When appears, a monkey wrench to work one's clockwork"
Gastly has long been a contentious Pokemon. Since the removal of Pursuit, Gastly has been an elite threat throughout the LC metagames, often resulting in a ban for its overwhelming power. Gastly's game plan has mostly stayed the same: come in, deal a ton of damage, get out safely. While there naturally have been adaptations and changes in the idea, from Z-Moves to Choice Scarf and more, Gastly, from the preview is a threat to keep in mind. To the point where it was even banned at the beginning of the generation.
So what's changed? What's so special about Gastly right now that makes it an interesting and notable threat? Gastly was first unbanned with the beginning of DLC2. Along with Hisuian Growlithe, the ghost appeared to have enough checks and reasonable answers at the beginning of the update to warrant the unban. Since then, Gastly has followed its prototypical game plan. Safely get into the fight, do a ton of damage quickly, and get out to do it again later. Gastly's incredibly powerful STAB moves in Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave has extremely important coverage, hitting nearly every Pokemon for neutral damage. Gastly's coverage for those two moves also includes Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, and Psychic, so leaving in Pokemon such as Vullaby or Mienfoo isn't safe when they could be slapped by Super Effective coverage. That being said there are a few counters to the extremely powerful Life Orb set. The everpresent Pawniard has the ability to handle most of the things Gastly can click. While it cannot click Sucker Punch freely, mainly due to Gastly often running Substitute, Pawniard generally wins the Life Orb Gastly matchup. But Pawniard isn't the only interesting Dark-type on the block this time. Stunky has emerged as a legitimate threat in the metagame. Boasting Knock Off and the same max speed as Gastly, one speed tie could completely eliminate Gastly as a threat. And Stunky doesn't really care about being hit by either of Gastly's STAB moves; a true counter to the Life Orb set! Combined with Pokemon that outspeed Gastly, such as Hisuan Voltorb or Scarf sets such as Hisuan Growlithe, Gastly can be managed through careful scouting, proper positioning in play, and bringing in Pokemon who don't get OHKO'd by Gastly's options.
With that in mind, it's time to talk about how Gastly adapts to the checks and counters it has. As we've only talked about the Life Orb set, Gastly has two other sets which allow it to control the pace of the game. The Eviolite set has become an interesting way of circumnavigating the primary Dark-types who attempt to outlast Gastly. Will-o-wisp allows Gastly to not only avoid Sucker Punch, but also half the attack stat of the Pokemon attempting to kill Gastly. Stunky and Pawniard also cannot freely switch into a Gastly for the fear of getting burned is too much of a risk to take. Additionally, Gastly typically runs Hex to increase its damage output after a burn, so switching in Pokemon that might not mind a burn are suddenly in danger of eating more damage. Gastly also has the ability to switch-in to several Pokemon, now letting it forgo the first step of getting in safely. Gastly also has another trick up its sleeve with the Choice Scarf set. Once a fairly popular set, Choice Scarf Gastly allows it to nail Pokemon who might expect to outspeed it. Finally, the elephant in the room, Terastallization allows it to outplay key threats and change into just about any type the player chooses to be.
So what's the counterplay? Well, Gastly only has four moves. It can't run coverage for everything and Wisp can only really be run on one set. Life Orb is pretty easy to spot on just about any set, which means that if see chip damage, you're likely not going to get burned. Choice Scarf and Eviolite don't have those clear tells, but if you hit Gastly you can determine if it's running Eviolite or not. Gastly also typically cannot switch into much without an Eviolite, so you're typically going to have to very carefully bring it in on a free turn or a safe oppotunity. Finally, Gastly cannot simply OHKO everything. Chip damage and weakening key threats is essential for Gastly to be a threat. That being said, we are here to determine if Gastly is a healthy presense for the metagame and if not, to remove it again.
The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 78 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 78 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 82. As always, needing more than 50 games to reach 78 GXE is fine.
| GXE | minimum games |
| 78 | 50 |
| 78.2 | 49 |
| 78.4 | 48 |
| 78.6 | 47 |
| 78.8 | 46 |
| 79 | 45 |
| 79.2 | 44 |
| 79.4 | 43 |
| 79.6 | 42 |
| 79.8 | 41 |
| 80 | 40 |
| 80.2 | 39 |
| 80.4 | 38 |
| 80.6 | 37 |
| 80.8 | 36 |
| 81 | 35 |
| 81.2 | 34 |
| 81.4 | 33 |
| 81.6 | 32 |
| 81.8 | 31 |
| 82 | 30 |
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2. No discussion on other potential suspects or the suspect process.
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Your post will be deleted and possibly infracted if you fail to follow them.
"yo, who gets the Gas Face?"
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