The source of this artwork is " Pokémon, Frillish, Wishiwashi / 深海 - pixiv " for those who are wondering, btw. They post other Ogerpon artwork like this:So it has been a minute... and by that I mean around 2 months...
With the recent suspect of Ogerpon-Wellspring going into effect, I tought I would give my overall opinions on the following subject. I'm going to be talking about the impact is had on game, the reason behing said suspects test, pro bans and pro unbans, and the rise and drop if it were to be banned. So with that, lets jump right in:
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Ogerpon-Wellspring has been a pretty impactful mon in the meta, do at first it wasn't quite like that since everyone was spamming the daylights out of its Heartflame form. With Heartflame banned and the other two being... not as impactful, this lead into Wellspring finding its place in OU. It's main go to set is a Swords Dance set, which is nothing crazy on the surface, but it becomes more interesting once you dive deeper. At first, it used a combination of Dual Stab, SD and a coverage option. Water and Grass is a very solid Stab combination, only resisted by Grass and Dragon types, which is where its coverage options came into play. Play Rough is a good option to hit Dragons such as Dragonite, Raging Bolt and the later on re-discovered Mega Latias. And Superpower is good to hit Ferrothorn, one of the few good bulky Grass types in the tier. Later on, people explored deeper into its movepool, and started using a utility option rather than a coverage move, since its stab combo was all it mostly needed, and the few defensive checks can be either dealth with another pokemon, passive, or not super viable. Taunt and Encore can shut down defensive checks such as Toxapex and Tera Dragon Alomomola and Glowking to grab opportunities to SD. Subtitute can also be good to blank a status condition like Thunder Wave or Toxic. Another set that was running around, but didn't became nearly as popular was a Pivot set with U-Turn, Taunt, Spikes and Ivy Cudgel. It can take advantage of its checks thinking its an SD set, lay a Spikes down, and then dip with U-turn. However, if all Ogerpon-W had was good offense, it wouldnt be super drastic, as many other mons like Rillaboom and Urshifu possess similar tools, but it can also provide some good defensive values to a team. Now it isn't the bulkiest thing in the world, but it has decent defensive stats where it can at least take a hit or two in a pinch, and because its an Ogerpon, when it Tera it gains +1 in a stat based on its form, in the case of Wellspring it's in Special Defense, that while being a Mono Water, which is one of the best defensive typings, and its give boost to its stab as well, getting the best of both worlds. But perhaps what gives it even more defensive utility is it's ability. Now it may seem funny that a quadruple Water resist needs and immunity, but its more impactful than u think. For one, being immune to Water means you are also immune to Scald, which is a great trait to have for a physical attacker. This also makes it a great mon against rain teams, as they heavily rely on using Water boosted moves which would only heal Ogerpon and completely flip the tables against them. All these combined make for a very deadly mon to take hits from, and the few that can do it are either ruined by its utility move of choice, or are very niche that would be either mid or bad if not for Ogerpon-W running around.
Pro Ban:
-Rain and Defensive teams can have more toom to breathe in their builder.
-Other pokemon with a similar function, can find more usage.
Pro Unban:
-Compare to other Ubers it isnt that strong, and it would likely be stuck in limbo.
-Teams that struggle against it just need to adapt. For example, Rain teams just need to use Archaludon, which they naturally do, and Stall/Fat teams can use options like Tangrowth and Hydrapple.
If it were to be banned, what mons would rise and drop in usage?
Here are my speculations: Some of these are based on mons that would fit the role of Ogerpon in a similar way, whether its a Swords Dancer, a rain Check, and a water immunity. They other rises can be mons that benefit from Rain, and defensive mons that were shut down by Taunt/Encore. Gastrodon is mentioned as a Water immunity, do it serves a completely different role, its immunity can be used in teams that use Ogerpon-W for said immunity. The drops mainly include some of the few mons that could take it one on one, some of which were mainly used to coumter Ogerpon-W. Volcarona was mentioned as not only it can struggle vs rain, but also synergizes greatly with Ogerpon-W as a teammate. All of these are just speculations, so theyre not garanteed to be true.
Rises:
Drops:
(Note: Tera Dragon might also see less usage as a result...)
My final verdict:
I probably would be in favor of a ban, as it opens up a possibility of a lot of pokemon seeing more usage, which is always welcome. But im not 100% in favor, i don't think its broken in comparison to the last mons we have banned, and it even fills a solid role that few others could. But for the health of the meta, I think a ban would be the prefered choice. Hope I made myself clear. (Also hope this aint my last time talking here...)
As for my thoughts on Ogerpon in the tier in general, rain is annoying so I like its MU against it lol, but it probably is a bit too much.