Ajna: raichu-alola - no ban
on paper this mon has no switchins and can be a great breaker and cleaner; i’m simply voting no ban because i haven’t seen raichu actually do this in practice. raichu is again incredibly frail with very limited defensive utility, and that is the main reason, why at this time, im voting no ban. i’d just like to see how this mon performs in practice before giving him the boot.
atomicllamas: Raichu-Alola - Do Not Ban: I actually totally get why this was nominated, as it is essentially Barraskewda lite. Unlike Barraskewda though, it does not hit quite hard enough to slice through offensive teams the same way. Additionally the difference in speed is quite significant as there is a very good Pokémon that is faster than Raichu that is not faster than Barraskewda, and several other solid offensive Pokémon in that range as well that can check Raichu pretty well. I may not have quite enough experience with this one, so I would not be opposed to revisiting it in the future.
Averardo: Raichu-Alola: Ban. This Pokèmon is impossible to switch into, having perfect coverage for everything in the tier. Surf, Psychic / Psyshock, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Focus Blast, it has them all. This plus the incredible speed tie makes me think it is not healthy for the tier.
Bebo: (NO BAN) Raichu-Alola can have the same strong traits it had in SM, such as a great boosting move in Nasty Plot, a great STAB combination with good coverage moves such as Focus Blast, Surf, and Grass Knot, and even access to pivoting in Volt Switch and Teleport. However, it suffers from the same issues it used to: It's poor bulk and defensive typing makes hard for it to switch into basically anything, which also makes it have little room to set up in many games and situations. Raichu's typing also makes it very susceptible to revenge killing from likes of Scarf Rillaboom, Passimian, Togedemaru and Rotom.
bkdrew: Alolan Raichu: NO BAN To put it bluntly, I don't think this thing is too problematic. I think it absolutely could possibly have the potential to become that way, but right now, it really just isn't. Having to choose your coverage means something is always going to wall you, an issue exacerbated if you choose to go with the Nasty Plot set. 4 attacks has become the default det, and while this creates great momentum with it's powerful Volt Switches and ability to trash usual answers to VoltTurn cores like Steelix and Gastrodon with your choice of coverage, the 4MSS and frailty of Alolan Raichu keep it in check pretty well right now.
EviGaro: Raichu-Alola: Do Not Ban: actually a bit of a similar case to Indeedee, it's a really good psychic type with incredible covering. Volt Switch is also incredible on momentum based teams and makes it an amazing pivot on top of a quite stressful breaker. That being said... it's really not that strong, and its completely cut off by Uturn from scarfers. While Indeedee can turn that on the offence matchup with the scarf set, Raichu is either great or a potential hurdle for your team. Its reliance on Life Orb to pick up the kos it needs is also an annoyance, as spikes + rocks adds on fast when it always needs at least two hits to kill something. Love the mon though, definitely a great addition to the meta.
Feliburn: Alolan Raichu: Do Not Ban On paper, Raichu seemed like one of the best breakers in the tier due to the fact that its coverage, raw power and speed were all great, be it 4 attacks or Nasty Plot sets. However the meta hasn't been too kind for it since pokemon such as Togedemaru, Scrafty, Copperajah and even Gastrodon are rising in usage and all work as good answers to Raichu. Also considering the meta is becoming more offensive rlly does not help a pokemon like Raichu considering how frail it is and how easy it is to force it out, being a Psychic type making it weak to the most spammable move by all of our scarfers. I do think this mon is incredibly good but I really don't think it's ban worthy.
lighthouses: Raichu-Alola: ban
If the raichu user is using
Life Orb with volt switch, psyshock, grass knot and surf, there is nothing you can do deffensively. It straight up ohkoes any and all electric immunities that try to block it from volt switching and does heavy damage to everything else with volt completely freely, seeing as how it doesn't need to fear pursuit. I honestly think that this is the same situation as centis but amplified to an extent, if the opponent is using raichu and you arent, then you automatically must play MUCH better than your opponent, a lot more than what can be considered reasonable; common counter play to offensive electrics wont apply because as mentioned prior, it just ohkoes the volt immunities. If we are considering a setting where the players are competitive and 100% commited to winning, and the metagame has a pokemon that will automatically shift any matchups to your favor, then the only logic point of development for such a meta would be for raichu to be used on every single team, which should be avoided.
MrAldo: Raichu-Alola:
BAN
As the one responsible for nominating this mon, I do have very honest reasoning into why I think this mon is a tad too much at the moment in my eyes. Absolutely insane coverage options which means safe switch-ins to this creature can be counted with one hand, and a good amount are incredibly niche. Like for real: Volt Switch, Grass Knot, Surf, Psyshock gives you more than enough to hit over 90% of the tier on its own, and whatever isnt gets volt switched on forcing you to lose a lot of momentum making raichu-a be on the wheel way too easily, basically risk free since there is no pursuit as an excuse to balance it. Excellent speed tier which is way above the average and atm, while a cool addition, is just another humongous threat that just doesnt help the tier in trying to like keep it balanced tbh, defensive counterplay is already hard enough. If it end up banned Id love to revisit this but right now is not I like seeing around and punishing teams just by pressing buttons, kinda like centi but faster and a lot frailer I guess? Yeah no. If with had pursuit... but we dont so Ban.
Odd Della Robbia: Raichu-Alola:
Do not ban - I was very torn about this one but ultimately decided no ban for a lot of the same reasons as Barraskewda. It has great coverage but has a hard time finding opportunities to come in, and it often doesn’t even run nasty plot since it finds so few opportunities to use it. I’ll vote no ban for now as I want to see more of the impact it has on the tier, and I wouldn’t be opposed to revisiting this one in the future.
phantom: Raichu-Alola - Do not Ban
Raichu just doesn’t have the raw power to make it worthy of a ban. While its coverage is obviously great, it relies solely on that in order to get its kills, and even then it’s lacking to an extent when certain Pokemon like Scrafty, Drampa, Copperajah, Ferroseed, etc can still switch into it a few times and hold it back. Its 1v1 mus tends to be terrible as well and relegates it to cleaning roles as opposed to breaking, Nasty Plot sets alleviate the issue that all-out attack sets have, but just getting Raichu in requires support much less getting another turn to help it set up, and even then the coverage is lacking. While it is obviously a great mon, I think the lack of switch-in opportunities, power, and presence of perfectly viable checks makes it more than manageable.