The black and white, the not so perfect video + audio quality and the background makes me think I'm watching the first ever recorded critique of ADV OU in 1955.
BKC has to have the worst structure to his videos of anyone I have ever watched. Rambling and repeating points, no delineation of sections, and very little summary. Also leaving, in the dogs barking and a bathroom break? he must be trying to make the worst videos possible. Very Avant guarde, 10/10.
Someone should make a supercut of all of BKCs bathroom breaks, and Kevin should respond to it with a critique of the concept of video editing - filmed, of course, from his bathroom.
The real problem is that UUBL isn’t a proper tier in ADV despite a decent amount of demand for it, and there being more than enough BL mons in ADV to constitute a tier. But that being said, it’d be pretty funny if in a word where that did happen, Slaking got banned to BLBL
In a just world, UUBL would just be UU (and current UU -> RU). But anyway, UUBL already got a spotlight ladder earlier this year. It was pretty neat, but most people just used the already existing samples for it, so there wasn't as much exploration as I would have liked. Ninjask Baton Pass was pretty cracked; I got #1 early on at ~1410 ELO; but Roar Raikou was kryptonite.
I have a specific section on my watchlist just for noir, and it alone is crazy long (and I mean true noir, nothing neo/post-1955)...I pray to Mike Hammer at the hour of my death
Excited to hear what he has to say, but worth noting that just this week the biggest ADV tournament of the whole year featured such a diverse and fun meta. Long gone are the ttar skarm only days.
Idk if you have done this already, but I'd be interested in hearing a "What if Skarmory was banned from ADV OU" video. Not because I think that would be good for the meta, but rather as an interesting case study.
What all these commenters talking about Jimvitational grand finals fail to realise is that ABR did, in fact, bring Skarmory. He brought it in set 1 game 5 of grand finals, when he was one game away from losing the set. When he was at death's door, he brought Skarm.
I just fucking realised that this entire video is just a ruse to subliminally influence us to make Blaziken an OU staple by banning Dugtrio so Blaziken can go ham on Skarmory, Jirachi and Blissey, the three problem Pokemon outlined in the video. Nice try, BKC, but your Blazing Kicking Chicken bias gave your whole plan away.
adv ou is the only tier i've ever really played consistently, the amount of players who will throw skarm at something it will lose to is actually pretty surprising (especially when it isn't using drill peck for some reason), from my experience the most annoying piece of the tier is specially defensive zapdos which stays in on everything and then either beats whatever you throw at it somehow (unless what you throw at is blissey or regice) or agility passes to marowak (most commonly), metagross, or whatever else it feels like (i've seen it pass to octillery and breloom before) at which point there's decent odds that you lose the game six or seven turns later, oh and if you're struggling to deal with jirachi's constant onslaught of status you can do what i usually do, which is either not give it breathing room with stab earthquakes, fire blasts, or hydro pumps in rain (accuracy not withstanding), or just choose something to sack to it as it either clicks calm mind or body slam as your sack of choice preferably does at least 40% to it before going down and then throwing dug at it, if you'd read all this i thank you and bid you a pleasant day :)
@@BKCplaysPokemon Timestamp is 21:57 onward. They don't go into actual specifics. They just basically say they don't like the particulars of gen4ou. My guess is because they don't feel like the tier offers satisfactory checks to the mons which annoy them the most.
I dont even know what ADV is and here i am How did i get here again Im like 5 minutes in and i still dont know what ADV is lmao Im just absorbed by the voice
Gen 3 might've been the most seemingly balanced meta not to say it was balanced but there aren't many balanced metas in any game. Though the ability to trap, mainly Dugtrio, is absurd & did limit a lot of Pokemon from even getting used. It probably helped keeping Gen 3 more balanced that moves like: stealth rocks, close combat, draco meteor, & the physical/special split didn't exists yet. Mythicals and legends were crazy then still very much are today even more so
Suicune Zapdos and Celebi are way more metagame constraining and options limiting than Magneton and Dugtrio are. There's nothing wrong with trapping as long as the trappers are weak---which these are.
