Hello people. I do not wish to sound disrespectful. I admire CBB and respect many of the posters in this thread, but I am concerned.
Perhaps there is a bit of a bandwagon, a bit of a "burn the witch" mentality directed toward Hoopa-U. The opportunity to remove a threat from OU seems exciting, as we have an abundance of them in Gen VI.
But as those of you ban-voters laddering for reqs achieve them, I urge you to reconsider.
Hoopa-Unbound is truly a scary pokémon, but please, take a step back from gawking at its sky-high offensive stats, and think about what they actually do. Examine the mon as a whole.
It is imperative that we sentence only those things truly broken to ubers. Banning Hoopa-U means removing an offensive threat, will allow bulkier teams to prosper (some of you may be missing them, I suppose, as Gen VI has been a very offensive metagame, though we have also had our times Balance rising and Goth Stall terrorizing).
I'm going to address a few main points; I think they may help shed light as to why Hoopa-Unbound isn't worthy of banishment from OU. Please consider when voting on this mon's fate.
It doesn't get a kill every time it comes in
The specs Hoopa-U set is recently being praised for having "no counters," (might be important that while it doesn't have "counters," it has an incredible amount of checks) but 2hkoing only works if the opponent actually stays in. If Hoopa-U user correctly predicts a physically defensive Chansey (with rocks being up) and goes for Focus Blast, yes, it will 2hko even the might Chansey (if it hits twice, a 49% chance). But what Chansey user is going to stay in to take those two Focus Blasts?! Opponent can easily go into a teammate, perhaps a Mega-Sableye, and be immune to that fighting move Hoopa-U is locked into. A Chansey at 50% health is better than a dead one, and getting a free switch into Mega-Sableye means free turns to spam Knock or Wisp, or even set up Calm Mind, making Hoopa-U unable to come back in and beat you without crits. This example leads me into my next example…
It doesn't actually invalidate stall
Recent favouring of choiced Hoopa-U sets (band and especially specs) means that Hoopa-U cannot be worn down via LO recoil. But it also means Hoopa-U is locked into the move it choses, and tends to be taken advantage due to type immunities very easily. With Mega-Sableye not banned, stall teams live on, and it finds home on basically all of them. It also happens to be a very solid Hoopa-U check. In a 1v1 scenario, Mega-Sableye beats Hoopa-U almost 100% (dark pulse flinch can be worrysome, but just about every stall mon fears being flinched). Yes, it does beat even specs Hoopa 1v1; although the first Dark Pulse does more than 50%, Hoopa-U gets Knocked off and then can no longer 2hko. It will then be KOed by Foul Play afterwards. Physical or mixed Hoopa-U sets get flatout OHKOed by STAB foul play. Additionally, just about every single mon on Stall will never be OHKOed by Hoopa-U. In a situation where Hoopa-U fails to OHKO (almost always, against defensive behemoths) it will be forced to take a hit afterwards. With just 16 SpD EVs, Quagsire, bar far the the stall mon most vulnerable to Hoopa-U, will never be OHKOed by Specs Hoopa-U Dark Pulse. It can opt to just equake for 50% or toxic the Hoopa-U, after which the Stall player can easily go out to Chansey to soak up any more Dark Pulses. I get it, stall player will not always have their mons at full health, but I assure you, the defensive playstyle in general is not invalidated. If you don't believe me, go play the game or look for some replays from the past few months. In the metagame with Hoopa-U, stall was still plentiful, albeit matchup based. It made its way into tournaments, too. Now on the suspect ladder, Stall is absolutely dominating. Stall existed with Hoopa-U, but with a lack of Hoopa-U, stall becomes much more viable than it should be. We just suspected Mega-Sableye and Shadow Tag, and if both those things were banned, stall would really be done for. But M-Sab is still around, and since stall has already proven it can exist in a metagame where Hoopa-U is present, I don't understand how this is even an argument.
