Feliburn
RU Leader
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.
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.