Smogon has banned Aegislash from OU

[Richard and Blaziken]

I'm sure this is a heated topic for some people, so before commenting, read the topic please.

Smogon has determined that Aegislash will be banned from OU. The topic for it can be found here, but I will try my best to establish the reason it was banned within this topic and in a short summary (less than the 70 pages in their topic). Remember that I'm just re-stating what has been said, and not necessarily my opinion.

• Aegislash is impossible to switch into with every commonly run set. Physical walls like Landorus-T, Gliscor and Skarmory are destroyed by STAB Shadow Ball, while special walls like Blissey, Heatran and Sylveon are all 1-2HKO'd by Sacred Sword or Iron Head.


• Aegislash's best counter, Mandibuzz, is comfortable 2HKO'd by the Head Smash set, with a 25% chance to OHKO with Stealth Rock up, and is also beaten by the Substitute Toxic set.


• King's Shield creates 50/50 scenarios. The opponent can try to setup on an expected KS, but if Aegislash doesn't KS, the opponent is getting hit by an attack backed by base 150 attacking stats, which is the same as normal Deoxys. Any contact move you try to use will immediately lower your Attack to -2 with King's Shield and give Aegislash near Deoxys-Defense stats with a better typing.


• With Aegislash's low Speed, coupled with a -Speed nature, going last is actually beneficial for it, allowing it to tank a hit, change form, and strike back with incredible power. King's Shield has priority, allowing it to revert immediately without ever being forced to take a hit in Blade form unless Taunted.

Given the above reasons, people that qualified for a vote (by reaching a certain ranking on the suspect ladder) voted in favor of removing Aegislash from OU. Now that it's gone, how does this effect OU?

Psychic types reclaim the metagame. Latios, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Medicham and Mega Alakazam are going to be huge without Aegislash to hold them back. Even using Latios and one of these megas on the same team is a fantastic idea now because you can just muscle through resists with STAB Draco Meteors, Hyper Voices, Psyshocks, and High Jump Kicks (off the second highest Attack stat in the game).

Latios has one counter. One. And if they predict wrong, Surf 2HKOs standard TTar off Specs Latios.

Mega Gardevoir's best counters can all be dealt with through coverage moves. Focus Blast 2HKOs Heatran. Hyper Voice deals out tons of damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Psychic remove Mega Venusaur as being an option to switch into Hyper Voice. Hyper Voice and Focus Blast both 2HKO Tyranitar.

Here's a list of things that can switch into Mega Medicham:

Mega Alakazam has insane Speed. So insane that it can freely run Modest nature without worrying about being outsped by anything except Scarf Pokemon with higher than 70 Speed running a +Speed nature, giving it higher Speed and power than Timid Alakazam. It can even run Timid and outspeed Scarfers if you want, but generally you'll want to run Modest for the huge power you gain with it.

Dark types? Every single one of these Pokemon has a Fighting type move they can use along with it. The only potential answers are Spiritomb and Sableye, which both lose to Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice.

I think we're about to see many more bans. Discuss.

[Kerou 犠牲]

I'm a little disappointed that it's been banned from OU tbh, since I've only just been getting back into the swing of it I think I was starting to get to terms with the metagame but I can see this having a huge impact. Already a few times I've ran into the likes of Mega Alakazam and Mega Gardevoir and without a good set up against them (especially the former) they've been very problematic. Completely agree with the notion that it'll be a Psychic dominated metagame =[

I'll definitely have to consider running different teams now if I do carry on, or I might just move on to give Ubers a test.

... or Randoms like back in the day =P

[Delicious_Scout]

Psychic types being dominant again? What's next, Wrap + Hyper Beams?

Megakazam was already very problematic for an unprepared Aegislash, because Kazam can set up a substitute and spam Shadow Ball, dealing massive damage. Switch into something good, then you've got a good chance of beating it. Megavoir is not that hard to beat with a fast team, but actually using fast and powerful things limits you to a few options, and most teams are prepared for them.

Not to say that Oscar/Richard discussed about how Pinsir will get an indirect buff, since it will not need to carry Earthquake anymore so that it can use Close Spambat.

But wait! What about the other OU Ghost? Gengar, yes! Oh, wait! It's WEAK to psychic! Choice Scarf set might experience an increase in use, and some might even run modest at first (to get killed fast). Imagine if SubSplitDisable returns!

Well, at least Greninja now has a solid excuse not to use Dark Pulse.

Edit: Megadactyl is even more dangerous, now that it is not that reliant on Earthquake and luck.

[Richard and Blaziken]

You still can't switch into M-Gardevoir, and using six base 101 Speed positive nature Pokemon is unrealistic and hinders team building quite a lot.

