The issue with Smogon

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Zukrad

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Well, I have seen (not only in this forum, but everywhere) that usually Smogon gets a lot of hate (like... a LOT) without a good reason and without good arguments, so I wanted to clarify some stuff about what is Smogon, what does Smogon, how works Smogon, etc.

Before I start, I want to point out that I'm not tryng to convince you to join Smogon, just, if you are going to hate something, at least do it with knowledge of what are you hating, to at least have some valid argumets against it, ok? ;)


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What is Smogon?
Lets start with an example:

Have you ever heard about Smashboards?

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In short words, Smashboards is an online forum centered in Smash Bros. They discuss of techniques, news, and professional competition of the Super Smash Bros. games of all generations.

Well, Smogon is pretty much the exact same, but is focused in Pokémon instead of Smash Bros. (duh)

What is the difference (Besides the fact that they are focused in completely different games)? The difference is that Smashboards gets little to not hate at all, unlike Smogon.

So why is this? It is because Smogon also created their own metagame with different rules (just like the Smash community did, but once again, no one blames them for that...)

What rules they added?
(These are Smogon-wide Clauses, that means they apply to most official Smogon Tiers

Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokemon with the same National Pokédex number on a team.
(This rule is in pretty much any competitive official and non-official format)

Sleep Clause: You can't put to sleep 2 or more Pokémon of the opposing team at the same time
Fun Fact: The Sleep Clause wasn't created by Smogon, but actually created by Gamefreak himself (They also created a Freeze Clause) in the Pokémon Stadium games. The last time the Sleep Clause was in a official Pokémon game was in Pokémon Battle Revolution
OHKO Clause: A Pokemon may not have the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold in its moveset. (I will explain this later)

Evasion Clause: A Pokemon may not have either Double Team or Minimize in its moveset. (I will also explain this one later)

Moody Clause: A team cannot have a Pokemon with the ability Moody. (Same)

Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot use any moveset on any Pokémon capable of intentionally causing an endless battle. (This one is self explanatory)
(Ignore the double spoiler, I can't fix it at all)


Now, what rules does Smogon follows to decide what to ban and what not?

All bans (aside from quickbans) functions in the same way:
The council decides to test something because it got enough complaints from respectable members of Smogon and randoms alike. There's an actual vote that takes place which determines whether the suspected Pokémon gets banned or not - users who get a certain rank (COIL of <2700) in a separate ladder get to vote. There has to be a majority of 60% in favor of a ban for it to pass through.

But here is where stuff gets more complicated:


What does a Pokémon/Item/Ability/Move needs to accomplish to be considered for a ban?

For something to deserve to be banned, it must be either:

-Uncompetitive
-Broken
-Unhealthy

Uncompetitive: Elements that reduce the effect of player choice/interaction on the end result to an extreme degree, such that "more skillful play" is almost always rendered irrelevant.
When you try to make a game competitive, you want it to make it as fair as possible, making RNG having the less impact as possible, and making the outcome of the match only being factored by the skill of the players.
Thus, OHKO, Swagplay, Evasion and Moody transform the game from "The best player wins" to "I hope the coin flips in my favor this turn".

For example, Sheer Cold would be an ok move if it had like 150 or 200 Base Power with now drawbacks besides the 30% accuracy. That is manageable. If you expect Sheer Cold hitting, you can switch into something that resists it, or set up Special Defense to tank the hit and heal yourself after.
But you can't do that with the actual concept of OHKO moves, doesn't matter if you have full HP, max SpDef invested with a Calm nature at +6 and being x4 resistant to ice while the opponent has 0 IVs and EVs in SpAtk while being at -6 with a Jolly nature, if Sheer Cold hits You are DEAD

This makes the move uncompetitive, doesn't matter how well you played the entire match, doesn't matter if you predicted your opponent in every single turn perfectly, since he only needs 6 Sheer Colds in a row to defeat you (Is a extremely unlikely scenario, but the problem is that it may happen).

