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Announcement np: SV OU Suspect Process, Round 14 - Hazy Shade of Winter

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This isn't really what this thread is about, but introducing a new spinner with 200 speed and reintroducing a powerful setup sweeper with a very useful typing into the tier that compresses roles very well would certainly reshape the tier, and I don't really see why people say "nothing would change." Especially given that one of those pokemon is Volc, a pokemon we are still dealing with the consequences of banning
I'm in favor of a Tera Blast ban and Regieleki coming back. I actually agree with you that it would be helpful for the tier. But let's not kid ourselves here. A Tera Blast ban would solve some different problems, but it doesn't solve the fundamental issues of Tera itself. Double STAB, defensive Tera on the setup sweeper, or even just boosting other coverage moves. The truly broken setup sweepers don't need Tera Blast to be broken. It merely adds to the problem.

Volc was also straight cheese. Quiver Dance is a broken move on anything that isn't like a 300-400 base stat range Bug or something. The last 3 suspects all feature mons that can completely abuse QD or DD. The speed and power boosting setup moves. Volc and Gouging had high pro-ban rates. Kyurem also has high pro-ban sentiment. This is no coincidence.

Also, is there a more overblown myth than Volc's alleged defensive utility? The QD sets aren't stopping a Kyurem that DD's in your face, especially if it gets the DD off before or as Volc comes in. Similarly, a Volc isn't gonna take a Choice Specs Draco Meteor too well if it hasn't set up a QD or two first. And you're still playing the game of guess the Kyurem set. The idea that Volc checks Kyurem well into every set is revisionist history.

Furthermore, Volc's alleged defensive utility into special attackers entirely relies on it setting up QD, a broken move, just to check special threats and uno reverse card them. And against physical attackers, you need a burn from an RNG Flame Body proc. Stuff like this isn't defensive utility. It's inconsistent cheese. QD isn't defensive utility. It's a broken setup move for sweeping first and foremost.
"If Gliscor is broken after Kyurem we'll ban it" is not a promise, it is a threat. This is a reason to NOT ban Kyurem - better to not even take the chance of Gliscor being removed. I'm not even defending Kyurem here but you are making a Kyuremless metagame sound undesirable
Come on, man. I was anti-Gliscor ban the first time and I would be still. Kyurem isn't the only thing that can deal with Gliscor. There are a number of good attackers in the tier that can deal with it like Darkrai, Wellspring, and Deoxys. There are also other anti-Gliscor strats like Hex or Psychic Noise that can be used. It's far from a guarantee we would even get a Gliscor suspect, let alone that it would be banned again from it.
 
This isn't really what this thread is about, but introducing a new spinner with 200 speed and reintroducing a powerful setup sweeper with a very useful typing into the tier that compresses roles very well would certainly reshape the tier, and I don't really see why people say "nothing would change." Especially given that one of those pokemon is Volc, a pokemon we are still dealing with the consequences of banning
idk how :volcarona: or :espathra: drop, :volcarona: still does the same things it did earlier, just without some coverage, boo hoo, and for espathra, speed boost stored power is still wildly op, and its not like you can just click sucker punch into it when it can tera fairy.

this set just cooks ou

do not drop me (Espathra) @ Leftovers / Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Dazzling Gleam

you may notice that i did not include the 4th moveslot. thats cause it doesnt rly need much else, and can run either protect to get more speed boosts, roost if youre feeling rly greedy, shadow ball for neutral coverage for steels, and other various coverage options.
after 1 calm mind, sp is already an 80 bp move, and after 2, its a 140 BP move. and unlike other sp users, its sp just keeps getting stronger while it breaks through your walls. only saving grace is like, not being able to break :blissey: without like 3 boosts, but that isnt a lot since its a bliss, and if :espathra: is roost, its going to win long term.

im not gonna go into why :volcarona: is op still, we have all seen what the MU moth does when given a free turn, which is far easier to get with tera.

only mon actually dropping with a tblast ban is :regieleki:, but ngl its probs just gonna be mid, since all it does is be another spinner that exists. and is pretty fast.

also i was writing this right as CTC dropped their post, and idk how you can get more centralizing than :kyurem: invalidating anything slower than offense, since only HO and BO can actually do anything to :kyurem: before it steals the game.
 
CTC, if you don't think Kyurem should be banned, you should be sharing cores that beat Kyurem as the self-professed greatest builder of this gen rather than reply to people who are saying you're fearmongering about future meta developments as doing the latter will not change any minds. What you're currently saying will only appeal to those who already agree with you.
 
