Metagame NP: RU Stage 5 - Electric Feel (Slowbro-G banned, see post #27)

[Lily]

Hey, sorry to derail the Zydog discussion but I've been playing RU a lot over the past few months for LTPL, RUPL and just helping friends with random test. I've been wanting to talk about Galarian Slowbro for a while now, and I've been putting it off for way too long so here it is.

Galarian Slowbro is the biggest issue with SS RU right now. Its forms of counterplay are honestly pretty laughable and inconsistent outside of Gastrodon, and even that needs to run really bad sets to actually handle it.

Scrolling through the VR, here are a list of "reliable" Glowbro checks -

Chandelure nukes it with Specs Shadow Ball and Hex does a ton if it's statused, but Specs needs to beware of getting worn down quickly by rocks, while Hex can struggle to get a Wisp off in the first place and is also susceptible to Scald damage or Sludge Bomb poisons just like Specs.

Reuniclus wins the Calm Mind war if the Glowbro user doesn't get a crit.

Toxtricity gets worn down quickly but Specs sets can switch into it once or twice and blow it away with Boomburst. Will lose long term pretty much undoubtedly.

Gastrodon is the closest thing to a counter thanks to Clear Smog or Curse allowing it to beat Glowbro slowly but surely, though it hates Sludge Bomb poisons and it can't even fit those moves very easily - as it stands it needs to drop Scald and Toxic, which makes it extremely passive and easy to take advantage of. Sad case of a Pokemon that really doesn't do much other than wall Glowbro getting massive usage just because it can handle it.

That's it as far as S through A- goes. Four checks or counters, two of which aren't actually reliable. Before anyone complains, Zydog isn't counted because Shuca is incredibly common on Glowbro (and CB Arrows doesn't OHKO anyway) and Togekiss doesn't count regardless of whether or not you paralyse the Glowbro. Seismitoad needs literally max Attack with an Adamant nature to actually beat this thing so I don't really consider it consistent either, especially since Sludge Bomb poisons destroy it.

I mean hey, I had a Zydog and a Specs Toxtricity and I still got clapped by it! I didn't play this game perfectly but even if I did I would've lost it because Glowbro outlasted every answer I had. Like, easily. I don't have other replays of the Calm Mind set going crazy bc I don't really follow RU tours & LTPL doesn't have a replay thread & also because it's very overprepped for (seriously, look at recent Gastrodon usage) but what I do have is the other reason to ban it - the QCQD set.

I don't need to explain why QCQD Glowbro is stupid so I'll just let the following replays do it for me:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ru-544239 - Nat vs TDK
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ru-533180 - odr vs kythr
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ru-544152 - lighthouses vs rozes (it did a lot less in this one but the point is that if it had procced it was game over and all player autonomy was taken out of the question)

Uncompetitive, unskilled and it takes everything out of the player's hands and just lets them play an ever-so-slightly rigged game of roulette with their opponent.

I don't think banning Quick Draw would be the move here, the CM set is also not rly healthy and AV isn't worth saving. It also invalidates otherwise viable Grasses like Tangela and stuff that would wall Zydog so it might even help with that problem! Regardless, I think the move is to ban Glowbro and then go from there.

 

[phantom]

After a unanimous council vote, Slowbro-Galar has been banned from RU!

Slowbro-Galar has two main sets that contributed to its ban: Calm Mind and Quick Draw. Calm Mind Slowbro with a resist berry (either shuca or colbur), has great sweeping potential with limited counters. Having an immunity to Toxic and one turn recovery means teams would require offensive pressure or specific counters to hold it off. While it’s comparable to CM Reuniclus in that respect, which is arguably not broken at all, Slowbro distinguishes itself with the ability to spread status as it attacks and not having to rely on Focus Blast to beat Dark-types. Regenerator + the propensity to spread status with Sludge Bomb or Scald limits the number of viable counters, as a Scald burn on Zygarde and other Ground-types renders them useless and Sludge Bomb poison on Haze/Clear Smog waters makes them much easier to pressure. Slowbro’s Quick Draw set is another beast in its entirety: trading longevity for immediate power and the ability to clean sweep teams. The combination of Quick Draw + Quick Claw gives Slowbro a 44% chance to move first, which turns a lot of games into coinflips. With Nasty Plot, high natural bulk, and near limitless coverage, Slowbro-Galar has the ability to find setup opportunities, and once boosted, KO nearly every offensive threat at +2. This set essentially takes the game out of each player’s hand, introducing a heavy luck-based element to the tier.

Some of you might be wondering: why now? It’s normally not within precedent to do a vote in this manner, and this particular case won’t be used to normalize votes like this regularly, but regardless of the reasons why each individual council member voted ban, whether it’s a combination of both sets or just Quick Draw, everyone could agree to the fact that Slowbro-Galar’s presence in the tier enabled cheese strats and luck to an unhealthy degree. In spite of CM gaining traction later, Quick Draw sets have been fishing for wins since RU started tiering for DLC2. Normally when a threat emerges as a result of developing meta trends and bans, it’s better to do a suspect, but in this case, the threat of Slowbro Galar’s Quick Draw set has been present since day 1 and has only been becoming increasingly problematic as time goes on, which justifies taking action this way. With that being said, it wasn’t just the council split on ban reasoning, as several players have voiced different reasons as to why they want it banned as well. This doesn’t rule out the possibility that Slowbro-Galar will be revisited in a future suspect, but the council felt immediate action was necessary before moving forward with other tiering decisions.

tagging Marty to implement this ban on the ladder. Thanks!