dwarfstar
mindless philosopher
Nyktos, Base Speed, and alexwolf said everything I was thinking and more about Rapid Spin; I won't bother rehashing their arguments. Allow Rapid Spin.
I'm inclined to disallow Stealth Rock; I'm not certain about Spikes and Toxic Spikes yet.
On the topic of field effects:
Allow Sunny Day. Literally every Grass-type so far has been able to learn the move, and it works with the concept.
Disallow Rain Dance. I don't understand how giving Malaconda Rain Dance will magically make it attractive to rain teams, since nearly everything it does can be done better by Pokemon better suited to rain. I just don't see the point in allowing the move in general.
Disallow Trick Room. Trick Room is pretty counterproductive for sun, since these teams rely predominantly on fast, powerful threats. As such, the only utility it would have for Malaconda would be on non-sun teams. Granted, Reuniclus does a better job at this, but nothing good can come from allowing the move.
I really don't see anything inherently good or bad in the existence of Gravity in the movepool, so I'll leave this to the rest of you to hash out.
On the topic of move limiters:
Allow Taunt. It just stops setup, rather than actually enabling Malaconda to beat its counters.
I don't see any point in letting the trapping moves in, but I'll reserve judgment until I see whether Perish Song is allowed.
Disallow Disable. The possibility that Malaconda will be able to stall out counters who can't OHKO it with Disable is too big a risk for us to take.
Torment deserves a section all its own IMO; it's a strange and underrated technique. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
Very few specially-based Pokemon (and not all physical Pokemon, even) carry multiple moves that do much to Malaconda, which means Torment basically guarantees it a free turn (either through forcing a switch or making the opponent use a largely ineffectual move). This free turn becomes more or less threatening depends on what else is allowed in Malaconda's movepool. Having an extra turn for Power Whip or Crunch is unlikely to be game-breaking, given that the other notable Torment user, Heatran, does more on average with its own attacks and isn't considered broken (despite how annoying it is to play against), so let's look at status/support moves. A free Rapid Spin isn't immediately threatening, but that kind of support is invaluable for the rest of the team. Now, I'm inclined to allow Torment in a vacuum with just those options there, as I've observed what I believe to be too much skittishness about what we allow for Malaconda in the wake of Aurumoth. A semi-free turn to Glare, on the other hand, would likely be too big an advantage for Malaconda; I'm not certain whether a free Substitute turn is or not. I'm thinking we should allow Torment only if Glare is disallowed.
That being said, I'm in favor of allowing Glare and the other paralysis moves. Paralysis doesn't do much for Malaconda outside of deterring setup from opposing Pokemon, since its most important counters beat it 1v1 even with the Speed drop.
Sleep-inducing moves should be disallowed. While the counters wouldn't necessarily fall to Malaconda this way, the fact that they can't attack at all for however long they're asleep leaves said threats as sitting targets for the rest of the team, as opposed to simply making it more difficult for them to fight off your team's onslaught like paralysis would.
More to come later.
I'm inclined to disallow Stealth Rock; I'm not certain about Spikes and Toxic Spikes yet.
On the topic of field effects:
Allow Sunny Day. Literally every Grass-type so far has been able to learn the move, and it works with the concept.
Disallow Rain Dance. I don't understand how giving Malaconda Rain Dance will magically make it attractive to rain teams, since nearly everything it does can be done better by Pokemon better suited to rain. I just don't see the point in allowing the move in general.
Disallow Trick Room. Trick Room is pretty counterproductive for sun, since these teams rely predominantly on fast, powerful threats. As such, the only utility it would have for Malaconda would be on non-sun teams. Granted, Reuniclus does a better job at this, but nothing good can come from allowing the move.
I really don't see anything inherently good or bad in the existence of Gravity in the movepool, so I'll leave this to the rest of you to hash out.
On the topic of move limiters:
Allow Taunt. It just stops setup, rather than actually enabling Malaconda to beat its counters.
I don't see any point in letting the trapping moves in, but I'll reserve judgment until I see whether Perish Song is allowed.
Disallow Disable. The possibility that Malaconda will be able to stall out counters who can't OHKO it with Disable is too big a risk for us to take.
Torment deserves a section all its own IMO; it's a strange and underrated technique. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
Very few specially-based Pokemon (and not all physical Pokemon, even) carry multiple moves that do much to Malaconda, which means Torment basically guarantees it a free turn (either through forcing a switch or making the opponent use a largely ineffectual move). This free turn becomes more or less threatening depends on what else is allowed in Malaconda's movepool. Having an extra turn for Power Whip or Crunch is unlikely to be game-breaking, given that the other notable Torment user, Heatran, does more on average with its own attacks and isn't considered broken (despite how annoying it is to play against), so let's look at status/support moves. A free Rapid Spin isn't immediately threatening, but that kind of support is invaluable for the rest of the team. Now, I'm inclined to allow Torment in a vacuum with just those options there, as I've observed what I believe to be too much skittishness about what we allow for Malaconda in the wake of Aurumoth. A semi-free turn to Glare, on the other hand, would likely be too big an advantage for Malaconda; I'm not certain whether a free Substitute turn is or not. I'm thinking we should allow Torment only if Glare is disallowed.
That being said, I'm in favor of allowing Glare and the other paralysis moves. Paralysis doesn't do much for Malaconda outside of deterring setup from opposing Pokemon, since its most important counters beat it 1v1 even with the Speed drop.
Sleep-inducing moves should be disallowed. While the counters wouldn't necessarily fall to Malaconda this way, the fact that they can't attack at all for however long they're asleep leaves said threats as sitting targets for the rest of the team, as opposed to simply making it more difficult for them to fight off your team's onslaught like paralysis would.
More to come later.