So I think like a lot of people I was very surprised by the timing of this suspect, when some extremely unhealthy strategies like Baton Pass and extreme HO are on the rise. I don't think Sableye, stall, or gimmick trio strategies are broken in the current meta, for reasons I will argue below. However, Ajwf puts forward a convincing argument for centralization within stall building itself, which is definitely worth weighing into the discussion.
How well does Sableye prevent hazards
Sableye has unquestionably changed the manner in which teams go about setting hazards, the lead rocker who doesn't 1v1 this thing is well and truly dead. For me, this is a welcome change; there are few enough reasons for balance not to throw phys def Lando brainlessly onto the squad without banning Sable. While it has changed the way hazards are set, Sableye does not stop common rockers such as Clefable, Heatran and Azelf. Teams who find they have difficulty in this regard can also make use of more specialized setters that still have viability elsewhere, such as offensive SR Garchomp, who pressures Sableye out. The argument that rockers like Clef and Heatran are "crippled" by Knock Off is not really true against stall, since the lack of offensive pressure on these teams means they can stay relatively healthy throughout the game. This of course only covers the lead matchup that Sableye gives you. With good play, it should also be possible to put Sableye in positions where switching in on Landorus, T-tar or whatever is dangerous. Sableye of course suffers from its lack of raw bulk, so losing the 50-50 on the opposing Stealth rocker more than once is usually not an option.
0 Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Mega Sableye: 105-124 (34.5 - 40.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage
This calc is a decent illustration of how precarious the process of constantly switching in Sableye on the opposing rocker can be. Furthermore, because it is instantly forced to recover, Sableye becomes a huge momentum sap on teams which can let all manner of dangerous stallbreakers in. Having said all that, Sableye is still an absolutely central force on stall teams for the control it gives you, and is a must have in stall vs stall matchups.
How healthy are the gimmick strategies that Sableye makes possible
One of the issues some people have with Sableye is its role in very specific strategies like the "Wonder Trio". These usually involve Shedinja exploiting Sableye's hazard control, and Dugtrio trapping certain rockers and Pursuit trappers. I think we need to be realistic about how viable these teams actually are. The original team contained titans of the OU tier like Seismitoad, Defog Togekiss, Dugtrio, Shedinja, and non SD Talon. Since the damage output on these pokemon is so low, it enabled opponents to probe for weaknesses for many, many turns before the effects of status and hazards began to take a toll. Ironically the weak link in this team was almost invariably Sableye itself; the other pokemon synergize extremely well in terms of defensive typing but it is the pressure certain rockers put on Sableye that often caused the team's downfall. When you look at the way these teams are played, against proper opposition it actually takes a good bit of skill to see the strategy through over a long period. Contrast this with other playstyles that are extremely popular at the moment, such as Baton Pass and Bird Spam. These teams come with a preordained set of instructions and limit the influence of good play to a much greater degree than Sheddy stall. There is perhaps an argument that trapping itself, even in the lesser manner of Dugtrio and Magnezone, is uncompetitive, but that is currently irrelevant.
How necessary are hazards against stall
This is the point that convinces me against the necessity of a Sableye ban. When you look at the manner in which non-stall teams traditionally beat stall, it is rarely by wearing them down with hazards, but rather by weakening the counter to whatever stallbreaker you have on your team. This is obviously much more difficult for some teams then others (a case in point was the difficulty of breaking hard stall with Zard X because Quagsire would usually be restricted to the job of taking on that one thing). However, it remains true that when building a team and considering means of beating stall, the job can usually be achieved with one slot on the team, whether it goes to Manaphy or Mega Heracross or whatever. Since Mega Sableye is only so effective as part of a specific team archetype, and since that archetype is so reliant on keeping all six members alive, it is also worth looking at the viability of various means of killing Sableye's teammates. One obvious example of this is the use of Magnezone, who can devastate stall teams by removing Skarmory at will, allowing a multitude of other pokemon that are otherwise phased out to set up and run amok. Of course pivoting into wallbreakers is more effective with hazards up, but if your team really does find it impossible to get them up, there are simply too many alternative means of getting past stall for me to consider Sableye over-centralizing.
Has Mega Sableye diminished creativity in stall building
This is a much more contentious issue and one I didn't really consider until it was raised here. I think, in most cases, it is generally agreed that Sable stall will overcome non-Sable stall. This is a problem, because it severely undermines the viability of building stall without Sableye. Perhaps tellingly, I don't know exactly how one would go about building a team that could overcome this deficiency, because I have never seen a stall team without Sableye in use in ORAS. I do believe that creativity is still prevalent in stall building; nevermind my disdain for the "Wonder Trio", it is still a little piece of genius. However, there is no doubt that this one pokemon has utterly subsumed the playstyle, and if there are arguments for a ban I think they are found here.
