Pokemon’s Power Creep Problem.

[@jimothycool]

I ranked every Starter Pokemon. You won't believe my Incredibly Controversial #1 choice. kzbin.info/www/bejne/omOygqqQq6umgLs

[@pigzard01]

I mean I kinda already knew it when you weren't mentioning it already midway through the video.

[@AnimationisTHEfuture]

2:12 we NEED to start hunting iron mugulis down again! we can use mabostiff to sniff it down masqerain to tie him up and toxapex to lay toxic spikes around iron mugulis so they cant save him! we can do this and end its rain of terror for good!

[@shinyhisuianzorua7828]

Power creep is so powerful that iron mugulis is RU, what a world we're in

[@XParasiteOctoling]

A shiny Pokémon out in the open?

[@cenci4913]

it's walled by Runerigus Doomed to ZU

[@wigglytuffenjoyer]

He’s definitely got a niche in OU but you really gotta watch out for Great Tusk, Clodsire, and especially Breloom who just annihilates him. Still that special attack and stab Thunderbolt are oh so alluring

[@presidenttogekiss635]

What lack of coverage does to an mfer

[@chrisfacchiano7356]

It’s because of its movepool it only learns thunder shock and milk drink. Idk why gamefreak only have a Pokémon 2 moves 🤦‍♂️

[@floofzykitty5072]

Gholdengo and Garganacl have hugely power-crept abilities. Old abilities would be like “sacrifice your first born son on the blood moon and chant a magic spell and something MIGHT happen” and new abilities are just like “you’re immune to all status for free and also you summon exodia if they hit you with super effective damage”

[@dragonslair951167]

Remember when a Pokemon with a really powerful ability would have middling or downright terrible stats to compensate? Shedinja remembers.

[@RedellaStrada47]

@@dragonslair951167 Or the opposite: Regigigas, Slaking.

[@theserpent8667]

Not to mention that the Pokémon you mentioned are ugly af, with some of the absolute worst designs I've ever seen.

[@ThirdXavier]

Ok this isnt true at all, some of the best abilities of all time have existed since gen 3. Arena trap, shadow tag, speed boost, drought, drizzle, huge power, pure power, sand stream, swift swim and I'm sure theres more crazy ones I'm forgetting. Then gen 5 still by far had the most ability creep: regenerator, magic bounce, sand rush, MOODY. Good as Gold and Purifying Salt are like on the same level as Magic Bounce and Magic Guard IMO which have been around since gen 5 and 4 respectively.

[@RedellaStrada47]

@@ThirdXavier I strongly disagree. Arena trap = diglett and trapinch Drizzle and Droght = literally legendaries Huge power = only Azumaril Etc. The only broken ability was Intimidate, becouse some good pokemon had it (Gyara, Sala, Arca).

[@randallb2179]

Sometimes it feels like Game Freak are playing a contest among themselves, a contest where they compete to design the most ridiculous way to break the game.

[@ivankrizanic507]

And since Gen 8 they don't really need to be accountable for it since they can just cut anything from the next game.

[@Sircoochie]

@@ivankrizanic507 i think it’s fun

[@raysay1818]

​@@ivankrizanic507and then proceed to sell them back to you because remember how much fun you had playing with them and they were and they weren't available last time so you should buy them now because they might not be in the next one either. Literally how the dlc worked for sword and shield hey you remember your old favourites that we cut from the game for entirely no reason well they are back now you just have to pay for the privilege of finding them.

[@christiancinnabars1402]

Raysay Mans talking like they didn't put certain mons behind a paywall since day one via version exclusives. At least nowadays, we have Wi-Fi and can get them with Wonder Trade, Online Trade, etc without even getting the DLC. Back then, either you bought both, or you had someone close to you buy the other version. Not saying either is at all player friendly, but you can't critique one without critiquing the other.

[@raysay1818]

@@christiancinnabars1402 I never liked the two version system. i think the only games that really pull it off decently in my opinion is Ruby/Sapphire and black/white and the sequels and that's because there was some bigger narrative changes in the game other than just you can catch this pokemon instead of this one. What urks me about how it is right now is that is that I can't have my old favourites in my current game unless it was specifically whitelisted to be in that game up to that point. There are some pokemon that will never be able to see the sword and shield game engine because they were never added and I think that's disappointing. We don't know what the final complete list of pokemon will be in S/V once all the dlc is done. what pokemon will never see the face of Paldea? we definitely don't know who has made the cut for whatever game comes next. So how do I know my pokemon that I carried from previous adventures will have any actual future relevance. Before dexit it was clear that they may not be obtainable in the wild but you will have access to all your old pokemon. So actually having a pokemon from a foreign region was more exclusive for whatever game we are talking about. This is how it could be right now they don't have to worry about having access to every pokemon naturally so then when people bring galarian pokemon to Paldea for example those pokemon are rarer because you can't naturally obtain them in that game. And dlc can still expand the pool of naturally available pokemon and the extra quest lines just as normal. I know this is long and I don't mean to ramble but it really seems like they are just arbitrarily limiting what is possible so they can sell expansions to the limit. I hope it's not that cynical but they aren't giving me much reason to not think that way.

[@n-man8208]

How Good was power creep actually?

[@eisendrag]

"whats that"-landorus probably

[@n-man8208]

@@eisendrag landorus is the power creep

[@OcRIPS]

And in this video we'll be covering these competitive formats: Smogon University VGC

[@theshatteredseas]

​@@n-man8208 landorus is the dam that keeps powercreep at bay.

