I am concerned about the precedent that banning Dracovish will set for future bans. The main argument made by the council about banning Dracovish is that this Pokemon has few viable checks/counters, and therefore limits teambuilding. I would like to ask my peers the question: What prevents this same logic from being applied to other A/A+ wall breakers in the metagame? I will provide some examples of wall breakers that I have both used and believe have the same number, if not less viable check/counters compared to Dracovish.
Banded Excadrill has proved to be a very powerful wall breaker on sand teams, since many of the ground resists in the tier are flying types that do not resist Iron Head. This is the set that I am referring to in particular:
View attachment 248612
Excadrill @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
The only viable counters to this set are Corviknight and Ferrothorn. Hippowdon can also be considered a counter if it is running Leftovers. However, if Hippowdon is not running Leftovers, Excadrill has around a 30% chance to 2HKO it after stealth rock damage:
252+ Atk Choice Band Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 178-210 (42.3 - 50%) -- 32.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Every other viable Pokemon in the metagame is either OHKO’d or 2HKO’d by the combination of Earthquake, Iron Head, and Rock Slide. If Dracovish is banned for restricting team building, what is preventing Excadrill for being banned for the same reason?
Banded Terrakion is another Pokemon that is able to break the majority of walls in the tier thanks to its fantastic Rock/Fighting stab. For this example, I will be focusing on Adamant Banded Terrakion:
View attachment 248614
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Quick Attack
This set is both able to bluff a Jolly nature and 2HKO almost every viable defensive wall in the metagame. The only wall that occasionally does not get 2HKO’d by a move on this set is Hippowdon. However, if we are assuming this Hippowdon runs Leftovers, it has around a 60% chance to be 2HKO’d without Stealth Rock and a 98% with Stealth Rock:
252+ Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 207-244 (49.2 - 58%) -- 60.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 207-244 (49.2 - 58%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
I would also like to note that both specially-defensive Clefable and standard Sylveon, some of the most common fighting resists in the metagame, are 2HKO’d by Close Combat:
252+ Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Clefable: 207-243 (52.5 - 61.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Sylveon: 226-267 (57.3 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Every viable Pokemon in the metagame, that is not Hippowdon, is consistently 2HKO’d by either Close Combat, Stone Edge, or Earthquake. Once again, I would like to ask my peers why Terrakion should not be banned for restricting team building if Dracovish is banned using the same logic.
The last wall-breaker I will address is Guts Conkeldurr. In this example, I will address the Close Combat variant:
View attachment 248615
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Facade
This 2HKO’s every viable wall in the metagame. The only Pokemon that can counter this set is Neutralizing Gas Weezing-Galar, and this Pokemon is currently C- rank on the viability rankings. Toxapex can also be considered a check to this set, but is almost guaranteed to be 2HKO’d by Facade after Stealth Rock:
252+ Atk Guts Conkeldurr Facade (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 141-167 (46.3 - 54.9%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
Corviknight can out-speed Conkeldurr and retaliate with a Brave Bird, but can only OHKO Condeldurr if Conkeldurr has -1 defense from a Close Combat and Corviknight has at least 80 Speed evs:
0 Atk Corviknight Brave Bird vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Conkeldurr: 362-428 (103.1 - 121.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Therefore, I will only consider a Corviknight with at least 80 speed evs and Brave Bird as a check to Conkeldurr.
If one wants to have a defensive wall on their team that counters Conkeldurr, they have to run Weezing-Galar. Why would Conkeldurr be exempt from a ban for restricting teambuilding with a counter in the C- tier, a check in the A+ tier (before rocks), and occasionally a check in the S- tier when Dracovish was banned for restricting teambuilding when it has 1 counter and 2 checks in the A+ tier?
In conclusion, I fear that banning Dracovish will allow for many wall breakers in the A+ and A viability rankings to be banned by the logic: there are not enough check/counters for these wall breakers, and therefore they restrict team building.