Each new Pokemon game brings new changes, giving each generation a unique identity, and vigorously shaping the competitive Pokemon meta game in the coming years.
Nintendo 3DS introduces two more controversial mechanics in Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves, but the mechanics of Pokemon Sword and Shield, Dynamaxing, are the straw that breaks Camerupt's insistence.
Popular Pokemon Athletics site Smogon is discussing whether the issue of Dynamaxing should be banned from its 6v6 singles competition is heating up. In December 2019, after careful consideration and discussion in its community, Dynamax was banned from using the Singles 6v6 format with an overwhelming 87% in favour.
ABR is the head of the Smogon Overuse (OU) Committee. The OU is a team of elite players who have many years of experience and knowledge to ensure that Smogon's meta-games run smoothly. He said to me: "I'm very cautious about banning things, but from every angle, I have concluded that we cannot maintain this skill."
Finchinator is a newly retired OU Board member and currently holds the official title of Smogon's OU and NU (never used) leaders. Finchinator explained: "Dynmax opens up countless, unpredictable possibilities, from being suppressed to limiting defensive counterattacks, which can disrupt competitive meta-games."
Smogon uses a process called "suspicious testing" to make such decisions. The purpose of suspicious testing is to challenge standards and practices to see if certain bans or clauses are still in the interest of Smogon's competitive environment. Suspicious testing is a rigorous process that involves a debate period where the community can discuss whether certain Pokémon, actions or mechanics should be banned. Once the suspect period is over, qualified players can vote.
In order to vote, players need a Pokemon Showdown in Smogon's battle simulator! Play at least 40 games on the OU ladder on the OU ladder with at least OU ladder whose name format is "OUTM" (nickname). In addition, players need to get a minimum score of 81 GXE or Glicko X-Act evaluation, which is a rating evaluation created by Smogon mathematician X-Act. Most importantly, an OU committee member or moderator will step in to confirm the status of the player. If you don't know what this means, stay away from it: you must know what you're saying or even voting.
A simple 51% majority is not enough to ban a Pokemon or mechanic because it requires at least a 60% ordinary ban majority. Needless to say, Smogon places more emphasis on the competitive environment than the UK referendum.
Jonathan Evans, runner-up at the 2016 Pokemon World Championships and finishing in the top four at the 2019 U.S. International Invitational, defended Smogon's questionable test and said: "The suspicious procedure is me One of the best voting procedures I've ever seen-partly due to the subject matter. Generally, voting is a good way to make a decision. Voting is combined with a long enough debate time for those who may be affected by forward-looking changes to express their Concerns and opinions, and influence the outcome of any decision. "Evans talks about Smogon's strict voter identification system, noting that it solves one of the biggest problems is the frequency with which unskilled players try to vote with unknowing opinions.
"Smogon's suspicious procedures ensure that voters are not only interested in the ranks, they are forced to play a certain number of games in the ranks to vote, but also have skill because they have to reach a certain level within a certain time." He continued. "This has led to relatively uncontested decisions on most suspicious tests in recent years. The winners of all the tests I took were clear and the results were supported by the community. When certain Pokemon are retested, retests are often Will confirm the initial decision-Pokémon should be banned.
ABR says that the biggest problem with Dynamax is its huge unpredictability compared to Sun and Moon's Z-Moves: "With Z-Moves, you can come based on what it lacks (such as leftovers and choices) Inferred (Pokemon holds Z crystal) item. "
During the development of Smogon's "Sun and Moon" metagame, banning Z-Moves even needed to be considered. ABR states: "I strongly oppose any action against Z-Moves. Offensive selection and flexibility are healthy when you dispense the dose properly, and you don't want to be overly stale. So in my opinion, Z-Moves is in A perfect distinction is made between stability and freshness. "
Finchinator told me that Dynamax and Z-Moves are unparalleled because they are completely different mechanisms. "Z-Moves is easy to explain and predict, because you can only use one on a specific Z item holding Pokemon, while Dynamax lasts longer, has a secondary effect, and most importantly, it can be used anywhere Pokemon spend time on it, and counterattack games usually rely on guesswork. "
More predictable than Dynamaxing, so Mega Evolution is easier to handle. Because Super Evolution is only available to a limited number of Pokemon, players can better prepare for Super Evolution Pokémon. "Megas can be powerful, but at least you know which Pokémon you will encounter when the team previews 99% of the time," Smogon host Sage explained. She added that it can be said that Dynamax absorbed the worst balanced parts of Megas and Z-movs and put them in one package.
