Imperial

Please emphasise that players who wish to sign up state their activity levels and any potential circumstances where they're unavailable to prevent them going AWOL or rage quitting after a few weeks for some stupid reason. As a manager last season this hugely affected my draft plans and yes, I could have communicated with people beforehand but I think sign ups should be more transparent like they are in Smogon team tours. If this feedback is considered I would be keen on managing again and if I'm fortunate to be selected I will make sure that my lessons have been learnt.

While I understand people's concerns about the lack of consistency on discussion threads being created, I've always stated that I believe the process takes too long and/or the thread gets forgotten about. Whether it was approached the right way or not, I'm glad that actions are finally being taken on things that should have been dealt with ages ago.

Hello Sara

Checks: Jellicent Weezing Zapdos Gliscor Amoonguss Skarmory Tangrowth Reuniclus Sableye Defensive Metagross Cofagrigus Dusclops

This is sick - good luck everyone!

5m Caiox plays his match and loses

Interesting changes, I wonder if Dragon Dance Salamence is going to be buffed in the tier now that Bronzong is gone (hopefully people don't cry about it leaving like last time). Overall, I think this is nice - Tentacruel can hopefully check weather to some extent, Ninetales will probably still be used over Torkoal(?) and let's see if the CM Spiritomb set is used again. Nothing more to say really.

I'm going to be the downer here and likely the minority, but I consider World Cup a meme for certain reasons: Unlike showdown (the annual world cup event is going on right now so I've linked it), there're no strict checks to see which players are eligible to play for what country Example - One year I decide to play for Canada, but the next year I decide to play for Europe, nobody bothers to do vigorous checks and most people get away with it as nobody actually keeps a proper log of this Another example - Most players end up just playing for their friends, regardless of the country everyone is from The other point is after Unfennable hosted it (no offence), it just left a bad taste with the wider community, purely because he only wanted to host it for his own ego, not because he actually wanted to make it a fun and competitive event from everyone. Donations are also going to be an issue, we had to have Rys donate most of the prize pool for the biggest competition in the game (PSL), World Cup is nowhere near that level so unless someone can prove me wrong, I don't see a huge amount of money going into this. If people are desperate to host a World Cup, make it short so that people don't get bored easily as the hype always dies out after week 4/5 of these events. If someone can please explain the hype of World Cup I'd appreciate it, but I'd much rather see Luke's idea of tier invitationals, OUPL etc and other events rather than this garbage competition which is always disorganised. Showdown for reference: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-world-cup-of-pokémon-2025-qualifying-signups-only.3762032/

Swampert - I think this was fine in the tier and it will be fine again, no comments or concerns from me. Spiritomb- I may be in the minority here, but I'm concerned about this one. I'm speaking from an old NU player perspective (2020-21) when you may not have been around, but Spiritomb at the time had severely buffed stall teams with its Dark Pulse / Calm Mind / Sleep Talk / Rest set with its Pressure ability (I think it got nerfed since then) - this Pokemon alone was the sole reason we've had the longest TT final/match at around 4 hours long (Sia members please correct me if I'm wrong). I appreciate the meta has significantly changed since then, but I think this set will still be pretty strong and a Pokemon to definitely watch out for with its bulk and typing meaning it has no weaknesses. Haxorus - I think like with any other Pokemon it should be suspected but a decision/vote made very quickly (after 1-2 NU CCs and an official) and a discussion thread created straight away for comments in between these periods. I feel this will/should eventually get banned as an offensive uber though. Scolipede - This looks like another one where it will likely be banned as an offensive uber, but I think it should be open for testing. Usually I would opt for an immediate quick ban on the last two, but based on previous decisions TC have been making I think suspect testing is the best solution and then deciding from there.

Until the main issue is addressed, my idea of what cannot change in the future will stand. I've addressed concerns in the past, I voiced concerns that gbwead explained in detail about the yo-yo issue every movement cycle which was addressed, but that hasn't stopped the underlying issue of neglected discussion threads, Tier Council members who aren't active enough in the game and suggest that AV Conkeldurr can run Bulk Up and that Bisharp will be a dominant thread if Lucario gets banned, amongst other things. I will admit that OU has finally become more stable and enjoyable after the whole Dugtrio and Gallade fiasco, now at the cost of UU and NU being a complete mess with all the BL1/BL2 drops and other usage movements because of how centralising certain Pokemon have been (e.g. Lucario in UU). Don't get me wrong, as more legendaries and HAs get released, this was always going to happen, but what were versatile and enjoyable tiers are now just either completely predictable (e.g. Hippowdon + Blissey + Mantine cores in UU) or complete match up fishing (NU). This is something that needs to be explored further as to how it should be implemented, but I'm confident that if you were to implement an alternative channel you'll get more people feeling optimistic about voicing their views and a smoother discussion between TC and the public. As for the forums, I don't disagree about it needing to be used, but the discussion threads are pointless because of the duration that they're left for. What happened to Blissey? What happened to Lucario? etc...

