Had planned to do a more comprehensive post in the near future once SSNL and Trios wrap up either this weekend or next on the teams I've built and some general commentary on mons, sets, and archetypes that have had significant changes in viability since the Xern ban as enough time has passed that there have been some significant changes in the meta in my view. As for the survey results:
Enjoyment / Competitiveness: The degree to which both general and qualified voters enjoy the metagame is around what I expected. There is not any data showing how competitive the qualified playerbase thinks the metagame is though I don't see the score reaching significantly higher than the 7.2 it is currently. We will probably always have a couple of people giving low scores either accidently or because they're trolling which will drag the score down a fair bit since we have a small playerbase.
Eledyr entrocefalo and
Bobsican have done a great job leading the tier over the last 18 months and have taken an active role in both listening to and involving the playerbase in tiering discussions. Regardless of any frustrations I've with the metagame at various points over the course of the tiers history, that these three and Guard before them (RIP) have been excellent leaders have always meant that there is light on the horizon. Personally, when it comes to balance / competitiveness anything above 7 means the tier is in a pretty good place. It doesn't mean that there arn't things we can change which would make the meta better, but 7 is a good baseline to strive for in a SV tier.
Tera: The qualified response chart is perhaps the most apt way you can sum up how tera is viewed in most SV tiers with every answer being filled except for 5. My answer was a 3 and my feelings on tera are mixed. The metagame would likely be more competitive without tera. Though that isn't really reason enough for me to want to ban something I don't currently view as problematic despite voting to ban it in the past. We also play Ubers which does have a higher threshold for something being considered banworthy and that is before the higher threshold needed to ban a generational mechanic.
I agree with a lot of what
BananaTimeZ said above. I don't feel tera is currently problematic. At this point in the meta a random tera type throwing a wrench into things is quite uncommon and frankly I've run into more issues with the occassional Thunder Wave on Ho-Oh than some random tera type. Zacian-C can be a bit silly at times and the coinflip regarding certain defensive teras would be the biggest reason for it to go. Otherwise tera is something I do like in the metagame. I'm completely fine with and would encourage the council to resuspect tera if they feel that there is enough support to merit doing so despite being unlikely to vote to ban it myself.
As a late addendum, I think it would be in the best interest of everyone for any potential tera suspect to happen following another survey in 3-6 weeks. Tera survived its intial suspect in an environment where there seemed to be significantly more opposition to its presence in the metagame than there is presently . If you are advocating for a tera ban it is in your best interest to ensure that tera has a relatively high chance of being banned as there is no guarantee that there will be a third test. I'd be quite surprised if we would be able to do a third test on tera should it survive a second.
Zygarde: The results on Zygarde are not surprising.Though I expected the general response to be higher than the qualified response it is still a little lower than I was expecting given the complaints about it. My position has not changed, it is a mon that is very easy to check naturally when building. Yeah tera means that Ice Beam on your Arceus isn't going to deal with it, but Judgement or just smacking it hard with a special attacker generally will. Zygarde really holds the meta together without being difficult to handle itself. If trapping sets rise in usage and consistency I'd certainly reconsider my position though the idea of a metagame without Zygarde's defensive presence frankly sounds terrible.
Zacian-C: I expected a slightly higher score than it received. I voted a 6 and have been thinking about that since. It both feels a little high and fine at the same time. The decision to vote 6 was more based on I'd be fine with a suspect and I'm not sure how I'd vote. Plenty of people have voiced their discontent publically as well as a couple people privately to me. If we were to suspect test Zacian-C it would be the first test we've had where I'm genuinely unsure how I'd vote at the outset. I don't particularly mind its place in the meta though at the same time I wouldn't be particularly upset if it were to leave. Previously I said I didn't have much of a perference whether Tera or Zacian-C were to be suspected. Currently I'm leaning towards Zacian-C as I'd like to give Tera some more time. That is my personal view and I'm aware that Zacian-C is not being currently considered for a suspect.
Shadow Tag: This result did surprise me. I expected a lot more polarization in the votes and frankly somewhere around a 2 or 3 from the general playerbase. Though I've made no secret of my views on Shadow Tag I unfortunately am quite bearish on it being banned via suspect. Even if the pool of voters for a Shadow Tag suspect only drew from those who responded to the survey, the results don't inspire confidence that it would be banned. We also have players who would qualify to vote for the suspect test who have not responded to the survey and it would be foolish to assume that they would overwhelmingly vote to ban it. Furthermore, every suspect attracts people who view the test as nothing more than an easy way to accumulate suspect votes on the way to a badge. These people do not touch the tier otherwise. Their votes are, of course, valid. I'm not suggesting otherwise or that this should be changed.
The reason I bring this up is that over the course of a suspect test you ladder up to 1550-1600ish. Anyone that has spent the bare minimum of time on the NDUbers ladder is well aware that the teams that one would encounter over the course of laddering is wholly divorced from the actual metagame. This is something of an issue for any suspect in NDUbers, but substantially more so with a Shadow Tag test.
The ladder is largely isolated from the negative effects Shadow Tag has on the metagame by virtue of Gothitelle being largely absent. This is a substantial difference from previous suspects as the effect that Tera, Koraidon, or Xerneas have is readily apparent. Unless one was to use a Gothitelle team themselves the chances of them running into it over the course of getting reqs is close to nil. Additionally, Gothitelle itself is likely to be underwhelming as unless you run into someone else getting reqs the chances of loading into more than a couple of good teams is astonishingly low. This leads to a misconception about what Gothitelle is actuallly capable of doing as it likely isn't going to do much of anything against the anime or persons favourite mon that happens to be an Uber + 5 NDUU mons teams that make up the majority of opponents during a suspect run. I don't want this to give off the impression that anyone who thinks that Shadow Tag should remain in the tier is a moron. For example,
adem and I have discussed Shadow Tag and we disagree about whether trapping is inherently unhealthy. Though we disagree about whether Shadow Tag is banworthy I can understand that viewpoint.
I'm appreciative that Shadow Tag was included in the survey to begin with. It just kind of blows that I cannot shake the feeling that should the council decide to proceed with a Shadow Tag suspect that it is highly unlikely to get enough votes to be banned. I'm not aware of any alternative routes we would be able to take that comply with general tiering policy. A quickban or council vote is obviously out of the question. My ideal suspect would be some high ladder rating combined with a high gxe though that obviously does not jive with tiering policy.
Last Respects: I've only ever advocated for a Goth / Shadow Tag ban rather than trapping as a whole since the Arena Trap mons are horrible despite trapping being inherently unhealthy. The same applies to Last Respects. Basculegion simply just isn't there yet and currently is largely a matchup fish. If meta developments result in it becoming semi consistent I'm happy to chuck it out. It doesn't add anything positive to the tier, but it doesn't presently harm it.