[@n-man8208]

@@theshatteredseas i guess so unfortunately

[@floofzykitty5072]

The interesting thing about Paradox Pokémon to me is how they don’t have base stat totals higher than legendaries, but they show the power of min-maxing a Pokémon’s base stats can be greater than many legendary Pokémon.

[@wantu7816]

Except for the legendary beasts, and the swords of justice. Their paradox forms have 10 more base stats.

[@ShadowXeldron]

I'm calling that in Generation 10, the Route 1 Rodent will be have a BST of 9325 as well as an ability that makes it automatically set three layers of spikes, two layers of toxic spikes, stealth rocks and sticky web as well as granting it the power to talk to chairs.

[@senabecool7232]

And the Pseudo legendary will be RU or PU

[@misterbasileo]

Would have a small niche in ZUBL

[@Elijah-hz9ls]

And it's gonna be an "okay pick in PUBL" with a nieche in Untiered because of the Rapid Spin buff to 120 base power while also setting 2 layers of Toxic Spikes and removing status from all teammates

[@cinnamonsplash]

It will also be a Ghost/Dark type with a brand new ability that gives it an immunity to Fairy, as well as boosts its stats every time it's hit with a type it resists/is immune to.

[@felixdaniels37]

I think what really frustrates me about the recent waves of power creep os how Game Freak also goes out of their way to sabotage previous gen Pokémon to ensure that they can't keep up with it. Seriously, there's absolutely ZERO reason as to why Chansey and Blissey got nerfed as hard as they did. They were meta staples that could've cusioned the blow to a lot of these obscene offensive threats, but they had their movesets gutted to ensure that the new Pokémon could dominate with little competition. There's also no reason as to why Weavile got nerfed so hard. It was done for the sole purpose of shamelessly replacing it wholesale with Chien Pao.

[@clubstep8244]

I know it happened earlier but my boy Talonflame also didnt deserve it

[@vyor8837]

has anyone experimented with Calm Mind Icebeam/Blizzard blissey yet?

[@nift36]

Also Quagsire having *intentionally* worse stats than the Bozo

[@zevbites]

Well, how else are they going to make you buy the new games + dlc if they don't also make sure your good old favorites that had been staples for ages don't absolutely suck for the next few generations to come? 8D

[@usernametaken017]

​@@clubstep8244Your boy talonflame was found killing innocent orphans

[@dastardlydwarf6909]

I personally look forward to gen 20 where we get to customise a duel type for each pokemon and use 3 150 base power moves per turn

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

As if Gen 19 wasn't enough craziness. They buffed the box legendary every update. At least Claydol's new evo is cool.

[@XParasiteOctoling]

Gen 21: Introduces quad-type Pokémon with stab moves for every type.

[@pokepokenomi706]

And Lando T will still be OU with 50% usage rate

[@OmolonFluidDynamicsEnjoyer]

The Year is 2056, and just a few months prior generation 20 had been released. Now, many tiering shifts are taking place. Mega Rayquaza has fallen to NU due to being outclassed by Primal Shadow form Time God King Emperor Infinity Plate Legend Plate Arceus in RU. Mega Rayquaza has fallen below PU into ZU as it is decimated by pokemon bearing the new Infinity type, which dominate PU currently. M-Rayquaza is 32x weak to it due to its unfortunate Dragon-Flying type combo and many Infinity type pokemon having mold breaker, ignoring its delta stream ability. Miraidon is untiered, having fallen beneath ZU because of the new terrain "Infinite Terrrain" activated by "Infinite Surge" causing all non-infinity type (or pokemon touching the ground) to take an infinite % of their health in damage twice per turn. Chi-Yu is now PUBL tier after finally being suspect tested and banned by a huge majority. Great Tusk has now reached 101% usage on the OU ladder, with no signs of stopping soon. Rotom wash remains OU depsite power creep this gen due to reliably checking new infinty type pokemon and hovering above infinite terrain with levitate. And finally, news of a possible future DLC adding more broken pokemon to the new highest tier "EverythingEverywhereAllOfTheTime" (AKA "Goobers") is circulating.

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

@@XParasiteOctoling you know... It was scary when Game Freak celebrated finishing all type combinations in Gen 10 by making the regional rodent of Gen 11 Normal/Fairy/Ghost and the bird Flying/Steel/Electric. But that is a nightmare.

[@grunkleg.2934]

I've heard from people that play other competitive games like TFT that Pokemon easily has the most power creep. I imagine at some point, there's going to be a power creep plateau, where they really won't be able to make things more powerful without making the game completely unplayable. We're probably closer to it than we think, considering the Ruin Pokemon had their base stats nerfed in version 1.1, and they still ended up being problems

[@malakimphoros2164]

Gen 8 pure hackmons was absolutely powercrept by Eternamax Eternatus and 2^32 HP Blissey The end is nearer then we may have thought

[@Uranium-jj7le]

@@malakimphoros2164 2^32 hp blissey I need an explaination!

[@cryptooooooooo]

TFT is a bit different because the sets get rid of all the old champions and also change the mechanics, so it's not really a cumulative addition of options like pokemon is

[@joenoah2563]

@@Uranium-jj7le idk how it works but there was bug that gave blissey 65 thousand hp which also gave it a 65 thousand hp water spout, it still dealt only 1 damage to 0 spd defense eternatus lmao

[@nahte123456]

Yugioh laughs at what you call power creep. Hahaha.

[@Judgement_Kazzy]

I think most of gen 9's power creep issues stem from the fact that they introduced an evolution for Dunsparce, so they had to abruptly buff the rest of the roster in a vain attempt to keep up with his might.

