Well, spring break is over, classes start back up again tomorrow (although my first one is Tuesday afternoon :P), and the next stage of CCAT is in progress.
For Zoroark, I am not a fan of Protect. Although it is excellent for scouting, particularly on Zoroark, as it can clue you in on your opponent's state of mind, how they react to a potential Zoroark, etc., I feel that it's utility is limited. It works one turn at a time. If the move that your opponent used threatens Zoroark, you still have to switch out, and this can be hard to play off of. It doesn't stop anything that would normally stop Zoroark, and it take a skilled player to adequately use the mind games Protect can play. I feel that a team like Katakiri's is required to make Protect an effective move, and re-creating that sort of team, almost imitating it, isn't what CCAT is about.
I am very much a supporter of Sub+NP. Early game it will play much like a Sub Breloom or a Sub Gengar, subbing to save itself from hits, get the right move off against the switch-in, etc. While it still retains the utility of sweeping later on. And it can actually get both somewhat easily. If your opponent switches to their Gliscor counter, Jellicent, as you NP, you end up with a Sub as they bring in their Conkeldurr, and are now protected from Mach Punch. It has additional merit in that so many Pokemon can run Substitute, while Protect is a little limited in what viably uses it. The loss of Flamethrower is initially off-putting, but the only Steel-type who is surviving a +2 Focus Blast would be SpDef Jirachi, which still takes a crippling blow. What if we can't get +2? Well, Heatran and Ferrothorn are covered at +0, Metagross and most Bronzong are 2HKO'ed by Dark Pulse, and Scizor is revenging us regardless (unless we have a Sub up - oh look, another merit of Substitute). Flamethrower is really not necessary.
As for the team style, I am absolutely for an Offensive team. Offensive is an umbrella-term, as it should be. I don't want to say Weatherless. We may get 5 members selected, and then realize that Politoed is the perfect 6th member. I don't want to prohibit us from selecting him as our final member in that sort of case. But I don't say a Weather either, because I want us to build our team around Zoroark, not abusing a weather condition. I feel that if a weather inducer is chosen, it should be as the 5th or 6th Pokemon on the team.
Offensive also encompasses everything from Balanced-leaning-offensively to Bulky Offense to Heavy and/or Hyper Offense. I don't think we need to be that specific at this stage of the CCAT. I feel that we should see where Zoroark takes us. I am personally against an extremely offensive team, like Dual Screens + 5 sweepers, because Zoroark does require switching to be at its most effective, and such teams leave little room for switching. I would like to see a aggressive, offensively-based Balance team, but that's up for discussion later.
Defensive teams don't seem to work as well for Zoroark imo. Once you get the surprise kill, you take advantage of it much less immediately, and a good opponent might have time to recover from it, depending on just how crucial the kill was. The opponent will be less panicky, because you're team won't petrify them of being swept if they guess wrong. I don't think it plays itself to Zoroark's strengths, Illusion and mind games, very well.
I think ginganinja expressed my sentiments the best on page 10, so I'll leave it at what I've said already.