Just got requirements to vote. Anyhow, I've seen quite a lot of discussion surrounding the luck factor behind Mega Pidgeot and Hurricane. I've seen some comparisons to Scald in the fact it's a spammable move that has a 30% chance to probably screw something. I feel as if the comparison between the two is for naught since they're fundamentally different in the fact Scald's burn chance is going to be crippling something for the rest of the match whereas Hurricane's 30% chance has a possibility to completely invalidate a Pokemon for a turn. Now this, coupled with the fact Pidgeot doesn't have too many good switch-ins, especially considering it also has Heat Wave and Refresh in its arsenal, could potentially make Pidgeot a broken Pokemon. As it is, even after getting requirements I'm still undecided what to vote for and might just vote abstain should none of the sides' argument persuade me. Pidgeot had a 15% chance to render its check / counter useless every time it's hit by Hurricane, now normally this wouldn't be too bad. But it's also coming off base 135 Special Attack and is backed by 121 base Speed. Pidgeot also has access to U-turn, meaning it can just gain chip damage off a defensive check that switched in, and should that check be confused, it could potentially just not do anything for a turn, essentially meaning the Pidgeot user has a free turn to do whatever. This is extremely easily exploited. For instance, Mega Aerodactyl could switch in, and considering Stealth Rock are on the field, it's taken over half from Stealth Rock + Hurricane. Now, should Mega Aerodactyl get confused and hit itself in confusion as it attempts to Roost, it cannot come in against Pidgeot again as long as Hurricane is on the field. This is quite big considering Mega Aerodactyl is offenses best and sometimes only switch in for Mega Pidgeot. This is just one of many examples, however. Anyhow another thing to bring attention to is Hurricane's "spammability" where it's a very stong move, coming off good natural Special Attack, and has no immunities coupled with very few bulky resistances. Pidgeot is also a very centralizing force in the metagame, especially to more defensively inclined archetypes, as they not only need a switch in, but they need a switch in that can also deal with the potential Work Up set that allows it to push through a few of its defensive checks. Now, onto some of the points for Pidgeot to not be banned. Pidgeot's checks and counters are still as viable as they were, with maybe the exception of a few Pokemon. For instance, Empoleon, Mega Aerodactyl and Thunder Wave Blissey are all still very viable and are seeing usage in their respective archetypes. Pidgeot also requires a free turn to Mega Evolve, which can be hard to find should the Mega Pidgeot user come against offensive archetypes that give him no breathing space to Mega Evolve. Another thing to note is Mega Pidgeot's vulnerability to Stealth Rock and coupled with priority and the number of Choice Scarf users, it can be revenge killed quite easily. This is, however, a two-way thing since revenge killing means something has to get KOed first. For hyper offense, this might not be too big of an issue since the playstyle involves a lot of sacking anyhow, but for bulky offense for example this can be game changing. Anyways, looking forward to seeing more discussion on this suspect test.
