Dynamax is the Best Mechanic. Here’s Why.

[@WolfeyVGC]

Thank you to Factor for sponsoring todays video! Use code POGWOLFEY130 for $120 off across 5 boxes at strms.net/WolfeyvgcFactorAugustYT

[@chihirofujisaki8923]

:D

[@atomic4752]

Finally I can sub. Now that's what I call a deal!

[@Spiggle25]

I didn’t know you were vegetarian. Why are you?

[@neri1220]

I just want to say that i will be using Soak move in competitive play alongside grass or electric move. This way i won't care about terastalization since it happen before moves are used.

[@soulslicr5743]

New wideo on the new S/V trailer coming soon?

[@Penterror]

Instead of buffing ice type, their solution was to just terastilize it away

[@mattiacicchetti4728]

Ice types need my changes to really shine

[@BaconNuke]

Somehow there will be mons that Tera INTO Ice types because no one expects it and won't run the right moves to counter them :P

[@Skeloperch]

@@BaconNuke You'll see it on a lot of Electric Pokemon so they can have coveted BoltBeam coverage. If you didn't know, there are only 8 type combinations that resist or are immune to Ice/Electric, and most of them are pretty bad. I doubt you'd see it on many other Pokemon. I could see it on Weavile to turn Triple Axel into a targetted nuke, but the uses for Ice are limited.

[@lilyshinethewanderer7960]

I don't know that Cetitan looked pretty buff. It tanked a flamethrower.

[@Javii1]

I can finally use Frosmoth without dying in one hit!

[@sethlatronica3525]

I think that thematically, megas were the coolest and z moves were still the worst. The idea of your pokemon evolving again just out of the sheer bond you have with it is dope and most of the designs for megas were insanely cool. But you literally never saw any megas outside the top picks

[@bobbackwards8481]

yeah it sucked that, since you had to give up your item, the majority of pokemon were actually stronger in their base form with a conventional item than they were with a mega. so only the megas who got absolutely broken abilities, typings, and/or stat redistributions were really worth using.

[@nathanpfirman625]

That's literally the exact meaning of z moves but in a attack

[@darknessscythe1]

You saw Mega Mawhile.

[@Zangetsu-gaTensho]

I think introducing more megas over time and patching some of the more problematic ones would have gone a long way. It was a great mechanic imo. Lore wise it was amazing and it has great potential if game freak could just give it some time. Also I hate that they are changing mechanics so often it's really unhealthy imo

[@noxic8863]

@@nathanpfirman625 which is much more lame

[@PhaythGaming]

Off topic: Wolfy’s voice acting and story building has improved big time. Really impressed and I just wanna recognize that.

[@jackanderson4993]

@@Serendipity_GamingX even if that’s true, everyone does lol

[@El_Kanto]

@@Serendipity_GamingX How do people like you still exist in 2022? No one cares about hacking in competitive Pokémon since the only thing it does is save time during teambuilding.

[@nerddwarf]

Off-topic: Y'all remember that one Mario game? Y'know, that one with the jumping? And the platforming? Ahh, you know what I'm talking about. That game was cool. Could be better though.

[@PhaythGaming]

@@Serendipity_GamingX Think of opinions like mountains and trains. If you can build track around the mountain, you should. Only if a mountain stops you from moving forward should you dig through it. This mountain is entirely circumventable, so please go around.

[@plushytv5295]

@@nerddwarf I know that one! Pretty good game, not gonna lie.

[@holyketchup2514]

As a singles player this is very interesting to me, dynamax is so broken in singles it's not even funny.

[@custardapplecat2902]

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT! Ty lmao! Him calling mega beedrill trash really highlighted the differences between what a VGC player would be looking for vs a singles player. Beedrill could very much work in singles, but he’s right that in doubles it’s a waste of a mega

[@holyketchup2514]

@@custardapplecat2902 Well, that's the thing, almost any pokemon has at least a niche in singles due to the tiering format, mega beedrill was quite decent in UU if I remember correctly

[@lawtonadams4235]

@@holyketchup2514 it actually saw tona of ou play despite being uu. It was a powerhouse of the uu tier but was still decent in ou cause of its insane power

[@ConnorMcSchrosch]

Yeah any singles format with dynamax allowed is absolutely unplayable, wasn't the biggest z-move fan but I was fine with them, dynamax is just z-moves on steroids expanded to not just one but 3 turns while doubling the bulk at the same time on top of getting ridiculous boosts, making the dynamax mon snowball and instawin more often than not with absolutely no counterplay at all and no skill involved whatsoever. Oh yeah and it doesn't even require an item slot... The most broken and uncompetitive thing gf has come up with so far though I have the feeling terestralizing could match or even top that level of brokenness, then they would at least stay consistent at making every gimmick less competitive than the one of the generation prior

[@ConnorMcSchrosch]

Not even talking about how it invalidates stuff like taunt, encore and phazing completely which is what I meant woth zero counterplay

[@chilln0648]

Honestly its a shame that a lot of Mega Evolutions weren’t that great because I really like a lot of their designs, and a lot of them were fun to use despite not being that great. You mentioned Mega Beedrill being bad, but I think it’s really fun to use (in singles, because a glass cannon has no business in doubles) and I use quite a lot despite it being very flawed. Overall Megas had a lot of potential, but were executed poorly, and they gave Megas to Pokémon that really didn’t need it (Garchomp, Tyranitar, Rayquaza, etr.)

[@us3rn4m3123]

Lore wise, RayRay needs mega evolution to combat Primal Groudon or Primal Kyogre. I agree that the other Pokémon don’t really need mega though.

[@fumihiro8564]

Damn I forgot Tyranitar had a Mega

[@agentblackbird9435]

I heard Garchomp’s mega was actually worse lmao

[@ZoruazZz]

Z moves are my favorite ultimate idk I just found them cooler then Megas

[@Julian-pw5mv]

A lot of mega's don't seem to have been designed for singles. If I remember correctly the only mega that ever dropped below Ru was audino, but most were uu or above. Pretty much every mega was quite solid in singles. Like you said, beedrill is pretty good in singles. He says 5 were used in vgc, well in gen 6 ou right now there are 11. With a further 11 in uubl/uubt.

[@josemarioperozofuenmayor3475]

Most of the problems with megas were the lack of balance in the mega Pokémon, not the gimmick as a whole, with more megas and balancing existing megas a bit better it would’ve been so great.

[@PedroFerreira-ib6xz]

I think conceptually too megas are problematic cuz they should be conceptually a upgrade than and their previous form A upgrade that GF envision for a certain pokemon is not the upgrade that he needs or deserves for fans eyes design wise and stat wise, even GF too that they didn't come up with "a good design" for mega flygon themselves And many of them ended up being too broken or too trash compared to their previous form to the point that isn't even worth to use their mega forms And kinda limits team building too cuz you need to have that mon that is in the mega group to counter a mon of the same group for the most part

[@JayceCH.]

I agree. I think they just ran into a wall when they realize that not every Pokemon feasibly can use it, and it would turn Pokemon into a logistic nightmare where the whole series would be defined by Mega Evolution.

