moving on (because i think we've all had enough of otr rank for one day), what even happened to meloetta?
Fuck yea, discussion on my baby whooooooooooo!
O.k, I am nowhere near the only person testing Meloetta, but there ARE a few good sets that work for it, and separate it from Jirachi.
Meloetta (IMO) as THREE really excellent sets, that people really should start testing, they are as follows: Relic Song Mixed, CM + 3 Attacks, and Specially Defensive.
Relic Song Mixed
How it works
-Relic Song Mixed is really nice, since you can make use of that amazing special attack stat, and then switch formes and sweep late game with Close Combat. From experience, its actually a fairly neat set (I ran it with CM Sub Jirachi and double Serene Grace Thunders is such a massive (BAN ME PLEASE) to a lot of teams), and its slightly difficult to counter, since there is always that 20% chance your counter just fell asleep. Meloetta can also get around being "forme blocked" since there isn't very many ghosts that enjoy taking a +1 LO Thunder on the switch in. The set is rather neat, since out of all the sets the Meloetta can use, it can work against any team. Calm Mind sets might struggle against faster, "hyper offensive" teams, but Relic Song Mixed doesn't need much to forme change and introduce a strong momentum switch, that Close Combat is deceptively strong.
The only gripe I have with Relic Song Mixed, is that fact that Life Orb is petty heavily recommended, and Meloetta has enough natural bulk to take a few Special / Physical attacks provided it doesn't lose health via Life Orb. Sure, your not investing into that bulk, but its just nice to have.
Is it outclassed?
Pretty much nothing outclasses it, I rate it much better than a pure Relic Song + 3 physical attacks, since you are actually walled by less shit, and you have a nice niche in shifting formes. I don't need to go on about this, its prolly going to be its flagship set, it works pretty well, and only Meloetta can run it so =]
Calm Mind + 3 Attacks
-O.k anyone whos read my RMT knows that I used this set a lot, and it was really effective. Jimbon was really nice and linked it for me, so I won't waste time copying my paragraph from there, over here. Basically, CM + 3 Attacks, blasts holes in defensive / balanced teams, since it has really awesome coverage, and it hits like a fucking nuke. Seriously, to begin with, you have about the same attack stat as Latios, but you have a Modest Nature, so you effectively hit harder, you have the option of running Life Orb, for more power but you don't really need it. On top of this you have Calm Mind, as well as Psyshock, which means you can nuke through those pink blobs and not give a shit at all. Focus Blast means that Tyranitar isn't going to wall you, and honestly, Meloetta just blasts holes into the opponent, and then something else can and will sweep. If the opponents team is already weakened, well thats fine, Meloetta sweeps clean (which it managed to do a LOT when I ran it). The obvious disadvantage, with Meloetta, is that its going to struggle a little more against offensive teams, but honestly, I don't really care when a single Calm Mind just results me in murdering so many balanced teams, its jusst plain scary.
Is it outclassed?
A few people claim Calm Mind is outclassed by Jirachi, and I would agree that Sub Calm Mind Jirachi outclasses Sub Calm Mind Meloetta. However, I believe that CM + 3 Attacks, is just a different kettle of fish, since that initial power and coverage, is something that is almost impossible to replicate. CM Latios doesn't outclass it, (personally) since Meloetta doesn't have worry about Tyranitar, and it potentially has better coverage. Calm Mind Latias lacks the brutal, raw power that Calm Mind 3 Attacks Meloetta has, and in all honestly, I don't know what else you can compare it to. Its a solid set, should be used more.
Specially Defensive Meloetta
In all honestly, this part of my post I feel is going to be controversial, since I bet many people could argue that logically, Jirachi (or Celebi) can do this better thanks to recovery. In all honesty, I thought this too, but man, I was just blown away by the shit it could handle. Its honestly hard for me to find words, as during testing, the thing just didn't fucking die. The sad thing was, the amount of special bulk I ended up running (for reference I think I first tested SDef Meloetta on Dear Susan) was small (since I wanted to outspeed Breloom), but dam did it tank. I actually ran it because I wanted Perish Song, which is an amazing move, and its what gives Meloetta its niche value in running a specially defensive set. It was an awesome check to Rank, Gengar, and shit, and it was nice being able to run a pokemon like it, which didn't have a fire weakness. I am not at all saying it 100% outclasses Jirachi, but in my testing, it was pretty darn good, and I did feel that it was different enough from Jirachi to prevent it from being outclassed. However, as I said, I am expecting a bit of debate on this.
