Smogon banned Landorus. As of Friday, their members that achieved voting requirements have already reached a supermajority (of 75.5%) that was so overwhelming, that any further votes would not have changed the outcome. Therefore, the Incarnate form of Landorus is banned from OU, and is restricted to the Uber tier (or Anything Goes).

Wait, what?

I’m a little surprised that Landorus Therian form wasn’t the form being suspect tested. Landorus-T is the form that’s been consistently appearing in the top five for OU usage statistics.

Having said that, both forms of Landorus can cause serious problems. Both have excellent typing, both offensively and defensively. The combination of Ground and Flying types gives Landorus immunity to two popular attacking types. Landorus-I possesses an excellent speed tier, and both have access to Rock Polish for increased speed. Better yet, it doesn’t get paralyzed with Thunder Wave. Both have excellent abilities, with the nod going to Landorus-I, whose Sheer Force ability brings it’s already-high attack stat to stratospheric levels. Better yet, it can hold Life Orb for higher damage yield.

While it might be surprising which form was chosen for suspect testing, the outcome isn’t very surprising. Landorus was a very overcentralizing force. It was heavily used for a reason: it was very strong. Now Smogon’s popular OU environment will find itself adjusting to an absence of Landorus-I.

There are those who are on the outside looking in, who typically come about in times like this with something like the following:

Smogon bans every pokemon I like. They think they can change the rules for everyone. I don’t understand what Smogon is doing.

If Smogon only bans the pokemon you like, you probably like pokemon that are seriously unbalanced. Contrary to popular belief, Smogon isn’t out to change the rules for everyone. Smogon makes their rules for use in their own competitive environments. Those rules are not intended for use by any other community. This means that, unless you’re battling in Smogon’s competitive community, Smogon’s rules don’t apply to you.

So one might ask, “Why are there so many competitive battling communities that go by Smogon’s rules?” Even Serebii.net, with it’s Pokemon of the Week feature goes by Smogon’s rules. Why do they do this? Because Smogon is so popular, that they’ve become heavily trusted by fans. Some even trust their decisions above official Pokemon competitive rulings. Considering that the official VGC competitive environment is Garchomp and Mega Kangaskhan spam, it’s easy to see how someone would desire something more balanced. Smogon certainly has a far stronger mechanism for player input, which is natural, considering that Smogon.com is run by Pokemon players.

It’s not Smogon’s intention to try to change the game for everyone. Instead, many webmasters choose to adopt Smogon’s rules for their own competitive environments. Even among casual players, it’s easy for a person to say “let’s play this match by Smogon’s rules” and it’s not unusual for the other player to understand what this means.

What Smogon is doing seems pretty obvious. They are attempting to create a competitive Pokemon environment that is balanced. Smogon’s rules are as popular as they are because they have a very effective system for balancing competitive play, which is something that Nintendo and GameFreak don’t seem to spend much time bothering with.

So, Smogon banned Landorus’ Incarnate form. Perhaps its Therian form is next.

I’ve heard it said over and over again that Pokemon stole from Digimon with it’s new Mega Evolution game mechanic introduced in Pokemon X and Y. And while this is not true, it’s repeated again and again by uninformed people who didn’t bother looking into it.

Their statements basically come down to this:

Pokemon, after coming up with original content and implementing new and novel gameplay mechanics for well over a decade, decided to steal the concept of Mega Evolution from Digimon, and thought it would go unnoticed in spite of the fact that millions of people have played Digimon, and that there would be plenty of geniuses out there who notice the vague similarities.

The main reason anyone makes this mistake seems to be because of the use of the word, “mega”. But here’s the thing:

There are no mega digimon.

This might sound surprising, but it’s actually true. I know that if you’re playing the English version of Digimon, the Digimon growth stages are listed as follows:

• DigiEgg
• Baby
• In-Training
• Rookie
• Champion
• Ultimate
• Mega

And I know what some of you are thinking: “Look Raizen! It’s right there! Mega! Its the last one on the list! Did you miss it?”

However, what most English players of Digimon don’t realize is that, in the English versions, the assignment of the words Ultimate and Mega for the last two stages is the result of a mistake.

