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In Generation 4, Porygon was a nice bulky sweeper with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. Lacking important level-up moves such as Tri Attack and Recover, it was simply a pretty bulky Normal-type that was slow but hit pretty hard with Download factored in. Even Hyper Beam was an option, as it was Porygon's only special STAB move. With Munchlax used on many teams, sets such as Trick Room/Return/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt popped up to give Porygon some STAB attacks. Then the Pomeg Glitch happened.

While others were ogling at marvels such as Belly Drum + ExtremeSpeed Zigzagoon and Hydro Pump Staryu, others saw how Porygon now could become a fierce sweeper with its newfound access to Agility and Tri Attack. 85 base Special Attack was no slouch, and it was fast enough to outpace common Choice Scarfers such as Mankey after an Agility. I remember using Porygon on Team Stinky Music, and it was a pretty solid sweeper. However, Porygon was still stuck in the land of good but not great. It spent more time Googling for #littlecup users than actually being used in battle. Vader was probably the only reason why Porygon was still considered a somewhat major threat.

Things appeared to get worse in Generation 5, with a huge influx of new and powerful Fighting-types. Porygon seemed doomed to the nonexistant LC UU. The addition of Eviolite meant that Agility Porygon was no longer such a huge threat, and even Meditite was around to terrorize Porygon. For many months, the usage of Porygon was extremely low.

After the bannings of the so-called "Big Four" (Gligar, Misdreavus, Meditite, and Carvanha), Porygon's future seemed unclear. While Meditite and Misdreavus were both pretty good Porygon checks, a huge rise in the usage of Mienfoo and Scraggy meant that Porygon still couldn't really sweep. However, a long-forgotten set known as the Charge Beam set made a return, abusing Porygon's excellent bulk, Trace, and that massive Special Attack stat. If you can 6-0 Elevator Music with one Pokemon, I think that would be pretty good.

So what's next for Porygon? Will it still be a decent stallbreaker and check to Chinchou and Gastly? Or will the Agility or Trick Room sets make a return and sweep teams like they used to? Only time will tell.

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[SET]
name: Eviolite
move 1: Tri Attack
move 2: Recover
move 3: Charge Beam / Thunderbolt
move 4: Ice Beam / Shadow Ball / Protect
item: Eviolite
ability: Trace
nature: Bold
evs: 236 HP / 196 Def / 76 SpA

Firstly, credit to Goldenknight for not only creating this set but also bringing it to #littlecup's attention. There's no way I would have written this thread without this set.

This is actually incredibly bulky. Eviolite along with those great defenses, as well as a pretty good defensive typing makes Porygon nearly unbeatable outside of very strong Fighting-type attacks. To demonstrate how bulky this set actually is, here are some calculations:

As you can see, Porygon can comfortably tank hits from some of the metagame's most powerful Pokemon and annihilate them with Tri Attack off of 16 Special Attack or a coverage move. If you have Toxic or Toxic Spikes support, Porygon can actually just Recover off damage until the foe dies from poison. Charge Beam is nice against things like Lickitung, which you beat (if you don't get Toxiced) instead of having to spam Ice Beam/Tri Attack for status. Thunderbolt gives you more upfront power though, although Ice Beam can help out since it has somewhat similar coverage. Shadow Ball gets pretty good coverage with Tri Attack, only being resisted by the rare Steel-types. It also always OHKOes standard Gastly that do not carry Eviolite. Protect can actually let you beat Mienfoo one on one if you get lucky, although most Mienfoo will U-turn out after having been hurt by Hi Jump Kick.

Toxic Spikes help this set out a lot, as with Recover you can actually stall out a lot of Pokemon (as previously mentioned). Tentacool is pretty good, as it resists Fighting-type moves often aimed at Porygon. Protect helps here too. A Heal Bell user such as Chinchou also is beneficial, as Porygon absolutely hates being Toxiced (unless you manage to Trace Poison Heal, in which case the game is basically over). Pokemon that beat Fighting-types such as Gastly also help out here, as you generally want to make them think twice about using Hi Jump Kick. Bulky Mienfoo or Croagunk are also nice for Scraggy that try to set up on Porygon. Paralysis support, whether via bulky Chinchou (who can also Heal Bell), Shroomish, or another Pokemon, is also pretty nice as Porygon reaches a measly 10 Speed. In general, Porygon and Chinchou make pretty good teammates, as Porygon can even remove Diglett by Tracing Arena Trap, living an Earthquake (a 3HKO) and OHKOing back with Tri Attack or Ice Beam. Staryu/Natu for removal/prevention of entry hazards, especially Toxic Spikes, makes Porygon a lot happier too. Porygon can even trace Volt Absorb from Chinchou trying to Volt Switch on Staryu and get some HP back that way.

The EVs give Porygon quite a bit of bulk. You can move some Defense EVs into Special Defense to take things like Abra's Hidden Power Fighting and Hydro Pumps better.

EDIT: A word from Goldenknight: ----
Other sets that Porygon does pretty well are Agility and Trick Room. Porygon does Agility pretty well, with that nice 19 Special Attack and 26 Speed after Agility. Tri Attack and Shadow Ball do pretty well together, and a coverage move to hit Steel-types like Hidden Power Fighting or Fire makes for one of the best Agility sweepers. However, the huge amount of Mienfoo, Scraggy, and Croagunk, all three of which Porygon is unable to OHKO even with Life Orb and a Modest nature, limits the viability of an Agility set. If Download ever becomes legal with Tri Attack, Agility could make a big return.

Trick Room is also pretty good, as with such massive bulk and Special Attack Porygon can either set up Trick Room for its teammates or sweep under it. Even the mixed Download set is pretty good if you can get Fighting-types out of the way. In general, that's the one rule of using Porygon: if you can kill Mienfoo, Scraggy, Croagunk, Timburr, Machop, and other Fighting-types, Porygon will easily rip teams apart. It's just getting there that's the hard part.