Sunday, July 13, 2014

Smogon bans Deoxys support forms, Aegislash next?

To nobody's surprise, Deoxys' Leaf Green and Emerald forms were banned with a near unanimous verdict. Can't really say I'm surprised, those guys were exceptionally good at what they did, which not only includes setting up Stealth Rock but also mess with opponents further with screens and assorted stuff, since they have enough defenses/speed to do it.

So that means next up is Aegislash. And while there IS some debate going on, it seems to me like it's going to have to pack its bags and leave soon. The big problem here appears to be King's Shield's added effect, which greatly reduces the amount of moves you can use to damage it without crippling yourself in the process. Some Pokémon would LOVE to use moves that grant more coverage, but are forced to use Earthquake just so they can deal with Aegislash, such as Mega Pinsir with Close Combat for example. And it pains me to say it, but keeping aside two or three moveslots out of 24 JUST for Aegislash is the perfect illustration of brokenness. Of course, the ability to swap between 150 attacks and 150 defenses at will (while being so slow happens to be beneficial, no less) is also commonly cited, but if King's Shield didn't screw over contact move users not named Bisharp, it just might have been okay.

It's also been suggested that giving Aegislash the axe would single-handedly make threats it dealt with dangerous enough to be given their own suspect test afterwards. However, Smogon's official policy is "we'll cross that bridge when we get there", so if they have to test a half-dozen Pokémon just because Aegislash is gone, so be it. A few people who gave their impressions on the suspect ladder claim it's not as likely to happen as previously thought, however, because of the sheer amount of Talonflame spam.

Regardless, it saddens me that for once we have a Pokémon with a cool gimmick that's actually viable, and we're going to lose it because it's just that damn good. *sigh*

12 comments:

  1. Another thing Smogon did, and this one more quietly, was further nerf Baton Pass chains. Now only ONE team member on a team can have Baton Pass.

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    1. Huh. Would've imagined three would've solved the problem.

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    2. Yay, more nerfs and bans. I kind of like the no-rules setting of Wi-Fi more by now. You'd think teams full of legendaries would dominate, but most controlling them are noobs.

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    3. Sometimes, I like dominating them with Sticky Web, Stealth Rock, and Mamoswine spamming Earthquake. That actually happened today. Though later...Well, read my comment near the bottom of the page...

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  2. This is not a surprise to me. Because Aegislash is so slow you have to hit it when it's at 150 in the defenses. Then it hits you with an attack stat of 150. then it has priority to go back to 150 defenses (+4 priority mind you) or finish you off with shadow sneak. This means that it has a pseudo stat total of 720. 60 HP, 150 DEF, 150 ATT, 150 SpD, 150 SpA, and 60 Speed. The other 720 stat total guy is in ubers so why isn't Aegislash?

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    1. Because it's not an actual 720, get outpredicted, or rather outguessed, and your naked sword dies a horrible horrible death with its shitty defenses. Besides, we have a 700 in OU and no one's batting an eye. Sure, Aegislash doesn't have Kyurem-B's movepool woes, but it's not exactly Arceus either. I thought we were done with this "stats are everything" bullshit two gens ago.

      With that said, it's not just how big the stats are, but how they're being used, and Aegislash is doing a damn fine job of it. Heck, even that slow speed is an advantage to it, something no other non-Trick Room user can boast. It has several fully viable sets, though the standard appears to be the mixed attacker, and the best thing about King's Shield might not even be how it reverts you to defense form instantly, but how it shuts down any contact attacker not named Bisharp or Mandibuzz with its added effect.

      This has two side effects: many would-be checks that rely on contact moves have to guess whether it's going to use King's Shield or not, and it's blind guesswork most of the time, which isn't exactly something fun one would want to promote in this game. Then, you have many Pokémon that have to run Earthquake as opposed to moves with better coverage just to deal with Aegislash. For example, Mega Pinsir wants to use Close Combat so badly because it could hit other stuff so much harder, but Aegislash is so damn good that it HAS to run Earthquake or be in a load of trouble. Normally common sense dictates that you'd run the move that gives you coverage against a higher number of threats, but Aegislash is so good it defies all common sense.

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    2. I apologies for making it sound like i was basing it on stats alone. you are correct about how i should have mentioned that it uses the stats it has to great affect.

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  3. Something random and ridiculous: I felt like 6-on-6 battling some weak Passersby. On one of them, I got a Trainer with SIX SHINY DARKRAI! I took out three in the first battle, but my team was geared towards mainly hazards, I grabbed the wrong Tyranitar, and everything I could use to counter Darkrai was in the PC. However, I would not take a loss like that. So, I grabbed Choice Scarf Terrakion, Mega Absol, Prankster Sableye, Flame Orb Sigilyph, and two other Pokemon. I led with Choice Scarf Terrakion and kept the other three just in case. She forfeited after I had slain two Darkrai like Extreme Killer Arceus cutting through a regular non-Focus Sash Blaziken. I didn't need the other three even if she hadn't forfeited, but I wanted to be prepared...

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  4. It's official, the people who were suspecting that Mega Metagross has Tough Claws were right.

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    1. Also What? Mega Diancie gets a boost to its Speed, Attack and Special Attack while having a cut to its defences? What's going on here? Mega Metagross gets an All around boost with focus to Speed, which is logical and fair, but really... what is with Mega Diancie?

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    2. I can't see the drops being THAT big, unless the boosts to speed and both attacks total 150 or something. Garchomp's speed drop was advertised beforehand, and it turned out to be just 10 (though it was still devastating to its viability, mind you).

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