The choice-locked sets which makes it "uncounterable" are easy to take advantage of
Three out of the Four moves of Hoopa-U's uncounterable Specs set face type-immunities. Its Fighting move, Focus Blast, faces immunity by ghosts (Mega-Sableye, Gengar, etc). Its Psychic move, Psyshock, faces immunity by darks (Mega-Sableye, Bisharp, Weavile, Tyranitar, opposing Hoopa-u, etc). And the preferred fourth slot move, Thunderbolt, faces immunity by grounds (Excadrill, Garchomp, Lando-T, Gliscor, Hippowdown, etc). Another move which Physical Hoopa-U needs to beat fairies is Gunk Shot, which faces immunity by steels (Ferrothorn, Heatran, Excadrill, Bisharp, Klefki, Magnezone, Metagross, Jirachi, Scizor, Skarmory, etc). Hopefully I don't have to explain how terrible it is for Hoopa-U to be locked into a more team-specific coverage move like Hidden Power Ice, Grass Knot, or Fire Punch. Those moves might not have type-immunities, but they do provide some dangerous sweepers, for example, a Mega Charizard X setting up on a Hoopa-U locked into its weak HP Ice. Wallbreakers like Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham can't use choice items, and they don't need to either. Overall, other non-choiced wallbreakers available have less potential than Hoopa-U, yet they are much more reliable than Hoopa-U. A single mis-predict, and Hoopa-U faints, takes a hefty chunk out of its HP, or ends up being locked into a move that gives the opponent free turns. Additionally, even if Specs Hoopa-U correctly clicks Thunderbolt as a Mandibuzz comes in, that's great, the bird will take like 60% to 80% depending on EVs. But it’s not dead yet… It might be able to Roost up later on, or it might just be kept as death fodder for later on. Regardless, the opponent can keep it around as (s)he switches out to an electric immunity which most good teams have. Hoopa-U is frequently in a position where only one of its moves will work, and if it chooses wrong, it loses momentum for its team, or it might flat-out die. An Assault Vest Tornadus-T brushes aside a Dark Pulse or Focus Blast, it can take Thunderbolt in a pinch (yes, 80%-95%), however, it doesn’t like Psyshock at all. However, if it successfully switches in, it can U-turn out for basically no risk. This brings me into my next point…
Hoopa-U is a risky option in a metagame where momentum is extremely important
The u-turn weakness absolutely sucks. Even Tornadus-T with no atk EVs or item will always OHKO it with u-turn. This is very frustrating for the Hoopa-U user, and entirely rewarding while being very risk-free for the Tornadus-T user. If Hoopa-U user sacks his/her Hoopa, great, now down to just 5 mons. If switches out, then Tornadus-T u-turn gains chip damage on an incoming switch, and gets switch initiative, meaning the Torn-T user gets to pick a desirable match-up for the next turn. In a real battle, this might look like a Torn-T u-turning against a Rocky Helmet Chomp, (it will heal up all that damage thanks to Regenerator) dealing only like 10% to Chomp, but then, the real advantages is gained when the Tornadus-T user can send in a mon easily capable of killing Garchomp. That mon might be a Choice Specs Keldeo, which either fires off a strong H Pump, tries to burn a switch-in with Scald, or just goes for the kill with Icy Wind. Icy Wind will also hit an incoming Lati, making it further a desirable move. U-turn weakness is very limiting to Hoopa-U, making it sometimes a liability against offensive teams. Losing momentum as an opponent goes for a risk-free u-turn is extremely frustrating. Chip damage accumulates on the u-turn switch in, and the opponent gains switch initiative. And don't think that u-turn isn't common enough to make a difference. Top tier threats, particularly Tornadus-T and Landorus-T happily spam it as they come in against Special or Physical Hoopa respectively (I know they can't come in 100% of the time, coverage options exists, but they at the very least they will check Hoopa-U 100% of the time).
Hoopa-U is slow and frail
Slowness alone isn't too bad, not even for a wallbreaker. Sometimes a low speed mon like Azumarill will run enough speed to to outpace a Clefable or Skarmory. Conkeldurr is another slow but powerful wallbreaker, it will often run some speed to outpace Hippowdown. But these two mons have natural bulk going for them, allowing them to tank hits on the special and physical sides, in turn allowing them to beat faster threats 1v1 by taking a hit and OHKOing in return. Hoopa shares the mediocre speed stat of many wallbreakers, but it has significantly worse defense. I'll say that at least Hoopa-U is faster than some walls, but it's not fast enough to match up very well against anything but those walls. It can tank powerful special hits in a pinch, even a Draco Meteor from Latios (does around 80%). Special Attackers that you might expect Hoopa-U to beat, perhaps Alakazam, can still bypass Hoopa-U's special bulk with a Signal Beam. And don't tell me Signal Beam shows overcentralization. It hits Celebi harder than Shadowball, and hits the same Psychic targets of Shadowball bar Gross and Rachi, so it's not inferior. Hoopa-U's speed allows it to wallbreak effectively, especially if it gets a free switchi-in to something like Slowbro. However, it's not enough to perform against faster teams and physical attackers. Many neutral hits like Weavile's Knock off or Keldeo's Secret Sword will flat-out OHKO Hoopa-U.
