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Competitive 笔辞办é尘辞苍 community bans 4 new powerful ’mons

At least by some rules, Houndstone, Flutter Mane, and others aren’t viable 笔辞办é尘辞苍

A 笔辞办é尘辞苍 trainer battling with a Houndstone in a grassy field, near a rock, in 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Scarlet and Violet. Image: Game Freak/The 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Company, Nintendo via Polygon

With 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Scarlet and Violet being out for a couple weeks now, 笔辞办é尘辞苍 players are quickly learning the ins and outs of each and every 笔辞办é尘辞苍. The competitive community, in particular, is quick to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of new 笔辞办é尘辞苍 and their moves. And one of those communities, Smogon University, has already eliminated four overpowered 笔辞办é尘辞苍 from its competitive community.

Smogon is a community with forums and matchmaking for competitive battles; it’s got a number of different formats for a variety of 笔辞办é尘辞苍 games, including 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Scarlet and Violet. It’s a huge community with thousands of active battlers, and its most popular format is called OverUsed, or OU. It’s not an official competitive community, and it’s unaffiliated with the 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Video Game Championship (VCG), which is run by The 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Company. Smogon’s rules apply only to their community, not official 笔辞办é尘辞苍 events. (Additionally, most of Smogon’s rulesets are for singles matches, while the VGC format uses double battles exclusively.)

Rules and 笔辞办é尘辞苍 tier levels are managed by a group of nine council members who are particularly skilled at 笔辞办é尘辞苍 battles — for a 笔辞办é尘辞苍 to be banned, seven out of nine members have to vote in favor of a ban. Why ban a 笔辞办é尘辞苍 from a competitive community? Well, these 笔辞办é尘辞苍 would quickly overpower the meta, making the format much less fun or fair. And if you do want to use these 笔辞办é尘辞苍, you’re welcome to move over to another (less popular) format.

The first two 笔辞办é尘辞苍 to be banned were Flutter Mane, a Paradox 笔辞办é尘辞苍, and Houndstone, the Greavard evolution, as GameRant reported. Flutter Mane, for one, is a 笔辞办é尘辞苍 that’s hard to match — it’s got powerful advantages as a fairy/ghost 笔辞办é尘辞苍, along with huge special attack and speed stats, Smogon wrote. Houndstone, on the other hand, isn’t especially overpowered, but a single move is — Last Respects. The move gains strength as other 笔辞办é尘辞苍 faint, giving it a massive blast of power if it’s the last 笔辞办é尘辞苍 standing, or close to it. This is a bigger deal in single battles in the OU tier than in VGC’s double battles, since singles teams have six 笔辞办é尘辞苍 — doubles teams only have four, so Last Respects can do more damage in singles. Smogon considered banning just the move, but Houndstone is currently the only monster in Scarlet and Violet that can use it; if that changes, this ruling may, too.

The Pokédex photo of Palazin, showing its grotesque Hero Form Image: Game Freak/The 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Company, Nintendo via Polygon

On Friday, Smogon’s council voted to ban two more 笔辞办é尘辞苍: Palafin and Iron Bundle. Palafin is the adorable dolphin 笔辞办é尘辞苍 with a super powerful ability called Zero to Hero, which turns the dolphin into a superhero, basically. Like Houndstone, Palafin looks relatively harmless, but the Zero to Hero ability is what takes it over the edge. Councilmembers called it “far too powerful, demanding, and low-cost.” As Smogon’s council explained, in its Hero form, Palafin has a base stat total of 650; for context, this is higher than that of Mega Charizard as well as some popular legendary 笔辞办é尘辞苍 in the competitive scene, like Cresselia, Thundurus, and Landorus. Only a handful of 笔辞办é尘辞苍, most of them legendary, have higher base stat totals, and most of those have similarly not been allowed in Smogon’s OU tiers.

Iron Bundle, the Delibird-like Paradox 笔辞办é尘辞苍, was the next to get cut, due to its exceptional offensive abilities that are too hard to defend against, though it was the only one of the four banned 笔辞办é尘辞苍 whose banning was not unanimous. The group’s gone in depth on why each of these creatures was banned on the Smogon forums.

At that time, Smogon’s council voted on a few other 笔辞办é尘辞苍, too, like Cyclizar, Chien-Pao, and Annihilape. As the OU metagame changes, the council will likely analyze these and more 笔辞办é尘辞苍 again. After all, 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Scarlet and Violet are still in the early days, and there’s a lot more to discover.

But look, here’s the thing: If you’re just playing with your friends, use these 笔辞办é尘辞苍 to absolutely wreck them. No rules there!

[Disclosure: Kallie Plagge worked for Nintendo as a localization writer and editor from April 2021 to March 2022 for the games Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Dragalia Lost, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Mario Kart Tour. This affiliation will be disclosed in any content that relates to Nintendo-published games, and she will not cover any games she directly worked on.]

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