GSC OU is the best metagame, followed by BW OU. ADV OU is 3rd. Centralization + relatively low randomness (i.e. why RBY OU isn't in my top 3) are what lead to nice comfy, competitive metagames, imo.
BKC I love being able to stare at your beautiful chiseled jawline but have you considered getting like a lav mic or something? The audio quality feels very up and down lately.
ADV OU hits a sweet spot by having a lot of variety both in the amount of viable Pokémon and in the ways you can use the top metagame staples, so it's not surprising that it gets put on the pedestal it does. It's funny that GSC gets so much flak for being stall hell when the defensive profile of Big Five has stood atop ADV for this long.
Hp ground skarm has been ragged on for being terrible so much that nobody runs it anymore to the point that it’s unexpected which makes it perfect to run (to do 90% and die to magneton anyway)
It doesn't FEEL like you're right about this. Like Skarmory affects the team builder as much as gen 4 iron head Rachi and Tyranitar. Or GSC zapdos. It doesn't FEEL like it, but I'm not educated enough to argue it. You've had a very long time to come to this conclusion, so I'm going to assume you're right
@@kokirikid817 It helps to be more specific than to try to generalize here. I can't speak to gen4ou; don't play it nor watch enough to gleam the precise dynamics. With Gen2OU Zapdos, the main concerns are 1) the mons it checks defensively, like Machamp, which in turn requires you to have coverage for it 2) its damage output with Thunder few mons can withstand, combined with its Hidden Power (Ice, Water) coverage to check your checks 3) its bulk and longevity in light of how few mons can threaten it with super effective damage, how predictable those checks are, and how it can outspeed and chunk them right after coming in safely I'm far from a veteran, but in my experience if you're working within the bounds of the tier, Zapdos is really powerful and metagame-warping but very manageable as well. For Gen3OU, which I have vastly more experience in, the issue with Skarmory is 1) how many physical attackers it invalidates who can't reasonable do their jobs while also breaking Skarmory 2) how many rapid spin users it beats 1v1, and even more in tandem with Gengar 3) how it has only 2 weaknesses, both 2x 4) how its access to phazing in addition to the above makes setup difficult (with or without Magneton) or impossible Among other things. There are so many options which are deadweight in the face of specifically Skarmory that it's almost pointless, and is definitely timeconsuming, to name them all. What makes it different from other gatekeepers is how much more powerful Skarmory's defensive capabilities are here relative to the tier's offense, its ability to set devastating hazards with relative impunity, and its ability to shut down offensive strategies while also damaging the opposing teams thanks to Roar/Whirlwind---and how narrow and opportunity costly its own checks are. From my understanding, other threats don't do as much, and they aren't as all high impact as each of these points are.
@@kokirikid817 It helps to be more specific than to try to generalize here. I can't speak to gen4ou; don't play it nor watch enough to gleam the precise dynamics. With Gen2OU Zapdos, the main concerns are 1) the mons it checks defensively, like Machamp, which in turn requires you to have coverage for it 2) its damage output with Thunder few mons can withstand, combined with its Hidden Power (Ice, Water) coverage to check your checks 3) its bulk and longevity in light of how few mons can threaten it with super effective damage, how predictable those checks are, and how it can outspeed and chunk them right after coming in safely I'm far from a veteran, but in my experience if you're working within the bounds of the tier, Zapdos is really powerful and metagame-warping but very manageable as well. For Gen3OU, which I have vastly more experience in, the issue with Skarmory is 1) how many physical attackers it invalidates who can't reasonably do their jobs while also breaking Skarmory 2) how many rapid spin users it beats 1v1, and even more in tandem with Gengar 3) how it has only 2 weaknesses, both 2x 4) how its access to phazing in addition to the above makes setup difficult (with or without Magneton) or impossible Among other things. There are so many options which are useless in the face of specifically Skarmory that it's almost pointless, and is definitely timeconsuming, to name them all. What makes it different from other gatekeepers is how much more powerful Skarmory's defensive capabilities are here relative to the tier's offense, its ability to set devastating hazards with relative impunity, and its ability to shut down offensive strategies while also damaging the opposing teams thanks to Roar/Whirlwind---and how narrow and opportunity costly its own checks are. From my understanding, other threats don't do as much, and they aren't as all high impact as each of these points are.