[@grunkleg.2934]

@@JIMP2024 Honestly, all of his Mega criticisms can be applied to Dynamaxing as well. Aside from Charizard, not many Pokemon were able to compete against the stronger meta threats, because guess what? They can Dynamax their own powerful threats. Max Kyogre and Calyrex running around doesn't mean that your Flygon is suddenly going to become more viable due to its own ability to Dynamax

[@Skeloperch]

Megas were great in singles because there were tiers. Mega-Beedrill was amazing in singles, as was Mega-Altaria. They didn't have to compete with broken megas like Mega-Medicham or Mega-Lopunny since they were kept in OU, so they could flourish in UU. RU even saw Mega-Camerupt and Mega-Glalie get a lot of usage, and they even got banned from various tiers are certain points. Smogon just does a better job at balancing than Game Freak since it's run by fans and not creators.

[@Chickoboy]

@@JIMP2024 No the point is that it doesn't allow for many options, adding more won't change that problem.

[@Naruninja555]

Hearing this as a singles player is almost like hearing about a completely different game

[@alextintyrn291]

That's probably because Singles and Doubles are wildly different games

[@redguard1607]

Ikr, Dynamax is incredibly broken and unfair in Singles. Z-moves were totally fine and predictable in the Singles format, especially due to the fact that we (the players) developed our own tiering system based on usage statistics, aka Showdown, so whenever you saw a certain threat it was *expected* that they would be holding a Z-Crystal. Very predictable. But it's not the "official" format sponsored by Pokemon company themselves, so a lot of "professional" Pokemon players like to rate gimmicks like Z-moves as "broken" because of how they played out in the Doubles format, without considering that MOST people who play Pokemon seriously are actually Singles players.

[@BullStriker619]

@@redguard1607 yeah i understand ur point but singles are not really competitive even if they have a rank for them at world only the vgc format is featured single is more for casual

[@vaishanthjv2519]

@@redguard1607 Z-moves are pretty broken in the doubles format though. I don't see why you have a problem with professional vgc players saying that, they play vgc so of course they would rate z-moves in terms of vgc not singles.They never made a statement about z-moves in singles format.

[@Nobody-su9km]

@@redguard1607 your comment on "most people play singles instead of VGC" is really projecting and there is no evidence to prove your claim. Competitive was once singles, then turned into 2v2s and since then never changed back.

[@CthonicWisdom]

I find it interesting that Z-moves caused you so much stress because of the massive variation and uncertainty in their use, but Terastal doesn't seem to have you worried about the same thing. It's my understanding that any pokemon will be able to terastilize into any type so not only will you not know which pokemon will be terastilizing but you also won't know which of 18 types it will become. I'm not a competitive player by any means, but I'm curious as to what people think of this.

[@Shimahou]

This is the initial concern for a lot of players. But as time passes and metas are formed, it will become more and more predictable. It will depend of course on what Pokémon are available in the game, as well as the moves and items they will have access to. And of course it's hard to imagine terastalizing into a different type that shares weaknesses with your original type (like going from Bug to Grass or from Steel to Rock). That will start to narrow down which Pokémon will likely terastalize into which type(s). Worrying about it is just unhelpful, so the best we can do is wait.

[@NeoBoneGirl]

The thing is, the worst that happens if you guess wrong on the tera type is not as bad as guessing wrong on a z move and basically guaranteed lose a Pokémon. It doesn't change a Pokémon's base power (assumedly), so it allows for more normalize damage calculations

[@joshuagutierrez7943]

Hi, I think it’s because there are definitely some types each Pokémon will be more likely to terastalize into, like tyranitar terastalizing into ghost or ground, while I doubt you’ll face a tyranitar wanting to terastalize into a bug or ice type.👍

[@TheRibottoStudios]

I might be reading into it wrong, but I was under the assumption that it was like Mega Evolution, and only SOME pokemon would get to change types. It's still variable, but you can still guess what tera form some pokemon will be. Like Tyranitar for example. It's gonna be a ghost type, or Eevee could be a grass or water type, thanks to its evolutions. So there IS some predictability there.

[@SerPengwin]

I think it purely comes down to damage dealt. Terastalizing can boost a move's damage by 50% by giving the pokemon a new STAB, or further boost a move's damage (i think also by 50%) by terastalizing into a type the user already had, these damage boosts are similar to dynamax. Z moves are basically just 1 time nukes that would mess up even pokemon that resist them.

[@Sheeps856]

As someone who's never played competitively, Z-moves felt weird in their native gen to use. They were "I win" buttons for random 'mons, but you didn't really save time because the animation for playing it out was about as long as the two or three normal turns it'd take to kill a wild 'mon anyway.

[@alacsonsmth]

13:56 This aged so well lmao (For those of you who see this and don’t know, Tyranitar is RU right now in Gen 9 VGC.)

[@Ester952]

You mean in smogon?

[@erich_ika]

usage based tiers in vgc 😍

[@pongmin7484]

Ah yes VGC my favorite smogon format

[@emmetstanevich2121]

I think the main reason removing megas stung so much was partially because they looked like they were here to stay. They were introduced in gen 6 as a gimmick, but they stuck around in gen 7, with the new z-moves even being mutually-exclusive with megas. Additionally, while certain mechanics get tweaked each gen, this was the first time pokemon have been outright cut from the game, and even for those who got in, some of them basically lost an evolution. It would be like if gen 6, say, specifically omitted pokemon like electivire and magmortar, but still had electabuzz and magmar. Sure, they weren't necessarily the most cutthroat-competitive pokemon, but their sudden absence would still be a bit weird, yeah? Pokemon like pinsir and manetric basically got cross-gen evolutions that let them finally be relevant threats, and it just got ripped away from them as if it never happened.

[@nimnim3311]

hated them removing pacharisu

[@realazzle]

Megas have and always will be my favourite mechanic They were awesome and entirely new pokemon to think about :(

[@rhinopatomus]

@@nimnim3311 that was 8 years ago. Seems like it just needs to be let to rest

[@artimist0315]

I think that's one big thing people forget about mega now, is that during gen 6, they weren't a gimmick at all, it was just the new step in Pokémon evolution. Like I hear a lot of people arguing that gen 6 introduced a lot of what ruined pokemon, like one gen gimmicks, never changing 3D models, ... but that's only something we learned to hate in retrospect. The problem is that gen7 and 8 kept the aging models and made megas a 1 gen-gimmick rather that building upon its foundations, not that gen 6 came up with them at the first place.

[@yokuutsu9097]

That, and the lore of megas was interesting.

[@Kris_King]

I feel like Mega evolution was moreso made for singles while Dynamax as a clear favortism for doubles (balance wise at least).

[@Starriaaa]

The dynamax strategies I was seeing during worlds was so interesting, the speed boosting thing with flying attacks, the rain, the terrains, and stat boost for Pokémon on each side. Like it was actually really cool seeing how an entire strategy was based around which Pokémon was dynamaxed and when.

[@Vatenkeist]

Dmax is very fluid in use, you can change strategy on which to dmax depending on your opponents move

[@TheRibottoStudios]

that's why I love dmaxing-battles became almost like a tennis match, back and forth back and forth. You can bait a pokemon to dynamax too early or you can set up grassy terrain AND harsh sunlight depending on who's on the field it's so FASCINATING Im gonna miss this mechanic lol

[@nah-dx3wc]

I still dont think some people understand that dynamax is a shitty mechanic. Most pokemon players play singles. Dynamax is BROKEN in singles. It completely ruins it. This is one of the few things i dont like about wolfey. He doesnt look at the bigger picture. He said megas and z moves were bad mechanics when they were fine in singles (which the majority play) but op and doubles. And then goes and says dynamax is the best when its balanced in doubles and broken op in singles.

[@anhurdyn3938]

@@nah-dx3wc Would love a source on "the majority".