One of many posts calling foresight ‘fear mongering’ yet if u ask these kids to post elo after claiming to have ‘piloted w ease’ and ‘cleaved thru the ladder’ like greninja guy and other claim, no screenshot above 1700 will be produced I guarantee you.
uuuh gren was literally posting a replay of him fighting a guy in the late 1800s while he reached the 1800s himself.

No comments on anything else here in this thread. I have banned myself from arguing on a suspect until I reach the required suspect reqs.
 
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One of many posts calling foresight ‘fear mongering’ yet if u ask these kids to post elo after claiming to have ‘piloted w ease’ and ‘cleaved thru the ladder’ like greninja guy and other claim, no screenshot above 1700 will be produced I guarantee you. We have already seen a metagame develop into hyper centralized slosh after a former ice dragon got banned, just look at post bax meta with an overwhelming number of lu gking zap clicking momentum moves until eventually gambit swept. Please do not conflate your average player’s lack of foresight and ability to deduce logically with a hopeful curiosity that ‘maybe the meta will get better w more bans’. Notice how sub protect kyurem rose for only a period due to the bea tink cind team with sufficient removal to sustain it becoming popular during cycle one, then my edit of the blim team also became popular with corv cind double removal. However with offense going back on the rise it really snuffed out sub tect kyurem usage because A. It hits too soft and cannot trade with offense and B. Rocks plus a strong mon to force it out once strips it of its bulk advantage. Not to mention several drawbacks such as it requiring tera to have muscle and longevity, and that using protect vs offense is simply one of the most costly things a fat structure can do (this set is difficult to build around and mostly fits on fat). Now for the ban toters flexing their mediocre unoriginal teams such as the one gren guy posted which is standard stall w a rock weak guy for other fat but further exacerbates offense mu, and the ausma team which is basically empo offense with lokix over val, you guys are not making the argument you think you’re making. These structures are established and u can throw a high floor set such as kyurem on there and thrive in the 1500, sure, but let’s see you try that vs any decent player let alone tour player. Kyurem has a very high floor and is easy to use vs players with less experience or awareness on how to gameplan around it, sure, but it also has devastating drawbacks that hold it back from what bax used to to. The special sets need to tera to muscle past special walls such as gking and molt(can’t even muscle), while choiced or non boots sets struggle vs rocks on offense. Bax used to have boots and band had virtually no switchins while keeping priority vs offense, but specs has neither the prio for offense nor the breaking power vs fat. I urge the voters to think for themselves, why has the meta ‘chosen’ new threat upon new threat after each subsequent ban? Could it be that the metagame adapts and each new environment is suitable for a new threat to emerge? Surely banning more mons wouldn’t lead to more bans due to shifts in the meta due to the irreplaceable niches they provide being removed? Notice how the only fire bug type able to resist kyurem’s dual stabs and force it to either run physical and not greedy mixed and completely eradicate sub tect being gone made certain sets seem situationally cheap. But banning more mons with unique niches wouldn’t cause unforeseen circumstances to ‘fear mongering’ mongerers, sure.
The argument to ‘ban the next threat when it comes’ is myopic and irresponsible because you relinquish the responsibility have to think ahead for now and just pile on the burden of discretion further down the line, but as the greatest builder this generation has seen, I’m telling you, I will take on that burden and lay out exactly what would happen with each metagame shift, as I have done for every shift.
Centralization is one of the banes of a healthy meta, and with diversity compromised after the two mostly unnecessary bans post spl where diversity flourished, I fear further bans will lead us down a road of centralization, and this is a visceral, realistic fear, call it mongering if you will.

In addition, to those citing the high rate of approval for the previous two bans: low requirements is something iv always complained about. ‘You may be better than me but that doesn’t make you more right than me’ is not the argument you think it is. The pedestrian opinions of the general public is in fact one of the Achilles heels of democracy, which is why we have representative democracy. In simpler terms, if the collective opinions of average people were so accurate, you wouldn’t go to a doctor for a professional opinion, just ask uncs at the family reunion what their stance is on vaccination.
Here I’m offering expert opinion at your discretion.
Love,
Goat
broken checks broken is an extremely stupid mindset and the fact that you still desperately cling to it to keep kyurem in the tier is a bit interesting. what, you want to keep your free wins with subtect kyurem? maybe you're not as much of a goat as you say you are
 
ok final final post i swear

The DLC 1 metagame lasted for 3 months, whatever happened within it is not indicative of ANYTHING. The time for anything to develop was so miniscule, the time for council to act on things was so miniscule. Like that metagame is not the standard to bring up when it comes to tiering anything in OU. The metagame ended with zap ting lu glowking cores being good, there was no more time past that because it was 3 months. just suspect testing 1 thing is half a month let alone council getting the time for enough data to do a test in the first place. Pre-Home sure that had enough time to have some informative meta developments, post home that too but we are seriously harping on the ENDING of a 3 month metagame. As if thats reliable data to fall back on for reasoning points. really?