My main question after Dugtrio would hypothetically be removed from ADV is, how do you keep Blissey in check? Wouldn't be impossible but it'd be quite a bit harder without Dugtrio.
@@_Crowuh Spikes stack and double-switching to rack up chip. Also mixed offensive sets with Brick Break or Focus Punch, or a regular old powerful physical move provided enough chip or Atk stat. There is also the underutilized tactic of putting Attract on your male special attacker and gambling. Obviously not an option for legendaries; and is most beneficial for mons with a physical attack like Electabuzz with Cross Chop. Overall the name of the game becomes predicting when Blissey will come in, preempting it with something it can't check, and making it step on Spikes every time this happens, until it gets in range of a 2 shot on switch in or a 1 shot after Spikes.
Vapicuno's ADV team archetype article has a whole section about spikes special offense teams with no Dugtrio. Blissey, Snorlax, Celebi and even other special walls like Regice are all weak to spikes and other forms of passive damage (sand, toxic/burn) so just keeping the pressure on is more reliable than hinging on Dugtrio, who is very shaky against Celebi and patently useless against Snorlax.
In general i prefer a meta where balance/defence is a problem offense have to break by taking risks. Ofc to a certain degree, dont have a ton of experience in ADV so not gonna argue with anyone. But with my limited experience i feel the risk leads too sufficient reward on a game per game basis.
Dugtrio is weak and frail and needs chip to faint even with Celebi and its 4x weakness. You need to to go full-on Adamant and make it remarkably slow in order for it to be reliable at its job against the bulkiest of mons. Its choice-lock also is heavily exploitable. If you don't have a Swampert or Suicune, or it got fainted, you are almost certainly losing to that DD Salamence. Dugtrio is a very flawed mon whose redeeming factors still wouldn't make it OU worthy if it didn't have Arena Trap. And even Arena Trap isn't free and guaranteed and easy. Dugtrio's opportunity cost is much bigger than its critics would like to believe. The main frustration with Dugtrio I'm sure comes from it getting randomly tagged in by Zapdos---which is a problem from BP Zapdos. Also, it sucks for Camerupt and Lanturn but it is what it is. People should consider brining back Porygon2 if they don't want Dugtrio getting in their way.
I was expecting more, but I understand how it all boils down to bemoaning offense's collective lack of power in the tier. At the same time I personally don't feel like there's been as big a push as there needs to be to optimize offensive teams to their fullest extent. There was/is blue offense---which frankly is rather mid. Now there's the mixed rain---which may be even worse. You highlighted that 4 CB team, which hasn't taken off. Where are the archetypes? And where are the good ones? The only good one in my eyes is the Double-Dog Double-Electric Double-Pixie + Dugtrio Legendary Special Spam/Offense team. I've used that a lot and given it to noobs and aside from a few pitfalls it's one of the most consistent and threatening teams I've ever seen and piloted. In short I don't think offense fans are trying hard enough to make it work. They need to get back in the lab and make something iconic.
Not to say your analysis on your first point is bad, but you're basically implying it's a bad thing that physical offense isn't super viable---when the opposite is a common complaint in nugens (phys offense is too dominating). While I can agree having to be very restrictive in what you can run to make it viable takes fun away from it, I think adding that predictable element to those teams is also a coincidental balancing measure that makes them more reasonable to deal with. Everything hinging on Skarmory may get repetitive but it's also consistent and prectidable. Not being able to guess what may happen next is often a source of frustration in matches.
We've met before, haven't we? ...at your house, don't you remember? As a matter of fact, I'm there right now.
