I think this has potential to be a great thread, but the format is kind of weak. I hope discussion stays closer toward the topic of the thread, and not just which pokemon are good and which are bad in D/P. Let's talk about what has happened over the course of this last year of the metagame, and why.
Anyhow, my observations:
Celebi has to be number one on every list of this type. It's seriously not even close. Think back to what was said about Celebi losing out early in the metagame, and think about how often it is used now, and how sickly effective it is no matter what it's doing. It's typing is usually referred to as being a negative aspect, but it's resists are actually very helpful, and most non-bug super effective hits are not even OHKOing it. Ice Beams from around the normal 'OHKO Garchomp' range are nowhere near enough to stop it, even when it's normally focusing on physical defense. Actually, there's no need to even continue, the numbers don't lie: Celebi was 66th in shoddybattle usage in October of last year - In March it was 16th.
Heatran usage has increased quite a bit as well, but what is more apparent to me is how it's usage has been refined. 90% of Heatrans early on were Specs or Scarf and incredibly suicidal. Now, people have realized that Heatran can do more than that. You see Stealth Rock, Sleep Talkers, and almost as much Lava Plume as Fire Blast. Overheat is now a rarity. Heatrans don't run explosion as often, and when they do they use it sparingly because the typing is just so damn useful that it's hard to justify losing a key member of the team unless it's going down anyway.
Again benefitting from a unique typing and a large stat pool, Zapdos ends up being extremely useful. It has reliable healing, and is one of the better ways to deal with pokemon like Yanmega and Togekiss who can cause severe damage otherwise. I was getting a huge amount of mileage out of the SpDef focused Resttalker early on, but as long as it has a bunch of HP EVs it can counter a surprising amount of pokemon out there. STAB Tbolt from 125 base SpAtk hurts, and even now sometimes new teams I make end up having no really good switch into it (that can also deal with HP ice or t-wave and actually threaten Zapdos).
Those three pokemon exemplify what the D/P Metagame is about right now. Beneficial typing, strong defenses, and ability to threaten with offensive means as well. Also, being able to take a strong hit from both sides of the spectrum is huge with all the Life Orb wallbreakers out there. Scouting a set without losing your physical tank to a Draco Meteor first is great. With this kind of logic, other pokemon like Jirachi become serious assets to any team.
It should come as no surprise that Breloom has lost out. Gone are the days in which you come across people with no sleep taker. Gone are the days in which Breloom single handedly wins half your battles once you get him in and behind a substitute. I wouldn't say Celebi has singlehandedly ruined Breloom, but it's certainly the biggest factor out there. I started running Breloom with Stone Edge again recently, and though it's great for all those annoying Crobats and Zapdos laughing at you, it does less to Celebi than Focus Punch does anyhow. Facade is your best bet, but you still don't beat sleeping Celebi with it unless you're stupid lucky.
Honestly, most of the pokemon who have lost out have done so due to their inability to get past the pokemon who are gaining. Azelf without HP Fighting can do more to Blissey than it can to Heatran for goodness sake (Explode). I personally find Azelf impossible to use effectively unless you use either HP fighting or U-turn on the first turn you're out (and usually the second turn as well, if you even get in again before you know their entire team). Even Zam seems to be more effective lately than Azelf, tricking Specs onto something that doesn't want them and then missing with a Focus Blast and dying.
Porygon-Z suffers, but from a different problem. It rarely has the speed to sweep after a Nasty Plot, it rarely has the power to sweep after an Agility, and choice versions are too predictable. Between the plethora of good Steels and the easy switch-ins for Gengar, it's often more of a liability than anything to use Adaptability over Download, because at least with Download you're more apt to use a move that'll punish the switch rather than spamming Tri-Attack.
As for Electivire, it was getting walled silly by Cresselia and Swampert since day one, and failing to OHKO even Gliscor with Ice Punch is sad. I remember first experimenting with passing him Bulk Ups from Floatzel with only mild success (It was more Floatzel's dying than anything). When it worked out it was amazing, when it didn't, yeahhh. The next step was Nasty Plots from Togekiss to a special version (with Cross Chop, of course), and that was an immediate success. Even when Electivire didn't get boosts, he was still infinitely more effective than the physical version. I don't think it's taken much of a hit - people were just expecting it to sweep after doing nothing but getting in on an electric attack.