Smogon players try to fight against Dynamaxing. One of them is the defensive use of Dynamics. The only reliable way to fight opponents Dynamaxing is to let players also use Dynamax. The double HP provided by the conversion provides players with an opportunity to stop their opponent's three rounds in an opponent's Dynamax battle. However, there are some problems with using mechanics on defense. To defend your opponent's Dynamax, players must use it roughly at the same time to prevent being overwhelmed.
Defensive dynamic maximization can help, but for players who use it offensively, predictions are very popular. Sage said: "If your opponents burn your defense Dynamax, they can come back later and win your way, and you will not have enough resources to stop it." Evans added, "In the OU, If your Dynamax is seduced, you could fail immediately, so too many games focus on a single round and less attention is paid to the game plan. "
Therefore, defensive dynamic maximization is not a feasible strategy, but what about other strategies? Transforming Pokémon Ibid has proven to be an interesting option, and its ability to transform it into an opponent's Pokémon. In addition, Ditto also copied the attribute boost of opponent Pokémon obtained by using the maximum movement during its Dynamax, and then Dynamax itself can perform a devastating counterattack, but the counter almost requires Ditto to take a place in the player team This situation reduces the overall strategy of the game.
Sage acknowledges: "I think the use of Ditto shows extreme unhealthy because you can hardly prepare anything safely without having to tap Ditto into your team to check all the band-aids." Finchinator agrees: "Use Ditto as a A reliable countermeasure is a bad, check-breaking mentality that determines the game in a quick and hasty manner. "
Even though Dynamaxing seems to be too focused on the competitive environment, there have been debates about how to restrict mechanisms rather than directly prohibit them. Discussion on banning Dynamax, but retaining Gigantimax is a special form of Dynamax. Gigantamax Pokemon is functionally the same as Dynamax Pokemon, except that they have a special attack called G-Max action, which has different auxiliary effects compared to ordinary Max Moves.
The opinion that only Gigantamax Pokemon is allowed is that most Pokemon who accept this mechanic are much more dangerous than the worst Dynamax abusers such as Gyarados. In addition, the Pokemon pool that can hold Gigantamax is much smaller and therefore easier to predict. ABR compares Gigantamaxing to something similar to Mega Evolutions: "I was originally a proponent of the separate Gigantamax layering because it retains the core mechanism in some way and gives you a sense of Mega Evolution you can infer (Gigantamax Pokemon who is based on "Team Preview", it is mostly set in the builder. "
However, most players think this is just an arbitrary separation. Finchinator said: "Separating the two is nonsense." "In the game, the two use the same mechanics, and the only practical difference is the name. Layering them separately will put us far away from the actual Pokemon. , And at no time do we consider this to be acceptable. "Others believe that allowing only Gigantamax would make the metagame too focused. Sage believes: "This turns Gigantimax into a limited resource, with only a few Pokemon to use, which will establish extreme centralization around the best Pokemon (probably Gengar, Copperajah, Corviknight and Hatterene), and These teams are just huge threats built around supporting or stopping these capabilities. "
Another argument is the prohibition of specific Dynamax abusers. However, this debate was almost unanimously rejected, as many players believe that the problem lies with Dynamaxing itself, not the specific Pokémon. The sage further expanded his view, saying, "I think it's clear that the Dynamax mechanic itself is the problem of all these Pokémon. Attempting to patch every abuser will create a too unstable meta game, some of which is always Is the easiest to abuse it. Everything else. "
Smogon emphasizes simple rules and bans. When players read the rules, they should be able to understand why Pokemon is banned, not just a specific combination of Pokemon, skills, and actions.