--Gym Leader(s) Liza (& Tate)
I love Lost Highway. Great scene!
What are your thoughts on Fire Walk With Me? Enough to make a 30 minute video on it? Lol I’d watch the shit out of that
It may be black and white, but the content is advanced.
LMAOOOOOO
The black and white, the not so perfect video + audio quality and the background makes me think I'm watching the first ever recorded critique of ADV OU in 1955.
This video black and white is bkc trying to hint to us about how much he loves gen 5?
Shame black and white competitive is so bad, since the sprites are the best imo.
I raise u Gen 2 Gengar. Absolutely radiating aura.
Probaly more of a David Lynch reference
BKC has to have the worst structure to his videos of anyone I have ever watched. Rambling and repeating points, no delineation of sections, and very little summary. Also leaving, in the dogs barking and a bathroom break? he must be trying to make the worst videos possible. Very Avant guarde, 10/10.
Skarmory has switched into earthquake and then protected the hp fire for 20% life gain with left overs. This is insane
The real problem is that Hariyama isn't #1 on the viability rankings, making RYAN GOSLING upset!
Someone should make a supercut of all of BKCs bathroom breaks, and Kevin should respond to it with a critique of the concept of video editing - filmed, of course, from his bathroom.
Prediction right away is it’s going to be Skarm related
You called it...
He needs to talk to ABR.
Slaking > Skarm.
The horse council will hear of this.
The real problem is that UUBL isn’t a proper tier in ADV despite a decent amount of demand for it, and there being more than enough BL mons in ADV to constitute a tier.
But that being said, it’d be pretty funny if in a word where that did happen, Slaking got banned to BLBL
In a just world, UUBL would just be UU (and current UU -> RU).
But anyway, UUBL already got a spotlight ladder earlier this year. It was pretty neat, but most people just used the already existing samples for it, so there wasn't as much exploration as I would have liked.
Ninjask Baton Pass was pretty cracked; I got #1 early on at ~1410 ELO; but Roar Raikou was kryptonite.
BKC in his noir era.
I have a specific section on my watchlist just for noir, and it alone is crazy long (and I mean true noir, nothing neo/post-1955)...I pray to Mike Hammer at the hour of my death
Excited to hear what he has to say, but worth noting that just this week the biggest ADV tournament of the whole year featured such a diverse and fun meta.
Long gone are the ttar skarm only days.
"When the chips are down, the Skarms come out" except when ABR brings Slaking/Snorlax and wins $1000
I'm kicking my legs up in the air on my bed whenever Mr BKC uploads
we need to make a cult
Idk if you have done this already, but I'd be interested in hearing a "What if Skarmory was banned from ADV OU" video. Not because I think that would be good for the meta, but rather as an interesting case study.
Slaking would go straight to the top
What all these commenters talking about Jimvitational grand finals fail to realise is that ABR did, in fact, bring Skarmory. He brought it in set 1 game 5 of grand finals, when he was one game away from losing the set. When he was at death's door, he brought Skarm.
He had a whole 2nd set if he lost, he wasn't at death's door
And he lost lol
No comments about ADV Jimvitational Finals? 0 skarmory used in last set by the winner?! Skarmory haters in shambles!
The video is in Black in White because that's the only way he wants to reference Gen 5 and it's volatility.
the real problem with adv ou is getting my dug frozen by blissey ice beam (i'm running full special offense so i lose on the spot)
Trust the plan, Mystic Water HP Water dug is the secret antimeta
Aspear berry tech
dog sounded so real I thought it was in my backyard
I just fucking realised that this entire video is just a ruse to subliminally influence us to make Blaziken an OU staple by banning Dugtrio so Blaziken can go ham on Skarmory, Jirachi and Blissey, the three problem Pokemon outlined in the video.
Nice try, BKC, but your Blazing Kicking Chicken bias gave your whole plan away.
