Pokemon Sword / Shield – Dynamax banned competitively by community

Pokemon Sword / Shield – Dynamax banned competitively by community

Dynamaxing, the mechanic introduced in recently released Pokemon Sword & Shield, will not be featured in competitive community Smogon OU Singles.

The feature was put to a vote and an overwhelming 87% voted against its inclusion in upcoming unofficial Smogon tournaments.

Banned by majority

The OU council recognizes that Smogon is a large institution within the realm of competitive Pokemon battling. Additionally, we understand that banning a core mechanic such as Dynamaxing will have a substantial impact on the competitive landscape of this generation throughout our metagames and perhaps other formats.

Given this, we would like to use this thread to explain the ban of Dynamax as well as provide any relevant information for the sake of clarity and transparency.

We do wonder if this will become a common thing competitively.

About Dynamaxing

Dynamax is a brand new feature activated in the menu when you’re in certain areas such as Stadiums, Max Raid Battles and online battles. To Dynamax, you need to get the special Dynamax Band item. When you do, you can Dynamax your Pokémon. This lasts only three turns and can be done once per battle.

There are however three Pokémon that cannot Dynamax: Zacian, Zamazenta and Eternatus. This also counts for Ditto when Ditto has transformed into them.