I didn't realize you could freely switch out the double agent. That makes sense.I’ve considered the 3v1 being too lopsided, which is why I initially thought it would be better if the DAs would not be released at leads. Once you have to change Pokémon, you still have the option to Protect-scout to see if your opponent is controlling your Pokemon, and once you figure it out, you can swap them out again, still overrides your opponent’s move selection.
Still, this is a fair point. Thinking about it from this perspective, I optimal strat is just to scout and then sack your traitor at the first possible opportunity, or just pocket them in the back. That’s not a sound execution of the premise. Perhaps a mechanical change could otherwise help mitigate this? I feel like the premise is very interesting, and worth exploring, although it is challenging to execute.
How’s this for a slightly different take: Instead of fully controlling one of the opponent’s mons, each player gets 1 instance per game to control any the opponent’s Pokemon, similarly to a Z-Move.
In a Doubles Format, a single move betrayal could still be very much game changing, but it wouldn’t necessarily be so dramatic the other player couldn’t recover.
I like the "single move per game" version a lot.