Broken: Elements that are too good relative to the rest of the metagame such that "more skillful play" is almost always rendered irrelevant.
Lets be clear: Certain Pokémon that are broken in some metagames, are not in others metagames, that means a Pokémon with stats of 200/200/200/200/200/200 it would be broken if the average is 100/100/100/100/100/100, but it wouldn't be broken in a metagame where the average is 200/200/200/200/200/200.

These are mostly Pokemon and include strong Ubers like Kyogre, Groudon, and Arceus. These aren't necessarily completely uncompetitive because they don't take the determining factor out of the player's hands; both can use these Pokemon and both probably have a fair chance to win. They are broken because they almost dictate / require usage, and a standard team facing a standard team with one of them would be at a drastic disadvantage. These examples limit team building skill.

This also include ones whose only counters or checks are extraordinarily gimmicky Pokemon that would put the team at a large disadvantage elsewhere. These examples also limit team building skill.
A good example could be Shed Shell Togekiss, SSKiss is a Pokémon that has a good matchup against GothStall and ONLY GothStall, making him a waste of slot in the team if the opponent is NOT running GothStall

Keep in mind that an uncompetitive thing probably isn't broken, but a broken thing is more likely to be uncompetitive simply due to the unique counter / check component.

For example, Mega Kangaskhan was deemed broken because it was simply too good relative to the rest of the metagame and caused the tier to centralize around it, but it could also be labeled as uncompetitive because of the severe team match up restriction it caused by punishing players if they did not pack one of the few gimmicky and obscure counters or checks for it.

Unhealthy: Elements that are neither uncompetitive nor broken, yet deemed undesirable for the metagame such that they inhibit "skillful play" to a large extent
This is probably the hardest one to explain, these are elements that may not limit either team building or battling skill enough individually, but combine to cause an effect that is undesirable for the metagame.
This can also be a state of the metagame. If the metagame has too much diversity where in team building ability is greatly hampered and battling skill is drastically reduced, the community may seek to reduce the number of good to great threats.
This can also work in reverse; if the metagame is too centralized a particular set of Pokemon, none of which are broken on their own, we may seek to add Pokemon to increase diversity.
The Mega-Metagross and Mega-Sableye suspect tests could be said to fall under this umbrella; Both of them weren't really broken, but they were the best Pokemon in a game with far too many good to great threats. It was felt that, for the sake of metagame health, we should seek to reduce the number of these threats (however, you'll note the community voted to keep them in the tier).

If you want to know the reasoning behind a Pokémon ban, you can check HERE (Is not updated with the most recent one being Shadow Tag), and HERE to check why some Pokémon that are bad in Ubers are still banned from OU.

After clarifying the concepts of why something may or may not get banned, lets talk about some of the most used "arguments" against Smogon:


"Smogon kills creativity"(and Variatons)

This is probably one of the most used and yet the most vague "argument" against Smogon.

The "standard set" dilema: A lot of people complain in how "all the players" always use the same sets in the same Pokémon because they found them in the Smogon website.

Well, this may be shocking for you... but guess what... is kinda the other way around.

A set gets in the Smogon website when is used enough and the set proves being good in the metagame standards, proving being worth to be used in a team.

Smogon is a website for competitive research, they make sets using calcs to see what set is the most efficient in a certain scenary in the most objective way possible

And to put the final nail in the coffin against this "argument", check these:

As you can see, Smogon actually promotes creativity, and all of these links are only for OU.

Actually, in Smogon's official words (in the OU's Tiering Policy: Definition of Skill)
Smogon said:
4.) Creativity - ability to come up with unique strategies or sets to swing momentum in your favor
a.) This means being able to surprise the opponent with a unique set or strategy without losing on general utility (too much)
b.) Doesn't just mean creating new sets, but also being able to use existing sets in a creative manner

Well, I already covered the Ban system, the "no creativity" stuff, but there is still a common complain about Smogon, and this is IMO, with no intention to offend anyone, but the people that use this argument definetly don't know what they are talking about.

The Tiering System

Aaah, the classic "X Pokémon is good and it shouldn't be in NU/PU" "Smogon is stupid, my favourite Pokémon is good and it should be OU", and my personal favourite "Smogon's tiering system implies that you shouldn't use lower-tier Pokemon in higher tiers."

