Hey all, we're running a suspect test for the 50000th time this generation. This time Thundurus-Therian is on the chopping block.
Let me preface by saying that a majority of the council does not feel that Thundurus-T is broken or unhealthy in its current state; while we were 7-5 in favour of a suspect test, most of the 7 that voted in favour feel it is correct to do this for the community's sake and would still vote Do Not Ban if they were to qualify. With that said, a (small) majority of people wanted this test and we felt it'd be wrong to continue ignoring it, so here we go.
Thundurus-T has been a hot topic for a long time at this point. It's got phenomenal stats; 145 Special Attack is by far the highest in the tier and Thundy puts it to good use with its great STAB and strong coverage that lets it power through Pokemon that'd otherwise check its Electric moves like Amoonguss, Zarude and Excadrill. While its standard pivot set of Volt Switch, Knock Off, Psychic and Focus Blast is very lethal on its own, it also has extra coverage in its pretty deep movepool, being able to pull out Grass Knot to obliterate Swampert or even Sludge Wave to blow up Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu. Scouting its set can be so daunting that by the time you've figured out what it's running, it's often done its job already.
It also has its ever-lethal Nasty Plot set - while it hasn't been seen often recently, Nasty Plot Thundurus-T is one of the main reasons balances don't thrive much in the current metagame. Simply put, this set does not have any defensive counters - while Pokemon like Nihilego, Chansey, Assault Vest Tangrowth and Tapu Bulu can keep it in check temporarily, they're just hit way too hard by its moves to truly call themselves answers. This has been cited as a reason to call Thundurus-T a highly restrictive builder threat.
With all that said, Thundurus-T is no unstoppable force. The current metagame has trended in the direction of varying Ground-types like Swampert and Excadrill, meaning Thundurus-T can often have trouble picking its coverage. The rise of Pokemon like Mamoswine and Nihilego hasn't been doing it many favours, and the ever-dominant Zarude is still around to revenge kill it after some chip damage. Recent developments including Pokemon like Salazzle, Stone Edge Cobalion and Azelf also serve to keep Thundurus from being a rampaging killing machine. It still shines against balance, though, and giving it a free turn against offense can often spell doom for the frail teams that don't take its Volt Switches too well.
So there it is! The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. As always, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE is fine.
GXE | minimum games |
80 | 50 |
80.2 | 49 |
80.4 | 48 |
80.6 | 47 |
80.8 | 46 |
81 | 45 |
81.2 | 44 |
81.4 | 43 |
81.6 | 42 |
81.8 | 41 |
82 | 40 |
82.2 | 39 |
82.4 | 38 |
82.6 | 37 |
82.8 | 36 |
83 | 35 |
83.2 | 34 |
83.4 | 33 |
83.6 | 32 |
83.8 | 31 |
84 | 30 |
Other than that, the test will operate as always. There will be no suspect ladder. Instead, the standard UU ladder will remain open. Those who wish to participate in this suspect test will instead use a fresh, suspect-specific alt. All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! UU ladder on a fresh alt with the following format: "UU11T (Nick)." For example, I might register the alt UU11T Lily to ladder with. You must meet the listed format in order to qualify.
Participants will have until Sunday, January 23rd at 7:00 PM GMT -5 to meet voting requirements and post in the Alt Identification Thread. PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR CONFIRMED SUSPECT RESULTS HERE - there is a dedicated thread for identifying your suspect results. Happy laddering!