>>33043771>You'd have to be retarded to earnestly believe that Greninja's popularity is due to (or even due in large part to) its competitive viabilityI didn't imply that, but to say people only care about design is kind of moot the minute they step into competitive and realize things aren't as peachy keen in concerns to simply using their favorites. People have favorites they feel sad they can't take full advantage of simply due to the fact that certain aspects of them can only make so much of a dent to your usual OU mon they will most likely bump against. Of course, this might lead to a "experimentation" period where they juggle between pokemon they never tried before until they run into a new favorite that can stand on its feet and also like design wise. Of course, not everyone plays competitively, I'm not blind to that, but as these games have progressed, they push you further and further to play online or with friends with less post-content.
Now, how are you supposed to take full advantage of the online competitive if it's always run with a certain set of mons that rules above the rest? Very rarely do you even meet someone online that doesn't always strive to pick "the best required" mons for each situation, forcing you to be at your best while not sparing even a moment to make a mistake, otherwise, you're as good as dead.
I don't even mind Greninja that much, he's cute, heck, I like all three Kalos starters, but I'm not blind to people experimenting with strong mons and them possibly finding a "new love". But this doesn't occur in more personal/friendly matches, where people have more leash when it comes to picking their favorites.