I've seen a lot of people here who don't understand how Smogon tiering works, complaining that they can't use their favourite Pokemon because it's in the depths of NU. In fact, the tier system does more good than harm.

The tier lists are like weight classes in wrestling (I guess is a good way to compare them... my knoledge about sports in general is awful), for example, you can't use a Vigoroth in OU, since it gets destroyed there, but you can use it in NU, where is good enough to be used.

Lets imagine for a second that we have a primitive tier list system, where only exists OU.
Since there is a lot of Pokémon that are too strong for others to compete, lets create a tier called Ubers, where all the superpowerfull Pokémon remain, and a banlist where the Pokémon that are too powerful for Ubers reside (AKA Mega RayRay) called AG.

So now we have one balanced tier, OU. However, there are many Pokemon that do not fit in and are completely outclassed by certain Pokemon. In this case, then why not make another tier so these Pokemon can have a fairer chance?

So the top Pokemon in OU are taken and remain in the OU tier. The rest are moved down to a new tier, UU. By this view of UU, the OU tier is a banlist for the UU tier.

Now we have 4 tiers: AG, Ubers, OU, and UU. However according to this, UU was created strictly by usage in OU. This does not necessarily create a balanced tier, because there are some Pokemon that are too broken for UU, but are not good enough to compete in the OU metagame. The only option left is to ban those UU Pokemon. They are placed in a tier called BL, which serves as a banlist for the UU tier.

Now we have five tiers: AG, Ubers, OU, BL and UU. OU and UU are balanced, but Ubers and BL are not.

"But wait! If BL is just a banlist, what's the purpose of it? Why not just move those Pokemon up to OU? It would have the same effect on gameplay, right?"

Not quite. Remember that OU is defined as the top of the Pokemon usages. If a Pokemon is OU, it probably won't drop to UU anytime soon. By putting a Pokemon instead in BL, you are saying "Current forces in UU are not enough to counter the effect of this Pokemon effectively.". In the future, there may be a new style of play that makes a certain BL Pokemon acceptable. By merging OU and BL, it makes discussion of tiers more difficult and turns OU into "banned from BL either based on it's effect on UU or based on how much it's used in OU", which I think is more complicated than having two tiers for banning from UU.

However, some people realize that UU is still rather large. There are many Pokemon that cannot seriously compete in UU because there are still some Pokemon that are relatively powerhouses. So people repeat the process that was done in OU to create UU.

Look at UU usages. The top usage are UU, the rest are moved down to a new tier, RU. However, because RU so far was created entirely on usages in UU, it's probably unbalanced. So we create a new tier, BL2, which serves as a banlist for RU.

The same process is repeated to send down RU Pokemon down to NU, and again, a new tier is created to balance NU, BL3. And the same process goes for PU (AKA The best of the Worst of the Worst of the Worst) and BL4

Now this gives us the following tiers, banlists are in bold.

AG
Ubers (Ubers is a Banlist for OU and a tier itself, thus having a banlist: AG)
OU
BL
UU
BL2
RU
BL3
NU
BL4
PU
FU (FU is not an official tier list, thus it doesn't have suspect test system and/or an official ladder, thus not having a banlist)

Someone: Ok, but... who decides which Pokémon is in each tier?
Me: You ;)
Someone: w8 wat?

The tier system works this way, if a Pokémon has ~3.41% usage or more, it stays in a certian tier, if not (thus having less than ~3.41% usage) a Pokémon drops one tier (a single Pokémon can't drop more than one tier per tier shift).

Why this number? Why ~3.41%? Why not more, or less?

Well, ~3.41% means that, you have a 50% chance to battle against team with that Pokémon at least once a day if you play 20 battle in a day

Of course, only players with a skill rating of 1695 (In OU) or 1630 (In UU and below) usage stats are used

Does that means that if a certain Pokémon is in RU/NU, I shouldn't use it in OU?

NO, that means that the Pokémon is not used in enough tiers to be OU, but he may still be good in the tier.

