80%+ of Jirachi users (ab)use Jirachi with the intention of flinching their opponent to death, typically via the infamous combination of heart stamp, air slash and a choice scarf. The two moves with high flinch chances can hit most Pokemon for neutral damage, and serene grace usually stops them from retaliating. I definitely believe that Jirachi is not a competitive Pokemon when all you have to do is press a button and beat your opponent purely through luck.
I laddered most of the suspect with the following Jirachi set. It's worth noting that I fucked around on the ladder with a stupid Crustle set so my overall stats don't reflect my success rate with Jirachi
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heart Stamp
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Trick
(I later added EV's to DEF over SP DEF in order to eat sucker punches)
Here are some absolutely disgusting replays which show just how uncompetitive Jirachi and how winning with it purely comes down to relying on luck, something which shouldn't be encouraged.
Replay 1 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681570118 (Jirachi VS Mega Lucario)
Replay 2 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681574442 (Jirachi VS Raichu-Alola)
Replay 3 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681575438 (Jirachi VS Sigilyph)
Replay 4 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681575933 (Jirachi VS Shuckle)
Replay 5 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681578646 (Jirachi VS Avalugg)
Replay 6 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681581541 (Jirachi VS Mew. Yes, I can eat an overheat.)
Replay 7 --
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen71v1suspecttest-681587049 (Jirachi VS Mega Gyarados. A loss but 5 flinches in a row at -1 lol)
Yes, of course Jirachi has counters. However, it can kill almost all Pokemon that it outspeeds due to the insane flinch chance. This is bearable in metagames where you can switch out into something that 1) outspeeds it and hits it hard or 2) has priority, but it's stupidly broken in 1v1, where there is no switching and you have to make do with what you've got. Jirachi takes away any sense of competitiveness from the game and turns it into a game of pot luck. Needs to be banned so that 1v1 can refocus itself around legitimate strategy and skill as opposed to flinching.
Notable counters to Jirachi which are commonly used:
- Mimikyu with focus sash, disguise and shadow sneak priority.
- Golem with sucker punch.
- Mega Gyarados (intimidate + crunch)
Jirachi needs to go. Haven't had the time to finish laddering and make my vote, but I plan on doing so within the next couple days. I can deal with mons who have secondary focuses on move effects (such as Gyarados, which can flinch but isn't used to do so), but Jirachi is almost exclusively used in order to flinch opponents which is not acceptable in my eyes.