(not to mention...the new pokemon added to the game lol, but even besides that)
 
broken checks broken is an extremely stupid mindset and the fact that you still desperately cling to it to keep kyurem in the tier is a bit interesting. what, you want to keep your free wins with subtect kyurem? maybe you're not as much of a goat as you say you are

Literally any description of cause and effect is handwaved away as "broken checks broken" on this forum, "broken checks broken is not an argument" is such a useless discussion stifling adage. And why don't you battle him then
 
Literally any description of cause and effect is handwaved away as "broken checks broken" on this forum, "broken checks broken is not an argument" is such a useless discussion stifling adage. And why don't you battle him then
broken checks broken is not a good argument. if something is broken, ban it. if something else becomes broken, ban that. we do this until people are satisfied with the metagame.
 
idk how :volcarona: or :espathra: drop, :volcarona: still does the same things it did earlier, just without some coverage, boo hoo, and for espathra, speed boost stored power is still wildly op, and its not like you can just click sucker punch into it when it can tera fairy.

this set just cooks ou

do not drop me (Espathra) @ Leftovers / Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Dazzling Gleam

you may notice that i did not include the 4th moveslot. thats cause it doesnt rly need much else, and can run either protect to get more speed boosts, roost if youre feeling rly greedy, shadow ball for neutral coverage for steels, and other various coverage options.
after 1 calm mind, sp is already an 80 bp move, and after 2, its a 140 BP move. and unlike other sp users, its sp just keeps getting stronger while it breaks through your walls. only saving grace is like, not being able to break :blissey: without like 3 boosts, but that isnt a lot since its a bliss, and if :espathra: is roost, its going to win long term.

im not gonna go into why :volcarona: is op still, we have all seen what the MU moth does when given a free turn, which is far easier to get with tera.

only mon actually dropping with a tblast ban is :regieleki:, but ngl its probs just gonna be mid, since all it does is be another spinner that exists. and is pretty fast.

espathra being forced to run tera fairy on every set makes it extremely predictable and much easier to play around, which is actually not desirable for a mon with bad natural bulk. tera blast was the reason why it was banned since it could be incredibly flexible and hard to consistently account for when it can run at least 3 different sets with no overlapping checks. not sure why this is being brought up in the kyurem thread though

Literally any description of cause and effect is handwaved away as "broken checks broken" on this forum, "broken checks broken is not an argument" is such a useless discussion stifling adage. And why don't you battle him then

all instances i've seen of "cause and effect" that were brought up by DNB voters are largely hypothetical. the only one i can kinda get behind is kyurem becoming more problematic as a result of volcarona's ban, and even then i'd argue that a kyurem retest was inevitable regardless of whether or not volcarona was banned. kyurem being an unhealthy presence in the tier will still continue to be true regardless of the metagame surrounding it though, its sheer strength and versatility have always been the subject of controversy and for good reason. i don't really see how this is supposed to prove them wrong
 
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  • No discussion on other potential suspects -- if you wish to discuss another Pokemon, we encourage you to do so in the metagame discussion thread, but this thread is strictly to discuss if Kyurem is banworthy or not;
    • Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
just saying, the people who keep crying about zapkinglu are blatantly breaking the rules of this forum.
 
mods i suggest a restriction as to who can reply to future suspect threads. Perhaps a combination of those who already obtained reqs, those who have gotten it before, like TC, or those who are well known in the tour community. One off comments and derailments by shitters obfuscate what is otherwise a relevant and insightful discussion about the state of the tier and the metagame we should seek to create. For those saying this is unfair and/or elitist guess what... so are reqs. Nobody is saying you can't have a neurotic breakdown at the thought of kyurem remaining, that you cant talk about how your handy dandy scizor plucks it off in 1200 elo, or that you can't have casual chitchat about random topics, what we are saying is you can say it elsewhere. Less shitters = better dialogue. I implore you, wise moderators, to consider my plea
 
mods i suggest a restriction as to who can reply to future suspect threads. Perhaps a combination of those who already obtained reqs, those who have gotten it before, like TC, or those who are well known in the tour community. One off comments and derailments by shitters obfuscate what is otherwise a relevant and insightful discussion about the state of the tier and the metagame we should seek to create. For those saying this is unfair and/or elitist guess what... so are reqs. Nobody is saying you can't have a neurotic breakdown at the thought of kyurem remaining, that you cant talk about how your handy dandy scizor plucks it off in 1200 elo, or that you can't have casual chitchat about random topics, what we are saying is you can say it elsewhere. Less shitters = better dialogue. I implore you, wise moderators, to consider my plea
One of the main people creating and perpetuating drama, regardless of your opinions on him, is objectively CTC. It doesn't matter whether you agree with him or not, he very clearly is and has been doing so for a very long time. This fix you assure will help, in my opinion, will not, and will worsen elitism problems as you mentioned.
 