[@n-man8208]

RIP Gen 8 Weavile

[@eisendrag]

Literally got everything it loved taken away from it

[@n-man8208]

@@eisendrag i just want it back man

[@tecul1]

triple axel is kinda dumb, knock off was kinda dumb to take away tho, at least give it like crunch or something, stuck using brutal swing 😢

[@goGothitaLOL]

@@tecul1 *stuck using Night Slash

[@bocajeijlem]

Swords dance beat up still does work if you plan accordingly

[@Bartre_God]

Gen 2 will always feel like it introduced like 80 useless mons with super weak stats (ledian is a perfect example) but then you have those few bangers like scizor who can keep up (got buffs in abilities though)

[@smolbacon758]

Gf should at least give older pokemon unique abilities to have their own niche

[@scottgillis3692]

​@@smolbacon758 wouldn't it have been great if in gen 6 when they made mega evolutions they used it to update older and weaker pokemon, instead of half of the pseudolegendaries and 5 already powerful legendaries. Like giving kangaskhan, beedrill, pidgeot and a few other weak mons megas was great but they really dropped the ball on that concept. And now here we are...

[@kelyansabz8865]

@@scottgillis3692 nobody wanted to play with those useless and weak mons.

[@leaffinite2001]

Gen 1 and 2 are singleplayer rpgs first, competitive games like 14th. There will always be pkmn like beedrill, who have niche use in game but no competitive viability, and if they do make every pokemon viable itd ruin the singleplayer balance

[@josephbulkin9222]

​@@leaffinite2001singleplayer rpgs first? Sure. Tell me more about how most mons dont even have acess to a move of their type. No, even then so many mons are made unfit for battle for some unknown .reason.

[@bigsammichthoughts]

It really just makes me sad that Tyranitar is no longer in OU

[@Nodnarb59]

No King rules forever. I'm sad Ting-Lu essentially replaced him for mono dark teams though.

[@dieallgemeinheit2247]

@@Nodnarb59 May be true, but Tauros remains OU in my heart :3

[@hessiankyojin]

RU days ago now back to UU 😂

[@BiffTheBanana]

The biggest example of power creep is definitely the dangerous Iron Mugulis

[@kefkapalazzo1]

Lmao stop that video always makes me laugh

[@flowerguy4764]

Iron Mugulis is actually unviable in competitive play, but it's a menace for society at large.

[@BiffTheBanana]

@@flowerguy4764 but I suspect it's only in such a low tier because no one wants to use such a villainous Pokémon

[@Aaa-vp6ug]

@@BiffTheBananait gets walled by BASTIODON of all things

[@MacMens0100]

I forgot where this came from but someone said every tiering action sounds like, "yeah this pokemon is mostly fine but its special ability break the game nukes any possible counter play and it using tera to be a water type doesn't help"

[@TheMirksta]

At least in smogon singles, I think power creep isn't too big of an issue, the tiering system allows most Pokemon to get more use than they would normally even if a better version is released because the original will simply drop a tier or two and find a new place to exist. Most of the Pokemon banned to ubers so far are usable there too.

[@elladunham9232]

bro tyranitar being UU is literally unbelievable. that pokemon was literally everywhere during the DS era

[@AmoniPaleo]

Another thing that should be mention Altho powercreep is a big issue... IT IS KINDA UNFAIR WHERE WE GET BROKEN MONS and old pokemon get tossed aside. This is something of an issue I see with new gen, we get new flashy and broken pokemon and older pokemon dont get much attention, not even some sort of buffs or tweaks and besides like regional Evolutions/Variants there is still some stinkers For instance, not all Starters have the same Stat distribuition, swampert is actually the strongest what it comes to stats, but what about Meganium? It is a forgetten pokemon that Gamefreak seems to not even care anymore, it is below average and It asks for some sort of buff, I am not asking for like broken abilites or like 300+ more base stats, a small buff would be an huge help Gamefreak changed abilities in the past like Scolipede having quick feet changed to speed boost and Beartic having a +20 points in attack And we have like pokemon that I bet are great stat wise but would do better if they didnt have such a useless ability, its 2023 and Gamefreak thinks Giving Leaf guard to Meganium is a perfect gamedesign decision while we have Garganacl with the most broken Abilities they introduced. Because as time goes on, some pokemon become more useless, seriously its almost has been 15 years and Luxray and Electivire are still like rockbottom Wich leads me to another concern I have We have Ou Uu Ru Nu Pu Zu now There are like alot of tiers, and with introduction of more gens and pokemon the list will be keep growing and some pokemon are just Untiered even with how many tiers there are, like NO GAMEFREAK SUNFLORA IS NOT A META MENACE THATS DESTEOYING OU, PLEASE GIVE IT AN EVOLUTION ALREADY, WHY BISHARP OF ALL POKEMON, Wich was an Amazing pokemon gets it, while Sunflora and Arbok dont? Sorry for this being a huge wall of text Jimothy, because I really like pokemon but I deeply wished Gamefreak put it more attention to balance and game design, not saying they did, we got some buffs and stuff but I just wished we had more reworks in some pokemon rather then having this huge flood of Power creep Pokemon that are so insanely powerfull that makes me question what were they thinking when designing Palafin and Iron Bundle for instance.