Apologies for the wall of text. :D
Anyhow, my observations:
Celebi has to be number one on every list of this type. It's seriously not even close. Think back to what was said about Celebi losing out early in the metagame, and think about how often it is used now, and how sickly effective it is no matter what it's doing. It's typing is usually referred to as being a negative aspect, but it's resists are actually very helpful, and most non-bug super effective hits are not even OHKOing it. Ice Beams from around the normal 'OHKO Garchomp' range are nowhere near enough to stop it, even when it's normally focusing on physical defense. Actually, there's no need to even continue, the numbers don't lie: Celebi was 66th in shoddybattle usage in October of last year - In March it was 16th.
Heatran usage has increased quite a bit as well, but what is more apparent to me is how it's usage has been refined. 90% of Heatrans early on were Specs or Scarf and incredibly suicidal. Now, people have realized that Heatran can do more than that. You see Stealth Rock, Sleep Talkers, and almost as much Lava Plume as Fire Blast. Overheat is now a rarity. Heatrans don't run explosion as often, and when they do they use it sparingly because the typing is just so damn useful that it's hard to justify losing a key member of the team unless it's going down anyway.
Again benefitting from a unique typing and a large stat pool, Zapdos ends up being extremely useful. It has reliable healing, and is one of the better ways to deal with pokemon like Yanmega and Togekiss who can cause severe damage otherwise. I was getting a huge amount of mileage out of the SpDef focused Resttalker early on, but as long as it has a bunch of HP EVs it can counter a surprising amount of pokemon out there. STAB Tbolt from 125 base SpAtk hurts, and even now sometimes new teams I make end up having no really good switch into it (that can also deal with HP ice or t-wave and actually threaten Zapdos).
Those three pokemon exemplify what the D/P Metagame is about right now. Beneficial typing, strong defenses, and ability to threaten with offensive means as well. Also, being able to take a strong hit from both sides of the spectrum is huge with all the Life Orb wallbreakers out there. Scouting a set without losing your physical tank to a Draco Meteor first is great. With this kind of logic, other pokemon like Jirachi become serious assets to any team.
It should come as no surprise that Breloom has lost out. Gone are the days in which you come across people with no sleep taker. Gone are the days in which Breloom single handedly wins half your battles once you get him in and behind a substitute. I wouldn't say Celebi has singlehandedly ruined Breloom, but it's certainly the biggest factor out there. I started running Breloom with Stone Edge again recently, and though it's great for all those annoying Crobats and Zapdos laughing at you, it does less to Celebi than Focus Punch does anyhow. Facade is your best bet, but you still don't beat sleeping Celebi with it unless you're stupid lucky.
Honestly, most of the pokemon who have lost out have done so due to their inability to get past the pokemon who are gaining. Azelf without HP Fighting can do more to Blissey than it can to Heatran for goodness sake (Explode). I personally find Azelf impossible to use effectively unless you use either HP fighting or U-turn on the first turn you're out (and usually the second turn as well, if you even get in again before you know their entire team). Even Zam seems to be more effective lately than Azelf, tricking Specs onto something that doesn't want them and then missing with a Focus Blast and dying.
Porygon-Z suffers, but from a different problem. It rarely has the speed to sweep after a Nasty Plot, it rarely has the power to sweep after an Agility, and choice versions are too predictable. Between the plethora of good Steels and the easy switch-ins for Gengar, it's often more of a liability than anything to use Adaptability over Download, because at least with Download you're more apt to use a move that'll punish the switch rather than spamming Tri-Attack.
As for Electivire, it was getting walled silly by Cresselia and Swampert since day one, and failing to OHKO even Gliscor with Ice Punch is sad. I remember first experimenting with passing him Bulk Ups from Floatzel with only mild success (It was more Floatzel's dying than anything). When it worked out it was amazing, when it didn't, yeahhh. The next step was Nasty Plots from Togekiss to a special version (with Cross Chop, of course), and that was an immediate success. Even when Electivire didn't get boosts, he was still infinitely more effective than the physical version. I don't think it's taken much of a hit - people were just expecting it to sweep after doing nothing but getting in on an electric attack.
Apologies for the wall of text. :D
