Hey all, I’ve got an idea for a new one I’d like some feedback on. Scrolling through the index, I don’t believe we’ve ever had a Baton Pass OM!
Edit: This premise has been officially submitted for OM consideration. Thanks to everyone who pitched in on Discord, and stay tuned. :)
Relay Race
1. Premise
What if the effects of Baton Pass were applied every time a Pokémon hard switches out?
(To clarify, the effects of Baton Pass activating apply only to manual hard switching. This does not include pivot moves like U-Turn, Volt Switch, Flip Turn, Parting Shot, Teleport and Chilly Reception, or the forced switches of Roar, Whirlwind, Dragon Tail, Circle Throw, Red Card, Eject Button and Eject Pack. These moves and items function as they do in standard play, and may prove invaluable at diffusing any number for powerful strategies. A Pokemon fainting will not transfer any stat changes or transferable status effects.)
2. Premise question-answer
Baton Pass is a historically controversial move, to the point where it has been banned in standard play in every Generation since the third. The ability to transfer stat buffs and Substitutes between team members is understandably viewed as game breaking. Metas that permitted BP often contained uncompetitive and lazily built BP chain teams, which would win or lose at team preview, solely dependent on their opponents’ ability to disrupt them.
However, the premise of this OM explores an environment where the effects of Baton Pass are a known constant every time a Pokemon is withdrawn from battle. These mechanics become an anticipated element of the game which can be adequately prepared for, countered and even exploited. You may find Baton Pass a blessing or a hinderance, depending on the situation.
A rundown on the move from the Bulbapedia page states that “Baton Pass
switches out the user, passing all temporary
stat stage increases and decreases on to the Pokémon that replaces it in
battle. Baton Pass also passes some
volatile status conditions, namely
confusion,
getting pumped,
escape prevention,
Ability suppression,
seeding,
Curse,
Substitute,
Ingrain,
Power Trick,
Heal Block,
Embargo,
Perish Song,
Magnet Rise, and
Aqua Ring.”
Now, you may be inclined to think that a BP OM would be brainless. “Just stack stat boosts and sweep!” However, this would be short changing the potential depth of such a format.
Is creating a full boost passing chain team worth it if every member of your team becomes afflicted with Leech Seed? What if the whole team’s ability is suppressed with Gastro Acid? Or is constantly losing 25% of health due to Ghost-type Curse? What if your opponent uses Perish Song? Confusion also becomes much more disruptive as it also cannot be shaken off by manually switching. With this in mind, pivot moves like U-Turn and Volt Turn gain new utility to remove such negative effects, but using them also forfeits any accrued stat raises and places the user back at square one.
Are physical attackers doomed to impotence when Intimidate affects the whole team? Could Contrary or Defiant be effectively used to deter this, or a shared Focus Energy to crit through the drops?
Is Unaware ignoring any kind of opposing stat changes sufficient to defensively contain the strategy? Or will they find themselves still overwhelmed by moves such as Stored Power, Power Trip, Psychic Noise and Heal Block?
Furthermore, if stat boost passing is everywhere, why not try stat debuffing the opponent? Moves like Snarl, Mystical Fire, Fire Lash, Thunderous Kick, Apple Acid’s debuf secondary effects are passed as well and become especially potent when transferred between teammates.
With all this considered, I believe an OM with Baton Pass being a core mechanic could create some wild interactions, inspire creative team building and spur some fun battle scenarios.
3. Clauses
Standard OMs, Sleep Moves Clause
Terastilization may be permitted at the launch of the OM, in order to explore its interactions with the format, and allow the community to decide if it is a good fit.
With the premise of the tier, I see no reason not to allow the move Baton Pass, with use of the move encouraging scouting in the instance of the opponent hard switches, and granting the user a momentum advantage.
Similarly, as Sub passing will be permitted at the launch of the OM, Shed Tail is also not broken, when viewed in this context.
4. Strats
I anticipate an offensive and balance focused OM, with the go to strat being stacking multiple boosts across Pokemon who would otherwise be unable to raise their own stats. Full stall may struggle to make waves due to powerful afflictions such as Heal Block, Leech Seed and Perish Song.
