The Little Cup council has concluded based on feedback from the community and some retrospect of the recently ending LCPL and has decided to ban Scraggy and Sticky Web from SS LC effective immediately.
Scraggy has long been considered one of the most volatile Pokemon in the metagame for well over a year. From BW LC, where it could comfortably sweep teams, to the modern era where it does the same. It is often considered a staple on hyper-offense and matchup-fishing teams. Scraggy's dominance is nothing new, as certain dubious tournament games have ended in eight turns in previous generations. What separates the current Scraggy from the previous ones has been a perfect storm of shifts which only benefit the pants-holding lizard. A lack of reputable offensive checks is a noticeable change, as the best answer to Scraggy was recently banned. Fighting-types have always been pseudo-mandatory, but these Pokemon are unreliable in completely removing Scraggy, at best forcing the Pokemon out. Poison-types have also become a necessary option to check Grookey, which has marked a noticeable decline in Fairy-type usage. Not to mention Snubbull not being in the current generation, Spritzee is at one of the lowest points it has been at since the beginning of its inception. Additionally, Scraggy has never been particularly scared of the various Poison-types in the tier, as it has been able to break through them with its coverage options in Zen Headbutt and a powerful STAB Knock Off. Scraggy has also been able to get various support options throughout the generation, in Reflect, Light Screen, Aurora Veil, and Sticky Webs. All of the formerly named give Scraggy a significantly easier opportunity to set up on your opponent, of which the options become extremely limited from there. On the other hand, priority users have increased usage, including Grookey and the everpresent Timburr. Still, in turn, the rise of these Pokemon has also limited the options of Scraggy checks by significantly weakening Scarf users. In conjunction with Sticky Web (more on that later), Scraggy can even potentially outpace these Scarf users after one Dragon Dance. If Scraggy can set up and potentially breakthrough your primary check, the game is often decided. Scraggy's Moxie ability does not give you the chance to take a risk in defeating it. Your best answer needs to be preserved throughout the course of the game, which is not plausible in some matchups and can often be exploited by the opposing player. Simply put, Scraggy is too difficult to stop from getting ahead, and once it does get ahead, it is too difficult to stop. The builder cannot account for it much more than it already has, and the support options are too strong to account for all of them.
Sticky Web, on the other hand, is another collateral from the recent Vullaby suspect. LC has already done a suspect on Sticky Web this generation, so I'm not going to go into too much detail. Instead, I'm going to cover what has changed. LC had decided to take the route of banning individual abusers in the hope that we would be able to save the move once the previous vote was concluded. We had banned Woobat and then NP Vullaby, but Sticky Web teams were still being used at the higher levels of play. Additionally, the banning of Vullaby was a massive double-edged sword, as we also removed the best counterplay to Sticky Web—Defog Vullaby. Hazard-clear now relies on far less splashable and capable options. Staryu, the premier Rapid Spin user of the tier, is easily spinblocked. Defog Timburr is considered a poor offensive choice due to its lack of coverage. Natu, an extremely pedestrian team option to begin with, only stops Dewpider from setting in the first place. Other anti-webs options similarly lack viability otherwise. Simply put, many teams had a built-in option to handle Sticky Web. They no longer have that option. As a result, the LC council decided moving forward; it would be best to move on from Sticky Web.
With all of that said, we do not come with just news of bans. I know I have said this several times on a few different platforms, but I will ensure that it is formalized on the forums. With the upcoming Pokemon games, we are not completely certain what to expect moving forward. Still, if past trends are any indicator, the upcoming release of Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will most likely mean several new Pokemon becoming LC eligible. Assuming that the current games are similar to the DLC patches, the LC council will be reviewing several bans. In other words, Little Cup will be entering the new series of games with a minimal ban list, which means we will be unbanning several banned Pokemon upon release. Additionally, some commonly banned LC Pokemon will be legal at the drop of the new games. While I do not have an exact list at the moment and cannot provide much more than pure speculation, Scraggy and Sticky Web will both be unbanned come November. We are doing both bans at once simply because we do not want to leave the metagame in a state of disarray, and we hope that the quick shifts will lead to a stable metagame for the rest of its lifecycle. If, for some reason, which would be very unexpected and very unlikely, the metagame does not shift nearly as hard as expected, expect retests for both in place of that before the end of the year.
I truly hope that all of you are as excited as I am for the upcoming LC metagame. I am looking forward to seeing people's developments and the new meta from what we all discover.
