Why Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Flutter Mane & Houndstone Have Been Banned in Competitive Already

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced the highest number of new critters ever since Gen 5 games, which were released over ten years ago now, & by doing so they also came with plenty of strong Pokemon. There are numerous outliers in Gen 9 that can be used effectively in competitive battles, such as Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Espathra, which is a speedy attacker whose Hidden Ability is Speed Boost, the one that made Blaziken OP in Gen 6. Another popular addition comes in the form of the Nacli evolution line, which is pure Rock-type & thus wouldn’t strike many as a great pick, but it has the Purifying Salt Ability & Salt Cure as a signature move, & both counter many of this Pokemon’s weaknesses.

Several of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Paradox Pokemon are also quite powerful, & this is even clearer when looking at their stats, which are all equal to 570 total with two notable exceptions, with them being Roaring Moon & Iron Valiant, whose stat total is 590, instead. Game Freak didn’t shy away from introducing plenty of strong pocket monsters & great type combinations, like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Grafaiai being Normal & Poison or the aforementioned Iron Valiant being Fairy/Fighting. And yet, among all of Gen 9 Pokemon, Houndstone & Pokemon Scarlet‘s Flutter Mane have been already hit by bans for different reasons.

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Why Pokemon Scarlet’s Paradox Misdreavous Was Banned From Competitive

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Paradox Pokemon can all be problematic to a degree, but Flutter Mane brings a lot to the table. The main issue with Flutter Mane is that its base stats make it an extremely aggressive & effective attacker, as it has 135 base points into both Speed & Special Attack, making it quite difficult to counter. Its type combination of Ghost & Fairy also makes it particularly problematic because it only has two weaknesses, one resistance, & is immune to three different types, including Fighting & Dragon.

On top of that, Flutter Mane has access to great moves that allow this pocket monster to have incredible coverage for the most powerful & frequent types in the game, which combined with its Speed & Special Attack make it almost impossible to resist. All of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s Paradox Pokemon have unique Abilities associated either with weather or terrain. In Scarlet, this is called Protosynthesis, which increases the user’s highest stat by 50% when in harsh sunlight. These reasons combined made the Smogon Academy quickban Flutter Main from competitive battles with unanimous votes.

How Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Houndstone Can Deal The Highest Damage in the Game

Unlike Flutter Mane, Houndstone wasn’t banned for its stats, even though its bulk is arguably one of the best in the game due to high Attack, Defense, & Special Defense, which make it quite difficult to take down if built properly. The main problem with Greavard’s evolution in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet comes from its signature move, called Last Respects. This move’s base power equals 50, & it’s a Ghost-type move, for which Houndstone gets STAB damage. What makes Last Respects so powerful is the fact that it adds 50 base power to the move’s total for each fainted allied Pokemon, up to 300 base power.

This alone was enough for Smong Academy to quickban Houndstone unanimously, as players could hypothetically get 200% STAB damage with it through Terastallization, making it one of the best moves in the entire franchise. Furthermore, Houndstone not-so-great Speed is heavily compensated for with its S& Rush Ability, which makes it a reliable & almost unstoppable monster on S&storm teams. As such, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet‘s first competitive bans were dispatched, & Flutter Mane & Houndstone won’t be allowed for the foreseeable future.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.

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