Since Marshadow seems to be the topic du jour for this thread, I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring with an opinion piece. I’ll preface this by saying that this will probably be an unpopular opinion, but it is not an unfounded one. I was skeptical of Marshadow when it was announced, and after witnessing its capabilities both as a user and as an opponent of it, I came to the following conclusion: Marshadow is detrimental to the development and future survival of the SM Ubers metagame.
This opinion might seem absolutely ridiculous at first glance; after all, Marshadow’s base stats are nowhere near as daunting as those of the original Anything Goes Pokémon, Mega Rayquaza. However, I urge you, the reader, to not be fooled by Marshadow’s innocent appearance, as far as both aesthetics and base stats are concerned. I will begin a defense of my claim by noting the tools that Marshadow was given that allow it to survive and thrive in the SM Ubers metagame in the form of a bulleted list.
· Marshadow possesses coverage that allows it to blow past some of its would-be checks such as Ho-Oh in the form of Rock Tomb, and Mega Salamence and Zygarde-Complete in the form of Hidden Power Ice. Marshadow’s ability, Technician, assists with this by guaranteeing +Speed Life Orb Marshadow an OHKO all offensive variants of Ho-Oh, as well as physically defensive ones that choose to run enough Special Defense to avoid the OHKO from a +2 Geomancy Xerneas’ Thunder. Furthermore, Hidden Power Ice rips through all Zygarde variants after a Close Combat, since one Life Orb Close Combat is not enough to put Zygarde below half health, thereby keeping it in its more fragile 50% form. Finally, Hidden Power Ice destroys even the bulkiest variants of Salamence after Stealth Rock damage, and can even KO non-bulky Salamence variants without any prior damage at all. Note the following calc: 0 SpA Life Orb Technician Marshadow Hidden Power Ice vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Salamence-Mega: 338-400 (86 - 101.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
· Marshadow’s STABs give it perfect neutral coverage. This is an underrated aspect of Marshadow’s proverbial toolkit, as it pushes Life Orb Close Combat’s power to the point where it can 2HKO even some of the bulkiest foes, including Skarmory, after Stealth Rock damage.
· Marshadow lacks a true counter. Marshadow could, in theory, be countered by Mega Sableye if its offensive capabilities were limited to a Life Orb, non-boosting set. Unfortunately, this is not the case in reality; Marshadow has access to Bulk Up, furthering its wallbreaking capabilities. In addition, Marshadow has access to one of the most devastating Z-Moves the game has ever seen in the form of Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike, which allows it to blow past Mega Sableyes that don’t possess maximum physical bulk, and even allows it to fell ones that do most of the time, as per the following damage calculation: +1 252 Atk Marshadow Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 286-337 (94.3 - 111.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO. Physically defensive Yveltal, as noted earlier in this thread, can indeed stop Marshadow in its tracks as long as it has not been compromised by being forced to stomach other forms of damage, but its viability outside of stopping Marshadow is questionable at best, owing to various metagame trends prior to Marshadow’s inclusion (i.e. the prevalence of Magearna, the evolution of Mega Lucario as a more relevant threat [it has a good chance to flat-out OHKO even the bulkiest variants of Yveltal after it has accrued a Swords Dance boost], as well as the rise in usage of Stealth Rock Arceus-Fairy, which will likely increase even further owing to the introduction of Marshadow).
· Marshadow’s main checks, Fairy-types, can be easily removed by the most common trapper in Ubers, Shadow Tag Mega Gengar. If one were to run physically defensive Arceus-Fairy or physically defensive Xerneas, one could stop all of Marshadow’s possible sets as long as the aforementioned checks are at full health, since a +1 Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike cannot OHKO them. However, both of these Pokémon are easily dealt with by Mega Gengar, a highly viable teammate for Marshadow. Once the physically defensive Fairy is trapped, there is nothing it can do as it is smothered by Mega Gengar’s Sludge Wave, thereby paving the way for Marshadow to run roughshod over the rest of its remaining opponents.
· Marshadow’s boost-stealing capabilities make it a nightmarish matchup for a variety of archetypes. Marshadow’s signature move, as many of you already know, allows it to steal an opponent’s boosts before dealing damage. This allows it to crush once-potent physical sweepers such as SD Mega Lucario and SD variants of Arceus, since Marshadow always tanks a +2 Bullet Punch from the former and outspeeds the latter while being immune to the latter’s form of priority in Extreme Speed. Stallbreakers are not immune to Marshadow’s pressure in this regard, either. Marshadow can freely steal boosts from CM Arceus variants (which also have a place on stall teams, thereby pressuring that archetype) and Resting Ingrain Z-Geomancy Xerneas, allowing it to pulverize an opponent’s entire team should it snatch the latter's boosts. This can make it a more effective Ditto, of sorts, since not only does it greatly deter setup by an opponent’s power-based sweepers, but it can fulfill many other roles, as well, which Ditto does not (barring copying an opponent’s cleric in Ditto stall vs. standard stall matchups, but that’s a story for another time).