Kris Marty, thank you.
Scraggy has long been considered one of the most volatile Pokemon in the metagame for well over a year. From BW LC, where it could comfortably sweep teams, to the modern era where it does the same. It is often considered a staple on hyper-offense and matchup-fishing teams. Scraggy's dominance is nothing new, as certain dubious tournament games have ended in eight turns in previous generations. What separates the current Scraggy from the previous ones has been a perfect storm of shifts which only benefit the pants-holding lizard. A lack of reputable offensive checks is a noticeable change, as the best answer to Scraggy was recently banned. Fighting-types have always been pseudo-mandatory, but these Pokemon are unreliable in completely removing Scraggy, at best forcing the Pokemon out. Poison-types have also become a necessary option to check Grookey, which has marked a noticeable decline in Fairy-type usage. Not to mention Snubbull not being in the current generation, Spritzee is at one of the lowest points it has been at since the beginning of its inception. Additionally, Scraggy has never been particularly scared of the various Poison-types in the tier, as it has been able to break through them with its coverage options in Zen Headbutt and a powerful STAB Knock Off. Scraggy has also been able to get various support options throughout the generation, in Reflect, Light Screen, Aurora Veil, and Sticky Webs. All of the formerly named give Scraggy a significantly easier opportunity to set up on your opponent, of which the options become extremely limited from there. On the other hand, priority users have increased usage, including Grookey and the everpresent Timburr. Still, in turn, the rise of these Pokemon has also limited the options of Scraggy checks by significantly weakening Scarf users. In conjunction with Sticky Web (more on that later), Scraggy can even potentially outpace these Scarf users after one Dragon Dance. If Scraggy can set up and potentially breakthrough your primary check, the game is often decided. Scraggy's Moxie ability does not give you the chance to take a risk in defeating it. Your best answer needs to be preserved throughout the course of the game, which is not plausible in some matchups and can often be exploited by the opposing player. Simply put, Scraggy is too difficult to stop from getting ahead, and once it does get ahead, it is too difficult to stop. The builder cannot account for it much more than it already has, and the support options are too strong to account for all of them.
Sticky Web, on the other hand, is another collateral from the recent Vullaby suspect. LC has already done a suspect on Sticky Web this generation, so I'm not going to go into too much detail. Instead, I'm going to cover what has changed. LC had decided to take the route of banning individual abusers in the hope that we would be able to save the move once the previous vote was concluded. We had banned Woobat and then NP Vullaby, but Sticky Web teams were still being used at the higher levels of play. Additionally, the banning of Vullaby was a massive double-edged sword, as we also removed the best counterplay to Sticky Web—Defog Vullaby. Hazard-clear now relies on far less splashable and capable options. Staryu, the premier Rapid Spin user of the tier, is easily spinblocked. Defog Timburr is considered a poor offensive choice due to its lack of coverage. Natu, an extremely pedestrian team option to begin with, only stops Dewpider from setting in the first place. Other anti-webs options similarly lack viability otherwise. Simply put, many teams had a built-in option to handle Sticky Web. They no longer have that option. As a result, the LC council decided moving forward; it would be best to move on from Sticky Web.
With all of that said, we do not come with just news of bans. I know I have said this several times on a few different platforms, but I will ensure that it is formalized on the forums. With the upcoming Pokemon games, we are not completely certain what to expect moving forward. Still, if past trends are any indicator, the upcoming release of Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will most likely mean several new Pokemon becoming LC eligible. Assuming that the current games are similar to the DLC patches, the LC council will be reviewing several bans. In other words, Little Cup will be entering the new series of games with a minimal ban list, which means we will be unbanning several banned Pokemon upon release. Additionally, some commonly banned LC Pokemon will be legal at the drop of the new games. While I do not have an exact list at the moment and cannot provide much more than pure speculation, Scraggy and Sticky Web will both be unbanned come November. We are doing both bans at once simply because we do not want to leave the metagame in a state of disarray, and we hope that the quick shifts will lead to a stable metagame for the rest of its lifecycle. If, for some reason, which would be very unexpected and very unlikely, the metagame does not shift nearly as hard as expected, expect retests for both in place of that before the end of the year.
I truly hope that all of you are as excited as I am for the upcoming LC metagame. I am looking forward to seeing people's developments and the new meta from what we all discover.
Kris Marty, thank you.