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Gods and Followers
Approved by Joim and The Immortal
[Source]
We've all built a team where one of our Pokemon is clearly a cut above the rest, a god among 'mon. The rest of your team your team then follows in service of this deity, even making the ultimate sacrifice and becoming death fodder honorable martyrs, if the need arises. This metagame takes that dynamic to the next level, with a little bit of Monotype-ish fun thrown in.
The title is pretty self-explanatory: a Pokemon placed in the first slot of your team is your god, and the other five slots are its followers. Standard OU bans apply...to your followers. Your god, however, can also be any Pokemon or use any item usually limited to the Ubers tier. To keep the balance, Mega Rayquaza remains banned, but as a perk, I'm opening up the god slot to Hoopa, Hoopa-U, Volcanion and Floette-E.
Your choice of god dictates the structure of the rest of your team: all of your followers must share at least one type with your god, as they were created in its image. But that's not the only influence the god has over its followers: to give your god choice even more importance, your entire team will be punished should your god fall in battle. After all, its followers would surely lose hope. If your god faints, every remaining follower is burdened with -1 priority on ALL moves. Because of this punishment, players will have to be especially careful when using their god, and it is often a better idea to sacrifice a follower than let your god die.
To sum it up...
Unbans:
Mechanic: Applies -1 priority debuff on the player's team upon fainting
Restrictions: Must share at least one type with Party Slot #1
Clauses: OU clauses
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A: No, you can choose your lead as usual.
Q: Then how do I know which Pokemon is my opponent's god?
A: The god of either team is always the farthest on the left in team preview.
Q: How is this different from Monotype with a weird banlist?
A: Aside from the fainting mechanic, you are not necessarily limited to one type. For example, if I put Ho-Oh in my first slot, the rest of my Pokemon can be any type combination that includes either Fire or Flying: Darmanitan and Honchkrow can be on the same team, in this scenario. However, if Kyogre is my god, only Water type Pokemon can be used.
Q: How do Pokemon that change type work?
A: EDIT 2: The coding detects a Mega Stone, Plate or Red Orb on its appropriate Pokemon and changes your type requirements accordingly. For instance, if Charizard occupies your god slot, you will be restricted to Fire and Flying types while Charizard is holding any item but Charizardite X. If it is holding Charizardite X, it will restrict you to Fire and Dragon types.
Q: Do I have to use an Ubers Pokemon as my god?
A: Nope! While players that do so do have an inherent advantage, brave players can use an entirely OU legal team. There are perks to going this route: maybe you want to create a Water + Fairy or Fire + Steel team. No Ubers Pokemon have both these types, so you can use the perfectly viable Azumaril or Heatran as gods instead. Note that the -1 priority debuff still applies no matter who you pick.
Q: If a move or ability is banned from OU but legal in Ubers, can I use it for my god?
A: Also nope! At the time of writing, there is no Evasion Clause in Ubers, but that doesn't mean you can start spamming Double Team, even if you are a god. I'm pretty sure this ruling doesn't effect much else, as truly broken moves and abilities like Swagger and Moody are even banned in Ubers.
Q: How does priority work once my god has fainted?
A: Basically, find which priority stage it belongs in, and subtract 1 from it. A Talonflame using Brave Bird would have the same priority as a Staraptor using Brave Bird, and a Staraptor using Brave Bird would always go last unless the opponent uses Roar or a similar negative priority move. Extremespeed would have the same priority as Quick Attack, and Fake Out can hit before protect if your opponent is faster.
Q: Isn't that a little harsh? How do you even win with a handicap like that?
A: The original mechanic took inspiration from chess: your god dies, you lose. I went through a number of other options, but this priority debuff seemed the most fair to me, being a real incentive to encourage your god's survival without being an auto-loss. Crafty players can still pull out a win by having Pokemon that don't rely on speed to win, or getting around the debuff like using things like Jolly max Speed Talonflame and Extremespeed Dragonite. I'm open to changing the punishment if someone has a better idea, however.
Q: Can I provide you with cool artwork to use as your banner rather that image you stole from the internet?
A: Please do! I'd prefer you send me a PM, but you can also just post it in this thread. If you find something that you didn't make but seems more fitting than my current banner, you can send me that too.
Q: Where can I play this metagame?
A: EDIT: Right here! Special thanks to xfix and Snaquaza for making it happen!
Q: Why would I ever use Deoxys-A as my god?
A: If your middle name is "Danger."
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