Razachu

@Bearminator updated roster!

Team Name: Solemn Promise Team Tag: VOW Team Captain: NecasInTrouble Registered Players: NagaHex Sargeste COCHETAS Dugzy TawIaa RohMartinez NecasInTrouble LoveRaz GrandeLancia AlphaDrake LoveCunha shiroecchi dithyrambique OrangeManiac LiveLaughHate

Team Name: Solemn Promise Team Tag: VOW Registered Players: CHUCKunso COCHETAS drewq OrangeManiac NecasInTrouble subabuse NagaHex RealDevilLegend Imabetheverybest fefeco TawIaa LoveRaz Sargeste LiveLaughHate Joalza Team Captain: drewq

I, LoveRaz (Razachu), would like to represent Australia (& Rest Of Asia) as captain for World Cup 7. I consent that WC staff can confirm that I come from Australia. My discord is razachu.

IGN: Razachu / LoveRaz Discord: razachu Nation: Australia

As I mentioned in my previous post in the Doubles discussion thread, I'm in favour of removing Follow Me from Jirachi in Doubles, and in this case, rather than Jirachi itself. While Jirachi itself has a great typing, stats and move pool all of which make it quite strong in our current meta, it is the access to Follow Me is what truly makes it so strong in the current Dubs metagame and difficult for most teams to handle. (Although the Smogon Doubles OU metagames are not perfectly reflective of PokeMMO's unique metagame, Jirachi was banned from Gen 5-8 DOU until it lost access to Follow Me.) The combination of Follow Me Jirachi and a number of setup mons, in particular, Nasty Plot Hydreigon, Calm Mind Suicune, to name a few, has already proven to be quite strong in the current Dubs metagame, and is often quite difficult to break through for most teams without expending quite a lot of resources. That isn't to say that there is no counterplays to Jirachi, as Pokemon like Heatran that can threaten strong damage onto Jirachi, but even against Heatran, Jirachi teams can run lots of other techs for Heatran/Chandelure etc. including Wide Guard, fast Earthquakes, etc. In most matchups, Jirachi almost always gets far too much value from one slot, and is (in my opinion) a support Uber in this regard. That being said, I would like to trial Jirachi in the current meta without Follow Me and am in favour of a complex ban of Jirachi + Follow Me.

I'm in favour of removing Follow Me from Jirachi in Doubles. The combination of typing, stats and move pool makes Jirachi quite strong in our current meta and difficult for most teams to handle. To further add to this, the most common Doubles teams using Jirachi + Hydreigon typically will cover Heatran with the other 4 slots. For example, this is one of the most common archetypes on ladder/in tournaments. Here, these teams are running Mamoswine threatening a OHKO with Earthquake, Hitmontop carrying both Wide Guard to cover for Heatran's spread damage STABs (namely, Eruption/Heat Wave) and threatening an OHKO with Close Combat, and Blastoise resisting Heatran's STABs. I am of the opinion that Jirachi almost always gets too much value out of one slot as Orange mentioned, and would like to trial Jirachi in the current meta without Follow Me.

All the best my bro 🫂

Team Name & Tag: [VOW] Solemn Promise Registered Players: NecasInTrouble Imabetheverybest imBlindSpot LiveLaughHate AkaruKokuyo Summrs drewq fefeco Senjutsuka NagaHex Sargeste AgnCunha COCHETAS RohMartinez TawIaa Captain: NecasInTrouble

The Covert Mantle has clearly proven to be a strong item in the Doubles metagame, especially seeing use on Zapdos & Whimiscott in particular. Whilst this item is largely used to prevent Fake Out from flinching the Pokemon, an immunity to secondary effects has great value (eg: immunity to stat drop, status etc.). Largely, the issue (and that has already been discussed in Atlewis’ & Nuzlocked’s posts) is this combination of bluffing Zapdos’ item makes it too strong for our current metagame. When the Covert Mantle isn’t flashed, you are essentially forced to acknowledge that Zapdos can hold the Covert Mantle. This allows for the player to bluff their item, for example, a Zapdos can run an Electric Gem, and players will be hesistant to click Fake Out, giving Zapdos users a Covert Cloak by proxy. This can win Doubles games on Turn 1 with how powerful positioning can be using this item. Flashing the Covert Mantle is definitely a healthy change for the Doubles metagame that doesn’t diminish the value of this item in my opinion. (However, I can definitely understand the arguments made in this thread that item bluffing is a key component of Pokemon battling, in both Singles and Doubles.) Of note, a few posts have noted that the Covert Cloak only exists in the VGC metagame, where an item clause and open team sheet exists. The only relevant metagame with a hidden Covert Cloak is Gen 9 / SV Doubles OU (DOU). This metagame is not remotely comparable to the current metagame we have, given the broader variety of Pokemon available, Mechanics such as Terastalisation. Moreover, any comparisons between Singles and Doubles regarding the Covert Mantle are largely nonsensical. The Covert Mantle is the most used item on the most used Pokemon (Zapdos) in the Doubles Metagame. There is very limited to no usage of the item in Singles and this should not be the focus of this thread.

