Bringing New Variables in Battles with X and Y

With the introduction of Fairy-type Pokémon, the type-chart saw its first overhaul since Gold and Silver. But how will this affect Pokémon battles in the futures? Not much about this new type was known until the type-chart's official confirmation through Coro Coro Magazine.

New type-chart for X and Y. Props to Pokémon XY News for the chart.

Here's a summary of the changes. Fairy is super effective against Fighting, Dark and Dragon Pokémon. Fairy is not very effective against Fire, Poison and Steel Pokémon. Fairy is weak to Poison and Steel-type moves. Fairy is resistant against Fighting, Bug and Dark-type moves. And Fairy is IMMUNE to Dragon-type moves. Talk about a hard counter! Game Freak also sneaked in a slight nerf for Steel-types. Steel Pokémon no longer resist Dark and Ghost-type attacks.

It's obvious that Fairy-type Pokémon will play a key role in shaping the metagame. Sylveon's ribbons slaps Dragonite right in the face. And to think, I made that prediction about Xerneas being one of the best competitive Pokémon in jest. Fairy-type's lucky immunity to Dragon-type moves prevent Draco Meteor and Outrage spam.

I'd hate to see Iris encounter a Flabébé

Imagine Gardevoir switching in on Salamence's Outrage. Your Trace activates, throwing his Intimidate right back at him. Salamence will probably switch out, giving you ample time to set up a Calm Mind and possibly sweep.

Besides their ruthless thirst for dragon blood, Fairy-types also have it in for Dark and Fighting-types. Their resistance allows them to switch in on powerful moves and immediately threaten tough Pokémon out. Hydreigon and Scrafty now sport a nasty 4x weakness after a generation of favorable typing. STAB options for strong Pokémon like Scrafty and Heracross are severely limited.

It's hard out here for a pimp

Fairy's only weakness to Poison and Steel-type moves makes it a strong defensive type, especially since Poison and Steel moves are quite uncommon. While people might predict that Poison-type moves would be on the rise, I will have to disagree on this. Besides Fairy, Poison only hits Grass-types for super effective coverage. But why would you use a Poison move to knock out a Grass-type? You have Ice, Fire, Flying, Bug...you get the point! There are better options. Furthermore, many types resist Poison, including Steel which is actually immune to it. Defensively, Poison gets a boost which is great for Pokémon like Weezing.

Now only if it could do something about that horrendous cough...

Steel's loss of resistance might not seem like much, but it does cause problems for some Pokémon. The haunted sword Honedge now has to contend with two weaknesses in Ghost and Dark-type moves. Being as smart as a supercomputer gives Metagross a hard time. Everyone's coming up to it asking for help with taxes, quantum physics and damage calculations. Now it has to worry about things that go bump in the night. Metagross's Steel/Psychic type now becomes a hinderence. Tyranitar, Absol and Pangoro now can rely on their STAB moves to take on the four-brained behemoth.

It's not all bad for Steel-types though. The resistance to Fairy-type attacks and their super effective coverage against them will be what shapes the metagame. In 4th gen, a concept called "4 Drag, 2 Mag" was introduced. Basically, the only thing that stood in a Dragon's way were Steel-types. So Magneton and Magnezone were used to trap and knock them out. This concept can easily make a comeback to counter Fairy-types as well, but with a few modifications. Heatran's Steel/Fire type gives him a 4x resistance to Fairy. Plus, he can finally find a use for Flash Cannon to immediately threaten any Fairy-types out. Heatran's Fire-type moves can burn up most Steels and either Hidden Power Ice or Dragon Pulse can take on opposing Dragons. I wouldn't be surprised if Heatran's usage skyrocketed. Scizor also finds itself in a similar situation. Bullet Punch from Scizor is already a strong move, but the additional super effective coverage is icing on the cake. If you feel the opponent will switch out, simply use U-turn to maintain momentum.

The updated type chart for X and Y creates an interesting shift in the game. This post barely scratches the surface of what to expect in future battles, and rightfully so. What happens if Fairy moves have wide distribution like Flamethrower and Thunderbolt? What new tools can Dragons use to help outmaneuver these pixies of doom? Will the recent setback for Dark and Fighting-types lead to a reemergence of Psychic and Normal-types? Will Dunsparce get an evolution (or God forbid mega evolution) so grand that not even Arceus can stand up to it? Only the future will tell...or you can have Xatu use Future Sight. Whatever.

These trainers are way ahead of their time

A Tough Trek through Victory Road

I can't believe a whole year has passed since my last VGC competition. While I've been able to play a little online, I missed the experience only a live competition can bring. Meeting new trainers, catching up with old friends, taking a picture with the guy in the Pikachu costume, I missed it all! This year's VGC though was...different. I still can't fully process this year's experience, but it gave me a new perspective of what it means to be a Pokémon Trainer.

Since my brother won regionals again, we got a free hotel room. It was the same one as last year, but we slept in the train car rooms. Yeah I thought the train car rooms were cool last year, but that's because I didn't sleep in them! If only I knew how claustrophobic they were. To make matters worse, there was a wedding that same weekend and our family was unfortunate to be neighbors with the groom's family. Look, I get that you hate your new in-laws, but SHUT UP! It's 4 in the morning and I have to battle at 9!

QUIET!!!