A good example of this is Amoonguss
Combined usage for OU
+ ---- + ------------------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Percent |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ------- +
| 1 | Landorus-Therian | 28.620% |
| 2 | Garchomp | 22.981% |
| 3 | Heatran | 18.840% |
| 4 | Keldeo | 18.252% |
| 5 | Excadrill | 17.987% |
| 6 | Talonflame | 15.949% |
| 7 | Latios | 15.401% |
| 8 | Clefable | 15.163% |
| 9 | Azumarill | 15.124% |
| 10 | Ferrothorn | 14.369% |
| 11 | Rotom-Wash | 14.117% |
| 12 | Tornadus-Therian | 12.728% |
| 13 | Tyranitar | 12.148% |
| 14 | Bisharp | 11.941% |
| 15 | Skarmory | 11.230% |
| 16 | Starmie | 11.221% |
| 17 | Manaphy | 9.577% |
| 18 | Thundurus | 9.524% |
| 19 | Latias | 9.244% |
| 20 | Breloom | 9.101% |
| 21 | Scizor-Mega | 8.906% |
| 22 | Hoopa-Unbound | 8.308% |
| 23 | Jirachi | 8.286% |
| 24 | Lopunny-Mega | 7.759% |
| 25 | Kyurem-Black | 7.560% |
| 26 | Hippowdon | 7.369% |
| 27 | Weavile | 7.214% |
| 28 | Charizard-Mega-X | 7.195% |
| 29 | Gengar | 7.097% |
| 30 | Dragonite | 6.885% |
| 31 | Magnezone | 6.796% |
| 32 | Raikou | 6.644% |
| 33 | Scizor | 6.490% |
| 34 | Manectric-Mega | 6.114% |
| 35 | Serperior | 6.058% |
| 36 | Metagross-Mega | 5.872% |
| 37 | Slowbro | 5.738% |
| 38 | Diancie-Mega | 5.701% |
| 39 | Sableye-Mega | 5.493% |
| 40 | Chansey | 5.490% |
| 41 | Venusaur-Mega | 5.348% |
| 42 | Pinsir-Mega | 5.267% |
| 43 | Gliscor | 4.860% |
| 44 | Klefki | 4.537% |
| 45 | Gardevoir-Mega | 4.519% |
| 46 | Charizard-Mega-Y | 4.205% |
| 47 | Medicham-Mega | 4.180% |
| 48 | Mew | 3.935% |
| 49 | Celebi | 3.742% |
| 50 | Conkeldurr | 3.738% |
| 51 | Altaria-Mega | 3.685% |
| 52 | Sylveon | 3.617% |
| 53 | Alakazam-Mega | 3.578% |
| 54 | Amoonguss | 3.184% |
| 55 | Togekiss | 3.099% |
| 56 | Gyarados-Mega | 3.010% |
| 57 | Azelf | 2.978% |
| 58 | Alakazam | 2.825% |
| 59 | Zapdos | 2.743% |
| 60 | Volcarona | 2.416% |
| 61 | Heracross-Mega | 2.302% |
| 62 | Politoed | 2.280% |
| 63 | Slowbro-Mega | 2.114% |
| 64 | Mandibuzz | 1.966% |
| 65 | Victini | 1.905% |
| 66 | Diggersby | 1.716% |
| 67 | Terrakion | 1.697% |
| 68 | Seismitoad | 1.605% |
| 69 | Gyarados | 1.597% |
| 70 | Quagsire | 1.587% |
| 71 | Dugtrio | 1.576% |
| 72 | Tentacruel | 1.573% |
| 73 | Suicune | 1.566% |
| 74 | Kingdra | 1.556% |
| 75 | Mamoswine | 1.476% |
| 76 | Swampert-Mega | 1.415% |
| 77 | Infernape | 1.401% |
| 78 | Hydreigon | 1.375% |
| 79 | Latias-Mega | 1.370% |
| 80 | Crawdaunt | 1.195% |
| 81 | Sceptile-Mega | 1.154% |
| 82 | Empoleon | 1.152% |
| 83 | Tyranitar-Mega | 1.092% |
| 84 | Gallade-Mega | 1.084% |
| 85 | Thundurus-Therian | 1.025% |
| 86 | Feraligatr | 1.000% |
| 87 | Entei | 0.991% |
| 88 | Metagross | 0.977% |
| 89 | Lucario | 0.965% |
| 90 | Donphan | 0.959% |
| 91 | Shedinja | 0.957% |
| 92 | Alomomola | 0.954% |
| 93 | Umbreon | 0.950% |
| 94 | Tangrowth | 0.945% |
| 95 | Kabutops | 0.899% |
| 96 | Chesnaught | 0.895% |
| 97 | Scolipede | 0.887% |
| 98 | Staraptor | 0.850% |
| 99 | Hawlucha | 0.839% |
| 100 | Gastrodon | 0.789% |
