Evasion Clause, Sleep Clause, Item Clause

[Nah]

The Evasion Clause, Sleep Clause, and the Item Clause are 3 of the major rules in competitive battling. If you happen to not know what these rules are:

-Evasion Clause: All moves that boost a Pokemon's evasion are banned (only in battles with Smogon's rules)
-Sleep Clause: Only one Pokemon on the opposing team can be asleep at any given time. (only in battles with Smogon's rules)
-Item Clause: 2 or more Pokemon on the same team cannot be holding the same item, ie your Gengar and your Salamence can't both be holding Life Orbs. (only is VGC or Battle Spot battles)

How does the Community here feel about these 3 rules? Discuss away, people!

 

[dreyko]

I agree with these rules and i feel that they are necessary.

Evasion makes the Pokemon using it in battle battle hard to interact with and is just not fun overall.

Sleep cause is kinda the same as evasion, but more important in my opinion. You cannot do anything if your whole team is asleep, and as a result the battle will be un-interactive and completely one-sided.
The item clause can seem a little iffy, but it serves to help balance the game out. You definitely do not want to go against a hyper offensive team with 6 life orbs as the items. If every pokemon has to use a different item, then the team is open to more strategies and tactics. Also, with the evasion and Sleep clauses, there is room for more types of strategies and ways to win a match.

 

[Flushed]

Evasion Clause I'm fine with. Pretty self explanatory, it's all luck based, you don't want to carry Aerial Ace just for evaders, etc.

Sleep Clause I'm not actually sure how it exactly functions. Are you not allowed to go for a sleep move if your opponent has one 'mon asleep? Say you anticipate them to wake up, but instead they switch, well now they have two Pokemon asleep. Not really for or against this one.

Item Clause I'm not really adamant about either. Yeah leftovers is annoying on every Pokemon I see, but a lot of Pokemon rely on specific items, and sometimes on a team you need to use two.

 

[LuminescentUmbreon]

Sleep Clause I'm not actually sure how it exactly functions. Are you not allowed to go for a sleep move if your opponent has one 'mon asleep? Say you anticipate them to wake up, but instead they switch, well now they have two Pokemon asleep. Not really for or against this one.

That's a very good point, I've never thought of that. You'd think the fact you didn't do it on purpose should negate any disqualifications.

 

[Jin Of The Gale]

I feel that Sleep Clause and Evasion Clause are necessary. It's very uncompetitive to raise your Evasion to the point where it's nearly impossible for your opponent to attack you and it's even worse if you're behind a Substitute. Sleep Clause is just as important as Evasion Clause for obvious reasons.

Item Clause is only seen competitively in VGC, so I can't say much.

Sleep Clause I'm not actually sure how it exactly functions. Are you not allowed to go for a sleep move if your opponent has one 'mon asleep? Say you anticipate them to wake up, but instead they switch, well now they have two Pokemon asleep. Not really for or against this one.

Sleep Clause does not allow a player to put more than one of their opponent's Pokémon to sleep. This doesn't include the opponent using a move like Rest to put their own Pokémon to sleep. If your opponent has a Pokémon that is asleep due to Rest, you'll still be allowed to put one of the other five to sleep using moves such as Spore, Sleep Powder, etc. However, your opponent may use Rest on all six of their Pokémon and still not be affected by Sleep Clause. I hope that cleared everything up.

 

[Tyrael]

I feel that Evasion Clause is pretty needed, even slightly needed in VGC. The main culprit of this in VGC play is Chansey/Blissey when you happen to not have a physical attacker out on the field, try to bring one in, then just get Minimized up on like crazy and can't do anything about it.

Sleep Clause, there is no reason for this to be a worry if you ask me. Even in Singles, it's not that hard to be able to take down Pokemon that can use Spore/Dark Void/Sleep Powder/Hypnosis. Sleep Clause does make it /easier/ to not have to worry about anything, which is pretty much the only reason it's even a thing imo.

 

[Griffinbane]

I got booted out of a chance at top 16 thanks to Sand Veil Garchomp in sandstorm holding Bright Powder last year. Food for thought.

 

[Espeon Master]

I'm big time for the evasion clause. Lost the other day on battle spot to someone with a porygon2 that had minimize and substitute. The most frustrating thing ever without taunt

I can see the use of sleep clause, especially later in the match. Item clause is kinda meh. It mostly effects you when putting together team than being fair to your opponent. Be nice to have leftovers on more than one pokemon, but there's ways around it.

