aVocado
@ Everstone
The usage stats from August were just posted and with it came tier shifts, and RU getting plenty of new toys. But immediately afterwards, Zydog and mega absol were quickbanned by the council. For context, we've had mega absol before in alpha and it was frankly quite broken but rose to UU once beta came around. But Zydog is one we never had in RU, so we didn't even get to use it in ladder at all, and it doesn't even sound remotely close to being broken on paper since literally half the tier's walls check it.
The reasoning for the ban was this:
In all other games I played, if a character was introduced or a new patch is rolled out very close to the date of a tournament, they wouldn't be allowed. EVO doesn't allow DLC characters if they're released within a week or two of the tournament, and the biggest Overwatch tournament used the older patch for their tournaments and a bunch of other tournaments banned newly introduced characters and maps as well. The amount of time needed between a character or a patch's introduction for them to not be banned is arbitrary, however. One tournament would ban a DLC character if it was introduced before the tournament in a week, another would ban it if it was 2 weeks, etc.
The reason for that is because everyone would've practiced without those new changes to the games and allowing them would be unfair to those who already put in a lot of time and effort with the older version of the game, or it could allow for a potentially broken character to win through matchup inexperience.
So why can't we do the same with Pokemon? That way the ladder and everything else besides tournaments won't be affected by new drops or the delay of suspect tests to accommodate for the tournaments. If a Pokemon were to be banned/introduced/retested before a certain period passed, then it would be banned for that said round/tournament. That way all sides are happy, no? It seems to me its best to keep tournaments from affecting tiering decisions in that way, quickbanning Pokemon only to not allow them in a round and retest them later. This way the majority of users won't get fucked over one frankly bad ruling in tournaments.
Also, it would go the other way around as well. If a Pokemon were to be banned or rose too close to a tournament's date, it would be allowed.
The reasoning for the ban was this:
Now it says zydog will be retested later this week, which is slightly relieving, but it highlights the bigger problem: the ruling with tournaments related to Pokemon recently introduced to the tier should be looked at.The RU council has decided to Quick Ban both Mega Absol and Zygarde-10%, otherwise known as Zydog(e). With RU Open Round 7 coming up in the very near future, and snake draft Phase 1 a week away, we decided it was best to banish these behemoths as soon as possible. Do not fear, though, as Zygarde-10% will be retested later this week. This will be a public test, based on the precedent in existence at this time. Mega Absol has been deemed to be way too unhealthy for our current metagame, so there are no plans to retest it at this point, although this could potentially change I suppose.
In all other games I played, if a character was introduced or a new patch is rolled out very close to the date of a tournament, they wouldn't be allowed. EVO doesn't allow DLC characters if they're released within a week or two of the tournament, and the biggest Overwatch tournament used the older patch for their tournaments and a bunch of other tournaments banned newly introduced characters and maps as well. The amount of time needed between a character or a patch's introduction for them to not be banned is arbitrary, however. One tournament would ban a DLC character if it was introduced before the tournament in a week, another would ban it if it was 2 weeks, etc.
The reason for that is because everyone would've practiced without those new changes to the games and allowing them would be unfair to those who already put in a lot of time and effort with the older version of the game, or it could allow for a potentially broken character to win through matchup inexperience.
So why can't we do the same with Pokemon? That way the ladder and everything else besides tournaments won't be affected by new drops or the delay of suspect tests to accommodate for the tournaments. If a Pokemon were to be banned/introduced/retested before a certain period passed, then it would be banned for that said round/tournament. That way all sides are happy, no? It seems to me its best to keep tournaments from affecting tiering decisions in that way, quickbanning Pokemon only to not allow them in a round and retest them later. This way the majority of users won't get fucked over one frankly bad ruling in tournaments.
Also, it would go the other way around as well. If a Pokemon were to be banned or rose too close to a tournament's date, it would be allowed.