Standard of Fairness

Those of you who participate in strategic competitive battling should be familiar with the standard single battle rules:

1. Level 100's, 6 Pokemon, no Ubers


2. OHKO Clause - No One-Hit KO moves such as Guillotine


3. Sleep Clause - No more than two Pokemon put to sleep at once (Rest does not count)


4. Evasion Clause - No evasion-raising moves such as Double Team


5. Species Clause - No two Pokemon of the same species may be used


6. Freeze Clause - No more than two Pokemon may be frozen on one side at once

Item Clause, the rule that no two Pokemon may hold the same items, may also be applied sometimes. (See Smogon's Intro to Competitive Battling for more information or background)

In general, these rules are designed to keep competitive battles fair and strategic. For example, although Double Team is not necessarily an overpowered move Evasion Clause reduces the role of luck.

However, as a Pokemon trainer who usually solely does competitive battling, I often forget there is another world out there. To the people who have not read Smogon done simulated battles on Shoddy Battle all night long, the standard rules of competitive battling are, to say the least, rather out there.

Today I met a guy on the internet somewhere, and he was talking about Pokemon. He had challenged someone to a Wi-Fi Pokemon battle, but his challengee(if that's a word) left. I had been surprised to see someone who Wi-Fi battled, so I offered to battle the guy instead.

I prepared one of my teams quickly, attached items, entered the Wi-Fi room. Then it occurred to me to ask my opponent's rules. I had forgotten.

He had intended for an open level double battle. I realized my team was hardly prepared for the affair; the Pokemon were designed for singles and 5 out of 6 of them were not level 100, two being level 50 or under.

I frequently did not train my Pokemon to level 100 because the Wi-Fi tournaments I entered always battled in the level 100's option which auto-leveled Pokemon. And, by not training Pokemon to level 100, I kept freedom to change their EV spreads in the future if I wanted.

I thought I would probably lose. I started switching between my level 76 Salamence and level 50 Gyarados to spam Intimidate onto my opponent while attacking with my only competently leveled Pokemon: a level 100 Scizor and a level 92 Gliscor.

Halfway through the battle, my opponent tells me he will disconnect if I don't stop switching. I want to complain that although I admit my constant switching as cheap, I consider switching as a move in competitive battling that a trainer must account for.

In competitive play, you don't use Thunderbolt on a Gyarados all the time because you know an Electivire or Jolteon or Latias or Gliscor or Hippowdon or Blissey or whatever else absorbs Thunderbolts like a pebble dropped on a cushion is right around the corner. I had, throughout the battle, compensated my better moves for safer moves, expecting him to make certain switches.

But I don't complain. I stop switching and respect my challenger's wishes because he is the challenger, and I really just don't quite feel like arguing.

I win the battle with three Pokemon left, and my opponent demands a rematch in the future with no switching. My pride pushes me to accept to prove to him that I can win even with his nit-picky rules. My opponent argues that each Pokemon I used could have easily been defeated with one attack if I did not switch, but I imagine that he cannot switch into any counters himself if no switching is applied.

I contemplate ways to win in a no-switch environment. I consider: a set-up Pokemon switching in on a Pokemon it walls.

As I write this article, I don't know if I want to rematch the guy. I'd like to prove a point, but I win nothing for winning. No judge shall praise my superiority, and the guy I battled will probably be annoyed, continue to make excuses, rematch until he wins.