We're doing things, guys. We're making great strides in competitive Pokémon, strides never taken before. We are bold enough to question convention, and smart enough to assess the results of our actions. But there's a middle ground there, one that can only be trod upon by diligent, dedicated feet. This is where our efforts are, perhaps, most important, but also where our efforts are the most enjoyable. Simply put, as of right now, our work is our play.
Based on the goings-on in the Policy Review forum over the past two months, our staff has decided to implement a ladder separate from the main ladder where we can gauge the impact of changes we make to the competitive Pokémon battling, be them additions of Pokémon to the standard metagame or removals. For some 4-5 months I have been throwing around the word "Suspect" in pokemon, and I will comprehensively define it here:
Any Pokémon, move or clause that respectively may benefit competitive standard or uber battle if moved or implemented elsewhere.
This statement applies to Pokémon, moves like Double Team and Stealth Rock, and Clauses like Species Clause and Evasion Clause. For example, we are first testing the removal of Garchomp from standard play, since it is the most important issue according to my Order Of Operations thread in Policy Review. We will play a "No-Garchomp" metagame for around a month. After that, we are going to let those of you who achieve a certain rating (with a certain deviation) vote after these month-long tests on whether or not you feel the Suspect belongs where it does. Though you may and should have questions, the main point as of right now is that we need you guys to play on this Suspect Test ladder in order for us to make our decisions with the most accuracy and fairness. Please post here with questions, comments, remarks on how happy you are that Garchomp is "gone", etc.
edit: yeah as of the night of August 10th Deoxys-S is gone too, sorry about your teams and stuff but it's the right thing to do because it is indeed a suspect
Based on the goings-on in the Policy Review forum over the past two months, our staff has decided to implement a ladder separate from the main ladder where we can gauge the impact of changes we make to the competitive Pokémon battling, be them additions of Pokémon to the standard metagame or removals. For some 4-5 months I have been throwing around the word "Suspect" in pokemon, and I will comprehensively define it here:
Any Pokémon, move or clause that respectively may benefit competitive standard or uber battle if moved or implemented elsewhere.
This statement applies to Pokémon, moves like Double Team and Stealth Rock, and Clauses like Species Clause and Evasion Clause. For example, we are first testing the removal of Garchomp from standard play, since it is the most important issue according to my Order Of Operations thread in Policy Review. We will play a "No-Garchomp" metagame for around a month. After that, we are going to let those of you who achieve a certain rating (with a certain deviation) vote after these month-long tests on whether or not you feel the Suspect belongs where it does. Though you may and should have questions, the main point as of right now is that we need you guys to play on this Suspect Test ladder in order for us to make our decisions with the most accuracy and fairness. Please post here with questions, comments, remarks on how happy you are that Garchomp is "gone", etc.
edit: yeah as of the night of August 10th Deoxys-S is gone too, sorry about your teams and stuff but it's the right thing to do because it is indeed a suspect