Having had a little more time to collect my thoughts after this news dropped on us, I think I've reached a very reasonable position. Perhaps it's a bit lofty, but I think it balances in the treetops quite nicely.
Firstly, I must say, I'm glad to see the TLs have listened to the player base. Up until now, it's felt like the effort to unban tera has been a bit buried by council, especially during the tail-end of this winter. However, anyone who's been paying attention has noticed that an underground movement has been taking place, and it was pretty clear that it wasn't going to be just another tree in the forest. The movement's roots went deep, all the way back to Generation 7 even, and I'm glad that the new TLs could discern that the seed council planted when they said tera would be re-tested has grown.
While some, no doubt, will regard this decision as treason, I disagree. This is a tremendous decision, and beyond just helping the 1v1 players who wanted it free, I think it will help integrate 1v1 with the other metagames, most of which allow tera. For a while, players joining from OU seemed like they were left out in the cold, but I think they'll find a good nest waiting for them in 1v1 now.
Doubtless, some new and less engaged players, especially people new to smogon as a whole, will find the decision a bit odd. "How come his Heatran can turn into a grass type and beat my leech seed staller" they'll no doubt ask. As such, I look forward to seeing council put forward a longer justification for freeing the mechanic. Given how active he is in the community, I'm sure Bo_Bobson27 is well-versed in all the arguments for freeing tera and has no doubt accumulated a good stash of them. I think he'll be able to explain the decision in a nutshell to any and all disgruntled parties.
I can only hope that in the future, Bo_Bobson27 and DripLegend will continue listening to the community and unearthing similarly good ideas. Personally, I've noticed a groundswell of support for freeing Kyurem-Black into the meta.* The movement to free is diverse, with a lot of different branches, but it is unmistakable. I've heard arguments that it would be restrained by other meta threats, like Metagross and Sylveon, and I think there's a kernel of truth to that. Some say it would be a bit much, of course, by I expect our expert TLs could see us through such an icy period as the Kyu-B meta.
However, all that being said, I must oppose the decision to unban tera for one simple reason: it means I have to build new teams for Swiss.
* For legal reasons, this is a joke. Freeing Kyu-B would be absolutely nuts.