[@anhurdyn3938]

@@nah-dx3wc Also Wolfey is a VGC player and content creator. Of course he's speaking from the perspective of VGC

[@HighMightyWeasel]

On Z-Conversion. The reason why it usually goes to electric type may be because that’s what the common set was for Porygon-Z. When a pokemon uses conversion, its type becomes the type of the move in its first slot. Z-conversion does the same thing plus the omniboost. So if a Porygon-Z had thunderbolt in its first slot, Z-conversion would make it electric type and give it the omniboost.

[@Alhtakos]

" Why does it look like Gyarados missed leg day ?? " My brother in Christ , he doesnt have any legs

[@zashinunes8191]

Lmao fr People just complain to complain at this point

[@StickMaster500]

It would be an interesting concept to see what it would be like if you’re allowed to bring every gimmick into a Pokémon battle and see how crazy it would be even if you could only use one like how it is in the anime

[@Erikk_is_Tired]

There is National Dex Anything Goes on pokemon showdown but assuming you're saying this, you probably mean it in a doubles format or an official format. I could see that sort of thing making very intense combo play IE: Dynamax pokemon setting rain for mega swampert's swift swim into some rain boosted water Z move.

[@Candyy248]

Pokémon showdown: ... V:

[@Nuclearstomp]

@@Candyy248 Yes :V

[@utubeiskaren7796]

I wanna know what all battle gimmicks in one battle would do to the competitive scene... not just only using one, using all of them. It's a horrible idea but I want to see how it would work

[@Candyy248]

@@Nuclearstomp The only thing idk is if it also applies to doubles v: For singles there is NAT dex AG but for doubles..

[@parasgupta8411]

This video's shows how different singles could be to doubles Singles: dynamax gets banned Doubles: it's the least broken mechanic

[@lordofcastamere9376]

Actually Dynamax were imo unhealthy for the game. And like 90% of the vgc players would agree it's the worst of the three.

[@Kris_King]

The flexibility for dynamax and the fact you can target it with 2 Pokemon instead of one, plus how common protect is, definitely help Dynamax to be less broken in doubles.

[@melovespoon]

@@lordofcastamere9376 90% seema like an exaggeration, especially on a video coming from someone who's played enough vgc to have been world champion

[@raismin739]

@@melovespoon he's the first one i heard saying that dynamax was the less worse of the 3. so i would say, even if he's a world champion, opinions are still opinions

[@yeet8036]

Because dmax was designed around doubles,and gamefreak doesn't care about singles

[@FlareSherbetNatsu]

Tyranitar should get it’s own video on what it does that makes it so good, it’s a Pokémon with a bad typing but it’s been viable for a LONG time in both VGC and Smogon formats.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

It has really good stats in general expect speed but it’s type is what keeps it in check. Imagine if Tyranitar didn’t have it’s arceus awful typing.

[@sekaihunter9378]

@@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo You don't have to imagine it. Ghost Tyranitar is fully real now. Bait in every single Fighting type and ruin them!

[@williamliao4829]

Tyranitar is like a guy that bleeds a lot that got really really buff and wears armor to fights.

[@SeriousStriker]

Sand Stream increasing its special defense and its great natural bulk and high attack stat help it a lot.

[@cyanideytcuriousseadoggo]

@@sekaihunter9378 what is gamefreak smoking? I have a massive skill issue and I can see how this is dumb. I’m predicting this gets Ttar sent to Ubers or AG from this mechanic or it single handle gets the mechanic banned as a whole for being too problematic of an user of this mechanic.

[@RecklawTheAmazing]

Mega evolutions were my favorite, but playing SV has made me realize how strategically interesting dynamax was

[@glaceneo]

The championship this time around was the first one I watched and the amount of mind games that could be pulled with dynamax really kept me interested, I had already liked the dynamax mechanic before but after watching the championship I think I like it even more

[@guguy00]

In a way it's an absolute shame Sw/Sh only had one Worlds, despite being around for about 3 years

[@RancorSnp]

@@guguy00 Yeah, this was incredibly unlucky. SwSh had the absolute best competitive VGC format Pokemon has ever managed to pull off.VGC was clearly a big focus in the development of the game. Sadly, it's best, most varied format which was the original 400 roster, never managed to have an event due to the world situation. And even when finally by then of the cycle there was world with the 800 roster, which offered a lot less valid choices players could use than the original roster, it still had to be held remotely, and they couldn't use the spectator camera developed for the game. Early SwSh regional tournaments are some of the very best competitive pokemon you can watch, it's really unfortunate we never got to see it at worlds

[@clash_king1025]

I play singles, so it’s always interesting to see how the battle gimmicks effect doubles compared to singles Dynamax is infamously broken in singles, but more balanced in doubles. Tbh I don’t like any of the gimmicks, I would be fine with a generation without gimmicks, but I agree with you z moves are the worst

[@DoctorFalchion]

Exactly what I was thinking, the Smogon ban was absolutely necessary for Max but it really is cool for doubles.

[@lordofcastamere9376]

Dynamax is also broken in vgc. It makes Hyper offensive just way too powerful. What were they thinking was gmax wildfire for example

[@TheRibottoStudios]

@@lordofcastamere9376 Dynamax isn't that bad in doubles. If you're faster than a Charizard which regieleki is, then you have no problem taking it out before it can get a hit on you with wildfire.

[@flare99]

zacian is a huge reason why dynamax is balanced, imagine xerneas without zacian in the game

[@Shimahou]

@@TheRibottoStudios Agreed. While dynamax did reward hyperoffensive play, the usual setups started to get just as easily countered. They even introduced 3 Pokémon whose entire purpose was to counter it. It's also hard to discredit how using dynamax defensively heavily rewarded a lot of top players.

[@Patterrz]

Z moves are the worst just because the animations would get your videos copyright claimed on KZbin in 2016

[@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ]

The most interesting thing about terrastalization is that there's no set terra type for each Pokémon. So it adds an extra layer of rng and tactic in battles as you have to predict what new type your opponent might give to their Pokémon

[@spikerthedragonbear]

Something I learned is that sometimes its quite easy to see who is the outliar. Its like playing Among Us within pokemon. Its a huge deceiving battle.

[@lovelyluna733]

Open team sheets moment

[@sheilwood]

The order for singles is (from best to worst) Megas, Zmoves and Dmax, in case you were interested

[@GlideAndSlide123]

Yup, agreed. No offense to VGC and doubles players but in my heart pokemon is 6v6.

[@zenitsuyaboi9879]

Wrong💀

[@afanofjustice]

@@GlideAndSlide123 forget double battles its time for sextuple battles

[@varsik289]

Nah

[@OrcaIguana]

I would actually really love to see a ranking of various mechanics like breeding from a competitive stand point. Does it make it easier to get competitive teams or is it just a less fun way to play? That's a thing I'd love to hear

[@ajgentle7754]

Pls do it wolfey

[@charliez077]

I see breeding so I will say this: imo breeding actually needs to be GONE, at least in the current state. what does it bring in 2022? almost nothing - Egg Moves = grindy/obsolete, IV breeding = grindy/obsolete (as Arceus showed) and it destroys ANY rarity of any mon (except legendaries/unbreedables). Eggs can still be a thing (given by NPC's for instance), but I am really over these Gen 2 cloning stations.

