To me, Terrastralisation is a symptom rather than a cause.
Early metas tend to lean offensive, broken tends to check broken, etc. But this time we really lost a lot of the defensive backbones we had in Gen 8. Lando T, Clef, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Tangrowth, you name it. Hazard removal is significantly worse than in Gen 8. We do not have access to transfer moves (if they even return), which cuts us down on reliable defoggers. Great Tusk and Iron Treads are good spinners, but removing hazards is still especially difficult right now. The defensive mons we did get are also notably nerfed. Slowbro doesn't have Teleport or Scald, Pex lost Scald, Blissey and Chansey lost Teleport, and across the board recovery moves have taken a huge hit. Even if we did hit Terrastralize, this meta would be one of the fastest we have had for OU.
And that is fine. A fast meta is not inheritly bad. Maybe when Lando T the lord and savior comes back, the meta will slow down a little. But Terrastralize is far from the reason fat teams are "dead". There is a decent chance they do find a way later down the line, once we tackle some of the more broken stuff in the meta.
Speaking of broken stuff, some broken mons are warping the meta and as a result the view around Terra. Palafin and Chien Pao are probably the two biggest offenders. I think its safe to say after more and more experimentation, Palafin looks to be public enemy number 1. While Terra Water Palafin is terrifying, I think most of us could agree it is not the main reason that Palafin is busted. Same thing goes for Chien Pao. Sure, with Terra it could get around its few checks, but it was already a scary mon to begin with. Heck, I would say Cyclizer is also a part of the reason Terra is as scary as it can be. That easy set up for your sweeper of choice makes it so they can abuse Terra to make them harder to take down or wall.
The other main argument I have seen against Terra is that it is unpredictable. Terra lets Pokemon get by their checks or counters and that it feels bad to lose to a random Terra type that just screws your counterplay over. First off, I think feels bad stuff is not a good enough reason for a ban. If it is pure RNG, sure. Heck, if it just decides games at team preview like full BP does, sure. But Terra just does not do that. I would honestly say the closest we could compare it to is Z Moves. Z moves also lead to plenty of dumb moments where pokemon could nuke their prospective checks or muscle through things. Granted, Z moves were more committal. But they still lead to plenty of dumb moments and were fine.
I also think that it is just way too soon to ban Terra just for being unpredictable. The meta is not even a week old. People are already finding defensive uses for it and counterplay. There are tons of other busted threats running around warping our view on it. I do not think we should seriously look at Terra until a few months down the road, after some of the obvious broken stuff is taken care of.
My ideal roadmap would be taking care of Palafin and Cyclizer first. I think Chien Pao, while super strong, also benefits a ton from how offensive this meta is. I think it easily could be a problem without those, and if it was banned I would not be surprised. I personally am not convinced Booster Energy, Iron Bundle, or Roaring Moon are banworthy yet. I am also pretty against an Iron Valiant ban comparatively and think it is worse than any of those rn.
Early metas tend to lean offensive, broken tends to check broken, etc. But this time we really lost a lot of the defensive backbones we had in Gen 8. Lando T, Clef, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Tangrowth, you name it. Hazard removal is significantly worse than in Gen 8. We do not have access to transfer moves (if they even return), which cuts us down on reliable defoggers. Great Tusk and Iron Treads are good spinners, but removing hazards is still especially difficult right now. The defensive mons we did get are also notably nerfed. Slowbro doesn't have Teleport or Scald, Pex lost Scald, Blissey and Chansey lost Teleport, and across the board recovery moves have taken a huge hit. Even if we did hit Terrastralize, this meta would be one of the fastest we have had for OU.
And that is fine. A fast meta is not inheritly bad. Maybe when Lando T the lord and savior comes back, the meta will slow down a little. But Terrastralize is far from the reason fat teams are "dead". There is a decent chance they do find a way later down the line, once we tackle some of the more broken stuff in the meta.
Speaking of broken stuff, some broken mons are warping the meta and as a result the view around Terra. Palafin and Chien Pao are probably the two biggest offenders. I think its safe to say after more and more experimentation, Palafin looks to be public enemy number 1. While Terra Water Palafin is terrifying, I think most of us could agree it is not the main reason that Palafin is busted. Same thing goes for Chien Pao. Sure, with Terra it could get around its few checks, but it was already a scary mon to begin with. Heck, I would say Cyclizer is also a part of the reason Terra is as scary as it can be. That easy set up for your sweeper of choice makes it so they can abuse Terra to make them harder to take down or wall.
The other main argument I have seen against Terra is that it is unpredictable. Terra lets Pokemon get by their checks or counters and that it feels bad to lose to a random Terra type that just screws your counterplay over. First off, I think feels bad stuff is not a good enough reason for a ban. If it is pure RNG, sure. Heck, if it just decides games at team preview like full BP does, sure. But Terra just does not do that. I would honestly say the closest we could compare it to is Z Moves. Z moves also lead to plenty of dumb moments where pokemon could nuke their prospective checks or muscle through things. Granted, Z moves were more committal. But they still lead to plenty of dumb moments and were fine.
I also think that it is just way too soon to ban Terra just for being unpredictable. The meta is not even a week old. People are already finding defensive uses for it and counterplay. There are tons of other busted threats running around warping our view on it. I do not think we should seriously look at Terra until a few months down the road, after some of the obvious broken stuff is taken care of.
My ideal roadmap would be taking care of Palafin and Cyclizer first. I think Chien Pao, while super strong, also benefits a ton from how offensive this meta is. I think it easily could be a problem without those, and if it was banned I would not be surprised. I personally am not convinced Booster Energy, Iron Bundle, or Roaring Moon are banworthy yet. I am also pretty against an Iron Valiant ban comparatively and think it is worse than any of those rn.
