Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v3

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I just want to state that this is entirely false. It’s just that it cannot be a single user — once a fair portion (generally multiple, but dependent on distribution) are deemed broken directly because of a move, it can be fair game.

Shed Tail and Rage Fist were just one user. Your description isn’t correct.
shed tail had two users and broke both of them
 
Banning Tera Blast doesn't solve the other half of the equation, the defensive Teras. Water/Fairy Garg doesn't use Tera Blast for example to simply become a better wall.

What respective opportunity cost? It's a free ace in the hole if you want to sweep/set up, wall, or be used as a counter. You don't use up a item slot, any pokemon can do it (unlike megas for comparison), and you get to keep the surprise factor (similar to Z moves, but of course without the item slot taken up).

The opportunity cost for Tera Blast is a moveslot, as others have said TBlast is basically a dead move 99% of the time if you don't actually Tera the mon, and the opportunity for Tera itself is that you can only pick one type and can only Tera one mon in any given game. If your gameplan revolves around a specific mon's defensive tera, for example, you give up a chance for stronger offense/sweeper. Of course, well-made teams don't always need both the extra offense or extra defense from tera to win, but in general I think Tera choices (both type and when to use Tera) are valid forms of skill expression that aren't particularly problematic on the whole.

I bring up having open Tera types as a solution to create a scenario similar to knowing which Pokemon can mega-evolve without having fully open team sheets. Knowing what tera types your opponent is running cuts down on frustration from mons that 50-50 offensive and defensive tera types like Kingambit and allows players to better play around any defensive Tera options presented.
 
As for my votes:

3 for enjoyment.
3 for balanced.

8 for more aggressive tiering action. I felt this was a fair number without going off the wazoo with quickbans galore.

Gliscor - 2 : Even if Gliscor is banned, the tier is still littered with hazards. It should not be the first priority as Gholdengo has a worse effect on hazards and a ban on Gholdengo would change the meta the most due to how meta-warping it has been since the very beginning.

Manaphy - 4 : This can be very annoying to face due to its bulk and ability to boost very quickly with Tail Glow or more slowly with Take Heart and Stored Power, and it's main problem is how offensive the meta is right now. If we ban Gholdengo, the meta will slow down and lead to a meta that might be more favourable for it, which would be conducive to getting it out of here.

Gholdengo - 5 : A really dumb mon with a stupid ability, high offensive potential, Trick, and recovery. It is very constraining in the builder because you have to out-offense it as walling it is not reliable due to its coverage and high base Special Attack. In a Teraless meta, I can see this being okay, but Gholdengo being able to cheese through all of its checks is incredibly stupid given how very few answers there are.

Ogerpon-Wellspring - 4 : This mon can be very suffocating to face since it shits on defensive teams unless they carry Amoonguss or a Tera Grass wall such as Dondozo that can beat it 1v1. Its main issue is that it gets chipped hard by hazards since it can't run an item, and it can be out-offensed, but its effect on slower builds cannot be understated.

Sneasler - 2 : Honestly, losing to a random Dire Claw sleep blows. It's mainly held back by Gholdengo, Kingambit's Sucker Punch, Dondozo, and some defensive Tera Ghost usage right now, but it could become a lot better when Gholdengo, it's main answer is banned. Grassy Seed due to Rillaboom's return was definitely a notable buff for it.

Kingambit - 5 : Still doing Kingambit things with it being really dumb with Terastal allowed since it can circumvent counterplay with the mechanic allowed, giving it a free turn to boost up and smash the opposing team while having a really strong late-game Sucker Punch that can be hard to outplay without Encore or Will-o-Wisp. Encore and Will-o-Wisp are easily telegraphed though, which makes them unreliable options in my opinion.

Tera Blast - 4 : It adds nothing to the game aside from letting you snipe whatever you want on a select sweeper threat or give broken STAB to something lacking in a good reliable STAB option. If you are pro-Ban on Tera, please see the bigger picture that you need to appeal to the fencesitters before we get an outright ban of the mechanic.

Iron Valiant, Iron Moth, Enamorus, and Booster Energy in general are not problems at all, so I'm glad they weren't on the radar. I'm glad that the OU Council sees that Tera Preview is dumb and has no business in OU as it would actively make the meta worse.
 
