Resource Implementation Thread

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JJayyFeather

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Before
Conversely, if, ordering second, your substitution would cause the Trigger of an opponent's substitution to have its conditions met, but that Pokemon has already acted this action, then it is ignored.
After
Conversely, if, ordering second, your substitution would cause the Trigger of an opponent's substitution to have its conditions met, but that substitution has already had its Trigger checked, then it is ignored.
The above change to the substitution rules is effective immediately. This is just a hotfix covering a hole in what this rule was explicitly made to cover.

Additionally, the following is being added to take effect in all future battles:
Only one substitution can activate per action.
I believe as of now there's only one or two things that took advantage of this not being explicitly written correctly, but it has been a core rule of the system (and the reason there's a substitution priority rule) for as long as I've been here, so I do need to stamp it out here just to prevent this from opening holes in the future. Clever trick though for sure.
 

nightblitz42

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Battle Tree Mark IV is now open!
Changes include:
  • Lowered entry cost, adjusted rewards.
  • Shuffled ref Pokemon lineups for T1 and T2.
  • Additional RP mechanics: Instead of solving problems, the challenger's Pokemon can now get in the way! This allows for more meaningful decision-making on the part of the challenger.
  • New unlockables: Titles. Earn them by participating in RP Segments, and equip them to your Pokemon to expand your options!
Make sure to read the Signup Thread (as well as the Ref's Guide if you plan to ref) to get the full picture.

Also, note that for your first signup, you can claim RPT equal to the TC you earned from RP Segments in your previous challenge.
 

JJayyFeather

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Finally cleaned up that the PHB has had the wrong activation timing placement for Flame Orb and Toxic Orb.

Of note, it is now ahead of burn/poison-related effects. This is an intentional deviation from in-game, do with this as you will.

Effective in all future matches.

For current matches: Flame Orb and Toxic Orb still use the item's specification of "End of Action," but as the last effect to resolve at the end of the action
 

nightblitz42

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Electroweb: Updated Combo Classes from [Material, Shocking] to [Luminous, Material].

Effective in all future matches.
 

nightblitz42

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Hotfix:

Made various minor adjustments to the Handbook rules regarding Combo Damage Type and Combo Damage Category, in order to clean up an edge case where the Damage Category was indeterminate (Mixed Combo of two moves that share a Type).

This change makes it so that two component moves sharing a Type becomes a determinant of Combo Damage Type much later in the decision tree. This change should not have any unexpected rules implications, since when it comes to same-type Combos, using other determinants like Combo Type and move BAP will still result in the same outcome as before.

This change is effective immediately.
 

TMan87

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Pyroak's DAT entry has been updated to reflect CAP's buffing process:
  • White Smoke ==> Contrary
  • 7 SpA ==> 6 SpA
Please have your Pyroak profile re-approved in the PCT as soon as possible; you may not use an old/outdated Pyroak profile.
 

nightblitz42

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Hotfix/clarification to Hazard-Setting Moves:

These moves now specify that they set hazards even if the move misses or is blocked.

Effective immediately.
 

LouisCyphre

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Hotfix because you guys are gremlins.
:bright powder:Bright Powder
Reduces the accuracy of moves used against the holder by ten (10). Caps the accuracy of opponents' moves against the holder at 90% for all moves without perfect accuracy, before calculating field effects and Accuracy/Evasion stages.
yes, this hotfix does update the item name to have the correct modern spacing.
 

TMan87

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So apparently Nohface was completely revamped recently.
All Nohface users (which I'm pretty sure is only Florina Liastacia at this point) will have to get it re-approved with the correct profile. Updated stats are in the DAT.
If CAP pulled more shenanigans recently please ping me.
 

LouisCyphre

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1659074214718.png

As per the latest post in a long and prestigious lineage of Doubles-centric substitution complaints, the following Clauses will be made legal for use in Substitutions, with the following supporting rules to ensure they work intuitively.

