Many of the anti-ban arguments seem to be going off of the idea that it's a 1-vs-1 situation. Is Sableye really a counter? If the MKhan player predicts the switch (easy to do, as Sableye's niche pretty much consists of "countering" MKhan and not much else), Sableye takes damage, and then Sableye burns Khan, maybe goes down, but at least MKhan is crippled, right? Guess again. Pair MKhan up with a fire type like Heatran, Talonflame, or pretty much anything that doesn't give a damn about a burn and switch it in whenever Sableye comes in and you're good.
Skarm, Ferro and Chomp are in the same boat. Skarm and Ferro barely manage vs Khan since it can run Fire Punch, which completely screws them over, and even without FP Khan still dishes out heavy damage at +2, so in the end the best Skarm can manage is to phaze a Khan at half its health out, while Skarm himself is forced to Roost the next turn or it dies. Ferrothorn can't really do much more to Khan than hurt it with barbs + helmet and its STABs, which is not enough to KO (not to mention Khan can bypass residual damage if she runs EQ) and Chomp has no fucking business running Rocky Helmet, the fact that it does is basically overcentralization at its best. Mandibuzz has been mentioned too, but she doesn't resist Return and therefor gets pummeled.
It is true that there are a few solid checks out there, such as Terrakion, Keldeo (can't OHKO when it carries lefties/scarf), Infernape (can't safely switch in so something has to die beforehand and it's not even a guaranteed OHKO lol) and MegaLucario (if it hasn't MegaEvolved before it's in a 50/50 situation), but all of these can be easily dealt with through team support. Also, mind how these are all
checks; there is NOTHING in the meta that can wall MKangha, something that nothing else can say.
Now I just noticed this juicy little anti-ban post and I'm going to reply on it bc why not.
Well, looks like I got to the party when it's going full steam.
I think that Mega Kangaskhan should not be banned.
I have personally made at least 5 teams around this guy in Pokebank, and Mega Kanga far from guarantees a win. It operates similar to any other sweeper, and has just as many checks. Volcarona has Heatran, M-Kanga has Keldeo. Keldeo resits its only source of priority, and outspeeds and OHKOs it. All you have to do to stop a M-Kanga sweep is put in a Keldeo, and go for the Sacred Sword. STAB+ Super Effective will do Kanga in.
I believe it's been calced and it turns out that Keldeo without Ebelt or Specs can't OHKO, like I said, so rougly 1/3 of all Keldeo are sure to KO Kangha. In all other cases, Kangha just goes "lol" and kills it. Also, remember that this is a check, not a counter, as it can't just come in on a PuP or a Return and say that it's been a fun experience.
For non-anecdotal evidence, let me reference the last ban debate. Gengarite was banned for its capability to offer next to perfect support, without anything able to effectively oppose it. As the metagame has evolved up to this point, it seems to be leaning strongly towards physical defense. Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Forretress, and others are becoming more and more prevalent than ever, while special cannons like Latios and special walls like Blissey are being substituted for things that can handle physical hits as well, like Heatran. This is due in no small part to the physical threats of this generation, like Talonflame, M-Luke, Char-X, M-Kanga, Aegislash, and others. This means that removing a physical threat like Kanga will not fix or alter the flow of the meta. It will simply be one less threat for teams to deal with, instead of something that can help shape the meta due to how teams prepare for it.
The difference between a Talonflame/Char-X (MegaLuke and Aegislash are more often seen going special or mixed tbh so not even counting them) and a Mkhan is that they both have flaws that MKhan doesn't have: Talonflame is pretty frail, has an underwhelming attack stat, is 4x weak to SR and eventually kills itself due to recoil in case you didn't pack a counter for it (and there's plenty of Talonflame counters, too. The same can't be said for MKhan, really). Charizard-X doesn't have priority, is countered by two
common OU threats, namely Azumarill and Heatran (Sableye is not much of a threat in OU to begin with, let alone a common one, and it can't switch in on MKhan as easily as Azu and Tran can switch in on Zard), his most viable set only boosts his attack by +1 and he also has a painful SR weakness (especially before Mega evolution). Let's not forget that MKhan's supposed "counters" (again, Skarm and Ferro aren't true counters as they tend to die in the process of "countering" Khan) are vastly different coutners than the counters for common physical threats in OU (ever saw a Sableye walling a Charizard-X? Neither did I.)[/quote]
In reference to the "Portrait of an Uber" thread, this is what is listed as the qualities for an offensive Uber:
Kanga has the "capable of sweeping through a signifigant portion of teams" part down pat, and that is where all of the adversion to it seems to be coming from. However, it is unable to follow through on the integral "little effort" section. As with most sweepers, certian threats on the opposing team must be dealt with before attempting a sweep. For Volcarona, it is Stealth Rocks, Rock Types, and Heatran. For Dragonite, it's status setters, Faries, Ice Shard carriers, and things like Vaporeon. For Aegislash, it's WoW carriers, Normal types, and faster mons with Earthquake. You get the point. For Kanga, the list is no shorter. Before you can get to sweeping, you need to get rid of the opponent's Sableyes, Quagsires, Ferrothorns, Rocky Helmet (and Roar) Skarmory, M-Lucario, Fighting types with priority (Read Mach Punch), and Ghost types. If there is a Ghost type still alive, Kanga CANNOT sweep (assuming it is played well). Many ghosts carry WoW, which cripples Kanga without PuP, and ones with it cannot use it on a ghost type. Jellicent, Sableye, Dusclops can all do this well. Then, their only fear is a Shadow Claw, but if Kanga is carrying that, it allows Ferrothorn to take it to meet its maker. If the opposing team is running any good form of physical defense on their team, a large ammount of effort is required for Kanga to sweep, which, by definition, makes it not Ubers.