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To say having "whatever coverage you want is unhealthy" is historically untrue, for every generation Hidden Power's been available it's been legal.
Now it's obviously somewhat different because Tera Blast effectively has 2x base power (80 + 40 from stab compared to HP's 60), as well as having the option of being physical or special, but you cannot say that just the ability to pick a coverage type makes Tera Blast "Unhealthy".

All users of Tera Blast are mainly good due to the exceptional factors they possess aside from being able to gain a coverage move:

- Kingambit: SD/Sucker with access to Supreme Overlord, has the bulk to be a dedicated tera Pokemon

- Sneasler: Unburden + an insane speed stat with access to SD, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how this combo is good

- Iron Moth: Booster Speed + Fiery Dance = Good, not to mention Moth's already very respectable coverage

Tera Blast is an extremely commital move to run on a moveset, by running it you're essentially dictating: "This will be the Pokemon I tera during most games, since if I don't tera it, I'm wasting a moveslot." Even on offensive teams you can't afford to run more than like, 2 mons with the move, because then you get bloat due to only being able to Tera a mon.

If you're running into a game already pre-deciding which Pokemon of yours is most likely to Tera, then that means that Pokemon individually potentially has broken aspects to it, Tera Blast on it's own isn't the issue.

I think the ban on Tera Blast is at least somewhat analogous to people wanting a Booster Energy ban, it's an option only a very select few Pokemon viably run, has an extreme opportunity cost (booster is only available on first switchin, while Tera Blast takes up a moveslot if you don't Tera), and are factors that make some of the top Pokemon as good as they are, but would have a very large number of domino effects affecting other mons.

TLDR:

Don't artifically nerf Pokemon by banning an aspect that's good on a select few, who are already dominating viability-wise
Honestly, Hidden Power was a pretty unhealthy move too IMO and I'm glad it got dexited. Even with low power, free coverage is kinda stupid.
 
It’s just that it cannot be a single user — once a fair portion (generally multiple, but dependent on distribution) are deemed broken directly because of a move, it can be fair game.

Im curious if you consider like 5 pokemon max(very generous) to really be a fair portion of the moves distribution. Tera blast is given to every pokemon and definitely isnt broken on the vast, vast majority of them. This of course isnt very relevant but even if you just look at ou, the actual amount of pokemon that are not broken with tera blast still outnumbers the amount that are. It would be like if there were 3 rage fist users alongside annahilape that were viable and not broken in ou and one that was broken in ou. Would a rage fist ban still be on the table in this case? There is more than one abuser but the move is demonstrably not broken on other ou mons.
 
Honestly, Hidden Power was a pretty unhealthy move too IMO and I'm glad it got dexited. Even with low power, free coverage is kinda stupid.

Not only was it much lower base power, but in more recent gens Hidden Power was a special move only. Tera Blast once Tera is activated is whatever your higher stat is. A small but meaningful difference.

Being that Hidden Power was so weak (eventually nerfed to 60 BP), it was almost exclusively used as coverage against 4Xs weak mons only. Hence, the prevalence of HP Ice (Garchomp, Dargonite, Gliscor, Lando), HP Fire (Mega-Scizor, Ferrothorn, Kartana), HP Electric (Gyarados, Pelipper), and HP Ground (Heatran).

Tera Blast, by contrast can be used as a legitimate STAB option, see Pinkacross two showcased teams:

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...e-peaked-1-2094-ft-thundurus-therian.3725216/

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...e-balance-peaked-1-2110.3721274/#post-9829402
 
While the subject is grazing Annihilape... I wonder how far out there it would be for Aurora Veil teams to consider Bulk Up Eviolite Primeape. Objectively stupid but I bet my ass it would be a hilarious set to run
i tried primeape a while back (admittedly without veil) first thing i noticed was the extreme power difference between having stab on rage fist vs not. you can tera ghost but that makes you lose to kingambit so not ideal. ultimately it cant juggle all the stuff annihilape could. annihilape behind dual screens is half of what got it banned.
 