Substitution Placeholders (The Short Version):
These substitutions are now legal:​
  • "IF any opponent is to use Taunt on you THEN use Magic Coat and push orders down."
  • "IF Weavile is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on any ally THEN use Protect on that ally."
  • "Only once, IF any other Pokemon has 10 or less HP remaining THEN use Fell Stinger on that Pokemon and push orders down."
  • IF no opponent is faster than you THEN use Fly (Evasive) on Weavile."

Substitution Placeholders (The Long Version):
Your Attack Clauses and Chance Clauses may use the placeholders when specifying what Pokemon they are watching.​
Your substitution's Trigger may include "any opponent", "any ally", or "any Pokemon", in the place of a specific Pokemon. If you use these placeholders in your Trigger, then you can use the corresponding placeholder reference -- "that opponent", "that ally", or "that Pokemon" -- in your Result.​
Your trigger may also include "no opponent", "no ally", or "no Pokemon" in your substitutions, but these negative placeholders do not have corresponding placeholder references.​
A substitution Trigger may have up to two (2) placeholders in it, and the same placeholder can't be used more than once per trigger. Attempting to add more placeholders makes the entire substitution illegal.​
When your trigger with a placeholder is checked, it is checked for each matching Pokemon. For each matching Pokemon, the trigger is checked, and if the trigger is met, the result is processed with any matching placeholder references referring to that Pokemon.​
Old method (4 substitutions):​
  • IF Mamoswine is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on you THEN use Protect on yourself.
  • IF Mamoswine is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on Serperior THEN use Protect on Serperior.
  • IF Hariyama is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on you THEN use Protect on yourself.
  • IF Hariyama is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on Serperior THEN use Protect on Serperior.
New method (1 substitution):​
  • IF any opponent is to use a damaging Ice-type combination on any ally THEN use Protect on that ally.
In addition, you can phrase a Placeholder with "any other" to exclude the substitution's user. For example, you can say "any other ally" in a Triples match, and the substitution will watch the user's allies but not the user. This works best with "any other Pokemon" for checking all other Pokemon's status for some advantageous situation. I'm not sure there's any possible situation where "any opponent" and "any other opponent" have different meanings, but it doesn't hurt to leave it in.​

You can use placeholder references in your substitution trigger if you use the exact corresponding placeholder first. For example:​
  • Legal: IF any opponent is to use a Damaging Evasive move AND you are slower than that opponent THEN do X.
  • Illegal: IF any opponent is to use a Damaging Evasive move AND you are slower than that Pokemon THEN do X.
Placeholder Check Order
The order that Triggers with Placeholders are checked with each matching Pokemon can decide the outcome of an entire match, so it's important that the rules for such checks are precise and clear.​
A trigger is first checked using the first Pokemon that matches each placeholder. If the trigger is true, the result is processed; and if not, the result is skipped (just like any other substitution). Then, the next matching Pokemon is used for the first placeholder (the first placeholder is "indexed forward"), and the substitution is checked again.​
Once all matches for the first placeholder have been checked, the next placeholder in the trigger (if any) is indexed forward, and all matches for the first placeholder are checked in order once again. This process continues until all matches for any and all placeholders in the trigger have been checked.​
Pokemon are selected for placeholders in turn order; accounting for modifiers such as priority, Quash, Stall, Trick Room, and so on. This is true even if the substitution is being checked in the middle of the step, and even if some Pokemon have already acted.​
If you can't make your substitution's placeholders to check in the order you would like within the above rules, you might need to consider a trigger without any placeholders, or reworking your trigger entirely.​
What Placeholders Can't Do
Placeholders are strong for compressing triggers would formerly take multiple subs, but they have their limits.​
If you try to protect "any ally" from "any opponent's" damaging Ice-type combination, your opponent can overload your substitution with two combos at the same time, causing one of your Pokemon to go without protection during that step and take a large amount of damage. Furthermore, they can try to beat your answer with other strategies, such as attacking with a multi-target Ice combo to push even more damage onto your team.​
In that instance, it may be easier to have each Pokemon try to protect themselves from combinations, which costs more substitutions but is much less risky. And with "any opponent" placeholders, it still costs much fewer substitutions than it would have using older methods.​
You can't further specify what Pokemon match a placeholder beyond what is permitted above. That is to say, you can't look for "any Pokemon except Weavile" using a Placeholder.​