One of the main people creating and perpetuating drama, regardless of your opinions on him, is objectively CTC. It doesn't matter whether you agree with him or not, he very clearly is and has been doing so for a very long time. This fix you assure will help, in my opinion, will not, and will worsen elitism problems as you mentioned.
It’s not really elitism. There’s nothing blocking you or anyone else from being taken as seriously as CTC is. Literally nothing is stopping you from getting reqs, signing up for a big tour and winning it, or getting high on ladder. Nothing but skill that is. Yeah, CTC can be a bit arrogant, but he backs it up big time. There’s a difference between thinking you’re better than everyone and factually being better than everyone.
 
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One of many posts calling foresight ‘fear mongering’ yet if u ask these kids to post elo after claiming to have ‘piloted w ease’ and ‘cleaved thru the ladder’ like greninja guy and other claim, no screenshot above 1700 will be produced I guarantee you. We have already seen a metagame develop into hyper centralized slosh after a former ice dragon got banned, just look at post bax meta with an overwhelming number of lu gking zap clicking momentum moves until eventually gambit swept. Please do not conflate your average player’s lack of foresight and ability to deduce logically with a hopeful curiosity that ‘maybe the meta will get better w more bans’. Notice how sub protect kyurem rose for only a period due to the bea tink cind team with sufficient removal to sustain it becoming popular during cycle one, then my edit of the blim team also became popular with corv cind double removal. However with offense going back on the rise it really snuffed out sub tect kyurem usage because A. It hits too soft and cannot trade with offense and B. Rocks plus a strong mon to force it out once strips it of its bulk advantage. Not to mention several drawbacks such as it requiring tera to have muscle and longevity, and that using protect vs offense is simply one of the most costly things a fat structure can do (this set is difficult to build around and mostly fits on fat). Now for the ban toters flexing their mediocre unoriginal teams such as the one gren guy posted which is standard stall w a rock weak guy for other fat but further exacerbates offense mu, and the ausma team which is basically empo offense with lokix over val, you guys are not making the argument you think you’re making. These structures are established and u can throw a high floor set such as kyurem on there and thrive in the 1500, sure, but let’s see you try that vs any decent player let alone tour player. Kyurem has a very high floor and is easy to use vs players with less experience or awareness on how to gameplan around it, sure, but it also has devastating drawbacks that hold it back from what bax used to to. The special sets need to tera to muscle past special walls such as gking and molt(can’t even muscle), while choiced or non boots sets struggle vs rocks on offense. Bax used to have boots and band had virtually no switchins while keeping priority vs offense, but specs has neither the prio for offense nor the breaking power vs fat. I urge the voters to think for themselves, why has the meta ‘chosen’ new threat upon new threat after each subsequent ban? Could it be that the metagame adapts and each new environment is suitable for a new threat to emerge? Surely banning more mons wouldn’t lead to more bans due to shifts in the meta due to the irreplaceable niches they provide being removed? Notice how the only fire bug type able to resist kyurem’s dual stabs and force it to either run physical and not greedy mixed and completely eradicate sub tect being gone made certain sets seem situationally cheap. But banning more mons with unique niches wouldn’t cause unforeseen circumstances to ‘fear mongering’ mongerers, sure.
The argument to ‘ban the next threat when it comes’ is myopic and irresponsible because you relinquish the responsibility have to think ahead for now and just pile on the burden of discretion further down the line, but as the greatest builder this generation has seen, I’m telling you, I will take on that burden and lay out exactly what would happen with each metagame shift, as I have done for every shift.
Centralization is one of the banes of a healthy meta, and with diversity compromised after the two mostly unnecessary bans post spl where diversity flourished, I fear further bans will lead us down a road of centralization, and this is a visceral, realistic fear, call it mongering if you will.

