[Myzozoa]

disclaimer: please do not infract this post, it will contain both on topic and off-topic discussion.

I know that I cannot really say anything about Deoxys-D unbiasedly, but just as I am biased towards retaining Deoxys-D in OU because my 'best' style is no weather offense, others are biased against it only for the opposite reason: it is a style they find difficult to play against. This could be said about any suspect, but I'm saying this before yee calls me out...

The reason why Deoxys-D is so good is because, depending on the moveset, it can 'end' the game on turn 1. This is directly due to the huge advantage given by early hazards. That is the intuitive reason for Deoxys-D's brokenness. The less direct reason is that the opponent must find a way to beat Deoxys-D and in doing so may be forced to lead something that isn't actually a very strong lead. For example you see my Deoxys-D and lead your choice banded Scizor, but instead I lead my Rotom-w which can then get a free burn or volt-switch as you switch out. But that isn't the end, now that your 'check' is forced out I send my Doexys-D in again and get all my hazards. The point of this exercise in theorymon is to show:

1. Deoxys-D raises the stakes of the first few turns, where little information is known about either team. It increases the importance of guess work.
2. A carefully supported Deo-D almost always gets a chance to set-up its hazards.

The first point is the main reason why we are testing Deoxys-D instead of testing Ferrothorn.

But this is merely the story of what Deoxys-D does well in the context of an offensive team. Deoxys-D also has issues. There are two important surface level issues:

1. Deoxys-D usually dies in the process of setting up, so the user of Deo-D starts 5-6, with 1-4 layers of hazards. This is not necessarily a disadvantage, but it should be noted that using Deo-D puts you a pokemon down right away.
2. Rapid Spinners very easily undo Deoxys-D's work. Magic Bounce shuts down most sets completely.

The counterpoint to #2 is that Gengar can be used as a spin blocker preventing Deoxys-D from being useless. But I think that those with experience using Gengar can back me up when I say that Gengar really only prevents Donphan and Forretress from spinning, and other common rapid spinners have little problems with Gengar. I don't want to hear about Jellicient, for those who haven't tried it, it isn't very good with Deo-D.

With Forretress, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory all common pokemon, not to mention every SR user, is it really too much of an expectation that non-offensive teams run a spinner? I think that this is not overly presumptive: teams require spinners in this metagame to be viable. Xatu and Espeon are used just as much for Deo-D as it is for any hazard setter.

So basically: I respect why people dislike Deo-D, but:

1. Most teams have ways of dealing with it in the same why they deal with Ferrothorn, and in some senses Ferrothorn is harder to deal with than Deo-D.

2. In order to really use Deoxys-D in the way that makes it broken, you probably need two pokemon to help it. One pokemon to allow to it to enter safely in order to get multiple levels. another to stop rapid spin. That is not a trivial amount of support, it certainly takes much less support for some pokemon (venu, terrakion, tentacruel) to become unmanageable.