History Memes / Smogon

* "Unfortunate" doesn't begin to describe my series, this game rewards blind luck and nothing else, I am beyond convinced at this point.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The first part of a lengthy message posted by a user who was incensed that his Jirachi had been flinch-locked by Gyarados' Waterfall several turns in a row.[[/labelnote]]

* [[LowTierLetdown Malaconda's entire existence]].[[labelnote:Explanation]]Malaconda was created to make BW OU's sun teams more flexible, especially when it came to answering the dominant Eon duo. However, due to being built around an already-niche playstyle and having a poor typing (Grass/Dark) outside of checking the Eon Duo (and even then it could get nailed by Hidden Power Fire), Malaconda struggled even during its debut generation. After ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' nerfed weather abilities by making them last only 5 to 8 turns, Sun as a playstyle was essentially dead in the ground, as was any hope for Malaconda being viable. Because of its fundamentally flawed completitive concept, Malaconda can't be properly buffed outside of a drastic overhaul, making it the butt of many jokes in the CAP community.[[/labelnote]]

* Mushroom Pokemon working at [=McDonald's=] [[labelnote:Explanation]] Following the controversial ban on Sleep moves, including Spore, memes about the mushroom-based Pokemon such as Amoongus working at UsefulNotes/McDonalds due to losing their niche became popular.[[/labelnote]]

* How many Smogonites does it take to fix a counter? None, they don't know what a counter is! [[labelnote:Explanation]]Generated by people who can't stand their favorite Pokémon getting kicked to Ubers and who still insist there ARE counters for them, so don't ban them.[[/labelnote]]
** How many Smogon-haters does it take to fix a car? None, they can't tell when it's broken! [[labelnote:Explanation]]The counterpart joke, used to maintain that Smogon rears Pokémon's otherwise chaotic metagame into something actually playable.[[/labelnote]]

* [[LowTierLetdown Malaconda's entire existence]].[[labelnote:Explanation]]Malaconda was created to make BW OU's sun teams more flexible, especially when it came to answering the dominant Eon duo. However, due to being built around an already-niche playstyle and having a poor typing outside of checking the Eon Duo (and even then it could get nailed by Hidden Power Fire), Malaconda struggled even during its debut generation. After ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' nerfed weather abilities by making them last only 5 to 8 turns, Sun as a playstyle was essentially dead in the ground, as was any hope for Malaconda being viable. Because of its fundamentally flawed completitive concept, Malaconda can't be properly buffed outside of a drastic overhaul, making it the butt of many jokes in the CAP community.[[/labelnote]]

* UU hoarding spinners.[[labelnote:Explanation]]In SV UU, several Pokémon with hazard removal, such as Forretress, Toedscruel, and Tsareena, were stuck in UU despite having no niche there, causing UU to have a disproportionate amount of Pokémon with Rapid Spin. Coupled with the reduced distribution of Defog, this sharply reduced hazard removal options for lower tiers. UU has become infamous for keeping every Pokémon with Rapid Spin in the tier regardless of their actual viability, forcing the lowest tiers to use [=NFEs=] like Fletchinder and Quaxwell just to keep hazards off the field, which led to memes like [[https://i.redd.it/b2rbmhr32qza1.jpg this one]]. With Toedscruel and Tsareena dropping from UU in June of 2023 and Forretress following suit a couple of months later, this is largely no longer the case, though hazard removal options in the lower tiers remain strained.[[/labelnote]]
* [[Film/CocaineBear Cocaine Bear.]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A popular nickname for Ursaluna, who quickly became infamous following the HOME update for ''Scarlet and Violet'' due to the obscene damage output its STAB Facade could achieve thanks to Guts, Swords Dance, and Terastalization.[[/labelnote]]

* Why the fuck is Terrakion in PU[[labelnote:Explanation]]When Terrakion was introduced to Gen IX, it was released alongside its Future Paradox form, Iron Boulder, who considered its superior in every way in OU. A combination of Smogon's tiering system and stiff competition from Pokemon like Great Tusk or the aforementioned Iron Boulder caused Terrakion to have ''so'' little usage in the tier that it dropped to PU, below even Pokemon like Meganium. While it was obviously kicked out of tier almost instantly, it's not uncommon for the uninitiated (or even the initiated) to express shock that such a powerful Pokemon fell so cartoonishly far. It's often used as an example of the severity of Generation IX's PowerCreep as well.[[/labelnote]]
* Zekrom Kick [[labelnote:Explanation]]A [[https://old.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/18sm3q3/buff_theory_reshiram_and_zekrom/ Theorymon Post suggesting buffs to Reshiram and Zekrom]] by giving them new moves became popular due to the simplicity of the 4 new moves' (Zekrom Punch, Zekrom Kick, Reshiram Pulse and Reshiram Beam) names, with Zekrom Kick in particular being the most popular, being treated as it pulling Zekrom out of the hole to being a strong Uber.[[/labelnote]]

