imperfectluck
Banned deucer.
Not only would an endeavor like this be logistically nightmarish, it's impractical and leaves to question the "objectivity" of the observers. What makes an observer "objective," I ask? The fact that one does not battle and has no previous bias to Wobbuffet / insert Pokemon here? People that battle on ladder every week see certain strategies over and over again, and let's say while the top tier players can still maintain their rank as elites in the new metagame (with Wobbuffet and Deoxys-E induced,) they don't like it because of the lack of variety it provides and the closing of the "skill gap" between players as those Pokemon are limiting to the metagame and stifle creativity. Wobbuffet in particular is a concern because it does not "maximize skill / minimize luck" but rather simply reduces a battle down to 5 vs. 5/6, and Wobbuffet's user has absolute discretion at which Pokemon to cripple. No other Pokemon in the game can do this, not Dugtrio who is incredibly frail, and is easily set up on after getting in a KO, nor Magnezone who is limited to trapping steel types and must fear Earthquakes and Fire moves from those steels.
Sure, we can have a metagame where everything is left just it is right now, like MoP wants, and the best will still probably remain the best. However, for the health of the metagame's development, I believe this is not the best way for determination of Wobbuffet (along with Deoxys-E, Garchomp, and anything else)'s "banned" status. Smogon is a community that values itself on being an authority in the competitive arena, quoted from smogon's "about" section, yet without giving its most esteemed battlers recognition much say in rules that will widely affect the metagame we all play in, leaving the final decision up to administrators like Jumpman and Articuno (no offense against you guys, you're great fellows and all) that DO NOT BATTLE on a regular basis (or at all) offends us regulars. There is always something different about playing a match and spectating on the sidelines (I'm looking at you Jump) as only the person playing the match can truly understand the "pressures" to make the right play, the best play, to win a match. Wobbuffet removes many options available to the player, for instance.
Nor do I believe short term tournaments like Eon / Rainbow will prove anything, if anything, the best solution for testing is unbanning a Pokemon completely, letting it out for testing in the metagame rather than having a tournament where all teams will be overprepared for it. However, we also should reach a consensus on just what grounds to ban a Pokemon on and to redefine the definition of "centralization" and "uber" in CONCRETE terms that are absolutely unambiguous. If Rayquaza were to be unbanned for testing, and used less than Garchomp because of a Stealth Rock weak, for instance, would we all consider Rayquaza less "uber" than Garchomp? Wobbuffet and Deoxys-S are clearly not anywhere in the top section of most used Pokemon, for whatever reason, people choose not to use them as often as the most popular OU Pokemon. However, their very existence in the metagame shapes the most popular teams at the top into the way the way they are. Garchomp forces every team to carry a minimum of 2-3 "counters" in order to beat it - while being nearly impossible to OHKO when holding a Yache Berry, the only faster Pokemon that OHKO Yache Garchomp are Scarf Outrage, Scarf Draco Meteor, and Explosions. Of course, we have Sand Veil, which is a factor out of your control when trying to "deal" with Garchomp. Garchomp's influence is seen on every single competitive ladder team on shoddy, one must deal with Garchomp when building a team or risk losing to it. What is "centralizing" the game?
Sure, we can have a metagame where everything is left just it is right now, like MoP wants, and the best will still probably remain the best. However, for the health of the metagame's development, I believe this is not the best way for determination of Wobbuffet (along with Deoxys-E, Garchomp, and anything else)'s "banned" status. Smogon is a community that values itself on being an authority in the competitive arena, quoted from smogon's "about" section, yet without giving its most esteemed battlers recognition much say in rules that will widely affect the metagame we all play in, leaving the final decision up to administrators like Jumpman and Articuno (no offense against you guys, you're great fellows and all) that DO NOT BATTLE on a regular basis (or at all) offends us regulars. There is always something different about playing a match and spectating on the sidelines (I'm looking at you Jump) as only the person playing the match can truly understand the "pressures" to make the right play, the best play, to win a match. Wobbuffet removes many options available to the player, for instance.
Nor do I believe short term tournaments like Eon / Rainbow will prove anything, if anything, the best solution for testing is unbanning a Pokemon completely, letting it out for testing in the metagame rather than having a tournament where all teams will be overprepared for it. However, we also should reach a consensus on just what grounds to ban a Pokemon on and to redefine the definition of "centralization" and "uber" in CONCRETE terms that are absolutely unambiguous. If Rayquaza were to be unbanned for testing, and used less than Garchomp because of a Stealth Rock weak, for instance, would we all consider Rayquaza less "uber" than Garchomp? Wobbuffet and Deoxys-S are clearly not anywhere in the top section of most used Pokemon, for whatever reason, people choose not to use them as often as the most popular OU Pokemon. However, their very existence in the metagame shapes the most popular teams at the top into the way the way they are. Garchomp forces every team to carry a minimum of 2-3 "counters" in order to beat it - while being nearly impossible to OHKO when holding a Yache Berry, the only faster Pokemon that OHKO Yache Garchomp are Scarf Outrage, Scarf Draco Meteor, and Explosions. Of course, we have Sand Veil, which is a factor out of your control when trying to "deal" with Garchomp. Garchomp's influence is seen on every single competitive ladder team on shoddy, one must deal with Garchomp when building a team or risk losing to it. What is "centralizing" the game?