these "worst offenders" don't have counters, just sayin'Surely removing the worst offenders (most of which aren't even megas lol) is a big enough meta-shift to make it more balanced, ne?
Lol at Aegislash being broken. Can it solo teams? Does it have easy boosting (SD sets don't count cause they are shit)? Is it only countered/checked by super niche shit?
No.
It's like Gen IV Scizor; really fucking good but not anywhere near banworthy.
I'm sorry, if you don't realize that there will always be a highest threat that is semi-broken in any tier you are really not even thinking about each tier in the first place.dude the only one that seems have never played on ladder are you, seriously, megaevos RUINED the game, owell
lol scarfchomp not top usage. by the way, usage doesnt make a poke good/bad in the first place, so idk why thats an argument. jolly charizard X isin't very common anymore from what i'm seeing, in fact most sets are running some HP evs for bulk. also when you have a sweeper that is semi-suicidal (flare blitz), it can be taken care of by much priority and, as mentioned above, rocks.Charizard X so what about I don't have azumarill or heatran in my team? scarfexcadrill is slower than charizard after a dance, scarfkeldeo lolwhat it sucks, scarfchomp hmm ok this is good but not in top usage, same for terrakion
oh god forbid you lose a member of your team holy shit. if you are in stall or balanced, switch to obvious chansey / special wall you must have to be viable as a team anyways. if you are using offense, there is always somebody who is expendable. and you dont even have to revenge kill it - sorry you want speed to be a stat thats not even important. if speed wasnt relevant mega mawile wouldve been banned a long time ago.Charizard Y what about it has no counter? you can revengekill it ok but in the meantime you lost a member of your team, god beneath switchback lol
mega mawile + landorus-i destroys every team sure....obviously every ladderer uses it so yeah. its a good core, but in no ways game breaking. sorry you think sub is the only thing mawile does, the SD set is even more potent for my usage. and how about this, use strategy NOT to let it come in freely. thats just USING YOUR FUCKING BRAIN.Mega Mawile intersting how this threath used in core with Landorus can destroy every team, but bro will-o-wisp still not trepass the substitute i'm sorry :(
Lol at Aegislash being broken. Can it solo teams? Does it have easy boosting (SD sets don't count cause they are shit)? Is it only countered/checked by super niche shit?
No.
It's like Gen IV Scizor; really fucking good but not anywhere near banworthy.
I probably have a personal experience bias, since I never had problems with it. It is important to note that there will always be Pokemon like Aegislash that everyone needs to prepare for. I agree it needs a test but I see people hyping its battle prowess a little too much.Nope, it's actually way more comparable to Genesect. Aegislash is most definitely deserving of a suspect at least. It's a Pokemon that alters the metagame like no other. Answer me this: why do Ttar and Mega Pinsir run Earthquake? Why does Lucario run Earthquake? Why does Scizor run Knock Off when it's an inferior option to Superpower? The answer is Aegislash.
It's an incredibly centralizing Pokemon. The entire tier revolves around it. Every team has to be stacked with ways of beating it, and even then it is still capable of destroying teams with support. It's got a multitude of sets and there is no one Pokemon that can counter it (which means it is capable of fucking stall). SubToxic, KS 3 attacks, speedy LO 3 attacks, LO SD 3 attacks. All these are viable threats that can defeat whatever option you have to beat it. It can go physical, special, or mixed. It can be slow and bulky or slightly faster than key threats (Bisharp) and super powerful. Not to mention all the 50/50s it creates with Kings Shield. Please tell me how this is not EXACTLY like Genesect? The only thing Genesect had that Aegislash doesn't is U-turn. It's the most restrictive Pokemon in the tier bar none. It is a monster with both 150/150 defenses and 150/150 offenses. How does this not scream "suspect worthy"?
I'm usually very reluctant to say "ban pls" without a long and informative suspect test, but come on guys, we can prove some of this shit is broken with math-o-fuckin-matics. How is it okay that several threats in the tier have ZERO viable counters? How far off the deep end has the meta gone when sacking Thundurus to get off a priority T-wave is considered a reliable "check" to Mega Charizard X? We're in a situation right now where top ladder players are pretty much polarized between hyperoffense and stall, because all the ridiculously powerful sweepers available blow up everything in-between. We should suspect stupid shit like Landorus and Mega Mawile as soon as possible. This would lead to bulky sweepers and balanced teams being more viable, which in turn would make stall much more manageable as well.