| 101 | Garchomp-Mega | 0.773% |
| 102 | Slowking | 0.750% |
| 103 | Dragalge | 0.736% |
| 104 | Pidgeot-Mega | 0.733% |
| 105 | Espeon | 0.730% |
| 106 | Goodra | 0.728% |
| 107 | Nidoking | 0.727% |
| 108 | Beedrill-Mega | 0.695% |
| 109 | Forretress | 0.693% |
| 110 | Aerodactyl-Mega | 0.671% |
| 111 | Blissey | 0.640% |
| 112 | Sableye | 0.636% |
| 113 | Milotic | 0.621% |
| 114 | Ditto | 0.605% |
| 115 | Vaporeon | 0.587% |
| 116 | Galvantula | 0.585% |
| 117 | Arcanine | 0.584% |
| 118 | Cloyster | 0.582% |
| 119 | Banette-Mega | 0.577% |
| 120 | Reuniclus | 0.542% |
| 121 | Shuckle | 0.538% |
| 122 | Cresselia | 0.535% |
| 123 | Blastoise-Mega | 0.534% |
| 124 | Chandelure | 0.528% |
| 125 | Sharpedo-Mega | 0.526% |
| 126 | Jolteon | 0.510% |
| 127 | Porygon2 | 0.495% |
| 128 | Rotom-Heat | 0.490% |
| 129 | Zygarde | 0.488% |
| 130 | Cofagrigus | 0.484% |
| 131 | Meloetta | 0.483% |
| 132 | Whimsicott | 0.464% |
| 133 | Toxicroak | 0.463% |
| 134 | Ampharos-Mega | 0.455% |
| 135 | Darmanitan | 0.452% |
| 136 | Cobalion | 0.444% |
| 137 | Machamp | 0.413% |
| 138 | Salamence | 0.407% |
| 139 | Aerodactyl | 0.404% |
| 140 | Gardevoir | 0.397% |
| 141 | Jellicent | 0.392% |
| 142 | Omastar | 0.389% |
| 143 | Snorlax | 0.388% |
| 144 | Venusaur | 0.379% |
| 145 | Roserade | 0.370% |
| 146 | Absol-Mega | 0.362% |
| 147 | Crobat | 0.355% |
| 148 | Rhyperior | 0.349% |
| 149 | Krookodile | 0.347% |
| 150 | Haxorus | 0.337% |
| 151 | Stunfisk | 0.320% |
| 152 | Porygon-Z | 0.310% |
| 153 | Heracross | 0.301% |
| 154 | Bronzong | 0.272% |
| 155 | Houndoom-Mega | 0.272% |
| 156 | Magneton | 0.268% |
| 157 | Latios-Mega | 0.264% |
| 158 | Zoroark | 0.264% |
| 159 | Swampert | 0.256% |
| 160 | Mienshao | 0.236% |
| 161 | Froslass | 0.225% |
| 162 | Florges | 0.224% |
| 163 | Ninetales | 0.217% |
| 164 | Aggron-Mega | 0.216% |
| 165 | Honchkrow | 0.216% |
| 166 | Dusclops | 0.205% |
| 167 | Gothitelle | 0.205% |
| 168 | Diancie | 0.203% |
| 169 | Uxie | 0.200% |
| 170 | Heliolisk | 0.192% |
| 171 | Tyrantrum | 0.188% |
| 172 | Shaymin | 0.186% |
| 173 | Noivern | 0.183% |
| 174 | Lanturn | 0.175% |
| 175 | Abomasnow-Mega | 0.174% |
| 176 | Scrafty | 0.170% |
| 177 | Slurpuff | 0.169% |
| 178 | Nidoqueen | 0.161% |
| 179 | Smeargle | 0.146% |
| 180 | Ludicolo | 0.146% |
| 181 | Blastoise | 0.144% |
| 182 | Camerupt-Mega | 0.142% |
| 183 | Doublade | 0.138% |
| 184 | Kyurem | 0.137% |
| 185 | Ambipom | 0.132% |
| 186 | Weezing | 0.130% |
| 187 | Golurk | 0.124% |
| 188 | Xatu | 0.123% |
| 189 | Registeel | 0.119% |
| 190 | Trevenant | 0.117% |
| 191 | Sharpedo | 0.116% |
| 192 | Venomoth | 0.114% |
| 193 | Emboar | 0.111% |
| 194 | Avalugg | 0.111% |
| 195 | Yanmega | 0.109% |
| 196 | Misdreavus | 0.109% |
| 197 | Pangoro | 0.108% |
| 198 | Electivire | 0.104% |
| 199 | Glalie-Mega | 0.103% |
| 200 | Gourgeist-Super | 0.103% |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ------- +
Amoonguss is an RU Pokémon, but it is good in RU, UU, OU and even Ubers
| 54 | Amoonguss | 3.184% |