It as a move should not be seperated from Tera as a mechanic
I get that Tera Blast inherently relies on Tera (no one is in desperate need of an 80bp Normal move as far as I'm aware) but I don't see why you can't separate them. Why you can't believe the move Tera Blast is bad but Tera itself as okay. Tera enables Tera Blast, sure, Tera also enables some Pokemon to be broken. At its core it is just a move ban.

Prime example actually is Ogerpon-Hearthflame, he's broken due to Tera activating his item, yet no one has seemed to care to argue that Ogerpon holding Hearthflame Mask being broken should not be separated from Tera as a mechanic.

I'll admit I don't think what I talked about is necessarily 1:1, but I think separating the move "Tera Blast" from the mechanic Tera is fine regardless. Tera Blast isn't Tera itself, it's a move improved a ton by Tera (to the point of being banworthy?). Not sure if Tera Blast should be banned though so I don't actually have any real stake here.
 
Prime example actually is Ogerpon-Hearthflame, he's broken due to Tera activating his item, yet no one has seemed to care to argue that Ogerpon holding Hearthflame Mask being broken should not be separated from Tera as a mechanic.

What tera did for hearthflame was give extra power on stab and a new ability. It didn't activate its item, as hearthflame automatically gets the damage boost from its mask by default. No tera needed.
 
I just want to state that this is entirely false. It’s just that it cannot be a single user — once a fair portion (generally multiple, but dependent on distribution) are deemed broken directly because of a move, it can be fair game.

Shed Tail and Rage Fist were just one user. Your description isn’t correct.

Neither Shed Tail nor Rage Fist has one user. Your description isn't correct. I used Shed Tail and Rage Fist as examples because they show exactly what I'm talking about: Shed Tail as a move was banned after Orthworm showed it was the move (not Cyclizar) that made it broken. Rage Fist is arguably what makes Annihilape broken, but because Primeape is balanced with it, the move isn't banned.

Tera Blast is not broken on the vast majority of Pokémon. In all honesty, the Mons that use it best are just the best Tera abusers in general, like Kingambit. If you don't like the uncompetitive nature of a sudden match-up reversal, ban the mechanic that enables Tera Blast. Banning only Tera Blast while leaving Tera (and its most problematic abusers) in the meta is dumping a bucket of water on a house fire.

I'm not even anti-Tera. I play a ton of UU, and I really enjoy the dynamic that Tera brings there. In OU, there are far too many Pokémon that win on the spot with the right Tera, whether they're using the move Tera Blast or not (and most aren't). Fix your tier bro.
 
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What tera did for hearthflame was give extra power on stab and a new ability. It didn't activate its item, as hearthflame automatically gets the damage boost from its mask by default. No tera needed.

Isn't the new ability a direct consequence of the item? Ogerpon does not gain a new ability on Tera without holding a mask item.
 
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Giving my two cents on the survey

With regards to the early question, for both fun and competitiveness, I voted a 6. I feel if I straight up was not having a good time at all, I wouldn't be playing, and games do at least generally feel like the more skilled player wins. That said, tier do be a lil jank. Hence my pick for a 7 on action. The Council has been super transparent these past few months especially, and the suspects have been great, though I am also fine with certain quickbans as well in our fleeting meta.

Gliscor - As much as I love this funky fella being back, he certainly is causing a problem. Even in a Gholdengo-less metagame, Glisc still has his weird bulk, passive HP restoration, easy spikes, and build variety with things like Knock Off, Tera Water Crabhammer, Swords Dance, Facade, etc. I ultimately prefer Gholdengoing away from the tier first, but I have to give it to Glisc for being a serious threat that every single team has to plan an answer to. 4/5

Glold - While Corviknight is certainly the biggest gain in terms of Defog being freed up, other Pokemon certainly benefit as well. Mandibuzz likes to meme on setup sweepers and has defensive uses. Scizor has the ability to pivot, remove hazards, set up, or throw out powerful priority stab. Talonflame has been mentioned but imma be real idk if that guy pops up with no Gholdengo. As others have said, he's a strain on the teambuilder even when not showing up, and has been since month 1 of SV OU. With the ability to use choice trick sets, nasty plot, go defensive w recovery, or just throw out powerful stabs with insane base SpA, Gholdengo has been chillin around here for too long. 5/5

