Project [NEW] SV OU Office Hours [BACK OPEN FOR QUESTIONS]

Finchinator

Finchinator

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This thread will serve as "office hours" for me -- you can ask anything you would like within reason about OU tiering or the OU metagame and I will respond. For the first week, I will be more loose with questions, but in the future I may disregard anything already asked or anything unfit for the thread.

"Office hours" are traditionally held each week for an instructor to help their students with specific questions, but the dynamic here is a bit different as I see us all as equals and I am just trying to pass information or opinions I have that should be publicly accessible. The hope for this thread is to further increase transprency, bridge the knowledge gap about our tiering, and to make everyone comfortable and confident in the progression of our OU metagame!

This thread will be open for the first few days each week to public questions (for this week since we are starting a bit late, it will be open through the end of Thursday) about tiering and the metagame; during the second half of the week, I will respond to questions in this thread while leaving it locked to further questions until the following week. Inappropriate questions will be deleted and inapplicable questions may be ignored, but everything that fits will be responded to.

If you are unsure about thread etiquette, forum rules apply and you can VM/PM me about anything you may be unsure of. Enjoy!

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Week 1: Questions open November 8th and November 9th. I will respond November 10th to November 12th.
 
The precedent/expectation will be that I respond in bulk later in the week, but some questions are timely and likely common, so I may answer them individually in advance. This is one example:
Magcargo said:
Are we going to have more suspects for the DLC 1 metagame after the Gliscor test has concluded?
Click to expand...
I have time and resources alotted for one more potential survey and suspect test after Gliscor concludes and before DLC2 drops in December. This happening hinges on community support and council discussions, but I would describe the perceived chance of another suspect happening as "likely". My expectation and personal hope is to have another suspect test after Gliscor (and perhaps a corresponding survey prior).
 
Do you think we’ll see Garganacl rise to OU again? Salt Cure and immunity to Status aliments + a pseudo-Ghost resist are still really powerful tools. It seems like it’s on a steady rise and could skyrocket if Gliscor was to be banned.
 
if a tiering survey has a result that is for ex. sneasler 4.25 from casuals but has a 1.5 result from qualifed (lets assume that is possible) whose voice is more likely to be the one considered in the tiering?

In a case of gholdengo vs gliscor what made the decision of gliscor first despite the fact that gholdengo was the main reason people were reciting? It is weird that a long term problem people had with it and while yes i agree gliscor is prob banworthy or S tier without gholdengo i bet its much more managable without it.

With gliscor in the meta what are common lando-t sets? Where would it fit where a gliscor would nt be able to and where you would like to have a landorus-therian. Ofc i know its viable but im just curious where one would slot it over the spike stacking progress maker gliscor
 
Do you expect for the tera suspect test, post release of DLC 2, to follow the same timing as the first suspect test and conclude prior to the start of SPL?

(I know this may be a little premature and can save it for a later date if more appropriate)
 
Would you prioritize a stable or fun metagame? I remember that not too long ago Gen6 UU players banned slurpuff, not because it was broken within the tier, but because it limited teambuilding a lot to include counters specificly to it. Would OU follow a similar path with, say, Sneasler? Sneasler is really good on it's own, yet dire claw isn't what you could call a fan favourite move

And a sillier question. Now that Garchomp has dropped from OU, will it continue to be your pfp? Probably you won't answer this as is not metagame related but, I am kinda curious lol
 
What good in your opinion would it make to host another Suspect after Gliscor, knowing that the opinion in the surveys won't be forged after a while if Glisc is banned, and would therefore not reflect the full picture ?

Adding to that, woudln't the suspected Mon just get unbanned after DLC 2 ?

I've heard you talk in length about unbanning/restesting Mon for DLC 2, but if any Mon in the current banlist deserves a retest in the opinion of the council, none of those are less strong/broken than let's say, a Gholdengo for example, and if we unbanned the likes of Urshifu-RS/Volcarona/Roaring Moon/I don't know what you have in mind, I think any Mon being suspected and maybe banned after Gliscor would also deserve a retest, making them virtually banned for only a few days, one week at best.

Same could be said for Gliscor, altough for him the period of observation without his presence in the meta will be more significative.

I know you want to be as transparent as possible on tiering, so this is a few questions I had in mind concerning the near future of said tiering.
 
Recently, I have seen the surge in webs teams. Ribombee offers no cheeky counterplay along with Ghold on webs teams that continue to put pressure on both new and experienced players alike. What do you think can be done to counter this type of synergy outside of centralised cores/complex or simple hazard control methods?
 
I've seen a decent number of people saying that in the current meta, some playstyles (like Hyper Offense and Hazard Stack) are vastly superior to others (such as Bulky Offense and Stall), to the point where they feel like the latter playstyles don't seem to be worth running at the moment.

That made me think : is it inherently wrong that in a given meta, some general team structures are significantly less effective than others, in your opinion?
Also, to what extent does the council think that, broadly speaking, tiering action should result in an overall greater number of viable playstyles?

I don't really have a solid opinion regarding these two questions, but I was interested in knowing what you think.
 
First off, thank you for trying this out. I am excited to see how the format goes.

I guess my big question is what should players expect during DLC2? I know you mentioned that the council (or at least you, idr) was in favor of a partial reset. What would that entail? What concepts or mons would be on the council’s radar for a drop at the start/during dlc2?
 
How does gen 9's general power level compare to gen 8, taking into account of offensive Teras? To my eyes, there's more pokemon with crazy high offensive stats—albeit no beast boosters— allowed in OU now, but tera providing a further 50% boost to stab seems to push this over the edge at times with STAB teras making switching a less ideal option, even for pokemon that 1/2 resist those STAB attacks. Also, I feel like stall and hyperoffense are having a good time in gen 9, with balance drawing a shorter straw in terms of viability (not as bad as sand tho LMAO), though I wonder if you agree with that sentiment.
 
What's the biggest headache you've faced in trying to ensure the Meta Game develops in a healthy way? In a way, hardships that were either unexpected or foresaw but unprepared for adequately.
 
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