Where to begin... Ban Sableye-Mega.



The main reason why Sableye is unhealthy is its restrictive nature in regards to teambuilding and matchup. With Sableye in the tier, matchup becomes a more prevalent issue than it needs to be, and there are a few key reasons why this occurs.



Firstly, there is the ease of hazard prevention. I know not everything can be looked at by theory-moaning but people often exaggerate how easy it is to get hazards vs Sableye. In regards to specific pokemon and their ability to get hazards vs Sableye, any viable spiker (skarm and ferro) is 100% shut down by Sableye, so I will solely discuss stealth rockers.



Heatran, Clefable, Diancie, and Excadrill are the only ou-viable mons that can reliably set rocks vs Sableye. Heatran is fine as a rocker (except for free Starmie spins), but the others have serious issues running sr in OU. As for Clefable, it would simply rather run calm mind 90% of the time, and even if it does get rocks vs Sableye, it isn't preventing Exca / Skarm on a Sableye team from removing hazards. Diancie I won't go much into because it's an offensive mon that has better moves to run like protect and coverage options. Excadrill too would rather run rapid spin, coverage, sd, etc. over stealth rock, and this is also ignoring the fact that Skarmory freely defogs vs it.



For pokemon like Azelf, Mew, and Jirachi, no. If they have to run some stupid gimmick like skill swap or dazzling gleam in the first place then that alone shows the unhealthy effects of Sableye on the meta. For Landorus, it really has to run earth plate and even then Skarmory freely defogs vs it. Terrakion has plenty of issues in OU already, as seen in its non-ou usage, but even if it were to run rocks in OU with life orb, it wouldn't be doing so freely vs Sableye teams. Two of the most common hazard removers in OU are Starmie and Latios, so Terrakion isn't really going to excel at setting rocks.



I believe that covers most of the disputed viable rockers in OU. My point is, you can't just look at pokemon theoretically getting rocks up vs Sableye in a vacuum. You have to look at the viability of sets, as well as the hazard control support alongside Sableye. It really is very difficult to effectively get hazards vs Sableye teams.



Why is this unhealthy? Here's why. My main issue with Sableye, and thus Sableye teams like the full stall that is commonly attributed to me... is that in order to beat it you need to run sets / mons that are otherwise unviable in the metagame. Having a team that functions well vs stall should not directly hinder the ability to handle other playstyles. Using hazards, smart pivots, and simply a larger range of potential wallbreakers with Sableye gone, should be feasible on any team. With the way ORAS OU currently functions with Sableye in the tier, preparing for stall generally becomes a huge hinderance to dealing with the rest of the metagame. You can't just use a well functioning team to beat stall; you have to use a specific combination of hazard setters / wallbreakers to beat stall (an example of this is Gardevoir + healing wish). I believe banning Sableye will allow for more creativity, freedom, and overall health in the metagame.



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As for the next part... Ban Shadow Tag.



Shadow Tag makes gameplay less skillful, adds to the matchup issue that Sableye also contributes to, and is overall harmful to the tier's stability and development.



Let's start by talking about Gothitelle. With Gothitelle, I feel that many people don't understand its true potential as a threat to all playstyles, and its viability on all types of teams. Gothitelle is mostly seen on stall teams, and its not hard to see why. Primarily, Gothitelle serves as a means of beating threats to stall like Manaphy and Magma Storm Heatran that are otherwise difficult to handle. Gothitelle can also revenge kill Mega Heracross, paralyze Gardevoir, and trick other threats like SD Gliscor/NP Thundurus. This also lets stall teams beat opposing stall by tricking the hazard user/remover and/or the cleric. The list really goes on and on when it comes to Gothitelle's uses on stall. As for Gothitelle's uses on offensive teams, there are still plenty. On offense, Gothitelle primarily serves as the way to trap and kill opposing hazard setters/removers as well as walls to teammates. For example, Gothitelle can run HP Fire for Ferrothorn to support Gyarados, and can also trick the opposing lead chomp so defogging is very easy and the opponent can never keep rocks. An argument I really dislike about Gothitelle is that its easy to predict and pursuit trap it for example. Predictions really go both ways so that's a moot point.



For specific scenarios of this uncompetitive use of Gothitelle:



Let's take the example of a team with Charizard-Y + Goth vs. any team with Chansey. Before I get into this do note that the same logic can generally be applied to a situation where there is an offensive pokemon and a defensive pokemon that checks it. In this case, Chansey is the clear and obvious switchin to Charizard. So let's say Charizard uses a move on the switch and does x damage to Chansey. Chansey is now at a certain and hp and wants to heal so it can come in on Charizard the next time around. Without any skill by the Charizard user, this is a win-win situation (I will explain how this is not ordinary or healthy teambuilding advantage later on). Chansey either heals up and lets Goth trap it, or it switches out leaving it at 2hko range the next time it comes in. The issue is, Gothitelle can do this to a ton of defensive pokemon. The difference between Gothitelle and something like Magnezone though, is that Gothitelle can do this to any non-ghost pokemon, which is a lot more than just a few steels in OU. I believe, in situations like these, Gothitelle is an issue because there was not any real skill involved in wearing down the check or winning the game.



Now I'll explain in more detail how Gothitelle is, in my eyes, uncompetitive in a similar scenario except against offensive threats. Let's say someone is using Gothitelle stall this time, and facing a team with breaker x (Manaphy lets say). So the game can play out normally, except for when Manaphy comes in. Every single time Manaphy comes in, the Gothitelle user can switch freely. The most common exception to this is when the Manaphy user has a Tyranitar, in which case its really just 50 50s (which aren't too competitive either, especially if they occur every time a pokemon comes in, but I can understand a distaste for this logic). So, again, the Gothitelle user does not make any plays or anything "skill-based" to win the game or beat a threat.



Some people may say that this is just Gothitelle having a good matchup, and not some portrayal of uncompetitive play. The thing is, the main way to counteract such Gothitelle play is by running otherwise "unviable/undesireable" sets/teams. An example of this is the recently used shed shell Manaphy/Togekiss, or the need to use more than one pokemon that can threaten Gothitelle stall. What I am saying is, Gothitelle either restricts teambuilding to an unhealthy degree or forces uncompetitive play in the case that the opponent of Gothitelle did not unconventionally prepare for Gothitelle.



Personally, I prefer a metagame where I don't need to run obscure/otherwise unviable teams to beat a Gothitelle. Because if I don't do this, I'm just going to "unskillfully" lose to a Gothitelle due to the nature of Shadow Tag (+ mostly trick in this case).



Also, for those saying that Gothorita / Wobb don't deserve to be suspected, they do. Gothorita essentially does the same thing Gothitelle does, except its slightly more frail and can only outspeed ~base 105s. It can still trap pokemon in the same uncompetitive way Gothitelle can. Wobb's trapping abilities are similar to Goth's, except they just don't involve trick. Wobb can still effectively trap many of the same offensive and defensive threats.



This suspect test will decide the fate of the ORAS OU metagame, and it is so extremely vital to improve this metagame when given the chance.