How GOOD was Sylveon ACTUALLY? - History of Sylveon in Competitive Pokemon

Sylveon is today’s Pokemon for our History Video! Tune in with False Swipe Gaming for this history of Sylveon’s competitive career! #pokemon #pokemonscarletandviolet #pokemonshowdown
PATREON!
/ falseswipegaming
Sources:
docs.google.com/document/d/1g...
The Official False Swipe Gaming Twitter:
/ falseswipeg
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - XY/Gen 6
7:54 - Gen 6 VGC
10:57 - SM/Gen 7
12:35 - SS/Gen 8
17:00 - Gen 8 VGC
19:09 - SV/Gen 9
20:58 - Gen 9 VGC
22:25 - Outro
Directed by Kellen
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Follow Me On Twitch!: / kellen_fsg
Written By
Kevin aka BKC
His Channel: / @bkcplayspokemon
This Bread Needs More Jam: / @thisbreadneedsmorejam583
Edited By
Connor Nguyen aka CDK
Follow Him: / cdk_1989
VFX Intro By
Ryan Gonzales
ryangonzalesfilmmaker.weebly....
Sound Designed by
Ryan Gonzales
Game Capture Artist:
DarkMusician
Follow Him: / of_darkmusician
Songs Used (List of ALL Songs used for this series. Some may or may not make it into the video):
docs.google.com/document/d/1H...
My Twitter:
/ kellen_fsg
Resources and Historical References
History of Rule Variants: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wik...
Smogon University:
www.smogon.com/
Maikiri
/ nbmakiri
Aaron Cybertron Zheng:
/ cybertronvgc
Pokeaim
/ joeypokeaim
Pokemon Battle Historia:
pokemon.s20.xrea.com/
Nintendo Cup 2000 Team Construction:
pokemon.s20.xrea.com/2nd/const...
Nintendo Cup 2000 Tier List:
pokemon.s20.xrea.com/2nd/2000/
Pokemon Japanese Battle Wiki:
wiki.xn--rckteqa2e.com/wiki/%E...
Sprites From:
www.spriters-resource.com/
pldh.net/dex/sprites/index

[@deltalord6969]

The fact that its ribbons are suggested to be made out of its own flesh makes this pokemon alot more terrifying in hindsight

[@JCBro-yg8vd]

Reminds me of the Pokemon Shaming video: "My ribbons are so pretty.... (Creepy voice) eSpEcIaLlY aRoUnD yOuR dRaGoN's NeCk!"

[@maneruloquendero]

I always thought of the ribbons as hair

[@AroluciB]

I just assume they are made of magical fur

[@lan5979]

Fairy Tentacles

[@GKoopa]

I mean, what else could it be lol This is like going "wow I can't believe machamp's arms are suggested to be made out of its own flesh"

[@TheAwesomeDarkNinja]

I still remember in early XY, they showcased one of the first battles involving a Sylveon. And it tanked a Politoed Hydro Pump in the rain. People were freaking out. Good times.

[@christopherballero866]

Pretty difficult to compete as a fairy type against: the Tapus, Azumarill, Clefable, & Gardevoir but Sylveon did pretty well

[@XxTheCupidKidxX]

Gardevoir thinks he's part of the team 💀

[@jetsettech8804]

Lol gardevoir.....

[@jimmyjohnjohnson9803]

What is garvedoir doing there

[@Randomlolstudios]

@@jimmyjohnjohnson9803hey, mega gardivoir was semi passable in early gen 6

[@jetsettech8804]

@@Randomlolstudios yea, mega gardevoir. Not regular gardevoir. Every mega was viable in some way.

[@ragnaricstudios5888]

Honestly I really loved Sylveon’s Cleric Build, but they ruined it by getting rid of Heal Bell from Eevee, and Gen 9’s been the worst in terms of status conditions, so Heal Bell on Sylveon would be a blessing

[@JohnZambarau]

aromatherapy florges too, Gen 9: Clerics Shot Dead

[@johnwaugh5372]

Yeah a lot of these move list cuts are just wrong

[@olivergro7105]

Gen9 is pretty much the best in terms of status conditions. Gen8 stall toxic was hellish.

