If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one done in a second if you wait
A new Doubles OU suspect test is underway, and this time we're taking a look at Kartana! Kartana has been on the radar since the Urshifu-R suspect, with some feeling that problems seen with the latter actually stemmed from the former.
Kartana is a premier attacker, boasting a gargantuan base 181 Attack and excellent neutral coverage with the combination of Leaf Blade and Sacred Sword. Grassy Terrain support from Rillaboom boosts Leaf Blade's strength even higher, with Scope Lens also increasing its critical hit chance to 50%. This gives Kartana the ability to overpower a wide range of Pokemon, sometimes even those which resist Grass; snowball potential from Beast Boost increases that range ever further. Combined with a nifty base 109 Speed, Kartana can knock out many Pokemon before they get the chance to act. Kartana's Speed also helps with its ability to set Tailwind, as the dynamic move order of Generation 8 means teammates like Urshifu-R, Heatran, and Zygarde can immediately benefit. Due to Leaf Blade's critical hit chance and being commonly partnered with the likes of Urshifu-R, which deals with Intimidate users, Intimidate is not a reliable form of counterplay to Kartana, removing a typical check to physical attackers.
Kartana's biggest vulnerabilities are its 4x weakness to Fire and low Special Defence, with even defensively invested Kartana falling to powerful special attacks such as Shadow Ball from Choice Specs Dragapult. Kartana's offensive power makes it difficult to check defensively, so faster Pokemon like Dragapult, Zeraora, and Choice Scarf Genesect are important to stop it. Speed control also helps nullify Kartana's Speed advantage, such as Tailwind from Zapdos or Naganadel, but Kartana's own Tailwind can counteract this. Some Pokemon do also beat Kartana regardless of Speed, such as Kommo-o. Kartana's recent prominence has played a large part in the rise of relatively niche Pokemon such as Naganadel, Togekiss, Ribombee, and Latias which check it, although some would argue this merely demonstrates the strain Kartana puts on teambuilding. While 50% crit chance is potent, it's also inconsistent, meaning Kartana can be left in the dirt if it needs a crit to KO but misses out and is knocked out in return.
As usual, 60% of the vote must be in favour for Kartana to be banned.
Important: The laddering period will last for a total of nine days.
Laddering Period
Start: Friday, August 13th at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
End: Sunday, August 22nd at 8:00 PM Eastern time (GMT-4)
All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! Doubles OU ladder on a fresh alt with a name of the form "DOUVM [name]." For example, I might use the account "DOUVM Yoda2798" to ladder.
To qualify to vote, you must achieve a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may subtract 1 game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. As always, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE is fine.
GXE | minimum games |
80 | 50 |
80.2 | 49 |
80.4 | 48 |
80.6 | 47 |
80.8 | 46 |
81 | 45 |
81.2 | 44 |
81.4 | 43 |
81.6 | 42 |
81.8 | 41 |
82 | 40 |
82.2 | 39 |
82.4 | 38 |
82.6 | 37 |
82.8 | 36 |
83 | 35 |
83.2 | 34 |
83.4 | 33 |
83.6 | 32 |
83.8 | 31 |
84 | 30 |
Kartana will be legal during this suspect.
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