Sub Repetition Rule and Using Placeholders Responsibly
Currently, the following rule helps keep substitutions from creating tangled, looping messes of activations and conditional changes.:​
For each Pokemon, only one of their substitutions can activate per action. (a.k.a., Per step, in the new terminology.)
This rule does not stop the same substitution from from activating multiple times in that step. This has rarely relevant before, even in doubles. There was no reason to care if your order that step was changed to "Use Shadow Claw on Alakazam" multiple times.​
This does become relevant with the advent of placeholders. Now, if each of your opponent Pokemon activate your substitution to use Fake Out on "that opponent", then you can end up hitting the second Pokemon to trigger your substitution and letting the (presumably faster) opponent attack without hinderance.​
Be sure to include modifiers such as "Once per Step" or "The first time" if you want to catch only the fastest opponent with a placeholder.​
Furthermore, be certain that you're careful with "do X and push orders down", with "do X on first instance and Y on second instance", and so on. If the trigger is met multiple times in the same step, then the result will be processed multiple times that step, which can create havoc with your orders.​

Lastly, since a substitution will overwrite your trigger each time it activates, performing a different action depending on the target can be very tricky to make legal. The following is a complex, but legal (and powerful!) way to defend against one, the other, and both opponents trying to Taunt you:​
  • At the start of the step, IF any opponent is to use Taunt THEN use Taunt on that opponent on first instance each step, and use Magic Coat on any later instance in that step.

These changes will be effective in all future battles.

***

Whew! That was a lot more than I expected to write for what looked like such a simple change.

Take everything above as highly experimental. This kind of substitution compression is always complicated at first, and Doubles+ formats are inherently more cerebral than Singles ones, so do not be afraid to ask any or all clarifying questions (of moderators especially) when ordering using these options!

also, feel free to @ me on discord or DM me on the forums if I accidentally a word and broke the whole thing
 
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nightblitz42

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The descriptions in the NDA for Perish Song and Perish Body referred to Doom a "Status". However, the entry for Doom itself was categorized as a Move Effect rather than a Status.

To clarify this inconsistency, Perish Song and Perish Body have had their text updated to refer to Doom as an "Effect".

This change is effective in all battles immediately.
 

LouisCyphre

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Hotfix coming in hot.

Problem: Currently, Sketch implies that it deletes all of the other Sketched moves your Smeargle knows, if you choose to claim moves. The actual behavior is that it discards all of the temporary moves you do not claim, but this could be made clearer. Furthermore, the information regarding the cost of replacing a Pokemon's Sketched moves is buried in random threads instead of where it should be most prominent: in the description of Sketch.

Solution: Fully replace the description of Sketch. Clarify the difference between temporary moves (Borrowed) and permanently learned (Sketched). Include pricing information for learning Sketched moves from ally Pokemon outside of battle.

Furthermore, introduce the keyword "Borrow" to refer to temporarily adding a move to a Pokemon's movepool for a duration. Eventually, this keyword will be used by moves such as Mimic as well.

Old and new description for Sketch, below.
Sketch (Old)
The user copies down the last move the opponent used, replacing one of the user's instances of Sketch with the targeted move for the rest of the battle. When claiming prizes, the user's trainer may choose up to three (3) Sketched moves to be learned permanently. All other Sketched moves are forgotten, and the user regains the corresponding instances of Sketch. Z-Move Effect: Raises the user's Attack, Defense, Sp. Attack, Sp. Defense, and Speed by one (1) stage, adjusting the natural stage.
Sketch (New)
The user paints themselves a set of instructions for the use of their target's last move.