[@chimuoma390]

@@olivergro7105 Kazemon/Zephyrmon/AncientKazemon VS Sylveon!Who Wins!IMHO,My Girl Kazemon Cuts Sylveon In Two With Gusty Blade!Thoughts?!

[@whyamihere5835]

@@chimuoma390 what does digimon have to do with this + shinegreymon solos

[@Chucky_Martinez]

The fact Pixalate is still here, but Aerialate is lost to time

[@tysondennis1016]

I wish GameFreak would give a non-Mega Aerilate, as it’s still in the code.

[@-libertyprimev1-902]

I know I'd be another Mega situation but I could easily see a Pegasus Rapidash transformation (whatever the regional gimmick may be) that becomes Fire/Flying with Aerialate...

[@xx_cloud_xx5055]

Sylveon carried me back in the X and Y. Might not be the best fairy type but it has a special place in any of my teams if i can run it.

[@peytongibbs2171]

While that's cool you have that attachment... a pidgey could probably carry someone through X/Y lol

[@bapbeepskull]

Honestly. Sylveon was pretty difficult to get for me during X&Y. I did end up using it in the recent generations and I gotta admit, it's good

[@fulgenzio89]

With Cute Charm I guess

[@amateraceon5202]

Sylveon is the single most competitively viable Eeveelution and second most popular in general after Umbreon Glaceon's biggest achievement is getting voted number 15 in a recent Japan only popularity poll limited to only mons in SV, and it was still third highest after Umbreon and Sylveon, because life just isn't fair

[@greenmcbean6429]

Yeah, but no matter what, Glaceon will ALWAYS be the *coolest* Eeveelution.

[@powerfulberry237]

​@@greenmcbean6429not as fire as flareon

[@danielbrooks9728]

Espeon with magic bounce🗿🗿🗿🗿

[@delicioushitlist]

Leafeon?

[@IschmarVI]

kinda hard to assess the "most viable" thing. True, Sylveon is consistently the highest ranking of the eeveelutions ever since its introduction but on the other hand, Vaporeon and Jolteon have been genuine OU threats at some point, so I guess it depends on one's definition of what qualifies as the "most viable" a pokemon has been.

[@TheWillrocks51]

Because of sylveon I got rank #1 in NU for the last two weeks during sword and shield before SV released. It was my specs cleaner and won me most games. It’ll always have a place in my heart

[@yuakim]

that is actually cray cray what!!!

[@Anti-FreedomD.P.R.ofSouthKorea]

There it is, an officially certified Pokemon by a Pokemon Master

[@Tanga34]

Honestly, Sylveon, Florges, and Clefable are prime examples of how good bulky, pure Fairy type Pokémon are!

[@baxterbruce9827]

Fairy Type has the highest average Special Defense of any type

[@IfYouNeedAnEdge]

Sylveon’s niche over Clefable back in the day was Hyper Voice in itself, because it helped it get past Sub sweepers fairly reliably, making it more suited to offensive teams that wanted heal bell/wish support.

[@FormOfKorn]

I do think it's fun when Hyper Beam sees a genuinely viable use on a mon, even when it's niche. It always got portrayed in the anime as the ultimate attack despite how bad it is in the games post-RBY most of the time, so I get a kick out of the rare occasions where it gets to live up to the anime's version.

[@heliumpai7627]

Yeah!! It's like the final flash in Pokemon form- It almost never works but when it hits? Oh boy.

[@lennartstockl5826]

I love how they had test tournaments in UU and were just glaring at OU to finally make it drop down.

[@KrizzlerYT]

I really like Sylveon . It fit perfectly with all the eeveelutions and has a beautiful design. It really embodies the Fairy types when it first came out. So we're getting a Dragon eeveelution in Gen10 right?

