
Hello... it's me... ♫
I feel like we could talk about Sand Veil in DPP.
In BW, we decided to ban Sand Veil under the Evasion Clause because of its unhealthy effects on the metagame, mainly when used on Gliscor (Acrobat set), as Garchomp was already banned at the time. It's interesting to note that Sand Veil was arguably a big part of what made Garchomp broken in BW1 to the point of being banned.
Based on the Tiering Policy Framework, I'd say that Sand Veil fits the uncompetitive criteria.
We already have an evasion clause preventing us from using moves such as Double Team. Under that premise, I don't plan to explain exactly why abusing Evasion is uncompetitive, since we already acknowledge it. What I'd like to point is why Sand Veil should be banned under the Evasion Clause in DPP.C.) This can be probability management issues; think OHKOs, SwagPlay, Evasion, or Moody, all of which turn the battle from emphasizing battling skill to emphasizing the result of the RNG more often than not.
What separates Sand Veil from items like Brightpowder and make it truely uncompetitive?
The biggest argument for me is that there is very little opportunity cost in using Sand Veil. Its biggest (and pretty much only) abuser is Gliscor, and its most common sets have little business using Hyper Cutter (which is only useful against Gyarados and the very rare Hitmontop). You don't lose out on an item (unlike Brightpowder or other "hax" items), you don't lose out on a move, you have everything to gain from using Sand Veil and banking on its effects, which leads me to my next point.
The only oppotunity cost in trying to abuse Sand Veil is using Gliscor and a Sand Streamer. Based on the Smogon Tour 20 stats, Tyranitar is the most used Pokemon in DPP. You will encounter it in one battle out of two. Hippowdon sees less usage but is still a very relevant Pokemon in OU, and Gliscor falls in the same category. According to the DPP Viability Rankings, Tyranitar is S-Rank, Hippowdon A rank and Gliscor A+. While it is arguable that these ranks are subjective, what is certain is that using these Pokemons isn't gimmicky at all. They're all solid and reliable, which is a big trait separating Sand Veil from all the other hax reliant gimmicks.
Fact is, you can't play around Sand Veil. Your only possible strategy is using a Hail setter or another weather starter, and that is only if you manage to win the "weather war". Sand Veil abuse is so good that it's been one of the premier strategy used in the tier in the past year. babidi1998 is one of the site"s most renowned DPP player, and for anyone who's been following his games, it is known that he's been having great results out of Gliscor abuse teams (such as winning the DPP Cup).
Another thing to point out is that Sand Veil is equally destructive against all playstyle, making it all the more reliant. Against Defensive teams, it's a totally reasonnable strategy to play the odds and aiming for misses on the long run, as it is shown in this World Cup game between Marshall.Law and Go10. In this game, a Sub Roost Gliscor manages to solo its way through an Ice Fang Hippowdon, a Rotom-A and more importantly: a Calm Mind Ice Beam Clefable. You may think that Sand Veil is only a big factor against Defensive teams, as eventually missing moves is the prize to cost from running Pokemons with low damages output that draw out the battle, but then you also see games like this. Of course, I'm using quite the caricatural replays to show what is Sand Veil capable of, but they display how Sand Veil turns the table for someone who has arguably played worse throughout the entire battle.
To sum it up, I'd say that I think Sand Veil is banworthy in DPP because it plays a big part in the metagame due to:
- Being abusable by consistent and reliable Pokemons (Tyranitar, Gliscor, Hippowdon).
- Affecting everything that has to deal with it (every moves is at risks, outside of the irrelevant Shock Wave [which doesn't even hit Gliscor] and Aerial Ace). I feel like it can creates undesirable games described in the Framework that I quoted earlier: "all of which turn the battle from emphasizing battling skill to emphasizing the result of the RNG more often than not".
- The lack of reasonnable counterplay (Abomasnow, a B-ranked Pokemon, with <2% usage, that needs support to properly work and that doesn't even invalidate Sand Veil abuse as it has to win the weather war first; Kingdra sees more usage but doesn't always carry Rain Dance and it's not a cold stop either).
I'd appreciate if we can reach a conclusion on the matter before SPL starts.
Maybe we should keep the semantics for later (Sand Veil ban? Snow Cloak ban? Gliscor ban?), I don't know about that. Anyway, if we ever decide to ultimately vote on something, we'll probably hold a similar vote in the manner of the BW Weather Boost one, but if you have better ideas, feel free to propose them too (maybe by PM to me and the other TDs so we don't clutter the thread with that).