* Why the fuck is Terrakion in PU[[labelnote:Explanation]]When Terrakion was introduced to Gen IX, it was released alongside its Future Paradox form, Iron Boulder, who considered its superior in every way in OU. A combination of Smogon's tiering system and stiff competition from Pokemon like Great Tusk or the afromentioned Iron Boulder caused Terrakion to have ''so'' little usage in the tier that it dropped to PU, below even Pokemon like Meganium. While it was obviously kicked out of tier almost instantly, it's not uncommon for the uninitiated (or even the initiated) to express shock that such a powerful Pokemon fell so cartoonishly far. It's often used as an example of the severity of Generation IX's PowerCreep as well.[[/labelnote]]

* "I don't know if the [Pokémon] is [common set] or [other common set] until I watch inside the box" [[TakeAThirdOption (something else entirely)]] "Shut up"[[note]][[https://twitter.com/_vividley/status/1741320800177684926 This meme]] branching off the Schrodinger's Cat meme took off to widespread popularity in the competitive battling scene, being repurposed and redrawn for all kinds of Pokémon that [[ConfusionFu force opponents to make wild guesses as to what sort of moveset it's using]], such as Kingambit.[[/note]]

* "I don't know if the [Pokémon] is [common set] or [other common set] until I watch inside the box" [[TakeAThirdOption (something else entirely)]] "Shut up"[[note]][[https://twitter.com/_vividley/status/1741320800177684926 This meme]] branching off the Schrodinger's Cat meme took off to widespread popularity in the competitive battling scene, being repurposed and redrawn for all kinds of Pokémon that [[ConfusionFu force opponents to make wild guesses as to what sort of moveset it's using]].[[/note]]

* Duraludon, God of Little Cup... for five minutes.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The August 2023 Pokemon Direct revealed an evolution for Duraludon, thus making it eligible for the Little Cup format (which consists of unevolved Pokemon obtainable at level 5). Cue jokes about Duraludon getting insta-banned from the format due to being ''far'' stronger than anything deliberately designed to be a first-stage Pokemon; Duraludon has a higher base stat total (535) than every fully-evolved starter with the exception of Swampert who it ties with, an amazing typing in Steel/Dragon, and the ability to use Eviolite to boost its superb Defense stat even further. Sure enough, Duraladon would get banned from Little Cup shortly before the new Pokemon from Indigo Disk were added, though an official Little Cup Tournamant that legalized Duraludon was hosted to allow players to basically see what would have happened if it was allowed. The Doubles Little Cup format on the other hand '''did''' allow it in due to the logic that it wouldn't be as overcentralizing. They weren't entirely wrong but it was still far too much for the format to handle and Duraludon was quickly banned from there as well.[[/labelnote]]

* Duraludon, God of Little Cup... for five minutes.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The August 2023 Pokemon Direct revealed an evolution for Duraludon, thus making it eligible for the Little Cup format (which consists of unevolved Pokemon obtainable at level 5). Cue jokes about Duraludon getting insta-banned from the format due to being ''far'' stronger than anything deliberately designed to be a first-stage Pokemon; Duraludon has a higher base stat total (535) than every fully-evolved starter with the exception of Swampert who it ties with, an amazing typing in Steel/Dragon, and the ability to use Eviolite to boost its superb Defense stat even further. Sure enough, Duraladon would get banned from Little Cup shortly before the new Pokemon from Indigo Disk were added, though an official Little Cup Tournamant that legalized Duraludon was hosted to allow players to basically see what would have happened if it was allowed.[[/labelnote]]

* Zekrom Kick [[labelnote:Explanation]]A [[https://old.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/comments/18sm3q3/buff_theory_reshiram_and_zekrom/ Theorymon Post suggesting buffs to Reshiram and Zekrom]] by giving them new moves became popular due to the simplicity of the 4 new moves' (Zekrom Punch, Zekrom Kick, Reshiram Pulse and Reshiram Beam) names.[[/labelnote]]

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140628104227/https://pastebin.com/FHFpAivS After a Pokemon Online moderator named Somalia lost to a Jellicent with Energy Ball]] and thus proceeded to use his moderator privileges to [[RageQuit systematically rageban all members of the Smogon PO server]] and subsequently was banned, Energy Ball Jellicent has become a regular sight. [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/somalian-suicide-formerly-in-is.3449637/ Discussion thread here.]]