Problems with Meloetta in general
I personally think that Genosect and Scizor enjoying rather a lot of usage, puts many people off from using Meloetta. Their is no denying that both these pokemon check Meloetta rather well, however, I think people underrate Meloetta quite a bit, which also doesn't help it out. One advantage I had during testing, was knowing just how much health I needed Scizor to be on before I could kill with a +1 FB, how I could lure in and cripple / kill Genosect, stuff like that. Meloetta does require a fair bit of skill to use effectively, and I have a feeling its going to end up one of those "niche" pokemon near the bottom of OU, that a few players will keep using since many people have no idea how to handle it. I do feel sad about this, since its actually a very good pokemon (and 50% of the reason I posted my team was so people could use it, test it, and basically test Meloetta out a little more to keep interest up), it just requires a bit of skill and support to use well. The tricky thing about Meloetta is that finding good, initial switch ins to Meloetta, is pretty hard, since both Relic Song Mixed, and CM + 3 Attacks can be very, very threatening (which some people still don't get T_T ). Also please please please don't Shadow Ball Meloetta, once I can understand, but getting a free Calm Mind boost cos your dumb Gengar spammed Shadow Ball against me just makes me doubt your intelligence.
also, tyranitar hard walls purely special meloetta, which is quite the nuisance considering it's top 5 or 6 in usage. the underlying issue, however, is that cm meloetta is outclassed by cm jirachi in every single element besides special defense (and who cares about that? base 100 to base 130 isn't significant when you're boosting).
Picking up on this quote because I 100% respectively disagree after doing a large amount of testing. (I might have misread this quote tho so feel free to ignore me if this is the case.) To begin with, Choice Band Tyranitar gets flat out OHKOed by a +0 Focus Blast, Specially Defensive takes upward of 67% at +0, at +1, its a guaranteed OHKO, so I don't really think that Tyranitar "walls" Special Meloetta, or indeed any Meloetta, when the other sets pack Close Combat.
On Calm Mind + 3 Attacks Meloetta, being outclassed by CM Jirachi, I don't at all see how thats true either. I am not sure what Jirachi set you are comparing with CM + 3 Attacks Meloetta, but I am pretty sure that Meloetta plays a lot differently, and really isn't outclassed. For starters, you are ignoring the initial power that Calm Mind Meloetta has. Sure, "Your boosting", however, Meloetta just doesn't need a boost for it to lay the hurt on a lot of things, the power from its initial attacks are really strong. Basically, Meloetta can switch in, and attack off the bat, if it has a chance to Calm Mind, only 1 boost is really needed since you just have so much power. Jirachi needs a few boosts, and it also (arguably,) lacks Meloetta's amazing coverage. Psychic / Fighting / Ghost is pretty excellent and hitting about as hard as OTR Reuniclus is really significant. Jirachi usually runs 252 HP, 252 Speed Timid, because it needs that speed. Meloetta would love hitting the base 100 speed tier, its true, however its current speed tier means that it can run a much more offensive EV spread, and make better use of its coverage and power. Personally, I think that CM + 3 Attacks Meloetta fully outclasses SuperRachi, and plays very differently to Sub Calm Mind Jirachi, one can hit very hard, very quickly without a dominant need for set up, while the other takes a little longer to get going, and uses its invested bulk and typing better. Both sets play to their respective strengths, Meloetta has its excellent power, special bulk, and coverage, Jirachi has its speed, well rounded bulk, and typing. Both work very differently
But hey, don't just take my word for it, go out and test them!!!
tl:dr
ginganinja loves Meloetta and wasted a good 3 hours of his holiday typing this response up.