[@splitsee2526]

They should straight up just do balance patches, pokemon is as active of a competitive game as any other and I don't get why they let themselves not fix their problems themselves. I also like for them to give huge buffs and changes to pokemon in balance patches

[@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8]

@@splitsee2526 Pokemon has already dug itself a gargantuan grave in terms of competitive things, it seems like half the shit in the game is anti competitive in one way or another. Trying unfuck this sounds like an actual nightmare that will rock everything to its core

[@AmoniPaleo]

@@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8 As its Core pokemon didnt intend to be an Competitive game to begin with, gen 1 battles were added because the devs felt like a cute feature and eventually we created this big community and an actual way to play the game The problem is, some pokemon are cleary like more special then others. We aint asking much, just small tweaks to make some pokemon fun and not trash to use. Seriously, why cant all Starters have the same amount of Base stats? Why should the Johto starters be rock bottom? Why cant some pokemon deserve an evolution while Kingambit exists? Why cant some abilities that are absolutly garbo be removed or at the very least reworked, like Leaf guard, Illuminate, Anticipation and run away BECAUSE IN WHAT SITUATION THESE ARE USEFULL??

[@christiancinnabars1402]

The worse part is, as someone who has dipped their toes in ROMhacking a few years ago, editing the stats, moveset, and abilities of already existing Pokemon is easy. Like, it takes one non-professional person an afternoon to sweep through at least one generation easy. But Game Freak loves their patterns too much. Why do Slash, Night Slash, Psycho Cut, etc have only 70 base power? Because some employee 27 years ago put "70" in a line of code and they couldn't go back since. Why are Pokemon base stats always buffed in increments of 10 or 20? Because those are easy, round numbers, and they've only done so since Gen 6. Why do a majority of Pokemon retain weaker abilities like Illuminate and Keen Eye? Because someone slapped it on them back in Gen 3, and now it's the word of God. Game Freak _very easily_ can fix many old mons. They are just scared to because, at this point, I'm inclined to think they assume someone put some random base stats into a mon for a specific, surgical reason. As if Cherrim was at all a logical design.

[@sehhmie5483]

They nerf the shit outta greninja and still ignoring regigigas and slaking meanwhile they put palafin almost the same stats with easier access to it

[@stuckinabucket6873]

I love shortcakes take on iron mugulis but i cant help but miss the classic design that we all have gotten attached to.

[@tecul1]

tru

[@moke23]

You grew attached to iron mugulis? You are truly a nefarious individual.

[@stanley.m_c]

That iron mugulis art goes hard for no reason

[@NextWeeek]

Idk it’s sooo great!

[@chriskirby7198]

Competitive Pokémon would be much better if there were balance patches every 6 months or something

[@artimist0315]

Maybe not every 6 months but there should definitely be real balancing between opuses and emergency nerfs after every release. I just wished they remade an old game without any new Pokémon or forms, just so they can focus on balancing and making the universe coherent again. In older games, I noticed there was always two type of generations. One reboot generation where each of these generations were trying brand new stuffs with barely any link to past gen, think gen 1, 3 and 5, and closure generation where they tie the previous generation with the rest of the franchise, think gen 2, 4 and 6. That's why we got regional dex exclusions in gen 3 and 5, while gen 2 and 4 offered us legendary Pokémon that linked previous legendary together, think lugia, regigigas and arceus. These generations are very important as they help make the universe feel coherent and as one whole. But since gen 7, we no longer get those as every new generation is a reboot and this really hurt the franchise inner coherence and in the end, credibility.

[@omarphylaxgutierrez4602]

I remember Gen 1 being patched in Gen 2

[@CoralReaper707]

Real

[@noukan42]

Tbe problem with that is that the casual playerbase wilm hate it. I think loke 3% of the playerbase use either smogon or the in-game online battling. Are you sure what you propose is a good idea for the remaining 97%?

[@toadsagejacob7896]

So, Yu-Gi-Oh?

[@gustavorodriguez5643]

It's crazy to think that the behemoth that is Tyranitar dropped out of OU because of a bunch of salt and a prehistoric elephant

[@EggscellentTree]

Loss of pursuit

[@shatteredsentient5321]

​@Innocent Smile imagine the brought pursuit back and gave it to Spidops and Mightyena. Also, give Mightyena 80 more BST. 30 Spe and 40 attack. 140 att and 100 base speed pursuit user, he will not be made fun of no more.

[@EggscellentTree]

@@shatteredsentient5321 They might as well give him a new evolution at that point xD

[@goGothitaLOL]

and the deer too, can't forget the deer

[@mrtrollnator123]

​@@EggscellentTreehe lost pursuit in gen 8 yet he's OU in that gen

[@windwaker0rules]

I don't think its power creep in the sense that the power is used to make you want to buy the game because things like dynamax are more broken then tera and gen 5 rain teams and sleep are more broken then megas, i think its spectacle creep like how each entry in a movie series must increase the stakes and have something flashy, problem is that trying to make something more flashy is harder to make balanced.

[@victorycry8849]

Part of the problem with singles is that the game is being designed around doubles now because of VGC. Even then, VGC is struggling with Ting-Lu at the moment, so maybe Gamefreak just has no idea what their doing.

[@nothanksthough]

Gamefreak doesn't actually think hard

[@Meowzipan]

Gamefreak does not take competitive into account when they make Pokémon. That is why powercreep exists, because they’re more focused on the single player or casual-friend experience.

[@jblitz200]

Iron mugulis has grown too powerful we need to stop them soon

[@chino_7444]

other than the paradox and legendary pokemon i love how gamefreak made most of the new mons in the base 80-90 speed

[@TheFallfish]

Power creep was always gonna happen but this gen feels like they turned up to 11 with how many new pokemon are just blatantly overpowered

[@SuperErinMan]

Man, the beverage inside Iron Mugulis looks pretty good; I might need to take an Iron Chugulis

[@jimothycool]

I would not advise it

[@inferno7892]

You will be paralyzed

[@pookiegaming75]

Gen 9 def brought the powercreep up to 11 more then any other, even gen 5 (especially by nerfing old strong pokemon like weavile)

[@chaselowell4567]

I think an important part of power creep in Pokémon is the fact that gamefreak removed the tools you mentioned and more such as limiting Defog and some hazards weakening many Pokémon at the same time they introduced these ridiculous threats.

