>>19826266They have a cascading effect, and they all need to be solidified before the strategy dex gets put up. It's why after the OU beta, the UU beta opened up, and after that the RU beta, and now the NU beta, and soon the PU beta (fingers crossed).
And yeah, the lower tiers matter. You can talk about how Smogon is all about OU, but in reality the most important facet of Smogon is their lower tiers. For example, UU is subjectively the best metagame you can play at the moment. It has a rainbow of viable strategies, and most of the really fun things to use are down there. For every team role you can think of, there are multiple mons that are viable for that slot. Need a wishpasser? Blissey, Florges, Aromatisse, Umbreon, and Jirachi. Need a spinner? Blastoise, Starmie, Forretress, Donphan, and Tentacruel. Take your pick. Since support is so diverse, you don't end up in the situation where nearly everything in the tier is offensive like in OU. It's refreshing.