[@charliez077]

PS: while IV's should imo be done with, EV's should be given more fun ways like Pokéathlon minigames to boost. basically, get rid of the grindy prehistoric features and give me game content that is fun - and get rid of the silly barriers (IV's, Egg moves) that prevent casual players from being able to battle online without having to breed/grind/get through a very complicated IV/breeding/Destiny Knot/Bottle Caps BS system.

[@Supersonic1014]

@@charliez077 As someone working on a living dex...yeah fuck that, breeding makes things so much more convenient. I can see the argument that it's useless for competitive play, but I'd much rather just breed a Pokemon I already have rather than need to catch 2-3 of them per line that evolves.

[@animorph17]

I want to see all the gimmiks from every game all crammed into a single massive open world pokemon game.

[@pokatana4130]

Honestly, I love playing this Dynamax format when restricted legendary Pokemon weren't around (so Series 7/9 and prior) because of the lower power level. Right now, it's not that enjoyable because the power level is way too high with all the restricted Pokemon having the ability to Dynamax.

[@raismin739]

it wasn't just legendary, but also powerful pokemon that came back with the DLC like regieleki

[@pokatana4130]

@@raismin739 regieleki is new Pokémon introduced in Gen 8 Pokémon. Plus, you don’t even need to dynamax it because it provides speed control w/ electoweb combined w/ its unbelievable speed

[@pokatana4130]

I think you meant to say returning Pokémon like Landorus and Thunderus (they got stronger, but they’re considered minor legendaries).

[@raismin739]

@@pokatana4130 i meant "introduced in the metagame", so not just old pokemon like lando, but also new pokemon like eleki or even new HA like Cinderace's Libero

[@pineappleudh6561]

@@raismin739 "It wasn't just legendary, it was also this specific legendary Pokémon." Wat. (This is mainly meant as a joke I'm just a bit confused by your choice of examples, I assume you were thinking of restricted)

[@d4c_reznor470]

My thoughts: Mega Evolution was a great idea that was botched in execution when they gave it to already OP mons like Mewtwo Z moves: leans way too far in offense but at least everyone can use it. Dmax: at first it was cool with the idea of power rangers/Godzilla monsters fighting each other but just making them bigger feels lazy

[@stealthy9156]

Mewtwo isnt even that good of a mega which is funny

[@jacobjensen7704]

Most of the Mega Evolutions took Pokemon that weren't very good beforehand and made them good, broken even. Even those that took a mon that was already really solid didn't typically break that Pokemon, it just created an alternative style (Salamence and Gengar being the big exceptions). This is coming from the perspective of a singles player.

[@huntersmith1413]

@@jacobjensen7704 What are you talking about? Most of the good mega evolutions were given to pokemon that were already good (Metagross, Salamance, Gengar, Charizard, Gardevoir, Lucario, Rayquaza, etc.). The only good mega outlier is Kangashkhan.

[@jacobjensen7704]

@@huntersmith1413 in what competitive formats were Metagross, Charizard, Gardevoir, and Lucario already good? And I already mentioned the large exceptions of Gengar and Salamence. We don't talk about Rayquaza.

[@RancorSnp]

The main, main issue with Mega Evolution is absolute lack of flexibility. When you go into a battle you MUST Mega evolve the one pokemon you chose. (the designs are also up there ^^'). Even if you know you will get outsped and one hit KO'd you still press the Mega evolve button, hoping your opponent made a mistake or misses their attack. Because if you do not press the button, you just wasted a pokemon slot on your team. As for why the mega evolution desings being the second biggest issue - putting aside the fact they look like they were designed by angsty teen - One mega evolution takes about the same amount of work to create as one whole new Pokemon. Each mega evolution form they created, basically equals to one new pokemon they did NOT create. So 46 Pokemon were not created, so that the players could use the 5 or so mega's that were actually viable. Dynamax on the other hand allows you full flexibility - but not too much, to the point your opponent has no idea what you can do - If the Pokemon you planned on Dynamaxing gets one shot, or your opponent used a different team than you thought, maybe you got paralyzed - you can Dynamax any other pokemon on your team and still use it to near full extent. Yes some Pokemon are better picks to dynamax than others, but depending on the situation on the field another pokemon MAY be a better Dynamax choice than one that is usually good. The fact that the Pokemon "are lazy" is what makes it possible. And let's be honest, giant Pokemon look really intimidating and would have only gotten better carried forward, as we can see in Arceus they CAN do giant Pokemon in the overworld

[@specialperson335]

You can't say that "For competetive pokemon dynamax is the most healthy gimmick" when it was literally banned from singles. "Competetive pokemon" is not just VGC.

[@arcaneace8313]

No idea how you can hate z moves and defend dynamax when dynamax is just 3 turns of zmoves of whatever type you want on top of doubling a pokemon's hp.

[@aidancurry218]

I agree that Dynamax is the best for Doubles, but I think it’s the worst one for Singles, with Megas beating Zmoves in both.

[@Raminator243]

As a smogon singles enthusiast, I HATE dynamax.

[@Elitus]

@@Raminator243 yeah for the 3 months we even got it (besides random battles

[@furyofyuriy]

Nah, you just have to build different and figure out what the big dynamax threats are. For new players, it is easier to get snow balled, but for thoese that build teams around a singular sweep, it is just as easy to mess up their plans.

[@jj4123]

@@furyofyuriy It was literally banned because it was to OP. It’s the same reason they banned Cinderace or Dracovish. You have to think about how you counter it when you build the team. They were essentially too good to not pick. Dynamax could end a game in one turn. You could SD with Kartana, then max airstream twice. Pow, you’re faster than releki and kill everything in one hit. This is the definition of a busted feature. Megas never had this problem in OU. There was actual counterplay.

[@hoppers4prez214]

@@Elitus those 3 months were horrible. Gyarados getting a free dragon dance at the cost of knocking out a pokemon with a 130 power stab flying move and doubling hp was the worst shit ever. It also blocked a lot of traditional singles set up counter play like encore for some reason. Like, okay thanks for encoring my dragon dance, I'll just dmax as soon as you switch to something to take advantage of encore. If you stay in I just keep setting up until I can break past with my dmax button. Basically any flying type became broken, because for some reason air stream doesn't have reduced power like ooze and knuckle. Braking choice lock also made every turn a 50/50. If a galar darm is locked to icicle crash will it suddenly break choice lock and max quake pex? You arent really predicting as much as guessing nearly every turn when your opponent hasn't maxed and that just has no place in a competitive game.

[@swimmingtuna4796]

As a singles player I think the order for that metagame worst to best would be: Dynamax, Z-Moves, Megas. Dynamax is just too good in singles makes set up sweepers way too strong

[@cjaymeme]

Gamefreak really said "Let's make a mechanic where a pokemon can, without warning, double its health for a few turns, avoid phasing, and use powerful moves that can set weather, set terrain, or raise one of its stats by one stage". It's insane.

[@Skeloperch]

@@cjaymeme Don't forget they're immune to moves like Grass Knot or Low Kick, moves that are more common in singles since Pokemon like Zeraora or Weavile rely on them for coverage. Imagine losing your Zeraora and losing the game because the Swampert you were about to Grass Knot into the shadow realm Dynamaxed and hit you with a Max Quake.

[@Rhy2412TitanGamer]

Dynamax also had a shit ton of viable users. Drifblim, Clefable, Appletun, Hydreigon etc. It was insanely versatile & overcentralizing.

[@RaihanLDN]

@@cjaymeme because gamefreak doesn't balance the games around singles. In doubles dmax is much more balanced and it's the official format both in game and in tournaments.