Basically, suspecting some of these Pokemon and removing them would improve balance and variety across the board, which would MASSIVELY improve the overly matchup dependent, agonizingly repetitive state OU has currently become.
Oh, since I have a lot of time and I like damage calcs, here's why two of my least favorite Pokemon in the tier are extremely problematic:
Every single check gets OHKOd by a coverage move from one of only two sets that Landorus could be running, that being the standard physical and special sweeper sets. Knock Off makes it even worse this gen, because Chansey/Blissey can no longer wall the specially offensive set and even the bulky Psychics that had a chance against it last gen can get utterly demolished on the switchin:
252 Atk Life Orb Landorus Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latios: 322-382 (106.6 - 126.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
You can try to stop it with priority, but Landorus has enough bulk that anything short of an Ice Shard will fail to bring it down:
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 260-308 (81.2 - 96.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 256-303 (80 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Oh, and don't even try to counter it, because Mixed Landorus alone is impossible to wall with any degree of consistency. Even Genesect was easier to wall than this thing. Chansey in particular is considered the best special wall in the tier, and falls to an uninvested Knock Off + Superpower:
0 Atk Life Orb Landorus Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 146-172 (22.7 - 26.7%) -- 29.7% chance to 4HKO
0 Atk Life Orb Landorus Superpower vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Chansey: 538-634 (83.8 - 98.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Some other top walls getting demolished by common coverage moves:
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Psychic vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mega Venusaur: 192-229 (52.7 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 183-216 (54.7 - 64.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Landorus Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Hippowdon: 278-328 (66.1 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Hippowdon: 298-351 (70.9 - 83.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn: 356-421 (101.1 - 119.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Sylveon: 192-229 (48.7 - 58.1%) -- 58.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (wow, it can avoid a 2HKO on occasion!)
252 Atk Life Orb Landorus Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 294-347 (74.6 - 88%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (oh wait physical Lando exists)
252 SpA Life Orb Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Quagsire: 250-294 (63.4 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
This of course comes with the assumption that Sand isn't up (which makes physical Lando far more difficult to deal with) and the opponent has no hazards on their side of the field. Stealth Rocks+Spikes turns quite a few 2HKOs into OHKOs, and if speed is a problem Lando can easily use a Rock Polish to practically guarantee a sweep.Bulky, hits like a truck, and has fantastic typing- all ingredients for one of the most brutally overpowered sweepers in the tier. Preventing it from setting up consistently is extremely difficult with dual screens and Memento being so readily available, so often you will be forced to revenge kill one at +1/+1 no matter what you do. The bulky set in particular is incredibly hard to OHKO with screen support:
252 SpA Latios Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X through Light Screen: 244-288 (67.9 - 80.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Once it gets one turn of setup, everything bar Deoxys S and Choice Scarf users get outsped, and when that happens good luck actually surviving a hit from anything other than a dedicated physical wall:
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Keldeo: 469-553 (145.2 - 171.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 397-468 (98.2 - 115.8%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 432-510 (106.9 - 126.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (so much for a "counter")
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Venusaur: 360-424 (98.9 - 116.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 313-370 (97.8 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO (that's after an Intimidate drop!)
Oh, and those physical walls? Unless you're able to OHKO Charizard, they're going to get wiped out as well-
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 276-325 (65.7 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 300-354 (70.7 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 229-271 (58.1 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (this is a big one)
Compared to the other premier premier Dragon types in OU, it's easy to see why this one is so problematic. Every other major Dragon type has as least three blatantly exploitable weakness which decently constructed teams should be able to make use of to beat them. Let's go down the list:
Latios/Latias: Walled by Chansey/bulky Steel types, vulnerable to Pursuit, knocked out by Sucker Punch
Kyurem-B: Cannot boost speed, lacks a good secondary STAB move, vulnerable to Bullet Punch
Garchomp: Cannot boost speed, lacks priority, has a crippling 4x weakness
Dragonite: Slow initial speed, lacks a good secondary STAB move, crippling 4x weakness
The ONLY weakness from this list which Mega Charizard X faces is a lack of priority, and considering that no opposing priority move in the game can actually OHKO it this usually isn't even a problem. Roost shenanigans can stop even Pokemon like Bisharp from beating it with Sucker Punch.