(If the target hasn't executed a move since they last entered play, or if the user knows that last move of the target, this move fails.)

The user Borrows the target's last executed move for the rest of the battle, even if the user leaves play.

The user's trainer may claim a number of moves the user Borrowed each battle, up to three (3) or the number of copies of Sketch the user knows (whichever is less), to be learned by that user as Sketched Moves. The user unlearns that number of copies of Sketch.

Outside of battle, the user's trainer may pay 4 RC in the Prize Claiming thread to replace any number of copies of Sketch, and/or Sketched Moves, with that number of moves known by other Pokemon belonging to that trainer. These selected moves are learned as Sketched Moves.

Z-Move Effect: Raises the user's Attack, Defense, Sp. Attack, Sp. Defense, and Speed by one (1) stage, adjusting the natural stage.
 

LouisCyphre

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Clarifying the functionality of Magic Coat by changing its phrazing.

This doesn't result in any changes in function.
Magic Coat (Old)
The Pokémon quickly creates a barrier of magic that reflects status moves, non-damaging stat-dropping moves, effects like Taunt and Torment, and entry hazards back at the opponent. Reflectable moves are marked with "Yes" in the "Magic Coat?" column.

Z-Move Effect: Raises the user's Sp. Defense by two (2) stages, adjusting the natural stage.[/quote)
Magic Coat (New)
The Pokémon quickly creates a barrier of magic that reflects Status-category moves or combinations, such as non-damaging stat-dropping moves, effects like Taunt and Torment, and entry hazards back at the opponent. Reflectable moves are marked with "Yes" in the "Magic Coat?" column.

Z-Move Effect: Raises the user's Sp. Defense by two (2) stages, adjusting the natural stage.[/quote)
This change has no gameplay implications, and thus doesn't need an effective date.
 

LouisCyphre

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*inhales*

Magic Bounce, as well, says exactly nothing about how to tell what it reflects. It even calls non-damaging moves "attacks," which is just silly.

Magic Bounce (Old)

This Pokemon has a Psychic sense that allows it to ward off non-damaging attacks as soon as they are launched, directing them back at the user.
Magic Bounce (New)

This Pokemon has a Psychic sense that allows it to repel certain moves.

Status-category moves or combinations, such as non-damaging stat-dropping moves, effects like Taunt and Torment, and entry hazards are repelled back at the opponent if possible. Reflectable moves are marked with "Yes" in the "Magic Coat?" column.
 

nightblitz42

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Hotfix: The following moves now have Combo Classes/Subclasses.

Thunder Cage
Dragon Energy
Freezing Glare
Thunderous Kick
Fiery Wrath
Eerie Spell
Glacial Lance
Astral Barrage

Effective immediately.
 

LouisCyphre

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When you DM mods with a rules question about a match, please add every mod to the DM so that someone with juridiction can actually answer the question. We each have different specialties and manage certain parts of the game more than others, so it's important to ensure your question reaches the correct mod. Don't DM just the RP head with a battle mechanics question.

The moderators of this forum are JJayyFeather, myself, nightblitz42, and TMan87. This list can also be found at the top of the forum unless you yourself are a moderator. (In which case, I'd really hope you know who the mods are.)

If your opponent in the match is a mod, and you're worried about revealing strategy details, exclude only that mod from the DM(and know that said mod could still be asked a sanitized version of the question, if they manage that aspect of the game.)

If you're a mod and you're DM'd a solo question, let the asker know that you're going to add the other mods to the convo before proceeding. This also helps avoid any "dad says ask your mom, mom says ask your dad" loops.

This (common sense) clarification is to ensure matches don't stall on a question for extended periods of time.
 

