Can I take a moment to reexamine the Eviolite ban?
I've been laddering on an alt, trying some spicy innovations, but I never really started to get anywhere until I switched over to brainless HO. Honestly, aside from some really solidly built balance teams, the only teams that gave me trouble (and the only ones that people really use) are heavy offense teams, taking advantage of high Attack and Special Attack from Deoxys, Kyurem and Hoopa. Defensive mons really can't keep up with all the new offensive threats, and it's really skewing the type of teams that can actually succeed.
Now, there's nothing wrong with a meta that skews towards one playstyle over others, but there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy when it comes to item bans. Namely, why is Eviolite banned when equivalent items in Light Ball and Thick Club are unbanned? The main argument I can see is distribution, as Eviolite is more generally usable, and that makes total sense. But let me ask this: who would Eviolite even be a problem on?
Chansey is banned already, so that's dealt with. Porygon2, admittedly, sounds like a bit of a nightmare, but its base HP and defensive stats don't allow it to be totally invincible like Chansey, as it has to pick one to buff. Other things have the potential for supreme tankiness, but a lot of them lack recovery and most of them are completely passive. What's more, anything that relies on Eviolite is doomed by Knock Off, which remains as popular as ever.
As an example, the first balance/semi-stall team I was going to try used Jigglypuff as a bootleg Chansey. 115 HP + 154 SpDef boosted by Eviolite on a Ho-oh/Lugia team sounds pretty cool, right? Does it even sound a little...OP? Well, here's the calcs comparing it to other special walls:
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Jigglypuff (154 SpDef): 154-183 (35.4 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Shuckle (Normal type, 150 HP): 169-199 (33.5 - 39.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Eviolite Chansey (default stats): 223-264 (34.7 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Yeah, they all take about the same damage (Jiggles takes the most, actually). Also, all of them have to avoid taking more than ~20% damage if they want to effectively wall Boomburst. (seriously, screw Swellow). The difference here is that Jigglypuff falls over to a stiff breeze if the breeze does physical damage. And Jigglypuff is IMO one of the more promising Eviolite options due to its inherently high HP along with access to Wish and Seismic Toss.
I might be wrong, but I think Eviolite got the ax before this OM was even playable. That doesn't seem fair, in my opinion, and it was a decision that was made before Chansey was banned (see the ban reasoning in the OP: it's a calc with Chansey). I suggest we give unbanning Eviolite a shot, even if it's a temporary suspect test where it needs a majority of votes to stay unbanned. Offense will be slightly stifled but will remain mostly as strong as ever: just run 1-2 Knock Off users (Deoxys-A is already one, for instance) and you'll be able to stay afloat. I'm open to the possibility that Eviolite is still totally busted, but I think everyone can agree that it's not so inherently broken that we shouldn't even give it a chance.
In the mean time, I'll have to stick to using this for my SpDef slot:
Wigglytuff @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell/Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
#freejigglypuff
I've been laddering on an alt, trying some spicy innovations, but I never really started to get anywhere until I switched over to brainless HO. Honestly, aside from some really solidly built balance teams, the only teams that gave me trouble (and the only ones that people really use) are heavy offense teams, taking advantage of high Attack and Special Attack from Deoxys, Kyurem and Hoopa. Defensive mons really can't keep up with all the new offensive threats, and it's really skewing the type of teams that can actually succeed.
Now, there's nothing wrong with a meta that skews towards one playstyle over others, but there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy when it comes to item bans. Namely, why is Eviolite banned when equivalent items in Light Ball and Thick Club are unbanned? The main argument I can see is distribution, as Eviolite is more generally usable, and that makes total sense. But let me ask this: who would Eviolite even be a problem on?
Chansey is banned already, so that's dealt with. Porygon2, admittedly, sounds like a bit of a nightmare, but its base HP and defensive stats don't allow it to be totally invincible like Chansey, as it has to pick one to buff. Other things have the potential for supreme tankiness, but a lot of them lack recovery and most of them are completely passive. What's more, anything that relies on Eviolite is doomed by Knock Off, which remains as popular as ever.
As an example, the first balance/semi-stall team I was going to try used Jigglypuff as a bootleg Chansey. 115 HP + 154 SpDef boosted by Eviolite on a Ho-oh/Lugia team sounds pretty cool, right? Does it even sound a little...OP? Well, here's the calcs comparing it to other special walls:
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Jigglypuff (154 SpDef): 154-183 (35.4 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Shuckle (Normal type, 150 HP): 169-199 (33.5 - 39.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Swellow Boomburst vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Eviolite Chansey (default stats): 223-264 (34.7 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Yeah, they all take about the same damage (Jiggles takes the most, actually). Also, all of them have to avoid taking more than ~20% damage if they want to effectively wall Boomburst. (seriously, screw Swellow). The difference here is that Jigglypuff falls over to a stiff breeze if the breeze does physical damage. And Jigglypuff is IMO one of the more promising Eviolite options due to its inherently high HP along with access to Wish and Seismic Toss.
I might be wrong, but I think Eviolite got the ax before this OM was even playable. That doesn't seem fair, in my opinion, and it was a decision that was made before Chansey was banned (see the ban reasoning in the OP: it's a calc with Chansey). I suggest we give unbanning Eviolite a shot, even if it's a temporary suspect test where it needs a majority of votes to stay unbanned. Offense will be slightly stifled but will remain mostly as strong as ever: just run 1-2 Knock Off users (Deoxys-A is already one, for instance) and you'll be able to stay afloat. I'm open to the possibility that Eviolite is still totally busted, but I think everyone can agree that it's not so inherently broken that we shouldn't even give it a chance.
In the mean time, I'll have to stick to using this for my SpDef slot:
Wigglytuff @ Leftovers
Ability: Cute Charm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell/Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
#freejigglypuff