It looks like there is an overwhelming support in banning Pheromosa, which is quite unprecedented. As such, I would like to know something.
If there is such sheer amount of support toward ban, would it be possible to quicken the suspect process? I pretty much doubt that anyone would say more than what has already been said about this Ultra Beast, so it would make sense to make the suspect end quicker, so that we won't end up repeating the same arguments over and over.
These are just my two cents on the matter.
I do not in any way, shape or form speak for the council, but I doubt this will happen. This is hardly the first time Smogon has had a lopsided suspect (the fact that the more recent suspects this gen were not lopsided were more plesent surprises then anything else), and there is no real precedent for hastening the suspect process. So in the meantime feel free to taste the pheromosa-less meta on PS, enjoy the limited conversation here, check out another thread, or just wait a couple weeks for it all to be over.
So I actually think we should compare pheromosa to genesect a little bit more, because I think there stands a solid argument that Phero is actually
more busted then Genesect. I'm going to (try to) judge them on the merits of their offensive pivot capabilities, offensive setup capabilities, and non-offensive utility.
Offensive Pivot:
When looking at offensive pivots, there are a few important factors to take into account:
1. How fast are they?
2. What pokemon can they threaten?
3. How much damage can they do with their "safe option" (which is either their hardest hitting move(usually a STAB move) or a pivot move like u-turn or volt switch)
4. How well can they screw over their swap ins if their opponent/the meta becomes too reliant on them?
5. What are the consequences of predicting poorly?
6. How are they getting in?
In terms of speed, Phero is the painfully obvious winner here. Genesect reaches a paltry 326 speed without scarf (boosting nature) and 489 speed with a scarf. Phero reaches 401 speed without even a boosting nature, and a blistering 441 speed with one. modest/adamant scarf reaches 602 (2 points shy of jolly sand rush exca and well above pretty much anything else in the tier, boosted or otherwise) and just in case +2 speed threats are bothering you that much you can always run scarf with a positive nature. The fact that phero can afford to not run scarf in non-lure and setup sets is an upside that cannot be understated.
In terms of what pokemon they can check, the field is much more even. They can both have perfect or near perfect neutral coverage if they so desire (specially based or mixed scarfed pivot for gene and 4 attacks LO phero come to mind), and have enough offensive prowess to threaten all but quad resists, reasonably bulky resists, and the absolute bulkiest of walls. Genesect checks priority sweepers like Scizor and Mega Pinsir a lot better as he has enough bulk to stomach most boosted priority at full life (Azu, mega maw and Bisharp being notable exceptions), while Phero has an infinitely better time with speed boosted threats like megazard-X, shift gear magearna, most scarfers and even sand rush excadrill (RP megagross, QD volc, and DD regular gyra are some notable exceptions). I'm going to call it slightly in phero's favor due to the current meta (which is astonishing because phero is in the meta and gene is not), but both of them are veritable revenge killers that can check a wide variety of the meta.
In terms of how much damage they can do "safely", phero is a fairly clean winner here. Not only does she have a slightly stronger u-turn roughly half the time, but her secondary stab in high jump kick blows iron head out of the water in terms of neutral coverage, super effective coverage, and just plain raw power. Judging solely by their STAB moves, phero is just plain harder to find a swap in for then genesect, and even if you predict correctly, your check is taking more "chip" damage then it would be from gene most of the time, making it easier for your cleaner to come in and finish up in the late game (btw, did I mention that phero is a phenomenal cleaner?).
In terms of how well they can screw over their so-called checks, I'm gonna actually hand it over to genesect, though again it's close. Both sides have access to near perfect neutral coverage with a 4 attacks set, heavily limiting their checks to "bulky mons that resist both stabs and are not hit super effectively by their most common coverage moves". As it turns out, the pool of mons that resist bug-fighting are much smaller then the pool of mons that resist steel-bug, so the number of pokemon phero really needs to target is smaller then the number of pokemon genesect struggles to break past. That being said, this is where pheromosa's "shallow movepool" comes into play. While pheromosa has
just enough coverage to pull off a terrifying 4 attacks set, it has very little leeway in remaining options, basically being limited to Z moves and HP-whatever. Her special attack, while great, is not great enough to really want to run an HP in a non-special set, so early calcs can often reveal that. Her Z-Move sets are certainly powerful, but Genesect has those too and has a larger variety of abusable options to mess around with like Z-T-Bolt, Z-Zap Cannon, Z-Solar Beam, Z-Explosion, on top of most of the other Z-Move options that phero has (with the notable exception of no Z-Fighting moves). While Phero has no shortage of ways to mess with her supposed checks and counters, genesect has a few more tricks up his sleeve. It is worth noting that genesect must give up his all important scarf to run a z-move, while phero is much less item dependent, so that's definitely a point in phero's favor, but I still think I need to hand it to genesect.
So the consequences of clicking "u-turn" are generally minor. At worst, your opponent is feeling brave and swaps in his ferro or tankchomp to eat the hit and deal about 30% damage to you, but that's a very risky 30% considering both run very common "coverage" moves that hits both of them hard (does fighting stab count as a coverage move?) and perhaps more importantly you still have momentum (barring a sac, which is still generally good for you). For Phero, the consequence of clicking HJK against a resist is also usually minor (unless ghost type), as even most resists do not appreciate your 120 BP STAB move very much. Genesect lacks a high powered secondary STAB, making him more prediction reliant in order to get his kills and by extension, easier to take momentum away from (not saying a whole lot tbh). They both have similar consequences for predicting poorly on a coverage move, in which the swap in takes a relatively weak, unstabbed coverage move and promptly forces them out, if not kills them. It is worth noting that genesect doesn't mind being forced out quite as much as phero does as he's much easier to bring in, but neither are particularly "easy" to bring in. I'm going to say... tied here, more because it's late, I'm tired, and I don't want to make another subjective close call.
In terms of how they are getting in, it's pretty simple. They are both solid leads and both appreciate slow u-turn support. Phero can swap in more easily into speed boosters (though that's an obviously risky move as most speed boosters are more then capable of killing phero on the switch), while genesect handles most status better and can actually take a weak move or two. The latter really cannot be overstated. Genesect wins here.
While they both have their strengths as offensive pivots, I'm going to give the edge to phero mostly because of her incredible secondary STAB and speed tier, which frees up her item slot and makes her much less prediction reliant then Genesect.
Ok, it's almost 11 and I have work tomorrow. I'll analyze their setup potential and non-offensive utility tomorrow if nobody beats me to it. TL;DR/preview below
TL;DR
offensive pivot: While they both have their strengths as offensive pivots, I'm going to give the edge to phero mostly because of her incredible secondary STAB and speed tier, which frees up her item slot and makes her much less prediction reliant then Genesect. Advantage Phero.
setup: both of them are great at forcing switches. Genesect has the bulk to take a hit while setting up shift gear/RP, while phero is more useful pre-setup then non-scarf gene. Phero usually hits harder post-setup then gene. +1 phero with speed boosting nature is hilariously faster then +2 speed genesect (that's more relevant to scarf-mosa then QD though). Gonna give the initial advantage to phero.
Non-offensive utility: bug-steel actually has some ok defensive utility with a mon like heatran or clefable. He also has explosion as an emergency momentum switch. Pheromosa has rapid spin. Perhaps I'm underestimating how good an offensive rapid spinner is, but I'm going to give the initial advantage to Genesect.
initial findings: pheromosa > genesect.