[@goGothitaLOL]

they did the same at the beginning of Gen 8

[@midend]

that iron mugulis art is amazing

[@Mudkip971]

I will say that the only benefit Dexit has is help Power Creep but so far we have to yet to see it being truly effective.

[@Aidenkun64]

We need a Showdown mod with Iron Mugilis

[@RowanEmporer]

I believe Ttar specifically would not be UU if pursuit was still in the game

[@tecul1]

tru....

[@kwayke9]

Because it wouldn't. That move is busted in 6v6 (but was a necessary evil to keep ghost spam in check)

[@ohno8774]

The way that gamefreaks powercreep and metagame imbalance has escalated and destabilised over the years reminds me of that Bolivian Tree Lizard bit in the Simpsons. Where an invasive species of lizard are killing all the birds, and Skinner wants to solve the problem by releasing waves of snakes to kill the lizards. Because then the snakes can be stopped by releasing the gorillas, etc etc

[@vala32]

The community deserves this meta. They voted not to ban Tera, and now they have to live with the consequences of that decision. Tera has basically the same problem that Dynamax has in that it makes offensive threats completely unmanageable. I'm not sure what people expected to happen? Basically any halfway decent offensive threat is going to need to get banned at this rate just to keep this gimmick. If people don't like all their favourite mons getitng banned, maybe be less shortsighted next time? Smogon brought this upon themselves too. The vast majority of high rated players supported action against Tera. But Smogon got cold feed because they didn't want to ban an obviously broken gimmick two gens in a row, so they let low rated players who don't have a clue about balance vote (which they normally don't do). What a shock to find that people who are stuck at low ladder made a bad balance choice. They frankly deserve the mess they inherited from breaking their usual custom of Elo-gating votes.

[@N12015]

You know how it goes the suspect test? Most people wanted it to be restricted via being told pre match. Also, Smogon is something to blame here, mostly the council both neglecting the fact is mostly an OU issue and the sheer fear factor who would have made people supportive of limitations just to decide a no ban.

[@tecul1]

this is the problem bkc said, the masses that voted for that suspect do not have competition in mind i'm not going to point fingers but content creators that also don't have competition at the forefront also contributed immensely

[@primosdesegundograu1204]

It’s telling something that between all of the new gimmicks GF has added since Gen 6, mega evolution is probably the most balanced. I loved playing Gen 7 and 8, but the more I see of this meta, the less i want to play it, not to mention i’m still salty over the dex and move cuts.

[@oofjeff3735]

Exactly what I was saying lmao

[@vala32]

@@N12015 The fact of the matter is most players worth their salt wanted some kind of tiering action taken against the mechanic. I agree with the majority there, that open-sheet should have been the first step at least, and was worth trying. Though I don't really think it solves the core issue of the mechanic, and it would have wound up banned eventually. Doing absolutely nothing? Well, this is the meta people wanted, so I hope they're happy with it.

[@canaldecasta]

"The game sucks but at least I get to enjoy PvP this gen" Not anymore.

[@lovelylunarlady]

Pokemon home will have it's own issues, but I'm hoping the counsel has a vote on what they wanna unban and what they think will still be too much for ou. I think they did something similar for the Crown Tundra in SWSH. Cause I remember Galarian Darm never being tested again in ou, for obvious reasons. Even then, previously already good mons are getting huge buffs when pokemon home comes out. Regieleki will be able to Tera Ice and get rid of it's one weakness, it's coverage. Both Urshifu's are getting Swords Dance and they'll get to abuse the new item Punching Glove super well since Wicked Blow and Surging Strikes are boosted by this item. Magearna also gets spikes now, as if it didn't have enough moves in it's toolkit. Pokemon home will be a WILD metagame, and I'm hoping it won't take long for it to settle down into a stable state but idk if it will.

[@amirrbah167]

But the questions is when is home coming, its been like 6 months since sv came out

[@jahealwatkis3892]

We all know basceligon getting banned day 1

[@jahealwatkis3892]

@@amirrbah167 should be this month thh

[@tecul1]

"early this year" i hope means latest june

[@austinpowers3659]

Unfortunate doesn’t begin to describe the problem of power creep in this game.

[@mr.tomato2699]

Even though you like the scald, knock off, and recovery move nerfs, it would make these new threats a bit easier to handle imo. It's nice not having to deal with a lot of defensive Pokémon, but it's made offense a little too powerful

[@primosdesegundograu1204]

The recovery move nerf was a huge mistake in my opinion, it only makes offense even more powerful by putting a timer on defensive pivots like Blissey. 16 PP was perfectly fine.

[@kwayke9]

​@@primosdesegundograu1204gotta agree. Regenerator was the issue, and is now even better

[@jadonteino3438]

TTAR is still good it’s just that we have no sand abusers to justify using it, meanwhile sun got so many different types of abusers (even water type) and it lost its niche as an AV mon when evil goldfish got banned

[@artistmaterial09]

It is kind of sad to see older Pokémon fall off completely. Nowadays modern Pokémon have broken stat spreads or busted signature moves. It doesn’t help that old legacy moves are gone because of home complications I think

[@stefankroon4615]

They removed Pursuit exclusively because they were unable to make it function. It crashed the game and they gave up on finding the cause.

[@catbear6183]

It’d be cool to see a video about the direction you want to see pokemon take going forward competitively. Like what do you think they could do in dlc or gen 10 to bring things back into check?