Calm Mind, Thunderbolt, Aura Sphere, Substitute Scald, Hidden Power Ice, Thunderbolt/Volt Switch, Aura Sphere

The reason why I brought up Jirachi is because based on previous discussions/concerns I've seen the pattern that's happened and I was confident that the exact same thing would happen in this scenario. Your quick response on this will be appreciated about many - I'm far from a doubles player but based on Showdown I think the best solution is to ban Follow Me as that was what specifically made Jirachi in the Ubers category before now currently being in SV DUU. I actually think this is the perfect place to state my comment, because a lot of potential Tier Council members don't know what they're getting into and once they do the majority come to the same conclusion (I've had people anonymously tell me how they've felt), so I believe they shouldn't blindly try to apply without knowing how current discussions and decisions are being handled. You can recruit as many Tier Council members as you want, but if you're only going to keep the existing system, nothing will change. As long as the higher staff make the final decisions regardless of what Tier Council suggests, nothing will change. I'm happy to outline my proposals in a separate thread on how I think the new system should work when it's appropriate to do so, but I will emphasise that having a moderated Discord server with every Tier Council member and Munya/Rache to discuss tiering decisions and other concerns with full transparency (excluding the voting process which I understand why the anonymity) should be considered. The forums are outdated, the discussion threads are pointless and everything will be much smoother via Discord. I believe this is more important than assigning specific tiers for TC members, although this is also highly recommended.

@Munya Please do not remove any of my comments, I would like to follow up with genuine criticism of the current system and why I believe you are going to find it difficult to get new competent Tier Council members. When someone raises a legitimate concern (most recently doubles players requesting that Follow Me Jirachi gets looked into) with genuine statistics/facts, it's usually the case that this gets overlooked for a long period of time. First the TC will wait for more comments from the community to see if they share the same problem (unlikely either because of how inactive the forums are or how everyone contradicts each other), then a few months later a discussion thread is finally created, then we have to wait another month at least for a vote to take place. However, if a new update suddenly comes out even if it's minor, we have to wait at least another month for these said changes to take affect in case it (very unlikely) resolves the original issue and a final vote to take place. Bear in mind during this period there's usually a chance that a TC member steps down so a vote is then FURTHER delayed to find a replacement and ensure enough members can vote. A good single tier example is Salamence - when the discussion thread was originally opened, it was left for ages despite concerns from both sides of the community. Salamence ended up rising to OU by usage because the 'discussion thread' took so long, therefore, a vote was never taken place. I believe that the discussion thread is still open as of today, with multiple threads still open despite several months happening. Most TC members are feeling exhausted, and I don't blame them. So many great people have gone for different reasons, and the way the current system is, won't be appealing to many people. I strongly advise having a Discord server for transparent conversations, bridge the gap between the TC and Community and stop letting the higher staff restrict/change what the community and TC decide (e.g. Sharpness Gallade). Thanks.

I see my comment got removed about the current state of Tier Council, I was only stating facts. Right now, I don't believe the system is working. We should be having Tier Council members assigned to their respective tiers (ideally getting involved in all tiers if possible), who have a good fundamental understanding of competitive play, different archetypes, etc. When a discussion thread is opened (e.g. Blissey, Lucario, etc) - it takes much longer than needed for a vote to take place. Previous discussions about Sharpness were agreed with TC but ignored by devs until after several changes, the activity requirements aren't enough and more transparency is needed from TC members (appreciate the ones who have been, whether people agree or disagree with their views). I also propose a public Discord Server where all TC members are available and can welcome their views from the wider community, since the forums are either not active enough anymore, or have nonsense being spouted and the topic ends up getting derailed. Fix this and I'll take TC more seriously.

They would have to complex ban it by removing Nasty Plot / Calm Mind, I think this would make the difference in how strong it is based on my recent experiences playing BW OU on showdown.