Did the Suspect, with a 36-6-1 result. Before the Suspect began, I thought Archaludon is not broken at all. After the Suspect I still think Archaludon is not broken at all, and neither is Rain as a whole. To be fair, my team was extremely well prepared vs Rain, to the point it was an auto-win match-up, even in battles in which I got haxed (frozen, crit or flinched) by some Rain threats. However, I didn,t design the team I used to be an auto-win vs Rain, it simply ended up being that way due to me preparing hard for other threats, such as the Paradox Johto Trio (Walking Wake, Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire), all of which are better in Sun than in Rain (yes, Raging Bolt too).
I had 6 loses and a Tie with the team I used. 3 loses were due to me having an Alomomola facing Waterpons and Volcanion. This is not Volcanion and Waterpon being broken, this is just Alomomola being an auto-lose vs them being well played, a risk everyone using Alomomola should value. Just like Rain was an auto-win match-up for me, those 2 Mons are auto-lose as long as the player using them has a brain.
2 loses were Gholdengo + Hazards predicting well my Spin attemts. Happens. And well, Gholdengo does restrict building a lot more than Rain ever will, but won,t dig more into it.
The last lose was me playing terribly, Tera'ing too early and being swept by Curse + 2 Attacks Dondozo. If I didn,t Tera early, it wouldn,t have happened, thats on me.
The Tie should have been a lose vs Gliscor + Alomomola + Hydrapple balanced core. My way of breaking the core got Flame Bodied (the only good thing Gliscor dioes in this meta is making Heatran rare, fuck that Mon) early game, so I couldn,t break it. They would have eventually defeated me but I convinced my opponent that it would take 300 or 400 turns to do, therefore a Tie and not a Lose.
Back to the main thread, its undeniable that Archaludon has made Rain 10 times better than it used to be, being a very relevant playstyle currently. Its also true that Archaludon is the best Rain abuser. However, I fail to see Rain being broken as a style, with or without Archaludon. I failed to see it in this Suspect, I failed to see it in the previous Suspect, I failed to see this in the ladder prior to Kyurem Suspect and I failed to see it in Round 1 of OST, where opponent brought a Rain only to be demolished by my Kyurem.
Kyurem stayed, and it will stay at least for a while now. So, it has been established a legit OU Mon, not an Uber one. So, its legit to talk about it being a very viable counterplay to Rain, several Kyurem sets (Specs, Boots and Sub + Protect) completely destroy the playstyle if well played.
Clodsire is another very mentioned Mon in this thread. People say that it restricts teambuilding and I agree, just not to the degree people say. Its very possible to build a Balance team with Clodsire, I have done it multiple times. Pretty sure you can even throw 5 offensive Mons + Clodsire and it will work too, you just need to pick the right 5 Mons. This Mon is not only for Stall and never was. This Mon also is not meant to just use Toxic and Amnesia, you can put Hazards with it, it has the right 2 abilities to stop many broken threats, its not just an Anti-Rain Mon. Its totally a valid Mon to use in a big variety of teams, it doesn,t exist purely to counter Rain.
Weather is another good counterplay to Rain. Glowking won,t be beating Archaludon itself, but will change the weather and paired with a good breaker (such as Zamazenta, which by itself lives everything that Archaludon throws) will apply pressure on the Rain team, forcing Pelipper to take damage. Because its Pelipper the Mon you have to take down to beat Rain, not Archaludon.
Using Alolan Ninetales, Tyranitar or Hippo Sand is a bit going out of your way, I can agree with that. However using Sun is not, and I consider Sun to be the best weather currently, the one with more bannable Mons. Its not the easiest match-up, but Sun teams do have more than enough options to deal with Rain as a whole, starting with Walking Wake and Raging Bolt, who just throw strong DMs or their respective STABs.
Hazards also pressure Rain threats a lot, most of them don,t bring Boots. Yes, there is an Iron Treads that will be spinning, but you either Tera Ghost some Mon, bring something like Sinitcha or predict well with Balloon Gholdengo to avoid that.
Volcanion is not a OU Mon. But Volcanion leads vs Pelipper, uses Sub, Tera Grounds and will get 1 kill minimum, you will have the upper hand from there. Archaludon might do a lot with DM, but you can avoid it and it won,t be taking Volcanion hits well.
Ting-Lu, Waterpon, Tera Grass Garnanacl/Glowking, Specs DM users in general, Deoxys-Speed with several sets, Protect Mons to Stall Rain turns, etc. I see more than enough counterplay to Rain.
Really, don,t know what to add at this point. I just haven,t seen the chaos Rain is supposed to be at all, with or without Archaludon. Its just one more playstyle you have to prepare for, it isn,t even the best weather in my opinion. I used 6 OU Mons in this Suspect, I didn,t use Stall, I didn,t use other weather, I didn,t go out of my way just to counter Rain. The team was extremely well prepared vs Rain, but there were just 6 OU Mons, 3 offensive, 3 defensive, the definition of Balance. Neither in this Suspect, nor before it, I saw the destruction everyone is talking about. If you really want to nerf Rain, Suspect Raging Bolt, but not even due to the threat it poses in Rain itself (big, but not entirely broken), but due to its Sun and Spikes offense potential. I will be voting DO NOT BAN, suggest doing the same to everyone reading this and won,t be posting again in this thread no matter what answer comes.