DinaIsha You're overreacting and blowing things up way out of proportion. This isn't the first time Moody and Stored Power have been mentioned. They've been brought up since Gen V.
First, yes, I say "the meta will adapt." Because, if Moody became big, it would. Why is this important? Everything that's been banned thus far, or is currently being suspected, the meta attempted to adapt to. But either the adaptations weren't enough and the thing didn't care (Huge Power, Parental Bond, etc.) or the thing out-adapted the adaptations, constantly staying one step ahead and requiring different adaptations to handle it, which it then out-adapts (-ate and Protean are doing this). We've had lots of cancer sets come and go and the meta adapted to deal with them and shut them down: Lightningrod Gengar, Protean Deo-A, Doom Desire Diagla + Magnet Pull Diancie, and even Shedinja, who becomes a liability when the meta reacts to whenever its common, to name a few. But pretty much any fad/meme set that comes along for a month or so and then poofs counts.
So, the meta will adapt to Moody. If the adaptations don't work, then it's a problem. If they work, then it was a simply case of Moody exploiting a gap in the current meta's primary team building.
So, second, on to other things, using 860 power Stored Power is a pointless argument. Moody gives two boosts and then one drop every turn, so effectively Stored Power goes up 40 on the first turn and then has a chance to go up 40 every turn, otherwise it goes up 20, with the chance of getting a +40 going down the longer its in. Optimal situation? Three turns, which is fairly quick, but you might not get there as quickly. Either way, in a meta that allows stuff like Tail Glow, that's rather slow. If they can't answer your set-up in three-six turns, depending on how generous Moody is being, they probably weren't able to stop it to begin with and their team is weak to your strategy. (Which, in a tier full of insta-nukes, not having answers to set-up sweeping isn't all to surprising.) Or they didn't respect your set, in which case they deserve the loss. And 860? Twenty-one friggin' turns for Moody to get that powerful on Stored Power at optimal speed! And longer, really, because once you have a boost in everything, you'll only go up 20 PP per turn. If your Moody sweeper takes that long, then you're either dicking around or your sweeper isn't going to break through to begin with.
Third, you shoot down all my checks as if they're nothing, but, really, you're being unnecessarily dismissive. Heart Swap to Stored Power or Baton Pass is a great check to Moody. Why? Because it also checks Contrary, Simple, Acupressure, Baton Pass chains, Belly Drum, and pretty much any and all other set-up. It requires two Pokemon, yes, but it checks and spectacularly counters a whole sleuth of set-up threats. Two Pokemon checking/countering twenty, yet probably many, many more potential sets, is a friggin' win in my book. Unaware Sweepers, while traditionally uncommon, will destroy Moody and slow set-up. Lets say... Unaware Kyogre sets-up two Q. Dances after you've had three turns of boosting...
+2 252+ SpA Unaware Kyogre Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Mewtwo Y: 273-322 (77.3 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (180 BP) vs. +2 252 HP / 0 SpD Unaware Kyogre: 150-177 (37.1 - 43.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Welp, GG Mewtwo. And this assumes you don't get any drops to your current stats. And I was being generous here and making the Kyogre player slow to respond by a turn and assumed optimal boost speed for Mewtwo.
"But what if they don't switch in right away?" Then they didn't respect your set and deserve the loss. Simple.
Also, Unaware Yveltal would probably be the most ideal anti-Stored Moody option. Sure, Moonblast, but counter-sure, Q. Dance, Amnesia, and Cosmic Power.
Moving on, Prankster D. Bond, yes it can be predictable, but are you sure that's what the Prankster is running? There's dozens of viable Prankster sets without the move. Besides, if you don't know they have it and must assume they do, Destiny Bond can be bluffed and force you out, keeping you from getting momentum. And if you do know they have it, and you know you have to play very carefully around it until you can remove it, which puts a lot of pressure on your sweeper because it can't sweep while D. Bond PP are remaining. Then there's also the D. Bond to Whirlwind strategy mentioned above, which works wonderfully.
But yeah, other checks to Moody: Shedinja (yes, Moldy, but any Sheddy player is prepared for Moldy), Imposter if your Sub is down, Perish Song, Entrainment/Skill Swap, Ghost-curse, Toxic Spikes, -ates before you get going, really anything very offensive you can't switch into, status to some degree, No Guard to some degree, Infiltrator to some degree, Taunt/Encore to some degree, and any residual damage that gets past your sub, provided the using team is sufficiently stally. Some of these are currently uncommon to rare, but worth considering since, if Moody became meta, they might be seen more often.
Also, you need to compare good walls. Audino is decent, but its used mostly for typing since its defensive stats are merely above average at best. Fur Coat Chansey is tough, but it's meant for stuff like -ates, not set-up sweepers, so of course its going to get blasted through. That has always been the case.
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Registeel: 120-141 (39.8 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Registeel: 120-141 (32.9 - 38.7%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 128 SpD Registeel: 109-129 (29.9 - 35.4%) -- 23.7% chance to 3HKO
Registeel is extremely common, so you gotta break this guy. And if it's Magic Bounce + Whirlwind, you're not breaking him unless you get really lucky with Sp. A boosts, even if you have Taunt or super-effective coverage.
Finally, luck. Your moody is not reliable. You might spend your first four turns getting nothing but Accuracy or Sp. A drops, which will cripple your Pokemon pretty hard. Or you might get all the right boosts while only losing Attack. Eventually you'll have a bunch of boosts but, again, you should have already won by the time you get there if the opponent cannot stop you. Now, if you want to argue that Moody is too luck based and devolves the game in a similar fashion like Evasion-spam, I can maybe get behind that, particularly because Moody can boost Evasion. But if you want to argue it's too powerful, well... see above.