Gambit - I also gave Gambit a 5, despite honestly kinda liking the mindgames. Until Tera as a mechanic is dealt with, my man do just be able to set up coinflips and win games on almost any style of play in any team. Counterplay exists, but also generally needs to be proactive, as a misread with swords dance or getting chunked on a switch makes many answers hard to actually get in. Moth subbing on a sucker punch revenge kill attempt feels good every single time though. 5/5,

Manaphy - This lil fella I think either breaks your team open or just doesn't. Answers aren't omnipresent, but I think are more available than some may anticipate. Even aside from just "hit hard with stab and win the speed war" with something like Meowscarada or like some Thunder user, anything that can phase mons out like in hazard stack or nullify boosts through Haze/Clear Smog basically forces the Manaphy out and allows you to do whatever with that turn from setting more hazards, double switching, or forcing progress with Knock Off. 3/5

Woger - Man I hate this girl. I don't think she's meta warping or anything as 350 is a tier that can be beaten by basically any speed booster mon or simply fast fellas, but tera gives both insane damage and a better defensive profile in becoming mono water/the SpD boost. 4MSS is a thing, but also makes you worried any time you're trying to plan your answer to Woger, as it can be running any one of Knock, Encore, Trailblaze, Play Rough, Stomping Tantrum, or maybe something else I'm not remembering. If it gets in on something that forces a switch, one Swords Dance basically forces immediate progress that can be hard to recover from. I went with a 4 here since I think counterplay exists, but I'm curious where a suspect would go.

Sneasler - This mon is annoying but definitely has a case of negative bias. Dire Claw is easy to fish and makes people mad, and the Rillaboom/seed core is maddeningly effective. That said, I just don't see it as something in need of action, and especially not now. 2/5

Tera Blast - I don't actually really want a Tera Blast ban, as my preferred restriction would 100% be preview, but I've been swayed by the last few posts. Tera will either be all or nothing until we finally decide on which restriction we actually want to test out to see if Tera still ends up being as overbeating as it currently is. Aside from making complete unrestricted Tera people mad, taking action on the mechanic in some way or another (assuming this is before DLC2 where we know the mechanic will be revisited in earnest) will make the current metagame more bearable while also acting as evidence that even with a relevant restriction, Tera is warping the tier. As such, while I think preview does more to keep the spirit of Tera (Gamefreak seems to agree with VGC) in tact while minimizing coinflip scenarios, I'll support action on Tera Blast in the meantime. 4/5
 
Neither Shed Tail nor Rage Fist has one user. Your description isn't correct. I used Shed Tail and Rage Fist as examples because they show exactly what I'm talking about: Shed Tail as a move was banned after Orthworm showed it was the move (not Cyclizar) that made it broken. Rage Fist is arguably what makes Annihilape broken, but because Primeape is balanced with it, the move isn't banned.

Tera Blast is not broken on the vast majority of Pokémon. In all honesty, the Mons that use it best are just the best Tera abusers in general, like Kingambit. If you don't like the uncompetitive nature of a sudden match-up reversal, ban the mechanic that enables Tera Blast. Banning only Tera Blast while leaving Tera (or at the very least, the worst offenders) in the meta is dumping a bucket of water on a house fire.

I'm not even anti-Tera. I play a ton of UU, and I really enjoy the dynamic that Tera brings there. In OU, there are far too many Pokémon that win on the spot with the right Tera, whether they're using the move Tera Blast or not (and most aren't). Fix your tier bro.

Regardless of how much sense you think it makes to ban Tera Blast, there is a sizable group of the playerbase that is much larger than the pro-Ban camp (not me. I want an outright ban) that would prefer to try a restriction on the mechanic before an outright ban since it's the generational mechanic. If you do not appease this group of players, the Terastal mechanic will NEVER be banned. If you want a ban on Tera, you need to be willing to meet this group in the middle and implement a restriction, as otherwise, the second Tera suspect test will be yet another worthless waste of time once again.
 
