Friday, November 29, 2013

Old news of the day: Blaziken and Deoxys-RS emergency-banned

Yes, it totally went over my head because I was busy with other things.

Anyway, I hope no one is surprised at this development. Yes, it happened much faster than in gen 5, but with all the things that were tested before Blaziken back then either nerfed to oblivion or already banned from the word go, it was the natural target, and even with the sun nerf Blaziken is still too much to handle, which shows how scary strong it was last gen (when Talonflame didn't exist and Azumarill was mono-Water, too). And speaking of scary, keep in mind that the ban applies to Blaziken as a species, and has nothing to do with the fact that it megavolves. Meaning that Mega Blaziken is EVEN MORE BROKEN THAN THAT. Good grief, what was Gamefreak thinking?

As for Deoxys-RS... at least it got a fair chance this time around, unlike last gen when it was banned at the exact same time as Deoxys-FR, which always made the whole thing fishy to me. Still, that movepool combined with such speed and firepower is crazy enough to justify such a move.

Currently under the microscope is Mega Gengar, once again to no one's surprise. An informal poll on Smogon about this particular issue ended up being split right down the middle, though it was open to everyone... something to keep in mind. Typically Smogon's policies go along the lines of "if it's not a decisive result in favor of a ban, we keep it", so Mega Gengar may yet survive, at least for a bit longer. More info on this as it comes.

10 comments:

  1. Blaziken banning is indeed no big surprised. Along with it getting that Mega Evolution (( which is actually outdamaged ever so slightly by the life orb variant but has more bulk and speed )), Knock Off has been given an insane buff, which means now it can completely break through the only pokemon who could previously wall it, Slowbro. Although it's not legal yet, when Pokemon Bank comes out and it does become legal it would make Blaziken even more terrifying. Add to that Speed Boost and Baton Pass are now legal together thanks to new breeding rules and the fact some good introduced pokemon are weak to Blaziken (( I'm looking at Klefki and Aegislash )) and it's now just insanely overpowered. The only pokemon that could wall everything Blaziken would carry is Azumaril, but even that's 2HKOed by a +2 High Jump Kick. Even now in Ubers I can see Giratina being devastated by Blaziken's newly buffed Knock off, and Giratina was the only safe wall back in the 5th generation.

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  2. So do people in Smogon just not understand the concept of Thunder Wave? Yeah speed boost is nice, but one Thunder Wave completely removes the speed advantage.

    And Speed Boost and Baton Pass is on Scrolipede, so that's not anything new Looneyman.

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    1. At least they understand the concept that if all the Pokémon that are weak to a specific move or Pokémon are unbanned, we'd be playing ubers in OU. Extreme Killer Arceus loses to Skarmory and Quagsire? Unban! Ho-Oh gets mauled by Stealth Rock? Unban! Shaymin-S is weak to the likes of Skarmory or Mamoswine? Unban!

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    2. Speed Boost + Baton Pass on Blaziken can be used as a bluff. They may be thinking you're setting up Blaziken for a brutal sweep and prepare for it, but then when you have set up you pass off to something that's just as dangerous. Baton Pass Blaziken adds to Blaziken's power by making it more unpredictable.

      As far as Thunder Wave goes, many people are dropping it in favour of setting up the new Sticky Web entry hazard I believe. That and there is only one pokemon I can think of, and I've done a calculation to double check this, that could potentially take a +2 attack from Adamant Blaziken and retaliate with Thunder Wave, and that is Max HP, Max Def Bold Zapdos, but even then it MUST have a Reflect up or the weather must be rain to be able to survive it.

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    3. Everyone and their mother's been running Talonflame and Azumarill, both of which countered Blaziken decisively. I actually didn't see too much of it when it was legal. Still, that's no argument to unban it -- it would wreck entire teams that didn't have one or both of those.

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    4. There's a difference between being weak to one very specific Pokémon, and being crippled by a move that's common as hell.

      Driftblim is an excellent counter as well Looney, flat out immune to high jump kick, it gets both thunder wave and haze, combine that with Stockpile doubling both defenses you are prepared to deal with a Blaziken. Klefki is also a good counter, despite it's weakness to fire since it has priority thunderwave, removing the Speed advantage instantly for added fun it also gets Psyche Up so you can leech off the added speed! Hell PRANKSTER LIEPARD can decommission it as well, due to it ALSO GETTING THUNDER WAVE.

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    5. No DarkBlaze6, Drifblim is not a good counter to Blaziken. It's flat out incinerated by +2 Flare Blitz and Blaziken outspeeds it at +1 very easily, and getting +1 speed and +2 attack is very easy with Blaziken. Even with no attack boosts, Drifblim is 2HKOed by Flare Blitz assuming Blaziken is adamant and holding a life orb while Drifblim is bold.

      As for Klefki, that is more of a check to weaken Blaziken for the others than a counter. And Prankster users are actually very predictable in what they're going to do in my experience. You can anticipate a Thunder Wave and give something like Donphan, Zapdos or Excadrill a free switch in.

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  3. If you have a Drifblim on your team and it's not the lead, your either doing something horribly wrong OR your trying to fake out your opponent.

    And certainly a Prankster use can be Predictable, but in that case the Blaziken owner has to decide whether to take the Paralysis, or lose the Stats it's gained and have to reset it up next time.

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  4. I was wrong. Yveltal's catch rate is not 60. It's 70...

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  5. Looks like the Gengarite's been 'quickbanned' from OU...

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