[@visitinggoat6696]

Amd that's an understatement.

[@orcuswells649]

My favorite in terms of how they work in single-player is definitely Mega evolution. Dynamax always felt so goofy, but it's interesting to hear how it makes competitive play better.

[@cjaymeme]

One of the best parts of gen 6 was how mega evolution was woven into the story. It didn't feel tacked on and I don't think that XY or, to a lesser extent, ORAS could have existed without it without feeling incomplete.

[@Cream12345Ice]

@@cjaymeme def

[@jmv333]

Wondering what you think of the pattern with MEGA evolution, GIGAntamaxing & now TERAstal pokemon. It's the metric prefixes in increasing order, suggests we missed out some 'KILO' based gimmick, and that our next one will be 'PETA'

[@jamesprumos7775]

PETA comes and protests Pokemon again :p

[@RancorSnp]

Huh... Z moves in the middle of it kinda ruin it, but I really really like what you noticed! That's really cool!

[@OctoAri]

As a filthy casual I loved Z moves. Any Pokémon could use them and the way they’d change stat moves was exciting for me. Megas were far worse in my opinion since only a few pokemon (most already good) received them. I see Dynamax as a happy medium of the two. Every pokemon can use them for 3 turns and some Pokémon get special dynamax forms.

[@jacobjensen7704]

I appreciate that you mentioned singles at the end because this list pretty much gets flipped. Mega Evolutions was super great for singles and Dynamax was the most horrendous thing to ever happen. Z-moves were still pretty lame.

[@Elitus]

The ranking for Singles would be kinda very different 3. Dynamax: We had it like for 3 months cause it is wayyy to broken 2. Z-Moves: The Same Reasons the Wolfey Mentioned 1. Mega Evo: Here comes the Smogon tiering system into play cause some Pokemon were in lower tiers eg. Kanghaskan was NU in XY but only its mega Evo was in Ubers that gives the players more options for using a Pokemon with or without Mega Evo.

[@zacharywheat6371]

As someone who has played massive amounts of many different Smogon singles formats, I must say, Mega Evolution is far and away my favorite of the three. And from a non-competitive standpoint, the same is true. It is much cooler than Dynamax or Z-Moves.

[@vargasbrothers23]

In my opinion all of these gimmicks have big problems. Looking at it from a singles point of view makes me hate dynamax. It also makes me wish that more Pokémon got mega’s while balancing out other Pokémon like mawile and kangaskhan. Terrastalization seems to have the same problem as z moves since there’s an entire 18 types they can terrastalize into which can either boost their stab or make them and entirely different type. Z moves just make me want gems back since they are basically a less powerful z move

[@tristantancio8763]

we do not know yet if you can have any type from terrastalization. It could be similar to Gmax where only certain pokemon can gain certain typing

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

Gems were recently banned in Gen 5 OU Singles, Gamefreak must have realized how powerful those items were because they nerfed them and have basically removed them from the games officially. I think they're still programmed in, give a lesser boost, but only the Normal Gem has been available outside of hacking. I'm not sure if they're still functional past gen 6.

[@vargasbrothers23]

@@TheGuyWhoIsSitting yeah I know but compared to the z moves of gen 7 gems don’t seem as powerful. Of course I can’t talk much since I don’t play in meta games with gems. Something like a gems clause would definitely need to be put in place if they ever were added though.

[@vargasbrothers23]

@@tristantancio8763 Gmax was just dynamax with a slight change. It’s probably more like dynamax where any Pokémon can use it. I don’t know where you got the idea that not all Pokémon can change into every type when that’s literally what terrastalization has been shown to do. They wouldn’t add Tera blast if it was only a few types

[@buzzpeep8695]

@@tristantancio8763 From what i know pokemon can have any Terra type but some will be harder to get

[@yan_dj]

"What about Z moves is cool" *It's literally a massive anime-level ultimate attack like a Dragon Ball FighterZ level 3*

[@regitriotrio5656]

Except sadly with 10× worse animations.

[@naturalharmoniagropius4486]

Never jump to conclusions about the Terrastalization, until we see the entire idea on how it works. Dynamax is good because it has some hidden features it gets than doubling your HP like being immune to Roar, immune to Low Kick, etc

[@NocturnalPyro]

Honestly I've always argued that moves like Low Kick and Grass Knot should be max strength and double damage to dynamax pokemon it makes so much more sense.

[@nunocarvalho6671]

The important part about d-max is how the game develops after you d-max being immune to roar or low kick is the less important part

[@shadowbonbon3]

@@nunocarvalho6671 being immune to roar is kinda big for it if you get follow me’d into a resist and roared out you just wasted your dmax

[@Dexuz]

@@NocturnalPyro They are immune to them probably for narrative reasons. Dynamax is kind of the Pokémon warping space around them to appear bigger, the weight-based moves miss to give this idea. (At least that's what I assume GameFreak was thinking)

[@nunocarvalho6671]

@@shadowbonbon3 the issue is, that would complely ruin the mechanic as a whole on competitive

[@Kcman1827]

It’s always a good day when the legend himself Wolfey uploads. More “gimmick” vids would be amazing!

[@saeedrazavi4428]

In-playthrough, I like how terastilization frequency was handled as 1/ visit to a pokecenter or raid den. Z moves made wild battles 1-shot every time which was too much, but dynamax only happening in stadiums made the mechanic feel too absent when i wanted to play with it while exploring

[@sptflcrw8583]

Wtf are you talking about?

[@TheRedSmarty]

@@sptflcrw8583 The website says that you have to go out of your way to charge the Tera Orb outside of battle in order to be able to use it.

[@CritsuKirby]

I tried to casually get into VGC18 and VGC19, but my problem with them was how easy it was to lose the game Turn 1. I attribute this to not knowing the meta, but Z-Crystals just add to the guessing game. I tried VGC20 with the Malmoo Champ team and I never looked back. Dynamax and the overall meta was really fun. I’m really going to miss Gen 8 VGC and I thought I’d never say that for Gen 8 in general.

[@TbirdGT500]

I imagine in a Smogon focused ranking you'd have Mega's 1st, Z moves 2nd, and Dynamax last surely because of the fact it was too powerful to allow in competitive play.

[@deraisbelial]

yeah but who cares about smogon and their fanmade rules

[@mistake1197]

@@deraisbelial idk maybe the over 5 thousand monthly users care.

[@mistake1197]

Also Community rules >>>>>>developer rules.

[@deraisbelial]

@@mistake1197 5k vs the VGC comunitty lmao You are probably gonna say that VGC in Showdown has no players, and that has a reason why, the reason is that VGC gets actual support from the devs so Why playing in Showdown?

[@deraisbelial]

@@mistake1197 yes bro, lets ban a whole Pokemon instead of restricting the abilities of the Pokemon, so big brain dude. Lets ban Urshifu-S but Melmetal gets to be playable sheeesh so big brain

[@aaronlo5799]

One more reason why dynamax is ranked so high is Dynawall imo. Not only disallowing set ups while you are so bulky but also giving you the opportunity to protect yourself when ever it’s needed was so huge for competitive plays

[@jwanie366]

3:06 I remember watching that game show when it was on the air lol. It seems that mostly non-competitive players favor Megas because of the new designs. But when it comes to VGC specifically, I definitely agree with Dynamax being the best mechanic so far. Hopefully Terastalization isn't ridiculously unbalanced

[@whatamidoing725]

I think terastilization will be my favorite, since it can give pokemon like flareon the ability to abuse normal guts flame orb facade just as an example, or it can allow a specific pokemon like a defensive ice type to switch for literally any type thats better

[@raismin739]

like a ceratin ice-bug pokeom with an ability that double their sp.def becoming water... and they have roost

[@cjaymeme]

How do you make ice types good? Make them not ice type.

