Good evening!
Due to the rising level of complaints about Evasion teams on the ladder, Fireburn and I had a discussion tonight on the correct course of action to take regarding a potential Evasion Clause. There is no question that Evasion introduces a significant element of luck into Pokemon, especially with Minimize getting buffed to a 1.67x increase per turn (thanks, Game Freak!). As Ubers in an official tier now, Fireburn and I feel that matches should be as skill-based as humanely possible. While Pokemon will always involve a degree of luck -- critical hits, Thunder Wave hax, and Sleep Talk rolls being notable examples -- games featuring Evasion will often be determined entirely by luck unless you bring a counter, like Calm Mind Clefable. Either you hit the Double Team Geomancy Xerneas / Stored Power Espeon with Precipice Blades, or you don't. In an ideal metagame, the better player should be able to beat the lesser player more often than not, but by bringing Evasion, the lesser player can "even the playing field," so to speak.
When most people think of Evasion, they think of Baton Pass chains. These are certainly part of the reason Fireburn and I are concerned about it. Baton Pass users are almost amusing in their ability to knock off capable players who happen to lack answers for BP chains / get unlucky with evasion, then wheel around and lose to a lower ladder player who leads with max speed Sub Geo Xern because they have no way to beat it. Although those incredibly match-up & luck based teams (which require minimal metagame knowledge to use) are an issue, please note that those teams are not the only way to abuse Evasion. For example, Pokemon like Extreme Killer Arceus and Geomancy Xerneas can EASILY bypass their checks with a lucky Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp miss, and fitting Double Team in the Refresh / Aromatherapy / coverage slot isn't that difficult. Note that Ubers has had an Evasion Clause in the past (early BW), and that was before Ubers became an official tier.
The purpose of the last two paragraphs was to establish the reason for this thread's existence. You are free to argue for or against a potential Evasion Clause in this thread. Replay evidence and mathematical arguments provide a great way to bolster your argument if you choose to go that route. Please do NOT use this thread to talk about other potential bans, specifically Pokemon that you think are overcentralizing or Uncompetitive™. This thread really isn't the place for it, and anyone who brings up potential bans on anything other than Evasion will be infracted. This thread will not be used as precedent for future bans. Focus specifically on why you think Evasion should stay or be banned from Ubers.
Remember that the questions we want answers to are the following: Do you think Evasion has enough of an impact on the game to warrant it being removed? Is the luck element significant enough and is it actually used enough that we should implement Evasion Clause?
Thank you!
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