I figure because the years following the last "no rotation" were the most stale format this game has ever seen. SP, Gyarados. Format defined. Two years.
Was that because of a no rotation or the crap they gave us that followed? Your cause and effect is mixed up.
You mean the reasons for the EMERGENCY rotation.
Now you're putting words in my mouth. No where did I say that. We were getting a rotation at the end of the season, regardless. And, lets be realistic, if we hadn't rotated, what would be going on right now? We would have low HP basics in SP, better trainers than SP support, and a Gyarados that can't OHKO EX's and has the worst weakness in the format. But, getting into that is dumb and unrealistic.
Machamp would destroy the risk vs. reward of EX pokemon and render them unplayable. Mewtwo can't kill Machamp with X Ball. EX decks would have absolutely no way to counter it efficiently.
Kinda like SP? Oh, that's right, SP still dominated Machamp...and did a horrible job of hitting for weakness. And, in case you've forgot, at this point, most people are running Mewtwo with Eels or Celebi. Getting enough energy for the OHKO on Machamp is pretty easy. And, Machamp is still a Stage 2 while Ex's are a basic. IF this unrealistic format where around, there would be EX decks with Machamp techs, its not rocket science. Lets be honest, EX's ruin the risk/reward factor of EX's, that's why MOST people at this point are running something like 4 Tornadus/2-3 Mewtwo or 4 Zekrom + Tornadus/Thunderus with 1 Zekrom Ex and 1-2 Mewtwo. No one wants to run Shaymin due to its 110 HP, Regigigas is iffy since it is KO'ed relatively easy with all of the fighting and has to have damage to be worth a crap. I'm not sure Kyurem EX serves any purpose at all...
Yes, and the reason Luxray didn't rotate out a year sooner was because of a no-rotation year. See where I'm going with this...?
Assuming it did rotate the year before, we still should have gone to RR-on. Granted, we would have lost the SP engine, but without Catcher (which we didn't have yet), Luxray + Seeker would have been the next best thing to gust, the card would still have been dominant. If you don't believe that, then look at the total reliance on Reversals between luxray and catcher.
I'm sorry, but starting at 5 sets was THE NORM until the extremely ill-advised no-rotation year.
And was never this huge OMG PROBLEM that you're making it out to be. We were told we were supposed to start with 9 sets a season starting with the no-rotation year, and then the format fell apart until they cut back down to 5 sets. Think about that.
The format fell apart because SF was ridiculously broken, that had nothing to do with rotation or lack there of. They could have rotated to SF any time and still had the same problems. So, just to be clear, your cause and effect trigger is broken. Its not THAT we didn't rotate, its THAT SF was that broken. We have a couple of advantages right now that we didn't have then. First, everyone has played in a format that gives us options (as far as evolution lines) and everyone seemed to like THAT aspect. Second, we don't have a stale format AT ALL since it has swung from one extreme to the next with every set. Common sense says that it will shift again with Raikou Ex. And, with all the dark support, dark becomes VERY playable...and, lets not forget, dark is weak to fighting, making it a VERY good anti-meta. So, nothing stale here.
"if we didn't have cards that came AFTER Junk Arm, JArm wouldn't be too bad". Do you realise how illogical that line of thought is? Do you realise how asinine it is to effectively assert that JArm might as well stay because other extremely powerful trainers aren't rotating?
I mean, it'd be fine if JArm stayed and all the other trainers rotated out, but obviously that's impossible. So, the other option is JArm rotates and we keep strong trainers with the card type's intended limited usability!
Again (for the third time), your cause and effect meter is broke. Even WITH those cards, J/A isn't that bad. So what, you can catcher 8 times in a game? And? do you really need to? Worse case scenario, Junk Arm helps with consistency, something no one should be complaining about, especially since its is a cheap card that everyone can afford and will help everyone's deck. I never stated Junk Arm might was well stay because we can't rotate the cards after. What I eluded to was that, leaving Junk Arm in for one more year isn't going to kill the format...because Junk Arm isn't THAT broken...yet. I'm sure it may very well be in the future. But, by the time it gets that way, everyone will be tired of it and want it gone. Granted, if we don't rotate Junk Arm, this will be the third season with the card in the format, but how much was it used in its first season? What, SP lists ran 1-2...or, some did. I actually ran 3 in Steelix and it was a HUGE part of my strategy to VS seeker for Twins to chain with Jirachi. The biggest problem with Junk Arm is that people aren't using it creatively. People that have good uses for it don't mind the card. I use mine to Junk Arm Switchs, Pokegears, and Super Rods, cards I don't want to run 3-4 of. I can run low counts and have my deck very consistent. Its amazing when you think that using Super Rod and then Junk Arm/Super Rod effectively gives you 16 energy in a 10 energy deck. For every bad reason I can think to take Junk Arm out, I can think of 2-3 good reasons to keep it. So, no, my statement was neither asinine or illogical. You're just stuck in your box.
Think about how much less abusive Catcher would be without Junk Arm, for example.
Also, Triumphant has Magnezone Prime. Blarg. I love the card but it's so blatantly overpowered.
A card that has THE worst weakness in the meta is overpowered? One could argue that lightening is the worst weakness in the game and they would be wrong because no one is playing anything that is weak to lightning, much like the reason no one played anything with fire weakness since B&W. With Zekrom, Eels, and Magnezone DOMINATING the format and Raikou only making it worse, I find it hard to say its "so blatantly overpowered" when Donphan destroys it and Donphan has reasonable matchups against everything else. I think the only think that ruins Magnezone for me is late game N's. Magnezone being able to draw out of that is almost broken. But, keep in mind, the deck needs to burn a lot of energy to win, meaning it has many weaknesses as well. And, in all reality, what format hasn't had a blatantly overpowered attacker? I find the only difference between Magnezone and attackers of yore is that it isn't as dominant as the "blatantly overpowered" decks of previous formats (Luxchomp, GG).
I'm sorry, what was that about Magnezone Prime?
Not even sure what this means...
This was never a concern with rotation before, and never will be.
I haven't played long enough to comment on this intelligently, but I can make a strong argument for keeping Arceus if this were true. Even taking into account how broken Spiritomb would be, it WOULD make for a great format that has few donks and plays many set cards. Can you imagine The Truth with 'tomb? We gained NOTHING by rotating Arceus, especially if you want to whine about how broken catcher and Junk Arm is, except to be "more like Japan," which, using your logic, has never been a concern before as our formats are always different and will ALWAYS be as long as the get sets before us.
I'm sorry, what was that about Junk Arm with Dark Patch? Or Magnezone Prime with Ultra Ball?
