Deck Knight said:
This leads to an odd dynamic where you actually run things like Landorus/Gliscor/Duggy in Rain because you know Mollux is no threat since its only relevant offensive STAB gets halved in Rain. I don't think that's a healthy dynamic, and I think like the frets over Pyroak's walling capabilities, the frets over Scald are overblown. Ironically without Scald, are Threats are only true Counters in Rain, which is playing against their own style. Switching in Tyranitar actually *decreases* in value because in Sand, Mollux can obliterate most of those checks with Fire attacks.
Rain will evolve to beat Mollux regardless of what we give CAP 3 to beat rain. Period. That said, if rain is forced to run Dugtrio / Landorus / Gliscor to beat Mollux, we have succeeded and we have weakened the core of rain teams by forcing them to substantially adjust to a potent anti-metagame threat. You need to realize that part of changing the metagame to shake it up is forcing it to adjust to something new. Assuming that "a changed metagame is unfavorable for CAP 3" means that we have failed when that metagame changed
because of CAP 3 is truly myopic in its scope.
252 Modest Choice Specs CAP 3 (Rain) Fire Blast
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 58.5% - 68.9%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 61.4% - 72.7%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 27.5% - 32.4%
252 Modest Choice Specs CAP 3 (Rain) Scald
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 154.8% - 182.5%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 163.6% - 193.1%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 146.3% - 172.2%
252 Modest Life Orb CAP 3 (Rain) Fire Blast
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 50.3% - 59.6%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 53.6% - 63.3%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 23.8% - 28.1%
252 Modest Life Orb CAP 3 (Rain) Scald
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 134.5% - 158.2%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 141.7% - 167.4%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 125.9% - 148.8%
252 Modest Leftovers CAP 3 (Rain) Fire Blast
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 39% - 46%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 41.4% - 48.9%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 18.2% - 21.6%
252 Modest Leftovers CAP 3 (Rain) Scald
vs. 252/0 Impish Toxic Orb Gliscor: 103.4% - 122%
vs. Jolly Choice Scarf Landorus: 109.7% - 129.2%
vs. 4/0 Jolly Choice Band Terrakion: 97.5% - 114.8%
The difference is staggering.
If rain is forced to run these Pokemon to beat Mollux, then we have succeeded at using the concept. If CAP 3 faces down sand and one of these Pokemon come in while the rain is still pouring down, then these Pokemon
do check CAP 3 extremely well.
You're right, Deck, we didn't create a counters list. And you know what? Even with CAP 3 not getting Scald, these Pokemon don't hard counter Mollux by any means. Gliscor can be dealt with, and two switch-ins puts Landorus down. Thunder can even punch through Terrakion fairly well (especially well 30% of the time). But if CAP 3 gets Scald, these Pokemon will not even be
threats anymore, they will be relocated to pure revenge killers. That is the distinction that made Salamence broken in DPP, and is the distinction that will either spell ruin for CAP 3 if it gets Scald or success if it doesn't.