Actually, Amoonguss has more usage than a lot of the huge threats in OU (Zam, Mega-Bro, Victiny, Mega-Gyarados, etc.) but he is still RU because he is not used enough int the OU tier
(Also, wtf Mega Gyarados and Zam dropped to OU, but not Conkeldurr, Altaria and Sylveon!!??)

Finally, lets talk about the community itself

The "Smogonites" are a bunch of Idiots

There is this stereotype (popularized by certain Youtuber called Verlisify) that says that Smogon and Smogon players are a bunch of idiots that want you to not have fun at the game, they attack you and force you to play by their rules without any chance.

This is false, I can assure you that Smogon is a really friendly and healthy community. I would say that is even as healthier than 3DS Pedia, or even more. Not only that, but NO Smogon players is going to force you to play with their rules.
If you ever find someone that "forces" you to join Smogon, is not because he/she is a Smogonite or a Smogon players, is because he/she is a jerk, and that type of people are just ignored by the Smogon community (because he/she is probably is just a troll afterall).

They even have a tutoring program called "Battling 101", where other players teach you basics of Pokémon

If you don't believe me, try the community by yourself.


TL;DR

Smogon is not "Evil" like a lot of people think

"Hey, you love Super Smash Bros., right?"

"Yeah."

"You like the items, the stages, and the characters, right?"

"Yeah."

"So let's design tournaments and games for it!"

"Okay."

"First, lets take items and stages with hazards, since they are unfair and RNG dependant"

"Obviusly"

"But you know that character who just kills everything, so everyone plays him and everything is boring?"

"Yeah"

"Lets ban that and try to create a balanced game with a wide variety of options for anyone who wants to join in"

"Cool, but what about those underpowered characters that nobody plays?"

"Lets create a tier system where underpowered characters get a chance to shine"

THAT'S Smogon





(Also, I would like to have added some images to the thread, but I didn't know what, if you find anythin cool to add somewhere, tell me ;D )
 
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I used to think Smogon was an overrated Pokemon battling system like 2 years ago because it seemed taht everyone would use it, but now I know that it's probably one of the most competitive ways to actually do battle. If you compare how I battled 2 years ago (mostly putting favored pokemon on a team, and just straight up attacking) to now (legit teambuilding, training, and setups and strats) I think you may notice a lot of improvement. Smogon is just a system to make the game more competitive, it's not necessarily a restrictive Pokemon battling method, and I talked to some people in the community and they are super friendly. They helped me start off with my competitive battling career and I've only been improving since then!
 
