Alright everyone, I have a slight restriction change that I want to propose and get thoughts on: reducing the number of shared move required between the base and nickname mon from 4 to 3. I'll give some example sets that are
not legal but will be
legal if this change goes through.
Arceus (Volcarona) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-
Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Flamethrower
- Giga Drain
Miraidon (Raging Bolt) @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 64 HP / 28 Def / 252 SpA / 164 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
-
Thunderclap
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
Keep in mind that signature moves of restricted move such as Judgment and Electro Drift are still unavailable as they are not learnt by the base mons. You can also still choose to run 4 moves that are shared by both Pokemon if you wish. I'll now go over the reasonings and implications of this change. I'm sure that if you've tried making sets for this OM before, you'll find that a lot of the time, you're forced into running one or two suboptimal moves. I personally encounter this problem a lot, and even before this OM was approved I was told that this move pool issue might disincentives people to try this OM. Most of the time there are 2 or 3 moves that you're happy with running but you just can't find a good 3rd or 4th move. This restriction change's primary goal is to reduce the "feels bad" aspect of running bad moves.
Let's all be honest here: no one wants to run suboptimal moves. Adding suboptimal moves and using them in battle doesn't feel good. That's not all however, I think that certain moves are
Pokemon-defining, and restricting access to those moves would ruin the Pokemon's viability and flavour. For example, the Volcarona set above. Let's take a moment and imagine running Volcarona
without Quiver Dance. It's a dreadful thing to imagine isn't it? There are other examples like Ogerpon
without Ivy Cudgel, Kingambit
without Sucker Punch, Garganacl
without Salt Cure and many more. To be frank, these moves are synonymous with the Pokemon. By forcing these mons to lose their iconic move to engage with the OM mechanic, they lose a large chunk of their identity.
Now that I have put out my opinions why I would want to go through this change, I'll now talk about the two primary reasons why I wouldn't go through with it. The first is the "flavour" of the OM. Were this change to go through, it would mean that the nickname Pokemon would have access to an illegal move. It might not seem like a big deal but I think it goes against what the OM was originally about. The second and bigger reason which is related to the first is regarding balance. I think that a lot of people can agree that strong Pokemon are fun to use because winning is more fun than losing. I think that this change would significantly increase the power level of the meta game because not only are the base Pokemon are buffed thanks to signature moves/better moveset, the nickname mon is also buffed because it can have an illegal move. I don't think I need to tell you how strong giving an Uber mon moves like Quiver Dance, Thunderclap, Recover and Shell Smash is. If we were to go through with this change, I do believe that a lot more Pokemon or Moves will be banned. For example, I think both Urshifus
, Shell Smash
and Belly Drum
probably must be banned. You can also have stuff like Gigaton Hammer Zacian-C
and Boomburst Terapagos
which might be too strong.
As a final point, I would like to share some sets that would give you an idea of how big this change would be. Let's first talk about Miraidon
. If you don't know, Miraidon is one of the best Pokemon in Ubers. It wants to run Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Draco Meteor, Overheat, Calm Mind and U-turn. At the moment, the best Pokemon that can run this is Raging Bolt. With the new restriction, let's see what new Pokemon can effectively use Miraidon as a nickname.
can now run Thunderclap
can now run Shadow Ball
can now run Extremespeed, Hurricane + Thunder (rain)
can now run Wisp, Trick and Pain Split (no dragon move)
can now run Electro Shot
As you can see, not only is Raging Bolt better, but a plethora of other mons also become a lot better. Let's use another example: Ho-oh
. At the moment, Ho-oh is limited to Blaziken
and Talonflame
but with the change, we'll have:
can run SD, Close Combat and EQ
can run Roost
can run Extremespeed
can run Rapid Spin
can run Magma Storm
I hope you have a sense of the magnitude that this change would bring to this OM. Now, I would like to hear your thoughts on it. Do you think the team building would be more fun? Are you alright with a lot more Pokemon and Moves being banned as a result? Do you think that the "flavour" of the OM would be ruined by letting the nickname Pokemon have access to an illegal move? Do you think it would overall be a good or bad change?