It's possible for two players playing each other on DS to tell each other any information (even true for wifi thanks to voice communication, or social media since so many of our wifi battles are arranged through the forum anyway). If you are doing a random battle, it's not Smogon OU rules anyway. Point is for in-cartridge play, we'd just be enforcing a rule: "If you use Charizard, you have to tell your opponent which mega stone you're using if any."
This does not at all affect game mechanics.
Right now, having just reached the ~1650-1750 (basically mid-upper ladder) mark on the ladder, the only things that I've found that need a suspect test are Deo-D and Deo-S. Right now, DeoSharp is the name of the game. Deo D is bulky enough to take even SE hits and continue to hazard stack in your face. Add on a high base speed of 90(?), and this thing is able to paralyze slower set up sweepers, which cripples them for the rest of the game. Additionally, it has Taunt and Magic Coat to prevent opposing leads from stacking alongside it, and with the high speed I previously mentioned, it's usually able to get it off quite easily. It can also run a few attack EVs (28 IIRC) and Superpower to OHKO Bisharp, who is the closest thing to a counter he has. Speaking of counters, Espeon is the only thing that truly counters him, but that's only because of Magic. Bounce. You could say Mega Absol but LOL.
Deo-S is entirely different. Back when he was first suspected, I truly feel that he was overshadowed by all the Mega Luke and Genesect hype, which caused him to be overlooked. Once they were gone, he became noticed. His speed is insane enough to outspeed Scarfchomp without max investment, and has a myriad of sets. Examples include the LO Cleaner and Dual Screens, both of which have a significant impact on the metagame. Fortunately for him, he has a counter in Aegislash (who's an entirely different subject that I'll touch on later). But aside from that, the most reliable check is T-Wave Thundy, who (if I remember correctly) is OHKOed by Ice Beam. Passable Bulk and decent offenses with a blazing speed have definitely made it's impact on the meta.
Tl;dr, Deo D and Deo S are quite centralizing and deserve to have a second look for suspecting.
I probably have a personal experience bias, since I never had problems with it. It is important to note that there will always be Pokemon like Aegislash that everyone needs to prepare for. I agree it needs a test but I see people hyping its battle prowess a little too much.
You're wrong, suspect tests are flawed. When youre opening tiering votes for ANYONE with the only requirement being trivial ladder ranks youre going to have people that either know nothing of the metagame (therefore voting without any base) or people that are voting for their own benefit (read the idiot that wanted landorus banned so that mamoswine usage would drop). We dont need to make this system ''democratic'', theres a reason why the council exists and why theyre in that position, they should be able to identify broken elements and remove them from the tier and them test them later when they see fit (such as the metagame changed to the point where a previous broken mon is now manageable). We need to stop trying to take things so subjectively, i completely agree with Vryheid, this is just hurting the tiering process by making things slow and allowing broken things to keep haunting the tier for a long ass time, read deoxys-s, the very thing you guys are bitching about now, passed his first suspect test (which i voted to ban btw), another proof of how flawed suspect tests are.Just sayin, when there were intelligent, experienced players making cases against Lucarionite being banned, I think it's a little ridiculous to start suggesting stuff like Heracross is broken. Yes the meta game needs to be balanced quicker, but we are getting WAY ahead of ourselves. I think the best course of action is to do what we always do; identify what is currently the most potentially unhealthy thing in the meta right now, discuss it, suspect test it, ban it, observe how things change, and repeat. Now, we need to go faster, preferably have a suspect test in place by the end of the month (maybe wishful thinking, but a goal like that is necessary), but the process that we've been using isn't in need of massive changes.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Uh, you do realize that the moment we implement something like this we are flat out saying ''charizard is broken but i dont want to ban it'' and considering that we didnt made any exception for blaziken, deoxys, genesect, kangaskhanite, lucarionite and gengarite i dont see what makes zard so special that we need to implement a clause just for the sake of keeping it in the tier.Hi everyone, thanks for participating-- I can't believe in one day we already have already had almost 450 surveys started (please complete them if you started them... we have 370 completed). As such, I'll go ahead and let this stay open until we get 1000 responses, or until responses tail off.
Sorry I haven't read all your posts, and can't respond to all-- I will leave it up to the discretion of Haunter/other OU mods whether to leave this thread open. I left the thread open intentially, but the purpose was not necessarily to start open discussion on tiering; the Council will look at the questionaire responses more than anything posted here.
