[6 / 2 / ?]
Quoted By: >>32535533 >>32535586
This is something that has been bothering me for a while since it's similar to one of the problems Dragon spam created, and now Fairy does basically the same thing while arguably being just as strong.
People used to run Steels to tank Outrages/Draco Meteors and whatnot, and because of that the archetype of DragMag was created: use Magnezone to trap and get rid of a counter (or severely weaken them) so that you can sweep with your Dragon since you could often free a moveslot if you don't have to deal with said counter directly. This wasn't the only type of trapping around since Dugtrio was also used to revenge kill or get rid of some threats like Heatran (especially in the periods where Genesect wasn't banned), Tyranitar (also Bisharp starting in Gen 6) was commonly used to get rid of Lati@s, and later on Gothitelle became so controversial that they banned Shadow Tag.
So while Fairy definitely neutered Dragon spam and made it very uncommon, trapping is still running strong. This is because ALL the types that resist Fairy are weak to Ground, and all the common Steels that aren't weak to Ground have always been Magnezone's primary targets. Almost all of the OU-viable pokémon that resist Fairy can be removed by one of them:
Dugtrio: Heatran, Magearna, Toxapex, Alolan Marowak, Jirachi, Nihilego, Excadrill, Nidoking, Volcanion, Tentacruel, Victini, Magnezone/Magneton
Magnezone: Celesteela, Ferrothorn, M-Mawile, M-Scizor, Skarmory, Bronzong, other Magnezone/Magneton, Kartana if scarfed
The only things that resist Fairy that could possibly deal with both while staying healthy is Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur. Trapping is so good that now Dugtrio is considered A rank and Magnezone A-, something that definitely wouldn't be true in the last 2/3 generations.
Is Fairy coupled with trapping too strong to the point of being an issue in Singles? Or is that part of a much bigger problem?
People used to run Steels to tank Outrages/Draco Meteors and whatnot, and because of that the archetype of DragMag was created: use Magnezone to trap and get rid of a counter (or severely weaken them) so that you can sweep with your Dragon since you could often free a moveslot if you don't have to deal with said counter directly. This wasn't the only type of trapping around since Dugtrio was also used to revenge kill or get rid of some threats like Heatran (especially in the periods where Genesect wasn't banned), Tyranitar (also Bisharp starting in Gen 6) was commonly used to get rid of Lati@s, and later on Gothitelle became so controversial that they banned Shadow Tag.
So while Fairy definitely neutered Dragon spam and made it very uncommon, trapping is still running strong. This is because ALL the types that resist Fairy are weak to Ground, and all the common Steels that aren't weak to Ground have always been Magnezone's primary targets. Almost all of the OU-viable pokémon that resist Fairy can be removed by one of them:
Dugtrio: Heatran, Magearna, Toxapex, Alolan Marowak, Jirachi, Nihilego, Excadrill, Nidoking, Volcanion, Tentacruel, Victini, Magnezone/Magneton
Magnezone: Celesteela, Ferrothorn, M-Mawile, M-Scizor, Skarmory, Bronzong, other Magnezone/Magneton, Kartana if scarfed
The only things that resist Fairy that could possibly deal with both while staying healthy is Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur. Trapping is so good that now Dugtrio is considered A rank and Magnezone A-, something that definitely wouldn't be true in the last 2/3 generations.
Is Fairy coupled with trapping too strong to the point of being an issue in Singles? Or is that part of a much bigger problem?