Let's talk about Azu
Basically I'm going to put all my cards on the table and it's up to you to decide if it looks like a royal flush or a Jack high-card
Some points of clarification:
Haze is not at all a valid argument for banning Azu
Why do I say this? Because it's been used once. Trying to construe Haze as evidence of Azu being too strong is ridiculous, because no one has been using it. As I said before, if Haze had a legitimate amount of usage (say 5% or 10%) to be considered an actual thing, then yes, you could say "Look people are running Haze, this is evidence that Azu is too strong". It was used once. Quit talking about it, quite frankly.
Don't be penned into voting ban on Azu if you believe Jirachi is the issue
I find the idea that we can't re-suspect Jirachi ridiculous. Essentially what doubles leadership is telling you is "Yeah we're not giving you a suspect you want, if you want Azu+Rachi gone you have to settle for Azu being banned". I think this is insane, and yes I do directly invite Kamikaze to justify this mentality because I think we have plenty of time for a resuspect if it's necessary, and saying "your only options for getting rid of what you perceive as a broken combination is going with this suspect" is just begging the question of why the fuck are you biasing the entire vote by saying we won't have any future votes related to Jirachi+Azu and urging voters (from an official standpoint, I might add) to vote a particular way? S&M comes out November 18, in 2 months. We have the time for a re-suspect. Please don't bias the entire process of voting by cornering many voters into an option that is their second-choice.
As for why I don't think Azumarill is broken:
So most of this I've outlined already in the past, but I want to pay special attention to the flawed reasoning that is "setup, then you win". This is far from the practical application of Azumarill in real games. Even if you're setting up against something resisted, Azumarill is so incredibly frail and relies on Knock Off to beat every Water-resist that more often than not a mon is sacked to get Azu+Redirection/FakeOut (or offensive threat, but this faces issues with opp getting the switchin they want and then being able to use that to beat your Azu) and then Azu gets.. like 1 kill. More often than not Azu requires a winning position or a narrow window of opportunity to take advantage of, and then smart play from there.
I'm just going to grab a bunch of replays and hope that you, the reader, follow along on what I'm saying.
Level 51 vs Mint16 g2
Here on turn 2 it looks like a textbook "Lol Mint's fucked here". Even from team preview he's got landot, he's got terrakion, he's got hydreigon. Three things that don't really like dealing with Azu. Nothing "beats" Azu when it's setup. But, using smart play and by chipping away at Azu with Dark Pulse (and having Amoonguss Rocky Helmet) he's totally fine. Even if Kang hadn't flinched, Terrakion comes in, does the same story. Azu got exactly the type of situation it wants most for setting up (thanks to flames set Eject Button), ends up getting 1 KO, arguably all but sacing Kangaskhan in the process.
Braverius random ladder game
How can a "ayy lmao I get to setup here" situation get any better than Amoonguss+Azu vs LandoT+Washtom? And yet... Azu picks up 1 KO while Amoonguss dies. Didn't Braverius have the perfect lead? Pretty much why I find heavy faults with "if you don't lead for Azu and play around it the entire game you just lose" because I don't think this is true and there are plenty of instances that show it isn't true.
Sam vs Miish
Here Sam is about to win with Azu, but his opp whips out Quick Guard Talonflame. Good thing Sam's a god and sees it coming (or it just insane) and attacks with Hydreigon.
My point is this: it takes very skillful play and correct decision making to both play around and use Azumarill, and this is exactly what we want.
I also take issue with the whole idea that Azu has a huge psychological impact or whatever on your opponent's play, because
a) This is true of any mon. If you're not playing against that Zard you're going to be crying on the last 4 turns of the game when it wins against you with no fire resists. We have seen this happen time and time again where someone doesn't play around a threat like subtran or whatever and then that threat wins the game by just sitting on the field and committing multiple murders
b) Trying to say things like Azu adds immense pressure off the bat is an
incredibly subjective standpoint. It tries to weigh some kind of abstract psychological effect which is no part of the suspecting policy and guidelines.
I'd also like to stress the point that Azumarill has no capability of switching into anything. Even resisted moves dump on you because you're frail as hell to begin with and that Hydreigon Dark Pulse is going to set you up to be KO'd by literally anything.
Some of the threats that Azu beats the best are top in viability ranking right now. I see no reason for it to be banned