[@enoyna1001]

They're already late with that going by previous Eeveelutions

[@TaLeng2023]

Shisha something?

[@gregvs.theworld451]

@@TaLeng2023 Even better, a dragon Eeveelution with a slender body that's remisicient of the Asian mystic dragons with the orbs in it's claws would slap HARD. Or maybe design it after a Kirin. I think Growlithe/Arcanine are already kind of designed after Shisha.

[@constabrielbell4523]

Dragon sylveon must have a special evolution condition like idk defeating 50 dragon types or something.

[@King_Pyjamas]

x and y was released more than 10 years ago. its been more than a decade since we've gotten a new eeveelution. hopefully we get more members of the eevee line soon

[@maboigrandmaster2993]

iirc they said they dont add any new ones but one can hope and be wrong

[@getstackedxd6231]

Applin is gonna be the new eevee so I’m expecting dragon or grass with all the other types

[@Labyrinth6000]

@@getstackedxd6231leafeon is a grass type

[@Labyrinth6000]

It’s too bad the creators aren’t interested in giving Eevee evolutions that were originally based on physical attacks.

[@eeveefennecfox]

@@getstackedxd6231 leafeon is a grass type eevee hater

[@bluemew22]

What I'm getting out of this is that Sylveon was a threatening powerhouse and tank early on, and by the current day it didn't carry anything to unseen heights, but also never held anything back.

[@5v0lt]

Sylveon also often ran quick attack in gen 9 VGC, since that also gets boosted by pixilate and provided nice priority.

[@jordy7625]

The perfect weakness policy proccer.

[@alekruberry2939]

@@jordy7625not if you have 20 hp

[@AkaruiSora]

You know, I'd love to see videos about the types in general and how good they are offensively and defensively and how they effected the game in general. Like, 'How great was the Psychic type ACTUALLY'

[@dramaticScar]

They did that once with Ice types I think

[@Liliphant_]

That would be a good series

[@thelakeguardian8188]

Even now, I want to give Sylveon a hug.

[@MissinDaSylveon]

So glad to finally see how my favorite Pokémon of all did in competitive play. It did very well for something that’s so adorable!

[@sonofhades57]

We really need some new Eeveelutions at this point. There are so many types and feasible designs at this point that it's a disservice to not have at least one in Gen X.

[@bloomgaming6480]

You can't peak past Sylveon

[@TomJacobW]

@@bloomgaming6480facts

[@juanca2567]

Don’t ask for a new eeveelution. Instead ask for regional variations of all of them in one fell swoop. Regional variation Eeveelutions Eevee - Ghost type Vaporeon - Ground type Jolteon - Steel type Flareon - Dragon type Espeon - Bug type Umbreon - Poison type Leafeon - Fighting type Glaceon - Rock type Sylveon - Flying type 9 times 2 is all 18 types.

[@SolaricAngel116]

​@@juanca2567Instead of being mono types, it would be interesting if they still took their original typings to make a callback from their originals. The regionals being Ghost/Normal, Ground/Water, Steel/Electric, Dragon/Fire, Bug/Psychic, Poison/Dark, Fighting/Grass, Rock/Ice, Flying/Fairy for each of the respective regional Eeveelutions.

[@OSCnomore]

⁠@@SolaricAngel116Would be cool An idea I have that isn’t too unheard of is evolving the eeveelutions, making their stat total like 580 or something To incorporate the leftover type, uh, make a new eveelution? I don’t have a good idea

[@JareBear1]

Honestly, I think just giving it Mythical Fire back would give the moveset more variety, but why doesn't it learn Moonlight, or at least some other healing move? That way, it doesn't have to run Protect all the time

[@brendanboomhour7606]

You'd think it would get Moonlight, cause isn't it a Fairy type move since gen 6?

[@JareBear1]

@@brendanboomhour7606 Well, how long was Calm Mind out for until the Eevolutions got it?

