I completed the battle reqs and figure I should post. I'm not a good poster, so don't bite my head off.
I believe the issue being debated here is basically the Assist strategy as seen
here, and not the slightly uncompetitive Swagger set. The problem with this strategy, and the reason why I feel this strategy is not an issue, is that it requires you to literally make an entire team around it. One can prepare for this strategy by using, for example, Liepard with Taunt or a Magic Coat user. When you prepare for Assist, your opponents team becomes useless.
PS:
I have neither faced someone using the Assist strategy nor used it myself.
I believe this officially counts as theorymonning.
Hmm interesting idea. Can you list the Magic Coat users that can threaten Liepard without being threatened back by Dark Pulse? Maybe I'm blind but Bastiodon is the only one I can think of, and it is generally only fit for Stall teams due to the waste of offensive momentum otherwise. Probopass could work too, if you are willing to give up your status move, and are careful to always switch out.
To name the number of Magic Coat mons that
don't get immediately walloped by Liepard: Wigglytuff, Tentacool, Magnemite, Electrode, Meganium, Togetic, Dunsparce, Corsola, Kecleon, Bastiodon, Probopass, Audino, Leavanny (good for you
Aasgier), Vanilluxe, Klang. End list. Notice I did not say 'beat Liepard' because a misprediction means a +2 Dark Pulse to the face, to which most of these Pokemon simply cannot respond quickly enough to.
Now the thing with countering ShufflePard isn't that it is impossible, it's just that it worsens your team's matchup against everything else. I mean look at the above list: which of these Magic Coaters are you going to actually use?? Electrode, Probopass and Bastiodon seem to be the only legitimate options; the other Pokemon are either outclassed by better Pokemon (Jynx > Vanilluxe), do not have the moveslot for it, or are just worthless in battle.
Let's say I've prepared for ShufflePard, but now I have to take the worsened matchup into account. For instance, I've devised a Magnet Pull Probopass with Magic Coat to put Ditto in a lose-lose situation. Once it enters battle, I spam Magic Coat. If it Earth Powers me, Ditto won't get Stealth Rock into play. If it uses Stealth Rock, I keep using Magic Coat until it runs out of its 5 PP and Struggles itself to death. Pretty win-win yeah? The problem with this plan is that Probopass has limited use against other teams. Stealth Rock and Magic Coat already occupy 2 moveslots, leaving 2 moveslots for Power Gem, Earth Power, Volt Switch, and Toxic. If I do not have Magic Coat, Probopass would be able to work fine using 3 of these 4 moves, but the moveslot syndrome really shows here. Power Gem allows Probopass to actually take on Charizard instead of Volt Switching and leaving my teammates in open
fire (kill me~), Earth Power allows me to actually hurt the Steels I trap, Volt Switch allows Probo to grab momentum and pivot, and Toxic wears down bulky targets, notably SubBU Braviary (which I will also need Power Gem for). Having access to only 2 of these really lessen's Probo effectiveness, all because its one moveslot is used against like a singular threat.
Taunt Liepard could combat ShufflePard, but is a highly risky move outside of that, since Liepard usually attracts attacks like the plague and it dies to one hit. Not to mention it has no room for PivotPard of even SwagPard's sets, so you're likely using Taunt Pard just for the sake of stopping ShufflePard. Pretty much the same thing with Cradily who cannot use Storm Drain to combat non-Liepard teams.
Now I know this is fairly reminiscent to things like Sleep Talk Metang just for Jynx, but at least there are alternatives like saccing your other Pokemon to sleep or do a ballsy move like switch in Scarf Primeape into Lovely Kiss. However, if you don't have the anti-ShufflePard move (or Pokemon) on your team
you will likely lose.