Levi
[PKMN] every now and then I think about how Smeargle ruined Darkrai's life
Levi
Anyway with that clickbait toplevel out of the way, here is the story about how funny paint dog destroyed the Lord of Nightmares
Levi
Darkrai is: A mythical Pokemon with a signature move, Dark Void that make things sleep
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Smeargle is: goofy dog thing that can learn any move
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The scene is Generation VI. The format for official Pokemon tournaments is VGC, which is Doubles But More Complicated
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Dark Void has a special property in that in double battles, it can hit both opponents
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Darkrai is not allowed in VGC but do you know who is allowed? Smeargle.
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Smeargles running Dark Void are common and are used to put opposing teams to sleep, as Dark Void not only targets both opponents, but it has 80% accuracy
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So lots of things go sleepy, things get lame for doubles
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No one wants to watch or play with or against Smeargle Dark Void Spam
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But there's not much that can be done about that for now
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Anyway, the generation wheel turns and it is now Generation VII
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They want to make extra sure that Smeargle Dark Void Spam will not be a thing next time around
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So they change the coding in the game so that only Darkrai (or a Pokemon that has transformed into Darkrai) can successfully use Dark Void, if any other mon tries to use it, it fails
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Technically you can still use it via Metronome but w/e
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So problem solved right
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VGC usually only allows select legendaries/mythicals to be used so just don't let Darkrai in boom
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Darkrai is now the only mon that can use Dark Void (its signature attack) and if you don't want sleep spam just don't let it in
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NAH SON
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They went a step further
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Dark Void also has been reduced to 50% accuracy
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making it the most inaccurate sleep move in the game (not counting weird outliers like Relic Song and Dire Claw)
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So now Darkrai's Signature Move is now just really bad
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The mon that's all about making things go to sleep now sucks at making things go to sleep
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If Darkrai wants to put something to sleep, it's better off using Hypnosis because Hypnosis is 5% more accurate than Dark Void
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And this all happened because Smeargle was using Dark Void willy nilly in VGC
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Darkrai died for Smeargle's sins also Smeargle is a habitual criminal it is like constantly causing issues in Pokemon PvP regardless of format