[@jdrmanmusiqking]

New Iron Mug design is cool in its own right but the OG design captures the essence of what Iron Mugulis represents.

[@stefanodelvecchio5926]

I solved my problem with gen 9 power creep by going back to gen 3. Finally choice band pokemons don't 2 shot anything that doesn't resist them, a gust of fresh air.

[@annaangelic2318]

I think that 6v6 singles Pokemon and its curation often has too many dynamic parts to fit neatly under the consumer definition of “power creep” compared to even other Pokemon properties with competitive elements like pokémon go or the tcg. Gen 8 / SS started out with an enormous amount of anti-creep where Pokemon like Hydreigon, Gengar, Zeraora, Seismitoad, Rotom-Heat, Mandibuzz, Terrakion, and more another chance in OU.

[@nigeltimothycruz244]

As a Tyranitar Fanboy, that thumbnail just stabbed my heart.

[@werbearjack]

Gen 9 seems to be designed with the thought "if everything is broken, nothing is". Many games have tried out this principle and it has not worked out even once.

[@ashyflame]

Marvel vs capcom 3 still has a competitive scene so what you're saying is utter crap

[@capivaravegana7377]

"Hopefully gen 9 OU will reach a point of stability in the future" This community is too opmistic

[@_roburpo]

it's hard sometimes to find the line between catastrophizing and legitimate criticism when ur so immersed in a thing like Pokemon but I like ur takes. great vid :)

[@Fred_Die]

All this power creep and yet they refuse to allow Slaking a way to remove its ability via move or item

[@tecul1]

i miss haxorus

[@Leuca.]

Removing Hidden Power just to introduce Terablast is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[@TheRealHelvetica]

The meta has never been the same since Iron Fellow dropped

[@bignelly9476]

Lugia and Dragonite are proof that while power creep cannot be avoided they can be heavily mitigated with good character balance.

[@justcallmeleonardo]

Offense is king this gen. Balance is still usable while slow team are kind of dead. It feels too much in some ways. Also, I do feel you a lot in the criticism you give to this gen. I too am growing really tired of singles' power creep. This gen is beyond saving at this point, only Gamefreak could fix it.

[@SpectroliteDS2400]

Funny how a powerful mechanic like Terastalization ends up just making the Pokémon that were *already* strong even stronger.

[@sehhmie5483]

Same with mega (as exception of banette and mawile)

[@Frogyeee]

Oh heavens, I was not ready to see iron mugulis in 4K quality, This is a truly frightening day

[@darthmorbus2389]

I feel like Home will actually fix things rather than make them worse. It will send in an influx of diverse mons which can knock some current mainstays down a peg. But out of the new additions I really feel like Urshifu, Magearna, Basculegion and maybeee Zamazenta will be the only really problematic folks. Home (hopefully) bringing back transfer moves would return a few options such as freeze dry, rapid spin and knock off to certain mons to deal with top meta threats.

[@ohyeawooyea7708]

Oh man I can't wait to fight Lando T every single fucking match again

[@TheZilla0707]

He brought back the longer outro theme, this has made my day

[@RainbowLizardOne]

Iron Mugulis is a better design than most of the future paradox forms

[@octopusoup]

My Arceus... Iron Mugulis is terrifying! It's just standing there, menacingly!

[@MJonMBoviM]

Ttar: "I'm still viable, right guys? Houndstone: "of course you are buddy"

[@gelamity]

Day ??? 4: Iron Mugulis has returned in a form we have not seen before. Everyone is more scared than before, the government began franticly prepping their military to no avail. All they can hope is for Pawmot to lend his power to revive Great Tusk with enough subscribers. However, there is also another pokemon known as Rabsca that can do the same thing. The government has not trusted me before like the last time with my suggestion of asking for Ursaluna for help, thus I am looking into this myself while gathering subscribers to get Pawmot's help as well.

[@ursaminor2732]

channel has gotten HUGE jim

[@piyushmenon4987]

That new look for Iron Mugulis is even more threatening than before! We must stop him at all costs!

[@mathewricafrente5984]

The question about power creep in Pokemon does bring about an even bigger one that doesn't get asked nearly as often: Is it a good idea to split Pokemon (as we know it) into 2 sub-series? One being completely focused on single player content and story, maybe with an open world, while the other is about online competitive battles with updates every few months and competitive formats.

[@socialistrepublicofvietnam1500]

We may need to hire Dragapult to finally take down Iron Mugulis, now that we know that it must be stopped as soon as possible

[@funkytoasts4768]

Looking at the natdex format we can see what will be strong and not. Annahliape is for example OU as mons like mawile, landorus, tornadous, slowking galar, urshifu rapid can break through anailape very well.

[@enn1924]

Keep in mind that nat dex has mega evolutions and z moves

[@pinnipes]

what can we even do about iron mugulis at this point? terrifying

[@jimothycool]

The situation is spilling over

[@LocoRoco2009]

Gamefreak’s idea of buffing pokemon is by giving it a second form, 5-10+ increase to *one* stat (sometimes they increase the wrong stat), they give it some new moves, maybe a signature move, or maybe some sort of uniqueness from the generation’s gimmick. And then remove 100+ moves, add pokemon that can do the same shit as X old pokemon *but BETTER*, and buffing a pokemon that didn’t need a buff, all while the pokemons that DO are left in the wayside.

[@Quixote3]

Obviously tera type changing itself, even just the threat of it, contributes to the rise of unstoppable offensive coverage. Tera directly prevents adaptation in the meta.

