Some quick thoughts on logistics of tiering and overall health of the community:
- Any attempt to raise suspect voting prerequisites would be messy but worth a shot, as this tier has been marred by frankly silly outcomes of some of these suspect tests, imo. There's a reason we've had multiple suspects of the same mons. It's getting goofy.
- Ladder skill and game knowledge are not always at the same level. You can be a great player and have almost no insight into what is best for the meta. We've all seen hot ass takes from above average players, even top players, such as questioning the objectively good decision to ban Volcarona. On the inverse, you can take a player like Alternator who is open about not being able to get reqs but always has level-headed and intelligent insights into our tier.
- It's hard to tell which group is lowkey screwing up these suspects; skilled players who are frankly out of touch with what a healthy meta should look like (balanced does not mean boring- MU fishing HO is far more "boring") or players who barely get reqs that skew the outcome because they like their cheesy broken mon or just simply don't like banning mons on principle.
- I don't think there's ever been a case of a mon that has been banned in error, I don't this is something we need to worry about. I was going to say, "If anyone has an example of a mon being banned that wasn't broken lmk, I'm curious" but that would just open the floodgates to, with all due respect, clueless players. I've been playing OU since Gen 6 and after every ban the meta improves. The issue is not mons being banned unfairly, it's with mons unjustly escaping the banhammer.
- Reqs is far from a perfect system. You can also load up vs high skill players in low ladder who are also getting reqs. I've personally ruined dozens of runs, and I've had some tough losses early ladder from others trying to reqs. There's also a conversation about how we're playing with a potentially broken mon, which makes reqs easier...
- Outright ignoring tiering rules should be looked into, such as saying you're going to vote a certain way based on what you think the meta will look like after. This would be nigh impossible to enforce but there are some egregious examples of bad faith voters.
- The philosophy of keeping mons that are on the fence has been problematic to me since Gen 7, such as keeping Kart around because it's only broken 70% of the time. However, that issue is exasperated to its limit in a Tera meta. I've said countless times that Tera bumps most mons up a grade, such as from B+ to A- or A. So, we have A+ or S tier mons hitting broken status when they burn a Tera, and more times than not can only be stopped by a defensive or surprise Tera. We should be leaning more towards banning mons than not.
- Personal attacks and ELO/GXE shaming has an always will be cringe- even when I used to do it.
- Overall, the community is in far better place. I don't think the elitism is an issue anymore. As an OU room frequenter the vibes have changed drastically over the years- far, far less toxic. I can't speak too much on forums but I have lurked old threads and it's safe to say things are better.
- We all owe a great deal of admiration to our tier leaders, especially Finch. We must remember it is a voluntary role and they do it for the love of the game and the community. I know we get passionate, and some of us (me) can be volatile weirdos, but there does need to be at least a baseline level of respect. The Gen 7 council could be described as "asleep at the wheel" and the tier is still fun (imo) but has some serious issues baked into it. They had problems tackling Megas and Z moves, which to be fair is a difficult and daunting task, but Tera is roughly 3x more complicated and difficult to balance, we need to respect that.
- I don't think defensive Teras should be a part of any suspect discussion. The variables are far to high to quantify it. Sure, Tera Ice Glowking might handle Kyu but there are so many factors involved with that decision it's unreal. Is it better to Tera Ice Glowking or force a Tera Ground on Kyu and RK it with Rilla? Depends on the match, the player, the plays, etc. There is an almost endless list of situational Teras. Tera Fire SS Dragonite handles Kyu, but what if Kyu predicts and goes Tera Ground EP? It's basically a moot discussion. Defensive Tera can not be successfully analyzed "on paper" in any meaningful way. I could make cases to unban Pao and Flutter if we want to start talking defensive Teras in a vacuum. It's counterproductive. Tera is meta within a meta, and the only thing we can really do is focus on the standard meta and let Tera be Tera. If your main argument for not banning a mon is defensive Tera that's already a major red flag.
On Kyurem:
Back in June I posted the following:
"Anyone who is serious about trying to fix this meta is more concerned with what other mons need to be banned, since that's the only logical route we've boxed ourselves into."
Kyu is a major issue for balance teams, has almost no switch ins, and needs almost comically specific counters and burnt Teras to even half check the mf.
Kyu invalidates a lot of playstyles that aren't HO or Stall. I'm not going to pretend the mon isn't basically broken unless you load up either of those playstyles. The only way for any other style to handle Kyu is to Tera, and we have to ask ourselves is that a bad thing? Think hard, how many situations have you found yourself in while playing SV where your only hope of stopping some nasty threat was to Tera?
At some point we have to put a bow on this meta and call it a day. Years into Gen 10 there will 100% be broken stuff running around in Gen 9 but no one will care anymore, especially not our current tier leaders who have worked their ass off trying to fix this mess.
However,
I'm voting ban. It's not my place as a voter to worry about a hypothetical meta. It's bad tiering if we think that way.
I am going to list some hard checks that HO has to this mon. I haven't seen an argument for DNB that highlights HO's tools for Kyu; just ban posts showing how easily structures outside of HO and Stall fold to this mon.
I won't be factoring in Tera or we could be here all day, and the bulkiest sub/tect sets I've found only run 52hp with nothing else. The specs/dance sets aren't really on trial here as Kyu wasn't seen as an issue before the rise of this set. So, on paper, here are mons that fit on HO that can handle sub/tect Kyu 1v1 even in suboptimal situations where Kyu has a sub up.
Stealth Rock- Any good HO has this up and keeps it up. These calcs are vs a Kyu at 100% but SR needs to be mentioned.
Scizor- Handles Kyu easily, can switch into EP break sub then KO next turn
Pult- OHKO with Draco specs or Band darts and break past subs via Infiltrator
Zama- Can switch into Ice Beam, break sub then KO back
Weavile- Can switch into EP/Ice break sub then KO back
Kyurem- Need a speed tie but technically you can trade, the Dice set wins every time.
Iron Crown- Specs can eat an EP, Trachyon breaks sub then outspeeds next turn for KO.
Fast Encore Mons like Val can switch in on the sub turn and force it out or KO.
Revenging Kyu is also a thing, such as Iron Boulder who can live an EP, break Sub then KO. If no sub then Enam, Roaring, Treads, Scarf Ghold, obvious RK stuff basically. After that we get into niche picks so I'll stop here.
This is a short list, and a choice locked Pult is on it... HO struggles with sub/tect Kyu just like most other structures, and needs 2-3 mons to take it out if Sub is up
. Basically chip it down, break sub, then bring in E-Killer Nite or whatever. There are HO games where Kyu is just another mon getting swept up in a sweep, and HO shouldn't be letting it get a sub anyway, but if it does then almost all momentum is gone and you need to trade and RK in a best case scenario.
The only consistent, 100% way to handle Kyu is extreme HO that has SR up and steamrolls with a set-up sweeper or pure stall played at a high level.
That said, if you want to vote DNB because you're okay with this I'm not outraged by it. The aforementioned statement in bold could lowkey be applied to a few others mons, not to the same extent but not that far off either. At some point we do need to put a bow on this meta and call it day. If your level of acceptance for broken mons running around is higher than mine I can only respectfully agree to disagree. Thanks for reading.