Firstly: For or against, if any of y'all start arguing about the Dex outside of the gameplay context of this topic I will turn this car around, so help me god. Freely debate the actual subject matter of the topic at hand all you want, whether you agree or disagree, but stray into "my favorites didn't make it in this game sucks" or "whining about dexit is the same as gamer gate" and we're through. And I won't hesitate to report anyone doing it deliberately just to get the topic shut for trolling.
Now, with that out of the way, there's an aspect of this whole mess that I think goes under addressed that I want to discuss. More than anything else, and I do have other issues for other topics, it is the biggest problem with the limited dex being the norm going forward.
And that's format.
Let's look to Magic the Gathering for a moment. For those of you unaware, MtG is a trading card game with multiple new sets released every year. Because of this, the format primarily supported by Wizards of the Coast, makers of MtG, is Standard.
Standard is a rotating format that consists of the most recent sets, dropping the sets released prior to fall of the previous year every fall.
General consensus is that standard right now is fucking atrocious.
The good news, however, is that MtG has many formats, including a plethora of legacy formats. Very recently, in fact, the Pioneer format, wherein cards from every set starting at 2012's Return to Ravnica forward onward are legal, was introduced has been a smash hit.
There are other formats that alter the rules and card pools for the game, but let's set those aside for now. We'll get back to them.
So even in the event standard is bad, there are still other formats to enjoy.
But what does that have to do with Pokemon?
Well, up to and including Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Pokemon has had two major formats. One based on the regional dex (Standard) and ome based on the national dex (even when SuMo didn't have an in-game one) akin to Legacy.
With every game from here on out being limited to the regional dex, there will be no legacy options. The problems with this are twofold.
Less obviously is the fact that you will not be able to build teams of Pokemon that aren't in the same regional dex. If you see a cool combo Minior and one of the new SwSh Pokemon would be able to do together, too bad. You won't be able to try it until they're both in the same regional dex, if that ever happens.
And more obviously? For an entire year there will be no escaping a bad standard.
And yes, Pokemon has variant formats like little cup and singles (or doubles for those of you who don't consider vgc format the primary one). But that's in the same way MtG has its own variations such as Pauper or EDH (told you I'd get back to these). But the difference is that those can be (and usually are) also legacy formats. You can choose to play them with only cards in standard, but you don't have to. In Pokemon, tou'll still be limited to only the regional pool.
And while it's cool the competitive scene gets shaken up every year, that happened regardless. The regional dex was always changing and could always be played as the equivalent to standard
The difference is that now, as long as this remains policy, we will never have a legacy format again.
And that, in my view, is the real bummer.
Now, with that out of the way, there's an aspect of this whole mess that I think goes under addressed that I want to discuss. More than anything else, and I do have other issues for other topics, it is the biggest problem with the limited dex being the norm going forward.
And that's format.
Let's look to Magic the Gathering for a moment. For those of you unaware, MtG is a trading card game with multiple new sets released every year. Because of this, the format primarily supported by Wizards of the Coast, makers of MtG, is Standard.
Standard is a rotating format that consists of the most recent sets, dropping the sets released prior to fall of the previous year every fall.
General consensus is that standard right now is fucking atrocious.
The good news, however, is that MtG has many formats, including a plethora of legacy formats. Very recently, in fact, the Pioneer format, wherein cards from every set starting at 2012's Return to Ravnica forward onward are legal, was introduced has been a smash hit.
There are other formats that alter the rules and card pools for the game, but let's set those aside for now. We'll get back to them.
So even in the event standard is bad, there are still other formats to enjoy.
But what does that have to do with Pokemon?
Well, up to and including Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Pokemon has had two major formats. One based on the regional dex (Standard) and ome based on the national dex (even when SuMo didn't have an in-game one) akin to Legacy.
With every game from here on out being limited to the regional dex, there will be no legacy options. The problems with this are twofold.
Less obviously is the fact that you will not be able to build teams of Pokemon that aren't in the same regional dex. If you see a cool combo Minior and one of the new SwSh Pokemon would be able to do together, too bad. You won't be able to try it until they're both in the same regional dex, if that ever happens.
And more obviously? For an entire year there will be no escaping a bad standard.
And yes, Pokemon has variant formats like little cup and singles (or doubles for those of you who don't consider vgc format the primary one). But that's in the same way MtG has its own variations such as Pauper or EDH (told you I'd get back to these). But the difference is that those can be (and usually are) also legacy formats. You can choose to play them with only cards in standard, but you don't have to. In Pokemon, tou'll still be limited to only the regional pool.
And while it's cool the competitive scene gets shaken up every year, that happened regardless. The regional dex was always changing and could always be played as the equivalent to standard
The difference is that now, as long as this remains policy, we will never have a legacy format again.
And that, in my view, is the real bummer.
