Tiering Screens in SV RU

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Feliburn

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In the recent voting slate for SV RU Beta, the council deemed appropriate to take some action regarding Light Clay. This motion has also been heavily supported by many community members, and it has been more obvious during the current RU Ladder Tour that's happening.

The current screens users in the tier are: Abomasnow, Klefki, Espeon & Froslass (Sableye too but way more niche); while the more prominent abusers are: Drednaw, Toxtricity, Hariyama, Farigiraf, Cetitan, Frosmoth, Venomoth, Charizard, Revavroom, Oricorio, Cloyster, and others. Excluding Drednaw and Toxtricity, the other set-up sweepers are not considered near borderline broken alone, but as it usually goes with these types of teams, it becomes really hard to handle all of them behind screens. Especially once you consider the state of the early states of the generation, where the defensive options are limited in both pool of mons, and the available moves they can use.

Following previous generations, tiering Light Clay based off what was previously said shouldn't be that crazy, but it is still too early in the generation for this to be a decision we are super comfortable bringing up like if it was nothing.

This is what we think would be the best course of action, as we can still tackle troublesome mons themselves without the extended screens support right after. But trying to start banning set up sweepers/breakers left and right, while the clear common point is that they are all being used in conjunction with screens, would be too troublesome and a longer process that would also limit other playstyles in which those mons can be used, delaying the point of creating a balanced metagame in its early stage.
 

Aqua Jet

Stardew
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I’m bad at writing so I’m going to copy a post by Sneakyplanner that echos my thoughts on the matter:
This might not be the most professional opinion, but I say that banning light clay is a move with next to no negative impact. It doesn't kill screens offense as a concept, just makes it easier to play around. The fact that it requires such little commitment means that it can be banned and then the meta can be examined further. If Drednaw and Cloyster are still an issue after that then they can be banned as well. Also while this is a matter of opinion, I agree with what most others in this conversation have been saying that screens being a strong playstyle is a net negative on the tier. It's too easy to play, too linear to make exciting games and there just aren't enough ways to build around it.

The issue of light clay is also compounded by Klefki being added to the tier. Klefki simply removes a lot of the counterplay that previously existed to screens because it will always get at least one screen up before being taunted or killed and it has much better stats than Sableye, the old prankster screener. The closest thing to counterplay is Tauros, who can both hit Klefki super effectively and break screens with one move. But prankster makes it so Klefki still has an advantage in that matchup and Tauros is important enough for dealing with the threats on screens HO that it really doesn't want to take a thunder wave. It's simply too safe to set up screens with Klefki and the shell smash sweepers are just too strong.
 
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Feliburn

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RU Leader
Given the lack of objections in this thread, and the support given by other Tier Leaders in the tiering discussion chat in the Smogon Discord, we'll be going ahead with the decision of taking action on Light Clay. The RU Council had previously taken a vote in which 8/9 council members wanted to take action on Light Clay in regards to banning the item. With a quick confirmation in the council chat, everyone's stances seem to be the same, so Light Clay will be immediately banned from RU. I appreciate all the free likes, and thanks for reading.

Tagging Marty and Kris to remove it from PS, please and thanks.
 
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