Finally someone gets it
adv ou is the only tier i've ever really played consistently, the amount of players who will throw skarm at something it will lose to is actually pretty surprising (especially when it isn't using drill peck for some reason), from my experience the most annoying piece of the tier is specially defensive zapdos which stays in on everything and then either beats whatever you throw at it somehow (unless what you throw at is blissey or regice) or agility passes to marowak (most commonly), metagross, or whatever else it feels like (i've seen it pass to octillery and breloom before) at which point there's decent odds that you lose the game six or seven turns later, oh and if you're struggling to deal with jirachi's constant onslaught of status you can do what i usually do, which is either not give it breathing room with stab earthquakes, fire blasts, or hydro pumps in rain (accuracy not withstanding), or just choose something to sack to it as it either clicks calm mind or body slam as your sack of choice preferably does at least 40% to it before going down and then throwing dug at it, if you'd read all this i thank you and bid you a pleasant day :)
BKC in black and white? This is insane.
I feel like this vid must have been motivated by the recent Fridge episode between Jim Cool and McMeghan. Both big ADV fans and DPP haters.
feel free to summarize what they said, I'm not familiar
@@BKCplaysPokemon Timestamp is 21:57 onward.
They don't go into actual specifics. They just basically say they don't like the particulars of gen4ou. My guess is because they don't feel like the tier offers satisfactory checks to the mons which annoy them the most.
@@BKCplaysPokemon McMeghan also shared some frustration with Skarm and Dug in ADV funnily enough.
And said many players over rely on Skarm
How can 1 Cowboy filmmaker from Prague be so kino, all the time
I used to love ADV OU, but now I have a problem with it
why wasn’t this video already over before i could finish typing this comment?
These videos remind me of my older brother explaining Elder Scrolls lore to me when I was 8 years old.
Dang, BKC doing a hit piece on advanced. Sadge
NO WAY YOU ACTUALY DID IT TYYYYY
I'm not sure if there'd be enough for a video but one topic I think could be interesting is what if the super effective reduction berries was in gen 3
Yes yes ban dugtrio, ban arena trap. Duggie is a plague on whatever ou tier its allowed in.
Everyone knows the all time greatest OU was Dynamax era Gen 8
Loving this experimental pokemon content
Bro I was JUST about to sleep WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME
When I saw this, I immediately thought of sand attack/ accuracy lowering
I dont even know what ADV is and here i am
How did i get here again
Im like 5 minutes in and i still dont know what ADV is lmao
Im just absorbed by the voice
do you know what pokemon is xd
Gen 3 might've been the most seemingly balanced meta not to say it was balanced but there aren't many balanced metas in any game. Though the ability to trap, mainly Dugtrio, is absurd & did limit a lot of Pokemon from even getting used. It probably helped keeping Gen 3 more balanced that moves like: stealth rocks, close combat, draco meteor, & the physical/special split didn't exists yet. Mythicals and legends were crazy then still very much are today even more so
Suicune Zapdos and Celebi are way more metagame constraining and options limiting than Magneton and Dugtrio are.
There's nothing wrong with trapping as long as the trappers are weak---which these are.
GSC OU is the best metagame, followed by BW OU. ADV OU is 3rd. Centralization + relatively low randomness (i.e. why RBY OU isn't in my top 3) are what lead to nice comfy, competitive metagames, imo.
BKC with those PSL genes, buddy looking lookmaxed 😂
9:47 ABR just won a tourny grandfinals with no skarm
BKC I love being able to stare at your beautiful chiseled jawline but have you considered getting like a lav mic or something? The audio quality feels very up and down lately.
okay pokemon aside, why does BKC in black and white look like he's a model in some european underwear commerical? 🤔
Because he looks like a European model
@@mattgibson9337 I'm sold, it all adds up
i hear the hounds of hell in the background at 10:08
Trappers suck, are are unhealthy. That being said only I should use them :3
ADV OU hits a sweet spot by having a lot of variety both in the amount of viable Pokémon and in the ways you can use the top metagame staples, so it's not surprising that it gets put on the pedestal it does. It's funny that GSC gets so much flak for being stall hell when the defensive profile of Big Five has stood atop ADV for this long.
