[Guide] Competitive Analysis: Oblivicorn

[Dragonstrike]

I just remember something that could be a problem: Chainite. One of its abilities, Shadow Tag, would be banned by normal Smogen agenda, due to its very nature preventing counter play. However, it is arguably its most useful ability as well, given that Cursed Body is less than useful due to its sub par bulk hindering it from taking too many hits. Thoughts on what to do with this monster?

The thing to consider with that is does Chainite pose enough of a threat with Shadow Tag to guarantee a win condition?  That's why Shadow Tag Gothitelle was banned from everything except Ubers.  It would trap something that couldn't touch it, and then set up Calm Minds to its heart's desire, Rest whenever needed, and sweep.  There wasn't a reasonable answer to that outside of the ultra powerful physical attackers residing in the highest tier of play.

If Chainite can reliably do something similar with its own Shadow Tag sets, it's a problem.  If not, it's a bit more like the usual Arena Trap pokemon.

A Chainite with a set similar to Gothitelle's would likely be Curse (it's only dual boosting move), Rest, Shadow Sneak (because of the speed drops), and Drain Punch (for that perfect type coverage and extra recovery).  That might be a bit too much for the game, but it depends on how well special attackers can dent the ghost after a couple of curses.

Such a set could still have a niche in Ubers play if it's banned from the lower tiers, though, since Gothitelle found one there with Shadow Tag, so there's that to still consider.  And with Nucleon around (and other powerful special attackers, but mainly Nucleon. Urayne and N-Jerbolta can do the same thing too, technically), Chainite can't really afford to try setting up until the radioactive eevee is dead, so there's likely not as many issues with Shadow Tag Chainite in the highest tiers.