[@nothanksthough]

It would be way less bad if terra didn't let a pokemon keep its old stabs

[@MogusMasterSaikawa22]

in gen 2 they realized they set the bar too high with mewtwo so they turned him into sandwichtwo. I mean it makes sense going from a thematically deep well built up mysterious godly pokemon who lives in an elaborate labyrinth to a big pregnant bird sititng in a one room "dungeon" in between two cities and a slightly better big bird living in a much better but still incomparable to cerulean cave tower. Mewtwo made ho oh and lugia look like shit because they kinda are so they got rid of him but acted like he was still there by bringing sandwichtwo into the game.

[@redwolfcorprevamped8266]

Apparently even doubles (vgc) is screwed up because of Ting-Lu being tough to kill and having fissure in its moveset. For the longest time bulky sets were unviable in doubles but now you can live forever and kill things in one hit with your 30% move. Just because of Ting-Lu. :/

[@feuermatrix5649]

Maybe it might be worth it to do reconsider actions on tera (Either ban or team preview)? No longer having an out on the few checks would maybe make some of the big threats bearable in the meta. But then again, a surprise defensive tera type can also help to deal with them. I think at least testing an ou without Tera in a different ladder/metagame could be a good idea.

[@axtyrreyz578]

Personally tera is really good in OU, i like the OU meta we are in right now

[@mattzr1550]

Tera is a terrible mechanic

[@dastardlydwarf6909]

@@axtyrreyz578 personally I hate Tera it feels like I can play the game better than my opponent and I should win but then just cause kinggambit or something similar suddenly turns into a fairy type I lose. While it’s not always as drastic as that it’s impossible to account for every type a top pokemon can turn into especially when every pokemon on a team can Tera. For example I’m in an end game where it’s my great tusk vs a kingambit and I prepared y putting ice spinner on it so even if it Tera flying I win but oh no it’s Tera water and I can’t touch it now and I lose to a pokemon I should beat 95% of the time.

[@tecul1]

tera will be acted on again once home drops, and this time i hope its axed for good

[@aubueruser7228]

@@dastardlydwarf6909 you can just…predict? It’s a guessing game of wits for both players on the field.

[@TheGBZard]

To be honest I too have been growing a bit bitter torwards gf and tpc. I really don’t like how they keep trying to make my old favorites become bad and I know they could have kept the buffs for old mons I like, imagine if garchomp kept scale shot, greninja had old protean/battle bond mechanics and tyranitar has pursuit along with some other good moves

[@hyp7238]

ShortcakeStar is a legend for that artwork

[@jacobsejer4527]

The real power creep is the friends we made along the way

[@DarthNoshitam]

Jimothy: Smogon is a fan community The OU Council: The Senate will decide your fate Iron Mugulis: I *am* the Senate!

[@AnimationisTHEfuture]

2:12 we NEED to start hunting iron mugulis down again! we can use mabostiff to sniff it down masqerain to tie him up and toxapex to lay toxic spikes around iron mugulis so they cant save him! we can do this and end its rain of terror for good!

[@TheMasterBlaze]

I don't really think this is as big of an issue as people want to say it is because it's never the entire Dex that will stand atop competitive. It's only a select few and they have to compete with the other powerhouses that came before them. Yes, each power jump in each generation is unabashedly in your face and letting you know that the new kid on the block runs the joint, but were to the point that pokemon as to bar the rest of the dex so that the new powers jumps have room to rule instead of trying to compete with every old, but gold mon. For example what does Great Tusk do against Zapdos or Lando-T?

[@DeckKnight]

I don't know if Gen 9 is a particularly bad offender given that a number of Megas had to be banned, Z-moves eventually co-existed with said Megas, and Dynamax was straight up banned. Tyranitar's problem isn't power creep so much as Great Tusk is an even harder counter to it than Landorus-T ever was and the hardest hit TTar ever took was the Pursuit Dexit. Guarantee you TTar would remain OU eternally if Pursuit came back, even as a special attack like in Gen 3.

[@SuperMoonGamer]

I feel like the power creep this gen is insane. I’m not a huge fan of tera either. It’s all fun but Tera adds a variable that is extremely vague to competitive which in turn requires so much more work to counter. And it doesn’t act as a defensive tool by any means to counteract the power creep. It’s also why I didn’t like SuMo. Z-moves were just so incredibly niche that proper prep meant the game just is flooded with too many options. I personally think Dynamax was the best format because of its defensive properties to help counterbalance any set up, fix holes in teams that otherwise were tough to deal with and helped as a good comeback mechanic. I think however at this point competitive Pokémon is all off. They need to do what the wbe does. There are so many Pokémon these days that I think draft leagues are the way to go to keep unviable Pokémon, viable and offer a sense of competition that is unique versus pick 6 of 1000 who can defeat everything.

[@55miniben]

electrode, regieleki nuff said

[@felixselwood5630]

Do you genuinely believe that Electrode, a gen 1 pokemon that has always been borderline garbage because of it's bad offensive stats and shallow movepool. That mon that was NU in DP and BW, PU in XY, and went completely ignored and untiered in SM. It's REAL problem with being used was that regieleki exists in gen 8, a game where you cannot catch Electrode?

[@Squirtle_Squad_Supremacy]

They haven't existed together yet

[@55miniben]

@@felixselwood5630 my point is electrode is worse than regieleki in pretty much every way and is an obvious example of something being better than something in a previous generation objectively.