The last popular topic about Dynamaxing is that banning core mechanics deprives 8th generation games of their unique identity. The sixth generation was defined by Mega Evolutions, and the seventh generation introduced Z-Moves. ABR accepts this view, hoping to adhere tightly to the ink cartridge when possible.
Sage provides another perspective on how the latest game defines itself, but: "The other generations are fine, there is no a, and the 8th generation has been linked with & # 39; Dexit & # 39; to our Pokemon / Motorpool Blockbusters are on a par. "Mention of owning agile nations will get worse. Older meta-game threats from previous generations with first-grade dynamic capabilities such as Landorus and Kartana can be cumbersome, and in addition to having users of Mega Evolution and Z-Move, they can also cause overwhelming force creep.
Although Dynamaxing has been banned by the most popular Pokemon game fan community, the mechanism is still active and working well in video game tournaments created by the Pokemon company. The VGC format is a dual battle, with players carrying six Pokémon and choosing four to fight. Alex Underhill, who won the 2018 Fort Wayne Regional Championship and the 2017 Collinsville Regional Championship, told me that the VGC environment seems to be the focus of Dynamax's balance.
"We usually fight for eight rounds, so you can better predict when Dynamax will come out based on your opponent's needs. You must be careful in VGC and don't waste your Dynamax on a Pokemon, the pet The elf may get two very strong attacks from the opponent's pokemon while turning. "
Aaron & # 39; Cyber tron & # 39; Zheng has a similar view. He said: "I think Dynamax is fairly balanced in VGC, so the team is less focused on confronting the effect itself and more focused on as comprehensive development as possible. "Zheng has won numerous VGC regional and national championships and reached third place in the world in 2013.
"I like Dynamax very much in VGC because you don't need to use it for pure offense; using it defensively is a common strategy," Zheng said.
"I think defensive dynamic maximization is a good concept and one of its best uses," Underhill agreed. "We've seen players use it to (save) Pokemon hit rates impossible, or see Pokemon like Excadrill using their STAB Max steel and ground operations respectively to enhance their team's defense and Special defense capabilities. "
Zheng also likes Dynamax in VGC more than Vega Evolution and Z-Moves. "Megas is not great because some are much better than others." Although he is indifferent to Z-Moves, he does not like the power of it. "Terrains are indeed common in VGC, so Electrium Z Tapu Koko and Psychium Z Tapu Lele can really approve Pokemon. "
Underhill believes that compared to Mega Evolution and Z-Moves, Dynamax in VGC is generally more balanced. "Z-Mobile is a sudden burst of laps that can be extremely frustrating. Thanks to Team Preview, Megas becomes easier to anticipate."
In addition, the cancellation of the National Assembly appears to have had an impact on the VGC. Underhill elaborated: "The National Dex limit is part of keeping VGC in balance. It allows certain Pokémon who have never seen daylight to now glow like Butterfree."
Zheng agrees with him and says: "Of course, Dynamax feels balanced in VGC partly because in the early metagame, no real Pokemon can abuse it more than anyone else. I'm not sure if all the magic Baby is in the game, is this still the case? "
Whether in VGC or Smogon, the Dynamax mechanic is undoubtedly the biggest concern in the highly competitive scene. Each scene has its own audience focus, and both formats will follow exciting developments. Underhill shared with excitement: "Dynmax is fun to allow any Pokémon to change the fighting trend, and I think it will make VGC a year more competent than ever."
A few participants may be upset about some bans, but Evans explained that this will always be the case. However, the process is well-founded and can produce good results and interesting formats. "
