Hello everyone! We hope you had fun with Linked during the month of March, but the game isn’t over. Welcome to the Linked Balance Test Tour!
The metagame saw tremendous development throughout the first course of our Gen 9 ladder and achieved relative balance within the confines of a Hyper Offensive format. The purpose of this tournament is to help determine if a few stronger defensive pieces could be added to the Linked OM, in order to boost defensive playstyles, shifting the meta slightly away from Hyper Offense, hopefully producing more team diversity and better overall balance.
Four Pokemon will be trialed for the duration of the tournament. These include:
Despite not having reliable recovery, Giratina and Giratina-Origin may potentially be the most impactful of the tested mons. In Giratina you would find a solid check to Rain and Sun teams, the oppressive Iron Moth, and notable Bulk Up users like Great Tusk and Quaquaval. Furthermore, Defog would remove all of screens, terrains and hazards, while also potentially enabling hazard stack of its own. Shuffle, status + Hex, and a strong Shadow Sneak are fantastic options to consider as well.
Solgaleo’s tools are an embarrassment of riches. With sturdy bulk, good typing, great utility in Trick Room, PsyFangs, Knock Off and Stealth Rock (among others), and Morning Sun it can attempt to wall, and with Teleport it can make a fine offensive or defensive pivot. Pinch berries and wide variety of coverage options might make it a potent lure. Another fantastic trait Solg might bring to the format is its immunity to stat debuffs, making it immune to Parting Shot, Screech, Fake Tears and the like. Its set up options are limited; it has Iron Defense and Cosmic Power but no Body Press, Calm Mind, but no Stored Power, which will (hopefully) keep offensive sets from going wild.
Lastly, we have humble Lugia. Generally agreed to be the least broken of the four to be tested, while bulky, its Multiscale is heavily nerfed by the premise by virtue of double attacks. It has boosting options such as Calm Mind and Curse, but weaker offenses. Still, perhaps Lugia’s impressive defensive profile might find some use in the Linked meta.This tournament will be best of three Single Elimination. All replays must be posted to the thread for a win to count. The length of each round will be determined by signups. The winner and runner ups will earn a prize of 5000 likes and instant suspect requirements should any of our test Pokemon be suspected in the future.
Resources:
Linked Forum OP
Sample Teams
Viability Rankings
Linked DiscordRules:
- Best of 3 winners of each round will proceed to the following week until a victor is decided.
- Changing teams in between matches is allowed.
- You are required to post your 3 replays.
- All Smogon Tournament Rules apply.
- Any change in tiering will not take effect until the following round. (This should not be an issue without a ladder.)
- Please use this guide while scheduling with your opponent.
- Use this challenge code for your games:
Code:/Challenge gen9linked @@@ +Giratina, +Giratina-Origin, +Lugia, +Solgaleo
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