* C-rank: Arceus-Bug, Crocalor, Cutiefly, Darkrai, Dialga-Origin... [[labelnote:Explanation]]Ubers UU, originally known as [=UUbers=], is a newly proposed metagame as of late 2023, consisting of the Pokémon that are banned from OU but don't see much usage in Ubers. (It took until gen 9 to have enough Ubers for this purpose.) Two Pokémon that see quite a lot of use in the main Ubers tier are Skeledirge, as possibly the best Unaware user around, and Ribombee, as the clear best Sticky Web setter in the game. Since they have clear niches in Ubers, they aren't allowed in Ubers UU, so some people have taken to running their far weaker ''pre-evolutions'' Crocalor and Cutiefly to fill those niches instead. This being Ubers, that means they get listed alongside all the extremely powerful legendary Pokémon in the tier, and because they can actually fill those niches reasonably well, the Viability Rankings thread at one point listed these two not-fully-evolved Pokémon as being equally viable to popular Legendaries like Arceus, Dialga (admittedly, the worst forms of Arceus and Dialga that get thoroughly overshadowed by their other versions) and Darkrai (outclassed by Chi-Yu as a Dark-type special attacker and unable to threaten the top mon of the tier Magearna). Cutiefly is especially funny because it's a tiny insect with a base stat total of 304, easily in the bottom 20% of Pokémon overall. Listed next to Arceus, literally every stat or number about Cutiefly other than its Speed is less than ''half'' of what Arceus has.[[/labelnote]]

* Why the fuck is Terrakion in PU[[labelnote:Explanation]]When Terrakion was introduced to Gen IX, it was released alongside its Future Paradox form, Iron Boulder, who considered its superior in every way in OU. A combination of Smogon's tiering system and stiff competition from Pokemon like Great Tusk or the afromentioned Iron Boulder caused Terrakion to have ''so'' little usage in the tier that it dropped to PU, below even Pokemon like Meganium. While it was obviously kicked out of tier almost instantly, it's not uncommon for the uninitiated (or even the initiated) to express shock that such a powerful Pokemon fell so cartoonishly far.[[/labelnote]]

* Duraludon, God of Little Cup... for five minutes.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The August 2023 Pokemon Direct revealed an evolution for Duraludon, thus making it eligible for the Little Cup format (which consists of unevolved Pokemon obtainable at level 5). Cue jokes about Duraludon getting insta-banned from the format due to being ''far'' stronger than anything deliberately designed to be a first-stage Pokemon; Duraludon has a higher base stat total (535) than every fully-evolved starter with the exception of Swampert who it ties with, an amazing typing in Steel/Dragon, and the ability to use Eviolite to boost its superb Defense stat even further. Sure enough, Duraladon would get banned from Little Cup shortly before the new Pokemon from Indigo Disk were added.[[/labelnote]]

* Duraludon, God of Little Cup... for five minutes.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The August 2023 Pokemon Direct revealed an evolution for Duraludon, thus making it eligible for the Little Cup format (which consists of unevolved Pokemon obtainable at level 5). Cue jokes about Duraludon getting insta-banned from the format due to being ''far'' stronger than anything deliberately designed to be a first-stage Pokemon; Duraludon has a higher base stat total (535) than every fully-evolved starter with the exception of Swampert who it ties with, an amazing typing in Steel/Dragon, and the ability to use Eviolite to boost its superb Defense stat even further.[[/labelnote]]
* [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} "You're fighting children?" "We are at the same evolution stage, Jerry."]][[labelnote:Explanation]]VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet gave an evolution to a few Pokémon that didn't (more notably Dunsparce and Duraludon), making them eligible for the Little Cup format. However, since they were intended to be fully evolved, those Pokémon are far too strong for the format to handle. Cue jokes about adults fighting children.[[/labelnote]]

* Ice Punch Dusknoir beats Lando-T [[labelnote:Explanation]]A post on r/pokemon regarding the sub's [[CasualCompetitiveConflict persistent vitriol against Smogon]] amidst the Generation IX OU ban wave lead by Flutter Mane and Houndstone lead to a user smugly claiming that he beat an "OU pro" on Showdown by landing a crit Ice Punch with Dusknoir (a mon with [[LowTierLetdown virtually zero competitive viability]] since its introduction in Gen IV) against a Therian Forme Landorus (one of the best staple mons in OU meta), conveniently ignoring details such as ladder placement, opponent skill, and the fact that it would have not been a OneHitKO had the user not rolled the 4.1% chance to CriticalHit. The post quickly became an in-joke on r/Stunfisk as a rather succinct example of how poorly informed the average ''Pokémon'' player is about how competitive balance works in ''Pokémon'' and their continued attempts to insist that any mon is good in competitive by cherry-picking fringe case fights against low-ranked players as "proof".[[/labelnote]]