So yeah... that was way longer than expected.
First, yes, I say "the meta will adapt." Because, if Moody became big, it would. Why is this important? Everything that's been banned thus far, or is currently being suspected, the meta attempted to adapt to. But either the adaptations weren't enough and the thing didn't care (Huge Power, Parental Bond, etc.) or the thing out-adapted the adaptations, constantly staying one step ahead and requiring different adaptations to handle it, which it then out-adapts (-ate and Protean are doing this). We've had lots of cancer sets come and go and the meta adapted to deal with them and shut them down: Lightningrod Gengar, Protean Deo-A, Doom Desire Diagla + Magnet Pull Diancie, and even Shedinja, who becomes a liability when the meta reacts to whenever its common, to name a few. But pretty much any fad/meme set that comes along for a month or so and then poofs counts.
So, the meta will adapt to Moody. If the adaptations don't work, then it's a problem. If they work, then it was a simply case of Moody exploiting a gap in the current meta's primary team building.
So, second, on to other things, using 860 power Stored Power is a pointless argument. Moody gives two boosts and then one drop every turn, so effectively Stored Power goes up 40 on the first turn and then has a chance to go up 40 every turn, otherwise it goes up 20, with the chance of getting a +40 going down the longer its in. Optimal situation? Three turns, which is fairly quick, but you might not get there as quickly. Either way, in a meta that allows stuff like Tail Glow, that's rather slow. If they can't answer your set-up in three-six turns, depending on how generous Moody is being, they probably weren't able to stop it to begin with and their team is weak to your strategy. (Which, in a tier full of insta-nukes, not having answers to set-up sweeping isn't all to surprising.) Or they didn't respect your set, in which case they deserve the loss. And 860? Twenty-one friggin' turns for Moody to get that powerful on Stored Power at optimal speed! And longer, really, because once you have a boost in everything, you'll only go up 20 PP per turn. If your Moody sweeper takes that long, then you're either dicking around or your sweeper isn't going to break through to begin with.
Third, you shoot down all my checks as if they're nothing, but, really, you're being unnecessarily dismissive. Heart Swap to Stored Power or Baton Pass is a great check to Moody. Why? Because it also checks Contrary, Simple, Acupressure, Baton Pass chains, Belly Drum, and pretty much any and all other set-up. It requires two Pokemon, yes, but it checks and spectacularly counters a whole sleuth of set-up threats. Two Pokemon checking/countering twenty, yet probably many, many more potential sets, is a friggin' win in my book. Unaware Sweepers, while traditionally uncommon, will destroy Moody and slow set-up. Lets say... Unaware Kyogre sets-up two Q. Dances after you've had three turns of boosting...
+2 252+ SpA Unaware Kyogre Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Mewtwo Y: 273-322 (77.3 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (180 BP) vs. +2 252 HP / 0 SpD Unaware Kyogre: 150-177 (37.1 - 43.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Welp, GG Mewtwo. And this assumes you don't get any drops to your current stats. And I was being generous here and making the Kyogre player slow to respond by a turn and assumed optimal boost speed for Mewtwo.
"But what if they don't switch in right away?" Then they didn't respect your set and deserve the loss. Simple.
Also, Unaware Yveltal would probably be the most ideal anti-Stored Moody option. Sure, Moonblast, but counter-sure, Q. Dance, Amnesia, and Cosmic Power.
Moving on, Prankster D. Bond, yes it can be predictable, but are you sure that's what the Prankster is running? There's dozens of viable Prankster sets without the move. Besides, if you don't know they have it and must assume they do, Destiny Bond can be bluffed and force you out, keeping you from getting momentum. And if you do know they have it, and you know you have to play very carefully around it until you can remove it, which puts a lot of pressure on your sweeper because it can't sweep while D. Bond PP are remaining. Then there's also the D. Bond to Whirlwind strategy mentioned above, which works wonderfully.
But yeah, other checks to Moody: Shedinja (yes, Moldy, but any Sheddy player is prepared for Moldy), Imposter if your Sub is down, Perish Song, Entrainment/Skill Swap, Ghost-curse, Toxic Spikes, -ates before you get going, really anything very offensive you can't switch into, status to some degree, No Guard to some degree, Infiltrator to some degree, Taunt/Encore to some degree, and any residual damage that gets past your sub, provided the using team is sufficiently stally. Some of these are currently uncommon to rare, but worth considering since, if Moody became meta, they might be seen more often.
Also, you need to compare good walls. Audino is decent, but its used mostly for typing since its defensive stats are merely above average at best. Fur Coat Chansey is tough, but it's meant for stuff like -ates, not set-up sweepers, so of course its going to get blasted through. That has always been the case.
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Registeel: 120-141 (39.8 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Registeel: 120-141 (32.9 - 38.7%) -- 99.7% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Mega Mewtwo Y Stored Power (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 128 SpD Registeel: 109-129 (29.9 - 35.4%) -- 23.7% chance to 3HKO
Registeel is extremely common, so you gotta break this guy. And if it's Magic Bounce + Whirlwind, you're not breaking him unless you get really lucky with Sp. A boosts, even if you have Taunt or super-effective coverage.
Finally, luck. Your moody is not reliable. You might spend your first four turns getting nothing but Accuracy or Sp. A drops, which will cripple your Pokemon pretty hard. Or you might get all the right boosts while only losing Attack. Eventually you'll have a bunch of boosts but, again, you should have already won by the time you get there if the opponent cannot stop you. Now, if you want to argue that Moody is too luck based and devolves the game in a similar fashion like Evasion-spam, I can maybe get behind that, particularly because Moody can boost Evasion. But if you want to argue it's too powerful, well... see above.
So yeah... that was way longer than expected.