In my battles, (I played about 80 with Kyurem-Black on my team) Kyurem-Black saw maybe 20 battles, really only taking precedence over my other (granted, bulky) options when it would guarantee a matchup that another couldn't or when I didn't want to guess about for their power levels. At the end of the day, Kyurem-Black felt like dead weight on my team. My exploration into a special scarf set ultimately made me disappointed. However, my experience with Kyurem-Black has only been playing against it (which gives me little information other than I have two other pokemon that beat it, even if they shouldn’t have) and playing with UOP’s first bulky Icium and UOP’s special scarf set. I know I haven’t played things perfectly, and looking back on laddering, there are sets that win against particular pokemon I was struggling against. Therefore, I am not yet knowledgeable enough to make a definitive decision, so the following is how I’ve perceived it from my usage.
The pros of Kyurem-Black seem to be:
Band looks like the only one that wins this matchup, depending on RNG
I’m a lowly ladder player, so I have no gauge on what happens in tournaments, as far as unpredictability goes. It doesn’t seem to have the problematic two-sets-that-beats-everything, and the opportunity cost it incurs to break its counters seems too much, at least for ladder. If anything, it seems to be a lure to set up your other pokemon but ends up being dead weight for what they cannot beat. It comes down, like a lot of pokemon, to execution, and at this point, I have not seen the execution to make it look oppressive.
The pros of Kyurem-Black seem to be:
- Bulky
- Really fits the meta well
- A variety of sets of varying viability
- Bulky physical variants are hard to break
- Scarf special brings unpredictability (though lacks raw power)
- Theoretically could be a bulky choice specs from 120 special attack
- Conventional sets beat annoying pokemon
- Makes sets change
- Outrage on Mega Gyarados means there’s one less slot for crunch or earthquake
- Allows other pokemon’s checks to play more reliably
- Magnezone has a better match-up against Mega Gyarados lacking earthquake
- Lack of a spammable physical ice stab
- Loses (most of the time) to bulky waters and steels
- (These sets are not mine. Kyurem-Black sets are UOP's and sets here are the compendium's)
I know these are all sets that aren't mine, I'm looking at the first tier
the goal here being 66% or higher, otherwise momentum is lost to iron defense and rest/slackoff. EDIT: Kyurem-Black also doesn't get taunt, making this a complete loss.
- Has strong check relevant in the metagame that aren’t super easy to patch up against in entirety
- Terrakion
- Magearna
- Has quite a few checks that have little to no change in playstyle from A and B tiering
- For example Adamant Mega Lopunny beats it 90+% of the time
This set breaks some of Mega Charizard-X, which normally beats Mega Lopunny
- For example Adamant Mega Lopunny beats it 90+% of the time
- Large opportunity cost to break its own counters
- Limited movepool
- This thing doesn't learn earthquake, thunderbolt, flamethrower
I’m a lowly ladder player, so I have no gauge on what happens in tournaments, as far as unpredictability goes. It doesn’t seem to have the problematic two-sets-that-beats-everything, and the opportunity cost it incurs to break its counters seems too much, at least for ladder. If anything, it seems to be a lure to set up your other pokemon but ends up being dead weight for what they cannot beat. It comes down, like a lot of pokemon, to execution, and at this point, I have not seen the execution to make it look oppressive.
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