* Iron Mugulis[[labelnote:Explanation]]A meme from Jimothy Cool's [=YouTube=] channel, depicting [[https://redd.it/11peoy3 a Future Pokémon shaped like a mug]] with incredibly broken stats, as a play on Iron Jugulis's weird-sounding name and underwhelming stats compared to Hydreigon. Similar memes include Paradox Pokémon with names like Iron Fellow and Old Money.[[/labelnote]]
* C-rank: Arceus-Bug, Crocalor, Cutiefly, Darkrai, Dialga-Origin... [[labelnote:Explanation]]Ubers UU, originally known as [=UUbers=], is a newly proposed metagame as of late 2023, consisting of the Pokémon that are banned from OU but don't see much usage in Ubers. (It took until gen 9 to have enough Ubers for this purpose.) Two Pokémon that see quite a lot of use in the main Ubers tier are Skeledirge, as possibly the best Unaware user around, and Ribombee, as the clear best Sticky Web setter in the game. Since they have clear niches in Ubers, they aren't allowed in Ubers UU, so some people have taken to running their far weaker ''pre-evolutions'' Crocalor and Cutiefly to fill those niches instead. This being Ubers, that means they get listed alongside all the extremely powerful legendary Pokémon in the tier, and because they can actually fill those niches reasonably well, the Viability Rankings thread at one point listed these two not-fully-evolved Pokémon as being equally viable to popular Legendaries like Arceus and Dialga (admittedly, the worst forms of Arceus and Dialga that get thoroughly overshadowed by their other versions). Cutiefly is especially funny because it's a tiny insect with a base stat total of 304, easily in the bottom 20% of Pokémon overall. Listed next to Arceus, literally every stat or number about Cutiefly other than its Speed is less than ''half'' of what Arceus has.[[/labelnote]]

* Metang@ [[labelnote:Explanation]]A forum member posts a team for rating by other members before actually putting most of the team in the post, with the exception of the meme subject.[[/labelnote]]

* [[https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-netbattle-shoddy-smogon-quotes-topic-aka-quasi-bash.16256/post-1701213 QUEM FALA LENGTHY BAN]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Smogon's main servers are English-only, and the moderators ''do not like'' dealing with people who do not understand this.[[/labelnote]]

* [[InsaneTrollLogic Outplay]] [[LuckBasedMission the Coinflip]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A [[http://puu.sh/7kzSv post]] of InsaneTrollLogic from the Swag Play thread on how to beat the strategy, which is basically praying that the RandomNumberGod likes you. Often repeated sarcastically and/or mockingly when people try to vouch for the "legitimacy" of luck-heavy strategies like [[ScrappyMechanic Double Team]].[[/labelnote]]
** "It's balanced because you can use it too."[[labelnote:Explanation]]''Another'' sarcastic quote that pokes fun at another aspect of InsaneTrollLogic that justifies using {{Game Breaker}}s, disregarding the fact that they [[ItsAllAboutMe force people to run obscure and/or overspecialized counters to deal with them and cause the entire metagame to revolve around them]]. It was commonly used as a joke anti-ban argument for Mega Kangaskhan.[[/labelnote]]

* Tactical Luke[[labelnote:Explanation]]A user on the simulator was running a Mega Lucario with Aura Sphere (which is normal), Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball (which have identical Super Effective Coverage), and Foresight [[UselessUsefulSpell (which lets Normal- and Fighting-Type attacks hit Ghosts, which this set can hit anyway because of Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball)]]. When asked about their set, they replied with [[InsaneTrollLogic "It is tactical"]].[[/labelnote]]
* [[SarcasmMode BRB Saving]] [[http://puu.sh/89L0m.gif OU]][[labelnote:Explanation]] During the Baton Pass discussion, Musharna was brought up as a counter. Like the Numel example above, [[CripplingOverspecialization Musharna is completely useless outside of countering Baton Pass]]. This phrase was the response, [[http://puu.sh/89L0m.gif along with this]]. [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/posts/5379536/ The post in question.]][[/labelnote]]

* [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/talonflame.3489918/page-28#post-5198566 Alexfowl]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A mixed Talonflame set posted by a moderator which was quickly found to be complete shit. The name comes from the moderator's name, alexwolf, anagrammed to best describe the 'mon.[[/labelnote]]