Why isn't Urshifu (Rapid Strike) Banned?

Question

With a broken movepool and an Ablilty that counters Protect, why isn't he banned? I'm sick of seeing him in every Competitive SV Battle I do.

THE VERY FACE OF EVIL.

Comments

and even his eyes are RED

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In what format? Scarlet / Violet or Showdown.

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Scarlet/Violet

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i don't really do Showdown believe it or not

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It’s banned in Smogon OU. On Scarlet / Violet, the probable reason is because Nintendo doesn’t exactly care about balancing their own game.

Answer 1

If you're talking about the standard regulation battles you can play on cartridge, Urshifu isn't banned because the regulations just straight up do not ban Pokemon. It's not like Smogon where there are usage-based tiers or a council to vote on overpowered Pokemon -- meta threats will stay meta indefinitely. There are two exceptions to this...

1. Cover legendaries and Mythicals are banned at the start of a generation. They're often permitted on teams in a limited capacity as the games move through their lifespan.
2. Series 6 in Sword and Shield was a rotation in which the top Pokemon of Series 5 were banned (later unbanned once Series 7 went live). To my knowledge, this is the only time non-legendary bans have happened in the cartridge competitive scene.

Comments

aww :( i guess the reign of Urshifu will live until other legendaries are allowed.

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thanks anyway

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Happy to help

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The Series 6 "Underused" style of format has been tried a few times in previous Special seasons (though not the main ladder in the wifi era); its heritage actually dates all the way back to the Nintendo Cup 1999 circuit which banned the top-performing Pokemon from 1997-98.