Based on what I’ve experienced in the highest echelons of the ladder (proof in sig) and what we as a community have figured out on paper already, I think Dynamax is very unhealthy for the metagame and should be banned in short order. Although there's definitely a few merits to this mechanic (newfound variety for some Pokemon, its utility in breaking fatter cores etc.) I find the negatives outrun the positives by several miles.



The largest issue in my opinion is the fact that there is no defensive counterplay to Dynamax, apart from Dynamaxing a member of your defensive backbone, putting the Dynamaxed mon to sleep or spamming sub. However, it is fairly evident that each of these 'supposed' counterplay-options do not work on each and every threat and bring downsides with them. For example, Dynamaxing your defensive mon to prevent an offensive mon from steamrolling through your team is all good and well, but is significantly more difficult to pull off than simply Dynamaxing your offensive mon and clicking buttons. It means you will have to guess when your opponent is going to pull the trigger and more importantly, which mon. This is possible, since competitive mons in its core concept is a complicated chess-like game after all. However, I believe the guessing game favors the opponent much more than it favors you as the defender, since you have much more to lose if you predict incorrectly.



Moreover, Dynamax is an extremely unpredictable mechanic, since neither you nor the opponent can predict what mon is going to Dynamax at team preview, crucially distinguishing itself from every single past mechanic in the game. I realize this is a bit less of an issue in Nat Dex formats due to megas and Z-moves, yet I still believe it is big enough to negatively impact the prospective player experience of this tier.



I care a lot about this tier. It is the tier I looked forward to the most in gen VIII. However, if I see Lando-T airstreaming every 'check' to death and gaining a speed boost on top of it, Kartana getting free swords dances by killing something with Max Knuckle, or Gyara and Mence getting free dragon dances without any drawbacks whatsoever, I can't help seeing the appeal of this tier slip away.