Alright, this may very well have been addressed before but even if it has been the issue is still very much present. The point of this thread will be to discuss all things related to the luck aspect in Pokemon ranging from the obvious example of Swagger to less unusual things.
Sableye @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Foul Play
- Will-O-Wisp
- Swagger
- Sunny Day
I have recently won several tournaments in the Doubles OU Room with this Sableye, and the amount of hate I received for using Swagger was overwhelming. Before I go into why Swagger is on the set, I would like to preface this entire discussion with a simple statement.
Moves are included on sets to be used; therefor the move that is useful in the most situations is the best move to have on the set.
(I wrote that in a minute. If you see issues with it, feel free to bring them up and I'll edit it as needed)
Anyway, my team was originally a VGC team and Sableye was the last member I added as well as my least used Pokemon overall. Despite that, it played a vital role on my team with Sunny Day for my overall Rain matchup, W-o-W for power control in the games where I brought it and Foul Play to actually have an offensive presence on the field (and OHKO Blade-Aegislash, which the team in question was weak to).
When it came to the final moveslot I found myself staring down a lot of meh options like Fake Out, Quash, Recover, Captivate and Confuse Ray. The obvious option for the set was Taunt, so I added it. After around 30 ladder games, in which I didn't use Taunt a single time, I started to doubt it's worth. As I played more and more it became increasingly apparent that Taunt was not an asset to my team, and because of that I decided to test Swagger in that slot. My reasoning was very similar to that of Ben who's Sableye report can be found here. Long story short, Swagger is better than nothing and it gives you something to do when you'd otherwise have a dead slot on your side of the field.
Now, here's where the discussion starts. Can you actually blame a player for doing what is in their own best interest when it comes to winning games? Well, yes, you can. The real question is "Should you?" I have won games that I would have lost otherwise by Swaggering things. Like I said, I could run Taunt in that slot but it would be detrimental overall. This all leads to one simple fact:
In some situations running and using luck based moves are your best option. Furthermore, removing luck based moves in those situations would make the team less competitive overall.
I know that one's a bit of a large claim, but Pokemon is a game with both elements of skill and luck. If you feel that ignoring or disregarding an entire aspect of the game is to your benefit, then I don't believe there's much more to say. If, however, you recognize that skill alone does not determine games then you can capitalize on the resources that the game presents to you.
So, what are your thoughts?
Sableye @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Foul Play
- Will-O-Wisp
- Swagger
- Sunny Day
I have recently won several tournaments in the Doubles OU Room with this Sableye, and the amount of hate I received for using Swagger was overwhelming. Before I go into why Swagger is on the set, I would like to preface this entire discussion with a simple statement.
Moves are included on sets to be used; therefor the move that is useful in the most situations is the best move to have on the set.
(I wrote that in a minute. If you see issues with it, feel free to bring them up and I'll edit it as needed)
Anyway, my team was originally a VGC team and Sableye was the last member I added as well as my least used Pokemon overall. Despite that, it played a vital role on my team with Sunny Day for my overall Rain matchup, W-o-W for power control in the games where I brought it and Foul Play to actually have an offensive presence on the field (and OHKO Blade-Aegislash, which the team in question was weak to).
When it came to the final moveslot I found myself staring down a lot of meh options like Fake Out, Quash, Recover, Captivate and Confuse Ray. The obvious option for the set was Taunt, so I added it. After around 30 ladder games, in which I didn't use Taunt a single time, I started to doubt it's worth. As I played more and more it became increasingly apparent that Taunt was not an asset to my team, and because of that I decided to test Swagger in that slot. My reasoning was very similar to that of Ben who's Sableye report can be found here. Long story short, Swagger is better than nothing and it gives you something to do when you'd otherwise have a dead slot on your side of the field.
Now, here's where the discussion starts. Can you actually blame a player for doing what is in their own best interest when it comes to winning games? Well, yes, you can. The real question is "Should you?" I have won games that I would have lost otherwise by Swaggering things. Like I said, I could run Taunt in that slot but it would be detrimental overall. This all leads to one simple fact:
In some situations running and using luck based moves are your best option. Furthermore, removing luck based moves in those situations would make the team less competitive overall.
I know that one's a bit of a large claim, but Pokemon is a game with both elements of skill and luck. If you feel that ignoring or disregarding an entire aspect of the game is to your benefit, then I don't believe there's much more to say. If, however, you recognize that skill alone does not determine games then you can capitalize on the resources that the game presents to you.
So, what are your thoughts?
