Survey Results and Announcements
Thank you all for your responses in our previous survey!! We received a lot of great responses, which you can find here:
The survey also showed overwhelmingly that the community was not in favor of banning Tyranitar in any capacity, so we will not be pursuing that idea in the future, as we were not sold on the idea ourselves either. Thanks for the feedback! As a result, the STABmons council has decided that...
SPECTRIER HAS BEEN BANNED AND CLANGOROUS SOUL HAS BEEN RESTRICTED FROM STABMONS!!!
Following our survey, the council has still struggled to decide on a concrete plan, but after much deliberation we decided that both Spectrier and Clangorous Soul were the most restrictive elements in the current metagame.
Spectrier was the clear front runner in our survey, and for good reason. The main purpose of our survey was to gauge how people felt about Pokemon that necessitate the use of Tyranitar in the metagame, and everyone seems to be in agreement that while Ghost-type breakers in general do necessitate Tyranitar on some builds, Spectrier was by far the most polarizing threat of the 3. Where Gengar and Blacephalon have secondary checks in bulky Water-types like Seismitoad and Assault Vest Toxapex, Spectrier's are practically nowhere to be found in the current metagame. We feel that Spectrier's presence in the tier was too restrictive and is the most clear example of the issues that have been discussed the past few months.
We had a small back and forth about Clangorous Soul and whether or not it or its abusers were the issue, but ultimately we felt that this move enables them just a bit too much. While Latias was pretty clear as the main Clangorous Soul user, it is not broken in its own right while Latios was right behind it as a broken ClangSoul user, albeit less so. We feel that Clangorous Soul has no place in the metagame as it has the potential to enable multiple already strong Pokemon too much.
Votes:
As you can see, only the 3 of us voted on this slate. This brings me on to my next announcement, vivalospride and betathunder have stepped down from the council. Thank you to both of them for their work and helping us out!
What's Next?
Gengar and Blacephalon: As it currently stands, our next plan is to look into the other two Ghost-type threats in the metagame. They both were top 4 highest priority threats from the community survey, but the council was split on whether or not they were banworthy at this time. Most likely, there will be a suspect in the near future, but we have not set anything in stone.
Zapdos-Galar: Zapdos-Galar is a threat that the council feels is very pressing, as it has very limited counterplay, especially after a No Retreat. While we did list No Retreat in our survey, it is clear that nobody thinks the move itself is broken, but rather its single user. We'll be keeping an eye on Zapdos-Galar over the next few weeks before making a decision on it.
Other
After those two plans, we do not currently have our eyes set on anything in particular. It is too earlier to say what the metagame will look like a few weeks out from now, so we are keeping our options open. There are a few things from the survey, as well as one not on the survey, that I'd like to touch on for a moment.
Glacial Lance: While this did rate pretty high on the survey, we are not completely sold that it is broken in the present moment, as its abusers are not very prevalent in the current metagame. As we move forward, the metagame and our position on this may change.
Tapu Koko: While this did rate fairly high as well, we do not feel that Tapu Koko is close to an issue at the present moment. Tapu Koko is a solid thread, but with its checks such as Excadrill, Rotom-Heat, Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, and Seismitoad being so prevalent, it has more than its fair share of counterplay in the metagame. As it stands there are no plans to look into in Tapu Koko as we feel its presence in the metagame is healthy.
Toxapex: Toxapex has been discussed on occasion since DLC1 introduced Flip Turn to us, but the general response every time is that it is not quite unhealthy enough to be banned. However, it will most likely still stay in the back of our minds as we move forward and I'm sure this discussion will come up again in the future.
Tapu Bulu: Tapu Bulu was mentioned by several people on the survey, however the council feels that it is manageable in the current metagame, and has notably become worse since the ban of Landorus-Therian due to the increased variety and viability of Steel-Types, as well as increased usage of other Grass-type checks.
Thundurus-Therian: While this was not on our survey, it is something that came up during our discussions. Thundurus-Therian has maintained a somewhat lowkey status since DLC2 started, but it is quite difficult to play against in a lot of matchups. Nasty Plot sets can just outright win some matchups against teams without Tyranitar, so it does put a heavy strain on teambuilding despite not being a prominent threat currently. I think this is something that will make itself prevalent as we move forward, but we shall see.
Thank you all again for your feedback and we hope that these changes will move us to a less volatile metagame. We will be sure to keep up with the community's thoughts better moving forward and make sure that we are quicker to act upon issues in the metagame.
