Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Delta 2777
I personally can't stand Deoxys-S and have always felt that it was the most broken suspect last round. The main reason for this is Deoxys-S's extreme versatility that make it so that if if you guess wrong (you can't really predict, just guess) as to what set it is running, you get totally fucked.
Support variants: these can carry Spikes, Stealth Rock, Taunt, Duel Screens, and/or one or two offensive moves to screw over potential counters. It also has Magic Coat to screw over priority Taunt (not that priority Taunt is common), meaning 2 layers of hazards minimum is all but guaranteed.
Offensive variants: this is where the real trouble comes in. Deoxys-S has just high enough offensive stats to make use of them, and with so many options (Superpower, Psycho Boost, Hidden Power Fire, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and even Energy Ball) that you literally have no 100% counters except Steel/Psychics such as Jirachi and Bronzong.
And that's the thing: you don't know if Deoxys is going to run a support or offensive set. If you think it's running support, you might switch in Tyranitar to Crunch it, Scizor to U-Turn it, or maybe Conkeldurr to Payback it... Nope, all three just got OHKOed by the respective super effective move. And say you want to scout the Hidden Power Fire. Brilliant! Switch Scizor out to X and, oh... Deoxys-S used Stealth Rock. And I bet it'll use Spikes (or super effective move) next, and that'll really make this match harder for me. No matter what, unless you were given information about your opponent's team beforehand or use a specialized counter like ChopleTar (whose utility has decreased with the banning of Thunderus) or a Steel/Psychic as previously mentioned you will NEVER be able to shut down Deoxys-S consistently without being extremely lucky.
And for those of you who cry "any Pokemon can beat its counters with a specialized moveset, so why does that make Deoxys-S broken??", consider that offensive Deoxys-S is actually common, and very viable, unlike stuff like Hidden Power Fire Kingdra which you'll see once every million battles.
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The problem I find with this argument is that it can define a number of currently OU Pokemon (even if they aren't as fast as Deo-S. Stuff like Tyranitar or even Gengar). It's completely obvious that any given team is unlikely to be prepared for every threat in the game, and it should follow that not every moveset variant can be accounted for either. To say that Deo-S can rip apart the game in the manner you've suggested is more of a manifestation of that rather than its sole ability to just wreck everything. Unpredictability in a Pokemon and having access to viable, off-standard movesets alone doesn't make it broken unless it's just completely impossible to check/defend against (whereas all you've shown is that certain would-be counters are getting OHKO'd by surprise attacks). It just means that the opponent is forced to think on their toes, which is a given a metagame with this much variety.
I honestly can't support a ban based unpredictability since IMO that only serves to lower player's ingenuity in mid-battle.
However, the Support Characteristic holds true, so if those were the premises of a ban, I couldn't argue against it.