CC on Pinsir is now an option, yeah. This, along with the four Psychics I mentioned need to be banned for the metagame to balance out, in my opinion. Talonflame too, but it's at least been adapted to in the metagame and can be handled. Still think it's cancer for the metagame, but it's not at the top of the list.

Scarf Gengar is really terrible, it's honestly not even an option in OU because it has two STABs that are resisted by the common Dark trappers, Tyranitar and Bisharp. At least Latios locked into Draco Meteor can deal damage to them.

[Spriter]

While it may not have hard counters, don't forget how many checks there are for Mega Gardevoir. I'd personally not want that banned.

blame smogon for banning everything

[JSM]

I'm really surprised by this to be honest, I've never really had too many issues facing Aegislash. I can see the reasons why they banned it, but I don't really find it to be necessary.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

I'm really surprised by this to be honest, I've never really had too many issues facing Aegislash. I can see the reasons why they banned it, but I don't really find it to be necessary.

This is pretty much how I feel, theoretically it made sense to be banned but in practice it just wasn't ovepowered. I do feel now it's banned the metagame has a lot more variation, but I don't think it was necessary.

Also, Slowking beats all of Gardevoir, Alakazam & Latios and with a specific EV spread can handle MegaCham as well (provided it lacks ThunderPunch, which it usually does)

[Spriter]

^Psychic type to handle the psychic types, hmm

Yeah, it never really created me any real problems (Weakness Policy Aegi was probably broken but that's why I packed a Sturdy user!).

That said, I never intentionally tried to counter it, as checking it was fairly simple. And that said, that's a reason for it being banned, it made you carry something to take a +2 Iron Head or Shadow Sneak just to make sure it didn't have a field day, so it's fair enough really.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

^Psychic type to handle the psychic types, hmm

Yeah, it never really created me any real problems (Weakness Policy Aegi was probably broken but that's why I packed a Sturdy user!).

That said, I never intentionally tried to counter it, as checking it was fairly simple. And that said, that's a reason for it being banned, it made you carry something to take a +2 Iron Head or Shadow Sneak just to make sure it didn't have a field day, so it's fair enough really.

Tbf, most teams already naturally have something that can take those because Rotom-W is near mandatory if you don't want to be wrecked by Talonflame and Pinsir, and any physical Aegislash disliked Rotom-w greatly xD

[Hahex and Oshawott]

I really feel this ban is unjustified. I always feel that he never hits especially hard unless it gets a weakness policy boost. Then again, I don't play at particularly high levels of play so all the Aegislash's I play against are pretty predictable.

[SirBlaziken]

^About the Weakness Policy part, that's why a lot of people seem to run SD.

I am not a fan of this one. For one, it enables Latios a lot more, yet it still won't be banned, and if the only counter screws up, you're gonna get KO'd. It was bad enough already, but this just makes it a god practically. Don't believe me, ask Rich.

Second, Mega Pinsir and Talonflame still run rampant. I mean come on, not everyone has SR, and even though you do, there's rapid spin and defog. Plus there's the fact that you won't always get them down. If you don't get them down and don't have Rotom-W, you may as well just quit.

Next, as Rich said, Psychic types will basically run the metagame.  Aegislash was stopping this, but with it gone, the high speeds and great attacking stats, it'll be hard to stop them. Then once again, Rich said that most run a fighting type move. The only two pokemon that are immune to both lose to moonblast or Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice.

However, there's two sides to every story. This will give viability back to some pokemon. Starmie could likely come back to OU, for example. Also, a lot of sets for aegislash, if you guessed its set wrong, you'd be punished for it, heavily. Plus, look at the BST's for it:

Aegislash-S: 60/50/150/50/150/60
Aegislash-B: 60/150/50/150/50/60

That pretty much gives it a psudo-BST of 720, which is equal to..... Arceus. It's only beaten by the duo of Mega Mewtwos BSTwise.

All in all, even though Aegislash was a tough pokemon to face and is worthy of a suspect test, I don't think this ban is necessary. It is justified, but it opens the floodgate for psychic types to rule the metagame. Hopefully if this happens, other bans will happen to balance it out.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Another thing is that rapid spin is much more viable now, because Aegislash was the main spin blocker, not really intentionally used as one but it was still there and worked as one. Now the doors open for more rapid spin users to allow Talonflame and Pinsir to be even more effective, with Gengar being the only real spin blocker left in OU, and it's not exactly the epitome of bulk xD

[SirBlaziken]

^Right, I forgot about that. Good point.

[Kerou 犠牲]

Another thing is that rapid spin is much more viable now, because Aegislash was the main spin blocker, not really intentionally used as one but it was still there and worked as one. Now the doors open for more rapid spin users to allow Talonflame and Pinsir to be even more effective, with Gengar being the only real spin blocker left in OU, and it's not exactly the epitome of bulk xD

I'll definitely need a new team then =[