In addition, to those citing the high rate of approval for the previous two bans: low requirements is something iv always complained about. ‘You may be better than me but that doesn’t make you more right than me’ is not the argument you think it is. The pedestrian opinions of the general public is in fact one of the Achilles heels of democracy, which is why we have representative democracy. In simpler terms, if the collective opinions of average people were so accurate, you wouldn’t go to a doctor for a professional opinion, just ask uncs at the family reunion what their stance is on vaccination.
Here I’m offering expert opinion at your discretion.
Love,
Goat
“One of many posts calling foresight ‘fear mongering’ yet if u ask these kids to post elo after claiming to have ‘piloted w ease’ and ‘cleaved thru the ladder’ like greninja guy and other claim, no screenshot above 1700 will be produced I guarantee you.“

First off, cool it with the elo shaming. Secondly,

IMG_7027.jpeg

Did you not watch the whole replay my G?

Thirdly, foresight is still fearmongering of the possible future. You’re making an educated guess on what will happen after a mon is banned. As Shaymin Sky pointed out, the DLC1 meta with ZapKingLu is 3 months old, barely any time has passed and it was established late into DLC1. Take a look at DLC2. We started with Skarm/Meow/Ting teams before moving on to Waterpon + Lando offenses, HO has gone through changes, Balance started using Molt, Sinistcha, Tinka, Zapdos, etc that were unthinkable at the start of the meta. DLC2 has gone on for twice the length of DLC1.

If you’re worried about the tier suddenly being overtaken by Fat, don’t. We have plenty of ways to break balance that I mentioned earlier.

“However with offense going back on the rise it really snuffed out sub tect kyurem usage because A. It hits too soft and cannot trade with offense and B. Rocks plus a strong mon to force it out once strips it of its bulk advantage. Not to mention several drawbacks such as it requiring tera to have muscle and longevity, and that using protect vs offense is simply one of the most costly things a fat structure can do“

Oh offense is rising again, I wonder why, maybe its because subtect kyurem and kyurem in general is so ruinous to balance structures that players started gravitating towards offense. Rocks are also not that hard to deal with for Kyurem teams, specially since some rockers like Lando and Tusk are Kyurem snacks. Tera’ing Kyurem is worth it if it means you get 2-3 kills minimum vs slower structures.

“Now for the ban toters flexing their mediocre unoriginal teams such as the one gren guy posted which is standard stall w a rock weak guy for other fat but further exacerbates offense mu“

Ayo, you can say whatever tf you want about my teams, but don’t diss another builder’s skills. Kyurem being so broken vs balance means I can just run 5 stall mons that have a net positive matchup vs offense.

“The special sets need to tera to muscle past special walls such as gking and molt(can’t even muscle)“

And that’s fine because again, Tera Ground is perfect for Kyurem, eliminating its SR weakness while gaining a solid defensive typing. Plus every Grass/Water is afraid of Freeze Dry so who cares? Also yes, Kyurem can muscle past these threats with something called freeze. This is usually a non-factor but Kyurem can generate freeze often because it has a 32 PP and three Freeze Drys have a 27% chance to proc freeze to quote Pinkacross , close to the same % as Static, Flame Body, and Scald. Those odds are very doable against these walls constantly switching in, and once they do get frozen, you’re unlikely to thaw out and you lose a Kyurem check.

Keep in mind this whole time I’ve only talked about Sub-tect. What if its Mixed DD, or full phys DD, or Specs? In theory you can figure that out through team preview, but now ppl are plopping DD Kyurem onto non-HO structures cause players don’t expect it.

I respect you and it is fine to not want Kyurem banned, but voice your thoughts in a civil manner. Don’t want drama in the suspect thread again.
 
Being incredibly proficient at something does not mean you know what is best for it and that you know the inner workings better than everyone else. That is an indicative, of course, but let me give an example:

I teach English. It is my profession, though it is my second language. Many people in this community have it as a first language and will for sure speak better than I do and with way less of a thick accent. Would those people teach English? I wouldn't teach Portuguese.

Being really good at something does give someone a lot of weight but it does not make that person the sacred holder of truth in a subjective discussion, especially if they demonstrate they are absolutely incapable of acting like a reasonable person. Repeatedly insulting anyone they disagree with "I'm better than you lmao" is just frankly dumb. There is no new information added other than that they'd rather prefer it that way.

Which is frustrating, because CTC obviously understands the tier very well and is (or at least should be) capable of giving a strong argument that would enlighten and progress the discussion if there was an intention of discussing instead of stating.
 
Gatekeeping the thread with actually well-reasoned defined means such as having TC or having reqs makes sense, even going back to SWSH suspect threads were way less rowdy and cleaner. I can see the appeal.

