Crystal Machoke Vote Reasoning

Machoke: Ban

Whilst I don't think any of Machoke sets are inherently broken or unhealthy on their own, I do believe that preparing for the three main sets combined can be overwhelming, especially the No Guard Dynamic Punch set which is extremely uncompetitive.

This is Smogon's definition for uncompetitive in the tiering policy:
Uncompetitive - elements that reduce the effect of player choice / interaction on the end result to an extreme degree, such that "more skillful play" is almost always rendered irrelevant. The examples given for uncompetitive are things like Baton Pass and Evasion and this breaks down uncompeititve into two further subcategories. Baton Pass removes skill whilst Evasion forces luck to be a part of the game. Both these elements, but more so the luck are factors when playing against Machoke.

Machoke has access to a 100% accurate high base power STAB attack which guarantees confusion on the opposing target. Unlike Gen VII, the chance for a Pokemon to hurt itself is 50%, which essentially means every turn is a coinflip. Due to there being virtually being no drawbacks in using such a move, the opponent who does not bring a Machoke is in an unfavourable position and put into multiple coinflips over the course of a game, basically rendering any skillful play irrelevant. This set also allows Machoke to hax past common checks such as Hippopotas and Quilladin basically negating the proper interactions and meaning teambuilding against Machoke is basically limited to bringing a Tangela or checking it offensively, which in itself is difficult to do because of Machoke's natural bulk. I think this outlines why keeping the combination of No Guard and Dynamic Punch is extremely unfun and uncompetitive, although this would be a complex ban.

Ignoring Dynamic Punch for a second, both of Machoke's other sets are also extremely powerful. The Toxic Orb Guts set is extremely difficult having virtually no switch ins as it is able to 2HKO most of the defensive checks of the standard Eviolite set. The Eviolite is very similar and trades less power for more added bulk making Machoke both difficult to switch into and revenge kill. Whilst I don't think either of these sets are broken as I believe both of these sets have sufficient counterplay, predicting the set is obnoxious. Normally, predicting which set a Pokemon is would be fine, but in the case of Machoke the counterplay for one set actually benefits the other one, eg. if you Will-O-Wisp, thinking the opponent is No Guard but they are actually Guts, you've essentially helped them win the game.

Overall, I think these two factors combined pushes Machoke over the edge as something that is undesirable to keep as it limits the skill ceiling of both players in the game. Therefore I'll be voting Ban in this suspect test.