[@trxxblx-wxs-hxrx]

I believe the reason I loved Z-moved was because of the whole 💎 era in BW where even a STAB fake out +boosted by Norm Gem was just insane dmg output to me at the time even not fully invested in your att stat. Stil prefer gems over Z-crystals

[@GynxShinx]

So, the biggest problem with megas is there wasn't enough of them? So, we should've just had more of them.

[@otto2853]

Also maybe buff Beedrills I it doesn't hold up?

[@FraserSouris]

I mean, that still would have power crept the game to hell and back

[@otto2853]

@@FraserSouris but Megas were supposed to make weak pokemon more viable again... SMH Garchomp etc got a form too but oh well

[@FraserSouris]

@@otto2853 I'd argue that using Megas to buff weaker Pokes was a bad idea to begin with. For one, The weak poke only gets a buff when Mega Evolved and since you can only use one Mega at a time, it meant most weak Pokes got even more power crept. For instance, if both Manectric and Luxray are weak Pokemon, but Manectric gets a Mega, then Luxray is only going to be more outclassed and thus used even less. But that also means that the only time you'd be using Manectric is for its Mega. So if there's ever a situation where there's a better Mega available, Manectric isn't going to be used then.

[@etchyo]

Megas are awesome and I wish we got way more of them, even if they seem impossible to balance appropriately. I understand regional variants have taken their place and having both would probably put the art budget over (silly, but it's Game Freak) but I can only imagine the hype of having new Megas AND regional variants in a new game. I also kinda long for a game with dynamax, z crystals, and Megas/primal forms all at once just to see the utter chaos of the metagame.

[@ricebox3048]

For singles I feel like Megas and Dynamax would be swapped, although I wish there were more pokemon that could mega evolve so you wouldn't see the same handful in battles.

[@kevinmorris9362]

I would love to have Wolfey break down all the new mechanics added generation by generation, starting in gen 1, from a competitive standpoint. Would be interesting to hear from a pro on all of them.

[@Deedj1]

I would love to get a video about breeding has influenced/impacted competitive play. What is available bc of it (egg moves, etc), what are it’s limits (certain moves not being possible together), and the controversy between breeding vs hacking in competitively viable pokemon.

[@Weebfox]

I legit loved megas in singles since it was an opportunity to either turn a mon that was already a beast into an even bigger monster or more importantly give bad mons (like beedrill) a redesign and the spotlight, and most megas looked great Dmax in singles was a yikes, but it was the mechanic that single-handedly got me interested in VGC and made doubles really fun

[@Julian-pw5mv]

Yeah, mega's are designed for singles and dynamax for doubles it seems like.

[@temporaryleadership]

Thematically, I think the ranking actually flips. Mega evos built upon the already present concepts of friendship and battling and made lots of sense-while Pokémon get BEEG just didn’t do it for me. I agree with the competitive ranking: dynamax busted the meta game wide open in very enjoyable and accessible ways

[@Dexuz]

Dynamax fits the narrative of the game even more so than the other two mechanics however.

[@theboi5584]

Despite being pretty unbalanced, Mega’s were still fun to have (From a casual standpoint). If they were to bring them back in the form of evolved Pokémon and toned them down a bit, it would be really cool. But I absolutely agree that Dynamax is the healthiest gimmick we’ve had in a while for competitive.

[@Nuclearstomp]

I'm not sure how much they could do to balance them as another evolution stage. Like, they got a 100 stat boost from mega evolution. Normal evolving tends to give you bigger boosts and even if it didn't they'd get to hold held items which even if they only got a smaller boost would still probably be broken.

[@alextintyrn291]

There's a few different solutions to it too. Megas that changed the typing could be reintroduced as a regional forme, megas that changed the ability could have that ability added to their base forme (they have done this in the past with Gengar), and megas that increased stats could come back as evos as you mentioned. It's not unthinkable to give Pokemon like Sableye, Mawile, or Absol evolutions, they really could use them

[@emmetstanevich2121]

I absolutely agree, several (lower-power) megas would have made nice evolutions, such as mega steelix (although that means steelix gets to run around with eviolite... but that's exactly what smogon's tiering system is for, and it can always be banned if it becomes a real problem.)

[@okagron]

Uh? Dynamax is the most unhealthy mechanic so far. It completely shatters the meta by giving the busted pokemon more power.

[@theboi5584]

@@okagron …and helping the weaker Pokémon get stronger. Imo it was more healthy of a mechanic (for competitive, NOT Singles) then Mega’s and especially Z-Moves.

[@andrewjoseph2749]

During the preview for Terastallization, they showed Coalossal Terastallize into Water-Type before being hit by a not very-effective Hydro Pump, meaning Terastallization causes all pokemon to become mono-type (at least defensively)... so no Normal/Ghost Shedinja

[@AuraStrikeAce]

The issue that could happen if Shedinja was in Scarlet and Violet is it becoming an Electric type while holding an Air Balloon. It would basically become untouchable.

[@reneantoniorodriguezippoli7561]

well there is still a chance for a normal type or electric type shedinja other interesting options would be: poison type (immune to poisoning), steel type (immune to poisoning and sandstorm) and ghost type (to get the kind of Adaptability ability that the Terastal gives when it matches the original types of the pokemon)

[@grunkleg.2934]

@@AuraStrikeAce Shedinja isn't in S/V

[@Rarest26]

You can still kill shedinja with indirect damage, like sandstorm. Not saying you’re gonna run it on every team or anything, but it’s still beatable.

[@ImplodingChicken]

"I've never used a move that decreases opponent's evasion in my competitive career" spoken like a true doubles player. Man's probably never clicked Stealth Rock either.

[@KennyFully]

??? Rule #0 When you can, always chunk up those rocks. But then again… it is doubled where one wrong move will cost a mon…

[@Noideaman123]

As time goes by, Wolfey's videos are getting better and better. Script, content and overall enjoyability are phenomenal

[@peppermint_8]

Z moves look so cool, and in the main story they were fun to use, I wish they were better for competitive

[@NovelVanguard]

Yeah I agree with you in my mind which isn’t competitive based it goes dynamxing a z move then mega evolution

[@gator-tater9827]

I’d love to hear World Champion WolfeyVGC’s opinion on whether Azurill or Alolan Muk was a better addition to the game!!

[@ommnon]

i'd love to hear anyone's opinion of why i should exist

[@dr.trousers6101]

I think you should.

[@xanthousizalith5641]

I like the difference between Casual and Competitive pokemon. For one it's hilarious that we both hate Z moves but it's also interesting to see how ideas are switched around. I love Megas because they place restrictions on pokemon in just the right way to make casual play way more interesting.

[@remix2593]

I think wolfey was more so speaking of behalf of competitive doubles so a pokemon like mega beedrill for example, is actually pretty darn good in singles battles, but I can also see why it isn't good in doubles due to the reason that he described, I'll most likely will only take down 1 pokemon before going down itself, making it not the best mega for a doubles format

[@peco595]

Dynamax is interesting in double battles, but it completely ruined the fun in single battles. That one goes to the bottom for me since I like singles

[@Ultra289]

Nah dynamax very fun on singles Doubles... Too

[@linksora7120]

Dynamax helps shiftry SO MUCH! It means you can use heat wave for a surprise fire attack on a grass type thinking they can safely switch in them have the sun up to let your fire type attack hit harder and have double speed and after dynamax use solarbeam or solar blade for a strong grass stab attack

[@bramderacourt9499]

@@Ultra289 dynamax is way more OP in singles.