Here is what the stages were called in the original Japanese version:

• DigiTama (DigiEgg)
• Baby I
• Baby II
• Child
• Adult
• Perfect
• Ultimate

Source: http://wikimon.net/Evolution_Stage

This is what the stages are actually called. Notice how there is no Mega stage? It is actually called “Ultimate”.

When Digimon was being translated to English, a mistake was made: The “Perfect” stage was instead called the “Ultimate” stage. The translators were probably informed that the final Digimon stage was called “Ultimate”, and thinking that the Perfect stage was the last one (as the word “Perfect” implies completion), they assigned the name to that stage, instead. When the real Ultimate stage was revealed to them, they had already given the name to something else. Oops. So the last stage was called “Mega” instead.

So there you go, the only reason anyone thinks that there is a mega digimon stage is due to a mistake made by translators. There are no mega digimon.

Some, being informed of this irrefutable statement of fact, might still take issue with the temporary nature of Mega Evolution as being too similar to the temporary nature of Ultimate-level digimon. Does it really need to be pointed out that both Pokemon and Digimon came from Japan, which are very familiar with the concept of transforming characters?

The following is an incomplete list of Japanese IPs with characters that can transform:

• Dragonball Z
• Kamen Rider
• Sailor Moon
• GaoGaiGar
• InuYasha
• Ranma 1/2
• Magical Doremi
• Moetan
• Cardcaptor Sakura
• Mermaid Melody
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Naruto
• Rosario Vampire
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
• Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Shugo Chara!
• Voltron
• Demashitta! Powerpuff Girls Z
• Bleach
• Q-Ko-Chan the Earth Invader Girl
• Tokyo Mew Mew
• Pretty Cure
• D.N.Angel
• Most or nearly all super sentai genre anime and manga not already on this list
• Most or nearly all mahou shoujo genre anime and manga not already on this list

And there’s more. Lots more.

There is a reason that the concept of transformation and reversion occurs so frequently in manga and anime: it’s a sweet concept. So don’t be surprised if, after nearly twenty years, GameFreak finally decides to implement it as a gameplay mechanic in Pokemon (counting characters like Rotom, Castform, Shaymin, Meloetta, Kyurem, Giratina, and Deoxys, they’ve been doing it for a while).

At this point, someone might grasp for straws, saying, “What about Digimon crests? They’re like mega stones! Pwned!!” What about them? Crests were pretty much discarded as a concept after the end of Digimon Adventure 1 and 2, when Digimon was still young. They were a plot device that emphasized character development rather than a necessity for digivolution. Digimon could reach the Ultimate stage without their help. Now if only the Digimon anime emphasized that point… Oh yeah, it did, and legions of Digimon fans missed it. Some fans they are.

A thing about fans: it seems like a lot of people take the word “fan” lightly, and apply it to themselves not knowing what it means. People seem to like calling themselves “fans” of something if they like a concept or sometimes watch an episode of a TV show. What most people don’t seem to realize is that “fan” is short for “fanatic”, and that it implies a consummate level of involvement that perhaps goes well beyond nerdhood. A person isn’t a “fan” of House M.D. if they watch an episode now and then. A person is a fan of House M.D. if they’ve watched just about every episode, maybe some of them several times.

A person isn’t a Digimon fan just because they watched the Digimon anime on TV once. Also, a person doesn’t get to call themselves a Digimon fan if they didn’t know that there wasn’t really a mega digivolution stage, because they didn’t know one of the most basic things about Digimon. However, if you have a poster of Kari Kamiya bathing on your bedroom wall, you probably are a Digimon fan.

Or if you’re a 23-year-old overweight woman that draws things like this.

A lot of people miss this, but mega evolution isn’t in every case from a third stage to a fourth one. In some cases, it’s from a first stage to a second one (such as for Mawile and Absol). In this sense, mega evolution could perhaps be more closely compared to “burst digivolution”, but most people who are familiar with Digimon aren’t even aware of what burst digivolution is because most people who are aware of Digimon don’t know much about it outside of the anime up to Digimon Tamers. After that, Digimon fell from cultural relevance, and the show and games could have been about just about anything, and people would largely not even notice what they were doing.