[@brendanboomhour7606]

@@JareBear1 I'm honestly not sure, I'd say 5 generations at least, I think they got it in gen 8, I know they have it in gen 9

[@JareBear1]

@@brendanboomhour7606 They did get it in Gen 8. Still, you get my point

[@indiradevi8136]

​@@brendanboomhour7606only espeon and sylveon had cm prior to gen 9

[@clydezutell7450]

Pixilate, along with Refrigerate and Aerilate, had a 1.3x boost until it was nerfed in Gen 7 to 1.2x

[@justjoannak]

He addressed that in the text

[@dragonfromthejungle5367]

It was always confusing to choose my favorite eeveelution but that got solved after sylveon came.Thanks for making a video on my fav eeveelution

[@goldennugget2562]

Hey I was just thinking "why we haven't gotten how good was Sylveon" yet

[@playersnake]

Please do a theorem going over priority moves and their impact in battle. (Scizor theorem)

[@luliu4572]

Idk. That kind of falls under the Salamance Theorem.

[@ragnaricstudios5888]

@@luliu4572what priority move does salamemce learn?

[@bluebird4614]

​@@luliu4572 Can't say salamence because it doesn't have any. The theorem are named after mons known for it

[@darkness74185]

good news

[@paopaothesiopao995]

Thank you for covering one of my favorite Pokemon! I don’t even play competitive Pokemon and just like to watch how my favorite mons fare in competition 😂 Looking forward to more of your content! Also fingers crossed that Whimsicott gets in the next poll

[@skibot9974]

0:28 “one of Serena’s most important Pokémon” A pretty low bar when she only owns three

[@Pehk]

Will never not be mad we didnt get a second new eeveelution alongside it.

[@miikaroos3809]

Yeah, a Dragon-type, right?

[@Pehk]

@@miikaroos3809 Steel Actually (:

[@Unknownsoldier740]

I would love to see a buffing pass on all the evolutions. Maybe a slight boost to bst if they are feeling generous and a 3rd ability added to all of them. The fact that flareon is the only guts user who cannot be burned is just cruel (especially with how slow it is) Abilities I would grant: Espeon - Dazziling (or some equivilant. It can feel the future after all) Umbreon - Poison heal (Its pokedex references how poisonous it is) Sylveon - Special intimidate (let its feelers do their work!) Glaceon - Tinted lens (At least then it has a hy Leafeon - Grassy surge (Give it an excellent niche please) Vaporeon - Regenerate (Let this boy use is water ability to heal damage) Flareon - Fire Pixiate. It is really hot, make its normal moves fire Jolteon - Electric surge or electric gale wings

[@demiremi]

What a great idea. Hope Pokémon company sees your comment.❤

[@liveinamber1307]

Choice scarf Sylveon running Echoed Voice can obliterate most teams with relative ease. Thanks to Pixilate, STAB echoed voice's base power increase looks closer to 72, 144, 216, 288 and 360. Failing to defeat Sylveon in 2 turns or less can easily result in a one-sided slaughter.

[@inferno7892]

With speed support like sticky web and tailwind, you can even forgo Scarf for the Metronome item to create an even more dangerous snowball

[@leronch753]

Too bad you can't play echoed voice on sylv in gen 9 OU tho

[@paz8723]

If Other Metagames were a regular feature of these videos, Sylveon would have one of the longest features on the channel for their STABMons history

[@Alias_Linear]

Pixilate Boomburst go brrrrrr

[@Skellyplayz226]

why good RNG is everything: the Jirachi theorem

[@elbananitolokito]

Not exactly everything tbh, if you are faster than jirachi or have priority you don't have to go into the bullshit zone

[@aSUGAaddiction]

My favorite pokemon of all. I enjoyed using one through every playthrough of gen 6-9.

[@cobalt7248]

And the video regarding my favorite Eeveelution is up at last 🔥

[@milessmith2248]

Hi False Swipe! Love the videos, LONG time viewer. Do you think for the gen 9 sections of videos you could put common Tera types like you do moves? It would definitely be cool to see for lower tier mons.

