Trademarked is suspect testing Zacian and Zacian-Crowned!
:zacian-crowned:
In a format where moves are abilities, a one-time Howl and no item slot is pretty pathetic. This can be pretty obviously shown by Zamazenta-C's UR ranking while Zamazenta base is banned thanks to Howl + STAB Close Combat alongside a Choice Band and extremely affluent coverage enabling it to unhealthy degrees. While Zacian-C obviously has a much better base ability in Intrepid Sword, this one-time nature is still very limiting and its Steel and Fairy STABs are much weaker. Not just this, but the Trademarked format sports an unholy number of ways to slow Zacian-C down. Defensive abilities are at the forefront of the metagame, with Reflect Corviknight defining the meta due to its ability to effectively halve the power of all Pokemon on the opposing side, alongside the likes of Withdraw Pecharunt, Iron Defense users like Galarian Slowking and Skarmory, Sinistcha with both its Strength Sap and Iron Defense sets, and the ever-respectable Dondozo also existing. There's also a very present speed control metagame present currently, with the likes of Shift Gear Revavroom, Scary Face Pokemon like Gouging Fire, Ursaluna-BM, and Kyurem, and the litany of Choice Scarf Pokemon like Landorus-T, Great Tusk, Gholdengo, Enamorus, Iron Valiant, Sandy Shocks, and Thundurus-T. This hasn't even taken account the fact that Zacian-C is playing without both an item and an ability if it switches out. The extreme 4MSS Zacian-C has should not be understated, either, with Play Rough being a near-requirement on sets in order to actually make progress. The final point to make is the current state of the tier - Darkrai, Iron Valiant, and Iron Crown are all extremely difficult to answer, and Zacian-C performs excellently into all three as a general rule, although these three all have some way to punish it.
However, there are some obvious issues. For one, it's still Zacian-C, a Steel/Fairy 700BST monster with incredible stats to boot. Not just this, but Zacian-C is able to ignore stat raises and remove screens thanks to its access to Sacred Sword and Psychic Fangs. The real kicker, though, is its access to Swords Dance alongside a 148 Speed stat, something that only Deoxys-Speed, Revavroom, and the niche Hisuian Lilligant, Regieleki, and Oricorio formes outspeed without a Choice Scarf or speed-lowering ability. This access to Swords Dance alongside great bulk and a phenomenal typing can easily make up for its lack of item and heavily awkward ability, letting it set up on most of the format and easily sweep unprepared teams. It shouldn't be ignored that Zacian-C is a phenomenal user of Terastallization, either, being able to either boost its Play Rough to crazy levels, turn Sacred Sword into a real STAB move, or simply run a defensive Tera like Dragon, Ghost, or Water to flip the script on would-be answers.
:zacian:
While Zacian-C excels at sweeping games, Hero Zacian is more well-rounded. A high but not unsurpassable 138 Speed, item and Ability freedom, access to Howl, and a mono-Fairy typing keeps Zacian in the role of a breaker, and the tier certainly has the tools for it. Almost all of Zacian-C's answers apply to Zacian-H, excluding the likes of Ursaluna-BM, Sandy Shocks, and Kyurem, and the mono-Fairy typing is actually very exploitable defensively. While Zacian certainly has access to a litany of moves like Sacred Sword, Psychic Fangs, Crunch, Wild Charge, Crunch, and Swords Dance, it, much like its Crowned variant, struggles with coverage. Pecharunt and Sinistcha both heavily shut down Zacian, Reflect Corviknight really limits the output of Zacian, Galarian Slowking effectively hardcounters, Revavroom can generally use Zacian as a free switch-in, and more. Most of Zacian-H's checks are the same as Zacian-C, just without the Steel typing, so explanations are less necessary. The main changes are that Dragapult, the tier's most prolific progress maker, can outspeed and potentially remove or neuter Zacian and Deoxys-Speed can outright OHKO Zacian.
This similarity to Zac-C does cross over to its problematic elements, though. Not having a Steel typing is, in some ways, a very minor tradeoff, with Zacian's item freedom letting it skyrocket past Zacian-C's damage and ability freedom letting it limit its checks and counters. Swords Dance Life Orb sets are absolutely terrifying, especially when considering Zacian's access to Iron Defense as a sidegrade, letting it be a very deadly threat that can quickly snowball out of control if not respected at the cost of significantly less power, bulk, or both. The combination of Play Rough, Sacred Sword, and Psychic Fangs is also very difficult to answer, with only the likes of Galarian Slowking, Sinistcha, and Dondozo safely countering these. Once again, there is also Terastallization to consider, although Zac-H has fewer solid options due to Fairy being a fairly easy type to hit neutrally.
In the end, it comes down to the perspective of you, the player. Do you believe that Zacian and Zacian-Crowned are healthy enough to introduce to the tier? Or do you believe that they are too oppressive to be legalized?
SUSPECT REQUIREMENTS
The instructions to participate in this retest are as follows:
- Create a new account on PS. You do not have to follow any specific naming convention, but your suspect account must have never played a game in SV Trademarked before this suspect test went up or you will not receive valid requirements (resetting W-L does not count for this—the account you use must never have played Trademarked before the test, full stop.)
- You can use /rank to check if your alt is allowed to get requirements. Whenever in doubt, type /rank and it will tell confirm if you are eligible or not
- At any point on your new account, use the command /linksmogon on Pokemon Showdown! You will receive instructions on what to do once you run this command
- Double check that you're listed as a voter here! If you aren't listed as a voter despite having valid reqs, please contact dhelmise, Giagantic, or any other OM Staff member
- If you have any questions about this new process, feel free to PM dhelmise!
Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will contain the link for blind voting. For now, follow the above "Suspect Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have achieved requirements and linked your account.
A majority of 60% unban votes are required to unban Zacian and Zacian-Crowned in Trademarked!
TL;DR:
- Zacian and Zacian-Crowned are being suspect tested
- The needed COIL value is 2850, with a B value of 2
- You can ladder on any name, as long as you have never laddered Trademarked with it.
- You must link your suspect alt with your Smogon account using /linksmogon
- You have untill <t:1787803140:R> to get reqs
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