So some might point to burst digivolution and say that Pokemon stole that idea. Nope. Yeah, there are digimon that require an item to digivolve, but Pokemon has been doing that for a long time. It’s been a thing since the year 2000, when Slowpoke and Onix needed hold items to evolve to Slowking and Steelix, and there were others like them. Remember that?

However, it’s a moot point. Pointing out coincidental similarities between two very similar intellectual properties pretty much gets nowhere, especially considering that one of them (namely, Pokemon) still sells Nintendo handhelds and has had characters that appeared on commercial airliners, among other things, while the other (namely, Digimon) hasn’t been culturally significant in well over a decade. Really, why would a highly successful intellectual property that’s going on to two decades old want to emulate a different one that hasn’t been popular in a long time, and wasn’t really a big deal to begin with?

I think any reasonable person would be persuaded by now. Pokemon did not steal the Mega Evolution mechanic from Digimon. If you know someone who disagrees, there is something that you can do for the winning side: provide them a link to this article.

Digimon fans, don’t get upset. You can still enjoy your favorite game while knowing that Pokemon didn’t steal from it. It’s been the case for over a decade, anyway. This isn’t an article about how Pokemon came first (you can read more about that here). In fact, you probably just learned something about your favorite game (that there is no Mega digivolution stage). Everybody wins.

Serebii featured Lopunny as it’s Pokemon of the Week, and personally, I think they could have done more with it.

Lopunny is very viable in competitive battles, thanks to the recent addition of Lopunnite in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Here are a few movesets that I think Lopunny can use well.

First, I’ll start with one that I use. It’s similar to one that Serebii featured, and I think it can be considered a pretty standard Lopunny set:

Chilled Mocha
Lopunny
Jolly nature
Ability: Limber
Item: Lopunnite
– Fake Out
– Return
– High Jump Kick
– Ice Punch
252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe

Not a hard set to understand. Get Lopunny out there and mega evolve it, get some chip damage in with Fake Out, and then treat it as a fast Normal/Fighting sweeper, with one cool twist: thanks to the Scrappy ability that Lopunny acquires, it can hit the Ghost types that might otherwise switch into it with little problem with it’s Normal and Fighting moves. In fact, Mega Lopunny’s High Jump Kick is super-effective against Sableye. Ice Punch is for coverage.

Usagi Yojimbo
Lopunny
Jolly Nature
Ability: Limber
Item: Lopunnite
– Cosmic Power
– Drain Punch
– Return / Ice Punch / High Jump Kick / Baton Pass
– Return / Ice Punch / High Jump Kick / Baton Pass
252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD

Looking at Lopunny, one might not figure it to be a tank. But it does have decent defenses and access to Cosmic Power, so Lopunny can function as a tank with very high speed, and can use Drain Punch for recovery. The last two moves would depend on what supports Lopunny’s team well, with Return, Ice Punch, and High Jump Kick being attack moves that work well on Lopunny, and Baton Pass for passing on Lopunny’s defensive boosts. As for the EV spread, it can be adjusted depending on what seems like a bigger concern. One could go with more Defense or Special Defense, or max both with just a little in HP to focus on getting more out of a Cosmic Power boost. Impish or Careful nature boosts Defense or Special Defense, respectively, and may be preferable if you don’t care too much about the Speed for this set.

Last Resort Rabbit
Lopunny
Jolly Nature
Ability: Limber
Item: Lopunnite
– Fake Out
– Last Resort
– (blank)
– (blank)
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd

A very straightforward set. Lopunny comes in and uses Fake Out, and having done that, it can use Last Resort, its only other move. Fake Out helps with chip damage, and gives Lopunny a move to go with Last Resort so it will work. Scrappy really benefits Lopunny with this set, otherwise Ghost types would wall it. One might ask what this set would do about Rock and Steel types that would resist this set’s two moves. When up against these, it might be a better idea to switch Lopunny out and let one of it’s teammates deal with them. If hard-hitting, fast, and simple are how you like your pokemon, I think this set is something you’d probably enjoy.

I like Serebii’s Magma Head set, however. Lopunny can use Substitute pretty well. It can be tempting to put Drain Punch with the Magma Head set, but I think Power Up punch’s attack boost can serve Lopunny well. I don’t know why they called their set “Magma Head”, though.

