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PLEASE READ !!
Aegislash limiting the viability of certain pokemon cannot constitute sufficient justification for a ban. Mega Medichan and Mega Heracross would be more viable serving as checks to certain pokemon now banished to ubers (i.e. Mega Lucario and Mega Khangaskhan), but that was not a sufficient reason for leaving them in the metagame then and it is not a sufficient reason for taking Aegislash out now. We cannot make sense of banning a pokemon because it limits certain individuals' viability, or we would have to ban banning in general. It just is a fact that limiting the viability of certain pokemon is part of what a tier does.
Many have argued that Aegislash's ability to force opponent's in a situation of a so called 50/50 has negative consequences on competitive play. Even if this were true, and I do not think it is, pokemon with this ability are not new to the meta. Whimsicott's priority ecore/leech seed/substitute/taunt puts many more threats into a similar predicament than Aegislash's stance change could ever hope to, and I think it is safe to say we have no reason to ban this little fluffy ball of cute, except perhaps for the psychological discomfort it causes its opponents. In fact, the so called 50/50 dilemma created by Aegislash is very limited in utility. King's shield does not hinder encore,taunt,spore, leech seed, over heat, flame thrower, and earthquake. Earthquake's high distribution allows the entire meta to softly check Aegislash. Further, Aegislash can be forced into a similar dilemma by an opponent using protect.
Are there counters to Aegislash, of course! Is there one Pokemon that can switch into any Aegislash set safely and 1 hit KO, no there isn't. But, that is an unreasonable expectation of a meta. There is no reason that players should be able to make simple prediction when switching into any pokemon. Such a claim implies that pokemon ought to be a game with the same mechanics and depth as rock-paper-scissors.
Aegislash is actually completely healthy to the meta; and therefore, it would be a mistake to ban Aegislash. What can be said about a player able to deal with Aegislash knowing the various tools of destruction it may hide under its shield while being ignorant to which tool this individual Aegislash wields, other than he/she is a far superior player. I do not think we are prepared to say that a player that defeats a team with Aegislash as one of its members was lucky instead of we saying that he/she out played the opponent. This is what is central to my argument: I tend to think that a metagame that puts players into situations in which no one really knows what is going to happen next is much more interesting than not, and interesting over boring is a essentially valuable feature of any meta. Further, I tend to think that Aegislash allows a situation that rewards the best players for being that much better. This is obviously essential and healthy to any meta.
As has already been stated, Some have argued that Aegislash adds a unhealthy luck based feature to the game. I completely disagree. This argument worked for Swag-Key for obvious reasons, but fails for this steel type. If it is true that a healthy metagame is skilled based then Aegislash is a beautiful addition, because being able to predict around it or being able to use it instead of it just becoming a liability allows the opportunity to separate those players that can only make simple predictions and those that can infer predictive maneuvers where others see nothing but pokemon. Examples of such information are, team preview, the opponents playing style, the teams moveset and what variant of pokemon X would compliment said team.
It is from my experience on wifi that I think I can give clear examples of how Aegislash allows the opportunity to display true predictive skill for both user and the opponent of Aegislash. Both examples take place on Wifi and are likely recorded battles on Pokemon Global Link for season 4 in singles battles. My IGN is LU and I am ranked 8th in the US for wifi single battles. In both examples I am the user of Aegislash and my opponent is using the infamous Khangaskhan, one of the first mega evolutions to be banished to Ubers. My Aegislash is a weakness policy special attacking variant with King's shield/shadow sneak/flash cannon/shadow ball.
On the first turn I start with Mamoswine while my opponent sends out Khan. I predict an evolution and a fake out on the first turn. I switch to Aegislash to keep from taking any damage. Here is where it gets tricky. My Aegislash even with an activated weakness policy cannot KO Khan with Flash Cannon. I knew this but my opponent did not. Based on this I predicted my opponent would switch because he has probably over-predicted that my switch was into a sacred sword variant. Why else would I switch into an Aegislash that could not KO Khan? Little does he/she know this is a bluff and I expect that there will be a switch into something that resists sacred sword but takes massive damage from shadow ball. I predicted correctly and he switches into a focus sash Gengar. I predicted s/he would try to save his Gengar by switching back into Khan selecting Flash Cannon. S/he did not know my other two attacking moves and probably predicted correctly that I had shadow sneak. I predicted correctly. S/he switches to Khan who took a direct Flash cannon putting it in KO range. My opponent forfeits the next turn.
