np: Doubles Stage 2 — Any Linkin' Park song fits here

Stratos

Banned deucer.
It's my pleasure to announce the second official suspect test of ORAS doubles! This may be coming slightly out of left field, but this time we will be testing Dark Void.

After the contentious gravity+sleep ban, the council was discussing the role of sleep in the metagame. Simply put, we thought the metagame, and sleep's role in the metagame, would be a lot better if the move weren't so inextricably tied to the Grass type. 100 accuracy non-powder sleep had been shown to be broken, but hypnosis and co are too inaccurate to see sustained use on their own. With some convincing from Zach, who has experience with Dark Void in the VGC metagame, we decided to test this 80 accuracy sleep move and see if it could be the happy medium we're looking for. At the very least it's better than another Kangaskhan suspect.

The test will run for three weeks. Requirements come in two parts: ladder reqs and posting reqs. There are two parallel ladders, one with Dark Void and one without, and you must achieve a COIL of at least 2200 on both ladders to make the ladder reqs. I'll post the alt confirmation thread when I can be bothered. The posting reqs mean that you have to contribute in some way to this thread's discussion about Dark Void to vote. Please make sure to actually read the arguments others present for and against its brokenness and respond accordingly, or introduce new points; do not simply rehash an opinion. A sheer volume of people saying one thing or another will change nobody's opinion so make sure you're actually doing something to make people think. These reqs are subjective, meaning that the leadership can decide that you didn't meet them, even if you posted, if your posts aren't up to par. That means your post needs to make legitimate points (no "it's not broken if you can use it too") and show good metagame knowledge.

ANTAR SEZ: The B value for this test is 16.0. To figure out how many battles you'll need to have in order to achieve reqs, first determine your GXE (shown on the ladder and when you type /rating) and plug that into the following formula:

N=16.0/log2(40*GXE/2200)

(Google calculator is awesome for this kind of thing).

Here are some sample values:
Code:
GXE N
100 19
90 23
85 26
80 30
75 36
72 42
70 46
65 67
61 108
As a last note, please be respectful itt and keep the jokes somewhere else.
 

Joim

Pixels matter
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>At the very least it's better than another Kangaskhan suspect.
kek

Guys, stop with the bullshit and let's discuss the meta. Disregard Darkrai: Smeargle. This Pokémon is now goddamn awesome. Want to keep awake? Nope because Smeargle laughs at your face with only Fake Out support.

Sweet Dreams (Smeargle) @ Power Herb
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Void
- Geomancy
- Baton Pass
- Ingrain

This with Fake Out, or Follow Me, which we all know is the most broken move in the entire metagame by far and it's a shame it hasn't been banned yet, makes your team night unstoppable. Only it is not, since Smeargle actually fucking blows and will die to a non-STAB attack from a Wurmple. That's why it's balanced, opens up a lot of possibilities and, well, the metagame would be just overall better.

Say YES to proposition Dark Void.
 
Darkrai @ Wide Lens
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Void
- Hidden Power [Steel Beams]
- Dark Pulse
- Protect

popped a mega diance that thought Magic Bounce was hot

Edit: Also...

Primeape @ Coba Berry / Kee Berry
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Protect
- Rock Slide

ya boi vital spirit primeape is the CT. Coba to beat flying things, Kee Berry to beat Kanga.
 
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Thoughts before I start teambuilding/ laddering:

feeling like there's gonna a lot of safeguard meowstics/klefkis on the suspect ladder... At the very least, I'm going to be using it. I'm also probably gonna run a fake outer that's faster than mega-k so if the opponent leads Kang + wide lens darkrai I'm prepared for the worst.

unbanning dark void is (probably) really going to restrict team building. Always having one or two solid counters to dark void on a team sucks, and having prankster safeguard won't even always save you since if they see your meowstic they'll probably try and save dark void for late game. From my experience most people don't really like using meowstic/Klefki since a dedicated slot to the support that they provide usually isn't worth it. Definitely expecting to see one on every good team though.

chesto berry seems like a better idea then lum if you're going to try and use that to counter dark void, since I wouldn't really want that counter using up its berry for any status other than sleep.