[@neeko.b]

Love the Eeveelutions and been waiting for this one. Glad Sylveon’s had its success. The fact that it’s had niches in ubers is incredible!

[@rotomRASENGAN]

Congratulations for winning Worlds, Sylveon!

[@angel831]

I absolutely adore this pokemon, my all time favorite. 💖

[@firstnamenulllastnamenull1174]

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE

[@lynseyshrewsbury7973]

Awesome job on one of my most requested Pokémon! By the way, how GOOD was Eevee actually…in Little Cup?

[@agentblackbird9435]

What a cool Pokémon to cover on my birthday!

[@mattr75]

Nice to see all of the Eeveelutions covered

[@danielmaynard239]

I am a skeleton waiting for Seismitoad

[@spartanxbear9076]

Gosh I love this series

[@TryhardSteve]

Sitting screaming kicking my heels wailing gnashing my teeth waiting for a new FSG banger to drop

[@CryptidBunny]

Ive been getting into competitive this gen and using sylveon so this timing is awesome. Personally, hyper voice + throat spray boost to draining kiss has been a pretty good set for sweeping given good support

[@builderforce6096]

Finally one on my favourite pokemon! I love you pink rabbit!

[@vonbellum]

I remember being so excited when I got a calm shiny Eevee in X and evolving it into Sylveon, love the invesrse colour scheme.

[@matthewesposito6973]

I would love a separate eevee line that has dual types. Probably never gonna happen but cool in concept

[@rataarctica]

To me it's incredible how a pokemon so simple in concept is/was so good on competitive! Particularly on vgc.

[@davidlindsay8937]

FINALLY! After years of asking!

[@infernoprod8102]

Yep sylveon helped me out during Knoxville regionals! Got top 128 and made 124th thanks to sylveon!

[@DeckKnight]

Love CM Sylveon. Absolutely sits on every special attacker and hits back hard, and gives Wish support.

[@kacperkarbowiak6947]

Yes finally we are talking about my favrate eeveelution !

[@sayvionwashington1939]

FSG Video and KEP dropping on the same day? 🎉🎉🎉

[@ethan9593]

Can we get a video explaing all the competitive archetypes (wall, sweeper, setup, support, etc.). It could go over ideal typing, stats, abilities, etc. for each category and give historical examples of good mons for each.

[@tmen9008]

after 3 years its finally here

[@GiantBluebird]

My apologies to anyone who played Gen 6 UU and wanted Sylveon to drop sooner. I remember using Sylveon a lot in Gen 6 OU 😭😭

[@riirah1010]

Yes! So good to see Sylveon showcased c: my beloved

[@kanauso3706]

It's too much I can't handle how much peak this channel produces.

[@leahluostarinen]

I was wondering when false swipe gaming was going to do a video on Sylveon

[@tacomansam139]

Its a good day when you open up KZbin and see this video released 5 minutes.

[@set6749]

The "Most recent addition" came out 10 years ago 😮‍💨

[@JCBro-yg8vd]

This has been a long time coming. Now we'll have to wait for remakes of older Eevolution videos.

[@dahubbzgaming]

Pretty cool to see. Ive always assumed Sylveon was a fan favorite that wasnt over powered

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Truly a cute and very competitive pokemon and I say it's very good also this video was just absolutely 🐐 Hope y'all have a great day

[@MajorNoobGamingMNG]

Sylveon will always be a champion in my heart

[@autoteleology]

Well, you could certainly say that its presence was a huge factor in the transition to a brand new metagame inside X and Y.

[@h2ophreak]

Ha, I was one of those people using her in ORAS OU. Hyper voice and wish was better specifically for my team, especially against keldeo who was pretty popular and used sub often and she was good enoughat the other things clef was used for for me. I was top 300 on the ladder fwiw.

[@Ryanthemudkip]

Will always remember clicking boomburst with this thing in stabmons

[@GoldStorm07]

I remember putting Last Resort on a Pixilate gimmick set, going two games into XY OU, and only noticing then that Last Resort was a physical move.