My second example starts out exactly the same and I predict exactly the same. Unfortunately, my opponent does not Mega evolve when I switch from my Mamoswine to my Aegislash. Instead, he hits my Aegislash with a power-up punch that activates my weakness policy due to his ability scrappy. With a plus 1 to attack Khan's Earthquake is more than enough to KO my Aegislash, which he does and proceeds to sweep the other two the remainder of my team. The question remains then is “How did the user of the opposing Khan predict my switch without any data of my play style?” The answer is simple. He looked at my team in team preview and concluded that it was a better decision to not mega evolve and power up punch knowing that if he did not do so and I did so happen to pick and switch to my Aegislash on the next turn, he would have wasted a move and depending on the variant I was using he would have completely lost momentum. He had all the relevant information to make the right decision and not only KO my Aegislash, but also precede to sweep my team winning the match.
The examples of my feign and the example of my opponent's correct prediction shows definitively that there is no 50/50 when dealing with Aegislash, and there is no reason to think that a player cannot figure out what variant Aegislash is just by looking at a player's team or watching a players play style. Further, there is no reason to think that countering Aegislash depends wholly on what variant it is or even knowing what variant it is. The player that defeated me made a simple evaluation in team preview and used Khan to lure out something I was planning to feign with anyway. He needed no other data to beat me, which separates himself or herself from many others and further creates a lacuna between players that think facing Aegislash is some sorta 50/50 and those that know better. Sometimes you are wrong sometimes you are right, but neither ever necessarily depend on pure Chance. If it does it is a matter of the player playing the pokemon and not the player. Aegislash rewards those players that deserve to be rewarded and punishes those players that do not, and it was intended to work this way. Pokedex information “Apparently, it can detect the innate qualities of leadership. According to legend, whoever it recognizes is destined to become king.” In the same right, whoever Aegislash does not recognize is not destined to be King.
The last point I will address is the argument of over centralization. It is claimed by the pro-ban Aegislash that Aegislash overcentralizes the metagame in an unhealthy way. Over centralization is suppose to mean something like the meta game is so bent around this pokemon that is is impossible to build a team without building it around this pokemon in one way or another... usually due to it being overpowered in some way. I agree that there is a real bend around this pokemon, but I offer what I think is a more plausible explanation. Aegislash is much like Rotom-W in that it checks so many threats because of its ability and typing that it must be considered and further is able to play a role that there is no other pokemon to play. This I think is the reason for the centralization; not because he is overpowered. For instance, Talonflame checks every grass and fighting type in the game with little help from other Mons except perhaps Mega Picser which he also checks. A big job for such a small bird. Further, the odds are stacked against him due to his stealth rock weakness and the necessary recoil damage he incurs from using either of his powerful stabs. In fact a brave bird that kills Blissey will also kill Talonflame due to the sheer amount of HP of the pink cleric. This fact about Talonflame displays two things. In gen six it was made very difficult to sweep which is shown by Talonflames inability to sweep and his ability to stop the sweep of other pokemon. The sheer amount of powerful physical sweepers and powerful physical moves, and the amount of viable physical walls and features implemented in the game to halt physical sweepers (i.e. priority swagger, King's shield, will-o-wisp) seems to imply that sweeping is intended to be very difficult because it is very powerful. Gen 5 was dominated by powerful physical sweepers because the ability to gain a buff instantly eliminates many counters to said pokemon. Even if the sweep is incomplete it likely smashed a large enough hole in the team that victory is assured. This makes sweeping a risky and powerful opportunistic tactic to gain momentum. The risk is essential for a metagame that is not dominated by powerful attackers. Players now have to really think about their offensive build, since Dragon Dance for their forth move slot is no longer and obvious choice. In this way, Aegislash is a designed general check to set up by rewarding those that risk and predict correctly and punishing those that mis-calculatd. It is for these reason that Aegislash is an essentially important feature of a healthy metagame. It centralizes prediction as a tactic away from opportunistic switching and sweeping. If a metagame is essentially suppose to favor the most skilled player and the most skilled player is one with the most powerful predictive power than we can infer from this that Aegislash is an intended necessary agent. Therefore the reason why the metagame has become so “centralized” around Aegislash is that the pokemon serves an important and essential role and there is no other pokemon that serves this role as of yet. This role, as I have argued is an essential balance by centralizating around prediction.
