Monday, February 20, 2012

Evasion Clause saga: sign of victory?

As it turns out, the Smogon forum thread I mentioned and linked to a few days ago didn't last long. It was closed very quickly because the debate was... well, let's just say aggressive. But that's the nature of luck in Pokémon in general... it's incredibly polarizing, and subject to heated exchanges. As a result of all that, it seems like Evasion Clause won't be extended further, and while this isn't giving us Brightpowder back, a win is a win.

One place where there seems to be a widespread consensus, though, is right here. Almost a hundred people voted in my little in-house poll, and the results are very one-sided, as out of 94 voters, a whopping 68 want to not only avoid any further extensions, but also bring back Brightpowder on top of that. An additional 12, while supporting the Brightpowder ban, also don't want Sand Veil and Snow Cloak to go. 10 people would like to see them go, but only in combination with their respective weathers, and the last four want these abilities gone entirely, making the likes of Sandslash and Cacturne completely unusable. I would really like to hear their reasoning, especially since as far as I can recall not a single soul on Smogon supports that measure. Can't tell if trolling... oh well, that's the price of anonimity.

Either way, one of the thread's listed cons of unbanning Brightpowder is the backpedaling on a massive supermajority vote, but I'm not sure that proportion would hold today, as I see the ban as a gesture of panic meant as a last ditch effort to keep Garchomp in OU. So, here's a supermajority vote that goes the other way. Hint hint.

4 comments:

  1. I don't see why a re-poll wouldn't be considered, especially after seeing the initial effects of the hax-item ban. I suppose there's a reason I'm not part of the Smogon voting crowd, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A re-poll on Brightpowder, you mean?

      Delete
    2. Yes, on all the hax-item bans. I mean, it's mostly pointless either way, because no serious players consider using those items. It just bothers me that such useless items are on a ban list, as well as the reining mentality that luck is a bad thing to have in a competitive game. (I feel the same way about Smash Bros. It's different from Pokemon, as turn-based battles really need a luck factor to avoid ideal teams and such, but pure skill vs. skill gets boring to me.)

      Delete
    3. Just so you know, Brightpowder and Lax Incense are the only items that are banned. The rest, like Quick Claw, Focus Band and such have always been allowed.

      Delete