Greetings, wider Smogon community. Recently, whilst battling against another player on ShoddyBattle, and idea came to me. The two of us were talking, and the conversation came around to Base Stats (as it does). I brought up the interesting factoid that scyther is the only pokemon whose Base Stat Total doesn't change upon evolving. The other player then mentioned that they were both 500, so yeah. Then, an idea struck me. I often love playing battles with teams that have restrictions such as "only one type", or even "no dual-type pokemon", so, i thought, why not "base stats under 500?".
I mentioned this to the other player, and we agreed to come up with the required teams. We played a battle (i lost, by the way.. no surprise there), and then i got to thinking again. What if i tried this out again? So, i rounded up four other players and (after changing the rule to "500 or less") convinced them to take part in my little experiment. Our findings to date are below -
-Scizor is used frequently, and its Bullet Punches often tear up the metagame. This may have to be addressed in future, perhaps with a clause prohibiting Scizor, but I am loathe to take such drastic measures at a formative stage. I would much rather let the players work that out on their own.
-Skarmory is legal here, and the only OU thunderbolt user still allowed is Gengar. Because of this, Skarmory ends up switching in to Scizor, and stopping it, followed by Gengar being brought in as a counter immediately. Canny players use Whirlwind to take advantage of this.
-Due to players having access to some of their old reliables, but not all of them, they are forced to find new favourites, and think outside the box a little bit. This is different from standard UU in that neither the OU or the UU metagame can afford to be complacent and bring all its normal contenders to te fore. It is a blending of the two tiers, in some ways, but i have actually not found the OU pokes to dominate all of the time.
-Sandstorm teams find it more difficult to operate, as the only Sand Stream pokemon that does not break the limit is Hippopotas, forcing them to at least change a little, due to Hippopotas' lesser stalling ability compared to its evolved form leading to it being used more suicidally. Hail teams are still allowed their Abomasnow (just), however these teams are also hit by the lack of Weavile and Walrein.
- Finally, so far, in the absence of Swampert, Quagsire and Gastrodon finally have decisive reasons for being used. Quagsire goes normally as a tanker/curser, while people end up trying Special wall Gastrodon.
Well, that's all I have to say for now. I'd like to apologise for accidentally posting this in the wrong forum at an earlier date - it was my first true thread, so i was unsure of the guidelines. Please forgive me for this little infraction. What I really wish for is for you people to give your opinions on the subject. I hope you will play at least one match in this style to test it out, too. If you are interested in helping me with this, or even just chatting, please PM me with your suggestion. I personally think there is a lot of potential with this style, and it needs playtesting to determine the most effective teams.
P.S. Ubers are not allowed in this format, either. I added this rule after i was alerted to the fact that Wobbuffet does not technically break the limit, and I didn't want him screwing with everything.
P.P.S A full list of all pokemon, complete with their base Stat Totals, can be found here:
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_by_base_stats
I mentioned this to the other player, and we agreed to come up with the required teams. We played a battle (i lost, by the way.. no surprise there), and then i got to thinking again. What if i tried this out again? So, i rounded up four other players and (after changing the rule to "500 or less") convinced them to take part in my little experiment. Our findings to date are below -
-Scizor is used frequently, and its Bullet Punches often tear up the metagame. This may have to be addressed in future, perhaps with a clause prohibiting Scizor, but I am loathe to take such drastic measures at a formative stage. I would much rather let the players work that out on their own.
-Skarmory is legal here, and the only OU thunderbolt user still allowed is Gengar. Because of this, Skarmory ends up switching in to Scizor, and stopping it, followed by Gengar being brought in as a counter immediately. Canny players use Whirlwind to take advantage of this.
-Due to players having access to some of their old reliables, but not all of them, they are forced to find new favourites, and think outside the box a little bit. This is different from standard UU in that neither the OU or the UU metagame can afford to be complacent and bring all its normal contenders to te fore. It is a blending of the two tiers, in some ways, but i have actually not found the OU pokes to dominate all of the time.
-Sandstorm teams find it more difficult to operate, as the only Sand Stream pokemon that does not break the limit is Hippopotas, forcing them to at least change a little, due to Hippopotas' lesser stalling ability compared to its evolved form leading to it being used more suicidally. Hail teams are still allowed their Abomasnow (just), however these teams are also hit by the lack of Weavile and Walrein.
- Finally, so far, in the absence of Swampert, Quagsire and Gastrodon finally have decisive reasons for being used. Quagsire goes normally as a tanker/curser, while people end up trying Special wall Gastrodon.
Well, that's all I have to say for now. I'd like to apologise for accidentally posting this in the wrong forum at an earlier date - it was my first true thread, so i was unsure of the guidelines. Please forgive me for this little infraction. What I really wish for is for you people to give your opinions on the subject. I hope you will play at least one match in this style to test it out, too. If you are interested in helping me with this, or even just chatting, please PM me with your suggestion. I personally think there is a lot of potential with this style, and it needs playtesting to determine the most effective teams.
P.S. Ubers are not allowed in this format, either. I added this rule after i was alerted to the fact that Wobbuffet does not technically break the limit, and I didn't want him screwing with everything.
P.P.S A full list of all pokemon, complete with their base Stat Totals, can be found here:
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_by_base_stats