Its lack of any defensive synergy is a small annoyance for teambuilding
While Hoopa-U's specs set has no counters (again, it has many, many checks, and depending on the move a Specs Hoopa-U is locked into, the opponent can take advantage of type immunities for set-up or just free turns in general), Hoopa-U hardly counters anything either. Hoopa-U can barely switch in on walls that have physical attacks. The passive Hippowdon's EQ does 70% to Hoopa-U, a defensive Lando-T's U-turn OHKOs it, and the list goes on. The only mons Hoopa-U can actually switch in safely on and then beat are defensive mons which lack special attacks or supereffective moves (note this, because Clefable 2HKOs Hoopa-U with moonblast, meaning Hoopa-U will lose if it switches in on a moonblast, in fact Specs Hoopa-U even has a chance to lose 1v1 thanks to Moonblast’s 30% chance to drop the opponent's SpA). Even defensive mons like Slowbro and Max HP Starmie discourage Hoopa-U from switching in because they sometimes carry T-Wave. A T-waved Hoopa-U can't even outspeed the defensive mons it's supposed to, and having a 25% failure rate multiplied onto all your attacks is always frustrating. Pretty much the only way to bring Hoopa-U in (outside of sacking a mon) is to predict the opponent’s switch into a wall. Instead of attacking with a Mega Medicham, you might opt to double into Hoopa on the predicted Slowbro. However, just as Hoopa-U has no counters, it doesn't really counter anything either.
We have had mons without counters before
Someone mentioned BW2 Hydreigon, and I think that's a good point. Hydreigon in this generation has severe 4-moveslot-syndrome thanks to the introduction of Fairy-type. But in BW2, what was switching into it? After it got access to the move tutors, it could even go mixed and nail things with Superpower. Kyurem-B is actually pretty similar to Hoopa-U, but because it was on the initial ban list, it got reverse-suspected to come down from Ubers. To this day, nothing wants to switch into Kyu-B. However, its middling speed stat makes it prone to being revenge killed, just like Hoopa-U. However I believe Hoopa-U is sometimes even worse than Kyu-B because it can be revenge killed with u-turn, a move that eases prediction and always provides the user with an advantage. Kyurem-B actually has some decent natural bulk, although it is somewhat prone to being worn down thanks to its weakness to Stealth Rock. Sorry to go in and out of the past, but it is worth noting how Kyurem-B matched up fantastically against Balanced teams in Gen 5, particularly common Sand Balance (it owned rain balance too if its team support could weaken Ferrothorn enough). It could forego Roost in favour of HP Fire coverage for Ferrothorn, overall it was just a monster toward that specific team Archtype. Perhaps this generation, Hoopa-U will be a monster against certain slower teams. Like Bisharp, it will terrorize those Slowbro/Clefable builds, but at the cost of performing badly against offense (bisharp actually performs well against both defensive teams and even HO, but it has its own unique flaws). Not having counters does not mean brokenness, and it's important to understand that.