Neither Shed Tail nor Rage Fist has one user. Your description isn't correct. I used Shed Tail and Rage Fist as examples because they show exactly what I'm talking about: Shed Tail as a move was banned after Orthworm showed it was the move (not Cyclizar) that made it broken. Rage Fist is arguably what makes Annihilape broken, but because Primeape is balanced with it, the move isn't banned.
This just proved what I said…Shed Tail took multiple prominent users being problems to get banned.
Tera Blast is not broken on the vast majority of Pokémon. In all honesty, the Mons that use it best are just the best Tera abusers in general, like Kingambit. If you don't like the uncompetitive nature of a sudden match-up reversal, ban the mechanic that enables Tera Blast. Banning only Tera Blast while leaving Tera (and its most problematic abusers) in the meta is dumping a bucket of water on a house fire.
Nobody ever said anything about vast majority. I don’t even necessarily think that Tera Blast should be banned, but we should 100% be discussing it when it caused 3+ Pokemon to be banned. We should be discussing Tera as a whole as well — absolutely.
OU, there are far too many Pokémon that win on the spot with the right Tera, whether they're using the move Tera Blast or not (and most aren't). Fix your tier bro.
“Fix your tier bro” lol ok I was just correcting you, no need to be rude for no reason whatsoever. We have done what our playerbase has wanted and will continue to operate with this in mind.

Petty nonsense like this “fix your tier” shit when all I was doing was providing factual information is so baffling. People want to know why OUTLs and OU councils have been so shy of posting for so many generations before this one? It’s because of tones/attitudes mirroring that.
 
Regardless of how much sense you think it makes to ban Tera Blast, there is a sizable group of the playerbase that is much larger than the pro-Ban camp (not me. I want an outright ban) that would prefer to try a restriction on the mechanic before an outright ban since it's the generational mechanic. If you do not appease this group of players, the Terastal mechanic will NEVER be banned. If you want a ban on Tera, you need to be willing to meet this group in the middle and implement a restriction, as otherwise, the second Tera suspect test will be yet another worthless waste of time once again.

What's the point in doing something non-sensical when both camps know what the only outcomes are? We knew that every single user of Last Respects was going to be broken, but we banned Houndstone instead of the move for months anyway until the Basculegions were released. It was nonsense and a waste of Council's time.

There is no centrist position here that makes a lick of sense. A Tera Blast Suspect would be a waste of the community's time. Banning Tera Blast is acknowledging that Tera creates unstable metagame dynamics yet doing nothing to actually address the problem. Tera preview is similar--you would just know that Gambit is Tera Flying before you 50/50 Headlong/Ice Spinner with Tusk.

Everyone knows there's only two outcomes for a balanced meta: we either get rid of Tera as a mechanic, or we have the longest ban list in the history of Smogon OU. Let's not waste time with meeting in the middle.
 
1698709270968.png
5/5: It's about time the cheese stick is gholdengone. This mon has been exacerbating the hazards issue since before HOME and is now one of the key reasons why Gliscor spikes and webs HO are so overwhelming. Gliscor teams don't even have to run Ghold to benefit from the ways it shapes the removal meta. With hazards at an all-time oppressive level, I don't see any compelling reason to keep this around.
1698709323156.png
5/5: I was borderline on this one but ultimately opted for a 5 instead of a 4. Gliscor spikes are absolutely an issue right now. While Gliscor will no doubt be made less annoying by a Ghold ban by virtue of freeing up Corviknight's defog, I believe that it will remain overbearing even in a Gholdless meta.

If/when Ghold is banned, Gliscor will still have an unparalleled ability to punish both Tusk and Ace with toxic, which will shoehorn balance teams into running Defog Corv if they want to force any progress against its spikes. This is not the kind of meta I want to play. We need both Ghold and Gliscor banned for Tusk, Ace, and Corv to all become equally viable and splashable removal options to relieve the hazard pressure on the meta.
1698709240642.png5/5: Gambit's had a long reign but it's time for it to end. The fact that most teams have to run multiples of Tusk/Fast Encore/Will-o-Wisp in order to avoid folding to a Gambit endgame is a testament to the unreasonable pressure it puts on the builder. Gambit can also cheese it's way through typical counterplay with sets like Mental Herb Tera Fire, which are becoming increasingly viable now that Tusk has to deal with Gliscor's toxic chipping its longevity.
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3/5: The Watermelon is a powerful and splashable threat, but it's also held back by its succeptability to hazard chip and tera predicability. It's absolutely worth keeping on the radar, but I feel that it's a much lower priority than the Big Three Gs.
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2/5: While both of these mons are not overly problematic right now, they will become more difficult to manage with future bans. Manaphy will likely become overbearing if Waterpon ever gets the boot. Meanwhile, Sneasler's stabs, particularly dire claw, will become much more spammable once Ghold and Gliscor are banned. Both are worth keeping an eye on.

