Katy
Banned deucer.
Hey y'all,
I wanna talk about -S, since it got brought up earlier in this thread and I think it's important to get different point of views on it.
So first of all a quick view on it, Urshifu-S has sure a centralizing effect on the metagame, which also counts for Pokemon like the currently suspected Pheromosa, the ghosty-horse Spectrier, and also to a lesser degree Magearna. But Urshifu-S is no different in centralizing the metagame to some degree, especially with Future-Port-Support, due to Slowbro and the less used Slowking, but it can also profit and benefit of Galar-Slowkings Future-Sight (allthough it has no Teleport, but its Future-Sight stuff still pressures a ton of the counterplay to Urshifu-S).
Urshifu-S is a strong wallbreaker, capable of using an insane ability in Unseen Fist, which all contacts moves go through Protect. Its great typing in dark/fighting helps it a lot to capitalize from its potential, as this typecombination is really great in the current metagame, with not many Pokemon being able to wall the dual-stabs + its coverage-options. With a great HP, and Defense-stat being both 100 and its amazing Attack-stat of 130 and its great Speed-tier being 97, it has the stats to be a threatening Wallbreaker as well. Furthermore it has different Sets, which it can use, be it Choice Band, Choice Scarf, or Bulk Up, all its sets put in some work, and with the foremer two it can easily get Momentum via U-turn and with the latter it can become a dangerous breaker with Wicked Blow, Close Combat / Drain Punch, and Sucker Punch.
these Set-options are the main-sets currently in the metagame and have different counterplay options, but first off, let's dive in into a more in-depth view about these two sets:
Choice Band / Choice Scarf: This set really hits hard,e specially in concjunction with Choice Band, Wicked Blow-spam is really free in the current metagame and hits baring physically defensive Clefable and physically defensive Tapu Fini everything else pretty hard. Choice Band-sets can further Urshifus wallbreaking potential due to the already very good and optimal Attack-stat. Choice Scarf, however, can be also a Set-option, due to how many Pokemon it threatens, due to the Speed-control this set gives, being able to outrun a vast majority of the metagame with a Scarf is pretty functionally and good. It can outrun faster threats such as CB-Pheromosa, Spectrier, Tapu Koko, offensive Zapdos, Tornadus-Therian, Barraskewda (without rain), and Scarf-Lando-T. Both sets have the ability to run either Poison Jab or Iron Head to dish out a lot of damage on the aforementioned Clefable and Tapu Fini, especially coupled with a Choice Band. What really helps these both sets is the support, due to Future-Sight and Teleport from Slowbro as it can wear down the typical Checks to Urshifu and Urshifu can get past these Checks, with them taking damage from Futre-Sight and a always critting Wicked Blow or its coverage-options.
Bulk Up: This Set is seen more on hyper Offensive structures, be it Screens, Veil, or Hazard Stack HO, which it can make use of, to get a better position to Bulk Up. Bulk Up-sets have an overlapping counterplay to the Band- or Scarf-Set; physically defensive Clefable and Tapu Fini! Bulk Up-sets tend to run Close Combat more often than Drain Punch, but if you want to keep Urshifu for longer, a strong Drain Punch can help there, which is a nice tool for it. Sucker Punch gives some mind-games, especially when urshifu is already at +1 any player has to be careful around its mind-games made up by Sucker Punch.
I believe all Sets are really dangerous and have their different aspects of running through the metagame without any real drawbacks. Urshifu-S is a Pokemon, which shines more often than not during a battle and while it has its own flaws, the flaws by any means do NOT overshine how good Urshifu is.
But let's move on to another important aspect, the Counterplay to Urshifu!