 

[Zeffy]

Sleep Clause, there is no reason for this to be a worry if you ask me. Even in Singles, it's not that hard to be able to take down Pokemon that can use Spore/Dark Void/Sleep Powder/Hypnosis. Sleep Clause does make it /easier/ to not have to worry about anything, which is pretty much the only reason it's even a thing imo.

Here's a sample of how...disastrous a metagame without the Sleep Clause:

Breloom vs something breloom can outspeed

TURN 1

Breloom used Spore!

something breloom can outspeed fell asleep!

TURN 2

something breloom can outspeed returned to it's trainer

the opponent sent out some loser soon to be snow white

Breloom used Spore!

some loser soon to be snow white fell asleep!

TURN 3

something breloom can outspeed returned to it's trainer

the opponent sent out some loser soon to be snow white v2

Breloom used Spore!

some loser soon to be snow white v2 fell asleep!

and etc. Now you could argue that the opponent could do something else than switch out, which basically means Breloom/any other Pokemon has a free chance to set up. You could also argue about Lum Berry/stuff that make Pokemon wake up, but a competent player would know how to play around that.

+ the fact that without sleep clause, everyone and their mothers would probably have lum berries/stuff that make Pokemon wake u[ on their Pokemon

+ the fact this is only the very basic gist of how one can abuse sleep, there's plenty more out there that I, for one, have fun using in-game :p

 

[Gigabeat]

I'm fine with all of them, my issue is with the Item Clause. There are no times that are far superior to others, and equipping Life Orbs on 6 of your team members if you so wished would have it's disadvantages because you lack the healing that other Pokemon have. Evasion and sleep are fine though. Those result in mostly Hax.

 

[TascheMonster]

The Evasion Clause, Sleep Clause, and the Item Clause are 3 of the major rules in competitive battling. If you happen to not know what these rules are:

-Evasion Clause: All moves that boost a Pokemon's evasion are banned
-Sleep Clause: Only one Pokemon on the opposing team can be asleep at any given time.
-Item Clause: 2 or more Pokemon on the same team cannot be holding the same item (ie your Gengar and your Salamence can't both be holding Life Orbs)

How does the Community here feel about these 3 rules? Discuss away, people!

only read the first few post so not sure if anyone mentions but tech the evasion and sleep clause are not true for competitive. Smogon competitie ya, but not competitive in general especially if one goes to a VGC that the "actual" pokemon company does thus what i consider "competitive" as to the niche "smogon competitive"

 

[Homura Akemi]

Evasion Clause is just proper balancing. Nothing likes having Brightpowder Garchomp in sand with Sand Veil, sitting there Swords Dancing while it dodges all you hit it with.

Sleep Clause just prevents you from having a team of sleeping Pokemon. Also balancing. Cos who wants Breloom owning the show with everything having been Spored to oblivion?

Like Jin said, Item Clause has only had applied usage in the VGC, so it's not so important.

 

[Nah]

only read the first few post so not sure if anyone mentions but tech the evasion and sleep clause are not true for competitive. Smogon competitie ya, but not competitive in general especially if one goes to a VGC that the "actual" pokemon company does thus what i consider "competitive" as to the niche "smogon competitive"

Right, should probably point out in the OP that the first 2 are Smogon only, while the last is VGC/Battle Spot only. Editing now...

But I really wouldn't say that Smogon isn't "true competitive" or that its just a niche form. A lotta people play in Smogon-style battles, and very much prefer it to VGC (like myself).

Anyway, I like the Evasion and Sleep Clauses, and wish they'd drop the Item Clause from VGC/Battle Spot. There's really only a handful of competitively useful items.

 

[Griffinbane]

Oh, so that changes things a bit. Actually, figuring out items is part of the fun for VGC and the item clause doesn't really affect the meta that much. Or rather, it affects it greatly. Or both. There's a few times where I think item clause can trip up a person, like if you have a Cresselia and Rotom on your team and wanted to use leftovers/sitrus berry on both but that's easily worked around. Multiple lum berries is the other way I can think of that can trip you up.

How items are picked in doubles are a lot different than it is in singles. Since the meta is strongly focused on taking a hit and dealing twice back, item variety becomes a great deal more valuable than it is in singles. What's the most common items used on a team in singles? Leftovers, life orbs, and choice items? You can't do that in doubles without basically wasting your team's potential.

 

[Craetions]

I don't have a whole lot to add, but I think the Evasion and Sleep clause should be VGC and the Item clause removed.

Without the Evasion and Sleep clauses, it can really break a battle into who hits the other team with spore first. As for the Item, I think I rather my opponent use all Leftovers, which would be a waste of battle item on some pokemon.