That’s not to say defense on Balance teams won’t have a place, as Unaware becomes very valuable in defusing opposing accrued boosts. Similarly, Phazers with bulk or Sturdy, such as Whirlwind Skarmory or Red Card Mimikyu. Haze itself is also extremely handy, making mons like Unaware Clodsire valuable.
Debuffing the opponent with transferable afflictions like Leech Seed, Curse and Confusion, as well as stat drops, should prove effective, as the effects cannot be removed simply by switching out.
The only way to remove negative afflictions is to use pivot moves, so U-Turn and its clones should have a place in the meta as a “reset button” on many teams.
Ditto may flip the script on stat passing Strats, and abilities like Opportunist and Dancer may be valuable for hoping in to copy anticipated stat boosts.
Magic Bounce is similarly handy, and Magic Guard blocks damaging afflictions such as Curse and Leech Seed.
Speedy Taunt and Encore users will be handy for disrupting strats.
Gastro Acid seems potentially strong, being able to cancel the opponent’s ability for their entire team.
Leech Seed will be very annoying, but counterplay exists in Grass types, Magic Guard, Magic Bounce and Gholdengo.
Ghost-type Curse should prove be very scary. For the cost of sacrificing half one your mon’s HP, you get to chunk 25% of your opponents’ whole teams’ HP, every turn, until one faints.
Aqua Ring and Ingrain may be valuable picks, providing entire teams with passive recovery.
Gholdengo seems like an S-tier mon, being immune to most BP transferable effects, as well as resisting Dragon Tail and immune to Circle Throw and Rapid Spin, who’s speed boosting effect is transferable between teammates. If it is not entirely broken, it would undoubtedly be centralizing to the point it would be near obligatory on every team. However, its presence could prove beneficial for the tier, due to its stabilizing effect.
5. Power Level / Quickbans
The starting power level is equal that of OU.
Following a bit of debate on Discord, the only unanimous Quickban the community deeemed necessary at launch was
Speed Boost. Free speed boosts for the whole team, in tandem with Protect and passing other stat boosts, are inherently broken and unhealthy. Prior to ladder testing, this is the only quickban I will strongly advocate for.
Other potentially unhealthy elements discussed worth keeping an eye one will include
Intimidate, which will limit physical attackers across the whole opposing team, but also having a degree of counterplay with the Intimidate blocking abilities, as well as Defiant, Competitive and Contrary.
Focus Energy may be one of the most powerful offensive tools, given increased crit chance granting a team the ability to break through offensive debuffs and defensive boosts, and on both sides of the attacking spectrum, no less.
Substitute / Shed Tail may prove problematic, but phazing and sound moves provide counterplay worth exploring.
Stored Power and Power Trip may be overwhelming, due to their compounded damage with shared stat boosts of any kind, making them ideal endgame boost recipients, and especially with their ability to break through Unaware monsters.
Gholdengo, Ditto, and
Kommo-O all may need to be assessed. Dengo’s Good as Gold ability blocks nearly all Baton Pass transferable effects and attempts at phazing. Ditto’s Imposter steals the opponent’s boosts for free, while also nullifying stat debuffs. Kommo-O has access to the best omni- boosting move in the format, Clangorous Soul.
Gholdengo - the innate immunity to status moves combined with the good typing and the possibility to get immunities to even more moves might be too much of a threat.
Last mon Kingambit <50s will have a very respectable 2.25x damage increase.
So what if all Pokemon could? What would happen to the meta? Would it stay the same? Would Pokemon that suffer from the 4-move syndrome finally get a chance to shine? Fun new strategies? Or would it just make the best Pokemon in the meta better and change nothing?
I would love for this to be Doubles VGC (Insert current format) and OU (Insert current gen).
The best meta-games have very simple ideas behind them... Almost Any Ability, Stabmons, Balanced Hackmons. It's just a cool "what if?".
berry
Eli
Instruct
(Encore, Status and Phasing)