Afterthoughts:
TL;DR? Well, the bold things I wrote make a decent summary. Hopefully you can at least skim through the real text, though. Hoopa-U is a mixed bag. While it will certainly be matching up excellently against "fatter teams," it isn’t invalidating Stall as a playstyle at all. If anything, it keeps those teams at bay. The fact that Defensive teams can exist at all in such a metagame shows one things: we need our wallbreakers to prevent such teams from dominating. And while Hoopa-U is scary because of “having no counters,” Hoopa-U itself cannot counter anything. It switches into nothing comfortably, relying on double switches and sometimes daring predictions to be used effectively. Its Choice sets are powerful, its Choice Specs set is the only reason it earns the title "No Counters," but they rely on that very dangerous thing: prediction. Hoopa-U can be taken advantage of fairly easily, as its commonly run Psychic, Dark, Elelectric, and Poison moves all face immunities. Finally, its weakness to u-turn severely hampers its effectiveness in a metagame where “momentum” is so very important. When revenge killing a threat like Mega Metagross, you might be faced with the decision of EQing with Scarf Lando-T or u-turning in prediction of a switch out. If you EQ as the opponent switches out into an immunity, the opponent gains a free turn for possible set-up or else taking advantage in some other way. Against a Hoopa-U, however, there’s no prediction required. Just click u-turn. If Hoopa-U stays in, it dies. If it switches out, then the u-turn user gains switch initiative and can continue the offensive momentum. Hoopa-U is a powerful mon, but we might not even see it in S-rank for that much longer. As hype rises and falls, as metagame trends change, viability of certain mons will change. Some people were demanding for a Mega Alt suspect, however now it’s down in A- rank. Hoopa-U will be a dangerous threat for a while, that’s for sure. It will keep defensive teams at bay, while Offensive teams won't even have to worry about preparing for it because of all the things they naturally back that outspeed it. But is Hoopa-U's pressure on defensive teams enough to warrant a ban? I highly doubt it.
We need to ban things that are broken. An Aegislash that forced 50/50s constantly and completely dominated the metagame? I think it’s a good decision to ban that. Shadowtag, taking away one of the most fundamental aspects of competitive pokémon, switching? I think it’s a good idea to ban that. But Hoopa-U, no, it does not scream “broken” nearly to the extent of some of these other things. People have gone through hype stages about Mega Alt, Mega Metagross, Mega Sableye. Now Hoopa-U is receiving a lot of hype. But Hoopa-U is not controlling the metagame. It is fulfilling roll of a potent wallbreaker. It is keeping stall teams at bay, but obiviously not invalidating them. It is simply not broken, and I urge you intelligent (wo)men to vote no ban.
After-after though:
Another poster in this thread made a point about playstyles of the past and present. "Hyper Offense" didn't actually exist until Gen 4. That is when we saw new choice items and set-up sweepers like never before. Perhaps GameFreak is telling us something by releasing offensive monsters like Hoopa-U more regularly nowadays. They've even limited Wi-fi battles to be 1 hour length. This might tell us something about defensive playstyles in general. Stall isn't dead yet, but I predict it to be eradicated within a few generations. For too many people, long matches are less enjoyable. Perhaps as match times are hastened in the future, we may see tournaments leaning toward Best of 5 as opposed to Bo3? I don't know, I'm speculating. 6v6 singles is the only metagame which allows for the possibility of Stall, nowadays more stall teams are running one or two offensive mons (really stall at that point?). Many stall matches that take place on PS are actually impossible to replicate in-game. Because of the 1 hr battle timer and the fact that long in-game animation times and connectivity slowness drain the clock, a 20-minute PS match would probable take 1 hour in-game, and we all know that 20 minutes isn't anywhere near the longest match to take place. I'm rambling, I guess. It's interesting how times change, though. There is always Gen 2 if you enjoy stall :P.
P.S. - I'm Rick Astley's post on page #15 was a good one. People argue with him that the comparison wasn't perfect, but I liked it, and it made good points. Every suspect test is unique, but please, I think banning Hoopa-U is very contradictory. Maybe the community is different or whatever, but Kyurem-B was released from Ubers with a surprisingly overwhelming majority. We just need 40% no-ban votes to keep Hoopa-U, though honestly I hope to see that number exceed 60%.
P.S.S. - It looks like WhiteQueen and Chansey, despite dislike of mind games, think Hoopa-U should stay! I think the argument of Hoopa-U's reliance on prediction is a solid one too. Even if I make teams without consideration of Hoopa-U, naturally I'll have plenty of checks, and the ability to play around it. Hoopa-U is definitely better than other wallbreakers when its user clicks the correct move every single time, but that's obviously completely impossible. Hoopa-U often has just one move to hit the switch-in for sufficient damage, and its user makes a mistake, it can be very detrimental as Focus Blast, Psyshock, Thunderbolt, and many of Hoopa-U's physical moves all do zero damage against certain types, meaning free turns and set-up opportunities granted to the opponent in the situation of a misplay.