LouisCyphre

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Currently, items such as Red Card erroneously state,
To activate it use the trigger syntax or anything similar, without it taking a sub slot.
As instructed, I am patching out this issue. See the adjusted descriptions below.
Red Card
After being struck by an opposing Pokemon's attack, during that action, this may be activated by the player without using an action. To activate it use one of the trigger provided phrases without it taking a sub slot. The player can specify an attack, an opponent or make it activate after any attack. When activated, this item is consumed and the activating Pokemon may do any one of the following:
1: Guarantee that the opposing Pokemon cannot dodge the Pokemon's next action
2: Apply Phazing to the opponent.
This change limits the item's holder to a single trigger substitution per set of orders, and limits them to exactly the provided triggers.

This change applies to Eject Button, Eject Pack, and any other item with a list of provided trigger phrases that are used as bonus substitutions.

Contrast items such as Gems, where the trigger is simply whether to enhance an attack using a Gem or not.

This change is effective in all future matches.
 

LouisCyphre

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Aaaaaaand in the fastest turn-around time between implementations, I must hotfix clarify what ability-copying does.

Trace (Old)
When entering into battle, this Pokemon can copy an ability on one of its opponents for 6 EN. This effect only triggers if the ability to be copied is specified when the Pokemon is sent out. When facing a Pokemon with Trace, the Player sending out last must send out the Pokemon without orders, in order to give the opponent the opportunity to trigger Trace and any orders eventually given will be ignored until given the opportunity for trace to be triggered. The ability remains on the Pokemon for six (6) actions.
Trace (New)
The Pokemon is able to imitate the abilities of other Pokemon.

The user gains the command "Activate Trace".

After this Pokemon enters play: The user's trainer may have the user Activate Trace as a triggered action; furthermore, order posts are postponed until the user's trainer has posted to either Activate Trace or to decline.
(Multiple instances of Trace resolve in the order that their users entered play.)

Command: Activate Trace
● --- BAP, 5 En, typeless, --- Acc, Status, CT: None.
● (To order this command, select an opponent's ability that the user doesn't currently have. If no such ability exists, this command fails.)
● Discards any Trace status from the user, then grants the user a unique status for their next six (6) turns with the following effects:
- When this condition is created: Note the specified ability on this status.
- The user has the specified ability.
Skill Swap
The user fires up to three beams that connect with the target(s). Each beam switches one of the user's Abilities with one of the target's. Each beam must be resolved fully before the next beam may be processed. This effect only exchanges the abilities themselves, and not any effects associated with them. If the match rules include All Abilities, and the target has at least two more abilities than the user, they may elect to give their targets nothing in exchange for the stolen Ability. When a Pokemon affected by Skill Swap leaves play, their Abilities are restored to normal.
Role Play
The user mimics the fighting style of the target. The user gains an effect that suppresses their own abilities and gains grants them the abilities of their target for six (6) actions. Inactive abilities, and locked Dream Abilities are ignored by Role Play. Only abilities active in the current match are copied in this way.
If there's ability-copying effects besides the ones here, please just figure them out ask a mod when it comes up.

The gist is that ability-copying copies only the ability, and not any extenuating effects (for the rest of this Generation, at least). None of these effects "change" the ability to have a duration or to have additional properties.

If you Worry Seed an opponent to replace their abilities with Insomnia, and then Skill Swap the Insomnia to another Pokemon, that recipient isn't affected "as if it were Worry Seeded". It just receives Insomnia, just like Skill Swapping from a donor Pokemon who has Insomnia naturally.
 

LouisCyphre

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bleh.

as written, trick required that both the user and target have an item in order to work. fixing below:
Trick (Revised)
The user glows white and the item it is holding (if any) is switched with the item the opponent is holding (if any).
effective in all future battles
 

LouisCyphre

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i had to petition the spirits in order to get this change rubber-stamped. sorry to S0L1D G0LD, Dogfish44, Doduodrio, TMan87 for the delay on this one.
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Hotfix change driven by the lacking multi-hit rules in the PHB. The relevant rule being this, from [Variable-Hit Moves].

