power
uh-oh, the game in trouble
Generation 8 is just around the corner, and I wanted to bring up a complex ban that, in my opinion, shouldn't exist in modern generations and should be changed to a simple ban for Generation 8.
The closest parallels to Sleep Clause were the former "Baton Pass Clauses" that were removed in favor of a blanket ban on Baton Pass. Banning Baton Pass was an excellent decision that vastly simplified the banlist; even if there existed clauses that could keep a neutered version of Baton Pass around, we chose a blanket ban on Baton Pass because it was simple and easy to enforce. To paraphrase a quote from the Baton Pass thread, just because Sleep is not currently broken as claused doesn't mean that we shouldn't aim to simplify the banlist for future generations.
(Please refrain from derailing this thread with Relic Song / HP Percentage Clause; this is not the thread to discuss either of these. Relic Song is no different from Ice Beam and is almost certainly not broken, even without sleep clause, in any Smogon Tier, and can always be dealt with later if it is. HP Percentage Clause is a convenience clause that cannot be replaced with a simple ban.)
TL;DR: Unrestricted Sleep is broken; we currently enforce a complex clause that breaks cartridge mechanics. I don't see the downsides of simplifying this to a simple ban on all sleep-inducing moves but I'd be interested in hearing the objections if there are any.
Why does Sleep Clause get to be an exception? Sleep Clause is widespread across Smogon Metagames for mostly historical reasons, even though it no longer is an option on cartridge and is the only Smogon clause that cannot be enforced on cartridge. This is a proposal for future generations, and for all Smogon Tiers; I'm not interested in affecting Sleep Clause in Generation 7 or any past generations and this proposal is for any tier that is currently on track to have Sleep Clause for Gen 8.I.) We play, to the best of our simulator's capabilities, with the mechanics given to us on the cartridge.
- Some exceptions exist, such as Sleep Clause...
The closest parallels to Sleep Clause were the former "Baton Pass Clauses" that were removed in favor of a blanket ban on Baton Pass. Banning Baton Pass was an excellent decision that vastly simplified the banlist; even if there existed clauses that could keep a neutered version of Baton Pass around, we chose a blanket ban on Baton Pass because it was simple and easy to enforce. To paraphrase a quote from the Baton Pass thread, just because Sleep is not currently broken as claused doesn't mean that we shouldn't aim to simplify the banlist for future generations.
(Please refrain from derailing this thread with Relic Song / HP Percentage Clause; this is not the thread to discuss either of these. Relic Song is no different from Ice Beam and is almost certainly not broken, even without sleep clause, in any Smogon Tier, and can always be dealt with later if it is. HP Percentage Clause is a convenience clause that cannot be replaced with a simple ban.)
TL;DR: Unrestricted Sleep is broken; we currently enforce a complex clause that breaks cartridge mechanics. I don't see the downsides of simplifying this to a simple ban on all sleep-inducing moves but I'd be interested in hearing the objections if there are any.
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