ogre, I prefer faster. I think that the best will make the most creative decks under those circumstances and be better rewarded for their superior decisionmaking.
baby mario, I have played a lot in this format. Decks have a lot of problems with getting the actual things you want to play into play now, as well as just plain stalling out. Mulligans and single pokemon starts are also more endemic than they ever were before (which is why I chose instantly not to play Zekrom or Reshiram). To your other point, it certainly is fair that the rule fiasco messed up the last format worse than this one; it is also a reality that the rules are still incompatible with the game period, making going first an unfair advantage now and going forward.
vanderbilt grad, I made it pretty clear that I do not think I am misunderstanding anything. People deeply overreacted to both situations, discarding rationality. I pointed out flaws in HS-on that no one is properly accounting for. The old format had a lot more than just "luxchomp and gyarados", with Luxchomp/Vilegar/Sableock/Gyarados/Vilelostgar/Vilechamp/Magnezone-Regirock being probably all of the top flight decks, and several others that could be won with enough experience (like Regigigas). This was all before the donks, and I think the only people who were tired were the people who were unwilling or unable to play more than one deck, which means it is a situation they will quickly fall into in this format as well. People are just reacting to other people's reactions and the idea of "freedom" without actually playtesting. It really practically borders on groupthink and that specifically is hard for me to understand, since individually I saw so many people still being creative with the donk format.
A format with donks is bad because it promotes an anti-competitive (and anti-fun) playing environment. In the "donk format," players have little control over donks. Sure, you can throw 4 Sableye and 4 Spiritomb into your deck, but even then you may still get donked (it should also be noted how powerful donks could be in MD-on -- a player could win the coin flip after putting 3 Pokemon in play and still get donked to an opponent's Sableye start). When this is the case, the top cut starts looking random. Yes, good players will still get into the top and have a better chance at winning, but other good players are left in the dust because of random donks.
With your point about HGSS-on, I don't see the occasional mulligan or two a problem. It happened for years before MD-on and nobody had an issue, so I don't understand your complaint. I'm also not having much of a problem with "stalling out." If you're getting bad draws, you should work at your deckbuilding. I took a Zekrom list off this site card for card and found it to be entirely inconsistent -- it stalled out a lot. I then put my own touches on the deck and now it's fine. Though I do think HGSS-on is a little lacking in set up Pokemon, I wouldn't categorize it as a format rife with mulligans and stalling out. As for the point on creativity, I've come up with lots of ideas that actually do challenge Emboar and Zekrom decks. It's all about preparation. Sure, those decks are good, but in any format you'll have the same decks rise to the top. At least HGSS-on decks offer me more than one turn to use my skill to win (aside from the occasional Zekrom donk).
You said earlier that unskilled players will start winning with cookie cutter Emboar or Zekrom lists. During the Gardevoir/Gallade days, this was one of the complaints I usually heard. I even said the same thing myself, speaking out about how bad players can just use a decent GG list and perform well at tournaments. In hindsight, good players still did well that year. I played GG only once at a CC, and yet I managed to get an invitiation to Worlds after playing a bunch of different decks. Though I definitely saw mediocre players doing well with GG, the better players were still able to perform well during that year. The "unskilled" Emboar player might do well come Nationals, but what happens when they face a good player in the mirror? How about when they face a Samurott deck? Their "cookie cutter" list may do them well, but the better players will still have an advantage because they're, well, better. The same thing cannot be said with MD-on. With MD-on, I could be the best Gyarados player in the universe and still lose to a bad Gyarados player who either donked me or was able to hit for 90 and block Poke-Powers from first turn on. In many (not all, but many) situations with the MD-on format, there was absolutely no exchange of skill. HGSS-on is definitely different in that respect.
I'll agree that HGSS-on isn't my favorite format, but we're only like 5 or so sets in. Nonetheless, it's much better than MD-on for the reasons I already gave. I'm celebrating the rotation and I currently have like 6 or 7 decks built that I'm testing. I'm working on not flocking to an Emboar or Zekrom deck, and I'm having success. My decks stall out with about the same frequency that my Luxchomp deck stalled out (that is, rarely).
MD-on allowed for very little creativity. Sure, you had a Magnezone/Regirock deck win a Regionals or something, but aside from occasional surprises, the last three years (three years!) have been Gyarados, Machamp, Gengar, SP. The last format was more than just "Luxchomp and Gyarados," but not by much (especially if you categorize things by speed and trainer lock, since that's basically all there was to the game). If you can criticize a format that hasn't even happened yet, I have much more reason to criticize a game that saw problems in creativity for three years straight.
