[17 / 3 / ?]
If the dex cut was bad then how do you explain SwSh being better balanced than USUM? See on pikalytics.
VGC2018 has Lando-T at 63.84% usage, Incineroar, Tapu Fini, and Kartana all over 40%, and a pretty steep drop-off from there (by the time you get to Pokemon #23, Slowbro, you're under 5% usage). Series 5 stats (the most comparable format we've had so far) have Incineroar and Togekiss as the only two over 40% and a more gradual decline downward after that (to drop below 5% you have to hit Pokemon #37, Toxtricity). Sword and Shield is just mathematically obviously more balanced than gen 7 and honestly by a lot, and I think dynamax being such a well designed competitive mechanic has a lot to do with it (they also did a really good job with the competitive design of a lot of the new gen 8 Pokemon). You can try to say there are fewer options because there are literally fewer Pokemon, but let's be real, most of the Pokemon we're never getting are stuff like Beedrill and Furret that were useless options in the first place; Sword and Shield have more options than previous generations if you only consider good options. You could also be pessimistic about how the Crown Tundra's balance will play out as the power level rises a good deal, but honestly, they've been doing so well so far that it makes a lot of sense to me to put some trust here.
The fact that this is the first generation in which it's actually not completely horrible to train your in-game team is kinda a big plus too; it makes the online actually playable in a dynamic way without spending thousands of hours riding your bike or Tauros, cheating, or not even actually playing the game and playing the similar but not really the same game that is the simulator. Like if I'm being real I find most of the anti-Sword and Shield whining kinda silly in the first place, but if we're pretending this game didn't put a big focus on making competitive a lot better and then completely nail it, we're exiting reality.
VGC2018 has Lando-T at 63.84% usage, Incineroar, Tapu Fini, and Kartana all over 40%, and a pretty steep drop-off from there (by the time you get to Pokemon #23, Slowbro, you're under 5% usage). Series 5 stats (the most comparable format we've had so far) have Incineroar and Togekiss as the only two over 40% and a more gradual decline downward after that (to drop below 5% you have to hit Pokemon #37, Toxtricity). Sword and Shield is just mathematically obviously more balanced than gen 7 and honestly by a lot, and I think dynamax being such a well designed competitive mechanic has a lot to do with it (they also did a really good job with the competitive design of a lot of the new gen 8 Pokemon). You can try to say there are fewer options because there are literally fewer Pokemon, but let's be real, most of the Pokemon we're never getting are stuff like Beedrill and Furret that were useless options in the first place; Sword and Shield have more options than previous generations if you only consider good options. You could also be pessimistic about how the Crown Tundra's balance will play out as the power level rises a good deal, but honestly, they've been doing so well so far that it makes a lot of sense to me to put some trust here.
The fact that this is the first generation in which it's actually not completely horrible to train your in-game team is kinda a big plus too; it makes the online actually playable in a dynamic way without spending thousands of hours riding your bike or Tauros, cheating, or not even actually playing the game and playing the similar but not really the same game that is the simulator. Like if I'm being real I find most of the anti-Sword and Shield whining kinda silly in the first place, but if we're pretending this game didn't put a big focus on making competitive a lot better and then completely nail it, we're exiting reality.