Perhaps there is a bit of a bandwagon, a bit of a "burn the witch" mentality directed toward Hoopa-U. The opportunity to remove a threat from OU seems exciting, as we have an abundance of them in Gen VI.
But as those of you ban-voters laddering for reqs achieve them, I urge you to reconsider.
Hoopa-Unbound is truly a scary pokémon, but please, take a step back from gawking at its sky-high offensive stats, and think about what they actually do. Examine the mon as a whole.
It is imperative that we sentence only those things truly broken to ubers. Banning Hoopa-U means removing an offensive threat, will allow bulkier teams to prosper (some of you may be missing them, I suppose, as Gen VI has been a very offensive metagame, though we have also had our times Balance rising and Goth Stall terrorizing).
I'm going to address a few main points; I think they may help shed light as to why Hoopa-Unbound isn't worthy of banishment from OU. Please consider when voting on this mon's fate.
It doesn't get a kill every time it comes in
The specs Hoopa-U set is recently being praised for having "no counters," (might be important that while it doesn't have "counters," it has an incredible amount of checks) but 2hkoing only works if the opponent actually stays in. If Hoopa-U user correctly predicts a physically defensive Chansey (with rocks being up) and goes for Focus Blast, yes, it will 2hko even the might Chansey (if it hits twice, a 49% chance). But what Chansey user is going to stay in to take those two Focus Blasts?! Opponent can easily go into a teammate, perhaps a Mega-Sableye, and be immune to that fighting move Hoopa-U is locked into. A Chansey at 50% health is better than a dead one, and getting a free switch into Mega-Sableye means free turns to spam Knock or Wisp, or even set up Calm Mind, making Hoopa-U unable to come back in and beat you without crits. This example leads me into my next example…
It doesn't actually invalidate stall
Recent favouring of choiced Hoopa-U sets (band and especially specs) means that Hoopa-U cannot be worn down via LO recoil. But it also means Hoopa-U is locked into the move it choses, and tends to be taken advantage due to type immunities very easily. With Mega-Sableye not banned, stall teams live on, and it finds home on basically all of them. It also happens to be a very solid Hoopa-U check. In a 1v1 scenario, Mega-Sableye beats Hoopa-U almost 100% (dark pulse flinch can be worrysome, but just about every stall mon fears being flinched). Yes, it does beat even specs Hoopa 1v1; although the first Dark Pulse does more than 50%, Hoopa-U gets Knocked off and then can no longer 2hko. It will then be KOed by Foul Play afterwards. Physical or mixed Hoopa-U sets get flatout OHKOed by STAB foul play. Additionally, just about every single mon on Stall will never be OHKOed by Hoopa-U. In a situation where Hoopa-U fails to OHKO (almost always, against defensive behemoths) it will be forced to take a hit afterwards. With just 16 SpD EVs, Quagsire, bar far the the stall mon most vulnerable to Hoopa-U, will never be OHKOed by Specs Hoopa-U Dark Pulse. It can opt to just equake for 50% or toxic the Hoopa-U, after which the Stall player can easily go out to Chansey to soak up any more Dark Pulses. I get it, stall player will not always have their mons at full health, but I assure you, the defensive playstyle in general is not invalidated. If you don't believe me, go play the game or look for some replays from the past few months. In the metagame with Hoopa-U, stall was still plentiful, albeit matchup based. It made its way into tournaments, too. Now on the suspect ladder, Stall is absolutely dominating. Stall existed with Hoopa-U, but with a lack of Hoopa-U, stall becomes much more viable than it should be. We just suspected Mega-Sableye and Shadow Tag, and if both those things were banned, stall would really be done for. But M-Sab is still around, and since stall has already proven it can exist in a metagame where Hoopa-U is present, I don't understand how this is even an argument.
