Suspect Testing Round 10

By PDC. Art by Bummer.

Introduction

Finally, we have come to the conclusion of the OU suspect test coverage series. With Genesect and Tornadus-T gone, we turn our heads to the last broken Pokemon left, Deoxys-D. This time, we will be reviewing Round 10 while also covering an additional subject of defining a suspect, and what makes a Pokemon broken. Just like all previous installments of this series, we will be covering the teams used in this round, what the community's opinions were on the test, and how it affected the current metagame. This time, we will be covering the 10th round of suspect testing, the most recently conducted test.

Suspect Round 10

The last space alien in the metagame is a fearsome and bulky one at that. But this one is not meant for stalling; its primary use is to lay down hazards and support hyper offensive teams by providing fast momentum. Being virtually impossible to OHKO without great effort, Deoxys-D almost guarantees Stealth Rock on the field every time while potentially preventing the opponent from getting hazards up. Only a fast Taunt could stop Deoxys-D from getting hazards up, but even then Magic Coat or Mental Herb could reflect back its effects or allow Deoxys-D to simply ignore Taunt, allowing it to proceed in laying down hazards. Deoxys-D was mostly hated by the community especially because of its rather skill-less attributes. Deoxys-D, in one word, was: annoying. It could survive virtually anything and lay down hazards to support its team, meaning the opponent had an abysmal chance of winning the initial lead match-up. While some loved the fact that Deoxys-D could lay down hazards and provide quick team support, others thought it was a broken and easily-used aspect which made the game uncompetitive. Many can vouch for how effective Deoxys-D was, and the fact that it has a relatively wide support movepool made it even more powerful. This defensive giant didn't really have a place on most stall, but on offensive teams it had a perfect lead position to easily gain uncounterable momentum, and it was clear this was becoming more and more a problem as hyper-offense's popularity grew to new heights.

Deoxys-D was the last of its kind, being the only forme available for use in Overused. It was at first neglected to the Underused metagame, but was quickly exploited and banned to OU, freeing UU from hyper-offense's grasp. However, with the recognition of Deoxys-D in UU, it was easy to see that soon it would become popular in the standard metagame. Hyper-offense became the premier laddering style in no time. With mostwanted creating the first real popular hyper-offense team, the race to ladder with the new style was on. Deoxys-D was a choice that many players added, and many high-ranked players used very similar offensive teams designed to win and climb the ladder quickly. It was easy to see this was becoming almost an epidemic, but luckily the style died down a bit over time. It became predictable, as most teams were built up of the same Pokemon. It was still a popular style as many people innovated with it and created new builds and strategies, but one thing stayed the same—the ringleader was almost always Deoxys-D. It could set down hazards quickly or prevent them at all costs, and then, if proper hazard support was up, the game would almost immediately be over due to the early-game momentum gained by Deoxys-D's team. As we all know, Deoxys-D had remained relatively untouched in suspect testing until recently; after all the main problems were dealt with, it was finally time to solve the problem of Deoxys-D. Some thought it was easily countered, only served one purpose, and could easily fail, while others thought it almost guaranteed hazards being laid down on the opponent's side. It just made the game too easy to win, and it was something that was just skill-less to use. It required little-to-no prediction at all, and Deoxys-D was almost impossible to stop once it got the ball rolling; due to its bulk, it was incredibly hard to 1-shot it early in the game. Even in the Genesect era, it could not be stopped due to the typical altering in the EV spread preventing a Special Attack Download boost. It was time to put this monster to the test, and if banned, it could end the craze of hyper-offense once and for all, or at least the type of team that was being used since the start of the BW metagame.

On February 4th, the thread went up, and it was fairly straightforward in its purpose: discussing whether Deoxys-D was to be kept in OU or not. The testing began and the ladder was opened. The suspect ladder did not include Deoxys-D, so more straightforward conventional offense was used. The ladder was similar to the actual standard one, but with a few exceptions. The typical laddering Pokemon were placed much higher—Keldeo touched an exceptional high at #1, with Tyranitar being the #1 weather inducer at #5 in usage statistics. The ladder was nothing too special, but it did show that stall, which was seen quite a lot more than previous rounds, was flourishing and doing a lot better without Deoxys-D in the metagame. It was simply more viable and was thus used to much greater success. Unlike other suspects, however, Deoxys-D was not extremely high in usage statistics. For the most part, it loomed around the #20+ range for most previous rounds and months in both suspect ladders and standard OU. Deoxys-D was thus a very special case, as unlike Genesect, Keldeo, and Tornadus-T, it was not very high in the usage statistics. Nonetheless, the community felt it was a broken aspect of the metagame, and because of that it was rightfully tested. The thread, on the other hand, had the usual amount of discussion that was involved with suspect tests. For the most part, it was either "Deoxys-D is completely broken and needs to be banned" or "Deoxys-D is easily countered and does not need to be banned." For some, Sableye, Scizor, and fast Taunt users were ample counters to Deoxys-D, along with hard hitters like Choice Band Tyranitar. To others, Deoxys-D was almost impossible to be killed without it getting at least 1 hazard down, and it was a cancer to the metagame. The community was split, and so were the upcoming results of the test which would determine the fate of Deoxys-D. No side was heavily leaned to, and it was not a big surprise as most of the community found value in its quick and powerful playstyle.

The test finally ended, and the results went live. Deoxys-D was banned on a margin of 59.34%, not a landslide by any means. While some may have been disappointed due to the death of their favorite playstyle, it was clear to see more people wanted it gone. Deoxys-D was banned once and for all, and now there was nobody left to complain about it. Hyper-offense is not gone by any means however, and it still is alive today. But the old typical Deoxys-D hyper offense form is now long gone.

Conclusion

That was most likely the last suspect test for the generation. Until next generation, or at least possibly till next generation, we will have to wait for the next suspect testing round. This will bring a whole new slate of content, and hopefully new excitement to the metagame as we have no idea what the new generation will bring. But for Generation 5 OU suspect testing, this is where it cuts off, at least for now. It's not a long wait until the next generation rolls in, so expect fresh suspect testing coverage very soon. Additionally, just because the individual suspect round coverage is finished does not mean the suspect process is finished for the generation. We still have roughly 5 months left of Gen V, so expect more suspect content as the generation progresses into its final months!

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