What Pokémon currently banned from OU (as well as other contentious Pokémon right now) would you say is broken by tera and would be balanced without it? Would you say your beliefs line up with that of other qualified players / council? Also, what Pokémon do you think will rise into OU as well as drop into UU this coming tier shift?
Espathra, Regieleki, Sneasler, and Volcarona would all likely remain unbanned if not for Tera. Annihilape, Urshifu, Ogerpon-Hearthflame, Magearna, and Darkrai would all deserev discussions and closer examinations, too.
I would hope so, but cannot say I have personally checked on this specifically.
I am hoping Amoonguss, Scizor, Skeledirge, and Volcanion rise while Alomomola, drops.
What is your stance on the current hazard metagame? With Gliscor banned, it seemed to have cooled down, but are there plans for another ban, or is the hazard metagame fine as is right now?
I think the hazard metagame issue is overblown, but it does stress teambuilding and there are a lot of entitled players out there it feels like. I will say that fitting both hazards on Lu or fitting Samurott-H onto a team is not always super easy, so that is a natural assist here as well. I do not think another ban is directly needed, but Gholdengo's overall presence absolutely requires examination.
Ive always wondered more or less... what is the process of suspecting a pokemon in a past gen. Ive seen it more or less myself at it being tedious asf but what makes it so slow? Like sure there are not as many players but sometimes they take years to happen.
We have wayyyyy fewer games in a past generation, so the bar to suspect and the time it takes both shift accordingly. A ban could take years to be acclimatd to at that pace when it would just be weeks for a current generation, for example. Also, ladders are not as active, meaning large samples from tournaments are frequently used from reqs, which is a whole other topic in it of itself and can take time.
Wdyt is the hardest decision for a council member to make.... idk how to word it so hope it makes sense but council does a lot of stuff but its just smth that ive been curious of.
Deciding on quickbans and sequencing in early metagames post-release, always the hardest imo.
Dream meta? What is your vision for how the OU meta should look like if everything goes right.
Just wish we had a few more balanced pivots with longevity and hazard removers to keep this metagame leveled out, we are not super duper far away at least now.
How do you and the council decide what Pokemon are "on the radar" when you get ready for a vote? Obviously for things like the Gliscor suspect (or the Sneasler quickban) it's from survey responses, but for example when you all were developing
the radar for the first post-DLC1 vote, why was, say, Valiant included while Sneasler not? Obviously with hindsight we know Sneasler ended up being more broken, but was it not good enough for the radar before? What's the process?
It is generally everything anyone would consider voting ban on if it were to be voted on -- even if something would only get one vote for the status quo to change, it is enough to give a basic inclusion.
Sneasler only picked up and was seen as broken as Grassy Terrain teams picked up, so using that radar is not really fair or comparable I feel -- we can only tier the current metagme after all, not the future or past.
Anyway, all ten of us discuss it internally and while most inclusions are easily spotted by me, I ask around for other possible additions to supplement the list and we always lean towards being extra inclusive to address any and all concerns. Then, we react accordingly from there.
Also, as a more fun question, what's your favorite meta ever that's not a standard usage-based tier (or Ubers)? So like an OM, petmod, solomod, etc
STABmons is a personal favorite tbh