Gengar
You post a survey asking us our thoughts about this Pokemon. You get our responses that Gengar is generally fine by the majority of the community and simply u ignore it and do the complete opposite quickbanning it instead.
Take example from Kyurem, Finch posted a survey, people responded that its generally fine, they did a Suspect Test anyway and after people got the opportunity to experiment and target Kyurem on its own they responded positively on Banning Kyurem. Thats how Council should be doing things, you are Leaders of a Community and metagame not dictators.
If we responded that Gengar was generally broken and we wanted it banned it would make sense to Quickban it even if there were a few people who wanted it to stay cuz it would be just a few people but in this case community's response was completely ignored.
Im not complaining or arguing that Gengar isnt broken or if it is broken for the tier yet. Im arguing and im upset only for the part that we have no word in this, especially after Council asked us.
Gengar is a Pokemon many think is fine in the metagame, many of others think it could be broken and we should review it and suspect test it and a few think that its too much get it out immediately with a quickban statistically proven by the Survey.
It has been OU and lower forever, more that a decade and its a drastic change Quickbanning it all of a sudden without even getting peoples feedback.
We recently started seeing the impact of Gengar being a strong pokemon in the tier taking shape in the metagame. More Tyranitars with or without Chople Berry (a staple item for Tyranitar since 2012), more Gengars, more max spdef Scizors without wasting EVs anywhere like we previously did which allows it to live after leftovers 2 shadowballs and 2ko with Bulletpunch, more Weaviles, Alakazam + Magnezones cores etc. The Metagame started shifting against Gengar and finding tools to counterplay it like it should versus a respected and powerful threat such as Gengar and this is the point where we would see if the Tier has the tools to do so consistently.
Until now it wasnt under the radar of many so Banning it instantly leaves no space for the community to form opinions on it.
Heck i got in playoff finals of BDSP Charity Bowl 2, top 8 in BDSP Kickoff Tour, Round 3 of winter seasonal and im consistently playing in High Ladder of BDSP OU with or without Gengar and still havent figured out what i would vote for it if we were given the opportunity to do so because we were all so busy focusing about other, more obvious threats like Latios and Garchomp.
Why Gengar is good:
Gengar in the tier is obviously a beast. Whenever it touches the field with a correct click or an accurate focus blast it can do massive damage.
Ghost type has been difficult to resist for many years now with the limited viable Normal and Dark types we have to defend against it and this idea of spamming ghost to offensively deal massive damage has been more consistent with the removal of Pursuit.
Steel types arent too good at dealing with it aswell, Spdef Heatran, Empoleon, Max Spdef Scizor all with Rocks down, spdef drops and high rolls they can get obliterated.
It has many viable sets:
Choice Specs the more promising one especially with Hex to ohko Physdef Gliscor or 2ko spdef Gliscor aswell as statused Pokemons.
Nasty Plot 3 atks having perfect coverage and only require 1 turn to boost up and get an almost guaranteed kill.
Choice Scarf utility usually in offensive teams with Destiny Bond often grabs 2 kills for 1 mon aswell as keeping in place opposing offensive threats. like Fast psychics and DDance users.
Even
utility sets are semi viable with Substitute 2 atks, Substitute Will o wisp, Sub Hex etc.
Its speed tier is quite good, same with Latios, outspeeds Infernape, Garchomp, Lucario etc.
Cursed Body versus examples like BP Scizor and Scald Empoleon also has alot of value aswell.
Overall its a beast.
What problems Gengar has:
Ghost Poison with poor defensive stats doesnt provide much value defensively outside of switching on Clefable (except against Twave) and predicting against Fighting type atks or expected priority hits from the likes of Extreme Speed Lucario or Mach Punch Breloom often costing you your whole Gengar on a Meteor Mash or Spore / CB Rock Tomb.
Offensive Psychic types for the most part are
all faster or speed tie with it so its an invite to them whenever Gengar manages to get a kill or the opponent was able to play around and pivot against its hits.
Starmie Alakazam Azelf and Latios all key threats in the metagame.
It also invites the few solid
Dark types we have that in general get only a few opportunities to get in the field but when they do they are massive damage dealers like
CB Tyranitar, CB / LO Crawdaunt, CB Weavile etc.
Its
poor defensive stats forcing out Gengar in many scenarios against common Scarfers. Scarf Rotom, Garchomp, Staraptor and others all have tools to either ohko or 2ko gengar. Even something like Scarf Togekiss that u are supposed to beat when we talkin about typings with 2 flinches u are putting it down owin to Gengars poor defenses. So
its not as easy as it sounds gettin it on the field multiple times and deal damage. Requires predictions and solid plays like Mega Medicham would in Generation 6 to get value from it, hints that its good for OU.
Focus Blast is extremely inaccurate, not gonna argue that its 70%. We all have examples of important games that our shit missed 3 focus blasts in a row when we only needed 1 to hit. Its not reliable, its not consistent way of dealing with many of its checks. It does the job when it hits but its inconsistency is definitely far from desired when we are talking about a pokemon that is supposed to be too good for OU.
Gengar is
extremely useless versus stall on its own. Stall is very promising and Blissey is a must in every stall team. It walls all Gengar sets even Substitute Nasty Plot doesnt do well enough against it simply cuz Shadowball and even CM are standard on blissey for various threats (Manaphy, Latios, Nasty Plot Alakazam, CM Clefable and Gengar).
So its not an instant killing machine in every matchup and it has its flaws even versus offense and bulky offense that its supposed to be good against.
Finally the biggest thing with Gengar is that u can play around it. Shadow Ball is extremely safe and free for the most part but it doesnt mean we dont have to tools to play around it. Gengar can potentially break most of its checks but it actually needs to click the right things to do so. You can Shadow Ball and follow it up with a Focus Blast against my Tyranitar or Heatran but i can get my Gliscor or my Togekiss or even my Psychic type versus that Focus Blast. You can click Specs Shadow Ball to my Spdef Heatran and do a good 30 to 35% after leftovers but then u have to switch around my Heatran clickin magma storms and earthpowers or even go into your Garchomp and invite my Weavile because u were locked into Shadow Ball before. You can find opportunities to Nasty Plot and end up forced out against my faster threat.
There are alot of scenarios and matchups where although Gengar was lookin very promising in team preview it had their opponents simply playing around its hits which on its own isnt the most valid point to prove Gengar isnt broken but it says something when many competent and tournament players say it.
Overall at this point if we were given the opportunity i would vote
no Ban for Gengar but because there are people (way less than the majority) who believe Gengar should be suspect tested and there are only a few who believe it should be gone immediately, a
Suspect Test would be the best midground approach for Gengar. This way we will be able to experiment with it or against it, it will include Community's opinion on such big deal and not just council's opinion and overall there are no downsides of another Suspect test except the few non trophy Tournaments coming up soon for BDSP OU and the very small percentage of the people as shown from the responses in the survey who want it gone immediately and dont wanna play against it for another month of a Suspect Test.
View attachment 401184View attachment 401185View attachment 401186View attachment 401187
Can we pretend that the draco meteors in the night sky are like shooting stars? 
I could use healing wish right now, healing wish right now, healing wish right now. 
