHKO back, which is something the Flying type (or any of the other types for that matter) can claim.
You seem to have real trouble reading the English language. I clearly said "General Tank."
What's a general tank's job? Not walling specific threats with resistances. A general tank's job is to pose as a defensive check to a wide range of different offensive pokemon simply because
they lack exploitable weaknesses. It's got nothing to do with resistances, though I argue that water's are still very useful.
Whether you like it or not, fire is extremely common, even if unstabbed due to steel's strength as a typing, and whether Steel itself is a good attacking type or not, Jirachi's Iron Head, Scizor's Bullet Punch and Metagross' Meteor Mash are undoubtedly some of the most potent attacks in the meta.
Steel has the best resistances in the game, but it's also weak to some of the most common offensive typings around, namely fire, fighting and ground.
Flying is SR weak for crying out loud! And then on top of that weak to Ice (and rock), arguably the 2 best overall attacking types in the game (and definitely the 2 best secondary attacking types).
Types that are weak to Rock (due to SR), Bug (due to U-Turn), and Dark (due to pursuit) are inherently at a disadvantage for general tanking.
Water is neutral or better against all the most common attacking types and indirect damage. That is what makes them the premier general tanks.
Now if you had talked about fighting, then maybe you'd have a better argument on your hand as Psychic and Flying are arguably even more difficult weaknesses to take advantage of and it has SR resistance. Still, overall water types have the much superior base stats defensively overall, which is why they are more common than bulky fighting types.
We've now hit upon why waters are more valuable. Because they have the offensive coverage move that no other types can use in OU, barring ACTUAL Ice Types. As I said before, they serve as a natural check to Dragon Types, and it is because of this that they were favored over other bulky options.
You seem to be completely ignoring the Swift Swimmers, and even the most used water type pokemon ever, Gyarados. Bulky isn't the only option, it's just a very useful one.
A swift swimmer or dragon dancer is inherently a set up sweeper (as is empoleon). Set up sweepers really do need some degree of bulk in order to succeed, and with their generally low base speed scores, it goes without saying that Gyarados, Kingdra, Empoleon, etc. all HAVE to depend on their bulk to a degree in order to succeed. Hence why I said, and I will quote myself:
So while Water is obviously one of the best types just by looking at the type chart (and has the greatest diversity of usable members to choose from of any type), almost all its members have to pick strategies that relies on bulk. Hence Bulky Waters.
Including set up sweepers also having to depend on a certain degree of defensive prowess. OU water types are good to the point that even the most offensive sets for gyara, empoleon or kingdra can to some degree or another be depended on by the team as a defensive pillar.