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Very well thought out and supported. The only thing I don't like about Smogon is that they're so battle oriented. I prefer a more relaxed serene forum with less emphasis on Pokemon battles. Also, during my very brief stay on Smogon I found some users attitudes towards Pokemon battling Noobs like myself at the time some were snarky and a bit rude instead of helping out or pointing me or anyone really in the right direction. That was about 2 to 3 years ago, maybe I should give them a second chance... Otherwise I have no problem with their resources and information is very useful.
 
Very well thought out and supported. The only thing I don't like about Smogon is that they're so battle oriented. I prefer a more relaxed serene forum with less emphasis on Pokemon battles. Also, during my very brief stay on Smogon I found some users attitudes towards Pokemon battling Noobs like myself at the time some were snarky and a bit rude instead of helping out or pointing me or anyone really in the right direction. That was about 2 to 3 years ago, maybe I should give them a second chance... Otherwise I have no problem with their resources and information is very useful.
Well, that IS the whole point of their existence lmao
 
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Really well thought out and organized analysis, so good it's worth reading the "bad English" you talked about. :p While I don't consider myself part of the Smogon community, I really like their rulesets and regulations. At some points I'd grow to heavily disagree with some of their decisions (i.e. back in Gen V when I started competitive in early B2W2 I raged about the Drizzle + Swift Swim ban, however I was still an ultra quantum level n00b at competitive Pokémon, looking back it was a really good choice. Also, Megas and base forms sharing tiers, which thankfully they fixed last month) but I still enjoyed the metagame. In fact, if it wasn't for Smogon I don't think I'd be as good as I am at Pokémon; while most of my knowledge doesn't come directly from them, I picked up most of what I know from people that support them and play under their rules, like PokeaimMD (Joey :]), Haydunn and shofu.
I particularly like how you tackled the tiers and teambuilding issue, it's true that some Pokémon are stuck in lower tiers because of viability and usage, but that doesn't really mean that they can't hold their own in higher tier play, at that points it comes down to the skill level of the player since choosing such Pokémon puts them in a relative disadvantage and it's up to them to come up with creative ways to play around these disadvantages.
10/10, I wish more people were as understanding as you :thumbsup:
 
Really well thought out and organized analysis, so good it's worth reading the "bad English" you talked about. :p While I don't consider myself part of the Smogon community, I really like their rulesets and regulations. At some points I'd grow to heavily disagree with some of their decisions (i.e. back in Gen V when I started competitive in early B2W2 I raged about the Drizzle + Swift Swim ban, however I was still an ultra quantum level n00b at competitive Pokémon, looking back it was a really good choice. Also, Megas and base forms sharing tiers, which thankfully they fixed last month) but I still enjoyed the metagame. In fact, if it wasn't for Smogon I don't think I'd be as good as I am at Pokémon; while most of my knowledge doesn't come directly from them, I picked up most of what I know from people that support them and play under their rules, like PokeaimMD (Joey :]), Haydunn and shofu.
I particularly like how you tackled the tiers and teambuilding issue, it's true that some Pokémon are stuck in lower tiers because of viability and usage, but that doesn't really mean that they can't hold their own in higher tier play, at that points it comes down to the skill level of the player since choosing such Pokémon puts them in a relative disadvantage and it's up to them to come up with creative ways to play around these disadvantages.
10/10, I wish more people were as understanding as you :thumbsup:

Ty

Also, Joey rocks :]
 
This is a very good explanation at what Smogon do. :) I've tried and failed to explain their purpose to many ignorant people in the past. It is very clear to me that most people who criticise Smogon are not at all familiar with their tiers or how they work. When Landorus-I was banned from OU, Verlisify perfectly demonstrated his lack of Smogon knowledge when he said the ban was stupid because Landorus-T got more usage. What people don't realise is, Smogon don't base their bans off of how much something is used, but as to how centralising / overpowered / unhealthy it is. Landorus-T gets used a lot because it's a great mon you can spam on pretty much any time, but Lando-I was much better at what he did.

I think I might link this thread to anyone who spreads misinformation about Smogon. :) I also see a lot of people in Smash Bros. topics talk about "smogfags". Very sad.
 
