Hello all. You might know me as that guy who uses Cloyster a lot and is consequently a massive hypocrite for bringing this subject up, but I feel that someone has to. SPL's right around the corner, so I feel that putting this topic on the table sooner rather than later is important.
I think that partial-trapping moves (Wrap, Fire Spin, Clamp, etc., on Dragonite in particular) are unhealthy for the RBY metagame, not only from a competitive perspective, but from a spectator's viewpoint as well. I know that meddling with old gens' rulesets is a messy debate, but I think that these moves are egregious enough to merit discussion.
-Uncompetitiveness. Partial-trapping moves (Wrap on AgiliNite in particular) are difficult to interact with favorably, and rob the opponent of much of their agency in decision-making. There is often little opportunity cost to using a partial-trap move against a slower target, promoting repetitive use of such attacks for free chip damage that accumulates very quickly. This puts significant pressure on the opponent, as they will often find themselves stuck in a situation where their best option is to hope for a miss, and the racked up damage rapidly drives their Pokemon into KO ranges of other attacks. Even if they do have a faster Pokemon, switching into a trapping move is still a toss-up, since if the attack doesn't end on that particular turn the trapper can simply abuse a free switch and maintain an advantage and momentum. PP stalling is also unfeasible, since the trapper moves only consume 1 PP per cycle.
Partial-Trapping moves place an unfair onus on the person subjected to them and give unfair tactical advantages to the person using them. Compare them to Swagger in later gens and I think you'll agree that these are much worse. They can be played around to an extent, yes, but they only provide narrow windows for maneuvering that can still be punished easily. I'm hard-pressed to think of an argument as to why these moves should continued to be allowed beyond maintaining the status quo, which I find to be a very poor reason.
-Spectator Issues. Watching one person spamming Wrap for twenty to thirty turns on end is really, really, boring. Being subjected to it is much worse. Wrap play patterns are lengthy and uninteresting, and actively detract from how enjoyable RBY battles are to watch. I know that this is far less significant than accusations of uncompetitiveness, but it's still a factor to consider for a team tournament, where spectator turnouts are high.
I believe these moves to be a detriment to the health of the RBY metagame, and I encourage any who share this opinion to voice it, as well as any who would argue against.
I think that partial-trapping moves (Wrap, Fire Spin, Clamp, etc., on Dragonite in particular) are unhealthy for the RBY metagame, not only from a competitive perspective, but from a spectator's viewpoint as well. I know that meddling with old gens' rulesets is a messy debate, but I think that these moves are egregious enough to merit discussion.
-Uncompetitiveness. Partial-trapping moves (Wrap on AgiliNite in particular) are difficult to interact with favorably, and rob the opponent of much of their agency in decision-making. There is often little opportunity cost to using a partial-trap move against a slower target, promoting repetitive use of such attacks for free chip damage that accumulates very quickly. This puts significant pressure on the opponent, as they will often find themselves stuck in a situation where their best option is to hope for a miss, and the racked up damage rapidly drives their Pokemon into KO ranges of other attacks. Even if they do have a faster Pokemon, switching into a trapping move is still a toss-up, since if the attack doesn't end on that particular turn the trapper can simply abuse a free switch and maintain an advantage and momentum. PP stalling is also unfeasible, since the trapper moves only consume 1 PP per cycle.
Partial-Trapping moves place an unfair onus on the person subjected to them and give unfair tactical advantages to the person using them. Compare them to Swagger in later gens and I think you'll agree that these are much worse. They can be played around to an extent, yes, but they only provide narrow windows for maneuvering that can still be punished easily. I'm hard-pressed to think of an argument as to why these moves should continued to be allowed beyond maintaining the status quo, which I find to be a very poor reason.
-Spectator Issues. Watching one person spamming Wrap for twenty to thirty turns on end is really, really, boring. Being subjected to it is much worse. Wrap play patterns are lengthy and uninteresting, and actively detract from how enjoyable RBY battles are to watch. I know that this is far less significant than accusations of uncompetitiveness, but it's still a factor to consider for a team tournament, where spectator turnouts are high.
I believe these moves to be a detriment to the health of the RBY metagame, and I encourage any who share this opinion to voice it, as well as any who would argue against.