Wesh.
I would like to start a discussion about the current metagame, seeing how many people dislike it but noone taking the time to talk about it.
So I'll start by giving my opinion, hoping some of you will follow, agreeing or not with me, the goal being to make everyone share their through, which could possibly lead to a change. I know the new games are coming, but keeping a tier "disgusting" would make it not enjoyable for some futur tours ( LCPL/LPL/LCWcup... ), and would be less attractive for some new comers.
First thing first, what I'm about to say will be MY OPINION. As I said earlier, I just want to start something, I don't pretend to have the absolute truth or anything. I'm gonna split my post in 2 major parts,
the problems, and
the possible solutions.
The problems :
- HO : HO recently started to show itself as a more then viable option, not to say a very strong option. It can be explained by some factors. The fact that the metagame was kind of weak to HO when it started to appear. Natu being a very strong screen user. Diglett being able to trap+memento, allowing an easy set-up. Zigzagoon being unstoppable if you aren't prep to it.
Those are the factors that came in my mind. There could be some others, but I think those are the most important.
In fact, it isn't that hard to be prep against HO, I mean by that, a lot of solutions exist. Keep in mind that this point will be linked with the second one.
- Coinflip : The word is probably not the best I could've choosed, but I could not think about an other one. By coinflip, I mean two things. The match-up and ingame. I'll start by the match-up, being the one linked to the HO part. I feels like, in the current meta, being prep to HO need too much things on a team. If you're prep to HO, you'll be very more weak to some other threat. You'll tell me, it's logic, if you prep against a playstyle, you've to be more weak to an other. But there, you're becoming too weak to big threats, such as Ponyta-Galar, Porygon and co. Sometimes, I'll even say a lot of times, your game will be a 80-20/20-80 at the match-up, due to this.
When it comes to ingame, the major problem is the high number of situations where you HAVE to play a tie, or where winning a tie makes you in a very good situation. For the exemple, leading Mienfoo vs Mienfoo, winning the tie gives you a very big advantage, so both part generally want to play it. But this point is related to my last point, which is :
- The lack of versatibility : Here's, in my opinion, the major problem. The metagame is VERY, VERY restrictive. At the moment, every team need to have a kind of similar structure. But the number of pokemon who can makes the jobs that a "classic team" need is limited. So you're having a fight ( 95% of the time Mienfoo, sometimes Timburr ), a poison ( koffing/foongus/mareanie ), a water ( staryu, frilish, mareanie ) and a steel ( pawniard/ferro ), and then roll with two others mons, depending of what you're targeting. If you prep to HO, your two others slot will help against it, but you'll have difficulty against some spA users, such as Pory + Natu or trapper, or Abra + trapper. If you prep to some spA spam, such as like, Abra + trapper, Pory + Natu ect, you'll be more weak to some things such as double fight, or some set-up sweepers such as Tyrunt or Carvanha. I will not continue, I think you all understand what I meant there !
To come back with the second point, and why was it linked with this one, the number of mons being low, and the speedtiers being what he's, you've to play your mons full speed. Which makes you play the ties, because you know in advance that it will be a tie. If you don't play it, you can put yourself in a bad situation. If you play it, you've 50% to put yourself in a very good situation, and 50% to put yourself at a disadvantage that can be very hard, and sometimes impossible, to cover.
The possible solutions :
I'll make those ones from the "most logical change" to the "less logical change", again, in my opinion.
- Ban Light Clay : Banning Light Clay could be a good start. Nerfing HO without making it unplayable, probably putting it as a "possibly good cheese depending of the opponent", without being a main threat. It would also reduce the number of archetype you've to be absolutly prep to, which would help to use less played mons who could be adapted to the metagame.
- Ban Arena Trap : This one is probably the most "metagame changer". Banning Arena Trap would makes a LOT of changes, nerfing some things ( spA + trapper, Diglett memento trap + set-up for some exemple ), boosting some others ( Abra not trapable could become unstoppable, Ponyta becoming even more dangerous, Ferroseed becoming more hard to low, unable to Final Gambit trap a Staryu for your own water or your Pony.. ). So, probably the less predictable, but still a possibility.
- Returning to the Vullaby metagame : Talking with Boulicrok, which helped me to make this post even if they disagree with some points, we figured that unbanning Vullaby while keeping Sticky/Scraggy banned would be stupid. Those two got banned due to the result of what became the metagame after Vulla's ban, so I'll not talk about "unbanning Vulla", but about "can we and should we come back to this meta". Which one is the worst ?
- Unbanning some things to test : Boulicrok spoke about unbanning Rufflet, so there we're. I, myself, don't know what could be unbanned, everything being strong. BUT, since the actual metagame is already disgusting, let's try some things ?
------------
Thanks to
boulicrok for his/her help ( nop, still not
yovan33321 ) with the redaction. Also thanks to
CMDoge Sciroccoo who helped me to "list what was wrong in my head" with the tier.
Waiting for your own opinion yall !
Edit and PS : Sorry for the possible average english, don't forget that I'm a baguette.