Hey guys, what's up? Today I'm bringing you a more opinion based article, that I went out to back up with credibility. I was caught up in a debate talking about whether the use of Evasion moves was skillful. In my opinion, I said no. I argued that by making the result of a battle up to a percentage, you basically rob both sides of any skillful plays. Luck based strategies, mainly those that force a luck element into the game, honestly add nothing. The two strategies that I really focus on are Swagger/Confuse Ray and Evasion moves (Double Team and Minimize). Now, I won't lie and say these strategies are completely broken. They have a variety of counters. The problem that arises is that most of these counters still need to go through the Confusion/Evasion check. There aren't many sure-fire ways to prevent these moves. So to begin with, I'll explain various ways you can help your team overcome these strategies.
Swagger/Confusion:
First and foremost, Confusion is ended upon switching out. This may not put you in the best position, but it does work. Secondly, Confusion can be nullified by the move Safeguard, while bounce back to the user with Magic Coat. The abilities Magic Bounce and Own Tempo prevent confusion from working. In addition, Confusion won't work if you are behind a Substitute.
Evasion Moves (Double Team and Minimize):
Both moves have their own set of moves and abilities that counter. For starters, the ability Keen Eye ignores the Evasion stat. Also, the moves Haze and Clear Smog have no accuracy check and clear all stat changes. In the same vein as those two, Roar and Whirlwind are also viable options that send the targeted Pokemon out of battle. However, if your opponent is on his/her last Pokemon this won't work. Another move that helps is Gravity. It decreases Evasion by two stages for the entire field. If your opponent has more than two stages of Evasion, then you can still miss. Finally, moves like Aerial Ace, Aura Sphere, Disarming Voice, Feint Attack, Magical Leaf, Magnet Bomb, Shadow Punch, Shock Wave, Swift, and Vital Throw, have no accuracy check, so they will always hit.
Specifically speaking, there are a few moves that counter Minimize only. Stomp, Steamroller, Body Slam, Dragon Rush, Flying Press, and Phantom Force will never miss and their base power is doubled when used against the Minimize user.
Issues:
So while each of these strategies have counters, some issues will arise. First of all, you would have to run these moves and abilities in order to counter them. While most of these options aren't terrible, and you would find them on teams already, some are highly specialized. You will very rarely see Whirlwind or Roar in Doubles since it is a very fast paced format and not many people are setting up. The same thing goes with Haze and Clear Smog. In addition, Gravity really works when the team is made around it. Also, there are no Pokemon in existence that would rather run Keen Eye over another one of their abilities. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong here.
The problem with the list of moves that can not miss is that they tend to have lower base power, making them not useful in a normal situation. There are ways around it, such as Technician, but not many.
But this isn't my argument against these strategies. Quite the contrary. There is enough moves, abilities, and combinations, to counter these two strategies. My main concern, and arguement, is that these strategies require absolutely no skill to pull off. And once you get to higher levels, these strategies become less and less viable. All in all, these strategies add literally nothing to the game. What I want to try and do is convince as many people that they should drop these moves for strategies that will bring you far and will demonstrate skill.
The "Scientific" Study:
In order to have factual proof to back up my claims, I had to create a team that embodied this strategy. The team's goal was to win through sheer luck and a tiny bit of attacking power. I went through a few different Pokemon rotations, but finally settled for what was below. The few I switched out, I felt that they required too much strategy to actually pull off, thus disproving my theory. But, without further ado, the team I used:
Sableye @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swagger
- Detect
- Recover
- Double Team
Liepard @ Focus Band
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sand Attack
- Swagger
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dark Void
- Double Team
- Sand Attack
- Baton Pass
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Soft-Boiled
- Cosmic Power
- Minimize
- Dazzling Gleam
Murkrow @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Double Team
- Swagger
- Snarl
Klefki @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Bold Nature
- Swagger
- Substitute
- Double Team
- Dazzling Gleam
This team brought me a 9/6 win/loss record. It isn't impressive, until you realize I forfeited some games because they were complete stall wars. In addition, the first loss was due to what I believe was a glitch. My opponent hit three Sheer Colds in a row while his target was at effectively +1 Evasion. Either he was incredibly lucky, or there was some glitch.
The purpose of this team was to avoid damage with Evasion and make the opponent KO themselves with Confusion. I had some moves in there for stall breaking, but overall it was mindless clicking. I tried to use spread moves to make it even more mindless.
And when I say mindless, I truly mean mindless. As you can see in the battles below, I basically just spammed Double Team and Swagger, with the occasional other move. I didn't have to think twice on any move. And this is the exact reason why this strategy takes no skill. I could have been clicking Double Team for the entire game and still could have won. My opponent would either get frustrated or run out of PP and use Struggle. The reason I could do that, is because there's a chance my opponent will miss. So I bank on that miss. If you watch the battles, misses happen a lot!
Here are the battles. I would have gone much longer, more than 15, but my soul was drained after doing this. I was barely playing the game and it bored me. I also started feeling incredibly guilty against those who had nothing for me.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-142994981
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-142996178
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-142996609
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143000557
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143001783
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143007142
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143012481
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143014475
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143017373
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143019625
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143022714
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143041289
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143043525
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/xybattlespotdoubles-143048777
So thanks for joining me in a very long, fairly opinionated article. I hope I used enough evidence to back my claims. I also hope you guys know I took no pleasure from this!
~Ryan
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