that's not how magnezone works. it's going to switch on something that can't damage it (and it's the most resistant pokémon in the entire game!), force a switch and cripple or outright destroy the switch-in.
-you're using a toxic defog zapdos, or florges, or a resisted locked move, or etc;
-i switch magnezone in;
-you can't touch me, so you switch out;
now, you switch out and send one of those you mentioned:
thunderbolt does 80% average, and you lack recovery;
flash cannon does 55%-63% on the switch, and the next one does 44%-49%. wanna risk?
does 68% minimum, assuming you're using the retarded specially defensive set which sucks ?_?
thunderbolt
flash cannon does 50% minimum to 252/252+ celebi, after stealth rock it's a clean 2HKO and no celebi run earth power because it's bad
can't break, but can volt switch out and send something like mienshao or hawlucha
i don't know if cresselias are usually physic or special defensive, but if it is running calm mind it's probably physic defensive; in that case, thunderbolt does 56%-66% and will outlast moonlight. if it goes for calm mind instead, it will be at 34%-44%, while the other thunderbolt will do 37%-44%, again needing luck with damage numbers.
again, not sure if they're physic or special defensive, but according to statistics, most are impish. in that case, flash cannon does 90%-100%, and magnezone outspeeds it
clean OHKO with thunderbolt if they're not using hp/spdef evs or assault vest
clean OHKO with flash cannon
the most used set is 252 hp/252 atk adamant, which takes average 60% from thunderbolt, but the careful one takes 45%. volt switch anyways
grass hidden power OHKOs it cleanly (signal beam, hidden power ice are all bad, don't use them)
252 hp/252 spdef calm zapdos takes up to 76% from thunderbolt on the switch, risking being OHKOed w/ stealth rock. also, if stealth rock is up, volt switch will do 50% minimum, and i'll send anything faster => bye zapdos
takes 81%-96% from flash cannon
also, other 2 special walls that are used a lot, jirachi and florges, cannot hope to dream to avoid dying to magnezone; pretty neat for a special attacker
Pair zone with shaymin and capatize off the 40% chance seed flare has to lower Spdef and a lot of the 2HKO become OHKO
"Reliably" and "with prediction" cannot stay in the same sentence.
To use your own argument, it's way too easy to switch in your Ground-type on the obvious Magnezone switch in the next turn.
Uh, nice team with two Ground-weak Electric-types you got there?
Anyway, what you have accomplished exactly? After your opponent knows what move you're locked into, you're both going to blindly predict. Magnezone brought you no concrete advantage.
Can we drop the "prediction" argument, please? Prediction is always taking a gamble, which implies any of the two players can win it. An S-rank Pokémon should not force you to rely on prediction.
This is the statement we are arguing about: "Magnezone is an S-rank Pokémon, meaning it can reliably etc."
If you think that statement is true you are the one making a claim about Magnezone and you should support it with arguments. I, on the other hand, am opposing it, which means I should provide counterarguments.
The fact that Magnezone is listed in the S rank right now is irrelevant. Whoever put it in that position has the burden to justify its decision.
Show me what Pokémon we are talking about, because I'm saying I don't buy it.
Chansey: Can't do anything against it.
Hawlucha: High Jump Kick.
Houndoom (Mega): Fire STAB.
Hydreigon: Takes huge damage from Dark Pulse, can't switch in Focus Blast/Earth Power/Earthquake.
Magnezone: Can't do anything against it.
Slowbro: +
Suicune: +
Blastoise (Mega): Aura Sphere.
Celebi: Can't defeat specially defensive Celebi after switching in, it has reason to fear Earth Power from offensive variants.
Chandelure: Fire STAB.
Chesnaught: Hammer Arm, can Spiky Shield to see what it locks itself into.
Crawdaunt: Knock Off + Aqua Jet is enough to kill.
Darmanitan: Fire STAB.
Florges: can Protect to see what it locks itself into.
Keldeo: Secret Sword.
Latias: +
Mew: + (if defensive)
Mienshao: Fighting STAB.
Victini: V-create.
Zapdos: Can't defeat specially defensive Zapdos after switching in, Heat Wave.
Crobat: + (but Crobat could just U-turn as it switches in)
Haxorus: Earthquake.
Heracross: Close Combat.
Hippowdon: Earthquake.
Jirachi: + (if defensive)
Manectric (Mega): Overheat.
Nidoking: Earth Power.
Reuniclus: Either Calm Mind or Trick Room + Focus Blast.
Roserade: Can Sleep Powder.
Tornadus-T: Focus Blast, Heat Wave.
Zygarde: Earthquake.
Absol (Mega): +
Aggron (Mega): Earthquake.
Azelf: Fire Blast.
Empoleon: +
Entei: Fire STAB.
Krookodile: Earthquake.
Kyurem: Earth Power.
Can I stop here? This is becoming tedious. The whole argument behind Magnezone seems to be "It can switch into a lot of stuff, force said stuff out, and deal huge amount of damage (if it predicts the next switch in right)."
The Pokémon it can't reliably switch into are way more then the Pokémon that give it free switches. And it is slow, meaning that it can't actually force a lot of switches against many offensive Pokémon.
And, even when it does switch in safely and can force a switch it is still not guaranteed to do anything useful, especially against Florges, which can just scout what move you're going to lock yourself into.
I have been using zone for sometime and while I completely agree with you in terms of it being difficult to switch Zone in, I have found this problem easily countered through clever teambulding and rational gameplay.
I personally use shaymin and Zone together and while they share a weakness to fire moves, they work really well together as they easily lure each others counters and checks in. For example a common counter to shaymin is Crobat, which is resistant to everyone of shaymins moves, Magnezone on the other hand is more or less immune to crobat forcing the oppenent to switch.
As I said before, yes zone can be difficult to switch in but at the end of the day the offensive pressure and the amount of damage a spec analytic Zone puts on opponents once it is in is more than enough to justify why it is S classed. As for all the pokemon you listed that Zone cant switch into lool put simply by Robert Alfons Good luck switching that shit in on Magnezone.
Calcs bellow
252+ SpA Choice Specs Analytic Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 220 HP / 0 SpD Celebi: 280-330 (70.7 - 83.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Analytic Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 240 SpD Mega Aggron: 289-342 (84 - 99.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Analytic Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Entei: 399-471 (107.2 - 126.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Analytic Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 252+ SpD Jirachi: 228-268 (66.8 - 78.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
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