Vexatious sent out Persian!
JMALL2010 sent out Ninetales!
The foe's Ninetales is floating on a balloon!
The foe's Ninetales's Drought intensified the sun's rays!
(100%)
VS
(100%)
Remember back when we talked about leads and how they can't predict an opponents team? Then you should also remember that there was an exception to this rule of mine: Weather. Whether or not weather is going to bother me, will depend on how he decides to abuse it. Luckily the sun is shining brightly, and as much as I love a good rain storm here and there, I wasn't in the mood to get soaking wet today.
Moving on to the task at hand, Ninetales is the premier lead to all sun teams. Whether or not (alright last weather pun for this turn I swear) I think it's the best lead for a sun team, is a different story all together. While these types of teams need the perma-weather going, it's not a great idea to lead off with them. Being key party members, having them in the lead position puts them at far to large a risk and gives away the intention of the team. Perhaps it is my love for U-turn, trick, and all the momentum hassling moves of Pokemon, but I believe any lead should be either an anti-lead or a set-up lead. We can argue setting up weather is a set-up lead, but the risks are far to great for that to be justified. Eh, but who am I to talk, I never use weather teams and I never will.
What I know about Ninetales is the same that I know about Politoed. I really hate spelling it "toed" but apparently that's how it is. Not like a "toad" but as in having Poli (many) toes. I get the play on words, but the spelling really irks me. Anyway, Both tend to carry one of two sets. Either a bulky defensive set with a status move, or a heavy hitting choice set. Ninetales though, has a third set it can be running which is a Nasty Plot set. Taking quick advantage of the sun and a +2 to his special attack, a lot of Ninetales can take a quick and early KO to put the match in their favor. So far, the only thing I know about this Ninetales is that it has a balloon which only eliminates one choice (literally).
Luckily for me, my Persian is the most annoying creation Arceus ever put into Kanto. With his version of trick (switcheroo), hypnosis, knock off, and u-turn as well as a Choice Scarf, Persian is a bitch. What I love about this lead is all the options that it gives me. Hypnosis can shut down Ninetales and in essence, thanks to the new sleep mechanics, take him out of the game. I could pop his balloon with knock off or a quick U-turn, and we all know how I love that move with an unholy passion, for some free momentum, but why pop the balloon when I could take it?
Switcheroo will not only give Persian a ground immunity, but will make Ninetales much more predictable later on. There are really only three moves I see him doing aside from switching. Flamethrower, Hypnosis, or Nasty Plot. Two of those moves are great starting moves on his part, but both will force a switch after he's locked into them. Flamethrower would be unfortunate thanks to Persian's abysmal stats and a switch could go either way depending on what he expects me to do. With 2.5/4 options in the favor of Switcheroo, take a guess at what I'm going to do. If you haven't caught on, please stop reading for your, and my, mental health.