A little bit earlier in this thread Finch made a
post discussing 3 Pokemon that have garnered attention from the OU player base as potentially problematic in the future. I'd like to take a second to post my feelings on the three Pokemon in question: Volcarona, Urshifu, and Magearna. I agree with the overall sentiment that none of these three deserve a quick ban, and that the metagame has more than enough tools to potentially settle around these threats keeping them in check. As I never went through and made an initial post on what I think about the newly added Pokemon in the DLC, instead opting to make a post about ideas for
cores with a follow up post showcasing the
finished teams. I'd like to take a second to talk about the three Pokemon highlighted by Finch based upon my experiences with them through the short time we've had with the DLC.
Volcarona received a lot of hype leading up to the DLC, as Heavy Duty Boots were supposed to turn Volcarona into a truly amazing force as it no longer demanded such a high level of team support to function. That said I think a lot of people were low balling how much Volcarona would miss the option of running a Z move allowing it to break past some would be check. I think the exchange of nuke for hazard immunity is troublesome for Volcarona when it comes to just coming into the game, clicking Quiver Dance, and proceeding to sweep. However, Volcarona still has a chance to break past a good chunk of its checks with a little bit of patience. I'll start by saying that I'm not currently the biggest fan of Volcarona on Hyper Offense, it just feels like you're match up fishing a bit and hindered by the lack of Z move allowing Volcarona to get on a roll and sweep quickly. Teams from the Charity tournament like
this just seem less that optimal to me, as they remove Volcarona's ability to retreat and fight another day. With the influx of bulky Teleport users and slow VoltTurners like AV Magearna this generation I want to see some really fat balance type teams utilizing Volcarona. Now that Volcarona can be brought into the game more often I want to see Volcarona clicking raw Psychic or Fire Blast more often. While there will still be some mons that eat up hits from Volcarona all day (Chansey), there are other Pokemon like Alolan Marowak, Rotom-Heat lacking Pain Split, and even mons like Scarf Keldeo that can be put in a pinch if they keep getting brought into some chip damage before Volcarona is switched out freely, waiting to come in and attack again/set up later. You can also fish for some hax vs threats like Toxapex hoping for a SpDef drop or eventual crit with Psychic putting the Toxapex in a tough spot. Based on playing the meta for a few days and looking at teams, this just feels like the best way to utilize Volcarona at this point in time, instead of coming in and clicking QD straight away. Make use of those boots. Even with this in mind I don't see Volcarona being broken this generation as there are enough mons like Chansey that will keep Volcarona in check defensively forever, and offensive teams have options like Hawlucha and Drill that can revenge kill a +1 Volcarona with ease.
In short Volcarona continues to be that "on paper" mon that everyone has to think about in the builder, and come up with answers for. However, when the game actually starts if you do your due diligence prepping for it like you would every other threat in the tier it can be dealt with since it has enough checks that a good player should have a fair chance at winning.
The new mythical Pokemon of generation 8 has not disappointed to date in its brief debut. A strong combination of Close Combat + Wicked Blow has turned Urshifu into one of the tiers greatest threats instantly. It also makes better use of its ability than I initially imagined it would. At first I thought Unseen Fist would mainly benefit this Pokemon in doubles, but with the aforementioned stab combination only having a combined 16 PP Urshifu really appreciates the ability to not have PP wasted by a Clefable clicking Protect in front of it. The inability for defensive mons to click Protect vs Urshifu and the transition to Urshifu preferring an Adamant nature to break through mons like PhysDef Hippowdon make it terrifying. That said I will need to see a lot more of this thing to be convinced it's broken. With an Adamant nature Urshifu hits 293 speed making it an easy target to revenge kill for plenty of offensive mons in the tier, and 60 SpDef makes that very doable for a variety of threats. Even with access to Sucker Punch I don't see Urshifu being as amazing vs offense due to its fairly
average speed. My real question is whether or not Urshifu is going to be over the edge, is how it's going to do vs really fat balance / stall, when used with something like WishPort Clefable? I have seen a lot of fatter teams so far relying on Rocks (6% on switch in), sand from something like Hippo, Spikes, and Helmet Damage to help wear down Urshifu, but how will teams hold up when Clefable keeps passing this thing Wishes (while also giving it free access to the battle field). Will fat have the tools to handle this thing, I'm not entirely sure but it's a match up that I think will be a big telltale on whether or not Urshifu is ban worthy.
Also this might just be me, but I have found sets other than Band a little underwhelming. Scarf particularly doing less damage than I really want vs a lot threats, as it starts to have plenty of 2hkos turn into 3hkos. Don't get me wrong, other options like scarf are good but Band seems to be just to good to pass up on for most teams. I did see a team in the charity tour that used Heracross + Scarf Urshifu that was solid and appreciated the speed, but I don't know how common stacking two strong fighting types like that will be. For now I see Urshifu as an amazing balance breaker with the potential to help vs offense and threaten stall, but I do agree with the idea that giving players time to adjust to this thing and figure out how to manage playing against it as fair instead of jumping to quick ban as players have already shown an ability to pivot around Urshifu effectively and/or handle it offensively.
Magearna is amazing. There really is no other way to describe it. It is incredibly versatile with several incredibly viable sets. I shared 3 teams in this thread yesterday, and they all used a different Magearna set (AV, Scarf, Shift Gear). Magearna similarly to Volcarona was hit hard by the loss of Z-moves as offensive sets really appreciated the nuke to get by some defensive checks. That said Magearna did get some new toys to help with that loss. The first being Stored Power that makes use of the 3 boosts from Shift Gear, and loves a Calm Mind giving it +1 Spa and another 40 base power. While Stored Power is a positive, its synergy with Fleur Cannon is not amazing. Without Fairium Z to protect Magearna from the -2 Spa drop Magearna has been relying on Draining Kiss for fairy stab. The loss in power kind of sucks, but the ability to heal helps make up for that. Additionally Magearna gained Trick this generation which helps Scarf and Specs sets cripple walls like Chansey that they'd otherwise have to Volt Switch out against. New options aside Magearna is the same threat it always has been, with a variety of options and great consistency.
Earlier in the thread Finch made a key point that most Magearna switch ins have the ability to switch into most sets. While there are obviously some cases where Magearna can smack a good switch in, like Specs Fleur Cannon doing just over half to Rotom-H, the general idea is true. With this in mind I think WCOP will be a great testing ground for Magearna. I'm assuming most people will bring teams with Magearna answers, so whether or not those checks hold up or it becomes a contest to see who can set up Magearna first will be figured out quickly. The charity tour gave us a little taste, and Magearna had fairly average numbers. While leading the way with 45% usage, it only won 51% of its match ups (some of that due to Magearna vs Magearna match ups). Overall Magearna is a really solid pick in the current metagame, but it hasn't shown me enough to believe it's so spectacularly strong that it needs immediate action.
That's all I've got on these three for now. At the end of the day I support the decision by the council to not quick ban anything. While all three have great potential in the SS OU metagame, I think they fall into the category of clearly not strong enough to warrant any immediate action, but deserving of a close eye and discussion as World Cup progresses.