Debated not going for reqs for this but since some people genuinely think this thing should stay unbanned, I decided to go for reqs and wanted to write this post up since no amount of playing the tier more will change my mind. One thing I want to set straight right away is that Last Respects and Basculegion-M are synonymous with eachother (no, I will not be hearing you out), banning Last Respects allows Ubers to not mess with other tiers, so I will be referring to the issue for the rest of the post regarding Basculegion. The most important thing in my opinion when looking at the issue of Basculegion isn't Basculegion by itself in a vacuum, but rather Basculegion on webs teams and their overall negative impact on the meta.
Before I go into that, to anyone debating between banning Last Respects instead of Basculegion-M, please get a grip. Basculegion-M and Last Respects are synonymous with each other (no, you aren't gonna be running Basculegion-F, White-Stripe or Houndstone because none are viable), the only difference is banning a single move which only affects one mon in the Ubers tier, or to send an NU mon to AG (an NU mon that is actually used in a tier which Ubers has no reason to mess with), and I fully agree with the route the council has taken.
On to actual "DNB" sentiments, I've seen people on this forum dying on the hill that is Basculegion calcs into XYZ Phys-Def mon. I promise, nothing remotely viable lives a 200-300BP Tera Ghost Adaptability Last Respects that isn't Tera Normal (which is another extremely unhealthy byproduct of Basculegion in the tier), and even if it lives, you are either lying or blatantly wrong to tell me that defensive mon won't be used for the entire game when the most popular structure Basculegion exists on is webs, which runs Zacian-C, E-Killer and Koraidon most commonly and other physical offensive threats. It's easy to look at calcs in a vacuum, but it does nothing when the game is much more nuanced than that. It's also disingenuous to pick and choose when you think those calcs should include Tera Ghost or Adabtapility to prove your point since in practice it works differently when the most -- and by a wide margin -- problematic iteration of Basculegion is running Adabtapility and Tera Ghost or Fighting (OR if you really enjoy snorting crack Tera Normal I guess).
Additionally, most checks that are Dark types are just straight up not real in a Koraidon meta, and is why the amount of viable Dark's is in the negatives, minus Ting-Lu which has its own merit as a Miraidon check (but not a Basculegion check), and Chien-Pao and Kingambit have rose in usage and viability as a means to counter Basculegion. On the subject of Sucker Punch "checks" as reliable revenge options, Basculegion doesn't even need Tera Blast Fighting to blow through the likes of Kingambit or Chien-Pao. Here is a
replay versus Skysolo, where even though Basculegion got crit, it has so many ways to outplay Sucker Punch through Aqua Jet and Substitute. Being immune to E-Speed is an invaluable tool in this meta, and it shows in the strength Basculegion has in the tier and its difficulty to get revenged, especially on webs teams. Another important thing not discussed is the fact that Jolly Basculegion on webs teams outspeeds the Mirai/Korai without a boost (and assuming it isn't say Boots Mirai or Scarf Mirai/Korai) which makes it immediately threatening and doesn't always need the boost to sweep or pressure offensively -- which is another reason I think the "oh, well Basculegion needs minimum two turns between Agility and setting up webs to do anything", because it doesn't need Agility always and its not like webs
ONLY helps Basculegion (literally laughing at that sentiment, yes it's better on webs but not getting webs up doesn't equal an instant loss or that your Basculegion is now absolute garbage in the matchup)
Another claim refuting the "DNB" argument of "Arceus is right there lol", there are numerous problems with that. First, we are again looking at checks in a vacuum. If your playing with E-Killer versus Basculegion webs, odds are you aren't gonna be able to preserve E-Killer 100% for Basculegion, and will need to revenge using priority playing versus webs teams. Not to mention the Tera Blast fighting checks, which can blow past E-Killer.
This team got me to 1600s nearly undefeated like 2 weeks into playing this tier, and shows a few things. First, Basculegion doesn't need webs to be an absolute demon. Two, I wanted to display this set since Adamant LO Tera Blast Fighting is an OHKO with rocks up (and a 37.5% Roll with nothing, assuming it hasn't been chipped) and shows how shaky Basc's most consistent counterplay is.
On to the "ah well, if you can't get webs up Basculegion dead weight" claim, well thats just wrong. Basculegion with an Agility up without webs is still extremely threatening, only reliably revenged by Scarf Mirai and Korai, which can be dealt with in other ways by webs Basculegion teams that have already been mentioned (Ex. Tera Fairy Double Dance Mirai, Play Rough Zacian-C, E-Killer if chipped/locked into wrong move, Dice Koraidon if locked into wrong move), and watch
this replay versus ox04 and tell me otherwise.
Another thing is, Basculegion has such a cancerous effect on the builder, where teams that don't have a way of consistently out-offense-ing Basculegion webs (impossible when there is no good removal in this tier) need to run something with a completely random Tera Normal, that I have ran into way too much laddering, from Arceus-Ground, Phs-Def Kyogre, Eternatus (shoutout me and
DonBoneJones). For example, when I went for my peak with
Don and
[REDACTED] with our T-Spikes balance we cooked, we had to run
Tera Normal Eternatus on the team or else we just hard lost to Basculegion, and makes balance teams as a whole run unhealthy counterplay that feels like counter teaming a lot of the time (don't tell me Tera Normal has any "merit" other than doing well into Basculegion).
I do want to end this by acknowledging that yes, Basculegion does need good positioning, some amount of smart play and isn't this magical auto-win button, but it's counterplay borders on counterteaming and it's so incredibly limited, to the point where it promotes unskillful play versus skillful play, where if your team isn't very ready for that Basculegion MU its just over.
On the very final note, I want to leave
this replay (same one I linked earlier talking about how Basculegion is good without webs) which was the point in time where I personally realized Basculegion is broken, because I was playing bad, throwing everything in front of my opponent and just clicking buttons, and still got rewarded by boosting Last Respects damage and sweeping with it. Anyways, thats my take and I intend to vote
ban on Last Respects.
[edit: I updated this post a lot with different thoughts so give it a re-read if you care]