Also, in regards to a theoretical Charizard Informative clause: There is no problem with Game Mechanics
It's possible for two players playing each other on DS to tell each other any information (even true for wifi thanks to voice communication, or social media since so many of our wifi battles are arranged through the forum anyway). If you are doing a random battle, it's not Smogon OU rules anyway. Point is for in-cartridge play, we'd just be enforcing a rule: "If you use Charizard, you have to tell your opponent which mega stone you're using if any."
This does not at all affect game mechanics.
Chou Edit: And yet, it's possible for two players playing each other on DS to tell each other any information (even true for wifi thanks to voice communication, or social media since so many of our wifi battles are arranged through the forum anyway). Point is for in-cartridge play, we'd just be inforcing a rule: If you use Charizard, you have to tell your opponent which mega stone you're using if any.
This does not at all affect game mechanics.
Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding this, but if there wasn't any argument in MegaLuke's favor, it would've been quickbanned instead of suspected. Selfish trolls will argue every ban (see specifically the Khangaskhanite discussion), but I was just making a point that if something as obviously broken as Mega Lucario wasn't completely one-sided, then making claims about certain pokemon that, in this current meta, are clearly not broken deserving a quickban is utterly ridiculous.You're wrong, suspect tests are flawed. When youre opening tiering votes for ANYONE with the only requirement being trivial ladder ranks youre going to have people that either know nothing of the metagame (therefore voting without any base) or people that are voting for their own benefit (read the idiot that wanted landorus banned so that mamoswine usage would drop). We dont need to make this system ''democratic'', theres a reason why the council exists and why theyre in that position, they should be able to identify broken elements and remove them from the tier and them test them later when they see fit (such as the metagame changed to the point where a previous broken mon is now manageable). We need to stop trying to take things so subjectively, i completely agree with Vryheid, this is just hurting the tiering process by making things slow and allowing broken things to keep haunting the tier for a long ass time, read deoxys-s, the very thing you guys are bitching about now, passed his first suspect test (which i voted to ban btw), another proof of how flawed suspect tests are.
That would be altering game mechanics. The game doesn't tell you which Charizard it is, so you can't say "this is Charizard X" as a random message that pops up, because the game doesn't.
Chou Edit: And yet, it's possible for two players playing each other on DS to tell each other any information (even true for wifi thanks to voice communication, or social media since so many of our wifi battles are arranged through the forum anyway). Point is for in-cartridge play, we'd just be inforcing a rule: If you use Charizard, you have to tell your opponent which mega stone you're using if any.
This does not at all affect game mechanics.
Chou Toshio
Ok, besides what Shurtugal said:
Did you really just tell me that there's no difference between not only assuming people actually use, say Twitter, to set up a battle, and also assuming they would actually tell you, but forcing them to tell you? What the hell is that? Oh, my 3ds allows me to talk to my opponent, let me tell them what Charizard I'm using!
Also why bother editing my post? Couldn't you just reply to it so I had a chance to see and reply to you myself instead of forcing someone to quote it for me to see it.
I am not forced to tell my opponent what Charizard I am using, and by forcing Showdown to, you are technically altering game mechanics by forcing the message to appear alerting the opponent, the same as if you removed the message for Mold Breaker.
Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding this, but if there wasn't any argument in MegaLuke's favor, it would've been quickbanned instead of suspected. Selfish trolls will argue every ban (see specifically the Khangaskhanite discussion), but I was just making a point that if something as obviously broken as Mega Lucario wasn't completely one-sided, then making claims about certain pokemon that, in this current meta, are clearly not broken deserving a quickban is utterly ridiculous.
I also completely disagree about the democracy part. If I wanted my metagame dictated to me by powers beyond my control, I would've stuck with Nintendo. Smogon's so great because it's the players making decisions on what they want from their competition. Sure the council has significant influence, but they do a very good job of listening to the community and addressing problems as the community (or at least the relevant members of the community) brings up.
Speeding up the process needs to be priority #1, but the switch to 1760 stats and the Victory Road installment (lol) did enough to alienate casual gamers. Removing or even limiting their right to vote would be a mistake.
My opinion of the Pokemon community outside of smogon isn't a secret (just see Kaxrida's signature), but I'll echo what some of my friends say about Smogon, "Who do you think you are, setting rules and banning pokemon?" The answer that always shut them up was "We are the community, and as the people who actually play it, we make decisions based on what we want from the game, who's Nintendo to say we can't use Mew?"
Let's not get carried away now.