After a terrible night sleep, me and my family walked into the convention center, ready for a day of battling. We even convinced my sister to play! Seeing the success my brother had with rain, I decided to change up my team and add some new tricks. After some quick playtests and adjustments, this was what I came up with:

Dahlia, Bolin, Toadsworth, Sgt. Calhoun, Slippy and Sheik are ready for battle

This year I decided not to go with an overall theme. My main strategy was to slow down my opponent's momentum with moves like Icy Wind, Spore and Yawn or quickly knock out two of their Pokémon and use Perish Song. Giving up movepool coverage like Ice Beam on Kingdra was a tough choice to make, but in the end the surprise factor gave me a slight edge. Unfortunately, I ended up with a 4-5 record. My sister also ended up with a 4-5 record, which is amazing for her first time battling competitively.

At this time, I was down in the dumps. Going in this competition, I told myself I wanted to walk out with a winning record. My losses were especially crushing; battles ended with my opponent sitting on little health with one Pokémon left. I was the Spurs losing Game 6 to the Heat. I failed to claim victory when it was literally at my finger tips. While it was a lose, this match was the most intense match I had in the competition. Oh yeah, sorry for the bad camera quality.

After me and my sister finished playing, my brother entered the ring. His first win brought a smile to his face, but his next two losses left him disheartened. His battles were close too! My brother's opponent's won by the skin of their teeth. As a coach, I felt bad I couldn't help. My brother made all the right moves in the replays. Could it be that Dragonite needed more Speed EVs? Or maybe Rotom needed Hidden Power Fire over Grass? These thoughts haunted me. Maybe I didn't do all I could to prepare him for competition.

I was pretty depressed leaving the convention center that evening. We had a strong desire to win but fell short of our goal. It took me some time to get over it, but I had to think back to Ash Ketchum. This kid only won a league once, and that wasn't even in the main series! Time after time, he's failed to become the champion. And yet, Ash remains optimistic.

It's been over ten years and he's still at it.

Besides the tournament, we also got to play in some side events. This really helped lift our spirits, especially when we managed to win eight booster packs. Plus, we pulled three Latios EX cards! One was even the full

body artwork!
Here's a match during the side events where I made Perish Song work. It's a pretty good strategy if you can pull it off:

This year's Nationals had its disappointments, but the experience humbled me. As a Pokémon Trainer, you have to deal with defeat. Not every match will end with a win, so you have to grow from it. Does this mean I'm giving up? Of course not! I am now more determined than ever to compete again! My brother has already drafted a new team and my sister even wants to compete again. Nationals let me spend time with Pokémon and family, two of the greatest things in the universe. I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even for another Latios EX.

The picture that sums up what I love about Nationals

 

This is No Fairy Tale, it's a New Type of Pokémon!

Between E3 and the latest issue of Corocoro, an explosion of new information about X and Y reached fans across the world. And alas, the biggest bombshell the Pokémon crew dropped has me eating my own words...again. It's been 14 years since Gold and Silver introduced two new types which we now consider staples. Without further ado, here is the new type of Pokémon, Fairy!

Sylveon challenges Hydreigon. Watch out for its Moonblast!

Before this announcement, we already met the first Fairy-type Pokémon, Sylveon. I personally thought it was Normal. Older Pokémon like Jigglypuff, Marill and Gardevoir also gain a secondary Fairy-type. This is similar to how Magnemite and Magneton became both Electric and Steel-types.

Looking at the initial Fairy Pokémon, it's obvious that they fit the "cute" motif. I highly doubt Muk is going to be Poison/Fairy anytime soon. I found it peculiar that Jigglypuff became Normal/Fairy over Clefairy. I mean, it's literally in Clefairy's name! Granted, Jigglypuff was the second-most popular Pokémon in Japan (with the first being Pikachu of course), so it might have been a smart way to promote the new type. Still, this doesn't mean that Clefairy can't be a Fairy-type. We just have to wait and see what Game Freak has in store for us.

While I didn't think a new type would come about, I did say that a new type would probably counter Dragon-types. At least I got that right! But what would make Dragon Pokémon so good that they needed a new type to counter it? The first family of dragons was the Dragonite line back in Red and Blue. Back then, he was benign, playful, cuddly...but now Dragonite's an unstoppable juggernaut bent on sheer destruction!

That's not cute and cuddly...

Many Dragon-types are pseudo-legendaries with a base stat of 600. Besides raw power, Dragon-types have impressive offensive and defensive capabilities. Dragon hits every type for at least neutral damage except for Steel (not very effective) and Dragon (super effective). Furthermore, Dragon is only weak to Dragon and Ice-types while sporting resistances to Electric, Grass, Fire and Water. This allows them to switch in on a number of moves and immediately threaten any unfortunate Pokémon standing in the way.

Dragon types also have powerful moves to abuse. Draco Meteor, Outrage, Dragon Pulse and even Dual Chop are quite effective. I wouldn't say that Dragons enjoy the privileges of Psychic-types back in Gen 1, but they're pretty powerful. I'm glad that the strength of Dragon-types was addressed.

Take that you jerk! It's Super Effective!

So what about my opinions about these new Fairies? For one thing, I wish they weren't called Fairy-type! To me, it's too gender specific. Look at Grass, Fighting and Dark. They don't inherently sound male or female. While certain Pokémon like Machamp and Gothitelle look masculine and feminine, the type as a
whole is not all one gender. Fairy sounds too feminine; I wouldn't want Fighting to be called "Macho". Light-type could be an alternative. There are moves like Moonblast and the released Fairy Pokémon have a sort of "light" or good persona to them.

Flabébé is a new Fairy-type in 6th gen

It's great that the strength of Dragons were addressed, but I don't think a new type was the best answer. While it might benefit the main series games, how will this new type affect the Pokémon franchise as a whole? Will the trading card game create a new energy type? How will the anime "magically" explain that  Jigglypuff had a secondary typing? Only time will tell. At the moment however, I don't believe that Fairy-type was necessary to keep things fresh for X and Y.