Legendary Pokémon are supposed to be exceptionally strong, but Urshifu is so broken that many Scarlet and Violet players hate its guts. It’s an ironic sentiment because another overpowered Legendary, Ogerpon, has gotten nothing but love since its The Teal Mask DLC despite being the new number-one threat in competitive play.
Pokémon fans today pointed out the double standard when it comes to Urshifu and Ogerpon—who are both very strong Legendary Pokémon in the Regulation F metagame—after a Reddit meme shed light on the situation: Urshifu gets a lot of hate while Ogerpon receives tons of praise for their strength.
Many players feel this way for a couple of different reasons. The biggest reason is how Urshifu completely breaks the norms in VGC doubles. Protect is an essential move most Pokémon have on their moveset to keep them safe for one turn, but Urshifu’s signature Unseen Fist ability allows the bear to ignore Protect entirely.
On top of this, both of Urshifu’s forms have signature moves that always land critical hits, which bypasses any drops to its Attack. This bear is an absolute menace to deal with, especially if it has speed on its side with a Choice Scarf or Tailwind from its friend, Tornadus.
But, despite all the hate Urshifu gets for being broken, it actually hasn’t been the biggest threat at recent VGC events. Ogerpon has been overshadowing its fellow Legendary Pokémon at the past few regionals, including Charlotte, Liverpool, and even this weekend’s Knoxville Regionals. On day two of Knoxville Regionals, Wellspring Ogerpon was the most-used Pokémon, beating out both Urshifu’s forms as well as the ever-dominant Flutter Mane.
You could argue Wellspring Ogerpon’s high usage stat was due to how well it counters Rapid Strike Urshifu, but we also can’t pretend the ogre doesn’t have a lot of other things going for it. Its mask gives it a 20-percent boost in power, it has a bonus Ability when it Terastallizes to boost one of its stats (Special Defense with the Wellspring Mask), and its signature move, Ivy Cudgel, is 100 base power with a high crit chance and zero drawbacks. It can also serve as a support ‘mon with Follow Me to redirect hits away from its ally. So Ogerpon gets to do the most as an offensive support ‘mon while smacking everyone around with a spiky club—and we still love her.
The thing is, Ogerpon is just so lovable and cute, as multiple players pointed out in the original conversation. Everyone instantly fell in love with the ogre after learning about its story in The Teal Mask DLC, and it’s hard to imagine anyone hating on that adorable Legendary Pokémon. You can’t say the same about Urshifu or other commonly hated threats like Incineroar, who don’t have that sweet personality or special lore behind them.
