Pokémon Black and White versions

SR makes the metagame sorta predictable. The point of playing "Outside the box" was to come up with better ways and perhaps more effective ways to beat your opponent. While SR does both, it's very predictable. Problem here is that it eliminates fun teams such as Monos. SR is so over-used that I cringe when I see someone using SR. I made a couple teams without using SR, and I admit that though it was harder to win, it was less predictable, along with the fact that there was more of an achievement when I won.

During 3rd gen meta, SkarmBliss was everywhere. All of my friends said "Why don't you have a Rapid Spinner?", I said "Why should I?". They replied with "SkarmBliss + Spikesx3 + mass Roar = GG". I said "There are other ways to get around that". I proved it to them.

The only way to make a secure team that will beat SR would be to have either half of your team (or more) having access to Taunt and/or Rapid Spin. I recommend both, but it weakens your offense.

[color="#cc8899"]Problem is, while it's nice to have so much defense against SR, it's used by maybe 1 pokemon per team, so it's never really a CONSTANT threat, outside of Sandstorm teams (which outright kill Shedinja anyway). The original idea behind it was pretty obviously a more unique entry hazard, but its use has gone well beyond such. People are also very fond of switching to ghosts to counte rapid spin...I'd be interested to see other moves have the ability to remove entry hazards, or even switch-ins with an ability to remove them. Something, ANYTHING. My treasured bug types are so pineappleing crippled right now, it's painful.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a special attack equivalent to burn this gen, and possibly stat-affecting entry hazards. Burn spikes would be very interesting, give them reduced damage, fire type, and a 33% chance of burn. It'd make Flash Fire a staple ability to have on your team to counter, so it'd be somewhat risky to use, but could be well worth it against certain attackers.

Of course, natural progression would also lead to "Spikes on entry" abilities, akin to "Weather on entry" abilities already common. I'm not particularly fond of this idea...[/COLOR]