But adding in the "well known in the tour community" is basically an easy way to sneak in a popularity contest considering that that doesn't have a concrete definition, and people can (and will) just make their own definition.

A gatekept Suspect Test thread isn't an excuse for the people you like and respect (let alone yourself) to get free access while other people have to actually work to get TC to get automatic access or get reqs for individual suspect tests. If you want a way for tour players to get automatic access, then create an actual method rather than just the vibes-based approach of that line.
 
imo, all gatekeeping the thread/reqs does is just make people who only know how to click buttons good be the only ones be able to speak their voice, theres other ways to show skill at mons with teambuilding or with metagame knowledge, that dont require you to bully low ladder. ofc ik theres no way we can get a measurable reqs system that involves those other aspects, and idk what else could be done, so i dont think its worthwhile to consider rn

anyways, imma actually post about this mon now. fuck :kyurem:

sub tect alone is banworthy for its ability to invalidate any balance that cant ohko (which is most) and even offense struggles to do so since kyu has a respectable 125/90/90. but the thing is, its not just sub tect, as im sure your aware. theres specs, boots, dd, mixed dd, and probs others im forgetting. the 2nd most dangerous is def mixed dd, due to its ability to just tear apart defensive cores, especially if its freeze dry/ep mixed.

27% chance to get a freeze after 3 attacks. hax bad.

also, its even more bs when paired with a glowking to supply it with snow to boost def and make its freeze dries/icicle spears that much deadlier.

TLDR: mon busted. idk why people wanna keep it around, theres not rly anything good it does for the tier. no, :slowking-galar:/:ting-lu:/:zapdos: is not a valid answer.

(edit: ik this is a bit low effort, but im tired and everyone has already heard all of this)
 
Please lock this thread to badgeholders+people with reqs, nobody needs to see 50 forum mainers who are unable to achieve reqs saying the same thing that they've said in every suspect thread that someone with reqs is going to say anyways.

(3d was faster but i agree with him fully)

Kyurem should not be banned. It is entirely and reasonably manageable by all playstyles and punishes poor play. Kyurem guessing games are fake, if you get hazards up you know its boots or get massive damage off, DD only really works on HO and some BOs, SubTect is only usable with really good removal otherwise it is a bad set, and there are plenty of answers to most Kyurem sets, and Specs is just not broken.

One of the biggest complaints is Freeze, however Freeze is not nearly the autowin its made out to be. For starters DD is pretty much never freezing unless it drops Tera Blast, while there are answers to the status condition. Tera Ice can be used to wall Kyurem while being freeze immune, Autothaw moves like Pyro Ball, Scorching Sands, and Scald can be used (Scald in conjunction with Tera to not die TBF) to cancel out Kyurem's freeze, natural Ice-types like Weavile and Alolatales, Lum Berry, Natural Cure, SpDef Tera Gliscor, Substitute, or plain old positioning better to avoid opportunities to be frozen, Pokemon is a skill based gambling simulator and positioning to avoid getting haxxed is the most basic skill. Obviously there will always be freak games where Kyurem gets 5 freezes that never end and autowin, but you can also lose a 100% hp tera water garg to iron head cinderace in a 1v1 (true story) or lose a game because you missed steam eruption five times in a row (true story).

Kyurem's matchup into defense is overblown with multiple stalls and balances finding success (just load up in high ladder or look through olt/scl replays, plenty of different balances (and stalls on ladder mainly) being used and succeeding, even when faced against Kyurem. Here are some replays from OLT, wont do super deep analysis because I do not want to do a deep dive right now:

OLT R3:

Soulwind vs Hellom, OLT

Soulwind's Moltres+Tinkaton core on balance beats Hellom's DD Kyurem Veil 5-0.

Giannis Antetokommo-o vs Crying, OLT

Crying's Kyurem team is admittedly something but Kyurem is kept in check by Tinkaton and Gking and ends up only getting off a single Ice Beam, Zamazenta finishes off the Tera Ghost Kyurem with Crunch to sweep.

SpookyZ vs Rewer, OLT

Rewer's Stall handles SubTect Kyurem with Clefable and Blissey and wins.

Tace vs xdRudi.exe, OLT

Tace manages to outplay both Tera Ice Kyurem and Zapdos using Zamazenta and Gliscor in a beautiful game, admittedly too close for comfort yet its another win for a defensive against the Kyurem thats supposed to effortlessly maul these playstyles.

Insult vs TDNT, OLT

Adding this for honesty, Kyurem did win but in all the Kyurem vs defense matchups in OLT it only won this one.

If someone wants to look at Kyurem's MU vs bulk oriented teams in SCL that would be appreciated.
 
