If I do decide to ladder for this and vote, I'd likely vote ban, but as in the past I find myself not agreeing with a lot of the pro-ban sentiments that I've read and heard thus far.
First off, this needs no explanation but without Arena Trap, Dugtrio is a terrible pokemon with no future or viability in the OU tier. The aftermath of Dugtrio's tiering is not a relevant discussion point and should not be treated as such.
Secondly, I don't think Arena Trap is inherently broken, nor do I find it "uncompetitive" (a term that really needs to die). I do not view trapping in general as an inherently broken mechanic either, so I feel no need to differentiate it from Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull or other methods. Trapping is a part of the game and has been deliberately included by the game's creators since Gen 2, and has been expanded upon in the generations after. The usefulness of Trapping is entirely situational based on which pokemon or trapping methods your team has, which methods your opponent has, and how the rest of the match-up looks after you've trapped your opponent's threats to your team, or have been trapped yourself. There is no possible way to quantify this. There are absolutely games in which Dugtrio, even in this current metagame, is completely deadweight and you are essentially playing 5 vs 6 -- hardly a situation that I would consider "uncompetitive" for the player with 6 relevant OU pokemon versus only 5. Alternatively, there are games in which Dugtrio can trap either one key offensive breaker or even revenge several pokmeon. Trapping doesn't make players win or lose -- players do, and making a decision about when to bring in Dugtrio, or click pursuit vs attack, or predict the magnezone etc. is not always as straightforward in practice as it can seem in theory.
Now, it is fair to have the opinion that trapping is overly restrictive, centralizing or just too burdensome in any particular metagame and to argue that as grounds for a ban. However, there is a reason why this issue is prevalent now and has not been for the many years that Arena Trap Dugtrio has been in existence. To write it all off by a simple one liner and saying "arena trap is uncompetitive" is extremely lazy logic, and if you read the paragraphs written by the council members, several of them expressed their own sentiments about why this suspect is occurring now.
Namely, although Arena Trap has not changed, the increased prevalence, versatility and team support of its premier abuser undoubtedly has. Dugtrio's scarf and Groundium Z sets not only trap more targets that were otherwise safe in the past, but the extent to which entire teams can now be tailor made to magnify Dugtrio's ability to do its job has pushed it over the edge for me. It is on these specific grounds that I find it necessary to ban Arena Trap, because with something like Eject Button, the risk vs reward is absurdly skewed. There is no "skillful" way to predict something like Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Latios, or really any average pivot to be holding an item which, indirectly, allows your only method of breaking certain teams or winning certain games to go down.
I was entirely okay with the risk vs reward in the prior suspect, because Dugtrio itself is an extremely flawed pokemon with a great ability, and those flaws outweighed the ability's situational benefits. Focus Sash sets trapped a smaller pool of pokemon, were far more difficult to support and bring into play, and the only thing the opponent was required to predict was the trapper itself. However, it is extremely absurd to expect players to not only predict the trapper to come in, but to predict every possible instance in which the trapper could be brought into play. It has grown to a point where otherwise rational plays are potentially game-ending.
Given only what I said above about Arena Trap by itself, which is what this suspect is supposed to concern, I ought to vote No Ban. But while I do think it sets very crappy precedent to vote for or against a suspect based on something outside the scope of what is being suspect tested, I also think that any reasonable person should understand what is actually at stake in this suspect, and what affect the most prevalent and noteworthy abuser of Arena Trap is having on the tier right now (re: Dugtrio). Instead of putting this on the council for not labeling this a re-suspect of Dugtrio, I am just going to be forthright in saying that I want Dugtrio banned and put the onus on me as the player to honestly explain my vote.
First off, this needs no explanation but without Arena Trap, Dugtrio is a terrible pokemon with no future or viability in the OU tier. The aftermath of Dugtrio's tiering is not a relevant discussion point and should not be treated as such.
Secondly, I don't think Arena Trap is inherently broken, nor do I find it "uncompetitive" (a term that really needs to die). I do not view trapping in general as an inherently broken mechanic either, so I feel no need to differentiate it from Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull or other methods. Trapping is a part of the game and has been deliberately included by the game's creators since Gen 2, and has been expanded upon in the generations after. The usefulness of Trapping is entirely situational based on which pokemon or trapping methods your team has, which methods your opponent has, and how the rest of the match-up looks after you've trapped your opponent's threats to your team, or have been trapped yourself. There is no possible way to quantify this. There are absolutely games in which Dugtrio, even in this current metagame, is completely deadweight and you are essentially playing 5 vs 6 -- hardly a situation that I would consider "uncompetitive" for the player with 6 relevant OU pokemon versus only 5. Alternatively, there are games in which Dugtrio can trap either one key offensive breaker or even revenge several pokmeon. Trapping doesn't make players win or lose -- players do, and making a decision about when to bring in Dugtrio, or click pursuit vs attack, or predict the magnezone etc. is not always as straightforward in practice as it can seem in theory.
Now, it is fair to have the opinion that trapping is overly restrictive, centralizing or just too burdensome in any particular metagame and to argue that as grounds for a ban. However, there is a reason why this issue is prevalent now and has not been for the many years that Arena Trap Dugtrio has been in existence. To write it all off by a simple one liner and saying "arena trap is uncompetitive" is extremely lazy logic, and if you read the paragraphs written by the council members, several of them expressed their own sentiments about why this suspect is occurring now.
Namely, although Arena Trap has not changed, the increased prevalence, versatility and team support of its premier abuser undoubtedly has. Dugtrio's scarf and Groundium Z sets not only trap more targets that were otherwise safe in the past, but the extent to which entire teams can now be tailor made to magnify Dugtrio's ability to do its job has pushed it over the edge for me. It is on these specific grounds that I find it necessary to ban Arena Trap, because with something like Eject Button, the risk vs reward is absurdly skewed. There is no "skillful" way to predict something like Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Latios, or really any average pivot to be holding an item which, indirectly, allows your only method of breaking certain teams or winning certain games to go down.
I was entirely okay with the risk vs reward in the prior suspect, because Dugtrio itself is an extremely flawed pokemon with a great ability, and those flaws outweighed the ability's situational benefits. Focus Sash sets trapped a smaller pool of pokemon, were far more difficult to support and bring into play, and the only thing the opponent was required to predict was the trapper itself. However, it is extremely absurd to expect players to not only predict the trapper to come in, but to predict every possible instance in which the trapper could be brought into play. It has grown to a point where otherwise rational plays are potentially game-ending.
Given only what I said above about Arena Trap by itself, which is what this suspect is supposed to concern, I ought to vote No Ban. But while I do think it sets very crappy precedent to vote for or against a suspect based on something outside the scope of what is being suspect tested, I also think that any reasonable person should understand what is actually at stake in this suspect, and what affect the most prevalent and noteworthy abuser of Arena Trap is having on the tier right now (re: Dugtrio). Instead of putting this on the council for not labeling this a re-suspect of Dugtrio, I am just going to be forthright in saying that I want Dugtrio banned and put the onus on me as the player to honestly explain my vote.