[@Ultra289]

@@bramderacourt9499 Nah, ez to counter

[@Nobody-su9km]

@@bramderacourt9499 this is famous poketuber talk. If you actually took your time to understand the mechanic you would see it's beatable in any situation. Mechanic was banned like a week after it's release by the very mediocre smogon "staff". It's logically impossible to understand the logic behind a mechanic in one week.

[@steamboat_mickey]

Swampert looks fine man. If the legs are muscular,then it would look very weird.

[@BryanPlaysYGO]

As a competitive 6v6 battle Megas we're great since more were viable. Mega Beedrill was actually very good in singles battles while Mega Blaziken was actually pushed into Ubers

[@nililavi]

I would deffinetly watch a ranking of all mechanics

[@mattiacicchetti4728]

This got recommended while seeing your pokemon type combination video ranking every type with my changes for ice, bug, psychic, grass and electric

[@mattiacicchetti4728]

I forgot to say the changes Ice now resist rock effectively and is super effective against it, is immune to dragon and flying and resist ghost Bug now resist psychic, ghost and fairy and is immune to dark Electric now is immune to steel Grass now resist also rock Psychic resist poison and fairy I noticed that many combination that Glick had put in F and D are now good, for example Ice and Bug, Ice and Grass and Ghost and Psychic. Also resisting rock makes grass and fire even more good. How I ranked? Simple: I basically took the number of types that another type beats, the resistances subtracting them with the weakness. For example: Ice and Bug have 7 strengths, 9 resistances and only 3 weakness, making for a nice 13 which is B tier. See, Glick? Ice and Bug with good changes are among the best combinations in pokemon world

[@michaelzunino1759]

Do you think something like soak will be powerful in S&V? It might end up just being cheesy, but you could potentially use it to just cancel out their terastilization and really disrupt them

[@afanofjustice]

Would’ve been awesome

[@varsik289]

That didnt age very well

[@swoobla]

As a non competetive player, megas were definitely my favorite. Some of my favorite pokemon felt more powerful to use in game and I loved the designs. I never really got into dynamax since they could only be used in gyms and raid battles. I really miss being able to use mega ampharos and mega altaria because it felt like they got more love!

[@luukienquoc1251]

I love mega Altaria too

[@Aeg7zz]

Terastalazation:Who are you?Porygon lines conversion:You but better.

[@amaze2173]

I was thinking of the exact same with with tyranitar when I first heard about the new ability! Making a amazing Pokémon with bad typing have the ability to get a good typing will make it absolutely busted.

[@samt3412]

And again, Shedinja could very well become the greatest Pokemon if you can pull a Salamence and have no type weakness

[@wavesky7978]

As a casual player who binged gen 6-8 for the first time recently. I actually feel like the gimmicks got better over time. Though Megas are initially cool, the flashiness wears off and the time it takes to watch the animation became tedium. A pokemon with a mega’s non-mega form may as not exist to me since i mega turn 1 they’re out too, there could be more strategy if I had to time it but it lasts forever so it may as well just be a new strong evolution I need to pay cutscene tax for. Z-moves were simple but effective. The only problem being that most of them do the same thing just in a different typing. Its fun for a simple boss clear but its not that interesting overall. Gigantimax was definitely the winner I felt, though I wish there was more variation in the moves it gave, the flexibility and the time limit really made it feel like a special mechanic. The new mechanic has me very interested since it has so many strategic implications compared to the past ones. Here’s hopin theres a good reason to strategize around it while playing through the game.

[@PhillyBeatzGames]

I'm so excited to see the Future Of Tera Pokemon in Competitive Battle! Great Video Wolfey!

[@jonathanrobinson8926]

As long-time subscriber who earned my banana years ago, first let me say your sub ratio truly is unfair; your channel is amazing. Secondly, yes plz rank all gimmicks. That sounds awesome.

[@UltraBall23]

My favorite thing about Dynamax is that it allowed more use field effects in game. Weather and Terrain were a lot more malleable and slowed setup and counter play around them. Previous formats you were just stuck with whatever terrain or weather the opponent brought.

[@johnnyhall9154]

Coming back, tera types are by far the best. So much out plays and variety in tera types and builds

[@zen7even]

Too bad the designs are goofy

[@AC12246]

​@@zen7evensame goes with dynamax

[@StateBlaze1989]

I'd be down to see you rank every new mechanic. If anything to see where triple and rotation battles stack up, since a lot of people seem to forget those even existed as a battle gimmick.

[@somenewb9050]

You know, I thought this was just a thought in my head. Mega evolution was always the coolest mechanic but I think max was the most functional

[@kyleellis1825]

They should have just turned mega evolution into Dynamax (with regional variants like Charizard, since we already had charizard and mewtwo X/Y). Gigantomax is the Galar regional gimmick, while Dynamax is just renamed mega evolution.

[@connor5187]

“Z-moves were a bad mechanic because I wasn’t good at predicting them”

[@danielsarna9763]

I think megas had the best potential, if they had limited the Pokemon that got megas to off meta and weaker Pokemon. As soon as they gave Pokemon like Salamence a mega it completely invalidated all other pokemon. For example mega Beedrill could've been an interesting fairy killing glass cannon, but why take Beedrill when you could just have a mega Metagross.

[@morenopanni277]

You can already see in the last trailer that Terstalize doesn't require an item, you even showed it, Breloom as the loaded dice as an held item and is already transformed into a pure grass type. Also I think the type is fixed to that single Pokémon, for example if you catch a Tyranitar that has a ghost type terathing caught in a raid, he will only be ghost type, it won't have any other type unless you catch a different Tyranitar that can turn only water type for example. So it's a feature you can't play much with, if the opponent knows you have a possible ghost type Tyranitar they will have to consider that, at the same time you can decide whether or not transforming one Pokémon, or the other.

[@Banana_Zach]

what if during team view it showed each pokemon's tera-type?

[@heavyrain5949]

That's kinda lame tbh lol should have some way tp switch tera types outside of a battle.

[@william_sun]

@@heavyrain5949 Sword and Shield gave us the ability to add or remove Gigantamax with the Isle of Armor expansion, so it's likely that if they release DLC expansions for Scarlet and Violet, we might get a mechanic to add or remove the ability to Terastallize or change the type.

[@heavyrain5949]

@@william_sun Hopefully lol, could you imagine having to breed at least 18 different types 😅 Though I think gen.8 added the ability to alter natures with mints so if you don't need to breed a modest ghost tera if you have a timid one.

[@mr.incognito2687]

Mega Evolution was honesty the only mechanic that validated Pokémon that normally wouldn’t be threats in higher tiers, like Manectric or Houndoom.

[@treygreypaws3689]

For me its Mega Dynamax Z Moves Megas could have continued for pokemon who arent as good. Dmax okay cause everyone can do it but yeah. Z moves was a funny delete mon button.