These are the Pokemon, which can help versus it:
These are the best to go with options currently, but the issue is Kommo-o and Togekiss aren't that splashable anymore, and Buzzwole while still being a great option in the current metagame finds itself in a rather weird spot, it can help to tank stuff against Urshifu, but with the above mentioned suppot due to Slowtwins, it gets ehavily pressured by Futre-Sight, more than Clefable and Tapu Fini do. Landorus-Therian can help the best versus Urshifu-S being locked into its fighting-type STAB or its coverage in Poison Jab, however it still doesn't appreciate a struck by Wicked Blow. Toxapex can also help, but this and Clefable as a core have to be physically defensive, or else they see themselves getting 2HKOed by Wocked Blow. Clefable and Toxapex however can profit from great recovery options in Soft Boiled and Recover, and the latter can grant itself longevity due to Regenerator while the former has Magic Guard to stay healthy and unaffected by entry hazards.
Clefable + Toxapex are the best options right now as a counterplay, Tapu Fini is another great Pokemon, which can help versus Urshifu-S. Tapu Fini is tanky enough to switch 3 times with Stealth Rocks up into Urshifus Wicked Blow. however it still gets pressured when multiple layers of entry hazards are up, Spikes or Toxic Spikes.
Closing Words:
While the counterplay doesn't seem bad they all get pressured by different factors, be it entry hazards in the case of Tapu Fini or be it the help from one of the Slowtwins, which can put pressure on Clefable and Toxapex-cores. I feel, it isn't that we lack Pokemon, which can help versus Urshifu-S but with different aspects, be it a support from the Slows, or be it support due to entry hazards, that counterplay gets limited.
And I can see why people talk about Urshifu-S and that this topic is a heat one. It isn't that we lack the number of Pokemon, but they could get limited during the course over the game to check Urshifu-S effectively. I would say, we still should keep a close eye on it, especially after the Pheromosa suspect is over. I feel Urshifu-S, Spectrier, and Magearna are all Pokemon, we have to keep in mind, when building a team, but also in the general aspect of the current metagame and how they cenetralize the metagame in the future.
I wanna talk about -S, since it got brought up earlier in this thread and I think it's important to get different point of views on it.
So first of all a quick view on it, Urshifu-S has sure a centralizing effect on the metagame, which also counts for Pokemon like the currently suspected Pheromosa, the ghosty-horse Spectrier, and also to a lesser degree Magearna. But Urshifu-S is no different in centralizing the metagame to some degree, especially with Future-Port-Support, due to Slowbro and the less used Slowking, but it can also profit and benefit of Galar-Slowkings Future-Sight (allthough it has no Teleport, but its Future-Sight stuff still pressures a ton of the counterplay to Urshifu-S).
Urshifu-S is a strong wallbreaker, capable of using an insane ability in Unseen Fist, which all contacts moves go through Protect. Its great typing in dark/fighting helps it a lot to capitalize from its potential, as this typecombination is really great in the current metagame, with not many Pokemon being able to wall the dual-stabs + its coverage-options. With a great HP, and Defense-stat being both 100 and its amazing Attack-stat of 130 and its great Speed-tier being 97, it has the stats to be a threatening Wallbreaker as well. Furthermore it has different Sets, which it can use, be it Choice Band, Choice Scarf, or Bulk Up, all its sets put in some work, and with the foremer two it can easily get Momentum via U-turn and with the latter it can become a dangerous breaker with Wicked Blow, Close Combat / Drain Punch, and Sucker Punch.
