IronBullet
Astronomy Domine
I've played a significant number of games now against Crawdaunt and really don't understand some of the ban arguments. Yes it packs incredible power and is a huge threat, but it is just so slow and frail that I've not found it difficult to check. I don't think all this talk about it being broken against balance and offense has been backed up with valid reasoning. There are many viable offensive checks that teams can run against it. Hydreigon, Toxicroak, Whimsicott, Heliolisk, Virizion, Cobalion, Salamence, Shaymin, and Rotom-C (just off the top of my head) are all perfectly good Pokemon in their own right and can switch into at least one, if not both, of Crawdaunt's STABs and beat it. Of course, if the Crawdaunt user predicts perfectly and nails the check on the switch, e.g. Whismi with Sludge Wave, then fair play to him. However you need to keep in mind, as has been stated before many times, that prediction goes both ways. Crawdaunt is so frail that if it attacks with the wrong move it's either taking a truckload of damage or outright being KOed, which wastes the hard work you need to make to get in Crawdaunt in the first place. It's all fine to say that Crawdaunt has the coverage to beat its checks on paper, but it can only use these on the switch in most cases and you have to predict perfectly to take advantage of them. It's the ideal example of a high risk / reward Pokemon. Even if Crawdaunt manages to somehow get an SD off, there are still plenty of Pokemon that can take an Aqua Jet and can KO it - just look at the list above. On the other hand if Crawdaunt is switched out, you either concede momentum or give the opponent an opportunity to set up, which can obviously have damaging consequences. If Crawdaunt's ability to defeat offense / balance with its power and priority is what makes it broken then the same can be said for Lucario, Entei, and Mamoswine. All of these Pokemon are fearsome wallbreakers with powerful priority that have the ability to significantly threaten teams, but that doesn't make them broken. Just like Crawdaunt, there are plenty of ways to handle them.
As for Crawdaunt's matchup against stall, of course it's extremely threatening but then so are the likes of Hydreigon, Salamence, Feraligatr, and Lucario, which can all run coverage moves and have the sheer power to take out even their hardest counters. Stall has always managed to adjust to previous threats, being forced to adapt to a new one doesn't make it broken. If a Crawdaunt 6-0s a stall team then that simply comes down to poor teambuilding. Again, there are plenty of checks to Crawdaunt for stall to consider that are still viable options even in a Crawdaunt-less metagame. If people were forced to run obscure strategies, like HP Ice Bronzong for Zygarde, to counter Crawdaunt then yeah that could be an indication of overcentralization but this is not such a case.
If people want to argue that Crawdaunt is broken, that's fine, but you can't expect to be taken seriously with statements like its priority is too overpowering to handle, which it really isn't, or that it punishes bad choices and can defeat its checks with coverage moves, which is something that can be said out for pretty much any good wallbreaker. Sam made an excellent point in that Crawdaunt rewards good play. If you use Crawdaunt extremely well then chances are that it's going to put in a lot of work and blow some major holes in the opposing team. But the exact same can be said for Hydreigon, Salamence, Lucario, and Mega Sharpedo, and yet no one seems to be calling for their heads. Also, if you're talking about Crawdaunt rewarding good play, then you need to consider the opposite argument as well: if you play well against Crawdaunt, you can render it ineffective, which isn't hard to fathom considering its abysmal bulk and speed.
Crawdaunt has huge wallbreaking capability and is definitely a threat to take into account when you build teams, but that's the extent of its pros. It's very frail and slow and can even end up as dead weight seeing as it's almost impossible to switch in safely and does have plenty of viable checks for teams to utilise against it. If anything Mamoswine is more problematic to face than Crawdaunt thanks to its much better bulk, speed, and offensive typing, yet as of now it's comfortably in the tier. I'll be voting to keep Crawdaunt in UU.
As for Crawdaunt's matchup against stall, of course it's extremely threatening but then so are the likes of Hydreigon, Salamence, Feraligatr, and Lucario, which can all run coverage moves and have the sheer power to take out even their hardest counters. Stall has always managed to adjust to previous threats, being forced to adapt to a new one doesn't make it broken. If a Crawdaunt 6-0s a stall team then that simply comes down to poor teambuilding. Again, there are plenty of checks to Crawdaunt for stall to consider that are still viable options even in a Crawdaunt-less metagame. If people were forced to run obscure strategies, like HP Ice Bronzong for Zygarde, to counter Crawdaunt then yeah that could be an indication of overcentralization but this is not such a case.
If people want to argue that Crawdaunt is broken, that's fine, but you can't expect to be taken seriously with statements like its priority is too overpowering to handle, which it really isn't, or that it punishes bad choices and can defeat its checks with coverage moves, which is something that can be said out for pretty much any good wallbreaker. Sam made an excellent point in that Crawdaunt rewards good play. If you use Crawdaunt extremely well then chances are that it's going to put in a lot of work and blow some major holes in the opposing team. But the exact same can be said for Hydreigon, Salamence, Lucario, and Mega Sharpedo, and yet no one seems to be calling for their heads. Also, if you're talking about Crawdaunt rewarding good play, then you need to consider the opposite argument as well: if you play well against Crawdaunt, you can render it ineffective, which isn't hard to fathom considering its abysmal bulk and speed.
Crawdaunt has huge wallbreaking capability and is definitely a threat to take into account when you build teams, but that's the extent of its pros. It's very frail and slow and can even end up as dead weight seeing as it's almost impossible to switch in safely and does have plenty of viable checks for teams to utilise against it. If anything Mamoswine is more problematic to face than Crawdaunt thanks to its much better bulk, speed, and offensive typing, yet as of now it's comfortably in the tier. I'll be voting to keep Crawdaunt in UU.