>>31054177Minior has a couple of advantages over Cloyster, and a few disadvantages.
Acrobatics is very, very good, and Edgequake is fantastic coverage to be packing on a +2. Minior doesn't have quite as good physical bulk, but also has far better special bulk while in Shields up. Shields up prevents something from ruining your sweep with a well placed Thunder Wave or Wisp, and the ability as a whole pulls off some mini-Aegislash level bullshit with its stats. It is also less reliant on its item, as the purpose of the White Herb is mostly to be consumed anyways. Cloyster on the other hand really needs that sash, meaning spikes or rocks severely hurt it.
If Minior wants, it can run Power Gem over stone edge for that sexy mixed coverage (Not unlike Surf on Cloyster). Minior covers its weaknesses better, but is more susceptible to priority, especially Bullet Punch.
Cloyster counters people who switch to counter it, while Minior really wants to get hit on the set-up turn.
They have major differences in style, but I'd say Minior is a bit better overall because of its versatility. Without ever Shell Smashing, Minior can help the team by swapping into status. hazard control isn't as big a deal, and unlike Cloyster who heavily relies on Icicle SPear, Minior threatens with three quite good moves. The tradeoff to Minior is the lack of multihit utility, and priority weakness, especially once Shields go down.
The real question is why not both?