[@myselfawesomedude1053]

To be fair, z moves probably wouldn't have been as much of a pain with open team sheets

[@seanmaddex4104]

From a non competitive standpoint I think that Mega Pokémon was one of the most entertaining mechanics. they really created some fun throwbacks and revitalized some fan favorites. I like the regional variants but many have been vary hit or miss and didn't bring the same excitement. From a casual game play perspective dynamax was kind of boring, although it was interesting to watch in the recent VGC world championship.

[@junaidnizami7076]

This seems to be more specific to VGC, Dynamax was completely broken in singles. The new type-changing gimmick will be interesting but they should really balance the type chart first before pushing the mechanic, a lot of types will just end up being useless, mainly ice and bug. Edit: You made a great point about flexibility, the mega evolution and z moves you would use were set in stone the moment you start the battle, Dynamax and the new terastilize gimmick are much more flexible. Hope game freak implements more gimmicks like this in the future. Edit2: terastilization will definitely make tons of pokemon unviable. The main benefit of using lower stat pokemon so far was because they offered some utility to the stronger pokemon on your team, whether that be because of their beneficial typing or exclusive moves they possessed. With the new covert cloak item as well as unviable strong stat pokemon able to change their type to something more powerful, I feel like this coming meta will push a lot of pokemon out of favour. Alternatively, a lot of unviable defensive pokemon will surge in popularity. Imagine pokemon like bastiadon fixing its poor typing and becoming the wall it always dreamed of being. It will be interesting to which style of play, offensive or defensive, will benefit more from this new mechanic.

[@bigwave1713]

I mean the game is design around double format, single format is more of a fan thing

[@Ace-002]

It was broken in singles? Oh wow lol, I loved dynamax in doubles thought it was the most balanced thing we have gotten 😭. Megas/z-moves was the worst one to me when it came to balance though

[@Ace-002]

I feel like the Tera gimmick will make a lot of unviable Pokémon viable. For example if you have a Pokémon who has decent/good stats but are hindered by their typing (ex:ice,bug,rock) then you can change to a type that will benefit them. However this is just a generation 9 thing so gen 10 the Pokémon will just go back to being unviable but for now its good. For example cetitian as a water or steel type is going to be so good than just keeping it ice (Edit) I see that you mentioned the unviable becoming popular, if done correctly this could be a very good gimmick, I just feel it can get real predictable in singles rather than doubles imo.

[@junaidnizami7076]

@@bigwave1713 💀 The game isn't designed around shit

[@TheShuuman]

While Z-Moves are my favorite of the three, I only play solo and can see how it would be nerve-wracking for a competitive player on so many levels and I get the cut scenes running a little long at times. Granted on the other hand though I do like that knife on the edge sensation of not knowing what my opponent could be up to though that niche is filled thanks to Dyanamaxxing and I hope it continues with Tera-Crystal Moon Power forms. This isn't a sarcastic joke, I'm in agreement that the new mechanic is going to misspelled for ever and I can already feel my high school english teacher ready to bust down my door and choke me out for misspelling again.

[@flyingoctopus4304]

From a casual's point of view Mega Evolution is still the best gimmick and I hope it returns. Maybe change it so only weaker pokémon get one so they have a chance to shine, like Beedrill or Lopunny did. As for the new Terrastalise(lize?) gimmick, I don't see it being very impactful for casuals but I'm curious how it'll impact professional strategic play. The crowns look kinda meh though.

[@GravityIsFalling]

or maybe just give weaker mons evolutions? Why does no one want evolutions. Imagine if all those gen 4 evos were meags instead, how awful that would be, is it also not awful that lopunny, beedrill, medicham, etc. all got fucked over by having a generational gimmick instead of an evolution they so easily could've gotten

[@JayceCH.]

You realize that regional variants are now their take on Megas. Lets be real, you just want an OHK machine for your playthrough for no reason.

[@grunkleg.2934]

@@GravityIsFalling They did give Kommo-o Clangorous Soul after getting rid of Z-Moves. What's stopping them from buffing the base forms?

[@flyingoctopus4304]

@@GravityIsFalling New evolutions would also be cool and I might prefer that but I don't see them adding a fourth evolution stage past the three stage evolutions. Another reason I like Mega Evolutions is that they give some extra flair to the pokémon instead of changing it entirely like evolution does. If Mega Evolution was a main stay it wouldn't be a generational gimmick anymore and said pokemon wouldn't get left behind anymore.

[@flyingoctopus4304]

@@JayceCH. Regional Variants being the new Mega Evolution take is fair, but I don't really understand your second argument. It's not like you don't one-shot everything in a normal playthrough with the changes to Exp. Share and being unable to turn it off anymore, unless you train a team of 12 pokémon and constantly switch them out to keep them at the same level. Regional Variants don't always make said pokémon more powerful (for example Alolan Raticate) or change stats either and I enjoy both the increase of power and design flair that goes with the Mega Evolution.

[@Rayakuu]

Conclusion of this Video: Wolfey got PTSD from Z-Moves :,D

[@BronzyCobra]

Personally i really don't mind the transformation animation taking that long at least for dynamax because it adds special flair to the gimmick which makes the fight more interresting

[@JayceCH.]

Dynamax animation is fine. How long it makes everything else take like their attack animations and field effects, etc. adds up though.

[@offbalanceg]

I’m a doubles only kinda guy, so I’m excited to use the new gimmick in doubles. Dynamax is the best out of the 3, totally agree as far as doubles is concerned.

[@trevorpacelli8056]

As someone who just got started learning about the competitive scene, I agree that dynamaxing has been pretty overhated. There is an insane amount of strategy that goes behind using it, and you always have to be mindful of when you use it and on which Pokémon.

[@ReverseRomenYouTube]

“Why does it look like Mega Swampert and Gyarados skipped leg day?” Mega Gyarados: *has no legs*

[@triohazard6104]

I wasn’t big on zmoves. But I loved the unpredictability of Z-Metronome

[@ma3mc3mu-X]

Too bad most of the Pokemon that get to G-Max are from Kanto, the most overloved region of them all. Garbodor got lucky.

[@ChaosKnuxxx]

From a competitive standpoint, Dynamax I would say is best for doubles and megas for singles. I'm not sure about how gen 9 is gonna go. My initial impression is singles?

[@Ace-002]

I have a feeling it’s going to get very predictable in singles but idk just yet

[@eroonwiiu5093]

Dynamax just looks ridiculous… I wish they would’ve just stuck with the Mega Evolutions lore 😔 and I hate that there’s no National Dex anymore. Pokémon as I once knew it feels ruined to me. I stopped playing after Sun & Moon. All that Shiny hunting for nothing

[@clarkside4493]

Giving the opposing Dynamax Pokemon an Eject Button was the thing to do in gen 8. Giving the opposing Terastalized Pokemon a Ring Target will be the thing to do in gen 9.

[@Spiney09]

I say this not as a casual or competitive player, but as a Rayquaza fan: megas were sick. I started playing Pokémon in the first place because of a weeklong vacation where I saw Rayquaza in the Subspace emissary in Brawl, then saw my cousin playing Emerald a few days later. Mega Ray was very satisfying, and when I learned they had to make a whole other tier for it, it felt like It’d proven its dominance. Sure zacian can probably still OHKO it, but still. (Plus the design on Zacian drives me crazy. It’s just a dog with a sword! Give it cool claws or wings that look like swords or something! It’s counterpart has a mane that looks like a shield, but this poor guy has to use some weapon he found to keep up?)

[@akb2582]

Pretty sure megas were the best for singles, and dynamax was the best for doubles. Hilarious how z-moves were a pain in both formats though.