The choice-locked sets which makes it "uncounterable" are easy to take advantage of
Three out of the Four moves of Hoopa-U's uncounterable Specs set face type-immunities. Its Fighting move, Focus Blast, faces immunity by ghosts (Mega-Sableye, Gengar, etc). Its Psychic move, Psyshock, faces immunity by darks (Mega-Sableye, Bisharp, Weavile, Tyranitar, opposing Hoopa-u, etc). And the preferred fourth slot move, Thunderbolt, faces immunity by grounds (Excadrill, Garchomp, Lando-T, Gliscor, Hippowdown, etc). Another move which Physical Hoopa-U needs to beat fairies is Gunk Shot, which faces immunity by steels (Ferrothorn, Heatran, Excadrill, Bisharp, Klefki, Magnezone, Metagross, Jirachi, Scizor, Skarmory, etc). Hopefully I don't have to explain how terrible it is for Hoopa-U to be locked into a more team-specific coverage move like Hidden Power Ice, Grass Knot, or Fire Punch. Those moves might not have type-immunities, but they do provide some dangerous sweepers, for example, a Mega Charizard X setting up on a Hoopa-U locked into its weak HP Ice. Wallbreakers like Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham can't use choice items, and they don't need to either. Overall, other non-choiced wallbreakers available have less potential than Hoopa-U, yet they are much more reliable than Hoopa-U. A single mis-predict, and Hoopa-U faints, takes a hefty chunk out of its HP, or ends up being locked into a move that gives the opponent free turns. Additionally, even if Specs Hoopa-U correctly clicks Thunderbolt as a Mandibuzz comes in, that's great, the bird will take like 60% to 80% depending on EVs. But it’s not dead yet… It might be able to Roost up later on, or it might just be kept as death fodder for later on. Regardless, the opponent can keep it around as (s)he switches out to an electric immunity which most good teams have. Hoopa-U is frequently in a position where only one of its moves will work, and if it chooses wrong, it loses momentum for its team, or it might flat-out die. An Assault Vest Tornadus-T brushes aside a Dark Pulse or Focus Blast, it can take Thunderbolt in a pinch (yes, 80%-95%), however, it doesn’t like Psyshock at all. However, if it successfully switches in, it can U-turn out for basically no risk. This brings me into my next point…
Hoopa-U is a risky option in a metagame where momentum is extremely important
The u-turn weakness absolutely sucks. Even Tornadus-T with no atk EVs or item will always OHKO it with u-turn. This is very frustrating for the Hoopa-U user, and entirely rewarding while being very risk-free for the Tornadus-T user. If Hoopa-U user sacks his/her Hoopa, great, now down to just 5 mons. If switches out, then Tornadus-T u-turn gains chip damage on an incoming switch, and gets switch initiative, meaning the Torn-T user gets to pick a desirable match-up for the next turn. In a real battle, this might look like a Torn-T u-turning against a Rocky Helmet Chomp, (it will heal up all that damage thanks to Regenerator) dealing only like 10% to Chomp, but then, the real advantages is gained when the Tornadus-T user can send in a mon easily capable of killing Garchomp. That mon might be a Choice Specs Keldeo, which either fires off a strong H Pump, tries to burn a switch-in with Scald, or just goes for the kill with Icy Wind. Icy Wind will also hit an incoming Lati, making it further a desirable move. U-turn weakness is very limiting to Hoopa-U, making it sometimes a liability against offensive teams. Losing momentum as an opponent goes for a risk-free u-turn is extremely frustrating. Chip damage accumulates on the u-turn switch in, and the opponent gains switch initiative. And don't think that u-turn isn't common enough to make a difference. Top tier threats, particularly Tornadus-T and Landorus-T happily spam it as they come in against Special or Physical Hoopa respectively (I know they can't come in 100% of the time, coverage options exists, but they at the very least they will check Hoopa-U 100% of the time).
Hoopa-U is slow and frail
Slowness alone isn't too bad, not even for a wallbreaker. Sometimes a low speed mon like Azumarill will run enough speed to to outpace a Clefable or Skarmory. Conkeldurr is another slow but powerful wallbreaker, it will often run some speed to outpace Hippowdown. But these two mons have natural bulk going for them, allowing them to tank hits on the special and physical sides, in turn allowing them to beat faster threats 1v1 by taking a hit and OHKOing in return. Hoopa shares the mediocre speed stat of many wallbreakers, but it has significantly worse defense. I'll say that at least Hoopa-U is faster than some walls, but it's not fast enough to match up very well against anything but those walls. It can tank powerful special hits in a pinch, even a Draco Meteor from Latios (does around 80%). Special Attackers that you might expect Hoopa-U to beat, perhaps Alakazam, can still bypass Hoopa-U's special bulk with a Signal Beam. And don't tell me Signal Beam shows overcentralization. It hits Celebi harder than Shadowball, and hits the same Psychic targets of Shadowball bar Gross and Rachi, so it's not inferior. Hoopa-U's speed allows it to wallbreak effectively, especially if it gets a free switchi-in to something like Slowbro. However, it's not enough to perform against faster teams and physical attackers. Many neutral hits like Weavile's Knock off or Keldeo's Secret Sword will flat-out OHKO Hoopa-U.
