XY Little Cup: The Ban of Misdreavus

By The Avalanches and blizzardy. Art by Bummer.

Introduction

The most recent Little Cup suspect test has just come to a close, and with it came the banning of an S-Rank veteran: Misdreavus. Misdreavus is more than just your average ghoul, boasting a BST that would make some fully-evolved Pokémon jealous. It's packed with both amazing offensive and defensive stats and reaches the coveted 19 Speed tier, letting it outspeed almost everything in the metagame. Misdreavus could go from a sweeping set with Nasty Plot and Substitute to a bulky set with Will-O-Wisp, or a disruptive Choice Scarf set with Trick. Despite the Knock Off buff, Misdreavus proved to be one of the most powerful and versatile threats Little Cup has ever seen. Oh, and here's a fun fact: Misdreavus' Attack stat is higher or equal to that of Onix, Milotic, Medicham, Makuhita, Houndour, Volcarona, Lilligant, Omastar, Fletchling, Regice, Mantine, Tyrogue, and Zigzagoon. That's just a testament to how absurdly high its stats are.

But... Why?

Misdreavus's ban from Little Cup was due to all of its amazing qualities and the way it used them to dominate the competition. It had a BST of 435, the highest in Little Cup, and higher than even some fully evolved Pokémon like Swellow and Quagsire. It reached the important 19 Speed tier in Little Cup, meaning opponents often needed to settle for a Choice Scarf or priority attacks in order to outspeed it. It had 60/60/85 bulk, comparable to that of Spritzee, the metagame's premier wall, meaning Misdreavus could take strong hits quite well;especially while holding Eviolite. Its Special Attack was also fantastic, and it had access to the rare boosting move Nasty Plot, allowing it to boost its Special Attack to obscene levels.

Misdreavus had an impressive movepool to choose from, which made scouting it a dangerous task. It had numerous offensive options which enabled it to punch holes through teams, especially after a Nasty Plot. Although Nasty Plot was its most common set, it could also support its team with Heal Bell, cripple opponents with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave, or even use Trick with Choice Specs to cripple walls such as Spritzee and Porygon. Misdreavus's attacking options were also very broad. Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam appeared on most of its sets, as Shadow Ball provided STAB while Dazzling Gleam gave Misdreavus virtually perfect coverage while hitting the Dark- and Fighting-types that threatened Misdreavus with Knock Off. Hidden Power Fighting was also commonly run, as it offered Misdreavus a way of nailing some of its biggest counters, including Houndour, Pawniard, and Porygon. Thunderbolt was seen less often, but it allowed Misdreavus to surprise the metagame's most common Flying-types, including Fletchling and Archen.

When you saw Misdreavus in Team Preview, deducing what set it was running was often a difficult task, as it could pull off so many sets. Nasty Plot was usually the most common. Eviolite was often used to make Misdreavus difficult to wear down while setting up, but Berry Juice was also used, as it allowed Misdreavus to take most hits even without the bulk provided by Eviolite and set up with Nasty Plot, meaning Misdreavus could get to +2 Special Attack and start razing teams with minimal risk or consequence. Shadow Ball and Dazzling Gleam were staples on this set, as the two moves had perfect neutral coverage and could inflict heavy damage after a boost. The last move was usually Will-O-Wisp, which was vital in weakening Knock Off, users such as Pawniard and Mienfoo. Destiny Bond also saw use, as it let a weakened Misdreavus get the last laugh over a foe after its rampage had been cut short. A third attacking move was sometimes used too, to push past opponents who could take a Shadow Ball or Dazzling Gleam. Hidden Power Fighting was often chosen, as it could take on the specially bulky Normal-type opponents who could shrug off a Dazzling Gleam, such as Porygon, Munchlax, and Lickitung.

Misdreavus was deadly behind a Substitute, as this allowed it to spread status, set up a Nasty Plot, or just attack in safety. Substitute worked well on just about any set with just about any item. Berry Juice allowed Misdreavus to potentially be at full health while behind a Substitute, perhaps even at +2 Special Attack—a frightening prospect, as few opponents were fast enough to revenge kill Misdreavus, let alone behind a Substitute, and few were bulky enough to take any +2 attack from Misdreavus. The support options Misdreavus had access to were especially deadly, considering Misdreavus had little problems using a moveslot on something like Taunt to prevent Porygon and similar special walls from crippling it or recovering, or Heal Bell which it could use to heal its team. Trick allowed Misdreavus to cripple opposing Pokémon such as Spritzee with a Choice Item, and Destiny Bond could assure Misdreavus racked up one last KO. Misdreavus could even use a Life Orb to good effect, as it meant Dazzling Gleam and Hidden Power Fighting could 2HKO things it previously 3HKOed, notably Timburr and Pawniard, which sometimes ran Special Defense EVs to avoid 2HKOs.

Changes for the Metagame

With any major ban comes major changes. Misdreavus was an incredibly influential Pokémon whose presence will be missed (or not!) by many other mons. Normal-type sweepers, like Bunnelby and Zigzagoon, greatly appreciate losing one of their biggest checks. Munchlax and Porygon, two Pokémon who actually benefited from Misdreavus, no longer have to worry about filling their moveset with a move to counter it. The former, Porygon, can now run a better coverage move, like Psychic or Thunderbolt, to possibly remove a counter. The latter, Munchlax, won't have to worry about being burned. Speaking of burns, Fighting-types, such as Mienfoo and Croagunk, can spam Knock Off without worrying about Misdreavus outspeeding with Will-O-Wisp, effectively crippling them for the game. Other Ghost-types have been thrown into the spotlight as well; Gastly has proved to be a fearsome wallbreaker and cleaner with its fantastic Special Attack, Speed, and movepool. Additionally, Pumpkaboo enjoys some nice usage as a good spinblocker and overall Drilbur check. Conversely, Drilbur and other hazard-setters appreciate having the biggest spinblocker gone from the metagame. Finally, Abra has risen in usage since it now lacks its greatest check, Misdreavus, who had reached a Speed tie with it.

But... Why not Fletchling?

Fletchling was also suspected during this suspect test, as many players believed its prowess as a sweeper and revenge killer made it an overly centralizing threat in the Little Cup metagame. While Fletchling did have access to a fantastic ability in Gale Wings, esentially a prioritized 110 BP Acrobatcis, Fletchling was statistically lean. It couldn't take hits well, especially from super effective attacks, as it was quite frail. Even with defensive EV investment, it couldn't use Eviolite to increase its defenses or else its Acrobatics would be weakened. It had a paltry Attack stat of 50, meaning it could only sweep through teams if they had been substantially weakened beforehand, and it had difficulty switching in, as it was weak to Stealth Rock, meaning it normally had to run Roost in order to stay healthy enough to avoid being revenge killed itself. Despite being a major threat, Fletchling is still checked by a decent portion of the metagame, and requires support from its teammates in order to do its job effectively. With these factors in mind, the LC Council decided not to ban Fletchling: while it certainly is a dangerous threat, it isn't to the point where it could be considered broken.

Conclusion

Misdreavus was good. Misdreavus was really, really good. But, it's gone now. Its incredible Speed, power, and bulk, as well as its ability to virtually neuter all of its counters proved to be too much for the Little Cup metagame. Of course, as with any ban of the #1 most used Pokémon, it caused some major changes, benefiting (or hurting!) many Pokémon who were once affected by the Screech Pokémon. Some may say, "Good riddance!" Others may say, "Alleluia!" Either way, the effects of this ban just can't be ignored.

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