Since it’s ban from OU before the release of ORAS, Smogonites have contested the controversial decision by Smogon to ban Aegislash from the OU tier. The vote passed narrowly, and with changes that came about with the release or ORAS, fans have called on Smogon to do another suspect test for Aegislash.

The fans have gotten what they wanted; Smogon did another suspect test for Aegislash. And Aegislash is still banned. In fact, the community so overwhelmingly favored keeping the ban in place, that just days into the vote, 72.8% of qualified voters had voted in favor of keeping the ban in place, and a release of the results was made well before the Friday deadline. For Aegislash to have been unbanned, there would have to have been a 60% majority favoring unbanning. However, the vote didn’t come close to that.

When you consider what Aegislash can do, it’s hard to disagree with the results.

Steel and Ghost are both excellent defensive typings, together granting nine resistances and three immunities. Aegislash has both those types. Not only that, Aegislash has some excellent versatility.

For one thing, it can change between two forms during battle. It starts out in a defensive form, with very excellent defenses that allow it to make more of it’s typing. During that time, it can set up with Swords Dance. Right before using an attack move, it changes to an attack form, with very high offensive stats. It hits hard with Iron Head, and has a priority move with Shadow Sneak. To turn back into it’s defense form, it uses it’s attack, King’s Shield, which in addition to changing Aegislash’s form, also protects Aegislash from attack moves for the turn, and sharply lowers the Attack stat of whatever tries to use contact attacks on it during that time. Also, it works well with Weakness policy so those super-effective moves that don’t do much to it in it’s defense form result in Aegislash increasing it’s Attack and Special Attack by two stages each.

It’s easy to see why Aegislash has a lot of fans. It’s a sword pokemon, which is a pretty cool concept. Not only that, it’s very strong. It’s hard to fault someone for liking something that can win. Aegislash is a practical choice in many competitive environments, because it’s good at winning. If you hear someone say that they have a high winning streak in the Battle Maison, he probably had Aegislash on his team. Or Greninja. Or both.

So, to those who wanted to see Aegislash suspected tested again so badly, you got what you wanted. However, it wasn’t unbanned from OU. Those who recognize Aegislash as a pokemon that would severely unbalance OU see this as a good thing. If Aegislash were unbanned, we might have seen teams include Aegislash and one or two pokemon that can take it on just to be competitively viable.

There are likely complainers out there who are saying things like, “Smogon always bans pokemon I like” or “Smogon bans everything” or “I just don’t understand what Smogon is doing.” Sound familiar?

If you like having an environment unbalanced by Aegislash and don’t like what Smogon does, you can just play in a different competitive community than Smogon. Smogon’s decisions only apply to the Smogon community. Smogon doesn’t make it’s rules to impose on other communities.

You might be asking, “So then, what about Serebii, who does it’s Pokemon of the Week feature based on Smogon’s rules? What about Pokebeach and numerous other communities out there that play by Smogon’s rules?” They do this because they choose to. It should be widely known that Smogon isn’t official, and it’s rules only apply to it’s own community. However, there is still a widespread notion that Smogon can be trusted to decide what pokemon are too strong for a balanced competitive game. Much of this comes from the fact that Smogon has perhaps the most sophisticated system in place to help them make such determinations. That Smogon is also very popular is another reason it’s trusted.

If you want to use Aegislash in link battles with your friends, you can still do that. There are probably plenty of communities out there that still permit it’s use. As for Smogon, they made the decision that they deemed necessary to keep their OU environment balanced, and this time around, I think it’s easy to see that their decision is pretty sound.

I’ve obtained my own Aegislash and used it in battle, and it’s easy to see why it would have to share an environment with the likes of Primal Groudon, Xerneas, and Mega Mewtwo Y to not seem unbalanced. Even in relatively inexperienced hands, Aegislash can be a terror.

So, what gets suspect tested next? Currently ranked S on Smogon’s OU Viability Ranking Thread are Mega Altaria, Clefable, Keldeo, Landorus (I), and Mega Metagross. Of those, Mega Metagross has recently been suspect tested. That it wasn’t banned, I found to be a little surprising. Whatever they decide on, there’s likely to be someone out there that’s upset by it.