Its lack of any defensive synergy is a small annoyance for teambuilding
While Hoopa-U's specs set has no counters (again, it has many, many checks, and depending on the move a Specs Hoopa-U is locked into, the opponent can take advantage of type immunities for set-up or just free turns in general), Hoopa-U hardly counters anything either. Hoopa-U can barely switch in on walls that have physical attacks. The passive Hippowdon's EQ does 70% to Hoopa-U, a defensive Lando-T's U-turn OHKOs it, and the list goes on. The only mons Hoopa-U can actually switch in safely on and then beat are defensive mons which lack special attacks or supereffective moves (note this, because Clefable 2HKOs Hoopa-U with moonblast, meaning Hoopa-U will lose if it switches in on a moonblast, in fact Specs Hoopa-U even has a chance to lose 1v1 thanks to Moonblast’s 30% chance to drop the opponent's SpA). Even defensive mons like Slowbro and Max HP Starmie discourage Hoopa-U from switching in because they sometimes carry T-Wave. A T-waved Hoopa-U can't even outspeed the defensive mons it's supposed to, and having a 25% failure rate multiplied onto all your attacks is always frustrating. Pretty much the only way to bring Hoopa-U in (outside of sacking a mon) is to predict the opponent’s switch into a wall. Instead of attacking with a Mega Medicham, you might opt to double into Hoopa on the predicted Slowbro. However, just as Hoopa-U has no counters, it doesn't really counter anything either.
We have had mons without counters before
Someone mentioned BW2 Hydreigon, and I think that's a good point. Hydreigon in this generation has severe 4-moveslot-syndrome thanks to the introduction of Fairy-type. But in BW2, what was switching into it? After it got access to the move tutors, it could even go mixed and nail things with Superpower. Kyurem-B is actually pretty similar to Hoopa-U, but because it was on the initial ban list, it got reverse-suspected to come down from Ubers. To this day, nothing wants to switch into Kyu-B. However, its middling speed stat makes it prone to being revenge killed, just like Hoopa-U. However I believe Hoopa-U is sometimes even worse than Kyu-B because it can be revenge killed with u-turn, a move that eases prediction and always provides the user with an advantage. Kyurem-B actually has some decent natural bulk, although it is somewhat prone to being worn down thanks to its weakness to Stealth Rock. Sorry to go in and out of the past, but it is worth noting how Kyurem-B matched up fantastically against Balanced teams in Gen 5, particularly common Sand Balance (it owned rain balance too if its team support could weaken Ferrothorn enough). It could forego Roost in favour of HP Fire coverage for Ferrothorn, overall it was just a monster toward that specific team Archtype. Perhaps this generation, Hoopa-U will be a monster against certain slower teams. Like Bisharp, it will terrorize those Slowbro/Clefable builds, but at the cost of performing badly against offense (bisharp actually performs well against both defensive teams and even HO, but it has its own unique flaws). Not having counters does not mean brokenness, and it's important to understand that.
