Chloe
NUPL Champion
Scrafty has been a divisive issue amongst PU players over the second half of Generation 8 PU. Its Dark- and Fighting-type STABs are incredibly difficult to switch into in tandem, and hence require very specific counterplay.
Most teams are required to run a specific Pokemon or set just to check Scrafty. Usually this means defaulting to Ribombee which is the best Fairy-type in the tier by far. It is nice role compression as it is also a great form of speed control, a cleric, and is generally a menace offensively. It's not a long term check though, due to its Stealth Rock weakness and how frequently its Heavy-Duty Boots are removed with Knock Off during the first few turns. The fact that you are required to run a Fairy-type (or a couple other mons) on every team just to deal with it however, is not ideal to say the least. Scrafty being gone from the tier would free up the teambuilder immensely in this regard.
Over the last year or so, Scrafty has also been seen running Choice Band sets, Dragon Dance sets, and even 3 Attacks + Substitute sets. These all have a tendency to run coverage for Fairy-types (Poison Jab / Iron Head), rendering Scrafty's usual checks invalid. Ribombee can no longer reliably switch into Scrafty as a result of this. Choice Band sets also are able to muscle through non-Fairy type Pokemon that are otherwise decent checks like Charm + Leech Seed Eldegoss or Quagsire. Scrafty has a lot of set versatility that enables it to get through all of its checks in one way or another.
On top of this, Scrafty is also paired with Spikes absurdly frequently due to how prominent hazard stacking is in the metagame in addition to how potent Knock Off is when used alongside this. Scrafty is great at breaking down defensive builds through its use of Knock Off, and considering its offensive capabilities, this is rarely easy to deal with from the opposite side. On a much lesser, however still relevant note, Scrafty also pairs incredibly well with Future Sight Articuno-Galar. These two in conjunction make counterplay even more difficult. Many times you'll see Gigalith or Aggron opt for Protect just so they can deal with this combination somewhat well; however, this can be abused. This replay of xavgb vs ProDigeZz from PUPL, even if slightly outdated, shows how Dragon Dance Scrafty can take advantage of this Protect turn and run away with the game.
Even with these obvious issues, Scrafty has never been the uber prominent threat that other banned Pokemon in our tier have been. Each of its sets have specific flaws that hold them back. Bulk Up sets obviously can't break through Fairy-types, Quagsire and Eldegoss. Choice Band sets struggle to get opportunities to break due to the prevalence of Protect on Pokemon it would like to switch into like Gigalith. Substitute sets lack any real firepower to break through Quagsire, Sandaconda and other defensive powerhouses; and Dragon Dance sets, even if they opt for Drain Punch, lack substantial longevity.
Scrafty also is just quite slow. Its speed tier of base 58 is middling, being naturally slower than the majority of our defensive Pokemon like Weezing, Eldegoss, and Sandaconda. Even after a max Speed Jolly Scrafty uses Dragon Dance it is still outsped by Ribombee and Whimsicott with ease. This means Scrafty requires prediction, or removing these Pokemon prior, in order to successfully deal with them. Its Attack stat of 90 is also somewhat low, but it mostly makes up for this due to its offensive movepool being outstanding.
Some replays of Scrafty in action.
SCL - gum vs soulgazer | DD Scrafty runs away with the game.
SCL - jonfilch vs sensei axew | Ribombee gets whittled down for DD Scrafty end game.
SCL - z0mog vs jonfilch | CB Scrafty's power allows it to 2HKO everything on the opposing team.
What is the purpose of this thread?
We would like to have meaningful discussion pertaining to whether Scrafty should remain in the SS PU metagame, or whether it should be banned. Hopefully through this discourse we can come to a suitable conclusion, and end SS PU on a high note. A vote will be held after some time has passed, to decide which outcome should be taken.
Why a Policy Review thread?
We planned to hold this as a regular suspect test, but since Generation 8 is technically an old generation, this is how we were told to address it. There is every intention to bring this to a vote afterwards. The requirements for this will be decided upon in due course. I hope to see many people voice their opinion on Scrafty in SS PU! Thank you for reading, and I look forward to reading your posts.