Old Rule
Each hit of a Multi-Hit Move can apply any effects associated with the move. Roll the effect chance for each hit individually.
Problem: Combining any move with a multi-hit move multiplies every effect of that move by the number of hits. Self-stage changing, healing, hazard stacking, and more. All because one nonspecific line of text.​
Solution: Amend the rule to apply to only specific types of effects.​

Many different combo concepts were used to showcase the potential of new combos, back in November. Combo ideas included multi-hit Mud-Slap, applying Toxic Spikes to all of the teams in play at once, and more, and only some of these concepts made it into the final implementation for the Combo rules. The intent was for them to inherit the full properties of their component moves, including any effects that activate on-hit.

As an aside, the current state of move descriptions has made clarifying this rule very frustrating. For example, Leaf Storm says in part, "The attack is so exhausting that it lowers the user's Special Attack stat by two (2) stages, even if the move misses." While the underlined portion clarifies that this effect isn't dependant on hitting the target, BBP has no rigorous definition of effect types at this time.

Because we kicked that can down the road so many times (waiting until only this year to even begin work on such a thing), players left without 24/7 mod access to field their questions have to interpret these rules as they're written and hope. Seeing this line, and thinking that Leaf Storm's stat drop is both an "on-hit" and "on-miss" effect (rather than a result of executing the move) is a reasonable conclusion to make in the absence of such resources.

With this amendment, the rules for multi-hit moves will now interact properly with other moves' on-hit effects only.
New Rule
Each hit of a Multi-Hit Move can apply on-hit or secondary effects, associated with the move. Roll the effect chance for each hit individually.
  • On-hit Effects is in the term for effects that require that an attack successfully damages one or more targets. As a result, on-hit effects can be found only on damaging attacks. While other moves have accuracy checks, and can be said to hit or miss in plain English, this is not the same thing for the purposes of attacks' on-hit effects.
    • An example of an on-hit effect is Power-Up Punch's Attack increase, or Covet's effect to steal a held item.
    • An example of an on-success effect is Taunt inflicting its unique status, or Wake-Up Slap curing Sleep.
    • An example of an on-execution effect is Hammer Arm reducing the user's Speed, or Explosion fainting the user.
    • The draining effect of Draining moves is an on-hit, but since the healing cap of those moves applies to the entire action, activating these effects with multiple hits isn't very useful in practice.
  • Secondary Effects is used in the Sheer Force/Shield Dust understanding of the term: Effects with a numeric percent chance to occur on-hit in their move data, including 100% chances such as Dynamic Punch.
  • All such Secondary Effects are, inherently, on-hit effects as well. "Or" is used in the rule to make it more logical casually.
So goes this hotfix: effective immediately, including in current matches, for the rest of Gen 8 BBP. And this time, I'll even add it to the PHB for free.

This raises the further question of what, exactly, constitutes the need for a hotfix versus a mere patch. This is something we'll all have to sit down and think about in the lead-up to the next Generation and to next year's tournament cycle, both mod or otherwise. Please consider what sorts of circumstances warrant immediate intervention or the halting of a match, and which can be left to rock. For now, though, the tyrannical dictatorship will have to hold fast for just a while longer.
 

LouisCyphre

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camouflage changes you to the current terrain's type, if there is a battle terrain in play when you use it.

effective immediately, for the duration of gen 8 only.
 
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LouisCyphre

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for gen 8: Single-target moves that target Any Other Mon, whose descriptions say they influence "the opponent", are written with Singles in mind and are using the term as a synonym for "the target" or "the defender"

this does not extend to effects that mention just "an opponent", "the opponents", "each opponent", and so on. those phrasings are specific.

effective immediately, for the duration of gen 8 only.
 
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