The Mix and Mega council has voted to suspect Solgaleo.
Gen 8 was the first Mix and Mega metagame in which Solgaleo was allowed to hold mega stones, and it's never been without its controversy. Solgaleo has excellent stats in every category, and mega stones add on top of that while overwriting its mediocre ability. Early on in the generation, Solgaleo tried to run Charizardite Y to act as a check to Kyogre, to middling success; once it left, however, Solgaleo founds its niche in running Metagrossite and Aerodactylite sets that could offer significant role compression while acting as a speed control or wallbreaker. Fundamentally, however, even with the differing stones and coverage move options, all of Solgaleo's sets did about the same thing and had very similar checks and counters. While its bulk and recovery gave it noticeable longevity, this didn't really extend towards breaking through counters, especially due to the inadequacies of howl as a boosting move. In more recent months, however, there has been something of a switch towards Calm Mind sets for Solgaleo, starting with Venusaurite and then branching out to Latiasite and Cameruptite. Not only do these sets have different answers and counterplay than the still-viable physical sets, even solely considering special sets Solgaleo has an increased ability to pick its own checks and counters, and can theoretically act to sweep an opposing team rather than just clean up one that's already damaged.
However, that's not to say there aren't counterarguments. Much like the physical sets, Calm Mind Solgaleo is significantly held back by its limited recovery PP, and unlike physical sets it is significantly less immediately threatening. Cameruptite Solgaleo is noticeably weaker than Aerodactylite, and it pays for even that performance with a significant cost to speed and the ability to turn a section of checks into setup bait that Venusaurite and Latiasite make use of. While Calm Mind is better than Howl, it doesn't ramp up the damage any faster, and between the lack of boosts to defense and the relatively low speed Solgaleo is vulnerable to a wide variety of physical attackers. There also lies the question of adaptation; Lunala was previously held to be in a similar boat to Solgaleo's current state as a special setup sweeper, and the metagame has since adapted to render it not only not broken but also not especially good. With an increase in usage of Pokemon like Sablenite Blissey, Mew, and Lunala to answer Solgaleo defensively, as well as Pokemon like Urshifu who can to chase it out and make progress, it's entirely plausible that given time the metagame will simply adapt to the new Solgaleo sets and it end up slotting into a healthy role on balance and bulky offense teams.
With this in mind, it's up for the community to determine whether this sun dog will live to see another dawn. Eligible Mix and Mega voters will decide whether or not Solgaleo will continue to be allowed to hold mega stones.
Requirements:
Requirements can be achieved by getting 80 GXE with 30 games, down to 76 GXE with 50 games on the Mix and Mega ladder. In order to participate in the suspect, you must create a fresh alt (creation date no earlier than 19 October 2022) with the prefix MNMSO at the start of the name. When you have obtained the reqs, make sure to post proof of your alt's record (generally a screenshot) in this thread, and if you wish to do so, you can also share your thoughts on the test here.
Code:
MNMSO Suspect- ✓
MNM So What?- ✓
It's MNM Soup- ✗
The deadline for this suspect will be just under two weeks from now, concluding on October 30th at 11:59 PM GMT +0 (7:59 PM EDT).
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 posted your reqs correctly. You must post on this thread in order to be tagged in the voting thread, however you do not need to include your vote on this thread.
A super-majority of 60% ban votes is required for Solgaleo to be banned from holding mega stones.
TL;DR:
- Solgaleo is allowed to hold mega stones on the ladder during the suspect test
- The GXE requirement is 80 and the minimum game count is 30, down to a minimum of 76 after 50 games
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt using the prefix MNMSO
- You must post your reqs in this thread, though the voting process will happen in a separate thread. You are not required to state your vote in this thread.
- The suspect test will conclude at 11:59pm GMT +0 (7:59pm EDT) on Sunday, October 30th.
- A ban vote of 60% is required to prevent Solgaleo from holding Mega Stones.
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