Cinderace has recently been heavily considered as a ban-worthy Pokemon in OU, and before any finalization within the banning progress commences, I want to suggest an alternative measure that would allow Cinderace to stay, while banning it's ability Libero instead. My understanding of the tiering policy on Smogon is that an ability should only be banned if you can demonstrate that it's inherently broken in and of itself, like Shadow Tag, for example, which proved to even be effective even on bad pokemon. This line of reasoning is fair, and makes sense in almost all instances because banning abilities negatively effects other non-broken Pokemon with access to the same ability. However, in the case of Cinderace, I believe an exception should be granted for a multitude of reasons.
Reasons for an Exception:
1. Libero is an ability exclusive to Cinderace(and it's pre-evolutions) so this negative impacts no other pokemon.
2. Libero is the only reason Cinderace is ban-worthy in OU.
3. Cinderace is a viable OU Pokemon without Libero. No other Pokemon has been banned on Smogon due to wielding an ability that is exclusive to it, while also having an alternate ability(Blaze) that is viable, yet not broken in the metagame. The perfect comparable Pokemon to this is Greninja which was banned in ORAS OU for the same reason, yet Torrent Greninja was clearly unviable in OU, so there was no reason to ban Protean. The reason Cinderace is viable in OU is due to Court Change, which is not even used on the Libero set.
4. Cinderace gets exclusive access to Court Change, a new move that switches hazards and Screens to the opposite side. This move is a game-changing mechanic that has been extremely under utilized so far in Gen 8. When using Court Change Cinderace, the opponent setting hazards/screens creates reverse progress for the player, which is a mechanic that completely changes the way typical competitive singles is played, and creates a new strategic dynamic.
5. Cinderace was extremely successful in SPL, with the highest win percentage of any Pokemon with double digit usage ( 35 | Cinderace | 10 | 3.55% | 70.00% |) This clearly shows that Cinderace has value in the OU metagame without Libero.
For these reasons, I believe an exception to the Tiering Policy is warranted. The only downside to banning Libero rather than Cinderace is merely to maintain consistency with the policy, and that seems like a poor reason when it compromises a viable and balanced OU Pokemon wielding a unique game-changing move.
Reasons for an Exception:
1. Libero is an ability exclusive to Cinderace(and it's pre-evolutions) so this negative impacts no other pokemon.
2. Libero is the only reason Cinderace is ban-worthy in OU.
3. Cinderace is a viable OU Pokemon without Libero. No other Pokemon has been banned on Smogon due to wielding an ability that is exclusive to it, while also having an alternate ability(Blaze) that is viable, yet not broken in the metagame. The perfect comparable Pokemon to this is Greninja which was banned in ORAS OU for the same reason, yet Torrent Greninja was clearly unviable in OU, so there was no reason to ban Protean. The reason Cinderace is viable in OU is due to Court Change, which is not even used on the Libero set.
4. Cinderace gets exclusive access to Court Change, a new move that switches hazards and Screens to the opposite side. This move is a game-changing mechanic that has been extremely under utilized so far in Gen 8. When using Court Change Cinderace, the opponent setting hazards/screens creates reverse progress for the player, which is a mechanic that completely changes the way typical competitive singles is played, and creates a new strategic dynamic.
5. Cinderace was extremely successful in SPL, with the highest win percentage of any Pokemon with double digit usage ( 35 | Cinderace | 10 | 3.55% | 70.00% |) This clearly shows that Cinderace has value in the OU metagame without Libero.
For these reasons, I believe an exception to the Tiering Policy is warranted. The only downside to banning Libero rather than Cinderace is merely to maintain consistency with the policy, and that seems like a poor reason when it compromises a viable and balanced OU Pokemon wielding a unique game-changing move.