[@felixselwood5630]

@@55miniben It's a mythic pokemon. You'd kinda hope that it's a bit better than the PU mon that's never seen competitive relevance. The point's kinda silly when you consider that most pokemon are designed to be better than other pokemon. Raichu is designed to be better than electrode in EVERY way and they're from the same gen. It's not power creep, it's just some pokemon, with their game design philosophy, are better than others. Especially mythic/late game pokemon

[@dirtcollector]

to sum up power creep: the strongest move you could use in gen 1 was articunos blizzard edit: without setting up or unliving yourself

[@hugomventura]

I think the best gamefreak can do is improve on old Pokemon when remakes release and if someone else is developing, a list of improvements. If we are to have remakes then we might as well freshen things up. Replace abilities,moves and ect for specific mons and gear them towards the next or current generation. Meanwhile for newer mons we can have abilities with more interactions. They can be item based , move based or based on other things. There aren't many item based abilities nor are there any based on moves. A few examples On guard: pokemon is unable to switch out of switch moves (still causes their effects) No life: when holding life orb power is 2* but each attack takes away 1/4 of its health Icicle breathe: water types moves have chance to freeze Deal breaker: when using attract it causes pokemon to switch out

[@nahte123456]

Power creep definitely exists, but I also think people will call anything power creep. Just for instance TTar isn't any worse than last Gen, it just doesn't have the teammates it used to have to abuse its sand. Or Weavile didn't fall because of power creep but from lack of the moves it needs.

[@YaBoySheeny]

Im enjoying the creativity to make things viable in such a hazardous zone of play. To each their own

[@Legendary_Bleu]

If they want us to use the new Pokémon why don’t they just do what they did with gen 5 and force us to use gen 5 Pokémon without the power creep

[@maxmaus4402]

I play a lot of Yugioh, both old and modern formats, and in spite of the insane power- and complexity-creep in that game, I've still found it easier to live with changes to it than I have with Pokemon. Maybe that's just because I don't need to worry about my favorite decks being deleted from the card pool at seemingly random. In YGO I can always be certain that for one reason or another, we'll eventually get some form of cool new support to help older decks catch back up (even if it takes 1500+ days), or some crazy generic support that synergizes really well with a few lower-end decks that happen to have a good place in the current meta. A boss monster that can't be targeted is still going to be good in a modern format where targeting removal is all some decks have. Pokemon powercreep on the other hand feels like it's largely defined by bigger numbers, both in singles and the TCG, as well as actively removing defensive/utility options that were commonly available in the past. TTar losing perma-sand, then Pursuit and its mega, all culminated in a slow decline in viability that dropped it into UU this gen, despite being among the most meta-defining mons for three entire generations in the past (and a generally good mon for most of the time after that). Eternal OU staple Skarmory similarly got crept out of OU by Corv being just a better version of it stat-wise, and this gen and its movepool-reduction marks the first time that both Chansey and Blissey are seen as unviable.

[@rayyaninspookymonth1630]

Big problem but will Wyrdeer dominate the Pokemon Home update with it's PU-bescent psychic-type physical move with 70 power and 90 accuracy that only raises its defense? 🦌

[@WooperTrooper4]

I feel like all you have to do is look at Shed Tail to realize that power creep has gotten out of hand

[@LazurBeemz]

I'm not sure how powercreep is an issue in Smogon when you can just play a different tier if your favorite mons got made irrelevant by the new additions. Meanwhile, the game is balanced around doubles. We know this. And - go figure - all of these ridiculous broken threats are much more fair in doubles.

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

It's not really a problem of not being able to use your favorite Pokemon, it's more of the actual process of balancing. Despite what some people think, Smogon doesn't enjoy banning things and would like a metagame they percieve as balanced in as few bans as possible. However with power creep, that minimum number of bans is increasing which leads to frustration within the community over whether or not the councils are overbearing in their tiering actions. Doubles is a much more volatile metagame than Singles simply due to the fact there are more Pokemon on the field. A Flutter Mane becomes a lot less dangerous if one of your mons is paired with a Rage Powder Amoongus to redirect its hits.

[@Sirpatpat]

Yeah so many feelings on this. I just got back into Pokemon as well and I'm starting to see this. Older mons are becoming out classed now purely on not having nearly as good stats, broken abilities or some strong stab signature move. Whats worse is that I often refer to Smogon/Pokemon Showdown's OU bracket to form teams, but then you go and play ranked on the actual game itself and its like a completely different thing. I never got why Nintendo chose to make doubles but only 4 pokemon the new face of ranked pokemon now. I just miss having full on team battles for singles and doubles, as showdown has it. So it almost boils down to....is it even worth playing the real game when you can get what you enjoy off some other website for free. That's my rant. I started pokemon at the very beginning and I'm all for modernizing, updating and just general change. But sometimes just keeping things simple can go a long way. Hopefully this changes in the future and GF does something about it.

[@Smugplayer]

The state of the meta right now is much more engaging than the previous few personally, but I don't think that means anything for its placement balance wise. While the removal of wide spread moves like scald, knock off and roar could be considered a boon in many areas, it can make dealing with many of the potential threats within the tier annoying. The game is no longer as limited in scale as gen 1-3 and it really shows with move cuts. There are numerous options that cannot always be accounted for, and with power creep being a thing it makes it all the more overwhelming to handle a lot of the times. You are going to have more obvious holes in your teams just due to the options provided, which can be argued as a good or bad thing. I feel the most apt way to describe OU is that it feels matchup fishy.

[@adamaba3433]

We live in a world where chansey is Pu. What a time to be alive.

[@delphoxxthevulpera68]

This is a problem in the 3v3 BSS meta as well. 11 of the top 13 Pokemon in BSS are from gen 9, including many of the Pokemon that have been banned in Gen 9 Smogon OU.

[@tobystevens1171]

As a mainly VGC player, my main problem with the power creep is the speed creep

[@unknownfactor6489]

Congrats about the iron mugulus