The mix and Mega Council has decided to suspect test Eternatus!
To anyone familiar with Mix and Mega's history, this suspect test will not come as a surprise. Last generation, Eternatus was suspected and banned twice, and already spent a solid portion of this generation behind bars due to council vote. You don't need to look far to see why - Eternatus is extremely fast, highly bulky, and deceptively powerful, with an excellent typing and coverage that allow it to match up well into the metagame. Offensively speaking, the only pokemon that resist Dragon, Poison, and Fire type attacks are blue orb steel types and the rare Heatran, meaning that into most teams Eternatus can guarentee at least some progress. When you add in the solid chance of poison from Sludge Bomb, even many special tanks like Blissey don't enjoy answering it. Defensively, meanwhile, Eternatus boasts key resistances to types like fighting, water, electric, and fire, but without the weaknesses to fairy or bug that hold back most other pokemon that describes. To make matters worse, Eternatus is free to hold an item, which can allow it to crank up its damage output even further with a life orb or outlast most kinds of chip damage with a black sludge.
However, it's not a one sided argument. Defensive Eternatus sets are often held to fill a valuable role in the metagame of punishing -atespeed and pivot spam, particularly from Red Orb users, while the likes of Slowking-Galar are immune to poison and can readily soak up its attacks. Eternatus' primary Dragon-type Stab moves, Dynamax Cannon and Draco Meteor, are both cursed with limited PP, and while Pressure has its uses it has a hard time stacking up with the powerful abilities most megas supply as a matter of course. Eternatus also suffers from specialization; it can be a solid tank *or* a solid breaker, but not both at once, and especially not if it also wants to be reasonably fast.
Taken together, does Eternatus rise to the level of being broken? Or is it just one more addition to the metagame that people will have to learn to prepare for?
Requirements:
Requirements can be achieved by getting 75 GXE in 25 games on the Mix and Mega ladder. In order to participate in the suspect, you must create a fresh alt (creation date no earlier than 29 Jan 2024) with the prefix MNMETE at the start of the name. When you have obtained the reqs, make sure to post proof of your alt's record (generally a screenshot) in this thread, and if you wish to do so, you can also share your thoughts on the test here.
Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will then outline a process of blind voting, which will be clarified once the time arrives. For now, follow the above "Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have posted your reqs correctly. You must post on this thread in order to be tagged in the voting thread, however you do not need to include your vote on this thread.
A super-majority of 60% ban votes is required to ban Eternatus from Mix and Mega.
TL;DR:
- Eternatus is permitted on the suspect Ladder
- The GXE requirement is 75 and the minimum game count is 25
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt using the prefix MNMETE
- You must post your reqs in this thread, though the voting process will happen in a separate thread in blind voting. You are not required to state your vote in this thread.
- The suspect test will conclude at 11:59pm GMT -5 (EST) on Sunday, February 11
- A ban vote of 60% is required to ban Eternatus from Mix and Mega.
To anyone familiar with Mix and Mega's history, this suspect test will not come as a surprise. Last generation, Eternatus was suspected and banned twice, and already spent a solid portion of this generation behind bars due to council vote. You don't need to look far to see why - Eternatus is extremely fast, highly bulky, and deceptively powerful, with an excellent typing and coverage that allow it to match up well into the metagame. Offensively speaking, the only pokemon that resist Dragon, Poison, and Fire type attacks are blue orb steel types and the rare Heatran, meaning that into most teams Eternatus can guarentee at least some progress. When you add in the solid chance of poison from Sludge Bomb, even many special tanks like Blissey don't enjoy answering it. Defensively, meanwhile, Eternatus boasts key resistances to types like fighting, water, electric, and fire, but without the weaknesses to fairy or bug that hold back most other pokemon that describes. To make matters worse, Eternatus is free to hold an item, which can allow it to crank up its damage output even further with a life orb or outlast most kinds of chip damage with a black sludge.
However, it's not a one sided argument. Defensive Eternatus sets are often held to fill a valuable role in the metagame of punishing -atespeed and pivot spam, particularly from Red Orb users, while the likes of Slowking-Galar are immune to poison and can readily soak up its attacks. Eternatus' primary Dragon-type Stab moves, Dynamax Cannon and Draco Meteor, are both cursed with limited PP, and while Pressure has its uses it has a hard time stacking up with the powerful abilities most megas supply as a matter of course. Eternatus also suffers from specialization; it can be a solid tank *or* a solid breaker, but not both at once, and especially not if it also wants to be reasonably fast.
Taken together, does Eternatus rise to the level of being broken? Or is it just one more addition to the metagame that people will have to learn to prepare for?
Requirements:
Requirements can be achieved by getting 75 GXE in 25 games on the Mix and Mega ladder. In order to participate in the suspect, you must create a fresh alt (creation date no earlier than 29 Jan 2024) with the prefix MNMETE at the start of the name. When you have obtained the reqs, make sure to post proof of your alt's record (generally a screenshot) in this thread, and if you wish to do so, you can also share your thoughts on the test here.
Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will then outline a process of blind voting, which will be clarified once the time arrives. For now, follow the above "Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have posted your reqs correctly. You must post on this thread in order to be tagged in the voting thread, however you do not need to include your vote on this thread.
A super-majority of 60% ban votes is required to ban Eternatus from Mix and Mega.
TL;DR:
- Eternatus is permitted on the suspect Ladder
- The GXE requirement is 75 and the minimum game count is 25
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt using the prefix MNMETE
- You must post your reqs in this thread, though the voting process will happen in a separate thread in blind voting. You are not required to state your vote in this thread.
- The suspect test will conclude at 11:59pm GMT -5 (EST) on Sunday, February 11
- A ban vote of 60% is required to ban Eternatus from Mix and Mega.