Please lock this thread to badgeholders+people with reqs, nobody needs to see 50 forum mainers who are unable to achieve reqs saying the same thing that they've said in every suspect thread that someone with reqs is going to say anyways.

(3d was faster but i agree with him fully)

Kyurem should not be banned. It is entirely and reasonably manageable by all playstyles and punishes poor play. Kyurem guessing games are fake, if you get hazards up you know its boots or get massive damage off, DD only really works on HO and some BOs, SubTect is only usable with really good removal otherwise it is a bad set, and there are plenty of answers to most Kyurem sets, and Specs is just not broken.

One of the biggest complaints is Freeze, however Freeze is not nearly the autowin its made out to be. For starters DD is pretty much never freezing unless it drops Tera Blast, while there are answers to the status condition. Tera Ice can be used to wall Kyurem while being freeze immune, Autothaw moves like Pyro Ball, Scorching Sands, and Scald can be used (Scald in conjunction with Tera to not die TBF) to cancel out Kyurem's freeze, natural Ice-types like Weavile and Alolatales, Lum Berry, Natural Cure, SpDef Tera Gliscor, Substitute, or plain old positioning better to avoid opportunities to be frozen, Pokemon is a skill based gambling simulator and positioning to avoid getting haxxed is the most basic skill. Obviously there will always be freak games where Kyurem gets 5 freezes that never end and autowin, but you can also lose a 100% hp tera water garg to iron head cinderace in a 1v1 (true story) or lose a game because you missed steam eruption five times in a row (true story).

Kyurem's matchup into defense is overblown with multiple stalls and balances finding success (just load up in high ladder or look through olt/scl replays, plenty of different balances (and stalls on ladder mainly) being used and succeeding, even when faced against Kyurem. Here are some replays from OLT, wont do super deep analysis because I do not want to do a deep dive right now:

OLT R3:

Soulwind vs Hellom, OLT

Soulwind's Moltres+Tinkaton core on balance beats Hellom's DD Kyurem Veil 5-0.

Giannis Antetokommo-o vs Crying, OLT

Crying's Kyurem team is admittedly something but Kyurem is kept in check by Tinkaton and Gking and ends up only getting off a single Ice Beam, Zamazenta finishes off the Tera Ghost Kyurem with Crunch to sweep.

SpookyZ vs Rewer, OLT

Rewer's Stall handles SubTect Kyurem with Clefable and Blissey and wins.

Tace vs xdRudi.exe, OLT

Tace manages to outplay both Tera Ice Kyurem and Zapdos using Zamazenta and Gliscor in a beautiful game, admittedly too close for comfort yet its another win for a defensive against the Kyurem thats supposed to effortlessly maul these playstyles.

Insult vs TDNT, OLT

Adding this for honesty, Kyurem did win but in all the Kyurem vs defense matchups in OLT it only won this one.

If someone wants to look at Kyurem's MU vs bulk oriented teams in SCL that would be appreciated.
Tera Ice is a bad idea. You become rocks weak AND the worst defensive type to wall one mon? And you don't even resist Dragon or Ground moves? Explain the logic here.
 
Rewer's Stall handles SubTect Kyurem with Clefable and Blissey and wins.
This match is a HUGE stretch for your point IMO considering Kyurem beats down 3 of the Stall team's Pokemon and the actuall winner is the SD Tera Normal Gliscor, with several Cinderace U-Turns into sacks against Poison Heal getting out-healed being the real thing that loses the game.

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And frankly while I'm not the best player or anything, anymore aggressive play against this Gliscor/keeping RM/any additional checks probably made it a won game with Kyurem fucking up half of an entire stall team with a few pivots and other Pokemon getting a bit of chip. A stall team that loses 3 Pokemon against a team that at the time is still 5 up (and relatively healthy) would absolutely lose if the Gliscor SD sweep didn't win.

So I think claiming this as a Clefable + Blissey reeling Kyurem in is very disingenuous.

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Tace vs xdRudi.exe, OLT

Tace manages to outplay both Tera Ice Kyurem and Zapdos using Zamazenta and Gliscor in a beautiful game, admittedly too close for comfort yet its another win for a defensive against the Kyurem thats supposed to effortlessly maul these playstyles.

In this match, Kyurem gets 4 kills and SD Normal Gliscor is the savior of the game. Again. So in two of these replays Kyurem has been basically fucking up the entire team, and if either of these teams had a better check for SD Gliscor or played better to keep that wincon Kyurem would have 100% broken down the fat and won the matchup.