More or less completely agree with what Baklava said. There's been so many tours with nice prizes that I couldn't properly try to compete in because they start so late and run so late. The official tours I won began at 12am my time, and ended around 2am (luckily Dubs tours run quickly). Some CCs are 10pm our time but usually I'm not super motivated to play these anymore due to subpar rewards. In a shiny OU tour I won my R5 at 2am, and had to wait until 4am for the SF. Waking up for TT is also a chore, got up at 7am on Sunday morning for Oct, Nov, Dec TTs and COTY. It's even more impossible when the start time is 5am/6am. Ultimately, I do get that the tours are catered to the bulk of the community, but there definitely could be some more tours to cater for Asia-Pacific region.

Team Name: Solemn Promise Team Tag: [VOW] Players: Sargeste, fefeco, COCHETAS, Senjutsuka, GrandeLancia, CHUCKunso, NagaHex, Dugzy, JustaChamp, DaveSnake, AgnCunha, Oncre, RealDevilLegend, SnowOT, spelenn Team Captain: Sargeste

Team Name: Solemn Promise Team Tag: [VOW] Players: NecasInTrouble, Sargeste, COCHETAS, SweeTforU, Sebat, drewq, OrangeManiac, DaveSnake, Oncre, CHUCKunso, OliverXLz, Razachu, AgnCunha, JeanMarcH, Imabetheverybest, SnowOT, HogniRagnar, NagaHex, ImBlindspot, RohMartinez, fefeco, dithyrambique, RealDevilLegend, iloveyoubro, BitterAtMons, Dugzy, JustaChamp, Thralls, spelenn Team Captain: NecasInTrouble

To preface my post, I would like to reiterate that I am firmly against win trading and ladder manipulation that tarnishes the integrity of PvP in PokeMMO. As discussed in qqqianx’s post, the game vs GopherBro does not appear to be a clear win trade. To rehash some of the points made: The Poliwrath is unable to break the Gliscor with its combination of Protect and Substitute, which will stall out Waterfall and Drain Punch PP (given that they were not PP maxed). The Serperior is unable to break the Chansey and Amoonguss. There is a Scarf Magnezone that can be used to revenge kill the two most threatening mons, Poliwrath and Serperior. This matchup is very difficult for GopherBro to win, and often players will forfeit a game vs a stall team if they feel that the matchup is not favourable. Stall teams, depending on your team build, can be quite difficult and unenjoyable to break through - which is why stall teams are naturally very strong on ladder. Granted, this is only one video of evidence available to us and I cannot comment any further given the evidence that I have been able to see. As many posts in the previous thread have noted, this video evidence is quite insufficient to be regarded as a blatant wintrade. A precedent has been set that players cannot be banned over one single video (i.e. AeOKC’s blatant ladder win trade with his teammate SJTaWJ in the DB ladder or XiaoSH/kuaijui/liuliuyu wintrading in the UU ladder. I can upload this evidence to the public if necessary but I feel as this would derail the thread and lead to personal attacks). Thus, it appears to be unfair to ban a player for win trading over one video, otherwise, those cases should be re-reviewed on the grounds of win trading. Nonetheless, this highlights the importance of having some form of replay system or battle log that can be saved. This would in theory make it much easier to review evidence of any win trading. It is unrealistic to sit and watch players ladder 24/7 as PokeMMO is ultimately a game we should enjoy, not a job. I understand that this suggestion might not be feasible, however, I would like to highlight the need of a better means of saving battle data. Furthermore, I respect the effort of staff who volunteer in their roles and are bombarded with thousands of tickets. However, there is a clear need for multiple staff with an in-depth understanding of PvP who can draw conclusions as to whether a game is a blatant win trade or if the evidence is too ambiguous. Based on the evidence demonstrated in qqqianx’s post, I would hope that this case would be re-reviewed and for qqqianx to be unbanned, particularly given that this evidence is insufficient to justify a ban on the grounds of win trading.

Team Name: Solemn Promise Team Tag: [VOW] Players: Sargeste, Razachu, spelenn, Dugzy, imBlindSpot, OrangeManiac, dithyrambique, COCHETAS, OliverXLz, JustaChamp, NecasInTrouble, Tawlaa, AgnCunha, fefeco, DaveSnake Team Captain: Sargeste