Tagging Kris to implement Spectrier ban and Clangorous Soul restriction.
Thank you all for your responses in our previous survey!! We received a lot of great responses, which you can find here:
SPECTRIER HAS BEEN BANNED AND CLANGOROUS SOUL HAS BEEN RESTRICTED FROM STABMONS!!!
Following our survey, the council has still struggled to decide on a concrete plan, but after much deliberation we decided that both Spectrier and Clangorous Soul were the most restrictive elements in the current metagame.
Spectrier was the clear front runner in our survey, and for good reason. The main purpose of our survey was to gauge how people felt about Pokemon that necessitate the use of Tyranitar in the metagame, and everyone seems to be in agreement that while Ghost-type breakers in general do necessitate Tyranitar on some builds, Spectrier was by far the most polarizing threat of the 3. Where Gengar and Blacephalon have secondary checks in bulky Water-types like Seismitoad and Assault Vest Toxapex, Spectrier's are practically nowhere to be found in the current metagame. We feel that Spectrier's presence in the tier was too restrictive and is the most clear example of the issues that have been discussed the past few months.
We had a small back and forth about Clangorous Soul and whether or not it or its abusers were the issue, but ultimately we felt that this move enables them just a bit too much. While Latias was pretty clear as the main Clangorous Soul user, it is not broken in its own right while Latios was right behind it as a broken ClangSoul user, albeit less so. We feel that Clangorous Soul has no place in the metagame as it has the potential to enable multiple already strong Pokemon too much.
Votes:
drampa's grandpa | in the hills | stresh | RESULT | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spectrier | BAN | BAN | ABS | BAN (2-0-1) |
Clangorous Soul | BAN | BAN | BAN | BAN (3-0) |
What's Next?
Gengar and Blacephalon: As it currently stands, our next plan is to look into the other two Ghost-type threats in the metagame. They both were top 4 highest priority threats from the community survey, but the council was split on whether or not they were banworthy at this time. Most likely, there will be a suspect in the near future, but we have not set anything in stone.
Zapdos-Galar: Zapdos-Galar is a threat that the council feels is very pressing, as it has very limited counterplay, especially after a No Retreat. While we did list No Retreat in our survey, it is clear that nobody thinks the move itself is broken, but rather its single user. We'll be keeping an eye on Zapdos-Galar over the next few weeks before making a decision on it.
Other
After those two plans, we do not currently have our eyes set on anything in particular. It is too earlier to say what the metagame will look like a few weeks out from now, so we are keeping our options open. There are a few things from the survey, as well as one not on the survey, that I'd like to touch on for a moment.
Glacial Lance: While this did rate pretty high on the survey, we are not completely sold that it is broken in the present moment, as its abusers are not very prevalent in the current metagame. As we move forward, the metagame and our position on this may change.
Tapu Koko: While this did rate fairly high as well, we do not feel that Tapu Koko is close to an issue at the present moment. Tapu Koko is a solid thread, but with its checks such as Excadrill, Rotom-Heat, Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, and Seismitoad being so prevalent, it has more than its fair share of counterplay in the metagame. As it stands there are no plans to look into in Tapu Koko as we feel its presence in the metagame is healthy.
Toxapex: Toxapex has been discussed on occasion since DLC1 introduced Flip Turn to us, but the general response every time is that it is not quite unhealthy enough to be banned. However, it will most likely still stay in the back of our minds as we move forward and I'm sure this discussion will come up again in the future.
Tapu Bulu: Tapu Bulu was mentioned by several people on the survey, however the council feels that it is manageable in the current metagame, and has notably become worse since the ban of Landorus-Therian due to the increased variety and viability of Steel-Types, as well as increased usage of other Grass-type checks.
Thundurus-Therian: While this was not on our survey, it is something that came up during our discussions. Thundurus-Therian has maintained a somewhat lowkey status since DLC2 started, but it is quite difficult to play against in a lot of matchups. Nasty Plot sets can just outright win some matchups against teams without Tyranitar, so it does put a heavy strain on teambuilding despite not being a prominent threat currently. I think this is something that will make itself prevalent as we move forward, but we shall see.
Thank you all again for your feedback and we hope that these changes will move us to a less volatile metagame. We will be sure to keep up with the community's thoughts better moving forward and make sure that we are quicker to act upon issues in the metagame.
Tagging Kris to implement Spectrier ban and Clangorous Soul restriction.