Kyurem was fucking up both teams extremely hard and neither had any real switches, with Sub Kyurem doing its job and eventually getting Blissey to switch out in the first replay allowing for more havoc.

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You can argue that this is balanced in the sense that Kyurem didn't literally autowin these matchups but I question how these two replays show that Kyurem is anything short of a monster against fat grabbing 3 and 4 kills respectively. In both of these matches, the only Pokemon naturally faster than Gliscor are Roaring Moon/Cinderace (RM gets sacked after an Outrage lock early on) and Scizor + Lokix priority in the second match, and while maybe I'm just out of touch with teambuilding I feel like if these teams had better speed control I really think Kyurem basically had these MUs on lock.

The first and second replay examples I have no notes on. The Kyurem did indeed fud into that core, and the Tera Ghost Kyurem lost to the Tera Dark Zamazenta.
 
I know some people are negatively highlighting the use of Tera Ice being highlighted by players such Espathra Dreaming and veti, but this is a legitimate use of Tera as you choose your Tera types to patch up your team's weaknesses, so this is an example of what Tera is meant for even if it is mostly not that useful outside of the Kyurem and Weavile match-ups and requires Heavy-Duty Boots for most defensive Tera Ice mons. If top players are adapting with Tera Ice while not sacrificing their other match-ups, they can by all means use Tera Ice if that's the intended design of their teams. I don't think this is what you should be focusing on if you are pro-ban since such players are using their Tera button as intended.
 
I am going to make a few posts to cover key topics here. I was going to chime in sooner/when the thread opened on Kyurem itself, but I have not been sleeping lately and stringing together coherent thoughts has been a challenge, so be patient with me. The first will be why we suspect threads are...as they are...and what can potentially change or improve.

Suspect threads have a mixed bag of posters that often lead to more in-fighting than producitivty nowadays. As someone who frequents them, I will openly admit that these discussions can be counterproductive or bring out the worst in people as often as they can be productive or help people learn. I get why a lot of people avoid posting in them and instead mock them from afar or just proceed with caution.

I do like to think that certain posts from the more articulate and experienced of us can resonate, which we have seen with many talented players posting across this generation. However, for each one of these, we have a dozen posts that either lack quality or lack substance altogether and then plenty of others that hold less weight. I think we -- mainly me -- can do a better job finding ways to improve quality or motivate experienced players to post though; I will get to solutions later in this post, but I acknowledge that for every one gem in the rough, we encounter a lot of "use Tera Ice to beat Freeze/Kyurem" takes.

Historically OU has tried to have an invite only subforum or set of threads, including suspects, but it was a counterproductive endeavor. Smogon did the same with a subforum called "Smogmog" many years back, but it ultimately dissolved as well. The issue with these types are twofold:
  • Determining who can post
  • Imperfect correlation between qualifying to post and being able to make strong arguments
Determining who can post can go one of two ways: handpicked or specific qualifiers. Handpicked never ends well; it ends up being incredibly arbitrary and gets political too quickly. I cannot and should not ever "play god" as my perception could be better, worse, or downright different from the next informed party and the same extends to fellow council members or moderators. Most things with handpicked criteria causes more harm than good around these parts as a rule of thumb.

So let's say we just use people who get reqs or some other firm criteria like survey qualification, top X of ladder, etc.: this does not solve the problem and arguably ends up with the same issues as the above paragraph -- reqs or what the survey is set at can be seen as arbitrary, multiple people who got reqs or have hit >1700 (using the number CTC alluded to) are the same people they are arguing should not be posting here, for example. This gets to the core of the issue: there is an imperfect at best and downright flawed at worst correlation between ladder or tournament performance and being able to make coherent, let along strong, tiering arguments. Between language barriers, lack of tiering experience/exposure, agenda based posting, and so many other factors, plenty of strong players make weak posts and plenty of people who do not qualify for one thing or another thing may make strong posts or be plenty capable. The point is there is no "perfect" solution here.

In addition to this, gatekeeping the general public is not ideal. Having a discussion for everyone is good as it draws people into the metagame and can even help them learn -- even if many others want to ignore this discussion.

In terms of a possible solution, earlier this generation I proposed and I will re-propose this: we can have a reqs/"qualified" (TBD what that constitutes) only discussion AND the normal thread, giving a lane for qualified folk as well as an open discussion for everyone. This is not an official declaration, but I will bring it up in the modchat to see how others feel and update when I have one. This is still an imperfect solution for many of the same reasons as above., but it is the best midground I can think of.

If you want to discuss this further, PM me or the moderation team -- this thread needs to go back to the topic of Kyurem after this.
 
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