Damn. Within the span of thirty minutes theres 5 pages of posts that Im not gonna read (probs more once Im done typing but w/e). Anyways, to continue on what I said earlier Ill lay down what everyone is saying: overcentralization. Is Aegis overcentralizing? Yeah, pretty much. If you argue against it youre a dumbass. An Aegis check is necessary on any competent team. Aside from that is its versatility and its 50-50s. Ill be focusing on these three things.
Overcentralization:
Aegis is the best Pokemon in the meta. Simple as that. On the higher ladder you see it everywhere (tho never on the lower ladder :/). That basically means that you have to keep it in mind when youre teambuilding. Im hard pressed to say that this is restrictive, simply because EQ and Fire Blast is a thing, and are easy to fit on a multitude of mons. They dont trigger KS and are reliable (fuck FB Hax) moves that have a consistent damage output and hit other things aside from Aegis. The problem most people have with this though is that the 60 / 150 / 150 defenses when switching in and while in shield forme, which means that it takes things like LO Mamos EQ or ScarfTrans FB to OHKO, which is understandable. Coupled with his low speed, hes one of the few pokes that are truly able to utilize this to their advantage (the closest thing is a slow VoltTurn for momentum), which is also understandable. However, this comes with a drawback: no reliable recovery outside of leftovers, which leads to somewhat of a reliance on KS. Please note that I am not referring to the LO 4 Attacks or any set that uses speed to surprise things. Im referring to the crumbler, which is the most common set Ive run into and probably top 3 overall. Anyways, this KS reliance leads into my next point which is 50-50s.
50-50s:
In general, these happen all the time in every game. Its why prediction is a thing in mons. Is he gonna switch? Does he have a coverage move that can put me in a disadvantageous position? So on and so forth. Now lets get to Aegis in itself. There are two types of 50-50s I see in him: Figuring out the set, and KS. Ill start off with figuring out the set. Team preview is a thing, and that can be a way to tell what set hes running. This isnt 100% accurate, and I know that. However, thats not always the case. Sometimes you have to figure that out in battle, which can put you at a disadvantage if you predict wrong. Maybe you send in Mandi and it turns out that its SubToxic. Maybe you send out Bisharp and its the Crumbler with SS. These scenarios happen all the time. However, these scenarios happen with other things too. For example, You might send in TTar against Thundy because he usually walls him decently well. he then reveals that he has Superpower and is a mixed set. You have now lost TTar and learned your opponents set. Another example: You have, say, a Tyranitar out that has just KOed a mon. Your opponent then sends out Garchomp (we'll assume no flying type for the sake of this example). You have Keldeo waiting in the wings, and you know you can take a hit from Chomp and force him out. You switch to Keldeo and Chomp EQs. Okay, youre good, right? Wrong. Turns out its Scarfchomp brought in mid game and you have a dead Keldeo after the second EQ. You lose a mon and in return gain knowledge of your opponents set. This goes for other things, so Ill get back to Aegis. Its the same concept, but he has a few more tricks up his sleeve than most others. Im not 100% convinced thats a problem. Just like other pokes, his set determines his counters. Not sure if thats a big deal. I feel that the meta has adapted to his presence well enough to it to be second nature to have something that can handle him.
Now Ill touch on the other 50-50s in regards to KS. Like what I said in my previous post, Kings Shield requires prediction on both sides of the field. However, the only time Aegis has a distinct advantage is against a non sucker punch reliant physical attacker not named Bisharp (cuz of dat Defiant). When that is the case, it is truly 50-50 scenarios (ill refer to Aegis in Blade Forme for this. Do I attack and resist the drop? Do I risk using a move hes immune to? Or do I switch out entirely to a much better match up? These are all things that are running through the mind of the person who isnt using Aegislash. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Aegis user has arguably a harder decision to make. If he predicts correctly, he has a distinct advantage against his opponent. When he doesnt, hes most likely gonna be losing Aegislash entirely. When the non Aegis user mispredicts, hes pretty much forced to switch. Ill admit that loses a lot of momentum, but honestly, that player has an easier time than if the Aegis loses the prediction battle. The only other situation thats similar to this is set up sweepers who opt to set up on a mispredict, which may or may not be a problem depending on the Pokemon (ex: MegaDos lives a SS + Sneak and can proceed to sweep, while say, something like SD Chomp loses a lot of his health and is crippled for the match). Any other scenario doesnt matter, because its either KS vs EQ, or KS vs. a special attack. Of course there are sets that forgo this move entirely, which is where his versatility comes into play.
Versatility:
Aegis has many sets, ranging from lolStance Dance to SubToxic. Each has its own checks and counters. For example, Stance Dance is shut down by Mandi and a burn. Not a great example cuz that set is utter shit, but this is the case for all of his other sets. 4 Attack LO is beaten by anything faster than it as more often than not Aegis will have attacked already. He either dies to the incoming hit or switches, which loses momentum. The Crumbler set (KS, Sneak, Iron Head/Sword, Shadow Ball) is walled by bulky grounds suck as Hippo and Garchomp (more of a hard check for chomp tho), as well as Mandibuzz. Other than that, it does its job, which is to break walls. The last set that Ill touch on is SubToxic, which is an interesting set. It forgoes his offensive potential almost completely asde from Shadow Ball and utilizes a Sub and Kings Shield to Toxic stall. This beats Aegis's normal counters, but is left helpless against Bisharp (the drop from S Ball favors Bisharp btw), TTar running speed, and pretty much any steel type that doesnt mind taking a Shadow Ball). There are more set out there that I wont touch on due to a lack of experience with them, but its in favor of the versatility argument for the pro ban side. However, with all this versatility comes with its drawbacks. Once youre opponent figures out the set, theyll be prepared for it for the rest of the match. You might argue that it gives the Aegis player an advantage in the match, but Aegis isnt the only mon that does that like I mentioned earlier in this post.
tl;dr (yeah, didnt expect to write an essay on this) Aegis may be overcentralizing in that he requires a check/counter to him on /viable/ teams, but I dont find it restrictive to teambuilding nor do I feel that hes OP like Mega Luke, Mega Mom, or BP were. Im still on the side of Do Not Ban, but like I said earlier, that may change.
PS: If anyone typed something like this while I was away, shoot me in the face right now.