Tera Blast 2/5: Not a top priority in my opinion. I personally haven't had any issues with tera blast when laddering. While it was responsible for the Volcarona and Regieleki bans, I don't feel that it is causing any major problems in the present meta to warrant immediate action. Hazards and gambit are a far more pressing issue.

I feel that an ideal sequence of action would be: (first)1698709270968.pngban -> 1698709323156.pngban ->1698709240642.pngban. I believe that Gliscor would still be problematic without Ghold, but I would like to see a Gholdless meta first.
 
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Nobody ever said anything about vast majority. I don’t even necessarily think that Tera Blast should be banned, but we should 100% be discussing it when it caused 3+ Pokemon to be banned.

I want to present a hypothetical to you that I think is pretty similar to the current dilemma to try to understand this argument, because I really don't get it. Lets say that gamefreak makes a new legendary trio that get only one ability that makes them invulnerable every other turn and take triple damage every other turn and they also get protect. Obviously, this is completely broken. However, without protect, these mons are completely balanced. Would you say that in this case protect is a move that needs to be discussed? There is more than one mon that is completely broken with protect in this case. However, there are also obviously protect users in ou that are not broken because of the move. You might say that this is a logical extreme and that things like this need to be done on a case by case basis, but as far as I'm aware the point of tiering action is to be as consistent as possible and its the reason houndstone was stuck in ubers until basculeigon came out.
 
What's the point in doing something non-sensical when both camps know what the only outcomes are? We knew that every single user of Last Respects was going to be broken, but we banned Houndstone instead of the move for months anyway until the Basculegions were released. It was nonsense and a waste of Council's time.

There is no centrist position here that makes a lick of sense. A Tera Blast Suspect would be a waste of the community's time. Banning Tera Blast is acknowledging that Tera creates unstable metagame dynamics yet doing nothing to actually address the problem. Tera preview is similar--you would just know that Gambit is Tera Flying before you 50/50 Headlong/Ice Spinner with Tusk.

Everyone knows there's only two outcomes for a balanced meta: we either get rid of Tera as a mechanic, or we have the longest ban list in the history of Smogon OU. Let's not waste time with meeting in the middle.

Regarding the bold, that's not what the actual situation is. If the next Tera suspect is a ranked choice vote with Ban Terastal outright, Ban Tera Blast, or No Action, Ban Tera Blast would win, and there would be a change to the meta with Espathra, Regieleki, and Volcarona freed.

If the fencesitters still find Terastal broken after a Tera Blast ban, we'd finally be able to enact a Terastal ban. We won't be getting a Terastal ban before the fencesitters are pleased that a step was taken to preserve Tera, so this is the ideal pathway to an outright ban of it even if you refuse to see it.
 
What's the point in doing something non-sensical when both camps know what the only outcomes are? We knew that every single user of Last Respects was going to be broken, but we banned Houndstone instead of the move for months anyway until the Basculegions were released. It was nonsense and a waste of Council's time.
It's more so the principle. Everybody knew that last respects was the problem, but since it was houndstone's signature move, you had to follow tiering policy. It does call into question if it should be changed, but what is making a pokemon broken or not is subjective, as even though rage fist is a bonkers move, it doesn't break primeape. Again, leads to a slippery slope of what move is banworthy.
Although I do think that banning tera blast is a step in the right direction because simply put, it will make the meta better. The only condition would be not unbanning anything that was made broken by tera blast until after DLC2. There are not really any negatives, only positives as a pokemon can't just have amazing coverage which is stab, and also could get people who want tera unchanged to realize that at the very least restricting tera would be a good thing.
 
