Hello RBY community!
I come to you on behalf of the RBY OU Council - me, Serpi, Nails, and nicole7735 - in order to take the pulse of the community in a more objective manner on a subject that has been gaining a lot of traction recently: a potential ban of partial trapping moves.
Over the past few months, we have been seeing a notorious rise in usage of teams revolving around Wrap. Some examples include the traditional Dragonite/Victreebel usage that has been a fringe pick over the past few years as seen, for instance, in the following two replays:
ABR vs Serpi, Round 5 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-783866
Amaranth vs ABR, Round 4 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782595
However, what we have been seeing lately is a rise in usage (and wins) using not only the aforementioned Dragonite and Victreebel, but also their pre-evolutions Weepinbel and Dragonair, as seen in the following three replays, for instance:
M Dragon vs Isza, quarter-finals of Smogon Classic Playoffs: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-798452
Luthier vs Soulwind, Round 4 of RBY Cup: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787160
ABR vs BlazingDark, Round 6 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784895
This phenomenon has been stirring up the debate on banning Wrap or partial trapping moves as a whole. They have always been a topic of considerable controversy due to being perceived as uncompetitive and "cheap" - they were banned from RBY OU many years ago (namely, in the RBY2K10 era), and a survey on a potential Wrap ban was held in 2019, with 45% of people favouring taking some form of action against Wrap. Moreover, Wrap teams are very strong against very common archetypes that are perceived healthy and desirable for the tier (one such example being MieDon teams), effectively locking them down, turning them into a matchup fish strategy too.
It is then the perception of the council that support for a Wrap/partial trapping ban has been higher than ever. With this in mind, we would like to hear the community on this matter - should action be taken against Wrap and/or other partial trapping moves? Right now, the council and the old gen council heads see 3 possible courses of action:
1) Banning partial trapping moves as a whole - this is the most extreme option and includes banning Wrap, Clamp, Fire Spin and Bind. Simple and straightforward.
2) Banning just Wrap - a lot of people argue that Wrap is the only troublesome one out of the aforementioned 4 partial trapping moves. All other 3 moves have low PP and/or low accuracy. Wrap has very high PP (32) and very high accuracy (85%), which enhances the uncompetitive nature of the mechanic, rather than the arguably more competitive aspect of it acting as a pseudo-Volt Switch/U-Turn. Wrap users are also the ones who actually have access to reliable paralysis tools in order to slow down the faster checks (Stun Spore in Weepinbel and Victreebel's case, Thunder Wave in Dragonair and Dragonite's case).
3) Do nothing. Always an option.
Notably, option 2 is more specifically tailored towards stopping the uninteractive 3x/4x Wrap/paralysis spreader stacking builds that have been showing up lately, whereas option 1 naturally just stops flat any partial trapping-related strategy.
Secondly, banning any particular Pokémon is not something on the table right now, as the uncompetitive nature of the new Wrap-stacking teams is not dependent on 1 or 2 particular abusers and simply stacks bodies that can use Wrap and induce paralysis, which means we are only considering taking action against moves.
Lastly, I once again stress the fact I'm coming to you on behalf of the RBY Council - your posts and reactions will take part in determining further action by the RBY OU council regarding the future of the tier, so I ask of you to stay civil and serious about this matter.
Let me hear your thoughts!
I come to you on behalf of the RBY OU Council - me, Serpi, Nails, and nicole7735 - in order to take the pulse of the community in a more objective manner on a subject that has been gaining a lot of traction recently: a potential ban of partial trapping moves.
Over the past few months, we have been seeing a notorious rise in usage of teams revolving around Wrap. Some examples include the traditional Dragonite/Victreebel usage that has been a fringe pick over the past few years as seen, for instance, in the following two replays:
ABR vs Serpi, Round 5 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-783866
Amaranth vs ABR, Round 4 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782595
However, what we have been seeing lately is a rise in usage (and wins) using not only the aforementioned Dragonite and Victreebel, but also their pre-evolutions Weepinbel and Dragonair, as seen in the following three replays, for instance:
M Dragon vs Isza, quarter-finals of Smogon Classic Playoffs: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-798452
Luthier vs Soulwind, Round 4 of RBY Cup: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787160
ABR vs BlazingDark, Round 6 of RBY Invitational: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784895
This phenomenon has been stirring up the debate on banning Wrap or partial trapping moves as a whole. They have always been a topic of considerable controversy due to being perceived as uncompetitive and "cheap" - they were banned from RBY OU many years ago (namely, in the RBY2K10 era), and a survey on a potential Wrap ban was held in 2019, with 45% of people favouring taking some form of action against Wrap. Moreover, Wrap teams are very strong against very common archetypes that are perceived healthy and desirable for the tier (one such example being MieDon teams), effectively locking them down, turning them into a matchup fish strategy too.
It is then the perception of the council that support for a Wrap/partial trapping ban has been higher than ever. With this in mind, we would like to hear the community on this matter - should action be taken against Wrap and/or other partial trapping moves? Right now, the council and the old gen council heads see 3 possible courses of action:
1) Banning partial trapping moves as a whole - this is the most extreme option and includes banning Wrap, Clamp, Fire Spin and Bind. Simple and straightforward.
2) Banning just Wrap - a lot of people argue that Wrap is the only troublesome one out of the aforementioned 4 partial trapping moves. All other 3 moves have low PP and/or low accuracy. Wrap has very high PP (32) and very high accuracy (85%), which enhances the uncompetitive nature of the mechanic, rather than the arguably more competitive aspect of it acting as a pseudo-Volt Switch/U-Turn. Wrap users are also the ones who actually have access to reliable paralysis tools in order to slow down the faster checks (Stun Spore in Weepinbel and Victreebel's case, Thunder Wave in Dragonair and Dragonite's case).
3) Do nothing. Always an option.
Notably, option 2 is more specifically tailored towards stopping the uninteractive 3x/4x Wrap/paralysis spreader stacking builds that have been showing up lately, whereas option 1 naturally just stops flat any partial trapping-related strategy.
Secondly, banning any particular Pokémon is not something on the table right now, as the uncompetitive nature of the new Wrap-stacking teams is not dependent on 1 or 2 particular abusers and simply stacks bodies that can use Wrap and induce paralysis, which means we are only considering taking action against moves.
Lastly, I once again stress the fact I'm coming to you on behalf of the RBY Council - your posts and reactions will take part in determining further action by the RBY OU council regarding the future of the tier, so I ask of you to stay civil and serious about this matter.
Let me hear your thoughts!
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