eric the espeon
maybe I just misunderstood
Having a Ghost-type has long been almost necessary for a really successful team thanks to their many valuable immunities to common types (Normal, Fighting, and in most cases Ground) and other utility. Since SubSneak Missy was invented (HG/SS adding Nasty Plot helped too) Misdreavus' use has grown to almost totally dominate the other Ghosts and the metagame has shifted hugely to counter it, which made life harder for the other Ghosts in other ways (more Stunky and Munchlax for example).
With Misdreavus banned from Little Cup a large portion of the ~70% of team than ran it will likely be looking for a replacement Ghost. Here are the choices for other Ghosts in LC with a summery of their abilities and my personal predictions about how they will fare.
Gastly
Base Stats: 30 / 35 / 30 / 100 / 35 / 80
With a spread of 36 HP / 36 Def / 196 SpA / 196 Spe Timid: 20 / 9 / 10 / 19 / 10 / 18
Ability: Levitate
General attacking moves: Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Hidden Power, Psychic, Giga Drain.
Tricks up it's sleeve: Explosion, Hypnosis, Substitute, Trick Room, Trick, Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, Sucker Punch, Taunt, Mean Look, Knock Off.
Of all the possible replacements Gastly is my bet to take over Missy's throne as the king (queen I guess) of Ghosts, it has an wide offensive movepool and one of the highest Special Attack stats in LC as well as a handy secondary STAB. Gastly's real power lies in it's very unpredictable range of tricks up it's sleeve, it can blow up on Pokemon that would otherwise be counters or Sub/Hypnosis in the face of Sucker Punchers. However, it does have extreme 4mss (4 moveslot syndrome) and can never pull off all it's interesting moves while posing a direct threat, and it's speed just misses the 19 mark which along with its horrible defences makes it vastly easier to revenge kill than Missy. It also lacks any viable statup moves, which hurts a bit.
Duskull
Base Stats: 20 / 40 / 90 / 30 / 90 / 25
With a spread of 196 HP / 116 Def / 196 SpD Impish: 21 / 10 / 18 / 9 / 18 / 9
With a spread of 196 HP / 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD Impish: 21 / 13 / 17 / 9 / 16 / 9
Ability: Levitate
General attacking moves: Shadow Sneak, Shadow Punch, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Return, Body Slam, Hidden Power.
Supportive moves: Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, Trick Room, Trick, Destiny Bond, Substitute, Toxic, Taunt, Mean Look, Knock Off.
Stat wise Duskull is the polar opposite of Gastly. It has very solid defences, but low speed and poor offensive stats. Duskull also has a much less extensive movepool than Gastly, but it still has enough options to be able to do something useful when it's walling a Fighter or anything without a decent SE or very strong STAB attack. And Shadow Sneak is always a handy STAB priority move, with investment it is slightly stronger than Missy's unboosted one. I would not be surprised if Duskull got a significant boost now that Missy is gone, not only did Missy outclass it almost entirely (at least Gastly had Sludge Bomb, Explosion, and Hypnosis) but Misdreavus was one of the few Pokemon able to comfortably OHKO it.
Shuppet
Base Stats: 44 / 75 / 35 / 63 / 33 / 45
With a spread of 84 HP / 236 Atk / 76 Def / 92 SpD Brave 0 Spe IV: 22 / 17 / 11 / 12 / 11 / 8
With a spread of 84 HP / 76 Atk / 76 Def / 172 SpA / 92 SpD Brave 0 Spe IV: 22 / 15 / 11 / 15 / 11 / 8
Ability: Insomnia / Frisk
General attacking moves: Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch, Return, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Psychic.
Supportive moves: Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, Mirror Coat, Trick, Destiny Bond, Substitute, Toxic, Taunt, Knock Off.
Shuppet is possibly the most niche of those Ghosts, on one hand it is the most reliable Trick Room lead thanks to Insomnia and has a nice array of status and other annoying moves to go with its good Attack and STAB Shadow Sneak. On the other it's defenses are poor, though not as bad a Gastly's, and it outside Shadow Sneak and the redundant coverage and priority which Sucker Punch offers it lacks physical movepool. Going put special leaves it horribly outclassed by Gastly, and mixed requires splitting EVs which weakens you overall. I think that there are a few fun and effective Shuppet sets waiting to be found, and now that it's not under Missy's shadow (and Shadow Sneak) they will be explored and Shuppet will take a place as a mid-low level OU and staple on TR teams.
Drifloon
Base Stats: 90 / 50 / 34 / 60 / 44 / 70
With a spread of 36 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe Hasty: 26 / 12 / 9 / 15 / 11 / 15
Ability: Unburden / Aftermath
General attacking moves: Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power, Psychic.
Tricks up it's sleeve: Explosion, Hypnosis, Substitute, Trick, Destiny Bond, Baton Pass, Calm Mind, Charge Beam, Icy Wind, Memento, Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Sucker Punch, Taunt, Knock Off.
It no longer has the title of "Ghost least outclassed by Misdreavus", but it still has the same things that effective differentiate it from the other Ghosts. The key to Drifloon's success has always been its ability: Unburden. Unburden doubles Drifloon's Speed when it loses an item, and with the many useful losable items in LC (think Oran, Petaya, Focus Sash) and the extreme importance of Speed you have a brilliant combination. Drifloon also has a good set of tricks up its sleeve which should allow you to go out with a bang if you encounter something that you can't beat down. When comparing Drifloon's defensive ability to that of the other ghosts it's quite impressive how large an impact that 90 base HP has, Drifloon can (just) survive a Machop Ice Punch, and will often not be 3HKOed by max attack Munchlax Pursuit with Oran. All in all 'floon is easily my favorite Ghost to play with, and I think the one with the most potential when used carefully on the right team, but it is harder to throw onto any team and use well than Gastly.
