Why did my Prankster Sableye go last?

Question

Here's the battle replay

Edit: But since it's mega-evolved shouldn't its ability also change into Pixilate? That is where I'm confused.

Comments

So do you mean the first turn, when mega gardevoir used Will-O-Wisp before sableye? If so, I can't see any reason why this happened. Its probably just an error with the showdown programming.

Answer 1

I came to the conclusion that there is an issue with Showdown changing abilities when Pokémon Mega Evolve. As you see in your replay and in this one here, Gardevoir retained the ability Prankster (from Trace) when it should have gotten the ability Pixilate after Mega Evolving.

I was not satisfied with this so I tested my theory using a Chlorophyll Venusaur. Breloom should have outsped Mega Venusaur but the results reinforce my theory as Mega Venusaur retained the ability Chlorophyll for 1 turn after Mega Evolving and thus allowing it to move before Breloom. However, the next turn Mega Venusaur's ability (presumably) became Thick Fat and lost the Chlorophyll speed boost. View the results for yourself here.

Hope this helps.
(Props to Kawaii Terlor for helping me test this out)

Comments

Maybe add in the fact that speed boost/loss is not taken into account the first turn of mega evolution, which is not a glitch, rather a fact. That might explain the Venusaur problem.

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I know this is a pretty old thread, but it was an early result when I was googling for Prankster + After You (seeing if that combo existed). This looks like gen 6 Pokemon, in which case Showdown is handling this interaction properly. In Gen 6 (XY and ORAS), turn order is calculated before megaevolution happens, meaning it takes into account abilities from before mega evolving. It also uses the base form speed, which was incredibly relevant in various competitive formats (for example Kangaskhan has base 90 speed, but Mega Kangaskhan has base 100 speed. In VGC 2016, this meant that Kangaskhan would speed tie primal Kyogre/Groudon on turn 1 (also base 90 speed), but outspeed them on future turns after it has mega evolved).

TL;DR, this isn't an issue with showdown. The correct answer is this is how turn order works with mega evolution in gen 6.

Answer 2

Because Gardevoir had Trace before it Mega-evolved, and traced Prankster from Sableye. Gardevoir's almost always faster than Sableye, and since with Prankster it was in the same speed bracket as Sableye, therefore it went first.

Comments

Oh yeah trace :P

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Naw

Answer 3

In Gen 6 (XY/ORAS), turn order is determined before mega-evolution happens. Because Gardevoir traced your Prankster and almost guaranteed had higher speed, it's able to use a priority move before Sableye is able to use its move only on the first turn because its turn order was determined while it was a base Gardevoir with traced prankster.

Comments

Your explanation looks legit, but do you have a source backing this up?

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https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Stat

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My main source is just from playing hundreds of VGC matches on basically every gen since Black and White. sumwun's link has the relevant quote though:

```
Prior to Generation VIII, in-battle changes to a Pokémon's Speed stat did not start affecting turn order until the following turn; however, in Generation VII, if Mega Evolution or Ultra Burst caused changes to the base Speed stat or to an Ability that affected Speed or priority, those changes took effect immediately for the upcoming turn. In Generation VIII, all speed changes take effect immediately; after every individual move, the next Pokémon to move is the fastest Pokémon that hasn't yet made its move that turn.
```
(listed under https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Stat#Speed)

The correct interpretation of this is gen 6 -> turn order determined before mega-evolve or any other modifiers during the turn. Gen 7 -> mega evolution speed changes affect turn order, but no other speed modifiers. Gen 8 -> all speed modifiers take effect immediately (common example in VGC doubles was using Whimsicott to set-up tailwind to allow its partner to move immediately after thanks to its now doubled speed).