[Guide] Stat-Based Tiering Guide

[Andyv2]

Seeing the Comp section showing signs of life always makes me happy. And you analysis also gave me new motivation to take forward a thing I was working on, so thank you. I really like your approach, as I believe that, although it can't be considered the most accurate way of analysing a metagame in Pokémon, it can give you a pretty good overview of the Dex and can be a great starting point for building a metagame. On the other hand, as everyone here said, including you, the guide has it's own natural limitations, as sometimes, in Competitive Pokémon, base stats alone can't determinate whether a Pokémon is good/viable or not. You have to factor stuff like typings and meta trends; is like Dragonstrike said, viability is pretty much always related to how the Pokémon fares in the actual metagame. Although I can't talk about the time when people used to hold in-game tournaments, I was there when the activity on the sim was somewhat high, and, for example, S51-A was probably the most used mon there; it was what Landorus-T is in the core-series.

That being said, I actually liked a lot your idea about Urayne-Alpha. I guess it would be a nice way of balancing teambuilding around it if you consider it as a "Mega" taking up a slot. Don't know if everyone would agree to that, but I would. Overall, awesome iniciative you had there, and I hope we have more from you, especially WHEN the meta develops.

Thanks Jabuloso. It will certainly be exciting to do meta-relevant damage calculations and look at/analyze actual usage stats when the time comes. I really do think the best way to start the new metagame is to give the benefit of the doubt where possible as to ban suspects, without completely discarding facts that we know for sure, such as how high/low a Pokémon’s base stats are compared with the rest of the Dex. After all, being too ban-happy also restricts opportunities for team diversity in the same way that allowing broken ‘mons in play does. I will fully admit though that I have very little/no experience in hands-on comp, but I am willing to participate and learn, even if it takes getting 6-0ed several times to do so. The only reason I don’t practice in the main scene is because there are quite a few new Pokemon since I last stopped playing the main series. Anyways, I am very glad I inspired you to take steps forward on whatever project you had on the back burner. I look forward to hearing more from everyone here as well.

 I agree with you about bans. We should first see if a Pokémon we consider to be broken and unhealthy to the metagame is indeed broken and unhealthy to the metagame. Of course, the probability of something like Urayne-B breaking the meta is high, but at least let the community experiment with it. Also, in some cases, I think making moves illegal in determined mons a good idea. For example, I don't think Inflagetah is that busted, as long as it doesn't have Belly Drum. I believe it's a good way to keep team diversity while also protecting the meta from the broken stuff. 

And you should give Competitive Uranium a try! I myself don't play the main series competitively since SM came out I guess - except for Little Cup, which I still played for some time -, although I still watch some content related to it. But as you see, Uranium for me is a completely different story. It's thrilling to explore the possibilities Uranium gives you. You should definitely give it a try. Actually, if you have any interest and isn't informed about it, the simulator just came back online, and people over there is playing a lot of randbats hahah. The link for the sim is https://sim.pokemonuranium.org/. Also, if you aren't there yet, you can join the Breeder's Guild discord; there is a Competitive discussion channel there where you can, well, discuss about competitive stuff and arrange some matches to be played on the sim. Hope we see more of you!!

True, we definitely should experiment with it. Yeah, I did read up on Belly Drum Inflagetah. There doesn't seem to be a reasonable way to deal with it once it gets maxed in attack. Even the bulkiest Tubareel can get OHKOed by ExtremeSpeed boosted by Life Orb with a lucky damage roll (it doesn't even need a crit). This can happen after just 1 turn of setup, making Inflagetah fit the Portrait of an Uber, but only if it has that move. Getting the conditions needed to max attack aren't even that hard either, contrary to what some comments in those posts might say. The player with Inflagetah, just has to switch it in at the right time against something that is incapable of 2HKOing it, use Belly Drum on the first turn, and then enjoy the sweep. Smogon does have a policy of "no complex bans", but I agree that it doesn't really apply in this case, since the Pokedex is already small enough as it is compared to the main series.

I tried the simulator link, but it is asking me for my Battle Link ID before proceeding, and I still get the error message in-game when I attempt to retrieve my Battle Link ID from the online lobby. I hope I can take part soon enough.