So, how do you think the other Ghosts will do without Misdreavus around? What sets do you think will rise to the top?
With Misdreavus banned from Little Cup a large portion of the ~70% of team than ran it will likely be looking for a replacement Ghost. Here are the choices for other Ghosts in LC with a summery of their abilities and my personal predictions about how they will fare.
Gastly
Base Stats: 30 / 35 / 30 / 100 / 35 / 80
With a spread of 36 HP / 36 Def / 196 SpA / 196 Spe Timid: 20 / 9 / 10 / 19 / 10 / 18
Ability: Levitate
General attacking moves: Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Energy Ball, Hidden Power, Psychic, Giga Drain.
Tricks up it's sleeve: Explosion, Hypnosis, Substitute, Trick Room, Trick, Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, Sucker Punch, Taunt, Mean Look, Knock Off.
Of all the possible replacements Gastly is my bet to take over Missy's throne as the king (queen I guess) of Ghosts, it has an wide offensive movepool and one of the highest Special Attack stats in LC as well as a handy secondary STAB. Gastly's real power lies in it's very unpredictable range of tricks up it's sleeve, it can blow up on Pokemon that would otherwise be counters or Sub/Hypnosis in the face of Sucker Punchers. However, it does have extreme 4mss (4 moveslot syndrome) and can never pull off all it's interesting moves while posing a direct threat, and it's speed just misses the 19 mark which along with its horrible defences makes it vastly easier to revenge kill than Missy. It also lacks any viable statup moves, which hurts a bit.
Duskull
Base Stats: 20 / 40 / 90 / 30 / 90 / 25
With a spread of 196 HP / 116 Def / 196 SpD Impish: 21 / 10 / 18 / 9 / 18 / 9
With a spread of 196 HP / 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD Impish: 21 / 13 / 17 / 9 / 16 / 9
Ability: Levitate
General attacking moves: Shadow Sneak, Shadow Punch, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Return, Body Slam, Hidden Power.
Supportive moves: Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, Trick Room, Trick, Destiny Bond, Substitute, Toxic, Taunt, Mean Look, Knock Off.
Stat wise Duskull is the polar opposite of Gastly. It has very solid defences, but low speed and poor offensive stats. Duskull also has a much less extensive movepool than Gastly, but it still has enough options to be able to do something useful when it's walling a Fighter or anything without a decent SE or very strong STAB attack. And Shadow Sneak is always a handy STAB priority move, with investment it is slightly stronger than Missy's unboosted one. I would not be surprised if Duskull got a significant boost now that Missy is gone, not only did Missy outclass it almost entirely (at least Gastly had Sludge Bomb, Explosion, and Hypnosis) but Misdreavus was one of the few Pokemon able to comfortably OHKO it.
Shuppet
Base Stats: 44 / 75 / 35 / 63 / 33 / 45
With a spread of 84 HP / 236 Atk / 76 Def / 92 SpD Brave 0 Spe IV: 22 / 17 / 11 / 12 / 11 / 8
With a spread of 84 HP / 76 Atk / 76 Def / 172 SpA / 92 SpD Brave 0 Spe IV: 22 / 15 / 11 / 15 / 11 / 8
Ability: Insomnia / Frisk
General attacking moves: Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch, Return, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Psychic.
Supportive moves: Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, Mirror Coat, Trick, Destiny Bond, Substitute, Toxic, Taunt, Knock Off.
Shuppet is possibly the most niche of those Ghosts, on one hand it is the most reliable Trick Room lead thanks to Insomnia and has a nice array of status and other annoying moves to go with its good Attack and STAB Shadow Sneak. On the other it's defenses are poor, though not as bad a Gastly's, and it outside Shadow Sneak and the redundant coverage and priority which Sucker Punch offers it lacks physical movepool. Going put special leaves it horribly outclassed by Gastly, and mixed requires splitting EVs which weakens you overall. I think that there are a few fun and effective Shuppet sets waiting to be found, and now that it's not under Missy's shadow (and Shadow Sneak) they will be explored and Shuppet will take a place as a mid-low level OU and staple on TR teams.
Drifloon
Base Stats: 90 / 50 / 34 / 60 / 44 / 70
With a spread of 36 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe Hasty: 26 / 12 / 9 / 15 / 11 / 15
Ability: Unburden / Aftermath
General attacking moves: Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power, Psychic.
Tricks up it's sleeve: Explosion, Hypnosis, Substitute, Trick, Destiny Bond, Baton Pass, Calm Mind, Charge Beam, Icy Wind, Memento, Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Sucker Punch, Taunt, Knock Off.
It no longer has the title of "Ghost least outclassed by Misdreavus", but it still has the same things that effective differentiate it from the other Ghosts. The key to Drifloon's success has always been its ability: Unburden. Unburden doubles Drifloon's Speed when it loses an item, and with the many useful losable items in LC (think Oran, Petaya, Focus Sash) and the extreme importance of Speed you have a brilliant combination. Drifloon also has a good set of tricks up its sleeve which should allow you to go out with a bang if you encounter something that you can't beat down. When comparing Drifloon's defensive ability to that of the other ghosts it's quite impressive how large an impact that 90 base HP has, Drifloon can (just) survive a Machop Ice Punch, and will often not be 3HKOed by max attack Munchlax Pursuit with Oran. All in all 'floon is easily my favorite Ghost to play with, and I think the one with the most potential when used carefully on the right team, but it is harder to throw onto any team and use well than Gastly.
So, how do you think the other Ghosts will do without Misdreavus around? What sets do you think will rise to the top?