Preface:
1. I think the DPP metagame is excellent as is. There is nothing wrong with zero action being taken.
2. Having said that, there are certainly elements whose removal would improve the game without completely changing it. I believe we should remove these where possible.
3. If I had my way, I would remove Iron Head. I believe Jirachi to be balanced / a positive for the metagame, but removing Iron Head would unquestionably improve the tier, because it rewards players too powerfully, too consistently, and often for making bad plays. However, we unfortunately do not have this as an option, and removing Jirachi from the tier entirely is not something I think we should do (for many reasons). This is why I am not focusing on it, despite it being the tier's most controversial Pokemon. (Having said that, if there was massive support for a Jirachi suspect, I would not be entirely opposed...but most people seem to feel similarly about wanting to remove Iron Head yet not wanting to remove Jirachi.)
Note the bolded part, and consider how it also applies to Machamp. The difference between Machamp and Jirachi is that Machamp is not one of the tier's most important defensive pieces, and I am not just talking the oft-cited ability to take on Latias here: even before its re-introduction, Rachi was almost single-handedly responsible for shutting down the powerful offensive teams that had given DPP its reputation for being a last-guessing variance fest with overwhelming levels of power a tier without team preview was insufficiently equipped to handle.
Speaking of DPP's reputation for being a variance fest, in recent years it is less "I got swept by an unrevealed Pokemon" and more literally about RNG excessively plaguing battles. Yes, Jirachi is largely responsible for this, but there is a reason why teams that only have Jirachi are much, MUCH less despised than the teams that pair it with Machamp (there is a reason DPP Cup threads have *clicks DynamicPunch* as their tier-describing blurb). Paraspam teams with Machamp have long since been the go-to team style for someone looking to "cheese" their way past an opponent by virtue of their high RNG.
Machamp's far greater power means your window for attempting to survive its hax is significantly lower than against Jirachi. Rachi's Iron Head flinches are higher in percentage, but it also often needs to chain ridiculous amounts of them together to try and RNG its way past something. Conversely often takes just one, maybe two confusions to lose the one-on-one against Champ, because it threatens huge damage against the entire tier, and its Fighting STAB has much, much better coverage than Jirachi's Steel.
This is too great a reward, one it receives too consistently, especially paired with paralysis, and because it comes in against some of the most necessary Pokemon in the tier. The consistency with which it receives this reward also enables bad play far more than should be acceptable. There will always be players who make worse moves, hoping RNG will bail them out. The RNG should not be so high that this becomes a reliable strategy, yet Machamp, especially with paralysis--a pairing so natural and common you may as well say "with Stealth Rock"--regularly becomes overbearing in this regard.
With paralysis support it is particularl egregious, but in case you think you'll be fine if you can simply dance around the status, recall the years and years of lead Machamp, or mid-game Champ on offensive teams not supported by para, ripping through things far too easily off DynamicPunch confusion alone. Machamp's response to Azelf running Colbur Berry wound up being to DynamicPunch it on the first turn and either force a switch or a coinflip. When tasked with actually switching into Champ, the move's only immunities are unable to take it out or hinder it reliably in return (the closest you get is Explosion / Destiny Bond Gengar which...still involves losing Gengar (we can consider Slowbro a pseudo-immunity, and it's a good Pokemon but extremely niche)), and anything coming into it holding a Lum Berry is taking enormous damage. Machamp hitting hard is not the issue--Machamp hitting hard and immediately ruining attempts at counterplay through high RNG is the issue. Like Jirachi's Iron Head, the metagame would be better without Machamp's DynamicPunch.
Now, the above is not really controversial, evidenced by, if nothing else, 75% of surveyed players finding Machamp not balanced. It is at this point I would remind you that Machamp offers very little to the tier defensively. It's a good secondary check to DD Tyranitar, and that's about it. Its bulk is sufficient to let it go one-on-one with something like Heatran, but it's not switching into much of anything; given its decidedly average physical bulk, vulnerability to Sand, and how much it loves spamming Substitute, it doesn't even like switching into Tyranitar's resisted STABs--it far prefers coming in on a Stealth Rock or after a teammate has been Pursuited. With this in mind, we can begin to approach the idea of a Machamp-less tier; we are certainly not relying on it defensively. Does it provide some sort of crucial offense?
Yes, Machamp is a fierce wallbreaker. Taken from the viewpoint of its lower defensive utility and great damage output, it is not dissimilar to fellow Fighters Lucario and Infernape, or even the niche picks of Gallade or Heracross. What this tells us is that we are not lacking in Fighting-type wallbreaking power. Where Machamp differs from these is that its method of overwhelming its checks is RNG. Of course, I only mentioned those Fighters first because they have comparably little defensive utility, and once we factor in the pre-eminent Fighter Breloom, who is equally as strong as Machamp (meaning stronger than all of the others) while packing far greater utility overall (even if you theoretically removed Spore), the case becomes even stronger. With this, we can conclude that DPP OU does not need Machamp. Machamp's greatest contribution to DPP's identity is its peerless abuse of paralysis. However, there are plenty of methods of abusing paralysis that do not excessively cross the threshold of acceptable RNG the way Machamp does--once again, Breloom is also a superb para abuser that is not relying on Substitutes and confusions. Therefore, we can reasonably consider a DPP metagame without Machamp.
Now, while I believe we would stand to gain quite a bit without losing much of value with a Machamp ban, I also believe it is wasteful. First of all, it has already been demonstrated that if one really is hell-bent on staking their games on dice rolls, as many do, Machoke is similarly capable of abusing No Guard DynamicPunch. Obviously, it is a much worse Pokemon overall. However, with paralysis and confusion backing it, it is going to pose the same kind of problematic threat. The fact that you will gain an extra turn or two against it by virtue of its lower power is not a point against this. It will still find turns in the same places, and live and die by parafusion. Whether or not it would be as consistent is similarly besides the point--it would be used in the same way someone would use Baton Pass, trying to cheese their way past the opponent, the same kind of problematic strategy enabled by Machamp now.
Thus, my preference would be that we consider No Guard or DynamicPunch instead (DPunch would be my preference to take the option away entirely). We did not ban Dugtrio, we banned Arena Trap. Diglett and Trapinch are utterly awful Pokemon--far worse than Machoke, anyway. I would much rather face Arena Trap Diglett than Machoke paraspam.
Furthermore, it is worth preserving Machamp if possible, because it DOES have potential legitimate uses that don't have to hinge on No Guard DPunch. You'd almost never use them now because DPunch is such a high percentage strategy in addition to the offensive threat it poses, but that offensive threat can potentially be legitimate in its own right. For example, last year, I used quite a few offensive Bulk Up three attacks Machamps in Jirachee's DPP Invitational. It was a very solid Pokemon, and its effiency was not entirely contingent on DynamicPunch confusion. It was used because it was a very powerful wallbreaker with decent bulk, the unique value of pure Fighting typing (i.e. no weakness to Fire/Ice unlike Breloom) and just the right Speed tier, capable of smashing through stall teams that'd otherwise potentially stall it out. The DPunch confusion, helped, of course, but if it were to run Guts instead, it would simply run Close Combat as that Fighting STAB, which would actually give it more power, and it could run Leftovers to counteract sand without fearing Rotom's Will-o-Wisp (I was running Lum Berry because of this).
I'm sure there are many other ways Machamp could contribute positively to the metagame without the uncompetitive element that is No Guard DynamicPunch. I'd prefer Machamp was banned over doing nothing, but I also think that would be a terrible waste.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to the discussion!
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