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This is a very good explanation at what Smogon do. :) I've tried and failed to explain their purpose to many ignorant people in the past. It is very clear to me that most people who criticise Smogon are not at all familiar with their tiers or how they work. When Landorus-I was banned from OU, Verlisify perfectly demonstrated his lack of Smogon knowledge when he said the ban was stupid because Landorus-T got more usage. What people don't realise is, Smogon don't base their bans off of how much something is used, but as to how centralising / overpowered / unhealthy it is. Landorus-T gets used a lot because it's a great mon you can spam on pretty much any time, but Lando-I was much better at what he did.

I think I might link this thread to anyone who spreads misinformation about Smogon. :) I also see a lot of people in Smash Bros. topics talk about "smogfags". Very sad.
Thank you

I know, I also saw that Verlis video, his reasoning was awful (like ever)
(I remember when he said at the first 5 sec of the video "wow, i actually agree with Smogon", and I was like "really?!", then, he started to say dumb things)

Just as an example, he said how Specs Sylveon counters Lando-I
1.-First NO ONE runs HP Ice in Sylveon, that is a dumb idea, the only HP you should be running in Sylveon is Fire or Ground. Running HP Ice only would do more than Hyper Voice against Grass/Flying and Ground/Flying types, if you run HP Ice Sylveon you get walled by Steel types. Also, Hyper Voice already kills Lando-I most of the time
2.-Even HP Ice Sylveon is not a counter to Landorus-I, since he does over 50% to Sylveon, meaning Sylveon can not switch in without dying 100% the next turn
3.-Sylveon can't check Landorus-I after one Calm Mind (one of the main reasons why Lando-I was banned), because it dies in one hit

I think I pointed out this in his video, and he erased the comment... like he does with any comment that goes against his "logic"

Also... reading the comment section of that video lowers your IQ, so don't do it
 
Thank you

I know, I also saw that Verlis video, his reasoning was awful (like ever)
(I remember when he said at the first 5 sec of the video "wow, i actually agree with Smogon", and I was like "really?!", then, he started to say dumb things)

Just as an example, he said how Specs Sylveon counters Lando-I
1.-First NO ONE runs HP Ice in Sylveon, that is a dumb idea, the only HP you should be running in Sylveon is Fire or Ground. Running HP Ice only would do more than Hyper Voice against Grass/Flying and Ground/Flying types, if you run HP Ice Sylveon you get walled by Steel types. Also, Hyper Voice already kills Lando-I most of the time
2.-Even HP Ice Sylveon is not a counter to Landorus-I, since he does over 50% to Sylveon, meaning Sylveon can not switch in without dying 100% the next turn
3.-Sylveon can't check Landorus-I after one Calm Mind (one of the main reasons why Lando-I was banned), because it dies in one hit

I think I pointed out this in his video, and he erased the comment... like he does with any comment that goes against his "logic"

Also... reading the comment section of that video lowers your IQ, so don't do it
Yeah it saddens me to see how much support Verlisfy gets. I remember when Mega Salamence was banned, I was positive it would be the first ban Verlisify would ever agree with, and he still called it out for being ridiculous. I mean, the man lives on another planet or something.

Also this is the genius who said Slurpuff countered Mega Kangaskhan, so it doesn't shock me he said Sylveon countered Landorus.
 
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Yeah it saddens me to see how much support Verlisfy gets. I remember when Mega Salamence was banned, I was positive it would be the first ban Verlisify would ever agree with, and he still called it out for being ridiculous. I mean, the man lives on another planet or something.

Also this is the genius who said Slurpuff countered Mega Kangaskhan, so it doesn't shock me he said Sylveon countered Landorus.

Yeah LOL
Verlisify claimed in a video that Slurpuff be' a counter to Mega Kangaskhan by switching in on Power Up Punch or Sucker Punch an' using Belly Drum Unburden to outspeed an' OHKO Kangaskhan.

When questioned about how Slurpuff would be able to survive Return which would always KO a 75% health Slurpuff, he responded by saying "yeah, but what if they don't have it" or something along the lines of that.
 
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LOL, so what kind of Kangaskhan has Fake Out as its only STAB? xD Even better question, what else does it need? PuP mitigates resistances, and if it ever wants more reliable coverage it can drop PuP for EQ xD
 
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