Baton Pass is a very controversial topic in the tiering policy world; I think that's quite an understatement. In 2021 multiple changes were made to how BP was legal: Mr. Mime was banned (thank God), six Pokemon can now use BP, but only one can pass stats, and only one stat boost. Full pass teams have always been cheesy bullcrap, so most people were happy to see them neutered to obscurity. I too, was happy to see Mead pass and other similar strategies gone.
However, the addition of the "one stat boost for the whole team" rubbed me the wrong way. While I think that it was the easiest way to fix the full pass problems, I believe it was a mistake. Here is my proposed amendment to the Baton pass clause;
"Up to six Pokemon can use Baton Pass, limited to one Pokemon passing stats."
This would allow multiple stat passes like how it was pre-nerf whilst still limiting the cheesy teams that play whack-a-mole until it's time to sweep. So for example something like Agility Zapdos with Liechi would be legal, but it couldn't be paired with a CM BP Celebi. The obvious (or what was obvious to me) push back against this is the idea of complex bans- the word complex ban is the biggest bogeyman since that certain proposal.
My argument is that Baton Pass rules have always been baroque and complex: it used to be only 3 BP Pokemon, but none of them could be Smeargle (even when Smear could BP it couldn't use ingrain). Then Mr. Mime was banned, and now we're at the current limit of 1 stat boost per team. Refining a rule isn't a bad thing if it leads to a more open tier, in terms of team building opportunities at least. Below I'll list some of the positive aspects of multiple stat pass Mons and the couple of outliers that I could foresee as problematic.
The Good, Neutral and Potentially Problematic:
- Liechi + Agility Zapdos / Jolteon: These two fellows can fit on SD pass teams to lure special walls and can pass attack/speed to teammates. They also can just be run as normal agility sweepers too.
- Calm Mind + Salac Lunatone: This was an invention of mine (or at least I'm the one taking credit for it right now lol) that takes advantage of the unique traits of hypnosis, calm Mind and baton pass on a pokemon with levitate and normal/flying resistances. It's also a pretty good Skarm lure as it can BP directly into Magneton.
- Ninjask: Okay I'm not gonna act like having Jask back is a great thing, but when it's the only stat passer and not a cog in a BP machine, it's a decent physical offense choice (and one of the biggest punishes to a Dugtrio).
In Conclusion;
Is this a pressing issue? Well, no. I admit wholeheartedly that I'm of a small minority who isn't happy with the BP policies- or at least I haven't heard anyone else talking about it too loudly. I'm of the opinion that this would be a beneficial (or at least a neutral) change to the ADV metagame. I hope this can generate some discussion.
And besides, even if this idea doesn't work, the worst that happens is that the tier goes back to the way it is.
I'm butthurt that the Secret Santa Team with Salac berry Calm Mind Lunatone I made became illegal the day before it was released and I want to change the tier LUL
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