(Single-Strike) Sets:
Urshifu @ Choice Band / @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Poison Jab / Iron Head
Urshifu @ Black Glasses / @ Life Orb
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat / Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
Urshifu @ Choice Band / @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Poison Jab / Iron Head
Urshifu @ Black Glasses / @ Life Orb
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Wicked Blow
- Close Combat / Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
these Set-options are the main-sets currently in the metagame and have different counterplay options, but first off, let's dive in into a more in-depth view about these two sets:
Choice Band / Choice Scarf: This set really hits hard,e specially in concjunction with Choice Band, Wicked Blow-spam is really free in the current metagame and hits baring physically defensive Clefable and physically defensive Tapu Fini everything else pretty hard. Choice Band-sets can further Urshifus wallbreaking potential due to the already very good and optimal Attack-stat. Choice Scarf, however, can be also a Set-option, due to how many Pokemon it threatens, due to the Speed-control this set gives, being able to outrun a vast majority of the metagame with a Scarf is pretty functionally and good. It can outrun faster threats such as CB-Pheromosa, Spectrier, Tapu Koko, offensive Zapdos, Tornadus-Therian, Barraskewda (without rain), and Scarf-Lando-T. Both sets have the ability to run either Poison Jab or Iron Head to dish out a lot of damage on the aforementioned Clefable and Tapu Fini, especially coupled with a Choice Band. What really helps these both sets is the support, due to Future-Sight and Teleport from Slowbro as it can wear down the typical Checks to Urshifu and Urshifu can get past these Checks, with them taking damage from Futre-Sight and a always critting Wicked Blow or its coverage-options.
Bulk Up: This Set is seen more on hyper Offensive structures, be it Screens, Veil, or Hazard Stack HO, which it can make use of, to get a better position to Bulk Up. Bulk Up-sets have an overlapping counterplay to the Band- or Scarf-Set; physically defensive Clefable and Tapu Fini! Bulk Up-sets tend to run Close Combat more often than Drain Punch, but if you want to keep Urshifu for longer, a strong Drain Punch can help there, which is a nice tool for it. Sucker Punch gives some mind-games, especially when urshifu is already at +1 any player has to be careful around its mind-games made up by Sucker Punch.
I believe all Sets are really dangerous and have their different aspects of running through the metagame without any real drawbacks. Urshifu-S is a Pokemon, which shines more often than not during a battle and while it has its own flaws, the flaws by any means do NOT overshine how good Urshifu is.
But let's move on to another important aspect, the Counterplay to Urshifu!
These are the Pokemon, which can help versus it:
These are the best to go with options currently, but the issue is Kommo-o and Togekiss aren't that splashable anymore, and Buzzwole while still being a great option in the current metagame finds itself in a rather weird spot, it can help to tank stuff against Urshifu, but with the above mentioned suppot due to Slowtwins, it gets ehavily pressured by Futre-Sight, more than Clefable and Tapu Fini do. Landorus-Therian can help the best versus Urshifu-S being locked into its fighting-type STAB or its coverage in Poison Jab, however it still doesn't appreciate a struck by Wicked Blow. Toxapex can also help, but this and Clefable as a core have to be physically defensive, or else they see themselves getting 2HKOed by Wocked Blow. Clefable and Toxapex however can profit from great recovery options in Soft Boiled and Recover, and the latter can grant itself longevity due to Regenerator while the former has Magic Guard to stay healthy and unaffected by entry hazards.
Clefable + Toxapex are the best options right now as a counterplay, Tapu Fini is another great Pokemon, which can help versus Urshifu-S. Tapu Fini is tanky enough to switch 3 times with Stealth Rocks up into Urshifus Wicked Blow. however it still gets pressured when multiple layers of entry hazards are up, Spikes or Toxic Spikes.
Closing Words:
While the counterplay doesn't seem bad they all get pressured by different factors, be it entry hazards in the case of Tapu Fini or be it the help from one of the Slowtwins, which can put pressure on Clefable and Toxapex-cores. I feel, it isn't that we lack Pokemon, which can help versus Urshifu-S but with different aspects, be it a support from the Slows, or be it support due to entry hazards, that counterplay gets limited.
And I can see why people talk about Urshifu-S and that this topic is a heat one. It isn't that we lack the number of Pokemon, but they could get limited during the course over the game to check Urshifu-S effectively. I would say, we still should keep a close eye on it, especially after the Pheromosa suspect is over. I feel Urshifu-S, Spectrier, and Magearna are all Pokemon, we have to keep in mind, when building a team, but also in the general aspect of the current metagame and how they cenetralize the metagame in the future.
Thanks for reading and I hope y'all have a great day!