There is no centrist position here that makes a lick of sense. A Tera Blast Suspect would be a waste of the community's time. Banning Tera Blast is acknowledging that Tera creates unstable metagame dynamics yet doing nothing to actually address the problem. Tera preview is similar--you would just know that Gambit is Tera Flying before you 50/50 Headlong/Ice Spinner with Tusk.
Big disagree. For one, as we saw in the last Tera suspect, the no ban crowd, especially when fearful of an outright ban, will show up in droves to make sure nothing happens. At worst you, what, waste two weeks of tiering time? If you're of the opinion that Tera is almost exclusively the problem, then every single other suspect test between Tera and now would also have been a waste of time. If you already agree to this notion, then surely two more weeks to suspect Blast is not that much significantly worse than the ~40 weeks we've had since testing Tera the first time.

I also disagree about preview being useless. Sure, if you're at Fallen 5 and in the Tusk scenario outlined above, there are still coinflips which can exist. However, this assumes that Kingambit solely runs Tera Flying for some reason. Simply knowing Gambit's Tera type turns the coinflip situation into something that is at the very least no longer a game of chance and allows people to better hedge their endgame plans. Additionally, sweepers will frequently Tera to flip the type chart to gain a free turn of setup while reducing or nullifying damage taken, increasing their offensive repitoire, or often both. Some mons, like Dragonite, almost always use the exact same Tera, and we play around them by knowing their game plan and stopping it. Others, like Espathra (iirc Fairy and Fighting were both insane), Volcarona (The entire starter trio of types), or Kingambit (I've seen Ghost, Dark, Flying, Fairy, and Fire, among other things) are tipped over the edge by how they quite literally pick their checks. In both scenarios, Gambit and setup Tera, I fail to see how preview isn't at least objectively better than what we have now when it comes to turn-to-turn gameplay. As others have said, if this or Blast get tested/axed, the pro tera crowd has a lot less to fall back on in defense of the mechanic.
 
If the next Tera suspect is a ranked choice vote with Ban Terastal outright, Ban Tera Blast, or No Action, Ban Tera Blast would win, and there would be a change to the meta with Espathra, Regieleki, and Volcarona freed.
IMO there's no way for Espathra to be balanced, even in a Tera-less meta. Speed Boost + Stored Power is such an absurdly cheap, skilless and uncompetitive strategy that forces way too many matchup wins, and would still warp the teambuilding process so much by having to include a Dark-type mon in every team in order not to lose against it. It's a situation similar to Ape's Ragefist, where the whole 350 BP move is enough of an excuse to consider this mon unworthy of being in OU.
 
This just proved what I said…Shed Tail took multiple prominent users being problems to get banned.

Nobody ever said anything about vast majority. I don’t even necessarily think that Tera Blast should be banned, but we should 100% be discussing it when it caused 3+ Pokemon to be banned. We should be discussing Tera as a whole as well — absolutely.

“Fix your tier bro” lol ok I was just correcting you, no need to be rude for no reason whatsoever. We have done what our playerbase has wanted and will continue to operate with this in mind.

Petty nonsense like this “fix your tier” shit when all I was doing was providing factual information is so baffling. People want to know why OUTLs and OU councils have been so shy of posting for so many generations before this one? It’s because of tones/attitudes mirroring that.

Still don't think you're getting what I'm saying with the Shed Tail/Last Respects comparisons. Both were handled messily from a tiering perspective--though it was obvious that the moves and not the users were broken, it took multiple users to "prove" the moves were broken before action was taken. Tera Blast will never reach that level, even among the users we've already banned. Volc and Espathra are still very much broken without Tera Blast so long as they can change their typing. Either the mechanic or the Pokémon that most abuse it needs to go, and we've got to make a decision of which path we're going down.

Coulda been a bit more diplomatic but all I'm saying is this: don't waste time with a Tera Blast suspect when there's far more pressing matters at hand. It's a nonsensical, fence-sitting position that will only frustrate the community. There's broken Pokémon and hazards to be addressed first with a second DLC on the horizon.

Appreciate the chance to chat with you. Best of luck fixing the tier.
 
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