Afterthoughts:
TL;DR? Well, the bold things I wrote make a decent summary. Hopefully you can at least skim through the real text, though. Hoopa-U is a mixed bag. While it will certainly be matching up excellently against "fatter teams," it isn’t invalidating Stall as a playstyle at all. If anything, it keeps those teams at bay. The fact that Defensive teams can exist at all in such a metagame shows one things: we need our wallbreakers to prevent such teams from dominating. And while Hoopa-U is scary because of “having no counters,” Hoopa-U itself cannot counter anything. It switches into nothing comfortably, relying on double switches and sometimes daring predictions to be used effectively. Its Choice sets are powerful, its Choice Specs set is the only reason it earns the title "No Counters," but they rely on that very dangerous thing: prediction. Hoopa-U can be taken advantage of fairly easily, as its commonly run Psychic, Dark, Elelectric, and Poison moves all face immunities. Finally, its weakness to u-turn severely hampers its effectiveness in a metagame where “momentum” is so very important. When revenge killing a threat like Mega Metagross, you might be faced with the decision of EQing with Scarf Lando-T or u-turning in prediction of a switch out. If you EQ as the opponent switches out into an immunity, the opponent gains a free turn for possible set-up or else taking advantage in some other way. Against a Hoopa-U, however, there’s no prediction required. Just click u-turn. If Hoopa-U stays in, it dies. If it switches out, then the u-turn user gains switch initiative and can continue the offensive momentum. Hoopa-U is a powerful mon, but we might not even see it in S-rank for that much longer. As hype rises and falls, as metagame trends change, viability of certain mons will change. Some people were demanding for a Mega Alt suspect, however now it’s down in A- rank. Hoopa-U will be a dangerous threat for a while, that’s for sure. It will keep defensive teams at bay, while Offensive teams won't even have to worry about preparing for it because of all the things they naturally back that outspeed it. But is Hoopa-U's pressure on defensive teams enough to warrant a ban? I highly doubt it.
We need to ban things that are broken. An Aegislash that forced 50/50s constantly and completely dominated the metagame? I think it’s a good decision to ban that. Shadowtag, taking away one of the most fundamental aspects of competitive pokémon, switching? I think it’s a good idea to ban that. But Hoopa-U, no, it does not scream “broken” nearly to the extent of some of these other things. People have gone through hype stages about Mega Alt, Mega Metagross, Mega Sableye. Now Hoopa-U is receiving a lot of hype. But Hoopa-U is not controlling the metagame. It is fulfilling roll of a potent wallbreaker. It is keeping stall teams at bay, but obiviously not invalidating them. It is simply not broken, and I urge you intelligent (wo)men to vote no ban.
After-after though:
Another poster in this thread made a point about playstyles of the past and present. "Hyper Offense" didn't actually exist until Gen 4. That is when we saw new choice items and set-up sweepers like never before. Perhaps GameFreak is telling us something by releasing offensive monsters like Hoopa-U more regularly nowadays. They've even limited Wi-fi battles to be 1 hour length. This might tell us something about defensive playstyles in general. Stall isn't dead yet, but I predict it to be eradicated within a few generations. For too many people, long matches are less enjoyable. Perhaps as match times are hastened in the future, we may see tournaments leaning toward Best of 5 as opposed to Bo3? I don't know, I'm speculating. 6v6 singles is the only metagame which allows for the possibility of Stall, nowadays more stall teams are running one or two offensive mons (really stall at that point?). Many stall matches that take place on PS are actually impossible to replicate in-game. Because of the 1 hr battle timer and the fact that long in-game animation times and connectivity slowness drain the clock, a 20-minute PS match would probable take 1 hour in-game, and we all know that 20 minutes isn't anywhere near the longest match to take place. I'm rambling, I guess. It's interesting how times change, though. There is always Gen 2 if you enjoy stall :P.
P.S. - I'm Rick Astley's post on page #15 was a good one. People argue with him that the comparison wasn't perfect, but I liked it, and it made good points. Every suspect test is unique, but please, I think banning Hoopa-U is very contradictory. Maybe the community is different or whatever, but Kyurem-B was released from Ubers with a surprisingly overwhelming majority. We just need 40% no-ban votes to keep Hoopa-U, though honestly I hope to see that number exceed 60%.
P.S.S. - It looks like WhiteQueen and Chansey, despite dislike of mind games, think Hoopa-U should stay! I think the argument of Hoopa-U's reliance on prediction is a solid one too. Even if I make teams without consideration of Hoopa-U, naturally I'll have plenty of checks, and the ability to play around it. Hoopa-U is definitely better than other wallbreakers when its user clicks the correct move every single time, but that's obviously completely impossible. Hoopa-U often has just one move to hit the switch-in for sufficient damage, and its user makes a mistake, it can be very detrimental as Focus Blast, Psyshock, Thunderbolt, and many of Hoopa-U's physical moves all do zero damage against certain types, meaning free turns and set-up opportunities granted to the opponent in the situation of a misplay.