Wide lens max speed darkrai is probably best early game if the opposing team seems weak to it, and late game if the opponent seems relatively prepared.

While I was experimenting with darkrai under my own gravity + sleep team (which btw was the first I think), I tried a stally darkrai to some success, with sub/tect/hypnosis/dark pulse. Bad dreams damage is pretty good to keep sustained, and the usual set is a bit too frail. This darkrai was max hp and speed to try to stay alive and keep opponents asleep as soon as possible. Although the sub was only a good idea when it was paired up with fake out Sableye which would prankster gravity the next turn... Idk. Also that darkrai had lefties since hypnosis was 100% accurate. Probably not the best set but worth exploring, and the actually okay bulk would surprise the opponent.
Edit: I trusted @u, Arcticblast
 
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Sableye
Oh also, even without gravity, Mental herb Sableye is a great partner for wide lens Darkrai.
Fake out/taunt/quash/other move
Fake out to stop offensive threats.
Taunt to stop thundurus-t's and other taunters from taunting darkrai, or paralyzing/tail winding which would make darkrai too slow.
Quash is great for the off chance there is a Pokemon that is faster tha Darkrai, like Shaymin-S, and allows Darkrai to almost always go first, unless opponent has two pokes in that are faster than Darkrai (which is almost never) scarf darkrai is too limiting, and unneeded when you have quash support dB^)

Last move can be tect, night shade, etc. will-o not the best option since you want opponents asleep, not burned.

Even if this is a joke, it's an interesting concept ok
 
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I'm actually really excited about this suspect! After seeing Dark Void used in VGC for many years, I believe it will be actually be healthy for the metagame to add Dark Void, as it encourages creative teambuilding and makes Smeargle (somewhat) more viable.

My only concern with potentially adding Dark Void to the Smogon Doubles metagame is that it cannot be blocked by Wide Guard, so in most cases you must either outspeed the Dark Void user and kill it or utilize a Prankster Taunt user to prevent it from putting everything to sleep.

Also, DREAM EATER CAN BE VIABLE NOW :D

Darkrai @ Mental Herb
Ability: Bad Dreams
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Void
- Dark Pulse
- Dream Eater
- Protect

Mental Herb prevents common Prankster Taunt users such as Thundurus and Sableye from preventing Darkrai to put everything to sleep, and the Dark Void + Dream Eater combo destroys Fighting-types which are slower than Darkrai (Keldeo and Terrakion in particular).

EDIT: I hate April Fools Day, I actually wanted Dark Void to be tested
 
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I'm not doing any laddering at all until tomorrow since I'm 99% sure this is a joke. Anyway, if this is legit, I'm strongly against this because I think that we should have a modified sleep clause (max 2 at a time), not suspect a spread sleep move! If it was single target I would go for it because it would make Darkrai better. I have 3 major points as to why this is a bad idea though.
1) It's spread and can't be blocked by wide guard iirc, so there is no way of reacting to it.
2) Darkrai is fast AF. It outspeeds most of the unboosted meta, so if it's supported right, anti fake out and taunt (Quick Guard), it's free to steam roll through teams easily.
3) Sleep is centralizing as it is, don't add anything else to buff sleep.

So yeah, I feel pretty strongly about this, so if it isn't a joke I'm definitely against it.
 
Even though this is a joke, it might not be completely terrible if it were just banned with Darkrai.
The only reason it's actually tolerable(still annoying though) in VGC is because the only mon that can use it is dog shit.
 

Tricking

MALDINI
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World Defender
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
Level: 1
- Fake Out
- Spiky Shield
- Dark Void
- Follow Me / Endeavor

Best support for a Trick Room team... PLS UNBAN IT.
 
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