Just a few thoughts on very early Metagame and where I think the community/tier has to go in the future.
It seems that the early metagame as well as the overall sentiment for Scarlet and Violet is that offense is more rewarding. This is due to the fact that Tera STAB boosts/type change and overall stall nerf (nearly all forms of recovery to 8pp) combines for a rewarding offensive meta. This seems to result in many games becoming a KO fest, where setting up sweepers and/or stopping/countering opponent's threats becomes paramount to victory.
Not to say that this "offensive" positioning is "bad", as Pokémon is clearly a "positioning game" as it were. However, when the meta is so "simple" that many games come down to a "their sweeper was just better" (positioning wise within the game state) or "I lost the Tera prediction coinflip" it seems unrewarding to the "competitive spirit" that the community often looks for. This "simplicity" is best seen in the Tera mechanic, as I get a sense that players either use Tera to do one of 3 things; set up a sweeper, stop/counter an opponent's sweeper, or win the aforementioned "coinflip".
While Tera is the "gimmick" of the generation, it seems that it has settled between Z moves and Dynamax. Z moves while powerful, also "take up" an item slot, and thus the pro's and con's of choosing to use or not use them is present. This is why Z moves stayed legal as its "in-line" with a central mechanic to Pokémon; no team is "perfect" there are pro's and con's to every choice you make (both teambuilding and game state decisions). Conversely, Dynamax became a "you have no reason not to" and "whoever Dynamaxed better" tends to win (both of which contributed to it getting banned as it was antithetical to Pokémon's inherent "opportunity cost" and "competitive merit" respectively). Tera sits in a "middle ground" that leans toward Dynamax. You don't have the "opportunity cost" like Z moves as Tera doesn't consume an item slot, and even though there is a "opportunity cost" to what Tera type you choose and when to use it, it feels more Dynamaxy in terms of its "practical usage".
I believe the movement that would best contribute to the metagame and tier would be for the community to "make its decision" on Tera (aka suspect test for Tera ban). My worry is that Tera sits in this limbo where the community can't decide on whether it stays or not, and negatively effects the meta. Tera seems to only "muddy the water" on the overall "feel" of the tier and individual Pokémon viability. To illustrate this "muddiness" look at Gen 8 OU, the entire tier essentially had to ban Dynamax before the entire "feel" of the tier felt "competitively competent" (aka anti-gimmick over-centralization) and certain Pokémon ended up being re-introduced and/or re-suspect tested, and the tier continued to evolve.
At the end of the day, the healthiest Metagame's always "evolve" instead of "devolve". Let's make a decision on Tera before we start passing judgements on individual Pokémon when it could be Tera the entire time.
Thanks.