With all that said I do not see stall or Sableye as one of the problems in the tier at the moment. There are bigger fish to fry and those who accuse stall players of being skilless or robotic should really look at Hyper offense.
No Ban
How well does Sableye prevent hazards
Sableye has unquestionably changed the manner in which teams go about setting hazards, the lead rocker who doesn't 1v1 this thing is well and truly dead. For me, this is a welcome change; there are few enough reasons for balance not to throw phys def Lando brainlessly onto the squad without banning Sable. While it has changed the way hazards are set, Sableye does not stop common rockers such as Clefable, Heatran and Azelf. Teams who find they have difficulty in this regard can also make use of more specialized setters that still have viability elsewhere, such as offensive SR Garchomp, who pressures Sableye out. The argument that rockers like Clef and Heatran are "crippled" by Knock Off is not really true against stall, since the lack of offensive pressure on these teams means they can stay relatively healthy throughout the game. This of course only covers the lead matchup that Sableye gives you. With good play, it should also be possible to put Sableye in positions where switching in on Landorus, T-tar or whatever is dangerous. Sableye of course suffers from its lack of raw bulk, so losing the 50-50 on the opposing Stealth rocker more than once is usually not an option.
0 Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 112 Def Mega Sableye: 105-124 (34.5 - 40.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage
This calc is a decent illustration of how precarious the process of constantly switching in Sableye on the opposing rocker can be. Furthermore, because it is instantly forced to recover, Sableye becomes a huge momentum sap on teams which can let all manner of dangerous stallbreakers in. Having said all that, Sableye is still an absolutely central force on stall teams for the control it gives you, and is a must have in stall vs stall matchups.
How healthy are the gimmick strategies that Sableye makes possible
One of the issues some people have with Sableye is its role in very specific strategies like the "Wonder Trio". These usually involve Shedinja exploiting Sableye's hazard control, and Dugtrio trapping certain rockers and Pursuit trappers. I think we need to be realistic about how viable these teams actually are. The original team contained titans of the OU tier like Seismitoad, Defog Togekiss, Dugtrio, Shedinja, and non SD Talon. Since the damage output on these pokemon is so low, it enabled opponents to probe for weaknesses for many, many turns before the effects of status and hazards began to take a toll. Ironically the weak link in this team was almost invariably Sableye itself; the other pokemon synergize extremely well in terms of defensive typing but it is the pressure certain rockers put on Sableye that often caused the team's downfall. When you look at the way these teams are played, against proper opposition it actually takes a good bit of skill to see the strategy through over a long period. Contrast this with other playstyles that are extremely popular at the moment, such as Baton Pass and Bird Spam. These teams come with a preordained set of instructions and limit the influence of good play to a much greater degree than Sheddy stall. There is perhaps an argument that trapping itself, even in the lesser manner of Dugtrio and Magnezone, is uncompetitive, but that is currently irrelevant.
How necessary are hazards against stall
This is the point that convinces me against the necessity of a Sableye ban. When you look at the manner in which non-stall teams traditionally beat stall, it is rarely by wearing them down with hazards, but rather by weakening the counter to whatever stallbreaker you have on your team. This is obviously much more difficult for some teams then others (a case in point was the difficulty of breaking hard stall with Zard X because Quagsire would usually be restricted to the job of taking on that one thing). However, it remains true that when building a team and considering means of beating stall, the job can usually be achieved with one slot on the team, whether it goes to Manaphy or Mega Heracross or whatever. Since Mega Sableye is only so effective as part of a specific team archetype, and since that archetype is so reliant on keeping all six members alive, it is also worth looking at the viability of various means of killing Sableye's teammates. One obvious example of this is the use of Magnezone, who can devastate stall teams by removing Skarmory at will, allowing a multitude of other pokemon that are otherwise phased out to set up and run amok. Of course pivoting into wallbreakers is more effective with hazards up, but if your team really does find it impossible to get them up, there are simply too many alternative means of getting past stall for me to consider Sableye over-centralizing.
Has Mega Sableye diminished creativity in stall building
This is a much more contentious issue and one I didn't really consider until it was raised here. I think, in most cases, it is generally agreed that Sable stall will overcome non-Sable stall. This is a problem, because it severely undermines the viability of building stall without Sableye. Perhaps tellingly, I don't know exactly how one would go about building a team that could overcome this deficiency, because I have never seen a stall team without Sableye in use in ORAS. I do believe that creativity is still prevalent in stall building; nevermind my disdain for the "Wonder Trio", it is still a little piece of genius. However, there is no doubt that this one pokemon has utterly subsumed the playstyle, and if there are arguments for a ban I think they are found here.
With all that said I do not see stall or Sableye as one of the problems in the tier at the moment. There are bigger fish to fry and those who accuse stall players of being skilless or robotic should really look at Hyper offense.
No Ban