Following the survey results, The Mix And Mega Council has decided to suspect test Pidgeotite!
After spending several previous generations banned, Pidgeotite was given a shot at freedom during the early days of generation 9. Ever since then, it's been something of a controversial existance. To its detractors, Pidgeotite is simply too strong. The base stat bonuses it gives are extremely min-maxed, most notably giving more special attack than any other stone, and while No Guard doesn't directly boost damage it often incidentally does so by enabling stronger attacks that would normally go unused due to their innacuracy, like Thunder. By just adding Pidgeotite, many otherwise mediocre special attackers like Electrode-H or Tornadus-T become usable, and already powerful pokemon like Magearna or Enamorus are equally happy to take advantage of it. Not helping matters is its usage by now banned pokemon like Dragapult and Zapdos, which some consider an obvious pattern of its role as an unhealthy element.
However, that's not to say the situation is cut and dried. While these pokemon did use pidgeotite, many of them are obviously broken in their own right; the likes of Dragapult, Iron Bundle, and Kilowattrel are unlikely to return to the metagame even should Pidgeotite be banned, and most of the best legal users have other similarly viable or better sets. Despite significant theorymonning, Pidgeotite hasn't really had any standout tournament performances, and it's hard to argue that they're stronger than their physical counterparts. The ability of Sandy Shocks to pressure Arceus-Ground, for instance, owes largely to the latter investing primarily in physical defense to check such pokemon. When a team has half or fewer as many special walls and physical ones, it's hard to say whether the ability of a niche set like Tornadus muscling past a Clodsire or Slowking-g is unhealthy power or just an off-meta pick. Pidgeotite also offers almost no bonuses to the Pokemon's defenses, leaving most users readily vulnerable to revenge killing and limiting the defensive utility they can provide the team noticeably.
Taken as a whole, is it reasonable to say that Pidgeotite is too powerful for Mix and Mega? Or will it remain for another day, one threat among many? The Council believes the community should determine the answer to this question.
Requirements:
Requirements can be achieved by getting 75 GXE in 25 games on the Mix and Mega ladder. In order to participate in the suspect, you must create a fresh alt (creation date no earlier than 27 July 2023) with the prefix MnMPG at the start of the name. When you have obtained the reqs, make sure to post proof of your alt's record (generally a screenshot) in this thread, and if you wish to do so, you can also share your thoughts on the test here.
Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will then outline a process of blind voting, which will be clarified once the time arrives. For now, follow the above "Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have posted your reqs correctly. You must post on this thread in order to be tagged in the voting thread, however you do not need to include your vote on this thread.
A super-majority of 60% ban votes is required to ban Pidgeotite from Mix and Mega.
TL;DR:
- Pidgeotite is permitted on the suspect Ladder
- The GXE requirement is 75 and the minimum game count is 25
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt using the prefix MnMPG
- You must post your reqs in this thread, though the voting process will happen in a separate thread. You are not required to state your vote in this thread.
- The suspect test will conclude at 11:59pm GMT -4 (EDT) on Tuesday, 8th August.
- A ban vote of 60% is required to ban Pidgeotite from Mix and Mega.
After spending several previous generations banned, Pidgeotite was given a shot at freedom during the early days of generation 9. Ever since then, it's been something of a controversial existance. To its detractors, Pidgeotite is simply too strong. The base stat bonuses it gives are extremely min-maxed, most notably giving more special attack than any other stone, and while No Guard doesn't directly boost damage it often incidentally does so by enabling stronger attacks that would normally go unused due to their innacuracy, like Thunder. By just adding Pidgeotite, many otherwise mediocre special attackers like Electrode-H or Tornadus-T become usable, and already powerful pokemon like Magearna or Enamorus are equally happy to take advantage of it. Not helping matters is its usage by now banned pokemon like Dragapult and Zapdos, which some consider an obvious pattern of its role as an unhealthy element.
However, that's not to say the situation is cut and dried. While these pokemon did use pidgeotite, many of them are obviously broken in their own right; the likes of Dragapult, Iron Bundle, and Kilowattrel are unlikely to return to the metagame even should Pidgeotite be banned, and most of the best legal users have other similarly viable or better sets. Despite significant theorymonning, Pidgeotite hasn't really had any standout tournament performances, and it's hard to argue that they're stronger than their physical counterparts. The ability of Sandy Shocks to pressure Arceus-Ground, for instance, owes largely to the latter investing primarily in physical defense to check such pokemon. When a team has half or fewer as many special walls and physical ones, it's hard to say whether the ability of a niche set like Tornadus muscling past a Clodsire or Slowking-g is unhealthy power or just an off-meta pick. Pidgeotite also offers almost no bonuses to the Pokemon's defenses, leaving most users readily vulnerable to revenge killing and limiting the defensive utility they can provide the team noticeably.
Taken as a whole, is it reasonable to say that Pidgeotite is too powerful for Mix and Mega? Or will it remain for another day, one threat among many? The Council believes the community should determine the answer to this question.
Requirements:
Requirements can be achieved by getting 75 GXE in 25 games on the Mix and Mega ladder. In order to participate in the suspect, you must create a fresh alt (creation date no earlier than 27 July 2023) with the prefix MnMPG at the start of the name. When you have obtained the reqs, make sure to post proof of your alt's record (generally a screenshot) in this thread, and if you wish to do so, you can also share your thoughts on the test here.
Voting:
Once the suspect period is over, everyone who has obtained reqs will be tagged. The post will then outline a process of blind voting, which will be clarified once the time arrives. For now, follow the above "Requirements" subheading to ensure that you have posted your reqs correctly. You must post on this thread in order to be tagged in the voting thread, however you do not need to include your vote on this thread.
A super-majority of 60% ban votes is required to ban Pidgeotite from Mix and Mega.
TL;DR:
- Pidgeotite is permitted on the suspect Ladder
- The GXE requirement is 75 and the minimum game count is 25
- You must ladder on a newly-created alt using the prefix MnMPG
- You must post your reqs in this thread, though the voting process will happen in a separate thread. You are not required to state your vote in this thread.
- The suspect test will conclude at 11:59pm GMT -4 (EDT) on Tuesday, 8th August.
- A ban vote of 60% is required to ban Pidgeotite from Mix and Mega.
