Swagger has got to go. It's a surprisingly prominent piece of the metagame, having shown up in several tournament games both recently and even multiple years ago, and quite consistently it manages to completely take over games and drastically shift the favor of the battle in the direction of the Swagger user. It is wholly uncompetitive, with a 50% (45% considering move accuracy) chance to not only take the opposing Pokemon's turn away but force them to deal upwards of 20% damage to themselves, and confusion will often last for multiple turns too. The effect is compounded by the use of Substitute whenever Swagger does appear, taking further advantage of any free turns granted. The main offenders of Swagger's use are Dugtrio and Persian, but so many common and great Pokemon learn it that almost anything can use it, whether it be Fearow or Primeape or Magmar or Rapidash or Xatu or basically whatever you may desire. It doesn't even need an entire team built around facilitating the use and sweep of Swagger, because it can just be thrown over any relatively filler move on the Pokemon, mainly seen in the form of replacing Screech on Dugtrio with Swagger, though it absolutely does benefit from team support, example being MrSoup's Sub Swagger Psych Up Persian teams from his team dump.
Replays
Earthworm vs Estarossa, NUSD II
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1491397712
Swagger Dugtrio is enough to severely damage multiple pokemon midgame while taking minimal damage itself and is almost enough to singlehandedly bring Earthworm back from a losing position late in the game, though he gets unlucky with a miss, low confusion turns, and few confusion hits.
Earthworm vs HSA, NUSD II
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-600808
Swagger allows Dugtrio to significantly damage Xatu midgame and force Graveler in (which subsequently gets KOed), and later on, with an errant Rock Slide on turn 22, defeat Primeape and coast to an easy victory for Earthworm despite losing significant momentum with Persian dying on turn 1 for nothing.
MrSoup vs Avarice, NUSD III
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-664239
Substitute + Swagger + Psych Up Persian allows MrSoup to come back from a severe deficit and easily reverse sweep through Avarice's remaining pokemon, 2 of which (Octillery and Stantler) were plenty healthy enough to be able to at least have a fighting chance at defeating Persian if not for it Swagger confusing Octillery, setting up Substitute freely, and using Psych Up to spam +2 boosted Double-Edges and clean.
Raahel vs MrSoup, GSC NU Open
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1878562351-9c1xloxo1qx4qskslrswtsr77w1llwapw
Raahel's Persian was able to force through Chinchou and deal chip to MrSoup's Persian, however the sweep was prevented due to poor confusion length/proc RNG and MrSoup's knowledge of Psych Up on Swagger Persian, as Raahel was using one of MrSoup's very own teams from his team dump (listed prior).
Bee (me) vs Dawn, Friendly Matches
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1835293435-cugqg44ggamiisonoobur7yin80qxbrpw
After sufficiently chipping Dawn's team with my other Pokemon, I was able to set up a Substitute with Dugtrio on the expected switch to Octillery and pulled off a successful Swagger with Dugtrio and chipped Octillery to the point of fainting without losing a single percent of HP despite it being an Ice Beam variant, then proceeded to Swagger down Xatu with the help of Sleep Talk rolling Hidden Power Electric and sweep from there.
The argument against Swagger's ban is that it is extremely inconsistent, with confusion rate being only 50% and Swagger itself even having a 10% miss rate. However, as seen in these replays, more often than not Swagger will put in serious work when used. There also really isn't any good reason to actually keep it in the tier, as it provides only downside from a competitive standpoint. This argument is just a reason as to why it might not be "truly banworthy," which I believe can be dismissed in favor of creating a better metagame. I and multiple others personally feel that Swagger compromises the integrity of the tier with its uncompetitiveness and often dominance that can so easily be placed onto basically any team, and would like to see tiering action on it.
I propose a list of qualified voters is gathered after the conclusion of GSC Slam to decide the fate of Swagger. In the meantime, let this thread act as a place of discussion around the status of this move.
Replays
Earthworm vs Estarossa, NUSD II
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1491397712
Swagger Dugtrio is enough to severely damage multiple pokemon midgame while taking minimal damage itself and is almost enough to singlehandedly bring Earthworm back from a losing position late in the game, though he gets unlucky with a miss, low confusion turns, and few confusion hits.
Earthworm vs HSA, NUSD II
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-600808
Swagger allows Dugtrio to significantly damage Xatu midgame and force Graveler in (which subsequently gets KOed), and later on, with an errant Rock Slide on turn 22, defeat Primeape and coast to an easy victory for Earthworm despite losing significant momentum with Persian dying on turn 1 for nothing.
MrSoup vs Avarice, NUSD III
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen2nu-664239
Substitute + Swagger + Psych Up Persian allows MrSoup to come back from a severe deficit and easily reverse sweep through Avarice's remaining pokemon, 2 of which (Octillery and Stantler) were plenty healthy enough to be able to at least have a fighting chance at defeating Persian if not for it Swagger confusing Octillery, setting up Substitute freely, and using Psych Up to spam +2 boosted Double-Edges and clean.
Raahel vs MrSoup, GSC NU Open
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1878562351-9c1xloxo1qx4qskslrswtsr77w1llwapw
Raahel's Persian was able to force through Chinchou and deal chip to MrSoup's Persian, however the sweep was prevented due to poor confusion length/proc RNG and MrSoup's knowledge of Psych Up on Swagger Persian, as Raahel was using one of MrSoup's very own teams from his team dump (listed prior).
Bee (me) vs Dawn, Friendly Matches
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2nu-1835293435-cugqg44ggamiisonoobur7yin80qxbrpw
After sufficiently chipping Dawn's team with my other Pokemon, I was able to set up a Substitute with Dugtrio on the expected switch to Octillery and pulled off a successful Swagger with Dugtrio and chipped Octillery to the point of fainting without losing a single percent of HP despite it being an Ice Beam variant, then proceeded to Swagger down Xatu with the help of Sleep Talk rolling Hidden Power Electric and sweep from there.
The argument against Swagger's ban is that it is extremely inconsistent, with confusion rate being only 50% and Swagger itself even having a 10% miss rate. However, as seen in these replays, more often than not Swagger will put in serious work when used. There also really isn't any good reason to actually keep it in the tier, as it provides only downside from a competitive standpoint. This argument is just a reason as to why it might not be "truly banworthy," which I believe can be dismissed in favor of creating a better metagame. I and multiple others personally feel that Swagger compromises the integrity of the tier with its uncompetitiveness and often dominance that can so easily be placed onto basically any team, and would like to see tiering action on it.
I propose a list of qualified voters is gathered after the conclusion of GSC Slam to decide the fate of Swagger. In the meantime, let this thread act as a place of discussion around the status of this move.
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