Hp ground skarm has been ragged on for being terrible so much that nobody runs it anymore to the point that it’s unexpected which makes it perfect to run (to do 90% and die to magneton anyway)
It doesn't FEEL like you're right about this. Like Skarmory affects the team builder as much as gen 4 iron head Rachi and Tyranitar. Or GSC zapdos. It doesn't FEEL like it, but I'm not educated enough to argue it. You've had a very long time to come to this conclusion, so I'm going to assume you're right
@@kokirikid817 It helps to be more specific than to try to generalize here.
I can't speak to gen4ou; don't play it nor watch enough to gleam the precise dynamics.
With Gen2OU Zapdos, the main concerns are
1) the mons it checks defensively, like Machamp, which in turn requires you to have coverage for it
2) its damage output with Thunder few mons can withstand, combined with its Hidden Power (Ice, Water) coverage to check your checks
3) its bulk and longevity in light of how few mons can threaten it with super effective damage, how predictable those checks are, and how it can outspeed and chunk them right after coming in safely
I'm far from a veteran, but in my experience if you're working within the bounds of the tier, Zapdos is really powerful and metagame-warping but very manageable as well.
For Gen3OU, which I have vastly more experience in, the issue with Skarmory is
1) how many physical attackers it invalidates who can't reasonable do their jobs while also breaking Skarmory
2) how many rapid spin users it beats 1v1, and even more in tandem with Gengar
3) how it has only 2 weaknesses, both 2x
4) how its access to phazing in addition to the above makes setup difficult (with or without Magneton) or impossible
Among other things.
There are so many options which are deadweight in the face of specifically Skarmory that it's almost pointless, and is definitely timeconsuming, to name them all.
What makes it different from other gatekeepers is how much more powerful Skarmory's defensive capabilities are here relative to the tier's offense, its ability to set devastating hazards with relative impunity, and its ability to shut down offensive strategies while also damaging the opposing teams thanks to Roar/Whirlwind---and how narrow and opportunity costly its own checks are.
From my understanding, other threats don't do as much, and they aren't as all high impact as each of these points are.
@@kokirikid817 It helps to be more specific than to try to generalize here.
I can't speak to gen4ou; don't play it nor watch enough to gleam the precise dynamics.
With Gen2OU Zapdos, the main concerns are
1) the mons it checks defensively, like Machamp, which in turn requires you to have coverage for it
2) its damage output with Thunder few mons can withstand, combined with its Hidden Power (Ice, Water) coverage to check your checks
3) its bulk and longevity in light of how few mons can threaten it with super effective damage, how predictable those checks are, and how it can outspeed and chunk them right after coming in safely
I'm far from a veteran, but in my experience if you're working within the bounds of the tier, Zapdos is really powerful and metagame-warping but very manageable as well.
For Gen3OU, which I have vastly more experience in, the issue with Skarmory is
1) how many physical attackers it invalidates who can't reasonably do their jobs while also breaking Skarmory
2) how many rapid spin users it beats 1v1, and even more in tandem with Gengar
3) how it has only 2 weaknesses, both 2x
4) how its access to phazing in addition to the above makes setup difficult (with or without Magneton) or impossible
Among other things.
There are so many options which are useless in the face of specifically Skarmory that it's almost pointless, and is definitely timeconsuming, to name them all.
What makes it different from other gatekeepers is how much more powerful Skarmory's defensive capabilities are here relative to the tier's offense, its ability to set devastating hazards with relative impunity, and its ability to shut down offensive strategies while also damaging the opposing teams thanks to Roar/Whirlwind---and how narrow and opportunity costly its own checks are.
From my understanding, other threats don't do as much, and they aren't as all high impact as each of these points are.
i advocate for a BW video with the same visual framing
My main question after Dugtrio would hypothetically be removed from ADV is, how do you keep Blissey in check? Wouldn't be impossible but it'd be quite a bit harder without Dugtrio.