Volcarona's counter is Heatran, an extremely common Pokemon in OU that does way more than just walling one or two specific threats. Volcarona also dies really easily when there's SR on the field. Here's your list of Pokemon that counter MKhan and I'll explain why they all suck in one way or another.
Sableye: Extremely niche, rather frail before he gets the burn off so can't switch in safely.
Quagsire: Possibly even more niche than Sableye and even less common. Also doesn't tank that Return nearly as well as you'd like it to; once it comes in it'll probably be busy Recovering the damage done by Return until it runs out of Recovers, so barely even a counter at all.
Ferrothorn: Gets annihilated by Fire Punch and EQ versions of Khan, has to run Rocky Helmet over lefties in order to succeed, it tends to be kamikaze to counter Kanga with Ferro, as they both die in the process.
Skarmory: In the same boat as Ferro, except Skarm dishes out less damage thanks to a lack of Rocky Helmet and its best way to "counter" Khan is by phazing it out, which is hardly countering it at all.
M-Lucario: More of a check than a counter as it can't stomach Khan's attacks, and like I said, before Mevo it's in kind of a 50/50 situation.
Mach punch users: It's been calced that LO Adamant Technician Breloom can't OHKO with Mach Punch. That's not even a check.
Ghost types: Crunch murders pretty much every single one of them, so the best they can do is W-o-W and die.
Kanga is also very susceptible to passive damage. With Drain Punch as it's only form of effective (offensive) recovery, it has a hard time staying the battle unless it can pull of a sweep. Priority, status (Esp. Burn), Stealth Rocks, and Spikes all keep Kanga's number of switch-ins limited. If it chooses to run Drain Punch it must give up one of the things that makes it such a potent sweeper: Priority, Strong STAB, Boosting, or Coverage. "But what about Wish/Seismic Toss?" By definition, that is not a sweeper. It hits hard, yes. However, it does not have the sweeping prowess of normal M-Kanga. Seismic Toss is also reasonably gimmicky, since it (again) cannot deal with Ghosts, anything with a reasonable amount of bulk that runs substitute (and let's be honest; most things with a large ammount of HP bulk love to run sub). It also has to 2HKO, since almost nothing in OU has less than 200 HP. This allows opponents to switch in Ghosts, Recover, or hit Kanga with status.
1: Kangaskhan usually doesn't have to switch in more than once in order to destroy half your team or more.
2: It doesn't need Drain Punch in order to destroy the tier.
3: The support set is not supposed to be a sweeper but a supporter (thank you for stating the obvious fagtron), and in that regard it's fantastic too (a Wish Passer that can also 2HKO a good 80% of the tier? Yes please!), so don't just say that we shouldn't count it just because it fulfills an entirely different niche than the sweeping set, because that is exactly why we SHOULD count it. (On a side note, uninvested Crunch still deals with most ghosts fairly well so there ya go)
4: Kangha is bulky enough to survive almost all the priority attacks the tier has to offer.
5: Good luck trying to status it without dying in the process.
In closing, Kanga is good, but it is nothing new. I would support suspect testing it, but under no circumstances should it be insta-banned. It does not have the ability to sweep the Meta unopposed, and therefore does not fit the qualification for an Uber. It is not uncounterable. If it wants to live long enough to take advantage of its bulk, it has to diminish its sweeping capabilities. If it goes defensive, it becomes easier to counter, and only succeeds in changing its counters, not removing them.
In closing, Kanga is beyond amazing and it combines the best of everything physical sweeping has to offer. A quickban seems like the only good solution for something that has been regarded so obviously broken by so many people, a suspect test would be a waste of time and effort since everything's been pretty one-sided in this discussion thus far. It has the ability to sweep the meta with little to no effort (even the biggest noobs on the ladder can use it ffs), and therefor it definitely fits the qualification for an Uber. It is, in fact, uncounterable. It can utilize its natural bulk to live long enough while still being able to sweep, while going defensive can surprise the opponent and breaks walls down with ease.
tl;dr BAN THIS SHIT RN