[@Alduinhead]

I played a lot of Vincune in gen 7 uu and there were only two Pokemon that I would be worried about when Suicune was on the field: Latias and Sylveon

[@fulgenzio89]

Respect to all the people who used it in XY main game despite it having Cute Charm

[@breloompauncher5593]

Holy shit---I live in Charlotte how did I miss my chance to see VGC live?!

[@Juniperjungby]

I love its color pallete

[@lennartstockl5826]

I think Sylveon was the first Pokémon in Gen 6 where I looked up how it evolves. I loved it. I needed it.

[@indiradevi8136]

Quick update. Sylveon is incredible in NU rn. Prior to its drop Flores was the best mon in the tier. Rn flirges is at risk to drop to PU

[@jenisia3600]

About damn time

[@poppyfrancis7338]

Sylveon is my favorite eeveelution, being the strongest of its kin before they all got calm mind and having my favorte genre of ability with a genuinely good stat spread and not requiring a mega made it stand out even among fairy types

[@ShiroShouten]

Think the most surprising thing to me is that I never ever knew Hyper Voice ignores substitute, are there other moves with that property too?

[@kyklous3657]

Any sound move. Also subs don't block moves that are more the result of the pokemon behind it watching what the opponent's doing like Taunt and Encore though this seems to be a bit inconsistent like sub blocks Intimidate :/

[@penta_8726]

I'd really love one on Florges tbh

[@Sylveon27-dc3xr]

Aww Sylveon video finally, yay

[@wilianrodrigues5280]

Nice to see that Sylveon was a great counterbalance to threats that appeared in her tier.

[@njivwathomassilavwe2056]

Our adorable little merciless dragon killer

[@Glory2Snowstar]

I like creepy things with flesh tendrils. Sylveon’s a fitting face for such a great Type :) Thank you Fairy for helping us Poison drinkers out

[@melaniewilson1742]

I’ve used Sylveon in what little casual PvP I’ve done and in a few fangames I’ve played where hidden abilities are accessible, and one truth that’s been burned into my brain is that the combination of Pixilate and Hyper Voice levels whole battlefields.

[@cmpork7145]

Either revamp on Blastoise and Venusaur or an episode explaining how good Incineroar is would be nice

[@Matpit18]

The fact that Sylveon is still the most recent addition to the Eeveelutions is crazy. Almost as crazy as the fact that the games that it was introduced in are gonna be 10 years old this year.

[@giorosiles2220]

I can’t believe they had terra back in Gen 8 that Hax can only use back then😮.

[@Eldred91]

Sylveon put in work for me as a special wall + cleric back in gen 7 UU, good times. Disappointing that we haven't gotten a new Eeveelution since all the way from gen 6 though. I thought for sure that getting a new one every 2nd gen was going to be an established pattern since gen 2 (since we got new ones in gen 2, 4 and 6), but apparently no.

[@Gabry4777]

I'll wait for my favourite Florges!

[@Seetiyan]

Wow. I'm SHOCKED that it was in NU. Just always seemed like such a cool mon and a hard hitter with Pixilate.

[@Cheggg_]

If I remember correctly, sylveon was the first Pokémon i Bred IVs for and EV trained.

[@tktyga77]

I feel like it would benefit from a specially based equivalent of Foul Play and/or Foul Play itself, perhaps alongside some Ground coverage

[@davidkiknavelidze2130]

Patreons choose Gothitelle or Cresselia next, please

[@SpookySpectral]

was it me or did you talk about tera ground on haxourus over the gen 8 portion of the video

[@DJMama97]

Gotta love those pixilate protects

[@Klappe92]

Any plans on making these videos but for moves? I.e. how good was hyper beam or fake out actually? :)

[@reeceskinner2776]

Good vid

[@rosenrot234]

I miss having Heal Bell on my Sylveons. But I still love my adorable little dragon nukes.