@@_Crowuh Spikes stack and double-switching to rack up chip.
Also mixed offensive sets with Brick Break or Focus Punch, or a regular old powerful physical move provided enough chip or Atk stat.
There is also the underutilized tactic of putting Attract on your male special attacker and gambling. Obviously not an option for legendaries; and is most beneficial for mons with a physical attack like Electabuzz with Cross Chop.
Overall the name of the game becomes predicting when Blissey will come in, preempting it with something it can't check, and making it step on Spikes every time this happens, until it gets in range of a 2 shot on switch in or a 1 shot after Spikes.
without dug, stuff like breloom, heracross and fast dd tar became a lot stronger, all of these decimate blissey.
Vapicuno's ADV team archetype article has a whole section about spikes special offense teams with no Dugtrio. Blissey, Snorlax, Celebi and even other special walls like Regice are all weak to spikes and other forms of passive damage (sand, toxic/burn) so just keeping the pressure on is more reliable than hinging on Dugtrio, who is very shaky against Celebi and patently useless against Snorlax.
I just got mogged wtf
In general i prefer a meta where balance/defence is a problem offense have to break by taking risks.
Ofc to a certain degree, dont have a ton of experience in ADV so not gonna argue with anyone.
But with my limited experience i feel the risk leads too sufficient reward on a game per game basis.
Hell yeah!
so true!
*Jimothy Cool would like to know your location*
you can't esacape black and white
Your neighbors too shy to say anything. Keep it down ! :(
ADV is a metagame broken from every perspective,uncompetitive,unfunny,unplayable shit
Dugtrio is weak and frail and needs chip to faint even with Celebi and its 4x weakness. You need to to go full-on Adamant and make it remarkably slow in order for it to be reliable at its job against the bulkiest of mons.
Its choice-lock also is heavily exploitable. If you don't have a Swampert or Suicune, or it got fainted, you are almost certainly losing to that DD Salamence.
Dugtrio is a very flawed mon whose redeeming factors still wouldn't make it OU worthy if it didn't have Arena Trap. And even Arena Trap isn't free and guaranteed and easy. Dugtrio's opportunity cost is much bigger than its critics would like to believe.
The main frustration with Dugtrio I'm sure comes from it getting randomly tagged in by Zapdos---which is a problem from BP Zapdos.
Also, it sucks for Camerupt and Lanturn but it is what it is. People should consider brining back Porygon2 if they don't want Dugtrio getting in their way.
I was expecting more, but I understand how it all boils down to bemoaning offense's collective lack of power in the tier.
At the same time I personally don't feel like there's been as big a push as there needs to be to optimize offensive teams to their fullest extent.
There was/is blue offense---which frankly is rather mid.
Now there's the mixed rain---which may be even worse.
You highlighted that 4 CB team, which hasn't taken off.
Where are the archetypes? And where are the good ones?
The only good one in my eyes is the Double-Dog Double-Electric Double-Pixie + Dugtrio Legendary Special Spam/Offense team. I've used that a lot and given it to noobs and aside from a few pitfalls it's one of the most consistent and threatening teams I've ever seen and piloted.
In short I don't think offense fans are trying hard enough to make it work. They need to get back in the lab and make something iconic.
Sand Attack Ninjask
There's the video
Not to say your analysis on your first point is bad, but you're basically implying it's a bad thing that physical offense isn't super viable---when the opposite is a common complaint in nugens (phys offense is too dominating).
While I can agree having to be very restrictive in what you can run to make it viable takes fun away from it, I think adding that predictable element to those teams is also a coincidental balancing measure that makes them more reasonable to deal with.
Everything hinging on Skarmory may get repetitive but it's also consistent and prectidable. Not being able to guess what may happen next is often a source of frustration in matches.
This oughtta be good.
I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I find Jirachi to be the least challenging OU Legendary to deal with.