STONE AXE SUSPECT Stone Axe has been one of the most influential moves in BH since the Ceaseless Edge ban. Being able to guarantee setup Stealth Rock while being splashable onto RegenVest Pokemon has cemented it as an autoinclude on any team and shapes the entry hazard meta around it. Due to dealing damage and having 24 PP, Stone Axe wins the exchange against guaranteed hazard removal tools like Defog and Tidy Up, while its common presence on Regenerator Pokemon means its commonly run alongside moves like Knock Off and Nuzzle, which deter -ate Rapid Spin users. This leaves Mortal Spin and Rapid Spin as the reliable removal options, both of which are blockable and thus mandating at least 2 on bulkier teams, with one also usually being on a RegenVest Pokemon. As a result of the ease of setting and maintaining Rocks, RegenVest Pokemon are able to make progress reliably while being hard to punish, and thus Balance vs Balance gameplay often involve long pivoting sequences between RegenVests and repeated exchanges of Stone Axe and Spin, assuming one side doesn't straight up have a significant advantage by having the right spinblocker. The near-permanent presence of Stealth Rocks also impacts the viability and set diversity of any Rocks-weak Pokemon, especially offensive ones like Kyurems.
Stone Axe does have its merits in the meta. While it is very easy to use it to set up Rocks and influences the Spins + Spinblock matchups, it also avoids a Magic Bounce vs Hazard Setter matchup roulette. Despite benefitting from a guaranteed progress move, RegenVest Pokemon also cannot run Heavy-Duty Boots and lose on a lot of healing if hazards are up, limiting the most common users to Rocks/Hazard resilient Pokemon like Ting-Lu and Celesteela. The ease of setting rocks also helps limit offensive powerhouses like Blaziken and Alakazam from repeatedly coming in to eventually break past teams, and the limiting of Rocks-weak Pokemon can be considered a positive in limiting threat oversaturation.
These factors combined makes Stone Axe a controversial element in the current BH meta. Is it too polarizing and encourages unhealthy gameplay loops and matchup elements, or is it a fair presence with positive benefits and reasonable counterplay? As such, Stone Axe is being suspected.
Requirements:
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 Gen 9 Balanced Hackmons 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 BH before the test, full stop.)
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 April, Giagantic, dhelmise or a member of staff.
The requirement to vote in this suspect test is a COIL value of 2900 (b-value 5). The deadline for getting requirements will be <t:1772254800:f>.
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 achieved requirements and linked your account.
A supermajority (>=60%) of ban votes is required to ban Stone Axe from Balanced Hackmons.
TL;DR:
- The COIL value is 2900
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt of any name
- You must link your suspect alt with your smogon account using /linksmogon
- The suspect test will run conclude on <t:1772254800:f>
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