Choice Scarf has been around for 3 generations now (wow, that many already?) so everyone knows what it does-- gives a 1.5 boost to the user's Speed while disabling its ability to switch attacks (without switching out). It's always been a great item for revenge killing, or adding survivability to an offensive Pokemon who's natural Speed or Bulk were not quite up to stuff; and for a "limiting" item has enabled a surprising diversity of unique strategies over the generations.
In 6th Gen, the huge diversity of powerful and common priority moves has really changed the role and influence of Choice Scarf on the meta-- in that, there is no standard Scarf user or meta.
Background Information of "Standard of Scarf Speed" in 4th and 5th Gens
While there was always a diversity of roles and scarf user types, traditionally (in 4th and 5th gen) there would be 1 or 2 Scarf users that set a "standard" for scarf, around which the "scarf metagame" would evolve because the standard would establish a "standard" for scarfer Speed--
102 Base Speed (Early DP Standard)
100 Base Speed (DPP/HGSS Standard)
102 Base Speed (Early BW Standard)
99 Base Speed (Early B2W2 Standard)
108 Base Speed (Late B2W2 Standard)
Traditionally, the standard would be set by a Pokemon that had a combination of bulk, power, and Speed while lacking a weakness to Pursuit. Normally, it would be the fastest Pokemon in the metagame to possess these traits, though Genesect broke this rule simply by being the best through greater power and utility (and Scarf Chomp only held the title in early BW because people didn't experiment with Scarf Terrak enough).
Faster Pokemon would be limited in Scarf ability because of a weakness to Pursuit (Gengar, Starmie, Lati@s were never able to become the standard).
However, the reason why this concept of "standard scarfer" is important at all is because Scarfers slower than the standard would put their team at a disadvantage, simply because so many games between offensive teams would be decided by "who has the faster Scarf user". Scarf Pokemon had such a tremendous influence on battles, especially late battle, that having a slower Scarf Pokemon immediately put a player at a big disadvantage.
In late 4th gen, the games won or lost by Speed tie of Flygon v. Flygon v. Jirachi v. Jirachi (all Jolly max Speed) were disgusting, so while Flygon especially wanted to run Adamant, all were almost obliged to run Jolly. Meanwhile using a Pokemon like Tyranitar or Heracross as a Scarf user, always came at the cost of losing against the standard (so things like TTar or Heatran would always be niche, and things like Scarf-cross fell off the map completely).
With Genesect banned, reaching it's mature state-- it's not surprising the BW2 found Terrak and Keldeo as the standard (the fastest Pokemon with bulk, Speed, and Power, not weak to Pursuit). Things like Garchomp, Landorus, Salamence, and Hydreigon would always be at a disadvantage because of Speed.
The interesting thing about XY is that this Standard of Scarf Speed development doesn't really exist-- with so much priority, the power and influence of "natural" Speed has been greatly diminished, and the influence that Choice Scarf base Speed has on the metagame has been even more diminished.
Even Genesect could not set a standard of Speed-- because while Genesect was the most useful or popular Scarf user, games that would be decided in end game by "who's Genesect won the Speed tie" were few and far between; and Genesect's popularity didn't stop Scarf Pokemon like Excadrill, Landorus-T, and Rotom-W from being very popular.
With Genesect more likely being floored by a powerful priority Acrobatics, Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave than living to fight for a Speed tie, there was relatively little need to match or beat that 99 base Speed. Also Salamence's (and Haxorus) drop in effectiveness (and therefore DD role being dominated by slower Pokemon like Dragonite and Gyarados), there was even less pressure to need high base Speed on a Choice Scarfer. Deoxys-S outspeeding basically anything that could be a standard is the nail in the coffin.
With this change in nature of Scarf use in XY, there is actually much greater freedom to choose a variety of Scarf users-- because utility, bulk, movepool, typing, etc. etc. now have a chance to play a much bigger role! It's not just about base Speed anymore.
It also means you have more more freedom to NOT choose a +Speed nature, adding even further to Scarfer diversity!
Right now, the top Scarf users in XY are probably:
Mold Breaker
-Earthquake
-Iron Head
-Rapid Spin
-Rock Slide
Awesome coverage, awesome power, and even awesome utility with that speedy Rapid Spin. Mold Breaker Earthquake is absolutely epic! Resistance to Flying (and Normal) is a huge help in dealing with Priority.
-Hydro Pump
-Volt Switch
-Trick
-W-o-W / Filler Attack (HP Ice, Signal Beam, etc.)
The tricky washing machine has always been a great Scarf user, but now even better without the setting of a "standard Speed".
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Knock Off
-U-Turn
Notice that they're all slower Pokemon, and in this case, all bringing Utility roles in addition to revenge killing! Without a set standard (an idea even further weakened with Genesect's banning), we can expect even more creativity with Scarf users going into the future.
What other types of Pokemon might get a chance to succeed with a stylish Scarf, where they never would have worked before?
Swarm / Technician
-Iron Head / Bullet Punch
-U-Turn
-Knock Off / Pursuit
-Superpower / Pursuit
How about using Scarf Scizor with Defog??
-Icycle Crash
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Knock Off / Super Power
There's always Stone Edge and Ice Shard to consider too!
-Dazzling Gleam
-Ancient Power
-Air Slash
-Aura Sphere / Fire Blast
Kill ALL the Charizards!
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