jirachi suspect post

Because I haven't really played against Volcanion that much at all, I will just post my thoughts on mainly Jirachi here.

I'll attempt to share what I think on Jirachi while I haven't looked at any of the other posts above me. This is just my opinion. I will make a lot of use of the OU's tiering policy framework by Aldaron which can be found here: [URL]http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ous-tiering-policy-framework-read-and-understand-this.3552154/[/URL]

When we're looking at tiering decisions we can see that there is one main goal:
To create a metagame that is conductive to the more "skilled" player winning over the less "skilled" player a majority of the time and to ensure that both the ladder and tournament scene will be a better place.

To achieve that one main goal, everyone has to ask themselves these two questions:
1. Is this Pokemon uncompetitive?
2. Is this Pokemon broken?

And I'll try to answer these questions to my opinion and experiences in the metagame.

[IMG]http://www.pokestadium.com/sprites/xy/jirachi.gif[/IMG]
[B]1. Is Jirachi uncompetitive?[/B]
What is "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

What are the criteria for something being uncompetitive?
[B]"This can be match up related"[/B]
Does Jirachi win straight from match up?
I don't think so. Jirachi is quite easy to check, and I think basically every team has at least one or two Jirachi checks, whether it is intentional during building or not. Jirachi also doesn't make entire team styles and archetypes unviable. The only thing that can truly win from match up is Jirachi + Azumarill. However, I think that is quite easily beaten with the correct preparation, such as using Amoonguss, Quick Guard, or just knowing how to deal with Azumarill in general.

B.) This can be external factors; think endless battle clause, where the determining factor becomes internet connection over playing skill.
C.) This can be probability management issues; think OHKOs, SwagPlay, Evasion, or Moody, all of which turn the battle from emphasizing battling skill to emphasizing the result of the RNG more often than not.

Point B is irrelevant, as an endless battle clause or anything along these lines is not viable in Doubles.

And for Point C; while Jirachi can in fact be very annoying with Serene Grace Iron Head, that is not one of the key points to use Jirachi. Jirachi is most usually used as redirection support, rather than a flinch bot.

[B]Does Jirachi limit me in my teambuilding?[/B]
No, Jirachi does not limit me in my teambuilding. If you take a look at the tier 1 and 1.5 Pokemon, you can see that many of the common and splashable Pokemon do a quite good job at checking Jirachi.

Aegislash, Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, Landorus-Therian, Gengar, Hydreigon, and Keldeo all do a good job at checking Jirachi. And that's just tier 1 and tier 1.5 alone. Putting these Pokemon on my team do not limit me from teambuilding whatsoever.

I don't have to use uncommon sets to beat Jirachi either. Taunt is a common move to check other moves than Follow Me. I won't run weird "lures" to beat Jirachi as I will certainly have at least one Ground-, Fire-, Ghost-, or Dark-type STAB on my team.

Conclusion: Jirachi is not uncompetitive.

[B]2. Is Jirachi broken?[/B]
Okay, let's take a look at what Jirachi actually is as a Pokemon rather than as a team player.
Jirachi is a Steel/Psychic type. This leaves it weak to Dark-, Ghost-, Ground-, and Fire-type STAB attacks, which are quite common in the metagame. It is still great defensively, bringing in some key resistances to compensate, but this truly doesn't make Jirachi quite broken yet.

Its ability, Serene Grace, is quite annoying to play against. However, Jirachi is most commonly used as a redirection user on a team and not as a Pokemon that wants to use Iron Head most of the time. While Iron Head is annoying to play against, it doesn't happen quite enough in a game to really call it broken. The only time I have seen Jirachi being annoying with flinches was against a Scarf Jirachi, which is an arguable set.

Its movepool isn't groundshaking. It gets a decent STAB attack in Iron Head, and it gets two good speed control options together with a redirection move. It quite honestly doesn't look broken. Would this be broken on a different Pokemon? No, it wouldn't be. It has a decent movepool but certainly not anything that makes it impossible to beat. Opposing Steels have an easy time switching in, even though you could always fear the Icy Wind I guess.

Its base stats aren't quite broken either. 100 across the board is common on other Pokemon, such as Mew and Manaphy. However, are these Pokemon broken? No, their base stats aren't great enough for that.

Is Jirachi broken because of the combination of its typing and base stats? No, I don't think it is. Its typing is quite good, and so are its base stats, but I don't think this is pushing it over the borderline, or quite honestly, make it broken at all.

Conclusion: Jirachi isn't broken.

[B]So what is the problem with Jirachi, if it isn't broken or uncompetitive?[/B]
It is unhealthy. Okay, everyone thinks this is an annoying buzzword and I agree. The term unhealthy is quite blurry, subjective, and its difficult to truly identify something as being unhealthy. I would've preferred to avoid bringing this up at all but I felt like I had to, because this is the reason why many people believe Jirachi should be banned from Doubles OU.

I think many people are finding it difficult to find solid counterplay to Follow Me. It has high priority (makes it go before priority such as Aqua Jet and Talonflame Brave Bird) which makes it tough to defeat the opponent next to it.
Grass-types also don't beat it as they are not immune to Follow Me like they are to Rage Powder. Jirachi will also commonly be equipped with Safety Goggles, which will make it even more difficult to check.

The most meaningful counterplay is Taunt or OHKOing it. Now there is very little that can OHKO it, and it can something be tough to fit Taunt on a team. That makes Jirachi difficult to check both in-game and during teambuilding. However, a good player will identify a significant weakness to Jirachi and co. immediately and will change their build according to it, which makes it a little bit less tough to deal with in teambuilder.

I personally struggle with Jirachi sometimes too, but I'm fine with it honestly. I don't think it is "unhealthy", broken, or uncompetitive. There is some counterplay to Jirachi but it is tough to fit on some teams. Most teams will, however, have at least one Jirachi check, whether it's a concious choice or not. It is not impossible to defeat, and with the release of Volcanion in about two days, I think all the hype around Jirachi (paired with Azumarill) will die down a bit. I will definitely vote no ban in case a Jirachi suspect comes around, but I don't think it'll ever get to that point.