The Yak Pen Showdown!
By Yak Attack
This is a home to my experimental Gen 3 formats (and Kantoification). I don't have many client changes because those are overrated. You can talk about ADV+/Hoennification/ADV Tradebacks here, since they're Smogon-affiliated (Solomods). Here's the gist of each format:
- ADV+: Solomod post / Role Compendium - ADV+ is a unique format where mons from Gen 4-9 that are related to Gen 1-3 mons in any way are added to the ADV metagame. This means no later Gen items, Abilities, moves, or mechanics are included, making the mons somewhat stripped down. Illuminate is given to mons with no Gen 3 Abilityavailable, and Normal type replaces Fairy. Megas are usable without Mega Stones, and Drizzle/Drought are banned. Gengar received Levitate again as I felt that was too central to Gen 3 to change. Also of note is tradebacks moves are given to Gen 1-3 mons. This makes mons like Flygon (Dragon Dance/Superpower/Signal Beam), Tyranitar (Superpower), Celebi (Thunder Wave/Leaf Blade), Jirachi (Meteor Mash/Baton Pass), Metagross (Trick), Swampert (Yawn), Zapdos (Heat Wave), and Gengar (Thunder Wave/Knock Off) even better than before. There are 3 versions of some of these metas: with Hoenn Gaiden Baton Pass (stat boosts are reset), regular BP rules (hasn't been updated to AgiliPass ban, yet: will do that soon), and no BP at all. I'm torn between HG BP/regular BP as the intended way to play it; no BP feels a bit forced but there's no real ladder so it doesn't really matter. You'll find the top mons ranked in the TeamBuilder. Flygon, Houndoom-Mega, Latias, Latios, and Sableye-Mega are all barely OU as they were a bit centralizing in OU play, so if I ever run a tournament, they'll probably be banned from that. They're still technically OU though, which is why they're in the "Tour Ban" section. Besides the aforementioned mons, Gyarados-Mega, Annihilape, Gliscor, Zapdos-Galar, Blastoise-Mega, Clodsire, Froslass, Iron Treads, Toedscruel, Walking Wake, Great Tusk, Roserade, and Sandy Shocks are all top spots in the new meta. I ran a draft league in May of last year; it was really fun, and we got to test out some sets, so it doesn't feels as obscure to me now. It feels like a good mid ground between Gen 3 OU and Hoennification, the next mod I want to talk about.
- Hoennification: Solomod post / r/Stunfisk post - Hoennification is basically an ADV+ clone where all Gen 4-9 mons are added, not just related ones. It is of note that if a mon had 3 Abilities that exist in Gen 3, that I chose the top 2 best ones. This also includes Dream World Abilities, so the legendary dogs and Zapdos get their Dream World Abilities (Chandelure did not receive Shadow Tag). Also, I changed Dugtrio's attack stat back to 80 so it could stay OU. This is not the case in ADV+ as it has been somewhat tested already without Dug and I didn't want to reshape the meta again. Some notable bans of fringe OU mons include Solgaleo, Garchomp, Azelf, and Zeraora. Since there are so many options, I can't really provide a great overview of the format. Tyranitar is still the anti-cheese king, but there's some a bit worrysome newcomers like Kyurem, Charizard-Mega-X, and Deoxys-Defense/Speed. As in ADV+, Blastoise-Mega/Iron Treads/Great Tusk are premiere spinners, and Gliscor/Clodsire/Froslass/Toedscruel/Roserade/Sandy Shocks premiere spikers, but there's also Tatsugiri-Mega (Rapid Spin) and Golisopod-Mega/Magearna (Spikes) to contend with. Overall should be a fun theoretical metagame for anybody who wants to test out ADV + later Gen mons without having to use National Dex to teambuild without narrowing down the moves/custom game for the challenge command. An Ubers version exists as well.
- ADV Tradebacks: Solomod post / (Role Compendium linked in the ADV OMs thread) - ADV Tradebacks is a what-if scenario where National Dex Pokemon can be traded back to Gen 3 to use moves and abilities they learn later, if those moves and abilities exist in Gen 3. This is a watered down, mid-ground version of ADV+, with prominent threats I described earlier being around, but no later Gen mons to be found. Flygon is still metagame warping (imo), and Tyranitar is still S tier. It's notable that Entei receives Sacred Fire as well. There's also huge Wisp/Knock Off/Superpower/Taunt distribution as a whole.
- Kantoification: Old Solomod post (no longer official) - Same thing as Hoennif, except in Gen 1. Useful for the "what if?" meta for building for Azure Version's "new mons" slates, or just playtesting a hypothetical metagame. There's a thread in the RBY Discord that I find this format useful for as well. Haven't done a whole lot of testing here, so everything that wasn't NFE/LC went to OU; there's definitely some quickbans that I have planned. I'll make an Ubers version once the bans get done, as well.
- ADV Revamp: This is a hybrid old/new Gen format that adds 54 later Gen mons and 24 later Gen moves to Gen 3 OU, with tradebacks. It is my attempt at improving the experience. I just coded this yesterday, it seems fun but I haven't gotten a chance to try it out extensively, yet.