· Marshadow’s access to STAB, Technician-boosted priority in the form of Shadow Sneak allows it to fell would-be offensive checks. Marshadow’s speed tier makes it such that it is only naturally outsped by a small portion of the Ubers metagame. However, this portion of the metagame just so happens to be overly weak to Marshadow’s priority move, Shadow Sneak. It is tempting to believe that Pokémon such as Mega Gengar, Mega and non-Mega Mewtwo, and Deoxys can serve as checks to Marshadow by virtue of their higher speed tier. However, Deoxys-A is cleanly OHKOed by any variant of Marshadow that possesses Shadow Sneak before it can react. Offensive variants of Mega Gengar are always KOed by Jolly Life Orb Marshadow’s Shadow Sneak, and bulky, Perish Trap variants are always felled after Stealth Rock damage. Mega Mewtwo Y is KOed 100% of the time after Stealth Rock damage by Life Orb Marshadow’s Shadow Sneak, and even the physically bulkier Mega Mewtwo X takes a bare minimum of 70% from the aforementioned priority hit, and cannot even OHKO Marshadow back unless it possesses a Psychic-type attack (Mega Mewtwo X is perfectly viable, and is often found, without a Psychic-type move, as many of you know). One of the most common Scarfers in the SM Ubers metagame, Lunala, is easily pulverized by Shadow Sneak after its Shadow Shield is broken, and, even if its Shadow Shield is intact, it takes a hefty 66% hit at a bare minimum from Marshadow’s Life Orb-boosted priority attack.
· Even if Marshadow lacks Shadow Sneak, it cannot be trapped by Mega Gengar. This is yet another underrated aspect of Marshadow’s overall utility. If it could be trapped by Mega Gengar, variants of Marshadow that chose to run the coverage moves I previously mentioned, Hidden Power Ice and Rock Tomb, as well as its main STABs, Spectral Thief and Close Combat, could be dealt with via trapping them with Mega Gengar. However, as Marshadow is a Ghost-type Pokémon, it cannot be checked by such means, as Marshadow can freely switch out.
The next point that I am about to make regarding Marshadow’s detrimental effect upon SM Ubers is not necessarily a tool that Marshadow possesses that allow it to succeed in the SM Ubers realm, rather, it is simply a trend that I have noticed regarding the metagame since Marshadow’s introduction. Marshadow greatly restricts teambuilding creativity, and in some cases, the overall viability of teams. Hyper offense or simply offensively-based teams are essentially required to carry a Scarfer such as Yveltal (which loses two-thirds to three-quarters of its health if it switches in on Life Orb Close Combat from Marshadow) or Xerneas in order to stop Marshadow from proverbially bulldozing them, unless they run Arceus-Fairy, thereby costing the builder his/her Arceus slot from the outset. Bulkier teams must resort to Arceus-Fairy (again, eating the player’s Arceus slot), questionably viable Pokémon such as physically defensive Xerneas, defensive Yveltal, or physically defensive Toxapex (the latter can be easily dealt with by Shadow Ball or Perish Trap Mega Gengar), or simply relying on the opponent’s Marshadow not running the Bulk Up set and choosing to use physically defensive Mega Sableye. This, as you can see, is not a whole lot of viable options. I would liken Marshadow’s effect to Xerneas’ on the XY metagame, although to an even greater degree. Xerneas required the use of less-than-viable Pokémon to check it, and most of those checks were usually easily dealt with by some form of Mega Gengar, whether it was the offensively-based or the Perish Trap variant, just as most of Marshadow’s checks are easily stopped by Mega Gengar. To further the analogy, I foresee SM Ubers as it currently stands going the way of XY Ubers, which is to say that it will not survive on the major tournament circuit. While some may argue that the reason for XY’s exclusion from major tournaments is due to the similarities it supposedly has with the ORAS metagame, I believe it is due to a lack of community desire to play XY Ubers, just as I foresee a lack of community desire to play SM Ubers after Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are released.
This brings me to my most controversial point. While this is nowhere near to an objective, or even factually-based point, I still believe it is valid. SM Ubers is simply less fun with Marshadow in it, owing to the way in which it restricts teambuilding and overly centralizes the metagame. I can already hear the collective gasps of you readers now. I am aware that how “fun” a metagame is because of a Pokémon’s inclusion in it does not necessarily make that Pokémon detrimental to a metagame or its subsequent development, since enjoyment is not an objective measure and varies from person to person. However, I contend that the lack of community desire to play XY Ubers in major tournaments is a direct result of this seemingly meaningless measure; XY Ubers was simply not an enjoyable metagame to play. Sometimes, we as competitive players of a video game originally targeted at children lose sight of the fact that what we play is a game. Games, are, at their core, supposed to be enjoyable. If a game is not enjoyable, and thus becomes more analogous to work, then what is the point of playing it? I would strongly encourage you, the reader, whether you are an authority figure or a new user, to examine whether or not you truly believe Marshadow is a beneficial part of the SM Ubers metagame, both based on the objectively-based, and, yes, the subjective arguments I provided. However, I recognize that I am just one voice in a sea of players, so I’m curious as to what the rest of you think about Marshadow's impact on the metagame. Thank you for your time and attention, and I apologize for the length of this post.
-VD
Side note: This is not a ban nomination or ban discussion post (I'm aware those are not allowed on this particular thread). It is simply meant to be a thought-provoking post that encourages discussion about the impact, whether it is positive or negative, that Marshadow has had/will have on the metagame at large, as well as my opinion on the aforementioned matter. I'll delete it if it is deemed to be overly problematic, but I don't see why it would be.